My Facebook status yesterday morning was all about me whining about the up-coming day. I had my mole removal surgery, Zack had a dentist appointment, Sarah's sick, the a/c went out in the car, it was going to be 88 degrees and it was pouring down rain. Seemed like it was going to be one of Those days.

But today, I'm thanking the powers that be. My surgery went well and as I mentioned in yesterday's blog, I never felt a thing and the incision wasn't overly sore. Today, it remains at the same level of not overly sore. Just feels like it's been a little too tense for a little too long.

Zack's dentist appointment went exceptionally well. No cavities! And I'm ashamed to admit, it has been WAY too long since he last went. I am TERRIFIED of the dentist. I've been to four throughout my life and one was physically abusive, one was physically and sexually abusive and one performed a root canal without me being numb. I DO NOT like the dentist. I literally start to cry just thinking about going. And to think about my kids going .... I'm a total wreck. In fact, my kids have never been to a "real" dentist. We've always gone to the dental hygienist school for cleanings. I still have to take a Vallium just to walk through their door, but it's better than an actual dentist office. The school only lets you participate every other year and well, sadly, we missed a year. Anyway, it has been WAY too long since Zack had his teeth cleaned. I was worried. And Hubby was insisting he go to a real dentist. Anyway, I've been doing nothing but crying for the last several days while I thought about all the torturous things the evil dentist was going to do to my child. But in the end, Hubby & Zack both reported that this dentist was really nice and cool. Hmm, a "cool" dentist. Is that even possible?

The rain stopped before I had to leave for my surgery appointment and while it did reach the upper 80's, it stayed cloudy all day and a nice brisk wind was blowing. It wasn't uncomfortable in the car or outside all day.

And then one of my smart-ass friends decided to mention on Facebook that my day could get worse. So of course, it did. Tornados!

What a wild night! First of all, Zack is a little weird about weather. He isn't exactly afraid of storms, but you can bet if there's a cloud in the sky, he's on his computer checking out weather dot com. He's slightly obsessive about it. The kid has lived through some wild weather events in his lifetime, his father does get a little crazy in his efforts to protect us from the wild weather and I just plain get a little wild with excitement over wild weather. I LOVE bad weather and I'll admit that bad storms make me slightly manic. It's no wonder Zack is a tad bit weird about weather events.

So.... Zack is obsessively checking weather dot com and mentions to his father that there's bad storms heading our way and they may contain a tornado. Mike starts obsessively watching the red warning at the bottom of the TV screen. Mike's obsessiveness makes Zack a bit more obsessive and I spend a few minutes poking fun at both of them and decide to go sit on the front porch and watch the storm approach. Eventually, I notice that it has gotten dead still outside. Where'd the wind go? Then I noticed that there were smaller clouds circling the larger cloud. Then the wind returned and it started to rain.

Mike comes and asks me where the dogs' leashes are and says there's a tornado headed our way. Great. A tornado is coming and he's worried about the dogs, not us. Typical! I get the bathroom prepared which is no easy feat. Our teeny tiny half bath which is so small that when you sit on the toilet, your knees bump the sink and you have to be careful when you open the door because it hits the toilet is the only room in our house without windows. We have no basement. That teeny tiny bathroom is our storm room. I went in and started yanking out the basket of magazines & toilet paper rolls, the trash can and the tiny shelf that holds other bathroomy junk. In went a gallon of water, a bunch of pillows, a couple of quilts, a bottle of Tylenol, a flashlight, my phone, my Kindle (gotta keep that safe!) and some Chapstick. Can't be stranded without Chapstick!

Next, I went and told Sarah to get her shoes on and be ready to run. Remove the headphones, keep her bedroom door open and when I tell her to haul ass, she better haul her sick butt to that bathroom. Oh, and if you are wondering, wearing your shoes in a storm is the family rule. Don't want to be digging our way out of debris barefooted.

So, we were as prepared as we could be. Zack was still obsessing over the computer and Mike was still watching the TV. It suddenly got really, really dark and the TV was reporting that the tornado was just about on top of us. Mike joined me out on the front porch where we proceeded to argue about whether we were hearing thunder or a train. Eventually, Zack joined us, with his computer of course. He didn't stay long because the rain was blowing and getting his computer wet. He went back inside but continued to come out every few minutes and give us updates. Meanwhile, Sarah sat on the couch & watched us out the window.

So yes, our redneck paranoid family spent the tornado storm out on the front porch watching it instead of safely holed up in that tiny bathroom. Which, really, is probably a good thing. It's crowded enough in there with one person. Four adult sized people and 2 large dogs would have been pretty tight. And Mike was insistent that the dogs were coming in with us.

In the end, the tornados passed about a mile & a half to the south of us and we sustained absolutely no damage. Other than possibly the mental damage done to Sarah. She tells me that I should never again start a conversation with "Put your shoes on. A tornado's coming." But other than that, I'm feeling extremely blessed.