Hurricane Irene

Photo courtesy of http://www.weather.com/

I live on the eastern seaboard. So, I'm getting a tidbit nervous about what will be happening in the next few days in these here parts with the talk of Hurricane Irene. I live far enough inland that I should be relatively safe, but I'm a Midwestern girl who's never seen a tropical storm before. For the first time in my life I did a pre-storm grocery run. I never even do that before snow storms. I'm pretty good at driving in snow, so I only get excited when snowstorms are in the forecast. Rain, however, is another story. There is also a great possibility for power outtages, so I figured I should stock up on food that doesn't have to be cooked or refrigerated since all of our appliances run on electricity. We also wouldn't be able to use any water if our power went out because our well pump would shut down, so I figured I better stock up. I'm saying all this to justify my preparations. My family always underprepared for disasters like Snowpocalypse and Y2K to proove a point. So, I feel a tad nerdy preparing.

The funny thing was everyone in the grocery store today acted like they were trying to hide the fact that they were preparing for the worst as well. None of us could hide the abnormal amounts of water in our carts, though. There were also several empty shelves in the grocery store. The most concerning was the utter lack of plain old Diet Coke. Forget bread and eggs. We need Diet Coke!

Here's hoping everything works out okay! I must admit I will be a bit disappointed if this storm is a dud. : )

Nostalgia Before Nutrition

For some odd reason I've been nostalgic lately. It may have something to do with reading memoirs with one of my ESL students. I also end up telling lots of childhood stories to him because he's curious about our culture.

Anyways, I had a hankering for some boxed mac 'n cheese with cut up hotdogs in it. My husband and I both grew up with this "staple." It sure beats PB&J (which I despise).

Now I know there are all sorts of horrible things in boxed mac 'n cheese and hotdogs. But, I don't really care. The flavor is amazing. The saltiness of the hotdogs pairs perfectly with the mac 'n cheese. So, for  Sunday dinner today I made mac 'n cheese with hotdogs. I used my fine china because...well, I could. When you're an adult you can do eccentric things like that. It was a fantastic meal. We both loved it. I'll take nostalgia over nutrition any day.

Last one on the Bandwagon

I'm always the last one to jump on the bandwagon. I think it stems from my childhood. My parents had this phobia of fads. When I say "parents" I mean my dad. My mom just followed his lead like a good wife should. : )

For example, we were never allowed to own Beanie Babies until they were no longer cool. My dad could not fathom why anyone would even think of spending money on a piece of cloth filled with beans. So, while all the other kids were anxiously waiting in line outside of flowershops, my brothers and I were stuck playing with boring toys like Barbies and G.I. Joes.

Because my father is the third greatest man to walk the face of the earth (Jesus and my husband, Ben, take 1st and 2nd place respectively), I tend to follow his avoidance of fads. I usually buy clothes that stay somewhat in style for a few years. I did not choose blue and brown for my wedding colors. I did not major in international business or marketing. I still haven't seen The Notebook. I haven't joined Twitter. I didn't start seriously blogging until, well, now.

I tried blogging once or twice, but it just never worked for me. I always obsessed over my grammar and syntax because I majored in English. After reading blogs for the past year, I've decided that I can't keep my thoughts to myself any longer. The Facebook status bar only allows 420 characters. I have so much more to say than that.

Thus, One Bright Day in the Middle of the Night was born.

Where did I get this title you ask? Well, one of the reasons I've avoided blogging is the title part intimidated me. Every other blog I've read has these mega-creative titles. I'm not mega-creative. I'm great at copying others. I decided a title composed of nonsense words would best fit my blog. So, I did what any good teacher would do. I googled "nonsense words." This, of course, led me to my secret favorite website, Wikipedia. What? But you're a teacher. Teachers tell their students that Wikipedia is full of lies. We just say that because our teachers told us the same thing. We use it secretly.

Anyways, this lovely poem popped up in my search:

One bright day in the middle of the night,

Two dead boys got up to fight.

Back-to-back they faced one another,

Drew their swords and shot each other.

One was blind and the other couldn't see,

So they chose a dummy for a referee.

A blind man went to see fair play,

A dumb man went to shout "hooray!"

A deaf policeman heard the noise,

And came and shot the two dead boys.

A paralyzed donkey walking by,

Kicked the copper in the eye,

Sent him through a nine inch wall,

Into a dry ditch and drowned them all.

(If you don't believe this lie is true,

Ask the blind man -- he saw it too!)

--Anonymous

My dad used to recite this all the time, so I figured it would be a fitting title. So, there you have it folks. My new blog. I hope it works this time.