Winded But Not Blown Away

Hey everyone!!! Sorry to leave on such a "cliff hanger" last night but the weather was getting pretty nasty. No less than 10 minutes after I signed off "the beast" was here and the winds were crazy, we had a little hail and I pretty much thought that lightning was going to crack our house apart. It's never a good feeling when they zoom in on possible rotation and it's literally 3 blocks from your house. There was some girly screaming (from me) but all in all we were very lucky and had no damage. Especially considering all the kids that got hurt at Union Univ in West Tennessee. My parents live near there, so when the bulk of the storm was passed I called them around 10 but they were fine. Our tornado sirens went off constantly from 9:15 until waaaay into the night. The next rounds came through from 12:15 or so until maybe around 1:30. No one in Mid TN got a lot of sleep last night. We had the TV on and around 1 the anchor said "Are we just about through here? Should we talk about the election?" and then they mentioned who won the state here yesterday. And literally, that's all I have heard about the election. The news this morning was 100% storm damage as quite a few people across TN died in the storm as a result of tornadoes, and there was also a massive fire due to a gas explosion.

Tornadoes are what I like least about the South. I have dozens of crazy memories of hunkering down in a million different places. Schools, dorms, restaurants, home. There was the Thanksgiving that my mom decided not to wake my grandma up because she figured she'd already had a good life and she wanted the room for all of us in the closet, the Senior Lunch where a twister was coming through and we were all ordered behind the bar as patio tables slammed against our cars, college days of being forced down in the dorm basement for hours and hours when we had SO much studying to do! A few years ago storms were coming through every stinking night the week leading up to the CPA exam and I slept with my exam pass next to the bed - without it you weren't allowed into the test sight and there was no stinking way I was going to miss that exam. If the house toppled on top of me I would have my admittance slip. There's no telling how many tornadoes this house has seen in the past 130 years, so I just have to remember that and know for a fact it's built strong - and we know it survived the worst one a few years ago with just a little damage, while most of our neighbors didn't fare as well.

Anyway, we don't observe Lent but I figured I should give up something for it because I do think it's a good thing to give up stuff. So, I am giving up laziness. I know, it's a little bit of a stretch since at minimum I work out 4 days a week, and usually more than that. BUT, over the holidays and new year I've really gotten out of pushing myself to get to the pool and also toning/strength training. SO, the goal is to do a little of that every day in addition to the miles I already log 4 days a week. We made our first trip back to the pool last Saturday and I was so happy we went. We didn't swim that far but we got a great workout in and my arms were BURNING and my legs ended up doing so much work that they were absolutely spent when we got out. It was GREAT! And wow, lung capacity decreases when you go from swimming 4 times a week to once or twice a month! We made it back to the pool after work tonight, and it was much easier than Saturday. We've still lost speed and strength over the last 6 weeks or so, but it's coming back. I want to make it to the pool 2-3 times a week going forward, and keep working on speed and endurance.

Alrighty, I guess that's it from around here!! I don't miss the storms from yesterday but I do miss the 72 degrees we had! (Although it was crazy humid and my hair has been a FRIZZ BOMB for 2 days!) Now it's cold (41 degrees) and so windy.

Happy Thursday!!!!!!!!!!!!