New addition...

Hi all!
We have exciting news! There may soon be a new addition to our little family! We're going in tomorrow to find out for sure! We're so excited!!!
I just wanted to post briefly and let ya'll know! More info coming soon!

Tags

I didn't know what to blog about, so I've decided to do my "tags" that I've gotten from Nickie and Chan.

5 Things about Me:
5 things I was doing 10 years ago...
1. Going to 7th grade, running track and being a dork.
2. Nursing a huge crush on Seth Woolstenhulme, the cutest, goofiest, most wonderfully obnoxious guy in like the whole class! I had a crush on Seth for practically FOREVER!!! I wonder if he ever knew I liked him?
3. Helping take care of my 6 month old adorable little brother, Jake.
4. Dreaming about going to Girl's Camp, which I loved! Days of being away from home, with lots of other girls, hiking, cooking, and having fun... With no brothers to tease me for days and days... Wahoo!!!
5. Trying to convince Dad and Grandpa to let me move pipe. For better or worse, I won!

5 things I was doing 5 years ago...
1. Getting ready to graduate High School. Finally!!!
2. Giving up running… that was really hard, but too painful to continue doing it...
This might sound really bad, and I mean no disrespect…
3. Pretending to be God. I ran the lights for almost everything that happened in “my auditorium” for High School. By the end of it all, I was getting pretty obnoxious! (I was egged on by the drama teacher, Mr. Squires!) I loved having the room be full of drama kids practicing their play, or random community people irritating me, and they would get out of control and stop listening or I’d just want to get their attention… so I’d turn off all the lights. Instantly. With no warning. And then when they all shut up and stopped falling and crashing into stuff, I had their complete attention for whatever I wanted. Amazing what people will do when they want to be able to see again! I used to say “God said let there be light … and there was light!” And there would be light! It was super fun!! Best part of all of High School.
4. Dreaming about moving far far away from home... I moved clear to Pocatello. (2 hours away) Wahoo! Not quite what I had in mind, but…
5. Trying to figure out what to do with my life. Did I want to be a radiological technician? An accountant? A psychologist? A teacher? And five years later, I still don’t know!

5 things I would do if I became a millionaire (or billionaire, if you prefer)...
1. Purchase a bigger, more exactly perfect house for me, and like everyone I know and love... Or maybe I’d build it.
2. Buy a zoo, so I could go for free anytime I wanted and go play with my pets! I want a giraffe, penguins, a baby elephant, turtles, baby alligators, giant fishes, an octopus, a whole bunch of cute cats (maybe some lions, tigers, lynx, ...), some manatees, dolphins, cute whale/shark things, pine martens, hedgehogs, frogs, a whole army of ferrets, etc, etc, etc... And NO birds or snakes!
3. Invest some. To make more money.
4. Travel. A lot. We'd never really work again.
5. I'd probably give some of it away, so I didn't feel completely selfish. But who knows?

5 jobs I've had...
1. Babysat. A lot!
2. Moved pipe and drove equipment on our farm.
3. Nanny at Jenny Lake.
4. TML (Teton Mountain Lodge).
5. Fitness, Inc.

5 snacks I enjoy...
What don't I enjoy?!?!
1. Cheetos
2. Ice Cream (most kinds)
3. Chocolate!!!
4. Mountain Dew & Dr. Pepper
5. Cheese (I know it's a little different, but I adore medium cheddar cheese. I eat it by the brick, practically!)

5 places I've lived...
1. Victor, ID
2. Driggs, ID
3. Pocatello, ID
4. Wichita Falls, TX
5. .... Maybe California someday...

5 things I did yesterday...
Yesterday was a bad day… I cried. (And cried and cried and cried…)
But on Saturday:
1. I got to go help one of my Laurels with her Easter Egg hunt! (It was a Personal Progress project.)
2. I had a headache, slightly worse than usual.
3. I went grocery shopping.
4. I played with my ferrets.
5. We went to the Anderson's house and Hal played X-Box with Rob (Rob’s the Scoutmaster, and Hal’s the assistant) and two of the deacons. And I hung out with Athena, who was making a chair out of cardboard that could support a two hundred pound man for her interior design class.

5 things I hate doing...
1. Cooking
2. Washing dishes... they never end!
3. Cleaning gross stuff!!!
4. Teaching lessons... My Laurels know more than me, I swear!
5. Watching scary movies

5 biggest joys of the moment...
1. Buying neat things for my house.
2. Playing with my ferrets.
3. Collecting patterns for ANYTHING! (cooking, sewing, crochet, decorating...)
4. Organizing my clutter. (It’s a little weird, but I love to re-organize stuff! Not that I actually keep it in it’s spot, but I like to rearrange!)
5. Eating french fries in fry sauce. People find it a little weird here that we ask for mayo (to make fry sauce!) and then mix it with ketchup. But yum!!!

5 things on my to-do list...
1. Get all of my boxes unpacked or stored, IN AN ORGANIZED FASHION!
2. Replace our windows.
3. Get a job.
4. Get a kitten... and a frog... and a turtle... and more ferrets... and fish... and...
5. Cook more often.

5 habits…
1. I don't finish projects I've started... I mean to, I just don't seem to get them done!
2. Procrastinate 'til it's too late to do anything about it. I'm really good!
3. I chew my fingernails.
4. Getting headaches! Could that be a considered a habit?
5. Mid-day naps! They’re the best! I don’t take one every day, but usually a couple times a week!

5 Things people don't know about me...
1. I'm afraid of the dark.
2. I'm TERRIFIED of parrots. And ostriches. And emus. And chickens. (most birds) I have no idea why. It's completely irrational! They have evil eyes...
3. Cheese is my favorite thing to eat. (I think... most days.)
4. I have to color organize my food before I can eat it. I have to have the same amount of each color!
For example: with skittles, I have to dump the whole bag out, and organize them according to color. (red, purple, green, yellow, orange) Then I can set aside the same number of each color, decided by whichever color has the fewest, (I usually put them in the bag) to eat later. Then I match up the remaining, placing those in a different place. When I’m done, I have the “fives,” and the “fours,” and the “threes,” and there are 2 colors left, these are called “leftovers.” I don’t have to match up these. I can just eat them. So, I eat the leftovers, then the threes, then fours, then fives. Wow, huh?!
5. I have a very passive aggressive nature. I don’t confront problems. I avoid them. And then lash out later, when they’re least expecting it…


Lovebird Tag...
WHAT IS HIS NAME: Hal Bjorkman Bradbury
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED: 2 years, 4 months.
HOW LONG DID WE DATE: 10 months before we were engaged, 13 months before we were married.
WHO SAID I LOVE YOU FIRST: I did. But he wasn’t supposed to hear me whisper it! I thought he was asleep. He wasn’t.
WHO IS TALLER: Hal! By a foot!
WHO SINGS BETTER: Hal! He has a beautiful voice!
WHO'S SMARTER: Hal! He’s got the brains of the family. I always thought I was smart, until I met Hal! He makes me feel like a complete idiot sometimes!
WHO PAYS THE BILLS: Both of us do. I claim the auto-draft stuff! (Well, I set it up!) Hal does the mortgage. And I try to do the rest. Hal makes sure I don’t forget.
WHO SLEEPS ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BED: Hal used to, but now I do. We just turned the bed, and I like to sleep by the wall, so we switched!
WHO MOWS THE LAWN: I do. I like Hal too much to want to kill him!
WHO COOKS DINNER: If we cook anything, usually me. But Hal does sometimes, too.
WHO DRIVES: Hal does. I prefer it if he drives when we’re together. He secretly does, too. I make him nervous.
WHO'S MORE STUBBORN: I have no idea! I don’t think either of us is less stubborn! We’re both awful about different things.
WHO KISSED WHO FIRST: He kissed me!
WHO ASKED OUT WHO FIRST: He did, sort of. Me and my roommates had been hanging out with him and his roommates playing pinochle. One of his roommates invited me to come over and watch a movie with them one night, and I said I’d come after I was done with this thing (it was some play thing, I was helping with lights) at the institute. It ran a little longer than it was supposed to, and Hal called and asked if I was coming. I told him I was planning on it, but we still weren’t done with the play. He told me he’d really like me to come and they’d wait for me. That was our first thing I’d consider a date.
WHO PROPOSED: Hal did. We were sitting in a hammock he made, in the backyard of his parents house… It was really cute!
WHO HAS MORE SIBLINGS: We have the same! I am 3 of 7 (I have 5 brothers, 1 sister). Hal is 4 of 7 (he has 3 of each). W
HO WEARS THE PANTS: Hal does! I prefer it that way. I'm not good with decision making... I avoid them at all costs! So Hal takes charge and is the boss. Thanks Honey!

ABC's about me!!!
A-Attached or single: Attached!
B- Best Friend: Hmmm… Hal!
C- Cake or Pie: Tough one!!! Umm… Pie?
D- Day of choice: Saturday! It’s a fun day!
E- Essential Item: My toothbrush! I brush my teeth like 4 times a day! I can’t stand it when I can taste food! Yuck!
F- Favorite Color: Depends. Sometimes it’s lime green, sometimes it’s hot pink, sometimes it’s black!
G- Gummy Bears or Worms: Worms! I like to eat them one section at a time!
H- Hometown: Victor, ID.
I- Indulgence(s): I drink Mountain Dew! It’s the yummiest! And eat chocolate on a regular basis! Bubble baths!
J- January or July: Usually July. But now that I’m in Texas, I might change my mind to January!
K- Kid(s): Not of the human variety!
L- Life is Incomplete Without: Animals! And hugs on a regular basis.
M- Marriage Date: Nov 12th, 2005.
N- Number of Siblings: Biologically: Seven, 5 brothers and 1 sister. But I’ve gained more! Now I’ve got 10 siblings in law! 4 brothers and 6 sisters! Yay for family!
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges if they’re in season and yummy, if not, apples!
P- Phobias or Fears: Spiders, snakes, birds with evil eyes, the dark, losing people I love, and big scary barky dogs.
Q- Quote(s): I like to say “Ta Da!” And I’m sure I’ve got quotes, I just can’t think of any right now!
R- Reason To Smile: Life is good! And I’ve got adorable critters!!! They’re the cutest ferrets ever!!!
S- Season: I love spring! The world turns green and the birds go nuts!
T- Tag Three +: anybody who wants to do it can, but I don’t know that more than 4 people read my blog, and one of them tagged me!
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I have red toenails today!
V- Vegetarian or Meat Eater: Meat eater. I hate the fatty bits of meat—it’s so yuck!!!, but if it’s finely ground up (like hamburger) I can eat it.
W- Worst Habit: I never call people back. I always mean to, I just… don’t. So if you’re waiting for more than like a day for me to return a phone call: Call again!
X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I’ve never had an ultrasound, but it sounds neat! And I like x-rays! They’re fun!
Y- Your Favorite Food: Junk. There! Covers everything!!! Really, I like mushrooms. I love almost anything that has mushrooms in it! Z- Zodiac: Gemini

Well, That's it! I hope ya'll have a great week!

Rain, rain...

Ahhh! I could just pull my hair out!
A couple weeks ago, we had a bad rain storm. The whole night, they wind was blowing at our house from the north, blowing the rain right into our windows! We learned a valuable lesson: our windows leak. Well, some of them anyways. We have old windows (I think they are the original 1961 windows), and as such, they are single panes. Now, apparently the solution to single paned windows is to put another window on the outside of them (TA DA instant double panes!)
We decided we'll probably have to replace the windows. We can't have a leaky house!

Let the research begin! Our windows seem to be a standard size from 1961, but not today. They are too wide. So, we'll have to remodel the window frames. "Great! That'll be fun." Maybe we can hire someone? Only if we want to shell out that much more money. So, we'll probably end up doing it ourselves. Well, Hal will. I'll watch. (And try to help! I'm just not very attentive to details...)
During my research, I read something about how most old windows can be fixed, they don't always have to be replaced. This involves: Cleaning the track, greasing the slider thingies, re-doing the insulation, and if you have storm windows on the outside (which I do) cleaning the drain with a toothpick. OK. Cleaning the track I can probably handle. Greasing I can probably also handle. Next: insulation. How am I supposed to figure out how to get my dinosaur windows off their track to re-do the insulation? Hmmm... And drain? What?! I don't see a drain!
So, not sure what to do, I didn't do anything... After all, what are the chances we'll have another storm soon with the wind blowing gustily at my windows again?

OK, so...
Yesterday, it started raining. And it rained and rained. I checked all the windows before I went to bed to make sure they weren't leaking. They weren't. In the middle of the night, when the thunder woke me up, I checked them again. They were now leaking. Turns out it doesn't matter which way the wind blows from, they still leak.
So, I put towels all along the leaky window sills. This morning, I replaced them all. And replaced them again an hour later...
At which point I got thinking... If this rain doesn't stop, It's going to be a LONG day!

So, I thought...
one of the windows isn't leaking! I wonder why? So, I got my rain jacket (it's not a raincoat, just a windbreaker that is sort of rain resistant) and my umbrella, and went outside to check it out. The window that isn't leaking has a crack the entire length of the aluminum frame bottom, (between the frame and the wooden frame), allowing the water to drain out. Which led me to come to the conclusion that I should break the rest of the window frames, too! All I'd have to do is get something and pry the aluminum away from the wooden frame around it! So, I went to get a knife, hoping it would work!

When I got back to the windows with my knife, I stopped to think: It's probably not a good idea to just start hacking away at my windows. But at the bottom of the sill, there's this little cutout... What's it for? And then I remembered: that article said something about drains... Could this be it?! So, I jammed my knife up in there, and peeled off the paint that was covering the drain hole and TA DA! Instant self draining windows.
Inside and outside of one of the windows I fixed! I'm so excited! But now I have a hole for bugs to climb in... hummm... Now what?

This is the bottom of one of the windows I fixed. Do you see the little cutout thingy in the middle? Would you have thought I bet that's supposed to be a drain? Never in a million years would I have even thought of it!

The moral of my story today is: Some RUDE IDIOT painted my drain holes closed when they painted our house! THANKS A LOT!
But, now that I know my windows have drains, all by themselves, I don't have to spend all day sopping up water. HIP HIP HOORAY!

Oh, how I love life! GRRRR!!!

Hi all!

Hi! So I'm experimenting with colors today...
What do you think? Is it tolerable? Is it awful? Let me know what ya'll think! Thanks!
Smile!

Painted!

OK, so I just wanted to share that I got my cupboard painted and assembled and stocked! (well, I just moved stuff from a different shelf, but...) Wahoo!

OK, so when we moved into the house, (I've told you this before) we had an in-the-wall oven, and counter-top range.
They were deemed unsafe, by us and the gas man, so Hal ripped them out. Sorry I don't have pictures of that experience!

Anyways, after he removed the counter section where the range was, we put our stove there (gas hookups), and as for the oven-hole: I proceeded to sand it, Hal made shelves (out of the cupboard he removed), and I painted it all.
Isn't my shelf thing cute? And I can reach it! I can't reach very much in my kitchen without my stool. (A foldable step-stool.)
If you look behind the stove, you can see where the counter used to be glued to the wall. I should probably paint that, too. But it's so cute!


"Funny" story about painting... I've apparently only ever painted with cheap paint (if you can call any paint cheap) that washes off with water and soap (totally the way to go!!!)...

We bought a quart of paint from Lowes (sturdy stuff!) and a paint brush. No primer (we never remember primer) or paint thinner (what do we need that for?)...
One afternoon, I started painting. I had the shelves and "hole" to paint. As I started painting, I was thinking "this paint is a little different! It seems really thick and gooey. And it's not covering the wood well. Weird! Oh, well!" So, I painted one side of the shelves (they were propped up on a chair) and went in to paint the hole in the wall.
I worked on painting all afternoon. Having a blast! I was singing and dancing and having so much fun! In my enthusiasm, I managed to get paint all over both hands. I have no idea how that happened! And on my arms, and a little in my hair, and on my clothes (I was wearing painting clothes, one of few good habits I have learned from my days spent painting)...

When I was about halfway though painting, 4:15 rolled around. (Time to go pick Hal up from work.) So, I went to wash my hands. The paint was going NO WHERE. The water didn't even have a little white color to it. The paint just smeared more, so now my hands are completely covered in paint... "How irritating!" I didn't have time to mess with it, I needed to go get Hal. Luckily, I have plastic Wal-mart bags, so I stuck my hands in some (to keep from painting the entire car) and off I went.

I informed Hal with a big grin that I'd been painting and he said "I see that..." (how could he miss it, really?)
When we got home, Hal opened the door sniffed the air and asked "Dani? Did you have the windows or doors open while you were painting?" *Scoff!* Who ventilates while painting?! No wonder I was having so much fun! So we opened the doors and windows to let some of the toxic air escape, and I continued painting. Once I got all done, I tried again to wash off the paint. It really wasn't going anywhere. I had never encountered paint that was quite so determined to stay!

Hal to the rescue. AGAIN. He always has to fix my messes!
We (I was not going to stay home) went to Wal-mart to get paint thinner. While we were there, we also got more paint (somehow I had used almost an entire quart of paint on the little area I painted), some primer, and some gloves (I used them next time).
When we got home, my wonderful husband helped clean me up. Nice guy! And dealt with me coming down off my intense paint high.

What a nightmare!

When I went to put on the second coat (which was desperately needed!) I used the other paint. Cheaper stuff. It went on so smooth and quickly and was so wonderful! It even washed off me easily. And I ventilated.

I guess to summarize, I'll share what I learned:
1. You should probably prime bare wood before painting it. Otherwise, you use a whole lot of paint on a little area. Does wood drink paint?
2. Paint thinner is very helpful when it comes to removing paint from yourself after painting. And in the future, I'll try to have it on hand before I know I need it.
3. When painting, you really should ventilate! While being high is fun, the coming down is awful! (Headaches and tears...)
4. Driving with plastic bags stuck to your hands adds another element to the whole experience.
5. I LIKE CHEAPER PAINT!!!
6. Touching things with painted hands is a blast! I should take up finger painting for real! I do feel bad that someone at Wal-mart had to go around the store cleaning up white handprints everywhere, but... :)

Sharing Time!

Hi everyone!
Welcome to my sharing time!
OK, so today I'm going to tell you about some of the things we've found in our house!
If you have a sensitive stomach, this may not be for you...

You can really see a lot more detail in all of the pictures if you click on them, but especially the first and last ones!

To start of with, is my friend Bozo: I found him on the kitchen cupboard one morning.
He's sitting by a dime, and his head is pointing downwards. Cool red face on his bum, huh? I have no idea what kind of spider he is! Anyone?
He's fuzzy! At least, it looks like fuzz, I didn't touch him.
I think that I also have ones with white faces on their bums. (They were in the window tracks when I was cleaning house...)

This is what the inside of my kitchen pantry had in it: "Bug gunk!"
(Well, to be fair, it was in a couple other closets, too. But the kitchen was the worst one. )

This is what all of the corners looked like. (This was the worst corner, though!)

How do bugs (most likely roaches) poop on the ceiling?

This is what the entire garage floor looked like:
One of the previous inhabitants kept their dog in there. (The same one who made the dog run, perhaps?) They put down newspaper, which got peed on, and then very firmly stuck to the floor, along with hair and lint, and all that. And they didn't clean it up! Talk about rude!
This is the place where my dryer goes, see the vent and electrical outlet?

This is our favorite: Yummy!
I'm not sure I should tell you where we found this, but... I will!
This was in our furnace blower. We took off the air intake and scraped this out of it.
This was after Hal changed the air filter, which was old enough it pretty much fell apart as he pulled it out (Sorry I don't have a picture of it! It was gross, too!)
And after he shoved the insulation back up into the wall (above the air intake vent) so it would stop being "intaked" into our furnace and pumped out for us to breathe in!
What a delightful thing!

I just want to assure you all: things no longer look like this! We have since cleaned all these yucky areas! And hopefully we won't be finding any more! EEWWW!!!!
And these are the grossest things from the whole house, so I don't think I have anything else to share.

And that concludes my sharing time today. Thanks for coming!

Car...

A couple weeks ago, I finally got the car registered here in Texas...
Hal and I think the Idaho plates are cuter.

It took so long to get it done 'cause well, I'm a giant slacker in part, and they don't make it easy! The office isn't called the DMV, nor is it at the courthouse (well, it kind of is... it's in a building called simply "the anex" which happens to be at least 10 blocks from the courthouse itself), nor is it under the government section of the phone book. I found a listing with vehicle in the title and called them and they gave me the correct phone number.

Anyways, to get a car registered in Texas you have to: get a card from your insurance company stating you meet the "state minimum liability requirements."

Then take that to the car inspection place where your car gets a check-up, including: if it's driveable, the horn honks, the wipers work, your window tinting isn't too thick, your tire tread isn't too thin (or too thick), the lights all work, and the window rolls down.

If you pass the inspection, you have to show them your proof of liability, then you can pay the inspectors and get your "green slip" (which happens to be white) and your sticker (it's the bottom one) which the inspector sticks to your window.

Then you may go to the courthouse, again show your proof of liability, give them your green slip, pay almost $100, and then you get a license plate and another sticker (the top one). Whew!
After all that rambling, I just want to say I was very frustrated and annoyed by the whole experience!

Oh, and in case you noticed (or didn't): the license plate doesn't have any expiration stickers on it. Apparently people were going around town and stealing them (isn't that a good joke?). So they started doing the expiration date on a window sticker instead.

And just to share:
1. Apparently, 38% of drivers in Texas are uninsured.
2. You have to get an inspection every year to make sure your car is still up to par.
3. You have to re-register your car every year (of course).
Now: if to register a car you have to get it inspected, wouldn't you think you wouldn't have any stinky exhaust cars on the road, or broken down pieces of trash held together with duck tape? AND (this is the best one) if you have to have insurance to pass an inspection and register your car, how is it possible that 38% of drivers are uninsured? Can anyone answer that one?!

Pictures!

The inside of our house is all still painted white, there's no big changes yet... I do have some pictures hung, but it's nothing great. Looks kind of like our apartment did...

But the outside! well...
This is what the front of our house looked like before we bought it: (Nice comparison picture...)
Notice the green grass? Hopefully it'll come back. And it's supposed to rain tomorrow, so that's a good start!
And this is now.
Notice the bush is missing from beside the front door... It was cute, but it was always hitting me, the screen door couldn't open all the way, and when the wind blew it would smack my window (scaring me). So now it's gone (one day in a fit of rage, I chopped it all off). And the bald patch of ground? It was purely weeds. Evil vicious stickery weeds that cling to your shoes if you should happen to walk through them and then they come inside and OUCH! So they're gone now, too!

This is the back yard after I got done mowing (the second time) and had filled the garbage can. I did about half the back yard.
It's a jungle out here!

This is our favorite tree... well, okay, so we hate it. It's dead, and on our neighbors property, leaning on the fence, over my back yard.

Look at my pretty flowers! Yes, I do know they're both weeds...
But I do love my dandelions! The sad news is I think it's too dry from them to do well! I had a handful last week, but they were all dead yesterday. I could just cry!
I did take this picture just in case this one went away, too!
That's all the pictures of my lawn!

Lots of weeds!

Okay, so this weekend we bought a lawnmower. We decided since it was almost time for "rainy season" we should mow our lawn, before it starts growing again.

Hal assembled the mower on Saturday and started it up. After he got it going, we discovered that our "grass" (it's very weedy looking) was dry enough that it literally powders as you cut it -- most unpleasant! And it's super long!
Hal went inside (so he didn't die from allergies!) and I started cutting. I filled our garbage can with the clippings. I'm shocked with how much grass there was! The most shocking thing is that I only got the front yard cut! I still have the back to do! Our front yard is probably just over a third of our grass... which means I get to fill the garbage can probably (and hopefully only) 2 more times before the grass is cut all the way... and then I'll get to start again! Luckily, our garbage man comes on Monday and Thursday, so I can fill the can twice this week.

As a side note: powdered weeds are not the best thing to be inhaling! I don't really recommend it!

Sirens!

Hi ya'll!
So this morning, I was standing in my kitchen washing dishes...
And the deafening emergency sirens went off! I'm like "What?" And then it hit me... Tornado!

I, like every calm, level-headed, smart person does when unexpected sirens go off, panicked. I'm like "Oh, no! I've got to hide! Tornado! I need to grab the ferrets and hide... where?" (Yes, even in times of crisis, I think of my boys...)

"Maybe I should find out if it is a tornado!" So, I ran into the computer room to check the weather forecast... genius, I know. The weather forecast was fine. We have a fire advisory, but that's it! So then I'm like... "well, isn't it like cloudy and stormy looking if there's a tornado? The skies are completely blue." So then I went outside to see if I could see any threatening cyclones coming closer. I saw blue skies all around and my neighbors standing outside smoking, not looking worried in the least.

I'm like "hmmm... Maybe they're testing the sirens?" Yup. The Wichita Falls website says that they test the sirens once a month. I read that when we first moved here. But I've lived here for 3 1/2 months now, and this is the first siren I've heard! At least I now know what they sound like!

Oh, and bonus! Even though, theoretically, these sirens aren't supposed to be loud enough to be heard inside houses, I'm fairly certain I'll never miss the siren going off! It's so incredibly loud! I'm on top of a hill, surrounded by sirens. Wow. Loudness!

I've calmed back down now, but... it's still terrifying! I've gotta tell ya, my biggest concern about moving to Texas was the tornadoes... And now it's tornado season (roughly)! Hurray! We'll see how I do with the siren next month.


Oh and just by the way, we've achieved a new record today! Our weather did anyway... We hit a new record high today of 86. :)