Fire and Rain

Today was the finale of PowellFest, the community festival full of live music, food carts, and fireworks. It's a great time, but this year people weren't thinking about this event; they were more worried about pulling the fallen trees from their yard, getting the power back on (so AC can work), and avoiding the heat at all costs. On Friday afternoon, a surprise storm swept its way through Ohio, West Virginia, and Virginia. (We were actually on the news! OMG)

I was driving back from the library with J and B when it hit. Adam called me to complain about the winds, when suddenly the power went off, hail started blinding the windshield and all the cars on the road came to a stop. A tree fell down in front of us, and all I wanted to do was get back home. J found this extremely amusing and started acting hysterical, which in turn scared B more than anything.

I took this at a stop light before it started raining, just because it was 4:50pm and I was amazed at how dark it was outside. 

About five minutes later, no one could move anywhere on the road. We were stuck.

But once we did make it home, I was soooooo happy. I absolutely love storms, just not while driving a 12 passenger steel death trap with two other valuable lives in my hands. Hearing the thunder and running around the house to find candles is always something I've enjoyed.  

It's just so pretty, isn't it? :)

We were one of the lucky families. Our power was restored late last night, our home was structurally alright, and none of the family was injured. But even in just the subdivision over, I had friend's lose trees, mailboxes, tops of chimneys, and many in Powell are still out of power.

The only thing of ours that was hurt was Dad's vegetable garden. The tomato and pepper plants were laying on the ground, but after dinner, Adam and I helped stake them back upright. And look! They still had their beautiful fruits! (technically fruits, don't roll your eyes)

Back to PowellFest....

 

Dad, Adam, and I were the only ones home this weekend. Bekah has basketball, and Hannah, Mom and Grace are all at Hannah's national dance competition in Sandusky. The three nerds braved the bugs and heat to watch the fireworks. 

Dad took his glasses off, but we were all sitting there in our folding chairs with our glasses and talking about the chemical construction of fireworks... you would've judged us if you were there. 

The fireworks were beautiful.

Until another storm came in and we all had to sprint to the car to not be pelted with the thick raindrops. Let me tell you, half the fun of fireworks must be the sound, because they were no where near as exciting once in the car.  

Strange weather we're having. 

Who knew fireworks could still explode in pouring rain? 

Backless: Topless, Spineless

I was trying to think of a synonym for "backless" for the title, and could only mentally come up with "topless" and "spineless" and truly, those don't work. But they are far less boring. And since thesaurus.reference.com is so hard to reach (Open New Tab --> Type out "thesaurus.reference.com" --> Click Search button --> Type in "backless" --> wait. I'm just lazy) I'd rather just leave my title as it is.

Anyway, a shirt I recently thrifted for $2 (!!!) was backless, and that makes wearing a bra, welll, rather difficult. So I did a DIY backless bra.

First, I took an old, cheap bra and cut the section that wrapped around my back off entirely. This left only the bra straps and the bra cups. Then, I reattached the straps to the bra cups, but lower on the underwire. The final product looked like this (I felt awkward posting pics of this to the page, and felt even more awkward googling to find an appropriate sample, but there it is. I love you that much.)

Adjusting it was probably the hardest thing, but once it was on and the shirt smoothed over, it wasn't half bad! Held up for Grace to snap a few pics:

 

  

These are the pics I posed myself (see above)

And the ones she posed...  (I couldn't keep a serious "model face") My apologies.

Hump Day

A Wednesday always needs a little pick me up, no?
Mine came in the form of a dollar theater showing of "Five Year Engagement" (a rom-com that my friend Jay picked out, and of course, my lover Terese was by my side).

Between the stares from other drivers at our extremely white renditions of gangsta music and the laughs from the movie itself, I'd say it was a successful night. But most important of all, it allowed me an excuse to climb out of my babysitting clothes (gym shorts, tank, hair in bun--- ok. you caught me. my hair was still in a bun, but i made it better than i usually do, so it's ok) and actually put on jeans and a tank.

I love these people. 

annnnnnnnd there's something special about this top. It's backless (sort of). I'll show you how I tackled that challenge in a later post. It's 12:30AM!!! and I have to be up at 6! oops....

See? I told you. I fixed the bra issue, but I'm not saying how! Gotta keep you coming back somehow :)

rather than workout...

I've been pretty good at keeping a rigid routine this summer (it's the only way I can get myself to the gym on a regular basis). And once I'm on a treadmill or elliptical or whatever I'm tackling that day, I'm on that endorphin high. It's been paying off.
But today, today I just couldn't do it. B was having a cranky day, and after dropping A off at softball, I decided to swing by JoAnn's and get fabric for next week. --Once I entered JoAnn's it was all over.

With my creative juices flowing, all I wanted to do was cut through that fabric and sew up some pillows or dresses or whatever I could and post it here, but I need to save that for next week. Instead...

I made one of those ever-popular-on-Pinterest headwraps!

(just sliced off a sliver of the fabric for my future maxi and twisted it around) 

AND Gracie painted my nails cheetah print! or leopard... I can't really tell.  

But let me tell you, do I feel fierce. ;)

Unemployment

Welllll my kids are leaving me for Tennessee next week. Know what that means? I'll be unemployed!! I will have five days of free time before heading east to PA to see the boy again. (Two weeks is such an easier wait versus a full month).

I'm excited about my time off--while also knowing that I'll miss B by Wednesday and the paycheck on Friday. But I'm already thinking of all of the things I can do with this new time. For starters, I'm pulling out the sewing machine again.
I have a few tricks up my sleeve, but you'll probably seeing this and this next week.

I am also hoping to make a trip to Cleveland to visit my Grandma Hiltz who is now in a nursing home recovering from a recent hospitalization. I love going to Cleveland. Yes, I know it's not the greatest city on earth (thus funny videos like this and this or this... hahaha), but the town does have Lorenzo's Pizza to be enjoyed with Grandpa, the new house of Aunt Lisa and Nick to explore, and Aunt Donna, Diane, and Grandma to hug. Too bad I'm not old enough to go to the casino with cousin Chelle. Wait. Maybe I am. Idk. I'm not really interested in the casino.

I'll be sure to fill you in on all of these exciting things next week. and the week after that? Bermuda, here I come!!

Till then... I just have to get through this week.

And something to make you smile on this Monday? ..... I wore these goofy shoes when watering flowers.
I think I'm officially a 70 year old in a teenager's body.

i've been bad...

at updating this thing. I feel absolutely terrible about it.

I've lost my blogger style. I've forgotten to take pictures of my food, of what I'm wearing, and especially the most fantastic thing that has happened in four weeks: getting to see Michael Edwin.

and I'm kicking myself. because I took absolutely ZERO pictures of us or what we did while he visited. oops... wellllll i'll have to do that next time. All I can say is that it is beyond great to see him in real life. To tease each other  (especially in our epic games of volleyball),  to see his eyes smiling back at me across the dinner table, and hold his hand in church, gah. These are the things that could spoil a girl, and I hate seeing him go.

Until July 7th, baby!

from my phone

I have been living my internet life through my iPhone this past week. Haven't had time to even open my laptop, and thus, the blog has been neglected.

I don't even really have the time for this... soooo... here's the mental blog posts I've been making (abbreviated version)

soooo I made this pinterest no-cook refrigerator 

oatmeal. I'm still alive... my taste buds weren't too

 pleased unfortunately.

  

Last Thursday (? my life is a blur) ...we made homemade ice cream! this one actually didn't taste bad

A. and B. have a tendency to fall asleep every car ride we take

B and I spooning during the morning cartoons...
I couldn't help myself. He loves me still

Forget my harrassing about her cooking... My mama can bake.

---

Father's Day.
Me stuffing my face in 1994.
I love my daddy.

Saturday, I got to watch a babe. Pure joy.

I like this boy a lot. 

The perfection of a hammock and squirt guns. Love my job.

YOGA!! with Teresie :) I love this girl.

ANDDDD FINALLY. 

Today.

This is the flustered nanny face... note three water bottles in hand, keys and wallet

Cranky boy march. 

Finally naptime came (FOR TWO HOURS!! i must've tired him out)

#pooped

Tadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Organized Chaos

I have chosen today to be the day that I tell y'all about my kiddos.

Yup. I have three of them, and to protect them I'm just going to call them by their first initial. A is the oldest, the only girl, and quite the busy athlete this week. Between field hockey practices and softball games, I've driven just about everywhere in Columbus, Ohio. J is the next in line. He loves videogames and running around the neighborhood with his dudes (what preteen boy doesn't?). And then there's my baby, B. I've held him in my arms when he was a babe, and now he's headed to Kindergarten in the fall. wahhhhhhhh. I'm old.

SO. now that you know a sliver about my children, I'd like to share with you some of the hilarious things they do.

I know its terribly misleading of me to not show you my beautiful B's face, but sorry, its for his protection. This is him pondering the heck out of which superhero library books to get. (I limited him to 10, and as you can see, I limited myself to four. But hey, they're thicker, have bigger words, and no pictures!) Also, side note, B is one a MAJOR superhero kick. 

This one, I just had to take. Here is the status of the orange I gave B after I went to the bathroom and left him with it (along with other things, don't worry). Rather than peeling the thing and breaking apart each slice--like a normal person-- B decided to peel only half and eat the rest like an apple. Efficient, I suppose. 

This afternoon, B and I went to J's baseball game. As soon as we got there, J ran to warm up and B ran to the playground to meet up with his friends. I went over to B to ask if he wanted to swing (this dude is five, he's my buddy, we play together) and he looked at me, rolled his eyes and said, "Rachel, go watch J. I'm with my friends."     Rejected. 

So I awkwardly straddled the line between watching the game and watching the five-year-old. hahaha

Too exhausted to write more. Adios!

Lawn and Garden

Guess what I did today?!

YEAH! 

That's me after I mowed the lawn. I'm so multi-talented. 

Actually, this was my first lawn mowing experience, and I must say it was quite a fun time. For starters, I asked Dad if our mower was self-propelled, to which he responded, "If you mean, you yourself are going to propel it, then yes!"  Oh joy. I started off just fine though. Plowing along I honestly thought "This is relaxing, and hey, I'm working on my tan while exercising. Two birds, one stone!" This changed dramatically when I reached...

THE HILL.

Yes, my PA friends may scoff, but we have a hill in our backyard. and it is not fun to mow. Dad told me to stick to straight lines in my back and forth, but with the hill, I decided to tackle it with a different method. Triangles. How, you ask? Well, with the hill, it was harder to go up than down, sooooo I went straight up the hill, then went down at an angle so as to keep the easy part long-lasting, and repeated this over and over. Let me tell you, our backyard is beautiful. It looks like a refined form of crop circles, or err triangles. 

I'd offer my services to others looking for triangular lawn patterning, but with my grass allergy and sunburn and pure exhaustion I have decided that it's just not worth it. Guess the Hiltz family will be the only one with such a divine, grassy design.

Colorado 2011

You have no idea how much I miss this.

No words, just pictures this morning. Gotta rush off to the day job!