New House

Well it took a lot of looking, but we finally found it. The last house we looked at all day. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms, a hearth room, living room, kitchen and stairs (Noelle added the stairs part). Here is a picture of it. It is a little bigger than we needed but it was the only one with large enough bedrooms and closets. The next time we go to Southaven, I will take my camera and take pictures of the inside.--that's the best part.

Now we just need to move in it.

To Do List

1. Make that lasagna I saw on "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" website that looked absolutely delicious (thanks to Jennifer for the link). I have never made a lasanga before---CHECK (It was a little salty--I will leave out the salt next time)

2. Clean the house fifty million times for house showings that are always a week or two apart so the house gets dirty in between showings---CHECK

3. Get an offer on the house---CHECK!!

4. Get what we wanted in the offer on the house---CHECK!!

5. Accept offer that we wanted on the house---CHECK!!!!!

6. Find a house that we love in Southaven, FAST!---( )

7. Get ready to move to Southaven---( )

8. Start packing---( )

9. Get ready to start cancelling gas, electricity, phone, internet, cable, etc.---( )

10. Close on the house on February 25th (the day after my birthday)---( )

11. Finally move to Southaven and be a whole family again---( )


Boy, I've got a lot to do in a month!

To snow, or not to snow

While my sister is in Vail, Co skiing it up, I am sitting here in lovely Starkville, MS thinking about snow. It was supposed to snow here last night. It didn't. Again, it didn't. We have not had snow on the ground here since 2000. Noelle has never seen snow in Mississippi. It has not snowed here since she was born. She did see snow in Winter Park, Co in 2005 when we all went skiing so she hasn't been totally deprived.

I remember when it snowed when I was a little girl in Indianola. How exciting it was to wake up on a school day and look out the window and see white on the ground. Then you would immediately turn on the TV or radio to hear all the school closings. No school today for Indianola Academy....Yea!! Lets go play!! We would go outside and build a sad little snowman (there was never enough snow to build a really big one). We would make snow balls and throw them at each other (not really enough snow for a good snow ball fight). We would lie down on the ground and make snow angels. We would scrape off some of the snow on the air conditioning unit right outside the door and Mom would make snow cream. Yum! One time when it snowed, we went out to the country (my dad's farm) and made a sled out of something (probably some old farm equipment--I can't remember) and got the three-wheeler out and pulled the sled behind the three-wheeler. Now that was good-ole country girl snow fun! We also took some cardboard and slid down the levee of the catfish ponds. (I lived in the delta---that was the closest thing to a hill we could find). We had so much fun. Snow in Mississippi is a treat!

Can you believe that it has snowed more in Austin, TX since Cindy and Cass have been there than here in semi-north Mississippi? Carlyn is in 5th grade and has never had a snow day. I just feel like my girls are missing out on a great life experience. Their childhood is already so different from mine--that is a different blog topic for another time, but come on Mr. or Mrs. Weatherman---

Let it Snow!!

Fear

Yesterday, everyone knew we were in for some bad weather around Mississippi. I knew this too so I kept a close eye on weather.com and their radar. I went home for lunch around 12:30 and turned on the television for weather updates. Every local channel had their weathermen and weatherwomen on. There was no regular programming yesterday.

At around 1:15 the tornado sirens started blaring for the first time. I was pretty nervous because I was home alone and the weatherpeople kept saying to take cover now, etc. Watching their broadcasts turned my nervousness into extreme fear. They were showing several rotations coming straight for Starkville. The projected path was going straight for North Starkville. Now, I live in South Starkville so I was ok---BUT both Carlyn and Noelle were in schools in North Starkville. Sheer terror set in. Where is valium when you need it?

I called Dean (in Memphis--what could he do?) and was absolutely freaking out. I couldn't leave the house because I was scared of driving into a tornado. Dean told me to stay home and that he was sure the schools all had the students safe in the hall. I was also sure that the schools were probably madhouses with parents running up there to take their kids out.

The tornado siren probably went off around 3 different times yesterday. I don't know why they were stopping and starting it because we were under a tornado warning for around 45 minutes. I had grabbed Fiesty (the cat) and hunkered down in the bathroom with lots of pillows. I also had my radio in the bathroom with me and tuned to WMSV (MSState's station). The announcement came on that there was a confirmed tornado sighted north of MSU's campus.

I continued to watch the Tupelo channel on TV (the Columbus channel was out) and they were reporting that Starkville was ok but Caledonia had been hit hard. Caledonia is just north of Columbus. My in-laws live in north Columbus (they called and were fine). The tornado hit an elementary school and high school in Caledonia. There was massive damage and destruction but no injuries to any student. The tornado even lifted a school bus and put it on the roof of the school. Can you imagine driving up to this school and seeing a bus on the roof?

A student at MSU snapped this picture with his cell phone. I believe he was in Hilbun Hall. The tornado was north of MSU campus.

Clear skies and cooler today. Thank goodness. My nerves can't take much more.

Green Light

Cindy told me to post away so I will. These are some more pictures from the Liberty Bowl with actual people in them.

This is a good picture of Cass and Cindy.


Dean took this one of Dad, me, Cass and Cindy.

Cindy took this from the end of the row.

This is the famous picture of Cass in my poncho walking down the ramp to go out of the stadium. Cindy says he looks very Star Wars-ish.

Go Dawgs! It was a fun game!

Some pictures from the Liberty Bowl

These are some pictures Dean, Cindy and I took at the Liberty Bowl. There are some really good ones of Cass and Cindy, notably Cass in my poncho, but I didn't know if they wanted me putting pictures of them on my blog so I will save them for a later date if they agree.

My favorite text of the night came from Cindy's friend Lara in Chicago: "Go Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl!"

Sweet Liberty.

Give me Liberty, or....

So much has happened in one week. Two days after Christmas I sat down to catch up on all the blogs and see how everyone's Christmases were and I read the news on Marcus' blog. It was so strange because the telephone had just rung while I was reading. I was trying to talk to the person on the phone but my mind would just not work. I just said, "wait, wait" over and over. I know Nick thought I was losing my mind. For a moment there, I did. I immediately called Marcus and spoke with him. Almost one week later and I am still in disbelief.

We were supposed to leave the next day to go to Indianola to have Christmas there. Cass and Cindy got in late on the 26th. We were having Christmas on the 28th to let them have a day of rest. Plans change. Cindy, Cass, Dean and I all wanted to be there for Mar and Lo so we had Christmas late on the 27th and then drove to Starkville on the 28th for visitation. The crowd in the little Episcopal church in Starkville was unbelievable. So many people. The Rhodes family has touched so many people. There were friends of Jan and Melvin, Lo and Mar, Lady and Matt, and Allyson and Dylan. All ages, all kinds.

Cindy got us all tickets to the Liberty Bowl so we set out for Memphis Saturday morning. We met Dad at the hotel in Southaven and immediately headed for the Liberty Bowl. That area in Memphis is quite scary. Thank goodness for Dad's GPS. We got around the traffic with ease and settled into a $20 parking lot. The game was typical MSU but satisfying in the end. We really did have a good time at the game. It was COLD but fun. I think I have developed "cowbell wrist" from ringing my cowbell so much. After the game was over we drove Dad back to his truck at the hotel and Cindy and Cass had plans of going to meet some friends downtown but instead they ended up not hearing from the friends and came back to the hotel with us. Pretty uneventful after party, but we are old, I guess.

We did get to show Cass and Cindy the areas that we are looking for houses and the schools, and so forth. The best part was riding in the car with Cass and Cindy. We all got to visit and vent on certain topics and catch up. I wish we could be together more often. I love being around them.

I feel like I have been on an emotional roller coaster the last few days. I guess that is how life is. I would like for life to take the flat delta roads for a little while now.