carlsbarkleigh

[carlsbarkleigh]

Bad Weather

We have all been through some severe weather in our lives. Whether that be some severe thunderstorms, a tropical storm, or a hurricane even. I can never not remember being nervous when bad weather rolls around. I always become on edge and every thunder that rolls on a little too long makes me feel like a tornado is coming. You would think being from south Louisiana I would be immune to this fear, but I am not. My family always left for hurricanes except for Rita. We stayed for her and the thing that always stuck with me was the howling wind. You would think that a hurricane would produce a lot of lightning and thunder but they don't. What they do have is much scarier. They have nonstop wind. Wind so strong it can level buildings, up root trees, and worst of all destroy the trampoline Santa got you for Christmas. You may be wondering why are you giving me all this background information? Well that is because A. I wanted to and B. it gives you context on the main reason for this post. Last Thursday, Texas got a severe line of thunderstorms come through. The news said the gust could be up to 80 miles per hour and there were some cells that had high likelihoods of producing tornados. I was working about 45 minutes from home, and when I was leaving to go home the sky was dark and gloomy. I left determined to beat the weather but ended up getting caught in it. The day quickly turned to night and the rain started to come down, and then the wind picked up. It got to the point where I could not see the lights on the car in front of me, and the rain was just swirling on the road. My car kept getting pushed by the wind, and I decided that it would be best to pull over and wait it out in the gas station. As I sprinted in side I was greeted by a couple who had the same idea. I pulled up a chair, a few minutes later an older man joined us, and after him a younger man joined us. The weather got progressively worse, the power began turning off and on, and tension was building. The younger man bought some beer for everyone at the table and the tension seemed to dissipate. We all talked and laughed for about 30 minutes, and I forgot just how bad the weather was outside. I was stuck in that gas station for about 40 minutes, and then the weather lightened up. We all said our goodbyes, wished each other safe travels, and ran out of there. I made it home safely and had a good home-made burger for dinner. That is the end of my tale and the lesson is that I am still very scared of bad weather. But this moment reminded me that even though everyone in that gas station was scared. We all decided to come together and try to ease each others fear with good company and beer.

[carlsbarkleigh]

Early Mother's Day Building

In the spirit of staying consistent with my blog as well as speaking with my friends about it. I have decided to post something at the minimum, once a week. A friend told me that it will help me catch more things, and I agree. I feel like a lot of times in our lives we get so caught up in the rush of everything we forget all the little things that make life worth it. So, as I sit here on my couch with my cat Minou in my lap and listening to MF Doom, let me talk about me and my husband's early Mother’s Day festivities. Some background on my husband's mother. She is a physical therapist in soft retirement and is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. She currently works Friday-Sunday and wanted to celebrate Mother's Day with us early on Wednesday. We moved into a 2-bedroom apartment recently and we have been adding more furniture to fill the space. I recently purchased a dining room table, patio furniture, chairs, and a side table as well as bookshelf for the guest room. My husband and I put together the guest room furniture Tuesday evening and the rest came in Wednesday. When I got home from work, it was wonderful seeing his mother and stepfather. His mother stated that they would help us build the new furniture and we told her they didn’t t have too, but she insisted. My husband and her began to work on the patio furniture as me and his stepfather discussed my work on the couch. His mother called for his stepfather to help so we both walked over. Both her and my husband, and soon to be us, were struggling to put together the patio chairs. For some reason, the chairs legs would not line up. We must have spent at least 30 minutes all looking and turning the legs different ways but nothing worked. When looking at the instructions, I asked if we were putting As and Bs together since that’s what the instructions say. My husband stated that he separated them and that we each had a A and B. I stated that maybe he got confused and me and his mother exchanged legs. He stated that he didn’t, and he was confident that he was correct. The chairs legs fit together perfectly after the switch, and we all laughed. The patio furniture was finished and we left to eat at a Willie's. As we sat outside talking, we all looked at the pink sunset and stated it was beautiful and proceed to just talk and eat. Once we got home, we built the dining room table (which was way easier), hung out a little bit longer, and said our goodbyes. Every time I look at my patio furniture, I will look back at this day fondly. If there are any morels to gain from this story it is to always make sure you separate parts correctly and to enjoy and remember those small moments.

[carlsbarkleigh]

How I Ruined My Husband's Birthday Surprise

 I have been thinking about starting a blog for at least 2 years, and with the encouragement of my husband I have finally started one. This small blog will just be an account of fun and memorable moments of my life. I want to grow old and look back at this blog and laugh about those moments. So in light of this, let me remind my future self on how I ruined my husband's 27th birthday surprise. I was planning to purchase him the Magic the Gathering Fallout Decks. They came back in stock due to the Fallout show releasing to major success. All of his birthday gifts from me have been themed and this year was going to be Fallout. He has been on a Fallout grind for a few month now. Constantly playing Fallout 76, New Vegas, binge-watching the Fallout show, and our co-op run of Fallout 3. While he was playing New Vegas he showed me his hat which he took from Vulpas Inculta corpse. I proceeded to tell him about how he was a Tumblr sexy man, and that people thought he was good looking and made fan art of him. While showing him the many drawings (some were lewd) he asked why so many people were drawing him with blonde hair and blue eyes. In the game Vulpas has a shaved head so he was very confused about the hair (understandably so). I proceeded to show him the Magic card art for Vulpus. He loved the art work on the card and asked where it was from. In my excitement I told him where, not thinking much of it, and he asked for his phone. I immediately panicked, and told him not to look it up. He did anyway and was interested in purchasing a pack. I then panicked even more. I proceeded to opened up Amazon and purchased the 4 decks. He looked at me confused as I reluctantly said surprise and told him my plan. He laughed and said that he appreciated the surprise even though I ruined it. I was beyond upset and still am a little bit. I told him I needed to express it to someone to which he called our friend so I could tell him. He stated that it would be a funny memory and that it was blog worthy. So I decided to create a profile and write this post. If there is any lesson to learn in this post it would be to never tell your husband of the Tumblr art you look at because it will lead you to ruin a surprise you have been planning for at least a month :).