Revising our plans for a flooded Pierre summer!

Like a lot of people here in Pierre, SD, the flood has changed a lot of our plans for the summer. I know this doesn't in any way compare to losing your home or your business, no need to point that out, but it does change what we had planned for our summer. This is our first summer in Pierre and we were full of plans for boating on Lake Oahe and fishing on the weekends. We were expecting picnics at the band shell and camping at Farm Island (pictured above). I had big plans for taking the boys to the park on the waterfront during the day and walking around La Framboise Island with the dog. All of those things are on hold, for at least two months. 

Now I'm on the search for other things we can do in Pierre.  Harrison Park remains high and dry. We can play on the playground at the Pirate's school- and check out the playgrounds at the other schools. We can talk walks around Hilger's Gulch and skip rocks into the lake at the memorial by the Capitol building. We can still go to the library (if my children ever find their inside voices) and to Zestos.

My mother will be visiting for several weeks in June (can you believe she hasn't met the Princess yet? Sidenote: the Princess is 9 months old today!!). Mom is an elementary school teacher, so I'm planning to squeeze every creative idea out of her while she's here. Left to our own devices, my kids will be flying kites made of Wal-mart bags (hey, don't laugh too hard, they did it for over an hour!)

We'll make detective kits and look for mysteries and bug catching boxes. We have sidewalk chalk and bikes to (learn to) ride.  The boys excel at scavenger hunts and now that the Pirate can read it's even easier for me to make them lists.  The Pirate still finds educational things fun- learning to count money, and making up worksheets and tests for us to take.  I've promised to buy them a case of carbonated water and let them shake it up and spew it at each other once we have a hot day. Worst case I take them to the mall and plunk quarters into the "rides" that litter the place.

So there's still plenty to do here in Pierre. It's just not the same as we had planned. (And if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!) I am optimistic that the Corp's plans will succeed and that by August we'll be out on the boat. That everyone's homes will be dried out and that Pierre will recover, with slightly different flood maps.



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There's a flood coming to Pierre, South Dakota.

You probably haven't heard, since it doesn't seem to be making the national news, but South Dakota is preparing for a flood. Heavy rain and snowfall this winter and spring in the mountains of Montana (they're flooding too, maybe you heard?) is sending record amounts of water down the Missouri River, through North Dakota and into South Dakota.  The capitol of SD, Pierre,  is right on the banks of the river. The Oahe Dam, just north of Pierre, is holding back all this extra water, for now. Eventually it'll continue downriver and flood areas of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.  I'm sure you've all seen these pictures of the flooding in Mississippi- people were building sandwalls around their homes in an effort to save them. We're doing that here in Pierre, South Dakota. We have until Thursday.

On Thursday, the US Army Corps of Engineers will be upping the amount of water released through the spillways to unprecedented amounts.  All of this extra water will flood into the towns of Pierre and Ft. Pierre.  It WILL happen, there is too much water to prevent it. They are holding off until Thursday while the SD National Guard, and every available body in Pierre, turns out to build a series of levees along the river in both towns. Every size, shape, model and vintage of dump truck is on the road hauling sand. The levees are expected to hold back water reaching a height of 1436. These numbers were determined on Saturday. Last night there were 5 more inches of snow in the Black Hills. Billings, Montana got more snow. It is raining. Once it floods the water is expected to stay in place well into July.

There are maps posted showing where the water will go when it gets here. There are a lot of houses that will be underwater. Like this one.  There are neighborhoods that won't get any assistance because of the short amount of time. Most people in those neighborhoods don't have flood insurance, since the flooding is exceeding the 100 year flood plain.  They are left to build their own sandwalls and to empty their homes of anything they might want to keep dry. It will flood all the riverside parks, playgrounds, the baseball fields, many of the walking paths, and all of the campgrounds.  Boats won't be able to get into or out of the water. Fishing is unlikely. Hopefully downtown Pierre will stay dry, but the homes between downtown and the river may not be so lucky.

Mike has sold out of every bit of flood preparation possible at his store, and then found more. He's made special trips to Rapid City to get more sump pumps and sewer plugs and miles of poly sheeting from the other stores (or had employees make special runs.)  His cell phone number is posted on the front door of the store for anyone who needs supplies off hours and he's stayed open hours past the official closing time, as well as gone in early to load more plywood and sheeting to other people.  So many of them sound so hopeless, even as they do their best to prepare. One man told him that if he hadn't put such a large downpayment down on the home he bought just three years ago, that he would walk away. He doesn't have flood insurance and he is expecting 6 feet of water in his home. Good thing he has all that equity, right?

It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It's a slow motion disaster, but people are really pulling together and helping each other out. Volunteers are filling sandbags by the tens of thousands.  People are spreading the word on Twitter with the hashtag #oaheflood, even if the national outlets aren't talking.   Roads are closed, people are asked to stay home if they can't help (like me, it's really hard to go fill sandbags with three small children!)  It is horrifying to watch, and at the same time you can't help but be a little optimistic that the sandbags and the levees will do their job and the town will be saved.  And be heartbroken for the people that didn't get a levee.

For us, we're on the north side of town, well out of any danger. However- one of the houses we looked at in December already has water at it's door. One of the houses we considered in March, the one we really thought we'd get, is in the floodplain.  It is only luck that we're not joining the hundreds of people who are leaving their homes for the summer.  It is amazing to me because if it snows hard I have friends from other states call or email to ask if we're ok, because it makes the news. Snow is nothing. We had feet and feet of snow and not one snow day. But not one person has asked if we're going to flood.  I don't think this is because they don't care, I think this is because it's not news. Yet. It will be.

(If you're here because you googled flood information, you can find a lot more specific info and levees and sandbagging and specific info about Pierre, Ft. Pierre, and the rest of the state of South Dakota at the Disaster Recovery page and the Capitol Journal homepage.)
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Planning my first summer vacation, from the mom side

As the title would suggest, this is my first summer vacation from the mom side of things. Yes, there have been other summers in my kid's lives, but I always worked and they were in year round daycare. This is the first time we've had a summer break to plan for and I know that if we don't have a routine in place that we will all be unhappy within a week or two.  We didn't ever have a routine when I was a kid, beyond "get up and go out on the boat." (Yes, nearly every day.) We talked a bit about it as a family and I've been fine tuning it in my head and now I'm going to turn it over to you for suggestions. Here's what I'm thinking so far, and please, help me out, this is my first time!

• From the time we get up until breakfast: free time for kids and mamas. This means I'll surf the internet mixed in with a little cleaning and my coffee, same as always. If it ever warms up I plan to sit on the porch for a lot of this, but it was 40F out there this morning, so not today!
• Breakfast. The Bug and I have had a fairly loose breakfast plan. I want to have a time where we all sit down and eat and talk about the day. I'd like to get them to "help" plan lunch and an activity for the day, including looking up the weather to see what activity is suitable.
• Mornings. The Princess takes a nice solid morning nap lately. The boys will need to play with each other, with minimal help from me during this nap. This is crucial, because it's the best time for me to get paying work done. I am hoping that with a few days practice and a definite activity in the afternoon that they will learn to cooperate.
• Lunch. As soon as little girl wakes up, we'll make lunch and get it eaten. I'm hoping to teach them to clean up they living areas while I make lunch, but we'll see how well that goes.
• Activity. Finally, the thing we picked out to do! Yay! I've been trying to think of all the parks and nature walks and other free things to do in town. Some of them will be things we stay home for (and suggestions are welcome!) but I think leaving the house once a day will be good for us. We do have one great park (and one crappy park) within walking distance.
• Late afternoon, free time. The Princess likes a short afternoon nap. I'd like to be home for that so that I can hopefully get a little more work in.   Boys can play or whatever they want. We'll have a snack.
• Dinner. And, more importantly, Daddy comes home! (I think this is the best part of the Bug's day.)

I'm not planning the part of the day after dinner, because it'll depend on  Mike, but I'm hoping we can go walk by the river or go fishing after dinner or other fun things. Also, Mike and I are both hoping to start jogging soon (Mike once he gets around to it, ahem, and me once I stop coughing), so that will happen in the wee hours of the morning.  He'll go, then I'll go while he showers and gets ready for work. More on this later.

My mom will be here for much of June and we have a little bit of traveling planned, so this routine will be flexible, but I really hope that if they know what to expect that our days will go better.


I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Sunday Salon: Five books

Stolen from Trish!

1. The Book I'm Currently Reading:
Dreamfever: The Fever Series

I JUST started it though.

2. The last book I finished:
River Marked (Mercy Thompson, Book 6), Finished in the car on the way home from Sturgis today.

3. The next books I want to read:
Where She Went unless Dreamfever is awesome.

4. The last book I bought:
I can't remember! It's been so long since I bought a book.

5.. The last book I was given:
I recently won
Backseat Saints



I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Random Friday: Sick.

Random Thoughts:

• We are all sick. I might not survive the levels of whine around here. Yes, I get it, you feel bad. Now buck up!
• On top of the flu (because of the flu?) LE is a little bit croupy. I took her out into the cool mist at 2am. It was remarkably pleasant to sit on the porch swing in the stillness and quiet. I might have to start going out there after the kids are in bed.
• We are supposed to be going out of town in the morning for our nephew's high school graduation. We will be in big trouble if we miss it, but ughhhh.
• I am fast reaching the point where it would be worth it to me to pay for a night at a hotel just to have the bed ALL TO MYSELF for 8 straight hours.
• Why are kids so possessive over toys they haven't played with in years? I pull out a baby toy and the Bug refuses to let LE touch it. It will become the Holy Grail of toys.  
• I still need to blog about how the iphone has changed my life.
• Speaking of iPhones, how do I blog from the phone and include a picture?

What I read this week:

• Faefever: The Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning- finally finished! It was excellent.
• What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen- read the entire thing in two days. It was good but was more about the girl than about the relationship. I was in the mood for a nice sweet romance. Janssen is supposed to be making me a list...
• American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It) by Jonathan Bloom. Going back unread. I read the beginning and while I am interested it turns out to be too heavy for me to want to read while we're sick. Since it's ILL, I can't renew it.
• Screamfree Parenting: The Revolutionary Approach to Raising Your Kids by Keeping Your Cool by Hal Edward Runkel. Another ILL going back unread. I am sure there is plenty I could learn from the book (I fully admit to being a screamer) but it turned out to have a religious slant that I wasn't looking for.
• River Marked by Patricia Briggs- 100 pages in. I love this series.

Annnnd that's all folks. I'm going to go sit on the couch with a bunch of snotty kids and ignore the absolute squalor that my house has become the last few days. Hope you all have a great weekend.


I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

A princess at 9 months

Ya'll want a Princess update?

At almost 9 months she says (and knows she's saying)
DaDA!, uhoh, and mama (muhmuh).  She crawls with all speed and
determination and follows us around like a puppy. She chases her
brothers into their room and looks for small toys to choke on and
unsteady toys to pull up on. She pulls to standing on anything over 4
inches high and falls regularly. She signs "all done!" but I think she
thinks it means "pick me up" as she uses it when she's done with the
crib or the walker or hell, just done being on the floor. Or the grass,
the evil evil horrible nasty GRASS.

She has three teeth on bottom and at least one on top, but will not let me
look to see if there might be two. She is still largely breastfed,
through laziness on my part, but when she does eat food it's almost
always food she can put in her own mouth. I give her the occasional
baby cereal and think I might do yogurt soon, but no baby food (again,
laziness, not planned.) She eats banana, avocado, potatoes, noodles,
rice, beans, lentils (not so well), peas, cooked carrots, cheerios,
cheese, apple slivers (apples scare me for choking more than most
things, I'm not sure why), bits of various bread, the occasional french
fry, other stuff I can't think of. I'm starting to give her water or
very watered down juice in a sippy cup so she learns to use one. She
doesn't ever have bottles (laziness, again) and I'm not about to introduce
them on a regular basis just to wean her off again.

She is very much a mama's girl and really wants little to do with Mike
if I'm around. She and the Pirate are madly madly in love with each other
and I'd be heartbroken if it ever changed. She and the Bug have a love
hate relationship, as you might imagine.

She was just at the dr this week for pink eye(!) and weighs 18lbs 1 oz. She also had her first black eye last week, after falling (onto a baby toy, not even onto one of the million pointy superheroes or big kid toys that litter our house.)

I often want to freeze her in time so she doesn't get any bigger, it's going so fast. I can't believe how much I love that baby.

(sorry for the weird spacing, this was composed elsewhere and pasted in!)

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Monster cupcakes

The monster cupcakes turned out awfully cute, even with the Bug's help!  He really enjoyed helping me make the eyes, especially the part where someone had to eat the reject side of the oreo.

They did turn out to look more like a Jim Henson muppet than a scary monster, but the Pirate didn't notice and the Bug (thankfully!) didn't point it out in front of him.

We had enough left over to deliver them to all the nearby neighbors, which was good since we had a very loud weekend in our small apartment.


I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Mama built a tent.

Less than an hour, ya'll. From walking into the hardware store to completed tent. (Helps that we live half a mile from the store.)

This morning before school I saw this tutorial for an A-frame tent. I made a list of the supplies and after dropping the Pirate off at school we headed to the store. I had them cut two 8 foot pieces of molding in half for me, and I bought a drill bit. We came home and got right to work. From start to finish- 35 minutes! I did cheat and serged the edges of my fabric (an old sheet) instead of folding under a hem, but I had to thread the serger, so that took up all my time saved.

It's pretty wobbly, so I added some fabric strips around the pivot points after snapping this picture. (I should have staged a better picture, made sure the fabric was all ironed and crisp and not saggy, but eh.) Totally proud of myself on this one, highly recommend the tutorial to anyone who needs a quick and easy kid project.(Plus, with a hardware store discount and a discarded sheet, cost me less than three bucks, including the drill bit!)





I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Ringtones

I'm going to have to breakdown and buy a ringtone for my fancy new phone (unless you know where I can get a non-crappy free one?) It turns out that I can't actually hear the built in ringtones. I mean, I HEAR them, but I don't recognize that it's my phone ringing. For years I had two different rings- Mike's ring was The Way That I Am by Ingrid Michaelson and everyone else was the Theme to Star Wars.  With the new phone I choose Jason Mraz's Lucky for Mike, but I am stumped on everyone else. Yeah, I could do Star Wars again, but I don't want to. So what should I pick?

Some contenders:

• Another cinematic theme song, Indiana Jones, perhaps?
• Push it! by the Glee Cast (I'd so the Salt-n-Pepa version, but it's not a ringtone) This always makes me laugh, cause my favorite commercial of all time is this one.
• The theme to Golden Girls. What? For my friends!
• The song from the Heineken commercial. Just cause I like it.

Obviously, I'm not a huge lover of contemporary music. I mean, I listen to it, but other than love songs I don't really latch on to anything.

What is your ringtone? Is it just a ring? (Which is what I have now, but I miss pretty much every call.) I don't get a ton of phone calls, and don't want one for every person. Just one that isn't Mike.


I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Mama made a dress!

The Princess models the first of hopefully many mama made summer pinafores.

 These are pretty much my ideal baby dress. I found one that my grandmother had made and traced around it to make a pattern. They are so quick and easy to make that I hope to make a half dozen more. Once it gets hot it'll be nice to wear something so light and breezy. Eventually I hope to make a few pairs of ruffly bloomers, for the days she feels like dressing up.  There is another sweet baby girl with a matching dress, but she'll need to grow into it a bit.

I've also been working on a few refashions- shirts into skirts, shirts into a quilt, lots of goodness. Hopefully soon I'll have the time and pictures to show a bit of it to you.


I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Random Friday: Dare I believe that it's finally spring??

I hate to jinx us, but it seems possible!

• We have a giant pile of rocks in the field across the street from us, BIG rocks, like dog house sized. The boys think they are awesome. (Yes, they are stable, we have investigated!)
• Only three more weeks of school, so awesome.
• Also, only three more weeks til my nephew graduates from high school. Which means only three more weeks to finish his quilt. Yikes.
• The baby is sleeping better, yay!
• We had some new friends come over to play yesterday and had a blast.  The Bug can't stop talking about it. I gave her my blog address (Hi!) so you all be nice and make me sound awesome, k?
• We have no firm plans for this weekend, other than a haircut for the mama.
• My garage is almost empty enough to park a car in it!
• I am madly in love with my iPhone. More on this later.
  

What I'm reading now- I have found myself with more books than time, books with limits! I have 4 or 5 books that can't be renewed, all of which I really want to read! I haven't started them all, but I'll list them all here for you.

•  The Lady Most Likely...: A Novel in Three Parts by Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, Connie Brockway. This is a e-book from the library, and I have 5 more days to read it before it vanishes. I'm 3/4 done. It's well done, but I don't like third part as much as the first two.
• Delirium by Lauren Oliver. Also an e-book. This one vanishes in 8 days and I have not started it!
• River Marked (Mercy Thompson, Book 6) by Patricia Briggs. Due May 17th. I'm reading this one now. I love Patricia Briggs.
• American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It) by Jonathan Bloom. ILL, due May 21. Have not started and can not renew.
•  Screamfree Parenting: The Revolutionary Approach to Raising Your Kids by Keeping Your Cool by Hal Edward Runkel- Also an ILL, due May 28. HAVE NOT EVEN PICKED IT UP!
• Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. Have not started, can not renew.

Whew!
 What's new with you? Got big Mother's Day plans?

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.

Help me make a monster cake!

Or cupcakes, we're not picky! The Pirate is having a monster party next weekend and has requested a monster cake.  I'm thinking of making something like this, but I am more than willing to listen to your suggestions.  I could do cupcakes instead with different colored monsters? What do you think?

I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.