When it rains, it pours... literally!

The past 24 hours have been crazy.

I had spent the past few days in Colorado with Brian for a job fair. Being a teacher right now is not the best. Districts around the nation are laying off people due to budget costs. But apparently, "I'm a veteran teacher and any school would be happy to have me." My leadership, classroom expertise, and my bilingual skills have made me for a great candidate. So I am feeling good. I left Colorado very early in morning. It had snowed that night before, but in Colorado, the world doesn't shut down for a little snow, thank goodness. Wearing the typical stand-by American Airlines attire, khaki pants and a nice shirt, I successfully got first class back to DFW. Still feeling good. I arrive in Dallas late morning allowing me time to pick up Maui from Jorge and Claudine's and even have enough time to sit and talk while enjoying our delicious subway. Again, still feeling good. Finally Maui and I are back home. She was exhausted from all the excitement of hanging out with her puggle cousin Rooney. We decided to call it an early night. We were in bed by 9:30 and sleeping by 10:00pm.

12:36am...I am awaken by loud rain and wind. I look over at Maui who is cautiously watching the window while staying right at my side. I thought to myself, "hmm, it's raining pretty hard, I'm glad I picked up Maui's toys today and took everything to the covered part of the porch."

Suddenly, the rain no longer sounded like heavy drops of water it sounded like someone was dropping thousands of balls from pool tables and dropping them on my house! Using my 1st grade teacher intelligence I realize that this rain is now hail. I can hear it from all directions, the windows, the roof, the side of the house (yes, the brick part of the house), EVERYWHERE! The wind is just as strong. I keep thinking that at any moment the windows in the room are going to bust into a thousand pieces. I debate with myself on weather or not Maui and I should go into the bathroom and proceed with our duck and cover drill I practice with my kids at school. I put my glasses on and just sit and listen. Yes, it's dark but there is enough lightning out that there is light coming in requiring me to put my glasses on to see what will happen next. I put on my super brave face and go to the window and look outside. Boom! Lighting hits, thunder roars, the force of the wind doesn't allow me to see anything. I quickly make a big jump back to the bed, a safe haven for all! I quickly go the place that has all the answers...my phone! I check out the radar. My location is the deep red color, "S@#t" I say to myself, this is not going to be pretty. About 15 minutes pass and everything seems to be dying down. I soon return back to dream land. Where I apparently had a crazy dream about the Warrior Dash race I'm doing this weekend. Ugh, another nightmare day!

6:00am, I wake up late due to my lack of sleep. I think I can totally be ready in 30 minutes. I get showered and dressed as quickly as I can, then walk over and leave Maui out when I notice...

Ahhhh, S@#t!!! The fence fell down and so did the one that faces the street.

So now I have to Maui proof the house as quickly as possible!! No time to really assess anything else. Just jump in the car and go to work. As I'm backing out I see a trampoline on the street. "Oh no!" I was in such a hurry did I not notice our trampoline was missing. I go back into the house and check the back yard. Okay, good... trampoline is there. Someone else's flew to the street. No time to figure it out, just need to race to work.

A decent day at work. Not the best, but not the worst. I come home right after school because Maui being inside for 10 hours is not good. As I arrive, I see all the neighbors gathered together. Everyone has roofing signs on their lawns. I immediately let Maui out with crowd as we go investigate.

I come to find out that the entire neighborhood had hail damage to their roofs and cars. I didn't even notice my car! My neighbor and I walk over to check things out. Yep, car has dents in it! The front office window looks like someone busted it with a softball.

No longer feeling good!!!

The worst part is having to deal with this alone! Fortunately, we have great neighbors who talk to Brian and they figure out what we are going to do with our fence and give us the name of their roof guy. Next, it was time to call the insurance companies. So now adjusters will soon be coming and our fun/savings money will soon be reduced, awesome! I guess it just goes to show you that you never know what could happen, life is full of surprises!

Our fence in better light.

Our lawn furniture chairs thrown around the yard.

Maui's stuff I strategically put away.

Mother Nature hit a home run!

On the bright side. We have double pane windows so the hail only took out the outside part of the window, the inside part is fine. Maui and I are safe. Life decided to throw us a little bit of a curve ball, it happens, and we're okay!