crazy storms in january.

Our phones woke us up last night at 2:52 a.m. This is a relatively new thing with the iOS 6 … an alarm goes off when there is an emergency alert, which is kind of handy. Nate rolled over and I checked the @NashSevereWx feed on Twitter to see what was up. They were saying straight-line winds at 80-90 mph which is as strong as a tornado, so I got up to watch the news. It wasn't raining, just windy, and the tornado sirens were going off.

The weather reporters were showing the radar when the power went out in the studio. Then it came back on. They were reporting power outages around Nashville. Miles and Otis knew something was up because they were standing in the hallway and looking at me funny. I sat in the hallway with Miles and Otis thinking it would be smart to get their carriers out of the attic if we ever did have a tornado, and I put on my slippers so I'd have something on my feet. (Advice from a writer whose house was hit in Joplin.)

Nate finally got up and I told him to put on some shoes. He looks like he's trying to protect himself in this photo, but he's really just trying to go back to sleep. The storm was moving fast, so we were in the all clear before too long and went back to bed around 3:30. I left for work at 6 and there were some small twigs in the road and everyone had their trash at the curb for pick-up this morning and most of the lids had blown open and the bins were getting rained in. Some of them had fallen over.

The news confirmed a EF2 hit Mt. Juliet just east of Nashville and there was some structural damage done throughout Middle Tennessee. I liked this super warm weather the last few days but it's supposed to get back in the 30s. Crazy weather for January.

Last night Nate had his first Hebrew class of the semester. I stayed home and bothered Otis. :) I crack myself up.

quick clips.

Well, blogging this year has been a fail. Life feels pretty routine these days. Going to work, researching genealogy, hanging out with Miles and Otis, doing life with Nate. Since we don't have kids, I share our cats. Twitter just released a new app for iPhone called Vine that lets you shoot and share 6-second videos Instagram style. In the app, the videos loop automatically. So get the app (it's free) and follow me, or enjoy these that I uploaded to YouTube.



5:45 a.m. - Cats in the Bathroom



Miles is scary when he yawns



Miles is not impressed



Otis yawns and flips over

bakin'/bacon.

One of the things I'm trying to do better this year is plan/cook meals. It will save us a lot of money; I planned a week's worth of meals and it's lasting us two weeks because we have leftovers every other day. Last night, Nate helped me make these recipes:

• Caramel Apple Pork Chops
• Bacon-Wrapped Green Beans

Yum! Relatively easy, but if you're making both at the same time, there's a lot going on so it's nice to have a second person take over one of them. (Tip: Break the ends off the green beans before you cook them, and peel the apples … I was just lazy; the apple skins were still good and I left the bean ends on my plate.) My grandparents got Nate an electronic food thermometer for Christmas to use when grilling, but it has been super helpful in the kitchen. I could easily check to make sure I wasn't over-/under-cooking the pork so it was nice and juicy.

Basically what we concluded from this meal is that if you wrap it in bacon (or turkey bacon in our case) or melt butter and brown sugar over it, it will be delicious! :-) Nate said this meal qualifies as "Top 10." It will definitely be a go-to plan when we have guests over.