Do Not Use Register.com

I've had my share of issues since I bought my domain from them, and I've had my fair share of domains and hosts in my many years on the web, but they are starting to take the cake on annoying their customers.

First, it was an absolute pain to change my DNS. Then adding CNAMEs and such was no walk in the park. Now, I'm getting a host and transferring my domain... Something they certainly don't enjoy by the look of it.

There are five screens (including one promo code for a cheaper domain renewal) before I get this:

Authorization Code 

Your request for an Auth Code has been received and your information will be validated for security reasons. 

If your request is approved, you will receive your Auth Code by email in 4-5 days. 

To cancel this request, please call one of our Customer Service Representatives at 1.877.318.7563. 

Thank you. 

The fuck? I pay you and now you expect me to wait for a business week because you obviously want to piss off your customers that much more... This is not what an online company should do if they expect return business or referrals.

Asking someone online to wait for more than 24 hours is insane. The internet is all about NOW and not later. Making people wait in this generation of impatient people will drive them away in herds.

No wonder I only hear bad things about Register.com.

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Trying to Build a Fanbase? Check This Out.

I've been working lately to get more people over here on the site, so I figured I would post my tips for doing so for other up-and-coming bloggers. (Though I've been blogging for fourteen years... Lol, I'm not old!)

Use Facebook as a Page

Seems simple, right? All you have to do is create a page (via pull down in top right hand corner on your name on Facebook) and it's all done... Wrong. Besides making the page, adding a profile image and background, you then need content. Either you can post every blog post on your site to your Facebook manually or you can have another program do that part for you--more on that later--but you then have to keep your fanbase engaged or you'll lose them. No, they probably aren't going to unlike your page, but they will probably be missing your page posts because of Facebook's new-fangled thing-a-ma-bob for crappy news feeds.

Use Twitter!

Whether you use your personal Twitter account or make one specifically for your blog--which I would suggest anyway so no one makes it to pick at your brand--you need one. It's pretty easy to talk on there because the character limit, but you have to be witty either with your non-post tweets or in your titles. You can do the manual way of adding each link or you can have a program do it for you.

Get a Good Program to Post Your Feed to Facebook & Twitter

What happens if you're away? Do you have automatic posts set up on your blog? Does your internet suck? Your computer die? What happens when you can't manually add those scheduled posts because you've slept in? That's where sites like TwitterFeed come in handy. I can't possibly add every post manually--I've tried!--with everything I have to get done everyday. I'm bound to forget something, but this site takes everything from my RSS feed and posts it to my personal & blog Twitter accounts, then the Facebook page, and even my LinkedIn account. I'd never post anything to LinkedIn if it weren't for this, but I get people visiting from those posts! It really does help when you're in a bind.

Participate!

Know other bloggers? Don't know any other bloggers? Either one is okay. If you know others, let them know that you've got your own site and would like to try and do things with them. If they're a bigger site, it's going to help you with getting your name out and it's going to help them by free advertising on your site. It's a win-win situation. Even if you don't know any other bloggers, there are plenty of us out there! Most of them are really cool people and more than willing to help if they have the time. Just don't get discouraged if one person blows you off because they may be having a bad day. There are plenty of other fish in the sea!

Talk to Companies You Really Enjoy, Not Just Ones that Pay

Yeah, it's not as awesome getting a rejection email from a company you actually like or, sometimes even worse, not getting a response. You can sign up for a billion and one promo things and not enjoy them for any other reason than they are giving you something for free and/or paying you. But what you really need is to target products that you enjoy using and think you or your family may actually use. I try to steer clear of products that are targeting everyone and I don't like anyway... So what if I'm making money if I have to lie to my readers?

Can you think of anything else? Sort of ran out of stuff to say at this point. I know I had planned to write more, but maybe I'll do a "part 2" in the future. ;)

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Please Pay Attention If You Have A Facebook Page!

Been seeing complaints about the "Promote" function on Facebook lately. I'm sick and tired of it.

I have a Facebook page or two. I know how to read. I'm sure most people online can say the same. So why are people making this more complicated than it needs to be?

When you promote a post, it will be shown in the news feeds of more of the people who like your Page than you would reach normally. Friends of the people who have interacted with your post will also be more likely to see the story in their news feeds for up to 3 days from when the post was first created.

Now, is that not simple enough for you?

When you use the "promote" feature, your post will be shown in the feeds of more people who like you page rather than how the new feed works based on contact. In addition, the friends of people who have interacted (liked, commented, shares) with your page are also more likely to see the promoted post for up to three days from creation.

If you still don't get it, here's the thing: You're paying for your post to appear in the feeds of people who don't even like your page.

The promotion feature allows you to target people that are more likely to "Like" your page based on friends. It is an ad, whether they like it or not.

I've personally seen these in my feed on a daily basis and they are all from the same page with the same friend. Apparently that page promotes a lot and that friend likes a lot of the things they post. Does that mean I like it? No, but they're trying to get people to view it based on your friends, just like a related post.

When a link is from a page you don't follow but has a friends' name attached to it, you're more likely to trust it and click. More than likely, it's totally worth the money for that factor alone, but if you have a lot of followers that are really engaged, that's promoting itself.

So, no, it's not something you have to do. It's not even something that people are advising pages to do, but it's a button and people are getting confused by it. Facebook is not forcing anyone to pay money to get their posts seen by their members. If they aren't engaged and don't interact with your page then they aren't going to get your posts, but it's the same way with friends and family so please don't throw a fit about it.

You can like our page on Facebook and not have to worry about me complaining about Facebook changing or adding things like a lot of people. (Dear God, people on my feed are still complaining about the timeline! How about you?)

It's Facebook people--not your website. If you want to complain about it, don't use it! ..I think that's what happened to MySpace! Hehe.

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Excuse Me?

I don't care how nice someone is trying to be, but randomly asking "You're getting you're tubes tied now, right?" is still rude.

Why do other people make these things their business?

I understand that they are simply being friendly and attempting small-talk since four kids tends to be a rather large topic starter. But what really gets me... It's always other moms that say these things to me!

I've only had issues with one pregnancy and it didn't even make me high-risk or anything like that. Sure, we've had our kids in rapid succession but that's because we tried for years before the first and were worried about having the same issues again.

No matter how much our families ignore this: Our children were planned.

We love our kids. We take care of our kids. I stay at home and raise them, unless Hubby isn't working and then he spends even more time with them. I've already signed up to start homeschooling. We teach our children without books or things like that right now because they're more "hands on" and we're fine with that!

Why can't everyone else be fine with our family and how we do things?

Yes, we're younger and have four kids but we wanted them. We love them.

I know several girls that have four kids with different guys or aren't married, etc. It sucks because I get "Do they have the same father?" questions a lot. Yes! "Are you married?" Yes! Why in the world is it so hard for people to comprehend?

My aunt laughs when I tell her these things. She says if any of these people actually knew us at all they'd know the kids were all ours and that we are happily in love. Maybe she sees us differently than everyone else, because questions like those even pop up in our own families.

It's discouraging. It's hard to answer these kinds of questions when they actually bother you. They bother me. While it's nice to be able to start up a conversation with a stranger, having them tell me that and then go on about giving one of their kids up and having another that was raised as an only child--being an only child, it makes me cringe to think about--doesn't make me feel too good about myself.

Honestly, with the ease at which I've had children I've thought about being a surrogate. I think it would be wonderful to help others like that! But I'm sure my doctor would hear nothing of it. Of course, she also doesn't want me to get "fixed" because I'm so young.

In any case, if you have kids or not, if you happen to be attempting to strike up a random conversation with another person and they are, perhaps, the mother or father of multiple children, please please please please please hold your tongue. Small talk doesn't have to involve invasive questions about sex and anatomy, it could just be as simple as asking how old the kids are or their names!

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Hmm, I Think I See a Pattern...

Thought this was super strange to see in my Facebook feed today: Four different blogs all with contests for Scout Bags.

Okay, it's just a coincidence, right? Well, these four all posted and started today:

• http://africasblog.com/2012/05/25/scout-bag-giveaway/
• http://www.mamaluvsbooks.com/2012/05/summertime-scout-bag-giveaway-win-2.html
• http://momdoesreviews.com/2012/05/25/win-2-scout-bags-summer-fun-ends-61/
• http://fullpricenever.com/new-scout-bag-giveaway-2-bags-to-1-lucky-winner-perfect-for-summer/

So, no, it's not four different giveaways or anything super creepy... Just that I follow four blogs on FB that are all doing the same contest by either hosting it or sponsoring it. (I know I saw it six times in my feed, but these are the only four links I could find on there right this second.)

Am I the only one that hates this trend? I've seen a lot of blogs posting the same things one after another... So what about those that do go out and get the content on their own? Are they any better or can anyone even tell anymore? (There are a lot of any's in that sentence!)

I just hate the thought of those horrible sponsored giveaways. I know you have hosting fees to keep your website up, but to host a giveaway and have other people give you money in order to buy something to giveaway seems sort of silly when most of them could just get the products for free if they just talked to the company and did a review.

I also hate how much companies are targeting Mommy Bloggers recently. Perfect example: The Avengers Movie. I love comics. I like some of the movies that they didn't butcher. Lots of mom's that blog got to see the new movie for free, some even at the premiere, and get free products to review that had the characters on them. That's all fine and well... But why are you targeting moms? I'm sure some of them may be fans, but probably not a ton. I'm sure lots of them love the "hot" guys on the screen. But I'm pretty damn sure it was just a ploy to get more women to watch and then get their kids and husbands. That ticks me off. Don't target the original audience, just whatever can get more money. That is BS.

And, no, I'm not complaining about this specific giveaway. Actually, I haven't even looked at it! So if you're looking to get one of those bags, go over and sign up for a chance! I'm just venting because I can. ;)

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What Happened to Blogger Integrity?

I do things now that I haven't always wanted to do, but I think they are good choices not just for me and this site but for my readers as well.

• Yes, I have ads on my sidebars. 
• Yes, I have posts that will earn me pennies but save you dollars.
• Yes, I have made reviews about products that I have used and enjoyed and gotten something in return for it.

I will not, however: Lie.

• I will not post a product I do not endorse or have a member of my family use.
• I will not ask for votes in my blog posts, though I will leave the links there for you to vote if you wish.
• I will not use other websites to trick you into coming to my site just to make myself money, even if I watch others do this.

Honestly, I can't believe what I've seen other bloggers doing lately. Maybe it's because I've been looking around online more and I've just never noticed until recently, but this is getting ridiculous. If making a post promoting an item to get people to click through on a link that you will get paid per sign up isn't enough, they're using other sites (like Pinterest & ReclipIt) and having popups on their pages as well!

People are getting too greedy.

I've been blogging since before I turned 13. I've been on a computer since I was 4. Maybe I just have some "old school" philosophies about what's wrong and right online, but perhaps I'm just behind the times.

My grandparents raised me better than that though.

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Are You Embarassed to Cry?

I am. I hide it. I wasn't raised to show raw emotion like that. It's painful.

It's embarrassing knowing that I look terrible and there is snot everywhere, and that my face is contorted from pain that isn't even physical.

And I bawled today.

I just lost it. I was trying not to. Trying so damn hard not to get attached, not to let myself think something good was going to happen for us.

Allow me to explain a little.

Yesterday a fluffy little black Pomeranian appeared outside.

He's a happy dog. Full of smiles. Loves to just wag his tail like mad when you even look at him.

He can sit, lay, roll over, shake, and even nuzzles against your leg for attention like a cat, but doesn't know how to play. Pick up anything near him or have something in your hand and he drops like you're going to beat the hell out of him. It's horrible to watch.

He was good with the kids. Amazing.

He didn't look twice at the cat. Amazing.

While my husband is allergic and it makes him super itchy, this dog has been running around outside for a while.

His thick fur is matted. His tail is sun bleached.

My father-in-law and sister-in-law found his owners up the road. They just let him run. He's an outdoor dog.

The neighbors have called animal control over him. He isn't neutered and, well, he marks EVERYTHING, and really likes the lady's.

My FIL took him back home twice, but he came back anyway. (The second time he was fastened in a kennel and the people just let him out and he came running back--a good mile away.)

He stayed all night. Each time I went to the door to check on him, there he was. Each time he saw me, he'd start wagging his tail, smiling.

It was so sad, seeing him so happy from so little. Like he had loved someone once, but they didn't love him back. The slightest bit of affection, and he was in love again.

Oh, I fought it. What if they came back to get him? What if he got hit? What if my FIL took him to the pound? Oh, I couldn't let myself get hurt like this.

He was there this morning when I couldn't sleep. He stayed all day. He didn't want to leave. He didn't leave.

He disappeared though.

We thought he may have finally went back to his owners. At least, until I got on Facebook today.

He was on the county animal controls' Facebook page.

He was found on this road. My god, I was so pissed off, but it was really little more than me trying to fight it... It was heartbreaking. Devastating.

Knowing how much our children liked him, how much we all liked him--my in-laws took him to the high kill shelter down the road.

We have no money.
We have no way of getting him back.

I fought those tears. So. Hard. But I broke anyway.

How could they do this? Without a word? Nothing? It's so heartless. How could you do that?

I get told what I hear quite often: It's their house. Another stab. Another pain. An old wound. God, it hurts.

Let alone that we have to be here. We don't have a choice. I work my ass off online to get enough money just to by diapers. My husband is waiting for work. We have no other options. We've lived in a tent, we've lived in a car, at the Red Cross, motels, etc. We have one room here, is it so horrible that we constantly have to be reminded of it?

I'm not just going to stand there and cry in front of the kids. I just want to leave when I get this upset. I don't want people around me. I don't want to seem weak. Damn it, I'm strong and crying is showing my weakness. I refuse to show people that side of me. I've worked too damn hard to put up this brave front to be broken by something that seems so trivial to them.

They just didn't get it. My husband tried. I didn't want to. He told me I needed to stand up for myself, tell them how horrible they were being, but I've never seen a point. When someone is too stubborn to put themselves in another person's shoes, there's really no reason for trying. You're just wasting your breath.

Honestly, the first time I was told little more than I needed to stop because I can't just leave because of it. Yes, I want to be scolded for something that you did to hurt me. Thank you so very much.

I did explain it. It hurt though.

You have to understand, we've been looking for a dog. It's just so hard to find something for everyone when you're a family of six. And find one that likes cats? And car rides? It doesn't happen. It's fucking impossible.

I stopped searching over the weekend. The search had broken me. It was something unattainable. Impossible.

Nothing good ever happened to us. No money, no jobs, no work... We couldn't afford a puppy. We could only find ones that "sort of" fit the bill of what we really needed for our family.

Then, as if by magic, this dog appears. All full of tail wags and smiles. Broken, a bit, but nothing that love couldn't fix.

I tried, oh so hard I tried.

I checked his teeth. He's about two years old.
I pulled on his fur, his ears, his tail, his feet... Nothing. No nips or anything.
I gave him a bowl of food. Touched his muzzle, the food, took it away... No response. He growled at the cat for doing the same thing though.

I couldn't find a damn thing wrong with this happy little dog, besides that he needed to be groomed, neutered, and get his shots.

But now, I don't have a choice. I suppose I never had a choice. They made it unattainable once again.

I had taken it as a sign. Maybe it was supposed to be. Maybe this dog appeared for a reason. Knew we needed him as much as he needed us.

And damn it, I really really needed something good to happen. It's been so long...

And I don't have a choice.
And it hurts more than I thought it could.

Maybe I'm broken. It feels like I am, because every time something good is about to happen it just goes away and I no longer have any control. I want to be able to control something about my life. It's crazy scary when it feels like you can't anymore.

And, of course, I can't stop crying again. I just don't know what to do. It's like my heart is broken all over again.

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On Pregnancy: I'm Not as Fragile as You Think

I've been pregnant four times. I've dealt with the pain, the swelling, the aches, the mood swings--okay, my husband more so than me on this one--but you get the point. It's not all rainbows and sunshine, but you're working overtime making another human being inside of you, I don't think it's meant to be an "easy" task.

The thing that bugs me is the people that act as though you are suddenly unbelievably fragile, as though any activity that you were to do may cause you to lose the baby.

Now, don't get me wrong, I do know that there are women like this. High risk pregnancies are not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the regular, run-of-the-mill pregnancy where everything is perfectly fine and you have no restrictions what-so-ever.

All of my pregnancies have been no-restrictions kind of pregnancies. Even though my third one was now considered high risk, at the time it really wasn't so bad. Both of the first ones were high risk in delivery, but none of this was any reason to drop my activity level, if I could keep up with it, as though I weren't pregnant.

With number one, I worked outside a lot. I worked on fish ponds, lifting and digging and doing all kinds of work that my body is completely used to. Besides that, my grandmother was living with us and, unfortunately, she was dying from advanced breast cancer.

I remember the first night she fell when I was alone at home with her and I didn't hesitate to help her to her feet. She raised me and barely weighed a thing at that point, and I wasn't that far along. I didn't even think about it. I don't think most people would in that position either.

A few days later we were talking with my husbands' family and it came up in conversation. (My husbands' grandmother was dying from lung cancer at the same time, so discussing this sort of thing was actually rather normal.) I can remember the anger that my father-in-law had on his face as he started on about how I didn't need to be lifting on her, didn't need to be doing this, doing that, because I was pregnant and could kill the baby. Of course, his wife joined in right away as well. It was horrible.

I mean, where did they come up with this idea? Do they not trust that I know when to stop pushing myself? By the second pregnancy, I couldn't do the same things I did the first time around. The first pregnancy I didn't have a baby to take care of. I didn't have to get over my depression from losing my grandmother. I didn't have to deal with that lost feeling because most of my family was suddenly "gone."

It's not like I was trying to harm myself. I've fallen during pregnancy and, no matter what some of those old shows used to portray, nothing bad happened to me or the baby. There were no strange birthmarks on my children from when I smashed my toe or finger.

Sure, I liked off-roading when pregnant with both girls and they like speed and bumpy rides--who'd figure?

But does that mean all my kids love to dance because I randomly shake my booty when no one is looking? Well, yeah, probably. I mean, that would explain a lot.

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Cracked.com: Parenting Articles

Maybe I get bored a lot. Maybe I have nothing better to do while feeding a sleeping baby or being used as a chair/bed/slide. Maybe, I don't know.

But, I do know that I like reading Cracked.com. Sometimes, you'll learn things that are trivial facts that you'll never be able to bring up in regular conversation with another human being, unless that person is your significant other and the conversation starts off with, "So, I was reading on Cracked.com..."

Somehow, I ended up over there--I blame Babble--and started reading all kinds of, well, I'll just call them "parenting articles." Actually, I think it'd do a few stuck up people some good to read. >,> No, seriously... Read these if you don't believe me.

• 5 Hallmarks of Bad Parenting That Are Actually Good for Kids
• 5 Horrific Ways Bad Parents Turn Their Kids Into Good Money
• 7 Things 'Good Parents' Do (That Screw Up Kids For Life)
• 5 Internet Life Lessons Parents Need to Start Teaching Kids
• 6 Horrible Lessons Hollywood Loves to Teach Kids
• 6 Popular Children's Books That Teach Kids Horrible Lessons

And once you read or skimmed through them, let me know what you think. I really need other people to talk to about this stuff because while my husband can't generally remember a conversation five minutes after having it, it does start to get boring on my end.

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Translation?

For the most part, I'm the one that translates the strange things that our youngest daughter mumbles. Today, however, I had to ask our oldest what the hell she said.

Iz: I want tay-tay-o's.

Me: What?

Iz: I want some tay-tay-o's.

Me: What are day-day-o's?

Iz: Tay-tay-o's! They're day-day-o's.

Me: Izy, I have no idea what you're talking about.

Iz: *faceplant into chair*

Me: Kal, can you tell me what you're sister is saying?

Kal: *nods*

Me: Izy, tell your sister what you want.

Iz: I want tay-tay-o's!

Kal: She says she wants Spagetti-O's.

Me: *facepalm*

Thankfully, the oldest can translate better than the rest of us. Since they were all born close together, they do have their own language. I was surprised the first few times people asked that, because people always assume our girls are twins. (They are 12 days short of being one year apart.) Usually it's mothers or grandmothers of multiples that ask. Hey, I guess we do have something in common!

Waiting for the boy to start talking more. He's rather quiet and shy though, so he just says "hi" and smiles at people. Waves. Bats his eyes... That sort of thing. Kalli introduces everyone and Izy hides. Seb is, of course, too small to do much of anything besides stare blankly and drool.

I just can't wait 'til they're all talking "their language" and no one else knows what the hell they're saying. They'll make fun of us, complain even more than they already do in the bedroom at night, and whatever else one can do while speaking a language that others don't understand.

And I'll, hopefully, figure out enough of it to get by... And maybe catch them being mean and pop in their room all like, "Don't talk like that!" and they'll drop and be so surprised I knew what they were saying.

Or, uh, not. I'm never going to be that awesome/cool.

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New Domain!

...And it only took me sending my domain register a customer support message!

Putting a Register.com domain on a pre-existing Blogger (BlogSpot) blog.

Had quite a bit of trouble with it. Here's what I did:

• Find the Google help page about what to do
• You can find it here
• Sign in on Register.com
• Click on your domain
• Scroll down to the bottom where it says "Advanced Technical Settings"*
• Click on A to edit
• Add these four IP addresses to the right-hand column
• 216.239.32.21
• 216.239.34.21
• 216.239.36.21
• 216.239.38.21
• Leave the left-hand column blank
• Click on CNAME to edit
• Put www in the left-hand column
• Put ghs.google.com in the right-hand column
• Go to Blogger.com
• Go to your blog Settings > Basics (the main/first Settings page)
• Under "Publishing" there is a section called "Blog address"
• Click "Advanced settings"
• Add your domain name, with WWW in front
• Save and reopen
• Check the box for "Redirect MYDOMAIN.COM to WWW.MYDOMAIN.COM"
• Save again
• Check domain in new window
• If it works, awesome!
• If it doesn't appear within a few hours
• Contact Register.com support and let them know you've done everything on your end
• Magically, it WILL WORK eventually

*Note: If you have changed the DNS on Register.com, you must reset it to the original settings otherwise you won't find the A and CNAME at the bottom of the page.


Btw, I bought my .com address for $2. You can too. Just use the code Reg2ea at the checkout. (It was a Google ad, so I'm sure they're making even more money off of me by this.) It's only for new users and it's about as cheap as I could find it online. Enjoy!

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"Would You Have Your Baby’s Ears Pierced?" My Response.

Years ago, I remember watching one of my friends getting her two week old daughter's ears pierced by a gun in Walmart. The baby was not happy, squirmed and fought, and was obviously in pain from it. Of course, as soon as she was walked around a bit she stopped crying and sniffling and seemed fine. Still, it was a bit disturbing to watch.

I remember having one of the piercing guns jam on my right ear when I was ten. I never got my ears pierced as a teen because of it. When I was twenty-one, I went with my future husband to a nice tattoo shop and got my ears pierced properly with a needle--not with a gun. I now have two holes on each side, but the ones on the right are a little off because of the scar tissue from the gun mishap all those years ago.

My husband was a piercer. He was also misfortune enough to have a piercing gun jam on him as a child as well. We both understand how those things work and how they are often unclean and used by people that really don't comprehend how to use them in the first place. We tend to think that getting one's ears pierced with a gun in some random shop in the mall is just asking for an infection.

If and when we ever decide to get our daughters (aged 3 & 2) ears pierced, we will be taking them to a nice tattoo parlor with a licensed piercer that has all their certifications and the place is CLEAN. Going to someplace in the mall or an outlet store that gives free piercings if you buy earrings? I don't think so. Would you let your kids get their vaccines from a doctor's office that is filthy? Think of it in the same sense, please.

Of course, I don't really see a point in putting earrings on tiny children that can't take care of them. If they can't clean their piercings, then they don't need to have them. (Too bad teenagers don't realize this! I've seen so many rejections and infections it's not even funny!) If they understand that it'll hurt and that if they want them they need to learn how to take care of it, it is a hole in your skin after all, then I don't see a reason why you should deny them--boy or girl.

Would You Have Your Baby’s Ears Pierced?

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Please Read: "Did This Major Brand Steal a Mom Inventor’s Idea? You Decide."

Via Sunshine & Sippy Cups.

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Severe Weather

I'm a storm spotter. I'm also a mother. Of course, if there's any "bad" weather headed our way I'm up and tracking and worried, but also very interested. Weather fascinates me.

DD woke up before the thunder started. I managed to fall asleep knowing that it would storm this morning and not setting up any alerts first. So, I grabbed my nearly-dead phone and saw that the storms were about an hour away. I got up.

There was a report of a tornado on the ground in Harrisburgh, Illinois. Not close to us, south of us and the storm would stay that way. Still, we used to live in it's path on the south side of Evansville, Indiana, and my sister-in-law lives in a trailer park down there. I was concerned, obviously.

Father-in-law, whom she would normally call, is at work. Her mother, my MIL, has no minutes on her phone nor is it ever turned on anyway. I woke up my husband so he would have his phone on and charged in case she called as we are the only family members she'd be able to get a hold of.

I kept watching. It was headed just south of her home, so I attempted to wake my husband up to call her. She's off work today and I wasn't for sure she was even awake to know what was going on. It's a scary thought, even if we don't get along with her. I don't really care who it is, if you know anyone in the path of a tornado, it should bother you.

In any case, it seems to have avoided her completely and thankfully, though there are fatalities in Illinois and damage in both Indiana and Kentucky too. (Evansville is right on the Ohio River across from Kentucky and Illinois is just to the west.) Not something anyone wants to happen in their area. It's really depressing to know that people have lost their lives tonight and this morning.

When my mother-in-law got up, she didn't care. What? What about her daughter? Obviously she'd be fine. She did point out that she needed to get minutes for her phone. What? She informs me we have a tornado warning. No we don't, that's south of us. Oh, it's a watch. Yeah, but it's been cancelled. It's supposed to be windy. Of course it is! School is closed. No it's not, it's on a delay. They're on a delay? Yes, it was storming! Why does it even matter? Your kids are in their twenties.

I want to rip my hair out. How can you not care? It's morning, yes. It's early, yes. You just woke up, I got it. Your kid could have died tonight, don't you fucking care at all?

I want to cry.

I could barely get my husband awake enough to give a damn. He didn't seem the slightest bit concerned either because he is tired. For that matter, he went back to bed. He told me he texted his sister when I woke him up to call her (I don't have her number nor would she probably speak to me anyway), but I don't recall him ever touching his phone. He probably thought he did, because he tends to "dream" things I've asked him to do while sleepy.

His excuse? "I have to work today." So what? It's not like you can't sleep more later. I think you should care a little bit more about this. What if it was headed this way? Am I supposed to grab the kids, get them in the car, and somehow get you up and in the car too so we can leave? (We're in a modular that's really just a flimsy double-wide. No storm shelter or anything for that matter.)

I'm so frustrated right now. I went to sleep shortly before him. I got up. I've been up. Just because he works later this evening does not mean that he should be magically entitled to more sleep than me. I get to watch the kids and work online, but obviously I don't need the sleep.

Actually, he told me he was just "going to lay down" because we were arguing and he "didn't want to yell at me." Needless to say, all he did was go back to bed.

I wish people would grow up around here...

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