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Tornados, State Farm, and Errands

By Melissa Markham on May 30, 2008 7:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I was up at 5:15 this morning. What the heck is wrong with me? It is bright here very early and I don't sleep well once the sun comes up. And I didn't sleep well last night which didn't help either. It was one of those nights for restless tossing and turning. Hate that!

So anyway, got up, answered some emails, took a shower, and got the kids up. We left the apartment around 7:30. We wanted to be gone when the maids got here (they arrived at 8:30 last week). We planned to go to McDonald's for breakfast and play in the play place (Katrina picked it out as her choice for our breakfast out). Daniel called when we were there and told me Bloomington had been put under a tornado watch and for me to keep a lookout. He also said, I should try to get my running around done by 11-11:30.

We left McDonald's at 8:30 and drove to State Farm to meet Daniel for a tour. We toured around from about 8:45 to 10:00. The place is huge.

If you go to Google Maps, type in Ireland Grove, Bloomington, IL. You will see the number 28 and to the left of that you will see a body of water. That is the pond next to the State Farm complex. All the buildings to the left of the lake are part of the complex (there is another huge building a couple of miles down the road). Each building is four or five stories tall and several have a floor underground as well. NW, you will see Angler's lake. The apartments we are staying in are south of the lake. And you can zoom in for better views. Google maps is cool.

After we left Daniel, we headed downtown to the library. We had some movies to return and the kids wanted to pick up more for the next week. We left there ( I got a little turned around) and we arrived home about noon. Unfortunately, the maids hadn't been by. Though they often come early, they don't have to be here before 1. So I called Daniel and we decided to meet for lunch. Plus he had purchased a printer, but the box it was in was huge and wouldn't fit into his car. So I took the Xterra, picked up the printer and we had lunch at Hardees.

The Hardees here is called Hardees Red Burrito. They don't sell hotdogs like they do back home, but they do have the burgers and chicken. In addition they have some Mexican items. I ordered a burrito. It was huge! I couldn't eat it all for lunch and couldn't finish the leftover for supper!

While we were eating, I asked Daniel if he had gotten paper for the printer. He said he hadn't that printers come with a few sheets of paper and we would be fine. I told him I couldn't believe he didn't get paper and I thought about stopping to get some, but the sky was looking a bit angry and I had already been gone all morning, so I shelved the thought. Anyway, we ate, got back to the apartment a little after one and the maids were here cleaning, so we hung out in the breezeway until they were done.

About 1:30, we got our stuff inside, and about 1:45, Daniel announces that there is no paper with the printer and it won't work until he has paper (MEN!!!) So out I went again! I got paper and some other cables he felt he should have and a couple of DS games (my payment for the extra trip and not saying 'I told you so'.)

When I returned, our new weather radio was blaring and saying there was a tornado warning. Turns out it was about 8 miles NW of us. Even though we had warnings all afternoon and evening (t-storms and tornados), nothing really developed near us except rain. We did hear some thunder and lightening and the kids were a bit freaked out and worried, but I think they also thought it was cool having the weather radio.

So...there we go...a day when I tried not to have to run around much and ended up going all over the place! LOL! Best laid plans of mice and (wo)men!

Hope you have a lovely weekend!

We came in, got briefly settled, then