Let the Clean Up... BEGIN!

You know all those Pinterest projects you've started? Or the papers you were waiting to sort through and file? ....Or just the sink of dirty dishes you left the night before and thought, "Hey, I'll have time tomorrow.  We'll probably be flooded in."  OR when you only clean behind the toilets every other week, because you gave up on your toddler boys being able to aim, and this was the off week.  I would highly suggest you finish all of these things if you're being told your neighborhood is highly likely to flood.

So Friday morning, the flood waters magically receded.  It left as fast as it came.  We were in shock.  When we went in on Thursday, it was bad.  There's no sugar coating being waist deep in water on your lawn, or boating out of your street.  Most everyone was predicting that it would be 2 weeks before we'd be able to start any work.

We surveyed the damage.  I can finally tell my BFF Britt that I know what mud smells like. It's gross.  To me, the damage didn't seem terrible.  I had been watching the news, and saw whole homes underwater in neighboring towns.  We got about 3-4 inches on water all around the house. Jarod saved our electronics and pulled up as much as he could.  The biggest hits were the closets... because I never hang anything up or really put things away. (Out of sight, out of mind, right??)

First step, pull the carpet up.... scratch that, there's too much shit on the ground.

I'm not exactly sure what Jarod did on Friday, but I'm guessing it was pretty important.  I stood in my closet for a couple hours, trying to come up with a good plan.... we could probably just burn the bitch down and start anew! Joking aside, I got all the wet stuff out of there, and pulled up the carpet in the closet... You'd think this process would be therapeutic, but with a dull utility knife, it's just as frustrating as leaving it where it is... especially when you've been working on it for an hour and don't realize what's wrong.  I'm just saying, demo day may be stress relieving if you have the proper tools.

*Side note: I found out that my knife was dull, when I went to tell Jarod I wasn't sure I was doing it right, and saw him cut through carpet like butter with his brand new blade! Really?!?!

After a quick google search, I found that our wet clothes were salvageable.  A few quick washes and they should be OK.  Our plan to spend the night at the local washateria was squashed by our wonderful neighbors that took every single basket and bag to wash for us.  I just couldn't believe it! Hours and hours of time saved.  On top of that, another neighbor said we could store our things at their house.  (I was really wondering if they knew what they were getting into, but they're super nice. haha) I went home, and passed out.  I woke up to a dozen messages, tags, and notifications of people wanting to help.  People I knew, but mostly people I only kind of knew by their profile pic.  I could not believe it!

At one in the morning, I definitely thought we were OK, and I was certain there were probably others that needed more help than we did.  Turns out, we probably got the worst of it (believe it or not).  I didn't really know what needed to be done, but figured we could use a couple extra hands to help (Because cutting carpet is really hard with a dull knife.)The next day was nothing short of a miracle.

When we got to the house, we had 5, yes FIVE people waiting to help us.  (More or less, I honestly didn't count, but I tell people 5 for the effect).  Jarod sent myself and my friend Rowena on a trip to Costco to get bins for our crap... we took our time for a quick Starbucks run, too.  To come home to no less than 25 people in our house getting shit done.  I couldn't believe it! Half our carpet was ripped out, our things ready to be transferred.   I walked around for literally 2 hours not knowing what I could do.  All I can think is, I'm really glad we aren't into anything weird, because people were definitely seeing us in all our glory! People would ask me questions like "Would you like to keep this?" or "what can I do to help?" and I just kept telling them I didn't know.  I let Jarod make on the decisions.  I mean, I hate making real decisions in the first place, so I thought I was being normal.  Looking back, I think I'm still a little shocked.  New people would come in and I would say "Hi!" and try to stop myself from saying "Excuse the mess"

...ummm it's a mess because there was literally a river running through the house.

In any case, Rivers Edge has been nothing short of amazing to us! The HOURS and MONEY that they saved us, the support that we were given, the new friends we've made.... I. just. can't.  Out of this long essay, I'm speechless when I think of the people that have been to our house.  All I can say is, thank you times infinity.  This is the glue that keeps people together.  This is the faith in humanity that the world should see, feel, and believe in.  I wish I could name every single person, because they truly deserve individual shout outs, but Rivers Edge, you truly are a community of family.  We love you all.  You didn't have to be there and you sought us out.  I can't think of any other place where I've heard there were TOO MANY Volunteers.

I truly appreciate everyone that has offered us help.  If I refuse, I'm sorry.  I still don't really get how much there is to do.  From what I hear, you just have to do it.  I know I'd force help onto you :)

I could probably ramble on and on, but I'll finish with this.  We will get through this.  We will be OK. We're a little crazy right now, but things will be normal soon.

Love to you all! (I don't usually say that...But I do.)

The Palmers

That Time I Became a Flood Refugee...

Without the National Guard and Texas Task Force 1, we wouldn't have had a way out of our neighborhood.  Without these men and women, I would not be making jokes and my boys would not be OK.  They came into a horrible situation, stayed calm, were extremely organized, and SPENT TIME WITH PEOPLE.  Amazing.  Just amazing.
 I want to thank EVERYONE who has called, prayed, and messaged us.  We cannot believe the amount of people willing to help us and feel TRULY blessed to have found so many wonderful friends and family.
The Bragg family has been nothing short of amazing to us.  From finding a way to pick the boys and me up with road closures everywhere to housing us.  I just feel so blessed to have met Emerald on the sunny day at the playground...where we didn't talk to each other or make eye contact, but became Facebook Friends.
There will be cussing in this post, if you're not into that, sorry I'm not sorry.  But my house is fucking flooded and I'm a little upset about it.
I'm really bad at emergency packing "light" and realize why I have to start packing a week in advance.

Yes... our house has water it in.

Something we've never imagined would happen to us.  Through all the bad rainstorms and flash flooding that has happened all around, we've never gained water in this way.  I suppose that's why they call it the "flood of the century."  Literally... the last time the Brazos River flooded this bad was 1913.  (I googled it)

So here the story goes...

However long ago (I totally forget, maybe over the weekend) I had heard there would be flooding in our area because of storms to the north of us.  I definitely thought, whatever... but decided to flood prep anyway.  By "flood prep" I mean, I went to the grocery store 3 times to buy snacks and thought about packing a bag.  I have a reason for this!  Over the past year, there have been several threats of flooding, and I've prepared, packed a bag, let everyone know and nothing happened..  NOTHING.  Sometimes, we didn't even see rain.  My sandbags stayed in their pouches, unopened, to my dismay, and I just sat at home, watching the river levels on the inter webs.

So, they said the river would crest on Monday, which it didn't... then Tuesday... when it didn't... and we were thinking, this is dumb.  Other areas of our neighborhood started to gain water through the storm drains, and we had dry streets.  We went to a friend's for dinner and joked around about how our neighborhood was on the news for nothing... well, Mother Nature is a bitch that will show you what's up.  Wednesday morning, I woke up to street flooding to the curb.  I had expected this days ago, so I went back to bed.  I checked a few hours later to find a mother fucking moat outside my house.  Just what the actual fuck? We went from 0 to 100 in a few hour's time.  I actually changed out of my flannel pajamas (Which I did go outside in, to see what's going on) I grabbed the nearest hockey bag and just started stuffing shit into it as fast as possible.  Which, as it turned out, meant a strange array of clothing that does not match.  P.S. my evacuation outfit sucked.

As Jarod hurried us out the door, and we were met by wonderful members of The National Guard and Texas Task Force 1.   It was almost  the equivalent to valet service, if I didn't look like a Vietnam refugee.

Look at my face....

While this is never anything you'd want your children to endure, I think it was the best possible experience I could have imagined. The National Guard guys took time to listen to Sammy ("Have you ever heard of a whale shark?") answer questions, and kept us calm.  I cannot thank them enough for their assistance not only to us, but our entire area. Long day, short... we made it to our friends house safe and sound.  

Now Jarod... I legit went apeshit on him in front of many people on the phone.   Of course, he wanted to stay and go down with the ship after I JUST told him, "Do NOT try to be our savior.  Think safe."  He is NOT a Captain, and I refused to lose my husband in the Brazos River.  After about 3 hours of constant nagging and having a neighbor come help.  Jarod joined us, safe and dry.  

Wednesday morning, after realizing that I only pulled leggings and layering tanks for myself, I convince Jarod that it would be a good idea to head back to our water front property, we travelled over, close to our neighborhood, parked, and ventured in.  

Devastation.  I'm exaggerating, but that's really the only feeling I think of when we started walking into our section.  Just dirty water everywhere. At this point, I had a small hope that there wasn't water in our house.  Several people had stayed behind and they still have electricity.  It couldn't be that bad.  Jarod thought, otherwise.  He had been there until the water had reached our flower beds.  He had a good idea of how much more the water had to rise to get into our house.  

When we got to the front, our sandbags were floating.  Definitely not a good sign.  When we walked in the door, I thought I was in some sort of Zombie Apocalypse.  It was dark (because we turned the power off and the shades were shut). Water was everywhere.  Lost socks and toys were now floating around.  We surveyed the damage and came to the conclusion that we were a little screwed (Just a little).  At that point, we had to hurry because who knows what was floating around and I'm pretty sure I was just surrounded by flesh eating bacteria.  

We bagged everything in garbage bags and Jarod got our radio flyer.  Our freezer was still frozen, so we put as much as we could in coolers and I packed up as many snacks and Vienna Sausages as I could.  I sure as hell wasn't going to allow my stash float away for some alligator (I'm pretty sure if they found out how good SPAM was, they'd never eat another person, again). 

We had seen some evacuation boats going around, so I called in to be taken out.  Kind of like a shuttle service for refugees.  Even though we totally took advance of the Texas Task Force here, they were so nice, helpful, and even took all of our stuff right to our friend's car! 

So, things I grab during a flood emergency....

Leggings, tons of leggings... When Jarod said the National Guard was at our door and the boys and I had to leave then, I just started pulling things from drawers and throwing it in a bag.  This is when I really regret separating my clothing by type.  Leggings and layering shirts.  That's all I've got.  The boys have more underwear than they could ever want, and towels.  Holy mother of TOWELS. 

There was this time, my Dad was telling me about evacuating Vietnam.  Once they made their first stop, there were National Geographic photographers going around.  They asked my grandma what she brought with her.  Towels.  She brought towels.  I am Susan.  

Even after my second trip through, I thought I had grabbed some sweat pants, or something other than leggings.  Nope.  Can't find that bag.  Must have left that bag behind.  And deodorant! Anyone who knows me knows I need it.  Nope, can't find it.  Been using Jarod's (Didn't ask, either.  We're refugees! It's survival time.)

As I type, there are pictures and posts that the water levels are going down.  Hopefully we will be able to get a least one vehicle out, soon.  Jarod and I haven't been able to work this week, which is pretty hard on our family.  

The last two days felt like a month.  No, I haven't cried.  No, I'm not freaking out so much.  I have zero plans, because I have been trying not to think about all the clothes and shoes I left sitting at the bottom of my closet.  Flooding and whatever else... I still have first world girl problems.