Life throws a few curve balls

Hello lovelies! Last week, I had planned to give you all a few great recipes and a tutorial. Mother nature had other plans, however. You see, I live in the High Mojave Desert in an area that frequently sees 110° weather and rarely sees any precipitation. Last week though, we had monsoon weather come through from tropical storm Ivo (I think that's what it was called) which created a flash flood. The ground could not absorb the water fast enough and so it all just picked up and moved. Seriously, our whole town was decimated. The building where my roller derby team skates was filled with two feet of water, sand and mud. Many buildings were flooded, trees ripped out of the ground, parks are now devoid of sand and full of large boulders and sharp rocks, streets were filled with mud and debris, wild animals were displaced from their natural habitats and took up residence in peoples back yards. It was a mess.

I live on a military installation and so we were lucky enough to have our own "built in response team". It was really great to see soldiers and families banding together to clean up the streets and repair buildings. The elementary school was hit hardest of all. Soldiers worked day and night to clear out a barracks and relocate the entire school so that the kids would only be out of their classrooms for a few days. Unfortunately, the State came in and told us that the buildings were not up to their standards so all that work was for naught. Still, it was great to see the response time.

So, here we were, recovering from this massive flood and then what happens next? A storm blows through town about 100 miles away and knocks over two power poles which feed our post with electricity. In this 100° plus heat, we were now without power for over 24 hours. This is actually the third time this year we've experienced these outages. Let me tell you how much fun it is to have no electricity when its hot as Hades. . . its not. There are many people who are well suited to live through crisis with a smile on there face and a wonderful plan for weathering the storm (as it were). I. Am. Not. That. Person. Beast-mode kicks in and I get very irritable. I tried my best to keep a happy face, for my daughter at least. We made origami butterflies and played dolls and puzzles. The heat became too much so we retreated to my car where we could languish in the AC.

My weekly meal plan pretty much went out with the power outage and we had to improvise, so I have no recipes for you. I did however make a really cute little diaper bag and set of accessories for my Bug from this fun tutorial:
http://thediymommy.com/sew-a-deluxe-dolly-diaper-bag-and-accessories/

Here is Bug modeling her new bag. I'll post pics of the rest of the items when I get them all finished up. I had to hand sew the diapers when the power went out. I was lucky to have just finished the bag right before the lights went out. I still need to make a changing pad, a few more diapers and some bibs. So far, Bug is thrilled with her new toys! Her baby dolls, Luke and Leia are very happy too.