Chattanooga Choo Choo

 We decided to check out the Chattanooga Choo Choo. It has sure changed a lot from the last time I went, but it was something different to do.

Besides the hotel, there was an arcade that looked pretty empty. Maddy had never been there, so she enjoyed looking around. We didn't get to look around long because the rain came earlier than expected.

I think I've only been during Christmas time. It is beautiful at Christmas. We plan to go back when it's all decorated. I did film a little of our adventure over on our YouTube channel. 

After exploring downtown Chattanooga, we were starved and headed to Sonic. In case you don't know, Sonic is one of Maddy's favorite restaurants. If it were up to her, we would eat there every day. We typically order the same thing, a number one combo with a lot of customizations.

We love exploring new things and hope to find more things to explore in the future.

Severe Weather

I know I've been missing here lately, but I am back. My posts are probably going to be once a week for now. I post on other social media platforms every Monday at 10:00 EST, so I think I will do the same for my blog. 

I'm not sure when my love for weather, storms in particular, happened, but I do love learning about them. I have several radar apps I've purchased and found a few weather YouTubers I enjoy following. Ryan Hall Y'all became one of my favorites because he would teach about the storm setup and show pointers of things to look for when looking for tornadoes. I've learned quite a bit from him. 

I thought I would share some of my process as we were originally in the slight risk with this system.

As it gets closer to Springtime, I typically start checking the severe weather outlook on the Storm Prediction Center's website.

This just shows the severe storm risk. If we are in the slight risk or higher, then I start looking at other things. 

After checking the SPC severe weather risk, I go to Pivotal Weather and click on Models. I start with HRRR. On the left-hand side, I scroll down to the severe weather and click on significant tornado parameters. Since I am not a meteorologist, I am unable to determine tornado parameters on my own. I would love to be able to forecast on my own, but I haven't taken time to truly learn how to do so.

You can click on any county and it will pull up hodographs, which I am still unable to read, but in the bottom right corner it will list the risk.

In this example, there is a possibility of a tornado. I also like to check the NAM as it shows different results. Another good thing to check is the supercell composite.

The date and time of the event is listed in the upper left-hand corner. You can google z weather times, but I will say I have not been able to get my times to match an actual meteorologist. I really like Ryan Hall's supercell setup because the cells show up as dots and it gives a better representation of where the supercells will be.

Dew points are another factor as to whether a tornado could spin up. If you have dewpoints in the 60's or higher that is one ingredient that is needed.

Once storm day has arrived, I utilize Radarscope and Radar Omega apps. These are both paid apps, but so worth it if you love weather. This is where Ryan Hall Y'all has helped me the most. I will try to capture screenshots to share to make it easier to follow.

Before I continue, I want to add that I started writing this post Friday before the storms rolled through. I used the storms to gather my screenshots. The storms were horrific in Mississippi and my heart breaks for all the people that were impacted. I've been learning how to read the radar for a few years now and I have never seen storms like these. 

Once storms get started, I periodically look at the mesoscale discussion on the SPC website. This will let you know if they are planning to add a watch to your area. 

In this example the circled area was expected to have severe storms develop with tornadoes becoming more likely late in the day.

This is typically my set up during severe weather. Anytime Ryan Hall Y'all is live I try to watch and follow along so I can learn. This screenshot is a PDS (particularly dangerous situation) tornado warning. This would be the storm that went on to produce the horrific tornadoes in Rolling Fork, MS. This is the velocity of the storm. When the red and green are touching and is tight that shows there is rotation.

This is the correlation coefficient. The ball that is northeast from the tornado symbol would be what meteorologists call the CC drop. This shows there is debris in the air. There was another tornado that hit the northwest section of Amory, MS. The correlation coefficient was huge! I thought I took screenshots of it, but apparently, I was so shocked in what I was seeing I failed to do so.

This is another Velocity scan that shows rotation. The red and green heart shape is where the rotation was, and I'm pretty sure there was a tornado on the ground here.

This is another velocity scan that shows two separate areas of rotation. One is above Tchula and the other above the 17. I cannot remember if there were truly two tornadoes on the ground, but if there were this is what it would look like. 

These are the things I have learned so far. I still have some learning to do. 

I think it is super important to listen to your local weather people. If they say prepare, make sure you have an action plan in place. I know meteorologists get a bad rap because it seems they are wrong more than they are right. The issue is they are sharing what they see in the model runs. I have seen models change within minutes, so I can't imagine trying to forecast days in advance. 

We have a lot of access to resources we didn't used to have. Ryan Hall Y'all is a great YouTube channel to watch if storms are expected to be bad. Dr. Reed Timmer is also another great resource to utilize. He streams on social media a lot. A few other storm chasers I have started following are Brandon Copic, Brad Arnold, Vince Waelti, Chris Hall Y'all. Andy Hill is a great meteorologist that just started his YouTube channel recently. He is active on Twitter as well. 

A Day in Our Life

 Do you ever wonder what people do throughout the day? Sometimes I do, so I thought I'd share a day in our life. 

Monday through Friday we wake up anywhere between 7:30 and 7:45 am. We've been on this schedule since July, and we are still NOT morning people. While I take Marley out, Maddy gets ice in my cup and brings me my bang energy drink. Peach Mango is my favorite flavor, but when there is no other option Cotton Candy, Candy Apple Crisp, and Rainbow Unicorn are all right. Once she delivers my drink, she starts getting what she needs for school. 

On a non-overtime workday, I get off around 4:30 pm. During overtime I get off around 6:30 pm. Once I am done with work, we either eat dinner or start working on my part of Maddy's school. During school review I go over the work Maddy did that day and make sure she understood the concept. The most time consuming is Grammar and Math. Maddy has always struggled with math, but I am so happy in the progress she has made. 

Once we eat dinner we sometimes will walk around the neighborhood. Here lately we haven't been able to do that as much because I am working overtime. We have walked several nights with flashlights turned on. I can only sit for so long and work takes most of that time. 

Maddy will take a shower and brush her teeth and then its bedtime and we start all over again.

The weekends are a little different. We are typically gone all day Saturday. We have started filming for social media, so we have to make content. I am super careful about what I show on camera to not reveal details about where we live. If you ever want to see what we are up to follow us on TikTok: @maddysmom0923, YouTube: @HeatherVlogsLife, or Instagram: @HeatherVlogsLife.

Sunday, we go to church. After church we usually have a Wal-Mart pickup order, but we head home afterwards. We chill all day Sunday. I reserve Sunday for laundry, writing blog posts, or editing YouTube videos. I also use Sunday to plan for the upcoming week. I use the Happy Planner planner while Maddy uses the Callie Danielle planner. After we decorate our planners, I will fill in Maddy's with her schoolwork for the week. I don't have a lot to fill in mine anymore. Living with my parents I don't have as many chores as I did when we had a home. I also no longer have to meal plan. I use my planner as a reminder of overtime requirements and to write in what we had for dinner each day and any plans we may have. 

That is our week in a nutshell. Obviously, it changes some here and there, but this is our base daily life.

Valentine's Day 2023

 Valentine's Day was low key. The older Maddy gets the harder it is to figure out what to do for Valentine's Day. Her gift was going to see the new Ant Man movie, and of course some candy. 

The people in the theater were extremely talkative, so Maddy got very frustrated. She wasn't able to fully immerse herself into the movie. Every time she did the talking pulled her right back out. Other than the noise, she really enjoyed it. I haven't seen the other two Ant Man movies yet, but I still enjoyed the new one.

My parents did their usual tradition, which we really enjoy. My stepdad gives us a rose and my mom makes chocolate covered strawberries. I'm not a huge Valentine's person, but I so look forward to those each year. 

My stepdad also made a delicious dinner. He smoked steaks and baked us a potato. I used to need steak sauce whenever I ate steak. My stepdad has mastered the smoker and I no longer need steak sauce. In fact, his are so delicious I will not order a steak out. He also smokes shrimp and fish that is out of this world. I hate fish, but I can eat his smoked fish. 

I was not able to get pictures on Valentine's Day. We have been on overtime at work, and it is definitely taking its toll on me. Tenured people have been working overtime since October or November. I do not see how they keep their sanity. I feel like I get no free time and I am not okay with it. 

I hope you all had a very special Valentine's Day and enjoyed time with your loved ones.

What I'm Watching February

 I tried to do a better job of keeping up with what I watched. I like seeing what other people watch in hopes I'll find a new show or movie to enjoy. In order to stay focused at work I like to put on a movie or a show to listen to while I work. The months where I have a lot listed, it's mostly from watching during work hours.

• Alert: Missing Person's Unit - I actually started watching this late January, but I had already posted my January list, so I added it to February.

• How to Murder Your Husband: The Nancy Brophy Story 

• Law & Order SVU

• I Shouldn't Be Alive

• My Sister's Serial Killer Boyfriend

• This Is Us - I started watching this series late. I'm only on season three. 

• Safer At Home - this was a weird movie. I wouldn't recommend it exactly, but once I started watching I had to finish lol. Crazy ending for sure!

• Alcatraz - I thought this movie was boring until closer to the end

• Dakota

• The Good Doctor

• Tiger Rising

• Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionist

• The Glades

• Offline

• Blue Bloods

• Alex Murdaugh Trial via Emily D. Baker

• Family 5 Vlogs - YouTube

My Pet Peed

 If you're thinking of getting a puppy, you need to get My Pet Peed. It is a small business based in Texas that actually works! 

When I got Marley, he was trained to use puppy pads. I didn't make a big deal about training him to go outside because he didn't mess on the floor. As he grew, I regretted my decision. I started smelling pee and found out he sometimes missed the puppy pads, or if they are not completely clean, he will not use them. I tried so many cleaners to get the smell out and none worked. I found My Pet Peed through a Google search I think and decided why not give it a try. I'm so glad I did because it surely does work. You spray wherever the mess is and leave it for 12-24 hours and repeat the process if necessary. Just a warning that it will smell worse before it smells better. 

Whenever I get a puppy or new dog, I will make sure to have plenty in stock while we go through the housetraining phase. It truly is a lifesaver in keeping your carpets clean. It's supposed to work on throw up and other messes, but I haven't been able to try it on anything other than pee.

Happy New Year!

 Every year for New Years Eve we go to my mom's for game night. Living with my mom for now just made this tradition a little easier. My mom always has good snacks to snack on from pigs in a blanket, my personal favorite, to a veggie tray. 

As usual Marley just chilled out on his blankets.

We played several games: Uno, Qwerkle, and Clue. We may have played another game, but these are all I remember.

Once it's closer to the new year we prepare our drinks. My mom found a sparkling apple juice that tastes so good.

Once we welcome in the new year, we typically get ready for bed. That is our New Year's Eve traditions. I've not done a great job of getting pictures. I take more video than anything. We had a fun night and look forward to seeing what this year has in store for us.