Reflect-O Billy strikes again!

I'm an idiot. I never claimed to be incredibly intelligent, but right now I'm admitting my idiocy to the interwebs. Hubby and I went to see Smashing Pumpkins last night. Totally rocking band, free tickets, there was no way that a little thing like rain was going to stop us. Rain? Tropical Storms? HA! Bring it on! However, I should mention that we don't own an umbrella. Yes, we live in Florida and do not own an umbrella. My mother owns about five and it's just her and my brother, but my family of six does not have one umbrella among us. Really, it's just not practical to carry a little one and a huge umbrella, and children tend to break them or poke each other in the eye while carrying them, so we have phased out all umbrellas. It's just easier to stay inside or make a mad dash for it. Okay, so that being said, here's a shot of the line outside Hard Rock Live last night:

Notice, we were not the only morons without an umbrella, and with the way the rain was blowing, everyone got soaked whether they had an umbrella or not. And when I say soaked, I mean SOAKED! While waiting in the rain, an employee came down the line passing out our tickets and said, "Keep them dry!" Well, I put it in the driest place I could think of, my bra, and this is what our tickets looked like when we got to the door:

I could wring water out of my panties and bra after we got home. My jeans weighed twenty pounds. It was freakin' awesome!

So, the show... I think I'm getting old. Standing on the floor for three hours packed in like sardines no longer has any appeal to me. Or maybe it was the fact that excessive movement was causing chafing against my wet jeans. If we had seats (or had not been soaked), I would have been in heaven though, even with the twenty pound wet jeans.

Billy had on a skirt, nothing new, but his skirt was covered in what looked like three by five inch pieces of aluminum flashing that were arranged shingle style. It was fairly long (down to his ankles), but he did have the sense to put a slit in the back. I'm not really sure what he was wearing underneath. What would Tim Gunn suggest? Tights, skinny jeans, or just go commando? He had on a tight shiny silver long sleeved shirt with cargo pockets over each, um, man boob? Sorry, I'm not really sure how else to put that. So with his shiny head, and all the reflective clothes, he was like a giant disco ball throwing the club lights everywhere. Needless to say, I could not get a decent picture, but enjoy this shaky video of him playing 'Tonight, Tonight'....







The bass player had on a really cute, really short little red dress with a tutu skirt and black rubbery-looking legging/pants. I really want her dress, but I would need her thighs, too. Everyone else was dressed normally. I think I may have to make Hubby a skirt like Billy's. I have some aluminum tape that I could double over. It would be a total Project Runway challenge.

We ended up leaving before the end, because my poor skin and feet couldn't handle the wetness and standing anymore, but we did get to hear all my favorite songs and their version of 'Cat Scratch Fever'. It was still a great show even if we didn't make it to the end.

Oh, and the lake across the street from our house was overflowing into the street, so we got to drive through that in complete darkness which was fun. Maybe a canoe would be a better purchase idea than an umbrella. At least it would be more difficult for the children to destroy.

Cliche weather post ahead...

I'm just about over this Florida thing. No, I'm not moving, but I'm getting really tired of it. Well, maybe not Florida so much, just the weather. Yes, I'm gonna whine, brace yourself, and it kills me to do this because talking about bad weather is so cliche.

So this weather thing is getting annoying, really fast. I can deal with the rain. Rain is not bad; it makes everything green. I like to take naps when it's raining. We even have sunshine during the rain, so it's not particularly depressing. What I can't deal with is the idiotic way people deal with the rain. Yes, we have hurricanes, tropical storms, tornadoes, etc. Yes, it can get scary. Yes, you should probably get some sort of survival kit together. No, you should not interrupt my television escape from being shut inside a house with four kids to show me pictures of something that I can see if I look out my window. If I wanted to know exactly how fast the storm is rotating, where it is headed or any other minute detail, I will call Hubby who has the Weather Channel beamed directly into his skull. Do not take away the distractions I have to provide my children and myself to make it through the day.

Also, people have to eat, I understand that. My family needs to eat on a regular basis, three times a day as a matter of fact. However, it's difficult to provide them with that food when grocery shopping must be timed with avoiding the masses fighting over bottled water in supermarket aisles.

So, school was out Tuesday and Wednesday, but it was no worse than a normal rain shower. I don't even think I heard thunder. Thursday, when I got to school it was terrible. We lost power, and almost had to rent a canoe for the trip home. No school today, I'm predicting the weather will be just bad enough so I can't send the kids outside until just before Hubby and I leave to go see the Smashing Pumpkins. Then the sky will open up. Maybe I should start my own Weather Channel.