Disaster Preparedness: Life Lessons Learned and What You Need to Know

I had some other ideas for blogging this week. I’m finally past a few projects at work and am slowly getting back in the kitchen and doing some other things around the house and back in gear on writing on my next book. In general, I’ve been feeling pretty comfortable the last two weeks.

 

Until I watched the footage out of Moore, Oklahoma yesterday. It brought back distant memories of a few  childhood years spent doing tornado drills in school in Wichita Falls, Texas, not long after the 1979 tornado that was the worst tornado in U.S. history—until the May 1999 F5 tornado which hit Moore, Oklahoma. And it brought back more recent memories of surveying my own home after Hurricane Ike in 2008.

 

My heart breaks for the people in Moore who are calling the insurance companies trying to get emergency checks to buy clothes and food, listening for the sound of the Salvation Army mobile food truck in their neighborhood, and are getting ready to see their life’s possessions loaded up in giant metal containers like toxic waste to be taken to the dump. It’s gut-wrenching.

 

I know.

 

I’ve been there.

 

It’s a good reminder, though, for all of us, to spend a few minutes this week preparing ourselves for what to do if disaster strikes. Here are some of my top tips for you:

 

1)      Designate a folder for key documents and file it with your important papers. Mine is “The Red Folder.” It contains our social security cards, passports, birth certificates, marriage certificate, and copies of driver’s licenses, home and car insurance policies and contact info, and medical insurance cards, as well as bank account numbers and information. Information about your mortgage company and account number and car loans and account number should also be in here, as well as any credit card account numbers and contact information, if you have them. If you are able to do so, stick a generic gift card in here (remember to rotate it out if it has an expiration date) for an amount  you can afford–$25, $50, etc. If you have to leave quickly, it’s not as good as just having cash, but it may help you get a tank of gas, a meal, or a hotel room in a pinch.

 

2)      Take pictures of your home and every single room. Print these off old school—don’t just keep them on your computer. Write on the back of each photo what are the big items in your rooms. You’ll need this for insurance and documentation purposes.

 

3)      Ask your children’s schools for their disaster policies. Know what they will do if an event happens during the school day.  Often this will come home the first week of school in the student handbook that is sent home or referenced (yes, that book you never read but sign the acknowledgement saying you do.) As storms beared down on our area today, my daughter’s preschool emailed all parents a copy of the policy as a reminder. I totally appreciated their commitment to keeping our kids safe and the parents informed.

 

4)      Fill out a Family Emergency Plan and go over it with your kids. Designate a safe place to meet and a safe word to use as a password with your family members. The government provides a good template as a starting place. Have a copy of it in your red folder.

 

5)      Everyone should have a five-minute box, especially if you live in a place like Tornado Alley, on the coast, or in an area prone to earthquakes or floods.  Have items like a flashlight, a new pack of batteries, bottled water, a small blanket, toys/crayons if you have kids, something relatively non-perishable like a pack of peanut butter crackers or something similar to snack on (you’ll want to change this out obviously), a whistle. A copy of key documents from your red folder is not a bad idea either, just in case. If you’re ever in a shelter/evacuation situation, remember to put on sturdy shoes, wear a pair of pants, and have a light jacket with you if you can. You never know what you’ll be walking out into afterwards.

 

I also like the idea of having five, ten, and fifteen minute lists. Walk through your house and write down the things you would take with you if you only had five, ten, or fifteen minutes before you absolutely had to leave. For Ike, I had an overnight period. I gathered up all of those “irreplaceable” items like baby books and wedding pictures and some family heirlooms that I knew insurance could never replace. I can’t stress this enough. Don’t take your TV with you. Take the stuff that counts. In the case of a quick evacuation, having a list in your five-minute box to remind you to get your red folder and the dog leashes can make the difference between being prepared and being panicked.

 

I truly hope that the hour you take to do this is an hour that is totally wasted. I hope you never have need to pull out a red foer or a five-minute box in your own life. But unfortunately I’ve learned the hard way that these things can happen to any of us, and I’d rather share my own experience with you in the hope that it helps you be better prepared if the time comes for you.

 

And if you’re in Moore, Oklahoma tonight, all of this is too little too late. So please just accept a big hug from someone who has been there, done that, and come out stronger than before. Believe me, God can and does use ALL THINGS for good. It’s dark right now, but it does get better. Hug.

 

What about you? Have you been through a natural disaster? Does your family have a plan? What are your best tips for disaster preparedness? Please share them so we can all be better prepared.

WOW! The Healthy Life Summit is Coming…Will You Be There with Me?

I have a lot on my plate, but over the years, my passion has become real food and back to basics living. I started this journey before my first daughter was born, researching the different options I had available for prenatal care and birth. One topic of interest led me to another and now, more than five years later, my hobby–my passion–is to make the best choices for my family and to try and make it as simple as possible.

 

Maybe you’re like me…you want to keep things healthy and simple. But you don’t know where to begin. Did you know there is a whole network of real food and healthy living bloggers out there? The Internet is such an awesome resource to connect like-minded folks. It’s the front porch of the digital age, allowing us to share tips, ideas, and wisdom with our neighbors all around the world.

 

And the Healthy Life Summit is coming next week. I will definitely be glued to my virtual front porch all week (don’t worry, day job…I haven’t forgotten about you…the sessions are recorded and I can buy them all and listen later at a convenient time as well) as I learn more about healthy babies and kids, healthy world, healthy living, healthy eating, and  a healthy body. It’s put on by the Village Green blog network and will be hosted by Ann Marie Michaels of cheeseslave.com, one of my favorite real food bloggers.

 
The best part? IT’S FREE!  And no, I am not affiliated with this and get nothing for telling you. I’m just that excited about it. If you’ve been thinking about jumping in to better living and eating, go to the Healthy Life Summit website and sign up. I’m going to try and tune in as much as I can and post my thoughts here–but I’d love to have you join me on the virtual porch! (With a glass of probiotic fermented lemonade, of course!)

Let’s Talk Taco: Easy, Healthy Taco Shells

My favorite, favorite, favorite go-to meal is The Taco. If you know me, this comes as no surprise at all. My family is from the Texas border. I couldn’t live without Mexican food, truthfully. It made my heart leap when one of my daughter’s first favorite foods was guacamole.

 
Tacos are almost an ubiquitous dinner staple these days. They’re fun for kids because they can fix the tacos themselves. And they’re fun for moms because they’re made from simple ingredients that are easy to put together quickly. In the Real Time Mama house, last night’s taco dinner involved a bowl of taco meat, a bowl of lettuce and tomato tossed together, some shredded cheese, sour cream, and homemade taco shells.

 

I know what you just said… “Homemade taco shells? How much time does this woman think I have?” In college, I made tacos for a friend, and she didn’t even know you could make your own taco shells. Here’s the big secret: you can make your own taco shells in less time than it would take you to drive to the grocery store and pick up a box. And it requires exactly two ingredients.

 

Now, the texture is different than the slightly stale total crisp of a store-bought shell. But I love these because they allow the rich corn flavor to take on a starring role instead of being relegated to just the vehicle that holds all the stuff. In our house, we try to make our tacos real food. I’ve been known to make my own corn tortillas (here’s a great recipe from Cheeseslave), but I’ll be honest–on a weekday night, I’m looking to get dinner on the table in a hurry so I can get dishes done and get small people bathed before it’s bedtime. So, my go-to is Food for Life’s sprouted corn tortillas and coconut oil.

 

Sprouting the corn unlocks the nutrients and makes the grain more easily digestible. Even many people who have a hard time digesting grains find they can digest sprouted grains because the sprouting process allows the grain to be digested by the body like a vegetable. And coconut oil is a heat tolerant traditional fat. It’s a medium-chain fatty acid–your body metabolizes it beautifully, unlike industrial processed oils. It’s my go-to cooking oil, and the extra virgin coconut oil I linked above has very little “coconutty” taste when you cook with it.

 

Taco shells:

1 dozen sprouted corn tortillas

1/4 c coconut oil

 

Scoop coconut oil into a skillet, heat up on high. Make sure it’s good and hot–if you don’t, you’ll just get greasy folded tortillas instead of crunchy shells.  Place your tortilla flat in the oil. Once it softens, flip it over. When it softens on that side, take a pair of tongs and fold it in half. Allow it to crisp a bit, then flip it to the other side to crisp over there. And that’s it, you’re done. About 30 seconds a shell. I did a whole dozen last night in about 7 minutes. And if you prefer chalupas, just don’t fold it, leave it flat.

 

Pair with some seasoned ground beef, lettuce, tomato and you’re good to go. Add shredded cheese, guacamole, or sour cream to make them extra tasty! It’s a family friendly meal you can have on your table in under 20 minutes with nothing out of a box. The tortillas are literally corn, water, a pinch of salt, and the necessary lime (cal) to soak the corn in…they don’t count as boxed!

Love Inspired Happily Editor After Contest!

My rockstar editor, Shana Smith, along with her colleagues Emily Rodmell and Elizabeth Mazer, at Harlequin’s Love Inspired line are putting out a call for new authors! Have you ever wanted to write a book? Do you love inspirational series romance like Love Inspired, Love Inspired Suspense, and Love Inspired Historical? Now you have a shot (if you’ve never been published with LI or have a full manuscript under consideration with an LI editor)!

 

twitpic.com/bzjyv2

 

And these contests work! Last year, the LI editors did something similar and it resulted in 9 contract offers. And I actually received my contract for Saving Gracie out of Harlequin’s So You Think You Can Write contest. I didn’t win (that honor went to my friend and fellow Golden Heart finalist Kat Cantrell) but my manuscript got passed up to Senior Editor Melissa Endlich and she bought it! So these contests work and Love Inspired is looking for new talent with fresh voices.

 

Click here to find out all the details and then get  your synopsis ready to find true love with some great editors!

I’m Speaking to ACFW Tulsa This Weekend!

If you’re in the Tulsa, OK area, please consider this your official invitation to join me and the Tulsa chapter of the American Christian Fiction Writers. I’ll be speaking on the power of perseverance when it comes to your writing (and life in general, for that matter!)

 

Here are the particulars:

Fellowship Lutheran Church

6727 South Sheridan Road, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74133

Brown bag starts at noon, meeting starts at 1:00

 

Here are the particulars from the press release:

 

You can’t have a rainbow without a little rain…

We’ve all heard the clichés about adversity. And it’s a given that, like death and taxes (there’s another one) everyone
will hit rough times. But the tough days, the lemons, and the rain don’t have to define you or give you an excuse to set aside your writing.

Join Love Inspired author Kristen Ethridge at 1pm on Saturday, February 2, 2013 at the American Christian Fiction Writers Tulsa chapter’s monthly meeting for a lesson on the power of perseverance. Kristen will explain how she went from a 2008 natural disaster–in which she lost her entire office and every word she’d ever typed on a page–to finaling in the 2012 Romance Writers of America’s
Golden Heart contest and selling that book to a major publisher shortly thereafter.

The meeting will be held at Fellowship Lutheran Church, 6727 South Sheridan, Tulsa OK 74133. Brown bag lunch begins at noon with a writing prompt at 12:45 and the meeting following at 1pm.

Win a copy of Saving Gracie!

Saving Gracie is a February release from Harlequin’s Love Inspired line, and since February starts at the end of this week, I think this makes it a perfect time to give away an autographed copy of Saving Gracie! (For reasons of postage, this contest is open to US and APO/AFO addresses only. Folks from other places in the world…I appreciate you here too and will try and do something from time to time that everyone can win.)

I’ll be drawing a winner every Wednesday in February and here’s how you can win:

  • 1 entry: Comment on this blog’s question of the week
  • 1 entry: Sign up to follow me here at Real Time Mama
  • 1 entry: Like my Facebook author page (*See note below)
  • 1 entry: Follow me @kristenethridge on Twitter and tweet this: ”I want to win a copy of  #savinggracie  by @kristenethridge from @LoveInspiredBks

Question of the Week: This Saturday is Groundhog Day. In the movie “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray keeps repeating the same day over and over again. Have you ever had a Groundhog Day moment? What was it?  (And do you think Punxatawney Phil will see his shadow or not?) These days, I feel like I change the same diaper on the baby over and over again! Does that count? And I hope Phil doesn’t see his shadow…I’m over winter!

*Note: If you happen to come over to Facebook, I want to get to know you on my author page, so please come join me there. As I’m sure you can understand, as the mom of young kids, I limit my personal Facebook page to friends and family as I post a lot about my kiddos over there. Trust me, you’re not missing anything but dance mom commentary and observations about baby spit up! Thanks so much for your understanding and I look forward to chatting with you on my author page. :)

Saving Gracie in USA Today!

I am SO excited today!

Saving Gracie Front Cover

Saving Gracie was selected to appear in USA Today’s “Happily Ever After” column on new book releases. Saving Gracie is the only Harlequin series romance to get listed in the column this week (at least so far)–not just in inspirational but in suspense and contemporary too. There are some wonderful authors whose new books are on this list, and I’m honored to be mentioned with them and thrilled that Saving Gracie made it in and is getting national notice!

 

Click here to check it out!

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