Oy Vay.

     So I'm in the underworld of emergency preparedness.  Not because I'm not doing it.  Not because we don't have anything.  Because I have a very zealous husband who nearly has me convinced that the world as we know it may end in the next year.

     We have not had a single day in over a month where we have not had some kind of list making or review or brainstorming session.  Somehow I got roped into spending 2 hours at Cabela's on Saturday, comparing cots, looking at portable "shower" stalls, and enduring every grown man that came into the store gleefully testing out the duck and goose callers.  Every other time Jer comes home, he has bags in hand, with more gear.  Hand warmers, snow pants, a tent, freeze-dried fruit... I am grateful that he's serious about getting us the rest of the way prepared, but sometimes I just long for a day where we chat about the day, watch some mindless TV, and go to bed laughing about something.  Instead I'm having nightmares about my family freezing/starving/dying, and even dreams about some of my friends not having what they need, and then I'm panicking about them, too.  

     Then there's the problem of husbands buying the kids' clothes.  He's concerned with function.  Fine.  And warmth.  Great.  My only real quibble is that I'd like the clothes to be the right size, and cute doesn't hurt.  One pair of boots that were meant for Gabriel were big enough for me.  The coats are huge.  "They'll grow into it."  I guess the kids will at least be warm while they roll around on the snow, trying to find a way to stand up.

     The problem with delving in to all of this is that you find you're never going to be done.  Fourteen foot tent?  Have more kids, you need a bigger one.  Sleeping bags that work up to 20 below?  You should have the ones that go to 40 below.  Storing water?  Super, it's just that you really should have barrels, wooden crates to put them on, and a filter that can do at least 13,000 gallons.  And then with us, you throw in the unique add-ons like a 5 year old that can't yet eat solids and is still in diapers, the fact that we're vegetarian but realize that we have to have means to change that if our lives depend on it, and oh, did I mention that same 5 year old is on seizure medication that I'm pretty sure we aren't going to find in freeze-dried form so that we can store a year of it?  Oh yeah, and I can't even make bread.

     I do, however, plan on adding basic birth kits to the pile, so if the world is ending, you're pregnant and going into labour, come find me.  I'll be the one with my kids tethered together with some combination of bungee cords, duct tape and tarps, dragging them behind me through the snow, traces of dehydrated spinach frozen to my face.