A Little Update

So far the fire has burned some 3,500 acres. It split at some point yesterday with the hot spot above us moving into Montecito (this is a pic of it, now we're on the front of the hill, then there is a canyon behind us that burned in the last fire in Nov., then another mountain after that and this fire is actually on the canyon of that mountain behind us now, so i hope we're in the clear, Montecito is to the right of the smoke which is where they're worried it's heading) and the other hot spot is hopping the 154 freeway and moving into Goleta. Right now the fire boundaries are butted up with the Gap fire from last July and the Tea fire from last Nov. We seem to be out of harms way at this point, but you never really know.

Oh, and by the way we just had a 4.2 earthquake hit in Ventura, God... are you trying to tell us something?!

Some sad news, the home that Justin was working at and helped the residents evacuate on Tues. burned down last night. I don't even know what to say, I was just there on Monday and got to meet the family, they were so happy to be getting their house remodeled, just purchased a new living room set to go with the new floors. Kim, you and your family are in our prayers. If anyone wants to donate anything to this family, we will gladly take it for them. They have a teenage daughter and dogs.

This was taken from the freeway, we live somewhere behind this palm in the front.

Taken at Milpas and Canon Perdido, this is our neighborhood. It looks bad but the fire is actually not on the immediate ridge behind us, but on the south facing ridge after that.

This was taken outside our house, looking north at our neighbors house.
Yet again we are a little too close for comfort, we have our living room full of bags and such just in case we have to leave. So far we're just on the cusp of the evacuation (again), and the day gives us false hope because it's the sundowner winds that happen after 4pm that are really hurting us. We didn't leave last night but we made Grandma leave just in case, she refused to leave her car here if she had to leave so I made her leave while it was still daylight.

Just another fire!

This time thank goodness we're outside the evacuation warning area. Some friends of ours weren't so lucky, good thing they still hadn't unpacked from the Tea Fire evacuation. Chris, Steph and Madisen you're in our prayers. 

I don't feel very realaxed though, I had just gotten my wisdom teeth removed an hour before the fire started and had to come home and get our stuff ready just in case. Justin was working right where the fire had started!!! The street he was on was the first one closed (Tunnel Rd @ Holly Rd). He first helped his clients evacuate, Kim was the only one there and her daughter and husband had to hike all the way from Foothill Rd. to come help her. 

When they got there Justin left and went to his OTHER clients house to get her stuff as she couldn't get through the barricades. He even managed to catch their outdoor cat before it mauled him and he had to let it go. Finally after dropping off his tools at our storage (because he had a ton of stuff up there as he's been working at that house for 3 weeks now) he made his way home around 7:30pm. By that time the danger for us was pretty minimal. It seems the fire is moving away from Santa Barbara but you never know! 

Donate Blood!!

So Justin finally donated blood with me!!! It's only taken me 2 years to convince him to come with me.
Reasons why it's cool to donate:
1. You get free cookies and juice!!! (And on Wed. nights here in SB you get free pizza)
2. Everyone is really nice, and you can never be too funny, they'll always laugh at your stupid jokes.
3. You can only get turned away if you've been to a malaria ridden country, have a fever, have a low cell count, or got pierced or tattooed within the last year. (PS if you're not sure if you can donate for any reason you can always call them and a nurse will let you know, anonymously)
4. Depending on the donation you can watch TV play on the Internet or even see a movie (for the 2hr long donation)
5. They give you an online profile and you can rack up points towards prizes!!!!
6. They almost always give you a gift cert. for a free pizza or a small box of See's candy.
7. Free cholesterol testing (okay, so not that cool, but interesting info!)
8. They give you stickers that say things like "Be nice to me, i donated blood" or "I donated today, Take me out to dinner" (my personal fave) and a colored bandage (to coordinate with your outfit, how stylish)
9. YOU GET TO SAVE LIVES!!!!

Basically, you all should get off your butts and donate, it doesn't take long and only hurts for a second. If you need moral support I will gladly join you.

My Grandma is Famous!!!

So check out this article a local paper wrote about my grandma. I've already found 3 links to this article on the web! (She's more famous on the web than I am, and I actually use it!)

thedailysound.com/News/040109Volunteer

Congratulations Justin!!!

Justin just passed his contractors licensing exam yesterday!!! He is now officially a contractor and this will make a huge difference in the security of his work. (Especially in the wake of 7 locals getting arrested for contracting without a license.) So Yay!! Pass on the word if you need work done on your house or someone you know does, Justin can do it.

New News

Not a whole lot going on here at the Shrode homstead. Holly just got a new car (oooh a Honda) and is trying to sell her truck (hint hint, buy it!!!) We both just got accepted for health insurance, and with that and the 4 door car we're one step closer to making babies, but don't get too excited, we want to enjoy our anniversary trip sans pregnancy so that birth control will be working well into July. Justin is so close to passing his contractors test so keep him in your prayers. Don't worry if you haven't seen him for a while, he'll be making a grand entrance debutante party style when he passes. That's right, he'll be wearing a white dress and Holly will escort him around the party. But anyway, we look forward to getting our social graces back on track.
On a different note Holly's sister Nicole and her family just moved to LA. We're so excited to have them so close, especially since they have the cutest little girl.
Hope everyone is doing alright!