Disturbances in the night, my thoughts on earth quakes, violet jelly, & AFW

At 12:38 this morning, Husband threw open the bedroom door & said, "Umm..." That's all there was to say as there was yet ANOTHER aftershock. This one was a 4.5. The 19th quake/aftershock in our area since early Friday morning. Did someone pick Southern Illinois up and plop us in the middle of California when we weren't looking? And if so, where the heck is my beach & constant sunshine? I. Have. Had. It.

Last night's line-up went something like this:

10:45 pm- bed & quickly asleep
11:20 pm- Bitsy wakes up to nurse (will this child EVER sleep through the night...or 4 hours?)
12:13 am- Bubba calls to ask me to pray about some impending gang fight in C-town (?). Luckily Husband was still up & answered the phone or I may have come unglued (note to self: post about my violent reactions to being roused from deep slumber). Went back to sleep within 8 minutes.
12:38 am- 4.5 Earthquake causes major jolt of adrenaline & complete lack of desire to sleep for at least an hour.
2:30 am- #1 Son comes into our room & vomits after puking in the floor of the little bathroom.
From 2:30 am until 4:30 am- Continue to take care of #1 Son while he vomits & runs a fever in between feeding Bitsy who doesn't feel the need to sleep and napping in the recliner.
Shortly before 5 am- FINALLY go back to bed.
6:20 am- Listen to the boys run around the house & raid the fridge. Tell #1 Son that he cannot have a cup of milk (repeatedly) & listen to him cry. Tell B.B. he cannot have the Batman toy that has been the bone of contention in this house since Friday when J gave it to them & listen to him cry.
7 am- Alarm goes off demanding I get my lazy, bon bon eating behind out of bed. Really, woman, all you do is sleep!

I know some of you live with earth quakes as part of your lives....maybe not daily, but not exactly uncommon. I can assure you, I am not cut out for this life. Every time I feel that jolt or hear a rumble, my heart starts pounding, my chest gets tight, I have a hard time breathing, & I feel like puking. It amazes me when people say they nearly slept through the first one (which has been dropped to a 5.2). It seemed so loud & so violent. I was terrified.

It also brought to the forefront one of my biggest fears. Our bedroom is at the opposite end of the house from the kids. When we were looking at layouts for houses, this seemed to be one of the only options for a single level home. I wanted the bedrooms all grouped together, but that wasn't an option. Our house isn't big (almost 1,600 square feet), but the rooms are far enough apart that I worry about getting to them in case of an emergency.

Friday morning proved Husband & I can do just that even when half asleep. It's nice to know we're capable, but I never want to try it again. We had no idea what was going on. Husband thought it was a tornado. I was pretty sure it was an earth quake. We had no idea how long it was going to go on or how bad it was going to get. All we knew was we needed to get to the kids. When it didn't end quickly I began to worry that it was going to get REAL bad. The thought of the kids spread around the house was not a pleasant one.

I know I may be beating a dead horse here, but I need to put all this down. I'm worn out from being jittery & nervous for the past 3 days.

On to things not earth quake related. The violet jelly is good. It has a very mild flavor. It's hard to describe, but I think I'm going to really like it. I may even make more. I was a tad worried as the infusion made with the violets did not smell appealing.

I fully plan on using my new vacuum today. But then I fully planned on using it yesterday. But sunshine, warm temperatures, and violet jelly got in my way.

And finally, today is Monday & you know what that means! It's officially Ask FarmWife Day. So fire away, ya'll!