Great Weekend

Back at work on Monday after a relatively low key weekend.

Michael's parents wanted to spend the weekend with Hayden, so we met them Friday night at Fish City Grill in Greenway Plaza to play "pass the child". It was a nice dinner since we also got to see their good friends, Becky and JR Greene. It was also Happy Hour, so that was a plus! Hayden was very excited to get Grandma and Grandpa all to himself. Saturday, they took him to the Museum in Houston for the Dinosaur Mummy Exhibit. Very cool! He liked the dinosaur stuff. Grandma says he has a lot of energy!

Which is where the low key stuff comes in for us. Since the energy was across town in Pasadena, it was pretty quiet around our house, even with Brandon home. It's so interesting to see how different the dynamic is. When Julia plays with him, it's different than when Hayden does. I suppose it's a combination of both their age and their gender. Julia is very maternal toward him, and plays to cater to him, where Hayden plays with him for his own enjoyment. I think you can determine which one makes Brandon happier overall!

Julia and I cleaned out her bedroom. At first she wasn't thrilled, but when we were done and she saw how pretty her room is when it's picked up, she enjoyed spending time in there. She has begun to earn an allowance for her help around the house. She does a good job, too! She will clear the table, rinse dishes and put them in the dishwasher. When I tell her I need to start laundry, she will get the hamper out of Brandon's room and fill it with the clothes out of hers and Hayden's hamper, pick up any "stragglers" upstairs that needs to be washed and leave the hamper at the top of the stairs for me to take down. Once her clothes are washed and folded, she will take her own basket upstairs and put all of her clothes away. She understands that she must do these things without being asked in order to earn her allowance. My big girl....

She and I are looking at idea books and planning to update her room decor. Something that will still scream girl, but a little more grown up so she can grow into it. She is really excited about being involved in the process, and I must say, some of her ideas are very cute! I told Michael I wanted this to be mine and Julia's project. I think he's a little freaked out about that... he loves to be in control when it comes to that stuff!

He did some more work in the backyard this weekend. He laid stone out in a section and grouted it in. Now there is a lovely shaded area to put our park bench, very near the kids' swing set. He added more plants and landscaping. We were so lucky not to have lost our fence during Ike, because if it had blown over, it would have damaged or crushed the new shrubs he recently planted. The only real problem we are having with the yard right now are the ANTS. OMG they are EVERYWHERE!!! So bad, in fact, that I don't want the kids out there playing.

I was so happy this morning when I dropped Brandon off at school to see Mrs. Brenda at the front desk! She was the school director for years at KRK, and a year ago, she retired. I guess she missed the kids more than she thought she would, so she came back as the Curriculum Coordinator. She gave me a big hug, said how much she missed me, how gorgeous Brandon was, and told me I was skinny. I love her...

Our camping trip is coming up in November and

I

CAN'T

WAIT!!!!!

The weather has been so gorgeous here lately and it's really getting me in the mood. This morning, Julia had to wear a jacket because it was 60 degrees outside! I love fall because it seems to give me so much energy. There are so many things to look forward to this time of year - mainly the camping trip. I hope it's COLD this year! So many people think we're nuts, but there is absolutely no better place on earth to be in November than New Braunfels. We eat like kings. Last year, Channing made fajitas. YUM! I would love to get some great camp jambalaya this year if possible. Between the food, relaxation and great friends around, it's no wonder we look forward to it every year. Plus, it's a great opportunity to hang out with Channing and trade good natured barbs with him. (Hey Channing, did you know Lawrence Fishbourne is SMOOTH???? You'll never live that one down!) And I get to see my Aunt Theresa and Aunt Chris. Lovely. Can't wait....

Speaking of the weather, is there any other proof needed that God Blessed Texas?? Okay, so there's the hurricane thing, but that aside, with so many people still without power, the weather has been wonderful and cool! And I know it is helping people cope. I couldn't imagine still being without power! That's crazy!

Yesterday we went to Michael's parents house for dinner and to collect our son. Since we were in the area, I wanted to go check on my sister's house. Although it was bad, it was not as bad as I had imagined! She has a hole in her roof in her bedroom and the entire ceiling is gone. Her ceiling in the living room finally fell in because it got so wet. She will be getting new walls and the structure fixed, but it's okay for her to live there in the meantime - my main concern. Her back door was crowbar-opened, so now she doesn't have to go through the window to get in and out of her house! (LOTS of jokes about that! Images of Dukes of Hazzard come to mind!) Most importantly, her spirits are way up.

Can it be a blog if I don't have a title for it?

That's going to get old, trying to title each blog without sounding stupid!

Well, yesterday I had my foot x-rayed because it's hurting more and more each day. It turns out I do have a fracture at the base of my toe in probably the worst place possible! Not bad enough to actually have a cast or anything, but enough of a pain in the rear nevertheless. So I have a weird brace on my foot that keeps it from flexing when I walk, and I've been told to try and immobilize it as much as possible. Here is a picture of me here at work today with my fashionable new shoe... aren't you jealous?!?

And the stories at work about how it happened keep getting zanier!

Come to think of it, looking at that picture, should I go as Sarah Palin for Halloween this year? I haven't perfected the updo, but I have the bangs!

The other night, Brandon was being rather difficult at bedtime. He was determined not to cooperate and had a rough go before he finally crashed. That's when Mike said, "Go check him out!" He had literally torn his bed apart. He has a crib that converts to a daybed when you take the front rail off. We have a partial rail in place to keep him from rolling out when he sleeps. Well, he had taken the partial rail out, the mattress and bedskirt as well. It looked like a stuffed animal massacre too - with Mickey Mouse and Tigger thrown in separate corners of his room. And there he was, his mattress on the floor, sacked out on top of it. I figured, well, he's asleep, we'll "rebuild" his room in the morning. That came sooner than I wanted.

At 3 am we begin hearing screaming. When I got upstairs, he was no longer on his mattress. He had rolled off onto the floor and managed to wedge himself UNDER his bed, and couldn't get out! Since he had pulled his mattress and bedskirt off, he was underneath the wire frame, holding onto it like jail bars and crying because he couldn't get out. "I wanna go with YOU!!!"

I never thought I'd have to get my two year old out of jail at 3 am, but there's a first time for everything.

Weekend at last!

Ahhhhh.....

How great it feels to be in my jammies, cup of coffee in hand this morning. NORMAL!!! Even the ginormous pile of laundry isn't dampening my mood right now.

I've talked with many of my co-workers over the past week to get an idea of what others are experiencing since Ike came through town and wreaked havoc. One employee saw someone get a knife pulled on them at a gas station, and another saw a fist fight in a grocery store. A majority still do not have power. I heard some that said they had a rowdy hurricane party! He said they even had the garage door open to watch the wind tear everything up. I told him he was crazy - but I think he took it as a compliment. Many said they had trees fall on their houses, some had roof damage, ranging from a few shingles missing to some sections torn completely off. And probably most distressing was hearing one tell about how she had evacuated only to come home and find that not only had her house been torn apart by the storm, but it had also been looted. That just makes me sick! Again, we feel so lucky, and we're very grateful.

Okay, so this is a little embarrassing, but I jammed or sprained my toe the night that Ike came through. How? Well, I had to get up out of bed that Friday night, and as I stepped out, Heidi happened to be right there. But the momentum was downward and I tried to avoid squashing her and landed awkwardly on my fourth toe on my left foot. Typically this wouldn't be a big deal, but with running and gunning all week, I think I've made it worse. It's so swollen up and painful, even a week later! Mike is calling me "Gimpy". Several of my co-workers have noticed my slight limp, and when they ask me what happened, I've been giving a myriad of colorful stories that sound much cooler than what actually happened. It's been a running joke at work this week!

My mother and Troy were gracious to keep Julia and Hayden for us beginning Tuesday night since school was out. So since then, Mike and I have experienced what it would be like to have one child. We think Brandon has enjoyed it too. Most evenings, he would sit right between us on the couch and just hang out quietly. So since my mother brought Julia and Hayden back yesterday, quiet time is obviously over.

Today, I'm attacking my mountain of laundry, and Mike is cleaning up the yard. Mundane stuff never sounded so good.

Survivor Guilt...

I should be happy to say that things are pretty much back to normal for us, but the words get stuck in my throat!

Now, don't get me wrong. I'm counting my lucky stars that my gorgeous family is safe and sound, and that my house stood up to Ike and said "keep moving, Mister". And that we were less than 24 hours without power.

My opening line only reflects a realization that there are thousands all around us who will not experience normalcy for some time now. It's really sobering to read how people are really suffering right now. My sister, Michelle, for one!

In any case, yes, things are somewhat normal for us. School was cancelled for the remainder of this week, so Julia and Hayden are in The Woodlands with my mother since Mike and I had to go back to work. Brandon's tuition was paid at daycare, so YOUBETCHA he's back at his school this week.

Again, thanks to all who read my blog and leave me comments. I look forward to them.

Ike Update

We survived!

Ike was bad, but we were very lucky. No damage to our house, and just two minor issues with our fence.

The winds started really picking up around 10pm on Friday night, and by midnight, we had lost power. The kids were all in our bedroom. Brandon was in his portable crib, Hayden was between us, and Julia was spread out across the bed at our feet. This was fine when the AC was on, but once it started heating up, it wasn’t pleasant.

I ended up on the couch. Kudos to my well built house! It didn’t shake, rattle or creak one time. The plywood on the back of the house was ideal, as that’s directly where the wind was coming from. There were some real hard gusts of wind, several of which woke me up in a panic. Luckily, the kids slept through all of it. I was really worried about Hayden. But even when we all got up around 6:30 or so, he didn’t seem too freaked out about it. We lit candles and they had cereal.

We started out looking out of the windows that were not boarded up to see the damage in our neighborhood. We spotted our fence areas, and we saw another house with some significant roof damage. When we looked out another window, we saw shingles all over our front yard. Alarmed by this, Mike ran outside in the wind and rain and did a quick circle of our house to see if they were ours. Thankfully, they were not.

The winds were gone by about 10am, and we ventured outside to walk down the street. We saw the same things over and over: knocked down fences, some roof damage, broken limbs, some big, some small.

Listening to the radio all day, it was quite upsetting to hear that power was out to nearly all of the Houston area, and their estimate was that it would take 2 to 4 weeks to restore it! Hello? Houston is the fourth largest city in the US and a major energy city. Like Houston Mayor Bill White said, that’s completely unacceptable. He called for immediate federal assistance. What I don’t understand about this is that for a week, we knew this storm was coming, that it was probably going to hit the Texas Gulf Coast. Why were teams not pre-positioned? Why was Federal Assistance not at the ready? One caller into the radio station said just this, and was “put in place” by the radio announcer who said they were doing the best they could. I’m sure they were, but he totally missed the point.\

Even more frustrating was knowing that my friend, Anthony (who I also work with) living just across the road in an adjacent subdivision a quarter mile away, had only lost power for an hour. AN HOUR.

We took a drive in the afternoon, mainly to enjoy some AC in the car for a while, but also to see the damage throughout New Territory. Mike and I noted that none of the power lines were down or snapped. And we saw not ONE single Reliant energy truck, car or van out and about. This was late in the afternoon, well after winds had subsided.

We stopped by to check on my Aunt Di. Becky and her twin boys were staying with her. They didn’t have power either. We made a deal to call each other when we got power, and we’d migrate either way!

By 8pm we were all on each other’s nerves. The kids were absolutely stir crazy and cranky from being hot all day. We enforced an early bedtime in the living room, with pallets on the floor for the kids. Mike and I removed the plywood from the back of the house (by hand screwdrivers!!!!) so that we could open the windows. It really didn’t make a difference though, because there was no breeze at all. I gave each of the kids a wet washrag to try and cool off, and I was sitting and fanning each of them for a while.

I think Mike and I were both at the point of thinking what an awful night this was going to be, when VOILA!!! The power jump-started! Brandon and I did a happy dance! SLAM! Windows were shut, fans cranked up to help cool down and we were all snoozing happily an hour later.

My mother, Michael’s parents and his brother and sister still do not have power as of 9am today. His brother’s house has a bit of roof damage with some leaking into the house. They lost their entire back fence. Michael’s parents had not damage other than a tree down in the front yard. My mother did not have any damage at her house.

We realize that we were very lucky. Mainly that we were all safe during this really bad storm, but also that life will resume to day normally for us. We can’t get satellite yet, so we still haven’t seen what the rest of our city has encountered.

Thanks to my cousin Dawnie for leaving me a comment and wishing us well.

Waiting for Ike

After 25 years, I suppose it's time for Houston and the surrounding areas to finally have a major hurricane.

Yesterday was a very interesting day at work. We moved 77 cars inside our showroom, another 120 or so into the shop and Make Ready buildings, and then moved another 70 cars to a parking garage close to the dealership (I negotiated the contract!). I took a picture with my phone, but it's new technology, and I can't figure out how to send it to myself, otherwise, I'd post it here. I should have known it was going to be a unique week when Monday morning, a lady drove her car through our windows and ended up three feet into the smart Center showroom. Again, I have a picture but...well, you know the rest! Amazingly, the entire area was repaired the same day. Our building contractor ROCKS!! Anyway, Ken closed the dealership at 11 AM yesterday. While most employees left right then, several great employees mobilized, stayed after 11 and secured our building and inventory. We'll be closed until Monday. I'm expecting to work on Sunday to go help move everything out once the winds go away. Since we're not in a surge area, we don't expect any type of significant flooding.

Right now, Ike shows to be headed straight through the heart of Harris County, making landfall in Galveston. We're happy to be in western Fort Bend County, and thus far, not on the "dirty" side of Ike.

We're not particularly happy that Michael's parents have decided to stay in a storm surge area in a non-brick house and ride out the storm. We would feel much better if they would come and stay with us, or Michael's brother, James, in the Pearland area. My mother is in The Woodlands with my grandparents, and my dad lives in San Antonio, so they're going to be okay.

This morning, Michael boarded up the back of the house, which house the biggest windows. The windows face east, where we expect to have the strongest winds. Hayden did NOT like this, and as Michael covered each window, he closed the blinds over them so he didn't have to see it.

He and Julia both are very nervous about the storm. Historically, Hayden is terrified of thunder and lightning, so it will be a wonder if he comes out from under the bed over the next couple of weeks. This was considered when we were deciding whether or not to go to San Antonio. But honestly, after it took us over 9 hours to get to SA with Rita, we decided it would be better just to stay. Besides, the only reason we left for Rita was because I was pregnant and VERY hormonal. I have more of a sense of humor about it this time.

After he finished, all we do now is wait. Well, that and finish all of the laundry and dishes. But we'll find something to pass the time. Like playing Wii Fit. Michael is addicted. Here he is doing some yoga right now with a couple of helpers...

We actually had Hayden's first baseball practice last night. Not all of the team showed up, but we expected that. We had 5 out of the 8 on the team, so that is a good turnout! What was hilarious was when it began drizzling, all of the kids yelled "Oh no! The hurricane!" Very funny. After practice, we all decided to go to dinner together, and there were 20 of us at Joe's Crab Shack. We had a really nice time and seem to have a great team together, both kids and parents. Hayden's team this year is the Louisville Bats. I'll post his schedule on the blog soon, so please try to come and make a game this year. The coaching staff is very cute, if that's an incentive at all!

I'll try to update my blog after the storm. Of course, it will depend on if we lose power, and how long we are without it. Leave me your comments... I love them!

Busy week, busy tropics, busy campaign!

Wow. What a crazy time lately!

We're two weeks into school and it feels like an eternity already. Julia, for the most part, is sailing smoothly with her new schedule. She loves her teacher - raves about her all of the time. So far, she has brought home all A's with her work, and homework is requiring minimal supervision. It's so strange to see how she is coming into her "tween" years! She's keenly aware of what she wears, and takes extra time with brushing and fixing her hair in the mornings. Oh, and she's also commenting on how I "embarrass her" when I sing loudly in the car!

Since I do have a tween now, you can imagine my anxiety level as she begins to be aware of the culture around her. I already boycott Macy's as far as buying her clothes after spotting a tee-shirt in the Junior department that boldly stated "By Boyfriend Thinks He's My First". WTF??? And the majority of you know how I feel about Bratz dolls - hello? All of this coupled with the fact that she has an admirer in her class who "asks me questions about myself all the time", it's time to do my homework.

I saw an article on this book and picked it up yesterday. Mike and I have a book project together.

I don't know about you, but I find it incredibly sad that we have to arm ourselves with things like this. What are people thinking half of the time, anyway??

Hayden has adjusted to his new schedule as well. I think that for a couple of days, he felt the need to "test the waters" a bit, and see how much of his bunk his new teachers are going to put up with. I think he's discovered, not much. Mom and Dad aren't putting up with it either, and he really dislikes writing sentences for us in the evening. But he's figuring it out, and is doing much better. I will be going to a meeting next week to determine if I need to recommend him for the school district's Gifted and Talented program. I'm looking forward to finding out where he is.

Brandon is going with the flow for the most part, although he seems to be struggling with his new schedule without Hayden. The littlest things seems to send him into hysterics. And potty training on top of it may be adding to the stress.

So how about Governer Palin, huh? Wow, so very refreshing to see a REAL Conservative on the ticket for a change! Her speech was just amazing! I saw the second half of Rudy Guiliani's as well and absolutely loved when he pointed his finger and said "Shame on you!" to the media for questioning her ability to have a job and be a mother. Amen. I've had my share of comments and looks about choosing to be a working mother, and it was great to be validated on a national platform.

Sigh... and then there's Ike. I spend every spare minute on the Chronicle's website reading Eric Berger's blog about where these storms are headed. Ike is planning to take residence in the Gulf for a while and make us all nervous again.

Thanks everyone for your comments on my blog! Keep em' coming!