Several months ago Chelsea started a game of punch buggy, also known in other circles as 'slug bug, no punch backs' and other names. In this game, if you are driving along and you see a Volkswagon Beetle you have to be the first one to call out the color of the car and punch the person next to you.
There are other subtle rules that you learn as you continue playing punch bug. For instance if it is a yellow car you can hit the person twice. If it is a convertible bug you can hit the person twice. If it is a classic beetle and not the new style you can punch the person twice. If it is a combination of these you also get additional hits. For example, a convertible yellow VW bug is 3 punches and a classic convertible is 3 punches and the highest point value car is the Yellow convertible classic VW bug.
Well shortly after this Colin, tired of not being the first to see the VWs, invented "hot car." In this game you get to hit the person next to you if you see a "hot" car. This game grew tiring very quickly because, as with beauty, "hot" is in the eye of the beholder and soon, Colin would call "hot car" for just about anything that had recently been washed. My idea of a hot car might not be the same as Colin's or Chris's or Chelsea's.
The game then evolved into Chiny-Mini. I'm not sure how this one began but if you see a Mini Cooper you get to give the person next to you a little rub on the front of their chin and say Chiny-Mini. This game is sort of more fun for me and I have no idea why. I guess because there are no additional rules or point systems you have to keep in mind. Though the one caveat is that if you call chiny-mini on a car from a distance and as it approaches it's not really a mini at all then the person gets to rub your chin back. Chris often likes to include some type of maniacal laugh with his rubs on my chin but that just seems like over-kill to me.
The thing is that neither of these games are any fun if you are alone. There I am listening to my book on my iPod on the way to work in the morning and I pass VW after VW after VW and I'm followed by mini after mini after mini. If I'm alone, they are everywhere! If I'm with Chris he usually has the upper hand because normally, if we're together, he's the driver and has the advantage of the mirrors and he normally gets me in both punch buggy and chiny-mini 3 to 1.
So this week I upped the ante. I took pictures with my iPhone of every mini I could catch while driving - this isn't all of them because sometimes I'm on the phone or just not quick enough on the draw but I've snapped photos of about six of them. Then I got him at home when I showed him the pictures on my phone. Ha! sucka!
Anyway, this led me to a brilliant idea for a game to play. I want to host a photo scavenger hunt. I'm going to make a list of pictures people have to take in a certain time frame and the first person to post the photos will win. There's not a prize other than bragging rights but I think it would be fun. So for instance the list might include snapping photos of yourself with a UPS driver, on the alter of a church, with a man in a bow-tie, etc. Like in a scavenger hunt where you have to collect items and be the first one back, this would be like collecting a set of photos to post. Everyone could play, even the out of town people I know. I'm putting together the list for the photo-scavenger hunt now if you want to play.
LOVE
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Monday, November 10, 2008
It's Official
My novel is slowly plugging along. Too slowly. But I'm getting into the main problem now so hopefully it will pick back up again this week. Fortunately I have a holiday tomorrow and I plan to write practically the whole day save for noon when I'll be at the chiropractor. Today a challenge was issued from the ML of Corpus Christi and we accepted. So hopefully that will spur my word count to greater heights. I've also been doing a lot of research on weather manipulation for my book. Fascinating subject should you happen to be bored or a conspiracy theorist - like my main character.
Most importantly for this post, I just wanted to say that it's official about my new job. I turned in my 2 weeks notice today and in a short period of time will be headed back to the university from whence I came and where I belong. No disrespect at all to the island which has been great but with the instability brought on by Ike, I had to go and this job fell into place due to perfect timing. I'm SO excited about it though and I can't wait to get started.
The family dinner for my dad's birthday went well yesterday and he liked his gift of a bottle of Crowne Royal with two glasses. Several members of my family want me to do Thanksgiving this year but we're going to Chris's parents again this year because it's a Colin year. We are, however, having a Christmas party on December 19th with friends so that should be fun. It will have to remain unplanned for the most part until after NaNoWriMo.
It's raining tonight so you know I'm in a great mood!
LOVE
Most importantly for this post, I just wanted to say that it's official about my new job. I turned in my 2 weeks notice today and in a short period of time will be headed back to the university from whence I came and where I belong. No disrespect at all to the island which has been great but with the instability brought on by Ike, I had to go and this job fell into place due to perfect timing. I'm SO excited about it though and I can't wait to get started.
The family dinner for my dad's birthday went well yesterday and he liked his gift of a bottle of Crowne Royal with two glasses. Several members of my family want me to do Thanksgiving this year but we're going to Chris's parents again this year because it's a Colin year. We are, however, having a Christmas party on December 19th with friends so that should be fun. It will have to remain unplanned for the most part until after NaNoWriMo.
It's raining tonight so you know I'm in a great mood!
LOVE
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Yes We ARE!
I'm in post-election bliss like you can't imagine! Yesterday the world changed. I'm so happy and so proud.
My 18 year old daughter voted
yesterday for the first time in her life. She voted for a man who promises a greater tomorrow. She voted so that when she gets out of high school she'll immediately have access to health care and won't have to take the first job with insurance that comes along so she's covered. She voted so that she can afford college for herself. She voted for a greener tomorrow so that when she has to buy a car it might be more energy efficient. She voted because she's young and just starting out in life and wants her political party to hear her voice too and not just the voices of special interest groups. She voted because she is an American and, like all Americans, gets to participate in the democratic process and is responsible for the government. She voted to change the reputation of America so that when she goes to visit Carmen in Paris next year she won't have to pretend she's Canadian. She voted for the same man I voted for: President-Elect Barack Obama.
Last night Chris and I went to an election party at Chris & Lisa's place. When Obama took the stage to speak for the first time as the President-Elect I cried. I hope that this election helps America to Wake Up like Kucinich said in his speech during the primaries. We all have to take an active roll in this country. It's OUR country and we're taking it back! It does not belong to the government, a ruler, a dictator, the Congress, or any special interest group. We have allowed our country to be sold into debt to pay for wars we have no business fighting. These are not our causes. We have enough causes right here at home to worry about. I feel proud of my country for electing Obama as our president and hope that he leads our country out of the quagmire it has become. I have hope for tomorrow, for my country, for our future, for my children and I haven't been able to stop grinning all day.
Last night after the polls closed and Obama had spoken we heard a great noise in the street and an impromptu parade was headed down the road complete with drums, people waving Obama signs, t-shirts, or just shouting and happy. People everywhere actually took to the streets like Scottish hooligans after winning a soccer cup because of one man who can change the world.
In other Election Day news - Chris's sister Penny had her baby November 4th - Neil Hampton gave his debut performance weighing in at 9lbs 5ozs. Mommy and family are doing fine.
Here are some crazy pictures from the Halloween party we went to at the Avant Garden in Houston. Chris and I were love children of the 60's. Chelsea was a fallen angel. My sister is the witch; sister in law Sophie is the vampire who just fed, and Kevin is the dude with horns.
I just got my new computer! It is beautiful! I LOVE it! I can't tell you how much I love it. I will write my whole novel this month on my new mac.
NaNoWriMo is going well - except for yesterday because of the election and today because of yesterday.
Still no word on the new job but I did call today to find out if there were any snags. Apparently no but it seems to take a while for the security clearance process to come from HR.
My 18 year old daughter voted
yesterday for the first time in her life. She voted for a man who promises a greater tomorrow. She voted so that when she gets out of high school she'll immediately have access to health care and won't have to take the first job with insurance that comes along so she's covered. She voted so that she can afford college for herself. She voted for a greener tomorrow so that when she has to buy a car it might be more energy efficient. She voted because she's young and just starting out in life and wants her political party to hear her voice too and not just the voices of special interest groups. She voted because she is an American and, like all Americans, gets to participate in the democratic process and is responsible for the government. She voted to change the reputation of America so that when she goes to visit Carmen in Paris next year she won't have to pretend she's Canadian. She voted for the same man I voted for: President-Elect Barack Obama.Last night Chris and I went to an election party at Chris & Lisa's place. When Obama took the stage to speak for the first time as the President-Elect I cried. I hope that this election helps America to Wake Up like Kucinich said in his speech during the primaries. We all have to take an active roll in this country. It's OUR country and we're taking it back! It does not belong to the government, a ruler, a dictator, the Congress, or any special interest group. We have allowed our country to be sold into debt to pay for wars we have no business fighting. These are not our causes. We have enough causes right here at home to worry about. I feel proud of my country for electing Obama as our president and hope that he leads our country out of the quagmire it has become. I have hope for tomorrow, for my country, for our future, for my children and I haven't been able to stop grinning all day.
Last night after the polls closed and Obama had spoken we heard a great noise in the street and an impromptu parade was headed down the road complete with drums, people waving Obama signs, t-shirts, or just shouting and happy. People everywhere actually took to the streets like Scottish hooligans after winning a soccer cup because of one man who can change the world.
In other Election Day news - Chris's sister Penny had her baby November 4th - Neil Hampton gave his debut performance weighing in at 9lbs 5ozs. Mommy and family are doing fine.
Here are some crazy pictures from the Halloween party we went to at the Avant Garden in Houston. Chris and I were love children of the 60's. Chelsea was a fallen angel. My sister is the witch; sister in law Sophie is the vampire who just fed, and Kevin is the dude with horns.
I just got my new computer! It is beautiful! I LOVE it! I can't tell you how much I love it. I will write my whole novel this month on my new mac.NaNoWriMo is going well - except for yesterday because of the election and today because of yesterday.
Still no word on the new job but I did call today to find out if there were any snags. Apparently no but it seems to take a while for the security clearance process to come from HR.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
After the Kick-Off
The 2008 NaNoWriMo Kick-Off Event was yesterday and it went beautifully! I was so happy with every single part of it. The space we reserved was more than ideal! We want to use the space for our TGIO party at the end of November. We kicked it off at the Havens Community Center which is right next door to the Chocolate Bar on Alabama. It has at least 4 separate sections plus a little kitchen area and bathrooms. It has tables and chairs, couches and is centrally located. I absolutely LOVE it! However, the perfectness of the space aside, the kick-off itself went really well. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many wonderful new participants and there are so many others, the old crew, who are just dear to my heart that I see far too rarely.
For the Swag Bags this year, Chris made an awesome CD of writing music which includes such songs as Every Day I Write the Book by Elvis Costello, Writer's Minor Holiday by Calexico, My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors, by Moxy Friivous, Paperback Writer, by The Beatles and several others. I hope everyone loves the music. We also made door hangers and put in bouncy balls and candy and stickers. We got powerstrips for the Area Liaisons which they seemed to enjoy. It was a lot of fun.
Afterwards, a group of us went for pizza at Star which maintains a status as one of the highlights of my weekend. It's been forever since I've had a chance to eat Star Pizza and it was fun to talk with everyone I hadn't seen in ages. I got some excellent ideas to include in my book in November.
This morning Chris, Colin and I went to play disc golf but it was really hot and we didn't make it through all 18 holes. It was fun none-the-less. Then I met Soluna and PataLeBon at Coffee Oasis for a Got Plot? Brainstorming Session. This was originally scheduled to be at Chelsea Coffee House but they were closed so we re-grouped at C.O. I have to say that the best ideas for my novel there actually came from Colin who was on a roll and giving everyone creative writing ideas. Then we went to pick up Chelsea from Brian's and she was happy cuz she had gone shopping and had her eyebrows done for picture day tomorrow. So that was awesome.
In other news, I've been back at work for exactly 2 weeks and it's really like a roller coaster. Rumors abound about the impending layoff which has been announced to happen right after the election for political reasons. Everyone there is looking for a job and I've spoken to people who have mentioned by title some of the exact same positions I'm looking at. That's a little scary. I had an interview at UH last Thursday and they said I should hear from them by Monday - tomorrow. I hope it's good news! Please keep your fingers crossed for me. I would like to get off the island anyway. I think it's toxic. The trees and bushes are brown and dead from the salt water and sludge that flooded everything. The first week we were back everyone got sick. It was pretty awful.
I got to speak to a class of kids at Westside High School about NaNoWriMo which was a lot of fun. I handed out stickers and heard some plot ideas that sounded really promising. These kids sounded like they really could do it. I also got the grand tour of Westside from the teacher - Chris's brother Rob - and this school actually has an Outback Steakhouse in it for their Hotel & Restaurant Management classes! The kids can eat cocanut shrimp for lunch every day if they want to!
Also, Rob and Noelle are new parents-to-be expecting the newest little MacGregor in May! So Congratulations Rob & Noelle! I should be crocheting blankets but I have documentation to finish, a novel to write, a region to wrangle, a new job to find, and that's just the extras - I still have my family and a strewn-apart job to go to on the ghost-town island as part of my daily chores.
That's about it for an update. Oh we're gonna early vote. We saw a voting line at the library yesterday that wrapped around the building in two lines! I can't even imagine what November 4th will look like! I hope Chelsea's voter's registration card comes soon.
Much Love ~
For the Swag Bags this year, Chris made an awesome CD of writing music which includes such songs as Every Day I Write the Book by Elvis Costello, Writer's Minor Holiday by Calexico, My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors, by Moxy Friivous, Paperback Writer, by The Beatles and several others. I hope everyone loves the music. We also made door hangers and put in bouncy balls and candy and stickers. We got powerstrips for the Area Liaisons which they seemed to enjoy. It was a lot of fun.
Afterwards, a group of us went for pizza at Star which maintains a status as one of the highlights of my weekend. It's been forever since I've had a chance to eat Star Pizza and it was fun to talk with everyone I hadn't seen in ages. I got some excellent ideas to include in my book in November.
This morning Chris, Colin and I went to play disc golf but it was really hot and we didn't make it through all 18 holes. It was fun none-the-less. Then I met Soluna and PataLeBon at Coffee Oasis for a Got Plot? Brainstorming Session. This was originally scheduled to be at Chelsea Coffee House but they were closed so we re-grouped at C.O. I have to say that the best ideas for my novel there actually came from Colin who was on a roll and giving everyone creative writing ideas. Then we went to pick up Chelsea from Brian's and she was happy cuz she had gone shopping and had her eyebrows done for picture day tomorrow. So that was awesome.
In other news, I've been back at work for exactly 2 weeks and it's really like a roller coaster. Rumors abound about the impending layoff which has been announced to happen right after the election for political reasons. Everyone there is looking for a job and I've spoken to people who have mentioned by title some of the exact same positions I'm looking at. That's a little scary. I had an interview at UH last Thursday and they said I should hear from them by Monday - tomorrow. I hope it's good news! Please keep your fingers crossed for me. I would like to get off the island anyway. I think it's toxic. The trees and bushes are brown and dead from the salt water and sludge that flooded everything. The first week we were back everyone got sick. It was pretty awful.
I got to speak to a class of kids at Westside High School about NaNoWriMo which was a lot of fun. I handed out stickers and heard some plot ideas that sounded really promising. These kids sounded like they really could do it. I also got the grand tour of Westside from the teacher - Chris's brother Rob - and this school actually has an Outback Steakhouse in it for their Hotel & Restaurant Management classes! The kids can eat cocanut shrimp for lunch every day if they want to!
Also, Rob and Noelle are new parents-to-be expecting the newest little MacGregor in May! So Congratulations Rob & Noelle! I should be crocheting blankets but I have documentation to finish, a novel to write, a region to wrangle, a new job to find, and that's just the extras - I still have my family and a strewn-apart job to go to on the ghost-town island as part of my daily chores.
That's about it for an update. Oh we're gonna early vote. We saw a voting line at the library yesterday that wrapped around the building in two lines! I can't even imagine what November 4th will look like! I hope Chelsea's voter's registration card comes soon.
Much Love ~
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
A Blog Post
So we got the word that we may be returning to work on Monday. I have cognitive dissonance regarding this news. On the one hand I'm like, Thank God! and on the other I'm groaning and saying '5 more minutes mom.' I've been off of work now since September 10th but I've been working from home, setting up the clinics and assisting where I can. It's been getting tougher though so today I drove out to the island with a fellow worker to turn on our computers so we could access them from home. Here are some pix of the island. However, at this point I'm really truly wishing I had taken more photos of the campus! I don't know why I didn't. I guess I was too focused at that point on getting to my office and getting off the island. They wouldn't let us in until after 1pm for "Look and Leave" and I was meant to pick the kids up from school around 2:30. Guards met us in the lobby of my building where there were supplies stacked up everywhere. We had to sign in and (thankfully) 1 elevator was working - otherwise it would have been a 16 flight climb. There was no air conditioning and being there for only half an hour was miserable. My plant was almost dead. :( I watered both my plants and if the one comes back I decided to name her Crispy. The main thing is that I unbagged and turned on my computer and now I can access it from home. However, when I got home there was the announcement that we may return to work on Monday. I don't see how! There's a tent propped up for food services and sanitation issues. We'll see. They're meant to post a list of buildings that are still uninhabitable by tomorrow so I still don't yet know.
In other news, Sarah Palin continues to amuse me. I think she's so hilarious. The scary part is that some people actually like her and hope she becomes VP. I can't wait for tomorrow's debate. I just feel like this race has become so much richer with fodder for hilarity with her around. I mean really? c'mon! She couldn't name a single newspaper she has ever read so she said she reads "all of them." That is so funny! She also couldn't name a policy of McCains where he went against his party, or a policy of McCain's, or a Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade. Katie Couric has been slaughtering her in interviews and she keeps coming back for more. Doesn't she know people are laughing at her? Its too funny.
I'm so happy that my 18 year old just registered to vote! YAY!!! One more vote for Obama. It makes me proud. I just want to put her voter's registration card on the fridge under a magnet!
NaNoWriMo is in the active planning stages for the Houston area. We secured a location for our kick-off event for the low low cost of $20.00! Now we need to get goodie bags together and I would love to have a fund raiser but am lacking in ideas. I do, however, have an idea for my novel this year. I'm really excited about it actually. If I wasn't so busy with writing documentation and working from home I would do some snowflaking but that will have to wait till mid October. Oh! and I'm getting a brand new computer! Yay! mid October I'm picking out a new MacBook or MacBook Pro for my noveling adventure this year.
So that's about it for me.
LOVE
In other news, Sarah Palin continues to amuse me. I think she's so hilarious. The scary part is that some people actually like her and hope she becomes VP. I can't wait for tomorrow's debate. I just feel like this race has become so much richer with fodder for hilarity with her around. I mean really? c'mon! She couldn't name a single newspaper she has ever read so she said she reads "all of them." That is so funny! She also couldn't name a policy of McCains where he went against his party, or a policy of McCain's, or a Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade. Katie Couric has been slaughtering her in interviews and she keeps coming back for more. Doesn't she know people are laughing at her? Its too funny.
I'm so happy that my 18 year old just registered to vote! YAY!!! One more vote for Obama. It makes me proud. I just want to put her voter's registration card on the fridge under a magnet!
NaNoWriMo is in the active planning stages for the Houston area. We secured a location for our kick-off event for the low low cost of $20.00! Now we need to get goodie bags together and I would love to have a fund raiser but am lacking in ideas. I do, however, have an idea for my novel this year. I'm really excited about it actually. If I wasn't so busy with writing documentation and working from home I would do some snowflaking but that will have to wait till mid October. Oh! and I'm getting a brand new computer! Yay! mid October I'm picking out a new MacBook or MacBook Pro for my noveling adventure this year.
So that's about it for me.
LOVE
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Hurricane Ike
Well Houston is still in the recovery process from the disaster that hit our shores this past weekend but all told, we made it through with very little inconvenience. Others were not so lucky. I know a guy from work who had chest deep water in his house; another, my boss in fact, who lost his house in Kemah and everything in it. We drove down Nasa Rd 1 and saw several boats crashed on streets. We saw businesses along the marina floating under water. Debris is everywhere and there is no gas to be found. I have really spotty phone service and have been most successful with text messages to and from people. But several people have no power still and they're saying it could be weeks. As you know I work on Galveston Island and cannot return to work for an indefinite period of time. I am hoping that that really means not till Monday but we'll see. The kids are out of school for the remainder of this week also. But that's good because we'll need their help in cleaning up the yards of both the rent house and Chris's house. Both houses survived the storm with no damage. Chris lost several large branches on his big oaks in the front of the house and we have a lot of limb debris to clean up. However, on the bright side we won't need to buy firewood for a couple of years. We don't do a lot of fires... Neither of the houses took on water so there is no flood damage. The rent house lost two sections of fence, the top of one of the palm trees in the back and a rather large branch from one of the trees out back. Our neighbor lent us a limb trimmer that helped us to strip it down to a trunk but the trunk will need to be hacked into pieces with a chain saw and we don't know anyone with a chain saw yet. We're gonna share the cost of a new fence with the other neighbor but for now cannot let the dogs outside into the back yard without supervision. Also, we've added a third dog to our number, Remi, Chris's old dog.
Chris, Chelsea, and I evacuated to Chris's parents' house in Spring, far north of Houston. The trip there was a breeze! I couldn't believe it because I sat in Rita-Evacuation traffic for about 8 hours and expected this trip to be just as bad. In fact, on Thursday morning, first thing I did was get my gas tank filled and have an oil change, which was due anyway, but I assumed I would be sitting in traffic all the way north. Not so. We got there in about 45 minutes. No traffic on the roads. The news was super-sensationalizing the traffic situation. Peter & Frances have 3 extra bedrooms - one for Chelsea, one for Colin, and one for Chris and I with a bathroom attached - all upstairs. We were actually quite comfortable. We brought all our food and had also gone grocery shopping before going there so we ate well the whole time. Thursday night Chris grilled turkey burgers on the Foreman Grill because we still had power. Delicious! Friday we got dunkin donuts for breakfast and Frances and I made 3 quiches - ham & cheese, bacon and spinach -for breakfasts. We never ran out of quiche. That day I made a shrimp risotto and then the storm blew in. We were watching it on the news more than anything else.
Here's me in front of a downed tree on Peter & Frances' street.
It was raining and windy when I went to bed and still raining and still windy when I woke up on Saturday morning but for the most part, I slept right through it. I feel like I missed something. Chris and I took a walk Saturday morning in the rain and took pictures of the destruction. I've never seen so many downed trees. Huge trees just fallen over. We didn't have power, of course.
Here's a picture of Chris on Ronny's old street standing in front of another downed tree.
Saturday was really surreal and I've lost most of the day but we mostly just sat there in shock from so much destruction and loss of the ability to plug in. It's the little things you don't think of when you lose power - like you can still grill things outdoors but if you trim veggies into the sink the disposal won't work. We had a candle light dinner that night of grilled chicken, roasted corn on the cob and roasted new potatoes. Delicious! Oh and we invented the "barbeque" directions for the package of pilsbury iced cinnamon rolls. Dessert turned out nicely too. We played cards by candle light. Chris and I took a walk through his neighborhood in the eerie darkness of no power for miles. It was actually a perfect view of the full moon and quite lovely.
Sunday Chris and I attempted to venture out into the world to see our house and obtain ice and Peter and Frances went to church. The more successful trip was Peter's & Frances'. Chris and I found police blockades on the freeway and floods in the road where we could have taken another way. So rather than using up our precious gasoline reserve we decided to focus on getting ice but quickly learned that everyone else in the city was also on that mission and there was none to be had. The only businesses we saw open were a McDonalds with a line of cars wrapped around the block; a Home Depot; and a gas station with another huge line. However, Peter & Frances found their church to have power so they charged up their cell phones, and found a friend who had power and lent them their generator as well as 20 gallons of gas to run the generator! So we really only went about 30 hours or so without power. That day we ran the refridgerator, fans, lights and appliances as needed. It was also so beautiful and cool as the front had come in. Chris and I finished a jigsaw puzzle that Chelsea and Frances had started. We had a great day and ate grilled turkey burgers that night. Monday Chris and I again drove out south and that time made it all the way home. We had power at the rent house! Yay!!! In fact, our little subdivision is the only section of this area that happens to have power and in fact, never lost power. Some of our neighbors stayed here to ride out the storm and let us know that the worst thing was tree damage. We were very lucky!
We drove back to Peter & Frances's place and prepared one last meal - turkey chili made on a camp stove on the front porch. Then we packed up our stuff and left. They are doing fine with the generator but still have no power. We slept in our own beds last night and tonight it's so cool out that we haven't been running the AC anyway. Today we took a trip to the grocery store to replenish our supplies and it was weird. There was nothing refridgerated at all. The shelves were bare - no milk, cheese, eggs, butter, meat, salads, frozen foods, etc. They had certain isles blocked off. It will be another 48 hours before they will be able to sell perishables. Thus, we bought a basket-full of things we could use for the next few days for 4 people in the hopes that we'll be able to buy milk and meat, etc. in a few days. We're doing fine though. We can cook vegetarian meals no problem! Also, Peter & Frances bought us a gallon of milk on the north side before we left so we have most of that and we had 2 tubes of turkey meat left over, one of which we ate tonight. We also have plenty of beer and there's no working so we've been partaking.
Not all the damage was caused by Hurricane Ike, as you can see from this picture The Kool-Aid Man visited the apartment complex next to the one I used to live in.
Oh Yeah!
In other circumstances it would be so awesome to have this much time off of work. But I like to plan these things. We can't really go anywhere because there's not much gas and we need to reserve what we have for making it to grocery stores or what-have-you. We can't go play disc golf or anything like that. We can't go out at night because we're on curfew from 9PM - 6AM.
Here's a picture of a boat crashed up on Nasa Rd 1. We wanted to get pictures of Kemah but the roads are still blocked and those on the east side of Hwy 146 are not allowed to return to their homes yet.
We do have two yards to clear of brush and we got one mostly done today. Tomorrow we'll go to Chris's house and clear that away. That one will be a lot more work. I already have a blister on my left thumb from raking brush. We also have a huge pile of limbs in front of the house. Tomorrow they're meant to resume trash pick up but they won't take the hurricane debris. I have to say again how lucky we are to be here with power, running water, food supplies, a working fridge, plenty of ice, the internet etc. We've been looking at pictures of the damage especially on Crystal Beach and are shocked and awed at how awful it is. Kahlich did some research and found out that every beach house we've ever stayed in as a group (the April Beach house group) is GONE. We may not even do a beach house next year because there will hardly be any beach houses to be had on Bolivar any more.
So that's it for my update, how the hurricane affected me, the evacuation, the aftermath. Let's hope for a speedy recovery for the rest of the affected.
LOVE
Chris, Chelsea, and I evacuated to Chris's parents' house in Spring, far north of Houston. The trip there was a breeze! I couldn't believe it because I sat in Rita-Evacuation traffic for about 8 hours and expected this trip to be just as bad. In fact, on Thursday morning, first thing I did was get my gas tank filled and have an oil change, which was due anyway, but I assumed I would be sitting in traffic all the way north. Not so. We got there in about 45 minutes. No traffic on the roads. The news was super-sensationalizing the traffic situation. Peter & Frances have 3 extra bedrooms - one for Chelsea, one for Colin, and one for Chris and I with a bathroom attached - all upstairs. We were actually quite comfortable. We brought all our food and had also gone grocery shopping before going there so we ate well the whole time. Thursday night Chris grilled turkey burgers on the Foreman Grill because we still had power. Delicious! Friday we got dunkin donuts for breakfast and Frances and I made 3 quiches - ham & cheese, bacon and spinach -for breakfasts. We never ran out of quiche. That day I made a shrimp risotto and then the storm blew in. We were watching it on the news more than anything else.
Here's me in front of a downed tree on Peter & Frances' street.
It was raining and windy when I went to bed and still raining and still windy when I woke up on Saturday morning but for the most part, I slept right through it. I feel like I missed something. Chris and I took a walk Saturday morning in the rain and took pictures of the destruction. I've never seen so many downed trees. Huge trees just fallen over. We didn't have power, of course.
Here's a picture of Chris on Ronny's old street standing in front of another downed tree.Saturday was really surreal and I've lost most of the day but we mostly just sat there in shock from so much destruction and loss of the ability to plug in. It's the little things you don't think of when you lose power - like you can still grill things outdoors but if you trim veggies into the sink the disposal won't work. We had a candle light dinner that night of grilled chicken, roasted corn on the cob and roasted new potatoes. Delicious! Oh and we invented the "barbeque" directions for the package of pilsbury iced cinnamon rolls. Dessert turned out nicely too. We played cards by candle light. Chris and I took a walk through his neighborhood in the eerie darkness of no power for miles. It was actually a perfect view of the full moon and quite lovely.
Sunday Chris and I attempted to venture out into the world to see our house and obtain ice and Peter and Frances went to church. The more successful trip was Peter's & Frances'. Chris and I found police blockades on the freeway and floods in the road where we could have taken another way. So rather than using up our precious gasoline reserve we decided to focus on getting ice but quickly learned that everyone else in the city was also on that mission and there was none to be had. The only businesses we saw open were a McDonalds with a line of cars wrapped around the block; a Home Depot; and a gas station with another huge line. However, Peter & Frances found their church to have power so they charged up their cell phones, and found a friend who had power and lent them their generator as well as 20 gallons of gas to run the generator! So we really only went about 30 hours or so without power. That day we ran the refridgerator, fans, lights and appliances as needed. It was also so beautiful and cool as the front had come in. Chris and I finished a jigsaw puzzle that Chelsea and Frances had started. We had a great day and ate grilled turkey burgers that night. Monday Chris and I again drove out south and that time made it all the way home. We had power at the rent house! Yay!!! In fact, our little subdivision is the only section of this area that happens to have power and in fact, never lost power. Some of our neighbors stayed here to ride out the storm and let us know that the worst thing was tree damage. We were very lucky!
We drove back to Peter & Frances's place and prepared one last meal - turkey chili made on a camp stove on the front porch. Then we packed up our stuff and left. They are doing fine with the generator but still have no power. We slept in our own beds last night and tonight it's so cool out that we haven't been running the AC anyway. Today we took a trip to the grocery store to replenish our supplies and it was weird. There was nothing refridgerated at all. The shelves were bare - no milk, cheese, eggs, butter, meat, salads, frozen foods, etc. They had certain isles blocked off. It will be another 48 hours before they will be able to sell perishables. Thus, we bought a basket-full of things we could use for the next few days for 4 people in the hopes that we'll be able to buy milk and meat, etc. in a few days. We're doing fine though. We can cook vegetarian meals no problem! Also, Peter & Frances bought us a gallon of milk on the north side before we left so we have most of that and we had 2 tubes of turkey meat left over, one of which we ate tonight. We also have plenty of beer and there's no working so we've been partaking.
Not all the damage was caused by Hurricane Ike, as you can see from this picture The Kool-Aid Man visited the apartment complex next to the one I used to live in.
Oh Yeah!
In other circumstances it would be so awesome to have this much time off of work. But I like to plan these things. We can't really go anywhere because there's not much gas and we need to reserve what we have for making it to grocery stores or what-have-you. We can't go play disc golf or anything like that. We can't go out at night because we're on curfew from 9PM - 6AM.
Here's a picture of a boat crashed up on Nasa Rd 1. We wanted to get pictures of Kemah but the roads are still blocked and those on the east side of Hwy 146 are not allowed to return to their homes yet.
We do have two yards to clear of brush and we got one mostly done today. Tomorrow we'll go to Chris's house and clear that away. That one will be a lot more work. I already have a blister on my left thumb from raking brush. We also have a huge pile of limbs in front of the house. Tomorrow they're meant to resume trash pick up but they won't take the hurricane debris. I have to say again how lucky we are to be here with power, running water, food supplies, a working fridge, plenty of ice, the internet etc. We've been looking at pictures of the damage especially on Crystal Beach and are shocked and awed at how awful it is. Kahlich did some research and found out that every beach house we've ever stayed in as a group (the April Beach house group) is GONE. We may not even do a beach house next year because there will hardly be any beach houses to be had on Bolivar any more.
So that's it for my update, how the hurricane affected me, the evacuation, the aftermath. Let's hope for a speedy recovery for the rest of the affected.
LOVE
Monday, September 8, 2008
It's been...... 1 month since I posted last; 2 days since the pix were shot
the title is a tip of the hat to Bare naked Ladies "One Week" song. In case you didn't get that.
So it really has been a month since my last post. All sorts of happenings are going on.
We took a trip to ride down the Guadelupe river with some friends. Chelsea was with us so it was really super fun. Chris and I took the bottle of left over sangria from the 4th of July party that had been frozen in our freezer all this time with us. As it melted into a slushy we just passed the gallon jug around and all had some. It was delicious! and Potent! During the river trip the skies decided to pour on us but it did not effect our spirits and we continued on even when we were the ONLY group left on the river. The whole trip was a complete blast. I fell out of my tube at one point going down the chute but only scraped up my knees. Otherwise, it was a completely awesome trip.
What else? School started. Chelsea is a Junior in High School and Colin is in 3rd grade. He thinks his teacher is cute which is terribly cute! I took a day off to hang out with Chelsea and take her shopping for school clothes and it happened to be tax free weekend so we got some deals but I was happy that we had finished with our shopping early in the day to avoid the crowds. We both got new school year hair-cuts too - I got about 4 inches cut off of my hair and Chelsea just got a cute trim. It was an awesome day.
Julie had her baby! Here's a link to her Picasa album. Her baby boy is named Caleb and he was born on August 30th. We saw him only hours after he was born and even got to witness his first bath ever. He was 8lbs 3ozs. We dont' expect to see much of Matt and Julie now that they have the baby but we're hoping to get to visit soon. Maybe if the hurricane (Ike) continues in it's path towards us we'll swing by on our way to Chris's parents' house since they both live in the north.
We watch Obama's acceptance speech at the DNC on a live feed from the BAND headquarters in our area. BAND is the Bay Area New Democrats and they have become a HUGE force during this election. I've never seen so many Democrats in the state of Texas. My dream is to turn Texas into a Blue State during election time. Can you imagine how powerful a statement that would be? Amazing! Chelsea just turned 18 so she can vote now. She has a lot of mixed feelings about it. For one, shes in school and SO many kids at this school have parents who are voting for McCain. Which I can see since we live in a fairly affluent part of Texas which has a lot of Republicans and Conservatives. But I asked Chelsea to take a Political Compass Test - she took this one and this one and both times turned up as one of those god-forsaken liberals! Thank goodness!!!! Anyway, so if the issues she truly believes in had come out that she really was all for McCain I wouldn't have minded really. I just would have thought well at least she's discussing how she feels about the issues and that's how she feels, ah well. But I really am happy that her views sort of mirror the values I've tried to impress upon her. It was a great exercise.
This past weekend I went on a date w/ Chris to beach. He was just coming in from a conference in Denver and it was TIME for us to have some fun. I've been in a really bad mood/state lately so it was great to go OUT with Chris again since it's been a while, and have some fun. We drove out to East Beach on Saturday night when it was clear and beautiful. Our original plan was to star-gaze but Chris also brought his camera and tripod with him. We played around with light grafitti and HERE are the results of our labors. It was SO much fun that we didn't leave the beach until about 2 AM and didn't get home till about 3AM. Read the photo captions on these - it tells about our thought processes.
Next weekend is the Eichler family reunion and we're not going to be able to make it. It's possible that the hurricane will prevent the whole thing anyway but we've already made plans not to attend. There are just so many other things going on right now and gas prices are so expensive that we opted out.
NaNoWriMo is coming up and I've decided to ML for one more year. This year Chris is my Co-ML which is nice. He's going to be the tech guy. He did that last year too but this year he'll have access to the ML Area on NaNoWriMo. I have no idea what I'm going to write a novel about this year. Currently, I'm focused on securing a location for several of our events rather than what I'm going to write but I'm sure it will come to me.
I just found out tonight that Carmen and Kevin are coming to Houston for Christmas! I am SO excited! It's he best news ever. I haven't seen them in about a year. I hope they can stay here with us for a little while.
That's it for an update.
LOVE
So it really has been a month since my last post. All sorts of happenings are going on.
We took a trip to ride down the Guadelupe river with some friends. Chelsea was with us so it was really super fun. Chris and I took the bottle of left over sangria from the 4th of July party that had been frozen in our freezer all this time with us. As it melted into a slushy we just passed the gallon jug around and all had some. It was delicious! and Potent! During the river trip the skies decided to pour on us but it did not effect our spirits and we continued on even when we were the ONLY group left on the river. The whole trip was a complete blast. I fell out of my tube at one point going down the chute but only scraped up my knees. Otherwise, it was a completely awesome trip.
What else? School started. Chelsea is a Junior in High School and Colin is in 3rd grade. He thinks his teacher is cute which is terribly cute! I took a day off to hang out with Chelsea and take her shopping for school clothes and it happened to be tax free weekend so we got some deals but I was happy that we had finished with our shopping early in the day to avoid the crowds. We both got new school year hair-cuts too - I got about 4 inches cut off of my hair and Chelsea just got a cute trim. It was an awesome day.
Julie had her baby! Here's a link to her Picasa album. Her baby boy is named Caleb and he was born on August 30th. We saw him only hours after he was born and even got to witness his first bath ever. He was 8lbs 3ozs. We dont' expect to see much of Matt and Julie now that they have the baby but we're hoping to get to visit soon. Maybe if the hurricane (Ike) continues in it's path towards us we'll swing by on our way to Chris's parents' house since they both live in the north.
We watch Obama's acceptance speech at the DNC on a live feed from the BAND headquarters in our area. BAND is the Bay Area New Democrats and they have become a HUGE force during this election. I've never seen so many Democrats in the state of Texas. My dream is to turn Texas into a Blue State during election time. Can you imagine how powerful a statement that would be? Amazing! Chelsea just turned 18 so she can vote now. She has a lot of mixed feelings about it. For one, shes in school and SO many kids at this school have parents who are voting for McCain. Which I can see since we live in a fairly affluent part of Texas which has a lot of Republicans and Conservatives. But I asked Chelsea to take a Political Compass Test - she took this one and this one and both times turned up as one of those god-forsaken liberals! Thank goodness!!!! Anyway, so if the issues she truly believes in had come out that she really was all for McCain I wouldn't have minded really. I just would have thought well at least she's discussing how she feels about the issues and that's how she feels, ah well. But I really am happy that her views sort of mirror the values I've tried to impress upon her. It was a great exercise.
This past weekend I went on a date w/ Chris to beach. He was just coming in from a conference in Denver and it was TIME for us to have some fun. I've been in a really bad mood/state lately so it was great to go OUT with Chris again since it's been a while, and have some fun. We drove out to East Beach on Saturday night when it was clear and beautiful. Our original plan was to star-gaze but Chris also brought his camera and tripod with him. We played around with light grafitti and HERE are the results of our labors. It was SO much fun that we didn't leave the beach until about 2 AM and didn't get home till about 3AM. Read the photo captions on these - it tells about our thought processes.
Next weekend is the Eichler family reunion and we're not going to be able to make it. It's possible that the hurricane will prevent the whole thing anyway but we've already made plans not to attend. There are just so many other things going on right now and gas prices are so expensive that we opted out.
NaNoWriMo is coming up and I've decided to ML for one more year. This year Chris is my Co-ML which is nice. He's going to be the tech guy. He did that last year too but this year he'll have access to the ML Area on NaNoWriMo. I have no idea what I'm going to write a novel about this year. Currently, I'm focused on securing a location for several of our events rather than what I'm going to write but I'm sure it will come to me.
I just found out tonight that Carmen and Kevin are coming to Houston for Christmas! I am SO excited! It's he best news ever. I haven't seen them in about a year. I hope they can stay here with us for a little while.
That's it for an update.
LOVE
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