Enchanted Rock, Happy Birthday Leslie

The boys went on a 40th birthday get-away this weekend. Leslie turned 40 so it was a great excuse for all the boys (BJ, Leslie, Jeremy (BJ's bro), Brandon (BJ's bro), and Kris (Leslie's bro)) to go camping, hiking, and to do guy stuff! From what I hear the event was successful. They hiked up Enchanted Rock at least 5 times in a day and a half and even crawled down major caved areas.

Meanwhile, I stayed home and cleaned, cleaned, did laundry, and cleaned. I'm not complaining........there is nothing like a perfectly cleaned air conditioned house!!!

Can I get an AMEN!!!!

YEA!!! As of 7am this morning I have electricity!!! 15 days after hurricane Ike, I have power. I'm not going to lie.....I've had my good moments and my BAD moments. Although I have so much to be thankful for, I couldn't help but find myself crying a river at times. A huge thank you to EVERYONE we stayed with and who offered their homes. We can not tell you how blessed we are to have friends and family that care about us and love us.

Below is a brief summary of how the 15 electric free days unfolded....

Day 1: "oh dear, what should we do...just sit here and wait this out?"

Day 2: much travel to find ice, finally found it at a POD location after an hour wait in our car burning gas

Day 3: more travel to find ice and water - very difficult and almost couldn't find any

Day 4: travel to find gas and wondering "should we buy a generator? I can't imagine the lights will be off much longer"

Day 5: Can we get food if we need it? the thought "I sure hope our $700 worth of cow survive in that freezer"

Day 6: The cool weather is leaving...what shall we do? I'm going to Shaunda's she has A/C

Day 7: this is a nightmare, surely it won't be much longer

Day 8: BJ is home from work, lets go ahead and get a generator from Madisonville and stay the night with Denise

Day 9: BJ hooked up a window unit and generator - maybe this will make us feel better in 95 degree weather -- FAT mama (me) still could not handle it

Day 10: I love you dear, but I'm going to stay at my mom's...you are more than welcome to join me (she had power and almost everyone we knew had it back)

Day 11: still at mom's but had to come home twice a day to feed my poor dog who was stuck in the heat!

Day 12: at mom's -- numb to the situation

Day 13:oh well....no food in our frige, no lights to go home to......staying at mom's again...just another day

Day 14: THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME! Please CenterPoint.....have you forgotten us? Everyone around us has electricity except us! Don't let those power trucks leave! We are still suffering!!

Day 15: No one tell me anything positive! I don't want to hear it.........they are never coming to rescue us. The sky IS falling!!!

Day 16: Who's house is that with it's front porch light on? Wait a minute....it is mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know 16 days doesn't sound like much, but put it in perspective. It's half of a month!!!! I will be loading up my car and driving as far north as possible the next time a hurricane is predicted to hit.

You guessed it ...

Today is day 9 - no lights. On a positive note....my friend Shaunda's son Mason (he's 3 weeks older then Landon) had a birthday party yesterday. Landon got to ride the cutest choo choo @ Zube park down 290. The train is free. Retired men put it together and maintain it for fun. It's adorable. It was nice to do something fun during all this drama.

Back to the lights....BJ checked on CenterPoint and they're saying Thursday until we get electricity. UGH!!

Day 7 complete

Ok --- day 7 and still no lights. I am at Robin's having dinner. Please pray they come on tomorrow. We are growing weary!

I survived IKE!!

Oh my.....I'm at my wonderful friend's house (Shaunda). She got electricity yesterday. They are telling us my area should have lights by Monday, however you never know if for some reason your exact spot had worse damage then the ones around you. Every day we have gone on scavenger hunts looking for ice, food, gas, laundry mat, etc. It's kept us busy, but not fun!! I think the survival mode of worry was the worst. If we KNEW we would have grocery stores or gas it wouldn't be an issue. However, we were worried to ever find a station without a 2 hour line and food in a store. All in all it worked out and we found what we needed when we needed it. I can live with no lights as long as we KNOW we will have food, water, gas.......

I think the best idea would be to leave town next time!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. I will say we will NEVER be caught without a generator again :)

IKE update

The latest is.......it's coming right to us!!!!!!!! It should be here tonight. Galveston is already having flooding and it's barely close! We have food, I'm filling my tub right now, we have frozen containers, we have charcoal, we are putting outside stuff in the garage, we are pulling the cars into the garage (if they fit), we have the a/c cranked down (it's going to be hot with no a/c), and lots of prayers. I hardly remember Alicia, but here we go again!! -- good thing for us...we are in a new subdivision with no big trees! I missed the trees from the country, but now I'm thankful not to have any :) Hugs and kisses to all xoxoxo

Hurricane Ike

Love to all in the event we have no electricity for a week or more. I do truly pray that is not the case. Everyone, take a deep breath and know GOD is in control :)

Fall Festival Costume

I really don't like Halloween, so I call it Fall Festival (that is what most churches call it). Now that Landon is in school and is getting older, I need to be the cool mom that prepares for fun holidays. As Carrie knows (I borrowed a costume from her last year) I am typically horrible about planning these things but I'm vowing to be better!! All that said.....we got Landon's costume today -- $12 at Target. Guess what.....he's a fireman!! I figured we better get this costume now because he may not care to be it as he gets older. He loves the costume and insists the axe is a hammer. Too cute!!!

"tag...you're it"

OK........so I've been tagged!!!! Here are 7 funky things about me.......(those I tagged -- tell me your 7 things :P)

1) I am a crime scene enthusiast! I LOVE action -- police, fire, murder investigates, etc. Kind of gory.....I don't know why it all intrigues me.

2) I am a freak about being "square". I like things to be in order, functional, and prepared.....BORING!!!

3) I appreciate "different" people. I pretty much get along with most -- I appreciate the quirks everyone have...I try to understand and appreciate.

4) I can sing in public, but I CAN NOT speak in public! How weird this is......I guess because one has words prepared and the other have to just come out......I'm not good with words EVER!!

5) I am an EXTREME realist. Come on, lets deal with the truth.

6) I LOVE love. BJ and I were high school sweethearts. As a young teen I didn't know if anyone would love me much less marry me......my dream came true........"I love LOVE!!"

7) I want to work with teens. I know this seems simple, but it is quite huge. I was a teen with no hope once and I hope I'm able to help others in my same situation. There IS so much to live for. GOD ALMIGHTY!!!!

Tag you're it..........Jane, Denise, Robin, Ms. Youngblood, and Alice :)

Landon's First Day of "School"

I'm not going to lie I was a little sad, anxious and nervous for Landon to go to his FIRST day of "school". He's never been in a classroom setting......will he eat, will he nap, will he be sad???? All these questions are in my head. Oh.....then I remember.....I'm only down the hall teaching the 4 year olds -- HA! See how rediculous I am!

So....the story goes....I find out from his teacher that he is SO COMFORTABLE at school he apparently kicked the blocks (I'm not sure if he was roughing around or mad) and gave that new "attitude" face (example below) he gives when he doesn't like what you are telling him. UGH! He is soooooo 3! I sure hope he learns to adjust. (Lord, please don't let my baby be the "bad" kid -- the one the teachers dread seeing each day)
On a positive note, I was able to peek in at him during naptime and he was sleeping like a baby. That made me feel good. Surely he will get the hang of things as the year goes on.