Obladi oblada, life goes on...

**Wait, even Heather K! She got power today along with Rita. Not Shana though, and it was muggy there! I hung out with her today and offered my house, but no taker. Stoplights are getting better every day too. Progress, not perfection.

Not for Heather K though. Still no lights, but blessed with a mighty good generator so it isn't total hell. Just 90% hell. Shana still has no lights and no generator, so they mostly go out to her parents all the way in Rosenberg except for Jeff who must work in the city and therefore lives in his powerless house. Traffic is at a record horribleness since you get off the freeway and the lights just blink. And people just aren't great at the four way stop system, I'll tell you that right now. Word is we can expect all lights to be fixed by Nov. Wow, just wow.

A lot of people magically got the lights yesterday though, and our evacuees moved out. Too bad too, we liked having them there. Nick and Ben were mighty good houseguests, minus the time when Ben came home drunk out of his mind (thank you, absinthe from Amsterdam) and while in the house at 3 am felt he had to turn on the house alarm. The house alarm that has motion detectors, of course, and as soon as the countdown was over the alarm went off. At 3 am we aren't listening for our cell phones, so the police did arrive. Hey, you get three false alarms a year without a fine, so one down. We didn't realize any of this until I saw the message from Brinks and the story unraveled. Pretty funny. Otherwise, the boys were incredibly grateful and gracious (I mean, they even got us a thank you card and gift! Boys did that!) and we liked having them down the street. Plus they all got to start planning the frat house that will be the back building and we are all stoked about the black light posters and strobe lights that will contain.



But if the boys' presence did anything, it reminded us that there is an absolutely amazing house just down the street that we could be potentially living in. That totally lit the fire under us to get some work done... Ike of course caused many days in the yard dragging out limbs as Paul kept cutting and cutting... but last weekend, Paul and Jason hooked up the washer and dryer for the evacuees after getting them from storage and we moved some more furniture in. The new gate was welded in for the driveway (just need to finish the fence next to it) and Paul picked up the metal for the back fence yesterday (and it is an awesome shade of green, and their other metal fence totally survived Ike with flying colors). The boys installed the kitchen sink and the stovetop and it looks like a real kitchen. We even bought the rest of the tile to do the kitchen backsplash and last night we grouted the bathroom floor. So close, people. If we weren't leaving this weekend for Vegas, there's a fantastic chance we'd be done.









And by the way, pretty sure those people who moved into the vacant house for like 2 days were just squatters. It wasn't like the key under the mat was a big secret and Paul saw the one man there weeks ago checking it out. But they were there a couple days in large, loud numbers and then never to be seen again. They were ghetto to the max though, so if they were just squatting, it was prolly good for us all that it was temporary. And now, a gratuitous cute shot of Dylan...

Updates continue

We'll start with some humor -- Jason bought this magnet for his office while we were in Austin and it is hilariousity. I would like it blown up poster sized and hung in my home



So we headed home Monday afternoon and braved the traffic. Wasn't the best drive home ever, but it wasn't the mass hysteria I was ready for either. As we made the drive down 290 towards Houston, we looked around for the devestation that days of news viewing had prepped us for. The first hint was the billboards -- at some point they began to hang in tatters. Signs were busted out and as we drove on we started to see windows blown out in buildings, siding missing and entire walls blown off (sorry, titty bar at 34th). As we exited, we realized stop lights were no longer a part of this society, though the open McD's (well, at least the drive thru is open) was a beacon of hope. We arrived home to see our neighborhood like this:









That last one, if you can't tell, is where a tree crushed Karen's behind neighbor's iron gates. Bummer. I had never seen uprooted trees before and they are a sight. The grass pulls right up with them in sheets. It's insane. Course, it is nicer in the end than all the stumps we'll end up with. But this is a lucky neighborhood. Karen's BFF had her house hit with three trees and it just demolished the whole thing. We also went over to our house to check out the sunroom damage some more and see which tree did the deed (it was the pine I thought). We took 3 in of rain in there too and lemme just say the cleanup there was gross. Not to mention our kitchen toekicks were there so if they don't dry nicely, I may be...back at Ikea. Grrr. These took three months to get in, if you are keeping track



Must've been a scary storm, glad I wasn't here. But I was in Austin and it wasn't a bad gig. We had a blast hanging out with Andi and Chad over and over and eating our way through town. Jason and I made a commitment early on that we would not eat at a single chain restaurant while we were there (the Chik-fil-a we waited at while our room was getting ready didn't count). We did awesomely and hit up Baha Bob's, Opal Divine's, Pluckers, Backyard, Kerbey Lane, Zocalo's, Magnolia Cafe and even scored a home cooked meal out of Andrea. Not bad for refugees!











To pull ourselves away from the devastation online and on TV, we played a board game, Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture which we rocked at, visited the Capital and enjoyed the pretty Austin landscape and the odd people and places. Our favorite shop? Monkey see, Monkey do which had an amazing amount of cute monkey stuff and other funny things. I so want to be a sock monkey collector, but I am too cheap.







Anyways, there's our update. Today was just cutting and cleaning at both houses, and the job is certainly not done. As we drive around and see so many windows busted out, trees down, lights still out, lines for gas and so on, it reminds us that it will be awhile til normality returns. In the meantime, we'll enjoy our only two open restaurants -- Luby's and a Jack in the Box -- and count our blessings.

No likey the Ikey

Just thought I'd drop in an leave a hurricane update. Will update as I know more.

** Sunday morning, 11:30 am CT**
Power has returned on our street. Karen is going out to San Antonio to be with her brother who was transferred from Victoria Hospital to San Antonio in anticipation of Ike and Paul will hold down the fort. Sounds like we are sending Nick over to crash at our house since he has no lights, so enjoy Nick! Our plans are still up in the air, we actually aren't quite clear to leave if Jason's work needs him afterall. His office is down to one generator and technically if it went out and the power is off, he would still be needed here

** Sunday morning, 10:25 am CT**
If you know Heather's friend Shelley and her daughter Kurstee, you know that they are a huge part of Heather's life. They live in one of the worst affected areas further south on a bit of land with animals and appear to have lost everything. I do not know if everything includes the actual animals. My thoughts are with them this morning



Good luck, ladies! We're thinking of you

And this morning Paul sent me pics of my sunroom and house. Looks like I let my imagination get the best of me, as I started to think all the doors and windows must've busted out and become unsalvageable. Really, it's a bent up roof (that *may* have some holes now)and frankly it may stay that way for awhile. No one's allowed to judge if they come over, Ike did it not me. Here are the pics:





** as of 9:45 pm CT**
Friends of Brandi -- she and her family are good and safe. They lost electricity but have a generator they are using. She and I will be continuing to text, but they are used to this from other storms and should function better than most =)

More word on my house. Lost my sunroom (which I never even got to enjoy except for doing renovation work in) and the tree also hit the master bath but Paul doesn't think the master bath is hurt too badly. I am trying to remember that I am a heckuva lot better off right now than people in Houston now because I have a/c and internet and yummo food all of which is unavailable in H-Town. Still though, I am feeling sadness and homesickness just because we have no idea when we get to go home and when life can return to normal. I miss my normal life, my friends, playdates, but it will all be back soon enough.

** as of 10:25 am CT**
Paul went over to our house and reported that our sunroom is the only place there was any damage. The pic above shows the trees that were remaining before we left (it was absolute jungle when we bought it and the boys have been cutting and cutting trees down every heavy trash, so forgive the mess we already had) Basically that pine in front of the sunroom fell on it. Since the house was spared, I can't be too sad and I will assume we'll fix that one without an insurance claim. I was hoping that back building would get hit, lol, it needs a good demolition as it is and it would have been nice to be on Allstate's dime as opposed to my own.

** as of 8:45 am CT**
Somehow, my mom and Jim have electricity. Miracle of miracles, 4.5 mil people without and they have theirs even with reports that all above ground electricity is out. So if that holds and we do have to go back soon, we can crash there. Karen and Paul have confirmed there are many down trees and one went through a neighbor's window. It is not safe for them to go check ours out, but there's a good chance of something similar for us. The good news is that the guys have been trimming down tons and tons of trees over the last months, but it is a pretty wooded lot so no telling what still ended up down. My dad is fine, but no electricity.

** as of 7:20 am CT**

My little family was sent to Austin by Jason's work so that if their computer systems were compromised, they could be rebuilt here. We are crashing at a hotel near Andi and Chad, so really it is quite pleasant for us (and paid for by them!) I am watching the tv and internet and desperately seeking a real pic of what the city is like after all the drama news and a long dark night. 90% of all power customers are without energy, and I am assuming that our house is included on that though there is no confirmation from Karen and Paul yet. It will prolly be the biggest hurdle to trying to get home since it would suck once we got there and non functioning traffic lights would make it really hard to get through any affected areas. I'm sure Paul will walk over and assess our damage once everything has passed.

Heather K and I have been in contact. Her family is fine and I know she was anxious about being in her "bat cave" with the windows boarded up. She lost power early on, which is no real shocker since a light summer shower will do that to them, but they have a generator they can turn to and the tubs are filled with water. Sadly I received a text this morning that the family trampoline did not make it. Rest in peace, treasured trampoline. They ran out during the eye to try and recover the pieces. No word if Cam's "Happy Birthday" sign was still attached to it as it was at Meg's party (sorry, H, I could not resist the thought!) Will update as I know more

Rita was staying at her home too and I am expecting a fairly similar story from her, minus the trampoline. Will update as I know more.



Stay safe, everyone

Hurricane Season and trying to move on

First of all, let me share with you the joys of hurricane season and staring at this sign all the frickin time:



Yup, all season long we get to reminded that at a moment's notice that we have to drop everything and go into hiding. I tried to ask my mom if it has always been like this where everytime a breeze blows in the gulf we gather bottled water and take three days off work and she swears we have, but I call BS. I think it's all been since Katrina which isn't even based in reality since that was the result of a levee breech, not just a basic hurricane. I remember Tropical Storm Allison effing our world up, but if we stopped everytime a Tropical Storm came by... oh wait, that's why we were all off back on Karen's birthday. Thanks, Eduord! We should know by 3 tomorrow if Jason's work is sending us to Austin, but based on the latest tracker we're screwed. Totally screwed. Make sure to look at ever pic of the new house, there are like hundreds of trees on our nice wooded lot ready to land on the house or put out a nice expensive new window.

Some happier things... I discovered the other day that despite my weekly trips to Ikea for the last like five years, I had never discovered the special front row parking they have for me. I usually park over by pick up, but by the entrance there are these two special spots that both happen to work for moi:





I love how hippie dippy they pretend to be with shizz like that and making you pay to use plastic bags, but considering all the boxes I've had to destroy of theirs since every little piece of my kitchen came in its own little box, all their catalogs that have floated around my house since they wouldn't put it online, and the general disposable nature of their furniture - well, I have to call BS on their green conscience story.

And now the most wonderful work of the week -- the beginnings of the fence and gate in the front to separate us from the neighbors who piggy backed onto our driveway as well as protect us from would be robbers and rapists who would sit and wait for me as I unpack groceries. I know, paranoia, but I've loved having all that here at MIL's and I like this whole fortress thing we've got going on. We scored that gate off Craig's List (I was soooo scared it wasn't going to work out, it seems like we got a way decent deal on a 3-5 year old Italian wrought iron gate) and so last weekend the boys worked on the driveway. Initially there was going to be this two foot wide trench until the boys realized how much it sucked to cut concrete. Suddenly, it was just a couple large holes for posts. Tee hee, but it works. Paul's worked this week on the fence and it looks awesome. He still will do some decorative work on top, another small fence by the house and then the black wrought iron gate will tie it all together.







I am finally to the point where I think I am ready to live by myself (sniff) so I have been working on doing my small part to get things ready to go, cleaning and unpacking and such. Too bad we'll be evacuating this weekend, this was totally going to be somewhat of a work weekend...and my birthday weekend. All birthday celebrations planned are now postponed - bummer. Was looking forward to my yellow cake with choc icing from my mom, sniff...

Playing catch up...

Yeah, nothing much has been happening while everything has been. Dylan started school, we have had commitments and not enough hasn't been happening at the house while great progress has been made. So first, the house goings on...

The amazing 14 foot high fence that will prevent us from having to acknowledge the apartments behind us - the posts are in:



Tile on the floor of the hall bath:



Put all the shelves in the cabinets:



*Trying* to plan kitchen backsplash (and that still isn't it):



Adventures in caulking:



The most fabulous news comes from the land of Craig's List this week -- we are scoring a 12 ft gate for the driveway tomorrow morning (fingers crossed, don't let me jinx this!) Remember that driveway pic a couple posts ago? The fence will extend from the end of the carport parallel with the house to where the house ends and then this gate will be between the fence and the house, keeping the bad guys out. The deal is pretty good in comparison to retail, so yeah, hope it all goes well in the morning

And now life in general...Dylan started school, no good pics because he and Kolby were being punks. But he did come home to see Granny washing the dogs outside and so that's how he wanted to be washed...he's watched a movie of it over and over:





And I never get cute pics of me and Dyl together, but Jason took a couple silly ones last weekend at the Kellers:





I'll be back on here later this weekend with some driveway progress hopefully - we're cutting driveway tomorrow maybe! Happy weekend!

If that doesn't say it all...

I know everyone likes to keep it non political and when I stray no one reads, but eff it. I am totally into the Dem Convention and I am so excited.

****meant to blog this last night before the announcement, but after the McCain "Good for you" BS ad, I SO knew he was going to announce a women VP and of course he did. Too bad he couldn't get Kay Bailey Hutchison. It would've been a real race then. Gov. Sarah Palin is a former beauty queen from a sketchy state. Yawn. But glass ceilings be damned either way, I suppose****

****had to add this little thought from Al Gore: "One of the greatest gifts of our democracy is the opportunity it offers us every four years to change course. It’s not a guarantee; it’s only an opportunity. The question facing us is, simply put, will we seize this opportunity for change?"****

From an excerpt of the Barack Obama's speech, titled "The American Promise," released today by Obama's campaign:

“But the record’s clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than ninety percent of the time? I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to take a ten percent chance on change.”

Preach on.




see the rest of the speech preview here

I've been watching the Democratic Convention and so many spectacular things have been said. Hillary was spot on, glad to see Bill finally step up and stop acting like the stodgy old man he's been acting like lately, loved Michelle Obama's speech -- very full of hope right now.

I am scared for our country. Not because Obama might lead it but because he might not. Tonight's speech from Barack Obama will come on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and march on Washington. The comparisons are constantly there and rightly so. He has risen to accomplish one of the highest feats any citizen can and he is African American. Maybe one day that won't matter, but today it does. I find him to be an engaging, kind hearted man who stays above the fray and makes valid arguments rather that venomous mud slinging. My fear comes from the chaos that ensued when MLK was assassinated and Americans who had lost hope rioted the streets. My fear comes from morons who might want to assasinate this man due to his race. My fear comes from citizens who are so filled with hope right now who may feel that hope is lost if McCain emerges victoriously and riot. I hope that no matter what happens that the citizens will react in a way that respects fellow man just as Obama and MLK would want. Scary stuff to think about.

I loved his memoir Dreams of my Father which was written by Obama right after being elected the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. Maybe he knew where his life would someday take it, but I didn't feel like he was a politician trying to paint the right image. He spoke of race in a unique way that only a man with a caucasian mother and a Kenyan father could. Somehow his own experience and the way he tells it makes me think he is in the unique position to be the one capable of beginning to build a meaningful bridge to the racial divide that still exists. He also didn't try to pretend he smoked but didn't inhale -- he inhaled. So take that! But seriously, it is a lovely memoir of someone who was trying so hard to figure out his identity through his life and journeys in Hawaii, Indonesia, Chicago and Kenya. It reminded me of the writings of one of my favorite black writers Chinua Achebe, rightly so since he is acknowledged directly in the novel. I would be honored and proud if this man represented our country as the president.

Rainy day blues

Ugh, day two of constant rain and I just want to stay inside with the covers over my head. Wah. I still have a wretched cough after fighting two different colds, I have gained three pounds in the last two days - all in my uterus and no not like that, and it is raining and I want to curl up and enjoy it. So before I go for the day, I'll enjoy these last moments of laziness and update here.

Decided to embark on some random firsts for Dylan these last couple weeks to make his summer so special and prolly just give me stuff to scrap. Took Dylan to Memorial City Mall to play and I had him ride the carousel for the first time. He insisted on sitting on the benches normally reserved for grandmothers and small infants, whatever floats your boat. He spoke very highly later of the horses with the "flowers on their bum bum" to anyone who would listen.



If that didn't already make me mother of the year, we went bowling with Granny, Paw Paw and Taylor when Taylor was here. I was shocked and amazed to see little shoes Dylan's size. They are so cute and he asked for them all week. "Mama? Mama, 10 shoes?" He's a 10 in bowling shoes and he was obsessed with the numbers. Interesting fact, I am 8, Karen 9, Dylan 10, Paul 11. Got this cute video of Dylan's bowling efforts too, love Flickr video





He also got to play guitar with his Grandpa Benny. I figure these pics will be valuable when he's a real rock star making money and loving the groupies. Unfortch, he kept thinking he dropped his finger in there or something. Grandpa Benny had been joking about it and I think he thought there were fingers hanging out in the hole



And finally, some housing update. Last week was heavy trash, so the boys went wild in the backyard pulling down all the skanky trees they could so we could have another pile like this at the curb:



Jason designed and executed this awesome tiling work in the hall bath's shower:



and I worked on planning the driveway work. Remember how I said the neighbor converted a garage and then piggybacked on our driveway? Well, we've been trying to plan how we dig a trench to seperate the driveways and it has changed a couple million times. I want to give the neighbors a full 10 foot driveway even if it means giving up some of ours because I think if their driveway is usable, they may not sue. Not to mention if they need an extra foot and a half, that can pull out their bushes. But really, after standing in the kitchen and staring at their house and living at Karen and Paul's and enjoying the security afforded by a driveway gate, we've decided to dig up a trench two feet wide parellel to the house and ending at the end of the house. We are going to build a fence in the trench so no more looking at the neighbors and then get a black wrought iron gate. Will allow some safe parking and a nice contained area to play too. Here's me getting to work with sidewalk chalk trying to decide exactly where it should all go, don't worry about the cracks or nastiness. Driveway cutting and repair of cracks should be fun times!







Til next time!

The Return of Pimp and Ho and other adventures

I'll start with the breaking news. There have now been two new Pimp and Ho sightings. I saw them walking down the street the other day and was excited but yesterday was the sighting to top them all. We parked at the Walgreens across from the Jack in the Box they seem to do a lot of business in and they literally walked straight towards us. It was like seeing Amy Winehouse in the flesh, you want to know more. I was going into Walgreens, they were going to Walgreens and I totally stalked them in Walgreens. I want to know what makes this odd couple of business peeps tick. I thought he looked like 50 Cent from a distance but up close he had unruly chin hair and wild eyes. And she just looks like every dirty crusty McHerpes I ever saw in a real AA meeting (some of you may know what I mean). Pale, crusty skin and bleached dirty hair with two inches of black hair peeking through. I can see them on the top of a wedding cake now. I heard her say she needed tape for a window, some I assume some unruly john's had his head smashed in her window or shots were fired. Very cool, I am hip to the street.

Other than that excitement, not much going on. This is sort of a random post, I haven't taken pics really lately at the house because things are less life shattering. Are you interested in seeing ceiling fans hung? Trash thrown away? See, we're doing finishing work on a lot of things right now so I've been reluctant to post. But I will say this. The house is truly coming together. And it is awesome, I'm actually getting excited. I will take pics at the end of the weekend and update you to it all, I promise. Tile is going to begin laying today or tomorrow and that's some cool stuff.

And if you think I'm slowing down on my trips to Ikea, think again. We've been going, it's still been sucking. The highlight of that place is truly the $1 ice cream cone, but only on a self indulgent cheat day. Yesterday we went because somehow Jason had left the slats to a day bed we got for the guest room on the cart and we decided we wanted them since we paid for them. The bed itself is clever:



It's a twin day bed but the bottom part pulls out like a trundle and is the same height, so it makes a queen or king size bed. So Andi, I got the hook up! And the bottom part is all drawers so it is like 3 gigantic drawers of storage for sheets and whatnot. I dig it. But those elusive slats, you gotta have them. 13 for the top bed, 12 for the bottom. $38 for the slats themselves because everything you buy at Ikea comes in three different boxes and for a $399 bed, that splits up to $38 dedicated to slats. And I get it, that's probably the highest quality product they have in the store because it is made of, drumroll please, actual wood. Not particle board. Not laminate. Real wood slats. Absorb that for a minute. So it's a sacrifice to possibly give them to us twice.

My perspective is this. Yes, we left them on the cart after we paid for them. Our bad. But here's where I was unwilling to waver, I have dedicated literally hours to fixing their screw ups. Figuring out which of the 150 kitchen parts was either missing or wrong. Realizing that the original lady messed up and ordered doors too long for drawers so that the kitchen had to be redesigned instead of waiting another month for doors. And yes, don't forget the time I've dedicated to trying to pay the credit card that no one wants to actually charge. And we're about $6K to them in this house already and remember, this is our second kitchen with them. So eff you, it is your turn to give me the benefit of the doubt that I am not a slat stealing slut and just me the slats. Jason's actually physically with me for this visit and I am trying to say all this in the nicest possible way.

There were two people helping us, the nicest lady ever and then the one who had all the control and an ax to grind. She, out of some principle unbeknownst to me, was not going to let me be the exception to The Rules. The Rules state that when things are left in the cart, they are signed in. The Rules assume all Ikea employees do their job and since I still haven't been charged for $5K worth of cabinets, I disagree. The Rules state if it isn't in said log, then video camera footage must be utilized. But she said I had waited too long, as if I couldn't leave my bong for the last 13 days and therefore couldn't be helped. I smiled and said that I knew that was awhile but unfortch we were trying to put together the $5k worth of cabinets and other $1k of misc Ikeaness and therefore this hadn't been realized until then. I want a supervisor, she wants my soul and at some point I break. Crap. Ikea won. I cried. I felt it coming up and gave Jason the look of panic and asked him to finish this while I went and grabbed the soda he wanted. See, I wanted to play nice and frankly Jason would have character assassinated this biznatch and made her regret ever living if given the chance. He can be mean and sometimes that rocks. But I tried to play nice and in the end I cried.

I went and took care of our other business and met up with him later. He of course got a supervisor who was supernice, gave him the slats immediately and the most joyous part was that Jason could see The Rule Enforcer and the supervisor talking and the Enforcer really wanted us to lose. This was war. But the supervisor told her to eff off I guess, we got the slats, and she walked away pissed as hell. That's how I like it. Too bad I know I'll prolly be back next week asking that skank for something else in the name of customer service. But the bed is together and it is pretty cool for what it is. It goes in the scrap room of joy and will be a great addition. Come stay sometime, we now have room for you!

I got a haircut. Most of you know this. I'm sort of shocked at how weird people are about stuff like that. I'll start by saying I love it and don't regret it for a sec. I like it when it is straight and I even like it when the humidity strikes and it is flippy all over the place. The reactions of others though... My mom gave me same freaked out face she did when she stepped into the tetanus land that was our new house for the first time. Why would you do that, she asks, as though I have chosen on a whim to amputate my thumbs. And everyone else has reacted in a range of ways from saying it is adorable to not saying much other than offering odd advice on how to take care of it like I am seeking guidance depsite the fact that I'm not wearing a "Help me" sign. I guess I surround myself with oddballs, lol. Today at Pablo's party, Gaby brought me her ten inches she cut months ago that's she's never gotten around to shipping off to Locks of Love so I can send them off together like a set of pigtails. Except hers is this gorgeous thick black braid and mine is bleh, processed (but still meets guidelines) and simply disappointing next to hers. Here I am in my glory.



And I usually as a rule don't put scrappy stuff on here. If you're a fellow scrapper, you prolly see my stuff elsewhere so why do it here. This is a personality blog, so I usually stick to that. But I will make the exception this time to say that I am very excited about this kit at Simply Obsessed (www.simplyobsessed.com)and so impressed that this time around October Afternoon is ready to go right out of CHA. If you aren't set up to already get this kit, get your hands on it. I have this and all the add-ons on order. Now I will have to steal me more slats to pay for all of it since we are broke...kidding, of course, about the slats. I didn't take the effen slats.