Home Sweet Home

Sorry for taking so long to update, things have been busy, busy, busy around here. We finally got home on Monday which catapulted the beginning of the clean up...no not from IKE but from the disaster area we call home! The house was a mess, so I started cleaning up, which rolled over into Tuesday. Wednesday we had Nikki and Travis over for dinner and played Rock Band...oh did I mention that we spent an ungodly amount of money on a XBOX 360 and Rock Band???? Thursday JR went to pick up the new puppy....she is adorable. We named her Dezi...I call her Dezi Lu (my favorite show of all time "I Love Lucy"...Desi Arnez and Lucille Ball). Friday, was spent basically a lazy day. As was Saturday. Today I spent working all day trying to catch up on all the work that I am backed up on. I actually got a boat load done. Yeah!!! I really dont have much else to blog about...I actually had a bunch to say but its all gone now! Maybe tomorrow I will remember everything I was going to say!

On the Move AGAIN!

We are about to be on the move again. The people we are staying with (Ashley and Scott) are going out of town tomorrow, so we will once again be without a place to stay. We could go home, but there is still no power and I dont want Logan to be hot again! I guess we could ask to borrow there generator, but I would rather just stay with someone with power, rather than deal with all the generator stuff.
JR went and cleaned out the fridge and freezer the other day, although I forgot to remind him to leave the doors to the fridge and freezer open, so that it would breathe. So at some point we need to run home and open up the doors...JR did remember to open all the windows though, so that was good!
I feel almost like a homeless person with really good friends...we are living out of a suitcase going from one home to another...I am ready for that to be over. I have been calling our house phone everyday to see if it works...I figure that is a good indication that the power is on! I cant wait to be home in my own "environment". Logan is just now starting to adjust to where we are now, which is another reason I dont want to leave. But at the same time, he would do so much better at home. I just keep telling myself that it could be worse. I feel like we are just on this really random vacation
Dexter has had to stay outside, which has been hard on me, since he is an inside dog...I feel so badly for him. Also, we have had to put off getting my new puppy, because I dont want a little puppy to have to stay outside. Hopefully we will be getting her in the next couple of days.
I also haven't been working at the paper...for one, it takes about 45 minutes to get there then I have to do the route and not get home until 5 or later...but my headlights are still messing up and I dont want to come into someone else's house that late...or early however you want to look at it. I feel like it is kind of rude. I know I need to start back because we need the money, but I dont know what to do. Maybe if it was someone else...but it makes me uncomfortable to that with Scott and Ashley. Ashley told me today that it wouldn't bother them...but she also said that the dog isn't bothering them either..and I can tell that they are getting frustrated with Dexter. Hmmmm...I dont know what to do!

Still Evacuated!

We are not expected to get power back until at least next week sometime, Tuesday at the earlist...GRRRRR! This is frustrating, but I know that the electric company is doing the best they can during this time. I came back home yesterday after dropping my sister off in Huntsville. It added 2 hours to my trip, but it also gave me an excuse to leave. I dont know if anyone else feels this way, but when I am going to visit my family I am always so excited to see them...after about 2 1/2 days I am so ready to leave....then I end up crying when I leave. I know it sounds crazy, but thats me I guess. Anyway, my older sister gets on every last nerve that I have so I was really ready to leave. I came over to Scott and Ashley's (some friends of ours) and really lucked out, we only went without power for about 2 hours!!! So now here we are at Scott and Ashleys with power, which is really nice. When I first got here they were running on generator power, and had a window unit that they got from Ashley's parents.
Stores are starting to open up around here...there is still many places that are closed, but it is wonderful to see things being repaired so quickly.
Anyway, hopefully we will be getting home ASAP and starting back to our normal lives....I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends that were so gracious to us during this whole disaster!
Thank you Nikki, Travis, Mom (and family), Brittany and Carol for taking time and gas to come get JR, Scott and Ashley...you guys have been so great.

Devastation after Ike

It seems as though we were lucky enough to not get very much damage to our home...Our neighbors, Nikki and Travis went to La Marque to check out the damage and gave us the update. We still dont have power, but honestly I have Absolutely NOTHING to complain about. There is so much destruction and devastation in all the surrounding areas of where we live, it makes me so sad. I am so lucky and blessed that my family is all safe. My grandparents live in Galveston. They live on 69th street in a little subdivision across from Wal-Mart, there house took on about 4 feet of water, but luckily they evacuated so they are safe. It sucks about their home, but at least they are alive. My Aunts live out in Jamaica Beach and were actually very lucky, their house is actually somewhat okay...they live right on the canal, and there house is on stilts. Apparently the houses are built to where the garage can basically slip away, but the house will stay in place...that is what happened. Their garage, along with one of their cars, and all the landscaping washed away. Seriously though....their entire house which is all upstairs, is completely intact, so again its hard to complain. Again, it sucks to have to replace all that was lost, but in the grand scheme of things, they are also very lucky. We know several people that have lost everything and I couldn't imagine that, so my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone at this time.

DISAPPOINTMENT:
I have read a few blogs on abc or msnbc.....I cant really remember exactly which website, but it is supposed to be a place for people to go to share info about where they live and what damage is there...instead, people from all over have taken the opportunity to say how stupid Galvestonians are. I read one that said, "Great, now for the next week I get to listen to nothing but how people are still being rescued from their roofs, because they were too stupid to leave. I think its their fault for even moving to Galveston, which is the second dumbest place to live, right after New Orleans."
All I can say to that is that I am very disappointed...natural disasters occur all over the World...we have blizzards, avalanches, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, hurricanes, tsunamis, the list goes on....but basically no matter where you live, you may endure a natural disaster, and if it happens to you....I hope that no one sits there and talks about how stupid you are for choosing that place to live...I also hope that no one tells you about how inconvenienced they are to have to listen to it on the news. I wish that AMERICA could rally together, just as the victims of the hurricane seem to be doing, and try to help out. I am not asking anyone to be sympathetic, but at least be empathetic. I watch the news and think...God, he is 82 years old, WHY did he not evacuate...but I am still empathetic...and I am definitely sympathetic to everyone in the Houston area...hell, it extends further than that. My little sister lives in Huntsville and the storm was so strong, that even she is without power, and they say probably will be until the 29th. I just hope that everyone will realize that this is a horrible time in so many peoples lives, and that they will try to support us instead of critisizing.

Good luck and God Bless to everyone that Ike has touched!

More on IKE!

We finally decided to head out about 3 yesterday and come into Houston...as of right now we are over at my friend Dana's apartment but will be heading over to where Nikki and Travis are staying in a little while. They have a generator, and many other supplies that will be better for us, not to mention that they are in a two story, so if flooding does occur we can go upstairs.
I am EXREMELY scared and worried. My stomach is churning, although I am told that it will all be okay.....but level of okay will it be? Okay as in my family is all alive and well but we no longer have a home or any of our belongings? Okay as in, everything was fine other that there was a lot of rain!? Anyway, I guess we will just have to wait and see! GRRR I am wondering if Galveston will even still be there!

yIKEs!!!!!

I was just commenting on a friends blog when I realized how long my comment was becoming and just decided to blog it and let you all know what is going on. As I have mentioned before there is a hurricane out in the gulf, IKE, which has been pretty fickle (Nikki's word) about where it is going. It seems that everyone keeps saying that it has turned closer towards Galveston, but the truth is that it was always headed here, however, the scientist/meterologist thought that is would turn towards Corpus Christi or even further south because of this warm or cold current going through the gulf...well it didn't go that way, and right now the projected path is somewhere between Corpus and Galveston, meaning that we get the crappy side of it! YEA! They keep saying it could "turn" even closer to Galveston, but if you look at the pictures, Galveston is straight ahead of it!
Anyway, the major issue is whether or not to evacuate. I am very fortunate that I didn't have the horrible experience that many people did when we all evacuated for Rita a few years ago. I went to my parents house in Wimberley, and it usually takes about 4 hours to get there, and when we evacuated it took 4 hours....for some people it took over 20 hours to get to Dallas, one of my friends went to Austin and it took them 18 hours. The things is that it costs quite a bit of money to evacuate, so that sucks. Plus noone really wants to leave, unless they absolutely has too. Which there lies the question, is it absolutely necessary for us to leave. I have a 1 1/2 year old that I have to be responsible for, if there is a chance that we might lose power, I have to really think about what that would mean for Logan. I guess we could get an ice chest for his milk but I dont know what to do about the heat.
Another major issue is that JR does not want to leave at all...he is dead set on staying, and I dont want to leave without him. I dont have a cell phone, so I dont want to travel without him, plus it will be much harder to make the trip with Logan and no help! So JR and I are arguing about that...we decided to talk (discuss) what we would do tonight when he got home from work...the conversation went something like this
Me: Well I really think that if it continues to come this way, we should leave tomorrow
JR: I have to work tomorrow
M: Then we will leave after you get off work
JR: I really dont want to leave
Me: Well I dont want to have Logan here in case we lose power, and I really dont want to travel without you.
JR: I think you and Logan should go and I will stay, if there is going to be damage I would rather be here to see the damage, rather than be somewhere else and worry about it
Me: Why dont we wait until tomorrow to see what this thing is going to do before we get into an arguement over nothing
JR and I had decided at the beginning of the season that we would leave if we had a hurricane that reached a level 3 or higher, anything below a 3 and we would stay. Hurricane Ike is forecasted to become a level 4 by the time it hits landfall. I dont really want to spend the money to leave, but at the same time I would rather be safe than sorry. So I am going to check the latest update at 1:00 before I had to work, and I should be home around 5 in the morning, just in time for the next update and then I will know a little more, and I guess JR and I will have another discussion tomorrow afternoon...I jsut dont want to make the decision to late and sit through mounds of traffic.
Man....I also had a hair appointment for tomorrow...I haven't gotten my hair trimmed in 3 months...I finally make an appointment and now I may have to reschedule...I swear if it isn't one thing...its another!

Lalalalala

So I got my paycheck this morning and it was what I expected...actually it was a little messed up, but hopefully it will be fixed soon...either way, it was more than I had originally expected, so YEA! Work seems to be getting much easier...the actual work part of it, the needing the sleep part of it, i am still not used to.
This hurricane, IKE, out in the gulf cant seem to make up its mind, first it was headed straight for us, then it turned way south and we weren't even in the cone, now the cone is making a C shape and we are in the cone and the hurricane is heading to the north of Corpus Christi. I checked the storm pulse website before I left for work(1:15AM) and Ike was 819 miles away, when I got home this morning (4:45AM) it was 796 miles away from Galveston, and now (1:20PM) 716 miles from Galveston...basically it has travelled 100 miles in 12 hours.