Rassin' Frassin'...

The title is for my beloved Astros. I hope they get their act together tomorrow night and kick some Cardinal ... uh, rear. (Do birds have kickable rears?) Last night's game sucked, except for the glorious home run by Berkman. And the pretty good pitching by Pettitte.

Okay, maybe just last night's 9th inning sucked. I still can't believe we were down to ONE STRIKE and blew it. Is it the Houston sports curse? I lean towards "not" because after all, the Houston Rockets have kicked butt and taken names in the recent past. And they count as a Houston sports team, right? (I hate basketball, but I still back the locals.)

Today my brother told me that if the Astros don't get to the World Series this year, he's never going to watch them again. I think that echoes the sentiments of many fans, although truth be told, I think that's a knee-jerk reaction. I mean, come on. We all know that if the Astros go far next season - or heck, fifteen seasons from now - we'll be cheering them on.

Anyway.

I spent a rather enjoyable day helping my sister and brother demolish and reconstruct her house. My sister is buying the home we grew up in, and it's in dire need of a facelift (really, more of a total-body makeover, lol). So we spend a couple of days a week tearing down wood paneling and taking out old flooring and tiles, plus painting walls and trim. There's a long way to go, but I can definitely see the light at the end of the tunnel. It helps that my sister was gifted with a decorator/architect's eye - she knows what she wants, and it all fits, if that makes sense.

I would love to lock her inside my house all alone for a day and see how beautiful she can make it. (Waddaya say, Tnk? I'll even cook for you.) Not that cooking for her is a big deal. She was also blessed with wonderful culinary skills.

Hey, where was I when all this talent was being passed out, huh? I excel in scrapbooking and ... uh ... bowling. Wow, I bore myself.

And now that I've bored you guys, I shall sign off with this thought. Again.

GO ASTROS!

Fifty-seven channels and there's nothing on

Hey there. Miss me?

I've been sick with a cold for the past few days, and haven't spent much time on the computer. I would be going through some serious withdrawal, had I not been so achy and sniffy. Instead of compute-ing, I've been parked on the sofa for hours on end, wondering why the heck we pay for digital cable because there is nothing on.

I have watched so much crap the past few days that I probably should be hosed off. Daytime programming is so very bad. Not only did I watch the season finale of "Surreal Life," (OMG Janice Dickinson has problems), but I also watched an entire season of "America's Next Top Model." In.one.day. (Again with the Janice Dickinson! Gack!) That's eight hours I'll never see again. On the other hand, I did get some rest and dozed off from time to time. Daytime TV is almost as good as Galavision soccer at putting me to sleep.

When I wasn't stuck on VH1, I checked out the local channels. In doing so, I caught a couple of episodes of "Ellen," which I used to really enjoy. Ellen was funny as always, but I didn't get into the show all that much. I felt a little lost, actually - what's up with the smiley-face potato chip? And now it's missing? What the heck? Is this worth getting all worked up over? I don't know, but I AM! Gack!

Today finds me better physically, but sick ... car-ly. (Huh?) My van decided it wanted to give me trouble last night, then this morning it gave up starting altogether. So my stepdad came over and jumped it, then followed me to the dealership (thanks, T; I enjoyed our visit so much.). Anyway, that was hours ago. I'm not optimistic about getting my vehicle back this weekend, which is going to make all the running around I have to do quite difficult.

Maybe I'll just sit home and watch TV. I'm sure Janice Dickinson is on some channel. Gack!

p.s. GO ASTROS!

Proverbial Little Me

This is probably about right...except for the not speaking much part. Sometimes I am overly loquacious. But that's not a bad thing, right?





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About time!

This weekend, hubby and I celebrated our 15th anniversary in style - in no small part due to the fact that the grandparents took the kids for an overnight visit Saturday night. (Thanks, Boppa & Beaner!)

The weekend started off right because the Longhorns pummeled the Sooners (take THAT, Stoops! HA!). And Mack Brown? About damn time, is all I'm saying.

Hook'em!

Anyway...

Saturday evening, hubby took me out to The Melting Pot, which is an incredible fondue restaurant. If you've never been there, GO. You might need to save your pennies for a few years first, but after that, GO. We had a four-course meal, after which I was so grateful that I'd had tea instead of wine - I was uncomfortably full, and sure didn't need a hangover to go along with my upset stomach.

But don't let that dissuade you; the food was great and the service was very good. I highly recommend this place to anyone who has a special event coming up. Or if you don't want a big meal but are craving a very cool dessert, go there for the chocolate fondue. It's to die for. Skip the one with the peanut butter, though - it was so heavy I could hardly touch it. Of course, I was already about to explode, so maybe that had something to do with it.

After dinner, we drove 30 miles back home. We had talked about stopping for coffee or something, but I was seriously f-u-l-l and couldn't even think about ingesting anything else. Ugh, I feel sick just thinking about it.

Yadda yadda yadda on the rest of the evening. No details here, as this is a family blog. (Y'all, my husband is rolling his eyes at me as he reads this. Embarrassing Hubby? Fun! Heehee!)

The next morning, we were still full from dinner, so for breakfast we went to Starbucks. Hubby got a Chai Tea Latte (yummy), and I got a Pumpkin Spice Latte (yummIER). That's all we had until lunchtime, when we went to The County Line. That place has awesome barbecue, and even better, I had a coupon! So we ate ribs and potato salad and other stuff, then ordered apple pie a'la mode. Very good, by the way. Not all places have good apple-y desserts, but County Line does. (For the record, Grand Lux does NOT.)

By the way, we did do one foolish thing yesterday: we turned down tickets to see the Astros play the Braves. Granted, six hours of straight baseball doesn't sound appealing even now, but how cool would it be to have been in attendance at a history-making playoff game? [sigh] We're consoling ourselves with the fact that at least the Astros won! (Again, 'bout damn time. I'm sure we weren't the only ones who were thinking that.)

Overall, the weekend was fantastic. It was so nice to reconnect with my spouse - and actually finish a conversation without interruption. Hubby and I have been thinking that we'd like to have a date night once a month or so, and are hoping the grandparents will be receptive to that idea. That would be sooooo great.

As for spending time together as husband and wife? It was about damn time.

Fifteen years ago today

I married the man of my dreams, thereby becoming the happiest woman in the world.

I am struggling to find what to say next because thinking back on that day makes my heart overflow. After all this time, I still can't believe that he chose me. I thank God all the time that he brought us together. We are so unbelievably happy and have so much fun together ... sickening, aren't we?

I love my husband so much, and am so grateful that my life has turned out the way it has. He's my sun, my moon, my starlit sky. Without him, I dwell in darkness. That sounds weird, but hubby will know what I'm talking about [heh, so will his sister {hi, Amoo}]. Anyone else seen "Willow"? Then you will know, too. lol

Had to put a bit of levity in there. I was making myself cry. And I hate when I make myself cry. My mascara gets all runny and so does my nose. Nothing worse than a runny nose on your 15th anniversary. Okay, I'm sure there's something worse, but I can't think of it right now because I'm all sappy and stuff.

Anyway, here's to US, hubby. I love you so much, and can't wait until we can celebrate our anniversary this weekend.

[mwah!]

10/05/05 = Fake entry...

... because Blogger decided to take a powder last night. Yes, I'm pre-dating this entry. Ignore the title of this thread, cuz it's actually October 6th now. So, hi! How the heck were ya yesterday?

I tried to get in for over an hour last night (on the 5th), but fifty-three "This page cannot be displayed"'s later, I gave up.

Blogger, get your crap together before I'm forced to take my crap elsewhere.

Katie, go to Kohl's!

Today my sister came over to my house and took me shopping at Kohl's. Okay, she didn't take me take me - she had a coupon to share, and she drove. But I paid for all my stuff. Just so we're clear.

Aside to Gimpy: Thanks SO much for driving, by the way. I really appreciated riding around in your cool car. :)

Anyway, I finally found some really nice stuff that - get this - actually fit me. I couldn't believe it. And everything I got was on the clearance rack, reduced 66% or more. Happy dance time! Last time I was this thrilled with a purchase, it was yellow and sucked (in a good way - don't be gross).

All right, all right. My last happy dance was over a Dyson. Just so we're clear again.

The outfit I bought included a white button-up 3/4-sleeve blouse and a pair of tailored khaki capri pants. Nice enough for dinner out, PTO meeting, or wiping boogey noses. Okay, maybe too nice for that last one, but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do. I also found a nice tan belt off a rack marked "final clearance" (read: no can bringo backo) for $1.50. I needed a new belt, so this was a major score for me.

Last but not least, I bought a couple of pieces of jewelry for myself. This is a BIG deal because I.do.not.wear.jewelry. Okay, I wear my wedding ring, but that's it. But the lure of the jewelry aisle was overpowering. This very very very cute bracelet kept calling out to me. I tried very hard to resist its charms (punny, ain't I?), and I even tried to put it back on the rack over a dozen times (my sister can totally vouch for this). But when the fat lady sang, it was in my cart. Now it's on my wrist.

I also bought a cute cross choker-necklace. Those words are probably not-hyphenated. Oh-well.

New clothes, new jewelry, and new lingerie, too. I won't post a description of the latter here, but suffice it to say that it's hot.

Katie, I know you've been looking for casual wear, so if you have a Kohl's anywhere near you, get there. Find a coupon if you can. And avoid the jewelry aisle - it's evil.

In memory of Lance

Man, these "memoriam" posts are getting me down.

When we got home from K's soccer game yesterday, I noticed that our active, bright blue, curiously-large betta fish was no longer active nor bright blue. In fact, he had turned a strange shade of brown and was floating upside down on the bottom of his bowl. (For the record, everyone, YES I had fed him this morning, and YES he was swimming around at that time.)

Lance was 20 months old, which I understand is old for a betta. He'd been a good little fish, playing up his cuteness by darting to and fro around his fishbowl, and often cheering us up by making cute little fishy-faces whenever we were blue. Okay, he wasn't actually discriminating as to when he'd make those faces. But if you were ever depressed, you could go over to the bowl and count on him making one at you.

Lance survived the premature death of his wife, Fins, whom I accidentally overfed last year when we left town for a couple of days. He also survived several trips back and forth between Houston and Kyle, and had settled into his new home here with nary a complaint.

The kids are crushed. After the funeral service (flush flush!), I found R hiding behind his bunkbed, wailing loudly. P was in her closet, crying softly. K hid in my closet for a long time, and when he finally emerged, his eyes were red and swollen. Heck, even I teared up, although I'm not sure if my sadness was from Lance's death or from the kids' despair.

Lord, I can't even imagine what it would have been like if we'd lost a dog (which we don't have, but the kids have been BEGGING for). The kids don't realize it yet, but their reaction to the fish's passing has dealt them a setback in the puppy department. I am just not sure how much their little hearts can take.

I'm not sure how much *my* heart can take, either.

Farewell, dear Lance. Enjoy your swim in the big ocean in the sky. And make some fishy faces at God from time to time - his job is a hard one, and he, too, could use some cheering up sometimes.

One More Song I Sing (see previous post)

I can't believe I forgot this one. It always gives me a good feeling: a bit of melancholy mixed with excitement mixed with reflection. Would that be melanexcition?

Still Breathing (Duran Duran) - Actually, the entire album ("Astronaut") is awesome. It has stayed in my CD player for the better part of a year. This song in particular just ... wow. One line says "I'll burn this place to the ground ... I'm never going back there; I'm never going back there again." I guess that reminds me of the move we recently made from Kyle to Houston. Not that I ever wanted to burn Kyle to the ground. But maybe in my mind I did so....

Weird. I am. Seriously.

Can't think of any more songs right now, so I'll sign (or sing?) off. Ta ta!

Sing. Sing a Song.

I read this in Pez's blog, and thought wow, that's a great idea. My list may not be as comprehensive as hers, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

Delta Dawn (Tanya Tucker) - Singing on stage, microphone in hand, at the ripe old age of about five. Our babysitter, Joann, had three beautiful daughters; the oldest, Gail, sang in a band. Gail took a shine to me and often let me, a precocious little girl, sing along with her. Gail has since passed away, but she lives on in my heart every time I hear Tanya Tucker sing that song.

On The Road Again (Willie Nelson) - Oh, Mom. I miss you so much. Whenever I hear this song, I think of you singing "we're da bess of fwens" with Tree. It makes me smile.

Gonna Be A Heartache Tonight (The Eagles) - Little brother and his little guitar, strumming away one evening. Ran into the living room in a diaper and t-shirt, singing "gonna be a hard on tonight!" Never seen Mom turn so red or laugh that hard ... (at least not until T slipped in the muddy deep end of the pool and performed some kind of acrobatics - heehee).

Anything from Journey (Journey, natch) - High school. Parties. Drill Team. My first experience with "7 minutes in heaven" was to "Don't Stop Believing" (8th grade; Danny Burton; Yuck).

Standing on Higher Ground (Alan Parsons Project) - Hubby is major big time into APP. We had been dating a year or so when this album came out. Hubby was in Austin at college, and I was in Houston driving home from work. I exited I-45 at Rankin Road just in time to hear the end of the song and the deejay say, "That was the new one from the Alan Parsons Project." I sped the rest of the way to my apartment so that I could call Austin and talk about the song. Man, I remember waaaay too much about that.

Amanda (Boston) - Hubby (before he was hubby) and I listened to a lot of Boston in addition to APP. "Amanda" is my favorite Boston song, and whenever it comes on, I hearken back to the good old days. (Did I just say hearken? Good grief, I'm becoming my grandma.)

Deep (Moody Blues) - Er, just because? =D Hubby introduced me to Moody Blues, and they're still a favorite to this day. We even saw them in concert a few years back. They're older and grayer, but still very, very cool. "Knights in White Satin" - also very cool.

Mister Roboto (Styx) - My kids love this song. We've spent many an hour dancing around the living room to "Domo arigato, Mister Roboto, Domo (Domo)..."

I could probably add fifty more songs to this list, but I guess I'll stop here. These days I'm listening to Classic Country 97.1 a lot because most of the songs remind me of my childhood. But don't worry, hubby - I'll get back to Alan Baby soon!

Why I'm moving to Seattle

Okay, not really. But I'd love to someday.

Thank you, Pez, for the invitation to head north. If I ever get to Seattle, I'll definitely look you up. Shelly can move there, too, then Kimmer can come for a visit. Heck, we'll have the whole SAHP gang make a road trip! (Well, not the whole SAHP gang, LOL....)

Anyway, here's what's going on in Houston:

1. We're in the midst of a record heatwave, although a "cold" front is coming through tomorrow. The temps will drop all the way down into the 80s. Brrrr.

2. I've spent the better part of the day trying to convince a friend of mine, who remains without electricity for the 5th day and counting, to come stay with us. This is ridiculous. Why would you stay in a hot little house with no running water, no drinking water (yes, you read that right), and no a/c, if you didn't have to? It's too hot to be without a/c or water right now (see #1). If my friend dies, I’m going to kill him.

3. Since mulehead (see #2) wouldn’t agree to come here this morning, I went over to my sister’s house instead. I needed to get out of the house for a while, so we went out to lunch. It was nice, except for the part where Chili's set their freakin' thermostat on -40°. Yes, I know your electricity goes on and off all day (that part of town is experiencing brownouts right now), and you're probably trying to overcompensate so that people won't get uncomfortable when the power's out, but next time could you warn me so I can bring my parka?

4. By the way, Chili’s Lettuce Wraps rock.

5. I went to the grocery store and spent $87. Isn’t that thrilling? No? Okay, how about a peek at my grocery list: laundry detergent, deodorant for hubby, bar soap (Lever 2000 smells sooooo good – I sniffed the box halfway through Kroger), toothpaste, breakfast “corndogs”, low-carb chocolate milk (that stuff is SO good, y’all), salad, pota...zzzzzzzzzz, (oops, I dozed off), erm ... oh yes, potatoes, and other equally awe-inspiring fare.

Okay, was that thrilling? No? Well, there’s just no pleasing some people….

So to sum up: I got my grocery shopping done, but am apparently a failure at negotiations. Thus far, anyway. I’ll let you know if I ever convince mulehead to come over.

Wanderlust

(My husband will not know what to do with this post.)

For the past five years, I've been aching to move back to my hometown. I got my wish back in June. Now I'm ready to go.

I'm not sure exactly what it is that is bothering me. It's as if I built this impossible utopia in my mind, wherein we'd move to Houston and we would fall back into old enjoyable routines with all our old friends. Every Friday night would be Phase 10 with G & S ... which, by the way, has happened one time in the past four months, and even then I know it was stressful for them because they have a very active toddler now that they did not have when we lived here before.

I also thought I'd spend a lot of time with other friends, whom I did not get to visit with much when my children were younger. For some reason, that has not happened, either, except for one enjoyable and enlightening evening with Jen. Hubby thinks I should call my old friends more often, but frankly I get tired of being the one doing all the calling.

I am starting to think that spending the past five years in Podunk, Texas, turned me into a hermit. I made exactly three friends while we lived there, although to be honest, only one of them would I consider a "friend-friend"; someone I could call on the phone and talk to about anything. The other friend did my hair and her son played soccer with mine; the third moved away less than a year after I met her. So there you go. Hermitville.

Maybe I became comfortable with being a hermit. Maybe it's just that I enjoy my husband and kids more than I enjoy anyone else. Maybe I'm just more comfortable around them, and don't want to make an effort with other people. Maybe I'm completely crazy and don't know what I'm missing. Maybe it's a combination of all those things.

Lately I've just become disillusioned with life in general. I feel like my husband is falling into a depression, and that makes me feel very sad - and guilty. After all, we're only here because of me. I know that. He never wanted to come back.

What was I thinking?

I'm ready to throw in the towel. Nothing is as it was, or as I had hoped it would be. The practical side of me knows that this is stupid - we'd never be able to sell the house quickly and get our money back out of it, and the kids would be royally ticked that we switched their schools again.

In my heart, I know that I'm probably just reacting to recent events, and that things will look up. But at the moment, I would give anything to load up the car and just drive far away from here.

Seattle sounds good.

Happy Birthday, hubby!

Today my wonderful spouse turns thirty-something, just like the TV series. We celebrated last night with a family gathering here at home, but I hope he's having a great day at work, too.

I'd typed out an entire post a few minutes ago, but when I hit "publish," it disappeared into cyberspace. GRRRRRR!!!!!! Why oh why didn't I type this out in MS Word first?

Anyway, blah blah blah, birthday, blah blah, hubby got, among other presents, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and three ABBA CDs (the latter at his request). I guess 2005 is the Year of the Feminine Side? Where is my Chinese restaurant menu? I want to double-check that.

More blah blah blah, we cleaned up the yard and it was hot and humid and the yard was a mess thanks to Hurri-pain Rita, blah blah, we were lucky, yadda yadda, no major damage.

Can you tell I'm still ticked about losing that post? GRRRRR!!!!!!!

Kids are still out of school because of Rita. They don't go back until Wednesday. They're very happy to be home, and frankly, I'm glad they're here, too. I'd forgotten how much I like having them around. (When school lets out next summer, feel free to remind me I said that.)

My stepdad and his S.O. and my brother came over Saturday morning to check on us. It was great to see them. We broke out my new poker chips and played cards for hours. I had such a good time, and I hope they did, too. Hubby felt bad that we served sandwiches for dinner, but the truth is that we'd been eating right through all our hurricane stash, and sandwiches were the best we could do. Hey, at least we had chips to go with them. But next time, stepdad, we'll have tacos!

I keep hitting CTRL-A and CTRL-C so that I don't lose this post. Unfortunately, this post rambles about more than the one I lost, but at least I won't have to retype everything again!

And well, that about wraps it up. I've got some gripes to type about, but I'm not going to because I'm, um, "grouchy" this week, and I know I'll regret venting. So I'll internalize everything and let it go at that.

I am the model of restraint, beyotches. Love and kisses to all!

World's shortest personality test

Borrowed from Kimmer's blog (thanks, Kim). :)

Your Personality Profile

You are pure, moral, and adaptable. You tend to blend into your surroundings. Shy on the outside, you're outspoken to your friends. You believe that you live a virtuous life... And you tend to judge others with a harsh eye. As a result, people tend to crave your approval.

The World's Shortest Personality Test

Dodged a bullet

At least, that's what the newscasters are saying.

In other words, we're okay. The hurricane brought us some rain (with days and days of rain still to come) and some pretty high wind gusts, but the house is still standing, the windows are all intact, and the water is all outside. Yay!

We did lose power last night. When it first went dark, we figured it was the beginning of several days without electricity. However, the lights came back on within seconds, and have stayed on ever since. Best of all, I still have Internet! My priorities are whacked! Yay again!

The kids slept blissfully through everything, and even hubby and I spent the night in our own bed (upstairs - we risked the tree-through-the-roof scenario, heh). We didn't sleep as blissfully as the kids, though, so I figure we'll need a nap later. Naps are always good.

Now my greatest wish is that gas stations will be refilled quickly, grocery stores will reopen shortly, and restaurants will start serving again ASAP. I am so very tired of cooking. I know, I know, whine whine whine. Sorry. I know I should be thankful for what I have, and I AM! Believe me. But the selfish little girl in me just wants some Chinese takeout. Is that so wrong?

Well, we're alive and dry and what's left of our frozen foods are not going bad. Life is good. Thank you all for the thoughts and prayers. They mean so much.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

No kidding, it really is. The temperatures are easily ten degrees cooler than yesterday, and we have some lovely breezes blowing through the trees and mussing my hair. [sigh] If it wasn't for Rita, I'd think I was in paradise.

I've spent the day doing laundry and cooking up some more stuff from my freezer. I don't know why I keep doing that: theoretically, food would last better if it was frozen, right? But I keep thinking that I need to take advantage of my oven and microwave now, before we lose power. Which may or may not happen, but I'm banking on the former.

Rambling thoughts, these...

I stripped our bed and washed the sheets this morning. I don't know why I chose today to do that, but I sure felt the pull to do so. I figure if I document it here, then after the storm passes (Sunday?) I can take stock of things and maybe it will make sense then.

I also took a shower and washed my hair today, then I fixed my hair and put on makeup. I'm not going anywhere, but just wanted to feel human again. And maybe also a little pretty. I've been slacking off the past couple of days, so I'm sure my husband isn't disappointed that I took a little pride in my appearance today.

Speaking of hubby, he mowed the front and back yards today. We are expecting a LOT of rain over the next week, so he wanted to get those taken care of. Thank you, hubby. The yards look good. I'll go take some "before" pictures in a minute. ;)

I've started putting together an emergency basket full of things like flashlights, first aid kit, radio, an Aim & Flame butane lighter, some candles, and some snacks. I pulled both ice chests from the garage so that we can fill them up as needed. I still need to put all my photo albums and scrapbooks away. I also want to pack up my china out of the china cabinet and store it somewhere. I don't know where, exactly, but any place has to be better than in a glass-front display case, right?

The kids are all to take showers and wash their hair today, even though they did so yesterday and have not been outside. Just never know when you might not have hot water for a few days. Anyway, after they're done, I'm going to fill up the tubs with water so that we will still have flushing capabilities even if the water supply is disrupted.

Storm trackers say that it now looks like the eye of the storm should pass to the east of Galveston. That's good news for us, but awful news for Louisiana. One levee has already been breached in New Orleans today. Were I a NOLA native, I would be giving serious thought about whether I wanted to rebuild there...

We're unplugging the computers tonight, so I may not be online for awhile. God willing, I'll be back soon, though. Take care, y'all.

I'm not bitter, really

I spent today productively worrying about hurricanes and flooding and high winds and dear GOD there are forty-nine windows in this house plus we don't have flood insurance! And where will we sleep tomorrow night when Rita gets to town? Downstairs bedroom, which is close to the best interior room in the house, but has two large windows which could get broken by flying debris and then we'll all be hurt? Or do we camp out in an upstairs bedroom, which has fewer windows but a tree might fall on us and then we'll all be hurt?

I'm not panicking! AAAAAAAAUUUUGHH!

In order to keep myself busy, and keep my mind off all of the above, I cooked several meals and did a boatload of laundry today. I also watched a lot of TV, which did not help with the worrying, but did distract me a little when it showed footage of the eleventy-billion people stuck on I-45 trying to get out of town. (Side note: Today it will take you twenty-four [yes, 24] hours to get from Houston to Dallas. That's normally a 4-hour trip. Holy cow.)

Holy cow again. (Sorry, that just warrants a couple of moos.)

Hubby had to go to work today, which was insane because the friggin' MAYOR of the 4TH largest city in the country CLOSED HOUSTON. Hello, dumbasses who are in charge of hubby's work? Yeah, you. I guess closing the whole city doesn't apply to YOU? Oh, but wait - maybe it does: the nice little memo you sent out yesterday stated that a "skeleton crew," which would consist of "basic office staff" and, oh yes, "you," (a.k.a. "upper management") would be in the office today.

Liars.

Not a single member of "upper management" showed up today (but all their secretaries were there ... sheesh). O.M.G. There are just no words ... I can't believe how you treat your staff, particularly those who bust their asses and spend untold hours in traffic to put forth effort that will eventually line YOUR pockets. And some of your staff, who shall remain nameless (but I'll call one of them "hubby") happen to have families to take care of - and you know, take care of little things like hurricane preparations.

I can see where we rank in the big picture there.

Hey, maybe I am bitter. But at least I found my laundry motivation.

Hurricanes piss me off

Rita, I sincerely hope you take a turn and head back out to sea. You are making me frightened, and I don't like feeling frightened. Plus, you're turning my normally nice community into a panicking mob, and I don't appreciate that, either. Why don't you just take your toys and go home?

I went to the grocery store this morning to buy batteries and water, and was met by a large poster at Kroger's front door proclaiming that they were out of the following:

Batteries
Water
and a bunch of other stuff that I didn't realize I needed until I saw that sign.

But I grabbed a cart and headed inside anyway. I stocked up on raviolis and canned soup, since we have a gas range and will be able to cook even if we lose power. Then I bought some pina coladas and beer, since ... eh, who needs a reason? Picked up a few things here and there, then I happened upon the Dasani guy, who was pushing a large cart of bottled water down an aisle. So I - and about 53 other people - followed him.

Now, the poor guy didn't have a prayer of any of that water actually hitting the shelf. The 54 people on that row were going to make sure of that. I lined up and waited my turn. Then this lady says to me, all snotty, "the line is back here." I agreed with her, saying "thanks, I know." She said, "no, the line goes this way." Now I realize that she thinks I cut in front of her. Uh, no, honey, I was here first. But in the spirit of community, I said "okay, thanks, you go ahead." She then proceeds to take eight cases of water off the cart! Several choice words sprang to my lips, but I corralled them before they took flight. I picked up one case of water and left the aisle.

Karma, bless her heart, made an appearance today. (And yes, she is a bitch.) I ended up in a checkout lane right behind grouchy lady, who was told by the checker that there is a two case limit on water purchases. (HA! HA HA! That announcement made my inner child gleeful.) So the checker took six cases away from grouchy lady.

Before grouch left, though, the checker pulled my cart up to the lane. I asked the checker if I could have one of those "extra" cases from the grouchy lady's cart, since I'd only gotten one to start with. She said "of course!" and put one in my cart. Oh, how I fought shooting a smug look at grouchy lady, who I am sure was even crabbier by now. HA!

Anyway, I'm home and have unpacked all the groceries now. I just heard on the news that my kids will be out of school for at least the rest of the week. That pleases me, although I don't really know why they need Thursday off. But hey, having the kids home during inclement weather is always a good thing.

Now I'm going to ask that anyone reading this please pray for us, or send good thoughts our way. We live on the north side of Houston, but are still being warned about high winds (we've got LOTS of BIG windows here) and flooding (we've got no flood insurance, as we're not in a flood plain - but hurricanes aren't discriminating when it comes to flood plains). Hubby and I lost nearly everything in Andrew in 1992, and we do not want to go through that again.

Hurricanes suck. Rita, begone!

In Memory of Bennie

My sister's beloved Keeshound, Bennie, passed away yesterday. My heart is just breaking for her, especially since she lost her other Keeshound, Kalie, barely six weeks ago.

I am sitting here in tears thinking about you, Tnk. I am so sorry for your loss.

I love you.

The dangers of loving your Dyson too much

Disclaimer: I still love that goofy-looking little yellow machine more than I love egg rolls. But I have come to the conclusion that it is bad for me. Very very bad.

My tennis elbow *snicker* (that terminology used to describe my problem still cracks me up) - I mean, my repetitive motion injury - had gotten better since I started working out at Curves. I was so happy because that meant that I apparently didn't need to do any other physical therapy for my arm. I was on the mend! And ahead of schedule, to boot.

Then Little.Yellow.Different. entered my life last Saturday, and I became a total vacuuming ho. I vacuumed our entire 3000 sf house, including the tile floors and wood floors. I even hoovered our sofa, recliner, and two wingback chairs. Who does wingback chairs? (Okay, if YOU do, don't tell me because I'll feel bad that I haven't done it in five years. Bleh.)

As it turns out, vacuuming is repetitive motion at its finest. The next day my arm was throbbing again. It was then that I realized my greatest fear: the new love of my life had betrayed me. Oh, the agony.

So ... this morning I took two painkillers, then went to the drugstore to purchase a new arm support band. Yes, I am that devoted to my Dyson: I shall drug myself and wrap up my injured limbs in order to keep the dream alive!

Now if someone could tell me how to channel that devotion into laundry, I'd be forever grateful.