Yes folks! It's that time of the year again!

It's HOMECOMING! I am so overjoyed I can't even tell you. Mostly I feel like a big ole failure as a mother to not be more excited about this whole thing. All I see are $$ flying out of my wallet and I cannot see past that to share in the excitement with the teenager.

This homecoming is starting out better I must say. There was no confusion with the boys thinking that she already had a date therefore not being asked by someone in her school. She was asked during the first or second week of school. So with all of that drama out of the way we can plan ahead a little better this year. Oh and I kinda know what to expect too. Things have changed since I was in high school.

For starters there is that whole homecoming garter that the boys now wear. Boys wouldn't have been caught dead wearing something like this when I was young:

Boys didn't want to wear a silly flower with ribbons and a stuffed animal on it. When did boys decide this was cool? So I dropped about $55 on that for the teenagers date. I can't wait to see the monstrosity that will be the teenager's mum. If you weren't around for homecoming last year go here for that picture.

Then of course there is the dress, shoes, purse, and jewelry. The teenager showed more restraint this year and all of that only cost a little over $200. We paid the $200 and her mom paid the difference. Last year the dress by itself was $180 and then there were alterations.

But of course that isn't all... there is the cost of an updo, makeup and a mani/pedi. I figure that will be at least another $100. Then if there is a limo... yikes!

Hopefully you can see why I've lost all of my excitement for homecoming ever! The teenager informed us that they have now added another formal winter dance and then there is Sadie Hawkins dance in the springtime. These schools are killing me with all of these freaking dances! I won't be able to send the kid to college because I had to buy her three different dresses/outfits a year. Then of course in her senior year (and God forbid in her junior year) there will be prom. Does anyone else find this a tad excessive besides me? Am I being too much of a scrooge?

Not my proudest moment

Today I weighed in at the heaviest weight I have ever been. I'm not proud of this especially since I was in the best shape since college less than a year ago.

Why you ask? Well there are tons of reasons why it's hard to work out and eat right. Partly it's because I leave my house before it's light outside and get home about the time that dinner needs to be made for the family. My hubby thinks that I should just stop cooking but if I did, the teenager would eat ramen, mac&cheese, burritos or pizza rolls for every meal. There wouldn't be a fruit or vegetable get near her otherwise. And since I get home so late, I often whip up something quick and not quite on the diet. I try not to eat it but most of the time it's just so tasty that I can't resist.

Then there is the fact that I'm just plain wiped out when I get home. Mostly I want to eat and relax in the evenings. I'm better at running in the mornings when I'm completely refreshed. This poses a problem as well. I'm the morning person and the hubby is a night owl. He has a hard time letting me sleep so I am getting less sleep than I have since cramming for finals in college.

Well those are my current excuses but I have to do something to turn this around. I'm doing something even if it means sleeping on the couch when the hubby is home so that I can have more than 4 hours of sleep a night. I going to get back into the shape I was last year at this time if it kills me.

So your job as my faithful bloggy friends is to kick my butt and keep me honest. Ask me often how the workout is coming along and how much healthier I am cooking for the whole family. If I can't give you a satisfactory answer, make me run some laps! That'll teach me!

25 things I learned from Ike (in no particular order)

1. I am spoiled!
2. A blackberry makes a splendid flashlight in a pinch
3. I LOVE generators
4. I hate trees with all of their silly leaves collecting in my pool
5. I really hate pine trees
6. I’m addicted to the internet
7. I’m not as addicted to TV as I thought
8. I finally found a good use for all of those water bottles I got when training for the MS150
9. Boiling water to wash dishes really blows
10. That the doo-hickey that starts the burners on my gas stove is electric
11. I can still get those burners lit with a lighter (Duh!)
12. I can’t enter a room without flipping a switch even though I know full well that nothing will happen when I do
13. The college student is so terrified of tornados that she will sleep in a small closet to feel safe
14. The teenager can actually sleep through a hurricane
15. The dogs can too
16. The pizza stone for the grill that I got for my wedding comes in handy when there is no power
17. The fearless Dachshund would rather explode than walk out in the rain to relieve herself
18. Max the Wonder Dog would rather not explode even during the last remnants of a hurricane
19. Ducks fare pretty well riding out a category 2 hurricane
20. I can fix a darn good meal even without power
21. Coffee can be made without power by boiling water and pouring it through the coffee and filter in the coffee machine
22. When transformers blow, it looks like green lightening from inside the house
23. I don’t think I would stay for a hurricane bigger than a category 3
24. The hubby was more scared than I was
25. You might have to drive 55 miles to find gasoline after a hurricane

WE HAVE POWER!!!

Several of my friends and coworkers still don't have power. I am now wishing them well and hoping they will get power soon too!

I don't know if anyone reading this is one of the workers that came here to help with the recovery. If you are or if you know someone that came here, I would personally like to thank all of them for the hard work to get this city back up and running. I know that they are making a sacrifice being away from their friends and family back home and all of the long hours they are working. The city of Houston is truly grateful for the help! Big bear hug for all of y'all!

Major development!

No we don't have power. However today I drove up to a gas station and got gasoline without waiting in line. Then I went to the grocery store and didn't wait in line there either. HALLELUJAH!!

The lastest news

I'm at work for the first time in a week. I could have come in yesterday but my company sent out emails that they were bringing in a truckload of gas for those who needed it for generators. Luckily it was set up near my home so I didn't have to drive too far.

And speaking of the generosity of my company, a few of the guys in upper management here drove out of town as I understand it and bought generators, electrical cords, ice, water, gas cans full with gas, etc. for the employees to come get if they needed them. I can't say enough about how Enbridge is doing for the hardest hit employees. Normally I don't blog about my company but I felt that I had to give kudos to them because I truly appreciated the gas that they gave me yesterday. Running that generator is getting expensive!

We are still out of power but the latest report puts my zip code in the group that should have power on by Monday evening. I feel fortunate because every zip code surrounding us is in the group that won't get power until after Monday and they can't even tell them when it will be.

Lines for gas and food are getting more manageable as of yesterday afternoon so it's starting feel more normal now. Our water has the "boil notice" lifted so yesterday I gave the rest of our water jugs and ice to the hubby's ex-wife when she dropped off the teenager. Her mom has no water or ice so I figured that it should to someone more needy than myself.

The teenager has been at her mom's house since Thursday before the storm. They haven't eaten too many hot meals since everything in their house is electric. I thought she was going to cry when I told her that she wouldn't have to do that anymore. She's been a trouper through all of it though.

Not much more to report other than it's been really nice to get to know all of the neighbors finally. Usually everyone stays so holed up in their homes that you don't get to know anyone too well. Now that there isn't as much to do, everyone is out and talking to everyone else. It's neat how something like this has made us a much closer knit community.

When we get power up, I will have lots of pictures and videos. Stay tuned...

Still not over quite yet

I sit here at 4am on Tuesday writing this. I'm not even sure if I will get a chance to post it since mobile phone signals are really sketchy here. I can't connect during the day too easily but at night it's a little easier. Problem is that we turn off the generator at night for a quieter evening and to avoid wasting fuel unnecessarily and I can't stay on the computer too long at night. Obviously we are still without power but a cool front moved in yesterday morning. Between having a generator and the weather cooperating, things are actually very bearable.

It's almost bizarre sitting here writing at a time of the night when there is normally extreme quiet. In some neighborhoods, it's probably quieter than normal. In ours however, all I hear is the hum of generators all around me. The only light I see is from an airplane flying overhead. It is a shame that it is overcast this evening. Normally the glow of the city lights prevents you from seeing the stars. I imagine that if there were no clouds I could see every star out there. Maybe tomorrow night we will be luckier in that respect.

I will have to say that I feel highly blessed. Many did not fare as well as my family did. We sustained no damage to our home. We did have roof damage to our Conroe rental home so we didn't come out completely unscathed from Ike. However we aren't dealing with not being able to get back to our home as the people from Galveston are. We didn't lose any loved ones either. There is no telling how many of the people who refused to leave the evacuation zones that didn't make it.

I have a list a mile long of things that I'm able to do that others are not. We are don't sit in the dark in the evenings. I have a working refrigerator and deep freeze. I watch television almost whenever I want. I can get on the internet occasionally. I can charge up my mobile phone and computer. We have running water and natural gas service. I don't know if the water is safe to drink yet but we can boil it on the stove if necessary and I have plenty of clean drinking water from before the storm as well.

I could go on and on about how blessed my family is but you get the idea. You may wonder if this is easy. The answer is no. We drove about 55 miles out of town to find a gas station with a line that was only about 45 minutes long. Around here if you can find a station open, the line is at least two hours long. Going to the grocery store poses the same problem of long lines. We stopped for supplies at a little grocery where we got gas and they were out of things like bread. It is the little things that you expect will always be there that is hard.

One would think that this of all things would trigger my anxiety issues that I often suffer from. The funny thing is that I'm about as relaxed as I've ever been in my life. Maybe it's because I've gotten to spend quality time with my husband where he isn't being constantly interrupted by a work call. Or because I haven't been to work since last Wednesday. It could be that I see on TV the people of Houston and the surrounding area are pulling together to help each other. I see that in my neighborhood as well.

It also could be recollection of being curled up in my bed listening to the worst part of that storm and feeling an unnatural calm and sense of feeling safe. Everyone else tells me how scared they were. I don't recall having that feeling at any point. I feared that a tree would come down on our house but somehow I knew that we were going to be OK anyway. I had faith that God would pull us through this and he did.

Ike Update #8

Well we lost power right after my last update. That was about the time that the highest winds were getting to Spring. It was really freaky from what little I could see. At this point I think the eye has passed us and we are on the other side of the storm. I slept through the eye passing which I am not happy about but at least I got an hour or two of solid sleep.

I did take some video from before it got really bad but I'm not sure how much you will be able to see. I will post that later. The hubby is getting motivated to get up and film another update so you may be getting several videos in the next post.

Ike Update #7

Satellite, internet and power are sketchy at the moment. We keep have power flickering and tv is even less reliable right now. I slept a little bit earlier but now I can't seem to sleep at all. Looking at the radar on tv, we are at the edge of the highest winds and will see those very soon.

They are warning of tornadoes so I'm up will be listening for that since everyone else is asleep. I can pretty much deal with the hurricane winds but tornadoes are much scarier.

I am completely amazed that I can still watch tv even off and on and that I can still post on my normal internet connection. I do have a work computer which has a Cingular card so I will continue to post updates after we lose all of our creature comforts. At least I'll have the internet to keep me company!

Ike Update # 6

The wind is still howling outside and the rain is hard. We are getting to the hurricane force winds and within the hour we should have the worst of that. No damage that I can see so far. We lose the dish signal off and on so our updates outside of the computer are getting spotty. I still have power and will continue to update everyone as long as I can.

On a sad note, Brennen's is on fire and the general manager and his family are in the hospital right now. Wonderful restaurant that is a staple of midtown Houston. Hopefully they will be ok.

Ike Update #5

At the moment, it's raining hard and the wind is super strong. The eye of the storm is close to making landfall so it's still going to get a lot worse for us. We have electricity and tv still (tv is surprising since we lose Dish Network in a light rain usually). The hubby is all sleepy so his video updates may not be happening until tomorrow morning. I'll try to get a picture to post though.

Ike Update #4.5

Mark finally got the latest video up on youtube. Nothing much more to report other than the wind is getting pretty high.

Ike Update #4

We are getting some pretty good wind now. We made some video earlier and then were talking to our neighbors and didn't get to post it right away so you are getting that one. We have recorded another but the hubby doesn't have that one up on youtube yet.



For dinner this evening I decided to go all gourmet on the family and did a pan seared salmon recipe that I created myself. It had a chipotle lime sauce that was a little too spicy if you asked me but the family loved it. Also had some lovely baked asparagus with olive oil and garlic. Then I added a little frozen broccoli and cheese because I was lazy. It was good too though.

There will be another video very soon when Mark bothers to upload it.

Ike Update #3

I had a request for an update so here it is. We are finally starting to get a little sprinkling of rain and it's a little windy now but nothing out of the ordinary yet. As I was watching the news, I did catch a picture of this dumbass running around behind the newsmen on the seawall in Galveston wearing a freaking bear suit. Some people are idiots! The picture is a little hard to see but you get the idea.






This will be the first video update from my husband with his new camcorder.

Non-Ike update

I have been so concerned about the storm that I went to get my hair done. 'Cause it really would take a hurricane blowing me away to get me to not show up. Anyway... here is my new look for the hurricane. If I'm going to live with this mess, I may as well look good!

Ike Update #2

So far nothing to report up here. It's starting out to be another beautiful day which is so very odd knowing that a very huge hurricane is less than 24 hours from landfall. I would take another picture but it would pretty much look like the picture in the sidebar.

Things are a little different in Galveston though. We are seeing pictures of parts of the island underwater already. The island will be completely underwater before this storm is over yet people stay there. That is something I don't understand. There will be storm surge in Galveston and potentially all the way to downtown Houston. If I lived south of I-10 on the east side and south of Hwy 59 on the west side, I would be heading to someone else's house for sure. Oh well, I'm sure there are plenty of people who think it's nuts for me to stay. Maybe so... We shall know soon enough.

Ike Update #1

It's coming! Damn that Jim Cantore for showing up in Galveston. It was headed to Victoria until he showed up. That man and his shiny bald head attracts hurricanes.

I've stocked up on the essentials. We have lots of beer, wine, bloody marys and mimosas. We should be good for the duration of the storm. Oh and I have water and canned food. We have a little camp light that is powered by propane for when we lose power (it's not if but when). We are riding this thing out. Fortunately we are about 90 miles away from Freeport area which I believe is where it's still supposed to come in.

It's actually beautiful weather here today and nobody I know is evacuating completely. I have a friend who lives south of Houston who "evacuated" to my other friend's house not too far from here but so far she is the only one I'm aware of. I think that they were in an official evacuation zone so they were told to leave. We were not so hopefully it won't be too bad.

My hubby is currently playing with his new toy. He bought an HD camcorder today so I may have some video to post. Right now nothing exciting to report other than we are preparing for this storm.

We have moved all potential "torpedos" off of the patio and put them all into the garage. We will be rearranging everything in the garage so that we can get two of the four vehicles in there. We don't have any plywood so we will not be boarding up the windows but we are prepared to cover any broken windows.

I will post updates as long as we have power. Here is a picture of the current conditions.

Oh and my hairdresser will be working tomorrow so I will be keeping that appointment barring any extreme weather tomorrow morning. And yes, my hair color really is that important!

Oh CRAP!

Jim Cantore showed up in Galveston. We're all gonna die!

What's new since last year

An anonymous commenter has brought me back to this post I had mostly forgotten about from nearly a year ago. She told me that she envied me and my relationship with the teenager. It prompted me to re-read the post to see where my head was at that time. As I read through my thoughts on becoming a full-time parent a year ago I started thinking about what has changed and what is still the same.

What has changed... my husband has taken a job that keeps him traveling about 75% of the time making me essentially a single mom for that same amount of time. This has been the hardest change for me because I wasn't prepared to have a kid whose well-being is my sole responsibility much of the time. I worry about her all the time and the decisions that I make each and every day. I can say the added stress of this responsibility has caused many an argument with the hubby because sometimes I feel overwhelmed by it all. My biggest fear around this is that the teenager will think it's her fault and it's really not. It's me and my stupid anxiety and coping issues.

The teenager no longer confides in me quite as much as she used to which probably means that she thinks of me more like a parent than a friend. It makes me sad because sometimes we had conversations about her life that amazed me. However feeling more like a parent is ok with me too.

To make things even more interesting, the teenager's older sister moved in early this year (from here on to be known as the college student). Keep in mind that this is not the hubby's child by blood but he did raise her from about the age of 5 on but he loves her as if she were his own. this was a weird situation for me at first but I now find it to be a blessing. The college student is another very good kid (I use that term loosely because she is 22) and helps lots with the teenager by driving her places and generally being a good example to follow. This alone has relieved some of my anxiety about doing this alone during the week. I don't know if I could cope without her help.

What is the same... I still believe that this is the hardest thing I will ever do in my life. I'm still terrified that I'm going to somehow screw her up and we will all be on Dr. Phil someday hashing out what I did wrong.

She's still a good kid though and I feel lucky to have her in my life daily. I like to think that I also give her good yet different examples to follow on how to be a woman. While her mom was the quintessential mom who loved having her kids as the center of her existance, I am the woman who was determined to make it in the world of business and became independent and strong. I hope that we both help make her a well-rounded woman who is a good wife and mother when she has a family but is perfectly capable of being ok without a man until she finds that one right guy for her.

All in all, I think that this has been a really good for me since I chose to not have children of my own. I feel like I'm at not completly missing out on the experience of motherhood. I still occasionally feel like I've missed something by not having a little one running around the house but mostly I think it was the right decision for me at this juncture of my life. I don't want to give up my freedom now for a baby. I feel very selfish that way now that I'm 40-something. The thought of having a kid in college when I'm 60 scares the crap out of me too. However, having a kid in the house who can mostly take care of herself and will be out of college before I hit 50 is ok.

My conclusions about being a parent? I think I will live through it and be a better person for it in the end.

Happy Belated Birthday to me!

My niece singing happy birthday to me on YouTube. I would have to say that this is one of the best birthday presents ever!

Update: In case the embedded video isn't working, here is the link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=62qv4umpch0

Being a parent has just gotten harder!

I was told the most ridiculous thing by the teenager yesterday. I knew this was coming because the same sort of thing happened when I was about her age. Kids her age are turning 16 and getting cars of their own to drive. I find this ridiculous in itself... I think a teenager shouldn't get their own car until they have had at least 6 months of experience. I may lose that battle with the hubby but that one is ok I guess.

Now to the ridiculousness that makes it harder to be a parent today... I was taking the teenager to church last night when she said that her friend was very spoiled and told me to guess what she got for her 16th birthday. I couldn't guess so she told me. And guess what it was... a vehicle!

But not just any vehicle either. Oh no, her parents thought that it would be a spectacular idea to get this kid a Hummer. Really? Does a kid who has very little experience driving need a vehicle such as a Hummer? That sounds like a fatality waiting to happen (not for her mind you, for some other unsuspecting driver or unlucky pedestrian in her path).

I don't personally have a problem with Hummers. I have a very good friend who owns one and if she can afford the gas on a vehicle then more power to her! But I do have a problem with giving one to an unexperienced teenager. Not to mention the fact that even if you have the cheapest H3 out there, it is going to cost at least $30K. Does a teenager really need a vehicle that expensive?

Keep in mind that this did happen when I was growing up. A girl in my class got a tricked out Camaro (which she promptly wrecked and was lucky to survive) and another guy got a Jaguar as a graduation present. The difference is that these two kids were the super rich kids. All of us average kids were thrilled to death to have anything to drive even the uncool station wagon. This girl's parents are not super rich. They do well like me and the hubby do but they are not of the elite kind of rich like the kids were when I was young.

So where does this leave me and the hubby? We are still going to make sure that we bring up a girl with realistic expectations for when she is out of our home. She may or may not have the money to live like that after college. We try to make sure she understands that when she gets a Coach purse from us that it's a very special gift rather than something she should always expect. I will say that this lesson is becoming harder to teach when everyone her age does seem to think Coach purses and Hummers as the norm.