Hurricane Pics

There have been several blogs that I have posted since Hurricane Ike blew onto the Texas coast last month. I finally have enough time to show you all what we experienced. The first picture is of my local HEB (grocery store) when they reopened on generator power. We were just glad to be able to get out even if there was not anything cold to eat.


The second picture is of the HUGE tree that was down at the end of our street. Unfortunately, it was located on private property and the electric company would not touch it. Therefore, our side of the street was without power for many, many days. The homeowners stayed out of town due to the wife being ill- I mean who would want to sit in the Texas heat especially if you were sick. Make sure you notice the full size trampoline that has been crushed underneath it.

The next 2 pictures are of our house. Julie is showing the world our mailbox that was in the middle of our yard. We promptly replaced it with a pretty one. We also had several branches
down in the front yard. The next door neighbors told us that the city had come through before we came home and pulled the huge limbs out of the yard and chopped them up. What good luck for us!

A Night Out

Tonight I had to fulfill a little payback for The Razorback. He has helped work on my student council's homecoming float and it was wonderful. He made arrangements for me to sing with a live band at a local western dance pub. So we got the girls fed, and Madgette tucked into bed before we took off. I must admit I was a little excited, and a little nervous.
Upon arrival we made ourselves at home and got adjusted to the place. The evening wore on, and The Razorback and I finally decided to hit the dance floor and do a two-step. This may have been the biggest mistake in our evening. Obviously, once you step on the dance floor you become available to everyone. I was asked to dance by a short little man, and I looked straight at my husband who I assumed would say No. To my suprise he told me to go ahead, and the short little man escorted me onto the dance floor before I knew what had happened.
As many of you know, I was married at 19 so I have only danced with my husband (except the mandatory high school dances). Needless to say, I was VERY uncomfortable. I saw my husband get up and come out to the dance floor and I breathed a sigh of relief. I just knew he was coming to rescue me by cutting in. I then received my second suprise of the evening-- he was dancing with another woman!!!
Fast forward another hour- I am on the stage singing a little Patsy Cline and the lady he had danced with earlier comes over and wraps her arm around my hubby to inquire if he is alone. He tells her "No, I am here with my wife. She is the one on the stage singing." Can you believe that she continued to question him? She acted suprised that he was with me-the big fat girl. After all of this, we found out that the guy who had asked me to dance was her brother. He was getting me out of the way for his sister.

Oh yes, another entertaining and sad note- I overheard 2 ladies talking in the bathroom. One says to the other "Yeah, I am working on number 5- I need a new babies daddy." It was almost all I could do not to fall off the toilet and convulse into laughter. Then a stroke of sadness came over me as I thought about that baby and the type of inconsistent home life that child must have.
During another restroom trip, I hear one lady say to another "Betty-Lou you said you had to get away from them kids- why you keep calling 'em?" Of course this made me think of Madgette who I do not like to leave. If we cannot do things as a family, we do not do them. I felt bad for that child also. This is the point in the evening where I knew it was time to go home. Maybe I am becoming an old lady but I believe in the old saying "Dance with the one that brung ya" and that your children should be the first priority in your life. I discovered I like my nights at home with my daughter and husband. These are the days of my life, and the ones I love- not the ones where I go out in public and get humiliated.

Update

Hello

My dear friend at Nana Notes posted a twitter asking about our well being. What a great friend! So here we go- we currently have electricity, and running water. The Razorback restored our internet tonight (Go Razorback!!!) but we still have no cable. That is ok, my wonderful hubby went out today and bought an antenna to mount outside the house and it works very well. It even picks up high def. channels and we don't have a monthly fee!!! That will save us a little over $100 per month. HURRAY!

The insurance adjuster is supposed to be here tomorrow. I am actually glad it has taken him a while to get to us. It has given us time to notice all the things about the house that have changed. The Razorback noticed today a 2 inch crack that is zig-zagging up one of the brick walls on the side of the house. We thought that only our sunroom had shifted- now we are thinking that maybe some other damage was done that we did not realize.

I guess to sum it all up, life is glorious again. We are back in the swing of school, softball, tennis team (Julie's activity), and taekwondo. Oh yes, and children's choir at church. The Razorback is going to school full time, and I am overloading my plate as usual which makes me happy. I am glad to have friends, two beautiful children, a fulfilling career, and an amazing husband. Life just doesn't get much better than this!

HUZZA, HUZZA, The Internet has Risen again!

Due to our desperation with the lack of internet, my hubby (The Razorback) has decided to make some changes to our internet, phone, and cable service. Comcast has still not fixed any of these things for us, so he has decided to switch. He has gone with a local company that happens to be right down the street from us. So tonight he has finished installing the modem and we now have wireless internet in our home again.
Julie (the foreign exchange student) is so happy all she can do is smile and type. She has been watching her skype messenger like a hawk for the first sign that her mom or dad in South Korea have logged in. None of them have logged in yet, but she is just happy to be able to get on the internet. I am just as thrilled- I cannot lie!

Tonight Madgette tested for her next level of belt in Taekwondo. She was finally able to kick and break the board on the 3rd try. Now she is an orange belt. She is very very happy. I am just thinking that no one should pick on her at school! BTW, if anyone is interested we are selling raffle tickets for $3 a ticket, and we are selling something else as a fundraiser for her elementary school. If anyone is interested in helping her we would greatly appreciate it!

Internet Addiction

Hi, my name is Madge. I have an addiction to the internet.

Since the lovely hurrican Ike graced the Texas coast last month we have not had phone, internet, or cable TV. Comcast has not seen fit to repair the line that serves our street, even though our street is the only street in Humble, TX that has not been restored. However, through this trial I have discovered a few things.
1. I do not care if I have a home phone. I have not really even noticed we did not have it excet for the few times our exchange student has needed to use my cell to call family. Most anyone who does not have my cell phone number, it not anyone I wish to talk with.
2. Cable is huge to our family. We have gone through a major depression as a family by not being able to see the season premiers of our favorite show's. The other day Momma Pug was visiting and made fun of the fact that we have become Public television station junkies because it is all we have!
3. I cannot live without internet. Seriously!!! We have logged tremendous numbers of hours in places like Burger King, and Barnes and Nobles just to get internet access. I mean come on, I am an instructional technology specialist. I am supposed to be teaching my students how to utilize technology-- this usually requires the use of technology and I use technology and the internet to create all my lesson plans! At this moment I am sitting on the floor of the "Wines and Spirits" aisle at Barnes and Nobles typing this. I am located here because my battery died when I was sitting in the comfy chair so I had to find an outlet.

I have missed my online banking, my daily blogs I read and numerous other things.
Well, I hope someone out there understands all these ramblings...

What Would We Do Without Friends?

I honestly do not know what we would have done without our friends the Conleys through the fallout of Hurricane Ike. They opened their doors and extra bedrooms to us with an open heart. We were able to be in a comfortable home and do whatever we needed to do. This trip also gave us a chance to visit with some of the hubby's family. Madgette spent the night with her cousin and they had an absolute blast!
Julie has learned a lot about the Arkansas Razorbacks, and a little more about our family. She has taken tons of pictures in the Conley family pool and hot tub. We have joked that this is the Conley resort and spa, but I am so appreciative for them. We are planning on heading back to Houston tomorrow morning bright and early. I just hope that someday we can be there for them when they need a hand. Thanks Conley's!!!

Hurricane Fatigue

I heard this phrase announced this week as our journalists were discussing how the general population of Houston is experiencing "hurricane fatigue." I would agree- I am tired of preparing for hurricanes. However, this time I was a little scared. So we decided to evacuate after much deliberation. We left our home in Humble, TX and headed North to our former hometown of Conway, AR. We pulled out at 8:15 p.m. with 2 dogs, 1 cat, 1 kitten, 2 kids and all of their supplies. Madgette slept through the entire trip and is raring to go this morning. Julie slept through some of the trip and is rested. The Razorback drove almost the entire trip (he even took over when I attempted to drive and then failed) so he has slept a lot this morning.
The evacuation experience has left me with a new definition of "hurricane fatigue." Perhaps it should be added to Webster's dictionary: the complete exhaustion that ensues after evacuating from a hurricane; symptoms include headache, sore throat, puffy eyes, and general grumpiness from lack of sleep.

Any thoughts?