MIA

I know, I've been gone a while. Life is so frigging busy and it doesn't show any sign of letting up any time soon.

So first I took off to West Palm Beach for a conference the week after Ike. I flew on the same flight with two of my staff, people are so freaky. One is a very white-knuckle flyer, I can understand that, I'm not crazy about flying but it does fascinate me. So she had a bottle of Valium with her to settle her nerves. I was all, "Um, how do you get your doctor to give you Valium?", and she was all "Do you want one?". Sweet! Except I'm the boss and the boss probably shouldn't do prescription drugs in a recreational way with her employees, so I said "Maybe later with a drink". And no, I did not have any Valium later with my pina colada, but I was TEMPTED! Better living through chemistry, baby. Ah, to be young again...

The other person refused to sit next to the window in the exit row we were sitting in. I just knew he was afraid of getting sucked out if the door should happen to fall off. Yeah, those exit doors are always falling off of airplanes, dude, you gotta watch out for that! Then in the car on the way to the hotel I find out it's not only that, but also because he wouldn't want to have to help anyone in an emergency. What a sweetheart.

West Palm was stunningly beautiful, our hotel was right on the ocean. My new header picture is one I took there at sunrise. I never have much time to relax during a conference, but at least being right next to the ocean I could just walk out the door anytime I wanted to and breathe it in. We did get to have fun one night while we were there, five of us went down to the private beach after dark to stick our feet in the ocean, then we all went swimming and hot tubbing. You know you're old married people when there are three men and two women in a hot tub, and the guys are all talking about motorcycles and football, and the women are saying "Enough already, you guys are boring us to death with the macho talk". It was still fun, though. Not as much fun as swimming with my husband and getting kicked out of the pool like we did when we were dating...damn, we need a pool.

And now I've started school. Being the crazy, over-achieving wench that I am, and hoping to get my accounting degree before I'm 70, I'm taking three classes this semester. I don't know why they can't just give me the credits for all this basic crap you have to take, since I've got a career that now spans 20 years, and let me just take the accounting classes, do you? I mean seriously, I have struggled through life and ended up making heaps o' dough without ever having taken "U.S. History to 1877", so why now? All I know is I have to rack up a bunch of credits before I can apply to the university for the degree program, so I'm going to try to do it in as little time as possible. And if anyone reading this is working, parenting, wifing, and attending school all at once, please tell me how you're doing it because it's kicking my ass and it's only been a week. I'm still excited to finally be on my way and in college, though.

Ike Approaches - Pictures

These are pictures I took as Ike was approaching on Friday afternoon and evening. The first one is around 4 in the afternoon, the rest are all around 6pm when the wind was starting to pick up steadily.

Little J was ready for anything in his jammies, flashlight in hand and bed made up under the stairs!

Hurricane Ike Video

No, I'm not crazy enough to stand out in a hurricane like those news people and videotape. This is video I shot from our backyard right after our power went out, a few hours before Ike hit.

Hell Hath No Fury Like Ike

For real. We spent Friday night from midnight to 7am huddled in a closet under the stairs in our house while the hurricane raged on and on outside. Thank God for that closet, I can't say I felt safe but I did feel somewhat sheltered. It's big enough that we were able to set up a cot for our 3 year old to sleep on, and sleep he did...he woke up once about 3am.

Little J: Mommy, what's that noise?

Me: That's the hurricane, go back to sleep. (I'd explained to him earlier in the day that a hurricane was coming, that we'd be safe, etc.)

Little J: That's not the hurricane, it's just raining. (raining so hard that it sounds like nails hitting the house!)

Me: Yes, it's raining. Go back to sleep, we're safe and cozy.

Little J: Mommy, what's THAT noise?

Me: That's daddy snoring.

Little J: (smacks his daddy on the foot) Daddy, would you please stop snoring so I can sleep?

He had a much lower anxiety level than his mother. I couldn't sleep the entire night. I'd doze off for a few minutes out of exhaustion, then wake up from the noise. I felt like if I went to sleep, I'd wake up and our house would be in Kansas with a witch underneath it. Of course if I were awake this would not happen.

The very worst thing about hurricanes is how long they go on. Hour upon hour of unrelenting wind, and the sound is terrifying. If fury has a sound in nature, it's the hurricane. It sounded like it was literally tearing the house apart, and I couldn't believe when it was over that we don't seem to have lost even a shingle off the roof, no broken fencing, no trees down...we survived unscathed.

I'm sure if you're reading this that you've read the news reports that most of the city and outlying areas are without power. We still are, we broke down and bought a generator yesterday, being lucky enough to arrive at Home Depot as a truck was being unloaded. I know people are looking for them all over the city and not being able to find one. Good Lord what a difference a simple fan makes! Texas in September is no place to be without power. Even with the fans we sweat our asses off, but at least it's bearable when you have a breeze blowing on you.

We're very lucky. We have a gas stove and gas water heater, so we're able to cook hot food and bathe. We lost everything in the refrigerator and freezer, but I'm a food hoarder so we have a pantry full of food that would probably last us at least a week if it was all we had to eat. There are gas stations near us with gas, grocery stores that have food, and we don't have to go far to get anything. I can see from the news that so many are suffering without any of these things, and I hope today that FEMA gets everything going that they say they have lined up.

That's the update for now. Thanks to everyone who was thinking of us and praying for us. Thanks especially to Lance Myers, my friend and fellow blogger on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, for checking on us and posting updates when he heard from me. It was very comforting to know that he was out there keeping track of us. Lance knows from very recent experience how unsettling and dangerous a hurricane is, having just gone through Gustav a week or so ago.

Here's to hoping that we're done with hurricanes for this year.

Conversation with My Brother

I'm the oldest of four, two brothers and one sister. I'm the oldest of all the cousins, too, and I have the youngest child of all of us, and the oldest child of all of us. Which makes me the QUEEN OF THE FAMILY, by my reckoning. There is no relevance to this tidbit of family history, I'm just saying.

So my brother called me yesterday. He lives in Florida and he's been through a couple of hurricanes. Our conversation went like this.

Bro: What are you doing?

Me: Just getting ready for Ike.

Bro: Whoa! You've got a hurricane coming, don't you? Let me see...where's the eye predicted to pass over?

Me: They're saying a direct hit on Galveston, I'm kind of nervous.

Bro: The eye is going to pass over Brookshire...let's see on this map how far that is from you. 5 miles! Did you hear that, Kath...5 miles. From where you live.

Me: Yeah, I know where Brookshire is, bro.

Bro: If I were you, I'd run. And while I was running, I'd scream.

Thanks for the sound hurricane advise, baby brother, we appreciate it!

Just Waiting...

The sky is a beautiful and perfect blue this morning. Hard to believe that within a few hours we should be feeling hurricane or tropical storm force winds from Ike.



What they're saying this morning is a direct hit on Galveston Island, which is an hour south of us. The news pictures of Galveston this morning are pretty dramatic, the waves are starting to crash over the top of their 18-foot seawall. If anyone is still on the island they are crazy. Since they're showing pictures of people driving along the seawall with those waves crashing over it, we obviously have some nuts here in Texas.



So we're waiting. We've got about as prepared as we can, we need a couple of small things but they're not critical. I explained to Jordan this morning that a hurricane is coming, what a hurricane IS, I'm trying to get him prepared for tonight when we'll probably be sleeping in the hallway or the front closet but I don't know how much a three year old understands. The main thing I want him to know and that I keep stressing is not to be scared from the big noise, mommy and daddy are here and we'll all be fine. I'm trying to make it out like a big adventure. I just LOOOOVE adventures that involve loss of electricity, howling wind and sideways rain for hours on end!


My friend Lance emailed me that he'll post an update about us after the storm passes, and he's got all my numbers and email addresses and I've got his cell. We're not likely to have any power after tonight, but maybe we'll get lucky. I'll call him or email him after Ike passes to let him know we're still here and kicking and he'll post on his blog http://coastrat.wordpress.com when he hears from me. Thanks, Lance, for thinking of us and praying over us.

I'm going to try to get some pictures today but if it gets dangerous obviously I won't be outside. It's just such an amazing force of nature it seems a shame not to get pictures of it.

I Almost Forgot!

I'm officially the oldest college student in the world.

OK, maybe not THE oldest but I'm the oldest one I know so I'm claiming the title until I meet one older than me. If I'm lucky I'll have my degree by the time my youngest is ready for college. Which means I am never, ever retiring because I'll be paying for college for SOMEONE for the rest of my life. I'm sorry, remind me why I'm doing this again? Oh, yeah, my employer is paying my tuition. How awesome is that?!?

I'm excited. My first class starts next week. I've been saying I was going to do this for the last couple of years, and I think that my life is going to be unbelievably busy and I won't have a minute to myself for, like, EVER...but I'm excited.

Keep it down in here, I'm trying to study!