Unique Christmas

For the first time ever, my hubby and I went to the movies on Christmas day. We were originally going to be with my family on Christmas day, but since it fell on a Thursday and my brother and sister both had to work today we decided to celebrate this weekend instead. So, we were not sure what to do on Christmas day and decided to take the opportunity to see some movies we've been wanting to see. We went to the first showing of the day of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and made it a double feature by staying to see Doubt. Between the two movies we ate at the restaurant at the theater and even had time to get an ice cream at marble slab, also in the theater. I'm glad that restaurant was open, that's the only way we could have made it a double feature without having a dinner of popcorn, nachos or other movie theater food. I thought that no restaurants were open on Christmas day, but hadn't considered a restaurant AT the movies.

I know that for many families going to the movies on Christmas is a tradition (the theater was so busy by the time we left it seems like everyone goes), but it never has been in my family, so it made for a very unique Christmas for me. Tonight I'll head down to my parents' house and Kevin will come for the day tomorrow to celebrate with my family.

Christmas Celebrations

Today and tomorrow are the last two work days of the year for me and Kevin, so I am fairly sure that they'll be spent mostly watching the clock until we're on vacation. I could've taken the days off, but since Kevin has to use a week's vacation to have the same days off that I do thought it best to save the rest of my days to be able to go somewhere on 2009, we used just about all of our vacation days for the two trips we took this year.

We will celebrate Christmas with my side of the family, but aside from that plan to stay in town and just take care of stuff around the house. I'm looking forward to the time off, and in addition to our projects, plan to sleep in (if Smokey lets me), read, work out, see friends, meet up with friends, and just enjoy having some down time. One project I must get done is to go through the stuff in the attic, we can't put the new Christmas tree away until I do.

We celebrated Christmas with Kevin's side of the family this weekend, with all of the family on Saturday and with the immediate family yesterday. Both celebrations were a lot of fun. I love watching the kids open their gifts, especially now that he's old enough to really start to get into it. Kaden's unwrapping of gifts used to be tear off one piece, set it aside, repeat and he'd get tired before he finished unwrapping the gifts. This year he unwrapped them all himself and was excited to get to play with them. I'm excited about my white elephant gift, a panini maker and at the store yesterday I bought some bread, ham, cheese and tomatos to try it out this week.

Yesterday, at Kevin's parents house we exchanged gifts. This is Kaden's first year to really know who Santa is and be excited about gifts, so we were really looking forward to seeing him open his gifts, especially the train table. We opened gifts and then he was taken into another room to play with some of his new toys while my father-in-law and brother-in-law set out the train table and rang the doorbell. We told him that Santa's elf had dropped it off early so it wouldn't have to go in the sleigh, but instead of being excited about the train table he was sad he'd missed Santa. He got over the disappointment and played with the table most of the afternoon (including blowing it up with the toy tank we'd given him), but that was a reaction we weren't expecting. Kids will always surprise you, that's what I've learned.

O Christmas Tree

Here is a picture of our gorgeous new tree. Its 7'6" tall, so we had to use some creativity to make our tree-topper fit and not be up against the ceiling. We finished Christmas shopping yesterday, and I finished the wrapping too....so this picture has our nicely wrapped gifts under it - I waited to take the photo until I had some gifts under the tree. I like to wrap gifts, but am not particularly good at it, and rarely do I try to put bows or other decorations on them, getting them wrapped in paper and labeled with who they are to is my major goal. We turn on the lights each evening and it really adds to the holiday season to get to see that every day. We also have lights up the banister of our stairs and across the railing on the second floor and put up our old tree upstairs, so you can see it out the window.

I'm ready for the Christmas holidays and ready for the break from work. I only have 7 more days to work this year. A perk I hadn't thought about when I chose to work in higher education is that they close for the holidays.

I love listening to Christmas music and finally started using Pandora again to listen to it at work, I get a lot more variety than I will with bringing what few Christmas CDs I have.

Christmas parties

On Thursday, we had the School's Christmas Party, called an "Open House" to be cognizant of the different faiths and cultures or politically correct since we're a state institution. It was fun, but oh so different than Kevin's party last weekend. It is during the work day (nice since we are paid to be there and makes for a better turn out), and was held in the event center on the 3rd floor. It was FULL of people, I don't realize how many people work here until I see the huge room we are in and how full it is, and this is just the employees not guests, etc. that many parties have. It makes sense we have so many employees but I forget since I interact with a much smaller group, and with faculty on their own schedules I almost never see them. They had a DJ with karaoke, and a photo booth to get your picture on a magazine (we actually got one this year, last year we got in line too late), and lots of appetizers - my favorites: some kind of fried corn ball, and an arthichoke heart stuffed with cheese and fried, nothing fried is good for me but oh it tastes so good! I'd told Kevin he was on his own for dinner, because I figured (correctly!) that I wouldn't be hungry for dinner. I recognized a lot more people this year than last year (at last year's party I'd been here only a few weeks) and it was good to see everyone, but it fell on a day when I had a meeting all morning and then right after I left for my fitness release time, so I was in my office for all of about 2 hours.

Contrast this party with Kevin's party, they really couldn't BE much different. He works for a small, private company. It was held last Saturday at a really nice restaurant (Smith & Wollensky's) in Uptown Park. It was a great excuse to get dressed up and have a nice night out. They had a cocktail hour with servers coming around with great appetizers, several of which I couldn't pronounce, the ones I can come up with a name are: ahi tuna, chicken salad with truffles in a shell (puff pastry?) that looked like a tiny ice cream cone (my favorite), beef wellington with truffles, spring rolls, some sort of filet with a pepper sauce (I can't remember the correct name, and when I asked the server what it meant - I was trying to remember it, he said he had no idea). They were all beautifully served, and I tried a little of each. This place has a different level of service than any other place we've been - we went to eat here once and they seriously have a person who picks up the crumbs off the table for you with this little metal tool. The servers would wait for you to eat the appetizer then take the toothpick, napkin, etc. back from you. I wasn't ready to eat it so kept apologizing and they're like quit apologizing. I like to eat out but am never comfortable with that kind of attention. After that we had a sit-down dinner, here were the courses (we chose one from each course):

First Course:

• Caesar salad -- everyone at our table got this one, so I couldn't really see the other one. But this was the strangest looking salad. It was like "assemble your own". They were full stalks of romaine, with parmesan pieces on one side and a generous helping of salad dressing on the other (on the plate, not in a bowl or anything). This is one of two things about the night that I didn't like. Strange thing is we had this salad here before and it didn't come out like this.
• Iceberg wedge - from what I could tell, it looked like an eighth of a head of lettuce on a plate.

Second Course:

• grilled mahi mahi - I got this, and it was good. It came out with grilled vegetables underneath it and it tasted delectable


• filet mignon - Kevin got this, it was also very good, but they didn't make sure everyone got the steak cooked the way they requested it (his was way too red), and he said it was chewy :(


• lemon chicken- one person at our table got this, I opted not to since we make chicken at home a lot and I wanted something I'm unlikely to make. it came out with french fried onions on top of it, really pretty presentation.
  

For everyone to share there were these sides, the first two served in copper pots:

• mashed potatoes
  
• a creamed spinach - melted in your mouth
  
• stalks of asparagus - I can't cook it, but I love asparagus

oh, and their rolls, ohhh...i could go on and on about them. They come out in a round dish and are all connected to each other....mmmm..I love bread.

Third Course:

• Chocolate cake - we each got this, and it was so good, layers of cake with a mousse layer in between, we actually split one piece and brought the other home


• berries and cream - looked good, but can't compete (for us) with chocolate
  

Did I mention there was an open bar? We thought they're probably be just wine, the restaurant is known for it, but nope there was pretty much anything you wanted - I had a cosmo and wine, and Kevin had red wine. We also had wassail that they brought around for everyone to have, very sweet but good and hot since it was cold outside (we kept getting a draft from the door on our dining room that kept opening and closing for people to go outside to smoke - the other thing I didn't like about the evening. The smokers are the ones that want to go smoke, so make them walk a little further so I can stay warm! I actually made the comment seeing all that was spent on that night, that in that room you wouldn't know there was a recession. The company had a great year in 2008, their best yet, and we were happy to share in the good fortune. They had a photographer taking photos, we took a picture of us in front of the tree, I can't wait to see it...hopefully they'll get them next week.

Let it Snow

I can honestly say this is the FIRST time I've ever driven home from work in snow! When I left work it was a few flakes on my windshield and then as I got closer to home it was getting more constant and thicker, I could see it in the light of the headlights and then eventually against the dark sky I could see it really well, and it was really coming down!! I actually had the thought that it was easier to drive in than rain, but I am sure that its because its really a light snow, and don't ever wish to have to drive in a snow storm. When I got home, Kevin was outside looking at it, in disbelief I think. We just aren't use to seeing it here. Its quite a novelty for us, and something that'll make this Christmas that much more special. Here are photos that we took of our house and yard. We're enjoying our winter wonderland.

Our nephew is enjoying his first snow. He made a snow angel in the snow near his house. People all over town are enjoying it and its the TOP news story...

Snow in Houston?

Its been colder this week - once again a chance for me to pull out my favorite coat that I bought to wear in Kansas City last winter- and today I've heard several different reports that it is snowing in Houston. I doubt it'll accumulate, but really weird to hear about snow in Houston, Texas! It reminds me of Christmas 2004, when we DID get snow, I was at my parents' house and we had several inches of snow, a first for all of us. Photos of that year are here.

I like the colder weather, but do NOT like hearing on the radio that there might be sleet, people in this town can't drive in rain...so if there is sleet? oh, it'll be bad (not to say I know how to drive well in sleet).

Kevin just called, he's driving on 59 and its snowing there, so its even snowing on the south side of town!

This kind of weather makes me want to curl up and stay inside. I plan to wrap Christmas gifts tonight, so its the right kind of weather to listen to some Christmas music (Walkin in a Winter Wonderland comes to mind), drink some hot chocolate, and wrap gifts. Definitely more like the season then wearing shortsleeves on Thanksgiving, which we do quite often!

If the snow does accumulate, I have to see our dog's reaction to it, it'll be quite different from this. Our goofy dog doesn't even like water.

Where did this week go?

For being a full workweek after a holiday week, this week has flown by! I am sure its because I was so busy at work (meetings galore) and at home, a quick recap of the week:

• Kevin went to the Monday Night Football game, the Texans' first game and they won! wahoo!
• I volunteered on Tuesday night
• Wednesday night we were both home, made dinner and watched a movie on the new bluray player, Iron Man. It was actually pretty good. I also got to play with my new phone, - having the internet, facebook, etc in a handheld is ~dangerous~
• We had date night Thursday night, much more fun than going to my book club to discuss a book I hated (and didn't even finish) which were my original plans that night. We like going to Buffalo Wild Wings, especially on cheap boneless wing night, and I love playing the trivia games they have there. I do not know how some players get the full points for EVERY question, but even though I'll never be a top scorer I enjoy it.

I love having a Christmas tree at the house every night, and hope to be home a little more this weekend to enjoy it. We'll attend Kevin's company Christmas party this weekend, it should be fun and I hope to finish up my Christmas shopping. Still not sure if I want to do Christmas cards this year...hmmmm

Berries in the tree and Blackberries

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I love getting to spend time with family and only wish we were able to spend more time together. Geographically, we all live pretty close, but it is still a treat to get together.

Yesterday we bought a new (artificial) Christmas tree and decorated it and the interior of the house. The tree has berries and small pine cones in it, making it look a little more natural. I am so glad to have a new tree. The one we had before was a lot smaller, and we didn't replace it last year because we wanted to see how Smokey reacted to a christmas tree before investing in a new one. It is not pre-lit, so I had my first experience of putting lights on the tree. Growing up, I'd help my dad but that was mostly keeping him company and untangling the strands. It looks so great! It is 7'5" tall, so with the topper it is to the ceiling and is very full and takes up the entire corner of our den. I'll have to post photos later. This is the earliest I've decorated for Christmas, but love that we'll get to enjoy it for so long.

Our other splurge yesterday was getting new phones. We now have blackberries! Kevin had been needing to get one for work, and we took the plunge, so we'll be learning how to use those over the next few weeks. It will be great with both of us having the same phone (different colors), so we can both learn from each other :) I never really learned to use his old phone and would try to text for him but it was tough. The full keyboard will be fun, but man the buttons are tiny!

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm posting this a little early. I only work through a half-day on Wednesday (thank you President of my school!), and don't plan to be around a computer a whole lot until after Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving! I love this holiday, it is an opportunity to get together with family and friends and to take time out to realize how much we have to be thankful for. I know that I often take for granted how much I have to be thankful for and how good I have it. This year especially has shown me how much I have to be thankful for - going through Hurrricane Ike and seeing what really matters and seeing people pull together to recover from it. This year has also been a time of watching the economy tank and and seeing the effect it has on everyone. A short list of what I have to be thankful for:

• good health
• supportive family and friends around us
• my wonderful husband, Kevin, who puts up with my moods and my craziness. Even after over four years together, I often wake up and wonder how I met (and later married) such a wonderful man.
  
• having job that I like and that provides me with the means to live comfortably. It seems that every day I hear about more companies doing layoffs, and am very fortunate to have a job that I enjoy and that is fairly stable. I am so glad I took the plunge and changed jobs last year, the job market is one of the many things effected by the economy.
  

If I listed everything I was thankful for, my list would get very long...but those are my big ones.

This week we'll celebrate Thanksgiving with Kevin's family on Thursday and my family on Friday. We're lucky that all of our family is fairly close by, so we can drive to both celebrations.

Thanksgiving is usually the kickoff of the Christmas season, but every year it gets earlier and earlier. Right after Halloween I already saw Christmas stuff up in stores and heard Christmas Carols over the radio at the store in early November. I hate that! I love Christmas, but hate that it takes over all of November and December, and not for the right reasons, but mostly for the stores to have more time to push their products on us and telling us that this is the perfect gift. I love the decorations and the songs, but hate that it becomes a rush to get a gift for everyone on the list. I have to remember "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" when I get caught up in the search for the perfect gift. Spending time with the people I love is the best gift I can give and receive for everyone on my list.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Cool weather and Dr Pepper

Work is crazy right now, so I haven't had much time to post. I have to get what is my "never-ending project" done today. I've had TWO meetings about it this week and not regular meetings, no video conference meetings, which are a pain for IT to set up, especially on short notice (sorry IT!) I hope to get it done and off my plate today but have this feeling I'll be almost done and what they want will change again.

Good news - its Friday and next week is a short week....and it is cold outside, yay! 51 outside now and the high is in the mid-50s, which means I get to wear my coat! I bought it for our trip to Kansas City last year and I love it.& Its a dark gray, wool, 'pea coat' sort of cut. I like the cooler weather, especially when it comes with sun, but I know that it doesn't make me ready for true cold -- I don't know if I could live somewhere with snow. I love snow, but I think I love visiting snow...in any case, I am glad to have some truly fall/winter weather finally. Houston has very strange weather, sometimes we'll wear shorts on Thanksgiving (or Christmas) and it just feels wrong. I am glad we went to Ren Fest last weekend, because though I like the cold I don't think I'd want to spend all day out in it...unless I'm skiing :)

Totally unrelated, but its happening this weekend so I thought I would post it. I've been hearing about this on the radio because they love Guns N Roses, I personally don't care about their music, but do like Dr. Pepper. DP said that if Guns N Roses came out with their new CD this year, they'd give a free Dr Pepper to everyone. The CD is coming out, so they are making good on that promise, but the catch is you have to get the coupon this Sunday. Kinda sounds like a scam to get your info to get on their mailing list, but its a free DP and an interesting promotion.

Article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27350676/

DP website: http://www.drpepper.com

I love DP, but try not to drink as much soda, and when I do drink soda it doesn't taste as good as I remember it. Hopefully, I'll be able to just kick the habit completely.

Ren Fest

The cold front came through on Friday night, so it was chilly and clear on Saturday, a perfect day for Renaissance Festival! Kevin and I went on Saturday and had a great time. We watched a few shows and did a lot of people watching. My favorite show was Sound and Fury, a trio who do "Fakespeare", short plays that are funny, but very PG-13. We also met up with my friend Stacy who was there with friends.

My favorite part is seeing all the people and the costumes, you really see costumes of all kinds - fairies, pirates, queens, kings, gypsies, the list goes on and on. Its actually hard to tell who works there and who is simply a patron enjoying the day, the costumes can be that good. There are plenty of people who don't go in costumes, like me and Kevin. I'd love to dress up, but never make the time to put together a costume, or like this year think I'd be too cold in a costume. The strangest costume I saw was a Star Wars Stormtrooper in a kilt (it was the Scottish Highland themed weekend so the kilt actually makes sense). We also saw a guy carrying around a fake rifle, not sure how that fits into the Renaissance. Every time I've been I've seen a guy dressed as a centaur (half man/half horse) - I think he lives there - and this time I got a picture with him. Kevin brought his camera and had a lot of opportunities to take pictures.

It was a *perfect* day to be outside and enjoy the fall weather.

Blender Fiasco

Yet another kitchen fiasco from yours truly. I can't even call it cooking fiasco because I didn't get that far. The other day, I was going to attempt to make pesto, but in getting the blender out of the cabinet I caught it on the oversized lunch bag I had in the cabinet and the whole thing tumbled out and broke :( Our brand-new, fancy, schmancy blender. I cleaned up the glass, and was just mad at myself for letting it happen. I figured I could remedy this by using the old blender we never got around to getting rid of (why couldn't I have broken it instead?), but then saw that the fresh basil I had was 1) probably not enough, and 2) slimy - thanks packaging that I can't see through. I wanted to pick out my own, but HEB had about every other kind of spice in bulk, so I went with the pre-packaged in the produce section, never again.

I was clearly not meant to make pesto, so I abandoned that plan and went to plan b (invented on the spot) of making the Mongolian Chicken that we had a spice packet for. Turned out pretty well for being a plan b but it is so salty we probably won't have that for a while, at least until we figure out a better way to make it. The oversized lunch bag is now in a closet, far from the kitchen, and yesterday morning when I went to throw out the broken pieces, I cut my finger....not too badly, and I bandaged it up, but just one more haha from the blender.

In happier news, this was my first week with fitness release time and I love it! I am impressed that I remembered my clothes each day and was able to get out of the office and over there each of my three days. I did almost forget my gym back there yesterday, but realized it as I was walking to my car and hightailed it back over there, not that I think anyone wants to steal my clothes but would not be good to leave it there overnight.

I left work at 4pm three days this week (M, T, TH) and went to the gym, changed clothes and worked out there until 5pm. Monday I took a class and T and TH I did the treadmill. I like getting to workout on work time and it should help me to be consistent in my workouts. I did get up W and do a little bit of weights, but did NOT get up today. Its perfect time since the weather and the daylight are reflecting that yes, it is winter.

Patio work

This has been a busy, but good, weekend. On Saturday, I helped to host a surprise baby party for Gwendolyn & Jay. The party went well, they were surprised and we all had a good time eating and visiting. We even had a pinata! Preparing for it, I got some cooking pointers from Delena. I now know how to properly roll enchiladas (tighter the better) and will try it next time we make enchiladas at home. I also made the 7 -layer dip, its mostly just assembling more than cooking, but I'm still glad it turned out well. We had a fiesta feast.

We spent much of the weekend resealing our patio. The tiles are slate so they need to be sealed each year to protect them from the elements. We cleaned it off on Saturday - blew it off with the leaf blower (easier than sweeping), rinsed it off with water, and also worked on the rust spots with acid wash. The acid wash worked really well to get the rust off, better than I thought it would. We did the first coat on Saturday afternoon and I did the second coat this afternoon. We used our mop to spread it. The sealer looks milky on the tiles, but dries pretty quickly with the sun and the low humidity (shorts in November, that's Texas...and this is after the "cold front"). It took a couple of hours to dry completely, so I moved my car beforehand so I can get to it without walking on the patio. I'm good at not mopping myself into corners, but seem to always need something that I can't get to across the wet floor when I mop. The sealer makes the patio look like new again!

This evening after we put the furniture back on the patio, Smokey ran and jumped on the wicker table and it slipped (the sealer makes the patio slicker) and he fell off, it was hilarious. He is okay, it just surprised him because he's used to being able to run all over the patio and onto the furniture without it slipping out from underneath him. He didn't like the project because it meant he had to stay inside so we didn't take a chance on him walking on the patio or worse licking the sealer.

Its very satisfying to see the patio that we worked so hard on last year with my parents. Kevin and I have mixed results with "do-it -yourself" projects, so its great to see something that we did well and that we're still enjoying a year later and for years to come. Above is a photo from last year. All of the photos from the project are here.

Yes We Can

When I got home last night, Kevin already had the television on to watch the election coverage. It was an exciting night, watching them make projections of whether or state would be red or blue, and CNN would often hold off on making projections until they were sure, so we didn't have a repeat of previous elections. There was a lot of analysis with their "magic map". I've never been a strict member of one party or another, but was so happy to see many of the states colored blue. Right after the polls closed in CA, WA, and OR they projected Obama as the winner! History is made and a new chapter begins for our country. I am glad the campaigning is finally over, two years - and it had to have been the longest for each of the candidates.

Throughout the night they showed Grant Park where thousands of people gathered for Obama's speech, and seeing the sea of faces, including all races and ages was really indictive of the diversity of our country and all the various groups that support him. I am so happy that he will be our next President. We also watched McCain's concession speech, ad I have a lot of respect for him and all that he has done for our country and hope he does continue to work for the good of our country, but I truly believe that Obama is the president we need right now.

funny note: CNN's "thing that had never been done on television" - a reporter in Chicago was brought into the studio as a 3D hologram, psst...its been done, watch Star Wars. and it was really dumb, I'd rather watch them on location with the people and places of that location in the background.

Award

I got my very first Blog award, thanks Allison! Its amazing how tickled getting a digital image can make me.

The rules are simple: pass along to five other blogs. So here goes:

1.) Jay-n-Gwendolyn: my college roommate and her hubby's blog, the website started as a Valentine's gift to her when they were dating...awww

2.) Laura: my sister, she got me started on blogging years ago (possibly creating a monster!)

3.) Kristine: has great posts about engineering, motherhood, and pictures of her cutie of a little boy

4.) Olivia: has great posts about living in NYC, and her descriptions and pictures of food make my mouth water

5.) Nick: interesting observations of fatherhood, sports, and random happenings in his family's lives

DST

I hate going on and off of Daylight Savings Time. Sure, I like getting that one extra hour of sleep, but its not worth it. This morning I was awake at 4:30 am and could not get back to sleep (my body thought it was 5:30 and I usually get up at 6 am) but was too tired to actually get up. So I laid there and drifted in and out til about 6:30 then finally got up. I hope I adjust quickly so I don't have that happen for very long. Thankfully Kevin did sleep ok, because when I can't sleep I am restless.

I was pleasantly surprised that Smokey didn't wake us up early on Sunday since to him it was way past time for us to get up (and feed him) and we were still sleeping.

I also hate that it gets dark so early in the evening, makes it seem so much later than it is :( Can we just stay on DST year round?

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We aren't doing much for the holiday, but I am excited to see Ross' new house. This time last year we were working on slating our patio. I took a week off between ending my old job and starting my new job, and what a week it was. My parents helped us to put down slate tiles on the patio, and we also got new countertops (green!) in our kitchen. I'll have to post pictures of it. I am very happy that this year I'm enjoying our hard work and not doing it! I didn't even see trick-or-treaters because we were trying to finish up laying down some of the tiles before it got too dark, my mom did trick-or-treater duty for us.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since I started my job right after Halloween last year, next week will be a year since I started! woohoo! I will finally be off probation, and can take advantage of the Fitness Release Program, where I can take 3 hours of work time each week to work out in the gym! I got my boss' approval today, so now just have to wait until I'm off of probation. This will help me in finding time to work out and being consistent.

~~

I can't believe its already been a year, though in some ways it already seems like I've never not been here. Searching for and taking this job was a HUGE step for me, and one I'm glad I took. I've already learned a lot in my short time here and really like the people I work with. I am glad I started in a non-legislative year, it gave me time to get up to speed before the deadlines are moved up and the urgency increases of getting everything done by those deadlines. I knew there were a lot of reports to the state, but could not even imagine how many:

• 6 due every semester (fall, spring, summer)
• 3 due every fall
• plus others that I don't complete but come through my office, ad hoc ones, etc.

These reports are what we spend most of our time doing, and are in addition to the reports to the federal government and external groups I was used to, and the internal reports. It is quite different working for a state institution. It is similar in some ways to where I worked before, it is much larger but has that 'family' feel, and I love how diverse it is! There was a time of adjustment - just getting into an elevator every day was different from my last job and it took me a while to get used to the new uniformed groups I see daily, at my other job it was priests and nuns and here it is police cadets.

~~

Working for the state is interesting. Often it seems like deadlines are recommendations. I'm used to working with if its due then its due then, though I request an extension if I can and think I'll need it. But even some of the state deadlines seem to be just recommendations, its in the directions for reports due in mid-October that "they need to be certified by Dec 1". I guess that what I consider "due" and what they consider "due" (a draft to them) aren't the same thing, good thing though because I've quickly gotten used to being able to go, oh well, past the deadline but this is the real deadline so we're ok.

~~

I really enjoy the work that I do, and am very glad I "fell into it". It is a good fit for me and I stumbled upon it because I wanted a part-time job while I was a college student!

Birthday with pictures

My birthday was everything I could've wanted :) The weather was gorgeous, clear and cool. In the morning, Kevin and I went on a bike ride, so I was actually riding my bicycle when I turned 30 (at 12:33 pm). Then as planned, my family came up and we went out to eat at Tokyohana, an hibachi restaurant. I love the food - had chicken and scallops this time - and really enjoy the show the chef puts on for you as he makes the meals in front of you (onion volcano is my favorite). The chef does lots of tapping of the cooking utensils against the cooking surface, to keep a rhythm I guess. Between the 7 of us, we ordered almost everything on the hibachi menu, so we got to see him prepare lots of different things - chicken, beef, tuna steak, calamari, even a noodle dish for my sister. It was great fun, and actually went a lot faster then expected. At the end of the meal they throw some sort of vegetable to try to get you to catch it in your mouth, and I caught it second try :)

My parents went home from there and we went on to Cecil's (a bar that I love) to celebrate. A few of my friends came to join us. Mimi had gotten back from France that day and she made it out, jet lag and all, and Stacy came up to join us too...yay! It was great to spend time with them both and to have my brother and sis-in-law in town for it too, and as always great to spend time with my sister, Laura, and my hubby too. Cecil's long island iced teas are ~dangerous~, I forget how good they are..

I also received many messages on my birthday (email, voicemail, facebook, myspace) and the rest of the weekend from people who couldn't celebrate with me. I had a great time, and felt very loved with all the wishes I received.

On Sunday, Kevin and I went to the Texans game, and they had a decisive win against the Bengals!!! 35 to 6, it was great to see them win, and somewhat rare to see them dominate the entire game. Today I went back to work and my staffers took me out to lunch at Treebeard's (shrimp etouffee, yum!)

Photos are available here.

Odd Birthday twin

Watching the Today show this morning, apparently I share my birthday with the movie Halloween. It turns 30 today too! Its hard to believe I'm 30 today, I don't think it'll feel much different, mostly I'll just have to remember to write my age starting with a 3, not a 2. Based on how bad I am with changing the year when I write the date come January, it'll take a while. I'm in a great place in life and looking forward to what milestones I have to look forward to in my 30s.

Here are others that I share my birthday with, Pablo Picasso I knew about, but I couldn't have told you the other ones.

1825: Johann Strauss, Austrian composer of 'Blue Danube'
1838: Georges Bizet, French composer
1881: Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor
1936: Martin Gilbert, Winston Churchill's official biographer

and here is October 25th in history

1415: Henry V's 'Longbowmen' defeat French Knights at the Battle of Agincourt
1854: The infamous 'Charge of the Light Brigade' takes place at Balaklava,during the Crimean War
1951: The Conservative Party, led by Winston Churchill, wins the General Election

Source: http://www.tnl.net/when/10/25

I'm already having a great birthday. I have gotten many birthday wishes in email, Facebook, and myspace and get to spend the day with my family. They're coming in town to eat at a hibachi restaurant with me, and later we'll go to a bar to meet up with friends. A low-key celebration and getting to spend time with family and friends is exactly what I want :)

Kitchen misadventures

Other people have cooking blogs, I'd like to have one but I'm afraid my kitchen misadventures are often more memorable then my cooking successes. On Friday, I was going to make a roasted chicken for dinner, it takes longer to make then most of our week night dinners, but since I took the day off I could do it. So I prepped the chicken - took out the 'giblets' and rinsed it out, chopped up garlic, and put garlic/rosemary/lemon juice combo between the chicken meat and the skin, and put half a lemon inside the chicken. We've made it once before and it was so good, so I was excited to make something good (and healthy) for me and my hubby. I put it in the oven. Over an hour later I went to see how it was doing, and the oven wasn't on! Turns out when I was trying to set the timer on the oven and mistyped in how long I wanted and hit cancel on the timer I'd actually hit cancel on the oven, so the oven turned OFF, and the chicken had in fact been sitting there in a cooling off and then cold oven. I was so mad at myself! This is beyond blonde moment, I feel truly dumb when I do something like that...why didn't I notice that it wasn't hot or just make sure the red light was still on after having problems with the timer??

At that point we were too hungry to wait (and not sure that it was safe to eat since it had sat at room temperature for over an hour), so instead of my yummy chicken, we had a last minute change to pizza :(. I'll try again next weekend and we have yet another inside joke, remember the chicken will be talked about for years.

Weezer and vacation day

Kevin and I went to the Weezer concert Thursday night (my birthday gift from Kevin). It was a great concert, they played many of my favorites and made Kevin's night by covering a Pink Floyd song. Some of the songs came out when I was in high school, so I've been listening to them for over 10 years, hard to believe. Though the mix of the crowd shows it - it was a mix of all ages. On one side of us was high school kids, and on the other side two parents and their teenage boys, and a similar mix all around us. The 'hootinanee' was good - they had local musicians of all sorts (flute, guitar, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, etc) come on stage to play two songs with the band.

We both love live music and it had been a while since we've seen any, which made it especially fun to see a good live show. We mostly go to see cover bands at bars or small concerts, but most all kinds of live music are fun. We were in the seating section, neither of us wanted to get tickets for the floor, where you stand the whole time. I've had tickets in that area for other shows, but prefer being able to sit when I want to and being far from the moshers/crowd surfers.

I took the day off on Friday so that I could sleep in after the concert and also get stuff done around the house since we'll be busy most of the weekend with birthday celebrations. Kevin is still working from home since his offices were damaged by Hurricane Ike so we were able to spend much of the day together and got a lot accomplished. We took his truck in to get a grill guard put on it (looks good!), got my oil changed, went grocery shopping, went to the bank, and cleaned up the house a little bit.

We also took the opportunity to early vote, so our votes are in for the Presidential election. We voted at a Fiesta grocery store, and the line snaked from the back to the front of the store, through all of the international foods. We had a lot of interesting food to look at while we waited, and took the time to make our shopping list! In total it took about 25 minutes to wait in line and vote, not too bad. I'll take this opportunity to remind everyone out there to go vote!!

Sustainability

Our blog has followers! I wish I had more to say, and more time to say it for our followers. Work is incredibly busy, in my line of work its always busiest in the fall, and its even busier because I'm still learning some of it - I started in November of last year so I'm finishing up the first cycle of getting through all of the various reports we have to do (and getting a better understanding of some that I saw the end of last year), and since its a legislative year there are some extra ones. I also see that in the spring they have some earlier deadlines because the legislature is in session! I feel a little silly but sometimes have to forward stuff to my boss and ask - is this something I need to complete or send to someone else? oh well, comes with the territory of learning a different job. There are more reports to the state then I could've ever imagined. We'll get them all done, it just seems like a never-ending task to get all of the information and make sure its consistent across the reports.

Today at work was Sustainability Day, so in the morning there was a small farmer's market and giveaways of some earth-friendly items. In the afternoon I went to see a short video and panel discussion about consumption and sustainability and the school's and my own role in it. From Wikipedia: Sustainability is "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" The ideas of reduce, reuse, recycle all go along with the ideas of sustainability and living in a sustainable way. I am by no means an expert on it, but am interested in ways to make my footprint a little smaller. The video showed an artist who depicts how much we consume using photography and Photoshop. It is an interesting way to get the point across and eye-opening to see how much we all consume. It makes me wonder what I can do, I try to do what I can in small ways - bring reusable bags to the grocery store, recycle plastic at work, use an insulated cup rather than disposable cups. I'm not a tree-hugger by any means, but definitely want to do what I can to leave this Earth in good shape for those who come after me.

I also have to make sure to sustain myself, so I'm taking a vacation day on Friday to fully enjoy my birthday weekend. Probably not the best idea with how busy we are, but I wanted to take the day off and the work I don't get done will be waiting for me on Monday. We're going to a Weezer concert tomorrow night, so by taking the day off I can enjoy the concert and get to sleep in a little bit since it'll be a late night. I'm looking forward to having a day off and have plans to go and early vote (I really know how to live it up, huh?)

Halloween party

This weekend we went to a Halloween costume party, and for the first time ever we did coordinated costumes. I went as a referee and Kevin was a football player. We had fun with it. I even made a yellow flag like the refs have so I could throw penalties on K all night. The only one I actually threw was a "party foul" when he was playing with the gooey eye balls and threw it on the ceiling, and it stuck! The party was a lot of fun, this picture is of Jay, Gwendolyn, me, Kevin, and Laura.

I didn't think about it until Kevin said so, but I also looked like a Foot Locker employee. If I walked into a mall dressed like that, I'd probably get some strange questions.

He's a Survivor

Congrats to Kevin, he won our Survival Football League! It is a fantasy football league where each week you choose one football team that you think will win and you can only choose each team once. I made it to week 6 (down to 3 competitors), but lost that pick. Carol plays fantasy football? yes, yes I do. I also have two teams, and one of them is tied for 3rd right now, woohoo!

I will never be a football fanatic like Kevin, but it is fun to play and gives me something to cheer for (or against) when we watch the other football games on Sunday and Monday. It can also be frustrating when your players don't do well, or those you benched do REALLY well. The funniest thing about fantasy football is it has the same premise as a game I played following MTV's Real World/Road Rules Challenge. You also selected players and got points when they did well or did certain things, but their points weren't limited to the contests, they also got points for crying, fighting, etc. It is probably for the best fantasy football isn't like that - you'd lose points for arrests, celebrations, etc. I haven't watched that show in years, I like to think my taste in tv shows has improved (Kevin might disagree). I still have my silly shows that I watch just as a way to relax at the end of a long day, my current favorite: Samantha Who. Our newest show we watch together: Fringe

Whirlwind weekend

This was the busiest weekend in quite a while. I felt like I needed a weekend to recover from my weekend. My friend from college, Stacy, was in town for her 30th birthday, so we hung out on Friday night, had a BBQ at Delena's on Saturday, and brunch at my place on Sunday. The brunch was to celebrate Stacy being in town but also a surprise baby sprinkle (smaller than a shower) for our friend Gwendolyn. She and hubby Jay are expecting their first baby, congrats! We did a great job at surprising her and had a good time hanging out and watched them both open gifts. Gwendolyn was my college roommate, hard to believe that it was 11 years ago we first met and I don't even know how long I've known Stacy since we actually went to elementary school together.

During the day on Saturday we went to see Kevin's grandfather (Paw-Paw). He lives in Bridge City (near Beaumont) so he was evacuated for Hurricane Ike to Paris, TX (any connection to Paris, France? - still not sure) and was just now able to return home. Kevin's aunt Danise put together a 'welcome home' party for him, a really great idea! While we were there we went to see PawPaw's house, where Kevin's mom and sisters grew up and all the grandkids spent time over the years. Driving through Bridge City was like a war zone, there were piles of stuff everywhere (carpet, all sorts of household belongings, and appliances - including taped up refrigerators). We even saw some people still adding to the piles. Danise described it well, saying it looks like a giant flea market, with stuff outside of all the houses. We drove over to PawPaw's house, and nearly every house in the neighborhood has a a POD storage unit outside (for what they could salvage, or my guess for tools and supplies). His house had had 4 feet of water inside. Kevin's parents had been there earlier and said that it now looks better because the pile outside his house was there, but much smaller. We walked into the house and it is stripped down to the studs. The only things that make you realize it was a completed house are that the ceiling fans are still there, and there is one place between the kitchen and living room that has finished wooden vertical bars (amongst the studs), aside from that and some remaining linoleum it looks like a house under construction. Very surreal to walk around and see whats left of the house he lived for 40+ years. Thankfully he still has a place to live, but its devastating for him and so many people on the Gulf Coast, it will take some so long to recover and as our lives are largely back to normal its easy to forget.

Debris Pile

I had never thought much about where all of the trees and branches that are torn down by a hurricane end up after they are gathered up, put at the curb and picked up by the city/county. But, I now know where some of Hurricane Ike's debris is going. On my way into town from home on highway 288, I pass by this open area that is now a huge debris pile. Look at how tall the piles are compared to the truck and other equipment around it! It makes the vehicles look like toys. I'll have to keep an eye on how big this pile gets. I wonder how many piles there are like this in the area.

The photo quality is not very good, but its the best I could do - I pointed my camera towards my passenger window and hit the button to take the photo several times in quick succession. I will give up a lot of photo quality to give more attention to driving :) A better idea would've been to take the photos when Kevin was driving, but I didn't have the camera with me then...

Wonderful Normal Weekend

Losing a week at work made last week very hectic and long. So Kevin and I were very glad when we got to Friday and could look forward to a “normal” weekend. We had the whole weekend to ourselves and no hurricane to prepare for. We took full advantage and had a great time!

Friday night we went to check out the Thai Cottage restaurant that recently opened near us. We split several dishes, and fell in love with the green and red curries. I think the green curry is my favorite! Then we hurried home to watch the first presidential debate. It almost didn’t happen, since McCain was saying he wouldn’t come so that they could concentrate on working through the financial crisis, but in the end he did show and they had a good debate, never really talked to each other like they were supposed to, but still interesting to see. The topic was supposed to be foreign relations but went all over the map, especially with the Wall Street crisis in the front of everyone's minds. Aside -- the crisis became the top news story while we were still dealing with Ike, so for a while we didn't even KNOW about it!

Saturday we did our chores (grocery shopping, mow the lawn) and then grilled our dinner. The sky was a clear blue, and since its starting to cool off we decided to take advantage of it and eat outside. The patio, with the canopy above us, makes for a great outdoor dining room! Later, we decided to check out a pub we’ve driven by for quite a while and never gotten over to, The Maple Leaf. What a great idea (all credit goes to Kevin), we stayed there much longer than expected because we were having fun just hanging out and they have board games so we played Trivial Pursuit 80s. For growing up in the 80s (and loving trivia), I know surprisingly little about the decade! I blame some of that on my being so young for much of it, though Kevin isn’t that much older so I think it has more to do with me not being as informed as I should be.

Sunday we watched football and again grilled and ate dinner outside. The Texans played a better game than I expected, but lost in overtime. Later in the day, we went for a bike ride around the neighborhood and into the older part of the neighborhood that connects to ours. There are lots of piles of branches and debris, and tarps on a large number of the roofs. On the way home, I felt like my bike was riding weird and yep, I got a flat on our ride. So I need to get that fixed, but am so glad the weather is finally cooling off to where I want to ride the bike. That night we were watching a movie and suddenly the power went out! We went and sat on the patio to enjoy the cool night, but were wondering how long it might be out for. It came back on after about 40 minutes, so we think they had to bring our power off to bring someone else’s power back on, but I really don’t know. The power going out makes me think about those people who STILL don’t have power back since Ike. I hope I never have to experience that, but know that it can’t be easy. How quickly I take for granted that I can flip a switch and the light comes on or the cold air keeps coming out..

Light is Good

My parents and in-laws got power back last night, yay! They each had generators, but like all of us were so glad to get electricity back - must remember this when I take for granted I can just flip a switch and I have lights, a/c, etc.

Keith and Julia are going to stay with my in-laws today. Kaden can play with Nana, and maybe even swim! Hopefully they'll get power back soon, its been 11 days since they've been home a long time for anyone and a lifetime for a 3-year-old. It will be a very quiet house when I get home tonight. Its been good to get to spend time with them but I hope they get to go home soon because that is a long time be gone from home, and frustrating since Julia has all this time off but can't get any of the stuff done she'd like to at the house since she doesn't have power. Patty and Smokey (the dogs) are probably going to go into mourning, they've had the most fun being together. Its also made me wonder if I really want two dogs (we'd been considering it). This week has been a good trial run for that, they definitely keep each other company, but I'd be concerned that they'd tear up the house playing all the time, and Smokey never leaves Patty alone, good thing he's fixed - he's always trying to get on top of her, trying to dominate and/or play with her, but its just embarrassing.

Yesterday was my first day back at work. I was very pleased to see that my office is just as I left it when I left early on Thursday, 9/11, to prepare for Ike. We got permission to move our reporting day to Friday since we were closed for a week, but that makes us lose a week in our already busy fall, so it'll be hectic..I think right now is the "calm before the storm", I was busy but nothing like I will be once we hit 20th day.

At lunch, I walked over to see Julia's building, and it is a mess. They are doing a LOT of work on it. Most of the windows facing the Chase tower are gone and there are large yellow tubes coming out onto the sidewalk, trash chutes or wet/dry vacuuming is my guess. The sidewalks all around it are taped off, on travis because of all of the work going on and on the other sides for safety I guess. The streets around it look like they're open. Pretty much every window on the Travis side of Chase tower for 15-20 stories up is boarded up. Since I was there, I ate at Azuma (sushi), good but expensive.

Kevin's offices were messed up, they're in a temporary office space for 30 days and after that they'll figure out what they want to do. He'll be working at home since they only have space for the office workers (he's a consultant). Hearing about all the damage to office buildings, I''m lucky we only missed a week and a day here.

Volunteering after Ike

Yesterday I volunteered through Catholic Charities to help with distributing food and water in La Marque. I got to their office at 7:30, and it took us a while to get going - but there was a great turnout of volunteers! We got down to the church and unloaded the truck by 10 am. We set it up so that people drove in a U-shape around the parking lot and got the items on the far side. Word spread quickly (based on the line of cars we had) with signs put up around the church, announcements made after they knew we were there, and some cops who stopped by to ask us what we had spread the word. I also think that word of mouth spread the news that we were there. We had food (commercial ready-to-eat meals and green beans), water, and baby food. We didn't have ice, which many people wanted, but had an entire truckload of the water, food, and baby food.

For the first hour I directed traffic to get them to come in the correct driveway and get into the line as needed. After I was relieved from doing that, I helped to load the items into cars.

We ran out of meals first and then just gave out water and baby food - as the day went on we gave larger amounts of baby food and water to those who came by since we had so much of it remaining - we even got extra water since a man came to donate a pickup truckload of water! The Catholic Charities kept track of how many people came through and how many are in their families and estimated that we helped 350 families with 1000 children!

The deacon at the church provided lunch to us, so nice of them! and we loaded the remaining water and baby food in the church hall so they can give it out to people later and loaded up to leave about 1:30, I got home about 3. I'm glad we didn't stay as late as they did the day before - they didn't get back until about 7! I don't think I'd have made it that long, I drank water and had a hat but was wiped from the few hours I was in the sun on my feet. I'm glad I could help and it makes me appreciative even more so of having power and grocery stores with food and water near me. It could easily be me that needs to get food and water donations to feed myself and my family, and these people truly are my neighbors. A woman made a comment that she's been on mission trips to other countries, and its surreal to be doing a mission trip this close to home, very true.

All of the people were very appreciative to get what we had, and I only wish we had more items to give them - beef chili, chicken cacciatore, green beans, and food is all we had, but it will help them.


We actually were able to go to a restaurant last night - Johnny Carino's - it was SO good. I don't think I've ever been that excited to go to a restaurant. Driving around afterwards many stores close early or aren't even open yet. I'm actually surprised so many restaurants have re-opened, they have to have the staffing to do so and have gotten new shipments of food to have something to cook and serve. It was nice to go out, and Kaden ate all his spaghetti and even got ice cream!

Hurrication

My school is closed the rest of the week, someone in the neighborhood called it a "hurrication", kind of a funny word for a very serious situation. I am glad to not have to use up gas to get to and from work, but know that its going to take quite a while for everyone to get back to normal, and I'm very lucky to be even able to partly think of this week as a vacation. It will take many people weeks and months to get back to normal, and some will have to find a new "normal".

My parents got home yesterday. Kevin and I picked them up at the airport and visited his parents’ house while we were up there. His parents don’t have power so they’re using a generator, and got it working again. It took us a while to get back to the airport from their house because the traffic lights are all four-way stops, and at one point we were in a gas line without realizing it - the right lane leading up to almost every gas station is stacked up with people trying to fill up their cars.

My parents were glad to be back in Texas, and went pretty quickly on to Lake Jackson to see their house. They have branches all over their yard and one branch on their garage, but the house is ok. As expected, they don’t have power, but they own a generator and have gas for it and the tractor to begin starting the cleanup. They were lucky to get on the first flight out from Nicaragua and my brother and sis-in-law flew back today.

Laura was able to go home yesterday, she has power and was able to get gas. She's been working from home for her job and will be more comfortable at her own place, and without a 3-year-old wanting to play with her while she works. Kaden is doing well, but really just wants to go home (understandably).

I saw on the news earlier today that we are in an area that still needs to boil water (after theyusi told us earlier that all houston water was safe to drink). I'll need to remember to do that if I use tap water to drink, been mostly using bottled water.

Watching all of the coverage of the devastation is really depressing at times, but we want to keep up with what all has happened and all of the people who are affected. and we see how lucky we really are.

Full House

We have a full house. My sister came over on Saturday, and my brother-in-law, his wife, our nephew and their dog came over yesterday since none of them have power. We picked up Laura's cat and some more of her stuff (and food) at her apartment yesterday. We realized the only one of us with their own room is the cat! We're very fortunate to have power and are glad to share that luxury with others that we can, we'd planned to go to someone else's with power if we didn't have it back. Much of the city is still without power (the Chronicle says 1 in 4 customers have power), and people are waiting in line for hours for groceries, gas, and at "pod locations" (FEMA supplies). My university is closed through Tuesday, and I'm guessing it'll be closed longer since so many people are without power and its tough to get gas, etc.

My parents are now supposed to fly in on Tuesday, and they'll probably need to stay with us too. Lake Jackson is telling people not to come back yet, so we'll wait and see when my parents can go back and then assess what is going on there. Keith and Julia saw my in-laws, they are fine just have no phone service, so no one could get hold of them. They have a generator to run the fridge and a window a/c unit. We are glad to have finally heard from them, we were all getting worried.

I posted some pics of damage to our neighborhood. We were very fortunate to have just our fence and a tree to fix. The fence will have to wait til it dries out and we can add sand to make it stay straight up. our neighbor and lots of others have roof damage and a few have siding damage.
http://picasaweb.google.com/minut78/HurricaneIkeDamage#

The weather is cooler today, good for everyone still without power.

Keith and Julia were even able to get some groceries - we saw a Kroger on the news that didn't look too crowded, so they went there and got some food for all of us.

After Hurricane Ike

Kevin and I are safe after the hurricane. It was a very long night. We lost power about 10:30, and were able to sleep a few hours before being woken up by the wind and rain (about 3:30 am). The wind was vicious, howling and just very loud and with lots of rain. I actually hunkered down in the hallway for part of the night to be away from the windows and the noise of our bedroom. Since its an interior hallway it was quieter there. Smokey ended up under our bed at one point, and we tried moving to the living room to get some sleep but without much luck. We also saw a very bright flash twice during the night, still not sure what it was. While I was in bed I reached up and felt the wall behind my head and could feel it flexing with the wind. It was very scary.

We spent much of the night just listening to the wind, and occasionally looking out the window to see how things were holding up. Most of the morning was still very heavy winds.

We lit candles and had our radio on most of the day to find out what had happened and where the storm was. With cellphones we were able to text friends to let them know we're ok and find out how they are, but service is very spotty (overloaded and with broken coverage I'm sure).

We haven't been able to get hold of Kevin's parents, and my parents are still in Nicaragua. I just checked and their flight for tomorrow is cancelled. We will keep trying to get hold of his parents. I haven't seen any coverage of my parents' area, but I know that they have large oak trees all around their house and its a very low-lying area and closer to the coast. I have no idea what they'll be going back to. We think K's grandpa's house may be underwater but he is safe in Dallas, and the rest of his family in other parts of the Gulf Coast are all accounted for and fine.

My sister is fine too, I was able to speak to her today.

We are very fortunate. We had only very minor (and easily repaired damage) to our fence and a tree. This afternoon, we rode our bikes around the neighborhood and saw a lot of fences and trees blown over, and some siding and roof damage. We are actually lucky that we have no significant trees around us. The bayou near us is pretty high but within its banks. We were also able to prevent water from coming in around the door by putting duct tape up around all 4-sides.

We got power back about 3:30 pm, much better than the 2-4 weeks they'd told us it could take! The water pressure is still very low, but by and large we are back to normal.

I know that not everyone was as fortunate as we were, that there was a lot of damage from the storm and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone who went through this storm with us.

Nicaragua

I've finally had time to write our trip to Nicaragua and upload pictures!

The trip was, in a word, an adventure. I was excited, but nervous about the trip – it is the first time any of us (except my brother) have been to Central America and I knew it’d be worlds away from what we’re used to. Once we got out of the cities, I could see how beautiful the countryside is, and love the exotic plants, flowers and animals, but could not get over how chaotic and busy both cities we were in were. It was also eye-opening to see the poverty and the different standard of living that the people have there. I’ve heard often that people in many parts of the world live on $3 a day, and seeing Nicaragua I now have a better understanding of that, though we only saw it from the outside. My brother and sister-in-law chose the nicest hotels available (even that varies by place – the rooms got smaller as we went, and the hotel on the island was nice but had no hot water. but they had a/c units and running water, yay!). It really does make me appreciate what I have, but also realize how much we have that we really don’t need, and I have to wonder if people with more wealth and stuff are really happier. I did feel fairly safe the entire time that I was there, even so I didn’t wander off anywhere by myself and was aware of my surroundings (good practices wherever you are).

We flew into Managua (the capital city) and took taxis, buses, and a ferry to get to the places we went.

I was surprised to see that they use old school buses from the U.S. as public transportation and the bus stations (basically a parking lot with buses painted with their routes) are even more chaotic than I could’ve imagined. As soon as we got out of the taxis, guys came up and were trying to get us to get on their bus. There were several competing buses going to the city we needed and we chose one based mostly on how full they were. Adding to the chaos, once the bus was moving people would get on and off not only because they’d reached their stop but also to sell food, drinks, and other items. On one leg of our trip, Kevin got a Pepsi and they needed the bottle back so he drank it out of a bag! We also drank water out of sealed bags, cheaper and easier to carry than bottles. I did get to practice my Spanish a lot on the trip, but still struggle with basic communication, thankfully Gene and Mache were with us and helped us get everywhere we needed to go.

We traveled there to attend my brother and sister-in-law’s church wedding. The wedding took place at a Cathedral in Leon (her hometown) the day after we arrived. It was wonderful to see them get married in front of her family and friends, and to be able to share it with them. I helped her get ready at the hotel and it was quite special to help her put on the same dress (made much smaller for her) that I’d worn in my own wedding. We walked from the hotel to the church, we were VERY lucky with the weather that it wasn’t raining when we walked there or when we went to find taxis after the ceremony to go to the reception. The reception was held at an open-air restaurant. It did rain during the reception, which cooled it off a bit and was at the perfect time – after everyone had arrived and it stopped before it was time to leave. My brother didn’t feel very good all the day of the wedding, but made the best of it and we all had fun. Mache even sang a few songs with the live band, and we all danced. At the reception, they had bottles of rum at each table, and with that I discovered a Nicaraguan rum that I like - Flor de Cana. We saw it everywhere the rest of the week and drank that and a local beer we also liked, call Tona.

On Sunday we saw some of the sights of the city of Leon – including a market, and a Sandinista museum, visited with Mache’s family, and watched the happy couple open wedding gifts at their house. It rained much of the day, so they were lucky that they did NOT get the Sunday wedding they’d originally wanted. This time of year is their rainy season, so it rained most every day – and on the island rained all night most nights.

Monday was a travel day to go down to Ometepe Island (in Lake Nicaragua) where we spent the rest of our time. We took two taxis, two buses and a ferry to get there. If I never get into another school bus, I’ll be happy! The island was much more relaxing than the city had been, and we were right on the beach. I had to keep reminding myself that we were on a lake, not an ocean, since there were lots of waves crashing.

On the island we took hikes, visited a natural spring they’ve turned into a pool, and took an all-day tour of the island. At the end of the tour, we saw two museums that a man created all on his own. The first is his collection of coins and money of Nicaragua that helps to tell their history. Each leader changes the money – its completely an ego trip, they want their face or their family/friends’ faces on the bills, and when a new bill or coin comes out you have 6 months to use or trade in the old one or it becomes worthless. Can you imagine having to trade your cash in every time that the president decided they wanted their buddy on the $5 bill, or even the quarter? And Nicaragua is a much more cash based society then ours, only a couple of places we went to accepted credit cards. Their money is called the cordoba, and the exchange rate is about 20 cordoba to $1.

The other museum was of artifacts found, mostly on the man’s property, from the indigenous people, including burial urns, stone tools used by the people to prepare food, and all manner of other items. I cannot get over the fact that he did this all on his own, and one of the museums had just opened in july! We were lucky that a man who worked there (his cousin owns it), is from LA but back in Nicaragua, so we got a bilingual tour of both museums.

At the hotel, we saw monkeys in the trees! I loved watching that, they are so fun to watch and so human-like in many ways.

Friday was another travel day, this time back to Managua for us to fly out on Saturday. This was the worst for me. I was very fortunate not to get sick most of the trip, in fact most of us (except my brother) did really well, partly because were fairly careful about what and where we ate. And came prepared with medicine. Kevin, Laura, and I even had an anti-diarrhea medicine that we took each day as a preventative. But I did feel sick on the bus coming back, a combination of motion sickness and impending diarrhea. Thankfully the bus finally did stop (and waited for me!) to use a roadside restroom before reaching Managua. It was not fun, and quite a way to end the trip. That night, I stayed in and rested (with Kevin staying with me) while the rest of the family went to visit Mache’s aunt and uncle. We actually had a pizza delivered, was nice to eat something different. I like their food, but was glad to have a change from rice. I do have to say rice with lime juice is really good!

This was the first time in years I’d been on a trip with my whole family, and the first time to go on a trip with my family and my husband, it was definitely a different experience but one I am very thankful for. It is definitely rare that we’ll all be able to take a trip together. We were both ready to get home, and I don’t know when it happened but I have bug bites all over my arms and legs. I don’t know when it happened, the only bugs I saw were flies.

All of our pictures are available on Picasa, at the link on the right and I've embedded a slideshow.

Ike

I watched part of the press conference this morning that the mayor and county judge held. They asked schools and businesses to close on Friday to prepare for the storm and to keep the roads clear so that those who need to evacuate can get through town. No one wants a repeat of Hurricane Rita (terrible traffic jams, and people died waiting in the hot cars). So I came to work knowing I’d not be coming in on Friday and the school has sent out two different notifications that we’ll close early, first at 4pm and now at 2:30pm. Kevin’s work closed at noon and I think pretty much every place is closing early today. Laura’s work is even closing tomorrow (they never close)!

We are staying put through the storm. I still can’t believe that ALL of Brazoria county has a mandatory evacuation! Most of the county, including my hometown (Lake Jackson) makes sense, its coastal and low-lying. But why did they include all of it which stretches up to Pearland which is only a few miles away from me? I was glad to see they finally decided to evacuate all of Galveston island – Pearland had orders to evacuate before Galveston, strange.

At lunch, I accomplished the preparations I needed to do that aren’t at home. I got cash and some instant coffee for Kevin. We have plenty of food, water, batteries, etc. at home. We’ll take everything in off the patio and find somewhere to move the grills tonight or tomorrow. Thats about all we can do, and I hope that its enough.

My parents are stubborn, but at least I know their plans. They are scheduled to come back on Sunday and, even though Continental will let them reschedule their flight, they're still planning to come back Sunday. They may end up spending the night in Dallas or Oklahoma City. If they do get to Houston, I’m supposed to go and pick them up. I found a way today to get flight status updates sent to my cellphone, so I signed up for that, since if we don’t have power I won’t be able to look online. I’d wanted them to stay there longer to avoid driving across town in the aftermath, or them possibly getting diverted because of it. I'm a big believer in, "if you don't have to be on the roadways - don't be" and my job and responsibilities rarely (if ever) put me into the category of I HAVE TO BE THERE. I have told them that if I see downed power lines I'm not getting anywhere near it.

Be safe everyone.

Take a Hike Ike

I saw that phrase on a picture on the news, related to Hurricane Ike. Someone had written it on the boards they'd used to board up their windows.

We got back from Nicaragua on Saturday. I plan to write about our trip (and post pictures!), but haven't had time yet. I spent most of the weekend getting caught up with all the stuff I needed to before heading back to work on Monday. Work is getting busier too since we're getting into the fall reporting crazy time.

We started watching Hurricane Ike while in Nicaragua and are keeping a close eye on it since it is headed towards the Texas coast. It is expected to make landfall early Saturday morning and could be a bad storm. We've got supplies and will just ride it out here at home. Its scary watching them showing a storm predicted to hit pretty close to my parents' house.

I feel better now, I was finally able to get hold of my brother - my parents, brother, and his wife are still in Nicaragua are scheduled to come back on Sunday. I'd sent a couple of emails about Ike and haven't heard from them at all. I felt like Chicken Little and a flip-flopper -- its coming towards us, no maybe Corpus, oh no us again. I tried calling them yesterday without success. Tonight I was successful. Luckily they are staying at the same hotel we stayed at, so I knew the hotel's name to find their phone number online. I wanted to make sure they are aware of it. There isn't anything they can do from there, but being aware of it they can be informed and make a decision if they need to adjust their travel plans. As of now they still plan to come back on Sunday, but they are well aware of it. Something funny - one of the first news stations they found to watch is a Florida station, so all their newscast would say is that Ike is headed away from them and nothing more, leaving my parents to be like -- where is it going??

EDIT (addition): I saw last night that all of Brazoria county is under a mandatory evacuation! Hard to believe, coastal areas makes sense but just a few miles away from me is Pearland, and its included too. The university where I work is still open, so I'll be on the road with them I'm afraid.
(addition 9/12): Kevin told me that later they exempted Pearland from the mandatory evacuation, makes more sense.