It's been a while.....

Since the last blogging.....I have been filled again to 2.5cc's of saline in my LapBand. School started, all of my students are FABULOUS. I love them all. Graduate school has begun, and I have attended 1 of the first 3 classes - due to an absence for Open House, then school closing to prepare for Hurricane Ike.

Hurricane Ike came slowly and went away fast, leaving a deluge of a mess in its path. CRAZY storm! So, here's my selfish little perspective on it....

All that we got at our apt. was a lot of wind and rain - loudly. As a native Texan, I must say that I was pretty non-chalant about the whole thing - which freaked Steve out completely. Why was I not more worried? I worry about everything that I can control and Texas weather ain't one of 'em. Well...that kind of arrogance on my part helped me not be afraid of the storm, but also completely unprepared for the aftermath. I'll think differently next time. Let's see, we had very little food in our house, the milk was past its due date, my SUV was low on gas, and I think we had 2 candles and one working flashlight. Hey, I was just mad that they cancelled school, so I chose lack of hurricane preparation as my rebellion. The storm hit, our power went out about 5:30am on Saturday morning, I opened the windows to let the cool breeze in, and sat down to do some homework for my grad class. We got cabin fever about 3pm and got in the car to go wandering. No power, no phone service, and not sure what to eat. We got to Anna and Jay's house through a few detours b/c of downed trees, power lines, and flooded roads. They had no power either, so we all piled into their van to survey Ike's damage (it's BAD!) and try to find cell service somewhere. After a couple of hours, we landed back at their house to eat (cooking frito pie on the grill) and play dominos in the candle lit garage. The Schermie's house was HOT with no A/C. Steve and I headed home about 10pm - we drove into Tomball to see LIGHTS!!!! Yes, there was screaming and yelling involved - sheer delight, really. I sent Steve back to Anna's house to get them (cuz we had no phone service to call), and about 11pm, the Schermerhorns arrived in PJs at our apt. ready to sleep in the cold A/C. 7 people in 900 sq. ft. - 5 adults & 2 little girls - I know people live like this everyday. Camp Riser was open for business. Steve left Sunday morning to go to church, but came back w/in 20 minutes b/c the roads were flooded again from the Saturday night cold front and rain storm. We sent Steve and Jay out to see if they could get to the Schermerhorn house to check the power - no luck, more flooded roads and gridlocked traffic, so they came back. I pieced together a meal for us, then Anna, Kathleen, and I went on an adventure in the SUV with very little gas. Through gridlocked traffic and flooded parts of Hwy 249 - we made it to the Schermerhorn house (still no power). It took us about an hour (normally 15 min.) to get there and we packed up all the food, got more clothes, and put 2 gallons of gas in my tank. We made it back to Tomball Wal-Mart to buy a few things to sustain 7 people for 3 days. We drove by HEB to see 4 lines of cars waiting for gas - I thought they were lined up at the Burger King drive-thru - we're talking 30-40 cars per line. There were people waiting at the pump with shopping carts FULL of gas cans. This is a weird picture - a combination of suburbia and a 3rd world country. Wal-Mart had gas earlier in the day and we drove by thinking "We don't want to wait in those lines" - stupid thoughts, really. So, we finally made it back to the apt. - now the SUV is on serious fumes. Steve's car is full of gas, but low to the ground as is the Schermie's minivan - the SUV is the amphibian in our vehicle family. We're all here at the apt. - just hanging out, watching movies, playing the one board game we bought at W-M, and dominoes. We only know how to play Mexican Train and I had NO IDEA that there were rules to that game! By the way....Steve and I tried to pass the time on Saturday and play Phase 10....still not convinced about that game....we thought we'd play so that we could learn how to beat the Parkers and the Risers at the next holiday gathering. We read ALL the rules....a lot. That didn't work - we just ended up making house rules of our own. Plus, with no power and no XBox, Steve was cranky. I thought it best to shut down the game when he said "I don't like this game, it's making me cuss!" Camp Riser is still in session and trying to figure how to keep two little girls from feeling cooped up - there is nowhere to play b/c of all the debris and soggy ground. The whole city of Houston has a curfew, just in case you want to drive into a large puddle and flood out your car b/c you can't see the road at night. And now.....for the worst news of all....school is closed through Wednesday, Sept. 17! I know that Houston has a ton of cleanup to do (understatement), but this news is the least exciting for me. That's my whiny little story, folks. Who knows how long Camp Riser will be open, but we know we can accomodate 7 people in this space and the air mattress is a perfect fit for our living room. The good news is that no one is hurt and Camp Riser is air-conditioned!