I took hundreds of shots from IKE.

Here is one from Pauls shop...no fence left there! Blurry...but the play system with stood the rain & wind, but looked like a lake around it!
This is the tree limb that was projected INTO the roof...it's the exact area it's dripping into the house/play room!

The extra antenna hanging off the roof!
The tubs of water from the leaking roof.
Another shot of the tree limb
Pauls shop..no fence left at all!

Our house..no fence left either...funny how much "stuff" our neighbor has hid behind that fence...looks like a junk yard!

All that junk is our neighbors...now i don't wonder why we have so many rats living around here, i KNOW!
Yep, that's me on the roof..cleaning off the leaves. I threatened Paul that if he didn't get well i was going to jump...Ok, maybe not. But he was EXTRA careful that i not get hurt...he didn't want to take care of the kids by HIMSELF...he knows it's not THAT easy! LOL!
All the limbs that were stuck on the roof!


The pile after we were done...it's HUGE!

Another shot.
I'm very very sad to report that we lost our orange tree. It split right down the middle. Anyone know if insurance will replace the orange tree?
Clean yard...Ahh..back to normal.
Clean roof!

And then of course, what would life be around here w/o a fashion show!

Getting ready for the show!

Posing for the camera!
Uh...total model material!

Striking a pose!
Look at that smile...and ne "up do"!Look at that cutie!

Our House - A HOTEL!

We HAVE POWER! THANK GOODNESS! It was a VERY VERY NICE SURPRISE! FOOD, another story! BUT, the sad part is that others in our neighborhood DON'T have power. I feel SOO BAD! SO, we've invited two of our really good friends(amy & brian AND Stacey & rob) over to stay upstairs as long as they'd like. I almost feel guilty since we already had a generator...but what can i do? Anyway, hopefully some will take us up on the offer...and stay up in the two spare rooms upstairs and they'll have lights and a shower and water!

Please keep praying for our city. I took another drive today b/c i wanted to try to get some laundry done...it's a ghost town. NOTHING is up and running yet. Last night we saw companies having meetings in the parking lot with tables from inside the restaurants and candle lights...it was crazy! FEMA is finally starting to get things done. The mayor is NOT happy with them...he makes it known in EVERYWAY.

More later...now that we have power. I'm so excited to have A/C and lights. Poor Hannah...it was so hard for her to understand why we the lights wouldn't work. It's hard to explain these things to a 4 year old.

I called the insurance people today..they were really nice. Very concerned...and helpful.

THANK YOU soo much for all your thoughts and prayers during this tough time. I know we live close to the coast so that's just part of life. BUT, this hasn't happened since i was SEVEN years old. I've learned a lot from this. It's hard..but i think you just go into survival mode and do what you can. We were very lucky with the entire house generator but we didn't want to push our luck and blow it up. Now it's time to get back to the daily grind...and get Pauls belly fixed. We are very low on food...but we can survive on canned soup and beans for weeks. The lines at the stores are LONG...so i'm going to pass until we don't have a choice.

Pictures of IKE!

This light hung on for dear life...Cant' figure out HOW in the world the light bulb didn't bust...soo weird! This little guy was obviously a flying object that is stuck into our roof...perhaps the reason water was pouring in this morning.
Our pile SO FAR...the back and fence has not been cleaned up yet!
The aftermath! Lots and lots of limbs!

Our house...
This was today..the second day of rain!

http://picasaweb.google.com/brenda.myers/PicturesIke?authkey=a6iftl9nr3Y#

I started to upload pics...but this seemed to be easier! I have not described what you are looking at..but will do so tomorrow!

If you can't load these...i'll try to load more tomorrow!

Generator still working today.

We just took a drive through the city...it's DARK! Every gas station that HAD gas had a line a mile long...literally! You wouldn't believe it! It was crazy!

We cleaned up a ton today! I'll add those pics later!

God's Sense of Humor...

I was trying to load pics...it's not working tooo well! If you haven't heard, it's raining again! It's flooding everywhere. We're OK, thankfully! Paul was able to work on the generator and get it up and running. He's our hero! We wouldn't have power otherwise. The good part is, we're able to save our food and have a few lights on. The bad part is, our roof is not doing well and we have a few leaks. TWO big ones upstairs and the one where we're assuming the tree hit the house one it's way down to the groud(BTW, that tree limb is WAY bigger than we had originally thought). We are slowly working on cleaning up things. The city had cut off most water yesterday...so the water was coming out at a very slow drip b/c they lost power on the water pump at the main station. I'm hoping Paul will stay home and cancel work tomorrow so we can clean up some more...it's really a mess everywhere. We're going to have to deal with our insurance company and pay our 1% of what the house is worth so we can replace the fence and hopefully get a new needed roof. Last night we shut off the generator b.c we didn't want to mess up the good thing we have...and it was HOT. BUT, that's ok, we are definitely thankful for what we have...a few lights and some real running water(thanks to our handy dandy well and generator)...i guess we could survive if things got really bad. We are cooking everything outside, so we don't heat up the house...beans on the grill, mac n cheese on the grill, meat and anything else we can cook on the grill.

My parents do have power now. My sister(that is prego) does not have power. My other sister, my parents said, had a tree come through their sunroom of their old house..and the water poured in...

My friend melody is ok...she called me and left me a message. I'm just praying for her husbands grandma, b/c her house was in Galveston and they probably have no idea if she has a house anymore or not. I'm pretty sure she is right on the beach.

The girls are really taking this well. I know they don't understand why our lights aren't on all the time...and Hannah is BEGGING for cartoons...but i try to explain to her that we don't have cable. Our dish was totally pushed around and we're getting local channels on our antenna...and not the good one that was on the roof that is now hanging from our house! :)

We took a drive yesterday and Pauls shop faired OK. The fence is GONE...and a few signs were ripped off. Other than that...not much damage(thank goodness).

I think that's all for now. Please pray that our city gets back to normal soon. Who knows when we'll be able to go to the store and buy food...like milk or water or cold items. I'm sure most stores have lost power and are going to have to get rid of all the food in their cold sections. This storm was a mess. I know i keep saying that over and over...but stand by and wait to see some of the pics of our neighborhood. You wouldn't believe the destruction! GIGANTIC trees with the roots and all just flipped over. We are SOOO SOOO lucky that that big tree by our house didn't fall over...it would have smashed our house. It still freaks me out thinking about it. Paul was even worried enough to wake the babies up and move them into the living room with us b/c he was worried too! It was crazy how such a big tree could sway in the wind! We had to have gusts close to 100 mph...maybe a bit under...but it was sure close.

I don't know if i stated this earlier..but the wind was SOO bad at our house that it sounded like our front door would just fly open. At times i'd push on the door and you could hear the wind stop...i thought about shoving something heavy in front of it b.c i was soo scared it was just going to fly open.

Will try to post pics later...i'm going to help paul out in the front, now that the rain has slowed down some..

We're OK!

NO POWER..My hubby is a computer geek and bought some goofy thingie to hook up to the computer so we could still get internet.

It WAS A BAD HURRICANE! OUR HOUSE is a MESS! BIG LIMBS EVERYWHERE...WHO KNOW'S WHEN POWER WILL BE UP! BUT, We are safe! Our Fence fell down...as Paul and i went outside after the babies were sleeping we heard a CRACKING and low and behold the crappy fence we've been thinking about replacing for a while! SHINGLES feel off house and the house is leaking in a few places...which is not a good thing. ...THANK GOODNESS WE COVERED UP THAT WINDOW! IT WOULD HAVE BUSTED FOR SURE! THIS was A BAD HURRICANE! BAAAD! & SCARY!

IF We don't get power up w/generator, we're going to rig the fence and leave town....we don't want to stay in this mess w/no power. We'll leave the dogs and have someone feed them and wait it out.

The poor babies are so scared and don't know what to do or how to act. We're getting ready to get the generator up and see if it works...please cross your fingers.

I have TONS of video and tons of pics...will post when i figure this out.

Thanks for your prayers! We need them!

We are still OK..but it's getting BAD!

Paul is back from the ER. He got back about 300p! I'm furious and WILL NEVER send him to the ER around our house again. The bad excuse for a DR. didn't even do a scan on his belly. He took him back and pretty much told him to pop more of the pills his dr. gave him and that with the pain he's having it's more than likely his Ulcer! OOOO...i'm soo MAD! I'm seriously sooo mad i'm going to call on monday and talk to someone over there...and tell them i'm not paying for that bill when he didn't do a THING! I mean seriously! If you have someone that takes the time to come in to the ER, they should give you the attention you deserve. You shouldn't have to tell THEM(these people that have been in school for YEARS and should be smart than us normal folk :) what to do! I asked paul if he told the waste of a dr. that his sister is law is a med mal practice lawyer(yes, i know...probably stepping my boundaries, but still) and he told me NO! I said you are lucky i wasn't there...i totally would have gone off on him! WHAT A WASTE! WHAT A WASTE of an ER! I know an ER is for bad things..but i consider his belly hurting over and over a bad thing...and keep waiting for something to explode. Kinda like you waiting on a volcanoe to erupt...i feel it's coming and we just don't know when. Either way, the dr. didn't do a THING! SO, i'm back to the drawing board. I hear all these stories about parents telling the dr. what to do with their child...i don't understand it. I don't understand how we're paying all this money for a dr. that doesnt' know how to scan his belly to make sure he doesn't have anything else going on. That was the WHOLE point in going...to get diagnosed and make sure it was indeed ulcers. If he had just looked and told me that...i would have been A OK and felt like my money was well spent.

On to the weather, it's BAD! I have never seen weather like this in my life. The storm hasn't even come on shore yet...but it's horrible and the storm surge is CRAZY! There are cities all around galveston flooding...there is going to be some major devistation! MAJOR! Luckily after Katrina, everyone has always prepared for the worst and hoped for the best. Anyway, so far we're ok. We took a walk around while ago, just Paul and I. It's soo weird, windy and loud outside. We've got the A/C cranked down really low so we'll have cool air all night. Paul is praying our generator will work...me too, b/c i didn't do all those loads of laundry at the laundry mat to find out our generator doesn't work! OR i sure hope i didn't!

I have a feeling the power will be out soon. We won't be using the generator tonight..i think we'll be ok. So if we get the generator back up and running in the morning i'll post then. Thanks for all your prayers and kind words. I truly feel like there is a dark cloud looming over my head...but hopefully things will look up soon! I need a break...from everything!

Keep checking the national news(FOX), i'm sure you'll hear all about this crazy storm! It's scary!

Please Pray for Paul

We were working outside boarding up and his belly started to hurt AGAIN! This was the last time i wanted to hear it without knowing what in the world was wrong with him! SO, i made him go to the ER/Hospital down the street. I wanted him to go to St. Lukes in the Med center..but with traffic and the hurricane coming in...anything would do for the time being. It's not like we haven't met are DARN family deductible by now w/all the darn er visits we've had this year. SO, he's there right now. He said there were many people there...but i'm guessing they are well staffed with the weather(i could be TOTALLy wrong on that one). BUT, either way i need to know what in the world is wrong. My heart is racing right now waiting for him to call me...but i couldn't go b/c someone had to stay with the kidos!

It's really windy outside now...and it's starting to get dark..but nothing too bad.

Here are a few pics from our day:

Starting to board up..Daddy wanted Mommy to Write with spray paint...

Daddy fixing that big window...he's so smart and it the help of BEV & ROB(our neighbors) he figured out a way to board it up w/o nailing to the bottom!for the generator...And then daddy left to the er and mommy got bored while the babies were fast asleep! :) Something to cheer me up!Of course we had to have a mommy & daddy too!The whole house...
This is the crazy fool a few houses over that obviously isn't prepared or doesn't know there is a hurricane coming. I think he's more worried about heavy trash day instead...so now all our yards and going to be strewn with his limbs! ERRR! I even saw him driving around this morning..so we know he's there...Had to get a better pic with his car so everyone in the neighborhood would KNOW who i was talking about! LOL!!!

Update on Hurricane IKE!

It's 267 miles off the coast of Galveston...and it's coming directly OVER US NOW! We really hadn't planned on this...but we'll be OK! Looks like by the time it makes it over our house(we're about 70ish miles north of galveston...the winds should slow down some(about 70mph + since we are in the "eye" of the hurricane). Our main fear right now is the DARN window in the dining room(the girls LOVE this window and could sit there all day watching the world go by-too bad it's not tempered).

Anyway, I'm sure i've noted it in my last email or two. We're still trying to come up with a plan of how to cover it. Here's a pic

And just for my own insurance purposes...just in case the window does blow out pics of my dining room table... And my china cabinet...If this window does blow out, we're in BIG trouble b/c there aren't any doors to shut that room off. I've come up with a good plan though...we have two big pieces of ply wood upstairs my dad brought over for the twin beds i'm getting ready to refinish and repaint for the girls...and we'll just grab those pieces of ply wood and cover off the entire room/door way!

It's sad how 2 days ago they said this darn storm was going go to Corpus...But, honestly, these weather men never "know for sure" until it actually hits! Please be praying for us..the last REAL BIG hurricane & only big one was Alicia! I was 7 when Alicia hit, and i still remember parts of that. I remember my parents dragging all of our matresses out into the dining room of their tiny house and we slept in the dining room under the dining room table. Back then, i rememebr it was fun...kinda like camping. My grandma was living with us and i remember very vividly, her running through the house praying and blessing each room with holy water. She was praying and praying in polish and SOO SCARED. We thought it was soo much fun...just getting to camp in the middle of the dining room! THAT is also the day we found "ALICIA", a cockatail. He bit the crap out of my dad as my dad ran outside and grabbed him to save him from the weather. We ended up giving him to our neighbors, who MAY still have him. I haven't seen the lady we gave her to lately, but a few years ago i asked her how Alicia was doing and she said he was still doing just fine. It's amazing how much i remember from that day!

We did make it through Rita, a few years ago..but that wasn't bad at all. We lost power for about 18 hours...and the wind wasn't very bad. We boarded up and that was a waste of time. O YES, and THAT was the year Paul loaded up 4 Metal patio chairs right by my BRAND NEW suburban..and they fell over in the garage and scraped down the side of the door(LOL). Yes, it's funny now, but at the time i wanted to kick his behind! :)

Here are a few pics of the "CALM BEFORE THE STORM":

AND just for S & G, here are a few different pics of our tree hanging over in our poor grumpy neighbors yard...he had a TON of trees cut in his yard 2 weeks ago...refused to cut our tree that was hanging over his side of the yard. Here is the other lonely tree limb he wouldn't cut. He did cut the trees that were over directly on his side of the yard..just not the ones that were near our fence..probably hoping they'd break and hit our fence.Another shot...

I'll update more as we find out info...when you stop getting updates...that means the POWER IS OUT! :) WISH US LUCK!

IKE...

For those out of town family and friends interested in tracking IKE, go to the following website:
click2weather.com
then you can find the link to tracking IKE!


We should start feeling the winds by mid morning..or so they say. This is one BIG hurricane...I mean BIG!

Pauls shop is shut down tomorrow..but he's going to go in and do one last check of the place and make sure everything is good to go. We are really worried about our dining room window. It's very big and the problem is that there are two smaller windows on the side, which leaves no where to nail ply wood in to the house. It's not tempered so it could be a mess! Plus the trees in front of the house and very big and HEAVY b/c of the pecans which always weight it down a ton. I told Paul to get a tarp and put it on the outside of the window...maybe one on the inside too? Hmm..if a tree went flying through it, it could do some major damage and all our furniture in the front would be ruined.

On another note, on the way to pick the girls up...the line for gas was DOWN THE STREET..blocks. Other gas stations i passed looked like a ghost town with covers over the gas pumps b/c they were empty. What a MESS! The traffic was horrible. People were acting crazy and the grocery store was backed up further than when i went this morning.

When i picked Hannah up today, she knew all about the big storm that was coming our way. She was telling me all the things the teachers told her...it was cute. We then picked the girls up and their teacher, Ms. Anna was going to get married this weekend...i feel so bad for her. They had to postpone her wedding. I hope my gift card to target from the girls cheered her up a bit. Poor girl, had to reschedule it for next month. How sad! The girls did really well today at school. They played their first switch-a-roo trick on the teachers. I guess they changed their diapers and they split them up during naps. They told Sarah to go to her nap pad...evidentally she went to Sams. Then, Sam went directly to Sarah's! How FUNNY! The teachers were laughing b/c they said they looked at each other and said "that's not sarah, and that's not Samantha"! LOL! It made me smile and laugh a bit. My girls are already playing tricks on the teachers at the young age of almost 21 months! :) FUN FUN!

I'll keep ya'll updated...i have some pics of today..the calm before the storm. I'll post tomorrow!

Keep praying that for some reason this hurricane takes a sharp turn...but chances are very slim b/c of how big the storm is this time!

Brenda

A moment of Silence for 9/11

It almost slipped my mind that it was 9/11. I mean i'm sure i would have noticed the date sooner or later. But between the hurricane and Paul, my mind is running 100 miles an hour. As i dropped Hannah off at school, we all had a moment of silence to remember those lost in the attacks on the WTC. I can't believe it was 7 years ago! It still does seem like yesterday.

I remember exactly what i was doing at that moment. I was answering phones in front at Atlas24(my old job, pre-marriage). We all had to relieve the receptionist in front and i was up there giving her a bathroom break and the phone rings. One of the guys that worked in the mail room had called to ask if we heard about the plane crashing in NYC yet? I had no idea. Then moments later the meeting room a few steps away was full of employees with the T.V. on watching...and then ANOTHER plane hit. I was in shock. I was anxious to go back to my desk but the phones went crazy about the same time. EVERYONE was calling to see if we were watching T.V. Working at a travel agency, we have to be aware of things like this, because they immediately stopped all air traffic and our phones at the 24 hour service(a small entity of Navigant Intl.) would be hit hard with people stuck while traveling on business. I finally made it back to my desk and our whole room(we had 4 t.v.s so we could watch the weather, news and anything else we felt impt to business travel) was full of people. It was loud and our phones were going crazy. My boss was running around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to figure out what to do as home agents called asking what we should do. We ended up turning most people away for the first few hours as things settled down and we tried to figure out what we should do with all of these business travelers calling for help. Everyone wanted to get home right that minute. EVERYONE. BUT, no one wanted to fly...and of course they couldn't b/c all air traffic was stopped that day and a day or two following the attacks. We ended up booking car after car and people were willing to drive from where ever they were back home. Not to long after, the cars ran out and people were livid. I felt sorry for our agents at that time because there was nothing we could do for them...besides tell them to hang out. I remember very vividly, one guy called and decided to take a cab from where ever he was, back home. It was going to cost him up in the range of 1000 dollars, he did it anyway b/c he wanted to get home and there was no other way at that time.

Emotionally i was a wreck. Every once in a while we'd hear a story of a client that knew someone that died that day. It was soo sad and heartbreaking. What do you say to comfort someone in that situation. Day after day we'd hear stories of people that we worked with up north that knew someone, whether a family member or friend that didn't make it. It was such a tragedy!

Not to long after that i saw a special on all the pregnant women who lost their husbands on oprah! I still remember that like it was yesterday. It was so sad, i cried through the entire show.

Please pay your respects for those lost on 9/11/01, today. It's a sad day and no American will ever forget it.

You know your in the track of a hurricane when...

You go to the grocery store and you have to WAIT IN LINE to PARK your car!
You enter the store to find NO carts anywhere around
You begin your walk through the store to find empty shelves everywhere
You end up using a cart that has a baby carrier on top b/c there just aren't any carts.
You can hardly move through the store...it's like a mall the day before xmas.
You wait in a line that goes across the entire store to check out.
There is more traffic going OUT of town at 9am than going INTO town.
The line at the gas station is down the street.
Most local channels are NEWS for the next few days...Thank goodness for Dish & DVR!

I'm sure i'll have more later!



Ok, i think you get the idea. That was my morning. Glad i didn't take the girls with me to the store...i only needed a few things since Paul had gone to Walmart this morning.

Paul & LOTS OF PRAYERS!!!

Just got back from the dr. not to long ago. The dr. "THINKS" it's ulcers...but ONLY because Paul told him he had bleeding ulcers 15 years ago. He immediately started writing something and gave him some meds. He told him if the meds work we're on the right track...if not we need to go to the er and do some immediate testing. OMG...right in the middle of bearing down for the storm. I've very frightened to say the least. BUT, what can i do...

Please pray for us...
That Paul's belly stops hurting and he makes the right decisions b/c as of Thur. morning he is feeling well and doesn't feel the need YET to go to the ER. He is going back to the dr. tomorrow(yeah, if they are open) to get his blood test results back. The dr. gave him Zegrid and said he had the h. pylori bacteria OR that is what he "thinks" it could be right now.
Here is info on that:

The primary cause of ulcers is the bacterium called Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). H. pylori is a spiral-shaped bacterium found in the stomach. Unlike other bacterium, H. pylori is able to twist through the layer of mucous that protects the stomach cavity and attach to cells on the surface of the stomach wall, where it produces urease, an enzyme that generates ammonia.
Urease generates substances that neutralize the stomach's acid and allows H. pylori to thrive. H. pylori weakens the stomach's defenses by thinning the mucous coating of the stomach, making it more susceptible to the damaging effects of acid and pepsin; inflaming the area; poisoning nearby cells and producing more stomach acid.

Although H. pylori is the primary cause of ulcers, there are other factors that play a role in ulcer development. These factors are the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), a person's lifestyle and the stomach's inability to defend itself against digestive fluids, hydrochloric acid and pepsin.


Please also pray that:
That it doesn't start hurting again in the middle of this storm and we have to call an ambulance to come get him b/c i won't just be able to up and leave the girls.
That this storm slows down quickly and we remain calm and nothing gets damaged. From the report from a few minutes ago it looks like we're on the dirty end, so it could be BAD. I'm very frightened of all this happening at, what seems like, just the WRONG time.

I did do a clean sweep last night...everything is put up in the garage as we await IKE! The patio is clear, the entire outside was moved into the garage.
I'm not taking Hannah to school today as i wait to see if Pauls belly starts to hurt again(my parents are on standby). I'm sure as with everything...it won't start until late tonight and then he'll have to go by himself OR i'll have to call and see if my parents can come over then. I know this is sad, but if it happens..please let it happen NOW, so we can get this over with and not have to worry about it during this storm. I know that is rude...but i'd rather go NOW, than go later. I want Paul to be with us during the storm...i'm scared to be home with 3 kids alone, if he gets sick mid-storm. But, we will be ok and that's just life.


The generator is working...the well is working..and so we are prepared.
Paul even got up at 4am(i did too, just to check on him, but now i'm wide awake) and he went to walmart to grocery shop b/c we havne't been to the grocery store in a while.

That's all for now, i'll try to keep everyone posted!

Preparing AGAIN...this time IKE is headed this way!

I'm so sick of these darn hurricanes. IKE is headed to Texas but who knows where it will land. We're going to batton down the hatches again. We JUST started pulling all our outside things back out from the last storm that was headed our way. Now, it's time to put all the chairs up, toys in the garage and everything else that might fly around and bust a window! ERR!


Here are a few pics...of the last few days. Gotta love all the love going around our house...esp the girls loving on Sugar. POOR Sugar does NOT like the girls...she only comes in to steal their food and sleep when they are put to bed. This is what Hannah does on her spare time...she dresses the girls up like beauty queens! LOL!GOTTA LOVE those yellow sun glasses & head band!Since the clothes dryer is broken we are down to the bare minimum on clothes...so it was a great excuse to make Hannah finally wear her church uniform! I think it's soo cute! The girls playing with their new walmart 7.00 strollers...Do you think they can fit in them?
One last note...please keep Paul in your thoughts and prayers..his stomach is hurting again. He's been up for the past two nights almost all night. He's FINALLY going to the dr. today, which i'm sure means he'll be sent to a specialist to be tested. This did not start until after the darn salmonella thing...i wonder if having Salmonella that triggered something else. Who knows. I just want him to get to feeling better soon...for the girls and for me!

Prayers Needed!

A fellow ECC friend of ours has a child who was had an ependymoma brain tumor that as removed on June 27th and is in need of prayers. Emma is only 3.5 and a precious little girl who is always so bright and cheery when i see her. Emma's sister Hannah, is in the twins class in school! Both are very precious sweet little girls and i would love everyone to pray for their family and for Emma's fast recovery!

Thanks
Brenda

Upset, Annoyed and just plain ole' angry!!!

ERR...I'm so annoyed. We've been using the washateria for 2 weeks now, to dry our clothes, since the dryer blew out when the generator was started 2 weeks ago. Anyway, we've been waiting patiently for the part to come in b/c for some reason this darn company that fixes things always has to get the parts from american home shield...can't figure out the whole concept. Anyway, so the idiot brought the part today. Obviously he didn't even "THINK" to check and see if we had a gas or electric dryer...AND we have a gas and he ordered a electric part. I can't even tell you HOW annoyed i am...esp when he tried to blame it on american home shield, saying he orderd a gas part and they sent an electric part. Well low and behold, i call AHS and the nice lady said NOPE, he actually ordered a electric part. I'm SOO MAD at this guy. It was like my intuition was right...i had thought about doing clothes today so i could pop them in the dryer as soon as he fixed it...but something kept telling me NOT to wash clothes. And MY INTUITION was right!

On another note, i did INDEED cancel OK & US WEEKLY today! I called us weekly, who in turn had me call some other contract company, who in turn had me call ANOTHER contract company. Another annoyance for the day. BUT, the lady on the other end was very nice and allowed me to switch my magazine out for kiddie magazines. One is "the GREAT BACKYARD" and i forgot the name of the other magazine. I'm excited b/c the girls will get magazines for kids pretty soon! COOL! And then at 815p tonight the crazy guys over at US weekly called to make sure i was getting my magazines on time...i told the poor surfer guy on the other end i had cancelled the magazine. It was almost like i was talking to a "valley boy"...you know, like a "valley girl"...if you weren't brought up in the 80's you won't know what i'm talking about! LOL!! He said everyone he had called tonight hung up on him and didn't tell them why they cancelled...so i told him why. Then I said "well if you work for US Weekly, shouldn't you read the magazine?" He said, "well do you know any guys that READ the magazine?" I said, well no, but if you work there you SHOULD read it...esp with all the controversial things going around and all the cancellations going on right now! DUH!

SO, back to the dryer...hopefully they'll expedite this darn part and get it overnighted...i WANT MY DRYER fixed! I'm getting ready to have paul hang out a clothes line so i can wash and hang...that's how annoyed i am!

ROUND TWO...IKE IS FULL SPEED AHEAD!

LOOKS like we have our second Hurricane of the season headed straight towards us! Guess i'm glad we got the generator fixed, the well fixed last year & we are ready for anything that comes our way! We'll have power(if things don't blow our one at a time in our house) and water from the well! I drove by Krogers today and they were already prepared with TONS of water just in case.

Daddy/Daughter Camping-in the backyard!

Daddy decided to take Hannah camping in the backyard! Tent, chimnea, dogs & even a tent! Smores were a hit!
Sleeping in the tent
Their little set up in the backyard! We have 7/8ths of an acre to "camp" on...
the bonfire int he chimnea!
CHOCOLATE! YUMMY!

Making smores...
Hannah eating smores...
Putting the smores together!
Daddy teaching Hannah how to roast marshmellows!

The marshmellow on a metal clothes hanger!

My sweet baby girl camper!
The dogs LOVED camping...or eating the smores...
As S & S would say..."Sugie & Gu-a-cie"
Blowing out the marshmellow!
And to end this post, i have to share a small exciting part of our evening. We deicded to go to eat dinner. I picked a place i "think" my hair dressers' boyfriend works. Of course, he wasn't working Sat night. Anyway, On the border was the place for the night. As we were driving there i realized i totally forgot one of the girls sippy cups-i told both of them to bring them to me...someone didn't, i'm not sure who. Anyway, that is beside the point. We got there and realized the didn't have any big round tables. The guy said they have BIG booths..but not tables. Great, what do we do? We decided to go ahead and try for a booth. THEN, we had to deal with the drink/sippy cup situation. We decided to put the girls in BOOSTER chairs and give them real drink cups w/straws. I have to brag...they did awesome! It was SUCH a big step for us...sitting in BOOSTER chairs and drinking out of cups with straws. I was such a proud mom last night. My babies are growing up so quickly. It's so much fun and so exciting!