Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Is this really happening?
Glenn has accepted a transfer of sorts to Wyoming and we are very anxiously waiting to hear final details. They wanted him up there by October 1, but then the hurricane came through and everyone had to focus on getting their building secure and then all the clean up time afterward put him on the back burner. The staffing company he is with now is willing to pay for our move, but will not provide him with a daily work vehicle so he is now waiting to hear from the staffing company in Evanston to see if they will pay for the move. We already now that they will provide a daily work vehicle so we just have to compare perks and decide who to go with. If everything gets settled in time we will be on our way by the 15th. It's hard to believe that after 5 years we will actually be getting out of Texas. I can not even begin to say how excited I am. I am so ready to get out of here! Details will follow as we get them.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Here are a few fun pictures from the last few weeks. I just didn't think they went too well in my other posts lately so I'm just clumping them together here.
While I was taking pictures of the storm rolling in and worrying about Glenn and Maggie, Zoe decided she needed to wash her feet.
We have a lot of work ahead of us...
She needs to learn what end her pants go on!
I woke up one morning to find this in my bed...
And where exactly was I sleeping? On the very edge of the bed next to Maggie.
We all love pizza, but apparently Zoe doesn't like sauce on her hands. What else can we eat like a dog?
While I was taking pictures of the storm rolling in and worrying about Glenn and Maggie, Zoe decided she needed to wash her feet.
I woke up one morning to find this in my bed...
And where exactly was I sleeping? On the very edge of the bed next to Maggie.
Maggie packed up her backpack and took it to volleyball. Zoe would not let us take it off of her even though it was almost a big as she is.
Glenn had been playing the Playstation one day and left the controller out so Zoe picked it up and tried to finish his game!
Here are a couple of links to view some pictures of the hurricane destruction.
Before and afters of Galveston: Here
Houston Chronicle Readers photos: Here
We are very grateful to still have our electricity. Some people in our ward that had their power restored before us only had it for a few days and then it turned off again. We still have signs in the neighborhood saying that the sewer is still not working, but so far we have had not problems with it. Hopefully the workers are just too busy to come take the signs down and that there really is no problem. We are glad life is getting back to normal for us and we continue to pray for those that are still struggling.
Before and afters of Galveston: Here
Houston Chronicle Readers photos: Here
We are very grateful to still have our electricity. Some people in our ward that had their power restored before us only had it for a few days and then it turned off again. We still have signs in the neighborhood saying that the sewer is still not working, but so far we have had not problems with it. Hopefully the workers are just too busy to come take the signs down and that there really is no problem. We are glad life is getting back to normal for us and we continue to pray for those that are still struggling.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Daily Thoughts
Here are a few thoughts I have had over the past week. I have tried to journal as much as I can during this experience and I have a few moments of silence while everyone sleeps so here is what I have been thinking. This has the potential of being a very long post so feel free to skip it.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
When I called home tonight to give an update on our hurricane happenings Mom asked me what they need to know or what I have learned about what we really need in order to be prepared in an emergency. I wasn't quite sure how to answer because there is a big difference between having "advanced notice" of an emergency situation, like a 10 day on going prediction & tracking of a hurricane or an "out of the blue emergency" like an earthquake. So here is my list of "advanced notice emergency" preparedness items (not in any particular order):
1. Batteries - all sizes for everything that can be run on batteries.
2. Portable Electronics - radio, laptop, DVD player, cell phone, gameboy, Leapster, etc. Just about anything you can think of to occupy your kids and that will keep you connected to what is happening in the world.
3. Charged Batteries - make sure all chargeable batteries are fully charged.
4. Water - both drinkable and non. Just in case you lose water you can wash hands and such.
5. Ice - fill empty soda bottles and other containers and freeze them. Put ice from your ice maker or ice trays in baggies to be able to use in drinks. If you lose power the soda bottles will keep the fridge cool for a while.
6. Paper Goods - plates, bowls, cups, napkins and utensils. These are especially handy if you not only lose power, but the sewer plant also loses power.
7. Turn the freezer down - Turn the temperature on your freezer as low as you can. This will "super" freeze your food, but also get the freezer "super" cold so it will take it longer to warm up.
8. Food Storage - Make sure you have plenty of food storage items that do not require refrigeration and if possible don't have to be heated up. Also make sure you have items your family will eat. Raisins, crackers, MRE's, bread, peanut butter, nuts, dried fruits, etc. Store items you know how to use. What good is a can of wheat if you don't know how to use it?
9. Cash - have cash on hand. When the stores started re-opening some where only partially functioning because they were using generators so they were only accepting cash.
10. Toys, Games - have items to entertain and occupy little minds and hands. Crayons, books, paper, board games, whatever your kids like.
11. Comfort items - For me these include chocolate and Dr. Pepper. Other than food they are my pillow and "rain blanket". Know what items will comfort your kids as well. Do what you can to make things as "normal" as possible for them.
12. Wash clothes and dishes - Not knowing whether we would or would not lose power we decided to go ahead and wash a few loads of laundry and run the dishwasher. Also make sure you run the disposal in the sink. We thought ours ran the night before, but it started to back up a little.
13. Clean - Do as much cleaning as you can. We cleaned the bathrooms, especially the tubs in case we needed to fill them with water, vacuumed everywhere and make sure toys and such were picked up off the floor.
14. Flashlights - That's obvious, but sometimes we just overlook the obvious. Lots of batteries!
15. 72 hour kits - of course we don't have ours put together. Lucky for us we didn't have an earthquake or some other major disaster. Even though it may get costly it really is necessary.
16. Generator - the ultimate in emergency preparedness. Lucky for us a family member that got their power restored in a couple of days had one they loaned to us. In the perfect world we could all get a huge generator to power our entire house, but a smaller one that could run the refrigerator is really quite nice.
17. Know someone with really close connections to the man upstairs! Kristie's neighbor, that is also the only other member of the church in the area, came over and thanked her. Kristie had no idea what she was thanking her for. The neighbor told her she knows that they were blessed by not losing their power because Brent's sacrifice of being away from his family at this time to protect the freedoms of our country.
So this has been my unprofessional compilation of ideas that I have had over the last 4 days sitting in a hot, dark house in Houston, Texas after surviving my first hurricane healthy and unharmed.!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Glenn went back to work today. Sharon went to check on her Dad and help him with his fence the blew down. After she came home I borrowed her car to take the girl's and go pay my cell phone bill. When we got there the store had not reopened yet so I took the girl's to lunch at Cici's Pizza where Maggie could watch cartoons and we could eat yummy cinnamon rolls. Our neighbor came over to have dinner with us tonight. She is a single lady that lives across the street from us and we have been checking in with each other nearly every day. Maggie convinced her to stay and watch a movie with us. We had an encore presentation of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium that we had watched last night. Sharon walked Jean home and they called about the sewer problem to see what they could find out. Apparently there are lift stations that don't work if the power is out so the sewer starts backing up. YUCK!!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
DAY SIX WITH OUT POWER
Shortly after waking up there was voice mail on my phone. It was Kristie telling me that she had seen online that Centerpoint Energy was predicting that our zip code was projected to be restored by the end of the day on Monday. Glenn was working again today and I needed an AC break so I took the girl's over to Kristie's so we could all get bathed and cleaned up. When we got to her house her sister and her kids were there so I took the girl's upstairs and got them bathed. They went down to play while I showered and by the time I was done Maggie, Zoe and Kristie were the only ones there. Kristie said she was going to meet them at 12:15 at Taco Cabana and we could go if we wanted. I checked email and then we were off to lunch. Our group pretty much took over the restaurant. We had Sondra (Kristie's Mom), Lisa (Sister), Brian (Brother-in-law), Alex, Emily, Bethany, Kaylee, Kristie, Devon, Riley, Jake, Hannah, Me, Maggie and Zoe. While I was at Kristie's Aunt Brenda called offering to let us stay with them over the weekend. She also saw the Centerpoint Energy prediction and knew that the temperatures were going to be rising everyday. We'll have to discuss once we get together this evening. I am hoping that the decision will be to go stay with them. Jean came over again to visit and then we all decided to go to Wal-Mart on the way we stopped to have dinner at Whataburger and basked in the loveliness that we call AIR CONDITIONING! We were there long enough that we actually started to get chilly. I never thought that I would be saying I was chilly in September...in Houston! It has seemed like a far off dream for the last six days. I just can't even begin to explain how grateful I am for the genius that invented AC. I am also grateful for the inventors of electricity, the light bulb, cell phones, indoor plumbing and so many more of our modern conveniences that we take for granted everyday.
We decided not to go to the William's house. :(
Friday, September 19, 2008
After we had all eaten breakfast and were starting to get involved in various activities Jean knocked on the door. Sharon answered and we could hear them talking, but couldn't hear what was being said. A minute later she came into the living room where Glenn and I were sitting and handed Glenn and envelope. She said "that was Jean and she wants us to share this. She said her Dad called and told her that he had made a deposit in her bank account and she was to use some and share some". Jean is an awesome lady and we are definitely blessed to know her. Someday I'll have to share a little bit of her story.
Even though I've seen news reports in the past about hurricanes and the recovery process I never really got it. I always felt sorry for the people that lost their houses and had their lives turned upside down, but I didn't fully understand what those left without power, water and sewer were going through. I guess in my mind it just seemed like once the hurricane passed it was done and over and you got on with life. I suppose that's true for those who are lucky enough to be on the outskirts of the storm, but those in the direct path live a different reality. Although we've only been 7 days without power it seems like it's been several weeks. Our lives have been greatly interrupted and we are all feeling tired, stressed and just run down. The disruption seems to be affecting Maggie more and more each day. She gets more cranky and whiny as the days drag on. The school still doesn't have power, but they are scheduled to go back to class on Monday. I hope for all the kids sakes it gets power gets restored before then and they can get back to learning and playing with their friends. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to all of those who were more adversely affected than us and we pray life can get back to normal for everyone.
Jean and Kristie watching the girls and a little bit of the game.
We pack up toys to take with us to keep the babies entertained and Zoe had much more fun climbing in the container and squishing her face against the side.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
This morning was the primary activity. Sharon took Maggie to the church where they were practicing for their primary program tomorrow. After they returned we packed up all our stuff and headed out to Aunt Brenda's.
When Zoe came downstairs she had the baby dolls pacifier in her mouth. She didn't want to give it up either.
What was I hearing? Oh, the old familiar sound of the air conditioner running. Oh Joy!! We decided to swim for a few minutes which the kids loved of course.
When we all got cleaned up from our swimming adventure we decided to watch "Enchanted" in their theater.
The beanbag was Maggie's favorite seat. She loved our whole adventure and sleepover at Aunt Brenda's house.
Uncle Alan fired up the popcorn machine for us so we could enjoy hot fresh theater popcorn.
This is the entry from the garage. I love this whole cubby-bench-locker area. Much better than our messy shoe basket at home.
Here is the recreation area just outside the theater. We had lots of fun playing checkers, ping pong and table hockey.
This kitchen is upstairs by the rec room. We enjoyed several drinks while we were there. It was very nice to go to the fridge and find a cold drink.
They didn't even know I was coming and they were fully stocked with Dr. Pepper! I love this place!!
Who wouldn't want to stay at Hotel William's? It was fabulous! Thank you Brenda and Alan for being so generous and kind.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
We got up and finished a couple of loads of laundry, ate breakfast, played a while and then we were off to church. Maggie did a great job on her part. She spoke loudly and clearly so everyone could understand her. We left after sacrament meeting so we could get the girl's some lunch and hopefully take a nap in a nice cool house.
Monday, September 22, 2008
I woke Maggie up this morning to get ready for school and once she was fed and dressed she went to turn on her TV. We have not plugged it back in so of course it didn't work. She came in and told me it wasn't working so I said that I would look at it while she was at school. I did look at it, but I did not plug it back in. When she got home she asked if it was working and I told her no so she just played with other things. WOW! Was it really that easy?
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
When I called home tonight to give an update on our hurricane happenings Mom asked me what they need to know or what I have learned about what we really need in order to be prepared in an emergency. I wasn't quite sure how to answer because there is a big difference between having "advanced notice" of an emergency situation, like a 10 day on going prediction & tracking of a hurricane or an "out of the blue emergency" like an earthquake. So here is my list of "advanced notice emergency" preparedness items (not in any particular order):
1. Batteries - all sizes for everything that can be run on batteries.
2. Portable Electronics - radio, laptop, DVD player, cell phone, gameboy, Leapster, etc. Just about anything you can think of to occupy your kids and that will keep you connected to what is happening in the world.
3. Charged Batteries - make sure all chargeable batteries are fully charged.
4. Water - both drinkable and non. Just in case you lose water you can wash hands and such.
5. Ice - fill empty soda bottles and other containers and freeze them. Put ice from your ice maker or ice trays in baggies to be able to use in drinks. If you lose power the soda bottles will keep the fridge cool for a while.
6. Paper Goods - plates, bowls, cups, napkins and utensils. These are especially handy if you not only lose power, but the sewer plant also loses power.
7. Turn the freezer down - Turn the temperature on your freezer as low as you can. This will "super" freeze your food, but also get the freezer "super" cold so it will take it longer to warm up.
8. Food Storage - Make sure you have plenty of food storage items that do not require refrigeration and if possible don't have to be heated up. Also make sure you have items your family will eat. Raisins, crackers, MRE's, bread, peanut butter, nuts, dried fruits, etc. Store items you know how to use. What good is a can of wheat if you don't know how to use it?
9. Cash - have cash on hand. When the stores started re-opening some where only partially functioning because they were using generators so they were only accepting cash.
10. Toys, Games - have items to entertain and occupy little minds and hands. Crayons, books, paper, board games, whatever your kids like.
11. Comfort items - For me these include chocolate and Dr. Pepper. Other than food they are my pillow and "rain blanket". Know what items will comfort your kids as well. Do what you can to make things as "normal" as possible for them.
12. Wash clothes and dishes - Not knowing whether we would or would not lose power we decided to go ahead and wash a few loads of laundry and run the dishwasher. Also make sure you run the disposal in the sink. We thought ours ran the night before, but it started to back up a little.
13. Clean - Do as much cleaning as you can. We cleaned the bathrooms, especially the tubs in case we needed to fill them with water, vacuumed everywhere and make sure toys and such were picked up off the floor.
14. Flashlights - That's obvious, but sometimes we just overlook the obvious. Lots of batteries!
15. 72 hour kits - of course we don't have ours put together. Lucky for us we didn't have an earthquake or some other major disaster. Even though it may get costly it really is necessary.
16. Generator - the ultimate in emergency preparedness. Lucky for us a family member that got their power restored in a couple of days had one they loaned to us. In the perfect world we could all get a huge generator to power our entire house, but a smaller one that could run the refrigerator is really quite nice.
17. Know someone with really close connections to the man upstairs! Kristie's neighbor, that is also the only other member of the church in the area, came over and thanked her. Kristie had no idea what she was thanking her for. The neighbor told her she knows that they were blessed by not losing their power because Brent's sacrifice of being away from his family at this time to protect the freedoms of our country.
So this has been my unprofessional compilation of ideas that I have had over the last 4 days sitting in a hot, dark house in Houston, Texas after surviving my first hurricane healthy and unharmed.!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Glenn went back to work today. Sharon went to check on her Dad and help him with his fence the blew down. After she came home I borrowed her car to take the girl's and go pay my cell phone bill. When we got there the store had not reopened yet so I took the girl's to lunch at Cici's Pizza where Maggie could watch cartoons and we could eat yummy cinnamon rolls. Our neighbor came over to have dinner with us tonight. She is a single lady that lives across the street from us and we have been checking in with each other nearly every day. Maggie convinced her to stay and watch a movie with us. We had an encore presentation of Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium that we had watched last night. Sharon walked Jean home and they called about the sewer problem to see what they could find out. Apparently there are lift stations that don't work if the power is out so the sewer starts backing up. YUCK!!
Thursday, September 18, 2008
DAY SIX WITH OUT POWER
Shortly after waking up there was voice mail on my phone. It was Kristie telling me that she had seen online that Centerpoint Energy was predicting that our zip code was projected to be restored by the end of the day on Monday. Glenn was working again today and I needed an AC break so I took the girl's over to Kristie's so we could all get bathed and cleaned up. When we got to her house her sister and her kids were there so I took the girl's upstairs and got them bathed. They went down to play while I showered and by the time I was done Maggie, Zoe and Kristie were the only ones there. Kristie said she was going to meet them at 12:15 at Taco Cabana and we could go if we wanted. I checked email and then we were off to lunch. Our group pretty much took over the restaurant. We had Sondra (Kristie's Mom), Lisa (Sister), Brian (Brother-in-law), Alex, Emily, Bethany, Kaylee, Kristie, Devon, Riley, Jake, Hannah, Me, Maggie and Zoe. While I was at Kristie's Aunt Brenda called offering to let us stay with them over the weekend. She also saw the Centerpoint Energy prediction and knew that the temperatures were going to be rising everyday. We'll have to discuss once we get together this evening. I am hoping that the decision will be to go stay with them. Jean came over again to visit and then we all decided to go to Wal-Mart on the way we stopped to have dinner at Whataburger and basked in the loveliness that we call AIR CONDITIONING! We were there long enough that we actually started to get chilly. I never thought that I would be saying I was chilly in September...in Houston! It has seemed like a far off dream for the last six days. I just can't even begin to explain how grateful I am for the genius that invented AC. I am also grateful for the inventors of electricity, the light bulb, cell phones, indoor plumbing and so many more of our modern conveniences that we take for granted everyday.
We decided not to go to the William's house. :(
Friday, September 19, 2008
After we had all eaten breakfast and were starting to get involved in various activities Jean knocked on the door. Sharon answered and we could hear them talking, but couldn't hear what was being said. A minute later she came into the living room where Glenn and I were sitting and handed Glenn and envelope. She said "that was Jean and she wants us to share this. She said her Dad called and told her that he had made a deposit in her bank account and she was to use some and share some". Jean is an awesome lady and we are definitely blessed to know her. Someday I'll have to share a little bit of her story.
Even though I've seen news reports in the past about hurricanes and the recovery process I never really got it. I always felt sorry for the people that lost their houses and had their lives turned upside down, but I didn't fully understand what those left without power, water and sewer were going through. I guess in my mind it just seemed like once the hurricane passed it was done and over and you got on with life. I suppose that's true for those who are lucky enough to be on the outskirts of the storm, but those in the direct path live a different reality. Although we've only been 7 days without power it seems like it's been several weeks. Our lives have been greatly interrupted and we are all feeling tired, stressed and just run down. The disruption seems to be affecting Maggie more and more each day. She gets more cranky and whiny as the days drag on. The school still doesn't have power, but they are scheduled to go back to class on Monday. I hope for all the kids sakes it gets power gets restored before then and they can get back to learning and playing with their friends. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to all of those who were more adversely affected than us and we pray life can get back to normal for everyone.
We took Jean and went to the church to play volleyball. Kristie and her kids came for a little while before they went to the airport to pick up Brent. He gets to be home for a few days before he has to go to Austin for more military stuff. I keep trying to get some pictures of Zoe and Hannah, but they just don't cooperate.
Jean and Kristie watching the girls and a little bit of the game.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
This morning was the primary activity. Sharon took Maggie to the church where they were practicing for their primary program tomorrow. After they returned we packed up all our stuff and headed out to Aunt Brenda's.
A very full van for just one night!
As soon as we got there Maggie and Zoe headed for the play room. It is awesome and they love it.
What was I hearing? Oh, the old familiar sound of the air conditioner running. Oh Joy!! We decided to swim for a few minutes which the kids loved of course.
When we all got cleaned up from our swimming adventure we decided to watch "Enchanted" in their theater.
The beanbag was Maggie's favorite seat. She loved our whole adventure and sleepover at Aunt Brenda's house.
Brenda and Sharon went to get pizza and then we started "Night at the Museum". At some point Jean called to let us know that the power had been restored. Yeah!! We were beginning to wonder if that was ever going to happen.
These are pictures of the room Glenn and I stayed in. Maggie ended up sleeping in Sharon's room with her. I don't know how she got so lucky to be able to have so many sleepover's this week. She may be hoping for another hurricane sometime so she can have more fun.
This is the entry from the garage. I love this whole cubby-bench-locker area. Much better than our messy shoe basket at home.Here is the recreation area just outside the theater. We had lots of fun playing checkers, ping pong and table hockey.
This kitchen is upstairs by the rec room. We enjoyed several drinks while we were there. It was very nice to go to the fridge and find a cold drink.
They didn't even know I was coming and they were fully stocked with Dr. Pepper! I love this place!!
Who wouldn't want to stay at Hotel William's? It was fabulous! Thank you Brenda and Alan for being so generous and kind.Sunday, September 21, 2008
We got up and finished a couple of loads of laundry, ate breakfast, played a while and then we were off to church. Maggie did a great job on her part. She spoke loudly and clearly so everyone could understand her. We left after sacrament meeting so we could get the girl's some lunch and hopefully take a nap in a nice cool house.
Monday, September 22, 2008
I woke Maggie up this morning to get ready for school and once she was fed and dressed she went to turn on her TV. We have not plugged it back in so of course it didn't work. She came in and told me it wasn't working so I said that I would look at it while she was at school. I did look at it, but I did not plug it back in. When she got home she asked if it was working and I told her no so she just played with other things. WOW! Was it really that easy?
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Feeling Powerless
I'm feeling powerless in more ways than one, but the obvious being we are literally powerless. It has now been full week with no electricity and we are feeling the effects. We feel like burdens and beggars, asking relatives if we can wash clothes and dishes or if we can take a shower. This has been the most unpleasant experience I have personally been through, but hopefully it is nearing an end. We decided to make the trip up to Glenn's aunts house who lives about 45 minutes north of us. They got their power restored a few days ago and invited us up for the weekend since the temperatures are rising as is the humidity. We had a great time and the girl's have had a ball. Their house is amazing and so inviting. We felt so welcome and taken care of. Thank you Brenda and Allan for helping us feel comfortable for a couple of days.
(I don't have time to post much, but more will be added later including pictures)
(I don't have time to post much, but more will be added later including pictures)
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Power?
...What's that? We are still with out "lectricity" as Maggie says. We are now at Kristie's for the afternoon doing laundry so Glenn can go back to work tomorrow. Maggie's school will still be closed the rest of the week as power is slowly being restored to surrounding areas. We just found out this morning that the sewer plant in our area has lost power so we have to be very conservative about how much we use water and such. Sharon's sister brought out a generator for us to use so we have the fridge hooked up to that so we don't loose any more food.
We are having quite the adventure. Maggie is enjoying the sleepovers in the living room, but is loosing her mind not being able to watch TV. I think when this is over I am going to unplug her TV and tell her we are still without power. Let's see how long I can get away with that!
Here are just few pictures of what we have been doing for "entertainment"...
Zoe tried on Maggie's boots...
Took more pictures of the destruction...(this stop light was in the Wal-Mart parking lot)
More pictures of the destruction...(I got a few ant bites getting pictures of this tree)
The sunset a few days after the main event...
One of our many drives around the neighborhood checking out the chaos and mayhem...
Zoe resting from all the excitement...(you can't really see it in this picture but her hair is soaked from sweat. She was totally miserable because of the heat)
The clean up...
My entertainment...
Maggie watching a DVD...
Monday, September 15, 2008
Still Hanging in
We are still without power. We do have water so we can shower, and the stove is gas so we can still cook. It is getting a little questionable as to whether or not we should be eating what's left in our fridge. On our little drives around town we have discovered that our neighborhood is pretty much the only one in the area without power still. We went to see if Sonic was open so we could get some ice, but no one was there. We then went down to Kroger and of course they were crazy. They had an ice machine, but they also had a line of people waiting for it. It would only produce one bag every 45 minutes and the store was closing in 10 minutes so we just left. Because our area did not sustain major damage the trucks with ice and water are not coming out here. I'm sure we'll make another attempt today.
Maggie and Grandma decided to go over to the church and see if anyone was there. The ward that met before us held sacrament meeting and then they put together teams to help clean up the parking lot and other areas around the church. Our ward did not meet at all so they came back home. While they were gone Glenn, Zoe and I all took a nap. Our adventure the night before ended up having some very negative effects on Glenn and Maggie. Since it was so incredibly hot and no one could sleep we threw some blankets in the back of the van, grabbed our pillows and took a little ride. Once the girls were asleep we went back home and parked in the driveway. About every hour or so Glenn would turn the car on to get us cooled off and then turn it off a few minutes later. Sometime in the early morning hours (around 5:00) I woke up to the sound of Maggie throwing up. That ended our car camp out. So it was back into the heat of the house and the land of no sleep. When we did finally get up and get moving Glenn was not feeling well and spent the morning laying on the floor just outside the bathroom door. After he was finally able to rid his stomach of whatever it was he was much better and we decided to get some lunch. Soon after finishing our meal we headed out to Kristie's house. Somehow they didn't loose power through this whole ordeal. It was wonderful to be able to relax in an air conditioned house and have ice water and a real meal. We have been realizing just how much we take for granted everyday and just how spoiled we are with modern conveniences. Maggie has been so distraught because she can't watch TV. We have a portable DVD player that we have charged for her so she has been watching The Little Mermaid over and over and over. When the battery finally died yesterday you would have thought it was the end of the world! Luckily we were planning ahead enough that we took all our items that needed to charge over to Kristie's and plugged them all in. So she will be happy for a few more hours. It has been quite a challenge to entertain two little girls going on three days now without any power. I am so glad that I was not a pioneer. Of course if I were I wouldn't have known any different. I am so grateful for all I do have and especially for my family who are all safe and sort of happy right now.
Last night was a much better night. The temperature was much cooler so we were all able to sleep better. It's amazing what a difference a little bit of sleep can do for you. So far the girl's are happy and entertained, but that may not last too long. Glenn has gone to the man store, aka Home Depot, to get supplies to help our single neighbor lady fix some spots on her roof where she lost some shingles. School has been cancelled until Wednesday and Glenn's office is closed until then also. I hope we can survive each other for that much longer. And my greatest hope of all right now is that our power gets restored really quickly!!
Maggie and Grandma decided to go over to the church and see if anyone was there. The ward that met before us held sacrament meeting and then they put together teams to help clean up the parking lot and other areas around the church. Our ward did not meet at all so they came back home. While they were gone Glenn, Zoe and I all took a nap. Our adventure the night before ended up having some very negative effects on Glenn and Maggie. Since it was so incredibly hot and no one could sleep we threw some blankets in the back of the van, grabbed our pillows and took a little ride. Once the girls were asleep we went back home and parked in the driveway. About every hour or so Glenn would turn the car on to get us cooled off and then turn it off a few minutes later. Sometime in the early morning hours (around 5:00) I woke up to the sound of Maggie throwing up. That ended our car camp out. So it was back into the heat of the house and the land of no sleep. When we did finally get up and get moving Glenn was not feeling well and spent the morning laying on the floor just outside the bathroom door. After he was finally able to rid his stomach of whatever it was he was much better and we decided to get some lunch. Soon after finishing our meal we headed out to Kristie's house. Somehow they didn't loose power through this whole ordeal. It was wonderful to be able to relax in an air conditioned house and have ice water and a real meal. We have been realizing just how much we take for granted everyday and just how spoiled we are with modern conveniences. Maggie has been so distraught because she can't watch TV. We have a portable DVD player that we have charged for her so she has been watching The Little Mermaid over and over and over. When the battery finally died yesterday you would have thought it was the end of the world! Luckily we were planning ahead enough that we took all our items that needed to charge over to Kristie's and plugged them all in. So she will be happy for a few more hours. It has been quite a challenge to entertain two little girls going on three days now without any power. I am so glad that I was not a pioneer. Of course if I were I wouldn't have known any different. I am so grateful for all I do have and especially for my family who are all safe and sort of happy right now.
Last night was a much better night. The temperature was much cooler so we were all able to sleep better. It's amazing what a difference a little bit of sleep can do for you. So far the girl's are happy and entertained, but that may not last too long. Glenn has gone to the man store, aka Home Depot, to get supplies to help our single neighbor lady fix some spots on her roof where she lost some shingles. School has been cancelled until Wednesday and Glenn's office is closed until then also. I hope we can survive each other for that much longer. And my greatest hope of all right now is that our power gets restored really quickly!!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
The Calm Before the Storm & The Aftermath
Glenn took Sharon and Maggie to the church to play volleyball for a few hours last night thinking that they would be back before the storm rolled in. Kristie called me just a few minutes after they left to see how everyone was doing. I told her Zoe and I were fine and that the others were at the church. She let me know that she heard several hours earlier that there was a curfew for Fort Bend County and no one was to be out past 7:00pm. I called Glenn and let him know what I had heard. I thought he was going to be on his way back home so I started watching the storm from our windows. From the window in the play room I can see the street behind our neighborhood that he would driving on to come home. I decided to take some pictures of the clouds rolling in while I waited. Here is what I saw...
As I sat waiting and watching I realized it had been quite a while since I had talked to Glenn and they should have been home already. I decided to call and see what was going on. They had decided to stay and play because no one else that showed up had heard about the curfew. As the clouds got heavier and darker I started to get more and more concerned and wishing that they were home. Just a little bit later I heard them coming in the door. What a relief!
We had set up our air mattress in the living room downstairs for Sharon and Maggie to sleep on and Glenn, Zoe and I were all going to be in our bed upstairs. Needless to say there was not much sleep going on as the storm got stronger and stronger and louder and louder. Maggie was getting very nervous about all the noises she was hearing, especially the wind blowing through the chimney, so she grabbed her pillow and blanket and headed upstairs. We decided to bring up the air mattress and put it in our TV room so I could lay with Maggie and Zoe and hopefully keep our little Nervous Nelly somewhat calm. She was a little bit excited to sleep on the mattress and she said "Hey Mom, it's like we're on a camp out. Only inside. It's like a camp-in". We figured that there was enough room to bring in Maggie's twin mattress for Glenn to sleep on so we drug that in and tried to get some sleep. It took a very long time for Maggie to get settled down, but she did eventually nod off and slept pretty well the rest of the night. Zoe was pretty much out cold all night. Glenn was up and down for the first several hours because there were tornado watches and warnings all through the night. He was impressed and concerned by the green lightning that was lighting up the night. There were several times throughout the night when it sounded like we were going to be blown over. Lots of strong winds and pounding rain. There was a lot of lightning, but we didn't hear much thunder.
When it was finally light enough outside and the winds and rain had calmed down enough we went out to see if there was any damage to the house and our van. A couple of trees were bending over, but there was no damage to the house, the roof our the car. We thought it might be interesting to take a drive around the neighborhood and see what we could find. Lots of shingles in yards, lots of branches in the streets and in yards, storm drains blocked by debris, trees broken and fences knocked down. We are very blessed that we did not sustain any damage, we didn't have to swim out of the neighborhood, and we are all healthy & happy to be a live.
This house is around the corner from us and this is the most structural damage we saw in our area.
As I sat waiting and watching I realized it had been quite a while since I had talked to Glenn and they should have been home already. I decided to call and see what was going on. They had decided to stay and play because no one else that showed up had heard about the curfew. As the clouds got heavier and darker I started to get more and more concerned and wishing that they were home. Just a little bit later I heard them coming in the door. What a relief!
We had set up our air mattress in the living room downstairs for Sharon and Maggie to sleep on and Glenn, Zoe and I were all going to be in our bed upstairs. Needless to say there was not much sleep going on as the storm got stronger and stronger and louder and louder. Maggie was getting very nervous about all the noises she was hearing, especially the wind blowing through the chimney, so she grabbed her pillow and blanket and headed upstairs. We decided to bring up the air mattress and put it in our TV room so I could lay with Maggie and Zoe and hopefully keep our little Nervous Nelly somewhat calm. She was a little bit excited to sleep on the mattress and she said "Hey Mom, it's like we're on a camp out. Only inside. It's like a camp-in". We figured that there was enough room to bring in Maggie's twin mattress for Glenn to sleep on so we drug that in and tried to get some sleep. It took a very long time for Maggie to get settled down, but she did eventually nod off and slept pretty well the rest of the night. Zoe was pretty much out cold all night. Glenn was up and down for the first several hours because there were tornado watches and warnings all through the night. He was impressed and concerned by the green lightning that was lighting up the night. There were several times throughout the night when it sounded like we were going to be blown over. Lots of strong winds and pounding rain. There was a lot of lightning, but we didn't hear much thunder.
When it was finally light enough outside and the winds and rain had calmed down enough we went out to see if there was any damage to the house and our van. A couple of trees were bending over, but there was no damage to the house, the roof our the car. We thought it might be interesting to take a drive around the neighborhood and see what we could find. Lots of shingles in yards, lots of branches in the streets and in yards, storm drains blocked by debris, trees broken and fences knocked down. We are very blessed that we did not sustain any damage, we didn't have to swim out of the neighborhood, and we are all healthy & happy to be a live.
This house is around the corner from us and this is the most structural damage we saw in our area.
This house is in the neighborhood around the corner. From what we can tell the tree didn't actually damage the house. It is just resting on it.
These flags are at Maggie's school. I don't remember seeing them before the hurricane, but I'm pretty sure they didn't look like this.
This tree is also at Maggie's school. It was a very large, pretty, shady tree. I'm sure all the Mom's waiting in the carpool lane will miss it.
There are a lot of houses and businesses that have lost their fences.
Now we are just trying to figure out ways to entertain and occupy Maggie and Zoe and how to live without power for who knows how long! FUN TIMES IN HOUSTON!
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