One Last Painting...

Robert finished grilling our burgers and then we boarded up the back door. The Rain had started to sprinkle, but Alice still wanted to paint. I thought it would be funny to put the Oz reference. Alice painted some flowers and had me paint "Alice's Garden" and she's covering up her words, but they say "I love Ike"

She's adorable.

Ok so now we are officially HUNKERED down!

Hopefully it will be awhile before the power goes out and I'll post again-

We did meet some neighbors across the street, they needed some clips for their brick windows, so we helped them out. Nobody else (that I can see from my Gladys Kravits viewpoint) has boarded up.

David and Quentin join the fun

This was designed by Quentin and sums up his feelings towards the hurricane- No School, and also that Halo Rocks. I like that He spelled Ike Iike, this coming from the boy who scored over 100 on every spelling test last year.

David designed the Do not Disturb. He for some reason is not pictured, probably because he beat feet back into the house to finish up his mission on the computer or on Halo 3. He's sooo happy to be off school, we don't have the heart to explain, he'll make it up later.

Robert added a little to Quentin's board and put a picture, or his rendition of Paw Paw. A little tribute to the man that made it all possible.

My friend Heather Moulton called today and apparently Anderson Cooper (the tool) anounced

"Evacuate or Die"

Well I just want to calm any fears, there is no need to evacuate from this area, we are not in the realm of a storm surge. We don't live near the Bay. We live by the San Jacinto River and Lake Houston, but far enough away that no damage can brought on by a storm surge.
Galveston and my beloved Surfside however aer another story. They havn't even received rain yet and the storm surge has completly flooded Surfside Island and has made it impossible to leave Galvestion (allegedly, I'm using the new as my guide, and we all know they are biased)

Keep praying to the "God of your choice" that the winds are not to rough and that the pressure rises so the storm's intensity falls.

I'll post again before the power goes.

The calm before the storm....

Here are some fun photos of Robert, Alice and I having fun at Ike's expense, we are sooo hoping he has a good sense of humor. Below are pictures I took to prepare for my law suit against the builder next door and Harris County/TXDot

Ok so they tore down the forest next door and began building this house in June. It should be done by now, right? Well it's not and not only is it not done, they went ahead and left a ton of debris out front, debris that the news says could turn into a missile. "If you can pick it up, the wind can throw it"

So I'm sure the "extra strong" orange plastic will keep the debris from flying at my house-- So if there is anyone in Crosby who thinks I overeacted to boarding my windows, this is why. I live next door to a dumpsite!

To be honest, I'm a little greatful they left the Port O can, just in case the sewer backs up, we'll have a safe place to "take care of business"

Ok, so Harris County, working in Concert with TX DOT (texas department of transportation) approved like a gazillion dollars to "improve" the drainage on our street. This "improvement" means they spent a couple of months tearing up curbs and yards to put in basically the same dang curb, only in white instead of standard issue gray. They didn't repair the roads when they were "done." Well on Tuesday, they had the bright idea to come and destroy the curbs next door and across the street, and just leave it there with wood and the highway cones. I'm sure this won't cause a problem with drainage or wind damage.

This is my driveway and my post box to give you an idea of how close this is-- Pretty lame, especially given the fact they didn't work the whole month of August. Robert and I assumed that they stopped getting paid. Clearly they get paid by the hour and not by the job.

I'm sure I'll post more and more until Ike turns off our power. We are ready, the laundry is done and put up, the dishes are clean, the freezer has ice and we'll be filling our drinking coolers soon. I just need to vacuum. Robert wants to set up a little camping area so we'll do that soon too. They are expecting landfall sooner than they said before and the bad weather (before the storm) will probably be here by lunchtime.

Let the Games begin!

Huff and Puff IKE, Huff and Puff

So here is Robert, Following the orders of the Honorable Mayor Bill White of Houston to "Hunker Down and Shelter in Place."

So began the process of keeping Ike at Bay. While Robert and I were dilligently nailing the plywood to the windows, we couldn't help but notice our neighbors, preparing a different way, preparing by stocking up on liquid refreshment and playing horseshoes, ordering pizza and getting louder and louder....

I say we were nailing the plywood to the windows, Ideally we would have been screwing them in. After all, Robert has a power drill and a cordless drill, in fact I think he has two cordless drills. Turns out, according to "rob" I didn't get wood screws. HMMM.... Ibeleive it's a bad athlete that blames the equipment.. so I pose the question are there screws specifically for wood and then specifically for not wood?

Again I digress...

So we got boarded up with the minimal collateral damage, a black and blue thumb on Robert and about 10,000 mosquito bites on my legs and feet.

After we finished, I tackled the garage, you may remember(or maybe not) how I cleaned the garage for Eduardo, so that made todays task very easy, I merely had to put the bikes up again,( I'm thinking we should get those hooks,) and then con Quentin into moving the water into the house. He insisted on sweeping the floor. So the cars are secure, we have our non perishables, about 40 library books, batteries and fully charged Nintendo DS's.

Like I said Ike, "huff and puff" we are ready for you.

As it turns out, he's probably going to keep heading east and then this will all be for nothing, but as I kept telling Robert while he was nailing away, "an ounce of prevention baby, an ounce of prevention." You can imagine the love in his eyes everytime I said a cute little colloquialism.

Here are the kids not helping us put up the plywood.

Paw paw had suggested that the boys help by holding the plywood. I understand the value of work and how it helps children appreciate what we give them, but seriously-- anyone out there agree that sometimes the best help 4 children can give, is to stay in the house and play their electronic games?

As it turns out while we were sweating and practically dying, Alice had helped herself to some makeup,not just my regular makeup that I never wear, but she was busy using the glitter makeup to create some fabulous craft. The evidence was found just a few moments ago when I was clearing off the craft desk anticipating a full night of scrapping. I decided to blog instead. However Alice does look adorable in this picture as she is clearly not helping with the hurricane preparations.

Now this is adorable!!! The whole time we are boarding up, she's going from room to room inside and knocking on the windows, asking for her Mommy. She is just too too cute!!! She would have loved to have been outside helping us, but we felt in the interest of her survival, she not be around dad flinging a hammer and nails and mom potentially dropping the plywood on her cute feet. She was very happy when I finished in the garage, because I brought in the container of little people. It's a blast to find an old toy and make it new. She stayed busy for hours.

Paw Paw is a ROCKSTAR!!!!

So this morning after the kids were on the bus, Joely and I were snuggling, just ready to have a little cat nap, when I hear the doorbell. When I got closer I saw a man messing with my windows, I was ascared, but then I realized the man was PAW PAW.

Paw Paw? You ask?? Well Paw Paw is what southerners call their grandpa. So in reality it was Robert's dad, also named Robert but referred to by family as Bobby.
He had come to make the plywood I purchased actually useful. You see when a hurricane is coming, you dont' just buy plywood and put it in the garage or shed, you need to cut it to fit the windows. So that's what he did this morning for two hours. His only paycheck was two "gimmee shirts" and a warm feeling in his heart. At the end he was talking about Hurricane Alisha. He said that was the only time they boarded up windows etc. I said, "well you are set then, you won't have to do any work, just clip them in."

Well actually he had used the plywood to build something for his Father in Law, so he's going to buy some plywood and cut it up for himself. He took care of us first though! He's a good man!

He brings his own tools and saw horses, you'd think he was an eagle scout since he's always prepared!

He Even showed me how to install them. IT shouldn't be too hard even with Robert's help.

Bobby thinks we should leave the windows boarded up, just to make it easier, if Ike hits this weekend. What do you think?

Warning- Prepare for Schmaltz, if you are diabetic, take a shot of insulin, it's 'fixin' to get really really cheesy!

I'm so glad we live by family. I can't tell you how many times Paw Paw has come to the rescue, once when my battery died, he took the kids to school, changed the battery, bought me a new one and installed it. He's watched the girls countless times to make things easy for me. Sue (aka Maw Maw) is helpful too, but since she's not retired yet, she helps out by spoiling kids on weekends/holidays and giving them new shoes, clothes, DS and Wii Games!

Robert's Maw Maw (Bobby's mom) and Paw Paw Walter and Dorothy (Sue's parents) are fun to visit and I enjoy my time with them too. They are good for spoiling the kiddos. They live close by Robert's parents.

Mom and Dad live about 200 miles away, but still its close enough that they don't miss out on games, performances, birthdays or Performances. Right now Mom (we call her grandma, I aint from here) is sewing some skirts for Miss Priss who hates pants and doesn't like the current selection of hoochie mama looking skirts. Also they come and watch the kids for me too, I know if Paw Paw wasn't here, Dad (grandpa) would bring his saw and help us cut the wood. It's nice to know we are not alone in this little joyride through life.

I also love that my kids have sooo many aunts and uncles that adore them as well. They are very loved and cared for!

In fact if this Hurricane Ike has it's way, my parents will miss out on their first Grandparents Day Luncheon, and that will be both Bogus and Sad. OF course they can come any day and make it Grandparents day and the boys will understand, I just wonder about Alice....

A few things I've worked on lately...

I belong to an online group of likeminded scrapbooking ladies. We've been "virtual" friends for almost 4 years-- well part of our friendship involves sharing our creative outlet. Last year I started a circle journal as a sub group within the group... (if you are interested in what a circle journal is click here) So these are some pages that I have completed recently.
DISCLOSURE--- this is only interesting if you like scrapbooking, and really only marginal at that. Specifically it's interesting to Arcalee, Lori, Brenda and Amanda Hugnkiss--

The picture at the top of the blog, is what I made for Lori's CJ last year, of course being late and never on time (same thing, redundant, discursive) Lori is just now getting it- It's a good thing Lori is loving and kind, and has 4 kids, one husband a home business and teaches school. I think she also recently got a new puppy from Nigeria.

This is for Lori's Circle Journal (CJ) her journal is about our dream vacations. Since meeting Robert we've talked about going to Costa Rica. I've done different research and learned about it, after visiting Brazil again, I'd like to go to Cosat Rica. This is a two page layout.

This is for Brenda's CJ- her Journal theme is "what Disney Character do you most identify with?"-- Realistically I relate to one of the princesses, I'd like to have servants etc. But Disney princesses are usually mired in tragedy and have step-mothers. That's sooo not the case with me. And well I like to BELEIVE that I'm like Cinderella (pre-prince charming) and go around singing "Day and night it's Cinderella, do the dishes do the laundry...etc." we all know that's not realistic... I would have chosen Tinkerbell, she's awesome, but I know Nichole (another circle journaler and all around cool cool person- my sister from another mister) already chose her, so I went with Kim Possible. She rocks she can Do ANYTHING!!! I would have liked to have been as cool as her in high school or now- I love the show.

This is for Amanda's CJ- Her theme is Friendship quotes. She was also very specific on the color scheme, of course I did not have enough of the colors that were pretty, so I went with this combo, which was allowed in her instructions. She has the "virtual" friends from Missouri to her house each month, so she has a ton of Friendshp pictures to scrapbook.

And Last but not least, this is an "altered" journal I made for Amanda. These are fun to make and I get to use my favorite retro item, Modge Podge.