The positive side of Ike
-we had absolutely no damage done to the house other than a leaves and twigs in the yard. We have a part of our fence that about to fall over but even it survived the storm. I have to say I feel EXTREMELY lucky and covered by God's grace that nothing happened to us. I did wake up from the rain and wind the morning Ike moved in and moved to the closet to finish my sleep (it is on the opposite side if the house where the rain and wind were coming from). And my sweet husband even let me sleep there until 8:45!!! Which in my house is a luxury considering that the boys wake up about 6:30 EVERY morning.
We ventured out Sat afternoon to see if our roof had any damage and I found a single shingle on the driveway and informed John. He went out and surveyed the house and didn't see any missing tiles at first glance so he stepped into the street to look at the house. On his way back in he glanced at the houses down the street. One poor house had a huge section of it's roof gone. Not gone gone like a hole in it - but gone as in no shingles. So we figured the shingle I found belonged to them.
-I went to work on Friday on Monday and was compensated triple time for working while the school was closed. I almost made more in 2 days than I normally do in 2 weeks!
-John ad I went out to get milk for the kids. We had to wait for them to unload the truck with the 2% milk. While waiting we met a couple to have been attending the 5:30 service at Ecclessia. We asked if they new our friends there and they do! And they had dinner with y'all last time you were here. I don't remember their names.
-The cooler weather is perfect for running!

The negative side of Ike
-Most of the people we know who live in town do not have power - this includes both of out parents. John's parents are at the previously mentioned brother in Katy and my parents, well there are at my house. Now don't get me wrong, I do love my parents are are grateful that they are here to watch the kids while John and I go back to work, but I have my way of doing things and they just don't do them that way. For a lot of things. At first they had water but no power. WHen they went back to check on the house today now they have no water. We have been hearing on the news that it could take 2 weeks for some people to get power back - I think I'll go crazy by then.
-They have canceled school thru Wednesday. So not only do I have my parents here but all 3 kids as well. Again it's not that I don't love all of them, but the kids tend to misbehave when my parents are here thinking they can get away with more - uh uh no sir no way. So they get in trouble whuch in turn gets me mad which in turn gets me upset with my parents. I know this yet I cannot control my part of it.
-On Saturday afternoon after a slight sense of cabin fever (remember 3 kids) we decided to venture out to look for some place to eat. What's the first place we go? OF COURSE Bellaire. Oh we were SO disappointed. no power. drove down to Hong Kong market - no power. We knew that Katy had power since a friend and John's brother live out there so we drove over there. The 4 places we saw that were open had people waiting to get into the parking lot so we ended up at my brother in laws.
-gas lines are ridiculous! and grocery stores are closing at 7 or 9pm
-one of my friend's husband went to Bellaire to get some lunch. a few places were open to eat. While he was waiting for his food he ate some of the dim sum food he ordered. It was bad as in rotten. He told the person at the counter who refunded his money and also asked him not to say anything to the rest of the customers! Apparently they were cooking food that had been in their non powered fridge over the weekend.
-since my lab has been closed I have been bringing work home. no further explaination needed.

Here's hoping that we fare as lucky after the next hurricane.

Code word: GALAXY

So the other night i wasn't feeling so well so I excused myself. I was gone for a while and when I came back John asked if I felt better. Long story short - H asked if I had "galaxy." Yea, I was just as confused.
"What?"
"Did you have galaxy?" very adamantly.
"H what do you mean did I have galaxy? John do you know what he's talking about?" He shakes his head.
"You know it's when you have pee poop." Trying not laugh.
Now for the weak at heart you may want to stop here.
He continues. "It's like you're peeing, but it's coming out of the place that you poop. You're poop is like pee - pee poop - galaxy." C looks on like "yea that's right"
"H that's called diarrhea."
"Oh."
Cut to 2 days later.
H stops playing. " I have to go to the bathroom."
"Do you have galaxy?"
both of us laugh.
So from now on when I used the word "galaxy" in public and it makes no sense at all, you will know what I mean.

per request

So one of my friends asked why I haven't blogged in awhile. I don't really have an answer. I do know that with each successive child I have had I have become less and less social. It's not that I don't want to talk to my friends, but I as you know and I hope agree with me, it takes a lot of work to keep up with friends! And a lot of times I have very little to share that I think will be of interest to them. I don't want to be constantly talking to them about my kids bc I know that can be annoying, but my kids take up the majority of my time and energy. Which is another reason I probably don't blog often. I don't have the energy to think about what to write. BUT you're in luck! Here are the things that have been on my mind/going on these past few days.

1) I don't get why people "reply all" to some emails. Sure if "all" absolutely need to know your response then a reply all is okay. But say your rsvping for an event in which 50 people were invited. I don't need to know if you're coming. I once got emails bt a husband and wife who were discussing which way something would be better. No kidding 4 emails from each spouse each email less than 2 sentences. I have learned to just delete all re: emails except for the first and last ones.

2) One of my friends and I took swimming lessons last week. My parents never took me for lessons so I never learned to float, tread water, or doggie paddle. And for some reason as I got older I became more and more afraid of the water. My friend was the same way. We decided to take the class figuring it couldn't do us any harm. Well I learned how to breathe and how to tread water in a matter of 4 days. I won't be setting any records any time soon, but I'm hoping I can survive if thrown overboard. It has been particularly interesting watching the Olympics and relating what the coach taught us to what I see in the games.

3)I didn't catch anyof the opening cermonies of the Olympics. My co teacher did and said it made him proud to be Asian. I'm hoping he didn't mean that he wasn't proud before. Also later the news was showing a group of Asian people watching the China vs US basketball team. They interviewed a woman who definitly wasn't ABC to see who she was rooting for. Her reply was very "asian" if you know what I mean. John laughed and told me to tape that then show my co teacher if that made him proud to be asian.

that's all for now. I have to pick up my kids....

Awww...

So on my way home today
Carter asks, "Are we going home Mommy?"
Me: "Yes."
Carter: "Good, then I will be safe."
In my mind I was a bit concerned at first, then I heard
Harrison, "Carter you are always safe, because God is always with you. Even when you are lonely He is there."
I got a little choked up.

old man in gym

for those of you who may still remember and are wondering about the old man in the gym story and what I did...when I got home I took a shower and scrubbed my arm A LOT. A few weeks later I was taking the boys to swim lessons and i bumped into one of the girls who works in the child care center. She asked me where Riley and I had been and I told her about the old guy. We were standing at the front desk and another employee told me I should have reported him. I haven't been to the Y in quite some time.