I've Had My Slackin Time...

Well we survived the hurricane, for those of you who have been waiting anxiously for our news. Having a hurricane is great for procrastination. Everyone will tell you, "oh I couldn't get that done because of the storm, or our bills were lost in the mail because of the storm, etc." The list goes on and on. Even over a month later you still hear the excuses. So I'll tell you a little about our storm experience. We were prepared pretty well. I have to say I am grateful to the church for teaching us about food storage. Every time we go to Costco we get an item for our storage. I knew we wouldn't starve to death. Now for a tangent... I began to notice and despise those in this area who were so unprepared for the storm. The best thing about a hurricane is that you know it's coming for days or weeks in advance. Yes, they may turn at the last moment, but you still know it's coming close to you. I began to hate the whiners on the news/radio who acted like they were the only ones affected by the storm and who had not prepared at all and then expected everyone to help them out and then complain that it didn't happen fast enough. It was so annoying, I wanted to just scream at them. OK enough of that.
Well we started out by filling our tubs with water. You have to do that in case you loose water so you can flush your toilets and I guess you can use it for other things. We did loose water for a few hours and I began to cry. That was my one luxury was a hot shower, but it came back on. We made a lot of ice and froze milk jugs with water. We went to Target and bought lots of munchies. About 10pm the winds started. We decided to sleep in the front room because it had the least amount of windows. Our power went out about 2am. By this time the winds were out of control. I have to admit it was so scary. It was pitch black outside and if you felt the windows you could feel them bow under your hand. We didn't sleep at all. Finally around 5am we slept while the eye passed over. The other side of the storm came back around 8am and continued for a few more hours. We were on the dirty side, so we were hit with collecting rain bands all day. We were extremely lucky, all that happened to us was our pine tree tipped over and our fence in the back broke loose. Some people in this area had trees on them, roofs ripped apart, and of course those by the coast completely lost everything. This was only a category 2 and it did so much damage. I would hate to see a bigger one. After the storm we were without power for about a week. I have to say that most of the time the weather was just beautiful Not your normal hot sticky Houston weather. Al had to go back to work on Monday so I stayed in Houston instead of going up to Dallas. My wonderful parents did buy us a generator and we met halfway and picked it up. We didn't run it too much because gas was hard to come by. We lost most of the food from our fridge and freezer. But, the first couple of days we had great meals trying to eat stuff from the fridge so it wouldn't all go to waste. I got to know my neighbors better and meet some new ones. I began the Twilight series, and I took a lot of naps. All in all it wasn't the best experience, but we survived, our house was fine, and now we know how to prepare better for the next one. I can't get my storm pics to load right now, but when I figure it out I'll update this.

Bladder Infection, Burnt Toast, and a Hurricane

Well the title pretty much sums up my day.....ughhh. Well the bladder infection is not new, it is actually going away. I thought it would just help paint the picture of my day. Yes, yes I know it is more information than you really need, but oh well.
My lovely morning started with me waking up at 6:00 with a splitting headache and a realization that I missed boot camp this morning. We were going to do a push-up test and run a mile, so of course I was just devastated. I then rolled back over and went to sleep. Up again with Al's alarm at 6:50. I dashed to the shower and told Al to check the breakfast menu and then make breakfast, which since I am unemployed he never has to do anymore. Not that he did it when I was employed, but we are following a strict menu right now. It is for people with diabetes. We don't have diabetes, but we both need to loose weight and I really hate coming up with menus, so I found this one all made up already. Enough of that. After my shower I went to check on Al. Who know cutting up a kiwi and a mango would take nearly 30 minutes. I can't complain though since I wasn't doing anything. Al finished the fruit salad and went to take a shower. We were supposed to have toast with jam with the salad as well. So in all of my geniousness I put the toast in the toaster and went to blow dry my hair. I guess I should mention that I had an interview this morning with a large temp agency, since I am having no luck on finding a job on my own. Well I blow dry and straighten my hair and I smell a faint burning smell. I casually walk out of our room into the family room and I am greeted with a billowing cloud of smoke. I quickly unplugged the toaster and open all the windows and doors and turn on the fans. It smelled SOOOO bad. I wish I could turn this page into a scratch and sniff so you can understand the full effect. I am guessing the toast burned for at least 15 minutes. Our poor dog started shaking uncontrollably. I didn't yell, but I guess the smoke scared him. Poor little guy. Anyways we aren't having toast with breakfast. By this time it is almost 8am and I needed to be out the door. I felt really bad for going to the interview smelling like burnt toast. I mean I really stunk. The interview and tests took almost 4 hours. They liked me burnt toast smell and all, so they agreed to help me find a job. When I got done I had to wait in line to get gasoline since a hurricane is expected to hit Friday night.
We are not evacuating. We did that for our first hurricane. It took us 23 hours to drive to Dallas which is normally about three and a half hours, four if you stop for Dairy Queen. So we are riding it out. I am actually really excited. If we loose power for more than a day we will head up to Dallas after the storm. I would like to stay close though since my dear friend is supposed to have a baby any day. She is actually over due. I think it is the best time to have a baby. I also invited myself to the birth.
So there is a little bit of excitement and nervouness mixed into one. I hope to take some cool pics on Saturday morning. That is if we survive...hahaha. Winds are projected to be at 95 miles an hour when they get to our house. So, the positive thing is they will be slowing down. Oh the joys of living on the coast. I will post some pics soon as I find my cord for the camera. I need to head out and buy some essentials just in case and then fill the tubs with water. Just because there is a hurricane that is no reason to be stinky. By the way, my house still stinks like burnt toast.