My new room

I got my own room today. One of the upstairs bedrooms is now my study / den / retreat / whatever I want to call it but it's where I'll WRITE relatively undisturbed.

Once I wrote in the bedroom and pretty much cluttered up half of it, but after we had all our floors redone (courtesy hurricane Ike) the bedroom looked so nice without my junk...

So I moved into the dining room because we never use it anyway. Well, twice a year. BUT - it's right between the kitchen / living room and my husband's study (where he leaves the door open and cranks up the music) and with all the carpet gone everything is much louder than before. Plus it's hard to be in the middle of an intense scene but have someone stop by to see if you know where the [insert item] is or when the TV is drowning out all rational thought.

So - I'm moving out - er up - to where I'll have a door and the opportunity for peace and quiet - I've promised my family I'll show up every now and again.

I finally framed all those contest finalist certificates so I can hang them up over my desk and use them for inspiration. But I'm wondering what else I need to put in there - books, knick-knacks, computers, printer, paper, toner, promo items, iPod, trash can, new lamp, comfy chair. The latter because I like to proof read a hard copy every now and again, it's amazing what the eyes will spot on paper and especially if you change the font.

Hmmm what else - any suggestions?

What's in a blog?

I'm cheating a little today. First I'm going to tell you all about the request for a full I received recently, that would be the full I made a significant plot change to.

I've been editing like crazy all week!

Secondly, I'm going to tell you about my other blog which really describes how I've felt for the last week. Except I forgot to mention I had dental work done that tore up my mouth and put me on antibiotics!

Check out:
http://rosesofhouston.blogspot.com/2009/08/escaping-doldrums.html

and everyone have a great weekend, I have a story to read and another one to finish!

They've gone - whew!

And for those of you that think I'm heartless... I had six extra people staying with me.

My poor m-i-l, bless her soul, is old, feeble, and borderline Alzheimers. A couple of examples. She thinks the power is off in her home because f-i-l didn't pay the light bill. Also that he is giving her the wrong medication to try and kill her. He says fine, just die then. She has sweet, sweet moments then tantrums because the family is keeping her from her home against her will. Stress #1 - 3

f-i-l is great and still laughs at my jokes. But hasn't quite accepted that his health isn't what it should be, and eats food that upsets his stomach and makes us think he needs an ambulance. And feels helpless that he can't do more. He wants to help me with the three meals a day (for 10) plus dishes but seriously, it is easier if I do it myself. Stress #4

b-i-l #1 (50+ and has never been married / left home) gets concerned that he missed a meal and thinks I'll do his laundry. ROFLMAO! I showed him what HOT, WARM, etc. meant on the washing machine and how to measure the detergent. Stress #5 - 7

Two nieces and nephew (ages 11 - 14) are awesome and from single parents (hubby's siblings) that dropped them off and left (that's okay).

Three of my husband's siblings (he's one of six) in the area had power but did not seem to want the parents or see how they were doing. Hmm. Stress #8

And hubby has found a lot of "outside" things to do the last few days. Stress #9

m-i-l and f-i-l can't go upstairs so they had our bed and hubby and I slept on recliners. Sort of as the kids were loud until I sent "be quiet or die" text messages to my daughter. Note I'm not saying dh right now and "hubby" is stretching it... Stress #10

Turns out b-i-l #2 had a generator so f-i-l guilted him into setting up at their house. Just as well as I have to go back to work in the morning and my daughter starts school. Of course b-i-l #1's truck broke down on the way home and dh (!!) had to go take them water for their radiator. I thought they might be back and hit the chocolate. But they managed to make it home.

Excuse the venting . . . therapy!!

AND I got to write for an hour this evening and feel GREAT!! Tired, yes, but great.

Perhaps next week I can talk about something more fun!

The problem with having power when others don't

The in-laws are back. 'Nuff said. With six extra people in my house I'm now a short-order cook, dishwasher, nursemaid, and keeper of the peace.

I'll let you know when I'm out of therapy.

Ike-us Interrupt-us

I typed this yesterday but then couldn't get a good enough datacard connection to get online!
************

Several years ago, my husband asked if I would like to go catping. My response: “Not sure. How big is the RV?”

So “roughing it” after Ike is tedious, to say the least. It is now Sunday, September 14 and almost 9 pm. I’ve been surviving the lack of power and lack of water and lack of everything else with the comfort of my laptop and cell phone. My mini-van is nicely equipped with a power outlet so we pull out into the driveway a couple of hours a day, run the engine, enjoy the a/c, and watch TV. I also plug in my laptop and data card and share “air” time with my daughter. For any Apollo 13 fans it is our Lunar Module.

Not today. Cell service has got weaker and weaker and I now can’t connect. I thought I’d make some notes for when that changes.

I think Centerpoint restored power to a whopping hundred thousand people over the last twelve hours. Only 1.9 million to go! Of course, a couple of major transmission lines are down and many rows of light poles are tilted at alarming angles. Trucks are running around all over the place and the “up” folks are creeping in closer. I think they are doing the best they can but we are never satisfied! The temperatures have dropped and supposedly the humidity will go down tomorrow which will help out. The house is smelly so we tore up the areas of wet carpet in the four rooms affected. The hole in the roof is at the very top and even the man-lift we rented to put up plywood (and couldn’t return because the store closed early) couldn’t reach it. The rain is supposed to be over but we still have a couple of buckets in the front hallway.

Today we drove forty or so miles to Rosenberg. We’d been told we could find gas, water, and ice there. We found gas in Needville (or about halfway) and the lines were manageable. A huge stream of traffic came the other way, RV’s and livestock trailers with people coming home.
Things in Rosenberg were civilized. There were a couple of restaurants open and McDonald’s boasted a “hurricane” menu of burgers and nuggets. We even found cash on our fourth ATM stop, we still had plenty but wanted to stockpile. Bottled water was fairly plentiful and we got about fifty gallons.

The area we traveled was littered with twisted metal, downed signs and traffic lights, and tarp-covered roofs. Power was non-existent for the first fifteen miles, then spotty, then mostly on. People pulled into powerless but open gas stations and just hung around and chatted. Humanity is so social!

Of course, everyone is complaining. Where is the ice and the water and the MRE’s and the gas? Well – I’m sure it will be here. Less than two days has passed since the worst of the hurricane left our area and help could congregate. I don’t think anyone anticipated so many people being without power.

I’m so tired of living “rough” but it only shows how spoiled I am. I applaud the stores that are opening so we can go in and buy baby wipes, chips, peanuts, and warm cans of soda. The folks behind the counter are working via calculator and it is cash-only, but they were a welcome sight and we didn’t encounter any gouging. We got a lot of batteries, flashlights, water, food, and candles before this started. Not enough. Especially not enough water because our 4-H chicks go through six or seven gallons a day. Having run out of usable rainwater they are now on bottled so I hope they appreciate it! We learned a lot when we evacuated for Rita but that missed our house. So many things we will do differently next time there is a chance we may lose power.

Seems like the various agencies are finding out the things they could do better too.

I am thankful that I thought to do every scrap of laundry on Friday although spotted a couple of packed but open laundromats in Rosenberg.

Grateful we have nothing we can’t recover from.

Not looking forward to another dark night.

Greatly anticipating the time when we get power or find a motel room and I can shower again!

Let there be light. Please

So we made it through the storm without killing each other. It was close, people got a little cranky. Stress? Nothing like the wind screaming while the candles flicker and water drips through the ceiling and under the refrigerator. Make that pours. We mopped up five gallons that was somehow coming in through the side of the house. At least we had something to flush the toilets with! But it was scary. You'd hear things rattling against the side of the house and not know what would hit hard enough to break through. Then you'd think the wall or roof was about to peel away.

Anyway - did you know you can get blisters from wringing out towels? Try doing it for two hours. At least it was cool on the kitchen floor sitting in a puddle of water. And it took my mind of that claustrophobic feeling... Or perhaps it was the bottle of wine. One or the other.

Power went out early, 9 pm. Out of 2.2 million Centerpoint customers, 2.1 million are without power. All together it is 22 percent of the ENTIRE state of Texas. That's a lot of folks, y'all. Up to a month to bring it all back. Hopefully ours will only be a few days as we aren't in the flooded area and this is the only time I'm happy we don't have a lot of trees. For us no power = no water.

Then the eye passed and the wind changed and the water came in through the study instead. Carpet in there is soaked. Oh well. After seeing the rest of the damage we got off lightly. Our barn is short a roof and a couple of walls, but the livestock survived (haven't seen all the chickens yet but haven't really looked). And thirty percent of my shingles are scattered on the floor but nothing that can't be fixed.

I'm sitting in my van, parked in the driveway, with dh and daughter watching TV in the back. I have a full tank of gas, a/c, and a power outlet. We may camp out here tonight! I said it was our Lunar Module a la Apollo 13.

Inside it is dark. We took down a few strips of plywood but the sun is down. I still walk into rooms and forget I'll be blind.

In-laws left and son went to stay with a friend as he has to work and really needs a shower. (We all do but still.) So it is just the three of us and a mountain of animals. But we have flashlights and a few candles, water and iPods. Tomorrow I think stores thirty or forty minutes away will be open and hopefully trucks with ice and water will arrive.

And who knows what the next few days will bring. If there's anything else brewing in the tropic please don't tell me...

Okay - daughter is whining for the data card.

Take care everyone!

The hurricane's coming and so are the in-laws

Just a few of the in-laws...

Two b-i-l's, f-i-l, niece, and nephew.

M-i-l went with s-i-l and her family to niece in College Station.

We have enough soup to start a kitchen but my pizza’s about gone. This was a last minute decision for most (they live north of Galveston and we live west) of them but never mind, the other kids are keeping my daughter’s mind at ease.

The plywood’s up and so is the wind. Debris is being cornered and I’ve moved crates so I can bring the dogs that live in a small kennel building into my utility room.

For those that don’t know – I have 21 dogs… Don’t ask.One is already driving me crazy with yapping so he just got two Benadryl. Another one is a storm freak so he’s going to share a crate with his sister.

The mom with one pup in my bathroom is another storm freak but she can hang out in the bedroom with me while I’m hiding from dh’s family. Did I say that?

It’s gonna be a long night!

Oh well, back to work!