Happy (belated) Birthday, Scarlett!

Hurricane Ike did more than chase us out of our home and muck up our roof. It also caused the postponement of a celebration for Scarlett's First Birthday.

But we were finally able to celebrate last weekend with family and close friends. Brunch, mimosas and cake...it doesn't get better than that.

Woke up from a nap by daddy, but still ready to party.
(That's my mom holding her.)

Baby's first bite of icing.

Anabella supervises...and immediately demands her own cake and gifts.

Milk to wash it all down with.

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Dearest Baby Scarlett,

I cannot tell you how much joy you bring to my life. Always smiling, always giggling...you light up every day. I love how laid back you are...nothing really seems to bother you. (How wonderful THAT must feel!) I love that you are an exceptional eater...and that you love to sleep (thank you for still being a two-naps-a-day girl)...and that you are finally on the Family Sleep-in Schedule. (No more 7:00 a.m. for us.)

I love your demeanor...always sweet and gentle...and your cute little belly laugh makes me forget all my worries. And most especially, I love that you are your own mischievous little person. The hair puller, the screamer (although I could do with a little less of that), the dog chaser, and the kid who runs to get out of the gate and up the stairs before we even realize we left it open. Always stealing Anabella's sippy cups...always sticking your fingers in places they shouldn't be...always waiting for the opportunity to wreak havoc in the laundry room or the pantry.

There's never a dull moment...and I couldn't be more thankful.

"What the F*ck?" Wednesday

This came home from school with Anabella on Monday. I know I am nit picky because I write and edit for a living, but WTF?!

I guess her respondsabilities do not include spell checking or refraining from excessive use of exclamation marks.



I was at CVS today and noticed a strange trend...Flamin'Hot Funyuns are being dissed everywhere! Apparently, Flamin' Hot Fritos and Flamin' Hot Chesters (whatever those are!) aren't making the cut either.

Finally, like these bruises? I got them from a pizza box. That's right, I got my ass kicked by a cardboard box. Haven't I been beat down enough over the past few weeks...hurricanes, absolute craziness at work, and now this? WTF?

Hurricane Photos

A little hurricane pictorial. We were very fortunate not to have any catastrophic damage, but here are a few photos from my stomping grounds.

Privacy is highly overrated.

For sale: One recreational vehicle. Slight hurricane damage. Perfect for the guy who wants a Fixer Upper!

Traffic signals take on new meanings.

My roof post-Ike. Don't be envious of my fancy tarps.

My roof as a "pile."

My roof takes a swim.

And you thought metal was tough.


Too bad we don't actually use firewood here in Houston.

How to Wait for a Hurricane

We evacuated on Thursday afternoon to stay with our friends Marjorie and Kirk, who graciously allowed us to bring our two kids and two dogs, and invade their home. We got there a day and a half before Ike made landfall, so here's what we did while waiting for emanate doom!

Drank heavily...

Watched TV...

Obsessed (and laughed) over CNN's repeated proclamation that we were all facing CERTAIN DEATH if we did not evacuate. (you can't see it, but I swear that is what it said)

Danced in the wind and rain. (Okay, only the kids did that, but it looks like fun, right?)

More later...

P.S. As of this morning, 26% of Houston (616,000 homes) still do not have power. :(

Surviving Ike

We're still here! Things are not really back to normal, but I do have electricity and Internet access, so that's a good start.

There have been ridiculously long lines for gas...

and groceries...

and even when you get inside, the selection is limited. (Poor Flamin' Hot Funyuns...no fun even when food is scarce.)

And of course, limited electricity means not much air conditioning, which is very hard to live without in Houston.

As of this morning, 36% of the city still has no electricity. Most of the traffic lights aren't working, so traffic is a nightmare...and there is debris everywhere...

But we are still here!

More photos soon...

I am so f*cking OVER you...

...HURRICANES!

This is like the umpteenth time I have had to pack up my stuff, my kids and my animals, and get the hell out of dodge. After living in Houston my entire life, you would think I would have the hang of it, but I honestly don't remember having this many true "threats" in the past. Granted, I live a lot closer to the coastline now, but still. It's a pain the ass.

So, it is times like these that I am really glad we have a Hummer, and Father Al and everyone else who gives me a hard time about my H2 can just SUCK it. It is packed full of stuff and now I just need to cram in two kids and two dogs and hit the highway.

More soon.

If I hear that word one more time...

HR Chick: Can we jazz it up some? Maybe make it a little more salesy, you know, add some sizzle...some jazziness. If we could make this introduction a little more jazzy, I think it would be great. Just jazz up the company stuff and add a really cool, jazzy section about what a career in that department can do for them. The whole thing just needs to have more JAZZ.

Me: (Jabbing pencil in my eye)

"What the F*ck?" Wednesday

I was playing with sweet little Scarlett's toes and noticed what looked like a small cut on the bottom of her foot. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a splinter...but then I realized it was a HAIR. A hair, but a splinter! A hair splinter? WTF??

Of course, Dan thought I was out of my mind, so I did an Internet search and found a few websites that mentioned such a thing....apparently hair stylists and dog groomers occasionally have this bizarre experience too.

So, I got out the tweezers and after a few minutes, I had the damn thing out. It was one of our bulldog's hairs. Can you frickin' believe that?

I know it's blurry, but that red line on her foot is where a hair was embedded. ICK!

It tastes like cardboard, but...

My company does a lot of work with our local food bank, so last week my department spent an afternoon filling bags of food for school children (who are participants in the school lunch program) to eat over the weekend. It was very rewarding...and sad...but then, as always, I found some humor in the situation.

We were walking by the rows and rows of food, when I noticed several HUGE boxes full of NutriSystem food.

These pictures don't do the boxes justice....they are like 6 feet wide by 5 foot deep, and filled to the top with crappy NutriSystem food. (And I can say that because I tried NutriSystem earlier this year and made it for about a week before I couldn't handle it any more. Of course I didn't think to throw my extras in the food bank barrel at the grocery store...mine went directly into the trash can.)

So, I never got the chance to ask, but I wonder if they are distributing this food to the hungry. (If you've never had NutriSystem food, let me explain that nothing requires refrigeration...not the hamburgers or the chicken or the fish...think MRE, but not as tasty.)

What do you think? Would you be pissed if you got a box of diet food from the food bank?

On a side note...kudos to Continental Airlines. They are now boxing up all the uneaten snacks and sending them to the food bank (they used to throw them out!). So the kiddos got some good snacks...peanuts, raisins, granola bars, cookies and the occasional snack-sized candy...that they weren't getting before.