Ordinary Presentation

Hurricane Ike caused lots of problems for everyone. Since businesses and schools were closed for almost 2 weeks there are tremendous delays and communication issues galore.

My school was closed for 2 sessions as well and this caused communication issues from counselors. The voice messaging system through the school and counselors said classes would be extended for 2 weeks so my team didn't worry about week 5 assignments. We skipped week 3 and 4. Our team had completed week 3 assignments prior to the hurricane so we started working on week 4 though we did discuss our 30 minute presentation due for week 5.

So, Monday the 22nd, the professor posts that all assignments are due Thursday and there were not going to be make up days. So, for team assignments we had: 2 rough drafts, a final draft, 1 outline and a 20-30 minute presentation. Individual assignments were 1 3-4 page paper and 1 7-8 page paper due. All in 4 days! My team added an extra meeting on Wednesday night for finishing touches and knew we'd do well on everything.

Here's the picture from Organizational Psychology after our Presentation on Disney/Pixar. r-l: Doug, Tonie, Todd, me, Dave and the front is Mike. We did well - knew we would. Everyone enjoyed the program. We're getting to change classes to stay with Tonie and we know we'll continue to have fun!

What's so Ordinary?

I know, I know I should post more often. But what's it matter if no one is reading :)

So, Houston is still not completely back up after the Hurricane. 30% or so still don't have electric and many don't have water. We really missed this one! Big prayers to those still suffering through this.

Many of us are back at work and school. Some schools are closed "until further notice". It's just awful. The pictures coming out are horrific!

Change of note: I'm down a total of 22 lbs now. None of my dress pants fit, they are all huge an look like clown pants. I do have some blouses that are fitting a lot better and my jackets fit alot better. That's the best part. My very dear husband made a comment about how he can touch his arms when he hugs me now :-)

I'm working on Week 5 of the Couch to 5K. I'm not confident that I'll be completely done with the program by November 1 but I'm hoping to be able to run 20 minutes at a time anyway. I'm able to do 2 8-minute runs now - that's 3/4 of a mile at a time. Not to bad, I think.

So, good luck to those in SE Harris County, Galveston County and surrounding areas that are still dealing with Ike!

Mom, if you're reading this! HI! And, I miss you like crazy!

Ordinary Hurricane?

No, there is no such thing as an ordinary Hurricane. We spent much time Thursday and Friday preparing for Hurricane Ike.

Businesses and stores started closing on Thursday. Schools closed Friday with an assesment to be done on Sunday about school on Monday. Jocie's surgery has been postponed for 2 weeks!

The officials asked those not in low lying areas to Shelter-in-Place aka "hunker down" and that's what we did.

We knew we had plenty of food and water should we need it. My husband was most concerned about losing power. I hoped we wouldn't but we prepared for it.

The forecasters kept saying we'd start getting winds, etc by noon on Friday. Tropical Storm force winds were supposed to last unil 6 pm and then Catagory 1 winds shortly after. We didn't get much for winds until 8:00. All of our neighbors went outside to check things out. Everyone was getting stir crazy, I think. We'd been waiting all day for the winds to start with nothing. Even at 8:00, there were only gusts up to 15mph but it was a start.

The full force of the storm hit us around 3a.m. I had gone to bed but was awaken by the sound, the windows rattling, our covered patio roof was threatening to blow off. I tried to watch the weather but the power kept shutting off so I used our battery powered tv Don bought a couple of years ago for just this type of thing. Our trellis had fallen already.

The news was announcing some people lost power as early as 5:00 on Friday. I was encouraged that we'd be spared that fate. Down town Houston was getting pounded and building lost lots of windows. Don got up around 3:30 and we stood in our alcove out front to watch the trees and wind. He didn't stay up long though. I was up until 5:00and slept on the couch after that. I woke again at 6:30, this time the power was out. Paul called to check on us and we were still amid the storm.

By the end of it all - we had no damage to the house. We thought we'd lose the roof to the covered patio but we didn't. One palm tree didn't make it and the crepe tree probably won't either as it was uprooted. Other neighbors lost fences and 1 lost a large tree. Our power was out until 8pm. We spent the time cleaning up the yard, talking with neighbors, sleeping a little, reading, and playing games. It wasn't too bad though.

Hope anyone reading this was is in this path "misses the bullet" which is what we felt happened. Prayers go out to Galveston Island, Bolivar, and other areas hard hit. Here's a few pictures I took after the storm.

Ordinary Wisdom Teeth

Well, I have 2 more pieces of information to share tonight.

First, Jocie started complaining about her gums hurting and we determined it's her wisdom teeth. All 4 are coming in already. The least of my concern is that she's already had braces. But, off to the oral surgeon because her dentist already said she doesn't have enough room for them.

Today, the surgeon decided they'll need to come out so we've scheduled surgery for Friday. Hope Ike stays away!

Also, today was my weight watchers weigh in! I'm down another 2.2 lbs today! I'm down a total of 20.4 lbs! Go me! I'm going to see about getting at least 1 new pair of pants, maybe this weekend. Mine are all getting too big!

Have a great day everyone! Take care!

Something not so Ordinary

A couple of days ago, Don came home from work and called me. He told me to bring our daughter out to the front of the house and be very quiet.

We walked out front and he said to look towards our flower garden. Just then, a chicken ran out of the garden towards the front! Holy moly! We were surprised. We live in a subdivision, not in the country. We couldn't imagine how chickens ended up in the front yard. There ended up being 2 of them!

Just then, the neighbor came home. I jokedly asked him if he was missing a couple of chickens. Come to find out, they were his! He said his wife raises them until they get a bit bigger and then takes them to their property in the country. He said otherwise, the hawks get them. Too weird. We've lived next to them for 7 years and never knew they were raising chickens.

You never know your neighbors, do you?

Ordinary Homework

Last night was too funny! My daughter and I were sitting at the computer desk, each doing homework. Quite interesting actually. She was doing US History and I was writing a paper on Job Satisfaction. Occassionally, we'd toss out a question to the other. Interesting.

We took the car in yesterday morning and the problem with the dash gauges ended up being a couple of wires under the seat. We even got the wiper issue fixed. And, got the car back on the same day. Very nice.

Stopped at a WW on my way home and weighed in. Down another 1.6 lbs! Woo hoo. I'm down a total of 18.4 lbs as of June 30. I'm very excited about that. Never would have thought I'd lose 18 lbs in 2 months. The next goal I've set is 13 lbs by October 31. I wanted to be down 30 lbs before I do the 5K on November 1. Heck, at this rate, it might be more!

Well, everyone reading this, have a great day!