Symbols

Hi, hello, been a long time, what's new?! Let's just move on to the title of my post. (Tomorrow I'm going to post an exciting update about our Holidays, but I don't have the pictures right now to make said post, so I have to wait.)

Symbols - I went out at lunchtime today to get some more Weight Watchers meals because even though I'm not doing Weight Watchers anymore, I like to know just how many points I'm eating for lunch. For all my other meals, I don't really care.

I also wanted to swing by WalMart to see if they had restocked any of these really cool plates that I wanted to get another set of. (sorry, it just sounds too funny in my head to fix that grammatical error) About three years ago, we bought a different kind of Corelle plates that were fine. Just fine. I really never liked them, but we kind of figured that having a clumsy and destructive (not intentionally so, but hugely destructive nonetheless) little boy, we really needed to invest in something that would be at least break-resistant without resorting to eating every meal off of plasticware.

On a whim about a month ago, I decided to peruse the Corelle website and see if there were any nicer plates out there these days. As soon as I saw these, I showed them to my husband and we decided right then that it would be our quest to find them. Oddly enough, that quest turned out to be much easier than we originally thought because I just happened to find them at our local Walmart about a week later and bought two sets.

Now, why is it that we absolutely had to get these plates? Because the pattern shows an outline of a Reuleaux triangle, of course. And that happens to be one of the symbols of our college.

So, as I was walking to my car, I was thinking about all the other things I have that are symbolic to me. If I was in a car wreck on the way home tonight, they would find me with:
- my peace symbol earrings (new Christmas present!)
- my sorority watch
- my CoExist sticker on my car
- my new "Share the Road Y'all" license plates
- and some "lunch size" Reuleaux triangle plates in the trunk.

I guess that pretty much sums me up.

Been awhile, eh?

Yep, I know. And I actually have plenty of things to complain about. Just not enough time to complain about them!

Today I have to pack up all my stuff in my office and issue all my P&ID's. And we're leaving town tomorrow. It's really good timing.

The kids have been in a continuous bickering battle for at least two weeks. We're going to have to have a sit-down talk about this soon, but, once again, no time. Poor kids, they've had to completely take care of themselves every night this week. Anyway, I'll just leave you with one of their more civil conversations, overheard yesterday morning:

F: I don't like Marxo anymore.
M: You love me, you just don't like what I'm doing right now.
F: I love you, I just don't like you to yell at me.

*sigh*

1 of 3600

So, I went and voted earlier this week. I don't want to even think about the lines that people will have to negotiate on the actual election day. There was a huge line at the place where I went and voted, but I was in and out of there in only 30 minutes. If only all government lines worked so efficiently...

I checked the early voting numbers for Harris county and there have already been more than a half a million people who have voted. I was one of 3600 that voted on Tuesday at my polling place. It seems that people really are taking this one seriously.

I'm very anxious about the election. I'm sure it's no secret that I would like Obama to win, but I'm worried that something is going to happen and we'll be stuck with another psycho in the White House. I just don't trust McCain to be any kind of level-headed and, God forbid, if something happened to him, then where would we be?

So, I guess until Tuesday evening, I'm going to be holding my breath and hoping for what some may think would be a miracle.

The world is a beautiful place

Last night, my husband and I were so tired, we went to bed immediately after the kids went to bed. Fellan had been coughing, so we gave him some Mucinex before he went to bed.

At 1:30, however, Fellan woke up crying. He was coughing and having a really hard time breathing. He kept saying that he couldn't catch his breath.

So, we took him downstairs and tried to give him some more Mucinex, but he ended up coughing so hard that it made him throw up and the taste of the Mucinex also made him throw up.

By this time, we were getting worried because he was clearly having a lot of trouble breathing.

I asked my husband if he wanted to take him to the emergency room and I don't think the words had left my mouth before he said, "Yes."

So, they got dressed and went off to the emergency room. I knew in the back of my mind that Fellan's airway would get better in the cold air, and it did, but then as they were checking in, apparently, he starting having trouble breathing again, panicked, and threw up. My husband says he thinks that moved them up in the line some. :)

They saw someone within about 30 minutes of getting there and they diagnosed Fellan with croup. So, they gave him an oral steroid and then told them they'd have to wait 4 to 5 hours to see a doctor before they could leave.

Luckily, it was only about a 2.5 hour wait. The doctor said that croup is a virus that only affects the trachea and that Fellan's lungs sounded nice and clear. He also asked if Fellan's airway got better in the cold air (which it did) - and said that croup is the only virus to respond really well to cold air. I knew there was a reason I thought he would breathe easier outside...

So, that's it. Fellan's at home today, but we doubt that he'll get any sleep anytime soon. My husband said that Fellan was so high on life, happy to feel better, and so happy to be coming home to see me and to show Marxo his "hostible" wristband that as they drove up to the house, Fellan said, "The world is a beautiful place."

Ok, Ok...

I'm getting rude comments about not posting, but apparently now the truth comes out. If I don't have anything to complain about, I have nothing to write about!

Well, hopefully, I'm not that bad...

This past weekend was Marxo's birthday. She is now a big 4-year-old! She requested this year for her party that her friends dress up in pretty dresses and they all go to the zoo. Okey-dokey, that's exactly what we did. Most of the girls came in their princess dresses, I got tiaras for all the girls and crowns for all the boys, we ate cake and ice cream and then headed to the zoo.

It went pretty well, except for the fact that there is absolutely no parking at the zoo, so people had to circle and circle and eventually walk quite a distance in order to come to her party. But, I think the kids still had a good time.

The weekend has me completely worn out. Today I'm enjoying being able to sit for more than 5 minutes without having to plan and worry about logistics of a princess/zoo party. :)

We have power!

Yes! We have power! While I was at work on Friday, I got a phone call from the nanny saying that the lights were working. I wasn't sure whether or not to believe her, but Fellan got on the phone and said, "We have bright power!" and Marxo told me that the fans were "going really fast!"

I still hated to get my hopes up, but after I had put in my time for the day, I hurried home to see if it could possibly be true. When I drove up, I pushed the garage door opener and it opened. I just about started crying.

We spent the rest of the weekend trying to get things put back together. It took me two full days to finish all the laundry and we're still not completely "there", but we did retrieve our salvaged food from the in-laws' apartment and have stocked up again with the normal essentials: milk, cottage cheese, jelly, grapes, and parmesan.

Tonight, we have to head over to the inlaws' place to help them get their TV up and running again. They returned last night to find their place just as we and the apartment management had described it (livable, but not really completely put together) and were horrified that their TV wasn't working. Oh for geez...

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday - Happy Birthday, Mom!

It's also my husband and mine's wedding anniversary. We got married on my mom's birthday, which also happened to be her father's birthday. It's a special day. :)

One of my friends here at work was pregnant and I was really hoping she would end up having the baby on the 25th, too. But, the baby just couldn't wait - she was born yesterday. I mean, that's good and all, because my friend had been hoping the baby would come for the last 2 weeks and she was really ready to get it over-with, but still, it would have been cool to have yet another special event on the 25th. I guess you can't get everything you want.

Including power. Our area is now a small black hole in a sea of light and normalcy. I called Centerpoint yesterday just to make sure they know they missed us. I really don't know what their excuse was because Marxo was trying to talk to me and I couldn't hear the lady, but at least we're in their system now.

Last night was much cooler and we didn't have to sleep with the generator on. That meant we got nearly a full-night's sleep without having to empty the AC unit. (Except for the fact that my husband stayed up until 1am working on his laptop and I got up at 4:45am to get to work early...)

Anyway, as much as I complain, I keep telling myself that there are people who are a lot worse off than we are. We have many offers from friends and many other options available to us. And we've worked ourselves into kind of a routine. So, we're thinking even when we do get power, we might just boycott electricity out of spite! Har, har, har...

Another thing I've learned...

A cold shower in Houston is really not that bad.

(no power yet)

Free Beer for Centerpoint

I've seen many make-shift signs in the last couple of weeks, all over town, made out of pieces of board that say "Line Down" and an arrow to where ever Centerpoint would need to make the repair.

One house down the street from us tried to kick it up a notch, though. They have the typical "Line Down" sign, plus they added another in big red letters "Free Beer for Centerpoint".

I guess it might be doing a little bit of good - last night was the first night in a week that we saw Centerpoint trucks in our neighborhood and they actually seemed to be doing something.

I feel something strange. I think it might be a glimmer of hope.

If it's not one thing, it's two.

I just got a text message from my husband. He tells me that there's a car accident at the intersection a block away from our house. The stoplight is not working - no power, remember? - and people have been doing a pretty good job of treating it as a four-way stop. However, it seems that a couple of vehicles have become entangled.

A car and a Centerpoint Energy Truck. (you know, the people who are supposed to be restoring our power?!)

How's that for irony?

(not to mention that's the first sighting of a Centerpoint Truck in our neighborhood for a week...)