Well, We Did "IT"!

We moved this past weekend! The lake house is now our home! I took off work Friday to pack up the apartment (which was soooooooooooooooo boring)! I was soooooooooooooo happy to run out of boxes Friday afternoon!! =)

Even though I was off work to pack I managed to have a WONDERFUL lunch (Sushi - YUM) with two of my best buds Danielle and Cassy!!!

Friday night we went to the Braves vs Astros game thanks to one of my vendors at work!!! We had a GREAT time even though the Braves lost! =( My brother and Danielle went as well but they had different seats than us. I didn't really take pictures during the game but I took a few pictures after the game of the Friday night fireworks! Here are a few firework pictures that I thought turned out pretty cool!













Here is the ONE picture I took at the game! Brian McCann's (Atlanta Braves Catcher) butt! =)

Here is a picture we took inside Minute Maid Park Power Zone (acting like DORKS):

We took these pictures in the parking lot waiting for my brother and Danielle:

I wished I would have taken pictures of our move! Yall would have laughed! First vehicle in line was my brother's truck with a trailer (all loaded down) then me in my Durango (loaded down ~ I couldn't even see out the back window), then Mr. "S" with his truck (it was loaded down with our NEW fridge and a ton of boxes) and last in line was my aunt with her BIG Lincoln Town Car (loaded down front and back seat as well as the trunk)!!!! It was funny!!! We were like this l-o-n-g crazy driving convoy!!!! We didn't get everything moved like I was hoping! I still need to go back to the apartment today and pack more stuff and clean! UGH! I'm only working half a day so I'm hoping I will get done so I can turn our keys in tomorrow on my lunch hour!!!


This is a picture of our new fridge! It's not in the kitchen yet! We still need to get the water line to hook up the ice maker and water!

Close up of the fridge! I'm not crazy about side-by-sides but I'm so excited to have a ice maker and water dispenser! I go through bottled water like crazy! See the pretty flowers on top of the fridge ~ Danielle got those for us! =)

This is looking into the living room from the sliding glass doors! Stuff is just piled every where! I can't wait till everything is organized! It's such a mess! I just wanted yall to see the inside of the house with some furniture!

Installing the floor!

Mr. "S" brother Shane getting started with the floor! By the way! The window unit in this picture is coming out! We just have it in there while we are working! We have central air and heat! I felt the need to clarify! =)

Mr. "S" and Cole prepping the floor!

The first few rows of floor being laid!

I love it! It looks amazing! Better than I imagined!

We were having to shuffle, tools, extra flooring and furniture around in the house! As you can tell the floor is very dirty in this pic! We were tracking in and out of the house! Most of our back yard is sandy dirt! The broom is my new best friend!

Another picture of the living room area! The futon is going in the spare bedroom!

This is standing in the kitchen area! Looking out into the living room area!

Mr. "S" and Pop's working on the floor in the spare bedroom!

We are sooooooooooooooooooo totally HAPPY with the floor! We are going up to the lake house tonight after work to finish the kitchen and work in our bedroom! Mr. "S" and I are running on fumes! Since Friday we have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off! We are trying to work on the house, pack, move stuff up to the house, pack some more and no go back up and work on the house! We are wore out! I'm taking off work on Friday to finish all the packing! I'm thinking I will be off Monday as well so I can clean the apartment and turn in our keys! YIPPEE!!!!

Let me know what you think about the floor?

Also, does anyone have any wood floor cleaning tips? I'm all ears! =)

Picture Post - "IKE"

I don't have the pictures in any order! We started taking pictures around noon on Saturday ~ September 13th as the rain and winds were letting up! Some of the pictures are from Sunday ~ September 14th when we went up to the lake house to check things out!


My dad's front yard! This is a tree down over the power line!

Mr. "S" dad's (Pop's) place!

The back of Mr. "S" dad's (Pop's) place! You can't even see his boat in this picture because of the tree!

You can't tell but this "was" Pop's flower bed!

Tree down over Mr. "S" dad's back fence!

Pop's tree that went through his fence also hit his neighbors storage shed!

The power line down in my dad's front yard!

This is the tree that uprooted that damaged my dads house! Mr. "S" and my brother John are checking it out!

Mr. "S" and I were driving around checking out all the damage in my dad's neighborhood! Yes, I'm hanging out the side of Mr. "S" truck to take pictures!

This is Danielle's next door neighbors! They got a tree in their house!

Power lines down! There were trees down all over the roads!

This is another picture of the tree that damaged my dad's house!

This is a HUGE OLD tree behind my dads house ~ It looks as if a twister got it!

This is my part of my dad's front yard!

I'm standing in my dad's driveway taking pictures of the water over the road! It was so bad!

Power line down on the main road going to my dads!

I took this picture around noon on Saturday! We were still getting high winds and rain from "IKE"! This sign was blown to pieces!

This house is down the road from my mom's house! They had a tree on the roof!

Tree down on my mom's road next to her house!

This is on the main road going to my dad's house! I was FREAKED out about driving by this! The line could have snapped at any given time! What a mess!

This is flood waters on the main road that goes to my dads house!

No damage at our house! Thank God! This is a top of a tree that snapped off! That was it!

Danielle and I got in the FEMA line to get ice, water and MRE's!

This is on the way to my office ~ This pic was taken around noon on Saturday! We came up to my office to make sure the windows weren't blown out! All was good in the hood! Just a lot of power line damage on our street!

A side street ~ Trying to get to my office!

Tree down covering up the road that goes to my moms house!

This is a picture of my friend Courtney's house! She had a tree that took out her front porch!


Looking out Courtney's front door!

The front of Courtney's house!


The following is "Hurricane Ike" humor

Hurricane Education: What I've learned during our last hurricane...

1. Coffee and frozen pizzas can be made on a BBQ grill. (I wasn't that desperate)

2. No matter how many times you flick the switch, lights don't work without electricity. (This was sooooooooooo me)


3. My car gets 23.21675 miles per gallon, EXACTLY - you can ask the people in line who helped me push it. (This was almost Mr. "S" he was in line for gas just running on fumes)


4. Kids can survive 4 days or longer without a video game controller in their hand. (It was so hard for me to service without my blog)


5. Cats are even more irritating without power. (I'm not a cat owner)


6. He who has the biggest generator wins. (Oh yeah and that was my dad ~ he was running two HUGE generators ~ I love it!)


7. Women can actually survive without doing their hair- you just wish they weren't around you. (Today was the FIRST day I have blow dried my hair since "IKE")


8. A new method of non-lethal torture-showers without hot water. (This was the HARD part)


9. There are a lot more stars in the sky than most people thought. (That is for sure ~ "IKE" came into Houston and blew away the smog so we could see the stars!)


10. TV is an addiction and the withdrawal symptoms are painful. (I missed TV so bad! We missed all the "IKE" news ~ we missed all the relief/damage coverage ~ Dang it!)


11. A 7 lb bag of ice will chill 6-12 oz Budweiser's to a drinkable temperature in 11 minutes, and still keep a 14 lb. turkey frozen for 8more hours. (Um, yeah! Ice was our new best friend! I still haven't plugged in the fridge at the apartment to save power ~ we are moving this weekend ~ so what is the point? We lost all our food!)


12. There are a lot of dang trees around here. (My dad lost over 50 trees just on his 15 acres)


13. Flood plane drawings on some mortgage documents were seriously wrong. (Yeah, that is for sure)


14. Aluminum siding, while aesthetically pleasing, is definitely not required. (Very True)


15. Crickets can increase their volume to overcome the sound of 14 generators. (Very, Very, Very True)


16. People will get into a line that has already formed without having any idea what the line is for. (So funny and So very true!)


17. When required, a Lincoln Continental will float, doesn't steer well but floats just the same. (HA)


18. Telemarketers function no matter what the weather is doing. (Sad but true)

19. Cell phones work when land lines are down, but only as long as the battery remains charged. (I don't know about this, I had MAJOR cell phone troubles! I heard that FEMA came in and took over the cell service ~ I could not make calls ~ My cell phone kept saying emergancy calls only, um HELLO we were all in a emergancy situation)


20. 27 of your neighbors are fed from a different transformer than you, and they are quick to point that out! (So true ~ Everyone around us had power! We live about 400 yards from a hospital that had power)


21. Hampers were not made to contain such a volume. (I'm soooooo THANKFUL my dad had generators ~ we were able to wash clothes)


22. If my store sold only ice, chainsaws, gas and generators... I'd be rich. (For Sure)


23. Price of a can of soup rises 200% in a storm. (Yep)


24. Your waterfront property can quickly become someone else's fishing hole. (It sounds as if this is going to happen to a lot of beach front houses in Galveston)

25. Tree service companies are underappreciated. (Yeah, for sure! Mr. "S" and I worked our butts off cleaning tress up at my dads)

26. I learned what happens when you make fun of another states' blackout. (It's not so funny anymore)


27. MATH 101: 30 days in month, minus 6 days without power equals 30% higher electric bill ????? (I don't even want to see my light bill when it comes in)


28. Drywall is a compound word, take away the "dry" part and it's worthless. (So True ~ I bet a lot of people are calling it "WETWALL")


29. I can walk a lot farther than I thought. (I did my fair share of walking out at my dads place ~ I would walk to the down trees and drag limbs to the fire ~ Over and Over and Over and Over again)