Ike - Due in tonight!

I don't even know what to post about at this point! Ike is coming and he will be here late tonight or early tomorrow morning! UGH!

I've received a few emails asking if I was at work today...."HECK NO!" We got off work at noon yesterday!

Mayor Bill White held a news conference yesterday this was a topic he touched on:

Emergency management officials are asking that all employers dismiss non-essential employees from reporting to work on Thursday and Friday. However, certain essential businesses, including banks, gasoline stations, pharmacies, hardware stores and grocery stores should remain open as long as prudently possible to help Houstonians prepare for the hurricane's potential arrival. Officials are asking all schools to close on Thursday and Friday.


I found a website that had some web cams! Here is a pic of Galveston! This is where we go to load the ferry! Remember me showing you the pics from June our trip to Galveston click HERE!!!!!



This just FREAKS me out!


This is a web cam picture from Moody Gardens! This is already flooding too!


If you want more info on the storm! You can actually watch a live stream with our local news at Click 2 News!


Galveston Seawall! I've never seen anything like this! Look at the waves crashing over! The storm is still 12 + hours away!

Being told to "HUNKER" down

Info I found on the Weather Channel website:

Texas prepares for a gigantic Hurricane Ike
By MICHAEL GRACZYK Associated Press WriterThursday, September 11, 2008


HOUSTON -- Cars and trucks streamed inland and chemical companies buttoned up their plants Thursday as a gigantic Hurricane Ike took aim at the heart of the U.S. refining industry and threatened to send a wall of water crashing toward Houston.

Nearly 1 million people along the Texas coast were ordered to evacuate ahead of the storm, which was expected to strike late Friday or early Saturday. But in a calculated risk aimed at avoiding total gridlock, authorities told most people in the nation's fourth-largest city to just hunker down.

Ike was steering almost directly for Galveston and, beyond that, Houston, where gleaming skyscrapers, the nation's biggest refinery and NASA's Johnson Space Center lie in areas vulnerable to wind and floodwaters. Forecasters said the storm was likely to come ashore as a Category 3, with winds up to 130 mph.

But the storm was so big, it could inflict a punishing blow even in those areas that do not get a direct hit. Forecasters warned that because of Ike's size and the state's shallow coastal waters, it could produce a surge, or wall of water, 20 feet high, and waves of perhaps 50 feet. It could also dump 10 inches or more of rain.

"It's a big storm," Texas Gov. Rick Perry said. "I cannot overemphasize the danger that is facing us. It's going to do some substantial damage. It's going to knock out power. It's going to cause massive flooding."

Most of the evacuations were limited to sections of Harris County outside Houston, as well as nearby bayous and Galveston Bay. But the 2 million residents of the city itself and 1 million in other areas of the county were asked to remain at home.

"We are still saying: Please shelter in place, or to use the Texas expression, hunker down," said Harris County Judge Ed Emmett, the county's chief administrator. "For the vast majority of people who live in our area, stay where you are. The winds will blow and they'll howl and we'll get a lot of rain, but if you lose power and need to leave, you can do that later."



So that is that! We are staying put as told by our government officials! I hope they know what they are talking about! I hope we will all be okay after "HUNKERING" down?!?! I'm sure yall are ready for Ike to come and go so I will stop doing blog post about him! Sorry! I just want to document this bad boy! Bare with me!

Mr. "S" mom called to check in! She is really worried about us! They just don't deal with storms like this in Ohio! She said if we don't call or if we don't answer our phones on Saturday she is sending the National Guard to come knock on our doors! =)

I've got my camera charging! I will try and take pics (in hope they turn out)!



In other world news today (as if there is anything else going on out there other than Ike) is a day I will never forget ~ 9/11! One of my blog buds La Vie De Laurie did a short little post talking about 9/11 ~ Never Forget 9/11! I left here this comment:

"I’m like you! I will NEVER forget! I will never forget what I saw on TV, heard on the radio or looked at on the computer! All the sad emails and videos…over and over and over again! I will always remember where I was that day and what I was doing! It was nothing special…I wouldn’t have remembered that day for any other reason!!!!! I was at work, it was a normal day! Then I get a phone call from a co-worker telling me to turn on the radio! She goes on to tell me what she is watching on TV. I was in total shock! I think I just sat there in disbelief! This couldn’t be real! This couldn't be happening in the USA! Our home, Our Country!"

I hope this is something that our government can prevent from every happening again!

Harris County Orders Mandatory Evacuation For Some Areas

HELLO ~ We live in Harris County? I'm freaking!

Just an update on "IKE"! We will be meeting him face to face sometime tomorrow night or early Saturday morning!

Look at the above map...do you see Houston on the map? That is where I am! Also you see where it says Lufkin on the top of the map ~ our lake house it between there and Houston!

I took the following info from our local news channel website:

HOUSTON -- Harris County ordered a mandatory evacuation Thursday for some areas as residents along the southeast Texas coast head to higher ground as the models predicting Hurricane Ike's path indicate it could devastate the area, KPRC Local 2 reported.

"Friday is when we'll really start to feel some effects here in Houston, some of those outer rain bands," KPRC Local 2 meteorologist Anthony Yanez said. "You'll also notice some of those tropical storm force winds tomorrow (Friday) morning along the coast. Today (Thursday) is the calm before the storm."

Hurricane force winds extend 115 miles from Ike's center and tropical storm force winds extend 255 miles.

"About 1 a.m. Saturday it's going to begin to make landfall as a Category 3 -- it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's a Category 4," Yanez said. "It is going to spend much of Saturday moving out of here."

Houston and Harris County officials asked employers to only require essential employees go to work on Friday to ease traffic for those who need to evacuate.

Twenty-five years ago, Hurricane Alicia, a Category 3 storm, devastated our area, turning houses into kindling and knocking out power and water for weeks.

I was here for Alicia ~ I was a kid but I remember it ~ all of it! It was devastating! We were without power for over two weeks! My mom and dad have 10 acres of land we lost over 100 trees! I don't know how our house didn't get hit and torn to pieces?!?!? I hope and pray for all my friends, family, co-workers and any other person facing this fierce storm are okay!

I went to the store and stocked up on junk food yesterday! Bread, lunch meat, chips, bean dip, cookies, etc! I will say that Mr. "S" and I will NOT go hungry! My dad has a generator at his house so once the storm goes through we will go out to his house for lights, tv, bbq pit and ac! I won't be able to get on the Internet though! I really think Mr. "S" and I will be safe! Our apartments are 3 stories high and we live on the bottom floor! We should have plenty of shelter from the other apartments above and around us! At least I feel like we will be safe!

Please keep all of us in your prayers!!!!

If I receive more news updates I will do another post!


Look at the map above and also the maps below and see how much IKE has moved into the Houston area!!!

I think IKE is coming to Houston!

This is a NEW tracking map on weather.com! It has moved more into Houston from my below map this morning! I know "IKE" is coming our way!!! =(

I'm freaking out........

As most of you know I'm not a fan of storms! So you must know I'm in total panic mode with "IKE"!

On a lighter note here is a little funny...

Top Ten Reasons Hurricane Season Is Like Christmas

#10: Decorating the house (with plywood)
#9: Dragging out boxes that haven't been used since last season
#8: Last minute shopping in crowded stores (I will be doing this today after work)
#7: Regular TV shows pre-empted for 'Specials'
#6: Family coming to stay with you
#5: Family and friends from out of state calling you (Mr. "S" family is already calling us)
#4: Buying food you don't normally buy and in LARGE quantities
#3: Days off from work (YIPPEE)
#2: Candles (this could be romantic)

And the Number One reason Hurricane Season is like Christmas: At some point you're probably going to have a tree in your house!

Menu Plan Monday ~ September 8th

I'm only doing a dinner menu this week! =(

In the past I've added breakfast, lunch and a nightly activity! I'm just not very organized this week! I'm so wore out from our busy weekend up at the lake house! I just don't have it in me! So here is what I have:

Monday - Left Over's from my dad's- Roast and Potato's

Tuesday - Chicken & Buttermilk Biscuits

Wednesday - Taco Night Old El Paso Stand N Stuff Taco Kit

Thursday - Wings-N-More

Friday - Crab Cakes, Rice & Frozen Steamed Veggies

Saturday - Grilling Hamburgers (If "IKE" the storm doesn't come this way)

Sunday - Who knows? I do know that I'm cooking a big breakfast! Maybe we'll eat so much that we won't be hungry for dinner! HA! I doubt it!

The house that is starting to look like a home!!!!

Yep, that's right! It's starting to come together after a long weekend of busting butt!!! Mr. "S" brother Shane showed up unexpectedly on Saturday morning ready to work!!! Boy were we ever thankful to see him!!! I will say that we knocked out more this weekend than we could have ever imagined!!!

Here are the pics from the weekend:

8am Saturday morning Mr. "S" patching the sheetrock in the kitchen! At this point we had already tore out the carpet and padding and I was working on pulling up the tack stripe!

Shane getting down on the sanding!

It's time for texture! Mr. "S" is getting after it!

Mr. "S" texturing the living room!

The last little bit of texture!

This is what I did! I was the mud/texture mixer! I can't even tell you how many buckets I mixed! It was a messy job but somebody had to do it! =)

Mr. "S" painting the ceiling!

Painting the ceiling!

This is one cool little deal-e-bob! This paint sprayer helped us get all the painting done in just a few hours!

Shane painting the walls! Spraying the edge of the wall and ceiling!

It's hard to see the paint in this pic! There was so much dust and paint in the air!

Another pic of Mr. "S" spraying the paint on!

Sunday morning I woke up and tore all the paper off the kitchen cabinets and windows!

We are ready to do trim work! The paint turned out great!

Setting up the table saw to cut trim angels!

Installing the first piece of window trim!

The front door trimmed out! It's really looking good!

The front living room window trimmed out!

The sliding glass door and kitchen window is trimmed out!

Mr. "S" installing the sticky tiles in the utility room!

The floor looks GREAT! Now we need to install the floor trim!

Mr. "S" hanging up the living room blinds!

The house is really coming together! We are so proud! It's not easy work but it's paying off! This coming weekend Mr. "S" has to work on Saturday but we will go up to the lake house Saturday night! We need to paint all the trim work, do some touch-up paint on the walls, finish installing the window/door trim, finish installing the crown molding and install new doors in the bedroom and bathroom!!! That will set us up for the following weekend!!! The weekend of the 20th & 21st when we install the flooring throughout the house!!!! We are getting there!!!! A little bit at a time!

Thanks for all the encouraging comments! I'm glad you all like the work we are doing!

What a short week.....

Where did the week go? I've been busy, busy! I haven't had much time to catch up on blog reading so please forgive me! With this being a short week I have been so out of whack on my days! I'm mad at myself for missing Menu Plan Monday! Dang it! I will get back on track Monday! This week has just flew by! I wished we had more 4 day work weeks! That is actually something my company is considering letting me do once we move up to the lake house! That way I can work 4-10's and then have a day off during the week to clean house, sleep later, wash clothes, cook, go grocery shopping, etc.! It will just be nice to have that day to get things done! I'm sure the house work will be lacking once we start the long drive, early mornings and late nights! We'll just see how things go!!!

So back to our week! Wednesday night I cleaned out my closet and we took all the boxes we had previously packed up plus all the clothes that no longer fit me to my storage out at my dads! We are trying to do a little each week so we aren't slammed on moving day!

This weekend is going to be crazy busy! Here is our work list:

• First thing Saturday morning pull all the old carpet


• Mr. "S" will start sanding the sheetrock to prep it for texture


• I will pull up the old carpet tack stripe


• My dad is going to check why the breaker keeps tripping when we turn on the back porch light? HUM? Not good! He also needs to install the plugs on the wires he ran last weekend for the washer/drier!


• Texture the walls


• Paint the ceiling while the texture is drying


• We are HOPING (fingers and toes crossed) to get the walls painted! It all depends on how long it takes the texture to dry!


• My dad is also going to install our new garbage disposal!


• Mr. "S" will install the floor tiles in the utility room
  

I hope all the above gets done this weekend!

No breaks, no lunch, no sleep....whatever it takes! We have to accomplish this list this weekend!

Now on to some lovely awards that I received this week! I love blog bling! My blog buds are the best and I would just like to THANK them for sharing the love and passing it on to me!!!! Like I always say "I've made some TRUE friendships in this crazy world of blog"!!!!!

This first award is just what it says it is! It's from a Twisted Sister to a Twisted Sister!!! Thanks Leigh for making me your Twisted Sister! I love it!

I have to pass the award on to Giants Fan! When I think of a Twisted Sister I think of Giants Fan! We have shared some funny moments! For real! If yall only knew! HA! Just sitting here thinking about times we have shared takes me back to one night in general! I wished I had the pictures loaded on my computer to share them with you! We went back to my hotel room after a Braves game! It was me, Giants Fan, HOF and two of my other friends! We were posing for pictures acting like dorks, squirting can cheese in each others mouth! You would have thought we were 10 year olds at a slumber party! It was one of the BEST trips! So Giants Fan this award goes out to you as "MY" Twister Sister! You make me Laugh just thinking about alllllllllllllllllll the FUN times we've shared throughout the years!!! I love you with all my heart!

My next award comes from Forgetfulone!!! She is a fellow Texas blog buddy and lives not to far from me!!! One day (hopefully sooner than later) her and I will meet up to do a little scrapbooking or go hang out at our favorite Mexican Food restaurant!

I would like to pass this on to all my regular readers! You know who you are! =) I just want to thank you for all the support and encouragement you give me!!! All of you are wonderful in your own unique way and I'm so THANKFUL to have you as a friend!!!!

I hope you all have a GREAT weekend! I will get caught up on my blog reading Sunday night or sometime Monday! Catch ya later my gators!

One last thing!
GO DALLAS COWBOYS!
NFL Football is back in FULL swing!
YIPPEE!

House Update

We worked hard this past weekend but we wished we would have worked harder! We had a few friends and family members drop in on us to visit so we didn't get as much done as we like! Mr. "S" wasn't real happy about our weekend outcome! I'm going to keep the post short and sweet with a few picture!

BATHROOM

UPDATE - This past weekend & the weekend before last!

Mr. "S" is texturing above the sink and light! This was done the weekend before last so we could come in and paint this past weekend!!

Mr. "S" texturing the wall where the medicine cabinet is!

More pictures of Mr. "S" texturing the walls in the bathroom!

This picture shows where the texture has been sprayed and where it hasn't! Also, you can see inside the texture gun hopper!

See the cute faucet and towel rack I picked out?!?! Everything is a brushed nickel finish ~ I love it!!! I don't care much for the sink and cabinet because it's so small! That is what was originally in the house and it's in new condition! So why replace it?

The walls are textured and painted! Medicine cabinet is installed with a new towel holder! I don't care much for the medicine cabinet either but it was already there and it's also in new condition!

Mr. "S" finishing up the floor!

The bathroom is almost complete! We still need to install the floor trim and crown molding!

Do you like the flooring we picked out for the bathroom? I love it! It looks like slate!

KITCHEN

UPDATE - This weekend!

I had to wrap all the kitchen cabinets in brown paper so they didn't get sprayed with texture! This was NOT a fun job!!! =( It was very boring!

This isn't really a good picture! Mr. "S" was spraying the texture and I think it was flying all over the place?

This is a picture of Mr. "S" attempting to texture under the kitchen cabinets! The walls weren't as smooth and sanded down as we would have liked so we stopped the texturing process!

This picture was taken a few weekends back! I was pulling up baseboards and carpet tack stripe! Do you see the ugly carpet! UGH! We can't wait to get the Laminate hard wood floors installed! Also, do you see that yucky commercial tile stuff next to the carpet! That floor must have been installed when the house was built? It's all throughout the house! We can't wait to get our floors installed!

This is a picture of our NEW bedroom blinds! It's the Faux Wood Blinds!

My brother John was cutting some trees down for us! If you look real close on this picture you can see two green lid looking things on the ground! That is two of the three septic tanks we just had installed! The sprinklers are kind of where Danielle and Dad are standing! They will be great for watering our yard! Once we get some grass! Everything is dirt and mud for now!

So that is it! We are getting there! Slowly but Surely!

This coming weekend is going to be WORK WORK WORK! No one is coming up so that means no one is going to get in our way! We had people dropping in all weekend to visit us so we would stop what we were doing and take a break! To many breaks if you ask Mr. "S"! He was NOT happy!

First things First for this weekend! We are going to pull up the nasty carpet! I wanted to pull it up this past weekend but Mr. "S" didn't want it sitting in the yard in case we got rain from the storm ~ Thank goodness we did NOT get hit!!!! Then we didn't even know if the dump was open since it was a holiday weekend?!?! I'm hoping Mr. "S" dad (Pop's) will go over and patch and sand the sheet-rock this week so we can go in and texture this weekend! We started texturing the kitchen area this past weekend (as seen in the above pictures) but it didn't turn out as good as we would have liked! So we stopped right there scrapped it all off and started to mud and patch the walls all over again! You can't texture the walls until the mud and patch dries because you have to sand it down then texture! UGH! We are hoping to get the kitchen and living room area textured and painted this weekend! It's amazing how much texture will cover up! =) We are also wanting to get the tiles installed in the utility room and the washer and drier set-up! It's getting there...slowly but surely!

The following weekend is the 13th and Mr. "S" has to work for a mandatory inventory at their shop! =( Booooo! So we will only have the 14th (Sunday) to work on the house! Then the following weekend I'm hoping we get the wood floors installed! I have some friends and family coming up to help us! =) And the following weekend 27th & 28th we are moving in! I'm sure there will be other work that needs to be done...I'm just looking at the BIG projects for now!!!

I hope everyone had a FUN Labor Day weekend! I've been really busy and haven't really had time to catch up on my blog reading! I will get there though! You know I will!

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!