Final post before evacuating

Just letting you all know that we are evacuating east to Florida on Sunday morning. We are hoping for the best but have planned for the worst. I suspect we will get water in the garage and basement room but we have spent the day emptying most of the contents. The riding mower and push mower have been trailered to Evelyn's neighbor's garage.

You can reach us on our cell phone. We will most likely be back Wednesday. Hopefully Hanna will head NE but no matter I think we are ready.

This time I have all our pictures, important papers and the kids birth certificates and SS card.

On an up note, I can finally get my car in the garage and removing the contents of the garage has got me in good shape for preparing for our September 18th yard sale.

And... The Sound of Music is on. A nice comfort on the night before an evacuation. Talk to you all soon.

And now for something ~FUN~

Doc and I just got finished emptying the garage and storage room. Took about three hours but I can now actually get my car in there! Hey hey!

So here I am sitting down for a break and I got this email from my sister, Bridget. She had a link to a fun personality test.

It looks like a pretty fun website on the whole. Visit and have a little fun!

Here are my results:

Remembering Papa Roy

It is has been a year now since we said goodbye to Papa Roy. He is still so missed by many. I was saying to my mother in law that it feels a lot of the time that he is still here with us. And she agreed that it is like he is on a long trip and she is waiting for his to come home. My response to her way, "He is waiting for you to come home."

On the anniversary of Roy's death I had planned to take the kids over to see Grandmommy knowing she was trying to keep busy and would like the distraction. But I could not reach her by phone and so was not sure if I wanted to drive all the way over there from the YMCA where we had been swimming. The kids and I talked about Papa Roy while we drove and Cullen said "I wish it was a year and 1 day ago and I knew about Papa Roy's heart so I could have told the doctors and then he would still be alive. I told Cullen that Papa Roy's heart was very tired and there is nothing that would have changed that even if we knew sooner. He said how much he missed going on nature walks with his Papa Roy and how he will never get to do that with Papa Roy again.

I drove towards home still not sure what to do and my oldest said "Well we don't have to go to grandmommy's Mommy, but it is a very special day." UGH! Out of the mouths of babe. That put it all into perspective and I kept driving past our home and onto grandmommy's house. It turned out that she had just gotten home and was very happy to see us. We had a nice visit with her and spoke tenderly about Roy.

This scrapbook layout I made yesterday. Grandmommy and my two youngest went to the Veteran's Day ceremonies at the cemetery at the Biloxi VA grounds. I took these pictures of my daughter draped over Roy's stone. It so caught the feeling of longing we still have for his presence. If you look closely you can see his image in the gravestone.

Gustav, Gustav, where for art though going Gustav?

Looks from this model that Gustav is predicted to move a bit more west so we are going east to Florida. Doc, me and two of the kids are leaving Sunday morning. While Grandmommy and my oldest will leave tomorrow morning.

We surely will get water and my garage is full of yard sale items that need moving and a ride on lawn mower that needs removing. So we will spend Saturday doing all that. Our destination in Florida is only an hour and a half so we will have an easier trip. And save money too staying with family rather than a hotel for 4 -5 days.

Barbie Bassett, a chief meteorologist in Jackson is updating her blog daily on Gustav. Her full update and 3 computer models are at the link below.

Full Gustav update for Friday!
National Hurricane Center

Another Katrina...? Knock on wood!

This weekend is the 3rd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It is very eerie that it is on this weekend that we are looking at another storm heading our way.

I have spent the morning at Wal*Mart shopping for necessary provisions in case Gustav comes ashore near us. The store is almost totally out of water and there were no "C" or "D" cell batteries to be found either.

I bought all sorts of food I wouldn't want my kids eating in large quantities normally... crackers, spaghetti Os, chewy granola bars, trail mix. All good in small portions but nothing that sticks to the gut. Fearing that i won't see a good cooked meal for a few days I have bought a nice juicy steak for tonight's dinner. No matter that no one but me really likes steak. I will be one the one doing the groaning when the granola bars come out.

Reservations have been made for a northern evacuation. And great grandma's house is our destination if its an eastern evacuation. The kids are excited for hotel living. And if we go north they may even evacuate themselves to their cousins house just a few miles away from the hotel. (Oh wouldn't that be nice!)

It is good to remember that Katrina was an anomaly. 230 miles across with an eye of 80 miles is just crazy. Gustav is a peanut in comparison. The storm surge that destroyed the lower floor of our house will not happen again. The eves that blew out in our attic space and destroyed our master bedroom and bath have been fixed to the point that that can not happen again.

So I am bracing for a stress headache (I bought some Advil gel tabs for quick relief), some inconveniences and a poor diet for the next 5 day IF the storm comes our way. And praying that Doc can come with us too. (He is on call and may be required to stay at the hospital.)

I will tell you what I hate the most... that whether Gustav lands here or not, he will land. And if its not us, it will be someone else. Many others. And I sure don;t want anyone to have to go through what we went through 3 years ago. I just thank goodness that I am not pregnant. I was 6 months pregnant when Katrina hit. I felt useless during clean up. And without electricity, the heat was appalling. I saw a woman in the store today who was pregnant and I knew what she was in for if this storm hits us head on. Lets just pray that we all have the strength to look Gustav in the eye and carry on afterwards.

And if Gustav spares us then I am mostly prepared for the next one and the next one and the next one.

Is this my blog? I hardly recognize it...

Yes, I know its been a long time. I really do apologize. I am a bad, bad blogger.

I know you were wondering why noone had logged into your dashboard, tweaked your layout or added any entries to you. What can I say, life got away from me. Things change and life's focus changes... but it has a way of shifting back.

Oh please don't look at me that way... please. I thought of you often. I had high hopes of adding some witty and amusing stories but always something got in the way. I know its not a great excuse but I am trying to be honest. Isn't the fact that I thought of you enough. You are so pretty. You have such a nice color palette. Your link are all working and take me to some fabulous and interesting places. I should have been satisfied. I should not have taken you for granted. I wouldn't have blamed you if you had gotten a new url and started letting someone else log in instead of me.

You are too good for me. I admit it. You know me so well. And you still let me come around and share some of the most mundane things with you. And you share it all with pride and consistency. Please forgive my wanderings. I am back now... for now anyway.

And please don't be suprised if I disappear again. After all, you know me so well.