Texas Wildlife

Before I moved to Texas, the only critters I ever worried about, or saw for that matter, were spiders. Every now and then, I would have one in the house. I would suck 'em up with the vacuum. Now I live in a city where pest control companies thrive. Critters are everywhere, and they're big. Definitely won't fit up my vacuum tube. I think that the cockroach is the Texas state bird. Two nights ago, we all peeked through the blinds and watched a SKUNK forage in the building materials across the street.

Within the first month that we lived here, we had to call critter control. They set traps up in the attic. We waited. Then it smelled....bad. Critter control man showed up with a flashlight and gloves. I escorted him to the attic. Just before ascending, he turns to me and asks, "do you know what it is I am looking for?" Huh? I just stared at him for a moment while I thought, "Are you kidding me?! Like, what are my options...a mountain goat!?" He stopped waiting for a response and disappeared into the attic. Ten minutes later he came back down with a rat the size of Vermont in a plastic bag. The smell only took a day to fade away.

Last Sunday, my friend Shannon called to ask us how good of friends we were. Todd told her, "pretty good I guess, because we've stopped interviewing." Shannon then asks, "are we good enough friends that you would help us remove a possum from our bathtub?" Todd almost peed his pants from laughter.

Shannon's upstairs bathroom had a crack in the ceiling and the kids had been complaining that they could hear something running in the ceiling. The crack gave way and a possum fell through the ceiling into her bathtub! Let me just repeat for emphasis.....A-POSSUM-FELL-THROUGH-HER-CEILING!


We skittered over mighty quick because, come on, how often do you get to see this? Being the good friends that we are, we brought a bin and a cutting board to contain the critter. Todd commented that he didn't know possum had so many teeth. Texas has big rodents. I'm definitely going to have to get a bigger vacuum tube.

Belated Hoopla

Let's be honest, my talents overflow. I've got some serious skills. Now, don't be fooled into thinking that I actually have skills that have value...you know, like being a good mom. Oh, heavens no. Case in point, today in church: Sam and Addie leave the chapel to go to the bathroom (my first mistake). After an unusual amount of time, I glance toward the back door. The counter man (you know who he is, the one who tallies up the sacrament population) is standing directly to the side of the back door. He looks me square in the eye and points for me to step out into the hall. Once I enter the hallway, I find Sam dragging a screaming Addie down the hallway. I looked at them and thought, "gee, look at the fruit of my loins." Do you see my point? Motherhood is not one of my skills.

On the other hand, if you need an awesome 12 yr. old birthday party, I'm on it. Samantha's original party was set for the day the hurricane hit. She begged to still hold the party that day. I just didn't find sound judgement in holding a party during 90 mph winds and tree branches flying past the windows. Thus, we postponed until yesterday. Just a bit belated, but still an insane amount of work and fun.

Because Sam turned 12, we did 12 activities. Could the idea be any more fantabulous? I think not. Here is a snipit--

Could the food be any cuter!? I cut out sandwiches and watermelon in flower shapes. Hello! I think I just might be a-mazing. Oh, and napkins tied with licorice...ingenious.


One of our games: put a piece of bubble gum and a cracker in your mouth at the same time and chew. The first person to be able to blow a bubble wins. Makell was trying so hard she almost fell over in hysteria.


We painted flower shaped peg hooks. Oh my heavens, the flower shape matches the sandwiches and watermelon. See, I'm telling you, serious skills.


Sam does not like cake. Never has. Weirdest thing ever. It's downright not normal. Every year until now, I have bought her a birthday cake anyway. It's for me, not for her. We light the candles, sing happy birthday, and then I eat it. Woo hoo for me. I gave birth, therefore I get cake. But alas, this year Sam requested hello dollies (magic bars) for her cake. Being the selfish, uh-I mean selfless person I am, I gave her the cake of her desire.

The party lasted for 3 1/2 hours. I've now put in my time. No more parties until she moves out. I usually try to avoid the birthday parties, I think they are the equivalent of teaching kindergarten. But this year, as the oldest fruit of my loins turned 12, I decided to put forth some of my best skills. My mom told me I was a good mom. Well, at least I was for 3 1/2 hours I was.

What Was She Thinking-Take #1,346

-phone rings-
Makell: "Heeyyy mom. This is Kellie. I missed the bus."
Me: "Oh really. Why did you miss the bus?"
Kel: " Well, we were playing eraser tag, and someone tripped, and then I was laughing my guts out, so I didn't hear them call for my bus." (giggling under her breath)

I pick up Addie FROM THE BUS STOP and then drive to school.

Makell skips out. She turns and waves at the vice principal who has been babysitting her.
She plops down in her seat and hands me a large piece of rubber.
Me: "What is this?"
Kel: "It's the bottom of my shoe."
Me: "You ripped off the entire sole of your BRAND NEW school shoes?!!"
Kel: giggling, "What's a sole?"

First Tooth

"Mom, I saw the tooth fairy and he's a girl.

He scared me and he didn't have a shirt on."

Let There Be Light

Do you see the temperature on my thermostat? 83 degrees!!! Do you know what that feels like when you add humidity!!!!! In-my-house. But, for the love of all things holy...the power came on this morning at 10:30 am. I fell to the ground and praised Jesus.

Last night I decided to take the electricity matters to a higher level. I prayed to Allah, Buddha, I prayed facing east, lit some incense and then a few candles with saints on the front. I figured that gave me good coverage. And presto chang-o, look what happened. Lights. Air conditioning. A refrigerator. A washing machine.

I have decided that I am having t-shirts made for everyone who lives in the greater Houston area. Each person will be required to print on their shirt how many days they went without power--or if you skipped town like a wuss. My shirt would read 10 days with a serious amount of !!!!!! And then I'm going to wear my shirt to Costco. If I see anyone that has a shirt on that reads, "2 days" or "8 hours", I think I just might have to stab them and shove them in my car. Then they are going to have to sit in there WITHOUT air conditioning for 8 more days. Its a good plan. I bet my neighbors will help me.

In a place like Houston, where it can get insanely hot, your electricity bill can also look insane ($250 is really good). But after these last 10 days, I'll never complain about our bill again...but, I am having shirts made.

Oh, Ike!

I still don't have power. This is day 8. My mom's turned on last night. We skittered over here speedy quick. Ike has driven me into believing I'm a pioneer. Yesterday I thought about putting on a long skirt, pantaloons and a bonnet. By the grace of heaven, I can now blow dry my hair and turn on the TV while I eat all the food in Nana's pantry.

It's been a crazy 8 days. Hurricane hangover. Not fun. We feel so out of touch with the world. Its interesting what happens when there is no electricity. My kids reaction has been fascinating. Not once have they complained that they can't turn on the TV or play a gameboy. They haven't even complained about not having any lights at night. They just want to play with their friends, ride bikes and cover themselves in the mounting mud across the street. Delightful.

Ike hit during the night. It was quite scary to hear 90 mph winds and trees snapping, but not be able to see anything. We didn't get any sleep. Worry can keep you up at night. Here is a small snapshot of the aftermath:


A tree fell on the corner of our garage. Can you see the beam that is barely resting on our water barrel and not on Todd's car...just another testament that if you follow the prophet and store your water, it will save your car.

This picture is the back side of the garage. The tree also took out a portion of our fence.

This is our neighbor's house. Ginormous tree fell from across the street. Makell, Addie and a friend are waiting for chainsaws. This is the morning after the hurricane. We are all outside, drenched because it is still raining. We had huge trees down all throughout my portion of the neighborhood. A group of men started cutting the trees into sections and pulling them out with chains and a truck. The rest of us pulled branches and cleared debris for hours.

This is what a lot of the trees look like around my house. This one is around the corner from me.

This is the view as you drive down my street. At one point, there were trees laying across this road and we couldn't get out of our neighborhood.

This house is just slightly around the corner from us. They also had a gas leek.

This is a view from Makell's bedroom window. Our house backs up to open space with lots of trees. At least a third of them were torn down in the hurricane winds. Directly to the right of this picture is a huge section of big trees. If the winds had been blowing in any other direction, they would have taken out our house. Blessings.

The girls standing on one of the trees behind our house.

This generator is my new best friend. I'm adding her to my christmas card list because she was so good to us. We stole this generator from my mom's house. She was in Hawaii, sunbathing in her bikini. So we put this to good use. We couldn't run it all day because of the availability of gas. A lot of the gas stations were not up an running again, and those that were had a 2-3 hour wait. We ran it at night so that we could sleep with a fan and not melt into our sheets. The first two days after the hurricane were unbearably hot--94 degrees with 85% humidity. But then our blessings showed back up again, and the weather cooled down. We could open the windows and it cooled the house down. I just love blessings.

I have never washed clothes by hand....until now. Love the little girl panties.

It's so nice to know that people (OK, 3 of you) have been checking my blog, looking for signs of life from the Fosters. We are well, we have just been living like pioneers....who had shelter and running water. Yesterday I had lost all patience to deal with this any longer. Its trying. School has been canceled since last Friday, and won't start until next Wednesday (if you're counting, that's 8 full school days). But alas, I am now at Nana's and I can wash all our muddy laundry.

Trying times are, well....trying. And, you gain perspective and gratitude. Compared to what I've been through over the last year, Ike hasn't been too bad, he's just made life crazy inconvenient. But, he has made us see that a shattered garage doesn't compare to a destryoed house and that eating peanut butter sandwiches every day doesn't compare to personal safety and amazing neighbors.

I'm off to make chocolate chip cookies. I haven't had fresh baked goods in 8 days! Cookies from the oven are blessings too.

Waiting

This is the view from my back door. I'm a tad worried about those trees there. They sway in the wind--the normal wind. Hurricane wind? They just might fall on my house.

It's quite freaky just to wait, when you know what is coming. It's even more freaky when you head out to the store. Hysteria. Shelves are cleared of canned goods and bread. Gas stations start running out of gas. Duct tape and plastic to cover your windows in case they shatter. Plan on losing power, for an unspecified amount of time.

We are directly in the storm's path. They are predicting 70-100 mph winds. I really hope that doesn't mess up my hair....