Lawn mowing is a boy chore...

I know what you're thinking...I got myself into this. Yes, when I decided to buy a house I accepted the responsibility of taking care of all the yard that it sits on. The main problem: I was so excited about the house that I pushed to the back of my mind the extreme hatred I have for grass. Sure, it's pretty, and no, the actual mowing was not hard, but grass is a lethal weapon in my mind. I'm so allergic to it that now, 3 days later I cannot breathe through my nose, and the $135 allergy medicine I'm hopped up on has not only made me exhausted, but also broke. It's so not worth it. As I suffer I'm realizing that I'm so grateful that I NEVER had to do this chore growing up. It's dirty, and it makes me glow (girls don't sweat, we glow), and I can't play with my puppy while I do it. I may be smiling in the picture above, which is partly because I was proud of myself for mowing grass for the first time, but it's mainly because I was about to sneeze....for the thousandth time.

If you would sign here...and here....and here....

This is way overdue, but I wanted to share that I've officially become a homeowner! I closed on my house September 5, 2008 at 1 pm and began moving in right away!! That night we ordered pizza, and began painting walls so that we could have crown moulding installed the next day, and furniture moved in after that. It was a long weekend and I'm still not completely settled, but it feels like home. If you want to see what it's like you'll have to come see for yourself...
Visitors are welcome!!!

Hurricanes Stink....Literally

This is the port-a-potty next to my house, and it smells.

Anyhow, I survived my first hurricane...and it was crazy! I really lucked out that

there was no real damage at my home, and felt safe during the whole storm. Staying in our hospital for 36 hours really gave me some perspective on how it must feel to be a patient. I was so impressed with out hospital's disaster plan and how positive everyone was despite serious lack of sleep. Tis true that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, and I think that in my workplace we're all a stronger team now that we've spent some good lockdown time together. On to the pictorial.

The sky about 8 hours before the storm hit. It was such a gorgeous sunset!

We went outside a couple times during the storm to check out the wind speeds. This was at about 7 pm and it was super windy. The next time we went out at 4 am it was insane! That was about the time the eye of the storm was going over Houston. Day 2 at work with one of my fave co-workers Claudia! The hurricane did my hair...

Tree totally uprooted in Fulshear. Minor flooding between Katy and Fulshear.

Tree damage from the tornado that went behind mom and dad's house...

No "Moore's"....Guess it's time to put up the sign that says "Jimmy's"! Above: Gas stations are closed in Houston, most of them ran out of gas, and some of them just don't have power. Below: trees on my street. Mine stayed up but one was leaning a tad bit. Minor damage to my fence as well...I lucked out! Neighbors had missing fences, pieces of siding torn off and trees completely uprooted.

Some dogs VERY happy to see me after spending the weekend at a kennel. Baths were definately a necessity when they got home.
All in all it wasn't a terrible experience, but we are all still scrambling to help neighbors and family members who don't have power or water. Work is crazy because the ER's are flooded with people who can't get into doctors offices and I'm kind of exhausted from being here so much the past few days. However I hear a baby crying so I'm off......

Ike....yike!

As a crazy old surfer lady in Galveston said on TV a few days ago...."Ike...yike!!"
I'm on lockdown at work right now, and will be here until Hurrican Ike passes or until it's safe for me to drive home. We've got a few kids in house and are also running a day care area for staff's kids who have nowhere else to go. Yesterday I had the day off to prepare my house, get Willow to a shelter (so sad), and pack my bags for a weekend at work. Jenni and I brought lots of snacks, and Season 4 of the office to watch on my laptop in case of boredom emergency. We're planning to sleep in my office and all around have a darn good time. I'll post pictures after the storm, since we'll likely lose power here tonight.
Be safe fools!!!

Willow's Birthday!

Since I don't know Willow's exact birthday and she hasn't offered the information yet, the vet and I decided that for records and celebrating purposes we'll say it's September 3rd. Which means Willow turned one today!

We started the day off with some cuddling and me singing to her in bed, then a delicious serving of her usual dog food for breakfast. Since I had to work all day I tried to play with her as much as I could before work. I gave her a beefy chewy to work on while I was gone and left her to celebrate with Karo.

After I got home from work is when the partying began!

One of Willow's favorite things to play with is Manna's stuffed squirrel. So, Manna was kind enough to send Karo to the store to buy Willow her very own squirrel to take to our house. Apparently Manna was a bit of an indian giver and wanted the toy for herself. Note they didn't even wait for us to take the toy off the cardboard backing...
Karo also bought her some rubber balls in honor of Emma who loved to play ball when she was a puppy. Willow has big paws and uses them like Emma used to.