Unplugged

Thank goodness the Dish Network people are coming out tomorrow to look at the satellite. We have some channels coming through, but mainly Spanish language soap opera and shopping networks. No local channels, no news, only 1 or 2 movie channels (including HBO Latino which doesn’t help). Even the program guide doesn’t work. Needless to say, the TV has been off for most of the last 2 weeks.

But sometimes I get bored and want to watch something. I’m embarrassed to admit that in the last week I’ve watched an episode of The Waltons (zzzzzzz…), Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (120 min I will never get back, but beggars can’t be choosers) and an episode of Fantasy Island with Peter Graves where he was hunting Bigfoot. He shot at Bigfoot, then almost falls off a cliff, Bigfoot saves him, then Peter Graves and Cyd Cherise decide never to reveal they found Bigfoot because the creature had such a kind heart. Total BS. Was Fantasy Island always such a cheesy show, I can’t remember? And The Wrath of Khan totally ruined me on watching anything else with Ricardo Montalban. I just keep picturing that fake plastic Khan chest underneath Mr. Roarke’s white suit and can’t help but laugh.

So, think of me tonight while you are watching The Office, or any of the other new shows airing. I need to spend some time on Hulu to see what I can watch online. Has anyone been watching Fringe? Is it worth seeing? Anything else I’m missing?

Chick Flick Day

Today I managed to watch two movies, which is frankly unbelievable that I was able to get so much free time without having to hit pause and chase after Daphne. Anyway, I really enjoyed both shows, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day & the new Sense and Sensibility. After being so disappointed with the new Jane Austen movies on PBS I didn’t make it a priority to watch the new S&S when it aired earlier this year, even though I knew it was done by Andrew Davies (who did the ‘95 P&P). I loved it. I’m totally going to buy the DVD. I think it is right up there with the A&E/BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries, as well as the ‘95 version of Persuasion with Ciaran Hinds (who was also charming in Miss Pettigrew). I love movies with happy endings.

And back to Miss Pettigrew, I loved Amy Adams and Lee Pace. Cute, cute, cute. And I really like Lee Pace in the show Pushing Daisies, too. (If you haven’t seen it, please tune in. Because if I like it, it’s guaranteed to get critical acclaim and crap ratings and be cancelled. It’s an adorable show… think Amelie meets Tim Burton. Charming, eye candy but kind of dark, if that makes any sense.) Did you know he was born in Chickasha, OK? That surprised me. After seeing him in Miss Pettigrew I checked IMDb to see if he was British.

So, if you are in the mood for a chick flick, I highly recommend these two.

Ike Radar Loop

Here’s a link to KHOU’s Ike radar loop. You can see just how lucky we were in Katy (western suburb, we are south of I-10 in Ft. Bend county). It could have been so much worse.

This is really the first look I’ve had at the radar for the storm. Since we lost power so early on, we didn’t get a chance to watch any local or national TV coverage. In fact, we still don’t have satellite service. I think the dish got bashed around a bit.

Electricity!!!

I can’t tell you how great it feels to be back on my laptop, drinking a refrigerated beverage while watching a DVD. But I’m not complaining, really. With the complete devastation in Galveston and millions of people still without power I realize how blessed we are. It’s been a crazy few days.

The fact that we lost power on Friday night was so weird, since we didn’t start to get any heavy winds or rain until around 2:00am Saturday (about the time the eye hit Galveston). Luckily the eye hit east of us and we were spared the worst of the storm. Surprisingly we were able to sleep through most of the storm, even with the windows sounding like they were going to rattle right out of their frames. By Saturday afternoon the storm had passed and we surveyed the damage. All the men in the neighborhood came out of their homes and started to drag tree branches to the curb, and climb up on their roofs. Saturday and Sunday were typical hot and humid Houston days. We spent time outside and let Daphne play in the rain. She loved it. Her hair curled up tight due to the humidity. And she splashed and stomped in the puddles, while wearing only her diaper, like a little white trash Shirley Temple flamenco dancer. Chris ventured out to find gas and food (which was NOT EASY!!) and went downtown to take pictures (against my wishes!!). Sunday night a cold front blew in. (A news anchor jokingly called it the most important cold front in Houston history, lol!!) At least we could get some sleep.

We spent the rest of the time listening to the news coverage on the radio, trying to get information about what was happening in the rest of the city. A lot of complaining, where’s FEMA?, why do my neighbors have power and not me?, and one caller to the local UH/NPR station asked if they would be handing out FEMA credit cards so she could buy food. No honey, you’ll be lucky to get some FEMA ice. It was funny to hear officials say, “FEMA trucks are coming”, or “ice trucks are in route from San Antonio” and 24 hours later they still weren’t in Houston. FEMA supplies arrived on Monday.

Anyway, power was restored this afternoon!! Woo Hoo!!! Gas and groceries are still hard to come by, so we’ll wait a little bit before trying to go to the store. I think it will be quite a while, even in our area, before we can get back to normal.

Update

Hey everyone!! Just a quick update while I can snag some internet time. We are still here and still without power (since 6pm Friday). There was some minor damage to the roof and to some of the plants outside, but otherwise we were VERY lucky. If we don’t get power back in the next day or so, Daphne & I will head to Austin. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

Countdown

So in about 12 hours we will start to feel the effects of Ike. I spent most of Thursday cleaning, baking, doing laundry, stocking up on ice and watching local hurricane coverage. I also spent some time online reading other people’s accounts of Hurricane Alicia that hit Houston in ‘83. After reading things like, “my condo’s roof blew off and I watched water pour into the living room for 8 hours” and “my house in Katy was destroyed by a small tornado,” I decided to get off the computer. Actually, my husband said, “I think you should stop reading that stuff.” I suppose I’m a little spooked. I have no concept of what 70-100+ mph (sustained) winds feel/sound like. Guess I’m getting ready to find out!!

A few funny (or not so funny) things I heard today- Ray Nagin inviting Texans to shelter in New Orleans. OK, the cynic in me takes this as, “Come Houstonians and let our people mug you, break into your car and then shoot you.” My step-dad said, “He just needs to take back all the New Orleans people still here.” Hahaha. A newscaster also mentioned that pregnant, full-term women need to call their OB’s to see if they need to ride out the storm in the hospital. That would suck. Must remember that when we are trying to plan for possible baby#2. Oh, and they interviewed a guy evacuating his chickens. Most TX shelters have said they have space for pets (dogs, cats), but I wonder where this guy is going to keep chickens. And finally, they are taking viewer calls now on the news and someone actually called in from an evac zone and asked, “I live in a mobile home, should I try to find other shelter?” Lady, you live in a mobile home. The answer to that question is always YES!!!

And now for something completely unrelated to hurricanes, since I mentioned I did a little baking today… Have you ever made your own french bread? If not, you are missing out. It’s ridiculously easy. I’ll try and post a recipe. And I also made the Clone of a Cinnabon from Allrecipes.com. Not bad, but the cream cheese frosting was a bit too much. I figured we needed a yummy breakfast tomorrow before everything goes to hell.

Stay tuned.

Our Fault

I’ve mentioned before that my husband and I seem to be hurricane magnets, and I’m not sure if I ever fully explained what I meant. It all started in 2004 with Hurricane Ivan. We had planned a trip to Gulf Shores, AL to rent a condo on the beach and the day we were supposed to leave, the hurricane hit. Of course we had already cancelled the trip. So, next beach trip planned was to Panama City, FL in 2005. Right before the trip, Hurricane Dennis hit the gulf coast and we watched CNN as the Panama City beaches got lashed. Luckily there wasn’t much damage. We planned a trip to Savannah and Hilton Head, and of course a hurricane threatened the area. We planned a trip to New Orleans in the fall of 2005, which wasn’t possible due to Katrina. Then we decided to go to the Bahamas in 2006 for our 10th anniversary and made sure IT WAS NOT DURING HURRICANE SEASON. Oh, and we bought trip insurance.

So if Houston gets more than its fair share of hurricanes, you’ll know it’s our fault.

I Don’t Like Ike

As you can probably guess, we’ve been watching a lot of Weather Channel over the last 24 hours. Looks like we are going to be on the “dirty” side of Hurricane Ike, especially since we live in the western suburbs of Houston. Luckily we are not in a flood plain or in an evacuation zone, so we should be ok. And it’s supposed to be 97 degrees tomorrow. That totally sucks. Let’s hope Ike doesn’t take out our power because I really don’t want to be sitting here without air conditioning.

So tomorrow I plan on baking some bread, cleaning, stocking up on water and ice, finishing the laundry… you know, all those things you want to accomplish just in case you don’t have electricity for a while. My mom, who has been away on business this week, will be returning tomorrow, instead of Friday night. Which is good, because I was concerned she wouldn’t be able to get back into town. And in case I forget to mention it, if you don’t see me blogging this weekend, you know we are sitting here in the dark.

5 Things I Hate

Just breaking my own blog rule about never blogging while grumpy. Sometimes you just gotta vent.

1. Ironing men’s clothes. Really. It’s my idea of hell. (Typed while taking a break from ironing my husband’s dress shirt, slacks and pressing his jacket for tomorrow. How do I get roped into these things?? My husband just looked at me and jokingly said, “Why didn’t you iron my pants?” Sleep with one eye open, my friend. And yes, I did iron them.)
2. It appears Nikon is not releasing the D90 body only this week along with the kit. I don’t need the kit lens. Argh. I don’t want to wait until October or later for the body only ship date. GRRRRR!!! And don’t even get me started on the fact that the lenses I do want are always out of stock or back ordered. Nikon, you irritate me.
3. Daphne has 4 top teeth coming in at once now. Teething sucks.
4. I can never find my phone charger, batteries or the right camera lens I want to use. I’m so sick of living in such a disorganized manner.
5. I hate being totally exhausted and heading to bed just to realize Daphne is up and screaming for me. This happens often (like right now, gotta go).

Random Thoughts

- Why is it so difficult to find plain clothing for little girls? You know, sometimes I just want Daphne to wear a denim skirt… not one with hearts, butterflies, fairies, owls or flowers embroidered on it. Same with shoes. And while we are on the topic of children’s clothes, are the designers for the girls clothing at The Children’s Place blind? I’m all about color but their stuff is so garish. Unless you are starring in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, please don’t wear this:

- Why does no one make knee socks for toddlers (well, Gap does but they don’t have a large range of colors)? Would they not stay up? I wonder if Babylegs would be an acceptable alternative.

- Robert Downey Jr. as a black man = comedy gold. Chris took me to see Tropic Thunder last night.

- It seems like I can’t get anything accomplished lately. Spinning my wheels.

- Daphne has roseola. She seems better, but we are watching her to see if her fever comes back.

- My brother got me the Stupid Sock Creatures book for my birthday. Very creative. These little guys would be the perfect gift for a baby/toddler boy, or anyone who enjoys the Ugly Dolls.

- My goal for today- pictures of Daphne at a local park. Of course this all depends on how she feels. We can always Photoshop those roseola spots off. So stay tuned for pictures, hopefully.