WOE Week 4 part 3

Yes, I’m starting week four yet again. I started off ok but didn’t stay on track due to mostly the same reasons as the previous post. I am happy to report that I am officially at work and it has been great…WOE wise anyway. I am able to eat my 4 meals without interruption as opposed to being on the road commuting from Clear Lake to Humble to Clear Lake and back to Humble and ending up finally in Clear Lake…yes my life last week. Thankfully we got our power back on Saturday and I couldn’t pack my crap fast enough.

I have to again thank Jodie and Bryan for taking us in…it was a blessing to have a cool roof over our head and they took care of us as any BFF would. After over two weeks of being a nomad I was ready to get home and get things in order.

Now I have to get caught up on my blogging, for myself and the kiddos, I’m behind on their newsletters. Add that to my ever growing to do list.

The hubby’s business is coming along. They worked their asses off last week to get things back up and running. They moved to a new facility while theirs is under contraction; meanwhile, they are having attempting to try and process orders without power…they are an internet company…so not having power is not a good thing. You found them at any given Starbucks around the city trying to work. Crazy stuff man…crazy. Thankfully they too got power back late last week.

Funny story…Last week I was in the car with my oldest (4) and I was listening to talk radio. No, I’m not in my 60’s and I swear I hated it when my Dad used to listed to that crap but for whatever reason I’m drawn to it….yeah…just go with it, don’t try and analyze it.

We were listening to talk radio and whoever was talking about Barack Obama and the boy asked “Who is Barack Obama?” and I asked him who he thought he was and he said loud and proud…”A rock star”. I almost puked all over the windshield. I said you’ve been listening to the liberal media too much and hanging around your father. I then proceeded to explain…to my four year old…that Mr. Obama was the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States and made sure he repeated it over and over. I threw in McCain as well for good measure.

WOE Week 4 and 5 Results

I can sum these two weeks up in one word IKE! I am unhappily reporting these two weeks were a bust. I gave in to anxiety and convenience and stopped following the program. No excuses no pity I’m starting week 4 over again today. I weighed a couple of days ago and I was at 162.4. So that is my new week four starting weight. It's all good.

Crack it!

Monday, September 22, 2008

That would be today…whew…tiring aint it. I was supposed to start work today as my official day back from a three in a half stint on maternity leave. Well…thanks to Ike my plans had to change. Both of the boys’ schools are closed and we over course still have no power. I really want to acclimate the monkey so it won’t be so traumatizing to him to leave him there all day, my days are running out and I really need to get back to it.

Thankfully I spoke to my manager and she agreed to let me telework this week. Thank God.

Oh, I drove around Kemah and Seabrook this afternoon. Crazy…crazy stuff. A week and a half later and there are still boats in people’s yard and the debris of trees is truly amazing. I can’t believe how many trees were lost. I can’t imagine what Galveston looks like in person. They still aren’t letting people on the island…perhaps Wednesday.

I am so thankful I have great friends that have taken us in and have fed us and given us a nice cool, comfortable place to stay.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

After a good nights sleep we settled in. I watched the boys while Jodie and Bryan took the boards off their windows and mowed. Nic met us and we took the boys to McyD’s so the boys could burn off some of their energy. They really played well together all day and I was happy they could occupy each other.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Holy hotness. The fam worked outside to cut down the banana palms that had lost a ton of limbs and just straighten up overall. I did laundry and hung it on a line to dry. The house got up to 85 and we were all miserable. I tried to put the monkey down at night and I couldn’t swaddle him because it was too hot and he would scream when I would put him down in the bassinet, in front of a fan. That’s it…I called Jodie and the boy, the monkey and myself were headed her way…she had power. We got to her house about 10 and it looked like we were moving in…I hadn’t unpacked from Dallas so I zipped up the suitcases and loaded them up.

A/C glorious A/C.

Friday, September 19, 2008

The first night without A/C was bearable. Thankfully the temps were still down and the house got down to 78 at night. We went out to Costco to pick up a generator for the hubby’s work and get a few fixins for din. Let’s just say it didn’t go well with the boy. He had a meltdown at Costco when we were leaving and the hubby and I had had enough. Let’s just say we talked and sorted a few things out…we will see.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

We left Dallas at 1 pm and made it to Houston by 5. The boys did great! I only had to stop twice for the baby and that was about right. I, however, don’t think I was prepared for what I saw. Of course I saw the wind damage starting at about Conroe and didn’t see much more until I got to our community. Holy smokes…we ended up losing about 50% of our trees and we live in a heavily wooded area. The hubby said it was much worse when he came in on Monday and they had cleaned up most of the mess. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

The neighbors were out barbequing which had become a nightly event. Everyone would bring over their food to cook so it wouldn’t go bad. I so love our neighbors. Do you want to know how amazing our neighbors are…well I’ll tell you but first a little insight to my previous experience with neighbors. Growing up there was a time when all the neighbors knew everyone, we even had a block party one forth of July holiday. That was about the peak of socialization, everyone started moving away shortly after. From then on we never really socialized with new neighbors and kept to ourselves. The same rang true when I moved out. The house the hubby and lived in before our current house I couldn’t tell you one of the neighbors name. It all changed when we moved into our current house and on our very special street.

I’ve mentioned before we have flamingo parties every few months but from the get go all of our neighbors have been truly special and always going above and beyond.

One of our neighbors owns a trucking company and offered a refrigerated truck to the hubby in order for him to store their chocolate and they wouldn’t lose their inventory. Another one of our neighbors gave the hubby gas to put in the generator when none was to be found.

Yet another neighbor showed the hubby how to hook the generator to the fuse box to have power for pretty much everything.

AND finally before we even got home a bunch of the neighbors went up and down the street standing up all the trees that had fallen over and specifically propped our fence back up with another two by four.

I get a warm fuzzy feeling knowing there are still good people in the world that are always willing to extend a helping hand without even being asked.

PCL has the best peeps ever. Oh…there is a house for sale on our street. If you are lookin you better jump on it cause it would be the best experience ever. Did I mention we have Flamingo parties!!

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

I decided to take the kids to a children’s museum….surely Dallas would have one…right? Right? Well the ‘attractions’ listing that the hotel provided claimed to have a children’s museum right by the Museum of Natural Science out at Fair park…ya know…where the Cotton Bowl is…whatever. It was the poorest excuse for a museum or park or whatever the hell it was. There was workers everywhere and they were setting up for something, which I later discovered was the state fair, and it was totally unuser friendly. I finally got fed up, not to mention frustrated and left. Went back to the hotel and took a nap.

Good news came from the hubby he was getting a generator and we could come home. I was so ready. So I packed up and got everything ready to head out by noon on Thursday.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

The report from the hubby was the office was better than expected but still bad. They are all but shut down. This is huge blow as they are nominally ramping up to their busy season about now. I have ache in my stomach but I ignore it in order to keep a positive outlook on everything. We have our family…that is the important thing. I tell myself that over and over again.

In the evening I meet Mandy and her three kids for dinner, this was supposed to happen on Sunday but was postponed due to the news on the business. Mandy texted me the address to the restaurant we were to eat at and I was like coolio I’ll just put it in my trusty GPS. One drawback people is you need to make sure you update your GPS every year at least. Mine is a couple of years old and newly developed areas do not register on maps that are two years old. So…the address I was attempting to locate did not exist according to my GPS. FUN! What turned out to be a ten minute commute ended up being an hour. (I only found out it was ten minutes on my way home). Isn’t that special…

Needless to say it was great meeting Mandy’s kids and we had good conversation. I need to plan a girl’s trip one weekend to spend some quality one on one time, with zero distractions.

Monday, September 15, 2008

The hubby left in the wee hours of the morning and the boys and I were left to our own devices. It was a beautiful day as a cool front had moved through the area and it was necessary for us to enjoy the gift. We headed out to the Dallas Zoo. We had a good time. It was a lot of work for me corralling two kids well…one kid and trying to keep the baby happy but we did it and overall we had a good day. The hubby’s parents called me to check on me and I think they fell out of their chairs when I told them I was at the zoo. Oh well…gotta do what cha gotta do and sitting in a hotel room scared to manage things would have been ten times worse.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

This day we had to come up with a game plan. We had received word from our neighbors that our house was fine, we lost a gutter, the fence had blown over in a couple of places and our trees were sideways but could be righted with some effort and no electricity. Bad news, the hubby’s office had the roof torn off and their offices had standing water and the chocolate needed to be rescued. Thankfully they were on pallets and off the floor. So a game plan was formed and the hubby was headed out first thing Monday morning with his business partner leaving us in Dallas until things became more stable and hopefully electricity was restored.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

As soon as I woke up Saturday morning I turned on the news to see what had transpired during the night and needed to know about the storm surge. Thank God it didn’t happen as bad as they predicted. I called my Granny and they were fine and no water to be seen. I checked in with the rest of my friends and family and neighbors and all reports were good, minimal damage in the form of trees, fences, a few shingles and one lone trampoline. I could breathe again. Our neighbors did mention that the eye of the storm came right over our community. It was dead calm for 45 minutes before the Northeast wall came through. Crazy stuff and I’m glad we weren’t there for the experience.

We continued to watch the news to see how bad the storm really was. It is amazing being in another city, looking out the window at a beautiful day and seeing such devastation in your city, the city you grew up in, the city you live and work in, the beaches you grew up on…seeing that all go away in less than 24 hours. It is hard to believe.

Friday, September 12, 2008

We decided to make the best of the situation and do a little site seeing. The hubby had never seen the grassy knoll so we went a ‘ridin’ and saw it all. One thing I found out during this visit was there are x’s on the street near the grassy knoll that signify where JFK was shot. It was very creepy. I’ll post pix when we get them off the camera. We also drove around Deep Ellum. Too bad the hubby and I couldn’t go see a few bands that evening…that would have been amazing.

The remainder of the day we stayed glued to the news hoping against all hope the storm would turn or move or just fade away as I don’t wish this devastation on anyone. Of course the reports were getting worse and worse and for a city that was barely in the “cone of uncertainty” a few day prior the storm was barreling down straight away. The most disturbing thing I heard was meteorologist telling people to get out because the storm surge was going to be over 20 feet and those left behind were to face certain death. That hit home and hit home hard, my grandparents chose not to leave. They suffered during the Rita evacuation and eventually turned around and went home…this was when Rita was a CAT 5 and headed straight for us my friends. They didn’t want the same thing to happen so they chose to stay. I called many times and ask them to reconsider but my Papa would not. My Granny told me they had a sledgehammer, an axe and life jackets in the attic. I just cried and prayed they would be spared.

Present day, September 11, 2008

We are evacuating from a little ole hurricane known as Ike. The familia and I packed up and headed to Dallas to escape the storms wrath. You may ask if we live on the coast and the answer is no, no where near the coast but we are concerned about losing electricity for an indeterminate amount of time and in order to spare our four year old and three month old that hardship we packed em up and moved out.

We bypassed traffic by heading up 59 then cutting over to 45 around Cleveland…gotta love GPS. It still took us about 6 hours to get there with the three or four stops we made to console the three month old. I was glad to be out of harms way but worried about my family who had decided to stay in a mandatory evacuation area.

We ate at a crappy Italian place and turned in relatively early. We were all spent from the day’s activities.

September 11, 2008 – Seven years ago today…

…I was lying in a hospital bed recovering from back surgery I had had the day before

…I turned on the TV and watched the two towers fall on live TV

…I walked to the end of the hospital hall and looked out the window and saw my friends and co-workers evacuating

…I never felt so alone

…I decided it was the beginning of an end.

Family Vacation to Dallas Compliments of Ike

Looks like the family is heading to Dallas tomorrow in anticipation of Ike making his way pretty close to H-town. We live a decent ways inland unless of course it comes up the ship channel like Alicia did then we're screwed. Nevertheless our concern is tornadoes and especially losing power. With the baby being so new it doesn't sound the least bit fun riding out the storm with a three month old and potentially scaring the bejesus out of our four year old. I have a friend that lives in Dallas and we've already made plans to get together and OMG...the hubby hasn't been to the grassy knoll. WHAAAAA?

So...I'm packing us up and as soon as the hubby gets home tomorrow we're out. We gave two GPSs and we're planning on back roading it to Dallas which honestly I think could be fun. I've lived here my entire life and never took the back roads even though I LOVE going through and stopping in small towns so I look at it as and adventure which I believe it will prove to be spending several hours in a car with two kids under the age of five.

I've called a few of our neighbors on our street and they are all staying but I am concerned about my Granny. She lives about five miles from the coast and next door to the house where I grew up in and when Alicia came through it wasn't fun. Tornadoes hitting all around us. When I spoke with her this evening she did say my Dad had came over and boarded up the house and battened down the hatches. I hope and pray they stay safe.

If you pray say one for us in H-town and the surrounding cities that may be affected.

I'll be reporting in from Dallas. Everyone stay safe!

Did not meet Mr. Crabs

Over the weekend I made the family go crabbing. We live a minute from Lake Houston and the forecast was to be in the high 60's in the morning and I wanted to get out and enjoy it. Plus I had some extra chicken thighs from a "Crackin" recipe and what better way to get rid of them than to catch some crabs.

Well...there doesn't seem to be any crabs that live in Lake Houston or the water was too choppy...or we were too close to the shore or...we just suck at crabbing. We didn't catch a thing...not even the catfish were interested. Maybe they are boob crabs and prefer breast to thighs? Who knows...but the boy and the hubby seem to have good time exploring and climbing on the rocks along the bank of the lake. Evidently the boy got out on a rock that was slimy and took a quick dip in the water. He didn't seem to mind.

Next time we go to Armand Bayou where I know there are crabs a plenty. I can't wait for the boy to get his first crab and as a kid we always had crab races to see which one would make it back in the water first. FUN Stuff. We took pictures, I'll have to post them next week.

WOE - Week 3 Results

Still "Crack a Lackin"...lackin in weight that is! Down 1.8 lbs and I'm back in the 150's again...snoopy dance. I was in the lower 150's before I got pregnant and I am very happy with three months postpartum and I can already fit back in my prepregnancy clothes AND I have saggy butt syndrome! Bring it baby.

Funny story...when I weighed in the morning the scale read 160, I dropped my son off and came back and had to...um...go to the bathroom. I then undressed and weighed again and you guessed it...I was snoopy dancin naked when I saw I had lost and additional .6.

The end of week three was a bit tough, I had a gynormous craving for sweets and on Sunday since we stayed in all day and I was bored. I pretty much resisted all urges until the afternoon and I felt like I ate and ate and ate until I remembered there was a chocolate truffle stashed on top of the frig from like six months ago. I found it and it was the freakin best truffle I ever tasted and just what I wanted.

I feel guilty now if I deviate from the plan in any manner, which is good because it keeps me on track but goodness if I have a bowl of cereal...with milk I'm all scared I'm going to get caught and immediately gain 10 pounds. Oh the torture we put ourselves through. I then get on the scale and I still managed to loose. I was worried, the chronic weigher than I am, I thought I wasn't going to see any results but low and behold...I eeked by.

I did measure but there wasn't a change in the waist but I did loose an inch in my hips...so that's something.

Week 4 is so far so good. I'm getting this stuff down and even eating a bit more to stay on track while breastfeeding...it's workin for me...now I just need to get exercising in there somewhere. They may not happen until round two of "Crackin".

WOE - Week 2 Results

Quicky here...didn't want to get to the weekend without posting my WOE results. Lost 1.8 lbs and 1/2 an inch on the waistline. As you can see results slowed down considerably. I'm not worried adding carbs in this week makes since but I still lost and I am continuing to lose and that is what I am working toward. Whooo hooo!!

Yeppers it's going great and I've been more busy lately that I've having a hard time eating all the meals. So I'm thinking I'm going to start prepping food the day before and carry around a cooler packed with everything I need to eat for the day, cept for dinner of course...I never forget that one. I'm even starting this for the boy...instead of grabbing McDonald's for lunch cause we're out in about I'll have my one version of the burger that I made and know what is in it. I'm even trying my hand at apple fries that Burger King came up with to see how those go over. I'll let you know how it all works out.

Actually it's pretty fun shopping these days, it offers a challenge and just try finding things that don't have sugar, aren't sweented with an artifical sweetner and taste good and must be organic that a four year old will eat. Fun stuff.

Have a good weekend! Keep WOEing!