We are back. Our house is safe. We have power. The movers delivered our stuff yesterday. There is much to be thankful for.
Let the unpacking begin!
Evacuating again. Going west sometime late, late tonight. We have just enough gas to get there. I am somewhat freaked, but it is beginning to seem much more commonplace, much more just a part of life that you have to deal with. Sort of like annoying drivers who drive 30 in the 45 zone when you are in a hurry, like people who write checks in the express line at the grocery store, like waiting 2 hours to see your doctor for 5 minutes. Count to 5, suck it up, move on. I'm trying.
I'll be offline so no updates until we return. Hopefully Monday as we have somehow managed to reschedule the movers to deliver our stuff on Tuesday. ::tentative yay!::
Because I seem to be reliving the same bad day over and over again. More trips to the grocery store, more lines at the gas station, more boarding up, more watching the weather channel like it was HBO. Only it's not a movie, I can't turn it off, I can't make it stop. I can whine a little, cry a little in frustration, and then I can get off my sorry ass and pack up and care for my family.
Hurricane Jeanne is coming right at us. Looking to make landfall exactly where Frances did. If you could see it here you'd understand my fear. There are tents and vans in parking lots that read "DISASTER RELIEF." There are piles and piles of broken tree limbs and debris still waiting to be picked up - they'll make great airborne missles in this new storm. Some of us just got electricity back a few days ago. We are all still cleaning up, we are all exhausted both mentally and physically. We feel like Mother Nature is punishing us, at war with us and we have no way to fight back.
On somewhat of a happy note we closed on our beautiful house today. I wanted to jump with joy, scream with happiness but it was all dampened by this hurricane looming over our head. The movers (bribed with good old american greenbacks) are scheduled to bring our stuff from storage on Saturday - well now we are going to have a tropical storm Saturday that will become a hurricane by Saturday night. Odds are we don't have enough greenbacks to tempt them to bring our stuff, so who knows when we may actually move into our home. The endless endless delays, having something ripped just out of your reach, so so frustrating.
But we'll spend some quality time at our new house putting up the hurricane shutters tomorrow. We aren't sure if we'll evacuate or not. We'll see what the storm track is tonight. We may ride it out in our house, we are well away from water and our builder has a reputation of building above and beyond hurricane code. The house survived the last one without a scratch and had power immediately as it's on the same grid as a firestation. I just don't know what we'll do.
Keep us in your thoughts and prayers, we need them and are grateful for them.
Since I have missed blogging for weeks now it seems, here are some random thoughts from my cluttered head.
Why is it that the very fat rolls that I find so disgusting on my own body I find so absolutely gorgeous on my baby boy. I just want to nibble on those thunder thighs and his butt cellulite makes me laugh. My spare tire and cottage cheese thighs, not so much. Definitley not laughing about this.
Joan Lunden is going to have two sets of twins under the age of two. Better her than me.
We close on our house Thursday. Two weeks later than planned - thank you Hurricane Frances - but still we are closing on our house! Soon! Yay!
I have discovered
Firefox. Take that you evil spyware and Microsoft, I will be your victim no more.
I have become a baby carrier whore. My collection is ever growing, but the best ever slings come from Jude at
Mamma's Milk. I have given her so much grief over returning slings because of size, but I can not even tell you how impressed I am with her sewing skills. They put all others to shame. Check her site out.
William Sonoma Home = Yum.
Nothing can make your day like getting a very large and very unexpected gift certificate to
Pottery Barn in the mail from an old family friend. Happy house warming! This makes me want to send random (though small) gifts to other friends. The joy is in the unexpected thoughtfullness. It definitely jolted me out of my crabby-ass funk.
I have a lump under my arm. It's been there since O was born, perhaps a misplaced milk duct, perhaps a reaction to the rubella shot I got after his birth. Perhaps something more sinister. We don't know. I had an ultrasound on it today and oddly enough, although it is a sizeable and palpable hard mass, absolutely nothing shows up on the ultrasound. The tech was baffled. Like it wasn't even there. We'll see what my doctor says next week. A mammogram is out becasue of the breastfeeding, biopsy is an option. That is one ugly and scary word.
I swear my 3.5 month old son says mama, and says it for me, not just babling it as babies do. Even M and A agree. It is most bizarre.
More randomness to come I am sure, but I need to go have some sug-bug time with O since A is sleeping - a rare occurrence these days.
Well ok, I am still a tropical storm, but I have potential. How fitting in this season of hurricane chaos that has marked my move to Florida that the latest storm bears my name. All fear Tropiocal Storm Lisa.
Good grief.
No time to write all I have to say, but we have survived Frances and are hunkering down for Ivan. Keep praying, it is helping.
We're evacuating. And given the geography of Florida there really isn't anywhere to go but somewhere else in Florida. So since we live on the east coast and Frances is heading right at us we are heading west, and a bit south. Basically just heading away from direct impact and hoping the imapct is less over there. Thankfully we have snowbird friends back in Ithaca whose winter place is now vacant on the west coast. We'll drive there tomorrow along with everyone else. A four hour drive should take approximately 10-15 hours. This makes the claustrophobic in me want to scream. Trapped on a highway.
Keep those prayers coming.
