Katrina and the Waves

..I'm walking on sunshine ... woo woo ... Man, what a nightmare.  My folks live 90 miles north of New Orleans, so of course I had some worried moments.  However, Katrina performed a miracle for New Orleans by taking her slight right turn.  Good for N.O., bad for Biloxi, Pass Christian, Gulfport, all places that I know and love.  It's just catastrophic .. awful.  My parents and sister have no power, and my in-laws in Jackson, Mississippi are in the dark as well.  I have tried to call my sister all day, but all circuits are busy.  I talked to them all yesterday so I know they're fine; they only got winds and very little rain.  Ugh.

I walk around the house looking at all the stuff we have and get sick just thinking about packing it all up.  I'm giving myself until Sept. 1 to be lazy about it, then we have 29 days to get our act in gear.  I'm seriously thinking about renting a huge dumpster and throwing away 90% of what is in our house.  Seriously.  And in light of the events on the coast, it's just stuff ... it's almost shameful how much we have, and it could all be blown away, just like that.  Sorry this isn't a cheery and upbeat entry ...

Just When We Were Feeling Sorry for Ourselves ...

...we got an offer on our house!  Very reasonable offer, we're very happy with it.  No more showings!  Wahoo.  Now the "real" fun starts:  packing! 

Not much else to report ... Colin started back to school today .. no longer at the bottom of the heap, now he's a sophomore!  Maybe that would explain his sophomoric behavior.  Just KIDDING!

 

...But We're Still Laughing!

1.  Both of the houses that were for sale on our street have sold.  The showings have slowed to a trickle.  We (I) have decluttered and decluttered and we're still hearing "declutter"!

2.  Christian decided to use one of the kitchen cabinet doors as a swing and it split down the middle.  I heard cuss words from David that I've never heard before!  But we were happy that Christian was honest and apologetic about it, and weren't too angry with him.

3.  David goes to Lowe's to pick out the myriad of hardware that he needed to fix the cabinet door and some other things.  After an hour of meticulously combing through the aisles and finally assembling his "kit", he turned to look at something, and a helpful Lowe's employee took his shopping cart away and started re-shelving everything.  More cuss words.  I think we're a Home Depot family now.

4.  Melanie decides to put an obstacle course with a step stool up for mom, just to see if she's paying attention.  Well of course, she wasn't, so down she goes, face planting into the (thank goodness) carpet.  Unfortunately, the glasses are DOA.

5.  We completely forgot to take Christian to "skills day" for the fall baseball season yesterday.  Guess he'll have to settle for being the bat boy.  (NOT!)

6.  We still have our sense of humor.

Melanie

Thought I would share the proofs for Melanie's Louisiana photo shoot in July.  (And no, that's not our dog ... it's the photographer's standard poodle, Cody).  Every time Melanie sees a dog she goes ape, and shouts, "Ai Ai!  Ai Ai!"  She absolutely loves them.  Even looking at a magazine she can spot the dogs.  I need to work on her about approaching dogs she doesn't know ...

Dad Update

Thanks to all who have expressed concern about my dad (Grandpa).  I called the hospital yesterday morning, expecting to get mom, and Dad answered the phone!  He sounded just like his old self.  He had just returned from a CAT scan, and reported that there were no cats in there.  His sense of humor is still intact, so I know he's doing better.  All tests have ruled out any type of "event" (stroke or heart) so the conclusion is that he just tripped and fell, and unfortunately fell on something very hard.  My sister said that seeing him there on the ground, she thought for sure he was dead, and now he's asking for his robe so he can walk around the hospital!  Wow ...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ... still trying to keep the house looking pristine (no easy task), and getting back into the homework groove.  Melanie and I continue to go to speech therapy (well, Melanie does) 3X a week.  Quentin is pushing the envelope with his long hair.  We did have it cut the day before school started, but the principal "suggested" that he have it cut more.  Quentin is trying to see how long it will take before the suggestion becomes an order.  Way to get in the principal's good graces, "Cleem".  (Nickname from the Kaz trip.)

My Dad

My dad turned 78 yesterday, and unfortunately celebrated it with a ride to the hospital in an ambulance.  He had gone out to the garage/patio to make sure the barbecue was shut down properly, and either tripped or fainted, falling face first into his workbench and a metal vise attached to the end of it.  Mom went looking for him and found him unconscious on the floor fo the garage.  He has fractured the bones in his cheek as well as some ribs, and has terrible gashes on his face and arm.  As of now he is in the hospital on some major pain medications, but all seems stable.  The doctors are going to do some investigating to see if he passed out from some sort of cardiac "event" but right now they don't know for sure.  Dad has no memory of falling.  Mom says he looks like a train wreck.  We all would appreciate positive healing vibes!

Re-entry is Tough

This was a tough weekend, with the guys recovering from jet lag, and having to stay out of the house due to showings.  I dragged Quentin and David around the mall while they were half-asleep.  I mean, it was tax-free weekend!  We had to "save" some money!

Quentin had a great trip, as did David, of course.  Q. has to finish his summer reading at warp speed, as school starts tomorrow, and he's a little behind.  He said he knew it would bite him on the .. ahem ..

In the meantime, we have had to have some carpet replaced in the study, which involved moving some very heavy furniture.  Today I have some stuff to put away, go to the kids' school to meet their teachers, and we have company coming tonight. 

Lisa, Christian and Colin arrived home safely last night.  They had a great time with their grandparents ... thanks again Grandmama for taking such good care of them.  Christian was a little homesick for you last night ... he really enjoyed his stay.

Tomorrow, on top of it being the first day of school (tomorrow morning will be ugly!!) our realtors are having a "realtor's luncheon" at the house (where they invite all the realtors from the area to see the house and provide feedback) so Melanie and I will have to be scarce at that time.  I'm scouting out all the places that we can go when we have to be away from home.  Hoping that some of them don't involve spending money, but I'm not holding my breath.  Last Saturday I had to vacate the premises with 30 minutes' notice and found myself putting on my makeup in the parking lot of McDonald's. 

Well, it's time to get my act in gear ... I'm afraid the phone will ring at any moment with a showing scheduled.  Ack!