Hurricane's a comin....should I mop the floor today?

I am not trying to make light of Gustav out in the Gulf. In fact, I think all of us on the Gulf of Mexico take these hurricanes alot more seriously now since Katrina and Rita 3 years ago. But when you are 2 to 3 days away from landfall, it's all a gamble as to where it will land.

Living in Cypress, a northwest suburb of Houston, we are 77 miles to the north of Galveston. If Gustav comes to Galveston, we would most likely see lots and lots of rain and at the worst some spin off tornadoes....which really sounds like any other summer storm around here. They (the weathermen) say to prepare to be without electricity for up to 3 days.......so stock up on nonperishable food and lots of water. So I will head out to Walmart and do just that.

I'm humbled......

Uh, yea........that's says Excellent. I was awarded this by a fellow Houstonian, blogger, Aggie, and Silver Bella....Linda Jo's Obsessions. I found her through my childhood friend, Stephanie, who led me to blogland about 2 years ago. Both have sent me some traffic and if you happen to be reading this you should check them out. Thanks Linda for my first award....I'm humbled to be mentioned by you....much less awarded.

Now I would like to forward this award to a couple of new places I have been reading lately....


Fated Follies Studio and Bienvenue


The nicest part of accepting this award is I can stay in my pajamas and the papparazzi stayed away.

I got your number now.....

Some of the many blogs I read have counters on them, usually at the bottom. I find myself reading the number and end up wondering about my own blog. Today, I saw a "free counter" so I added it to my site. It asked me what number I wanted to start with. Really? I could put any number? Like 1,000,000 people have read my blog?

But I put 101. No reason really. I just figured I had been blogging at least once or twice a week since early 2007....so surely that's about 101. Give or take a blog or two.

I want to thank my loyal readers.....Jordan and her cat. And Jordan if you want to hit my site a few hundred times a day just to watch the counter go up, that'd be great.

On another note....school officially started on Monday. It's crazy.......controlled chaos. We have a really mature group of kindergarteners so far this year. By mature, I mean they know how to open up the things in their lunchbox. And they know how to line up. But they're not real sure of alot of other things so it's not totally smooth yet. Each day has been an improvement over the previous day.

But TGIF. And TGIATDW. (Thank goodness, it's a three day weekend!)

Murphy's Law....Hackney Edition

Murphy's Law - If something can go wrong, it will.

Hackney Edition - Several things will go wrong at the same time.

This week was delivered to us courtesy of the Devil himself. I don't usually think about this guy....but I do believe in good and evil, and this week began to feel comically evil. I say comically, because noone was injured in the making of this week.....but it sure felt like an evil source was working overtime.

Here is the last week in a rotten nutshell:

• Last Thursday My tooth began to ache. The tooth that had a root canal in June and a $1000 crown permantly glued on it in July. Hard to be in a good mood with a tooth ache.
  
• Last Friday Will hydroplaned in the pouring down rain and rear-ended a car. Noone hurt but think thousands here in terms of car damage. We were in College Station when it happened so that added a little stress that we couldn't get to him when it happened.
  
• Sunday Jordan has a small accident involving her car. She is very upset....VERY upset. Think anxiety upset. She is in Phoenix....so we are dealing with this over the phone.


• Monday Return to work. Summer over. Leave early to go to Endodontist for consultation on my tooth......he tells me I need another root canal and there is no guarantee the tooth can be saved. Think thousands here. Worried about my precious middle child....she is feeling stressed. Tooth hurting. Can't sleep all night.
  
• Tuesday My kindergarten team loses 2 teachers because the student enrollment is way lower than the projections. Lots of teary eyes and margaritas.
  
• Wednesday Wake up to a jillion ants in my kitchen and no water pressure. Water pressure problem is not really noticed until I am already in the shower and get just wet enough that I have to try to continue in the trickle. Ants attacked with some vinegar and have to be left to party until I can get back home that afternoon. Must be on time to work. Call my "rock".....Chuck......to ask him (well, okay I yelled this part) to please kick in and help me out. I am back at work and can't make phone calls.
  
• Thursday Leave work early to go back to Endodontist for scheduled Root Canal procedure....$1200. Beautiful, new $1000 crown chipped during the procedure. Doctor tells me he saw the problem. During the first root canal performed by my regular (probably ex ) dentist, a perforation was made in my tooth and the hole was filled...but it wasn't a canal. Saving the tooth not looking good. grrrrr This million dollar tooth is going to end up in the trash and then my bite will be off and my teeth will go crooked and Chuck will leave me for a straigth toothed young chick and surely this will lead to homelessness (I know, I am starting to think irrationally!)
Will's car damage estimate is in......car not totaled but damage came in just under the worth of the car. Of course.


• Friday Pulled away all day to work in all areas of the school but my own. My work doesn't get done. Feeling stressed. Tooth hurts. But loving that the week is OVER.

To celebrate the WEEK OVER, Chuck and I tried out a new restaurant and it was great! Then we swung by my friend/co-worker's house and I got to rock a baby to sleep. Awwww.....I will survive.

Lest anyone one who reads this think my life is fluff....I assure you I also walk the balance beam of life. I just choose to write about the fluff. However, this week was just worthy of a little post about the junk.

So funny....so true

Saturday Night Live's spoof on birth control pill commercials.

10 - 2 = 8

Did you ever wonder how they know how many kids will show up for kindergarten on the first day of school? And how many teachers they will need? Well, let me tell you....

There is a very important person in an office whose job it is to predict the number of teachers needed in every school to teach all the children that will show up the first day. That guy's job used to be alot easier when it was "little houses on the prairie" and the school was one room. But fast forward to 2008 and the job just got a lot harder. The big metropolitan areas and suburbs are growing faster than weeds and the formulas that worked before are not so accurate. Although the formula is usually right on, this year there was a glitch.

In all the planning and good intentions, we seemed to have 2 teachers too many on our kindergarten team. Two teachers who have spent the last week getting their room ready for the children. Two teachers who have gone to classes this summer to improve their skills for the children. Two teachers who have spent much of their time and own money to buy shiny new things for the children. Two teachers who showed up for the kids who didn't.


The children's parents have now registered for the first day of school and the projected number is way off. So way off that two teachers will not be needed.......thank you very much. Oh, but we need an extra teacher over here at this other school. And we need an extra teacher up here in this older grade.

Excuse me, we're down here in kindergarten crying.....give us a minute and we will switch gears. Teams aren't built in a day and you can not tear them apart in a moment's notice. So excuse us while we attend a pity party for our team members who are no longer part of our team. (This "team" just spent 3 hours taking down a classroom and moving it out ...then tearing down a second classroom and setting it back up down the hall.)


I know that I am not in control. And I figured out a long time ago that God's timing is perfect and I am not to question it (although...I do). So, I know in my heart of hearts, that this will all work out for the glory of God and for the sake of the children.....but I sure cannot see it now.

So, I ask you, God.....please give us the patience the next few days to see the changes and plans you have in store for us. Remind us that we are here for the children and you will use us where you need us. Amen.

Good Day Bad Day

Chuck took the day off yesterday and we went to College Station to spend the day with Cameron. She has stayed in CS this summer for summer school so we haven't seen much of her.

She is in a 3 bedroom apartment and the 2 other roommates have moved out and the 2 new roommates won't move in until next weekend. She is living alone right now and would be loving it except the TV moved out, too. So the real reason she wanted us to come see her was to bring a TV. We gave up one of the many in this house. (Not bragging, just saying we have a dang tv in almost every room. It's a Chuck thing.)

After a trip to Walmart to buy a few items, rearranging her furniture, doing a little cleaning(although I will brag here and say her apartment was very clean....made me proud),we went to dinner. After dinner we drove out to the barn where she has a temporary job feeding baby deer.

It has been a good day.................

Then the cell phone rang. It's Will. He says, "Mama?" Then he goes silent while he is trying to hold back the tears.........to tell me he has been in a wreck. A huge calm came over me (GOD) because I know if he is dialing my number and talking to me......he is basically okay. Apparently he was coming up to a car already stopped at a red light, it's raining very hard and when he applied his brakes the car hydroplaned. So BAM! happened. Everyone was okay but the cars were pretty banged up.

Will is okay but very shook up, as he should be.....the older couple he hit is okay but very aggravated, as they should be. Both parties are without their cars for awhile.

So good day turned bad.

Traffic on Blogger's Lane....

My childhood friend, Doojies, has a "giveaway" going on at her site.........and in order to get your name thrown in the hat, you have to comment on my blog as well as hers. So I have been enjoying some traffic on my blog......and some very kind comments. Most of these commenters will be going to Silver Bella....so I will get to meet them in person in November. (Please God, may they all have on nametags. Amen)

As of Monday, I will return to my day job....working as a kindergarten paraprofessional (definition = teacher's aide). Everyone knows I love my job, but you also know how much I love to sleep in late. So those late mornings will be coming to an end and I am a little sad about that. The good news is we get one week without the kids....so I can get used to getting up early before I get totally wiped out by the energizer bunnies.

I have also enjoyed sitting at my computer for long lengths of time this summer reading through all the blogs out there. This new addiction has almost taken over my addiction to decorating magazines. Almost.

I am going to post a few pictures of some of my favorite new things around my house. First, I had my master bathroom wallpapered this summer. I would love to drop $30,000 on this room and turn the shower and garden bath into a larger shower and extended closet....but the $300 wallpaper job pleases me for now. I am one of the last people on Earth who still loves wallpaper. I just love pattern and lots of it scattered around a room with the colors being the main theme. Does anybody out there agree?

A 15 year old shade that was in the arched window over the tub was taken down for the wallpapering job and did not get put back up. I will not tell you how dirty that thing was, but I did think the shade was supposed to be a grayish taupe. NOT. It was originally white. I would love to tell you that I fired the maid for her incompetent dusting, but I'm the maid. I shopped around the house and found 3 beloved shutters found at Roundtop over the years.....Chuck fixed them so they would hang as one and VOILA! A "window mistreatment" as The Nester would call it.

I used joint compound tinted with paint for the potty area. Scrape it on, leaving the old wall showing through now and then. A great look. I sewed a little valance using the colors in the room with some different trims. Not much fabric or trim needed when you do it this way. If you can't sew....this can be hot glued. I bought a bamboo shade with privacy liner for the window...I would put these everywhere if I could. I love this look. So Ralph Lauren. Click on this photo to enlarge it and you can see the texture better.

The other little trick I picked up this summer was using willow branches as a tall house plant....to fill that space when you don't know what else to use.

You can pick these up in the floral department of HEB here in Houston...for $7.99 a branch. I bought 3 branches and put them in a tall vase of water,then in a taller basket which is really an umbrella stand. I stole this idea from the owner of a new decorative store and she said she had had hers for over a year...it almost reached the ceiling! The florist said to change the water once a week. But I can't remember when the week is up...so I wait for it to holler at me.

If you are still reading this.....thank you. This post was all over the place....but if you made it to this sentence you're good.

The Wedding Weekend

We spent the weekend in San Antonio and attended the wedding of Jordan's best friend and college roommate. Jordan was a bridesmaid in Brittany and Jon Yeager's wedding so she flew in from Phoenix and there was no way we were missing this one. All 5 members of our family were dressed up and in the same room so we are actually all in one photo.

This was an AGGIE wedding so, of course, all the Aggies in the room gathered to sing The Aggie War Hymn. Awwwww.....WHOOP!!!

I am not posting too many of the bride and groom because somehow it seems wrong.....since they are on their honeymoon and haven't seen any pictures yet. But let me just say the bride was beautiful and the groom looked at her as if she was the only one in the room.

We spent Sunday in Gruene, TX....one of my favorite places in Texas. But I think I will never go there again in August. Too dang hot. We ate at the Gristmill and shopped the antique stores, dipped our toes in the Guadalupe River and wished we were tubing. We dropped Jordan off at the San Antonio airport and headed back to Cypress.

Happy Birthday Jordan Elizabeth Hackney!

Today is Jordan's 23rd birthday. It has been 23 very fast years with some incredibly long days in there now and then. She was my first.....and as I have said before, "the first pancake." That's the one you practice on and throw out. Only she's a keeper.

August 11, 1985.....

I had no idea what I was getting into....but I knew how to pick out some eyeglasses!

Check out that smile....it's her Daddy's.

Happy Birthday Jordan Elizabeth Hackney......may you have a wonderful day and a year to remember! Love, Mama and Daddy

I dare you not to be touched by this....

I first heard of Steven Curtis Chapman years ago....so long ago that my children and I still listened to the same music...whatever I played on the car radio/cd. I bought his Christmas cd and we all knew every word to every song. Even though SCC has gone on to make much more music and become much better known, it is this Christmas cd that remains my favorite.

Steven and his wife, Mary Beth, have 3 biological children and 3 adopted Chinese orphans. In May, their youngest daughter Maria was tragically and accidentally killed by the suburban driven by her teenage brother on their family farm.

I heard this news on the radio the morning after it happened and I was so saddened by the news. The sadness of it stayed with me for days. I ached for the Chapman family, for Steven, for Will, the teenage son. I remember thinking how will Steven, one of God's greatest messengers, keep his faith through this? How will he get up on stage and sing of God's love in the shadow of these darkened days? And the teenage son....how in the world will he forgive himself even though he was completely blameless? Apparently Maria was running towards the car in her excitement to see her brother and he did not see her coming. She ran too fast or didn't stop soon enough.

Well, the Chapman family has been interviewed twice in the last couple of days....and while their faith has been through an earthquake....there appears to be some life left in the rubble. Go here and click on the sites for the Good Morning America and The Larry King Live interviews. Watching this family is more of a testimonial to God's powerful love than a thousand Sundays of sermons. At least for me. I dare you not to be touched by this family.