YUM-O!!

My mother in law told me that Starbucks had a new hot chocolate so today I thought I would splurge and try it out. HOLY CROW it was DELISH! It was the new Salty Caramel Hot Chocolate and it was soooooo good. I just wish I knew how to make this at home because financially it is not a daily thing hehe. I now wish I would have splurged for the Venti instead of the Tall.

On the home front, I made a pretty decent Lasagne last night, at least Jimmy was loving it. We have over half left since only 4 of our 8 household members like lasagne (they are really weird must come from mars or something, how can you not like lasagne). It doesn't matter though because it is always twice as good the next day for lunch or leftover dinner. OK now I can't wait for lunch.

Oh JEAN a

So Jeana does not wear jeans. Not only does she not wear jeans, she hates them. So, imagine my surprise, when she had not only put on a pair yesterday BUT wore a pair to school today! I promised I wouldn't put the picture on the blog but I did take one just in case this never happens again. Jeana hasn't worn jeans since about second grade and then it was few and far between. Yesterday I went to the store and bought Jessica and Jeana some new clothes they needed for school. Jessica was in desperate need of jeans (ok not so desperate but she is a teenage girl so you get the picture) and they both were in need of professional wear for school. When they got home from school they went to try on the clothes and out Jeana comes with a pair of pants that Jessica didn't care for and she liked them. Her father was floored when he came home, not only was Jeana in jeans but Jessica was doing homework! What happened to my kids lol.

Bowling, Star Wars and Keeping Clean

We had alot of fun this week. Since Jimmy was gone for a couple weeks we decided to take the kids out and spend some family time. We had alot of fun bowling. Jimmy should seriously think about bowling on a league - yah right like he has the time hehe.



Also, we had Padwan Jessica and Jedi Jimmy practicing their skills. They were laughing so hard I am not sure they learned anything new.



Johnston had figured out the need for clean hands and our new bathroom is much easier for him. I am not sure if it was the idea that his hands were dirty from making mud with his sisters and brother or just that he can do it himself.

The cast is off but...

So, today Jillian got the cast off her foot, however; amongst the joy was the realization that she still is not suppose to run, jump, scooter, do PE or Soccer, trampoline etc for four more weeks. My next question is... how do we keep her down? She has been trying to run, jump and has been on the scooter with the cast ON! Do we tie her down or tape her to the couch? We seriously considered asking the dr to keep the cast on another 4wks til she is able to do these things. We are hoping that her next appt, on Halloween, will find her able to play in her last game of the season even if just a sub or keeper. She was quite dismayed that her foot was so dry and dirty and cannot wait to shower on her own tonight. Although it felt weird she seemed to be walking just fine as I dropped her off at school after her appointment. Here we are just keeping our fingers crossed she doesn't let her unending amount of energy get out of control and she can stand another month of just hanging out.

HE'S BAAAAACK!!!!!

Ok so thats all I really wanted to say but isn't that enough. After 2 1/2 weeks in TX working the hurricane restoration, Jimmy returned home on Tuesday. Of course I knew he was coming home but we decided to not tell the kids so they would get a surprise. On monday night, for FHE, I had them make signs welcoming daddy home so we could put them up when we "knew" he would be home. I put them up after everyone left for school and he was home a couple hours later. JT had to hold his up for daddy and tell him Welcome Home, it was too cute. He surprised Jessica and Jeana by picking them up at the bus and also Jillian by picking her up at school. I had Jordyn and James close their eyes until we got to the house and when they opened their eyes they were so excited and ran into the house. We spent the night hanging out watching Iron Man and eating pizza. We are so happy he is home. I could not be those women who have to be without their husbands for long periods of time, like the service, I am just no good without my other half.

Texas Tales

The last couple of days have been good. We set all our poles and repaired the arms and actually started getting peoples power back on today. Not a lot, but enough for us to feel like we made progress. They gave us about 30 more guys to help us on this circuit, so the other crews got 6 poles today. We ended up finding a few more. We are always finding more as we drive things out. Phases and secondaries down, broken arms, missing glass, and stuff like that. Things that aren’t huge, but just enough to keep us from heating another section up without having to do a few more hours of work.

I am sure you know they let people back into Galveston today. By 7:30 there was a 13 mile backup. Glad we aren’t there any more. Still lots of people being patient and friendly for the most part. About every fourth house has a generator on it. We went and looked at another area late this afternoon, and it has a few areas that are just as bad if not worse. It is just a few miles up the road, and most of the people have power, but it looks like a few were missed. The same stuff we are seeing now.

The pictures are of where we are now and I also included a shot of a mosquito. Mike smacked it on the inside of Wes’s windshield. Actual size, no trick photography. We have heard that onions and garlic will help repel them so we are having pepperoni and sausage pizza with onions and garlic bread for dinner. No, really we are. It is good to work with guys that all feel the same. It is going to be hard to leave if we don’t get everyone in our area back on. I think that some may actually stay a little longer.

I hope none of this is boring. And thanks to all who have checked in on Shannon and the family. I still miss everyone a lot, but it is a little easier knowing that the family is taken care of.

Mounting Mosquitos

Monday started out the same as any Monday, but more like a Galveston storm work Monday. After all the changes in plans, we ended up with our original plan. That led us to Pearland which I think is just south and west of Houston. I have not looked at a map since I have been here, I just follow others directions and go. Anyway, once we saw the job, everyone’s mood got better because we had our own circuit of distribution to repair. There is a school that is the main priority to get back on line. There are four five poles down, four of them in a row, and then a bunch of broken arms and wire. We have not even driven all the taps yet. I guess to explain, they give each group of crews one circuit to repair to minimized confusion and increase safety. The main line is like a main highway and the taps would be the exits and side roads. The utility has only driven the main line, and we have to drive and repair all the taps.

I think we messed up Mexican Sunday night and Red Lobster last night so the tent food doesn’t look so good any more. But, the more I look at the set up at the dig track, the more amazed I get. I was able to drop off my laundry and get it washed, and they did it right there. They have several trailers full of washers and dryers so you put it in their bag, sign your name, get a ticket, and pick it up 24 hours later. They cook all the food there, and we are even getting subway in our lunches. They had signs on the tables this morning saying they have served over 203,000 people as of last night.

I am sitting in the old Wal Mart parking lot and a twin engine airplane that was spraying something out of its wings just blasted by only about 150’ off the ground.

Need to get back to checking on things, but weather is okay, just muggy and about 85-90. The worst thing is no amount of bug spray can seem to keep the humming bird size mosquitoes away. Oh well, maybe I’ll get one and mount it on a plaque.