Still snowing!

It's still snowing. So much so now that you can't even see the grass. Wait...what grass?

Here's an interesting fact that was on the news tonight. Every year we've had a hurricane, there's been snow the following December.
1983--Hurricane Alicia in August, snow in December.
1989--Hurricane Jerry, snow in December.
2008--Hurricane Ike, snow tonight.

Is there a correlation?

We also had snow Christmas Eve in 2004, but no hurricane that previous summer.

We are under a winter weather advisory now. Hmm...late arrival tomorrow at school? Maybe we'll have a snow day? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Snow? In Texas?

Yes, your eyes aren't fooling you! Driving home from school mid-afternoon today was a frigid one! It was a mixture of sleet and rain. (Ok, you Northerners. I know this sounds pathetic to you, but you have to remember, it only snows in Texas once in a blue moon!) It's been snowing for a little more than hour now, and believe it or not, it is beginning to stick and acumulate! The temperature is below freezing, so the snow might just be hanging around for awhile. Although it is to be back in the low- to mid-50s tomorrow. And by this weekend it is to be back in the 70s. Where, I ask you, where does the five day forecast go from snow to mostly sunny and in the 70s? Only in Texas!

My parents spent the day up at the lake house. Yes, dad fished all day. (Is he nuts??) Apparently it snowed up there most of the day. It must look beautiful!

Tim says I'm acting like a kid. He keeps coming in the computer room to tell me it's acumulating more and more, and I keep running outside to look. I just came back in from tromping in the field, and once upon the sidewalk I had to stomp the snow out of my shoes!

It's so much fun. Although, I wouldn't have to live in it day in and day out!

The weathermen originally said the snow would end around 10 tonight, but there's been an update and now they are saying 6 a.m. Hmm...wonder what it will look like in the morning. Keep your eyes peeled for an update!

Girls Night Out

Last Tuesday night, a few of my friends and I went out for a night out on the town. Ok, not really, but we did get together. I guess one could say it was in a sense, my bachelorette party. We went to Papasitto's for dinner and then went to Main Event for some bowling. It was fun, except for the embarrassing moments.... The wearing of the vail in the restaurant, and the index cards pinned all over me of words of advice. (Hence the pictures below.)

A good time was had by all!

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, No It's....

It's a Starbucks Tree!

I went to Target this afternoon (while Tim was home watching the Washington Redskins football game) and got another artificial tree. This one's sole purpose is for Starbucks ornaments, cardboard wrappers, and yes, even the tree topper is a holiday Grande cup from Starbucks. Oh, and yes, I do have this year's holiday ornaments, thank you very much!

The holiday decorating has begun. I usually do it on Black Friday, but was not in the mood this year. I guess I have too many other things on my mind, like wedding things and such. I think what got me in the mood today was the Hanging of the Greens at church this morning.

Anyway...
Just wanted to share a pic of the tree. If you get a chance, come see it. Tim says I need to take the pic into Starbucks to get recognizion. Yea, whatever!

Hope you have a great week.
Oh, and Kaz, I'm working on the "7 things you didn't know about me", I promise.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble, Gobble!

It's Thanksgiving Day and our day is in full-swing. As I type, I'm watching the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. (My dream one day is to see it live in NY.) Later this morning, Tim and I will be going to my parent's for Thanksgiving dinner. My sister, brother-in-law, and niece came in late Tuesday night. The tradition continues this year. We have all pitched in and are in charge of part of the meal. My task this year...the pumpkin cheesecake. Yummm.... My mouth is drooling already!

Later tonight, it's the Univeristy of Texas and Texas A & M football showdown. May the best team win. (Go UT!!!!)

Anybody going out shopping in the morning? I've been seeing the ads on TV and seems like one could start shopping as early as 4 a.m.! Not me. I'll still be in bed, thank you very much.

Hope everybody has a great Thanksgiving.

Shower Time!

Saturday afternoon was the first (of three!) bridal showers. Pictured below are Gran, my mom, and Tim's mom.

Pictured below here are the three hostesses and my mom.

We all had a great time and it was such a surprise to see an old college friend there. She drove in all the way from Austin just for the shower. She deserves a prize for coming the farthest. Thanks Susan!

Julia Grace (my flower girl) was at the shower, and she was as funny as usual. It took her about 3/4 of the way through opening things to realize what I was doing. She helped me open the rest (of course I didn't care!). In one of the packages was a wire whip/wisk, and she said, "Look Ms. Julie. It's a whisker!" Then later we opened a lemon/lime juicer, and she called it a lemon-lime squeezer. At one point I unwrapped a griddle (and pictured on the box was three pieces of bacon, three eggs, and four pancakes cooking). I asked her if later we could cook hamburgers on it, and she told me no, it's for cooking breakfast!

Thanks everybody who was there.

Hope everybody has a great week!

Happy Halloween, Y'all!

Ding Dong....
Trick or Treat!

Yes, it's that time again! Happy Halloween! As I sit here and type this, Tim is answering the door at his parent's house getting a chuckle or two out of all the cute kids in costumes. Every now and then, I look out the window to the passers by and see what the hottest costume is. Wonder what it is this year. What do you remember dressing up as when you were a child? My most memorable costume...dressing up as a coke can! Tim's most memorable costume...wearing his dad's old Navy uniform.

Wedding update....
Arne's Warehouse won't be open until the last week of November or the first week of December. I ended up ordering candles online, and getting bubbles from a very exclusive place...Dollar Tree. Time is ticking away, and December 13 will be here before we know it!

Hope y'all have a great weekend!
Don't forget to set your clocks back Saturday night.

53 days to go...

This weekend was another busy one. A friend of mine is having a come and go craft party at her house in a few weeks, and I am taking some of my handmade cards, gift bags, and journals to sell. Needless to say, I've spent the last several nights working hard on preping things just for that. It's fun, mindless and relaxing, though.

Tim and I met with the DJ for the reception tonight. He's really nice and it sounds like we are all in for a fun evening! No telling what is playing.

My next big task is to start working on the program. I know who is reading and who is singing, but what Lory is reading and what Jamie is singing is still up in the air. Ok, so I know one of the two songs that Jamie is singing. That's a start, right??

Arne's Warehouse is still closed. I keep thinking they will open soon since their website is advertising Halloween costumes. Humm.... Keep your fingers crossed they open soon. Or I might need a plan B for bubbles and candles. (Maybe even a plan C for candles! Ha, ha...get it?? C for candles!! Ok, so I tried being funny!)

Book fair gets delivered to school tomorrow. I always look forward to book fair week, but am always glad to get the library back to a sense of normalcy when it's all over. So, if you are reading this and you are a local, come purchase some books for holiday gifts and support our library. This is one of our major fundraisers of the year. All the proceeds this next week will come right to the library for me to buy more books for our students.

Have a great rest of the week.
:)

More wedding progress!!!!

The paper for the invitations FINALLY arrived on Monday this week!!! You should have seen the invitation assembly line we had going last night. I'm sorry to say I left my camera at home for that one! Holly, Heather, Sandy (Holly and Heather's mom), Tara and I were all dilligently working on invitations. Guess what??? Two and a half hours later all 120 of them were done! Talk about being proficient. I think what made the assembly go so well was the awesome pumpkin crunch cake we had for dessert, or maybe it was the spaghetti we had for dinner, or.... maybe it was just the spirit and hard-working friends I have. Whatever the case, it's done, thanks to my helpers!

Mom's and my success was very limited on Saturday last weekend. I did order my shoes for the ceremony, and I did get an outfit to wear to the bridal luncheon. Arne's Warehouse in Houston has been closed since Ike (and still is!). I'm telling you, Hurricane Ike truly messed me up!! I hope they open soon so I can get the bubbles and the candles. I guess I shouldn't worry too much about those minor details, but it's just one (or two) more thing(s) I could check off my list.

On a different note...
The apartment has seemed too quiet the last two nights, and seems quiet again tonight. I took Sylvester (aka Little Bit) to my dad's office Monday night. He was suppose to be declawed Tuesday. He ended up being declawed this afternoon. Apparently he has, as my dad said, misbehaved, and must stay another night or two. Little Bit didn't like the bandages my dad had on his front paws and pulled them off. Then he tried to nibble on his paws, thus making them bleed. If he behaves better tomorrow I'll get to bring him home. Ah... the quietness. It's nice but once you are used to having the playful one around, it's hard to convert back to being without!

59 days and counting!

Internet's back!!!!

Hope all is well with everybody. The internet is FINALLY up and running (at home) after Ike. Living without internet lately has been dreadful, this day in age! Although, I have to say I'd rather be without internet than power!

Seems as though I'm back in another wave of wedding crazyness. This week we taste-tested wedding cake, got centerpieces picked out for the tables at the reception, picked tableclothes and chair tie-backs. I also planned Tim's cake, but mums the word on what it is. You'll just have to wait and see for yourself in about 64 days. The best part of the week was the cake testing. Although, I do have to say I left the bakery with a sugar high yesterday afternoon! Tomorrow Mom and I are going into Houston to do some more finishing touches....candles for the candleabra, cake serving pieces, cameras for the tables,.....

Off and running....
Have a great weekend!!!!

Me No Likey Ikey

In the aftermath of Hurricane Ike....

Monday morning Tim and I (along with other members) went up to the church to help them do some preliminary clean up. The damage there is quite extensive. Our education building (top pic) has one entire wall that came crashing down. The playground was completely up-lifted and moved to the back parking lot (third and fourth pic). We also had a hole in the roof of the sanctuary building, and some siding torn off (second pic). The last pic is of our Youth Pastor, Josh, trying to pull the fence back together. This is where the playground use to be. I'm going out on a limb, but am guessing the church got hit by a tornado.

Things are slowly returning to normal around this part of town. We went to HEB today. They are still not fully stocked. They won't have eggs and milk for a few more days. We had to make a separate trip to Randall's to get eggs and milk. School for Clear Creek should return on Tuesday next week. Well, staff returns on Monday, and the students come on Tuesday. Although, the final decision will be made tomorrow at 4 p.m. The good news is that TEA is not requiring us to make the days up. :) Thanks TEA!!

When we got home from running errands, we saw my downstairs neighbor and found out her husband died Monday night from not being able to get his dialysis. How sad is that? Apparently the hospitals would not do it, and they told her to take him to Austin to get it done.

Have a great week!

We survived Ike!!!!!

Ike has officially come and gone. He has left his mark, too. The past two days my parents, Tim and I have spent cleaning up the yard. They had two trees uprooted in the backyard. Fortunately, they fell into the yard and not on the house! Of course there are tons and tons of twigs and leaves down, all of which require raking. We amazingly only lost power. Their landline phone still works and there is running water! You are probably wondering how in the world I'm able to blog tonight, but miraculously the power came back up about an hour ago. There won't be power at my apartment for weeks (saw downed power lines, chopped in half this afternoon!), so I might just be camping out here for awhile.

I got to travel around town a little yesterday and again today to go to my dad's office to see the cats and take care of them. What a mess there is to clean up yet. It's amazing what Mother Nature can do to a town.

Tim and I also traveled to the apartment this afternoon to check things out. It is fine as well. I talked to the people who live below me, and they said the water came close to coming in but backed off just in time. Although I wouldn't have suffered water damage since I live on the second floor.

Clear Creek ISD is closed indefinately. I have to say I'm not surprised since most of Kemah and Seabrook were completely underwater and these two communities are in our school district. I called our school receptionist, who works and lives across the street from school, and it appears that our building (from the outside) seems to be fine.

Tomorrow entales more cleaning at the house, and if I can, travel to the church to help the skeleton crew start cleaning it up. Aparently it suffered some sever damage. I say if I can travel since the city of Webster is under lock and key with getting residents back in their community. They are urging them not to come home yet since the debris on the road is supposedly terrible.

I'll try and get some pics to post, for those of you who have NEVER seen the aftermath nor experienced a hurricane first hand.

Have a great week!
Thanks be to God for protecting us during Ike.

A New Addition?

Friday morning upon leaving to have breakfast with Jamie and Lori, there stood outside my front door a kitten, not but maybe 8 weeks old. It followed me down the stairs and to my car. I didn't think much about it. That evening, I picked Tim up, and we ran a few errands, ate, then came here to hang out for a little while. While we were out and about, I told him about this kitten, and that he wasn't hanging around the door when I got home from school. Well, low and behold, there it was when I returned from dinner with him. He immediately looked at it, determined it had no fleas, and he started to feed it cat food. (I tried to deter him, since two cats are enough!) In case you don't know, he has a very soft heart for animals. This kitten has since been named, and I fear it's here to stay. He named him Sylvester. He is cute, and quite a playful thing. George and Lola are tolerating him, George more so. If you know of somebody who wants a kitten, let me know.

All eyes are on the Gulf. Hurricane Ike, I have two words for you....
Go away!

Hope everybody has an awesome week!

Labor Day Festivities and Wedding Plans

Labor Day weekend....

Oh how sweet it was to have a three day weekend! Tim and I went to Holly's and Joe's for a little grub and hanging out time Monday night. Heather and Tommy later showed up at the house, too. What a great time we all had! Getting Joe, Tommy and Tim together will always be interesting. You'll never know what those three will be up to!!! The three muskateers in the making!!

Wedding plans update...

Mom and I visited with Ginger Ramsey from Events 'n' Petals last week. The flowers are all ordered. Yippee!!! One more item checked off the list. Heather finished the invitation sample last week. Now it's time to order the paper so Heather, Holly, Jamie and I can get to crackin' on those invitations. Yes, handmade, but I wouldn't have anything less, of course!

Hope everybody has a great week!

Catching a Smile!

Look at that sweet face! One just can't ignore it. Her smile is contagious, isn't it? Julia will be a perfect flower girl, don't you think? It's hard to believe she started kindergarten today.

Speaking of the first day of school....talk about exhausting. Yes, the children started today. I didn't have students in the library and won't until Wednesday next week. But, BUT.... I did come home and take almost an hour and half nap!!! I have yet to understand what causes me to be so wiped out after the first day, but it happens every year like clockwork. Come home and sleep. One would think by now (now that I've done if for the 9th time!) I would remember that I'm wiped out at the end of the day. Although I have to say I remember my first day of my first year of teaching specifically. I came home and laid down at 4:30. The next thing I knew my alarm clock was going off to get up for day 2 and I was still in my clothes from the day before! Needless to say I haven't been that bad off since, thank goodness!

Tomorrow after school I'll be off to meet with another florist for the wedding. I haven't found one I like yet. Hopefully this one will be perfect. I'll let you know. This weekend I went to Williams-Sonoma and registered. I think I can officially mark registrations off the list. That makes two places now--Bed, Bath and Beyond and Williams-Sonoma.

That's all for now my friends.
Have a GREAT week!

Ode to Book Suggestions....

Name the book that these Build-A-Bear bears represent. Yes, it's a classic that everybody must read! I bet you have all read it too at some point in time. If you haven't read it, I know you've at least seen the movie with Judy Garland. Of course, it's The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum.

So... my point....
Day in and day out I get asked by friends (and my students, of course!) for book suggestions and what I'm currently reading. Nine times out of ten it's a children's book. (I can't imagine why!) You will notice to the right a section I've titled "The Librarian Suggests Reading....". If you are in need of a good read (and don't mind it being a children's book!), check one of these out at your local library. Let me know if you've read it and what you think.

Happy reading!

It's Tim!!!!

Here's the only pic I have of Tim for now. (Please ignore the giant hole in his sock!) I know....it's not the best pic, and I will try and do better soon. It's kind of hard to get pictures of the two of us together when he's gone during the week. This picture was taken about two weeks ago when the two of us and my parents went to Lake Conroe for a nice two day, one night get away. We vegged mostly. We went out for dinner at a little hole in the wall restrauant in Willis on Saturday night. If you have never experienced Willis, you should. It will give you a better appreciation for things!! Talk about being out with the country folks.

Hope everybody has a great weekend. Tim will be back in town sometime tonight! I'm looking forward to seeing him, since I haven't seen him since Sunday afternoon.

Wedding Update....

Many of you now know that Tim and I are engaged! Wedding plans are slowly coming along. I guess I better get in gear since our wedding day is only 116 days away!!!! I have my dress, as a result of an all day shopping spree with my bridesmaids a few weeks ago. Our day started out at a very exclusive place--Starbucks. Thanks for a great day, Jamie and Holly! (My dress is currently hanging in a secret location.) The bridesmaid dresses and flower girl's dress have been ordered and should be here late September. Tim has done his part of picking out the tuxedos and getting his groomsmen on the list at Men's Warehouse. Many of you have been asking for pics of the two of us. Those will be coming soon, I promise.

On a different note....
Summer is officially over and it's time to go back to work! Teachers and staff started back this week at school. The students return on Monday. I can't believe I'm about to start my 4th year as a librarian and my 9th year teaching! My my has time flown already.