Standing Strong: A Very Interesting Week

Saturday, February 5, 2011

A Very Interesting Week

-All week long the meteorologists were predicting cold temperatures and a chance of snow on Friday. While the midwest and east coast were getting dumped on with snow the temperatures were dropping here. Mel and Sharon were going to leave Tuesday morning so we went out for a last hurrah and let Jackson get his first ice cream cone after dinner. However because of the roads in Dallas and Oklahoma City they were stuck in Houston for another night!

-Tuesday Mel and Sharon packed up with hopes of leaving Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning rolled around and I got up to work out like any other normal day and half way through my workout the power went out! About 40 minutes later it came back on there was however not enough time to shower and get ready for work. So I finished my workout, freshened up, and went to school. When I arrived there we had no power or running water due to a broken water main. All day we experienced rolling black outs and stinky restrooms all day!

-Mel and Sharon made a few calls to relatives in the midwest and the Texas Department of Transportation and reluctantly decided to be safe rather than sorry. Mel made the most of another day at our house and repainted our entry and dining room the same color as our upstairs in the morning. Then Papa and Grandma picked Jackson up early from Miss Sandy's to play. That night we went out for dinner and ran a few errands. Whenever we would go from the car to the store or the store to car, Jackson would say "Brrr" and pull down his hat over his face and say "Keeping warm!" He is a hoot!

-By Thursday Mel and Sharon had enough of us and Houston and they were up and on the road by 6:30 in the morning. Thankfully we had power all morning and I was able to shower before I went to school today. Now there was a 60-80% of snow for Friday and everyone was hoping for a snow day. By 10 am school was cancelled and I couldn't have been more excited! I didn't let my students in on the news until Mrs. Thomas announced it at the end of the day and they worked hard all day. Believe it or not this week was one of the best for student behavior in my class! I am praying it continues into next week.

-I left right after buses to go get Jackson. I was ready to spend a "Snow day" together on Friday. I was a little bummed because Brian wouldn't be coming home. He had to spend the night downtown because of the inclement weather coming in. His work put him up in a hotel right down the street. The cold weather made me want chicken chili. I had everything at home except the chili beans and you can't have chili without the chili beans. So after I picked up Jackson we headed to Kroger. I knew the stores were going to be busy but I didn't think they would be CRAZY! Thank goodness I used to be a checker at a grocery store and no one else likes to use the self check-out lanes or I may have had to leave the chili beans out of the chili.

-Jackson came down with a fever and was extra clingy. I spent the night cuddling with my boy and watching Thomas. He woke up at 4:30 and it felt like he was burning up. I went to get him tylenol and could barely scrape enough out to get him the dose he needed. I laid next to him the rest of the night and prayed his fever would go down. At 7 o'clock we got up and I looked outside for the snow, nope we got none! It was a good thing Brian stayed downtown or he wouldn't have made it to work. They closed down all the freeways due to ice.

-Jackson and I bundled up and headed to Target right at 8 o'clock to get tylenol. No one was out on the streets and the store was empty except us and the employees. Since we were out I grabbed a latte and we headed back home were we stayed all day long!

-Jackson perked up after each dose of tylenol. We spent the morning making a tent, playing in it, and reading books in his bed.