A little rain must fall

and the fashion must follow

first rain in months and while  it didn’t last long, the kids made the most of it.

In honor of the official First Day of Hurricane Season and Southern Spirit, I’m re-posting The Cone of Uncertainty, one of my favorite posts.  It’s a tribute to all who live in this beautiful, yet dangerous area and to all who’ve been affected by Natural Disasters.

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Southern is more than geography, it’s a lifestyle, it’s in the beat of our hearts, the soft lilt in our words; it’s in the traditions of cotillion and bunco, of cowboy boots and front porch swings, of moonshine and moonpies.

Southern is a birth right and a blessing.

One of the little things that we who live both in the South and on the Coast get to experience yearly is this little event you might be familiar with… it’s known as Hurricane Season.

Down here we live on the Coast and from June to November (because Hurricanes use calendars, of course) we live in this thing called The Cone of Uncertainty.

Cone of Uncertainty; I read those words as if they were said by James Earl Jones and giggle even while a chill races down my spine and my stomach tightens. We who live on the coast can do that. It’s called survival instinct.

We choose to live on the Gulf Coast where the breezes taste of salt and sand and the humidity is a gift to skin and a curse to hair, where even in the winter you can comfortably walk in the waves collecting shells.

We choose to live in the Cone of Uncertainty because the beauty of the Southern people is unmatched anywhere else. You’ll never meet a stranger and you’ll likely never have a door closed in your face, we raise gentlemen and strong southern ladies down here. Yes Ma’am and No Ma’am sprinkle the speech of even the youngest southern children. Three year olds open and hold doors for others because they want to grow up to be just like their daddies.

It’s like picking dewberries in the summer, watching dragonflies flitting among the honeysuckle on Granny’s fence and family portraits in bluebonnets;

Being Southern is who we are, it’s in our bones.

I know why we return, why we stay and why we remain hopeful.

I know what it is to have numbered plywood in your garage. I know what it is to have bottles of water, cases of ramen, gallons upon gallons of gasoline and ridiculous amounts of batteries in your home. I know what it is to evacuate and evacuate and evacuate and just not have it in you to evacuate again. I know what it is to watch the news with fear in your gut while trying to keep a smile on your face and a backbone of steel.

I have sighed that sigh of relief that is tinged with guilt when that hurricane shifts slightly to the South or North. To have tears of relief course down my cheeks while simultaneous tears of grief flow for those now in the path of destruction.

I know it and yet, I stay. I see the looks and I hear the; “Why do you stay? Isn’t it scary? Don’t you hope you can leave soon?” when people find out where we live. “Yes, it can be scary,” I answer “but, we have insurance and Big Plastic Bins and Waterproof (hopefully) safes and a plan, we have a Hurricane Kit a store of canned food and batteries”

The truth is, I wouldn’t trade those months of living in the Cone of Uncertainty.. because I have this:

Because here, I can treat my kids to sunrises on the beach, s’mores cooked on a campfire on the beach, a night with more stars than even I knew existed, falling asleep to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and the knowledge that anytime we want to we can drop it all, drive less than 30 minutes and lose ourselves in the vastness of God’s great beauty, the Gulf of Mexico.

I’m privileged to live where the taste of salt is in the air, Chivalry still exists, everyone knows everyone and a good story requires knowledge of at least 3 generations.

“Y’all come on over tonight and we’ll cook somethin’ up while the kids play” is as much a formal invitation as is required among southerners and these invitations require little more than a holler across the street, a quick phone call or a chance meeting in the store. Manners and Morals aren’t something from days gone by, they’re alive and kickin’. I’m proud to live where Bless Your Heart is both a blessing and.. well, not… depending on to whom it refers; where being called Honey isn’t condescending it’s loving, where Sweet Tea is the norm rather than the exception and Dr Pepper Rules.

The South always comes back, always shows that its heart is matched only by its ability to recover. I remember watching Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, watching the devastation with tears in my eyes and pain in my heart, at the same time saying a prayer of thanks that it wasn’t us. With guilt and relief in my heart I joined others in dropping off food and clothes at donation sites and adding the people of New Orleans to my prayers. Katrina put a fear in all of us who live in the Cone of Uncertainty because that was as bad as most of us have ever seen it. I remember in the days and weeks and months following Katrina hearing people say; “New Orleans will never recover, it’ll never come back from this”

I’ll admit that I had my own doubts, however, the city that I’d visited with my husband and walked the streets, listened to the music, felt the passion and life radiating from the very heart of the city and it’s every inhabitant, I couldn’t quite believe that it wouldn’t. And New Orleanians have proven those people wrong. Like the song says; “.. with a little help from (my) friends” The South will always survive.

So, here’s the thing, I’m going to stay on my coast, in the Cone of Uncertainty and while there are months that I’ll stalk the weather people, even when they butcher the small town Southern names:

It’s pronounced Ree-fury-yo, honey, not Ree-FYOO-Gee-yo (Refugio)

because for all the devastation and the fear and the uncertainty…

The Power, The Beauty, The Heart, The Hope, The Laughter, The Love, The Strength of The South make the Cone of Uncertainty, pretty damn unimpressive, after all.

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This post is not sponsored in any way shape or form however, I feel compelled to remind y’all about the amazing Tide Loads of Hope Program.

The original posting of this was part of a Tide Loads of Hope Carnival in honor of the 5th anniversary of Katrina.  Tide Loads of Hope is/are currently in Joplin helping out there.  You can help them by buying a Loads of Hope Vintage Tee or just making a donation.  This post is not sponsored in any way shape or form.

Not a bad way to wake up on your birthday.

Wordless Wednesdays

I ran to snap this picture after a brief bit of ran the other day.  We are in a D4 level drought.  They’re calling it an exceptional drought.  Exceptional has such positive connotations, I would call it a devastating drought.

We have had a shade over 1″ of rain in 2009.  Everything is dying, brown and crisp.  Wildfires are claiming land and taxing our resources.  Every highway rimmed with large stretches of blackened, scorched earth.  The grasses so dry they cut you to walk on them, if they don’t crumble like dust beneath your feet first.

Taking pictures of your kids in fields of blue & white bluebonnets is a Texas tradition, you almost aren’t considered a real Texan if your photo albums and walls don’t have pictures of happy children amongst the fields of emerald green and royal blue.  This year, there are no bluebonnets.  The droughts have robbed us of the colors, scents and traditions of years before.

Boat ramps are closing, lake levels dropping and thousands of acres disappearing in hot blazes, leaving charred, scarred earth and shattered lives behind.

These tiny little drops of hope glisten like diamonds in the sun and I hope they aren’t the last that I capture, I pray that there are millions more coming soon.

I had this whole post planned for today. It was all about how excited I am to go have a chick flick night with my friend on Friday. I never get to see the movies in the theater. The last one I saw in a theater was Transformers.

I have two tickets to go see The Women on Friday night with a good friend of mine. There was gonna be makeup, and non mommy clothes, straightened hair, possibly heels and most likely a drink or two at a place without kids meals and sippy cups.

I was gonna tell y’all about how excited I am for the movie and all the wonderful things that Dove is doing to empower women and young girls.

But you know what I’m doing instead? Boarding up my windows, packing bags, getting all of our important papers together and preparing to evacuate.

Why? Because Ike is a bastard and he’s headed straight for us. Yes, I know I live in a Coastal Community, thank you very much. But still, until you see the satellite showing those huge winds and giant massive big ass storm system headed straight for you. It’s not real.
Until you get 10 calls in a row from your husband demanding that you leave so he can be at Peace and do his job without stressing over your safety and the safety of your kids.
It. is. not. real.

It is now real. Mandatory evacuations are set for Thursday. Voluntary start today and tomorrow.

I choose tomorrow because I don’t drive in the dark. Don’t like it.

I pray to God that Ike moves, that he doesn’t continue this direct course towards Corpus and the surrounding areas, but if Ike does hit here. I pray for the safety of all left behind, my husband included.

I’m one of the lucky ones. I have a home, I have insurance, I have family to flee to. I am a stay at home mom, I have the freedom and flexibility to leave when I wish. I am lucky.

If you are in his path, you have my prayers, for all in Cuba and Haiti, my heart goes out to you.

*If you are not in Ike’s path and want to go see The Women, head over to Dove and enter to win a pair for yourself.

*side note* my son just stuck a piece of bacon into my Diet Dr Pepper. I think that’s his way of trying to lay claim to it, I guess I should be glad he’s not a dog.
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On the lighter side. The new Blissfully Domestic is up and running and I am a contributor for the Blissfully Delish section.

And one of my recipes is being featured there this afternoon! Pop on over and say Hi. There are some amazing women contributing to this magazine and there’s a little bit of something for everyone.
So while I’m running around packing and boarding up windows, you go drool over my food and all the other amazing things over there.

A bouncing Monkey
little feet slipping, sliding
Toddler nirvana

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIKQ8vRigBk&hl=en&fs=1]

In College Station there’s this fabulous place called ‘The Bounce’. It is 12,500 square feet of Bounce Houses and Inflatable Slides and Rock Walls. In other words, kid Heaven. If you happen to be in that area… Monkey and Princess and I give it a HUGE thumbs up!

Now that you’ve watched my kids at play, why don’t you pop over and take the parenting quiz on the Savvy Source Widget. It’s sponsored by Leapfrog and it is pretty interesting. Come on, you know you want to!

I don’t think that’s actually my voice. I swear in my head it sounds different. Let’s call it cheap Kodak camera distortion, K?

To join in the 5-7-5 party go visit the fabulous Jennifer or the wonderful Christina

Let’s set the scene shall we:

We arrived home around 7:45 P.M. yesterday. Ahhh the sweet glorious bliss that is home. Mom, Dad, I love y’all but it is so good to be home!

Around 9:30 Shut up, I know. It’s going to take me a week to get back to 8:00 bed times.
Nathan read Princess her books and I went in to do her spell then the two of us cuddled on the couch together to watch Bones and enjoy being in each other’s presence.
Cue Princess.
Out prances Princess in her pink satin, dessert covered pajamas, tousled blond hair, big blue eyes and a world class pout on her lips. She crawls into Nathan’s lap and this is what she says.

“Daddy, I have the growing pangs”
Daddy: “Oh honey, where does it hurt?
She lifts up her right leg and rubs it. “Right here Daddy, all up and down.”
We wait for her to acknowledge the other leg…. crickets chirping….. nothing.
I start giggling and rolling my eyes.
Daddy: “Princess, you need to remember the next time you want to fake growing ‘pangs’ to use both legs or arms or the whole body, K?”
She looks up at him with those huge blue eyes, shrugs her shoulders and says: “Okay Daddy, will you carry me back to bed now and read me another book?”
and you know what… He DID it. Sucker!!!
But I love that he’s a sucker for her. There really is nothing quite so sweet as a Daddy and his little girl.
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We’re home! WooHoo! yippity skippity! Yes, I’m 12… deal with it
Everything seems to have survived Dolly fairly well. There are branches lining the streets in my neighborhood, flooded fields all along 77 and about 3 inches of mud and sludge covering my patio, oh and then there are the rats and the bugs. Yes, I said it Rats and Bugs.
The heavy rains and winds chased all the little ‘woodland’ creatures and creepy crawlies scurrying for shelter and that shelter, our attic and house. Yes, I am creeped out to the nth degree.
We have exterminators coming on Monday, the couldn’t come sooner because they are booked solid. Apparently we aren’t the only household suffering from the skittering, scurrying, creepy crawly, multi legged yuckies.
Thank you for all of your sweet notes and e-mails checking on me and my family, and inquiring into Granny and your prayers for her.
Y’all are amazing.

Princess is an amazing little creature. I alternate between wanting to pull her hair out and wanting to cuddle her and tell her she’s the most amazing person I’ve ever known.
We’re up here in Bryan visiting my family. Granny, the family matriarch, the heart and wicked humor center of the family is declining. She is still there, lurking behind the drugs and flashing us with the occasional ‘Granny’ smile, especially when she sees the kids. She can’t communicate, she shakes, she’s confined to a wheelchair and her poor feet look ready to split they’re so swollen. If she tries to speak, it’s a whispered word about every 30 seconds and they’re all but unintelligible.
It’s heartbreakingly sad, but it’s life.
In the car yesterday as we pulled up to ‘The Manor’ Princess said: “Mom, I can’t understand Granny when she talks” The confusion and sadness in her 4 1/2 year old voice was heart wrenching. I explained to her to that BeBe and I can’t understand her either but she understands us. I told her to just talk slowly and clearly and let Granny know how much she is loved. Princess nodded her head with wisdom far beyond her years.

Once in the facility we found Granny in the activities room with about 10 other residents. Princess went to get a puzzle and passed a tiny little old woman in a wheelchair. The woman beckoned to Princess with a shaky, whithered arm and proceeded to pat her face, call her Missy and tell her she loved her.
Princess talked to her for a moment, let her hold her hand and allowed her face and hair to be caressed. Then with a Grace and Wisdom beyond her years, she held the woman’s hand, looked into her shrunken face and dulled eyes and said; ” I love you too.” She then gently touched the woman’s shoulder and said: “I’m going to go over there with my Momma now. Ok?” And she walked slowly away.

In that brief instant I saw Grace, Wisdom and a glimpse of the amazing Woman my daughter is destined to become. Led by her heart, filled with compassion and a Grace and Wisdom granted by God. She left me a bit speechless, with tears of wonder in my eyes and a full heart.

I just talked to Nathan. The rain and winds are picking up pretty strong in Corpus and there’s a tornado on the ground 10 miles from where we live, and one forming about 5 miles from our house. Luckily, Dolly stayed South of Brownsville and it seems that we’re not going to be getting the brunt of it. Thank you for all of you who e-mailed me and messaged me to check on us. What wonderful friends y’all are. I’ll try to keep y’all updated.

Princess is an amazing little creature. I alternate between wanting to pull her hair out and wanting to cuddle her and tell her she’s the most amazing person I’ve ever known.
We’re up here in Bryan visiting my family. Granny, the family matriarch, the heart and wicked humor center of the family is declining. She is still there, lurking behind the drugs and flashing us with the occasional ‘Granny’ smile, especially when she sees the kids. She can’t communicate, she shakes, she’s confined to a wheelchair and her poor feet look ready to split they’re so swollen. If she tries to speak, it’s a whispered word about every 30 seconds and they’re all but unintelligible.
It’s heartbreakingly sad, but it’s life.
In the car yesterday as we pulled up to ‘The Manor’ Princess said: “Mom, I can’t understand Granny when she talks” The confusion and sadness in her 4 1/2 year old voice was heart wrenching. I explained to her to that BeBe and I can’t understand her either but she understands us. I told her to just talk slowly and clearly and let Granny know how much she is loved. Princess nodded her head with wisdom far beyond her years.

Once in the facility we found Granny in the activities room with about 10 other residents. Princess went to get a puzzle and passed a tiny little old woman in a wheelchair. The woman beckoned to Princess with a shaky, whithered arm and proceeded to pat her face, call her Missy and tell her she loved her.
Princess talked to her for a moment, let her hold her hand and allowed her face and hair to be caressed. Then with a Grace and Wisdom beyond her years, she held the woman’s hand, looked into her shrunken face and dulled eyes and said; ” I love you too.” She then gently touched the woman’s shoulder and said: “I’m going to go over there with my Momma now. Ok?” And she walked slowly away.

In that brief instant I saw Grace, Wisdom and a glimpse of the amazing Woman my daughter is destined to become. Led by her heart, filled with compassion and a Grace and Wisdom granted by God. She left me a bit speechless, with tears of wonder in my eyes and a full heart.

I just talked to Nathan. The rain and winds are picking up pretty strong in Corpus and there’s a tornado on the ground 10 miles from where we live, and one forming about 5 miles from our house. Luckily, Dolly stayed South of Brownsville and it seems that we’re not going to be getting the brunt of it. Thank you for all of you who e-mailed me and messaged me to check on us. What wonderful friends y’all are. I’ll try to keep y’all updated.

700, Seven Hundred, 7-0-0! Unfortunately that is not what I won in Vegas, let’s say I broke even, K. That is the number of unread posts in my reader. Y’all, I love ya but hell no.

The following post has been written during a period of sheer exhaustion. It is probably not coherent, definitely not punctually correct and possibly might make no sense at all. Please bear with me. At last I gave y’all pictures to look at.

While I was having a fabulously over oxygenated time in Las Vegas, my darling adorable hubby took vacation and stayed home with the kids. Yes he rocks and Yes I’m blessed and I know it. My husband is absolutely amazing. I knew he could do it, but he did an even more stellar job than I expected. He handled the daddy challenge like a pro. Every day I got an e-mail from Princess which she dictated and he typed and sent via Blackberry/Strawberry communications. So cute! I melted a bit with each one. Holly, he rocked, which is the rookie mistake. My house was spotless, the laundry was done, he took the kids on two ‘field trips’ one to The Aquarium and one to Mr. Gatti’s. They were dressed in cute clean clothes, they were well rested and well behaved. Total Rookie Mistake dude. I now know that you can handle the kids all by yourself!! Ha!! It’s on now dude. BlogHer’09, Here I come!

So… Vegas. What can I say about Vegas? It rocked my world.
Zumanity.. holy hell y’all. Sensual, Sexual, titillating, gorgeous, amazing, out of this world.

Our hotel, The Excalibur, Meh. Slowest cocktail waitresses on the planet and we had to school them on what a ‘dressed beer’ is.
Seriously y’all, I know this isn’t just a Texas thing. Do y’all know how to dress a beer?

Vegas ~ Where Fanny Packs and Spandex are haute couture.

Dolly That not so little storm that is currently, rapidly growing into a Category 2, possibly Category 3 Hurricane is heading rapidly towards my home. Scheduled to hit late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning around the Brownsville/ Corpus area. Did ya catch that? Corpus Christi, that place I live. Well shoot.

I’m not actually at home in Corpus right now. Because I am insane I jumped in my car with the kids Sunday and drove to Aggieland just for fun and to visit the family. Today I find out about Dolly. Needless to say, our trip is now being extended until we see what Dolly is going to do.
Please pray.
Because of the nature of Nathan’s job, he cannot leave. He’s one of the last able to evacuate if evacuation occurs. Please pray for everyone who is about to be affected by this storm.
I’ll keep y’all updated when I can.

Oh yes. Thank you to my fabulous Blogsitters! I love y’all. You took such good care of the place, and you even took out the trash. Y’all rock!

I know most of this was incoherent, I am exhausted and still suffering from sleep deprivation. I will bring back Mouthwatering Mondays next week. Sorry y’all.