Totally random randomness

It was quite a week. There were lots of us that just came off of this week saying, "Wow, glad I lived through this....." It was a particularly trying Friday today. I am sitting here watching the presidential debate and I have tons of random thoughts flying through my head. I have to get them out, so here goes. (and I apologize in advance because I feel they're mostly negative....)

I am feeling:

• scared of the possible future president


• annoyed at people who keep having tons of kids when they can't afford the ones they have


• worried about money


• sad


• I miss Holly more everyday, and I thought that would get better


• so happy for having my dogs


• especially loving Yankee right now


• Leo's kind of on my shitlist....he won't stop barking his fool head off


• stressed about my dirty house


• okay about my car at the moment


• happy that I was able to get my car fixed for SUPER cheap


• worried about saving enough money for a new car soon


• wondering how I will afford Christmas


• wondering if I will be able to cruise again soon


• worried about my students


• annoyed at a parent of one of my students


• wonder how people can tell kids some of the things they come to school knowing


• pissed that McCain will never look at Barak when he is talking....what the hell?


• annoyed that my ipod is a "classic" and not a "fifth generation"


• loving the books that I am reading about vampires....I know, right?


• sad for my friend and her baby woes


• excited for my other friends and their awesome families


• worried for some people and their houses


• annoyed that I pulled a gray hair this morning


• cold, Yankee just came in from outside and there is dew already


• worried about my sister and college


• worried about my friend's daughter and her mental health


• thinking my grandpa might be really really sick (really)


• praying that it's not what I think it might be


• wondering if I should go the doctor for this damn cyst


• wishing I could eat healthier


• wanting to find myself


• wondering why I'm so dang sad


• excited to see NKOTB (you laugh? bring it!!)


• missing D


• excited to go to Archivers and STL next weekend


• wondering how C's doing in second grade. second grade?? where does the time go?


• wanting to get obediance training for Leo


• sperm donor?


• 23 months and counting


• glad our atmosphere at school is so much better this year (adult-wise)


• missing my kiddos from last year


• thankful for a really nice comment from a fifth grade teacher today


• really wanting to go to bed


• would love to sleep through the night.....although it was almost all night last night!!!


• glad that dang possum isn't coming back anymore


• jealous of my parents and their upcoming cruise


• so totally happy that my parents are traveling together, just the two of them


• NEVER would have guessed that would happen just a few years ago


• wondering how Galveston is coming along


• relieved "The Spot" is still standing


• I am happy that my kids had a super Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday


• not sure what happened Friday


• happy we got the shelf elf award again


• That's everytime we've gone to the library and we've gotten it


• Barak is being too nice


• wish I were scrapbooking


• wondering where my tiger club paycheck is


• annoyed at after school people


• thankful for supportive parents


• wondering if there is something wrong with me, what the hell is up with all these random thoughts?


• thinking most people have moved on to another website by now


• Yankee has sleepy eyes


• me too


• shocked at the audacity of people


• in awe of some


• sad for kids that don't have a chance in hell because of their worthless parents


• happy for those that will make it despite their parents


• wondering if my dvd player will ever work again


• I need to return Juno


• I need to print pictures


• grading is all caught up except for today's math test, go me!!


• I think I could keep going, but I should probably stop


• I WILL sleep in tomorrow, come hell or high water


• one random picture, I'm going to pick number 789 from our summer cruise....wonder what it will be?

Well that was interesting.....wonder if it will help me to stop obsessing about all this c-r-a-p.....?

Obsess Much? Yeah, That's Me!!

I have been obsessively still watching the hurricane coverage, as well as watching the flood waters in KV go up up up!! I went to the Galveston webcams this morning to see if there were any back up and running. There aren't any that are running yet, but some of them are stuck on yesterday's shots (Friday). So, I saved some pics to show sort of before and after pictures.

Here is a shot from 87th and Seawall, which is where the Spot Restaurant is. It looked like this before:

And this was before Ike hit, on Friday:

Here's a view of the beach, with a little walk-out pier and some water condition flags when we were there in July:

Here's a spot just down the road on Friday evening just before Ike. Keep in mind, there's a 17 foot seawall there, the water is so high, it's level with the wall.

Here we are sitting at the Spot Restaurant, calling and texting all our friends to check us out on the webcam. We felt like celebrities:

Here's the exact location of where we were sitting on the deck, with all the windows boarded up. The ocean is coming up over the seawall onto the road. Scary!!!

The last shot, is one of the cruise ship leaving the pier. The picture below is from last October. Look at the red building in the foreground.

Now look at that same red building yesterday before Ike hit. Notice the water? It's up over the boardwalk around the building:

Ok, I'm going to try and stop being so obsessive with the posting of the pictures. It is always sad, though, when you can look at devastating pictures or live shots of places where you just were and remember it for its beauty. And it always makes me wonder if and when it will ever look the same.

Stay dry my friends!!! (Kirksville peeps especially!!!)

My Thoughts and Prayers are with Galveston

I am so worried about Galveston and the people that live down there that are being pummelled by Hurricane Ike. It is such a beautiful city, and I am so thankful we got to see it this summer. I have a feeling that if we are to go back anytime in the next couple of years, that things are not going to look the same. I just wanted to post a few more pictures of us in Galveston.

Galveston sits right on a bay, with the main drag being Seawall Blvd. When you visit there, most of everything you do is right there along the Seawall. You can just walk up and down the road with restaurants, bars, shops along one side and the beach along the other. There is a 17 foot tall wall that was built quite a long time ago to help with storms. I am sitting here watching reporters standing in spots that I was just walking a couple of months ago, and keep saying, "Hey, I was there!!!"

The next two pictures are from The Spot restaurant that I talked about before. I wonder how the building is holding up under the pounding that they are getting right now.

Reporters say that the area shown below was already under water early today, well before the storm even hit. We are wondering how the cruise ship terminal is holding up.....

Here are just some more pictures of us on the beach, with Seawall behind us. Imagine that where we are standing, all you can see is water now, no land to be seen.

This is a good shot with the seawall in the background. It's hard to tell from here, but the wall is WELL above a person's head. I really wish I had gotten some good shots of it. There are actually paintings all along the wall, that are REALLY cool. It was pretty dark when we were close enough to them to get any pictures, so we didn't really get any good ones. I wonder if any of those paintings will withstand the storm?

This building was at the end of a little pier that was almost directly across Seawall from our hotel. We walked out there to take some pictures and look around. What is amazing is that I was at mom's house this afternoon and we were watching some hurricane coverage and we saw this building. The whole pier was pretty much under water and all you could see was the top of this green building. Keep in mind, this was also well before the hurricane even really hit. Hope this cute little building makes it through the surge!!

As I sit here and watch water rushing down Seawall Blvd like a river, I am hoping that the people of Galveston stay safe tonight and into tomorrow. I also pray that their city is not completely devastated. Here's to hoping!!!

Fun Day at Sea #2

Ok, well in light of watching all the hurricane coverage, I am sitting here feeling nostalgic about our cruise. And while I was feeling that, I decided I need to continue to tell you all about my last cruise. I still have the coolest stuff to come!!!!

For now, I think we are on Sea Day 2. This was the day after Hurricane Dolly rocked and rolled us. The day was beautiful, we couldn't ask for a more perfect day at sea. I actually ended up getting a pretty nasty sunburn, one that I couldn't shake for the rest of the trip!!!

Dinner that night: D's only camera appearance that night at dinner, she ended up pretty darn sick that night and left dinner during the appetizers.

Mom and Christie have been best friends for many years!! Then there's Joel in the background, goofy as always! :-)

This was Johnathan our head waiter, he was phenomenal!!!! We couldn't have asked for a better server. He was hilarious, smart, funny and engaging! It's always fun to meet people from all over the world. Both Johnathan and Joel were from the Philippines. It was fun to learn about their lives!

Mmmmm, my favorite!!

Chelsea doin' double dessert duty!! Isn't she adorable?

Our bunny chillin' on my pillow:

Next up, Jamaica-mon!!!