I think I'll call in sick tomorrow....

Nah, just kidding. Although today, would you like fries with that sounded awfully appealing!! It has been one of those weeks!!

Here is a synopsis:
Monday: School goes into lockdown...long story which I won't bore you with!
Tuesday: My sister becomes really ill at school which I get to deal with...
Wednesday: Parent (school) being irrational over something I have no control over...
Thursday: Another parent being irrational....

Spring fever has become an epidemic in my class......need I say more???

Not to mention...the job search is still going on in full force, still with no luck, which is becoming very aggravating......

Pray for me!! I need it!!

Take Cover!

Ahh! Once again, we got hit with bad weather. Tuesday made the third time in less than 2 weeks that we've seen storms, hail and tornadoes. We had a weak tornado go through the adjacent suburb of Flower Mound about 10PM last night, fortunately no one was injured and another went through the town to the north, Denton. Fortunately, we only had to deal with a lot of rain, about 5-8" around here, but the lakes are so low that it's welcome.

The Texas Tornado...

This was the tornado that hit Haltom City yesterday, which is fairly close to where we live. We were eating dinner with Missy and Ryan and never realized it got this bad until we got home.

photo courtesy of Dallas Morning News

Congratulations!!

Congratulations Justin and Sara, our friends from Lansing. They are new parents to Miss Ellie! Welcome Ellie!! We can't wait to meet you!!

Yes, this is East Texas!!

My brother-in-law decided to take his little canoe trip that he usually takes on Easter weekend. This is a 32 mile trip by river. Let's just say his trip was cut short due to the "blizzard". This is what it looked like when he got ready to leave. I have never seen weather like this in East Texas in April!!! Let's just say he was glad to be back home in the warm house!!! This will be a family joke around our house for quite some time needless to say!!

Ailments, Aberrations, and Astros = Adventure

After being with various ailments from allergies to some type of strep throat illness, I finally headed out to Nacogdoches to spend time with Stacey's family over the Easter Holiday. I didn't even feel up to talking or eating until Thursday evening with all the fun I was having with my tonsils being swollen together.

Once I got to East Texas, the weather was changing. Friday's weather was okay and in the upper 60's, so I really didn't think much about it. The Weather Channel was saying that it would be 70 degrees in Houston, so I didn't bother packing warmly to head to the Bayou City. Somehow, I knew I was in trouble when I started recalling a conversation Stacey and I held earlier in the week when I said, "I know it's impractical, but I'd really like one of those Astros sweatshirts." Thus, we head to Houston, it's 42 degrees in Nacogdoches, but remember, the Weather Channel says it's going to be 70 down there. We get about 2/3rds of the way to Houston when Stacey's sister calls and says that it is snowing in Nacogdoches. Ahh, whoopty-do, did they see one snowflake and panic like every other East Texan? - I thought. So, we keep going to Houston and stop off at a couple of sporting goods stores and there is that Astros hooded sweatshirt, almost on cue. Then again, I'm thinking, okay Minute Maid park is a retractble roof stadium and has A/C, so surely they'll turn the heat on, right? So, I bypass the $50 sweatshirt and head to the stadium. We get there and it's raining and 43 degrees on the outside and not much warmer on the inside. Yet, we proceed to enter the stadium with the Astros T-shirts and the medium weight jackets we have. That's right, this sucker ain't heated and we're freezing our booties off. To add to our misery, we are hearing stories that it's still snowing in the Nacogdoches area and Richard's canoeing trip ended early (see below). Still, I'm not totally sold on this idea of it really being that bad in the Piney Woods.

Since the Astros had started off 0-4, and were playing the World Series Champion Cardinals, we weren't having real high hopes for a win. Yet, Roy Oswalt took the hill and we knew they had a chance as long as he wasn't pulled for Lidge or let Albert Pujols hit the train with another of his bombs. Oswalt came through with a complete game, Pujols didn't crush anything, Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee homered, and the 'stros won 5-1.

Now, time to go home. Okay, so now it is 37 degrees and raining cats and dogs. By the time we get 40 miles from downtown Houston, the temperature starts dropping and we start seeing sleet. So, maybe they weren't exaggerating about the weather. Go another 20 miles and the temps are hovering around 34 and it's sleeting and snowing. Hey wait a minute, this is East Texas, not Michigan, eh? About half way home and it's coming down so hard that visibility is less than a mile and I'm having flashbacks of driving in the Michigan winters again. Next, we encounter freezing rain and 31-32 degrees nd the road has turned to slush. Stacey starts asking whether this is anything like Michigan since I'm not appearing nervous. We get to Lufkin and now the trees have snow on the branches and the cars are all covered. Thirty minutes later, we make it back to Nacogdoches and it's still snowing. Fortunately, we were blessed to get home safe and sound and no accumulation.

By the way, anyone think I can get that sweatshirt now?

Photos C/O Houston Chronicle