Shawshank Redemption

Jackson told me on the way home from school that he and another little boy are "working on plans to escape from school and run to our house and play video games." I told him that he and his little friend can pretend and try to think of cool ways to escape but that they better not actually do it. I told him he would get in trouble if he ran away from school and he asked how much trouble. I guess I need to make sure he's not sneaking off with any kind of ropes or sharp objects in his backpack in the mornings.

Needless to say, he's still not a huge fan of school. He hasn't been crying lately so I guess we're making progress.

Jackson quote

Regarding his new game "The Force Unleashed" for Wii:

"I want to play as Darth Vader's apprentice and destroy Master Ron Cuta. He (Ron) is pretty skilled. I've played as him before on dual mode. That's the challenge I'm looking forward to." - Jackson Hintze

Just a thought

I woke up at 3:00 this morning with a crazy idea. I'm thinking I might audition for Brazosport Center Stages. I missed the audition for "Clue the Musical" by about a week. And I don't think they're having another musical until April. Knowing me, I'll think about this for a few days/weeks and then decide against it. But right now I'm thinking it might be something fun to try. I pretty much hate watching musicals but it could be fun to be one of the performers. And I basically have no fear on stage and I don't really mind looking like an idiot. So anyway, just thought I would share my crazy 3:00 a.m. idea.

Put it in your head

Phillip told me about some "worship video" this morning that's pretty insane. I had to look it up and see for myself and it is truly something to behold. I think the guy kind of looks and sounds like Jack Black except for his ridiculous hair-do. Okay, and what's the deal with the drummer's forehead? Is it just me or does it look like he has a huge bandage on his head? And the way the lead "singer" says "air" is hilarious. Messesah??? What the heck does that mean? Some of the people are really working themselves in to a holy frenzy. And some look like they feel like they should....idiots. Give him glory!!! We love the Lordy?? Praise him with your socks!!! (He didn't actually say that but I wish he had) Wow, I'm flabbergasted. Go ahead and and watch/listen to the whole 9 minute love-train wreck. Come on, you know you want to. I want you to have this song in your head all day too.

I know there will be some of you who will say that it doesn't matter how we worship just as long as we worship. I know there will be those that will say we shouldn't judge the songs or ways that people praise God. I hear you, I really do. But this kind of thing makes Christians look like complete idiots. Of course I can't (shouldn't) speculate what Jesus thinks about this whole thing. But I'm thinking he might be saying, "Dude, put your socks back on. Your feet reek."

Stressed

Okay, let me preface this by saying that we have power at our house. So all these gripes are being made in air conditioning. That may make some of my friends without power want to beat me over the head with a big stick. Some day (very soon I hope) your power will come back on and you'll be free to gripe about some things in air conditioning too. So, please forgive me.

This morning we had some kind of alarm clock malfunction (or mis-operation). We woke up at 7:40. I have to be at the preschool at 8:00 on Wednesday mornings. Jackson has to be at his school by 7:50. And Phillip was supposed to be at his school in Houston at 7:50 or something like that. Needless to say, I woke up and started totally freaking out! I basically just thew some clothes on and brushed my teeth and left. Jackson got up and dressed and Phillip took him to school crying. Jackson ate about half of a thrown together sandwich in the car. It was a pretty bad morning.

I was really stressed out about my pre-school stuff until my kids starting coming in. We have the absolutely best class of 4 year olds that could possibly exist. Each of these children is insanely well behaved and polite and ridiculously cute. I'm already falling in love with all of them and there are a few I want to bring home and keep. Thankfully they're wonderful because all of the planning involved for this class is really tough. I'm not much of a planner/organizer kind of person. I have had to step into that role this year and it is really stretching me. I wish I could just play with the kids, sing songs with them, and just love them for three hours but that's not what I'm getting paid to do. Since we missed almost 2 weeks with them we're having to redo our planning stuff and figure out how we're going to make up what we missed. The whole thing is just really stressful to me. I know it will come together eventually. I'm really glad I have this job to bring in a little extra income because......

Things are really slow with the photography business right now. I'm not sure when people are going to be concerned with getting pictures done in light of all the Hurricane Ike mess. I know people have much more important things to be concerned with right now. I'm really hoping things pick up as Christmas approaches.

Today I got home to realize that they have started tearing up the street right in front of our house. This is the side of the street that you could drive on before today. Yes, that means that there is a section of our street that is totally impassible. So now I can't go the wrong way that way anymore. But I'll have to go the wrong way to come home. Surprisingly, this actually makes me happy because mean old man across the street is going to have to drive the wrong way down the street too. I think I'm going to go out and yell at him the first time I see him doing it. Sweet justice. I've decided that if he comes out yelling at me and wagging his finger at me like I'm a dog again I'm going to walk over there and drop kick him. I could, you know.

Jackson hates school. He cries and begs us to let him stay home. I don't know what the deal is. He is not having trouble with the work at all. He's extremely bright and well behaved. His teacher seems very nice. I'm hoping he settles into his new routine in the next few weeks. It's breaking our hearts to have to take him to school crying. I didn't like school when I was little either. I remember the anxiety that I would feel to have to go. I just don't want him to have this dread in his life. He's too little to feel this way. We may look into home schooling him for 2nd grade. It's just so hard to know what the right thing is for him. He has always loved learning. He is very creative and articulate. I want to preserve that in him not squash it like a bug. Mikey also hates his "school." I'm considering pulling him out. I just don't think he's ready. His BACH therapist is going to observe him in his class next Tuesday so she can help me make a decision. We don't want to coddle our kids. We know that isn't going to help them in the long run. We also want them to feel secure and have a positive outlook. Being a parent is so hard.

Our elderly neighbor

Our street is currently under construction.  It's a good thing because it will be really nice to have new streets and sidewalks.  But right now it's a total mess.  Here's a picture taken from the street in front of our house.  This was after we got back from evacuating from Ike.  You can see the tree down in the last house on the right. The people on the torn up side park in the front yards of the non-torn up side. When they start on our side, we'll park in their front yard.



Anyway, just in the last week our old man neighbor across the street has apparently gotten a "bee in his bonnet." Maybe he's just ticked off that he still doesn't power. The other day he chewed our friend Andrea for speeding down the street and driving the wrong direction. The speed limit is 20 and that's about as fast as you can possibly go without bottoming out in the many pot holes all over the place. Andrea was probably doing about 15 mph when he came out and started yelling at her. He has yelled to me and Phillip that he's written down our license plate numbers and is calling City Hall about us. Uh, City Hall? In my opinion he's just making a fool of himself standing out there in the yard watching people "break the law" all day. Seriously, get another hobby.

And lots of people go the wrong direction down the street. If you drive around Redwood, Ash, Hawthorn, Gardenia it's hard to know which way to go. The streets are torn up all over the place and there are crews working here and there too. In order to go the "right" direction we would have to make a ridiculous detour that would take us several minutes out of our way. Our house is about 8 houses in on the right. So when we need to head out toward Plantation Dr. we almost always go the wrong way down the street. Is it legal? Probably not. Is it bothering anybody? Nobody except our old man across the street. When they first started tearing up our street I tried to go the "right" way several times and got down to the end and had to turn around anyway. So I finally just gave up and I go the "wrong" way. There have been a couple of times that another vehicle has been coming down our street the right way while I've been going the wrong way. So, I just pull over into someone's yard until they pass. We both give each other the knowing wave that says, "Yeah, this sucks but you gotta deal with it."

I'm not a total rule follower by nature, especially if the rules seem to serve no purpose. Is driving against traffic on a one lane street dangerous? Possibly under certain circumstances. Is is dangerous going 10 mph for a couple hundred yards? I really don't think so. Is it illegal? Yes. Is driving 55 mph in a 50 mph zone illegal? Yes. Do we all do it? Most likely.

I'm thinking about making a sign to stick in my front yard that says "Just ignore our old, crazy neighbor!"

I like sweet, cute, happy old people. I don't like the snappy, crotchety, crazy ones. Something tells me I might not turn into a sweet, cute, happy old lady. I guess if I'm snappy and mean I'll probably be too crazy to know.

We have the internet!!!

I think I'm actually more excited about having our internet back than getting our power back.  We got power Friday evening and we've been internet-less until this evening (Mon).  I had 96 e-mails!  That's insane!

We have power!

Our side of Redwood has power.  So it looks like tomorrow we'll be going home and getting our lives back to "normal" whatever that means.  

In other news, I might be photographing a birth tonight sometime.  I'm waiting by the phone to see if things progress fine without a c-section.  I would love to get into doing birth photography.  That would just be the coolest thing.  

Phillip will be out of school until Thursday.  I'm still not quite sure when Jackson will be back.  They're saying Tuesday, I think.  I guess we'll see.  I think Jack's elementary school is still without power.  

My screen on my Mac got dinged up during all of the moving around.  We were taking my computer and hard drive home along with some other things.  And the hard drive feel off the console in the truck and fell and hit my screen.  The computer is still useable but it's just got a little ding in it.   Just one more reason why I need a new computer.  

Some shots from around Lake Jackson, TX

I always feel like I have to apologize when I put crummy pictures on here. So, I'm sorry for the crumminess of these pictures. There you go.

Here are a few post Hurricane Ike pictures from around town.  The first picture is of our fallen tree limb in the back yard.  Missed the house by a few inches.

This house is at the corner of Narcissus and Ash. Not good. I feel pretty bad for these folks.


This is the side of our church's Youth Guy's house. Looks like it went through the side and maybe a little bit of the roof. Hard to tell.


This is a house down the street from us on Redwood. Thankfully the tree fell away from their house and didn't hit anything other than ground.


These next two are from the front of the Willson's house. Their big tree is just everywhere. But it seems to have pretty much missed the house. I was trying to get some pictures of their yard and all I got is tree. It looks like the tree just exploded. Crazy.

As you can see, there's a lot of tree damage.  There are still many people without power and who knows when that will be completely restored.  Just from the little bit of driving around I've done, it looks like most people's houses look okay.  There are lots of wooden fences down all over the place.  And there are traffic lights hanging all weird and out of whack.  We feel very fortunate that our house made it though without any damage.  Sometimes I really wonder why we live on the Gulf Coast.  I can't imagine living anywhere else.  

We are home...sort of

This will be quite short and sweet. We got back into town this evening. The power is up at Phillip's parent'shouse in Clute. The power is still out in our neighborhood. We checked on our house and everything appears to be fine. It's pretty stinky so tomorrow we'll need to go open windows and light some candles. There's a huge limb down in our back yard that missed the house by inches. That's pretty much it for now. Pictures tomorrow. I'm going to check on my mom's apartment and see is she has power.

"Camping" in Belton...Ike is a big fat jerk!

We have evacuated to Belton to wait out Hurricane Ike. We're hoping things are somehow going to be okay back at home. I don't have much time to type this up. Here are just a few snaps from today. Not much to look at, but it's something. The first is our home away from home. Hopefully our actual home is still there when we get back. And then just a few of the boys. See ya later.

Okay, I am officially weirded out!!

What should I be doing? I should be packing up our valuable, clothes, taping windows, packing bags, etc. What am I doing? I'm looking at pictures of ball jointed dolls, or b.j.d.s as they're called. I heard about bjds the other day on the radio. Kind of sounded weird so I decided to google it. They're some new doll craze that's sweeping the nation or something. B.J.D.s are just these incredible life like (odd looking) dolls. They also happen to be anatomically correct, which is just kind of gross. Here's a picture. I found lots of pictures of these doll naked and in very provocative positions. People are just sick and weird. So anyway, just in case you were wondering what B.J.D.s are, now you know. And if you are one of those fortunate people to have your own collection, just know that Jenny Hintze thinks you are a weirdo.

Evacuate

Well, it looks like we'll be heading out of here later today. I hate that we have to go but it just seems like the best thing for us to do. Jackson will be very excited when he wakes up to hear that the schools have closed and that we're going "camping." We plan on telling Jackson that this is an evacuation and we are not planning on having any fun. He can bring his favorite toys and video games but he will not be playing with them. We will not watch any movies or eat any hot dogs roasted over a fire. We will only sit around and look solemn. That's just the way it is. I don't think he'll buy it.

Just random stuff

The tooth is still there. It looks really gross. We've pretty much given up on pulling it out. Today we're out of cash so I haven't pushed the issue. He has already "earned" $3 from that tooth and it's not even out yet.

We've got two little boys who don't want to go to school. Mikey doesn't go to "real" school just mother's day out, but still. I'll be glad when they both adjust and stop all this crying business.

Tomorrow is going to be insane. I'm subbing at the preschool for the music teacher. And right after school we have CPR, which is always an awesome time! Then I have to get Jackson, go home, try to miraculously clean the house a little. Then the dog has to go to the vet at 5:00 for his shots. Don't know where dinner is going to fit in but I'm sure it will find a way.

This storm is threatening all of my awesome plans. I'm supposed to have two shoots this weekend if the storm doesn't ruin it. I've had to move/cancel two shoots already for weather stuff. And I had to postpone another one because the expectant mother ended up on bed rest (yuck!). Anyway, it's been kind of nice to have a little photography break but the break needs to be over. I hate my photo blog being stagnant. It really bothers me to not have new stuff on there. And Mikey and I have much needed haircuts scheduled for Friday. I had to cancel our previous appointments for a photo shoot that ended up being cancelled by bad weather. UGGGHHH!

If we have to evacuate without my father-in-law, that's not going to be fun. Evacuating is never fun, I guess. Donald is in Bulgaria until Sunday (I think). Our friend Roger might end up having to pull the folks' camper to Lake Belton for us since Donald won't be here to do it. Jackson thinks evacuating sounds like a blast. I think it sounds like a bummer. But if we have to do it, we'll just make the best of it and enjoy some time together. And Debbie's a really good cook. : )

Our street is all torn up right now. They're redoing all the streets and sidewalks in our neighborhood. It really needs to be done but it's a huge pain in the butt right now. Jackson is really mad at these guys for tearing up our road. I have told Jack numerous times that they are just doing their job and we should be glad we're getting new sidewalks. He just thinks they are being destructive. He says he wants to go out there and beat those guys up. Also, he apparently really likes the huge crack in our driveway and doesn't want those guys to fix that either. He said he's going to go stand on the crack so they can't destroy it. (Destroy a crack??!!) I guess if he handcuffs himself to our driveway in protest I might be kind enough to bring him water and a crust of bread.

I have a really great preschool class. I can't believe how amazing our kids are. Seriously. There are a couple of little boys who have really latched on to me. Kind of makes me want another little boy to call my own and drive me crazy. One of the little guys told me today that his allergies are "acting up." So funny.

I have the new camera bug again, but I don't currently have the funds to make it happen. If I'm able to double my equipment, Phillip and I could get into the wedding photography biz. Hopefully within the year that could be a reality.

It's 8:00 p.m. and I really want some coffee. I need to get some decaf for these occasions. I don't really want the caffeine. I'm just a total coffee junkie. I just love the feel of a curling up with a hot cup in my hands. I love the feel of the smoke in my face as I go to take the first few sips. Okay, gotta go make some coffee.

We are no good at pulling teeth

Jackson has a tooth that's ready to fall out. It's just dangling there. It's his first loose tooth. Tonight we finally convinced Jackson to let us pull it out. I told him I would pay him $1 in addition to what the "tooth fairy" would give him. He actually sat there and allowed us to try to get that darn tooth out and we could not get it out. Phillip and I both tried. Phillip even got out the needle nose pliers. And the tooth still hung on for dear life. I think the last plier attempt probably hurt. We finally gave up and gave him the dollar anyway for letting us try. I'm sure he will have awful nightmares because of the whole ordeal. Poor thing. I just don't think we're cut out for this whole parenting thing.

What a day! And it's only 1:30

Today was my first day teaching 4 year olds at a local preschool. Considering it was the first day, it went pretty well. We had one little guy who was pretty upset for the first half of the day. I have 10 boys and 6 girls. There's a TON of work involved in teaching preschool. I'm a little worried I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I've got a lot of balls to keep in the air and I just hope they don't all come tumbling down on top of me. (Okay, that's enough cheesy sayings). I got a fortune cookie several months ago that said, "As long as you don't take on anything new, you'll be fine." Well, I took on something new. So I guess we'll see how it goes.

Jackson had a really hard morning. They had to peel him off of me crying at the school this morning. It broke my heart. I wanted to just take him home and say "forget it!" But that's not possible. I'm hoping he calmed down quickly and had an okay day. Phillip and I really need to give him more one on one time when he's home. I wasn't crazy about going to school when I was his age either.

I have had coffee and two graham crackers today and I think I'm close to dying. So I guess I better go eat and maybe take a nap.

This morning

I made pigs in blankets this morning for breakfast. I just put some little cocktail weanies in crescent rolls. Nothing strange or unusual about that. Usually if I put anything in crescent rolls, I leave a couple plain for Jackson but I didn't today. Jackson's response to this was, "Mom, why'd you sneak weanies into these?" Okay, if I was going to sneak any kind of food into anything, I wouldn't be sneaking weanies.

Mikey starts preschool today, or mother's day out or whatever you want to call it. He will be going to his class on Tues/Thurs. I will be teaching 4s at the same school on MWF. In other words, he and I are going to have a lot more time apart. I hope he does okay with that. I'm sure I'll be just fine.

I got up at about 5:15 this morning to start the day. Not sure if that's going to be enough time to get it all done. I guess I should get my butt off of the computer.