I know most of the folks on my flist are recovering from Ike, but if you would like to help, I recommend the Salvation Army.  During the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, the Red Cross really dropped the ball in East Texas, but the Salvation Army were absolute champs.  The SA aims to serve almost 2 million people in the coming weeks, but they need help.

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Houston folks (both residents and evacuees):

Here's the site for the Centerpoint Energy power restoration status.  I don't know how often it'll be updated, but here is the status as of this morning.

Click on the pdf map.

Made it through Ike okay.  I still have power (which seems to be pretty rare), cable, and internet.  Water is out at the moment, thanks to one of the city water pumps being either out of power or damaged, but they say it's a priority for emergency workers.  I have plenty of bottled water and a tub full of water for the toilet, but the sooner it's ( Read more... )

So I'm 'hunkered down' and 'sheltering in place' for Hurricane Ike (dubbed Hurricane Ike Turner by one of the local radio stations--presumably because Houston is going to get a bitch-slap).  I've got a couple of cases of water, some food, batteries, flashlights, a power inverter with a lawn mower battery for running a fan or chargin my laptop, and ( Read more... )

I have long been a fan of the kolache.  There is a bakery in a tiny town named Snook near College Station that was my first introduction to the tasty pastry.  When I moved to Houston, I was introduced to the Kolache Factory, and then to other bakeries that had taken the basic premise and expanded it to cover all sorts of fillings.

I found a recipe ( Read more... )

Now, I love a pedicure.  It's relaxing, and I love walking out with freshly polished toes that are ready for some cute shoes.

This however, freaks me the fuck out. 

They just told us we're closing down tomorrow, so I have an extra full day to catch up on reading, etc.  I don't think we'll have much beyond a few scattered power outages and a crapload of rain, but at least they're erring on the side of caution and not letting us go tomorrow as the streets start to flood, which is their usual M.O.

So Houston folks ( Read more... )

 So, I made it through the tournament with nothing worse than a slight sunburn on my arms.  Then on Thursday night, I sneeze wrong and suddenly my back is out.  It's not a constant throb, but I get a sharp stabbing pain sometimes when I take a deep breath or swallow food.  It's mostly residing around my shoulder blades, but I've strated feeling it ( Read more... )

This weekend was our annual charity softball tournament.  Last year, the sum of my involvement was to make sure our division had a team,  sell some raffle tickets, and go out and enjoy the event.  Last year's tournament was fairly large (32 teams), raised over $100,000.00 for TCH and Snowdrop, and was considered a very successful event, poor ( Read more... )

So I've got the dress.  It's not what I would have gotten in a perfect world, but it'll do.  Now I need shoes and a shawl/pashmina/wrap.

At least I have until May 16 to do my shopping.