Pumpkins!

I have always liked the tiny pumpkins. I used to get a bunch and put them on my desk, both when I was in the classroom and when I was in an office. I'd paint their little faces on with Sharpie pens, and they'd last quite a while.

So I found some really nice ones at the grocery yesterday, painted faces on three of them, and then tried to get Indy to check 'em out! She won't go near them!! This picture shows the closest she would get, and I took a BUNCH of pix to get a good one. Well, there is no "good" one! So I guess this'll have to do.

We're ready for Halloween, though -- tiny pumpkins in the windows, and candy in the cupboard.

The "Who Cares?" Stuff

In today's Houston Chronicle (not on the website, however), there's a little blurb and picture showing Jennifer Garner after "accidentally mentioning the gender of her baby." In the face of this and this and this, doesn't the Garner stupidity on the Leno show come under the "Who Cares?" department?

Rita's Saturday, 9/24

We were very lucky, and we are very aware that others weren't. Hurricane Rita kept veering east and north, and left us with just some wind and rain. Believe me, we're very conscious of how fortunate we are.

First picture shows Anne's cul-de-sac this morning, with only one house partially boarded up.

Second picture shows some leaves and branches in another neighbor's driveway and yard.

Third picture shows her house; everything's fine so far!

Rita

We're about as ready as we can be. The decision to stay here was actually made when we didn't leave for the interior of the state by Tuesday! Since then, the projected track of the center of the storm has shifted to the north and east, mostly east, which is slightly better for us in this part of the Houston area. These things are known to change quickly, though, so there's really not much to count on. But at least we'll all be together in one house for the duration.

Pray for us.

Tiring out the lively cat!

Playing with Indy each evening (and sometimes during the daytime) with her current feather is such fun ... I just HAD to capture the joy!

More trees, more trees!

I know I should be working on getting furniture for some of these rooms, but I just couldn't resist getting some trees and other plants in the front yard -- and as an added bonus, the lawn that was removed from the front was moved to the back yard, for a head-start on the little patch of lawn I would like to have back there eventually. I love the trees, and I have now added 9 to my yards -- 6 crape myrtles, 2 pines, and a live oak. Of course, those are in addition to the full-size trees that the builders managed to leave standing in my back yard -- one of the big attractions for buying this house in the first place!

Patriotic Week's Culmination

Yesterday was the Patriotic Parade at Kira's school, capping Patriotic Week. They decorated hats, paraded around the patio area, and stood all together to sing. It went by fast, but it was great fun to see all these little souls decked out in their red-white-and-blue best, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, and singing songs for our country.

Little charmers!

It was hard to get a good picture of her in the group, though, because she was in the middle and because she prefers to be the social director for everyone else! This one's pretty good, though. She's right smack in the middle of all those hats and flags! It was a fun day for everyone.

Mix of emotions

Over the past week, we have all witnessed the terrible destruction and all the human misery and heroism brought on by Hurricane Katrina. We keep praying and donating.

However, our family had some happy celebrations, too! First of all, on Sept 1, Parker turned 10. His new Gameboy is testament to his joy!


On Sept 3, Kira helped her best friend Abbi celebrate her 5th birthday. The first part of the party took place at Libby Lu's, where each little girl could choose her own theme. Kira was turned into a rock star!














Finally it was Austen's turn -- officially becoming a teenager on Sept 4! In the picture below, he shows off his newest, most precious possession -- his TracPhone!


Happy birthday to all -- and again and again to Kira, who thinks that everyone's birthday is hers, too!

Kitty poems!

Yesterday afternoon, Austen made up a kitty-poem as if Cabernet were speaking!








I like to eat food.
I wake people up at 5.
I nap all day long.

Then I asked Austen if he knew what a diamante poem was. He didn't, so I showed him. He needed to see it typed out and centered to "see" the diamond shape the poem took. Here's what we got:

Indy

noisy, lovey, soft

food, garage, feathers, windows

meowing, playing, eating, snoozing, purring

naps, string, cat-scratcher, brushes

furry, black, gorgeous

Cabernet

Impressive!!

Parker

Parker doesn't seem to be fazed by the seeming chaos at his school. There's a photo below (August 16th post) of the rows and rows of portables that now take up nearly all the playground/PE space at his school, and here's another. It's obvious how close to the narrow, two-lane road these portables sit. Just imagine what this road is like around 8 am and again around 3 pm. I'm avoiding it all!

But Parker likes his teacher, likes his classmates, and is doing well in most of his homework, etc. As long as he's adaptable and is doing well, what's to complain about?

He's such a sunny child anyway, such a joy to have around almost all the time! Here's a photo of him trying out The Twister when we first unpacked it! Kira likes it, too, but Parker got the hang of it right away!

Tuesday morning

Only another week before Kira starts Kindergarten. Meet-the-teacher and orientation are set for this Thursday morning. Anne has that day off, so we'll all go together.

It's such fun to watch Kira when she's around other children. Yesterday, she and I met Anne, during her lunch break, at a new McDonald's with a new (read: clean!) playplace. Kira ran and ran and climbed and came down the slide umpteen times! Hot and sweaty, smiling and laughing, and loving every second of it!! I'm looking forward to seeing the same things on Thursday, although perhaps with a bit less of the running!

Austen and Parker are both pretty good about doing their homework fairly soon after getting home. Parker needs his homework signed, and I guess he expected I'd sign things without going over them! We have made a few corrections on math worksheets (still in review mode, so they're easy for him), and yesterday it was a phonics/spelling worksheet that he needed major "rethinking" about! Even so, he finished his before Austen even got home from school!

Austen, after finishing other homework (which included writing up a "family story") at my house last night, still had to practice on his clarinet, which he planned to do once he got home. I can't wait until there is a performance, and we can hear the results of all this practice, the new clarinet, more practice, some new reeds, more practice, etc.

Beginning school days

When those boys get home from school in the afternoons, they are HUNGRY!

Tuesday afternoon, I set out some of the cookies Anne had bought (soft cookies so Austen can eat them with his braces!), and Parker devoured the whole plateful along with a couple of glasses of milk. When Austen got home (about an hour later), I set out the rest of those cookies, and he ate almost all those plus a few glasses of orange juice! Yesterday -- same thing -- except I had baked some brownies around noon so they'd be all cooled off and ready by 3:30 (and later!). They didn't disappear quite so fast, but they were gobbled up!

The school days are much longer for these kids than for the kids in California. Parker's school starts at 8:15 am and ends at 3:15 pm. Austen's starts at 9:03 am and ends at 3:55 pm. No wonder these guys are learning lots and well -- they're in the classrooms for longer periods of time.

Kira can't wait to start kindergarten, but that won't be until Aug 30th. I'll have to have my camera well charged and ready!

School days start up again

The boys start the 2005-06 school year this morning, but Kira's school doesn't start for another two weeks. Simultaneously, Anne has started her new job ... so I'll be there to take care of Kira (we'll come back here so she can play with Indy or something), and I'll be there when the boys get home from school. If Anne's hours change, mine will change, too!

We went to Parker's school last night (filled with portables, not much recess/PE space left open) to check on his teacher and classroom assignment. That school ought to turn into a real zoo in about 10 minutes. Buses are unloading now (7:50 am) and parents can start their parade of dropping kids off at 8:00. What a nightmare!

On to get ready ... I'll be there a bit early in case Austen's bus driver forgets that bus stop, as happened last year! We'll see ...

Repair needed!

One of the most fragile items that made the move from CA to TX safely is the 83-year-old child's rocking chair. It was my mother's when she was a toddler and they lived in Nevada. It's a wicker rocking chair. Now my granddaughter wants to use it, and she should. It's really wonderful to see this little 5-year-old enjoying her GG's childhood chair. But I really DO have to find someplace to get it fixed. At its age, we can easily see the wear and tear ... literally!

To be done...

There are lots of things to be done around here, as is true with any new house. It'll take months, if not years to get it all done, and who knows? It may never be truly "done."

I have enough furniture for a living room, dining room, bedroom, and office. That's it! So I put my living room furniture into the family room, except for the bookshelves. They are in the "living room" which I plan to turn into a sitting/reading room. All I want to add to this room are a couple of rocker-recliners and another lamp or two.

In this picture of the living room area (it's not really a wholly separate room), it's easy to see that Indy loves her wide open spaces. It's also easy to see that there's not much in there!! Yet!

New month

August 1st already. Wow! Time is just zipping right along. Thank heaven I'm here, though, and won't miss any more school programs or special moments with these kids!!



We were talking yesterday about naming the new planet that's been found, and talk came around to Pluto -- my other long-lived cat who was named after the planet Pluto.

What fun he was! And he had more than "a bit of the devil" in him sometimes. He just wanted to play, but not Indy. She was too dignified for that! (Now, however, she virtually begs me to play with her and her feathers in the evenings.) He seemed to know when she was going to come around a corner or something, and he'd be ready to pounce and play. She'd hiss and swat and growl, and couldn't wait to get away from him. In their 12-year life-in-common, she never changed -- and neither did he!

Pluto was a big boy, never weighing in at less than 16 pounds until he started getting sick. He varied between 16 and 18 pounds most of his 12-year life. Almost right up to the end, he was running and playful. I have a picture of him when he was down to about 8 pounds, but it's too painful to look at, knowing the grand creature he was in his prime!

Moving onward ...

I'm amazed. Everything went on schedule -- the walk-through, the paper-signing, the movers' arrival. Like clockwork!!

Then arranging for blinds, telephone, cable & Internet ... and some calls to the repairmen from the warranty book that the builder gave me -- all has gone well.

The big surprise was Anne's find: a gardener who can solve problems such as what plants to move where, what trees to plant where, how to drain the little lakes that were forming in my back yard (and stagnating water is perfect for mosquito breeding, of course, so that problem needed to be solved immediately), etc. He's a real find -- a gardener with a sense of design and balance, not just the ability to mow and edge lawns and trim shrubs!

The blinds are not here yet. I'm hoping for early next week, but if I haven't received a phone call by Monday, I'll call them to find out what's happening. Living in this house with all windows uncovered can be a bit eerie at times! And I need to keep watering the front lawn, moving the sprinkler around. But it'll start raining again some day, and sprinklers won't always be needed. I don't see the need for a sprinkler system. A garage-door opener is higher on my wish list! This getting out and opening the door and then driving in is getting old -- and when it does rain again, I'll probably skip that step and just let my car get a bath!

Indy is doing OK. She seems to have adjusted to becoming an indoor kitty pretty easily. The house is more than twice the size of the Indio house, and the garage (with the big door closed) seems to be close enough to "outdoors" to meet her needs. Between the size of this place, frequent visits from young children, and the fights with feathers every evening, she seems to be getting enough exercise! She has definitely discovered all the nice low windowsills in this house, and she sits and gazes out on the scenes frequently.

Ending and beginning...

The trip from SoCal to eastern Texas went pretty smoothly. It was a long trip, but not difficult. The deserts around Tucson are as pretty as I remembered from years ago, and in Texas from about Van Horn eastward is really beautiful, too. Lots of rolling hills, mesas, buttes, etc -- and GREEN. Very green! Lovely country.

Interestingly enough, as we were pulling into the driveway, it started to sprinkle ... then rain ... then pour! It was wonderful!! This country around here has needed some rain. I wonder how long it will take for TPTB to lift the water restrictions??

The walk-through on the new house took place yesterday (July 12), and everything went fine. Here's my newest pride and joy:

Waiting ...

Today a young man flies for the first time on his own -- from Houston to Ontario. Thank heaven for non-stop flights! They are such an improvement over having to change planes at other airports.

Indy is waiting for him ... feathers poised!

Trip planning

By means of AAA maps and Mapquest and other devices, I learned that taking I-10 from La Quinta, CA, to the Houston area is about 1,500 miles, so three days of driving approximately 500 miles each day is perfect. That's about like driving a bit farther than Los Angeles to San Francisco. Not bad.

Taking along a cat, however, is the big unknown. Everything else I can plan for and envision, but how Indy will do ... anyone's guess!