I hope Raider Red can swim!

My old neighbor in Lubbock, Jason Davis, sent me these pics yesterday of Lubbock.

"Last night we had 9 to 10 inches of rain in Lubbock. Most since 1911. My backyard flooded and water was in my garage. These photos of Jones Stadium are as of 9:00 AM this morning. There is over 1 million gallons of water on the field and both field pumps are broken. Right now there are 7 Lubbock fire trucks trying to pump the field for tomorrow night's game. I had over 9 inches of rain just at my house and I have heard Lubbock got more in other areas."

That was yesterday morning and then last night I got a text from my friend Brent who said that they had successfully pumped the water out and we beat SMU 43-7.

That's what I like to hear!

Jason was our neighbor with the cute Jack Russel terrier, Radar. When he got Radar he named him Radar because he was thinking 'How neat, I'll get a dog that'll go flying with me!" (Jason's also a pilot.) But the first time he took Radar up he got airsick. Poor thing.

But here's a cool pic Jason took of our neighborhood the day I graduated from Tech and we were all in the back yard playing washers. See Blake's truck with the UHaul attached? :)

"Hit me again Ike and put some steak behind it!"

I'm sure I won't get any sympathy since we have AC - but we officially have no water here at MD Anderson.

That means no showers.

That means you can't wash your hands after you clean up poop.

That means I just peed, couldn't flush, and then couldn't wash my hands either.

GROSS!!!

7027 Sanders Hill Lane

Everyone's been asking for pics of our home so drumroll please.......... HERE THEY ARE!

So before the storm, all the cabinets, granite, tile, fixtures and trim were in the home. And all the interior walls were painted 'crisp khaki' (Low VOD emission paint too I might add). Outside brick is done and so is exterior paint. So all we need is some plumbing and carpet and I'll be a happy camper! :) Oh and landscaping too.

We went with David Weekley and HIGHLY RECOMMEND them if anyone is thinking about building a home.



Our floor plan. Except the formal living room will be an enclosed study, our front porch extends to the end of bottom left of the house, we have a fireplace in the corner of the living room, and then have a covered back porch.

See? First Best Buy and now David Weekley. Like how the extra game room is referred to as the 'children's retreat'? Pushy!


Framing for the foundation. Granddaddy witnessed the foundation getting poured. :)
Framing! Exterior brick all done! Like our trees? Blake had to have that front porch.

View from the back porch - of course we'll have a back fence.
Fireplace, that back hallway goes to the master bedroom. The tv will be mounted on that back wall to the left.
View from the back of the home looking towards the front. Like the arched doorways?

View from the front of the home to the back. To the right is the enclosed study and then in the background is the formal dining room. The door for the study is actually glass pane but they painted over it. I guess it peels off. Hopefully!


And the breakfast area!

Ike Update

Well it's 7:30 am and everything is operating normally here at MD Anderson! After I got done with my shift last night at 7, we ate, showered in the OR locker rooms, played a little catchphrase, drank a little vino and finally settled into bed. We woke up this am at about 5:30 and now I'm back to work!

We never lost electricity here and we don't have any structural damage or anything. Just some leaky roofs and such - but we're comfortable and eating well. A lot more than everyone else in Houston can say I hear.

Blake evacuated to the Marriott Downtown since his mom is considered one of their essential personnel and had to stay thru the storm. So Carol, Charlie, Pops, Lou, Blake, Greg (the Reverend Blackwell) and Paula all 'hurricationed' together. After our friend Jon lost power in Clear Lake at about 7 last night he drove up to join them also. This morning they still have power and just had to sleep part of the night in the hallways in case the windows in the rooms shattered.

Mom, Dad, Jason, Christy, Millie and Jack all hurricationed in Jason's apartment off Westheimer and Old Farm. They lost power and probably don't smell too great but they're all in one piece.

They just drove by our apartment and all the windows are intact and it doesn't look like there's any water inside the apartment. Who knows how our home in Fall Creek is. :/

I hope everyone is safe and dry. Let's hope they get electricity restored ASAP so life can return to normal.

Love to all!

Our Hi Fi Tri

So Lauren and I are doing a Triathlon on October 25. Why? I don't know.

We'll be doing a .3 mile open water swim, 19 mile bike and 3.1 mile run. We've been training for 3 weeks now and I'm up to running 2.25 miles now - which is saying A LOT. I think the most I've run my whole life straight is mmmm a mile?

It'll be taking place on Galveston Island - if there is one after Ike - and it's benefiting the RESOURCE CRISIS CENTER OF GALVESTON COUNTY and Cherish Our Children International (an organization that raises funds for abandoned or neglected children.) Come out if you like - I think some people are coming down with airhorns and a skateboard so Lauren can pull me across the finish line! :)

Let's plug Best Buy, shall we?

So Blake and I spent a lot of time on Consumer Reports.com and talking to lots of sales people researching appliances for our new home - and I thought I would share the fruits of our labor with you. And when I say fruits of our labor - I mean it will take us 36 months of laboring to pay off these fruits! (Thank God for no interest financing. Cha ching!)

But they sure will make it fun to do laundry. :)

First our tv - A Samsung 46'' 1080p 120 mHz flat panel LCD tv. (This is the purchase I was least involved in.) The Geek Squad will be coming after we close on our house so they can wall mount this sucker in our living room. Fancy!

Then, the washing machine. A white, LG 4.2 cu ft front loader. It has a 'baby wear' cycle. Jeez! Even Best Buy wants to know when we'll be having babies! My fav feature:

"4-tray dispenser with prewash, wash, bleach and fabric softener compartments. Distributes cleaning agents at the proper time during the cycle for improved performance."

Our dryer (we splurged on a steam dryer.) A LG 7.3 cu ft white front loader. And of course we got pedestals for both these bad boys so our 6" plus tall backs don't have to bend over all the time.




Then the fridge: LG 26.5 Cu Ft Stainless-Steel Refrigerator. (We kept it old school with the side by side.)

Random Pic Catch Up

Strap yourselves in for a random collection of pics from the past few months!

Born to be wiiiiiiild!

I finally caught a ride on Richard's Harley and I have the exhaust pipe leg burn to prove it. But this stuff works miracles!

Pictures from this yrs 5th Annual Memorial Weekend River Trip. Kellie and Lauren finally got to sleep in a tent (yea!), we didn't see any stripers (boo), and Blake lost his wedding ring (double boo.) Don't worry - it's been replaced by a nice sterling silver impostor.

Katherine flew into town for Kellie's mid August Weekend of Birthday Festivities: Friday night fancy dinner at Timpano downtown & Saturday night drink fest at Pub Fiction.

Our Mad Potter Party

Back in July (waaaaay back), Haley (the great organizer), put together a night of painting at a pottery studio in the River Oaks area. Mad Potter.

It made me think of Katie, Kellie, Erin, and I at Glaze Gallery back in our high school days. Tear!

Mad Potter has a diva night where ladies can come paint and drink bottomless wine! I'm not sure if getting schnockered is really conducive to pretty pottery but who cares!

I painted 4 tiles with our new home address on them - 7027 Sanders Hill Lane. And I plan on laying them in a flowerbed in our front yard or something. Some other ladies painted trivets, ice cream bowls or cups. And some people (LAURA) commissioned their artwork out to other artists (LAUREN). :)

I forgot to add that the studio supplies boas, glasses and crowns for you to wear when you paint. The glasses that Kellie is wearing are her own prescription pair though.

Laura with her plate that she did all on her own - JK!

Pretty pretty Haley with her pretty pretty cup!
Kate was dancing because she was flying out to see her bf in Seattle the next day.


Are you eating the plate Lauren?

Good times ladies! :)

Christy Finally Turned 21!

Just kidding! (She's really 24.) :)

Tuesday night, Jason, Christy, Beth (Christy's mom), Mike (Christy's stepdad), Mom, Blake and I all went bowling at the Dave And Busters in the MarqE Center to celebrate Christy's birthday on Sunday.

For those of you who don't know - before Blake and I met, he was a professional bowler. He and his ball, The Shadow, traveled the bowling circuit scoring strikes in the lanes... and with the ladies. Eventually Carol and Charlie gave Blake an ultimatum - return to Texas Tech to get a degree and earn an honest living, or keep living out the wild bowling life style with his Gutter Gal Groupies. The rest of the story is history - but Blake enjoys reliving his wild bowling days when we go bowling with friends and family.

As you can see, he hasn't lost his mojo!

JK - here are some more pics!

We had a great time - Happy Birthday Christy! I couldn't have picked a sweeter girl to date Jason. I smile when I look at ya'll two because you make each other so happy.

"That's all I got!"

Christy's brother, Tommy, was just deployed to Irag at the end of August and enjoys getting mail and packages! If you feel like sending some candy or a just a card to a good lookin Marine here's his address:

Thomas Cowan

3/7 Lima Co.

Unit 41590

FPO-AP 96426-1590

I'm Back!

(And so is Ike.)

Ok So I promise PROMISE to do a better job keeping the blog updated.

First blog up next - pics from Christy's Birthday Celebration.

I have to report to work in the morning and have a MD Anderson Slumber Party due to Hurricane Ike. To all our friends and family on the Texas Coast- please keep safe and enjoy yourselves if you decide to have a hurricane party! Drink one for me!