Signs of Ike

This weekend we decided to take a little trip to the Gulf and went to Kemah, a place several people suggested we go before Hurricane Ike. It was only about an hour to drive down and it was an interesting drive with the scenery changing from the tall buildings of downtown Houston to the rows of oil refineries and the smell that reminded me of Gary, Indiana.

Once we got to the Seabrook area, remnants of Ike and its fury were still evident. Signs were blown out, the FEMA blue tarps still covered damaged roofs, we walked past two buildings - one a home and the other a former bar that had "Keep Out" spray painted in bright orange on the walls with the contents of the buildings either thrown out onto the lawn or left in their disarray.

It wasn't the warmest day to go to the Gulf. It was an overcast 70 and cool enough to need light jackets. When we parked at Kemah some of the little shops and restaurants were open. Either they didn't sustain too much damage from the Hurricane or they have already rebuilt. The buildings I mentioned before were facing the Gulf side. We walked down to what is officially considered the Kemah Boardwalk. It's a inn, several restaurants, rides, and games all owned by the owner of Landry's Restaurants that includes Joe's Crabshack and Saltgrass chains.

We went to a restaurant called The Aquarium a place we have wanted to take the kids for some time now. It has a huge salt water tank that has sharks, and eel, sting rays and other fish that seemed like they were the size of Eli. It was only the second day they had been open since Ike. They are still in the process of rebuilding the boardwalk. Our waiter said across the channel that the Pappadeux restaurant will not reopen where the battered building still stands, but will instead tear that building down and build new.

Despite only a handful of the shops and restaurants being open. I was happy to see people milling around, checking out the pelicans, and watching the boats come in and out to harbor. I imagine by the time summer rolls around, Kemah will be a bustling place to go to have fun.

We left after a few hours because it was getting chilly with dusk beginning to fall and it was way past Eli's nap time. As we left the Kemah limits, there was a boat washed ashore where it came to rest after the hurricane and a church with it's windows still boarded and debris in the yard. Signs of Ike's destruction reminded me that while life has returned to normal in northwest Houston, people are still recovering only an hour south, and I imagine it's nothing compared to Galveston.

A new week

Ok, so the Islamic school is behind me. I found out Thursday that I got the job at CyFair Magazine and I went in to the office in Katy to fill out paperwork, take a tour of the office and have some orientation with the Assistant Editor. I'll basically start right away since they are preparing their spring issue which comes out in February. I'll be doing some editing and proofreading and next week I'll start heading out to events to cover the magazine. I'm expected to go to one to three events a week, I'm thinking I'll work on a happy medium of two unless there are three I just HAVE to get to! Primarily it's networking and getting people to know me so hopefully in time they can start giving me story ideas in the community. Ah, it's so nice to be back in my niche again!

I bought our turkey for dinner Thanksgiving yesterday. The smallest one I could find was a 14 pound turkey for 4 1/2 people. I tried to just by the breast, but Maia was insistent I get the whole turkey. She is also the reason I ended up buying a cheesecake yesterday too. So we'll have our usual of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, beets, green beans, rolls, cranberries and pumpkin pie. At least I'll have left overs this year unlike previous years when we would go to my mother-in-laws!

The kids go to school only today and Tuesday and they'll be off the rest of the week. Maia will still have gymnastics tomorrow and they have moved choir practice from Wednesday to tomorrow evening, so it will be a busy day.

Belated Birthday

Happy belated birthday to my little sister Paloma whose birthday I completely biffed and forgot about this year! :(

Birthday

Maia celebrated her 11th birthday Monday with dinner at The Olive Garden and a cookie cake. Hard to believe my little girl is growing so fast!

Ok, so I'm officially no longer employed or teaching. I've decided that perhaps my experience of one week and two days at the Darul Arqam School was God telling me I shouldn't be teaching. I was thrown into 7th and 8th grade English with no clue about grading or lesson planning and that was the least of my worries. I thought it was interesting they wanted me to spend a day with the teacher they brought in to replace me. I left a lesson plan for the rest of the week and detailed notes about the students and class, all of which I didn't have the luxury of having and was pretty much left to fend for myself. It probably would have been different experience if it were a Christian or Catholic school, but it was a little too foreign for me. I'm pretty sure none of the teachers knew my name as everyone is referred to as "sister" and usually they spoke Arabic if I was around or didn't really speak at all. The kids were "normal" 7th and 8th grade students, but some didn't speak English very well, so it became a teaching English as a second language for some. One little boy flat out told me he hated the class and showed no effort although I gently coaxed him on a daily basis to open his book and do the in class work.

On the other hand, yesterday I had a second interview for a part-time work from home Editor job for a local publication called Cy Fair Magazine. Jeff actually found the job for me online. When she called to set up the second interview she said I was on the top of the list...so yesterday I met with the assistant editor to the Publisher. I thought it went well again and left my references who I am sure will all give me glowing reviews. I'll let you know how that turns out, until then I continue to send my resume out.

Next week will be the first since I met Jeff that I wasn't home in Scottdale for Thanksgiving. There are some definite advantages to being here in Houston like it's still in the upper 60's and low to mid 70's here during the day. We are in full swing for our Christmas concert at church and I'm catching up on laundry and cleaning I let slide by the last week!

Gymnastics and other stuff

Evan's last football game. Eli the future skateboarder. My two hams!

Maia took four first place ribbons. Maia on the vault. Don't you wish you were that limber?

Walking through another door

I'm going to make this relatively short and sweet because I need to get some sleep since I'm getting up at 5:30 to get ready for my first day at work, get the kids up and out the door by 6:45. I've accepted a part-time teaching position at a small private school about 16 miles away each way. Don't be fooled by the distance because it can take you an hour to go that far in Houston! I think I'm going to try staying away from the tollway and see how it goes.

As I think I mentioned I have been applying for jobs, but the circumstances had to be right. Meaning it had to pay enough for me to put Eli in some kind of daycare and make a little money after that! I've sent what seems like a million resumes out via Internet and got a call Friday afternoon that the principal would like to interview me that evening at 6. After leaving hasty instructions with Jeff how to make cheese steak sandwiches, I headed to the school where I was interviewed by the principal and two board members.

The school is small, with no more than 15 students in each class from Pre-K to 12th. It kind of reminds me of Mt. Carmel at home. I was basically offered the job on the spot, but told them I would speak to my husband about it and consider the salary they offered. Probably the selling point was they had a local woman who would watch Eli for 5 hours (7:30 - 12:15) for $2 an hour! She and her husband live right across the street from the school. Once Eli is potty trained he can come with me to the school for the pre-K program at half the tuition cost.

My mom says I luck out at finding jobs, but I believe God sends you on a journey and He knows the path you're to travel in life. I went today to get some of my books to teach 7th and 8th grade English and so I jump in feet first tomorrow morning. Anyone know a course on lesson planning for Dummies? The curriculum is set, and actually the principal and vice principal are very nice and happy to help when they can. More tomorrow...

Unrest in the land of the Republicans

So America has elected a 44th president. Jeff and I didn't vote - we're not registered here in Texas and we weren't forward thinking enough to get absentee ballots from Pennsylvania. I guess we had enough on our minds in between not having our belongings for a month then Hurricane Ike. This evening in church for rehearsal it is apparent that we live in Republican land, although I saw a few Obama signs here and there in my travels, we subtly prayed for the leadership of our country and it was commented that the outcome of yesterday is part of God's plan...

It was also reported and then later confirmed by Evan that there was a fight at the high school today between students when one black student brought an Obama sign and something was said by another student and a fight ensued. Luckily Evan missed it. The rumor was that the campus then went on lock down, but Evan said that wasn't the case. Maia said they held a mock election at her school on Monday and McCain won, however her class grouping (three homerooms) voted for Obama. Maia's music teacher who is also my worship and arts director's wife said some of the kids in the school were treating each other differently too. It is true that the way children vote particularly at that age are influenced by their parent's political affiliation, hopefully their actions in school will not filter into the streets.

Today was the last game for Evan and they lost 14-7 I believe to Klein High School. I could go on about the questionable coaching and player decisions, but I'm actually just glad for the season to be over. I don't have to pick Evan up from school Monday - Wednesday which I'm pretty sure will save me at least $20 a week in gas although now that it's down to $1.97 here and with my Kroger card I paid $1.87 at the pump today. I have a feeling he'll go out for the team next year, and he plans to do track this spring.

We found out Maia won't be able to have a gymnastics birthday party because they are booked through December, so she'll have to think of something else. We'll need to get the invitations out next week. We signed her up for a skills competition Nov. 14 and a floor skills camp on the 22nd. If you ask me these camps and other things are just money makers for the school, but I figure Maia should try them out at least once to see if she likes it.

Well it's late and I need to be up in almost five hours to wake Evan up for school.

Another weekend

Halloween has come and gone. The time has come to set our clocks back for Daylight Savings and it's November! Where has this year gone? Let's see, since it became 2008, I left my job at the bank, we moved to Texas, and survived Hurricane Ike. If you ask me, that's plenty for this year. I'm hoping we'll be able to get back to Scottdale for Christmas. It's in the plans, but monetarily it might not be feasible. I know the kids are expecting to head "home" in December and I don't plan on disappointing them! In fact I've spent most of the weekend sending applications and resumes to jobs down here. I just know that it will have to be the right job (especially when it comes to pay) for me to put Eli into day care. Believe me, it isn't cheap here!

Halloween night was interesting here in our plan. People really get into the whole event with cul-du-sacs having their own little parties and big and small out trick or treating. The only unpleasant thing about the evening was the mosquitoes. I keep telling Jeff we should buy stock in bug repellent! Eli wasn't really interesting in the actual act of Trick or Treating so he stayed with us and handed out candy in the driveway. Maia went off with her friend Kaitlin and came back with a bag of goodies that of course we have been partaking in all day today!

Tomorrow I'll be singing with the choir and ASH, then we have a two hour rehearsal specifically to work on Christmas program music. I also got an email on Friday from the worship and arts director asking me to sing in a select group who will sing a Jazz rendition of A Christmas Song for the performances. Of course I said I would sing! :)

Another week is almost upon us. Evan's last football game of the season is Wednesday at Klein High School and his coach decided to move him from strong safety where he's played all season to free season. Don't ask me the logic in that, but if it means he'll play more during the game I'll be happy.

Hasta manana!