Mama Blog

Hard couple of days

I've been having a hard couple of days. I feel so.....out of sorts.

In a nutshell I feel:
-Ready. Ready to go home.
-Ready to help out.
-Tired. Smoke detector at 12 something last night. Fire department at 1 something. Sleep at 2 something.
-Too much. I'm overly sensitive today. I cried because Steven stated the obvious. Something I've said to myself a hundred times this week.
-Itchy. Picking up my 90 day refill from the pharmacy for Zyrtec because I can't take Benadryl every six hours with kids in the house.
-Busy. House to pack. School to do. Kids to spend time with.
-Wanting. My home. My husband. My life back.
-Fat. I've gained all but five pounds back of the the 30 I'd lost.
-Dismissed. A large number of recent conversations lately have left me with a vague sense of having my feelings and my situation dismissed as "can't be nearly as big a deal as what they are dealing with".
-Odd. I've got so many things going on and so many things on the to do list and so many balls being juggled in the air that I'm dropping them regularly.

Well, I need to get the girls ready to go to the pharmacy and the post office. Then back home to get busy on the house.

If you've ever felt led to do something, do it now....

There are people still, almost two full months later, in need of help. Katrina and Rita have ravaged the Gulf Coast. Thirteen families in my small church alone have nothing to go home to.

Families, children, many many people left with nothing. No home. No clothes. No food. Noone to hold them while they cry. Noone to help them sort through the rubble of their homes and their lives. Noone. Nothing.

Don't just say you want to help. Don't just say it because it's what you are supposed to say. Say it and then do it. There are lots of ways to get involved and help. You can contact the Red Cross or find your local Red Cross Chapter. There are relief organizations through churches like the Assembly of God and Convoy of Hope.

There's been a great deal of press about fake organizations popping up to scam people out of their money. The ones listed above are the real deal. If you'd rather be physically involved in the relief effort, these organizations can find a place for you to help. No help offered is too small.

In preparing for writing this entry, I came across something I'd like to work on. It's a project through Convoy of Hope called the Family 2 Family Kit.

We're going home in seven days. If you live in the Montgomery area and want to help get some of these kits together so that I can deliver them to the dropoff area in Biloxi, feel free to email me. I'll take as many as you can bring. If you don't live in this area and would like to participate follow the link and send them.

Please help. Even those who went through the storm but suffered little to no damage are giving of their money, giving of their time and giving of themselves as often as possible. Won't you help?

My punkins at the Pumpkin Patch

My punkins at the Pumpkin Patch, originally uploaded by cbatesteach.

Click that shot to see the others from the trip.

April, any of the shots of your kids you are more than welcome to have!

What my entire neighborhood looks like

What my entire neighborhood looks like, originally uploaded by cbatesteach.

(testing Her Majesty Deej's handywork)

State of the Union

The trip to Biloxi was, well, parts of it were difficult and parts of it were normal. I'm just so ready to go home. If I hadn't made obligations through the 30th I think we'd packing the truck now.

So what's on tap for the next two weeks. Because, I don't know if you know this but I have officially passed the two weeks til we move date. I'm down to 13 days.

13 days in which I need to sort through, weed out, pack up and still live in this house.

-Today and tomorrow will be spent with me working through our school shelves and the kitchen, as well as the garage.
-Thursday night Steven comes up here.
-Friday morning Katy has her eye appointment, around lunch my mom will be here.
-Friday night we have Girl Scouts and I'm the parent helper/snack bringer this week.
-Saturday morning with going to a pumpkin patch in Clanton with some friends of ours.
-Sunday is church and Mama and Steven both have to return home.
-Next week will be spent, in it's entirety, packing and preparing to go.
-The 30th is Trunk or Treat at the church and the girls will thoroughly enjoy that. I'm just sad that Steven will have to miss it. It's too late in the evening for him to stay.
-The 31st we'll pack up the van a bit.
-The 1st we'll finish packing up and we have our move out inspection at 1pm. Then, we drive home.

I can't wait.

Biloxi Visit Photos

Start here and click through the photos to see the captions and the notes. If you view the slideshow you don't see them.

The countdown begins

Well, Steven just headed back to Biloxi. This coming Friday I'll be heading there to do the "mama check". The following Friday my Mama comes for a visit!!! The following weekend we'll begin the mass exodus back home.

I can't wait.

(New photos are added to Flickr regularly. Check back even if I don't mention them here.)

Um, the right side....yes that's it

Steven pointed out (and you obviously noticed) the Flickr stream is on the RIGHT sidebar.

Heh. DORK!!

I put up a few more pictures this morning. Older shots, nothing new yet.

There we go

Ok, click on the little pink thingy on the left sidebar there....go on...the one with the rotating pictures. You can see a bunch of new ones I put up. Oh....and did you check out the studmuffin up on my header up top???

I took a ton of pictures

Yesterday I filled up my memory card with photos. I'd share them with you here if I had a USB port that worked. Heh.

Sometime this month or next I'll be making a weekend trip to Biloxi to assess the situation. I'm working on a list of things I'd like to know the status of before I go.

Don't get me wrong, I am ok with being in Montgomery and if we decide that the girls and I should stay here until June I will. It's just that it's been over a month since I've been home. It's going to be at least two or three more months before I go home again. It's possible that I'll never live in that house again and I'll just move from here to Washington, D.C. (or Maryland or Virginia or whichever state our housing ends up being in).

I just want my husband back, all the time. I want my girls to not have to wake up every day and ask me where Daddy is. I want my girls not to have to work through the emotions of "I want my Daddy!" everyday. I'd live out of boxes and do a DITY move and wait in lines and have limited services and such for 5-6 months if necessary.

I'm just ready...

Today's to-do list:

-Laundry
-Mop downstairs
-School work with girls
-Vacuum downstairs
-Remake my bed
-Fold two loads of laundry on couch
-Go through at least three boxes
-Throw out what we aren't keeping from those boxes
-Repack what isn't being used here or won't be in Biloxi
-Find a home for 3T clothes, training panties of Lizzy's
-Mail card for Becky
-Make birthday/anniversary cards for October & November