Saturday

So, it looks like Ike is slowing down and moving on through Texas. My sister, Donna, is doing fine in Pearland, Texas. They do not have power, but did not have any damage. My friend, Kimi, in Lake Charles, Louisiana is doing ok and does have power. I have no way to find out anything about the jail in downtown Houston where my son is, but I'm listening to the news to try to find out what I can. I called a nearby district and they haven't heard of anything happening there, and I assume they would have if there was damage, but that's the best I can do. It's very frustrating that there is nowhere that you can call and if the power is out, the inmates can't use the phone to call to let you know they are ok. Again, I know he is in God's hands and trust that he is ok. I sincerely hope that we will not have any more hurricanes this season, which doesn't end until November.

Ronnica at Tales of a Kansas Girl posted this "meme" on her blog and asked for anyone to answer who wanted to. And well, I want to!!

Here are the rules:
1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively.
2. link back to the person who tagged you
3. link back to this parent post
4. tag a few friends or five, or none at all
5. post these rules— or just have fun breaking them

Ok then. Blogging has affected me...

1. Positively: Blogging is a wonderful outlet for me! I am a person who talks way too much, and having this blog and my blog friends to talk to really spares my family, especially my husband, from having to go into overtime listening to me!!

2. Positively: I have met some friends through blogging who I hope to stay in touch with for a long time to come. I am developing relationships that are meaningful to me and I enjoy seeing into the lives of other people.

3. Positively: Some of my real life friends are starting to blog and I am able to be in closer contact with them and stay up to date with their lives than I was before I began blogging.

4. Negatively: I am spending a lot of time reading other people's blogs daily, so there are things I am not doing as much as I should.

5. Positively: I have been overwhelmed with prayers and support for many situations in the short time I've been blogging.

What about you?? I am tagging anyone who wants to answer the questions, so please let me know if you will be doing it too so I can read your answers!!

I've seen this book on SO many blogs that I went to http://www.half.com/ and ordered it - "twilight." I had absolutely no idea what it is about, but I caved in to curiosity, ordered it, and 3 days later, it was sitting in my hot little hands! Forget all the books I was already planning to read, I started reading this yesterday and am on page 263 already! Wow!! I'm not sure I would have wanted to read it if i'd known ahead of time what it was about, but let me tell you, i'm HOOKED! I went to half.com again last night and ordered the 2nd book in the series! I hope it comes in before I finish this one!!! I'll be glad to send Twilight to anyone who wants to read it when i'm finished, so leave me a comment and i'll get your address from you. First come, first served!!

And notice on my side bar on the right there is a little place for "follow this blog." It's a new feature and it's pretty cool! If you want to be a follower of my blog, just click "follow this blog!" I'll be glad to follow your blog too!

Questions & Comments:
Lizzy asked what we do about all of the schools days missed during hurricanes here. Honestly, it's not normal that we miss many days per year due to hurricanes. They can do a few different things. We have a couple of "hurricane days" built in to our schedules that we could miss if needed, then after that the schools can chose to lengthen the school year or go on some Saturdays. The bad thing is with our standardized testing (LEAP, GEE) that determines whether your child passes to certain grades or graduates at all are given in March or April, so the kids may be missing some key lessons needed for those tests that might not be taught in time. I would bet that our holidays may be shortened, which may be what happened after Hurricane Katrinia - I wasn't working in the school system then and don't remember. We get a week off at Thanksgiving, 2 weeks at Christmas, a week at Easter, and 2 days for Mardi Gras, not to mention a few more 1 days here and there, so it may be that we'll lose a few of those days.

Laura asked about the gas prices here. The last I heard, prices had gone up about .50/gallon to about $4.00/gallon, but I haven't been out today to see. I will pay attention today and see what it looks like.