hadooga

Growing up, we always went to my grandma's for Christmas Eve. Rest of that side of the family (dad's side) would come, too, and mostly it was just visiting & eating. When we got home, though, Santa would have already come (never did catch on to my dad sneaking out every year) and we'd open our presents. Christmas Day was just for lounging around, more eating, & perhaps more relative-visiting. Now that I have my own immediate family, we pretty much do it the same way. Santa comes after the kiddo has finally passed out on Christmas Eve, though, so she gets that stuff on Christmas morning.

I say leave it as it is. Though you'd never really know it, I read the politics thread regularly. I gotta speak up for the rest of the lurkers! Of course they probably all disagree with me, but hey - I try.

It's gorgeous!

I know. And the more I think about it, the more I think she, and the Democrats, were robbed. If only FL and MI had not moved their primaries... It would be a different story right about now.

Let's see what he does and doesn't do... I'll give him a year. Not really impressed so far. He knew how unpopular the war was, yet he keeps Gates. He could have chosen a less divise person of faith, who would have been, in my view, much more progressive than the heart-attack-about-to-happen gluttonous slob, Rick Warren.

How about her:

First female Episcopal bishop; Barbara C. Harris... and unlike Rick Warren... She probably actually voted for Obama! I would say she is more representative of where our country needs to go vs. "Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt."

Clinton also had Republicans in his cabinet... and tried all that "reaching across the aisle" garbage. Here's a clue Obama: the Republicans don't care. They're going to oppose you anyway! You're a fool if you think otherwise.

That's a picture of Katharine Jefferts Schori. While I wouldn't agree with it, choosing her would make just as many people (on the other side of the fence) wig out.

One of these days, I'd love to join you guys. It won't be today, though, 'cause my daughter is turning 6 Have fun!

Does anyone remember when the KKK marched down Westheimer. There were 100 klan's men and 400 cops. I think that was in 83/84. Or that roller skating group, The Urban Animals? How about Cabaret Voltaire--I still have a cassette from a Bark Hard show there.

i saw several shows at cabaret voltaire, but it did close pretty soon after i started going there with any regularity. and bachanon - i still listen to the band all the time, too. how long were the urban animals around? i remember seeing them out & about a lot, and then they were just gone - or at least i never saw them anymore. didn't they used to joust & such?

We bought this toy chest, from this website: KidKraft Toy Chest. It comes in several different colors. I ordered it on the 18th of October (2005) and they shipped it the same day. So for three years now my daughter has been climbing on it, in & out of it, etc. and she hasn't managed to wreck the thing yet. It still looks brand new.

So I guess in a way this is bit of a recommendation for both the toy chest itself & the website. Good luck!

ok, I'm not a freeloader anymore

It's my anniversary

Already watched the kiddo in a costume parade at school & have been to the park. Later, trick or treating and then a hockey game. Hope everyone has a great one!

Our cats have about 20 names each, but the most commonly used are:

Mr. Stinky, aka Sweetest

Buffers, aka Detective Hamer

Polly, aka Jihad

Mary (I dunno, the kiddo named her. Everything was named Mary for a while, including this kitty.)

The best cats ever were Guns & Roses, who lived with us for 14 & 17 years, respectively. They were strays living under my grandmother's house. When their mother got hit by a car, we took them in. We couldn't have wanted for better cats

The anniversary of my joyful ceremony at the JP is coming up next week. Congrats, memebag!

Word. So do I!

I have a cousin who was a teenager in the '70s and used to work at the Astrodome . She got to meet Leif in his dressing room when he played the rodeo one year. She said that he wasn't very friendly. She got to meet a lot of people back then. My aunt used to make friends with the security guards as well and they'd often get into the stars' dressing rooms. They'd also find out where they were staying. A whole other era. They said The Osmonds were all friendly except for Marie. Eddie Rabbit was the nicest guy ever, my aunt said. They got into the hotel room of Mickey Dolanz and Davey Jones of "The Monkees" and hung out with them by the pool. She has some great stories.

My older brother took me to a Leif concert at some point. I swear it was in the Astroarena? I didn't get to meet him, though. My 7-8 year old self would have probably died. We used to meet tons of bands & get into shows free all the time in the late 80's/early 90's, but these were mostly small shows. Places like Numbers, Unicorn Ballroom, Cullen Auditorium & the like. We managed to meet a few bands playing at large arenas, but I don't ever remember getting into any of those shows for free. Only band I remember ever hanging out with at their hotel was Ministry, but bleh. I had/have an attitude about them - it was my friend who was into them. We were invited & he wanted to go, so we just went. Nothing very exciting to report.

So, no love for Leif Garrett?

I had lots of love for Leif Garrett when I was a wee one. I do actually have some Leif on my iPod, too.

I remember a rocketship in a small neighborhood park in Bellaire...you could see it from the 610 West Loop Freeway, across from that HCC campus.

It was in Jaquet Park, or at least what is now called Jaquet Park - no idea what the name was back then ("that park with the rocket slide"). I remember the one at Hermann Park, too. My park-playing years would have been mid-late 70's/early 80's. I guess by the time they disappeared, I was older & just wasn't playing in the park much anymore. There was one still standing in the Holloway Day Nursery playground, on S Rice near Bissonnnet, as recent as a couple of years ago. At the time, they told me it had already not been in use for many years and was going to be removed soon, but I know it stayed for quite a while after. I honestly haven't paid attention enough recently to notice if it's still there.

I loved getting those plastic dinosaurs (were they all dinosaurs?) & very much remember the nocturnal animal area. There was a reptile building - which I think is still there - and then a small mammal building which is where the bats & such were. I remember being on field trips and of course the boys thought watching the bats feed was the coolest thing ever and all of us (girls) would be saying "ewww! gross!" I believe that building has been quite remodeled and is now called Nature Encounters or something like that. Last time I took the kiddo there was over a year ago, and it was still being renovated/built/whatever.

Also, any excuse to post this is good:

Wasn't this near the hippo house? That looks like it in the background.

Actually, I misread it. I know where you're talking about. When was the fire? I live near you and a City of Houston FD and they took off earlier this evening making an enormous point with their sirens.

It was this afternoon, around 1pm or so. Seriously, we were still celebrating the power being back on & heard this weird whooshing sound. Couldn't figure out what it was until we saw the fire truck outside. It was the Bellaire FD. I don't even know if we just missed the sirens or they never had them on. After the big POW!, my husband ran back inside and happily reported that our power was still on - so it's just our neighbors across the street that are still without. Fire truck left about 5 minutes later, too.

Our neighborhood is kinda weird. It was still pretty bonded when Allison flooded all of us, but so many of those neighbors packed it in & moved after that. We really know very few of our neighbors in the newer & bigger houses, so we don't have a good neighborhood chain of communication anymore. A fire on the street only brought out about 4 families and two of those had the fire going on right between their houses! Now I feel like I need a cane and to tell the kids to get off my lawn.

Um, Bissonnet and Bellaire run parallel inside the Loop. They do, however, intersect outside the loop. I get the gist though. We got those teasers, where the power would come on and then go back off for long periods. Everyone around would cheer and then be severily let down when it went back off. It's been holding firm all day now.

Sorry, I meant that I'm in the city of Bellaire - inside the loop - near Bissonnet. We're between Bellaire Blvd. and Bissonnet, actually.

Haven't had much sleep around here, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not making much sense.

We watched KHOU throughout as that was the only channel that we could pick up well on the battery operated TV. So it wasn't really too much of a choice.

Our power went out kind of early - 7:30pm on Friday, as I was reading HAIF! We got it back this afternoon, though (Bellaire, inside the loop, near Bissonnet). About 5 minutes after it was up, the fire department was here because apparently a tree, or a branch, or something was touching the line and was on fire. While we were standing around outside gawking, something blew up and the neighbors across the street are without power again.

I almost made fun of my husband for buying a generator about 3 yrs ago, but it did keep the fridge running and a fan blowing on the hot nights. Thankfully our power came back on just before we were going to run out of fuel, too. Just lost a tree in the front, which went into the street and not towards the house. Saw lots of trees down in the neighborhood, along with fences, etc. Only saw one window broken near here & minor roof damage on some of the older homes. Maybe the McMansions blocked some of that wind for us! Just *stuff* everywhere - branches, signs, street lights. My brother did make it to Houston from Japan via Continental (got in early this morning). Some kind of shuttle actually brought him from the airport to the house.

Keeping the kiddo entertained through 65 hours of no power was not really fun, but we managed. Feel very lucky, actually. Hope everyone we haven't heard from yet are doing okay, too.

My brother was due to fly in from Japan on Saturday, but he got the following email a few hours ago:

Weather conditions may cause the delay and cancellation of flights to select cities along the Gulf Coast and throughout Texas this weekend. This includes Houston Intercontinental Airport (IAH).

Customers traveling to, from or through the Houston hub the weekend of Fri., Sep. 12 through Sun., Sep. 14 should consider re-scheduling their trip to avoid possible inconvenience.

We are experiencing long hold times at our reservations center. Customers are encouraged to change their reservations at continental.com with their confirmation number. Continental is waiving most fees usually associated with changing flights that will be affected by Hurricane Ike. These details may be found on the Important Notices page at continental.com.

We are updating our Web site as new information and updates are received. Please check back often for the status of our operation.

No change in strength. Slight rise in pressure although it went down a bit earlier.

Also, look at the Galveston beach cam. It's like a dust storm.

http://www.galveston.com/webcams/

There's a party going on at The Spot! They have a surf cam, too. At westguy's link above, or at http://www.thespotgalveston.com/webcam.html. Is this place actually open or are they just making their own party?

That was pretty interesting for me. When I was young, I used to sit and just write anything to practice hand lettering. I'd write the same sentence over and over in different ways. I've always been fascinated with different styles, long before I was even aware of words like 'font' or 'calligraphy' or anything similar. I also used to fancy myself an architect in elementary school and regularly drew blueprints of stuff, so perhaps that's where my attraction to lettering came from - I don't really know. My regular handwriting now is some weird mix of cursive & straight print. Letters occasionally get hooked together, but it definitely looks more like print. Sometimes on forms where you have to print your name and then sign it, they think I've just printed it again on the signature line. I quite often get asked to write things for others, though, because "your handwriting is so nice." I guess all those hours of writing were worth something, even though it's not much.

mine showed up in the mail today, too. very nice, Jason!

Just saw it... really good. Really dark. Really creepy. I get to the movies about once a year so my expectations were high.

One question: the dude who plays the mayor. He's also in Lost. What's up with the guyliner? Here's his IMDB site if you don't know who I mean. Someone, please answer this question for me. Why would a dude wear so much make-up?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004801/

Okay, I just read my own link... it claims he wore the guyliner to give his character a more comic-book effect. HOWEVER, he also wears guyliner in Lost. Not a comic book type show. So I'm thinking he just digs the look. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

(edited after reading link)

batmanuel! i always thought it was natural. just really thick, dark eyelashes or something.

Got about 800 sq ft that I want to do this to.

Theres a foundation crack thats visible, but as long as it doesnt hinder the process, I'm ok with it showing. Just hate to put tile and have it crack. Laminate and carpet are out.

There's some related discussion in this thread. Perhaps jencab can give us more details!

My mom lived next door to this house for 15 years. She built at 7627 in the early 90s after I went to college.

This home was probably only owned by one family. The husband died about 7 years ago or so. I hope this isn't an estate sale.

Well, there's an open house on Thursday (31st) from noon - 2pm. Isn't that an odd day for an open house?

The detail says "Great property to update or build. Located in Hunters Creek neighborhood of River Bend on cul-de-sac. DESSERT SERVED!"