FINALLY A SENIOR

After nearly six months of training, I have finally been signed off as a Senior Airport Communications Operator.  This is my last week with Friday and Saturday off; I will start my own workweek next Sunday, with Tuesdays and Wednesdays off.

The girls started the school year in their new school district.  Angela goes to elementary school on her own, while Maya and Nicolette go to the same school.  The older girls are bussed, and I bring Angie to school (since the school is literally around the corner from us, and she's not eligible to be bussed).  So far, so good with them.  This is a much better school district (Aldine vs. HISD), so I don't think that they will encounter the same problems as they did in previous years.  For the first time in a long time, Nicolette is enjoying school. I am glad, because she REALLY needs to pass this TAKS test!

I started kinda late with their school registration. Somehow, I lost everyone's proof of citizenship during the move, and had to replace everything.  And after putting off starting their shots all over again for as long as I could, they finally started the first round.  I have been trying to obtain their shot records from Louisiana, and for some reason or another, they just wouldn't give them to us.  But a nurse at Nicolette and Maya's school was able to pull them for me (thank you, Jesus!), so now they only have to take the shots that are necessary.  Isn't that something?  God is so good!

There is a shoe warehouse here that sells name brand tennis shoes (FILA, New Balance, and Reebok) for a great price; I bought two pairs of Reeboks for Maya and Angela for less than $50!!!!

I lost my cute little cell phone.  I looked everywhere and couldn't find it!  So I wound up replacing it with TWO new phones.  Since the one I lost was a prepaid phone, I purchased another handset and kept my old number (since everyone already has that one).   The prepaid phone is the back-up to my new primary cell.  I locked myself into a 2-year contract with insurance on this one, so it will be replaced or repaired for free if I ever lose or break it.  Here is a picture of the new prepaid (received a good rating from CNET.com):      

All it does is make calls, text, and I can use the internet if I wish.  That's all I need a back-up to do.  This is my plan phone, which I had gotten free with my contract:

This phone has a 1.3 MP camera, camcorder, MP3, Bluetooth, Cellular Video, Internet.........you get the idea.  Needless to say, family and friends only; everyone else that has the old number can reach me on the back-up! LOL

There are two storms brewing in the gulf right now,and everyone is tense.  Matt and I can't go anywhere, because we are both essential employees.  The girls are going to stay with Mom.  I don't anticipate anything really major happening here (New Orleans is already preparing for another direct hit, and the weathermen aren't yet sure where or how this storm is going to hit afterwards), but it is always good to be prepared for whatever happens. I know that no matter what happens, God is with me.  We will be fine.  If we can weather Katrina, we can withstand anything!   

TURNED INTO A GREAT DAY AFTER ALL

Even though Matthew was VERY tired today, he managed to take me to dinner and a movie........and.............well, let's just say treated me to some MUCH needed "stress relief."  And he was on his job tonight, too, OKAY?!? LOL 

The kids called me a few minutes ago to wish me a Happy Birthday.  They're having a ball out there in Mississippi; the family managed to have plenty of things lined up out there for them to do this time.

Mom and I are going to Luby's this weekend.

All we got was some rain (that is greatly appreciated, because we have been experiencing  a bit of drought down here).  Business as usual resumes tomorrow, thank you JESUS.  Thanks to all for the birthday wishes, and God bless you!

Adrian   

WHAT LUCK..................

A hurricane, tropical storm.....whatever Edouard calls itself hits land on MY birthday.  That sucks.  I had planned to go out and celebrate, but it is expected to rain all day, and everything is closed.  I had taken off today, and now I wish I hadn't.  I'm on what is called a floating holiday, which I had to schedule a MONTH in advance in order to use.  Naturally, I scheduled off for my birthday well in advance of the 30 day deadline.  Who knew what was going to happen then?

I did manage to prepare for this storm well, though.  I had taken care of Mom yesterday morning, filled my tank with gas, purchased storm staples, and SQUEEEEEEEZED my car inside our tiny garage.  Well, thank God for a garage to squeeze a car into! LOL  I don't know what this storm will bring, so I didn't want to take any chances.   

I thought that Matthew forgot my birthday.  I mean, I don't even have a birthday cake!  But he did buy me a birthday card.  Nothing inside; just a card.  A beautiful card.  It's the thought that counts, I guess.  And I haven't heard from the kids yet.  It's still early, though; they will probably call later.    

Speaking of parking garages.........at work, many of us who had access through our badges were parking on the third level (covered parking) for awhile.  Sunday, we weren't able to get on the third level.  They blocked ALL of our names out, which means that now we all have to park on the roof.  Many of us were perturbed, but I took it in stride.  By right, we shouldn't have been parking there anyway, and they let us park there for a long time before doing anything about it.  So I am grateful. Besides, I still have free parking, and they haven't taken away our parking privileges.  Plus, I already sensed that something like that was going to happen, because one of our bigwig supervisors sent an e-mail out to us earlier in the week as a friendly warning.  Yesterday, however, we found out that they are using BOTH parking levels to park ALL of their fleet cars to protect them from possible storm damage, which is why our badges were blocked.  My co-workers were instructed to park in the customer parking area, at any level, pull a ticket, and they will validate it for them.  That says a lot to me about how early they knew about this storm; it caught me off guard!  I wonder if we will be able to park on level three after the storm?    

Adrian