I’m writing this from a hotel suite about 4 hours northeast from where we live.  Although, for the coast, Hurricane Gustav was no Katrina, our little town on the Mississippi River was hit harder this time.  I spent all day Monday watching the news and weather as Hurricane Gustav made its way ashore and by 8PM that night, we thought we were in the clear.  But that’s when the outer wall of the eye of the storm passed over us.  We lost power about 9PM Monday night.  Our whole entire town was without power.  We were fortunate.  No damage to our home at all.  But there was a tree down in almost every neighborhood it seemed like.  Most were without power all day Tuesday, but early Wednesday morning, some of the power was finally restored to some.  Including the major grocery stores, fast food restaurants and other businesses.

So yesterday, after spending a very miserable 2 nights in the heat and hearing that our neighborhood in particular would not be getting power restored for a couple more days, we decided to take a little mini vacation.  We had thought of this at the beginning of the week, but all the hotels north of us and where we wanted to go were booked.  Yesterday, Steven talked to his mom, and she was making a comment about how jammed pack the interstate leading south was.  Everyone who left New Orleans and the coast were heading back home.

So, I was hanging out at my brother’s house, who just had his power restored, and just decided to get online to see if there were any hotels available in our old college town, and sure enough, there were.  Steven was all for it, we didn’t want to impose on my brother and SIL anymore and we just kind of wanted to escape.  So we loaded all four kids up in the van and went on a road trip.

Last night, some how I was able to get them all to sleep in the same room (first time staying in a hotel room with all four) and we all slept very comfortably in a very cool room.  Actually, they are all still sleeping, one of the twins woke up around 4AM, so I put her in the bed with me and she went right back to sleep.  So I just tip-toed over to the computer and began enjoying a little “me” time (not to mention, thank heavens for WiFi).  This was their first time sleeping in a “real” bed, well the sofa bed, and they did really well.  It took some time getting all of the kids to settle down, but finally around midnight they all just passed out. LOL

Today, were are looking forward to visiting our old college campus to see what has changed since we were last here, eat at some of our favorite restaurants, and just relax and hang out with the kids.  Steven’s work is closed and the kids are out of school, so we figured, “Why not?”, you know?

We may even check around at some of the schools and may consider moving back here.  This little town has always been dear to our hearts, since it is where we first met.  It really is a nice little town, so it’s definitely something we are considering.  You never know, sometimes things happen for a “reason”, and sometimes you just have to go with it.

Thanks for stopping by My Mama Drama!

Technorati Tags: hurricane gustav, hurricane katrina

Received these tips via an email today courtesy of Greenopia.  Although, I never have been a huge advocate of “Going Green”, I find myself recently interested in the whole concept and plan to do a little more to help our environment.  I mean, every little bit helps right?  Check out these great Lunch Box tips!

The average school-age child who packs a lunch for school generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That works out to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school… so what can families do to reduce that waste? Here are a few tips for packing a greener lunchbox this fall:

1. Replace paper napkins with cloth versions.
2. Pack stainless-steel utensils instead of using disposable plastic.
3. Use reusable drink containers instead of disposable juice boxes, juice pouches, cans, and plastic bottles.
4. Avoid using plastic wraps, plastic bags, wax-paper bags, and aluminum foil – opt for Tupperware instead.
5. Cut down on packaging waste by purchasing foods in larger containers that you can recycle at home rather than buying many smaller packaged products.
6. Choose lunch boxes or backpacks over paper or plastic bags.

Technorati Tags: going green, green school lunch ideas, tips for packing a greener lunch box

Found this video over at Bird On A Wire. This is just nuts!! And its funny I found this post today, because yesterday I was at the doc for a checkup, and there were TWO pregnant 15 year old girls in there with their moms. The girls were just sitting there laughing, like it was funny. And the two moms were even worse! They were happily discussing their daughter’s predicaments like they were glad to be getting a new baby in the family. But this was the best part, another lady walked in, and voiced her opinion to the two girls. Apparently she had been in the same situation as the girls years ago, and she told them both, “Now, it’s not all about you. That’s over.” And then she started talking about how painful labor was. It was hilarious. She definitely wiped the smiles off those girls faces. Here’s the video:

Technorati Tags: pregnant teenagers, teen moms, teen pregnancy

Sheesh…my blogs have been down for over 3 days! And I apologize to those of you that are just dying to read about what’s been going in my life! Haha Thank goodness they are back up and running now! Let’s just say it was a monster server issue and leave it at that.

Anyway, it’s nice to be back. Hopefully, I’ll have plenty to post about!

When I started this blog, I did mention that I would be going through many ups and downs, well I’ve officially had my first down.

I’ve been sick for several days with an awful stomach virus, and then the last couple of days have finally felt like eating.  Well, I have found myself eating all the wrong things, because I guess I’m feeling sorry for myself because I’ve been sick and haven’t been able to eat.  Well, once getting over something like that, who wants to go back to eating responsibly?

I’m making a promise to myself to get back on track ASAP.  Most likely Monday, and I don’t know why Monday, but that just seems like a good starting point and I am making a promise to myself not to do too much damage until then.  Don’t worry, I’ll be a good girl…I promise.

Christopher has had a bad week at school this week. He has cried everyday when I leave him. Today I decided to walk him in rather than drop him off like I normally do, because we were running late, and I didn’t want him to be tardy. Plus, Allie need to be taken to the cafeteria, because her preschool class eats between 7:30 and 8:00AM, and it was already 7:40. I didn’t want her to miss breakfast. Anyway, when I got him to his class the bell had just run, and he started screaming. His SPED assistant, who he normally just loves and doesn’t have a problem going with, walked up to get him and just kept screaming for me not to leave him. So I had to walk away with my child screaming at the top of his lungs, “Don’t leave me!!”

Later this morning, his SPED teacher called me to set up a time for his IEP meeting. We got that taken care of and then she questioned me about bringing him in this morning. I explained to her why I did it, and then she said that he cried for over 45 minutes before he finally settled down. She then said that she thinks he does better when I drop him off. I told her that he has been like this all week long. I personally don’t think that it matters whether I bring him in or drop him off, he still doesn’t want to go, and doesn’t want me to leave him, period.

I really am at a loss. I don’t know what to do. He is my first child, and this is my first experience with a child in school, let alone, an autistic child. I am really having trouble just forgetting about him while he is at school.  I worry about him.  Of course, my first instinct is to take him out.  But I know that I can’t just do that.  This is something that he has got to go through.  Something that I’ve got to deal with.  And I know that I need to listen to his teachers.  I know they are only trying to do what’s in his best interest.  Hopefully the upcoming meeting will shed some light on the issue.  Maybe we can come up with a solution.