Gustav

Well....... we're still having rain and under tornado watches, but it's better than it was.

Just after I posted the other night, things started to deteriorate (weather wise) and an old friend from down south came to stay with us for a few days.

I'm kind of sad right now. It's not just the weather -- I had forgotten why we'd lost touch with each other. It's been about 10 years since we've seen each other and about 6 since we talked on the phone. No, I called when Katrina hit to ask if she would like to come stay with us. I called again, with the same offer, but she'd already made other arrangements. Those didn't work out, so she called back and came to stay.

Well, it's been a bit since we've had guests and with the boxes everywhere, I felt really self-conscious..... but we were so happy to be able to help! So we ran to the grocery store to pick up extra food, but guess what........... there wasn't much there. YIKES! There were 2 loaves of bread and no hot dog or hamburger buns. We bought ground chuck (for hamburgers) and had to buy dinner rolls to use for buns (Kind of like White Castle.) Bought hoagie rolls for the sausage dogs. For breakfast, I just bought Hostess cupcakes, doughnuts, and Twinkies. (Our children thought they'd hit the jackpot! -- Such riches and good fortune they rarely ever experience!)

Well, her younger daughter remarked that she didn't want that "crap" about everything we had. Now, the reasons that we didn't have better food was that #1 there wasn't much choice in the grocery (we did have fruit, milk, juice, etc.) and #2 my 'friend' makes me feel VERY inadequate about every aspect of my life (cooking, crafting, home, etc, etc......) and I just really didn't want to give her any more ammunition -- so no, I didn't even try to cook a "real" dinner.

She and her younger daughter (older daughter was just fine!) were extremely disrespectful of our home, values, & feelings. My sweet husband said that he was so upset that he almost made them leave (This is SOOO not him.) But they just really seemed to be going out of their way. Another thing I learned is that they are "professional house guests" -- by that I mean, that they leave their home and go stay with other people for weeks or even months at a time. I was starting to get scared when she kept saying that she didn't want to go home. Truth is, though, that we're having worse weather than her town is. We're having some pretty bad flooding, storms, etc. It's still raining/storming out there. The storms took our electric out, for a few hours, the other night and she was so mad. (We don't have a generator, yet -- but hubby is on the case!)

After ALOT of stalling, all morning and much of the afternoon -- they've left. Relief, sadness, and guilt. Feelings of guilt for feeling relieved. My husband & older daughter have called a few times today, pleading for "good news". Y'all, we're not usually bad like this -- you'd have just had to have been here..... the stuff you'd have seen and heard....

I hope that I've not disappointed you too much with my ranting. Husband and I are both going to be praying for forgiveness -- trust me. Meanwhile........... Hanna, Ike, and Josephine -- you'd better just keep spinning in the Atlantic, 'cause the Gulf of Mexico is closed! *****************"I Will Praise YOU In this Storm" is in my head right now. (It's playing if you'd like to hear it just turn that volume up! -- but have those hankies ready! -- although, I must warn you, the music gets a little louder than I like, at times, during the song.) Still, I wonder WHO put that song in my head?!?! ;*)Winks!

Blessings, Julie