Who had “hurricane evacuation” on their 2020 bingo card? Because that’s what we did last week as Hurricane Laura was barreling towards us. The county called a voluntary evacuation for our zip code, so we packed up a few things and headed to San Antonio for two nights. I’m very thankful the hurricane went far enough east to avoid any significant impacts in Houston, but the destruction it caused in southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana is awful. Houston has now had several near-misses in the last few decades. I am not looking forward to the day we get hit.
We hadn’t traveled anywhere since March, of course, so the short trip was both exciting and a bit nerve-wracking. In non-covid times, it might have been a nice (if unexpected) getaway. As it was, we stuck mostly to the hotel. We went down to the Riverwalk briefly on Tuesday afternoon after we arrived, and the crowds were minimal…but it was a different story on Wednesday with more evacuees in town, so we didn’t go back.
We did takeout dinners from a couple nearby restaurants. On Wednesday, we let the girls swim in the pool for a bit since the hotel was limiting the number of people allowed in at one time. Overall it felt both very nice and very weird to be away from home right now.
We came back on Thursday afternoon to a house that was thankfully exactly as we left it. This was the third time I’ve evacuated in my 20 years in Houston, and then of course there was Harvey which no one evacuated for. I always say that as natural disasters go, I’ll take hurricanes because at least we know they’re coming early enough to make plans. But man. They still are awful.
August goals update:
+ Figure out a school routine for Emma. We ended up changing plans from in-person school to virtual for the first quarter at least. (The whole district was already going virtual through mid-September.) We only had 1.5 days of school before missing 3 days for hurricane evacuation, so we’re not in a routine yet but we’ll get there. We got her a new desk and set up a nice spot in the living room.
+ Divide & conquer with a new person at work. Already started! We brought someone on for a 6-month rotation and I’m thrilled. She has mountains of good experience, already knows the program we are supporting, and is exactly what I needed.
+ Publish Triangles at Play and L Is For patterns. Triangles at Play is done and in my shop (both PDF and print!) but I didn’t get to L Is For.
+ Power wash the back patio. Happening tomorrow!
Other August wins:
There were many! It was a good month.
+ Celebrated Emma’s 8th birthday! Can’t believe I have an 8-year-old.
+ Charlotte lost her first tooth! It dangled for DAYS and when it finally came out there was much excitement.
+ Our new nephew and cousin was born! Jose’s brother and his wife had their second boy. I don’t know when we will get to meet him, but we will certainly be excited when we do.
+ We didn’t catch covid. Charlotte’s daycare classroom was closed for 2 weeks after someone associated with her class tested positive. Fortunately, it did not spread at all beyond that one person! Whew.
+ Beach day & zoo trip. The weekend after Emma’s birthday, we decided it was time to exit our bubble just a bit. We spent several hours at the beach, which believe it or not we had never done, despite living so close to Galveston. It was fun…although Emma got stung by a jellyfish and may never want to go back. Eek. We also went to the zoo, which is almost entirely outside. It was HOT, as expected, but nice.
+ Lots of quilty hangouts. I have had at least one or two virtual hangouts with various quilt groups and friends every week, and it is awesome.
+ Virtual art classes. Emma took two virtual classes through Art Camp 504 that she really enjoyed! Charlotte ended up doing one of them as well (with a mermaid theme, clearly seen in her picture above!) during the 2 weeks her classroom was closed.
September goals:
+ Clear out at least 5 boxes/bags of unneeded stuff. Thinking about what I would miss if our house was damaged by a hurricane was a good exercise in “why do we have so much sh!t?” I do try to minimize the amount of stuff that comes into the house, but it’s a never-ending battle. As the girls get older, we have a lot of outgrown toys and games. I’ve also been slowly weeding out fabric and crafting supplies that I don’t need, and need to continue doing that.
+ Replace the door seal on our washing machine. I noticed recently that it is cracked and needs to be replaced before it springs a leak.
+ Read 3 books. I just finished re-reading Lord of the Rings for the first time in 20 years and loved it. I know I need to jump right into something else if I want to maintain my reading momentum.
+ Whittle down my current quilting to-do list. I’ve been feeling a bit scattered with a lot of different projects on my plate, and all of them in different phases of done-ness. I think by the end of the month I can get some of those projects cleared out and refocus.
I can’t believe we are already 2/3 through this crazy year. Happy September!
Misti says
Sounds like an eventful August! I was wondering how it was to be out and about in San Antonio! The zoo looks enticing but I would probably be freaking myself out by the crowds, even early in the morning!