Sweet Catastrophe

We were under the impression that they had already left. Apparently they haven’t, and they’re not going to. They’re staying.

They’re actually in Slidell, which is on the eastern side of Lake Pontchartrain, opposite of New Orleans.

Blue star= Slidell, Red X= New Orleans

So Gustave is set to hit toward the western side of NOLA, but this doesn’t mean Slidell is safe. We don’t know where the storm will actually hit. If it stays on its projected path, if it keeps up its strength, the tropical storm winds will reach over 200 miles away from the center of the hurricane. And Lake Pontchartrain is huge…..

I understand how they could’ve talked themselves into staying, especially considering the alternative of traveling with 4 people–including a paraplegic, and 8 animals in only one vehicle. I just don’t know. I’m worried though. Really worried.

Ryan’s still gonna try to talk to them some more. It’s not too late to get out yet….

Ryan just sent a message saying they’re not coming. I’m not counting on anything because I can’t get in touch with him to find out the whole story. This could be coming from the middle of trying to make a decision on what to do; it could be that they’ve had enough travel with all the animals and are stopping elsewhere to stay, in which case they still may end up here depending on how long they have to be out of town. The only way this could be definite is if the family in Atlanta woke up and realized that they’re much better equipped in their full two-story home to take on the extra people than we are.

For now I’ve sort of put my preparations on hold. I’m still cleaning up stuff ’cause well, that needs to be done anyway, but I’m holding off on any major stuff.

So they can’t go to Atlanta because that’s where the other half of the family is going….yet they still have way more room than we do….(no I’m not bitter….)

The two extras coming are an older lady…Ryan’s thinking older than his mother for sure…we’re hoping he’s wrong, and her paraplegic daughter.

Aside from being emotional over all of this, Vanessa is really upset over their family in Atlanta not wanting them to come there. (I really don’t know what the deal is there; they’re really awesome people and they have a huge home so I don’t know what’s going on…) And Ryan (again his memory isn’t working at full capacity) thinks this older lady may be the family friend his mother told him just lost her husband a week or two ago. So we’re dealing with some big emotions here, and some challenges.

Best-case scenario they’ll be able to leave Wednesday at the very earliest, otherwise, we’re looking at at least a week.

I’m trying to get the ‘woe is me’ stuff out of my system now. I’m still a little in shock that all this is about to really happen. I know the situation for them, and everyone else in Louisiana is infinitely worse so I really don’t want to be focusing on how this is inconveniencing me when they get here. I just can’t help it at the moment though….it’s a lot to take in when it was just a few hours ago that I even realized Gustav was even something to be concerned with. Last I had heard it was still just a tropical storm.

Yeah so Ryan just got the call from his mom that 4 people, 6 dogs (all small), and 2 cats will be on their way HERE sometime tomorrow. I mean, I sorta knew their only options of places to go would be here or Atlanta as all the rest of the family are there right around the New Orleans area, but another part of me thought for sure that either through Vanessa, or Ryan’s aunt there, they’d have some other options. To say I’m freaking a little would be an understatement.

I have no idea where these people will be sleeping. I have no idea how we’re gonna accommodate all those dogs. I have no idea how I’m gonna keep Willow from freaking the hell out, and I have no idea how I’m gonna get any schoolwork or anything else done with all these people here.

I’m gonna go ahead and send off an email to my professors that have work due on Tuesday, just so it won’t seem like I’m making something up last-minute if I have problems finishing my work by then.

I’ve got so much cleaning to do. I’m so glad I already did some today. This is not gonna be pleasant.

Of course, I’m glad they’re getting out and they’ve got somewhere to go, but I just don’t do so well with last-minute inconveniences….

Just as we hit the three-year anniversary for hurricane Katrina, Louisiana is being threatened with Gustav, potentially another devastating hurricane.

A lot of areas around New Orleans have already started mandatory evacuation (unfortunately I can’t seem to find any list of cities and parishes that have….anyone know?) and it’s stated that if Gustav continues its current path, mandatory evacuation will begin Sunday morning. Something like 30,000 people have already been evacuated such as elderly and others unable to plan their own evacuations. They estimate around a million people on the coast hit the roads today.

I’m certainly worried. I can’t get ahold of Ryan’s mom, which isn’t unusual, but I can’t find any information either to find out if Slidell has already been evacuated. I’m not really sure where she and his sister would be going. It’d pretty much have to be here or Atlanta since pretty much everyone else is there in the path of danger.

Everyone just hope it dies down before it really hits. It’s currently at 145mph winds…. Track it here.

I got a really great night of sleep last night. I went to bed around 9 and probably didn’t make it until 9:30. I woke up about twice for one reason or another, but otherwise slept through till after 9am. It was great.

Tonight I’m paying for it. I’m alone for the weekend and apparently dreaming about clever home invaders who have enough sense to split up so I can’t climb out a back window.

I just want to sleep. Now I’m scared to. By the time I get over the dream, it’ll barely be worth falling back asleep before I have to get up for work.

I keep forgetting everything outside of school this week!

I need to pick up a gift for my dad and decide, for sure, when I’ll swing through town.

I need to make a few phone calls. I need to call about a prescription, I need to call my dental insurance provider to figure out a bunch of details on that and I need to call my vision insurance provider to find out how my allowance for glasses and contacts works. The breakdown isn’t very clear so I can’t figure out if I can only do one, or if I can go for both in one year. My contacts aren’t that expensive, but it’d still be nice to have a discount, ya know?

I really need to go to the store and pick up a lot of stuff I keep forgetting to get like pickles, shampoo, toothpaste, medical supplies, dishwasher detergent, etc….I finally made a list and saved it to my desktop so I’ll stop losing it.

Maybe I’ll go in a while and pick up some Subway before I leave. I’m addicted to their damn Scrabble promotion! I know the letters I need are rare and I seriously won’t get them, but I can’t help trying!

So of course after blistering my heels yesterday, I had to shove them into shoes for work, where I found myself in a night of more walking around than usual. To top it off, I slammed a flat cart into the more painful blister. Those carts hurt. They do some damage all on their own, but top it off with it already being badly blistered and well, we’ll just say I had to peel my sock off.

I didn’t learn my lesson though. I was running behind this morning and slid on a pair of flip flops I know are a little uncomfortable, but they’ve never given me any major trouble. Of course, I’ve never walked two miles in this humidity in them either. So now I have blisters between my big and second toes on both feet.

If I could finish out my education online, I so would. This is only week 2 and I’m already sick of walking to classes. I could actually even do everything for one of my classes from home, but the professor is really big on attendance.

And with that, I’ve gotta walk to my next class now.

Never wear new shoes when you have to walk a mile.

Today I wore shoes I knew were a little ill-fitting, but in the past they haven’t been very bothersome. Of course, I’ve never had to walk much further than across a parking lot in them.

Today I wore them to class and got a hideously painful blister on one heel, and just an angry blister on the other. I had to walk home barefoot. I can’t imagine how bad they’d be if I hadn’t skipped the worries about looking dumb and left the shoes on.

I need some neosporin.

Happy Birthday to my daddy and Ryan’s mommy!

Today, Ryan’s mom is 55 and my daddy is 56. Isn’t it cool that they share a Birthday?

We took care of Michelle’s gift while we were there. We looked at home gyms she might be interested in, but ultimately we went in with Vanessa to set up a sound system out back. They sit out there a lot with all the dogs and they’re fixing up a really cute patio area so it was something she would like to have but would never spend money on for herself.

I have no idea what to do for my daddy though. I just took him to dinner last time I stopped in town so I don’t want to do that again but I really don’t know what to do. I guess I could go the practical route and get him socks or boxers or something, but I just feel like I’m too old and too young to do that–make sense? Hmmm I think I might just get him some of his favorite goodies from the bakery in Douglas….it’s kind of amazing. I’m sure he’d love a red velvet cake. I’ll find out from Grandma if he’s already gotten one this week and then maybe I’ll swing into town after class on Wednesday. He’ll be thrilled. I’ll probably have to pick up some goodies for myself too Wouldn’t want to waste a trip!