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It's snowing! Started at about 7:30 and two hours later is still coming down.

I asked hubby if we could take a snow day and he just laughed.

Racka fracka unspontanious man.

First of all, heard from my sister. She and her family are fine. Their house is mostly fine. They lost the fence around their pool and "their whole backyard", according to her. Except for their screened in porch, which her husband found a way to stake down. They have to replace most of the screens, but the structure is okay. They also lost their gutters and "a lot" of shingles from their roof. They are staying in central Florida with my Dad for the rest of the week and are getting a generator and some supplies to take back.

But, it's so hard, being here while they're THERE. I just want to do SOMETHING, anything, to help and all I can do is donate money to the Red Cross or some other charity since there's no mail or anything in that area yet.

Not only that, work is still a bitch and the only person who made it really bearable is mad at me (for good reason--she asked me to do something and I was a bitch about it. In my defense, I had just gotten off the phone with my sister...). Yesterday was awful and on top of that, when I got home hubby was in a foul mood too (I don't know why, he's off for the rest of the week!) so I was walking on eggshells all of last night.

I hope today is better.

He just got his electricity and phone back today. They have been living the life of pioneers, no electricity, no phones, no running water...their well's pump is electric. When their generator went on them (two days after the hurricane) they only had rainwater to wash with. They used the bottled water to drink. Luckily, their neighbor got his working and let them shower over there I guess a day or two ago. They had no damage to the house, just a couple of tree limbs down. Dad said his pond is almost all the way filled now...it has been dry for two years. They are trying to store up and re-batten down their hatches in preparation for Ivan. I don't wish any bad weather on anyone, but damn--I hope this storm passes Florida by.

My son called me yesterday. His fiance is pregnant and the baby is due Sunday. Apparantly, he is a big baby and hasn't dropped yet. Their doctor told them if she doesn't go into labor by Sunday, he will admit her to the hospital and induce her (he doesn't want the baby to get bigger) and if she doesn't give birth by Monday, he is going to schedule a C-section. I'm gonna be a grandma again this week sometime.

Guess that's all for now.

Because I got rear-ended (not THAT way you pervs) last night on my way home from work. On Interstate 24, a couple of miles before my exit, they are doing roadwork, widening the road from two lanes to four. During rush hour, the traffic backs up as all the cars try to squeeze into two lanes. I was in the far right lane, completely stopped when WHAM! A lady in a red beemer smacked into me. Luckily I was stopped and she was only going about 10-15 mph, but it was a hell of a bump. I was wearing my seat belt, but I still got a huge jolt. We pulled over and got out, there was no damage to the car, so she apologized and we both went on our way. By the time I got home, my shoulder/neck area was sore and it got progressively worse during the night. By this morning I was so stiff, I could hardly move, so I called into work.
What a (literal) pain in the neck.

On a brighter note, I have heard from everyone in my family except my dad. He lives in north-central Florida in the country, so it's possible his phone/electricity is out. But, I still wish he or someone would drive into town and find some way to contact someone--because I am a bit worried. Everyone else came through the storm with minimal to no damage. I am very thankful.

The Amazing Race lived up to its name last night as they went to New Zealand! (Not a hobbit or elf in sight, unfortunately) They did a cool water sport called "sledging" which is like taking a boogie board with handles down white water rapids http://www.frogz.co.nz/ . And they did another thing called "zorbing" in which you blow up a big plastic ball and get inside and roll down a hill http://www.zorb.com/ . I want to go to New Zealand even more, now. The twins, Kami and Karli were eliminated (YAY!) but I'm worried because my favorite team, Chip and Kim are in fourth place. There is a curse on the people who are fourth when there are only four teams left...they have been eliminated every race so far. I hope Chip and Kim are the ones to break this curse.

I am going to take advantage of my day today to work on Chapter 9 of "The Binding", which I outlined the other night. I'm thinking of adding a smoking hot scene with Draco and the girls, which came to me last night as I was drifting off to sleep.
I wish more people would review it, tho. *sigh*

That fucking hurricane is going to drive me straight to the loony bin. It slowed down AGAIN. So, now they aren't even trying to guess as to when it might hit.

My son and his fiance are in the hospital (her baby is due next week, they make all the preggos who are less than a month away go to the hospital since the storm can cause labor to come on). Everyone else has battened down their collective hatches and gotten the supplies in.

Now it's just a waiting game.

On a completely different note, I read on Neil Gaiman's blog (http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/journal.asp) that Dave Sim, the twisted genius behind the Cerebus comic epic (http://www.night-flight.com/sim/cerebus.html) would send a free, signed issue of his Sandman/Cerebus issue to anyone who wrote him a letter and mailed it to him asking for one.

Well, my husband is a fan of both Neil Gaiman and Cerebus, so I wrote a letter and sent it off to the address listed in Neil's blog. (Which can be found here: http://www.neilgaiman.com/journal/2004/08/lewis-and-clarke-not-to-mention-snuff.asp
read the last question on the page)

So, I wrote a letter asking Mr. Sim to please send a signed comic to my husband. It came in the mail today, and my husband got the mail and stood looking at this envelope with a puzzled expression on his face for several moments before it dawned on him what I had done (he reads Neil's journal too). He couldn't believe it. Inside the envelope was the book and a very cool letter, both hand-signed. A nice little surprise for my sweetie.

Back to hurricane watching...which at this point is like watching grass grow. *sigh*

So far, I have spoken to my son, my daughter and my mother. I still need to speak to my sister and brother.

My son and his fiance will be spending the hurricane in the hospital. Their baby is due next week, and all pregnant women with less than a month are advised to go to the hospital because the extreme low pressure from the storms can bring on labor.

My daughter, her fiance and their new baby will be riding it out in their apartment with shutters/plywood on the windows. They are all stocked up and ready.

My mother and her husband are all battened down, plywooded up, and stocked up and ready also.

Still waiting to hear from the other two.

Decided not the go to Weird Al tonight as I will be too worried to enjoy myself, instead I will be sitting checking the weather channel. It's so hard being over 900 miles away.

*sigh*