Noah, can I borrow the ark?

Click to view photos of flooding around Houston today. And yes, Klein School District, we get it....you are so bad ass! No little rain is going to keep your kids away from the TAKS test today. Geesh....get over yourself.

We are all good here. Our subdivision is flood free. Jack's trip into work at 5:30am was trying, but he got there. (I turned on the news after he left and found out they shut down the Beltway both ways just south of his office!)

I am looking at the positive side of things today: Instead of the media being all "Swine, swine, swine", Houston's news is, "all rain, all day long." Nothing like a weather event to knock a pandemic wannabe to it's knees (hooves?)

Sunday afternoon with the Astros

Jack scored 4 tickets to the Houston Astros game yesterday afternoon. His boss called on Saturday and offered them to him. Since there were only four, we decided he should take the girls. Apparently the tickets belonged to Lance Berkman's father-in-law. They were directly behind home plate, 13 rows up!! Check this out:
Are those not awesome seats?!? The Astros beat the Milwaukee Brewers 3-2! The girls had a great time. Jack bought them all caps since we don't own any Astros merchandise. Aren't they cute (the girls and the caps):They also ingested enough ballpark food (hot dogs, popcorn, frozen lemonade, Cracker Jacks and who know what else) to sustain them through all 9 innings.
It was a beautiful day here, but they closed the dome due to strong winds yesterday. Bummer....but at least they didn't all come home sunburned! Very fun day for the four of them.

Me? I did laundry. Don't cry for me Argentina.....er, Blogland.

I've got to jump on this bandwagon

You know who Susan Boyle is by now, right? Omigosh, I have viewed this youtube clip (sorry, YouTube will not allow me to embed the video on my blog so you have to click....it's SO worth it) probably 10 times since discovering it yesterday. And GAH....tears stream down my face every.single.time. Seriously, is it possible to feel happier for a person? Good on her.....what awesome (emphasis on AWE) talent.

And speaking of singing and talent....anyone out there watching Idol this season? Claire, Anna and I are watching every week with Jack and Meghan viewing sporadically. My favorite? Not Adam. Yes, he has mad talent and great stage presence, but he's not my favorite. This guy is more my style:

Go Kris!! Did you see this week's performance, Falling Slowly? I LOVED it. Haha....Jack and Meg were actually watching with us and Jack said, Eh, it wasn't great." Meghan and I both immediately jumped in and said, "Are you kidding? That was awesome". It's a girl thing. He sang that song with such passion and tenderness.....sigh. What girl wouldn't want a cutie like that to sing a love song to her the way he did Tuesday night. Adam may entertain me, but Kris moves me.

Meeting Meg Cabot

I am so sorry for the delay in getting this post up on the blog. I had written a long blog entry earlier this week and was just about to add all the photos when my computer suddenly shut down. I lost the entire post. My laptop has done this a handful of times in the past week or two and Jack said he fears it is running on borrowed time now. Lovely....
Anyways, on to Meg! I took the girls out of school a little early last Friday so we could drive down to the Blue Willow Bookshop in West Houston for Meg Cabot's book signing. Meg arrived at the shop at 4:30 to about 100 or so waiting fans. It was thrilling! She talked to us for half an hour about her life as a writer and then took questions from the girls. Smart, funny and very giving of her time, I was totally impressed with her! After her talk, the girls and I stood in line so they could get their books signed and meet Meg. I also had brought along one of the buckets I make and decorated it with the dust covers of Meg Cabot's Allie Finkle series (sorry Claire for doing that to your books!) The girls and I filled the bucket with M&Ms and brought it as a gift to thank Meg for the advanced copies of Being Nikki and Allie Finkle's Best Friends and Drama Queens that she sent to the girls back in February.When it was our turn, the girls shyly approached Meg and gave her their books to sign. I placed the bucket on her table and said it was a thank-you for the advanced copies she sent to Meghan and Claire. I could tell she couldn't quite remember, so I pointed to Meghan and said "You know, she's the fan with the Dwight Bobblehead on her bookshelf in front of your books.'" Meg's face lit up....she remembered that! She thanked us sincerely for the bucket and M&Ms, signed all of the girls books and posed for pictures with them. She was just super nice, down-to-earth and very approachable. I was so thrilled for Meghan, Claire and Anna.....especially Meghan though. She has just about all of Meg's books and she is definitely one of her favorite authors, if not her very favorite. As a mom, it was so nice to see this meeting play out the way it did. Meghan was grinning from ear to ear.
While other kids idolize celebrities or others who are infamous for all the wrong things, my daughter looks to a smart, witty, funny author as her mentor. I could not be more proud of both Megs......mine and the woman who made her day!

LOL....OMG....What the...?

Let's see.....how do I feel right now? Ummm, let's say your BFF planned a surprise party for you and gathered 100s of friends, acquaintances and strangers around your front door in the early morning. Then you stumble out of bed, look at the make-up smudged eyes you were too tired to clean the night before, pour a cup of coffee and take your first sip before hearing the doorbell ring. You answer the door in your bra-less tank top (cause it's Houston here and that's sleeping attire in April) and stare in disbelief at the crowd before you.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel thanks to one incredible Ms. Meg Cabot. That scene above is exactly me this morning right down to the eye smudges, braless tank and coffee. Except I really don't think we are BFFs, Meg (I am not stalker-like that way, though yes, I did know M&Ms were a snack of yours and gluten-free). And instead of a surprise party, Meg LINKED TO ME FROM HER BLOG read by fans of hers from all over the world.

So please excuse my blog's appearance, faithful followers of Meg. (I mean, a quilt post at the top of my blog? really? really? I could die of embarassment (Though girls, quilting is hip now. Seriously, you should think about taking it up. The fabrics! to. die. for. And, your generation needs to keep up this American tradition.)

Anyways, thanks Meg!! (I think?) We had such an awesome time meeting you yesterday. I will blog the entire experience when I finish a pot of coffee or two. (And cheer on my 8 year old's soccer team this morning....go Gators!)

And you may be a ROCK STAR author, but if I scroll through my photos and find one of you with say, your eyes half-closed or something, I am not above posting it to get you back. :)

Be back soon with pics of our experience!