Weekly Wrap-Up: Trip to the beach!

The themes of this week have been drought, reunions, repairs, money, bills, beach, sunburn, Cory Branan, recovery, and stress-relief.

Texas has been going through a drought for weeks, though it took awhile for Houston to be affected. Still, even here on the coast we are now under mandatory water rationing. I can't water my garden except before 6am or after 8pm, can't let the kids run in the sprinkler, can't even wash our cars. I had high hopes for rain this week, since the Weather Channel predicted thunderstorms every day, but all we got was a little sprinkling one night. By morning the thirsty ground had soaked up every drop, and the only evidence it had ever rained was that our cars weren't so dusty anymore. I am absolutely aching for a good Texas thunderstorm!

Sunday morning we attended church with our old friends the Queens. Mark has been back in town for a while, but Amber and the girls just got back. I wonder if they are regretting the timing in trading what was apparently beautiful weather in Alaska for this strange mixture of heat, humidity (as bad as ever!) and drought. But I know we are glad to have them home again.

That afternoon my brother-n-law, Kelly, came over to work on fixing Mark's truck. I don't remember if I mentioned how Mark's brakes went out while he was driving home from work one night. He was stopped at a stoplight, pressed the brake down to push himself up and get something out of his pocket, and the brake "popped." Then it popped again. Fortunately he pulled the emergency brake and was able to get a tow home. Anyway, Kelly worked on Mark's truck all afternoon and evening, and they still didn't finish. I was really anxious about it because Mark's been driving my car all through June, and I was hoping to have it to go to the beach with my mom on Wednesday. When they didn't finish I was worried, and then Kelly couldn't come back on Monday because his office burned down! (He was on vacation, and no one was hurt, thankfully.) But Tuesday they worked all night and finally Mark's truck is back in shape and I have my own car again!

The other good thing that happened on Tuesday was that we got paid. We're not quite used to getting paid monthly, yet, so we messed up June a bit and spent too much on "fun" things, not leaving enough left to live on for the rest of the month. This month we're being more careful with our budget, but we have to catch up on some bills we put off so we have very little extra. My 10th high school reunion is this month, but I just don't see how I can go. I'm just not going to worry about it. I'm getting some other things I want, and you can't do everything!

Wednesday, since I had my car, we all went to the beach with my mom. She'd taken Sinead on Sunday or Monday (I forget), and they went on a major shopping spree to get everything you could possibly want. So it was a well-stocked and fun-filled day in Galveston for us! The kids and I hadn't been to the beach since Hamish was a baby (which means Sinead, Aisling, and Diarmuid never had), and we all had a wonderful time. I didn't bring my camera because I don't have the means to protect it from the sand and water, but my mom took pictures and I'm nagging her to send them to me. The only drawback is that somehow Anna and I got horrible sunburns. I did not inherit my mom's olive Italian skin, and I am not at all comfortable right now. In the future I think I need to make sure I am totally covered at the beach and not rely on sunscreen alone.

As soon as we got home we rinsed off the sand, donned clean clothes, and I took all of the kids over to Lee and Sarah's house where Hailey had agreed to babysit so we could go see Cory Branan. Kind of nice that Hailey is old enough to watch the kids! The show was fun, and I enjoyed hanging out with Sarah. Afterward we went to House of Pies for a bite to eat, and I started shivering horribly. No one else was really cold, but I couldn't get warm and my fingernails were turning blue. Then I started to feel like I was going to be sick. Mark said I must be in shock because my sunburn was so bad, and I am inclined to agree. That's not the first time I've had such a bad sunburn, but I hope it's the last! It got so bad that I couldn't drive myself home, but Mark and I took separate cars and he'd already left. I still had to get the kids from Lee and Sarah's, and I ended up sleeping there.

Thursday I still felt horribly sick, so Mom came and got Seamus, Hamish, Sinead, and Aisling to let Anna and me lounge around and get over our sunburns. All we did all day was rub Aloe on our sunburns and watch movies. It sure was nice! Before we knew it Mark was coming home with groceries and a new Wii Fit for me! (Yes, that was in our budget.) Last week was Mark's Friday off, but this week he gets Friday off for the Fourth, so once again the week is over. Today we've just been hanging out, and in a few minutes we're going out to dinner. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be spending the Fourth with Lee and Sarah, though we won't have any fireworks because of the burn ban. Tomorrow is also my mom's birthday, so Happy Birthday Mom!!

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1. Dusti 2. Cheryl 3. Nekey

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