The Coffey Grounds

Just a reminder that today is November 20th - and you know what that means….the beaujolais nouveau is out!  I will be tasting tonight after I finish this stinking Psych term paper.

What is the beaujolais nouveau?  Read here to find out more.  Here is more info on this year’s vintage.

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Sorry for the delay, but things have been crazy around there.  Between Mike working, me studying, and having some fun in between - we have barely been home these days.  But, the past few weeks have been a blast.  Where to begin…well…I guess that’s Halloween.  For Halloween this year we went to a party at Richard and Terri’s.  It was a great time - and as usual, Terri did an amazing job of decorating and made sure everyone had all their favorite foods and beverages.  But the best of all…it was a costume party.  Mike and I had alot of fun with our costumes and went as Juno and Bleeker from one of our favorite movies, Juno.  Here’s a pic:

Not the most flattering pic of us, but it was late into the party.  But just to give you a reference, here is the DVD cover for Juno:

Of course a party isn’t a party without one of Lisette’s amazing creations:

And speaking of the Vergara’s - they came in coordinating costumes:

Everyone had a great time.  I didn’t take too many pics, but here are some of the party goers:

Saturday was a rough night for us with UT excruciating loss to Texas Tech.  It was a quiet drive home from Richard and Terri’s after that loss.  I’m still choosing to pretend it didn’t happen.  It was just ugly.

Sunday brought a better day, though - as we traveled to New Braunfels to go to Wurstfest.  Now, some might say that Wurstfest is a great celebration of German culture.  And that may be true.  But realistically, its basically a great excuse to drink good German beer and eat lots of awesome German food.  And we defintely toasted all things German throughout the day:

It was a great time and wonderful way to wrap up a fun weekend.

Last weekend was also a blast.  On Friday we ran errands and relaxed at home which was a nice change.  On Saturday morning, we headed out to Leander with Mike’s Dad to look at a car for Mike.  He is starting to look at project cars.  Though what we saw BARELY resembled a car.  It was a 67 Ford GT500 Fastback.  Mike saw potential, whereas I just saw lots of parts, metal, and rust.  He didn’t buy it yet and wants to look at more options.  Last weekend, our dear friends Cathy and Marc were also in town, so it was great to catch up with them.  Here is a pic of Cath and me at breakfast:

This week was fun with Mike’s birthday yesterday.  We didn’t do too much and are going to go out to eat Saturday night to celebrate.

I talked with Mom this morning and they are doing well.  She was off work today and tomorrow and was headed to the Nutcracker Market in Houston with Aunt Brenda.  Needless to say, I was jealous!  I’m sure she had a blast.  Jessie is doing well and staying busy with school.  The same can be said for Jamie.  This is the first time she’s had a full time job, and she’s balancing it with her teacher certification class and being a wife and mom.  Needless to say - that’s an adjustment.  But, she’s doing well.

Well…that’s all I can think of now.  Hope all is well in your end of the world!

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I just wanted to send an apology for not posting lately.  I have my last weekly patho exam this week and have had a crazy exam schedule for my other classes lately (and have been having some fun on the weekend in between studying) so I’ve neglected the site.  I promise a VERY long post later this week.  Everything is going well - just a little busy.  But, we’ve been managing to sqeeze a little fun in here and there.  Mike’s 32nd birthday is Wednesday, so hopefully we can have some fun this coming weekend to celebrate that, too.

Have a great week!

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It never fails to amaze me how we adapt to new situations and environments.  Even when faced with the impossible, somehow we manage to rise to the challenge.  A year and a half ago I couldn’t imagine how we would make it without Dad - and yet many events and one big hurricane later, we are all doing okay.  A few months ago I didn’t know how I’d make it through this semester and here I am now, more than halfway done and doing just fine.  I couldn’t imagine how I could keep up with the pace, but a few weeks ago something amazing happened -  I just adapted and started doing it.  Now, it does help to have a super supportive husband and family and amazing friends.  Its funny, at the beginning of the semester, Mike would come home and ask what’s for dinner.  A few weeks later he would just say “oatmeal for dinner?”  Now, he just knows to go fix himself something unless I’m actually cooking something.  Another example of adaptation

Not too much going on here.  It’s been a quiet weekend.  I have been working on a report, a presentation I’m giving tomorrow, and studing for 2 big tests I have this week.  Fun!  Of course we did take a break to watch UT’s nail biting game yesterday.  That was definitely too close!  We also went shopping for items for our halloween costumes.  We are going to a costume party on Halloween and have been having fun coming up with our costume (I’ll defintely post pics next week!).  Unfortunately, we won’t be making it to Lake D’Arbonne State Park next weekend for the Hampton family reunion.  The 8 hour one way trip is a little much for us to make this year with my school schedule.  We will definitnely go next year, though, and will miss seeing everyone!  Mom and Jess are going and promised to take pictures for us.

Other than that, not much is new.  We are busy making plans for our Christmas bathroom rennovation.  We finally found an inspiration picture, so that is a load off.  Mike has been on me to make some decisions for a while.  I’m very visual, though, and needed a picture of the stone work I wanted.  Luckily, when I showed it to Mike, he loved it.  Now we just have to agree on a vanity.  That’s proving to be more difficult.  Mike is taking two weeks of this Christmas so we can tackle as much of the bathroom rennovation as possible.  The goal is for it to be done by the time the Spring semester starts mid January.  I’ll defintiely post progress pics of this one.  It should be very interesting!  We are going to attempt to do all the tile work ourselves to save money.  Since neither of us like to do tile stuff, that should be fun.  I did pick a more uniform travertine as opposed to the insanely difficult rough honed slate we had to lay in the entry way.  Mike was not happy having to lay that stuff since each piece was a different thickness.

Sorry to drone on…I’m avoiding studying for a Gerontology test.  Seriously…I don’t want to get old with all the crud that goes on with the body!  I’ll try to post a few nursing school stories soon.  I keep meaning to but get distracted.  Its been an  interesting semester with an adult health and psych rotation!

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Hi there.  Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  School has been taking up a HUGE portion of time.  But, the good news is - the end of the semester is in sight.  After Thanksgiving, things get ALOT easier.   And Thanksgiving is nearly a month away! This weekend was alot of fun.  On Friday, I made a flying trip up to Dallas for the night for girls weekend.   I didn’t think I would be able to make it with all the work for school, but something happened recently to one of my girlfriends to put things back in perspective.  One of my friends from undergrad recently received word that her Dad has terminal cancer.  Sound familiar?  Yeah…did to me too.  The timing was actually good becuase the diagnosis came about a week ago and girls weekend was already scheduled.  So we all headed up to Dallas to cheer her up, gab alot, and eat.  Talking and eating tend to be the focus of our weekends.  Here are a few pics…

Eating Lily’s famous Nutella and Strawberry crepes.

The ladies: Katie (the first one of us expecting!), Max, Kris, me, and Lily. (We missed you Summer!)

We had a great time and it felt good to catch up.  I left Saturday afternoon so I could do school work on Sunday and because I thought I might get to go to the UT game.  While that didn’t happen, it did allow me time to drop by the Round Rock Outlets and hunt for a few bargains.  Saturday night, Mike and I just stayed home and cheered on our Longhorns kick a little Mizzou rear on TV. On Sunday, I caught up on schoolwork and Mike worked on some contract stuff.  We did take a break to head to our latest favorite burger place, Mooyahs.  They have GREAT burgers and even BETTER fries!

A few updates from the family….Mom and Jess are doing well.  Still no phone, internet, or cable/satellite TV.  Jessie is back in full swing from her summer tennis hiatus.  She is having renewed enthusiasm for the game and made it to the quarter finals in her first ZAT back last weekend.   She was getting a little burned out on tennis after last Spring, but it looks like the summer break is just what the doctor ordered, because she is loving it again.  Mom has been having fun with her group of local girlfriends.  They are still working through the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.  The city FINALLY picked up all the trash and treelimbs in front of her house (it took 1.5 months!)  So, she feels better.  For a while we were worried about the fire hazzard it caused.  Not to mention, you could barely drive down the street becuase of all the limbs and debris piled up on each side of the road.  She met the with insurance company recently and has been busy getting all the repairs lined up.  She will be needing a new roof, siding, fence repair, etc.

Also, I forgot to mention some sad news - Maggie (Jessie’s yellow lab) is no longer with the family.  Jessie and Mom finally realized that they just didn’t have the time to give to Maggie.  Unfortunately, Mike and I just can’t take on another dog right now since we aren’t home as much anymore.  And Maggie would have needed a bit of training.  Jamie found a nice family on Craig’s List that took her in.  This is both very sad and bit frustrating for us as we all came to love Maggie and now miss her.

Also, Grandma called Friday and shared some sad news.  Our good family friend Mrs. Ebdon is not doing well and is expected to pass very soon.  Aunt Carol went down this weekend to spend some time with their family.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Ebdon family.

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Hi there! I’m writing this from the car (no, I’m not driving )We are heading back home from the Big D and the even bigger TX/OU game. Wow - what can I say?? If you missed it, then you definitely missed out on a great game.  Texas (#5) beat OU (#1) 45-35 in a huge upset and gut wrenching performance. It definitely was the best game I’ve ever attended. Afterwards we celebrated with eating wacky fried foods at the state fair (does it get any better?)

Now, just getting back to reality - I need to write 3 papers tomorrow to make up for taking today off - fun!

I just thought I’d share my excitement an a few pics. Hope your weekend is going well!

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I’m sorry for not catching up in a while.  Between Ike, school, and Mike working alot…things have been a little nuts around the Coffey Grounds.  Let’s see…where to begin.  A few (I think it’s three, but I’ve honestly lost count) weekends ago, we went down to La Porte to help Mom clean up after Ike.  Wow…I’m not sure how to even describe Shoreacres.  I don’t want to sound melodramatic, but it’s the honest truth…it looked like a war zone.  I can’t believe how lucky we were.  There were houses where my friends lived growing up that were completely wiped through.  You could stand in the front yard and see all the way through to the back.  And there are some houses where only the slab is standing.  It is incredibly sad.  And in Bay Colony (where my Dad grew up), all of the houses had at least 6 feet of water in them.  Some had even more.  Everyone was already pulling out drywall trying to beat the onset of mold.  Our neighbor across the street had 3 feet of water in the house.  A week later, the mold had already set in.

My Mom had an amazing crew between the company she hired to clear the huge trees that required large equipment and family including Mike, his Dad Joe, Uncle Butler, cousin Gary, me, Aunt Carol, Uncle Joe, and cousin Jenny.  She had a steady team of 6-8 that tackled things from Thursday - Sunday.  By the time we left on Sunday, I think her place looked better than before the hurricane!  The yard was cleaned up and that area that was really thick with woods to the left of the pool now is cleared much more.  She will still need someone to come in and add some dirt and smooth out areas, but all in all, she fared really well.  Now she’s just having to battle it out with insurance for some items.  They want to piecemill her roof and siding back together which would look awful!.  Her pool looks great again and the menagerie of items found at the bottom (lawn chairs, lawn ornaments, toys from neighbors yards, shrimp, and fish) are now cleaned out.  She got electricity on Monday and she and Jess have now moved back in.  Cable and internet will be 4-6 months, so signed up for sattelite and DSL.  The phones still aren’t working, but she’s hoping that will be up in the next few weeks.

There is also some crazy things going on in the area with FEMA.  Apparently, at a town hall meeting on Monday, FEMA announced that if your house was damaged more than 50%, you now had to comply with the new building regulations which require houses to be at a certain flood plain.  That sounds all fine and dandy, but the problem is that there are mostly slab houses where this applies and the codes will require the houses to be off the ground to meet the new flood plain requirements.  So, they want all these housees to meet the new rules and be a certain height.  But, to do this, they will only provide $30,000.  I’m no engineer, but I can’t imagine how converting a house from slab to one that sits above the ground is going to take $30,000 - because in any case, you have to build up…and that’s expensive.  Anyway…I’ll keep you posted with any latest gossip.   More info can be found on the City of Shoreacres website.

In other news, Mike and I are doing well.  We are just trying to strike a balance between work/school and having fun.  These past two weekends were pretty good.  Last weekend we hosted game night for about 15 friends at our place. Mike grilled out and we ate and played an intense game of “Battle of the Sexes.”  I’m happy to report that the ladies had a much better showing than the last attempt at the battle.  This weekend we went out with friends Robert and Kathryn last night.  It was great to catch up with them.  Then this morning we had breakfast with the Landas and went out on thier boat on Lake Austin.  That was a blast as it was a beautiful morning and the weather was perfect.  I also got to drive their new Smart car and fell in love!  If I needed a new car, I would seriously consider it.  It’s just perfect for commuting to work and school.  And I was surprised at at roomy the seating was (but you can’t fit much else into the car.)  It also felt amazingly solid and safe.  But, we didn’t take it onto the freeway, so I’m sure that would be a completely different experience.

Now, Mike is taking a nap while I’m avoiding a psych paper.  We have had miserable allergies lately which has affected Mike’s sleeping.  He was up at 4 for the last two mornings.  Both the ragweed and mold are high so we have been congested, couging, sneezing, and completely bug eyed.  Oh the joys of living in the allergy capital of  Texas.  Hope you are having a great weekend and enjoying this awesome weather!

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…you are offered OU tickets and are actually contemplating not going.  Seriously????  What are we thinking?  I just realized that next week I have 3 tests (one’s a performance skills exam) and 3 papers due (one which will be a minimum of 20 pages.)  Argh.  So far, nearly 10% of our class has dropped out or gone to part time (which means they will be a year behind.)   I guess that means I’m a survivor…or nuts.  It could honestly go either way at this point

I’m pretty sure we will go to the game net weekend.  I mean seriously…who can pass up tickets to the best game of the year?  If you have never gone to a TX/OU game in the Cottonbowl, you are missing out.  And the Corney Dogs…I can smell them now!  Maybe it’s just what the doctor is ordered for our stress level.

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Sorry for the lack of updates lately.  School has me COMPLETELY swamped.  Just turned in a 20 page paper, have 3 papers due next week, 2 exams tomorrow, and 2 again next week.  Whew!  When does it end?  Took care of a guy today with no short term memory.  That was interesting but rather sad.  I can’t tell you how many times I said “Hi, my name is Michelle and you are at the hospital” only to repeat it about 3 minutes later.  Also doing a pediatric rotation at the state mental hospital.  It still makes me sad to see kids as young as 5 in a mental hospital.

Quick update on Mom…she got electricity yesteraday around 10am.  Still no phone, and cable and internet will be another 4-6 MONTHS!  Yikes!  Jessie started school on Monday.  She wasn’t thrilled about that.  But, they are happy to start trying to get things back to normal.  I think the will miss Grandma’s cooking, though.  Mom said they hadn’t eaten that well in a long while .

I’ll try to write more in the next few days when I can come up for air.  Apparently, there are some interesting things going on around there with FEMA.  I’ll find out more and keep you posted.

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I’m sorry for the delay in posting.  Weekdays are rough for me with my clinical and class schedule this semester.  But, before I leave for Shoreacres tomorrow, I wanted to give you an update…

Mom has started the cleanup and recovery process.  She is still without power, but has water (non-potable), and I don’t think sewer is up yet.  Gas is iffy as there are alot of leaks around Shoreacres.  The great news is - Jamie and Grandma’s homes both have full service.  Grandma is still in Louisiana with Mrs. McKinnis and will stay there a little while longer so Mom, Jessie, and our family cleanup crew can stay at her house with utilities.  All of us are very grateful for the opportunity to go the bathroom and take a shower (yea!)

After assessing the damage, Mom had 23 down trees, a flooded garage, flooded shed, roof damage, siding damage, damage under the house (some stuff will need to be replaced), and possible air conditiong and floor damage (from moisture under the house.)  Trees landed on a neighbor’s house and power lines.  On her street, 6 houses did not get water in the living area. Most houses in Shoreaces did get water damage, and 6 houses are unaccouted for (they are simply not there anymore.)  There were quite a few houses near the bay that got catastrophic damage (as you could tell from the Flickr photos I linked to the other day.)

We have been greatly impressed by the City of Shoreacres. By Monday, the roads were clear to return.  They have port-a-pottys scattered throughout the city and hand out water and MREs daily.

We have our own AMAZING family cleanup crew that started ariving today.  Mike and his Dad, Joe, left early this morning with a truckload of supplies.  Uncle Butler and cousin Gary left early this morning from Louisiana.  From what I hear, this team, combined with a crew Mom hired to remove the large trees that required a crane, accomplished an amazing amount.  Tomorrow, cousin Jenny and I are leaving from Austin and Aunt Carol and Uncle Joe are also driving in to help.  We are hoping to get Mom completely back in shape this weekend minus the tasks that professionals will handle (like the roof, siding, etc.)

We want to thank EVERYONE for their thoughts, prayers, and support throughout this trying time.  We feel so fortunate to 1.  not have extensive damage, and 2.  have the support of such wonderful friends and family.

Thank you again for everything!

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