The Land of the Free & the Home of the Brave (expats)... All Those in the US!

[UnderRated]

I just finished the old thread by accident

still can't get through.

heard from my mom in Connecticut, she can't get through to them, either, even on their cell phones.

frustrating as hell.

i highly suspect my sister is flooded. they are 10 minutes' drive from Kemah, which is sitll bad.

Lots of trees down and about 12000 without power in our county but we weren't in the group this time, thankfully. The tree i was worried about may have shifted a little but another one has wound up leaning against the house quite badly so will have to check on getting that taken down next week Otherwise doing pretty well here.

Am glad you are ok, Jabber and that the big tree didn't move too much. Just more rain here.

i have found new love in this blog.

OOoo, it looks great. And they have tons of vegetarian recipes. Did you see the 'brownie in a mug'?

I need to get a crockpot, I think.

the Chex mix and trail mix. I always manage to burn it when I do it in the oven.

what is crockpot in the UK?

Slow cooker

I should know this... Can I send parcels of homemade christmas cake & biscuits back to the UK?

Correction 41,000 without power in our county alone with another 9,000 nearby. We have been declared a disaster area for the third time in a two week period

jabber - sounds terrifying. Glad you and the family are OK. Maybe you should move back to this part of the world? Sounds much too dangerous where you are now!

Well, my sister managed to get a text to a friend in Oklahoma.

They're okay, not even flooded! , just no power. My dad also has no power and there is too much debris and trash in the road for him to get out of the house.

No school this week, so my sis (a teacher) and the girls will be off, but her husband will be going back to work tomorrow.

My aunt, however, managed to find out her condo has power, so she and Papa walked two miles (bit scary as Papa still has pneumonia in his lungs) and a pal managed to pick them up and take them to my aunt's.

I think the most traumatised with Auntie's very spoiled cat, Buster, who really doesn't like going in his crate.

Glad to hear about your family, Expat.

I'm glad your family is okay expat.

Here's one for the anonymity of the World Wide Web. I'm terrified of flying. I never used to be until the kids. I used to love flying. Now I really am quite paranoid about it. And I don't tell anyone about it, because I know it is stupid. I have a secret bottle of Calms Forte I've been slucking down the past few days.

Confession time over.

earlybird, it is strange being back in the path of these storms. I don't remember it being so bad when I lived here before. So sad seeing so many big, beautiful trees uprooted

Glad your family is OK expat.

dooney, I really understand where you're coming from. I'm much the same. Loved flying when I was single and childless, now much more paranoid

Oh Jabber, sounds awful. Am glad you are all safe. And great news from Expat too.

Dooney, confessing to being scared of flying is ok. I get more and more nervous as I get older. Hope it goes smoothly & that the Calms help. Have a lovely vacation

Did no-one know the answer to my postal question? Can I send homemade biscuits back to England at the post office? Or will they think it Not Allowed?

Hmm, would probably be easier just to order stuff from a UK site wouldn't it? And not have to deal with the post-office & the extortionate cost of posting things.

Then again, Dinner loves the PO. Mainly because he gets given packets of cookies and lollipops whenever we go there. It's got to the point where, if we go anywhere where there are women behind a counter, he looks at me with a knowing smile and says, 'Do you think they have lollipops for me?' and I say, 'I don't think so,' and he'll say, 'Well I'll just ask because you never know, they might'

I know, Califrau, I totally agree.

So, what can I send to people this yr that is different, cheap and postable yet very American? Delia's xmas cake really doesn't fit the bill but my family always complain that they never have one any more since no-one will make. Goodness knows why it is my responsibility. I don't even like it.

Woohoo! We had a meet-up today. With the Dooney Family. It was lovely!

Her children are the most well-behaved preschoolers I have seen. They were polite, friendly, quiet, charming and well-mannered. My DS however was, um, not. Mr Dooney turned out to be a bit of a child-whisperer and did something magical and DS just did as he said

Then the DC all ran around outside which, despite having spent 2 hours somewhere educational and exciting, was the highlight of DS's day. When we got back in the car, DS said, "C & C tried to catch me I miss my new friends"

And Dooney (despite not having long hair like I imagined she would) was funny and the whole morning was lovely. Lovely, I tell you!