she's aliiiiiiiiive

10 days since my last post ... my presentation is finally finally finally at a stage I'm comfortable with. I have 15 pages of text and 25 powerpoint slides. The slides took FOR-EV-VER because of all the number crunching I had to do with them. A basic map of the US for X-aspect of medical malpractice - 36 states do it and the other 14 don't. That would be easy to color in the states ... BUT! Of the 36, 5 do it this way and 14 do it that way and the rest do it this other way. So I had to do all the break-outs to get the states colored in correctly ... and I had to do this for 10 maps with all different number combinations. Whoopie. And now I will practice over the weekend and make Adam listen to my long speech while looking at the slides. Poor boy.

We're doing temple baptisms with our ward tonight - we've actually got the full number going, instead of about half like the other 3 trips we've done in the last year. Yay! Adam and I are helping drive some of the college kids, and I'll be running the people shuffle once we're there. Normally I would get in the water myself, but we've got enough unendowed people to fill all the spots. Adam has some family names, and we're going to get the 2 kids from his home teaching family to be baptized and confirmed for them. Another guy in the ward is supposed to do the baptism for his mother, who died last year, so that should be really neat as well.

Other than that, we're looking forward to General Conference this weekend. And I love love love all the pictures of Stevie! Especially the newest ones with his Winnie the Pooh toys. I'm sad about the "family" baby shower - where were Aunt Cheryl and Aunt Debbie and Laurel's sister? I would have sent a gift if I'd known ... I got Stevie a gift when we were in Seattle (before we even knew he was going to be born early, but it was just too perfect) and I just haven't gotten around to sending it. I would have sent it for a baby shower. And my 3rd Stevie comment ... in the 2nd group of pictures on the Birdhouse - there are 3 pictures, and in the 3rd one, Stevie has his arm up by his head. Isn't there a similar picture of Eric and Jared somewhere, when they were babies? That's instantly what it reminded me of.

Fun with Printing

So, today I decide that my story has got to go out, because the deadline is tomorrow. I go over my story one more time, just a quick touch-up, changing a few little details, including one of the chapter titles, removing any little errors (hopefully I got them all). Well, anyway, that takes me about two or three hours. Then I print it. And about halfway through the printing, my printer starts to run out of ink, and by the time it gets to the end, the words are practically illegible. So, I have to get it to the other computer. This is where things get complicated. The disk drive doesn't work in their computer, and I try e-mailing it to Mom (twice), but I'm not sure if it went to the right e-mail address or what, because it didn't turn up in her in box. What did I do? I e-mailed it to myself. I have outlook (it came with my computer, but I never use it), and I sent it to my hotmail account. Then I am able to print my story and take it to the post office. I had to raid the change bucket to get enough money to send it; I only had enough coins to send it on a one-way trip, and I needed the return postage. (So, Mom and Dad, I owe you $1.40.) I put it in the envelopes that I pestered Dad to give me yesterday. And it's only when I'm almost to the post office that I realize I'd forgotten the keys, so I never picked up the mail. But at least my story is out.

Greetings, family

Eric, I love the pictures of Stevie. Jared, your Star Wars caption is really funny; it made me laugh. Tawnia, I'm so glad that you have a "boyfriend." By the way, did you ever name your car?

I have to type this on Mom and Dad's computer because my cookie expired. What do I do?

And in other news, I am preparing to submit another story to Writers of the Future. It is entitled "The Wizard of Adair." This will be the fifth time I've entered the contest, and this story is a little darker (my other ones were more funny and exciting) and it's written at a higher reading level, and it's about half as long as my previous entries (about 7500 words).

Emily

My Boyfriend

Hmmm... so do I have your attention now?

Yesterday at school we had a few extra minutes at the end of the day, so I got my guitar out. One of the students asked if I had named it. I said I hadn't but if I was going to I wanted it to be a boy name. So then the kids all got excited and were raising their hands to give me suggestions. I called on one boy and he said, "You should call it... Miss Palmer's Boyfriend!" That really got the kids excited. I had some other suggestions such as Mr. Palmer and Mr. Pizazz, and Pee-tah... but in the end I decided just to call it "Boyfriend." I told them that today and they think that's pretty funny.

Anyway, it's been a good week. Busy... (Three tests this week and a paper due! It just means more grading for me... but oh, well.)

Oh, and our fish died... did I tell you that? It was pretty sad for the kids, but they are excited to get a new class pet... we'll probably get another fish, because I don't really want a frog, or a hamster as they have suggested.

I hope that everyone is having a good week.
Love,
T

Random drivel from Jared

I got the calendar for October done ... and just in the nick of time too! I've been a bit busy lately, so I threw this together in about two minutes.

Also, I got quoted on starwars.com! Well, sort of. It was a caption contest. But I've never won a caption contest before now! Click here!

We're Home

Okay, Jared is back at work. We are fine. It took 11 hours to get here, but we're here. The stop at Burger King took 1 and half hours. They were out of ketchup and soft drinks, but Bryan still got apple juice. Each time we stopped for the bathroom we stood in line for about 15 minutes. The rest stops had porta-potties set up to help with the large number of evacuees. The trip was better than the trip out. On the trip out, I had the stomach flu while in unbelievable gridlock. Yes, I was one of the people vomitting at the side of the road. Oh well, I was in good company.

The apartment is fine. We don't have any damage or property loss, except for all of our food in the refriderator and freezer are ruined. Our apartment, didn't have electricity until Monday afternoon. My brother and his family are okay. They are currently hoping the baby isn't born for a couple of more days so the hospital is fully staffed. She is dilated to a 2 right now.

Gasoline is in short supply. Once entering the Houston area, we figured out to not stop at gas station unless a gas truck was there. Groceries are in short supply, but they are getting trucks in every day. Basic commodities are first priority-bread, milk, eggs, baby formula, ect. Unfortunately I can't go to the grocery store until Jared gets home because Bryan is sick. He has stomach pains and fever. He probably has a virus. Poor Bryan. I am almost out of Brooke's medication, so hopefully the pharmacy is stocked. Needless to say, my to do list is long. I also have several loads of laundry to do and tons of cleaning.

Tawnia, I'm on board. Everyone needs to have personal preparedness plans. Jared and I, are really working on that. You just never know when you will need them.
Take care everyone.

Michelle

Side Bar

So did someone change the color on the sidebar to black?? Just wondering. It's lunch time and I have eight of my kids eating lunch... it's a reward for them. I think I need to start looking through my coupons and take out a few... because I just had two more kids walk in. (They can eat in the class and choose a friend to eat with them... that's the coupon. And they LOVE it... plus it doesn't cost me any money.)

Anyway, life is good. I'm keeping busy, but my stress level has gone down. Basically I've decided NOT to stress about things. What get's done, get's done... and the other stuff can just wait.

Adam- congrats on your new toy. I hope you have fun with it. Did you buy it, or was it for work? (Maybe you already said, I'll have to go back and look.)

Eric - I love that you're posting daily about your life. It's nice to get a daily update on Stevie.

Jared - Please post as soon as you can. I'm sure we're all worried about you.

Everyone - let's decide on a day and time to all get on-line and discuss Emergency Preparedness. I'm guessing a Saturday would work best... but probably not this Saturday with Conference.

I'm going to actually try and eat some lunch now... plus I have some things to get done for class.

Love,
T

MY NEW TOY!!!!!

I got my new notebook yesterday. It's a nice Dell. It's not the tip-top of the line, but it's nicely in the upper-middle. And it didn't get caught in the hurricane (it shipped from TX, I think). So now I'm writing this on it. My older notebook (the one I was borrowing from my former job) was substantially bigger & heavier. So I'm quite pleased with this one. I like my new toy!

Busy

I just posted all about today on the BBC blog, so I figure if you really want to hear it all you can look there. I'm glad to hear that Jared is going to get to go home soon. I bet it was somewhat nice to have a forced vacation.

Our stake is getting pretty big on the emergeny preparedness thing right now. They told us tonight that we need to have at least 3 gallons of water per person stored, plus food for at least three days, and a small emergency kit. With gas shortages it makes me think that we should never have under a half tank in our cars. I need to work on all of this. So is everyone else prepared for an emergency?? I think we should come up with a simple plan for what to do in case of an emergency as a family. For instance we should all call Mom and Dad... except what if the emergency is involving then... do we all call Trina, or do we turn to Eric as the priesthood leader of our family? Anyway, it's just something to think about. I was thinking about where I would go if I had to evacuate Utah... probably the closest place would be Eric's in L.A. ... but, depending on the situation, it would probably be easier to go to Idaho with Amy's family. Anyway, I also think that Mom and Dad should have the phone numbers of all our bishops and/or stake presidents, so that they can call those people in order to find out if we're okay... that is if they can't reach us.

Okay, enough on the doom and gloom stuff. I just think it is better to be prepared. Maybe Mom and Dad can sit down and discuss some ideas, and then call and talk to us about it... or maybe we can have an evening when we all get on Instant Messaging and discuss it as a group. Just a suggestion.

I need to head to bed. Have a wonderful week everyone.

love,
T

Heading home

Well, looks like we'll get to head home to Houston tomorrow. They're trying to organize the return to avoid traffic jams like the ones we had getting out of Houston, so they're spreading it out. Our section of the city has been asked to return on Monday. I'll report back to work on Tuesday, and Brooke returns to school on Wednesday. Hopefully we didn't suffer any damage or lose any belongings while we've been in Arlington. I guess we'll find out sometime tomorrow afternoon or evening, depending on how long it takes us to get back. I don't think our part of town was hit too badly, so I'm optimistic.

Our stay here has actually been pretty nice. We got to see Samantha and her girls, and Anthony is here right now taking a rest on his cross-country drive. He finished his training in South Carolina and needs to report to his nuclear sub next month in Banger WA. He's also planning to stop off in Salt Lake for Conference next week. Yesterday Trevor went to the temple for the first time, and I got to escort him. It was a really great experience. One of the clothing rental workers called me "Dad" at one point. That was funny. I don't think I look that old. Right now Michelle's aunt Ida is here visiting too.

We went to church this morning with Michelle's parents to the Arlington 1st ward. We were never in that ward, but the 2nd ward (we were there for one year before Brooke was born) was dissolved and so we still knew many people in the 1st ward now. There were also a few who have moved from the 6th ward (where we lived for over three years) so we got to see some of them too. There were also a couple of other families who had also evacuated from Houston -- though they weren't people we knew.

I guess that's all I have for now. If anyone has any other questions, just let me know.

Changes to the site

Hi everybody,

You'll notice that I just made some small but fundamental changes to the website.

First, I set up the blog as the first page when you go to the site. I was getting tired of having to switch over to it before the kazoo came on. You can still see the intro by going to the Insanity Inc. link in the upper lefthand corner.

The other change I made was to the name of the blog. I changed it from "Palmer Family" to "Insanity Inc."

Let me know if there are any technical problems as a result of these changes.

I love you all.

Please let us know how Jared is doing is as soon as possible. I know we're all praying for him and his family.

I've been busy, too.

I'm sorry, Eric, that Laurel didn't have a nicer shower with friends and family. I'd have been there if I could. This morning Rachel and I changed the bulletin boards in the YW room and cleaned out our closets. We got a lot done and had time to talk about our plans and how to help our girls. Trina, didn't you have your Young Women sign your book as you finished your goals? I seem to remember something like that but correct me if I'm wrong.

Then this afternoon we had a dinner before the broadcast. I'm getting Sister Vigil's recipe for Teriyaki Chicken. I hope most of the women in the family were able to attend the Relief Society Broadcast tonight. The messages were excellent. I'm already looking forward to rereading them. There was a special taped message from President Hinckley at the beginning, talks from the three sisters in the Presidency and a message from President Faust, all very excellent.


I need to get to bed now so I can be ready for church in the morning. I've been very tired lately.

Love ya,
MOM

Thanks for the updates

All the changes on the various pages are great. I have been especially enjoying the Stevie pictures. Thank you for sharing the little blue outfit I sent. It looks so adorable on him. It would be helpful to remind all of us occasionally that we need to click on the pictures to see more. When I first saw your picture of the temple, Eric, I thought how nice that was but wondered why you hadn't put any of your family on there. The next time I clicked on the picture and discovered the hidden surprise. Thanks. I've noticed that Nathan often does that, too. I guess you're trying to keep us on our toes. Does anyone else have hidden pictures that we might not be aware of?

Love ya,
MOM

mindy updates

I added a new section to my page this morning. There would be more to it, except that I have to get ready for work. I'll be there all day, but I'm hoping to get back to this project soon. I have a few more ideas to do as well, but this one was so much fun and fast, that I got as far as I did in only 2 hours. You can find it by going to my page, and clicking on the handprints. I hope you all enjoy it! I'll expand it more later.

Field Trip

So my class had a field trip today. It was fun, but I'm exhausted! I didn't have to do a lot, but I think I was pretty stressed about stuff. Now I'm relaxing in my quiet (messy) classroom. I think the kids learned a lot today, but the fact that we also had the seventh graders there was obnoxious. There is a reason I work with younger kids. =)

As we were leaving the classroom I realized that Fudge, our class fish, had passed on to another greater fish bowl elsewhere. So after we got back I set him free (flush!). I will either buy a new fish tomorrow, or we'll just live without a class fish for awhile. The kids loved him though, so I may just have to go and find a new fish. Though they did know that he was old and likely to die soon. I wonder what the next fish will get named.

Anyway, I have a ton of copies to make so I'll be set for spelling next week... and then I am going to rearrange all the desks in my room... and tomorrow I'm coming back out here so I can figure out where to have them hang my coat racks. Oh, and I just found out that they're going to put in soap dispensers in our rooms... hooray (we have sinks... so it makes sense to have soap dispensers.)

I'm tired, and have tons to do, I'll talk to you later.
Love,
T

P.S. I'm glad that J and company made it to Dallas and I'm loving hearing about Stevie, and I love everyone else too!

More updates

Eric, you said you wanted more of the text. So, I added samples from "Elfmarked" and "Elementals." I'll be adding more later, maybe. I hope you enjoy reading it. You'll have to write me if you want more of the story.

Jared, I'm glad you were able to make it to Dallas okay. Give everyone a hug from me.

Emily

Safely out of Houston

Yesterday morning I went to work and Brooke went to school like normal. About an hour after I got to work, my boss told me to start securing loose equipment and moving things off the floor. By lunchtime we had the entire prodution area locked down and plastic-wrapped. We then sat and waited while the managers had a meeting, then they came out and told us all to go home. We have a phone number to call to find out when the building will be reopened for work to resume.

By the time I got home, Michelle already knew that Brooke's school was also cancelled for the rest of the week, and that our address fell under the voluntary evacuation area. We decided to pack up and head to Michelle's parents in Arlington (who had already decided earlier in the week not to come visit us in Houston this weekend). We wanted to be ready to go by the time Brooke got off the bus at 3:25pm, but wee missed by an hour. We left our house at about 4:30 pm Wednesday. At 6:45 we stopped in north Houston for dinner. Michelle had been having stomach pains during the day, and she threw up while we were there.

At 7:30 we got back on the freeway. We spent over three hours covering the stretch from mile marker 70 to mile marker 90.At around minight we finally left Houston city limits and sped up to about 30 mph. Traffic continued fairly slow until about 4:00 am at Centerville TX, halfway between Houston and Dallas. Since Michelle was not feeling well, I drove most of the time, but she took over a couple times so I could get a little sleep. We arrived at her parents at 7 am Thursday, with about 5 hours of sleep between the two of us.

The drive is around five hours under normal conditions. We made it in 14 1/2 hours, and apparently we did all right. Michelle's brother Matthew left his home south of Houston about an hour after we did. After covering three miles in five hours (that same north Houston stretch) between midnight and 5 am, they turned around and went back home. They were down to a quarter tank of gas -- all the stations had run out. His wife is nine months pregnant. We've made some phone calls and they'll probably shelter in one of the church buildings during the storm. Anybody praying for us, you may want to include Matthew and Katrina Stovall, their daughter Jasmine and her yet-unborn sister.

For right now we are safe in DFW, and we'll head back home once we know it is safe to do so.

News from Houston

Jared called around noon today. (Emily took the message because both Dad and I were at work.) He said that he and his family are on their way to Dallas until after Hurricane Rita has been through. I was very relieved to hear that, because I was worried about them. He said something about not having to go to work and Brooke not having school. They weren't certain when they'd get up to Dallas because the traffic was bumper to bumper heading north. They weren't certain which relatives they'd be staying with but I'm sure he'll let us know. I figured you'd all want to know. I almost called them this morning on my way to work but I didn't think I should call while I was driving, especially since I was running late.

Love ya,
MOM

Wow, what updates!

First off, Jared, I think I speak for everyone when I express my admiration and thanks for your service to the hurricane victims. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. That's a post for the family history right there. And also I know we're all praying for you and your family as Rita comes bearing down on Texas. Two huge storms in a row...

Tawnia, I enjoyed reading about back to school night. I'd be nervous too, but hey, you're a great teacher and a great person, so you have nothing to worry about.

And Trina... I just talked to you. Good times. I'm glad you got a chance to poke around Williamsburg a little bit. Good luck with your speech. If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.

Okay then Emily, loving the page, the updates, everything... I think you should put more of the actual text on the page instead of just giving away the plot, but hey, that's just me.

Mindy, I've been enjoying reading your adventures. I loved the picture (did I already say that). Working two jobs is not easy, but keep focused on good goals and stay positive and you'll do great.

Speaking of positive, I'm staying awake so I can feed Stevie in a few minutes and... but that's for another blog.

Updates

My page has been updated again, and it probably won't be updated again for a while unless I decide to add some more pictures or finish another story. I have a list of the books I've written, including a brief plot summary or character sketch or how I came to write it or a little on the themes. In case you've wondered, I'm counting fifteen books, ranging in length from about 15,000 words to 84,000 words, as "almost complete," the ones that I have attempted to have published or ones where there is a complete draft (or pretty close to one). Of course, I think they all still need a lot of work, but hopefully I'll have something ready to go soon.

I also finished typing "Children of the Dragon," so you can read that. If it seems a little confusing, remember this was my first major fantasy project, and I was trying to cram three years worth of ideas into less than 17,000 words. If I had written it the way I had originally intended, it would have been much longer. But I'm not planning on rewriting it. You can also read "The Sword and the Medallion," and "Firestone." (I loaned a copy of "Firestone" to Becca Riches, and she's really enjoyed it.)

Emily