OK, this is long and rambling and, I'm sure, more than a little whiney - so
you don't have to read it, but I have to write it.  Trolls, have at it
because I'm posting this one update and then leaving again, so say what you
like!

I'm in my office taking a quick break from the chaos and hoping nobody finds
MaMere for a while (too late, the youngest has already barged in to tattle
on her sister! ;>).

First, I would like you to know how proud I am of our adoptive city!  People
here in Houston have been *SO EXTREMELY GENEROUS* in donations of food and
clothing that it's hard to believe.  I heard a news item that said when the
Astrodome filled to capacity, over 500 Houstonians showed up offering to
open their homes to the refugees.  Because of the donations of clothes
through charities and the children's new schools (one teacher even gave my
daughter a gift card from Target for $50!!!), my granddaughters now have
enough clothes to attend school in and the adults have at least 5 changes of
clothing.

We're finally getting *some* order here; although we're still walking over
piles of donated clothing that needs to be sorted - anything that doesn't
fit gets sent on to other charities for Katrina victims.

I've had to box and put away, in the attic or the crawlspace under the
stairs, *everything* that was purely decorative or that we're not
immediately using (winter sweaters, coats, etc.)  We have to make room in
closets and chest-of-drawers for clothes for 7 extra people in the house and
we had to squeeze in three donated bed frames, box springs, and mattresses
in every spare square inch of floor space.  We also needed to make room on
countertops and tables to prepare food three times a day for 9 people (I
don't know how people with large families do it!!!)

We had to buy utility shelving to put in the kitchen to *hold* all the food
needed for 9 people since we only have a tiny pantry (but thank God we
*have* the food - one church alone gave us a whole truck-bed full of
groceries and personal items)*1*.

*1* I really hated taking charity for my relatives that may be needed
elsewhere, but Ben and I have had *SO* many financial set-backs in the last
3 years that we've been living close to the edge for a long time now.  We
really can't support 7 extra people who don't have *ANYTHING* left except
the clothes on their backs.

9 people taking baths, washing clothes, washing dishes, etc. is going to
send our utility bills sky-high; and we're going through a box of cereal and
more than a gallon of milk a day for breakfast alone!!  So, we swallowed our
pride and took the hand extended to us in love and generosity and are very
grateful that it was there for us.

Well, the house now officially looks like an evacuation shelter and will for
at *least* three months (they're estimating it will take 80 days to
completely drain out the water from St. Bernard before they even allow
people to go in to assess the damage to their homes - add another 3 or 4
months - at least - of repair time before the houses are livable again and
we figure we're going to have 7 houseguests for anywhere from 6 to 9 months
or more).

I'm worried about my granddaughters.  The two youngest, 6 and 11, should be
OK as they are both very active and gregarious - they've already made
friends in school and in the neighborhood.  But how OK can they really be
when they've lost their home, their pets, their friends - *EVERYTHING*!!

Of more concern to me is the 13-year-old.  She's old enough to understand, a
little, the magnitude of this catastrophe and how it has forever changed her
life, but she's still seen as "too little" to sit in on the adult's talk
about the tragedy.  This leaves her dangerously isolated and trying to
resolve what she's feeling on her own.  So, although she appears to be
handling it well, I still worry about her a lot.  I'm trying to sit and talk
to her often, but she doesn't really open up.

She's very, very shy and the only thing that brought her out of herself was
her music.  However, the 11-year-old's clarinet and the 13-year-old's
trumpet is now under 25 feet of water 300+ miles away!!  We tried the pawn
shops to see if we could find a second-hand trumpet, but even at the pawn
shop they wanted $600 (I know, outrageous, I had to buy *TWO* for my
daughter when she was little - the first got run over by a truck while she
was waiting for the school bus).  So, if anyone knows where we could get a
cheap, second-hand trumpet, please let me know.

But, of course, most worrisome of all is my missing relatives - my brother,
his wife, their three daughters, and their husbands and children.  So,
despite my bitching about my wrecked house and frazzled nerves, I'm still
glad my children and grandchildren are safe!  We've heard from some friends
from St. Bernard that the reason they're not announcing the death toll is
because they won't be able to find all the bodies of all the people trapped
in their attics and drowned until after the water goes down - but the
unofficial death toll is estimated at greater than 10,000 people.

One positive note is that the enormity of this tragedy has been like a slap
in the face to me wrenching me out of my depression (which seems petty and
self-centered in light of what other people are going through right now).
The new prescription the doctor gave me, Flexeril, isn't helping the
Fibromyalgia, so that was a disappointment - but maybe it just takes time to
start working well.  But, again, all that seems too petty to bother with
now.

Please, keep the prayers and purrs coming for my family to be found safe!

Hugs,