Returning to normal, kinda, sorta

I'm still not sure exactly what the term "normal" is or means, but things around here are beginning to look as they were pre-Ike. And that's another thing... who would have ever thought that we would refer to things and situations as pre- and post-Ike? Yet, that's what we do!

Anyway, as I mentioned in a previous post, several of our favoriate restaurants had re-opened or were close to re-opening a few short months after the storm hit (which, for those of you counting, or not counting, was September 13, 2008). T-Bone Tom's has been open since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, and the Hoagie Ranch just opened up right before Christmas. Those are places that are "normal" for us. It's nice to walk in to a place and have someone call you by name and know at least what your drink order is (I'm pretty predictible as far as my food order, but Jay varies from visit to visit). So that's good news. Skipper's is this close, and we can't wait for them to re-open. That's a staple in our weekend routine.

Not that I eat at Dairy Queen a whole heck of a lot (unless, of course, it's for a dip cone, right PB??), but I noticed on my way home tonight that the Dairy Queen on Highway 146 in Seabrook is open again. I'm not for sure, but I think they were pretty much completely under water. So again, good news for the area.

And, of course, there's the Kemah Boardwalk, most of which has re-opened. I think Landry's was the last of the big restaurants to re-open, and they did that on New Year's Eve. We haven't driven over there in awhile (a result of us not being at the house with easy access to the golf cart at the drop of a hat), so I don't know if the Starbucks has re-opened, nor do I know about many of the mom and pop shops and eateries. I do know that most of the bars in Kemah have re-opened. Again, good for the local economy.

So that's the restaurant update from the area. And that's about the extent of normalcy for us as well.

Most folks who had severe damage in our neighborhood are still in the same situation as us. The island, for the most part, is back to normal. It's just weird not being there. I feel "out of the loop," if that makes any sense. I have to go to the neighbors to find out what's been happening around the island. And what great neighbors we have. Whenever we go to the house, he fills us in on who's been there, and when. For example, our contractor has had several trades guys out to the house, and our neighbor knows the truck description, the day and time they were there, how long they were there, etc., which isn't a bad thing at all. We're lucky to have neighbors like that. In fact, they called last week to find out how Jay's surgery went, and I had to fill them in on the whole hospital situation. So, we're thankful and blessed to have neighbors like that. We know not everyone is as fortunate.

We are hoping that we'll get our building permit this week. Please say a prayer or two for us. I never knew how much a little piece of paper meant to me! Well, ok, I do know what a little piece of paper means, and this ranks second on the list of import pieces of paper!