Day 10, stuck in Hernando

While I'm stuck at my parent's house, I've done the following:
1. cleaned the kitchen, since my parents cannot LEARN HOW TO PUT THINGS AWAY AFTER THEY USE THEM. (Whenever I complain about this, they reply that its their damn house and they will do whatever they want. get your own house.)*
2. Cooked fattening, amazing Southern food from Paula Deen's cookbooks, The Lady and Sons.
3. Spent time with my brother's girlfriend, who I will gladly welcome into the family because she's super-cool.
4. Talked with friends in Indiana and Pennsylvania and North Carolina, reassuring them that I am safe. A couple of them also commented on how much thicker my accent has gotten since I moved back to Mississippi.
5. Tried to sort through real news and rumors about the Gulf Coast and Hattiesburg.
6. Walked around the lake with Delta 7 times. She's real frisky for the couple miles, but about a half-mile from the house she starts to think, You finish, I'll just lay here in the shade on the cool grass and you can come pick me up in Meatball.**
7. Bought my mom a new lamp, since she broke the old one.
8. Told myself, for the twentieth time, that when you find something you like at the Pottery Barn Outlet, you should always just go ahead and buy it, because it won't be there when you come back 2 weeks later.***
9. Thought seriously about becoming Search and Rescue certified.
10. Looked for archivist jobs on the internet.
11. Read about 8 books.
12. Entertained a really sweet girl who was staying with us for a couple of days while she took Coast Guard exams at the Darth Vader building downtown. My dad and her dad were roommates in college. We went to dinner at the Rendezvous.
13. Watched cable news, growing more and more frustrated with Mr. Bush and the Fema people, and wanting to cheer when Ray Nagin made it perfectly clear that no one seemed to have any idea what it was really like in NOLA.
14. Spent a LOT of time worrying about my daddy, who went to Pascagoula with my brother to try to salvage my aunt's house. They got back safely this evening, though.

*I am definitely not a neat freak, to which my old roommate will attest, so don't get the wrong idea. I still have things in boxes after the move in July to H'burg.
**Meatball is my volvo. He's swedish. Get it, Swedish Meatball? Whoo!
***a really pretty duvet cover, 75% off. King size. Now no longer there.