Dear Journal~

Howdy!  It's me, Teeka Daniels!  I hope this finds y'all well!  I am doing a lot better than I was since last fall, when (Y)Ike threatened to destroy my life! 

We are back in our house; we haven't had any more trouble, thank the Lord; however, I miss my granny Dubin.  She was disabled; yet she refused to leave when Hurricane (Y)Ike came callin'.  She died in that storm; it was a very hard tiime for all of us.  Still is.

Christmas would have been nicer had she been there. 

Now it's February, just past Valentine's Day.  On Friday, our school had a party; got tons of Valentine's Day cards from friends, and pigged out on cookies, punch, cupcakes.  Yum!!  :)  It was fun!!

Then on Saturday, Valentine's Day, my brothers, sisters, and I gave mom and dad the day off.  We did all the chores, let them sleep in.  Then we made them breakfast, gave them cards and flowers.  They loved it; they said we were very good kids!

We must have been 'cause when we got our allowance yesterday, we got five extra dollars!  We got $10 instead of the customary five!  So now we all have a bit of extra cash!  That's cool!  :)

I am busy at school, trying to get my homework assignments done, turned in on time.  Sometimes it's hard, especially when my little brothers (G-Man and Tyler) and my sisters (Emrika and Hydeiah) keep buggin' me!!  I get so annoyed I want to slug them a good one!!

Daddy and mama are still working, but for how long, that remains up in the air.  The economy is very bad, and I worry what may happen if their place of work lays them off or shuts down.  I just wonder if that happens, how they're going to get the extra money to pay the bills; but for now, things are okay, at least for us.

Many other people aren't that lucky.  I just hope we get a stimulus check; that would really come in handy, especially if money was tight!!

I don't know if I like our new president or not.  He seems like a nice guy, but some of the things he believes in or has done has me wondering about him.  I guess I need to give him a chance; a lot of my friends think President Obama will be good for America.  We shall wait and see!

Today we aren't at school.  Holiday.  President's Day.  I didn't get up today until nine thirty; it felt soooo good to sleep in!  I didn't want to get out of my nice, warm bed!!  It was nice!!  I don't know what I'll to today; maybe I can talk mama into letting me go to the mall with one of my friends from school.  My money is talkin'; I'd love to get a new book or CD!  Been a while since I last did that!

The weather here is pretty mild, temps in the seventies.  Pretty typical, maybe a little above average.  I'm just glad hurricane season is overwith:  after (Y)Ike, I don't know if I could put up with another hurricane or the heartache it (he) caused us!  Once was more than enough; I'm more than ready to move to Alaska, where the only storms are magnetic (i.e., the northern lights)!!

Well, my brother Tyler is calling me (I call him Ty-Ty for short), so I'll run along now.  Until later, this is Teeka Daniels signing off; I'll write in here again soon!  I promise!  Take care, and may God bless you!

(((HUGS))) and much love, your Galveston, TX., friend, Teeka Da'Sha'e Daniels.  :D