Mommy only has 2 hands!

My Hello Kitty Tattoo!

2009-04-22T21:36:00.003-05:00

The meaning of this tattoo...Besides the fact that I have loved Hello Kitty since she was born on November 1, 1974! She represents a guardian angel that watches over us. The 3 blue stars coming off the wand stand for my 3 boys and the clouds are for the worst day off my life when my middle son almost died on Feb. 18, 2009. Some people seek counceling, some get a massage but I think getting a tattoo helps me the most!
It's on my left shoulder more towards the middle of my back and I love it!
This was taken a few hours after she was finished so there's still some redness. I'll take another pic when she's healed in a few weeks.

A little late, but Happy Easter!

2009-04-22T21:33:00.001-05:00

Still here...

2009-04-04T20:43:00.002-05:00

I haven't had much time to write lately. Busy, busy, always something going on. I know I had said I was going to write the 2nd part about Chase but everytime I think about it, it makes me sick. So I'll just talk about the good things.

Chase is doing very good. Still on his meds and breathing good. He's able to run and play and enjoy being an almost 9 yr. old little boy =) His eczema is also under control and he looks wonderful! It's great to see him healthy and happy!
He turns 9 next month and is so excited and can't wait. He wants a new bike really bad so that's what we're going to get him.

Logan is 4 now. He turned 4 two days before all the stuff with Chase happened so I never was able to post about it or post pics. He did have a great b-day party at the bowling alley and got lots of nice presents. I'll try to post some pics soon.

Bren is doing good too. Got that 13 yr. old attitude going on but not too bad.

Me, I am trying to put all the bad stuff behind and move forward. It's not been easy and sometimes the bad things creep back into my thoughts but I shut them out just as quick! I've been keeping busy doing school with the kids, cleaning, cooking, ya know the norm. I got a new tattoo 3 weeks ago. All of my tattoos have meaning and it's seems that when I'm getting them done it pumps out all of the bad out of my body. It's almost like therapy! This new one represents that bad day in February. It's a Hello Kitty Guardian Angel. (I chose Hello Kitty to represent the Angel b/c I have loved Hello Kitty my whole life) She has a wand in her hand and above it are 3 blue twinkle stars that stand for my 3 boys. Around her are clouds. It's pretty and I like it. I know how a lot of people think and I don't care, it's my personal choice. It's on my left shoulder between the blade and spine so it's not seen unless I have a bathing suit on. I will post some pics of that soon too.
Yesterday, Eddie and I celebrated our 16th Wedding Anniversary! We went to Sullivan's Steakhouse. My parents watched the kids. That was the first time I've been out this year! We had a nice, quiet dinner and it was very good. After we weren't sure what we wanted to do but my brother text me and told me he, Jess and a few other friends were at a little bar we like to go to so we went there and hun out for a while. We had a great time!

Ok, well, that's about it for now. I'll get some pics posted soon.
~K

Chase Update Part 1

2009-02-27T18:24:00.006-06:00

I wrote last week about my middle son Chase being in the PICU so this is the follow-up. I had written a post about how he had been sick and not getting better but never got around to finishing it and actually posting it. (for those who don't know Chase has Hyper IgE syndrome, allergies, asthma and eczema) Chase had been sick since Thanksgiving. We went to the Doctor and he gave him Zithromax, Orapred (steroid) and told us to keep on his asthma treatment, Xopenex. He was fine for a while then it came back around New Year's. Went back to the Doctor and he gave him Zithromax, Orapred and more Xopenex. Again, he got better. It started coming back again! We went back to the doctor February 11 and again he put him back on the same meds. But this time he didn't respond to any of it. He was coughing, wheezing and not looking good. Wednesday morning (Feb. 18) he was looking really bad. I made an appt. with his doc and as we were getting ready around 7:45 a.m. I had Chase do another asthma treatment.

(This is the part that is really hard for me. But I'm thinking if maybe I can type it out and get it written out it will help? I don't know. But I think I might need to take a few breaks while writing this part b/c it makes me want to throw up and cry and just freak out)

I kept checking on him as I was getting everything ready and as I walked by I asked him if he was ok and then realized he was turning purple. He couldn't answer me, his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he started to fall over on his bed. I caught him. I already had my phone in my hand so I dialed 911. I put the phone to my ear and carried him to the couch. First mistake. 911 answers, I scream my address into the ladies ear. She tells me to calm down to tell her what's happened. I tell her. She asks if he's on a flat surface I tell her no, he's on the couch. She tells me to lay him on the floor...I lay him on the floor and before she tells me I start CPR. She tells me to wait. She wants to know if he's breathing at all. It looks like he's trying to but can't. She wants me to get a pulse but I was freaking out so bad I couldn't find it. So she tells me to start CPR and walks me through it. I tilt his head up, pinch his nose and blow 2 breaths in and watch to see if his chest rises. It does. Then she tells me to start compressions. 30 and count them out loud. I do and she tell me to go faster. While I'm doing this though Brenden (13) is in the backround, freaking out, crying, screaming. I tell him to go find a neighbor to help. Logan is in his bedroom, Bren had closed the door so he wouldn't know what was going on. (thank goodness) I do 2 more breaths and 30 more compressions and EMS shows up. I back away and let them do their job. They are jamming things everywhere and have the Ambou bag thingy on his face while someone is sqeezing it. I call my husband and tell him to come home immediately, no questions asked he leaves then. Chase was just laying there lifeless and I kept asking the EMS people if he's going to be ok and one of them shakes their head no and another tells me to call my husband back and tell him to go straight to the hospital. That's where I black out. I do not remember anything between that point and then standing behind the ambulance as they were loading him in. I didn't pass out, but I just can't remember. It's weird. I have no clue how much time passed or anything. But I know I didn't call my husband back b/c I remember as they were putting Chase in the ambulance him driving up and having to park at the end of the street. We live on a small street and the Sheriff's had blocked it. So I'm trying to get in the ambulance b/c there's no way I'm not riding with him. And the EMS woman tells me I have to calm down and if I can remain calm I can ride in the back. I remember saying "I'm calm". She lets me get in and while they are hooking things up my husband comes to the side door of the ambulance and is trying to talk to Chase. And Chase tries to answer to him! He had an oxygen mask on his face but he was trying to talk! It was like the best thing I've ever heard in my life! I was so happy to hear him. Eddie ran in the house and got Bren and Logan ready along with the help of a neighbor. Then had to wait as the Firemen cleaned up the floor with all their supplies. We were off in the ambulance in morning rush hour traffic. I just kept talking to Chase the whole time. He was weak but kept on trying. A few minutes before we made it to the hospital I heard them call in to the ER to let them know he was improving. It seemed we got there pretty quick. They rushed him into the peds ER and a ton of medical people were all waiting for him. They did they're stuff and I remember Chase calling for me but I had to stand back as not to get in the way. I told him I was there for him but that I needed to be out of the way, I felt so helpless. Shortly after Eddie and the kids got there. Eddie came back but Bren and Logan had to wait in the waiting room. Thank goodness they have those Child Life girls there that help out. One was in the waiting room with Bren and Logan talking with them and watching them and another was in the ER talking with Chase reading a Cars book and having him point out pictures to her. Those girls are wonderful! He improved so much once in there and he surprised everyone. He was breathing on his own with oxygen assistance and they thought they were going to have to put him on the machine. Thank goodness they did not have to. After being in the ER for many hours and having a million tests, blood work and an X-ray they told us we were being sent to PICU. He was stable but needed oxygen and to be monitored closely.

Once we got to the PICU they made Eddie and the kids go to a waiting room. They had to prepare Bren and Logan before they would be allowed in. So I went in to the PICU with Chase and as we walked past the open curtain rooms I could see all the kids in there. It was the scariest thing ever for me. I've never seen anything like that. No one took me aside to prepare me for what I was about to see. I had been trying to keep my cool all morning and not cry in front of him but when I got in there I lost it. But Chase didn't see me, they were setting him up in his room and I turned around at the nurses desk. Once they got him set up and hooked up to everything I closed the curtain and sat in the bed with him, just looking at him and so thankful that he was going to be ok. A few minutes later they let Eddie and my other 2 sons back. They were being nice b/c Logan is only 4 and I think the sign said you had to be 13 or 14 to go in and only 2 people were allowed back at a time. But being the Child Life girls had prepared the kids they let them come back. That was so nice of them.

I'll post the 2nd half tomorrow.

Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

2009-02-20T04:35:00.003-06:00

I'm typing on my iPhone from a hospital bed in PICU at OLOL. My Chase, almost 9 is in here. This will be day 3. He is stable, breathing on his own now w/o oxygen assistance and getting stronger each day. What we/he needs right now is lots of prayers and good thoughts!
When my hubby comes later on I'll have him bring the laptop so I can type like a normal person and explain why we're in here, the scariest thing that's ever happened to me and the importance of knowing child CPR. Seriously, doesn't matter how old you are go register now! Even if you already have but it's been many years like me a refresher never hurts. When we get out and back to normal my whole family is going!

Taco Soup

2009-02-05T22:53:00.002-06:00

I tried this recipe last night. It was awesome! Even my 3 yr. old who usually won't eat told me " this soup is GOOD"! It's easy and cheap to make.

Taco Soup

2 lbs. lean ground beef
1 chopped onion
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 can pinto beans
1 can pinto beans w/ jalapenos
1 can shoe peg (white) corn
1 lg. can crushed tomatoes
1 can mild rotel
2 cans beef consomme'
1 pkg. dry ranch dressing mix

Brown meat and onion. Add taco seaoning and cook down for 10 min. Add all other ingredients. Stir well and cook on low for 1 1/2 hrs. stirring often. (Be sure to let simmer for the full amount of time. I tasted it right when I first added all the ingredients and it wasn't so great. But wow, after letting it cook and mesh it was awesome!)

Serve topped with crushed fritos or tortilla chips, sour cream and cheese. Yum!

King Ranch Chicken

2009-02-04T23:52:00.002-06:00

1 Chicken, boiled & de-boned (reserve chicken broth) or you can cook 4 chicken breast and cut them up.

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium bell pepper, chopped

1 can cream of mushroom or cream of chicken soup

1 can rotel (i chose mild)

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Seasoning: salt, pepper, tony's, garlic powder, cumin and chili powder

Saute onions and bell pepper until tender. Add to bowl with cooked chicken, mix and set aside. In another bowl mix soup and tomatoes and add seasoning to taste 1/4 tsp. cumin and 1 tsp. chili powder and a few dashes of garlic powder.
In 9 x 13 pan (greased) line with 4 tortillas (if you have chicken broth left you can soften them first in that) and top with 1/2 of the chicken/onion/bell pepper mix. Then line 4 more tortillas on top of that and add the rest of the chicken mixture. Now pour the soup/tomato mixture on top of that. Top with the shredded cheddar cheese.
Bake at 350* for 20 -30 minutes or until cheese is melted and browning on edges.

Ladies Wine and Recipe Exchange

2009-02-03T23:59:00.000-06:00

On Saturday, January 24, my neighbor hosted our 1st Ladies Wine and Recipe Exchange. We all met at her house at 5:30 and brought our drink of choice and each of us brought a small dish for everyone to taste. There were 7 of us there and we had a great time! I brought Chicken Spectacular, I'll post the recipe this week. And the other recipe's brought were: King Ranch Chicken, Taco Soup, Tomato Basil Soup, Cream Cheese Dip, Crawfish Dip & Bean Dip. They were all very good. I'll post the recipe's for those later this week as well. I did try the King Ranch Chicken tonight and my family really liked it. I'm trying the Taco Soup tonight.
We had such a great time that we are going to keep doing our little get together every few months. It's a great way to get out for a little bit and enjoy good food and friends =)

Electric box and pole are fixed!

2009-02-03T23:18:00.003-06:00

The work was completed last Tuesday but I was so freaking mad it's taken me a week to calm down over what happened after it was done! The electrician came out last Tuesday around 8:30. He was there ready to start but had to wait for Entergy to come out and cut the wires to my house. Well, he didn't feel like waiting and goes up and cuts them himself. So the power to my house was cut around 9 a.m. Less then 15 minutes later Entergy shows up and sees that he already cut them. The guy didn't sound too happy and told the electrician he needs to make sure that he doesn't reconnect them and to wait for them. So he does the work and finishes up around 11 a.m. Right when he finishes the city inspector shows up and approves everything. He tells me that Entergy should be back out to reconnect by 2 or 3 and if they are not to start calling them. So 3 p.m. comes around and no one has come so I start calling. The first time I didn't talk to a real person, just listened to a recording that said I was due for reconnect that day. By 4:30 I called again and this time talked to a real person. He said someone would be out between 3 and 7, ok. Well, then by 7 no one had come and it was dark and we were getting pissed. I had to go pick up some dinner for us since I couldn't cook and my stuff in the fridge was starting to get a little warm. So I call again and talk to another real person and she says they don't stop til they finish all the requests for that day, so I'm like ok. We wait and wait and nothing. I called many times up until about 2 a.m. and just got recordings. So we went to bed around 2. Thank goodness it was actually kinda warm that night and not freezing cold! I was up again at 6 a.m. and got a real person on the phone again. She put in an emergency request and told me to call back at 7 a.m. when they open. So I call again at 7 a.m. and they apologize and say they don't know what happened, I filed a complaint b/c that is just unexcusable. What if my son had an asthma attack? I wouldn't have been able to plug his machine in? And I ended up losing my food in the fridge and freezer.
So anyway, around 8 someone from Entergy calls to see if someone has been out yet and I tell her no. She says they should be there shortly. Around 9:15 a guy shows up, finally. He tells me they must have just forgotten about me! It took him about 45 minutes to reconnect the wires and we were back with power by 10. And thank goodness b/c it was raining off and on and got much colder!
So the pole and box are fixed but man why can't anything ever go smooth? What a pain in the ass!
Now, all we have left is the inside ceiling sheetrock but ya know what? I'm tired of dealing with the insurance company and contractor so I'm just gonna leave it for now. I can fix most of it myself anyway.

Can't Find my Camera Cable!

2009-01-30T11:57:00.000-06:00

Grrrr... I can't find my cable for my camera to upload my pics! I want to put up some more pics. It's gotta be around here somewhere! I put up a new profile pic, taken on my phone of course.
And I have a few unfinished posts as well. I'll try to finish those and get them up this weekend!

Still...

2009-01-20T13:05:00.002-06:00

getting things fixed 4 months after that damn hurricane! So yeah, the roof is done. Now the next thing is the electricity box. Before the hurricane it was already being pulled from my house because the energy company changed the pole that my electric wires are connected to. When they moved the pole it pulled on my wires and started to pull the electric box off the back of my house ( i told the electric company this and they said it wasn't their problem that I would need to get an electrician and pay for it myself!) . So then when hurricane Gustav hit the wind moved the pole and pulled my wires even more and pulled the nails out more. Well, after they finished the roof and I was looking back there I noticed the box was pretty much hanging off! Not good! So I have been calling my roofer who is really a general contractor and asking him if he could get his electrician out to look at it. I figured we'd just stay with him instead of calling around and finding the electrician ourself. So anyway, my roofer calls me this morning to tell me the electrician came out and his charge to fix the electric box is going to be $1,135! Yes, he must be crazy! The insurance company only gave us $300. So I call my husband and tell him and he's like no way, we'll get another estimate. So he calls another company and they came out within 15 minutes! The guy takes a look at the damage and tells me it'll cost between $300 and $400. Whoo, ok, much better! So he is coming out next Tuesday to fix it. Now I have to call the roofer to tell his guy not to come out. I'm sure he'll be pissed but oh well, he shouldn't have tried to jack up the price on me so much.
And after that's finished we still have the inside repairs to do, the sheetrock and drywall. He said he was going to send someone out this week to come do it but I was like nope. First you need to come and write up an estimate telling me exactly what's being done and then give me a total price! Because I'm sure he's going to try to jack me on that too. I guess if he trys that I'll just find someone else!

Rock & Rye Whiskey

2009-01-19T22:32:00.002-06:00

Have you heard of this before? Well, most people haven't. It's a rye whiskey mixed with rock candy and fruit. It's a little sweet and a little thicker than regular whiskey. I would call it very smooth. Anyway, back in the old days this was prescribed as a cough suppressant. When my Dad was a little boy and his Dad was in the Navy he was told to drink this and when I was younger my Grandma would give it to me. We're all sick here with this sore throat, cough, sniffle thing and I remembered the Rock & Rye. So I went online to see if it was even still made and it is! But before ordering some I figured I'd call around town first. The first place I called had no idea what I was talking about, but the second place knew exactly what I was talking about! And they had it in stock. So this afternoon I drove all the way across town to Marcello's Liquor store off Perkins. The guy I had spoken to on the phone with was right there and took me right to it. They only had 2 bottles left b/c he said a few other customers had come in looking for it for the very same purpose I was. It is made by LeRoux and was only $10.99. And I have to say that the whole staff at this liquor store was so nice, very friendly. While there I also looked for a Guatamalan Rum my Dad was wanting and they had that as well. They had just about every kind of liquor you could possibly imagine. On the way out one of the girls asked me how I had heard about the Rock & Rye cough remedy...she said they had so many people talking about it that she wondered if we had seen it on TV or something. Nope, just an old time remedy. But if you have a cough and a sore throat this stuff really does work. And it tastes good too!
Ok, off to take a shot and then get some sleep so I can get better.
Night!

Busy Sunday

2009-01-11T21:42:00.002-06:00

We had 2 birthday parties today. Both at the same time! My nephews was at the bowling alley from 2-4 and my friends son's was at The Little Gym from 2:30-4. So I decided that Eddie would take our 2 older son's to the bowling party and I'd take Logan (almost 4) to the little gym party.
But before we went to go look for some shoes and jeans for my oldest son. We went to a few places but didn't find anything so my hubby and the 2 older boys went to the mall and me & Logan went to Walmart to get a gift for the party we were going to. We got him the Discovery viewfinder and a Shrek reel. Those things are pretty cool. They even talk to you now! Back in the day ours did not talk with each push of the button.
So after that we made our way on over to the party for 2:30. It was a cute little place. Had a gymnastics room with like mini size equiptment. Just right for the little ones. Logan ran right in and started playing. Running and jumping and walking on the balance beam and jumping off and then jumping up to the uneven bars yelling "Buzz Lightyear and Beyond" LOL! He was so cute. I saw a whole different side of him without his 2 mean big brothers around. They did little activities, like dancing and jumping and then they rolled out this big flat blow up jumpy thing. He had a lot of fun jumping on that. He had so much energy!
When we got home a little after 4 my husband and sons were already home. They had found some more deals at the mall. They got 3 pairs of jeans, 1 pr. shorts for 50% off and some Nike Shox regular $107 on sale for $79. So now my oldest son has clothes and shoes and can longer complain that he doesn't have anything to wear!

Gotta love after Christmas sales!

2009-01-10T22:55:00.000-06:00

We went to Dillard's this evening looking to buy some clothes for my oldest son and boy did we hit the jackpot! We were downstairs browsing when one of the sales ladies came and told me that we should check the clearance they had upstairs. Now, I hate shopping off clearance racks. Not that I don't love a great deal, it's just that it's such a pain to dig through racks of clothes that are just shoved there and all the sizes are mismatched etc. And b/c I always have the kids with me and they won't stay still long enough for me to dig. But we went ahead and dug through the racks and ended up finding some awesome deals. In the end we got 19 shirts, all name brand for 81 dollars and some change! When we got home I took all the tags and added them up by original price...the total was almost $600! Holy cow!
Now he needs pants and tennis shoes! So tomorrow we're going shopping again to see if we can find some more deals.

The Roof is Done!

2009-01-09T21:39:00.000-06:00

They finished around 10 a.m. this morning. It looks great! I didn't get any pics yet but will soon.
Now onto the other stuff. An electrician was supposed to come by today. I'm not sure if he did b/c I had to leave but I should have an estimate for that soon. Hopefully, it won't be too bad. All he needs to do is reattach the electric box back to the house. Then in the next few weeks my contractor will send someone to fix my sheetrock and drywall inside. So at least things are moving along and getting taken care of.

I Have a Roof Again!

2009-01-08T22:05:00.002-06:00

The roofers came this morning, a little later than expected due to an order that wasn't ready for pick up yet but they made it! They got up there and got things going pretty quick. Unfortunately, once they got the tar paper scraped off we could see the extent of the damage. Much of the plywood was rotten. Thank goodness the roofer estimated the amount right and had just enough to replace the bad spots. It was kinda funny b/c when I pulled the door down to look in the attic it was bright and shiny sunlight with all the wood gone. It was very loud ALL day and the house shook and vibrated a lot, lol, kinda aggravating but in the end will be well worth it. They worked until dark and were close to finished when the owner called and said he didn't want the guys working in the dark so they had to stop. All they have left is 2 small spots and the ridge caps to finish. But it looks so much better already. We got Timberline 30 yr. architectural, and the color is weathered wood. It looks so nice. I'll take some pics when it's finished tomorrow!

Cleaning up

2009-01-07T22:02:00.000-06:00

Today the weather was much better! I worked in the yard most of the day picking up and packing away our Christmas decorations. Then we cleaned up and mowed the yard. It looks so much better, but pretty boring with no decorations =(
But Valentine's day and Mardi Gras will be here soon so I'll be decorating again!
Tonight my roofer came by for me to sign the contract. He says they will be here at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow to start on the roof! Yea!

Happy 3 Kings Day!

2009-01-06T21:50:00.000-06:00

Today is 3 kings day or also known as the last day of Christmas. To read more about 3 kings day go to this link-> http://three-kings-day.123holiday.net/
I always wait until 3 kings day to take down my Christmas decorations. And we eat King cake and have a nice dinner on this day. This year I had to take my tree down early b/c my middle son that has eczema and asthma really bad was sick and not getting better and the doctor thought he might be getting worse b/c we had a real Christmas tree in the house. Tomorrow when the weather is better I will take down the outside decorations and clean and mow the yard.

What a...

2009-01-06T16:46:00.004-06:00

Crappy day! It's been raining all day. It dropped from 75 degrees to 55 degree within an hour. And more and more places in my house are starting to leak, yikes! I talked to my roofer again today, he's supposed to come tomorrow to show me the color samples and then start on the roof either Thursday or Friday!

Since I have nothing better to do, here are some New Year's Eve pics:

4 Months Later...

2009-01-05T18:19:00.003-06:00

and I'm still dealing with the insurance company and roofer! I am just so ready for this to be done with! My roofer called me today to tell me he wants to get my roof on this week, yea! FINALLY! He asked me if I had heard from my insurance adjuster about the latest estimate he sent in. I hadn't and told him I'd give him a call. So I call my adjuster only to find out on his voicemail that he has been moved to another branch. Great, just great. It tells me to call the main Allstate number. So I call the main number and get reassigned to another adjuster and I should hear from him within 3 days. This will be my 4th adjuster, ugh.
Thank goodness the other adjuster had finished my second claim and I did receive a new check for the mold and internal damage claim for $4690. But we had sent in another claim right before Christmas for the costs of the materials that they jacked me on and a few other things. No one can find that one so now my roofer will have to fax it in again and we'll wait some more. But it won't affect getting the roof done because we have enough for that now. So hopefully we will be getting our new roof this week! And it's going to be the 30 yr. architectural roof not the crappy 3 tab and he's doing it for a great price! I'm just so happy because it's been raining a lot here and leaking a lot in my house, not good!
Later this afternoon the new adjuster called, that was pretty quick! So I called the roofer and left a message with him to fax the last estimate to the new adjuster. Hopefully this new adjuster will be as easy to work with as the last one.

Welcome 2009!

2009-01-04T19:37:00.003-06:00

My first entry for 2009 =)
My hubby tried to fix my computer but the virus just kept renaming itself. It was a Virtumonde virus where it send you to the websites it wants to and keeps popping up their antivirus software for you to buy etc. Anyway, he wiped my computer clean and reinstalled everything. So now I'm good to go! And I wish I could tell you where I got the virus from but I can't remember the exact site. All I did was type in "Myspace happy new year comments" into the google toolbar. It brought up a list of sites and when I clicked on one of them my computer started getting all these popups! I now have AVG installed. I think we got it from CNET.com and it's a free program. It scans e-mail and websites.

So like that wasn't enough, new year's eve my camera's XD memory card decides to mess up! Everytime I would turn my camera on it would say turn off or format. That was the only 2 choices! And if I hit the format button it would say that all info was about to be erased! Thank goodness I had almost all my pics uploaded. So it was just the ones we had taken that night and my Christmas morning video. So Eddie went online and found a site that would allow me to recover the pics off the card before we reformat it. We did get the new year pics and 2 other video's but it won't give me my Christmas morning video, which really sucks!

Ok, so besides my electronics problems...we've had a good start to the new year. New year's day we went to my parents house in the afternoon to eat our black-eyed peas, cabbage and cornbread. It's a southern tradition! More info here... http://gosoutheast.about.com/od/restaurantslocalcuisine/a/blackeyedpeas.htm
My Dad cooks the cabbage and black-eyed peas (or Hoppin' John as they call it) and I make the cornbread. He does a really good job, it all tastes really good. So we ate that and had some summer sausage on the side. The kids wanted some more so I was cutting it with one of my Dad's super sharp knives and was trying to be careful b/c I know how sharp his knives were and of course I cut right into my thumb! Ick! It's a bad slice but didn't hurt, thank goodness!

This weekend it was kinda rainy and nasty so we didn't do much. Just ran a few errands and went to different stores checking out their after Christmas sales. We always find cool stuff at Radio Shack. We found a V-tech kidzoom digital camera and a V-tech CARS learning laptop for good prices so we went ahead and got those for Logan's birthday. It's coming up in February so now we won't have to be wondering what to get him!

Oh, and I was going to post some New Year resolutions, but ya know what? I never stick to them. So I'm thinking maybe I just won't make any this year and then there won't be any disappointment, LOL!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2008-12-31T15:24:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year! Tonight we are going to my parents house. We go there every year and have a little party and shoot fireworks. It's okay and the kids have fun. I really wish that one year Eddie and I could go out and celebrate together. Oh well, maybe when the kids are older.
It kinda sucks because stupid LSU is playing some bowl so Eddie and his brother are going to watch it at a bar. Of course I can't go b/c I have to stay with the kids. And it's not like I have the kind of parents that will watch my kids for a little while. They suck. So Eddie probably won't be getting to my parents til around 11.
Oh, and I my computer got a virus last night so I'm typing in safe mode right now. It's blurring and killing my eyes! All I did was go to a site where you get comments to post on Myspace and BAM! Next thing ya know my computer is doing all sorts of wacky shit. It also erases all restore points, tried that. Thank goodness my hubby is a wiz at computers. He'll probably wipe it clean this weekend and I'll just start anew =)
Ok, well, I have to go make some cupcakes for tonight. Be safe tonight.
And here's to a HAPPY, PROSPEROUS, NEW YEAR! And don't forget to eat your black eyed peas, cabbage and cornbread tomorrow to be happy, healthy, wealthy and wise in 2009!

Christmas 2008

2008-12-27T21:02:00.004-06:00

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas. We had a good one. We all woke up around 9 a.m. Christmas morning. The kids went after their Santa gifts and stocking first. Santa got the 3 boys Nintendo DS's. Bren got Black, Chase got Blue, and Logan got Crimson. They each found DS games in their stockings along with other things and candy. We ate a quick breakfast then onto opening the other gifts. We got Chase a Losi mini RC Hemi truck. It's cute and fast and easy for him to control, he loves it! We got Logan a Razor Malibu Scooter, an Indiana Jones whip and hat (he's been dying for that!) and a Cars (the movie) car set. He was happy. And we got Brenden an LG VU cell phone and case. He's been asking for quite a while and ALL his friends have one, and he is a teen now so I figured we should go for it. He was very happy. We also got them a few other little things.
I gave my hubby a Ralph Lauren 1/2 zip pullover, RL long sleeve shirt and the kids gave him some pajama pants. From the kids I got a Hello Kitty scrabooking kit and from my hubby I got a really cool wooden Advent calendar with little doors that open for each day and $100 to go shopping for some clothes!

After opening gifts the kids played with their stuff while I cleaned up and got everyone ready. I baked 2 potato casserole's a one sweet potato casserole and we were off to my parents house for 1. There we had Christmas lunch then opened presents with them. Bren got some money (that's what he wanted) Chase got a big Nerf gun that shoots a million bullets like and oozie! And they hurt too! And he got a board game. Logan got a smaller Nerf gun and a fishing game. Eddie and I got money. After we had dessert and left a little after 4 to go home to rest for a bit until we had to be at his parents house. I picked up some more and tried to rest a bit then had to bake 2 more potato casserole's! We went to his parents house for 6:30. We ate Christmas dinner then opened presents there. Bren got more money (again, what he asked for!), Chase and Logan got Air Hawk anti gravity cars, they really do drive on the walls! Eddie got a drill & a Crown Royal gift set and I got a $50 gift card. We had dessert, again! And left there around 10. I was SO tired by the time we got home! Of course the kids wanted to play with all their stuff. Eddie is usually off between Christmas and New Year but couldn't get that this year so he had to work the next day and went to bed, sucks. I stayed up with the kids til about 2 that morning!
We had a great Christmas with lots of good food and family =)
Hope you did too!
My kids can't wait til next Christmas! Only 362 more days til Christmas, LOL!
Here are some pics- More to come...

A very sick little boy needs your prayers.

2008-12-27T20:12:00.002-06:00

Go to www.carepages.com to sign up (it only takes a sec) and search ColemanScott. He just turned 5 about 2 weeks ago and has been battling cancer since he was 2 1/2. He, his twin brother and Mom and Dad were supposed to be going to visit family Christmas eve when Coleman took a turn for the worse. And last I heard he was airlifted to a hospital Christmas day. So very sad. I'm not sure what's going on right now but I do know that he needs some good thoughts, prayers or whatever to make things better!
If you'd like, you can also check out my son's carepage by searching BubbleBoyChase.
Thanks,
K

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2008-12-25T16:52:00.001-06:00

Christmas Comments Online Mall

Merry Christmas Eve =)

2008-12-24T22:38:00.002-06:00

Tonight we had the kids "adopted" gradparents over for dinner. I fixed ham, potato casserole, sweet potato casserole, fresh green beans and rolls. It was yummy! And for dessert I fixed a tray with my sugar cookies, Cinnamon-Sugar Pecans and White Trash. They loved it.
After we finished watching Christmas in Wonderland then we opened our presents from each other. The boys each got Game Stop gift cards and Logan & Chase got games for their Leapsters. And she had a stocking filled with tons of goodies for them to pick out. They gave us a new set of dishes (that I picked out!) and then surprised us with another set! Being they are only 4 settings and we have 5 people so this way we all have plates and such and can even have company over with the extras! We gave them a really pretty suncatcher thingy (that she had actually wanted to buy one night when we were out but I told her not to and to put it on her Christmas list) and the boys gave them a picture of them in a frame. They really loved that =)
After that we let them open one small present under the tree. They all picked the ones from each other (which they had no idea what they were, LOL!) But they had seen them and really wanted to open those. They were funny gifts so I'm glad they did choose those. They were these reindeer that you fill with mini jellybeans and then to get them out the reindeer poops them out! They are so funny and they all loved them!
They left around 9:30 since we all have big days tomorrow! Now my boys are watching The Grinch, the one with Jim Carrey. And will hopefully be in bed by midnight so Santa can visit ;)
We have a big day tomorrow! I doubt we'll make it home before midnight so I'll post about it on Friday while I'm relaxing!
Merry Christmas to all! And to all a good night!

Gingerbread Houses!

2008-12-23T23:20:00.003-06:00

Well, they are really graham cracker houses, LOL! We started this tradition last year. We go to our neighbor's house 2 houses down, we make gingerbread houses and eat dinner and the kids play.
Brenden and his friend Richard were making gingerbread mansions but they both fell down =(
I helped Logan and Chase. Logan's roof fell in but I picked it up and put some crackers down for reinforcement! They both came out great. Except when we got home I had set them both on the counter but while we were'nt looking the stupid dog tried to eat Chase's and knocked it on the floor ruining it. I did get some pics before though!

When we got home I had to run to the store real quick, Bren, Chase & Richard came with me and Logan (3) stayed home with Eddie. Well, Eddie was in the back of the house cleaning the bathroom and I guess Logan couldn't find him so he walked back down to the neighbor's house telling them that we had all left him home alone!! So I get home and Dana is walking down the street with Logan and says "ya'll really did leave". I'm like no, not all of us, Eddie is home, why? So she tells me how Logan came down telling her we had all left him! I felt like a bad mom for a second! I went in the house to find Eddie who's still in the back and ask him if he knew where Logan was. He says he thought he went to the store with me! Great, just great!

After all this I made 5, yes 5 potato casserole's! I need 1 for Christmas eve, and 4 for Christmas Day...2 for my parent's and 2 for Eddie's parents get togethers. I want to do as little as possible tomorrow and Christmas so I make those ahead that way all I have to do is make the topping real quick and bake it.

Tomorrow night the kids adopted grandparents are coming over for Christmas Eve dinne with us. I have most of the house cleaned but still need to do the floors. I'm hoping to have a semi-relaxed day tomorrow. Christmas day will be busy, busy, busy! But fun nonetheless =)

I am done with all my shopping and all my wrapping so I'm ready for some Christmas fun!
Night!

Here are some pics from tonight:

Cinnamon-Sugar Pecans

2008-12-20T23:15:00.003-06:00

This one is sooo easy and sooo good! They sell these at the mall in a tiny bag for 6 bucks! So I found this recipe on Vicarious Foodie and made a whole pound for 6 bucks!

1 bag pecans
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon powder
2 zip top freezer bags

In one zip bag put egg white and 1 tablespoon water. Close and shake. Then add whole bag of pecans and coat. In the other zip bag put one cup sugar and 2 tbls. cinnamon. Pour coated pecans into sugar bag, zip tightly and shake until all pecans are coated with sugar. Pour out onto well greased baking pan and bake for 1 hour at 250* Stir pecans every 20 minutes in between.
When done let cool. They are great warm but even better when completely cooled!
Enjoy =)

Christmas White Trash

2008-12-20T23:08:00.003-06:00

Ok, I'm not really sure if that's the name or not! But I made some tonight.
Here's the recipe, I kinda made it up as I went!
4 hanfuls pretzel sticks
8 handfuls of peanut butter captain crunch
whole medium bag of Christmas M&M's
(and you can add whatever else you want too...nuts, raisins,any kind of cereal, chex mix, whatever you want!)
1 pack of Almond Bark
Half bag of powdered sugar

Put all dry ingredients in a big bowl. Melt Almond Bark as stated on package. Pour melted Almond Bark on dry ingredients and mix till coated. Then pour onto baking pan covered with wax paper, sprinkle powdered sugar all over and let dry. When dry, break apart into smaller pieces and voila! You've got some yummy eats =)

Christmas Parties!

2008-12-20T22:35:00.002-06:00

I had 3 Christmas parties this week! The first one was Wednesday night at a neighbor's house on another street. It was a white elephant party, I'd never been to one of those before. Another friend of mine was invited, thank goodness b/c it's always nice to have someone you really know with you. We walked over around 7 and were one of the first there. We each had to bring an appetizer so I brought my cookies that I make and some cinnamon-sugar pecans and my friend brought her yummy spinach and artichoke dip. There were sooo many yummy dishes there and of course I had to try everything, LOL! We ate, played some Christmas games and then did the gift exchange. That was a little awkward though. It was only a $5 limit which isn't easy! I brought an Amaryllis flower bulb and pit kit, it was $5 exactly. But the gift I picked was a pack of napkins! WTF is up with that? Not cloth napkins, freaking paper napkins! I know they did not cost more then $2.50, no way, no how! And the lady who brought them had picked a great gift that I really wanted (it was one of those things you hang on the table to hang your purse) but I didn't want to be a bitch and steal it from her. Although that is the name of the game, right?
Oh well. My friend got the 2nd suckiest gift...a tiny calculator, the kind you get for free as a reward when your kid sells school fundraiser stuff.
Besides that it was a nice party.

The next night, Thursday night was our Christmas caroling party with the neighbors on our street. I made meatballs in the crockpot, Christmas sugar cookies and cinnamon sugar pecans.
We had some good food there too. Then we all went caroling around the neighborhood. A pretty good bit of people opened their doors compared to years past. This was our 4th year doing this.

Friday night we went to my husbands company Christmas party. My parents came over to watch the kids, that was a first! The party was at the owner's house, it was nice. Catered food and an open bar! We had good time but had to leave by midnight so I could let my parents go. I know that seems like late enough but it's never late enough for my husband!

HOT!

2008-12-18T23:54:00.000-06:00

Just one week ago it was 33 degrees and snowing in the daytime! Today, it is 80 degrees! What is up with that?

More Snow Pics

2008-12-11T22:05:00.004-06:00

Well, we had way more than a 1/2 inch! By the time it was all over we had 4 inches! I think that is a record for Louisiana! We played in it all day. Well, the my 2 older boys did...me & the little one knew when we'd had enough! They must have changed clothes 3 times and dryed their shoes a million times! But they had a blast building snowmen, riding in it and having snowball fights =)

By the end of the day it was almost gone =( Especially my yard since the kids wouldn't stay out of it!

SNOW PICS 2

2008-12-11T10:03:00.001-06:00

SNOW IN LOUISIANA PICTURES

2008-12-11T09:50:00.003-06:00

Here are some pics from the early morning hours.

IT'S SNOWING! IT'S REALLY SNOWING IN LOUISIANA!

2008-12-11T06:55:00.002-06:00

OMG! It's snowing! Like really snowing big fluffy, beautiful snowflakes! We've been out playing in it since 5:30 this morning! Crazy I know! It was still dark and just awesome. I called and text everyone to tell them. The neighbors came out and we turned our Christmas lights on. It's just beautiful!
Of course none of us really own a winter coat, LOL! I walked out at first with a short sleeve shirt and bare feet! I wanted to get some pics just in case b/c who knew it was going to keep on this long! I went in and found the heaviest jacket I could and put a hoodie underneath with pajama pants, thick socks and my tennis shoes. It's 7 a.m. now and my hands are frozen! They hurt!
Oh, and my hair is soaked too! Gonna go dry off and warm up and then go back out and enjoy it =)

Hot, Cold, Wind, Rain, Sleet, Snow!

2008-12-11T00:40:00.003-06:00

That's Louisiana weather for ya! Well...not the sleet and snow part. Buuuuttttt...it is a possibility that early this morning we could have sleet and snow with maybe a half inch accumulation! Whoo hoo! I know, I know, if any Northerners are reading this they are probably laughing so hard at me, LOL! But this is exciting for us! Even if we don't get any accumulation and I just get to see a snowflake or two I'd be happy =) We haven't seen any snow in a verrrrryyyyy long time. I mean, I was born and lived in Kansas for 5 yrs plus I visited every Christmas up until I was 18 and been to Colorado many times so I've seen and played in snow. But my kids haven't. We had a little back in 2002 I think it was, so they don't really remember and Logan wasn't born til 05 so he's never seen it. It would just be so cool!
Our weather is always weird in December. Just yesterday it was almost 80 degrees and very windy. Today it was 55, windy & raining and is 39 now. And of course my roof is still not fixed and all of the tarps have blown away. It rained ALL day today, that is so not good.
Right now it is sprinkling lightly and they say to expect the sleet and/or snow sometime after 3 a.m. and into the morning. Guess we'll see!

Dec. 7th Already?

2008-12-07T23:22:00.002-06:00

Time is getting away from me again. I hate it when that happens! So much for sticking to my Christmas plan this year. Last week Chase was sick so we didn't get to do some of the things I wanted to do. He seems to be feeling much better now, thank goodness =)
Tomorrow we'll do school and some Christmas coloring sheets. I made some more sugar cookies this weekend so we'll ice and decorate those tomorrow evening.
Hope everyone had a good weekend.

December 2nd

2008-12-02T22:30:00.002-06:00

Well, first thing this morning I had to call the doctor to make an appointment. Chase just isn't getting better and is having to many asthma attacks. And even with the breathing treatments (Xopenex) I can't get it under control.
After making the appt. we went back to sleep til about 10 b/c we had been up since 4 a.m. We got up and got ready and my Mom came by to visit for a bit. Then I was on the phone with my insurance guy for about an hour trying to get some better health ins. My roofer was supposed to be here at 1 and never showed up or answered my calls, great, just great. I don't know what's up with that. By the time I was done with everything I needed to do it was almost time to take Chase to the doctor! We didn't get any school work done today or any Christmas activities :/
We got to the doc and of course had to wait. We brought the doc some of the Christmas cookies we made and a thank you card for being such a great doctor. He really is the best. He gave us some samples of the meds we needed, thank goodness and all I had to buy was his antibiotic. So it wasn't too bad and didn't break the bank! He's got what he gets every year...Mycoplasma Pneumonia. He used to have to be admitted to the hospital when he was younger but know we are able to care for him at home with Zithromax, Orapred, Xopenex and Pulmicort. He should be feeling better by tomorrow.
I also got a chance to talk to his doc about a study they are doing at the NIH (National Institutes of Health). The case manager has asked if we'd like to do a blood test to check for the STAT 3 gene mutation to see if Chase has Hyper IgE/Job's syndrome. She said she'd send me some dates and the info to our doctor so they can do the blood work and ship it off overnight. Best part about that is that the NIH pays for all of it! She said it would take about 2 to 3 months to get the results back and if his test comes back positive for the STAT 3 mutation he'll be accepted into the study in late March/ early April. Maybe then we'll be able to find some answers as to why his IgE (allergy response in the body) is so unbelievably high, and why his asthma and eczema are so bad. Chase won't be happy about having blood drawn but he'll get through it.
Ok, I have to get some sleep! Be back tomorrow night with hopefully my Christmas plan written out!
~Goodnight

December 1st- The Christmas Plan

2008-12-01T22:56:00.001-06:00

Well, it's officially December now! My kids are super excited about Christmas and are counting down the days. Friday all of the neighbors were out putting up their decorations. Saturday it rained most of the day but we were back out Sunday putting stuff up. Our street is so bright and cheery and even more so now that the neighbor across the street is getting his stuff up. He's the one that has the lights programmed to the beat of the music. So when you turn on our street you tune your radio to the channel he has listed and you can hear the music and watch the light right there in your car.
You can see a short clip from last year here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnk6_lXRIe8
This video doesn't do it justice but you get the idea.
Anyway, I put up most of my decorations by Sunday evening. I am waiting to put up the rest until I see my roofer Tuesday. I don't want to put lights up on the house and have to take them back down.
Ok, so last year my friend Becky had talked about doing a Christmas plan. It's where you plan an activity for each day leading up to Christmas. I did one and it was really fun. I haven't written it up yet, but will probably go by the one we did last year. So today I had the 2 girls I watch and our activity today was coloring gingerbread men. We also made Christmas cookies and decorated them tonight.
I'm not sure what our activity will be tomorrow. My middle son that has asthma has been sick and is getting worse. I try to do everything we can to make him better before going to the doctor for meds so we'll see.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2008-11-27T18:38:00.004-06:00

I hope everyone had a full day with family & friends. We went to my parents today. It was our first Thanksgiving with us all together in a few years. My parents just moved back from New Jersey. I am thankful to have them here again =)

I know I haven't posted in a while. Things here have been crazy busy! But the Chritmas season is upon us now which means I'll be posting almost everyday with Christmas activities that we do in the days leading up to Christmas day =)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby!

2008-11-11T23:32:00.001-06:00

Today is my hubby's 38th birthday! Of course dum dum didn't even think to take off work. I ended up cleaning the house all day b/c I had invited his parents over for cake and ice cream tonight. Then the kids and I went and got the plates and the cake and found a present for them to give to him. He's so picky so we weren't sure what to get but then I remembered this past weekend he'd been looking in the cabinets for a glass shot glass, all we had was plastic. So we got him a set of 4 shot glasses. I got him a card and put $50 bucks in it. After he got off work I took him (and the kids) to eat at his favorite Mexican restaurant. We got home about 7:30 and his parents came over shortly after.
Happy Birthday Honey =)

When it rains, it pours...literally.

2008-11-06T17:14:00.002-06:00

Well, it rained today. And it's raining in my house. I've called the roofer so many times and left messages to no avail. Still waiting for him to call me back.
Then Tuesday night, I was outside and noticed water gushing down my driveway. I head up the driveway and notice it pouring out of a pipe on side my house. I know sometimes if the AC pan overflows it will leak out but this was steaming, scolding hot water! So I run back in the house and go up in the attic. The pipe that comes off the water heater is burning hot. The water heater thermostat trip button won't trip so it's overheating and instead of exploding it has a safety valve that releases the hot water. Great, just great. I'm trying to save up for my roof and now this. So now, about every few hours it releases the very hot water into my driveway. I'm sure that can't be good for my electric bill or water bill. Today when a neighbor drove by and asked why I had steaming water coming out the side of my house, I was kind of embarrased! So I went in the attic and pulled the breaker plug. I also got the model numbers off the water heater and gave them to my husband. He went to Sears service center at lunch and thinks he got the right part. I guess we'll see tonight when he comes home and tries to fix it.

Still need a roof =( Anyone want to donate?

2008-11-04T17:54:00.003-06:00

I'm still dealing with the roof issue. A friend of mine down the street has a friend who owns his own roofing company. He gave me his estimate for labor only. It's $2,400. Not bad. But I have to get my own materials. So I've been getting estimates. I found 2 places that were really nice, the others either only sell to contractor's or were no help at all. So the 2 that did give me quotes came out only a few dollars difference. One is $3610.37 with free delivery and the other is $3615.62 with a $25 delivery charge. I'm going to go with the first one with free delivery. So $3610.37 + $2400= $6010.37 and my insurance check was for $4781.77. So I'm $1,228.60 short! Under normal circumstances we'd be able to come up with that money from my husband's work check, buuuut....being he lost over $3000.00 on his last check due to the hurricane we're pretty strapped. And then with Christmas coming up, well, it's just not good. Other family members can do without, but we've got 3 boys to buy for. This just sucks.

Being we are going to have to wait to get our roof I keep calling the roofer to at least come out and put the tarps on to hold us over. He keeps saying he's going to come but never does! All of our tarps have ripped and blown off. Thank goodness it has not rained here in a long time. But, our forecast says we have rain coming this Thursday and Friday! Yikes! If it's not covered before then it's going to get pretty wet in the attic and ruin my ceilings more. My roof looks like a strainer, LOL! Ok, well that's not really funny.
Going to go call the roofer guy again and try to get him out here!

Election Day

2008-11-04T17:52:00.002-06:00

Did you vote? I did. And I'm sitting here with my fingers crossed that the candidate I chose wins!

November and Daylight Saving Time

2008-11-02T10:19:00.002-06:00

I can't believe it's already November! I find that once Halloween hits Thanksgiving comes so fast and then next thing ya know it's Christmas. When I was younger it seemed like Christmas took forever to get here and now I feel like time just fly's by. Scary!
After trick or treating Friday night on our way to eat pizza we passed by a plant nursery and I was shocked to see they were all decorated for Christmas with the lights on and all! Then on our way home we stopped by Walmart and the Christmas music was already playing! Goodness!
And now this stupid daylight saving time switch...I hate that. I hate when it gets dark so early in the evening! Oh well, there's nothing I can do about it.
So today I guess I'll take down my Halloween decorations and start getting my Christmas decorations ready to put out!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T23:49:00.005-05:00

We had a really good Halloween! The boys dressed up...Bren wore a black cloak with his Jason mask, Chase was Ironman and Logan was a Ninja. I got the kids ready early because we had to run to Target and then to the costume store b/c I forgot to get Chase's Ironman gloves! Then we had to go by and visit with the "adopted" grandparents so they could see their costumes and give them their treat bags. They are so sweet. It sucks that my Mom went back to New Jersey last Saturday to help my Dad pack up the house since they are moving back in 2 weeks. I wished she couldve stayed for Halloween so she could see the kids. And of course Eddie's parents didn't even call or give half a shit about what the kids were even dressing as for Halloween. Oh well.
Then we went back home and I put a bucket of candy out for any trick or treaters that might come by and waited for Eddie to get home so we could leave. Each year we trick or treat in our own neighborhood and we have a block party on our street with food and drink and we all get together. But over the years our neighborhood has become a ghost town. Once you step off our street it's just baron. So we'd always try to go find a house with a light on then come back to our street and eat, drink and watch the kids play in the street.
Last year we had promised Chase's old Kindergaten teacher we'd come by her neighborhood and visit and let her see their costumes. When we got to her neighborhood it was booming! Kids everywhere, almost every house was decorated and porch lights on almost every house! It was awesome! So we decided this year to just skip our neighborhood all together and go to hers. We called her earlier in the week and she invited us over before I could even ask if she minded.
Here we have certain hours we can trick or treat, between 6 and 8 p.m. So we got there at 6:15, parked and visited with Mrs. Debbie for a little bit. She had made special treat bags for the kids, she's so sweet. Then we headed down her street to almost every house. The kids loved it. The people were so nice and complemented the kids on the costumes and of course I made sure that my boys said thank you after leaving each house =)
There was one house in particular that I will not forget! We walked up and they had a display on a table filled with cookies from "Cookies By Design" or "Cookie Bouquet" in some areas. http://www.cookiesbydesign.com/
I LOVE these cookies! I have known the owner for many, many years only because we had a store right down the road and I would stop by all the time to get me a cookie! A few years ago he closed that store and moved to a more central location so I don't get by there as much (not that I really need it anyway, LOL!) Anyway, he wasn't there it was his parents handing them out so the kids walked up to get one and she told my husband and I to come pick one out too! I was so happy!
After walking her street, which was very long we walked a half of another street and then turned around b/c the kids were getting tired of walking and Chase had to pee! We went back to Mrs. Debbie's and told her goodbye. We decided to go eat pizza since none of us had eaten yet. But along the way we stopped by our neighborhood just to see how it was and it was completely empty. Not one kid in sight, sad. And we drove by our street and there were only like 4 people out there. I guess most of us with kids left this year. So we went and ate pizza and were home by 9 and no one was outside at all, boring! I'm so glad we made the right choice to go to our friend's neighborhood.
Here are some pics-

Our Trip to Austin & San Marcos Texas

2008-10-23T21:31:00.008-05:00

On October 3rd we went to Austin, TX for Eddie's cousin Ricky's wedding. We were supposed to leave at 8 a.m. but somehow missed the alarm clock and didn't wake up til then, Ooops! We ended up leaving at 9 a.m. We made pretty good time and got to our hotel in Austin around 4:30. We stayed at the Embassy Suites-Austin Central. It was okay looking on the outside, but beautiful on the inside. It had 10 floors and a huge atrium area in the middle with fountains and large rocks. Our room was a 2 room suite with a sitting room and 1 bedroom.

The wedding was at 7 so I went ahead and started getting ready. At 6 we went down looking for his brothers but instead ran into his cousin Jeremy and his wife and kids. We hadn't seen him in over 3 years. It was really good to see him. He is like a comedian, keeps us laughing all the time! He lived with us for a few months like 13 yrs. ago and that was fun times! He and his family were leaving on the hotel shuttle to the wedding and asked if we were leaving yet. We told him we were looking for his brother's and would catch the next shuttle. But a few minutes later he came back to tell us there were 5 spots left on the shuttle so we should go now. We did and got to the wedding early, but that was okay because before the wedding they were having a cocktail hour. So when we got there not many people were there and we got to eat the yummy foods they had situated throughout the mansion!
It was definitely a different wedding. Beautiful, just different then we've ever been to. The theme was 1920's. It was held in an old mansion. They did a cocktail hour before and everyone ate, drank and mingled. Then the wedding was held on the stairs, which was pretty but very hard for everyone to see since it was in the foyer area. After the wedding we were led to the Ballroom for dinner and dancing. At the end all of the guests lined the front walk of the mansion and lit sparklers to hold up as they exited to the limo. It was pretty neat.
We missed the first shuttle back so instead rode with Eddie's brother, wife and parents. Everyone in the wedding party including the bride and groom were going out after so Eddie and his brother went. Of course I couldn't go b/c I had to stay back with the kids. Now I know why Eddie's parents rushed back to their room and quickly shut the door barely saying goodnight! I guess they thought I might ask them to watch the kids...yeah right, like I'd start now. No thanks!
Instead the kids and I went down to my sister in law Chantelle's room and hung with her til about 1 a.m. Eddie didn't get back until sometime around 3 a.m. We didn't get much sleep because we had to meet everyone for breakfast in the atrium at 9. We got there about 9:30, it was an awesome breakfast. Probably the best I've had at any hotel throughout the Country! Omelets made to order, pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, pastries, juices...anything you can imagine, for free! The best kind, LOL!
We ate and then talked with family members and then hit the road by 11. We drove to San Marcos about 45 minutes west of Austin. Cute little college town. We went to Wonder World Cave. It's a dry cave unlike the ones I've been to in Colorado, it was actually formed by an earthquake and is called the Balcones Fault Line. To read more about the park and cave tour click the link: http://www.wonderworldpark.com/html/index.html
It was pretty cool and the kids liked it. After the cave tour they take you back up in an elevator 190 feet up to an observation tower so that you can look down on the fault line. After that they take you to the anti-gravity house. That was pretty neat! I can't really explain it so read about it in the link above. After that we took a train ride across the street and through a waterfall into a petting zoo. We got to pet and feed deer. The kids like that too.
After we were done there we headed back on the country roads to I-10, but along the way saw something falling from the sky. After driving a little further we realized it was a parachute and a person! We had come up to the San Marcos Skydive base. My Dad had told me about it, but I wasn't sure where it was. He had jumped here when he was in the Army 40 yrs. ago. The airborne guys had teased he and a few other Army guys so much that my Dad and some other guys went and jumped just to prove they could do it! So we stopped and took pictures of the kids. While taking their pictures 2 girls were driving out and stopped to take pics. I asked if they'd like me to take their pic together, so I did and found out that they were the ones who had just jumped! I told them they were brave but crazy!
After that we headed home and made it back to Baton Rouge a little after 10.
Here are some pics from our trip-

Daytrip to see old friends =)

2008-10-18T23:53:00.000-05:00

Today the kids and I got up early, picked up my Mom at 9:30 and hit the interstate. We went to see our old neighbors and great friends Mrs. Sandy and Mr. John. They were our neighbors for 12 years when we lived in New Orleans. They have since moved to Pass Christian, Mississippi, a beach town just a few miles from Biloxi. We were planning to be there for 11:00 but we made 2 stops and I misread their directions and got a little lost on the way! We got there at 11:30 finally and as I passed a large, beautiful yellow house I stopped as I remembered that was the one I saw in their Christmas picture. We backed up and pulled into their long driveway. They were sitting out on their Acadian style porch and their dogs ran up to my truck to greet us. One is a huge sheepdog named Max and the other a mix breed named Dooby.
We went in and they showed us around. When they bought this house it was completed on the outside but nothing had been done on the inside. So they pretty much finished it and designed the inside the way they wanted it. It was very nice and comfortable, a lot of class with a touch of country. I left them inside to talk and catch up and I took the kids outside to go run and play on their land. They had a huge front yard and on one side had a bench and a hammock so we all took turns laying on that. And the kids had a blast playing with the dogs! Then we ate lunch. Sandy had asked if we wanted taco's or roast beef sandwiches. We opted for the roast beef sandwiches b/c I didn't want her to go through to much trouble and just keep it simple. Well, I thought we'd have just deli roast beef on bread, but no, she had cooked a real roast overnight, with bread rolls, homemade potato salad, and chips. It was SO good! After we ate we all went out back on their porch and sat and talked and watched the kids play with the dogs. Oh, and Logan figured out that he could fit underneath their house where the dogs couldn't get him, LOL! That was funny. Well, until I told him he had to come out b/c I was scared there could be spiders or some nasty bugs hiding under there with him. Then we had some brownies for dessert and talked some more. It was really good to catch up with them. The only part I didn't like was when Mr. John tried to bring up the old times of me when I was in my awkward teen years, LOL! Ya know like when I used to wear my Dad's Army camo gear and wore army boots and had pink hair, the rebellious years I guess you would call it! I put an end to that conversation real quick! See I turned out ok and now I've been married 16 yrs. and am raising 3 well rounded, well behaved, smart little boys =)
Around 3:45 we said our goodbye's and headed to the front yard to tell the dogs bye.
The beach is only 15 minutes down the road from them and I wanted to go take a peek to see what the recent hurricane's had done. So we headed down the road. We got there pretty quick and parked and walked through the sand down to the gulf. It was a chilly day so there was no one out there. The beach looked really funny, I guess b/c they had been working on leveling it out again after Hurricane's Gustav and Ike. We let the kids play for a bit, took some pictures and then headed back to the truck. I had wanted to take a drive a few minutes the other way toward Biloxi to see how it's cleaned up since Hurricane Katrina. It was pretty much completely wiped out and I know a lot of places that we used to go to aren't being rebuilt. The main thing being Red Lobster. We used to like to go there and you could see the ocean while you were eating, it was nice. Oh well, maybe another day we'll take a drive down there.
We got back on the road and made it home by 6:30.
Here are some pics of the day-

Getting behind again! Dad's 65th Birthday!

2008-10-16T14:52:00.007-05:00

My parents came into town from New jersey on Sept. 20. The 24th was my Dad's 65th birthday so I planned a surprise b-day party for him that Friday the 26th. That was a busy day! I knew my sister or brother wouldn't have time to help so I ordered everything, double checked everything, picked up everything and decorated. I thought I had it all good to go, but on my second stop to pick up the cake and sandwich tray at Ralph's market she goes and get the cake but can't seem to find the party tray. She kept walking around like an idiot until I finally said to her "your not about to tell me you can't find the sandwich tray are you?" She replies "yep, that's exactly what I'm about to tell you". I was pissed. I had hot food waiting in the truck, and my 2 older kids. I told her I had to have that tray, there's just no way I can get by without it. So she asked if I could wait while she made it. She rushed and got everything and made 100 finger sandwiches in about 20 minutes. I was still pissed though. So then I make it to the house where we had the party about 30 minutes later then planned. I had it at my parents neighbors house. I still had to set up, decorate and get dressed! Thank goodness the neighbor's girlfriend was there. She helped me out a lot. Everyone got there early and at 7:10 my Mom & sister and her kids brought my Dad over (he thought he was coming over for drinks) We were all waiting and yelled out surprise and then sang Happy Birthday to him and let him blow out his candles. He was very surprised and we had a great party with lots of yummy food!
About 40 minutes after the party got started my second surprise walked in. I had invited our old neighbors and great friends from when we lived in New Orleans. They live in Pass Christian, MS now so they had a 2 hour drive. So they walk in to the party and come toward me and we hug and my Mom is sitting at the bar in the kitchen with the funniest look on her face! Seriously, I wish I had my camera on to capture it. She hadn't seen them in so long and she was trying to figure out who they were from a distance. So I turn them around and she finally realizes who they are and she and my Dad were very surprised =) They ended up staying after the party and going back to my parents house til after midnight.
And of course my sister and brother both left early and left me to pick up and clean everything! Figures! Here are some pics below...
Dad with his grandkids...not a great pic but what can I say? It's hard to get them to all smile!

Hurricane Gustav's Final Blow

2008-10-10T12:38:00.003-05:00

That damn hurricane just delivered it's final blow...our income. Because of that storm my husband missed 3 days of work, but really it was more since the phones were out and most of the city was w/o power for much longer. He works on commision. His check for Sept. was over $3000 less than usual! That is messed up! It has also effected my income, which isn't much but still, it sucks.

Funny Things Kids Do #2

2008-10-07T23:21:00.003-05:00

Tonight I came to get on my computer and our bank website was on my screen. It hadn't been signed into but I asked who had been playing on my computer. My 3 1/2 yr. old son admitted to it. I asked him what he was doing on the bank site and he sternly answered, "I was trying to order some money"!
Oh honey, if only it was that easy to just "order" some money when we needed it, LOL!
Wouldn't life just be wonderful?

Gas Lines after Gustav

2008-09-27T19:17:00.005-05:00

Some of these look like traffic, it's not. It's the wait line for gas. These lines went on forever and people waited hours for gas!

Hurricane Gustav Destruction Pics

2008-09-27T18:50:00.003-05:00

These are random pics I took as we were driving. Eddie wouldn't stop for me to get still pics or even let me take pics of other homes because he said it was rude. Most of these were the day after and the people we standing outside so yeah, I guess it would be rude of me.

FEMA Distribution Site Pics

2008-09-27T18:18:00.004-05:00

This is where people went to pick up MRE'S, ice, water and tarps handed out for free from FEMA and the National Guardsmen. This was Sunday Sept. 7th so by then there was no lines like there were the day after hurricane Gustav. I had heard that people waited in line for many hours and lines circled for miles the first few days.

My Roof

2008-09-22T16:51:00.003-05:00

Here are the pics of my covered roof! And my not so happy hub putting the tarps up, LOL! We had to get them all up before Hurricane Ike came. It's not the best tarp job but it should work for now.

Pics & Video of Hurricane Gustav's Winds

2008-09-21T13:36:00.005-05:00

My roof shingles! The first 2 pics are from the beginning with tropical storm force winds and the last 2 pics are after the hurricane force winds. They also covered my whole driveway and my next door neighbors driveway!
The video is of Gustav's first winds. These are only tropical storm force winds, I'm not sure of the exact mph. I wanted to film the hurricane strength winds but my battery died on my camera! The power was out and I had no way to charge it.

Who needs a spoon or fork?

2008-09-20T11:19:00.004-05:00

This is Logan on Sunday, Sept. 7 at Golden Corral when we were still without power. We were all so happy to be eating a hot meal I could have cared less how he ate his food as long as he ate it!
Use for a straw #2- to suck up mashed potatoes!

Campout in our tent!

2008-09-19T22:36:00.004-05:00

This is where we slept Thursday night Sept. 4. We set up our tent in the backyard and had a campout. It was actually cooler outside then it was in our house! It wasn't too bad. Well, the lumpy grass beneath me kept me from sleeping and the sound of all the generators was pretty aggravating... but my goodness the stars were awesome! As you can see Logan was excited, but I think you can see the fear on Chase's face! He was so scared and didn't sleep either.
Ok, I couldn't get a straight picture of the tent because it was so dark!

Hurricane Party Pics!

2008-09-18T21:36:00.014-05:00

These pictures are from our "Goodbye Gustav, Welcome Ike" hurricane party Friday night Sept. 5. It was at our neighbor Marlen's house. They had 2 generators and 2 window ac units going. Our other neighbors Chuck & Katie brought all the fish out of their freezer, they cooked the fish and french fries in a pot on a burner using propane. We also had hamburgers and beans on the propane grill.

MRE'S (Meals Ready to EAT) Pics

2008-09-18T21:36:00.008-05:00

Ok, I found my camera cord! I'm gonna post the pics in different posts. But I still need to get the pics off my iPhone. The ones on my phone are all of the damage.
Alright, so here are the MRE pics. This first one is of the meal I ate... I had the Vegetarian Cheese Tortellini. It comes in the brown bag with all this stuff! It had the entree, spiced apples, peanut butter, crackers, an energy bar and some M&M's (the best part of course!) It also comes with a lemonade packet, hot tea packet, seasoning packet, spoon, matches, napkin and those two bags at the top of the picture. The clear one is the hot beverage bag and the green one is folded over but is the heating bag. All you do is add a small amount of water and the packet inside heats up and it gets really hot too! Then you open the brown box and take out a sealed packet that contains the food and put it in the heating bag for 10 minutes. The meal was okay. Kinda taste like canned food. What I had reminded me of canned ravioli! Definitely not bad when you're in need of a hot meal and you don't have any electricity to cook! (or when you're not as prepared as you thought you were when a hurricane hits and the powers out for 8 days!)
The other picture is of some of the other choices that come in the box. They come 12 to a box.

Hurricane Gustav Lessons! Funny!

2008-09-18T21:36:00.002-05:00

Gustav’s Guide to Hurricane Survival

Lessons Learned During and After the Storm

The hurricane grouch quotient can be calculated by adding the number of children and pets in a home without power, multiplied by the number of days quoted on the Entergy telephone recording, divided by the number of fans or portable air conditioners powered by your home generator, (however if you were last in line at Home Depot and have no generator then multiply by the daily high for that day reported by either Pat Shingleton or Jay Grymes), then add the number of trips to the washateria and the days left until school opens. Discount by the percentage of time spent at neighbors who have power. Recalculate as often as necessary

No matter how many times you flick the switch, lights don't work without electricity.

Vienna sausages only appear on the food pyramid during hurricane season.

Gas mileage is recalculated based on miles per fume.

Lovebugs do not disappear in 80mph wind gusts.

Disasters can cancel one LSU football game but there will be even bigger casualties if we cancel two.

Despite protests, kids can re-live their parents’ youth when there were only 3 tv channels!

Cats are even more irritating without power.

Baton Rouge without traffic lights resembles Mexico City, Rome, Los Angeles and New York City all rolled into a single snarl.

A 7 lb bag of ice will chill 6-12 oz beers to a drinkable temperature in 11 minutes, and still keep a 14 lb. turkey frozen for 8 more hours.

There were a lot of really big trees around here!

Just because you're 18 doesn't mean you can stay out as late as you want. Mayor Holden meant business when he said curfew.

People will get into a line that has already formed without having any idea what the line is for.

Calories consumed during a hurricane or power outage do not count.

Telemarketers function no matter what the weather is doing. New Delhi does not check the weather report in Baton Rouge.

Most popular text message after September 1: do u hve pwr

Twenty-seven of your neighbors are fed from a different transformer than you, and they are quick to point that out!

Crickets and cicadas can increase their volume to overcome the sound of 14 generators.

Dirty clothes in an unsupervised hamper multiply at an exponential rate.

Coffee, spaghetti and frozen pizzas can be made on a grill. (so can pancakes & sausage!)

He who has the biggest generator wins.

Tree service companies are under-appreciated, except after hurricanes.

Our Lady of the Lake hospital never closes. Really.

Water will fill the Acadian Thruway underpass, even sometimes when it is not raining.

There are a lot more stars in the sky than most people thought.

If you owned a store that sold only ice, chain saws, gas and generators, you would be rich

With only a small amount of guilt South Louisiana can collectively pray a second hurricane to landfall in another state or country.

I need a new roof!

2008-09-15T23:42:00.003-05:00

It rained yesterday and today and all I could hear was drip, drip everywhere. We have tarps on the roof but some spots are just too steep to cover. I can't even get a roofer to come out here to give me an estimate, let alone cover the open spots. I called tons of numbers in the phone book today. I know they are all overwhelmed right now b/c so many people here have roof damage. The first one I called couldn't come out to give me an estimate until October 13! Then the next few I left my name & number with. Another had put a flyer on my door and they are coming out Wednesday afternoon. And then my neighbor stopped by on his way out today and I asked him if he had any roofer friends. He did and called him right there to give him my number. He called me back within seconds and is coming out tomorrow morning at 10:30. I told him that I was getting screwed by the insurance company and he said he knows some loophole's and that he will fight the ins. company for more money. But he was talking about signing contracts and all sorts of stuff that I am not familiar with!
I have no idea how all this works and Eddie will be at work when he comes. So I asked my brother to come help me so I don't do something stupid on a whim. Eddie wants me to get at least 3 estimates and we'll go with the best price.
I did receive my estimate summary and check from Allstate today. I have no idea how to read the estimate. But I must say that from what I can read the adjuster was generous...he added in every little thing plus some. And my check was for $4781.78 not $3700 like he had originally told me. But that still doesn't cover a new roof, the electric meter box that is falling off my house or my fence (that I fixed all by myself today!) or the water spots on my ceiling, sheetrock and paint...all of which I will probably do myself anyway.
I read the FEMA website and they say that if your insurance is insufficient to cover the damages to your house they might be able to help. They say to write a letter explaining the situation along with the estimate summary. I think I am going to do that.
Ok, off to bed. I have to be up & ready to deal with the roof stuff tomorrow. I'll post tomorrow night on how that goes!
Oh, and I still have to post the hurricane pics. I lost my cable to upload my pics in this mess. I know it's around here somewhere!

Are we done now?

2008-09-13T14:10:00.004-05:00

I can only hope! I am so done with all this hurricane bullshit. I'm ready for things to get back to normal and to be able to re-stock my fridge so we can eat like normal people again.
We got a lot of wind from Ike. Way more than we expected...that thing was 3 1/2-4 hours away! I feel sorry for Galveston & Houston and surrounding areas. We lost power again last night around 11 p.m. from Hurricane Ike, but got it back by 11 a.m. I had just brought the generator back to my friends! So we rode over to their house real quick and picked it up, ran the extension cords, again! and were able to keep the fridge, light, tv, fans and 2 window AC units running. We sat outside with some neighbors til about 2 a.m. then came in and went to sleep. When I got up this morning I had gone out front and all of the neighbors were outside looking up. The power truck was in a neighbors backyard sawing off tree branches that are on some property behind the fence. I'm guessing the ones that were hitting our power lines. The people who own that land with the trees don't take care of them and think it's not their problem to cut them when needed. Asshole's!
Our gas stations are all empty. Only very few have gas left. And I have no idea when we'll get more gas. I'm sure it can't be too long.
We went to lunch today and on the way back we saw huge billows of black smoke coming from the neighborhood across from my parents neighborhood. We saw the house and turned on the street behind it. Oh my gosh, their carport was on fire and the flames were getting bigger by the second. Just as we saw it we had also seen an entergy (our power co.) truck pull away. I'm wondering if they were working on their pole and maybe encountered a hot wire touching the house or something. Either way, it was so sad.
This afternoon we just chilled at the house and Eddie and the boys played with their remote control trucks in the street. Later I went to the grocery store and got what I could. Still not much in the lunchmeat or cheese section. And the frozen section is getting stocked more now. I know in time things will be back to normal, and I can't wait.

The Nightmare That Just Won't End!

2008-09-12T14:44:00.004-05:00

Yeah, well, I tried to go back to sleep but that didn't work out so good. I kept hearing noises. Then I heard a big bam. So I go outside to check it out and my garbage can had blown over. I rolled it under the carport and when I turn around I see the security light pole behind our fence start to light up like a fire cracker! It was wierd, b/c the light was off and I'm pretty sure there was no power but there it was sparkling and crackling and smoking and looking like it was on fire. Can I tell ya...I ran faster then I've ever run into my house! I woke up Eddie and as we were watching out the window it exploded! That was really freaky!
Then about 30 minutes later I hear another noise. Eddie heard it to this time so we both got up and went out back. It was our propane bottle, the kids pool fell over and knocked it down. Right as I turned to go back inside a transformer behind our house blew. It's a weird sound and the light was awesome! It's like everything turned almost blue-white for a split second and it wasn't lightening. After that the first half of my street lost power. So the whole neighborhood except for 6 of us had power and I was one of them! We're still going strong.
So after all that I go in and try to get to sleep. But my phone rings at 8 and it's my next door neighbor telling me that she had plugged her extension cord in around 2 a.m. and she hoped I didn't mind. She had someone bringing her a generator and would unplug it soon. Ok, try to go back to sleep yet again and 6 minutes later my phone rings again! This time it's my sister. She had to go to work today and when she brought her little girl to the daycare they didn't have power so she wanted to know if I could watch her. She brought her around 8:30. Chelsea was still sleepy so we layed down together and she fell asleep and just as I was finally falling asleep the phone rings again! It was the insurance adjuster and it was very bad news. My total damage according to them is $9000 something (i can't remember the exact #) Our deductible is $500, BUT after Katrina they added a 5% of homes insured value deductible as well. And that comes out to be $5400 something. So minus that from the $9000 and my total damage check that I will receive is $3700 something! OMG, are they mental? I need a whole new roof, that's anywhere from $5400 to $7000! Plus the electric box in back, my fence, the water spots on my ceilings. The guy apologized and said it wasn't his doing so don't be mad at him. And I'm not mad at him. But I am going to fight this with Allstate. And I'm also going to check with FEMA b/c I had heard something about them paying what insurance won't. Although I'm sure there's an income cap on that too and I'll be left out again.
We're still expecting some more bands to come through. The wind is pretty heavy right now but no rain so the kids are out riding their bikes. They are loving the wind. I'm gonna go out there with them and will update more later.

Thanking someone!

2008-09-12T04:54:00.003-05:00

It's 4:54 a.m. I woke up a little bit ago b/c I heard the sound of plastic tarps ripping in the wind. So I went outside to check it out. The first thing I notice is an extension cord plugged into my porch outlet, hmmm. So I walk out to see where it leads and it is going into my next door neighbors window? That's weird. So I look around some more and realize that we are one of few on our street with power! So then I walk to the back of the house and see the front of the neighborhood is pitch dark! Then I walked down our street and see the whole back of the neighborhood is dark as well! I know it sounds really weird, but we're all on separate grids.
I am so thankful right now!
I figured I'd post this now, just in case. I hope I'm not jinxing myself!
I can't believe we're getting this strong of wind from Hurricane Ike. It's really bad out there. I'd say as windy as Hurricane Gustav was to begin with.
Ok, going back to sleep. Will update more later if possible!

Remembering 911

2008-09-11T22:45:00.002-05:00

I almost forgot today is Sept. 11. 7 yrs. later but still seems like yesterday. Thank you to all of our troops for everything they do to protect our Country and protect our freedoms. And a big thank you also to the Tennessee Army National Guard (sorry I can't remember what batallion it was) but they were the ones working the FEMA distribution site here in Baton Rouge.

Hurricane Ike, It's Crazy Here Again!

2008-09-11T21:21:00.005-05:00

We went out to dinner tonight and the roads were a mess! Or more specific, the gas stations were a mess. They were packed just like they were for Hurricane Gustav and after. I guess someone heard that if Hurricane Ike hits Texas we won't get gas and the other rumor is that gas prices are going up. I don't know which is true but omg, people were freaking out.

They changed the forecast and now say we will be getting even stronger winds tomorrow, tomorrow night and Saturday! They say to expect 30-35 mph winds with 55 mph gusts! It's supposed to be similar to Hurricane Rita in 2005. We just had a lot of wind and rain, we didn't lose power but I remember our neighbors did b/c we let them plug an extension cord into our outlet on our front porch. I am just so ready for all this to be done with.

We went back to the store today. I was able to find some bologna! But they still have a long way to go before the shelves are fully stocked again.

Always for the Poor...

2008-09-11T11:59:00.003-05:00

Never for the middle or upper class. I just don't think it's fair. And yes, my Dad did teach me that nothing in life is fair! But c'mon, you'd think at least one ot two things would be. So here's the deal...Tuesday they implemented the FEMA emergency food stamp program. I was excited to hear about that b/c being we lost everything in our fridge and freezer we'd be able to get some money to replace all our food. If you think about everything you have in there it really does add up. And also, we have spent a lot of money on food and gas in the days following hurricane Gustav.
Well, as usual, and I should have known, they put an income limit on the program. So of course we didn't make the cutoff. It's just not fair.

Wednesday Sept. 10

2008-09-10T22:48:00.005-05:00

Today we just stayed home and chilled. The roads still aren't safe because there are so many people on the roads and some of the traffic lights aren't working yet. The stores still aren't fully stocked and they close between 5 and 8 p.m. Everything else in the city closes before 10 p.m. We are still on curfew, it was 8 p.m. but now it's 10 p.m. It should be lifted by Friday.
Now we're just watching Hurricane Ike. I'm pretty sure it's going to Texas, and I don't wish it upon anyone but I'm just glad it's not coming for us! Although, I'm still keeping a close eye on it until I see it make that more west track. We are still going to get some of it though. They say starting tomorrow to expect Tropical Storm conditions...rain and 15-20 mph winds and tomorrow night the same but with 30 mph gusts. The same for Friday as well. I can deal with that. Not sure my roof can handle it though. And if we lose power I will cry! That I can't handle again!

Hurricane Gustav

2008-09-10T17:49:00.006-05:00

(I think everything is as it should be. Most of this was written on my iPhone each night. I don't have the strength to read over everything and make corrections!)
Hurricane Gustav
Monday-Day 1
The first winds of hurricane gustav began around 5 am. They weren't
too bad, just a nice breeze. Around 10 am it got pretty bad. Our
electricity blinked off and on many times until 12:44 it went off for
good. After that things got much worse! We went from continuous
tropical storm force winds to continuous hurricane force winds with
gusts of 91 mph. At least that's what I heard on the radio. I think we
had higher winds than that. Around 2 we started losing roof shingles.
At first they were gently flying off but as the winds grew stronger
the shingles started shooting off like missles. Most landing in our
front yard, driveway and street. We lost about 40% of our roof. At one
point we heard a loud thud on the roof. I thought for sure we had lost
our chimney! I looked out the window and saw my neighbors turban in my
driveway and then a gust take it to the end if the street. About 1
minute after that I hear another thud and as I looked out the window
I saw my roof vent fly across the street into my neighbors driveway. I
had opened the front door then yelled back to eddie to see if he
wanted me to go get it, right as I did that he opened the back door.
Do you know what happens when 1 door is open and you open another? It
creates a suction. Then add the 75 mph wind to that! Well, it slammed
the door on my hand, right in the middle. Omg it hurt so bad!
After seeing the vent fly off we went up in the attic to see what had
happened and saw a huge hole in the roof! Rain was just gushing in! We
really didnt have anything to cover it with so eddie just stapled some
plastic sheeting over it.
After that it just got much worse. I'd say it was really bad for about
2 hours. The wind was so strong...probably the worst I've seen in my
32 yrs. that I've lived in Louisiana. I was actually scared.
When it got dark it was even scarier! It was pitch black not a light
in site. It was so dark you couldnt even see your hand in front of
your face. And all you could hear was the sound of generators. Three
if our neighbors had them along with window AC units. This is when i
realized how unprepared we really were!
All we had was an inverter. It plugs into the truck lighter and we
could run a fan and nothing else. But it kept tripping, not good. It
was dark, hot, muggy and sticky. I could not get to sleep and neither could Chase.
The rain and wind continued through the night but not as bad.

Tuesday-Day 2
Its still raining with a little breeze. The kids and I didnt get any
sleep last night. It was just too hot and sticky. We had a fan going
but the inverter plugged to the truck kept tripping. Once the fan went
out it was just unbearable. Bren and Logan did sleep a little but
chase and I were up all night. Chase has severe eczema, asthma and
allergies. He can't be in this muggy stagnant air. And the heat makes
his eczema so much worse. I am debating on whether or not I should
leave. I am torn between doing whats best for my kids and having to
leave my husband behind. Eddie has to go check the dealership each day
to see if they have power and when they do he'll need to call his
employees into work and get things rolling again so that they can get
back to business and make some money or we're gonna be screwed!
I did get to take a warm shower though, there was still a little hot
water left.
Even though we weren't really supposed to we went out on the roads to
see the destruction. It was bad! Trees and power lines down
everywhere. Business's ripped apart. We had heard on the radio that a
restaurant a few miles down the road was open on generators. So we
took a ride over there. Well, it was packed. But then we heard that
the Jambalaya Shop was opening up at 10:30. We got there at 10:48 and
there must have been 100 people in line We just decided to head home
so we wouldnt waste gas.
Once home i went outside to clean up. Its still raining on and off
and breezy. I cleaned up all the shingles in my yard, street and
driveway while eddie went up on the roof to nail the tarps down. We
didnt have enough tarps and theres none left in town so part of the
roof is still exposed. Its just going to have to wait because there's
no more tarps left in town.
After that I went out to see if any stores were open. We had heard
that albertsons was going to open at noon. So after I was done
cleaning I took a ride over there. It was even worse. There must have
been 200 people in a line that wrapped around the strip mall its
attached to. All I needed was bread really so I asked a lady walking
out if they even had any bread. She said they didnt and that it was
hot and dark and they were only letting 5 people in at a time and they
only had 10 minutes to shop. I drove off crying. Everything that was
going on was just too overwhelming for my tired brain.
Later in the afternoon we all went out to go see the damage that was done to Eddie's brother's neighborhood. It was bad, there were so many trees down and so many trees IN people's homes. On the way back we did find a gas station that had just opened and we were only 3rd in line. We sat there for almost 30 minutes b/c people werent just filling up their cars they were filling up their gas cans too! After we left there we found a Chinese restaurant open and got a few things since we hadn't had lunch.
We went home and hung out with the neighbors that were talking in the
street. Our neighbor and good friend 2 houses down invited us to come
over for dinner and told us we could sleep over. It was the best news
of the day! They have a generator and a window AC unit. His girlfriend had cooked brisket on the grill, homemade mashed potatoes and little sausages in the crockpot, it was awesome!
We ate a nice hot meal then went home for a little bit. Eddie had said
he didnt want to sleep there, he wanted to stay at the house. I wasn't
sure what to do b/c I didnt want to leave my husband home alone but
yet I knew I couldn't sleep in our hot house. We tried to stay and go
to sleep but it just wasn't happening. We were sweating so bad. So at
1 a.m. I told Eddie that we were going to Marlen's. He said he didnt
mind so I told I loved him and off we went with our pillows. Marlen
had left the door unlocked for us so we walked in and made ourselves
comfy on the couch and floor. Oh my gosh, it was so much better! We
all fell right asleep.
Just an add on...You should see how bright the stars are when there are no lights around to interfere! It was awesome!
They have put us on curfew, you can't be on the roads between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

Wednesday-Day 3
Today was a HORRIBLE day! It started out great. We slept so much
better at Marlen's. Finally got a few hours of sleep in the nice cool
generated AC. Woke up and watched some TV. Dana fixed pancakes and
sausage on the propane grill, it was awesome. After breakfast I went
home and took a freezing cold shower. All of our stuff is electric so
no more hot water, that sucked! It was so cold i couldn't get all the
way in. So I hung my head down and washed my hair and at the end I
spun around real quick and jumped out! That was not fun.
When we were all dressed and ready we hit the road to to find gas and
food. I was in desperate need of bread! The gas lines spanned miles so
we went to find a store with food instead. We ended up at a local
grocery down the road called Ralph's. They were running on generated
power strong enough to power everything in the store including the AC!
They didnt have much, no bread, but i was able to get some cheetos,
doritos, sprite, capri suns and some spaghetti and noodles to give to
marlen for dinner that night since we were supposed to eat dinner and
sleep over there again.
We also went looking for a generator and a window AC unit. Of course
the whole rest of the city was doing the same thing! We just gave up. Instead we went by Eddie's parents house to see how they were. His Dad let us borrow his inverter which is much bigger than ours so hopefully it will work better. We also stopped by Eddie's work and they had just gotten their power back.
Here's where the day gets bad.
When we got home I was sitting out front on my bench smoking and
Marlen came over, he wanted to know if we got a generator. I told him
we didnt have any luck. So he tells me that some friends of his were
coming to stay at his house and that there would be no room for us. I
almost started crying right there. I'm glad I still had my sunglasses
on. I walked down there got my stuff and was gone before he walked
back in. When I got back in the house I just started balling like a
big baby. The thought of having to stay in my hot ass
sauna house, in the dark, with no real food just sent me over the
edge. I was so upset. Eddie heard me and came to check on me. I told
him what happened and he tried to console me, he was so sweet. He told
me we'd run the truck all night so we could run the fans and we'd go
find some real food. This was around 7:00. We found a McDonald's open
but only the drivethru. There were 20 cars in line. We were going to
wait but we saw Popeyes was open across the street with no line so we
jammed over there only to find a sign saying "closed for curfew".
Great, just great. We knew if we got back in the McDonalds line we'd
never make it home by the 8 o'clock curfew. So we went to 2 other
restaurants, 1 was closed and the other stopped serving. I was really
freaking out then. It was almost 8 so we headed home hungry and tired.
We ended up eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips.
We hooked up the inverter to the truck and were able to run the fan,
lamp and TV. It was still hot but I knew I had to just deal with it. We ran the truck all night so that we could have the fans. Again though, I couldn't get to sleep.
Oh, and I almost forgot...I washed our clothes outside in the baby pool! And actually hung a line in the carport to dry just like in the old days! Only thing is...it's so humid here they wouldnt dry. And what happens when it's 100% humidity and wet? Things mold! So one of Bren's new shirts got mold on it.

Thursday-Day 4
I got a little sleep last night, not much. It was really hot and 100%
humidity. We let the truck run all night so we could run the inverter
to run the fan. It worked, well it was still hot but at least the air was moving and the truck did fine and only burned like an 1/8 of a tank so that's not bad at all. Eddie had to go to work today. I really don't know why, they do have power but the phones and Internet are out so they
really can't do anything. So while he's there in the ac we're stuck
here in this hot ass house. And now the truck battery is dead from
running the fan with the truck off. Not that it really matters anyway,
I'm about to run out of gas! And I know what your thinking...go get
some gas, right? Well, its not that easy. Only a few gas stations are
open and the wait for gas is 3 to 5 HOURS! Its unbeleiveable. I am
going to go out for a bit just to see whats open.
Ok, eddie came home for lunch and jumped the truck off for me. We had
a little gas in one of our gas cans so he put that in the truck. He
took the truck back to work and i took his car to go find gas and food.
Everywhere I went the lines were too long. Now it would be different
if I didnt have 3 kids to tote with me. But they just can't handle
sitting in line for hours.
So we got on the interstate and headed to the next city just a few
minutes east. Right when we got off the interstae I saw the gas line.
It wasn't to bad at all! We got in line and within about 15 minutes we
were pumping gas! They had security guards guiding the line and it
went very smoothly. After pumping gas in the car and gas jugs we
parked and went in because they had a Subway! AND as we were getting
out of the car we saw a guy carrying ice! I was in heaven...gas, food
and ice with little wait :) we grabbed the ice first because they were
almost out then we got lots of subway sandwiches and pizza's and large
drinks with ice and dr. Pepper and candy! We were all so happy :)
On the way home we found a Rite Aid that had just opened on generated
power. I was in desperate need of some pull-ups and wipes for Logan. They had
those and anything else u could need. Then we went home, Eddie was
there they closed the dealership early. Then we went out looking for
an open chase bank. We did find one but they had already closed. What
I really need is our bank that has our savings to open! Hopefully that
will be tomorrow!
Tonight we ate our subway sandwiches and cold dr. Pepper. It was 95
degrees today so its hot as hell in this house! So tonight we set up
our tent out back and we're going to camp out! It actually feels cool
out there unlike this sauna house. I think it will be fun :)
Today really turned out to be a good day. And we just heard on the
radio that one of the stores is getting a truckload of food and will
open tomorrow at 8 a.m. AND there's a possibility we could get our
power back between tomorrow and Monday according to the radio news
report!!!!

Friday-Day 5
Today was a pretty good day. We survived our campout in the tent! We
got up at dawn and it was actually chilly. We headed in the house,
Eddie had to get ready for work and I wanted to go lay in my bed
and try to get some real sleep b/c Chase kept me up most of the night!
At 9:30 my brother text to tell me my parents house got power back on.
So the kids and I went over there to take warm showers and wash
clothes. We got cleaned up and hung around waiting for my brother and
his girlfriend to finish their wash. Around 1 the next door neighbor
came over with roast beef poboys for all of us! He is so sweet :)
After we ate I went across the street from my parents house to my 2nd parents house. That would be Mr. Sonny and Mrs. Kathy. The ones who's house we swim at every Summer, I've known them for 18 yrs. now. Well, they also got their power back on so they let me borrow their generator! Yeah, that was so sweet of them. So now tonight we can at least turn on a light, run the fan and watch TV! We had tried to find a window AC unit but couldn't so we'll go again tomorrow and see if we can get one.
And just in case you're wondering why we're not staying at my parents house since they have power and we don't...well, they have cats and have had cats in that house for 20 yrs. And bring Chase has severe eczema, asthma and allergies he can't be in that house too long before his asthma attacks start and his skin starts turning red and even more itchy! So there was just no way we could sleep there at night. During the day when I'd be there washing clothes he'd stay outside half the time. So that totally sucks that we had a place to stay with power but couldn't stay there!
The kids and I went to the grocery store for a few
things, Bren and Chase waited in the truck so they could make sure nobody stole the generator. Not only were they open and fully functional but there was not
a line 200 people long! It was actually very slow and quiet in there.
I got most of what I needed except for cold stuff. There was no
produce, no frozen food, no meat or chicken and no deli stuff like ham
and cheese. But that was ok b/c I don't really have anywhere to put it
just yet. Speaking of not having a place to put cold stuff...I had
cleaned the nasty, stinky fridge out but the ice that had melted in
the freezer leaked down to the bottom of the fridge. Well it started
to mold, EW! I didnt touch it b/c I wasn't sure what I should do. With
chase's asthma I didnt think it was a good idea to clean it with him
in the house. Well, when we got home from washing clothes Eddie was cleaning it out with the shop vac...he was NOT happy! He washed all the shelves and stuff in the kids pool and I cleaned out the inside of the fridge with bleach.
After we were done with that we walked down to Marlen's house. They and some of our other neighbors were having what we called a "Goodbye Gustav, Hello Ike" hurricane party! Our neighbor across the street, Chuck, brought down all of his fish from his freezer and we had fried speckled trout, fried and grilled bass, hamburgers, fries and beans. Since I lost everything in my fridge and freezer I brought a big box of Hunt's snack pack pudding for dessert, LOL! My friend Katie made us some mixed drinks and we had a great time.

Saturday-Day 6
Today didnt start off so great. I slept a little last night. We had
the generater running the fans but it was still hot. Around 5 a.m. I
woke up because the fans had gone off. So I got a flashlight and went
out back to check it and it was out of gas. I wasn't able to go back
to sleep after that. Eddie got up at 7 and got some gas so now it's
back on. Eddie had to go into work for a little bit to get some things
done. When he came to tell me bye he was being really mean so we
fought. I called him after he left and he told me that he's just
aggravated and wants this shit to be over with. Don't we all!?!
Its 10 a.m. now and the kids are still sleeping. I'm laying next to
Logan listening to the radio and its just not good news. Now they are
asking us to prepare for hurricane Ike. They're telling us what they
are doing to speed things up here as far as the cleanup goes. SO MANY
people had tree damage and everywhere you look there are piles and
piles of tree branches and debris. They don't want this stuff to
become missles if this new hurricane comes! At first they said they'd
have everything cleaned up in 6 months! Are they crazy! Then they
renegotiated 30 days. And now they say they have to have it cleaned up
in 5 days!
Oh, and how in the hell are we supposed to get food and the supplies
we need to prepare for another hurricane? Our stores still aren't
fully stocked! And the cost of all of this? Omg, don't even ask. Its
cost a lot of money buying extra gas and food. I'm seriously almost out of money.
I spent most of the day at my parents house, washing clothes and cleaning their kitchen since they will be coming to visit on Sept. 20. Eddie drove up before going home to show us what he found...it was a window AC unit! We were all so happy! Finally we would be able to sleep with cool air.
We went home and put it in the kids room since it's easier for us all to sleep in there. We turned it on and it cooled that room pretty darn good. I must say we all slept better that night. AC is such a wonderful thing =)

Sunday-Day 7
We woke up freezing cold this morning! That little AC window unit is
kicking ass! I slept much better and so did Eddie and the kids. I got
up and went outside to cut the grass and clean off the front porch. I
also put my plants and stands back up. I thought maybe I should wait
since we're not sure where hurricane Ike is going but I guess I'm just
hoping for the best.
By the time I was done I was all sweaty so I figured a cold shower
would feel good, but I was wrong, LOL, not that cold!
After getting ready the kids and I took a ride over to the FEMA/Corps
distribution site. This is where they hand out MRE,s (meals ready to
eat), ice, water and blue tarps for free. They had said that the lines
had dwindled and there was no wait. And there wasn't. It was very
easy. We parked and walked over to the line entrance. There were army
trucks and many guardsmen all with rifles over their shoulders! They
were really nice though and gave the kids some stickers. I had
reminded my kids beforehand to say thank you and to tell them thank
you for everything they do. That put a smile on the guys faces :) So
went through the line with a shopping cart and they gave us a box of
12 MRE's then walked up a little more and they gave us 2 big bags of
ice. They were out of water and tarps so we might try to go back
tomorrow. The reason we went to receive this stuff isnt just because
it was free but b/c #1 its really hard to find ice and #2 b/c they
told us to prepare for hurricane Ike and its hard to do that when the
stores only have limited supplies AND Its really hard to cook a hot
meal with no power! Plus we thought it would be fun to try a MRE to
see what its like! When we do try it I'll update on how it works and
how it tastes!
Speaking of power, Eddie hooked up the computer and Internet to the
generator this morning and went online to our power companies
website. We thought we would have power by now but according to the
outage map we are in a red box area. What does the red box mean? Well,
it means we should have power sometime between Sept. 11 and Sept. 24!
What? Are you kidding me? I really don't know how much more of this I
can take! I'm tired of the darkness and the heat and all the extension
cords and my messy house and most of all the constant loudness of the
9 generators on our tiny street! Just picture 9 loud lawnmower
engine's running 24/7. And to top it off Logan (3) has started doing
this very irtitating screaming/screeching sound whenever he hears a
generator. I'm guessing its his way of coping with the noise?
Anyway, this afternoon we went over to my parents to wash some more
stuff and Brenden went across the street to finish cleaning the
neighbors yard. He made 30 bucks, he was happy. And tonight we went
out for a hot meal at Golden Corral! A buffet with everything you
could want and after not eating all day I wanted everything, LOL!
We stopped by the store for few things then headed home. When we
turned onto the main road to our neighborhood we noticed some more
places with power and street lights all the way down. But as we turned
into our neighborhood it was pitch dark :(
So we can only hope they're getting closer, right??
Tomorrow, maybe tomorrow. Goodnight.

Monday Sept. 8
Day 8
Eddie went to work this morning. The kids and I got ready and went to
see my brother at my parents house. He wanted to go to the FEMA
distribution site to get some MRE's, water and tarps. There was no
line so we went through pretty quick. We got another box of MRE's to
keep on hand for emergencies. We also got a 24 pack water b/c I
couldn't find any at the store. And they had tarps, that's what I
needed the most! They give you 2 and they are huge.
We went back to my parents to hang out and while we were watching the
kids jump on the trampoline I figured I'd call my home phone to see if
my answering machine would pick up. That's how I know if the powers on
or not. And guess what? It picked up! I was so shocked I hung up and
called back just to make sure I heard right! I packed up the kids and
went home and we had power! Lights, hot water and cold AC! Electricity
is the best thing ever!
Of course now it's time to clean up, ugh.
My house is a disaster, there are extension cords everywhere and more
stuff to be washed. BUT at least I have the resources to do that now!
There are still people in this city that don't have power so I guess I
should be thankful :)
Eddie got home around 7 and he went right up on the roof to put the
last tarp up. Now I have a blue roof! The insurance adjuster comes
tomorrow.
I need to go to the store so I can restock the fridge but I'm just too
tired to do that right now. We have nothing to eat for dinner so
tonight I let each kid pick out an MRE to eat! I figured we should try
them and see what they are like and let ya'll know too. I took
pictures too, they are interesting and come with a lot of neat things!
Ok, so Bren picked the Beef, cheese macaroni. His came with the beef
mac, a packet of cheese, bread, applesauce w/ raspberry purée,
skittles, lemon-lime drink, and hot apple cider.
Chase got Meatloaf w/mashed potatoes, crackers w peanut butter and
jelly packets, cookies, tootsie rolls, orange drink and a tea mix.
Logan got meatballs w/ marinara sauce, bread, tropical punch drink,
cheese pretzels and some peanuts. And something else but I can't
remember.
Eddie got chicken pasta w/ pesto sauce, bread, chocolate pudding,
pears, lemon lime drink and coffee.
I got cheese tortelini in red sauce, crackers w peanut butter, spiced
apples, M&M's, a lemonade drink ( w aspartame in it, yuck) and a tea
mix packet.
All MRE packs come with napkins, spoon, salt, wet nap, matches, and
mint gum. You also get a hot beverage bag and the MRE heating bag. You
stick the meal bag into the heating bag and add a small amount of
water. Once the water is added it activates the heat pack and starts
to steam right away then gets really hot. Its really neat how it works
and within a few minutes you have a pretty decent hot meal!
After dinner which was late probably 9 I was so tired. I cleaned up a
little, checked my e-mail then hit the bed. The kids said I was so out
of it that I was talking nonsense!

Tuesday Sept. 9
My last update...
I finally got a good nights sleep! I'm still tired and I wish I could
have in more but I have to get the house clean b/c the insurance
adjuster is coming today. I'm not sure what time he just said in the
afternoon.
So I cleaned the house then got showered and dressed in something
decent (compared to the shorts and t-shirts I've been in all week!)
and fixed my hair and put makeup on. I actually felt like a normal
human being again!
The adjuster got here around 2. He was an older man, and really sweet.
I invited him in and offered him a cold water and we talked for a bit.
Then he started his inspection of the damage. An hour later he was
done. He told me I will be getting the money for a complete new roof,
my fences fixed, my meter box fixed, new sheetrock for the den
ceiling, paint for ceiling and walls in den, kitchen and kids room.
Oh, and a new mailbox, lol! He noticed it was open and tried to close
it but I had to tell him to be careful b/c it'll fall off. He asked if
the hurricane had done that but I was honest and told him it had been
like that from before b/c the kids football had hit it more than a few
times! Well, he tilts the mailbox to it's side and took a picture of
it. He said mailboxes are expensive these days and told me he was
going to include it in the damage estimate! That was really sweet :) I
need all the help I can get b/c after hurricane's Katrina and Rita our
ins. company implemented a 5% of homes insured value deductable, plus
the normal deductable so they will deduct that from the estimate check
to m. That really blows. I'm just hoping that it leaves me enough to
get everything fixed properly.
After he left we headed to the grocery store. Our neighborhood Walmart
market finally opened yesterday! I just got a few things to get
through the week. I'm not sure I want to re-stock my fridge yet b/c
hurricane season isn't over yet. I couldn't get any cold stuff anyway
b/c the stores are still trying to recover. There were very little
cold things out. No lunchmeat, no cheese, no butter and maybe 5
different frozen items. They did have ground meat. But we made do with
what we could get. Tonight we had scrambled eggs and microwave bacon.
Tomorrow night I'll use the ground meat to make spaghetti.
Alright, I'm going to get some more sleep in my nice cold room :)

I am alive and just got power back today!

2008-09-08T16:56:00.004-05:00

Well, we made it through. I'm okay, besides my hand, my head, (i'll explain later!) I'm tired, and my house is a mess but at least I have a house, there's no trees in it like many other homes have. In my post before this one on Labor Day as Gustav was arriving I had said that I thought it would be cool to be in the eye of a Hurricane...please someone if I ever say anything so stupid like that ever again please come down a smack me! I don't EVER want to go through this again!

Hurricane Gustav was a lot worse than I thought it would be. It was downright scary. The destruction in unbelievable here in Baton Rouge. And someone told me that on TV news channels they were not even mentioning Baton Rouge. Well, let me tell you...New Orleans (their main concentration on TV) is fine compared to Baton Rouge. Besides where the hurricane came ashore we were the 2nd hardest hit. It's bad here.
Today was day 8 of no power for us. I was about to lose my mind if it didn't come on soon. They had told us that the hardest hit subdivisions could be without power for almost a month. We were one of those subdivisions. So we are very lucky that the power crews worked very hard to get us back up. Thank you to them for that. Our power came back on around 2 p.m. today and it's the best news I've had in a while! I am so grateful for electricity now. It's weird because I went to the bathroom earlier in the dark not even realizing that I could have turned the light on, LOL! And my house is cooling now and it just feels sooooo good!
Okay, so I have a lot more to say but I need to e-mail it off my iPhone and copy and paste it to here. Each night when I couldn't sleep I wrote about each day, what it was like, how things were here with no power, etc. So that way I wouldn't forget anything. And I'm glad I did it b/c I wouldn't have remembered. I'm still stuck thinking it's Labor Day and here we are 8 days later and I can't tell you where the time went! Some of what you read might sound crazy, but that's probably because I was going crazy from no sleep and the heat so I'm not going to edit it. I'll leave it intact so that maybe you can read how I was feeling at the time I wrote it. I HAVE to go take a hot bath and shave my legs now so I'll get that up tonight.

Happy Labor Day!

2008-09-01T10:16:00.003-05:00

It's 10 a.m. and we still have power. It's blinked a few times so I figured I make a post now! Hurricane Gustav made landfall about an hour ago. We started getting the first band about 9 p.m. last night but after that it went back to being calm til about 5 a.m. this moring. Now we are getting a good bit of wind with some heavy gusts, I'd say 35 mph gusts. We are under a Tornado watch, and they say it will get much worse this afternoon. It looks as though the eye will pass just a tad west of Baton Rouge. Darn it though, I've always wanted to be in the eye because I hear it's awesome!
Not a fun Labor Day holiday here. Good thing I didn't plan a beach trip this weekend!
I hope you all have much better weather and if you're BBQ'ing have a burger for me =)

The Calm Before Hurricane Gustav

2008-08-31T19:27:00.005-05:00

Well, it's Sunday night and it's eerily calm.

I spent this morning picking up my plants and kids toys off the front porch. And making sure everything was hunkered down in the backyard and carport. Oh, I just remembered I need to take my windchime down and my mailbox too! The kids have hit it so many times with the football and soccer ball, it's hanging by a thread and I'd hate for it to fly off and break a neighbor's window!

I went out around lunch today because I needed some Benedryl from Walmart. I was shocked when I got there and it was closed and blockaded. Instead we went to Albertson's and the whole parking lot was full! People were everywhere, spending 100's of dollars on food and water and such. Lines spanned the entire store. They didn't have benedryl, but I did get some toilet paper and ice. The roads were packed and there were lines blocking the main roads to get into the gas stations. Crazy.

At 4 today we went across the street to our neighbor friend son's 1st b-day party. They played outside in the bounce castle in 95 degree heat with little to no breeze at all. We did get a quick little shower but only for a minute.

Now we just got done eating dinner and we're watching the weather channel. They were showing pics of New Orleans how they were already getting some nasty bands. And as they were talking the Tornado sirens went off. Unfortunately, we will be catching the northeast quadrant which is known for tornadic activity. I DO NOT like tornado's! This same band is on it's way to us in Baton Rouge right now. So I'm going to go bathe the kids and take a shower and get ready for all this. I doubt I'll get much sleep tonight because I'll be up watching and listening! The worst is supposed to hit in the early morning hours and throughout the day Monday and even Tuesday.

I'm sure we'll lose power like we have through every other hurricane so I'll update as soon as I can.

Here's a pic before I go, guess I could have gotten closer, LOL! But if you look at the door area they were stacking huge crates of pressed cardboard to block it. Wish me luck!

Yikes! Gustav is coming!

2008-08-30T21:55:00.006-05:00

Well, this is the 11 p.m. EST track for Saturday, August 30. Not looking too good. I'll be honest, I was hoping it would come close enough to take a few roof shingles because I am really in need of a new roof! We had an estimate done in June and it will be about $7000. I don't have that on hand. So if the hurricane takes them off it's paid for. But never did I expect a Cat. 4 to come this close! Yikes!

The interstates were bumper to bumper today, and New Orleans has already started getting people out by bus and train. And they called for a madatory evacuation of all the low lying areas. They say 1 million people left the coast today. And they expect another 2 million to leave tomorrow! That's a lot of people! Tomorrow morning at 4 a.m. contra flow starts. For those who don't know that means the interstates will be one way only! And I've already noticed the increase in people in our city. It's crazy out there so I'm staying home until after the storm passes!

I went out today and got a few more things. LSU was playing so the roads weren't too bad. Or maybe it was because everyone was at the store and gas station? Those were packed. Thank goodness I could get what I needed at the Dollar General.
This evening Eddie, the kids & I went out to get some 'D' batteries, some cash and some dinner. We did find the batteries at Albertson's but the bank in there was out of cash. We did end up getting cash at another ATM. Then we wanted Pizza so we went to CiCi's Pizza and they were closing? At 8 p.m. Then I looked next door and realized the Party City had been boarded up! So we decide to go across the street to Petco to get our bearded dragon some food and they were all boarded up too, but they were open. Conn's was also boarding up. I expect many other places to do this tomorrow too but doubt I'll go out tomorrow to see.

Since it was getting late we just got nasty Burger King and went home.
I still have a few more things to get done before tomorrow night. Like clean the alcove by the back door and move all light stuff in there. Then we have to go up in the attic and put up some plastic sheeting because we have a leak! Tomorrow afternoon is my friend across the street son's first b-day. It's supposed to be outside, hmmm, don't think that's gonna work since the rain and wind is said to be coming tomorrow afternoon. Guess we'll see.

Gustav and LSU

2008-08-29T22:30:00.000-05:00

Well, they upped the LSU game from 4 p.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday morning. I bet that pissed a lot of people off! They want everyone out of the stadium and off the roads as soon as possible after the game.
We went to get some gas tonight. They were out! But we did find another station. Then went to Walmart for a few more things.It's a madhouse out there and I think it's just going to get worse.

Tracking Gustav...

2008-08-28T16:26:00.000-05:00

This picture is from the 5 p.m. EST forecast and shows landfall just a few miles west of us. That would put us on the bad side. There is still a huge margin of error, but people are freaking out even more now! I'm going to venture out today to get a few things, not because I'm panicking but because all of the people from lower lying areas will come here and then I'll never find the food I need. That is what happened after Katrina & Rita. Our store's shelves were empty for weeks after because of the influx of people. We were lucky to find diapers, bread, toilet paper, or chips!

Update-
I did go to Target & Albertson's today. It wasn't too bad. It wasn't packed, but you could tell what people were stocking up on. The same thing I was! Almost all the bread & peanut butter was gone. Tuna was gone. And they were re-stocking the water. The gas stations were still full with people filling up containers. No propane left. No generators left. They did have batteries at CVS!
I think I'm good for now. Just need toilet paper & paper towels and some juice and maybe some Sprite. Oh, and gas but I'll do that this weekend!

I belong in 1984! What year do you belong in?

2008-08-28T16:12:00.002-05:00

You Belong in 1984

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

Rain, Tropical Storms & Hurricane's, Oh My!

2008-08-27T23:11:00.004-05:00

First, we've had an unusual amount of rain for August. So much that it's ruined our swimming days and the ph of the pool! Then Tropical Storm Fay came through this past Sunday & Monday. It started raining around 3 a.m. Sunday morning and continued through Monday evening. Now, we're watching Hurricane/Tropical Storm Gustav. Honestly, I hadn't even heard of it til yesterday and I really don't think much of it because it's still so far away and has been downgraded. But people around here are freaking out! One of Eddie's employees had to leave early today to go down to the gulf to bring a trailer back. I went to the grocery just for some crackers and butter and almost all of the water was gone! Then I heard some people talking about how all the batteries in town are gone. Then I went to the gas station for some cigs and I could barely get in. There were lines of people getting gas! Not just getting gas, but filling up many containers with gas in the back of their trucks!
I do understand that we need to be prepared. And I really did realize this after Hurricane's Katrina & Rita. But I don't think we should all panic and run out and buy everything up either. So I will keep an eye out, see what the track might be come Saturday and then go from there.
We were trying to figure out what would be the easiest thing to eat if we lose power and Brenden thought of it tonight...Peanut butter & Jelly sandwiches! So that's what we'll stock up on, LOL! That and some canned goods, crackers, chips, poptarts, grain bars and water!

Happy 13th Birthday Brenden!

2008-08-26T22:31:00.005-05:00

I am officially a mom of a teenager! Today was Brenden's 13th birthday. Usually we do a big party with lots of people but this year he opted for a big present and a small party. So I took he and 2 of his best friends to Celebration Station to ride the go-karts. They rode for almost 2 hours straight! Eddie came and met us when he got off work and we all went to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Fernando's. At the end of the meal the waiters came out and sang something in Spanish and brought him a fried ice cream with lots of whipped cream. When they started to sing one of the waiters had a napkin full of whipped cream and smushed it in his face! It was too funny! After dinner we went back home and my sister and her kids and Eddie's parents came over for some ice cream cake.
While we cut the cake he opened presents. He got a gift card and lots of cash! Eddie & I got him the bike he's been dreaming of for the past few months. It's an Eastern- Ace of Spades. He was so happy and went right out to go ride it =)
Here are some pics-

Funny Things That Kids Do!

2008-08-14T17:11:00.003-05:00

I swear I could write something everyday about something silly one of my children has done! So here is today's.
Bren, my oldest *he will be 13 this month* comes to me saying ouch. He has a pair of fingernail clippers hanging from his hair! He asks me to remove them without pulling his hair so I do and then I just bust out laughing. Don't ask, I have no idea how it happened and don't want to know!

No More Dumb Blonde!

2008-08-14T16:26:00.004-05:00

Ha ha, okay so now I'm just a dumb Brunette! That's what my husband jokes with me about. My natural color really is dark blonde but I've either been a very light blonde or hi-lited light blonde for most of my life. Every now and then I get an itch to do something different. I've been platinum, yellow blonde, bleach blonde, strawberry blonde, dark strawberry blonde, auburn, dark brown, light brown, pink and one time I was even army green after a bad mishap! (don't ever try to color over bleach blonde with an ash brown!) And for those who don't know I am a hairstylist, for the past 17 yrs. so that's why I play around with color so much.

So this time I decided on a color that was supposed to be a light caramel brown. Well, it came out orange! Or what most people were calling strawberry blonde, ick! So the next night I went with a medium brown. At first it seemed too dark (maybe not but I'm used to being a very high blonde) but after swimming and washing it turned out quite nice. I'd call it a light brown with a hint of reddish? I have a lot of red undertones. It's just the 28 day color since I'm not one to commit for too long, but since I colored over bleach blonde it won't wash all the way out. I think I might stick with this color through the winter though.

Summer Daze

2008-08-03T19:47:00.003-05:00

Wow, has Summer gone by really, really FAST! We have been so very busy since we returned from Canada. I had promised the boys that if they were good while we were gone that we would buy them season passes to the water/amusement park here in town. Well, they were good so we got our season passes on June 23. We go there about 3 times a week and we usually stay for no less than 6 hours! It's exhausting to say the least. But we have a blast when we go. It will be open during the week for 3 more days and then only on weekends because school here starts on Thursday Aug. 7. (Well, not for us since I homeschool, thank goodness!) So we are going to go 1 more time on Tuesday. They will be open on the weekends only until Sept. 1 but I doubt we'll go much because it's always SO busy on the weekends.
In between going to the water/amusement park we go swimming 3 days a week at our friends house. They are the ones with the salt water pool. For beautiful pics of their pool and backyard see back to posts from last Summer titled "Fantasy Island".
And in between the water/amusement park and swimming and cooking and taking care of the house and yard and my husband & kids I manage to watch 2 little girls, Kaiden & Torie about 2 days a week. The girls are 3 yrs. and 5 months. And every now and then I have the 14 yr. old neighbor boy from down the street and my 10 month old neice Chelsea. Nah, I'm not busy, LOL!
I hope that everyone is enjoying their Summer and is not half as busy as I am =)

Our Trip to Montreal, Canada!

2008-06-17T20:58:00.021-05:00

We went to Montreal, Canada June 6-9 to see the Formula 1 Grand Prix du Canada. Eddie won this trip through his work so everything was paid; airfare, hotel, race, food and VIP tix to the Formula 1 Paddock club suites. It was an awesome experience!

When they notified him that he had won this trip we had very short notice so I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to go. Besides the fact that Eddie needed a Passport and mine was expired! They say it usually takes 6 weeks to get a passport or 3-4 weeks if expedited. We got ours back within 10 days! And they both arrived 1 day before our travel date! Then there was the kids, they couldn't come. I've never left my kids before! Ever! I was freaking out! I knew who would keep them, I was just so scared to leave them. I knew Bren would be fine, but Logan is a maniac and then Chase with all his medical issues, it was just really killing me to get the nerve up to leave them. They stayed with our neighbor 2 houses down b/c they know how to take care of them. (or at least I thought, more about that later)

Anyway, that Friday we brought the kids down around 8:30 and told them goodbye. Bren & Chase did fine, but Logan was still very tired and wouldn't tell me bye, instead he tried beating me up. I ended up just telling him bye and leaving. He made me cry! Our plane out was at 11 so we headed to the airport. Now, I hadn't flown in like 11 yrs. (I don't like it!) and our seats weren't together on our first flight so I was seriously freaking! Thank goodness the nice gentleman who checked our baggage downstairs came upstairs and arranged our seats so that we'd be sitting together!

When the plane started to take off I freaked even more! It's like everything hit me at once...scared of flying, leaving the kids, and scared of flying, LOL! Even though I have flown all my life. So I start crying like a big baby and put my jacket over my head! Once we're up in the air I take my jacket off my head and a few minutes later the man across from me leans over and says "so you don't do so well flying, do ya?" I felt like such a baby! But he and the man next to him were very nice and we ended up talking the rest of the flight to Atlanta. (Eddie was watching a movie on his ipod the whole time @@) So we made it to Atlanta just fine and had about an hour before our next flight to Montreal. I did pretty good on the next flight, I wasn't as scared! Just hated that it was a 3 1/2 hour flight.

We made it to Montreal fine, and through customs fine. Then walked to the front to meet the lady who would show us to our transport. Our car finally came and this dude drove like a maniac! I think I was more scared in the car then I was on the plane! We did eventually make it to our hotel in one piece, LOL!

Our hotel was pretty. It was a atop a very old building. The building was called Place Bonaventure Convention Centre and our Hotel was 17 stories up called The Hilton Bonaventure Montreal. It was beautiful, with an outdoor pool, outside bar, a full gym, many meeting rooms, restaurant and bar and shops and a garden area with a little creek and trees. I was kinda wondering how all that heavy stuff holds atop that building!

We went right to our room and freshened up and the right back out. It was already after 7 and we wanted to sight see a little and get some dinner. We ended up in Old Montreal. I swear it was just like the streets of New Orleans. As a matter of fact all of Montreal reminded me of New Orleans! We ended up at a cute outdoor restaurant similar to Chili's or Applebees. I have no idea what the name was since it was all in French! We sat upstairs on the balcony and had a cool view of the old streets on one side and the St. Lawrence River on the other side.

We got back to the hotel around 11:30 and went to sleep because we knew the next 2 days would be nonstop! Saturday morning we had to be up and ready to meet the transport at 9 a.m. They took us and other guests of the Mobil 1 team to the race by tour bus. It was a short drive and being we were VIP we were brought right up to the VIP entrance area! That was cool because all the other people attending the race had to park miles away and WALK across the river's bridge. Not that walking is a bad thing, but it is when it's like 89 degrees with high ass humidity and I was wearing heels! Even though they dropped us off as close as the could we still had a ways to walk to get to the Paddock club. Once there they scan your pass and you enter into the reception area, which was really cool. It's right on pit lane where the cars come in. There are many waitress's offering drinks of any kind, a bar with drinks and fruit, an ice cream/sorbet tent, free massages and a Frenchmen doing caracture's on T-shirts for free as well! We went upstairs to the Mobil 1 suite where we would eat and view the races. It was awesome! Thank goodness, they had a breakfast buffet when we got there. We didn't know about that, and hadn't eaten yet so that worked out. It was very good! After that the qualifying races started. It was so cool to see the cars so close but VERY loud!
Just before lunch we were handed pit passes. They took us down into the pit garage where the cars are and all of the crew was working on it while we walked through. Then we got to go out onto pit lane. It was very cool being right in with all the action!

After our tour we came back up to the suite for lunch. It was a buffet with many things to choose from. Then we watched the cars race around the track some more until we were surprised with a very beautiful and delicious dessert! Chocolate mouse with fresh fruit and a dollop of vanilla ice cream, YUM!

We left around 2:30 that day. They had a car take us back to our hotel. We rested for a little bit then headed back out to the streets to go explore and sight see some more before dinner that night. Eddie (dum dum) forgot to bring a dress shirt and he had to have one for dinner! This time we went up the hill toward the shopping area of town. Man was that a walk! We found a bunch of really neat shops, but it wasn't easy. They say that because it gets so cold there in the winter that they have like an underground shopping mall. I guess you could call it basement level. So under the huge, tall buildings you might find some steps that go down. You really wouldn't guess anything to be there but there's like this maze of shops just like a mall. It was really neat. Unfortunately, we were moving so fast in such in a hurry that I didn't get any pictures.
We went down under one building and found a bunch of cool shops and a drug store which I had been looking all over for! And it was so cool because they sold dept. store makeup in their drug stores! They had all the big names and most importantly, Clinique! I hate going to the mall just to get my makeup! After that we walked a few more blocks and found a real mall. It just looked like a regular building but when you walked in it was huge! With like 4 floors of any store you could want. Eddie found a dress shirt and we left to go back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We get back and I tell Eddie to try on his new shirt and it doesn't fit AND it's missing 2 buttons! Great! It was 5:30, everything closes at 6 and we had to be ready to go to dinner for 7! So I call the concierge desk and ask where the closest shop to buy a dress shirt is and he tells us to come down and he'll show us on the map. I had to take a shower and get ready so Eddie went by himself. So I get ready, and it's like 6:45 and Eddie's still not back! I was starting to freak out! He walks in the door at 10 til 7 with a shirt and was ready by 7. But of course men can do that, right!?! We walked down to the front of the hotel where they had a tour bus waiting for all of us in the Mobil 1 group. The bus took us a few blocks to a really neat glass enclosed building. When we got to the top of the escalator we were greeted by a waiter with a tray of alcoholic beverages. Hmmm, what to choose? Now most of you know I don't drink unless it's a special occasion, birthday, New Year's Eve. But this was a special occasion right? First time on vacation with my hubby and no kids in 12 yrs! So I chose the glass of Champagne. We walked in and everyone was mingling and there were waiters coming around with trays of Hors d'Oeuvres. And other waiters with alcohol just waiting to bring you a new drink ;) Then they opened a curtain to the dining area with tables set up in a circle. On the back of our name tag was a table number. We ended up at a table with some really nice guys. Before dinner they had a slide show presentation and a speech. The waiters brought around bread and kept the drinks coming. Then came the appetizer, which was some sort of seafood, I honestly can't remember, maybe I should have slowed up on the drinking? Anyway, it was nasty but all the guys thought that I would be the one to eat it because I was from the south! After that and while waiting for dinner and everyone having more to drink we really got to know the guys at our table and they turned out to be really nice & funny! *Did I mention that out of probably 100 people I was only 1 of 4 other women?* But it was all good...I have always found it easier to talk to men then women anyway!
After waiting forever they finally brought out our dinner which consisted of Lamb, something that looked like a potato (but wasn't!) and some other veggie I think...it was just all so nasty! Even the guy next to me thought so. I tried to eat the thing that looked like a potato, but then Eddie told me not too! So instead I just drank more champagne, he he. And at any time did my glass get too low there was a waiter right there to fill it back up. At one point I was talking with my hands, which I do often and have gotten myself in trouble for that before, the guy next to me had to grab my hand with my glass in it because the waiter was behind me trying to fill my glass again, LOL! After dinner they had some entertainment. They turned out all the lights and had one spotlight on a silk sheath that dropped from the ceiling. A scantly clad young woman came out and started climbing up the material. She was pretty up there all twisted in the silk and did some neat tricks, it was pretty cool. After that they opened the dessert bar that had many, many things to choose from. Unfortunately, I was so blitzed by then I really couldn't tell you! Eddie and I just made conversation with the new guys we met and had some laughs. When it was time to leave I remember the head waiter asking for my glass that I think I might have been trying to walk out with (LOL!) and asked if he could escort me down the escalator. Hmmm, I think he thought I might fall? And where was my husband and why wasn't he walking me out? I do remember getting back on the bus and everyone laughing and having fun. We got back to the hotel around 11:30 and I had to take my heels off! I had worn 2 1/2" heels all day at the race and 3 1/2" heels to dinner. My feet were KILLING me! Eddie asked if I'd wait til we got in the hotel so I did and as soon as we were in the lobby they came off. All the guys thought it was pretty funny though. We went up to our room and got changed real quick and then more walking on the town. This time I wore tennis shoes! We went back up the hill, torture! And we were trying to make it to the bars and Hard Rock Cafe' but got sidetracked and ended up in a strip club! It was an interesting experience and I'll leave it at that ;) We did some more walking, trying to find our way back to the hotel and got stopped on the street by a girl wanting to borrow a cigarette. Eddie told her it would be a dollar, just kidding of course, and she pulls a bag of weed out of her bra! I was like OMG, put that away! There were so many people out there on the streets and it reminded me so much of Bourbon street back home. Everywhere we walked I could smell weed. And even though there were cops everywhere no one seemed to care? So we finally made it back to the hotel, I don't know, maybe sometime after 2. I was so tired and so drunk. We didn't get to bed til around 3 and had to be up and out by 8 a.m. UGH!

So somehow, we make it up and get ready and out on time. Even though I felt like I was going to puke the whole time! I didn't even get my makeup on! A limo took us to the race and there was just one other guy riding with us. Thank goodness he was the one that was our age and who's wife was from the same place as us. I told him to just ignore me while I get my makeup on during the ride there.

When we got to our suite they the breakfast buffet going and I couldn't wait! I was starved from not eating the night before. After eating I felt a little better. After breakfast Eddie and I went down to the reception area and waited in line for about 45 minutes to have our caricature's done. That was really neat! A Frenchman wearing a beret, he was so nice a super talented! He was doing them on white T-shirts. Eddie went first, it was so neat to watch. And he did Eddie's really funny! Then me, I decided to keep my sunglasses on since I always where them. They came out great!

Okay, it's taken me so darn long to get this all typed up with pictures that I've forgotten what I wanted to write, LOL!

Let's see, after having our shirts done we went back up to the suite for lunch and shortly after the actual Formula 1 race started. We all took our places at the balcony in anticipation of a great race. The driver Louis Hamilton was pegged to win so we were excited! But in the 7th lap something happened. A wreck, and Louis came into pit lane for something while they were cleaning up. Well, on his way out of pit lane he fails to see the RED light and rear ends the car in front of him and is out of the race. That really sucked because if he had won like they thought him to we would have gotten to meet him and and gotten win shirts and hats. Just would have been neat. But oh well, the rest of the race was pretty boring. Just very loud cars going round a circuit! When it was over we had to wait a good while to leave. They let all the people off of the island first so they can cross the bridge then the limo's and buses get to leave. So while we were waiting we went to the reception area to check out the desert kiosk. It was pretty neat...had all sorts of ice cream and sorbet's with a buffet of confections & candies to top it off. I chose the raspberry sorbet with gummy worms! Of course I took a picture of my beautiful creation =)

We were finally able to leave around 5 and were taken by bus back to our hotel where all we wanted to do was sleep! Of course, I took my shoes off again in the lobby and the guys all said they were wondering how far I would get before they came off! We rested for a bit, changed then walked across the street to a very familiar place...McDonald's! Yeah, we were so worn out that's the best we could do! Even got it to go. Went back to the hotel and ate, called the kids then were in bed by 9 p.m.!

Our flight out Monday was at 12:42 p.m. and because of all the international and customs stuff they had a car coming to pick us up at 9 a.m., ugh. We got to the airport around 9:45, going through customs was a breeze but we had to walk forever to get to our gate. And so we sat for the next 2 hours.

Our flight was on time and was fairly fast going back. Although we did have an almost 3 hour layover in Atlanta. We decided to eat and visit some of the shops, called the kids and my Mom and sat for a while. We got back into B.R. at 7 p.m. and were home sweet home shortly after. The kids were outside waiting for us, it was so good to be back with my babies. I missed them sooo much!

So overall it was a very, very busy, exciting, neat trip of a lifetime! I'm glad we did it =)

P.S. if you're ever have a long layover in Atlanta you should try riding the tram thingy all over the airport to kill time, hehe ;)

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

2008-05-11T18:04:00.003-05:00

Today has actually been a good day. The kids didn't fight too much and there was minimal yelling, LOL! Eddie and the kids gave me an iphone! (Yeah, I know, I just got a new Pantech Duo for my anniversary a little over a month ago. That one broke and they don't allow insurance on it so I was up shit creek.) So anyway, that was exciting, its really cool and I love it! We went to the At&t store and the Apple store to get a case for it but neither had the one I wanted so we went to the mall. I was walking past one of those kiosk things and noticed cases for the iphone and found the exact color I was looking for PURPLE! And it was $20 cheaper than the other stores! Then we went to get Eddie & Bren some Polo shirts and the the White Barn Candle Co. to get Eddie's mom a Mother's Day Gift. After that we went to Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro. Thank goodness it was a short wait but damn they were busy! We ordered our drinks and an appetizer, then when he brought our drinks he took our order and after waiting just a bit our food shows up and not our appetizer, WTF! I really wanted our Spinich and Artichoke dip =( So I mention it to him and he apologizes and says it must have gotten lost in the shuffle. OK. Eddie said thank goodness the food was good or he would have been pissed! Oh and right as they bring our food Logan and Chase start fighting and knock a drink over on the table! Nothing like a big Sprite spot on my pants. After we ate we got 2 orders of Cheesecake cuz damn that stuff is so rich it will kill ya! The boys shared the chocolate chip cookie dough and Eddie and I shared the dulche de leche praline, YUM!
We came home for a little while to relax then went to Eddie's parents house to bring his Mom her gift. We stayed there for about 2 hours and right when we were about to leave I got a call from my neighbors across the street. He's 19 and his girlfriend is 16, it's his Mom's house but she works out of state most of the year. They had bought me a Dragonfly solar light for the front landscape! That was so sweet =)
Overall, I'd have to sat it was a great day =)
Happy Mother's Day to all my girlfriends!

Delta Airlines Field Trip!

2008-04-16T23:16:00.002-05:00

Okay, so on the way home from the zoo we have to pass by the airport. Logan loves airplanes so we always stop on side the road to see if any planes are coming or going even though it says not to! So we waited for a few minutes and no planes came in or out. So we went a little ways down the road and turned into a parking lot of a business to sit and watch. While we were waiting I saw this man sitting outside smoking a pipe and decided to get out and ask him where the best place to see the planes would be and tell him how my sons love planes, etc. So he tells me the best place to see a plane up close would be right inside in the hangar! I was like COOL! He told me to hang on for a sec while he went inside to make sure it was okay for us to come in. He came back out and told me to bring the kids in! Come to find out we were at the Delta Airlines Maintenance Facility, where they bring the planes in to do the checks and stuff. We signed in and he gave us a tour. First he showed us the jets that go on the plane and gave us a little education on them. Like the fact that they each weigh about as much as a car and only cost 8.1 MILLION dollars! Then he took us out in the hangar where they had a small jet in for maintenance. The kids got to touch it as the man explained about the wings and how they work, it was very interesting! As we walked around the plane the door was open and the steps down so we climbed on board. Logan had a blast running up and down the isles. Then he and Kaiden sat in the seats and locked themselves into their seatbelts. The cockpit was so tiny! The boys had fun getting themselves into the Pilot seat and pretending like they were flying and checking out the instrument panel (which was very large and confusing I must say!)

When we were done we walked through another door and into an office where a gentleman had 5 delta cups filled with peanuts & crackers like they give to the passengers. The kids thought that was pretty cool too!

I'm just so glad we stopped there because it turned out to be a really neat experience.

Zoo Field Trip!

2008-04-16T21:23:00.001-05:00

Today we went to the Baton Rouge Zoo. Our weather has been absolutely beautiful, in the upper 60's, lower 70's (which is totally abnormal for here!) so I figured it would be a great time to go to the zoo! We got there about 10:30 and of course the whole state must have also thought it was a good idea to go to the zoo because there were like 17 school buses and the parking lot was very full, ugh! So we go in and I had wanted to ride the train first but it was too busy. So I had my route planned out and we started walking to the tigers. Along the way I notice tons of construction...the whole zoo was undergoing renovations. Couldn't they have done this during the Winter so they'd be done by Spring? I mean it's not like we have frigid winter weather here!

So we go to see the tigers first. Only 1 was there, the other was gone b/c they were renovating his cage. Then onto the Giraffe's. At first they were kinda far away and nothing exciting but as soon as we started walking away they started coming toward the fence. The kids loved that! Then this one giraffe sticks out his tongue and we were all laughing at how long it was! But then he turns his tongue up towards his nose and starts sticking it way up his nose and digging! EW! But it was soooo funny, we've never seen that before!
Then we went on to the animal farm and kids petting zoo. In the petting area there were some cute little goats that were not shy at all! I set my bag down on a wooden table and this cute as can be little goat came up and was trying to gnaw through my bag! There was food in my bag although I don't think he could smell it, I guess he just knew! So everywhere I went with my bag he followed me. The kids got to pet them and brush them, it was a lot of fun!
After that we went to the playground and thankfully all of the other kids on the field trips were not allowed to so that was great. The kids love that playground, the toys are big, fun and safe and the flooring is made of old rubber from tires so it's kinda bouncy and they think it's neat. So they played and ate their snacks.
When they were done playing we walked back up to the front to ride the train. Logan's favorite part. He loves trains and airplanes! We didn't do the whole zoo because the kids seem to get bored so we just do different sections each time we go. And good thing we saved some of our energy because on the way home we took a detour and had a whole nother field trip! I'll post about that in a bit.

Here are some pics...
Logan was being silly sticking his tongue out in that second pic!

Crawfish, Crayfish, Mudbugs...

2008-04-13T23:01:00.003-05:00

Whatever it is that you call them, here we call them Crawfish...YUM! We had a crawfish boil today. It was a last minute decision so it was just us and Bren's friend Richard. Normally we would invite many people. We will be doing that with our neighbors soon.

Eddie boiled them and I set everything up while the kids played with (tormented!) the other crawfish waiting to swim (be tortured to death in boiling water)!

Below are some pics from start to finish. As you can see in the pot we add potatoes, corn, sausage, onions, mushrooms and even threw some broccoli in this time just to see how it would taste! (for the record...brocolli should not be cooked with crawfish and the seasonings, it was nasty!)

Circus!

2008-04-12T23:20:00.003-05:00

We went to the circus this afternoon! My kids had never been before so I figured I should take them before they get too old! I had always wanted to take them but never knew when it was coming. But this time I received an envelope in the mail with 20 free kids tickets, dates and times so that worked. We went to the 4:30 show and brought Bren's friend Richard. Man, was I surprised when we got in line how expensive the tickets were! I don't think I've been to the circus in over 20 yrs. but I know for a fact it was only a few dollars back then. Adult tickets were $20! Kids tickets were $8 but I had the free passes for them. Except for Richard since he's 14, and he looks it so I couldn't pass him off for 12 & under, LOL! Thank goodness a woman in line had some buy one get one free adult passes and was handing them out to whoever wanted one. I definitely took that! We went in and it was packed, but they found us 6 spots together on the nasty bleachers that were so uncomfortable they made your ass numb! All in all, it was a good time. They did the high wire tricks on the motorcycle, clowns, elephants, dogs doing tricks and the trapeze act. It was neat and the kids enjoyed it. And thank goodness we had the best weather! It was in the low 70's and perfect!

Here are some pics...

Age

2008-04-06T00:58:00.004-05:00

This is the second time in 3 days that my age has come up. First was when Marlen told his girlfriend Dana that I was over 10 yrs. younger that her because he thought I was like 30! Then Friday night while we were out my brother's (just newly EX fiance) came in with 2 friends. They sat with us for a few minutes so I made conversation with them. One of the girls was talking about how old she was and about how she was going to an old person bar after. I thought she was at least 44-45 so I asked how old she was and she replied "37". So I asked her how old she thought I was and she answered 29! I was like thank you, but I'm the same age as you! (Well, I will be in July) She was surprised. As are most people when i tell them my age, everyone always guesses between 27 and 31. And that's just fine by me!

Our Anniversary Night Out

2008-04-05T23:58:00.004-05:00

We went to Fleming's Steak House. It was okay, not as good as it was last time we went. Last time the steak just melted in your mouth but this time they overcooked it for sure. For dessert we had the Creme Brule' with Strawberries and Blueberries and some yummy whipped cream, that was pretty good. After we weren't sure where we wanted to go. Unfortunately, it was raining and the places we wanted to go required parking in a parking garage and walking a good bit! There was no way I was walking in the rain especially in the shoes I was in! And the outside patio bars were soaked and closed and that's where we like to be. We tried to go to another place but it was way to busy so we ended up going to the little daiquiri bar we always go to.
So it was an okay night. Just wish it wouldn't have rained.

DHL Sucks! UPDATE...

2008-04-05T15:26:00.005-05:00

I had meant to post this a while back...remember when I said the company was going to send me a prepaid mailer for my troubles? Well, it came the next day and my son happened to be up front when they delivered it. Go figure that it was the SAME rude bitch that had thrown my package the day before! Although he did tell me that this time she did get out of her van and gently placed it neatly on the doorstep!

Also, this was just sent to me today by an anonymous blogger! Thank you Anonymous! I guess it's just taught in DHL school to throw the package no less than 12 feet from the door, LOL!
Check it out...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9JRmgo77D4

Survey

2008-04-04T01:00:00.002-05:00

I found this on another blog...

Why did you start your blog? Hmmm, there was a main reason that I started this blog but have not been able to talk about it yet. I will when the time is right. I guess my reason is to vent, and get things out of my head since I'm always with the kids and don't have many adults to talk to! Also, so I can document things I don't want to forget or funny things that happen.

How did you come up with your blog name? Ha! At the time I was feeling really overwhelmed and it seemed like someone was always wanting something so I would always say "Mommy only has 2 hands"please be patient and I will do one thing at a time.

Do your friends and family know about your blog and if so, what do they think of it? A few friends do but not my family. Some of the stuff I write/vent about my family I don't want them to read as not to hurt anyone's feelings!

How do you write posts? I pretty much write about what happened that day or funny stuff the kids might have done. Our vacations and outings and just day to day stuff. Pretty boring really but if any of my out of state friends wanted to know what I've been up to they can catch up here.

Have you ever had a troll or had someone leave unkind comments? As a matter of fact, I have! Just fly by losers with nothing better to do than be an idiot! That's why I moderate my comments so I can read them first!

Do you check your stats? Stats? I have no idea how to check stats, LOL!

Do you care how many people read your blog? Nope.

If you do care, how do you increase traffic? N/A

What kind of blogs/posts interest you? I like to read my friends blogs to keep up with their lives. I like recipe blogs, travel blogs and natural living blogs.

What do you like and dislike about blogging? Dislikes: None that I can think of. Likes: It is an outlet for me. A place where I can just get things out no matter what they are. And keeping in touch =)

15 Years Ago Today...

2008-04-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

Eddie and I were married! Holy cow! We've been together for 20 yrs and married for 15! We have a wonderful life and 3 handsome boys to show for it =) Today wasn't too exciting, just like any other day but tomorrow should be a blast! We decided that we would go out to celebrate Friday night instead so he wouldn't have to get up for work the next day.
I gave him his gift tonight though...a nice card with a $50 gift card to Game Stop. He said he'll give me my gift tomorrow night!
Happy Anniversary baby!

Shopping and Dinner with a Friend =)

2008-04-02T23:59:00.000-05:00

Tonight my friend Dana and I went to the mall. Dana is Marlen's girlfriend, the friend/neighbor that watches my kids when we go out. We were on a quest to find an outfit to match some really cool shoes Eddie had bought for me a few weeks ago. Tomorrow is our 15th Wedding Anniversary! And on Friday we are going out to dinner at a really nice restaurant and out after for drinks.

So we started out at Lane Bryant since I know there will always be something to fit me in there, LOL! It was funny bringing Dana in there because she's as skinny as a rail! Chase (7) even made a comment before we left saying "that's funny, a skinny girl and a fat girl going to the mall" and then laughed. I was like "that's not funny". But for some reason he thought it was!

So anyway, I was hoping to find a whole outfit in there but only found some pants. I didn't like any of the shirts they had. So we decide to go to Dillard's which is exactly why Dana came with me. At LB it's like everything is right there to be seen and so easy to find, but at Dillard's you actually have to dig to find what you want and to find your size and I just suck at that! So we looked everywhere and couldn't find anything until I see this really cool, sexy shirt and pick it up and say "Hey, can you picture me in this?" And Dana and the 2 sales ladies were like OMG yes, that's the perfect shirt! WHAT? I was so kidding! But they convinced me to try it on. And it turns out it wasn't so bad. It fit, looked great (so they say) and was just the right color. I just wasn't sure about it because it's kinda like a halter top. It's a silky material, chocolate brown and criss crosses in the front to where there's a keyhole opening and cleavage shows then comes up around the neck where it attaches to a leather and gold chained choker thing that ties behind the neck! Yes, it does sound kinda sleazy like maybe I got it at the whore store, LOL! But it's really classy I promise. So totally not me but they convinced me to buy it! The only thing I hate, and it's not the top, it's more of an insecurity of mine...but I HATE my shoulders and upper arms! And this top shows just that! I guess I just need to get over that!

Okay, so after we're done it's 9 o'clock and the mall is closing so we walk out and I can't find my keys! Yikes, I was freaking out! So I dump my whole humongo purse out on the walkway and I find them, thank god! I felt like such an idiot! We walk to the car and Dana decides we should have a drink plus she needed to get food to bring home for Marlen. So we go across the street to Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro, YUMMY! We sat at the bar and each ordered a drink and an appetizer. I had the Peach Bellini, my fave and we shared the appetizer's...I can't even rememeber what they were but they were very good. Then we ordered some cheesecake to go ;)

We got home around 11!

I do have to say that I had a blast with Dana. We are still getting to know each other but she is so fuuny and fun to be with! All of my other friends and I have drifted apart over the years and just don't have much in common. And 3 of my best friends all live in different states. So having a girlfriend that is fun to be with and talk to was really new for me. It was funny because Marlen had joked with her about how she was going to the mall with someone who was over 10 yrs. younger than her. She told me that while we checking out in front of the 2 sales ladies who were listening. I knew Dana was 43, but I guess Marlen didn't know how old I was! So I asked Dana and the sales ladies just how old did they think I was? They all answered late 20's early 30's! So when I told them I would be 37 in July they were all shocked! And Dana went straight to the phone to call Marlen to tell him I was only 7 yrs. younger! We were all laughing and the sales ladies were wondering why Dana didn't know how old I was because they said it looked like we had been best friends forever. She is definitely someone I can see as a good friend =)

Logan's first big boo boo...

2008-03-28T23:41:00.001-05:00

Logan was riding his Jeep Power Wheels down the street this evening and a car was coming so he pulled over into the grass like a good boy to wait for the car to pass. Well, it was our neighbors across the street and the old man honked his horn not knowing that Logan is scared to death of horns (thanks to another neighbor!) So when he honked Logan started going up further into my next door neighbors grass and accidentally ran over her reflector pole. When the reflector pole came back up he popped the crap out of his forehead. But at the time I had no idea that had happened I thought he was coming toward me because he was scared. So when he gets to me all I see is blood gushing down his face! AND a half a golf ball size knot on his head! I was freaking out! I told the kids to go get an adult, any adult because I seriously thought I was gonna pass out! So the neighbor 2 houses down came over (the one who made Logan scared of horns to begin with!) and took care of Logan. He told me to just stay back b/c I was freaking Logan out more! Once he got the blood cleaned up and stopped it didn't look as bad. Just big! For a second there with all that blood I thought for sure we were going to the emergency room for stitches. Thank goodness it wasn't that bad.

Anyway, he's fine. Just scared the crap outta me. He's never really hurt himself before!

Here is a pic, kinds hard to see how big the knot is but you get the idea...

Oh, and the story behind the horn...the neighbor 2 houses down thinks it's funny to come home from work drunk every afternoon. So when he would see Logan riding in his Jeep he would honk his horn thinking it was funny, but it scared Logan to death! The last time he did it, just a day before the accident, he drove right up next to Logan and kept honking and Logan came running inside screaming. The neighbor wanted to apologize but Logan wouldn't come back out so he came in and told him he was sorry and gave him a hug. He said he wouldn't do it again, but the damage is already done! Now he's scared of any horn!

Picture for the Night

2008-03-28T00:30:00.005-05:00

I took this tonight. It's in my neighbor's flower bed and I'm not 100% sure what it is. If I had to guess I'd say it was a Tulip or a Lily, heck, I don't know! I'm not really good with flowers and plants so if someone knows feel free to let me know! I just thought it was so pretty!

Mr. Mohawk!

2008-03-24T19:44:00.001-05:00

This is Logan (& Brenden) the day after Easter. But on Easter Sunday I had Logan's hair fixed all nice until he was watching Eddie do his hair and Eddie thought it would be funny to put some gel in his hair and make a mohawk. So then I try to fix it back and he freaks out and ends up going to Easter dinner at Eddie's parents with a freakin' mohawk!
I didn't get a good pick of it that day but the next day when I was fixing his hair he said he wanted it stuck up again! So here he is... and I don't know what's up with the new smile thing he's got going on, LOL!

DHL Sucks!

2008-03-20T14:15:00.002-05:00

What a better way to get the word out then the Internet! This morning I was waiting for a package. More specifically, my new Pantech Duo Phone from AT&T. I knew they had sent it DHL and it was out for delivery and they usually come around 10:30. The van pulls in my driveway and I walk to the front door so I can have the packaged handed to me instead of set by the door but when I get to the door I hear a loud thud and see my package roll to the side of the porch almost into the flower bed and then the beeping sound of the vans reverse alarm. (So that crazy bitch pulled in my driveway, THREW my package about 12 feet and HIT my DOOR! Didn't even bother to get out of the van!) I open the door and the girl is already backing down the street so I step out and say "Did you just throw that at my door?" Her window was up but she knew what I was saying. She rolled her window down and I repeated myself to her. Her reply was a guilty no. I said, "well I saw you" and her rude reply to me was "SO". I was shocked! I said , "I can't believe you threw that at my door! I will be calling your company". And her reply...she says, "I don't care, do it"!
OKAY! So, I did. The customer service rep was surprised too. He was very nice and took my complaint. He had me open the package to make sure all was okay, which on the outside it was but I told him I needed to charge the phone first to make sure it worked. He said someone would contact me later about this and to make sure the phone was okay. Oh, and he's sending me a $20 voucher for shipping, pffft! I was nice and just said thank you, but really, c'mon...do ya really think I'm going to choose to ship with your company after what just happened? I don't think so.
DHL has always been a problem on our street, mainly with excessive speeding. (We live on a street that is a dead end, not much longer than a football field and the width of an alley way! Speeding on our street is just ridiculous!) I've never had any problems with Fed ex or UPS doing this.
Anyway, the phone works and surprisingly enough I got a call a little bit ago from the area manager asking about what happened. He was shocked too and of course apologized, blah, blah, blah. Says he will forward this to the drivers manager. I really think that rude bitch should be fired!
So the next time you go to ship something think twice before using DHL!

And BTW...I Love my new phone! It's pretty cool and will be much easier to text on. Well, that is when I learn how to use the darn thing, LOL! Off to read the instruction manual cuz dang these new phones are really complicated!

I do it Myself

2008-03-03T17:55:00.003-06:00

Is Logan's latest motto. I was trying to get him dressed today and into his pull-up when he insisted that "Mommy, I do it myself". So I let him. He did pretty good, all except the shirt which he told me he wanted Brenden to help him with. He walked out to Bren and said "Look Bren bren, I did it myself! Can you help me put my shirt on?" It was so cute =)

Birthday Pictures & Sick Kids

2008-02-18T23:06:00.002-06:00

I want to post Logan's B-day pics but since my hard drive crashed I realized I need to reload all of my picture programs! I will get Eddie to do that this week and get the pics up soon.

As for the sick kids...Logan seems to be feeling better. No more fever but still has a nasty cough. Brenden is feeling much better too. But now my Chaser is sick. He has a low fever and cough and stayed in bed all day today, poor baby.
I woke up this morning really drained with a sore throat so I just stayed in bed and rested til almost noon as well. I didn't have Kaiden (the little girl I watch) because she was home sick too.
Okay, off to bed. I'll get those pics up soon.