Mardi Gras in the Crescent City!

Last Sunday, we caught the Mid-City parade and the first half of Bacchus, down in New Orleans. Here's some pics from our trip:

There was a lot of poking fun at F.E.M.A., local and state gov't, etc from Katrina at the Mid-City parade. I don't know if you can read the signs below. There was even a 'refrigerator heaven' float.


J
John enjoyed climbing the ladders, oh, and the Clydesdales. Look, the horse on the right even smiled for the picture!

More pictures to come . .

Just a tidbit of the girls' conversation on our way home . .

Me: John M. pinched Carson on the cheeks today and Sam put him in the corner.

Anna and Emma: Yeah, we know (they were at the babysitter's all day b/c they had the day off)

(small bit of silence while Emma's little brain wheels spin)

Emma: Horses don't have cheeks.

Me: (after thinking on this for a second). No, I guess they don't. That's true. What else doesn't have cheeks?

Emma: Frogs!

Me: Well, frogs kind of have cheeks. Those big puffy things on their faces.

Emma: Oh yeah.

Anna: (chiming in from the back, back seat) Michael Jackson doesn't have cheeks.

Me: True.

Where, I ask, do they come up with these things?

No longer a 'throw me something, mister' virgin . .

Next year, we're going to work on 'Show your tits!'. (for John M., I mean, not his mother).

Quiet, rainy afternoon

It's a very rainy day here. Dreary, dreary, dreary. I've been napping and blogging and watching 'Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen' with Emmy. Now I must go 'make groceries' at the Dixie of Winn. Things I'd rather do than that:

1.) Eat doodle bugs.
2.) Pull out my eyebrow hair.
3.) 100 push-ups.
4.) Kiss a lizard.
5.) Just about anything.

But I'm off, in the rain, to do just that. Wish me luck.

Understanding (Happy 17 months, Monkey-John)

John M. still isn't say much of anything, but I'm constantly in awe of what he understands. I use to let him off the hook for things because I'd chalk it up to 'he doesn't know any better'. Well, unbeknownst to him, I'm on to his little game. He knows; he just chooses not to listen. It's gotten to the point where he'll walk in the house, march right to the cat food dish, dump it on the floor, give me his premeditated -'Uh-Ooooh' and then fetch the dustpan and the broom and hand it to me. Can you believe him?

I was convinced of his game even more today at my mom's house. She has a pool table that he LOVES to get on top of and play with the balls. He tends to throw them or bang them hard on the table. In the past, we'd tell him not to do it and assume he just didn't 'get it', but today I explained to him that he had to ROLL the balls or he'd have to get down. He raised his little gold eyebrows at me and reared back as if he was going to throw the ball. I gave him that 'you do it and die' look and he put the ball down and pushed it gently with the back of his little hand and smiled. Little booger.

He's now saying these words (let me keep count here b/c for his 18-month check-up, they're going to ask and I'm going to be struggling to remember):

Mama (this is the most important one!!)
Dada
MawMaw
Ball
Bye-Bye
Bella (the babysitter's dog)
Gimme

I think that's it. Uh-oh, I think he's failed that part of the oral exam. Oh well. He can babble like nobody's business. That should get him some extra points.

Cuteness Abounds!

Okay, I know there are many similar ones here, but they were all so cute I couldn't decide on just one. Last weekend, we had some really cold (for southern La.), nasty weather out. Mark bundled up his favorite wee cowhand to help with the farm and took these (beware, much cuteness below):







Then, how to warm him up we asked?
I know, we'll boil him!

Way Back Wednesday

Circa 2001.

No, that's not a pack of cigs I have poking out of my pocket.

No, I've not doing heavy drugs; I just looked a little dazed.

Yes, those are 2 cute little girls.

Yes, those are 2 wooden fish hanging on my cabinets. A Mark purchase.

Notice, too, the red spider lilies behind us. I love those.

My list of worries as of 2/21/2006

I keep reminding myself that the reason I started this blog was to be able to look back at it, in many years, and have it serve as a diary of sorts. I also hope to show it to my children when their older, so that they can read stories of things that they've done, that their old mother has forgotten about. It's a peek into my life as it is now, a snapshot in time. As I've said before, I'm a worrier, so I figured I should post about my daily worries. Things that cross my mind daily and cause me to worry, the same things that keep me awake at night or the wee hours of the morning. Here they are:

- something bad happening to Anna, Emma or John, health or accident-related
- ditto for Mark, my mom, my sister's family
- money, not having enough from day to day, week to week
- future expenses, especially college and weddings - how in lleh are we going to pay for that?
- having my own health problems
- the need to lose weight, growing older
- social problems for my girls, 'mean-girls' teasing them, etc.

These are the biggest ones that come to mind. There are more, but they are a little more petty and not as worrisome for me. I guess most of these are the typical things that most wives/mothers worry about, but I just wanted to share.

Do any of you have some big worries to add?

Gauchos, camisoles, spring blazers . . oh my!

I have serious Spring fever when it comes to clothes buying the last couple of weeks. I've been getting all the new catalogs with the cute gauchos, and pretty chocolate, peach, turqouise color combinations. And the cute little blazers and jackets, and camisoles and crocheted sweaters! See this little chick on the left here. I love her gauchos! I've been adding things to my online shopping bags like nobody's business. Someone stop me before I get out of hand here. Or maybe it's too late.

I even bought a cute spring skirt at Wal-Mart this weekend, because I spend half of my life there, so I may as well buy some fashions too, right?

Okay, I'll be seeing y'all . . I just realized I need some cute little strappy sandals . . .

'Our Home, Louisiana'

At the girls' school mass this week, the children sang a beautiful song
called 'Our Home, Louisiana'. I had never heard it before and it really touched me that day as I listened. Turns out it's a song by a New Orleans songwriter named Jep Epstein, who wrote the song about the rebuilding of our state after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. The song is used in an ad campaign for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana. It touches on Louisiana traditions and our sense of family and community that I feel is something that defines our state as a whole.

If you're interested, here are the lyrics:

OUR HOME, LOUISIANA

A flickering lamp, a fire bright,
The lights are on again,
Graceful trees tell quiet tales,
And you remember then.


All our dreams head homeward, chere,
Smiles bring other smiles,
Neighbors, friends, and family join,
Together, we survive.

This is our love,
This is our life,
This is our home, Louisiana,
This is our day, come what may,
This is our home.

A breaking dawn,
a tender morn,
A canvas we design,
The band parades, a jester laughs,
We share momentous time.

And all our hopes flow back to you,
The music plays in time,
The river calls in majesty.
Together, we survive.

This is our love,
This is our life,
This is our home, Louisiana,
This is our day, come what may,
This is our home.

Church bells ring,
the children sing,
My sunshine, you are mine,
Hello old friend,
I knew you when,
Together, we’ll unwind.

May all our prayers be noble now,
May all our work be pure,
May we be thankful once again,
Together, we endure.

This is our love,
This is our life,
This is our home, Louisiana,
This is our day, come what may,
This is our home.

This is our love,
This is our life,
This is our home, Louisiana,
This is our day, come what may,
This is our home.

“Our Home, Louisiana” Words and music by Jep Epstein © 2005 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana

If you'd like to hear the song, you can download it here:
http://www.bcbsla.com/web/customer/Our_Home/Our_Home_Louisiana.asp
There's also a CD that Blue Cross has on sale and proceeds go to the Hurricane Relief effort.

For all of you out there that have ties to Louisiana, you know it's a great place, one like no other.
If you've never visited here, I hope one day you can make it down and get to live the feeling that this song speaks of.

John's increasing vocabulary

In addition to 'Maw-Maw' and 'Da-da' and his all time favorite 'uh-oh', we now have, . . . drumroll please . . . 'Mamamamamama' (that SO counts as 'Mama'!) and 'ball'. It sounds more like 'baw', but we know what he means. At this rate, he'll be forming complete sentences by age 6!

Go, John!

That wacky Aunt Flo

Okay, girls (MarkD and Spikey, y'all may want to sit this one out, as it deals with the 'P' word), can someone please tell me what the deal is with my menstrual cycle these days? Ever since Aunt Flo came back after I finished nursing John M. (last May, I think), things have not been right.

This is the way it goes, Aunt Flo comes in with a little light bag, you couldn't even call it a true 'carry-on', and then her little bag gets lighter and lighter. This can go on for close to a week, a full 6 days this month! Just when it looks like she's left town all together, she comes in with a complete set of luggage! And some furniture too. It's not pretty. But, she just stays 2 or 3 days tops and then she's gone, quicker than a wink. All in all, her stay can last anywhere from 10-12 days? WTF?
I know I'm older now and my hormones are out of whack, but still.

Do any of you have similar experiences? Please tell me that this is temporary and I'll be 'normal' again one day. Please.

Even if you have to lie a little. ;^)

Can you guess what's going on in this picture?

Did you guess the 4-H Sew With Cotton contest at the parish library yesterday? You did?! Well, you'd be right.
This was Anna's first year taking part. She was not looking forward to the modeling part. They had to make aprons, so modeling an apron isn't real exciting, I guess. She told me beforehand that she was sorry she had decided to do it and she most definitely was not doing it next year. I totally understand because I used to take part in this same contest eons ago and I despised the modeling part. I wanted to sink into the floor when I had to walk out in front of all those people. My mom has pictures of me in my stylin! 4-H dresses and I'm all hunched over and looking miserable. I need to post those. Y'all would enjoy them. Anna won a purple ribbon (notice it in her hand) and that made it all worth it. She even said she'd do it again next year. The dashing young man next to Anna is my nephew, John, who took home the overall first place prize! The only man in the competition too!

They're following in their grandmothers' footsteps, that's for sure, because if you're looking for a seamstrss, don't stop here.

***Update to this post. My mom found the picture. She has been welcomed into the 21st century and actually owns a SCANNER! So, here it is. Guess which one is me. HINT: I'm not the one on the right. Question #2, guess which one is my sister.

Mooooo for Mama

As mentioned before, this little booger will say 'Maw-Maw' and 'Dada' all the live long day. Will he say 'Mama', 'Mommy', 'Mom', anything of the sort? No.

Mark was trying to get him to say 'Mom' this morning and he busts out with the exact same sound he makes for the cows mooing. It's like a 'Mmmmm', with a tiny bit of 'ooh' in it.

Mark thought it was funny that his cow sound and his mom sound were the same. Both providers of milk. Close enough.

Longing for Spring ..

I wasn't sure what to post about this morning, so I started looking through pics I have on my PC. I found this one from three years ago. It was March and the grass was so green, but some of the trees were still bare. The girls LOVE to sell lemonade, and the weather starts getting warm, he head out to do just that.

Just looking at the picture makes me long for Spring, and warm weather, and green grass and my phlox blooming! March is next month, right? I can make it!

Way Back Wednesday

I'm doing this again . . with another photo from my sparse stash. This was from April 1999 - so let's see almost 7 years ago. It's me (don't you love the green short-skirt suit, my friend Jolie, my friend Cindy, and Nonrev (he's a whole 'nother post by himself CRA-ZY!). We had gone to eat lunch at a Fuddrucker's (how I miss it, it's gone now, sniff sniff) and for some reason, decided to take this picture afterwards.

I'm going to have to use my mom's scanner to scan some old pictures if I want to keep this up.

"I'd rather have 'nothing' than have to give in!"

Just a quick Anna and Emma story from last night:

The three of us are playing Polly Pockets (my personal favorite all-time thing to play) and we're having our normal 'pageant' where we each get 5 Pollies, dress them up, and narrow it down one by one (beauty pageant style) until there's a winner.

Well, there's usually an argument about who gets to pick the winner. This is done when there are 2 left. One person picks them up, juggles them around while the other person closes their eyes and picks the winner. Neither of these people is ever me. (I know, this is crazy, but this IS my house, so what else would go on besides craziness?) Anyway, last night. It got down to this part and who was going to pick the winner.

It went something like this:

Anna: Okay, Emma went first picking who to 'vote out' (yes, we live EVERYTHING in the style of Survivor), so I'll pick the winner.

Me: Okay, that sounds fair.

Emma: Nooooo-awah!! I want to pick the winner. Mom said I could.

Me: Well, that was when . .

Anna: No, Mom said I could do it because you went first!

Emma: No, I get to do it.

Anna: (some whining something)

Emma: (some whining something in return)

Me: (thinking I'll nip this in the bud right away) Okay, well I guess we'll just have to stop playing and go to bed if y'all can't agree.

Anna: Okay!

Emma: Alright

And they both throw the Pollies in the 'Polly Bucket'.

Hence, the title. Even 'nothing', going to bed, no more playing, is BETTER than having to agree and give in.

Proof that I have two of the most stubborn children ever.

And where does 99% of that stubbornness come from?

That would be me.

Blessings Count

Thanks, Heather, for reminding me regularly, through your blog, to count my blessings. I forget sometimes.
Here goes:

1.) This face:

2.) The faces of that face's two sisters, that I'm too lazy to import pictures of at the moment.

3.) Having my family nearby to keep me going on a daily basis.

4.) A great babysitter who watches my three little faces and gives them loads of love and attention when I'm away.

5.) Cane's chicken tenders

6.) Great, big comfy sweatshirts to sleep in.

7.) The automatic door on my van.

8.) My blog.

9.) Warm weather.

I feel better now. Blessings counted.
It's only 8:44 but I'm going to bed.
Good-night.

Way Back Wednesday . . one day late

7 years ago.

Here I am, age 29, with my friend Tiffany (who has long since left town for the sunny beaches of Floriday, sniff, sniff). Why am I attempting to graze Tiff's right breast? You'd have to know me pretty well to know the answer to that. But she sure does look happy about it, doesn't she?

This was at our old workplace, months after I had Emma. Those were the days. Could my clothes be more baggy? But I DO wish I still had that sweater. It went with everything. So, umm, what's my point?

I'm pretty sure I don't have one. I just found this on my computer and wanted to share. I don't have a scanner so it's hard for me to participate in Way Back Wednesday because I have no old photos accessible.

So, that's all I have to say about that.

Overwhelmed

Do you find that you're constantly overwhelmed by everything that you have to do?

I've been finding that more and more.

Overwhelmed because my house is never clean. I have things stuck to my floor that I can't identify. I have enough hair on my bathroom floor to build Cousin It's wife.

Overwhelmed because I can't keep up with the huge tidal wave of laundry that my family manages to accumulate week after week.

Overwhelmed because I can't seem to keep enough food in my house. You'd swear I had 4 huge ogres living with me, instead of 2 smallish girls, 1 smallish husband and a wee tot of a boy.

Overwhelmed because the girls have so many school projects and extracurricular activities, that there's always at least one thing on the fire. This morning it was making pancakes to bring to Anna's class so she could do a presentation on Vermont (maple syrup and all), music lessons, Adopt-A-Class, art class after school and the book fair.

Overwhelmed because 1 smallish husband (mentioned above) seems to NEVER be home to help out.

Overwhelmed because I'm trying to accumulate a tiny bit of leave to make up for the vast amount of leave taken when I birthed the wee tot (mentioned above) almost a year and a half ago.

Overwhelmed because I never seem to have enough time for my immediate family, my extended family and my friends.

Just.Plain.Too.Much.To.Do.

You get my drift.

Mary Kay is not my friend

My mom hosted a Mary Kay make-up party at her house yesterday. I brought the girls with me. Observe Anna below. She looks about as excited as I was about going to this shindig. Let me just say, I'm not a make-up person. Maybe I need lots of it but I just can't bring myself to spend too much time or money on it. It took everything I had to fork over $38 for a lipstick, a lip gloss, and a tiny tube of concealer. All I could think of is how much loot I could have purchased at Wal-Mart with 38 bucks!

The main reason I go to these things is the FOOD. We had finger sandwiches, cocktail sausage, lots of chips and dips and some homemade petitfours. Yum.

I DID learn about all of the make-up, moisturizers, concealers, creams, and miracle products that I could be buying. Only I'm too cheap. And I don't care all that much if I look like an oily, wrinkly old hag. Not exactly the prime Mary Kay target market.

So, I'm happy that it's over. I'm sporting my Apricot Shimmer (glimmer, glaze, whatever it was called) lipstick today and feeling like a million bucks! Without having to spend it.

No more Mary Kay for me for a while. I've met my quota for this decade.

Rarity

BOTH the girls are sleeping over tonight. Can you believe it? No, you probably can't but it's true. Say a prayer
that they don't call at some ungodly hour and asked to be picked up. No seriously, stop and say a prayer. Thank
you. It was the PERFECT opportunity for Mark and I to get a babysitter for John M. and go out on the town.
Right?
Yes.
But here I sit at the computer blogging while Mark watches TV and enjoys a gourmet Sonic burger and cheese
sticks.
We are officially Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw Daig, the biggest sticks-in-the-mud. Ever. How old are we? About
85?
One day, we'll get our party on. Or at least go out to eat at Shoney's.
Peace out.

Great Toy Alert

A classmate of Emma's brought a toy for show and tell that Emma fell in love with. It's called Snap Circuits Junior. I thought of it as more of a boy thing at first. I know, bad mama giving into gender stereotypes but . . . anyway, we went and got one from Learning Express and she loves it!
Hell, I love it. So does Anna. And Mark. The ages on the box say 8-105 and that's right! It allows kids to build 100 different electronic circuits, that perform a variety of tasks from turning a light on to playing an alarm, spinning a fan, and creating a little electric light show.

It's really simple to do and teaches kids to pay attention to detail because if they miss one simple step, the entire project doesn't work. We all need help with that, right? It was $30 at Learning Express, but I'm sure you can find them a little cheaper. There are also bigger sets (Snap Circuits 300 and 500) that are more expensive.

Check it out and become an electronics wiz!

John M. Summer 2005

Not much to blog about today, so I thought I'd share a little sweaty baby head. From the Audubon Zoo last summer.

Sshhhh . . he's sleeping. Let's not wake the hurricane up.

How to get the 'skunk-eye' from a Coonass man in no time flat.

While at a high school basketball game . .

(note: the Stingerettes are the dance team at the girls' school. They are named 'Stinger'ettes because the school mascot is the Hornet and they wear little fancy, glittery dance outfits.)

John M.'s intently watching the basketball players go up and down the court. He's leaned over the bleachers and studying them.

Me: Mark, look at John.

Mark: Yep, he's thinking 'that's gonna be me one day'.

Later, at halftime as the soundtrack to Grease was being played and Emma and company were dancing. John M. is dancing like there's no tomorrow, wiggling his butt and waving his arms in the air, while closely watching the girls dance.

Me: Um, Mark, I think we have a Stingerette on our hands, rather than a basketball player.

All I get from Mark is the skunk eye.

Geez . .

16 months meme for John M.

Mr. John M. will be 16 months old tomorrow. The original purpose of this blog was to serve as a diary to record memories and have a 'snapshot' of various points in time. So, I figured I'd make a little list of John's favorite things at 16 months. Here goes. John, this one is for you:

Your favorite foods:

1.) Chocolate! (any way, any shape, any form). You'll even take candy bars with nuts and store the nuts in your chipmunk cheeks only to spew them out later without a lick of chocolate to be seen on them.
2.) Bananas - I can't keep bananas in the house for more than a couple of days.
3.) Corn - you love it, for any meal. Only it shows up in your diaper daily. Yuck.

Your favorite words (well, your ONLY words):

1.) M-maw (maw-maw) - you are really cute when you say this because for some reason, you try to say it and move your lips as little as possible. And you puff out your mouth a little like a blowfish.
2.) Uh-oh - this has been a favorite for a while after you toss things across the room.
3.) Da-da
You also like to moo and such.

Your favorite things to do:

1.) Play outside. Any minute of any day, rain, sleet, or snow, you'll go outside. you love it!
2.) Dance. Boy, you just have the music and me and sometimes, you have to let it out.
3.) Take a bath! This is a new one. In the past month or two, you've developed a liking for playing in the water. Look out, Blue Bayou Water Park, here we come this summer!
4.) Ride the Kawasaki mule with Daddy and look at the cows and the horses.

Your biggest talent:

1.) Wrapping everyone around your finger in no time flat. John M., you have us all wrapped, every single person that knows you. You have such a sweetness about you and you're always willing to give us a hug and a kiss (which for you, is leaning your little head right into ours). If someone is upset, you're the first one to walk up and comfort them. There's nothing we like better than that.

You're my boy. And Daddy's boy. And Anna and Emma's boy too. We've been waiting for you all along. We just didn't know it.

***News brief***News brief***News brief***

Hurricane John M. has been downgraded to a Category 4, as of about a week ago.

Maximum sustained winds of about 100 mph.

Still likely to dump the cat food on the floor daily and destroy a maximum of 2 rooms (BUT not 4 or 5 rooms, as in the past).

Meter reading for cuteness and pinchable-ness is still at max! Observe the cheeks in photo above.

Stages

Remember when I told y'all about Anna's anxiety about leaving me back in September? She has gotten a tad better about it but not much. She's gone to church with my mom a couple of times without me, but that's about it. She still seems to have much anxiety about being without me, unless she's at school. She has gotten much better in the morning about me leaving for work. She doesn't cry at all anymore and the goodbyes have gotten shorter and shorter. Poor little thing, she's so proud of herself when she does something without me, she points it out and says things like, 'Mom, I went to 'fill_in_the_blank" without you, by myself, wasn't that good?' and I always try to praise her and tell her how proud I am that she's doing more things on her own.

Well, her 2 best friends have birthdays coming up and they're both having sleepovers. She told me last night, 'Mom, Lauren (one of the best friends) is going to invite me to sleep over at her house this weekend and I'm going to go.' I said, 'Really, you are?', with much surprise because she hasn't slept over anywhere since last spring. I said 'that's a great attitude to have, Anna. What made you decide to do it?'. She told me, 'Well, I just HAVE to get out of this stage!'. As if she was a pyschiatrist and knew all the rules. I hope she does get out of this stage soon. Maybe since she seems to have put her mind to it, it will happen!

(weight update, I was down 4 lbs when I weighed this morning. I'm sure much of it has to do with weighing in the a.m. instead of p.m and Aunt Flo leaving the building, but still!)

Rows of teeth

Emma's evolving into a shark. She still hasn't lost her two top front teeth. She's eight years old, so that's kind of odd. These two teeth have been somewhat loose since last summer, but just not quite loose enough to come out. I brought her to the dentist a couple of months ago, but they said not to worry and that's it's actually better when kids lose their teeth a little later in life.

Well, now, one of her front permanent teeth is almost completely in, growing over the baby tooth and the other is starting to poke through her gums. I called the dentist and made an appt. for Monday to have at least the one tooth pulled. Emma is none too happy about this, and the dentist didn't seem all that concerned. But what was I supposed to do? Let her have 4 top front teeth?! I figured that can't be okay, right? Has anyone had this happen with their children?

The strange thing is, I realized over the weekend, that she will never be cute and gap-toothed in the front. I remember Anna was like that for a long time . . at least 6 months. Emma won't ever have the gap. She'll just go straight from baby to bunny (Anna has always called those 2 front teeth bunny teeth).

Still retaining every ounce of his masculinity

holding his pink balloon















doing nude housework















sitting on his effeminate bench

Maybe if I post about it, it will happen.

I want to lose about 10 lbs (I think it's 10, I'll need to actually WEIGH myself to find out). I've been wanting to lose this same 10 lbs for about a year now. I have no more excuses. I need to just do it. It's not as simple as it used to be when I was in my 20s. It got harder at about age 32. The thing is I need to exercise. I have no time to do this at home. I should start doing something at work, only I haven't. I also need to change my eating habits. As in, no excess fat (donut holes, Mr. Gatti's, Raising Cane's, etc). I'm going to work on this.

Maybe I'll try to post my weight every now and then as incentive. I'll start today. Let me go pee first.

Wish me luck.

Not as hol(e)y

Update on the ingestion of the holes brought in by my evil boss every Thursday.

This a.m., I only ate half the bag (about 6 or 7). I can feel the weight falling off of my thighs as I type this. ;^

DMV

Has anyone out there EVER gone to the Department of Motor Vehicles and come out in under 90 minutes?

Were any of the employees moving faster than an inch a minute?

Did anyone appear to be in the slightest bit of a hurry to do anything? At all?

Just wondering.

I'm just a little, tad bit frustrated with that place.

It's time for a list . .

I've been tagged by DryWall Mom and I can't pass up a good list, so here goes:

Four Jobs I’ve had:

1. Retail sales at D.H. Holmes during Christmas season. I also gift wrapped. It was some of the fonkiest wrapping you ever paid to get!
2. Intern at D.D.B. Needham in NYC during the Summer of '91 (aren't I the cool city girl?)
3. Purchasing Manager for the La. School for the Deaf (HATED my boss and left after 10 mo.)
4. IT Programmer/Analyst for the state of LA (over 10 1/2 years now, YIKES!)

Four Places I’ve Lived:

1. Hometown, LA
2. Baton Rouge, LA
3. Manhattan
4. Back to Hometown, LA (and that was it!)

Movies I’d Watch Again:

1. GoodFellas
2. As Good As It Gets
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005 version)
4. Urban Cowboy

TV Shows I love to Watch:

1. The Gauntlet
2. Supernanny
3. Survivor
4. Amazing Race

4 of My Favorite Foods:

1. French Fries
2. Fried Catfish
3. Chicken Fingers
4. Pizza (I wonder why I can't lose weight . . )

Four Places I’d Rather be Right Now:

1. On the beach
2. Hilton Head, SC
3. Disneyworld kissing Mickey Mouse
4. Eating all of the 4 foods above

4 Bloggers I’d Like to Tag:

1. Carrie
2. Daisy
3. Cindy
4. Vee

Peace out.

BLISS (n : a state of extreme happiness)

Do you ever have moments in life (and I mean literal moments, tiny little portions of time) when you feel almost perfect bliss? I had one yesterday. I have these every now and then, and they always involve my children. I wish I could freeze these moments and bottle them up, and open my 'bliss bottle' whenever I need a little happiness.

Anyway, yesterday, I took the kids to a small town right across the Mississippi River from my small town. It was a beautiful day, almost 80 degrees, sunny and breezy. We took the ferry across the river and went into town. It's a pretty shady, hilly area with lots of charm. We went to some antique shops (the girls have caught this shopping disease from me at an early age). I found a new place that we've never been to before, it was an antique shop on a hill, with a smaller antique place at the foot of the hill. There were 2 manmade ponds, one atop the hill linked to the other at the foot of the hill by a small waterfall. There were fountains, and benches and the little spot was so quaint and pretty. We stopped there, so that John M. could play for a while. He had the best time picking up rocks and throwing them into a little bucket of water and splashing Emma. Hold on . . my blissful moment is coming.

So, I'm watching the three of them. Noticing how they're each doing their own thing in their own way. Anna is walking around with her backpack on, exploring by herself, and looking way too grown up to be any part of what her little sister and brother are doing. Emma is talking non-stop, totally into her baby brother, and giggling at everything he does. John M. is totally captivated by the rocks and the water and the bucket. He's laughing everytime he splashes Emma and I think he would have thrown rocks into that bucket all afternoon if I would have let him. They were each so perfectly beautiful to me in that moment. I almost started crying watching them. I felt so blessed and blissfully happy.

I always stop, when I have moments like that, to thank God for blessing me with these three children that make every bad moment worth it 100 times over, with good moments. I know I complain a lot about these kids, but without them, I don't think I'd ever have moments like that one.

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Reason number 146 while I'll never lose the rest of my baby weight . .

from 15 months ago.

146.) Thursday is donut day at my office and my boss brings me a bag of donut holes.
No matter what I've eaten already for breakfast (3 crescent rolls and a banana this a.m.),
I still eat the entire bag of holes (probably about 12 this morning). He tells me that holes
have no calories because what is a hole, really? Just nothing.

I'm just gonna pretend I believe that.

Welcoming my Mom to the digital age

My mom bought her first ever digital camera last weekend. She was frightened by it. So 'hi-tech' and all. I told her I'd give her a lesson in using it which took all of about 15 minutes. I think she's still not over the fact that there is no film involved whatsoever. I guess when you've been needing film to take pictures for 60 years, it's hard to get that you no longer need it. At all. Ever.
But, she's already a pro. Look at these pictures she sent me this morning from New Year's Eve hanging around with the kids.

She even managed to travel to the Planet of the Apes for that last shot.

Raise your hand if you like Fresca

Me too!
A 'sparkling' grapefruit drink.
Sounds way nasty but I LOVE it.
That's all.
PTFO.

Thirty-six, but still in 7th grade, mentally . .

Will my brain ever grow up? If it hasn't by now, it probably won't ever, right?

Thanks, in large part, to a friend of mine, I can't hear certain words without thinking of them in a dirty light. I've been conditioned to do so, again, in large part by Nonrev 'Pavlov' Broussard. I can't help it.

The girls wanted to watch the New Year's Eve special to see the 'ball drop'.
Out of the blue, Anna asks, 'Mom, who's Dick?'.

Me: Uhh . . what?

Her: 'Who's DICK?!'.

Me: 'Dick?'. Oh, OH, Dick Clark, he hosts this show every year.

Her: 'Well, why does everyone love Dick so much?'

Me: (hee, hee . . ) Well, he's been around for a long time and people just like him.

Her: 'They have signs like 'I want to kiss Dick at midnight' and stuff'.

Me: (hee, hee . . ) Yeah.

I'm sorry but I can't help of thinking of a penis when the name 'Dick' is mentioned. I don't think this will ever go away.

I'm just happy the number of 'Dicks' is declining. Do you know anyone under the age of 50 called 'Dick' or 'Dickie'? I don't. If you do, please let me know and give some details. Why is this? Probably because we're all stuck in 7th grade.

Getting our shop on

My mom and I decided to take the girls and Cat. 5 to the mall today. What was I thinking? I don't know, but I had received a gift card for $25 for Christmas and like all 10-year olds, it was burning a hole. I really needed to get the girls some warm-up pants for their upcoming basketball games. So we set off, with only one problem. I.forgot.the.stroller. What does this mean? My mom and I have to take turns holding Cat. 5, or at least trying to contain him in a given store perimeter for a set amount of time. He.didn't.appreciate.it.

He's entranced by the mall. He loves looking around and hooking up with people he totally doesn't know. He can dart behind a clothes rack like nobody's business, and rip apart $38 costume jewelry like a pro (I found this out at Talbot's today). Did I 'fess' up and pay for it? SURE, I did. ;^) It wasn't attractive anyway. They can just call it a loss.

We survived with Cat. 5 for about 2 hours and then we let reality take hold and got the hell out of Dodge. I did get the pants for the girls though (thanks to a Gap Kids sale) and my mom got her birthday present from Talbots, while John M. reduced their inventory significantly with no profit. Anna and Emma bought more lip gloss than Donna Summer . . Mick Jagger . . who's that other huge-lipped celebrity??! . . oh yeah, Lisa Rinna. That chickaletto has some big, collagen-enhanced lips, doesn't she. Anyway, I digress. Let's just put it this way. They bought enough lip gloss to choke a chicken.

We're back, the kids are in bed, and it's back to our regular schedule of school, daycare, and work tomorrow. Let's all say it together, 'UGH!'.

Hoping for Mark's genes

This is the first year that the girls' school has offered a band class for the kids. It runs from 3rd-6th grade, with an option for 2nd graders to take part in a 'pre-band'. The children are given the choice of playing the saxophone, flute, trombone, or drums. Anna chose to play the flute (see her holding said instrument here at a Christmas concert). Emma is learning on a recorder (I think it's called a flutophone . . I'm definitely going to have to spellcheck that one).

We had the opportunity to go to this concert a couple of weeks ago. Emma was sick that day so Anna was our only musician in attendance. The older kids didn't play any actual songs, just short lessons that they've been learning, to help them to learn to read music and practice simple notes. Now, I know NONE of this, never having played an instrument. Mark plays guitar, but cannot read music. He just plays everything by ear. So, I was instantly impressed solely by the fact that they could read music. Both of the girls come home on Wednesdays after music class and are so excited to show us what they've learned. I'm amazed at how fast they catch on.

The little Christmas concert was great. We had a chance to be introduced to their music instructor, an older man that has been teaching music for over 30 years and has a genuine love for it, and the patience of a saint! The lessons had some good notes, and plenty of 'clunkers', and the kids were so proud to show off what they had learned. I hope the music program lasts and I hope the girls stick with it. Mark and his brothers are all musically inclined, so the girls have a shot at it somewhere in their genetic makeup. As for me, I'll just be sitting here, taking it all in, waiting to smother them with hugs when the performance is done.

New Year's Rockin' Eve on the Driveway!

We had a quiet (so to speak) little New Years Celebration, just Mark, the kids and my mom. We shot some firecrackers so here are a few pics. John M. LOVED it; I thought he may be scared but that little boy proved me wrong. He even wanted to hold the sparklers. Maybe next year. The girls love fireworks any day, any time. They'd keep the fireworks stores in business, if we'd let them.



Hope everyone had a great New Year's. I know you wish you could have joined us on the driveway in Pointe Coupee Parish, but hey, it's only so big.
Peace out.