Saturday Lagniappe

- Tomorrow is girl's day and My Girl has chosen to go back to the gym and do the waterslide - just her and I. I might even let her sneak in a snack from the snack bar just because it is our special day.

- The Boy is talking up a storm! He can say a lot of 2 and 3 word sentences and I can't even keep track of what he says anymore. Just everything! The cutest is that he loves the pool and woke up from his nap yesterday asking for the pool. Sometimes he calls it "Big Pool" or "Baby Pool" but often it is just "Swim? Swim? Swim?"

- Right now we are playing airport and I am writing this quickly while I wait for My Girl to check me in

- Tree men have been here cleaning up the tree that fell during that last big storm. Had to wait until our yard dried up from all the rain. We are having 3 more trees taken out in preparation for the upcoming storm season. More money I wish I didn't have to pay!

- uh-oh, gotta go! My Girl says it is time to go through security. She needs my shoes in the basket.

Hillary Clinton vs. Hilary Duff

Yesterday we were listening to the Disney Station on the radio and I said to My Girl that the girl singing on the radio was Hilary Duff who was in the movie she was watching on a show early in the day.

Today My Girl was talking to hubby and I. She said, "Mommy who was that girl again in that movie I was watching yesterday?" I paused to think about it and she said, "Oh yeah! It was Hillary Clinton! Daddy, I was watching a movie with Hillary Clinton and she had this mean teacher." He gave me this quizzical look. I laughed and said, "No honey, that was Hilary Duff."

"So who is Hillary Clinton?" she asks.

Jon and Kate plus 8

I love to watch the TLC show "Jon and Kate plus 8". If you don't know, it is about a couple who had 1 set of twins and then Sextuplets. So basically they have 8 kids. Two 7 year olds and six 3 year olds. I am sorta obsessed with watching it so much that if they run back to back episodes I can't stop watching it!

Top 10 easons why I must love the show:

10. The names Jon and Kate hold a special place in my heart.
9. My girl is SO MUCH like their daughter Mady that I must just love to see that my child is not the only one who acts like that.
8. They live in PA and I used to live in PA.
7. Kate has blonde hair and I have blonde hair. (am I reaching with this one?)
6. Jon works as a computer analyst and I work on a computer. (ok. really reaching now)
5. I can't get enough chaos at my own house I must watch tv for more!
4. It makes my life seem like a piece of cake.
3. I am trying to channel Kate's organizing abilities.
2. I like to watch Kate and Jon on the interview chair. They are funny together.

And finally, the real reason I love the show!
1. Kate freaks out at her kids and bosses her husband around. Love that!

Keep it real Kate. Keep it real!

Zumba

So tonight I tried out the new class at the gym called Zumba Fitness. I just may be hooked and love this one as much as I love BodyFlow! Bodyflow is a combination of Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates in one class set to great music. Zumba is like a spiced up Latin Jazzercise! Whooooeeee! I was movin and grovin! Talk about a cardio workout and so much fun - if you like to dance! It was right up my alley and not at all boring. I hate boring, repetitive, predictable classes.

The moves were fun, funky and sometimes even sexy!

Weekend Wrapup

Wow. I just realized it has been over a week since I last posted. I didn't even realize it.

So today is Memorial Day and we had a family 3 day weekend. Just the four of us. We didn't do anything special. Just hung out. Here is a quick off the top of my head rundown.

- We went to Free Music Friday at the Mandeville Trailhead and had a blast! The boy really loved the music and running back and forth between the stage and our chairs. They ate snowballs and chips. The hubs and I drank a few beers! Great time.

- We swam at Franco's all three days. My Girl significantly improved at swimming in just this weekend alone. She suddenly started swimming underwater and we had a blast together going under and touching the bottom and making hand signs. Today was free waterslide day for member's at Franco's. My Girl went down for the first time ever and absolutely loved it! We had a blast taking turns going down with her.

- We did a lot of laundry that is still sitting on my "laundry" couch waiting to be folded or put away.

- We rode bikes on Sunday night and listened to the kids fight in the trailer the whole time.

- We went to Sam's club & Academy on Sunday morning because it was hot out when we woke up and we thought that was the best plan. Didn't buy much.

- The boy decided his new favorite word is "Ewwwww!"

- We cooked out for dinner every night and ate outside on the patio. Wasn't bad once the sun went lower than the trees.

- The kids played a lot of grocery store. I have been giving them empty food boxes or containers that are taped closed for them to use as their "groceries". They love it and it is something they seem to play well together at.

- We set up the craft center on the kitchen table for them daily. The boy is finally to the age where he can sit at the table with his sister and color, cut paper, glue stuff. It is nice to keep them occupied in such a way when we want to clean up dishes from dinner or something.

- I cleaned out my closet and probably removed at least 50 items. Lots of empty hangers and space! Just wish I had the time and money to shop and refill them!

- We watched a lot of Jon & Kate Plus Eight. We all like that show. It is great for hubby and I to watch since it makes us feels better about our situation. It could be harder!

Final thought:
It is important to remind ourselves that we need to balance work and family time. I often stress about making sure my kids have fun every day. I know my time is limited with them as one day they will be in school every day all day. Also, they will only be this little for so long. I want to make memories and enjoy them! I sometimes do this to a fault. I let too many other things fall to the wayside because of my devotion to letting my kids have fun and play. Oh well. As long as I do my job that keeps the bills paid! Otherwise, I can clean, organize and whatever later!



-

Unplanned Days

(This post is for Kelly. Since she knew I was blogging in my head the whole time!)

Today My Girl decided we needed to go to the movies. We picked Nim's Island. It was a cute movie and made me long for the life I once wanted growing up. I wanted to be a Marine Biologist and explore the ocean, live by the sea, work on boats all day in the hot sun, scuba dive . . . Except I found out how much science and math I would have to take in college and since I hated both I opted for a degree in Journalism instead. I swear I could live life as they did in the movie. All alone on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean, living in a tree house with a computer and internet access. Heck, if you have internet access what else do you need?

Anyway, we had our own Nim's Island adventure today.

After the movie I decided it was too nice outside to go home and clean like I had planned. Since hubby was out of town too I thought we might hit the lakefront for some fresh air. We hit Sunset Point first for a short stroll. Then, My Girl had to pee so I headed for Lucy's Retired Surfer's Restaurant thinking we hadn't had lunch maybe we would could grab something to eat and hit the restrooms too. I missed the turn out of too much house gawking and ended up down by the Yacht club. I know my friend Kelly and her family often dock their sailboat there on the weekends so I took a peek and there they were. I pulled in and asked if My Girl could use the bathroom. Once on board, Kelly offered us a hamburger since they were cooking some for themselves. I accepted although that was not my intention to stay.

Next thing I knew they were asking us if we were doing anything else today and if we wanted to take a boat ride to the Fountainbleu Beach. Of course, My Girl was all over that so I figured "What the hell. Let's go. What else are we doing?" So off we sailed to the beach. Kelly, myself and the kids all sat up front and let the water splash on us as we forged through the waves. It was a bit choppy today. Nice cool breeze and a very clear sky made it a perfect day!

We anchored out a bit from shore and took the dingy into the beach. Kelly's husband took myself and my kids first. The sailboat was rocking pretty good and getting down into the dingy was a bit of a challenge. Once closer to shore we happened upon a large mass of sea grass that was not good for the dingy's outboard. It was slow going. Once he dropped us on shore, he headed back out to get Kelly and her kids. He had to paddle almost the whole way as he was going against the waves instead of riding them in and the grass was bogging out the motor.

Kelly and her kids arrived, we set up camp (umbrella, beach toys, chairs) and Kelly's husband decided we needed an exit plan. There was no way he could paddle us back out to the boat. The grass was too much and with one paddle and a boat of people it was too much work. So here was our plan. We would stay on the beach with the kids. He would paddle himself out to the sailboat in the dingy one more time. He would take the sailboat back to the dock. He would then load his kid's carseats into my vehicle and then drive to the Fountainbleu State Park to pick us all up and take us back. So there we sat on the beach stranded with no drinks, diapers, food, cell phone - with four kids! Really, though, it sounds worse than it was. There were people all around us and he was only gone for 1 hr.

So the kids had a blast splashing in the water and playing in the sand. We sat under the umbrella in the shade and relaxed and waited while poor Captain Mike did all the work. The day was so clear we could see downtown New Orleans which was way cool. Just too bad Kelly forgot the mimosas! Even a beer would have been good.

So Captain Mike returned with my car. We all piled in with our sandy selves and I dropped him back at the boat and took Kelly and the kids for a spin through Wendy's and then back to her house. We had a quick dinner there and then back home for bath's and bedtime. Phew!

So much for cleaning. Instead we had a fun-filled, long, unplanned day! It is always great that way ;-)

. . . but trees cause damage

More on the storm.

So I returned home today after my previous blog about the storm to find my neighborhood was in shambles from this morning's storm. I didn't realize it was so bad while I was in an office here in the area. My electricity was out and had been all day. The kid's pool and other toys were strewn all over the yard. A small plastic box I keep on my patio in a slightly protected area was lying in the backyard and all the contents were emptied out of it. The patio umbrella I purposely laid on the ground in the corner of the patio before lasts nights storm was blown to the other side.

But it was the site of a neigbhor's house that made me sick to my stomach and brought back all the memories of our house after Katrina.





- MY House after Katrina -

Trees don't fall silently

So we had this nasty storm blow through last night. It is still raining buckets and lightning as I write this today.

Right before the storm a bit of wind whipped through and I heard some boxes I had placed out in my carport start to blow around and hit the cars. I went out the door to get them and that is when it happpened. . .

It wasn't even raining yet. Just extremely windy for a a very brief amount of time. Tornado warnings in the area. Then, I heard this very distinct noice. A very loud cracking noise. Instinctively I knew what it was. A tree was about to fall. A VERY TALL PINE TREE. Maybe 100-150 feet tall - as most of them are. My ears told me it was coming from my backyard. I quickly calculated height in my head to where I was standing and decided to move quickly out of the carport so I could see where it was falling and avoid it. Because the carport is the closest to the back trees it surely could be hit if a tree fell toward the house. I ran out one side of the carport and that is when I saw the tree hit. It smashed through the neighbors fence behind us and landed in my backyard. A huge tree! BOOOOOOOM! It was something to see.

I ran into the house and got the kids into the master bathroom. Not so much for the tornado warnings as for more trees potentially falling. The master bathroom has an enclosure with no exterior wall and glass block sides. So if a tree smashed through the roof and into the room it would most likely be stopped by the glass blocks. Then, my husband stood in our master bathroom looking out the window watching the trees. I kept thinking, the neighbors trees fell on this side of the house during Katrina, I think we need to move to the guest bathroom which is more centrally located. Suddenly, he had the same thought and told us to get out of there as those trees next door were bending pretty badly from the wind. So we sat for about an hour in the guest bathroom until the wind died down. Thankfully, no more trees fell.

A little while later, while watching TV (it was still storming, but no wind) something hit our roof and shook the house and was very loud. We decided it must have been a large branch fell from one of the pines. We went out later to see and saw nothing on the roof or on the ground. Not sure what that was, but it was sure loud. I screamed out "oh shit!" when it happened. I was sure another tree was falling on the house.

Hubby reminded me that the 3 trees that fell on the house during Katrina never punctured through out ceilings (even though it did a great amount of damage to our roof and struture up top - as well as smashing our front porch) so even if one fell, hopefully it wound not hit us inside. I have to admit the one tree that layed it self nicely across our roof during Katrina and broke every rafter was QUITE LARGE in girth. They estimate over 60 years old.

It is just the fear of knowing what happened before and that it could potentially happen again. The trees are weaker since Katrina and many are dying from the beatles which makes them weak and hazardous.

We all made it through safely. Although our backyard was completely flooded during the storm and the water in the front ditch was up to the road and into our front yard. Both of which rarely ever happen. It just rained so hard the drainage couldn't keep up! After it stopped raining the water started to recede. I was out with the neighbors holding a flashlight while they cleared the debris washed away from everyone's yard from the drains so the water could continue to flow.

Craziness to say the least.

Keepin' Busy

My mom friends from my daughter's preschool class (read about them here and here) sure do keep me busy! Tuesday I called one of the mom's to see if her kid could come over to play. While he was here. Another mom from the class called to say they were going to the park and did we want to go. So we all coordinated and 4 of us met at the park after lunch and hung out all afternoon. Thursday, I decided that after a morning of cleaning I needed to get out of the house. So off to the pool we went.

Then, yesterday the moms met for breakfast at The Broken Egg. Followed by an afternoon at the Mandeville Trailhead waterspouts after we picked the kiddos up at school. Then, to end the day we met for the Friday Free Music at the Mandeville Trailhead. Closed it down at 8:30pm! What a long day for some moms with small kids! Needless to say we all needed to shower!

But what fun we had! Today I was supposed to meet one of the moms to do the Mandeville Trailhead Saturday outdoor market, but called her this morning to say I needed to stay home and get something done!

Crawfish boil tonight with hubby and his friends! I think I will fill up the kiddie pool and relax!

what to say?

I haven't written much lately because I guess I am just uninspired. I haven't even been doing much blogging in my head as I usually do. Maybe life is just boring right now. That, or I have two much other crap swirling around in my head there is no space for a collected thought. I will put my money on the latter.

Sometimes I feel like I am just trying to keep my head above water. So much to do and so little time. But the reality is I think my worries of everything have gotten the best of me. Just worrying about everything - nothing in particular. Sometimes I get in a fit of worry about things and other times I could give two shits what happens. Craziness in my head.

And all this swirling drains the creativity from my head. And it also drains my drive. I find it hard to get motivated to do certain things that require concentration. I clean my house more when I am in this state of mind. Housework is mindless and probably takes my mind off whatever is swirling around up there.

So my house is fairly clean - at least cleaner than normal and I have nothing to write about. So goodnight!