At dinner my 5 year old (six next month!) asks how a telephone works. I passed that one to daddy for an explanation. He gives here a very detailed and scientific explanation. She laps it up!
He ends by saying, "So when Nana calls, her voice travels in tiny bits of info super fast over the phone lines and then they all come together on your phone and you can hear what she says."
I add, "Yup, and they travel that fast over thousands of miles. Cool huh?"
She says, "Man, Nana's voice must be really tired."
Monday, January 26, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
What am I doing during the inauguration?
The same damn thing I have done during every other one . . . working. I don't think I have ever in my life watched one. Have you?
Sunday, January 18, 2009
What's in your favorites? Part 5
Every now and then I like to share what I have saved in my browser favorites. So here are links I would like to share this time!
Freebies 4 Mom - I forget how I found this site but have since subscribed and find her posts to be some of the most useful emails I receive. Lots of great giveaways, coupons, freebies. Love it! Check it out. Subscribe and see if you love it too!
Don't Look Now! - Add this blog to your favs if for nothing other than to look at her beautiful work. I wish I could be this creative and crafty. I absolutely love her designs. Definitely my style!
Vincent Shoes - I stumbled across this and so want to buy these adorable shoes. Very European looking. Wish they made them in my size. Expensive. But no more so than Stride Rite and affordable when on sale. Currently have a lot 50% off! ( I so want to buy something from this site!)
Etsy - Your place to buy all things handmade. I so like to visit regularly just to view the 'handpicked' items on the homepage! Nice to support the hand crafters!
Buy Gift Certificates Half Price - For those living in the New Orleans or Baton Rouge area. Get half price gift certificates for hardware stores, boutiques, restaurants, entertainment and more! If you don't live around here try Restaurant.com for discounted restaurant gift certificates for cities all over the US!
Louisana Northshore- official website of the Nola Northshore. From here or not you will love this site if not meerly for the great design. For both locals and soon to be visitors!
To read my other "What's in your favorites?" posts:
What's in your favorites? Part 1
What's in your favorites? Part 2
What's in your favorites? Part 3
What's in your favorites? Part 4
Freebies 4 Mom - I forget how I found this site but have since subscribed and find her posts to be some of the most useful emails I receive. Lots of great giveaways, coupons, freebies. Love it! Check it out. Subscribe and see if you love it too!
Don't Look Now! - Add this blog to your favs if for nothing other than to look at her beautiful work. I wish I could be this creative and crafty. I absolutely love her designs. Definitely my style!
Vincent Shoes - I stumbled across this and so want to buy these adorable shoes. Very European looking. Wish they made them in my size. Expensive. But no more so than Stride Rite and affordable when on sale. Currently have a lot 50% off! ( I so want to buy something from this site!)
Etsy - Your place to buy all things handmade. I so like to visit regularly just to view the 'handpicked' items on the homepage! Nice to support the hand crafters!
Buy Gift Certificates Half Price - For those living in the New Orleans or Baton Rouge area. Get half price gift certificates for hardware stores, boutiques, restaurants, entertainment and more! If you don't live around here try Restaurant.com for discounted restaurant gift certificates for cities all over the US!
Louisana Northshore- official website of the Nola Northshore. From here or not you will love this site if not meerly for the great design. For both locals and soon to be visitors!
To read my other "What's in your favorites?" posts:
What's in your favorites? Part 1
What's in your favorites? Part 2
What's in your favorites? Part 3
What's in your favorites? Part 4
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Stranger makes my day
I was standing in line for the salad bar at the church dinner tonight and the woman in front of me turned around looked at me for a split second and her eyes lit up and she said, "Well, hello!" Thinking I must have met her before or something I smiled right back and gave her a cheery "Hello!" She said, "My, you are just beautiful! You have great eyes." and then she simply turned around and started fixing her salad.
For a split second I was taken aback. Not embarrassed, but sorta shocked. It was a strange incident. However, it appeared to be so sincere that I felt good inside and walked a little bit taller and smiled a bit more. It made my day.
I can probably count on my hand how many times a stranger has told me something like that. My hubby says it a lot and friends will tell you that you look great when you are dressed up to go out or wearing something new or different. But it is not common for me to hear a compliment like this one from a complete stranger.
I remember once in High School some random parent at a track meet told me I had great skin. The look on my face must have been something as I had never in my life heard anyone tell me that. But I never forgot it and started to believe I really did have great skin! The second person in my life to ever tell me that was my husband the first day I met him. He also thought I had nice elbows . . . Elbows????
Incidents such as the one tonight remind me of an episode of Oprah I watched. She told the story how a wife of a politician visited her hometown and as she was greeting the crowd she paid Oprah a compliment on her beauty. Oprah never has forgotten that and it contributed to her self-esteem and completely affected her life. Oprah had the woman on her show and she of course did not remember paying that compliment to Oprah many years ago but was gratefully that she had such a profound affect on her.
So I would like to thank the lady who paid me such a wonderful compliment. You are an angel. And you hit me on a day that wasn't going the greatest. I looked at myself in the mirror when I got home and saw a pale tired face with dark circles. Maybe you saw that too and thought if you told me the opposite of what you saw it would help me feel better. Well, if that is true it sure did. WHile standing in front of the mirror I closed my eyes for a few seconds, opened them back up and smiled. There, now that must be who she saw!
For a split second I was taken aback. Not embarrassed, but sorta shocked. It was a strange incident. However, it appeared to be so sincere that I felt good inside and walked a little bit taller and smiled a bit more. It made my day.
I can probably count on my hand how many times a stranger has told me something like that. My hubby says it a lot and friends will tell you that you look great when you are dressed up to go out or wearing something new or different. But it is not common for me to hear a compliment like this one from a complete stranger.
I remember once in High School some random parent at a track meet told me I had great skin. The look on my face must have been something as I had never in my life heard anyone tell me that. But I never forgot it and started to believe I really did have great skin! The second person in my life to ever tell me that was my husband the first day I met him. He also thought I had nice elbows . . . Elbows????
Incidents such as the one tonight remind me of an episode of Oprah I watched. She told the story how a wife of a politician visited her hometown and as she was greeting the crowd she paid Oprah a compliment on her beauty. Oprah never has forgotten that and it contributed to her self-esteem and completely affected her life. Oprah had the woman on her show and she of course did not remember paying that compliment to Oprah many years ago but was gratefully that she had such a profound affect on her.
So I would like to thank the lady who paid me such a wonderful compliment. You are an angel. And you hit me on a day that wasn't going the greatest. I looked at myself in the mirror when I got home and saw a pale tired face with dark circles. Maybe you saw that too and thought if you told me the opposite of what you saw it would help me feel better. Well, if that is true it sure did. WHile standing in front of the mirror I closed my eyes for a few seconds, opened them back up and smiled. There, now that must be who she saw!
Monday, January 12, 2009
If These Walls Could Talk
This post is written as if my house were talking and selling itself to a potential buyer.It is part of a Monday Mission.
Welcome to our home. The current family has been here almost 5 years and has really fixed me up with the biggest change being to my yard. I used to have a lot of vegetation and you couldn't even see the neighbors to the left. Well, since the hurricane the owners and neighbors have certainly trimmed things back a lot. I get a lot more sun as they took away a lot of shade. I used to have at least 14 more pines shading me than I do now. In addition a big shady White Oak in the backyard fell during Katrina and that was a big loss to me and the owners. At least I got a new roof out of that horrible storm.
Well, if you step through the front door into the foyer you will see the Madisonville Wooden Boat Show 2004 poster framed and center stage. That does not stay with the house. It represents the owners first year in Lousisiana.
To your left is the the office/toy room/craft room/dance room. From this room I hear a lot of loud music and the owners are often dancing like crazy people. They also play the music loud from here so they can hear it in the kitchen while they are cooking and eating dinner. Excuse the mess as they have two small children who love to pull out every toy every single day. The craft table is always hosting a project in progress by the owner's 5 year old. Watch your step over the GeoTrax train set. This room was completely gutted after Katrina. It has all new bamboo wooden floors and new can lights and a ceiling fan. The walls hold a nice green color by Ralph Lauren.
Straight ahead is the living room. Yes, I know it is long and narrow. To the left is the TV viewing area (also the extended dance floor from the play room) and to the right is the sitting area around the fireplace. This room used to be all puke brown when the current owners bought it but they have updated with these nice colors. You will also notice they have painted all the dark wood stained trim - white!
Moving through the living room you will see I offer a very nice sized eat-in kitchen with a big island which is topped with a new granite counter top. (It really needs to be painted if you ask me. Owners keep talking about it but never get around to it.) All appliances have been replaced by the current owners. Let's take a peak in this nice stainless steel refrigerator - Oh! Look at that they have Mott's Pomegrante Apple Sauce - the wife's new fav. Would you like one? No. Ok - moving on.
There is no garage but this double car carport is right off the kitchen making it convenient for hot sunny and rainy days. And attached to the carport is a nice size shed and a covered concrete area for storing outdoor toys, an extra fridge and a gardening table. From here you can see that the whole exterior of the house where there is wood siding or trim has been painted. It used to be a horrible peach!
If you come over to these french doors off the living area you will get a good view of their backyard. It is a 1/2 acre lot. You can still see where trees have been removed or fell down from storms. There used to be a fence around the backyard but the current owners removed it as it was getting to be ugly. It has really opened up the backyard and with all the trees gone there is room to put in a huge pool if you so desire.
You can also see that the driveway wraps all the way around the back of the house and there is extra parking at the end of the drive. All that concrete makes a great area for the current owners kids to ride bikes, play, skate, draw with chalk or whatever their hearts desire. Big bonus to this house!
Follow me down this hallway. There are three bedrooms on the right and a guest bath on the left. The guest bath is rather large with two full size sinks on each side with large vanities. A nice touch.
The room at the end of the hall also was gutted after Katrina and also has new bamboo wood floors and new can lights and ceiling fan.
Down this last hallway is actually an addition that was built onto this house after a fire. It is the master bedroom. Yeah, nice huh? It and the kitchen are the main reasons the current owners bought this house - well, that and all the shade we no longer have . . .
Anyway, this room is VERY large as you can see. It has its own sitting area and obviously can house large furniture. I will have to discuss with the current owners but the bedroom set might be staying. If they don't have this big of a room in their next house they can't take this bedroom set.
And finally, here is the master bath. It has his/her sinks, a jacuzzi tub, steam shower and private toilet area with a bidet and a walk-in closet. As the wife of the house always says, "The people who put in this bathroom were obviously french." Why? Well, there is also a waist height showerhead in the shower that serves the same function as the bidet. . . . Hmmmmmm. As you can see the current owners use the bidet as a magazine rack. It does in fact work. The water is just turned off right now. The daughter of the owners turned it on full tilt when they first moved in and it sprayed to the ceiling and drenched the toilet area. It was quite a mess to clean up.
So that is it. The owners have tried to take good care of me in the past 5 years. Replacing things as needed. Oh! Which reminds me, the air conditioner is brand new. Yes, it is that big box on the patio that looks like a rocket ship! If I were you I would have that moved off the patio to the side of the house. Only costs about $500. If you can afford it . . . I have to say I am glad they replaced that old unit. It used to keep me up at night as it was so damn loud that you couldn't talk to each other when outside. Even the neighbors could hear it when it was running.
So, take another walk through if you want. The neighbors are great, the neighborhood is great and it is one of best public school districts in the state. The neighbhorhood boasts easy access to all major highways and commuting routes. None of that info was known by the current owners when they bought the house but they sure are glad they picked me.
Welcome to our home. The current family has been here almost 5 years and has really fixed me up with the biggest change being to my yard. I used to have a lot of vegetation and you couldn't even see the neighbors to the left. Well, since the hurricane the owners and neighbors have certainly trimmed things back a lot. I get a lot more sun as they took away a lot of shade. I used to have at least 14 more pines shading me than I do now. In addition a big shady White Oak in the backyard fell during Katrina and that was a big loss to me and the owners. At least I got a new roof out of that horrible storm.
Well, if you step through the front door into the foyer you will see the Madisonville Wooden Boat Show 2004 poster framed and center stage. That does not stay with the house. It represents the owners first year in Lousisiana.
To your left is the the office/toy room/craft room/dance room. From this room I hear a lot of loud music and the owners are often dancing like crazy people. They also play the music loud from here so they can hear it in the kitchen while they are cooking and eating dinner. Excuse the mess as they have two small children who love to pull out every toy every single day. The craft table is always hosting a project in progress by the owner's 5 year old. Watch your step over the GeoTrax train set. This room was completely gutted after Katrina. It has all new bamboo wooden floors and new can lights and a ceiling fan. The walls hold a nice green color by Ralph Lauren.
Straight ahead is the living room. Yes, I know it is long and narrow. To the left is the TV viewing area (also the extended dance floor from the play room) and to the right is the sitting area around the fireplace. This room used to be all puke brown when the current owners bought it but they have updated with these nice colors. You will also notice they have painted all the dark wood stained trim - white!
Moving through the living room you will see I offer a very nice sized eat-in kitchen with a big island which is topped with a new granite counter top. (It really needs to be painted if you ask me. Owners keep talking about it but never get around to it.) All appliances have been replaced by the current owners. Let's take a peak in this nice stainless steel refrigerator - Oh! Look at that they have Mott's Pomegrante Apple Sauce - the wife's new fav. Would you like one? No. Ok - moving on.
There is no garage but this double car carport is right off the kitchen making it convenient for hot sunny and rainy days. And attached to the carport is a nice size shed and a covered concrete area for storing outdoor toys, an extra fridge and a gardening table. From here you can see that the whole exterior of the house where there is wood siding or trim has been painted. It used to be a horrible peach!
If you come over to these french doors off the living area you will get a good view of their backyard. It is a 1/2 acre lot. You can still see where trees have been removed or fell down from storms. There used to be a fence around the backyard but the current owners removed it as it was getting to be ugly. It has really opened up the backyard and with all the trees gone there is room to put in a huge pool if you so desire.
You can also see that the driveway wraps all the way around the back of the house and there is extra parking at the end of the drive. All that concrete makes a great area for the current owners kids to ride bikes, play, skate, draw with chalk or whatever their hearts desire. Big bonus to this house!
Follow me down this hallway. There are three bedrooms on the right and a guest bath on the left. The guest bath is rather large with two full size sinks on each side with large vanities. A nice touch.
The room at the end of the hall also was gutted after Katrina and also has new bamboo wood floors and new can lights and ceiling fan.
Down this last hallway is actually an addition that was built onto this house after a fire. It is the master bedroom. Yeah, nice huh? It and the kitchen are the main reasons the current owners bought this house - well, that and all the shade we no longer have . . .
Anyway, this room is VERY large as you can see. It has its own sitting area and obviously can house large furniture. I will have to discuss with the current owners but the bedroom set might be staying. If they don't have this big of a room in their next house they can't take this bedroom set.
And finally, here is the master bath. It has his/her sinks, a jacuzzi tub, steam shower and private toilet area with a bidet and a walk-in closet. As the wife of the house always says, "The people who put in this bathroom were obviously french." Why? Well, there is also a waist height showerhead in the shower that serves the same function as the bidet. . . . Hmmmmmm. As you can see the current owners use the bidet as a magazine rack. It does in fact work. The water is just turned off right now. The daughter of the owners turned it on full tilt when they first moved in and it sprayed to the ceiling and drenched the toilet area. It was quite a mess to clean up.
So that is it. The owners have tried to take good care of me in the past 5 years. Replacing things as needed. Oh! Which reminds me, the air conditioner is brand new. Yes, it is that big box on the patio that looks like a rocket ship! If I were you I would have that moved off the patio to the side of the house. Only costs about $500. If you can afford it . . . I have to say I am glad they replaced that old unit. It used to keep me up at night as it was so damn loud that you couldn't talk to each other when outside. Even the neighbors could hear it when it was running.
So, take another walk through if you want. The neighbors are great, the neighborhood is great and it is one of best public school districts in the state. The neighbhorhood boasts easy access to all major highways and commuting routes. None of that info was known by the current owners when they bought the house but they sure are glad they picked me.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
It's a wrap!
I just realized I haven't posted since December 17th! Well, makes sense. My brother arrived on the 18th as my first holiday visitor. My mom left yesterday as my last holiday visitor! Phew!
So here is my holiday wrap up in random as it comes to me order!
- Severe fog on bridge the night brother arrived. Had to go through Slidell since we couldn't cross causeway bridge. We were 45 minutes late. Bridge was open on way home but had to go 35mph. Was a long night . . .
- When my parents tried to get here they got stuck in Atlanta cuz their first flight was late and they missed their connection. Got in VERY late after much running around the ATL airport trying to get on other flights out.
- My Girl sat on Santa's lap this year! Finally . . . Boy did too, but he did last year. He is not afraid. We attended a Santa party at a friends house and it was perfect. She just watched all the other kids first and then got up the nerve and up she went!
- My Girl got her ears pierced. It was her big idea and she begged a lot! I wanted to wait till her 6th birthday (feb) but daddy gave in (surprise to me!) and said ok a little earlier. She was brave and scared at the same time. Cried a little. Nana was there to see this big life moment for her. She picked heart shaped light pink stones for her first earrings. So cute.
- Went to New Orleans Art Museum for first time while family was here. We were fortunate to accidentlly happen upon Prospect 1 exhibits which were way cool. We all agreed our favorite exhibit was Willie Birch's drawings in the entrance. We also enjoyed the Paul Villinski's Emergency Response Studio. He makes a FEMA trailer green! I hope to be able to get to the Prospect 1 locations throughout the city before it is over. . .
- Took my brother and mom into the 9th ward to see Brad Pitt's Make It Right project.
- Ate at Deanie's, Dragos, Felix's Oyster Bar (hated it).
- Met Chef Leah Chase of Dooky Chase's restaurant. Wanted to eat there but the day we showed up they were closed for a wedding rehearsal. Dang. Did you know she is from Madisonville?
- Visited the Covington Farmer's Market and bought a great pepper jelly, banana pepper mustard, northern white bean salad and some incredible salsa! All homemade and cheap!
- My mom cleaned my house completely twice while here. She even mopped all my floors! Did all our laundry while here. Can she stay forever or at least visit once a week? Ohio is really cold in the winter mom. Just a thought . . .
- Kid's got their swing set that Uncle Greg bought them set up and love it. Nana spent many hours with the kids swinging and sliding.
- Uncle Greg taught my son how to shake his booty to music and now he does it all the time at home and in public. He looks ridiculous!
- My family time was low key compared to last year but nice. We laughed a lot and for some odd reason danced a lot. There was always music coming out of our computer and very loudly. Daddy played DJ and we all danced together. Everything from Christmas to Frank Sinatra to Doo Wop.
- My brother's pipes froze back at his house in Ohio while here. His furnace pilot went out for some reason. He went home to water damage all over his house. His neighbor saw water coming down his driveway from his garage and called him. He told him the code to his garage door and sure enough he had a problem. Luckily he was able to deal with some of it via phone from here. Lots of floors and ceilings to rip out now . . .
- We saw the movie Marley & Me. Made me cry.
- A friend passed away.
So here is my holiday wrap up in random as it comes to me order!
- Severe fog on bridge the night brother arrived. Had to go through Slidell since we couldn't cross causeway bridge. We were 45 minutes late. Bridge was open on way home but had to go 35mph. Was a long night . . .
- When my parents tried to get here they got stuck in Atlanta cuz their first flight was late and they missed their connection. Got in VERY late after much running around the ATL airport trying to get on other flights out.
- My Girl sat on Santa's lap this year! Finally . . . Boy did too, but he did last year. He is not afraid. We attended a Santa party at a friends house and it was perfect. She just watched all the other kids first and then got up the nerve and up she went!
- My Girl got her ears pierced. It was her big idea and she begged a lot! I wanted to wait till her 6th birthday (feb) but daddy gave in (surprise to me!) and said ok a little earlier. She was brave and scared at the same time. Cried a little. Nana was there to see this big life moment for her. She picked heart shaped light pink stones for her first earrings. So cute.
- Went to New Orleans Art Museum for first time while family was here. We were fortunate to accidentlly happen upon Prospect 1 exhibits which were way cool. We all agreed our favorite exhibit was Willie Birch's drawings in the entrance. We also enjoyed the Paul Villinski's Emergency Response Studio. He makes a FEMA trailer green! I hope to be able to get to the Prospect 1 locations throughout the city before it is over. . .
- Took my brother and mom into the 9th ward to see Brad Pitt's Make It Right project.
- Ate at Deanie's, Dragos, Felix's Oyster Bar (hated it).
- Met Chef Leah Chase of Dooky Chase's restaurant. Wanted to eat there but the day we showed up they were closed for a wedding rehearsal. Dang. Did you know she is from Madisonville?
- Visited the Covington Farmer's Market and bought a great pepper jelly, banana pepper mustard, northern white bean salad and some incredible salsa! All homemade and cheap!
- My mom cleaned my house completely twice while here. She even mopped all my floors! Did all our laundry while here. Can she stay forever or at least visit once a week? Ohio is really cold in the winter mom. Just a thought . . .
- Kid's got their swing set that Uncle Greg bought them set up and love it. Nana spent many hours with the kids swinging and sliding.
- Uncle Greg taught my son how to shake his booty to music and now he does it all the time at home and in public. He looks ridiculous!
- My family time was low key compared to last year but nice. We laughed a lot and for some odd reason danced a lot. There was always music coming out of our computer and very loudly. Daddy played DJ and we all danced together. Everything from Christmas to Frank Sinatra to Doo Wop.
- My brother's pipes froze back at his house in Ohio while here. His furnace pilot went out for some reason. He went home to water damage all over his house. His neighbor saw water coming down his driveway from his garage and called him. He told him the code to his garage door and sure enough he had a problem. Luckily he was able to deal with some of it via phone from here. Lots of floors and ceilings to rip out now . . .
- We saw the movie Marley & Me. Made me cry.
- A friend passed away.
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