25 Days of Christmas

ABC Family is counting down to their annual 25 days of Christmas TV Schedule. Tonight the girl and I are already watching the ABC Family Christmas movies they are playing during the Countdown (see schedule). Check it out!

Does Santa Vote?

My five-year old posed that question to me today. I told her I didn't know but would find out. So what is your answer. Be practicial, witty, serious, by the book, off the wall. Whatever! Let's hear what you would say!

What's in your favorites? Part 4

Every now and then I like to share what I have saved in my browser favorites. Well, it has been awhile. So here are links I would like to share!

1. Pandora - I'd heard of this online radio before but never bothered to try to use it. Hubby started using it when his Sirius account expired and told me how great it was. I gave it a whirl and am addicted. Who needs to download music anymore when you have Pandora? You create stations based on your favorite artists and then can hit Quickmix and select which stations you want to mix up and listen to. I have Christmas stations setup now for the holidays! You can vote if you like songs or not and it will play accordingly in the future. Very cool.

2. Facebook - This is nothing new to some of you. I've been on facebook for awhile now, but at first didn't really get into it. Now, it has changed it's format and so many more people I know are on it so it has become fun. It is like my entire mom's club who I have lost touch with is on there now and that is so cool. I like keeping up with all the people I would otherwise probably not have time to talk with. And people's status updates are just so dang funny sometimes! If you aren't on Facebook get going already!

3. New Orleans Businesses - This is actually my own list on my blog of New Orleans Based Businesses you can support online. Check it out. Suggest sites!

4. Dirtycoast.com - This site has some of the greatest Nola t-shirt designs I have seen. Love it! Love it!

5. North Shore Free Use Network - This is a a yahoo group where everything is offered up for free! You can post a SEEK or an OFFER. I joined this group a few years back but have recently gotten back into actually using it. I have had several OFFERS and SEEKS in the last month. Times are tough. Time to recycle and reuse to save a buck or two! Not on the Northshore of New Orleans then find a similar group near you.

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

WILD

"Wild" has many definitions:
1 - living in a state of nature and not ordinarily tame or domesticated
2 - not subject to restraint or regulation
3 - indicative of strong passion, desire, or emotion
4 - going beyond normal or conventional bounds
5 - marked by turbulent agitation

Today my friends K, L and myself accompanied our kids on the zoo field trip. As I stood in my closet deciding what to wear I thought to myself that L will wear some cute outfit/shirt with an animal or something from nature on it that will be reflective of the field trip we were about to embark on. K will wear some cute slip on dress with flip flops and I, well, I will resort to my solid color v-neck tee with sporty capri pants and tennis shoes. I sighed and got dressed in said outfit.

Upon meeting at the car, my unconventional friend L, sure enough had on her Alexa Pulitzer alligator t-shirt from DirtyCoast.com which I am crazy about! (By the way Dirtycoast.com has so many Nola related designs I couldn't pick one if I had to! But the one L had one would by far be in my top 3 as we both share a love of Alexa's stuff.) I complimented L on her cute shirt and told her I knew she would wear something like that when I don't even know if I have a shirt with a print of any kind on it. She laughed and joked about how it took her a good 20 minutes of thought the night before to get the right shirt for the day!

K of course, as predicted, had on her dress and flipflops. K who is typically constained and sometimes even quiet and shy certainly knows how to shake things up with a wild and crazy story about herself that has us laughing hysterically in the car crossing the boring causeway bridge. In retrospect I am thinking she should look to herself when she is worried about why her very shy/quiet son is suddenly acting out a bit in school. Hmmm. Sound familiar my dear?

Then there is me. I was talking to L today about haircuts and she was saying she always gets the same cut. K, well, she typically wears her hair the same all the time too. Me, well, that's where I differ. Not only do I not dress as cute & stylish as they do, but my hair differs daily. It can be curly, straight, sorta curly, sorta straight, pulled back messily in pony, pulled back neatly in pony, only bangs back in clip, etc. I am not quite as organized and put together. I guess I can be defined by definition #5 above. And that explains everything! We all got a little "wild" in us :-)

My holiday recommendations

Need Holiday Cards?
Purchase KidCards by the Children's Hospital patients. They have some very cute New Orleans or Louisiana themed cards! www.chnola.org

Need a family photo for your holiday cards?
My friend Helana Bedeaux is taking holiday family photos. The first session is open Saturday, November 22 at Fairview State Park in Mandeville. The second session will be held Saturday, November 29 at City Park in New Orleans. Appointments will start at 9:00AM and continue throughout each day. www.helanabadeaux.blogspot.com

Need some gift ideas?
BOOK:8 State Hurricane Kate: The Journey and Legacy of a Katrina Cattle Dog

CHILDREN'S BOOK: Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival

FAMILY DVD: My Louisiana Sky(We love this mostly unknown movie)

BOY TOY: Kid K'nex Zoomin' Buddies-81 pcs(These are awesome for 2 and up!)

GIRL TOY:Jakks Pacific Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker

BOY OR GIRL: Skuut Balance Bike(Guarantee your child will be able to ride a bike in two weeks!)

FOR MOM: O, The Oprah Magazine (1-year)

FOR DAD: Atari 2600 Classics 10-in-1 TV Games

FOR WHOLE FAM DAMILY: LEGO® Creator Beach House

Need gifts to send? Try these sites:
www.oldtownpraline.com
www.whitewoodfarms.com
www.booksonbabies.com

Happy Holiday Shopping! Feel free to leave your own recommendations in the comments!

Hurricane Katrina - Our Story - Part 3

Sept. 4th, 2005
Our 6th anniversary, and we are on an airplane flying from Virginia Beach to Dallas. On the way to the airport I saw signs all over Virginia about benefit concerts for Katrina victims and such. I saw people out collecting money at stop lights. Already I thought? Gosh, it just happened 5 days ago . . . I was impressed and touched.

I don't even recall the flight at all. I do recall getting off the airplane in Dallas and walking practically all the way to baggage and realizing my husband does not have our video camera on his shoulder. I ask him where it is and I see him freeze, think and then his face turned red as he shouted out some obscenity. "I left it in the overhead bin on the airplane!" He ran over to the counter of the airline we just flew on and asked the lady behind the counter to phone the plane and ask them to look for it. She explained that the plane had already been reloaded and we would be lucky if it had not already taken off again. I burst into tears and walked away thinking we don't know what we lost at home and now we may have lost one of the few possessions we had left. It was expensive and fairly new. It contained videos of our daughter from vacaton. I headed for the baggage area and spotted my father in-law. He approached me and saw me crying. Not being the affectionate type he felt obligated to hug me and tell me everything would be ok. He thought I was upset about our house. I told him that no, in fact, I was crying because we may have now lost our video camera and I couldn't take anymore stress!

After much persistance on my husband's part the camera was recovered. (A airline attendant got lazy and wouldn't look. Mgmt finally boarded the aircraft and found it right where we left it.)

We arrived at my in-laws and my husband immediately took off with my FIL to rent a u-haul and buy supplies to return to our house the next morning. He loaded it with a generator, wood, food, water, gas, chainsaw, tarps, and a gun for protection as our neighbors were telling us they all were using self protection and guarding our neighborhood from looters.

They left the next morning. They were able to get to our house because only residents were allowed to return and they finally cleared the debris from our road so they could actually get to the house. It was a sad site. So bad in fact, they spent the night, took some stuff from the house and returned on Sunday. There was nothing they could do. The trees and cleanup required heavy machinery.

In the meantime, my daughter who was potty trained for #1 (tee-tee) shortly before going to VA Beach and completed potty training for #2 (BM) while in VA Beach got potty trained for night time sleeping by default. I was so distraught and out of it with things rushing around in my brain I forgot for 3 nights in a row to put a pullup on her at night. Finally, my mother in law inquired why I wasn't doing it. I laughed and simply said, "I forgot." She was dry each morning when she woke up so I never put one on her after that. There is my secret to how my daughter stopped wearing pull ups at night! Ta Da!

On Sunday, when hubby returned we got in a very emotional argument. I was mad at him for everything. He brought all my old, crappy, painting, yardwork clothes, and nothing I usually wear? He grabbed a pile of clothes from the back of our closet and none of the hanging clothes which is what I wear. Though, he brought all his hanging clothes including suits for work! He also brought my bike and rollar blades, but none of the pictures and photo albums I requested. He thought I might want to get some exercise while there! Geez. Amazing how differently men and women think.

I was also angry at him for buying all the supplies, renting u-haul and going all that way to turnaround and come right back. I thought he should have stayed and did something with our house. Like hire someone to remove the trees, get the electric hooked back up, etc. He said there was just nothing he could do. They were wanting $5000 to remove the trees. Who has that type of cash to spend when you don't even know what is ahead and how much money you will need to live away for an undetermined amount of time.

We were arguing quietly outside at his parents pool. I sat out there alone and cried and he kept coming out to talk to me. When I eventually went inside my FIL said that there would be no crying or fighting in his house. I literally exploded. I never had words with my FIL before. I went off. I used some harsh words. I got in his face. It was ugly. So ugly my husband had to step in and stop me. I remember thinking how could one not cry or fight with their spouse at a time of such stress. I do remember telling him that was fine with me. I would pack my stuff and fly to my parents and they would let me cry all I wanted. That is when Hubby stepped in. He knew I would do it and was not kidding! He begged me not to do it as I started to pack my suitcase.

Finally, my FIL came up to me, hugged me and told me not to go. He said he loved me as much as he loved his sons and that he wanted us to stay at his house.

This was just the beginning of a long journey of arguments, tense moments, tears, and testing of family ties.

Continue to Part 4

Exploring, Bargains, Love

Yesterday the kids I did some exploring and some bargin hunting.

We started to head out to JCPenny's to buy shoes for hubby but I saw 5 garage sale signs outside the subdivision. So I did a u-turn and did a little garage saling first. My biggest find was a VCR for $1 - and yes, it works!

I then made it to JCP and scored a pair of leather dress boots for 65% off. I was in need of a new pair. My other pair is over 6 years old and showing the wear and tear. So I was happy!

From there we headed to Madisonville. I had plans to go the Riverfront Art Market. We stopped for lunch at the new Speak Easy Too there on the bend near the old library. We had a panini and it was a cute place. They have free Wi-Fi too which I mentally noted for future use!

We did the Art Market. It was nice. Small (which i expected) but the weather was so beautiful it doesn't take much to make me happy being near the water. We browsed but did not buy.

After that, I noticed the Madisonville Museum was open on our way out so I asked the kids if they wanted to stop. We have never driven by and actually seen it open. I read once they have limited hours. We browsed the very small upstairs part and the woman told us to make sure we visted the jail below. Well, that was surely the highlight with my kids. It is an old 8 cell jail with exhibits in some and one open cell with the bed for the kids to pretend. There were lots of questions from my 5 year old and my 2 year old just squealed with glee.

Off we were again when we passed the old cemetary just a block or so down from the museum. My 5 year old wanted to stop. So we all piled out and took a walk around the old cemetary. Again, lots of questions about what a cemetary is and why we bury people, etc. They both had a heyday exploring. It is very old so there were lots of broken wrought iron fences, caved in graves, fallen headstones. Kinda freaky to me, but not to them. They don't know about all that yet.

After the cemetary I went searching for this marina my dad's friend has his boat docked. My parents said it was really well-kept but sorta hidden. I found it eventually and we took a ride through looking at all the boats.

On the way home (finally!) the boy fell asleep and upon arrival home the girl requested I get out her paints and she started painting pictures just like she saw the artists do at the Art Market.

I then got a call and off in the car we went again. This time it was to look at a wooden playset my brother found online. He wants to buy it for the kids as a Christmas gift. So we went to take a look and we snag that baby for a meer $125. It is in pretty good shape! Checked online and a similar one runs $700-$800 new!

Back home I hooked up the new VCR to see if it worked. Haven't owned a VCR in like 8 years. Everyone always wants to give me their old VHS tapes for the kids so I figured I would get it for them. I borrowed a tape from a neighbor to check it out. It worked!

At 7pm my boy spots a bag of something outside our front door. He summons me. I open the door to find 18 VHS tapes. My cell phone has a message. My friend (whom I told about my $1 VCR earlier in the day) dropped of VHS tapes for my son. Bob the Builder, Thomas the Train, etc. So the kids were so excited they stayed up until 10pm watching movies.

Today another friend who has been wanting to give me her tapes brought over about 10 more! Gigi says she is bringing a big basket she has at her house when she comes for Thanksgiving! I guess the $1 was worth it!

Today, hubby is driving back from Florida. Long drive so he has time to think. He calls to say how much he misses us and loves us. He said all that time alone allows you to think and realize things and he realizes he needs to say it more and show it more. It makes me tear up . . . He said when he gets home he is giving me a BIG HUG!
I can't wait :-)