Halloween

Walter & I had a fun time giving out candy to our 100+ trick or treaters tonight! We didn't do much as far as decorating, but have some plans for next year. We invited Lou (Leon's wife) over to give out her treats with us since Leon does not like to participate, so she sat with us most of the time and we had a fun evening. We decided to make a haunted house in our garage next year, which is directly between our houses, and give out candy together there. People come from all over to our neighborhood and several others to trick or treat and a lot come on "hay rides" or trailers full of people. We had at least 100 kids that came tonight!

One of my friends from high school, Holli, lives near us and emailed me this week to say that they would be coming on our street tonight and wanted to know which house was ours. She told me she would be with Indiana Jones & Spiderman, so I made sure to watch for them. I even made the 2 boys each a giant bag of candy, pencils, erasers, etc. I watched all the kids come and go, talked to everyone, looked at the costumes and commented on them, saw 2 little boys come running up and told them how cute their Indiana Jones & Spiderman costumes were, watched them leave, kept on talking, then out of the blue....DOH!!!! I realized that it didn't dawn on me (ha ha) that they were the ones I was watching for!! I even saw who they were with and never thought to see if it was Holli!! Walter & I stayed outside an extra 3o minutes watching for them to come back down the street (it's a 1-way), but never saw them!! I felt really stupid!! I emailed her to see if that was them. If it wasn't, it was a huge coincidence because I didn't see any other Indiana Jones or Spiderman all night! Here are some pictures of our night:

Now, go back to the 4th picture and look at the way I'm looking at that kid! It's funny that Walter happened to take a picture then, because I was having one of those "you're not serious" moments mixed with a "where are your parents??" That little kid stood there and sang as loud as he could, "trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!! If you don't, I don't care! I'll pull down your UNDERWEAR!!!" The look I gave him said, "try me." LOL I'm sorry, but that is a song you sing at home or with your friends. Not to some lady you've never seen before and hopefully will never see again! Manners were created for a reason!!

So anyway, we had a fun time and I'm really glad it's the weekend! I plan to sleep LATE in the morning, or as late as my crazy cat will let me. We want to bring Cameron & Bryce to the state fair tomorrow, if they want to go. That is one of my favorite memories as a teenager we haven't gone since Cameron was 7 or 8.

I hope you all had a great Halloween!!!

Pre-Halloween!

We are all ready for our little trick or treaters tomorrow night!! It's nice to be able to stay home and give out candy now that Cameron is older and doesn't go out trick or treating. One of my friends from high school lives nearby and she is going to stop by with her 2 kids. I'm excited to see them!!

I took Cameron to get his hair cut this afternoon at a little hair salon down the street and then Walter stopped by on his way home from work to get his cut. I am going tomorrow to get my hair colored & cut. I was hoping to go today but had a meeting that ran late and I couldn't make it in time. Tonight was steak night and Walter and I went to dinner with Cathy & Brent. We found out that Brent may be going out of state to work, so our Thursday nights out may stop for awhile or turn into every other weekend out! I am hoping it doesn't happen, but it looks like it will. We had a nice dinner tonight and I enjoyed my steak immensely!!

I'll leave you with a new Halloween memory of mine - my cute little niece/butterfly, Daphne on her first Halloween this year!! I love how she's carrying around a sock monkey! I have a collection of them myself and that tells me that she's just like her Aunt Dawn! Isn't she a cute, although not too happy looking butterfly?? She is 14 months old and isn't too amused when she goes to her pre-school 2 mornings a week, which is where the Halloween parade was.

Have a safe and fun Halloween!!!!

More Halloween Memories

Here are a couple of pictures from Halloween 1999! This is me and my sista, Lesley before going trick or treating with our boys. It seems that I was getting a check-up!

This is the same Halloween at a party we had at our house. My sista, Lesley and her twin sister, Lauren are at the top left of the picture, and my sista, Kimi is right below Lesley. Kimi's son, Dylan and my son, Cameron are there too - Dylan in the black and Cameron behind him in the red. They were SOOOO little then!! I am in the black dress in the front. And yes, a Spider Woman dress is probably the only dress you'll ever find me wearing!!

I had a good day at work today and then made a Walmart trip afterwards. It turned out to be a good time to go shopping and it wasn't that crowded. I bought a ton of candy (6 of those big bags) and hope that will be enough this year. People drive their kids to our neighborhood and we get a LOT of trick or treaters! Last year, I ran out of candy and don't want that to happen this year. I've also been taste testing all of the candy tonight, cause it is important to be sure that it all tastes good, right??? I did forget to put the roast I had in the crock pot this morning, so I found some red beans & rice in the freezer and that's what we had for dinner.

JP called tonight and was in a really good mood. He's been drawing a lot and is really into it. He was great with art when he was younger, so I'm glad he's rediscovering some old hobbies. He's also been calling my sister this week, and that is great for me to hear. It only costs her $3 when he calls and it costs me $20, plus he's reaching out to her, which makes me happy.

Well, that's all i've got for now!! Have a fun night!

Halloween Memories

Never a dull moment at our house! Seriously! I was looking through some old Halloween pictures to find some fun ones to post and I came across some that really cracked me up!! Before we started building our current house, Walter & I lived in a townhouse in the LSU area (geaux Tigers!!) that was a mixed neighborhood - college students and professionals. It was a nice, safe area, well, until the Baton Rouge serial killer killed a girl on our street, but that is another post. The problem was that at night, some students would party all night, which is to be expected living in a college area. But the problem was bigger than that. Our house was at the end of the subdivision, but backed up to another subdivision that was ONLY college students. We could look out our bedroom window on ANY night (no, not just weekends!!) and find 100, 200, sometimes 300 drunk college kids in the street right outside!! There was no rest for the weary on those nights and we would call the police to no avail. They would say, "well, if you live in that area....." and I would say, "yeah, but they are UNDERAGE!!" Once in awhile the police would really come and you could watch the kids go inside the houses on the street and hide until the police left, then they would just come back out again. One time, Walter installed a REALLY bright light that shined right at the closest house's driveway where kids congregated. He turned the light on when the partying got too loud and all you could hear was, "OH MY GOD THAT IS A BRIGHT LIGHT!!!! Another time, we threw stink bombs over the fence and tried to stink them out, but they never noticed!!! Once, I called the supervisor of the police department and said PLEASE go check inside the houses when you get to the street because they ARE still there and it was FOUR AM and we'd called several times that night. So, to shut me up, the police showed up, all the kids seemed to drive away, then the policemen went knocking on the doors. Lo and behold, they found HUNDREDS of kids in the houses and they marched them out in single file line down the street and made them leave!! It was great entertainment once you were already awake anyway. By that time, the police started to realize what a problem it was (did I mention that I alerted the juvenile task force that the police were ignoring the problem??) and finally would come and break up the parties, but only after we'd all been up for hours waiting. But, let me show you how this ties to my Halloween memories!!!! The last time we ever had to deal with the noise was during Halloween!!! As usual, each night, there was a lot of commotion outside of our bedroom window (2nd floor, so you have a good view) and I got up to see how bad it was going to be THIS time. I could see a bunch of guys unloading Halloween pumpkins from their trucks at 3am and I pondered this for a bit, then decided that they must have stolen some pumpkins from our area. I called the police and they said that nothing had been reported stolen, so there was nothing they could do. The next night, more commotion, so I looked out the window again, and there were MANY trucks pulling in and unloading pumpkins as well as all kinds of Halloween decorations. I called the police AGAIN and reported this, and was told there was nothing they could do. On the third night, it happened again and I tried one last time. I had already alerted all of my friends in the area to report anything that might be missing, and I asked the police to just COME and see what they have and then you decide if there is anything you can do! So, they did. And they caught truck after truck after truck driving up with stolen pumpkins and Halloween decorations from all over our area. Many of them were arrested and spent a few hours in jail, and were charged for minor crimes. But, the noise STOPPED!! Maybe their mommies and daddies finally came to their senses and brought these inconsiderate children home?!? Here are some pictures!

Oh!! And they made the boys that they actually caught in the act (many got away) haul all those pumpkins back into their trucks and then unload them again at the police station!!! That was fun!! If you look closely at the 2nd picture, you can see where the police were parked at the other end of the street and were STILL catching trucks pulling up with pumpkins!! This was a fraternity stunt to see how many pumpkins they could get. Poor kids who made those decorations and had them stolen!!! But thanks to us, they got them back!! People were able to show up at the police station and claim their decorations, plus decide if they wanted to press charges or not.

So, anyway. It's been a long day and I'm off to chill out and enjoy a fire in the fireplace, although it really isn't that cold!! It was 37 degrees this morning, and that warrants me having a fire tonight!! I was in meetings most of the day and saw a few of my kids. I also went on a tour of the projects in the area where most of my kids live with our truancy officer, so that was pretty cool.

I hope you enjoyed my Halloween tale and have a great night!!

Monday

Our nice but nosy neighbor, Leon, has been wanting to give us some plants out of his yard. When I say has been wanting, what I really mean is has been aggravating us to death about it for several months. Walter did some landscaping this weekend and went to dig up some plants that Leon has been telling him about. He calls them "Stegaponds" so we weren't all that sure what he was talking about. After going over and getting a good look at them, Walter realized what Leon is trying to say is "Sago Palms." He doesn't want them anymore and doesn't want to throw them away, so we are planting them in our front yard and are now forced to call them "Stegaponds." But they do look nice and we appreciate the kind gesture of giving us the Stegaponds.



I also made myself useful and washed my car. Isn't she beautiful?

We went to eat bbq'd hamburgers at Brent & Cathy's last night and then came home to wind down before starting another busy week. Cameron came back from his dad's today and then I had my social work supervision in Baton Rouge after work that lasts until 5pm, which means I didn't get home until 6pm. I really do enjoy the supervision sessions though, so it's worth the headache of going after work. I also realize how lucky I am to get off of work at 2:30 every day, so getting home twice a month at 6pm isn't all that bad.

I'm also starting to firm up my plans for JP's trial, since it does seem to be starting on December 1st after 18 months of waiting and wondering. The first day will be for jury selection, so we will work that day and head for Houston that evening. Most of my family is going, which makes me extremely happy. The jury needs to see that JP has support. My friend, Lesley is planning to go if she is able to, as well as one of my sister-in-laws who has been writing to JP and has bonded with him. It happens that the week that the trial is scheduled is a week that Cameron is at his dad's anyway, so that works out conveniently. His dad will willingly keep him extra days now, but for many years he refused to keep him any day that he wasn't supposed to have him. Can you imagine that? I have always wanted Cameron to be with me ANY time, no matter who he was supposed to be with and have even resorted to trickery to get him extra when he was unhappy being at his dad's house (i.e. relatives from out of town are here this weekend, etc.). But, fortunately, now he will keep him if needed, and he has agreed to keep him the following week if the trial should go that long. The attorney estimates 4 - 5 days. I have long since gotten permission to take the days off from work. My boss, supervisor, co-workers are very supportive and I really appreciate that. Now I need to ask everyone for their prayers for JP. He really is a good young man who deserves another chance, so please, pray for the best outcome for him. God is handling this for us and will appreciate hearing from you!

Sunday

You Are a Life Blogger!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And you make it as entertaining as possible. You may be guilty of over-sharing a bit on your blog, but you can't help it. Your life is truly an open book. Or in this case, an open blog!

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

My poor LSU Tigers got their butts whipped by Georgia yesterday and I am still in mourning!! I guess we can't be the champions every year, but it's so nice when Louisiana has something good going for it!! We will stick by our Tigers no matter what though!!

Walter and I were free of kids by 4pm yesterday, so we went by our storage room to finish cleaning it out and will hopefully be finished with it this week. We have been paying for 2 storage rooms for 3 years and it's time to throw the stuff away or move it to our house. His mom's hope chest was still there, so we picked it up to find a place to put it in the house. Afterwards, we went to dinner at a little Mexican restaurant near our house, then to Lowes for landscaping stuff - gotta plant those tress, you know!!

I am getting some Halloween goodies together for my students for next week. The schools have asked us not to give them candy, so I bought some Halloween pencils, erasers, rings, etc. and will give them out. I have a few meetings next week away from my schools, so I have to get my schedule all worked out so that I will see all of my kids.

There isn't much else going on here today. We are just working around the house & yard and enjoying a beautiful day! I hope you are enjoying a beautiful day too!

Geaux Tigers!!

Happy Saturday!! It's been crazy busy around here for a couple of days, so sorry about my lack of posting!! Friday, I had a baby shower for my co-worker who is about to have a baby any day now!! We had a nice little breakfast shower and she got a lot of baby items that she still needed. Of course, I collected money for the gifts from everyone, and then had to find the time to go shopping, but I managed and everything turned out nicely.

My brother came by for a couple of hours on his way into town from Atlanta. He is here for the LSU game. He came by while Elizabeth was here dropping Landen off, so they got to visit with each other too. I think they have only seen each other once or twice before. Later, Amy dropped Payton off, so Walter & I entertained the 2 boys over night and brought them home this morning. Landen could have stayed longer, but he was going to the zoo with his dad today. I ended up keeping Mack this afternoon so that Elizabeth could help Brad's parents move, so he's here now taking a nap. Here are some pictures:

This is Mack - 18 months old

Me & Mack

Payton & Landen

Elizabeth & Mack

Walter fishing with the boys

Walter & the boys doing science stuff


Mother Goose at Solomon Surprises had this meme on her blog and it looked like fun, so i'm going to do it!

EIGHT TAG!
8 TV shows I love to watch
1- Everybody Loves Raymond
2- The Office
3- American Idol
4- Super Nanny
5- King of Queens
6- Wife Swap
7- Seinfeld
8- Curb Your Enthusiam

8 Favorite Restaurants
1- Hilltop
2-Texas Roadhouse
3-Albasha
4-Las Palmas
5-Chilis
6-The Grand Wall
7- Brewbachers
8- El Meskal

8 Things That Happened Yesterday
1- Baby shower at work
2- Lunch with co-workers
3- Visited with my brother
4- Saw Elizabeth & kids
5- Saw Amy, Hank, & kids
6- Ordered pizza
7- Got emails from friends
8- Went to work

8 Things I am Looking Forward To
1- JP's trial
2- Christmas
3- Cameron coming home Monday
4- LSU winning today
5- Elizabeth picking Mack up
6- Seeing Landen again
7- A quiet night at home
8- Sleeping late in the morning

8 Things On My Wish List
1- BBQ pit for the boat
2- 2 person raft for tubing behind boat
3- JP's freedom
4- Lose 15 lbs
5- Not to owe IRS this year
6- Cameron to be motivated in school
7- Follow our budget
8- A new laptop

8 People I tag, I'm leaving this tag open - join in the fun if you'd like!!

I hope that you all have a very nice weekend!!! Geaux Tigers!!!!

What night is it????

Say it with me now!!! It's STEAK NIGHT!!!! Yay!!! I have eaten out entirely too much this week, but that will not stop me from going to steak night tonight!!! We will be going with Cathy and Brent, as usual. It is always nice to see them and unwind from a busy week. Sometimes thinking about steak night is what actually gets me through the week!!

Back in July, I temporarily lost my mind and allowed my friend's 3 children & her sister to spend the night at our house - you may remember this! Why in the world would I agree to do this at all, you may ask!?! My best friend, Dana & I have been friends for 25 years. We've been together through the worst of the worst and the best of the best. She has 6 kids who i've known most of their lives. I babysat the oldest 3 when they were little. Once they got older, Amy (the oldest) babysat for Cameron when he was little. Then when Amy had kids (3 in 4 years), I helped her out a lot and became very attached to her kids. The problem is that Amy's 3 kids don't listen very well and fight non-stop, so it isn't really all that fun to have them over now that they're older, and well, I just don't! It isn't fun, so I choose not to do it. Over the summer, Dana's youngest daughter, Emily (14) was visiting Amy and asked to come spend the night. Dana & her younger kids live in Kentucky now, so I don't see them often, so I agreed and let all 4 of them (Emily + Amy's 3) spend the night, and what a night. Emily was great, but the rest were not. I don't know why they'd want to come over just for me to fuss at them. I told the 3 little ones that they were not coming back until they wrote an essay telling me why things would be different next time! So, Payton (8 y/o - the oldest) emailed me his "essay" and asked to come spend the night tomorrow night. Amy says it's been written on his calendar for 3 weeks that he's coming to spend the night, so I agreed that JUST he could come and invited Landen to come too. Landen (my grandson) gets VERY jealous if Payton comes here without him, and they get along good, so we'll have a fun time. Payton is coming Friday afternoon and leaving Saturday around lunch, so it will be a short visit. Here is his "essay:"

Dawn,
I am going To be good because
I have improved and the Girls
Will not be there.! :o)
Thanks,
Payton

Also, it seems that my brother, Kenny, will be coming to town from Atlanta for the LSU/Georgia game this weekend. He is supposed to stop by and visit on his way into Baton Rouge. Too bad he isn't bringing my cute little niece with him!! I have offered to babysit any time, but I think my sister-in-law and Daphne are going to visit her family for the weekend while Kenny is here.


It really is looking like JP's trial will start on December 1st. I'm relieved to have it happen, but scared to know that the outcome is our reality. I'm pretty anxious about it, but I turned this over to God many, many months ago and I am trusting Him to work His will with JP's life. It's just scary to know after all this time. The lowest offer the DA has and will give him is 40 years, and honestly, JP was really in the wrong place at the wrong time and became involved in his friend's murder. However, living the life style that he had chosen, this or his own death was inevitable, so I believe that God saved his life during this tragedy and did it for a reason. JP's life has a purpose and we are about to find out which direction it will go. His attorney has put the case on the docket for pre-trial motions, which she has never done before, so that tells me a lot there. She has also said that it will not be reset this time. The co-defendant's trial was scheduled to start today, but he had to change attorneys, so I found out this afternoon that it was reset again. If it had started, I would have to find someone to BE in that court room on Friday! Yikes! My sister and nephew were going to try to go, but fortunately it has been reset until 11/06.

Ok, so, my brain is on overload from work today, so i'm headed off to enjoy my steak and maybe a margarita!!! Have a nice night!

Tuesday

I got this tag from my friend, Tam at Lollipops and it looked fun so I decided to do it.
10 years ago I was:

1. Just starting to date Walter
2. A single mom to a 14 year old & 5 year old
3. Trying to go back to college but having more fun partying
4. Partying like a rock star
5. Hating my job

5 things on today's to-do list:
1. Work
2. Catch up on work at home
3. Email friend about dinner tomorrow
4. ?
5. ?

5 snacks I enjoy
1. Popcorn
2. Blue Bell Ice Cream
3. Pretzels
4. Cheese cake
5. Cookies

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire
1. Pay off my house
2. Set up college funds for anyone in my family who would go
3. Buy a Beach House
4. Buy Cameron a safe, reliable car
5. Build a shelter for cats

places I have lived:

1. East Point, Georgia
2. Birmingham, Alabama (twice)
3. Baton Rouge, Louisiana (twice)
4. Murfreesboro, Tennessee
5. Somewhere near Baton Rouge, Louisiana

5 jobs I have had:

1. Cashier at Burger King
2. Accounting Specialist
3. Administrative Assistant
4. Social work intern at a hospital
5. School Counselor

Tag, you're it!!!! So, if you feel like playing along, go ahead!!!

I am a tired girl tonight and will make this short but sweet!! I had a good day at work today, even though I'm overloaded and running around like a crazy lady!! I have a co-worker who's baby is due in 2 weeks, so I am seeing 6 of her students while she's out until February, so I met with her and the kids today so they will know who I am once she's gone. Then, we and another co-worker/friend, Courtney, went to lunch at D'Angelos Pizza (yum) and then to another parenting graduation that another co-worker was having. It was a very touching ceremony with 3 ladies graduating from the 8 week parenting program.

Cameron is with his dad this week, so Walter & I are just chilling out and watching tv. Have a good night!

Monday

Do you remember, Sammy, my friend Terri's lion-looking cat?? It's not looking good around here for Sammy. Terri felt that asking Walter about the cat after he had a few beers at the party Saturday would help her get Walter to agree to have Sammy move in with us, but the answer was pretty much "no." The actual answer had to do with teaching Sammy to swim in the river, but it's best to just say it was "no!"

Mere from The Babblings of Mere tagged me for a meme to list 6 things that make me happy.....

#1~ Walter
#2~ My kids
#3~ My grandkids
#4~ My friends
#5~ My students
#6~ My car

Bug from Day by Day tagged me for another one:

The rules are-
1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Alrighty then. This is my 3rd list of random/weird things about myself, so let me put on my thinking cap!!
1. I love to be the center of attention
2. I want to go back to school and get a 2nd master's degree after going to school for 19 years
3. My ankles pop really loudly when I walk
4. I hate loud noises
5. Checking the mail is something I get really excited about
6. I don't like my food to touch
7. My middle name is Cecile

And I am going to tag anyone who wants to play along for both of the memes!!!

I had a good day at work today. I met with several of my kids and several others were absent. I had group supervision after work and that went well, as usual. Afterwards, my friend, Christine & I went to dinner at Chili's. I had to go to Target after dinner, while I was all the way in Baton Rouge anyway, and didn't get home until 8pm.

Here is a new picture of my cute little niece, Daphne, and my sister-in-law. I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to post pictures of Daphne on the internet, but if you don't tell my brother, then he'll never know!!

Questions & Comments:
Renie asked if we skipped "low-carb" for the day of Walter's party. Unfortunately, we've been skiping low-carb for a couple of weeks now!!! Our neighbor cooked pasta jambalaya and we had tons of sweets and chips! I need to think about that low-carb diet again pretty soon!

Sunday

Wow! I finally have a minute to breathe after all the fun and excitement this weekend! Walter's party went great!! The weather was beautiful and we had a lot of good food (and yes, it was served at OUR house), good friends & family, and it was really a fun day. A few friends stayed to watch the LSU game for awhile, so we had a long, but nice day. Now to spend 2 more days cleaning the house that it took 2 days to clean!!! But in the end, the house will be a lot cleaner than it would have been without having the party!!

Here is a picture of mostly family hanging out in the yard. Walter is in the blue shirt with the baseball cap.

Walter took some guests on a short boat ride.

2 little boys fishing! One of them caught a good sized catfish!

Friends & neighbors eating lunch

My sister-in-law and my friends, Terri, Cathy, & Lesley

This is my friend, Terri, me, and my friend/neighbor, Cathy

So, yeah, I'm glad the party is over, but I am really glad we were able to finally have it. We only had one awkward incident when a couple walked in the house that nobody recognized!! I thought they must be Walter's co-workers, so I introduced myself, then I saw them introducing themselves to Walter, so we were all a little confused. They were saying, "we're Keith's aunt & uncle!" We have a Keith, but we pretty much know his aunts and uncles! By the time the introductions were over, they realized they were at the wrong house!!! It was a little awkward, but kinda funny too. It turned out that they were looking for Leon's house, next door, who was really part of our party because they were cooking for us, but still, it was funny.

At work, I went to a workshop about Autism and Asperger's in New Orleans on Friday so I didn't see any kids and I enjoyed the rest for my brain!! The kids have really kept me running this week and there were so many issues going on that I didn't get to see a lot of my kids due to spending so much time on a select few. I will have to do some catching up this week to be able to check in on all of them.

Leslie at Got Kids, Need Valium tagged me in this cute meme.
Here are the rules:

Find a safe quiet place free of significant others, nosey meme makers, priests, nuns, all things religious and men in general.
Dump the contents of your handbag in a pile.
Take a photo of your handbag and the contents.

Be brave and explain to your fellow bloggers what lurks inside the handbag.
Tag others who might want to embarrass themselves.
Answer the questions below.

Describe the contents of your handbag.

Pens, pencils, Tide To Go, a social skills demo cd, a $3 winning lottery ticket (woohoo!), 2 catnip mice, post it tags, paper clips, binder clips, 2 check books, 1 deposit slip book, gum, chapstick, trash, change, different colored watch bands, 2 watches, bracelet, wedding rings, wallet with pictures, credit cards, insurance cards, school ID.

What’s the most important thing in your handbag?
My watches because I have to know how long I've had the kids out of class

What’s the most embarrassing thing in your handbag?
Either my wedding rings because I never wear them unless i'm at work (I don't like to wear jewelry, but don't want people to think I'm not married) or the catnip mice! And no, I didn't put the catnip mice in my purse! My cat does that!

What’s the smallest thing in your handbag?
Binder clips

Is there anything illegal in your handbag?
Well, no!

I am really glad I did this, because now my purse is cleaned out!! I really only use a purse for work. I am more of a back pocket kind of girl as far as carrying my license, debit card, etc. I will tag the following people who I think might do this meme:

Tam at Lollipops

Chelle at Chelle's Writings

Ok, well, I've got lots of cleaning to do and blog reading to catch up on!! I hope you have had a great weekend!!

Here I am!

I haven't disapeared! Just getting ready for Walter's party tomorrow! See you Sunday with lots of fun pictures!! Have a great weekend!

Wednesday night

Michelle at Froggy Bottom Blog tagged me to list 7 weird/random things about myself. I did this once before and spent days answering questions about my 7 weird/random things. Let's see if I can top that! LOL

1. I am a high school drop-out

2. I have a Master's Degree

3. I love oranges but hate orange juice

4. I am married to my brother's best friend's uncle

5. My lucky number is 13

6. I was a grandmother at age 36

7. I know Mover Dave from the Imagination Movers

And now, to tag 7 people to play along!! Well, this is where I either don't get this posted tonight or just cheat and get it done! Ok, so i'm cheating!! I'm tagging EVERYONE!! You and You and You!!!

Walter went to the homeowner's association meeting tonight and came home with our official letter stating that we have 10 days to plant 2 trees (I thought it was tress?) in our yard. Seriously? And he's the homeowner's association president, so couldn't we just say no and not sue ourselves or something? 2 trees. Alrighty then. My neighbor, Leon, wants to give us 6 Crepe Myrtles from his yard that he doesn't want, but he already cut them back to just the branches (something you do to make them grow better later), so I wonder if planting the Crepe Myrtle carnage in our yard will make people happy?

And speaking of Leon!! He's the overly involved in our lives but very nice neighbor next door. In the beginning, Walter's 50th birthday party (coming up Saturday) was a surprise, so I'd asked Leon's brother-in-law to cook a spaghetti jambalaya for the party. Now that Walter knows about the party, Leon's brother-in-law is still cooking for us and they are having a lot of their own family over for the party too. That's all good, but they want to keep the jambalaya pot at their house and I'm worried that people from my house wont want to go over there to get their food!! AHHHHHH!!! Hopefully, it will all work out ok!! I really appreciate them cooking, so I don't want to make a big deal of it. Walter has already mentioned to him twice that we'll be having the food under the tent in the back yard, but I doubt Leon realizes we mean THAT food!! And I saw his wife for the first time yesterday since the swimming pool incident and I asked her to tell her niece not to let the little girl swim in our pool unless someone is SITTING BY THE POOL. She said she would let her know.

And as for my diet, no, you really can't have ANY sugar or bread on the Atkins diet, so I'm totally not on it right now. And yes, I've gained back my 7 lbs!! Will I ever learn??