Monday

I really had fun with the Blog Around the World post and am excited to see where we go next! I added a bunch of blogs to my blog roll to have a chance to read and get to know some new people. I usually keep the ones who comment back & forth and then slowly lose the others, but hopefully, I will meet and keep some new friends! I am a little disapointed that over 50 people visited my blog, but less than half left a comment. That's the point people!! Leave a comment so the people you visit can visit you!

Work was good today. I am trying to put together 2 "Why Try" groups and have been getting names from teachers of students that might benefit from the program. It is a program to help kids overcome their challenges and improve their outcomes in the areas of truancy, behavior, and academics. If I sound like i'm reading that straight off of the WhyTry.org website, it's because I am! I have never actually done a Why Try group, but one of my co-workers has been trained in it and is doing some groups on the west side with me, so I am going to just do what she does after she does it with me! I am excited to learn more about it because it does seem to be an effective program.

Cameron is home from his dad's, and as I thought, he's still pretty ticked off at me over the computer restrictions! I am willing to talk about it and what he can do to have more freedom with the computer, such as being nice when people talk to him, actually talking to people, using words instead of grunts when asked to do something, etc. The current rule is no computer until after 8. He came in from school and pouted awhile, told me how mad he is, and when Bryce came over, he said he wanted to go to Bryce's to do his homework. I said that is fine as long as he shows me what he worked on when he gets back. As they were going out the door, I said, "what time will you be home??" He said, "AFTER 8!" LOL...I was too tickled to argue and let him go. I called his dad to see what they worked out and I will talk to Cameron and see what we can come up with. His dad did make him do homework at a set time every night, which is going to help Cameron keep up with everything.

Here are some pictures of the completed screen porch project now that all of the tools are put away:

Our friend, Brent, works for a demolition company and had asked Walter if he wanted some lights from an old building to put on our boat slip. I think he is still waiting to get one more, then will put them up. Walter cleaned them up real good and they should look nice!

Here are some pictures of the pier with the swing, dock box (for the swing cushion), and bench.

And this is a project that Walter & our neighbor, Leon are working on...to catch the racoon(s) that keep pooping on our piers at night! I have not gone to see the poop, but apparently, it is a daily problem!

These are the lights that Walter put on the pier. They are really cool looking at night and light the place up nicely!

And this is just a cool view of the river from our pier. I love the way the lights look up & down the river.

That's all for tonight! I hope you all have a great night!

Welcome to Louisiana!!!

Hi everyone!!! Welcome to Louisiana, Home of the Drive Thru Daiquiri Shop!! And for the record, we do pronounce it LOOOOZIANA. I am so excited to be in the 1st state spotlighted by Blog Around the World!!! I would like to welcome you to my wonderful state! Come on in and grab a seat while I get you a plate of beignets (ben-yay) and some Community Coffee!!

Here in Louisiana, we love us some LSU football! You haven't lived until you've spent a football Saturday night in Tiger Stadium! We hold the title of National Champions for 2003 & 2007!


And then there is Mardi Gras (pronounced Mardi Gra or Mardi Graw)!! Have you ever been? If not, it is something that you should make a point to experience in your lifetime!! The world famous Mardi Gras is celebrated in New Orleans (pronounced NAWLINS) and is an ancient custom that originated in southern Europe. Mardi Gras celebrates food and fun just before the 40 days of Lent. There are days and days of parades and fun!! You could go to the French Quarter to celebrate Mardi Gras and be exposed to lots of things you probably wish you'd never seen, or go to a small town celebration and experience an exciting, fun time for the whole family!!
Ok, now for a VERY brief history lesson!! History was never my thing, but since you've come from all around the world, I'll tell you what I know! The population in Louisiana is 4,523,628 and the state was named in honor of King Louis XIV. It is the only state in the union that does not have counties; instead, we have parishes. We are known as the Pelican State, our state flower is the beautiful Magnolia!

And here is our state flag:

We have suffered great losses here due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, that we are STILL recovering from 3 years later. It is incredible the amount of damage that was caused here (as well as other surrounding states) and it is very sad to see the struggles that still occur daily due to the damage that was done. Personally, my husband's family lost 7 homes and camps in Waveland, Mississippi, so we were greatly affected as well, just not here in Louisiana. Hearing about it is nothing compared to going to New Orleans and other Louisiana towns and seeing it for yourself. But we have also learned to work together and help each other to hold our wonderful state together!! And we are always happy to have a Hurricane Party! So come on y'all!!!

And you must have some boiled crawfish and crabs when you come to visit! When they're in season, we eat them often, whether we get them in a restaurant, pick them up "to go" at a store, or boil them ourselves at home. Someone is always having a crawfish or crab boil and it doesn't get much better than that!!


We also have plenty of wildlife to see in and around our rivers and swamps.

So now that you know about my great state, let me tell you who I am! My name is Dawn and I am a 43 year old wife, daughter, sister, mother, step-mother, biological mother, grandmother...ok, you get the picture! I am a social worker/school counselor, love my life, my family, and friends. I live in St. Amant (pronounced SANAMAW), Louisiana which is 1/2 way between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. My husband, Walter, and I have been married for almost 7 years. We live with my 14 year old son, Cameron, on a river in a small community and we love it here. Wild turkey, deer, and other wildlife can be seen roaming around in our neighborhood from time to time. We moved from Baton Rouge 3 years ago to build our home, which we have been living in for one year and it is truly our dream home. I love blogging, although i'm not sure that I have all that much interesting to say, but I love keeping up with my real life friends who blog, my blogger friends, and look forward to meeting more friends all the time!

I am glad you stopped by and would love to check out your blog if you leave me a comment so I'll know where to find you!! Enjoy your tour of Louisiana! I can't wait to see where the tour goes next!!

Sunday

So, I finished celebrating my birthday today with lunch at Albasha in Baton Rouge where my mom & step-dad treated Walter & I to lunch. We had a nice visit with the folks, and I got my new crock pot and a cute shirt! When I get the shirts I ordered with my birthday gift certificates from Land's End, i'll post some pictures of them too. My sista, Kim, always likes to see my new shirts!! The crock pot is a Versa ware Pro and you can saute veggies or brown meat directly on the stove with the removable stoneware pot thingie, then you can cook with it in the crock pot, put it in the oven, put it in the microwave, refrigerate it, or even freeze food in it! And it has a really cool feature - a timer that automatically sets the crock pot to warm when the time is up.

Walter's metal wall porch project came out really well. We put the wall at the end of the porch to block the neighbor's view directly into our living room, as well as to block our view of their junk in their yard and on their porch. The wall really looked kind of trashy, so Walter said he'd come up with a plan to cover it and give it a rustic/country kind of feel. I tell you, my Mr. Wizard can do anything and he really made this work, and in just a day! There is a shelf above the wall that we will put some fake plants on or something. We have decided to wait until after Walter's 50th party next month to buy furniture for the porch so that we can put tables & chairs on the porch for the party. The guest list is pretty large and we have 50 RSVPs so far, and another 50 who haven't decided yet. Yes, Walter is from a LARGE family!!!

We drained the pool 1/2 way on Friday, fixed the leaky connector, then refilled it yesterday. And what do we get?? GREEN water again!! When we first filled the pool, it took a week for the water to turn blue, and then it was really pretty and inviting. It makes me wonder what is in our tap water that would leave the water looking GREEN?? It doesn't escape my attention how close the color of the river is to the color of the pool! Yuck!!

Cameron will be home tomorrow after school and I'm always glad when he's back here. I hope he isn't still mad about the computer, but if he is, that isn't going to change my mind. As it is, he'll have THREE HOURS a day to use the computer. How can that not be enough?? If his grades look good, then we can talk about some extra time, but honestly, he doesn't need any more than that. It's sad because all of the kids have computers and that is how they socialize now - through games, instant messenger, email, myspace, facebook, etc., but hey! GO OUTSIDE!!!!!

Nothing much going on over here tonight. Maybe if it would stop raining for a full hour, we might could go sit on the swing or something. Walter put some cool lights on the pier, so maybe I can get some pictures of them tonight.

Be sure to visit tomorrow! Debbie from Blog Around the World is kicking off her world tour in the morning and the first stop is my wonderful state of LOUISIANA!!! I'm expecting lots of visitors and hopefully some new friends!! Yay!!