Girl Scout Cookies Anyone???

Due to an overwhelming response, I will tell how my Girl Scout career came to a sudden end. I find it funny how that story stirred interest, but nobody commented on my random fact that my father was mentioned in some Louisiana history books. That is actually a juicier story!

Ok, so, I was a Girl Scout for a couple of years along with most of my close friends from elementary & middle school. Most of these same friends are the ones I had dinner with a couple of weeks ago, and yes, the Girl Scout story had to be rehashed and that is probably why it was on my mind when I thought of random comments about myself. Anyway, we all went to camp the first year and it was fun, we behaved, and were still allowed to call ourselves Girl Scouts when the camping trip ended. There were cabins that were shared by 3 or 4 people, and we were closely supervised. Things didn't go quite so well the second year.

We were all around 13 years old by then. The camp had built some new, really large cabins, and I think that is where the trouble started. Everyone was in the SAME cabin - probably 20 or more girls and i'm guessing the adults either didn't stay with us or weren't with us most of the time. I'm guessing this because I clearly recall my friends, Tracy & Gail sitting on the VERY HIGH beams near the ceiling, writing in permanent marker ALL OVER the wood in the new cabin, etc. A small group of us were just silly and determined not to cooperate, for some reason. We hid when it was time to go hiking and nobody could find us. We snuck off to the kitchen and made long distance calls to a friend who had moved to another state. We refused to do pretty much anything that was asked of us and to top it off, it was discovered that we wrote all over the walls and it wasn't coming off. We were generally just difficult, non-compliant, and down right annoying. But none of that got us sent home. Someone finally got some control over us and made us go hiking with them the next time they went. Our Girl Scout leader was a lady we didn't like, and when we were hiking, the poor lady tripped and fell. She rolled down a hill, for what seemed like a really long way. While everyone else was rushing to try to help the lady, me, Gail, and Robin began to laugh. And we kept laughing. And we wouldn't stop laughing. So it was decided quickly that was the last straw! And some of the others who were equally as bad as us, but didn't laugh, got to stay, while the three of us were packed up and driven a couple of hours home by a rather odd male chaperone who was on the camping trip with us.

To make matters worse, it was late at night - probably 10 or 11pm, and we wouldn't tell the man where we lived. Once we got to Baton Rouge, he pulled into an empty parking lot and demanded that we tell him where we lived, but we still wouldn't. He came around to the side of the car and grabbed my friend, Gail, by the arm and jerked her out of the car, so we told him where my house was. He dropped the 3 of us off at my house, didn't come to the door to tell my mom what happened, and my mom was a practicing alcoholic at the time and bizarre and chaotic things occurred all the time, so she opened the door, listened to our story that we were homesick and had come home, and then was kind enough to drop Robin & Gail off at their houses! The next day when the Girl Scout leader called, things weren't so pretty!!!

Another random comment I made about myself was that I would be the crazy cat lady if I could get away with it. Yes, I did mean this!! I love cats SO much and can't resist kittens for anything! I only have 2 cats, but that is because Walter has laid down the law after I took in 9 kittens this year, raised them and found them homes, plus took care of 4 neglected cats from next door, until we found them homes (sortof). I want to foster kittens through the local animal welfare society, bring them to pet adoption days, and help them find homes, but so far, Walter has veto'd that! I really love cats!

Someone else asked for a picture showing the river view of our back yard.

Another reader asked if the screened porch came with the house. Actually, we built the house and the porch! We finished the house a year ago and finished the porch last month. We have a neighbor who does that type of work on the side and he supplied the materials and helped Walter do the work, so i'm not sure where the materials came from.

I received an Award today from Tonya at Small Town Louisiana Girl! It is the Brillante Weblog Award and I am honored to receive it! The rules say that I must pass the award along to 7 blogs that I read, so here we go!
1. Patti at Nonna's News
2. Renee at Cutie Booty Cakes
3. Renie at Renie Burghardt's World
4. Kathi at Tales From the Homefront
5. Dorothy at Daffofil Dreams
6. Nik at Exceptional Voyage
7. LaDonna at My Life

And thanks again Tonya!!! I really appreciate it!!

My friend, Kimi, gave me a gift certificate for my birthday this month and I wanted to show the shirt & 2 sun catchers that I bought with it! They came in today and I love them!!

And finally, work was busy today, but it was a good day. I got my computer working in my office, where I will be spending 3 - 4 days each week, and that made me really happy! Without a computer, I have to go out into the library and check my email, make my schedule, do my mileage form, etc. while all my stuff is in the office and has to be drug back and forth.

No matter how many times we change the number to our fax line, we ALWAYS get calls from bill collectors for other people. It drives me CRAZY! The fax machine needs to be set up correctly to pick up when a call comes on that line, but Walter hasn't managed to get around to fixing that yet! So, this evening, the fax line rings (it's a different ring for the fax line), so I answer it.

Man: Can I speak to Susan?

Me: You have the wrong number.

Man: Is this ***-***-****?

Me: Yes, but there is no Susan here.

Man: Do you know a Susan Webb?

Me: YOU HAVE THE WRONG NUMBER!!!

Man: Susan gave me this number when she filled out an application.

Me: This is the FOURTH TIME i'm saying this to you - you HAVE the WRONG NUMBER!!

Man: Ok, bye Grumpy!

It took me a few minutes to stop laughing, and then I called the number back and asked for a supervisor and told them that the mean man called me names AND harrassed me. I'm sure noone cares, but it made me feel better to tell on him!

Walter has a board meeting to go to tonight, so Cameron & I are going to be hanging out at home. I hope you all have a good evening!

Wednesday

Kelley tagged "anyone who wants to play" in her blog, and well, I want to play!! The rules are to list 7 random facts about yourself:

1. I would have 100 cats and be the "crazy cat lady" if I was able to pull it off.

2. I was on the extended plan through college - it took me 17 years to graduate.

3. I am terrified of Geckos.

4. I was born on Friday 13th.

5. I have been told so many times that I look like Allie McBeal that it's just plain annoying.

6. My father is mentioned in some Louisiana history books.

7. I was sent home from Girl Scout camp when I was 13 and not allowed to be a girl scout any longer.

And I am tagging YOU!!! So if you want to play, go ahead!!!

That wasn't as easy as it looked! If I provoked any questions, feel free to ask! Now, on to something totally AGGRAVATING!!!!!!! I got an email from my cute little mom, who tends to send me things she gets from friends & family, and this email was to "connect to her" and join Reunion.com. Now, I'm a member of Classmates.com and similar websites, and it was free, so yeah, for my mom, I signed up! Within a minute, I got an email from one of Walter's nieces that said "did you send this to me or is it spam?" Huh? So I look at the email she forwarded, and it's from ME asking HER to "connect to me" and join Reunion.com. Rut Roh. Then I look at my gmail and my spam folder has suddenly got 50 spam emails in it, so I look at them and they were undeliverable attempts to send invitations to join Reunion.com. Then the craziness began. I realized quickly (I'm just smart like that) that Reunion.com had emailed everyone in my address book - over 300 people, businesses, work contacts, etc. I got Walter the Wizard to help me and he researched it to find that it doesn't seem to be a virus - just a way to get your email address book. I changed my gmail password, then bit the bullet and sent an email to EVERYONE in my address book to say DON'T OPEN THAT EMAIL FROM REUNION.COM!!! What a mess. My friend, Dana, emailed me to ask what to do if she joined the site??? She said she didn't have any addresses in her work email account, but that she was using her work account and would be in big trouble if it emailed the entire company. We prayed a bit over that and nobody ever said anything, so we think she was spared!! Anyway, how annoying that people would create programs to do things like this. Hopefully, it's over and done and I wont fall prey to something like this again. And don't you either!!!

I had an all day training at work today, which was about teaching replacement behaviors to kids and it was pretty interesting. I really want to focus on helping kids change their behaviors this year, so I was glad to have some new information. Plus, we went out to eat lunch and that always makes me happy! We went to the Picadilly and I had some really good roast beef! Yum! I am alittle behind in seeing my kids due to being in a meeting all day, so i'm going to try to catch up tomorrow. It is taking me awhile to get all their schedules straight and decide when to pull them from class. I also have to fit a lot of meetings into my schedule, which I didn't have too much of last year, so it is going to be a challenge, but I'm up to it!

Walter & I went to Hilltop tonight with Cathy & Brent. It's not steak night, but Cathy & I got steaks anyway. Tomorrow night Walter & Cathy have to go to the homeowners association board meeting, so we had to move steak night up again, which is fine with me. Hilltop isn't nearly as crowded on Wednesdays as it is Thursday - Friday. If you get there past 6 on one of those days, you will find a 1 - 2 hour wait for food AFTER you've waited 1/2 hour or more for a table! But anyway, it was really good tonight and I am STUFFED!

Well, I lied (not intentionally though) when I said we were going to wait to buy furniture for the porch. Walter was at Lowe's last night and saw some rocking chairs that he liked, so he got 2 and a little matching table. We will wait and get a small sofa set later. We tried the chairs in 2 spots, but I like them best in the 2nd picture where they are facing the river. They are really cute and were only $85 each.


This weekend Walter and his 4 brothers are having a "guys only" weekend in Pass Christian, Mississippi at his oldest brother's camp. I am planning a quiet, do nothing weekend and am excited about that! I don't get many of those weekends. I need to sit down and look at our budget for the month that I don't think is going well, which is probably why I'm ignoring it. I will also probably read blogs for 2 days straight cause i'm really enjoying that lately!!!

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!

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!!

Saturday

Today has been a quiet, rainy Saturday and we have just been doing things around the house and running errands. We had to drain the pool about 1/2 way to fix a leaking valve, then we went to Lowes and Office Depot, then had lunch at Raising Cane's (yum!!). Walter bought some metal for his porch project (covering up the white wall) and some wood for a shelf above it, and I shopped for supplies for school with my debit card that the school board gives us ($180).

I enjoyed figuring out what I need to keep my records organized as well as supplies for the "Why Try" groups I will do. I think I will actually be able to leave things in my office at my "west side" school where I will spend most of my time, so I am very happy about that! I also have a computer (that hopefully works) in both of my offices. I am really excited about my new schools and the kids I will be working with. I have 25 kids on my roster to start with, but before long, more will be referred to me when they start getting in trouble. I will also probably take some kids off my roster once I meet with them and determine that they are not having behavior problems, especially based on how they did last year.

I haven't heard from JP much lately. I still send him letters and pictures anyway, and I keep sending his $20 a week. Walter's sister, Mickey, has been writing to him and says he writes back often and seems to be doing ok. I hope that he is doing ok. My sister plans to visit him soon to check in on him.

Landen had a good first week of school, although he said he doesn't like his teachers. I hope he will get used to them and change his mind about liking them! I'm sure 1st grade is a little more demanding than Kindergarten, so he'll adjust soon enough. He had such a busy summer that I think it is hard to get back to his daily life where he has to stay at his own house, do homework, get up early for school, etc. I took him home the night before I had to go back to work and he asked me, "well where am I going to spend the night?" I said, "at your house?" He said, "noooooo!!" Funny boy.

Not much more going on over here today. We are watching the Olympics some and just hanging out and being lazy.

Questions & Comments:
Chelle asked how Cameron's 1st week of school went. He's been with his dad since Monday, so I don't know! He was mad at me when he left because of the computer restrictions, so I haven't heard from him during the week, but normally we don't talk too often while he's gone. I hope his dad enforced the restrictions we talked about, in which case, he will be handling it better when he comes home Monday.

Sunday night

Cameron & I got home from our weekend trip to Georgia this evening, and all in all, it was a good trip. We got to spend a lot of time with my brother and his family as well as my 2nd cousin & her husband (both are turning 80 this year!) We rode with my mom & step-dad and the trip there & back was pretty uneventful. I was surprised to see what the fuss is all about that Lake Lanier is very LOW. My cousin lives on the lake and has had a BEACH rather than lakefront property for the last couple of years!!!

My cousin's house is behind the trees and all of this beach property is usually Lake Lanier!!!

Most of the owners have "rolling docks" that they push further & further out as the lake dries up! And Atlanta's water supply comes from this lake! Yikes!

I grew up with frequent visits from my cousin & her husband and haven't seen them in several years. I have never been to their house and was really in awe of how beautiful it is. We spent 2 nights there and drove an hour to visit my brother in Atlanta each day. She & Cameron hit it off great and spent most of the weekend playing games and being silly!

Daphne's 1st birthday was a lot of fun! We got to spend a lot of time with her before the party, and that was nice. The big stuffed Elmo that I gave her was definitely her favorite toy! She pulled it to her and gave Elmo a hug when she saw him! It was cute!





Before the cake....
After the cake!!

Walter went crazy working in the yard while I was gone! It was too late to take pictures of his projects this evening (we had to spend some time swinging instead!!), but i'll take some tomorrow. He met us at the Picadilly about 30 minutes from our house and we had dinner with my parents and he brought us home.

And the guy who looked at my car called to say that he found another car and was going to buy it, so i'll have to wait and hope that someone else calls. I really don't have a backup plan if someone buys my car, so that shows me that I need to probably actually go find the car dealer and deal that I want before I go getting rid of my car! But that was an exciting thought for a few days!!!

I go back to work on Wednesday and i'm really ready and excited, although it's hard to give up these lazy summer days!!

Friday

I don't think i've mentioned that i've had a low grade fever off and on since Monday, but nothing much really and no other symptoms. I noticed it Tuesday evening, but then realized that while I was up 3 times Monday night with foot cramps and was having chills, that I must have had fever then. So, I've been resting, taking Advil, and feeling ok until last night. I could not fall asleep for anything, and I never have a problem with that. I was freezing and got up to get an extra blanket and 2am and decided to check my temperature and it was 102. Yikes. That is unusual for me, so I took some Advil and figured I'd better call the doctor when I woke up this morning, but then I woke up at 9:30 and no fever at all! Even now at 5pm! Weird! I hope it doesn't come back and I have a sneaky suspicision that it may be a stomach virus because my tummy isn't 100% happy, but hopefully it wont be anything too bad. I was going to have dinner with some of my graduate school friends tonight, but don't want to infect anyone, so I let them know that I will be staying home. Wahhhhh!!!

Walter & I went to look at some patio furniture at Home Depot today (he bribed me with lunch, so I drug myself out of bed) and saw a few sets that we like for the porch. We also found a really cute swing for the pier, but have to make sure it isn't too big. It is covered and really comfy. We went to Brewbachers for lunch and I had a grilled shrimp cobb salad. I have done good on my diet and am only within 2 lbs. of getting back to where I was when I cheated last Saturday. We did have a great dinner last night at Hilltop, although I could tell my stomach wasn't as happy as I was about eating, so I didn't eat a lot. It was delicious though!

I've been following the story about the 2 year old little girl, Caylee Anthony, who is missing in Florida. How sad is that story? It seems pretty clear that the mom knows where Caylee is and she probably isn't going to be found alive. The mother & grandmother have mental problems and it's sickening to watch them lie and cover up important details to protect themselves when the little girl is still missing. If you haven't read the detective's statement about all the mom's lies, you should! It is scary to think that someone could lie so easily and so often.

Not too much happening here today, especially with my self-inflicted bed rest (and mandatory Scrabulous game time on Facebook!!), so Walter & I will just be hanging out at home tonight. I hope you have a restful Friday night too!!

Questions & Comments:

Kim asked me if Nadda (the cat) does his silly little antics every day. I would say that most days he has done something, but they aren't always as funny as finding my sandal in his food bowl or socks in the toilet. This morning he went into the garbage can (or maybe it was on the floor next to the garbage?) and got the wrapper to the Listerine bottle and put it in the food bowl, but that wasn't anything big. He has actually dragged my shoes all the way up the stairs to get them to the food bowl!

Lesley asked how JJ (our gigantic cat) is doing. He is great and is in love with the screened in porch! He tries to jump into REALLY high windows in the house that Nadda can easily jump into, so he's a little frustrated lately, because he's entirely too big for most of that!!!

And Lesley wantedto know how I can "not pass out" when things happen with JP. I guess it comes from going through all that I have with him over the years. His drug addiction has made his life so unpredictable and you learn to anticipate a shock with every phone call from him or anyone calling about him, or in the case of being in jail, just learning that there is absolutely nothing you can do about anything - all that makes you learn to sit and wait. And honestly, I know that he will be okay because about a month before this nightmare started, I started to pray for God to work His will with JP (instead of the things i'd been praying for - keeping him safe, making sure he had food, etc.) and in no time, JP was "plucked" out of the lifestyle that he'd gotten too deeply into to get out and was put in jail where he is safe, has food, has a bed, has electricity, and I can see, talk, and write to him. I honestly believe if this hadn't happened, he would have been found dead by now. He refused to go back to treatment or do anything to change his lifestyle, so I had pretty much let go of him. He's been in jail for 17 months and is doing better than he's done in 10 years. He's drug free, mentally stable, and is learning serious lessons in life. There is really nothing I can do but offer emotional support and commissary money for snacks and writing supplies (he made a budget of $20/week, so I am fine with sending that - most inmates get nothing), and I can offer support if/when he gets out, IF he is willing to get help with his drug addiction, which he currently says he is. Currently, the DA's lowest offer for a plea deal for JP is 40 years! I am choosing God's plan because I know that he did not save JP from himself just to have him spend the rest of his life (and mine) in jail. So, I worry some, try not to think about it some, pray about it often, and wait and write! I will email you his address again and he did ask me the other day to see if other people would write to him, so if you're intersted, just give me your email address.

Sunday

Walter & I had a nice time at my brother-in-law's house. It is so nice to be able to get together in Waveland again. Hurricane Katrina completely destroyed 6 of our houses and camps there and did some serious damage to a 7th house. It wasn't flood damage like the houses in New Orleans, but these houses were completely washed away, leaving nothing but a slab. So, 3 years later, 1/2 of them are rebuilt and better than before. Here is a picture of Ed's "bay house." He has a house in Baton Rouge, so this is one of their vacation homes.

This last picture is of my brother-in-law and sister-in-law who didn't get to go on the cruise with us. They are nearly finished rebuilding their home in Waveland and are going to sell their house in Baton Rouge and move to Waveland. They were looking forward to shopping in Mexico for bright colored accessories for their house, so since they couldn't go, we all surprised them and each picked up something for them while we were there! They were very surprised and happy!

Tam requested a tour of the screen porch and ideas for furniture, so I took some pictures. Walter liked the idea of a rug, so we may end up doing that. The wall straight ahead is going to be covered with something "rustic" looking he says, so that will be better looking once it's done.

We are going to put a small outdoor sofa set with a table against the wall and possible a couple of matching chairs with it, depending on how much room is there. Then we want a couple of rocking chairs under the windows.

We will eventually move the bbq grill out to the covered deck, when we build one, but for now it will sit where it is. The long area at the end is good for putting ice chests and things when we have people over. We hosted Walter's family Christmas this year and probably had 60+ people at our house, so it's nice to be able to throw some of them outside with drinks!

Rocking chairs will likely go here under the windows.

Well, the Labor Day trip to New York with Cathy & Brent is on!!! They found out yesterday that the beach house is available, so then Walter & I really had to do some thinking about it. We have spend WAY too much money this summer between the cruise, the porch, the pier, dental surgerys, etc., but all we will have to pay is our airfare ($500 for both) and everything else is paid for. We will get to go to Niagra Falls, into Canada if we want, stay in a house on the beach in Long Island free and everything they do there is paid for by the company. Walter has been to Niagra Falls a couple of times, but I have NEVER been anywhere like that, so we decided to go! We would spend $500 or more just going to Pensacola for a weekend, so this is definitely a deal that is hard to pass up. And really, this is the first year we've EVER taken a vacation anywhere other than Pensacola, Houston, or Waveland, so we deserve it and we're going!!! Yay!!!

Walter's friend from high school and his wife & son are coming over this afternoon and we're taking them out on the boat. I've never met them before other than a brief meeting in Home Depot years ago, so I'm excited to meet them. We will probably go to dinner somewhere on the river, which is always fun.

Have a fun Sunday!

It's beautiful!!!

The porch is now screened in and came out beautifully!! We don't have the handles for the doors yet, but they will be installed Monday morning. The next project is a covered deck that will be built directly in front of the porch and we'll put our barbeque grill out there.

I also forgot to mention my diet, I guess because it's sort of become a routine for me. I haven't lost anymore weight, but 9 lbs. in 2 weeks is pretty good! I only want to lose 4 more, so it's time to start adding back carbs (good ones) and working on maintaining the weight. I haven't missed bread, rice, potatoes, or sweets at all, so I plan to try to limit those things.

I hope you have a great Saturday! We are going to have some lunch and head to Mississippi for the day!

Saturday

Walter & Allen got a lot done on the screened in porch yesterday! I am hoping they will be able to get it finished today. We have to leave around 1 or 2 to go to my brother-in-law's house in Pass Christian, Mississippi (near Waveland), for a barbeque. Here are some pictures of the porch:

The left side of the picture is mostly finished until the panel before the doors.


The wall at the end is to block the "bad cat" neighbors from looking into our house and to block the noise of their VERY loud, malfunctioning, 3 air conditioner units. Walter is going to put panel that matches the house on the inside of the wall. I am going to love the privacy it will give us, especially when we sit on the porch!

I also had to put a picture of what my scardy cat, Nadda (we stole him from the "bad cat neighbors so he's NADDA our cat), did the other day. He is the cat who lives in my closet the majority of the time that anyone is home but me because he is so terrified of people. He is always taking my things (shoes, pony tail holders) and puts them in his food bowl! Nearly every morning when I get up, I find something that he left me as an offering of some sort and it really cracks me up. Sometimes it is a favorite cat toy in the food bowl and SOMETIMES in the water bowl. Well, this week for the first time in the 2 years we've had him, Nadda took something of Walter's and put it in the cat toy basket for us to find! He and Walter have been trying to bond and I really think this means something!!

Tam requested more pictures of the inside of the house. Again, these were taken when we FIRST moved in and things were not cluttered and messy yet!!

Breakfast room (but there's no lunch & dinner room!)

Master bedroom

Cameron's room

1/2 bath downstairs

I'm not sure why I don't have any pictures of the guest room. I'll have to work on that! The office is still a big junk room, so no pictures of that for awhile!! Walter & I did pretty much everything but frame the house, paint the outside, and hang the sheetrock. Seriously. It took us 15 months to complete the house, but it was really worth it!