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.

Thursday

I woke up around 3am this morning and mistakenly allowed my brain to wake up and start thinking! Do you ever do that? Once I let that happen, there is no way i'm going back to sleep. It just isn't going to happen. I got some information about our schools last night and am sworn to secrecy until we go back to work next week and our school assignments are announced. And in the blog world, anyone could find my blog, so i'll keep my little secret a secret until then, but yeah, it's a big change but also a big vote of confidence in me from the powers that be, so i'm excited. So, my mind was running through this information I couldn't sleep, so I ended up just getting out my awesome IPhone and playing games until about 5, then I finally settled down and went back to sleep.

My day got off to the best possible start (yeah, right) with an early morning dentist appointment in Baton Rouge. I miss those days when the dentist would just say, "no cavities!!!" I don't think I ever even had a cavity until I was 20. Now, I don't hear much about cavities...it's more like, let's put a crown on #18. Let's re-do this crown on #20. Wait, re-do a crown? Do we do crowns more than once? Apparently, there is some decay under the crown and they want to re-do it? Wow. Ok then!! While it would be hard to find something good about that, the crown that I already have is GOLD and I HATE it!! I have often wished that I could just ask to have a new crown, but that just seems silly, but today I asked if they would have to remake the whole crown itself and the dentist said yes, so I said PLEASE don't make it gold!!! Yay!! So anyway, I haven't scheduled that yet. I am planning to wait until January and add all of our new necessary procedures to our flexible spending account. I am also going to look into getting braces again, so I want to lump all of that expense in there together.

One of my best friends from graduate school, Jessica, had a beautiful baby boy yesterday! His name is Marcello and he is 6lbs, 13 ozs! I am so excited for her and her husband, and I can't wait to meet the baby!! With my mystery fever this week (which has been gone a few days now, thank goodness!), I will wait until after I get back from Atlanta this weekend to visit them.

I had a great time at lunch yesterday with Judith, Susan, and a friend of theirs. I had grilled trout with corn roasted grits (they were DELICIOUS) and buttered sweet potatoes. The restaurant is new to our area and I think they will do pretty good. The menu had all sorts of different foods on it - many Asian and Lebanese type dishes too.

Cameron has been talking to my mom about borrowing her electric piano that she is wanting to temporarily find a new home for. He use to take guitar lessons and enjoys music a lot, so as long as the piano fits in his room or the office, we will go get it soon. He is supposed to measure the space to make sure and hasn't done it, so it will be up to him how quick we get the piano. It's not huge - I think 56" long, so it should fit pretty easily, but I want him to be responsible and check it out rather than just go get it and have to stick it somewhere in the house that we don't want it. My step-son, Sean, once saw a FULL size piano at a Goodwill store and bought it for $50. And then didn't have anywhere to put it, so we had it in our LIVING ROOM for a year or more. We used it as a buffet table for awhile. So, yeah, we don't want anything like that to happen.

I wanted to float in my pool today, but as usual, it is raining off and on, so I will probably pass on that and just read my book and chill out until it's time to go to Hilltop for STEAK NIGHT!!!! Yay!!

TGIF!!!

First, let me say that the Atkins diet is a cheaters diet! What I mean by that is there is no diet you can start that you can really expect to lose weight every day, seriously. But that's the craziness of Atkins (and probably South Beach - but they specifically say NO RIBEYES and I'm not playing that game!!!) and now for the 3rd day in a row - I haven't lost anything. Atkins suggests leaving out the caffiene when weight loss stalls, so that's what i'm doing today. Bye Bye, Coke Zero and Diet Green Tea!!! Today, it's all about water and kool-aid-on-the-go, so we'll see how that goes. Today I had 3 pieces of bacon for breakfast, a Bubba burger with cheese & mayo for lunch, and I stir fried some chicken with bell peppers, onions, & mushrooms.

I spent a couple of hours floating in the pool this morning & reading my book. It is so relaxing and just does me a world of good!! The weather was nice and sunny today, instead of the usual cloudiness, and it was the perfect day for a swim!

A couple of updates from my job! My friend, Courtney, is SO excited about getting one of the jobs in my office! She put her 2 week notice in at her job this week and will get a week or so off before we go to work on August 6th. I am so happy for her! The 2nd job went to a girl who was working for a mental health agency based in one of our schools, so she will be great too, i'm sure.

I talked to the grandmother of my student who got the FREE braces, thanks to a local church!!! He got the braces last week and is so happy to be returning to school in August to show them off. He told his grandmother that the kids can't tease him about his teeth anymore! My boss is sending a thank you note to the church & the orthodontist.

Another student of mine didn't pass the LEAP test, which is required to go to 8th grade. I get really frustrated because the kids I work with are in special education and many of them have learning disabilities. How can we expect them to pass the same test that kids without learning problems can pass? Some can and some can't. This one didn't and has gone to summer school to attempt to pass again. His mother called me yesterday to find out when they'll know the results, so I called the school board to find out. The answer? August! School starts back on August 8! So now, this mother can't plan for the school year until she knows the results. She is quiet frustrated, and I certainly understand.

The wood for the pier came today and Walter is all excited to get started on the project. He lost any chance of me offering to help during dinner last night when he told Brent "I am pretty sure there is a small alligator living in our boat slip." He tried to explain what he meant after that, but I really didn't need to hear anymore. He says something "jumps in the water" everytime he walks out there, but that it is on a log in the water already, not where it could get on ground and into the yard." Yeah, whatever!! Don't ask me to get in that water, as if I would have anyway! I usually stand on the edge of the water freaking out anytime he's in there, so I'm really not all that much help anyway. And next Friday, the 18th, our neighbor, Allen, is coming to start the screened in porch! Yay! Walter is helping him to cut the cost and I am so excited to have this done!! Our cats want to sit out there SOOOOO bad and I am just too worried about them roaming free in the yard. So, Walter will have 2 projects going on, but at least will have help with one of them. One thing we've found in building our own house is that help is not usually readily available!!!!

Questions & comments:

Kelley wanted to know if the sister I mentioned in my other post is the one in Houston - yes. I do have 3 step sisters, but don't interact with them very often.

Tam - thanks for the book recommendations!! I went to Half.com this morning & ordered Rebecca & Outlander!

Thanks to everyone on the compliments on my purdy blue bathroom!! Our bedroom is the same color (maybe if I clean it up i'll take some pictures) and we really thought we'd gone off the deep end with that bright color, but we really like it!!

And again, I am so honored to have received Mere's "Smile Award" today! When I started blogging, I really wasn't sure that anyone would read my blog or care what I had to say, so this really made me feel good! I have really been enjoying blogging and especially meeting new people in the blogging community!!! Thanks again, Mere!

Another one bites the dust...

Yes indeed! Another pound gone for a total of SEVEN! This puts me at 153 which breaks the record of my dieting attempts over the last 5 years! I put away my size 10 shorts and the 8's are fitting just fine. I really don't have any desire to go lower than an 8, but I definitely do want to look good in my 8's. My goal is 145 and I hope to be close to that and start adding some carbs back to my diet by Monday. The problem with the Atkins diet (and probably most diets) is that once I stop the strict dieting, I just gain it all back. I am really going to try to keep myself eating fewer carbs than before - just cutting back on bread, rice, pasta, etc. would be a much healthier way of life. Today I had fried eggs and bacon for breakfast, some sauteed squash & zucchini for lunch, and plan to grill pork chops for dinner. I haven't made it to work out yet, but will try again tonight! It's a shame to pay for the membership and then just stop going!

I floated in the pool and read my book for almost 2 hours this morning and it was awesome! I don't have anything planned at all today and I am very happy about that!! I have some laundry waiting for me upstairs so I will take care of that and clean up a little around the house, but I plan to be very lazy today and enjoy it!! This evening should be about the same!!

Questions & comments from previous posts:

Joe mentioned having had his above ground pool turn into a science project due to chemical problems. We hope to not have that happen and we check the chlorine level every day. The tap water out here has issues and for the first few days after we filled the pool, it looked green!! It took several days of playing with chemicals to get it right, but once we got it right, it is beautiful and blue!! Our pool came with a filter and pump that really seem to work well for such a cheap pool! Also, you asked about JP - his address is still the same and i'll email it to you in case you don't have it. He enjoys hearing from anyone and I appreciate anyone who takes the time to write him!

Kimi said she wants to do the Atkins diet, but keeps cheating. I know her downfall is wanting to drink milk, but I did notice that Slim Fast has a low-carb vanilla drink that only has 2 carbs, so maybe you could try it and have 1 of those a day when you are craving milk? I am not really a milk drinker, so I haven't had that problem. Atkins really works and works fast, but you do have to really set your mind to sticking to the allowed foods. Also, you asked if we are flying or driving to Atlanta: my mom, step-dad, Walter, Cameron & I are riding together. It is about an 8 hour trip. My sister will be flying in from a business trip somewhere (can't remember where) and if she needs to ride home with us, then Walter will drive his truck that can seat 6 instead of my step-dad driving, but then she will still have to find a ride home from Baton Rouge to Houston. We'll have to see how that works out.

And for Tam: I've never been to Lake Lanier and I'm so excited to go there! My brother lives in Atlanta and we usually stay with him when we visit, but he's having a houseful of company for my niece's birthday, so we'll be staying with my cousin. I'll have to see how far that is from Savannah!

And speaking of my niece, here is a picture of the little princess, Daphne! My brother is 41 and this is his first baby. After a layoff from work with a nice severance package, he has been a stay-at-home dad since Daphne was born! I know he is looking for work now, but I think it's great that he's been able to have this time with his girl! I can't wait to see her next month! I bought her a huge Elmo doll for her birthday, off of her wishlist on Amazon.com. Who knew her computer skills were so great?!?!

Yay! A pool!!

And yes, you can guess what I've been doing today! We filled the pool up all day and I have been in it since there was just an inch or so of water! I am really going to enjoy having the pool! I truly am a lucky girl and have everything I need, and the only thing I wanted that we don't have was a pool. So, now i'm good!

Walter wants me to stop feeding the outside cats because they are messing up our yard and killing birds, so I am going to stop again. The last time I stopped, one of them was on my back porch dehydrated after I didn't give them food or water for about a week. I will take them to the animal shelter if needed, but it is a shelter that will put them to sleep if they don't find a home. I will see if CAAWS or Cat Haven can take them, but I know they are overloaded with cats who need homes. If I see the neighbor, I am planning to tell her to feed her cats or get rid of them.

Cameron left with his dad for a fishing tournament today. He really loves doing things like that and I hope they have a fun, safe trip. I am pretty sure that Bryce should be moving down the street this weekend, so that will be a great thing for Cameron. He says they were "evicted" from Bradley's for a week because his grandmother was tired of them! They are always welcome here, but I think Bradley is working a lot this summer.

I added a bunch of pictures of my graduation last spring. I guess I am feeling nostalgic and missing my friends. We saw each other constantly for 2 years and then now we're all busy working and doing other things. I am glad that I do still keep in touch and see most of my closest friends, but it isn't the same. We really developed some deep relationships that are different than any relationships I've ever had. I guess that's what you get when most of your closest friends are social workers! Oh well! My graduation day was my proudest day ever and I am grateful for the experience!

Friday

Here it comes!!!

Wednesday

Walter, Cameron, & I worked for a couple of hours yesterday hauling and raking sand to level the ground for the pool. We think that it will take a few more piles and then we can start setting the pool up! Yay!! The funny thing is, the sand cost as much as the pool!

We went to dinner at Hilltop with Brent and Cathy and had a fun time! I was not as good as I planned to be and had a steak dinner, but it was worth all the calories! I haven't lost any more weight due to not working out while Landen was here and lots of good eating over Memorial Day weekend. I will just have to be plump and cute in my new tankinis and enjoy myself on the cruise!!

I am going to have lunch in downtown Baton Rouge tomorrow with my friend Terri!! We were both office managers in a place I worked in the late 90's and we have always kept in touch. We have a lot of fun together and I am excited to see her!

I also talked to my friend from high school, Michelle, tonight to let her know that Tracy is trying to get our little group of about 6 of us together for lunch or dinner in July. I do keep up with Michelle and even worked a whole summer in an internship at a hospital where she works and we were able to get together often for lunch. I will have to get over there to have lunch with her again soon!

Fun with friends

Kelley and I went to dinner at Outback, hopefully not for the last time, last night and then went to visit our friend, Jan who is at home on bed rest. Jan is 26 weeks pregnant with twin girls! It was great to get to visit with Kelley and Jan and I hope we can do it again before Kelley moves to Chicago on June 19th.

The sand came for the pool today and when I got home from visiting with my friends, Walter had hauled a lot of it to the backyard to level the spot for the pool. I just might have a pool by the weekend! Walter's sister, Honey, said it took 2 days to fill hers up! I am excited!

Tomorrow I plan to do some painting around the house, so if that really happens, it will be a miracle!!! I am hoping to get one room at a time completely finished and i'm starting with our downstairs bathroom because it doesn't need much more done to it. I picked out a few corner cabinets for the bathroom for Walter to pick from, so I'd also like to get that ordered and plan to start on repainting the trim in there that is the wrong color!

Cathy & Brent are back in town (yay!) and we are going to go to Hilltop tomorrow night for dinner instead of going there for steak night on Thursday.