Wednesday

One thing that I notice about me and blogging - if something I talk about doesn't happen, I just don't mention it again!! And i'm sure at some point someone must wonder...whatever happened with that?? I weighed this morning and I still weigh 154, so I wasn't going to mention it, but thought twice!! On the Atkins diet in the past, I usually lost weight every day or every other day in that first phase, of course, I'm not complaining about losing 6 lbs. already, and I think no matter what diet you're on you have to do some activity during the day to lose any weight. I spent the last 2 days at dentists or in bed, so i'm sure why nothing's happening, but I didn't gain anything back either! This morning I went swimming in the pool a little and will be doing housework all day, so i'm sure that will kick my body in gear! I'm already past my goal of losing 5 lbs. before the cruise, so i'm happy no matter what!!

As for the root canal, what a relief that was!!! I have had absolutely no pain since the Endodontist numbed my mouth! No pain during the procedure or since. I feel a little soreness if I bite something on that side of my mouth, but that is no big deal. I was prepared to take a pain pill last night and decided to wait and see if it started to hurt, but didn't even end up taking my Ibuprophen. And yeah, i'm relieved because if Lesley's 9 year old son didn't have any pain after his root canal, how am I going to look if I say i'm in pain??? I couldn't let him out-do me!

I am spending this morning doing laundry and packing for the cruise!!! Only 3 more days!! I couldn't be any more excited it!!! At the same time, being an anxious person like I am, there are a million things to do and that stresses me out!!! There are about 40 of us going from Walter's family and they are all booking their shore excursions, so we need to get busy with that, I have lined up someone to feed my cats/get the mail, emailed an emergency contact number to whoever might need it (especially my next door neighbor who is overly involved in my life!!), asked the next door neighbor not to harrass or shoot the person coming to feed my cats/get the mail, shopped for motion sickness medicine, gathered our passports and boarding documents, got the letter from my ex-husband authorizing me to travel to Mexico with Cameron, called our cell phone company about international rates and packages, and still need to do a million more things! My 22 year old step-son, Sean, is coming with us also and plans to meet us here Saturday morning before 11. Sean is habitually late and i'm a little stressed about that, but Walter and I have agreed and have told Sean that we will NOT wait if he isn't here. He can drive to New Orleans and pay his own parking ($15/day) if he isn't here on time. We've offered that he can spend the night Friday night and be assured to be on time, so we'll see. I am not missing the boat!!!

My 24 year old son, JP, is in the Harris County jail in Texas, where I visited him this past weekend. I recently found out and spread the news that his trial that was scheduled for July 14 has been reset until December 1st. I've had a couple of comments here and several emails from people who are surprised at how long away the new date is. The sad thing is that this is the reality of having so many people in the prison system there. Someone "had priority" over his case and got his court date and other trials are already scheduled for the next 6 months. I would imagine some high profile case got JP's spot, but if i've learned anything over the last 16 months, patience is a requirement to get through a situation like this. His attorney told me from the beginning that this process takes years, and I believe her! I am trusting God in this whole process and have long since turned this over to Him. Several months after the last trial was supposed to start and was reset, our investigator found a lot of information and witnesses that backed up some of JP's story. Had the trial happened then, none of the new information would have been available and there would have been nothing to back up his version of the story. It is overwhelming to me how many people are in the county jails there. I was looking around on the internet today at different stories about Harris County and came across this 2006 statistic. I know a lot of these people deserve to be in jail, but many of them probably don't. This may be a morbid topic to some people, but it is currently my reality. JP did participate in a crime after being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I feel (and hope a jury agrees) that he has served his time when the trial finally happens. Anyway, here are the numbers:

Walter has started working on his latest project - building a catwalk and pier in the backyard. We live on a river and currently have to borrow the neighbor's pier to fish. We built the house ourselves (it took 15 months!!) and moved in May 2007. There are still a million projects to do, but we take them as we can! Walter's brother did come out Sunday with his tractor to grade the front yard, which now I know really means turn it into mud!! Here is a view of the beginnings of the catwalk that will lead to the pier. It is right along the side of the boatslip if you can't see it.

Tonight I am going to meet some of my graduate school friends for dinner! We try to get together every month and It's always so great to see them! The bond we all have is incredible, and we are all so very different! We range in ages from 25 - 46, some married, some single, some with kids, some not, but we formed relationships during our 2 years in grad school that will last the rest of our lives, I believe. In the picture below - top row: Kelly, Courtney, Becky, Christine B., & me. Bottom row: Jessica, Judith, & Christine W. Even more exciting, FIVE of them are considering interviewing for 2 job openings in my office!! Yay!! I expect to hear who got hired shortly after the cruise and I hope it's one or two of them!!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!!

Bye Bye Babies!!!

A lady and her 2 kids showed up to see the kittens last night, fell in love with them, and took them home! I am so glad that all of the kittens have good homes now, but I sure do miss them!! Now to send the outside cats off to start their new lives and then we are cat free, well, except for our own cats!! I am glad that I was able to help these kittens and hopefully will help these cats! I do plan to do some volunteer work with CAAWS when I have the time. As a social worker, I should probably be volunteering to help people, but cats just have my heart right now! Anyway, there are 4 cats in my garage having a good dinner and will spend the night in there so I can get them easily in the morning. 3 are very tame and friendly, but the 4th one hasn't been living in the yard all that long and took me 4 tries to get her into the garage!

Well, today was my last visit with Kelley before she moves to Chicago! We went to have lunch at Woman's Hospital with our former supervisor/friend, Karen, and then to visit Jan. We had a great visit and i'm glad we got to spend some more time together before moving day! I am going to miss her!! Jan is doing good with her bedrest, which i'm sure isn't easy. Her baby girls are getting bigger every day and I can't wait to meet them, when it's time!! Karen is adjusting to working at the hospital instead of Better Beginnings, but seems to be doing ok there.

Walter had some more dirt brought in today to grade the front yard and some rocks to pave some parking space on our lot across the street. His brother, Ed, is coming with his tractor this weekend to help grade the yard. Personally, I don't know anything about that and would just give the yard a B+, but apparently, you have to grade it before you can do any landscaping. I will be going to Houston to visit JP by myself, which is fine! I love to have time to myself and can just relax and follow my own time schedule. I am planning to stop in Lake Charles and have lunch with my friend, Kimi, on the way!! I haven't seen her in forever, so hopefully, that will work out.

Nothing much else is going on around here. I cooked chicken fajitas for dinner and we're going to watch The Moment of Truth in a little while. It's such a terrible show, but we just can't help watching it!!!

I love Saturdays!!

I have been patient as long as I could, but today I had to have a chicken schwarma sandwich and some cabbage rolls from Albasha! Walter, Brent, Cathy & I went to Albasha for lunch! Unfortunately, they were OUT of cabbage rolls, but we had some fried cheese and I got my delicious sandwich, so it was all good! Brent & Cathy are barbecuing at their house tonight and then Walter & I are going to take them out on a moonlit cruise on the boat! At least that is the plan. Cathy & I picked up 55 ounce frozen daiquiris for tonight, so we may be sound asleep before dinner is over!! Cathy & Brent have invited us to go to New York with them over Labor Day weekend, so we are looking into the possibility of that. We already have a lot planned over the summer, but the trip is totally paid for except for our airfare and it would be way more of a vacation than i've ever had! Brent's boss has a house on the beach and they say it is awesome!
This is me & Cathy:


We are getting prices on screening in our back porch, including a wall that will block our view of the neighbors who can see into our house from their back porch. This will also keep the outside cats off our back porch, so that will be a good thing, plus our cats will be able to go on the back porch.

I am having lunch and going shopping with my mom Monday! She lives about an hour and 15 minutes from me and it's been hard to get together with her since I went back to work because I don't have a day off during the week like I did when I was in graduate school. Up until about 4 years ago, she & my step-dad lived in Georgia for 15 years, so it is really nice to have them closer and to be able to visit with them frequently. My mom is currently being monitored for a small brain aneurysm, so that is obviously a concern to me. So far, the doctor doesn't want to do anything other than monitor her.

We have been testing & cleaning the pool now that it's up, but due to the great quality of our tap water, the water in the pool has a green tint to it. We've been adding chemicals and monitoring it throughout the day, and it's looking a lot better. I am quite sure I will go swimming in it tomorrow. Cathy bought a float like mine today, so maybe we'll get to soak in the sun for a bit. I wasn't in the pool more than an hour yesterday, and keep in mind that I am in the sun ALOT and have a good tan, but I got burned yesterday! I will have to remember to use sunscreen no matter how short of a time I will be in the pool.

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.