Blog Heaven!!

Y'all!! Look how awesome my new blog layout is!!! I volunteered to be a "guinea bee" for Anissa at Beelicious Blog Designs and who knew I would end up with such a great layout!! I think you should go right on over there and check out her website if you haven't been by there yet. I am totally in love with my new page!!

Cameron is driving again as I type with his driver's ed. instructor. He will drive again for 3 hours today and i'm hoping he does as good today as he did Monday. He brought home results for a reading screening that he was given at school and he scored on a post-high school level, which is great for a 10th grader who really should be in 9th grade. He made the cut off to start school by a few days, so he started Kindergarten at 4 years old and sometimes struggles a little bit because of it. We got really tickled reading the results because Cameron does not do ANYTHING extra as far as reading or studying. I read a few of the computerized comments to him:

• These scores indicate that Cameron Jean (for some reason it calls him by his first and middle names as if he's in trouble - and the Jean is French and is pronounced closer to John) likely reads for pleasure, information, and academic purposes (ok, if you say so!)
• Cameron Jean likely previews chapters before reading and takes notes while studying (cough, cough, cough...he doesn't read the chapter at ALL and trust me he isn't studying, much less taking notes!)
• At this level, Cameron Jean needs to continue to read nonfiction materials, classic literature, and the daily news (bahahahahahaha...is World of Warcraft considered nonfiction??)

Anyway, I was proud of his reading abilities and hope that will encourage him to maybe, oh I don't know, open a book?

I was a very good dieter today, not really by choice, but I was. I had a low-carb Slim Fast for breakfast AND lunch!! I brought one to work just incase I couldn't slip away to eat, and then I couldn't slip away to eat!! It worked out fine though because I really wasn't hungry and just had a snack when I got home. The guy who did our workshop yesterday was at one of my schools all day today starting some programs with some of our kids, so my supervisor, my boss, and pretty much everyone from the school board was in and out of the school throughout the day and I didn't want to leave incase anyone was looking for me. I met with several of my kids and caught up on some paperwork and got some meetings scheduled, so it was a productive day.

I'm going to go rest my brain now!! Have a good evening!!

I could get used to this!!

Yes, that's right!! More awards!! I could get used to this people!! Watch out!!

Patti at Nonna's News gave me this award today! Isn't it cute?? Thank you Patti!!!

Here are the rules...

Mention the blog that gave it to you and comment on their blog to let them know you've posted your award.
Publish these rules
Share 6 values that are important to you and 6 things you do not support:

6 things I value:
1. My relationship with God
2. My family
3. My friends
4. My education
5. My job
6. My desire to help others

6 things I do not support:
1. Barack Obama
2. Drug use
3. Pitt bulls
4. Dead beat dads (or moms)
5. Teachers who forget why they chose to be teachers
6. Euthanizing animals that are not terminally ill

6 people I'd like to pass this award to:
1. Breanne at Expectantly Waiting
2. Karen at Surrounded by Sea Monkeys
3. Kelley at My Life With My Love
4. Chelle at Chelle's Writings
5. Leslie at Got Kids, Need Valium
6. Virginia at Maboozle

Tulsi at The Family Awaits gave me this award today!! Thank you Tulsi!!!

The creator of this award said that "since everyone is being warm and fuzzy with the passing of awards lately, I've decided to come up with my own. It will be called the "NYX" award after my cat."

The rules will be simple:
Pay it forward to at least one blogger you think needs a bit of cheering up, or a mean ass little kitty to stare down unwanted people, objects, moods, lingering doubts, etc. If you don't know anyone needing a Nyx fix at the moment, keep her in reserve.

Link back to the blog who gave it to you.
Link back to me if you want. This part is completely optional. I'm not in this for fame and fortune. This is about putting a smile on a fellow bloggers face.
Pretend to like cat's if your a dog person.

I am going to give this "pick me up" award to Kimmy at MBKimmy's Krazy Thoughts because she has a new baby plus a toddler, and they are ALL sick and have been off and on for a few weeks!! And well, she just needs something to make her smile, so I hope this does it!!

AND, if that wasn't enough, I get to be a "Guinea Bee" for Anissa the Queen Bee for a new blog design!! I am really excited to spice up my boring blog layout!!!

Ok, so, what else? I had another long day today. I went to a workshop after work today until 6pm about cultural diversity and disproportionality today. I'm glad I went, but I'm tired! I had an IEP meeting (it's a special ed. thing) at 9am this morning, and the parent who came showed up with sandwiches, chips, brownies, cake, and soft drinks. And yes, they put the brownies in front of me and I had to look at them for 2 hours while the meeting went on. And yes, I totally blew my diet and ate 2 brownies, a sandwich, and a bag of chips. And no, most parents do not bring food to the meetings, but this one always does. How cool is that? And since I blew my diet, my co-worker/friend, Courtney & I went to eat at the Chinese buffet before the workshop. I will do better tomorrow!!! But it was worth it!

Cameron's dad picked him up today for his week with him, but he'll be back tomorrow after school so that he can do his driving for drivers ed. again. I should be able to get to see him for a few minutes before his dad picks him up. I'm still waiting to hear if Landen is free (he has a busy social life) this weekend to come spend the night. I miss him!!

Go Me! Go Me!

Woohoo!! I am celebrating over here!! I got an award and won a contest today!!

I received this award from Ronda at Ronda's Rants and I am so honored!! I have eyed this little beauty on other blogs and have never received it myself!! Now she's mine!!! All mine!!! Thank you so much Ronda!!! I am going to nominate 5 people for it who have award winning blogs!!!

1. Dawn at Dawn's Diversions - Dawn and I have a lot in common (just start with our names and you'll see what I mean) and I learned about the PRIZE I just won from her blog, so her blog deserves my latest award too!!

2. Renie at Renie Burghardt's World - I love reading Renie's blog and seeing the beautiful pictures of her grandchildren!

3. Frizzy at Heaven's Gift - Frizzy has a great blog and always shares pictures of her beautiful daughter and the fun they have!

4. Tracy at The Journey - this blog is very uplifting and wonderful to read! Also, lots of great pictures!

5. Ronnica at Tale of a Kansas Girl - I really enjoy this blog and the deep thinking that goes into many of her posts. It challenges me to think!

And next, I won an awesome prize in a contest from Christine at Mommy Madness today!!! Yay!!! I am so excited to have won something!! Thank you, thank you, thank you Christine!!! My grandson, Landen, will LOVE the webkin!!!! I will share the rest with my sweet little niece, Daphne!

I had a long day at work today, then had my social work supervision group until 6pm. I am worn out!! I saw all the kids I had scheduled today and also held the first Why Try group with my 8th graders on my own. My co-worker is leading 2 other groups with me, but I wanted to try some others on my own. Only 3 kids showed up today, so it may end up being a small group, but that is fine with me. I am not great at keeping control over large groups of kids, so thank God I'm not a teacher, but I do ok with the small groups. Today, the kids just introduced themselves and we talked about what "Why Try" means. They all 3 said they were excited to come back next week, so that's something. I can't say that our other groups were real happy about coming, but hopefully now that they know what it's about, they'll want to come. We gave them candy at the end, so if nothing else, they can come for the candy!

We ended up going to lunch at Kevin's Seafood Restaurant instead of Hilltop yesterday since it was less crowded. I had a ribeye and some veggies and stuck to my diet! We both did good today too, so hopefully we'll lose some more weight this week. I had a low carb Slim Fast for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and oddly enough, I wanted a bacon & cheese omelet when I got home tonight. Several people asked for the low-carb meatloaf recipe that I found:

Low-carb Meatloaf:
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (or try 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 ground pork)
1 cup pork rind crumbs
1 egg 1/3 cup tomato sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons parsley
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
** I added a mixture of tomato sauce, splenda, & worchester sauce to the top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients (except the mixture I added at the end). Shape into a firm oval loaf in shallow baking pan. Bake for 50 minutes. Add mixture to the tope and bake for 10 more minutes. Makes 6 servings - 2.5 carbs per serving (not counting my mixture on top.). There will be a lot of fat after it is cooked. You can drain it off or let the meatloaf sit and soak it up. It is drier if you drain it off.

Cameron would normally go back to his dad's after school today for a week, but his dad is out of town and will pick him up tomorrow after school. It ended up that today was Cameron's first driving day of driver's ed, so he was gone from 3 - 6 and drove to Hammond, which is a town about 45 minutes from here!! He was nervous before he went, but afterwards he said it was easy and that he enjoyed it. I'm glad someone else is brave enough to take first time drivers out in cars! Yikes!

The river is finally opened again since the hurricanes. We haven't seen boats on the river in weeks, so it was nice to see some out this weekend. The water is still nasty looking, but it's gone back down to normal levels and hopefully, life as usual will resume before we know it.

Saturday

Good news on the diet so far! Since Monday, I have lost 5 lbs. and Walter has lost 4! It hasn't been very hard to stick to the diet and we are going to keep going! We will likely not be able to stick to the diet tonight because we are taking Cameron & Bryce to a Mexican restaurant for Cameron's birthday and there really isn't anything low carb on the menu. You may think that a taco salad without the shell would be ok, but seasoned beef is full of carbs, I've discovered! So, we are just going to enjoy a nice dinner and then go back to our diet once we get home.

Work was busy yesterday, but went by fast and I'm glad to be home for the weekend!!! My co-worker, Joan, & I held the first Why Try group with some of my 6th graders, and it went ok, but the kids were really silly when we first put them together and were only somewhat cooperative, but as they get used to the group, it should be better. We had the kids introduce themselves and tell a little about themselves, then explained briefly what Why Try was about. The teacher was supposed to have the kids come straight to our room at the scheduled time, but that didn't happen, so we lost 15 of our 30 minutes just waiting to have someone find the kids. Overall, it was ok and i'm looking forward to next week. Joan had to lead the 7th grade group at another of my schools by herself due to the meeting I found out about at the last minute, and that group did not go very well at all. We really do need to have 2 of us, at least at first, to keep the peace and settle the kids down. Unfortunately, I can't make it to that group next week either! I offered that Joan could just skip next week, but she wants to go ahead and have the group again. Many of the kids think automatically that they are in trouble or that the group is for the "bad kids" and it really isn't. It is for kids who need motivation, help making good choices, and dealing with peer pressure, but I know it causes some anxiety for the kids at first.

Thanks for all of the kind comments about JP's poem, and yes, I do plan to frame it! He said in his letter that he hoped I would frame it or put it on the refrigerator. He called last night to get some addresses of people who wrote to him, including my friend, Lesley! You can never imagine how much it means to hear from people when you're in a place like that. What's crazy though is that they can't have the envelope, so he doesn't always have a return address. What do they think you can do with an envelope? Anywho, he is doing good and was very happy to have gotten some mail. I found out yesterday that his Maw Maw (his dad's mother) completed her chemotherapy for lung cancer and the cancer is gone! She still has to have radiation to "sterilize" the area, but the cancer is gone. She & her husband both have other health problems, but at least that is not a problem anymore. They live about 15 minutes from me and I try to check in on them when I have a chance. They are good people and helped me so much with JP when he was little.

Walter's 50th birthday party was scheduled for today and I'm so nervous that people didn't get the email about us rescheduling it and will show up today!!! I made sure I cleaned the house good just in case!! Things like that just happen to me, so I know better than to think nobody will show up! Walter wants to rent a daiquiri machine for the party like we did at my graduation party and i'm excited about that! It was such a great idea and everyone loved it!

Yes, you know what night it is!

Yes, it's steak night!!! The best thing about the Atkins diet is that I can eat my favorite ribeye steak, sauteed mushrooms and veggies!! We will go whenever Cathy & Brent get home, which hopefully wont be long from now. Walter is stopping on the way home to get his hair cut at a little salon down the street but i'm sure he'll be home before them. I went and got my hair cut this afternoon and it came out cute. I'd take a picture except that I didn't get the girl to blow dry it, so I'll do that this weekend.

I got a poem from JP in the mail today and it really touched me. If you can get past the drug use and subsequent behavior problems, he is a wonderful person, and I have always been able to get past that to see him for who he is, but can't allow that in my house or around Cameron. He is a former "gifted" student, although I never liked that label. He was tested for the program in 2nd grade and we were told that only 1% of the population has an IQ as high as his. So, to see him end up where he is today, in jail, and possibly for the next 40 years is really hard for me. But as I've said, I turned him over to God even before the incident happened that landed him in jail 18 months ago and I feel certain that God is going to give him a second chance. Ok, but here is why I said all that...check out the poem he wrote me. I really had to laugh about the "always on time," because I am, neurotically, always on time. He is that way too, thanks to me, which I guess is a good thing!

I was tagged by Anissa for this meme!
1. Where were you 10 years ago? Just starting to date Walter, partying like a rock star with my friends, working as an office manager.

2. What is on today's To Do List? Drop boys off at school, work, hair cut, steak night, read blogs and new book.

3. What would you do if you were a billionaire? Pay off all my bills, give money to all of our family members, set up savings accounts for our kids, pay for anyone to go to college that wants to go, donate millions to charity, start a shelter for cats.

4. Name 5 places you have lived. Baton Rouge, Louisiana; East Point, Georgia; Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; City I live in now, Louisiana.

5. Name 3 of your bad habits. Talking too much, worrying too much, snacking too much.

6. What are your favorite snacks? Ice cream, bread pudding, chocolate

Who will you tag for this meme? Anyone who wants to do it!!!!

I've been fighting with Cameron this week about spending an hour each day doing homework or studying. It is always obvious when his dad doesn't stick to the rules because now I get an argument since he isn't making him do it on his week. We agreed at the beginning of the year that we would BOTH (not just ME) require him to work on school work an hour each day after school whether he has homework or not. There is always something to read over or catch up on or even work ahead!! Cameron told me he was NOT going to sit there for an hour if he didn't have homework. I informed him that he WAS and yes, for the record, he did. He pouted the whole time and that's his choice as long as I don't have to see it. I emailed his dad and asked him if he's sticking to our agreement and it could be that missing so many days from the hurricanes just created some laziness with Cameron, but I want to be sure. Cameron told me yesterday that he'll just go live with dad all the time, something you always wait to hear with teenagers when they don't get their way, but i've never heard it before. I told him he'll want to check with dad about changing schools because dad drives him 45 minutes to school every day of his week and 45 minutes home every day of his week. He might not appreciate that too much and Cameron isn't going to switch schools. So yeah. Call dad!

Alrighty then, I'm outta here!! Have a great night!

Worryless Wednesday

JP called last night and is doing fine!! Yay!! He said they were only out of power for 6 hours and out of phone service until yesterday. I'm surprised they got power back so fast, but even without it the jails have generators to keep the lights on, but no a/c. I guess you want to get the power back on fast when you have 4,000 inmates in each of your buildings. He sounded good and was happy to hear that my friend, Lesley, and I are planning an October road trip to visit him. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts, support, and prayers!! Having a child in jail is a tough thing to have to go through, but having support makes it easier, even if it's just having someone to listen or ask how things are once in awhile!

The steak restaurant that Cameron picked for his birthday was Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. I say "was" because we talked him out of it!! It can get so expensive there and he has never been there before, so we asked him if he was really set on going there and he said no, that Las Palmas would be good too! So yeah, we will take the boys there this weekend and try to get my step-son, Sean, & his girlfriend to come too since we haven't taken Sean to eat for his birthday. Sean's birthday was in August, but we haven't seen him lately. He didn't get a birthday present since he didn't pay us back for getting him home from Thailand last year when he went there alone for several months with no money just cause he wanted to. But that's a post for another day!

Walter & I both weighed this morning and after 2 days of dieting, I lost 4 lbs. and he lost 3 lbs.!! We were both very excited. It was hard resisting our nighttime snacking last night, but we both had some sugar free jello and did fine. My friend, Chelle, asked about my stir fried pork chops. Really, I'm not much of a cook and totally uncreative, but here's what I did. I sauteed a cut up onion & bellpepper in olive oil, then cut pork chops into bite size pieces and threw that in to cook once the veggies were tender. I put some salt & season-all and ate some of it in a low carb wrap and some just like it was. It came out good, but was certainly nothing special. Tonight, I cooked a roast in the crock pot again since we both like that and Cameron will eat it too. Cameron wont eat rice, so I just didn't cook any at all. We can put some roast beef in a low carb wrap or just eat the roast (with onions & mushrooms) by itself. And no, we did not make it to work out!! Walter was very uninterested and I was barely interested, so it didn't happen. I'm pretty sure he has a board meeting tonight for the homeowner's association and tomorrow night is steak night, so yeah, I don't see working out in our near future. And for anyone who remembers (or cares), we did win the small claims suit against the crazy neighbor who wont pay his homeowners dues (which are $80/year), so if he still doesn't pay, our Constable is planning to seize a piece of his property and auction it off at a sheriff's sale. I think it would be pretty funny if they seized his boat and we bought it and all cruised past his house in it! That's really funny if you remember the post about him yelling, cursing, and staring at us when we passed by his house in our boat! Ok, well, anyway...

I got the 2nd book in today of the Twilight series, New Moon. I am anxious to start reading it tonight!! It is another big one, like Twilight and has about 560 pages. I'm sure work will interfere with my reading, so it may take me more than 2 days to read it!!

Speaking of work, today was really busy. I am trying to set up a few meetings that have me running in circles. It's important to note that I have NEVER set up meetings or led meetings before. I am the type of person who will figure it out as I go, but I feel like I've bitten off more than I can chew lately!!

I am excited about the "my favorite things" swap that I participated in!! I mailed my package off to my swap partner & new friend, Marla this morning and can't wait to get a package from her! I am so excited just to get mail, so the things inside are just a bonus!!! I just realized when I re-read the page that I was supposed to WRAP the items that I sent! DOH!!! I'm sorry Marla!!! Please forgive me!

My supervisor sent me this link to an incredibley inspiring video! It's 8 minutes long, but you should watch it!! It's awesome!!! http://www.webertube.com/mediadetails.php?key=fb8f1eda792ae6471f8f

Alrighty then, that's all I've got for today! I'm off to read some blogs and then dive into my new book!!

Monday

I received this sweet award from Patti at Nonna's News today! It is so pretty and the meaning behind it is really what blogging to me is all about!!

To translate the gift from Portuguese to English, it means:"This blog invests and believes, the proximity"[meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy] How awesome is that??

"They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship; there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize, and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut, or that they propagate?"

Then let's try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to 8 bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text:

So, here are my 8 bloggers who will receive this award from me:
1. Anissa at Home Where They Belong
2. Tam at Momma Song
3. Amy at Escape Into My Thoughts
4. Mere at The Babblings of Mere
5. Susie at Bienvenue
6. Lizzy at The Journey to The Hot Tub
7. Lula at Lulaville
8. Tulsi at The Family Awaits

Day 1 of our diet went good! For breakfast I just had a low-carb Slim Fast because I'm lazy. Walter boiled a bunch of eggs last night, so he had boiled eggs & bacon this morning. For lunch we both brought a salad to work. I also sent him with some beef jerky and pork rinds for snacking. I get off work at 2:30, so I didn't need to do any snacking until I got here. I ate some cheddar cheese and steamed some brocolli so Walter can snack on that until dinner, which is a pork roast and pretend potatoes. I don't mind saying my weight because I do not have all that much to lose. I weighed 161 this morning and I am quite neurotic about weighing, so I plan to weigh every day. I know I shouldn't, but I really can't help it, and on the Atkins diet, it's usually good news as long as you aren't cheating. I wont say what Walter's weight is, but as he loses, i'll say how much he's lost. I really hope he'll stick to the diet and exercise plan with me!! Cathy is planning to go to the gym with us too, so between all of us, maybe we'll get there!

Work was good today. I met with several of my students and 1 parent, so the day went by pretty fast. I've been trying to set up several different meetings, so that has been keeping me busy.

Cameron is home for the week from his dad's. He's been doing the 1 week here, 1 week with dad for 12 years now, so you'd think I would be used to it, but I'm always a little uneasy when he's gone. We live on the line of 2 parishes (most people have counties) and I work in 1 parish and Cameron's school (5 minutes away) is in another parish. My parish cancelled school Friday, but his didn't. Thankfully, his dad was concerned about the weather and kept him home. It was a really nasty day and I was relieved that he wasn't out in it. Interim report cards came out Friday, so he got his today and it was GOOD! He has 4 A's, 1 B, 1 C, & 1 D. The D is 1 point from a C, so he can bring that up with a little effort. His dad did not support me last year in insisting he spend time on his homework, but agreed to this year, and it really made a difference. Cameron's 15th birthday is tomorrow and he came home today and had "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" written on his hand, no doubt by some girl at school, and I said, "oh, you started celebrating your birthday early?" He said, "today isn't my birthday?" I said, "no, it's tomorrow." He said, "oh, well dad said it was today and that's what I told everyone!"

My sister, Donna is doing ok - still out of power, but they have a gas generator. I have asked them to come here if they want, but I don't know if they will or not. Donna works from home, so she could realistically work from whoever's house she is at. However, her husband decided to raise homing pigeons, so yeah, he can't very well bring them with him. I'm not sure what you do about that. Leave him there and come enjoy some electricity? Still no word from JP, so I am still just trusting God to keep him safe. I've tried calling Elizabeth but haven't heard from her. That isn't unusual because we generally talk every couple of weeks, but with the high water at their house last week, I want to make sure they aren't flooded again this week. I haven't seen Landen since school started in August and i'm missing him, so I hope to maybe have him spend the night this weekend. Mack is still too much for me to keep for a long time, but I will try to get him to come over for a few hours or something! Landen is like my kids always were. They would play quiet and entertain themselves or sit with you and read books, etc. Mack is a fitting name for Mack! He is like a Mac Truck!!!

Well, nothing much else is going on. I hope you all had a nice Monday!

Ok, so Ike is NOT coming here? Did someone forget to tell Ike??

Because it sure feels like he's here and this is really scary to me. We woke up during the night to the worst winds we've ever heard. The wind is still blowing like crazy, but it's settled down a little. Our power is out! And the schools in my parish are closed today! My friend, Lesley, texted me last night to ask if the schools were going to be closed and I was thinking to myself that yet another rumor has been started, but then, I checked when I got home, and the schools are going to be closed! I was really confused as to why, because the storm doesn't come near us. Well, now I know and let me say this...I am very scared for those in the path of Ike because I don't think we've ever seen anything this size. I am praying that Ike takes it easy on all of us, but it's already like we're having a Category 1 hurricane at my house right now! Well, maybe not right now, but definitely during the night. Please pray for everyone in Ike's path because I think this is going to be a bad one.

My sister, Donna, and her husband decided to stay in Pearland, about 20 minutes outside of Houston and I'm pretty concerned about them. She says they were on a voluntary evacuation order until yesterday, and then after yesterday were told to "stay put." What does that mean? That you've waited to long to leave or that it's safe to stay? Donna is known to be quite dingy, so i'm scared she may have misunderstood the meaning. We offered that they could stay here and my mom offered that they could come there. She says they have a generator and gas, which is good, but after the storm and all the power is out, you can't find a store to refill your gas cans. And I think trees and power lines are going to fall like crazy. We've lived through many hurricanes here and i've never seen anything like the damage that Gustav left throughout Baton Rouge and many other areas. I feel certain this storm is worse.

So, no work for me today since the schools are closed. It's frustrating to get so far behind in what I've got planned to do with the kids. And now, for the next week or two, I don't plan to do anything with the kids except talk about the hurricane and how it affected them. My west side schools just got power back yesterday and the kids were going to go back today - some still living without power for 2 weeks now. Many of them live in poverty, some in the projects, and depend on the government for help. Food was not available to them for most of the storm, or if it was, you had to drive to a distribution center to get it. How can they do that with no car or gas? And you can say it it their fault or their problem, and maybe it is, but you still have to think about those children who are home in the dark with nothing to eat, no clean clothes, no water, etc. As a matter of fact, when I heard that the schools would open today originally, knowing much of the area doesn't have power, I wondered how the kids would get clean school clothes! It's such an eye opening experience and I'm grateful for this opportunity to be exposed to some of what this population is going through. I have every intention to make a difference there!

Anyway, i'm home today, which is nice but i'm afraid i'm getting used to not working so much!!! After having the summer off, and then missing so many days, I may be getting spoiled all over again. I do have some paper work to do and meetings to reschedule, so I'll find some productive things to do today. Steak night was DELICIOUS last night!! I wish I could grill a steak like they do! Yum!!!

I want to thank everyone for their kind words and prayers for my son, JP. That really means a lot to me. I know that some people don't like to talk, hear, or think about those types of things, but that is my reality and I really do appreciate you!

Questions & Comments:
A few people left comments about my honesty and my unconditional love for JP. I do love him unconditionally and will support him in whatever way I can if he is living a drug free life and trying to do the right things. This whole situation is even harder for me because, while i've always offered him emotional support, I did not have anything else to offer him while he was involved in drugs. We put him through treatment and tried everything imaginable to help him help himself, but ultimately, we had to cut him loose because he was affecting our family and his younger brother with his choices. It does make it hard to see where his life went from there, but help for his drug addiction was always an option but he wouldn't take it. Today, whether by his choice or not, he is living a drug free life and I have been here every step of the way. I always make sure he has commissary money, I write to him, visit him, and he knows he is always welcome to call. It is so hard knowing the right thing to do, but I truly believe that everything I've done for him was the best I knew how to do. Now God is in charge!! I think great things are going to happen! And thank you for those comments too!

My friend, Kimi, who doesn't have a blog but should, asked if the neighbor next door was the same one who brought some magazines over when Kimi & her family were visiting. YES!! And that is exactly the kind of thing I mean by overly involved!! He saw me get a "People Magazine" out of my mailbox (or could be that he checked my mail for me one day and saw it - not kidding), and realized I like the gossip magazines. Well, his wife and several relatives save theirs and pass them around to each other, so he decided that I would want to be on their "list" and receive the magazines when they finished with them. Hmmm, ok. I didn't see any harm in that and I do like some of those magazines, so I went along with it. The first stack of them I got was from 2002! No lie! Walter & I were so tickled about it and read through the magazines and got a big laugh out of it. But then, the magazines got to be a chore. I was expected to save them and give them back to pass on to other people. And I really wasn't reading them, so then i'd have to hold on to them long enough to seem like i'd read them and give them back. And the neighbor really stressed about the whole thing - calling to see if i'd found them on my porch, seeing when I'd be giving them back. I managed to politely back out of it one day when another relative wanted "in," so I just said I really wasn't having time to get to read them since I was working, so I didn't want to hold them up!! Whew!!! And yes, I'm quite sure at the exact moment that we had company, that would be when he would have decided to deliver the precious magazines!!!

Tam made a great observation about the pre-schooler that bit the teacher yesterday. Imagine how hard it would be to not speak any English and be put into an English speaking classroom. He came to the school last year too, but due to his aggressive behavior, the teacher can only let him come 2 days a week, in the hopes that he would adjust and they could increase the days. I believe the little boy is also Autistic and is non-communicative. We want to place him in a classroom where he would do better, but we have to be able to document the problems to present the case to the school board, and he doesn't come to school enough to do it. Yesterday was his 2nd time coming this year and he bit the teacher within the first 2 hours there. And yes, that is something to document, but you have to have more than that. We are holding a meeting next week and will include a Spanish interpreter to help us figure out the best setting for him. We also want to help his mother with parenting skills. She is really harming him by letting him do whatever he wants.

And yes indeed I'm taking Lesley up on her offer to visit JP with me!! We can stop and have lunch with Kimi & Shayne on our way!!! Woohoo!!! Thanks sista! I love you!

And the power just came back on!! Yay!

Weary Wednesday

I have been so tired today!! I think it's from being so lazy last week. 3 of my schools finally got power back today, so those kids will hopefully go back on Friday. I've heard there is mold starting to grow in the schools, so I hope things will be ok to go back. I've been going to my other school every day and don't really have much to do there. I had 2 other groups scheduled to start this week, but with the "hurricane holidays" as one of my students called it, we didn't get to do it.
My next door neighbors (the very nice but overly involved in our lives ones) once again crossed the line yesterday. They have their very obnoxious, demanding 7 year old great niece and her mother staying with them until their power returns in Baton Rouge. I told them when we first put the pool up that the little girl was welcome to use the pool anytime, as long as someone was watching her, and she has used the pool several times over the summer (but nobody is ever out there watching her). Then, a few weeks ago we had to drain part of the pool to fix a leaking valve and when we filled the pool back up, the water was green and we've been working to get the chemicals right again. Then we had rain for 2 weeks, then a hurricane, so we're still getting the pool right. When we first put the pool up, it took several days of pouring bleach and pool chemicals in the pool and then it turned a pretty blue and all was good, so we began that process again. I told the neighbor and her niece not to let the little girl go in the pool because the chemicals were not right and we've been putting some strong things in it. So, I come home from work yesterday and see my neighbor who says, "the kids are in the pool having a great time!" I'm like, "kids?" She said her little niece had a friend over, and they were in the pool. I said, "the chemicals are not right in the pool and we've been pouring straight bleach in it everyday." She said, "oh I told my niece that, but she said it was ok!" Me, "hmmm, really?" So I go inside and look in the back yard and sure enough there are 2 little girls in the pool with no adult in sight. And they're doing the 2 things I've asked them not to do (which might lead to a LEAKY VALVE) which are sitting on the rim of the pool (it's a $300 Walmart pool!) and jumping off the ladder. So, I yelled out the back door, "y'all shouldn't be in the pool! It isn't ready for people to get in it!" The 7 year old yells back at me, "well my mom said we could!!!" I yell back, "OHHHHHH well then I guess you can!!" About that time they both got out and ran to tell on me, but never came back so i'm guessing someone realized it's actually MY pool and told them to stay out. So, this morning, I took the ladder out! I'm sure someone is going to fuss at me about that!

The water finally went down in the river and we can see our dock again, and talk about NASTY!!!! There is a foot of stinky mud stuck to everything and we've been told to get it off now or it hardens and becomes impossible to get off. Walter & I went and scrubbed and hosed it off last night and will go back out tonight and do it again. Apparently, the plants that decompose in the water after a storm like this take the oxygen out of the water and all of the fish are at the top of the water gasping for air! It's the saddest thing i've ever seen! Before long there will be dead fish EVERYWHERE and it will smell terrible. We are probably going to have to cancel Walter's party on the 20th, but we are going to wait until this weekend and decide how bad it's going to be. I remember after Hurricane Katrina how awful the smell was for weeks. I also heard from a neighbor today that a tornado hit at the condos where we lived during Katrina right before Hurricane Gustav, which would explain why all the chimneys were ripped off the building. The scary thing is that the condos are only a mile from where we live now! How scary is that! My friend said she saw the tornado and was so scared that she got her husband and dog in the car to try to out run it, but that the funnel cloud went the other way and then dissapated.


I went to Walmart after work today and picked up some things, including a DiGiornos pizza for dinner. I thought we were going to dinner with Cathy & Brent tonight because Brent will be leaving in the morning to go out of town, but Cathy said she'll just go with Walter & I tomorrow night for steak night. So, my point was, I didn't have anything in mind for dinner tonight, so I took the easy way out!

Tuesday

Yesterday, I went to work but only stayed 2 hours before they said we could leave. We really just needed to check our offices and make sure everything was ok after the storm, which it was. Afterwards, I went to my social work supervision meeting and my supervisor met me at a restaurant for lunch since her power was still out in her office. Today, I could only go to one of my schools because my other 3 still don't have power. They are considering bussing the kids to other schools if they don't get power back soon. What a mess! And today, our kids all had MRE's for lunch!! It seemed like a strange idea, but it worked out ok and the kids seemed to get a kick out of it. I also snuck away to lunch with my friend, Courtney, and ate at Albasha!! Yum!!!

Good news!! Well, for us it's good news! Ike is NOT coming here!!! Lesley has cancelled our reservations for our get-away plan and we don't seem to have anything to worry about from Ike. However, a lot of people in Baton Rouge and our area do not have power back, so there is still plenty to do here that will be much easier without another storm. I am very relieved! Thanks for all of your prayers about Ike!!

And, now that Ike isn't an issue (cause you have to be able to get to the store!!), Walter & I are starting the Atkins diet on Monday. If you want to do it too, let me know and we can be a support system for each other. I have some creative ideas and menus that work well for us. A couple of people have said they got sick on the Atkins diet and i'm not sure what that's about. I think if you eat a lot of salad and not so much the protein and fatty foods, it shouldn't be anything unhealthy, but everyone is different. I usually feel pretty good on the diet and always lose 10 lbs. pretty quick. People with more weight to lose usually lose it fast too, so if you're interested, just let me know. Now, I need to go shopping for the right kinds of food before Monday.

Questions & Comments:
Gramma 2 Many asked if we ever found out what happened to our waitress at Logan's Steakhouse the other night - No!! When we finally let someone know that nobody had been to get our drink order after 10+ minutes, the nice waitress who ended up taking our table said our server was "missing!" Maybe they forgot to assign that table to someone?

Ronnica asked why my step-father is so loud if he has the hearing aids. Actually he COULD and DOES turn them down if we are too loud for him, but he never turns them up so that we can enjoy the quiet! I'm guessing he has no idea how loud he is.

I appreciated hearing different opinions/advice about family problems. It does help to know that a lot of people suffer with similar issues! My mother and I are both social workers, so you'd think we could work out our own family issues, but it just aint like that!!

Now, to address Joe's question about the Elvis picture. I must remind you about my previous statement that Joe's comments are usually a request for me to tell a story, and this case is no different, well, except that I've decided to post a "JOE TRIBUTE" here before I tell the story of the Elvis picture, because you truly have to get to know Joe to really appreciate him.

This is when I taught Joe to say his name in sign language:

And this picture is from when I first met Joe, before the dental work

And this is from when Joe and I were preachers (or band crashers)!

Another very natural shot of Joe along with Walter & I

Ok, now this is Joe's celebrity moment!!

And me with the celebrity! You can tell by her wide eyed look of surprise that she was alittle nervous sitting with me. I would love to knock her out and she knows it!

The celebrity is a freak of nature that we know in person (and no, don't associate with, but ended up at a Karoake bar that she was at and we thought it would be funny to take pictures with her - and it was). This girl is an actual CAM-WHORE and actually went on the Rikki Lake show to brag about it!!! She lost her husband, kids, and well, pretty much everything, but she's doing what she wants!! I bet my friend, Dena, who stalks my blog could send me a link to the Rikki Lake show clip, if anyone is interested!!

And finally, when Joe & I were singers!

As for the Elvis picture, which can actually be seen behind me in this picture:

Someone in Walter's family started a tradition years ago of passing around a "Velvet Elvis" picture at Christmas time. It has become a joke and we all dread getting it each year. Whoever possesses the picture has to display it in their house for the whole year, and then give it (along with their real gift) to the person who's name they draw the following Christmas. Fortunately, we have only gotten it once. It even has a card in the back signed by all those who have passed it around before, so it is pretty funny and interesting to see. It also attracts a lot of attention as to why you have a velvet Elvis picture in your house. Some people never ask, but most do! Some, like Joe, are still asking 6 years later! Ok, any more questions?

Preparedness

Gustav is knocking at our door and we are being told to be prepared. Walter & I are actually more prepared than we've ever been and I'm glad. We have never owned a generator of any sort. We made it through Katrina with no electricity for a week, with only 1 fan and 1 tv. When we built our house, we installed a backup generator that runs on propane and will run most of the lights in the house, refrigerator, freezer, etc. It will not run the air conditioner, but we bought 3 small window units that we can put in different rooms if needed. We have gone and bought cases of bottled water, batteries (for what, i'm not sure), filled up our cars with gas, bought some canned food, although we will be able to cook on the stove or bbq, and should even have internet access, if we hooked everything up right. So, now we just wait. It is my understanding that busses are beginning to bring people from New Orleans to shelters north of Baton Rouge today/tomorrow. Skeery.

Tonight is STEAK NIGHT!!! For my new readers, a restaurant near my house, Hilltop, has the best steak ever and they have a steak special on Thursday nights. Walter & I go nearly every Thursday night with our neighbors/friends, Cathy & Brent. I am excited to go tonight because this was not in our plans! Cathy & Brent were supposed to leave for New York this morning, so we were skipping it and would have been joining them in New York tomorrow. Steak night isn't as exciting as going to New York, but I don't have to fly there and it is really pretty darn good!!

My shirts that I ordered with my birthday gift certificates from Land's End came today! They took a little longer than I thought because I never actually SUBMITTED the order online!! The biggest part of placing an order is actually PAYING for the stuff!! I realized what I'd done and went back and placed the order and it got here really fast! My sista, Kimi, always likes to see my new shirts, so here they are!

I bought a white & a beige shirt like this to wear under other shirts & blouses when it's cooler.

And here is my ever faithful, giant cat, GoGo, guarding my new possessions!

Questions & Comments:

Chelle asked if we could postpone the New York trip and go later this year. I would think so since Brent's boss owns the house. He seems to let them use it whenever they want, so maybe we can go some other time.

Lula asked if I am safe re: Gustav, and I would have to say yes. We don't ever get evacuated from our area, although if there was an evacuation order, I would surely go. I don't think Walter would want to, but if I whined enough, I know he would. I usually start to worry that we should have left during a storm, but our house is safe and I think we'll be fine here. We do live on a river, but that has not caused any flooding or problems in the past. Our house is up on a hill from the water, but there are many low lying homes that will flood in our area. And thanks for asking!

And for Joe...my beloved friend in real life, Joe. Thank you for clarifying that Walter is not a drug dealer or something. I laughed at your comment, but then realized I really didn't know what he gave you! I remember the story and how bad your head was hurting, and it seems like you kept taking that afterwards cause it worked so well. And yes, I remember the other bad story that weekend. I'm not sure I could ever forget! That's a post for another year! LOL

Have a nice night!!

Name it something normal and maybe it will go away

Gustav - why would you even name a storm something stupid like that? With a ridiculous name like that, this storm is likely to come after us with a vengeance just for naming it that! According to Wikipedia, (which I might add is NOT an actual real source, but one that people like me & you put information into), Gustav means "staff of the Gods." What happened to naming storms things like Robert and Julie?

I have to say it is really cool, and a bit scary, how serious our wonderful Governor Bobby Jindal is taking this storm. Before Katrina, nobody really did anything when hurricanes were looming, and we all learned some serious lessons about that. However, the storm wasn't the real problem. Most people weathered that (no pun intended) just fine, at least in New Orleans. It was when the levees broke that things fell apart. Mississippi was a different story, but I'm not really talking about Mississippi's state of preparedness right now. And it is important to be proactive about these things, and Bobby Jindal is. And I love him.

I can recall hurricanes where we didn't do a thing to prepare and then just waited to ride it out. We've had so many false alarms, that you really had to scream and yell for anyone to get nervous or even leave home during a hurricane. I remember one hurricane that hit here about 10 years ago, can't even remember the name. Some of my real life blogger friends probably remember this and were probably even there too! It was before Walter & I were dating, but were both with a large group of friends partying out of town at a hotel/bar. There was news of a hurricane, but that didn't phase us at all!! News reports were on telling people to be prepared. What did we do? We kept on partying all weekend! When it was time to go home, we were barely ahead of the storm. Then we found out that New Orleans was being EVACUATED!! Yikes! And people with us were from New Orleans and couldn't go home, so Walter brought some of them home with him for a couple of days and some went home with me. And now, here I sit FIVE DAYS before a hurricane could possibly come this way and I'll be honest, i'm worried! I'm not so worried about myself, my family, my house, etc. I just don't know how we could survive the damage caused by Katrina & Rita in our state (and others) again, especially since there is still so much suffering going on. And do you think our levees are somehow fixed now? Ha Ha. No, i'm sure they aren't, but luckily (or unluckily) not many people live in the areas now that flooded so bad. And that is because they lost EVERYTHING and can't live there anymore. So yeah, it's a viscious cycle that we don't need to repeat.

And yes. We are cancelling our trip to New York! We will likely lose $300 for cancelling the tickets unless the area is put under a hurricane warning before our flight Friday morning, but that's ok. They will credit the rest toward another flight at a future date. And there is a bright side! Cathy & Brent will be in town for STEAK NIGHT tomorrow night!! Yay!!

Ok. Enough of that. Today was a very hectic day at work. I had several meetings that took up most of my time, and only had time to meet with 1 student. I did get permission slips sent out for 4 Why Try groups that I am going to do. My co-worker has been trained in the program and will co-lead 2 groups with me, then I will do 2 on my own. I'm excited about getting those started and see how they work out!

Some more love...

Yes, it's true!! Two more blog awards for me!! This time, they came from Nik at Exceptional Voyage! The first one is the "You're looking at a kick-ass blogger" award! So yeah, I am a kick-ass blogger! Woohoo!!! And I have to pass it on to 5 bloggers who are as kick-ass as me!

1. Kimmy at MBKimmy's Krazy Thoughts

2. Scott at Our Life...

3. Tara at Living a Dream

4. Tonya at Small Town Louisiana Girl

5. Lynda at Art on a Limb

The second award is the "Sharing the Love" award. This award was created by Crystal at Memoirs of a Mommy and you really have to go and read the story behind the award! How incredible! And here are the rules: SHARE THE LOVE!!! Share this award with all those blogs out there that you love. All the people who make you smile. All those that make you laugh. All those that make your day. All those that leave uplifting comments on your blog. **All I ask, is that you include a link to this post with the award and ask your recipient to do the same**

Now, I am only going to pick one, but she is a very special one!!

Chelle at Chelle's Writings

We are going to dinner with Brent & Cathy tonight to discuss our New York plans for Labor Day weekend! However, we did not have any intentions of inviting GUSTAV, and it looks like he may interfere with our trip!!!

Incase you can't tell where I am on the map, just look RIGHT IN FRONT OF IT!!! Yikes!! Now, I'll just go ahead and say that i'm not going to cry if I don't have to fly on that plane, but I will cry if our tickets are non-refundable!!! But it looks like we could get a credit to fly somewhere else within a year if we had to cancel now. I'll admit, I have been quite nervous about the flying part, being that the only time i've ever flown was when I was 7 years old. I am neurotic enough to have already given my sister instructions (she is my beneficiary on my life insurance policies for my children) and well, I really am worried about this flying thing! And then I get an email from CNN breaking news tonight: Communications problems at an FAA facility that processes flight plans are causing flight delays at airports across the U.S. Alrighty then. 3 days before I am supposed to get on a plane! I'm just sayin...

And the winner is.......ME!!

Yay! I received not one, but TWO awards from a new friend, Maricris at Zen Ventures! The first award is the "I LOVE YOUR BLOG" award! What a cute award it is too!

The rules of this award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you’ve nominated

I just have to go with the first blogs I look for every day, cause I LOVE their blogs! But, there are plenty more I love too!!! I had to pick 7!
Lizzy at Journey to the Hot Tub
Lesley at Na-Na's Cozy Kitchen
Tam at Momma Song
Kelley at My Life With my Love
Susie at Bienvenue
Joe Joe at Bella's Daddy
Amy at Escape into my Thoughts
I would put my friend Chelle, but her blog is private and nobody can see it!!! But I love your blog too, Chelle!

Half of them are my real life friends, so i'm a little partial!! Enjoy the award!!

The second award is the Brillante Weblog award that doesn't include any rules, but if it's name speaks for itself, it is for brilliant blogs!! I will nominate 3 people for their brillaint blogs and hope they will pass it on too!

Blogstalker
Crazy Life of Mine
40 Shades of Pink

Work was busy yesterday, then I had my supervision meeting yesterday afternoon. We had group supervision with my friends, Courtney & Christine, so that was fun and different! I got home around 6pm and my step-son, Sean, brought his girlfriend, Kristen over to meet us and to show us his new car. It's actually a 1994 Mitsubishi Miata (sp) and get this....it's a bright red convertible just like my new Mustang!!! It's a cute car and I hope it holds up for him. He has recently gotten a good job as a computer technician/networker, so we're really crossing our fingers and praying that this works out for him. He's a great employee; he just is habitually late and usually loses jobs because of it. And his girlfriend is nice. We liked her.

Cameron is gone to his dad's this week, so that is always an adjustment for me. You'd think after 12 years, it would seem normal, but it's different. It's ok with me now that he likes going over there, but there were step-mother issues for several years that created serious problems, but things have been good for awhile now.

My brother, Kenny, posted some new pictures of my cute little niece, Daphne. Here you can see her with the giant Elmo her favorite aunt (yes, that would be me) gave her for her first birthday. Now, while I would like to take credit for the idea, Elmo was on Daphne's Amazon.com wishlist (who knew she was so smart!) and I just bought it, but still, it's her favorite toy. Kenny said that in the first picture, Daphne was bringing Elmo to take a bath with her and that when he reads books to Daphne, she sits on one knee and wants Elmo on his other knee!

Have a nice Tuesday!!!

Friday night post

I'm so glad it's Friday!! It's been a long week and I need a little rest and relaxation time! I am so excited to have a weekend alone (well, Cameron is here, but he doesn't talk to me much, so i'm pretty much alone). Walter and his 4 brothers are having a weekend alone at his oldest brother's camp in Mississippi. And when I say camp, it's only because that's what they call it. It's bigger than my house, but anyway...this is the first time in the 10 years I've been with Walter that they've ever done this and i'm really glad that they are. They lost their dad last year (he was 89) and I think even though they are already very close, it made them think about their relationships and spending some quality time together. Walter is the 7th of 8 kids and there is a 20 year age difference between the older ones and the younger ones, so that means his oldest sister & brother are in or near their 70's. So anyway, i'm glad that they are bonding with their 4am fishing trips (and very glad i'm not!) and also glad for a weekend alone. I am usually the one off visiting JP in Houston or doing things with my friends, so i'm happy that Walter is doing some of that too. And for the record, his entire family is awesome. I couldn't be luckier or have better in-laws. And I think if we ever split up, they'd keep me instead of him. I'm just sayin!

And speaking of JP, I've been worried about him since the trial was rescheduled because I haven't heard from him much and feel like he may be getting depressed. I mentioned it to my sister, and she is going to go visit him tonight. I am glad she offered. I get a little upset sometimes because he is 20 minutes from her and in the 1 & 1/2 years he's been in jail, she's maybe been to visit him twice (other than when I go and she goes along with me), so I'm glad she said she'd go tonight.

I did not have a very productive day at work. Things got off to a slow start and I just couldn't seem to pull it together!!! A couple of us changed our schedules around to pick up some things from our main office, and once we got back to our office, just couldn't get motivated! I did finally get to my school at 11, just to leave to meet the same 2 co-workers for lunch at 11:30!! Afterwards, I had a meeting that lasted most of the afternoon. I have a Kindergartner who was totally out of control last year while in Pre-K, and I sat in a class with him for a little while this afternoon and he was SO great! He's gotten on some medicine over the summer and what a difference it made. He is one reason I begged to keep that school and i'm glad I can still work with him. Braces Boy is at that school too and was in ISSP (in school suspension) again this week. GRRRRR!!!!! I also have 2 kids at my west side school that are having big issues, so I will have to try to get over there Monday and see what I can do to help, if anything. I'm pretty sure one is headed to our alternate setting school.

I am so happy to be getting more comments now since the Blog Around the World started!!! I really love meeting new people and reading other blogs, so please, leave me a comment so I can visit your page!!

Ok, so you want to hear the story of my dad. I'll warn you now, it's not pretty, but I am an open book and you can feel free to comment or ask me anything you want. First, let me say, my dad & I were never close. My parents never really planned to have children and were sort of faced with having 3 children in 4 years. I wasn't the first child or the first boy - I was the middle child and we just never bonded. My sister & brother have different memories than I do, and different from each other, so this is just the story from my point of view. And I have made peace with my father. It's hard to forgive and forget, but I have tried to understand his position and moved on with my life. But, it is my life and my story, and I do have a right to tell it, so here it is.

My dad was a business man, mostly dealing in insurance, and his business ventures were more important than anything else, including family, stability, etc. We moved so much throughout my life that I never went to the same school more than 2 years. Wherever the money was, that is where we moved, and we definitely had the money. We were pretty spoiled growing up. We always had a big home, fancy cars, in-ground pools, etc. I'm not sure when my dad first got involved with Louisiana insurance and politics, but we lived in Baton Rouge from 1970 - 1973, moved away, then moved back in 1976. My dad was involved in some state insurance business with our former (and now imprisoned) Governor Edwin Edwards. There were apparently some inside deals going on between state insurance and the governor (who should have been indicted YEARS before he actually was), and something went really wrong. Governor Edwards had co-signed a half million dollar loan for my dad, and then something happened...money was being lost, a new governor was coming into office and questions were being asked...papers were being hidden to keep Governor Edward's name from being connected to state insurance/retirement policies that didn't really have any worth - something along those lines. So, suddenly people want to talk to my dad about these things...and he is suddenly KIDNAPPED!

Now, when this happened, in 1982, I was a 16 year old pregnant teenager. My parents had separated a year earlier, but my mom didn't work and he continued to pay all of our bills. I had been living with my boyfriend for several weeks, and things weren't working out when I was notified that my father had been kidnapped. I moved back home to help my mom deal with this situation. The story was that his apartment had been "turned upside down," and there were reports of threats made against him, and he was missing. My sister (18) was pretty much into her own world with her boyfriend, and my brother (15) wasn't able to deal with things, so at 16, I helped my mom, who had been a recovering alcoholic for several months, figure out what to do. My mom had pretty much shut down and was not able to deal with what was happening. We were being sued by every company imaginable in Louisiana for debts my father owed and our house was eventually put up for sheriff's sale, our cars were repossessed, newspaper reporters were in our yard daily (thank God it was before the days of media frenzy like it is now), and we were falling fast. My paternal grandmother, Essie, lived with us, and was an amputee who had her own handicapped apartment connected to our home. Essie was the kindest, sweetest woman I have ever known, and had been living with us for 6 or 7 years, since open heart surgery complications caused her to lose a leg. So, I helped my mom find us an apartment to rent, an AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) friend of hers gave her a car to use, I found someone to buy nearly all the furniture from our 6 bedroom house that wouldn't fit in a 2 bedroom apartment, etc. It was a total nightmare, the FBI were calling non-stop looking for information on him, and he became (and i'm quoting from a book) "the most famous missing person in Louisiana since 1968." An uncle of mine showed up from Georgia to rescue Essie, giving us the impression that she would be moving in with 2 sisters of hers, but then put her in a nursing home. If I wasn't already broken by that time, that broke me. I also had to make the decision to give my baby up for adoption because there was no way we could take care of a new baby when we weren't sure how we were going to take care of ourselves, but I knew this was best for the baby due to my age, so that wasn't as painful for me as what happened to Essie.

My dad had cheated on my mom for most of their marriage, and she pointed the FBI to the woman's house where he was likely living. After seeing the kidnapping story on the news, a man came forward who remembered selling a car to my dad, then the car was found at the airport. He had gone to live with a secretary/girlfriend, in Pennsylvania, leaving us to deal with his mess!! The FBI actually went to the woman's apartment to look for him and we were told later that he was hiding in the closet!! They never found him, well, until almost exactly a year after he disappeared. He was found dead of pancreatic cancer in a V.A. hospital in Pennsylvania! The girlfriend didn't even bother to call us and let us know that he was dying.

So, that is why he is in some Louisiana history books. He wasn't all that important, but what he knew about former (imprisoned) Edwin Edwards was very important to those who wanted the information. One book he is in is called "The Last Hayride." He is chapter 13. It was neat because I was able to give Elizabeth a copy of that book when we first reunited and it helped her to see what led up to my decisions about the adoption.

And there is a silver lining to every cloud, as they say! Or I think that is what they say, whoever THEY are! A local investigative reporter was doing a story about the whole Edwin Edwards fiasco and ended up dating my mom and eventually marrying her! They have been married for 20+ years now and he is way more of a father to us than my dad ever was. And yes, I have let him know that and thanked him.

Now, just when you think the story is over, there have always been rumors, some coming from my sister and brother, that my dad faked his own death and is still alive. And at the funeral, the man in the casket didn't look anything like my father, but dying so quickly from cancer can really change the way a person looks. My mother made the funeral home people show her scars that my father had to prove to her that it was him. And really, where would he have gotten a body to send to his funeral? My brother's friend told him way back when all of this was going on that his father was "in the know" on that sort of stuff and that my dad is in the witness protection program. And I have said repeatedly, if that is true, my father might want to be sure to call one of them if he's looking for us, cause I aint answering the call!! Personally, I don't buy into the rumors.

So, there you have it. Any questions or comments are welcome! I don't mind talking about any of it and it is therapeutic to talk about it sometimes.

Questions & Comments:

Kimi asked if I bought my purdy new shirt for work - yes! I like to wear my khaki or greenish khaki jeans that don't look like jeans and I love shirts that go with them! That shirt will match both pairs! And yes, my mom most certainly remembers the Girl Scout incident!!!! I don't know if she'll ever let me forget it!!

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!