Wednesday

Once again, I had absolutely nothing planned today and I am very happy about that!! There is nothing better to me than sleeping late and doing whatever I want!! My cats actually let me sleep until 9, which is late for them! I got a little housework done, but nothing major. I wanted to try and get some painting done (remember my goal of painting one day each week all summer??), and I painted 2 door frames and 1 door in our bathroom! That may not sound like much, but everything needs THREE coats of paint, so it takes a while to paint anything. I have only painted one other time this summer and got 1 door and 1 frame painted, then Walter came home with all that sand for the pool, so I stopped to help with that. Maybe one day our house will really be finished, but i'm not sure when that will be!

My mission this month is to create a budget and then figure out a way for us to stick to it. I have been analyzing our spending and have come to realize that we just spend money randomly with no idea of how much "extra" money we really have to spend. I have my budget all figured out to the penny by using my Microsoft Money data from the last year to get an accurate idea of what we really spend. I have cut a couple of things WAY back, like eating out and random shopping trips to Walmart, Lowes, Old Navy, etc. We have already cut back from eating out 4 or 5 times a week to 2, but i'm setting a goal to aim for just once, and yes, of course that would be steak night!!! It's ridiculous to spend as much as we do on groceries and then still spend a small fortune eating out at night. Our friends, Cathy & Brent eat out nearly every night, so it is hard to turn down all their offers! This week worked out well though because they invited us to dinner at their house Monday night instead of going out to eat, so we need to make a point to invite them over too.

I finally finished reading "The Appeal" by John Grisham last night. It was a good book and I enjoyed reading it, but the ending was not great and kind of disappointing to me. I am reading "A Good Yarn" by Debbie Macomber now and so far it is pretty good. It is paperback, so I can read it while i'm floating in the pool without too much trouble.

Here is a picture of Cameron with his braces off. He finally let me get a shot of his pearly whites, but it wasn't easy!! He & Bryce went to spend the night at Bradley's last night, so I caught him with the camera on his way out! Maybe i'm prejudiced, but I think he's such a cute kid. Girls have been after him since he was in 2nd grade. Some girls once hid his shoes at a birthday party so he couldn't leave! He wasn't real amused by that! A lot of people say he looks like Ringo Starr. Anyway, here's my boy giving me my 1 promised picture post-braces:

Once again, i'm loving Louisiana's governor, Bobby Jindal! As a social worker, mental health care is really important to me and the lack of available care is disturbing in our area. Our great governor not only noticed the problem, but here is what he is doing about it:

Our package of bills in the recently completed regular session consisted of five pieces of legislation, and more than $89 million in funds committed to support mental health care services. One example of legislation that was passed was Nicola's law, named after slain New Orleans Police Officer Nicola Cotton, which gives judges the ability to order mandatory outpatient treatment for mentally ill patients who may be a danger to society when not provided with supervision. We have also signed into law legislation that will create mental health crisis centers, which will swiftly and accurately detail a patient's specific mental health needs. We also passed a law that will allow us to use technology to provide better services for mental health patients. Our new legislation will allow doctors to carry out exams on patients who may be deemed dangerous to themselves or society via telemedicine, drastically decreasing wait times and getting health services to those in need much quicker. We will continue working to improve our entire mental health system and infrastructure in order to best provide for the needs of all Louisianians. Our mental health system has been ignored and allowed to decay for too long, and it is past time that we ensure that mental health patients have access to the help they need.

No weight loss today. I guess losing something every day is asking too much. I had scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast, sauteed squash & zucchini (leftover from yesterday) for lunch along with some string cheese, and 2 delicious BUBBA burgers with mayo & cheese for dinner. My newest addiction is Coke Zero and i'm trying to cut back on drinking them and drink more water. Yay to Kim & Kelley for their hard work on their diets!!! Keep up the good work girls!!!

My sister found out this week that her oldest son is having a baby girl in November. He is currently serving a 45 day sentence in jail for a drug charge and has a 1 year old son (with a different girl) who my sister keeps EVERY weekend while my nephew does nothing (and pays nothing). I want to be excited about the new baby, and it's certainly not the baby's fault, but I'm so worried that my sister will have to take on this baby too. She works full-time and is trying to get accepted into graduate school and as much as she loves keeping Elijah, it is taking a toll on her. I hope that my nephew and his girlfriend will be responsible for this baby and allow my sister to enjoy her rather than be responsible. And really...should the baby be raised in a home where the parents use and sell drugs? I only cause fights when I open my mouth, so I don't anymore, but it's disgusting to me and it's scary how these children can and probably will be taken from their parents when something happens. I've made my concerns clear, but as i've said before, my sister turns a blind eye to the drugs and makes excuses for everyone because she doesn't know what to do about it.

I heard tonight that JonBenet Ramsey's family has been cleared in her murder, but I still have a question. They are saying that the tiny DNA molecules found on JonBenet's pajamas that science now has the capability to test does not belong to anyone in the Ramsey household. Whoever touched the pajamas left DNA on them. JonBenet's father picked her up after finding her, so why isn't his DNA on the pajamas too? Sorry, but i'm still skeptical.

I am hoping to get my grandson, Landen, to spend the night this weekend. His social life is quite busy, so I haven't been able to see him. Elizabeth told me the other day that she accidentally ran over Hunter (the kitten I gave him). Landen was very attached to his kitty and I plan to offer to get him another one IF Elizabeth will keep the kitty inside. Here is a picture of Elizabeth, Landen, & Mack.

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?!?!

Monday

There are a lot of great things about living out here on the river and out in the country, but only 10 minutes from the city. The thing I love most is the wildlife that is a part of our landscape. Sometimes there are wild turkeys wandering around in the street, deer walking in the woods, or like today, I looked out on my neighbor's pier and saw this Blue Heron just hanging out enjoying his morning!

Today was a busy dental day! I had to go to Baton Rouge this morning and get my permanent crown put on. It was painless and i'm glad I got that over with. Then, this afternoon, I took Cameron to get his braces off!!! I was worried that his teeth might look stained, and there are a few spots on a couple of teeth, but nothing serious. He goes Thursday to get them cleaned, so i'll see if the dentist suggests doing anything or just leaving it alone. His teeth are so straight and nice looking! He got permanent retainers on the top and bottom, so thank God there wont be any aggravating him to wear them or, like when I had retainers, losing them everytime you have to take them out to eat! I'll try to sneak a picture of him soon, but he's pretty uninterested in having me do that!

I lost 2 more pounds for a total of 6 since Thursday! I'm back where I was before the cruise and i'm determined to keep going. I stopped at Taco Bell for Cameron on the way home from the orthodontist and figured I would get me a taco salad to eat before dinner. Cathy & Brent are home from a trip and invited us over to eat salad and red beans & rice tonight, so I figured i'd eat a little something first and then just have salad at their house. Anyway, I got home with the taco salad and realized I forgot to ask for it without beans, which I HATE, besides the fact that they have carbs, so I went on Taco Bell's website to see how many carbs so I could decide if I wanted to eat it anyway. On the 1st phase of the Atkins diet you eat between 12 - 15 carbs daily, so I was pretty sure the beans were bad, but figured I could eat around them. Surprisingly enough, WITHOUT the beans (or the shell of course), there are STILL 11 carbs in the taco salad!! This totally explains why I stopped losing weight during my Houston trip because I ate a taco salad on the way there thinking there were few carbs, which you should expect from lettuce, beef, cheese, and sour cream! So, no taco salad at all. I got out some leftover chicken from last night and ate some string cheese!

So, we did have dinner at Cathy & Brent's and exchanged stories from our vacations! We also watched the world's most awful show, "Moment of Truth," which we are all addicted to! It is beyond me why anyone would go on that show and expose their awful truths for money - and most of them only hurt their family and friends and leave with NO money! It's crazy!

Otherwise, it's been a really stormy evening tonight and the power was off for awhile. Living in hurricane country, many of us have backup generators installed at our houses, so we aren't ever really without electricity, but it's still annoying to have to reset all the clocks every time the power blinks! We built our house after Hurricane Katrina and decided to install a backup generator after spending 2 weeks with no power and it was a great decision. We've been lucky since then and haven't had any hurricanes hit our area, but of course, we're still rebuilding from Katrina's damage. We live about 40 minutes from New Orleans and you really have to see it to fully understand it or believe it. But anywho, we are just hanging out at home. Bryce is off of work for 2 days, so i'm sure he'll be camped out here with Cameron until his days off end and he has to go home. The great thing is now that he lives down the street, I don't have to go get him or bring him home anymore!

Have a nice night!

Sunday

Walter dropped me off at Walmart this morning while he went to Lowes. Hopefully, I wont have to go shopping again for a couple of weeks. I bought a lot of veggies to snack on and some sugar free jello and string cheese!! I have already lost 4 lbs. since we got back Thursday! 11 more to go!! Today, I made bacon & cheese omelets for breakfast, hamburgers for lunch (no bun for me!) and I baked chicken and some more "pretend mashed potatoes," and asparagus for dinner.

This is Walter's latest project around the house: a shower for rinsing off on the pier. I am quite sure i'll never swim in the river, so I doubt I'll use the shower, but i'm sure the boys will. The next project is the pier and also the screened in porch once our neighbor has time to come over and work on it with Walter. He gave us a price that is about 1/2 of the other bids we got, so i'm excited! He also came up with a plan to put a wall on the end of the porch by the "bad cat" neighbor's house that will block our view of them. When they are on the corner of their porch, they can look right into our house!

Walter & I had a nice swim in the pool this afternoon! It was a beautiful day, but very hot, so we really enjoyed being able to jump in the pool and cool off. The temperature in the water was 90 degrees!!

My mom, step-dad, sister, Cameron, Walter, & I are planning to go to Atlanta around the 1st of August for my niece, Daphne's 1st birthday party! We will be staying with my cousin who has a house on Lake Lanier, so i'm looking forward to the trip! Walter will be out of town on business right before the trip, so he may not end up being able to go, but we'll play it by ear as the trip gets closer. I also may be heading back to Houston in a week or so if JP's co-defendant's trial happens as planned. I want to sit in on that and see what is said and what the verdict is. I am expecting that trial date to be reset too, but it's anybody's guess in the criminal justice system! I got a letter from JP yesterday and he is doing good. He's a little frustrated at the trial being postponed once again and just the not knowing, but he seems to be handling it ok. I sent him some family pictures that he should get soon and that usually helps him feel connected to home. I sure do miss that boy!

July 5th

Today started out rainy and gloomy, but turned into a really nice day. Cameron spent the night with some friends last night to shoot fireworks and was gone most of the day today, so Walter and I went down the street to the 2nd annual "Rat Fest" on the river, which takes place to raise money for the fire department that is being planned somewhere on our street. It is called the Rat Fest because a local guy who calls himself "River Rat Rob" plans a huge party (the Lake Bash) on Lake Maurepas every summer and expanded that to include this festival to raise money for the fire department. We went to the Rat Fest this year because it is more family oriented than last year. We never go to the Lake Bash, mainly because it gets very crowded there and the idea of drunk people walking on and off my boat doesn't appeal to me at all, but today was ok, other than being really hot. There were several bands playing and a "Diversion Canal Idol" contest, plus plenty of food and drinks. Walter bought five "50/50" tickets and the prize was 1/2 of whatever money is collected (if you think this out, you'll see where the 50/50 comes in), and don't you know he won! I was talking to someone and not paying attention, and Walter, being funny like he is, didn't tell me that our number was called, but just waved at me while he was walking up to the stage with the ticket in his hand. The prize money was about $120! I wish I had his luck! We saw a few of our neighbors there and ran into Bryce's mom & family, so we hung out with them for awhile. The Rat Fest is also accessible by boat, but I knew it would be too hot to sit in one spot in the water, so we just drove down there.

I am doing good with the return of my diet. I really don't find it hard to stick to it as long as there are snacks handy that I can eat around the house. I have some cucumbers cut and ready to eat with ranch dressing, plus some sugar free jello, so i'm set. Yesterday, I had scrambled eggs & bacon for breakfast, baked chicken & asparagus for lunch, and grilled steak w/sauteed mushrooms & "fake" mashed potatoes (made with cauliflower) for dinner. I also plan to get back to the health club this weekend, but i've been saying that for awhile! Today, I had scrambled eggs & bacon for breakfast and leftover steak for lunch. I ate a hamburger patty with cheese at the Rat Fest and did not drink anything but water! They were selling daiquiris and that was hard to resist!!

Our very wonderful governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, has signed two bills into law that affect the use of cell phones while driving. Under the new laws, all drivers are prohibited from text messaging while driving and drivers under the age of 17 are prohibited from using a cellular phone at all, unless to report an emergency. The laws take effect immediately. The fine for text messaging while driving is $175 for the first offense and $500 for each offense after that. The fine doubles if the offending driver is involved in an accident while text messaging. The fine for minors using a cellular phone while driving is $100 for the first offense and $250 for each offense after that. I am SO glad that he approved this bill because, as much as I hate to admit it, I TEXT WHILE I'M DRIVING ALL THE TIME!!!! And I KNOW it isn't safe, but there is nothing stopping me from doing it. I am very much a "rule follower" and wont do it anymore, so i'm happy about this law. There is no reason anyone should do this and i'm glad that we are doing something to stop it. And when was the last time anyone in Louisiana could say one of our politician's was WONDERFUL??? I really do love Bobby Jindal and think he is doing great things for our state.

Anyway, just another quiet evening here. Maybe we'll watch a movie or something! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Happy 4th of July!!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!!!! I hope everyone has a relaxing, fun day and finds their own way to celebrate our freedom!!!

We didn't do much today other than unpack and unwind after the trip. We normally celebrate the 4th with Walter's family in Waveland, but decided to stay home and enjoy a quiet weekend.

I have been having such a hard time figuring out how to answer comments that people leave on my page. Do people really go back and look for a response after leaving a comment? Sometimes I email the response to a question, but then I wonder if other people wonder what the answer was. I have decided to answer questions on the following post if anyone comments about something that I think other people might want to hear. There were 2 yesterday, so here is my response:

Mere suggested getting a wrist watch for Sean after the incident on the cruise. I would like to mention that not only did he not have his watch with him, he also did not have his cell phone, passport, or much money, so it would have been a disaster had he missed the ship. I will look into the watch, but am not sure he would wear it!

Kimi (Keykin) asked if I was scared to hold the monkey in the picture and the answer is YES!! The monkey didn't really want me to hold it and kept jumping back to the man. It was free to hold the monkey but $10 if someone wanted to take your picture with it!!! I made sure I held it long enough for a picture! And yes, I did freak about the incident with Sean. I had to go talk to the security people about where we last saw him and they made it very clear that we were sailing with or without him. We learned later that when someone doesn't make it back, they clear out their cabin and leave all their stuff with the Mexican security people so they will have it when they show up. You can imagine how our trip would have been ruined having to sail off without him.

As I expected, I gained my 6 lbs. back while on the cruise (or maybe it followed me there??), so I am back on my Atkins diet today. I intend to lose 15 lbs. (which I haven't managed to do in 5 or more years) and then try to maintain that weight. I am not really overweight except for my stomach and hips and just want to fit into my clothes without anything bulging out over the sides!!! I started off the day right with scrambled eggs and bacon.

Here are some more pictures from the cruise. It was incredible how beautiful and blue the water was, especially in Cozumel.

Claire celebrated her 4th birthday on our last night at sea! The waitstaff on the ship was incredible with the children in our group and really spoiled them rotten!!!
This is my sister-in-law, Mady & I sitting on the deck chillin.
This is the dessert section of the midnight buffet. I have to say that most of the food looked much better than it actually was, which is probably why I only gained 6 lbs. instead of 16!!
Ice sculpture.
Some cool looking squash bird thingies.
Me & Elvis in Progreso.
This is where we spent much of our time just hanging out!
Part of our group in the theater watching a show.
A conga line at dinner - notice Cameron is at the end of the line having a great time!
Cameron, Sean, & Walter.
Shannon & Addie got chosen to play "Sea Feud" which is like Family Feud. The crowd thought it was hilarious that they went up in their bathing suits!!
The staff singing to us on our last night at sea. Notice Shannon & Addie are up there with them!
A hammock that Walter bought for me!
Miniature golf course on the ship.
Blue, blue, blue water!
We docked in Progreso next to the Ecstasy (sailed out of Galveston).
And we docked in Cozumel next to the Triumph (sailed out of Miami). There were 4 cruise ships on the day we were there. They said in the winter, they get up to 11 per day!
Cameron & the monkey.

Home Sweet Home!!

We are back!!! We had a great time, but is sure is nice to be home again!!! The cruise was very relaxing and was extremely entertaining due to having so many family members all there together. Above is our family photo taken on the ship with all but 3 of us in the picture. We went to a lot of shows, activities, ate like crazy, and just sat on the deck relaxing and visiting!

Our room was pretty much just like the pictures I had found on the cruise website and was just perfect for us!! The bed was so comfortable and I slept really well! Our room steward took great care of us and even created some really cute towel animals for us!




Our first shore excursion was in Progreso, Yucatan and was pretty uneventful except for my step-son, Sean, being nearly left there. He went into Progreso with us, but we went back to the ship early and he wanted to stay in the town longer, but didn't manage his time very well. We were supposed to be back on the ship at 3:30pm to sail for 4:00pm, and at 3:58 the ship was preparing to sail without him and he was spotted making his way to the ship and he was allowed to come on board through the employee entrance, since the passenger ramps had been taken in already! It was quite traumatic and we let him know how we felt about it, but thank God he made it back in time. Here are a couple of pictures from Progreso. Notice the picture with the long pier - the cruise ships have to dock about 5 miles off the shore and then have the passengers taken by taxi to the town. The regular stop is in Costa Maya, but it was wiped out by a hurricane last year and wont be available for the cruise ships again until October.



The second shore excursion was in Cozumel and it was wonderful! We went to Paradise Beach for the day (never letting Sean out of our sight!!!) and had a great time there and were able to go shopping on our way back to the ship. Walter & I want to plan a trip back there to be able to spend some time exploring Cozumel.



We are so spoiled now that we are sitting around waiting for someone to prepare a buffet or nice dinner for us, but so far, that hasn't happened!!! I will post some more pictures as I get them downloaded.

I found out this afternoon that my friend, Courtney, got one of the jobs working with me!!! I haven't heard about the 2nd job and I'm guessing someone I don't know must have gotten it. I am SO excited that Courtney will be working with me!!!