Wednesday

Walter & I got my folks to the New Orleans airport for 5am this morning, thank goodness! They had a 7:30 flight scheduled, but were hoping to get on a 6:00 flight instead, and they did make it. They will meet up in North Carolina with my step-sister and her family and then fly to St. Martin, which I'm told is in the Netherlands. We will pick them up late Monday night at the airport. I am sure they are going to have a great time! Here is a picture of Cameron last night with my mom & step-dad.
Speaking of Cameron, he's been in a bit of a situation today! He has a cell phone on his dad's plan and his dad (as I've said before) has a very laid-back approach to most everything and told Cameron not to worry about how many calls or texts he uses and that when the bill "looks different," then he'll adjust the plan. Well, this month the bill is going to look different! Cameron looked up his bill balance on the phone today, which i'm sure is for their whole family, but it shows $1,100!! Last bill paid shows $270, so I'm guessing this is "looking different!" My friend, Lesley, is a former employeee of the phone company, so she gave me some good advice on how to try to get the phone company to cancel some or all of the extra charges, so I passed that information on to Neil. Cameron is worried and upset, but I told him he didn't do anything wrong. He's asked Neil several times about how much he can use the phone, but was told not to worry about it. I'm glad that is his phone bill and not mine! And hey, I suggested unlimited texting in the beginning for $20 a month, but who listens to me?? After 5,842 texts this month, they now have unlimited texting!

And speaking of Lesley, Cameron & I stopped by to visit her and her boys after Cameron's orthodontist appointment near her house. It has been about 3 years since i've seen her and it was WONDERFUL to see her today!! Lane was sleeping but I did get to talk to him for a minute by busting up in the bedroom where he was sleeping and it was obvious he has tripled in size since I last saw him! Ryan was sleep walking and wasn't awake enough to chat, but he sure is a cute little boy! I hope Lesley & Mike will come out soon with the boys and visit us and maybe go for a boat ride!

My friend, Courtney, had an interview this morning with my boss, so i'm excited about that! My friend, Kelly, has an interview later this month. The decision for both jobs will be made in July, so i'll be biting my fingernails until then!! I haven't heard from my other friends who I recommended to see if they are interviewing, but I know that at least one other person has interviewed already. I hope there isn't a lot of competition!

Walter barbequed ribs for dinner and they were really good! He is going to a home owners meeting tonight so Cameron & I are just hanging out at home, probably texting!

Tuesday

I got some great news about one of my students this week and had to share! The student is a 6th grade boy who needs braces SOOOO bad but his family can't afford them. His self-esteem is really low due to the way he looks, so after talking with him about it, I emailed some local orthodontists to see if any of them knew of any options for kids like him with no insurance or money to pay for braces, but nobody had anything. I got an email from one of them last week saying that a local church had offered to sponsor a child who had a real need for braces but could not pay for them! I told Walter that it wasn't so much me who did anything, but God working through me to connect this child with this church's help! Anyway, after talking with the child's grandmother, she called and made an appointment to bring him in this Friday! How awesome is that!!??!!

Walter & I took my mom & step-dad to dinner at Hilltop tonight along with Cathy & Brent and had a really nice dinner! Everyone came back over here and watched the world's worst train wreck - The Moment of Truth!! We can't help but watch it!! We will be leaving VERY early in the morning to bring my mom & John to the airport for their trip to St. Martin with my step-sister, Terri, and her family.

Here are some new pictures of the kittens. I have so much fun with them! The first one is Kate's kitty and the rest are still up for grabs. She is coming to visit/possibly get a kitty this weekend. That will be one lucky kitty!

I talked to my supervisor and am more excited than I can say!! There are TWO jobs opening in my office and I just know that two of my friends will get hired! I recommended four people, so we will see what happens. I would be thrilled to work with any of them and would welcome them as awesome assets to our schools. Yay!!

My next door neighbor, Lou, is doing ok after her open heart surgery and hopefully we will get to visit her tomorrow evening. My brother-in-law, Tommy, is in the hospital tonight too after having some dizzy spells. Please keep them in your prayers!

Monday

One down! Four to go! Walter's niece, Kate wants a kitty! She came to look at the last litter that was here, but someone had already claimed the little tabby kitten she wanted, so she didn't end up getting one. She told me yesterday that she'd like one of these tabby kittens, so I will hang on to one for her. Yay!

Cameron's girlfriend, Sarah, came over to hang out with him today, so I was good about making myself scarce. I don't allow girls in the bedrooms, so they have to stay downstairs or outside, but I do try to give them some space. It has been a long time since we've dealt with girlfriends in the house, so it takes some getting used to again, but all the old rules were made for very good reasons, so we're sticking with them!! Sarah seems like a sweet girl and they enjoy spending time together, so we'll see what happens from there. I floated in the pool for awhile, then I spent the afternoon playing with the kitties and cleaning up after them, which is a full time job in itself!

Here is a new picture of my niece, Daphne. She is 10 months old and really a cute little baby! I know exactly how my friend, Lesley, feels since her sister doesn't want her posting pictures of her new nephew on the internet! My brother is the same way but has given me temporary permission while Daphne is young, but he will put a stop to it sooner or later! I am hoping to somehow squeeze a visit to Atlanta in around Daphne's birthday in August, but we'll have to see. One of my bestest friends from graduate school, John, lives about 15 minutes from my brother, so hopefully I could visit with him when I'm there too.
I went to Walmart this morning & bought an air mattress for my mom or step-dad to use Tuesday night. The bed in our guest room was my grandmother's and it is a double bed. Walter and I used the bed at the condo we were renting when we were building our house and we affectionately refer to it as "tiny bed." There is no way for 2 adults to fit comfortably in it, so we'll see how the air mattress works as a 2nd place to sleep! I hate to replace the bed because it is an antique and I love it, but it's a real pain having a guest room that nobody can sleep in!!

19 days until the cruise and I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!!! I wish it was time to go now!!! Walter & I will have an ocean view balcony suite and we got Cameron & Sean an interior stateroom to share. Here is a picture of what our suite is supposed to look like.

I have a roast in the crock pot for dinner tonight and the house smells sooooo good!! It's making me hungry!

Sunday in the sun!

Walter & I spent most of the day on the river today with Cathy, Brent, Gene, Sandy, & Wendy. It was a beautiful day and we really had a fun time. You don't have to look too hard to see our 52 ounce daiquiri mugs, which were quite a hit and source of amusement! We ate lunch at Hilltop and then stopped at some fun places along the river to hang out throughout the day: Blind River Bar, The Dock, and Swamp Waters.

I've moved the kittens into our bathoom behind a baby gate to see how that will work because my mom & step-dad are spending the night Tuesday so that we can bring them to the airport Wednesday morning and I doubt they will want to share their room with 5 very active, but very cute and sweet kittens!! We are planning to take my parents to dinner along with Cathy & Brent. My step-dad was hit in the hand on the golf course by a stray golf ball and fractured his hand, so we will have a get well dinner and a Father's Day dinner all in one!



The ad I put in the paper for the kittens should come out this week and I really hope there are some people looking for kittens now like their were a few weeks ago when people kept calling for the other kittens that I had already given away!

We really do have some great neighbors and I really do appreciate them. Walter has been breaking his back digging a culvert in the front yard all throughout the weekend and was figuring it would take him a few more hours to fill the ditch with sand and dirt just using his shovel and wheelbarrow. I looked out the window just now and a neighbor from down the street is out there on his tractor moving all of the sand and dirt 100 times quicker than Walter could have by himself. Just another reason I love living here! Speaking of our neighbors, the lady next door, Lou, is having open heart surgery tomorrow, so please keep her in your prayers! Her husband, Leon, has just completed chemotherapy for colon cancer, so they've had a lot to deal with recently. Walter is planning to cook a big pot of gumbo for them and we'll package it into dinner size portions for them.

Nothing much else is going on tonight. Cameron is feeling better and we are just hanging out at home.

Friday night

We are enjoying a nice, quiet, Friday night at home. Cameron isn't feeling good, so we are all just staying at home tonight. I am sad to miss Kelley's going away party, but we are getting together 2 more times before she starts the move to Chicago on June 19th.

The kittens are doing so well and are really cute and a lot of fun! I have them in a playpen in the guest room and I let them out to play today for an hour or so. They are so full of life and enjoy running and playing with each other. I've read that feral kittens sometimes never adjust or play with toys, etc. but these will be just fine based on how they are doing after a few days here. They love me and cry when I put them back in the playpen and leave them for a nap. I am thrilled to be able to save them from a life of fear and unhappiness.

My true color is red!

What's Your True Color?

My Result: Red

Your color is red, the color of racy sportscars, blushing cheeks, and luscious roses. Red symbolizes passion, romance, and love. So, since you're ruled by red, you probably trust your feelings more than your brain and tend to act spontaneously. If you see something you want, you go for it without thinking twice — impulsive is your middle name. You don't wait around for people to make decisions, either; you dive right in. Quite the romantic, you pay close attention to your emotions. In fact, if your heart isn't in what you're doing, you won't be satisfied. Of course, even when you do pour all your energy into the projects you tackle, your impetuous nature means your passions can shift as frequently as the wind. That's why some reds have trouble with commitment. Our advice? Next time you're feeling fickle, think before you act, if possible. You might be surprised at the results. Overall, though, it's great to be red. No one lives life more completely than you do.

What are you?
http://web.tickle.com/jumpto?test=colorogt&c=50652

Freaky Friday

Let me just say that I try to keep my blog upbeat, fun, and positive and don't want to turn it into a place to complain or have a negative tone to it, but with that said, I just have to say that next door (at the bad cat house) there is a freak on the roof! The neighbors have had their son (or some sort of relative) re-roofing their house ALONE for the last couple of months. He shows up when they go get him, because he can't drive due to his DWI offenses, and is doing the work because he owes the people so much money (they have a talkative granddaughter who tells me things she shouldn't) and generally starts banging on the roof outside of my bedroom window at 6:30 am. If that isn't enough to really make me mad, he sings really loudly and gets on his cell phone and talks so loud that I can hear every word he says. Well, this morning at 6:30 am, I wake up to find that there is a freak on the roof again! And i'm sure he's here for the whole weekend. Lovely!

I had to make an executive decision about the Houston trip. I haven't heard back from JP for sure if he can have visitors this weekend, Cameron isn't feeling good, I have 5 kittens that I don't want to have to ask Walter to take care of all weekend and they need to be handled a lot, and I'm feeling stressed about going under these circumstances, so I think I will postpone the trip until June 20th. If I don't go, my friend, Kelley's going away party is tonight and my friend, Jessica's baby shower is Saturday, so depending on how Cameron is feeling, I might be able to make those events.

Today is my nephew, Tyrone's, 25th birthday! He is the one on the far right in the picture, the African American young man. My sister, Donna, raised Ty since he was about 13 years old. He was a friend of her kids and from what I understand, was the child of a mother who was 12 when he was born. He was put in special education for a disability check, he says, and was never taught anything at all. When we first met him, he was living alone in an abandoned house, was in legal trouble, and could not read or write at all. Donna took him in and he lived with her until a couple of years ago, including moving from Baton Rouge to Houston with her. He lives near her with his girlfriend now. This young man is so inspiring to me. He really had nothing and should have just ended up living his life in and out of jail. Donna spent a lot of time and money teaching him and getting tutors for him. He reads and writes now, probably on a 5th or 6th grade level, but it is enough to be able to function in the world. He is currently a boxer trying to go pro. Cameron & Ty are very close and Cameron told me when he was young that Ty was the nicest person he knows. That means a lot coming from a child. The other boys in the picture are: my great-nephew, Elijah, my nephew, Colin, my nephew, Justin, and my son, Cameron during our visit to Houston for Easter. I'm posting below something Ty wrote on myspace and I love to read it, even in his mispelled words, because he wrote it and can read and write well enough to write it, and it shows the lessons he has learned in his life.

i have a drem to be come one of the best boxer. my life has not been one of the best but i made the best of it. to have a dream is to have hope. ther are time i wont to give up but you cant give up on your dream. i been at this boxing for a long time like about 6 to 7 yeas. im 24 yeas old a man that will not give up for noting. coming up in the hood ant no fun or game at all but you have to be on top of ypur game at all time.you have to work hard for what you wont. ant no one going to give to you. you get to get out ther and get it. i dont have it now like i wont it but one day i wil. some one sad to me if you dont work hard it dont work out. so i cant sleep on noting at all. i have to be the king of the ring and fill like i'm just like ali on top of the world as one of the best. so if you have a dream don't give up on it are sleep on it. if you don't try you don't know if you can mack it. so keep hope ,keep working hard and don't give up on noting...... p.s keep god alway in your life . be you if they like you are not but be frindy.

So anyway, Happy birthday to Ty! Donna & I are chipping in to get him a piece of boxing equipment that he wants for his birthday. He is truly a remarkable young man and an inspiration to me.