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?

Monday morning

Well, things returning to normal here and I'm off to work this morning. Cameron's school doesn't have power, so he wont be returning yet, but our kids go back tomorrow. I guess we'll get in 1 week of school before Ike knocks us on our butts again!!!

I got this award from Mere at The Babblings of Mere yesterday! If you've never visited Mere's blog, you should! She is a high school junior who is so inspiring to me. She is everything I wished I could have been at that age and I know this young lady will do big things with her life!


Now.. the rules are....

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

So, here are my winners!
Molly at I Need A Martini
Debbie at Blog Around the World
Bobbie at 40 Shades of Pink
Ronnica at Tale of a Kansas Girl
Patti at Nonna's News
Melissa at The Scholastic Scribe
Marla at Pak Adventures

Walter & I attempted to go to the Texas Roadhouse with Cathy & Brent last night, but I neglected to call first and make sure that they have re-opened after the storm, and apparently, they haven't! We made the 30 minute trip over there but everything in the general area seemed to be closed, so we went a few minutes away to Logan's Steakhouse. We realized after sitting for awhile that our server was "missing" and a very nice waitress just jumped right in and took care of us the whole night. Our food was really taking a long time, but we never said anything and were having fun visiting, but the waitress went to the manager on her own and told him that our food was taking WAY too long and he took care of our check! I told the manager how awesome the waitress had been, considering how we weren't even really her table, then we left her a $40 tip! The food was good (and free), so it was a good night! Then I had to come home and watch the VMAs. I really expected a Britney Spears train wreck this year, but she did good. I do think they cheated and gave her awards to make her feel better since she's been nominated nearly 20 times over the years and has never won, then suddenly won the first award tonight, but hey, let her have a little joy in her life, I reckon.

One of those boys, Bradley, went home yesterday afternoon to help clean up the yard at his house, then called later to ask if he could come back, so I said that was fine. Cameron's dad has electricity again, so he is going to pick Cameron up tomorrow for the week, so I told the boys that they'll have to leave when he leaves. Hopefully, they were already planning to do that!!

Questions & Comments:

Kimi asked what my mom said when I told her what I thought about her comment/selfishness. At first, I didn't say anything, but she called me once they got to Houston to apologize for saying things that might have hurt my feelings. I am guessing she realized how she must have sounded. I have come a long way in my life and have learned to be honest in those situations, but still nice, so I just told her that I didn't appreciate her talking about the kids that way and that I found her & my step-dad's attitude very selfish. We ended up arguing because she says they weren't selfish and that she did not say anything negative about the boys. Yeah, sure, but what's arguing going to do? I just told her it was better that we stop talking about it. I just hope she thinks twice before coming here during any other hurricanes because there will surely be other people in our house who are welcome here. And yes, my mom and Kimi's mom are very much alike when it comes to the grandkids and while I know it's their loss, it still hurts me. Now that my brother (who has always been her favorite) has a baby, she is making 10 hour trips to Georgia to see the baby when she's never driven 10 minutes to see mine or my sister's kids. The baby is 1 and they've made at least 4 trips there! She's never been to any of my kids or grandkids birthday parties or anything, yet they drove 10 hours to Daphne's 1st birthday. I have also learned that nothing I do or say will ever change the way she feels or the way she is, but it sure would be nice for her to see things through the eyes of her other children and grandchildren.

Several people commented on the blog my brother wrote - and yes, I do think it is very funny now, which is why I don't mind sharing it. At the time, I was very ticked off about it, but he did tell me that making his blog humorous was part of the reason people like to read it, so I get it that he added his own humorous touch to it. However, the sad part (or I guess the funny part) is that most of what he said is quite true. I could tell some stories about my family, especially the steps and the in-laws on my side...whew!! What a crazy bunch of people. I'll gladly share any stories, so if you saw something in there that you want to know more about, just ask!

A Poem For Ike

Dear Ike,
It is YOU I don't like.
You are not welcome here,
so please don't come near!

So Ike, please, please, please don't come here!! Our state can not handle you right now. We don't want to see anyone else get hit with this storm, but we can't take it at this time. It is starting to look like Ike may be taking a turn towards Texas, which I hate to see happen, but I'd hate to see it come here worse.

So, we got our power back last night!! I have been doing those things that couldn't be done on the generator, like washing clothes. My next door neighbor plugged their washing machine into their gas generator to wash clothes and burned up the motor in their washing machine! Also, Lesley was able to reserve a few hotel rooms in Mississippi if we should need to escape from Ike, so we are feeling good to have a plan. I don't know if Walter will leave with me, but that is a decision he'll have to make if Ike is headed here.

This link is to the "Friends of George" website. I read about his $1 cookbook on a friend's blog and went to read about George. I bought the cookbook as soon as I read the story and I hope that you will too! http://www.friendsofgeorge.com/cookbook_order.html

Walter & I got out the pool equipment and vacuumed leaves and dirt from the bottom of the pool and ran an extension cord to reconnect the pool pump yesterday. As soon as the pool was starting to not look as green, the storm came and we haven't been able to get the chemicals right yet. I'm hoping we can get it right and will have a little more time to enjoy it before it gets too cold.

Tonight Walter & I are going to the Texas Roadhouse and YES, I go there mostly for the bread and butter!!! We usually have steak at Hilltop on steak night so we don't venture off to other steak restaurants often, but Hilltop is not opened yet and well, I want some bread!!! The Texas Roadhouse is in Baton Rouge so it's about a 30 minute trip over there, but it will be worth it!!

We still have those boys here and i'm not sure if their families will be looking for them now that their power is back on - well, at least I know that Bryce's is back on. I don't mind them staying longer, but wouldn't you at least want to see your kid after a week? We aren't sure when their school will reopen. I don't think power is back in that area yet, so we'll just have to wait and see. I work in a different parish and we go back to work tomorrow and the kids come back on Tuesday.

Questions & Comments:

Tam asked me what i'm reading. At this time, it wont be one of the 70 unread books on her bookcase, but some books that I bought to use with my kids at school. The main one i've been reading is called "Individualized Supports For Students With Problem Behaviors." Probably nothing exciting to the general population, but I am really working with changing some of these behaviors to help the kids fit in, excel in school, and stay out of trouble!!

I had a couple of comments from people saying they would love to vent about their families on their blogs sometimes, but can't because their family reads their blog. None of my family knows about my blog and I hope they never run across it! I don't vent about them much, but it is nice to be able to vent once in awhile. My brother has a blog that he didn't think anyone would run across and he was "outted" by Walter's nephew accidentally. I'm not sure if i've mentioned on my blog that my brother, Kenny, and Walter's nephew, Tommy, have been best friends for 20 years. They both live in Georgia now and Kenny had posted a story on his blog about seeing Tommy's apartment on fire on the 6 o'clock news one night! Tommy thought the blog was a good way to show everyone the story and to let them know about the fire, so he sent a link to all of his family, including us! I read the story about the fire and then decided to scroll through the rest of the blog and found this:

(From 2003) Considering the wife and I spent a total of just 41 hours in Louisiana this weekend for our Bizarre Family Pre-Christmas Christmas celebration, it was an eventful time. The highlights:
• The adoptive mother of my niece - who my middle sister gave up for adoption 21 years ago and rediscovered a couple of years back - came to dinner. Now I know why my niece always figured she was adopted. “Mom” is a troll, and clearly shares no genes with my niece, who is a really beautiful girl (if you look past the heavy Baton Rouge makeup and trashy style).
• My oldest nephew (second child of the middle sister) was working Saturday, so he came by Friday night with his girlfriend.
• My second-oldest nephew (first child of my oldest sister) brought his girlfriend along as well. They are both 18, neither finished high school, both work fast-food jobs and they live together not far from my oldest sister in Texas. I'd not met the girlfriend before, and was quite prepared to disapprove. Would you believe I came away liking and respecting her? She”s pushing the nephew back toward school and seems to give him the structure his life had lacked for a long time.
• The third-oldest nephew (second child of my oldest sister) is working on a hip-hop career, sports a new bottom-lip piercing and chain smokes with the approval of his mom. He's 16. But he's “off the dope” as my sister says, is making good grades and wants to be a landscape architect. The bright hope of the family.
• My youngest nephew (the third child of my middle sister) is going into 6th grade next year and just got accepted at Jimmy Swaggart's Christian school. And this is seen as a good thing … Public eduction in Louisiana is so bad, you see, that kids are better off with a Swaggart education than an East Baton Rouge Parish Schools one.
• I found out Saturday morning that my stepfather had invited his 30-year-old adopted son (my adopted step-brother, I suppose) down from North Louisiana for our Pre-Christmas Christmas dinner. He had no where else to go, I was told, because his younger brother (biological and also adopted by my stepfather) doesn't want him around because the older brother has recently gotten married to his (the older brother's) first wife's cousin. The younger brother is still friends with that first wife, and thus does not want his older brother - or the wife's cousin, I suppose - around at Christmas. The beat-down Oldsmobuick carrying my adopted step-brother, his cousin-in-law-turned-second-wife and four little redneck kids of varying heritage pulled up right as we were walking in the house Saturday. Taking in the Redneck spectacle on a security-camera monitor (a leftover from the Baton Rouge serial killer days) - my long-lost niece asked “Does the little kid have a mullet??”
• My parents were talking about finding the Paris Hilton sex video on the Internet … but the video they described was not the Paris Hilton video. I was scared to learn more about what they were actually watching, and why.
• My crazy aunt (the wife of my mother's oldest brother) showed up right as we were leaving Saturday night. Actually, her car appeared on the security monitor as we were beginning to leave, which greatly hastened our exit. This is the woman, you see, who two years ago crashed our close-family gift exchange and was so horrified to not have presents to give us that she excused herself ("I need to run out to the car"), snuck off to Walgreen”s, bought a few sets of cheap Christmas dinnerware and two hours later came back with makeshift gifts for all of us. No, none of us had presents for her.
• Somehow in all the excitement, I came down with Pink Eye.
I blame the kid with the mullet.

Now, this scene describes a family Christmas get-together at my house!!! I was pretty preturbed after reading this, although I do see the humor in it, but it taught me to be careful what I say on my blog, because you never know who may run across it! He's never posted anything about his family again either!

How about....Texas Roadhouse???

Well, let's just say I won the bet!! Our power came back on about 5 minutes ago!!! Yay!!! And I get dinner wherever I want and I think I'm wanting some of that awesome bread from the Texas Roadhouse!! Woohoo!!

And to top off this great news...my friend, Lesley, and I made a plan in case Hurricane Ike comes here. We are NOT staying!!! We are GOING!!! So there!!! We are trying to get rooms together in a hotel where Mr. Lesley's (or sometimes we call him Mike's) mother works and we will not be freaked out during another bad storm. More on this LATER...but we have POWER!!!!

My new love...

BUCKET TRUCKS!!! And this one is on our street!! And our neighbors directly across the river just got their power back!! And the little country stores a mile down the road just got their power back!! I think we're going to get our power back!!!!

And here is a picture of the condo we just moved from last year - where we rode out Hurricane Katrina! We were in the top unit at the end, right under the blue tarp and chimney that was ripped off during Gustav!

Saturday - day 6 with no power

As of this morning, 55% of our parish has power, so I'm hopeful that ours will come back on before the end of the weekend. My neighbor is convinced it will be today, and I hope he is right! Power or no power, I will be back at work on Monday. The schools in my parish do have electricity, so we'll go back Monday and the kids go back Tuesday. My west side schools may not be able to open for awhile though, so I hope things are ok over there. Baton Rouge's schools are not going to go back next week, although i'm not sure why that decision was made this early. It seems like they are in better shape there than we are with the exception of a couple of neighborhoods.

Walter & I took the boys last night to get some Military MRE's (Meal - Ready to Eat) meals and ice that was being given out in our area. The meals are completely self contained and includes an entree, crackers, instant coffee/tea, dessert, and a heater to heat the main entree. It's a pretty amazing idea and the food doesn't taste bad. I think it's great that FEMA provides food for those who need it. We wont go back for more because the stores are open and we are able to buy food, but we wanted to show the boys what was going on and let them have the MRE's. You get 12 in a box, so they split them up and are going to have them over the next few days. If you've never seen an MRE (this is only my 2nd time), they are amazing!


Then we went to Brewbachers for dinner and let the boys shoot a game of pool and enjoy the air conditioning for a little bit. This morning, Walter & I went to Walmart to re-stock our groceries. It is starting to look like Hurricane Ike may have his sights set on Louisiana and honestly, I don't know if we can take it.

I am really frustrated with my mom. She & my step-dad, John, live about an hour from us and were planning to come over here on Wednesday after being without power at all for 2 days and I have always let them know that they are welcome here. She had called and they were getting their things together to come here when I mentioned that the boys were here. She said, "oh, those boys are there? Will they be there the whole time?" I said, yes, as long as they don't have power at their houses, they will be here. She said, "oh then we will just drive to Houston (5 hours during normal times) because John needs the house to be quiet so he can work on his book." Now, just let me say that as much as I love John, he is the LOUDEST person you'll ever be around. Once he wakes up at 5am, nobody else in the house will get anymore sleep. He wears hearing aids in both ears and keeps the tv LOUD and talks LOUD, but I was willing to deal with that to have them here, safe, and enjoying the electricity that we have. I found it very selfish that they were only concerned with themselves and told my mom that. I also told her that besides the 3 boys, there could be other people here at any time because we invited anyone who needed a place to go. Times like this call for people to do what they have to do for each other and selfishness wont get you very far, especially if you need to stay at someone else's house. I was most upset with the way she talked about those boys as if they were animals, and don't forget, one is her grandson! She's never been a grandmother to my kids or my sister's, and that is something that hurts me often, especially now that my brother has a baby that she has decided that she DOES want to be a grandmother, but that's a whole nother post! Anyway, I suggested that they find other options for future storms unless they can handle fitting in with a house full of people and making the best of it. They are lucky they were able to get to Houston and that may not always be an option. Anywho, thanks for letting me vent!!

Walter thinks he has spotted an alligator living in our boat slip and i'm a little freaked out by that. The water is up over the sides of the boat slip, which would mean an alligator could walk on up into my back yard. He went out to try to take pictures of it, but didn't see it again.

Don't forget to watch my friend, Mover Dave, on Playhouse Disney on September 10th!! Here is a link to their website with games and activities for your kids. They already have a huge following and are teaching wonderful lessons to kids, so go check it out!! I grew up with Mover Dave and am extremely proud of how far they have come!!