go to this link and see our spring break shots
5/17/06
trip home
OK,
Just uploadind some pics on Fickr of our trip to N.O.! Unfortunately, I didn't go crazy. We drove 2 cars, the kids and I in one and R and A in the other (with some interesting cargo -- if ya want to know you gotta call me because this story is too long to blog...) It was sad in a way because she had really gotten to know the kids while she was here -- you know the stuff that you don't get to know when you're in a condo on the beach. But there was a lot of singing in our car as we headed south.
We stayed in Metairie. My poor SIL's kitchen is still not finished and they are all still living on the second floor. Uptown looked OK by April, tho it was still really weird. We took the kids to the zoo and most of the animals were out/back. They changed the camp in the La. exhibit to include an old fridge and a blue roof. Walking through the zoo was different. Nagin may be an idiot with his chocolate city comments, but it was a different place. Lots of vanilla!! Not really N.O. The street cars are still not running on St. Charles and most of the university area had flooding. But the fraternity houses on Broadway were up and running! C and S were impressed by the volcano in front of the ZBT house.
The trip was very stressful, and not something I want to publish on a public blog but just let it be known that some of it was loud and furious. And you don't EVER want to leave your house unattended for 7 months in a city that flooded. Even if you are a fastidious housekeeper. The critters ate everything they could get to and had quite a party doing so! Add to that a fridge that sat with dried maggots in it for 7 months (BIG thanks to SIL for doing the initial food/maggot toss -- too bad she couldn't just toss the fridge like every one else in the city) and you have a small picture of our spring break vacation!
We were obviously busy with initial clean up and did not get around much but the kids did get out to the lakefront with their great aunt and C tooks some great shots of the yacht club and Lake Ponchartrain (I'll try to get those on Flickr too). In Metairie, out off Transcontinental, where the flooding was minimal (2-5 inches that came in and stayed when the pumps failed) the effects of Katrina were obvious. EVERY house has a trailer and a POD in the front lawn. You know when I heard that FEMA provided trailers (hey we were offered one for A here) I thought they would all be alike -- some sort of government perfect white box. NO.... it is any trailer they could get their hands on. My BIL's next door neighbor has a hump back trailer off a pickup. Lovely! The streets are still lined with them 7 months later -- and these were houses that had just a little damage in comparison to those washed off their foundations.
By the time we were there things were trying to stive for normalcy. Most high schools had cleaned up and had classes, a few were still sharing facilities (co-ed finally!!) The lakefront and St. Bernard, NO East forget about it. As we were leaving to head home we decided to to a final search for that illustrious N.O. delicacy (at least in our house) Barqs in a bottle. Got on I-10 passed the French Quarter and headed out -- things look the same at 85 miles an hour you don't notice that the homes are all empty and any cars you might see look like little coffins --- they probably floated there. Rhett decided to pull off in NO East around Bullard Ave (someone once left me at a McDonald's there because they didn't like my driving...) I guess he just wasn't thinking. There is nothing there. Well, the old Schweggmen's has a building -- a shell... but that's it. It is a giant ghost town. No cars, no people, no nothing, just empty shells.
On the way home we stopped for gas in Biloxi and decided if we were that close that we should head down to Hwy 90 and see if there was more rebuilding in Missisippi. Sheilah and Rob lived in Ocean Springs for a few years and I really got to love the Gulf Coast there. Well, Bioxi looked like Beruit. There was a house across Hwy 90 that had a hole washed right through it-- gorgeous antebellum home. It was still there mind you, all around it were just foundation slabs. Big casinos with the 1st 2floors GONE. The bridge to Ocean Springs was washed out just like I-10 in Pensacola last year and over Lake Ponchatrain this year --except this one wasn't fixed yet. It looked like a toppled house of cards. (That reminds me -- driving over those temp bridge spans was very interesting!!) It looked like there was construction going on around the casinos. We never made it to Ocean Springs.
We did make it home though -- all SIX of us.
Just uploadind some pics on Fickr of our trip to N.O.! Unfortunately, I didn't go crazy. We drove 2 cars, the kids and I in one and R and A in the other (with some interesting cargo -- if ya want to know you gotta call me because this story is too long to blog...) It was sad in a way because she had really gotten to know the kids while she was here -- you know the stuff that you don't get to know when you're in a condo on the beach. But there was a lot of singing in our car as we headed south.
We stayed in Metairie. My poor SIL's kitchen is still not finished and they are all still living on the second floor. Uptown looked OK by April, tho it was still really weird. We took the kids to the zoo and most of the animals were out/back. They changed the camp in the La. exhibit to include an old fridge and a blue roof. Walking through the zoo was different. Nagin may be an idiot with his chocolate city comments, but it was a different place. Lots of vanilla!! Not really N.O. The street cars are still not running on St. Charles and most of the university area had flooding. But the fraternity houses on Broadway were up and running! C and S were impressed by the volcano in front of the ZBT house.
The trip was very stressful, and not something I want to publish on a public blog but just let it be known that some of it was loud and furious. And you don't EVER want to leave your house unattended for 7 months in a city that flooded. Even if you are a fastidious housekeeper. The critters ate everything they could get to and had quite a party doing so! Add to that a fridge that sat with dried maggots in it for 7 months (BIG thanks to SIL for doing the initial food/maggot toss -- too bad she couldn't just toss the fridge like every one else in the city) and you have a small picture of our spring break vacation!
We were obviously busy with initial clean up and did not get around much but the kids did get out to the lakefront with their great aunt and C tooks some great shots of the yacht club and Lake Ponchartrain (I'll try to get those on Flickr too). In Metairie, out off Transcontinental, where the flooding was minimal (2-5 inches that came in and stayed when the pumps failed) the effects of Katrina were obvious. EVERY house has a trailer and a POD in the front lawn. You know when I heard that FEMA provided trailers (hey we were offered one for A here) I thought they would all be alike -- some sort of government perfect white box. NO.... it is any trailer they could get their hands on. My BIL's next door neighbor has a hump back trailer off a pickup. Lovely! The streets are still lined with them 7 months later -- and these were houses that had just a little damage in comparison to those washed off their foundations.
By the time we were there things were trying to stive for normalcy. Most high schools had cleaned up and had classes, a few were still sharing facilities (co-ed finally!!) The lakefront and St. Bernard, NO East forget about it. As we were leaving to head home we decided to to a final search for that illustrious N.O. delicacy (at least in our house) Barqs in a bottle. Got on I-10 passed the French Quarter and headed out -- things look the same at 85 miles an hour you don't notice that the homes are all empty and any cars you might see look like little coffins --- they probably floated there. Rhett decided to pull off in NO East around Bullard Ave (someone once left me at a McDonald's there because they didn't like my driving...) I guess he just wasn't thinking. There is nothing there. Well, the old Schweggmen's has a building -- a shell... but that's it. It is a giant ghost town. No cars, no people, no nothing, just empty shells.
On the way home we stopped for gas in Biloxi and decided if we were that close that we should head down to Hwy 90 and see if there was more rebuilding in Missisippi. Sheilah and Rob lived in Ocean Springs for a few years and I really got to love the Gulf Coast there. Well, Bioxi looked like Beruit. There was a house across Hwy 90 that had a hole washed right through it-- gorgeous antebellum home. It was still there mind you, all around it were just foundation slabs. Big casinos with the 1st 2floors GONE. The bridge to Ocean Springs was washed out just like I-10 in Pensacola last year and over Lake Ponchatrain this year --except this one wasn't fixed yet. It looked like a toppled house of cards. (That reminds me -- driving over those temp bridge spans was very interesting!!) It looked like there was construction going on around the casinos. We never made it to Ocean Springs.
We did make it home though -- all SIX of us.
2/6/06
The project
It is snowing outside! Big beautiful snowflakes. Unfortunately, their grandeur ends as soon as they hit the pavement and melt into drops of water. I bet the kids are having a ball at school. But it doesn't look like today will be a snow day.
I have a question. Have you ever had a "project", a person who you just knew you could help (read fix)? I know we are all guilty of this at sometime in our life. It may not always be intentional.
I just realized that I am someone's project! How could that be? I am the "smart one", the "responsible one", the "over acheiver". I make project out of others :).
I have a question. Have you ever had a "project", a person who you just knew you could help (read fix)? I know we are all guilty of this at sometime in our life. It may not always be intentional.
I just realized that I am someone's project! How could that be? I am the "smart one", the "responsible one", the "over acheiver". I make project out of others :).
2/2/06
Put on a coat!
This morning I found proof of the old wives' tale "a coat is something a mother puts on a child when she is cold". NPR has a story : Why kids don't wear coats that validates the fact that cold does not cause colds, a virus causes the colds. Still doesn't make me feel any better when my 12 yr old goes to school in 40 degree weather in shorts and 2 tshirts. Nor does it create motivation to cover up those mid-drift tops on pre-teens (and yes, maybe if I had a flat tummy like that I might let it hang out too). I find it funny how my opinion has changed regarding that now that I have a pubecent boy. When my daughter was in middle school, I defended all those cute little girls in their grown up clothes. "They don't mean to dress that way" Now, well this leopard has changed her spots. Guess I finally realized just how visual boys are.
1/31/06
End of January
Today in 1990 the first McDonalds opened in the Soviet Union... less than 2 years later the Soviet Union ceased to exist as a nation... coincidence?
Yesterday's project in my "January Spring Cleaning" was to clean off my desk. One 50 lb. gargage bag later and I am almost there. How does it get like this? I try the "only touch paper once thing..." obviously not working. Do I have to save 10 year old finger paintings? What about Easter cards I bought 7 years ago when we moved into this house. Will this be the year I actually send them out??
Today is the last day of the month. Thank God! I am looking forward to a fresh start!
1/28/06
Mothering 101
Ok, so I said I was going to clean out the pantry because it is full of shit. I was also going to "free myself" by getting rid of all those old cookbooks that were supposed to make my life perfect but instead cause crap to fall out of the pantry when you open the door. It might help if we did didn't have duplicates of things and things we "can't throw away because we might need them". Notice, this is me POST FlyLady... I need to learn more patience because I am not perfect. Though, it would be nice if the stuff that was falling out was stuff that I actually bought... but I won't go there today. THREE HOURS LATER I have chased a butterfly into my computer and tried to link this cute (but worth 3 hours??) cartoon to this new BLOG. Rhett's response to my newfound knowledge... "It's just going to suck more of your time away..." The wise words of a fellow butterfly hunter. We'll see if you can actually see this wonderful cartoon. Meanwhile, my pantry is still spilling out onto the kitchen floor and I haven't even run a brush through my hair since my shower at 9:00! That's one way to get curls in your hair...
1/27/06
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