What Did You Do Today?

[DianaB]

Every person should know what their church believes and why. It will probably be an interesting class.

I'm home!! I had such a good time at my neices'!! The baby was soooo cute!! She's half black so she has dark hair and a dark complexion. She was sooo tiny.....only 5 lbs. 9 oz. when she was born. My neice has two other children. The oldest is a full brother to the baby.....and a little girl that has a different dad and is totally white.....blonde hair and all!! Natasha definitely has her hands full with all three!! The boy, Jasiah, has some definite discipline problems. Her boyfriend who is the father of the two black kids has his own problems and is in and out of the house. He was nice to me while I was there but has some drug problems but knows that it's not allowed at Natasha's home. It's a mess.

The neighborhood that Natasha lives in isn't good. The woman next door makes meth so there are people in and out of her house all the time. I was told to make sure and keep my car doors locked.....plus the doors to the house were always locked.

My neice, who is almost 30, has been on her own since she graduated. My brother, her dad, is no help to her financially nor is her step-mom. Her real mom is into drugs and her mom's mom is controlling so she has no help (I should say that my Mom does help her out). We spent three days talking while we watched the kids and I saw the conditions of things around the house so the day before I left I went to Wal-mart and bought some things that I knew she couldn't afford for herself......mostly things for the kitchen, a few groceries, and some new towels for the bathroom. I also got the baby some new clothes with some matching clothes for her sister and a few shirts for Jasiah. My neice was thrilled. You could tell that she does all she can for the kids but doesn't do much for herself.

Oh....and her boyfriend had the flu......so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that neither she nor I get it. He mostly stayed in the bedroom but still........

We visited so much and really enjoyed talking. I may just have to go back down and visit again some time!!

[Lindsey]

Diana, I'm glad your trip turned out better than you were expecting!

Besides work, I've been busy with my OTHER work lol... the exchange students. One of the girls had her host family decide to not extend their contract, so we were left to find another home for her. Their contract ended at the end of January, but luckily they said she could stay with them until a new home was found. We started looking just after Christmas and finally a family applied last week (the mother knows the girl too, because she works at the school). We are going to interview the family tonight.

My parents called me last night and told me that during my brother's hockey game on Monday, he took a slapshot to the mouth!!! His lip was cut and swelled right up and 2/3 of his front two teeth were broken off! How Canadian lol... I don't think there is a hockey playing guy in the whole country without at least a couple broken teeth! Anyways, his fiance obviously wouldn't have him looking like that, so they spent all of Tuesday afternoon at the dentist where he had root canals and two fake teeth drilled into his mouth. He is in lots of pain and is too swollen to talk, so I sent him a text this morning saying I hope he feels better soon. I told my parents I'm sure that makes them feel good about all the orthodontic work he had done when he was younger lol!

Scott plays his VERY FIRST hockey game tonight!!!! He was never allowed to play growing up because his mom thought it was too violent and he'd get hurt. He has always wanted to play, so he got on a rec team in a neighboring town, and they are playing tonight in our town. He is so excited. I think he wore his helmet for half a day on the weekend lol! He does have a full face mask, which he is glad for now after my brother's story. It's pretty uncool, but at least he'll keep his teeth. He doesn't want me to watch him tonight in case he isn't very good lol But I will go another time. They are late games anyway and I am really tired this week!

Africa is coming up faster than I like to think. We have one more Typhoid vaccination pill to take tomorrow morning, and we're done with our vaccinations! These ones have been giving me abdominal pain so I'll be glad to have them done. The back of my left arm where I had one of my needle vaccinations STILL hurts! It's been almost 2 weeks now. There is still very slight bruising but I think they must have hit a nerve or something. The plus side to all this is I can pretty much go anywhere in the world now Diseases schmiseases! Lol.

Oh and I've also been helping my cousin plan her wedding in New Orleans! We'll be going down in September. I'm getting way more excited than I thought I would be! Scott and I are planning to rent a car and do a day trip after the wedding... I'm a HUUUUUGE Britney Spears fan lol and her hometown is just over an hour away. So we're going to get up early one morning and drive up there and see the museum and wander around the little town, and then we'll drive up into Mississippi and then back over into Louisiana to West Monroe to visit the Duck Dynasty place Scott and I watch the show all the time and my dad is just obsessed with it! We want to get there by early afternoon and visit the gift shop. Then we'll drive back down through Baton Rouge (maybe have dinner there?) and back to New Orleans in the evening. We'll probably go down on a Wednesday, wedding is Thursday, do our day trip Saturday, and come home Tuesday! Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do/see/eat while I'm there???

[Blueyes]

Lindsey, we live about 40 miles west of Shreveport, La. I think you should see ME!! Mike and I could meet you somewhere Gotta love Duck Dynasty!

[Lindsey]

Originally Posted by Blueyes

Lindsey, we live about 40 miles west of Shreveport, La. I think you should see ME!! Mike and I could meet you somewhere Gotta love Duck Dynasty!

Oh my gosh YES!!!!! We had talked about going to Texas but thought it was just too far and easier to just fly lol (I have a friend from here who now lives in Lake Jackson, and we thought we could try to see her). And then we decided to cut the trip down to only really be 5 whole days long after flying there and back, so we thought we'd just do some driving around Louisiana instead. BUT I had no idea you were that close

So how accurate is Google maps? It says Shreveport is another hour and a half drive from Monroe. Is this whole round-trip back to NO doable in one day? Maybe we should book a hotel somewhere else for overnight. I just told Scott what you said and he suggested maybe staying somewhere else for a night. He knows all about you from my wedding shoes so he's excited at the thought of meeting you too!

[Blueyes]

Monroe is about 2 hours from my house. We can meet you in Monroe, or anywhere else for that matter We are pretty free these days, lol! This is gonna work!

[Blueyes]

Are you flying back home from New Orleans? If you are renting a car to go see your friend in Lake Jackson, it would be much easier for you to fly home from Houston. Galveston is a neat place to visit, especially if you want some beach time

[Lindsey]

I am even more excited for this trip now!!!!

We will be flying home from New Orleans... actually we decided not to see my friend this time because it would be another day of driving. We do want to spend a lot of time in New Orleans too, since we've never been there before either! Scott and I are, at the moment, the only people even going down with my cousin and her fiance for their wedding. We are their bridal party AND their whole guest list It will be my cousin's first time on an airplane - she is terrified of them but her fiance said he wouldn't marry her unless she got on a plane and they went somewhere to do it. I have a feeling she won't do it again, so I want to spend some time with them in New Orleans as well. It will probably be my only chance to be on a vacation with her, ever lol. So, Scott and I decided to definitely do this one whole day trip (or part of the next day too, if we are staying the night somewhere else!) But we want the extra day or two to wander around New Orleans.

I'd love to see Texas someday though! If only my brother didn't decide to do another destination wedding a couple of months after this one, we'd have a lot more time to spend seeing the places we want!

[Blueyes]

You'll have fun in New Orleans, it's party central! There is plenty to do there to keep you busy. You will have a blast, and it shouldn't be too terribly hot in September!

[Lindsey]

Yeah I'm really excited for all we can see and do there! And now I'm excited to meet you too!!!! It will be an awesome trip

[Janet]

Today I went and looked at a 2011 Toyota Camry. I really love it and I want it...lol. I think I'm going to go back on Monday and test drive it. I will have to borrow the money....too bad, and Rick isn't real up for the idea, but too bad, and really have no business even looking for another car, but you guessed it....too bad....lol. If I like how it handles, I'm going to do all I can to get it....I want it and I deserve it. Please keep your fingers crossed.

Also went out to eat with Ricky for lunch and there was Linda (tootiredmom) with her hubby Gary, her mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law. So good to see her I darn near started to cry.

[DianaB]

Janet, Toyotas are really well made cars and hold their value better than other cars so I would think that buying one would be a good idea. I know that you've been needing a new car for some time now. Good luck!!

I bet you had fun seeing Linda!! I wish that I lived close enough to you guys to "run" into you somewhere!!!

Betsi and Lindsey.....how cool that you're going to get to meet!! I wish that I was close enough to join you!! You know that we'll need pictures!!

We're going to be in New Orleans too.......to leave on our cruise!! But we'll be with a group. One of these days, Betsi, when I go to Mount Pleasant I'm going to call you and meet somewhere!! I know that you're not too far from there!!

Gayle....you would have been proud of me!! I went to the girls' basketball game last night and Elijah's this morning!! I know enough about the game to at least know when they've made a basket!! LOL

[Janet]

They really are nice vehicles. My van is getting to be in bad shape and I don't want to put a bunch of money into it. I'm really afraid to drive it very far and that's not safe. It needs new struts and shocks, tread on the tires are not good, and a host of other things mechanically are starting to fail. I've had to try and make money stretch so making it stretch alittle farther won't kill me. I could wait until June where we won't have any bills except utilities and will have the money from the two rental houses to help, but I just don't feel that safe in the van.

Rick must have decided it wasn't such a bad idea after all, we have to go to Lafayete tomorrow to purchase a new back door for the first rental we have so he wants me to look at some of the used cars that they have where he works. I'm so excited, but unless they have the exact same car at a lower price, it's going to be hard to change my mind.

Just reread my first post and wow....got a little carried away with the "too bads". I don't mean to be so cocky about it, but I'm tired of being talked out of everything I need or want to do by my spouse so this time, I'm not going to let that happen. I'm at the age where I want a nice comfortable ride with low maintenance.

[Lindsey]

Janet, we have a 2008 Camry and I really like it! Scott bought it brand new and it's never had any issues. We use it to commute to work every day, so it gets a lot of mileage.

We went to Scott's Christmas party last night... yup, in February lol. For some reason, that company has been losing tons of money. I don't know why, because every other company around here seems to be doing so well! Anyways, I was so surprised that the number of tables this year seemed to be cut in half from last year... it's always a huge party but it was almost dead last night. I'm sure at least half the office has been laid off in the last couple of months. Scott is safe for now, since he is contracted out of the company and working full-time at another company, so he is 100% chargeable to his company every day. It just sucks that the people we're used to hanging out with at his company events aren't even there anymore. Nevertheless, we did meet some new people and still had a good time. We got a cab back home and the roads were awful. We didn't make it home until almost 3 am It was hard to get out of bed today. I have NO IDEA how I used to be able to stay out late with my friends and be functioning early the next morning for class in college, or be at work first thing in the morning when I first started working. I can feel myself getting old already lol!

This afternoon, I'm making a big roaster full of cabbage rolls. I need to get started on that if I want to have some for supper tonight! I will freeze most of them.

[gja1000]

Hi All,
It's been pretty quiet at my hacienda! Just ran errands over the weekend, went to a basketball game, and watched my birds on the feeders. Now it's Monday, and here we go again. It should be a pretty quiet week. I don't have class this week, my students are doing class online. They like to do things online and not have to attend the face to face class so I try to do that a few times a semester. It takes a lot of work to create all the things for them to do, but once I do that, then I'm hope free - until that is, I have to read everything they did. LOL! I don't mind though, it's fun doing something different!

[DianaB]

Gayle, I'm sure your students are grateful for not always having to come into class. And it gives you some more time for yourself as well!

Not much going on here......Just Dean and me!!!

My Mom was here on Sunday after church and I guess that she's finally upset with my brother. It's about time!!! I had a neice that had a baby shower on Sat. and Mom and Art went.....but Delaine had to go home and sleep (he works nights at a donut shop)....it ends up that Mom and Art saw him in my town.....where the girlfriend that "he's not going with anymore" lives (she's on drugs and has caused him all kinds of trouble and Delaine has made ALL KINDS of excuses about her). Mom talked to him on the phone and he sounded like he was high. Mom's been believing everything that he's told him and I think that all of this has finally put things in perspective for her. She didn't say much to me but Art talked to Glen about it. With him being 50 years of age she needs to quit giving him money and helping him out!!

Glen and I had our dentist appointment yesterday morning. I hate dentists!! At least that's done for another year!!!

Tonight I think that we're going to Jaci and Nate's to play cards and eat pizza. She's been missing us!! They also have their new baby furniture that she wants to show us!!

We stopped and saw Jed after the dentist. He's getting SO big!! He's kinda' of a fussy baby so you never know how he's going to be. Mornings are usually good for him though. I got him to almost laugh and it was so cute!! He is such a cute little guy I just wish that he was more pleasant. Feyn and Tammy know that he's that way and it's hard on them as well in dealing with his fussiness. Hopefully he'll outgrow it soon!!