I Could Write a Book

    Hello Elvis,

    Here I come to visit you. I’d rather be staying home but considering Gustav is out there you’re the next best thing. 

    Dear God,

   If you can hear me please don’t let a tree or trees crush my house this time.

   Thanks,

   me - the girl with a pit in her stomach
 

Today is the 3rd anniversary of Katrina and probably the least talked about anniversary so far. Why ? Because of Hurricane Gustav. It seems that one hour the weathermen have it predicted to hit very near New Orleans and the next hour it’s headed more West. What is one supposed to do ?

Well, in my case, it’s a no brainer. You pack up 5 days worth of clothes and you get the hell out of dodge. Why ? Well, after riding Katrina out and having a wonderful tree split my house in half with all of us inside of it - I think I’ll pass on this one. My eldest son is still very traumatized from that experience and being a responsible parent means doing what is best for him. When he got off the bus today he asked, "where are we going?" I told him, "Memphis." All was fine after that. He was perfectly calm. Whew.

Guess what else Gustav means besides no school, no work and hotel reservations in another state ? It means that I’m going to miss the opening LSU game. sighs. I do love my Tigers but heck, they moved the kickoff time to 10am and I’m much too lazy and amotivated to drive to Baton Rouge that early in the morning. Besides, tomorrow will be busy boarding up the house and all the other fun things that comes with a hurricane. In all seriousness, I think it is a true shame that they didn’t reschedule the game. Shame on whoever made that call. Yes, I know Gustav may end up going somewhere else but after Katrina you really can’t take the gamble and wait it out.

Mentally, this is draining. I honestly can’t believe that on the 3rd anniversary of Katrina that I’m packing up to leave because of another hurricane. Please stay safe everyone. Don’t forget to tell the one(s) you love ~I love you~. Oh, and Geaux Tigers !!!!

Peace out,

Babycakes  

    Go away - Gustav. Go away - rash. Enough said. I don’t need to deal with either of you in my life right now.

    Gustav is causing so much hype and anxiety around here right now. I’ve already got hotel reservations in Memphis just in case Gustav decides to come towards New Orleans. I’m not going through another Katrina. There has already been an "address" by the Governor listing all the plans of action the state is taking. Is this a bit overboard or just be really prepared ? Whatever it is - it is stressful.

    I haven’t heard back from the MRI. How long is "long enough" before I become a pest and call the Dr’s office to find out the results ?

Tomorrow I’m finally getting an MRI done on my knee. I’m afraid that they are going to find something that requires surgery. If it does require surgery it will be put off till December when I’m done with tennis for a bit. Lol. My knee has hurt me this long I figure it can wait a few more months.

I had to take off all of my jewelry for this MRI. Ack. You’d think with today’s techonological advances they could figure something out that didn’t require a person to remove all of their jewelry. I’m upset over my toes rings. Those babies were completely molded to my toes. I hope that I am able to get them back on and that they reshape themselves.

Lost in tennis today. Yippiiee. It was so flipping hot I just wanted to be cool. The game doesn’t count. It’s stupid to make us play it anyways. Right ? The only good thing - well, the only two good things - I did burn a couple of calories (20 maybe ?) and I now know how these particular women play. When I play them for real I know I’ve got to be prepared.

I’m bushed. I’m beat. I’m bed bound. Peace out All. Share the love, not the germs.  

    I’m home safe and sound from DC and again I had one of the most wonderful girl trips. I love going with my girl friends. I love meeting up with girl friends who live there. I love meeting friends of friends. Great, awesome trip all around.

    Let me just tell you skeptics about Xanax that they really do work. I should add that they truly work for anxiety when flying when they are taken properly. I learned with my first flight that I needed to take it a good hour before boarding the plane. The flight out to DC was tough until basically I passed out midflight. Lol. The return flight back to New Orleans was a complete breeze. By the time we were actually in the air was about 1 1/2 hours from the time I took the little blue, happy pill. The very gregarious "happy" man sitting next to me really helped passed the time, too.  He honestly never shut up but I had to pay enough attention to him to answer his questions in the right places. I will never fly without my new little buddy "Xanax" again.

    My "dawgs" are killing me. Tiff walked me into the ground yesterday OR was it me who walked her into the ground yesterday? LOL. Either way I have blisters on my feet and a head full of wonderful memories.  OH, the American Idol concert was the bomb. Had a blast. I plan on uploading photos and giving everything its proper space here.

    Peace out from the future 2nd …… to Michael Johns. hehe I’ll explain in another post. Don’t forget to spread the love around ~ I love you ~ 

I feel completely all grown-up. My baby’s in Kindergarten. There are no more babies. I’m not really sure why but for me this is a huge milestone. Maybe because I have all of my children officially in "school" now. I don’t have any in preschool anymore. Wow. I’ve waited a while for this day. It’s bittersweet like most things in life. I’m glad my baby is growing up, but I’m sad to see the "baby" days behind us. She’s a big girl now. So without a further ado here’s my baby ~~~~> 

I hope you all have a great weekend. I’m off to DC to see the American Idol concert and to go sight- seeing with my Bama Buddy !! We’re going to have a great time. Don’t forget to say  ~ I love you~ to the one(s) you love.  

    Well, I did it. I just dropped my classes I had registered for next semester. I don’t know whether to feel relieved or to cry. I feel like a failure. I know intellectually that just because I’m not going next semester doesn’t mean that I’m never going back. I think it is the fear that if I stop school now that I won’t finish. I think I’m realizing just how important my Master’s degree is to me.

    So, that brings me to the next step in my life - the "presidency".  I am not going to self-nominate. If someone thinks I’ll be a good candidate they will have to put in the nomination for me. Also, if I don’t win - then back to school I go for the next semester. No harm done, right ? ~breathes deeply~ It’s just super scary to me. How am I supposed to know if I’m making the right decision? You’d think this would get easier the older you get.

If I went to more places like this ~~~~>   I’m sure the decision wouldn’t be so daunting !

    I feel like I have a lot more to accomplish in my life right now. I pray that I have a lot more life to accomplish everything in. Don’t forget to say ~I love you~ to the one(s) you love.  

Today is the boys’ first day of 1st grade and 4th grade. It is the first time in our school history that I have more than one child starting school on the same day. Woohoo! Go me ! Or rather - go school system.

This is a big transitional year for both boys. G moved up to the 1st - 3rd grade building and T moved to the 4th and 5th grade building. Big, big years for both. Poor G asked if all they did in 1st grade was work all day. lol. When we were at open house last night he noticed the lack of toys in his classroom. Poor baby. It’s going to be a big adjustment for him. And oh goodness, T has a huge wakeup call this year. He is so worried about not remembering which class to change to and when. He’s worried that he won’t take the correct books, etc. To top off his worries today, we got to school this morning and he remembered he forgot his book report laying on his shelf. Yes, I should have made sure it was in the backpack last night. It totally slipped my mind. What did mommy do ? I went right back home and picked it up. Yes, there are times when a mom needs to bail her child out. 

It feels weird to me to have a 4th grader. I feel old. Is that really possible ?

Guess where I’m going to be sleeping tonight ? Not in my bed. You guessed it. I’ve got a leadership conference this weekend. Yes, Junior League again.  When am I leaving ? After my children get home from their first day of school. I refused to go earlier. There is no way I could send my boys off today and wait until Sunday to hear how their first day went. You’d think with the amount of leadership training I’m receiving that I might actually be able to lead one day, huh ? I can’t even train a dog. LOL. It’s not working. But hey, I do get a peaceful 5 hour drive all by myself. That’s good enough.

Enjoy your weekend. Don’t forget to say the magic words ~ i wub u~ 

"Mom"

 Yes, Tob.

"When I grow up I’m going to marry someone who cooks just as good as you."

Thank you, Tob. You liked that ?

"Mom, that was the best meal in the whole wide world."     

    Yes, I’m over here beaming. Yes, he made me forget how perturbed I was at him earlier today. Yes, I feel sorry for the girl he is going to marry one day. Hopefully, it will be a girl he marries one day. LOL.

    What did I cook ? Shrimp Alfredeaux with rice, steamed broccoli, corn bread, and a bowl of ice cream with strawberries for dessert. Sounds like a meal out of Forrest Gump. Wanna move to Louisiana now ? Dang our food is good.  Life is good.

Don’t forget to tell the one(s) you love ~I love you~. I feel so sad for the families of the firefighters in California today. I wonder if they said I love you before they left.  

    41 years old and I’m still experiencing "firsts" in my life. Go me. Today my "first" was pilates. My new exercise love. While you’re doing the class it doesn’t seem to be "too hard", but oh my goodness, a couple hours later and my thighs were screaming. I am so happy. I feel so much better mentally when I’m exercising. It makes me a better person all around not just healthier.

    Want to know how badly my thighs are screaming ? Bad enough that I went on a walk just to loosen my legs up. I’d say I got a pretty good workout. Have I mentioned how much happier I am when I’m exercising ? I feel like I lose a part of me when I’m not doing something to focus on me and dang, this summer "me" went completely out the window. Well, other than reading. Oh, and other than no meetings. I’m making up for that now, though.

    How wrong is it to take aleve on your first day of exercising ? Man, I’m getting old. I’m going to cardio tennis tomorrow morning and at this rate I’m not sure if I will be able to run after the balls. The tennis pro is going to have a field day with me tomorrow. I’m gearing up for the Aussie accent saying "what the helllllllllll was that ? " LOL.

    School starts Friday. God bless school. For the children I mean. I’m 90% sure I’m taking this semester off of school. It will give me the time I need to make those big decisions. ackk. ackk.

Peace out, all. Don’t forget to tell the one(s) you love ~I love you~. If this blog is never updated again you will know I had a heart attack during tennis tomorrow. I’m afraid my heart might go into shock from exercising two days in a row.