I'm going to have roughly 30 people in my house in about a week. This is like my first big 'hosting' event...ever. (Unless you count Jeanne's 21st birthday party on Ira Street. But this shouldn't be anything like that because I don't expect beer fights to take place in the front yard.)Anyway, we're going to boil crawfish and everyone is bringing snack food and I can't wait to see TJ and all my siblings and I think it'll be super fun. And check this out - my sister got TJ an LSU training potty for his birthday that plays the Fight Song everytime you flush it. So for the rest of his life, whenever he hears the LSU fight song he's going to have to pee.
I have been looking and looking for an off-white armoir/china hutch/buffet to put against the back wall in the dining room and I was not able to find anything I liked that was not ridiculously expensive. I was walking through my bedroom one day and looked at the off-white dresser and a light bulb went off....that dresser would totally mesh in the dining room. I googled stuff about turning dressers into buffets and then Neal and I moved it into the dining room last weekend. We bought some shelves with brackets at Lowe's, painted them light green, and then hung them up over the dresser. We put all of our china and stuff on it, got some light blue curtains and BAM we're done. I'll post pics soon. Aaaaaaaaaand now we need a new chest for the bedroom.
We went to Nuvolari's in Mandeville for my birthday dinner and it was pretty good. I gorged myself and was serioulsy full for about 24 hours. We've been hanging out in Mandeville a lot lately; they have this bar that sits on Lakeshore Drive and they have a balcony and the view of the Lake is soooooo pretty so we hit it up a lot on weekend afternoons. We also went to the Abita Town Garage Sale last weekend and it was no joke. Traffic was a beast...this little town was packed. We didn't buy anything, but we did see some interesting characters. Garage sales always bring out the weirdos.
We've had two couples move into our subdivision in the past two weeks. I think they're both pretty young, but we haven't met them yet. I'm socially awkward and really bad at small talk and Neal doesn't like people, so I don't know how to go about meeting them. (Ummmmm maybe we shouldn't.) I feel like I should drop off a welcome-something, but I don't know what. Do people still do that? Like, if I ring their doorbell and hand them a present are they going to look at me like I'm retarded? I would. I would invite them all to the crawfish boil, but do I really want to subject them to the tension that fills the air whenever my parents are within a 10-mile radius of each other? Maybe I should just wait.
I'm going to attempt to plant shit in my garden tomorrow. It's already landscaped, but there are a few spaces that need some updating. I'm going to buy some mulch and some plants and just dig holes and do it. Yeah. So that's what's been going on for the past week or so.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Birthday Week
I turn 31 Thursday. It sounds weired to me, for some reason. It sounds older than what I feel, does that make sense? I did find my first grey hairs a few weeks ago. Neal says they're just really blonde, but I'm pretty sure they're grey. Does this mean I need to start dying my hair again? I am perfectly content with it being all naural. It's so much easier than having to keep up with highlights. I guess I'll just see what happens. If it gets to be too much, I'll have to go back to the highlights. But honestly, I don't think that it's that big of a deal right now because yesterday I got asked to carry the "gifts" up to the alter during the 9am mass....which is the children's mass. Yeah, they thought I was a teenager. I was sitting next to my aunt and uncle who were about to pee on themselves they were laughing so hard. There were two other girls who carried the gifts up as well and I guess that one was around 10 and the other around 13 years old. And I was shorter than both of them.
Neal's company is moving his rig to south Texas. It will be in a small town between Houston and San Antonio. This probably means that he is going to start working 14 and 14. It will be an adjustment, but hopefully we will get used to it fairly quickly. They are not sure exactly when they are switching to 14 and 14 or when they are moving the rig, but it will be within the next few weeks. He called me last week saying that he wouldn't be home this week for my birthday so of course I took the news like an adult and cried hysterically and stopped talking to him. Really grown up, I know. Then he calls me the next morning and says that he will be home for my birthday because they're not switching to 14 and 14 yet. So I threw the fit for no reason at all.
But now I'm worried that he won't be home for the April 9th party we're throwing at our house for my brother and his family. I hate this about his line of work....they can just up and tell you to be somewhere 9 hours away at any time they want to. And there's nothing you can do about it. So hopefully this will all work out so that he's home for April 9th. I really, really, really hope so.
He got me a Kindle for my birthday and holy schnikes, I love it. So very much. Yesterday afternoon after I ran a bunch of errands and rode my bike on the trace I sat outside on the porch swing and read for like 2 hours while drinking some Abita Strawberry's. It was soooooooooo relaxing. And then I watched the series finale of Big Love. I liked it and got a little teary-eyed at the end, but I didn't find any of it shocking. I kinda' figured that was going to happen. As soon as I saw that they played the "what happened last time" clip of Margene and Pam talking about Pam separating from her husband, I just knew it. Those clips from past shows always foreshadow what it going to happen in the upcoming episode. And I'm not super satisfied with the way the Albie storyline ended, I thought it was a little weak.
So anyway......that's all I got. Later gators.
Neal's company is moving his rig to south Texas. It will be in a small town between Houston and San Antonio. This probably means that he is going to start working 14 and 14. It will be an adjustment, but hopefully we will get used to it fairly quickly. They are not sure exactly when they are switching to 14 and 14 or when they are moving the rig, but it will be within the next few weeks. He called me last week saying that he wouldn't be home this week for my birthday so of course I took the news like an adult and cried hysterically and stopped talking to him. Really grown up, I know. Then he calls me the next morning and says that he will be home for my birthday because they're not switching to 14 and 14 yet. So I threw the fit for no reason at all.
But now I'm worried that he won't be home for the April 9th party we're throwing at our house for my brother and his family. I hate this about his line of work....they can just up and tell you to be somewhere 9 hours away at any time they want to. And there's nothing you can do about it. So hopefully this will all work out so that he's home for April 9th. I really, really, really hope so.
He got me a Kindle for my birthday and holy schnikes, I love it. So very much. Yesterday afternoon after I ran a bunch of errands and rode my bike on the trace I sat outside on the porch swing and read for like 2 hours while drinking some Abita Strawberry's. It was soooooooooo relaxing. And then I watched the series finale of Big Love. I liked it and got a little teary-eyed at the end, but I didn't find any of it shocking. I kinda' figured that was going to happen. As soon as I saw that they played the "what happened last time" clip of Margene and Pam talking about Pam separating from her husband, I just knew it. Those clips from past shows always foreshadow what it going to happen in the upcoming episode. And I'm not super satisfied with the way the Albie storyline ended, I thought it was a little weak.
So anyway......that's all I got. Later gators.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Home Improvements
So I tried to get all creative and paint office furniture this weekend. It came out okay, but wow what a pain in the ass. Our "office" is really kind of a room filled with random shit that sits in there because we don't know where else to put it. That room will one day be for a small child of some sort, but until then it is an office that holds the following:
1. a mini beer fridge
2. golf clubs
3. an old secretariat-type wooden desk that we got from the Habitat Re-Store
4. a black file cabinet
5. a black office chair
6. two sets of those white cube shelf things that you can get from Lowe's (you know, the kind that you get the little colored basket thingies to put in)
7. ironing board
8. iron
9. vacuum cleaner
and the list goes on.....
It was just a totally ugly room. So fug. I decided to try and make it better by googling how to paint a metal file cabinet and then how to paint and re-cover a plastic office chair on wheels. Both blogs that I found said to use spray paint, so that's what I got. And let me tell you, I fucking hate spray paint. I had to spray paint the furniture outside and it was so windy. And while taking the chair apart was easy, putting it back together was NOT. I finally got it, but it still feels a little funny when I sit in it. The room does look a little bit better now (not I'm going to post pictures better, but still....it does look better). I also cleaned out the closets (again) and brought bags of stuff to Goodwill. I love throwing stuff away. It's so refreshing.
I just don't understand how we've only been in this house since October and I already had to clean the closets out? Why do we have so much shit? I had a box that contained my bridal bouquet. I haven't done anything with it and I didn't plan on doing anything with it, so why keep it? It's been almost three years since the wedding, yet I just now opened the box for the first time. I took the ribbon off of it, saved it and then tossed the bouquet in the garbage.
I mean, they're just THINGS, right? I know that some people (aka my mother and my mother-in-law) keep stuff forever and ever and ever because of sentimental value, but I don't want to be like that. Because it just ends up taking up space in your house. So I'm doing my best to consistently de-clutter and throw shit away. I wish they had a Crate & Barrel here....that place has THE BEST home organization stuff ever.
1. a mini beer fridge
2. golf clubs
3. an old secretariat-type wooden desk that we got from the Habitat Re-Store
4. a black file cabinet
5. a black office chair
6. two sets of those white cube shelf things that you can get from Lowe's (you know, the kind that you get the little colored basket thingies to put in)
7. ironing board
8. iron
9. vacuum cleaner
and the list goes on.....
It was just a totally ugly room. So fug. I decided to try and make it better by googling how to paint a metal file cabinet and then how to paint and re-cover a plastic office chair on wheels. Both blogs that I found said to use spray paint, so that's what I got. And let me tell you, I fucking hate spray paint. I had to spray paint the furniture outside and it was so windy. And while taking the chair apart was easy, putting it back together was NOT. I finally got it, but it still feels a little funny when I sit in it. The room does look a little bit better now (not I'm going to post pictures better, but still....it does look better). I also cleaned out the closets (again) and brought bags of stuff to Goodwill. I love throwing stuff away. It's so refreshing.
I just don't understand how we've only been in this house since October and I already had to clean the closets out? Why do we have so much shit? I had a box that contained my bridal bouquet. I haven't done anything with it and I didn't plan on doing anything with it, so why keep it? It's been almost three years since the wedding, yet I just now opened the box for the first time. I took the ribbon off of it, saved it and then tossed the bouquet in the garbage.
I mean, they're just THINGS, right? I know that some people (aka my mother and my mother-in-law) keep stuff forever and ever and ever because of sentimental value, but I don't want to be like that. Because it just ends up taking up space in your house. So I'm doing my best to consistently de-clutter and throw shit away. I wish they had a Crate & Barrel here....that place has THE BEST home organization stuff ever.
Monday, February 21, 2011
3 Day Weekend
So I drove to Shreveport this weekend for a "visit." I just stayed one night; I got a positive ovulation test late last week, so I decided to just go for it since I had today off. He was working days so I got a hotel room and he came to meet me after work. I kept thinking that I was doing something wrong by being there...I mean, we're married! I shouldn't feel weird about it, right?! Neal was saying that at some point when we have a screaming, crying, baby Hayes or Stella running around our living room I'm going to be like, "I drove 5 hours to Shreveport for you!" That drive took forever...I can't believe he drives that far every 7 days.
I finally got a much-needed pedicure today. I don't think I've had one since October. It was so nice and now I can finally wear sandles. I then went to the grocery store and got everything I needed to make the poppy seed chicken salad which I had for the first time at Sarah's bachelorette party (I had to google the recipe). It was everything I hoped it would be and more. SO. GOOD.
I think we're going to Baskin Thursday night to visit Neal's grandfather (he's been in and out of the hospital lately) so I'm going to take off Friday. This means that I only have a 3-day work week and I am super stoked about it. It's nice to have a little break sometimes.
I finally got a much-needed pedicure today. I don't think I've had one since October. It was so nice and now I can finally wear sandles. I then went to the grocery store and got everything I needed to make the poppy seed chicken salad which I had for the first time at Sarah's bachelorette party (I had to google the recipe). It was everything I hoped it would be and more. SO. GOOD.
I think we're going to Baskin Thursday night to visit Neal's grandfather (he's been in and out of the hospital lately) so I'm going to take off Friday. This means that I only have a 3-day work week and I am super stoked about it. It's nice to have a little break sometimes.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Whoops
1. I'm at the drive-thru at Starbucks this morning and when I go to hand the girl at the window my debit card I drop it. It doesn't just drop right there to the ground, it somehow makes it underneath my car. Like in the middle of underneath my car. I had to get down on all fours and crawl underneath the jeep to get it. My pants got dirty and the girl at the window is just looking at me, not saying anything. I hand it to her and she's all like "thanks" and then hands me my coffee and says "have a nice day." Seriously? Can you not acknowlegde what just happened? I was just crawling around on the ground underneath my car with 10 cars behind me in line and you can't even offer up a "whoops! are you okay? that sucks!" or something like that? Fucking robot drive-thru bitch.
2. I make it to work, get out of the car, and my entire purse turns upside down and all my shit drops in the middle of the street. Not even 815 yet this morning and I've already completely spazzed out.
3. We got an alarm installed in our house. I am happy about it because it makes me feel safer when I'm home alone at night, but I am too nervous to use it in the middle of the day. It gives me 45 seconds to turn it on and get out the door. Our house is small, so it shouldn't take me anywhere near that long to get out the door, but I am totally scared of setting it off. So I think I'll just use it at night for the time being. The alarm system now also gives us the "beep beeps" when any door opens or closes. It reminds me of our old house on Ira Street in Baton Rouge. It had the "beep beeps" whenever a door opened or closed. Jeanne had this one boyfriend (James) who worked at a bar and would come over late at night after his shift. They would often fight and he would come and go and come and go over and over and over. There was a lot of beeping. We could always tell when they were arguing.
4. I can't tell when I'm ovulating. I think I have signs of ovulation, but then later I think I'm way off. I ordered one of those basal body temperature thermometers so I can start "charting." I am not looking forward to this.
5. We're having a "good-bye" crawfish boil at our house for Ted and Diwina in April, since they're move to Chicago. Maddie and Harmon are going to come in town for the weekend and Neal should actually be home this time so he can enjoy the party. Because of this, I'm thinking that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if I didn't get preggo until after the party. Know what I mean? I have so much fun partying with Maddie & Harmon when they come in town, and I would hate to miss out on all the fun!
2. I make it to work, get out of the car, and my entire purse turns upside down and all my shit drops in the middle of the street. Not even 815 yet this morning and I've already completely spazzed out.
3. We got an alarm installed in our house. I am happy about it because it makes me feel safer when I'm home alone at night, but I am too nervous to use it in the middle of the day. It gives me 45 seconds to turn it on and get out the door. Our house is small, so it shouldn't take me anywhere near that long to get out the door, but I am totally scared of setting it off. So I think I'll just use it at night for the time being. The alarm system now also gives us the "beep beeps" when any door opens or closes. It reminds me of our old house on Ira Street in Baton Rouge. It had the "beep beeps" whenever a door opened or closed. Jeanne had this one boyfriend (James) who worked at a bar and would come over late at night after his shift. They would often fight and he would come and go and come and go over and over and over. There was a lot of beeping. We could always tell when they were arguing.
4. I can't tell when I'm ovulating. I think I have signs of ovulation, but then later I think I'm way off. I ordered one of those basal body temperature thermometers so I can start "charting." I am not looking forward to this.
5. We're having a "good-bye" crawfish boil at our house for Ted and Diwina in April, since they're move to Chicago. Maddie and Harmon are going to come in town for the weekend and Neal should actually be home this time so he can enjoy the party. Because of this, I'm thinking that it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if I didn't get preggo until after the party. Know what I mean? I have so much fun partying with Maddie & Harmon when they come in town, and I would hate to miss out on all the fun!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Ick
I got soooo sick Thursday night. I threw up for about three hours and it was horrible. And no, I'm not pregnant. It must have been something I ate. I thought I was dying. I then slept through the next two days and yesterday I finally felt okay enough to leave the house and eat something more than just saltines and toast. I then cleaned the 'ick' feeling off of the inside of house yesterday so now I feel much better. But I'm still not interested in eating anything that isn't toast, saltines, a baked potato, or chicken noodle soup. That should change in a day or two.
Did I tell you that we're 'flag people' now? Because we are. You see, I'm not big on decorating the outside of the house for holidays. It's too much work and our ceilings are too high and I just don't think it's worth it. I put a wreath on the door for Christmas and it took me like 30 minutes to get it up there because there were difficulties with the ladder and then with positioning it correctly. And once I finally got the mother fucker up there and plugged it in, the lights didn't work. SO PISSED. So I just left it up there all Christmas. It was just a plain, green wreath with no lights. It looked stupid. And I'm not sure why I didn't wait for Neal to get home to let him fool with it, but sometimes I'm like a 3-year old girl whose all, "I want it now and I do it all by myself." Anyway, I don't want to have to go through this kind of drama every holiday so I bought a flag holder and flag pole and let Neal put it up last week and now we're flag people. We have this awesome Mardi Gras flag up right now and when MG is over, I already have my eye on a crawfish/fleur de lis flag for the spring. Like, how easy is that? I just have to buy a new flag every 2 months or so and BAM - we're totally festive.
And did I tell ya'll my plan for the loop/block party? I may have, but I'm not sure. So one of my favorite things ever is the Pine Street block party that happens the Saturday before Mardi Gras every year uptown. They block off the street and Deacon John plays and there is a beer truck and everyone dances and it's awesome. So I figure, why can't we do this at the ole' Abita Oaks Loop? Only 4 houses on the loop are currently occupied, but I bet there are a few more by this time next year. So this is my plan: two Saturday's before Mardi Gras Day, there is a push-mow parade in Abita. And that is exactly how it sounds. People enter the parade with any type of tractor, lawn mower, etc and you dress up and throw shit like a normal mardi gras parade. Only you're on tractors. Yeah, I'm serious. So what I'm thinking is that we schedule the "loop party" after the parade. We can start small next year with a local band and a few kegs and then eventually it will grow. And I've met the Abita Mayor a few times through work stuff, so I will totally bring this up with him at some point. Mark my words people, this is happening. It will totally become a tradition.
Did I tell you that we're 'flag people' now? Because we are. You see, I'm not big on decorating the outside of the house for holidays. It's too much work and our ceilings are too high and I just don't think it's worth it. I put a wreath on the door for Christmas and it took me like 30 minutes to get it up there because there were difficulties with the ladder and then with positioning it correctly. And once I finally got the mother fucker up there and plugged it in, the lights didn't work. SO PISSED. So I just left it up there all Christmas. It was just a plain, green wreath with no lights. It looked stupid. And I'm not sure why I didn't wait for Neal to get home to let him fool with it, but sometimes I'm like a 3-year old girl whose all, "I want it now and I do it all by myself." Anyway, I don't want to have to go through this kind of drama every holiday so I bought a flag holder and flag pole and let Neal put it up last week and now we're flag people. We have this awesome Mardi Gras flag up right now and when MG is over, I already have my eye on a crawfish/fleur de lis flag for the spring. Like, how easy is that? I just have to buy a new flag every 2 months or so and BAM - we're totally festive.
And did I tell ya'll my plan for the loop/block party? I may have, but I'm not sure. So one of my favorite things ever is the Pine Street block party that happens the Saturday before Mardi Gras every year uptown. They block off the street and Deacon John plays and there is a beer truck and everyone dances and it's awesome. So I figure, why can't we do this at the ole' Abita Oaks Loop? Only 4 houses on the loop are currently occupied, but I bet there are a few more by this time next year. So this is my plan: two Saturday's before Mardi Gras Day, there is a push-mow parade in Abita. And that is exactly how it sounds. People enter the parade with any type of tractor, lawn mower, etc and you dress up and throw shit like a normal mardi gras parade. Only you're on tractors. Yeah, I'm serious. So what I'm thinking is that we schedule the "loop party" after the parade. We can start small next year with a local band and a few kegs and then eventually it will grow. And I've met the Abita Mayor a few times through work stuff, so I will totally bring this up with him at some point. Mark my words people, this is happening. It will totally become a tradition.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Brrrrrrrr
So I decided not to apply for the other job. I thought about it for a few days and decided that it would be just a little too much. My current boss is really nice and totally lets me do my own thing. I have two great girls that work for me and I really like what I do. I currently manage a grant that consists of about a million dollars a year; the other job consisted of managing all the managers of all the grants in the Parish that bring in a total of about 74 million dollars a year. I think I would burn out on that job in no time at all. I want to maintain where I'm at for a little while and maybe move on and up in a few years. But for right now, I think that status quo is A-OK.
I got up to go to the gym this morning, got in the jeep, and the mother f-er wouldn't start. I go back inside ready to throw myself on the bed and cry in a fit of rage (I really hate having car problems so I'm slightly dramatic about them) and Neal is getting up and putting on shoes with his PJ's so he can jump my car off. Thank goodness he was home. And let me tell you, there's nothing cuter than your sleepy husband in his LSU pajama pants climbing into the back of his truck at 530 in the morning to get jumper cables and fix your car. I felt bad about him having to wake up so early b/c he has to leave at 10 this morning to drive to Shreveport and then work all night from 6pm until 6am tomorrow morning. That has to suck.
I'm in the market for an armoir to put in my dining room. I wish they weren't so freaking expensive. I saw one at the Abita Springs Cafe last week that is light green and weathered and it would be soooooo perfect in our dining room. It's not for sale or anything, but maybe I can find an unfinished one and then get my cousin to faux finish it like the one in the restaurant.
It's cold as balls outside and I have to go buy a new car battery at lunch. Other than that, I don't think there's much else going on around here. Later gators.
I got up to go to the gym this morning, got in the jeep, and the mother f-er wouldn't start. I go back inside ready to throw myself on the bed and cry in a fit of rage (I really hate having car problems so I'm slightly dramatic about them) and Neal is getting up and putting on shoes with his PJ's so he can jump my car off. Thank goodness he was home. And let me tell you, there's nothing cuter than your sleepy husband in his LSU pajama pants climbing into the back of his truck at 530 in the morning to get jumper cables and fix your car. I felt bad about him having to wake up so early b/c he has to leave at 10 this morning to drive to Shreveport and then work all night from 6pm until 6am tomorrow morning. That has to suck.
I'm in the market for an armoir to put in my dining room. I wish they weren't so freaking expensive. I saw one at the Abita Springs Cafe last week that is light green and weathered and it would be soooooo perfect in our dining room. It's not for sale or anything, but maybe I can find an unfinished one and then get my cousin to faux finish it like the one in the restaurant.
It's cold as balls outside and I have to go buy a new car battery at lunch. Other than that, I don't think there's much else going on around here. Later gators.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)