Gustav

As I am sure that you are all losing sleep worried about me and good ol' Hurricane Gustav, I have decided to write a little something to ease your minds. First, unlike many of our blog friends, Amy especially comes to my mind, I live in North Louisiana. Therefore, I live in a city which has become an evacuee destination. They've set up camp in our civic center. Though I wasn't living here at the time, I know that when Katrina and Rita were coming through, it really just caused a lot of rain here in addition to the excess traffic flowing in from the south. The biggest concern (for me) at this point is a loss of power. Jackson, MS (which is strait east of me) lost power for days after Katrina. It really just depends on where Gus decides to go after making landfall. Even this, though, wouldn't be a complete crisis situation for me personally. One of the benefits of living in such an old house is that the water heater as well as the oven/stove are gas. If nothing else, I'll be able to have warm showers and cooked food (I sure am glad that I love mac and cheese). Obviously all of the contents of my fridge would go bad, and I'll have to make sure the puppies drink plenty of water as the a/c will be out (which will also mean that my dear bug friends will have a field day). But I have a couple oil lamps on hand, and (though I don't seem like it) I'm pretty good at making do when I need to (I was a Girl Scout, after all :D).
SO... all of that to say, don't you worry about me. I'll be fine. And if any of you who are headed north need a place to crash, or just a warm shower, give me a shout. I have a spare bed, and I would like nothing more than to help you out. Just so long as you don't mind a couple super excited puppies and some bugs.
Anyway, I just wanted to send out a little update. Wouldn't want you to worry about me ;)

I'm Such a Show-Off...

Lucky for me, my BIL has as much faith and respect for my sister's awesomeness as I do. Apparently he's been urging her to try to sell her stuff too. She tried ebay, but it didn't really work. That's where I come in. Etsy. It's perfect for her :) Anyway, she set up shop (right now she only has one item (that bag) up, but don't you worry, I'm on that too ;)). You should go check her out. I'll make sure to keep everyone updated when she posts more things.

Don't think of her as just another seller. Remember... she's this kid...

(I really love the fact that I have another excuse to post this photo!)
Oh, and if you're wondering about her username (it's Cargabalack), it's pieces of her kids' names all smashed together :D

Shameless Plug

Ok, so... I'm sure by now you are all totally sick of hearing about my awesome sister, and if you are, sorry 'bout ya. It's my blog and I'll brag if I want to :)

Anyway, one thing that you should know about my sister is that she's totally addicted to bags, purses, etc... She always joked that she loved having babies cause it gave her an excuse to buy adorable monogramed baby bags. Moving on... I'd like to share with you her latest project. My jaw literally dropped when I saw it...



Anyway, she mentioned that a couple of people have asked about buying one (like she was surprised, I'm thinking, uhh... yeah!), and, being the pushy younger sister that I am, I think I'm going to urge her to start up an etsy page. I mean, this is what she does in her spare time. Just because she loves it. So... that's all really. You know I'll be posting that link if it happens. In the meantime, if you're as in love with this bag as I am... I know the girl who could make you one ;)

It's Real Life

Alright, I'm soo excited that It's Real Life is back :) This week's theme is "That's How I Roll" . I'm actually pretty proud of my car. Josh and I bought it earlier this year. It's my first new new car, and I love it. Normally, I wouldn't really care what I drive (and I honestly didn't hate my old car), but it was definitely time for an upgrade. My old car didn't have air conditioning (remember, I live in Louisiana. There's like 9 months of summer, and then some really warm winter), and it didn't like rain (as in, it wouldn't start when it was raining, and it stalled when I tried to drive through puddles deeper than an inch (again, remember, Louisiana. It's kinda wet here)). Anyway, it was time for an upgrade. So, without further ado... here's how I roll...



This is the cd that's currently playing. It's a mix that I made for my trip to Hattiesburg for KD's wedding.


Here's my gear shift and my sunglass cubbies :)


This is the inside of my center consol. I have wipies for everything. I have Windex wipes, Handi-Wipes, Noxema face wipes, wipes made for car interiors, and pledge static wipes for dust :) There's also an adaptor that turns the cigarette-lighter outlet into a normal three prong outlet and that white box is a first aid kit. I like to be prepared.


This is Yoda. I love him.


Here's the inside of my trunk.I have all the necessities, a fuller first-aid kit, a couple extra jackets, an ice scrapper, a deck of cards, a couple water guns, a frisbee, a water bottle, jumper cables, and Monopoly (and yes, all of these things do live permanently in my trunk. You never know when you might have a Monopoly emergency or a spontaneous water-gun fight. Seriously.

Now that I've made you all insanely jealous (I'm sure ;)), I'm off. Have a happy day!

And go play It's Real Life!

Josh, The 2nd Lieutenant

Well, Josh left for COT on Sunday afternoon. He'll be in Alabama for a month. I think I'll enjoy the time to myself, but I already miss him a ton. It's tough, but we did the long distance thing for so long in the past, I'm not really worried. My only problem now is that he's not exactly loving it. At all. I mean, I know it's just the first two days, it'll change, he'll get used to it, etc... It's just, he's not liking it at all right now really. You see, the thing about Josh is that he's not used to being surrounded by peers. By that I mean, he's pretty used to being the best and the brightest everywhere he goes. He's not used to being surrounded by people who are on the same page as him, if that makes sense.
So there he is, the lowest of the low men on the totum pole, brand new to the whole military thing, never done anything to really prepare him for this. He's getting yelled at (just like everbody else). He has to wake up early. He's not getting good food. It's just a huge adjustment for him.
Anyway, I know he'll be fine. He's a big boy :). I just hate hearing him being unhappy, you know?
That's all for now, really. Crazy things are happening at work, so I need to get back to real work (shocking, I know).
Have a Happy Day!

Another Swap!

Heehee... I found another one to participate in! I'm kinda addicted :)

Awkward...

Ok... so... awesome... Most of you know, I work in the Safety Department in a Paper Mill. By paper mill, I mean, environment where the vast majority of the workers are men. Anyway, my worst fear here has now officially been fulfilled (well, at least the most likely to occur worst fear). My office is in the medical department. We have one bathroom (for everybody), and then, if you go across the hall there's a classroom and a single women's bathroom as well as a single men's bathroom. Well, there's been a huge increase in injuries lately, so for the last week or so, they've been doing safety classes in that classroom everyday.
So... I was just in the bathroom (peeing, just to clarify), and I don't know if I forgot to lock the door (I never ever forget. It's something that is first and foremost in my mind everytime I go) or if the lock doesn't work... You can see where I'm going with this... I totally just got walked in on, mid-pee, by some seriously large mill worker. Now, I'm not saying that this couldn't have been prevented. I mean, maybe this time I did forget to lock the door. Still, though, if I see a bathroom door closed (especially if the light is on (which you can totally tell in this particular one)), I knock! I thought that was just what people do!
Anyway, I'm of course totally embarrassed... I just keep telling myself that it could have been so much worse. I mean, sure, I'm in a dress today, which means I had it all tucked up into itself by the neckline (by that I mean, I was totally exposing a whole lotta me), but still... he mostly maintained eye contact, and he was totally shocked (hehehe, maybe that'll teach him to KNOCK!). So it's not like he was rude about it... but still... awkward... Seriously, I think that I create awkward situations. It's like I'm some giant awkward magnet.
Anyway, I am thankful for the fact that I have my blog. Because now, instead of keeping my embarrassment to myself and letting it fester all day, I can share it with you and hope that I get some sympathy ;) I mean, who else will I tell? All my co-workers are men. They won't get it.

Wedding Invites

Ok, I know that you may not care nearly as much as I think that you should ;), but... a while back I promised to show you pics of my wedding invites (because they were basically freakin' awesome). Well, here's one better (I think), my friend KD (the designer) just started up her own blog. It just so happens that she just did a post on the invites that she did for us :) So, here it is.
The only thing that I would like to add is that, though we did use the red wax seal for half of them, half of them had a red feather holding them closed (slits in the two flaps with a feather through (like in The Count of Monte Cristo)). Anyway, Josh was not a fan of the feather, so my friends were the only ones who got one. All of his friends got the wax :)
That's all!

Definitions

It has come to my attention that a couple of things that I have mentioned in past post need definitions. So, here goes...

Fat Quarter: A fat quarter is a particular cut of fabric. It is used mostly by quilters. While fabric is most often cut one way (imagine a piece of fabric cut into four strips), a fat quarter is a yard of fabric cut like a window (more like four squares instead of four strips). Savvy?

Mullet: A mullet is a a hair style wherein the front and top of the hair is cut short, but the back is left long. Therefore, an expression often used to describe a mullet is "business in the front, party in the back". Billy Ray Cyrus used to sport a very notable mullet. This guy has a nice mullet... The end.

My First Swap!

Ok, so I've heard of these, and I've always wanted to participate, but I always seemed to just miss it... Anyway, I'm going to be in my first swap! I'm so stoked :) I love giving presents. It just makes me so happy! You should join too. It'll be fun :D

Impressions of Cajun-Land

Here it is (a little belated, but whatever), my post for Blog Around the World. YAY! I'm pretty excited that Louisiana is the first state that's being represented (if only cause I'm selfish, and I like to go first (not that you would know that seeing as how I wasn't even prepared)). Anyway, before I really get into it, I'd like to get a couple things strait. First, I am not from Louisiana. I just happen to be living here at the moment. I am from Texas, so I have a couple biases. Second, I apologize for anything that I might say that may be construed in a negative light. I mean no offense. I'm just keepin' it real. Third, there may be very little cohesiveness to this particular post, it's just a compilation of what I think when I think "Louisiana"

Ok, here we go …

Let's start at the very beginning… I moved here a year and a half-ish ago. My husband was born and raised here (we live strait east of Shreveport on I-20), and when I finished college (pre-marriage) a semester earlier than him, I moved here so that we wouldn't have to do the whole long-distance thing anymore (I'll probably need to tell our story someday, but I've got a feeling that I'll probably be rambling enough in this post, so I won't get into that right now). It is definitely a totally different culture. I grew up in Lubbock, TX, went to school just outside Austin, TX, and then studied for a few months in Rome before coming here. To say "culture shock" would be a bit of an understatement. The first thing about this place that stunned me was the humidity. I mean, hello, I grew up in a city that sees rain like 5 times the whole year and is more used to sandstorms than rainstorms. In the summer it is like a sauna (no joke). There are seriously days when I walk outside and don't even know why I bothered showering (don't be grossed out, you would have the same reaction). I suppose there are the benefits, though… like the fact that my backyard looks like this…

Also, can we just say "bug capitol of the world"? I mean, seriously, this place must be the breeding ground for all the bugs in the world. Also, maybe it's just my house, but somehow the bugs here are these freaky mutant bugs, as in, grasshoppers that are a solid 5 inches long. I mean, come on, that is not normal. And speaking of bugs, one word, crawfish, aka mud bugs. Now, I know that there are going to be a great many of you who are appalled at my lack of interest in what seems to be the state-food, but seriously… I can't handle it. Moving on…

I will say, there are some things about this place that I've gotten rather attached to. I love love love the Magnolia trees everywhere. There's one in my front yard

It's beautiful to me.

Now that I've gotten totally off track, I mentioned culture shock earlier and haven't even come back to qualify that. It's just a very different life-style here. I'd gotten really used to my hippy-liberal-arts-tree-hugging-vegetarians-recycling-bike-riding-peace-loving life in Texas. I went to a little tiny liberal arts university, and I loved it. Then I moved here where it's more of a my-truck's-bigger-than-your-truck, I-schedule-my-life-around-hunting-seasons, that-vegetable-looks-a-little-sad-we-should-fry-it mentality. I'm not saying anything is wrong with that. It's just different. Most everybody is very nice (although, I think that's a general southern thing, cause Texas is the same way). They definitely have their accents, and there's no shortage of mullets (Josh and I saw the best mullet last night. The guy had to have been somewhere in the 6'3" range, 300 lbs, beautiful business-in-the-front-party-in-the-back. A good six inches past his shoulders, nice glossy curls, it was priceless!

Oh man, I never realized how much I have to say about Louisiana until I get the chance. Well, I suppose I should stop here for today… I do hope you enjoyed my little bit of "Impressions of Cajun-Land".

Y'all fell free to come on back ;)

*Edit* Oh, and I'd like to add one thing (mostly for Amy), while I myself haven't actually encountered one, I can honestly say that I live just down the road from a Gator Farm. No lie. They don't allow tours. That's all :D

Blog Around the World

Oh dear... Between work and my MIL visiting this weekend, I haven't had any time to clean up this place or even think of something funny to say to all the new friends who are going to be stopping by...
Well, everybody from Blog Around the World who are visiting for the first time today, please excuse the lack of preparation. Feel free to look around... I promise that I'm not always so disorganized. Thanks for coming by, and have a happy day!

An Award? Me?

I got an award :) It's my first :D It was given to me by Amy over at Escape Into My Thoughts. I'm pretty flattered. That's all. OH! And here it is...



Here are the rules (as usual) :
Choose five fabulous bloggies, let em' know in your post or via email, twitter or blog comments that they've received an award*
Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to http://www.mammadawg.com/2008/08/kick-ass-blogger-award.html*
Hop on back to the Kick Ass Blogger Club HQ to sign Mr. Linky then pass it on (which you can also get to on the above link)
So now I pass on this prestigious award to the following Kick Ass Bloggers :
1. Lula from Lulaville
2. Debbie from This is the Life
3. Carol at Siswick Construction Zone
4. Heather at Mindless Junque
5. Melissa at Stretch Marks

Whoo...

Moving on... Six Flags was awesome, until Josh lost his phone. Yup. He lost his cell phone. At the end of all the rides, they have this little guy saying "please check all your pockets to make sure that you still have everything that you started with". Well, we get off of the Texas Giant (one of the top 10 ranked wooden roller coasters in the world (read: super fun, super fast, super jerky))

, and we both check our pockets like the little guy says. Josh just looks at me and says, "I don't have my phone." Well, goo. The seats for the next set of riders were already full, so we couldn't go check the seats. Also, he couldn't remember if he had it after the end of the last coaster we were on (Batman), so we decided to start our search there to see if anyone had found it after we left. Now, for those of you who have never been to the original Six Flags Over Texas, let me just tell you, it is 212 acres big, and the Texas Giant and Batman are on complete opposite sides of the park. Add to that that I'm pretty sure it was pushing 100* outside, and the place was full of kids and parents milling around. SO, we finally got to the other side of the park and asked the Batman guy what to do about a lost cell phone. Now (again, for those of you who don't know), Batman looks like this...

See all those little legs sticking up in the air? Yeah, your feet are free underneath you, and Josh's phone was in the cargo pocket of his shorts. Therefore, if he lost it on Batman, it was definitely not still in the seat. Well, the Batman guy said that they check underneath and around the ride every night for lost things, so if we just report it to security, they'll send it back to us if they find it. Bummer. So we went and reported our lost phone to security, gave them my number, our address, etc... By this point it was 1:30 or 2 and we were both super hot and pretty tired, so we decided to go for one more round on the Texas Giant (Titan was closed all day, by the way, I was pretty unhappy.) and call it quits for the day. An hour later, we're finally back in our hotel, both dehydrated, both exhausted from the heat, I look at my phone and I have a voicemail. Knowing what it is before I check it, I listen. They found his phone (yay!). So we turned around, parked way out in the farthest lot possible (I'm not even kidding), and retrieved his phone (yay!).

Anyway, that is the story of Josh and his phone at Six Flags.

On a totally different note, a while back I sent my sister a box of fabric from my wedding (at our reception we did a lot with textures) (she's amazing and is going to make Josh and myself a quilt with it) and included a set of fat quarters that I found and knew that she just had to have. So I get this email from her today and she says, "hey, look what I made with those fat quarters!"

She just threw it together. Behold the amazing sewing abilities of my fabulous sister :)

Ok, I suppose that's enough for one day. Before you go, though, what do you think of my blog? I gave it a little makeover. I still haven't decided if I like this enough to keep it for a while... Thoughts? Have a happy day!

Passing it Along

Ok, so I'm back a little sooner than expected, but I'm just passing on a message.
Josh wants everyone to know that, though he sustained a few minor injuries from the Man Eater (apparently the Man Eater's venom is poisonous, and so anywhere it got on Josh, he had angry red welts (really just on his arms, nothing too crazy)), he's healing up just fine. His injuries have almost completely gone away. He was sure that you would all be concerned.
That's all :)

No Promises

Well, we got to and from Dallas safely enough :) We were glad that the torrential downpours didn't begin until we were back home, but oh man, was it hot! I suppose I haven't really spent that much time outside this summer, being confined to my little too-cold office (where I definitely have a small space-heater that it is on more often than not). As much as I love that heat, I had to keep reminding myself to keep hydrated. I'm glad that I'm so aware of myself, cause it could have been bad!


As far as stories from this weekend go, I have a few (though no pictures to accompany any of them :/). I will tell you all some of them as soon as I finish this...

Also, I tend to not be easily inspired at work, and Josh is now officially done at the hospital, so he'll be home every night for the next two weeks until he leaves for COT. We all know what that means... Anyway, I suppose what I'm saying is... If I seem distant, out of touch, or lost, please forgive me. I will be back as soon as possible. No promises, but I'll try to make it like nothing has changed :)

Anyway, have a great week!

Oh dear, I hadn't realized how totally MIA I've been this week until I suddenly realized that it's Friday and my last post was on Tuesday. I suppose my only excuse is that I have been sucked in by this...

You see, I tend to be a jumper. By this I mean, when I find something that I'm excited about or something that I really enjoy, I totally jump in, all in. Therefore, when I finally decided that I did indeed need to begin reading this wonderful saga, I was in, and I knew that I could not rest until I had not only read all of them, but that I also knew as much as possible about them. Anyway, all of that to say that this week, all of my spare time had been devoted to Twilight. It is wonderful, and I love it.

So, I'm so sorry to have abandoned my happy little piece of blogland, I have been bewitched. I would like to say that I'll make up for it this weekend, but I can't. Josh and I are heading over to Dallas this weekend. Our anniversary was Monday, so we're headed to Six Flags. I'm pretty stoked :)

Anyway, I hope all of you have an absolutely wonderful weeked. Hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures :)

Inspiration

Ok, so... I like to feel that I'm original. I like to feel that I'm creative. Sometimes, though, I like to feel included; I like to feel like one of the cool kids. So today, I'm joining Stretch Marks (who joined Spence) in creating a collection of 25 things that inspire me. SO, here goes, in no particular order...

1. Freshly cut grass
2. Really good sushi
   
3. An amazing book
4. Thunderstorms
5. Niece #3... I'll tell that story someday
6. Celtic music
7. Real, intense, unashamed discussions (about anything, but God and faith are probably my favorite topics)
8. Photography
9. Sandwiches with avocado and alfalfa sprouts
10. My sister
    
11. The smell of books (on that topic, did you know that there's a particular type of mold that grows in old books (something about the paper) that is a hallucinogen, and there are a ton of theories about famous authors who were "inspired" by some of the classics and ended up writing some of their works while they were high on this mold? (sorry for the worst run-on ever))
12. A really good cappuccino
13. Brick or cobblestone streets
14. Anything sculpted by Bernini



15. Driving with the sunroof open
16. Cotton dresses
17. A freshly made bed



18. Opening all the windows in the house and turning the a/c off
19. The feel of really heavy satin
20. Vintage luggage
21. A smooth ball point pin (with green ink)
22. Wax seals
23. Making up recipes as I go
24. Copper-bottom pots and cast-iron skillets (they go together in my head)
25. Clean laundry
    

Man Eater, The Final Chapter: Josh vs. The Man Eater

Alright, I know that I said that it was over, but I lied. Last night, Josh engaged the Man Eater (if you're totally lost at this point, please refer to: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter4, Chapter 5, and/or Chapter 6 in the Man Eater Saga) in an epic battle. Only one could remain standing. The Man Eater lost. Oh, how the mighty have fallen...
I have put together a commemorative slide show to uhh... commemorate this event

Before moving on with life, I just want to highlight some of those pictures from the night it all went down.

Here's the beast, minding its own business (or so it would lead you to believe...)

First, it was chained

Then Josh stealthily hooked it to his truck

He pulled, it would move a little, but did not come down (this went on for a long time, it was like some epic tug-o-war)

Finally, it tumbled...

And it flew after Josh and his deadly Danger Ranger

Here he is, the conquering hero, standing over his dead adversary



Don't worry, though, the Man Eater didn't go down without a fight. It took one of our stepping stones with it as it fell.

The End :)