Month's Absence

OK, hopefully I have figured out my life enough to get back to this. I have been doing so many new things for me that it is hard to take care of the regular things.

1. First, I started substituting. That was a while ago and when I said I was ready to begin, I was called everyday. THAT was overwhelming to a mama who has been home exclusively for the last 15 years. Having to get up and dressed at the same time as everyone else. How do you do that? I have ALWAYS brought the kids to school in my PJs except for the occasional field trip day or work at school day. Rough beginning.

2. I have also been working out MWF mornings at 5:00AM. That is right...not a typo..AM. I know...can't believe it myself. I have also been the kind of mom who NEVER wakes up until the last minute or until a kid wakes me up. This is not like me..but..I love it. It gets me up and going. Good thing we started the week before I started subbing because I would have thought there was NO way I could do that and then go get ready to go to the school. But, newsflash, I can! It is a great workout and I can really see a difference in my body...not really lost weight..maybe 5-8 pounds....but my shape is different. Worth it!! Come join us!

3. After subbing for a little over a week, I was offered a "job" tutoring at the middle school at Maplewood. I tutor a class of 10 or so kids to prepare them for the LEAP test they have to take in April to pass to the 9th grade. YES....math. Crazy. I have to study to make sure I know what I am doing. I am there for 1st hour and 4th hour. I can leave in between and come home and still have 5 hours to get work (or blogging....or nap!) done before kids come home. All good. I make $22 an hour. That will help alot when we have a missionary. And...I really like it. I wouldn't want to do it all day, but I think I am a decent teacher. I hope so. I want to help these kids. It takes awhile to know how to keep them engaged. Still have lots to learn. It's great, though.

4. I have a new neice...My brother and SIL have been married for 15 1/2 years and just had their first baby girl. She is adorable. Her name is Julia Marie Braud.

Isn't she cute? Can't wait to see her and smell her!

5. I had my 20 year reunion. I gloried in the fact that when we moved to Sulphur I was the youngest mom I knew. I teased others and reminded them how young I was...probably more by my actions than by my teasing!! But...I have no such claim, now. I now know MANY younger than me and I am NOT young anymore. But, anyway...It was awesome to go back and see people I have not seen in 10-20 years. Some of my best friends from high school were there. It was SOO fun to see them and talk about old times. One girl reminded me of how we would come to my house between school and dance practice and eat a chicken breast cooked in the microwave with Italian dressing. She said her daughter eats this now as a snack. I totally forgot about that. Some have changed drastically and most for the better. Everyone looked great. Zack and I definitely have the most kiddo's. I love it. Hear are some pics...excuse the beer bottles.....
I was told constantly how much I look like Janis....True, true. That is a great compliment, I think. But, this girl was second for mother look alikes....

Daphne Roberts....dead ringer for her mother,former Homecoming Queen, and sweetest girl in the school!!

Kenny and Valissa McGuffee...Kenny went to West Point...farther than anyone else in our class and ended up being the only ones in our class to marry. How ironic is that. They are a really cute couple.

In the middle is Buddy Sirikul. He is the cutest guy...Buddy has slimmed down alot since high school. We found out that he teaches and runs often with my BIL who also works at Southeastern in Hammond. Crazy, huh? The other girl is Penny LeGrande. She was my BFF. I guess not the forever, though because we have not seen each other for over 15 years. That is sad. She is very much the same and looks great. Sooooo good to see her.

These two I haven't seen in 20 years...even though we were the only ones to go to LSU..oh, well, one other. Cheryl left after a couple of years and went to LSU nursing school in New Orleans. I have been anxious to see her for years. Johnny is a lawyer in Baton Rouge, now. So, cool. Fellow Tigers!! We went to school together from Kindergarten through LSU. That my friends, is a long time. I love that.


Well, that is an update on the high points of what has been going on in my life. I will post later about Lily's 6th Birthday and going to UTAH!!!! Sorry for the extra long update.

Utah!!

I'm am in Utah having a great time with Alex. We went out to eat tonight at this great Brazilian restuarant. It is all you can eat and they bring the meat to your table and cut you a piece. It was wonderful. We went with Alex's roommates and one set of parents. It is a little cold, but not too bad. It is Friday night and I think I am starting to cramp Alex's style just a little, so I'm about to head to Spanish Fork to stay with my mom's cousin.

Free Omaha Steaks!!!!

Ok, I know that it is funny that I haven't posted in a over a month and this is what I am posting, but I just got $25 plus in free meat from Omaha Steaks and thought you might like to do it, too. Go the the link below to save!!! It is great!

http://www.shareomahasteaks.com/k/AwMSRXoUGC0JE4oHBCALCgoLAwo=/

Enjoy!!

Random Thoughts

Back to School around here, again. So many ups and downs this year already. The kids have already missed 7 or 8 days of school this year. Bye-bye Mardi Gras! We don't know how they will have to make it up yet. It may mean a shorter Thanksgiving break, also.

I think we are going to go back to our no TV on school nights rule from last year. It worked really great. We let everyone have an hour a week. It helped us to concentrate on homework and doing things together so much better.

The kids just walked outside to leave for seminary and they said how cool it is outside. Yeah...I think I will call someone to go for a walk this morning. I love to walk outside. On that note, Zack and I are thinking about looking for a treadmill. It is time.....it is time that we concentrate on losing some weight. I have my 20 year reunion this year....Yikes. I will not want to go like this. I would like to lose at least 15 pounds. So, we need a treadmill and I need to start writing down everything I eat. I am going to start "Take-off" today. That is a thing I did when I went to LA Weightloss. You do it for 2 days and you only eat meat and green vegatables. It really jump starts your weigtloss. You are supposed to drink this juice that they sell and eat these bars they sell, but I am going to do it without that and just drink extra water to make up the difference. I will have to forgo the bars for now....also, I just remembered that I have some at LA Weightloss that I already paid for. I will go pick them up and maybe get the juice while I am there. OK, I am ready. No bread and no sweets.

All Is Well.......Kind Of

Well, the storm passed and tonight is very quiet. I did not sleep until about 4:00 Saturday morning. Just kept worrying about the tree we have behind our house. It is dead and I just was afraid it would fall and we would have to act fast to make sure we moved everyone to a safe place. At 4:00 we were having regular gusts that were scary to me, so I went to wake up Zack. He came into the living room and said that he would not go to sleep until I woke up. We both woke up around 6:00. We had no damage to anything we owned. Calcasieu and Cameron parish did very well on the wind side of things. There were a few trees down around, but no wind even vaguely similar to Rita. I remember coming home after being gone three weeks and one of the things that stuck out was that there were barely any leaves on the trees. Not this time. But, Ike wanted to make his own mark on us. The flooding is actually worse than Rita. That means that those places that flooded with Rita, flooded again, plus more. They said on the news tonight that all of Cameron Parish is under water. That is hard to imagine that after just 2 years of getting things rebuilt. It is unbelievable. And of course there is all the damage in Houston, Galveston, and other small cities between here and Houston. It is really, really bad. We will have to remember them all in our prayers.
I am so thankful for my testimony and the feeling of peace I can get through Christ.

I love hurricanes..............not

Well, here I sit, in my first hurricane. We decided not to leave and I have been awake almost all night....till about 4:00 am. The sun is starting to come up now and the winds are just as strong as they were last night. The electricity went off at about 2:00 am. Yeah, Zack. We are sitting pretty good, because Zack got us a generator after Hurricane Rita. It sat in the spot that he was going to install it until the day before Hurricane Gustav this year. Then he installed it. It runs off natural gas. What a blessing. So, I sat up and did a puzzle until I couldn't hold my eyes open. Then I woke Zack up and asked him to sit up and watch things so I could sleep. He promised he would stay awake until I woke up. I just couldn't stand for all of us to be asleep and something happen and we need to move the kids or take care of something else. Just felt like someone should be up. So, with the sun up, I can't see any damage. We fretted about this tree that is close to the house all night long and it did drop some limbs, but it is still standing! So, far!!!

New Plan

For the last 16 years that I have been hurricane watching, we have evacuated to Jena, the small town in North Louisiana where I grew up. It has been very handy, easy, comfortable, and safe. But a few times we evacuated there we ended up having worse weather there than we had in Sulphur! Three hours north of here! That should not happen. This last time we ended up having to bring mama and Aunt Theresa home with us for a couple of days. Of course, this just prolongs the party, and mama helped me alot with things around my house, but the power out was still a little inconvenient. Not to mention, when we get back into town, we hear of everyone else evacuating to places where they go to waterparks, museums, shopping, etc. Yeah, Jena has a Wal-Mart! And even a Sonic!
So, I don't think we will go to Jena this time, unless things are predicted to move away from there. Of course, then I worry about my mama being there and needing to leave with no one to help her. What to do?
I'm getting a little stressed out with IKE brewing closer and closer to us. They just canceled school for tomorrow and the kids already have Friday off for a teacher in-service day. I think we may just go to work with Zack tomorrow. I really just want to be with him. We have been apart too long. I know we will be ok if we are with Zack. So, that is the new plan.
I feel more stressed with this storm than Gustav. Seems potentially worse and more scary.