Being in exile involves many hours with family seated around a table snacking, talking, and generally being bored. This usually leads to some silliness, an example of which you can see in this You Tube video.
My 59 year-old mother has decided to show us her signature headstand. Upon her failure to produce, she blames the softness of the grass and her weight. My 16 year-old cousin has no problem one-upping her in the background.
Enjoy.
Unfortunately, the calm before the storm is usually so nice it tricks people into forgetting what is to come. Its breezy and calm right now with just a slight drizzle. The men are outside putting the finishing touches on hurricane prep. We are forcasted for the Baton Rouge area to receive category 1 winds of up to 75 mph and gusts of 95 mph. Not sure when the internet will go out.
Well, in South Louisiana, the best bragging rights you can have is to have completed your evacuation route in stellar time and I win! We made it to Baton Rouge (70 mile trip) in under 2 hours. In a world where it can often take eight hours in evacuation traffic, I can definitely call that great time.
Here is a list of the upcoming Hurricane names for 2008...
Arthur
Bertha
Cristobal
Dolly
Edouard
Fay
Gustav
Hanna
Ike
Josephine
Kyle
Laura
Marco
Nana
Omar
Paloma
Rene
Sally
Teddy
Vicky
Wilfred
I hope when Hurricane Nana comes, she doesn't pinch our cheeks and make us chicken soup.
New Orleans becomes a pretty eerie place to be in the days leading up to an evacuation for an impending hurricane. The shutters close, boards go up, parking lots empty, daily banter ends and everything becomes about "the updated path", "your evacuation plan", "emergency supplies", etc. This is where we are right now. The realization is setting in for even the most stubborn, the jokes stop, the real work begins and the fears of what will be when we return start to come. Best of luck to all and I will keep you updated on our status.
Thanks to my friend, Anna, for sending me these funnies which made me stop and smile in the middle of all the Gustav craziness.
I have won very few things in my life. In the third grade, I won a bookmark in a reading competition. In the sixth grade, I won the blue first place ribbon in the basketball free throw on Field Day. In eigth grade, I was on the winning Quiz Bowl team at HJ McDonald middle school. And, that is pretty much where my winning streak ended.... until today!
Who knew my love of all things peanut butter would lead to me winning, of all things, a Grandpa Witmer's peanut butter mixer! Who even knew what a Grandpa Witmer's peanut butter mixer is, but as of today, I am the proud winner of The Peanut Butter blog's contest to win one. Thank you, Peanut Butter lady, for your generous understanding of the fact that noone likes separated peanut butter. What could be more horrid than taking the peanut butter out of the cabinet, only to have the oil on the top and the cream on the bottom. As of today, I will no longer be subjected to that particular affliction.
In honor of peanut butter, I would like to take a moment to have a short tutorial to teach my fellow bloggers how to make my favorite peanut butter dessert. When I was little, my bff's mom would make my favorite meal everytime I came to visit- corn dogs, mac n' cheese, and (drumroll, please) PEANUT BUTTER MARSHMALLOW TOAST! Follow these directions carefully and you, too, can enjoy this tasty treat.
1) Preheat toaster oven to broil.
2) Procure your favorite flavor bread, your favorite brand of PB, and mini-marshmallows.
3) Toast said bread lightly in a toaster.
4) Spread PB on toast and place mini-marshmallows on top of PB (I give you full artistic license with the placement).
5) Broil in oven. Watch closely because there is a fine line between roasted and burned marshmallows.
6) Sit and enjoy the peanut butter marshmallow roasted goodness!
Well, that didn't take long... Along comes another hurricane hopping down the bunny trail, oh I mean, swirling in the Gulf. So, I thought it would be interesting to look up the meaning of Gustav. Yep, just as I suspected, it means "staff of the goths". Huh? What the heck does that mean? Kind of phallic and vampirish all in one. Anne Rice will be proud.
Gas up the tanks... Come Sunday, we are most likely headed to Baton Rouge.
Big Monkey has always thought his birthday should be declared a National Holiday, and in some ways, I guess he got his wish. Three years ago tomorrow, we were evacuating to Baton Rouge, only to have Katrina hit two days later ON Big Monkey's 30th birthday, August 29. So, of course now, we can never forget his birthday, or at least he doesn't let anyone! Big Monkey thinks the world should stop spinning on his birthday and everyone should stop to pay him homage. So, while I plan to do just that, I have a problem I need your help with...
My name is Sara, and I am a terrible gift giver! I never know what to get people and BM is the worst person to shop for. He has everything and, if he doesn't have it, and wants it, he just goes out and buys it for himself. So, this is where you come in. Please give me some ideas. Here are some hobbies and interests of Big Monkey...
*He likes computers, preferably Macs. He is totally biased against PC people.
*He collects vintage and fine pens.
*He likes baseball hats.
*He loves J Crew and Banana Republic.
*He owns a coffeeshop.
*He is a bit disorganized.
*He likes to vacuum (I got him a Dyson for last year's birthday and, although he liked it, he didn't think it was personal enough)
*He likes to plan home renovations, but not necessarily complete them, thus the unfinished bathroom you see here.
Hmm... I will think of some more and add them. So, what should I get him? Please, I really need help or I am in big trouble because he definitely has high expectations!
Thanks to Elle at Maxwell the Tatooed Boy for this beautiful post about her home town New Orleans and why she misses it. It is a really moving tribute to the City. Check it out if you get a moment.
Well, Big Monkey is in full hurricane mode over here (even though our friend Fay looks to be a Tropical Depression). He's filled the gas containers and has the generator ready. We plan to buy water and ice tomorrow because most likely our electricity will go out for a while at least. Our electricity goes off even in a mild drizzle so I'm sure we can look forward to that. Hopefully Fay will be friendly to the Big Easy. We certainly don't need any more destruction.
Guess who got her first blog awards bestowed upon her today! Yep, you guessed it... me! I'm moving up the blogging ranks and have received the two awards you see below. The rules are:
1. Only 5 people are allowed to receive this award.
2. Four (4) of them are followers of your blog.
3. One has to be new to your blog and live in another part of the world.
4. You must link back to who ever gave you the award.
KIND BLOGGER 2008 AWARD
Thanks so much to Sassy Mama at Cafe at the End of the Universe for thinking I am so Kind! Now, this one is funny, because IRL (in real life), most people would not call me "kind". I'm not really known as one of those sweet girls who is nice to everybody, although I try to be. I do sometimes gossip and get spiteful on occasion. But, it is good to know that in Blog-o-sphere, I am coming across as quite pleasant.
I am now bestowing this award unto my "kindest" bloggy friends:
*Mike over at Rambling Stuff (Mike really is the kindest blogger I know. He truly deserves this award)
*AR over at Our Little Bunch (I don't know her well, but she seems like a really kind friend.)
*Bridgette at The Not-So-Blog Blog (I think it is very kind that she is showcasing N'awlins Niblets. Anything that demonstrates how great New Orleans is, is fine by me.)
*Bridget at Mama Belly Blog (She gave me my first tag. She is really kind and her mom is cool too!)
*Hari at Reflections of Darkness (this is my "lives in another part of world" winner. Hari lives in India and is very kind. He is trying to get the world to stop smoking and helps me with blogging tips.)
BLOGGING FRIENDS FOREVER AWARD
Thanks to Gin over at E-Pamilya for honoring me with the BFF award. I will now bestow this award unto my best bloggy friends:
*Later Gater over at What? (This is actually my friend in real life as well and I just found out she has a blog and I think she is a super cool after reading it. I'm glad I have stepped further into her world.)
*SoonerGirl at Groovy Kind of Life (She lives right down the road in Lafayette and I think her theory on using the "funnel" method to filter out men worthy of dating is ingenious.)
*Elle at Maxwell the Tatooed Boy and other Astounding Joys (I think she is cool and she leaves me good comments.)
*Wendy at The Domestiquette (She always has an interesting point of view and we would so be BFFs in real life if we actually knew each other outside of the bloggy world.)
*Lina at Life in my Own Backyard (this is my "lives in another part of world" winner from Malaysia. Lina always posts about weird foods and who else would blog about cheap hotdogs. I love it.)
So, there you have it. I have accepted my awards graciously and will try my best to live up to your now over the top expectations of my blogging skills.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to NOLA Mommy for telling me about the 75% off sale at Pippen Lane. Pippen Lane is a very upscale baby store on Magazine Street that is normally way out of my price range. But, today, they had lots of stuff 75% off and I had a field day. Check out my finds...
This will be the Little Monkey's 4th of July outfit next year. You have to plan early!
This is a Zutano onesie and pants. I usually don't love Zutano, but for $7 for both pieces, I couldn't pass it up.
For some reason Big Monkey loves cute pajamas for LM, so these were perfect.
Last but not least, I found a Perry Ellis shirt and Zutano onesie. I checked out and then discovered shoes were on sale too, so I went back to get these stylin' Jack and Lily's.
So, all in all, I got $178 retail worth of stuff for $45! Not too shabby!
Lesson learned... When Little Monkey is quiet for more than 1 minute, he is definitely up to no good.
(Please ignore lack of paint on bathroom molding and mismatched pajamas on LM!)
Today, I asked Big Monkey to cut the cantaloupe that I bought at the awesome new grocery store down the street and this is what I get. Now, in my world, cantaloupe is cut into nice, even cubes. Apparently, my husband thinks you just take a big spoon, scoop, and throw it in a bowl. He sees nothing wrong with this picture. Am I crazy?
I started jogging in January thanks to the Couch to 5K running program that Sasha of Barely Keeping It All Together introduced me to. It is a great program and if you are interested in starting to jog, I highly recommend it, even if you are completely out of shape. Anyway, I was doing pretty well and then the height of summer hit New Orleans, and whammo, I haven't jogged in over a month. So, this afternoon, I got off my butt and did two laps around Audubon Park which is 3.6 miles. I have a new plan to meet my friend at the gym every Tuesday and Thursday night, so hopefully I am out of my funk and I will get back on track with my weight loss. My goal is to lose 20 pounds and I am hoping the girls over at Operation Skinny Bitch will help me get motivated! I'll keep you posted.
That means Congratulations in Hawaiian. So, Ho'omaika'i 'ana, to our good friends, Stinks and Sparkles, on their impending nuptials. Last night was their much anticipated Couples Hawaiian Luau Shower and it was great fun.
Check out this little piggy (called cochon de lait in South Louisiana). I felt sorry for the cute little guy but he was quite yummy.
Big Monkey and I really got into the Hawaiian spirit and donned our fanciest Luau attire. I definitely had one too many mai tais!
I had a Hawaiian Luau to go to last night and in my mind I knew I would look gorgeous with flowing curly hair. Uh, yeah, think again.... After this fiasco, I had to jump in the shower, shampoo, and then use the straightener. Remind me to hide the curlers in the far cormers of the bathroom closet!
So I don't know whether to laugh or to be totally skeeved out right now. I have FeedBurner on my blog which tells me who is on, where they live, and how they got here. So, I take a look at where my traffic is coming from this morning and saw that someone from France came to me via French Google. Now, usually, this means they blogged some phrase which took them to a post I have about that topic. So this phrase they googled took them to my August 1 post "Happy National Raspberry Cream Pie Day".
I, of course, think maybe they were searching for pie recipes. Makes sense, right? Uh, no, this person goggled "creampie little boy blog". Now, at this point, I am clueless and still see nothing wrong with this so I also google via google.fr (the french google-how they got to me) "creampie little boy blog" and it comes up all these sex sites. I am guessing "creampie" must mean more than I ever imagined (I have told you before, I am pretty naive). I am not going to do further research to figure out what this means, but it is a bit scary. I mean I do have pics of the Little Monkey on here. I guess thats why it is best to keep things as anonymous as possible. And the guy is in France, but it is a reminder that there are some really freaky, dangerous people out there. Makes you think.
The first gymnastics I ever remember watching was 1984 when Mary Lou Retton charmed the entire world. I was eight years old. I would stand in the middle of my father's living room, do a somersault and stand up with my hands high and my chest out turning around for all the imaginary judges scoring me. To this day, I remember exactly what her uniform looked like. Why do I remember what her uniform looked like, you ask? Oh, maybe because it represented our country and was, yes, red, white, and blue!
Now, it was bad enough when I saw the American women in red and silver leotards for the team competition, but then for Nastia Liukin to walk out last night in a hot pink Barbie outfit! What the hell is that? While I understand this was the individual all-arounds, I still think you should represent the United States and hot pink just doesn't scream American Pride to me.
Yep, in New Orleans, "makin' groceries" means going grocery shopping and as of today, I can do it with ease. We just got a brand spankin' new grocery store right around the corner. I am so excited and, trust me, I am not exaggerating when I say, this is going to change my life.
Now, with what I am about to say, I know all you suburbanites are going to say, "Oh, poor baby. wah-wah", but the closest grocery, up until now has been a very far 2.08 miles away. I know that doesn't seem far, but in city traffic, it is, and because of that, I go to the grocery about once every two weeks. This means that we end up eating out a lot. But, NO MORE! With my new 5 minute walk to the store, I am vowing to go at least every weekend.
So, please hold me to it. I want to cook dinner at least five times a week. Now, Big Monkey, if you are reading this, that doesn't mean that it always has to be me going to the store and cooking. You can now help in that department too! I realize you only know how to make two things (quesadillas and pork loin) and those are fine with me and Little Monkey.
Looks like Little Monkey has decided this walking thing just isn't for him. But, he does like to have his hands free, so he has decided walking on his knees makes absolute sense. He trudges around the house all day scouting around on his knees. He is getting pretty good at it, too. When will he figure out that his feet have a use?
A rousing game of Peek-a-boo!
The Little Monkey monkeys around with Willy and Nelson.
The FBI had an opening for an assassin. After all the background checks, interviews and testing were done, there were 3 finalists; two men and a woman.
For the final test, the FBI agents took one of the men to a large metal door and handed him a gun. 'We must know that you will follow your instructions no matter what the circumstances. Inside the room you will find your wife sitting in a chair. Kill her!!' The man said, 'You can't be serious. I could never shoot my wife.' The agent said, 'Then you're not the right man for this job. Take your wife and go home.'
The second man was given the same instructions. He took the gun and went into the room. All was quiet for about 5 minutes. The man came out with tears in his eyes, 'I tried, but I can't kill my wife.' The agent said, 'You don't have what it takes. Take your wife home.'
Finally, it was the woman's turn. She was given the same instructions, to kill her husband. She took the gun and went into the room. Shots were heard, one after another. They heard screaming, crashing, banging on the walls. After a few minutes, all was quiet. The door opened slowly and there stood the woman, wiping the sweat from her brow. 'This gun is loaded with blanks' she said. 'I had to beat him to death with the chair.'
MORAL:
Women are crazy. Don't mess with them!Thanks so much to Bridget at Mama Belly Blog for giving me my first tag ever! You never forget your first.
Anyway, the deal is I link back to the person who tagged me and then share 7 facts about myself that you probably didn't know and since most of you don't know me at all, that shouldn't be too difficult. After that, I tag 7 people at the end of this post by leaving their name and a link to their blog. Lastly, I let them know they're tagged by leaving a link in their blog comments or emailing them. Then, the vicious cycle repeats itself with them doing the same thing on their blogs. So, here goes....
1) I must have symmetry! If you tap me on one shoulder, you must tap me on the same spot on the other shoulder. If not, I feel out of balance and it freaks me out.
2) I can not pronounce the difference between "pin" and "pen". I can hear it when other people say it but can't say it myself.
3) I collected coins, pencils, and stickers when I was a kid.
4) I love Neil Sadaka's music! Went to a concert a couple years back and I was the youngest one there.
5) When I was young, I wanted to be a xenobiologist when I grew up (that is the study of extraterrestrials). Yet, I was never a fan of The X-files...weird!
6) I constantly take on new hobbies, spend a ton of money on them and then lose interest. This has happened most recently with photography, knitting, and juicing (yes, I said juicing!). Hopefully that won't happen with blogging.
7) And, last but not least, I am always secretly hoping to find myself on the "missed connections" page on Craigslist. I so want to be the "hot girl in the green shirt reading The Catcher in the Rye on the Number 16 bus today".
Well, there you have it. Don't you feel closer to me now? Ok, back to business. I am tagging some of my favorite blogs and most recent commenters...
LSUMelanie
Our Little Bunch
Cafe At The End Of The Universe
The Hawg
The Virtual Voyeur
Get A Grip, Mom!
Rambling Stuff
Reflections of Darkness
(Edited to add my new friend from India, Hari. Can't hurt to have 8 tags. The more, the merrier!)
Thanks to Vicki, the Babysitter, Big Monkey and I had a wonderful and rare Saturday night date. We started out at Baru Tapas on Magazine Street. Now the Monkeys love them some tapas and Baru is no exception, but compared to our other favorite tapas bar, Cafe Granada on Carrollton, I think Baru fell a bit short. While Baru is a bit hipper, Granada wins on taste. The empanadas and tequila cheese flambe at Granada really hit the spot. In comparison, Baru's empanadas were overcooked and the plantains tasteless. But the service was great, and we would go back for the corn and potato stick dish (sorry, can't remember the name) in a flash.
After Baru, we decided to hit the Quarter (French Quarter to you non-locals). We luckily stumbled upon Dirty Linen Night on Royal Street (the evil stepsister of White Linen Night on Julia Street). We had a great time people-watching and checking out a few galleries. We then made our way to Cafe Du Monde and I finally got the beignets I have been craving since LSUMelanie's post last weekend. Luckily, for Big Monkey, we were served by Oksana, the hot Russian eighteen year old exchange student. Now, why is it that Big Monkey, who usually hates taking pics, was more than happy to pose for this one!
After getting some takeout beignets for Vicki, we headed home. It was a really great night!
See previous post of George Bush bored at Olympics Opening Ceremony.... I found the video on You Tube where someone geniously actually just taped it off their tv. You can't make it out that well, but it truly was classic George!
1) Thanks to Top Jokes for sharing this funny commercial about a baby trying to tell his clueless Daddy that he wants milk. I love it when the dad puts on the bra!
2) From Blogger Laugh Out Loud, check out the 101 Things You Should Not Say On Your Wedding Night. Some of those are pretty scary.
3) Continuing along the "bad things to say to your wife" road, check out this hilarious video, where this guy puts a list to music.. Very, very funny!
4) Check out Post Secret. This is an ongoing art project where people mail in postcards with their deepest darkest secrets written on the front. I am an open book but maybe I'll think of something buried deep down and send it in this week.
5) This isn't a funny post, but as a dachshund lover, I have to share it. My favorite graphic artist blogger, Jessica, from How About Orange, has created dachshund ribbon. I am not sure what I would make with it, but I might just have to buy some.
Did you just see that? While watching the Parade of Nations at the Olympic Opening Ceremony, George Bush just totally looked at his watch and winced. I swear, we thought he was going to stand up and flag down the hot dog vendor! Hey, George, you're not at a Texas Rangers game, dude! If I can find a video of it, I will post tomorrow.
did I just torture myself by sitting through 91 painful minutes of the movie License To Wed? As of tonight, Big Monkey has lost all privileges in choosing our NetFlix queue. I mean, I love John Krasinski as Jim on The Office, but he just did not translate to film. And, what can you say about Robin Williams, he just did his normal schtick with some hits and misses (mostly misses). And then there's Mandy, poor, poor Mandy. Such a sweet girl, but Mandy, honey, stick to singing. Actually, she was probably the best actor in it (which is kinda sad). Anyway, just a bit of friendly advice... if this movie comes up in your NetFlix queue, hit the delete button as fast as your little index finger can get you there!
For some reason, I have always wanted a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia convertible. I just think they are beautiful. For a while, two years ago, I actually started scouring ads and Ebay to get one, but what do you know, I ended up pregnant and, I really think I would get some evil stares if I had the Little Monkey's carseat installed in the passenger seat with the top down. Well, I can dream, and if the Big Monkey's "investments" pay off (and by "investments", I mean his weekly lottery ticket) maybe one day I will find my pefect Ghia soulmate.
Yesterday, I was in the car with the Little Monkey and he started to get grumpy, so I popped in one of his favorite kiddie CDs. He calmed down, we made it home, and that was that. Later in the day, I hopped in the car for a quick grocery run sans Little Monkey. After about five minutes, I realized I had been rockin' out to Frere Jacques like it is the next Rhianna single! When did kids music get so good? To save my reputation, I immediately looked around to make sure no one had seen me and turned on the radio.
The Little Monkey had blackbeans for dinner tonight and ended up looking like he grew a mustache and goatee!
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