So friggin cute I had to throw this up here!

If you like animals, (and everyone should), you'll like this!

SO CUTE!  I want a 610 Stomper dog, (the dog in the red satin jacket), or perhaps a cool brass band dog because they actually earn tips.  That little Saintsation is such a diva and of course Rex is just so handsome.  Nah, it's the Cafe Du Monde cat for sure.  Who wouldn't want a cat that can make the, imho, purrrfect cup of coffee?

All righty then, I'm outa here.  I promised I'd take mom to Re-store up in Slidell today.

You have to swear to keep this a secret if you read this post!

    I'm going to throw in a quick post while I can. Here are some of our ideas and personally I think they are awesome, but then when it comes to creativity and costuming I tend to have an ego, (I tend to seek out drag queen approval and get it quite often, which of course strokes my ego because nothing, and I mean nothing, is better than drag queen approval.)  Anywho, if you read this you must swear not to let this cat out of the bag because this is TOP SECRET stuff.  Only four people are in on this because it's going to be a big surprise, so if anyone throws a party with these ideas I'll know you told and the loup garou will come in the middle of the night and eat you for being so bad. : )  I added a smiley face to soften the blow, but make no mistake he will come to all bad children and the worse you are the worse you'll get it. : )

     Okay here goes...  We are making the invitations ourselves and are basing them on my treasured Dr. Bob art.  I just can't see paying someone else to print invitations when I can make something nifty that suits my Yat themed party.

     We have Benny Grunch's newest album as our party favors, and they will be placed in little brown lunch bags printed to look like Schwegman's and K&B bags!!!!  (these articles explain it best: Schwegman's and K&B)I don't have a picture because I left them at Mom's house, but if Sis #2's best friend C and her hubby R, are to be believed they are going to go over HUGE.  C&R wanted me to print out a few for them.  Tiny little shopping bags that bring back fond memories!

     Instead of the boring video, we are doing newspapers styled to look like the 176 year old local paper, The Times-Picayune.  We've included articles about the bride's aunt who is famous for her tea in the food section, and advice column by the couple's dog.  My mom really likes this one and has hounded me to finish all the articles, but ideas come when they come and it will be finished eventually.

    There is more, but I'll save that for another day and because my darling J just purchased an iPhone for me yesterday, (He is so sweet!), I will try to work some technological magic and take and post pics!

PS. Y'all should see all the misspelled words on this post!  Apparently local names, terms and monsters don't do well with spell check.

The Deed is Done

This is how I'm feeling.  A little beat up, but quite like the cat that got the mouse.  It's all good. : )

We've booked the venue and paid for it in full, and I'm not sure about her, but I'm pretty sure The Boy hates it.  Oh well.  I'm not losing any more sleep over this and it's a huge relief to have something set up.  The place is cheap and looks like every other cheap wedding hall, which is exactly what we need.  We have put our money into the entertainment which is AWESOME!

Get this, we've booked BENNY GRUNCH, (a local celebrity)!!  Squeeellll!!!  The guy who sings "Ain't No Place to Pee on Mardi Gras Day," and "The 12 Yats of Christmas!"  We've taken his "Ain't Dere No More," song and made it our theme.  It's a Yat inspired party, with OMG a possible appearance from, and you've got to be a local and old school to appreciate this one, AL SCRAMUZZA!!

OMG y'all when my most awesome husband suggested Benny Grunch because of all the money we're saving and actually was on the phone I started jumping around, actually hyperventilated and burst into tears.  I called Sis #2 and said, "You have to sit down, are you sitting down?"  I dropped that in her lap and OMG she screamed, "NO WAY, THIS IS MY PARTY NOW!"  She burst into tears and kept repeating "OMG," and "I can't believe it."  Well Mom heard all of this and actually ran up the stairs to see what the heck happened.  She thought someone had died unexpectedly.

OMG y'all this is so FREAKIN HUGE!!!  It won't impress the bride-to-be, but The Boy was raised on Benny Grunch concerts at Rock-n-Bowl and Walgreens Pharmacy.  (The free Walgreen's Christmas Eve concerts, which is sooo appropriately Yat and New Orleans, started after Katrina as a gift to the people of St. Bernard and the lower 9, who had nothing but a Walgreen's for a store.)  We are not telling anyone about this.  It will be just me, Sis #2, J, and Mom who know.  I cannot wait to see the look on my cousins' and other sisters' faces when they walk in and see FREAKIN" BENNY GRUNCH and the BUNCH sittin' in there, (we've invited them to have supper with us of course).  This is gonna be the best Yat rehearsal dinner eveah dawlin'!

This and That

It's 5:30 AM and I've given up on trying to get back to sleep.  I'm hoping this trend of waking up at 4 in the morning is going to end soon.  It's like my mind is going a mile a minute and I can't fall back asleep.  So here I am and this is what I've been up to lately...


Earth Day on Bayou St. John.  I got my tiny activist on and signed petitions for wetlands and water management, purchased marsh grass, donated money for the restoration of the Bayou Bienvenu Triangle, ate well, listened to music, and met Mother Earth.

I got my hair cut like this and because it is so fine and stick straight, it looks just like this but shorter.  Sis #2 also had her hair cut like this, but because her hair is curly, well she sort of looks like we went back to the 80s and she is not pleased.

Went to French Quarter Fest and hung out at my Katrina refuge.

Hung out with cats who were also hanging out.

 Had lunch.

 Sanded and primed this dresser that is going to eventually be peacock blue.

Tended my garden.  Yay strawberry!

Did the bridesmaid's brunch for my son's wedding at The Court of Two Sisters.  Get the grits and grillades and avoid the hollandaise sauce, (way too much salt).

And last but not least, I dug out this little deserted island thing all by myself.  I've got ice cream flavored banana trees, black coral elephant's ear, orange canna lilies, some ugly red and yellow lilies that J. insisted he must have, and to the right a tiny pineapple plant that is supposed to get huge.  Now all I need is some sort of border and some sort of sculpture.  Actually I was thinking a volleyball with a bloody hand print.  I think it would be nice if Wilson had a nice place to rest.  Yeah I'm nuts.  Any other suggestions that would be more sane?

Will your kid be attending Hogwarts this year?

I am so EXCITED!  We are going back to Hogwarts and this time we have a crowd!  Three families to be exact.  The BEST part is that niece #4 is turning 11 on the very day we will be arriving at the park.  OMG I KNOW, RIGHT?!  So y'all know that I have to, HAVE TO, do the acceptance letter.  Well here I was all prepared to shell out $ for acceptance letters when I discovered this freebie!  So I'm sharing it with you.  : )

http://www.mediafire.com/?tap52725wt7ft

Download the three components and follow the instructions, (one of the downloadable components).

Now I can do this for all the kids on our first morning in the hotel and I'm planning on sprinkling a few "owl" feathers about just because setting out letters isn't flashy enough.  Oh my, what if I printed scads of letters just like what happened to Harry?!

Oopsie.

4 fire trucks, a cop, an ambulance, and the fire chief

     Okay so the guy a couple doors down is always burning something in his yard and sometimes his little fires aren't so little.  Today when the wind is brisk we saw, had a HUGE fire going.  Huge like 12 to 15 feet high huge.  And while we were quite irritated with how irresponsible it is to have a twelve foot high bonfire in your back yard, we figured it was just business as usual for this guy.

     We watched the fire burn for about 10 to 15 minutes.  Suddenly the next door neighbor's son pulls up and starts running and pulls out his cellphone.  Well our bad.  It seems we watched the guy next door to Fideaux's shed and fence burn to the ground.  If it hadn't been for P. the house would have gone next.  Talk about feeling like a bit of a shit head on this one.

     New Orleans has a live and let live kind of culture so when someone does something weird or stupid as long as it's not hurting anyone or anything, you just kind of let it go.  So unfortunately we just let it be.  Thank God no one was hurt except the fence, the shed doesn't count because the neighbor was tearing it down which was the reason there was a fire in the first place.  Apparently when you pull down a shed and leave all the chemicals inside they intermingle and cause a fire.  BTW the phone lines melted.

The War Begins...

     It is time for my annual war with nature.  My veggie garden is planted and ready to go to hell in a hand basket, (Always the optimist, I am.).  Every year for the past six years, we've lost out veggies and fruits.  I don't know why I even try any more, and yet every year a few hundred dollars go into prepping, plants, and plots, (See what I did there?  Alliteration, yay.), only to see that the bugs and wildlife eat well.

     This is a stink bug.  They are evil.  They have eaten my tomatoes for the past two years.  Apparently I grow tomatoes for stink bugs and raccoons.

     This is the damage a leaf miner brings.  They also are evil.  Last year they ate the leaves off of my tomatoes.  This year they are trying to eat the leaves off of my little satsuma tree.

     This is a raccoon.  They are of course evil, cute, but evil.  For the past six years they have eaten my tomatoes, watermelons, satsumas and grapes.  They have not eaten the broccoli, jalapeno peppers, and okra.  They do like to pick the sweet pepper and throw it at the house (seriously).  I figure they do that just because they know we are at war.

     We've put up a fence between us and the swamp/woods and moved the garden to the front of the property.  We thought it would help with the stink bugs and the raccoons.  Yesterday there was a stink bug just over my mirliton plant on our newly raised fence and a raccoon on the patio eating cat food and giving me the middle finger.  I losing and the war hasn't even started.  Anyone else have a garden yet?