What's Your Opinion?

Okay, I'm making a company change in Real Estate. I've been offered a great package at Tiger Town Realty that I just can't pass up. With that being said, I have to order new signs. I can't decide which one I like better; the one with the picture or the one without. I might not mind the one with the picture if it were smaller and the black area was larger. What do you think? Seriously, give me your opinion in my comment section because I have to order them by tomorrow preferably. Please be aware that the top portion of both signs are white so that's why it looks like my name and number are just floating above the black portion.

On this one, I would like for my picture to be smaller, the black portion be larger and the words "For Sale" be larger.

On this one, I would like for my number to be a little smaller so that the black portion can be larger with the words "For Sale" being larger.

Busy Weekend

It was definitely a busy weekend! It started with me and my buds Lana and Jen going to Kona Grill for some pizza and to see The Women. The movie wasn't that good so I felt bad because I chose it. Saturday was busy with working on the patio, LSU football and Logan's first time representing Cub Scouts by selling popcorn at the Walmart in P'ville. Today was church, lunch, and then working some more on the patio. We now have the concrete around the edges to keep the brick in place. So, the patio itself is done, we just now have to fix the yard. That could take a while. The boys had friends over today and unfortunately, the upstairs looked like a tornado had come through. Bed sheets and covers off the bed, toys strewn EVERYWHERE, etc. N and L were mad at us because we made them clean it up. Hopefully next time they won't let it get to that point. Anyway, kiddos are in bed and I'm ready to settle in with a book. Nite all!

Jamie Foster actually came by so she kindly purchased some popcorn from Logan.

Lance's boss gave us his tickets on the 30 yd. line so we gave ours to some friends. Nice view!

Another Listing Website

I have just relisted this house in my neighborhood in Prairieville. It's a great house and it's priced to sell. If you or anyone you know is interested in being my neighbor let me know! The property has a website you can visit. It's www.38113JeffersonCrossing.com. Pass this info along to your friends as well!

Property Listing Website

Please take a few minutes and check out the website for my listing in Broadmoor subdivision. The web address is www.445NParkview.com. If you or anyone you know is looking to move and you think they would be interested, please let them know about this listing. Thanks!

New Discovery

Well, after the big rain on Sunday we have noticed that we some pretty good leaks. We have a tarp on the dormar, but evidently it wasn't enough to keep out the rain. Here are some photos.

It's kind of hard to tell how the roof is missing, but you can see that some of the shingles are missing.

This is upstairs in the playroom on the wall by where the roof is messed up.

It has evidently leaked down into the garage. Not good.

Here is more of the garage ceiling. You probably can't tell, but water has collected in the light fixture. That can't be safe, right?

More Serving

I forgot to blog about my most recent serving day at HPC. It was kind of a crazy weekend. They cancelled school on Friday (cause it was so windy?) and we really didn't get any rain except during the early morning hours. We weren't able to serve on Friday due to the possible bad weather. However, we served on Thursday with a great group. We met a lady named Ginger and she came down from Seattle just to help with recovery down here after Gustav. She owns a restaurant up there and she does a lot of work with recovery efforts during emergency situations. It was cool talking to her and hearing her stories.

From left to right: Jennifer, me, Ginger from Seattle, and Cindy

Here we are, busy at work.

Serving it Up!

The youngins went back to school today so I decided it was high time I helped serve. I went to the Highland campus around 9:00 a.m. and was pretty much assigned to helping put together lunch plates for delivery. I don't know that I've really ever volunteered to serve in a situation like we are in right now so I didn't really know what to expect. Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm not one to hang out outside and be all hot and sweaty. However, once we got started I found that I was actually enjoying myself. We had a great system going. I was the official "black-eyed peas and rice scooper". Goodness, how many lunch plates did we even put together? Hundreds! Not exactly sure how many. Our HPC Cooking for Christ team is great to work with!

After we were finished with the lunches some of us still had some time left before we had to leave to Mrs. Ann Morrow gave us another assignment: taking inventory of an 18-wheeler truck that had brought some supplies. On the way to the truck I realized just how hot it was outside and wished the 18-wheeler we would be in had a generator and a/c unit. Imagine my excitement when we walked up to the truck only to realize it was a refrigerated truck carrying fruits and vegetables! The Lord works in mysterious ways!

It really felt good to help out today, so I am hoping to go back tomorrow and do it all again!

Beef Stroganoff and Black-Eyed Peas served up by me, Cindy, DeLin, and Jennifer


Taking a lunch break to enjoy the great meal cooked up by Cooking for Christ.

This was the refrigerated truck that we worked in to take inventory. Lots of fruits and veggies!

Hurricane Gustav

What a week this has been! You always think that tragedies and disasters can't happen to you. Gustav hit on Monday with a vengence! Thankfully, the only damage that was done to our house was a couple of small crepe myrtles are leaning over quite a bit and the copper roofing on our dormar window upstairs blew off along with some shingles. We did lose power on Monday around 10:00 a.m. It finally came back on sometime Friday afternoon! We were so grateful! We were blessed to be able to stay with Mike and Cindy Ragsdale Monday night because they had the generator setup. We found out Tuesday morning that my brother-in-law had power so we ended up staying with him for two nights. We decided it was time to come home, clean out the fridge, try to get some order back in our house. We managed to find a generator at Home Depot and an a/c unit at Gorman's. We froze during the night Thursday night and then we got our power back on Friday. Here are a few pictures of this week:

It's hard to tell how hard the wind is blowing in a still photo. This is a tree behind our backyard.

Lance is putting the copper roof on the side of our house after it came off during the storm.

This is in the Broadmoor subdivision. Compare the size of the car to the tree's root system.

I'd gladly lose a few shingles compared to this. This is also in Broadmoor.

Be Safe!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone of my friends in Louisiana safety during the storm. Pastor Dino's message today was encouraging. Remember Psalm 23.

A Nice Surprise

Last night I had a date with my husband because my parents wanted to take the kids to play some glow in the dark putt putt. So, we went to TJ Ribs for dinner. On the way to eat, Lance got a call that he had to go pick up some papers from one of his clients that was going out of town. So, we finished dinner and then drove to The Crescent Condominiums to get the paperwork. Well, much to my surprise it was a setup for my surprise party. So many of my friends and family were there to help me celebrate the big 4-0. Jen and Lana even created a picture slideshow of about 80 pictures of me throughout my life. Isn't that cool? I would post it here, but it's pretty long.

However, I didn't have a camera so I can't post any pictures, but if you are reading this and you were there with a camera can you please email me what you took last night? I felt like a Superstar!!

My Plumeria

I just wanted to show you a picture of my plant. It has sprouted a few little buds. I'm worried about one of them because it's not looking as healthy as the other one, but hopefully it will liven up.

My Niece's First Day of School

I got an email from my brother and sister-in-law with some pictures of her first day of pre-school. I just had to share one of them with you because I am so proud of her and she is so beautiful.

Night in Biloxi

Friday night I went to Biloxi with my great pals Jennifer and Lana. They are event planners and they had to set up decorations for an event that one of the casinos in Biloxi were having. So, we left at around 7:30 Friday morning, did a little Nancy Drew work on Hwy. 16 and Walker south by reporting a drunk driver (yes, at 8:00 a.m.), then finally got on the road to Biloxi. We got there around 10:30 and didn't finish setting up until 4:30. Everything looked great! Then, they had a conference call that lasted about an hour so by the time we found a place to eat it was about 8:00. There was a band at our hotel when we came back so we sat for a while and listened to them, and then we decided we were a bunch of mamaws and headed to bed. All in all, though, we had a good time.

Jennifer and Lana

Lana and Me

God is Good!

I just thought I'd let all of my blogger friends know that my mom went this past Thursday to get a CAT scan done to check on the two tiny spots of cancer that still remain. The doctor called her yesterday to give her the news that the cells have ceased growing!! He was very pleased, of course. I guess she will continue taking the chemo pills to shrink the cells until they are gone. Please keep her in your prayers!

Logan Rides the Bus Home

Logan decided that if I take him to school he will ride the bus home. Which, actually, this works out fine because the bus comes at 7:35 this year instead of 7:50-7:55. Hey, for someone who is not a morning person, this 15-20 minutes means a lot. Here is a video of Logan getting off of the bus yesterday.

Day of Fishing and Bargains

First of all, Lance took the boys fishing at False River today. They had a good time. Apparantly, Lance's bamboo pole was the secret weapon of the day. Lance caught two fish right off the bat, so Logan wanted to try his luck with the pole so he switched with Lance. Within a few minutes, Logan caught a catfish. Not to be outdone, Nick took the pole and told Lance to touch it and do his magic. It wasn't too long after that that Nick caught a Brim (I guess that's how you spell it). Here are a few pics:

They left at around 6:30 a.m. Nick looks thrilled, huh?

Nick and Logan are ready to catch some fishies!

This is Logan's fish. Instead of Logan being in the picture with the fish he caught, he decided to take the picture himself.

Here is Nick with his fish. Notice neither boy will actually hold the fish himself. lol

Now for a little update on the coupon campaign: Well, I'm just starting so don't judge. I used 4 coupons this week and I used 2 of them on an item at Dollar General that is on sale for the week. So, here is how it went down: I had a coupon for $1.00 off Suave hairspray (which I happen to use anyway) if you buy 2. They were $1.97 each so I bought 2 and saved $1.00. Next, I had a coupon for some Cajun Seasoning Mix to save $1.00 if you buy 2. Those were $1.16 each so basically I got one for $.16. Now, here's where it gets good. I had 2 coupons to save $1.00 off Tide laundry detergent. I noticed that Dollar General had Tide on sale this week for $5.00. While at Walmart I checked to see how much it was there (which is where I usually buy it) and it was $6.97. So, I went to Dollar General, got each bottle for $5.00 and then used my $1.00 off coupon for each one. So, basically, I saved $3.00 per bottle of Tide by stopping by Dollar General on my way home and using my coupons. Pretty good for a beginner. Hey, baby steps!

First Day of School

You know, the first day back to school is always a little bittersweet. I really enjoy the time spent with the kids when they are at home, but when they get back to school I am able to get back on a schedule. I should be more disciplined than that, but that's the truth of it. My baby Nick is in 6th grade now. Unreal! My other baby, Logan, is in 4th! Boy, I'm getting old! It makes me sad that they just keep growing and growing. Here are a couple of pics of them before heading to school.

Change of Plans

Don't you hate it when your plans get messed up? My friend Regina was supposed to come over today and we were gonna spend the day at the neighborhood pool. When we got there, the water was green! So, we improvised. We headed to her house where there was a little 2 foot pool and a slip and slide. She pulled out the decorations from Haley's birthday party a couple years back and we proceeded to create an End-of-the-Summer Luau party. Hey, when life gives you lemons (or limes in this case) make lemonade!

The kids thought we were geeks for decorating, but we had fun forcing them to enjoy it.

We even ordered pizza! Doesn't the pool look inviting?

My Plumeria Plant

Ever since I lived in Hawaii the plumeria has been one of my favorite flowers. Well, while in Hawaii this past May I purchased a couple of cuttings to plant here at home. This is a mature plumeria tree:

This is the plumeria flower. It comes in various colors. The yellow and white and the pink are my two favorites.

This is what mine looks like right now.

Pitiful, I know. But did you know that it will take a full year before my plant even has leaves? It will take 2 years to sprout any flowers. (I'm making a sad face.) Anyway, Logan helped me get everything ready and we planted them together tonight. He planted the pink one and I planted the yellow one. I'm sure by the time they sprout their flowers we will have mixed up which one is which. Who cares, as long as I don't kill them in the mean time.

Melissa's Bucket List

This is in honor of Carole Turner who posted her Bucket List and mentioned for others to do the same. I'm having to think about it for a little bit as there are definitely things that I know I have always wanted to do and then some soul searching to figure out the rest. So, here goes:

• Take a two week coastal tour of Italy
• Spend a week or two in Greece (including the islands)
• Be a back-up singer (kind of what I do now, but on a larger scale)
• See Chicago in concert
• See The Police in concert
• Meet Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith)
• Own a paint horse
• Go on an African safari
• Go on an archeological dig
• Work on an active cattle ranch for a week

I guess this is it for now. Seeing that I will be 40 in about 3 weeks I guess it's too much to ask for much more.