Days 267 - 272

This just in....

Cheetah Lady wants to make Tacos....and eat rice...

Day 266

I'm upset that I ONLY own 1 out of the top 10 nerdiest Christmas Ornaments...as per THIS website...

Days 263-265

Worked on the fence Saturday...Picked up a sweet tool belt at my brothers Chinese gift exchange party...(Which happened to be the present I brought...)
Which begs the question...Why is a Chinese gift Exchange? Is this really how the Chinese give gifts to one another?

on Sunday I took on the task of edging my driveway and sidewalks....
I estimate that I gained about 8-12" of overall width...It's probably been 2 years since they have been trimmed...

Day 262

and the goofy website of the day...
Click This...
It's a Website called "You Bent My Wookie .com"

That's an AT-AT from the Star Wars Universe...Made out of Gingerbread...

Day 261

My mom sent me several photos from the LSU campus during the LSU snow day...

It really was a cool thing to see....Blizzard like snow in Louisiana....crazy...

Day 260

Adding to list of things I can't believe I've never seen...
I present to you the Grape Lady...

Days 256 - 259

People (noone) ask me everyday (not really)...
Where do you find all of that HILARIOUS stuff that you find?
It really just amounts to about 4 different sites...that just have tons of funny stuff...
One of my new favorites is called SexyPeople.
http://www.sexypeople-blog.com/

It's filled with photos that people submit...of themselves...

Day 255

It's SNOW day in Louisiana...

What a crazy morning... We were woken with the sounds of the boys running into our bedroom.. proclaiming... "It's snowing outside!!!"

and...what do you know...it was coming down...and I mean...coming down something good...

The dogs were totally baffled by the idea of walking in it...but...somehow they managed...

and I left work early...to come home and play in the snow with the boys...We attempted to make a snowman...but...I think our snowman construction methods were a bit questionable...as...the simple application of cranberry facial features...seemed to cause the whole thing to come tumbling down...

Overall...it was a fun time...and now is turning into a nasty slushy mess...

Day 254

Christmas 2001, Dean was just over 6 months old...and when we showed this photo to our family and friends...everyone accused me of photoshopping a photo of my child onto a photo of Santa...

the nerve...

No...it was indeed a legitimate Santa photo...and I don't think we ever really got another good one...for either boy....

Day 253

Nothing says Christmas...Like Children...

Children...with Santa...

Children that are scared to death of Santa...

That's Christmas to me...

Day 252

This just in...
Check it out...
http://http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/35697254.html

Days 250 - 251

Yesterday we had a garage sale to ry to sell some of our stuff...and  I took the boys to a bowling birthday party...

Today...My Dad and older brother came over to help me work on my wooden fence...I knew it was a lot of work...but...I mean...It is just a beast of an effort...I'd say we are nearing the 50% complete mark...

and we still have the pool to finish....

Day 248 and 249

and here's a picture of our dog...sunbathing...

Day 247

We call this his Cyndi Lauper phase...

He argued that it is more of a classic Poison look...

But...I think at that point we are really just splitting hairs...

This was an 8am soccer game...It was about 42 degrees...

Oh...and Check this out...

I'm less and less impressed by the quality of youtube videos after you upload them...but...You'll get the idea...

Day 246

I went to visit my younger brother at his shop...where they work on cars installing lots of things that cost lots of money...

This little hooptie...had some cool hydraulics...and they were in the process of installing flame throwers on the exhaust system...

Don't you have those on your car? 

Days 242 - 245

Seriously...If you want to live in the Flood Zone...You're gonna have to raise your house up 1 foot above the base flood elevation...

Days 240 & 241

Happy Thanksgiving...ya'll..

Here's a dog sitting in a chair.

Days 238 and 239

So...yesterday...a 'volunteer' told me that we were better off (where I work) before I got here...

I guess he doesn't appreciate my opinions...

and that's a rabbit with a pancake on his head.

Days 225-237

So this was our last weekend of sports for a while...It'll be nice to get our early Saturday mornings back...but we'll miss the competition...

Both boys played in older age brackets...and both played really well this season...Daniel was the only kindergarten-er on his team...and he scored 3 goals this season...

and Once again...Dean was consistently the smallest player on the field with the biggest heart...Louisiana Lightning strikes again...

Days 213 - 224

It's too easy to be lazy...

Here's an action shot from Halloween....

Days 205 - 212

What is it about Conference Centers that requires them to buy ugly carpeting?

So...I'm staying at this Hotel in Miami Beach...the Eden Roc Resort...

Day 1 I get a 3 different room keys from the front desk that don't work...They had to come reprogram the lock to get it to work...

You can't get to the beach from the hotel...because of all the remodeling...You have to walk about 300 yards down the construction zone to get there...

Last night there was a fire in the parking garage and we had to stand out on the street for 20 minutes while the fire dept put it out...and it's freakin' cold in Miami right now...so that was fun...

I ordered my $17 hamburger...and got the wrong $4 coke...

and I got stuck on the 4th floor in the elevator...because it wouldn't open...

Surely...one day this is going to be a nice hotel...but...It isn't ready for this many guests...not today...

Day 204

It makes me question my whole decision making process....when I go to my orthopedic doctor..and he has THIS art in his lobby....

I mean...

come on...

THIS....

in your lobby?  Is the best you can do?

Really?

Day 203

Not too much with the house today....I picked up about 60 pounds of lawn clippings...dumped them in my woods...

That's right...my new lot has woods...so...I created a huge mulch pile...

Here's another shot from our DC trip...Arlington is a spectacularly moving place to visit...

Days 200 -202

What a weekend...

We got all sorts of help...and accomplished all sorts of stuff...

Got my hands on a Z-turn mower...Totally awesome...

I mowed the yard...twice...

and as you can tell from this wonderful photo....over 1/2 the yard was taller than me sitting on the mower...

We got 3 or 4 nice sized loads of stuff brought over...and it's starting to feel like our place...

Haven't met too many neighbors yet...hopefully they won't hate us.  :o)

Days 187-199

So...I was boycotting my own blog for a while there...No good reason...other than the fact that I was SICK of saying that I had no news about the house...

Well....that's all different now...

We are officially Land Barons...owning property in 2 states...

I'm sure the troubles are just beginning...but they are our troubles...and we can get out of this silly townhouse...

Our move-in date is tentatively going to be next saturday....

We'll be using the next week to clean, paint...and prepare the house for our arrival...

We are both happy...and we really did get a spectacular deal on a beautiful home...

Oh...and last week Janet and I went to DC so she could receive an award for being a Star employee at her company...it's quite an honor...and I'll be sharing more photos soon...

Day 186

Make sure that if you apply here...you have rules....

Day 185

Never Before have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.

Days 183 and 184

Saturday night at the LSU game there was a jet fly-by....it was as impressive a thing as I've seen in some time...

and seeing as how we were seated in the upper deck...the soundwave shook my shirt when it blasted by...

it was awesome...

The new TV show the Mentalist is pretty good...

Day 182

Here's a little clip from the LSU /Miss St. game...
Heroes was good today...

Days 177-181

Lots to say...but not much going on....

We celebrated Daniel's 5th birthday with my family and Janet's family....only 23 days after his actual birthday....stupid hurricane(s)...

This is Dean...crashed out Saturday night...I scored 4 tickets to the LSU / Miss. St. game....not a barn burner by any stretch of the imagination...but the weather was awesome...and the boys got to experience the electricity of Tiger Stadium...at night...for an SEC contest....

on a weekend that saw the # 1, #3 & #4 teams lose....it was nice to escape with a win...

Day 170-176

I know...I'm a slacker...

so...the new TV season has started...and we have programmed the DVR...

It's going to start smoking...

Monday - Heroes....the Sara Conner Chronicles, Chuck and Monday Night Football

Tuesday - the new show FRINGE is really good, Law and Order SVU, I recorded the Mentalist to see if it's any good...and the World Series of Poker is on every Tuesday as well...

Wednesday - America's Got Talent

Thursday - the Office, ER, Survivor, CSI, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia & my family loves that stupid show Hole in the Wall

Friday - Life

Still waiting on the Amazing Race and probably a dozen other shows that I'm forgetting...

and this one is for you 'red staters' out there...

Day 169

Day 168

Ever seen a $1,200 sink and faucet?

*cough*overpriced*cough*

Day 167

So...today we were attacked...by our townhouse...again...
As you may...or may not recall...During Hurricane Gustav...the house threw a mirror at me...that I detected with my SpiderSense and cat-like reaction speed....only to catch it and bring it safely to terra firma...unbroken...
Well, today...Janet wasn't so lucky...
Today, the townhouse attepted to crush poor Janet by throwing the refrigerator door at her...
Thankfully...she was wearing her Wonder Woman Bracelet thingies...and merely threw the door...full of ketchup, BBQ sauce and mustard aside...
you can't get us...Stupid townhouse...We're smarter than you....you're just a townhouse....not even a real house...

This is another of their 'moments'...

Day 166

My brother in law invited me to the LSU game with him tonight....I've never had better seats for a tiger game....

57 rows up on the 30 yard line...

I'm not sure that I've ever been less confident after a 41-3 victory...heading into SEC play...

Our quarterback situation is scary bad...and our kicking game leaves something to be desired...

Day 165

The dogs definitely have their 'moments'...

Day 164

No...Y ur sister be lyien?

I got my first wrong number text message while at the Parish Council Meeting tonight...

no house news today...

Day 163

So....The story so far...

We were told on Monday...that the bank's 'bottom line' is more or less $3,500 more than our offer...

We got BACK with my bank fellow...who is operating with a generator and a cell phone...and tried to send him the rest of our paperwork today...

We also found out there could be tax 'issues' with the house...and, hopefully, my agent and the listing agent are working on those details...

Basically, from what we understand, either the seller paid the taxes through a title company so he could sell the house, or a title company paid the taxes and put a lien on the property...who knows...hopefully we can find out tomorrow...

In a perfect world...which, almost 10 weeks later (that's how long ago we put our offer in on this house), we know this isn't...we could be closing on the property in 2 - 3 weeks...

It's pretty crazy...after looking at many, many houses since I moved here in April... To actually be this close to buying the nicest house (in our price range) for significantly less than we originally thought possible is just nuts....We are in the neighborhood of $120,000 less than their asking price...so...we are getting pretty excited....

I'll keep you informed if anything changes...and I'm sure 'OPERATION POOL CLEAN-UP' will lead to several adventurous posts...

oh...

and this is funny.

Day 162

Simply amazing...

Before Thursday... I'd say... that I maybe had seen 5 hummingbirds in my life... maybe...

Our friend puts out 3 hummingird feeders every day...and apparently there is an entire tribe of them living in the trees in their backyard...

I promise...there were no fewer than 50 birds attacking that red juice...

Day 161

Daniel celebrated his second hurricane birthday in his first 5 years...

Hurricane Frances in 2004 and Gustav in 2008...

As you can see...he's no worse for the wear...and we got to stay at a friend's house with electricity...so he had a little private party on his birthday...

Day 160

Church, Work, Football, Rest...
and I officially hate The New England Patriots...stupid Tom Brady and my fantasy football debacle...

We went to Walmart yesterday....to restock our shelves before IKE heads this way...and this was the line to get into the store...

Day 159

Today my younger brother Nick and I put up some tarps and visqueen on my parent's house...They had some leekage in several rooms...and with Hurricane Ike looking to be on it's way here...We don't think it will be reroofed before then...

Keep my mom in your thoughts and prayers...she's having some health 'issues' right now...and I'm sure she'd appreciate it...

Days 157 and 158

So we finished up the Parish-wide damage assessment yesterday...and today the FEMA folks are coming down to see the damage...
It is pretty much widespread around the entire Parish...and with IKE looming out there preparing to head into the Gulf shortly...it's not looking too good...
We got power back Thursday night around 5:00 pm...so...we were without for about 84 hours...There are still areas of the Parish that are predicted to be without power for upwards of 2-3 more weeks...
My parent's house is leaking...so...we are heading over there this morning to help put up a blue tarp on their roof....then it's over to another friend's house to help him cut up some of the (6) 36" oaks down in his yard...

Day 156

I'm tired...These 12 hour days that start at 6:30 are just absolutely killing me...
so...the mirror story...
During the hurricane...I was going through some boxes that we moved here...trying to figure out if there was just junk in it...or actually some good stuff...so...I found a box of slides from college that I wanted to look at..While walking to the kitchen area...so I could hold the slides up to the window to see...I was passing through the living room....
For whatever reason...I glanced up at the fireplace mantle...and I realized that the mirror mounted on the wall was falling...towards the earth...
I dropped the slides and miraculously caught the mirror.....all the while Janet is sitting on the couch....mouth wide open...not believing what was happening...
We just couldn't fathom the remarkable coincidence of the whole event...
It was just bizarre...

Day 155 part 2....the cooler hours...

So...the Family of 5 has relocated to a friend's house...his entire house is running off of a Natural gas generator...we were able to salvage some of our refrigerator goods...The dogs are in the guest house in their crate...with AC and a ceiling fan...so Boudreaux is nice and happy...
Janet is going to set up her home office here for the time being and the boys will be able to play with their 3 sons (all teenagers....but it looks like they are enjoying the younger generation...for now at least...)
The area is pretty dinged up...They are evacuating the hospitals due to the duration that we might be without power...Everyone is starting to freak out...because people, generally, only prepare for 2-3 days of food and water...and if it extends to 7-14 days....this entire region is going to be in some serious trouble...

The photo is of 'the house'...The one we haven't bought yet...but are trying to....the only real damage to speak of is the fence in the backyard...and the ceiling fans on the porch lost their blades...I didn't look inside...but from the street it looked Okie Dokie...

Day 155

We lost power at about 9:45...
We are in the heat...and dark...
I went into work today to start damage assessment...and it it a pretty broad brush of damage across the whole area...
The current speculation is it could be 2 to 4 weeks before power is completely restored...100% of the area is without power...
We are going to try to relocate to a friends house who has a natural gas generator...so...we'll see...
Overall, we fared well...Remind me to tell you the mirror story...

Day 154 - 9 am

All's well...
We are getting sustained winds around 40-50 miles and hour...and some stronger gusts...
Rainfall is generally not as heavy as we were expecting...Power is still on...and the wind just got so loud that we had to turn the volume up on the TV...

Day 153

Today...we started the hunkering down process...Usually...that's just what I call it when I take my shirt off and dance...(Get it...hunk-ering down...get it? nevermind)
Dean helped me load some sand bags up at the local firestation today...we blocked up our 3 exterior doors...and we are officially bunkered in for the time being...
We are getting some bands now...it's 9:40ish...word on the street is that our neighborhood doesn't flood....we'll see...I guess...
Depending on our power situation tomorrow...I'll update the blog regularly from STORM CENTRAL...
Gustav is nearing the homestead...keep your fingers crossed for us...
Oh...and for those of you that aren't sure where we live...exactly...
According to the google earth hurricane tracking software...we are approximately 65 miles northwest of where it is projected to make landfall...

Days 151, 152

If only there was something exciting to talk about...
Justin Isham came down to visit us Wednesday thru Saturday... and... well...he brought some 'weather' with him...
He took a trip down to New Orleans Harrah's casino on Thursday....we hung out here on Friday and played some golf...then we braved the New Orleans hurricane evacuators...and went back to Harrah's Saturday...then to the airport...
When the casino closed early we went to eat al a local diner...and then spent 2 hours in traffic driving 16 miles to the airport...
We went to a place called 'Mothers'...Their famous Poboy is called the Ferdi Special...it has ham, roastbeef and an additional topping called Debris...not sure what it is...but...you get alot of gravy au jous type of stuff that make your bread all soggy and mighty tasty...

Day 150

Funny story...
Tonight, we were talking about taking a group camping trip...and I said that we would need 2 tents...
and Janet asked how we would keep the boys in their tent...
i said...we won't have to worry about it...the Bears will make sure the boys stay in their tent...and the conversation pretty much faded out...
Well...about 5 minutes later we realized Dean was crying on the couch...because we were going to let the Bears keep the boys in their tent...
So...I had to console him...and insure to him that we wouldn't ever go camping where there are bears....Mountain Lions...but definitely no bears...

Janet didn't think i was helping the situation...
but Daniel went with it...and started naming other animals that would be there...like Kangaroos...

Day 149

California, Texas, North Carolina and Virginia...
I see you....You're checkin me out...

Are you here because you're lost? Do I know you? What's going on?
Are you waiting for th eFall TV season to get my reviews of Heroes, Lost, 24, American Idol...and all the other junky shows I can't stop watching?

What's going on in these rogue states...that aren't Louisiana and Florida...Feel free to leave a comment...to let me know you stopped by to take a read...

Oh...and got some news on the house front today...
We were told...by an agent...that she spoke to someone at the bank...and she said...that they said...that they have submitted our offer for acceptance...Meaning...we could be closing on the house in 2 weeks or so...Just in time to have Gustav blow it away...

Days 147 & 148

I dare you not to laugh...

Day 146

We went to Mississippi today to celebrate a good friend's first child's baptism...

I thought the addition of the stars and bars flag inside the Catholic Church was an odd place to encounter racism...

uh...I mean....heritage...

Days 142-145

Keepin' busy in these parts...Another week of school for the boys is done...We went and looked at some houses yesterday...This one, in particular has some CRAZY purple carpet and pink and yellow walls throughout the house...

We got some good news about the other house...but nothing definite yet...still waiting on a response from the bank....keep your fingers crossed...it was 6 weeks today that we put in our offer....

Day 141

Nala has her place as well...

oh...and check this out...

I may be a bonafide planner one day...yet...

Day 140

I'm sick...

My dog keeps stealing my chair...

I'm totally unprepared to dominate my Fantasy Football league...

Olympic Gymnastic Scoring stinks...

and I think I'm going to have to fire someone....soon...

see you tomorrow.