oh my, where do i even start?

hurricanes - how about we get started there? gustav came in our general directions, putting us right on the east side (which is the side NO ONE wants to be on.) i started to freak a little, memories of feeling lost came over me. though, to be honest, there is no way that another storm could gut me the way katrina did. at least not now, maybe in 25 years, but not now. at the last minute gustav did something odd, he strengthened on the west side and weakened on the east! so we were spared the insanity that seemed so certain. we were with out power for a week, and out of work, our house was a wreck of fast packing. when we came back home to our ransacked little abode we found our place in pretty decent shape, some siding and roofing was blown away and a leak in the ceiling had returned to haunt my kitchen. (my kitchen is also my art room so all my art supplies are piled and pushed and in a general state of disarray, only some of my scrapping items got trashed, which is sad but cool. most was saved, just can't be used because the area is so nuts right now!) LOTS of groceries were tossed, which is hard for a family who budgets everything so carefully! ultimately we were blessed, and when ike came in - raging like few storms have - we were once again blessed. there is a certain kind of heartache when you rejoice in a storm missing your home. now, after katrina, i disdain that praying a storm move over 100 miles means i am hurting another family. i get through that with prayers for them also, for their safety and recovery. as we sat with out lights out once again, with rain driving side ways and the schools closed i could only imagine was ike was doing to people over 200 miles away. this world is so big and that is such a hard thing to live with sometimes.

 

books - i might have mentioned that i was finally going to give in and read the twilight series. well, i got that done in the hot and still days after gustav. i found it, childish? a bit simple and immature, almost nerve grating and also ADDICTIVE. i am currently waiting for my mother to finish eclipse so that i can read it. sad, but true. and on the topic of books - i had seen this a while ago and was on the fence, after being evacuated and going for days needing new books i was sold!

it's the amazon kindle - their e-reader. i am so in love.

 

 

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no one's home

this is just a quick fyi - a shout out for sam and all the others - me and my family have left our home in st. bernard parish. we are "safe" in a more northern parish. prayers and positive thinking are still welcomed, as i would really like to go back to my house and find it there. it's such a charming little home. okay, i am going to stop before i break down and sob into my keyboard. i'll update when i can.

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my tummy hurts

i am a hurricane survivor - katrina took my first home, my family home, my job, my friends, my life and history. katrina swallowed the evidence of all i was. three years later i am in my home parish, finally. renting, and making a life. new history, new job, the kids have a new school. we have a new, albeit brief, history. my tummy hurts and i want to cry. and, i think, i am a little scared.

 

 

 

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yay! beijing olympics!

beijing is hosting the 2008 summer olympic games, and if you didn't know that you need to wake up, crawl out from under your rock and tune in! team usa has some great players over there representing. team china dominated men's gymnastics and i, for one, am happy for them. they worked hard and they got what they worked for. in a lovely turn of unfortunate event team usa let the world know that down DOES NOT mean out as the held on tight to the bronze metal. solid and sometimes surprising performances by the team of complete new comers were awe inspiring. perhaps the v.i.p. player and the real fairy tale this year is jonathan horton (below, third from the front.) all of the guys rocked it, but horton seemed to really embody the spirit and the drive, he was there every time he took the stage and he stuck each performance with a perfection that only the chinese seemed capable of! his was not the only break out performance, as truly this was a metal the entire team won, but his was the most amazingly consistent! (not to mention that little houston hottie is the cutest thing, huh?)

there isn't much to say about the usa and swimming other than michael phelps and DID YOU SEE THAT RELAY RACE? okay, i don't even want to blog about this, it's been blogged by people far better and more informed than me. also, the usa girls picked up gold, silver and bronze in fencing and while i don't know much about fencing that seems pretty cool. while we are talking about severe domination lets talk volleyball. that's right i am bringing it: misty may-treanor (below, brunette) and kerri walsh. they are AMAZING and if you are not currently following the, check the effin' schedule and tune it! DO IT!

finally i leave you with this statement: we have some great people over there doing great things, tune in and take pride!

(oh, you better believe me, i am in love! i ADORE them. i am buying a key chain as we speak! i am buying two in fact, so i can make one into a necklace. i want the plush dolls also!) kisses!

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i have loved you this whole time!

so my number one hot mess, who i have loved through her ups and downs, is no longer a hot mess. my lovely britney is just plain HOT! shown here, VERY recently giving a shout out to her boys! you should check out her promotional videos for the vma's she is so cute and sweet! i really can NOT wait for her full blown ass kickin' rebound! (the girl is coming back!) yay! somebody call ms. chris crocker and tell him momma is coming home! kisses!

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me & the muppets

where should i start? well lets' start like this:

this blog is coming from a challenge question - who is your favorite sesame street puppet? but those of you who know me know that there are no simple answers to anything you ask me so instead of shouting KERMIT as soon as the question registered i had to sit and think a lot about this. favorite is a big order to fill and while i love my some sweet, green kermit i don't know if that makes him my favorite. somehow i was given one hell of a crazy imagination from the earliest of my memories i was always able to envision the words my mother would read, tell myself stories that i would fall asleep and have as dreams. my mother was always very open with us as children, i knew what the act of sexual intercourse was, i understood the physical differences of male and female. somewhere i think i didn't understand that that amazing love that my mother and father had found, that marriage and family that they had built, was limited to humans. i was in love with so many cartoon characters and in my young mind i believed that i would grow up and meet these muppet guys or gals and we would have an amazing friendship. me and the muppets. perhaps my favorite should be who i identified most with and in that case it would be ernie.

because i was ernie. i was the younger, more curvy sister (let me say here that i now know bert and ernie are not brothers but as a child that is what i thought) to a brainiac who made being good, smart and clean look as effortless as breathing. i was the goofy yin to her mature yang. we had different interest and thoughts. i would play with small plastic horses and she would read. i was ernie, only ernie was never my favorite.

if my favorite would be the muppets i want to have as my bff then i gues the tittle would go to that inseparable duo of the giant yellow bird with the most unimaginative name in history, big bird & his bf Mr. Snuffleupagus.

i don't know why, maybe i felt misunderstood and longed for that deep bf connection, but i always wanted to turn this two-some into a trio! i could clearly see myself sleeping over at big birds nest and saying, "g'night, bird." or eating cabbage for dinner with snuffy and his sister alice.

i will admit to having some strange crushes in my life and none more odd than my green hunk of amphibian love, kermit. should my favorite be the muppet that i had the most passion for? if so, kermit would take that cake!

i don't know what it was about kermit the frog but to me, a young impressionable girl, kermit was the sexiest man alive! he was a hot piece of greenery i wanted to marry and have babies with. though i can tell you i NEVER imagined what i would have to do to have those babies, in my head they just appeared.

in all probable actuality the easiest way to determine my favorite would be to call on the me of 1985 and have her answer the question. she said, with a certainty i envy, "the twiddlebugs."

she was right, how could i have forgotten? twenty-three years does not seem long enough to erase all of the delicate details of youth. indeed it is, though. the twiddlebugs were and are my favorite, i wanted them in my garden and even though i have no garden i want them still. something tells me they wouldn't be happy ina tank with a bowl of water and a wheel to run on, so i guess its best that i don't have the ability to go out and scoop up a family for my own nastalgic pleassure!

and as you leave me i ask you this - who is your favorite sesame street muppet? hit up the comments with the answer or a link to your long, over thought blog on the matter! kisses!

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when good blogs go bad

it makes me so sad when good blogs suddenly change their format or style and become crap. i understand evolution, but please! like there is a certain fashion blog that i have loved from the moment my sister let me in on it, only lately it just seems less edgy, less funny, less like itself. i hate when good blogs get forgotten, like junkiwant.blogspot.com - like what? don't you want things anymore. you were my shopping paradise!

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good morning, good morning, good morning...

it's time to rise and shine! good morning, good morning, good morning, i hope your feelin' fine! get up, get up, get out of bed, it's time to wake up you sleepy head! the day is dawnin' just for you and all your dreams are coming true - doodley-doo-doodley-doo!

am and i are looking into new, more effective, less traumatic ways of waking up. in my quest i have come up with several really neat-o clocks - but think we will be going with this guy:

Hammacher Schlemmer Progression Alarm Clock - he wakes you up over 30 minutes with increasing light, nature sound and aromas!

other fun but probably not effective on the daily clocks were these:

the flying alarm clock, the clock itself does not actually fly but when the alarm goes off the propeller takes off and the clock can't be turned off until the propeller is snapped back in!

the wind chime alarm clock, which is pretty self explanatory, if you ask me. later baby-cakes! xoxox

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OMG!!! no way!

so like, FOREVER, i have been trying to figure out what this one toy i had was. it was this really simple, but soooo cute, centaur mother and baby. i finally found a website here that was all about them. they were called shimmers and baby and there were all sorts of sets. so armed with this new information and NEEDING to own my girls again i did what any woman would - i ran to ebay! on ebay i found my set, new in the bubble for 225 DOLLARS?!?!?! (oh, but shipping is free. i should hope so!) i guess for now i will just have to be satisfied with knowing their names and having these pictures.

clover & dapples: