Puddle of Wonder

Last Thursday and Friday we had some pretty hard rain. Parts of Houma actually had about 12 inches of rain. We were very lucky, where we live drains very fast. So while we had lots of lightening and hail and rain Thursday night, the water had receded by Friday afternoon.
As you know, we have two dogs. Both are inside dogs and big babies. If it is wet outside, you usually have to bribe them into going outside. Friday was different. They were ready to go, tired of being stuck in the house!
I had my camera on me because I was planning to take some fun pictures of my cool new rainboots in the water puddles. The only puddle was on the backside of our yard and Monty beat me to it.
Now, he never did actually get IN the puddle, but he sure looked like he was determined to catch something that was in it! I swear, I looked, there was ziltch in the puddle for the exception of a few leaves. No buggies, no worms, no crawfish, no nuthin. Maybe it was just calling out to him. He reminded me of a cat going fishing! Being the good mother I am, of course I took pictures! All the blogs I read are moms telling fun stories about their children. Moms: Enjoy a story about my son and his fun day with a puddle!!

LA RoadFood Festival

Maybe its because I'm from the South, but I love me a good festival! I love the sunshine, the Queens, the food, the crafts, THE FOOD (I'm sure the Board of Health just stays away from these things and that makes it all the better) Here in the South, if you can fry it and put it on a stick, we're in!



So I came across this on Facebook and on a blog I read, The Cajun Foodie. It just sounds like some great eating and one hullava good time... Read on....




On April 4-5, 2009, the 1st Annual Louisiana RoadFood Festival will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 11 am to 7 pm. The RoadFood Festival is the creation of a countrywide team of foodies including Jane and Michael Stern of Gourmet Magazine and “The Splendid Table” and Stephen Rushmore Jr., the visionary creator of Roadfood.com and RoadfoodDigest.com. The festival brings unique and delicious dishes from sixteen revered eateries all over Louisiana into the heart of New Orleans, thereby reminding both locals and visitors of the outstanding food specialties to be discovered throughout the state.


Sixteen different restaurants will be cooking food that best represents the diverse regions of the Louisiana Culinary Trails. The RoadFood Festival’s restaurant tents will line four city blocks, the 300-600 blocks of Royal Street, in the French Quarter. Each booth will sell specialties of one of the great restaurants of the state’s diverse regions.


The two-day festival coordinates with the Annual Oyster Jubilee on Bourbon Street, which takes place on Saturday morning, April 4th, 2009. The two events will be linked by a traditional 2nd line Parade from Oyster Jubilee’s “World’s Longest Oyster Po-boy” to Royal Street, the site of the Louisiana RoadFood Festival.


A portion of profits from the 1st annual RoadFood Festival will benefit Cafe Reconcile, a non-profit enterprise located in the Central City neighborhood of New Orleans that provides job training in the hospitality and restaurant industries for the city’s at-risk youth.


Schedule of Events:



Saturday April 4th, 2009
11 AM to 7 PM - Louisiana RoadFood Street Festival (300-600 blocks of Royal Street)
11 AM to 12:00 PM - Assembly of the world’s longest oyster Po-Boy (311 Bourbon Street)
12 PM - Take part in eating the world’s longest oyster Po-Boy
12:15 PM to 12:45 PM - Afterwards, join a traditional 2nd line parade to the Louisiana RoadFood street festival
6 PM to 10:30 PM - Roadfood.com Shrimp and crawfish boil party



Sunday April 5th, 2009
11 AM to 7 PM - Louisiana RoadFood Street Festival (300-600 blocks of Royal Street)
1:30 PM to 3:00 PM - An Afternoon with Jane and Michael Stern. A round-table with attending experts on edible Americana taking part and offering their experience and good-eats tips.




Some of the restaurants that are going to be there are:
* Lasyone’s Meat Pie Restaurant

+ Meat Pies

+ Crawfish Pies


* Dunbar’s Seafood

+ Famous Fried Catfish

+ Potato Salad

+ Pralines


* Cafe Reconcile

+ White Beans

+ Banana Foster Bread Pudding


* Vaucresson

+ Sausage Creole

+ Hot Sausage Po-Boy

+ Creole Crawfish Sausage Po-Boy


* Saltwater Grill

+ Fried Green Tomato Shrimp Remoulade Po-boy

+ Crawfish and Spinach Boat


* Tabasco Country Store

+ Jambalaya

+ Gator on a Stick

+ Pralines


* Plum Street Snowball

+ Snowballs


* Pull My Pork BBQ and Seafood

+ Pull Pork BBQ Sandwich and Plate

+ Louisiana BBQ Shrimp


* Boucherie

+ Cochon de Lait Po-Boy

+ 12 Hour Roast Beef w/ Horseradish Cream and Pickled Red Onions

+ Fresh Cut French Fries

+ Duck Cracklins



To sum it up, Whoa, Baby! Just reading through this makes my mouth water and my tummy growl. Dinner time!!

Home Sweet Home

If you are on Facebook as well, you know that I am tearing up and replacing the floor in my dining room. Well, not me, my Uncle Skippy is actually doing all the labor. Let me explain...
I live in a 60+ year old home. I am the second owner. The original owners, the Johnson's, built this house. He was an engineer of sorts who "rigged" more of the home than follow directions. It wasn't in the best shape when we purchased it. The entire house was painted in this odd powder-y paint that rubbed off like chalk when you touched it. I'm sure it was full of lead. There were no overhead lights, just power outlets wired to the switches for lamps. The kitchen walls by the stove were covered in thick grease from years of frying. The A/C unit was original, and no one in our town could even service it. (A current employee called his dad out of retirement to come take a look.) And did I mention the wall to wall carpet in every room!!! It had to be 50+ years old itself. And it was FILTHY. (I do regret, I have no pictures of my home in its before stages. No idea why we didn't take any. Maybe it was just that bad..)
The repairs have been on going. We did what was necessary over the first 2 months to make it live-able. Repainted every nook and cranny. Pulled up the carpet and did what we could with what was underneath. 2 bedrooms had nice hardwood floors. The rest were not so lucky. So we just deck stained and polyurethaned the rest of the hallway and living room. The master bedroom floor was bad, so we put down an easy Pergo floor. The kitchen, dining and office space got peel and stick tile.
In the 3 or so years I have lived here, the dining room floor, which is smack dead center of my home, started to feel like I was walking on soggy bread. We put a rug down and called it a day. This past Mardi Gras though, it seemed everyone who came over noticed the sinking floor. So we decided to call in the big guns (Uncle Skippy) and fix it. One day project, right? Right!?!
Sunday night I pulled up the sticky tiles. Needless to say, the rotting floor came up with the tiles in spots. It was gross. Monday, the pro shows up bright and early and begins to cut into the floor. I go shower and finish getting ready for the day. Before I leave for work, I stick my head in to inquire. I am met with my uncle standing in a hole in the middle of my dining room, just shaking his head. It was worse than he thought. The entire floor was rotten all the way through the floor and subfloor. One of the joyce's that runs through the room and basically holds the floor up was cracked as well. YIKES! So you're telling me the floor was waiting to collapse, that I really could have fallen through the floor!!!!!!! My paranoid soul was flying high. Please please check all the other ones in the house too!!! (All good BTW)
So, poor Uncle Skippy's one day project has turned into a 3 day affair. He has to brace the joyce, replace the subfloor and floor and then place down the new Pergo floor we picked out. He is a miracle worker!
My floor is reinforced well enough to have a baby elephant parade across it. The floor is made out of treated wood that is guaranteed not to rot! And the Pergo is going down nicely.
Now that all the furniture is out of that room, I am trying to decide how to decorate the space! I never did anything in that room, it just has white walls! I'm thinking a retro wallpaper... I just need help to hang it!! I am a terrible DIYer!!

Healing Flower Power!

I wanted to include some photos of the flowers that well-wishers sent. They are entirely too pretty! Thanks guys!!

From Rushing Media

Irises, Daisies, and Snapdragons

Bath goodies!

From Mama Dee!!

Daisies and Tulips

From Blair, Sunny and Lola

Daisies, Snapdragons, Lemons and Limes!

Design by Butterflies and Flowers!

Life in the ER!

And so it starts...

Saturday morning I woke up to tummy cramps. Not unusual, just thought I had to "go potty". I had some coffee, saw John off to play golf, took the dogs out to play in the yard, and enjoyed the beautiful day. After a while, the cramping got more urgent so I went inside to "go". To spare you all the lovely medical details, we will just say the pain progress greatly during the process. I decided to ignore it because a friend of mine was having a baby shower for her first child, which is actually TRIPLETS! (Congrats Heather and Brett!!) I continued to get ready, pausing while the bad pains passed. By 2pm, I gave up. I was doubled over in the bed, clutching my pillow to my lower abdomen, praying for an answer.

I started to make some phone calls because, honestly, my worst fear was that I was over reacting to something simple, like gas. I knew I would never hear the end of it if I panicked over a little gas bubble!! My parents told me to call the Haydel Clinic. John told me to call Chad (a friend that is a paramedic) and Nolan (his bro-in-law that is a nurse). I did ALL of the above. Everyone told me to go straight to the Emergency Room because no one wanted to diagnosis me over the phone. Smart friends of mine! Phone call back to the parents to come get me and bring me to the ER. (No offense Chad, but I really didn't want my first ride in an ambulance just yet.)

I must say, the people in the ER at TGMC were very nice. I am sure they see young women doubled over, screaming, in extreme pain, while their mothers DEMAND answers all the time. (It seemed that despite my predicament I was still the calmest person in my entourage! I have learned that my mother may not need to be around if I ever give birth!)

We were moved to a bed in the ER within 2 hours, which seemed pretty quick to me considering the sign in the lobby said 4 hour wait! The nurse was VERY sweet and patient because I could only move and answer questions through the waves of stabbing pain. I met with the doctor who was very kind too. You always hear horror stories but he listened very carefully and was quick to rule out some of our worries (kidney stones, ovarian cysts). He ordered pain meds and a CAT scan. I am that one strange person that began to cry when I found out that they were going to give me Dimerol. (I hate that feeling, the dizziness and the loss of control. I cried hysterically when they gave me laughing gas for my wisdom teeth years ago.) But apparently I am a hoot on the stuff. I asked the CAT scan technician to let me know if there were kittens or cats in my belly. I am nearing 30 ya know. WOW!! But at least I wasn't in pain any more.

Once my results were in, I was diagnosed with...drum roll please... DIVERTICULITIS?!?!?!? I thought only really old people got that!! Oh No!! Ok, deep breath! So, what's the deal with me/er/admit to hospital? The doctor replies that there is basically an infection in my colon that is causing inflammation and the pain. He wants to go ahead and knock it out with several rounds of antibiotics. No prob, give me some pills and I can go home, right? RIGHT?!?!!?

Yeah, not so much. His idea of knocking it out involves strong meds given by IV every 12 hours. Crap. Stupid careful doctors. My mom agrees for me that this is the best course of action. They give me my first dose while in the ER. It made me sick and slightly crazy. John was so sweet. He held my hair back and got a cold rag and kept talking to me. He is in the correct field of work; he is good in a hospital setting. We are informed that there are no beds available in the hospital, that we will be spending some time in the ER while we wait. John decided to stay with me, sitting/sleeping in the chair in the room. We got there around 4pm. At midnight, they came in to move me to a room. John, again, gets to snooze in a tiny recliner in my room. Mind you, he is over 6 ft. Wow, thats love!

To shorten this post, I will fast-forward through the rest of my stay. Since I went in over the weekend, I saw an on-call doctor on Sunday who changed the diagnosis to Colitis. More meds and visitors. (LOLA came to see me! She was sooo uplifting!!). John stayed with me again on Sunday night. He made sweet eyes at a nurse who snuck an illegal sofa bed into our room. He was so supportive and sweet and kind and wonderful and... ok, I'll stop. Just very much the rock I needed.

Move to Monday. I get to see my own doctor who informs me that in order to actually make the diagnosis, I will have to have a colonoscopy to view my insides. yea. I have IBS, so this will be my 3rd one before 30. Yipee.

I am moved to another room Monday afternoon, which just makes me think I'm stuck here for another night. Boo. Hiss.

I need to pause here. I want to let every one know what a great place I work and what wonderful people I work for. Both of my bosses, Bonnie and Brian, came to visit along with another co-worker Bryan and his family.

Also, Tiffany brought Nick to visit. Lorie brought Whitney and Brandi tagged along with Bonnie. Kidd, Wendy, Lexie, Chad, Sydney, Mama Dee and Nolan: Thanks you guys! You were all so sweet to stop by. It was great to have so many visitors! Thank you so much for the well wishes, cards and flowers!!! I love you guys!!

Anyways, it was my Mom's day to sit with me Monday. We had a great day entertaining all those previously mentioned. We watched crappy daytime TV and read magazines. She almost lost her stomach when the had to move my IV for the 3rd time and it began to bleed. A LOT.

John came back to the hospital Monday evening in time to watch House and 24. Around 8:30 Dr. Scott made his rounds and decided I could be discharged. To my mother's chorus of Alleluia, I am very happy to hear that news. I am ready for good sleep in my own bed. With my pups! John is slightly dismayed, because this means Mom doesn't get to spend the night with me on an uncomfortable sofa bed. RATS.

I have follow up appointments with several doctors to figure out what it was and what we can do about it. Hopefully the mystery will be solved. If not, we can always call House!!