It's getting hot out here!

It is sooo out out today that I feel a nap coming on. Sammy is sick with a kitty cold. I took him to the vet this morning and she wasn't sure what his problem is. He got antibiotics, and some medication which I haven't figured out how I'm going to give to him yet.

It's my Birthday

Today is my birthday and I made through 48 years. I'm not a birthday person so my goal for the day was not to spend money. We did end up spending a few bucks on steaks that Woody grilled and Cecilia came over and made the most wonderful flat bread sandwiches in the oven. I had blue cheese salad and baked potato with my steak and it turned out to be a great day at home.

Woody marinating the steaks

Step One: prepare the flat bread with olive oil, sesame seeds, flax seeds and Parmesan cheese.

The chef creates her art!

The finished product included spinach bread, tomato and bell pepper with Parmesan cheese bread.

Driving Miss Annie

So I'm backing my car out of the garage when the next thing I know I'd hit Woody's car.

Woody was in Chicago and we had a dumpster in the driveway for the roofing project. When he came home he parked behind the dumpster and well......

The good news is that I had the bike rack on the back of my car so it missed Woody's door and kept my car from being damaged. I only messed up one small quarter panel which is only $350.00 to fix.

New House Color

One of the big surprises this summer was the sudden need to make repairs to the house! We've ad drought from so long that when it did start raining all the flaws started to sow up. Our gutters were too rotten to handle the rain and needed to replaced and the roof was old and rotting away too. We also thought that while we were at it we might as well paint the hours too, and that lead to the change in color from dark brown to Mose green. As usual the color looked much different on the house then on the color swab, but I find I like it just as much.


On really big surprise was th extent of rot on the front window. We are now waiting for a replacement window as the one that is there now is damaged on the bottom. Here it is with the molding pulled off.

I kept the brown accent wood because I thought it would make the front entrance look three dimentional. I'm still not 100% sure it should stay that color.

These picutres were taken before the job was finished. I'm publish more photo's once the enire job is done. (And trash is cleaned up!)

Here is a better view of the roof. Woody wanted a light color so we went with a "Silver" which ended up looking white. It's hard to know who a roof will look from such a small single sample. Woody went out of town this week so I had to monitor all the work. I went up on the roof twice to inspect the chimney and carpentry work before the shingles were completed and then again once the job was done. Thank goodness for the Internet as I was able to find pictures of what I should be looking for in good roofing construction.

Return to the Scene of the Crime!

Once again I returned to Papadeaux's this time with Russ, Debbie, Anne-Grete and Woody. There must be something in the air there because everyone wanted a taste of my food but didn't want to share their meal. I will take pride in the fact that I did order the best meal, but found that I needed to protect what was mine from the forks of my friends and husband!

It took two forks to fend of the poaching glances of my table mates!

Here is the meal they all wanted a taste of. Muscles in garlic sauce. Unfortunately there was only a dozen so if I gave four people a taste I would have starved.

Woody ordered the blackened fish special and you know he doesn't share!

Anne-Grete ordered the shrimp creole and while she offered to share she sure cleaned off her plate pretty fast!

I guess the moral of this story is the if you want good food go to Papadeaux's!

My weekend in Louisiana

This past weekend I participated in my sister wedding. It was her second time walking down the aisle and the first for Richard her new husband. The wedding was much better than the first one, if I do say so myself. The food was great and the dresses were pretty nice too. Tia and Courtney looked the best. Nina looked great but then she was the bride and the bride always looks the best. Here are a few pictures for my days in the big city of Monroe and Shreveport.

This picture was taken on my fathers back porch with my mom and Uncle Gogen. He came from California for the wedding.

Here is my younger brother J.P. just in from his job. Don't you love a job the requires a wool suite in July?


I spent the big bucks and had my hair ct for the wedding. Unfortunately this was the only time it looked like this. I ended up trimming the front long pieces.

Here I am with Jacob and Emily

Someone needs to have a talk with Tia. It's LSU baby!!!!


Here we are at my Mom's place with Uncle Gogen


Here is my mom, Uncle Gogen, Tia and her friend Stephanie. She helped out with picture taken while I was doing by Matron of honour duties.


I'm not commenting on this picture of me.



these last two pictures were taken in Papa's car on the way to the wedding rehearsal in Shreveport.

A Day at the Biltmore House

The last day of June proved to be a great day for a road trip. I am please to report that this year I didn't get lost on the way home. For some reason finding the Biltmore House is easier then finding my way home, but I digress. Anne-Grete, Ceclia and I hit the road early so we would be able to spend a full day on the grounds at Biltmore House.

I absolutely love coming here. This is my 6th trip (maybe more, I don't remember) and it gets better with each visit. There is always something new to see and remember. I've taken the "behind the scene" tour on my last trip but this time I followed the girls through the main tour. We didn't rent headphones but reviewed the booklet as we walked through the house.

This is the main entrance where all the tours start.

I was able to drop the girls off in front of the Biltmore so they waited for me to park the car in the food court area which was formally the court for the horse stables.

The house was packed with people and the wait to move through the rooms was long. I think the biggest problem is people bringing small children through the tour. As nice as it is, the Biltmore house itself is no place to take small children although there is plenty of activities to do on the grounds.

I tried to sneak off a couple of pictures inside the house but I got busted when the flash went off. Call it a blond moment!

We finally made it to the veranda with the most beautiful scenic overlook. See how exhausted we look and we only went through four rooms.
The view from the veranda!

After the house tour was complete we moved on to the terrace gardens. Being the sharp photographer that I am, this is the only picture I have of all that beauty!

I did manage to take a few pictures in the green house. If only my plants would look so good!


Not a bad picture of Ceclia, I'm glad she didn't stick out her tongue as she often does. She just loves having her picture taken!Only our way to the winery I spotted this love scene of cows on a hillside. Since it is my dream to paint a picture of "landscape with cows" I turned the car around and took this picture to paint!

We toured the winery and enjoyed the wine tasting and i must say the the Biltomre wines are really very good. Anne-Grete treated and bought a few bottles of the rosé wine. After the wine tasting we ate lunch in the Bistro.

Once again Cecelia puts and her happy face for a picture!


This is what happens when you prompt her to smile!