Picking up where I left off...

Wednesday, May 21st
I packed up me and B, then when he got home from work, me, B, Jeremy, and Mandy set out to drive to St. Louis. Since this was their official move they were driving both cars up, and we were going to be driving up anyway a few days later, we decided to go up a little early so we could save on gas and all take turns driving. This worked out well - I started out driving JB's suv w/ B in the passenger seat, and JB drove mandy's car w/ her as passenger. After about 4 hrs, we stopped for dinner and then B and I switched driving. After another 4 hours, we stopped again. B felt bad that JB hadn't had a brake yet, so they had Mandy come over to drive the suv w/ me as passenger and B drove the car w/ JB in it. I have to say that the last 4 hours of the trip flew by. It's amazing how fast a drive can go by when you have two people talking the whole time. Girls can do some talking!


Thursday, May 22nd
It was morning by the time we arrived at B's parent's house. We greeted his parents and then the 4 of us went straight to bed. Unfortunately, going to bed at this hour is not foreign to me.
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The next few days were spent visiting with B's parents and preparing for the party on Sunday.
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Goat Crossing! The neighbor's goats
This is standing in the street in front of B's parents house.

Sunday, May 25th - Family Reunion
About 60 people came out to celebrate B's Grandparent's 60th Wedding Anniversary. Other than being waaaay hotter than the nice breezy days leading up to the party, it was great.
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It's rare to have all 3 brothers and wives together, so we took the opportunity to get a family photo.

After helping clean up afterwards, we went back to JB and Mandy's new apartment for the night which is about about an hour and a half away. About 20 minutes after we left, we got a call from B's mom saying they had to go into the basement because there was a chance a tornado might be coming through! Thankfully, everything ended up ok, just some wind. They had one go through not too long ago and they've finally gotten things fixed up from that one.
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I took this from the car while we were driving. It's hard to see in this little pic, but I like the streeks of light from the passing cars.

Monday, May 26th
JB brought us to the airport at 5:30 (boo!) this morning. Nana and Harley picked us up from the airport. She dog-sat for us and said Harley was a perfect angel the whole time. (But, of course!)
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About 11:30 this evening, I was sitting up in the gameroom when I heard that memorable sound of a raccoon baby crying in our wall. Luckily for me, it happened to coming from the hole we already made in our wall! We had wood held up against the hole by a really heavy box and we left town praying a really strong raccoon didn't push it away while we were gone and destroy our house. So I moved it away and pulled out "Baby Raccoon #2", even smaller than the last one. Have I mentioned how incredibly cute baby raccoons are? Then I went to Walmart in the middle of the night to get more kitten milk replacement since I left what I bought last time with the other baby when I dropped it off. Walmart doesn't have the kind I like to use, but your options are pretty limited in the middle of the night. It didn't really matter because it wouldn't eat. Raccoon babies are hard to feed, I'm finding.


Tuesday, May 27th
"Raccoon baby #2" died today. I was sad. B buried it out behind our fence under the tree where my old turtle, Sammy, resides. I didn't even have to say anything, he just went and got the shovel and said "come on". He knows me so well.

Brace yourself! It's a long one!

O.k., so it's not May 12th. It's actually May 21st. Yep, I've been a bad blogger. I've been updating this post, but hadn't put the pictures in, so I never posted it. Due to some complaints, I figured I better get crackin' and get this thing out, since I have now accumulated 3 weeks worth. Sorry, it's so lengthy. Oh, and we don't normally eat out this much!

Thursday, May 1st

After selling the house in New Orleans, my brother came back with my mom for a visit. And they brought crawfish with them! Yum! I was quite pleased seeing as I was in great need for a fix. When I got to mom's, she, my brother and Johnny were all outside boiling the crawfish. After chatting for a minute or so, I look waaay over to where their horse Maggie is grazing, and said "Wait a minute, what's that?!" They all look at me with cheese eatin' grins on their faces and say "What are you talking about? What's what?" And I said "Um, uh, hellooo, there's two of them!" They started laughing. They had gotten another horse and had kept it a secret so that I would discover it when I got there. She's only a year old and her name is Abby.

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Maggie (L) and Abby (R)
Mmmm...goood!

Why do Louisiana folks read the newspaper? Table cloths for crawfish eatin'!

I had to "eat and run" to meet, B, James, and Shannon to help J.B. and Mandy pack up their apartment and load up their U-Haul to moved to St. Louis. They are moving their stuff this weekend and then will come back and stay with us for another few weeks before officially moving.

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Friday, May 2nd

Yay, I finally rented some movies that I didn't hate! - Enchanted, 27 Dresses, and Lars and the Real Girl. So, I thought "Lars and the Real Girl" was going to be totally stupid, I mean it is about a man in love with a life sized doll after all. But it totally surprised me! Now, I must say, to truely appreciate this movie, you have to be able to look past the surface level man/doll thing, which I think a lot of people might have trouble with. If you can do that, you will find that this movie was very well done, well acted, and full of symbolic elements. If you get stuck on the doll, you'll miss it all! - As I found a few nights later, when I watched it with B. lol

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Saturday, May 3rd

This evening Lisa went out to my mom's house with us for a dinner with some of the people that helped them move into their house. Before dinner, I gave her a tour of the "animal farm" on the golf cart. We really know how to show people a good time out on the farm! hehehe Oh, and the horse sneezed on me. - That's always good fun! lol

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Monday, May 5th

Started a little Spring Cleaning in my craft/crap room.
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J.B. and Mandy moved in with us for the next few weeks before they move to St. Louis.

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Tuesday, May 6th

Spent the day with mom. We went to lunch, I went with her to a dr.'s appointment, and we did some shopping.

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Thursday, May 8th

Had lunch with some friends - BTW, I have a pet peeve! - At lunch today there was 7 of us gals, and the waiter brings one check! This drives me crazy! Why don't they ask?- Then I ran some errands I needed to run, and then met up with Lisa at the movies to see Made of Honor - We went with low expectations, so we were pleased.
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Friday, May 9th
I went to a party at our neighbors house this afternoon. I left early to meet my mom and grandma at my house, but they were a bit late and didn't show up for another 3 hours. Ugh! This did however, give me plenty of time to clean my house, make a side dish, and make a dessert for the party Jeremy and Mandy are throwing at our house tomorrow. And make a gift for them. Mom and g-ma finally showed up and picked up the present for my cousin's b-day party this evening. My mom had seen a photo I had taken of my cousin and brother hanging on my wall and really liked it, so we decided to give it to my cousin for her b-day. So I framed and wrapped another one for her just like this one.

For Jenn

For JB and Mandy

I also gave them the Mother's Day cards that I made for my grandma and aunts, since they were all going to be celebrating Mother's Day on Saturday with pedicures at the spa. Then after they left, I had to make a mad dash to run my errands, the first of which had to be done by 4pm, which I just made with 5 minutes to spare. (BTW, when I spoke to my mother later and mentioned that I just barely made it in time, she actually said "Well, why did you wait so long to go?"...... I guess she forgot about that 3 hours I waited for her.) Anywaaays, after running around, I met up with B to shop for the rest of the food for their party. I have learned over the years that it is dangerous to let him go to Sam's alone, so I now try to make sure I go with him when he goes there. lol

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May 10th

I finished cleaning house and getting ready for the party. Then, I was walking by my living room window and something caught my eye.

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A turtle was taking a stroll through our backyard! It was a bit camera shy!

We had a great time at the party - people started arriving at about 2:00pm and the the last of the folks left about midnight. Ten hours or food, friends, and fun! - and a little bit of "Rock Band" and "Pass the Baby"!

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May 11th - Mother's Day!

Spent the day with mom - me, B, mom, and Johnny went to lunch, went for a drive, then to a winery that mom had been wanting to go to, then drove some more and stopped at different places along the way. It was a nice relaxing day. For part of mom's Mother's Day gift, I made her a flower arrangement that was supposed to look like a Margaritta, straw and little umbrella included.

Relaxing after some wine tasting

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This is where I had stopped "journaling" and never did post it, so now I'm filling in by memory, and I can't remember much, so I'm just adding what I have written on my calendar.

Monday, May 12th

Went to the movies (What Happens in Vegas) and to my Photography club meeting.

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Tuesday, May 13th

Dinner at Chuy's with B, JB, and Mandy

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Wednesday, May 14th

Lunch with my friend Mandi N. at Mama Juanitas.

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Thursday, May 15th

Lunch at Cafe Adobe with mom, Aunt Kathy, and grandma. (Yes, it just so happens that everyone I've eaten with for the past 3 days has wanted Mexican food. - And I get fajitas every time. lol) Then we went over to the Waterway fountain and then to Market Street. This evening I followed them back to my mom's for dinner and stayed the night. Johnny was gone and it was just us 4 gals, so we watched 27 Dresses and stayed up late chatting.

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Friday, May 16th

Hung out at mom's and then when Johnny came home, he and I brought their horse, Maggie, over to the breeder's, or as we like to call it - her boyfriend's house. An ultra sound at the vet determined she didn't get pregnant the 1st time, so they are trying again. In addition to Maggie's boyfriend, Phantom, the breeder had 9 mares, 3 had new babies and one was due to have hers that day. She also had 5 Chihuahuas, and one of them had 5 puppies. When we got back to my mom's, she said "I bet you liked that place." - I did!
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Happiness is a warm puppy! (No, I didn't take it home with me.)

Phantom (Maggie's stud)

This evening B and I had dinner with JB, Mandy, Josh, and Bella at Texas Road House and then sat and chatted at Starbucks.

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Saturday, May 17th

We went to Mandy's college graduation this morning.

This evening we finally caught the second racoon in the attic (Stinky #2) and we dropped it off near where we dropped off the last one.
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Sunday, May 18th

Went to the movies this afternoon, then Market Street. Oh, and since we caught that racoon yesterday, now it's baby has been crying in the wall all day, which makes me sad. Boo. This evening me, B, JB, and Harley went for a walk. Then James came by to visit and next thing you know we are all standing around watching him cut a hole in our gameroom wall to extract a crying baby racoon. FYI - racoon babies are really cute!
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Monday, May 19th

....Soooooo, today I went to Petsmart to get some kitten milk and a bottle to feed the baby racoon until we figure out what to do with it. Man, oh man, this thing is cute! I couldn't get it to eat much.

I started out using a glove, because I didn't know if it might try to bite me.

It didn't take me too long to realize it was just a sweet little baby.

Yay! We found a vet clinic near by that takes in baby racoons and brings them to a place that takes care of them until they can be released. I'm glad it will be taken care of, but I was sad when I dropped it off. - Probably not the best idea to leave a baby animal in the care of a 34 year old woman with no kids. She might get attatched. hehehe

After I dropped off the raccoon, I was going to get B's car registered, but my car broke down instead. After having to pull over twice, the third time I finally gave up trying to get any further down the road when I realized I had pulled over in front of a transmission place. Oh, and it happened to be a transmission place that Johnny has a car at right now. Convenient, eh? B and Johnny, and mom came to meet me there. We left my car there to get checked out and we all went out for dinner.
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Tuesday, May 20th

I went to get B's car registered. Went to pick up lunch with Mandy.

Later, we went back to pick up my car from the transmission place. They couldn't find anything wrong with it, and of course couldn't get it to do what it was doing to me yesterday. So, they didn't charge us anything. Yay!

This evening we went to one last dinner at Black Walnut with Jeremy and Mandy before they move.

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