Elle came up to me today and said, "ooooh mommy, your back still hurts?", then rubbed my back and kissed it. She had been doing that in the morning when we wake up, when I ask her to, but never just out of the blue like that. It was so cute.
My poor daughter... it is amazing how much home videos will show you about your own life. It is scary sometimes. We take these little videos, snippets of our lives together, and I usually think, well, this is insignificant, but it might mean more when I watch later. And usually it does.
Like the other day we were watching some video from Jan and Feb, and Eric is filming, and I am sitting there playing with Justin. He pans over to Elle and she is sitting there alone on the couch, crushed. She looks like she is about to cry. I had never really noticed this, just noticed that she would act up a lot when I gave Justin extra attention.
So I began giving her more positive attention- most of it had been negative- don't strangle your brother, etc. I noticed at the playground that she loved when we played together, but when I would go back to see what Justin was doing, she'd freak out. Duh, mommy. She needs more attention.
I guess she thought I didn't love her anymore. Now that she is getting much more attention, loving, cuddling, rocking, etc, she is much happier. She keeps coming up to me and just hugging me around the legs, and saying, "I missed you so much mommy". It is enough to break your heart.
Wow. It is amazing what a little home video can do.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Da Nint' Ward and Chalmatianland
What else is going on in this brain? Oh- I went to see a client last week who lives in the Lower 9th Ward. My God, I have lived in this town my whole life minus about 8 years, and I had never been to that part of the city. Ever. I was really ashamed to tell her that. She lives in this gorgeous creole cottage that has been completely redone, with solar panels on the roof and everything.
The thing is, she and her husband and baby are the only people living on their block. There are two or three families/people on every block, most in trailers. It is so sad. I really admire someone like that, with that pioneer spirit. There are no services out there, no cops, fire dept, grocery stores, etc. The kicker is that most of the houses are gutted, just waiting for the "Road Home" to make them whole. What a joke.
Anyway, it is so sad! What a beautiful part of town. It is all residential, New Orleans style homes, and I think mom said it is an area with one of the highest percentages of home ownership in the country. The problem I guess is that most people once they pay off the mortgage don't have insurance to cover water that was up to the roof. It is worse than Lakeview.
Then we went to St. Bernard today for the crawfish festival. God the mudbugs were good! But the parish is in striking contrast to the one next to it, the 9th Ward. It is mostly white, whereas the 9th Ward is mostly black. St. Bernard has services, and a bank, and grocery store. They also have all these little spots set up with bunches of trailers. I think one of them was for the govt workers since it was next to city hall.
They had a place to go to apply for Road Home grants. This stuff doesn't exist over the parish line. I know Nagin is an idiot, but I can see his point when he says people don't want the poor blacks to come back. Just one look at this place will tell you that. I wish I had brought my camera. Maybe I'll have to go back again just to take pictures. I should have done that when I had a client in the Bywater too.
Anyway it is depressing. Where are all the people that belong in these scores and scores of houses? Are they coming back? And how? What a logistical nightmare. I felt sick to my stomach when we drove out of there. I am not completely naive, I know there was blight there before, but still. Those people deserve better than they are getting right now. Ugh.
The thing is, she and her husband and baby are the only people living on their block. There are two or three families/people on every block, most in trailers. It is so sad. I really admire someone like that, with that pioneer spirit. There are no services out there, no cops, fire dept, grocery stores, etc. The kicker is that most of the houses are gutted, just waiting for the "Road Home" to make them whole. What a joke.
Anyway, it is so sad! What a beautiful part of town. It is all residential, New Orleans style homes, and I think mom said it is an area with one of the highest percentages of home ownership in the country. The problem I guess is that most people once they pay off the mortgage don't have insurance to cover water that was up to the roof. It is worse than Lakeview.
Then we went to St. Bernard today for the crawfish festival. God the mudbugs were good! But the parish is in striking contrast to the one next to it, the 9th Ward. It is mostly white, whereas the 9th Ward is mostly black. St. Bernard has services, and a bank, and grocery store. They also have all these little spots set up with bunches of trailers. I think one of them was for the govt workers since it was next to city hall.
They had a place to go to apply for Road Home grants. This stuff doesn't exist over the parish line. I know Nagin is an idiot, but I can see his point when he says people don't want the poor blacks to come back. Just one look at this place will tell you that. I wish I had brought my camera. Maybe I'll have to go back again just to take pictures. I should have done that when I had a client in the Bywater too.
Anyway it is depressing. Where are all the people that belong in these scores and scores of houses? Are they coming back? And how? What a logistical nightmare. I felt sick to my stomach when we drove out of there. I am not completely naive, I know there was blight there before, but still. Those people deserve better than they are getting right now. Ugh.
I have time now...
Inspired by the moms who write Dooce.com and Fussy blogs, I am going to start blogging. There is way too much stuff in my head to wait a month, 6 weeks, or two months to write an email saga. Like did we have seagulls here before Katrina? I don't think we did. I forgot how annoying they can be. It is so strange to see them in the Wal Mart parking lot flying overhead.
I really think Katrina made New Orleans almost waterfront property. We're having weather like we used to have in Hilton Head. Nice, balmy, cool weather in the 70s and 80s, an actual spring. In the past spring in New Orleans lasted about a week. It went from bitter, rainy cold to hot and sticky just like that. Maybe our weather has changed permanently. It would make sense considering that places like Empire are now almost completely under water, where there was land before.
How surreal must that be? I think I read in the paper that in Cocodrie they can't plant gardens anymore b/c whenever there's a wind blowing from the south all the yards flood. And the people working at LSU down there have to go to work by boat now. Oh, Katrina. How you've changed our lives.
I really think Katrina made New Orleans almost waterfront property. We're having weather like we used to have in Hilton Head. Nice, balmy, cool weather in the 70s and 80s, an actual spring. In the past spring in New Orleans lasted about a week. It went from bitter, rainy cold to hot and sticky just like that. Maybe our weather has changed permanently. It would make sense considering that places like Empire are now almost completely under water, where there was land before.
How surreal must that be? I think I read in the paper that in Cocodrie they can't plant gardens anymore b/c whenever there's a wind blowing from the south all the yards flood. And the people working at LSU down there have to go to work by boat now. Oh, Katrina. How you've changed our lives.
Thursday, March 29, 2001
Hello to all
Hi everyone! How are you? I just finished a fun-filled two weeks at work with heroin addicts and alcoholics and crazy people. Who knew hospitals could be so much fun? Every time I take care of one of these people I want to put them on a billboard to show everyone how messed up drugs and alcohol can make you. Don't even get me started on cigarettes! I have so many patients who can't breathe now from years of smoking that it's just sad. They have to take steroids to keep their lungs open, and after a while the drugs just screw up your whole body! Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox for now.
Last week, Eric and I went to L.A. to see my cousin Michael for a few days. We saw Lion King the Musical at the Pantages Theater. It was an old run-down place until Disney got the lease on it and renovated. It was so beautiful! The coolest part in the play was when Simba is looking at his reflection and he sees Mufasa. They built a huge face of Mufasa by putting together these huge wooden pieces, but the way the light reflected on them, it looked like a mirage. I wish I had been able to take a picture! My cousins were there, they are fourteen and twelve. Boy do I feel old. I still remember when the fourteen year old was a baby. He would cry when he saw me because he was afraid of my freckles!
Wednesday night Eric and I went to a dinner-dance for our church. It was nice to have good food and dance to good music. I danced with our priest a couple of times. Turns out he is from Houston! He says y'all just like us! That excites me, if you're wondering, because everyone makes fun of me for saying it, including the people I work with.
The Oscars were pretty anti-climactic for us because they started at five o'clock! We figured they'd be time-delayed like the Grammys were and we could hang out, cook, and watch them. Well I was making grillades so I missed the first two hours. The grillades were good though! You know that Britney Spears commercial? Our friend Mike works for Tribal Scenery Company and they built the set with the Pepsi-Cola insignia. It was so cool to see it on TV!
Other than that... we finally met some normal people. Eric and the chef at the seafood restaurant got to talking and invited us over for dinner the other night. They just bought a house in Palm Desert about five minutes from ours. William is from Orange county and his wife is from Brittany, France! He spent a while in France cooking. They both speak French, as does their four-year old. It was so weird because all these words from preschool were coming back to me. I remembered the words for dog and cat before I remembered how to say, "my name is"! We BBQ'd and had wine, cheese, and pate! Yum Yum!!
Well, I must go to bed because my dear friend Christina is coming tomorrow. She is living in Dallas and had a conference to go to, then decided to come see us for a little while! Now the rest of you have to come see our house! I'm sorry, but the pictures do just not justify it! Our first real house that we own! TTFN!
Last week, Eric and I went to L.A. to see my cousin Michael for a few days. We saw Lion King the Musical at the Pantages Theater. It was an old run-down place until Disney got the lease on it and renovated. It was so beautiful! The coolest part in the play was when Simba is looking at his reflection and he sees Mufasa. They built a huge face of Mufasa by putting together these huge wooden pieces, but the way the light reflected on them, it looked like a mirage. I wish I had been able to take a picture! My cousins were there, they are fourteen and twelve. Boy do I feel old. I still remember when the fourteen year old was a baby. He would cry when he saw me because he was afraid of my freckles!
Wednesday night Eric and I went to a dinner-dance for our church. It was nice to have good food and dance to good music. I danced with our priest a couple of times. Turns out he is from Houston! He says y'all just like us! That excites me, if you're wondering, because everyone makes fun of me for saying it, including the people I work with.
The Oscars were pretty anti-climactic for us because they started at five o'clock! We figured they'd be time-delayed like the Grammys were and we could hang out, cook, and watch them. Well I was making grillades so I missed the first two hours. The grillades were good though! You know that Britney Spears commercial? Our friend Mike works for Tribal Scenery Company and they built the set with the Pepsi-Cola insignia. It was so cool to see it on TV!
Other than that... we finally met some normal people. Eric and the chef at the seafood restaurant got to talking and invited us over for dinner the other night. They just bought a house in Palm Desert about five minutes from ours. William is from Orange county and his wife is from Brittany, France! He spent a while in France cooking. They both speak French, as does their four-year old. It was so weird because all these words from preschool were coming back to me. I remembered the words for dog and cat before I remembered how to say, "my name is"! We BBQ'd and had wine, cheese, and pate! Yum Yum!!
Well, I must go to bed because my dear friend Christina is coming tomorrow. She is living in Dallas and had a conference to go to, then decided to come see us for a little while! Now the rest of you have to come see our house! I'm sorry, but the pictures do just not justify it! Our first real house that we own! TTFN!
Sunday, March 18, 2001
pics
Here are some pics of our new house. I have more coming when I get the next roll developed. Eric and I are doing fine... landscaping was fun, we even got to rent a tiller! Our friend Mike came in from L.A. and helped us plant, plus we put up new light fixtures in the bathrooms. No more light bulb sticking out of an outlet (that's what we had before!). The pictures are finally up on the walls too! It's amazing how much money can be spent just moving in and getting everything pretty!
Not much to report... Naomi and I have been hanging out and cooking for each other. She makes killer stuffed pork chops! We have a nice pool here that Eric and I discovered with a jacuzzi next to it. The weather here has been so beautiful, 80 degrees and sunny. I went to a party at my friend Janet's house the other night for two of the travelling nurses who are going back to Maine. It's so sad to work with someone for three months and then have them leave! I think Janet is going to Alaska in May too. Oh well. With all these travellers, it would be nice to have one of my nurse friends from home travel up here (hint, hint Karla!).
Eric and I started jogging together... doing some real exercise for a change. We found another small park near our house with three trails. It's little but it serves its purpose. Taxpayer money at work for the taxpayers, whoda thunk it!! Anyway, gotta work tomorrow so I will write more later when I have more interesting things to report!
Not much to report... Naomi and I have been hanging out and cooking for each other. She makes killer stuffed pork chops! We have a nice pool here that Eric and I discovered with a jacuzzi next to it. The weather here has been so beautiful, 80 degrees and sunny. I went to a party at my friend Janet's house the other night for two of the travelling nurses who are going back to Maine. It's so sad to work with someone for three months and then have them leave! I think Janet is going to Alaska in May too. Oh well. With all these travellers, it would be nice to have one of my nurse friends from home travel up here (hint, hint Karla!).
Eric and I started jogging together... doing some real exercise for a change. We found another small park near our house with three trails. It's little but it serves its purpose. Taxpayer money at work for the taxpayers, whoda thunk it!! Anyway, gotta work tomorrow so I will write more later when I have more interesting things to report!
Sunday, March 4, 2001
alo from california
Well we are back! If we missed anyone at home we apologize but we were just not there long enough! Friday we had a birthday party for me with the fam. It was nice to see everyone again. Saturday we went to Endymion, which was early since it was supposed to rain that day. We got nice and tipsy and then ate hot dogs. Not a good idea! Sunday Eric left and I went to see my unc and his fam. Monday we went to see my dad ride in Proteus. They had the most beautiful floats! Orpheus followed (Harry Connick Jr's krewe). Glenn Close was the Grand Marshal. She is so pretty up close! It rained halfway through the parade and we got soaked. Mardi Gras day I went and hung out with Jared and his sister and her kids. They are so sweet but being with a five, four, and one year old all day reminds me why I want to wait! Anyway, I thought I missed the rain. I got some at home and came back here only to find out that it had been raining for four days! I don't know where these clouds are coming from! It's supposed to be sunny here all the time!
I did observe something while travelling to and from home. On the plane from Phoenix to NOLA everyone was talking and friendly and having a good time. On the plane coming back to Cali the mood was completely different. You could tell the dot-com-ers because they were all young and partying like they had all the money in the world. Guess that stock dip isn't hurting them too much! Other than that most people kept to themselves and weren't friendly. That is except the two ladies sitting next to me. They talked my head off the whole time! It was a nice conversation... one of them asked to look at the magazine I was reading (Maxim). She had never seen it before, so I said sure. I expected her to just flip through and give it back. Well, no. She read almost the whole damn thing, licking her thumb to turn the pages. I was appalled! That's the thing about people out here. Half the time they don't even know they're being rude!
On other fronts, I got a raise. $2.14 an hour. And I get $52 more for an extra twelve hour shift, not that I do a lot of those. All of the nurses, aides, and secretaries got one. I guess they figure we are scarce so they better pay us well! I also got two kudos from patients. It's nice to know that my hard work is appreciated!
Well, not much else going on. We put fans up in three of our rooms and the next project is landscaping. The pictures are still not up on the walls, but oh well. At least the boxes are unpacked!
Have a good week!
I did observe something while travelling to and from home. On the plane from Phoenix to NOLA everyone was talking and friendly and having a good time. On the plane coming back to Cali the mood was completely different. You could tell the dot-com-ers because they were all young and partying like they had all the money in the world. Guess that stock dip isn't hurting them too much! Other than that most people kept to themselves and weren't friendly. That is except the two ladies sitting next to me. They talked my head off the whole time! It was a nice conversation... one of them asked to look at the magazine I was reading (Maxim). She had never seen it before, so I said sure. I expected her to just flip through and give it back. Well, no. She read almost the whole damn thing, licking her thumb to turn the pages. I was appalled! That's the thing about people out here. Half the time they don't even know they're being rude!
On other fronts, I got a raise. $2.14 an hour. And I get $52 more for an extra twelve hour shift, not that I do a lot of those. All of the nurses, aides, and secretaries got one. I guess they figure we are scarce so they better pay us well! I also got two kudos from patients. It's nice to know that my hard work is appreciated!
Well, not much else going on. We put fans up in three of our rooms and the next project is landscaping. The pictures are still not up on the walls, but oh well. At least the boxes are unpacked!
Have a good week!
Thursday, February 8, 2001
helllllloooooo out there
Hey guys. Eric and I are busy moving into our new home! It is shaping up very nicely. We had to clean out a lot of dust and get the carpets done, but other than that everything looked good. Now it's a matter of trying to save money! We took some pics and I will try to scan them when we get the computer set up in the new place.
Well, everyone told us that once February hit the weather would be beautiful. Feb. 1 was gorgeous! The sky was clear blue, there was snow on the mountains, and it was 80 degrees. We got the keys to the condo that day, too. Anyway, the weather has been wonderful lately except for a couple of cloudy days when it snowed up in the mountains. It is so weird to see a blizzard up there and be walking around in shorts! It is also very weird when there's a full moon here. Last night it looked like twilight all night because the moon was so bright and the sky was so clear. You could actually see the outline of the mountains, which I haven't been able to see at night. Needless to say we don't miss the cold, wet winter in NOLA.
I went to a party the other night at my supervisor's house. She has a condo not far from ours. Boy did I feel poor! Hers has three bedrooms, three baths, a three car garage, all tile floors, a pool and jacuzzi, gas BBQ pit, the works. Her fiance is a make-up artist for Drew Carey (which I think I told you already). Anyway, it was fun, but I was glad to get back to my humble abode.
Last night we went to King's Social Club. The last time we went to this place there were some pretty rough people there. Who knew there were hoodlums in Palm Desert? Anyway, that was Saturday night. Apparently they have a live band on Wednesday nights. It was one of the best I have seen! They played blues and jazz, and had a couple of musicians from the audience join in. It was so cool because the music was so much like home. None of the typical California sound, which I would describe as a cross between constant Doors music and techno crap. As Naomi has told me many times, California is a state of mind. I just think a lot of people here don't have much left up there. The eight-mile stare that you develop here is related more to fried brains than clear skies, I think!
Well I will sign off for now. Again, Eric and I will be coming home soon! I will be in town Feb 22-28, and I expect to see everyone I can if at all possible! I miss y'all!
Well, everyone told us that once February hit the weather would be beautiful. Feb. 1 was gorgeous! The sky was clear blue, there was snow on the mountains, and it was 80 degrees. We got the keys to the condo that day, too. Anyway, the weather has been wonderful lately except for a couple of cloudy days when it snowed up in the mountains. It is so weird to see a blizzard up there and be walking around in shorts! It is also very weird when there's a full moon here. Last night it looked like twilight all night because the moon was so bright and the sky was so clear. You could actually see the outline of the mountains, which I haven't been able to see at night. Needless to say we don't miss the cold, wet winter in NOLA.
I went to a party the other night at my supervisor's house. She has a condo not far from ours. Boy did I feel poor! Hers has three bedrooms, three baths, a three car garage, all tile floors, a pool and jacuzzi, gas BBQ pit, the works. Her fiance is a make-up artist for Drew Carey (which I think I told you already). Anyway, it was fun, but I was glad to get back to my humble abode.
Last night we went to King's Social Club. The last time we went to this place there were some pretty rough people there. Who knew there were hoodlums in Palm Desert? Anyway, that was Saturday night. Apparently they have a live band on Wednesday nights. It was one of the best I have seen! They played blues and jazz, and had a couple of musicians from the audience join in. It was so cool because the music was so much like home. None of the typical California sound, which I would describe as a cross between constant Doors music and techno crap. As Naomi has told me many times, California is a state of mind. I just think a lot of people here don't have much left up there. The eight-mile stare that you develop here is related more to fried brains than clear skies, I think!
Well I will sign off for now. Again, Eric and I will be coming home soon! I will be in town Feb 22-28, and I expect to see everyone I can if at all possible! I miss y'all!
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