Mullet toss

And here's the famed Florabama bar - it was the mullet toss this weekend, which is exactly what the name says. My neighbor has won first place in her age division (which would currently be 70 and up) for the past 10-15 years. She attributes this to being the star softball pitcher for LSU. And she wears a bikini while doing it. She's my idol.

Japanese snacks

My in-laws have an Asian food store in Pensacola. This bag just cracked me up - can't think of an American snack that pushes alcohol....maybe Kraft should sell some cheese especially for your joyful wine drinking. Or Jack Links Beef Jerky could team up with Old Milwaukee beer for your deer hunting after-party. I think I'm onto something here!

McGuire's

When in Pensacola, have a meal at McGuire's Irish Pub - their corned beef and cabbage is YUM!

Dollars

This is the famous ceiling where people staple dollars with their names on them. I think Dean told me they have to count it for the IRS every year, but I could be mistaken. The ceiling is like this through the whole place. Wow!

White sand!

Dang, can this really be Alabama??? Well, no, this is officially Florida, but it's only 20 minutes from Alabama!

Jake

He would only swim out to us if we promised to catch him. His Labrador mother would be so ashamed!

Sailboat

I've Missed a Lot

OK, our cable was out and we don't get a paper, so I had no idea about the tornadoes until my brother called this morning. Wow - I'm praying for those people; it's horrifying what they're going through.

And on a so-much more shallow note, I missed Idol last night and tonight, and just found out via Google that Casey, who I thought was going to win this thing, was sent home tonight. Doom, despair, and agony on me. Deep, dark depression; excessive misery. Hee-Haw fans can relate.

What I Did Yesterday

The weather was bad yesterday, so I had plenty of time to recover three barstools in the kitchen.

Pretty good for a first-timer, I think. I watched a how-to video on YouTube first, heehee. Just don't turn it over to look at the corners!

All together

That's a much more interesting kitchen!

Here's the blue chair closeup.

Easter eggs

So Aunt Junior came down with Uncle Junior and Cousin Junior, and that means lots of Easter egg hunts! No one can motivate teenagers to hunt Easter eggs like Aunt Junior. She told them the finder of the golden egg would get to rub lotion on her feet....that's a family joke - she actually had prizes.

And Lucas was so touched by her kindness that he hid eggs for the adults to find, complete with nickels on the prize eggs. Sweet boy.

Stingray

Okay, forgive the out of order single photo posts, but blogging from an iphone is tedious. We're on Spring Break - woohoo! Thirty mile an hour winds doesnt make for good boating, but we got some in on Monday, plus some fishing. This is what one of the kids' friends caught.

Later I'll have to do a post on why it's a bad idea to take friends with you on Spring Break....picture a kite dangling from the roof because a kid left it lying on the porch in high winds instead of putting it in the garage.

Drew' First Fish....Ever

Nicest speckled trout ever caught at our dock - finally caught something we can eat!

Tubing

If they're able to pose for pictures, you're obviously not going fast enough!

Jake Helps Gas Up

This just struck me as funny.

Spring Break is On!

I'm King of the world! Now who's going to stand behind me and hold my paws up?

Shirts, Moisturizer, and Black Swan

Okay, I need to start getting myself together for the Betzina shirt class! It's week after next and we have Spring Break next week, so I need to get my pattern pieces cut out at least. I only have one day to sew with her, and doing things like collar stands and plackets that I've never done before is going to be sort of stressful. I bought this pattern last year to make with white shirting, but of course got stuck on the jeans zippered pocket - haha. So ambitious. I may just end up getting shoulder seams done by the end of the class.



BUT, the latest thing I am trying out is....Meaningful Beauty! So who's been up late and seen the commercial with Cindy Crawford and Valerie Bertinelli (no, not the Weight Watcher one) where they talk about how young they look? Okay, I had two glasses of wine and Dean actually left it on the channel long enough for me to be amazed as well, so I ordered right from the couch with my iPhone (my middle name is Sucker). So this is like the Flirty Girl Fitness videos - remember that last year? They suck you in then hit you with monthly shipments, except these will be every 90 days, because who needs THAT much moisturizer? Here's what I got:


Ooh, I spent an hour poring over the literature and studying the instructions!


And if you send them your picture and testimonial, you MAY be chosen to appear in a commercial with Cindy herself! So I'm posting my before and 4-weeks later photos to see how it works, and to save you the trouble of wasting your own money (you're welcome).


Back up - extreme close-up warning! These are for my own edification - please move right onto your next blog. I just want to see all the wrinkles, lines, blemishes, and redness up close before they magically disappear.


Now, can I talk about Black Swan a second? We watched it last night - yowza! I thought it was mostly about mental illness and a tormented girl, plus lots of ballet stuff that is so interesting when you have a regular job. I was stunned that Karen Black was the mom - wow at the surgery I think she's had. Something around the mouth and eyes, of course (which I will avoid with Cindy Crawford's help). So my brother and sister will remember Karen from the fabulous 1976 movie, Burnt Offerings, which we watched at my grandparents' house after they went to bed. (Back then you didn't worry if something was inappropriate on TV)

And I was thinking she was in another horror movie about a single mom who gets....um, harrassed, by invisible monsters in her house - Junior, what was the name of that?

Huge Disappointment

Well, I finally called Hancock to see where the heck my camo fleece jacket is. If you recall, I won first place at the store so they mailed it to corporate for the national contest, which was back in February. They assured me they'd mail it back by the end of February. I finally figured out I could check the website for the winners. So disappointing that my jacket wasn't pictured there! But my, isn't this some original work? I can't figure out how the bathmat is made of fleece - it looks like a rag rug. And what the heck is a goat coat? I guess there are some swanky goats running around in Louisiana (bet they don't have welt pockets!).



Oh well, I'd much rather have a jacket I can wear on a campout than a new bathmat. That is, if they can find the jacket and get it back to me...I wonder if Dean paid them to quietly "misplace" it!

Get Your Belay On!

Awesome weather for a campout. Got a new tent to fit the whole family (I call this our trailer home - I'm not used to walking around inside a tent. It felt like we should hook it up to the ball hitch) and headed up for the big Cub Scout overnighter.


The boys actually did a great job of practicing their skits, and we had a joint campfire with the Boy Scout troop Drew is in, who happened to be camping there too. They performed a flag retiring ceremony, where they burn old torn flags on the fire. Two scouts took each flag and unfolded it then held it over the fire till it caught, then folded the ends into the flames and everybody saluted till it was ashes. Man, that'll bring tears to your eyes to see that. Very solemn.

And after a cold night in the mid-40's with Lucas grinding his teeth constantly next to my head, I was ready to come home for a warm shower and my own bed. But first, the boys had to do the rock wall.


That's Dean belaying Lucas, and Drew's getting hooked up on the left.


Be nice to people on your way to the top - you may pass them on the way down!


Then the big boys got in on the action (they offered me a chance, but I didn't want to show anybody up, you know).



"Look out Grandpa, Spider Monkey passing on the left!"

Goodbye Paul, We'll Miss You

Oh, he was kooky and danced badly, but he had the whitest teeth I've ever seen and was the sweetest person on there. He sounded just like Rod Stewart. Why, America, why???? Why does Stefano stay week after week while you toss the likes of Pia and Paul??? Arrrgh.


So my prediction of the top 3 is ruined, because Paul got voted off last night. I also like Hailey, who'll probably get voted off any minute now. She's kind of weird and Dean calls her "Pig Eyes," but I like her voice and her growliness - she's not just regular white bread - that girl's whole grain, baby.


And I hereby declare Casey the winner, although America will probably drag Stefano all the way to the top - bleh.



Now to go finish organizing the Pack's camping supplies for the big campout tomorrow. Why, you ask? Because when the Cubmaster can't go on the one camping trip of the year, and no one else can bear to have the trailer of supplies in their driveway, somebody's got to man up and do the right thing. So Dean and I have a garage full of cooking equipment and supplies that have never really been looked at closely. The "coffee box" had creamer (open, mind you) from 2008 and a jar of Folgers from 2002. Is that the coffee I drank last year? Yikes!

Instant Gratification Sewing

Yeah, I know I got all that cool UK fabric, plus I have a huge stash from Robbie of which I have only scratched the surface, but I wanted to sew something quick that would turn out the first time, so I pulled out Jalie 2794.


And pulled out a nice knit I got in New Orleans a couple of months ago at that fancy fabric store. I laid this sucker out and started on it yesterday, and it's hanging in my closet now - woohoo! Look what I can do now that I have a serger:


No more of my machine eating fabric that's too close to the edge! My Forrest Gump foot (the walking foot sounds like his leg braces) wanted to snag the fabric, so that took a little time, but this is otherwise a quick, easy shirt.


Seen here with the Betzina jeans, and I'm ready to eat out in something new!


Jake give his sniff of approval. Now back to pants...or was it tops?

A Package Came Today

Ooh, look what a pretty metallic blue bag this is in! And it says "Royal Mail!"


Oh, it's FABRIC!!!! And it's tied so neatly with a cool piece of twine from EDINBURGH!!!!


It must be my fabric from Kitschy Coo!
Oh, fabric from the United Kingdom!! How exotic! Such nice knits! (Side note: I am geographically challenged - I though Edinburgh was in Scotland, but apparently it falls into the United Kingdom now. Where did I go wrong? Is it like Birmingham, of which there is one in Alabama and one in England...or is that the United Kingdom?)


Yummy! Now to decide what to make of these. I'm thinking a cool retro dress with the orange geometric (you know, way above the knee with white go-go boots!), and a swimsuit wrap from the leopard. Don't know about the pink yet....

Thank you, Amanda!

Gaga Rocks!

Here's how the weekend went down. I painted my toenails black to scare off any unsavory freaks in New Orleans ('cause nothin' says "don't mess with me" like black toenails, right?) I chose the drapey New Look 6470 to wear with my hip new Target sandals, which my younger friend Kristy (she is only 37 - I had no idea!) gave a thumbs-up, thank goodness.


We checked in and found this very cool bar on Camp Street where we had a pre-dinner cocktail.


The view was awesome - I watched this poor horse lick the trunk of this car for about 10 minutes. Great place to watch the Gaga fans.


Then we had dinner at Luke - John Besh's restaurant just around the corner on St. Charles. Guess who was sitting at the front table when we left? Nicolas Cage. Our waitress tipped us off. He had his back to us, so my impression was of very greased back hair, a monster watch on that left wrist that might've been Mickey Mouse, and a large tattoo. Kristy noticed a large teardrop ring that she declared tacky.


Back to the hotel to glam up. Okay, Kristy glammed up with a short black shirt she wore as a dress (with bicycle shorts underneath...relax!). This was the best I could do. I was afraid people would assume we were a couple and I was the man, but Gaga fans don't judge.


We met lots of women dressed like this at the corner on the way there and all started jumping up and down because we knew we were going to the same concert. It was a touching moment.


Here are some more fans...I couldn't get the really freaky ones, but only a couple of people gave me the heebie-jeebies, honestly. I think the chick in blue at the very back left of this picture is a man.


This is actually Kristy's hairdresser - what a small world! (Kristy just loves her hairdresser.)


And here are some fuzzy shots of the stage. It was an awesome show. I've never seen such a production - lots of artists do special lighting effects, etc., but every song was a vignette with a whole new set and new costumes - it was fantastic.


Gaga herself was appropriate I think, other than some F-bombs, but her opening act was ???. It was Semi Precious Weapons, and the lead singer took his pants off to reveal fishnet hose with no underwear - yikes. Gaga raised money for homeless youth during the concert and had a great message that you don't need plastic surgery to be beautiful, etc.



Kristy, a teacher, thought that Gaga should give speeches at schools. I think she should too...just with a little more clothing on.