That Thanksgiving Day Family Thing...

For Thanksgiving this year, we gathered 'round the dead bird at my grandparents' house in Eunice. It was a smallish group this year (some couldn't come in for Thanksgiving and Erica is on bedrest so she couldn't make the trip), but we managed to entertain ourselves. Actually, my cousin Krystin's husband Seth seemed to be the entertainment du jour! Yeah, and he CLAIMS he wasn't the class clown! ha! Anyway, here are a few pictures of the day!


Krystin and Seth's son (and my 2nd cousin) Austin! Such a cutie!!


My cousins Aungelle and Danielle



A self-portrait of me and Austin--he definitely knows what a camera is for!



Awwwhhhh, the happy family--Seth, Krystin and Austin...and no, Seth didn't right the short bus to school!


Brandon has the right idea!


Seth's pose when I tell them I want a normal picture of them!


More insanity!


Krystin and Seth--the serious look


Krystin looking happier


A sexy (?) pose??? ;) FYI, that 'war wound' Seth is sporting was from a recent close encounter with a wire clothes hanger. No, he's not THAT inept at hanging up clothes! He sacrificed his face in an effort to NOT step on his son--what a dad!


A self-portrait of me and Krystin


My Paw-paw


My Maw-maw


Me and Kristin lookin' fine! ha!! (and yes, I'm wearing flip-flops for Thanksgiving...ah, gotta love fall holidays in Louisiana!)

Here's a lil' Thanksgiving entertainment for ya!

Well, I'm ready to head out to my grandparents' house for the big Turkey Day festivities, but I'm ready too early! (I love my family, but I can only be in a house full of them for SO long!!) In my attempt to waste time, I decided to do a lil' hunting on the internet for some fun Thanksgivings sites! Here ya go!! You can find all sorts of stuff if you go to Google and click on the logo at the top of the page:How much do you REALLY know about Thanksgiving? Here's a quiz!

Here's a very educational site on the First Thanksgiving and this site looks quite official on the subject--it's on the 'holidays.net' site for crying out loud!

And here's a lil' holiday fun for the kiddos!

Here's the official website for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

For all of you who are STILL searching the net for recipes...SHAME ON YOU! And here's a site! ;)

If you just can't take another mindless football game, the good ole' History Channel comes to the rescue!

...and in case you're wondering what Martha says (fyi, you're a little late--but oh, well!).

Alright, I suppose I've stalled long enough! I hope you're having a great day...don't forget to be thankful! ;)

mmhmmm...

All I gotta say (and please pardon the language) is: Damn! ;) 

My Birthday Trip to New Orleans with the Girls

Sunday started early with Becca, Grace, and Hanna arriving at my apartment singing a jaunty little tune just before 9am! After a fun ride to New Orleans, we drove around Metairie for a little while, looking for a place to eat lunch. We settled on Cane's and were soon joined by Roy! After lunch we took Veterans down to Canal on our way to FBCNO and on the trip, we were able to see a little of what we've only heard about on the news until now. It was quite surreal to see those houses with painted notices and eight-foot water lines. Here are a few pics:






We arrived at FBC to discover a dilemma. James Thiele and Sara Beth Gohaghan were supposed to be doing a little concert at FBC that afternoon, but the turn-out was slim, so they were debating on whether to do it or not...apparently us driving two hours to see them was a swaying factor and they decided to do an intimate little concert for all of us there on the platform. It was actually really neat! I really enjoyed their 'performances' and the message of hope they carried. They were there as part of a promotion for http://www.musicforthesoul.org/ which has put together a compilation cd called After the Storm designed to minister to those grieving in the aftermath of the recent devastation.

We didn't take pictures during the concert as that would be rude, but here are a few 'groupie' shots of me with James and Sara Beth:


James and Me


Me and Sara Beth

After the concert, we took off in search of a good dessert spot...just fyi, BOTH Cheesecake Bistros are closed!! (we tried) Here are a few pics that Hanna shot along the way:

Signs on the boarded up windows of the business right next to Emeril's DelMonico restaurant on St. Charles






under hwy 90...anyone interested? yeah, I didn't think so!

We settled on the Cafe du Monde in Metairie and so here are a few shots from there:


Grace after I 'got her' with a beignet blow--not to worry folks, she 'got' me first!


Me...talking in the picture!! OMG, I'm turning into my mother! ;)


Becca lookin' all cute in her new sweater


Roy is just happy to see us!


Hanna is demonstrating how to drink hot chocolate


Me and my birthday trip crew: Becca, Hanna, and Grace


Making 'fish faces' with the Cafe du Monde fish


Roy, Becca, Hanna, and Grace

I had a great time on Sunday--thanks girls! You made turning 30 somewhat bearable! ha! j/k--it's actually not been that bad. I think I've reached that point of acceptance...and age is just a number, right?

I still have pics from Saturday lunch with Jen/night at Mom's house that I need to post...just need to be sure about what Erica is ok with me posting before I do! So stay tuned!! :)

MSN--a world of wisdom is only a mouse-click away!

This one entitled, " 'Why aren't you married yet?' ," was sent to me by my sister. It is eerily similar to one that Jen wrote on her blog about this time last year...I suppose great (or single) minds think alike?!

This article is entitled "Are you the invisible employee? " and while I'm not concerned about work in particular, I feel like, if you change the name on the scenario and make it a little less work-related, it could be talking about me! It's something I'm working on...

10,959 days

946,857,600 seconds
15,780,960 minutes
263,016 hours
1,565 weeks (rounded down)

That's how old I am, give or take. Isn't that crazy?!

I've had a great birthday weekend! I'll write a better update--complete with pictures--when I feel like I can compose more coherent sentences. :)

5,000+ customers served

I just realized that I passed the 5,000 mark on my blog counter today. At this point, I've had 5,016 unique views since I started the counter which was a couple of weeks after I started my blog. Wow! Thanks guys! That's pretty cool...don't know if it really means anything, but thanks for reading! And stay tuned... ;)

Help me decide!

Well, In an effort to be more 'grown-up' I'm trying to spruce up the ole' apartment. I'm currently torn between two bedroom collections at Target. I like them both (the green in the stripe is a little more subtle in real life, in case you're thinking "ugh!") so I thought I'd bring the issue to you, my dedicated readers! :) If you're like me and you need more information, you can see the information for each on Target.com:

blue/green/white bed set

red/white bed set

so HELP!! :) thanks!

Birthdays and Breaks--gotta love 'em!

Ah, one of the joys of teaching are all those great holidays! We are coming up on the first of the season...the blessed Thanksgiving week! :) As much as I LOVE these extended holidays, I absolutely dread the last day before the holiday! The kids tend to live in a sort of 'holiday mania' where they think the entire day should be 'free' for them to run around and be absolutely obnoxious! I do my best to keep them busy on these days so as to avoid the bizarre behavior that tends to get ME into trouble! Kids sneaking out of windows just to see if I'd notice and then being locked out of those windows by other students who find it funny! Kids deciding to make a 'donut run' in the middle of first hour and not bothering to sign out in the process...alright, maybe I'm having flashbacks to my time at Comeaux. I'm sure my current kids would never do those types of things! :)

As much as I dread the day-before-the-holiday antics, I'm a little more nervous about tomorrow. As you may be very aware by this point, I have a birthday coming up. Since the beginning of the month, I've had a little countdown on my dry-erase board and my students are VERY interested in the impending doom! Well, tomorrow is the BIG day--at least for them. This will be the last day that they see me before I turn thirty and I'm a little nervous! I do have a feeling that I'll be getting a candle or two, but it's the other stuff they've been talking about that's a little scary...Life-sized cakes with people (various students or other, more interesting types of people) jumping out of them [not likely] and then there's a whole group of girls who were very excited to point out that they now know exactly where I live! hmmmm... :)

Alright, I'm not scared!! I'm actually kind of excited. Their interest has been fun. I've always enjoyed my birthday and they don't typically 'hit' me so hard, so this year has been strange, but I've been blessed with some very sweet, caring students. So I say bring it on! I'm ready for it...and I'll keep ya posted on all the loot I manage to rake in! ha! ;)

The HBCS Not Quite Homecoming Court

As our school is small and new, we don't have all of the standard school events, but we make up for it just fine! We normally have what we lovingly call our Minister's Challenge flag football game but this year, as we are without both a pastor and a youth minister, we had the Not Quite Ministers Challenge. The brilliant minds of our senior teachers and administrators took that idea and ran with it, the result being the Not Quite Homecoming Court! Comprised of all of the Middle/High School teachers, the Court was a hoot! I've included a few pics of our arrival--in convertibles, mind you--so that you might be able to appreciate the event a little better. Junior class photographer Hanna took many lovely pictures...so if you ever see me with my computer, I'll be happy to share!

Ms. Maid-in-the-Shade and Ms. BridesMaid are enjoying a little Not Quite Homecoming Court 'perk'

We even had 'bios' that were read as we were escorted on field by our 9th and 10th grade guys. I have included my bio here for your reading pleasure!

Miss Elizabeth Hintze is the daughter of Linda Wheeler and the late David Hintze. Hailing from the golden rice fields of Crowley, Louisiana, Miss Hintze is the oldest of three and is quite fond of bossing people around. As her 30th birthday quickly approaches Miss Hintze is finding that old adage, "Always the bridesmaid, never the bride," more and more true; in an effort to boost her drooping hopes, Miss Hintze has been named Highland's BridesMaid, and is honored and excited to finally have 'her day!'

Miss BridesMaid's activities include Assistant Senior Beta Sponsor, Sponsor of the HBCS "Neverland" Drama Club, pseudo-Junior Class Sponsor, occasional chapel "guest speaker," and impromptu PE teacher! Her hobbies include telling random stories, taking random pictures and posting all things random on her blog. She is an avid stamper, photographer, tv-watcher, movie-line dropper, blogger, and myspacer.

Previous honors have included Crowley High School 'Lady of the Month' for March of 1993, and 3rd place in the 1980 Little Miss Merry Christmas Pageant.

Ever the bright-eyed optimist, Miss BridesMaid is hoping for that one fateful day where once again she'll be 'draped in white' but until then she will always be your MISS Hintze!

Ms. MerMaid (Wilson) and Ms. CraftMaid (Blanchard)

Ms. Merry-Maid (Vidallier) and Ms. Maid-in-the-Shade (Guillory)

Ms. Maid-in-Manhattan (Moy) and Ms. RubberMaid (Maillet)

Ms. Aggie-Maid (Alleman) and Ms. Maid-in-Heaven (McCoy)

Ms. Bridesmaid (me) and Ms. Maid-in-Spain (Seniora Chapman)

Ms. Maid-in-Manhattan is scuffling with this year's Not Quite Homecoming Queen Ms. Aggie-Maid for the crown! Our ladies take this VERY seriously!!!

Ever the administrator, our principal Mrs. Lamothe steps in to calm the scuffle!

7 days

Well, it is upon us...the dreaded birthday week. It's the last week of my 20's and what do I have planned? What exciting and 'carpe diem' kind of events do I have in mind for this final week?! Not a darn thing! I get to go to school ALL week and deal with holiday-hyper kids, and next weekend what do I have to look forward to? Nothing! Well, Joni and I talked about going to dinner on Saturday and I do have friends who are part of a concert next Sunday in New Orleans, and I'm kinda thinking about going to that...but that's it! No parties (surprise or otherwise) planned. Ugh, I need IN TOWN friends!!

On the gift front, I have made it abundantly known to my 7th graders that my birthday is next weekend (November 20th, if you haven't already figured that out!), and they're still 'little kid' enough that some of them will probably give me gifts...which was a little pathetic on my part, I realize! But one of my kids' mom owns a cute little gift shop and I like nice (i.e., expensive) candles!! ;) A few months back I was toying with the idea of registering for all kinds of stuff b/c I want new stuff and as the wedding may never happen, my theory is people can just go ahead and start giving me whatever they were gonna give me for my wedding now! I had it all planned out. Some places will let you do a general 'gift registry' but for those places that only had a wedding registry, I was going to be engaged to 'Noah Bodie'--get it?! It was fun to think about, but I got a little worried that no one would bother with it and I'd be even more depressed than I already am, so I abandoned the idea! [But if you're interested, I want a new bedset at Target, so Target giftcards are always welcomed! ;) ]

I'm sure this week on the blog will be a combination of childish joy (b/c I've always enjoyed my birthday) and ridiculous depression (b/c I'm turning freakin' 30-years-old!) Just be prepared for a healthy dose of nonsense! Oh, and I found out today from some random website that tells you what random holiday/awareness day is on your birthday that MY birthday is Absurdity Day! How...absurd?! ;) ...and on a rather depressing note with regard to my fear that cats will start swarming me soon, in the past week I've seen two BEAUTIFUL cats and I was even tempted to consider getting one of my own! hmmmmm, I truly think they can sense my impending spinsterhood and are trying to brainwash me!

Wow! Just when you thought you've seen it all!

This evening while making a quick purchase in Claire's Boutique (yeah, I know...but I digress) I noticed a familiar OPI nail polish bottle but what it contained was something quite new and unusual...OPI Nail Pawlish--Color for nails for those with tails! Yeah, nail pawlish! I happened to be looking at Mutt's New? but while doing a little investigating on the ole' internet, I have discovered lots of new and interesting colors are available for your pooch's painting pleasure such as Fire Hydrant Red, Bow Wow!, Dog House Blues, Pink Poodle, and Yuppy Puppy! Wow, and here I thought dogs were...DOGS?! ;)

Boiling Point

Well, apparently Erica is cookin' the bun a little TOO well! During a routine doctor's appointment this morning, it was decided that Erica's blood pressure was a little high, so she is currently ensconced in a lovely perinatal hospital room at Women's and Children's Hospital while they monitor the situation. She's 31 weeks this week, so she still has a little while to last and her doctor is wanting to rule out preeclampsia. She's doing well and trying not to worry...isn't it funny how the concern of high blood pressure is enough in itself to give you high blood pressure?! I'll keep you posted when we know more!

Update: (11/10/05) Erica does have mild preeclampsia. They kept her in the hospital another night and are discussing several options. It looks like this will move the delivery up a little...so we may have a Christmas baby! Not sure yet when she'll be going home, but spirits are good and everyone seems to be handling this new development very well. I'll keep ya posted!

The Zit of DOOM!!!

I once had a friend (or maybe I still have her...I can't remember who said this) who hated the word zit. She thought it was gross. And the word pimple didn't work either. She preferred blemish. All that to say I now have a blemish that is taking over my face! I have not included pictures as it is just too gross! This is truly the zit of DOOM!! (I just like saying DOOM...imagine a lot of reverb when you read it because that's how I'm typing it!) I'm not sure if my body is trying to produce another eyeball or if the stress has built up so much that it's now oozing out of big ugly spots on my face (the word oozing is kinda gross too, isn't it?) but this is ridiculous! It's one of those 'from the core of your body' kinda things that has been building for over a week now! Seriously, earlier this week I truly believed a small artery was sending it a steady supply of oxygen-rich blood so that it could grow even bigger...it was pulsing! I've done the whole don't pick at it/hot/cold compresses business, but nothing doing! This thing is seriously the most stubborn ZIT (I'm done with the nice talk!) I've had in a really long time!! Oh, the pain...alright, I'm being a tad dramatic, but the pain is there. I just wanted to give you a little 'window into my world.' ;) ha! Yeah...the most exciting event of my week is a throbbing zit! wow, I really need to get a life!

'Break a leg' Emory!

Tonight my friend Emory will debut her one woman show, The Thread, at First Baptist Church of Lafayette. The Daily Advertiser has a write up on the show and they say it all much more eloquently than I ever could! You can read the article here: From the Pulpit to the Stage
I'm sure you're gonna do a great job Em! See ya at the show!

Lessie Lee is doin' fine

Last Saturday morning my Paw-paw was rushed to the hospital with chest pains. Paw-paw is a tough fella, so for him to feel the need to go into the hospital, it had to be serious! I talked to my mom this morning and she said he's doing well. Apparently, he had BLOCKAGE! 95% in one of the arteries and 70% in each of the other two! (I hope that makes sense. I know very little about the heart area!) So they put splints in and did some balloon procedure in one and of course the whole diet/exercise deal. He's at home now and I'm sure my Maw-Maw is driving him crazy! Anyway, I just wanted to update anyone who knew about it. The picture above is a picture of him when he was 19 or 20. My Paw-paw was a LOOKER! ha!

Anyway

People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered

Love them anyway

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives,

Do good anyway

If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies,

Succeed anyway

The good you do will be forgotten tomorrow,

Do good anyway

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable,

Be honest and frank anyway

What you spent years building may be destroyed overnight,

Build anyway

People really need help but may attack you if you help them,

Help people anyway

Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth,

Give the world the best you've got anyway

...and the clouds were rolled away

A front came through last night, bringing with it some much-needed rain and leaving us with a rather dreary, blustery Tuesday. Tonight when I was leaving school, the clouds were clearing out and the sky was beautiful so I decided to snap a few shots.
I saw this scene (above) from my classroom as I packed up for the day. I was struck by the vividness of the late afternoon sunlight against the deeply colored clouds in the background.

I wish I could have captured the movement of the fast-moving clouds. It was really beautiful...and here is yet another weather post! What is wrong with me?! I promise, I do more than report the weather...or at least I used to!!!