A day in New Orleans

Saturday we took the kids to the French Quarter for the day. On the drive in, we passed Abe Lincoln as usual, I have NO idea who did this...but the detail is amazing.
I wonder what the artist is trying to say.....painting Lincoln as a homeless person....


New Orleans has a new project called "Artification"......sorry these next photos don't look great but it is difficult taking photos while the car is moving! The shelters are GORGEOUS! Next time, we'll have to walk up and take close ups.


this one was painted to look like a tapestry.......the colors were gold and teal and it was lovely.


this one was gorgeous too.....




Once we got parked, we stomped around the Riverwalk and did a little Toy Society drop.

we left it on a statue of Malcom Waldenberg


Then we headed into the Aquarium...

Dean took this as we walked under the walk through aquarium.....the lights look like the sun.
I love this walk through. We went to one in Oklahoma but it wasn't lit very well and was much smaller. This one is HUGE.


These are the look down fish (yes, that is what they are called.)
They used to be housed in an enormous cylindrical aquarium by themselves right at the entrance of the aquarium.
I remember tearing up the first time we came back to the zoo after moving back here because everything had been destroyed. These fish are now housed with the others in the main aquarium.




usually the macaws are sleeping but today, they were grooming one another...




we were lucky and had someone take a photo of us so we could have one 'all together.'


this little penguin was swimming right up in front of Curly Girl....over and over again....


here is the white alligator...he is not an albino. He has a gene which causes Leucism.
His skin is white but he has dark eyes.
You don't see many in the wild because they are so easy to see and tend to get eaten while young.


this is the Seahorse nursery.......


and a close up of the babies....


a big ol grouper telling us goodbye!


then we were off to Superior Grill for dinner......but found some interesting signs in a couple yards......



apparently, not everyone scoops after their pooch poops! haha!

The food was awesome and the margaritas were wonderful. I remember now why they call it happy hour....It takes an hour to drink the whole thing and then you are happy when its done!



about this time, we headed to Barnes & Nobles and then JoAnne's for a bit of shopping. I was good though (sigh)

Curly Girl was tired and ready to go home!
So I took one last photo and crawled in back to let her rest against my shoulder.

So...what did ya'll do Saturday?

Witches Cupboard swap....

I had Sherry for my partner in the swap I hosted.
We were to create something you'd find in a Witches Cupboard.
We also had to include fun little spells or directions on how to 'use' the ingredient!

I had loads of fun creating stuff for Sherry...


Here is what I sent her:

"Babylon Candles"..like from the movie "Stardust"

"Hand-Aids"...to help multi tasking witches

"Dementia spell"...a favorite of naughty young witches to pester old folks

"Dragon Scales"...to help witches find treasure

"Soularium"...a place to hoard souls

"Dehagification 'pills''...to beautify oneself for a short time

and a "Skelepin" to wear on Halloween while passing out tricks and treats!

Below is a closeup of the 'spell' for Dementia:


I just noticed I spelled something wrong! Oh well! Hope she likes it all!

Spooks -n- stuff......

I'm in Marcel's fun Halloween themed apron swap.

Here is what I made my secret partner, San-Dee.......she got it yesterday and says she likes it.


I also included a cute skeleton kitchen towel, some vintage style cones and some candy corn for her sweet tooth.

peace and love...

The other day, Curly Girl made me sit down and gave me this.......hmmm...a mysterious package wrapped up in a homemade envelope.....


which I unwrapped to find this....a napkin wrapped around something....


so I unwrapped it too...

and this is what was inside.....


and right side up...a "peace and love" ornament!



Curly Girl's class did this little project in science class and she decided to make ME something.....how sweet!
She was so excited as she explained everything. They used Borax to grow 'crystals' onto pipe cleaners. It took about a week to grow them.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Ginger's birthday.

She turned 7 years old....and she is such a sweetie!

Each year we take her to PetSmart and she picks out a special treat...which takes quite a while because all those choices overwhelm her! Its like an "all you can sniff" doggie buffett!
After she picks out her treat, Curly Girl and I "help" her pick out a new collar.

For her "party", we blew bubbles in the yard for her to chase....she was happily worn out after several minutes of the constant running.

Happy Birthday Ginger!

Happy mail!

Saturday I got the BEST surprise in the mail!

A little box packed with goodies for me from Lori! We were partners in Tangee's Halloween swap. I sent Lori her goodies and posted about it already....but LOOK at what I got in return!

Some gorgeous Halloween cards...much too pretty to use.

Oh! And a good mystery......she knows I love to read!

And a sweet set of tootsie pops for the kids so they didn't feel left out.

Sweet little Halloween blocks that say 'boo' and some lovely earrings which I can't wait to wear this week :



And look at these napkin rings!

They are the BEST! I have the perfect tablecloth and napkins for these.....can't wait to use them. SEE?

Plus a sweet little pumpkin with a "P" on it

I was totally spoiled!

Thank you again Lori!

SING WITH ME!

"Drinkin' in the rain......."



When you feed hummingbirds, you have to change the sugar water frequently or it will ferment.

Last week, the heat here was AWFUL....between the ever present rain showers, work, helping the kids with homework and dinner, I didn't change out the feeder mid week.
I waited until Friday.

Which brings me to Otis



I think Otis has a drinking problem.

I mean, LOOK at him in this next photo....kinda hunched over like he's about to fall off his barstool.....




Friday after work, I noticed he was sitting on this little hook and wouldn't MOVE.
At first I thought he was sick because he really didn't move AT ALL for a solid 30 minutes, he just sat there. I got a chance to change the water and realized he was just drunk.
The sugar water had fermented....it wasn't rancid but it was STOUT!

I got concerned because I didn't know how much Otis had actually consumed.

BOOZE ain't for birds, ya'll!

This hook is right outside our front door.
Kids came and went, the rain came and went, bees and wasps came and went.

Otis. Never. Moved. for 30 minutes, he just sat there.

But he never fell off his bar stool either, not even while bathing.....



To my relief, several other hummers came zooming in and Otis chased them off.
After chasing off the 'bad guys' Otis came right back and sat on that hook for another 4 hours, leaving only to run someone off.

At dusk, he flew off but he was back on 'duty' at 7 am Saturday...and stayed ALL DAY LONG on that little hook!




He would only leave to take a sip or to chase another hummer off.
He repeated this on Sunday too. It was too funny, he reminded me of Cliff from Cheers!

It got to the point that a couple of the kids' friends were asking "how is Otis today?"

He is still hanging around but he hasn't been sitting on the hook....

sorta makes you wonder if he misses his "special drink!"