Louisiana is the laziest state?

Ok...I have been killing myself laughing. Not about the Bloomberg Businessweek article, but the comments left by Louisianians. Article:  http://www.nola.com/business/index.ssf/2010/07/louisiana_is_the_laziest_state.html  
Some were rightfully angry, but many took it as a compliment...which I found to be halarious. According to the article, Louisianians work less than any other state, enjoy more leisure activities that require no physical output....sleeping, watching TV, surfing the Internet, socializing, relaxing, etc. verses states who put in more work hours, excersing, playing sports, which of course, are physical activities. Here are some of the comments that just cracked me up:

"I just woke up! What's all the ruckus!?"

"I'll drink to that! Cheers! We're #1, We're #1. Persistency pays off - thanks everyone!

"opinions are like armpits - everybody's got 'em and they all stink!"

"I knew I moved here for all the right reasons"

"Sitting on a porch and drinking malt liquor? That is a very biased and insulting comment...I sit on a lawn chair and drink Turbo Dogs all day thank you very much"

"WE'RE #1!!! WE'RE #1!!! WE'RE #1!!!Damn, this is tiring ... I gotta lay down ..."

"I guarantee there's not a single state out there that works harder at having fun as we do. It's not laziness; it's about priorities."

"Do we get a trophy?"

can you believe it?


"...i was sitting here on the couch eating some nachos and drinking some cream soda when i read this....the nerve of some people"

"I'd offer up a comment, but I'm just not feeling the initiative... Zzzzzzzz...."

"Did the rest of the nation really think our elected officials beg for money every chance they get so the citizens of this state could work harder?Idiots"

"I guess working a lot isn't the key to happiness. I'm lazy and I love it!"

http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/12/louisiana_ranks_as_happiest_st.html


Same people found that LA rank #1 for being the happiest. See article link above. Just had to share in case you didn't see it.

Blah, I'm Pooped!

This last week has been exhausting. I finished summer school on Tuesday, help inservice the 6th Grade Teachers on having students with Hearing Impairments in their classes at BJHS, went to the School Board Office and turn in my paperwork to have my Masters +30 added to my teaching certificate, completed lots of housework, caught up on my sleep, enjoyed some casino therapy, visted my aunt and my buddy, and visited with my grandchildren. None stop excitement. Today I slept pretty much all day. Although I had been up for over 24 hours, I could not go to sleep last night. My sleeping schedule gets all turned around and upside down during the summer, but when school starts, it always goes back to normal; therefore, I will just quit trying to fix it until I have too.

This week, the LA Gulf Coast managed to dodge another bullet....Tropical Storm Bonnie. Thank goodness. The tropical storm disappated to a very weak depression before coming ashore near NOLA. Here in Berwick, we did not get one drop of rain from Bonnie. I'm sure this won't be the last of the storms to head in our general direction this year, but I sure wasn't ready for one before the height of the season. Meteorologists are saying that they are seeing a pattern set up for westward moving storms since the large Bermuda high is protecting the east coast of the US, which is not good for the Gulf Coast. We will just have to play "wait and see" as the active months of August and September approaches quickly.

BP is planning to start operations on the "static kill" procedure. I had no clue what in the world it is, so I had to look it up. According to the article I read, it is pretty much the same thing as the "top kill" procedure they tried and failed. It is basically pumping mud and cement into the gushing hole to seal it off from gushing out oil into the Gulf of Mexico. They are saying that it has a better chance of plugging the "hole" because they have managed to partially cap off the well. By capping it off, they can basically pump in the mud and cement with lower pressure which will force the oil back down into the resevoir. We are all praying it works. This is supposed to begin Aug. 2.

Oh poopy....I'm sleepy! I'm going lay down. Blah!

Summer vacation is ending fast!

       Summer vacation for teachers is quickly coming to an end. Although technically, I have been teaching all summer, 3 hours a day, 4 days a week is not the usual work week. I have 2 more days to teach summer school, so I need to get my "to do" list ready for the remaining summer vacation. All of my "to do" list will need to be completed before Aug. 10 (first day for teachers). It is going to be a lengthy one I'm afraid, so I will need to be on the ball or my school year will be miserable.

      On Friday, I went for my first "fill." It was painless. I lost 10 pounds since my surgery, and a total of 17.5 overall. Although I should have lost 14 since surgery, my doctor said she will take that as a sign I needed a "fill." She wants me to lose 2 pounds a week, which I'm hoping for better than that once I get the band adjusted right. "K" has started her diet too, so we will be dieting together. I hadn't been feeling up to par this weekend, but I'm rebounding quick.

"My buddy" and aunt came with me to NOLA, so after my appt, we went to pick up my oldest son. We all went to eat at our favorite restaurant for lunch, La Madelines. I ate creamy potatoe soup...their soups are the best! My aunt ate quiche, my buddy had the usual.....cheese sandwich on 7 grain bread, and my son had crepes. After lunch, I wanted to check out the large Whole Foods store on Magazine. So, off we went. Half of the building is covered parking in the back. Very nice for rainy days, but with that and storage the actual shopping part of the store is no bigger than the one on Veterans in Metarie. What I would give to live near one of those stores. Everything looks so fresh.....none of the meat is prepackaged, so you choose what you want.  Imported wines and cheese (my son had a fit)...the list goes on. As we were driving to the store....my son showed us where he works. The name of the restaurant is Hoshun's (Asian Cuisine)and it is located on St. Charles Ave. He likes working there...mostly because it is in NOLA.  After our day in NOLA, we dropped my son off in Hahnville (friends house) and made our way back home. I really enjoyed spending my day in my favorite place - NOLA - with my favorite people!
 
I went to the casino a couple of times over the weekend. It was ok, but not the fun I usually have. I guess I just went at the wrong time.....no older people. They are the best to gamble with. They are not so serious.

Well that is an update, will blog again later!

All Pretty Again!

I feel much better now that my blog is pretty again. The site I usually get my layouts from is in transition. They did find a server to use free of charge, so now they have to hand enter all of their codes onto that server; therefore, it will be a while before they are up and running. Hopefully, it will be before August (when I will want to change my layout again). My daughter still has not downloaded all of the pictures. She downloaded all of the one off of the camera, but she also took some with her phone (no flash) and that is what she hasn't gotten to yet. Hopefully it will be soon. I just rested and washed clothes today....nothing spectacular. "KT" slept all day, and now she is up and gone to visit a friend. That's all for now!

We're Home!

Yes, we arrived at 8:00 PM, Central Time, today. I haven't had a chance to past our last day in DC, so I will do that first. Our last day of sightseeing excursions was Thursday, 7/8. We slept late (we were recuperating from the day before) so all we had was the afternoon to get in one last sight. We decided to let my son pick something, and he pick the Smithosonian's National Air and Space Museum. As usual, we could have spent another 3 hours there, but after 3hours we couldn't go anymore. Like everything else in DC, it was wonderful.....I kept thinking how wonderful it would be to have a place like this near Berwick for field trips. It was very interactive, had a I-MAX Theatre, and a Flight Simulator. My daughter couldn't wait to get in the flight simulator. Now, she decided to wear a sun dress that day, and didn't think when she got in the flight simulator......she was the pilot and flipped the plane over and her dress went over her head.....she couldn't get the thing to flip back over.....all she could think of was....thank god my partner in this thing is a girl! As usual, she had me killing myself laughing. Enjoy the pics below.

The mural darwfs them!

My daughter trying out the Cessna airplane in the discovery lab.

Plenty of stuff for my daughter to play with.

Lunar Landing Module

Close-ups of Astronauts boarding the Module.

In the museum, they had a 3 huge open areas that housed the larger airplanes, spaceships, etc. Off of these large areas were smaller areas that focused on certian topics. This is the beginning of the area on planets.

Heat Sensors - Can you find me and my daughter?

Model of the Hubble Space Telescope

Model of the Space Shuttle

Part of a Space Ship we were able to tour.

As I'm completing this, I just realized some of my picutures are missing...hmph. She must not be finish downloading and editing them off of the camera. O well, I will finish putting the other pictures later.

Anyway, we left yesterday 7/9. I hate leaving my kids, so I waited until I got in the van to cry. I just felt like I needed to bring my son home. I don't mind them leaving me, but I take it hard leaving them. There was so much more I wanted to see in DC. It was really fun and I loved being with my son and daughter and law. I hope we will be able to visit again soon. We slept last night in Knoxville, Tenn., and came in home today. The actual trip is butt numbing. I put 2600 miles on my van.....entirely too much for a one week trip.  O well, glad to be back home I guess. My daughter left to go to the movies as soon as we got home, so I have the quiet house all too myself. AHHHHHH, I think I am going make me some good coffee. Will blog again later.

Vacation 2010 - Day 5

July 6, 2010

Sorry for the white blog. The free sight I get my layouts from has become very popular; therefore, the server they post their codes on (Photobucket) says they are getting too many hits, which is putting a drag on their server. So, to upgrade their server to accommodate all of the traffic on this site, they want to charge them an ungodly fee. Therefore the owners are searching for another free server to use - otherwise they will need to charge for using their layouts. So since they haven't paid, Photobucket erased all their codes, which erased our free layouts. So, I just wanted to let you know I will deal with making my blog pretty when I get home, but nothing is wrong with my blog. On Tuesday, we left for Washington DC on our own. Nick had homework to do and Alison had some things to do also. We decided to ditch the bus and try parking in the street. The drive down I-95 to DC was not the horror story we had been hearing. The traffic was heavy, but it kept moving. We drove straight to the Smithsonian’s Portrait Gallery and The American Art Gallery. We got a parking spot on the street right in front of the Gallery….what luck! See pictures below.

                                                                                  

                                                                                      

                                                                     

"The Sad Thing Is I'm So Damn Happy"

 Bill Clinton

John Kennedy

Portraits of Indian Chiefs
2nd Floor at the top of the Stairs.

Dying Indian

Dying Cleopatra

Umhmmmmm?

   

This picture does not do this piano justice.

Elvis Presley

 

            Pocahontas                                                                        

 

  

 

Hmm, my friend must of took these. I have no clue for sure who they are, but I think the one on the right is Teddy Roosevelt. Any body have a clue?

 

  Abraham Lincoln                                                                                  Andrew Jackson

  George Washington                                                                    Marilyn Monroe

OK, that ends the Art Museums. Next we went to Washington Memorial. We were too late to go to the top, but it is a good. I thought there was an elevator....but I later found out there was only stairs. I decided it looks just fine on the outside! Who needs to see a 360 degree view of Washington DC?

                                                                                       Washington Memorial in the middle of the day.

After we left the Washington Memorial, we headed for the Lincoln Memorial. Now, thus far on this day, we had no problems finding a parking spot. However, it was a nightmare to get to the Lincoln Memorial. Now, if you look at a map of this area, the Lincoln Memorial is behind the Washington Monument. Now it is a good walk, but my daughter was having heart failure because "she did not want to sweat." So I punch in the GPS and of we go. Well, there was a small piece of Independence Avenue closed for repairs. All traffic had to detour. This small piece of Independence Avenue caused us to ride around for 1 1/2 hours. We could see where people were parking, but we couldn't get there. It was horrible because once you would get on a street you couldn't get off. I can't tell you how many time we went over the Arlington bridge. Well finally....we were determined to see Lincoln's Memorial.....we figured it out and found a parking spot. It was well worth the trouble. Although it near 100 degrees and hundreds of people were visiting, I got the chills when I walk in. First you are struck by the size of the monument. It is enormous. However, one side of the monument was the words of his first inaugural address and on the other side is the Gettysburg Address. President Lincoln was years ahead of us all. Although I had read these words many times before, I was so moved by these words that I almost cried. Anyone visiting DC needs to visit this place. It is amazing!

 

 

Oh, I forgot.....After the Art Museums, we went the National Archives. We were not allowed to take any pictures in side the building, but we did get to see The United States Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, The Bill of Rights, and many other original paperwork including the Louisiana Purchase, and a English Charter allowing immigrants to start a colony in the new land. Major security at this building. In the Rotunda, there is one guard to give instructions to observers, one that walks around as people are viewing the documents, and 2 guards who stand near the documents. This is not counting the guards in the rest of the archives. Phew! I was not about to try to fool the feds in this place....ha ha! So all I have is the outside of the building.

Today, Wednesday, we mostly rested. We were all exhausted. My friend had a rough night. We decided to go to Fredicksburg to eat and my daughter and daughter in law wanted shop at a local mall. My friend and I found a Starbucks, so we let them shop while we let our food go down with a Frappacino. Tomorrow, we are planning to go to the Smithsonian so I will post again tomorrow if it is not too late. Nite!

Vacation 2010 - Days 2, 3, and 4

Day 2 - July 3, 2010

We arrived at the Marine Base, Quantico at approximately 2:30 PM (ET). My son and daughter and law met us off base. She jumped in the car with us to make it easier to get on base. We rested a bit, ate steak for supper, then headed into Washington DC. We arrived at our hotel room at about 8:00 PM. We were all exhausted and knew the next day was going to be exhausting, but we all had so much energy and excitement that we decided to walk to the Nations Capitol, which was just two blocks from our hotel. As we got closer, we could hear singing and music. The closer we got, we recognized the voice.....it was Reba McIntyre! We thought it was just a recording, but it really was her! We didn't know it, but it was a dress rehearsal for the televised show on July 4th. After that, we went back to the hotel and went to bed.

The Liaison Hotel

Capital Hill

Day 3 - July 4, 2010

We must have been exhausted, because we didn't roll out of bed until 12:00 PM! We jumped up and my friend and I let the kids get ready first. Once they left to go to the Smithsonian, we ate breakfast and slowly began to dress for the day. Capital Hill Police were opening the gates of the west lawn at the Nations Capital at 3:00 PM. My friend and I wanted to make sure we were there as soon as they opened to get the perfect spot for the concert. As we approached the Nations Capital (which my poor friend had to carry the ice chest up Capital Hill), we realized that about 2,000 other people had the same idea. After a drug sniffing dog sniffed our ice chest, me being yelled at by Capital Police for trying to take a picture of security, and then finally through security screening at the gate, we were in! We headed to the west lawn and found the perfect spot. Now I asked those nice security people that yelled at me if they would be closing down entrance to the concert at any point. I figured my friend and I were there 5 hours early but why have a whiny children there with us too. He said no, that they would let people in up until the end of the concert. Well, as we were sitting there, in the sun, baking, a lady happen to ask the same question to one of the Park Rangers strolling along the crowds. He said yes, they would be closing down the west lawn once it was filled to capacity....then he says "and it is almost filled to capacity now." My friend and I was in our own little world, up at the front, and when we turned around, it was like whooooaaaaaa where did all this people come from? So with that bit of news, we panicked and called the kids and told them to cut the Smithsonian short and get over here NOW! Well, they wanted to eat first, then go to the hotel for a rest. Needless to say, they closed it at 5:30 PM. My daughter didn't go to the hotel room, and she was upset she was locked out. Therefore, Mom to the rescue! I devised a plan. I knew she had been going to nightclubs before she was 21. To go to the bathroom, the security people gave you a stamp on your hand to get back in. So I went to the gate, said I needed to go to the bathroom, and got the "OK" stamp on my hand. Now people, you know I expected something fancy since this is the Nations Capital, and we had high security....but no, they had little ole self inking stamping from Wal-Mart. So all we did was hide behind a tree, out of the eyes of security, and I transferred the stamp from my hand to hers. Presto.....ticket to the west lawn. We nonchalantly walked right past security, and to our perfect spot on the west lawn. I kept waiting for the secret service to come and whisk us off to jail, but no they didn't. When my son and daughter and law showed up, my daughter and I go them to stamp us darker and we did the same thing with them. How's that for security at our Nations Capitol. My friend and I said it was worth the wait. The Concert was Awesome! We knew if we didn't come to this event, we would probably never have this chance again. After the concert, we went back to the hotel and ordered pizza and went passed out! See pictures below.

My daughter waiting on the concert.

 

Day 4 - July 5, 2010

We got up early checked out, loaded the van, and waited for our Sight Seeing bus. Luckily for us, there was a stop right in front of our hotel, but that was the only lucky thing we had going for us all day. The bus showed up at about 10:40. (wait time 40 min.) Our first stop was the White House. They let us off of the bus and we look around and didn't see the White House, so we just followed the crowd. Up a hill we went, when my daughter plops down here purse and said "Ok, take a picture of me." I said where? She said, "In front of the White House!" I started laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. I'm like "K" that isn't the White House, that is the Treasury Department!" She was so embarrassed. It is built in the same fashion as the White House. I laughed all afternoon about that. We just kept walking, following people, and we finally showed up at the White House. The pictures will show you that you cannot get too close. However, I was excited. I screamed "Hey President Obama! Come out and wave at your #1 fan from LA! "K" said, "Mom you would crap if he did huh? After our photo ops at the White House, we stopped and took pictures of the National Christmas Tree. We walked back down the path to the Visitors Center. We toured the Visitors Center, used the bathroom, and headed back to the bus stop. (wait time -30 minutes) We finally hopped back on the bus and headed to the National Cathedral, which was a ways out of town. When we finally got there, up a hill we went again. It was absolutely stunning! The architecture, stained glass, furnishing.....and we found out that the church was built completely with donated money. By this time (1:30PM), we were starved (we had not eaten breakfast) and dying of thirst. When we get to the bus stop, we waited for at least 45 minutes. The bus finally shows up, people get off, and the bus driver and attendant says the bus is overheating and we can get on, but it may not go anywhere. We hopped on just in case. A few minutes later, he shuts the bus off. We wait for about another 10 minutes, and another bus shows up. Well, we hop off that bus and hop on the other bus....we ended on the open deck 13 ft in the air. Now those of you who know me...know that I am scared of heights. I did not like this bus. What if it fell over? What if we got in a wreck? We would surely be dead. But we were desperate to get to a place to eat, and sit and relax in air condition. We were heading to Georgetown. On our ride there, they warned us to watch for low branches and electrical lines....lovely, I say. I spent the whole time ducking ....I didn't see a thing. My daughter was a quite bit braver, but she got slapped in the head with a branch. Again I couldn't help but laugh at her.....the man in front of her did get hit and he was a got 2 inches higher than her, but it bounced over his head and slapped her in the forehead. Only "K". When we got off at Georgetown, we chose a quaint little French Bistro. I had a salad for the first time and "K" and I shared an avocado stuffed with crab meat.....it was so good. My french picked a grilled chicken sandwich with grilled veggies.....everything was so good, especially the water! Afterwards, we walked down the streets and shopped a little. My daughter found a Vintage Shop.....her kinda thing. She bought a ring and a pair of sunglasses. Then we stopped into a souvenir shop and my friend bought something for her son and daughter. As we walked out the store, we saw our bus and ran to get on. Now it was 4:00 PM. We were at stop 17 and we needed to get to 29 before 5:00 PM to pick up the van.Well so many people were on the bus, we had to stand up and hold onto the straps. As we got going, the bus driver had to slow down because every time he hit a bump the bottom of the bus would scrap the ground....we were overloaded. We made it back to the hotel at 4:55 PM. My son had the van ready and we head back to the Marine Base at Quantico. We are exhausted, but enjoy the pics below. I should be able to post tomorrow night.

                                                                             Our Bus!

                                                           

My friend at the White House!

                                           My son and daughter in law - they stayed on  the bus.

                                                                    National Cathedral

                                                                   National Cathedral

                                            Stained Glass at the front of the National Cathedral.

Stained glass - side of National Cathedral

Ooops! The National Christmas Tree (forgot to put this one!)

Near the White House

Will post more tomorrow!