"Chillaxin" Weekend

                                                    Grammy's Babies
     
 Well, the hotel issue worked out great for the weekend. A friend of mine had a free room offer at the IP, so he booked it for my daughter and I. I am glad because I really wanted to go shopping at the Outlet Mall in Biloxi. I took Friday off. We had Parent-Teacher Conference Day at school, and I didn't have any conferences set up, so a 3 day weekend was just what I needed. My daughter decided to work a half of day, so I picked her up around 1 PM. We went eat lunch, then stopped by the bank and finally got on the road about 2ish. We hit NOLA about 3PM, so it took us longer to get through the city due to school and Friday afternoon traffic. Once through NOLA, we cruised on in to MS, stopped to "tinkle", then made it too Bilioxi around 4:30. We met my friend, ck'd into the hotel, and unpacked. My daughter wanted to rest, so I went down to the casino to meet my friend. I was glad to see him. We had "heated words" the weekend before, and I had not really spoken to him since that weekend. He is from a middle eastern country, and from time to time, we have a total communication break down - especially when texting. I've just decided to keep my text simple, let him text me when he has time to talk, and anything he says that bothers me - I will talk to him about it in person, or I will deal with my "hurt feelings" on my own. Those of you who know me, know I really try to look at the broader picture - I would hate to lose a friend over a miscommunication issue. Anyway, I couldn't get at the Blackjack table with him, so I found my own table and played quite a while. I needed to use the "potty" so I took a break around 8 PM and went up to the room to check on my daugher. She was getting dreassed, and the first thing she said when I walked in was "I'm hungry." HA! I told her to come on down to the Blackjack table when she was done getting ready, and I would get us a ticket to go eat. The buffet at the IP is the best, by far, of any casino in LA or MS. We both ate until we were sick. Afterwards, we went back to the casino to gamble a while. My daugher ended up winning $140, which paid me off completely. She was so glad to pay me off...HA. I wish all of my children was that excited to pay me off...HA. She went up to bed, and I played a while more. Never could get at a table with my friend, but we checked in on each other from time to time. I finally decided to call it a night around 2AM. My phone had died and I couldn't find my friend, so I decided to call it quits. The next morning, we got up, checked out of the hotel, and headed to the Gulfport Outlet Mall. I bought some clothese at Taylors, looked at clothes in several different stores, but the "big find" of the day came at the Coach factory outlet store. OMG is all I can say. Every woman should have at least one Coach purse once in her life. These are designer purses that range in price from $150 (small handbags, wallets) to over $1000 for the normal size purses. Each purse is hand made with the best materials, and each is marked with a serial number. Well, my daughter found 2 purses for a total of $154 and I found one for $130!!!! I wish I had bought one of the small over the shoulder purses like my daugher did, but that will give me an excuse to go back right?! HA. (WOW, Break! My oldest daughter just showed up with my grandbabies and surprised me with a short visit!!! She came down to pick up her truck from her dad. One of my neighbors just came over to show the boys some baby ducks she is selling for Easter. Good thing she lives in an apt. or she would be going home with some pet ducks. I miss them. They just left....   : ( now I'm sad, back to my story.......). After that  "hot find", we shopped around some more and left for NOLA. My daughter and I love the stores at Lakeside Mall. I found some more clothes, shoes, and we needed to go to  get some cleaner for my daughter's make-up brushes. By then we were shopped out and getting hungry. I had 2 complimentary buffet's at Harrah's in the CBD, so we headed downtown for supper and a lil more gambling. My friend met us there and we ate and played a little Baccarat. My daughter was exhausted, so I left my friend with my $60 and told him to make me some money! I dropped off my daughter at about midnight, then headed home. I slept today until noon, called my buddy, Jackie, for her birthday, checked in on my friend (he was just leaving Harrah's and lost our money :(, but he played quite a while on our $100). So now I'm sitting here dreading to get my homework done. I will be so glad when this semester is over. I am so procrastinating this semester. I need a break bad. Well, that was my chillaxin weekened, back to "the grind" as they say. Will blog again soon.

Random Thoughts of an Insominiac

Seriously, I cannot go to sleep!!!!! I have been laying here 4 hours, finished with homework for the night,  and I'm tossing and turning. Wide ass awake! I just reread what I wrote. "Wide ass awake." We all say this in South LA, but it really doesn't make sense. We all know it means your eyes are wide open indicating you are no where ready to go to sleep, but "wide ass"? Like did someone say this because someone had eyes on their ass. Why didn't they say "Wide eyes awake!" That sounds weird....I'm used to saying "Wide ass awake!" I would love to know how some of our phrases got started down here. Like "I caught a flat tire." Really? Was it running away from you? LOL! For those of you that do not understand, it simply means you have a flat tire on your vehicle. A few summers ago, I stayed in Hattiesburg, MS while working on my MEd. Everyone there had a "shrilly" MS accent...kinda sounds like fingernails run across a blackboard, but anyway, they loved to hear me talk. My classmates would ask me questions just to hear me talk. They were weird, but they also like the many phrases I would use. Like one day, we were all going to Walmart. I had a van, so everyone piled in. When we got to Walmart, I pulled up in front of the door, and I turned around and said, "Ok guys, y'all can get down here." They all looked at me perplexed. I'm like, what is wrong? They were like, "get down?" I'm like yea, like there are cars behind me guys! Then I realized, they thought I was asking them to break into a dance routine..."get down." They started laughing, I'm like - "Get the hell outta my van! Do y'all understand that!? They were laughing so hard, I like to never got them outta my van. Oh poop! Six hours before I need to get up :( This sucks. Wow, the wind is blowing really hard. I hope the bad weather is gone before I need to leave for work in the morning. I don't know what to do about this weekend. My daughter and I need to go shopping, and we want to go to Biloxi or NOLA, but the hotels where I have free rooms are booked up and I don't want to pay the outrageous rates. I think I'm gonna put my oldest on finding me a good price. Ok, so like I'm yawning so much I have tears rolling down my face. I'm taking that as an indication I am now ready to sleep. Hmmmmm, let give it a try. Nite.

WTF?!

Everytime I write "WTF", I cannot help but think of my dear friend who lead such a sheltered life that she honestly had no clue. She taught 2nd grade for 30 years before retiring, but one day, she asked one of the other second grade teachers why everyone kept texting her Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. The other second grade teacher said, "What are you talking about?" She said, "Yea, look....WTF." We laughed about that everytime we see it. She was such a goofball.
Well, life is pretty good. Busy as hell, but overall, I can't really complain. I'm ready for the end of May to get here real quick (summer vacation begins). Right now, I have my full time teaching position at 2 different schools, a part time job as our After School Care Director, and I'm taking 3 classes (9 hours) at Northwestern. I'm pretty much a "basket case" at this point. I've been having health issues, which for those of you who know me, know I am never sick. Vitamin D deficiency, anemia, and para thyroid issues all attribute to why I am always so tired. My doctor says he doesn't know how I get up every morning...HA! I have also been getting a lot of headaches (migraines), which again, those of you who know me, know that is the only thing that sends me to bed.  I also went to the eye doctor. I got new glasses, but no change there. I have an appt with a dermatologist to address some issues in that area. I am definately keeping all these doctors employed and wealthy. So needless to say, all of this is wearing on me. Right now, I am functioning on pure will power.
There is a horrible winter storm approaching Louisiana at the moment. It is so bad that they cancelled school for my babies in northwest LA. I don't think we will get that lucky. I called my daughter and told her that she needs to go to the hotel for the night. My youngest son called to today. They are still fighting the owners of the house they are trying to buy. He ended up seeing a lawyer today to get out of the contract. My oldest son still does not have a rental car. State Farm is dragging their feet, but his insurance is calling them to rush things along. (One of his friends back into his car.) My youngest daughter is such a fighter. Poor baby is teaching in a school in Houma which is equivalent to an inner city school in NOLA. She is in the trenches as she says...HA! Hopefully things will turn around for her.
I'm thinking about joining a gym...Anytime Fitness. I need to exercise, but I don't wanna walk. All our walking trails around towns are near forest, and the bears and coyotes are out looking for food. I'm not in the mood to fight with a bear. I thought about buying a bike, but then it is a problem to store it, so I'm thinking about joining a gym. We'll see.
My social life has picked up quite a bit lately. So much so that I go to bed at 6 on weekdays! Been going to the casino quite often with a friend. He is a great friend at times, and at other times he leaves little to desire. He has a lot of "baggage," but for some unknown reason, I'm drawn to him. Right now, I'm aggravated with him, so I will leave this part of the post alone so that I do not get mad..HA!
O well, I still haven't finalized plans for this weekend. Katie and I are going shopping. I need new clothese so bad. Well, my therapy writing session is getting blah, so I will close for now.

Fast Forward - March 2012

Hello Blogworld!
Have totally quit doing this blogging thing for a while. Life has gotten in the way. My thoughts were to make this blog thing as a sort of therapy for me. Writing is my way of figuring out life, but lately, I haven't been interested in figuring out anything....which is really a good thing, right? I been in a "I'll deal with in when it happens mood." Life is pretty good right now. All the kids have good jobs. 3 out of the 4 are living on their own (1 still at home). Other than the usual "everyday worries" things are going pretty good at this point. I have lots to do around the house. I need to clean the outside of my trailer. I need to finish up the little bit of remodeling that needs to be done. Stuff like that, but I don't feel like it. HA. Well, just wanted to get on here and see if I knew how to do all the stuff I had learned, and thus far, it looks like I remembered how to compose a post. I bet that is the only thing I remember. Technology sucks sometimes. Lata.