Thaw before reheating.
{ Monthly Archives }
This just in…
Dear Holly,
Congratulations! You have been selected as a 2008-2009 New Orleans Schweitzer Fellow. We are looking forward to the contribution you will make to the community, your class of Fellows, and The Fellows for Life network.
Hooray!!!
I have been playing with the idea of getting a second camera body for awhile. Switching lenses all the time isn’t the easiest thing and after the secondary mirror incident a year ago and my Dad going through an Er99 with his 350D, I’ve been thinking more and more that I need a back-up. With the Peru trip coming up fast, it’s been on my mind more and more.
The dilemma: pay $200-300 to fix the secondary mirror on my 300D or buy another Canon body for about the same price?
Today, I bought a used 10D for $300. The shutter looks to have been actuated about 6000 times, so I figure I’ve got at least 10,000 more shots on it before mirror lock-up should even be a consideration. (Granted, it seems you can turn back the odometer, so to speak, but I don’t think this occurred based on the history described by the seller; the number reflected his story perfectly.) I’m psyched and geeked up and ready to go out loaded with two lenses ready and waiting!
Next toy: TRIPOD. Suggestions for a very light, compact, travel-friendly tripod welcome!
Today’s Growabrain had a link that caught my eye. I thought, could it be THAT Lake Worth? Yup. It was. What a pleasant surprise to find that I had found one more legacy of Babs through a popular blog
Thank you, Barbara, for continuing to remind me that investing in your local community is one of the most worthwhile and lasting gifts.
We met my Mom in Gulfport this morning and were back before noon. Paul instantly got to work on the house. (I worked on healing.)
Paul got the electrical lines ready for the A/Cs. Part of the renovation includes putting the units on the roof, on a platform Paul will build. You can see the wires he ran below. It was difficult to determine exactly what to run, as A/C installation information is difficult to find — the pros want you to hire them to do everything. Paul settled on 2-circuits with each one handling 40 amps, bumping it up from 30 amps in case we get a bigger unit. The big wire on the left is going up to the roof for the A/Cs… the wire on the right is for a smoke detector.
This is our future shower! It will be huge — 4×4. We’re going to do thermostatic valves and overhead European shower head (we’ve done this before and consider both a must). We are thinking of putting in some jets (we have incredible water capacity because each side of the double had their own 80-gallon tanks which were kept when the home was combined) — we’re not particularly interested in using jets often (think of the water waste — ugh!) but are thinking that it may be an extra touch to pay off later. I admit: it would certainly feel good on my back about now.
This is the shower bed. Rather than making a mud bed, Paul found this model online. It’s made to be solid and not have the leak problems of the mud bed… it’s ready to be laid and tiled over. It’s huge — 4×4.
The roof. Hopefully, he’ll get to do the second coat in the next week or so. You can see the work he did today here… trimmed out roof, vents, and A/C electrical boxes and supports with the hardie trim pieces. The electrical lines are done and ready!
More trim. The Hardieplank boards will be delivered tomorrow. Maybe he’ll start hanging this week? We have to decide on a paint color for the house, too. We are thinking of going ahead and painting the hardie and then re-doing the rest of the house piece by piece as we re-do the walls. So we may have a backwards New Orleans’ paint job… the BACK of the house will be redone instead of the front! We are thinking of a very very pale grey blue with white trim and dark dark dark blue black shutters. We’re between two white houses so we like the idea of a little color.
I see now that the warning signs were there… sore back, stiffness, occasional twinge. So when my back exploded this morning, after an hour of fun playtime with the kids in the front yard, it didn’t completely surprise me.
The good news is that it happened today, not yesterday… my interview as a finalist for the Schweitzer Fellowship was yesterday. Last week was completely crazy; this week is a better one to take a rest.
My Mom is meeting us to get the kids tomorrow morning and taking them to Mobile until Wednesday. I’m moving around (barely) but can’t pick up anything or anyone and loopy on the pain meds. At least now I know for sure how to recognize the signs that this is coming. Next time, I’ll head it off before it starts.
Last Saturday, we attended the annual fundraiser for EB… it was a huge French-themed party. We saw some friends and enjoyed the music, but got there too late in the afternoon to fully sample all the top restaurants that were serving food… the food went fast! We bid in the silent auction and got a semester of gymnastic/tumbling for Will at a close-by gym (he’s thrilled). Below are some pictures of the event…
Zulu Connection was great; the kids loved the stilt walkers!
Pictures from La Divina Gelateria. For their coming commerical! 
La Divina is the only place in the State that makes all their products completely from scratch — from milk solids. Some of the flavors below include: Abita Turbo Dog, Cinnamon, Aztec Chocolate, Hazelnut, Strawberry Creole Cream Cheese, and Sweet Cream.
Last weekend was characteristically busy. Earlier in the week, I took some pictures for our friends at La Divina, to be used in a commercial they are making to air on Channel 26. Friday night, we joined up to take pictures of the kids enjoying panini and gelato.
I ate the one below. It was fantastic.
This is what happens when you ask Kate to smile. The response must be genetic: it is exactly the same expression I gave at her age when asked to smile.
