I feel like I have 100 things going on when really it's only 2. My sweet baby's 1st year birthday and shopping for a wedding in a few weekends. I'm not a multi-tasker-I know we've talked about it before-so having 2 things on my plate makes my stress level go up. Not to mention the state of the stock market and all that is going on there although I do my best to not think about it while shopping for a fall wardrobe since I haven't really bought anything of substance since Pman was born.

I got sucked into the same shopping trap the other day that I always do. I am so frantic to find something to wear for all of these wedding festivities that I rush, rush, rush and buy the first thing that looks good on me. It was this dress. and I have to say I looked smokin' hot! I thought so and so did the saleswoman (so she said). I brought it home, gave J one of my weekend fashion shows that he so loves me for and he just smirked. He said he didn't like the fabric. That's all? You don't like the fabric, I thought? Men don't know anything about fabric so I wasn't worried until I talked to L.

"Oh. Ohhhhh. I know exactly the dress. Is that really you?" She told me she bought an earlier a version of the dress a few years back (well, she said she had 3 of them) and that she never wore it because although she looked damn good in it-it's really flattering, I have to say-it was just too cheesy to wear. Damn! She was right. I was telling my mom the story. She was laughing and J was listening. I said I didn't want to look cheesy. He said, or like a yat. Great. The truth comes out AFTER I already decided to return it.

So I've returned the dress, bought another one and am returning the 2nd one today. J told me it wasn't flattering. What is wrong with me? Has my sense of style gone out the window-just from being a mom?

Nola Jewelry

I don't usually tout a lot of products on here. but I was scrolling through Decor8's blog and I noticed that one of her sponsors had NOLA in the name so I checked it out. I was impressed. It's called dejarnette new orleans It's a jewelry design website with really unique designs. Many people make cool jewelry but being that this seems to be a NOLA site AND she had cool things I thought I would share it with you. There's a few necklaces that I absolutely LOVE including the ones made from vintage chiffon ruffles. It's sooo not me but for some reason I am totally intrigued.

Couscous lover

Pman takes after me in the food department. He loves it. He relishes it. He gets giddy at just the sight of his highchair. He doesn't want to be spoon fed. He wants to savor the experience all on his own-to feel the textures of the food. Squoosh it in his hand, up against his face. He wants to know it, learn everything about it. So everyday I try to give him a new food, a new sensation. Today it was peas for lunch and couscous for dinner. I have to say that he's a couscous lover. Here he is saving a few grains for later.



And while Pman is eating, W is wearing his sunglasses at night.

Sorry for the poor quality photo. My camera is on the fritz and isn't going to make it through the week.

No rest for the weary

It was a long, fun weekend and by 9:00 last night I was ready for bed. As I checked my email one last time I glanced behind the computer and saw it. The frickin' notice to make play dough-a room mom duty. I said I would do it (be a room mom) and would be superb at the role so I lumbered wearily back downstairs to make the home made stuff. By the end of it all I was skipping back and forth from the kitchen to the den to let J know just how proud I was of myself. It worked! My green play dough is now waiting at school to be mushed and prodded and probably eaten by all of W's class.

I just got back from the cardiologist. I feel kind of stupid but I am glad I went. I am getting more tests done because of the history of heart disease in the family but in so many words he said it was from carrying Pman around. He said a lot of women who have babies that are old enough to be heavy but not yet walking get chest pains. Interesting, eh? So looks like at the least I can garner some sympathy from J and the rest of the fam for carrying around 21 pounds of heft day in and day out.

But he's almost there. He's a bit late for this family but I can tell he's about to start walking or atleast pulling up to his feet instead of just his knees. Now he pulls up to one knee and one foot. Come on, boy! You can do it, if just for mama's heart.

and if you are in the market for making play dough, here's the recipe:
3 cups flour
1 1/4 salt
3 cups water
6 tblsp. cooking oil
6 tblsp. cream of tartar
vanilla extract or mint (optional)
food coloring (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Then mix until creamy with a hand held mixer. Dump in a pan on the stove and let it cook on low until if forms a lump. Dump it on the counter, let cool and then knead away. Store in an airproof container.

You don't need to stir it at all. Just let it cook.

Clancys, How to cheer up a boy, Heart attack symptoms

I've been really tired this week. It's been a hard one kid wise. W is in a non sharing obstinate mode and Porter must be teething so is super whiny. Always up my butt crying after me. It's very draining. I was really looking forward to last night. J was coming home early to take W for a hair cut and Pman and I were meeting them for dinner out. Yay! Yay!

or not.

J called around 3pm to say that he had to change the haircut. I thought I was going to cry. I am surprised I didn't. Maybe because before the tears started falling he said, "Be ready at 5." Turns out he planned a night out for me. Wahoooooo! and wait, this is the best. He called the babysitter!!!! What a guy. and he's mine!

We had a fabulous time. We went for a drink at Houston's because there is nothing else open that's not full of smoke at 5. But my wine was delicious. We had a great time and then we went to Clancy's!

..........

When I picked up W from school the teacher told me that he was sad for a bit on the playground. He was crying under the play structure. Both teachers tried to hug him and he didn't want any part of that. and then his friend A came to the rescue! She went under and started hugging all over him. The teacher was worried that W didn't want that either but she said he cheered up right away and A got him to come out and play. Doesn't that just warm your heart? I cried when I got in the car. I'm not sure if I cried because he was sad and wouldn't tell anyone why, or because of the sweetness of A or because of something unrelated to that, which brings me to my heart attack.

..........

Since Gustav I've been having chest pains. I thought it was heartburn at first but now I get them at any time of day or night. and it's always different. Sometimes it's a sharp pain, others it's a tightening of the chest (like today which lasted at least an hour) and sometimes it feels like heartburn. I'm a pretty healthy person. I eat super healthy (except on Sat. and Sun.) so I just can't figure it. It's got me freaked out because my grandfather died really young of heart disease. My dad asked me if I was having shortness of breath. I wasn't until he asked me. Now I am wondering if this is all in my head. Oh, and my hands are numb sometimes too. Anyway, not to worry. I am going to the Dr. next week. It's really nothing to take lightly, either. So see below if you are having signs of a heart attack. I got this off of americanheart.org

• Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes, or that goes away and comes back. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs may include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness
  

The new 90210

I missed the first show and I obviously missed a lot but am still addicted only after watching the other episodes. A few quick notes:

1. The brother-he says something on the first episode (I saw it on "previously on 90210") about how everyone in Kansas knew about his "adopted" story. Hello!!!!! You're black. You're parents are white. You don't think they are going to figure out your story in L.A.?

2. Brenda. She's looking pretty damn old. I am not an advocate of stuff like this usually but she's on 90210-get some botox. I do have to say that she is probably the best actress on the show.

3. Love Annie. Cute, likable, real.

4. Annie's mom. Wish I knew her name-you know the lady from Full House-like her but feel sorry for her that she's playing the mom.

5. Naomi. Kick her off the show. She sucks.

6. Ty. blah. He ekes me out. Looks too smallvillish and plastic.

7. Kelly. Glad she's back but what teacher wears a shirt cut down to her coochie?

8. Nat. Why oh why did they have to bring him back!?!

9. Brandon. I wish he were the father of Kelly's baby. Maybe Nat could sell Peach Pit to Brandon. That would kill 2 birds with one stone. Nat out, Brando in.

One of those days

Mama is tired. I feel like I sound like a broken record and I am trying to be conscious of how many times I say it to W. but I am, tired. I don't know why. It's been a rough week. I know I have a great life but this week has just been very trying in the kid department. I need to take out my book and see if W is supposed to be acting like this. He doesn't really want much to do with Pman and gets really pissy if Pman gets near any toy that is remotely in his line of sight. He's taken to throwing things at him. Is this normal? Yesterday I put W in time out a few times for not sharing with him but then I was worried that he would start to resent P. Today I was being silly with W after their bath but stopped for a second to bring Pman into the room and when I got back W was all frowns and wouldn't even make eye contact with me. I don't know what to do and it is draining me. My friend S said that maybe because W has to share at school all day long that he doesn't want to have to share when he gets home. I get it. I do. and I even took Pman upstairs a few times so that W could play without anyone in his face or knocking down what he's building. and he seems to appreciate it. So I she's hit the nail on the head. It's just that I can't take Master P away every time W wants to play. What to do!!!!????

My friend LC is pregnant with twins. and you know after all of these years of being obsessed with The Hills I am just realizing that she and Lauren Conrad have the same initials. Of course they are different with some similarities. They both always look hip but The Hills LC doesn't haven't cravings for Little Debbie Fudge Rounds. Anyway, that's besides the point. She's having twins and kind of freaking out. She hasn't gotten used to the idea yet. She's having them in a few weeks. But the point of this post is to let her know how great it will be and to apologize for being the one to remind her of the true misery of having a newborn baby. She went through it with me. I cried and screamed and was totally and completely depressed. Not to mention I was fat and nursing and dying for my wine and some fun in my life. On Halloween of last year Pman was only a few weeks old and I got to escape with just J and the Little Buddy to her house for some Halloween fun. I think she and her family might have been horrified at the amount of wine I drank. I was on a downward spiral. I may have hit rock bottom although J thinks otherwise which is a whole 'nother story.

So, dear LC, I am sorry that I put you through the misery while I was living in my own private hell and I am even sorrier that you will have to go through it all over again. But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. For me it's this:

and you too will see the light once again even if it's double vision.

New Template

I am so burnout on all of these blogger templates. I am not satisfied and wish I was technically savvy enough to create my own. But for now, this is what we've got. This is the new look of the moment.

It was a very exciting weekend over here. Pman said his first real word. Well, technically Mama is his first word.He's been saying that for awhile now, mainly when he wants something oh and he says Hi. It sounds more like "Aaaaah" but it's really hi. but Saturday he said "Pop Pop" in plain English. I am still giddy over it. Pop Pop in the our language means pacifier. It's also a verb as in "Pop pop your pacifier" meaning spit it out. We got this family word when W was a baby and he had to take his pacifier out of his mouth before he left his crib. So it went from being a verb to being a noun. Anyway, I was getting Pman up from his nap and I said, "Pop pop" and threw the pop pop back in the crib and he repeated me as clear as day. A happy day.

Have you been to Houston's in a while? A casual fine dining chain for those who have never heard of it. Anyway, they are trying to make it a bit higher end but it's still a chain nonetheless. They were a bit miffed from the start at having to put us at a table rather than a booth because Pman is too wiggly at this point in his life to sit in a booster seat. We need a highchair where we can strap him down. Then this guy takes our drink order and I ask for a water for W. I asked for something like a plastic to go cup, something that he can't spill or drop and break and you would have thought I asked for a freakin' cow. This is how it went.
"Do you have a kids water or just a to go cup for him?"
"Actually, no we don't."

We are in freaking New Orleans where people have to go cups stocked in their house in every closet and every drawer imaginable. and Houston's doesn't have a plastic cup. Well let me lend you a few. I have them coming out of my ears. and there is nothing kid friendly on their menu at all. Now this doesn't bother me as much. It's our own fault that our kid is a picky eater. But to not have a frickin' cup that a toddler can drink out of? Am I being unreasonable? The whole thing pissed me off. So he brought our drinks. and there was a straw in every drink except for W's. I mean really. I'll stop now because maybe you're not interested but I can no longer tout this place as a good restaurant. Our salads sucked anyway and I am still amazed at the prices. I think the bill was $50 and that only included an appetizer, 2 entree salads and an order of french fries. and at a chain restaurant.

We went to MiLa on Saturday. They have been getting a lot of good press lately and I was intrigued. So we went and I have to say it was unbeleivable. Now, if you know me by now, I am a stickler for service. and there was one thing that pissed me off when we first arrived. It was early. Not one other person was in the restaurant. The host was this big obese football player looking guy. but he spoke so softly that you couldn't hear him. "Speak up!", I wanted to say. He sat us at this back table behind this random curtain. I sat, thought about it, got up and asked if we could sit somewhere else.
"No."
"No?" I swear this always happens to me. I show up at a place with no one esle in the whole restaurant and they tell me that all the tables are full. I get it. they have it mapped out but I know from my limited restaurant experience that you can work around this when it is only 6pm and you haven't even sat one table of the first seating.
"No." he whispered. "All of the tables are reserved."
"And everyone who is coming reserved an exact table?"
"Yes."
I stared at him ready to perform the broken record technique.
and he caved. Thank goodness the waiter was very likeable and really went out of his way to make me forget the ass.

So my supper was the most steaming hot, juicy sweetbreads over truffled grits. and then I had the double cut pork chop with Israeli couscous and greens. The dessert menu was awful. Just kind of wierd so we didn't partake but the whole experience was incredible save for the minor incident at the beginning. I highly recommend it. There's a reason why they are getting so much national press.

It's getting LOUDER IN THE HOUSE!

Naptime was almost over. I could hear Pman stirring, cooing a bit. As I neared his door I heard W. I had this strange anxiety wrenching reaction run through my body.

How did the LB get out of his crib and into Pman’s room?

He was chattering away although his words were indecipherable. Then I peeked my head in to see just Pman sitting up talking up a storm. It’s usually the loudest right after his nap or after he’s eaten. And it’s usually just babble or AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

(W thinks this is hilarious so he always responds with an outside voice AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!” and this can go on for 30 minutes.)

But the past few days Pman is really coming out with some well articulated sounds, which is why I mistook it for W talking to him behind closed doors.

Oh, the joys of boyhood. W is a calm, quiet boy but with the addition of Pman and school he has really come out of his shell. I always prided myself on that fact. The fact that I didn’t have to deal with the rambunctious ness of boys but it seems to be changing. I fear now that my house is going to be one where mothers of dainty little girls will not want to hang out.

Baby Steps

I'm back. I feel like since Gustav I've been in a flurry of homemaking. Does that make sense? Well, you get it, don't you? We got back to a messy house, full of dust and dirt and debris and brown leaks from the windows and once I got all that together with some help of course-I just couldn't stop! and now I am on a mission. To organize myself, my kids, my house, my life. and by golly I am going to do it. But baby steps mind you. If you would like to join me, I need all the support I can get.

First step: Take baby steps

My first baby step project is the office.
You know those shows where they go to someone's house and you are always appalled at the amount of crap they have. How could ANYONE live like that!? Really. I always think that buy judge lest ye be judged (is that right?) whatever that person living in that crap is me! I should take some pictures. I will. I will post those later. Now keep in mind that with my baby step goals it's a tad bit better so you can only imagine what it looked like before. When we first moved in over a year ago we used the dining room as a catchall room. When I got so embarrassed that people were seeing all of the sh-- downstairs I just transferred it all to the office and the back house. That's how I got to where I am now.

Holly Homemaker

Holly Homemaker, here! or you can just call me Nola Mom.

I am so proud of myself. Everything around here is slowly falling apart. I don't know if that comes with the territory of owning a house or it's just my house. I tend to think it's just this money pit but who knows. The latest catastrophe is that our Roman Shades in our bedroom are falling apart. The string popped and they've just kind of been hanging around. No pun intended. I thought about just getting new ones made but they really are too beautiful to throw away (they came with the house) So TODAY I decided to get my handy ladder out and tie the strings back together. I retied the string at the bottom, strung it up through the loops to meet the top end and tied them together. I had to get to the tippy top of the ladder to do it and I was scared. Really. I am not handy and I don't know how to do alot of things but I was bound and determined to figure this out. Turns out I can buy a whole new string for Roman Shades. Who knew!? You're probably not sharing in my enthusiasm right now but for someone like me who just doesn't do anything around here for lack of knowing how, this was a big step. I'll keep you posted. I know you'll be hanging by a thread!!!! waiting to find out what happens.

Facebook: Are you a Fanatic?

I’m a Facebook fanatic (FF). I can’t help it. After several months of being a member I am a total junkie but like on day one I have no idea why. I mean, I have reconnected with some total blast-from-the-past friends which has been fun but otherwise I just don’t know. I have written about it before but it’s still on my mind. I think because I have been abandoning my Nola Mom duties and feel very guilty about it. They say that something isn’t a problem for you if it doesn’t interfere with other parts of your life-well, Facebook falls into that category. I even dream in Facebook-it is crazy-like I dream about typing in my status or dream about that someone else has added a “friend” But I guess I did the same with blogging when I first got on the bandwagon. If anyone can explain the addiction, why I just can’t stop, it would be greatly appreciated.

I went to a fundraiser, golly, I’m old, a few weeks before Gustav. J was talking to this guy he knew. A mutual friend of ours walked up and this guy says to her, “Oh my God, I’m addicted to Facebook!” and the sad thing was that I knew he looked familiar….from Facebook!!!! I swear to you that I ran into at least 3 acquaintances whom I would have otherwise ignored had they not been my “friends” on Facebook. Maybe it’s bringing me out of my shell a bit. I know I can come across as a total bitch when in reality it’s just a bit of lingering shyness and insecurity leftover from my teen years but Facebook has made me BOLD!!! Okay, I’m being a little silly but there is some truth to it.

Please, please, please, if you are a FF like me, chime in and let me know why you too are one.

We're back from our evacuation from Gustav and we arrived to a relatively undamaged house with electricity and a delightfully fresh refrigerator. We learned from a neighbor who stayed that we were only out of power for about 9 hours so the icebox didn't reek of pooky week old hot food.

There was a lot of cleaning up to do, still is, but we were able to fill 9 bags of hefty bags between the two of us. W did his best to help out. Of course he had to stop for a cookie break.




I am glad to be back to being a NOLA Mom and hope it lasts at least through the week.

All we've been doing is watching Gustav, eating, sleeping and bit of drinking. I'm too tired to write right now. I am sorry to disappoint my fans but I we will be back soon. Maybe even in a matter of minutes.