Riveting pillow talk

Jamie and I are lying in bed watching American Idol (I know....but man is it fun), and this is our conversation...

Ryan Seacrest to contestant David Cooke: "Last night you sang Chris Cornell's version of "Billie Jean."

Me: "That's what it was! He didn't do that arrangement of the song himself."

Jamie: "Who's Chris Cornell?"

Me: "Seriously?"

Jamie: "Yeah"

Me: "Seriously?"

Jamie: "Yes, seriously."

Me: "Oh God"

It's moments like these when I realize how insular musicians can be.

There's something in the water

It seems like everyone I know is pregnant. I'm helping my mother-in-law give a baby shower for a colleague of hers on Friday after work. I made a baby bunch bouquet, and I'm really happy how it turned out. I'm making some food and going to set up for her while she's at work. So, busy with that this week.

Easter Bunny blood

I hope everyone had a good long weekend. We dyed eggs on Friday and had dinner at Jamie's folks' house on Saturday. I imagine if the Easter Bunny were attacked while delivering chocolate and eggs, it would look something like this.

Sunday Scotia Brass played in an Easter service at a Baptist service in the city. It was pretty low-key for Baptists. Everyone loved the baby, and the old men made the baby cackle in the back of the Church so good times had by all.

That slut!

Funny, I get Maclean's magazine, a new came today actually, and I hadn't read this open letter. Perhaps it's not in the new issue. I found this on Dooce's site. I'm including this for those readers in Louisiana and other points South who can't quite understand my hatred of winter that comes around every February and March, and I'm including it for those local readers who can't quite articulate how you feel about Mother Nature right now. Please take a moment to read it and understand how I'm feeling.

Pause while you're reading...

Now that you have some idea of the contempt I'm feeling, I must go and have a cocktail so that I can physically handle the breakdown that might occur after the freezing rain/rain/snow event that is forecasted for tonight.

Happy Birthday, Macy!

Welcome to the world, Macy!! Jenny had her baby last night. She was 6 lbs. 9 ozs. Momma and baby are doing well. I can't wait to see both of them. One Manzer girl down, one to go...Shelly, you're next! I hope Mark gives Mike the lo-down.

Busdriver, move that bus!

So here they are...pics of the newly painted upstairs. There are no before pictures, as I did not want to be reminded of what it looked like before. You can't fully appreciate how much better this looks if you didn't see the before. But if you didn't, consider yourself lucky. A big thanks to Dad for helping us paint. It would have taken us much longer without him.

We have a split-entry house. I never knew what this was until I moved here. When you walk in the front door, you have to either go up the stairs to the living room or downstairs to the basement. Split-entries are really common here. Anyway, it makes for taking pictures sort of difficult, but I did the best I could.

Like mother, like daughter

All growing up I heard stories of how my parents couldn't take me anywhere, especially nice restaurants. There were stories of Jell-o filled hoods, popping up under tables, making friends with all of the old people, etc. While Navarre is good in restaurants right now, she does like to do her own thing, like not wearing any socks - God forbid we try to keep this child's feet warm in the wintertime. And she likes to show everyone that she doesn't have socks on either.

Here are some more baby pics from Dad's visit...














Oh, and it's come to my attention that some people are all up in arms that I have not posted the house pictures yet. Well if there's one thing my Mom taught me was not to do things half-ass. And while the house is so much improved with the work that has been done, it is not finished. We had an incident with some floating shelves that has caused holes, repainting and drywall compound that wasn't quite dry yet, so more repainting, so we're a bit behind on the touch up and finishing work. We've got a ton of pictures and paintings to hang, and I am not posting pictures until it is all finished - not half-ass finished. So, all you readers out there will just have to wait. Like I tell Navarre, "Hold your horsies."

A maple tree a tappin', a tappin', a tappin'

We took Dad to Sugar Moon Farms sugar shack while he was here. The sap just started running, but wasn't running the day we were there. So, they weren't boiling any. You need above freezing during the day and below freezing at night for the sap to run. Visitors can still go and see where they boil the sap and make the syrup and walk all around the farm to see the tap lines running through the trees.
There's also a little restaurant with all things maple, include a maple Irish cream coffee that is stronger than straight whiskey. We took Baby Girl, and a fun time was had by all...especially after the coffees.

Coming soon

Pictures of the new upstairs are coming soon. We've had a bit of touch up to do, and I want all the pictures up on the wall before I post pictures. There are also some great pics of the baby to post...coming soon.

Gettin' ready

Dad's coming up here tomorrow to visit and help us paint the upstairs. This all stems from a close call with a furniture purchase in Baton Rouge...

Anyway, we bought this house 4 1/2 years ago. At the time, I hated the sage green paint that was everywhere upstairs (entry way, living room, hallway) and in the basement. With the dark green carpet in the house, it was too much. Besides, it was that "I'm really afraid of color, but since I have a greenish color on my walls I can say I'm not afraid of color and I like color" shade of sage green. When we moved in I said we would have to paint and replace the carpet. We painted the basement after 2 years due to a lovely leak at Thanksgiving. Then, the green upstairs stayed, and stayed and stayed...until now. I'm still living with green carpet and not happy about it. I'll save that convo for another day.

We're painting it yellow; the same yellow that we put in the basement. Some could say that this is a "I'm afraid of color but it's yellow, so I'm not afraid of color" color. But, it's warmer than that. I think the mustard yellow and grayish purple in the kitchen, bright red in the bathroom and Tiffany blue in the baby's room makes up for this. We had so much paint left over from painting the basement that I think we've got enough to cover all of upstairs. I'll paint two of the walls "wrightstone", which is a dark taupe color just for a bit of contrast. We have this color on our closet wall and doors in our bedroom.

So, we'll be busy with that this weekend. Dad's only staying until Wed., so we can't fart around. I'm trying to prep everything before he gets here. I asked the pediatrician on Tuesday about the paint fumes for the baby. She said she was going to leave that up to us, but that if the fumes were bothering us, then no doubt they would be bothering Navarre. I think she'll be fine, and if she starts sleeping for like 10 hours straight, well then we'll re-evaluate the situation. Or maybe we won't....

Say it ain't so

Let me start with some baby news. Navarre went to the doctor today, and she weighs 18 lbs. 15 oz. and is 26.7 inches long. She's come a long way from her 6 lbs. 5 oz and 18 inches at birth.

Now to more important news...Fox Sports is reporting that Brett Favre is retiring after 17 years in the NFL. I've been a Packers fan for a long time, largely due to Brett Favre and their coaching staff over the years. Brett has had an incredible career that will allow him to transition into a Hall of Famer role instead of starting quarterback role. Jay Glazer described him in this way..."Favre leaves the game as the all-time record holder in several categories including wins, passing yards, touchdowns and consecutive games started. A three-time MVP, The southern swashbuckler won fans over with his carefree style that epitomized the "gunslinger" moniker and made fans out of everyone from the guy next door to those already enshrined in Canton."

I like watching the Packers so much because you could tell how much fun Favre was having. He was fun to watch. He loved the game and fans loved watching him play. So, I hope he enjoys his retirement. He certainly has earned it!

For the love of...spring

About this time of year, each year, I get fed up with winter. I get it; it snows; it's cold; blah blah blah. Usually these feelings start in February for me, although I hold the comments to myself. Then in March, I let them out. I'm brushing the snow off my car yesterday for about the 1000th time this winter, and Jamie needed to duck or the cuss words would have hit him and caused a black eye or concussion.

In order to tame by bitter feelings toward old man Winter, I took these pictures of the flowers in our house. We have 2 Christmas cactus plants. One blooms about every quarter. The other hasn't bloomed in about 3 years, but low and behold we had beautiful white and pink blooms. The African Violets were Opa's. We've managed to not only keep them alive but flourishing since he passed away about 3 years ago. Enjoy.