Fleur de Aleta

OMG!!! I did it! I didn't think I could. I didn't think it was in me and my gosh, I don't know if I'll ever do it again. LMAO. NaBloWriMo - 31 posts down. Complete! Finished! Goal! If you don't see me for a while, it's because my muse is kicking my butt for signing up for this and making the muse go into overdrive. Will you have blogger withdrawal if you don't see me for a while? I'll be back, but first, we're catching the CATS performance and then see how many trick or treaters we can scare! Then, it's back to the regularly scheduled program of a couple of posts a week. DEEP SIGH OF RELIEF! Happy Halloween (whispers: NaBloWriMo was fun though, I have to admit.) ** SPECIAL NOTE ADDED -- The video is dark, but I mostly took it to record the "sounds" that we have outside. Compliments of Greg's creativity!***

It's October ~ Halloween is right around the corner ~ time to read some creepy stuff, eh? History can be a great source ~ Bone Voyage "les carrieres de Paris" ~ "The Quarries of Paris ~ a small section of underground tunnels turned cemetery that is known today as the catacombs, the empire of the Dead. A wall of bones and skulls, did you know this lurked beneath romantic Paris? It is a dark beauty, indeed. The underground tunnels were created when the Romans needed stone for temples, baths and arenas ~ the stone was excavated from below the city streets. The maze of caverns grew to over 200 miles. When cave-ins started happening more frequently, excavation was stopped in the 18th century. Around the time the tunneling was discontinued, Paris was having problems with burial. The cemeteries dated back to medieval times and were overcrowded. Poor burial conditions (open graves and unearthed corpses as well) lead to contamination and sickness. (I'm sorry, but just thi...

GET THEE TO THE LIBRARY One of my good friends was sweet and gave me a guest post about her work. She's a Librarian and a fantastic one at that! She is developing children's programs at various libraries. Parents and children alike are enthralled with her story telling abilities! She's been asked more than once by kids if she's an actress. I love talking to my friend about her work, because of her enthusiasm. We got on the topic of saving money and I asked her to do a blog post. She sent me the following to share ~ enjoy! During this recession we are all facing difficult financial decisions and are finding ways to cut back on expenditures. The first thing to go is usually entertainment and information expenditures. We stop subscribing to the newspaper and going out to the movie theater. However, the situation does not have to be glum! These things are available at the library. The library has the internet, newspapers and magazines and other periodicals including profess...

Guess who just made 40 trips around the sun? Yes! That would be me and guess what? I deserve a day off. That's right, I'm off of work today. This is going to be the shortest blog post for my NaBloWriMo! Ya'll have a good day, I know I will! "It's my party and I'll blog if I want to." Yesterday was muggy and thunderstorms. I looked at the weather predictions for today: 76° F 68° F Clear Yeah! Sunshine and in the 70's! Today -- PERFECT! (Tomorrow, back in the 80's and Thunderstorms, but between those rain days ~ my day off is going to be pretty - Woot Woot!)

Is it pollution? Is it cloud formations? Is it the type of season? People come up with various reasons for beautiful sunsets. I'm just happy when I catch a glimpse of them. This picture was taken while I was driving. Crazy, I know. But every time I'd pull over to snap a shot, something was in the way. So, I figured, I'll drive and hold the camera with my left hand and drive with the right. I figured at least one picture had to come out pretty, because the sky was unbelievable! I did read this about sunsets: "Sunlight is composed of a spectrum of colors that ranges from violet and blue at one end to orange and red on the other. At sunrise or sunset, sunlight takes a much longer path through the atmosphere than during the middle part of the day. More violet and blue light is scattered out of the beam along the way, and so the light which reaches the human eye early or late in the day is reddened. So the conclusion is that sunsets are red because the daytime sky is blue....

I thought I'd take you on a trip down memory lane. I only have one sibling, my brother, Rob. He's so going to fuss at me after he reads my blog. Maybe I'll be lucky and he'll miss this post. He's always saying I share TMI. The joys of having a sister, yes? (And I know I’m in big trouble, because YES, I’m posting childhood pictures. Hehe. Below picture is when I was baby. Rob is holding me. Awww. Of course, Mom would tell the story of how I was a quiet baby until she’d suddenly hear me cry and know Rob left his teeth marks on my fingers. That’s a brother’s love for you!) Ok, so on to the childhood story. Rob and I used to fight every.single.day. In fact, I specifically remember the first time we didn't fight. We were living on Green Acres Road (yes, that was the name of my early childhood street). We were sitting at the kitchen table and we actually had a lengthy conversation about NOT fighting that day. We were amazed by the fact. Funny how memories like that st...

Kim, a friend that I’ve known since the 7th grade, is a crafty gal. She’s the culprit of my craft endeavors. (Other than jewelry making, which is a craft I taught her, hehe) Before my wedding, Kim was learning how to make candles with soy. She has the process just about perfected! Yesterday I went to her home; Kim put up with my camera taking tendencies so that I could blog about the experience. (Thank you, Kim!) First, you start off with soy. For Kim, she has a 50 pound bag of it! We put double-sided stick ‘ems on the wick so that the wick stays at the bottom where you place it. Put the soy in a measuring cup and microwave it. First for about a minute, then 35 seconds, another 35 seconds, etc…. Each time you take it out of the microwave, you want to stir it with a wooden stick or plastic spoon until it is liquid. Then, the delicious part, you get to add scents! Be generous – this is where the candle will keep the scent for a long, long time. Wicks are in the glasses Pour in the soy Im...

One of my friends suggested this as a blog topic: (I'm really running low on ideas, toss some to the comments if there's something you'd like me to post about or want to know!) "Is there a person that is not close to you (vicinity) that you enjoy hearing from on a daily basis? If you did not hear from them you would think something was wrong etc..." The first person that immediately comes to mind is my cousin, Holly, from Maryland. We used to snail mail before there was email. Our letters were handwritten and we decorated the envelopes. So much so that my Dad often wondered if the mailman would be able to find the address of where the letter was supposed to be delivered! We were young girls, what can I say? I still remember the puppy dog and cats that we would draw on the envelopes and the "SMILE SILLY" messages. Now, the wonders of technology have opened up fast communication. If I don't hear from Holly and it's during the school year, she's...

My mother-in-law is an amazing painter! She's talented ~ breathing life onto the canvas. She has a soft texture, yet depth in her artwork. Mary Ann, my "second mother," as Greg says, works with all sorts of mediums from oils to watercolor and anything in-between. Just recently Greg and I went to the Art Show where Mary Ann had her work on display. (Have I mentioned that she's won countless awards and sold her paintings?) Her subject matter is as varied as her media, from paintings of fawns to flowers and family members. She recently became interested in making prints of her paintings. We're hoping to help with the pictures. I also think it would be a great idea for her to start up a blog. Once she does, I'll be sure to share her blog address! One night we went to visit Greg's parents and as I stepped out of the vehicle, I saw this beautiful yellow rose in Mary Ann's front garden. Greg said, "The picture won't come out. It's too dark."...

I want you to picture a fair. You know, food booths when you first walk in, the smell of fried chicken and jambalaya and sugar on top of funnel cakes. Then you notice the rides for kids, including space walks and water slides.... not far away are oodles of craft booths with inmates . Oh wait! What was that! Inmates you ask? That's right. Greg and I went to the Angola Rodeo, hosted by our own Louisiana State Penitentiary. The rodeo had everything I just mentioned. Aleta goes to Angola ~ the Alcatraz of the South. This is a first for Greg and I ~ both going to a rodeo and going to Angola. Greg calls this my "Prison Purse." . All of the crafts are made by the inmates. We talked with the guy behind in the booth. He said that all the purses are handmade; we'll never find another one like it. He told us that it took a long to time figure out the designs. Greg asked, "You made this? You're one of the inmates?" There was surprise in his voice and the man shook h...

When I wrote about Greg's class reunion and meeting a lot of new people, I was very happy to see Father Ken again. This is one of Greg's friends that he has kept in touch with throughout the years. Father Ken married us. During the class reunion, I asked Father Ken about his nomination as one of the bishop candidates for the Episcopal faith. I was curious about the process. Father Ken spoke about how he will meet with the clergy and lay members of the diocese. They will have already read his biography and how he answered the questions given to each candidate. The clergy and lay members will further question his views. Because there are six candidates, it will likely take time and back and forth meetings and interviews and questions before the group narrows it down to two people and the final vote. It isn't an easy "vote" process as one would think. I have to admit that the first couple of lines of his bio had me smiling, to read that Father Ken's favorite mo...

Have you attended a high school reunion? I haven’t. I keep in touch with friends that I care about throughout the years and I'm extremely fortunate for such long lasting quality friendships. FB has helped to reconnect with some and made me realize that I don't need to reconnect with others. I'm not into the "one-up-manship” vibe. Some friends have gone to the our high school reunions and stated, "The kids who were catty back in the day are still catty and cliquish. Not much as changed That said, I attended a high school reunion this past weekend, but it wasn't mine. It was Greg's 30 year high school reunion ~ St. John Vianney Prep '79. This is the first time that Greg attended his reunions, not for the reasons I stated above, but rather because he moved around a lot and was never in town for the previous reunions. It was really nice. The guys were sincere and there was a commardery amongst them, none of the catty attitudes that come with co-ed schools....

During NaBloWriMo, is it cheating to have a guest post? I figure I’ll be safe if I say a little something and also because it’s my husband as a guest blogger. I “share” this blog, so his posts count too. Right? The little something from me.... Greg asked, “Why do they call it Nablow…whatever?” When I told him what it stood for he replied, “They need to change that. Use a different acronym. A four-letter acronym and one of them is “Blo”?.... I wouldn’t use that.” And now ~ Greg’s Post ~ As a guest blogger for Aleta... there’s one thing that I TRULY love about my new in-laws. BOTH are great people that anyone would be happy to know and share time with... but Lester... Aleta’s Dad... LOVES to feed the family.. and one of the best things he cooks VERY VERY well is a good Filet Mignon. Maybe its a guy thing... but there’s NO doubt about it... I ... Greg O'Brien AM a meat and potatoes kind of guy. The better you do BOTH... the more admirable you are to me. I would even go so far as sayin...

"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-g-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back." William D. Tammeus The other weekend, we were fortunate that one of our friends invited us to share her birthday and family with us. I've written about Sally and Bruce in the recent past when they introduced me to their son and daughter-in-law. Sally's birthday was on October 11th. This time, I had the joy of meeting their daughter and her children. I'll say this much, Sally and Bruce make beautiful, spirited kids and have beautiful, happy grandchildren!! Greg is wonderful with kids. He claims the reason is because, "he never grew up." He has such a loving heart and happy, trusting nature, children go to him automatically. Here he is playing a magic trick with Sophia. "It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do w...

Greg surprised me one day after work. He had all of the fall decorations up. He knows how much I love to decorate our home, but I haven't had the energy to take the boxes down and get creative, so he took care of it for me. I thought I'd share the pictures. Yes, it's a mixture of Halloween and Thanksgiving, including the "Fairy Taking a Dump" (coined by Greg last year) He even decorated the three outside doors with seasonal wreaths. Thank you, Sweetheart. I love you! XOXO

It's no trick and it sure isn't a treat. There was all this talk about the Feds taking a swipe at the credit cards: ~~ The credit card companies can't raise the rates on existing account balances. They can only raise rates on new credit cards and future purchases or advances. It's supposed to be a "sweeping clampdown on the credit card industry in decades and aimed at protecting consumers." ~~ Oh what a treat you say? Think again. This takes affect when? July 1020. Time to give the credit card companies an "adjustment period" to make sure all the programs are corrected. Uh Huh... sell it to someone else. When I heard this on the news, I turned to Greg and said, "Just enough time for the credit cards to hurry up and put the screws to people." What are the credit card companies doing RIGHT NOW? Do NOT treat it as junk mail when you get stuff from your credit card. Read the fine print. Greg and I have excellent credit. You know my line of bus...

Metal Etching ** NOTE ** THIS IS NOT A "HOW TO" POST *** I DON'T HAVE ALL STEPS IN THE PROCESS BELOW **** For this post, I thought I’d share a recent experience with the Beading Society. I’m so happy that Bev taught this. She IS the Master in the Beading World. Hands Down. I’m going to start by saying that Bev didn’t just have all the materials, she was “safety first” with gloves, goggles and EPA safety on the disposal of chemicals. Everything was well thought out and the process went very smoothly, which is saying a lot considering there are a lot of steps. Kudos to you, Bev!! Ok, so, to start with ~ we took out the various copper and brass pieces. Then, we picked out our stamp and used a specific type of ink (you can also use a Sharpie pen and nail polish for the process) and put the design on the metal. We burnished the items onto a piece of masking tape. Making sure all the sides and back had full contact with the tape. In the picture, Bev had Mary Lou’s assistance ...