Fleur de Aleta

My Uncle Sonny and Aunt Sophia from California came into town this past weekend. We had a delightful meal, filled laughter and memories. Uncle Sonny shared stories about when he was a little boy ~ he had a gift for finding animal and bringing them home. Those animals ranged from copperhead snakes (capturing it in a jar and hiding in the backyard garden… seemed like a good idea until his Mom went gardening!).. to a pet turtle (which he hid under his bed and put in a box. He didn’t realize the turtle could get out, but the turtle didn’t do too well with the stairs. It rolled down the stairs – clunk, clunk, clunk…. His parents thought someone was trying to break into the house and called the police! You can imagine the officers expression when they found the culprit of the sound)… to a pet pig ~ my grandmother refused to allow Uncle Sonny to keep it as a pet. (Some Pictures during their visit) Of course, when you talk about childhood memories, Rob and I are good targets. Mom recapped the ...

So, who thought a blog would be environmentally unhealthy? It’s time to go a little green. “The Secret is in the Sauce” shared this neat site where the blog emissions can be “neutralized.” To quote the site: “According to a study by Alexander Wissner-Gross, PhD, physicist at Harvard University and environmental activist, an average website causes about 0.02 (0,0008oz) of carbon dioxide for each visit. Assuming an average blog gets 15,000 visits a month, it has yearly carbon dioxide emissions of 3,6k (8lb.). This can mainly be tracked back to the immense energy usage from (mainframe) computers, services, and their cooling systems.” Ummmm, 15,000 visits a month? Not likely on my blog, but still ~ I’m all for doing some good for the environment. Once you blog about their site and put their cute little button on your blog (look to the right), they plant a tree per blogger. The trees are planted in California and Germany. Pretty cool, I thought. See that little blue/green “my blog is carb...

Recently on yahoo, I read an article titled "Nearly 800,000 U.S. TV households 'cut the cord,' report says." Greg and I will be part of the figures for 2010, so adjust it to 800,001 households. We still use Cox Cable for Internet and the absolute basic of basic channels. We cut the cord and cut the bill by 100 dollars! Instead of paying 169 a month, we dropped it down to 64 a month (with the bulk of the remaining bill being Internet fees). Greg made a comment one day that we're more likely to be found in our office area than in the front room watching TV. When we did watch TV, we were using the DVR. Yes, we turned in the DVR to Cox Cable when we cut the cord, then we dusted off the good old TIVO and resumed our season passes to the shows that we like. Cost of TIVO? Zero. Greg bought it when it first came out - one charge, that's it. We also have Apple TV if we want to see a specific movie and there's always Hulu.com in the Internet (free). Add in the iPad ...

I'd like to introduce someone to you...... Layla Nicole ~ no, this little 5 pound bundle of joy is not mine. (My cousin said he wanted this picture, so here it is :) Family Portrait: Cameron, Kevin, Heather, Layla

I know I'm going to sound like I’m wearing a chain of different crystals hanging around my neck for this post. But when something like this happens, well.... I have to share :) The other night, I saw a band on Greg's wrist. I thought it was one of those bracelets you wear for medical reasons. Greg has diabetes, so I figured that's what it was and asked him. He said, "I almost didn't wear it in front of you. Danny wears one and I didn't believe him until after he did the test on me." Greg continued, "It helps a person with balance, strength and flexibility. The band has a hologram that reacts positively with a person's frequency." Stretching my mind a bit at this point and thinking, "Didn't Einstein say that everything in life is vibrations or something of that nature?" Greg almost didn't want to put the band on in front of me, because he thought I'd be skeptical, which Greg even admitted he was skeptical when Danny first...

The French Quarter Festival is no longer the best kept secret, not with over 80,000 people showing up on Sunday (and that’s with the better known Strawberry Festival going on at the same time nearby). Greg and I drove to Danny’s condo (in the warehouse district of New Orleans). (Pictures inside Danny’s condo, I like the decorations) The good thing is that we have a place to park Greg’s vehicle (Danny's condo allows one vehicle per unit in a gated parking lot). The bad news is that there’s an ever so slight walk from the warehouse district to the French Quarter Festival. Let’s just say I definitely got my exercise in today and was glad I had tennis shoes on! (Pictures taken along the walk) Danny told us about the day before, when the festival started, how he met a group of church ladies, one was a female preacher. He met them at a restaurant where the ladies didn’t know what type of oysters to order (grilled or raw). They ordered grilled and he heard them asking about prices, so he ...

Have you ever written a "Future Me" Letter? You write the letter, determine how far in the future you want to send it and if you still have the same email after that length of time, you get a letter from yourself. It's like receiving a piece of your journal in the future ~ a little snippet of the past and a nice comparison of where you are today. What I wrote a year ago: ************************ "Dear Future Aleta, I sure hope things are going well. Right now, as of this point in time, life is sweet. Greg and I were married January 3 this year. It's hard to believe that 5 months prior to us getting married, Greg was in a horrible car accident. He pulled through it and by the Grace of God survived. Now I understand the meaning in more depth, "You'll never know how much you love someone until you almost lose them." I added almost, because I didn't and Thank God. Greg is the man of my dreams in all possible ways. He's gentle, thoughtful, genero...

The following warning has been issued by Greg..... I am convinced that our cat is "Stewie" from Family Guy. I am sure of it. Every time I look in his eyes... I feel he is telling me (insert Stewie's voice here).... " Do my bidding Fat Man... and when once I take over the world I will make your demise quick and painless.... unlike the other heathens that do not bow to me." So .... just in case I AM reading his eyes in the correct manner... I pay him attention... because HEY! Who wants a painful death? ... not to mention it helps control the cats winter coat from falling all over the house. I have no doubt that while Aleta and I are away at work... he is locked up in his secret room where the walls are lined with futuristic weapons he invented.... along with his prototype hovering death-ray transporter that can only controlled by the thought of Tigger and his fellow neighborhood cats. There will be a kitty revolution. Count on it. They are planning our demise as y...