Fleur de Aleta

Where has the time flown? Answer: Mac Mini and New Blog Greg says when I get into something, I really get involved with it... That's certainly the truth with my Mac Mini. He can't blame me though, because he bought it for me. :) Truth be told, I know he's happy that I'm enjoying the new computer. I'M A MAC! I know, I was a Mac when he bought the iPad for me, but the Mac Mini makes it feel more "real." OMG, I love Macs! It's a time sucker though. Right now, I'm caught up in the iMovies. I'm merging between iMovies and Keynote to mix slides and short movies of our vacations together. My first attempts are pretty lame and now that I have a better idea of what to do, I'm going back to revamp the first attempts. (Plus, I found some more movies to add...) The other time sucker has been a new blog. I'm not giving up this one. Fleur de Aleta is a journal for me, to share funny times and special memories. The new blog was inspired by an email ex...

Adult Content Involved Avenue Q ~ imagine Sesame Street music - la, la, laaaaa, la, la - Greg brought it to my attention that all of the songs sounded the same, except for the change in words. It's true! They have the same sing-songy, sing along with me, cutesy sound, yep, just like Sesame Street. The puppeteers used that "child voice" for the puppets. Hey, it's puppets and Sesame Street sounds, but.... that's where it stops. All those cutesy sounds don't match the cursing (which did make me laugh, you just don't expect muppet to say "Fuck" and "Shit" - all very appropriately timed as well..) and unPC topics, such as racism, homosexuality, schadenfreude (look it up if you don't know), porn (one of Greg's favorites - the girl/monster puppet was singing along about how she was going to open a Monster School and teach monster children about the Internet. Then a big Monster from one of the windows screams out "PORN". She t...

One of my relatives once said that he considered a teaching career. He would have made an excellent history teacher or math teacher. He even went so far as to look into the requirements for a Master's Degree. Then he heard in the news about teacher's pay being based on the children's grades. He said, "The teacher's pay will adjust to the kid's grade? You want to see huge and I mean HUGE results? Adjust the PARENT'S pay based on the kid's grades! Then you will see radical improvements with the grades! All that's going to happen if the pay is adjusted on the teachers is that there will be more teachers cheating!" This made sense to me and yes, it does happen. Greg is reading "Freakonomics" and I'm reading it over his shoulder. Greg likes to read at night, lying down in bed and flipping the pages on the iPad. I can curl up next to him and read right along. It's nice and cozy and a good time to share thoughts and interests. (I al...

One evening, I asked Greg to draw something for me. He said, “Stay still” as he grabbed a red ink pen and yellow tablet. He held the paper up, so I couldn’t see what he was drawing. I started laughing and giggling. I thought for sure he was teasing me and only acting like he was drawing me. He told me I’d make a horrible model. I guess because I fidget. I’ve never seen that “deep concentration” look in his eyes and I was certain he was playing a joke on me, which only made me laugh all the more. Then I’d try to frown to stop from laughing. After I realized he was serious.... I felt like the Rose on Titantic - only fully clothed and a much happier ending! (It was the look in Greg's eyes :) Honestly, though, given he was working with an ink pen and a model that couldn’t keep a straight face, I thought he did an excellent job. I was shocked, because he did this in about 10 minutes!

I have a new toy and because of it, I'm creating iMovies of the vacations we've been on. I'm learning as I'm doing each new movie and loving it. Here's an example: (Click on the video to make it larger.) (I also thought it was at least, somewhat... appropriate to share, given the last video on this movie - appropriate song for Memorial Day ~ Thanks and God Bless to our soldiers!)

I don't eat Italian. It's the red sauce. Greg, on the other hand, loves Italian. One day, Greg asked where we should go for supper. I was tired of the regular places, so when he suggested "Fat Greg's" in Kenner, I figured ~ hey, it's a change. Most likely it's just pizza and red sauce, but I'm sure I can find a salad too. The outside looks like a hole in the wall. It's something that you look at and think, "Who would eat there?" Greg said, "Fat Greg's isn't a name of a restaurant that you'd think of table cloths and good dining." When we walked in, it was lovely. Not super fancy, but nicely decorated. It's not a large place but the tables are spaced so that you don't feel like the place was trying to crowd people in. We went to the table on the right side of the restaurant (it’s divided in two halves). Another couple was on the same side of the restaurant that we were and Greg asked them if they could recomme...

Greg and I will sometimes go for a treat at the local snowball stand. For just one dollar, you can get a “small” (which is actually pretty large) snowball or a soft serve ice cream. We don’t like to drive away immediately because we don’t want any spills in the car. After we got our orders, we stood outside the snowball stand. A group of 5 kids came up to place their order. One boy took a bite out of his snowball and made the FUNNIEST expression. It was a lime snowball – VERY SOUR. I so wish I caught the moment. Below is the “moment after” when he shared his snowball with his friend.

Do you want to see a cat jump 10 feet in the air out of a sound sleep? All you have to do is grab a bag of Sun Crisp Chips! No kidding, the bag is THAT loud! I don't like loud noises and no matter how gently you pick up the bag, CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH - and I'm not talking about eating the chips - it's the darn bag making that sound! Seriously - you need the sound reduction headphones before picking up a bag of chips! I guess if you ever want to have a raging fit, pick up the bag and crackle it with your mood. Lol. (Warning- if you have a kid who likes to make loud noises, keep the sun crisp bags out of reach!) Ok and the other thing - I'm all for helping the environment. It's cool that the Sun Crisp bag is biodegradable. Something about the bag made out of plants and will degrade after 14 weeks in the right environment. They even have a picture on the bag.. but honestly, the pictures kind of freak me out. I don't know if I want to see compost while eating a chip ...

At the beginning of April, I blogged about Greg and I ordering the 3G iPad. When the Wifi iPads arrived in the stores early April, Greg was chomping at the bit to get one. He sent me an email about how it's better to have two iPads when it comes to a couple. Then said that he would likely hog the 3G iPad....and convinced the both of us, that we should get a Wifi iPad as well. Greg even went so far as to send me this link about "Peace in the home: Sharing an iPad with your spouse" (Greg added, "This is why we have two iPads!"). Here's the link: http://www.tuaw.com/2010/04/20/peace-in-the-home-sharing-an-ipad-with-your-spouse/ So, WOOT! We have Wifi and Wifi/3G iPads now for about a week. It's GREAT! Greg handed me the Wifi iPad and said, "This is yours. You get to open it." Cute little box, one sheet of paper with directions on controlling volume, on and off button and it was ready to go - yes, that simple! It's so incredibly portable! It...