Overwhelmed And Thankful

I find it so interesting that you can one minute be cruising along, doing mundane ordinary shit and the next minute everything gets turned upside down.

That is what has happened here.

Super condensed version of story is I have both parents, who live in different states, ill and need immediate attention.

I am one person, my daughter is flying in for the holidays, and I just want to focus on that.

I just want to take this opportunity to thank my friends now and in advance, because I am going to REALLY rely on these girlfriends for support. Girlfriends are so key in my life and I have been blessed to have some of the most creative, intelligent and sympathetic women surrounding me.

I am thankful for a supportive and loving husband and am so blessed to be apart of this crazy clan of Crochet's. His family is truly the best.

So I have decided instead of getting bogged down in the negative, I will concentrate on the positive.

I have my family, my health, friends and am constantly amazed at the love that surrounds me every single day.

I am thankful.

From Menopause To Mylar

This post may not make sense but here goes.

A friend from high school called me over the weekend and told me the greatest story. She had a date with a guy she didn't know well so she agreed to meet him at a restaurant. After a long meal he asked her if she would like to go to his house for a drink. She followed him and ended up at my old house that I grew up in!

She wasn't really interested in the guy but she had to get in that house.

This house was built by my grandparents and was a ranch style mid century mod home complete with a front door with the knob in the middle.

She didn't go through the whole house because that would have been awkward since she was planning to bale out soon but she did hit some key areas that I was curious about.

One was the kitchen. Of course all appliances had been replaced with stainless steel and counter tops were marble but what I was most sad about, but not surprised, was that our wallpaper on the ceiling was gone.

It was yellow and silver mylar and super cool.

So to the menopause part, I have not slept in a few nights. I feel like I am headed to a slow death. I will sleep for about 2 hrs then I am awake because I am on fire and awake I stay. So that leads to watching tv or surfing the net.

Thinking about my old house, I started looking for that groovy wallpaper that was on our kitchen ceiling and what do you know...I found it on etsy:

Source: google.com via Melissa on Pinterest

The etsy seller is Kitshcy Koo Collage and they have the greatest vintage papers.

This one caught my eye and know of a certain friend of mine that would pee her pants if she came across this at an estate sale:

Source: etsy.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Anyway...

Immediately I felt the extreme need to order it...along with knife sets and wrinkle cream from QVC. I'm sad for Pam that her date didn't work out but so glad she got to wander briefly through my old home and give me an update. I'm also sad I may spontaneously combust any day now.

Good Dots Bad Dots

I am not a huge polka dot fan but there are ways to do it so it doesn't seem juvenile.

Good dots:

Source: Uploaded by user via Kristin on Pinterest

I actually found this wallpaper, made by York Wallcoverings, at Home Depot for $81.98.

I think pairing it with the black lacquered cabinets keeps it sophisticated.

 Bad dots:

Source: mylifetime.com via Melissa on Pinterest

Bye Bye Suade

And that is the lesson for the day.

I Just Realized I'm Old

This past weekend was a reality check.

Friday we drove to Louisiana, picked up Emily from school, and headed to BR for the LSU/Bama game. We always stay at our best friends house and behaved relatively well that night.

 

Saturday morning came and the cooking started.

Drooling yet?

Those my friends are crawfish pies.

Here is the recipe:

 

Pat Johnson's Crawfish Pies

1 Tbs olive oil

1 med onion

1 med bellpepper

1 bunch of green onions

1 Tbs parsley

3 Tbs minced garlic

1 lb crawfish tails

1 pint whipping cream

9 cups mild cheddar cheese

3 Tsp oregano

1/2 Tsp thyme

1/2 Tsp salt

1/2 Tsp black pepper

1/2 Tsp cayenne pepper

1 Tsp La hot sauce

24 small tart shells

2 Tbs flour

Keep tart shells in freezer until called for in recipe. Shred crawfish tails (retain fat) with knife. Chop onion, bell pepper, green onions, and parsley. Sautee them in olive oil until soft. Add oregano, thyme, salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Add garlic. Add crawfish and sautee 5 min. Add whipping cream, simmer about 10 min. Increase heat and add 3 cups of cheese, stirring constantly. Add flour if necessary so that it is not in liquid state. Spoon mixture into shells and top off with more cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10-15 min.

So Ann made those and Randy made black eye pea jambalaya.

Needless to say we ate well that day.

The ride to campus was challenging since we had 10 people to fit into a suburban:

There were 3 in the front, 4 in the middle (that's Em laying across us), and 3 in the third seat.

Thank God we are all close friends.

The campus was packed. Here is a pick of tailgate parties around us:

That is an ice luge shot dispenser. It is a block of ice with 2 grooves carved into it where the wonderful bartender pours you the shot of your choice.

I visited that a few times.

This tailgate party was nice enough to provide a pole for dancing options.

I did not participate in that.

We lost. We went to bed at 3am after consuming liquid therapy.

Home again and spent yesterday catching up...laundry, removal of pet hair and waiting for Housewives of Beverly Hills to come on.

DIY Spider and Weekend Plans

At our house we have a theme for our Halloween decorating.

Last year it was "Welcome To Death Valley"...in other words LSU themed. 

This year it was "Attack of the Giant Spider".

Our neighborhood goes all out...like one house is always Wizard of Oz themed with the movie going outside and special effects. One house hands out candy to children and jello shots to the adults. We are pretty competitive in our home so we...Christopher and I...got to work.

Here is our spider made with pvc pipe painted black, garbage bag filled with leaves, and 2 bike helmets sprayed black and put together:

We inserted a red light inside for extra creepy eyes.

Then we hung a zombie covered in spider web and small spiders from the tree above Spidey:

We covered the front porch, bushes, and trees in webbing and then sat back with a bottle of red and shoveled out candy.

Tomorrow I head out for Baton Rouge to go to the LSU/Bama game...like a pig heading to slaughter.