I'm a posting fool: Last one for a few days

This is my last post for a few days as I will be heading back to Alabama to stay with my parents. Lisa, I am making up for time that will be lost while I'm away:)

This is for all you KK (Krispy Kreme) lovers out there. Lisa and Alfredsmom I know are KK fans.

I had to stop and get some donut holes at KK. Yummy. Yummy. Yummy.

See you all next week...I'll be checking on you all from time to time. Alfredsmom, maybe the Big Girl will get here this weekend or week?? Enjoy your new-found freedom from your job before you real job as a "human" mommy starts.

Scenes from a drive across town

I drove across town this afternoon to pick something up....see next post. Here are some random pictures I took as I made my way across the bridge to the west side of town.

No more gumbo

I drove across town a little bit ago to go to the Oyster Bar to pick up some seafood gumbo for my mom's birthday tomorrow. I tried to call and it said the phone was temporarily out order. I called two weeks ago to see about getting some and they answered and said their gumbo person had just come back to work from being out sick.

So I decided to get in my car and drive over there thinking that maybe something is wrong with the phone and I can just go in and get the gumbo ... no problem. But they were closed! This is the building. I know the big sign was torn up in the hurricanes the past two years and never replaced. But this is sad to me that maybe there are no longer open at all. Friday is a big restaurant day and summer time is the busiest time of year. So with that in mind, I'm afraid maybe they have closed their doors. We have visited this restaurant for MANY years....long before I ever moved here 19 years ago. It is the place that I remember coming to with my grandmother when I came here to interview for my first court reporting job 19 years ago. She rode down here with me and we came here for lunch before our return back to Montgomery.

Anyway, here's a picture of the old building as I passed by today.

What's even more depressing is that I might have to start learning to make gumbo myself, which is an undertaking that I'm scared of! The husband has wanted me to try this for a long time but since we had the Oyster Bar, I haven't had to....but now....I might have to. It's one of those dishes that takes a long time to master and you have to make a roux to start with. We'll see what happens.

Hey Aunt Sue: Tiny went to *Bagel Heads*

Hello to Aunt Sue who is getting on our daddy's computer and looking at this blog! She doesn't have a computer at her house so she only looks when I show her stuff on it at my house. So now she's over at mama's looking on their computer. I will be over there tomorrow to relieve you of parent sitting duties for a few days!!

Tiny had to get her nails trimmed at the vet's office today and I had to pick up some doggie food there. So I took her on a little ride over to *Bagel*Heads* to get me a bagel and she got some tastes of it, too.

Here are some pictures of her riding in "her spot." She has to sit on the driver's leg near the window. She is a good rider.

Front Door Friday: Sunny

This front door is in Fairhope, Alabama. There are so many cute little cottages there. Some of them are for rent as a place to vacation. This is a pretty little town with a lot of artist and it sits on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay. There are a lot of seafood and other restaurants, too. Yummy. I took several pictures one day when I was over there. But I took them from my car instead of walking by so I don't think they will photograph as well that way.

Stone House

This house is being built on my walking route. Just thought I'd show it to you all. It is covered in stone. I think this must be what the houses in New Port, Rhode Island look like?? I went inside the other day and took some picutures. One of the workers gave me a tour. It is huge and has details I've never seen the likes of. Coco, I wanted you to see the crown molding. It has seven layers...is what the painter told me. But the ceilings are so high, I guess you have to have that much crown molding to make it stand out. Off the master bedroom upstairs is a balcony that is covered and it has one of those deep swimming pools just for swimming laps!!! I can't imagine! It already has a regular swimming pool and jaccuzi outside. I wish this couple would have a charity event to tour the house because I'd like to see the inside when they finish it and I'd pay money to see it.

Lost and found

On Sunday over at our parents' house, these two lost doggies followed my sister home from her morning walk. My sister loves to take in lost dogs and it's her mission to find the owners or find a home for doggies that are on the loose. She put a fan on the front porch at my parents and fed and watered them and probably spent large amounts of time out there petting them and talking to them. She put up "found" posters and rode around looking for "lost" signs. She didn't find any lost signs. So Monday she called around to some vets in the area and they didn't know anything about these lost dogs. Then she called the animal shelter to see if anyone had reported them lost. They were closed for a "southern" holiday in honor of Jefferson Davis' birthday.

So Tuesday morning she calls the animal shelter again and they have not heard from anyone about these two missing doggies. So she had no choice but to ask if they could come pick these two up because they couldn't continue to live on the front porch at our parents' forever. So they said it might be the next day before they came by to get them.

A little while later she gets a phone call from the owner of these two. She had been out of town and didn't know they were missing. She had called the animal shelter to see if they had been turned in there. She came and picked them up after she got off work. Thank goodness their owner came for them because I don't think my sister could have stood letting the animal shelter take them away.

Betcha I kin tell ya where ya got 'dem shoes

If you've ever been to New Orleans, you've probably been told this statement by some kid on the street: "Betcah I kin tell ya where ya got 'dem shoes." They say this to you so that you'll give them something if they get the answer right. Of course, you are thinking well, I got them at Sports Authority or the department store....but they have you beat every time because the answer they give you is: "You got them on the street." Meaning your feet are in the shoes standing in the street right there in New Orleans!!! So pay up!

I miss New Orleans and my sister and I are thinking of going back in December for our annual trip. I'm sure it won't be the same, but it never will be what it was ever or in our lifetime. So I think it's time to go back and see it and go eat the good food and look around. I want to go over to Chalmette and see the battleground where Andrew Jackson fought the Battle of New Orleans in 1814.

Anyway, I got some new shoes because the old ones were worn out and losing the tread.

Blogger and a neighbor in the hood: Bad

Since Blogger is acting crazy and won't let me comment or post pictures most of the time the past 24 hours or so, I'll tell you about a something I saw on my walk this week.

I was coming down a street and turning the corner when I heard a man Y-E-L-L-I-N-G. He was about three houses away and I was watching as I kept walking. He was yelling so loud. I saw a teenager walking away from him to the driveway next to him. I thought he was yelling at his child. But NO...he was yelling at a grownup, the lady that lives next door. She was standing right there by him in his driveway and was trying to open the gate to his back yard. From what I could tell that he was yelling, he was telling her that she was not responsible enough to have a dog in the back yard. That the least she could do was fix the hole that the dog dug and keep it in her own yard. She did not yell back, but said something in a lower voice. I don't think I've ever seen a scene like that before. At least not in this neighborhood. Gee, what a redneck.

So I'm walking this morning early and what do I see??? His yard got rolled big time. I didn't have my camera with me. Every time I don't take the camera, there's something to take a picture of. Oh, well, looks like somebody had the last word about that.

Little footprints

I saw these little footprints in the sand. And this sunset was so pretty. I know I've shown this doggy before but every time he's out there barking at me as I go by, it makes me happy.

Alfredsmom made me do it

Thanks to Alfredsmom for making me get up and get on down to the Bath and Body Works semiannual sale. I finally got my first Wall Flower and I got it in the Lilac fragrance because my friends up north like Willow&Belle and Punchbug tell of how these flowers smell so good. I hope this is how they really smell because I don't know if I'll ever get to smell a "real" lilac.

I got some new volumizing shampoo in sweet pea and in the eucalyptus and spearmint fragrance and also some almond body cleanser from the COBigelow line and some pink grapefruit body splash. I got the orange ginger body wash, too. I did get most of these in the economy size because I can use them faster and move on to a new scent.

I am loving the Savannah Bee collection of things that Alfredsmom sent me, too. If these puggies didn't have fur on them, I'd probably put all these lotions and sprays on them, too.

Here's two pictures of the local store in the mall. It seems like a small store to me. I bet there are bigger ones in bigger cities.

Lemons and Sugar

I have fallen in love with the lemonade made by Florida's Natural. I found it at the grocery right up the street here and I go buy a few bottles at a time. Well, yesterday I think I drank too much. I woke up in the night with a cough and congestion/lung thing and I'm not sick. I think it was an allergic reaction....but what do I know?? I am going to buy some splenda and lemons and see if I can make some real lemonade that is low/no calorie because one bottle of this is more than a Coke!
Oh, yeah, if you put this in the freezer for about 30 minutes, you have a nice slushy.

Today on my walk, I went inside the house that's being built. You all remember that this is the house that I *trespass* in the yard to get pictures of the water and sunrise. I just thought I'd share these pictures I took. I did not go upstairs. This house is so big I just can't imagine how much it cost to maintain and furnish and clean.

This is the room you walk into when you come in the front door.

This is the dining room.

This is a picture of the kitchen work area and also a picture of when you are standing in the kitchen working, this is the view you have of the bay outside.

As you are standing in the kitchen, there is an aquarium set in the wall in that area. It's behind that blue tarp there.

This is the master bath tub and shower and the right-side vanity area. The left side had a vanity area that looked similar. This bathroom was about the size of my bedroom.

This is the master bedroom on the other side of the house looking out at the water.

This is the guest bedroom that has a waterfront view.

Two-lane roads between Alabama and Florida

My sister told me that there was a lot of traffic on the interstate Saturday as she was coming over to mama's house. Interstate 10 runs along Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and maybe even on to California?? The exit to my mama's is the exit you take to go south to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and Perdido Key. So a lot of traffic gets off at this exit and continues south to the beaches that run from Alabama to Florida. I had to go south on that same highway to go to a store to get my mama a birthday present from my daddy since he can't get out. There was so much traffic and lots of out-of-state tags on cars...people on vacation and I loved seeing it. I remember going to the beach on vacation all the years I was younger before I moved to Florida. I still think that's a great feeling to be going to the beach on vacation.

So I decided to go home on a two-lane highway that runs parallel with the interstate and the beach from Alabama to Pensacola. There was a family that lived on this highway that grew fields of flowers and would cut them and set them in containers at a little building by the road. You could pay on the honor system. You could also call in advance and put in an order if you needed a lot of flowers. They were written up in *Southern*Living*Magazine about their business. A few years ago, their son passed away. So sad. He was still a teenager. Saturday, I drove past their house and the little building and it was all up for sale. The field had no flowers and was not tended. There were a few flowers growing willy-nilly but looked like no one was there. This place is right next to Sweet Home Farm.

I did go to the Sweet*Home*Farm and get some cheese that they make there. It's such a tiny place. But I think it's a neat place to go seeing as how there are not many places that make their own cheese. They have chickens and turkeys there. Not for sale but you can see them when you park your car. I took these pictures while I was there.