Wordless Wednesday

 

New Orleans

Doing a photo dump of our recent trip to New Orleans. I didn't call it a vacation because technically it wasn't. Bimmer Man was racing and neither of us had been there before. I wanted to go too! Race weekend is not a bunch of excursions to wherever city we're in - it's literally just hanging out at the racetrack, watching the race monitors, helping with pit stops, watching other teams, and gathering food for the team. It's really not a vacation - but it is really fun work! 

We decided to stay for an extra day and a half to explore the city and eat all the food. It was...somewhat disappointing - in part because there was a huge parade during the weekend and it was so busy that the amount of people buying things had emptied our restaurants and most were closed because they had no more food and needed to restock. We tried Verti Mart for muffalettas and no bread. We tried several restaurants and no stock in beer or food. So yeah...that's New Orleans on the day after a huge Mardi Gras parade for ya. The best food we had was tacos from Val's (not in the French Quarter by the way). That was AMAZING and I would go back for those tacos in an instant. French Truck Coffee had really good coffee and tea. I went there twice because it was so good. 

The architecture was really interesting! I enjoyed looking at all the balconies and the windows and all the flower boxes that people had put together. The streets are all narrow and small - the French Quarter was extremely easy to navigate.

Lots of buildings had the old gas light lanterns and most of them still used gas! I thought they were so pretty at night and what a fantastic way to see the past in action.

We didn't do any tours - but we did see many people taking walking tours. This is the LaLaurie house and is supposedly haunted. Madam LaLaurie tortured her servants (well, slaves, really, let's not beat around the bush with this). She was an awful human being to these poor people. Nicolas Cage apparently owned this house for a bit and only spent one night in it because of the haunting. This story is also the setting for a season of American Horror Story. The house itself is kitty corner from Verti Mart and it's a beautiful home. If there were tours, I would definitely have taken one of the inside to see the architecture and how the families would have decorated these home in the past. 

We're still in the middle of a pandemic and one person that we were with is very germ-conscious so we decided to find a restaurant/bar with a courtyard instead of sitting inside. As it turns out, we liked this one so much that we came here twice. The cocktails were delicious and the courtyard was so cute. 

New Orleans' streets are not so well marked and that's because the old street signs are on the ground! There are new ones but I became used to checking out the corners signs on the sidewalk instead. The tiles are absolutely gorgeous - I noticed many of them in disrepair and I really hope that the City of New Orleans will take the time to have them replicated as closely as possible and do a restoration of what they can. 

Small sidewalks, skinny streets. 

One of the oldest cemetaries in NOLA - they were supposed to be open to the public but they were closed. I read they closed the cemetaries off to the public because of the desecration and graffiti and whatnot to the graves and tombs. They were so interesting to see because in NOLA you can't actually bury a body in the ground. 

On the way to the airport we did see a more modern cemetery - those were above ground also and much larger than the small original cemeteries in the French Quarter. 

Still, they have "weeds" growing in the cracks just like any other city. I saw this and thought it was really pretty. 

Riverboats and cargo ships. Downtown is off to the right and so is the French Quarter - in reference - Cafe du Monde is behind me. 

Overall it was a pretty good trip! I think I wouldn't go so close to Mardi Gras and I for sure would go when it's warmer - like later in Spring or mid-Fall. The flowers and plants and trees were still in their winter hibernation so it wasn't as pretty and colorful as you might think but the sunshine still felt really good! I think next time I would stay in a different neighborhood and take the trolley to see more parks. And definitely go to restaurants when they have food in stock!

-Patty

 

Do People Blog Anymore?

 Is this still a thing? 

Have people moved over to Instagram and Twitter and TikTok for good?? 

Because I tried looking for an app that links to Blogger to update my blog from my phone (because wouldn't that be SOOOO EASY??). Apparently it's not a thing that Google made. No app for mobile blogging for Blogger so I guess blogging is not a thing for the young people? Eh, whatever. This Xenial is just fine doing what I'm used to. HA!

In any case - I update Insta and Twitter more often. If you want to see more of me, head over there. But I'll still come 'round here as often as I can remember to pull out the old computer and update. At least until Google comes out with an app to update blogger from mobile. 

It's January

 Still here. Still plugging away at life. Both kids are in school. Phil is.... Phil. 

I'm super happy to finally have some time to myself but before I can even do that.. I've been clearing out and decluttering the house. I've donated so many things, I made more than 5 trips to Goodwill. I've given away so much on Buy Nothing. I feel lighter? For a very long time I really thought I should SELL everything that I don't want anymore and I've come to the realization that our house should not be a holding area for "stuff" that I need to sell. My house is not a store. I've let go of the amount of money spent on items and just said "eff it." Get it out of my house so I don't have to spend the mental energy on it anymore. When you constantly are thinking about your stuff, it's robbing you of the awesome things that you could be DOING instead. 

I unloaded over 7 bags of clothes from my closets. It was stuff that was too small. Fancy work clothes that I'm not going to wear again. Old t-shirts. Old ill fitting clothes. Clothes that I thought I would wear. Clothes that I kept that I just LIKED but didn't wear. I started trying stuff on and wore it around for awhile and then put it in a pile if it made me itchy. If I have to dry clean it, I decided to donate it. I don't want to spend the time, energy, or money on dry cleaning unless I absolutely need to. 

I have only tackled a small portion of toys. Unfortunately Baby Chewie doesn't play favorites with toys and so he has his interests in many things - cars, trucks, rocket ships, books, action figures, LEGO, trains, PJ Masks, and everything in between. And he has way too many cars. At least 5 bins. It's time for 3 of those bins to go. 

I gave away all the wooden toys that I liked but got tosses aside. I gave away Barbies and babies and books. I can now go through all the Christmas and winter books - instead of putting those away I will post them on Buy Nothing and put the rest in the Free Little Libraries in the neighborhood.

And I decided not to buy books AT ALL this year until my library requests and my to read pile are down to nothing. I know. That's a HUGE challenge for me - there's two cookbooks sitting in my Barnes & Noble cart right now. So.... we'll see what happens... 

Saying Goodbye to Orange Juice

Orange juice is the bike. Not the actual juice.

This kid finally outgrew the orange bike and he was SO SAD. We had to take a goodbye picture with his first handbrake-only bike. It served him well - it was heavy enough to help him keep his balance but after doing Cuyuna several times and Colorado trails we decided it was time to upgrade him to a bigger, and much lighter bike. We ended up going with a Commencal for his new 16 inch. Now we go onto bigger and faster and more trails with more features. He can now do wheelies with his lighter bike. He's been really fun to watch learn how to ride (and he's had many scrapes, bruises, falls, etc...). 

I was really happy to see it go to a LITTLE GIRL NAMED RITA. When I heard that from her dad who picked it up, I almost screamed for absolute joy. She's getting an awesome bike to learn on with upgraded brakes for little kids and she's going to be awesome. 

 

School has Started!

School has started! Both have started, Baby Chewy is no longer Baby Chewy, he's now a Kindergartner. I sometimes have a few minutes to myself - but as it seems in the last 5 weeks of school, I can rarely get my shit together to have time for myself. 

Or shall I say.. life keeps happening around me when I would really enjoy taking a break.

So here's a photo of Phil. Waiting patiently for someone to give him the bacon that's on the table. 

 

Hey! I'm Still Here!!

 Just busy AF. I rarely have time to even shower, let alone blog. I love how much more independent my children are as they grow but also as they grow, they need more of my time - which seems counterintuitive when you think of how babies rely solely on their parents. 

I'm driving my children to camps; trying to figure out when I can shower; keeping my plants alive in the dry heat (we've been reaching the record breaking temps and it's driving me insane if I have to keep watering daily, I'm tempted to leave all my perennials to the heat and see which ones are hardy!); my elderly mother needs more and more care - she needs cataract surgery so I'm in charge of finding doctors and setting appointments. 

I'm hoping I have so down time in the next few weeks. But somehow, I still feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off. It's not always the best feeling.

Summer is terrible for my workout routine. I thought it would be better because we're home in the mornings, but instead I'm rushing around trying to clean the house before I leave to drop the kids off at their summer camps, leave for parks and the lakes, play dates, mountain biking, etc... 

Summer is a lot of work for parents. 

Veronica Speedwell

If you haven't yet heard of Veronica Speedwell, you're missing out.

A Perilous Undertaking is the second book in the series by Deanna Raybourn and the characters are absolutely delightful. Veronica always has something clever to say and is the complete opposite of what Victorian ladies are supposed to do - she also recognizes "the male being" and definitely loves what she does - which is solve mysteries and hunt butterflies. 

This is a short entry because I don't want to spoil the series! If you love mystery novels AND historical fiction, this book is a great blend of the two. The writing is fantastic and nothing about Deanna' Raybourn's books are boring. Highly recommend if you need a new series to read.

 

Homemade Berry Syrup

Damn, berry syrup is beautiful.

Super easy to make too!

1 pint of blueberries

1/2 pint of strawberries, cut into small pieces

2 tbsp water

1 tbsp lemon juice (I used the juice of 1 lemon, so a little more than 1 tbsp)

2 tbsp sugar

Put everything into a small pot over medium-low. Stir, until simmering. Once it's simmering you can squish the berries to the consistency that you like with the back of the spoon you're using. Simmer for about 10 minutes (enough time to mix pancake or waffle batter). Turn off heat, let thicken for a few minutes and cool before pouring over waffles over pancakes.

 

Where Supplements Go to Die

So hard. So hard. I know vitamins and minerals and calcium is really good for you so I buy a bunch of vitamins and try to take them. I try so darn hard. But then the next week starts and I stop.. It's like I've forgotten that I've tried to start a new habit. 

For example: let's take the calcium supplement on my counter. Over the winter I was like, "I'm Getting To Be An Old Lady" so I should take a calcium supplement for my bones! And so I started. I took them daily for a week.

I did so, so, so great for a week. They're even CHOCOLATE. So they would even taste really good!

But it's now months later and I should have finished this container already.

Lots of face palms over here. I'm sure you're wondering what else I have - Vitamin D in pill form (I like the gummies better), Vitamin C is slowly disappearing, some gross probiotics, other gummy probiotics with carnauba wax that I can't have (I get hives from carnauba wax, it's weird), and other stuff. 

Le sigh. Next time I deep clean the kitchen I'm going to have to clear out all the old supplements.