It’s summer time… time for rebirth and renewal! Saturday, Jun 26 2010

It’s been a full year since I’ve been here. Facebook and Twitter and foursquare have completely taken my attention span. I decided that I would attempt to revive the blog back in the manner that I gave life to it… as a blog about the three key things in my life…

The Kids:

• Eldest Child is heading off to HIGH SCHOOL. Yes, it totally merited those caps. It is scaring the bazookas outta me. Does she care? I don’t think so. Me, terrified.
• Only Son is finishing his last year of elementary school. Still the tiny little guy, same size as his baby sister, but willing to take her in a duel. This Middle Child perplexes me in how much he loves school but doesn’t want to show that he thinks school is “cool”. He is refusing to let me purchase the 5th grade class shirt. Sigh.
• Mini Me has exploded onto the scene. She’s going into 1st grade and is ready for high school. She’ll be taking her formal talented drama screening this fall. If she doesn’t make it, there is something seriously wrong here.

The Cats

• Hugo is the daddykins at 7. He doesn’t leave my bed unless I’ve come home and am sitting on the couch… then he comes to the front room to stare at me to inquire as to why I haven’t made it to bed yet.
• Mouse is still white and still deaf and is now 3. He has the run of the house since Hugo isn’t going anywhere that doesn’t involve me. But, he mainly sticks to windowsills or sofa cushions above Eldest Child’s head (preferably ON her head).
• Charlie, our Katrina wild child, has declared himself a wild child yet again. He’s five this year… a reminder of the storm and how much time and how much and how little has changed. He decided the outside life was no longer for him. He now protects the yard from the random cardinal or squirrel and if another cat should think of coming within a yard of ours… they’d better think again.

The Books:

• Well, let’s just say they keep on coming and they get better and better. I hope to review more often. I am now working as an elementary librarian at the school where Only Son and Mini Me attend. Luckily, it’s an advanced school so we have a wide variety of books to read.

NOLA:

• Lots to talk about, lots going on, lots still to do.

I hope you missed me. I hope you’ll be back.

NOLADawn

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So, I went to my 20th reunion and lived to tell about it! Tuesday, Jul 7 2009

What do you get when you put 50 women from a now defunct all-girls’ Catholic high school in a ballroom together? A PAWTY! (look up N’Awlins speak to decipher)

Interestingly, not much has changed. We had a girls’ night dinner on Friday night and the big shebang at a fancy French Quarter hotel on Saturday, with spouses invited (about half took up that offer.) Most of us hadn’t seen each other since we promised to K.I.T. when we left school in May 1989. Some had gone to the 5, 10, or 15 year reunions. However, with the popularity of facebook, we found almost 70% of our class online. Not everyone could attend because, unlike the NOLA tradition of staying near family, many classmates had moved away. Some were for jobs, some for spouses, some for Katrina. But, we were able to get about 50-60 girls in for the two-night affair.

Funny thing. When I looked around at the tables… we were all sitting in our cafeteria spots. Habits are hard to break, even after twenty years. We eventually mingled and realized what we’d been missing all this time. We all went out afterward to a (you can picture it in your head) Bourbon St. bar and danced and sang until 4 a.m. In the time since the reunion there have been sporadic gatherings and promises of monthly ones to come.

We’ll see but, I know I hope the spirit of our school continues on.

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Summertime… and the living ain’t so easy Tuesday, Jun 30 2009

It’s been one hellacious summer; already.

My library had to be packed up to move to the new school site and I had to prepare my library for the new school.  (oodles of fun, I HIGHLY recommend it)

It’s hot as Hades out there, can’t even stand to walk outside, much less partake in any family events.  I only have one kiddo left in summer camp.  And, she’s raring to go to Kindergarten so she’s not really digging the whole summer camp scene. The eighth grader and fourth grader are itching to get at my last nerve, but I have locked it away and they can’t have it.

GNOWP has gone on without me, sadly.  I couldn’t participate this year, much to my dismay.  At least I still got to keep in touch with them via Twitter and facebook.

I’m gearing up for the new school opening this August.  I’ll likely be back to work on July 20th to get the ball rolling.  Luckily, my two youngest, have tested into the academic magnet school where I am, so they’ll be with me and get a great enriching education.  BUT, it means all new uniforms, new friends, new everything.  I have a feeling they’ll be OK.

As for me… I’ve been doing what else.. reading and watching TV.  I rewarded myself with a Kindle2 for lots of overtime work and I’m thoroughly addicted.  Keeping up with my favorite authors on Twitter has become a new fave pastime.  Check some of them out at my twitter page http://twitter.com/noladawn

I promise (ok, I’ll make an attempt) to keep my blog updated more often.  Life tends to get away with you when you work too many hours and have three active kids.

Missed y’all!

NOLADawn

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Surviving Gustav (with kids, cats, and books) Friday, Sep 5 2008

We decided to watch and wait.  Watch and wait.  Watch and leave.  We originally booked rooms “just in case” in Lafayette, LA.  Turns out that was right in the path of Gustav.  Scratch that plan.  We got rooms in Birmingham, AL.  Saturday I was still on the fence.  I really didn’t want to leave when G was still not even in the Gulf.  Ivan taught us about that.  I come from a family of “stayers.”  Ivan and Katrina are the only times I’ve ever left in my life.  Ivan… well that was a waste of 34 hours in a car with a 9 week old.  Katrina… well we all know how that turned out.  22 days in 2 states and 2 hotel rooms with 5 people, including a cat and a just-turned 1 year old.  So, call me stubborn, but unless I KNEW I had to leave I was a bit reticent to do so.

We woke up Sunday morning and decided we should go.  I convinced my sister-in-law, whom I love dearly, to call my brother-in-law, who…not so much, to see if we could just go to his house since he lives just outside of Baton Rouge.  It’s closer in case of an Ivan fiasco and cheaper in case of a Katrina ordeal.  He agreed and we cancelled the B’Ham reservations.  We left at noon on Sunday.  With contraflow in full effect we made great time (considering the 34 hours for Ivan and 28 for Katrina) of 2 1/2 hours!  We got to the house and immediately brought our five cats, in their kennels, into the house.  Our two choc. labs we brought into the fenced back yard.  SIL’s two dogs went to the back yard.  Our niece’s two lap dogs came inside in their kennel and her cat did likewise.  We were greeted with, “What’s that stench?”  Ummm, that would be a kitten that got sick on the car ride???  We’re going to clean the cage as soon as we get a chance to breathe.  Mind if we pee first?  Well, we brought the cats outside to clean out the cage and they were never allowed back in the house!  Nor any of the dogs, or my niece’s cat.  We were told where we could eat and drink and were told we were using too many of our OWN towels.

When power went out on day two… the generator was hooked up.  The tv and fridge were hooked to it, along with a couple of fans for the den and garage (for our poor indoor pets!)  Little did we know that they had a window unit cranked up in their bedroom!!

My kids were ridiculed for how much they ate (too much for the youngest, not enough for the boy, and just comments on how skinny my oldest was.)

I brought a book along for when the power went out.  Of course, that choice was questioned too, as it was a Katrina memoir.

I was even criticized (without even talking about it myself… I guess it was the bumper sticker on my car) for voting for a n*#%&!!!!  Well, let’s just say, I started drinking to keep my sanity then.  And of course, my Edge network went out about the same time, so my link to people with common sense, my Twitter folks, was gone.

The first they mentioned about coming home- we were on a mission.  Hubs and SIL went out at the crack of dawn and bought supplies for the trip home and we were off.  Home to find a house cold with a/c and my Direct TV working just fine.  Twittering non-stop now.  Boy, I missed NOLA.

People, remind me next time to head for Birmingham, please!

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3 years later Thursday, Aug 28 2008

3 years later.

Time heals all wounds?  Not when they keep getting ripped open.  3 years to the day and another one one the way.

Afraid to LEAVE ~ Afraid to STAY

Can’t we get a fucking break, really?

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Six Word Memoirs Thursday, Jul 24 2008

So, in the Writing Project this summer, we worked on Six Word Memoirs.  I’ve been playing with them the last few days and here are a couple that I came up with.  Share some of yours if you’d like.  It’s simple; six words ONLY to describe you!

• NOLA girl reads books, loves cats.
• Mom of three minus sanity cubed.
• I teach so watch the grammar.
• New Orleans raised, storm can’t faze.
• Malibu makes anything better, even people.

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Oh. My. Gawd. Sunday, Jul 13 2008

Big Brother has a N’Awlinian Y’At (as in, Where’y’at dawlin’) as a contestant…. Ok, so we don’t ALL talk like that.  Trust. Me.

Phew.  I feel better now.  Back to your day.

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It’s almost Mardi Gras Biotches!! Saturday, Jan 5 2008

Mardi Gras World Mambo

It’s coming!!! Who’s coming to see me?

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Manic Monday- Rank Sunday, Nov 25 2007

 

Rank

When I think of rank while blogging of course the fact that my Google Page Rank has dropped from 4 to 2 in a week and that my Technorati Rank has dropped from the 200s to 38 in the last month are in the forefront… but I’ll leave that to Mo to talk about on The Mo Show this week.

Instead I’ll discuss interesting rank orders for my beloved city of NOLA 😀

• Ranks #17 as Best city for singles.
• The port of New Orleans ranks 5th in the WORLD for trade.
• Ranks #1 in Travel and Leisure… gee, I wonder why?
• Unfortunately… ranks #8 for Dangerous Cities (but hey, Hartford, CT beat us for 7th place!)
• And, #50 for business… bring your money back to NOLA!

Visit Mo for more Manic Monday info!

 Header created by Janna!

 

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Too overwhelmed… Monday, Nov 12 2007

I guess that would put it mildly.  I’m exhausted because I volunteered all weekend at our school’s booth at the town fair.  Don’t get me wrong, I had a blast… but now I’m paying for it.  The big girl was sick today and my dear mother left work early to come and get her and take her to her house so we could both go to work.  Tomorrow interim reports go home.  Wednesday night is Family Math Night (of which I’m in charge) and I’m leaving Wednesday afternoon to go to NYC for my conference so I’m busy getting the entire thing ready now.

And, the worst news of all, my darling nephew-to-be has been diagnosed with cancer.  My niece will be 26 in two weeks; he will be 30 next month.  He has malignant melanoma and went through his second major surgery today in a week.  Next week he starts chemo and radiation.  This shouldn’t happen to anyone, much less a healthy, vigorous, young man.  He is an Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff Deputy… you know the ones that you saw pictures of standing on the interstate guarding the prisoners because the prison was under water???  That was him.  They were supposed to get married on Leap Day.  He will just be finishing his rounds of chemo and radiation then so they have had to postpone the wedding because he just won’t have the energy for any of it.

Life is just not fair.

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Manic Monday- Earth Monday, Nov 5 2007

 

Manic Monday: Earth

 

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a child of the 70s or because I grew up in a city where nature is so vitally important to us but I have always been so tied to the Earth. I can remember as a kid being mad seeing people throw trash on the ground. Now, I want to take out my cell phone and call in the plate number of the people I see doing it.

 

We all know the effects that Katrina had on New Orleans, but what many did not take the time (or didn’t care) to learn was that Katrina was not just a natural event that came upon NOLA. Had Katrina happened twenty years ago, the damage would not been as harsh, levee faults or not. The reason being that our marsh land, which serves as a buffer between the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana loses the amount of 20 football fields a day to erosion. After the 2005 hurricane season, Louisiana lost 217 square miles of wetlands. Without these wetlands, hurricanes do not have anything to slow them down and break the blow of the storm. They then hit with full force. If you have a chance to see the IMAX film, Hurricane on the Bayou, I highly recommend it. It began filming before Katrina and was halted when the storm hit. When you see it you will get a clear picture on how much we Louisianians depend on Mother Earth and how fragile our relationship with her is.

Love your mother!

 

Visit Mo for more Manic Monday info!

 

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Looking for a good book?? Sunday, Nov 4 2007

My dear friend Dedra has published her first novel. She is being hailed as the Toni Morrison of our time. And to think, I sat next to her all summer!! Her book is now on sale at bookstores near you, check it out!

Here is the review from the Times-Picayune today: Sandrine’s Letter to Tomorrow.

Check it out on Amazon!

If you’re a NOLA reader, join us tomorrow for a reading with author Preston Allen.

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This is why I teach… Thursday, Sep 20 2007

This is an article from the front page of today’s paper. Even with a storm heading our way and the Jena 6 Rally today, this made the front page! This is the school I taught at last year and the student interviewed was one of “my kids.” He is the one who read Looking for Alaska when I recommended it to him (only because a professor had done a book talk on it) and returned it the next day. I thought he was passing on it. Actually, he had finished it in one night. He gave it back and said, “Thanks, that was awesome.” That is why I read it. HIS recommendation. He really was a bookworm. Of my 24 kids, 23 passed to the 9th grade!! I bawled my eyes out when I read the article. Enjoy something positive about education for a change.

Taylor’s (Edward– as he wants to be called) story

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2 years Wednesday, Aug 29 2007

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Thursday Thirteen #17- 13 things I want to do before school starts Wednesday, Jul 11 2007

School starts back up for teachers on August 8th… that means I have less than a month to do everything I want to do. Chances are looking slim, but anyway….

1. Read the massive stack of books in my To Be Read pile.
2. Start eating healthy. :snicker: …yeah even I had to laugh at that one…
3. Watch the massive pile up of movies I have on my Tivo.
4. Finally get these four movies that I have at home from Netflix watched and sent back so I’m not paying all summer for four movies.
5. Learn to build a nice website for my school so the hubby doesn’t say one more time, “Oh, I can do that for you.”
6. Maybe teach my children to stop talking at decibels only my ears and dogs can hear.
7. Put the wainscoting up in the little one’s bedroom. Not so much for the decor purposes, but more for the easy cleaning purposes.
8. Actually crack open the six new cookbooks I got when I joined The Good Cook book club…
9. Start looking at the curriculum for the new grade level.
10. Go out to eat for the NO Aids Dine For Life Event. (If anyone wants to send in a donation it’s July 19th, go here for info!)
11. Blog more!
12. Drink more!
13. Sleep more!

Get the TT information here.

THE PURPOSE BEHIND THE THURSDAY THIRTEEN:
The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. What do you do? Write Thirteen things about yourself, summarize your week in one entry, make it easy for other bloggers to get to know you on a weekly basis. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well!

See more TT particpants.

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