Adventure in Wally World

You won't be seeing this title very often because I am not the hugest fan of Walmart, I do most of my shopping at Target. Anyway, yesterday I needed to get 3 things: toilet cleaner, diet dr. pepper, and a pizza, and Walmart was the best place to go, or so I thought. I my mind this would take like 5 minutes, get in, get out, and be on my way.

First on the list, toilet cleaner. I go to the household cleaning supplies aisle. All it has on it is laundry detergent and dish washing detergent. The aisle before said dog food and the aisle after it was irons and that type of thing. So, I continued to wander around thinking the other cleaning supplies might be somewhere close by. After not finding them I decide to ask someone who worked there. She misunderstood what I said and took me to the toilet brushes, which I guess is toilet cleaner, but not the type I needed. So, I continued to wander. Then I decided I should just ask someone who looked normal (at Walmart that is not always the easiest thing). A nice lady told me I needed to go to the dog food aisle and it would be around there. Sure enough, toilet cleaner was on the dog food aisle and I had just missed it (who looks for cleaning supplies on a pet aisle!).

Next on the list, Diet Dr. Pepper. I knew exactly where that was at the back of the store and had no problems getting it. On to the pizza. I figured that would be in the deli and at the Walmart in Huntsville and I think Fairhope, the deli is up front. So, back up front I go - and only find the Bakery and Seafood. To the back of the store again. Luckily I found the pizza and go to the check out only to realize I got Caffeine Free Diet Dr. Pepper. There was no way I was going back to the back of store so I just went ahead and checked out.

There you have it, a trip that should have taken 5 minutes turned into a 20 minutes, all for 3 items - at least I got my exercise for the day. And by golly, we were going to enjoy that pizza and caffeine free diet dr. pepper (you can't really enjoy toilet cleaner I guess - ha!).

Lundi Gras

Lundi Gras, Fat Monday, is the day before Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras. Nothing really happened on Lundi Gras but since it only comes once a year, I thought it would be fun to write about. I was reading a little bit online about it and apparently it is a really big deal in New Orleans. In Mobile, they just have a few more parades and that is about it.

So, about my Lundi Gras...I went to work; about half of my office was there so it was a very quite day. Some of my coworkers made a real vacation out of Tuesday's holiday by going to Disney World or going to visit family out of town. I think the kids were out of school yesterday and today so you can't really blame them for hitting the road and doing something fun. There were parades going on through out the day yesterday so I was a little afraid that I would get stuck in traffic on my way home. I didn't have any problems and I didn't get lost - wahoo! My boss actually let us off a little early - you gotta love being a government employee.

Last night we went to our last parade of the Carnival season, the Order of Mystic Magnolias, in Fairhope. We were on the front row and had a great time catching whatever was thrown our way. There were tons of kids around us so when got a few of the junky items like the light up rose or the whistle cigar we gave them to the kids around us (we also gave them other stuff that was thrown our way because there is no way we needed all of those beads and cups).

Look at all we got! 4 bags of peanuts, 12 or so cups, 3 frisbees, moonpies, and tons of beads. And as I said before, we gave away about a quarter of our stuff to the kids around us. The Fairhope mystic groups know how to do it! I have no clue what we are going to do with all of this though (other than the pearls - they are going to Christina). Today is Fat Tuesday and there are lots of parades in downtown Mobile. Brad is working from home and I am off from work - we will not be going downtown to participate in the parades today, way too many people. I read that the one we went to Saturday night had close to 90,000 people at it. I can only imagine how many people will be there today.

If you've enjoyed reading about our fun Carnival experiences this year, come visit us anytime next year and we can parade together!

My sweet puppy dogs

I was able to steal a shot of my 2 babies snuggling together. I think they are starting to like each other!

Loot from the Weekend

Well, we went parading again this weekend. Last night we met up with some of Brad's co-workers in Mobile for the Crew of Columbus parade. We were supposed to meet between 5:45 and 6 with the parade starting at 6:30. I left the house at 5:20 - you would think that would give me plenty of time to get to downtown Mobile. It took me an hour and 45 minutes!!!! This drive should have taken me only 20 to 30 min. max - and get this, it was NOT Mardi Gras traffic. I was the only car getting off at the downtown exit, well I guess there wouldn't be much traffic 30 minutes after the parade starts. I was able to get to Brad and the others and see the last 2 floats. Lucky for me, Brad's co-workers are serious paraders. We stopped at 2 more spots along the parade route before eating dinner.

This is a little different than the parades last week. We got a little bit of everything (from a singing lobster/crawfish to Christmas candy and a used key chain)

Tonight we went with Brad's cousin, Jamie, her husband, Matt, and their daughter, Ella, to the Mystics of Time parade in Mobile. This parade had to be the craziest we went to out of all of them and when I say crazy, it really wasn't that crazy, just not what we are used to. We were on the 2nd row and in front of us was a lady all the way from Wetumpka (ok - all the way from Wetumpka is not very far, when she told us this I thought she was going to say all the way from Oklahoma or somewhere really far away). The main reason we started talking to her was because we noticed she had one of those claws to grab the leftovers on the other side of the barricades. Don't worry, she had her tailgating chair and was ready for the parade. After this parade we all walked away with "war scars". Brad got hit in the face while catching beads, I got hit in between the eyes by a medal coin, and Jamie got hit in the face with beads (this was after another guy took beads right out of her hands).

Jamie, Matt, and Ella

Not pictured: A cup from Moe's, yes the place you eat (Welcome to Moe's!) and a foam noodle for the pool

Happy Birthday Dad!

Happy Birthday Dad!! (Brad's dad that is) My wonderful father-in-law is getting another year older today. We love you and wish we could be there with you to celebrate!

Thank you Granny!

Brad's mom came and stayed with us for a week to help get Ellie and Madi adjusted. We had a great week and appreciate her help. Come back any time Granny!

Pictures from the Weekend

Here are some pictures from our weekend...

Guys working hard

or are they??

Float from Neptune's Daughters parade.

The other parade we went to was the Knights of Ecor Rouge



After all the hard work Justin decided to take a dip pool

It was 58 degrees - a little too cold for the rest of us!

Our little oreo cookie

(Ellie, Laney, and Madi)

Plywood, Parades, and Presidents' Day

What do these things have in common? A great weekend with Brad's family! So, its the middle of the week and I am just now posting about the weekend; better late than I never I guess.

This weekend Brad's family came down. The main reason for the visit was to cut plywood and no, there was not a hurricane coming. We bought the plywood back when Gustav was brewing in the Gulf and since we were new homeowners we didn't want to risk Gustav heading our way. Brad, Joe and Justin worked all day Saturday and part of the day Sunday; they did a great job! I also enlisted their help in moving our piano and moving our desk. While they were here we went to 2 Mardi Gras parades. They were so much fun. The first one we went to was in Fairhope and the other was in Mobile. We caught tons of beads, stuffed animals, cups, moonpies, peanuts, flowers, and footballs. Fairhope was a little more family-friendly, but Mobile was not bad. They seem a little more in to it in Mobile - we saw people with rakes and claws, ready to get the junk that didn't make it past the barricade. I almost had to battle a child for a stuffed animal - don't worry about him, he popped out of nowhere for it and then disappeared after I beat him to it (it landed right at my feet and he was going to sweep in a get it - I don't think so buddy, my dogs need a toy!). As always, we had a great time visiting with Brad's family. They left on Monday morning since it was a holiday. Poor Brad, he was the only one who had to work that day. After they left I had a nice, relaxing afternoon to myself.

I hope your weekend was as fun as mine! I plan to post pictures either tonight or tomorrow of the weekend - to me, the pictures are the best part of the blog.

Oh where is my headboard

***Update: It is Tuesday, the 17th, and still no headboard. I have been playing phone tag with the headboard company. Let's hope FedEx gets it here sometime this week!

Brad and I recently bought a king bed; Brad had been asking forever for the upgrade and I just couldn't do it. I finally broke down when we decided to get another dog. Well, we went ahead and got the bed delivered and got the headboard ordered. We received an email saying that the headboard had been shipped last Wednesday. The email included a tracking number, so I started tracking it trying to figure out when it would arrive. It made it to Mobile Friday at 10:20 pm. The next entry was on Saturday morning at 7 saying it had been loaded up and would be delivered the next business day. The next business day has come and gone! Where is my headboard?!? I hope it is not lost somewhere in Mobile; we may never get it back!

PS - The title to this post I reminds me of the Veggie Tales song, "Oh Where is My Hairbrush". Good memories!

Mardi Gras Ball

I guess we are officially Mobilians. Last night we went to our first Mardi Gras ball, the Pierrettes. I didn't realize how huge Mardi Gras was down here until last night. We had to get to the ball between 8 and 8:45, so we left the house at 7:30 thinking that would give us plenty of time to drive over, park and get inside the civic center. Boy were we wrong! Turns out there were 2 parades last night and when there are parades streets close and people act crazy. Downtown was an absolute mad house! After many u-turns we somehow managed to find the civic center's parking lot and made it on time. Once we got inside we sat in the balcony and watched skits for an hour. Next came food, drinks and dancing. A lady from work invited us so we met up with her and another girl from work in her food room. She gave us cups and beads - how fun!

Here's us after the ball.

All of the guys wear tails and all the ladies, except members, wear formal dresses (thank you Christina, for letting me borrow your dress!). The members are in "costume", which basically means they wear a mask and a costume for the skit. The entire evening was so much fun and we hope to make this a tradition for many years to come.

Introducing Madi!

We have a new addition our family! Yesterday we brought home a new cocker spaniel named Madi. She is 3 years old and comes from Sh-Bar Cockers in Brookhaven, MS. Madi is a championship dog and has had 2 litters of puppies. She is just the sweetest dog ever - she is just so loving and loves to have her tummy rubbed. Ellie seems to be adjusting about as good as you would expect; she doesn't really know what to think of this "visitor". Overall though, I think Ellie is doing great. A funny thing - Madi is a little heavier than Ellie, but what do you expect, she has had 2 litters of puppies! To help her get her girlish figure back we have added some low calorie food to her diet, got her running around in the backyard, and have taken her on a few walks. Brad took her on her first walk Saturday afternoon. This turned out to be a long stroll around the block, definitely not what we are used to with sled-dog Ellie. Madi just took her time and was in no hurry to go anywhere, in fact she stopped a few times wanting her tummy rubbed (which is the cutest thing - she will just come up to and kind of roll over on her back ready to be rubbed). Today we took both girls at the same time. Ellie was her normal, squeaky, sled-dog self. Madi was her typical laid-back self but picked up her pace a little bit in an effort to keep up with Ellie. I have thoroughly enjoyed the past two days and can't wait to see what the future holds for our 2 babies.

Here's a picture of Madi riding in my lap on our way back from Hattiesburg.

Both of my girls - Ellie is on the left and Madi on the right.

Here we are with Shelia, the breeder.

Ellie is on the left with Brad and Madi is on the right with me.