Shake the Devil Off

I recently read a book called Shake the Devil Off  by Ethan Brown. This book is based on the true story of Zack Bowen and Addie Hall of New Orleans, LA.  I heard about this couple on a ghost tour that John and I took on my birthday "scare-a-thon" celebration. Although the story of this tortured couple is sad and super gruesome, I have been obsessed with their lives as well as the history of the "Crescent City".

 We learned from the tour that Zack's ghost haunts the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel. That's all I needed to hear in order to do a little paranormal research and get the whole story. Although I will not elaborate (if you are interested you can read the book-highly recommend), I will say that Zack, an Army vet, killed his girlfriend, Addie, during an argument over a New Orleans Apartment. Several days after Addie's murder, Zack jumped to his death from the eighth floor balcony of the Omni Royal. Zack now spends his days apologizing to guests of the hotel.

 Let me also mention that this couple was highlighted in several new papers across the country for their refusing to leave their beloved city during Hurricane Katrina.

Although the story of Zack and Addie intrigued me, I was fascinated by how in depth the Arthur got about the city's crime and  crooked politics. I found it very interesting to hear of all these bad things (along with the good) of a city that I hold so dear.

NOLA is a city of spirit and magic and of a faith so strong, even a hurricane could not bring it down. The folks of NO have the ability to "shake the devil off".  When someone dies (usually because of murder/crime) they have a parade and shake it off.

The best way to get rid of the bad is to do a little dance and shake the devil off!

On A Roll.....

Blogging again.....

I've been told to give updates (and pictures) more often, so here goes:

I have been meaning to take a picture and blog about the most fabulous Christmas present I received.

This beautiful table was handmade by my dad (please ignore the cord). The best part is it has a history. The table top is actually an old mantel that was in our house before we began renovating.  The legs are made from pilings left over from an old porch. Dad sanded down both the pilings and the mantel and stained them.  The finished result is gorgeous! I love this table and will cherish it always.

Don't call child services just yet....

Ollie actually loves to do everything I do.

She impersonates me constantly,

from talking on the phone (holding it between her shoulder and head),

to washing the windows and turning the water on in the tub and checking the temperature.

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty nice day so I decided to clean out and wash my ride.

O was determined to help.

I had trouble stopping her once the car was clean and now

have little dirty circles to prove it.

Because Ollie loves to impersonate me so much, she got a little broom for Christmas. I had the wonderful idea of tapping a swiffer to it and vola, an instant dust magnet. Might as well be doing some good while sweeping back and forth. I will say that I have seen less dust bunnies....

She's awesome help.

Ollie recently had the opportunity to pick the first lemon (yep, it's a lemon) from our neighbor's greenhouse lemon tree. She was totally amazed and can now distinguish lemons from apples. Thanks for the learning experience Mr. James.

For any "out of town" readers, the cute little house in the background is ours.....

Precious, right??

Ollie is such a cheeser.

She has finally begun to push herself around on her radio flyer. The funny thing is that she pushes herself all around the house and sings, all while giving her two favs, BooBoo and Aubie a ride.

Life is good, very good!

Lastly, to all my friends (or not friends) that are running, Yay!!! I am very proud of you!

My advise is that when your body and lungs think they cannot take anymore, push on a little farther. You'll surprise yourself that by pushing just that little bit, you're able to keep going and going. Think of it as a hill, it's hard work and determination to get to the top but once you're there it smooth sailing.

Get up, get out & run!

Peace!!

Squat!

Thats about what I have time for these days.

Although Ollie and I stay home during the day, we stay super busy. I am currently taking Anatomy & Physiology 202 and my teacher this semester is real big on busy work. I am hoping that in doing all this busy work I have a good chance of making a good grade (still patting myself on the back for my B+ in A&P 201) but it does take away from study time. It's also super hard to find time to accomplish all my assignments. Between keeping up with a 19 month old, running a household, plain ol running and spending time with my husband, I have very little "school" time left (let alone blog time).

Moving on, A few weeks ago Ollie had an appoitment in Birmingham and all checked out fine. She has grown (in height and weight) and is now in the 22nd percentile, up from 16th. Yay! We also heard from O's Pulminary nurse a week after her check up and Ollie remains Pseudomonas free. If I am counting correctly, that 15 months straight! SUPER YAY!!

I have been wanting to share a little of Ollie's verbal skills. She can talk up a storm and does so from sun-up to sun-down....seriously. The other night while watching American Idol, Ollie stood in front of John and sang. She couldn't stand the fact that her daddy was watching other people sing. As the contestants got louder, Ollie got louder. Her songs make no sense but she has been singing quite a bit about sunshine. Maybe she'll become a songwriter/singer one day.

Below are some of Ollie's favorite words & sentances (aka; the things shes says all day).

Momma    Daddy    Wo (cousin-short for Rowland)    Sissy (Lesley)

Shu Shu (my mom)    Pop Pop (my dad)   

Midge (Mitch, and she says this for all tall bald guys-sorry Midge)

Leelee (Leanne) 

Aubie (she is obsessed with Aubie but her die hard Alabama fan dad taught her that Aubie say "roll tide").

Wo Tide (roll tide)    nak (snack)     baba (bottle-this is what I wake up to)

duce (juice)    Wo wa (Lola-dog)   Dinky (dog)   O tay (OK-usually used instead of yes)

dold (cold)     brrrrrrr (following told)     outdide (outside)      

peas (when she wants something or when she just wants "peas")

dank ew (thank you)     hey (everytime she see you)    dum iiiinnnnn (come in-knock at the door)

hellwo (hello)   wing (swing)  side (slide)

And the cutest is everytime she hears John's boot hit the porch late in the day, she yells "Yay! Daddy!!"

So sweet.

She can also name pretty much all animals and tell you what they say. It's pretty impressive until you get to Aubie and she says "Roll Tide".

And, she is making sentances, like dank ew mama, dum in pop pop, dum ear Wo wa and I dold, brrrrrr.

She's quite the little ray of sunshine on these dreary days.