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.

Fast As Christmas?

I have decided to ban the term, "Slow as Christmas".  It's silly!

Although time does fly (when you're having fun), we had an AWESOME Christmas! Ollie still doesn't totally grasp the whole "Santa" thing, but  she had a blast playing with all her new toys. John and I decided to enjoy our last Christmas of sleeping in (if 7:00 is sleeping in). We gave Ollie her breakfast before we actually got up and went to see what all Santa had left. Ollie was too cute in her little bunny slippers and pjs. When she entered the living room and saw all the new toys she froze.

She stood in amazement and just looked at everything. I had to explain to her that this would not happen often...just once a year. We had a blast! Mom and Dad came over for breakfast and played with O and her new things. This was the second year I made breakfast for the family and I am hoping it becomes a little tradition. Lesley, Mitch and Row left Christmas morning for Wetumpka to have Christmas with Mitch's family. Although the whole family didn't get together Christmas day, we did enjoy Christmas Eve with everyone. Mom made dinner and we opened gifts. This year was so much fun having two kiddos.

Jumping back to the weekend before......

We did Christmas in Elba and Enterprise.

John has a really big family and it's hard to get us all together.

The 4 brothers have a little tradition of jumping in the pool every Christmas (above photo).

Although Christmas in Elba is somewhat chaotic (with 11 adults and 7 kids) it's lots of fun!

And if you are wondering what Santa brought me......I got a watch. Not just any watch!! It's a runners watch and tells distance, speed, time, calories burned and more. I love it. According to last night's reading I ran 6.06 miles at an average speed of 5.1 mph. Yes, I ran for an hour. Whoop whoop!

Who says 31 is old??

Lynsey

My Latest Adventure

I've always been a "do it myself" type of gal and I recently tried my hand at making quilts. Because quilts take alot of planning and time, I wanted my first quilt to be for my mother. Although I am not a perfect seamstress, all I had to do was follow instructions. This includes choosing fabrics, cutting, sewing and piecing the quilt together. Because I do not own a quilting machine, I found a sweet lady in Pleasant Home to quilt my finished quilt top. It came out beautifully. I started small and made a lap quilt. My mom LOVES it and I am officially hooked on quilting. Now if I could just find the time..........

Lynsey

You Read Right....

Second place baby!

I have been training for a total of 9 weeks now and just recently ran in my first 5K.  As most of you know, I have never been a runner. I always wanted to be but couldn't even make it 2 blocks down the road. I decided I was going to give it a try, after all, I enjoy a challenge. Well, I did it. I ran in and finished my first 5K and did it in a mere 31 minutes. For those not familiar with a 5K, it's 3.1 miles. Our course was pretty tough with the last mile being mostly uphill. It also took place (like most runs) in the morning, a time in which I am not so full of energy. I have no problem running at night and ran 3 miles just last night without even becoming out of breath, but something about the sun and the cool crisp air and no coffee and I thought I was going to die. I actually ran past my house with less than a mile to go and seriously thought about running inside and quitting. I stuck with it and am oh so happy I did. It's official, I'm a runner. Yay! And to top it off, a 2nd place trophy to prove it. I guess I should add that I wasn't second place in the race, I was second place in the women's group and narrowed down even more to the 30-34 age category. Who cares! I got a trophy and it proudly sits on my mantel.

Lynsey

Housewife, Desperate to Run-Take 2

A funny thing happened on my run last night. For those not facebook stalking, I have made it up to 4.5 miles. I was very impressed with my ability to get through 3 miles on Tuesday night, only to be ecstatic to make an entire 4.5 miles last night. When I left the house to run, I only prayed I could repeat the 3 mile trek. After I made it 3 miles I began heading home.  I was running down 3rd Avenue from E3N and I just passed my house. Yep, just decided to keep going. It was at this point that my second wind kicked in. I had never really been a believer in "2nd wind", especially while running (Too bad it took 3 miles to get it). Anyway, I just thought I should run to the High School and back home (3 blocks, one way). Well, I got to the High School and made a right and kept running. It was CrAzY! It's funny cause a few posts back I talked about wanting to be like Forrest Gump and here I was, running and running and running. Every time I would get to a good point to turn and head home, I went to opposite direction. (I jus kep run-nin). After I had been gone from home for close to an hour (yes, running the whole time), I thought it would be best to go home before John sent out a search party, after all, he thought I was only running 3 miles. Turns out I ran 4.5 miles. I'm not going to lie and say it was easy. It wasn't, nor was it hard. It was more gratifying than anything.  I actually recall smiling for most of the last mile.

Just to recount, I have trained for 7 weeks. You would be surprised at how fast your body can catch up if you just keep pushing through.

Get up, get out & Run!!

Peace Out!

Lynsey (A.K.A. Forrest Gump)