How to make groceries in a pirogue

Well, Memorial Day has started out as rainy and quite relaxing. I hope there are a lot of veterans getting breakfast in bed this morning. It has been a busy, busy week and I am extra thankful that this is a long weekend even though I brought some work home that I’ll have to get to later. If anyone is intertested in what happened to that House Bill 369: it passed the house, and while I was in Baton Rouge advocating it passed the Senate. The governor was the one who wrote the legislation, so I imagine she’ll sign it. Arrrgh!

I am slated to see Star Wars later today and am pretty excited. We were going to see it last night but it was sold out. It worked out, though, because the movies are at the same place as Target and I forced Chris into some shopping. He’s a nice man.

We had a kareoke party at work today. I can’t tell you how much fun we had!! I sang “I Got You Babe” and “Stop in the Name of Love”. I don’t think I ever realized the fun and joy of kareoke before. I asked Chris if we could go-a-kareokeing and he said yes if we can arrive and sit separately. Maybe I’ll surprise him this weekend by purchasing our very own kareoke machine and then I can serenade him and the cats every day!

My back was only out for a day, so that is good. I am pretty sure yoga cured me.

I am 27 going on 80. My back is thrown out again. I have ventured out of the bed to try to stretch and to complain. The bright spot is that Chris takes excellent care of me, even though he forgot the ice cream. It’s a little known fact that caramel sundays are excellent for back health.

O.K. they may not be lethal, but this is the time of year when gross swarms of wriggly, sticky, wingy termites swarm around New Orleans. Nowhere are you safe. Restaurants, outside, even in your own home, these wood gluttons are everywhere. I need to start a new net-tenting fashion craze.

Today is a gorgeous day. It’s going to start out with a car wash and a house clean and then who knows where the excitement will lead. Perhaps a newspaper reading at a coffee shop, perhaps a trip to a park. I have a feeling the gym needs to be in the picture as well due to mine and Chris’s pizza feast last night. I heard a comedian say the marriage vows should be, “do you take this person to honor and cherish, and snack all weekend with?” I think the comedian was right.

I went for a nice walk with a few friends tonight, and I have heard that if you exercise with a buddy the conversation actually helps you burn more calories. This is important because in New Orleans if you exercise with friends after the exertion there is always the obligatory yoga-tini, or in the case of tonight the walk-a-rita. It’s o.k. because we accounted for those extra calories by all the talking we did.

Just a note on my political activities… My representative wrote me back saying that he would look into HB369 making sure it didn’t place an undue burden on doctors (he didn’t mention the most important people it would effect, the mental health consumers) and he said it was important to keep health care affordable, accessible and safe. Notice he mentioned affordable first. I think this probably means that he voted yes on the bill and once again, I won’t be voting for him next election. Really in the long run it costs quite a bit more to keep someone cared for because their medication doesn’t work, than to give them good meds so they can function at a level where they can take care of themselves. I e-mailed Mr. Scalia to see how he voted and he has yet to e-mail me back.

If you are one of my friends in Louisiana, there is a bill going up for a vote before the state house which would prevent doctors from prescribing a-typical antipsychotic drugs without prior authorization from the state government. A-typical antipsychotic drugs have increased the quality of life for so many people by decreasing symptoms and debilitating side effects associated with the old-school anti-psychotics like haldol and thorazine. Please e-mail your house rep. asking that they vote “no” on House Bill 369. If you are not sure who your representative is, use the “Who’s My Representative” tool at house.legis.state.la.us. I recommend choosing the selection that allows you to type in your address. Don’t wait, they vote on this Wednesday, May 11th.

Happy Mother’s Day to everyone!! What better pursuit could there be on Mother’s Day than finding new and interesting ways to keep up with the thoughts and activities of those you love? (And making time for mom, of course) My brothers and sister have recently introduced me to blogging so I thought I would try my hand at it. A note on the title: I decided to use some fun New Orleans linguistics. A pirogue is a small canoe, suited for travel on the bayou. Making groceries is a unique New Orleans expression. I actually can get to the grocery store by my house on a pirogue to make groceries, but it is by way of a sewage drainage ditch so I don’t do it too often.

Today is a lazy day here in the Big Easy. My darling husband is off watching the New Orleans Voodoo play arena football. I have been on the internet for an embarassing long period of time, so I have contacted my good friend Jananne to come whisk me away for a lunch. A week ago today I was enjoying Jazz Fest, a wonderful New Orleans event that I recommend all of my family and friends come to witness at least once. The highlight of the day was Isaac Hayes, who I will never be able to listen to quite the same way again since he has been playing Chef on South Park. And yes, he did sing Chocolate Salty Balls.