Confessions of a Misplaced Southern Belle

Not so misplaced anymore!

Archives for November 2017

Sometimes…..

You just need a little time to yourself even if you have to attend a board meeting. I’m in Orlando where I serve on the board for the Florida Technology Students Association. We have meetings four times a year and it is so nice to get away from people and dogs needing you to answer a million questions, cook dinner, take the dogs out or find something that is right in front of their faces. This is my view for tonight and tomorrow because I am not going to sit in Orlando at the height of rush hour on a Friday. I’ll just get up on Saturday and drive the hour and a half home. I’ll probably make it home before the rest of my family gets out of bed.

Fall Essentials, Florida Edition

While the rest of the country gets this for Fall. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Florida gets this:

Yeah, I know, poor me right? But here’s the thing. I LOVE Fall.  I grew up in Central Louisiana where we had at least some semblance of a fall. I love sweatshirts, hot chocolate, the smell of wood burning, the sight of hunters heading to the woods for whatever is in season.

Here, we joke that Fall in Florida last approximately two days, and that is if we are lucky.  I love seeing all the Fall Essentials posts, so since we don’t get a true fall, here is my Fall Essentials–Florida Edition.

* Hurricane Emergency Kit.  While everyone else is transitioning to Fall in September, we in Florida are prepping to head into the height of hurricane season. This September, instead of perusing sweatshirts and scarves, I was sitting through six days with no power in days of 90-plus degree heat.  And if you are curious as to what is in a hurricane emergency kit, here’s the suggested list from the Hurricane Center:  Basic and Suggested Supplies. 

* Sunscreen With an average temperatures in the 80s, and many sunny days, sunscreen with impregnable protection is essential.  There’s a reason why there are so many plastic surgeons in this area.

* Bug Spray  our little creepy crawlies and pesky mosquitoes hang around us for much longer than anywhere else.  In fact, I was sitting outside at Halloween bathed in eau de OFF and slapping around the mosquitos. I still managed to get bites on the back of my legs…and I was wearing jeans! They may give us a little relief in January. 

* Increased Car Insurance I’m sure you’re saying, “what the heck:” Well, see, we have the invasion of the snowbirds from the north. They begin to arrive around the end of October and they depart around Easter.  In the meantime, we get to witness cars going at least 10 miles under the posted speed limit, cars turning left or right from the center lane, cars going the wrong way on major one-way roads,  lane creep and increased crashes due to the average age of the snowbird being 90 and having no business driving a car. 

* Patience. Lots and Lots of Patience With the influx of our northern visitors and then regular vacationers, lines are long in the grocery store, at restaurants and a stop lights.  Whoever said that patience is a virtue has never lived through a Florida snowbird season. 

There you have it, my somewhat tongue in cheek Fall Essentials.  What are your essentials for Fall? Leave a comment so that I can live vicariously through all of you ‘up north.’

It’s a Monday

Ever feel like something is off and you just can’t figure out what it is?  From the time I got dressed this morning, until around 7am, I just felt like something was off.  Couldn’t figure out what exactly, until I was in the teacher’s lounge, waiting to make copies while talking to Karla that I discovered it.The same shoe but in two different colors.  One navy, and one black. Now that I look at the photo, I remember why I wasn’t wearing the navy ones anymore.  They need to go in the trash.  I texted my husband, who promptly laughed at me and sent me this text:

Babe, I love ya, but I’m not blowing an hour to run you a replacement shoe.  You’re fine, just quirky!

The kids never noticed despite the fact that they will notice pretty much anything that doesn’t have to do what we are going over in class.  Maybe it had something to do with me keeping one set of lights off and hiding behind the rolling cart as I was teaching.  I really hoped that this wasn’t an indication of how the rest of my day was going to go.  Other than sending three kids out of my first period…before 8am mind you, the day flew by and now roast is in the oven per Amanda’s request.  I think I’m going to go find a skein of yarn and cast on a sock..or something easy.  I’ll post photos of that tomorrow since you know, it’s 7:00 pm and it’s pitch black outside.  

Sunday Musings

Random thoughts on a Sunday.

  1. I love listening to audiobooks. Makes cleaning the kitchen a slightly less painful chore.
  2. I wish Florida had a real fall. These warm temps don’t put me in any kind of holiday spirit
  3. I really dread Christmas. I don’t like it anymore. I think the weather contributes to that.
  4. Having car parts all over my house is getting tiresome.  At some point, I’m sure they will make their way back to the garage.
  5. I need a girls weekend.
  6. I can’t wait until my favorite authors release their new books.  I guess that’s what I get for reading so fast.
  7. I might start dyeing yarn again. I’ve been asked about it a couple of times and I miss it.
  8. I should go make dinner.  What to make?
  9. I miss knitting, but feel paralyzed on where to start.
  10. Fall back? Really?

Top 5 Favorite Instagrammers

I LOVE Instagram. I love everything about it.  It serves are inspiration in many areas and it lets me view the world through my phone!  It lets me share my life and it lets me keep up with friends across the county.  It was hard to narrow it down to five, but in no particular order, here are my five top Instagram feeds. 

Five Marys Farm   

Friday Night Lights

I got to mess around with a Sigma 120-300mm lens tonight and let me tell you, it is a huge learning curve and HEAVY. Thank goodness for a monopod.  SO with seven minutes to spare to get a blog post in for day three, here are a couple from tonight.

Road Trip Part 3, Home

After a very quick trip to New Orleans, we headed home to Dry Prong. Yep, you read that right, I am the Village of Dry Prong. When I lived there, I think the population was somewhere around 325. I think that is slightly low, but that was what was on the road sign, so who really knows. Regardless, my family is still there and I love going home when I get a chance. I know, you’re going to ask, what the heck kind of name is Dry Prong? Well, way back when the village was founded, the family that settled there accidentally set up shop on the dry prong of Big Creek. The one that went dry every year. Probably not the smartest move if you wanted to build a mill, so the eventually moved to the side that had water all year, but the name stuck. My dad served as mayor for eight years, my mom served as alderwoman for twelve years, and my cousin, Shane Davis is the current mayor. Anyway, more on that in a bit, so we headed out of New Orleans, passing by the Super Dome. (Geaux Saints!), headed north.


This way to Dry Prong…we actually went up I-49 instead of 167. It’s faster because we don’t have to stop in all the little towns for stoplights….and speed traps.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is not a trip home unless we stop for Shipley Donuts.  When we fly in, Mom is usually waiting with a box for Amanda. We stopped at the Exxon station on McArthur Drive forome donut holes. Happy Amanda. (PS. I just found out that Shipley is building it’s first location in Florida…about 15 minutes from my house!)s

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, we had to do a coffee crawl in Alexandria. We hit up Crave and took a few pictures of the artwork downtown.

My sister took a day off from work and we headed to St. Francisville. It had been years since I’ve been there, but it is such a pretty town. It’s home to the famous The Myrtles Plantation. Known as one of America’s most haunted houses. My uncle has stayed overnight there and can attest to some very mysterious things happening.  We didn’t take the tour, but we did get a few photos.

I love Louisiana towns and St. Francisville has the cutest bookstore named Conundrum Books. What could make a bookstore even better? Meet Buster the Bookstore Dog. Of course, we were missing our fur babies, so getting to love on a dog was a bonus.

Sadly, all too soon it was time to head back to Florida, and we headed out dark and early.

Taken sitting in my mom’s driveway as I cried like a baby.  It was such a fun trip. The first part busy, the second part, not so much, just hanging out with my family.  Amanda and I did the trip back to Florida in one day, driving straight through. Amanda drove the entire trip, despite me begging her to let me drive.  Guess she didn’t want anyone driving her precious Minerva, not even her mother! I can’t wait to do it again, and we are already planning for the next trip.