@katilac Thank you!!!

So we are going! I have a few logistics questions for those familiar with the city. We fly in to New Orleans Friday afternoon and have a cooking class booked at 6. My friend is renting a car and prefers to drive from our hotel, The Olivier House, to the cooking school on St Louis street. Where would be the best place to park? Also, here are all the potentials for the rest of the weekend if anyone has any input or advice. We are not planning on doing everything on the list, she just made a list of potentials. Thanks! After Class Ideas - Napoleon House - 500 Chartres St Pirates Alley - 622 Pirates Aly Pourhouse saloon - 718 Bourbon St Pat O’Briens for Piano Bar - Saturday 1/27 Explore Magazine or Royal Street - Antiques and Art 10-4 ALGIERS MARDI GRAS FESTIVAL - Free (10-6pm) Federal City Algiers, Gen Meyer Avenue & Shirly Drive, New Orleans, LA 70114 Joint 701 Mazant St, New Orleans, LA 70117 Katie’s 3701 Iberville St, New Orleans, LA 70119 Rivershack Tavern 3449 River Road, Jefferson LA Afternoon Visit to Mardi Gras World - 1380 Port of New Orleans Pl, New Orleans, LA 70130 Drive to Layfette via Baton Rouge (stop and meal?) (2 hour drive) Antiques - Circa 1857, 1857 Government St, Baton Rouge, LA 70802 Willie’s Restaurant - 11260 Coursey Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70816 T’Frere’s Bed & Breakfast - Sunday 1/28 https://www.vermilionville.org Living History Museum and Folklife park 10-4 300 Fisher Road, right in the heart of Lafayette, Louisiana, Local bands or dance-hall-esque events go off on Sunday (1pm to 4pm). (Buffet lunch) Le Bal du Dimanche - Cedryl Ballou and the Zydeco Trendsetters Monday 1/29 https://acadianvillage.org/ https://acadianvillage.org/about-us/houses-around-the-village/ Acadian Village 200 Greenleaf Dr, Lafayette, LA 70506 Self Guided Tour (Monday 10:00am-4:00pm) Cajun Food Bus Tour Stops Old Type Grocery - 218 W St Mary Blvd, Lafayette, LA 70506 Poupart Bakery - 1902 W Pinhook Rd, Lafayette, LA 70508 Cajun Table - 4510 Ambassador Caffery Pkwy Suite C & D, Lafayette, LA 70508 Bon Temps Grill - 1211 W Pinhook Rd, Lafayette, LA 70503 Earl’s Cajun Market - 510 Verot School Rd, Lafayette, LA 70508 Blue Moon Saloon - Cajun Jam Atchafalaya Basin Landing Airboat Swamp Tour (Alligators, Birds, Cypress & Other Wildlife) 1377 Henderson Levee Rd, Henderson, LA 70517 OR https://basinlanding.com/ Airboat - Pick a Time McGee's Swamp & Airboat Tours - 1337 Henderson Levee Rd, Henderson, LA 70517 https://www.mcgeesswamptours.com/ Airboat 9, 11, 1, 3pm $50 Could stop at Avery Island - Tabasco Factory Tour & Jungle Gardens Southdown Plantation House - Houma LA Drive 2 hours back to New Orleans 6pm - Steamboat Natchez - Mississippi Jazz and Dinner Boat https://www.steamboatnatchez.com/cruises/evening-jazz-cruise-with-dinner-option Premium Parking Jax Lot - 500 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70130 Stop at Carousel Bar    214 Royal St https://hotelmonteleone.com/entertainment/carousel-bar/

Praying for you

You aren’t going to believe this, but my mom just called me to tell me that she told the manager at Burger King (😆) that my dd is going to Australia and he said he’s always wanted to go until her heard about Spider season and then proceeded to show her terrifying pictures. She came straight home to call me and tell me and I have to look it up right now and tell dd to make sure she packs allergy medicine in case she gets bit. From pictures in the internet it does look terrifying, but it appears it will not indeed be spider season while dd is there. Right @chocolate-chip chooky? right?????!!!!!?????

Woah. As a mom getting ready to send a kid to Australia for a semester, that’s freaking scary

Hugs @Indigo Blue

I started doing that with my mom about a year ago, I lie all the time now. I hate that, but not enough to truthfully answer any questions. Everything is always “just fine” here. No one ever gets sick, has any problems, does anything. After the debacle of my sister being in the hospital, I told dh, my sister and my best friend that if I ever end up in the hospital, they are under absolutely no circumstances to tell my mother until whatever put me there is resolved by getting better and getting out, or I died. She has lost the privilege of knowing anything about us other than surface level basics.

With my mom, it’s so weird because she doesn’t demand I call her every evening to say we are all home and all right. That would make sense with anxiety. It’s the absolute demands when she thinks of it, like if we are going home from her house. I know anxiety definitely plays a part, but it’s inconsistent and leads to jerk behavior instead of showing genuine concern. So it’s hard to be sympathetic to her anxiety when she wields it like a weapon.

I understand that. I have gotten to the point that I run all my reactions through dh because I just don’t trust myself anymore when it comes to her. Sometimes I am borrowing trouble, sometimes she is causing trouble, sometimes a request is reasonable but I am just so wore out with her it feels unreasonable and sometimes she’s absolutely unreasonable. Dh helps me sort it all out.

You were not unreasonable. Your dh is a grown man just as you are a grown, independent woman. Your mom is a fruitcake (said in an understanding tone as I have had several calls like this with my own fruitcake over the years) and where I’m at now, I would definitely not have texted her when he got home. But I’m just getting mean like that.

Are you not worried about the little pieces being taken? I so love this project and think it looks amazing

1985 My mom is a picky eater and was very controlling. If she didn’t like it, no one could possibly like it and everything we ate had to be exactly as she would eat it, and we ate all processed foods. If we had homemade subs, all of our subs were exactly the same, down to the orange French dressing we all had to have and were never allowed mustard or mayonnaise. I thought I didn’t like subs til the first time I went to a subway with a friends family… not a single sub had orange French dressing! Turns out I don’t like orange French dressing but absolutely love sub sandwiches. Breakfast- toast or cereal Lunch- always packed, bologna and American cheese or pb and j, baggie of Bettermade brand potato chips and school chocolate milk. I didn’t have a bought school lunch til jr high. If we went on a field trip, same sandwich and chips, but we got a can of generic pop wrapped in aluminum foil 😆 During the summer (if she had a man) lunch was a myriad of frozen food that we could heat up ourselves. That was the absolute best in our minds. Everyday it was frozen pizza or pot pies or fish sticks or whatever we picked out that she approved. We would agonize or the frozen TV dinners as we got to pick our own. If she didn’t have a man, it was bologna or pb and j. Dinner- one of five dinners, meatloaf and mashed potatoes, fried chicken and Lipton side dishes, refried bean and mozzarella cheese burritos, tacos in Ortega hard shells, spaghetti. Veg was canned green beans or corn or iceberg lettuce salad with orange French dressing. When I started going to friends houses in jr high, I ate like a pig if given the chance. I had never had until an adult or at a friends broccoli, celery, green peppers, mayonnaise, steak, any kind of seafood, grilled chicken, pork chops, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, sweet potatoes, zucchini, pumpkin or any squash, oranges, fresh peaches and pears, cantaloupe, spinach, mushrooms, avocado, beans other than refried, lunchmeat other than bologna or when my grandmother gave us pickle pimento loaf twice a year when we visited and I don’t even know what else. Dh was absolutely shocked at what I had never had before and he was definitely the product of people who only ate “country” food or processed food. There are still a whole lot of foods I have never had, but that’s because I have never had the budget to get too crazy. One time we tried Camembert cheese because youngest ds loved the show miraculous and would not stop begging for it. We didn’t like it, haha. I didn’t make the same mistake with my kids, my oldest kids discovered foods along with me and the younger ones don’t know any different. The younger ones are much more adventurous eaters because of it. My sister and I are both interested cooks who are pretty adept. My mom is regularly disgusted at things we talk about trying or making and always says with disgust “I didn’t teach you that” she would tell older kids, until I caught her in the act, “I’m sorry your mommy makes you eat things like that. I would never make you eat things like that.”

Still very sore today but a little more range of motion and not pain level that makes her nauseous.

Dd19 got out of the shower a few minutes ago and yelled out “mom!” She said she got a shooting pain and burning sensation in the back of her neck at the base of her skull. She said she wasn’t twisting or anything, just getting out of the shower like you do. Gave her some ibuprofen right away and an ice pack but she gave the ice pack back saying it wasn’t helping. Any advice?

Dd16 asked if I would ask the Hive ( 🥰) for recommendations for musical scary movies rated pg-13 or lower. She’s watched Little Shop of Horrors already. I love that I have apparently referenced the Hive often enough that she thinks of you guys as a resource. Thanks

Our small town has a little pantry and we have had a lot of fun thinking up theme meals and necessities to add to it. Now the weather has gotten really cold, below freezing, so I’m thinking canned and bottled food and soaps is probably not a good idea? What would be ok in below freezing to above freezing temperatures? So far I’ve come up with bar soaps, dried rice, dried beans, spices, but I won’t be able to keep stocking shelf stable milks and bottles of vegetable oils. What ideas do you have? Thanks!

My in-laws and my sister have the dumb kind, everyone is very happy with them

Tonight marks the end of all of us being together since Friday evening, and I’m already weepy about it. Next time Christmas is on a Monday is 2028. By then two will have graduated college, two will be in college and youngest will be a senior. I’m pretty sure they won’t all 8 be staying 3 days at Christmas and then 3 days at New Years again, so trying to make the most.

What we have done today so far: had a waffle breakfast, set up the hot dog bar, one group watched polar express while another group played scrabble. Apparently the next 12 hours is the lord of the rings movies 🙄so I might be able to catch some needing a break from the movies to play a board game or go for a walk. The hot dog bar has been a huge hit! We have 6 crockpots plugged in, one of each size down to the Little Dipper with baked beans in it 😆I took my biggest crockpot and filled it half full of Mac and cheese, then suspended an 8x8 cheap thin baking pan from the inner lip and filled it with tater tots (which the vegetarian likes to use in buns in place of a hot dog) I was ridiculously happy when the lid still fit on right 😆. I had to show everybody! My other big crockpot, I cooked turkey dogs, stood them up in a pint jar and set in crockpot, then cooked veggie dogs and stood them up in pint jar, then cooked regular hotdogs and filled in around the edges and it is working fantastic. Definitely going to be a repeat performer Last might we ended up watching a bunch of episodes of “the goes wrong show” and Studio C. In between we played a couple of games of this game called “gibberish” I picked up at Five Below. Dh couldn’t play so served as permanent judge and clue reader, so worked out really well. Will definitely play that again at a get together. It easily accommodated 7 players and dh as judge.

I know it’s a weird fluke of the calendar to have so many days together and we are definitely trying to make the most because life will probably not line up for us like this again so I appreciate all the suggestions.

That’s awful, I’m so sorry

The way the holidays fall means there are lots of days off for dh and some of my grown kids, so we’ve gotten to spend a LOT of time all 8 of us together. Last night we went to the zoo lights. Today and tomorrow we will all be together again for the full days, today there was lots of eating, movie watching and video games. Someone would suggest a board game but a few are not board gamers. I got out a puzzle and put it out causally, but no one came by and worked on it. We did play this behind the scenes assassin game, but we are looking at all day at home eating again tomorrow. What do you do with a group of 6 kids 13-23?

Ah, I’m sorry to hear that

@Hannah thinking of you and hoping your holidays have gone well!

Magazine or streaming channel subscription? book of the month club?