Inspiration from Nicki
We moved here when I was 6, but I consider 6-18 “growing up” so that’s why I am doing this house. It looks kind of gloomy in this picture, but I swear it’s not that depressing! (Here is a better picture). This used to be Gram’s house; she grew up there. My parents bought it from my grandparents when we were young, and we remodeled and moved in. I loved living here. Gram and Grandpa lived next door, Aunt Cookie lived slightly behind them to the right, and Aunt Margaret and my cousins lived all the way in the back. It was a great house/yard for playing, because there was tons of space, and it was bordered on one side by a quiet street, on the other by a fence and a row of my Uncle Ney’s (short for Sidney, but pronounced “NAY”) wood sheds (he was a finished carpenter back in the day, and saved EVERYTHING), and in the back by cane fields. When my out-of-state cousins would come down for Christmas and/or 4th of July, we would have huge spotlight games (there were 19 cousins) in the yard. Nicki and I even had a playbook for all the best hiding spots.
For years, our garage was a rusty tin (3 car-ha!) garage that my mom said was still standing because the termites were holding hands. My brothers and I loved to climb to the top via the elephant slide (picture shows the newfangled edition - the old one had a chamber in the middle so when you flipped it over, you could play Chinese torture machine, but that’s another story). We’d stand the slide up so the trunk was leaning underneath the eave of the garage, then climb on top. I have no idea how none of us never broke anything. We also used the elephant slide for shelter in our foil wars, which Uncle Ney hated, because the foil balls (as hard as we tried to pick them all up) would get caught in the lawnmower. Eventually, my parents had the tin garage torn down and replaced with a new one; it was a sad day.
We lived across the street from the levee and the Mississippi River. My parents bought us levee sleds, but we usually just used cardboard boxes, because they worked better. Glenn and Brett were even brave enough to try going down the levee in the wagon, which was pretty dangerous, because you couldn’t steer it, and the River Road is a busy highway.
Aunt Cookie and Uncle Ney also had a pool, which was awesome. We swam a lot. Glenn used to try and drown me, but he insisted it was just a game called “washing machine.” We loved playing pool games with the cousins like food, shark, and marco polo. We also loved to “rock the pool,” which basically means we all line up and do cannonballs off the diving board over and over until the water starts splashing all over the place (Uncle Ney did NOT like it when we played that game. He would walk over to check out what we were doing every now and then - we called it “Neywatch”).
Every Sunday morning, Gram would cook grits, poached eggs, and hogshead cheese (looks gross in the Wikipedia pics; it doesn’t really look like that down here. This is a more accurate picture, but still, not perfect. Q’s groom’s cake was made of hogshead cheese [fit into a mold], and was DELICIOUS). Anyway, we would all go there for breakfast before Mass, especially the kids. After Mass we had Sunday family dinners, where the whole family (the ones who lived in Dville) would come to our house and eat. Gram, my mom, and Aunt Margaret did the cooking. I remember the roast, rice and gravy the most; Gram’s specialty. Ooo, also Gumbo Dab (green gumbo).
If we ever left my Aunt Margaret’s house after dark, and had to walk back through the dark yard, Uncle Ray would say he’d turn the lights on for us to make us feel less scared, then he’d run around the side of the house and jump out from behind the bushes and scare the crap out of us. It sucked then, but it’s fun to remember. (He never gave up, he would do this EVERY time, and he got pretty creative).
If you’re still reading, thanks! That was a fun nostalgia session.
![Inspiration from Nicki
We moved here when I was 6, but I consider 6-18 “growing up” so that’s why I am doing this house. It looks kind of gloomy in this picture, but I swear it’s not that depressing! (Here is a better picture). This used to be Gram’s house; she grew up there. My parents bought it from my grandparents when we were young, and we remodeled and moved in. I loved living here. Gram and Grandpa lived next door, Aunt Cookie lived slightly behind them to the right, and Aunt Margaret and my cousins lived all the way in the back. It was a great house/yard for playing, because there was tons of space, and it was bordered on one side by a quiet street, on the other by a fence and a row of my Uncle Ney’s (short for Sidney, but pronounced “NAY”) wood sheds (he was a finished carpenter back in the day, and saved EVERYTHING), and in the back by cane fields. When my out-of-state cousins would come down for Christmas and/or 4th of July, we would have huge spotlight games (there were 19 cousins) in the yard. Nicki and I even had a playbook for all the best hiding spots.
For years, our garage was a rusty tin (3 car-ha!) garage that my mom said was still standing because the termites were holding hands. My brothers and I loved to climb to the top via the elephant slide (picture shows the newfangled edition - the old one had a chamber in the middle so when you flipped it over, you could play Chinese torture machine, but that’s another story). We’d stand the slide up so the trunk was leaning underneath the eave of the garage, then climb on top. I have no idea how none of us never broke anything. We also used the elephant slide for shelter in our foil wars, which Uncle Ney hated, because the foil balls (as hard as we tried to pick them all up) would get caught in the lawnmower. Eventually, my parents had the tin garage torn down and replaced with a new one; it was a sad day.
We lived across the street from the levee and the Mississippi River. My parents bought us levee sleds, but we usually just used cardboard boxes, because they worked better. Glenn and Brett were even brave enough to try going down the levee in the wagon, which was pretty dangerous, because you couldn’t steer it, and the River Road is a busy highway.
Aunt Cookie and Uncle Ney also had a pool, which was awesome. We swam a lot. Glenn used to try and drown me, but he insisted it was just a game called “washing machine.” We loved playing pool games with the cousins like food, shark, and marco polo. We also loved to “rock the pool,” which basically means we all line up and do cannonballs off the diving board over and over until the water starts splashing all over the place (Uncle Ney did NOT like it when we played that game. He would walk over to check out what we were doing every now and then - we called it “Neywatch”).
Every Sunday morning, Gram would cook grits, poached eggs, and hogshead cheese (looks gross in the Wikipedia pics; it doesn’t really look like that down here. This is a more accurate picture, but still, not perfect. Q’s groom’s cake was made of hogshead cheese [fit into a mold], and was DELICIOUS). Anyway, we would all go there for breakfast before Mass, especially the kids. After Mass we had Sunday family dinners, where the whole family (the ones who lived in Dville) would come to our house and eat. Gram, my mom, and Aunt Margaret did the cooking. I remember the roast, rice and gravy the most; Gram’s specialty. Ooo, also Gumbo Dab (green gumbo).
If we ever left my Aunt Margaret’s house after dark, and had to walk back through the dark yard, Uncle Ray would say he’d turn the lights on for us to make us feel less scared, then he’d run around the side of the house and jump out from behind the bushes and scare the crap out of us. It sucked then, but it’s fun to remember. (He never gave up, he would do this EVERY time, and he got pretty creative).
If you’re still reading, thanks! That was a fun nostalgia session.](http://22.media.tumblr.com/ULe1xC2GSm3n221zNZn9OXQLo1_500.png)
![nudawn:
sydvish:
I went shopping this weekend, and found tons of fun stuff, including 4 new dresses. I also found (but have not yet bought) this swimsuit. It was the first one I tried on that (1) didn’t give me sausage link thighs and (2) made me happy! The selection in maternity swimwear is pretty slim (and so are the leg holes [comedy drums])! I don’t typically go for paisley or patterns, but I read somewhere that if you don’t like your thighs, you should wear bright patterns to distract people from them. Fun!
It’s kind of pricey so I want to sleep on it for a week or so, just to make sure.
Anyway, I am excited about warm weather and swimming!
wouldnt you rather go for a nice two piece you could wear after the parasite comes out? this thing is kind of..um..frumpy.
I can’t believe you think this is frumpy! Honestly, post-baby, I may never wear a two piece again (and this IS a two piece - I mean, the stomach showing kind). The zebra skin with the hat is totally not me (but give her some cheetos and she can come over for beers, y’all! The other one isn’t me either. Maybe part of the reason you think this is frumpy is that in the other two pics, those girls are barely pregnant, so they look like they’d be more flattering? I am going to be wearing this thing when I am 8 MONTHS PREGNANT (basically, picture a bowling ball with bowling pin legs walking around it water-friendly spandex).](http://19.media.tumblr.com/ULe1xC2GSlz7ph88aoLaE652o1_500.jpg)
