Evacuation from Louisiana

In preparation for the possible arrival of Gustav in LA and MS, both states have begun their evacuation plans and other emergency preparations.

Richard and Marie (Stephen's brother and his wife) both work at hospitals and for those that aren't aware of these type situations if you work in the medical field you don't get evacuated because you have to stay to work in the hospitals after the catastrophe hits.

During the aftermath of Katrina, Mrs. Nell (Stephen's mother) kept Tristan while Richard and Marie were stuck at the hospital most of the days/nights. Since then, and since Anelise has been born, Mrs. Nell as proclaimed that if there was another storm, she would pack herself and the kids up and come to Nashville because she wasn't going through all that again.

This past Monday she e-mailed Stephen - partly joking and partly serious - to tell him to watch this storm because she may be coming up to visit!

She called last night to let us know that her, Tristan and Anelise were getting in the car today, Saturday, and driving to Nashville. They are stopping in Tuscaloosa for the night tonight and will get up and finish the trip in the morning. While we hate the circumstances, we are very excited to have them coming to visit.

They are going to stay with us until one of the two following happens:

1. The storm passes without damaging Baton Rouge, or
2. Until the power is cut back on and it is safe to head back South.

We don't know how long this will be - although Stephen and I don't mind at all - but we know before too long the kids will probably want to see their parents. Tristan will probably do great - it'll be fun! But I wonder how Anelise will do. She would stay with Mrs. Nell at Mrs. Nell's house for sure but I guess we'll see how she does in a house she's unfamiliar in without her mommy and daddy. I hope it won't be so bad for her. Surely Stephen and I can play with them enough when we're not at work to keep their minds on other things.

Also, Monday is Mrs. Nell's birthday so we hate that she'll be away from her "norm" on her birthday but we are looking forward to getting to spend that day with her!

Please pray for safe travels for Mrs. Nell and the kids. This is Mrs. Nell's first time driving up with both kids! We hope the kids don't get too cranky for her on this long trip.

Back in TN

I returned to TN yesterday afternoon around 4:00 p.m. I did really well driving down to MS on Saturday but yesterday was much harder to stay awake driving so I had to jack up on Red Bull to make it home! But it worked! (wish I had thought of it sooner than I did)

Daddy was doing well! He's in much better spirits than last October but that mostly has to do with the fact that he didn't go through "trauma" this round...the trauma of the acident and the unknowns made last time even worse. This time - we knew what to expect and so far all has gone as expected. His hardest rule is going to end up being that he has to stay at the house for 6-8 weeks as that is how long it takes muscle and ligaments and such to regrow and attach properly. Any wrong move with those muscles between now and then will rip them loose as they are attaching and cause more problems...but he's being mindful! His physical therapist had him walking around the house and out on the back porch on Monday! That helped his spirits!

Thank you all for your prayers! They are sooooooo appreciated! Thank you for the follow up e-mails this morning about how he's doing.

The original "Pearson" Family, Momma, Daddy, Miranda, Allen

Abby and Aunt Miranda eating lunch!

I went and picked up Sonny's BBQ and brought it to the house!

(http://www.sonnysbbq.com/)

Spencer took this picture of "Paw Pete", "Granna", and his Daddy (Allen).

And then of course Granna had to get Spencer's picture with his Paw Pete and Daddy!

This is Spencer and his Mommy, Heather!

Poor Grandma ended up cleaning up the kitchen after all of us! Grandma is my great-grandmother and is Spencer's & Abby's great-great-grandmother. She is my mother's father's mother and she's got more energy than all the rest of us adults in the family!

Mawmaw and Granddaddy got to come up on Sunday to visit with Daddy - and with me since I haven't been to see them in a while! They are Momma's parents - he is "Grandma's" son.

Just some more photos from my trip to MS

Abby has her Daddy wrapped around her finger!

Allen came back up Monday for a bit and he and I went out shopping for Abby and got her lots of really sweet, cute, girly outfits! I had fun being out in town just the two of us! We just don't get that kind of quality time anymore!

Abby had lots of fun beating hers and her Daddy's heads with the balloon for a while!

Spencer (1st grade) is reading a Bible story to Grandma and Granna.
Abby loves her Daddy!
Abby playing with her Mommy's mouth.
Abby loving on her Mommy!

Me and Allen, my brother.

Daddy, Miranda, Allen, Spencer
Grandma and Abby playing with Ragedy Ann
Momma scolded me for taking Abby's picture before she had time to clean lunch off her face...but I still love her smile here - regardless of the messy face.











Spencer rode his bike out in the rain for about 10 minutes before he and I decided to go for a walk around Momma and Daddy's neighborhood. An hour later Momma came driving through the neighborhood looking for us (I had told them we were going walking but they didn't expect us to be gone that long - and without a cell phone). I let Spencer jump in all the water puddles and by the time we got back to the house, the misting rain had completely dampened our clothes and hair! That's why we look so "beautiful" in some of the other photos - we'd been out playing in the rain and dirty water puddles!

Grandma (my great grandmother) and Miranda
Miranda with Allen and his family!

Allen's family! Heather and Allen looking at Momma and the camera - Abby and Spencer are laughing at me.

I am in MS!!

Well...I'm here! I made it to MS! Momma called me when I was about an hour away said that they were about to start the discharge process and that I should just come to their house and wait for them - instead of driving on to the hospital...so I got here at 3:45 and waited just a bit!

You should have seen me and Momma trying to get Daddy out of the car without breaking any of the rules of what he cannot do!!! It was hilarious...I ended up stepping on his foot at one point!

He is in a great mood! He can't believe how much the pain isn't there! He says he feels great - he just pretty much can't do anything!

I'll be back in touch later this weekend or after I return home (TN) next week!

Cracker Barrel

I found the coolest thing! Someone told me about this a long time ago (maybe Momma) but I had forgotten about it until this morning when I was getting packed. Cracker Barrel sells "Books on Audio". But there's a cool feature...you can purchase them for a week and return them! You have to purchase the "book" (cd's/tapes) at full price first and then it costs $3.49 per week that you keep it. Soooooo...for instance, this morning I went by and purchased John Grisham's "The Appeal" for $50. If I return it within the week, they will credit back to the card I purchased it on the remaining amount of the $50 minus the $3.49. So really it only cost me $3.49 to listen to it on my long trip (not $50). Then, if I kept if for 2 weeks and then returned it I would get back the total of $50 minus 6.98 (2x3.49).

Also, if you finish the book mid trip, you can stop by ANY Cracker Barrel and trade it in for another...they just take whatever credit you have left (from the total minus however many weeks you've had it) and apply it to the purchase of another book and then the same standard applies! You can return any book to any CB.

I had thought I'd get one to hear on the way down and trade it out at the CB here in Pearl but once I got to looking, this book is 12.5 hours long...so I only got half way through the book today and I'll finish it on the way back home on Tuesday!

Just wanted to share incase any of you didn't know about this little thing!

Daddy's Surgery

Daddy had his hip replacement surgery yesterday! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT PRAYED FOR HIM DURING THIS TIME - YOUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED! The doctors told Momma and Allen (my brother) that they were very pleased with how the surgery went. They got Daddy in a room around 9:00 last night. I got to talk to him just a little bit around 9:30. He was groggy but was looking forward to seeing me this weekend!

Momma said that they told her that they would be coming in some time today, Thursday, and they would get him out of bed and make him start walking!

I will be driving home Saturday and then driving back to Nashville on Tuesday and hopefully I'll have some pictures of Spencer and Abby to post when I return!!!

Restful Weekend!

We had a very restful weekend!! It was very much needed after all the work we've been doing at the house! Thanks to the Prathers going and picking up the vegetables at the farmers' market Stephen and I were able to sleep in Saturday morning!!! NO ALARM CLOCKS!!! It was nice. Then, we got up and fixed grits, eggs and toast (mine was jelly toast) and went out on the deck and ate on the new patio furniture. The temperature was perfect...Stephen even read the paper while we were out there!

I did end up doing some cleaning after breakfast while Stephen washed a few loads of clothes...but it was nothing that HAD to be done so it wasn't as stressful.

Saturday night we met Stephen and Emily Prather at Margot's for dinner (www.margotcafe.com)! It was really delicious! Both Stephens had the fried rabbit which was actually very good! Emily had the summer vegetables and I had the fettuccine with housemade bacon - it was fabulous!! We all saved room for dessert - very yummy too! The Prathers got some type of fresh berry dessert and Stephen and I both got a slice of the chocolate torte - both desserts were great! Their menu changes every day depending on what the freshest veggies and meats they have in for each day so we will definitely go back and give it another visit!!

Emily Prather is really starting to show and she looked beautiful!! She had that perfect "pregnant glow"!! We are so excited to meet Virginia when she arrives!!!! Oh yeah - and I have a special gift for Virginia next time I see her mommy and daddy and I can't wait to give it to them! I'm sure Emily is reading this and I hope she gets excited to see what I've got her! :-)

Sunday we went to church, ate lunch, Michael came over to help with the trivia questions for Trivia Night this Friday night, and then Stephen and I started flipping channels looking for something to watch. When he couldn't find anything he was crazy to see, I asked him to put it on the Family station - they were playing The Notebook! I had not gotten to see it yet and so we watched it together. Of course I cried at the end! It was a good movie and I'm glad I can now say that I've seen it!

Hope everyone has a great week this week!!!
God Bless!!

Stephen at Work 8/11/08

Stephen just e-mailed this to me to show me the capabilities of his co-workers new i-Phone!

My husband's sooooo cute to me!!! I love him soooooo much!!!

(I wish my desk was as neat as his!)

Home Project # 4

This weekend we painted the master bathroom and the 1/2 bathroom (both downstairs). Now the only thing downstairs that hasn't been painted is our bedroom, so that will be our next project - whenever we get another weekend to do it.

While we painted the master bath, I don't have pictures of it yet as we still don't have it put back together yet. I hope to have that done tonight or tomorrow night!

Below are some pictures of the 1/2 bath - painted and decorated with our new photos we just bought yesterday afternoon. Below that, you'll see pictures of the new decor we bought yesterday for the living room. It includes new curtains and a new curtain rod, 4 new pillows for the couch and a cute little pillow for the chair. Along with that we bought a new shower curtain for the master bath which you'll see soon.

Last but not least...we bought a set of 6 new towels, hand towels, & wash rags. Last time we were home, LA, we were over at Richard and Marie's house (Stephen's brother) and Marie and I got to talking somehow about towels and such and she mentioned that she only buys white towels because you can add bleach to them and they stay pretty longer. I got to thinking...I always get colored bath linens to match my shower curtain but they always end up fading or getting fuzz balls from other towels when you wash and dry them together. So I was talking to Stephen and we decided to start buying white bath linens as well. They can go with anything and if we only use white, we don't have to worry about the other towels fading on them. Plus you can always bleach them if they get make-up stains on them! "Thanks Marie!" So we bought them and of course they look really sharp with our new paint job in the bathrooms. I'm not going to take pictures of them since everyone knows what white bath linens look like! :-)

Anyway, now, on with the show (or pictures)...(see next 4 posts)

Painted the 1/2 bath

Remember, all the walls were white before, so if you pay attention to the trim work you can tell the difference in the wall color.

These are our new photos we bought to go in the 1/2 bath. They fit perfectly over the toilet!

New curtains

Here are the new curtains we bought today to match the new couch pillows! And, yes, we know the old blue recliner doesn't match but you can't rush the purchase of a recliner! We are taking our time to make sure we can find a recliner that Stephen can love as much as he loves this one. So until then, we are hanging on to the old royal blue recliner! :-)

New Couch Pillows

Here are the new pillows we picked out for the new brown leather furniture! Isn't that blue floral pillow beautiful!!! Stephen actually picked the pillows out...although he picked out this first pillow you see below and one other design and asked me which I liked best...and I picked these. Then Stephen picked out the soft brown ones you see with the floral one as well as the small one that sits in the chair (which you'll see in the next post). He did a great job!

The Little Chair Pillow

Here is our new, cute, little, brown and blue pillow we bought for the leather chair! We still don't have the ottoman yet but we hope to have it this week!

There were actually three of these little pillows left and Stephen had at first picked it out to go with the floral pillows on the couch...but as we went to get two of them (for the couch), we discovered that two of the three had snags in the fabric (probably from the wire caging that was holding them on the shelf). Stephen was a little dissappointed because he really liked this pillow and we toyed with the idea of buying the one that wasn't snagged and then trying to find another online or something - WHEN ALL OF A SUDDEN!!!! - I suggested we buy the one and put it on the chair! Stephen liked that idea very much and then he helped find the solid brown ones you saw in the post above to go with the floral pillows! We are a good team!!!

We love all our new paint work and decorations! You should see it all in person! It looks soooo nice when you are actually standing in the middle of it all!

Abby Rylie Pearson - 7 months old

This is my adorable niece (Miranda's brother's daughter)! She is 7 months old and I just got this picture in the mail Wednesday! I love her "Pebbles" hair and her cute teeth and dimple! I really hope I get to see her when I go home later this month for Daddy's surgery!!

This picture also came with the above picture of Abby! This is my brother, Allen, and his family on Father's Day (2008). His wife is Heather, Tera is the oldest, then Spencer and then Abby! I love and miss getting to spend time with my brother! I guess that's a price I have to pay for moving away from all my family!!

Weekend Painting!!

We intend to spend this coming weekend painting the other two bathrooms in the house - the master bath and the 1/2 bath! Once we finish those, then the only thing we'll have left to paint downstairs will be our bedroom! After that we'll move upstairs and finish painting up there!

I'll be sure to list some before and after photos of the bathrooms after the weekend project is done!!

Living Room Furniture - Before and After

We finally got our new leather living room furniture tonight!! Well, all of it but the ottoman...it will be ready for Stephen to pick up tomorrow afternoon! Below are pictures of our living room, taken tonight, before and after!! We are hanging on to the striped couch and red chairs for now but we LOVE the new brown leather furniture!! We just need to pick out some wall art for the living room next! (time to go shopping again) :-)

New Patio furniture - Updated

Hi!! I know it's been a while! Sorry to all our loyal readers! I'll try to do better. Earlier I posted this with the professional photos taken by whoever made this set...tonight, I'm adding pictures (the first 4) of the actual set sitting on our porch as I type! I still love it!





[Below is my text from earlier today.]

I haven't had a chance to take a picture of our actual set on our deck...but here are some pictures from their website of what we bought...

Since our patio is sort of small, I had been looking for a smaller bistro type set - a table and two chairs.

I've enjoyed going outside the past couple mornings to read my Bible and have some quiet time...although this morning (despite my citronella candle) I got bit twice by mosquitos!

Anyway, it gives a little more completion to the look of the deck. I love it!