"Are you insane?!"

A few weeks ago a little pup, white with black spots, showed up on Mom and Dad's back porch. He had no tags and was extremely friendly. Mom and Dad took him in and he started living in the basement. They took him to the vet to see if he had a chip and for an overall health check. They kept checking for signs to be posted around the neighborhood as I checked the all the major lost dog websites. The vet said he was a healthy little pup around 6 months old and probably a mix between Jack Russell and Beagle. Well, where have we heard this before.....

Flash back to the end of August 2009. We were having a really bad storm. The rain and wind were so fierce it was coming down in sheets sideways with major flash flooding. You could not see to drive most of the time. Shawn needed to head to the airport but needed to make a quick stop at the office first to pick up some CAD Drawings for his trip. We thankfully hit a lull in the weather. We pulled into the work parking lot and Shawn ran in to get what he needed while I stayed in the car. I was seven months pregnant at the time. While sitting in the car waiting on Shawn I saw a white flash out of the corner of my eye. Then I heard the sound that would melt any heart, well, especially mine. I heard whimpering and crying. I turned to see where it was coming from and underneath one of the work vans was a white pup with black spots. I didn't think, I just got out of the car and went over to the van. The puppy ran out from under the van and jumped up on me. I immediately scooped her up and she nuzzled her head in my neck. I dropped Shawn at the airport for his week long business trip and headed back home with the pup. I made all of the proper phone calls, took her to a vet to have her checked out, she had no chip and she came with no collar or tag. The vet thought she was about 11 weeks and a mix of Jack Russell and Beagle. So, I had this puppy, I was 7 months pregnant and most people just wanted to know "are you insane?!" when I thought about keeping her. After a week of searching and looking for posters, the vet said "look she has probably been dumped and was very lucky you were in the parking lot to find her" I agreed and thought I had been sent a special little blessing to care for. We named her Fleur De Lis Anne Harmon. She goes by De Lis.

Back to February. I had just left Mom and Dad's after a visit when I got a phone call asking if I was sure De Lis was with me. I told Mom and Dad I was staring at her playing with her toys and asked why. Mom said " well, there is a De Lis look alike on my back porch" I asked her to send a picture. Dad went out to see if he had tags so he could take him back home. No tags. They took him to the vet to see if he had a chip. No chip. Surely, lighting was not striking twice?????

In 2007 we had significant losses in our family. One of them was our beloved Bailey's Thunder Mountain, our Chesapeake Bay Retriever (He will get his own post later). It was like losing a child. He was our child. We were devastated.

We always said that when we were ready again we would get two dogs. We liked the idea of them having the company of each other and not just us. I think Shawn was probably ready a year ago to get them but my heart was still too broken. I guess you could say that God does work in mysterious ways.

So now De Lis has a little brother. We named him Francois Da Vinci Brees Harmon. They get along great. We now have 9 month old De Lis, 6 month old Da Vinci and 4 month old Giada. I guess if I were going to answer the question "Are you insane?!" honestly, I would say..............Yes, I am, but someone else planned this happy little insanity for me and I wouldn't change a thing!!!!

until next time,
xoxo

"Hey, you have dirt on your forehead"

It's that day again. The day that I will inevitably hear "Hey, you have dirt on your forehead" the day I am referring to is **Ash Wednesday. To a Catholic growing up in New Orleans, Ash Wednesday meant **Mardi Gras was over and it was now time to reflect and give-up something that you felt was a sacrifice. Something important to you-and no, you don't give-up showering or brushing your teeth-or you shouldn't for that matter. Many people give-up chocolate, soda, sweets, alcohol, smoking, coffee and other vices for the entire Lenten Season. The day also means going to church to get ashes on our foreheads and abstaining from meat. From now until Easter no meat on Friday's...Hello Fish Fry Friday's and Seafood Boils!!!! This is when I miss New Orleans and my childhood the most. You can go to church on Friday during Lent for **The Stations of The Cross and stay for the Fish Fry. Now, I'm not talking about some lemon pepper fish or calabash style...nope, I'm talking about thin crispy cajun fried catfish! On Good Friday we all headed to my Grandparents for a huge seafood boil. Boiled shrimp, crawfish, crabs, corn, potato's and yes, more fried catfish. It wasn't just the amazing food that made this gathering great, it was the family. I wish I had a recording of the laughter that surrounded that table. We are a family who loves to laugh and I miss my grandpa's the most.

So, for the next 40 days I am giving up beef. I think the Chik-fil-a cows are really going to appreciate me :O)

God gave up his only son, Jesus gave his life, what are you going to give-up?

If you see me tomorrow, you don't need to tell me....I already know I have dirt on my forehead.

Until next time,
xoxo

-Excerpts taken from www.americancatholic.org

**Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of streetsweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home. Mardi Gras literally means "Fat Tuesday" in French. The name comes from the tradition of slaughtering and feasting upon a fattened calf on the last day of Carnival. The day is also known as Shrove Tuesday (from "to shrive," or hear confessions), Pancake Tuesday and fetter Dienstag. The custom of making pancakes comes from the need to use up fat, eggs and dairy before the fasting and abstinence of Lent begins. Carnival comes from the Latin words carne vale, meaning "farewell to the flesh."

**Since Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, it naturally is also beginning to recover a baptismal focus. One hint of this is the second formula that is offered for the imposition of ashes: "Turn away from sin and be faithful to the gospel." Though it doesn't explicitly mention Baptism, it recalls our baptismal promises to reject sin and profess our faith. It is a clear call to conversion, to that movement away from sin and toward Christ that we have to embrace over and over again through our lives.

**The Stations of the Cross are a Catholic custom of Lent that commemorates the passion of Jesus on Good Friday.

"Everybody else is doing it. Right?"

Just when you think you have more than you can handle, BAM, the strong feeling you should start a blog occurs to you. So, you say "everybody else is doing it. Right?" and then you ponder a name for this blog, a blog address, what should your first post be, will people think I'm self absorbed, will people even care, do I even care????? Maybe I should have called this blog Adventures in Paranoid Anxiety!

So, here I am with my own blog writing my first post. What I should tell you before I get much further is that, I am not a writer. I should also tell you that I don't think I am a Queen, my husband just treats me like one. Although, I do hold the title The Queen of Everything. It was given to me by my Royal Wasabi Sisters. We are all the Queen of something...you know who you are!

As I am writing this it is very quiet in the house. My husband, daughter, dog and turtle are all asleep. I guess I will close for now....who knows maybe I will be able to get to sleep before one of them wakes up!!!

Until next time....xoxo