This was a ridiculously quick trip to Lockport!  I am so tired that I'm not sure what I'll write will make sense, but I'll give it a shot.  Here goes nothing--hopefully, here goes "something" worthy of my journal.

First of all, "the best laid plans"-----Sid and I had decided last night that we would try to leave here around 7:45am because we had an errand to run BEFORE picking Mom up for her appointment.  We were in the car at 7:44am--great, huh?  "Best laid plans?"---when I turned on the ignition, the little light came on--you know the one--the one that drives you crazy because you're not always sure what it means???  Well, this is one that I know--it told me that at least one of our tires had too little pressure.  So--

I drove to the back near the barn while Sid went back inside to get the keys to the barn.  He checked all the tires and found that one was a little low, so he filled it; he also added a little to one of the other tires that was just a couple of pounds under the recommended pressure.  Of course, the light remained on.  But, trusting Sid the way I do, I KNEW that the tires were fine, so we left--at about 8:00am.

(Note:  Remember that we were supposed to have our lawn mower picked up today for repairs--more on this later.)

Even though we BOTH knew that the tires were OK, Sid made me stop at a place that had a cemented area so he could better check the tires.  They looked fine, so we continued on.

By the way, Randi was with us, of course, 'cuz she was going back home for a little while.  On the way to Lockport, we stopped in Assumption Parish at a place that sells cement statues.  We had purchased a statue of THE HOLY FAMILY last week, but we didn't have room to carry it back home, so we picked it up today.  Of course, it's still in the car because Sid cannot possibly take it out by himself.  We'll have to get someone to help him.  I LOVE it, though, and it will be situated right next to my St. Anthony statue (one of my very favorite saints).

When we got close to Thibodaux, we called Jessie.  We had made plans to meet for lunch so we could see her wedding album.  "best laid plans?"--the place at which we planned to meet didn't open until 11am--it was now 10:30am, so we had to "kill time" for a little while.  No big deal--we just drove around, did a little pit stop, and then parked in front of the restaurant and called Jess.  Since it was almost 11am by that time, we figured we would stay there.  Around 10:50 or so, people started going inside, so we did as well.

BIG AL'S--that's the name of the place.  Well, HE might be BIG, but the restaurant was rather SMALL.  Nevertheless, even after eating, we left with 3 boxes of food (full, I might add) and one little container of shrimp/corn soup.  Jess and I got the shrimp pasta (like fettuccini); Randi got the crawfish pasta; Sid got--you guessed it--fried fish.  We also ordered some cheese sticks (for Jess and Randi), some onion rings (for Jess and Sid--and I took a few bites as well), a salad for me, potato salad for Randi, and fried sweet potato sticks for Sid.  Yes, we ordered enough to have left-overs for tonight--and we definitely did.  Everything was very good and the service was excellent.

While waiting for our food, I checked out the album--BEAUTIFUL pictures of the wedding and all the members of our family.  I'll examine everything more fully when I head back to Lockport on Thursday (more on this in a little while) so I can order copies of the ones I want.  Many of the pictures are very similar to the ones I took, and I must say that mine looked pretty good, too.

After our lunch and our departure in the pouring rain, we headed over to Lockport to drop Randi off at her house and to drop off some donuts that we had bought for the kids.  I always try to buy some jelly donuts for our girls because they love them--and they come by it honestly 'cuz I also bought one for myself.  I also brought some homemade veggie soup for Jan, the only one of our kids who really likes soup like that. 

Next, we picked up Mom, again, in the pouring rain.  We arrived at her doctor's office about 2:15 or so for her 2:50 appointment, but we wanted to make sure we would arrive on time with all the rain we were having.  We were called into the office about 20-25 minutes AFTER the appointment time, andwe had to wait in the office at least 30 minutes, which I think is ridiculous.  Anyway, Mom's tests showed extremely poor circulation in her left leg, poor circulation in her right leg, a 70% blockage in her right carotid, and a 30% blockage in her left carotid.  Nothing will be done w/re the carotids, but two tests have been scheduled to ascertain the extent of the problems in her legs--a CT scan and a SensiLase, which is a non-invasive test of help determine the degree of circulation in her legs.  These will be done on Thursday, the 7th, with a f/u appointment for the results on the 25th of August, unless there's an emergency situation, of course.

We finally left the doctor's office at around 5:20, having just gotten some blood work done to make sure she was OK for the CT scan.  It rained most of the trip.  By the time we were really on our way back home, it was just about 6pm.  In spite of the rain, a stop for gas, and a brief stop for hot dogs at the Dairy Inn in Napoleonville, we arrived here at 8:15pm, having made excellent time.  We even stopped at the post office before pulling into our driveway and our new carport.

A while ago, Sid went to the barn to check on the mower.  Ah, yes, the mower that was supposed to be picked up today--IT WASN'T!!!  I am really getting tired of this situation and the lack of business responsibility of these folks.  I would prefer that they say they can't pick it up rather than say they will and then not do it.  We'll have to start looking into other possibilities with regard our mower.

Are you tired reading yet?  I'm tired writing, so I'll stop for tonight.  Hope you had a great day and that you rest well tonight--as I hope I do, too.  Have a great weekend!

HEARTFELT BLESSING:  "Truths for Living:  The more generous we are, the more joyous we become; the more cooperative we are, the more valuable we become; the more enthusiastic we are, the more productive we become; the more serving we are, the more prosperous we become; the more outgoing we are, the more helpful we become; the more curious we are, the more creative we become; the more patient we are, the more understanding we become; the more persistent we are, the more successful we become."                         --William Arthur Ward

NOTE:  You are blessed and a blessing!  Give yourself to the world by living the truths taught in tonight's HEARTFELT BLESSING.

Special note:  My cousin sent me a beautiful "forward" today, and I copied several quotes from there.  One of them fits this blessing, I think, so here it is (I cannot give credit to anyone 'cuz no name was given, so we'll just thank this person in our hearts for his/her inspiration):  "Happiness isn't having what you want; it's wanting what you have."  If we would truly believe that, our world would become a much better place in which to live, don't you think?