I got so wrapped up in writing about Thanksgiving that I forgot mention my Dad’s and Brother’s short visit before I left for Louisiana! We had a nice visit and took a walk through our Botanical Gardens to see the Christmas Lights. But, more importantly - How GORGEOUS is my brother’s dog? This is Sadie and she was great company. She is part Chow (she even has the purple tongue) and part Shiba Inu. She also has a very adorable bark that doesnt sound like it belongs to anything bigger than a poodle.

However, she IS bigger than a poodle seeing as how she ripped the leg off of one of my plastic chairs WHILE I WAS SITTING IN IT. Somehow, I caught her (she was going after a cat) and managed NOT to bust my ass in the process. It was a Thanksgiving miracle.

I miss her way more than my brother or my dad.

Just kidding.

Kinda.

My name is Zoot, and I’m a lurker. I find it embarrassing to admit that. I’m the one who is always begging her lurkers to come forward and say, “hi”, yet I’m the one lurking around certain blogs daily. I’m admitting my lurki-ness today, and today only - so I can shout out congrats to a couple of bloggers, with the rest of the world.

Way to go Julie and Batman! I’ve been lurking at Julie’s blog everyday for awhile now, and thanks to Tertia (I lurk at her blog too), we are all aware of her wonderful good news. After one emergency c-section, Julie is finally a mom.

And while we’re cheering for babies being born to those battling infertility - Congrats to Monica as well. I’m a little bit more open about my obsession with her site, although she probably wishes I were a lurker.

Julie and Monica - you’ve given the rest of us hope. I wish you and your new children much health and happiness.

1. Clean up stains on the carpet. Evidently leaving the cats alone for five days inspired puking frenzies galore. Not a pleasant thing to come home to - just for the record.

2. Finish the 58 loads of laundry that have accumulated post return from vacation. Can’t I enforce a house rule that mandates no NEW laundry can be dirtied until the old laundry is clean? Or can’t we just become nudists?

3. Get cavity filled and wisdom teeth pulled. Yeah - did I mention I went to the dentist the day before vacation? Both LilZ and I go back in 3 weeks to get cavities filled. I havent scheduled the wisdom teeth pulling yet because I’m scared.

4. Dig out Christmas Decorations from closet that is so full that I cover my head BEFORE I open the door because something ALWAYS falls out. If you dont hear from me in a few days? Send in the search and rescue to my apartment. I’ll be buried beneath old clothes, luggage, and sporting equipment.

5. Buy plastic spoons. We’re out.

6. Accept the fact that summer is over and box up all open-toed shoes. All of them except for my hot-pink tie-dyed flip-flop house shoes. Those stay out year-round.

7. Convince LilZoot to ask for a new pair of Birkenstocks for Christmas. Since he and I wear the same size shoe now I’d really like to buy a new pair that he’ll grow out of in 6 months and just HAVE to give to me.

8. Catch up on reading Entertainment Weeklys that have stacked up the last couple of weeks. Set aside time to drool over the entire cast of LOST.

Life is INSANE right now people. INSANE. So I’m updating you on my life piece by piece. I have ninety trillion things I want to tell you about - but for now? Some pictures from Thanksgiving 2004.

MrZ and his PRETTY pink suitcase. This is at the train station in Birmingham waiting for our train which was an hour late. Yes, an HOUR late. And just for the record…the Birmingham train station is VERY boring. VERY.

This is the crew on the platform waiting to get on the train. From left to right is BroA (MrZ’s bro), GrandmaH (MrZ’s mom), GrandpaH (MrZ’s dad), and Kay (BroA’s Girlfriend). We’re a bunch of troublemakers - that’s for sure!

BroZ and GrandmaH waiting to order lunch in the dining cart on the train. I was in my seat playing with my laptop because I’m a geek.

GrandpaH and MrZ. I’m in this photo too because MrZ is on the phone with me trying to figure out what to bring me back to eat. I mean - us geeks need to eat too, right?

This is what I look like when I’m so cold I want to cry. And I swear we arent drunk or stoned in this picture. At least I dont think we were…

This is the view from the house we stayed in. This is a lake house that belongs to MrZ’s uncle’s family. They all share it and the six of us stayed there during our trip. That’s Lake Ponchartrain and if you look closely - you can see the New Orleans skyline across the way.

Kay and BroA breaking the wishbone…I love this picture because the smiles are so sincere. After hours of smiling for photographs its hard to catch a natural smile…this one is a great shot.

MrZ working on his 2nd helping of Cajun Fried Turkey. And did I mention we are a FOUR TURKEY family? There were FORTY+ people at our Thanksgiving dinner. And we STILL had leftovers!

As the old saying goes…the road to Hell is paved with delicious desserts. I hovered over this bar for the entire night cramming in more food as even the smallest bit of space cleared in my stomach.

That’s all for now…I’ll post more from our boatride on the Bayou later…

I finally have internet access at a little Beignet Shop here in Slidell, LA. My train arrives in about 45 minutes so I thought I would pop in and upload one picture from our trip.

This is us on the train ride on Wednesday. We’ve had a great trip, I’ve met gobs of family, and I’ve gained nine-million pounds. The food ALONE here requires months of entries all on its own! I hope you all had a GREAT Thanksgiving. Much hugs and love to you all! I’ll be back home in about 9 hours!