New Orleans @ soapcentral.com

Earlier today I went in for my permit test.  I passed with flying colors, and I have my permit now!   So obviously I am thrilled about that.  Here in Minnesota, you have to have a permit for at least 6 months before getting your license, and you have to be 16.  I turn 16 in September so then I will take my behind-the-wheel and my road test and then I'll have my license!

 

More good news...on April 13th DH will be back!  OK so we still have to wait a while, but at least we've seen the end of this damnable strike.  There will be 7 episodes left of the season, and on May 18th there will be a two-hour season finale!  Here are some spoilers...

 

Episode eleven (April 13th)...

 

A long time will have passed since the tornado.

 

Mike is still in rehab and Susan's younger cousin Tim (Chris Carmack) comes to help them with their taxes.  Tim just lost his job because he had an affair with his boss's 18-year-old daughter.  Tim tells Susan that he is single again and asks her if she knows of any single women for him.  Tim sees Katherine, whom he's met before.  He also sees Dylan, who he hasn't seen since she was a little girl.  Dylan's a couple weeks from her 18th birthday, and she's excited about that.  Tim goes over to Katherine's house for a visit.  Susan sees him leave their house, and although it was just a friendly visit, she assumes the worst.  When Tim was 18, he witnessed a murder.  The murder has something to do with the Katherine mystery.  Tim knows a little something about Katherine's past.  Like Tan said on the boards, why is it that so many people know about the Mayfairs but the viewers know nothing???  We also see the murder in a flashback.  Tim will be in some more episodes as well.

 

Bree follows Lynette into a Catholic church.  Bree's confused because Lynette's a Presbyterian, but Lynette says she's Catholic now.

 

Bree goes to church, and everyone there is outraged because the president of the church's Women Auxillary, Edna Fletcher, put a picture of her in a bikini on her MySpace page.  The reverend wants Bree to be the new president.  Bree declines and offers to help Edna.

 

Edie's still angry with Carlos for dumping her.  She asks a nurse for information about his blindness, but the nurse refuses to give the info to Edie because of patient confidentiality.  Edie takes the nurse out to lunch to try to pump her for information.

 

Episode twelve (April 20th)...

 

Lynette is questioned by the police regarding a vandalism case.  At first, Lynette thinks this involves her twin boys, but it actually involves Rick!  Rick was the manager of the pizzeria subbing for Tom while his back was out and he and Lynette almost had an affair.  Apparently, someone threw a brick through the window at Rick's new restaurant.  Tom and Lynette both say they are innocent.  Rick appears!

 

Bree inspects the food at the Founder's Day Ball.  Usually Bree is the one who hands out the Founder's Award, but this year Katherine gets to do it.  Bree's upset about this.  A caterer stops Katherine from eating some dip, as there was a fridge problem and it could make her sick.  The caterer tells Katherine to tell that to Bree, as the caterer is scared of Bree and doesn't even wanna talk to her.  Dylan and Julie, who are debutantes at the ball, distribute programs there.  They and the other debutantes pose for pictures.

 

Gabrielle (who has re-married Carlos at this point) confronts a handicapped man for taking the last handicapped spot in the parking lot.  She points out that Carlos is blind, and oddly, Carlos isn't even with her!  The man strikes her, probably thinking she won't strike back because he's handicapped, but she does!  LOL!  Also, Carlos and Gabrielle have an argument next to the car, which is parked in the only handicapped spot in the lot.

 

Gary Cole appears as Katherine's ex-husband.  He will appear every episode for the rest of the season.

 

Well, that's it for the spoilers.  I better get going now.  We're leaving for New Orleans tomorrow!  We're driving down there...on the way down we're spending the nights at Kansas City and Memphis and on the way back up we're spending the nights at Nashville and Chicago.  I'll post pictures as soon as I get back.  Until then, bye!

How many people here either are kids or have kids?  If you are one of these people, do you have anything planned over Spring Break?  Our plans...going to New Orleans.  I have been to New Orleans twice before Katrina, and in six weeks or so I'm gonna see what it looks like now.  Obviously it will be very different...I am very interested how it has changed.  We will be driving down there...it is about a three-day drive.

 

We also have some family down in New Orleans.  My great-aunt Alice lives there with her husband John, and my dad's cousin Julie lives there with her husband Max.  None of their houses got destroyed.  Alice and John live in a very nice neighborhood.  Their neighborhood is known for mansions and trees...but most of the trees are gone now which is really sad 'cause those trees are what made the neighborhood really beautiful...their house didn't get damaged at all but a lot of houses in that neighborhood were very badly damaged, so Alice and John lucked out.  Julie and Max's house sustained zero damage, but the street behind them got completely flattened, so they REALLY lucked out.

 

I really hope we can be able to see them, but there's a chance we might not be able to 'cause they have a lot on their plate right now.  Alice and John are both 83 years old and niether one of them is doing great healthwise.  Alice has arthritis very badly and she hasn't been responding to her normal medications, but luckily her doctor recently prescribed her some new med and that's been working well for her.  So she's getting progressively better and she says that as soon as her doctor says it's OK, she's gonna come up to Minnesota for a visit, which is good 'cause Alice is a lot of fun.  So things have been looking up for Alice...John, on the other hand, is getting progressively worse.  A couple years ago they found a tumor in his voicebox, so he underwent radiation therapy.  The tumor is gone, but he is left with the yucky side effects of radiation, as all of his upper teeth are gone.  Also, his back condition has been really getting to him.  He uses a heating pad and there are some activities he can no longer do, such as golfing, which is a shame 'cause he LOVES to golf.  A nurse comes to their house on nights and weekends but given that John's health is deteriorating, they might have to have a full-time nurse soon.  As bad as Alice and John may have it, Julie and Max have it worse.  Max is in the hospital dying of cancer.  It started in his kidneys and spread to his spleen, lungs, pancreas, and lymph nodes.  He is undergoing chemo every day, and if you're doing chemo every day it can't be good.  He lost 50 pounds since he started chemo and Alice says he looks terrible.  And Julie is not holding up well.  Julie is a sweet, wondeful woman, but she is not a strong woman at all.  Alice has told her that she needs to be strong for Max, but Julie just hasn't been holding up well.  It's awful 'cause these are great people and they don't deserve what they're getting.  It's awful also because Max is only 59, he's a great guy, and given that he lives a thousand miles from me, I never got to know him very well, and I wish I could've been able to get to know him well.  So I definitely hope I will be able to see him one last time when we're down there.

 

So in addition to going to New Orleans this March, we have also been talking about what we should do this summer.  After all, we are halfway there.  From June 20-27, we will be going to Door County, WI, as we always do during the last week of June.  Also, every August the past few years, we've been going someplace we've never been before.  In 2005 we went to San Francisco, in 2006 we went to Boston, and in 2007 we went to Yellowstone.  We are gonna go somewhere in August...we have decided on two possible places.  Either we're going to Seattle, or we're gonna go to the east coast and drive down the east coast...we'd be in places such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, and the Carolinas.  They both sound like fun trips.

 

I suppose this was one of my longer blogs, huh?  Well, I should be going.  Got homework to do