A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

blogging challenge

Masks and beads and food and drinks OH MY!

In all the years I’ve been on Earth, Mardi Gras is … not something I’ve known much about. 

Sure, you heard it every year. 

And supposedly it’s one hell of a party each year in New Orleans. 

There are beads. And colors. And drinks. And food. 

So.

Much.

Stuff. 

A bit on the backside of this – when I was younger, I didn’t mind going out for drinks and basic shenanigans. But I wasn’t much on massive parties and craziness. I never wanted to go somewhere south for spring break and I had no interest in places where the main objective was partying and getting, well, shitfaced. 

As I’ve gotten older, I look at things differently. I’m not into that shitfaced part, still, but I look at the whole Mardi Gras thing as an experience. And though I’m sure I’ll never do it, it’s still a bit more interesting to me, even if just for photography purposes. 

But what the hell is Mardi Gras? 

And why do I care about beads? 

I set out to find out, in easy terms what this day is and what kind of things you might be able to expect. 

So what is Mardi Gras? 

Also known as Fat Tuesday, it’s the day before Ash Wednesday and is the practice of the last night of eating rich, fatty foods before Lent season. 

Basically, stuff your face and live it up before giving up certain things for lent. 

This is not something observed throughout the United States (it’s different throughout the world, but being I’m in the States, I’ll stick with that), it is something you see in traditionally ethnic French cities and regions. New Orleans is one of the biggest and probably best known. 

Costumes are often part of these celebrations. Masks, costumes, and bright colors – often yellows, purples, and greens. Nowadays, the costumes can become elaborate, using feathers and capes as well. There sometimes are themes with the costumes. 

I know a few people who have done the Mardi Gras trip in New Orleans and one thing they pointed out is that some ladies like to go topless, which apparently has been documented since 1889 according Wikipedia. The French Quarter is seemingly a big place for this, where people will expose themselves on balconies, getting a crowd to form on the street below. 

And this is where the beads and trinkets apparently come into play. I was always curious about this and what the point was. Again, according to Wikipedia, it seems the rise of producing commercial videos catering to voyeurs has helped this, so the tradition is women bare their breasts in exchange for beads and trinkets. A study in 1991 found 1,200 instances of this happening!

Yowza!

So let’s flip this a little – to something a little more tame. 

Food and drinks. 

When I was originally looking at something for this challenge, my initial thought was to find a recipe and make it. One thing I noticed, though, is what the foods that seem to go with Mardi Gras are like – and that would be not very kind on my blood sugar! Have you seen the King’s Cake? It looks divine, but … it wouldn’t be good for me! 

The drinks… they look strong but tasty. Try a hurricane. I’d say it would be super delicious!

Mardi Gras is an interesting holiday. I honestly can’t say I’d head to New Orleans for this celebration, but I’d like to try some of the food and drinks. 

How about any of you? Have you been part of anything with Mardi Gras in the past? This year it is Tuesday, February 25.

Blog With Friends: February 2020
Blog with Friends is a themed collaboration challenge where a group of bloggers get together and publish a project based on a theme. Please see the others who have taken part for this month’s theme Mardi Gras. Links to their posts can be found below the image!

Check out what the others did with Mardi Gras!

Enjoy blogging challenges? We have several that happen here, and we’d love to have you join us! The Photo Blogging Challenge is one of our main ones and it runs monthly! Starting up is the Food Photo Challenge and the Can of Corn Challenge. We’d love to see you!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Photo Blogging Challenge: February 2020’s theme is …

Well hello, leap year!

You know what that means … an extra day in February!

PBC logo

That means we are off and running in 2020 with our second month and you get that 29th day to get those photos done. We won’t be posting on the 29th of February for four more years.

Hopefully we last that long!

Anyway, drop a message letting us know you are taking part and maybe convince a blogging friend to join us as well! It’s the time to start snapping photos and getting things done!

Depending where you are, I hope you are staying warm and having a good year so far!

Before we get to this month’s theme, let’s do our monthly “group” challenges:

Challenge 1: Tell others about this photo blogging challenge and get some friends to come join us.  Let’s see if we can get people interested in the challenge again.

Challenge 2: Make friends with your camera and see what you can come up with. Have fun!

Challenge 3 is at the end of this post (the theme!).

Before this, here’s some housekeeping items. For those who might be new to the challenge, here’s how it works.

  • See the theme (first day of the month);
  • Take photos throughout the month (don’t use old ones!);
  • Select five photos and create a blog post;
  • Come back here and link up on the final day of the month;
  • Use the official hashtag — #Photoblogchal — on social media posts;
  • Hopefully go visit and comment on other blogs.

That’s it. There’s no rules on equipment or anything else. Blog posts can be short and to the point, or in-depth. Interpret the themes as you see fit.

The one big rule?

Have fun!

This month’s theme? Money. This is a pretty broad stroke, so hopefully you can have fun with it and find some great images!! Please make sure your blog post publishes Saturday, February 29. Then come back here and link up.

If you think you are going to take part in this, drop a comment below so we can see who all might be trying to tackle this challenge!

There is also a Facebook group for those who are interested.

If you would like to visit the history of the challenge, which started in 2013, please go to the Photo Blogging Challenge page for more!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Photo Blogging Challenge (January 2020): New

So, remember when it was 2019?

Not any more!

And just like that, we are at the end of January 2020. What in the hell is all I can say. But the month started with me being sick and ends with me pushing myself with walking and everything else, so I can’t complain!

What’s even cooler is that we are in 2020. It’s a cool year and hopefully it will be awesome — for you personally, professionally, and blogging! I think we should all come together and see if we can’t actually grow the challenge this year. I’d love to see many more taking part by the end of the year than what we start with!

When this challenge first started in 2013, we had a bunch of people. Unfortunately, many of them no longer blog. That being said, there are still plenty of bloggers out there and this challenge is so open that people can do it however they want! Interpret the theme in whatever way they see fit, and also use any type of camera. This month, I used my new iPhone 11 for all of my images. The camera is awesome!

So let’s see where 2020 can go. If we can all find a way to get a few new people participating, think about what kind of challenge this can be every month!

So let’s get to the challenge! Five photos for new!

Here are my five!

1. New focus

Over the years, I’ve tried many planners. I always fail. But I wanted to do something different. I didn’t exactly need a planner fully, more of something where I can journal more. I want to keep track of a lot of different things and I’ve been working on this bullet journal. I start it officially in February, so here’s hoping it works out for me!

Bullet journal planner

2. New game

So many of you may know I am into board games, especially ones I can play solo. This is a newer one I got and while I was sick, I learned and played the game a few times. Lots of fun!

Criss Cross game

3. New snow

It seems we’ve been in a cycle this winter. Snow comes, then it disappears. And then more snow comes. Here’s some new snow one afternoon.

Snow covered picnic table

4. New medicine

This seems to have been a good addition to me and is really helping. It’s made me feel good moving forward with the diabetes battle.

Ozempic pen

5. New … drink

This Irish cream was a Christmas gift from my brother. The new Hydro Flash “drink cup” was one I picked up. This Irish cream is outstanding and I dare say better than Bailey’s!

Irish cream

And there are my five for the month!

If you took part in this month’s challenge, make sure to link up below.

And for those of you who participated, make sure you try and get to other people’s blogs and comment (here, too!).

Let’s continue to grow this challenge and have a strong community. Come back and check out the others who link later on, too! NOTE: We have a Facebook group for those who participate in the challenge and are interested. I’ll post any announcements there and hopefully it can be a place where things are discussed and some interaction etc. You can access it here.

Make sure, too, to come back tomorrow to see February’s theme!

Photo Blogging Challenge: January 2020 results

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

20 Days of Chill: Snow(Day 6)

First, remember I live in the Northeast. 

That means I deal with snow most winters. Sure, there’s that rare winter where we’ll only get a few inches of snow. But those are few and far between. Most of the time, we average about 62 inches of snow per year, which is just over five feet. 

Remember, that’s per year. 

For our area, the snow can fly anytime from late October into April or early May. So that’s a long stretch. You also can get those crazy winters where we get snowstorms that dump 2-3 feet of snow on us in a weekend, so it differs. 

Part of living in the Northeast, though, is dealing with all four seasons. We can have hot or mild summers; beautiful or rainy springs; beautiful or dull autumn; and harsh or mild winters. The winter is the crazy part in that … it could be decent temperatures with a lot of snow; arctic temperatures with nearly no snow; or arctic temperatures with a ton of snow. 

There are many other variations as well. 

And, for the most part, I love all the seasons. It’s nice that things change. I don’t like it uber hot out, though as I’ve gotten older, the frigid cold isn’t as fun, either. I like that middle ground. 

That being said, snow during the holidays is still magical to me. 

Let the snow fly around Christmas. Bring the cheer into the season with the white stuff falling from the sky. It’s a beautiful thing. 

My perfect world? 

We get the winter temps (preferably 20s-40s) for most of the winter, with snow from like … December 10-January 20. Then just let it be mild. No more dealing with snow removal or extreme weather. Unfortunately, we usually get a bad storm in March, so this is one of those things that I can dream about. 

Snow is nice to have in a small window. Not for months on end. 

What say you on snow?

This post is part of the 2020 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! 

20 Days of Chill: 2020 Day 6

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

20 Days of Chill: Naps (Day 5)

I usually take a two-hour nap from one to four.

Yogi Berra

Nothing like a good Yogiism to start off a post. And while humorous because of what it says, there’s something to be said about a nice nap. 

But how nice of a nap is the big question. 

I’ve found, personally, that if you nap too long, it’s counterproductive. But, if you find that happy nap time, it works out well for you. In other words, find that time that recharges your body and mind. I also believe, however, that you need to do this as a recharge – not because you are exhausted. Once you get there, you are in a situation where you are just way too tired and probably need sleep. 

Let me tell you a quick, but somewhat terrifying story. 

I used to go home from work, sit on the recliner and snooze for 45 minutes or so. It was almost like clockwork. And that would allow me to kind of recharge for the night. The issue, though, wasn’t that I was taking a nap, rather it was that I needed sleep as I wasn’t getting enough at night. 

As the spring arrived (this was two years ago), I was meeting a friend for a baseball game that night. We were going to hit up a minor league game, and then a couple of major league games for a weekend of baseball. 

That all almost didn’t happen. 

Because I was not getting enough sleep at night (fully my fault), my body had somewhat got used to that after-work snooze. On that Friday, I took off right from work and headed toward Allentown, Pennsylvania. 

I almost didn’t make it. 

From the town where I work to Allentown isn’t a bad drive – a couple of hours or so. But to make the highways, there’s some weaving and winding back roads. Before reaching the highway, I started to get tired and drowsy. My best is we’ve all been in that situation where your eyes feel heavy from driving. Maybe it’s the scenery, or the day you had, or just because you are tired. 

What followed was something I think many in these situations do – roll down the windows for fresh air; crank up the music, rub your eyes – and whatever else you can do. I was a couple of miles from a convenience store and I set it in my mind that I need to stop there and try and refresh. 

My body didn’t want to cooperate. 

What followed seemed to be in slow motion, but at the same time in warp speed. I often wonder if something found a way to jar me and bring me back to my senses. Maybe somebody was looking over me; maybe it wasn’t my time, I don’t know. All I do know is I got super lucky. 

I must have dozed off. I came to as I had already crossed this back road and was through the lane and heading toward the shoulder. My senses jumped me back as I went toward a ditch, hit a bit of a pothole and started to head back into the lane where I should be. My car seemed to jump a bit hitting that “crater” and I weaved a bit, getting the car back under control. I drove probably another 500 yards with eyes wide open until I turned around to see where I had been and to make sure nothing came off my car. 

Thankfully, nothing happened to me. 

Thankfully, nothing happened to my car. 

Most of all, thankfully nobody was in another vehicle coming at me when this happened. 

I’ve driven this road hundreds of times. The spot where this happened is close to an intersection and not from from what I believe is a town-type shed, where there are plenty of work trucks. 

This could have been a really bad situation. 

Since that day, when I go past this spot I thank my lucky stars. I also notice all the vehicles I’ve passed in this spot since then – dump trucks, tractors, pickup trucks, regular cars etc. It’s really surreal to look back on. 

I’m a lot smarter now when it comes to “car napping.” If I feel myself getting tired at all, I pull over. I’ll get out of the car and stretch. Smell the air. Walk around a little. I’ve even before found a safe place to park and grab a 10 minute nap to let my body recharge. If I have to stop every 10 minutes to recharge, I will. 

My sleep schedule is a lot better than it used to me. Naps now are just that – naps. While they usually occur after work, they are not something my body relies on. I’ve gone without just as much as I do. But I am also cognizant to being tired or feeling drowsy and knowing my body needs a recharge and to be refreshed. 

Naps can be a great thing and they have many benefits. Just make sure you are doing them where you are safe, and not in spots where it can be potentially dangerous. 

This post is part of the 2020 20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge hosted by A ‘lil HooHaa. Please check out the link if you’d like to see others or join in. You don’t have to do every theme if you don’t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! 

20 Days of Chill: 2020 Day 5

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!