Thursday, September 27, 2012

Thursday Randomness: Of Cards and Oscar-Tyrone



Oh, look at the lovely card I made!


'Tis for Sasha. I FINALLY mailed her her 1st place House of LadyLee sweepstakes prize.

She sent a lovely email! Hope you enjoy that, honey!!

If we take a wider angle picture of that card... we see something interesting.

Look real close up at the top center of the picture:


It's that Original Oldcat Oscar-Tyrone. He's over by the fireplace. And he looks to be posing for the camera, next to the new scratching pole that I purchased just for him. I thought he might like that sense he shredded the old one.

And the new one stands next to the old one.

He refuses to use the new one.

"Oscar! You a punk, man! A punk!" I hollered. "I spent $20 on that pole. You punk!"

He blinks... and walks away.

I've sprayed that pole with catnip spray. I sprinkled it with catnip herb.

He blinks. And walks away.

Sigh.

Maybe I will just throw the old one out. It was a "guaranteed" pole. And he LOVED it.

He's gonna have to deal with this new one...


Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Fantasy Come True!


I just have to post this...

Especially after that RATCHET game last night. I think I could've done a better job hosting the Seahawks-Packers game. With my eyes closed.

Yes indeed.

Anyway, I am a part of blogger Tazzee's hubby's fantasy football league...

I don't do well over there.

My matchup was with Tazzee... I wasn't going to keep track of it, as Tazzee is the female Zen Master of Fantasy football.

However, last night, while watching that interesting football game, I pulled up our matchup, and I saw that!


My eyes went superwide.

Me?

I?

Me? I beat Tazz!? By close to 40 points???

The Original Oldboys beat the Tazmanians???

*knocks over all the furniture in the living room... and that cat Oscar too.*

She has an interesting avatar... It smiles prettily, then hits you with the hauty menacing sneer.

It scares me something awful! But not today!

Tazz! I beat you, honey!!!

Heck, I ain't gotta beat nobody else... EVER!!

I bet Tazz so upset that she took off from work today.

It's okay Tazz. Woo, woo, woo. It's alright, honey.

We all gotta lose sometime. *snicker, snicker*

'Tis a fantasy! A fantasy come true!

OH HAPPY DAY!!!

Friday, September 21, 2012

Friday Afternoon Freestyles

I am sitting here...

Sitting here at home on a Friday.

I should be happy. I should be doing wide swooping cartwheels allll around my living room.

But I have an appointment to have my gutters cleaned and my roof inspected. I don't have to be here for them to do it, but I have questions. I need a vent replaced because there is a slight roof leak upstairs. I need a deal on that.

Sigh.

I would take the day off, but I'm not. I REALLY want to go to work.

That sounds STRANGE coming out of my mouth, man. It's just that I have a ton of things to do. We have an biannual audit next week and I am trying to get prepared and get my regular work done at the same time. Which means I can't really afford to take much time off right now.

But I have quickly gotten over that. I will just go to work when they finish up.

I have had this coupon since July (through Angie's list)... but I am just slow when it comes to doing certain stuff, like making appointments, etc.  There's been a bunch of stuff my doctor wants me to do, and even she told me "You are so slow!"

I know that, honey. That is something I will be working on FOREVER.

I'm slow, but I will get things done... eventually.

This has been an interesting week.... Just a few random thoughts for you.

1. Uh, what's up with Candidate Mitt Romney?

Look at him. He looks quite presidential, doesn't he? I can't say I know much of what his plan for the country is or what he stands for, though. I raise an eyebrow when people of his own party don't really care much for him. And he is a bit tight lipped about his record as governor of Massachusetts (which says A LOT if you ask me). Tight lipped indeed...

But he has diarrhea of the mouth behind closed doors, don't he? Did you see that little clip of him running his mouth about Obama supporters? Goodness.  You just slapped veterans and the elderly in the face, sir. Not to mention other folks. Wow.

We say what we say and do what we do when we don't think anyone's watching, don't we? Hmm... that's some food for thought for you.

I just want the campaign to be over. Let November get here already. Dang.

2.  I've picked up on something during this campaign season... The Middle class are people who make around $200,000-250,000 per year.

I don't even know anyone who makes that much money.

I don't even make that much per year. I wonder if that puts me in the poverty category.

I don't receive that. Nerp!

3.  My cell phone doesn't ring anymore. It only vibrates. This is my fault, as I have dropped it one too many times. Sigh. Part of me doesn't care. Especially if it means that if I'm not as plugged in electronically.  And that is fine by me.

4. I better cut grass this weekend. If not, my house will be fine forest setting for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, or even Hansel and Gretel.  And we don't want that.

5. What I'm reading right now.... A vampire series...

A Hidden Fire, by Elizabeth Hunter. My cubicle mate CowgirlCre had been raving about this series of books about vampires. Her eyes got so big while talking about it. I thought she would start turning cartwheels and break dancing in the cubicle area, lol.

She loved the character development and story structure, and since I read for style (she reads a whole book in a couple of hours), I thought I would read it. I have to admit, it is the best character development, story structure, and plot development I've ever come across. Very good.

They are very good books and very well written. And this author is taking the route that I want to take with my own books, so that in itself makes me feel good to know that it can be done, with a lot of work, of  course. But it has given me confidence to move forward. That's a good thing.

I am reading other books, more spiritual in nature, but those warrant their own posts... and this post is getting too long.

Song of the Week.  Old school:  Some Stephanie Mills!



Alright, now! If that get your weekend started right, I don't know what will, honey!

That's a good song to clean the house up to! lol

It's got me up and going. Sho nuff.

With that, have a great weekend!

On purpose. 

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Weekend Food and Fun!

So as I mentioned on Monday, the highlight of my weekend was attending a birthday party at Nikki's parents house for her mother's sister.

That was a lot of fun.

It was preceded by a promise to bring cookies... which I do anyways. I NEVER show up anywhere empty handed.

More on that later.

I had a nice time.

And I tell you, when those folks cook? They cook it up for real. The charcoal grill was going full blast when I walked up.

I didn't get pictures of everything. We were too busy all in the kitchen... throwing elbows, jocking for position.

I myself was very much interested in the fruit and the salad.



If the lights would've gone out, I would've picked up that tray of fruit and ran out of the house. It was good and sweet.

They had some serious food. I didn't get the pictures I wanted because there were so many people. But check this out...



Ribs... dirty rice... macaroni and cheese (which was insanely good)... and some type of ramen noodle dish (I think it was yakamein. Where is BayouCreole chick at? Explain that to me. I didn't have any while I lived in New Orleans). I didn't get any of that, but man it looked good.

Those ribs are off the grill... so I know they had to be good. They sure smelled good.

There was baked chicken...


And lasagna.



There was no eggplant parmesean. But Mama Nikki hooked up some spinach lasagna. I didn't get any of that. I thought I would go back for that, but I was laid out on the sofa after I finished my first plate, lol.

Rumor had it that there was some good gumbo around. I didn't see it. But people were taring it up. I think that went fast.

There was some GREAT caramel cake.


Caramel cake is my cubicle mate CowgirlCre's favorite cake. This was good because it wasn't caramel icing out of the can. This was the real deal... somebody messed around and melted some caramel candy cubes or something like that, and made that icing from scratch!

Oh my! It was good. I wanted another piece to take home. But I am to shy to grab a plate of anything to take home. (Even though others were lined up and with plates and foil... gotta love our people, lol!)

Like I said, I had a good time. They know they can cook up some good food!

And you know what? I brought some cookies... I think I made 4 dozen: 2 dozen triple chocolate chip pecan, and 2 dozen oatmeal raisin cranberry walnut cookies.

But no one saw them after I brought them in. I remember sitting them on the dining room table.

I started getting pointed questions.

"Where the cookies at?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. But I brought them in. You better ask Mama Nikki and her sister. They were in the room when I sat them down."

I got a hard side-eye from some folks. LOL

Not my problem. I wanted one cookie. And my cookie was at home sitting on my kitchen counter.

When I was leaving, Mama Nikki and her sister were outside smoking cigarettes.

I stopped to talk to them. "Uh, people looking for the cookies. Where did ya'll put them?"

"We're not leaving those cookies out. Are you crazy?"

LOL. That happens a lot with my cookies. That happened at CowgirlCre's family gathering back around Labor day.  The ish gets put up. And I get the hard stares, as if I forgot to bring them. I know I took 6 dozen cookies to one of CowgirlCre's family dinners and they all disappeared in less than a minute. So I do understand that you cannot just leave them just sitting out. Nerp.

"You can put them out," I said to the sister. "I can just run you a tin of them out here before you go back to New York. I live downtown, only 20 minutes away. Not a problem to run out here real quick."

"I want to save some for my trip home," she said.

I blinked. "You gonna be here for three weeks, though. I wouldn't save cookies for that long."

Both took a toke on their cigarettes and pondered my statement. The sister had a determined look on her face. I convinced her to just let me bring her a fresh batch the day before she goes home. 3 week old cookies gotta be stale and nasty.

They were still looking at me crazy.  LOL

Too funny.

I had a great time with Nikki's folks...


Yes, I missed Nikki's presence... I still expect to hear her holler "Lee!" when I walk through the door. But there was some of who she was still there with everyone in attendance. And that's a good thing.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

LadyLee Beats: "My Philosophy"


I wanted to have a LadyLee Beats Week, but decided against it.

I just have too many favorite beats. Can't decide amongst them all.

In the process of looking for various instrumentals, I came across a little youtube video that I have been watching everyday for the past week. It makes me... happy.



Dancing coffee beans... or potatoes. We don't know. The jury is still out on that.

It garnered much discussion between myself and cubicle mate the CowgirlCre.

LadyLee: "That's me right there, Cre, at 0:22 seconds!"
*lee mimicking the move, doing the robot and the wave at the same time*

CowgirlCre: "That's us at 0:31 seconds! Cubicle crew break-down!"

We have the move at 0:57 seconds down. We really practice that one, and can do it in unison.

And we called coworker Lieutennant By over, since he like old school rap music, and made him watch it.

We decided he was the coffee bean spinning hard on the floor at 1:21 minutes.

LOL... the things we do to entertain ourselves.

But "My Philosophy" is one of my favorite beats. Even with just listening to the instrumental, I know every word! One of the most intelligent raps ever,

"Let us begin... what where why and when... will all be explained like instructions to a game...See, I'm not insane, in fact I'm kind of rational..."

Monday, September 17, 2012

Good Monday Morning Randomness

A new week has begun! *cartwheels*

(Might as well do virtual cartwheels... just to jumpstart myself for the week).

I am happy that the temperatures are going down. This means lower energy bills for me. I already so a $50 decrease last month in the electric bill for last month, so I am happy about that.

September is halfway over. Where the heck did this month go??? I haven't even written out my goals for the fall, even though I have gotten a couple of them taken care of. I better get that goals list written out soon!

What an interesting weekend I had.

My weekend.  Much more than normal going on, that's for sure.

I went to the farmer's market, which is always interesting. Going on a Saturday is taxing, since everybody and their Mama is up in that camp.

The most interesting thing I saw was the winter melon.


I've never heard of that before. The picture doesn't do it justice. Those melons have to be at least 15 to 20 pounds a piece. I'm not buying anything that big. Plus, it looks a bit ashy and in need of some lotion.

I would've taken a better picture but pictures aren't allowed there. I got dissed while taking other pictures earlier this year, and their some workers standing nearby when I took this one. I didn't want to get arrested!

On Saturday I also got a spa pedicure... The feet were looking a bit jacked up, big time. So that was pretty cool.  There were a LOT of men getting pedicures that day. Not sure what that's about. I guess men like their feet to be nice too.

On Sunday, I took Grandma to see my uncle in the nursing home. It's was his birthday on Saturday. He turned 58. I still think of my uncles and aunt as being in their 20s for some reason. I suppose they will always be frozen as that age in my mind.

That was a good visit. We stayed for 2 hours. I wasn't O_O like last time. Much calmer this time.

Upon taking Grandma back home, I snapped a picture of one of her flowers.


A sunflower.  And it had to be at least 8 feet tall. She is a pro when it comes to planting flowers. I would love to grow something like that.

I didn't get a chance to cut the grass. I'm going to have to figure that out sometime this week, possibly when I get home in the evenings. Only takes about 15 minutes to cut the front yard, so that will have to do for now.

Post of the week.  There are 2 posts that I read over the past month that have stuck with me, and they are both from the Infamous La, who I tend to stalk from time to time, lol. I soooo love her writing.

In "Hindsight", La gives the advice she wish someone would've given her before she went off to college. Heck man, I needed that advice too, honey. Really though.

"Talk that Talk" is a nice piece of romance for those of you who like good romance writing!

La was going for 30 posts in 30 days. I clicked my heels when she said that because that meant that I would be reading some well crafted posts! She is a bit younger than me, so I had to dial way back in my mental rolodex to remember my own quarter life crises isshas in order to be able to fully relate But it was a good thing!

Song of the week. Oldie but goodie by Mary J Blige. This has been on heavy rotation for some reason.



That's from Mary's first album. I liked her a lot better back then when she had a bunch of isshas. Thank goodness she got herself together, but her music was better way back when she was high!

Now the highlight of my weekend was attending Mama Nikki's baby sister's 50th birthday party.

I will talk about that tomorrow. Always a good time hanging out with that crew. I sure wish Nikki was there. It's always nice to look at the pictures around her parents house and remember.

This picture was on the wall.


Yes, you are missed, Oldgirl.... but your folks are something else! lol

Have a good week, ya'll... on purpose.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Friday!

Friday!

Payday!!

That is all. The oppressor will be lucky if they get much work out of me today. I am thinking about my money, lol.

Just kidding. I have a busy day. Shoulda got to work at 6:00 am just to finish up all I want to do. But alas, I will go in at 10.

I have a VERY busy weekend coming up. Which is odd for me. I usually use that time to decompress from the week, but I think I better eat my Wheaties and work it out.

Nothing much to say today... but I have a funny picture.

Picture of the week. Of none other than Oscar-Tyrone.

He was laying across the bed. I was bringing all my clean clothes out of the laundry room and fold them while watching TV.


"You need to grow some hands so you can help me, dude," I muttered.

He continued to sleep. HUMPH.

LOL

Song of the week.  This song is on my kindle.



You know I love some Vesta!

I am still looking for that CD. It was going for about 200 bucks before she passed. I refuse to look for it now. No telling how much it is. Sigh.

With that, I am going to work.   Have a good weekend! On purpose!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

More violence... Sigh

The madness continues...turbulence over in the Middle East to the 10th degree. And our own were murdered in Libya. Sigh.

And they are saying that there's some movie at the center of this.

So... here's the film trailer at the center of attention.



Really?

Worse piece of film making ever. PURE garbage. No other words to describe it. GARBAGE.

So I don't think that was it. This was garbage. I think those attacks were planned far in advance.

To make matters worse, I'm not sure why I turned on the television to see presidential CANDIDATE Romney on my screen giving a press conference about it all. Your own party is seeing *crickets* when it comes to you, sir. So I don't care too much to hear what you say, unless it is you laying out your plan to the future which you are curiously tight-lipped on. I am an independent, and you're not swinging my vote your way at all.  Stand down. Go have a seat.

At a time like this, I want to hear from our PRESIDENT. Period. The man in charge.

I am sorry for the loss of our foreign service people, whether military, ambassador, or diplomatic. That is terrible.  These dangerous jobs and assignments protect our freedom, whether directly or indirectly. It is terrible when someone loses their lives in the process.

The war on terrorism continues. I don't know when it will ever be over.  Who would've imagined so much going on, over a decade after this war began?

Not me. Sigh.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Food for Thought: Tragedy... and Residue, Part 2

Continued from Part I...

I was watching some of the 9-11 related segments o  various morning shows yesterday morning, and there was a guy who was telling the story of his being actually inside the towers when they fell, and how he was rescued from the rubble.

Something traumatic like that has to stick with a person. I wouldn't doubt for the rest of their lives.

But the man said something interesting: he talked of people who have the sentiment of "9-11 is over. Get over it."

What a terrible thing to say. Yes people think such things, but to verbalize such thoughts?? Wow.

And part of me could understand. Afterall, we are a desensitized bunch, we are. A friend told me long ago that people aren't too concerned about situations or tragedies until those events fall right on their doorstep. What that means is that if it's not happening to you and/or directly affects you... it just doesn't matter.

I've had trouble in this area my ownself in something non-related and comparitively insignificant. Like, I don't understand people who wail about having to take medication. Shoot man, I have this lupus, and I take a good bit of meds twice a day... so I can just feel alright and function everyday. So I'm a little O_o when folks bellyache about having to take a couple of pills for a short period of time. I gotta take them for a lifetime.

Back in the day, the medication options weren't available. They would just take you out back and shoot you. Period.

I must admit to myself that I shouldn't feel this way. It's wrong to judge someone else's choices and concerns, no matter how insignificant they may seem.  Instead, I've learned to relate it all to something that I bellyache about, or I can't stand. And when it comes to medical craziness, for me it's blood transfusions.  I have had to have a couple of those. I do NOT like someone else's blood being pumped into my veins. Thank God that they can test blood for ratchetness, but all in all I don't know that anonymous person's history. I avoid blood transfusions at all costs. No more of that! It gives me the creeps just thinking about it!

So now I can relate to someone who is all squeamish about meds. I feel that way about blood transfustions. That kills out any judgment mentality I will have concerning that.  I understand.

And I do the same with the 9-11 tragedy. No, I wasn't there at Ground zero when all that occurred. I was way across the country in a training class. I watched it unfold while sitting in the bar in the hotel lobby.

Yet I would never even twist my mouth to tell anyone to "Get over it."

We all have had tragedies and loss in our lives. I will sit back and be still and think about what loss I have had in my own life. What has left me just shellshocked and downright unable to mentally function for a moment of time. And for me, the most recent occurence is the loss of my friend Nikki.

I won't write much about it. I may short out my laptop with my tears. I wrote about my feelings the week that she passed back in the post "To Nikki... from the Heart of LadyLee".  That was my closure piece, even though with a friendship like ours, there is never any real closure.  But I will admit that I remember her around this time, albeit privately.

Now, I'm kind of a "different" person. If we are friends, you will consider me your "unique" friend.  Me and you... we're not gonna be discussing hair, shoes, or shopping, because I am a tomboy, and frankly, I just don't like those things. My personality ain't like others. I am very quiet, especially if I don't know you. I do NOT fake the funk. I don't particularly think that I get along too well with people, nor do I care to. I like to be able to tell my friends apart (I don't like people who run with the crowd or have no sense of individualism). I detest cliques of any shape or form. If there is any inkling of you trying to get over on me or you having too much unnecessary drama going on, I will most likely vanish. I don't deal well with constant complaining and negativity. I do much to hide my own negativity, so as not to irritate others.

And CowgirlCre, who has known me for the past 15 years (at least), told me the other day that if I fall out with folks, I will completely cut them off. This is true. I ain't mad with you. It's just that I didn't like you much anyway, and you wrecking my steelo and bringing down my quality of life. No hard feelings, but I'm leaving you alone.

I don't like that about myself. But at the same time, I hate being in bondage to folk even more. And I don't want folks being in bondage to what I think about them. So that idiosyncracy sticks.

But I am a nice person. In spite of all that. At least I try to work on it. And "nice" is in the eye of the beholder. I ain't stabbing you in the back, not trying to deceive or trick you, not trying to cause trouble in any shape or form. In this day of time, that makes me "nice."

Now here's what I liked about Nikki... and frankly, it is what I miss about her: she loved me in spite of my complexities.  In spite of all my imperfections, she celebrated my strengths. And she understood my weaknesses, and tried to help me in that respect.

How often do you find that in people? Not often.

Such an incredible asset. That's what she was. I loss someone who had gone from friend to perfect asset.

I so so miss that unconditional friendship we had. Because frankly, I don't have much of that anymore. I watch closely what I say to people. CLOSELY. I have even slipped up this year and spoke my mind on some things, which weren't accepted, and it didn't go over well... those people get sat on the outside of the heart of LadyLee. And when those things happen, I think of Nikki. And how I miss the ability to speak my mind, her to speak hers, and we all good afterwards. We've increased in understanding afterwards. How great is that?

She is one of the few people in my life who asked me the hard questions. And she waited for the answers. And she didn't judge me for what I said, or how I felt, no matter if she didn't quite understand it. She would ask more questions or just let it stand.

How tragic a loss is that? Sigh. I do miss that. I REALLY miss that. It is a treasure to have people around like that.

That is my own personal way of relating to those of 9-11. Someone is there, then they are gone. Well at least I knew Nikki wasn't well, but still... it was a hard loss. I think I was barely functioning for a week after her death. I refused to crochet, because we were in a crochet circle together (yeah, erotic Nikki. Knitting and Crocheting. And talking me into joining a crochet circle. Imagine that). I refused to sit on my couch because I could still see her sitting there, and still hear us yelling while watching March Madness.

Just crazy man. And to add to all that, we had similar related diseases. I have, and still go through feeling...  why I am still alive, and she isn't?

I think about her every time I make my required bimonthly doctor's visit. It unnerves me just a little to walk into the office. I hold my breath, hoping that there is no bad news of my own deterioration.

Never will I tell anyone to "Just get over it." Insulting, that's what it is.

For there is always that... residue. Residue of tragedies in our lives.

Residues may or may not be removable. You just don't get over residues. Human emotions are just not that simple.

You don't get over loss. Not like that. Yes you put it all in some type of perspective, but there is still that dark area of your heart that grieves.

And that's how I feel. I miss Ol' ATLien Nikki.

So I remember her during this time.

On another note, I talked to her mother on the anniversary of Nikki's passing. We had been playing some serious phone tag all that week. It si always startling to talk to or see her, because she and Nikki look alike, with those locks of theirs, and they sound alike, as both have that same cadence and New York accent.

"I miss my girl, Lee," she said.
"I miss her too, Mama Nikki."
"My granddaughter said something that helped me, though," she said. "She suggested that we release balloons on her birthday. She said 'Grandma, don't be sad on Nikki's birthday. Send up balloons so she can have them as gifts.' And that helped me much."
"I'm sure it did."

Then the convo turned funny.
"Listen Lee. My sister is coming down on the 15th and we're having a dinner party. We really wanna see you. And My sister's been asking about those cookies of yours."
"I'll bake some," I said. People LOVE my cookies. (Still seems a bit odd to me. Hmm.)
"And look," she said. "I know you all vegetarian now, so I gotta figure out what to cook for you."
"Uh, I have reduced meat out by 95%. Haven't figured out the other 5%. So if I go somewhere, I will eat whatever."
"No, no, no. I'm going to make sure I fix something special for you. Gotta make sure you are able to eat with us."
(I suppose all those times I went over with a sack of my own food just in case I got hungry didn't go unnoticed, lol).
"I'll be alright. Cook whatever."
"I have been cooking this really good vegetarian dish lately," she said. "It's really good."
I was about leery, yet interested in what dish she spoke of. One of Nikki's family friends ranted and raved about a hot banana dish he made. Me and Nikki tried it and we were both O_O. 
"I made this dish called eggplant parmesan. It is really good. And I'm gonna make if for you!"

Eggplant parmesan.  We have had the most interesting vehement discussions about all things eggplant in our cubicle area. I don't care that much for eggplant (although I have grown to like the foreign varieties). CowgirlCre made an extra large bottomless pan of it and she was a bit... traumatized and troubled about it all. My coworker Detroit Meek-Meek LOVES all things eggplant. She is an eggplant fiend. (And she don't like onions and peppers. O_o). So we fuss about this often.

(When I mentioned this to CowgirlCre, she laughed hard. Meek Meek slapped her thigh and let out a yelp of satisfaction at the mere mention of eggplant. *crickets*)

And here Mama Nikki was. Making eggplant. So she could make sure I had a variety of things to eat.

"Mama Nikki, you can give me a slice of light bread and a glass of water. I will sit in the corner and be happy."

I'm there for the fellowship.

"No, no, I'm making it."
"Alright. I'm not gonna argue with you. Go for it."

LOL.

And I will make some 6 dozen cookies. And I will sit and eat my eggplant parmesan.

And remember old times with Nikki.

I am really looking forward to that.

I know it is good salve for the pain I still feel because of  her loss.

The residue is still there, you see.  I'm not sure that it ever goes away.

Nikki... man I miss you. You will forever hold a place in my heart. You surely will.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Food for Thought: Tragedy... and Residue.

Today is September 11, 2012.

As of eleven years ago, that date is seared in our hearts and minds forever. And we can all recount exactly where we were the day the towers fell and so many lost their lives instantly...

I know I can. I have written about it over the past anniversaries on this blog and in my personal journals. I was one of those on job travel at the time, way out in Denver. I remember air travel being shut down. I remember standing in the long lines to catch my plane back home. I remember looking around and seeing the fear in the eyes of everyone when air travel resumed. We all wanted to make it home safe. Safe and alive.

Alas, time has passed. We go on with our lives. Life doesn't stop because of the tragedy that occurred. Time stands still for no one.

I am mindful and thankful for the fact that in all these years we haven't had another major attack. Yes, yes, you may say that we are highly protected. And yes that may be true. But I have a doctorate in chemistry. And my masters degree involved explosive type chemicals.

Let's just say another blogger who's an expert in his related field and I were talking a few years back, and uh... let's just say, it's WAY too easy to tare up stuff... I will leave it at that.

But that hasn't happen. Thank goodness for that.

So we all mourn. We all are afraid. Eventually we all go on with our lives. And for a couple of years after the anniversary of 9-11, we held our collective breaths, afraid that something else would happen on the anniversary of that tragic day.

Nothing happened. And with each year, the memory of it is gets smaller and smaller as we stare at it in our rear view mirrors.

We have our memories... and a tall Freedom tower stands in the place where so many died that day.

But you know there is residue: the mental anguish associated with losing someone or something, long after the tragic events have occurred. There are people that day that lost brothers, sisters, mothers, uncles, aunts fathers, husbands, wives and friends...

And they are dealing with the residue of that loss.

All these years later.

One of my favorite personal quotes, and we will call this a LadyLee postulate of sorts...

Not only is the tragedy devastating, but the long term residual effects of the tragedy are also devastating, even more so. 

I myself have written numerous times about this "residue" in the pass, whether it be after a tragic event or as a result or consequence of our own bad choices and decisions.

I think about it often. And my prayer is with those who, some 11 years later, still lay awake at night and are visited with the memories of loved ones... and they are having trouble moving past what happened. We don't hear much about those people. Their stories are difficult realities to portray to a public who loves happy stories and even happier endings.

I myself have to think on the residue from the tragedy in my own life that haunts and bothers me to this day to even hope to relate just a little to those who have had tragedy in their own lives directly related to what happened on September 11, 2012.  We all have had events in some point in our  lives that have affected us in a terrible way.

For myself there have been a myriad of things, which I won't discuss here. (You thought I was longwinded... you don't want to see longwinded, honey.).

But there is one loss that I think about around this time. I think about the loss of my friend, that popular blogger who I called ATLien Nikki... I think of her around this time. It is close to a couple of weeks after the anniversary of her passing. She passed on August 30, 2009, and I purposely didn't write about my feelings- that "residue"- last week as others did. Mostly because I just wanted to be alone with my feelings to examine my thoughts..

I must say that I still, some 3 years later, get teary-eyed over her loss...

Continued tomorrow....

Monday, September 10, 2012

Gotta Get Up!


What I listen to sometimes Monday Mornings when I don't want to go to work...



Sigh...


I don't want to go to work today... but I gotta get up...

Friday, September 07, 2012

Friday is here!

It is Friday!

And again, this week went by pretty fast. Probably because of the three day holiday weekend.

I wasn't as productive this week. But I did well enough. And that's cool.

Right now I'm eating my breakfast:


And it sure is good! I don't even know too much what kind of greens those are. I bought a bag of mixed greens at the Morningside Farmers market. I think it's bok choy, swiss chard and some other greens. I will ask next time I go.  I sauteed it with shitake mushrooms, red bell peppers, red onions and tomatoes...

All I know is that it's good! I should've ate it off of my good dishes instead of a paper plate. LOL

Well... the conventions are over...

The Democratic Convention was mighty exciting, wasn't it. A big contrast to that doggone Republican convention.

I'm an independent, so I watch everything. The Republicans are doing nothing to convince me of anything. Hmm...

I may talk about my thoughts next week.

With that said, I'm outta here. This was just a quick post.

I would like to be at work on time for a change. LOL

You have a great weekend.

On purpose!

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: What a Speech!

First Lady Michelle Obama's 2012 DNC speech.



Now that was an uplifting speech.

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Back to Work Tuesday!

Yes, that is what I am calling it...

Back to work Tuesday.

With the passing of Labor Day, the summer is OVER. Time to get back to work!

I was going to take today off, but I decided not to. I simply have too much to do, and there is no need to get all behind.

But I had a good weekend. My major goal was to do a gift card run for the winners, and I did that on Monday (Yay!!).

I ate too much of the wrong stuff on Saturday, so I don't feel particularly healthy this morning.    I am most definitely back to my usual this week. Might even make it a raw week, because my poor system is just shot...

Okay, moving on to more pleasant things.

Yesterday I hung around the house because it was a fantasy football draft weekend for me.

I have 3 teams. Had 4, but some idiot disbanded his league. Idiot. Wasted my precious time. Humph.

Oscar was being a jerk this weekend. He wanted some attention, I suppose. He hung around a lot.



As you can see, he is not pleased with me AT ALL.  That hard stare says it all. It is like he disapproves of me or something like that. I will treat him like anyone else who looks down on me: ignore him. Hard.

He will be alright. Really.

Saturday, my sister and I went down to "the country."  That is what us city folks call it when we travel to rural areas. CowgirlCre has a huge family, and they have a family gathering every year. Our family don't get together for anything, so me and my sister like to go crash her family get-togethers.

This was the first year that Uncle Cre wasn't there, as he passed earlier in the year.

I noticed everyone had t-shirts.





I wondered aloud why I didn't have a t-shirt.

Even the baby had a t-shirt!!

Where was MY t-shirt?

"They took orders at a dinner. And you weren't there."

*blink*blink*

Humph.

I keep everybody neck deep in cookies.  Somebody coulda hooked a sista up with a t-shirt.

That's alright!  I had a fine time anyway!

I will post about that later this week.

Can you believe I did 27 blog posts last month?

O_o...

That's almost like posting daily.  Strange!  You won't get that this month! LOL.

Maybe.

As for now, it is back to work!

Lots in store for September.  Stay tuned!