Friday Freestyles... The Cabin Fever Edition

It's been awhile since I've done a Friday Freestyle, hasn't it?

Today is your lucky lucky day! You get a deluxe ramble from your friendly neighborhood Oldgirl.

Today is FRIDAY! Day 4 of Snow Jam 2014 in my beloved ATL. It's 24 degrees! That's better than 12 degrees.

And it is payday.  Glory!

I am so thankful for direct deposit. Some of you may be too young to remember when paper checks were handed out. I remember I would stand in line at the check cashing place, eagerly waiting to cash my check. Those were the days.

And right now, all this fuss is going on.  Who's to blame for the fiasco of the ATL becoming third world for a few days?

The mayor of Atlanta didn't want to hear all that. He said he had Atlanta covered.  And all that which they are showing on TV isn't the city of Atlanta because he didn't have jurisdiction over the highways, and the school system are responsible for the kids, and blah blah blah.

The governor, on the other hand, took full responsibility for what happened.  As he should. All he had to do was declare a state of emergency and everyone (schools, state) would have followed suit.

But the good Governor had my excuse: the warning came out in the middle of the night and he didn't know. This made me feel like I wasn't insane because for a few days it was said that Atlanta would not get hit. There was much focus on the southern surburbs which are some 20 miles away at least.

As a matter of fact, I hung out with the Green Eyed Bandit on Monday. She lives in the Southern surburbs, and she said "We're gonna be out Wednesday because it's going to snow." I remember thinking, doggonit, wish I lived down here because it is NOT going to snow in Atlanta. Sigh.

You were on to something, Green Eyed Bandit!!  Yes you were, Oldgirl!

The southside was closed down. You didn't hear anything about them on the news. Why? Because that was where the snow was suppose to hit. All that foolishness you saw on the news was City of Atlanta. You didn't see anything past SWATS (southwest atlanta). Southern Surburbs were shut down on Monday evening. Humph.

So I'm proactive now. I have an app installed on my phone to send alerts. I mean, if stuff changes in the middle of the night like that, then I have to be proactive.

I haven't really driven on ice and snow since I was 19 years old. I was in 5 mile per hour traffic when I got stuck on a sheet of ice. The police had to stop all traffic in order for me to get off of it. I saw some horrific crashes that day and I promised myself that I would just take the zero from now on and stay home. Tuesday was the first time in 24 years I have driven in that stuff. And that's because that mess dropped so fast, within 10 minutes. Let's hope it's another 24 years. Or never. Never would be fine with me.

I think we are somewhat back to semi-normal in the city now. People who abandoned their cars had until 9 last night to get them so they wouldn't have to pay towing fees. So I hope they went and retrieved their cars!

People are in rant mode right now. I am not. Because I have my own plans. I can't depend on city of Atlanta and doing what they tell us to do. Now, ya'll who have been here for the past 20 years know good and well some level of tomfoolery occurs when it comes to snow and ice. Don't expect things to be handled like a northern state handles them. Listen real close:

It's not gonna happen.

We are suppose to report to work at 10:00 AM. My boss is going to have to call me and lure me to work if she REALLY want me to come in. The last time this happened, back in 2011, I slid down one of the side streets because there were so much ice on a hill. Never again. See you on Monday, Oppressor!

Anyway, I have cabin fever now. Not really. I have been keeping busy. As you can see, I posted up three blog posts yesterday. Much of that is because I am trying to clear out some of my posts in draft and all. I did go and check the mail and take out trash. And I've been cleaning the house. So I am getting things done.

I tell you one thing... My favorite breakfast food has been oatmeal.

Here's the first day's oatmeal.

It is a bit simple. I just wanted to eat. I cut up half an apple, added a few raisins and a little almond milk and I was good.

By the end of the week, I was getting straight fancy with it.

 Diced pears, blueberries, strawberries and walnuts... with a little almond milk of course.

A lot of that was I-got-all-this-fresh-fruit-in-the-refrigerator-so-I-better-do-something-with-it oatmeal.

Yeah. Good stuff.

I have liked my 3 days of free time off, brought to me by the ice and snow.

And I am taking today off also. I want ALL this ice and snow to melt before I get out there and try to drive.

Food-for-Thought: I'm need ya'll to help lil JB...

I am tired of seeing him on my television screen... with a plethora of girls screaming at the top of their lungs.

I try to tell ya'll... Prosperity doesn't exactly mean having a bunch of money. This young man is worth $150 million dollars. Yet he is a destructive lil' fellow.

"He is just growing up, LadyLee," you say. I agree. Like we all were growing up around that time. I had my issues and you did too. But with money in the picture, all problem areas are magnified. Money can sometimes be like a magnifying glass. And I remember as a child how I would take a magnifying glass and focus a beam of sunlight just right on a leaf or something, and watch it burn. All that power can build... or destroy.

And that is what we are seeing: watching someone burn, i.e., self destruct.

You know, prosperity is much more than money. It's a piece of the "prosperity pie" but it is not the whole pie. I want to prosperous in my emotions. I want to be prosperous in my self-love, self-worth, self-image, etc. I want to be prosperous in my relationships. I want to be prosperous in my health. I want to prosperous in my relationship with God.  I want to prosperous in my decision making, honey.  I want to beprosperous in my money, too.  But you can't have the tangible without the intangible as a foundation. Sorry, you can't. And I point to the lil' dude up above to prove that.

That's just my theory.

And what is really tripping me out is that his father is around, running with him... facilitating some of this foolishness. Dude, discipline your kid. Really.

All this slapping on the wrist for egregious and illegal acts doesn't mean much of anything. It just means he can do more of whatever he's doing. Now he's mixing his weed with xanax and sizzurp. And he's drinking? Come on, man. Don't be surprised if we turn on our televisions and it is reported that he is dead.

Yes. That's prosperity for you!

And are you saying what I have been saying, or what I heard others say when I was growing up?

"Thank goodness he ain't black."

Harsh, but true. Because you KNOW we would have to hear allllll these statistics about how awful black folks are, and all that.  When the fact is that white folk, asian folk, indian folk, ALL folks have isshas. Growth comes from conquering these issues, no matter who you are.

(Maybe they don't think about this in other places. I am in the South. The dirty south).

Enough of the LadyLee prosperity gospel for now. Just putting my 2 cents in. Whenever I see some foolishness going on in the midst of having all that money, I think about... prosperity.

 Moving on to the Song of the week.



Oh my goodness. When that song would come on the radio, or if my mother put that on the record player, I would drop everything and anything I was doing - barbie dolls, coloring books, legos- and just dance, dance, dance. You better get out of the way, honey. Move. Boogie Wonderland is on!

"I find romance, when I start to dance, in Boogie Wonderlaaaaaaaand!!"

Oh my! I want to get up and dance right now!

Might as well since I'm not going to work!!

LOL

Alright now... my birthday is 1 week from now.

I plan on doing a food-for-thought blowout extravaganza bonanza next week.  A lot of DEEP spiritual stuff that's been on mind. We're going to get into some of my personal issues; the mysterious Lucy Jr. post; some of my goals for this year (and you know they are highly intangible). And we're going to get into my thoughts on a really touchy issue. (Remember that post I owe you, Southern Black Gal?)

I'm going to have my homegirl Shai saying...

"Enough, Ladylee... enough." Shai places her hands up in surrender. "You're making my head hurt. Enough."

*ladylee hands Shai some extra stength Tylenol... the whole bottle*

Share that with whoever needs it.

Alright... my 44th Birthday sweepstakes is still in full effect. $44 gift card in drawing. $44 gift card for most comments.  I see that some of you have some serious strategies going. I am wondering if this will be the time where one person wins both cards. That's $88! That's enough for groceries, makeup and a couple packs of panties from the local Wal-mart. You might be able to get some Wal-mart gas for your car too!

I think the contest started on January 6th. It ends on my birthday February 7.

So get it in, honey! Comment to win!