Friday Freestyles

Friday!

Payday!

GLORY!!!

LOL

Ain't like I can spend much of anything. I just paid my bills. And closed the online pay window. The end.

It is a dreary Friday morning in my beloved ATL. At least it's not hot. For the past few days, the temps haven't risen above the 80s. I need it to stay like that.

I am off on Monday, which gives me a 3 day weekend. This week has been O_O. Between trying to do this detail, and having to train a chemist from a state lab on some equipment, I have been running hard. I am exhausted. It is all I can do to go home and do a few chores and lay down.

I'd been getting outside and working in the yard for 30 minutes a day, but one of the local fellas came over and offered to cut my hedges. They are 6 feet tall, and I can get them cut, but it is a battle, another version of LadyLee versus the Forest.  So I paid him to shape up my front hedges and to remove all the brush off the backyard fence and to cut back branches on the trees in the backyard.

I don't like the backyard much because I came home late one night and I saw a possum.

He looked me straight in the eye.

And I saw his teeth.

And he was running along the backyard fence.

Let's just say I let all those weeds and vines stay on that fence.

So I paid $35 for all that. Dude wanted a down payment. Uh no. You might not come back, hon.

I wanted to holler "You can smoke a lot of crack with that $35!"

But I didn't.

He did a great job. Hope he comes back.

I like my 30 minutes of day working in the yard. I can do that 3 or 4 times a week. I have to now because of all this rain. And it's been raining on the weekends. Sigh. So I better get in where I can fit in.

I am not doing much of anything this weekend because of the financial fast. Best just to stay in the house. I may go to church. And I haven't been driving much.

Look at my gas guage, Chele!

That's after 8 days. I meant to take a picture of it today (Day 15), showing the needle falling just below the halfway mark.

Man. I would fall out if I had to gas up once a week. Simply fall out on the hard concrete.

I will let ya'll strong folk deal with that.

Not I. I prefer not.

I made a batch of peanut butter cookies last night.

Not for myself, though. Let's back up. I made some last weekend for a coworkers special request for her birthday. But there were extra Reese's peanut butter chips laying on the counter. I have been walking back and forth past those alllll week. I didn't want to throw them away so I made a batch for someone else. They came out good. Chocked full of peanuts too. Good cookies. 

Food-For-Thought.  One of my coworkers passed unexpectantly last week. All I know is that I came to work on the morning of July 24th and ran into a sad coworker and she told me what happened. Sigh. I'd just talked to that coworker the week before. I don't see her much because she's in the next building over. But the lab for which I am doing my detail is in the next building. And I have to walk by the suite of offices where her cubicle is located. I'd been walking past and wondering "Dang, where is Shoni at? I can't catch her at her desk."

And I couldn't because she had passed.

This type of thing always causes me to pause. All this stuff, all these daily things of life we worry about and concern ourselves with... without taking note of tomorrow is not even promised. We could die today, and this time next week, our loved ones could be coming together to put us in the ground.

This life is so short. On the time scale of the age of the universe, it is probably the length of a puff of smoke.

Maybe even shorter.

It makes me think of my own life, and how there is no time for worry or anger and all that negative stuff. One of my daily confessions is "I WILL enjoy my life today. On purpose. Great things will happen in my life today. And if not in my life, then in the life of others."

And that never goes unfulfilled. Never.

Might as well be thankful for today. Because today could be your last. And I spend much time thinking about that when this type of tragedy happens unexpectantly.

With that said, rest in peace, Shoni. I will miss joking in the hallways with you. I will miss stopping by your desk to say "what's up?"  You had two girls in college and you were so proud of them. My heart hurts for them because they lost their Mom. Rest in Peace.

A few months ago, we had a long conversation about our favorite Teena Marie song. She liked "Deja Vu". I'd never heard it before.  She sang some of the lyrics. I was O_o because of her take on the depth and breadth of the lyrics.

"That song is bad, girl," she said. "She got real back-up sangers on that song. None of these weak singers. Real singers."

We went over to my desk and I pulled it up and we listened to it. And she knew every word.

So that's my Song of the Week. "Deja Vu (I've Been Here Before).



So that's it for Friday Freestyles. I am so tired. I WILL be getting some much needed rest this weekend, as it's suppose to be all rainy and nasty outside. I don't plan on stepping outside the house unless I go to church. I hope to get some writing done. And some blogging.

Only 13 days left on the Sweepstakes. Get in where you can fit in!   Win that money.

On purpose.