Foto Fridays (and other Randomness)

Happy Good Friday.

I have photos and mindless random thoughts for you.

Just think of it as a proverbial "easter basket", a gift from me to you:)

I got spring fever.

I don't feel like doing NOTHING.

I wailed to my boss this week,"I need motivation."

She looked at me like I had grown 2 heads.

She was back in the lab yesterday, talking with me and the specialist, and I, being bored and spring struck, rattled her nerves a bit...

She's going to chase me down the hall with a broom real soon... I can see it!

I cause trouble when I am bored.

I woke up at 3:30 this morning. Should've gotten up and just gone on to work, but I didn't. I ended up going to sleep and having nightmares concerning the ex-husband. I was trying to get back with him, or something weird like that. What was I thinking?

Geez. My credit score just went down a couple of points with those dreams.

That's what I get for sleeping with the TV on.

That's what I get for having Thai food for dinner. HUMPH.

I like walking out on the track. This is my excercise of choice when it's nice out.

I live a stone's throw from downtown ATL (literally a couple of miles).

So you can see the Atlanta Skyline!


These houses overlook the track.

I love these houses. Would love to have one. Average price- half a million bucks apiece. Taxes should be a good ten thousand a year.

Hey, somebody buy me the house. I can pay the taxes just fine, just buy me the house! Much obliged!!

My transition lenses are working well.

I realize this after a LONG time of thinking, "It's so bright and sunny our here. Why does it look so dark?" lol

I like to try a couple of new foods a month. With that said, I've been fooling around with barley.



Barley works well in a stir fry, much better than rice. It has a nutty flavor, is chewy, adds character to a dish, you know. But there are issues with it. You have to soak it over night. Two thirds of a cup (which cost me 30 cents) cooks up to four cups. In other words:

Man, I got a load of barley on my hands! Somebody help me!!!

I gotta call Grandma today. She hasn't used her debit card in 6 weeks. I think she misplaced her card and doesn't want to say anything. It's gonna be like pulling teeth to get her to let me know such.

I had lunch with Serenity_23 on Wednesday. She was passing through the ATL, on the way to catching her cruise. We had lunch at a pizza parlor near my job. I was giving her the sideeye for making a 8 hour drive all glammed up, but hey, she hardcore like that, lol.

It was good to see the Oldgirl. It's always good to see my baby blog sista. I hope she and Tyler have a great time on the cruise. I can't wait to hear the stories!

Oscar-Tyrone is a trip. He treats me and my sister differently. When Kentucky's in the room or comes around, he gets all sprite, clears his throat and let's out a series of "meows" from somewhere deep inside. She always talks to him or gives him catnip or whatever she's eating on.

With me, he't totally different. His meows are barely audible. Weak and wacky squeaks.

And he stares at me a lot. Especially when he wants something. Like being rubbed. And I know this is the case, because he edges closer and closer, until he is laying right beside me. If I still don't pay him any attention, he lays his head on me.

And if that don't work. He GRABS.




This becomes interesting when I am writing or reading, and he grabs at my hand. I have to keep myself from YELLING at him like he's a kid.

I rub him for a few seconds. And it's not enough. He wants more. THEN I yell.

And he stalks off... all to come back a half hour later and bother me again.

There's some metaphor of life in there. I have NO idea what it is.

Maybe there is none. And I just got spring fever for real.

All of ya'll... Have a Happy Easter.

This weekend's gonna be BEAUTIFUL. A gorgeous Easter weekend.

Get out and enjoy it... with purpose, on purpose...

Foto Fridays

Been a minute since I've done the Friday Fotos... where I dump all the pictures for the week out of my camera and post the most interesting ones.

So let'em roll!

The Gelato section at Whole Foods on Ponce de Leon in Midtown.

I know me and LadyTee drove the poor guy serving us crazy, with wanting to try each one. LOL. I finally got the banana pudding and cookies and cream... LadyTee chose the fruit mango on the end and the cookies and cream. 4 ounce for $2.99. Pricey, but worth it!

An outfit that I bought for Serenity's baby's 8th birthday gift.

Blog fam hollers "But it don't match, LadyLee!"

You know what? That's alright. There was a deep sale on Polo for boys. Serenity is quite the fashionable Chicken, I mean, Oldgirl. I'm sure Tyler has quite a few shirts that can go with those shorts. And I am sure he has pants and shorts that can go with that shirt.

Work it out, Serenity!

LadyTee's fly new hairdo, courtesy of cousin Cupcake's oldest dauther Shanice.


LadyTee's gift, courtesy of LadyLee... a gift card for 50 bucks to TJMaxx.



Her Mama Babs was like, "Oh Lawd, you know that's her store."

Yep. I call it Tammie J Maxx! Because she LIVES in that place. We must've spent some 2 hours in there after lunch! OH MY.

LadyTee's dog Mitch.



You can't tell from this picture, but he's a good 200 pounds. Big horse of a dog. Got me yelling "Get back, you big ox! Ya'll come get this dog!!!" lol

One of my favorite dinners...

Stir fried veggies with fresh buckwheat noodles. Takes about 10 minutes to conjure up... and I'm ready to get my eat on! (And no, that ain't beef... That's Gardein beef tips. I never use it in stir fry, but threw them in this time. I won't be using them again. I am use to a straight veggie stir-fry).

My favorite foto of the week: Oscar watching TV. For some reason, Oscar-Tyrone REALLY likes to watch television. He was very much interested in Amerian Idol on Tuesday night.


I'm looking at that vent behind the TV. It needs to be cleaned... Uh, yeah - Green Eyed Bandit, hey Mama, come over here and clean my vent for me. And it's time to replace the filter. Hook that up Miss Flylady-you-can-do-anything-for-15 minutes. Come over for 15 minutes and clean my vent.

*Bandit squinting hard at screen*

LOL! Just playing, Ma. That went on my to-do list for the weekend. Oscar Tyrone has bushy fur. I think I will use him as a duster. Hmm.

And please explain to me: why do we call each other "Mama"? Who started that ish?

(See you at the meeting on Sunday! Uh, call 2 hours prior to remind me. Much obliged!)

LadyTee and her Mama Bobbie Jean aka "BABS!!!"


Congratulations to Babs, who is newly retired. She looks more relaxed than I've ever seen her. Being a nurse on the trauma care floor at the local hospital has to wear one down after 30 years... Relax and enjoy retirement, Babs!!!!

I like when Bobbie Jean takes pictures... She likes to turn UP the wattage on that Colgate smile!

(And she has been calling me "Lisa Anne" since I was 10 years old. For 30 years, I've been wanting to know why. Maybe I can ask her, now that she's relaxed, refreshed and retired.)

That's it for Friday Fotos...

Ya'll have a FANTASTIC weekend:)

Foto Fridays

My Auntie Joyce is a photographer, and has a business restoring photos. She's also our family historian. (Yeah, that makes us sound aristocratic, lol.)

But we were looking through some of her collection, and came across a photo of my Great Great Grandfather, Mr. Harry Kendall.

I look at this photo and think, what a handsome fella he was. I wonder what kind of car he drove, what were his favorite TV shows, etc.

I had to catch myself. This is a photo from the late 1800's. He probably had a horse. And if not, he had to walk everywhere.

And there was no TV back then.

Humph.

Makes me feel a little weird about getting all pissed off when my cell phone goes dead because I forgot to charge it up...

Foto Friday III

Okay... It's photo time! (Whoooo-Hooooo!!!!!!!)

A pic of the candy I bought to give out at Halloween.

I only gave out a little of it... bought the rest to work, where of course, the peasants swarmed on it like vultures. (You know how people are with free stuff). All I know, I had to go head on and do the right thing and take out the watermelon flavored tootsie roll pops for myself because they are the BOMB!

Now when I got home from work on Halloween afternoon, I looked across the street in my neighbor Tim's yard and saw this:

First thing I thought:

"That fool done got a crackhead to dress up and lay out on a lounge chair for Halloween."

From across the street and two houses up, it looked like a REAL person laying there. So you know I had to go investigate, right? It wasn't a real person, just some get up. I poked it enough to find out. Man, I woulda passed out if it would've moved. LOL!!

My favorite Pizza joint:

It's out near my doctor's office, way out in Stockbridge. I like going up in there because they got chalk out and they let you draw grafitti on the walls. The employees there look real crazy, with their facial piercings and wierd tattos.

Let's just say "LadyLee" and "Oldgirl" have been scrawled on the walls quite a few times.

The pizza I order there cost 25 bucks.

Humph. I only run up in there once or twice per year.

Finally...

As usual... I have crazy run-ins with my boss, the "Darth Sista T". Everytime I run up in her office unannounced (imagine me with my hands on my hips saying "Look here..."), she gives me the gas face.

She does crazy stuff, like call me up on the phone and say, "Lee, come here for a minute", then asks a question that she could've asked over the phone. This gets annoying over time... to the point where I won't answer the phone.

**LadyLee stares at ringing phone then over at cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre... LadyLee rolls her eyes and goes back to doing her paperwork**

Sometimes, I just don't feel like talking and pontificating about chemistry. And if I give you an answer to your question, why we gotta pontificate? Goodness.

So, I will ignore her...

She starts paging me over the intercom, and I won't answer that either.

She gets the unction to march over to my desk...

"Blah, Blah, Blah, LadyLee!!"

Yeah. I know just how to get rid of her. I sometimes start doing the Darth Vader hard breathing. She don't like that too much. I sometimes accuse her of playing Jedi mind tricks ("Your jedi mind tricks won't work on me, Darth Sista"). She don't like that either.

I keep a picture of Oscar-Tyrone as my screen saver. When Darth Sista T gets all crunk? I point to the screen.

"Sista T, look at this. THIS is how I feel right now. "

I'm weary... Eyes hooded... wanting to be left alone!

"THIS IS HOW YOU MAKING ME FEEL, DARTH SISTA."

She rolls her eyes, and groans hard. "Drama, drama, drama, LadyLee!!"

She folds her arms across her chest and walks away...

Yeah, the Oldgirl knows how to upset management... LOL!!

Have a good Friday and have a nice weekend:)

Foto Fridays II

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and you know how longwinded-ed an Oldgirl is...

More photos for ya...

Before we even start... Be sure to eat some fruit today:

It is good for you, you know.
And most of all it keeps you regular! Yeah, if you didn't know... I'm a fruit fanatic. I have to be one, especially if I'm sitting around taking pics of my lunch (Who on earth does such a thing besides the Oldgirl?)

I always wanted a black phone for the wall in the kitchen... Ma would never buy the sleek black wall phone back in the 80's, so uh, I decided to get one. I bought this one for $7.99!
And as you can see, I had to let that go. The coily cord was cramping my style. So I went and bought a cordless phone. Sigh. I think I am succumbing to modern techonolgy.

As I get older, the 1% Diva in me likes to have her way. I have a thing for fresh flowers right now.

Like I said, I love fresh flowers. Especially cheap fresh flowers. Those are Alstromeria. I get those for $3.99 at the White People's Kroger, and they last for a good 10 days. Can't buy them at the Black People's Kroger because they SUCK! They die off in 3 days!Uggh! I try to support my folks, but DANG!

Finally... Tiny rang my cell phone one day. I almost decided not to answer it, but this doesn't work with him. He will keep blowing up my phone until I answer it..

"Lee!"
"What, boy?"
"What chu doin'?"
**silence**
"Come outside and look at something. I want you to see something."

This pissed me off something terrible. It was hot as hell outside that day. I was in the house, in the bed, taking a PHAT nap in the comfort of the super coolness of my air conditioner. So I got up and went outside and saw this:


A laptop in his car.

And it was a bootleg set up at that. He drilled a hole in the floorboard of his car and situated a pole just right and sat the laptop on top on a plywood base somehow.

"I can hook you up like that, Lee."
**silence**
"It's not that hard," he continued.
I shook my head. "Tiny, are you crazy?"

But I got to thinking. I could get some writing done while I was driving, especially while creeping along in traffic, and-.

I shook my head and blinked hard, trying to clear those thoughts out of my head.

But it is a thought, hunh?

LOL!

You all have a fantastic weekend!!

Foto Fridays, Part I

I've been wanting to do a day of photos, as I have waaaay too many pictures laying around. So as a result, we will try out something new: "Foto Fridays"

I was clearing out my digital camera this morning, and came across a bunch of interesting photos...

Cake! My sister Kentucky loves my double chocolate coffee infused cake. I think I've made this cake about 5 times since last Memorial Day, always at her request.


I was about to leave to go somewhere one day (as always), and she ran up on me, saying "Lisa, if I give you my debit card, could you make that cake?" She got the hard eye squint, but I made it for her nevertheless, after a quick trip to the grocery store with HER debit card. (I got a few items for myself too. I bet she won't give me her card again, LOL.).

I forgot to purchase pecans, though. So I had to do the bootleg and grind up some Planter's party nuts for decoration instead.

My only stipulation is that she gets the up out of the house, like take it to work and share with her coworkers or something. For some reason, she don't like to do that. I thought I taught her to SHARE, but I guess that lesson didn't take hold.

Kay's been doing that lately... wanting me to make something for her right then. I wish she would tell me, like, a week in advance or something. I try to tell her how to do it herself, but she looks at me like I'm crazy, i.e., "I ain't making it, Lee! YOU do it!"

Hmm... I guess I'll just keep doing little things like that for her.

Grandma's Kitchen. Here's a pic of the bootleg store in our neighborhood, Mc.Gru.der's, i.e. "Grandma's Kitchen".

I've been in the neighborhood for 2 years, but have only gone down there once. I needed some flour or something, and was too lazy to drive to the White people's Kroger on Moreland, so I went there. For some reason, I thought I would have to walk up in there with a few weapons, but it is actually a nice place... That dayum SMALL bag of flour cost me over 2 bucks, but it is a convenient little place.

I had a shindig at my house a month ago, and I told my sister Kentucky to go there and get some ketchup and mustard, as I thought I didn't have enough.

"I think I'll walk, Lisa."
**Crickets**
"Uh, Kentucky? You should drive."
"No, it's nice out. I think I will walk."

That store is down there where the dope boys sell there wares, and where people just stand around for no reason. Poor Kay got harrassed the whole walk there. Let's just say she's not walking down to Grandma's Kitchen anymore.

Burnt! I like my chicken with a little burn on it... but this right here is ridiculous!!!

This right here is more like it!! (That right there is for YOU, Ms. Blackliterature.com. Hope you find that Texas style barbeque you searching for up there in Charlotte!)Tub! I love my bathtub... It's got the bootleg jets and all. I'm down for that. I took this pic a few days after me and Tiny finished painting the bathroom.
Nothing like a warm jetted bath, a good book, and my fantasy football paperwork. Heaven indeed!

Oscar-Tyrone. One thing I like about my cat Oscar Tyrone: that boy know he know how to relax.
We can all learn a lesson from him. I got a busy weekend coming up (as usual), but I DO plan to find a few minutes of time to lounge around.

That's it for now... see you next week, and have a good weekend!!