Thursday, May 06, 2010

~~~D U N~~~

*LadyLee walks out on the stage, grabs the microphone out of the microphone stand with BOTH hands*

"DUN"

*LadyLee slams the microphone to the ground. It explodes into a million pieces and sets the stage on fire*

"DUN"


That's what my blog bruh 12Kyle says on the social networks when he's done for the day and 'bout to go to bed.

That's what I, The Oldgirl, say now that my

21 day Financial Fast

is

over.

21 days, mayne. 21 days.

"DUN"

You know, I can't even begin to fully understand and comprehend what this has done for not only my finances....

But for my heart.

And my mentality, my attitude.

(It is bringing some serious tears to my eyes, ya'll. Had to step off into the kitchen and have some communion- a piece of wheat bread and a shot glass of berry juice.)

"DUN"

I am done.

And that had to be one of the most enlightening times of my life right there. Straight up.

Serenity is bugging me about writing a post about it. I will, but I'm still trying to tally up my numbers.

Let's just say, the amount of money I've calculated that I was wasting is gonna make you want to reach through your computer and slap the cheese out of me.

The amount of money I saved is gonna make your eyes pop. (Made me see *crickets*)

All in all, going through this has been a HUGE accomplishment and blessing. This was like, one big intangible gift to myself.

So hopefully I'll talk about it on Friday.

You know me and my longwinded tail. I'm gonna write a long version for me, then scale it way down.

Until then, go check out what that Original Oldgirl Serenity and crew are up to on their 21 day fast. They're handling some SERIOUS bizness over in the House of Serenity.

If you're not inspired by whatever it is that's going on with everybody financially, well... I don't know what to tell you!

My post will be up on Friday.

Until then.

I'm DUN.

Amen.

Goodnight.

I'll holler!

*LadyLee runs off stage doing the hard Rocky victory cheers*

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Workplace Funnies: "Merry Christmas!"

Oh yes, oh yes...

Day 20 of the 21 day Financial Fast.

I am almost there.

Now I did my Fast at a time when life was relatively quiet. No holidays, no graduations, none of that.

Except... there was a baby shower.

And you know me. I really like making homemade gifts, making something with my hands.

I always try to crochet blankets for expectant mothers.

And here's the one I made for the mother to be.






Ain't it pretty? She picked the colors herself. I raised an eyebrow at her desired design, but it was really nice.

I'd pretty much finished making the blanket, and then I read something in my book: that during the fast, you were not allowed to go shopping for gifts and what-not. Just tell the person what you are doing, and attend if you can without a gift.

Good enough. So I went to the expectant mother, our work group secretary, and told her about all this.

She sees me coming her way , and she has that "Lawd have mercy, what do she want now!" look on her face. For she is big and pregnant, and it is tough on her for me to come bothering her about simple stuff, like being unable to track down a phone number or email address or old email instructions.

But she is a great secretary, and she obliges my requests, while giving me that hard "mama" look.

LOL

So I ran up on her.

"Yeah, Shon... look, I have the blanket together, but it's gonna be wrapped in Christmas paper."

"What?" she asked.

"Well, I'm on this 21 day financial fast, and I can't buy any nonessentials. So, I have the blanket ready, and it will be wrapped in Christmas paper."

She gave me the hard side-eye.

"Dr. Parker," she said.

"I want to stay within the rules, Shon."

She sighed. "Dr. Parker. A gift bag costs a dollar at Dollar Tree."

"This is true," I said. "But, I won't be going there."

She looked at me crazy. A look between the *mama stare* and hard *crickets stare*

I got a bit scared for a moment. But I tried to smooth it over. "Look, you're gonna throw the paper away anyway, right? It'll be alright."

I don't think she liked that idea. But she finally seemed okay with it.

I just hope she don't mess with my timesheet. That is all.

lol

Anyway, I wrapped it in some very nice Christmas paper.

My boss tied some pink crepe paper ribbon around it. It was tacky to death. LOL

The party was the bomb! There was a gang of food.



Those wings were wailing "LadyLee, eat us! We are soooo good!"

I hollered back... "Noooooo! I'm vegetarian now... you bustas!"

LOL

I wasn't around much. I had a technician in the back labs repairing equipment, and dude kept calling me for my thoughts on what he was doing. So I had to run back and forth, trying to keep an eye on him. (Almost brought him to the party! lol).

I gave the gift to our beloved secretary, and hollered a hearty "Merry Christmas!!"

She loved it.


I am glad she did.

So Shon, I am so happy for you... Here's to a safe delivery of your baby girl!

And thank you so much for allowing me to wrap your gift in Christmas wrapping paper!

Monday, May 03, 2010

Rainy Monday Morning

It is STORMING in my City.

I woke up around five in the morning to angry cracks of thunder and the sound of wind and rain beating upon the roof.

And Aunt Flo is whispering in my ear "Young lady, this would be a great day to take the day off and lazy around in the bed."

Sure would be. But that is not going down. Nope! I'm taking my tail to work.

They're saying on the news that we've already had 2 inches of rainfall. There are flash floods all over the place. I don't leave for work 'til 9:45, so less peeps should be out by then. (We in the ATL drive crazy in the rain.)

I had a good weekend as usual. I didn't venture out much. I took my laptop to the Geek Squad for service. My living room television is jacked (on/off button is busted), and you will be proud of me: I didn't go price televisions while in Best Buy. I just took my computer in, and got to stepping! Noooo window shopping at all.

My sister Kentucky was camped out in the living room all weekend long. This is odd, since she usually stays in her room. But she was working hard on what she called a "Ca.pstone Project". She talked about this for a moment. (I see *crickets* when she talks about her studies. I just listen.) But that is what the education call their thesis. She has to make a video montage of her student teaching and current teaching. Very interesting.

I know I got on her nerves. I sat in there with her and watched television. And then, I was in the kitchen (my kitchen, dining room and living room is one great room), and I chopped up a lot of veggies for the week. So uh, she had to see much of me.

I am proud of my sister. I remember when she got the letter of acceptance for this Masters program. She came downstairs and ran all around the house. I grabbed my camera and took pictures of it.

And now, she's worked hard, and will be graduating in a couple of weeks. GO KENTUCKY.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE seeing things like that happen. I love seeing it when it is a mere seed, a thought in someone's mind. I remember when my sister was thinking about the program. I remember telling her "go head on and apply."

From a thought to full manifestation. I love witnessing that in my life, and in the lives of others.

This is Day 19 of 21 of my 21 day Financial Fast. Almost there. I mean, I can seeeee the finish line up ahead. LOL

Honestly, it hasn't felt like 19 days. I've made a lot of decisions and goals during this time. I haven't been talking much about it. Serenity has checked on me from time to time, but it has been moreso something I've done along.

Speaking of Serenity, she called me on Sunday. She and I rarely talk, so I was like "What's wrong? Why are you calling me?"

I had to give her a pep talk about this fast. I told her that she will be alright. This is simply a mere self-examination process. Period. Examine yourself financially, very closely. Yes, that can be painful. In this case, it's mentally painful. Man, we build some serious pictures in our heads concerning these things. This is JUST 21 days. A little over 5% of the year. That's the way I looked at it.

We discussed her plans and decided we'd both come up with our weekly budgets and discuss it this morning. I've been a bit quiet, but I'm gonna bombard her with some of my goals and plans. (Not an issue, cuz she likes that!)

Those of you who are thinking about going through it, or just reading along, I wrote a long-winded introduction over at her blog. She has already posted up her "Day 1" thoughts.

It really wasn't that bad. I learned much about myself and my spending habits and I feel okay about evaluating myself through journaling and making the necessary changes.

This all coincides with the last line of my personal vision statement regarding being a good steward. It pushes me a little more in the right direction. And I am glad of that.

People are always asking me about the vegetarian thing. Like, I have this thing where I eat something new every week. Last week, I had some abate fetal pears. It's a South American pear, more oblong than regular pears, but it tastes like a regular pear. Interesting enough. Last night I had some "Forbidden" rice. I noticed it as a new grain in the bulk section of my vegan co-op. I asked a worker about it, and he didn't know much about it. It is a short grain rice the color of black ink. I bought 50 cents worth and cooked it up. Tastes like regular rice to me.

For dinner, I had this rice, along with brown basmati rice, and some sauteed szechaun okra. It was all very pretty. I suppose it's for decorative purposes. Who knows.

Well that's it for today. The rain has let up some, and hopefully it will be this way when I get ready to go to work.

I'm determined to have a great week... on purpose.

You be sure to do the same.

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Guest Bloggin' Duties

Yeah mon...

I have guest blogging duties this weekend.

Scrawling on the walls in the Chicken's Coop, i.e., The House of Serenity!

Serenity is laid out on a beach in Charleston. She gave me an assignment to write an introduction to the 21 day Financial Fast for her and crew. I bugged her about it on twitter (while she was on the beach - not a good look, as it ruffled her feathers, lol), but I wrote some long-winded loveliness on my self, thoughts, and experiences surrounding this fast (I'm on day 18 of 21 now).

So go on over there. Support that Oldgirl. And if you're running with them, starting up on tomorrow, it'll do something to motivate ya!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!