Sister Callie Jo Update

For the BOP... 

So BOP ,who I didn't think was a "cat man", wants more pictures of Callie Jo. LOL

The thing is that I don't have too many good pictures of her. She moves too fast these days. And unless I am trying to take pictures, it just doesn't work out. These in this post are fuzzy at best.

And Sister Callie has figured out, uh... Oldgirl Ladylee ain't that much of a cat person. I mean, I will play with her here and there, but she realizes we are very laid back in these parts. So she needs to sit her tail down somewhere. And she does that more and more these days. She has learned to entertain herself. And she likes to sleep under the bed. (I am glad of that. I didn't like waking up with her snuggled in my armpit or around my neck. Unh-unh.)

She had another booster shot last week, and she doubled in weight over a three week period. O_O.

She is getting big.

Here she is with one of my crochet squares.

I can't talk trash about the squares. She is going under and inside the couch and finding squares from many YEARS ago. She tends to play with those. I keep my regular squares I am working with put up somewhere.

On more of a regular basis, at least a couple of times per hour, this is the usual scenario. 

She tries to throw him in a headlock and bite him on the back of the neck. As you can see from the look on Oscar's face (and he is screeching hard), he is not amused. Not in the least.

I usually let this activity go unchecked.  But there is nothing worse than waking up to a screeching Oscar... at 3 in the morning. That causes all kinds of problems.

"What the HELL is wrong with ya'll! Get outta my room! Right now!" I holler.

*Oscar and Callie scrambling out of the bedroom*

*LadyLee closing the bedroom door... tightly*

I have had to take him by the shoulders...

And look him in straight into the eyes...

And talk to him.

"Oscar, you can't let her jump you like that.  As Miss Celie told Harpo that day out in the field, I tell you:

BEAT HER!

Beat her, Oscar. Beat the brakes off of her. Whoop her tail good fashion. I don't care. 

And that's what he does. Holds her down, Snatch her by the collar and bite and snap at her.

Punch her a few times, dude. Get her scrambling for her life.  KICK HER BUTT!

He kicks her tail so bad that I find her break-away collar in the middle of the floor.

Then she will leave him alone. It is almost as if she is saying "Oscar, it's too much. I need to go sit down somewhere."

Yes you do, Sister Callie. Go church jog over in the corner somewhere.

Oscar isn't slick. He will notice she's not around for awhile, and he will go walk up on her and sit there and just... stare.  And that gets her all riled up again.

He gets a kick out of that. He's not fooling me.

But Oscar-Tyrone's overall preference is to lay down and rest awhile.

That's the only time he tolerates her being up on him.

Thank goodness when the good Sister Callie Jo takes time to sit down and meditate.

Thank goodness for us all.

Monday Night Fights: Holiday and Sweepstakes Edition

Good Monday Afternoon...

I didn't plan on posting today, as I write much of my Good Monday Morning material on Sunday evenings (save for the intro), but I thought I would anyway, being that this is the first day back after the holidays.

Nothing much happened this holiday weekend. I must say I enjoyed everyone else's activities.  Between all the facebook and twitter talk about Prince's performance at the Essence festival and various family get-togethers, there was a lot going on. And I felt like I was experiencing it all myself.

I myself did nothing particularly special for the 4th. Holidays make me extremely skittish and for the most part, I don't really care to deal with them. (My sister and I had a conversation about this last month, and I said something that disturbed her deeply. I will do a food-for-thought post about that soon).

Anyway, I hadn't heard from my sister, and my goal is to make sure she has a good holiday. Our family just doesn't get together. It's WAY too much drama, and you know I can't deal with too much over-stimulation these days. But our tradition for the two of us has been to get together and hang out and cook and watch movies.

I gave her a call since I hadn't heard from her, and she forgot that a holiday was coming up (Yes, she seems to be like me. But she repressed the holiday. Wow). But I told her I would cook a little something up, and that I did.

Now I would have LOVED to have some of this:










And some of THAT:





LOL

But we didn't.

(But that sure does look good, doesn't it... especially the shrimp and crab. WOW)

I haven't cranked up my grill in some 5 years. I'm thinking about getting rid of it. Instead I bought 3 or 4 ribs and 10 drummettes off the barbeque bar at the local whole foods.  That was as good as it gets. (Oh and that was from the super high upper class rich white peoples' Whole Foods. I go out there when I am feeling a might bit... fancy).

I was more interested in my vegetables. I made my favorites: kale, mushroom and potato stirfry and a roasted butternut squash-pear- cranberry dish.  I also made potato salad and baked beans. And I bought some grilled veggies off the Whole Foods bar. So I think we were all good. I just wanted to make sure she had her fill, I had mine, and she had a good size plate to take home.

I have my veggie side dishes for the week. And that was my main goal.

Anyway, we watched a couple of movies. She hadn't seen the Thor sequel, so we watched that. And there was a movie she liked on Netflix titled Pretty Ugly People. That was good, but it was a bit too deep for me. I may have to watch it again to "get" it.

Now, I've been into a couple of interesting series on Netflix:

 

Both of those are good. And they are great as backdrops for when I am cleaning up. LOL

Let's see... I didn't do much of anything on Saturday, save for travel out to the east side to get a new battery for my house alarm system. There's nothing worse than laying across the bed and that panel just starts beeping like crazy. First of all, both cats dashed like someone was chasing them. And I'd never heard it before. They mailed a battery the last time, but this time I had to roll out and get it. It is ODD going in a store that just sells batteries. And the place was crowded.

Afterwards, I visited a Whole Foods in that area. And it was the smallest one I'd ever been to. They won't be seeing me again. But they did have my cheap vegetable staples I like a lot (which are cheaper than at my farmers market and grocery store). And they did have my 39 cent water refill station. Hell, that's all I care about. So IF I happen to be out that way, I can drop in and get what I need. I came back and home and that was about it.

Now on Sunday something horrid happened... Well horrid to me. I fell down outside in the driveway. I don't know how. All I know I was laid out on the ground face down, left cheek to the ground, next to Pam. Lord help me.

I scraped my knee something horrible and I sprained my ankle slightly. I am still trying to figure it all out. But I had to bring out some of that old nasty witch hazel. That worked out well. And for some odd reason, Witch Hazel drives Callie Jo CRAZY. Not sure what's in it, but goodness... that little cat was trying to attack me while I was using it. Wow. She's too young to react to catnip, but that witch hazel did something to her. I have to make sure to keep that put up.

I was a little messed up last night, found it hard to walk. I was better this morning, and I went into work late.  I am limping slightly, but I seem to be healing up fine.

That just shocked me... Ugh. I was just trying to go get some gas for my lawn mower. Now I can't mow my lawn. And I have to go to Wal-mart after work and get some gauze and tape.

These are high class problems. It could have been worse. And I am thankful it wasn't. I will happily carry my tail over to the underground Wal-mart some 5 miles from my job and buy as much gauze and tape as I can hold in my arms. Yes I will. Happily, mind you.

That's it for me... We MUST have a Song of the Week. I listen to a ton of music on my Spotify account. And this is one of my top 10 favorite songs of all time, and it happens to be playing right now.  Patti Austin's "Heat of Heat":



I just love love LOVE that song. It was playing at my high school prom. My date was Reggie. I was sixteen and he was 21. He was my Mom's friend son, and I asked him to take me. And he said yes.

I liked him. He looked like a broke singer Prince with a short afro... if you could imagine such. He even said he met Prince once. He worked for UPS and had a delivery for him while he was here in Atlanta and he was so shocked at how short Prince was without the high heel boots. LOL.

This was the first song we danced to. And we slow dragged to a couple of other songs. (I WISH I could remember those songs). I was just SHOCKED to dance that close to this dude who I thought of as "grown".

We went to the Red Lobster afterwards. He ordered a shark entree, and he ordered a drink.

Ordering shark, having a drank, and being 21.  In my young 16 year old mind, he was... dangerous.

But he had always been really nice to me, and that had to have been the most fun on a date I'd ever had, even though it was purely platonic. (Don't worry about this age thing. This was 28 years ago. And I was a senior in high school. And I was FAR from virginal. Nothing was happening that night. That was my mama's friend son... talk about getting in a load of trouble. Yikes). 

The last time I saw Reggie was at his mother's funeral a few years later. I shook his hand and told him I was sorry about him losing his mother. Haven't seen him since. But he was a really nice guy, and I am sure he still is.

And every time I hear that song, I think of him and the good time we had.

I just want to get up where ever I am and just do... Wonder Woman spins.

HA HA...

Okay, with that... that is all...

Heads up... 9th bloggaversary is coming up in early August. So you know what that means: 

SWEEPSTAKES!!!! 

*cartwheels*

And you know the trend.

My seed sowing has really sucked this year. I have a certain amount I like to give away per year, whether it is by helping someone, giving to a charity, etc. And the last two years have been bleeeeeeh... as I have only met half my goal.

And it is a strange feeling to offer to help someone and get rejected. Ugh. But that is alright.

You know the trend with sweepstakes. So we have some $99 gift cards available.

Some means more than one... So you know there will be two. Possibly 3. Not sure yet. I would LOVE to give away 3 gift cards... I have for some reason been salivating about that for the past few months for some reason. Wow.

My special employee Commander By is deployed on a special mission out on the West Coast right now, but he should be back in time to pull a name out of the hat. And as always, there is a prize for most comments. And I might shock ya with a third gift card.

Wal-mart and Target are your choices. Blame Serenity_23 for that. She had me on a witch hunt for a dang MAC gift card. Never again... frickin' chicken.

So this will run from now until bloggaversery date which I think is August 13th.

And like I have always said, I am not a comments whore. Ya'll can continue to lurk. I don't care.

But you need to get that money, honey. Comment here, or text me if you have my cell number, or send a tweet, or email... Oldgirlladylee@gmail.com.  We have some Ladylee sweepstakes veterans who have some interesting techniques and strategies, and they have won over the years.  So get on it, doggonit!

I like email and texts. We have some serious private convos about posts. It is mad enlightening, it is.  Ya'll really do solve a ton of my issues.

So work it out. Comment to win. Get your money honey.

I have a TON of posts. Might get a good 40 posts in, as I am pondering the first half of 2014 pretty hard. A load of food-for thought is laying around in my brain.

Hmmm....

With that... have a good week.

By design and On purpose. 

Oscar-Tyrone- King of Bling

I am finding these days that I have to be mindful of what's laying around the house, as Sister Callie Jo likes to carry stuff around from one place to another. Let's just say I have socks everywhere. Sigh.

And then last Sunday, she was walking proudly across the floor with a chain of Mardi Gras beads in her mouth. I have NO idea where she got those from. Maybe from under the bed. These days she likes to hang out under there. (Thank goodness for us all... as it gives us a break from her).

I snatched it out of her mouth... and put it around Oscar-Tyrone's neck.

And this was quite befitting, since the BET awards were on.

He was dressed up for the festivities.

Show us your bling, Oscar. 

Come on dude, don't be shy. (Maybe he's just irritated because Callie Jo is hanging on his back in the picture. Sigh).

He has the fly gold dice chain!

The BET awards were quite boring, so he went to sleep.

Something went down to catch his attention, though. I'm not sure what, because the awards show was quite boring.

And by shows end, his chains got a little loose.

And there is NO rapper on the planet who can mean mug like MC Oscar-T. None.

Eyes of Fury! True King of Bling.

He has that look that says "I wish a sucka would try to step to me! You don't want none of this!"

And he deserves a rap song. Yes he does. For putting up with Callie Jo. And for wearing those blinging gold dice around his neck.

He (and I and we ALL) deserve some REAL rap music from 25-30 years ago. BET awards always make me realize how far downhill rap music has gone.

Wordless Wednesdays: Cookies!

Ten Tuesday Thoughts

Half of the year is GONE. Can you believe that? Today is JULY 1. Where has the time gone?

Today it will be 90 degrees in the ATL. Summer is officially here.

Today I looked at my pay stub and I see we got our bonus. This is great. I don't think we've had a bonus in a few years. So you know what that means... BALL TILL I FALL. (Yeah right).

I think this is a good time to sit down and make up some goals for the remainder of the year. I am kind of strange in that I don't sit down and make goals. I am not sure why. If I do, then they are daily and/or short term. But I always amazed at the things I get done. I could be getting more done, though.

Current song playing on my spotify playlist as I sit and type this...  SOS band's "No One's Gonna Love You"


 
I have to go to the store this afternoon. A couple of the youngsters in our group are going away for training for 3 weeks, and they want chocolate chip cranberry pecan cookies. I have no eggs, no butter, no flour... sheesh. They will be away at training for 3 weeks... at some place on the beach... 15 minutes from Miami. This is not good. One of them is making a run up to the amusement parks... and the other is probably gonna find some rappers, get wasted, and shoot a few rap videos... or "flicks". O_o.  Uh, let's just say I told them to call me if they get locked up. Me and a couple of the other chemists will roll down there and bail them out.

I have no plans for the 4th of July weekend. And I am fine with that. I need a 3 or 4 day weekend to just catch up on some little projects around the house. I am so slow, forever doing chores.

I may even get some writing in this weekend. I have been editing some stories from the blog for a couple of anthology ideas. And I need to sit down and rewrite "Jawbreaker"... again. The more drafts the better. And I hate editing, but heck, it has to be done. 


I have a few friends going through some hard and confusing times right now. That makes me so sad. I actually shed some tears when I woke up this morning. And I ain't the weepy type. I think I am sad because so many memories of my past issues and mistakes have come flooding back to mind like I just experienced them yesterday. I wish I could be more helpful... but all I can do is listen and not judge. And offer the advice that I offer these days: everything is temporary... just like a hairdo. Things will work themselves out.  They always do. This too shall pass.

Sister Callie Jo's weight doubled in the last 3 weeks. She went from 1.25 pounds to 2.7 pounds. I've had to adjust her collar a couple of times so she doesn't choke.

I miss the little kitten that was so small that I could hold her in the palm of my hand. But now, the little kitten is becoming a CAT... very fast.  Sigh.

That's it for Ten Tuesday thoughts... Lord knows I have more. This could have been 20 Tuesday thoughts.

But I will save those thoughts for another day.

As for now, you have a great afternoon... on purpose.