Happy Halloween!

Ah yes...

'Tis that time of year.

Halloween

I don't do the Halloween thing, but it's nice to see the little childrens dress up in their costumes, isn't it?

As young girls, we always wanted to be some type of Princess... My coworker Ol Mean Ass Cynthia's niece is a lovely princess indeed...

Oh, she's so cute!! So cute!!!

And then Cynt's daughter Chayse, who happens to be my "permanent house guest Kramer's Mama (the orange cat)... She wanted to be a fairy this year.



Oh... How cute. She's so cute!

Then... we have the Oppressor's some people's worse nightmare...

Little black boy dressed up as Barack Obama...

**silence**

Uh, the young bruh is clean, ain't he? Got himself a little American flag and all...

My heart jumped when I saw that picture. We've been discussing this around the lab for months. Dreams of becoming a famous rapper or a sports star will be, uh, replaced by dreams of being the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Hmm... Who would've ever thought?

**Lee raises eyebrow and fans herself with her Obama '08 Church fan **

But babes? There is one that takes the cake!!

That Original Oldgirl The LBeezy...

Went to work today as...

The Purple One!! Prince!!


LOL!!! I loved-ed it. THAT made my day!!! LOL!!

Good job, Beezy! You got that workplace spirit! (We have NO idea what that is on our job).

I hope you win the costume contest at work! I really do! LOL!

Well, just wanted you to have a look-see at some of the more interesting costumes I've seen today.

Ya'll have a safe Halloween!!!

Quotes of the Month

I read much around the blogosphere that sticks with me.

You never know when I may pick up something you have written...
Here are a few heavyweight quotes that had me pondering.

. . .from Original Oldgirl LBeezy's post "All Cried Out"

"People settle when they don't think that they can have what they want. People settle when they lack faith or think that their prayers will be left unanswered."


. . .from Original Oldgirl's Serenity 30 post "Remember When"

"Sometimes you have to just take a hard look at yourself and think about what you’re doing or what you want to do. Settling is, well just settling. When I think of settling, I think of accepting something as a means to shut me up. It’s not exactly what I want, but it’s a piece of what I desire. If you really think about it, when you settle you are “content” for the moment, but that only lasts temporarily. The kind of happiness that I am expecting isn’t a one time deal, its for a lifetime!"

. . .from Lovebabz's post "Unexpected Wisdom"

"You create your reality. I used to be baffled by that statement. I could not wrap my brain around it. But I tell you it is clear to me now. Change your mind to change your life. What's on your mind is reflected in your life------that goes for people, things, books, activities. All those things reflects what is on your mind..."

Yeah... that's what's up.

With that said, I think I'm ready for the fall season for real now.

Really though.

Semi-Wordless Wednesdays: "To Be Young Again"

My coworker Ol' Mean Ass Cynthia's daughter, niece and nephew.

Ah, to be young again.

Almost makes me want to go lay out in my front yard and roll around and play in the grass...

Ah, to be young again...

Monday Afternoon Ramblings...

Again...

It is COLD outside.

And from the looks of the extended weather forecast on the local news, I suppose it will stay cold.

I actually went ahead on and turned on the furnace. Yep. As my best friend says, "Turn on the heat, just to knock the chill off the house, girl!" Yep, knocked it off a bit too much, because we were about smoked out up in there. I think I have it at a nice temperature now.

And, have you seen the price of gas?! Gas is so cheap right now that I got myself a FULL tank of premium. That's supreme, babes. My Mazda beater hasn't had a tank of premium since 2001! LOL!!

My boss is not at work today. GLORY!!! The Infamous Hen-Dog is in charge! And if you ask him a question, he gives that "I don't care, leave me alone LadyLee!!" look.

Thus, it will be a laid back day, and I might take off out of here early. I asked Hen-Dog if this was fine. He peered at me curiously, blinked hard, then waved bye-bye.

Yeah, I'll only work 5 hours today. I got ish to do!

My weekend. I woke up on Saturday morning just full of GLEE! I walked out of my bedroom singing a song, a happy, happy song...

"I don't have to work today! I don't work today! La-La-la-Laaaaaaaa!!!"

*Cats scrambling out of LadyLee's path REAL fast*

No work this weekend. Boy, that felt good.

I was the Queen of Chores all morning long. I cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned up my bedroom, vacuumed, and washed clothes- with a smile on my face! I even did a little crocheting, trying to prep for LBeezy's blanket.

So, 'scuse me while I post some more samples for the LBeezy's perusal:

Crochet Concerns. This one is the one liked by most of the chemists here.



Dr. Hazel Eyes gave some long-winded complicated explanation involving depth and definition, which had me seeing *crickets*. She is correct, though. I think.

This one was liked, but negroes were whining about how it had too much white going on, and they didn't feel like washing it.

Hen-Dog was cool with it, as long as he had a woman that would keep it clean. HUMPH.

This one, the alternating one, was just... weird. It plays tricks on the eyes (which could be a good thing, really). Something went wrong with the strip ridges.


Again, this has been the topic of HIGH discussion at work this morning. We are having isshas with the big piece with the alternating rows. Ol' Mean Ass Cynthia made some funky complicated suggestions, which caused me to angrily yell "What the hell are you talking about, girl?!" She gave me a look of disgust, one of them Big Mama side-eye looks. I queited down. I didn't want to catch a beat down over some doggone yarn.

LOL.

Beezy, if you want that one, you're going to have to decide on a uniform ridge color. As you can see, it's all white ridges and one blue ridge line. I suggest all blue. But that's just me, Ma! Make up your mind, because on November 1, I need to get cracking on this.

Okay, I know that bores you, oh dear blog family... but it excites me to no end!

Moving right along.

I even went to the movies this weekend. I spent part of my morning, before doing chores, finishing up The Secret Life of Bees. Then I hit the theatre in the afternoon. Very good movie. And it stuck pretty close to the book. You can't beat that!

I did quite a bit of sticker shopping for my cards. I buy most of my stickers way out on the southside of town. So, that was a lot of fun, as I don't do that very often. I also bought a gang of yarn. I was a shopping fool, lol!

FFF Possee -ACTIVATE! I had a "Triple F" Possee meeting, i.e., a Financial Freedom Fighters meeting on Sunday. Man oh man, I LOVE getting together with these broads and discussing our finances. And you can say whatever you want to say, with no doggone judgements or anything. Yeah, I get chastised here and there (because I am about 10% trifling, lol), but it is always followed up with VERY good thought provoking suggestions that, if I do them, it changes my whole situation.

I am SO grateful for this group. Changing a few bad habits over the past couple years has really helped me financially. And I am low on the totem pole of the group, because every one else is making such grand strides. Heck, I get all excited over their achievements, feeling like they are my own!

And that's how it's suppose to be, right? Rejoicing in each other successes.

I am pretty sure that's one of the way to open up the door for my own successes.

Ladies, we need to get together once a week! (Yeah right. The online component of our group discussions will do just fine).

Me and the lovely neighborhood Crackheads. So, for my FFF meeting, I whipped up a nice batch, about 2 and a half dozen, of triple chocolate chip pecan cookies.

Why was one of the local crackheads banging on my door yelling "I know you up in there Lee! I smell them cookies! Gimmee some cookies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I have come to learn that cookies are good bargaining tools. Let's just say that I got ALL of my front porch trim painted for 10 bucks and 3 cookies. (I didn't even have to supply the paint. I suppose dude "found" it somewhere. Hmm.)

I know my sister is pissed, because when I make cookies, I leave her a few. I don't eat them myself, as me and sweets don't get along too well. So I may have to make her a batch.

I will post on this next week sometime, as this whole crackhead and local experience, and me getting chastised about MY porch and yard is just a bit, I don't know, puzzling, to say the least.

Bedtime. I have a bad case of insomnia these days, and it is an off and on problem. My doctor says it is due to my condition. She gave me some pills for it, but that ish knocks me out, and I don't like that feeling. So, I would say, for the last week or so, I haven't been falling asleep until about 1 in the morning. That's not good!

Needless to say, I fool around on my laptop around this time. And there wasol' ATLien Nikki, the Iniquitous One, floating around on IM. On Saturday night, I im'd her on her blackberry, and she was at a party. I know she was like "WTF?" in the midst of doing a hard cabbage patch dance move. LOL!!

But we had a LONG discussion the next night, Sunday night, at around 11 p.m. or so. I am trying to write a poem right now, and I need for it to make a little bit of sense (Man, ya'll know how my ish be like some poetry on crack). It is only for a blog post, but I need to make it sound halfway right, lol. So we discussed that, and the root from which it is growing from. She's like, a pit bull when it comes to critiquing my work, not afraid to make me cry and wail, so she gave me some real good suggestions.

I have a few pieces that have a slight erotic component to them. Anyone who knows me knows that I can't STAND erotica. We have all swung from the proverbial chandaliers. I don't want to read about it! Well, if it is spare, and in context and related to the story, then it's cool. Otherwise, it is just fluff. (Keith, I like some of the "Escapades" poetry. I'll make an exception for you, player.)

Nikki knows how to do the erotica thing with the whole emotional component weaved in. I know she will help me along with that. I know if she say that it sound tight, then it is tight. Chick don't mince the words, lol. As long as it is spare, I don't really care. But I need it to make a couple of stories work out.

But, during our discussion, she told me something that I've been told a couple of other times over the past couple of weeks:

"Lee, you are much too hard on yourself."

That gave me pause. I know I am, but I can't help it.

Or...

Maybe I can.

I'll leave you with that. I must go off to the laboratroy and ponder such statements.

I had a good weekend, and I look forward to next weekend.

Have a good week. . . on purpose.

Strange Kitties

There's some really strange behavior going on between Oscar Tyrone, and the "permanent houseguest" Kramer William.

They have been sharing the most coveted position in the house: the soft top of the lounge chair.

This is usually Oscar's spot. Kramer reluctantly takes the area below, the actual seat of the lounge chair. Several fights have broken out over positions, as Oscar is terribly possesive of the blanket and his sleeping space.

But lately, Oscar has scooted over and allowed Kramer to sleep with him.


Strange.

Especially strange is the way they are peering at me.


Kramer: "I should attack that broad."

Oscar: "Naw. Leave her alone. She might get mad and mess around and not clean that litter box. She'll leave us alone in a minute."

LOL.

(If only I knew what they were really thinking).

Earth to LBeezy, Come in LBeezy

It's that time again, ya'll.

That time for SOMEBODY to make a decision.

Earth to LBeezy... Come in LBeezy!!!

LBoogie aka LBigga aka LBEEZY!!! I'm about to start on your blanket for your bed... Target date: Christmas 2008.

*Lbeezy does the HARD back flip. LadyLee tries the same maneuver but busts her ass on the hard concrete*

Check it out, Oldgirl... So you have to let me know what you want so I can truck my tail down to Union City and buy up your yarn tomorrow.

Ain't it wrong of me to do this as a blog post? Just throw out some doggone yarn swatches?

You think that's cool, hunh?

Uh, if you don't think it's wrong, well... I'll show you wrong.

I'll just put up the LBoogie's most personal private space... HER BEDROOM.




LBeezy, I'm sure the fellas would've loved for you to be laid across that their bed butt-naked. Thanks for sparing us the "scenery", hon. Much obliged.

LOL!!

Anyway, the point of this: We're trying to match the bedroom colors, most notably, that wall of hers. The color is "Embellished Blue". So here are the swatches. I threw these together while watching Leno last night.










Now, this has all been the source of high conversation amongst the chemists in my cubicle area today. I take them around and throw them on people's desks, and allow them to... ponder for a moment. Much discussion ensued. Most liked the bright blue, as it matches the wall most. (The picture is a bit brighter than it actually is.)

So, I think I got a handle on which one she likes...

But Lbeezy! Make it official in the comment section, hon...

And you, oh Fearless and Wonderful Dwellers of Ye Olde House of LadyLee, tell me what you think.

Monday Morning Ramblings

Happy Monday Morning!

Yeah right.

3 words: It's cold outside.

Now here in the ATL, it's been all hot, in the 80s and all for the past month, and now all of a sudden, our temps are in the 30s and 40s. I had to dig in the closet and find my old trusty space heater (I refuse to turn on the furnace until it STAYS cold outside). So, when this happens I tend to catch a cold or something. I am going to the doctor today to get a shot, and if she say I can go to work, then I will.

I'm sure management don't like that. Management can go sit on a FAT tack.

I am sick and tired of Management. Management is NOT my friend.

My weekend. Pretty uneventful. I had to work on Saturday. My sinuses were already jacked, and well, that did me in. I stayed in bed ALL day on Sunday, even though I had a ton of chores to do. I'll take care of that during the week. I managed to wash clothes, but overall, I was tired, and decided to just veg out.

I laid around and read much of The Secret Life of Bees and watched football all day. So Master Chef Darius, if there is still room, please allow me to join your online bookclub. I had to see if I even had the time to do some reading. Work has smashed out my ATL bookclub meetings for now, since I have to work on Saturdays. I plan on finishing that up this week sometime.

Politics. Someone needs to explain McC.ain's healthcare plan to me. They being shady about that, all vague. I am one of those that have the "Cadillac" health policies he speaks of, meaning I don't need referrals and all that. If I want to go to a doctor on the Moon, I can. I already get taxed out the wazoo, so I have NO idea what his plan means. A 5000 tax credit don't seem like enough to me. So someone explain that to me. I feel like someone's trying to dupe me.

Interestingly, Co.lin P.owell was on Me.et the Press on Sunday Morning. There's been all this hoopla over who he was going to endorse for President. He endorsed Bara.ck Ob.ama, basically because of the country needing a new direction, McC.ain's questionable tactics, and his choice of Sarah Pa.lin for vice-president.


Well. No surprise here. I knew that he would endorse him. I'm neither here nor there with the candidates, but that was the most intelligent, rational non-political breakdown of a reason for endorsing either candidate I've seen to date.

Listen, after Pow.ell resigned and hightailed it out of Washington... after Bus.h and his peeps had Po.well sitting up LYING about weap.ons of mass destru.ction in Ira.q and what not. What did you expect?

Hmmm....

They've been all over John Lew.is, a Georgia Congressman and a big figure in the civil rights movement, for saying that McC.ain's rallies are akin to George Wa.llace's ish back in the sixties. John Lew.is ended up apologizing for his remarks.

Why you apologizing, John Le.wis? You've been marching for civil rights for Blacks, been jailed, beat down, water hoses turned on you, dogs sicced on you... Apparently, you were watching these McC.ain rallies and you saw something that reminded you of something that was going on 40 years ago. After all, you were there. I wasn't.

Folk need to stop apologizing... The truth seems to be coming out. The first time you say something, well, that is how you feel. Period.

Here's the issha: There may be a possibility of black president. I'm in a red state, so my vote don't matter (I am still reluctantly voting), but it seems to me like there's some white folks getting a bit upset. How folks really feel is coming out.

And I know you feel like me. READY FOR THIS TO BE OVER. It is getting on my nerves.

Here's a newsflash. Nothing will change for regular folk, for the most part.

You will still go to work everday.
You will pay your bills.
You will live.
Life will go on.

Enough said.

Quotes of the week. I've read some interesting blog quotes that have stuck with me.

from Aunt Jackie's 2830 blog, from the post (my) Chemical Romance:

"I remember love
Does love remember me?"

from Chele's Discoveries Blog, from the post it IS easier:

"...I'm at the point where what makes me happiest is being in my home. Comfort and security are the things that turn me on."

Plans for the week. None really. I will work everyday. I am more concerned about getting my schedule back to normal. I REALLY need to get some writing done. I am a tad bit behind on that. I plan on doing a bit of reading. I REALLY need to get back to blogging regularly.

Gotta get back to my LIFE, my LIFE that I love. Work has taken quite a bit of that away. So that is the overall goal and central direction I want to take this week.

For now, I just want to have a quiet, uneventful week.

That's all I ask.

And I hope the same for you. Really, I do.

*HaPPy BiRThDay CHELE*

One of the Originals is celebrating a birthday today!!

***HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHELE***

Ya'll know I had to hook That Oldgirl Chele up with a LadyLee style birthday card...

And thanks to the LBeezy, I've FINALLY figured out how to send cookies through the mail! So I hooked Chele up with some oatmeal spiced apple cranberry walnut cookies and triple chocolate chip pecan cookies!!


Now, I also sent her a 26 page, 7200 word story. Don't worry, I ain't posting it here! (Ya'll know I'm longwinded, but that's TOO much right there, LOL!)

Shoot, Nikki, the Iniquitous One, read it, thoroughly critiqued it. We had a very spirited discussion over IM last night about what we both liked and didn't like about it... Ya'll know Nikki is like, the writing guru and all... I was glad to hear what she had to say. So I have a bit of work to do on it. So look out for me to work on that Nikki!!!

But, I DO have a story... One only Chele would understand... so, uh, you don't have to read it, as it is a epilogue of sorts to the story I sent her, and you will be scratching your head saying "What the heck is LadyLee talking about?"

Ya'll be alright... skip your tails down to the food!

As for now, a side story for Chele...

"The Mission"

LadyLee was on a mission.

She was on a mission to stand on the same stage where the legendary Chele sang, in a club deep in the backwoods of Alabama. The very same stage where Chele sang a perfect rendition of Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces”, blowing away the red neck crowd.

LadyLee wanted to stand on that stage.

Terry, Mr. Cheap Seats himself, was in the ATL on business that week, and offered to drive her down to the place, some three hours away. They made it there a little later than LadyLee cared for, around midnight, on a Saturday no less. So, it was no suprise that the place was packed to the hilt. They couldn’t even get into the parking lot.

“Is this the place?” Terry asked. He peered out the window, squinted hard at the dimly lit area.

“Yeah, Joe-Bob’s Hoe-Down.”

“You sure you wanna go in there?”

“Yeah, man! Chele sung up in this camp! They know her. She said they were cool, real cool peeps.”

“That's a huge confederate flag draped across the front of the building, Lee. You want me to go in there with you?”

“Na’wl, I can go by myself,” LadyLee said. She slid out of the car, grabbed the large paper bag she’d brought for the ride and slammed the door. “You just do as I said. You stay out here with the car running. Don’t even put it in park. Keep it in drive, hold your foot on the brake.”

Terry frowned. “I may just get out and smoke my cigar.”

“No, Terry! It’s your car, smoke in the car, Man.”

“But what if I need to go take a piss, LadyLee?”

“No Terry! You sit on these cheap car seats of yours and hold it. I’ll be back in five minutes.”

Terry sighed. He gripped the steering wheel.

LadyLee clenched the bag in her hand and ran across the gravel parking lot, past the pickup trucks and motorcyles.

LadyLee walked into the lobby.

No one was there.

“Hello?” she said.

No one answered.

She saw a table there, and a metal box with a lock on it. But there was no one around.

The music was loud as hell. People were hooping and hollering something awful. The racket was coming from behind a black velvet curtain to the left of the entrance.

LadyLee pulled back the curtain, went inside. It was dark and everyone was staring at the stage, where a woman was singing just a bit too loud and a bit too hard. Glass crunched beneath herfeet. And if she wasn’t mistaken, the floor was sticky.

LadyLee shuddered. "This is too nasty," she said under her breath.

No one paid her any attention. The people were too busy dancing hard and waving their cowboy hats in the air. LadyLee made her way through the crowd, and jumped up on the stage.

The music ceased.

LadyLee waved at the crowd. “How ya’ll doing tonight?”

No one said a word.

“Who are you, gal?” someone in the crowd yelled.

“I’m LadyLee… the Original Oldgirl!”

“Who gives a damn, ya nigra?”

“You should,” LadyLee said.

“We don’t allow no coloreds up in here,” the woman on stage said. She was standing there, staring LadyLee down, like she was ready to fight. She smoothed down her thin wispy hair. “You better get on outta here.”

“You must be Betsy,” LadyLee said. “Chele told me about you.”

Betsy eyes widened. “You know Chele?”

“Yes I do.”

“How is she?"

"She's just fine," LadyLee said. She looked out at the crowd. "She told me to tell you all 'Howdy Do!'"

"Howdy-Do!" the crowd replied in unison.

"Betsy, Chele wanted me to bring this.” LadyLee pulled a big wavy black wig out of the bag, held it high in the air.

“It’s Betsy’s special wig!” someone in the crowd yelled.

“I gave that to her as a souvenir after she sang here on this very stage,” Betsy cried. “She didn’t have to give it back.”

“Well she told me to bring it back.”

Betsy held out her hand for the wig. LadyLee snatched it out of reach.

“No, Betsy. Let me hold the microphone.”

“What?"

"Gimme the mike!"

"You gonna sang a song?”

Ladylee's face scrunched up. “Hell no. I ain’t singing. My name ain’t Chele.”

“Well what you want the mike for?”

“Don’t worry about all that,” LadyLee said. “Just give it to me.”

Betsy reluctantly held out the microphone. LadyLee snatched it up.

The crowd was so quiet that LadyLee had to squint past the spotlight’s glare to make sure someone was out there. They were there, but staring at her a bit too hard.

“I just have one thing to say….

"What's that?" someone in the crowd yelled

LadyLee took a deep breath and screamed into the microphone:

"Happy Birthday Chele!!!"

Betsy gasped. "It's her birthday?"

"Sure is!"

The crowd hooped and hollered. Betsy jumped up and down. The band started playing music again. Betsy grabbed another microphone and sang Chele's favorite Patsy Cline song "I Fall to Pieces".

LadyLee snuck off stage, still gripping the microphone, wig and paper bag in her hands. No one noticed. They were caught up in their relvery. When she got near the velvet curtain that separated the lobby from the club, LadyLee hit the mike with her hand, causing a squeak so loud that the whole crowd turned her way.

"I'm outta here!" LadyLee yelled into the mike.

"Tell Chele we said hello! And give me my wig, gal!" Betsy yelled. "Don't forget to leave my wig!"

"NO!" LadyLee screamed.

"What?" Betsy said. She frowned hard.

"I said hayle no!" LadyLee said. She reached down, pulled something out of the paper bag. "I have one more thing to say, though."

"You better say it, leave my wig, and then get the hell outta here, gal" Betsy growled.

LadyLee took a deep breath, raised her hand in the Celie crooked two fanger point and hollered:

"Obama/Biden '08!!"

LadyLee hurled a stack of Obama Biden '08 church fans high in the air over the crowd.

Then she ran like hell, snatching the velvet curtain down as she went.

"Get that Nigra!!!!!" Betsy yelled.

There was a loud ruckus, tables and chairs falling over, glass breaking, a bunch of cursing and yelling. LadyLee grabbed the money box from the table in the lobby and ran out the front door. She was running so hard that she ran right into a row of motorcycles, knocking them all over.

"Terry!!!!!! Open the car door, open the car door, Man!!!" LadyLee yelled as she weaved her way through the gravel parking lot.

He pushed the door open. LadyLee dove in. Terry took off, tires screeching and smoking as they tore off down the road.

LadyLee sat up. Terry noticed the awful wig in her hand.

"What in the world is that, LadyLee?"

"Betsy's wig!"

"I'm not even going to ask," Terry said.

"Chele said it would get me in the club. Belong to some chick up in there name Betsy."

"And you didn't give it back!?"

"Hell no! Are you crazy!? Chele told me to bring it back, not to give it back. Betsy can't have it back. It's Chele's special role play wig, and she wants it back as soon as possible."

*Terry looks at LadyLee with raised eyebrows*

"Ya'll are some crazy females!" he said. "Crazy indeed!"

LOL!!!! Yeah, uh.... that should make you LAUGH right there, Chele!!

Really though.

So with that... Let's get our virtual eat-on...

It's Friday! That means we're having a fish fry.

"Uncle Cre, pull the witch kettle out and fry this birthday girl right here some fish!!!!"




Yeah, that's good fish right there. Fried outside in hot grease like that?

Shoot, that's GOOD fish.

Got some snow crabs for you too!!!

And since you likes the fine wines, Chele, We DO have plenty of Australian Barossa Grenache, i.e., Bee-yotch on Ice..
Bitch on ice - so nice, so nice...

(You know, I should've sent you a bottle Chele!)

Yeaaaaah!!!

T'ain't no party like an Oldgirl party because an Oldgirl Party, don't... stop!!!

Happy Birthday, Chele! Make it a good one!

(Uh, with that black wig... I know you will.)

Can we all just get along??

All this talk about washed up terrorists, Joe the Plumber, the fragile economy, and what not...

It's dragging me down!!

Can we all just get along?

Instead of all this debating, can the candidates get their dance on?!

LOL!! Now THAT'S what I'm talking about. I'll tune in for that...

But as for now? I am just ready for this election to be OVER. November 4th can't get here fast enough.

Ya'll have a good evening!

Monday Ramblings: "Holler at your Girl!"

Man, how ya'll gonna let me get away with posting only one time last week?

What is up with that?

Holler at Your Girl, why don't cha.

It's cool. I've been wanting to post. Been needing to post. I even have several posts in draft.

But I notice something when I am very tired or upset. My ish get too serious, too frickin' thought provoking.

Be revealing too much of myself. Be talking to myself a little too much.

And that ain't good.

So I've chosen to wait on something more...

SMURFY.

Because you know how we roll over here in the House of LadyLee: We keeps it Smurfy.

Anyway, I must've put in 110-120 hours at work over the past 2 weeks.

I told my doctor this on a recent appointment. She gave me the evil eye. Told me that my health has been good for the past few months (I have an autoimmune disease), and that she is glad she hasn't had to call me in a while, since all my blood work been coming back looking good, but she could tell that I was a bit tired and stressed.

I guess my sitting askew in the examination room chair with my head laid up against the wall (I refuse to lay on the medical table), gave that away.

LOL.

She scolded me. I nodded as usual, blinked like a bat in the headlights. She squeezed my joints, each and every one, and pronounced me all good (for now). We're cutting down on one of my meds, and I have to take it easy. I messed around and left the house this thursday without taking my medicine and I felt like I was in some wierd clip of the Matrix.

(Man I was glad to get home THAT night.)

I'm still slightly anemic, even though I take a gazillion iron pills a day. That's cool. I can only do so much.

Anyway, let's see... the money that I made from the all the overtime will pay off my birthday cruise and set me straight on my writing classes until June 2009.

All this probably came from me sitting in front of the TV watching this financial fiasco unfold on the news channel, then running around the house yelling "The Lord is my provider, I am sufficiently supplied all day, er'day 24-7, and I don't receive this crap they talking about on that their TV!!!!! I'm gonna have more money coming in, I'ma pay my bills, and I'ma live a happy life in Jesus name! HOLLER at your GIRL!!"

Sorry ya'll, my convos, prayers, and wailings to God are a bit outside of the box, unorthodox to say the very least. That Holler at your girl = my way of saying "Hear me, answer me, hear my cry!" I think I even followed that up with a hard Rockette kick... or two. All I know, the cats scrambled out of my way... REAL FAST.

(I tell you, you figure out where and Who your faith is in when there's a bunch of mess going down. Really though. And I bet my sister Kentucky was sitting upstairs whispering quietly to herself... "What the world is wrong with Lisa?")

With that said, I am enjoying a nice 3.5 day weekend. I left early from work on Friday, because I had too many hours. I was walking around snapping at my boss about the horrific thoughts of working for free and quipping "Don't worry... I GET'S my TIME" (I've been known to calculate my hours in my head and simply... walk off). She scrambled to get some papers signed to make my hours "legal". I went home, took a 4 hour nap, and she called me, updating me on some calculation I flubbed. I hung up with her and went back to sleep.

Then worked half a day on Saturday.

Hard sigh.

So make that a 3 day weekend. Something like that. I think with that 4 hours of pay I will go purchase some clothes. The Oldgirl needs some new gear.

Yeah!!!!

I have spent the past couple of days watching football and just RELAXING.

That Original Oldgirl Chele, one who I shamelessly jock, has a birthday coming up on Friday. I've been spending my time working on her birthday card, and I am about to go bake her a tin (maybe two. I can't deal with all those sweets sitting around the crib) of chocolate pecan and oatmeal raisin walnut cookies.

I've also been working on a story for the occasion of said Oldgirl's birthday. My goal is to write a 500 word story for peeps birthday.

This story, titled "I Fall to Pieces" has 4 chapters, and is 7,269 words long.

*Chele standing in her front yard, holding the stack of pages in her hand and frowning REAL hard. She glances from side to side, wondering if she is on Candid Camera or Punk'd*

And if I must say, it is one of the best doggone stories I've ever concocted. Take some of the fluff you've enjoyed here and push it to that other level, and you have this story.

Almost made me jump up after I did my final edits, smash the laptop on the floor, raise balled fists high in the air and yell

BOOOOYAH!!!!

(Couldn't do that. Need to print it out. And can't bust up the laptop, either, as another laptop is not in the budget right now).

It is too long to post. And it is private, about her and her Boo, for her eyes only. I consider it her personal property. If she let me post a piece of it, then I might do that.

I said might.

She wrote a post the other day about taking a vacation and skipping off to some old plantation turned B&B with her man and uh, twerking some things out. Man, I felt the BIG Celie smile permeating all through that post.

I ain't mad at you Chele. Do YOUR thing, Gal!

LOL!

Now, I am sure that the story can be cut down by some 95% to fit my 500 word maximum word count.

But why would I do that?

'Tis that Oldgirl Chele's birthday!!! 'Tis a special, most glorious day, I say!!!

If I could bust out a 500 page epic novel for her, ya'll know I would.

**LadyLee jumping up from sofa and singing "I jock! I jock! I jock and I won't stop! Yooowayy!!**

So I will leave it as is. It's so thick that it would be a travesty to fold it. I've been making it more detailed, but I am mailing it off tomorrow. Time to leave it alone. I'm going to go stand down in line at the 24 hour black people post office and mail it. (Ya'll have read my renderings of the Crown Road post office in Hapeville... of how negroes get crunk and be ready to fight when the lines are too long! Ugh!)

I hope you like it, Chele. I really do. You might be so uh, glowing, that you may toss the papers up in the air and let them fall all about you... while you laugh hysterically.

So, as for the rest of my weekend, I'm going to sit here and finish up the card and watch TV. I have another couple of stories that I am working on that I may peruse. One of them I developed in my fall writing class. It is entitled "Jawbreaker". It is 27 pages long and needs some editing. Another is a short offshoot of that story about a minor character that the class was enamored with, titled "She Gone". It's only 6 pages long, but needs some consideration.

So, uh... Original Oldgirl Critique Team, and the IOCT Conglomerate (yo, that's a private critique team dear to my heart. You shorties don't need to know what that's all about, lol).

Ya'll got some, uh, material coming your way, if you want it.

Only if you want it, that is.

Holler at your GIRL!!

I'm going to sit here and enjoy the rest of this holiday, the beloved day that Columbus "discovered" the Americas.

If it wasn't a shame, I would set up a mock up of one of his ships in my front yard and paint the words Happy Columbus Day across the front.

LOL!!!

Ya'll have a Happy Monday... And don't work too hard!!! LOL

A New Principle

You may ask...

"Where is the Oldgirl?"

The answer will be...

"She is busy."

(Or maybe you don't care, and it is something that I ask my ownself).

Man, I'm so busy that it's a...

It's a... crying shame.

Let's give you the scenario: I worked from 12 noon to 11 p.m. on SATURDAY.

Humph. Let's just say I was pissed. BOY, I was mad. I was HOT behind that. Ready to fight.

So that let's you know how busy I be.

And leaving my job at 11 p.m. on a SATURDAY night is no joke. That is because my job is located on the corner of what was once a world famous Male prostitute hustling strip.

And all them jokers were out there on Saturday night. ALL OF THEM. And they were crunk, and making that money, honey!

I'm too innocent to speak of the things I saw and heard Saturday night, lol... And with me being attitudinal, some of them brothas got the *gas face*. LOL

But my weekend ended on a great note. I got a chance to hang out with a new blogger, The Cyncere Sister.

Now, she is one of my book club sistas who I don't see much. I like her though. She cracks me up. She's the type of person you can run up on in a time of need.

"What's wrong, LadyLee??"

"Cyncere sister, they took my money!"

"Who took your money, girl?!"

"Them people. Them bad people."

"That ain't right, Oldgirl. Come on, LET'S GO GET YOUR MONEY!"

We'd go to whoever took my money, and she'd talk a WHOLE lot of trash to them suckers, to the point where they would be like...

"Good Lawd, somebody give back the money so she can stop tripping and get the hell up outta here!!"

She won't fight you, but she will talk PLENTY trash, for principle's sake, you see.

It's all about principle.

(Yeah, ya'll know folks like that. That's what you call "good peoples".)

Well, she'd been yanking on my shirt sleeve for a minute concerning some crochet lessons. I told her to holler whenever she was ready. She's been hollering HARD over email, so we set up a time.

Well, she came over on Sunday (with her 13 year old daughter "Baby Cyncere" in tow). I taught both of them the basic stitches and even showed her how to write up a basic pattern.

Last I heard, heck, she'd bought some yarn, and is working up a scarf from a pattern in one of her books...

YOU GO CYNCERE SISTER!!! YOU GO GIRL!

So, that made me smile. Made my weekend all the better, no matter how jacked up it started out.

It also helped me to understand to be appreciative of the small quiet times, no matter how hectic my world is at the time. There are times when my mind is buzzing hard, but that 4 hours spent crocheting and teaching was very dear to me.

So thanks Cyncere Sister. In the midst of it all, you taught this Oldgirl a thang or two... a new principle, I should say, to get me through.

Hope all is going well with you all... and I will try to get back up to speed soon:)

Lost and Found, Part II

So...

I was cruising down I-20, heading home from work after picking up a prescription at the White people's Kroger, when my cell phone rings.

"Hello?"

"Lesia!"

"Yeah, who is this?" I wait for a reply. Nobody calls me that. My fam calls me "Lee" or "Lisa". Hell, some folks even call me "LadyLee". Most throw an "A" on "lesia" and call me that, since that is my gub'ment name.

"Lesia."

"Yeah, wassup?" I couldn't place the voice. Didn't sound like any of the jokers I'd given my number to in the past.

"This Milton."

I think for what feels like forever, even though it's a few seconds.

Then the name registers. I'm on the highway, but I slow down.

It was my Father.

Hmmm...

I'm not sure how I was suppose to react. It wasn't like I'd been looking for him for years. I live downtown, and he lives in East Lake, which is about 10 minutes from my spot. I pass through his neighborhood all the time as a back street way home from my favorite Farmer's Market.

This past summer, I looked up the address on MapQuest. Drove past his house a few times, saying to myself, if he was outside, I would slow down and say something. But he wasn't. And I am NOT knocking on anyone's door unannounced. I don't get down like that.

But I must credit my baby blog sista, That Original Oldgirl The LBeezy, for getting my feet unstuck, and getting me to do something. We were reading a piece of Inspirational fiction together last spring , Tia McCollors' The Truth about Love, and there was a woman in the book who found out information about her father. She went down to his place of business to meet him and he just outright rejected her.

This bothered me, and it was something that LBeezy and I discussed. She listened as I verbalized my thoughts about it and how it reminded me of myself a bit. I think I've called my father twice in the last 5 years or so, just to say hello, and he was very aloof. I think he was just shocked or something and didn't know what to say. I pretty much took it as a cue not to bother him.

Anyway, The LBeezy made a suggestion: I should send him a note in the mail with my phone numbers, and if he wants to call and meet, then that would be that.

I thought it was an excellent idea and decided to do it. She even gave me a deadline for the task, which was August 6th, I believe.

So, I did that and he called yesterday. What is this, almost 2 months later. This doesn't surprise me. I hear that we are a lot alike. I myself woulda waited and thought on the matter.

Now, I said I was estranged from my Father. I don't know if "estranged" is a good word. I just don't know him. And my Mama (who I am estranged from), has said so many awful things about him when I was growing up that, heck, I thought I would do myself good just to stay away from the man.

But, later on, in my 20's, my Auntie Joyce and I talked about it, and she pretty much let me know that most of the stuff said was simply not true. I was completely unnerved by one of my Mama's ex-boyfriends who would look at me as if he was about to wail or something. I mean, this dude would be happy to see me (very strange). He told me one day, "You was almost mine, you were suppose to be mine, blah, blah, blah!!" This unnerved me, because it made me think that Milton might not even be my father. My Aunt, who seems to know EVERYTHING (lol), cleared this up. She said that it was true, that this dude did wish that I was his, but Milton was indeed my father. We've discussed over the years my thoughts on it all.

So I made a goal to talk to Milton by the time I turned 30.

Well, I am 38 now. Uh, age 30 has long since past.

I asked my Aunt for his information some 5 years ago, and she gave it to me. She was fully supportive of me contacting him, and thought there wouldn't be any problem.

I must admit all that my Mother has said about him has continued to occupy my thoughts, and it has taken much to undo such. I mean, I don't want anything from the man. No issues of grilling him about why he wasn't there. None of that. I wrote all of that in the note I sent.

Darius wrote on his personal blog this week about "To do" lists, namely things on the "to do" list of life. It is on my list to sit down and talk to my father. Period. Have dinner and convo, and go on about my business. I'm grown now, my Mama ain't in the mix to muck things up (as usual), and that's that.

So, like I said, he called. I haven't had a face-to-face talk with him since I was 10 years old, and I attended his parents funerals (was forced to do it by my Mother, really), and he was upset that I didn't come by the house. I think after that, I let it go.

But he called, and I think we talked for about 10 minutes. This was odd to me because I haven't talked to him for 10 minutes total during my whole lifetime. He asked me how I'd been, if I had a job, if I was married and had a family, and how my Mama was doing.

He asked when I was coming over. I said he would have to let me know when a good time was. He said, "Hell, whenever, in the middle of the night, I don't care. I just want to see you before I croak!"

I told him that my schedule didn't permit me stopping by anytime soon, as work is very time-consuming for the next couple of weeks. So I would have to let him know.

He asked why I hadn't been over in all these years. I said that I was simply afraid. I don't know him, and have heard too strange stuff about him. So that's all it is. He said he understood. (Yeah, he is familiar with my Mother's tactics).

Then he said something that was odd. "You know I love you, don't you? Always have."

I was like, "Well, thank you very much."

He was a bit hurt by that. Asked why I didn't feel the same way. I simply said I don't know him. I'm just grown now, out from under my mother's influence, and wanted to see and talk to him.

I mean, what are you supposed to say to such?

I rarely tell people that I love them. It has to be forced and yanked out of me. And it unnerves me something terrible to hear people tell me that they love me. Just a bit of my quirky personality. I wasn't raised hearing such things. But for me love is action. Plain and simple. If I have love for you, my actions tell you this. You can tell me this, or I can tell you such all day long, but for me action speaks louder than those three words. And I suppose it's best when love and action go hand in hand.

So for him to say that, well... I just told him how I felt about all that, and that was that.

What was particularly funny was that he was insisting that I write his number down. I had to repeatedly tell him that when he called, his number showed up on my cell, and I could save it later. I still had to hear "I'll wait while you get a pen, girl!"

LOL!

One thing I recognized in 10 minutes time, which I found totally BIZARRE is that we have the same sense of humor. I mean, he would say stuff that I myself would say... that is all very very strange to me.

So I am due for a visit. My best friend LadyTee and I had a long talk about it all, and she yelled "I wanna go with you."

Just her way of saying "Girl, you can't handle this. I am going with you."

So, once work has calmed down (Ya'll who know me know the national crises bullish I'm currently working with), I will go over there. Definitely some time this month.

I have absolutely no expectations. I am grown now. All the lies (which he conincidently talked about) are pretty much out of my head (I suppose). Just want to see him, since he is a part of my DNA.

I just want to sit down and visit with him. I may or may not come back around, according to how that goes.

We will see.