Friday Freestyles...

My goodness...

This week went by super FAST.

But Friday is here.

And it is PAYDAY!

*Cartwheels*

I have been busy. To the point where I didn't post. I was just too busy. And my primary laptop has been acting up. So I am on the netbook now, which is not cute. And alas, I am finishing this post during my lunch break...

This has been a fast paced, albeit quiet week for me... It started out with the dentist appointment, which went well. The gorgeous Dr. Watson wasn't so gorgeous with that drill in his hand.

He kept hitting my shoulder and saying

"Wassup, girl? Why you frowning? Wassup?"

That was peppered heavily with "You a'ight, girl? You a'ight? Wassup?"

I wanted to say, "Shawty if you don't be quiet and go head on and work it out!"

LOL

He is a nice man. He makes you feel like you at a Fat Boys or a Dougie Fresh Concert.

Didnt' hurt one bit. I had some surface cavities filled. NOT sure why he had to deaden that side of my mouth for that, but whatever. It took most of the day before that side of of my mouth was legit again. Note to self: Do NOT go to work after a dentist appointment. I was NOT in the mood later that day.

Sad news today. My cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre's Uncle Cre passed yesterday. She has a bunch of uncles, but this one was the one responsible for the meat preparations at family gatherings.






I liked Uncle Cre. He was always nice to me, and put up with me asking a million questions and taking a bunch of pictures. Very nice man, indeed, as is all of her family.

Rest in peace, Uncle Richard. You will surely be missed.

Quote of the day. CowgirlCre was reading a draft of my latest novel, which had been sitting on my desk. The lead character wished that everyone could experience working as a bank teller in their lifetime, because:

People are their bank accounts, and their bank accounts tell the whole story.

Hmm... I do believe this to be true. If we look at our bank statements or check registry, we can tell a lot about a person. Most notably their habits. And habits tell much about a person.

Just a thought. CowgirlCre and I had a lively discussion about it yesterday. The character talked about how a fine man could come in the bank. He appears to have it going on, but one look at that bank account may reveal that he is faking the funk. Same thing with a female prancing up in there, hair done, clothes fly, fly ride... and all the time in a ridiculous amount of debt.

Hmm...

Mega Millions. Jackpot is now 640 million. Heck yeah, I bought tickets. I don't buy tickets unless it hits 300 million. And I buy tickets on my birthday. That is it, so it's rare. Don't let me win that sucker. WOW.

I was talking to my sister Kentucky last night, and she said "If I won, I'd keep working."

*crickets*

"Hells no," I replied. "I ain't even calling in. I just won't show up to work anymore. Ever. Nope."

Hilarious.

That is a lot of money. Whoever wins, hope they be alright. Because you know how people are. They will come out the woodworks. Relatives you didn't even know you had will be showing up at their front door.

A high class problem indeed. Yes it is.

Song of the Week. Never heard this song before... Yay Pandora.





Oh Michael! Ugh! Still can't believe he is gone. Ugh! *upset all over again*

Springtime is nigh. Easter is almost here. I am looking forward to it. Yes indeed.

I have to work half a day tomorrow. :(

But that is okay. Get in here early and get on out before noon. And it's all good.

You all have a good weekend. On purpose.

Monday...

Good Monday Morning...

On my way to the dentist this morning. I wonder how that's going to go? I will be getting a few fillings. They are surface cavities, so hopefully I don't need novocaine. I told my boss "If they deaden my head, I will not be coming to work!" She looked perplexed at the head deadening statement, but I think she knew what I meant.

Alas, I don't want to meditate on that now. The gorgeousness of Dr. Watson better keep me calm. LOL.

Weekend. I had a great weekend. Nothing like a 3 day weekend, man.

Really though.

LadyTee's birthday! Friday was exciting, as it was LadyTee's 44th birthday. We try to spend our birthdays together, since we don't talk much or hang out that much. Yes ma'am, it is not like the old days when we were 10 and didn't have busy lives. The last couple of years it hasn't worked out that well because I have been skipping out to some warm country near the equator for my birthday. (This year I bought a car, so no traveling).

Here's her birthday card!

We usually do a movie, lunch, and some shopping for our birthdays. This year for my birthday in February we went to see Albert Nobbs and we ate at Chow Baby. For LadyTee's birthday, we went to see Hunger Games.

Normally I wouldn't go see some young adult film. I like the themes of Young Adult fiction, and I have written one YA story, which I like a lot. But the teenage angst is a bit unnerving from an adults point of view.

But I learned about this movie a month ago from Play Mama, who was reading the book. She told me what it was about, and I remember saying "That doesn't sound interesting at all." She urged me to go pull a sample from my kindle, and I bought the trilogy.

I LOVED the book. I read for style moreso than entertainment, and this book was superbly written. It was close to 400 pages, and I read the bulk of it in one day. The movie was good, and I think someone who hasn't read the book would really enjoy it (LadyTee really like it. I can tell based on how much she talks during the movie, lol). But the book was MUCH more detailed. MUCH.

And the movie had that "Cops" show feel to it, where the cameraman is running and not still, running with the action. This was a bit disturbing since we were sitting close to screen. You need to sit waaaay back from that type of thing.

We went to see it in the hood to avoid the crowds. This was a good idea, as the theartre for the first show was 1/3rd full. There were 4 shows at the ATL Movie theater in Camp Creek. Other theaters had 24-40 shows per day. Hmm... Thank goodness for the hood!

I liked that there were some black folks in it... The tributes from district 11, Rue and Thresh.

Now, they were from the agricultural district, where they picked crops... hmmm, was this a throwback to slavery days? This looked to be the black district, with a heavy sprinkle of white folks.

Why couldn't they be from the lumber, electronics, or seafood District?? Hunh??

Al Sharpton, are you gonna protest this? (I am surprised this didn't come up with the movie critics.)
I was just glad to see some diversity. You don't see that much with the super popular teen flicks.

And to top it off, they were killed in the Hunger games. Sigh. But they played their parts.

The movie was a little violent. I am surprised that the rating was PG-13. Good movie, though! I would've stood in line at midnight to go see it if I was a teen. (Play Mama hit up the midnight show with her kids. She got home at 3 in the morning, just a texting my sleep behind. LOL)

We had a late lunch at KiKu Hibachi grill. There was much fire going on.
And the food was quite good. One of my meat cheat days if I wanted it. And it was all good, even though I had an unsual case of the itis afterwards. I had a Women of Color writing group that evening, but an Oldgirl came home and went STRAIGHT to sleep.

Ugh!

Anyway, it was a good time. We spent some 2 hours in the restuarant, talking about things, about life, which was good since we don't talk all that often.

No major shopping this time. We went to the Wal-Mart, which is my favorite store! I only spent 10 buck in there, which is STrANGE!

Saturday and Sunday were errand days for me. I stocked up on my vegetables for the week. Organic produce prices are dropping, which means a drop in my grocery bill, which is a GREAT thing.

I did a good bit of reading this weekend. I'm trying to finish up the final book of the Hunger Games trilogy. I didn't get any writing done. Taking a small break until April, and I will get crunk again. Well, that's not exactly the truth. I am working on a short story anthology as a surprise for someone's birthday, so I am editing that down, and I do have two more short stories to finish up before the week is up. I still can't believe that by the end of the first quarter of this year, I will have finished the second half of a novel AND written several short stories. That is highly productive for me. Highly.

No telling what the rest of the year will bring.

I can't wait to see.

Song of the week. For some strange reason, i've been listening to Chico Debarge. Not sure what that's about. Not going to post his songs. But as usual, I have been stuck on Jill Scott. There's this one song that has caught my attention.




I'm interested in that song because it makes me want to pick up a story I was working on some 6 years ago that was a bit difficult to write. If you read my Sweet Heat Manuscript, there was a situation between Samuel and Maria, the married chick he worked with at the computer store. That was a heck of a "situation". I may have only spent a page talking about it, but the short story, which should be no more that about 1500 words... is from that married chick's point of view. I had been wondering why she was behaving the way she was, when she had a seemingly perfect husband at home. Hmm.

I might be able to finish that story now. I come across remnants of it written on a raggedy scrap piece of paper whenever I am cleaning off my bookshelf. I think I may be able to finish it now.

Songs help me a lot. If I can transfer the emotion out of a song onto paper, then I am good. All good.

So that's the gist of my weekend.

Gotta go holler at this dentist, see what he's talking about.

I hope he knows that this is gonna be a good week on purpose... and he better not have my grill all achy...

Better not!

You have a good week. On purpose!

Happy Birthday LadyTee!

Today's my best friend's birthday!

HaPPy BirThdAy LadYTee!!!!!

Birthday #44 today! *cartwheels*

If you ask her how old she is, she will holler "29.95, baby! And holding!"

LOL!

I am off today for her birthday. So she and I are about to go do our Thelma and Louise Thang.

So no long post today!

I will holler at ya'll, and hopefully have a post about our shenanigans next week!

Ya'll have a great weekend! On purpose!

Recipe: Stuffed Tomatoes

Man, I tell you... some of you all saw those stuffed tomatoes in a recent post and cried out for the recipe.

*crickets*

Uh, ok... wasn't expecting that. But I will oblige such a request.

Keep in mind that I am NOT Betty LadyLee Crocker. So take this recipe with a grain of salt. Please.

Well, the recipe didn't start out as a stuffed tomato recipe. Oh, I'd bought a gang of organic tomatoes, at a steal of $1.99/pound, with the idea of stuffing them, but I wasn't all that sure what I would stuff them with.

I think the night before I had a really good stir-fry


A good one chocked full of fresh cut veggies: onions, red bell peppers, celery, green bell peppers, zuchinni, squash, tomatoes and broccoli. And as you can see, I have chickpeas there also.

I placed it all in a bowl and chowed down, man...

But it felt like something was missing: some crunch. So I added a bunch of cashews.

Looking back at it all, that was actually stupid. There was no need for the cashews, because the chickpeas provide a slight crunch to it all... but whatever. I'm not going to get bogged down in semantics. It was GOOD. That is all.

However, I cut up enough veggies to where I had a small ziploc bag of veggies leftover. So I stuck these raw veggies in the fridge for later use.

And that later use involved using them for stuffed tomatoes.

Like I said, I came across some good organic tomatoes for about $1.99/pound, so I bought 8 to 10 of them (I can't remember how many). Some were used for juicing, and the remaining 6 were used for stuffed tomatoes.

So here is the recipe.

1/2 cup of each of the following veggies.

yellow squash, cubed (1/2 inch cubes)
zuchinni squash, cubed (1/2 inch cubes)
onion, julienned strips
green bell peppers, strips
red bell peppers, strips
broccoli, cut up

1/4th cup of celery (I don't care for celery in my stir fries that much but it was just... there in the fridge)

1/4th cup of carrots, julienned.

6 whole tomatoes, tops cut and hollowed out (to that with a spoon. Not a knife. Please and thank you).




(Save the part of the tomato you removed. Cube it up and use it in the stirfry later)

1 and 1/2 cups of cold cooked rice (I have a mixed brown rice that I use that has wild rice and three other types of brown rice mixed in. For some odd reason, I don't like plain brown rice. Yuck. But use whatever rice you like, whether brown or white).

1 tspn of cumin
1 tspn of curry
1 tspn of italian seasoning
1 tspn of red pepper flakes
1/2 tspn salt
2 tbspn extra virgin olive oil

That's a pretty typical stirfry for me, sans the celery. Like I said, the celery was just... there. And my stirfries are typically anything that's in the fridge. I forgot to add the carrots, which I like for color.

And I can cut all that stuff up in 5 minutes. *LadyLee the ginsu ninja*

Also, if you want to add meat, then do that. Use 1 cup of meat. That is all.

But hey... you work that out.

Method

Note: Whether it be chicken, shrimps, beef, pork, seafood, goat or spam, sautee your meat beforehand in the oil, then set your meat to the side in a bowl. Use the fat that drains from the meat as the oil you stirfry your veggies in. I didn't do all that. Ya'll know I try to stay plant-based, and leave the meat at the door.)

1. Heat the oil in a hot skillet.
2. Add all veggies EXCEPT the broccoli and cubed tomato cores.
3. Saute the veggies until that they start to brown (I like mine to carmelize, get a little burn on them without getting mushy. That takes skill. Don't mess that up. Please and thank you).
4. Add all spices.
5. Add cold rice. Continie stirring.
6. Finally add, chopped broccoli and tomato cores. Sautee on medium heat for another 5 minutes, until the broccoli becomes bright green.
7. At this point, if you're using meat, add your meat back to the stirfry.

Here's how my stirfry looked.



7. Stuff the tomatoes.



8. Place tops on tomato.



Cubicle Mate CowgirlCre was NOT pleased with the stickers being left on the tomatoes. NOT pleased at all. Don't worry, I removed them.


I can't have ya'll laughing at me, Man.

9. Bake the tomatoes in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Actually that may be too long. Maybe 20 minutes. I overdid it. Those tomatoes get mushy pretty fast. So I think a tell-tell sign for when the tomatoes need to come out is when you see the tops start to wrinkle a bit. I think that is good enough.

These came out really good. If I catch the tomatoes on sale like that again, you know I will be making them again.

I also like to stuff peppers in the same way.

I'm going to stuff squash and zuchinni soon. (cut lengthwise, and make boats). I think this recipe goes well for stuffing anything, and it's a great way to get your veggies in.

I gave Lady Liftetime 2 stuffed tomatoes. She sprinkled cheese on top of hers...

And with these having some italian flare to them with that italian seasoning... I KNOW that had to be good-t!

So there's your recipe...

Please feel free to adjust as necessary. I think with this recipe, you will have some stuffing left over. I like to just eat it as a side dish later in the week. And of course, you may not like some of the ingredients. Or you may want to add more.

That is up to you. Have it your way, babes!

This recipe has been brought to you by your friendly neighborhood Oldgirl LadyLee!

Enjoy:)

"Blend"

I had the worst blender in the entire world, bought in Atlanta at the local Big Lots next to Wendy's for $9.99,on sale.



I used it every morning because I was determined to get a little healthier. I regretted buying it once I used it because it sounded like I'd put in a sack of nails, even though I'd added ice, and a few bananas and strawberries.

The sound was so loud that the neighbor next door would bang on the door and shout

"Pamela, turn that thing off. It's too loud!"

"Not as loud as those ugly neon purple shorts you wear every day," I muttered under my breath, even though I could shout it to the rafters from where I stood, and he would never hear me.

I would never say it loud enough for him to hear and comprehend...

Because how do I say such a thing to a man who walks around dressed liked that, and stands on the street corner, crying and muttering to himself:

"The world! The whole world! It's just too loud!!"

And no one pays him any attention. The cries and wails blend in with the honks and stereo bass of the passing cars.

The thing is, I don't say anything.

I don't say a word.

I just let my blender go a few seconds longer, and I try to be content with my smoothie that's thick with bits of fruit and chunks of ice that could have used a little more time in that blender.

And early the next morning, I'll blend.



I will simply blend again.

From March 9, 2012 Women of Color Workshop. Writing prompt: use the following four items in a story. (7 minute time limit)

1. blender
2. Wendy's
3. Pamela
4. Neon purple shorts

Bon Voyage Milk and Cookies, Sr... The Doo-Rag Edition

My baby brother Milk and Cookies leaves for Afghanistan today.

In honor of that, I thought I'd do a picture show...

I like this picture of Milk and Cookies. People say we look just alike. I never see it, but I see it right here.


This picture sparke a mini Notes from the Peanut Gallery moment between me and my cubicle mate, CowgirlCre.

LadyLee: "Look at him. We look alike in this picture. And he has on all that black. Wonder where he was heading out to?"
CowgirlCre: "He looks like he's been hanging with some Latinos."

LOL. Probably has. Whatever the case, he and I need to have a discussion about the doo-rags that match every outfit.

Look at Milk and Cookies Jr. He's getting his hair cut!





The barber with the skull tattoo on his neck... he's a scary fellow. Milk and Cookies doesn't seem to be scared, so I guess I won't be creeped out.

Look at the clean line on that boy's head.



I didn't know they lined up little boy's heads that nicely.

I thought they got them in the chair and got them on out before they started crying. Apparently not.
Milk and Cookies, Jr. In a doo-rag... and sunglasses. In his Daddy's truck.







A Picture of Milk and Cookies Sr and Jr.

We must have a conversation about these doo-rags. A good long conversation.

I posted this picture of Milk and Cookies Jr. and Milk and Cookies 3.0 the other day. Gotta post it again.

If anyone needs a doo-rag, it is Milk and Cookies 3.0. His hair is a bit wispy there. LOL.

A final happy picture of Milk and Cookies Sr., Jr., and 3.0
At least the boys don't have on doo-rags. We're making progress.

Dear Brother, you're off to Afghanistan today. Of course I hate that, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Go do your time and COME ON BACK. Please and Thank you!

We'll be missing you!

Love, big sis Lisa.

Monday, Monday, Monday...

Ah yes...

It is Monday... once again.

At least I'm not working a full day. I went to the doctor this morning for my regular standing appointment I have every 8 weeks.

I smile everytime I go to the doctor's office. I have to keep from laughing.

Why? Because of LadyTee. She has gone to my doctor a few times in the past.

"Yeah, Lee, I saw your girl, your doctor."
"Oh yeah, you saw, Dr. B?"
"Yeah," LadyTee said. "I was looking at her shoes. She wears those Payless shoes from the 1980s. I wanted to tell her, now, don't nobody wear those shoes anymore, honey. I know you make enough money to go buy yourself some nice pumps!"

We got a good laugh out of that. And now, when I see my Doctor, I have to make sure to look her square in the eye. If I look at her shoes, I will fall out laughing...

All of my bloodwork looked really good. I even lost some weight (don't see where, but the scale- it don't lie, man). So that's a good thing.

She asked me how my birthday was. I told her it was fine and dandy, and that I bought a car! She was pleased to hear that, but of course, she wasn't impressed by the model. She has the top of the line big Mercedes Benz, the one that costs well over $100,000.00.

That's the way to roll... even if you're wearing Payless shoes from the 1980s.

Really though.

Anyway, this was a good weekend, but a busy one. I actually did yardwork on Saturday and Sunday. AND I cleaned out my garage (which is odd for me- sweeping it out and throwing out useless stuff only took about 30 minutes. You can't beat that).

I hatcheted up my front yard, but at least it's cut. I did a great job on the back yard. I tried to trim the hedges, but uh... let's just say that I'm going to Home Depot to buy a nice electric trimmer. Holding up those hedge clippers if for the birds. Ya'll can have that! Ugh!

So, in the process I junked up my good Nikes.



*lee looking down at grass-stained shoes and screaming really loud*

So I immediately jumped in the car and drove down to Ellenwood for some new ones!

Yes. I sat those right up on the coffee table. Just because.

Anyway... I have fresh new kicks.

It was quite HAWT this weekend. And you know I'm a juicing fool right now.

So what's better after a weekend of yardwork in the hot sun that a cool refreshing drink?



It looks cute, but those grapefruit weren't cold when I juiced them. So I had to break out the blender and the ice!



That was good. Bet it would've been better if it had some liquor in it. I have some tequila and rum and whatever else in a cabinet. Ya'll better be glad I'm not a lush! LOL.

Grapefruit Mint. I have to remember that. Very cool. Very refreshing.

I even offered some to that Original Oldcat, Oscar-Tyrone.



As you can see, he ignored me. He wouldn't even look at me. Humph.

He has been such a jerk lately. I'm not sure what his problem is. I hope he's not sick. He better work it out if he is.

Maybe it's his new catfood. It has cranberries and barley, real chicken and brown rice and flax. Maybe he's a bit salty behind that.

When he gets to acting like that, I play his song... the song from which his middle name comes from.



"You Better call Oscar-Tyrone!!! Call him!... and tell him come on and help you get your sh**!"

LOL!

(Oscar-Tyrone is not amused... of course).

Ya'll have a great week! On purpose!

Friday! Freestyles!

Friday!

*cartwheels*
AND it's PayDay!

*backflips down the hall, knocking negroes out the way*
And the sun is shining. What more can you ask for?

This has been a pretty good week. It started off with me being a bit salty, moreso with myself than anything (You know how I am when I'm PMSing, man...sigh), but it got better. Got lots done at work the latter half of the week. And I am looking forward to the weekend. (And a TON of yardwork. Sigh).

Lucy the Lexus. Guess what!? I got my car title in the mail this week!







Can only show ya'll the top. The rest has my name and address on it. Don't need ya'll trying to rob me. LOL.

Lucy?? I say now, Lucy???


You's free now, Lucy! You's free! You belong to me on paper!

Lucy just sits there. Doesn't say a word. Sigh.

But she is officially mine! *cartwheels*



I was looking at 4 different Lexus. She was top on my list. A couple of them, uh... since the cars are 12 or 13 years old, look like someone got shot up inside of them. A nice black one I had my eye one, well... someone had turned the odometer back on that one. *side-eye to that foo*.



Luckily, Lucy's interior is nice and clean. (Thank goodness for that). And she is still running quite smoothly! I told my brother Milk and Cookies, who is a army mechanic that repairs humvees, that I was gonna throw her in the shop and get a full service on her so that I will have some type of baseline for service. He thought that was a great idea. So that's the next goal.



Maybe we will

Meal of the Week. My favorite meal this week: stuffed tomatoes.




Man they were GOOD. That is all.

Shoe Porn. I know the ladies love some good shoe porn. And yes, yes, I've come across some good stuff all around the building over the years. I am quick to take a picture and put it up so that we can all look on in amazement.

However today, there was a small raucous going on at the copy machine in our cubicle area. A Shorty had on some real nice shoes. We were all staring and conversing in amazement.

"Look at those shoes!"

"Those shoes are sharp!"


And they were sharp. You know you a bad mutha when jokers gather around you like birds to discuss what you have on. His shoes, fedora cap and shirt matched well.

But we were most interested in the shoes.

I wanted to reach down myself and touch them. I didnt' want to get slapped back, though. Nerp. Or worse yet, I didn't want to get bit. Those shoes were so fresh, that they still looked alive!

The discussion continued in some strange direction.

My boss said "Those the type of shoes that you can get the roaches in the corner with. You can stomp the roaches real good with those!"

"No," my asian specialist hollered. "They have to be pointed! Pointed shoes! You need pointed shoes to get the roaches!"

*lee looking back and forth between them all, wondering why we talking about roaches*

He was sharp. Looking like "Just got paid... Friday night!"

And ret to go. RIGHT after work.

"I wanna go whereever you going, man," I said. "You going to Happy Hour right after work. Right after. I wanna go, too. Because whereever you going, it's going to be a good time."

A good time indeed.

I'm gonna send him this post, so he can see his shoes. He's gonna be like O_O!

(You thought I was playing, didn't you, bruh. Told you that you were going to be the subject of today's shoe porn!)

Photo of the week. Milk and Cookies, Jr. and Milk and Cookies 3.0

Awwww... My little nephews! *lee touches computer screen lightly*

Milk and Cookies 3.0 is actually awake. Most pictures I see of him, he is knocked out!

They are allllll the way out in Seattle. I hope to see them one day soon!

Song of the Week. Lucy the Lexus seems to like Jill Scott a lot. Hmm...

So here's a song that's been playing a bit too much, lol.






A good song indeed! Whelp! That's it for freestyle fridays! You all have a good weekend... On purpose!

Political Thoughts... LadyLee Style

Where is everybody?

Hmm...

I hope the blog fam is alright!

I was going to make this a random thoughts post, but the first random thought ran too long.

I watch the republican primaries pretty closely. I don't know why. I just find it interesting, and I like to know what the heck is going on.

My goodness. I don't particularly like politics. This whole presidential race... sigh. I really HATE the years where we have a presidential political race. I can't watch TV without seeing negative adds meant to inject fear into my life. And let's not even get over into politicians saying what you want to hear.

It's such a game. It is kind of like a pimp wooing a woman he intends to exploit his way. And then he turns her out before she every knew what happened.

Nothing nice.

I wish that the whole money aspect was taken away from the mix. We would have a better variety of candidates, who may have something substantial to talk about.

And with the way the Republican race is going, well... Obama has to be cheesing hard right about now.

I know I would be if I were him.

I feel lke I'm watching a train wreck. Sorry GOP, I don't care WHO wins the republican nomination, uh, Obama will beat them hands down. I don't wave the flag for any candidate, but Obama has done the best he can under the circumstances. He will beat them all... they better ditch the remaining candidates at the brokered convention, and then break out some Chris Christy for president. Otherwise, they lose.

I was telling my Uncle a couple of weeks ago, "If Romney is onstage speaking, and his arm falls off and there are a bunch of wires hang out, it wouldn't surprise me one bit. Not one bit."

He doesn't seem real to me. But he has the most money, so... he may have the nomination locked up. But his party doesn't really like him. Wow.

And for some odd reason, the Republicans keep allowing Sarah Palin to speak.






*crickets*

She really rubs me the wrong way.

Man. I tell you. This broad. I didn't major in English. I've never taken a Speech class. And I tend to be ebonic, but uh... she needs a good English and speech class. She needs to go to a Toastmasters meeting. I think this is important if you are a politician. I'm a highly degreed intelligent person, yet I struggle to understand her, and I just can't. She baffles the cheese out of me.

And I'm not the best historian in the world... but I know a fair amount. Wasn't slavery in effect before the Civil War? And a black president wants to go back to those times? REALLY?

Wow!

And she will be running for president in the future. You watch.

Maybe they will make her take a good speech class. If not, we are in trouble. That is all.

All in all, I want the political year to be OVER.

I bet you do, too.

Wonderful Wednesday... The Soup Edition

Good Wednesday Morning...

How the heck ya'll let me go half a week without posting?

Ugh.

And you know it is all my fault. I been in a slight funk this week. I am PMSing. Work is...interesting, and I don't wanna be at work. The slightest things disturb me deeply. Throw that in the middle of this daylight savings time ratchetness, and I tell you, an Oldgirl is just a little bit OFF. Just a tad bit off. I need about 2 days off, away from work, to just get my head back in order.

This seems to happen every time we spring forward.

How long til' we spring back?

Humph...

My complaining is done.

Happy NEW DAY to you. Out with the old, in with the New!

Anyway, I want to talk about the best part of my weekend...my Women of Color Writing Workshop on Friday night.

I yelled as usual, "Dawnie, man! You messing with my church night!"

*throws big rocks at Dawnie*

I told that broad I like to go to church on Friday nights. She gonna schedule it on Friday nights anyway. *throws one last big rock hard at Dawnie*

Anyway, I wrote three good pieces of flash fiction (really short stories). I would love to expand those out like I did with "My Day in Court", which I am still playing around with...

I would love to get over into a whole epic "Adventures of Chele" series with multiple stories.

*Chele gives that hard Mama squint at the screen*

LOL! No! I might post one or two of those stories next week.

But for me? The hightlight of the whole night was walking into the house and smelling something delightful cooking. And it wasn't beef, pork or chicken based. It was some vegetables.

I got a good nose these days. I know when I smell vegetables cooking.

"I made some cabbage soup," Dawnie said.

I dropped my purse when she said that. It landed with a hard thud on the living room floor. And I made a beeline to the kitchen. I snatched the glass lid off the pot and saw something special!



Whooo weeeeeeee!!!!! Special indeed!!!

It looked so good that it made my eye twitched!



I had to stick the fork in and lift up the green bulbous item. It was a bell pepper. Dawnie doesn't like peppers, so she just throws them in there whole for flavoring.

Heck man! I didn't care! I like peppers! I'll eat the whole thing.

"Taste it, Lee, and see how it is," Dawnie said.

I grabbed a bowl. Yelled at her for not having big enough spoons. And I had some.

It was divine. But... it was spicy HOT!

I was not sure what that was about, as Dawnie is a punk, and can't handle a lot of heat. I am not sure why she made it that hot, but she had to hear me allllll through the night holler.

"Girl? This here soup is hawt! It's hot as hell!"

"This right here? This soup? Got me sweating girl. It's hot as hell!!"

"Woooo weee! This here soup is the fire!"

Anyone who knows me knows I like hot food. But I like it where it is hot enough to take me to the very edge, where I don't need a glass of water, but I am thinking about running for a glass of water. I like it hot enough where I sweat, but my head doesn't catch fire and explode.

I like it hot.

(My goodness. There's a writing prompt up in there somewhere. That is all).

Anyway, Dawnie had some soup, and it was too hot for her. Gal was crying and looking crazy. It was all quite hilarious.

Needless to say, she gave me 3/4ths container to take home.

The soup was in this gorgeous Cuisniart stock pot.

"You know," I said casually. You could just leave the soup in the pot, and I can take it home. Although I don't want it spilling in the Lexus. We can wrap it up real good, and it should be alright."

"No, LadyLee!"

You got that right. I was NOT giving that pot back. LOL

I had soup all weekend. Soup and juice out of my juicer. GLORY!

Incidently, this was a writing group meeting, NOT a soup meeting, lol. Worse writing prompt of the night for me was the one pictured.



Write a poem or story describing a red spool of thread. The number of words used to do this is on a card you pick from a set of index cards.

Write a story about red thread in 70 words.

A HA! I didn't participate in that one. Oh yes i did. I started rapping...

"Red red! Red thread! That thread is red! Red thread!"

It didn't help that Aunt Ray-Ray, another member, started beat boxing. Dawnie wasn't too pleased.

It was late, and I have the attention span of a flea. I wrote 3 good pieces and was done, babes. By that time, I stretch out on the couch or floor and start playing on my phone.

Besides I had the itis from the cabbage soup.

I hand that writing prompts off to one of my favorite authors, Chele. See what she can do with that.

Hmm...

Anyway, it was a good time had by all! Yes indeed.

Alright now. I will be posting on Thrusday and Friday! For sure!

Friday Freestyles... The Juice Edition

Good Friday Merning to you ALL!!!

It's me! Your friendly neighborhood Oldgirl!

And as you can tell, I'm feeling mighty SPRITE this morning!

(And No. It is NOT payday!)

Why is an Oldgirl so sprite? It's been a very fine week, that is why! Not caught up in no unnecessary B.S. at work... Bills are paid...

And I have had NO processed foods, sweets, or refined stuff this week. NONE.

So I am feeling very SPRITEY! (is that a word).

I had to do something after such a bad cold a couple of weeks ago. When I catch a cold, I fall off a cliff. My colds are like the flu. Much of that was exasperated by having to work. It's always funny that my doctor will call me and say "Watch out for infection!"... in the middle of some pure ratchett cold. She didn't call me this time, though. Humph!

So I've had to supercharge myself, which usually works. And it's something that I try to do once or twice or year or after I've been sickly...

I've been JUICING!

I've written Juicing posts before. This time I stepped waaaay out of my comfort zone and added some variety. I usually stick to around 8 fruit and veggies, but this time I expanded up to 20: kale, collards, spinach, beet greens, beets, green apples, red apples, peppers, parsely, carrots, pears, pineappple, oranges, grapefruit, wheat grass, celery, dragon kale, tomatoes, cucumbers and watercress. There are probably some more items. I don't know.

But talk about variety. Whooo-hooo!!! I can come up with all kinds of strange combos.

One of my favorites has been cucumber-apple parsely juice.



Another favorite, a take on my usual juice, but with something extra added...


A combo of purple kale, cucumber, parsley, apple, carrot and beet. This is the first time I've tried kale and cucumber in some mixes, and it's worked out just fine and dandy...

Then I got to talking to Play Mama...

I came up with the bright idea of giving her the honor of coming up with some good combos...

She asked what all I had. I told her... then she said

"Carrot, orange, apple, celery, and pineapple!"



O_O

She gave some explanation of how certain things compliment each other.

It went waaaaaaaaay over my head.

*ladylee's eyes still stuck in the O_O position*
I decided to try it.

I gathered my veggies together.

Then stared real hard at it all... then went for it.



And it was GOOD. Didn't too much care for the celery aftertaste. But it was nice and frothy. Sweet. REALLY Good!



We're gonna call that the "Mama's Morning Star"!



Go Mama! You Master Mixologist!

(I think she gave me that combo because her favorite color is orange. Hmm)

So later that day I told her to come up with another combination. and she came up with spinach, apple, tomato, pineapple, apple, and ginger.



I told her up to come up with something else beside pineapple and greens. (I had a bowl of collard greens and squash relish for dinner. Shout out to Lisa B. on that squash relish! *intannet high-5*)

As you could see, she didnt' listen. Then she said add some grapefruit. O_o

But I put all that together anyway. Plus a little wheat grass. (I loathe wheatgrass, but it is good for you).

And Lo and behold we had a nice green juice.


We're goint to call that one "Mama's Midnight Special"!


I added a little too much ginger (I didn't add the whole root shown, only the two chunks shown).

It was hot! As Jill Scott says in one of her songs "I felt like cayenne pepper! Red, hot and spicy!

Dayum near burnt a whole in my chest. I was feeling that for about 30 minutes. Had to chase it with some water, man.

But a good combo. It masked up the wheatgrass taste. I was happy about that.

But all in all, this has been a good juicing week. I am very alert, I have tons of energy, and I sleep like a rock.

Who can ask for anything more?

I may continue into next week. Who knows?

But definitely minimum processed food is my goal for the rest of the month. I may have something one day this month, but that is it. I'm not craving it or anything, and I don't want to feel sluggish.

So that's my freestyles for this here friday!

And you know i have to leave you with a video...

Juicy Fruit instrumental...




How befitting!

Not much going on this weekend. I think I have a Women of Color Writing Workshop on Friday night. If it's not raining, I may go to the library this weekend. I have, like, 4 stories I need to edit. Toooo many distractions at home, gotta get somewhere quiet for a couple of hours and hash it all out.

I hope you have a great weekend... On purpose!