Evolution of Mom Dancing... and More

This video has gone viral over the past couple of days. It is Jimmy Fallon and First Lady Michelle Obama doing a dancing skit. I think the video is too big for my blog, so go watch over on youtube if you like.



Very funny!

The President was featured last year on a segment on the show called "Slow Jam the News".



Too funny!!

I am glad they can relate to the average person... Maybe the Republicans can catch a clue. Sigh.

Tuesday Randoms

Oh my...

How did I let 2 days go by and neglect to post anything.

Sigh.

I have some long posts to do. They will take a little time, and uh... I don't feel like dealing with that this week.

So here are some randoms...

Oscars. Did you watch? I did. Ho-hum. I wanted Quevanghne Wallis to win, even though I knew she wouldn't. I told my boss (and everyone I know) that I would be taking off if she did. Yes sir.

I thought the host was okay. I guess you have to like that type of humor.

They need to cut the show short, though. I can't deal with this midnight finish. I have to be at work the following morning. I think I even dozed off a few times!

Work. Work is going well. BUSY week last week. I like it when it's like that because my day goes by SUPER fast.

Anyway, I rarely prep samples, but we are going through some strange pilot program and I have to do my stuff from start to finish. Sigh. Oh well. This week's sample was nectarines.

Those are beautiful. It reminds me of last summer. I had a strange nectarine craving all summer long. Just odd.

Anyway, I had to peel off the stickers and cut out the pit, and grind those up. This is cool, since it's just a small amount (but I always holler when I am assigned something - "Give me something with no stickers, sticks, limbs, seeds or pits!).

Like I said, it's cool when there is a small amount. When I get a whole case of those, though?

Let's just say it's gonna be a long afternoon. Very long.

Lunch. I have been bringing salads this week. Here's today's salad.

I just went slap crazy with the fresh cut strawberries, didn't I? Sheesh. What was I thinking last night when I made my lunch?

What's funny is that diced nectarines are under those strawberries. NO, I did not take that nectarine from the lab. I bought 2 nectarines at the Publix down the street from the job. Humph.

I also have my little cup of nuts and seeds.

That is a lot of salad. I will eat half for lunch, and the rest for dinner, I suppose.

I have a cup of fruit also.

That is a pound of fresh cut fruit from the deli section at the Farmer's market. Cantelope, strawberries, pineapple, and grapes.  I was too lazy to scoop out some and place it in a little container. I just brought the whole thing to work. I guess I will leave that in the fridge, and hope none of these shady folks steal it.

Dessert: oreo cheescake.

That's that good stuff, from Southern Sweets Bakery. I found that place a few years ago while running around with my favorite author Tayari Jones looking for a cake on Christmas Eve. One slice of anything from there is enough for 4 people. You can't beat that.

I pressed a piece of my slice into a plastic container.  I may not eat that. I may have to kick in and eat this busted banana.

Or maybe not.

That banana might don't make it too much longer. LOL!

Too much fruit going on today. Ugh. Gotta balance all that out some!

That's it for me today. I will try to post something tomorrow. Not sure how that's gonna work out.

You have a good week. On purpose.

Happiness

The roving reporter stuck a microphone in her face, and asked the question he’d been asking of everyone on the corner that night.

“Did you see the killer? Did you see who shot Boo Johnson?” he asked the woman leaning against the stop sign with her arms crossed.

She stared the handsome reporter up and down.

Then she looked into the camera.  “My name is Cinnamon. Cinnamon Sugar."

The reporter cracked a smile, the same smile most men had when she uttered her professional name.

“Ma’am, did you see who shot Boo Johnson?

Cinnamon Sugar stared back into the camera. “Some say you can’t buy happiness. We beg to differ.”

“Is that so?” the reporter said.

Cinnamon Sugar nodded. “I don’t know who shot Boo Johnson, but I’m just telling you our motto: Some say you can’t buy hapineess. We beg to differ.”

The reporter stared blankly.

“For happiness is between my legs. Happiness is me down on my knees. Some say you can't buy happiness. We beg to differ. You see, we aim to please.”

The reporter yelled “Cut” and walked off to someone who had something more useful to say.

What she said was good.

What she said was right.

She wanted to let the city know what was going on in her neighborhood.

Happiness.




From September 2010 Women of Color Writing Workshop.

5 minute writing prompt. Draw a magazine clipping out of the basket and use it as subject matter for a story.

My magazine clipping was "Some say you can't buy happiness. We beg to differ"

That had me a little O_o. But I think I did okay on the spot in 5 minutes. This little vignette prompted a full character sketch of Cinnamon Sugar, who is a character in my manuscript Always Watching.

Barely Breathing (The Peephole)

I'm looking through the peephole, and what do I see?

I see him pacing back and forth.
I see him stopping in front of the peephole and peering closer.
I see his face.
His face is warped
His brow is furrowed.
He is pissed.

I stand there with my arms folded tightly across my chest
I'm barely breathing, as still as a statue.
You see, I don't want him to see me, or to even know that I'm there.

I hold my breath and watch as he cups his hands to the peephole.
He moves closer and places his face to his hands, as if that will help him see inside.

He's not getting in tonight.

And I will stand here all night if I must
Watching, waiting, and barely breathing.

Yes, I will hold my breath and watch.
It is better to stand here watching and waiting,
And peering through the peephole

Than to face another threat,
Another accusation,
Another beating.

Tonight the peephole is my friend.
It is my third eye, allowing me to watch
And hope that the man on the other side,
The man who claims to love me
Will eventually go away...

...Go far far away.



From Women of Color Writing Workshop, September 2010...
5 minute writing prompt - You're through through a peephole... What do you see?w

Happy Presidents' Day!

Yes, a late post.

Only to wish you a Happy Presidents Day.

Presidents Day doesn't get as much attention as other holidays. I'm not sure how much commercialism one can build into it. The most I even hear of there being a raucous of this day are the various Presidents' Day sales going on.

'Tis a good day to go out and buy a new car or a new piece of furniture. Great discounts today.

I am just glad to be OFF. Nothing like a good off day. It was beautiful and warm outside, so that's a plus. I didn't really need a jacket and I could open the sunroof!  thing!

I ran a few errands.

Came home...

And I am watching a little Judge Judy right now.

I'm about to bake cookies. I owe a very patient reader a batch. (Man oh man, is she patient with my SLOW self, lol. I am thankful for that).

With that said, I will try to enjoy the rest of this Presidents day off. You enjoy yours too!

Happy Friday Freestyles!

This is Freestyle Friday!

A HAPPY Freestyle Friday!

Why?

Because it is PAYDAY!!

AND because I'm stomping up against a 3 day weekend! Presidents day is Monday.

GLORY!!!

*rockette kicks*

I might just buy an Abraham Lincoln top hat and walk around my house.

And you know what? The boss isn't here!

What did I do to deserve a day such as THIS!!?

The week started off a tad bit janky. First of all, I took Monday off. That is a great thing. And I did it just because... just because I could. I had training this week, and it didn't start 'til Tuesday.

Tuesday and Wednesday I had this training. It is for some strange pilot computer data entry program that our group is participating in. I was being a hard azz about it last year, but I got a really nice cash award for participating. If I would've known that, I would've participated more, lol. I was a bit miffed about it taking away from my regular work (even had to come in on a Saturday to make up some of my regular work - NOT CUTE). But I promised myself I would at least pay attention to what's going on.

It was hard. Why? Because I don't roll up into work until 10:15 a.m. Those days I had to be in at 8 am.

Ugh.

Talk about being throwed off all week? Wow. Amazing how a 2 hour change in arrival time has me all O_o.

Now, I wake up at 6. But I don't start getting ready until 8:30.

So I have been as irritable as a 2 year old when you wake her up in the morning.

I THINK I'm back on schedule now. I THINK.

Like I said the boss is off today. Yesterday, I was in my cubicle and I heard my coworker Lieutennant Commander Meek-Meek say something horrid.

"LadyLee can act for you tomorrow."

Oh my! She almost caught my Good book of Cuss upside her head. O_O

Everyone knows I don't like to "act", i.e., be in charge. I don't like being in charge of other people. That's not cute. I have a hard enough time being in charge of myself. I don't wanna go around checking on NOBODY and what they are up to. I don't care. The last time I was in charge, I was tricked. My boss text me while I was on my way to work about it. AND she told me that I had to sit in for her in a supervisor meeting. That was hilarious. Still giving her the side-eye over that one.

After running hard to my boss' office yesterday, trying to prevent this tomfoolery, everything worked out well. An indian chick in our group is in charge today. I do believe she likes to be in charge. I like for her to be in charge too, because she is good about leaving me alone and not harrassing me. GLORY!!

I went over and made extra sure the Indian chick knew she was in charge. She knew she was. And she had a sparkle in her eye. She was really glad about it.

And that's a good thing!!

I also had a good annual work review yesterday. So you KNOW I'm trying to chill today. Ya'll better hope I get a little work done!

Current Events. There were a BUNCH of current events in the news. I remember the bizarre... and the tragic.

A meteor hit Russia this morning.

O_O

Can you imagine driving in to work this morning and seeing some craziness flying across the sky???

WOW.

700 people injured. That's a lot of people.

And we're living in an age now where much can be captured on our cellphone cameras. Sigh.

It has been an interesting week. Like you, I've watched the Chris Donner tragedy unfold out in Californina. Did you read his 22 page manifesto? You should read it. I did. And you can see his whole thought process unfold. On paper. There were a couple of lines in there that caught my attention. I'll write about that next week.

And Oscar Pistorious shooting his girlfriend. O_O. No one knows what that's about. He says he thought she was an intruder. Neighbors said they were arguing. The police said they've had to run out to that house in the past on domestic violence calls. Now if that is true... it doesn't look good for the Blade Runner. If the police has had to keep running back and forth to your house because ya'll battling that hard... uh, sir, you're gonna have a helluva time proving that this was an accident. They are charging him with premeditated murder. Not a good look.

Sad and tragic. That is all.

Quotes of the week. I am reading Power Thoughts by Joyce Meyer with my buddy. Favorite quote this week, from chapter 3:

"...Never let a pessimistic person talk you out of your dreams."

"Don't let anyone's limited thinking limit you. Negativity can be contagious; you have to pay attention if you don't want to catch it! Even if you are the only positive person in your family, your social circles, or your workgroup, be the one with an optimistic attitude and outlook in every situation."

That's a lot to think about right there. And a lot to work on.

Song of the week. So... I really dig this cut. "I Decided" by Liv Warfield.




A good song, but it is a bit rambling. My cubicle mate and I were checking it out. The singer is basically fussing through the whole song. She has decided to leave her man. I was a little miffed by the last line.

"I decided... to think you might change"
Isn't that what us chickens do? We know that man is giving you all kinds of problems and stressing us out... then we decide to stay with him.

As if the craziness will end. We know it won't.

When will we learn?

Well, that is all for the week. I am looking forward to my weekend. Not much done. I might try to get my taxes done. My sister said she could do them. I rather throw her some cheese to do it, than pay the astronomical amount I usually pay to have them done. We will see how that goes.

Have a great weekend!

On purpose!

"Salted Caramel"

Happy Valentines Day to you all.








"Salted Caramel"

I remember biting the caramel shoulder
Salted by the late night of passionate love.

Eyes staring into pools of chocolate
As he joins me in our journey of oneness

My breath exhales with each glistening movement,
And he catches it with a tongue of fire.

His hands caress my locks
And he gently pulls as if to ring the bell of ecstasy...

"Adios mi los," he whispers...

...I barely hear him above my screams.




From December 28, 2012 Women of Color Writers Workshop, written by "Aunt Rae Rae"

Writing prompts (5 minute writing exercise): Write a story or poem that begins with one of the following lines. 

I remember biting
I remember balloons
I remember falling
I remember learning



That was a little something for you from my writing workshop sista Aunt Rae-Rae. She writes the most amazing highly visual short pieces of fiction. She is married to the nicest Mexican fellow on the planet. Anytime I see him, I snicker. I want to tell him, "Your wife of 25 years know she be writing about you. Wooohoo! You are the MAN!"

When she read that, I leaned over and said, "Hey, can I post that on my blog." She said yes.

Aunt Rae-Rae has a way of bringing an amazing visual in a few short words, doesn't she?  She does have a good handle on description. I am hoping to amp up my description skills. Always a joy to hear her read her writing in our workshop.

Now, if you want to do a little more Valentine's day romantic reading, I usually post what I consider the best piece of prose I have ever written ("Wine and Tears" excerpt from Greyhound Blues) for Valentines day. It is about a couple of bus marshalls both of which are trying to deal with their feelings for each other.

You may also enjoy last year's Valentines Day story "Open, Stretched and Baited".  It is about a woman who wakes up in the morning to a man who makes her feel so good that she wants to write poetry... and smoke a cigarette.

I wish you all a Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Mardi Gras + Sweepstakes Winner!!!

Oscar-Tyrone wishes you a Happy Mardi Gras!

He refused to look at the camera...

But he has his beads on, and he's ready!
Happy Mardi Gras!

He is all bling!

So, with that said... I ran up on my official prize puller, Lieutennant Commander By, so he could pull the winner of the Great 43rd Birthday Sweepstakes.

(I looked at his hands first. His nails were fresh, and his skin smooth and ash free as always. Thank you Mrs. By for lotioning him up this morning. You must've known he'd be on program today.)

My cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre allowed us to use her special cup to hold the potential winning names.

Here he is reaching into the cup!

There he is pulling the name!

And the winner is Thoughts of a Southern Gal. (I like to call her Southern Black Gal... TI Jocka, Lil' Rocka, Showstopper.. That Southern Black Gal).

The good Lieutennant Commander makes it official...

CONGRATULATIONS SOUTHERN BLACK GAL!!!!

See... Southern Black Gal knows how a LadyLee sweepstakes works: Comment on every post that week. It ups your chances of winning. There were 59 entries. Her name was in there 7 times. She had a 12% chance of winning.

Go Gal.  You did the darn thing. You are one of my favorite people. When I was on business in Arkansas, you and O came and picked me up from the hotel and took me to the Whole foods so I could get my fruits and vegetables. Then you came back and chaufferd me allllll around Lil' Rock. You made me feel alright gal!

Good for you, girl!

And now, you's a winner! I smiled ear to ear when he pulled your name!! 

A $43 gift card for YOU, honey!

Holla at me on Twitter to let me know where you want the gift card from... a'ight???

Ya'll have a good Mardi Gras... on purpose!!!

Happy 1st Birthday, Lucy!!!

This time last year, on February 11th, I bought a brand new car!!

Well, not necesarrily "brand new".  Brand new for me, you see.

The car is 13 years old. But like I said, it was new to me.

So to me it's 1 year old.

Happy Birthday, Lucy!!!

I wasn't going to buy a car that day. Oh, I had all my information. It was THE car I wanted. (I had a list of 3 of them: this one, a black one, and a white one).

I was leaving to go get my taxes done that day. I went out into the garage and got into Pam the Protege, turned the key and...

*click*

Oh man. Car dead. I figured it was the battery. I called my sister, who happened to be shopping nearby.  She scooped me up and we purchased a battery for Pam. Changed it out (as fast as only two girls can), and all was good.

But since she has bought cars before, and does intense research, I said to her, "Hey Kentucky, I want you to see this car I want. It's a little high price right now, and I am watching it to see if it is reduced, but I want you to see it."

She drove me to the dealership and I showed her the car in the lot. I showed her a couple of the scratches on it, to which she rolled her eyes. ("Why are you tripping abou that, Lee? Who cares?")

The sellsman saw us out there and ran up on us. After a couple of hours of haggling (my sister got the price reduced by $3000... GLORY), we were out of there!

And we named her LUCY. (Name has to start with an "L" since it a Lexus).

There is the sellsman putting her tag on.

I know he thought we were crazy... with me doing the hard *church spins and shouts* in the parking lot, while my sister did the hard church clap and foot stomp. LOL

(And he REALLY thought we were crazy when we were trying to persuade him to take us for a ride in a $70,000 lexus. Heck naw'l we weren't gonna buy it. Just wanted him to chauffer us around the block. Didn't help that we were saying we were gonna knock him in the head and steal it. O_o).

So I went back and found some old pictures of Lucy...

There's Lucy in the driveway at home!

Lucy getting her first car wash!

Lucy getting vacuumed out!

Lucy getting buffed and waxed!

 Lucy parked down in my garage!

You can't tell there, but Lucy was squeaky clean!

There's another garage picture.

LadyTee wants to clean out the garage so we can get both cars in there. O_O. Nope. I might tare something up trying to get both cars in there. 

Happy Birthday, dear Lucy!!

This car has worked out VERY well for me over the past year. I always wonder about used cars. Am I getting a lemon? Is it going to stop on me? Can I afford the keep it up? Ugh! So many questions.

I didn't know when the timing belt or anything else needed to be change, so I saved up some money and got some young dudes who specialize in Lexuses to pull it apart and look at it. They said it was a good car, and had been kept up well.

"Everything had been done already. Whoever had the car prior to you really kept it up." they said. "And how the heck did you find one of these with such low low miles??!?!?"

*ladylee cheesing extra hard*
They did everything so I could have a baseline for when maintenance needed to be done.

This has been a really nice ride for me. I am MORE than pleased. I don't have a long commute so I fill up my tank approximately every 3 weeks. I've put it on the road for travel and it has done well on the freeway (I can get 600 miles out of one tank of gas... can't beat that.) I have put a little less that 7000 miles on it this year, which is a little higher than normal since I did take some trips out of town. But overall, this has been a really good car.

Someone was talking about vision boards on twitter one day, and I went in search of an old one I made in 2008. I remember that my dream car was on it.

And there was that car on there.

Same color. Same model.

I tell you... there has to be something to making a vision board, eh???

Hmm...
I still have ol' reliable Pam. She stays out in the driveway.

Here they are facing the green bootleg liquor house, lol.


I still drive ol' Pam. That car is good for rippin' and runnin' on the weekends.

 She is squeaky clean here, as I had just come from the car wash that day!

I LOVE that little car. It has done me well. I had funky credit way back in 2000, and I bought it with 20% interest (financial whiz Single Ma just fell off her chair). It's never been much of a problem.  I've put around 1000 miles on her this year. She needs the 150,000 mile service. That will get done soon.

Someone wants to buy it.

NO WAY.

I plan on sowing it into someone's life. It'll be a good car for a teenager, or a single mother who needs a car. I am sure someone will be around next year when the time comes.

That's when I will be purchasing "Frank".

Hmmmmmm.

We won't discuss that right now! This is Lucy's day!

Happy Birthday Lucy!

You sho nuff been good to me :)

[Drawing for the 43rd birthday sweepstakes will be reported tonight. So stay tuned!!]

Good Monday Afternoon!!

Oh my.

It is MONDAY.

My birthday vacation is officially OVER.

Well not really. I called my boss and asked if I could take an extra day off. She said no. I have some training this week and I was supposed to be there at 8 a.m. (I called her at 8 from the bed. I was waaaay under the covers).

I got up, got my clothes together, took a shower and was getting dressed... when she texted me and said that my first day wasn't until Tuesday. So I could take the day off.

*lee throwing off all her clothes and diving head first back into bed*

LOL

I got back in the bed for an hour. Then I got up and took some meds. Then I spent some time reading some blogs, and crocheting. I am watching the news right now.

That training is all week. My boss sent the schedule, but I still don't understand it. She's going to have to explain it to me like I'm a two-year-old. I hope the trainers have themselves together this time. It is a pilot program test, and a waste of time.

However, I received some strange cash award for participating last year. I think it was like,$250, or something like that. If I would've know that, I wouldn't have been as surly about it. II never volunteer for anything. Never cute when management volunteers me for something. No, not a good look.). And it didn't help that I had to work half a Saturday to make up some of my regular work. That piece of change softened my frown... just a little.

It is raining cats and dogs here in Georgia. And I thought a leak was repaired in an upstairs bedroom. NOPE! Ugh, gotta deal with that again. It is a slow leak in a vent, but when it rains hard, I can tell a difference. But I will call and get that taken care of, pronto.

Like I said, I am crocheting right now, too. Here are a couple of pics.

 I can even fold it now.

Getting big. Very quickly!

It builds up quickly when it is small. It is bigger now, and it will be awhile before noticeable changes will be seen. But it's always fun to start something new and it grow so fast.

Whitney Houston. Today is the first anniversary of Whitney Houston's death.

Rest in peace, Whitney Houston. I sure do miss your music. I will be listening to some of my favorite hits today.

Grammys.  I caught half of it last night, as I was watching something else earlier on TV. Man, I hate to say it, but I don't know who most of those people were. I don't listen to current radio.

I remember the days when I couldn 't wait until the Grammys came on. And I stopped being interested right after the days of Jodeci and Mary J Blige... round that time.

Why does EVERYONE hate Alicia Keys so much? Wow! Someone please explain it to me. Is it because of the whole situation with her hubby Swizz Beats, and how she was with him while he was still married?  Ya'll still caught up on that?

You know how many people are in those types of situations? Heck, even I've fooled with a married man in the past. And I did it ON PURPOSE.

Heck no, I don't condone that mess. Not in the least. But ya'll still upset with her about that?

Maybe it's something else. But she gets lit up on twitter every time she shows up on the TV. Please explain!

Song of the Week. I yearn for the days of music I can understand. Here's my song of the week. I've been listening to this this past week.




Good music. Good lyrics, even though the subject matter is suspect and ratchet. But the song tells a good story, and I can understand what they are saying. That's what I like about it. Good story. And Rachelle Ferrell is playing and singing on this cut? Wow!

I love good pure music with some good musicality. That is rare to hear these days.

Hey, I wouldn't really know because I don't listen to the current stuff.

Am I getting old? :(

No, I am getting BETTER! *throws glitter*

That's all for today! The drawing will be tomorrow.

Alright ya'll... I posted up some blog posts this weekend. The birthday sweepstakes is still on. Comment for a chance to win a $43 gift card in my 43rd birthday sweepstakes...

You can't win if you don't comment!!

Have a good Monday!

On purpose!!

Birthday Celebration #43... Rolling with LadyLee and LadyTee

Me and LadyTee... we've been best friends since age 10.

So that's been around 33 years... My goodness!

As our usual tradition for the past 10 years, I believe, me and my best friend LadyTee hung out for my birthday. Her birthday is coming up in March, and we'll be spending our birthdays together.

This year, we went to the movies. We went to one of the dinner theaters in town.

I'd heard of this place, but I'd never been there before. LadyTee goes on the regular. I'd been wanting to try it.

This place was really nice. It even had nice bathrooms.

There was a movie playing called Parker, and as you know that is my last name.

I don't know anything about that movie, and I don't see myself paying for anything that J Lo starss in . I like her on cable or video. Not at a movie theater, hon. Nope. I will catch this one on DVD.

We went to see Django Unchained.

Movie was good. I'll give it a C. I'll let you know my thoughts later in the post.

The theater was a really nice place.

It was pretty small, and there were only six people there at the first show (11:15 am). And the amazing thing is that it only cost $6 for a ticket. That's not bad at all (I can already see myself leaving work sometimes and going to the movies.... and then coming back to work, lol. Yes I will be discussing this with the boss).

Anyway, I ordered a drink. A strawberry margherita.

It was good. I think it was a virgin one, which I had wanted anyway but forgot to ask. Either that or it was bone weak. This is good, since I'm not much of a drinker and I don't hold my liquor too good.

We shared a basket of parmesan fries.

Those were good... But they needed to lighten up on the cheese, man. Interesting concept. But they could've given them to us plain, and I would've been all good.

LadyTee ordered the shrimp tacos.

They were a little too hot for her. When she saw the waiter come back through, she was snapping her fingers and waving her hands, hollering "Could you bring me a glass of water, please?"

LOL

I didn't really see much of anything I wanted on the menu. And my appetite has been a bit shot lately. Not sure what was up with that, but I at least wanted something light.

I ordered some fruit.

It was some type of fruit salad- honeydew, mandarin oranges, strawberries, and pineapples- with a drizzle of some type of light white sauce and a some candied pecans.

"That's all you getting, girl?" LadyTee asked.
"Yeah, mon."
"That is not enough for me," she said.
"I'm sharing your fries. Between this fruit, that, and that drink, I'm good."

She calmed down. I was glad I didn't have to hear her hollering like she always do ("Do you eat, girl?")

Anyway, she gave me a birthday card full of lotto scratch-off tickets.

"Girl, go ahead on and scratch the tickets before the movie starts."
"Nope, not gonna do that." I placed the tickets and the cards back in the envelope and lay them on our counter.
"Why?" she asked.
"Shoot girl," I said. "I mess around and win the top prize, we ain't sitting around watching this movie or eating this food. We bouncing up out of here!"

Hush. You know you wouldn't be thinking about a movie if you scratch off a $50,000 or $150,000 top prize. You're raising up outta there and you're knocking over anybody in your way.

Really though.

The movie was good.  I thought it was funny. I don't know what the uproar was about, concerning all the slavery issues. It was a western movie. Ya'll need to stop all that noise. You sitting up here living good. You have a black president. The most powerful woman in the USA is Oprah Winfrey.

Newsflash: you're not out picking cotton and singing at the juke joint with Celie and Shug Avery. Get over it. We have overcome.

*throws soapbox to the side*

I'm not a Quentin Taratino fan. This was straight Taratino. I won't be buying it or seeing it again. I just don't particularly care for his movies. Enough said.

I was glad to go and chill and watch and share a good laugh with my buddy.

Anyway, back to the lotto tickets.

I decided to scratch these when we got back in the truck. There was so much of that gray dust on the cards that I waved the card out the truck window to clear some of it away.

LadyTee had a fit. "Girl, don't do that! You might drop them!"
I'm just trying to get rid of some of this gray scratch-off dust! And it's not like these are winning tickets. So far, nothing."

I did not win top prize.

But I won $25 dollars.

The next day, I drove to the White People's Kroger to turn in the prescription slips for all of my meds. I had 8 meds, and I wasn't going to stick around and wait for them. I was going to come back the next afternoon. I decided to cash in my ticket at customer service. I thought this money would go pretty well with my birthday money from my change jar.

I watched the cashier scan the ticket and open the change drawer and do whatever else she needed to do to verify the ticket.

She gave me my cash.

$75.00

O_O

I looked at her, and at my receipt. I was trying to say she messed up, but she was gone. I looked back at my receipt, and it had all kinds of codes on it and $75 on it.

So I walked off.

I went and looked back at a picture of the ticket. And then I read the instructions. Interestingly, being the non-lotto players that LadyTee and I are, we didn't understand the ticket.

If you match the serial number with a scratched off number, you win the amount shown. BUT if you get JUMBO in any of those spaces, you win that FIVE TIMES that dollar amount. So on my ticket, I won not only $25, but a JUMBO $10, which is another $50.

YAY!

I called LadyTee and we had a good laugh. "I just knew that chick had messed up, but I was standing there watching her, eagerly waiting for my $25. I saw that $75 on that receipt and I dipped. That machine doesn't mess up."

Yes, we are some geniuses. Some non-lotto playing folks.

My gambling game of choice is poker. Real money. Ya'll can have the lotto tomfoolery. Worked out well this time, but uh... nerp.

I looked around for the other tickets at home. I wamted to check them, especially since I understood the instructions.

One of my other tickets was a winner! a JUMBO for $3. So that was a $15 ticket.

$90 off of $15 worth of scratch off tickets. Not bad!

I would play if the odds stayed like that. But you know that's not how it works. Sigh.

So that was a good birthday with my best friend. Well, it was the day after my birthday, when she didn't have class. It has worked out that way over the years with either one of us at that time.

It is most definitely a time we look forward to every year indeed!

Birthday Change!

I do something interesting between birthdays:

I save all my change.

So I place all my change in a jar....

My best friend LadyTee and I usually spend our birthdays together. It is always funny when I yell to LadyTee "Hey, run me by the Kroger!", and we go inside and find the coin counter machine and pour all my change in.

I am not sure what's up with the dollars in the jar. I keep this jar on the laundry sink in my laundry room, and when I am washing pants and shirts, I place any change from the pockets in there. So I guess I found dollar bills and placed them in there too.

And that is my "birthday money". I immediately take that cash and go buy something.

This year my tally was $52.29.

$47.17 after the fee the machine takes for counting it all.

168 quarters, 64 dimes, 46 nickels, and 159 pennies!

There was more change than that. But those coins were unacceptable to the machine:

There's plenty of foreign change there from my thrilling adventures in Aruba, Curacao, and Canada.

There are also some useless bus tokens, a restroom token, and some game tokens. Hmm. Don't know what to do with those, but I am glad I know where my square Arubian 50 cent coin is, lol.

I usually end up saving between $50 to $100 in change. So that's always a nice little birthday "running around" money.

These last couple of years though, I haven't bought anything immediately with the money. I've used it as my cash for my wallet. That can be my money for the week, or if someone needs something, I have some cash on hand.

And that's cool. There wasn't anything I really wanted to buy anyway.

So that will be money for the week. And that's something to be excited about!

An Extra Special Birthday Card

So I got some cards in the mail. I love that.

Why? Because it is something from the heart. If you know me well, I am not a fancy gal, and I like simple or handmade things.

So thanks to you all who sent cards to me! So sweet of you! They are up on the mantlepiece!

But a card came in the mail today...

Of course it was addressed to me.

But it was in a handwriting that's identical to my own.

It was enough to make me pause, because I was thinking "Did I send a piece of mail to myself?"

Then I thought, there is only one other person I know who has a penmanship that is identical to my own.

And that is the person that taught me to write in cursive as a child.

My mother.

Hmm...

She sent a card for my birthday.

That was interesting. Why? Because we stopped calling each other or sending each other stuff for our birthdays. I think it felt so doggone fake to both of us.

Then there was that time that I sent her a gift card for Christmas (uh, before gift cards became popular to give, before people knew what they were).  She got pissed at me. This upset my brother and sister terribly.

And you know me...

Anyway, she sent a card.  With $5 in it.

I sort of felt bad for her. My sister was over for my birthday and I wanted to say, "Could you give this back to her?? She shouldn't give me money. She needs her money."

But I didn't. And part of me thinks it would've caused some type of drama...

And you know me...

And she wrote a poem:

And you know me...

Man... you know how tough I am.

But that? That brought tears to my eyes. That was very touching indeed. I will put that in my journal.

Yes, I know my mother loves me. And I love my mother. But wow... Let's just say, I am trying to help my sister, who is the good white sheep of the family, stay in relationship with my mother. Because I know she needs it. I need it to, but I have had so many surrogate mothers over the years that I usually depend on that.

I know my sister, when she comes over all drained and exasperated over yet another fall out with our mother, is tired of me hollering "My Mama, PlayMama lives over in Alabama!  I don't have to deal with that craziness! And I'm sorry you are living the hard knock life, baby! Not I! Not I!"*lee pointing in the direction of alabama*

But this card. That was a wonderful card and a nice poem. My sister said she is working on some things. I think she is. Good for her.

I am suppose to go to the tree and buy trouser socks. For some reason, any gift she sends my way contains trouser socks. I don't wear trouser socks. I only own 2 pair of snearkers and 3 pair of black shoes and a few pairs of flip flops. Trouser socks don't work out for me. But I graciously accept them. I may need trouser socks some day.

And I will cherish this card. It represents "normal" to me.

This card makes me think she thinks of me in a positive manner. That card is going into my journal. I will even leave the $5 bill in there. Looks like she took extra care to tape it very neatly to the card anyway.

I told my sister "Gal, tell her I said thank you."

"Okay," she said.

"Well, never mind. I think I may just call her up and talk to her and tell her myself."

"She would really like that," my sister said. She nodded. "She really would."

"I sure think I will."

Nothing dramatic about that, right?

Nope.

I think it will be a good conversation.