The Official LadyLee Halloween Post

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to you!

*ladylee throws glitter and skeletons*


No I am not THAT happy about Halloween. But I am just assuming that YOU are.

I am not going to halloween parties or anything like that. I haven't gone trick-or-treating since my early teens. I may hand out candy.

But to celebrate, I have some official 2013 LadyLee Halloween paraphanelia, gear, and songs.

So let's check it out:

Official Halloween Picture

That was on the wall at my sister Kentucky's favorite mexican eatery.

The place is gothic. Last time we were there together, they played  Johnny Cash.

And you know me. I was wailing "They rockin' this Johnny Cash, but I sho' do wish they would put on some Earth Wind and Fire!"

My sister is a diva. I am not sure why she loves this place so much. But the food is good. And the workers are really nice.

And I think that picture is up all year long. Hmm.

Official Halloween Decorations




My coworker brings out the crazy halloween decorations and spreads them in the middle of the cubicle. There are skulls and tombstones along the window sill. The spider freaked me out the other day when I walked around the corner and saw it.

And that voodoo doll... O_o.

I always whisper to her cubicle mate Supersonic Sushi...

"I'm gonna place a bible verse or a passage of scripture here in your cubicle because your girl... your girl right here... she got some problems."

Sushi doesn't seem bothered about this. She just lowers her head and works harder.

Official Halloween Outfit and Gear

A member of management (we will call her Runner Cee) came skipping down the hall yesterday. She had on a very nice dress.

(oh my... is that blue fangernail polish??)

"Well," I said. "You're going to Happy Hour right after work, aren't you?"

She laughed. "No. This is my halloween dress."

I just looked at her. I thought she was going to pull out a witch's hat. Or smile and expose some vampire fangs.

But she didn't.

"I just wanted to wear something festive with halloween colors."

I turned to my own boss (We were standing in the door of my boss' office). "Runner Cee here is going to Happy Hour. Right after work."

LOL

She even donned the nice halloween wrist gear.

She even had nice shoes.

They were her special Halloween Shoes. *said in best Forrest Gump voice*

I noticed her watch.

This confused me. With such a fabulous Halloween outfit, she should've busted up with a Gucci watch or some expensive gold or silver watch.

No. She sported a garmin. Runner Cee is a real runner. She has to measure every step. She has to measure how fast she takes those steps.

And for that day, she wore it so she could RUN real fast...

...to Happy Hour right after work,

Ha Ha!

(Oh she is going to give me the hard side-eye after reading that).

All in fun, hon!

Thanks for posing for the pictures. :)

(Wonder what she will wear today.)

Official Halloween Song

This song is for cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre. I remember thinking "Hmm... this is a scary beat."

And I was intrigued by a special sound effect in the song. The cocking of a gun, followed by a gunshot.



Cowgirl Cre use to love this old rap song with repeated cocking guns and shots. It disturbed me something awful, but she liked it. So now, every time I hear that sound effected as a repeated part of a song, I think of her. (I know, it is odd, but it is what it is).

Anyway, that is the instrumental. The rap is too vulgar to post on my pristine blog. I don't want to hear the "bitch" and "hoe" a million times.

Only the gunshots. Thank you very much.

And Niki Minaj looks mad scary on that cover. This could be the opening tune to some odd hip hop scary movie indeed.

So that's my official Halloween blog post for today.

Be safe tonight.

Don't eat too much candy!!!

And have a good day... on purpose.

Virtural Jewelry Box

What is up... yep, I've been missing in action, but have no fear!

Here I am...

... with a peak into our virtual jewelry box.
I know Serenity_23 is never pleased with my jewelry of choice- colorful rubber bands for my wrists.

So imagine my surprise when during a visit to Grandma's a couple of months ago, my auntie gave me some lovely gear for my wrist.

My Auntie Joyce is so talented. She is an artist and photographer, and now she makes jewelry.

This jewelry is even good when I'm active... like when I am rough-housing Oscar-Tyrone.

LOL

She made my sister Kentucky a bracelet also.

Kentucky is a diva and likes bright colors.

"Auntie asked me what you like, Lisa," my sister had said when I asked why we had different bracelets. "I told her you like dark colors."

Yes I do. My sister knows me well.

Back in September, Singlema said she saw something perfect for me. She sent me this:




A charm necklace with charms of my initial, my amethyst birthstone and charms symbolizing my favorite hobby... chrochet!

Last week, we celebrated Cowgirl Cre's birthday. A couple of coworkers gave her some really nice earrings.

Cowgirl Cre loves earrings. These are just perfect for her.

So that's a peak into our jewelry box.

No high powered bling. None at all.

Our bling are nice homemade and sentimental jewelry....

We would have it no other way.

Friday Freestyles

TGIF!!

It is Friday!

And it's Pay Day!

Glory!!!!

We got all our back pay from the Furlough Hostage Crisis. It makes no sense how they messed some people up like that. That is YOUR dysfunctional Congress for ya!

This week... man. I give myself a grade of "C-".  When I'm off for awhile, it takes me a couple of weeks just to get my head out the fog.  I even took yesterday off.  I sent my boss a text that said:

"I am having snot and phlegm isshas. I won't be in."

She thought that was too much information. Yes it was, but it was the truth.

So I lost a day of work. And I am not up for scientific discussions either. Maybe in Novemeber.

The proverbial "Dr. LadyLee" skull cap does not fit well. At all.

My specialist Dr. Wong runs up on me with a thousand questions.  He wants to discuss science and intsrumentation.

Earlier in the week, he was met by my blank stare. And wailings of "Dude, man... dude, man... get on way from me, man!" and "I just got back, man! Leave me alone!"

I am better now. The "Dr. LadyLee" cap is starting to fit a little more snuggly.

Anyway, it is COLD in the ATL. My goodness. I did not want to turn the furnace on, but even Oscar-Tyrone was around here looking a little cold, so I turned it on.

This was a birthday week at work. Two coworkers had birthday.

A big party was planned for one of them. But some folks, including myself, thought it was an exclusive affair. You're not invited, but you want to give something. And I don't put money in a card anymore. Too many rumors of folks counting money to see who gave what, and that's some ol' bulls*** if you ask me.

So me and Cowgirl Cre skipped merrily up a couple of blocks up to the drug store and bought our coworker a birthday card.

"We bought a card," Cowgirl Cre told someone. "And LadyLee gonna trick it out!"

Yes, I like to "trick out" a card. LOL.

I have few stickers for dudes.  I have a TON of flower and butterfly stickers.  Lots of girly stickers. I guess I need to find some dude stickers.

Luckily, an invite went out over email for the masses to come to the party. I heard it was a great success. Someone even brought me some grapes and strawberries. I was pleased and thankful, honey.

And it was Cowgirl Cre's birthday too!

I made her a quick card.

Not as nice as I like it to be, because I rarely give her anything for her birthday. Our friendship is the gift that keeps on giving, you see. But this year I wanted to be different.

So I made her a card. And since she turned 42, I bought her a gift card to her favorite lunch spot near the job.

She loves F20. It is fast food, but a bit upscale. She has turned me on to it. They have the BEST salads. WOW!

Cowgirl Cre didn't go to work on her birthday. I didn't know what she had planned, but I received a picture in a text yesterday afternoon.

Yes! Cowgirl Cre was out riding her horse Felix for her birthday. Even Felix knows it's her birthday. He's posing for the camera!

LOL

Happy birthday Cowgirl Cre. We have been friends since our 20s. And we have been cubicle mates for 12 years. That's a loooong time. You are one of the few people who can put up with my cantakerous ways. Thank goodness for that!

Song of the Week.  Alien Girl (Today With Her) by Kendrick Lamar.



I like that song for some reason.

Alright. That is all the freestyles for this Friday.  I am up and ready for work. And I am ready to go!

You have a good weekend.

Not by default, but by design,.

And on purpose!

Vacationing in France

No, I'm not vacationing in France.

I am vacationing at home right now with a cold coming on, though.

But someone is sharing pictures of their French vacation with me. Just so I can feel like I am there.

My favorite writer, Tayari Jones, is skipping around France these days. She is having one fine vacation.

And she was the one to tell me the furlough was over.

"Furlough's over. You can go back to work now!"

I fussed about this. How the world did she know it was over, all the way over in France???

And I hadn't been watching the news. I suppose she had been watching or reading something. And they are 6 hours ahead of ATL over there.

Good looking out, girl!

She's been sending some lovely pictures my way, since I live vicariously through her travels. She is allowing to post the pictures.

And you know how I do... I'ma talk about these pics.

Here are her lovely accomodations.

Hmm. That is definitely NOT the United States. Oh how I am accustomed to the sleekness of the USA hotels. I would not be surprised if Heidi and Grandpa come walking up the hill behind Tayari.

(You have to be over 40 to get that).

And here is water from a fresh mountain spring.

Well. That does look refreshing.  But coming out of the rocks like that... I don't know, I'm just not there yet. Of course, nature's rocks are the best purifiers, but I need that stream of water collected and put through some reverse osmosis or special distillation process.

Really.

She seemed to be okay.

Drink on, girl. Drink on.

She said she climbed this edifice.

What is that, some castle ruins? What is that? That is definitely unlike anything I have seen before. It looks like King Arthur and his knights will be rushing around the corner on their horses of that place at any moment.

Run, girl! RUN!

And what did she mean by climbing it?  I asked her not to do dangerous stuff. No one can get to her to help her all the way over there.

Here is Tayari, basking in the sunlight, the tree covered mountains a backdrop in the distance.

I texted angrily about her sittting on that ledge. She needs to bring it in 10 feet. She needs to stop being dangerous.

And lo, Tayari found a big stick. She snatched it from the ground and she lifted it high in the air.

Again, I chastised her for standing to close to cliff edges. I need her to bring it in about 10 feet.

And I taunted her with texts of "I AM QUEEN TAYARI!!! RAAAAAH! RAAAAAAAAH!

Of course she wasn't thinking the same as I.

She was singing.  She texted back a familiar line...

 "Ain't no mountain high enough!"

You remember that old Diana Ross song from the seventies...



Had me singing (and texting)...

"Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaah!!! Oooooooh... Oooooooooh!"

Okay, you have to be over 40 to FULLY appreciate that song. And she and I are over 40.

And we like that song.

One last picture... and this is the best picture:

Wooooowww!  That right there is for all ya'll wine drinkers!

Look at the pretty blue water. Look at the rocky beach. That is awesome.

That's a post card or a book cover right there. Beautiful!

May I, LadyLee, go to the French Riviera? May I?

That's a good picture right there! WOW!!!

That one is live from the French Riviera!

Get down, Tayari! Get it, girl!!

So thanks for the pics, T!

She is always out traveling. Some of the places she tells me about, I don't even know where they are on the map. But she sounds so excited. She makes me want to go.

So safe travels, Oldgirl. Get on back to the good ol' U.S. of A.

Come home to SWATS (Southwest Atlanta). We some SWATS girls, babes. You can take the girl out of SWATS, but you can't take SWATS out the girl.

Bring your tail home!

Can't wait to see you!

Bliss' Final Blanket!

Woo weeeee!

*ladylee wipes sweat from forehead*

I have finally finished the fourth and final baby blanket for blogger Bliss!

GLORY!!

Not sure why I made "4" blankets. Hmm. I guess that will reveal itself later on.

I began that first one before she even was pregnant. When someone begins thinking about having a baby, and voice is given to those thoughts, well... I just go head on and get my crochet needle and baby yarn out and just start on it in faith.

Anyway fast forward a good year later...

Mrs. Bliss is having twins. She is big and swole with chirren right now. She doesn't know the sex of them, so I had to go neutral. I will probably post all four in one post soon. I just have to wash them and do some final trimming.

I asked one of our custodians yesterday "Hey, can you get me 4 of those clear little plastic garbage bags and one large plastic bag? I need to pack up some baby blankets for shipping."

So that means I am super duper close to mailing them. My goal is November 1st or round about. She is not due until December 17th, but you never know. I want them there and in her hands a bit earlier.

Anyway, I have taken pictures as I have progressed.

I like how they start... Simple yarn.

And here is the first square round.

I chose to not do a solid yellow blanket. I added white to break up the color some.

Another round of yellow added...

Another round of yellow added.

Yet another round of yellow added!

I think it takes around to 15-20 minutes to get to that point.

More rounds!

And even more rounds

I placed a quarter next to it to show how big it is. I probably build up to that in one sitting., Maybe an hour or two. Enough to sit down and watch a good movie or thereabouts.

I worked on this during the furlough, so a week later, it had really come along.

There are twelve yellow stripes separtating the center white stripes. That number represents her due date of the 12 month, December.

Here's another photo.

I couldn't do a frilly ruffle border, because that is for a girl. So I did a straight border.

I like the border, although I was tempted to do a ruffle border. I was gonna send her $10 just in case she had 2 boys and had to send it back.  It wouldn't take but a hour to fix it. But it's all good.

And here's the final blanket.

Glory!

That only took about 2 weeks. I was smoking on that! The fastest I've made a blanket is one and a half weeks because a friend needed a white blanket for her sons christening. It usually takes me about a month to make a baby blanket, especially when I am working. But since I was on furlough, I had more time on my hands. And if I'm at someone's house just hanging out, I always have my little crochet project with me.

Oh it was such a joy making these blankets. I LOVE LOVE LOVE handmade gifts. Loved-ed them.

Stay tuned for more :)

The STAR Treament

So...

I haven't been to a book club meeting in 3 or 4 years...

And I forgot that some of the book club sistas are some interesting characters.

Case in point... The Infamous STAR.

She always dons the most thought-provoking t-shirts.

This t-shirt says:

I do it anywhere...
I do it everywhere...
I do it all the time...

Yeah girl. Don't you walk into the wrong club with that shirt on.

Especially coupled with these HOT shoes.

Every brotha in the club would be trying to get at ya! LOL

Yes, that shirt describes her 100%. She does "it" anywhere, everywhere, all the time...

Yes indeed. She loves to READ.

Now if STAR would've had another four letter word on the back of that shirt... uh, let's just say it wouldn't surprise me one bit.

HA HA.

No. She likes to read. And that's a good thing.

I love to read too. But I am not brave enough to wear that shirt.

But STAR is! She's beyond brave!

Go girl!

Good Monday Morning... The Back-To-Work Edition.

Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning!!!

I am back at work today!

Glory!

Yes, I am trying hard to make myself happy about this. Dont' get me wrong, I am always thankful, but I need some GLEE!

LOL

And I returned to work to find that someone has been sitting at my desk. There was a large red, white and blue umbrella leaning on my desk. And there is some AKA paraphenalia here also. Whoever stuff this is, they better come get it within a couple of days. Nobody better accuse me of stealing when they see me walking, no skipping, down the street with this big pretty umbrella in the rain. I don't want to hear it.

I came in and proceeded to sign what felt like a hundred pieces of paperwork. It was some completed work from September that needed closing out (which had already been done). We have a team approach to some projects, so I had to sign some things. I felt like I was signing my mortgage.

But alas, I am back. Haven't spoken to anyone. All is well. I have no idea where the Cowgirl Cre is. We didn't talk during the shutdown. She texted me a picture of some funnel cake. So she was somewhere having a fine time indeed.


My Weekend. My weekend was pretty good. Very relaxing, since I knew I had to come back to work today. I did much around the house, and I am smoking away on a crochet project assigned to me by The Green-Eyed Bandit. (I must do what she say... she is from Cleveland, and she is crazy). It's a big one, so I needed to get that up and going before I came back to work. And it looks to be about 30% done. She wants that on the 15th of November so I can slow down on that now.

The higilight of my weekend was attending one of my old book club meetings. I was especially excited because they were discussing my classmate's book Solomon's Blues. It was a book I recommended at one of my past Triple F Posse finance meetings. Anytime ask me about the last good book I read, I holler...

"That Josephine Garner. You gotta read that Josephine Garner! You gotta get up on that! That chicken can write!"

LOL

Jo was at the meeting, and that was a real treat. It was a good long book, and made for a lively discussion. (I was hoping the ladies' liveliness wouldn't frighten her.) It was soooooooo good to hear her talk about her book, and it was good just to see her again. I learn something and increase in wisdom everytime we talk. And you know I am down with that, man!!!

Hanging out with her is like hanging with Oprah Winfrey! lol

That's the extent of things. Besides that, I ran some errands and yacked on the phone. It was a nice quiet weekend. And that is exactly what I needed.


Movie of the Week. 12 Years a Slave.

It was in limited release, only on 19 screens in the country, and it was playing on 2 or 3 screens in the ATL. I went to an early show in Midtown, and there were about 25 people in our theatre.  I think they were playing it on 3 screens in that theatre.

That was some craziness. Don't get me wrong, it was good and all. But that was some pure craziness. I caught myself mouthing a few times "What the f***!!!"

And you know me... I don't open my Good Book of Cuss on the regular. I keep it buried in the backyard of my mind, just behind the Anger and Hateration Trees. It was open during that movie, though. Good grief.

When it was over, we all just sat there. No one moved. And when we did leave, we filed out quietely. I even felt strange leaving, and going outside. The sun sure looked totally different. I tell you. It sure put all these high class problems we have in perspective. I was glad to go home to a nice house. I was glad to park my nice automobile in my nice garage.

The lead actor is a British black man. I don't see no doggone African-American actor playing that part. He played that part to the hilt. My hat off to that dude.

Good movie. Nope, I don't want to see it again. Tooooo brutal.

But it was excellent. It will get nominated for EVERYTHING. No doubt about it.

Song of the Week.  Some Old school! The O'Jays!!!



Oh my! They know how to beg, don't they?  LOL

That is all for today! Work is quiet. NOTHING going on. Waiting for things to get back crunk up. Hope it don't be too long!

You all have a nice week. On purpose.

Friday Freestyles... The Freed Hostage Edition

TGIF!

*throws plenty glitter*

And yes... I, a gub'ment employee, have been set FREE!

*backflips*

Yes. We are off furlough. 16 days of being held hostage by the absolutely best governing body in the world indeed!

*ladylee shakes off invisible handcuffs and walks out the door*

You know, I haven't been really looking at the news. It's just too much garbage to deal with. I figured when it was all over, someone would alert me. My goal has been to enjoy my life regardless of other people's tomfoolery.

So why in the world was it my favorite writer in the whole wide world, Tayari Jones, saying "I think it's all over."

And Tayari is running around France right now. Goodness. She heard about it alllll the way over there.

LOL

We were playing words with friends and she mentioned it in a chat. I was a bit bummed about it, as I was expecting at least a month off. But like she said, people have to get back to work. And that is true.  If it could take the rest of the month off, I would. But I don't think that would go over too well. Time to go back to work.

But as for me? I text my boss on Thursday Morning. I told her. "I don't know what's going on, but I will see you on Monday. I have appointments and things to do."

She called me while I was at my doctor appointment. I was thinking... Man, I'ma go off in this chick if she say I have to come in today.

She was calling me to alert me that the government was officially back open (before we left, I told her to text me to let me know, because I wouldn't be partaking of the news). They were having a meeting that morning to figure out what to do about paychecks, etc.

And that was my thing. I would only come in if I had to fill out a time sheet. And she said they were trying to figure all that out. There's not much to do anyway. It may take until next week for things to get crunk back up.

So alas, they won't see this Oldgirl until Monday.

Interestingly, they are going to do all this over again in January or February. I'm not sure why my leadership can't get it together. It brings up this week's Quote of the Week.

"Don't fart, then point at the dog."

We did that as kids. Sit there and pass gas... then holler "That wasn't me! That was the dog!"

I know back then, my poor dog Keesie would;ve cussed me out if she could.

Jon Stewart said that on his show, concerning the republicans causing this mess... then blaming the democrats.

Own your mess, republicans. You shut the country down and caused all this confusion, all because the President wouldn't bow down. Way to go, President Obama.

It reminds me to own my own messes and stop making excuses, and for goodness sake, don't blame other people for my problems.

This has been a pretty good week. I hung out with my father, which was hilarious. For some strange reason, he is more talkative with me now. We can actually have a conversation, instead of sitting there watching cowboy movies.

This time, we watched an episode of Cheaters together...

O_o.

And he has some interesting ideas about this whole furlough mess. He is concerned that I crochet too much. I told him that I can't just sit silently and watch TV. I have to be doing something. And that something is crocheting. I told him he should learn. This caused a raucous.

Their house is super quiet. I know his sister was like Lawd have mercy, they making up too much noise.

I had an appointment yesterday with my hematologist. My blood seems to be okay, even though the numbers are a smidgen below normal. My iron is a point below normal. (But I am no longer anemic according to my rheumatologist; seems as if they use two different scales. O_o). My iron storage is waaaay up, and where it is suppose to be. So I don't have to get checked for another 3 months.

I'm not going through anymore iron infusion cycles. Those are $250 apiece, and I have to have at least 3. I better be able to spin and turn into Wonder Woman if I go through that mess again.

And that's a good thing. Still paying off the medical bills for all that. Sigh.

But I am thankful that nothing serious was going on. Any blood issues I have are minor and due to my lupus. And that is fine. Hopefully things will go on to get better and better.

Video of the Week.  Happy Birthday.  One of the Platinum card carrryin' Original Oldgirls celebrated a birthday yesterday. Her 49th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Chele.

I might get busted up for snatching her Youtube competition video. But she is up in Virginia, and I am in Georgia. She gonna have to catch me! LOL

Chele has been doing some body competition.



Get it, Chele! Go girl! I said, Go girl!

Man. If I had a body like that, I would be wearing a sparkly bikini all the time... to work, to the store, to church. EVERYWHERE!!

LOL!!

I like Chele. I've learned so much from her. She has been such an asset, from afar. That's how I want to be. I remember she came to the ATL one time. I wanted to meet her, but I was too afraid. She might speak to me and I pass out, right there on the hard concrete.

Yes indeed.

Happy Birthday Chele. And many many more!

Song of the Week. I haven't been listening to much music lately. It is difficult to come up with songs of the week. One one old song sticks out this week. One by Janelle Monae.



See, I like her mellow music. I don't like her  dance music, when she's jumping around. That's just too much going on.

Well that is it for me. I am about to go run the streets. This is my last day out. I have been off work for 2.5 weeks. Not by my choosing, though. But I have made the best of it, just the same.

You have a good weekend. On purpose.

Mice Tales, Part II

Click here for Mice Tales, Part I

Last week, I posted about a problem I had with mice some 20 years ago while living in a neighborhood less than a mile from my current residence. Thankfully, I haven't had any problems since then. But my best friend had a problem.

This wouldn't normally bother me, but it did this day. This had to be some 13 years ago. I was living in New Orleans at the time, and I would come home to Atlanta, a six hour drive away, to visit during time off. And during this time, I would sleep over at different friends houses just so I could get to hang out with everyone.

This one particular evening, the evening before I was to return to New Orleans, I'd planned on spending the night with my best friend LadyTee. I arrived at her place pretty late in the evening, around 10 at night. She'd already had the sofa made up for me, and we were sitting up watching television and talking.

"Uh, we saw a mouse in the kitchen last night," LadyTee said.
"What?!"
"A mouse."

And she went on to describe what happened. I think she cut on the light and there it was staring at her.

I immediately shuddered, thinking about my run-ins with the mice in my old place. "I can't stay here. Not with no mice."
"It's alright," she said. "I'm just letting you know, just in case you hear something."

O_O

"And I ain't worried about it. I got a trick for his ass."

I don't know what she meant. I didn't even ask, because I was sure I didn't want to know.

I decided instead to get up and go get some of those humane mouse traps that were useful in my own mouse issues. So I left her house and headed for the local Wal-mart. She lived in a neighborhood in the southern suburbs, and it's really dark out there with lots of woods. I had to take back roads to get to the Wal-mart.

And that's when I was spotted by the police.

I noticed in my rear view mirror that a cop was following me. He didn't have his lights on but he was following me.

Eventually he turned his lights on.

Do you think I stopped?

Nope. Not on no dark back roads. I am not a black male, but I'm still black. And one thing you don't do, especially in Georgia, is stop for the police in remote areas. He could've been a fake cop. Or worse, a dirty cop. I wanted no parts of that.

So I slowed way down. And I didn't stop until I reached the Wal-mart parking lot. Up near the front entrance.

The cop walked to my car, hand on his holstered gun. I let down my window.

"You didn't stop back there," he said.

"No I didn't. I was looking for a well lighted area. Sorry."

"You have out of state plates," he said. "Texas."

"That is because this is a rental car."

"Did you dump trash back there on the back road? Some trash bags."

I just looked at him. There was NO way I was going to be jumping out of my car dumping trash on a back road. No way.

"No I did not," I replied.

"We just had a report of someone dumping trash," he said. "That's why I stopped you."

"Sir," I said. "My friend has a mouse in the house. I was just coming up to Wal-Mart to get some mouse traps and some peanut butter. I am spending the night at her house, and I need to leave early in the morning. I just want to get some sleep without having to worry about a mouse."

He just stared at me.

"That's all I was trying to do," I said.

With that, he told me to have a good evening. I think he could see the fright in my eyes. This Oldgirl was not out illegally dumping trash. This Oldgirl was afraid of a mouse.

I bought the traps and we set them up. I still slept pretty light that evening.

Nothing was caught in the traps. Not sure how I felt about that. All I know I was getting away from there and making the drive back to New Orleans. I hoped she worked it all out.

A few days later I talked to LadyTee. "Did you catch that mouse? He still roaming around?"

"No babes," she said. "I think we got rid of it. I came up with a foolproof method."

"How?"

"This is what I did," she said. "I bought a can of beef stew. Then I mixed in some of that D-Con rat poison.

And then I put it in an aluminum pie plate and placed in the back yard, way back there by all them bushes over by the fence."

"Alright," I said. I had no idea where she was going with that.

"Then I went on back to house and went to bed."

"Uh, alright," I said again.

"When I woke up the next morning, I looked out the kitchen window, and that pie plate was gleaming in the sunlight.  Sun was just reflecting off it. Those mice and rats had licked the plate clean."

"What?"

"Yeah, girl," she continued. "I fixed them rodents. Teach 'em not to mess with me."

"Uh, but, what if a dog or cat got hold of that stew," I asked.

"That's not my problem," she said. "Dog or cat shouldn't have been in my yard. I'm trying to kill some mice here. They should've stayed out of my yard."

O_o.

Her unorthodox methods seem to work.  She didn't have any more mice problems for the couple of years she lived in that house.

We still talk about that 'til this day, the aluminum pie pan licked clean and gleaming in the morning sunlight. It was sort of a badge of honor for LadyTee. She is still proud of her ingenious master plan.

I just found it funny.

I'm not sure I would do the same. Too many stray cats running around my house.

I will let the cats do the dirty work of catching the mice.

That's one heck of a mouse tale.

I am so glad I don't have many to tell. 

Ten Tuesday Thoughts

1. I am loving the cool fall days. It's a big change from all the heat or summer. My electric bill is nice and low. And a bonus- no monsoon rains!! Glory!

2. I have reached the 5000 mile mark on Lucy Junior.  I drove that in only a little over 6 months, which is odd, as I usually only drive no more than 6500 miles a year. I think it was all of those doctor appointments way out in the southern 'burbs. That's a lot of driving, even for me.

3. Good movie:

It's a zombie movie. Scared me so bad that I missed a crochet stitch. Sigh. Odd, because zombies move slow in all the movies I have seen. These were moving very fast. My goodness. As you can see in the poster, they will climb each other to get at what they want to get at. It was some pure craziness.  

4. Another good movie

 If you see it, see it in 3D Imax. My goodness. It felt like I was floating in space right along with Oldgirl.  Interestingly, I went to church on last Wednesday morning and the minister talked about it for 10 minutes. He pulled a whole spiritual principle out of the movie. Had me a little O_o at first, but man, it made plenty good sense. If I could figure out how to post it as a food for thought, I sure will.

5. This year marks 15 years since I received my Ph.D.  It doesn't feel like it was that long ago. But I understood through that experience that all the things we go through in life are temporary. It may be painful, but it is temporary. Everything has an expiration date. Even our lives.

6. Book I am reading right now:
   

This is a very good book. This man has some very good ideas about creation, Noah's ark, the pyramids, Atlantis, Angels, Jesus, and much much more. Very enlightening read. I am learning a lot. And that's a good thing.

7. Quote of the day:  "All change begins with a decision. And a decision means that you cut off all other options."  

8. Another Quote: "Challenges come in life. Everyone has them. The important thing is how you respond to those challenges. For the way you respond to those challenges show who you truly are."  Just heard that one while sitting here watching from T.D. Jakes program..

9.  It is going to rain tomorrow. That means I need to get out here and cut the grass. Sigh. I think I will do the front yard today and the back yard tomorrow.

10. Favorite morning drink: The juice of a ripe lemon in 50 ounces of water. It takes me an hour to drink that, and I am running to the bathroom every 15 minutes, but I feel so much better during the day when I do. I am more likely to not become dehydrated, and It helps to start the day off right!

Good Monday Morning... The Hostage Edition

Good Monday Morning!  Happy Columbus Day!!

Ah yes! This is when we celebrate the "discovery" of the Americas! Happy Columbus Day!

And yes even on this holiday, we the gub'ment employees, are still being held hostage.

I think we still are. Somebody better text me and and let me know if it is over yet.

I haven't been paying much attention to the news.

Once they get all crunk up about it, I turn the the channel to something more... palatable.

So this is Day 14.

Got us all looking like this right about now.

We all have that... Hostage Face.  That face says a plethora of things: sad, annoyed, tired, etc.

Hostage face.

I am mostly annoyed. For high class reasons, of course.

I think the strangest thing, however, is the unknown... Not knowing when it's going to be over. Will this be over tomorrow? Next week? Next month?

Or... Next year?

*clutch the pearls... and throw them hard against the wall*

I, the Oldgirl, don't want to think about that.  One thing I hate is worrying. I don't care for fear with no basis for it. Fear with no grounds is just ugh....  Fear because of scenarios playing on the movie screen of my mind.......O_O.

Interestingly... we are highly trained in that, aren't we?

Not I. I rebuke ALL that.

My confession:  "I am good 'til January and beyond!!"

Another confession... "My money is long... like the lil' boy in the bible with the 2 piece fish dinner."

Yeah. When Jesus took his food, blessed it, and it fed 5000 and had much left over.

Long money. That long.

Yes indeed.

I am laser focused on that. Not looking to the left, right, or behind, but focused on that. I will let the rest of ya'll worry about these crazy issues in our government.

Anyway, it's been a good weekend. The weather was BEAUTIFUL. I was kind of tied down to the house, because my sister said she was coming over on Saturday. Her cell phone is broken, AND she has her landline forwarded to her cell phone, so there is no way to reach her. So I hung around the house waiting on her. She came over at the time she said she was coming (4 pm), but with her, you never know.

She was supposed to come back on Sunday. I didn't see her, and I couldn't reach her.  When I did finally talk to her, she wasn't coming over. We need some type of system, so that if we can't catch up with each other, we can leave notes on my coffee table for each other or something. Normally, I would help her with her cell phone (costs $190), but NOT while I am a hostage. That's below the line. Sounds like a high class problem, anyway. And she seems to enjoy not having the phone on. Just like when she cut off her cable. She doesn't watch television much anymore.  And she loves that.

"Feels good to not be all plugged in, don't it?" I asked her.

"Yes. I get so much more done," she said.

She is going through this thing right now where she wants to juice. I am looking at her a little crazy, because this chick is the coca-cola queen. She loves her junk food. She knows I juice, but I am always a little taken aback if anyone asks me about anything concerning it. I am not exactly the picture of health. I am not a health nut in the least. Go find someone who is in fantastic shape and eats perfectly, etc. Leave me alone. I have had to get over my own mental tripping about all that, and be useful and helpful. You would be shocked at the amount to folk I have helped. Still it bothers me.  It is one of my idiosyncrasies that I have to work on.

But on Saturday, I took her to one of my favorite juice and smoothie bars (one that doesn't fool with all that adding in yogurt and peanut butter and all that trendy stuff), and let her look around and order and buy some of their packaged juice concoctions to see which ones she liked.  She is having much trouble with the kale based juices...

Sigh. Gonna be a problem. Hope she works it out.

I am getting a TON of things done. I am making the best out of funky situation. I am sure this will be over soon. I hope so for those who have really been left looking crazy money-wise.

Quote of the Day:  "If someone walks out of your life, that means that they are not critical to your destiny."

That's a good one. I could do a full post on that one. But instead, we will just let that marinate.

Song of the Day:  I was looking for the updated version of this song, and came across the original.



Gee. I didn't know this was the original song. We know we will remake any song we can, won't we? Goodness.

I like this original version better. It is slow. And definitely Oldschool. You know how I feel about Oldschool.

Alright. That is it for me. Look out for posts all week!

Have a good week! On purpose!

Friday Freestyles... The Chitlins and Fresh Produce Edition

Good Friday afternoon...

*throws glitter*

So today was payday! I received half a check. I wasn't expecting that.

No payday two weeks from now. That will be odd. That is unless we go back to work next week. Half a paycheck again.

I doubt that will happen. And I am not particularly monitoring the situation.

I am not watching the news. It's kind of hard to do, since I want to know what the weather will be like. I have resorted to looking up the weather on one of the weather websites.

If I hear the word "shutdown" one more time, I'm gonna throw a brick through the screen.

I just can't take the words... the plethora of negative words. And I am sitting there taking in all the negativity.

It is akin to me staying at someone's house. And the host feeds me chitlins.

Chitlins for breakfast.

Chitlins for lunch.

Chitlins for dinner.

And they are "questionable" chitlins, i.e, chitlins that haven't even been properly cleaned.

*ladylee separating out the hairs and debris out of chitlins as she eats*

Chitlins. Day after day after day.

And what is this... day 10 or 11?

Sooner or later, I'm gonna be feeling pretty crummy.

And that's how I feel about this whole mess. It's bad enough to have to sit and wonder when we will be going back to work. The best case scenario for me would be to go back to work sometime in November. I could use a whole month off. And if we get back pay? Oh, that would be the bomb. This would essentially be a vacation.

But I just can't sit here and feed on the news cycle... morning, noon and night. I'm just not that strong.

I tell you what, though. I have been enjoying the cheese out of going to Wednesday and Friday morning bible study. I sure am sitting in the pew with a big gigantic smile on my face, happily taking notes.

I almost wanna holler "GLORY"!!

It is akin to me staying at someone's house... and the host feeds me fresh fruits and vegetables.

Produce for breakfast.

Produce for lunch.

Produce for dinner.

Day after day after day.

And what is this... day 10 or 11??

Ahhhh yes. Sooner or later, I'm gonna be feeling pretty good.

So that's the way I feel about that. I am making the best of it. I'm in a good situation in that I have savings and I can just cut myself a check from savings every two weeks. Annoying, but no big deal. And I am using this time to get a lot of things done. I make a list of 10 to 15 things to per day, and I write it out on a big piece of construction paper. I stick it to the wall and I get busy myself with it all day.  I cross off tasks as I complete them. I am also doing quite a bit of walking, which has been great since the weather is so nice.  It is absolutely perfect for outdoor activities.

I am also doing a TON of crocheting. I am working on Bliss' fourth and final baby blanket.

Bliss said she likes yellow. At least I think she said that somewhere. If not, OH WELL.  Oldgirl is getting a yellow blanket. If she doesn't like it, she better regift it...

Or use it to cover the dog. 

LOL!

That square above took about 10 minutes to make. That was back on September 30th. I am almost finished with that blanket now. I'll be finished by Monday. I have a post coming up on that.

Lawd have mercy, I don't usually bust out a blanket THAT fast. All this time off is making me a crocheting bandit!  I wanted to be finished by November 1st, but I will be done by the 15th, easy.

The whole neutral gender blanket thing is really starting to have me O_o, so I'm washing and packing these suckers up soon and shipping them to her. They are all stacked in a bag in a corner, taking up precious room. Time for them to be stacked in the corner of the babies' room! (Uh, you need to email me, Bliss. I don't know your address. And Texas is a big state, honey. I can't just send those... randomly.)

So I have been super busy. And I notice too, whatever little personal issues and problems I have have intensified. They have always there, sort of fuzzy and in black and white. But now, they are like, magnified 10x bigger, in 3D Imax, and full technicolor. I guess things become a bit glaring with all this time off.  And that's a GOOD thing. Yes it is.

All the reason for me to take time and grab hold on to them and work on them.  Work those issues out.

And I rather do that then watch the news. I can tell you, I feel much better. Much better.

Keeping busy seems to be the key. My money is managed a tad more tightly now, which has me a bit annoyed (and yes, it is a high class problem).

But I am sure we will all get through these things. Our special leadership in Congress will get an unction to go play a little golf or do a little yachting during these fall days. They'll suddenly figure something out.

Indeed.

Song of the Day.  Gonna turn the tables on ya'll today with a song from one of my favorite country CDs.



Oh my. Loretta, Dolly and Tammy made a CD together some 20 years ago. I bought it the day it came out. Such a good CD. I still listen to it. I know every word of the song above. Loved-ed it.

LOL.

So that's it for me today, people.

Y'all make sure to clean your fresh produce thoroughly...

And clean your chitlins with care. Really.

And...

You all have a good weekend... ON PURPOSE!