Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

This is the first Thanksgiving that I am doing absolutely nothing. And that is by design and on purpose. No cooking, no visiting, nothing. Just resting.

And for that, I am VERY thankful...

I'm a little miffed with myself for getting up and cleaning up the kitchen, but hey... it has to be done, right?

But I am thankful for this day. I am thankful for everyday.

And I am thankful for you.

So enjoy your day!

Good Monday Morning...

Alas...

It is Monday morning.

I tell you, my days are all meshing together. I have worked 2 Saturday's straight, so I am not getting much of a weekend buffer. And I am bone tired. This is not good.

But I am just trying to keep up. And I don't really plan on working next weekend. No sir. Not if I can help it.

I am looking forward to thanksgiving because it is simply a day off for me. I am waaaay thankful for that. Heck man, I might just fast that day. That would be... interesting.

My goal this weekend was to make sure I went out and did some things I enjoy. So on Friday night I attended my Women of Color Writing workshop. I loathe the whole Friday evening thing, especially since I am tired and have to rush, but once we get settled down and started, I am pretty content. I always get some decent material, and I love to hear the other ladies share their work. We all have such different voices and it is a wonderful thing hearing our takes on the same writing prompts.

We wrote a bit of haiku, and I wrote 2 stories that I will probably post pretty soon.

I also got up with the chickens on Sunday Morning and went to church. This is O_o because I rarely attend church on Sunday. I catch the internet stream. When I go to church, i like the Friday morning or evening bible study. I like to support the smaller gatherings, as my church is a mega with a gazillion locations. So that was good and gave me much to think about.

And afterwards I went to the movies. I saw the second installment of the Hunger Games trilogy.

Catching Fiya!

That was a good movie.  Especially since my favorite actor Jeffrey Wright was in it.

I almost shouted "GLORY!!!" when he appeared on the screen. Such a delightful surprise. I was grinning with MUCH glee.

Like I said, it was a good film. It ended with one heckuva cliffhanger.

Not good when you're in the 'hood. Yes, I went to see it at a black theater. Folks were HOT about the cliffhanger. The movie was already two and a half hours long.

I wanted to turn around and holler "Did ya'll jokers read the second book? It's suppose to end with a cliffhanger. Now SHUT UP!"

I thought better of it. I didn't want to get into a fist fight over a movie. Humph.

The final book will be split into two movies, coming out in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

The problem is that the final book was the most depressing book I have ever written. I am not sure how they will pull off the film adaptations, but my goodness, I know they will lighten it up. Please lighten it up. If they don't, I'm not sure I will be seeing it. Yes, it was that depressing. And understandably so.

After the movie, I ran by the job for all of 15 minutes. I had to make sure that the things I set up on Saturday had finished up. Nothing worse than coming in on Monday Morning and nothing worked right. Luckily it did. I would love to get to work at or around 6:30 am. I have a dental appointment with the lovely Dr. Watson at 4. I need to get 8 hours of work in tomorrow. I have to leave at 3 to get across town on time. We will see how that goes.

I hope this week is slower.  Just a little slower. Please, please, please.

It has given me pause. I am thinking a little at least about looking for other employment. It is interesting that that comes to mind. I am just terribly bored right now, and uh, I ain't got the energy to be working 50 hours a week. No ma'am.

But it is just a thought.

And we can't overlook thoughts.

Because thoughts are... seeds.

And if you have read over here for any length of time, you know how I feel about seeds and trees and fruit and roots and all that...

Hmm...

I stopped by Whole Foods after leaving work. Something really nice happened. In the checkout line, my little clam shell of blueberries flipped open and I lost about 1/3rd of my blueberries on the conveyor belt. Of course I wasn't going to keep those. I scooped up the bad ones and handed them to the cashier so he could throw them in the trash.

A white lady two customers back said "You want me to go get you another thing of blueberries?"

"Uh, no, that's alright," I mumbled, a little taken aback by the question.

"I can run get another. I'm just standing in line."

"Uh, okay," I replied reluctantly

She left her hand held grocery basket there and ran and got me some more blueberries. I thought that was nice of her.

I say that because all we hear in the news is how awful black folks are and how much white people hate us and all this foolishness. It seems as if we are inundated with it all, constantly. And here is someone who saw that I had a issue, however minor, and she was happy to help me.

That meant much to me. It reminded me of the most amazing 15 minute conversation I had when I test drove Lucy Junior. One of the things the seller, Lady M, a nice white chick, said "I always take people at face value and treat them equally. Only 1 or 2% of any race has 'problems'."

I forgot what caused us to get in that discussion. But if you think about it, that's very simple and a very good way to look at things. I think she is right. However, it flies in the face of what the media is saying. And for some reason it has stuck with me.

I remember going home that night after test driving Lucy Junior just very thankful for a 15 minute conversation that solved many of my issues at the time.  I remember thinking that I was probably not going to get the car. Maybe the whole point was to have that conversation.

My prayers that evening were peppered with thoughts of that. "I don't even have to buy the car," I said. "I just feel a whole lot better about everything after that converstion that healed my ratchet emotions about this car thing."

I was very thankful for that. For it would have been highly incredulous to stumble across the exact same car that I had just totaled.

The conversation was the cake. The car purchase was the icing on the cake.

Man... If I ever write out all of my thought on Lucy Junior. Hmm... Goodness.

So glad I now have some thoughts about blueberries to remind me of it all.

Song of the Week.  "Sixteen" by Rick Ross and Andre 3000. (Warning: got a couple of cuss words in it).



One of our workplace maintenance men likes this song a lot. Big Z raps and DJ's on the side, and I was lamenting that there was not much good rap music out there like back in our day some 25 years ago. Sigh. So he recommended the latest Rick Ross album, and he likes this song in particular. ("It's 'Grown Men' music", he hollered with the hard head nods.)

I don't like Rick Ross. Dude, rap about more than Maybachs and Ciroc and running women and "bricks" (drugs).

But I love Andre 3000. We're both College Park/East Purnt!

Rick Ross became a footnote on his own song. He should've just sat in a corner and given Andre 3000 the whole song.

And I like this production team, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. league. They make great beats.  Can I PLEASE get a CD of all their instrumentals. WOW!

That's it for me.

I'm going to try to not get all burnt out this week at work. My goal is to NOT work on Saturday. Nope. Can't do it. I am too old for all this. Man.

This is just one more week for me. I have no plans for Thanksgiving. Haven't much thought about it. I have to work all week since I didn't put in for vacation time. But that is okay. Like I said, my goal is to not get all burnt out. I am bone tired and I sprained my back a couple of days ago. I should be laying my tail down somewhere.

I am thankful every single day. That is my goal for the week. For the year, really.

You have a very good Thanksgiving week! On purpose.

Friday Freestyles... At Last

Friday!

At last!!

GLORY!

I have been waiting for the weekend. Why?

Not because it is payday. (Well yes it it is. And I am ecstatic about that).

But because I have been working like a DOG.

Oh my.

I worked all day last Saturday. I hope I don't have to work this Saturday. We will see.

Anyway, I don't have much to do this weekend. I would like to go see the new Hunger Games movie, but if it's too cold outside, then I won't be going anywhere.  And I'm definitely not going anywhere if it is raining. I have a writing workshop on Friday evening. I really don't like this Friday evening format, because I am bone tired at the end of the week (and Friday night is my church night, too), but once I get there and start writing, I am good.

Every leaf in the world has fallen in my yard. So I have to get out there with a leaf blower and work some things out. My blower is electric, and I found out very quickly that my 25 ft cord is not going to work out. So I need to spring for a 100 ft cord and work it out.

That's going to be interesting to watch. I can hear my neighbors whispering "oh my" as they see me running around in the yard in a upsweep of dead leaves. LOL

Anyway, something interesting is going on down in the parking lot of the baseball field.  Some type of holiday festival of lights.

And it is literally lit up like Christmas. It is a sight to see.

All the monuments and popular places of the world are there. Even the Eiffel Tower.

Not sure what this is, but it looks like something out of China.

And oh my, is that the White House situated between Big Ben and the Golden Gate bridge.

I think the Taj Mahal is around there.

I found a advertisement on youtube:



It is a sight to see. It's going to generate a lot of traffic, which means that I need to start taking my alternate route home. I don't want to be caught up in all that.

If I had a child, I would take him or her. But I don't. I will just drive by and look at the lights. It is a bit pricey, so if someone has 3 or 4 kids, they're going to drop some money.

That's it for me! I hope you stay warm and dry this weekend! On purpose!

Some Things Shouldn't be so... Blue

So... I was walking around Tarjay last week and I came across this:

O_O

Really... Blue cake.

*silence*

Man, really?

Let me tell ya'll something. If I EVER come to ya'll's house and you try to offer me some blue cake...

I will politely say "No thank you. I will have a piece of bread. Thank you.

I remember eating the blue jolly ranchers when I was a child. They turned my lips and tongue blue.

Yes, blue dye does that to you and I.

I would imagine eating blue cake would not only turn my lips and tongue blue, but also my throat and stomach... and everything else.

So uh, I don't think I will try that. I can understand the cake right next to it, the multicolored cake.

But blue cake... Maybe this is as common as red velvet cake (and that is something I don't like because it is so... red), but blue cake...

I'm just not ready for that one yet.

But I'll let you go get that... Let me know how it is!

Good Monday Morning... The Peach Brandy Edition

Good Monday Morning!

It's really good here this morning in the ATL, especially since the sun is shining. It was cold, rainy and drizzly all weekend. It was enough to make me want to just pull the covers over my head this weekend and not get out of bed.

But alas, that wasn't the case. I worked on Saturday. ALL day.

This is a rarity. I like my weekends of leisure. But I have so much to do. Interestingly, we have 2 people out, and of course, this being the government and all, the workload ratcheted up. So there's just not enough time to get all that I need to get done during the week.. So that meant working 8.5 hours this weekend. I worked from 7:30 am-4:30 pm.

At least I got there at 7:30. A couple of other people got there at 5 in the morning.

O_O.

"But it's still nighttime at 5 a.m.," I told them. "It's still nighttime around that time!"

But they were there. Bright eyed and already working. I told the youngster of the group, Supersonic Sushi, "You must've come STRAIGHT from the club!"  LOL

That was a long long day. I'm not sure what I even did when I finally went home. I just don't remember. I was exhausted.

My sister Kentucky came over on Sunday morning. She was on her way to the Farmer's market. I thought about going with her, but since I'd worked all day Saturday, I had NO unction to go anywhere that early in the morning. Church was already on, the choir was singing hard and I was "there" via the internet. She left and returned a little later. We had a good discussion about hydroponic lettuce. (I happen to have some in the fridge, even though I don't normally buy it).

I am very proud of her. She has been doing her juicing and healthy eating. She feels much better. I think cutting out daily intake of sodas and fast food would make anyone feel better. So I am happy that she is able to do that, and I can help with some of her questions.  I am such a good big sister!

So...

On to the Picture of the Week.

We keep most of our snacks and whatnot up in my cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre's cabinet over her desk. I opened the cabinet the other day, and I saw this...

Peach Fruit spread... That's innocent enough.

But I didn't read it as Peach fruit spread...

"Oh Lawd... Cre got a fifth of Peach liquor up in the cabinet!"

She happened to be sitting there, working on her computer.

So much went through my mind in those few seconds. I had visions of a stressed out Cowgirl Cre opening the bottle and taking a few sips from time to time.

But I looked closer. And saw that it was fruit spread.

"Gal," I said. "I thought that was brandy!"

"No," she said.

We got a good laugh out of that... as my heart beat returned to normal.

LOL

It made me think of the Song of the week... "Ghetto Heaven" by The Family Stand



I like this video. It was made back in the days when videos weren't all glitz and glam.

They look like they just got off the bus... in some ghetto for real.

And I thought of this song because of the following verses...

'Nana likes brandy
Especially Peach
She keeps it by the radio
And listens to the Reverend preach
It's 10:07
Time to get some ghetto heaven.

Yes... time for 'Nana to sip some ghetto heaven.  'Nana has a drank while listening to the reverend. I don't do that. I clean up or crochet while listening to pastor!

Thank goodness The Cowgirl Cre ain't sipping ghetto heaven at work!

(I may have had to drank a little on Saturday when I was working hard. Humph).

I think that fruit spread is for her occasional morning bagel.

And that's a good thing. I don't know what I'd do if I had to share a cubicle with a lush.

Oh my!

With that said, I am out. I hope to get a few posts in this week.

Have a good week! On purpose.

The Mellow Yellow

I always name my adult blankets...

And this one is called "Mellow Yellow"

Back on October 15th, The Green Eyed Bandit asked if I could make a blanket for a young lady,  her son's friend who has just been diagnosed with bone cancer.  Yeah, I could do it, but I really need at least a couple of months or more to do that. But she wanted it a little sooner than later, so I set out to get it done in a month.

Normally, I would say no to this. Because if stresses me out to do big blankets on demand. Especially when I am on a time limit. It loses all relaxation for me. That's not good.

But first, the Green Eyed Bandit is my homegirl, so she has special privileges with me. Second, this is for a sick teenager with cancer. I understand the need for something warm in the chemo room, as I got my recent iron transfusions in a chemotherapy lounge. I was just there for a couple of hours at a time, once per week. But I learned just in general conversation with some of the chemotherapy patients that they are there 7 or 8 hours a day.

The room is cold. And the blankets are thin and generic. I was just there for a short time. I couldn't imagine being there all day.  Being warm and comfortable is a plus.

So I am sure this young lady has plenty of blankets. But the Green Eyed Bandit wanted something special. And so I decided to do it.

I was on furlough at the time, itching anyway for something to do since I was finishing up or had just finished The Four Bliss collection.

I have some cafe coffee colored yarn that I was about to use to make something else. We decided on that. She wanted yellow (yellow is the bone cancer official color, much like pink is the breast cancer color).  She had to hear me fuss and holler a bit, because man oh man... I tell you, it's like a scavenger hunt trying to find a specific color of yarn. AND it all has to be from the same dye lot, made on the same work shift. So not only do I have to track down the right color, I have to also check all the lot numbers printed on the label to make sure they will match up right.

Sigh. That means hitting at least 4 or 5 different stores.

I wasn't going to go through all that. Nope. We were going to go with the cafe coffee yarn.

BUT you wouldn't believe what happened.

I happen to be at the black people's Wal-mart over on the east side of town. Whenever I'm in a Wal-Mart, I peruse the yarn aisle. It's not as dense as it use to be... but it is always worth a quick look.

But lo and behold, I came across a new color I had never seen before... a color called "pale yellow".  I scooped all of it up...

All but one of the dye lot numbers matched. This is rare for me. I actually hit up another Wal-mart a couple of weeks later and came across the correct number. I scooped those up, too.  I needed 7 skeins of yarn for this project. I had 8. I would use the odd numbered one only if I needed to.

I told Bandit that I would do a throw. The full blanket is big and heavy. This throw is 20% smaller and a little lighter.

So you know how I like to document my blankets right?

Riiiiiiight!

So here we go...

I had to make some squares.

These take about 3 minutes apiece.

I can easily generate a good size pile of them while watching a good movie.

The problem is that I needed 600 of them. (This is down from 836).squares.

That's a lot of squares...

I made a good amount of progress during those last few days of furlough, but it don't bother me one bit to take a ball of yarn to work and crochet on my down time or during lunch.

(I am sure the boss doesn't like this. Oh well.)

For some reason, it gets a little hard when I almost finished up with squares. So by the time I'd made around 500 squares, I was wondering... geesh, will I ever finish making these squares?

Yes I would.

I had this plan where I would go hard on making squares on the weekdays, then I would hook them together on the weekends. There were 30 squares to a row, so I hooked those together, up one side...

And down the other...

And the resulting strips would be hooked together.




I needed 20 strips. Here it is at the halfway point.

(I placed balls of yarns on top of it. If I don't, that Oldcat Oscar-Tyrone jumps up on it and makes himself VERY comfortable. Sigh.)

Once the strips are finished, I have to do a ruffle on the ends.

I was happy about this. I have been itching to do a girly blanket. But for some odd reason, this "treble" stitch ruffle made my ring finger go a little numb. Uhhh... I was happy for that to be over.

Here is the ruffle.

And voila!!

Here's the final throw.... The Mellow Yellow

Oh how beautiful that turned out. I don't usually like girly colors, but I liked this one.  It was very nice and very soft. And I managed to get it done in 22 days flat. We calculated it taking about 80 hours. Didn't feel like it. But it went pretty fast.

And I still can't believe that I stumbled upon such a nice batch of yellow yarn.

Well Bandit, you better come and get it. I will NOT be driving way out to the boondocks to bring it to you! Better come get it!

And anyway, I would love to see you, Oldgirl.

This is definitely one of my favorite types of seeds to sow.  I am sure that I didn't happen across that specific color of yarn for no reason. Very sure of it.

I hope the young lady likes it.

I pray it is a source of comfort in such a hard time as this.

Oscar-Tyrone... The Constipated Cat

Look at Oscar-Tyrone with the profile shot!

Way to pose for a picture O-T, You Original Oldcat!!

  And of course he looks surly as always.

I've been looking at him and hollering "Lighten up, Shorty! Put a smile on your face!"

Of course this doesn't work.

He sleeps a lot.  And I know he doesn't want to be bothered with me when he slaps his paw over his eyes.  This was his special way of sleeping when I was on furlough.

I would stand over him and holler "HEY! WAKE UP!"...

And he'd  ignore me. He knows if he just stays still, I will eventually go away.

It always works.

But right now, Oscar-Tyrone has another problem. He's been constipated.

I have NO idea what brought that on. Well maybe I do. I have been experimenting with mixing his food with other types of food. That may have brought it on. And this little dude pees a lot, but he is having trouble with his bowel movements.

He's walking around slow like a little old man with his booty all tooted in.  I go off to work, hoping that I don't come home to him laid out, gone on off to Glory. Sigh. But by the time I get home, he has worked it all out. But while cleaning his litter, I notice is fecal matter is hard. That's not good.

I don't want to spend some insane amount of money on the vet. He has an appointment coming up soon, and I will ask then. For now, I looked around online. I saw something about giving him an enema.

O_O

Ugh, I am NOT trying to get all scratched up. Oscar never scratches or bites, but an enema would probably make him go ballistic. No way.

I needed to do something, though. He's all slow acting. And he really wants to be held. Even when I am trying to crochet.

I am NOT down with that.

So I looked around some more online. I saw something about pumpkin and psyllium. I have been mixing his regular expensive cat food with mashed pumpkin (pure, no sugar or oil added), pureed broccoli or mashed english peas. I have also added a fourth of a teaspoon of psyllium husk powder every other day. I am not all that happy about spending a couple extra minutes preparing his food, but I cannot deal with his moving all slow and looking surly AND pathetic.

And guess what? That did the trick. Especially the pumpkin. I tried carrots, and that had him back at square one. I'm not sure what that is about.

So peas and mashed pumpkin is where it's at for this little Oldcat.

Now he can be content and rest in the sun.

Oscar-Tyrone just turned 16. He's definitely an old man, and I imagine that he doesn't have many years left.

But at least he doesn't have to be constipated.

I am happy about that.

And I am sure he is too.

Friday Freestyles... The Guilty Pleasures Edition (Glory!)

Oh my...

A whole week has gone by and I have only put up one post. What is that about?

I have just been busy. I had to finish up this crochet project pretty quickly, and now it is done. My posts take awhile to do. I wish I knew how to do some 10 minute posts instead of them taking a hour or more.

And this is one of those short posts. It is a 10 minute posts.

I've been eating 2 huge salads a day. HUGE. This has been mostly a raw food week for me. Not sure why, but you know how my salads are. Good, good, good...

However, I was looking through my pictures on my phone and I saw some of the interesting really good food I had last week...

I pass a restaurant all the time that has the most amazing crawfish pasta. It is $20 a plate, and I just don't want to pay that much for that. And I haven't had it since 2007, so I know it cost more than that.

So I made my own...

Whoo-wee, that was GOOD. I don't need to let 6 years go by before I have that again. Glory!!

Kentucky is doing a juice fast right now. So she decided to bring over something left over from her last good meal: a slice of carrot cake.

I was looking at her sideways for this. Yeah, I'll take it. No need to throw it out. It costs $8 a slice. She could have frozen it, but I think she wanted it out of her house. I reluctantly took it.

I'm not sure what is up with all those chocolate chips, but it was good! Glory!

And Play Mama A sent me a picture of herself in LA at Roscoe's chicken and waffles. It made me want some waffles. I woke up one morning and rummaged around in one of my kitchen cabinets and found my old waffle iron. And I made a waffle!

Whooo-wee. That was sho nuff a good waffle! Glory!

Speaking of Play Mama A... Happy Birthday! She just had a birthday this past week. She celebrated with a trip to Los Angeles with her hubby.  They flew out of Atlanta and I took them to the airport. Here's a pic of them at my house.

Uncle Tony had on that BRIGHT neon yellow shirt. I can spot him from outer space in that shirt. I told him that he don't need to rob anyone, because he will get caught.

They left their SUV in my garage.

That thing is huge. I was surprised it would fit.

She just wanted to park it in the driveway. Uh, no. I live in the HOOD. Her truck would be gone. They'd take that quick!

It was odd leaving for work and running into that truck everyday. There was always that moment of "Where is my car? Where is Lucy Junior?"

I was glad to see her. And she had a cold. Nothing worse than vacationing while sick. She was coughing even when I picked them up from the airport Tuesday morning. I kept throwing individually packaged little antibacterial wipes at her.

And I was hollering "Girl, hold your head out the window when you cough!"

Poor thing. I hope she get well soon. Good to see her anyway. And to hear how nice Los Angeles is. I might have to trek on out there! (Click here to see her post about it. She took a TON of pictures. And came back with a lot of fabric!)

That's all for today.

I have a three day weekend coming up.

And today is PAYDAY!

*tosses dollar bills high in the sky*

GLORY!!!

This means I'm gonna have a good weekend! On purpose!

(As soon as I finish paying my bills).

You have a good weekend too... on purpose!

The Four Bliss Collection

So finally...

The crochet is all done.

The Four Bliss line, the exclusive baby blanket collection, is finished.

Blissfully crocheted by your Blissful Friendly Neighborhood Oldgirl Ladylee.

I am still trying to cop a decent box so I can mail them. So if anyone has one, drop it by my house.

Leave it on the front porch.

Thank ya kindly.

And enjoy your day!

Friday Freestyles... The Chicken Edition

Good Friday Afternoon!

It is November 1, 2013

And we have only 8 weeks until we ring in 2014.

And that means that we have only 8 weeks to meet the goals and resolutions for 2013.

No need to fret! Get up, you chickens! And put your favorite cat suit on!

Put that outfit on! Put your wings on your hips. Spread your feet apart. Stand strong.

Cause you know what you gotta do. Gotta get it done!

Whatever "it" is.

Lean forward, look the other chickens square in the eye, and let them know it's time to do what we gotta do.

Let's get it done! Let's make it happen!

Ha ha... I came across those pictures last night. I post them from time to time. They remind me to be confident!  And to stand strong.

Yes, it is Friday, and I am off from work today. I have things to do. Not much going on at work, so I decided to take the day off.

It is all dreary today in the ATL.  I don't have much action-wise planned today or for the weekend, just around the house. There is also a Triple F Posse meeting (financial freedom fighters) tomorrow, and I plan on going to that.

Pictures of the Week. Here's a picture of the halloween candy I gave out.

That good stuff! I also give out cookies.

The little 'hood children were especially interested in those.  Even the adults were jumping over their kids trying to get to those.

My coworker Supersonic Sushi's halloween shirt.

What was up with the halloween skulls being all upside down. Hmm.  She sits over there next to the other coworker who brings out the voodoo doll for halloween decorations.

I must remind myself to give them both a post it note with a nice bible scripture on them.

Congrats to Supersonic Sushi. The youngster was a contractor, but now she is an official gub'ment employee now. Bout time they brought her on permanently. Go chicken!  We can no longer holler "that crazy contractor"! Glory!

Song of the Week. This one goes out to Chocolate Drop and Lady Ang, both of who I saw at the last book club meeting... and both of who lurk on my blog pretty hard.

You have to be near or over 40 to remember this song!



I can't believe that song is 20 years old this year.  That chicken MC Lyte knew she could rap! I miss that!

I miss female rappers.

Correction: I miss female rappers who can rap with their clothes on.

Yes I do.

Anyway, that is it for Freestyle Fridays. Actually, part of this was last Monday's post, but I forgot to post it. So hey, better late than never!

You have a good weekend. On purpose!