August Favorites, Part II + Friday Freestyles

Friday!!!

Yes. And I type that in BIG font.

FRIDAY! PAYDAY!!

And it's the beginning of a 5 day weekend for me. That is right! 5 DAYS.

I don't come back to work until NEXT Thursday. How awesome is that.

And there is a holiday coming up.

Right there, you just got a few of my favorite things all rolled up into one tidy package!

Too bad it will be raining this weekend. I was considering going to Cowgirl Cre's family gathering. I don't know if that's going down now. I don't like driving distance in the rain. We shall see.

Anyway, more favorites...

Retirement.  Someone in the cubicle area is retiring today. Mr. Babu!

Bye sir! I didn't know you well, but holler!

He is in The Cowgirl Cre's workgroup. They had him working hard up until the end. I asked him yesterday, "Listen, you need some help packing up?"

He didn't respond. And I walked off.

I saw him walking around with his lab coat on. I just shook my head. He and I were fighting with the printer the other day, and I wondered silently to myself, why is he worried about it?

I asked Cre about it.

"Girl, he might be trying to print out his retirement paperwork. He needs that printer to work."

I hope. Looked to me like he might be trying to do some actual lab work.

You better HOPE I do some work when I am running up on retirement. Ya best catch me 6 months beforehand. It slows way down after that.

Alas, that is in the future.

Babu had a fabulous cake.

I am not sure what that line "See what happens is..."  I guess it means, see what happens after retirement is...

I think it's GREAT. I am always happy to see someone retire. Always. I took his picture. I congratulated him and gave him a hearty handshake. Enjoy your retirement!

August favorites continues. I have to say that the best movie I've seen all year is one I saw in August:

Oh my! I love sci-fi movies! This was sci-fi on some OTHER level.

That Lucy was a complete bad azz!

Just crazy! Scarlett J. played that part!

It is the story of a woman who gets forced into being a drug mule for some synthetic drugs. The folks sewed them into her intestines and the bag busts, and she gets an overdose of drugs that cause her to go from using 10% of brain to using a full 100% of her mind. Note: it is thought that we only use 10% of our brain capacity. The jury is out on that. Overall, I loved the hypothetical aspects of the movie.

So this chick goes from being someone who seems a bit esteem challenged to mind control and pure brilliance.

Here are the american and international trailers.





Now it got mixed reviews. I don't think that you would like it if you are not a fan of sci-fi. I think I liked this movie so much because I have been doing quite a bit of reading on the human mind, quantum science and how that all is tied into our spirituality. And for some reason, this movie skated real close to all of that in some way. So you know I enjoyed it. And the special effects were off the charts. It almost overloaded my mind, honey.

I want to find the bootleg and see it again.

LOL. I may just go see it again. It was that good to me.

August Favorite songs.  You know I been on some ol' Johnny Gill craziness. Here is a song that I'd never heard before. But I thought it was very nice. "In the Mood".




When did that song come out? Never heard it before this month. I don't listen to the radio, so I guess that is why I haven't heard it.

Another song on heavy rotation: "Rome's "I Belong to You"...



Hmmm... Those videos are a bit too racy for The House of LadyLee. Afterall, this is a rated G blog. And I am quite virginal, pure as freshly fallen morning snow. That is too much for my eyes.

But I like those songs.

That's it for my August favorites. I am sure you have yours.

My favorite real life funny of the day.

Boss glides up to my desk and starts a convo. And from left field (as usual) she kicks in a familar question.

"Can you act [as workgroup supervisor] the rest of the day?"

I stare at her, not believing she is asking this question.  My stare was similar to that of Sister Callie's.

It's that shell shocked look.

No one likes to be in charge when the supervisor is gone. I always lobby for the youngsters in the group to be in charge. But no one is going for that.

"What time you leaving?" I ask, when I snap out of my trance of unbelief.

"12 noon."

"Well I'm leaving at 12:01!"

She rolls her eyes.

"You better hope there's no catastrophe when you leave."

"Anyway," she says as she walks off...

So I am in charge the rest of the day.

I am going to go around and talk to everybody to see what they are doing. But they best have it all together by 3:00 pm., as the blinds of mind are slowly closing... Oh so slowly.

Yet I have the urge to stand up in the cubicle area and holler on purpose "Er'body can go home!!"

LOL.

That would be a hoot!

Alas, i can't do that.

But I can yell to YOU to...

"Have a good and safe holiday weekend!!"

On purpose.

August Favorites, Part I

The month of August is coming to an end pretty fast.

And I have this thing about reflecting on the highlights of my month.

One of those highlights involved my FAVORITE author in the whole wide world, Tayari Jones.

Now if you haven't read this blog much over the last 9 years, you won't know of allll my stalker stan antics concerning this chick.  She is my favorite author and I have harassed her endlessly. These days, I actually consider her my friend. Or it may be that she just think I am plum crazy. And it might be good to keep an eye on "crazy". But I don't think that's the case. She is Celie. I am Nettie. And she has mentored me in my own writing. Over the years, I have called her up and asked her some questions and she will answer. Now, I will debate her down about it. But she's the creative writer (and she also teaches on the universtiy level)... alas, I take her advice and it is always right. Always.

But she is one of the silliest people I know. I been somewhere with her and she will "jone" on folk. And that is hilarious.

But back to my highlight...

I have stalked her something awful over the years for bits and pieces of something to read, as she is always writing something interesting. I remember a couple of Christmas' ago being down at her Ma and Pa house over in SWATS (if you haven't read that post, read it -Christmas Eve with my Favorite author- it is quite funny), and talking smack about her giving me something to read, and that day she actually let me read a couple of paragraphs on her cell phone. I remember having thoughts of running out the house with that phone so I could read everything.

But we are both SWATS (Southwest Atlanta) girls. There would have been a huge fight in the front yard. And no, we don't want that.

But I tell you, it is always a joy...

To be sitting at my computer, and a new email pops up and it is from her...

And the subject line reads "something to read".

There is always a moment of ...

*silence*

And I want to shout:

GLORY!!!!

But I don't. Because the cubicle area is very quiet for the most part, save for the sounds of the air handlers.

I just quietly forward the document to my kindle address. And I may read a few pages while sitting there at my desk. But I usually read around bed time.

And I remember thinking "My goodness, this is awesome. I have no one to read or discuss this with."

So I go into stalker mode...

And I blow up her text messages. I know her phone was vibrating so hard that it jumped off the table.

Then I might read something particularly disturbing and I just MUST voice my opinion on it.

So I CALL her.

*phone ringing*

"Wassup," Tayari says.

"Man, listen...," I say with a hard sigh.

And she allows me to go on and on and on... and she tries to explain. And I go on and on... and she tries to explain more.

Oh. joy.

It may not seem like a "happy" moment... but how often does one even sit and read a book, and then can dial up the writer of the book and ask questions (or cuss and vent.) 

I CAN.

And that makes me happy. 

So thanks Tayari for the 250 pages of pure loveliness. I enjoyed texting you my favorite lines from the draft. And it was great talking to you about the characters.  It was such a a joy.

Please send the remaining 100 pages when you finish.  Immediately when you finish. Don't wait around. Because I want to know what happens.

Don't forget about me...

Don't let me revert to stalker stan mode :)

Prisoner of Love (Sing, Sister Callie Jo)

 "I'm a Prisoner of Love!!!!"

 "I'm just a Prisoner of Looooooooove!"

"GIMME THAT CAMERA, LADYLEE!"

 "I'm just a Prisoner of Love!"

 "Oh yeah, oh yeah... a Prisoner of Love"

 "Yes... I am just a Prisoner of Love."

Yes Sister Callie is a Prisoner of Love. I don't know what about the Love Part. But you're definitely a prisoner, Sister Callie.

I would rather her run free. And she usually does when I am at home. But during the day, she is in her cage, which sits in the dining room. And if she acts a fool at night (where I can't sleep because of her shenanigans), she stays in her cage.

She just has too much energy. There is nothing worse than hearing stuff crashing to the ground in the middle of the night. And the other day, she dragged my hair clippers from the living room to the kitchen. And she has poked holes in my shower curtain liner. Sigh.

Both she and Oscar follow me from room to room. If there is too much ruckus, I go to another room, and here they both come. She has even figured out how to crawl up in the box springs and the sofa. I don't know what she does inside each, but it is noisy.

So she goes in her cage.  I don't even have to tell her to go in. I just give her a look... and she knows, uh... time for me to be a Prisoner of Love.

And even then, she tares up stuff. Tracks it up with litter. Ugh. So it only gets cleaned real good once a week. (She doesn't seem to care.)

I like her better when she is like this....

And even then, you can tell she is looking at something, and her mind is working hard on how she is going to get to it and tare it up. (She is looking over at Oscar laid out on the ottoman. And moments later, she's gonna jump on him... shock him awake. And a fight ensues. And it is NEVER pretty. No indeed).

I really like her when she is like this...

Asleep. Calm.

She looks like she is dreaming... about taring up stuff. (In this one, she'd just finished eating some chinese orange glazed chicken. That knocked her completely out. Hmmmm).


Oh well, the life of a kitten who's getting bigger and bigger.

I'm just glad Sister Callie is happy and healthy...

...And she can be all that in her cage

LOL 

Congrats Little League World Champions

Some good news for a change...

In a time when black men and black boys are being ostracized and marginalized, something great happened. The first all African American Little League team won the United States Little League World Series Championship.

I wish it would have gotten more press. There are so many success stories out there, and this is one. I think it will remind some that we are highly accomplished and will continue to be.

I actually watched that nationally televised game. And it was a good one.  Even though they lost to the Korean International team, that is alright. I think it this is something they will remember the rest of their lives.

I was glad to watch.

Congratulations to you all. This is good news.

Good Late Monday Morning (Early Afternoon)

Good Monday Morning...

Good Late Monday Morning, that is.

Well now... good early Monday afternoon. 

I have a Friday Freestyles post (half written) to put up. But we will just leave it.

Detail... DONE. Yes! My detail is over. That's what my old group boss implied when she gave me the hard stare and said "You done over there?"

"That's up to you," I said.  "You have to go negotiate me out of there."

This ellicited the hard eye roll. So yes. I guess I am done. And I rather be done. If I have to smell anymore of this strong to.bac.co, I'm gonna scream.

It was an interesting experience. It was a "recon" mission of sorts. I just wanted to see what they were doing over there. And it was interesting. I will probably apply for the upcoming job announcement. It will be a promotion for me. But it is one of those things that if it doesn't work out, then oh well.

What I find interesting is that this is basically a white group. First of all, I work in a predominately black laboratory. I would go so far as to say that it is at least 70% black. And so there is this group of white folks, only 4 or 5, and folks look at them as sort of elitist. I must admit that it is unnerving to speak to a couple of people in that group and they return your greeting. Personally, I like to deal with the least amount of people as possible at work. (I am only interested in folks I'm supposed to be dealing with. I am bougie like that).

So I noticed during these past few weeks in the group that I get the question of "Are they racist?"

I would think not. Sometime folks don't want to be bothered. But we are in the south... and that is our first inclination.  But we have to ask ourselves, is it the truth?

And one thing I am learning is that truth and what we perceive to be true can sometimes differ... and often it does. 

So I have gotten a lot of questions of "How did they treat you?"

And my answer is that "I have been treated nicely."

And that has been my answer in meetings.

Now that is not to say, I have stayed away from a couple of folk. I only talked to them if I had a question. None of that small talk. And they sometimes go out to lunch together. You don't have to worry about me tagging along.

But I did take the technician for the group out for lunch. She's black, and I asked her how she felt about being in the group and how she felt in general. And that was a really positive conversation and experience. She's an older lady, and I am always glad to glean some wisdom. And I felt open to share my thoughts in general about the whole experience.

I RARELY go out to lunch. As a matter of fact, I've gone to lunch with folks from work MAYBE 3 times this year. I just can't deal with the bitch and moan fests. I don't want to gossip about people. I don't want to sow seeds of murmuring and complaining.   No way. That got old real quick.

So overall, it was a good experience. I learned a lot. I have a little something extra to throw on my curriculum vitae. And that's a good thing!

My Weekend. It was quiet. I like quiet.  I ran some errands. I did some grocery shopping. I cleaned up. And right now, I am very interested in cleaning up the laundry room, because my dryer died. So I need to clean up before they come out to deal with it. Seems like a blown fuse.

And I am itching to buy some new laundry room gear. Just itching. My washer and dryer were dirt cheap. I'm surprised they lasted this long.

But alas, that is not financially sound. I can afford it, but it is not the right thing to do.  Hopefully it is a mild fix. I think it is a blown fuse.

So I have a Celie Color Purple problem now. I am drying my clothes on a dryer rack.

Well, not quite a Celie problem. I am not trucking laundry out into the backyard and hanging them on a clothesline. So this makes it a HIGH CLASS PROBLEM. 

I only wash two, maybe three loads of clothes a week. And I hang all my pants to dry anyway. So this is not a big deal.

There was much discussion between myself and LadyTee concerning this "ordeal".

"Gal," she said, "set that rack out in the garage. Clothes'll dry in no time.Won't even take an hour."

She may be right. It was in the 90s in my beloved ATL this weekend. 

I'll test that theory out this week sometime.

But my towels are not the softest. You can see here that they look a bit rough...

Look at them, all wrinkly. I don't like that. I like soft towels.

HIGH CLASS PROBLEM!!

So I guess I will give my home warranty folks a call. I hope they can come out on a Saturday. I don't want to take off from work or nothing like that. That will inconvenience me... with my high class self.

Oh well... I will put that on my "to do" list.

Song of the Week. First of all, I've been testing out a Sirius XM subscription. I really like it. It is $14.99 a month, and if I find I am listening to it enough, I will keep it up.  I like black talk radio shows, so I have found a couple of daily shows I like. I also have been looking for a good praise and gospel station sans commercials and they have a couple of good ones I like on here.

I really like this song. "Great God" by Dietrick Haddon and LXW

I'm not a big gospel music listener, but it is good that I like some 80% of the music that is played on that station. I like music discovery, so if I hear something I like in general no matter the genre, I will go look up the whole CD or artist on my Spotify. That way I can have a better library of what I like.

So that's it for me.

August is coming to an end. Fall will be amongst us in no time.

So let's end the summer right... on purpose.

Big Birds (Everything's Bigger)

I enjoyed hanging out with my brother last week.

And I talked with him about what he thinks of Denver, the city where he is now stationed.

He thinks it's nice. Lots to do.

But he said something that caught my attention.

"Everything's bigger in Denver. Even the squirrels and birds are bigger."

"Big squirrels and birds?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, as he picked up his phone and peered at the screen. "I'll show you. Let me pull up some photos."

And that he did.

Here he is with Milk and Cookies, Junior... and some baby birds.

Both of them look rather excited. Especially Milk and Cookies, Jr. (Yet the boy hasn't mastered the megawatt smile of his father. LOL)

He said he'd come home from work and they were just sitting on the hood of his pick-up truck. He thinks the mother pushed them out of the nest in a tree in his front yard. So he put them in a shoe box.

And they looked like they were posing.

Look how furry they are. And look at the beak.

Those are big birds. They are NOTHING close to the little brown thrashers, blue jays, and red cardinals I see flying so lovingly around my beloved Georgia. Look at the beak on those things.

What the heck kind of bird is that? Is that a doggone vulture or something? Wow.

My brother said that the birds just sat there. They didn't do anything while he was watching them, but time they saw him look away, they would try to scurry away.

He said the mother picked them back up out of the yard. I guess they weren't ready to leave the nest.

And I guess everything is bigger in Denver. Those birds prove it.

Hopefully I will get out there to see for myself soon enough.

Food for Thought: Conditions, Circumstances, and Conclusions

For Lisa B. and Serenity23, since they looooove and crave my food-for-thought psots...

Here's a quote that I've had laying around for at least a year. And it speaks volumes to me every time I read it:

Never quit anything with long term potential because of your current conditions. Your current conditions are not your final conclusion.

That's only a few words, but it is power packed. Well at least to me, it is.

You know what I figured out a few years ago?

When I am highly upset about a situation or some mess that pops off, it is because I feel like it is always going to be like this. Instead of viewing it as a temporary matter, one that will be solved, I assume it will always be that way.

When in fact, my current conditions are NOT my final conclusion.

I'm not "stuck".

I like to read the above quote like this:

Never quit anything with long term potential because of your current circumstances. Your current circumstances are not your final conclusion.

One slight change in wording... means the same thing, but slightly different.

I feel, as I look around at society, and even within my own self at times, that so much is dependent on circumstances. We are SO trained in reacting to circumstances. Our emotions are wrapped so tight around them. And this is no big fault of our own. We come into the world like that. We are like that as children. And we are raised, and we become adults.

But we are still like that. Everything is dependent on circumstances.

Circumstances = the CIRCLE in which we STAND.

And this circle in which we stand... it is constantly moving. It doesn't stay in the same. It's like a spotlight moving all along the floor. Constantly moving and changing.

The older I get, the more I understand that my current circumstances are not the final verdict. And I don't need to react to them like they are the final conclusion to the matter. I have a whole treasure trove of personal experience, and when I mix that with a little faith, I can not let the circle in which I stand overwhelm my heart.

And that's a good thing.

And trust me, I am still working on it. 

One of the most glaring "current condition" moments of my life was back in 2002, when I was diagnosed with lupus. Once the doctor said, "Looks like you have lupus", all kinds of images formed in my mind, mostly of people who had died. And I remember hearing myself say what was on my mind at the time.  And it was something that came out...

"Is it fatal?"

He said no, you may outlive us all.

And just looking back over the past 12 years, through the ups and down, this chronic illness "circumstance", this circle in which I stand, has raised it's ugly head. Should I let it determine whether I buy this house or not? Should I buy this car? Should I travel? Should I tell reveal this to him? Will I be able to work? And on and on and on....

And I have to douse those fears with something someone told me...

You will work.
You will play.
And always remember, most importantly... you will live.

And I am glad I have those words. They are faith-filled words, so big that they are bursting at the seams. They are almost too big to hold on to. But I won't let them slip out of my arms... or my heart. 

I've had to take those words and give them to folks who are newly diagnosed. And let them know at the same time to go head on full speed ahead, to pursue their dreams, to do whatever they must do or desire to do. Don't let this "circumstance" cause you to quit.

With that said... the quote can be modified even further: 

Never quit because of your current circumstances. Your current circumstances are not your final conclusion. 

Really though.

And I say the same thing to you today.

And I remind myself of the same thing today.

Don't let the current circumstances dictate your life. They don't have the final word. Push forward.

So you REALLY got a food-for-thought today.  This had a freestyle personal feel to it, didn't it?

Take it and run with it... 

Lessons in Sharing, Part 2

When you have extra, always share with your friend.

Because sharing is pretending to be caring.

**9th Bloggaversary Sweepstakes Winners***

So alas... The Sweepstakes is over. And you chicks were in it to win it. I know because,there were over 300 comments. So yes, ya'll were serious. I know it must've taken me a few hours to write out the names of each commenter and to cut everything out. That right there was more than a notion.

There were over 3 pages of names of commenters and texters. So congratulations to you all for hanging in there for over 35 posts. That was some marathon run...

And our beloved Commander By is back from his top secret deployment mission on the West Coast.

Equipped with fists of fury!

Trained in hand to hand combat!

Hands able to annihilate the enemy! Able to sweatlessly incapacitate the enemy with a barrage of one-two punches.

At the same time, he had hands soft and gentle enough to love on his woman...

(Poor By... I have been singing that to him today: "Fists of fury... hands trained in combat... hands gentle enough... to love on his wooooomaaaaan... la la la la oooooooooh!)

Yeah. Sang that to your favorite quiet storm old school beat. Indeed.

And his hands are agile enough to draw the winners of the 9th Bloggaversary Sweepstakes....

So shout in your seat if you see your name! That means you won that money, honey!


First winner drawn!

Congratulations Adrienne... You win for your comment on the 8/13/14 bloggaversary post!

Adrienne had an interesting technique: Don't run the marathon. Come in on the last few posts and take her chances and throw in 3 or 4 comments. I have seen that she has done that before, but this is the first time it has worked to her advantage. Congrats, hon! "Plan Go-and-Sew" worked well for you!

Second winner:

Lisa B!!

Congrats girl!! You win for your comment on the Good Monday Morning post on July 28, 2013!

I noticed Lisa B had an interesting strategy. In the past, she would text. She decided to leave her comments this time in the comment section. (Does she not trust me to record text message comments in the table? Hmm). I also know in the past she said she doesn't comment... just wanted to read and enjoy and text me. (We have good long soul cleansing convos about posts over texts). I remember telling her "Girl, you better go for the money, honey!

I guess she too could see how she could get her groceries, panties and makeup from her local wal-mart if she won. LOL.

This time, she ran "Operation Arkansas runner". She lightly sprinkled comments throughout the marathon run. No she wasn't going for the most comments, which is an automatic winner. She wanted to just get enough in to up her chances! Go girl!

Watch as the Good Commander certifies the winnings with his deadly yet gentle hands.

Thank you Commander By for your hard work (and Thanks for clipping your nails and lotioning your hands... cuz us sisters can't stand an ashy rusty-tailed brother. No sir).

And finally, the winner for most comments:

I counted up the major players. I tell you, your names rained hard all across the comment tallies.  So congrats for hanging in for 35 posts. You all sprinted hard!

I counted up everything and figured out who the top two commenters were... then I counted those again in the final round to make sure I didn't miss a comment.

And here's the tally sheet.

Congrats This One Woman! Go girl! Go girl!!

She said in the beginning when she does this that she just wanted to challenge herself to comment daily. And that she did... and then some! Go girl!

You TOO get a $99 gift card for making the most comments- 42!

So congrats ladies! You can get your shop on at your local Target or Wal-mart! Just shoot me a quick email with your address and choice of store!

And thank you all for not only reading, but participating. I only get to do this twice a year - for bloggaversary and my birthday. And thanks for allowing me to sow some seeds -words in post, and financial- into your lives!

From your friendly neighborhood Original Oldgirl LadyLee. 

Friday Freestyles

Friday!

And it is PAYDAY!

Heck man... I might just leave early today.

*packing up bags and leaving*

Alas, that won't happen.

And another thing that won't happen today is the Sweepstakes drawing. I am moving that to Monday. Too bad because Commander By lotioned up his hands and clipped his nails so as to pull. But I still have to finish my entries list and cut everything out. So that is gonna take a couple more hours at least. And I will do that this weekend.

So never fear! The drawing is near.

And it is a beautiful day in the ATL. In fact, the last 3 days have been gorgeous. I even did a little yard work last evening. I have found that if I can catch a 3 or 4 day span of no rain, I can work a half hour out in the yard each evening and get all the grass cut and hedges and trimming done. It's just too overwhelming to do all that at one time.

I have one more week of this detail left. I want to keep working, but my boss gave me the evil eye this morning. That let me know that I can't pull a fast one on her. Sigh. Oh well. It took this long to have some "eureka" moments. I need another 30 days. Not gonna happen. 

In other news, the Financial Fast ended this week. That was interesting. I must say that I miss the hour long conference calls we've been having in the evenings. Some days I looked forward to it.  And some days I didn't. But I miss talking to everyone. And even though I did the financial fast back in March, I am now able to tighten down on a couple of goals I had, and to make a couple of new ones. And that's a good thing.

Song of the Week. Some Dru Hill...



What is up with me and these sangers from the 90s lately? Hmm...

I would like to thank everyone for the Happy Bloggaversary wishes. And thank you for participating in the Sweepstakes. I hope you win! 

I am looking forward to a GOOD weekend. I have been wiped out and exhausted from working like a dog the past couple of weeks. Thus the past couple of weekends have been as quiet as possible. So I will get out this weekend. The Financial Fast Lockdown is over, so I can go do a couple of things I want to do (which I have budgeted, of course). I have been wanting to go to the movies. So I am going. Doggonit. And Lucy Jr. needs to be ran through somebody's carwash... bad.

And I have a bazillion errands to run. Fun, fun, fun!

So I am jumping out the bed tomorrow morning with both feet and running hard. Yes indeed. 

You have a good weekend... On purpose. 

A Visit from Milk and Cookies!

 So guess who spent the night with at my house!!?

 Milk and Cookies!!!!

Yes! My brother! My brother Kari was in town!

He has some training up in Virgina  for a month, so he took an extra week off and came on home to his beloved ATL for a few days. Now, I had heard from my sister that he would be here, and he and I had been texting, but he hadn't been mentioning it. So I thought he wasn't coming. 

So imagine my surprise when I was walking through the Whole Foods getting my groceries when I got a text from my sister simply saying...

"Hey, Kari on the way to your house."

O_O

To which I responded.

"Man, Ya'll need to call folks before and let me know."

To which she said  "He said just call you, so I was just calling."

I realized that I had a missed call. I was too busy perusing the Whole Foods, trying not to pick up the wrong thing (i.e., some overly expensive craziness) by mistake. 

He ended up calling me, and I told him I was about to be finished. He said that was alright because he was stopping by our Mama house to change clothes (that's where he was staying). 

Now, like I said, he has a month long training course up in Virginia, so he took an extra week off prior to the start of training to come home for a few days. And he needed that extra time off too, because he was driving from Denver to Atlanta, which took about 22 hours. And the drive from Atlanta to Virginia was around 9 hours. 

He drove his pick-up truck. And he was trailing his HUGE motorcycle. and

I tell you, that bike is HUGE! Lawd have mercy.

And he looked good on it... Doo-rag and all.

"We have to have a little talk about these doo-rags, man," I said. He seems to have one in every color.

"I like my doo-rags," he said.

Yes he does. That is also his biker club name. It is nicely stitched on his leather biker jacket. So I guess he better keep that name.

And here he is trying to look all hard.

His bike was a Kawasaki!

"How much you pay for that?" I asked.

"15 walking out the door," he said.

"1500?"

"No, $15,000," he said.

*blink*blink*

Oh my.

I stood there and listened to him talk about all the modifications he made to the bike.  I had NO idea what he was talking about.  I didn't even know he knew how to fix stuff like that.

It is nice, though, with all the bells and whistles and other gadgetry. It even had cruise control. Wow.

Here he is pointing at something. (Like I told him to for the picture).

And here he is doing an iron man pose. (Again, like I told him too. I just wanted to know if he still did what I told him to do, lol.)

So we hung out in my living room and talked for awhile. I tell you, it was good to just sit and look at my brother and just talk and watch TV.

Then I saw some smoke coming out of his mouth. My first thought was "Dang, is it that cold up in here that his breath is coming out as fog?"

But it wasn't. I was just sleepy, I suppose. (But I did think that).

He was smoking one of those e-cigarette, hookah looking things.

You know, that is VERY interesting.

I was thinking, "Well dang. This negro is smoking up in my house?"

But you know what? It has no smell. No nasty tobacco odor. None at all.

He use to smoke cigarettes (and chew tobacco. Ugh.) But he does this now. He says he can't smoke regular cigarettes anymore. It's nasty to him.

I'd rather him not smoke at all. But hey...he grown.

Around 11:30 pm, he wanted to go out and get some Krystals. And he left the house looking like this.

"Alright dude," I said. "You know this ain't Denver. This is the hood. I can't believe you're going to drive around like that."

Shoot. Cops see him and he's begging to be harrassed, looking like a busted Skeletor. Humph.

But he didn't care. I had some coupons in my bag. I usually take them to work and leave them in the breakroom, but I gave them to him. He cut out the ones he wanted and was on his way, equipped with my explicit instruction on how to get to the nearest one just two or three exits away.

Why was this dude gone for an hour? That late at night? In the hood?????

All kind of mess went through my mind. Lawd have mercy, I hoped no one had bike jacked him. And for goodness sake, I sure hope the police weren't bothering him. Life is NOT great for a brother in the hood these days. Just look at TV. It's open season.

So, I thought... if he isn't back in an hour, I will go look for him. And just as I was backing out of my driveway, there he was coming up the street.

"Boy, I was coming to look for you," I hollered.

"I got lost. I ended up on Cleveland Avenue."

Yeah, he was lost. But again, it is NOT a good idea to be driving around in the hood that late at night.

But he was looking like serial killer in that mask. I suppose no one, not even the police, would mess around with someone that look like that. Might be some type of ghost rider or something. Not even the police want to bother with that.

We talked until two in the morning.

"Can I spend the night?" he asked.

"Yeah, sleep upstairs."

"No, I will just crash in this chair."

Now he does this over the years when he is over.  He likes sleeping in that chair.

"Do you have any grease in your hair?" I asked.

He said no. So I guess it was alright for him to sleep on my chair.

Oscar-Tyrone had been eyeing him pretty hard. Oscar is an old man and hasn't seen him in years. And all Oscar-Tyrone wanted to do was lay up on his own blanket covered ottoman and go to sleep. So he was walking around the living room, just staring at Kari.

Maybe Oscar was remembering back to when Kari was 11 years old and would snatch him whenever he happened to come into the room and walk him around on his hind legs.  Oscar always had that look that said "Help me Oldgirl! Why come you letting this boy handle me like this?!"

LOL

Time Kari went to sleep, Oscar jumped up on the ottoman, stretched out and went to sleep too.

I myself crashed on the sofa. For some reason I thought that would make me get up at 4:30 am, as I wanted to be to work by 6:00 am.  WRONG. That didn't happen. I turned off my phone alarm and went on back to sleep. I think I finally woke up at 7:00 am. Not sure what I was thinking, going to sleep at 2:00 am. I know good and well I can't function off 2.5 hours of sleep.

Now Milk and Cookies had parked his motorcycle outside at first when he came over. I was a little perturbed by this, as I didn't want the locals to carry it out the yard.  So we managed to get it in the garage when he came back from Krystles.

That bike is just huge! But we got it in there. Here it is the following morning.

And here he is backing it out of my garage.

I was hollering the whole time "Don't hit my [red] car!! Don't hit Pam!!"

He had to back that out real slow. And thank goodness he didn't hit my car. That bike would've taken my car out!

And here he is again, looking like Death Rider from the Hood.

LOL

And here he is following me to my favorite coffee spot.

We had coffee (well I had a iced chai tea soy milk latte), and talked in the shop. We talked and hugged in the parking lot. And he was on his way.

I tell you, it was GOOD to see my brother. 

Come back this way again, Milk and Cookies. Come back this way again... very soon.

****Happy Bloggaversary #9****

It's that time again!

Bloggaversary #9!!!!

Happy Bloggaversary to me... Your Friendly Neighborhood Oldgirl LadyLee!

And you know I have to yell it......

GLORY!!!!

Man. 9 years. I started this blog when I was 35 years old. 9 years ago. It doesn't feel that long ago.

But after 1820 posts and 11,204 comments, here I stand.

Most have moved on to Twitter and Facebook, and that is understandable. But I do this because it is my therapy. I work my messes in this house. I laugh in this house. And I play in this house.

This is my House, where I am free to scrawl high upon the walls whenever I please.

And I tend to write like no one else is reading. But I am so thankful for you, dear reader, for taking this journey with me. It feels good to get a comment of how much you have liked something I wrote. And some of you have my phone number, and we have these wonderful text conversations that have solved many an issue in my life. I've also made some lifelong friends through blogging. I must say that I can look back through the last 9 years and even in this, this typing out of my thoughts and everyday life, there has been purpose.

And for that I am grateful.

So yes... Happy Bloggaversery to ME!

So, we did the Sweepstakes a little different this year. It has been going on since mid July, I believe. It has been a marathon of sorts. You have had around 35 posts to comment on. And today is the last post. So get your comments in. The rules remain the same: most comments get an automatic gift card, and there will be TWO names drawn from the pool of commentors. So you have the potential to win three $99 gift cards to either Wal-mart or Target.

As always, the strategies have been interesting and smart.

Many of you have taken the Sweepstakes motto to heart...

"Git yo money... honey!"

You know how I think. You can buy a whole lot of panties at the Wal-mart with a $99 gift card.  You can do the same at the Target store. Not as many, but hey, free panties are awesome no matter where you get them!

Yes indeed.

The drawing is on Friday. Commenting closes at midnight on Thursday. So get in where you fit in.

So again, whether it's been a day, or the whole 9 years...

Thank you for hanging out with me...

Your Friendly Neighborhood Oldgirl LadyLee.

(((And welcome to YEAR 10)))

Milk and Cookies, Jr. First Day of School!

Time sure does fly...

Case in point... Milk and Cookies Junior started kindergarten this year.

Here he is on his first day with his new teacher.

I am wondering what Milk and Cookies 3.0 was doing in the picture. He cheesing like it's his first day of school.

Actually it was a meet and greet open house, just so the kids can see the classroom and meet their teacher.

Here's Milk and Cookies Jr. on his REAL first day of school:



He looks fresh faced and ready to go! No tears here!

And here he is walking to school.

That back pack look as big as him.

And here he is walking away from his Mama.

I know she cried.  I myself got all teary-eyed when I saw the pictures.

He even made a new friend.

 It is always good to have a friend to play with...

Go Milk and Cookies, Jr!

Glad you had a good first day of school!