12/31/14... The Last Day of the Year, Part III

'Tis the last day of the year. And much has happened today. The first post was about the day in general, my comings and goings. The second post peeled back a few layers, and I blogged about what was one of the major thoughts on my mind about the year.

And this post reaches just a bit deeper.

This year, I have looked at things in my prayer life, and moreso how it, my prayer life, has evolved.

Earlier this year, in January, our pastor wanted us to consider the Jabez prayer and elements thereof, and include it in our prayer or confession time. Simple enough. This is pretty popular, but it was from the perspective of prayer for daily blessing and protection, with the emphasis on the word daily. We need what we need daily for the day. Whatever provision for that day.  Pray about it. Simple enough.

So I did that. Let's look at my daily prayer in January.

Bless me today Lord. 
Bless me, bless me, bless me. 
Enlarge my territory. 
Enlarge my coast. 
Keep me from the evil of the day that it grieves me not. 
And bless my family today, Lord. 
In Jesus name, Amen.

Simple enough.

But over the course of the year, though.... this past 365 days...

I've been doing a TON of reading. I mean a ton.

Spiritual stuff.

And because I'm a scientist... I've been reading scientific stuff.

And some of that scientific stuff is sooooooo deep that it skims up into spiritual stuff.  It hits a spiritual ceiling and breaks through it.

I've been reading something, then I will go look up a scripture that I never understood before and be like "Ohhhhh, NOW I understand that piece of scripture."

The Bible is WAY ahead of it's time. Good grief.

Now, I know it's a *crickets* moment when I am reading something and the author himself says the scientific principle of discussion is actually spiritual.

I read a really high level applied mathematics book concerning fractal geometry. And all throughout, I was thinking "This is spiritual right here."  And then the author mentions it. Not going into detail at all, because us scientific types not suppose to believe in anything, you know.

I haven't posted much of anything about it here on blog. It's a bit too deep off the pages. I know I have read in excess of 10 books. No more than 20. But it's a lot of books. I have just been pondering it to myself.

But you know what was interesting?

It has somehow changed that prayer above.

You want to know what it's changed to?

Well here you go:

Oh I trust you today Lord!
I trust you to bless me, bless me, bless me Lord!
I trust you to enlarge my territory, 
I trust you to enlarge my coast- spiritually, physically, mentally, financially, emotionally.
I trust you to keep me from the evil of the day so that it grieves me not!
I trust you to put your arms around my shoulders
And be the covering you always are
A covering with no holes and no flaws!
I trust you to give me this day my daily bread, to give me what I need for this day. 
I am a container today, fit for your use today Lord. 
I am a container with no holes!
I trust you to use me today, Lord, to pour into the lives of others. 
I trust you today Lord to express a dimension of your personality through me, 
A dimension that has never been expressed. 
I trust you to send someone my way today, to fill me in, Lord, to fill my container. 
I am unique today, Lord. Today, tomorrow and forever. 
Bless my family and friends today, Lord. 

And then I will take communion... because I have a gazillion communion cups around here...  That is usually only half of the time, if I am thinking about it.

There they are on top of the microwave.

(There they are, in front of my roll of parchment paper. Just you know I'm telling the truth, lol).

I don't take communion every day. Just when I think about it. Even got a few cups stashed off in a baggie in the glove compartment of the Lexus...

And I plead the blood of Jesus over every crook, cranny and crevice of my life and over the lives of whoever is on my mind at the moment - friends, family, and their situations. I pray for peace and resolution. For clarity. Because I have a blood bought right to ALL that. All of it.

In Jesus name,
Amen.

(I am reading a book right now detailing how the most important part of the prayer is "Amen".  That is... interesting. I'm trying to wrap my head around it. Never thought of it like that.)

I am just amazed at how much that prayer has morphed from something simple and rote in the beginning of the year, to something that is much more deeper, a deeper culmination of thoughts and considerations stirred up by all the things I've been reading, whether it be scientific or spiritual... whether it's from my daily bible reading, from some verse of scripture (that whole container part), or from a high level mathematics book on fractal geometry (that whole dimension part). I read a section of a book on trust that completely blew my mind. So I've been pondering that too.

And I was watching a sermon on marriage. I'm not married, so I remember thinking, well shoot... I ain't married this is a waste of time. And I was hanging out on the couch, using that sermon as background noise, fiddling around with texting someone on my phones and I heard something interesting... If you don't have a husband who's your covering, then God is your covering. And he's a covering with no holes and no flaws.

Interesting. I thought about that for days. And days. And still more days.

Pondering is the thing this scientific mind does. Too much sometimes... but in these cases, it's just enough.

And I will carry my pontifications over into this next year of 2015.

Don't get it twisted now. That which I wrote may comprise a good 10% of my prayers. I pray about more stuff. That's just a common core I've noticed all year. And I like it.

It makes me want to pull out my Obama Church fan and sang and do some church shouts and church jogs in the corner.

(Yes, my bootleg homemade church fan.)

I will watch my prayers bloom even more.  And I will discover more layers... and I will see more great things manifest from it, as I have seen in the year 2014.

So there you have it... 3 posts on the last day of the year.

Part I was the physical, the daily going ons = BODY.
Part II was the mental = SOUL
Part III was the spiritual = SPIRIT

Each is all of me. I hope you got a little something out of it, seeing as I like being a container, pouring something into people. Something good.

And with that, I say good-bye to 2014...

And hello to a New Year...

2015.

And all that it has for me... for us.

12/31/14... The Last Day of the Year, Part II

Much is on my mind this last day of the year. So much so that I had to break it up into a couple of posts... or maybe three.  This is the second post.

Since I've been off, for the past couple of days, I am doing something I like to do when I am off for long periods of time: I write my morning pages.

I got the idea from Tayari Jones, my favorite author, and something she had us doing on her blog a few years ago. We were reading a book surrounding artistry, and one of the techniques/exercises was to wake up first thing in the morning and write 3 long hand stream of conscience pages. First thing in the morning. And for those of you who don't understand "stream of conscience", it is just writing whatever is on your mind, right off the top of your head. No editing, no formality... just straight thoughts. You're not even suppose to go back and read the pages. This helps a lot because you can write whatever, no matter how crazy it is. Your eyes will never fall back against those pages, you see.

The goal is to empty the mind so as to have more room for creativity.

And what I found is that it is cleansing... and after a few days, I really get down to the nitty-gritty of what's really on my mind. Layers and layers are removed. And I move from writing what is on my mind to writing from my spirit, my true self.

I am not suppose to go back and read, but on the last day of the year, I wanted to post something that I wrote. It is something I have talked about on here, but it is an external observation, something that just amazes me about the current state of our world:

"... This has been more of a sad time newswise.  Several months ago, a plane disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. Another plane disappeared earlier this week and they are just now finding the bodies and wreckage. 
     It reminds me of much deeper things.  Today you are a common person, not distinguishable from the next person. Only a few people know your name. And in the next day, the next hour, the next second, you can become a hashtag. Just like that. Worldwide. This has mostly been for tragic things, rarely for anything triumphant. I can't tell you who made the biggest discovery of the year, or who has invented something that would affect our lives for the better forever.  But I can tell you who lost their lives. I know who did thing to cause themselves to lose their careers.  I am more than sure life changing and awestrucking goodness has happened this year. I am sure of it. I just can't tell you off the top of my head...."

For some reason, I have thought about that passage all day, this last day of the year. I thought about it as I went about my daily dealings and errands. It is something that has bothered me all year.

I feel like we all run from hot topic to crises to hot topic.

Way too many "gotcha" moments.

Mix in all the tragedy and it's one hell of a stew.

A stew that was left out on the stove when it should have been put in the fridge.

And it's been left out on the stove for days. It's starting to rot. And bubble. And smell.

And somebody gotta clean it all up. And that's one heck of a job.

The same thing happens to the mind.

And I have to clean all that muck from my mind. And that too is one heck of a job.

That's how I feel about it.

Tragedy and negativity sells. It is good for news ratings, you see.

That's what it's really all about.

And me running from situation to situation yelling "oooh, gotcha!" has gotten old. Got old long ago.

I don't think about those things much. I instead use it as a time for self-reflection.

I have done some highly questionable things in my past. God forbid that it's all churned up and put out. Lord help me.

My goal now is to focus on the positive. Pray for those who experience tragedy. Do what I can to make a better day for my fellow man.

And to live the best life I can... to go and continue to grow.

So much good has happened for me this year. Too much to write. It feels good to see it spill all out strong in my "Morning Pages".

And that's what I choose to focus on this very last day of the year.

12/31/14... The Last Day of the Year, Part I

'Tis the last day of the year, and I am still thinking about the sound of that.

2014 is about to go. Some entered, and some will not be leaving.

I have been off from work since December 24th, and I have enjoyed waking up in the mornings and not being pressed to be anywhere by a certain time. But this morning, I took Lucy Jr. for an oil change. There is also a little shake in the wheel when I drive. It is barely noticeable, but I can tell there is something wrong. I thought I may need some brakes or some new tires.

I had the oil change (well, the 5K service), and it turns out I have a bent rim. It's not broken or bent up enough to cause a big problem or a flat tire, but it is noticeable when I look close. I hit a serious pothole a couple of weeks ago, and we think that's the culprit. So I need to buy a new wheel. I will do that when I buy new tires, which will be in June 2015 or thereabouts.

As for now, the tire rotation puts that tire on the back of the car. Hence, no more shakes. The ride is back to its usual smoothness.

From there I made a trip to the Farmer's Market. Being that this is the last day of the year, and with so many people having parties tonight, it was PACKED. It was butt-to-butt, breast-to-breast up in there. I was there for an hour, and I didn't even get much. Just trying to maneuver through the crowd was a beast. But I got what I wanted and that's good.

Then the interesting part of my day began. It was only half an hour. But... it was interesting.

I decided, since I was on the eastside, and in the neighborhood, that I would stop by my Aunt Ellen's house. She is my father's sister. I haven't seen her, or the family, since his funeral back in late September.  I've been meaning to go by, but... I keep putting it off. But I promised myself I would stop by and see her.

So I go by. And we sit and chit and chit-chat and smile.

Then there's a knock at the door.

Now I saw someone walk through the front yard of her house. I didn't know what that was about. You have to unlock the fence gate to do that.

Then someone knocked at the door. It was a middle aged dark skinned woman. She had on a big hat and some casual clothes.

I had no idea who she was. But I unlatched the door. And once she came in and got to talking good.

She was fond of the drink. 

And she had a brown paper bag in her hand. I didn't have to guess what was in it.

Aunt Ellen pointed at me and asked this lady, Ms. Marcy, if she knew who I was. She said no.

"I'm Milton's daughter," I said.

A big smile spread across her face. "Oh, you his daughter. He was my friend! He was my friend!"

After a few minutes of rambling (and me trying to keep up with her lingo) she pulled a tall boy can of Old

English 800.

"Ya'll grab a couple of glasses, and share this Old English with me... cuz tis the season to be jolly!"

She sang a couple of rounds of that for a minute. I must say I was amused.

I looked at Aunt Ellen. She said nothing.

"We could grab a few glasses," Ms. Marcy said when no one replied. "There's some here on shelf."

Aunt Ellen had four nice blue rimmed wine glasses on the shelf of the wood furniture in the living room. I could tell no one never drank from those glasses. Aunt Ellen may have special ordered them from a fancy catalog, the big JC Penney Christmas catalog, I bet.

Malt liquor was not gracing those glasses. Never had and never will.

"No thank you," I said. "I don't want any. And I haven't had any eight ball in a long time."

Her eyes grew wide. "Oh you know about this drank. You know about eight ball."

Lord did I know. That was my malt liquor of choice some 20 years ago. I got squeamish just thinking about it.

She rambled on, with me peering hard trying to keep up. Her thoughts were like a ball in a pinball machine, dashing to and fro, bouncing all around.

Then she suddenly said "Ellen, I think my stories is on! I gotta go watch my stories."

If you don't know what "Stories" are, then I don't blame you. You need to be 40 or above to know that. "Stories" is another name for soap operas. There aren't as many of those on now as there were on during the '70s and '80s.  They have been replaced by daytime talk shows.

I think she wanted to watch The Young and the Restless. She went into the small den located off the side of the living room, parked herself in a chair right a couple feet from the television set and watched her "
"stories".

Aunt Ellen and I continued talking. And Ms. Marcy would get up and have something to say during commercial breaks. I had gotten to the point where I could decypher her slightly drunken lingo.

She really wanted to try on my glasses, because they looked like was a pair of "dem good glasses".

I was not really down for that. But since she was in the little den, I let her try them on. I had her cornered in just in case she decided to run. She tried them on, and had a overly exaggerated fit. My prescription is strong. I thought she was going to fall out on the floor. And she she could do that right after I grabbed my glasses from her.

She wanted my eye doctor's telephone number. I gave it to her, knowing she wasn't going.

Then she hit me up for some money. (She'd done that a couple of times earlier. I paid her no mind).

I reached in my pocket and gave her a dollar. She wanted more.

Too bad. I don't really carry cash.

"You sound like my niece, talkin' about 'I don't carry cash, I only got my card'!  What am I suppose to do when I wake up early in the morning and I want a beer? I gotta have cash to go get myself a can of beer!"

"I am sure you do," I said. "But people don't carry cash these days. You can now just swipe your cell phone at the cash register and pay for stuff."

Both Aunt Ellen and Ms. Marcy gasped.

"It is true," I said. "But I don't trust that yet."

Ms. Marcy, still in her state of surprise, asked "What they gonna do about the fraud. You can steal people's cell phone and use it as money!"

"I don't know," I said, as I grasped my cell phone a little tighter through the pocket of my hoodie. (She was making me nervous. "I pay with my card."

Ms. Marcy stared down at the dollar in her hand. "I'ma use this dollar to play the cash 3. Them triples came up last night! Gimme a number to play, Lisa."

"773," I said. "Them doubles, honey."

Her eyes went wide again.

Yes I know the lingo very well when I have to. She was quite impressed with me.

We talked a little more. Then she went back and parked herself in front of the TV.

When another commercial break came on, I went back to talk to her.

"It was nice to meet you, Ms. Marcy." I reached out to shake her hand.  "It's an honor to meet someone who was my father's friend."

She smiled her broken tooth smile and shook my hand hard.

"I wanted to come to the funeral. But they wouldn't let me come."

I asked why, but no answer was needed. She would've been a drunken mess at the funeral. No one wanted to deal with that.

"It was such an honor to meet you," I repeated. "You were someone who knew Milton. It was nice to meet someone who was his friend."

She smiled again. You would've thought I was Michelle Obama giving her a compliment.

As I was leaving, she said "Milt say you are a nurse or a doctor."

"Yes I am a doctor, but not a medical doctor."

"Well can you test me for the diabetes?" she asked.

I repeated what I said. I told her I had a PhD in Chemistry, and I couldn't help her medically.

She didn't understand a word I'd said. It didn't matter because I was on my way out the door.

I came home and put my groceries up. Did a little reading and cleaning.

And now I'm watching Watch Night service.

Oil Change.
Farmer's Market.
Aunt Ellen.
And the lively Ms. Marcy.

Oh my. This has been a most memorable last day of the year.

And I'm glad... and thankful for that.

My Favorite Christmas Gifts 2014.

Christmas gifts!

I don't do well with picking out good ones. I am more of the type who does better just doing things for people and giving things to people I care for year round. My sister Kentucky is the best at listening intently and remembering to get something the person really wanted or needed. I want to be that way. I am not right now. I better hear you talk about it plenty of times before I remember to make sure to get it as a gift for you.

One of the security guards at work, Ms. Nora, gave me miniature shopping cart. I filled it with candy.

I'm going to be rolling that around on my desk and crashing it into stuff. My coworkers on the other side of the cubicle will be wondering... What the world?

My bestie LadyTee gave me a really nice soft blanket. Really nice... and a bottle of sparkling pomegrante cider.

"The cats gonna love that blanket," she said.

Well after I opened and felt it... uh no. They will NOT be getting on this blanket. This one is great. Great enough only for me.

I saw that bottle and I thought it was wine. Or some Cristal. LadyTee said "Uh, no."

So I will be popping a bottle of sparkling cider! Pretending it's champagne!

My friend and cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre gave me some of my favorite water... and a slice of cornbread.

Water in Glass! I LOVE WATER IN GLASS! No plastic aftertaste. And this is Voss, a Norwegian brand. It's from the top of the world. Very clean taste. Best water in glass of all.

And my piece of cornbread. Whole foods has some good cornbread. That is all.

I'm making some green beans for New Years Day. That cornbread will go with them just fine. GLORY!

Finally, my sister Kentucky gave me an AWESOME wok.

It is huge. It's sitting there on the trunk of my car, so you can tell how big it is. She bought it at a flea market for $20. But online, it retails for $100. The thing about it is it is HEAVY. I know it has to be a good 20-30 pounds. It's out in the garage for now. I'm gonna have to get rid of a couple of my big pieces of cookware before I can even bring it in the house.

I don't know what kind of steel it's made of. Maybe some space rocket bullet proofed compressed steel.

I can't wait to make a stir-fry! It's gonna be kickin'!

Now the best gift I gave this year was to our custodial staff at work.  I bought each a gift card to one of the nice eateries near our workplace. It wasn't the gift card that made it a good gift. It was that I sat down and wrote a short note in each card holder, telling them how much I appreciated them, and thanking them for a job well done. A couple of them have been there since I started the job, some 13 years ago. I even included some funny story where I could.

That was my favorite gift to give. I wasn't the creative handmade thing I like to do, but I REALLY enjoyed writing those notes. I must do that more often.

I picked that up from Serenity23's new blog, Living My Faith. She did a whole month of posts on thanksgiving and gratefulness. And there was journalling, and exercises for us to do all month. She has increased my awareness of being thankful for people in my life. Thanks gal! You don't know it, but that was your gift to me!

So that's my gifts post in a nutshell!

Gas Keeps Going Down! GLORY!!

In gas news...

Last week:

This week:

Three cents difference! Gas has gone down three cents!

Both of those are suburb prices. The top picture is in Ellenwood. Pam the Protege took advantage of those prices. The bottom picture is on the southside in Fayetteville. Lucy Jr.the Lexux took advantage of that price. It's about 30 cents higher downtown. That's why when I'm out in the suburbs, I get gas!

So here's a throwback picture from a post on this blog, circa 2008.




Sigh!

I don't want those prices again.

Let's hope gas keeps going down!

Could you imagine it going down to $1 a gallon??????

Wouldn't THAT be GRAND!!!

Mitch... An Annoyed Kitty

It's Mitch... after taking his meds.

He isn't angry... just annoyed. He's a very polite cat, so I don't have to worry about being scratched or bitten. He would consider that... rude, perhaps.

I've had Mitchell Lamar for two weeks now, and he has been a VERY good cat. I finally took him to the vet last Saturday to get checked out. He's all good, and he's a big boy (7.9 pounds and only 6 months old. That makes him a full fledge CAT in my book. Not still a kitten).

But he has had a little diarrhea since I got him. Not explosive. And I wouldn't know much about it if I didn't happen to be in the room and hear the sound of his... bubble guts. And the smell is enough to just about run me out the house.

I thought he was going to have to be an outside cat for minute there, lol.

I told the vet that it's probably my fault because I changed his diet suddenly. II received a whole bag of the food he eats when I adopted him, but I thought he could eat what Sister Callie was eating, and she can eat anything. Sister Callie has a stomach like a rock. Mitch does not. This means they are going to have to both be on his food. And that's alright.

So he has to take some stuff I administer by syringe. It takes us all of 5 seconds to do that. Thank goodness there's no fighting.

He's just annoyed with it all.

I sprinkle a packet of probiotics in his food in the morning to help with his intestinal bacterial. Dude smells like roses now.

I think his diarrhea has cleared up. And that awful smell is gone. GLORY!!

Let's hope it stays that way!

People Isshas (Vice-Versa)

These quotes hit close to home for me.

Why? Because I'm not really a people person. People look at me crazy when I say that.

I get a lot of "LadyLee, you're one of the nicest, kindest, most generous people I know!"

Yes I am. I do claim that... In the name of Jesus.

But that does not make me a "people person". Not in the least.

I do things for people I don't even like. Just because I may see something that they may like. And I usually roll with it. It is proof I don't have hatred in my heart. Well, proof to me.

I have been called an excellent judge of character. And I don't think it is that at all. I just have an interesting personality that doesn't mesh well with certain personalities. And I don't plan on changing. And I wouldn't want you to change.

I will meet you where you are. And I may walk off and leave you there.

I think of things on a time continuum these days.

I may be able to put up with you for awhile. But not forever. You may drain me for a few months. But you won't drain me for years. And vice-versa.

And you know me... I don't care to be a bother, and I don't want to exasperate people. I don't want to drain folks.

And some of the nicest people I know have a most interesting set of skills which include having to get along with everybody, no matter how they are treated. No matter how much their feelings are hurt, they deal with it.

I'm just not that person. And I don't apologize for it.

Plus it has made room for an onslaught of people who are a blessing to my life. And vice-versa.

I have worried about it for years. And as I get older, I worry about much less. I rarely even think about it.

Interesting what a couple of quotes make me think about... 

Watching for Gold

I came across this quote on Facebook...

We all have experienced naysayers in our lives. They stick out like a sore thumb. There's nothing worse than telling your dreams and visions to someone and they shoot it down. And when it's repetitive, well, that signifies a deeper internal problem. Not with you, because you are speaking your dream. You verbalizing your vision. The internal problem isn't with you, but with that person. Hmm.

And that has NOTHING to do with you.

So ditch'em!

(I know, I know.  I'm just harsh like that).

We all have or have had cheerleaders in our lives... those people that really don't get what and why we are doing something, but they cheer us on nevertheless...

Those are the people that matter. And add to that their ability to ask the probing questions and give wise counsel... enough so to get you on your way to your dream?

Man... those people are gold. They are precious gems. And as the quote says, we have to "watch" for those people. They tend to be drowned out by the negative folks in our lives. And that is sad.

I am always watching for gold. Always.

And we all need more of this gold in our lives. 

DECIDE...

I like this quote...

My day goes so much better when I start the day off right. When I make some declarations over my day, everything goes smoother. When I decide the type of day I want to see, then life flows in that direction. I am more alert of the good of the day, and the bad doesn't have so much power.

That takes much faith. Or not much at all. But it does take faith.  Just a little will do.

So that quote speaks volumes to me. Definitely worth posting.

A LadyLee Christmas Dinner 2014

So the holiday season is here...

And we are all getting our eat on...

This could be a good thing. Or not. I am fifty-fifty on that. I am making sure to get my fruit and vegetables, but I could be doing better.

So I did something a little different for Christmas. I'm not all that interested in the whole traditional turkey dinner. If it was just me I don't think I would've cooked anything. But I wanted to make sure my sister had something she liked, especially since she cooked for Thanksgiving. (I wanted her to cook for Christmas so I wouldn't have to, but that would have made me a BAD big sister).

So I decided to bake some fish. I found some flounder at a good price. So I baked that with a little salt, pepper, paprika and lemon.

That is simple enough. Can't mess that up. At all.

But then I got fancy. I baked some shrimp. I've never done that before.,

I also got the notion to make stuffed flounder. I stuffed it with a mix of pureed shrimp, peppers, onions and celery. That was interesting enough. Nothing to write home about. I suppose I have to work on the seasoning of it. But I don't see that happening no time soon.

I also bought a parchment of cod fish topped with cranberry sauce and winter root vegetables. That was good. I wonder who came up with that. It is more than a notion. I'm not that creative.

Then there is rice. I bought a little biryani rice and some wild rice.

The wild rice had pecans and cranberries in it. The biryani rice is a very flavorful indian rice, made with curry, peas, raisins, cinnamon and other spices. Both were very good.

And then there are the traditional parts of our meal. Cornbread and dressing.

That's that bootleg, i.e., make a pan of cornbread and use some of it for dressing. Save a little bit of the cornbread. Lord knows I didn't want to make another pan of cornbread. Unnecessary.

And then there were the beans.

I tell you what... Kentucky made some GREAT green beans for thanksgiving. She gave me the recipe. I carried it out in a crock pot and it worked well. A bit too much meat for me, though (used a smoked turkey leg). So I had to flick a lot of that out of the way. But my goodness... they sure were seasoned well. I'm gonna try it again just with an onion. I am sure they won't taste as good, but oh well.

I had a lovely fruit bowl!

I topped that with some chopped pecans and some sauce made from vanilla almond milk. Good stuff. Still eating on that these mornings.

Roasted Brussels sprouts are AWESOME. That is all.

I baked cookies for a few of my coworkers. These were the few leftovers I still had at home.

Kentucky likes chocolate chip cookies. I like oatmeal raisin pecan cookies.

And Kentucky had the nerve to make another million dollar pie.

Ugh. Don't get me wrong. It is very good. But she just wants to make a pie, eat a slice, THEN LEAVE THE REST WITH ME.

Just ugh. I start having issues if I fool around with too much dairy or white sugar.

UGH.

I have some small aluminum pans. She is going to have to make individual ones and freeze them. Or keep it away from me.

So that's my Christmas dinner. And it was pretty good because it wasn't heavy.

Thank goodness for that!

***MeRRy CHrisTmAs***

Merry Christmas to you all. I hope Christmas 2014 is good for you.

I don't have any Christmas decorations... but here are the decorations from work that I meant to put up earlier this week.

Enjoy!

The decorations from the next building over...

Look at the candy canes... When I first saw that I thought, dang... when in the world did they start putting licorice in candy canes?

It is a falcons candy cane! Go falcons....

More decorations...

Stay tuned for food pics tomorrow!

Friday Freestyles

I, Mitchell Eugene Lamar, Esq. . .

. . . Would like to wish you a joyful holiday season.

And I would like to remind you to always be fair and considerate during this time.

And always strive to be... proper.

LOL

Don't he look all polite and proper?

And that's what he is. He looks like he acts. Although he is beginning to pick up some of the Good Sista Callie Joe's habits.

I snapped that picture a couple of days ago. He figured out that the best way to watch me cook and clean the kitchen was to prop up on the couch back cushion.

He's been a very mannerable and polite cat so far. And Callie Jo is accepting him now.

Catnipped toys have had them both slayed in the middle of the floor.

Dinner together on fine china paper plates is always great.

He has discovered and taken a liking to the beams over the living room.

But with all that said, Sista Callie Jo has been keeping her eyes on him.

She gotta watch and mean mug him, just in case a sucka wanna buck and act crazy. She don't have time for any foolishness but her own.

Yes, he seems to be adjusting well.

All is well over here in these parts of the ATL.  The weather has been cool, somewhere in the 50s. I can get away with wearing a hoodie instead of a jacket.(I still don't own a coat).

The most significant thing I've done all week is get some electrical work done on the house. I blew out my doorbell and a couple of outlets around the door over the past couple of years. I decided when the outside light blew out that I needed to get that fixed. I live in the hood, so the house needs to be lit up at night.

This is my last full week at work, and next week I work only Monday and Tuesday. After that, I have a full 10 day weekend! Won't be back to work 'til next year!

GLORY!

*church shout*

And I have a TON of things to do while I am off chore-wise. Making a list already!

I haven't been Christmas shopping. I have a $100 budget, so there won't be much shopping going on.

I am trying to get my Christmas dinner menu together...

Baked Fish
Pretty fruit bowl
Salad...

...That's all for now. I will figure out the rest this weekend. I'm trying to come up with an interesting soup. I will look through my magazines and find a recipe.

Song of the Week.  This song is one of my all time favorites. I was glad to come across it on youtube. Haven't heard it in a very long time... Melba Moore "It's been so Long".




That's an oldie but goodie!

Alright... here we are, not far from Christmas, and not too far from a brand New Year!

You only have a few more days to make it allll happen. Get those resolutions done!

No resolutions for me.

Like I always say, I don't need a resolution, I need a revelation!

Indeed.

Have a good weekend. On purpose!

Quote of the Day

I love good quotes. Here is one from one of Cowgirl Cre's relatives....

"Negative people need drama like they need oxygen. Stay positive and take their breath away."

You got that right.

Some folks you just have to figuratively suffocate.

And not feel bad about it.

Wordless Wednesday: Caring is Sharing...

My Favorite Gifts (Part I)

I'm kind of funny about Christmas.

I don't care for the commercialism of it all. As a result, I like to give homemade gifts.

When my brother and sister were teenagers, they would ask "Lisa, what you want for Christmas?"

This would irritate me something awful. "Just go find a nice rock and paint and glitter it up and paint my name on it."

My sister Kentucky would roll her eyes. My brother Milk and Cookies would offer the *blank stare*

Likewise, I like to give homemade gifts. And my budget for Christmas is a mere $100. Gotta get creative when I'm dealing with that amount.

So I have gotten some interesting gifts from folks at work. I got lotion from Lady M, and oranges from Sushi.

You see the lotion bottle in the picture. That's not what I am talking about. Well, Lady M gave it to me a couple of years ago. I remember her saying one day, "Girl, you're ashy," and handing me the bottle of lotion on her desk. She then left it to me when she left for Africa for a year. And as you can see, she placed "No Ash" on the bottle.

It is rare to hear of Caucasians who know what "ashy" is. She is quite passionate about it. It is hilarious, but I am glad for it.

But what is of interest here is the lovely creme flower in the palm of my hand. Lady M made those and gave those to her coworkers. They are her special concoction of cocoa butter, coconut oil and beeswax, and I tell you, a little goes a long way and they smell sooooo good.

Lady M is my "African American" friend. She lived over in The Motherland for over a year, so she gets a pass.

Now to the oranges. Sushi gave me those. She is the youngster our group. There was some fundraiser downstairs in another department, and this is the second year she's bought a bunch of oranges.

I peer at her curiously over all this. "Why they don't sell chocolate candy like everybody else?"

But they are her oranges. And she gave me a couple.

"Christmas Oranges!"

Long ago, one of my late coworkers told me that as a child, he and siblings received oranges for Christmas.

"And if there was more money, we also received nuts."

I laughed at this. You give a child a piece of fruit for Christmas, and you might get it thrown back at you.

I also read that the slaves got oranges for Christmas from their Masters.

I thought about all that as I grabbed a couple of oranges out of Sushi's box of oranges.

And I thought about how far we have come.

And how far we still have to go.

Because, you know, life just won't be right if you don't get that new iPhone or 60 inch TV for Christmas. Your Christmas just won't be right.

And we all will have to hear you complain about how horrible your Christmas was.

Just terrible. Horrible!

Sigh.

Just give me my nice homemade gifts. Made by hands with love.

Just give me some fruit. Something to give me the vitamins and hydration I need.

As long as it's from the heart.

That's all that matters to me. 

Hello there, Mitch!

There's a new fellow in the house.

Mitchell Lamar! Or Mitchell Tyrone. Not sure what he's going to be named.  I may name him Eugene. That's what my brother's name was suppose to be. Or maybe Samuel Lamar.  Or maybe Mitchell Samuel Eugene Lamar Tyrone. Who knows. He hasn't really told me his name yet.

His name is Mittens, but I like full human names. Just in case I need to get a SSN for him and do some tax stuff. (Just kidding).

Most likely, his name will be Mitchell, after LadyTee's dog that just died. Rest in peace, Mitch. She's always had a dog named Mitch, even since high school.  And you know Tyrone comes from the late Oscar-Tyrone.

He's such a sweet kitten. Very quiet. Very loving. So velvety soft. And he likes to cuddle and head butt me. But he is very quiet.  Maybe he's just getting use to new surroundings.

He's a month younger than Callie Jo, but outweighs her by a pound. 

I love his little white tip tail.

He'd been trying to sleep...

And then he actually got a little shut-eye.

It wasn't a great idea to do that, because there was Sister Callie Jo to consider...

You can tell... she is PISSED.

She is furiously writing in her Diary of an Angry Orange Woman. Writing hard in big bold angry cramped crooked letters.

"Sister Callie," I had to keep saying. "Sister Callie, calm down."

It was funny when I first walked in the house with him. He jumped out the box and saw her and was like "Oh, a cat. I will walk up to her."

Callie's eyes got big and she expanded to twice her size and was walking on tip-toes.

Mitch backed up. I could see it in his eyes.

"This broad is crazy."

So she is all angry and scatting left and right.

He stayed in a cage last night. And he wailed most of the night. No sir, can't play with you. Callie was on alert, circling his cage early on before I went to bed. 

He's in an upstairs bedroom now, his "safe place".  (I didn't get this all together, as I was told that the adoption would be in a week or so). But I did all that this morning.

I have to keep them separated. I will switch their bedding in another couple of days. And as soon as they start playing under the bedroom door, then I will let them get together.

Then they can DUKE it out.

I think Callie will win that one. It's her house. And he is so docile.

I hope he will even her out a little.

Hopefully.

Friday Freestyles... The Bored Kitty Edition

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this picture says a lot.

Someone is terribly bored. I don't know if she is bored with me. Or just bored.

But Sista Callie Jo is bored.

Bored with her freakishly long legs.

LOL

So bored that she likes to climb inside my disposable grocery bags.

Well... I guess I can't use that bag for groceries. Ever again.

And she has dragged her water bowl, a sharpie, and rubber band to her place of rest. I wondered what she had planned for all of that?

Who knows. She is just... bored.  She stayed in that bag for half an hour. At least she was being still. She is worse than a toddler sometimes with all her running around and getting into stuff.

And I am considering getting another kitty this weekend. There's a 20% chance.  I will decide by Sunday. I found a tuxedo boy cat, already fixed. I will see how that works out.

Otherwise, it's been an interesting week. I had two doctor's appointments this week, and they were in the middle of the day, some 30-40 miles from my job. So you know what that means: I had to get to work extra early. One of those days, I just took off.

I don't know, I just don't like getting out of bed unless it is to pray or read. It would do me well to get to work by 7:00 am, as it will only take me about 8 minutes to get in, but my goodness... it is still nighttime around that time!

So I had an appointment with the breast surgeon and all is well. Glory! I will see them in June. I had my normal appointment with my lupus doc, and all is well there also. So I'm all good until next year. Glory again.   Those are some serious church fan and church shouting events.

I don't have much planned for the weekend. I plan on going out and checking on this cat. That's about it.

Quote of the Week. I heard this on the radio morning.

"You're as busy as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs!"

Now if THAT doesn't immediately bring up a very vivid visual in your mind, nothing else will. 

Song of the Week. You know I love Justice league production. Here is the instrumental for "Thug Cry" by Rick Ross and Lil' Wayne.




 I am NOT a Rick Ross fan. This dude seems to rap about women doing oral, and throwing bricks of cocaine in the back of his Maybach. Sigh. Oh my. I must go back and pull out my old school rap if I want some originality.

Interestingly (but not surprising), the melody and music was jacked from Souls of Mischief.



I am yearning for some original beats. I suppose I will just have to go back and listen to my Earth Wind and Fire CDs. Sigh.

That is it for moi!

You have a good weekend. On purpose!!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: "Put on the Helmet of Salvation..."

Imagine going to church...

And sitting behind her....

It's enough to make you almost cuss...

But that would be wrong in the house of the Lord.

The best thing to do is to get up quietly, and go find another seat in the sanctuary.

That is all.

Amen.