Wordless Wednesday: President Barack Obama when he was "Barry"

Ten Tuesday Thoughts

It's that time again. Thought time!

1.It is downright NASTY outside. It's dark, rainy, and just on the edge of being considered cold outside. Not a good combination.

2. There was a bad wreck on the main street leading out of my neighborhood. Hence, I was 10 minutes late for work.

3. This wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't have a group meeting at 9:00 am. So I arrived at 9:10 am. I didn't miss much of the meeting, and I actually took a full page of notes.

4. I won't lie, though. I'd rather be lay up in the bed all day long when it's all nasty outside. This here is some great sleeping and reading weather.

5. I baked a batch of cookies for a couple of people. There was one birthday and one congrats for a promotion. Here are the birthday cookies.

6. I get so much JOY out of drawing on a bag. What is that about.

7. So I made some cookies for someone last week for their birthday. This person went around showing everyone the bag, when I distinctly said not to, because folks will beg for your stuff, you know. But she went around showing everyone. She was SO happy about them. We figured that folks don't do that much for her. Something like that. And I don't consider us friends, so I guess that means much when someone gives you something.

8. Sharbucks is fully stocked today!

People love junk food. Junk food is cheap. Oh well.

I do buy a bag of apples for our hospitality table up front every once in a while. But people love some junk.

9. I didn't bring lunch today. It was all I could do get out and get to work early. And I may not go get anything since it is raining. I may just sit here and eat the apple and orange I have here in my cabinet.

10. I have had a long day in the lab. I love it when the time flies by like this! That means it's time to go home.

That's it for today. I have been back and forth between my desk and the lab fooling with this post.

Finally done!

Monday Night Fights

Oops...

Doing a post on a Monday evening. I wanted to do it this morning, but I got busy. Plus I don't have much to talk about. This was a quiet weekend. I needed to decompress for some odd reason. I catch up on my sleep over the weekend, but this weekend was ridiculous. I slept TOO much. Even Sister Callie Jo and Mitch were like... wow, what's her problem.

Speaking of problems... someone needs to help Sister Callie Jo. She's not doing well with my sister gone. She keeps going upstairs looking for her. She has also been throwing her dry food out of the bowl. (That is really bothersome).

My sister left a pair of her flip flops under the coffee table, and Sister Callie has been guarding them.

She seems to take solace in the shoes. I was going to put them upstairs in my sister's bedroom, as she left a box of things up there. But I decided to just leave them there under the table. 

But her lips are pursed, and she has that look on her face.  It's that look that asks...

"Where is MY person, LadyLee? And why did you take her from me?"

Not my fault, Sister Callie. You just get past it, girl.

But I need her to stop tossing her kibble out of the bowl. That's some craziness right there.

Blessing of the Day. Everyday is a blessing. I meditate and pray about this every morning during my drive to work in the morning traffic. It gives me solace. And several good things have happened today. Glory! One of those is that my coworker provided lunch for me. She cooks some of everything, and occasionally brings me a jar of something special.

Today she brought enchilada soup!

I happen to have a bag of Fritos...

GOOD EATIN!

So that was my blessing of the day, amongst many others.

That is it for me. I am looking forward to a great week. I am off one day this week to take Grandma to get her flu shot. She wants to go to lunch afterwards. My sister found an old gift card for Red Lobster, so I think we are going to check that out.

Song of the Day. It's raining cats and dogs down here in my beloved ATL.  I think we are getting the remnants of Hurricane Patricia.

So for days like this, I love to play my favorite rainy day song.  "Nothing Has Felt Like this" By Rachelle Ferrell and Will Downing. Sound quality isn't the best here, but who cares. This is some FANTASTIC singing. That is all.



REAL SANGERS. 

Really tho.

With that said, have a great week. On purpose!

Friday Freestyles... The Fall Festival Edition

It's Friday!!

And to top it off, it's PAYDAY!!!

GLORY!!

And as my usual routine, I sit for a moment and think about just blowing my whole paycheck and just ball ball ball til I fall fall fall.

And then reality kicks in...

And I go online and pay my bills. And then I make a budget in my head. I need to write it down on paper, though. Really, I need to.

Anyway, the weekend is nigh... and on days like this, especially on paydays, the blinds of my mind are partially closed. I may as well just go home because I haven't gotten anything done. My boss sent me something to look over, some type of checklist for our reports. I think I breezed through that in all of 10 minutes and made some suggestions.

Plus, I can't even think straight because I have the "itis".

And I want to take a nap.

Why?

Because we had our FALL FESTIVAL at work today.

The tobacco and nutrition groups do this yearly. And since I am new to the tobacco work group, lo and behold I get to participate.

A menu sign-up list went around. Discussions were fast and furious for a few days. And we had a wonderful feast!

I signed up to bring green beans and butter cookies!!

And you know I took pictures:

I purchased green beans at the local Whole Foods.  Here they are in the bags. 

It wasn't too expensive. I think they were $1.99 a pound. They are $1.49 a pound at farmer's market I frequent. But I found that the Whole Foods Beans are a more flavorful. I bought $10 worth.

And it took a full hour to snap them.

I snapped those while watching some of the Benghazi foolishness, I mean Benghazi hearings.

By 9:30 pm, I'd chopped up a large white onion, thrown in a smoked turkey wing, and threw everything in the crock pot.

I woke up at 3:30 am and the beans weren't done. So I turned it on HIGH for another 4 hours.

By 8:00 am, the green beans were done!

Glory!!!

And I also made some butter cookies. I experimented with cutting them into shapes...

They came out alright. There were stars, hearts and flower shaped cookies. I have to work on the rolling out of dough and cutting. I will be thinking about that for awhile...

On to our Fall Festival.

There was SO much food. So much.

Meatballs, cocktail sausages, honey baked ham...

Fried chicken, ranch chicken wings, buffalo wings, veggies and dip.

My green beans and a very good indian fish and rice dish.

Fried fish and lima beans.

Corn on the cob!

Hash browns, broccoli, macaroni salad, macaroni and cheese, etc...

Croissants and salad and light bread!

Fruit and pies!

Devil Eggs, cheeseballs and crackers!

Someone made red velvet cake. I am not a fan, but you KNOW how much people love red velvet cake. Glory!!

And there was some type of punch bowl cake. I don't know who made it, but everyone was diving into it. It was great!

I didn't get a pic of everthing. There was a GREAT dump truck cake made by one of my cubicle mates. WOW. I need the recipe for that. Or, she can make it for me! Yay!!

A good time was had by all. 

Dr. HazelEyes organized it all. There was even a jeopardy trivia game while we ate.

And after all that, I could and still cannot get much of anything done today.

I need a siesta... maybe two, maybe three.

Heck, I need a weekend!

And that's what I'm snatching... on purpose.

That's it for today. Soooo picture heavy!

Bet it made you hungry, didn't it!? 

YAY!

Have a good weekend. :)

Seen While Driving

So I was out running errands last month and I saw this:

Oh my!!!

That whole 97 out of 100 quote... and the fiery flame to the bottom right is O_O.

See, I don't know what church the good prophet attends, but I know I don't need to go. They would throw me out. Because I would wonder where this quote of hers is backed up in the Bible. *ushers walking LadyLee out of church house."

I don't do all that well with the burn in hell threats.  It breeds fear.  And it feels too much like a control mechanism.

We were sitting up here thinking about calling the number...

"When we dial out of the building," I asked Dr. HazelEyes, who sits in the cubicle in front of mine, "it gives the general number and not our personal desk phone number on the caller ID, right?"

"Right," she said.

Cowgirl Cre was sitting here. She looked at me and I looked at her, and...

And...

And...

HA HA. NO we did NOT call Prophet Love.  No way.

But we wanted to.

Really tho. 

LOL.

TWELVE Tuesday Thoughts

Ten, no...

TWELVE Tuesday Thoughts always come with a little trepidation, but I think I can get through it.

1. It has been COLD the last couple of days in the ATL. Brrrrrr....

2. I didn't want to turn on the furnace, but I turned it on to 65 degrees. And believe you me, it was on. That is just how cold it  was.

3. It's so cold at night that Sister Callie Jo has been sleeping on my bed. Last night she caught the heel of my foot right up against her head. She needs to be like Mitch and sleep on the other side of the bed at the bottom. Or under the bed, for that matter. Otherwise, I don't even know where she usually sleeps. Heck, I don't even think Mitch knows.

4. I woke up at 3:33 am this morning and couldn't go back to sleep.

5. I make sure to be cognizant of what's on my mind at that time. And I pray about it. My pastor says have a mini church service when you wake up in the middle of the night. Don't just lay there. So I had a mini prayer service, lol.

6.  There has been a hard tinge in my back for the past couple of days. I don't know if that was related to my fall in the shower last week. It was worse than the hamstring issue I'm having. When I sneeze, it hurts like crazy. Interestingly enough, when I woke up in the middle of the night, it was gone. GLORY. I guess that was a mini-church service and a healing service. GLORY again!

7. So I am walking much better now after my fall in the shower. The hamstring is getting better with each passing day. I only have slight problem getting in and out of the car. Just a little bit slower than usual, and I better do it right or you will hear me yell loudly.

8. I was brave enough to walk out for lunch today. I walked to a place some 5 minutes away from our building. There is a small hill also, and I wanted to know how I did on that. I am walking slower than normal, but it's not the zombie or zombie-trying-to-appear-human walk. But people were passing me by on the sidewalk, and I had sad thoughts of  "I wish I could walk that fast..."

Hmm...  These situations always make me think about the things I take for granted.

9. We had a group meeting, just like we do most Tuesday morning. I'm the only woman in my work group. Let me tell you something: I'm about to drown in the sea of testosterone. I know my boss has to be thinking "Man, she looks like she is zoning out."  I am the Queen of sitting in a meeting and letting my mind take me somewhere else far far away.  But the amount of testosterone in the room was a bit.... overwhelming. I need to make of this and find a better way to cope with it.

For this Oldgirl is not interesting in pissing contests. No ma'am. No sir.

10. Highlight of my day #1 - I made chocolate chip pecan cookies for someone's birthday this morning. I place them in a nice brown paper bag, and I draw their name in graffiti. I draw lots of smiley faces on it, too.

I love to get up in the cool of the morning and bake. And then give the baked goods away.

For some reason, this is therapeutic for me. And that's a good thing.

11. Highlight of my day #2 - I was just informed that I am in the acknowledgments of one of my favorite author's new book. GLORY!

12. Quote of the Day.  And I should save this for it's own post, but I will let you chew on it.

Sight is a function of the eyes.

 Vision is a function of the heart. 

Indeed.

I don't know where I heard that at. I was listening to someone or something while I was writing in my journal, and they said that. I scribbled it frantically in the margins. It is short, but true.

That's it for TWELVE  Tuesday thoughts. Enjoy your day!

Good Monday Morning

Freestyle Friday FIVE

I haven't been posting. Too busy... or too lazy.

LOL

So here's my Friday Freestyle recap of the week...

1.  I talk to my sister everyday. Thank goodness for that. I think we missed one day, but I know she's alright if she posts something on Facebook. Right now she is teaching AND trying to move into her apartment, so that's a bit taxing in a land where there's a language barrier. I told her that by this time next week, she will be all moved in. Take it day by day.

2. Quote of the Week. Something I told my sister:

Eat it like you eat an elephant. One bite at a time.

I remember that quote when I have a bazillion things to do and it gets overwhelming. I make a list and check off as I go. Focus on getting each task done, one at a time. Period. And that brings me to another quote:

3. Quote of the Week, Part 2:

It's gonna get done. Why? Because it ALWAYS gets done.

A classmate and myself came up with that gem while I we were in grad school some 20 years ago. It was a battle cry of sorts. Later, I understood the fear of not getting something done was stronger than the act of not getting something done if that makes any sense. Fear is such a strong root that tends to run super deep. If I kill the root, i.e., deal with the fear, then the tree automatically dies with it. Period.

4. I fell in the shower yesterday. It shocked the cheese out of me. One moment I was standing there, the next I was on my knees in some strange contorted position. I looked up, and Sister Callie walked in. She took one look at me, and at the mess of a fallen shower curtain, and walked out the bathroom. I suppose she thought... You got yourself in some mess, honey. A hot mess.

I paused a moment. Nothing was broken or out of joint. I got up, and it seems as if I have sprained my hamstring. I have a huge knot on one of my shins and on the knee of the same leg. I can't tell you what happened. I think the matt shifted. I am thankful that it was not worse. I was alone. I could still be laying there some 24 hours later in pain. Not good. I have decided to start taking my cell phone in the bathroom with me. If something happens again, I can crawl over to it... I suppose.

My thigh feels better than it did yesterday. I still got the hard zombie walk going on... but it's the walk of a zombie who's trying to blend in with the crowd. So it's better. If it lingers on, I will go to the doctor. Or pop an aleve.

5. I attended a seminar yesterday. It was work related. I work with some pretty expensive equipment (can cost up to half a million dollars), and vendors will rent a conference room for a day and give talks on some of the new innovations of their CSI-type instrumentation. We get free breakfast and lunch at a nice hotel, so that's a plus. I also got a few fresh ideas from the seminar, and that's great!

The hotel was on the north side of downtown. I live on the southside of downtown, some 13 miles away from the hotel, but it took me an 1 HOUR to get there and 1 HOUR to get home. YIKES! It was a stark reminder of how much I hate traffic!

That's it. Five Friday thoughts, the Freestyle edition.

Song of the day. I was listening to this last night. It makes me happy!



I can play that a couple of times while cleaning up the kitchen and get it done fast... all with a smile on my face! LOL

That's it for me. I am looking forward to a good weekend. It's gonna be COLD in the ATL, so I may crank up the furnace to make sure it works.

It feels like the year has just flown by so fast. Before we know it, we'll be hollering "Merry Christmas"!!!

Only 2.5 months left in the year. If you haven't done it yet, get it done.

Even if you have to eat it like you eat an elephant, get it done. 

Whatever your "it" is, get it done... on purpose.

Quote of the Week

Friday Freestyles

It's Friday!

It's Payday!

BOOYAH!!

And I have a three day weekend coming up! Columbus day is Monday!

GLORY!!!!

I might as well have stayed home today. We ran some experiments overnight, and the instrumentation portion didn't work at all. I coulda stayed home. It's been a SLOW day.

So... This is Gay Pride weekend this weekend in the ATL. Not sure that's all over the world, but it is here. Black Gay Pride was back on labor day weekend. So much has been said on the news about this, most notably about the crosswalks of a popular intersection being painted.

A coworker and I walked the mile down to the intersection before it got too busy. I took plenty of pictures.

Oh my! That is colorful. And all the businesses are decorated up in that area too. There's a big parade tomorrow.

All I know is that I work in this area, and uh... I'm dipping out of this camp early. Bump all this traffic. I'm not even going my usual way through the hotel district. No way. Going straight home by one of my many alternate routes. I hate traffic!!!

I got caught up in Pride traffic one time, some 10 years ago. NEVER again. It is worse than baseball game traffic. NO!! 

Should be an interesting weekend indeed. I plan on staying in the house with Sister Callie Jo and Mitchell Lamar.

That's them looking out the window at me. And I will be standing next to them.

Although I have a writing group meeting on Saturday. It's suppose to rain bad on Saturday morning. So I will gauge that in the morning. I'm not all that interested in making a hard 40 mile drive to the far east side in the pouring rain. No sir. No ma'am.

We will see.

Song of The Week. Some Kendrick Lamar! His song "Momma"



And it's sampled from a Lalah Hathaway song: "On your own"



The Lalah Hathaway song is far better! In my opinion, anyway. 

That's it for me! I am looking forward to relaxing this weekend.

On purpose...

You do the same!

Sister Abroad Update #1

So, my sister Kentucky is faring quite well... Here's a pic of her with other teachers there.

That is her in the black and white striped shirt.

They ALL look happy and excited to be there. So that makes me happy!

She was assigned to Al Ain, some 80 or 90 miles east of the capital Abu Dhabi

So of course you know I went and read about the city.

It seems to be rocky desert land...

...containing a plethora of oasis.

That's quite nice.

She arrived there this morning (yesterday our time), and sent a picture from her hotel balcony:

 
How beautiful and lush is that?!

She is teaching kindergarten and she starts on Sunday. And she gets her apartment next week some time. Hopefully she doesn't have to buy a car, but I am sure she'll find something she likes if she does have to. She's been there for a week, and she's getting accustomed to the place. We've talked a couple of times a day, even on Skype. So that is great.

I still miss her, though. And that's alright.

I am MORE happy that she's seeing  new places and doing great things.

A Special 10 Year Anniversary

On October 5th, I celebrated a very special anniversary. On  that date, 10 years ago, I purchased my first home.

This blog is 10 years old, so it is amazing to go back and read about my feelings so long ago. I was only 35 years old, practically the age my sister is right now, when I purchased  it. It was an interesting time. I'd lived in that particular area of downtown ATL in my early 20s, and it was the best place I'd ever lived. I was a couple of blocks from the ATL zoo, and it took me only 45 minutes to walk to school (17 minute walk to catch the school shuttle at the Braves Stadium). I had an old '73 Chevy Nova, but I didn't drive much. And living in downtown atlanta enclaves put me approximately 20 minutes from all sides of town.

I couldn't afford a house in that neighborhood back in 2005, but I bought a house nearby. There are 4 neighborhoods around there, and I caught a good deal on one. Here's an old picture:

Wait... here's the earliest picture I have:

Look how small the bushes were way back then!

And here's the current picture of my house.

As you can see, the color was lighter earlier on. I recently had it painted. People think it's yellow, but it's peach in color. (Man, you would NOT believe the number of people who argue me down over the color of my house. And they get really O_o when I try to explain the scientific genetic particulars behind why some see it as yellow and some see it as peach).

My bushes are a little higher than the porch because locals know they be trying to look all in my windows as they walk down the street.

Humph.

I like the paint job. It is amazing how the house looks practically new. It had faded badly.

I know when buying a house, I was concerned about the upkeep of it. There are always things to be do. But little by little, I get it done. I know I've spent at least $10,000 over the past 10 years on upkeep. And that is fine. It's a lot when looking at the amount in one big chunk like that, but that's alright. It all goes with having a house.

I also think about all the things I wanted to do over the years. Sometimes I imagine that if I only had an apartment all this time, I could've traveled the world. Shoulda woulda coulda. But I know if  I lived in an apartment all these years, then I would be thinking the total opposite: If only I had a house. 

But I've managed to travel over the years. I have been able to save and be a blessing to others also.  That makes me happy.

And over the past few months, I've meditated on how God has blessed me to take care of myself  and my home. No, it's not Better Homes and Garden laid out. I don't have the first inkling or notion about decorating anything. But it's mine. And I have maintained. And that's great.

So here's to 10 years in a happy home...

May it continue to be a happy home...

Happy Anniversary to the President and First Lady (Belated)

Before and After: Crock Pot Green Beans

Before...

After...

Friday Freestyles... The "She's There Safely" Edition.

Well... I successfully got my sister packed up and out of here.

I knew it was real when she sent me a picture of the logo of an airline she was flying to Abu Dhabi.

Man... I saw that Arabic writing and I started wailing all over again.

I haven't posted all week because she and I have been O_O all week. It's not the big stuff one has to do, it's all that little stuff that has to get done. And when folks found out the exact day she was leaving, they came out of the woodworks, wanting to spend time with her. She doesn't know how to say no, she was trying to accomodate people. So she was a little behind. She had a 5:00 am flight and neither of us didn't get any sleep. I told her not to worry about cleaning up her room and bathroom and that I would get that. She needed to just make sure that she packed EVERYTHING she needs.

(She left a pair of flip flops here. They are under the coffee table in the living room. I know because Sister Callie Jo was laying on them. Sister Callie Jo misses her already).

Her flight from Atlanta to Chicago was at 5:00 am. We got to the airport at 2:00 am, and the gate for check-in didn't open until 3:30 am. We hijacked one of the baggage handler's carts (she had 3 suitcases, a duffle bag and a backpack. We rolled that down a ways until we found seats where people weren't asleep, and we sat and talked. All of a sudden we saw folks crowding in like roaches, so we got in line. My sister only had to pay $125 for extra luggage, whereas, as she found out later, others paid $300-$400 for extra luggage. So that worked out well.

I got teary eyed when she went through security. I wanted to follow her.

I was all choked up on the short 10 minute drive home. "I feel so deflated. My heart is so deflated," I wailed.

I got home around 4:20 am, and laid down. She sent a pic of that airline logo a little later... and I got choked up all over again. LadyTee called and we talked and I felt better.

I lingered around the house all day. There were several times where I went to holler if she wanted something to eat... then I realized she wasn't there.

SIGH.

Her flight to Abu Dhabi was 13 hours. There was a whole crew of them going, even people from New Zealand, Africa, etc., and they were all on that flight. Someone was even posting on their teacher facebook page during the flight, so it was cool to know before I went to bed that they were in the air and on their way. I woke up to a text message from my sister saying that she landed.

And can you believe that I have talked to her on the phone TWICE today, for a total of an hour.

She has interesting stories, including almost getting into it with a cab driver. She was counting that foreign money to slow and he went off on her.

I TOLD her not to venture out alone. Go with a buddy. And she better understand that we can't just up and go get her. She ain't in Alabama. She half a world away.

Hopefully she will get it.

So that made me feel better, that talking to her. And it sounds like she's in the next room!

So the week is over. This has been a major change for her.

And for me.

(And for the good Sister Callie Jo).

So safe travels and safe adventures, little sister.

Come back and tell us all about it!