Libations Gone Wild

So I was in my favorite neighborhood gourmet grocery store and I saw this:

Wine... in a can.

Chardonnay... in a can.

Who would put wine in a can like it's some beer or something?

I bought it because I thought it would be a trip to show it to Serenity23, who's a wine person for life.

I sent her a photo. She'd never heard of wine in a can.

I thought it was funny. But I thought since she hadn't ever had a can of wine, well, maybe I should've just left it in the store. Heck, I didn't know how much it cost.

Until I got home and examined the can.

$7.99!!!

For a can of wine? REALLY.

On the back of the can there was an odd statement: "Tastes like vanila lemon pie crust pears and almonds".

Well... for $7.99, it better taste like that, even though that combo sounds like a hot mess.

And then I was at my local coffee shop and I saw this:

So now we have cans of flavored cold brew coffee (whatever that means).

Now I'm not sure why I would want tangerine, lime, cherry, or lemon flavored coffee. That has never crossed my mind to have such a mixture. Now if you want to flavor my teas in that way? Hey, that may be pretty good?

But my coffee? I will pass.

No I didn't buy any. The cans were on the counter. I thought it was just odd.

Yes I am trying to expand my palate when it comes to new libations.

But I'm not bold enough to try something THIS new.

Ten Thursday Thoughts!

1. I am SO glad today is Thursday. This has been a long long week.

2. My Lucy needed her 5000 mile service.  So of course she had a need of other stuff.

3. New radiator, new battery, new alternator, new timing belt, bunches of new hoses and belts. Yikes.

4. *ladylee transferring money out of savings so she can pay that car repair bill*

5. While my car was in the shop, I had a loaner. A black car just like my own.

6. Now while my car is whisper quiet, this loaner car was a bit loud. And loud in a way that you know some dudes had been working on the car. Let's just say if I wanted to do some Fast and Furious racing in the middle of the night, I could have... and I would've won the race.

7. It was odd riding in a black car with all black interior on a HOT day. That is just strange. It all felt hotter than it actually was.

8. There was a lovely Employee Appreciation ceremony today, complete with lunch. I was glad of that because I didn't pack my lunch toady.

9. I was a little thrown off this morning because my sister and the baby came over.  So of course I didn't make my lunch.

10. I didn't make my lunch because it was Justin's feeding time and I took the time to give him his bottle  instead.  That had  to be the highlight of my day! (Even though he was taking his sweet time with that bottle).

 

M and M's Gone Wild

I'm not sure what's going on with M&Ms.

For as long as I can remember, there were only two types: plain and peanut. I personally like the peanut ones.

Then maybe a decade ago, new flavors came out. I can't remember off hand what they were, but I thought, that's odd... new M&Ms.

But last week, I saw a whole 'nother round of M&Ms...

And the M&Ms have gone wild.

COFFEE NUT

Yuck. Someone would have to buy that and let me try one. No way I would buy a big bag of them.

Then I saw STRAWBERRY NUT.

Yikes. Who thought that one up?

Then there's PECAN PIE.

Now, that might  be good if they have real pecan pieces in there. Hmmm

And there's CARAMEL

That sounds reasonable. I don't think  I want a whole bag of them. I am more of a fan of caramel when it's by itself, like the caramel squares.

Interesting...

I will let ya'll go try those.

I will stick to the peanut M&Ms.

Quote of the Week: Of Roots and Fruits

I was talking to a friend yesterday and I told her about this incredible book I read.

I even wrote a book review on it, way back in 2013.

The Fantasy Fallacy: Exposing the Deeper Meaning Behind Sexual Thoughts.

It was a good book, chocked full of good information. I may read it again.

But one quote struck me when I read it back then, and it is equally telling now.

 "What we see as a flower or a tree or any other kind of plant is just an extension of what's at the root.  You won't see magnolia leaves sprouting from the roots of a dogwood tree, nor will you see ears of corn shoot off a cucumber vine. What we are in the light is determined by who we are in the dark. Our fruit is merely the product of our roots. Only through tending to our mental emotional and spiritual roots will we bear the healthiest fruit possible.  Ignore the roots, and the plant will suffer. Nurture the root and the plant will thrive. (Location 2848)

It is such a valuable reminder to check my roots.

Monday Night Musings

It is Monday.

And I am mentally trying to wake up. I am trying to think well of Mondays, but some Mondays are,  um... I just need to skip over to Tuesday.

I had a great weekend, chocked full of activities. The best event was attending a book club meeting where Atlanta Noir was the book of the month. It was great discussing my story and other stories in the volume with the readers. I even read a chapter from the manuscript from whence I got the story idea from, and they really enjoyed that. It gave me more courage to move forward on finishing up the story!

We met in Cobb county, and while I was out there I got a few things done.  I even bought a new laptop.

'Tis a cheap one. My regular laptop and my netbook are outdated with the Windows Vista, and I really can't use them  much anymore. I need something for writing, and I may get a more expensive one later.

And my new little nephew, Justin, aka Notorious J, came over on Sunday. After a month in the hospital, he is out, and now he is 5 weeks old. I hung out with him while his Mama got some much needed sleep. She is still trying to adjust to him and his schedule.

When they first got there, I just stared at him. Kentucky said, "You can pick him up. He won't break."

I think I was use to picking him up and having to be careful of all his wires and feeding tube. But all of that is gone! I can pick him up and maneuver him around without fear of anything falling off or setting off  some monitor alarms.

Man oh man, hanging out with him was more than a notion! He must've known that I haven't kept a baby in some 30 years, not since his Uncle Milk and Cookies was a baby. He gave me the sly side-eye quite a few times.

He was looking like, "Now wait a minute here. You look like my Mommy... but you are NOT my Mommy!!"

LOL

He is such an interesting little character. And he is still little, but he has to be about 5 pounds now. I will be using my hairbrush to gauge how big he is growing.

He is still little and has a little growing to do. (And no, I did not brush his hair with that hard azz brush. It's almost too hard for my head!)

I spent 6 hours with him. When I tell you that that was an interesting 6 hours... wow!! I thought babies slept most of the time. That little dude was taking cat naps and watching me hard.

And he knows he can scarf down some milk. He is drinking 2.5 ounces at a time, with his  little self. I don't know where he puts all that milk.

It was sad to see him get strapped into his car seat for the ride back home. 

I hope for the day when she can just drop him off and go do whatever she needs to do. That's gonna be a minute, though. As he gets bigger, I can get better with him.

Sigh.

More fun to come with him indeed!

Friday Freestyles

Friday!

And I do not have much to say.

Because it is Pay Day. And as usual on Pay Day,  the blinds of my mind are at half-staff.

I haven't been really posting because I could not get pictures to load up. It takes some 3 hours for them to transfer into my email for some odd reason.  My patience ain't strong enough to be waiting around... and around... and around.

Nope.

This has been an interesting week.  Another hurricane has hit. Our president and North Korea's president are trading verbal jabs like we are out in the schoolyard somewhere. Sigh.

One great thing happened this week.  Scoot Booty was discharged from the hospital! He spent a month and a day in there.

He knew something odd was going on. 

 We stopped by my house and I held him while my sister got her stuff together. (She'd been staying with me since Irma).

His britches were too big!

 The nurse said, "Put them pants on him. It's not like he's walking anywhere!"

Really. Just needed to keep him warm.

 And as you can see, Big Mitch was a bit amazed... and confused.

 LOL!!

Dear Justin, I am glad you are growing enough to be home. Be good! 

I am looking forward to the weekend. My old book club chose Atlanta Noir for their book of the month. So I will  attend that meeting. It will be so nice to see everybody. I hope they liked my story.
And I hope I can answer their questions.

It has been a beautiful week with NO rain. I hope that continues into the weekend.

I will not put up a ratchet song. Nope. I will put up a song with a ratchet album cover, though.

"Sweet Sticky Thing" by Ohio Players.



I love that song because it is half instrumental and half vocal. And it's near 10 minutes long! Wow!

But I do remember my mother having the Ohio Players in her record collection. And how embarrassed I was to look at those album covers when I was 7 years old.

Too bad there isn't good original music out like they had back in the day some 40 years ago. Humph.

I am hoping for a great weekend. If I don't have anything else, I have the ability to HOPE. And I will not let that go.

You do the same! Don't  let your hope go either!

Semi-Wordless Wednesdays

It is a shame that it has come down to this... 

Friday Freestyles

Friday. Finally. Still feels like a Tuesday to me.

It might be October before I get my head straight concerning what day it is. This picture right here describes the past 2 weeks of weather craziness.

Katia to the left, Harvey in the middle, and Irma to the right.

Such devastation from these storms. Wow. Who would've thought so much could occur in such a short period of time. Wow. The wonders of nature... and climate change.

Since my conference was canceled due to the craziness left behind hurricane I have a free weekend!

So I hope to get some things done around the house, as usual.  This is a simple hope. These days, I am giving myself permission to hope. (That is a food-for-thought driveby in there somewhere).

Song of the Week. Something STRANGE. I hate mumble rap, but I am a bit fascinated with this song. I think it is due to a writing class I'm taking right now.

Warning: You may or may not understand what Young Thug is saying. And after watching it a few times, I found it gruesome. But it is the best piece of mumble rap I have heard (Note: this ain't saying much). And the language. Ugh. Why we gotta cuss so much!



The first thing I thought when I saw the two little girls was "This here is a play on that movie The Shining." 

And The Shining scared the cheese out of me when I was 12 years old. YIKES! I still can't look at the movie, all these years later.


But it is a good piece of horror rap, even though it is that silly mumble rap. And I think my genius IQ just went down by a couple of points after watching it.

Did I burn your eyes out with that video?  You know I have to do something little ratchet here and there! 

So with that said, you have a GREAT weekend! On purpose!

Quote of the Week

Ten Thursday Thoughts

Ten Thursday Thoughts

1. Is it Thursday already?

2. I ask that because my days are ALL jacked up after 2 days off because of Irma. For some reason I keep thinking today is Tuesday.

3. The last couple of days were spent contemplating as to how to cancel a work related trip I had to Florida.

4. I was supposed to go to a conference. I wasn't presenting, but just going.

5. I didn't really want to go, but you know... got to do stuff just so I can place it on my end of the year review.

6. It was O_O watching the news and seeing Hurricane Irma make landfall at the city where the conference was to be  held.

7. The resort has no power. They won't be getting power for awhile, looks like. Not until a couple of Saturdays from now. Wow.

8. We finally figured out how to cancel the trip today. Funny how nobody seems to know how to do this type of stuff immediately.

9. One of my coworkers was worried about us getting charged anyway.

10. I told her I will tell them, "Send the bill to Mrs. Irma H. Cane." 

 She will gladly pay it!

Then and Now

Then (3 weeks ago)

Now...

That Doggone Irma!

Man...

That doggone Irma got me all jacked up.

First of all, the workplace was shut down for Monday and Tuesday. So you know, I was all good with that... some free time off! Yes!

I should've known there would be a slight problem when I was watching the news and the WHOLE state of Georgia was covered with one giant swirl...



And yes, I'm still on that bootleg, with the flat screen TV on top of the tube TV. My sister bought that tube television for me at the thrift store for $35. I will not get rid of it. It is a sentimental thing, you see.



As you can tell, I was relaxing HARD, laid out on the couch wrapped in my favorite micro suede blanket, my feet clad in a new pair of black socks. I had on a pair of leggings and a tank top. I was feeling GREAT!

Then BOOM!

I knew that sound. It was an explosion. It was the transformer blowing.

It was around 3:30 pm.

Lights out.

No lights.

I found the three lone candles I had. They were conveniently up on the mantle. Let's just say my house smelled STRONGLY of peaches, flower, and cinnamon. My scent cells in my nose are OVERLOADED. But I had some light.

I tell you that after this, I'm finding a survival or camping store and I'm buying a kit... some lanterns and ish like that.

I feel like I'm in an episode of The Color Purple.

I'm expecting Celie to walk in at any moment and holler "Ya'll want somethin' to eat??"

LOL

Georgia Power put up some crazy message talking about it could be days or weeks before power is restored. Georgia Power, I live in a gentrified area, and if you don't stop talking that foolishness, you know these white folks gonna crash the lobby of your downtown building with torches and pitchforks. That power better be on TONIGHT.

If not, oh well. We need to think about people who lost everything due to the storm. Or have a house full of water and got to figure it out. A power outage is temporary at best, and it reminds me how much I rely on it. And that will be the lesson learned. 

But these are high class problems, you know.  I left the Lucy the Lexus in the garage (since it is stuck in there due to the power outage) and cranked up Pam the Protege and went on down to the hospital and spent the day with Scoot Booty. That little dude has gained a whole pound since he was born 3 weeks ago! Go Scoot Booty!

Irma is gone, spinning out in Tennessee somewhere.

I don't think we can take anymore hurricanes. So let's just hope and pray for a long long break from them! 

Ten Tuesday Thoughts

So here we are...

Ten Tuesday Thoughts... or more.

We will see.

1. I was so thankful for the 3-day weekend. We just don't get enough of those.

2. I use the holiday time to declutter. And boy oh boy did I have a lot of clutter. I come from a family of hoarders, so anytime I can get rid of a stray piece of paper, I am proud and happy.

3. I think our discussion panel at the Decatur Book Festival went very well.

It was around an hour  long. We each read for around one minute (my passage to read - I'd  decided it right before I left the house that morning).

4. I wish now that I would've rented a room at the local Marriott for the weekend and spent the entire 2 days there. Once I stood still enough to look at the sessions, I saw that there were some great sessions. I didn't attend any because I was more nervous about our session.  Sigh. Maybe next time!

5. So my new nephew Justin, aka Notorious J, aka Scoot Booty (my personal nickname for him) is doing well. He is the little Boss Preemie of the intermediate infant care section!

6. Scoot Booty is getting darker.

7. I went down Saturday evening to spend some alone time with him and give him his bottle. It was my first time feeding him.

He drank a full 15 out of 20 milliliters. I prayed over him and sang to him. It was the best 2 hours of my weekend, hands down. Go Scoot Booty!!

8. And Scoot Booty is a typical man: eat, get full, then go straight to sleep.

9.. Best thing I ate this weekend:

A pineapple habanero popsicle from King of Pops. Although they are a bit pricey, I like there popsicles because they are not too sweet and they're super juicy. It was good, but it snuck up on me afterwards. That habenero had my lips burning for a few minutes!

10.. There's a new hurricane coming, and her name is Irma! After seeing Harvey, people in Florida rushed to the store with the quickness. It is strange that we heard about Irma some 10 days out, whereas Harvey wasn't talked much about. Maybe I missed it. Never again.

11.. This day is too long. Sigh. I can't wait to get home.

12. I am doing something new for September: I am making up my "to-do" list for when I get home during the day as I think of things. (I hope that makes sense. My wording is off). I think that will be better for me, because by the time I get home, I have forgotten what I wanted to accomplish that evening.

That's it for my 10 + 2 Tuesday Thoughts!

Freestyle Fridays

Friday!

And this week has been so busy that  I haven't had time to post. Sigh.

I have a project that I am working on, and it is a fail as far as I am concerned right now, so I will just have to start over next week. And I am good with that. I am just BONE tired.

I have been like Callie Jo all week when I get home from work.

Laid out, stretched out and sleeping. I'm not sleeping all that well, but it is good enough. 

I have gone to see my new nephew little Justin about 2 or 3 times this week after work. He is doing well, and he has gained 4 ounces. That is a lot for a preemie. He's even taking breast milk mow, but mostly through a feeding tube. He is not on any IVs. So once he gets off that feeding tube, he is all good.

I am sad about the hurricane destruction and flooding in Texas. I know these natural disasters happen, and I pray for those involved. However, I am tired of all the armchair quarterbacking that we do. Unless I am IN the situation, or I've been through something like that, I feel like I have no right to judge how folks handle things. No right. That's just me. I think we are just trained in social media  to comment, analyze, and tare down every single thing.

I have no idea what it is like to have my house fill up with flood water, hit by a tornado, destroyed by fire, none of that. The best I can do is to have some empathy. Hope that makes sense.

I am looking forward to the weekend. I am on a panel for Atlanta Noir at the Decatur Book Festival. I haven't been to the festival in years. The last time I went was when Tayari Jones was there and was reading from her book The Untelling, and that was back in 2006, I believe.  I even wrote a blog post on it. It meant a lot because I took my brother, and it was the first reading he had ever attended. So it means much to me to actually be a participant some 11 years later.

So that is it for me. 

So I am excited about that. I don't think we will get to read. Maybe one page or so if we do. And that is cool. I am just happy to be a participant!

Song of the Week.  I don't really have one. But I have a song that I listen to often. And I came across the video. Oldgirl had better made a video QUICK since Jay-Z sampled her song.

"Late Nights and Heartbreaks" by Hannah Williams and the Affirmations. 



It ain't the highest quality video, but she worked it out, didn't she? LOL

That is is for ME. I am thoroughly ready for the 3-day weekend!

I will make the best of it. At least I hope to.  It might just be a lot of this:

And that is alright too. I will still have a great weekend.

And you do the same!