Ten Tuesday Thoughts

1. I will not be watching the State of the Union address tonight. I am tired of being emotionally drained.

2. I must remind myself to NOT drink a Starbucks frappucino early in the morning. I have been running back and forth to the bathroom ALL day long. WOW!

3. I have been working on the same report at work for a couple of months. I want to move on to something else. I am bored beyond belief.

4. I heard my favorite song on the drive to work this morning. It made me want to stop my car, stick my head up through the sunroof and just SANG!



5. "You Make Me Wanna Love Again" has been my favorite song for the last 32 years, since I was 16 years old. I am waiting for a new favorite song. I don't think that's gonna happen. Sigh. (And that is alright).

6. I watched the Grammys the other night. I am so glad Kendrick won some awards! Damn was a great album.

7. I made the most wonderful salad for lunch this morning. But I didn't eat it. I will eat it tomorrow.

8.  It is once again cold in the ATL. I can't wait for better weather.

9. What I'm reading right now:

 I am reading that with Serenity. It is so so good. It is so good that I may read it TWICE. I am sure I missed something.

10. I have another favorite show right now: The Resident.



I happened upon it by chance. I was walking on the treadmill in the gym and I was looking for something to watch on my smartphone and I stumbled across it.   It truly made my time go by fast. WOW.

Alright... that's it for 10 Tuesday thoughts!

Nephews

They are getting SOOOOO big!!

A Blankie for Notorius J

I am always making baby blankets, and of course, I made one for my new nephew.

But I never posted the finished blanket.

And it was quite different. I wanted to make one I'd never made before. And here it is:

It is a striped one, where blue and white alternate. That was a lot of fun to make, and it didn't get boring. (If I have to change colors, that keeps it interesting).

It's a bit too big for him (on purpose), but I know he will be able to use it for a very long time.

New Furniture 2017

I had a ton of goals during the holidays. I didn't write most of them down, but I do think I actually accomplished most of them.

One of my goals was to go look at some furniture. At least go look. If I saw something I wanted, I could think about purchasing it.

So I think I went to three different places. I saw some furniture I wanted at one of those places and I made a purchase. (Well, I financed it. It will be paid off well before summer).

So I like dark woods. I purchased some cherry wood furniture, a chest and a dresser, for my bedroom.

(I  bought that 15 inch flat screen TV/DVD player 10 years ago. It costs $500 way back then. It may be $100-200 now. My oh my, how times have changed. Technology is something else).

I like that. And while I was decluttering, I found a few beautiful scarfs. Apparently I got them as gifts over the years, because I would never up and buy pretty scarfs. My sister had even asked me for a scarf for her head so her head wouldn't be cold when she went outside, and I handed her one of the colorful scarfs. She scoffed at the thought of putting the scarf on her head. "Lisa, this is the type of scarf you wear around your neck, not one you wrap around your head."

*crickets*

Uh, ok. I wasn't going to argue with her. She is a diva. She's an expert on such matters.

I am a bit weary of scratching up the furniture. So I placed the scarf on top of the dresser.

(I have looked up and seen Sister Callie Jo sitting up there. I have even seen the scarf on the floor. This unnerves me something awful. I have been talking much trash about it. Alas, Callie Jo thinks twice about jumping up there).

Now for one of the upstairs bedrooms, I have purchased some white furniture. I purchased a chest and two end tables.

What I LOVE about this set are the tops. The striated wood caught my attention.

(Excuse the messy bed. That is my sister's fault).

I did not like this for my bedroom, but it is nice for upstairs. The drawers are MUCH deeper in this white set. My set has shallow drawers, and this is fine, as I don't have many clothes. It is just right for my clothes. My sister can use the upstairs set for her and Justin's clothes. It is good to have extra clothes and diapers and such at my house.

So that's the furniture I purchased. That was fun. Maybe later this year I will do something in the other spare bedroom. I would love to turn that into an office, where I can get some writing done. Right now I sit at the dining room table and write.

Over the years, I think I think to hard about such matters, instead of doing what I did this time: just simply go out and enjoy the act of window shopping and perusing furniture. And IF I saw something  I liked, take a day or two to think about it, then come back and order it.

And that works out fine. And I know it will work out fine next time.

Ten Thursday Thoughts

Ten thoughts.

On a snowed-in Thursday.

And here we go!


1. The best thing about being snowed in is that I won't be out and about spending money. This is not a been an overwhelming problem for me, but has been a slight concerned lately.

2. The worst thing about being snowed in: if we have our work laptops, we must telework. I guess this is okay, as I will get some things done. But I must admit that it is difficult to police myself.

3. I had the strangest dream this morning. I was up in Detroit for some reason, but I had to get back to Atlanta because I had to give a big chemistry talk the next morning AND I had to bring a dish for a workplace potluck. Seeing that it was late in the evening, I was a bit stressed because I would literally need to miss my morning flight and jump in my car and DRIVE to Atlanta. And that's a 12  hour drive. At that point, I woke up.  And I was relieved that it was all a dream. But I am wondering what the dream means. (Maybe it means that I don't need to sleep with the TV on). 

4. I had that dream twice. The second time I woke up, I figured I needed to get up out of bed and start my day. I have no idea what that dream means. Sigh.

5. It is 19 degrees this morning. That's a rare thing in the ATL.

6. I watched the The Assassination of Versace: An American Crime Story last night. It was interesting, but it may be something I have to binge watch when the complete series is out.  Meaning, I'm neither here nor there concerning it. It is a decent watch, though. 

7. Being snowed in has wrecked my eating and exercise plan. There is way too much mindless snacking going on.

8. But I had a great salad for dinner last night.

That's raw kale, craisins, golden beets and pecans. I had a superfood salad from Farm Burger and I promised  myself I would duplicate it. I did my best. (There's is much better than mine).  But it was GREAT. I may just have it again tonight.

9.  Golden Beets. Golden Beets are AWESOME.  I cooked them for the first time, and it was quick and easy! 

They are not as strong as red beets, and that is fine by me. But they are a fun new salad addition.

10. Speaking of Farm Burger, there's a location coming to my neighborhood! Oxtail marmalade and roasted bone marrow on  the burgers now! (Never tried those toppings and I never will).
Gentrification is a mutha! But that's alright. I will be up in there getting that superfood salad.

That's it for Ten Thursday thoughts!

Snow Days 2018, Part II

So this is our second round of snow and ice in the ATL.

And as usual, we all panic down here. I myself left work 3 hours early on Tuesday. It is usually dark when I get off from work, and there was NO WAY I was going to be driving home in the dark, in some sleet and ice. NOPE. So I took some leave and left early.

I didn't run to the store for milk and bread, like most Atlantans tend to do.  I did go to a grocery store, but it was a pleasure field trip/visit to a new gentrified grocer near my house. I bought some items, and I got home around 4:30 pm.

I woke up to lots of sunshine. I leaned over and lifted the blinds next to my bed and saw this:

My driveway was covered in snow. No, it's not a lot.  But this is the ATL, which means it might as well be 10 feet of snow. So that meant the workplace was shut down. Luckily I had my work laptop and lab notebooks, so I could work from home. I did that  (not a great efficient job of it, but oh well).. 

And here's how it looked outside my bedroom window late this afternoon.

The snow is melting. And it looks like my neighbor has ventured out in his big truck. But with temperatures in the teens tonight, the wet streets will freeze over, leaving dangerous sheets of black ice. And I got an email saying the job is closed again tomorrow. And that is fine by me.

It would be finer if I wasn't teleworking.

And as long as this power and internet stays on, I'm good.  Real good. 

We should all relax.

Spring is right around the corner! 

Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday 2018

Friday Freestyles

Man, listen....

I'ma need ya'll to pray for our president.

Or at least put Pa-Pa, i.e, our president, in the back room when he starts talking crazy.

And he was behind closed doors when he said the crazy deranged stuff he said about Haiti and Africa being shithole countries.

You have to give folks a pass who don't know that Africa is a CONTINENT, a collection of over 50 countries. Ignorance is a real thing, ya'll.

But why are you surprised? You know this man don't like black and brown people. You really know it now that he desires some Norwegian immigrants.

Let's throw the Quote of the Week in here super early:

"When people show you who they are, believe them."

I know what he is. And I believe him. And I will just ignore him.

Too bad his decisions affect public policy and our lives... for years and years to come.

Sigh.

And with that said, I will go on living. And depending on God to take care of me. That's the nitty gritty of what it comes down to.

This is little stuff. Ya'll better hope we don't get caught up in a nuclear war because he can't keep himself calm.

We all know that "MAGA" stuff ain't gonna work.

LadyLee ain't picking cotton or tending babies. Nope. No slave stuff going on. And I am rather mild mannered. I wish they would try to get negroes to participate in some foolishness. That will not work out! By force or otherwise.

Humph.

Knowledge is power. This reminds me to learned, and don't walk around saying ignorant ish. 

With that said, I am ready for the weekend!

And today is PAYDAY!

I think I will get to see my little nephew this weekend. He's just shy of 5 months old.

And he is a SNAZZY fella, too. I wish I had a quilted outfit like that. Especially since it's going to be COLD this weekend in the ATL!

We have enjoyed temperatures in the 50s and 60s this week. And who would've thought that I would've been happy to see that. But with those "warm" temperatures came a TON of rain.

This weekend, it's going to be cold, in the 20s and 30s, I believe. I can't say I care for that!

But that is fine. The first green leaf will sprout on the tree soon enough.

Show of the week. Have ya'll been watching the new show 911 on FOX??

MAN!!!

It is a new police/fireman procedural on FOX.

Wow. It blows me away. The writing is just, wow!

Tell me something... How do you get Angela Bassett...

... and Aisha Hinds...

IN THE SAME SHOW!!!!!?!?!?!?!?

WHOA.

That was the main reason I tuned in. Those are two EXCEPTIONAL actresses.

Plus me and Aisha have the same haircut. That makes her my automatic favorite.

Angela Bassett is a bad azz in this show.  A COMPLICATED bad azz. Her performance is up there with her Tina character in What's Love Got to Do with it. 

My favorite performance of her's is the head voodoo priestess in American Horror Story: Coven. There were a couple of times when I just stood up and clapped after some of her key parts. This performance is on par with that one. 

That show is so good, with so many twist and turns, that it had me jumping UP out of the bed and yelling fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggg!!!

I think I stopped breathing a couple of times!

It was so good that I have to go back and watch the two episodes that have aired. I know I missed something. It was that good.

I highly recommend you check it out.

The Weekend. So it's a 3 day weekend. Happy MLK day in advance.

I am decluttering. STILL. The goal this weekend is to get rid of a couple of trash bags of stuff, whether it be clothes, books or trash. Whatever. Get it out of there!

And I have things to do. My coworker's wife is having a baby, so I am going to work on the baby blanket, or at least get started on it. I sent some pictures of blankets I have over the blog to her. She chose a yellow and white granny smith baby blanket. I sent some samples home with my male coworker and she made some choices.

I like the ruffle borders for a girl, but she wants that straight border. Straight border it is!

Salads. Here's a random picture of some of my salads for today and the weekend.

I thought I would eat all that today. I guess I am just hungry in the morning. I got through half of that veggie one today. I will eat the rest tonight. I will deal with the other one tomorrow... hopefully. I want some hot wings, but I will try to be good. I will try.

Song of the week. This one right here goes out to my beloved president since he think Africa is a shitthole.

"Nights over Egypt" by the Jones Girls.



Sometimes we have to see some positive images of Africa instead of the malnourished babies with bloated bellies. Yes that exists. But you know Africa is a great place when it's been raped and pillaged for it's resources.  Not such a shithole when we trying to get those diamonds and oil, huh....

That's it for me. I will leave you with that little bootleg Food-for-Thought.

Have a great weekend!

On purpose!

Callie and Mitch

Callie is forever sitting on that stool watching me cut up fruit...

I thought the tree would scare her away, but it's not. She likes having a front row seat to the goings-on in the kitchen.

And she isn't pleased that I am cutting up simple fruit. I think she is more interested to see if I am cutting up something more interesting like meat.

Mitch, on the other hand, is simply looking for a soft place to lay his big body.

And he has no problem finding that special place!

Ten Tuesday Thoughts

Ten Thoughts...

On  a Tuesday... 

1. Is it just me, or is it that I have never heard of  most of the movies nominated for Golden Globe or Oscar awards? And some of the movies  haven't even come out yet. You can't tell me it isn't all rigged. 

2. The best movies I saw last year were Wonder Woman and Get Out.

Too bad they weren't nominated for much. Yet these movies that no one has seen, well... you know.

3. I am not doing well with this working from home. I am usually focused, but not so much now. I am actually glad I go back to work tomorrow.

4. I think I will keep a list of the number of books I've read this year. So far, I have read 0 books. Sigh.

5. I could prepare my own lunch if I wanted to, since I am working from home. But I did not. Thank goodness for UberEats. I had salad for lunch.

Correction: Salads delivered from my favorite spot for chopped salads, Rawesome Juicery.  These huge salads were delivered to my house in 16  minutes flat.  That is awesome!

6.  Alabama won last night.  I did not watch the game. I just wanted  SOMEONE to win and for everyone to go on back to whereever they came from.  I live 2 miles from the stadium. I just want  some traffic sanity... so I won't need to be working from home!

7. I am STILL decluttering.  STILL.  This may go on throughout the month of January.  There was some interesting things going on in the small space that separate the washer and the dryer. It only took me less than 10 minutes to clean up,  but still... clutter is clutter.

8.  I have over 1000 books. 80% of  those have to go,  whether I like it or not.

9. The last song I listened to last night. I was cleaning the kitchen at the time.  "Ooh La La  La" by Teena Marie.



10. I have been doing a TON of complicated statistics for this big report I am writing right now. A ton. Oh how I wish I would've paid more attention in that danggone biostatistics class I took in 1996 in grad school. Ugh.

That's it  for 10 Tuesday Thoughts!  

Monday Morning Rambles

It is Monday.

I think this is the second Monday in 2018?

Yes it is.

So we have some 50 more Mondays to go in this year.

Then it will be the year 2019.

(Now, if that was not a mindless ramble, I don't know what is).

It is STILL cold as hell outside.  I never thought I would yearn so much, and so soon, for warm temperatures.  I am COLD. I keep turning the heat up.  And it's just not warm enough for me.

I had a pretty eventful weekend.  The most interesting thing that happened was that I was trying to go somewhere on Saturday morning and I could not find my wallet. I mean, I tore the house up looking for it, throwing stuff everywhere, and I could not find it. I'd ordered some takeout from a Thai place near my job that Friday night, and I called them up. They hadn't seen my wallet. I tore up my car looking for it. I then decided to just call and cancel and reorder all my credit cards. This only took about 30 minutes. I thought about how first thing Monday morning, I needed to go get a new drivers license. I was a bit miffed, but happy that I caught everything before someone went and had a GREAT time with my cards.

Then... I found  my wallet.

After all this, I found my wallet. It was in my coat pocket in my coat closet.

Sigh.

Why didn't I just look in there in the first place? I was happy to have it, even though the cards meant nothing.

But I was happy to have my drivers license and my Michael Kors wallet back!

GLORY!!!

I really like that wallet.



The Tired Fury of the D-List Fire.This past week was crazy.  As always, it starts in the world of politics. This tell-all book came out:

Sigh.

So Trump came out blasting with all these crazy tweets.  He was calling Steve Bannon  "Sloppy Steve"... It was just crazy.

But come on, ya'll. You know that stuff is true. Maybe not all 100% of  it, but you know it's true. Our  president is not  the sharpest tool in  the toolbox, despite tweeting that he's a "stable genius".  This whole thing has become a reality show, and a bad one at that. I am frankly tired of being emotionally drained day after day. Sometimes I want to just turn on the news for some actual news, and not the constant spiel of shenanigans and corruption that is now the presidency. This feels like a D-list mafia/mob movie, with the endless azz kissing and pledges of loyalty. It's a bad one that's on every channel. This is not a thing of genius.

I know what a genius looks like. I have a 164 IQ. I am a genius. He is not. If he is a genius, then he's a bored and unfocused one. I would have felt better if he said that.

Now you know who's a frickin' genius?

That dayum Oprah.

Oprah. Did you see her speech at the Golden Globes?

My goodness. I felt chills when I heard it. I was just happy to hear some sound and coherent words for a change. In the midst of this reality show that politics has become, I heard some greatness.
I have watched Oprah since I was in high school, and that was over 30 years ago. I have, like us all, watched her grow and evolve and expose her challenges and imperfections. I can relate to her.

People want her to run for president. If that is what she wants to do, then fine.

If there is one thing that this emotionally exhausting presidential season has taught us, it's that anyone can run for president. And win.  And if anyone could win, Oprah could.

I have said over the past few years that the most powerful man and woman in the country are both black: Oprah and Obama. And you can't uncrack that egg. You cannot unring that bell.  The dangerous and powerful thing right now is that you cannot tell a young black child right now that they can't be something in this life. They have seen a black president. And they have seen Oprah. And Oprah  alluded to something similar in her speech last night, when she talked about how as a little girl she sat on the kitchen linoleum floor of her home and saw Sidney Pointier accept the award that she accepted that night.

So who... what small child... was watching her speech last night?

We will know in a couple of decades... we will know.


And that is all that I have to say about that.

Song of the week. When I pulled into the garage last night, I heard a GREAT song. The song was so good that I turned the car off and sang along.



"Everything She Wants" by Wham. How great is that song. It brought back so many memories.  It was LadyTee's  favorite Wham song when we were in high school. She would play it over and over.

What I truly like about the song (and what I find is a rarity in songs these days), is the story it tells. It's a short story in a song, about a man frustrated with his woman and her superficial and materialistic ways. My favorite part is when he sings, in the midst of his laments, even with the news  of a baby on the way,  "My God... I don't even think that I love you!"

That's such a revelation. My goodness.

Anyway, I love that song.

Homebody.  So... I am working from home. Why?  Because the National football championship is going down tonight. Mix that with the fact that our beloved president will be there. Combine that with the fact that it is cold outside and there was a threat of freezing rain and ice this morning...

There was no need for me to go to work. I have been working on a big report and I can do that from the house.

And with the president in town, do you realize that they have to shut down BOTH sides a freeway for his motorcade to come through? And there are police snipers on bridges over that freeway?

I have been caught up in all that in the past. No thank you.

There are going to be protests of the president tonight. There is no way I would do that. I told my sister that if I HAD to protest, it would be in Newnan or Macon, cities 40 and 85 miles away from Atlanta respectively. There is NO way I will be down near the stadium tonight, around 100,000 folks and the president. They have police snipers on buildings. All it will take is one person to get rowdy  and we all shot  up. NO.

I don't care who wins the big game. I want everyone to have fun and get out of here with no terrorist attacks. That is ALL I want. And then maybe I can go to work on tomorrow or Wednesday.

With that said... I hope you all are getting back into the swing of things after the holidays. I took 2.5  weeks off, and I am still trying to find my footing. I am confident I will.

And I am confident you will too!!

How Cold is It?

My oh my, it is COLD outside?

How cold is it?

If you are a Game of Thrones Fan, you will understand that it is this cold:

That's how cold it is... It's White-Walker-King-showing-up-in-your-'hood type of cold.

And if you are not a Game of Thrones fan, that picture is enough. That picture just looks, well, cold.

This is catching me off guard. Thank goodness we don't have snow, but I slid on a little black ice here in the ATL. It's not raining, but we have leaky pipes around. So there is water in some of the streets. That is scary. It makes me want to get to work early enough to leave before the darkness that falls around 5:30 pm. But I will just go slow and pay closer attention, especially since it will be some 20 degrees in the evenings and early mornings. Sigh.

I think this is an east coast phenomenon right now. I keep seeing headlines concerning a "Bomb Cyclone". That sounds like some craziness, and I'm not even going to read the entire article.

All I can hope is that those affected stay warm, and stay safe.

Spring will be here before we know it!

Ten Tuesday Thoughts

This is ten thoughts... on a Tuesday.

And it's the first ten thoughts of the year.

1. It is 2018. It is so hard to believe.

2. I remember being outside playing with friends in the eighties, and the most we ever talked about is the year 2000. But 2018? Never even thought about it.

3. It is cold as hell outside.

4. Correction: it is cold as hell in the ATL! We have been at 19-20 degrees for the last couple of days. And the windchill makes it feel 2 degrees.

5. The weatherman actually said that it was colder in the ATL than in Alaska! Wow.

6. My vacation officially ends today.

7. I have been away from work so long that I may take tomorrow off.

8. I can't really do that, as I must go fill out my timecard. I MUST get my paycheck. So if that means going back to work in this bitter cold then so be it.

9. My lips are super chapped. I get that way when we have low humidity.

10. The only thing worse than bitter cold is bitter cold with precipitation. Atlanta tends to shut down when there is even a hint of ice and snow. Yes it could be worse.

Happy New Year 2018!!!

***STAR DATE***

2018.1.1

(((((((HAPPY NEW YEAR)))))))

From your Friendly Neighborhood Oldgirl

LadyLee