Thirteen Thursday Thoughts

Lots of thoughts today, so many that I had to go over ten~




1. I made a mistake of buying very cheap trash bags. They are so cheap that I have to double them up so they will not break when I take them out to my can outside. I will not make this mistake again.


2. I have a work trip coming up soon. The worst part is going to the airport, hoping that I didn't leave anything.


3. It always surprises me that I have a lot of clothes. I only find this out when I am packing.


4. It's been raining so much in the ATL that it makes me wonder if we will ever see the sun again.


5. We rarely get hurricanes coming this way, but we do get the outer remnants and bands of the hurricanes. Nevertheless it's always a ton of water involved.


6. With that said, someone should have told Hurricane Alberto that hurricane season starts on June 1, 2018. Humph.


7. And while we're at it, someone tell Roseanne that it's nice to call people out of their names. I am not sure what Jarret did to deserve that. Being black is not a reason.


8. And it's all another lesson in seeds and fruit for me. That show got canceled. And a lot of workers and actors lost their jobs behind a bad seed sown.


9. It's a reminder to check my beliefs and actions, i.e., check my "seeds".


10. Sowing and reaping are first cousins to that thing called Karma. And karma is something else, isn't it?


11. Valerie Jarrett handled that whole situation with class, didn't she? I'm not that mature. I think I would've told that chick to kiss my a**.  Enough said


12. On a good note, Georgia has a chance to have its first black AND female governor. How cool is that.


13. I caught much traffic when trying to go vote in the primary. As a matter of fact, I arrived
at the polling site 5 minutes before closing. It was funny because there was a gang of us running for the door. 


I wasn't going to go since I was running late... but how often do I get to vote for a sister for the democratic ticket for governor? Never. So I ran for that poll!

Sleep... and Play

Dedicated to Chele, who's about to become a grandmother:)

So this is what our past holiday weekend looked like.

The Good Sista Callie know she know how to relax.

Yes... that's what that looked like. Sleeping hard. 

Bootleg hairbrush picture!!

There was some playing, too. Little Justin can stand up now. And that means making my place baby-friendly.

Justin likes to reach for EVERYTHING and put it all in his mouth. Ugh.

He tried to eat the box that his baby legos came in.

NOT a good look.
Mitch was optimistic and hopeful when he saw the legos.

But he is still a bit confused by Justin. He wants to play, but he watches him from a safe enough distance.

Food, family, sleep... and play. Nothing like it in the world!

Ten Tuesday Thoughts

1. The holiday is over! That was a fast 3 day weekend.

2. It felt pretty awful driving in to work today, especially since it was raining hard. There is nothing more interesting than Atlanta traffic as it is, but mix in thunderstorms. WoW!

3. I am amazed that that doesn't happen more often, this rain and traffic mix.

4. The focus of the month of May, well, the past couple of weeks, has been a bit of crocheting

5. That picture in #4 is nice, but it has all looked more like this.

6. I HATE whipstitching squares together. But I'd sent a coworker some pictures of baby blankets, and I let him pick out the blanket he wanted me to make. He chose a checkerboard blue and white blanket, and I hollered "Ewwwwww!" (using my inside voice, though).

7. With that said, this has been an amazingly peaceful whipstitch experience. Why? Because I pulled up some YouTube videos on the subject, and I found a better way to do it. GLORY!!

8. Whipstitched blankets take me about 20% longer to make than a regular baby blanket. And that's alright. I just need to work a little faster.

9. I did not eat lunch today. I was running late this morning and I thought that I would just eat out. But I just called a bootleg fast and kept it moving.  I will eat when I get home. Only water thusfar (and some peppermints). Amen.

10. I missed a group meeting today. I am not sure why we planned a meeting right after a holiday, right when I am scheduled to start work. But I should have known something was up when I roamed around the cubicle area and everyone was gone. That is a bad feeling. I have to come up with a way to remember meetings.


That is it for ten Tuesday thoughts, the post holiday edition. Have a good evening!

Friday Freestyles

Friday!!!

Yes, it is Friday!

And it's a 3 day holiday weekend.

I am REALLY happy about that. And we were just told that we get to leave an hour early today.

*Ladylee doing some SERIOUS clock watching as she packs her bag to leave*

LOL

I have nothing much planned for the weekend. I have to attend a graduation party on Saturday or something. I have to remember to get a card and some cash out of the bank. Hmmm...

Otherwise, it is a quiet weekend. I plan to get quite a bit of reading and journaling done, though.

Pictures of the Week. I have had these pictures since Mother's Day, and I am just loading up. But they are pictures of Scoot Booty, aka, my nephew Justin!

He and his Mama Kentucky showed up at my house. The little dude was looking all dapper in his fly hat.



How fly is he? All he needs is a gold chain!

(He can't have that. He would put it in his mouth).

He can crawl now, so he likes to be down on the floor.



And he's so bold now that he likes to get up on one knee.



Of course he is trying to stand up with no support, but he comes crashing to the ground.

And that hat falls from his head. He was constantly reaching for it and placing it back on his head, albeit crookedly.

He can stand up with support, though!



Go Scoot Booty! You have come a mighty long way, little man. He's only 8 months old, and still underweight, but I think he will be walking before long. Maybe before his first birthday.

This is my favorite picture. Look who's photobombing...

Sister Callie Jo! LOL. And that's her usual facial expression whenever Justin is around. She let's him rub her head, but she is still... perplexed.

Sister Callie Jo is always interested in Justin.

 But she usually goes on her own way... or stay far out of Justin's reach.

Oh, and here's a final picture. It's him and his Mama, my sister!!



This was her first Mothers Day. I think we both forgot, lol. I still need to get her a gift! I was gonna give her some cash, but she didn't want it. I will figure it out!

Quote of the Week. I was watching a TedTalk this week titled "The Art of Being Yourself" by Caroline McHugh, and I came across a fabulous quote. It stuck with me.

"It's not what your life expectancy is, but what do you expect from life, and what does life expect from you?"

That's a short quote, but it's loaded.

That Ted Talk is chock full of quotes. Man oh man. I have listened to it several times. Here's the link... https://youtu.be/veEQQ-N9xWU

That is it for ME. I am just waiting to go home!

GLORY.

But that clock just goes tick, tick, tick. It's like time has slowed or something. Ugh.

I will sit here... and wait... on purpose!

Then I will go on home and have a GREAT weekend.

You do the same.

Ten Thursday Thoughts

1. Thank God it's Thursday. I say that because a three day weekend is coming up. And I am not mad about that.

2. I might mess around and take next Tuesday off, too.

3. The reason I will not, though? There was a big shakeup in our work group. HUGE. Nothing to do with me, but I need to make sure my tail is around to know what the world is going on. I take off for a day, and some more mess might go down. And I have to make sure I am all good.

4. My favorite thing about my weekends this year: no watching of the news.

5. When I turn off the news, I turn off the mental space junk and clutter. And that is what it is.

6. I am trying to figure out if I want some barbeque this weekend. Most likely I will not.

7. One of my favorite things to do on 3-day weekends: get at least 10 pages of journaling done. I like this because I get to the core of what's bothering me.

8. There is nothing like answers to prayer.

9. I had developed a decent habit of working out. It helped so much, especially on the mental tip. But now I have a back injury. Sigh.

10. I have FINALLY finished a big project I have been working on at work. I have been working hard on it for the past three months and now I can get back to my normal self. GLORY!!!

Come Get Him... or Her (Rusty Dusty)

My garage is on the side rear of my house. And when I leave in the morning, I back out of the driveway sharp enough to make sure I stare at the garage to make sure I have let the garage door down.

There have been quite a few days when I haven't done this, and I turn around and go back home to make sure. Thank goodness I live only 5 miles from work. There is nothing worse than spending all day wondering Did I let the garage door down?

One day earlier this month, I was performing this daily necessary ritual, when I saw something on my front porch.

My first thought was OH NO, BIG MITCH GOT OUT!!!

But further inspection revealed it to be another Tuxedo cat.

I have seen him quite a few times walking around my backyard. He was even asleep on my front porch a couple of times. He is a rusty dusty looking thing in need of a good bath. He looks like an owl.

He looks nothing like BIG MITCH.

Mitch keep his body clean. His tuxedo is not rusty dusty like his cousin who hangs out around my house. Nope. His whites are bleachy white and his coat is shiny and black.

Whoever cat that is, though... ya'll need to come get him... or her.

Too Much Pork...

So I visited a new Farmers market a couple of months out along the Asian/Mexican corridor on the north side of Atlanta, and I saw something I usually see in such places.

Pork skins.

I don't know how one pronounces what they call these... chicarrones or something like that. I remember LadyTee buying one for her daughter. I can't bring myself to buy that. They had the smaller version, and I bought a couple of dollars worth of those, but that is it.

But then I saw something that left me a bit perplexed:

I first thought it was a big gallon jar of pickled pig feet. Such delicacies were a mainstay at the corner stores in the hood when I was a child. But upon closer inspection, I saw that it was cured pork rinds, pork snouts, pork feet and vegetables.

*crickets*

What in the world?

What do you even do with that? I mean, do you throw that in a pot of collard greens to give it flavor?

I don't know. And they had a lot of it. It must be popular.

There was no one around to ask.

And there was no way I was gonna buy it. That's just too much pork.

I do remember buying a whole pickled pig foot for a $1 back in the 70s, when I was a little girl and didn't know no better. LOL.

But not today, honey. Not today.

Quote of the Week

Friday Freeeestyles

It's Friday! And it's Payday!

Most importantly, it is the last lab day of a project I am working on at work... well, if it comes out right, that is. I won't know until I crunch a ton of data.

But I will worry about that when I get to it.

Not much to say, but I don't want to go a week without posting. Having trouble uploading pictures again, so... bleh.

My favorite Picture of the Week...

It's a faceoff between Big Mitch and Justin.

But for me there's some "food for thought lite" in that picture.

It reminds me to always be sure to face my challenges and fears. That something that's difficult for me.

Now in the above picture, I don't know if it's Justin or Mitch that's challenged or in a state of fear.

But we have to face up to them nevertheless.

Mitch usually goes on about his business, away for Justin. I think he may still be unsure of what Justin is. He's gotten close enough to be petted, but that's about it. And Mitch doesn't scratch or fight. (Well, he scratches and fights my girl cat Sister Callie Jo, but that's a whole 'nother matter.)

Movie of the Week. Avenger's Infinity War!



I saw it last night. (No I was not going to fight with the crowds. NOPE.

That was a GOOD movie. I don't usually like movies with a gazillion heroes in them, but this one was very good. I liked Black Panther more, though. But this was well worth it.

Black Panther comes out on DVD and digital this month. I will be downloading it the day it comes out! Correction: I will be downloading it the MOMENT it comes out.

Song of the Week. My favorite song by Destiny's child is "Girl"



My best friend LadyTee really likes it, too. That is how she feels about me after nearly 40 years of friendship.

Well, I was washing dishes the other day and I hear the first few notes of the song. I start to sway, and I was gearing myself up to sing. But the song sounded strange. I don't know, it was a little slow.

Lo and behold, it was an oldie. In other words, Destiny Child's version is NOT the original.

Go figure!

Well the original is titled "Oceans of Thoughts and Dreams" and it is by the Dramatics, a popular 70s soul group.



Humph. I don't like it AT ALL. But whoever found and used the sample - good for them!

Makes me yearn for some original music, though. These new songs... you never know who if they are sampled or not. Sigh.

Oh well!

With that said, I am done. I am ready for my weekend!

I'm going to make it a good one! On purpose!