Little Right-Handed Man

My sister gave Justin some chalk and let him do a little scribbling...

Baby Pictures Circa 1970

So my sister and brother were cleaning out our mother's house (she has 40 years worth of stuff... literally), and they said, "Mama got boxes and boxes and pictures. Take them with you. We don't know a lot of these people in the pictures, but you do."

I said yes. And before I could object, my brother had slammed whatever he could into the trunk and backseat of my car.

I was a tad bit annoyed. It is more junk for me to deal with. And I want to clean out my garage. This does not help.

But I must admit, it has been a joy to go back through all of those pictures and relive the memories.

So I think I will be posting up some of those pictures. And I can start right now.

Here I am, a little baby LadyLee, at 2 weeks old!

That is me being held by my father. He looks so young there. Wow.

And here I am again. I think I am less than a year old.

I am being held by my Auntie Joyce. Look how wonderful and perfect her afro is. She always had the best hair.

I am thankful just to look back at these old pictures. God must've known I needed that, especially since my grandmother is gone. I feel like my whole family past of when I was a little girl has disappeared like a puff of smoke. And it has made me sad.

The past is the past. I have my memories. And I will always hold on to them.

Oscar Winners 2019

Yaaaay Regina King!!

Yaaaay Mahershala Ali!!

Yaaaay Green Book!!

Ha! I am only really saying that because I love Mahershala Ali. And Octavia Spencer was an executive producer on the project, so her production company can get some credit for that. I supported them.

I would have been happy if Bohemian Rhapsody, The Favourite, Black Panther or The BlackKklansman would have won. Those were better pictures than Green Book. I enjoyed them all.

Green Book was a decent movie. It was a good feel good White washed version of what it could be. Ya'll know good and well that that is what we've been looking at all of your lives.

And ya'll know good and well Black Panther wasn't going to win the Oscar. Nope. Come on.

Like I said, whatever Mahersherla Ali is in, I am DOWN. He is awesome. That is all. And good for him. He picks good roles for himself, and he was AMAZING in Green Book. He really had to STRETCH to play that character!

But I did mental cartwheels when Regina King won. I remember when she was Brenda on 227. She was great in If Beale Street Could Talk.

A decent enough Oscar year, it was.

But I do not think people will be satisfied until black folk win EVERTHING...

and you know that is not going to happen!

Twelve Thursday Thoughts

Here we go with the 12 Thursday thoughts. I kind of shiver at the thought of coming up with 10 thoughts, but I have been ending up with MORE. GLORY.

1. I have had a strange craving for blackberries for the past month. I have NO idea what that's about. But I am gonna eat them.

2. With that said, I found some at Trader Joe's for $5.99 a pound. They are worth every penny. They are good and sweet, too.

3. I am in charge at work this week. I am NOT impressed with the acting supervisor role. I don't like people running up on me speaking in docile tones, talking about, "Ladylee, I'm taking off tomorrow", or "LadyLee, I will be late for work."

4. The phrase "I don't give a dayum!!" is always perched on the tip of my tongue ready to take flight like a small bird. But alas, I just say... "That's cool."

5. I had some great chicken lasagna for lunch this week.

6. Who the heck thinks of chicken lasagna? And no, it wasn't ground chicken. It was sliced and diced chicken meat. Like, they baked the chicken first then put it in the lasagna.

7. God bless whoever at DeKalb Farmers Market came up with the idea of chicken lasagna. God bless YOU. Amen.

8. I am working on a project at work that is giving me FITS. I hate when I wake up in the morning and it is the first thing I think about. Ugh. It needs to be over SOON.

9. I have been assisting with preparing my mother's meals for the week. I made some bake chicken and it was FIRE!

Oh my, I wish I could recreate it. I will surely try again.

10. I am so glad tomorrow is FRIDAY. And it will be Payday!

11. It is raining cats, dogs, rats, and frogs in the ATL. Will I ever see the sun again??

12. I have made a goal to read an hour a week this week. I have done well with that, and it feels so good to have a steady reading habit again. I hope I can keep it up.

Those are my random thoughts on a Thursday! I hope you enjoyed it!

I know I did.

Wordless Wednesday: Starting Anew

TWELVE Thursday Thoughts on Valentines Day 2019

Happy Valentines Day 2019!

And here are TWELVE thoughts... on this special commerce holiday!


1. I am not booed up on this holiday. I am good with that, though. This is a manufactured holiday.  How many fights gonna bust out over somebody not getting what they thought that she should be getting?

2. But I have had some great and memorable valentine's days, and I hope to have many more in the future.

3. Fun day; My Mama said I took my first steps on Valentine's day 1971. So I have been walking for 48 years today.

4. Some days I pray while walking to the workplace from my car. This is rare, but it was cold this morning, and I needed to pray to get my head right. This morning my prayer was "I know it's Valentine's day, a day to celebrate love, but God I thank you for loving me and taking care of my every day, 365 days a year." That prayer brought a tear to my eye. Not sure why I got emotional in that moment. But sometimes it is just a good thing to take a moment and acknowledge God and His goodness, and spend a couple of moments meditating on that before the hustle and bustle of the day takes over.

5. Here's a memory I will always keep which happened on this valentine's day: A couple of the brothers in the cubicle area passed out red roses to the women in the cubicle area. I thought that was very kind of them.

6. What was funny was that some of the other men in the cubicle area were getting an attitude about not getting one. (Hopefully they were joking. That may have not been the case...hmm).

7. Here's a picture of some squash I made this past weekend.

8. I did not make that for myself. Me and my sister are taking turns cooking for our mother. So This week was my week. But I think I will make some for myself tonight.

9. I did not really give out Valentine's gifts in the workplace, mostly because folks who don't get nothing from me might want to talk trash, and I didn't want to have to pop suckas upside their heads. But I gave this to one of my favorite coworkers.

How cool is that? A Patti Labelle mini pie. Only 50 cents. That is a hard gift to give, because some people do not like sweet potato pie.

10. I am acting supervisor next week. Ugh. I am NOT impressed with being acting supervisor. That means folks will be bothering me. Ugh.

11. I need to drink more water. I do not know what my problem is lately, but I do not want to end up back in the hospital. LAWD NO.

12. Favorite song this week, as I have not heard in a long time:



Such a great song.  It came on when last night when I pulled my car into the garage and I was reading my mail (I have some weird habit of reading my mail in the car). It was just great to sit there and listen to it until it went off.

I remember that is one of the first songs I heard when I was little, where a woman was moaning in a song, and I remember thinking... "Um, I don't think I'm suppose to be listening to this. LOL

But I do not think that this song will work too well in this #metoo error. Hmmm....

Okay, those are my Thursday Thoughts on Valentine's day!

Happy Valentines day!

A LadyLee Birthday 2019

Well, my 49th birthday has come and gone...

And as always, it was a good one.

Let's just say I was glad to be OFF. My birthday is a personal national holiday. It hasn't always been that way - I think the last time I worked on my birthday was when I turned 33 - but from now on, that is my personal gift to myself. No work on my birthday.

And for the last 15 years or thereabouts, my best friend and I spend our birthdays together. We have made it a tradition. We go to the movies and we go out to eat. Sometimes we go shopping.

This year, Ladytee was on my hard about what I wanted to do. I was a little slow in figuring it out. I was just glad to be off. But I decided I wanted to see Green Book since it is winning so many awards. And I love some Mahershala Ali. I think he is a great actor, and I try to see whatever he's in.

The movie was very good. And best of all, Octavia Spencer is one of the executive producers. I thought it was a good "feel-good" movie. Definitely worth seeing in the theaters. It has been winning a lot of awards, and I would imagine it's going to be a big winner at the Oscars. I plan to purchase it when it becomes available on digital.

Now I was up in the air when it came to deciding what to eat. I decided on some Ethiopian food. We went to one of the most popular Ethiopian spots in the city, Desta Ethiopian Kitchen.

I'd already scoped out the menu online. I had the gomen tibs, which is short ribs sautéed with some onions and peppers.

I also had some potato stew. I could've used a whole bowl of that. It was good and spicy. I need to look up how to make that!

I was worried about this place, as the last time I had Ethiopian food (some 25 years ago), it was SUPER spicy. And one thing about LadyTee, she don't do spicy food. But she found a shrimp dish that she liked. She had shrimp and a salad.

That looks good. I will get that the next time I go.

What is most interesting to me about Ethiopia food is the injera bread.

It looks a bit scary, like something from the very bottom of the ocean or off some coral reef, but it is their bread of choice. Ethiopian food, from what I understand, is eaten with your fingers. So the bread is used as your utensil. It is cold, and it reminds me of sourdough bread. I don't care for sour dough bread, but this bread matched up VERY well with the food. I tried to stay within the culture and use my fingers, but thank goodness we had spoons, forks, and knives!

It was a great birthday. I got some really nice gifts. I got a one week mail-by-delivery food box subscription (you know, like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron). I also got a firestick, some pill bottles for separating out my medication, and an aromatherapy humidifier.

Umm... Sister Callie Jo is completely CAPTIVATED by that thing. I have to watch her and make sure she doesn't attack it and knock it over.

I don't think she will. She just loves watching the steam rise from the center. And I will let her enjoy that.

I also cashed in my money. If you don't know, I save all my change from birthday to birthday.

It came out to $101.00, but they take 10% at the coin machine, so it came out to around $89.

I am tripping on the fact that I had 293 quarters. Wow!

I haven't spent my birthday money. I desperately need some cookware (a saucepan and a quart pan), so I think that is what I will be purchasing this weekend, or whenever I get around to getting to it.

But it was a GREAT birthday. I have NO idea what I will do for my 50th birthday. I have these BIG dreams of what I want to do, but for now...

I will just enjoy turning 49 years old!

Birthday #49

STARDATE

2019.02.07

Happy 49th Birthday to ME!

Year 49 is in the books as completed for your Friendly Neighborhood Oldgirl Ladylee

GLORY

My goodness.

***49***

I have never thought much about my life at this age. I am not one to have a 10, 5, 3 or even a 1 year plan. And I must admit that I didn't think I would be where I am now. Who does? Not me.

So does this mean that I am officially middle aged? I think it does. I feel older, as these bones of mine are a bit older than in my 20s. But I up and moving.

It has been a strange year. Lots going on. Some good, some bad. Hence, all of it equals the joy of life.

I will do what I've been doing every birthday: me and LadyTee will get together and do our Thelma and Louise thing. I swear that girl been calling me, for the past week, asking what I want to do. Haven't thought much about it, but alas, she got some plans out of me.

I have been reflecting on what has been different this past year, that is, how I have changed. I think I

am much more to myself. I am more interested in being my authentic self. I am easily bored by the same oh, same oh. It takes me a lot just to be interested in people. And that is okay, because I measure my life in the things that are meaningful to me. I like my associations to be meaningful. I like my conversations to be meaningful. I want whatever I do to be meaningful. I do not know if that makes sense, but it is the best way for me to explain it. Maybe I will go into detail. (I probably won't).

But I am happy for a new year. And a day off. I think I would be looked at side-eye for taking a day off, as I am trying to finish up a project, but whatever.

I do not work on my birthday. It is a personal national holiday. For me, at least.

And that is the way it will stay.

Friday Food-for-Thought: Of Cheeks and Handclaps

Happy Black History Month!

It is the first day of black history month!

Am I going to give you a black history nugget every day this month?

NO.

That is what facebook, the twitters and the Instagram is for. And I plan to enjoy ALL OF IT.

Today I just have a food-for-thought.

I bought some of that lindors candy a couple months ago, but I didn't eat it all. I have 2 pieces left, and I have just kept them, and I hold them in my hand from time to time.

Why do I do that? Because it reminds me of something.

They are about the size of two typical cotton balls.

But...

They are the size of my nephew Justin's butt cheeks when he was born. He was only 3 pounds, and his butt cheeks could literally fit in the palm of my hand.

I would hold him in the NIC unit and say, "Look at you with your little booty. Your little scoot booty!!"

And that's what I call him to this day.

"Scoot Boooooty!!!!"

(And I plan to embarrass him something awful for the rest of his life. I see myself at a high school graduation yelling "SCOOT BOOTY!!!!!!"

LOL.

Fast forward 17 months. Scoot Booty's butt cheeks no longer fit in the palm of my hand. He looks like a little boy now.

And I notice something about him lately: whenever he does something that he himself thinks is amazing, he yells "YAAAAYY!!" and he claps his hands.

I noticed he does this when someone is cheering him on, or when he's just alone.

I remember him trying to negotiate the stairs at my house, knowing good and well he was not suppose to be on the stairs.

"Boy, get off them stairs!" I hollered.

He looked at me, because he knew he was wrong. And he wants to walk back down the stairs like a big boy. Granted he was only trying to get down one stair. But I watched as he grabbed the rail, thought about grabbing the wall or a nearby box, then thought better of it. He decided to grab the rail and step down carefully.

And when he did, he clapped and yelled "YAAAAAAY!"

"Dude," I said. "What the world are you all happy about? You weren't even suppose to be on the stairs."

He looked at me sideways and went on to focus on something else.

Yesterday when I was in the lab, I set up a sample sequence on an instrument and got it to run like I like. It is an instrument I have been fighting with for a couple of weeks, and it has been just a matter of me being patient and learning something new. (It is too complicated to describe here). It was late, and I was all alone by myself. When I finished, I hollered "Yaaaay!" and I clapped my hands.

Hmmm... I learned something interesting from Scoot-Booty:

Always take time to celebrate yourself.

Even if no one is cheering you on.

Even when no one is looking.

Especially when no one is looking.

It is a good habit to have. It makes the heart glad.

For I am sure we have goals and other things in life we want to accomplish that we don't tell anyone of. You know how people can crush your dreams and thoughts.

So I am learning to celebrate myself, if only for a moment.

I am making sure to take a moment to clap for myself.

Even if no one is around to clap for me.

I am making sure I take time to do this on purpose.

You do the same.

And again, Happy Black History Month.

Just a little something for your Friday. Some mini- food for thought.

Have a great weekend!!!