Food for Thought: Peace and Fire

So I was at my best friend's LadyTee's house, which sits on a few acres of land. And I was admiring the beautiful tree in the front yard.

Look how beautiful that is. Look how green the grass is. It looks like something out of a movie. I know she doesn't get out there and cut all that grass. I mean, every blade looks to be the exact same length.

So when I got of the car and looked near the back of the house, I see this:

Big C was out near the driveway, tending a pile of burning trash.

I was irate.

"Ya'll out here burning trash! Ya'll polluting the air! I'ma call PETA on ya'll!"

"PETA?" Big C shook his head.

"Yeah, PETA!!!"

"Fool, that's the animal rights people!"

"Oh," I said, still irate, but hesitant. "Well, I'ma call the fire people on ya'll!"

He laughed.

"And make sure that fire don't spread to my car!"

He laughed harder.

They live waay out in the country (a half hour from the city, which is "the country" in Atlanta terms). They have been in that house for close to 40 years. And over the years, I have seen flumes of black smoke in the distance, swirling up into the air. People around those parts burn their excess trash.

So I couldn't call anyone. The fire department would've hung up on me.

So I chose to focus on the peaceful serene scene of the tree and green grass...

...instead of the fire.

A Scoot Booty Birthday #2

So, for the past few months, there has been much talk about getting a electric car for my nephew Justin.

Now I purchased a rechargeable toy car from a coworker. I bought it for $60 bucks. I looked it up and it retails for $250. What a steal!!

It took a couple of months to get it to my house. It wouldn't fit in my car, so I had to borrow my mother's jeep and throw it in the back.

It JUST did fit in the back of the jeep. I would've had to rent a truck. Sigh.

Anyway, I stored it in my garage until his birthday this past weekend.

"I'm just gonna just put it in the front yard. We ain't gonna say anything, just like him walk up on it," I told my sister.

And that's what I did.

They drove up and parked on the street. The only problem was that he was asleep in the car. So it took him a minute to figure it out.

But to see him walk up on it was hilarious.

He didn't know what to think. He just stared at it. And I could tell he was still sleepy.

"It's hot as hell out here!," I hollered as I wiped sweat from my forehead. I placed one of my tank tops on the seat because the vinyl was too hot for him to sit on. He got in the car, and got out.

"Okay," I said, a bit dejected. "It's hot out here, and I ain't fooling with you. Kentucky, help me get this car up on the porch."

We took it up on the porch. It was at this time that Justin showed heightened interest.

"Come on, bruh," I said. "Let's go in the house."

He reluctantly got out of the car and walked in the house. Time we closed the door, he dropped to his knees and started crying.

"Lawd!" I hollered.

"Kentucky, help me move this coffee table. We're bringing this car in the house. I'm not trying to be hot while he sit in that car."

You have to realize... it was 97 degrees in the ATL. I was not down for the tropical heat. NO WAY.

With a little struggle, we brought the car in the house. (Man it was heavy!)

And Justin's interest was multiplied.

His feet don't reach the pedals, so he can't make it go. All he could do was sit in it.

We took time to have some Chantilly birthday cake, though!

We had cake, pizza, chicken wings, and soda. Just a junk food kind of birthday.

After that, the shenanigans began.


For 3 HOURS straight, this boy jumped in the car, jumped out of the car, walked around the car, and did it all over again. 3 HOURS!

That's all he did. I was laying on the sofa thinking this boy keep slamming these car doors. I can't even take a nap on this sofa.

And I was also thinking Lawd have mercy, I hope those doors don't fall off.

He gave it a serious workout. Then he went and got his toy trucks and parked them under the car.

I'm not sure what that was about.

My sister said that he even pushed the car. I think all that walking around the car was him trying to figure out how to make it move.

But he had a good time!

And yes, he slept good that night. My sister said he slept some twelve hours. All of that jumping in and out of the car wore him completely out.

So that was Justin's birthday. Actually, it was my sister's birthday. His birthday was on Monday, and his grandparents were having a little party for him.

But I bet Scoot Booty will always remember his mini- party at Auntie LadyLee's house, won't he?

LOL!!!

Ten Tuesday Thoughts

1. It is azz hot outside. This happens every year, of course, but man... it just feel hotter this year.

2. This is how hot it is outside.

Yeah, that hot.

3. This week has been going by super slow. Slow as molasses. LAWD.

4. I thought my supervisor was out today. Imagine my surprise when I looked up and he's looking at me. Yo, thank goodness I wasn't doing anything ratchet in my cubicle.

5. This just means I need to plan a bit better to make sure my days aren't slow... And let's just say that's a job for next week. I do not feel like thinking about that this week.

6. Look at this.

Pumpkin spiced Spam. Who thought of that? Wow. How 'bout ya'll check that out and let me know how that is. I don't even fool with regular plain Spam. YUCK.

7. I play a song or two when I get ready to leave work at the end of my workday. I call it "exit music". This month's song has been "Be For Real" by Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes.



That song is 8 minutes long, with a SUPER long preamble. Teddy is just talking, talking, talking before he gets to singing. By the time that song goes off, I'm in the car headed down the freeway!

8. But on the real, there's too much truth in that song. We all know people like his woman. Sigh.

9. Somebody got a fly ride this past weekend for his birthday.

10. Let's just say, I will go down as the best Auntie on the planet.  Truly the best!

Yes and amen.

Happy Birthday #2, Justin

Today's my nephew Justin, aka Scoot Booty's birthday!

GLORY!!!!

It feels like he was born just yesterday.

Then we celebrated his first birthday!

Now he's TWO!!

***Happy Birthday Justin***

Scoot Booty Stories

So, SOMEONE is turning 2 next week.

Scoot Booty!

My nephew Justin!

(Sister Callie Jo doesn't know how to feel about all this. She wants to play with him, but DARNIT, he's a bit too rough with her. Mitch just disappears. Sigh).

Anyway, I kept him for a few hours on Saturday. I did a few chores, as per my usual routine on Saturdays mornings. I also lit a few fragrance candles. I had to remind myself to blow them out before he came over. Didn't want him to be playing and knock them over.

Of course I forgot to blow them out. He was sitting on the floor playing with his toys, and I was sitting on the couch. That's when I thought Oh I forgot to blow out the candles.

I blew them out. And he saw me. He jumped up from the couch and stood next to me, blowing hard on the candles, blowing smoke.

Hence the hilarity of this picture. (And he was driving me crazy with the pants sagging off his booty).

  If you peer over his right shoulder, you will see the candles.

I said, "Um, the candles are out, bruh!"

He continued blowing the candles, well the smoke around, and then he yelled "Happy Birthday!!"

And he kept yelling it!

I was bewildered.

**crickets**

O_o

"You can talk?" I hollered.

"Happy Birthday!!!! Happy Birthday!!"

This went on for another 5 minutes, as he took time to blow on the candles again.

I'm just shocked to pieces that he can talk!

Then he was standing around cheesing hard, like he's waiting on some cake or something.

"I have no cake, man. I have apple slices."

My sister said when she took my mother to lunch for her birthday back in April, the waitresses and workers came to the table singing Happy Birthday. So she guesses he remembered it, because he went crazy during the singing and presenting of the candle lit slice of cake. LOL

Well I didn't have cake. And I think he'd had enough of the apple slices. Earlier he'd been eating oatmeal and sliced apples.

That's the reason why his shirt was off. When he eats, he dirties up a shirt something awful! That's the price you pay when you're trying to learn to feed yourself.

(And by the way, someone said I could put a candle in a slice of white bread, and that would have been good enough for him).

But that's okay. I'm just SHOCKED that Scoot Booty can TALK.

He can count to 20. He knows his ABCs and his sounds. And he can recognize numbers and letters. I had some 10 pound dumbbells on the stairs, and he pointed to the numbers on the sides and hollered "10!"

Yes, the Scoot Booty is coming along!
I still have to cover up my furniture when he comes over. Because the drooling... LAWD!!

I just can't wait to be able to have a full blown conversation with him.

That's when the real Scoot Booty Stories will really begin!

Yes and No

Yes!!!

Yes!

Yes to this great sandwich I bought today at the Little Tart Bakeshop. It's called the GBT sandwich. The first time I had it, a year or so ago, I ran up in there asking for it...

"I would like the LGBT sandwich."

Man, the look I got! No, it's just the GBT sandwich. And it is so good, as it is an upper class BLT, consisting of kale, locally sourced bacon, and tomato pesto on focaccia bread.

I like to call it a "gentrified" BLT.

Sometimes, gentrification is awesome.

No!!!

No to this bootleg reconfiguration on the back of a Toyota. I understand Oldgirl is proud of her name, but NO.

LOL

Rest In Peace, Toni Morrison. 1931-2019

Monday Night Fights: What It's Really All About

That's the bottom line. That's what it's all about. The gun lobby runs ALL this. Now you know if they didn't do anything about guns after the Sandy Hook tragedy, what makes you think they will do something now? Sure there is some talk... but if you want this gun lobby money, you better sit down and shut up.

(Well, feel free to offer thoughts and prayers for those affected.)

It confused me terribly to wake up on Sunday morning and learn that there'd been TWO mass shootings overnight. I remotely heard about the El Paso massacre, but the Dayton one...

This is all too much. And you know that it's not going to stop.

Someone may want to pull our beloved President aside and gently whisper in his ear, "Sir, this is NOT a reality show. This is real life."

Words matter.

I have said it before and I will say it again.

WORDS ARE SEEDS.

There is a reason why we, in the past, have looked to our President of these United States, during tragedy for words of comfort. For hope. It's our leader. We are looking for comfort and encouragement in the midst of our fears. Our president has always given us that.

But we no longer have that. We have a president who gleefully labels people of color in a negative light.

And like I said... words are SEED.

So is anyone surprised that some out there are ginned all up to the point where that bad seed begins to germinate and produce FRUIT?

BAD FRUIT?

One thing we can count on: seeds planted in the ground produce fruit. Don't know what kind of fruit, but they produce fruit.

This also reminds me that I must examine my beliefs and philosophies. Here is how I evaluate myself: will my beliefs and philosophy help or hurt others? Will they be a blessing or a curse? Does my value system produce good fruit? Or does it produce bad fruit?

If they produce bad fruit/bad results, then I MUST adjust my beliefs and philosophies. I must.

If not for me, then for the protection of my fellow man.

Newsflash: Your philosophies are WRONG if they result in the death of others, or the loss of your own life, through prison or death. I can say that for sure.

Those are my thoughts on this. Of course, we will light candles, express thoughts and utter prayers for those affected.

I think we are all affected. The residual affects are like tentacles... vast and far-reaching.

And that's what I will be thinking and praying about.

Probably for a long time to come.