When the Randomness is Left on my Desk...

It is always interesting to trudge in to work, all dejected, doing all I can to "pray my strength in the Lord"...

...And I turn to walk in my cubicle and find some randomness left on my desk.

*LadyLee looks to the left... LadyLee looks to the right*

My cubicle area of about 30 cubicles is notoriously quiet, so quiet that you can hear a rat licking ice.

But every time I find a surprise on my desk, I want to sang a randomly concocted negro LadyLee spiritual!

"Yes Lord, Yes Lord, I was on your mind this morning!
Yes Lord, yes Lord you thought 'bout me this morning!"

I never do this. I just ponder and wait to understand who left it. (There was no note or anything).

(The last thing left on my desk a couple of weeks ago was a freshly baked maple scone. I'd given my coworker a pint of pure Vermont maple sugar. He likes to bake and it was one of his special creations. It was quite tasty!)

I have a couple of Asian coworkers, who, when they travel back to Asia for a few weeks, they return with treats.

I didn't know for a few days who left it on my desk.

That didn't stop me from eating it, though.

This is the one in the larger yellow wrapper.

That one was good! Tasted like a straight up Butterfinger. I wanted another one of those. The other candy in a similar wrapper was the same. So good!

The little brown one was a coffee hard candy. That was good too.

Now, the white candy is some type of nougat, which was clearly printed on the package. I don't fool with that type of thing, for I would be trying to replace some dental work. And that ish is expensive. No ma'am. No sir.


Then there was this bizarre little package. (I didn't get one, but it was on someone else's desk. But it was a SERIOUS conversation piece).

I tore open the package and found what looked like something that looked like dried green peas.

I tried to give some to the coworker who's desk I found it on.

"I ain't eating that sh*t," she said under her breath, eyes unblinking and daring me to challenge her. I let her be, and I tasted them myself.

I could not figure out what it was. It took eating the whole package of 10-15 dried peas, and with that, I could still only guess.

Of course, the package didn't give any clue to what was going on.

Sigh. The best I could come up was that the dried seeds from inside the green bean pods. They were good.

I love getting random stuff on my desk. I think the surprise of it all is what makes me happiest.

Now if someone could only leave a random winning lottery ticket on my desk, I'll be all good!

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.

Skin, Nails, and Rubber Band Tales

So...

I was walking down the hall in the building adjacent to my own (as I must do to get to my own building when I first come to work). I ran into my fellow Doc, Dr. Hazel Eyes.

I chuckle to myself when I see her. I always think of my brother as a teenage boy. Whenever he would come down to my job to hang out with me, he would always whisper "Hey Shawty... take me over to see that girl with them light eyes. Oooooh weeee, I just like her. Take me to see her!"

And for him to go over there and see her and get his hug in, and for her to ask little questions about himself REALLY made his day. He'd be grinning the rest of the day. (This disturbed me. I could not relate. I would just... listen).

Anyway, I saw her last month.

And she looked different.

She is a bright skinned-ed girl (I would say "high yella", but that wouldn't be politically correct).

But she was darker that day I saw her... much darker.

"Whoa!" I said. "Where have you been?"

"I've been vacationing in Florida!" she beamed.

Yes she had. And she'd been laying out in the sun... from sunrise to sunset. So much so that her complexion was a few shades darker than usual.

"You 'bout dark as me, girl!" I hollered.

I really wanted to holler "You sho' is black!!!!"

Not quite, but close enough. Close enough to notice.

I went back over to her building a few days later and documented this.

She is dark, but not as dark as me.

Notice our accessories. She has a gold link bracelet. I have rubber band. (Serenity_23 is having a conniption fit right now. I asked her a couple of years ago if rubber bands counted as accessories. She said "NO". Sigh)

She even has a thumb ring.

Maybe I can find a rubber band that size and put it on my thumb. (Serenity_23 throws bricks).

I am intrigued by the french manicure.

Now I am such a tomboy. But the girly side of me has always been intrigued by the french manicures. I don't understand what they about. Do they paint the tips of your nails? Or is that an acrylic nail glued to your own nail.

Someone please break it down for me.

I don't ask the Asians who do my pedicures. I can't really understand their explanations, and they just want their money.

But I like them when I see them. I only get pedicures, but I may go get a manicure. It would be nice to have a french manicure. It is quite elegant, it is.

I may even get some precious metal for my wrist. That would be a nice change from the rubber bands, right?

And I might take a vacation. The light in Dr. Hazel Eyes eyes makes me want to find a nice beach... some blue ocean water... and a comfy towel to cover myself as I sleep in my lounge chair.

Yes indeed.

An Oldgirl can only dream!

Dance Recital!

I attended a pretty exciting dance recital this past Sunday, held by the Paisley Academy School of Performing Arts.

Commander Meek-Meek, my coworker, had an extra ticket. So I decided to go (after she texted and reminded me, lol).

I enjoyed every minute of it.

There was a group called the The Georgia Spirituality Singers (I think that's their name).

Man, they could sing some negro spirituals. Felt like I was transported back in time when the slaves picked cotton down by the riverside. I need for them to do a whole concert. I would surely attend!

And then there were the actual dances. I think each class did 2 or 3 dances. Which meant we were there a good 3 hours. But it was well worth it to see the 3 and 4 year old "Leap and Learn" dancers, as well as the more advanced dancers.  I didn't get great pictures.

I really liked the one above. They danced to Wade in the Water, a dance routine commonly done by the Alvin Ailey dance company.

Thanks for the free ticket, Commander! Call me anytime! I'll be there with a strong handclap! :)

Someday I will attend an Alvin Ailey dance show. I surely will.

Until then, I will enjoy them on Youtube!

Monday Afternoon Snack

Meant to post this morning...

But oh well...

An after lunch snack on a Monday will have to do.

This weekend was a quiet one, more full of errand running than anything else. Of course I didn't get everything I meant to get done finished up. And that's okay. Today is a new day. I'm going to work it out.

I saw Grandma this weekend. That was interesting, as she does like to talk my ear off. I gave her a belated birthday gift - a 6 pack of socks. Everybody can use some socks. (of course, I had NO idea what to get her. And there's nothing like warm feets).

I talked to my sister this weekend. She said "Lisa, I just called to say Thank you."

*crickets*

"Uh... for what, man?"

"Just for encouraging me with my personal goals. I talk to my friends, and they are not even talking about such things."

"Uh... ok, man."

LOL.

Her friends, man, I tell you. It's bad enough that they don't have much going on, but they turn around and talk trash to her about her goals, etc. Pisses me off.

Too many times I've told her, "Don't talk to them broads. Come in here and talk to Oscar-Tyrone or something. At least he don't talk back! Ugh!"

Shoot. Reminds me of an old favorite quote that I put up once.

"Don't discuss your uncommon dreams and goals with common people."

Really though.

That's all I have for today. I'm gonna try to post most of the week. No promises. I got a LOT of stuff to put up.

Song of the week. Not sure why I'm just coming across this song, but I loved-ed it!




This is an interesting song... She said they'd been driniking while doing this song. And I can tell! They has some liquor in them! LOL

And it sounds especially good in Lucy the Lexus' deluxe sound system.

*lee cheesing XTRA hard*

I like the song for the hard turn it takes from hardcore to slow and mellow in the middle. That's some originalness right there!

That's all I have for today...

Tomorrow... "My day in Court, Part II"...

*Chele spits her water all over her computer; Lee hands her the phone so she can call the IT department for the umpteenth time*

Chele is one of my favorite bloggers and authors.

This must be "Mess with Chele" month.

*Chele punches lee in the nose and throws her out the window*

HA HA!!

Refresh yourself with "My Day in Court, Part I"

And have a great week. On purpose!

Pretty, Pretty!

I was out at a Hancock fabric store a couple of weeks ago, doing some research for a couple of stories I'm writing (almost finished with those. Yay!) It was an interesting experience, especially since I don't sew. I spent a whole hour in there, just walking around and taking pictures, and texting different questions to Play Mama, who sews like crazy. So I got all the information I needed, then I left and walked down the strip plaza. There was another fabric shop around the way.

I went in and found out it wasn't really a fabric store. Well they had fabric, but that made up maybe a third of the place. It was a store that sold indian garb. Whatever you see the indian ladies wear - the long wrap around silk dresses and scarfs, etc., well, they had it... And they had it ALL.

Nice place. The incense bout knocked me out when I walked in, but overall, it was nice.

And they had a wall full of scarfs. Really pretty scarfs that were made of silk and pashimini. Whatever that is.

Pretty! Pretty!

Now that's a lot coming from me. I am a tomboy. I don't usually notice such things. But I stood there in amazement staring at all the wonderful colors and designs.

And I bought 3 scarfs.

And I rememeber staring in amazement at them.

Pretty, Pretty! Really pretty, soft scarfs. I just really loved the colors. Nope, not going to wear them. I don't have anything that matches them, and I am sure they won't go with jeans.

But I've decided to start giving those as gifts. Most of my friends are girly girls and love this type of stuff. A good gift idea indeed.

I made good use of the paisley one. I put that sucker on the sofa.

Okay. I must admit, I am not LadyLee Your friendly Neighborhood decorator. Nerp. Just looking for something to do with the scarf.

The white one is with Lucy (the Lexus). It seems to match her interior just fine. Don't know what to do with the red one. I just like the color.

My Grandmother would like that scarf on the sofa very much. She tends to cover furniture with blankets and towels.

I just want something that will let me lean back into the pillows and keep the shea butter and coconut oil off my sofa cushions.

This will do for now... 'til I find an alternative.

Comments from the Peanut Gallery... The Pageant Edition

So... you know me and my cubicle mate The Cowgirl Cre will sit back and scrutinize pictures and videos from time to time.

It's our special Peanut Gallery Time!

And once again, we had a prime opportunity to do a little... commenting.

So...

Down in Alabama, Pageants are a big deal.

O_o

I told Cre this.

LadyLee: They big on them pageants down there in Alabama, girl.
Cowgirl Cre: Really?
LadyLee: The closest we come to a pageant is going to the prom!

LOL

And Play Mama's girls, they are in the pageants.

I went to a Christmas Parade down there a few weeks ago, and let me tell you... there were plenty of pageant queens, from toddler to high school age, riding in convertibles, waving lovingly at the crowd.

I harrassed Jae, Play Mama's oldest girl, about this as we sat in our fold out stadium chairs, watching the parade.

"Who's that girl, Jae?"
"Oh, that's Sue," Jae said. "She's in all the pageants. She won such-n-such Pageant."

And that conversation went on and on.

Simply fascinating.

Yes... We have the Bible belt. I do believe they live in the Pageant Belt!

And the other day, I received some pictures of the oldest girl Jae in her yearly pageant.

"CowgirlCre," I said. "Come look at these here pictures."

*Cowgirl Cre rolls her chair from the other side of our cubicle*

And the comments...

From the Peanut Gallery.

Began.

LadyLee: Wow! Look at her! She looks pretty!
Cowgirl Cre: Sure does! Look at her hair!
LadyLee: She 15. But we can get in the club, with NO ID.

Ladylee texts Play Mama A: "Tell her she look nice! And we can get in the club... with NO ID.

*LadyLee and Cowgirl Cre peer closely at the screen*

Ladylee sits straight up: Look at them breasts! Sitting straight up! Posture!
Cre: That's a push-up bra! Text her and tell her let me hold that.

LadyLee Texts Play Mama A: Hey! Cre wanna borrow the push up bra!
Mama A Texts LadyLee: Uh, that's not a push-up bra.

Cowgirl Cre and LadyLee: WHOOOOOOAA!

LadyLee Texts Play Mama A: Tell Jae she got more breasesses than me! We must be some kin for real!

*LadyLee and Cowgirl Cre peering at the LCD screen closer*
Texts PlayMama A: That's a wig. She has on a wig?Play Mama A texts LadyLee back: Um, no that's not a wig.

CowgirlCre: Look at the shoes! I'd bust my azz in them shoes! We can get in the club, but they will card me, because I can't walk in the shoes!
LOL

Cowgirl Cre: They out there in the middle of the street. Get the dress up off the ground!
LadyLee: Man, whatever. It's a rented dress. Let it drag.
Text from Play Mama A: She holds it up when she walks.
CowgirlCre: Get the dress up off the ground! They gotta get the deposit back!
LadyLee: Whatever man, let it drag!
CowgirlCre: Or at least get Wallee [their cat] to come hold the dress up off the ground. That way, she can be like Cinderella for real!

LOL!

CowgirlCre: Girl, you know if they mess around and tore that dress, Adrienne would be in there trying to sew and tape it up!

LOL

*Zooming in on dress again*

LadyLee: They need to take an iron to that dress.
Cowgirl Cre: But it's got sequins!
LadyLee: They can iron around it.

(With much zooming in and scrutiny, we decide the dress looks just fine. No ironing necessary).

LadyLee: Lawd, she don't need to send her boyfriend no picture.

Texts Play Mama A: Tell Jae don't send no picture to her man. That is all.

Mama A Texts back: She already did!

O_O

Trouble. Gotta keep that young fella from sniffing around.

*Lee takes baseball bat and drives to Alabama and knocks Jae's man upside the head*

LOL!!

This has been another edition of Comments from the Peanut Gallery.

Congrats Jae on your 2nd place finish!

I think you should've gotten first place!!!

You'll win first place next year!

(for videos and pictures from the pageant, click here)

A Wormy Day

I get strange things in the lab from time to time to deal with...

The other day, lo and behold, it was some WORMS!

Wooooowww...

Interesting little things. They weren't alive. Thank goodness for that.

They looked to be dry roasted.


I am a true girl. Don't like this type of stuff at all. Yuck.

But at least they weren't squishy and wet and in a can. (Yes, we get canned worms sometimes).

Worms and bugs are edible and good for protein. They are not eaten much in this country. These worms are imported from Asian.

I don't care if they are edible. You will not hear me hollering "Yo, bring me back a bag of worms if you happen to stop by the grocery store."

Uh, no.

One of our specialists was working with a gang of shrimp and fish while I worked on prepping my worms.

I told him, all this seafood up in here, all we need is some hot grease and we can fry it ALL. And we can make good salad, and add the worms for a little crunch.

He looked at me... And he was careful not to give me a crazy look... Because I might be crazy. LOL.

Anyway, I grinded up my worms to a fine meal.

The smell reminded me of something I'd had before.

Smelled like pork skins!

Yum!

LOL

That was a fun thing to work with. I wasn't as squeamish as I usually am with things like that.

A coworker had grasshoppers, but I didn't get a picture of those.

Maybe next time!

Tuesday Ramblings

I want to post today.

But what I want to post is tooo long.

So I will do some random thoughts.

Lunch. I just finished eating spaghetti and meat sauce with a side of broccoli. The meat sauce was made with soy meat crumbles. I made the sauce chunkier with zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, onions and peppers. It was GREAT!

Now... Why do I have the 'itis?

I had a bowl of field peas for breakfast. Felt the same way this morning: Itis.

Someone, please bring me a cot and a blanket. And a nice soft pillow. I am in the back of the cubicle area, next to Cowgirl Cre.

Car. My car drives like a dream now. For the past couple of years, I thought I needed another transmission, but it was only a good three hundred dollars worth of work. Engine mount and some bolts for the rack that holds everything in place. Why didn't I deal with that sooner? Sigh.

That's one of my idiosyncracies: I put things off, thinking it's gonna cost a lot, but it doesn't. One day I will learn.

Oslo. You know we got problems in this world when Norway has terroristic problems. NOTHING happens up in Scandinavia. Goodness. So sad. What's next? Iceland? Greenland?

Reminds me that anything and everything, good or bad, can happen in the very next breath you take. Really.

Amy Winehouse. No I won't be hating on her. I wasn't all that familiar with her music. I was riding somewhere with Serenity years ago, and she had the CD playing in her car. I remember thinking, "Why is this girl playing Judy Garland or Liza Minelli? This don't seem to be her type of music." She said it was Amy Winehouse.

Her death reminds me that I am glad that I don't have to live out my problems in the public eye.

And it also reminds me of something I read this week somewhere:

We have a tendency to look at our own problems with rose colored glasses, yet view other people's problems under a magnifying glass.

Hmm...

RIP Amy Winehouse.

Kentucky. I am reading Battlefield of the Mind with my sister Kentucky. WHAT A BOOK. And we discuss it over email. Maaaannn... my sister is one smart cookie! I am learning alot from her thoughts. We must read together more often! *cartwheels*

She turns the big 3-0 in a couple of weeks! I think I am more excited than she is! *more cartwheels*

Work. Work is funny. Someone in the group was wrote up for AWOL... after telling the supervisor that he had medical issues and was going to the doctor. NOTHING surprises me anymore.

So for my next doctor appointment, I see I'm going have to be like Chris Tucker in Rush Hour.

LadyLee talking slow... enunciating every word.

"I am taking off for a doctor appointment! Do you hear the words coming out of my mouth!!??"

LOL. Craziness. You can keep your AWOL. I'm going to the Doctor on August 15. Doggonit.

Funny Stuff. So the current interim boss, Sir By, is on his last week of detail. He is ordering lunch for us tomorrow from a local Taco Mac. So I am usually troublesome when requests come my way. I like to entertain myself. < By: Order what you like, and it will be picked up as a "To Go Order".

Lee: I would like to order an adult beverage. Please and thank you.
By: Funny, funny. What do you want, Dr. P?
Lee: Jack Daniels on the Rocks.
By: That translates to a Southwestern Wrap with fries. Right?
Lee: No. Liquid lunch.

No response. I ordered a California Portabella Wrap. Hope it's tasty!

GUMBO: So my play Mama Adrienne, who read yesterday's post, sent a picture of the Gumbo she had yesterday for lunch.

Looks like she got some kind of Po Boy action going on there, also... And she has some saltine cracker action goin on too...

hmm...

Thanks for the picture, Mama! That looks good! I can see the sausage over in there! Yum!
That's it for my ramblings. That was fun! and fast!

Happy Tuesday :)

Lawnmower Blues

Mannnnn....

I broke my lawnmower!

I've only had it for a couple of months. Now it's broken.

And it's my fault.

Let me tell you something: I must say that I do not like cutting grass. I was paying $15 every two weeks to have my grass cut, but my the local who cuts my grass dissappeared. He had a heart attack earlier in the year, and I thought that dude was dead. But it turned out that he'd been locked up for a month.

So I might let him cut it every once in awhile, but I usually cut it myself. It takes about 30 to 45 minutes. But this time, I let it grow to0 high and it was a bit harder to cut. (Not my fault! Whenever I wanted to cut grass it would rain. I am NOT cutting wet grass).

And it was harder to cut.

And the mower kept cutting off.

And I kept shaking it around to get the built up grass out.

And the lever that keeps the mower on broke.

LAWD!

I had finsihed cutting the front yard, and was working on the sides. That's when that happened.

I was pisseed!

So I swept up some of my grass clippings, put the mower in the garage, and went on in the house.

This meant that I had to go find Mr. Thomas.

Sigh.

He has said, when I've wailed in the past about where he is: "You should come looking for me!"

And I would think to myself "Man, I am NOT running up in a crackhouse looking for you!"

HUMPH.

I'm sure he could read the look on my face... everytime he says that.

But I went searching the other day. Didn't take long to find him.

I yelled out the window to various locals manning the corners, "Where Thomas at?"

The answer was a lazy "Over in that house."

Hmm... I wasn't getting out the car to go up in "that house".

(I thought about snapping a picture with my cellphone, but uh, no).

I yelled his name from my car, and he came outside. I told him the situation, gave him 12 dollars, and told him to finish my yard whenever. This could be a good or a bad thing. He disappeared real quick with that money. Hopefully he will get to my yard sometime this week. But that was 2 days ago.

If I don't see him by Saturday, I will go looking for him again.

Meanwhile, I gotta get this lawnmower repaired.

Sigh.

Milk and Cookies Sr. and Jr. Picture Show

So I was wondering around on my baby brother's, Milk and Cookies, facebook page and I found some pictures.

Him in his army gear.





Me and Cowgirl Cre were pondering this picture.

"He looks dangerous," I whispered.
Cowgirl Cre nodded in agreement.
"Look at that grass," I said. I tapped my LCD screen with my ink pen. "That is not Georgia!"
"Sure ain't, girl." CowgirlCre replied.

I think that's is a picture in Iraq. He's stationed in Seattle now. Thank goodness he's back.

Milk and Cookies loves motorcyles. This absolutely unnerves me.

Looks like now he has Milk and Cookies, Jr. all excited about motorcyles.





When Milk and Cookies smiles, his smile is quite toothy. He needs to turn the wattage down.

Orthodenture... it sure works, and he don't mind showing it off.

He even got the baby sitting up on a minibike all by himself.


Lawd have mercy.

That child is going to be riding his own motor bike before we know it.

Sigh.

Whelp! Best to get him use to it now while he's young!

Ya'll have a Terrific Thursday!

Busted! Broken!

(Drawing for TWO books tommorrow, so stay tuned)

So...

I was laying in bed the other night...

I'd been fast asleep. I awakened, peered at the green digital numbers of the alarm clock.

4:16 a.m.

Good, I thought. I have a good couple more hours before it's time to get up.

So I roll over.

And I hear a slow "Cruuuuuuuunnnnnnnch". Followed by a snap.

And I moan "Noooooooooooooooooooooooo."

That crunch was the sound of my glasses breaking.



(Sidenote: You see how I tried to make them look all nice, right? Placing them lovingly on the glass coffee table in the living room... next to some fake green ivy. LOL)

I reluctantly turned on the lamp, and there they were, my eyeglasses...

Busted! Broken!

Oh goodness. This pair only lasted 2 years. My glasses normally last 5 years. I wear some glasses completely out.

I tell you there is nothing worse than a pair of broken glasses. Well there are much worse things. I almost call it trivial, because in the light of true tragedy, it is nothing... But I'd paid $350 for this pair. I don't mind paying that much as long as they last awhile.

Two years is not long enough. And I didn't like these glasses anyway. They were from one of the more popular eyeglass retail stores. I wasn't all that impressed with the eyeglass wear. But I needed some glasses.

Soooo, with these broken glasses came the quest and mission to find new ones.

I decided to ditch the popular retailer and go with a less popular one. Sure, the glasses would be more expensive, but not that much more....

Right?

I made an appointment to have my eyes examined over at a place in the hood. (But it was the "Good" hood). First interesting sign of issues was that the Doctor was late. I wasn't happy about this, as I needed to get to work. Oh well. I waited.

The eye exam was fast. Got my prescription from her and preceded to look around at the frames available.

I knew there was a problem when I saw Versace, Dolce Gabbana (however you say that), Coach, etc...

"These are high end designer frames," I said quietly to myself.

I found an interesting pair of frames similar to my own. I'd never heard of them, but they were just as expensive as the Versace frames.

I told the associate that I wanted that pair. We sat down and he added up everything. I need progressive bifocals. That's a first. I also like transition lenses, and a super thin lenses.

Yeah that adds up. That's why my glasses have been in the three hundred dollar range. Not sure how much the bifocals would add. Oh well.

But I wasn't prepared for how much the associate said my glasses would be.

"The total is 783 dollars."

I just stared at him. I was waiting for him to say he was joking. He looked at me with a straight face.

"You joking, right?"

"No," he said.

I held up my 50% off coupon. "Even with my coupon."

Actually, he had said that they were 40% off. (Only certain frames qualified for 50% off. Mine didn't. Go figure.)

So he said it would be $1200 without the coupon.

I just KNEW this dude was joking. But he was not.

"I ain't NEVER paid $800 for glasses. Never!"

He went into some spiel about how I had special lenses.

Uh no. Ain't no lenses THAT special. They better be self cleaning and give me Xray vision. Something!

Anyway, I told him that I would pass. I reluctantly drove over to the place where I bought my last pair of eyeglasses. That would just have to do.

I perused the frames, which all of a sudden after my experience at the other store, looked good enough to me.

Interestingly enough, a transvestite came into the store. We perused frames together. He kept me HIGHLY entertained. Tried to get me to look at these fancy frames. I had to keep telling him, "Look, that's what you wear when you trying to go out and party and be fancy. I'm a plain chick. I need everyday wear."

That was a RIOT.

I priced out some frames very similar to what I have. My total was $374. Good enough. This is WAAAY better of a price than the last store.

So now I have to be more proactive. I'm going to also buy a pair online pretty soon. They are much cheaper, and shouldn't run anymore than a couple hundred dollars. So I will see what that's about.

And I could definitely use that extra pair around the house, you think?

That'll be better than paying close to a grand for new glasses!

LOL

Tuesday Night Special... The LadyLee Holiday Continues

Good evening, Oldboys and Oldgirls!

LadyLee Tuesday night special... Since I didn't blog this morning.

So I guess I will write this evening.

I doing it big like the Queen of England.

I'm on Holiday!

(And I say that with my best English accent).

My goodness! The last 2 days have been uber busy. I sort of need a veg out day. Sigh.

Monday. I went to the bank to bust somebody up about some charge coming up on my grandmother's debit card. $12.99 a month. No it aint' much, but it adds up... doggonit!!

I also went and bought some blinds. Yeah, yeah, I'm being a lazy one with the paper and vinyl blinds. The goal is to try to put some up myself. Not working out all that great right now, trying to put a set up over the sink. If I get one right, I will be okay, and do more. That's my home improvement goal of the vacation: put up some blinds... doggonit.

My sis turned me on to this place that sells an incredible cinnamon type incense. The catch is it is sold at a place that uh.. If you go in the back section of the store, they display the most eclectic imported glass crack pipes and bongs for weed. Me and my sister have interesting convos about this.

"I found that place, man. You were right. It is interesting!"
"Lisa, I told you, the front of the store is a front for some mess going on in the back."
"Yeah girl! If you need a fancy crack pipe, that's the place to go."
"And something else be going on in the back room behind the curtain, Lee. I bet they sell them bath salts back there. Be snorting them. Soemthing goes on behind that curtain!"

I was thinking this myself. I've been in there twice, and I found the curtained area... mysterious. I would've loved to pull out my camera. You may have never seen me again, though."

"All I know, Kentucky, they were playing some serious Outkast up in that joint."
"I don't know about all that, but those white people are up in there deep."
"Yep. I was the only black person. That place is a trip!"

I'm sure we will make more visits. And more observations of the white people purchasing their special paraphanelia.


Tuesday... a long long day!!!

1. I got my taxes done!!! GLORY! I have the worst girl crush on the chick that does my taxes. Ooooh I just love her to death! Got me sanging Jodeci!

"I can't leave you alone!! You got me feenin'! Got me Feeenin for my Money!!!"

I was so excited to see her. I smile alot. My eyes glaze over. I'm swooning.

She's like "Uh, Lee... this is because I deal with your money. I don't excite you."

I think that's it. When I see her, I think "MONEY!!!!!"

*handing that chick my bank routing number*

When I left from getting my taxes done, I vacuumed my car out at a nearby gas station. Why, tell me, was I watching the news tonight, and there was some police shoot out at that same gas station? Right out front, where I was vacuuming out my car?

Sigh. And I remember doing it, and making sure to look around every once in awhile, making sure a sucka don't run up on me and rob me! Humph! A shoot out with the polices! WoW.

2. Field Trip! Field Trip! I took a coworker, my friendly workplace librarian, on a field trip to the local Natural co-op where I like to shop. We had a good time. She even brought along another coworker. So that was fun. I felt so helpful, giving them a tour of the store that I LOVE!!

3. Doctors Appointment. I don't like doctors appointment. But alas, I must go. I have to drive 30 minutes south of ATL, so I don't care for that. But that's okay. Gotta stay on top of the chronic!

I've lost 8 pounds since the last doc appt. Not sure how that happened. I don't feel it. But oh well. Maybe I'll be like some of my fella sistas and go pick up a dumb bell or something,

I love the guy who takes my blood. He is hershey bar dark. (I like dark-skinned-ed men!). He has gold teeth in his mouth. And he has prison green tats.

Sexy. DANGEROUS!

But oh so gentle with sticking that needle in my arm. Sigh.

A good visit overall. I was more concerned about lining up my meds for my trip. I ain't tryna be on that boat and run out of meds. *lee throws self off side of ship*

So that's it for your Tuesday night special.

The rest of the week MAY be food for thought concerning purpose...

Hmm... we'll see. I want to type up a few church notes on that. Take a look at a few thangs.

On that note... stay tuned...

And enjoy your evening!

A LadyLee Holiday report... Thursday edition

Man, I wanna blog, but my mind is a BLANK!

Either that or I have too much on my mind to be trying to blog about.

Anyhow, we'll go random.

I had a good day yesterday. When I'm off, I like to catch morning bible study services. I get a chance to hear our assistant ministers preach and they are ALWAYS interesting. Yesterday, Minister Phillips, who is like, a MASTER on the subject of personal identity crisis preached. Very interesting. Everything with him leads back to correcting personal internal identity issues. WOW.

Afterwards, me and my BFF LadyTee, her mama Bobbie Jean, and her daughter Milk-Milk, went to this backwoods country buffet.

OH MY IT WAS GOOD!

It is called Charlie's Country cooking. Something like that. Out in Fayetteville somewhere.

They had

Fried chicken, fried whole catfish, fried whiting, steak and gravy, mash potatoes, fried green tomatoes, black eye peas, cabbage, collard greens, green beans, sweet corn, sweet potato souflee, a HUGE salad bar, rice, cole slaw...

*lee takes deep breath and keeps talking*

Corn bread, rolls, hush puppies, cheesecake, peach cobbler, cake, sweet tea, lemonade, vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream...

OH LAWD HAVE MERCY!!!

All for $6.50. All you can eat.

$6.50

O_O

Everything was really good. Not cooked with pork or smoked turkey. Very fresh and not greasy at all! And with this vegetarian thang I'm tryna do, I like stuff cooked fresh.

I was with Bobbie Jean at the buffet, filling my plate with veggies.

"What, you don't eat meat, Lisa Anne?"
*lee shrugging, salivating over the veggies* Try not to. If I do these days, it's on the weekends.
"Fish ain't meat!"
"It's got eyes, Bobbie Jean. It's got eyes!"
"It ain't meat!"

LOL!!!

Oh lawd. This meant I had to get a piece of fish. It was GREAT. If you like catfish, go there. Perfectly fried. But shoot man... they will be seeing me for huge plates of veggies!!!!

LadyTee has always hollered about "We bout to go over to 'The Spot'".

So now, I know where "the spot" is.

Let me tell you something else... when you see a bunch of elderly white folk running up in a place, moving fast, moving slow, kicking out the walkers and the canes...

Yeah... you wanna check that place out. Old white folk find good places and support them.

That is all.

After that, I went yarn shopping. Then I went to the bookstore.

And yesterday, all that was perculiar. Whereever I was shopping, people were discussing some dire family drama, man. All out loud. They needed to use their inside voice, or their library voices.

I found all kind of interesting fodder for stories. Man. And wasn't looking for it. There was a lot of "Uh, excuse me, I need to get past here."

I wasn't eavesdropping. It's just that ya'll ninjas are in my way. MOVE. So I can go home before it snow!!

Thoughts went through my mind while listening, though.

Ma'am, I hope Lil' Ray act right. I know ya'll gonna talk to him when he get out of his Thursday ROTC meeting. Cuz he been over that gal's house everyday, won't come home. Ain't taking part of his resopnsibility. I'm glad you're here talking to his Grandma, who works in this store. She's gonna call him as soon as he gets off. "Straighten him out, I will!" she says.

And you sir, I hope that child support thing goes right. Yes, you told her she needed to do better about little Tommy. Yes, yes, I understand you just gottta know how to talk to a woman, make her understand. And you gotta make sure you pray about it. *His friend nods in agreement*

And you over there sir, in the Hobby Lobby Parking Lot. I know they won't answer the phone right now, over at your woman's house. But that is no reason for you to talk about getting in your truck and going over there and whooping someone's azz. (Man, I wish I could have heard the other half of this long convo).

3 great writing prompts, hunh?

Not using them as prompts or anything.

I'm just realizing that EVERYBODY got something going on in their lives. You either in the middle of a trial, celebrating over a triumph, climbing some big mountain, got something renting space in your mind... something.

We all got something going on.

And hopefully we will all get through it!

Really though.

Have a good day... on purpose.

Tuesday Morning Special

Wassup Boys and Girls...

It's me, your Friendly Neighborhood Oldgirl LadyLee

Man...

I haven't felt like posting.

Not that I don't have much to say. My posts are all jumbled in my head. It would do me good to post twice a day right now.

I just got so MUCH stuff going on.... on a mental tip, that is.

Nothing bad, of course.

Our church fast started today. And it's hard for me, since I've been transitioning out to vegetarian. Ugh, gotta make sure I do something different I suppose. We're under Daniel Fast rules, and it don't bother me one bit to eat vegetables, fruit and water. I'm down for that. I like cheese and ice cream, so I'm cutting that out. Also, I'm ditching sweets. Let's see, what else...

Serenity and I started a new workbook, entitled He Speaks to Me: preparing to Hear from God. Serenity picks workbooks that have me like O_O at times. This is a good one, though. A bit brutal. (Had me hollering "Lawd, I'm so frickin' trifling!"), but January is a good personal examination time and well... a good workbook definitely forces it.

I've had MUCH fun this week on Twitter with some twitta sistas... They wanted a look at some of my writing. I sent out a first chapter teaser. Do you know these broads BARRELED through 35 chapters in a matter of a day or two? Amazes me when people read that fast. I read slow like Celie, when Nettie was first teaching her how to read. Yeah, THAT slow!

This story is one that I'm particulary proud of, and how it's crafted. It's also a story where I wrote some chapters out of order. Like, I'm working on chapter 37, and I wrote part of it a year ago. I think I may practice that more in the future.

It made me feel real good for the young ladies to spend time reading my words, and getting totally caught up and to make a couple of them cry. I really like to throw the reader into emotional turmoil!!! I got a long way to go on that, but with more practice, I will most certainly get there!

I plan this month to sit down and think about my goals. I've already thought about them, it's just that they are up in my head. I definitely will blog about my writing goals, vegetarian goals, loosely about my financial goals, etc. I think it's important to write them down, get them on paper. Holds me a bit accountable.

That's all I got ta say today!

Here's a quote I came across on Twitter, from a brother name Consciousskillz:

"The removal of objects that stand in front of us begins with the removal of the doubts and negative perceptions that reside within us."

Yeah that's deep.

Let that marinate. I'll let you ponder... and wonder.

I gotta get UP! (Well, been up since 5 am, needed to get up at 4am. Oh well).

Go on into this workplace, and make it happen! Let my light shine! *church shouts*

Ya'll have a great day... on purpose...

**Shoe Porn**

I don't fancy myself to be a shoe woman. You won't catch an Oldgirl in a pair of heels. Ever.

I only own 4 or 5 pair of shoes. And if you disregard the flip flops, well, I really own only a couple pair.

I am more of a sneaker chick. I shall be buying a pair pretty soon.

But I love looking at shoes. Does that make any sense?

I just love a really cute shoe. Really.

So i've been seeing some lately, and I thought I'd give you a little taste of it.

My secretary Lady O always wears hot shoes. But to get her to model shoes... Man, it's like pulling teeth sometimes.

"I'ma go get my camera," I say when I look down at her shoes and it's a pair I haven't seen before. I need to take a picture.
"No," she says.
"Come on, girl, stop tripping and let me take a picture."
"No."

I have to catch her in the right mood, I suppose. And Cowgirl Cre and I were playing around with one of her purple metallic pumps one day, and she knocked it out of our hands.

I think she has the job mission statement stuck in her head. She's there to work, not to model shoes for us. LOL

But every once in awhile, she'll let me take pictures. Escpecially when she's at the copy machine located outside my cubicle area.

I like this particular shoe here.

I like the quilt-like pattern of it. And the stitching. This shoe will go well with your basic black or grey outfit. Very versatile. And it's suede. Not sure how that will hold up in the rain, but that's what she keeps a pair of sneakers in her bag. Good for you, Lady O.

Let's stroll to the other side of the LadyLee showroom.

Another cute shoe, modeled by my lovely secretary, Lady O.



She's rocking a nice animal print. I like this one because it's not the usual zebra or leopard animal pattern you see all over the place. It's a nice giraffe pattern. And the strapping there, it's a throwback to the 50's or 60's.

Just lovely! Lovely indeed!

Kindly step with me over here to peruse another nice shoe, one modeled by my fellow chemist Crystal...

That shoe is hot! That's like, a snakeskin get-up. And knowing Crystal, she bought those from a joker who actually went out and killed the snake, lol...

Let's zoom in a little closer...

I learned from super shoe queen Serenity, that is a peep-toe shoe. And it nicely shows off her french pedicure.

We stepped out in the hallway, took another picture.

That Crystal, unlike our secretary Lady O, don't mind posing for pics. Not one bit. I thought some runway music was gonna cue up or something. LOL

Now, sometimes on twitter, the ladies go a little crazy posting shoe porn twitpics of their shoes. Here's one I found particularly interesting, modeled by my blog sister, Mzinspiredmind.


You can't tell, but there's a buckle on the other side.

Now, if she would've initially twitpiced the picture above, I may have been alright. She sent this one last night over Twitter for me to use in today's post.

But seeing the buckle in the initial picture, I thought... Is that an orthopedic contraption?

Had me sitting here thinking, "Bless her heart, she has orthopedic problems, but she's going to wear her heels."

I thought she was doing some Forrest Gump type thing: attaching some braces to that strap, and working it out.

Funny. They explained to me that it was part of the shoe. I can see that clearly here. I like it. It is a simple pump, but it is elevated by that plaid thing going on... and that strap around the ankle.

That's a HOT shoe.

So that's our shoe porn for the week.

I do hope it was a little entertainment for your eyes!

Almost makes me want to go out and buy a nice pair of high heels!

Not!

Just Say NO!

My dearest Southern Black Gal...

I know you love yourself some TI. You ride his jock like no other.

But that man and his wife got arrested last week for weed in the car. And they had some "pills".

No one knew if the pills were X or meth.

*raising an eyebrow at the mention of meth*

You need to tell your boy TI to just say NO!

And if that don't work, then he needs to be made to watch those CRAZY meth PSA commercials.
They scared the cheese outta me. Here are a few.







I've never seen this one before. A bit grainy, but, uh, the point gets across!



Yikes!!!!

No LadyLee will not be doing meth. Heck man, got me giving my prescription meds and tylenol the side-eye.

I'm glad TI didn't have meth when he was arrested. Bad enough he had weed and X. You might be a superstar, but the peoples gonna lock you up if you don't fly straight.

And I always thought this was a problem off in the trailer parks, if you know what I mean. But I know it's not. You just don't hear of certain people having meth problems!

Just say NO, TI. Just say no to it ALL!!

I know I will.

Cookies Galore!

I go to a fair number of other people's family function every year, and if you know me, I don't care to show up anywhere emptyhanded.

I always make batches of cookies. Cookies always get me in the door. Cookies get me remembered.

I never hear "Who is that, sitting over yonder in the corner?"

I always hear "IT'S THE COOKIE LADY!"

Followed by very hard running in my general direction. LOL

So, I decided to make cookies to take down to the country.

Now, for their last family gathering, back for Easter or Memorial Day I believe, I made 5 dozen cookies. This may have seem like enough, but unfortunately they weren't. Cowgirl Cre took them from me in the driveway. A gang of people peeped this action, and followed us into the house and to the kitchen.

Those cookies were gone in less than a minute. By the time I said "Hey ya'll what's going on?" it was all over.

I forgot to take a picture of my cookies that day, as my usual routine. This is the only picture I got... that of the very last cookie.



Right before someone snatched it and walked away. Sad.

I know I needed to make more for the next time. If there were going to be more than 50 people, then there needed to be more cookies. This weekend I successfully completed a major goal:

I made 150 cookies!

Woo! What a task. 12 dozen cookies.

There were cookies EVERYWHERE.

And I did it on the morning of our departure.


It would have been a better idea to make them on Friday night prior to our Saturday morning departure. But I took my tail to bed instead. Surely I could wake up early enough to get it done. Surely.


And I did. Started at 6:30 that morning. Finished at 9:30 am.

Not good, since we were leaving at 9:45. But we left 30 minutes late. Yep, I'm on CP time.

But that's okay. This time, the cookies lasted 30 minutes! Everyone loved them.

Another day in cookie making. I still have some here at the house, which is not good. I'll probably end up throwing them out if the locals don't get them. (I rarely eat my own cookies).

I can't wait for my next function, so that I can make more!

The Power of Afro Sheen

Over on Twitter from time to time, when the chicks with the "naturals" get to talking about their hair and hair issues, I like to post a tweet chant:

"Twist Out! Bantu Knots! CooooooWasssssh!!!"

'Tis my way of participating in the conversation.

But I will ruffle feathers when I make a suggestion for dry hair. In the midst of convos about coconut oil and shea butter and olive oil, I'll throw in:

"A little Pink Oil or some Ultra sheen afro sheen cosmetics will help!"

That causes it a small stir. Because Pink Oil and Afro Sheen are not great for natural hair.

Anyway, I was telling one of the tweeters that a new afro sheen grease has come out.




I said I'd see what brand it was, and it contains tea tree oil! That should be good enough for the chicks with natural hair, right?

Wrong!

LOL

So, back to the drawing board, Ultra sheen. Work it out!

This all reminded me of Saturday mornings and Soul Train.

And the Afro Sheen commercials.

I remember hollering many a time "Mommie, when I grow up, I want a Afro like THAT!"

So I hope you enjoy these commercials as much as I did!

Congrats Mo'Nique!

Congatulations to Mo'Nique on that Oscar win!



Good for you!

And that was one heckuva acceptance speech!

She was thankful that they did the right thing instead of getting all politcal.

And she's been saying and doing her thang despite all of us looking down our nose at her.

So what if she has an open marriage?

Do you or I govern our lives by what she does?

Uh, I don't. Do your thang. Make your own decisions. Newsflash: none of us pay her rent.

Nope I don't agree with her. And uh, a bunch of these folks got "open marriages" around here. They just ain't saying it. Look at Tiger... I won't go there.

But I am glad that she could step out of her comedic self and play a serious role... and be recognized for it.

Like she said her hubby said... something like, sometimes you got to do what's right.

And the role was right for her.

Congrats on the Oscar, Monique. Good for you.