Happy 53rd Birthday to ME!!

Here we go... Birthday 53!!

Glory!!! 

I turnt 53 today! YAY!!!

I had a good day. A LONG day. I am not as young as I use to be, able to run these ATL streets to and fro, but I did my best! 

I went out to lunch as always with my bestie LadyTee. It is harder these days, as I refuse to sit down and eat in a restaurant with Covid still running wild in these streets. The restaurant we went to was crowded for lunch. We sat on the balcony. We were the only ones out there. I was so cold. But the food was good, and we were safe. 

More on that in a later post.

Right now, I want to talk about the wonderful gifts I received. 

I never expect gifts. I am thankful for the Happy Birthday wishes. And I am not part of any "turnt up" crew of women, so there are no girl trips, no drunken brunches, no fancy parties, none of that. 

I am thankful for completing yet another year of life.

Don't get me wrong, though. I am thankful for my gifts, and here they are!

Three planters from my Tiktok sis Shun! 

There were also some dried flowers there. They are seeds. This weekend, I'm gonna pull some soil out the garage and plant them! And watch them grow. That's gonna be a fun project. 

She also gave me a tote bag with my first initial on the front. 

I LOVE IT. I am calling it my "A-Gucci" bag! My mind is swirling with what I will place in it. And it's a lot. A whole lot. LoL.

Bestie Cowgirl Cre gave me some lovely books and a pair of embroidery scissors.

A crochet book and some vegetarian recipe books. My mind is swirling. Let's just say, ALL of this will keep me super busy.

My favorite author in the whole wide world, the great Tayari Jones, sent me some flowers. 

She gives the best flowers. I placed them on the floor for Sister Callie Jo and Big Mitch to smell. I can't leave them there, or they will eat them. SMH. They smelled the roses and went on about their way.

Earlier on my birthday morning, I got a message from UberEats stating that I had a gift on the way. One of my coworkers, Lady S, sent me some doughnuts. 

Sublime doughnuts are top-tier gourmet, and considered the best doughnut in the city. And they are super pricey! What a treat. I get a sugar high just looking at them! I think I may have to freeze some of them because that's a lot of sugar. Good thing they hold up well in the fridge. 

Last but not least, BFF LadyTee gave me a mini-pressure washer. 

We were talking recently and she said I mentioned a pressure washer, so she decided to get me one. And strangely enough, it was a brand I had been researching. I wanted something small that was easy to handle. And this will do just fine.

My porch is in need of a good washing. Gonna see how that works out!  

How's that for gifts? And like I said, I never expect them. Always grateful for the kindness of friends... gifts or not.

I spent my early morning doing chores and praying and pondering my year. I thought about what has went well and what hasn't. And I thought about what I want from myself emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically over the next year. Heck, this was the first day in a long time that I didn't watch any television until evening time. It felt good not to take in so much craziness from the news. I got a good chance to be quiet and just think and examine my well being. I must do this more often.

That right there was the gift I gave myself today.

And I am so much better for it. So much better. 

I have an interview tomorrow, so I guess it is back to business as usual. And that is fine. 

Because I am here...

Starting my 53rd year. 

And that's a good thing!!

I am going to be happy about it! 

On purpose!!

LadyLee Birthday Monies 2016

Dedicated to Sasha... who has a coin jar of her own!


I save all my change in a mason jar from birthday to birthday. I use it as "blow money", i.e., money that I can just blow on something I really want. I like to cash in my birthday change on my birthday, but that didn't happen this year. I decided to wait.

I did cash it in around a week later. That was the next time I would come across a Kroger with a coin counting machine.

I took a photo of my change jar first.

There's something different this year. I saved some dollar bills in the jar also.

Maybe I have done this in the past. But I think this year that the change jar was in the laundry room for the better part of the year (I don't know why, though), and I would throw in any change and dollar bills I pulled out of pants pockets while sorting laundry.

So I cashed it in.

$62 in change before the coin peoples took their cut.

And there was $32 in paper money.

Grand total? 32 +55.40 =

$87.40

Glory!!

I didn't do anything with the money. I just put it up, and I will use it whenever I think up something I really want as a gift for myself. I was looking for a new satchel/briefcase for work, but LadyTee gave it to me one as a birthday gift (More on that later).

Thanks, LadyTee! That worked out great!


I got a $61 escrow refund check from my mortgage company, so I am going to put that with the money.  That will give me around $150. I can buy something nice enough with that.


So this was a good "blow money" haul.

LadyLee Birthday Gifts 2016

I received a few birthday gifts, and I wasn't expecting them!

My cubicle mate Lady M gave me a candle. Her husband works in Africa off and on, and this past month he'd been in Swaziland.They are known for their candles and candle holders, and she knows I like candles. So she gave me one!

"Swaziland..."  I said. "What country is that in?"

"Swaziland is a country," she said.

"No it's not," I said.

And  this is where the trusty world map hanging in my cubicle comes in handy. We leaned down and looked at the bottom of the map at Africa. And yes, Swaziland is an actual country in Africa!

Man.  I learn something new everyday.

And we like to put people's names on the map to show where they are or where they have been. So Don has been to Swaziland!

It amazes me that, as an African American, I know every country in Europe, but I don't know every country (some 50 of them) in Africa. Hmm..

I walked into work last Friday and saw two more gifts on my desk.

I bring candy to work for our Sharbucks, but I  myself like GOOD candy. In other words, I have dove chocolates in my cubicle, and they are NOT for sharing. You  bustas can eat them silly snickers and hershey kisses! None of that for  me! I  live Doves!

I love Sanpellegrino sodas, a soda out of Italy. My coworker, Lady D, the youngster in our group, must've seen me drinking the lemon ones. This is a new flavor, pomegrante orange flavor. I saw it  in  the store, but I  didn't  know  if I would like it (they cost upwards of $7 for a 6 pack), so I passed them by.

So I was happy for these sodas. And I went downstairs to the break room for some ice and I tried it out!

Soooo good and refreshing!!

I rarely drink sodas (a six pack will last me 4-6 months), but when I want one, I want my favorite!

Thanks ladies for the gifts. 

You made my birthday bright!

Birthday Gifts Part II. Gifts from my BBF LadyTee

One thing my best friend and I do every year is that we spend our birthdays together.

This has been going on for the past 15 years or so.  That's a long time. She has fun planning my birthday, and I have fun planning hers. Although this year, she was a bit stressed about it. I didn't get that.

Anyway...

So my best friend LadyTee always gives me the coolest gifts. They are never expensive, but sentimental in value.

This year, she gave me a small framed picture of herself and her family.

And she also gave me some fresh flowers. And a polka-dot plant.

This is funny to me. I am such a tomboy. These are some bright bright colors. I think it is was a joke.

"When I walked around the corner and saw them, girl," she said, "I just had to get it."

That had both of us laughing. I don't like bright colors. She knows that. But she knew I would love them because they came from her.

I had both the flower and the plant on the dining room table, but your friendly neighborhood cats, Callie and Mitch, were NOT having that. I looked up and the plant had been knocked off the table. And they were going so far as batting it around. My loud shrieks broke up their shenanigans, sending them on mad dashes to their hiding places. Hence, the flowers are upstairs in the closed bathroom. And the polka-dot plant is at work on my desk.

And LadyTee always buys the best birthday cards.

And she writes the nicest messages in her cards.

I am thankful for LadyTee. I remember the first time I saw her. It was at Duncan Park, during our day camp's field trip in 1979. This bowlegged girl was walking around the pool with a towel over her head watching folk and dictating, telling folk what to do. I was only 9 years old at the time, she 10 years old. I couldn't understand why she was talking so much trash.

Who would've known some 35 years later that I'd be thinking the same thing she wrote on that card... "Jesus loved me enough to create you." 

That's such a bold, grand statement. There's no way I will ever feel unloved by God. He thought enough of me to give her me as a friend, someone who loves me unconditionally. She knows the total arc of me... and hasn't run away. That makes me feel great about life.

And she gave me one last gift. A shadow box.

For my father's flag.

I hadn't bought one. I didn't know what to even do with the flag. I wrapped in a ton of cellophane wrap and set it up on top of the bookcase until I could do something with it.

But she came in the door with the shadow box. And we figured out how to open it and put the flag in.

And dealing with my father's flag bought back so many memories of my father's burial, and the things that occurred surrounding it. I haven't written about it, but I want to...

To be continued... 

Birthday Gifts, Part I: Body Oil

One of my coworkers and friends, Lady M, gave me a wonderful body oil for my birthday.

And even though she is a white chick, she's one of those white chicks... one who is basically a trapped black woman.  It's always interesting to come across folks like that. It's a good thing!

And she likes body oils and cocoa butter and such. All the more evidence that she's really black.

Ahe spent a couple of years in Africa recently, so when I see her coming my way, I yell, "Here comes my real African- American friend!!"

Like I said, she likes to keep the body moisturized up. She is the first white person who I understands the meaning of "ashy".  She points sharply when she sees I need a bit of lotion.

All the reason to give me the most wonderful homemade body oil.

Such a lovely presentation.

This oil is made up of almond oil and jojoba oil. It also contains lavender essential oil, and it's infused with vanilla from a fresh madagascar vanilla bean.

Cre picked it up and said "It's so nice that you don't want to use it."

"I'm using that!" I said.

It is so nice. It smells sooooooo good. I have been keeping it on my desk, but I brought it home for the long three day weekend so I can use it when I get out of the shower or bath.

Thanks for thinking of me, Lady M, my African-American friend!

I appreciate you :)

An Extra Special Birthday Card

So I got some cards in the mail. I love that.

Why? Because it is something from the heart. If you know me well, I am not a fancy gal, and I like simple or handmade things.

So thanks to you all who sent cards to me! So sweet of you! They are up on the mantlepiece!

But a card came in the mail today...

Of course it was addressed to me.

But it was in a handwriting that's identical to my own.

It was enough to make me pause, because I was thinking "Did I send a piece of mail to myself?"

Then I thought, there is only one other person I know who has a penmanship that is identical to my own.

And that is the person that taught me to write in cursive as a child.

My mother.

Hmm...

She sent a card for my birthday.

That was interesting. Why? Because we stopped calling each other or sending each other stuff for our birthdays. I think it felt so doggone fake to both of us.

Then there was that time that I sent her a gift card for Christmas (uh, before gift cards became popular to give, before people knew what they were).  She got pissed at me. This upset my brother and sister terribly.

And you know me...

Anyway, she sent a card.  With $5 in it.

I sort of felt bad for her. My sister was over for my birthday and I wanted to say, "Could you give this back to her?? She shouldn't give me money. She needs her money."

But I didn't. And part of me thinks it would've caused some type of drama...

And you know me...

And she wrote a poem:

And you know me...

Man... you know how tough I am.

But that? That brought tears to my eyes. That was very touching indeed. I will put that in my journal.

Yes, I know my mother loves me. And I love my mother. But wow... Let's just say, I am trying to help my sister, who is the good white sheep of the family, stay in relationship with my mother. Because I know she needs it. I need it to, but I have had so many surrogate mothers over the years that I usually depend on that.

I know my sister, when she comes over all drained and exasperated over yet another fall out with our mother, is tired of me hollering "My Mama, PlayMama lives over in Alabama!  I don't have to deal with that craziness! And I'm sorry you are living the hard knock life, baby! Not I! Not I!"*lee pointing in the direction of alabama*

But this card. That was a wonderful card and a nice poem. My sister said she is working on some things. I think she is. Good for her.

I am suppose to go to the tree and buy trouser socks. For some reason, any gift she sends my way contains trouser socks. I don't wear trouser socks. I only own 2 pair of snearkers and 3 pair of black shoes and a few pairs of flip flops. Trouser socks don't work out for me. But I graciously accept them. I may need trouser socks some day.

And I will cherish this card. It represents "normal" to me.

This card makes me think she thinks of me in a positive manner. That card is going into my journal. I will even leave the $5 bill in there. Looks like she took extra care to tape it very neatly to the card anyway.

I told my sister "Gal, tell her I said thank you."

"Okay," she said.

"Well, never mind. I think I may just call her up and talk to her and tell her myself."

"She would really like that," my sister said. She nodded. "She really would."

"I sure think I will."

Nothing dramatic about that, right?

Nope.

I think it will be a good conversation.

*HaPPy BiRTHday Kayla*

So...

I was talking to my Play Mama on the phone a month ago, and her 11-year-old daughter Kayla asked to speak with me?

I eagerly awaited what she had to say.

"Hi Miss Alesia."

"Hi, Baby," I replied.

"My birthday is on October 6th," she said in her sweet angelic voice. "Can you bake some oatmeal cookies?"

"Of course!"

"Can you mail them by October 1st so they will be here in time for my birthday?"

"Yes I can, baby!"

"Alright," she said. "Thank you."

"What do you want in the cookies? Raisins, cranberries, nuts... what do you want?"

She paused. "Whatever was in them the last time. That is fine."

LOL

Yes, whatever was in them the last time. When her Mama, MY play Mama, comes to the ATL, I bake her a batch of oatmeal raisin cranberry cherry blueberry walnut cookies.

And The Mama has that look in her eye. That non-sharing look. She grasps the cookie tin tightly in her hands, holds it close to her chest. Like, "Forget the kids, these cookies is MINE."

"Don't forget to share that with the family, Mama," I remind her.

She gives me the hard side-eye.

Funny.

So I baked up some cookies on Sunday evening.




A whole BIG tin. 4 dozen.


Enough for everybody in the house. Enough for even their cat, Wallee! Enough for the birds and the chipmunks outside!

I was sent a picture of her opening the box!



She is concentrating hard!

I also enclosed a birthday card in the box.



She liked that alot.





I also put some cash in that card.

She called me later. "Thanks for the present, Miss Alesia. And the money."

I said you're welcome. And I told her "Don't you share that money with nobody."

"Don't worry," she said. "I won't."

Good. Birthday money should be spent on one's self. That is all.

I made sure to tell her Mama, "Don't ya'll take that baby's money. That money is for her pocketbook."

LOL... Birthday money. It is special, you see.

I was glad to give send Miss Kayla some cookies... and some cash for her pocketbook."

Happy 12th Birthday, Kayla!

I hope you are having a great day :)

So Sweet... So Scandalous

One thing I don't worry about for my birthday:

Gifts.

Why? I don't know. I haven't worried about gifts since I was a child.

My birthday is my birthday.

It is my own personal day.

One of the best things I ever did on my birthday was on a birthday in my mid-twenties. I had the audacity to spend the entire birthday by myself... I even went to the movies. One of the movies I saw was Stargate. Can't remember the other movie I saw.

But that started... something. An enjoyment of myself.

And no one has ever heard me wail "No one got me anything."

Why?

Because it simply doesn't cross my mind.

And I'd probably lose my natural mind if it DID cross my mind.

My day. Belongs to me. It has been hijacked by others over the last 10 years. This is okay.

Still my day. I make sure to have a day around that time to myself as a gift to myself,

But when I get gifts, or even a card, it simply shocks me.

Someone thought of me?

TOTALLY unexpected.

So, with that said...

I was driving home in the pouring rain one night on the week leading up to my birthday and I got a text message. I was close to home so I didn't look at it.

Got in the house and looked at it...

It was from the LBigga, aka the LBoogie, aka the LBeezy.

"Are you at home, old girl?"

I texted back that I was.

She told me to go look on my front porch.

I reluctantly opened the front door. (I come in through the back of the house from the garage. I RARELY step outside the front door).

Wind whipped around my face. It was cold.

I looked to the left. To the right. Didn't see anything. Not even one of the locals walking the streets. (Yep. It was THAT cold.)

I came back in the house, and saw a box sitting on the black stool next to the kitchen island.

I opened the box... and it was packed with stuff...

An underwater camera...

Some candles...

The coolest card!

That is so sweet!

Leezie... that's her pet name for me... that and Leeazurus. I can see her painstakingly drawing that, biting her lip, penning that cursive "Leezie" on that envelope.

Man, it would've been a beast to get "Leeazurus" on a card. LOL!!

I really liked the birthday card.

It also contained a really nice traveling journal. A thought of the day was printed across the top of each left page. The top of each right hand page contained a space for a "Highlight of the day".

And at the bottom of that page was a scripture... always something about life's path... And you know how I feel about paths, man!

So Sweet.

And then things turned a bit scandalous.

A huge bright red feather boa was in the box.

Actually that was the first thing I saw when I opened the box (How could you miss such a thang?). I thought "Maybe she didn't have any tissue paper to cushion things with, so she snatched a boa from somewhere."

I hung it on the staircase so I could get a picture of it.


As you can see, Oscar-Tyrone was a bit interested in it. Dude got up and walked over to me REAL quick when I pulled it out the box. Looked at me half crazy when I put it on.

I caught him smacking his paw at it. He got yelled at real bad. We haven't had that problem since then.

That was scandalous. A feather boa. I've never had one of those.

If that was scandalous enough, the next item made me clutch the pearls.

There was a bottle of... gel in there.

I don't know much about this. Never used it in any of my escapades.

*LadyLee scanning the memories locked away in the back rooms of her mind*

No, I don't remember special lotions.

LadyLee has always been the spontaneous type.

More of a whip cream, Boone's farm, Sue Bee Honey type of girl...

(Wait... this is a PG-13 blog. We won't get over into that).

Nope, no emotion lotion. Something strange about flavored gels that get hot when you blow on them. I don't know who came up with that concept.

So SCANDALOUS.

I saw all this stuff... Thought there may be some type of riddle here.

I stared for awhile at the bottle of lotion... something looked very familiar....

Look at the name of it.

Sweet Heat.

I jumped up, almost knocking the table over. Oscar-Tyrone scurried out of the way.

Sweet Heat!!!!

That's the name of my first manuscript. The first one I ever completed.

Sweet Heat. 1080 pages long. The love story of Samuel "Sweet Heat" Heath and Vaughn James.

Sweet Heat.

I like all things Sweet Heat... even found a potato chip brand called "Sweet Heat" a few years ago:



Ya'll know how much I love some Sweet Heat. That there is my first baby there

LOL... Beezy, you thought of everything.

But looking at the plethora of items in the box, I thought, there had to be a riddle to be solved.

I know that emotion lotion was some ol' Stella craziness... i.e., I was supposed to go down to the DR and get with the sanky pankies (male sex workers) and handles some bizness.

(Uh, no. You needed to catch me in my dark days for that one.)

But the other stuff?

Beezy wrote in the card a reason for each item, in the fashion of "something old, something new, something borrowed, something new" style.

And yeah, the lotion was for some gettin' my groove back action.

This did not happen. Wasn't gonna happen.

First of all, LadyLee never lost her groove.

An Oldgirl stays groooovvvvyy. LOL

Although, when I sent a bellhop back to our old room to look for my camera (we'd just switched rooms, and I thought I left it there)... well, when I offered him a couple of bucks he said "Uh, there's other ways to pay for that."

Yeah right. My name is Oldgirl, NOT Stella!

Sweet scandalous gifts...

Enough to make an oldgirl smile and blush at the same time, lol...

My sista Kentucky peeked in my room one morning and said "Someone gave you a boa!?"

"Yep," I yelled. "The LBoogie hooked that up!"

LOL!

Thanks much for thinking of me LB... in your own very special, creative way:)

ANOTHER Pleasant Surprise!!!

I was walking around the Target store on Camp Creek, scavenging around picking out travel-sized toiletries for my trip, when some random chick called my cell phone saying she had a delivery...

"Uh, I ain't at home."

"Well, how far are you from home?"

"20-30 minutes."

"Uh, okay."

We talked a bit longer. I wasn't going home. OH WELL.

"I'll just have to pick it up," I said.

She said her store was located at Camp Creek. I told her I was at Camp Creek. So she dropped the delivery back at her home base for me to pick up later.

I dropped by Edible Arrangements after I finished my shopping at Target...

Lo and behold, I picked up THIS!!

I hollered "That's for me???"

The smiling brother at the cash register yelled "Yes it is!!"

What in the WORLD!!!??

I took it out to the car and read the attached card:

"You only have 2 days to eat this... and maybe less than that before Oscar Tyrone or Kramer snatch it. This does not come close to all that you have given to me over the years, but I wanted to wish you a VERY Happy Birthday!!!

**fist bump**

"The LBEEZY"

THANKS LBEEEEEEZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My baby blog sista know her big blog sista luv some fruit!!!! I started shaking and scratching like a crackhead when I saw all that doggone fruit!!!

*LadyLee smiles like Miss Celie smile*

I just wanted to bury my head in it and chomp away! I destroyed those chocolate covered strawberries real quick. OH MY!!

I would have you know that my sister Kentucky is around here hatin'... She was a little perturbed that I'd dismantled all of the fruit (that I hadn't eaten), and placed it in a storage container... She'd never seen an edible arrangement live and in person.

She'll be alright. That's what she get for being slow to get her tail in the house.

The cats didn't know WHAT to think. They were especially perplexed by the attached aluminum birthday ballon. It is traveling around the room, at their eye level, and uh... let's just say, they are a bit nervous.

And now I got the "itis" from eating too much fruit.

And it is a weird type of "itis", worse than eating too much ribs and chittlins!

But it's all good!!! I think I will sleep it off.

Then wake up in the morning, and eat MORE fruit (and contract more "itis")

Thanks again, LBeezy!!!!:)