Birthday #50!!

That feels STRANGE to write that. STRANGE.

But I am happy to write it. Happy to see another year of life.

I have not been posting because I haven't been able to load pictures. Sigh. And you know how much I like my pictures.

But I have to post on my birthday!

So Happy birthday #50 for me.

I woke up this morning and I had a vision of my mother and father, young as they were, scrambling around the house and heading for the car because my mother was in labor with ME. They were looking for her bag so they could go to what was then Holy Family (SWATS) hospital.

That shocked me to the point of thinking "Where did that come from?"

My mother and I have never talked about that. Yet I woke up to what may have amounted to no more than a five second snippet of the scene.

I don't know where it came from. I was just thankful for it. It meant something to me.

It meant that 50 years ago, I was born. Simple as that.

But complex at the same time. Who would have known that 50 years from that moment, I would be sitting here, at the table, typing this post??

Who would have known, during the past 50 years, I would accomplish so much?

Who would have known that I would have my share of trials, tribulations, triumphs, heartbreaks, and joys?

I always make sure to have communion on my birthday, just to myself. I normally have disposable communion elements, but communion this morning was quite bootleg, consisting of a shot glass of beet juice and a saltine cracker.

I reminisced for a moment. Thanked God with a verse of scripture I found a few years ago in my message Bible... something akin to:

"God I thank you that you love me, you gift me, you look me full in my face and make me to prosper".

I don't know what the future holds, but at least I can speak that out of my mouth.

Life is such a voyage into the unknown. And I struggle with that these days. 

But I know one thing: I made it this far...

And I am looking forward to what the next 50 years bring!

***Birthday #44***

I'm so GIDDY!!!

It's my birthday!

Birthday #44!!

!!!!GLORY!!!!

Yes, yes. On this day, in 1970 at 11:19 am, your Friendly Neighborhood Oldgirl LadyLee was BORN!

And henceforth I take the day off.

For it's a LadyLee National Holiday, you see.

LOL!!

I don't have big plans for today. Me and LadyTee are going to do our Thelma and Louise thing.  That means lunch and a movie!

I plan on going to Friday Morning Bible Study. I think I am going to get up there and dance at the altar with that same lady that be dancing and singing around the altar at the morning bible study. I hope she doesn't give me the hard side-eye!

I got some deliveries to the workplace today! I was shocked and surprised...

Play Mama A sent me some balloons!

Those balloons were attached to some FRUIT!!

Thank you, Mama! *falls at Mama's feet*

Mama asked if I'd seen that the pineapples were cut in the shapes of "44"?  I said no, and then went on to examine the fruit basket. And there were the pineapples!

I saw those pineapples earlier.  I thought "They must have a new person cutting the fruit. Whoever cut those pineapple into the shape of stars really jacked them up."

She knows how I love some good fruit! And it's some good fruit indeed!

I just wanted to lay my face in it. Wow.

And good ol' Sam, aka "Cinnamon Sugar", sent me some chocolate covered strawberries.

Woooo-weee! Those suckers were good!

I only had one. I was roaming around the cubicle area showing them off. And people were looking at me. So I had to share.

I ate one. And it was great. Big giant strawberries! And some of ya'll know what I do for a living... Big strawberries are soaked with pesticides. And I did NOT care. That one strawberry was GREAT. I

I came home with one left. Next time I know not to share. They are too good to share! I just think I was happy at the moment.

Sam snapped on me about that.  She went straight Cinnamon Sugar on me on the real. I am sorry, Boo! I may just reimburse you the next time you come hang out at the crib!

The place that sell those is over in the bougie 'hood. We're doing a driveby for some more of those tomorrow.

Really though.

I am afraid of balloons. When I was three, my best friend KK, who was also three, was blowing a balloon  up and it blew up in her face. That girl screamed and cried so hard. I was shocked by it all. And some 40 years later I get the shakes when I see balloons.

And one of my balloons floated up into the rafters of the workplace garage. Sigh.

I had to stand up in the doorway of my car and snatch it down.

And when I arrived home, the same balloon floated to the top of my garage. Seeing that my garage is some 15 feet high, I decided to just go on in the house. Maybe it will float down in the next couple of days.

My coworker Lady S gave me a nice candle and some little fruit snacks. What a surprise!

So I am just checking in. Thank you all for reading the past month leading up to my birthday month. I had SO many food for thought posts, and of course, I didn't get them all posted.

And thanks for commenting! The drawing will be held on Monday or Tuesday. Make sure to check back to see if you are a lucky winner.

So this is birthday #44.  I could not imagine turning this age. But i am here now.

I hope this year will be as good as year 43!

I can't wait to see what it brings!!  

Happy 1/2 birthday, Lucy!

So, I've had Lucy the Lexus for six months.

Those pics above are on the day I purchased her. That was the same day Whitney Houston died. It was COLD and windy that day. And we were in the parking lot waiting for the salesman to put the dealer tag on.

And my sister Kentucky said "I'ma get it started for you, Lisa!"

She clapped her hands and stomped her feet.

And I did the... *church jog*church jog*church spin*church jog*church spin*CHURCH SHOUT*

GLORY!!!!!

All out in the middle of the parking lot! I know the salesman was like "What the...?"

Whatever. Woulda bust some olympic style cartwheels if I could that day. I'd just purchased my dream car. Debt free. Well, I threw it on a credit card, and paid for it 2 days later. Good enough! No car note!

My sister suggested I run her out to Texas and back at top speed to make sure she wasn't a lemon. Nerp. That is some craziness. A good idea, though. But a no go.

So...

Lucy is 6 months old!

And, in celebration, I have some more pictures of Lucy.

*Blog fam rolls eyes* "Oh LadyLee, must we suffer through more Lucy pictures!?"

Yas! Yas'm! Yas you will! It's like a child! You will suffer through pictures, mayne!

LOL

Anyway, I've only had this car washed once. I suppose I should be having it washed and waxed every two weeks, but uh, that's not in my budget. I do the dirty finger test: slide my finger across the hood and examine my finger for grime. If there is grime? It's time to get it washed.

So here are pictures of Lucy getting a bath, i.e., at the carwash.

Lucy going through the washer!

Lucy getting vacuumed out!

Lucy getting buffed and waxed!

And then we came home. I parked Lucy in the garage!

You can't tell there, but Lucy was squeaky clean!

There's another garage picture.

(Look at Pam in the background over in the driveway! LOL. She needs some new hubcaps. You know it's bad, that when I see a car like Pam... it flashes through my mind to follow the car and steal the hubcaps. O_o. Not gonna do that, though. I still drive Pam. I put 100 miles on her the other weekend when I decided to go explore a little city in the far west suburbs. She is still as reliable as ever!)

Lucy hasn't been washed since that day, and that was around Memorial Day. Lucy doesn't appear to be dirty. She will get a quick wash and vacuum around Labor day.

You may think I am always talking about Lucy.

Yes I am. This has been my favorite car since 1999. I like the 2nd generation Lexus. I don't like the newer cars for the most part because they all look alike to me.  And it is stupid for me to have a $500 car note when I only drive around 5000 miles a year. So it was nice to get the car I wanted waaaaaay back then.

And not having to pay $40,000 for it.

And it is also important because it is an item on a vision board I made as an assignment for my journal writing group.

I was making it thinking "This is so stupid. Why am I doing this?" But I remember being determined to complete the little project so I would have something to bring to the next meeting.

A month or so ago, I remembered making the vision board and that I had a picture of my dream car on it. So I dug around in my closet and found the rolled up wrinkled vision board.

And there was that car on there.

And that meant much to me. For so many years I've been hollering "Pam is my spare car!" People laughed, and I laughed too. Lucy was my main car. The problem was that I hadn't purchased it yet. BUT it was on the vision board.

I learned an important lesson from this: Make a vision board!

That one above is 4 years old. And I've done a ton of things that were tacked up on that board. I've finished the manuscripts I had listed. I've traveled. I've made some progress on my vision statement, even maturing in some parts of it.

Time to make another one. My goal is to have one together by the end of the year.

I was talking to my sister about a vehicle I wanted for my 44th birthday. (Yes, I NEED for her to be thinking about it. She negotiated Lucy for me. You can't beat talking folks down by 40%. So she needs to think about this NOW.)

That ride already has a name: Frank. I saw at least 5 of them today! And I hollered "Hey Frank!" LoL

That's some 18 months away. And Frank is cheaper than Lucy. And Frank is gonna be tacked up on a vision board. Yes sir.

So that is important, to have a vision of some sort. Now I don't have it together like many of you, with your 3 year and 5 year plans. I just don't think like that. But I can tack a few things on a board, write out some desires, etc. I truly can.

And I most definitely will.

I remember some of the vision boards of some of the ladies of the group that day. The range of desires was a broad spectrum... one young lady had been having trouble conceiving so her board contained a baby. Someone else wanted their dream job. Another wanted to own their own home. Others wanted peace of mind. And it was GREAT to see over the years all of these ladies get what they want. I tell you, there is NOTHING like holding a baby in your hands that has been dreamed of and prayed for. I make sure they let me hold that child. The baby was thought of and hoped for before it even existed. And to hold the warm breathing manifestation in my arms... Wow.

Now if that ain't vision, I don't know what is.

Back to Lucy...

I had trouble with Lucy for a couple of months. No, not mechanical trouble (this car drives GREAT), but emotional and mental trouble. And I hate to admit that. Trouble as in, I felt guilty about buying her.    She wasn't expensive, but I could've use that money to help someone else. Trust me, I have gone waaaay over and beyond this year already when it comes to helping folk. I have truly shocked myself. Yet I can stand here and definitively say that I am not a selfish person. And man oh man, that makes me happy and at peace with myself in that regard. But I could have done so much more if I hadn't bought the car, and I felt guilty behind that. I prayed about it (whined about my feelings, really) and the answer was "You always thinking of others, yet you rarely do anything for yourself. So BE QUIET." Very odd answer. But I accept that. And now I can say I truly enjoy the car...without the guilt.

People will always need help. And people will be just fine.

Lucy will be going in the shop soon, because I have NO idea when the timing belt, water pump and all that stuff was changed. No idea. I called a place that specializes only in Lexuses, and got an very good estimate and they asked how in the world did I find a lexus that old with such low miles (most have about 250,000-300,000 miles by now)? I told them I knew it was a good deal, and it drives GREAT. Hopefully she drives the same when she comes out. I just need a baseline for scheduled preventive maintenance.

So Happy half birthday, Lucy. Yes, you are 13 years old, but you have been in my charge for only 6 months.

So you are 6 months old to me. I am very thankful for you.

So glad I bought you!

(I am really going long with these posts, ain't I? LOL. You will be alright, with your ADD self. You better comment often if you want to better your chances for that 7th Bloggaversary $77 gift card! See post for details!)