Year in Review: Thoughts and Babies... and Thoughts

Come January of each year, I ask myself a question:

Who's gonna have a baby this year?

Someone once said, "You are, LadyLee!"

Uh, no. I don't believe so. But you never know about these things. Heck, anything is bound to happen.

But it never fails that I get the wonderful chance to crochet at least 2 or 3 baby blankets per year.

And I like doing that because it involves giving a very unique gift of something made with my own hands.

And last year was no different. I made 5 blankets. That was a lot.

Four of those blankets were for blogger Bliss...

It began as one of those things where she was just thinking about having a baby... and she was blogging about it.  And I remember thinking "Whelp! Guess it's time to do a yarn run down to the southside for baby yarn."  And even then, it was just a mere thought in her mind.

Why did I do that? Because I realize everything starts with a thought.

And a thought is merely a seed. A seed pregnant with fruit... and possiblity.

A thought meditated on eventually becomes reality. Hence... it was time to do a yarn run.

And that Bliss... I have seen over the past several years, whatever that Oldgirl get ta thinkin' on, it comes to past. Quickly.

What a wonderful thing to see in a person. Sure, it happens with us all. But my goodness, she has always been amazing to watch. Her goals are so lofty... big and bold, in 3D IMAX HD... Just big stuff.

So the baby desire was no different. I knew that would come to past. Pretty fast. So I needed to be thinking about blankets.

And hence came the Four Bliss Collection.

She was having trouble conceiving, and after a few tests, it was determined that alternative fertility methods were necessary, namely in vitro.

That could be a bit scary.

But you know, that Bliss... when that Bliss starts thinking about things... hmm.

It was fascinating to read blog posts about her in vitro fertilization treatments. I am a scientist, and I love all things science, but this fertilization process was O_O. Technology is something else! It was so fascinating to read about the different medicines and their purposes and all that. Fascinating.

She posted up pictures of the 2 embryos selected for implantation.

I was in awe of that. They can take pictures of embryos? Well of course they can. With a good magnigying microscope. I used a few in college biology class. I even took an x-ray picture of a perfectly crystallized chemical for a class in grad school. And I did all that some 20 to 25 years ago. So yes that's possible. No telling what kind of technology they have out there now!

But I was in awe because this was real. A mere thought had begun to take form.

2 embryos- no faces, no bodies, indistinguishable, over time became...

2 babies. 2 baby girls. (Don't worry, she gave me permission to snatch a photo.)

2 big healthy babies. I believe one was 6 pounds and the other was close to 7 pounds.

That whole process just amazed me. Yes, it happens every day. All the time.

Thoughts become reality. Eventually.

And can you imagine having a picture of yourself as an embryo?  Yes, we all have baby pictures. But a picture of yourself as an embryo? That just boggles my mind.

This was such a stark reminder of that principle, and it's a one of the most glaring reminder of the many reminders I had last year of that principle.

I need that type of reminder every day. And I am sure if I pay attention, that actually occurs.

So Bliss. Congratulations to you on such a HUGE change to your life. You have gone from having one daughter to three daughters... all in one year.

I know this will be a year you will always remember. It is definitely one that I will always remember, as you were so generous in sharing it in writing with us, just as we were right there with you. I am highly appreciative of the lessons I learned through the whole process...

Our thoughts are truly important. And when thoughts are meditated on, something is eventually produced.

No one robs a bank without first thinking about it.

No one does anything without first thinking about it.

With that said, we shouldn't just meditate on certain thoughts, should we? Especially the negative ones.

And it makes all the sense in the world to have grand lofty positive thoughts... on purpose.

All of this is important. You don't have to think it is. But whether you like it or not, it is. Advertisers think it's important. Why do you think it costs 4 million dollars for a 30 second commercial in the Sup.er Bo.wl?

It's worth that much to initiate a thought in your head. That simple thought may manifest itself, may make you make a decision to go out and take action. And making as many people as possible aware of something is worth THAT much. And dare I say, probably worth much more.

But I like the more organic form of thoughts. The intangible thoughts. I remember when Bliss first said she was having thoughts of it. I knew I would be making blankets as a result.

And a card. You know how I am about my cards.

That was a fun card. There's just something therapeutic about making a card. I need to make more of them.

Now, Bliss has that older daughter. I can't forget about her, can I? I thought about her because I was about the same age as her (age 16-17), when my baby brother Milk and Cookies was born. So I understand the thoughts that go through the mind when THAT big of a change occurs. It's a bit overwhelming.

So I made sure to send her a card... along with a little note also...

Hmm...

...to be continued. 

Greeting Card Issues

I like perusing the greeting card section from time to time.

I was at the White People's Target (right across from my beloved White People's Kroger) last week and this particular card caught my attention.

Hmm... That's a nice card. And it's indicative of the changing times.

The greeting on the inside was quite cheesy and very politically correct. I forgot what it was, but I remember saying "Really? Come on."

I looked around that same section for another similar card.

And it wasn't there.

I wanted to ask, "Where's the 'Mrs. and Mrs.' cards?"

There were none.

That's some complicated craziness. Is the greeting card industry discriminating against women.

Nope, I don't plan on marrying a woman, or going to anyone's wedding.

But if one card is available, shouldn't the other card also be available?

Hmm...

My Latest Card

So...

Here's the latest card that I made for one of my favorite readers, Shai.

Here's the back of the card:



Awww... look at little Shai in her red dress on that card, sporting flowers in her 15 strands of hair.

Get it, girl!

I said, Get it, girl!

Shai won one of the last gift card giveaways, the $25 card for most comments during Conversations Week.

If you win, you TOO can have a lovely card... to go along with your gift card, of course.

You TOO can strut down the aisles of your favorite store and shop with a smile on your face, knowing that your trip is free courtesy of Your Friendly Neighborhood Oldgirl LadyLee!

So comment all this week for a chance to win.

The drawings will be held on Monday.

Good luck!

Card and Cookies!

The highlight of my week last week:

Successfully sending out a card and cookies to one of my favorite readers, Remnants, who just so happened to win the second place prize of the book Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones, and $10 gift card.

I said "successfully sending" because I loathe post offices in the ATL. I always happen to be standing in line when some pure tomfoolery jumps off. This time my postal experience was okay. Although the postal worker helping me was a bit salty about not getting her lunch break. The customers weren't cussing mad this time about how long it takes to get serviced. I rule that a good experience!

No, she didn't get the book because she already had an autographed copy of the hardcover edition. (I actually ran into her at one of the booksignings. Oh joy!) But she did opt for the cookies. She has received cookies from me before, and she is particularly fond of the oatmeal cranberry raisin walnut cookies.

Hmm, hmm good.  I doubled the amount of nuts and cranberries in that particular batch. I know that batch made her a very happy Chicken!

I hope you enjoy those, hon!

Don't eat them all in one sitting!

Thursday Randomness: Of Cards and Oscar-Tyrone

Oh, look at the lovely card I made!

'Tis for Sasha. I FINALLY mailed her her 1st place House of LadyLee sweepstakes prize.

She sent a lovely email! Hope you enjoy that, honey!!

If we take a wider angle picture of that card... we see something interesting.

Look real close up at the top center of the picture:

It's that Original Oldcat Oscar-Tyrone. He's over by the fireplace. And he looks to be posing for the camera, next to the new scratching pole that I purchased just for him. I thought he might like that sense he shredded the old one.

And the new one stands next to the old one.

He refuses to use the new one.

"Oscar! You a punk, man! A punk!" I hollered. "I spent $20 on that pole. You punk!"

He blinks... and walks away.

I've sprayed that pole with catnip spray. I sprinkled it with catnip herb.

He blinks. And walks away.

Sigh.

Maybe I will just throw the old one out. It was a "guaranteed" pole. And he LOVED it.

He's gonna have to deal with this new one...

Card Party Chronicles, Part 3: Big Poppa and Whitney Houston (Feeling Great, Feeling Lovely)

Like I said, the party went up a few notches when this young fella showed up.

We will just call him... Big Poppa.

He sat down next to me, as I was still concentrating hard on learning that complicated game of spades.

He complained about the music choices.

"What's up with this '70s Prom music?"

"I like this music. I like ConFunkshun!" Kim said.

We all liked the music. We were a bunch of females, all about the same age, grew up in that era.

*Big Poppa immediately calling up someone on his cell phone to bring "proper" music*

I got up from the table to go get some more spinach dip. (Heck, that's all I could eat, and I was gonna work it).

I started taking pictures of the punch and liquor. (I'd left my camera at home and was eager to snatch up Green Eyed Bandit's camera and use up her card, lol).

"Hey, what are you doing?" Big Poppa yelled. "Why is she snapping pictures?" he hollered to his cousin. "What is she doing? Why she taking pictures of the liquor?"

Dang, I thought. Hope Kim say something. Dude must be wanted or something, and I didn't want to end up in a headlock.

"She has a blog, Big Poppa," she said. "She's a blogger."

"Oh, I was about to say," he said.

(Thanks Kim. Thanks for saving an Oldgirl's life).

Big Poppa wanted something to drink. Kim gave him a cup of the hunch punch.

He looked at it rather increduously.

"Uh," he said, pointing at the drink, "Uh, excuse me, but this drink has too much estrogen in it."

"It's hunch punch. It's good," Kim said.

"If I drink this punch, my period's gonna start tomorrow."

We laughed HARD at that. That's the funniest ish I've heard in a very long time.

Kim ran off to get him a harder drink.




Come on, Kim. That is NOT a man's drink. Bud Light with Lime? That still has a feminine touch to it, lol).

The spades game was in full force now.









There was MUCH trash talking going on.



There was some controversery going on involving Kim's BFF of over 20 years deep, "Drea".



An argument ensued. Somebody through out a bad card and didn't catch it.

I didn't have the faintest idea of what they were talking about...

I was just worried about that gangsta Monie Love.



I don't know, man. She was a bit too calm for me. I mean, she had had her say, and made her point, but she was a bit quiet... and she kept winning.

She concerned me. I had this vision of snatching a pistol out her waist and firing off a shot in the ceiling to quiet everybody down.

(Yes, I, LadyLee, have been watching TOO much Snapped).

"Monie Love," I said. "Do not pull that 9 out yo waist, girl!"

She laughed.

"Don't do it, Monie Love. Don't pull that 'tre-eight' out yo waist, gal."

Monie remained calm. Kept playing. And kept winning.

Big Poppa kept picking at Kim's BFF.

"Hush, Whitney Houston," Big Poppa yelled, referring to Drea.



"I am NOT Whitney Houston," she yelled. "Crack is wack!"

"Shut up, Anna Mae Bullock. You're drunk!" Big Poppa yelled.

"Just eat the cake, Anna Mae," I chimed in.

"I am NOT Anna Mae or Whitney Houston," she yelled. "I am not drunk! I'm feeling great!"

(Okay. She lost me with that. But I was rolling with the fact that she was NOT drunk. Just feeling great.)

Big Poppa KEPT talking trash to her. This couldn't be good. She kept wailing.

"I am not drunk! I feel great!"

"I feel lovely. I feel great! I feel really great and really lovely!"

"There's a difference between being drunk and feeling lovely. Right now, I am feeling really lovely."

*crickets*

What the world?

I was down with her loveliness and greatness.

But after she said all of this for the hundreth time, well... let's just say, she had to be drunk (in the most lovely of ways, of course.)

This was incredibly funny to us all. To the point we were all saying it, and have been saying it for days.

It has reached "Food-for-Thought" status for me.... No matter what is going on in life, I will proudly yell

"I feel great! I feel lovely! I feel REALLY great! I feel lovely right now."

(You know, if you say that to yourself a few times a day, it really lifts your spirits. It is a most powerful affirmation. Maybe our Whitney Houston was on to something).

Another of Kim's relatives, and I think this may have been the younger brother of "Big Poppa", showed up...

We will call him, Earl.

He showed up with the cutest little boy.

I was sitting there thinking "Oh what a cute happy toddler!" He had to be no older than 2 or 3 years old. He was such a cutie.

I was thinking how special to have a father-son outing, even if it is a card party.

"Who's baby is that!" Kim yelled. She went over and picked him up. "Who are you!"

*Little boy smiles with glee*

It was one of Earl's women's kids.

A huge debate ensued, especially amongst us women. We were wondering what kind of broad leaves her baby with a dude? Mind you, this isn't Earl's main squeeze.

But Kim said he brings a different chick around every week. And he's a heartbreaker.

I know the type of chick who would do that. The type that calls up her girls and says "Honey, Earl got my baby. Ya'll come pick me up so we can go to the club."

Humph...

He was a "doting stepfather", making sure the little boy's shoes were tied, etc. A great babysitter indeed. Little tike got attention from us all. A very happy boy indeed, he was.

Still, we were concerned about the broad who would let her toddler be out at 11 o'clock at night.

(Kim is STILL pissed behind that).

Anyway, Earl brought over some HARD gangsta rap music. Scary stuff. The rappers were calling out all the Atlanta projects, that type of stuff.

I was still watching Monie Love. Making sure the chaos didn't cause her to jump up and pull her weapon(s) out of their hidden places.

And with her as my partner, we won a game.

So, I am officially a "Spades player".

Whoo-Hooo!! It made feel really great... Really lovely. LOL

Monie Love left before midnight. She had a flight to catch out to Texas early the next morning.

It was "business travel", she said.

She had put in a request for chocolate chip pecan cookies. I'd scored a gang of tins earlier that day, and hooked her up. She took her cookies, and jumped in her Volvo sitting on 20s and got the hell out of dodge.

Yeah. Gangsta business, Monie Love. I ain't mad at you, gal. Glad you had a safe trip.

More arguing ensued over the cards. It was too much for me... Me and Net Rock jumped in the Mazda and got the heck on. They decided to play Scrabble.

I got a call while I was out in the car.

Turns out, Drea, aka "Whitney Houston" (her name for the entire night), had played her first word on the scrabble board...

The word "crack". That put all speculation to rest.

That was really lovely... Really great.

LOL!!

I had TOO much fun... Can't wait for the next party! Can't wait.

Ya'll have a great weekend.

I hope your weekend is really great... really lovely:)

Card Party Chronicles, Part 2: Training Day. The Characters...And that Hunch Punch

Like I said, I attended a card party last weekend, thrown by my beloved book club sista Kim. (See previous post for part 1).




I could not partake of the meatballs and hot wings (they sho nuff looked good), but I navigated around the spinach dip and crackers.

Kim tried to be a good hostess. "I got some salad upstairs, Lee. You want some of that."

"Nawl girl!" I yelled. "I got salad at home!"

She was done with me. I'd decided to keep fooling with he spinach dip.

But I thought this would be a good time to learn how to play spades.

For my book club sistas are a congenial crew. They would be patient with me... Right?

And on that note, I must talk about the "characters" at the party.

First of all, there was my first ever spades partna... Monie Love.

I didn't start playing immediately. I just decided to watch what she was doing, since she and whatever partner she had were winning games.

Now, I've known Monie Love for about 4 years, I believe. We've been in the same book club for the same amount of time. But we are both quiet, which mean we don't talk much. There was talk a couple of years of go of a casino trip, and I just remember this quiet chick saying "Hey, we can't leave if the tables are hot!"

She had this wild look in her eyes when she said that. I don't know what that meant. I thought to myself "I don't need to fool with this chick. Get somewhere in some casino in some back room with some hardcore gangstas and get shot fooling with her."

You have to watch us quiet folks.

But Kim's Mama, who lived next door to Kim, stopped through, and was Monie Love's spade partner, and they were winning games. Kim's Mama did her thing and got the hell on... She's more of a Bid Whist woman, you see. (Yeah, old school card player)... I think we all were mere amateurs to this oldschool player, who swiped up winning books with ease.



Monie Love was also Kim's spades partner for awhile. I continued to watch, ask questions, and try to understand what was going on.

Anyway, I whined about wanting something to drink. Monie Love said I should try the punch.



"It's spiked, Man!" I whined.
"It's good!" she replied.
"Well give me half a cup."

Monie Love gave me a whole cup.

"Why you give me so much?"
"I put ice in it, Lee."

I stared down into the cup of punch. I drank it all. It was good, and wasn't even strong!

I wasn't playing cards then. Just watching the action on the table. Monie Love was winning games. I was trying to figure out if she was cheating, lol.

By that time, the Green Eyed Bandit, the chick solely responsible for my consistent blogging habits, made an appearance. She called next game, and leaned on a chair next to me to watch the action.

All of a sudden the room was floating...

I looked over at Bandit, who was standing still, but was blurring out and floating....

"I feel weird. Kim, what did you put in that punch?"
"Girl, it ain't that bad."

The room continued to float. I held on to the table. "I feel like that dude in training day. You put some dust in the punch."

"Aw Lee, just some tequila and rum."

I looked over at Monie Love. She was concentrating on her cards.

That chick put something in my punch.

She's undercover gangster. She was dressed in black from head to toe. She drives a nice conservative Volvo.

But I noticed this Volvo sitting out in the driveway was sitting on 20s. Hmmm....

Interestingly, this woozy feeling lasted all of 5 minutes. I have NO idea what that was about. (Maybe I was drunk... I haven't been drunk in 10 years.)

Lesson learned: Don't let Monie Love fix my drink EVER again.

Kim called a cousin of hers. She wanted him to stop by... and she was mumbling to herself, hoping dude would be on his best behavior, that he would bring it down a few notches.

So in walks Kim's cousin, who we will call "Big Poppa"

And that's when the party kicked up a few notches....

to be continued later today.

Good Ol' Tom!

As you all know, I really like to go all out with my birthday cards.

Here is one I sent last month to my book club sista, Meta.

Getting that border on that card was hellacious! They, along with that butterfly and that other bug, were a part of a "rub-on" sticker set. But they didn't want to rub on. Took me a good half hour to transfer them from the slick paper backing. UGH. It's pretty, but uh-rah, we're going to have to leave that there alone.

One thing about Meta: she loves the color purple. Whenever I see her, she's dressed in purple from head to toe. Purple purse, purple hat, purple outfit... Purple, purple, purple.

Prince ain't got NOTHING on her. She might be some kin to him, She probably took him to the side when he was a kid and said "Hon, let me teach you about this here color purple."

LOL!

So i had to get a purple (well, lavender) card for her. Nothing else would do.


Meta makes me smile, in that she always hits me with the "Hey Sista!" whenever I see her. (She told me one day, long ago, that she didn't know my name, lol).

But Meta and I are in a journal writing group together, and since we live close by to each other, I sometimes catch a ride with her when we have meetings waaaaay the hell out in the suburbs.

So, she arrived at my house one beautiful Sunday afternoon, and I jump in her car (ladened down with cookies and my journal and whatever crochet project I'm working on), and she has one of these:


Meta was cheesing down. "That's that Tom-Tom right there!"

I didn't know what she was talking about. On our way to our destination, I learned that it was one of those new GPS gadgets. The small screen displayed our route, and gave us our directions as we drove.

"Turn left 400 yards."
"Turn right 100 yards."

I found this to be rather interesting. Meta REALLY loved hers. Her whole family loved theirs.

"Girl, my aunts love their Tom-Tom. When they get ready to go somewhere, they say 'We got Tom? Don't forget Tom! Go get Tom!'"

LOL.

So, we were going out to "Aunt Ray-Ray's" house, waaaay out in the Sticks, waaaay up in the middle of nowhere.

Meta continued to cheese down over her Tom-Tom. Man, you would think she is their public relations specialist.

We finally get to Aunt Ray-Ray's neighborhood. I was definitely impressed with the GPS gadget, to the point where I was thinking about buying one in the near future. It would be interesting to have, even though I don't go anywhere where I would need one.

Tom made a final announcement:

"You have arrived at your destination."

We look around, and we are at a house.

But it's NOT Aunt Ray Ray's house.

We sat there a moment. All was quiet. There were no cars parked in the driveway. The grass needed to be cut.

We looked at each other, then back at the house. I had a strange thought of someone coming out of that house with a baseball bat. We were not suppose to be there. That was not our "destination".

"This ain't Aunt Ray-Ray's house!" I said.

"No, it isn't," Meta replied, her voice low. She grabbed the steering wheel with both hands and peered out the window.

"Man, back this car up and let's go."

Meta laughed. "Ol' Tom done messed us up!"

"Let's go, Meta! Don't get out the car. Don't open the door! I ain't trying to get shot!"

(I am so scary, lol).

Meta laughs hard.

"I am not getting out of this car, Meta."

Meta backed out of the driveway.

Luckily, I had a hard copy of the directions in my purse. We were in the right neighborhood, but were on the wrong side of the neighborhood. We laughed hard about that at our meeting.

So much for GPS. I guess I will hold off on that.

Meta, I'll let you keep rolling with ol' Tom.

And I hope you had a VERY Happy Birthday (you and ol' Tom)!

A Smattering of Cards!

I love decorating cards. It's a bit therapeutic for me, you see.

Here are some of the cards I mailed out this month. (My goal has been one per week, but I slip on that sometimes).

A card for blogger ATLien Nikki, on the occasion of her birthday. I especially love the young girl. Sort of akin to Nikki hanging upside down from chandalier, her locks waving in the wind. LOL!!

Sing your song, Nikki. Sang, gal!!

Miss Celie called me one night, and she was telling me about some of the strides she'd been making when it came to shaping up her current manuscript. She was sooooo excited, and I could hear it in her voice. I was sooooo happy for her. So, I'd sent a card I'd been saving for her.


I saw this ol' high ass prissy card at the bookstore a couple of months prior to this. It had french writing, and a pair of very "foo-foo" shoes on the front. I thought, "Miss Celie would like some craziness like this!" I put it away, with the thought of sending it when she got her "groove" back. So I finally sent it a couple of weeks ago.

Finally a couple of cards for my book club sistas who were celebrating birthdays this month.
Yo, I'ma need the book sistas NOT to be born on the same day! Spread that ish out!

So! That's it for my little "personal therapy". Just a little something that brings a bit of happiness to my day, and hopefully to those that received them...

More cards to come in the future!