Happy Birthday Cowgirl Cre!

I'd like to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my friend and workplace cubicle mate The CowgirlCre!

*throws glitter*

Why do we call her CowgirlCre? Because she is a Cowgirl, i.e., she owns a horse! She's the only negro I know who owns one. That makes me feel like I know somebody special!

And she is special indeed. We've been friends for over 15 years! That's a long time! She knows me through and through. She's able to deal with the good side of me and the bad side of me. And that's a lot to deal with, honey! She's a real trooper for hanging with me all these years!

Here she is riding her horse Felix!

Look at her... she's smiling hard. That's because she is doing what she enjoys most! Riding her horse!

And here's ol' Felix.

And you know me... I make suggestions, honey. We need to get Felix out there racing in the Derby, so he can win millions and millions of dollars.

We should plait and braid Felix's hair. We could put some beads and shells in it!

We can tat his name down the middle of his stripe. That would look way cool!

Mess around and shape that wispy beard of his into a goatee and he'd be the flyest horse in the barnyard!

LOL

Uh yeah... As you could've guessed, she's not taking my suggestions.

CowgirlCre is off today so I'm holding down the cubicle all alone. It is quite quiet in these here parts. Sigh.

But NO ONE should work on their birthday. NO ONE! Should be a crime to do so!

She's out at the barn today, hanging out with Felix.

Yesterday (and other days), she played one of my favorite songs for when I'm getting the HECK out of dodge... Getting the heck on could mean a number of things: getting off from work, moving to a new place, or going on vacation.



We sing along with it very loudly. And we sound like some hit dogs sanging. But it makes us happy.

She was happy because she was going to have the day off!

Her favorite part is

"If you see meeeeee... look into my eyes and reeeeeeeeaaaaadddd... what the sign has to say: GITTIN OUTTA here!"

LOL

We sing that a couple of times while packing up to leave work, and it has us high steppingo up out of the workplace, halfway running to our cars!

Dearest Cowgirl... thanks for your friendship all these years. You've gotten me through more than you know. And being your cubicle mate for the past 10 years is icing on the cake indeed! It is a blessing to know you.

Have a great time at the barn! Tell Felix I said Hi!

And make sure you come on back to work tomorrow, ya hear?

Don't get the notion to take the rest of the week off! Don't let me have to come find you!

Happy Birthday! Enjoy your day... on purpose!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday...

I have been getting emails about posting something.

Ya'll negroes SHUT IT UP!!

I've been a little busy. We got visitors in the lab from Southern Black Gals beloved state of Arkansas!

(Southern Gal, keep your peeps over in your state from now on. Much obliged, hon).

So, we will return to our regularly scheduled broadcast on Thursday.

So for now, I entertainest you with a few pictures of my good friend and workplace cubicle mate The Cowgirl Cre in action!

Why do we call her The Cowgirl Cre? It's because she owns a horse!

Felix better known as "Kemistry"

Hen-Dog and I were looking at her like she'd been smoking crack when she said she named her horse "Chemistry".

Yes, we are all nerds, but COME ON, NOW. Naming your horse frickin' chemistry? Girl STOP!!

She corrected us. He is named after her deceased sister Kem. So we understood. That should be his name, and rightfully so.

Anyhow, Cowgirl Cre and Felix are a feature at some of the local equestrian shows...

Here are a few pics:

Go Cowgirl!!

Go Cowgirl...

*Lee doing the hard wop*

Go, Go, Go, Go... Go Cowgirl Cre!!

This horse passion of hers has ALWAYS fascinated me. She loves the sport so much.

Me, I've sat on her previous horse, the Macho Man, only once.

That was enough for me.If I go to the stables for a visit, I bring a bag of apples and feed the horsies. That is IT.

This Oldgirl would rather drive a car, ride a bike... or simply walk.

I don't know how they used horses for transportation back in the old days!

Cowgirl Cre! I ain't mad at you homie!Do your thang, gal!!!

I'll just, uh-rah, sit over here and crochet or something.

LOL!!

Me and my hangups...

Just like many or you all out there, I, LadyLee have some crazy hangups (idiosyncracies), things that completely irk me about myself, other people, etc. Things that just bother me to no end.

Now, one of the most consistent hangups I have is that I hate calling people. I mean, I hate bothering people. I really have to gear myself up to call people. And it takes a lot to do that. If I call you up, I've probably have been thinking about it for several hours, sometimes a couple of days.

So I get in much trouble with my friends for not calling them. They usually have to call me. This is understand.

That's bad, I know. I may not call you often, but know that I'm thinking of you.

I often think of the root of any of my issues, where it all started or came from.

And it all started a LONG time ago with my best friend LadyTee.

Even though she's been my best friend for over 25 years, I do NOT call her too late at night after she's gone to bed.

But this idiosyncracy I have started with her. It is deeply rooted in something that went down between myself and LadyTee over 25 years ago...

~wavy, wavy fuzzy lines, yanking your behind back to the days of old~

I'm not sure how old we were, and what year it was. LadyTee is 2 years older than me, so I would think that I was 12 and she was 14 years-old. We'd gotten into the habit of spending the night at each other's house at least once a month on the weekends. And one thing the two of us would do was fight sleep to stay up and watch late night videos and music shows. (That's when music videos were really getting popular).

Anyway, something special was going down this one Saturday night.

Michael Jackson was gonna be on Solid Gold.

You remember Solid Gold. It was the awfully cheesy music show that use to come on on Saturday nights in the eighties, hosted by Dionne Warrick, Marylin McCoo, and other folks. You remember the Solid Gold Dancers, don't you?




Well, me and LadyTee lived for that. We loved ourselves some Solid Gold.

The bad thing was that the show came on at 11:30 pm. We had to make ourselves stay up to watch it.

That night that Michael Jackson was to be on, LadyTee's Mama dropped her off at my house to spend the night. We usually watched the shows on TV together, but not that night.

This was IMPORTANT. We loved ourselves some Michael Jackson. We were some insane MJ fans back in the day. We had all the posters, the same jheri curls (LOL!)... We were DOWN for some Michael. (LadyTee later had her son ON Michael Jackson's birthday. If that ain't a fan, I don't know what is).

But LadyTee was sleepy. I was fighting sleep, too. Around 10:oo p.m., LadyTee said.

"Lee, I'ma lay down and take a nap. Wake me up when the show comes on."

"Okay," I said.

"I'm for real, girl, you betta wake me up."

"I'll wake you up. I ain't all that sleepy."

"Alright, now," she said. She was still mumbling how I better wake her up as she got under the covers and finally went to sleep. I remember sitting on the bed next to her, indian style, watching the boring news and trying to stay awake. I remember peering at her curiously. LadyTee sleeps with her eyes half open, and it had always creeped me out.

Finally, the time had come. Solid gold was on. The Solid dancers had come sprinting out onto the stage.

I nudged her with my hand. Then I grabbed her shoulder and shook her hard.

"Tee, wake up, the show is on!"

LadyTee sat up and cussed me out. All I rememeber is:

"You mutha*****, I can't believe you woke me up. Blah, blah,blah, bleep, bleep, bleep."

Man... she went on and on. I just started crying. Right there as she unloaded a string of cuss words on me, calling me every name in the book. She was SO mad at me. I thought you was gonna hit me or something.

She turned over and went back to sleep.

I was distraught. TRAUMITIZED. I think I just turned the television off and went to bed too. I was just too upset to watch Michael Jackson.

The next morning, we sat at the kitchen table, eating breakfast. She acted like nothing happened.

I was still upset. "Why you cuss me out, Tee?" I asked. "You told me to wake you up! Why you go off on me?"

"Lee, I was sleep. Don't mess with me when I'm sleep."

I was still upset. She laughed it off.

And we still discuss this, all these years later. She laughs real hard about it. I give her the hard eye squint, and tell her how wrong she was.

"I'm sorry, Lee! Calm down!"

Funny how we still discuss crazy stuff like that.

And to this day, I don't like waking people up. And that has extrapolated into calling people late at night. I feel HORRIBLE if I call you, and you were asleep. Just HORRIBLE.

Now, LadyTee knows if I call late at night, it is important. I have called crying in the middle of the night over my heart being broken, things like that. She knows if I call late in the midnight hour something is VERY wrong. But otherwise, I have that 10:00 rule.

Don't call peeps past 10 at night. I don't care if you tell me to, I ain't calling.

But I tell you...

That don't keep LadyTee from calling ME up REAL late. I'm talking midnight. Waaay past midnight. I am NOT a night owl, and I'm usually knocked out by 11 o'clock.

But LadyTee loves calling me, as late as possible...

And it is about the most strangest things.

I've had some crazy convos lately. . . one of which was with her, at damn near one o'clock in the morning. . .

To be continued.

CONGRATULATIONS Dedric, Class of 2008 !!

My best friend LadyTee's son, Dedric, who we affectionately call "Nell", graduated from high school last Friday.

!!!CONGRATULATIONS DEDRIC!!!

Dang boy... seems like you were JUST born yesterday. I remember the night your Ma went into labor. It was 1989. I was 19 and your Ma was 21. We were over at your Aunt Nita's house, watching television. Your Mama was sitting on the couch, eating beans and franks. Then she started in on a bowl of cornflakes.

(Yes, I was sitting there, staring at her. I thought her food choices were, uh, disgusting).

"I got gas, Lee," she said.
"Look at what you eating," I said. "No wonder."

"Shut up, girl!"

I got up and went home. I had class early the next morning, so I needed to do my homework and go to bed.

She called me the next day.

"Girl, a little after you left, my water broke."
"WHAT?"
"Yeah, girl?"
"You had the baby?"
"Yeah, girl! It was a piece of cake. Nothing to it, come on down and see!"
"Alright!"

I remember hanging up the phone and thinking: "She sound like she a little high or something."

Which she was.

By the time I finished up at school and got to the hospital, she had come back to reality.

She looked crazy as hell, all weak and dishelved. I sat next to her on the bed and held you in my arms. You were sleeping, and your Mama was WHINING hard.

"Girl, I ain't having sex EVER again, not even with my husband. Blah, blah, BLAAAH!!"

LOL!!!!!

That was the beginning of an adventure. I remember when you first started walking and talking, and how, when you knew I was coming over, you'd stand and stare out the window, waiting for my car to drive up.

You would go crazy, screaming...

"My Friend! It's my friend!!! My friend is here. IT'S MY FRIEND!!!!!"

This would thoroughly piss your mother off...

"She is NOT your friend, Dedric. She is MY friend!!!"

I would try to calm her. "Tee, he's only a baby. He's only 1 years old. Just let him think that. Look at him, he look so happy."

"I don't care," she would say. "He need to find his own friends."

**crickets**

You caught on, even at a young age, and stopped saying it.

But it didn't matter.

We were still happy to see each other.

And now, I'm glad to see you have your own road dog, your own best friend Pat, who we call "PJ".

PJ was at the graduation when we got there. He was off in the cut, "trying to talk to somebody's woman", LadyTee's Mother "Babs" said.

But I was glad to see ol' PJ. He represents, like only a best friend should. (Even though I had to tell dude to pull his sagging pants up a hundred times, LOL!!) And now, I don't have to hear your Mama threaten you anymore. ("Dedric, leave Lee alone. That's my friend, not yours! Go find your own friend!")

(But now, she is following her daughter "Milk-Milk" around, saying "Don't YOU wish YOU had a BFF?!")

Don't worry, Milk! You'll have your own BFF soon enough.

LOL!!

Your cousin Lil' Corey came to the graduation. I don't know WHERE he came from. It was almost like he swung into the place on a rope through the roof or something. When they called your name, Dedric, we all hollered and screamed, but he bent over the balcony, and hollered loudest of all.

Yep, we were GLAD to see you get through high school, boy!!

I am particularly glad. I don't have to hear your Mama complaining about getting you up at 5 a.m. anymore so you can make the 2 hour bus ride to that dayum North Springs High school. GEEZ! (But I am going to miss our early 5 a.m. convos, LadyTee. Maybe I'll just call you around that time for ol' time sakes. LOL!)

I don't know why you young dudes won't smile, and want to be all hardcore. But your Mama was all smiles that day. That's just how happy she was to see you march down that aisle and get your diploma!

Your school asked loved ones to write letters to the graduating seniors, and LadyTee asked me to write a letter to you. I had soooooo much to say, but wanted to keep it to only one page. I wrote how I was sooo proud of you, and how I know you will go on to do great things.


But I wrote one thing in particular:

Boy, your Mama is always screaming... "She's my friend, not yours, Dedric."

I beg to differ.

I AM YOUR FRIEND.

Really though.

Dedric, I am SO proud of you. I know you will go on to do GREAT things. You are one of the most compassionate and caring people that I know. Like I said, it seems like you were born just yesterday. I remember your first words, when you first started to walk.... I remember all of your life triumphs. And don't forget, you are my #1 playstation NBA08 game playing partner (LOL).

You've turned out to be a wonderful young man.

Go Forward, and do great things.

And always remember.

No matter what your Mama says...

I am your friend.

Speechless

I'm going to do something unprecedented this week:

I am going to post something every single day.

Yeah, that is weird for me.

Which means, uh... you gonna see some SUPER SHORT posts!

Ya'll know how long winded I am, so that is a super crazy stretch...

And no pics... just ish on my mind... Can I do that?

I don't know!

We'll see...


Anyway... things heavy on my mind and have me tripping out lately:

So you know, my personal DJ, THE DJ DIVA, lives in the same city as me now. I am ecstatic about this. I mean, she lives less than 20 minutes away! I would love to be allllll up in her face, but I am busy as hell these days. We seem to talk on the phone twice a week, and usually she calls me up - which makes me feel like ROYALTY. (I am very strange in that I don't like calling people AT ALL). I've only seen her twice, and man, I tell you, this is one person that feels like family, i.e., I ain't all super quiet and nervous around her. I am free to be me. And it is a good thang when you meet people who you click with like that, you know??

We were on our usual email thread a couple of weeks ago, and someone asked the DJ DIVA what was the most fun thing that she's done since being in Atlanta.

She said, "The funnest thing we've done so far is see LEE!!!!! And that was fun!"

*crickets*

That left me speechless.

I sat there thinking... you have GOT to be kidding me.

I sent out quite a few emails saying simply "dayum".

It was quickly followed up with "Nucca pluease~ U know you funny as hell!!!!"

I didn't know what to say.

Why?

Because I am about as much fun as a root canal.

And for someone to say that about me?

Leaves me speechless.

I don't do things that are considered fun. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't hit the clubs. That stuff is soooo twenty-something to me... Been there and have done MUCH of all that.

I am extremely solitary. I like quiet VERY quiet activities. Noise and crowds unnerves me something terrible. I like to read a book. I like to sit down and write. I like to crochet and work word puzzles. Anything that is quiet and therapeutic at the same time gets the thumbs up from me.

(I am such a nerd.)

It's always a shocking yet pleasant surprise when someone says something nice like that.

LadyTee said something one day, a few weeks before Memorial day, that left me speechless. I'd had a long day at worked (working on a Saturday! UGGH!), and was bone tired and I must say, just a little depressed. I picked her up after work, because we were going to do some running around for meat for our Memorial day barbecue. She wanted to hang out at my house with me, which I didn't understand really, because I just wanted to sit my ass down somewhere and be quiet.

Well, I pretty much left her to herself that evening. I believe she was over for about 6 hours or so. I think I kind of shuffled around the house that day, sitting in my favorite chair and working on a story for a few hours... and getting lost back in my bedroom looking at my own TV while leaving her out in the living room. I fried up some fish for dinner, and did a little housecleaning. I may have spent an hour with her at the most, but I was just pretty much wiped out that day and wanted to be alone... I mean, I think I even took a 2 hour nap or something.

I apologized to her the next day.

"I'm sorry, Shorty... I was just tired and a bit to myself yesterday. Sorry I wasn't that much fun."

She said "Lee, you know I don't care. I enjoyed myself so much. Just to be in the same house with my best friend. Nothing like it, girl. I was just so happy to see you and to be with you."

Shoot, man... That ish had me all teared up.

Left me... speechless.

I think about intangible things like that when I am not feeling all up to par or a little out of it...

Things that leave me speechless always lift my spirits.

The Ultimate Easter Haircut...

Once again, in the harmony of that old School House Rock Superhero anthem:

I get my thing in action....

Hen-Dog... that's what's happenin' !!!

Now that right there is what a call an Easter Haircut. We worked late on Friday, and he was running late for his haircut appointment. He had me drop him off in the hood at his barbershop and take his car home. (Hen, I LOOVED driving your car, Shawty!). I took this picture at work on Saturday...I never thought he would come back with such a hot cut!!

GO Hen-DOG!!

And, stay tuned for an Easter Story about Hen's baby girl Chayse...

I have a story about last year's easter...Her mama has been on me about doing a post on her. Give me a couple of days, Ol' Mean Ass Cynthia, and it will be up!

In the meantime...

HAPPY EASTER!!!

I am Thankful...Part III

Well, I've had other instances where friends haven't been judgemental about some messes that I've been caught up in...

There was an instance where I was fooling with 2 guys, and there was some threats of violence if one ever caught up with the other. One of thangs where they were both saying "Lee, don't point that n**** out in the streets, because I got my piece and I'ma do my best to kill 'em!" I thought this was some craziness, and I talked to another friend of mine, my Oldgirl Carter. This a chick I've known since I was 17, and have always looked at as my "sista-gurl", even though she is caucasian. I remember telling her that I didn't see what the raucous was about, and not understanding why they were acting like that. (Yeah, I was doing my "Can't we all just get along?" rants and wails. I was wondering why I wasn't being allowed to have my cake and eat it to). Well she quietly gave me a verbal chin check. She basically told me to make some choices, and what I was caught up in wasn't "healthy", and I could end up dead if I didn't cool out.

Funny... that really got to me and helped me to shape up. Right after our convo, I straightened up.

Funny... to this very day, I don't make changes in things that I am doing until I realize that those things are not "healthy." It isn't then until I make the change.

I never told her that her word "healthy" still has an affect on me to this very day.

And I have had one friend who cut me off because she didn't agree with something I was doing. And it was over something that wasn't "messy", so to speak. I was in a bad marriage and she thought I should just up and leave. Never mind that I lived in another state, was currently looking for another job, and not in a dangerous (abusive) situation. (I was making plans at the time.) She called me weak, and everything else under the sun, instead of being supportive. We didn't deal with each other anymore after that. Instead, I prayed alot, worked my original plans, and made headway in the situation. However, I am still sad over the lost of that friendship. But even if we did rekindle our friendship, I would've been sure not to talk to her about things going on with me.

And for me, that would have been some fakeness on my part.

I've come to the conclusion that if people can't support you through obvious phases, decisions, etc... then, you really don't need those people in your life in the first place.

So sitting in that book club meeting a few weeks ago... all of the situations I mentioned in this post and the last three posts flowed through my mind.

I know when I got home, I called LadyTee and made sure to tell her "Thank you" for sticking with me through all the crazy shenanigans I've been caught up in. I know she was thinking "Dang, what's wrong with Lee today?" but that's alright. I just felt like she needed to know that I appreciate her.

She said something that I thought was so true. She said we all go through phases. And she has always known me better than I know myself (which she prides herself on, LOL), and saw all of my messes as phases. So it was best just to be there to listen, and not judge.

She said even if I got caught up in some stuff now, she would listen and pray for me.

For that, I am thankful. Man, if we could all have friends that could pray over us, instead of turn their noses up at us, or gossip about our messes behind our backs... Dang, we would all be much better off. I am convinced that this would be a better place.

So on this Easter Sunday...

I am... Thankful. For many things.

Thankful the Jesus died on the cross for my sins, and rose on the Third day.

Thankful that the blood is still running warm through my veins and that I have a sound mind.

Thankful for the basics: food, clothing and shelter. There are people out there that don't have those things.

Thankful that I have purpose, and God has a plan for my life, and that He had a plan for my life and was thinking of me even before I was born...

So Thankful that God ALWAYS has thought of me enough to bring good friendships into my life. Some have been long term, and some have been for a purpose/reason and only for a season. I KNOW that none of my friendships are mere coincendences.

Do me (and yourself) a favor on this Easter Sunday...

Take time to stop and think of a few things you are thankful for.

Because we all have a reason to be...

Thankful.

I am Thankful... Part II

Click here for I am Thankful... Part I

LadyLee's Married Man Story (circa 1989), continued.

So I'm standing there at the front door, in awe, staring at this wonderful sight of a man standing before me, all dark chocolatety and muscular, gripping the doorjamb...

... thinking to myself "I'ma DO him!"

He said that he was in the neighborhood and was driving by, wondering if I still lived there. I would think that he knew that I did, as my T-bird was parked in the driveway. He was wondering if I would like to get together sometime and go out. He wanted to talk to me about something.

Now I remember standing there just staring at him, real close to salivating.

Never mind that I had a man. Heck, I'd just hung out with my man earlier that day.

Whatever!

I was gonna try and hook up with "Rocky J".

The problem was that me and "Rocky J" had history. I met him in 6th grade. He was the class clown, the one who stayed in trouble. We even went to high school together. We hooked up back when we were in high school, in the summer of 1985, before we went to the 11th grade. We would talk on the phone, and I liked him a lot. He came over one day during the summer, when I was home alone and we got busy. Never mind that I was involved with someone else ("TB") at the time. (I posted about "TB" in this post under the "LadyTee steps up defend my honor" heading. LadyTee is STILL pissed off about my situation with "TB" even though it is 2007. )

(By the way, what the heck was up with this cheating problem I had back then? I am starting to upset myself. Geez.)

Anyway that hot summer day back in 1985 was a milestone for me, a day I'd never forget. "Rocky J" was quite important, because he was the first person to... how could I say this lightly and delicately... help me understand that a man could have oral skills. Right now, I'm thinking back to that time, and I can't imagine how a 16-year-old boy could have such skills. I mean, I had no idea what he was doing at first, and then WHOOOOOAAA.

Goodness.

Yeah, we will leave it at that.

Now, I was so enlightened with him back in high school that I broke off with "TB", the guy I'd been seeing. I didn't know the proper way of breaking up with a person, so I was like "Uh, I like Rocky J... so um, I can't deal with you right now, ya understand?" (Imagine my sheer confusion after having to hear TB wail "How can you do this to me!? I care about you!)

Anyway, it was 1989, 4 years later, and Rocky J was standing at my front door, talking to me. I didn't hear much of what he was saying. All I gotta say is that it was a good thing that my mother was at home, or I would have dragged him into the house.

I gave him my phone number and we made plans to go out. After he left, my mama looked at me a little crazy, but she didn't bug me with too many questions. I went upstairs and called up LadyTee, and told her what happened.

Rocky J and I started going out. One of those times he told me that he was still married, but separated. He said that he didn't plan on getting a divorce or anything. He wanted to know how I felt about that.

Me? I wasn't asking him to do nothing like that. I didn't care. He married right out of high school, which I thought was stupid. All I was concerned about was getting my groove on. None of that was happening, and I was getting impatient. But we were digging each other, and enjoying each other's company. Plus, I had my own boyfriend to deal with. I was running around with Rocky J because I was curious about being with a married man.

LadyTee and I had a discussion about this. Her only advice was to be careful, because he was still married, and broads are crazy. She didn't want that broad to run up on me. I told her that it wasn't all that serious, and that we were just kicking it as friends, even though I wanted to get with him.

Well, Rocky J and I ended up going back to his place one night. He met me somewhere, and I followed him in my car back to his place. Once I walked in, I wasn't all that happy about that. First of all, I had no idea where I was, and I didn't tell anyone where I would be, as I was not expecting this. Second, he had all the windows in the house open. That was cool, since it was nice outside, but I didn't want that wife of his jumping through the window doing a Rambo on me. But I calmed down after awhile. We sat around and snuggled on the sofa. We talked and watched a movie.

And... uh, you know how that goes. One thing leads to another, and...

We ended up on the living room floor, wrapped in a sheet, getting busy.

I remember thinking, lying there, wrapped in a sheet with him on the floor, in the glow of the television...

"Dang, I just slept with a married man."

In all my naivite, I thought that I was going to be different, or the whole experience would make me different in a some way. But I wasn't. Everything was everything. I wasn't emotionally vested or anything, and I guess that was why I didn't feel any different than usual.

Well, Rocky J got all emotional on me. Wanted to lay up in the afterglow and talk. (I always thought that was a female thing. I've come across very few men who are "touchy-feely".) He talked to me about his issues with his ex-wife. I didn't want to hear about all that. But we'd been doing a lot of talking anyway, so I just let him talk.

Then he got over into how violent she was.

This... this revelation of violence caught my attention.

"Lee, she would come at me with sharp objects."

I'm laying there holding him, thinking... What the hell?

He got up and turned on the lamp. He was naked. I remember thinking "He sure has a nice body!"

He sat back down, and pointed to a bunch of keloided scars on his chest. He said his wife had ran up on him with a pair of scissors and tried to stab him. He fought off the attack, but he was cut up pretty bad. That's when he decided to get his own place.

I remember looking up at the open living room windows. The soft breezes were causing the curtains to flutter. It was a very nice moment. Or it least it could have been.

But I was imagining his wife jumping through the living room window at any moment, attacking us or something. I mean, whoever happen to be walking by while we were doing the deed probably got an eye full. I know they heard quite a few sounds. What if his wife had stopped by? Right then, any interest I had in him just went away instantly. Enough of the tender moments. I was glad I'd driven my own car. I quietly looked around for my clothes, looking for a way to casually get up off the floor, and get dressed so I could get the hell out of dodge.

"You're leaving already, LadyLee?"

The look on his face screamed "please don't go!" I felt terrible, but I was down for him.

"Uh yeah, I gotta go. I have some studying to do."

That was the end of that for me. I dodged his calls. I dodged him. He even stopped by my house one day. I didn't answer the door. I wanted nothing more to do with him.

Didn't want to get caught up. Man, I was much too young to deal with any drama that would come from that situation.

And besides... I knew in my heart that it wasn't right...

Now, LadyTee and I had had several discussions about all of this... I talked to her on the phone last night about this, because I didn't remember many of our discussions. I just know that we talked about it. She remembered it too.

One thing I do remember... She didn't dog me out over it, or turn her nose up at me. She didn't withdraw her friendship from me. I do remember her being mindful of me, keeping up with me, and checking up on me...

Last night, she told me (after a long pause to think about all the CRAZY stuff I've done in the past) in the 25+ years that we've been best friends, there hasn't been anything that I have done that would cause her to cut our friendship loose. Nothing at all.

And for that?

I am thankful...

to be continued.

Celebrating LadyTee's birthday...

Okay... I haven't been around much this week.

But you know me... I've got plenty of stories to tell.

So I thought I would tell you about LadyTee's Birthday.


For some reason, I find that as LadyTee and I get older, we really like to spend our birthdays together. This was the case in our preteen and teenage years, but not so much so during our twenties. But now, as we get older, we spend the WHOLE doggone day together.

So this year we planned to do that, except there was a problem: LadyTee had to attend a funeral. She was burning MAD about it too. ("Lee, I told them, why ya'll gotta have a funeral on my birthday!! DANG!!") And the funeral was for her lil' cousin Cory's friend's brother, I think. She wanted to go pay her respects (although she don't do funerals), so the plan was to meet at my house that afternoon.

I had issues of my own. I was suppose to take the day off, but I got thrown under the bus at work, i.e., I got caught up in some pure triflement, due to trifling people, and had to work half a day. (Don't think that I didn't go off on peeps about it, though). I think I scared the crap out of my acting supervisor with my rants and raves. I had to go out back and dig up the Good Book of Cuss on her. (Ya'll negroes be tripping!! Can't a sista take a damn day off if she want to!? %^$#$!@#$%$%!!!!!!). I worked half a day and then got the heck out of dodge.

So LadyTee and I got together around 1 in the afternoon that day. She was a bit deflated about that, and I was still boiling mad about having to work. But we both calmed down after a while.

I gave her a nice birthday gift. I gave her the movie Derailed, one of my favorites, and I gave her the Fourth Season DVD collection of Quantum Leap.

Yeah, that's a weird birthday gift... but LadyTee is the Ultimate Quantum Leap fan. She jumped around my kitchen HARD for a minute when she saw that. I thought she was going to pass out or something, LOL.

But she REALLY likes Quantum Leap. I've never cared for the show. Come to think of it, we've never liked the same shows. Let's just say I've been cussed out plenty of times for calling her when Quantum Leap was on television. PLENTY of times! So I was happy to get it for her, and hopefully I can get all 5 seasons for her.

We ended up going to Up the Creek a seafood restaurant, for lunch.

Heads up, Atliens... you get a free dinner for your birthday at Up the Creek locations!

We ate HARD... Goodness gracious, talk about catching a case of the "itis"! Oh my!

We struggled out of the restaurant and went to see the Movie Pride, which starred Terrence Howard, Kimberly Elise, and Bernie Mac. It is the true story of Jim Ellis (portrayed by Terrence Howard), a swimmer who starts a swim team for troubled teens at the Philadelphia Department of Recreation(PDR). It was one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time. This was an EXCELLENT movie, a good family movie, definitely a welcome change from the norm when it comes to black movies. Go check it out if you have a chance.

LadyTee went home afterwards. But she'd been wailing about mix CDS. As much as I like making CDs, I don't make them for her because she is EXTREMELY particular about songs. So if I make a CD and it has ONE song she doesn't like on it... I have to hear her WHINE and WHINE and WHINE about it.

So we came up with a plan: I would make her Greatest hits collections (can't mess that up, you know. I made several Greatest Hits CDs for her (The Emotions, Luther, O'Jays, Earth Wind and Fire, Patti Labelle). Then I would show her how to make up her own CDs.

Well she came over on Saturday, and it took her about 4 hours to come up with 8 CDs of music that SHE likes. I took a peek at some of her saved playlists. Here's an interesting example.

LadyTee's Disco I

Dazz Dazz (Disco Jazz)- Dazz Band
Don't Look Any Further - Dennis Edwards
Don't Stop the Music - Yarbrough and Peoples
Flashlight - Parliament funkadelic
Ain't No Sunshine - Otis Redding
When a Man Loves a Woman - Otis Redding
Try a Little Tenderness - Otis Redding
The Hustle
This Christmas - Donny Hathaway
Love and Happiness - Al Green
Cutie Pie - one way
I am not my Hair - India Arie
Lady Marmalade - Labelle
One thing - Amerie
Car Wash - Rose Royce

Humph.

*LadyLee's arms crossed tightly across chest. LadyLee frowning hard*

Remember... This is supposed to be a "Disco" CD.

***crickets***

LadyTee, what's up with all the Otis Redding songs? And why do you have the Donny Hathaway Christmas song on there? How do Amerie and India.Arie figure into all this?

Yeah girl... that's a classic disco CD.

Of course, I would NEVER say any of this to her face, because she would go off on me, just like she first did when she was 13 and I was 11. She spent the night over my house, and she told me to wake her up when Solid Gold came on at 11:30. I woke her up, and she went off on me...

I cried that night...

Okay, I am getting off subject... let's just say, I treat her gingerly when it comes to certain things. (She's the same with me.) I have a feeling the CD issha is one of those things...

Yeah girl, you're quite special. You needed to make up your own CDs. I could not have gotten them made to your specifications.

Snake, my local partaker of the neighborhood wares and substances, and resident LadyLee blog Poet laureate extraordinaire stopped by. He and I were supposed to dig up a patch of land in the backyard that Saturday so that I can start up my garden (pics in a later post). I opened the front door, and for some reason, it was hot as hell outside that day. I told him to come in, because his girlfriend LadyTee was over, and I knew she wasn't stepping outside in all that heat. I threatened him real good, and told him not to steal anything and not to be casing my house.

Ladytee did the usual... "Is that you, Snake!? It's my boyfriend Snake!!!!!!"

*Snake grins, showing us all 8 of his teeth.*

I laid on the sofa, and read a book. He sat at the table with LadyTee, and they each proceeded to work hard - she on his CDs... he on a poem. I noticed that they'd gotten a bit quiet, so I took a few pics.

We made LadyTee a little mad, because we were making up so much noise. (I guess that's why the "Disco" CD was so jacked up: she couldn't concentrate.) Snake wasn't writing a new poem, he was revising the last Snake Bite: We Aim to Strive Daily. He is in some weird revision trance these days, spending time looking up new words for his poetry, etc...

(Humph. I need new material, Snake!)

Well, LadyTee and I went to the Watershed for dinner, which wasn't a good thing. (The food was great, of course, but it is so %$!#%#%! expensive). I think I spent the money I had set aside for my bills up in that place. I told my sister Kentucky that if our lights, or water, or gas gets turned off, then oh well... blame it on the Watershed.

But anything for you, LadyTee:)

And I know you'll help me if I come up short on my bills, right?

Right???

Happy 5th Wedding Anniversary Cowgirl Cre and Timmy-Tim!!

I would like to wish two of my best friends, Timmy-Tim and Cowgirl Cre, a HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!

Now, I always miss their anniversary. For some reason, I keep thinking it is on March 5th but I realized that it was today when I came to work this morning and my cubicle mate, the Cowgirl Cre, was not there. She usually gets in around 6 a.m... I got in at 6:15 a.m., expecting to see her. I realized around noon...

"Oh, today must be their wedding anniversary!"

Now, like I said, both Cowgirl Cre and Timmy-Tim are two of my best friends. I see Cowgirl Cre every day at work, as we share the same cubicle area, but I only see Timmy-Tim now and then...

But how they met is funny... and yep, I, LadyLee was in the midst of that ish!!

I am sure they won't mind me giving details... especially since we STILL howl over how it all went down...

Fade to black... Harp music...

I met Timmy-Tim when I was 19 years old (17 years ago... damn that's a long time ago!), when we were both chemistry majors in an Analytical Chemistry class together in college. He was this rail-thin white boy, with the blond mullet hair style, and he always wore the black t-shirts with the heavy metal band on the front and the tour dates on the back (you remember those shirts!). We became fast friends, and studied together, etc. I was always the volatile one, whining about classes, etc... He was always the one to say, "Don't worry LadyLee, go ahead and take the class. I'll take it with you. We'll take it together. It's gonna be alright."

Yeah, he was that type of friend. Let's just say that Timmy-Tim has seen the Oldgirl through a WHOLE LOT and he knows all my bizness.

Now one thing: My undergrad chemistry department was largely made up of black students, and Timmy-Tim was one of a few whites. He always ended up hanging out with us. So imagine this white boy, sitting at the table, eating his sandwich, listening to a bunch of black women talk and trip, etc. He didn't care. He even jumped into the convos and gave his opinion.

We were so crazy about Timmy-Tim that we labeled him an "Honorary Black Woman".

LOL!!

That's just how comfortable we were with him. I knew his family, went to family functions, he knew mine... In my dissertation acknowledgements, I called him my brother. That's how close we were.

Now, I met Cowgirl Cre back in 1995 or 1996, I believe. I was in graduate school, and she was an undergraduate student. I walked into a friend's lab and Cre was sitting at a computer surfing the internet. I was munching on a sandwich of some sort. I said hello, she said hello... I spoke with a few people in the lab, and then someone yelled for a fire extinguisher... A fire had apparently broken out in a fume hood, and I got the hell on... (No, I don't stick around for lab fires and explosions. I've had a few of these. Best to get the hell out of dodge. I may blog about them someday).

Well, I didn't see Cre for a while after that. I saw her downstairs one day in a lab, and she was looking for chemical glassware. She was in a group that didn't have much money,i.e., they were always pilfering and scavenging around other labs for glassware.

Well she asked me if I had a particular piece that she needed...

"Yeah, we got that upstairs, Cre. And you can borrow it."
"Well, when are you going back upstairs Lee?"
"No time soon. But you can go on up there. This dude name Tim is up there right now. He'll help you."
She frowned at me. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, just tell him what you need. We have a lot of glassware."
She was still uncertain.
"Girl, go on upstairs. His name is Tim and he is cool. He will help you."
She was looking worried as all get out. "Well, OK."

She went up to my lab and met Tim. She saw that he was cool. Then she would come around more often, as all the black folks hung out on our floor. Damn, I believe we saw her just about every day. And that was cool because she was a really cool and funny chick. And you know me... I like cool people.

Apparently, Timmy-Tim liked cool chicks too.

Anyway, one day, Timmy-Tim and I were sitting in the lab at our long desk-bench studying, when he leaned over and said...

"I like somebody."
I frowned up at him. "Who?"
"I'm not telling you."
I rolled my eyes at him. "Well don't be mentioning it then, if you not going to tell me!"

I was glad nevertheless. He'd just come off a nasty breakup. I thought he would NEVER get over that chick "Linda". I was glad he'd broken up with her. She was nice, but she would tag along with Tim when he'd come hang out with the black women, and we had to watch what we said around her. You could tell real quick that we were too crazy for her. And Timmy-Tim was our "honorary black woman", which means he was one of us. This "Linda" chick was much hated, to say the least. (Even though she was a sweet girl:)

Anyway, I was glad he liked someone. I couldn't figure out who. I mean, there wer a couple of white chicks running around that he would grin at.

But Timmy-Tim grinned at everybody.

Anyway, Cowgirl Cre starts tagging along on some of my and Timmy-Tim's outings. No bid deal.

Well Tim and I were walking to class or to the library or something and he confesses to me...

"LadyLee, I like Cre."

I don't know what I said. I just knew that I was shocked.

Things went on from there. Things got a bit bizarre at times. Like one day, Cre left her inkpen on our desk. Timmy-Tim snatched it after she left, and whispered...

"This is her inkpen. She wrote with this pen!"

He guarded that pen with his life. It was something of hers. It belonged to this girl that he had a crush on.

We got on the elevator one day. Timmy-Tim inhaled deeply, then exhaled, a sly smile on his face.

"Cre was on this elevator. That's her scent. I smell her.She was here!"

Bizarre. Funny, though, even though it was some borderline stalker type ish.

Anyway, he finally told her that he liked her.

She, um, didn't return his sentiments.

I remember her talking to me later about it.

"Lee, your boy said he like me."
"Is that so?" I said, even thought I already knew this.
"Yeah. And I don't date white men."
"Oh, ok," I said.

Anyway, I had to hear Timmy-Tim lament over all of this.

EVERY DAMN DAY.

Now, at the same time, he was still trying to talk to her or something. I don't quite remember, but there was some convos going on between the two of them. Which meant only one thing...

I was stuck in the middle of the whole situation.

Cowgirl Cre and I had become pretty good friends. I lived in Grant Park, about a mile from school, and we would hang out on my front porch and talk,or just yack for phone for hours. (I am pretty quiet, but Cowgirl Cre is a VERY talkative chick!)

So let's just say I knew ALL of what she thought about the situation. I knew ALL of how Timmy-Tim was feeling, too. The man was practically crying on my shoulder. I had to be real careful what I said to either one of them, not betraying either's confidence, because I knew how EACH felt. Even my boyfriend was having to hear a lot of talk (my boyfriend found it all hilarious! Plus he LIVED for that type of drama!)

And looking back? That was hard, watching what I said.

Long story short. Timmy-Tim was a lovestruck puppy. Cupid had not shot him with an arrow. Cupid had hit him upside the head with a brick or a shovel or something.

Dude had it bad.

Cre wasn't trying to hear all that. She wasn't dealing with no white boy.

Anyway, I ended up going out of town to Florida for a week for a Chemistry conference. When I got back, I ran into Cowgirl Cre. She was driving her Pulsar "PJ" (she names her cars.). I was walking to school. We had a convo, and somehow, she said something that made me think... hmmm. I asked her if something was going on with her and Timmy-Tim.

She nodded yes, very nonchanlantly.

This meant I needed to get to school and speak with Timmy-Tim, because if I knew that boy, he was running the hallways arms stretched out, blond hair blowing freely in the wind, singing "The Sound of Music".

Well, I got to school, walked into the lab... and Timmy-Tim was grinning ear to ear. I told him that I'd talked to Cowgirl Cre. He was disappointed because he wanted to talk to me first. I don't remember too many details. I DO remember him saying...

"Gurl [and he said it in that sister-girl way, as he was our honorary black chick], I wanted to do the Toyota Jump after I kissed her."

He proceeded to do the Toyota jump and let out a loud yell.

*LadyLee jumping back out of fright.*

Wasn't expecting all that... Let's just say that dude was very happy!

Well they dated for a few years.Now, I had to hear ALL the details about this relationship from both sides. One of the most memorable convos, which went on for awhile, was about a damn Anita Baker Body and Soul CD that I had loaned to Tim. Let's just say something happened during this um, romantic CD.

I had to hear about all the "love". ESPECIALLY from Timmy-Tim, since we work side-by-side in the lab. (I won't um, afford the details.)

"LadyLee, blah, blah, blah!" Tim details, grinning ear to ear. " But you can have the Anita Baker CD back if you want it. Whoo Girl, that's a GOOD CD! Oh my!"

*LadyLee shaking head vigorously and holding hands up in surrender* "Hell nawl, you keep it. It seems to hold special memories. I'll just go get another one."

I had to hear about all the fights.

Now I explained to the hot-tempered Timmy-Tim that um, you gotta treat black women gingerly. I don't know, but I was familiar with a couple of his past relationships and how he liked to argue about stuff, etc."

Like I said, I had to hear about the fights!

Cowgirl Cre: "Girl, you need to talk to your boy!! He trippin'."

On some other occasion... Cowgirl Cre: "Girl, you need to get your boy. I had to cuss your boy out!"

(Humph! Never quite understood why he was "my boy" or why I had to go talk to "my boy" when there was a problem.)

As usual, I'd see Timmy Tim in lab or in class. "Lee, I tell ya, we argued. She made me cry."

Goodness. Cowgirl Cre was a hood chick. I warned him about that. I mean, we had some LONG talks about that, because Cre was from somewhere off Cleveland avenue, deep in the hood, and she didn't take any sh** off peeps!

My boyfriend at the time found it all to be hilarious, to say the least!

That's what he get, LOL!!

But they stuck it out, through all the ups and downs, through thick and thin.

They got married on March 2, 2002, some six years later. It was a rainy rainy day. It was a beautiful wedding. I remember getting all choked up when I'd gone down in the basement of the facility where Timmy-Tim was hanging out, sitting there, waiting in his tuxedo. (Wedding was running late. Cre was taking her time... you know how we are). We took pics and talked. The wedding finally started. I believe they went to the Carribean for the honeymoon.

Anyway, I am no longer in the midst of stuff, where one of them is lamenting in one of my ears and the other is crying out in the other. (Although this does happen, but on very rare occasions.)

And Cre and Timmy-Tim, looking back... that ish stressed me out! Thank goodness we ain't going through that anymore, LOL!!

But I just wanted to wish the two of you a Happy Anniversary... Cowgirl Cre and I were looking over the menus of the restaurants that Timmy-Tim were going to take her to for their restaurants...

Do your homegirl a favor and hook this Oldgirl up with a to-go box.

LOL!!!

(But on the real... bring me some crabcakes!!)

Happy 5th anniversary!!

And many many more!!