Guilty Pleasures

I am writing a lot, and I try to make sure my characters are vastly different than me when it comes to their favorite things they like to do, eat, and drink, etc.

So a friend of mine loves Seltzer waters, and her favorite one is the Bubly brand. I think they are a Pepsi product.

I bought some, and I am hooked.

I think I have tried 5 different types. I like the peach flavor...

But I REALLY like the cherry and watermelon flavors.

I am not a big soda drinker- I may have one soda a year, if that - but I can drink these. They have 0 calories and no added sweeteners. I love how I can smell and taste the flavor at the same time. Not sure how they pull that off. They are cheap enough, especially for me, someone who prefers water, with an 8-pack going for $4.99, and my local Publix sometimes has them on a two for one special.

So they are suppose to be my character's drink of choice, but now they are mine!

M and M's Gone Wild

I'm not sure what's going on with M&Ms.

For as long as I can remember, there were only two types: plain and peanut. I personally like the peanut ones.

Then maybe a decade ago, new flavors came out. I can't remember off hand what they were, but I thought, that's odd... new M&Ms.

But last week, I saw a whole 'nother round of M&Ms...

And the M&Ms have gone wild.

COFFEE NUT

Yuck. Someone would have to buy that and let me try one. No way I would buy a big bag of them.

Then I saw STRAWBERRY NUT.

Yikes. Who thought that one up?

Then there's PECAN PIE.

Now, that might  be good if they have real pecan pieces in there. Hmmm

And there's CARAMEL

That sounds reasonable. I don't think  I want a whole bag of them. I am more of a fan of caramel when it's by itself, like the caramel squares.

Interesting...

I will let ya'll go try those.

I will stick to the peanut M&Ms.

A Special Gift (The Glass from the House)

My sister Kentucky attended my reading last Thursday and she brought me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers.

How lovely are those?

Needless to say, flowers don't do well at my house. Sista Callie Jo  and Mitch see flowers and plants and think...

"Yeah. Unh-hunh. Just wait 'til Oldgirl set those down. We are going set it off up in the mutha! It's going DOWN!"

Look... Callie and Mitch like chewing on my plastic plants, so something real drives them crazy.

As can be seen by the work they did on the greenery of the lovely bouquet.

Look at that... They'd been gnawing on the pretty fern leaves.

HUMPH.

So I brought the flowers to work in a glass from the house.

People called me out on "the glass from the house". Especially my workplace mother. She was NOT impressed.

"Lee, that's a glass from the house."

I looked down at the object in my hand. "No it's not!"

"Yes it is!" she hollered.

"Well, it will have to do. It's all I got!"

Workplace Mom did NOT want to hear it. She marched straight into her office and grabbed a fancy heavy glass vase, while her secretary hacked away at the tough flower stems with a pair of scissors. ("The stems must be cut diagonally before placing in water, LadyLee").

Hence, the special gift was made even more special. 

"And when the flowers die, keep the vase,"  Workplace Mom said.

I like her. She's a cool chick. And she keeps me straight.

And she won't let me walk around with my special flowers in a glass from the house.

I am so thankful for those flowers. Every time I see them, I'm reminded of my special night.

I wish they could live forever. 

Things Left on My Desk

People always leave interesting things on my desk...

This offering has been the most fascinating as of late.

A plastic bag of potatoes.

*lee looks left*

*lee looks right*

Then I remember...

The Cowgirl Cre had extra, and she hooked me up.


Good looking out, Oldgirl!!

A Special Note

I went to the mailbox the other day, much like I do everyday.

A nice envelope was in the mailbox. My name was written in nice script, so of course it wasn't a bill.

And the envelope contained a nice note.

How nice is that?

But more importantly, I had to think about what K was talking about.

And then I finally remembered that I gave her a Bible...

8 years ago.

At least 8 years ago. Might have been longer ago than that.

But it was a nice bible. I happen to be in a Christian bookstore and saw a nice leather gold leaf version of the Message Bible. I quickly bought it, even though it was more expensive than I care to buy for a Bible. But it was so nice, and I loved the Message Bible.

Anyway, I found it too cumbersome to carry around. A few months later, I found a leather one that was one-fourth the size of my big Message Bible, small enough for my purse. So I preferred the smaller version over the larger, nicer, and more expensive version.

Somehow, we needed our bibles for one of my groups. I can't remember if it was a journalling group or what. But K admired my big bible.

And I told her "You can have it! I have another one."

And I guess she kept it...

...Because she sent the nice note pictured above.

I would've never thought that someone would treasure something I'd given them all these years later.

Now I know.

And I will never forget.

A New Type of Kit-Kat

So I was in my favorite asian grocery store and I saw THIS...

Now, I recognize the Kit Kat symbol, but uh, NOT those colors.

So I asked some questions. The kind ladies who mind the store do not let me buy anything stupid.

I took the bags of kit-kats to the register. "What kind of kit-kats are these?"

"They're imported," one of the ladies responded. "Green Tea and Raspberry."

WOW!

Who would have ever thought they had different flavor Kit-Kats in China?

I should know better that this occurs, as there were different types of chip in Dubai.

So I bought them. And at $4.99 per package, they were expensive. But I would suppose around 15 individual packs came in one package.

So...

The raspberry tasted okay. Very fruity. But it needed a layer of chocolate in there. This was STRAIGHT wafers and bright pink raspberry cream-like candy.

But the Green tea flavored?

YUCK!!

Didn't taste like anything to me. I don't even think I ate the whole thing.

I think it may have helped if I was a green tea drinker. I only drink green tea if it is blended with some other tea. Otherwise, nope.

So ya'll can have these green tea kit-kats.

I will stick with the regular American kit-kats... 

The Big Orange Monster

Every weekday morning, a big orange monster stands in front of my house and growls like crazy.

Well, it's not exactly a monster. But by the way Sister Callie Jo acts, you would think it is.

This monster, this big orange school bus, began stopping in front of my house a couple of months ago. Callie gets all riled up, so I think it is the most exciting part of her day.

I have sat at the window at 7:30 am when the bus comes. Callie and I watch to see who is getting picked up.

But no one gets on the bus.

And no one gets off the bus.

Hmm. Not sure what that's about.

I will only assume that the bus driver is taking a much needed break before she picks up the school kids. Maybe she doesn't want to arrive at the next stop too early.

I wonder if the bus driver would stop in front of my house if he or she knew how Callie would get all excited, ready to attack?

Maybe they will. Maybe they won't.

All I know is that the bus needs a tune up or a new muffler because it is too early in the morning for all that noise.

For the Love of ICE

There is one thing that I thought I'd NEVER ever take for granted in life.

ICE

Big beautiful bags of ice, readily available at every grocery store and gas station in my city.

Why do I say this? And who cares?

Because something interesting happened, and it was funny when I think about it (after the fact).

I should've known I was in for some problems when I was on my 13 hour flight to visit my sister Kentucky in the UAE when I would stop a stewardess on my Qatar airlines flight and and ask for something simple.

"Can I have a cup of ice?"

"Why?" the stewardess would ask each and every time.

I'd blink and hesitate before answering. "I just want a cup of ice. I want to chew some ice."

And that would be followed by a deer-in-the-headlights look from the stewardesses.

One even asked me... "Are you sick? Is something wrong?"

"No. I just want some ice."

Listen... the way they were looking at me, you would've thought I asked for a cigarette...

...while pointing up at the no smoking symbol up on the ceiling of the airplane.

Man. I just needed something cold. They kept bringing around water every 2-3 hours. But I was hot. Or anemic. Who knows. I just wanted some ice. I think part of it was just me wanting to entertain myself on such a LONG flight. Ugh.

They would eventually bring a cup of ice. But it would be in a 4 ounce plastic cup. I wanted to ask if they had in 20 ounce Solo cups in the back of the airplane, but that would be asking too much.

So when I finally made it to my sister's place, and she said we needed to go grocery shopping, I was happy about that. We could get a bag of ice.

Well let's just say I didn't see any bags of ice.

On our second grocery shopping trip, I did see some....ice. We were passing a freezer section and I spotted it out the corner of my eye.

A box of ice.

A BOX of ice.

"There go some ice," I said to my sister as I snatched up the box and threw it in the shopping cart.

I could understand why the ice was available in such a small quantity. My sister's fridge is about half the size of a regular sized fridge at home. I have a huge fridge that has french doors and a freezer at the bottom. My sister's fridge is about as tall, but half the width.

So I wasn't surprised at the idea of "boxed ice".

But when I opened the box, there it was, my ice.

Individually wrapped ice cubes, that is.

*crickets*

A closer look revealed how individual these cubes of ice were.

"Betchu won't chew on that," my sister said as she watched me examine the neatly packed cubes of ice.

She laughed. I wasn't amused.

"Whatever, man," I said as I fought to open the package. "I can let it melt down and then I can chew it."

And that's what I did. It was a fight, though. Opening the packs wasn't that bad. Popping them out the package took a bit of finesse. But I worked it out.

And my sister heard me holler a few times when I saw her headed for the kitchen, "Hey, brang me a package of ice from the freezer!"

LOL

The ice thing went on the whole time I was there. Let's just say they aren't big on ice in the UAE. Not like we are here in the USA. The only time I could get a substantial amount of ice was when I would order it at a fast food spot. Beverages were served cold at sit down restaurants, but I had to still ask for cups of ice.

"But the drink is cold already," one waiter said.

"I know," I said, already familiar with this scenario. "I just want a cup of ice."

Now the boxed ice worked out well for my sister, as it fit perfectly in my sister's tall slender fridge. It was definitely a space saver.

The scenario was the same on the 15 HOUR flight back home, me asking for cups of ice, them looking at me like I'm crazy.

You best believe once I got back home I picked up a bag of my FAVORITE ice from the Whole Foods.

Bags of ice made from spring water. SOOOOO GOOD.

YES. All I could do was just stare at the open freezer of ice in Whole Foods. I even took a picture.

Never again will I take simple ice for granted. I was even happy to see the dry ice container at my local grocery store.

I have NO idea what I would do with a block of dry ice.

No idea.

I was just glad it was available.

And I know I will not take ice for granted ever again.

Olympics Season is Here.

I knew the Olympics must've been coming up when I saw the picture of the final women's team.

This picture makes me want to sang some Beyonce.

"Come on Ladies let us get in formation!!!"

They look like they are ready to put the stomp down on some chickens... and come back with that gold.

I was watching the women gymnastics trials on Saturday night while talking on the phone with LadyTee.

We had our own special type of armchair commentating going on.

"Girl she better stick this landing."

"STICK IT!!! STICK IT!!!"

"Look at her. She is pissed. She didn't stick that landing. She mad."

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!!" (hollered when someone falls).

Speaking of the Olympics, what in the world is going on in Rio? Did you see all the trash out in the water? There is no way I would swim in that. But if you want that medal, then.... I guess you better do what you gotta do, honey. And hope you don't contract some nasty infection.

I have never been to an Olympics. I lived 1/2 mile from the stadium where the Olympics went on in Atlanta in 1996. But I was a student and didn't see the point. I wish I would have, though. I would open my window while I watched on TV, and I could hear the cheers from the stadium. And people parked in my neighborhood and walked down to the stadium.

School was closed for 3 weeks, and I decided to get a night job in a warehouse putting together pamphlets containing results of the games. I made $397 during that time. My rent was $390. So I was BALLIN! You couldn't tell me NUTHIN!

I won't be going to these games. I'll be watching. From my couch.

I hope the USA does well.

And you know they will, as always.

Free Stuff (Blessing)

I get free stuff from time to time.

The Cowgirl Cre has become quite the Coupon Queen lately. She called me yesterday wanting to know if I liked Zatarins rice.

I said yes, but only the Dirty rice. Haven't tried the others.

"They don't have that one. They have the jambalaya and red beans and rice." She went on to name other types.

"I like the Dirty rice, man," I said, a hint of disappointment clouding my voice.

Honestly, I would've taken any type of rice she offered.

After all, you know how I feel about free stuff.

*"Blessing," Ladylee whispers softly to self.*

She looked around behind other boxes of rice and found some dirty rice.

"I'll bring it to you tomorrow," she said.

And when I arrived at work, there was a bag on my desk. I looked inside. She left not one box of rice, but three boxes of rice.

Glory!!!

I  whispered to myself as I held up a box  of  rice...

"Blessing."

A blessing indeed.  Free blessing.

"This will last me the rest of the year," I told her later.

Her eyebrows raised high at my words.

LOL. I use a box in the summer, one in the fall, and one for Christmas. 

Stretch it out, man! Stretch the blessing out!!!  

A LadyLee Adventure: Uber Eats

So this past Wednesday, I decided to do something adventurous for lunch. I decided to try Uber Eats.

This is a part of the Uber brand. We all know about Uber, and how it's much better than a cab. I'm surprised that they haven't ran the taxi businesses out of business. I have taken Uber a couple of times myself. It is nicer and cheaper, that's for sure.

But within the uber app in certain cities, there's the Uber Eats option. I never paid it any attention but for some reason earlier this month, I came across an article or something related about it. I decided to try and use it this week. And I'm glad I did.

It is available from 11 am to 2:00 pm in the downtown and Midtown Atlanta areas. I work in the heart of midtown, so that works out well enough. There are 5 or 6 lunches or desserts to choose from, ranging from $3 to $12 (those are the prices I've seen thusfar). So you pick what you want from the app and an ubereats driver brings it to you. They have many of the meals in hot or cold storage packs or something like that. You just have to run out to the curb and get it.

Easy enough.

I perused the choices in my area and I made my order.

(That's a picture after the fact. You see the bowl is empty.

I ordered the Singapore noodles from a vietnamese restaurant on the north side/Asian side of town.

Woooo wee... that was some GOOD eating. All they needed to do was throw a cup of veggies over in there. But it was good. It was hot.  And I had a coupon.  My meal was $5!

The meal came to my job in about 2 minutes flat. I was leaving the cubicle area when I noticed on the app that the car was coming up the street on the side of my building. I had to step double-time to catch it at the front of my building. The driver was already parking her car.

I will be ordering that again once it comes back up in rotation. Yeah!

This uber eats is a good idea and option, especially when it's too cold or raining out. I will be using it again.

From Apples to Pie!

I am thinking back on my best "adventure" of the week.

For me, of course, it was the bloggaversary giveaway. You should have seen me, standing and staring wide-eyed at Commander Get Jiggy Wit It as she pulled names. It was so exciting. Congrats again to the winners.

My other adventure was making bootleg apple pies.

One of the supervisors of a group in my cubicle area lives way out in "the country" somewhere. I tell you, I don't see how people drive 50 or 60 miles to work one way. I am thoroughly spoiled by my 4.6 mile one way drive to work. Spoiled rotten.

Anyway, country living has its perks. I bet he breathes good fresh air. That's better than this inner city air.

He has a big apple tree. And he brought a bag of apples to work.

Yes. Those are real apples off a tree. There are even leaves and sticks in the bag.

I took two apples. People were around here munching hard on them, saying they were good and fresh. This made sense to me. I read somewhere that to get the nutrition of an apple grown in the 1950s, you would have to eat 5 apples now. That is such a loss. So apples from a good apple tree close by (not shipped 3000 miles from some Washington state grove) should be super good.

I took my apples home, and I peeled them.

Then I cubed them up and boiled them with a little sugar and pumpkin spice (nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon)

And I unrolled a crust and made some turnovers. Two apples were just enough to make 3 turnovers.

Here are the final apple turnovers.

Stop laughing. I told you they were bootleg. That means make them however you can. I was not trying to win an apple turnover contest. I was just trying to work it out, honey.

The best thing was that these were GOOD. They were very tart, as I didn't use much sugar. But that's the way I like them.

I have some fresh blackberries in the fridge. Maybe I will try this with those next time.

And I'm sure they will be just as bootleg as the apple turnovers.

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: Triscuits Galore

So I was walking down the cookie and cracker aisle in the Wal-Mart and I saw this:

What in the world?

When I was little, there was only one type of Triscuit. Now there a whole bunch of different types...

When did this happen?

Cheap Gas! GLORY!

Here's something I'm thankful for right now...

I bought gas the other day...

Look at the prices!

I notice price changes when I go to the pump. Because unlike you, I don't have much of a commute. I live only 4.6 miles from my job, you see. As a result, I fill up Lucy Jr. the Lexus once every three weeks. And Pam the Protege... I think she gets a fill-up (well, maybe 2/3rds a tank) every 3 months or so.

The last time I bought gas, before this last time, I paid $3.99 per gallon. And that's because I bought gas downtown. It's a lot cheaper in the suburbs.

That picture above was taken in the suburbs, near church. I love Quik-Trip.  Good cheap gas!

They say gas may drop below $1.99 a gallon. Wouldn't that be GRAND!!!???

Thank you President Obama for low gas prices! I know they be hatin' on you! But I'm not hatin!

Thank you, Sir!

Hello there... Kitty!

So I was driving from somewhere on Saturday. I can't remember from where...

But I saw this while at a stop light in my neighborhood.

A Hello Kitty Car!

Check out the rim!

Here's a closer look...

I was just mesmerized by that rim. 

I wonder if you can buy a rim like that? Or did the lady driving the car get down on her knees with some paint and work that out?  

I don't know much of anything about rims. I imagine the possibility are endless. When I come up on extra unexpected cash, I always imagine blowing it on some rims that spin and spit fire and holler my name. 


Not sure why anyone would have a Hello Kitty car. I mean, i see the different potato chip and candy cars around. It's advertisement, but most likely free. 


But imagine if the lady driving this car had a 3-year-old little girl. She would be the most popular child in daycare. 


To each his own. There are some car clubs around ATL that have such decoration themes. 


I wonder if I could do this with Lucy Jr?


I think not.

Lessons in Bootleg

Do you understand the meaning of the word "bootleg"?

It's explaining how ghetto LadyLee is.

If not, here's a clear picture of what bootleg is:

Yes!

Don't act. You KNOW some of ya'll had the new TV on top of the old one when you were little. The new television sat on top of the floor model set that went out.

Am I the only one? I hope not. Maybe that's a southern thing. Who knows.

Let's not even talk about the cords wrapped around the staircase post like it is. I only did that to help Oscar-Tyrone. He 'bout bust his azz one day coming down those stairs and tripping up over the cord. The Oldcat did not take pleasure with being laughed at like that. And I myself wasn't happy about seeing the TV wobble when Oscar tripped on the cord. Ugh.

I brought that TV downstairs on Christmas to use with the Roku, as the Roku does not hook up to the old one...

And it's April, and I haven't taken the flatscreen back upstairs to the spare bedroom.

I rarely go upstairs. I was thinking about buying another TV and taking that one back upstairs. But the tube TV works just fine.

Plus my sister bought that old tube tv for me at an estate sale for $35 a couple of years ago. I don't want to get rid of my sister's gift. And it is too heavy for me to take upstairs. Sigh.

So for now, bootleg is the order of the day.

And this gives me a chance to play my song of the week. Of course it has NOTHING to do with bootleg.

I just like how it begins, and how I bootleged it for the opening words of this very post:

"Do you understand the metaphoric phrase Lyte as a Rock? It's explaining how heavy the young lady is."

Get your Dance on...

This never gets old...

Mount Ranier at Sunset

My brother Milk and Cookies, who's stationed in Seattle, steps out of of his front door every morning and is greeted by the nearby volcano, Mount Ranier.

He sent a picture of a beautiful sunrise the other day.

If that's not a thing of beauty, I don't know what is.

Grandma's Flowers

It's so cold and dreary outside. I need a fresh jolt of something that reminds me of springtime.

What better than my Grandma's flowers...

I feel better already.

Hello December!

Oh my.  I am soooo glad December is here.

Not because it is the Christmas season. I don't care for the holidays much. I would rather for the hustle and bustle of it all to be over.

But November was such a blur. I haven't worked so hard on the job in a long time, even having to work a couple of Saturdays.  And I mean working 8 to 9 hours on a Saturday. That is something I definitely don't do or care for.

But because of the furlough, October's work was crammed into November's work.

Alas, a fond farewell to November.

I may even take off tomorrow. Or work half a day. We will see.

I want to try to post everyday this month. I feel as if I have just neglected my blog. That's not good.

It's the end of the year, and I have a little more time to think and post.

And that's a good thing.