Fireworks!

So I was on my way home on Monday evening, in the usual rush hour traffic (around 6 pm)...

When I heard what I thought was GUNFIRE.

*lee jumps high in her seat*

And you know what I was thinking...

"These negroes out here shooting! They shooting! In the middle of rush hour traffic! They shooting!"

I was at a red light by myself (there was too much traffic, so I got the notion to do a cut through side streets.

And I look to my left and there were FIREWORKS...

What the heck, man!


Fireworks!
During rush hour.

On a regular day.

All low to the ground, too.

Pretty!

(Dangerous!)

What the heck man.

I didn't understand it.

Well, I made the most of it. That was a long long red light.

I took out my phone and enjoyed the fireworks.

That's how you make the most out of being stuck in traffic.

The Monday After

The Monday after...

The Monday after Thanksgiving.

Let's just stay I am STILL at home. Going to work later.

I did too much yard work yesterday and I am STIFF. Like Frankenstein.

That's another post.

Anyway, I had a very fine Thanksgiving. Our family rarely gets together for anything. So we all just have to make due where we can.

My sister called the week before Thanksgiving, wanting to know what I was going to do for Thanksgiving. I try to make sure she is straight. If she is, I kick out to someone else's house. But she wanted us to spend Thanksgiving together.

"Well girl, what you want to eat? What you want me to cook?"
"It don't matter," she said. "You can make a ommelet if you want to."
I laugh hard. "Man, no! I'm cooking!"
"You can fix sandwiches if you want to."

LOL. She cracks me up.

But I know my sister: she loves Thanksgiving comfort food.

So I was going to COOK!

We had some good food.

I bought an organic chicken!



That sucker cost $13! I think that's more than a turkey costs, isn't it? Well it's the price you pay for a hormone and antibiotic free chicken, one that has been running free in the barnyard.



It cooked up well. She looks a little, uh... relaxed, spread out. LOL.

She was VERY fresh. (Or maybe it was just me, since I rarely eat meat. Who knows.)

We had collard greens!


I didn't cook those. My natural foods store has those on the hot bar a couple of times a week, and I LOVE them. Hot and spicy. Cooked just right. Kentucky loves those too.

Cornbread dressing!



That is my sister's favorite thanksgiving food. So I made a big pan. As you can see, a corner of it is gone. I had to check it out, make sure it was good. And it was!

Green bean casserole!


That's another one of my sister's favorites.

Those fried onion things... they only sell those during the holidays. Or maybe they sell them all the time and I just don't see them. Hmm.

Moving right along.

Oven roasted potatoes!

Uh those were for me. They went the fridge for eating later on in the weekend. Not a typical Thanksgiving dish for me.

Macaroni and cheese!


Nice and cheesy. With bed crumbs. Nice and brown and crunchy on top. YUM!

Haven't cooked that in a couple of years. Haven't cooked like this in a good 3 years.

My sister was in heaven!

She spent the night with me. We hung out and watched movies and regular TV all day.

I enjoyed that time with her. We talk on the phone, but we don't hang out as much as we could.

THAT has got to change, man!

My thanksgiving was GREAT!

And I hope yours was too!

So let's make it a great week... on purpose!

Black Friday Freestyles

Happy Black Friday to you all!

Did you get up at midnight and get out there and do your shopping!?

Did you get the $50 flatscreen TV you wanted?

Was it YOU out there in California at the Wal-Mart store pepper spraying jokers?

(If so, you need to cut that out. You doing too much.)

LOL.

I, your friendly neighborhood Oldgirl, don't do the Black Friday thing. Heck, I don't like shopping as it is. I'll be doggone if I'm gonna get out here throwing 'bows, fighting over a video game.

Wow.

To each his own. I suppose.

No, I'm laid out on the sofa. I got that itis, kinda like ol' Oscar-Tyrone here.



Oscar-Tyrone got the real 'itis. I yell out his name, throw stuff at him to get his attention... and he ain't moving. Just laid out.

LOL

That's how I was last night... and this morning.

Although I did manage to get up this morning and fix my sister some breakfast.

My take on shrimp and grits.

My sister spent the night last night. I kind of felt like it was as if she was little. You know, you have a child over and then when they wake up in the morning, you have to cook. Never mind that I may eat some oatmeal or an apple.... A kid wants some REAL food.

I stared wide-eyed at her as she moseyed down the stairs...

"Kentucky, I ain't got no sausage or bacon up in here. I'll figure something out!"

LOL

I found a small bag of raw shrimp in the freezer.

And my sister had a gourmet meal for breakfast... LadyLee style.

LOL.

What's on tap for the day? I have to go get a prescription filled. I may stretch that out until tomorrow. We will see. I don't like traffic. AT ALL.

I need to get outside and blow some leaves with this leaf blower. That will be... fun.

And I'm blowing them ALL into the yard of the vacant lot next door.

lol

I hope you enjoy your day today.

Interestingly, last Monday, my boss sent a message to me and another coworker, talking about sense we were the last ones to turn in leave requests for the Friday after Thanksgiving, she wanted one of us to volunteer to come in to work.

*crickets*

Uh, as if.

I've gotten my cap twisted on time and leave too much on the past.

I was good, though. I talk to the other fellow "Tom", told him that we could flip a coin to see who would work. I borrowed a penny from a giggly coworker who was sitting near by watching our conversation.

"LadyLee, she's going to have to come up and tell me to work. She shouldn't have approved the time. We should just take our time. She approved it."

I was silent, staring at Tom for a moment. His lips were pursed, and he was serious.

I nodded, mouthed a silent yeah. I turned to the coworker who gave me the penny. I slapped the penny down hard on his desk.

"We're gonna rebel!" I yelled. I clinched my fists and thrusts them in the air. "Rebel!"

LOL

Neither of us was going to respond to the email. But I got an email from the boss later saying that Tom had volunteered to be on call if something crazy happened. (We are all on call anyway). And that was cool. Tom lives close to work. It's a 15 minute walk, so he can get there if some disaster pops off.

I don't volunteer for nothing. I've been used and abused too much. You better tell me I gotta be there. Or you gotta catch me off guard, like at the Wal-mart or a stoplight and make me come to work.

Thankful for Tom today! *backflips*

But I would have happily went on in to work if forced to, and had a GREAT day!

A GREAT Black Friday!

Really though!

And I'm going to have a great Friday anyway... laying here on this sofa.

And with that said, you have a great Black Friday, too!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I would like to wish all of you who make yourself at home at The House of LadyLee a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

I've been around. Just super busy. We are low on people at work, and I absolutely kick myself for working during the holidays. I always have much more to do at work, and by the time I get home, I am all tuckered out! Ugh.

It's bad to have great posts swirling in my head, and I just don't have the energy to work on them. It's been more of a backburner type of ordeal. Shame on me. But I have other priorities at home right now that soak up some of my blog time, too.

But today is a NEW day. Thanksgiving day. And I wish you a Happy One.

Thanksgiving is a day we give thanks. I don't care for the one "day" of giving thanks. What about the other days of the year? What about the nameless days, the uncelebrated days for the year?

I am more cognizant of giving thanks each and EVERY day.

365 days a year.

And what am I most thankful for today?

What I said above: A NEW day.

I am thankful for seeing this NEW day. For it was never promised. It was never written in stone that you or I would see today.

And we all know tomorrow isn't promised.

For yesterday, someone in the world didn't awake from their slumber.

Someone was on their way to work, thinking about what they were doing for Thanksgiving, excited for a day off... and they died in a car accident. Somewhere in the world, THAT happened.
Someone in the world didn't make it home last night. They died... suddenly.

And someone in this world didn't wake up this morning... to this day they were so excited about.

But if you're reading this now ---> You are here, to witness a NEW day.

I've seen a small shift in my prayers over the past month... and it's a good thing.

Lord, This is a day that you have made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it. It's a day that has never been seen before by man... This day has been thought of, planned for, and anticipated, but not seen or experienced.

I am thankful for this NEW day... another day to grow, to get it right. I thank You in advance that I will have a positive impact on someone today, and that I will do a great job today. I am in great expectation of walking in my purpose today, and You showing Yourself strong today in my life.

That's the gist of the beginning of my morning prayers. I've come to the point where I'm excited for a NEW day. It don't matter if I'm happy or sad, mad or glad, angry or joyful...it's a new day.

It doesn't matter if that day is celebrated or not. It's a new day.

A brand new day.

Great things will happen TODAY.

And for me, that has made much of a difference.

It is almost as if I am setting the course for my day. I'm setting my attitude and constitution for the day.

And that's a good thing.

So today, on Thanksgiving, I say the same.

And I wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving...

And many more happy days.

Here Fishy, Fishy... Fishy?

One thing I hate about working with food in the lab:

I get samples sometimes that I just don't like dealing with.

I love it when I get nice samples. Like lemons. Lemons smell good.

But I don't like getting fish.

I get all upset. Discombobulated.

For I'm like a volcano when this happens. My protests rise high and spew like molten lava.

*lee opens mailbox and sees sample assignment*

*lee commences to having a fit*

"WHAT? WHAT? Some fish! Got dog, man! I don't feel like being bothered with no fish!"

Yuck.

"I'm not Celie. This ain't back in Celie days. They cleaned fish back then. NOT ME."

Well, I soon realize that if I want to get my work done, then I have to clean fish.

So I have to get my head together... so I won't get squeamish... and clean my fish. And I tend to talk to the fish to pass the time?

"Here Fishy-Fishy. Fishy?" I say, as I slice my knife into it, and the blood spews out.

But look at this fish... this grunt fish...

He looks so... sad.

Is it me, or does this fish have lips?


"Here Fishy, Fishy!! Little fishy?"



Are those lips upturned... displaying sadness?

Okay. Maybe I think to much. I'm seeing things.

It was all very NASTY. Took me an hour. Some of that time was spent dry heaving.

LOL.

On other fish news, I was at the farmers market on Monday evening, and I saw an interesting fish.

MOON fish.



Moon fish! And it is flat!

I push my buggie back and forth in front of the display, trying to snap a picture with my cell phone.

For cameras are not allowed in this establishment.



Who on earth would see that, and want it?

How the heck do you clean that!?

I showed the picture to my Cubicle mate... the CowgirlCre.

"Girl, look how flat it is? How do you clean that? Can you fry it?"
"I don't know," she said. "Maybe you sautee it whole."
I shivered. "Yuck. Not with the eyes."
CowgirlCre laughed.
"Maybe you stick it over in a stew pot whole, and get the fish flavor off of it."
"Girl, don't let me come over your house and look in the pan and there's an eye staring back at me." CowgirlCre opened her eyes big, like the fish.

LOL!

I don't know, man. I'd only eat that if I was stuck off in the wilderness, or shipwreck on an island and that is ALL we had to eat.

*lee out in the water with a homemade spear, trying to catch the fish. Here Fishy, Fishy... Fishy?*

And I sure wouldn't be cleaning it.

You know me, I'll be looking for some fruits and vegetables.

Really though!

LOL