Wordless Wednesday: Caring is Sharing...

My Favorite Gifts (Part I)

I'm kind of funny about Christmas.

I don't care for the commercialism of it all. As a result, I like to give homemade gifts.

When my brother and sister were teenagers, they would ask "Lisa, what you want for Christmas?"

This would irritate me something awful. "Just go find a nice rock and paint and glitter it up and paint my name on it."

My sister Kentucky would roll her eyes. My brother Milk and Cookies would offer the *blank stare*

Likewise, I like to give homemade gifts. And my budget for Christmas is a mere $100. Gotta get creative when I'm dealing with that amount.

So I have gotten some interesting gifts from folks at work. I got lotion from Lady M, and oranges from Sushi.

You see the lotion bottle in the picture. That's not what I am talking about. Well, Lady M gave it to me a couple of years ago. I remember her saying one day, "Girl, you're ashy," and handing me the bottle of lotion on her desk. She then left it to me when she left for Africa for a year. And as you can see, she placed "No Ash" on the bottle.

It is rare to hear of Caucasians who know what "ashy" is. She is quite passionate about it. It is hilarious, but I am glad for it.

But what is of interest here is the lovely creme flower in the palm of my hand. Lady M made those and gave those to her coworkers. They are her special concoction of cocoa butter, coconut oil and beeswax, and I tell you, a little goes a long way and they smell sooooo good.

Lady M is my "African American" friend. She lived over in The Motherland for over a year, so she gets a pass.

Now to the oranges. Sushi gave me those. She is the youngster our group. There was some fundraiser downstairs in another department, and this is the second year she's bought a bunch of oranges.

I peer at her curiously over all this. "Why they don't sell chocolate candy like everybody else?"

But they are her oranges. And she gave me a couple.

"Christmas Oranges!"

Long ago, one of my late coworkers told me that as a child, he and siblings received oranges for Christmas.

"And if there was more money, we also received nuts."

I laughed at this. You give a child a piece of fruit for Christmas, and you might get it thrown back at you.

I also read that the slaves got oranges for Christmas from their Masters.

I thought about all that as I grabbed a couple of oranges out of Sushi's box of oranges.

And I thought about how far we have come.

And how far we still have to go.

Because, you know, life just won't be right if you don't get that new iPhone or 60 inch TV for Christmas. Your Christmas just won't be right.

And we all will have to hear you complain about how horrible your Christmas was.

Just terrible. Horrible!

Sigh.

Just give me my nice homemade gifts. Made by hands with love.

Just give me some fruit. Something to give me the vitamins and hydration I need.

As long as it's from the heart.

That's all that matters to me. 

Hello there, Mitch!

There's a new fellow in the house.

Mitchell Lamar! Or Mitchell Tyrone. Not sure what he's going to be named.  I may name him Eugene. That's what my brother's name was suppose to be. Or maybe Samuel Lamar.  Or maybe Mitchell Samuel Eugene Lamar Tyrone. Who knows. He hasn't really told me his name yet.

His name is Mittens, but I like full human names. Just in case I need to get a SSN for him and do some tax stuff. (Just kidding).

Most likely, his name will be Mitchell, after LadyTee's dog that just died. Rest in peace, Mitch. She's always had a dog named Mitch, even since high school.  And you know Tyrone comes from the late Oscar-Tyrone.

He's such a sweet kitten. Very quiet. Very loving. So velvety soft. And he likes to cuddle and head butt me. But he is very quiet.  Maybe he's just getting use to new surroundings.

He's a month younger than Callie Jo, but outweighs her by a pound. 

I love his little white tip tail.

He'd been trying to sleep...

And then he actually got a little shut-eye.

It wasn't a great idea to do that, because there was Sister Callie Jo to consider...

You can tell... she is PISSED.

She is furiously writing in her Diary of an Angry Orange Woman. Writing hard in big bold angry cramped crooked letters.

"Sister Callie," I had to keep saying. "Sister Callie, calm down."

It was funny when I first walked in the house with him. He jumped out the box and saw her and was like "Oh, a cat. I will walk up to her."

Callie's eyes got big and she expanded to twice her size and was walking on tip-toes.

Mitch backed up. I could see it in his eyes.

"This broad is crazy."

So she is all angry and scatting left and right.

He stayed in a cage last night. And he wailed most of the night. No sir, can't play with you. Callie was on alert, circling his cage early on before I went to bed. 

He's in an upstairs bedroom now, his "safe place".  (I didn't get this all together, as I was told that the adoption would be in a week or so). But I did all that this morning.

I have to keep them separated. I will switch their bedding in another couple of days. And as soon as they start playing under the bedroom door, then I will let them get together.

Then they can DUKE it out.

I think Callie will win that one. It's her house. And he is so docile.

I hope he will even her out a little.

Hopefully.

Friday Freestyles... The Bored Kitty Edition

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this picture says a lot.

Someone is terribly bored. I don't know if she is bored with me. Or just bored.

But Sista Callie Jo is bored.

Bored with her freakishly long legs.

LOL

So bored that she likes to climb inside my disposable grocery bags.

Well... I guess I can't use that bag for groceries. Ever again.

And she has dragged her water bowl, a sharpie, and rubber band to her place of rest. I wondered what she had planned for all of that?

Who knows. She is just... bored.  She stayed in that bag for half an hour. At least she was being still. She is worse than a toddler sometimes with all her running around and getting into stuff.

And I am considering getting another kitty this weekend. There's a 20% chance.  I will decide by Sunday. I found a tuxedo boy cat, already fixed. I will see how that works out.

Otherwise, it's been an interesting week. I had two doctor's appointments this week, and they were in the middle of the day, some 30-40 miles from my job. So you know what that means: I had to get to work extra early. One of those days, I just took off.

I don't know, I just don't like getting out of bed unless it is to pray or read. It would do me well to get to work by 7:00 am, as it will only take me about 8 minutes to get in, but my goodness... it is still nighttime around that time!

So I had an appointment with the breast surgeon and all is well. Glory! I will see them in June. I had my normal appointment with my lupus doc, and all is well there also. So I'm all good until next year. Glory again.   Those are some serious church fan and church shouting events.

I don't have much planned for the weekend. I plan on going out and checking on this cat. That's about it.

Quote of the Week. I heard this on the radio morning.

"You're as busy as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs!"

Now if THAT doesn't immediately bring up a very vivid visual in your mind, nothing else will. 

Song of the Week. You know I love Justice league production. Here is the instrumental for "Thug Cry" by Rick Ross and Lil' Wayne.




 I am NOT a Rick Ross fan. This dude seems to rap about women doing oral, and throwing bricks of cocaine in the back of his Maybach. Sigh. Oh my. I must go back and pull out my old school rap if I want some originality.

Interestingly (but not surprising), the melody and music was jacked from Souls of Mischief.



I am yearning for some original beats. I suppose I will just have to go back and listen to my Earth Wind and Fire CDs. Sigh.

That is it for moi!

You have a good weekend. On purpose!!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday: "Put on the Helmet of Salvation..."

Imagine going to church...

And sitting behind her....

It's enough to make you almost cuss...

But that would be wrong in the house of the Lord.

The best thing to do is to get up quietly, and go find another seat in the sanctuary.

That is all.

Amen.