The Official LadyLee Halloween Post

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to you!

*ladylee throws glitter and skeletons*


No I am not THAT happy about Halloween. But I am just assuming that YOU are.

I am not going to halloween parties or anything like that. I haven't gone trick-or-treating since my early teens. I may hand out candy.

But to celebrate, I have some official 2013 LadyLee Halloween paraphanelia, gear, and songs.

So let's check it out:

Official Halloween Picture

That was on the wall at my sister Kentucky's favorite mexican eatery.

The place is gothic. Last time we were there together, they played  Johnny Cash.

And you know me. I was wailing "They rockin' this Johnny Cash, but I sho' do wish they would put on some Earth Wind and Fire!"

My sister is a diva. I am not sure why she loves this place so much. But the food is good. And the workers are really nice.

And I think that picture is up all year long. Hmm.

Official Halloween Decorations




My coworker brings out the crazy halloween decorations and spreads them in the middle of the cubicle. There are skulls and tombstones along the window sill. The spider freaked me out the other day when I walked around the corner and saw it.

And that voodoo doll... O_o.

I always whisper to her cubicle mate Supersonic Sushi...

"I'm gonna place a bible verse or a passage of scripture here in your cubicle because your girl... your girl right here... she got some problems."

Sushi doesn't seem bothered about this. She just lowers her head and works harder.

Official Halloween Outfit and Gear

A member of management (we will call her Runner Cee) came skipping down the hall yesterday. She had on a very nice dress.

(oh my... is that blue fangernail polish??)

"Well," I said. "You're going to Happy Hour right after work, aren't you?"

She laughed. "No. This is my halloween dress."

I just looked at her. I thought she was going to pull out a witch's hat. Or smile and expose some vampire fangs.

But she didn't.

"I just wanted to wear something festive with halloween colors."

I turned to my own boss (We were standing in the door of my boss' office). "Runner Cee here is going to Happy Hour. Right after work."

LOL

She even donned the nice halloween wrist gear.

She even had nice shoes.

They were her special Halloween Shoes. *said in best Forrest Gump voice*

I noticed her watch.

This confused me. With such a fabulous Halloween outfit, she should've busted up with a Gucci watch or some expensive gold or silver watch.

No. She sported a garmin. Runner Cee is a real runner. She has to measure every step. She has to measure how fast she takes those steps.

And for that day, she wore it so she could RUN real fast...

...to Happy Hour right after work,

Ha Ha!

(Oh she is going to give me the hard side-eye after reading that).

All in fun, hon!

Thanks for posing for the pictures. :)

(Wonder what she will wear today.)

Official Halloween Song

This song is for cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre. I remember thinking "Hmm... this is a scary beat."

And I was intrigued by a special sound effect in the song. The cocking of a gun, followed by a gunshot.



Cowgirl Cre use to love this old rap song with repeated cocking guns and shots. It disturbed me something awful, but she liked it. So now, every time I hear that sound effected as a repeated part of a song, I think of her. (I know, it is odd, but it is what it is).

Anyway, that is the instrumental. The rap is too vulgar to post on my pristine blog. I don't want to hear the "bitch" and "hoe" a million times.

Only the gunshots. Thank you very much.

And Niki Minaj looks mad scary on that cover. This could be the opening tune to some odd hip hop scary movie indeed.

So that's my official Halloween blog post for today.

Be safe tonight.

Don't eat too much candy!!!

And have a good day... on purpose.

Virtural Jewelry Box

What is up... yep, I've been missing in action, but have no fear!

Here I am...

... with a peak into our virtual jewelry box.
I know Serenity_23 is never pleased with my jewelry of choice- colorful rubber bands for my wrists.

So imagine my surprise when during a visit to Grandma's a couple of months ago, my auntie gave me some lovely gear for my wrist.

My Auntie Joyce is so talented. She is an artist and photographer, and now she makes jewelry.

This jewelry is even good when I'm active... like when I am rough-housing Oscar-Tyrone.

LOL

She made my sister Kentucky a bracelet also.

Kentucky is a diva and likes bright colors.

"Auntie asked me what you like, Lisa," my sister had said when I asked why we had different bracelets. "I told her you like dark colors."

Yes I do. My sister knows me well.

Back in September, Singlema said she saw something perfect for me. She sent me this:




A charm necklace with charms of my initial, my amethyst birthstone and charms symbolizing my favorite hobby... chrochet!

Last week, we celebrated Cowgirl Cre's birthday. A couple of coworkers gave her some really nice earrings.

Cowgirl Cre loves earrings. These are just perfect for her.

So that's a peak into our jewelry box.

No high powered bling. None at all.

Our bling are nice homemade and sentimental jewelry....

We would have it no other way.

Friday Freestyles

TGIF!!

It is Friday!

And it's Pay Day!

Glory!!!!

We got all our back pay from the Furlough Hostage Crisis. It makes no sense how they messed some people up like that. That is YOUR dysfunctional Congress for ya!

This week... man. I give myself a grade of "C-".  When I'm off for awhile, it takes me a couple of weeks just to get my head out the fog.  I even took yesterday off.  I sent my boss a text that said:

"I am having snot and phlegm isshas. I won't be in."

She thought that was too much information. Yes it was, but it was the truth.

So I lost a day of work. And I am not up for scientific discussions either. Maybe in Novemeber.

The proverbial "Dr. LadyLee" skull cap does not fit well. At all.

My specialist Dr. Wong runs up on me with a thousand questions.  He wants to discuss science and intsrumentation.

Earlier in the week, he was met by my blank stare. And wailings of "Dude, man... dude, man... get on way from me, man!" and "I just got back, man! Leave me alone!"

I am better now. The "Dr. LadyLee" cap is starting to fit a little more snuggly.

Anyway, it is COLD in the ATL. My goodness. I did not want to turn the furnace on, but even Oscar-Tyrone was around here looking a little cold, so I turned it on.

This was a birthday week at work. Two coworkers had birthday.

A big party was planned for one of them. But some folks, including myself, thought it was an exclusive affair. You're not invited, but you want to give something. And I don't put money in a card anymore. Too many rumors of folks counting money to see who gave what, and that's some ol' bulls*** if you ask me.

So me and Cowgirl Cre skipped merrily up a couple of blocks up to the drug store and bought our coworker a birthday card.

"We bought a card," Cowgirl Cre told someone. "And LadyLee gonna trick it out!"

Yes, I like to "trick out" a card. LOL.

I have few stickers for dudes.  I have a TON of flower and butterfly stickers.  Lots of girly stickers. I guess I need to find some dude stickers.

Luckily, an invite went out over email for the masses to come to the party. I heard it was a great success. Someone even brought me some grapes and strawberries. I was pleased and thankful, honey.

And it was Cowgirl Cre's birthday too!

I made her a quick card.

Not as nice as I like it to be, because I rarely give her anything for her birthday. Our friendship is the gift that keeps on giving, you see. But this year I wanted to be different.

So I made her a card. And since she turned 42, I bought her a gift card to her favorite lunch spot near the job.

She loves F20. It is fast food, but a bit upscale. She has turned me on to it. They have the BEST salads. WOW!

Cowgirl Cre didn't go to work on her birthday. I didn't know what she had planned, but I received a picture in a text yesterday afternoon.

Yes! Cowgirl Cre was out riding her horse Felix for her birthday. Even Felix knows it's her birthday. He's posing for the camera!

LOL

Happy birthday Cowgirl Cre. We have been friends since our 20s. And we have been cubicle mates for 12 years. That's a loooong time. You are one of the few people who can put up with my cantakerous ways. Thank goodness for that!

Song of the Week.  Alien Girl (Today With Her) by Kendrick Lamar.



I like that song for some reason.

Alright. That is all the freestyles for this Friday.  I am up and ready for work. And I am ready to go!

You have a good weekend.

Not by default, but by design,.

And on purpose!

Vacationing in France

No, I'm not vacationing in France.

I am vacationing at home right now with a cold coming on, though.

But someone is sharing pictures of their French vacation with me. Just so I can feel like I am there.

My favorite writer, Tayari Jones, is skipping around France these days. She is having one fine vacation.

And she was the one to tell me the furlough was over.

"Furlough's over. You can go back to work now!"

I fussed about this. How the world did she know it was over, all the way over in France???

And I hadn't been watching the news. I suppose she had been watching or reading something. And they are 6 hours ahead of ATL over there.

Good looking out, girl!

She's been sending some lovely pictures my way, since I live vicariously through her travels. She is allowing to post the pictures.

And you know how I do... I'ma talk about these pics.

Here are her lovely accomodations.

Hmm. That is definitely NOT the United States. Oh how I am accustomed to the sleekness of the USA hotels. I would not be surprised if Heidi and Grandpa come walking up the hill behind Tayari.

(You have to be over 40 to get that).

And here is water from a fresh mountain spring.

Well. That does look refreshing.  But coming out of the rocks like that... I don't know, I'm just not there yet. Of course, nature's rocks are the best purifiers, but I need that stream of water collected and put through some reverse osmosis or special distillation process.

Really.

She seemed to be okay.

Drink on, girl. Drink on.

She said she climbed this edifice.

What is that, some castle ruins? What is that? That is definitely unlike anything I have seen before. It looks like King Arthur and his knights will be rushing around the corner on their horses of that place at any moment.

Run, girl! RUN!

And what did she mean by climbing it?  I asked her not to do dangerous stuff. No one can get to her to help her all the way over there.

Here is Tayari, basking in the sunlight, the tree covered mountains a backdrop in the distance.

I texted angrily about her sittting on that ledge. She needs to bring it in 10 feet. She needs to stop being dangerous.

And lo, Tayari found a big stick. She snatched it from the ground and she lifted it high in the air.

Again, I chastised her for standing to close to cliff edges. I need her to bring it in about 10 feet.

And I taunted her with texts of "I AM QUEEN TAYARI!!! RAAAAAH! RAAAAAAAAH!

Of course she wasn't thinking the same as I.

She was singing.  She texted back a familiar line...

 "Ain't no mountain high enough!"

You remember that old Diana Ross song from the seventies...



Had me singing (and texting)...

"Aaaaaaaaah Aaaaaaah!!! Oooooooh... Oooooooooh!"

Okay, you have to be over 40 to FULLY appreciate that song. And she and I are over 40.

And we like that song.

One last picture... and this is the best picture:

Wooooowww!  That right there is for all ya'll wine drinkers!

Look at the pretty blue water. Look at the rocky beach. That is awesome.

That's a post card or a book cover right there. Beautiful!

May I, LadyLee, go to the French Riviera? May I?

That's a good picture right there! WOW!!!

That one is live from the French Riviera!

Get down, Tayari! Get it, girl!!

So thanks for the pics, T!

She is always out traveling. Some of the places she tells me about, I don't even know where they are on the map. But she sounds so excited. She makes me want to go.

So safe travels, Oldgirl. Get on back to the good ol' U.S. of A.

Come home to SWATS (Southwest Atlanta). We some SWATS girls, babes. You can take the girl out of SWATS, but you can't take SWATS out the girl.

Bring your tail home!

Can't wait to see you!

Bliss' Final Blanket!

Woo weeeee!

*ladylee wipes sweat from forehead*

I have finally finished the fourth and final baby blanket for blogger Bliss!

GLORY!!

Not sure why I made "4" blankets. Hmm. I guess that will reveal itself later on.

I began that first one before she even was pregnant. When someone begins thinking about having a baby, and voice is given to those thoughts, well... I just go head on and get my crochet needle and baby yarn out and just start on it in faith.

Anyway fast forward a good year later...

Mrs. Bliss is having twins. She is big and swole with chirren right now. She doesn't know the sex of them, so I had to go neutral. I will probably post all four in one post soon. I just have to wash them and do some final trimming.

I asked one of our custodians yesterday "Hey, can you get me 4 of those clear little plastic garbage bags and one large plastic bag? I need to pack up some baby blankets for shipping."

So that means I am super duper close to mailing them. My goal is November 1st or round about. She is not due until December 17th, but you never know. I want them there and in her hands a bit earlier.

Anyway, I have taken pictures as I have progressed.

I like how they start... Simple yarn.

And here is the first square round.

I chose to not do a solid yellow blanket. I added white to break up the color some.

Another round of yellow added...

Another round of yellow added.

Yet another round of yellow added!

I think it takes around to 15-20 minutes to get to that point.

More rounds!

And even more rounds

I placed a quarter next to it to show how big it is. I probably build up to that in one sitting., Maybe an hour or two. Enough to sit down and watch a good movie or thereabouts.

I worked on this during the furlough, so a week later, it had really come along.

There are twelve yellow stripes separtating the center white stripes. That number represents her due date of the 12 month, December.

Here's another photo.

I couldn't do a frilly ruffle border, because that is for a girl. So I did a straight border.

I like the border, although I was tempted to do a ruffle border. I was gonna send her $10 just in case she had 2 boys and had to send it back.  It wouldn't take but a hour to fix it. But it's all good.

And here's the final blanket.

Glory!

That only took about 2 weeks. I was smoking on that! The fastest I've made a blanket is one and a half weeks because a friend needed a white blanket for her sons christening. It usually takes me about a month to make a baby blanket, especially when I am working. But since I was on furlough, I had more time on my hands. And if I'm at someone's house just hanging out, I always have my little crochet project with me.

Oh it was such a joy making these blankets. I LOVE LOVE LOVE handmade gifts. Loved-ed them.

Stay tuned for more :)