a blue moon.
y'all know what a "blue moon" is? it's the second full moon in a calendar month. and it happens every... blue moon. '-)
baby bliss and i read about it on the internet (where else? LOL) earlier in the week. tonight we made sure we were outside to see it.
we went out shortly after dusk and there she hung in the purple-blue evening sky, a bright disk swathed in orange sherbert. (orange sherbert is one of my favorite desserts, by the way.)
she was stunning. beautiful. breath-taking. exuberant. ethereal.
for more info on the meaning of "blue moon" and the frequency of blue moons, check it: http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070525_ns_blue_moon.html
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Thursday, May 31, 2007
68: on second thought...
i know what i'd like to be doing on my birthday: getting a pedicure.
i haven't had one in a while.
it's not that my feet are looking scruffy -- cuz i've been keeping them nice myself -- but there's nothing like a professional pedicure to get me all relaxed and happy. (oops! now that's a lie. there are definitely some other thangs that get me relaxed and happy. we're all adults here so i don't have to tell y'all what one of them is. lol)
i haven't worn blue on my toes in ages. it's one of my favorite colors and i happen to like looking down and seeing it smiling up at me 10 times. my other favorite color does nada for my feet. too bad...
so heads up y'all. i want a pedicure for my over-the-hill day.
a gift certificate to the nearest salon will do just fine. or call and make the appointment for me, pay for it, and have them call me to confirm. that would be nicest of all. :-)
hint: i can get there by 4 p.m. any day except wednesday.
.
i haven't had one in a while.
it's not that my feet are looking scruffy -- cuz i've been keeping them nice myself -- but there's nothing like a professional pedicure to get me all relaxed and happy. (oops! now that's a lie. there are definitely some other thangs that get me relaxed and happy. we're all adults here so i don't have to tell y'all what one of them is. lol)
i haven't worn blue on my toes in ages. it's one of my favorite colors and i happen to like looking down and seeing it smiling up at me 10 times. my other favorite color does nada for my feet. too bad...
so heads up y'all. i want a pedicure for my over-the-hill day.
a gift certificate to the nearest salon will do just fine. or call and make the appointment for me, pay for it, and have them call me to confirm. that would be nicest of all. :-)
hint: i can get there by 4 p.m. any day except wednesday.
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67: happy birthday to me
it's not today, but soon.
and it's that magical, over-the-hill birthday too.
i don't know why people get all freaked about that number cuz it's just one of many.
i'm not sure if i'll do anything special that day, or if i even want to.
i DO know what i'll be doing later today. i'll be eating more fiber than i had the day before. y'all know why. '-)
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and it's that magical, over-the-hill birthday too.
i don't know why people get all freaked about that number cuz it's just one of many.
i'm not sure if i'll do anything special that day, or if i even want to.
i DO know what i'll be doing later today. i'll be eating more fiber than i had the day before. y'all know why. '-)
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Wednesday, May 30, 2007
66: nosey neighbors
yep, i'm one. and i love others who are too.
nosey neighbors keep the hood safe for us all.
that means if you're doing something sneaky, more likely than not, i'mma see or hear ya.
so if you're gettin' out on your baby momma/girlfriend/wife when she's at work and i see your lil honey coming out yo door, grinnin' and puttin' her earrings back on as y'all say bye, yeah, i saw y'all. LOL
in fact, you know i saw y'all cuz when i heard y'all saying bye, i was in the hall with my back turned and thought somebody was talking to me. so i turned around. and poof! y'all were busted.
but don't worry homie. you don't know this but i ain't no snitch. your girl will find out eventually enough.
if ya dumb enough to be gettin some strange in the house while ya lady ain't home, then you're probably dumb enough to leave some clues around. and believe this: if your lil honey on the side wants to be number one, she'll leave a clue or two that only a woman will notice.
so slow your roll homeboy. or do it at her place next time.
or maybe you and your lady are into sharing or have an open relationship. if that's the deal then carry on my bruthuh.
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nosey neighbors keep the hood safe for us all.
that means if you're doing something sneaky, more likely than not, i'mma see or hear ya.
so if you're gettin' out on your baby momma/girlfriend/wife when she's at work and i see your lil honey coming out yo door, grinnin' and puttin' her earrings back on as y'all say bye, yeah, i saw y'all. LOL
in fact, you know i saw y'all cuz when i heard y'all saying bye, i was in the hall with my back turned and thought somebody was talking to me. so i turned around. and poof! y'all were busted.
but don't worry homie. you don't know this but i ain't no snitch. your girl will find out eventually enough.
if ya dumb enough to be gettin some strange in the house while ya lady ain't home, then you're probably dumb enough to leave some clues around. and believe this: if your lil honey on the side wants to be number one, she'll leave a clue or two that only a woman will notice.
so slow your roll homeboy. or do it at her place next time.
or maybe you and your lady are into sharing or have an open relationship. if that's the deal then carry on my bruthuh.
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Monday, May 28, 2007
65: summer time
it's official y'all. we are enjoying our summer.
my child completed her end-of-grade testing -- as well as her required number of school days -- last week.
now we can get busy at the pool (her swimming, me writing), at the park, continue at the library, etc.
what a lovely life we have.
thank you God/Goddess/Universe!
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my child completed her end-of-grade testing -- as well as her required number of school days -- last week.
now we can get busy at the pool (her swimming, me writing), at the park, continue at the library, etc.
what a lovely life we have.
thank you God/Goddess/Universe!
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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
64: a dog named Cedric
yesterday my daughter and i met a beautiful dog named Cedric. oops! i mean a handsome dog named Cedric. (he doesn't like the word "beautiful" applied to him.)
he was the most well-behaved dog i've ever met. almost made me wanna get a dog.
i fell in love with him and he fell in love with my daughter. now ain't that a caution?
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he was the most well-behaved dog i've ever met. almost made me wanna get a dog.
i fell in love with him and he fell in love with my daughter. now ain't that a caution?
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Monday, May 21, 2007
63: bliss, welcome to the neighborhood
originally posted friday, may 18, 2007; 1:04 a.m.
hey y'all.
i'm bliss and i'm new here. i relocated from another neighborhood because they've gone mad. they're shutting it all down and relocating to something that's a lot like that space place.
ummm... okay...
if i wanted my blog on the space place with all its gadgets, it wouldn't be a problem. but i just want to blog.
so i'm changing 'hoods. this one seems cool. i'll begin moving my stuff in shortly. i planned to do a slow-and-easy but i think i'd better make it quick and dirty. i don't have a clue when my other digs will be wiped off the cyberspace map.
gotta run y'all.
stay tuned for the oldies but goodies. :-)
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hey y'all.
i'm bliss and i'm new here. i relocated from another neighborhood because they've gone mad. they're shutting it all down and relocating to something that's a lot like that space place.
ummm... okay...
if i wanted my blog on the space place with all its gadgets, it wouldn't be a problem. but i just want to blog.
so i'm changing 'hoods. this one seems cool. i'll begin moving my stuff in shortly. i planned to do a slow-and-easy but i think i'd better make it quick and dirty. i don't have a clue when my other digs will be wiped off the cyberspace map.
gotta run y'all.
stay tuned for the oldies but goodies. :-)
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62: love...
i watched The Crying Game twice today.
i'd seen it before but something i saw or heard recently prompted me to see it again. i'm glad i did. there were some things i caught this time that i don't remember seeing previously.
like how well stephen rea played his role. and how enticing he was in the movie. mmm...
i guess the whole plot was a little shocking to mainstream folks when it debuted. i was one among them, back then. the most important info i got from the movie was the "secret" about the mysterious Dil. LOL
now i know more. it was a love story.
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i'd seen it before but something i saw or heard recently prompted me to see it again. i'm glad i did. there were some things i caught this time that i don't remember seeing previously.
like how well stephen rea played his role. and how enticing he was in the movie. mmm...
i guess the whole plot was a little shocking to mainstream folks when it debuted. i was one among them, back then. the most important info i got from the movie was the "secret" about the mysterious Dil. LOL
now i know more. it was a love story.
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61: abundance
originally posted Thu., May 17, 2007; 3:40 p.m. EDT
i am thankful for the abundance that exists in my life.
may the flow continue unabated.
amen.
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i am thankful for the abundance that exists in my life.
may the flow continue unabated.
amen.
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60: my additional grandma
originally posted Thu., May 17, 2007; 2:35 p.m. EDT
some people don't get a grandma in this life; some get one; some might get two.
i feel blessed to have had two blood grandmas, my momma's momma, and my daddy's.
my daddy's momma died several years ago. i miss her more than i can say. i shared many secrets with her. she was my kinda gal. i've been lucky like that in my life, to always find an older woman who has understood me, and accepted me for who i am.
i once had a mother-in-law who was that kinda woman. she died a few years ago and i miss her too.
but the Universe is abundant and i live in the flow.
two months ago, i was at the home of a new acquaintance (whose acquaintance i had to disconnect from). she got a seemingly accidental call from a woman from my hometown. because the acquaintance knew i was from ______, she handed me the phone.
grandma was the caller and she was looking for her granddaughter. her granddaughter lives here but she's from _______ as well. grandma and i got to talking and it turned out that her granddaughter used to work with one of my relatives in this town.
i told grandma i would call my relative to see if we could find her granddaughter, and i'd get back to her. what i didn't understand at the time was that the granddaughter wasn't lost. grandma had only mis-dialed her granddaughter's number, thus dialing my acquaintance.
well, i am a believer in all things stemming from Divine purpose. and although i may never know the higher purpose for grandma dialing the wrong number that day, it doesn't matter to me. it only matters that she did and i was in the right place at the right time, to get the call. :-)
what i do know is this: grandma sounded so much like my own paternal grandmother that day, both her voice and the things she said, that i knew God facilitated our meeting.
that call prompted my relative to re-connect with grandma's granddaughter and it also led to me keeping in touch with grandma as well. she is now a member of our family and i can't wait to meet her in person. i talked to her tuesday and she said she and her daughter are scheduled to come this way in a few weeks.
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some people don't get a grandma in this life; some get one; some might get two.
i feel blessed to have had two blood grandmas, my momma's momma, and my daddy's.
my daddy's momma died several years ago. i miss her more than i can say. i shared many secrets with her. she was my kinda gal. i've been lucky like that in my life, to always find an older woman who has understood me, and accepted me for who i am.
i once had a mother-in-law who was that kinda woman. she died a few years ago and i miss her too.
but the Universe is abundant and i live in the flow.
two months ago, i was at the home of a new acquaintance (whose acquaintance i had to disconnect from). she got a seemingly accidental call from a woman from my hometown. because the acquaintance knew i was from ______, she handed me the phone.
grandma was the caller and she was looking for her granddaughter. her granddaughter lives here but she's from _______ as well. grandma and i got to talking and it turned out that her granddaughter used to work with one of my relatives in this town.
i told grandma i would call my relative to see if we could find her granddaughter, and i'd get back to her. what i didn't understand at the time was that the granddaughter wasn't lost. grandma had only mis-dialed her granddaughter's number, thus dialing my acquaintance.
well, i am a believer in all things stemming from Divine purpose. and although i may never know the higher purpose for grandma dialing the wrong number that day, it doesn't matter to me. it only matters that she did and i was in the right place at the right time, to get the call. :-)
what i do know is this: grandma sounded so much like my own paternal grandmother that day, both her voice and the things she said, that i knew God facilitated our meeting.
that call prompted my relative to re-connect with grandma's granddaughter and it also led to me keeping in touch with grandma as well. she is now a member of our family and i can't wait to meet her in person. i talked to her tuesday and she said she and her daughter are scheduled to come this way in a few weeks.
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59: mother's day weekend
originally posted Sun., May 13, 2007; 12:22 a.m. EDT
happy birthday to my lovely youngest.
you are mommy's joy, always. :-)
my mother is here too, visiting. LOL
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happy birthday to my lovely youngest.
you are mommy's joy, always. :-)
my mother is here too, visiting. LOL
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58: good morning
originally posted Tue., May 01, 2007; 6:39 a.m. EDT
hey y'all.
it's a beautiful morning in my town. the sky is all muted pastels and lovely to look at. i know it's warm out already because it's not at all cold in here. the birds are chirping lovely serenades and my own chickadee is still asleep.
what more can a mama ask for?
i've been up for a while now.
when i opened the blinds a few minutes ago, i noticed that our neighbor(s) -- on the lower level in the building across the lawn -- is/are up too. he/she/they have their blinds open too, and their lights on. i saw what appeared to be a man standing at the stove.
i can't believe i can see so far back into that apartment. i'm guessing that means my neighbors on the upper floor in that building can see into our window as well, when conditions are just so.
i have lots to do today so i started early. around 4:30 a.m., i organized the remainder of my writings. i have so much work-related stuff that it now takes up part of the built-in bookcase as well as my file cabinets.
*shrug*
whaddya do?
any way, today i am thankful for many aspects of my life: the people who help me overcome the obstacles (y'all know who you are) and the people who are the obstacles (cuz even tho your intent is to monkey-wrench me, it's only moving me further along my path). i am thankful for the singing birds, this apartment with its soothing view, an in-house washer and dryer, my curly/nappy hair, and my big ole butt.
i am also thankful for continuing to live a life i enjoy immensely.
amen.
hey y'all.
it's a beautiful morning in my town. the sky is all muted pastels and lovely to look at. i know it's warm out already because it's not at all cold in here. the birds are chirping lovely serenades and my own chickadee is still asleep.
what more can a mama ask for?
i've been up for a while now.
when i opened the blinds a few minutes ago, i noticed that our neighbor(s) -- on the lower level in the building across the lawn -- is/are up too. he/she/they have their blinds open too, and their lights on. i saw what appeared to be a man standing at the stove.
i can't believe i can see so far back into that apartment. i'm guessing that means my neighbors on the upper floor in that building can see into our window as well, when conditions are just so.
i have lots to do today so i started early. around 4:30 a.m., i organized the remainder of my writings. i have so much work-related stuff that it now takes up part of the built-in bookcase as well as my file cabinets.
*shrug*
whaddya do?
any way, today i am thankful for many aspects of my life: the people who help me overcome the obstacles (y'all know who you are) and the people who are the obstacles (cuz even tho your intent is to monkey-wrench me, it's only moving me further along my path). i am thankful for the singing birds, this apartment with its soothing view, an in-house washer and dryer, my curly/nappy hair, and my big ole butt.
i am also thankful for continuing to live a life i enjoy immensely.
amen.
57: my beautiful life
originally posted Thu., Mar 29, 2007; 10:11 p.m. EDT
once again, i'm giving thanks.
i'm still living the life i love.
there have been "forces" out there that have tried to steal my joy and dull my shine. but my Creator made me as i am for a reason and i ain't hiding my light under a bushel for a soul.
some people just don't have enough love in their own lives so they try to steal it from others.
all they had to do was ask...
i ain't hating though. we're all here to learn. some of us learn by example and some just don't get it unless it's the hard way.
i am thankful for all i have been, all i am, and all i will be.
amen.
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once again, i'm giving thanks.
i'm still living the life i love.
there have been "forces" out there that have tried to steal my joy and dull my shine. but my Creator made me as i am for a reason and i ain't hiding my light under a bushel for a soul.
some people just don't have enough love in their own lives so they try to steal it from others.
all they had to do was ask...
i ain't hating though. we're all here to learn. some of us learn by example and some just don't get it unless it's the hard way.
i am thankful for all i have been, all i am, and all i will be.
amen.
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56: a writer's life
originally posted Mon., Jan. 29, 2007; 1:38 a.m. EST
good news y'all.
i got an e-mail last week regarding a short story i submitted to a major publisher. my story was accepted for inclusion in an upcoming anthology that will be edited by a well-known writer in the genre.
thank you Universe!
i worked on that story for a brain-draining number of hours. i edited it at least 11 times, once after i submitted it. i almost missed the deadline because i wanted to turn in my best work. (which i'm still not completely sure that it is, but i think it's a heck of a writing job, if i must ring my own bell.)
i'm not sure when it will go into print but i assume it's this year as the editor needed certain documents pronto. i'll give y'all more details as i get them.
hard work really does pay off y'all so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. and sometimes it pays (literally) to be patient. i subbed that story 11 months ago.
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i got an e-mail last week regarding a short story i submitted to a major publisher. my story was accepted for inclusion in an upcoming anthology that will be edited by a well-known writer in the genre.
thank you Universe!
i worked on that story for a brain-draining number of hours. i edited it at least 11 times, once after i submitted it. i almost missed the deadline because i wanted to turn in my best work. (which i'm still not completely sure that it is, but i think it's a heck of a writing job, if i must ring my own bell.)
i'm not sure when it will go into print but i assume it's this year as the editor needed certain documents pronto. i'll give y'all more details as i get them.
hard work really does pay off y'all so don't let anyone tell you otherwise. and sometimes it pays (literally) to be patient. i subbed that story 11 months ago.
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55: 2007
originally posted Wed., Jan. 03, 2007; 1:31 a.m. EST
happy new year y'all.
so what did y'all do? did anyone get pissy and feel up their sweetie's best friend in the hall between the kitchen and the bathroom? did anyone trip up the stairs on the way to bed and bust their chin on the top step? did anyone ring in the new year while banging the headboard?
no?
well damn. what did y'all do? 👀
my own celebration was fun but mild. i hung out with family and we toasted in '07 (or they did; i was too full from gorging on all the good grub) along with several nations around the globe.
it was rainy and foggy here. not too cold but could have been a lot warmer. next new year's eve, i wanna be on a warm beach in a bikini, drinking a shirley temple and eating shrimp and pasta salad.
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so what did y'all do? did anyone get pissy and feel up their sweetie's best friend in the hall between the kitchen and the bathroom? did anyone trip up the stairs on the way to bed and bust their chin on the top step? did anyone ring in the new year while banging the headboard?
no?
well damn. what did y'all do? 👀
my own celebration was fun but mild. i hung out with family and we toasted in '07 (or they did; i was too full from gorging on all the good grub) along with several nations around the globe.
it was rainy and foggy here. not too cold but could have been a lot warmer. next new year's eve, i wanna be on a warm beach in a bikini, drinking a shirley temple and eating shrimp and pasta salad.
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54: let her sleep
originally posted Sun., Dec. 17, 2006; 1:03 a.m. EST
my kid and i went out to dinner with some other family members earlier. she nodded off in the backseat and my grandma asked what time the kid had gone to bed the night before.
we were all ready to go into the restaurant but my daughter was still sleeping in the back. (pretending really)
so my grandmother said: leave her and let her rest.
now y'all know that's against the law!
but in my grandma's day you could leave your chil'ren sleep in the back seat and most likely they lil stinky butts would be right there when ya came back.
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my kid and i went out to dinner with some other family members earlier. she nodded off in the backseat and my grandma asked what time the kid had gone to bed the night before.
we were all ready to go into the restaurant but my daughter was still sleeping in the back. (pretending really)
so my grandmother said: leave her and let her rest.
now y'all know that's against the law!
but in my grandma's day you could leave your chil'ren sleep in the back seat and most likely they lil stinky butts would be right there when ya came back.
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53: lookie, lookie
originally posted Wed., Dec. 06, 2006; 7:38 a.m. EST
it's that time again y'all. the "holiday season".
this time last year, i was all a-rant, disgusted at the buying. this year i've had a change of heart or at least a revision of opinion.
there's nothing wrong with giving. i just don't think christmas should be the only time we think about doing for others.
however, i was recently made aware of a project that gets into full swing at christmas. i think it's interesting that it's sponsored by a church. but that's only because i don't like the way obsessive spending this time of year is tied to religious piety by some religious folk who (i feel) should really know better.
that said, this particular project does give all year long. we are participating because i think it's a cool thing to do and my daughter wants to as well.
it's called operation christmas child and it's sponsored by an organization called shepard's purse. go check it out. here's the link: Samaritan's Purse
for those of you who like to give without spending a dime, here's another link. you can do this one right at your desk and it's fun: Make a Snowflake
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it's that time again y'all. the "holiday season".
this time last year, i was all a-rant, disgusted at the buying. this year i've had a change of heart or at least a revision of opinion.
there's nothing wrong with giving. i just don't think christmas should be the only time we think about doing for others.
however, i was recently made aware of a project that gets into full swing at christmas. i think it's interesting that it's sponsored by a church. but that's only because i don't like the way obsessive spending this time of year is tied to religious piety by some religious folk who (i feel) should really know better.
that said, this particular project does give all year long. we are participating because i think it's a cool thing to do and my daughter wants to as well.
it's called operation christmas child and it's sponsored by an organization called shepard's purse. go check it out. here's the link: Samaritan's Purse
for those of you who like to give without spending a dime, here's another link. you can do this one right at your desk and it's fun: Make a Snowflake
.
52: a chair and a half
originally posted Sun., Dec. 03, 2006; 10:43 p.m. EST
i need one y'all. does anyone know of any furniture warehouse places in the piedmont area that sell them? i don't want a couch because i think it would take up too much space in my living room. but i'd get one of those too if i had to.
i also need an interior designer to come by and organize my space. preferably one who's cheap or free.
thanks y'all.
i need one y'all. does anyone know of any furniture warehouse places in the piedmont area that sell them? i don't want a couch because i think it would take up too much space in my living room. but i'd get one of those too if i had to.
i also need an interior designer to come by and organize my space. preferably one who's cheap or free.
thanks y'all.
51: eavesdropping
originally posted Fri., Nov. 10, 2006; 2:12 p.m. EST
my tween is having a (long-distance) conversation with her best friend.
she's giving dating advice right now which is hilarious to me, considering she's never been on a date in her life.
other topics: the mall, favorite jeans, lunch menus, and other assorted tidbits. but the boyfriend/dating situation is hot.
.
my tween is having a (long-distance) conversation with her best friend.
she's giving dating advice right now which is hilarious to me, considering she's never been on a date in her life.
other topics: the mall, favorite jeans, lunch menus, and other assorted tidbits. but the boyfriend/dating situation is hot.
.
50: more on writing
originally posted Thu., Nov. 02, 2006; 7:03 p.m. EST
in my years of rambling along the information highway, i've come across tons of interesting and useful tidbits. but most recently, i've come across something so facsinating, it has inspired me to get back to work on my first novel.
i plan to incorporate this new found knowledge into my book, a task that will require a lot more research, a re-write of my synopsis, and a new outline, but i'm up for the task.
i'm really excited about this and i'm thankful to have received such enlightenment.
amen.
.
in my years of rambling along the information highway, i've come across tons of interesting and useful tidbits. but most recently, i've come across something so facsinating, it has inspired me to get back to work on my first novel.
i plan to incorporate this new found knowledge into my book, a task that will require a lot more research, a re-write of my synopsis, and a new outline, but i'm up for the task.
i'm really excited about this and i'm thankful to have received such enlightenment.
amen.
.
49: the Stepford Wives
originally posted Thu., Nov. 02, 2006; 4:53 p.m. EST
my daughter and i are watching it for the second time. the old version, with katherine ross, not the newer nicole kidman version.
my daughter has fallen in love with this movie. like most things we do together, watching the movie has sparked interesting conversation.
i saw the original version probably 25 years ago so i'd forgotten most of it, especially how it started out light and optimistic and descended into diabolic, testosterone-driven darkness as the movie spiraled to its inevitable ending. not at all comical like the new version.
it's eerie. frightening. blasphemous. a sign of the times.
of everything we voiced about this movie, one of my daughter's questions chilled me. she asked if i thought "daddy" (my husband) would have done that to me.
with no hesitation my answer was yes, if he thought he could get away with it.
not that i've ever thought of my husband as a murderer, but i have no doubts that he -- and most men -- would cross the abyss if presented with what seemed the perfect solution to controlling the wife.
.
my daughter has fallen in love with this movie. like most things we do together, watching the movie has sparked interesting conversation.
i saw the original version probably 25 years ago so i'd forgotten most of it, especially how it started out light and optimistic and descended into diabolic, testosterone-driven darkness as the movie spiraled to its inevitable ending. not at all comical like the new version.
it's eerie. frightening. blasphemous. a sign of the times.
of everything we voiced about this movie, one of my daughter's questions chilled me. she asked if i thought "daddy" (my husband) would have done that to me.
with no hesitation my answer was yes, if he thought he could get away with it.
not that i've ever thought of my husband as a murderer, but i have no doubts that he -- and most men -- would cross the abyss if presented with what seemed the perfect solution to controlling the wife.
.
48: sick and tired
originally posted Wed., Nov. 01, 2006; 1:26 a.m. EST
i should be sleeping right now cuz i'm sick and tired.
but i'm up, surfing the web. sposed to be writing my to-do list for later today's activities but i haven't gotten to that yet.
it's cuz i'm sick and tired.
saturday morning i woke up with a sore throat. it felt like someone had slit it, on the inside. i felt better as the day progressed. but as evening crept in, my throat was hurting again.
my symptoms (of what, i don't know) have gotten alternately worse then better then bad again as the days have passed. i've been drinking teas (alternating peppermint, raspberry, rosehips and hibiscus, and cold care p.m.), hot water and lemon, garlic broth with honey, and emergen-c. i do feel a lot better than i did saturday morning.
what's bad is that when i get in bed, i'm waking up every hour or so coughing and choking.
when i wake up in the morning i feel like warmed over garbage. so i drink my drinks and eat more fruit. i've been coughing up a ton of phlegm (which is good because it means i'm not recycling the gunk by swallowing it, coughing it up again, and swallowing again, etc.) but i'm hoarse and my throat and chest hurt.
did i mention the headache i've had for the past two days? it's almost gone but tiny tremors of pain are still lingering around the edges like apparitions, dodging the herbal bullets i've been shooting. it was a bad one but i'm very thankful it wasn't a migraine.
i know the culprits: a less-than nutritious diet and sleep deprivation, among other things.
my bad.
i should be sleeping right now cuz i'm sick and tired.
but i'm up, surfing the web. sposed to be writing my to-do list for later today's activities but i haven't gotten to that yet.
it's cuz i'm sick and tired.
saturday morning i woke up with a sore throat. it felt like someone had slit it, on the inside. i felt better as the day progressed. but as evening crept in, my throat was hurting again.
my symptoms (of what, i don't know) have gotten alternately worse then better then bad again as the days have passed. i've been drinking teas (alternating peppermint, raspberry, rosehips and hibiscus, and cold care p.m.), hot water and lemon, garlic broth with honey, and emergen-c. i do feel a lot better than i did saturday morning.
what's bad is that when i get in bed, i'm waking up every hour or so coughing and choking.
when i wake up in the morning i feel like warmed over garbage. so i drink my drinks and eat more fruit. i've been coughing up a ton of phlegm (which is good because it means i'm not recycling the gunk by swallowing it, coughing it up again, and swallowing again, etc.) but i'm hoarse and my throat and chest hurt.
did i mention the headache i've had for the past two days? it's almost gone but tiny tremors of pain are still lingering around the edges like apparitions, dodging the herbal bullets i've been shooting. it was a bad one but i'm very thankful it wasn't a migraine.
i know the culprits: a less-than nutritious diet and sleep deprivation, among other things.
my bad.
47: Bocelli
originally posted Sun., Oct. 29, 2006; 11:39 p.m. EST
finally!
i found the name of the song i was looking for a while back. i thought it was from an opera, remember?
it's "con te partiro" by bocelli. silly me, i already had a disco-sounding, english version on one of my playlists. i don't know who's singing it because it was on a CD of hits and it just says "countdown singers".
now i've gotta get the italian version.
thanks God. :-)
.
finally!
i found the name of the song i was looking for a while back. i thought it was from an opera, remember?
it's "con te partiro" by bocelli. silly me, i already had a disco-sounding, english version on one of my playlists. i don't know who's singing it because it was on a CD of hits and it just says "countdown singers".
now i've gotta get the italian version.
thanks God. :-)
.
46: hair
originally posted Sun., Oct. 29, 2006; 11:05 p.m. EST
i'm about to talk about something that is one of the most time-consuming obsessions in the black community.
i'm talkin bout hair y'all.
some of y'all know the whys and wherefores of this here topic, right? uh huh.
but guess what? i ain't gon get into it like y'all might be thinking. i just want to make a statement bout it. here it is:
there are certain members of my family who are so afraid of nappy hair that it's almost a phobia. one in particular has a severe fear of the naps. but she done long ago stopped talking bout mine. now she wanna talk about my baby's head. i don't like it.
i'm raising my baby to be free of the bondage that keeps some afraid to be seen without a fresh perm or press and curl.
i don't live like that.
our hair is nappy and i love it just like it is. if somebody got a problem with it, they need to talk to God about it cuz God made it nappy, not me. and it ain't my problem that you be fraid of nappy hair. that's your issue. get some help for your troubles and leave me and my baby out of it.
amen.
wed, nov 1, 2006
12:40 p.m.
amendment:
http://www.endarkenment.com/hair/essays/ofari.htm
thu, jul 5. 2007
1:25 a.m.
amendment:
the above link is no longer valid. here's one that does work and pretty accurately details the whys and wherefores of "hair issues" in the black community.
http://alpha.dickinson.edu/departments/amos/mosaic01steel/je/hair.html
Sat, May 11, 2019
12:21 a.m.
Another update because the above link is no longer valid:
https://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/7539/fys_2014_jansen.pdf
.
i'm about to talk about something that is one of the most time-consuming obsessions in the black community.
i'm talkin bout hair y'all.
some of y'all know the whys and wherefores of this here topic, right? uh huh.
but guess what? i ain't gon get into it like y'all might be thinking. i just want to make a statement bout it. here it is:
there are certain members of my family who are so afraid of nappy hair that it's almost a phobia. one in particular has a severe fear of the naps. but she done long ago stopped talking bout mine. now she wanna talk about my baby's head. i don't like it.
i'm raising my baby to be free of the bondage that keeps some afraid to be seen without a fresh perm or press and curl.
i don't live like that.
our hair is nappy and i love it just like it is. if somebody got a problem with it, they need to talk to God about it cuz God made it nappy, not me. and it ain't my problem that you be fraid of nappy hair. that's your issue. get some help for your troubles and leave me and my baby out of it.
amen.
----------------------------------------------------------
wed, nov 1, 2006
12:40 p.m.
amendment:
http://www.endarkenment.com/hair/essays/ofari.htm
----------------------------------------------------------
thu, jul 5. 2007
1:25 a.m.
amendment:
the above link is no longer valid. here's one that does work and pretty accurately details the whys and wherefores of "hair issues" in the black community.
http://alpha.dickinson.edu/departments/amos/mosaic01steel/je/hair.html
----------------------------------------------------------
Sat, May 11, 2019
12:21 a.m.
Another update because the above link is no longer valid:
https://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/7539/fys_2014_jansen.pdf
.
45: kids...
originally posted Wed., Oct. 25, 2006; 1:20 p.m. EDT
just this morning, my tween daughter said something that reminded me that she really is just a kid. this munchkin--who has been on the planet just about 1/4 of the time i've been here--is a know-it-all and can usually tell me why and how in several verbose sentences filled with 3- and 4-syllable words.
we go toe-to-toe daily--on topics like why one should (or should not) take care to brush bedtime lint from one's hair before presenting oneself in public, why sleeveless dresses and flip flops are/are not appropriate clothing for 40-degree temperatures, and the ever-popular why one should/should not brush one's teeth for more than 20 seconds per session.
she has a tendency to present her arguments with the shrewdness of Marvin Belli so when i heard something so... elementary-schoolish come from her lips this morning, i was shocked back into the real world.
(she's getting ready so we can go out as soon as i'm done with this. and even as i'm typing, i hear her toothbrush whir for 10 seconds. "that's not long enough", i shout. ok... she added another 10 seconds. next it's, "did you brush your hair?" no. she goes back into the bedroom and comes out with a headband on, in 3.5 seconds.)
any way, back to the topic at hand.
she was about to put on one of her favorite movies, "13 going on 30" when i heard her say, "mommy, you know most people don't understand this movie. they just don't get how a girl can go from 13 to 30 (finger snap) just like that."
i had a deja vu moment, feeling as if we'd gone back to the days when my word was gospel to my daughter's ears.
then i had a sudden flash back to an incident that happened last night...
my daughter and i were in wally world, picking out the appropriate congratulatory greeting cards for friends and family members. my daughter came across one that she thought was perfect for me. i watched her laugh hysterically as she read and re-read the card, peeking at me several times to make sure she had my attention.
she (laughing uncontrollably): mommy! this card is perfect for you. oh my God!
me: what? lemme see.
she: here mommy. (still giggling like a hyena)
she handed me the card and i checked out the illustration first. i love interesting illustrations and i took in every detail--mostly to see if there were any subliminal messages--before i read the actual text. this one was nicely done but nothing spectacular.
the cartoon depicted two women, seated on opposite sides of a small round kitchen table. a round birthday cake with a slice missing was in the middle of the table. the missing slice lay on a dessert plate beside the cake dish. the women were half-smiling and each had a steaming mug in front of her.
i checked out the front caption: Only the good die young.
then opened it and read the inside: Bitches like us live forever. Happy Birthday.
my mouth dropped to the floor and that lil crumb snatcher laughed so hard she almost peed her pants.
.
just this morning, my tween daughter said something that reminded me that she really is just a kid. this munchkin--who has been on the planet just about 1/4 of the time i've been here--is a know-it-all and can usually tell me why and how in several verbose sentences filled with 3- and 4-syllable words.
we go toe-to-toe daily--on topics like why one should (or should not) take care to brush bedtime lint from one's hair before presenting oneself in public, why sleeveless dresses and flip flops are/are not appropriate clothing for 40-degree temperatures, and the ever-popular why one should/should not brush one's teeth for more than 20 seconds per session.
she has a tendency to present her arguments with the shrewdness of Marvin Belli so when i heard something so... elementary-schoolish come from her lips this morning, i was shocked back into the real world.
(she's getting ready so we can go out as soon as i'm done with this. and even as i'm typing, i hear her toothbrush whir for 10 seconds. "that's not long enough", i shout. ok... she added another 10 seconds. next it's, "did you brush your hair?" no. she goes back into the bedroom and comes out with a headband on, in 3.5 seconds.)
any way, back to the topic at hand.
she was about to put on one of her favorite movies, "13 going on 30" when i heard her say, "mommy, you know most people don't understand this movie. they just don't get how a girl can go from 13 to 30 (finger snap) just like that."
i had a deja vu moment, feeling as if we'd gone back to the days when my word was gospel to my daughter's ears.
then i had a sudden flash back to an incident that happened last night...
my daughter and i were in wally world, picking out the appropriate congratulatory greeting cards for friends and family members. my daughter came across one that she thought was perfect for me. i watched her laugh hysterically as she read and re-read the card, peeking at me several times to make sure she had my attention.
she (laughing uncontrollably): mommy! this card is perfect for you. oh my God!
me: what? lemme see.
she: here mommy. (still giggling like a hyena)
she handed me the card and i checked out the illustration first. i love interesting illustrations and i took in every detail--mostly to see if there were any subliminal messages--before i read the actual text. this one was nicely done but nothing spectacular.
the cartoon depicted two women, seated on opposite sides of a small round kitchen table. a round birthday cake with a slice missing was in the middle of the table. the missing slice lay on a dessert plate beside the cake dish. the women were half-smiling and each had a steaming mug in front of her.
i checked out the front caption: Only the good die young.
then opened it and read the inside: Bitches like us live forever. Happy Birthday.
my mouth dropped to the floor and that lil crumb snatcher laughed so hard she almost peed her pants.
.
43: working girls
originally posted Tue., Oct. 03, 2006; 3:19 a.m. EDT
i finally found a(nother) legitimate job that allows me to work online from home. another reason to be thankful. (thank you God)
with all the killings going on in schools this week, i'm thankful to still be able to home school my daughter.
amen.
.
42: more thanks
originally posted Thu., Jul 13, 2006; 12:00 p.m. EDT
i am thankful for my spirit-family, the people in my life who are not blood kin but who are there for me any way.
i am thankful for common sense.
i am thankful for my sanity.
i am thankful every day i wake up and every breath i take.
i am thankful for my daughter.
i am thankful for the Angels that guide me when i cannot see the road.
amen.
.
i am thankful for my spirit-family, the people in my life who are not blood kin but who are there for me any way.
i am thankful for common sense.
i am thankful for my sanity.
i am thankful every day i wake up and every breath i take.
i am thankful for my daughter.
i am thankful for the Angels that guide me when i cannot see the road.
amen.
.
41: this one is...
originally posted Mon., Jul 10, 2006; 1:57 p.m. EDT
...a bit boring.
it's Opera Grande: Overtures and Arias from Italian Operas.
there's a specific song i'm looking for (listening for?) but i don't know the name of it nor do i know which opera it's from. so i reserved a bunch of opera with my library card in hopes of findin' the one i like.
somebody help meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
.
...a bit boring.
it's Opera Grande: Overtures and Arias from Italian Operas.
there's a specific song i'm looking for (listening for?) but i don't know the name of it nor do i know which opera it's from. so i reserved a bunch of opera with my library card in hopes of findin' the one i like.
somebody help meeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
.
40: i didn't know...
originally posted Mon., Jul 10, 2006; 1:25 p.m. EDT
... that diana ross and marvin gaye had recorded a version of "stop, look, listen (to your heart)".
i'm listening to the soundtrack from bridget jones's diary and it's on there. i got it from the library so i could hear chaka khan's "i'm every woman". i was mad cuz the entire huge library system didn't have any chaka khan cd's, only this one song on a soundtrack.
i loves me some chaka khan.
they got funkadelic, james brown, erykah badu, and such. why no chaka?!
they sho got some cool songs on this here soundtrack tho. i'm digging it alright.
.
... that diana ross and marvin gaye had recorded a version of "stop, look, listen (to your heart)".
i'm listening to the soundtrack from bridget jones's diary and it's on there. i got it from the library so i could hear chaka khan's "i'm every woman". i was mad cuz the entire huge library system didn't have any chaka khan cd's, only this one song on a soundtrack.
i loves me some chaka khan.
they got funkadelic, james brown, erykah badu, and such. why no chaka?!
they sho got some cool songs on this here soundtrack tho. i'm digging it alright.
.
39: sticking out my tongue...
originally posted Tue., May 30, 2006; 12:35 a.m. EDT
at "Catch" who i'm sure is not a woman.
don't make me come for you.
.
at "Catch" who i'm sure is not a woman.
don't make me come for you.
.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
38: Vive la femme!
originally posted Wed., May 24, 2006; 3:38 a.m. EDT
okay y'all, i saw The DaVinci Code.
and i liked it.
i also understand why some are protesting it. the women are being led by the nose by the men who are terrified of what the movie "reveals".
it's the reason they burned us at the stake, the reason they don't want us in the pulpit, the reason they want us barefoot and pregnant: they fear us.
and now i know why. LOL
but seriously, every woman on the planet needs to see the DaVinci Code. whether you like the movie or not, you'll learn some universal truths.
people fear what they don't understand right?
men fear our bodies because our bodies nurture and sustain life. men fear our minds because we have a direct link to God/Goddess. most people call it women's intuition.
like Oprah once said: the world ain't always a safe place for a girl child. (that was Oprah, right?!)
i can't help but wonder why no one is protesting The Celestine Prophecy, a movie with the same basic premise as the DaVinci Code: that the church has worked for thousands of years to suppress information that would cause believers to doubt the church's motives.
perhaps it's because although the book was a bestseller, the Celestine Prophecy movie has an extremely limited release and is therefore not as well-known as DaVinci.
or is it because Celestine is missing the one essential element that DaVinci delivers, therefore Celestine is not as great a threat?
things that make ya go "hmmmm..."
.
okay y'all, i saw The DaVinci Code.
and i liked it.
i also understand why some are protesting it. the women are being led by the nose by the men who are terrified of what the movie "reveals".
it's the reason they burned us at the stake, the reason they don't want us in the pulpit, the reason they want us barefoot and pregnant: they fear us.
and now i know why. LOL
but seriously, every woman on the planet needs to see the DaVinci Code. whether you like the movie or not, you'll learn some universal truths.
people fear what they don't understand right?
men fear our bodies because our bodies nurture and sustain life. men fear our minds because we have a direct link to God/Goddess. most people call it women's intuition.
like Oprah once said: the world ain't always a safe place for a girl child. (that was Oprah, right?!)
i can't help but wonder why no one is protesting The Celestine Prophecy, a movie with the same basic premise as the DaVinci Code: that the church has worked for thousands of years to suppress information that would cause believers to doubt the church's motives.
perhaps it's because although the book was a bestseller, the Celestine Prophecy movie has an extremely limited release and is therefore not as well-known as DaVinci.
or is it because Celestine is missing the one essential element that DaVinci delivers, therefore Celestine is not as great a threat?
things that make ya go "hmmmm..."
.
37: DaVinci caca
originally posted Mon., May 15, 2006; 12:04 a.m. EDT
why is there such a fuss over this DaVinci movie?
i just don't understand why the fundamentalists are getting their booties in a sanctified and holier-than-your-momma bunch over this movie or whenever someone infers that Jesus or the Bible might not be the end-all be-all. i know they are for some. but not for everyone and i respect that.
i won't get into detail on my religious views but i will say this: i will never understand why some people think the Almighty needs their help with defense tactics. if you believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing God, why is it necessary to attempt to discredit or otherwise malign those who believe otherwise?
let God handle God's business. okay, yeah. sometimes God's business is my business and/or yours too but y'all know what i mean.
truthfully tho, ain't God big and bad enough to take care of His own public relations machine? doesn't He smite whole cities and cremate folk for free any time He feels like it, without any assistance from us earthlings?
in my opinion, Jesus was a cool dude. what if it is true that he got busy with Mary Magdalene and made a Lil Jay? Jesus was Thuh Man. He needs no ones approval for how He lived. if He's good enough for his daddy, He's good enough for me.
how can y'all say he didn't or couldn't have? who was there? and let's not forget that most of us don't know what Jesus was doing from age 12 to about age 29. it seems reasonable that Jesus had a private life in the public eye, like so many do.
it makes me ROFL when folk presume to know the exact and true actions of people who lived and died before any of us were a speck of dust in the Eye of God.
if Jesus did have a baby with Mary Magdalene (or any other woman for that matter), why is it such a big hairy deal? does it in any way diminish the other things Jesus did?
christians know what the Bible says about Jesus. so maybe the original printer left out a few chapters... or verses... or books.
not a big deal... we all make mistakes.
right?
my two cents.
.
why is there such a fuss over this DaVinci movie?
i just don't understand why the fundamentalists are getting their booties in a sanctified and holier-than-your-momma bunch over this movie or whenever someone infers that Jesus or the Bible might not be the end-all be-all. i know they are for some. but not for everyone and i respect that.
i won't get into detail on my religious views but i will say this: i will never understand why some people think the Almighty needs their help with defense tactics. if you believe in an all-powerful, all-knowing God, why is it necessary to attempt to discredit or otherwise malign those who believe otherwise?
let God handle God's business. okay, yeah. sometimes God's business is my business and/or yours too but y'all know what i mean.
truthfully tho, ain't God big and bad enough to take care of His own public relations machine? doesn't He smite whole cities and cremate folk for free any time He feels like it, without any assistance from us earthlings?
in my opinion, Jesus was a cool dude. what if it is true that he got busy with Mary Magdalene and made a Lil Jay? Jesus was Thuh Man. He needs no ones approval for how He lived. if He's good enough for his daddy, He's good enough for me.
how can y'all say he didn't or couldn't have? who was there? and let's not forget that most of us don't know what Jesus was doing from age 12 to about age 29. it seems reasonable that Jesus had a private life in the public eye, like so many do.
it makes me ROFL when folk presume to know the exact and true actions of people who lived and died before any of us were a speck of dust in the Eye of God.
if Jesus did have a baby with Mary Magdalene (or any other woman for that matter), why is it such a big hairy deal? does it in any way diminish the other things Jesus did?
christians know what the Bible says about Jesus. so maybe the original printer left out a few chapters... or verses... or books.
not a big deal... we all make mistakes.
right?
my two cents.
.
36: slowin' it down
originally posted Thu., May 11, 2006 ; 11:19 p.m. EDT
somehow, in the middle of one of the rare nights i went to bed before 3 a.m., some lil sneaky gremlin came in and pumped up the volume of my life.
i thought it was a good thing that i'd finally started keeping "decent hours", going to bed at midnight or 1 a.m., like the rest of you good people. but it backfried on me. (yes, i meant to say backfried cuz that's what happened! i feel like i'm on the hotseat and my backside cain't get no blacker cuz it's charred to the bone.)
i've got a dozen projects going, all stuck in between "i'm gonna get back to it" and "i done did it". one of them is this library jones i've got going on.
for the past several months i've been going to the library like a page-turnin' maniac, averaging at least two visits a week. it's an addiction i blame on the internet (which i'm also addicted to). i found out i can reserve library materials online in this town and pick them up at my convenience. for me, it was was like learning to mainline.
it started out slowly. about every other day, i would reserve some nice little tidbit i'd always wanted to try. then i remembered the list.
the list is just a bunch of reading materials i'd been wanting but hadn't gotten around to buying yet. it's years old and pre-dates my chilren and wadn't actually a real list cuz the stuff wadn't wrote down or nothin' like that. it was mostly tear-outs that i stuck in a folder labeled "reading".
i don't have a lot of money to spend but books (like music) are my passion. i always say i'm not buying another one cuz i don't have one iota of space for another volume. but they're like poppies. when i see them, i get all excited and can't resist reading the titles. if i'm out with family members, i tell them i'm just looking and not buying anything. then i glance furtively from spine to spine, anxious to see a name i've been coveting. if i do, i will fight my companion to the death to defend why i need to take home another book (or stack of books).
if i'm alone, i say to myself "i'll just look at a few, just a peek. i won't see anything i want." then my hands get itchy and i giggle nervously under my breath, ecstatic to be let loose amongst the words...
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
y'all see how this has detoured into a long sidebar right? i was 'sposed to be talkin' bout the overwhelmingness of being me these days!
any way...
the library has got me in over my head. i have about 30 of their items in here. some are baby bliss's but at least 20 are mine. i'm good for reading 3 or 4 books simultaneously but this time i've truly bitten off a chunk that's choking me.
a handful of the items are videos and CDs so i'm not dead yet. the graveside banana peel is the due dates. i should log on to see when stuff is due but DotGammit! i don't feel like it.
this week has been stupid busy. (which i knew it would be, but the All-mightee Goddess threw me a knitting needle. what a wicked, wicked thing to do. she knows i'm a crochet-er!)
the week kicks into third gear tomorrow at mid-day, as we welcome out-of-town guests in for a weekend-long family celebration. the day will zoom into stratospheric frenzy around noon as we get ready for the evening's festivities. saturday won't be any different but i'm hoping my daughter will sleep over with other family members so i can at least get some deep REM going.
my conclusion: this all means one of two things; maybe more; i'm not sure.
a. i should never, ever again go to bed before my regularly scheduled time
or
b. i should take all the fiddle-widdle crap back to the library and start over some other time.
i have to make the decision before i get up tomorrow morning. (this is a direct appeal to YOU great Goddess, to send me the answer in my dreams, as you often do.)
in other words, "i need a siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiign!"
ok y'all, i gotta get back to basket-making.
did i forget to mention that i learned to do it a few weeks ago?
it's very soothing.
.
somehow, in the middle of one of the rare nights i went to bed before 3 a.m., some lil sneaky gremlin came in and pumped up the volume of my life.
i thought it was a good thing that i'd finally started keeping "decent hours", going to bed at midnight or 1 a.m., like the rest of you good people. but it backfried on me. (yes, i meant to say backfried cuz that's what happened! i feel like i'm on the hotseat and my backside cain't get no blacker cuz it's charred to the bone.)
i've got a dozen projects going, all stuck in between "i'm gonna get back to it" and "i done did it". one of them is this library jones i've got going on.
for the past several months i've been going to the library like a page-turnin' maniac, averaging at least two visits a week. it's an addiction i blame on the internet (which i'm also addicted to). i found out i can reserve library materials online in this town and pick them up at my convenience. for me, it was was like learning to mainline.
it started out slowly. about every other day, i would reserve some nice little tidbit i'd always wanted to try. then i remembered the list.
the list is just a bunch of reading materials i'd been wanting but hadn't gotten around to buying yet. it's years old and pre-dates my chilren and wadn't actually a real list cuz the stuff wadn't wrote down or nothin' like that. it was mostly tear-outs that i stuck in a folder labeled "reading".
i don't have a lot of money to spend but books (like music) are my passion. i always say i'm not buying another one cuz i don't have one iota of space for another volume. but they're like poppies. when i see them, i get all excited and can't resist reading the titles. if i'm out with family members, i tell them i'm just looking and not buying anything. then i glance furtively from spine to spine, anxious to see a name i've been coveting. if i do, i will fight my companion to the death to defend why i need to take home another book (or stack of books).
if i'm alone, i say to myself "i'll just look at a few, just a peek. i won't see anything i want." then my hands get itchy and i giggle nervously under my breath, ecstatic to be let loose amongst the words...
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
y'all see how this has detoured into a long sidebar right? i was 'sposed to be talkin' bout the overwhelmingness of being me these days!
any way...
the library has got me in over my head. i have about 30 of their items in here. some are baby bliss's but at least 20 are mine. i'm good for reading 3 or 4 books simultaneously but this time i've truly bitten off a chunk that's choking me.
a handful of the items are videos and CDs so i'm not dead yet. the graveside banana peel is the due dates. i should log on to see when stuff is due but DotGammit! i don't feel like it.
this week has been stupid busy. (which i knew it would be, but the All-mightee Goddess threw me a knitting needle. what a wicked, wicked thing to do. she knows i'm a crochet-er!)
the week kicks into third gear tomorrow at mid-day, as we welcome out-of-town guests in for a weekend-long family celebration. the day will zoom into stratospheric frenzy around noon as we get ready for the evening's festivities. saturday won't be any different but i'm hoping my daughter will sleep over with other family members so i can at least get some deep REM going.
my conclusion: this all means one of two things; maybe more; i'm not sure.
a. i should never, ever again go to bed before my regularly scheduled time
or
b. i should take all the fiddle-widdle crap back to the library and start over some other time.
i have to make the decision before i get up tomorrow morning. (this is a direct appeal to YOU great Goddess, to send me the answer in my dreams, as you often do.)
in other words, "i need a siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiign!"
ok y'all, i gotta get back to basket-making.
did i forget to mention that i learned to do it a few weeks ago?
it's very soothing.
.
35: april...
originally posted Thu., Apr. 27, 2006; 2:06 p.m. EDT
hey y'all.
i was checkin' and saw that i ain't been here in a minute.
so it's april already. one of my least favorite months and not only cuz my mother-in-law has a birthday this month. thank Goddess we no longer live near her. amen and hallelujah!
it's been pretty rainy in our city this month. y'all know how i feel about rain. (see a previous post, aptly titled "rain".)
i like to hibernate when it's rainy out. especially when it's rainy and cold, like today. i've got the patio door open but only cuz i like the fresh air. and it's cold air so i had to put on an extra shirt. i hate extra clothes and refuse to wear them in the house until i get sick of seeing them high ass 'lectric bills. then i'll put on everything i can to keep warm in here. the other people who live here don't have that problem cuz their blood consists of the jalepenos and hot sauce they can't live without.
this month has been a lil rough for me. my family has been showing its collective ass, to my detriment. i am so sick and tired of drama. my whole life has been very dramatic (look for the novels people, look for the novels!) and as i move toward my 4th decade of life, a sista needs some peace and quiet.
i was seriously thinkin bout takin as much as i could fit in a backpack, greyhound-ing it as far as i could get in mexico, then getting to the most beautiful beach by any means necessary. i was gonna stay as long as my money held out. (approximately 6.66 years by my calculation)
they're lucky it done blown over. i'm still harboring feelings of resentment but i'm working on that.
part of the issue is feeling that i don't have enough "me" time. if y'all look back at my posts, i'm sure the majority of them were written in the wee hours. that's my "me" time. i have to get my stuff done when these people are sleeping. otherwise it's "mommy can you..." or some grown ass man leaving his dirty socks and dishes all over the place and expecting me to pick up and clean up after him in addition to being an on-call sex goddess.
not that i can't do it all. i am every woman, after all. but a sista does like to get some sleep urry now and then. can i least get some rest 'fo i diiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeee????
i know you can't expect chil'ren to fully understand why they can't always have ya undivided attention, but dammit, i'm trying my best.
my husband is old enough to know better so ain't no excuse for his mess. our issues come down to the age-old battle-of-the-sexes. it probably goes on in the majority of households where the female partner stays home. whether she works from home as a "professional" career person or is home tending to the chaps, it seems she is still expected to shoulder the lion's share of household chores.
it ain't going down like that in my house.
i've drawn the lines in the sand and no matter how many times he erases 'em, i'm a-drawing 'em right back. not in a nasty way cuz like i said, i don't want no drama. but i'm standing my ground cuz it's what i believe in. and it's what i want my daughter to know as well, that no matter what she chooses to do with her life, she does not ever have to accept a situation as it is.
if she is uncomfortable with it, do something to change it. if it don't wanna/ain't gonna/can't be changed, then it just might be time to scram.
i've found that the difficult part is not always making the changes. sometimes the hard part is assessing the potential for change and discovering the best methods for doing so.
lunch time.
i'm out.
.
hey y'all.
i was checkin' and saw that i ain't been here in a minute.
so it's april already. one of my least favorite months and not only cuz my mother-in-law has a birthday this month. thank Goddess we no longer live near her. amen and hallelujah!
it's been pretty rainy in our city this month. y'all know how i feel about rain. (see a previous post, aptly titled "rain".)
i like to hibernate when it's rainy out. especially when it's rainy and cold, like today. i've got the patio door open but only cuz i like the fresh air. and it's cold air so i had to put on an extra shirt. i hate extra clothes and refuse to wear them in the house until i get sick of seeing them high ass 'lectric bills. then i'll put on everything i can to keep warm in here. the other people who live here don't have that problem cuz their blood consists of the jalepenos and hot sauce they can't live without.
this month has been a lil rough for me. my family has been showing its collective ass, to my detriment. i am so sick and tired of drama. my whole life has been very dramatic (look for the novels people, look for the novels!) and as i move toward my 4th decade of life, a sista needs some peace and quiet.
i was seriously thinkin bout takin as much as i could fit in a backpack, greyhound-ing it as far as i could get in mexico, then getting to the most beautiful beach by any means necessary. i was gonna stay as long as my money held out. (approximately 6.66 years by my calculation)
they're lucky it done blown over. i'm still harboring feelings of resentment but i'm working on that.
part of the issue is feeling that i don't have enough "me" time. if y'all look back at my posts, i'm sure the majority of them were written in the wee hours. that's my "me" time. i have to get my stuff done when these people are sleeping. otherwise it's "mommy can you..." or some grown ass man leaving his dirty socks and dishes all over the place and expecting me to pick up and clean up after him in addition to being an on-call sex goddess.
not that i can't do it all. i am every woman, after all. but a sista does like to get some sleep urry now and then. can i least get some rest 'fo i diiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeee????
i know you can't expect chil'ren to fully understand why they can't always have ya undivided attention, but dammit, i'm trying my best.
my husband is old enough to know better so ain't no excuse for his mess. our issues come down to the age-old battle-of-the-sexes. it probably goes on in the majority of households where the female partner stays home. whether she works from home as a "professional" career person or is home tending to the chaps, it seems she is still expected to shoulder the lion's share of household chores.
it ain't going down like that in my house.
i've drawn the lines in the sand and no matter how many times he erases 'em, i'm a-drawing 'em right back. not in a nasty way cuz like i said, i don't want no drama. but i'm standing my ground cuz it's what i believe in. and it's what i want my daughter to know as well, that no matter what she chooses to do with her life, she does not ever have to accept a situation as it is.
if she is uncomfortable with it, do something to change it. if it don't wanna/ain't gonna/can't be changed, then it just might be time to scram.
i've found that the difficult part is not always making the changes. sometimes the hard part is assessing the potential for change and discovering the best methods for doing so.
lunch time.
i'm out.
.
34: things to be thankful for
originally posted Sun., Mar. 26, 2006; 6:53 a.m. EST
thank God for sleepovers.
my daughter has a friend over and i'm so happy. now i'll be able to get some uninterrupted sleep.
i don't know when that might be. it's almost 7 now. i've been up for too many hours. maybe i'll start to nod around 8 or 9, just in time for the critters to wake up and give me dirty looks.
.
thank God for sleepovers.
my daughter has a friend over and i'm so happy. now i'll be able to get some uninterrupted sleep.
i don't know when that might be. it's almost 7 now. i've been up for too many hours. maybe i'll start to nod around 8 or 9, just in time for the critters to wake up and give me dirty looks.
.
33: same ish, new day
originally posted Fri., Mar. 24, 2006; 12:41 a.m. EST
here we go again y'all.
the debate is on gay adoption.
why?
are people making such a big deal about it, i mean.
all people who adopt should be put through the same rigorous procedures. period.
after all, if you replace the word "gay" with "Black", or "Jewish", or "women", or "high school drop outs", or any other word that represents a group of people who are not acceptable to another group of people...
y'all get the idea right?
.
the debate is on gay adoption.
why?
are people making such a big deal about it, i mean.
all people who adopt should be put through the same rigorous procedures. period.
after all, if you replace the word "gay" with "Black", or "Jewish", or "women", or "high school drop outs", or any other word that represents a group of people who are not acceptable to another group of people...
y'all get the idea right?
.
32: shrimp
originally posted Thu., Mar. 23, 2006; 10:20 p.m. EST
i don't know how many non-black folk know this, but black people have a reputation for loving seafood, 'ticularly crabs and shrimp. i ain't nevva been part of that crowd.
i cain't stand crabs but shrimp ain't bad
i usually eat shrimp every now and then.
but in the past few weeks, i just been wanting me some shrimp every day and i don't know why. maybe it's hormonal? what ever it is, i gots the shrimp-loving blues.
i want shrimp. i crave shrimp. i'm feenin' for it.
i been gettin' it at least once a week but that don't seem to hardly be enough.
and i only like it fried. not boiled, steamed, sauteed, or broiled. just lightly battered and fried.
yum yum!
.
i don't know how many non-black folk know this, but black people have a reputation for loving seafood, 'ticularly crabs and shrimp. i ain't nevva been part of that crowd.
i cain't stand crabs but shrimp ain't bad
i usually eat shrimp every now and then.
but in the past few weeks, i just been wanting me some shrimp every day and i don't know why. maybe it's hormonal? what ever it is, i gots the shrimp-loving blues.
i want shrimp. i crave shrimp. i'm feenin' for it.
i been gettin' it at least once a week but that don't seem to hardly be enough.
and i only like it fried. not boiled, steamed, sauteed, or broiled. just lightly battered and fried.
yum yum!
.
30. ooooh, they liked it.
originally posted Tue., Mar. 21, 2006; 2:11 a.m. EST
i subbed.
they accepted.
the check is in the mail. (or will be soon.)
amen.
.
i subbed.
they accepted.
the check is in the mail. (or will be soon.)
amen.
.
29: men who like chil'ren
originally posted Fri., Mar. 17, 2006; 11:13 a.m. EST
they scare the crapp outta me.
seriously.
i'm a momma and if i ever...
i think y'all know the rest. but let me tell y'all 'bout something that i observed th'uther day.
a friend and i took the chil'ren to the local library. we looked for the kiddies section where they said it was. but i thought, "naw, that's not right cuz i see two grown mens over there reading newspapers. sho'ly grown mens wouldn't be reading newspapers in the chil'rens section cuz they want peace and quiet."
well kick my azz cuz i was wrong. they WUZ sitting in the chil'rens section, looking like they waz reading the paper.
whut the hooter scooter?
can y'all tell me why two grown mens -- with no chil'ren, mind you -- would be sitting in the chil'rens section when there were a gazillion other empty seats all over the place? it boggles my mind and i disliked like that doodie more and more when i thought bout it later.
so i done decided that i'm gonna write a letter to the city and the library. specially since it's all over the news bout these doggoned pedo rings they keep breaking up all over the country. where the hell do they think these pervs get their fill of sights any way? it's places where they can SIT and OBSERVE chil'ren: schools, libraries, day cares, bus stops...
the list is endless. i know we cain't do nothing bout some of it, but i'll be dogged if i'm not gonna do my best to do what i can about this mess.
i think it's sho nuff interesting that urry woman i saw in the kiddie section was 'companied by a CHILD.
maybe the police departments need to start checking out this kynda stuff.
.
they scare the crapp outta me.
seriously.
i'm a momma and if i ever...
i think y'all know the rest. but let me tell y'all 'bout something that i observed th'uther day.
a friend and i took the chil'ren to the local library. we looked for the kiddies section where they said it was. but i thought, "naw, that's not right cuz i see two grown mens over there reading newspapers. sho'ly grown mens wouldn't be reading newspapers in the chil'rens section cuz they want peace and quiet."
well kick my azz cuz i was wrong. they WUZ sitting in the chil'rens section, looking like they waz reading the paper.
whut the hooter scooter?
can y'all tell me why two grown mens -- with no chil'ren, mind you -- would be sitting in the chil'rens section when there were a gazillion other empty seats all over the place? it boggles my mind and i disliked like that doodie more and more when i thought bout it later.
so i done decided that i'm gonna write a letter to the city and the library. specially since it's all over the news bout these doggoned pedo rings they keep breaking up all over the country. where the hell do they think these pervs get their fill of sights any way? it's places where they can SIT and OBSERVE chil'ren: schools, libraries, day cares, bus stops...
the list is endless. i know we cain't do nothing bout some of it, but i'll be dogged if i'm not gonna do my best to do what i can about this mess.
i think it's sho nuff interesting that urry woman i saw in the kiddie section was 'companied by a CHILD.
maybe the police departments need to start checking out this kynda stuff.
.
28: people and they chil'ren
originally posted Wed., Mar. 15, 2006; 2:08 a.m. EST
i'm listening to Break Up to Make Up by the Stylistics... mmmm... sounds so goooooooooooood...
now to the topic of the hour.
why the hell do people think other people want to watch their dayummed chil'ren? i don't mean babysittin for ya homegirl or sista. i'm talkin bout when you rolling wit a sista-friend and she let her chil'ren run all over tha store and what not. that is more than annoying. it's stooopid. what with molesters being around every corner and carrying on. and the supermarket be havin people ridin around on forklifts and stuff. what if ya baby get ranned over? then ya wanna sue somebody! and for what? cuz you're being negligent.
what really frooked me was a momma who kept actin like she didn't see her youngin bangin up a set of blinds at a friend's house. i was right there between baby and momma and i was the one tryna stop the poor lil thang from pullin the blinds down on his haid. then his momma kept right on eat-in and talk-in while the baby walked head on into the glass table top several times. and not one with rounded edges either. this one had funny swirly edges with sharpish points. i was like "what the hell?"
what kinda momma is that?
i mean, are y'all just so tired from raisin ya youngins that ya just turn them over to tha world as soon as ya get them in public? could ya at least let the rest of us know when this is what y'all intend to do, so we can be ready? maybe we'll just leave that dayummmed sto cuz we ain't down wit that.
sheeeeet, i got a youngin too but i don't allow that runnin-round-in-the-store mess. my youngin betta walk wit momma or it's gon be major drama when we get home. and no, i don't mean a beatin. that's a whole nother topic but yeah, i got time.
my momma was a psych major and i know why people beat the kids. it's cuz they (the parents) are angry. they think it's cuz they love them rats but it ain't. not that they don't love them. i'm just sayin they ain't beatin 'em cuz they love 'em.
cuz how is beatin somebody showin love any way?
when it's a man beatin a woman's azz, do we think it's love? seriously. so why is it love when somebody is beatin the child's azz?
what is a beatin really teachin a child? i think it teaches them how to fight, how to bully, how to deal with anger most ineffectively, and gives them complexes about certain behaviors.
like, if my momma beat me for pissin my pants and i'm only a year old, how do i know i got a beatin for not using the potty? what if -- in my lil mind -- i got a beatin just for peeing? then it wouldn't be so strange if in my adulthood, i have problems with my bathroom habits.
back to beatin.
what if every time you made a mistake at work, your supervisor or anyone superior to you in title, was allowed to come whip your azz? how much would you love that job after a few days of that b.s.?
are we parents mirroring our own familial pasts or trying to live up to society's expectations? why do we expect our children to behave perfectly when our own actions are flawed?
i'm not a beater. but i am a screamer and a holler-er. i have living proof in my house that neither of those behaviors is a form of positive motivation. so now i try not to raise my voice at my youngin unless it's an emergency. i've noticed that the outcome is much more pleasant for both of us.
thanks Dr. Phil. it really is starting to sink in.
(i am you. you are me and we are you...)
but back to the subject of absentee parenting.
if you don't wanna mind your own chil'ren out in public, do us all a favor and leave them home.
or at somebody's home.
take 'em any where but where you're going. if i'm gonna be there, just don't bring 'em out with you.
thanks in advance.
.
i'm listening to Break Up to Make Up by the Stylistics... mmmm... sounds so goooooooooooood...
now to the topic of the hour.
why the hell do people think other people want to watch their dayummed chil'ren? i don't mean babysittin for ya homegirl or sista. i'm talkin bout when you rolling wit a sista-friend and she let her chil'ren run all over tha store and what not. that is more than annoying. it's stooopid. what with molesters being around every corner and carrying on. and the supermarket be havin people ridin around on forklifts and stuff. what if ya baby get ranned over? then ya wanna sue somebody! and for what? cuz you're being negligent.
what really frooked me was a momma who kept actin like she didn't see her youngin bangin up a set of blinds at a friend's house. i was right there between baby and momma and i was the one tryna stop the poor lil thang from pullin the blinds down on his haid. then his momma kept right on eat-in and talk-in while the baby walked head on into the glass table top several times. and not one with rounded edges either. this one had funny swirly edges with sharpish points. i was like "what the hell?"
what kinda momma is that?
i mean, are y'all just so tired from raisin ya youngins that ya just turn them over to tha world as soon as ya get them in public? could ya at least let the rest of us know when this is what y'all intend to do, so we can be ready? maybe we'll just leave that dayummmed sto cuz we ain't down wit that.
sheeeeet, i got a youngin too but i don't allow that runnin-round-in-the-store mess. my youngin betta walk wit momma or it's gon be major drama when we get home. and no, i don't mean a beatin. that's a whole nother topic but yeah, i got time.
my momma was a psych major and i know why people beat the kids. it's cuz they (the parents) are angry. they think it's cuz they love them rats but it ain't. not that they don't love them. i'm just sayin they ain't beatin 'em cuz they love 'em.
cuz how is beatin somebody showin love any way?
when it's a man beatin a woman's azz, do we think it's love? seriously. so why is it love when somebody is beatin the child's azz?
what is a beatin really teachin a child? i think it teaches them how to fight, how to bully, how to deal with anger most ineffectively, and gives them complexes about certain behaviors.
like, if my momma beat me for pissin my pants and i'm only a year old, how do i know i got a beatin for not using the potty? what if -- in my lil mind -- i got a beatin just for peeing? then it wouldn't be so strange if in my adulthood, i have problems with my bathroom habits.
back to beatin.
what if every time you made a mistake at work, your supervisor or anyone superior to you in title, was allowed to come whip your azz? how much would you love that job after a few days of that b.s.?
are we parents mirroring our own familial pasts or trying to live up to society's expectations? why do we expect our children to behave perfectly when our own actions are flawed?
i'm not a beater. but i am a screamer and a holler-er. i have living proof in my house that neither of those behaviors is a form of positive motivation. so now i try not to raise my voice at my youngin unless it's an emergency. i've noticed that the outcome is much more pleasant for both of us.
thanks Dr. Phil. it really is starting to sink in.
(i am you. you are me and we are you...)
but back to the subject of absentee parenting.
if you don't wanna mind your own chil'ren out in public, do us all a favor and leave them home.
or at somebody's home.
take 'em any where but where you're going. if i'm gonna be there, just don't bring 'em out with you.
thanks in advance.
.
27: mmmm... more music
originally posted Wed., Mar. 15, 2006; 12:43 a.m. EST
i can't get enough music in my life. maybe it's cuz these people won't let me! y'all know what people i'm talkin bout. the same dayummed people who couldn't gimme no peace in my last post bout music.
but tonite, i'm gettin my groove on! those people be sleep and amen for that cuz i'm vegging out with Elton and Eric and Angelique. mmmm... yummy sounds of blissed out vibe that do me right...
okay Eric got a few on the Timepieces CD that i cain't get down with, but that's okay. i'm still a fan of the cool hand man. i only like one on Elton's The Big Picture so no biggie either way. what i can't figure out is what the hell happened to the ones i ripped to my hard drive? they ain't showin up on any of the lists.
any way... *sucking my teeth while rolling my eyes*
okay y'all, a sista is gettin serious for a minute.
several years ago, i started taking a written assessment of my life. i try to do it once a year but i can only find one for '00, '01, and '02. the formal title for these documents is "my environment and the issues that surround my life".
in each document, i identify then detail a pervasive "issue" in my life. the papers have evolved in format but content still consists of the same elements. i completed my most recent one this afternoon. i won't share it with you here because i plan to use part of it in an essay that will be published elsewhere. however, i'll share the one from '02.
here it is.
my environment and the issues that comprise my life
what i'm learning/doing now.
1. locations - we've finally settled down! our current residence has been home since august 2000. we have no plans to move any time soon.
2. people - i've "eliminated" several people from my life; some completely, others as much as possible, dealing with them on an as-needed basis.
3. material - for clothing, i now do about 90% thrift, 10% other (other is usually walmart, target, lot stores, etc. for items like underclothes and shoes--things impossible to find at the thrift). household is usually the $ store, sometimes the others. i'm letting go of the tendency to buy knick-knacks, partly because i no longer have space for them!
4. personal - i still haven't gotten into the pampering habit. manicures and pedicures are few and far between; hair appointments are more regular but still not regularly scheduled. facials -- ha! maybe one a year.
a work in progress...
.
i can't get enough music in my life. maybe it's cuz these people won't let me! y'all know what people i'm talkin bout. the same dayummed people who couldn't gimme no peace in my last post bout music.
but tonite, i'm gettin my groove on! those people be sleep and amen for that cuz i'm vegging out with Elton and Eric and Angelique. mmmm... yummy sounds of blissed out vibe that do me right...
okay Eric got a few on the Timepieces CD that i cain't get down with, but that's okay. i'm still a fan of the cool hand man. i only like one on Elton's The Big Picture so no biggie either way. what i can't figure out is what the hell happened to the ones i ripped to my hard drive? they ain't showin up on any of the lists.
any way... *sucking my teeth while rolling my eyes*
okay y'all, a sista is gettin serious for a minute.
several years ago, i started taking a written assessment of my life. i try to do it once a year but i can only find one for '00, '01, and '02. the formal title for these documents is "my environment and the issues that surround my life".
in each document, i identify then detail a pervasive "issue" in my life. the papers have evolved in format but content still consists of the same elements. i completed my most recent one this afternoon. i won't share it with you here because i plan to use part of it in an essay that will be published elsewhere. however, i'll share the one from '02.
here it is.
my environment and the issues that comprise my life
what i'm learning/doing now.
1. locations - we've finally settled down! our current residence has been home since august 2000. we have no plans to move any time soon.
2. people - i've "eliminated" several people from my life; some completely, others as much as possible, dealing with them on an as-needed basis.
3. material - for clothing, i now do about 90% thrift, 10% other (other is usually walmart, target, lot stores, etc. for items like underclothes and shoes--things impossible to find at the thrift). household is usually the $ store, sometimes the others. i'm letting go of the tendency to buy knick-knacks, partly because i no longer have space for them!
4. personal - i still haven't gotten into the pampering habit. manicures and pedicures are few and far between; hair appointments are more regular but still not regularly scheduled. facials -- ha! maybe one a year.
a work in progress...
.
25: nights at home
originally posted Sat., Dec. 10, 2005; 3:47 AM EST
my daughter is funny. she's also very perceptive.
she loves to create alternate worlds. i don't mean of the lord of the rings or harry potter variety, tho she dwells in those too, from time to time.
her worlds are usually ordinary ones. in them, she's a teenager or young adult. she likes being a teenager who drives the parents' car(s). she loves being a young adult who works and has lots of friends.
what i love most is the detail.
right now, she's a waitress working in a restaurant where the boss gives all the waitstaff raises every week. her friends have come in for a bite and she's trying to convince them to take jobs at the restaurant as well. she's fashioned an apron out of a piece of fabric and i just saw her tucking her pen back in it after she was done taking an order.
she's been back and forth to the kitchen several times to get orders as they've been called out to her. some of them have been orders for alcoholic beverages. it's so funny that she doesn't know the names of any real drinks so they have weird names.
one of her co-workers brings his camera to work and takes a lot of photos of everyone when he's on break. she told him he should just be a photographer and stop bringing his camera to work.
she thinks her boss is cool but hates the way he sometimes doesn't like the way she's wearing her hair and asks her to change it.
aha! there's another dimension. she's really a waitress who solves mysteries.
in this "episode", it was said that two of the main chefs quit, but she and her friends think the chefs really got fired. now they have to find out if it's true. there are a lot of cell phone calls going on right now.
this just in: her cell phone is also a tape recorder. she hid it in the kitchen and now she's listening to the actual conversation that took place between the boss and the two chefs. i'm getting a verbatim of their dialogue.
now she's back with her team of friends, telling them she needs more evidence because she's not sure that what they have "will quite please a judge".
now the boss has left and she's deployed her team to search the restaurant for more clues.
i have no idea why the real meaning of the chefs' departure from the restaurant is so important. i guess she'll get to that eventually.
or not.
any way, it's all very entertaining.
.
my daughter is funny. she's also very perceptive.
she loves to create alternate worlds. i don't mean of the lord of the rings or harry potter variety, tho she dwells in those too, from time to time.
her worlds are usually ordinary ones. in them, she's a teenager or young adult. she likes being a teenager who drives the parents' car(s). she loves being a young adult who works and has lots of friends.
what i love most is the detail.
right now, she's a waitress working in a restaurant where the boss gives all the waitstaff raises every week. her friends have come in for a bite and she's trying to convince them to take jobs at the restaurant as well. she's fashioned an apron out of a piece of fabric and i just saw her tucking her pen back in it after she was done taking an order.
she's been back and forth to the kitchen several times to get orders as they've been called out to her. some of them have been orders for alcoholic beverages. it's so funny that she doesn't know the names of any real drinks so they have weird names.
one of her co-workers brings his camera to work and takes a lot of photos of everyone when he's on break. she told him he should just be a photographer and stop bringing his camera to work.
she thinks her boss is cool but hates the way he sometimes doesn't like the way she's wearing her hair and asks her to change it.
aha! there's another dimension. she's really a waitress who solves mysteries.
in this "episode", it was said that two of the main chefs quit, but she and her friends think the chefs really got fired. now they have to find out if it's true. there are a lot of cell phone calls going on right now.
this just in: her cell phone is also a tape recorder. she hid it in the kitchen and now she's listening to the actual conversation that took place between the boss and the two chefs. i'm getting a verbatim of their dialogue.
now she's back with her team of friends, telling them she needs more evidence because she's not sure that what they have "will quite please a judge".
now the boss has left and she's deployed her team to search the restaurant for more clues.
i have no idea why the real meaning of the chefs' departure from the restaurant is so important. i guess she'll get to that eventually.
or not.
any way, it's all very entertaining.
.
24: near-death experiences
originally posted Mon., Dec. 05, 2005; 3:45 a.m. EST
i've had several in my life and believe me when i say not one of them has been as painful as the 2-day migraine i had this weekend.
i had my first migraine several years after my daughter was born. we were at the circus. i didn't have a clue as to what was going on. we were watching the tigers when some genius thought it was a good idea to start the smoke machines. my mild headache got exponentially worse and a huge wave of nausea engulfed me. we barely made it to the bathroom in time.
i was so ill, we had to leave the circus and take a taxi home. i thought i was dying. i was in bed for several days, trying not to see or hear anything. (note that although i wasn't married to my current husband, we were dating and by this time, my daughter and i had been staying weekends at his house for a year or two.)
over the years, i've learned my migraines are directly related to what i eat, how often i eat it, and any stress that's lurking. i've always believed that junk food (pizza, fast food, candy, etc.) kills, but since it does so slowly, it's been a back-and-forth battle for me to abstain all the time.
so there are times when i indulge and there are times when i overindulge. at times it's only the dairy foods that bother me. particularly blue cheese dressing. but once my body has become overloaded with stuff, any processed food can tip me over into migraine-land.
i'm no dummy. i know it's the Universe's way of telling me i need to get back to where i was. but it's hard to stay on the straight and narrow when those around you toss temptation into your path at every other step.
i'm talking about my husband.
when my daughter and i lived alone it was a lot easier to eat for optimum health. once my husband and i got married and my daughter and i moved to his house, i began fighting a losing battle.
my husband and stepson will eat anything in the fridge that ain't moving. they couldn't care less about the difference between organic and conventional foods, like i do. to them it's all the same so they'd gobble up my stuff (organic) then graze on theirs.
i got so tired of them eating my food that i began buying the things they swore they didn't eat. and guess what?
eventually i began hiding my food but even milk made from rice needs to be refrigerated after it's opened.
then it got to the point where i stopped buying a lot of "my" food and just ate it when i went out. then i got used to not having it most of the time, which has led to now.
my most recent migraine was the most painful of all. i believe father-mother God gives us warnings of things to come. the warnings start almost imperceptibly: dropping a bowl of ice cream on the floor cuz i had no business eating it any way; burning the frozen pizza i put in the oven cuz for real, neither my daughter nor i should be eatin' it cuz we had one this week already; accidentally putting a frozen apple pie in the cabinet instead of the fridge and having it go bad cuz, well, it's mostly sugar any way.
so now i have a choice. toe the line or keep getting those funked up headaches. this one was really bad. i'm saying it again because it's true.
i thought i had a brain tumor.
and me, who does not like prescription or over-the-counter meds (unless they're herbal or homeopathic), went to the ER. i felt like if i died suddenly it should be in the hospital, not here with my daughter trying her best to make me feel better.
admittedly, by the time we got dressed and outta here (6:30 a.m.) my headache was subsiding. but even in its wane, it was still pretty bad. i was still sensitive to light and sound, and my body ached like i'd been battered with a mallet. and i was still thinking it could be some kind of tumor.
my husband was all for the doctor giving me a shot of anything that would lessen my pain and i was in enough pain that i couldn't imagine bringing it back home with me. so i let the nurse give me a shot of something called imitrex. i need to look that up cuz i coulda swore that was for diarrhea.
at least the doc was nice. they all were actually.
.
i've had several in my life and believe me when i say not one of them has been as painful as the 2-day migraine i had this weekend.
i had my first migraine several years after my daughter was born. we were at the circus. i didn't have a clue as to what was going on. we were watching the tigers when some genius thought it was a good idea to start the smoke machines. my mild headache got exponentially worse and a huge wave of nausea engulfed me. we barely made it to the bathroom in time.
i was so ill, we had to leave the circus and take a taxi home. i thought i was dying. i was in bed for several days, trying not to see or hear anything. (note that although i wasn't married to my current husband, we were dating and by this time, my daughter and i had been staying weekends at his house for a year or two.)
over the years, i've learned my migraines are directly related to what i eat, how often i eat it, and any stress that's lurking. i've always believed that junk food (pizza, fast food, candy, etc.) kills, but since it does so slowly, it's been a back-and-forth battle for me to abstain all the time.
so there are times when i indulge and there are times when i overindulge. at times it's only the dairy foods that bother me. particularly blue cheese dressing. but once my body has become overloaded with stuff, any processed food can tip me over into migraine-land.
i'm no dummy. i know it's the Universe's way of telling me i need to get back to where i was. but it's hard to stay on the straight and narrow when those around you toss temptation into your path at every other step.
i'm talking about my husband.
when my daughter and i lived alone it was a lot easier to eat for optimum health. once my husband and i got married and my daughter and i moved to his house, i began fighting a losing battle.
my husband and stepson will eat anything in the fridge that ain't moving. they couldn't care less about the difference between organic and conventional foods, like i do. to them it's all the same so they'd gobble up my stuff (organic) then graze on theirs.
i got so tired of them eating my food that i began buying the things they swore they didn't eat. and guess what?
eventually i began hiding my food but even milk made from rice needs to be refrigerated after it's opened.
then it got to the point where i stopped buying a lot of "my" food and just ate it when i went out. then i got used to not having it most of the time, which has led to now.
my most recent migraine was the most painful of all. i believe father-mother God gives us warnings of things to come. the warnings start almost imperceptibly: dropping a bowl of ice cream on the floor cuz i had no business eating it any way; burning the frozen pizza i put in the oven cuz for real, neither my daughter nor i should be eatin' it cuz we had one this week already; accidentally putting a frozen apple pie in the cabinet instead of the fridge and having it go bad cuz, well, it's mostly sugar any way.
so now i have a choice. toe the line or keep getting those funked up headaches. this one was really bad. i'm saying it again because it's true.
i thought i had a brain tumor.
and me, who does not like prescription or over-the-counter meds (unless they're herbal or homeopathic), went to the ER. i felt like if i died suddenly it should be in the hospital, not here with my daughter trying her best to make me feel better.
admittedly, by the time we got dressed and outta here (6:30 a.m.) my headache was subsiding. but even in its wane, it was still pretty bad. i was still sensitive to light and sound, and my body ached like i'd been battered with a mallet. and i was still thinking it could be some kind of tumor.
my husband was all for the doctor giving me a shot of anything that would lessen my pain and i was in enough pain that i couldn't imagine bringing it back home with me. so i let the nurse give me a shot of something called imitrex. i need to look that up cuz i coulda swore that was for diarrhea.
at least the doc was nice. they all were actually.
.
23: passive antagonism
originally posted Mon., Dec. 05, 2005; 1:16 a.m. EST
i ain't got no patience for it.
i'm not talking about holding your tongue so you won't go off on your boss or biting your lip so you won't blurt out to your child how one of their lil friends gets on your last nerve.
in this instance i'm talking about service providers you deal with on a regular basis: a teacher or principle at your child's school; your hair stylist; the sista who works at your favorite shoe store, who you kinda got in good with and let get the commission for all your purchases.
i'm partial to people who are straight up. that way, we each know where the other stands. so if i've done something to offend you, call me on it. then we can either get over it and move past it, or go our separate ways.
but all the b.s. that comes with the fakery sho ain't my cup of tea. for real, if you don't care for me, let me know. my money spends well all over town and i prefer to spend it with those who provide me with good service. you don't necessarily have to like me. but don't be nice-nasty with me either.
i might note that this type of scenario is not uncommon in my life and it always happens with women, never with men.
i'll say it again: if you don't care for me, let me know. my money spends well all over town and i prefer to spend it with those who provide me with good service.
.
i ain't got no patience for it.
i'm not talking about holding your tongue so you won't go off on your boss or biting your lip so you won't blurt out to your child how one of their lil friends gets on your last nerve.
in this instance i'm talking about service providers you deal with on a regular basis: a teacher or principle at your child's school; your hair stylist; the sista who works at your favorite shoe store, who you kinda got in good with and let get the commission for all your purchases.
i'm partial to people who are straight up. that way, we each know where the other stands. so if i've done something to offend you, call me on it. then we can either get over it and move past it, or go our separate ways.
but all the b.s. that comes with the fakery sho ain't my cup of tea. for real, if you don't care for me, let me know. my money spends well all over town and i prefer to spend it with those who provide me with good service. you don't necessarily have to like me. but don't be nice-nasty with me either.
i might note that this type of scenario is not uncommon in my life and it always happens with women, never with men.
i'll say it again: if you don't care for me, let me know. my money spends well all over town and i prefer to spend it with those who provide me with good service.
.
22: giving
originally posted Sun., Dec. 04, 2005; 11:05 p.m. EST
Oprah is a woman with a big heart and a big change purse to match.
and i'm a woman who is thankful that some people still care enough to not only give, but to also share the choice to give (or not) with the rest of us.
of course my gifts will never equal Oprah's in largess, at least not in the financial sense. but i know that my gift--when added with the gifts of others like me--adds up to a mountain of something for those who need and will appreciate.
that's why i've decided to donate a small sum to the Fistula Foundation.
though i may not always like what goes on in this country, i am blessed to be a woman living in America. i know it gives me access to necessities women in other parts of the world don't have.
for the most part, i live a life of my own choosing; i also have enough good fortune in my life to share. i choose to share because above all, i believe it keeps the flow of abundance moving.
i want to pass this belief on to my daughter therefore, i do and encourage her to do as well.
amen.
.
and i'm a woman who is thankful that some people still care enough to not only give, but to also share the choice to give (or not) with the rest of us.
of course my gifts will never equal Oprah's in largess, at least not in the financial sense. but i know that my gift--when added with the gifts of others like me--adds up to a mountain of something for those who need and will appreciate.
that's why i've decided to donate a small sum to the Fistula Foundation.
though i may not always like what goes on in this country, i am blessed to be a woman living in America. i know it gives me access to necessities women in other parts of the world don't have.
for the most part, i live a life of my own choosing; i also have enough good fortune in my life to share. i choose to share because above all, i believe it keeps the flow of abundance moving.
i want to pass this belief on to my daughter therefore, i do and encourage her to do as well.
amen.
.
21: if i don't need it, should i want it?
originally posted Sun., Dec. 04, 2005; 10:55 p.m. EST
for the second time in my life, i have the means to make a major purchase with cash. and tho we do need this thing, my love-hate relationship with money has rendered a sista immobile. my husband has left it up to me to make the decision so i can't later blame it on him if i feel i've done the wrong thing. which kinda pisses me off cuz what is a spouse for if not to be the fall guy in all and sundry difficulties?
i have to overcome my inertia for several reasons. one is the tax write-off. this is supposedly the last year to be able to write off this type of purchase on personal income tax. the other is necessity. as i said before, we do need this item. safety is another concern. we need a new one (did i fail to mention we have an old one?) because it will be safer due to design updates in the 11 years since the old one was made.
i have a few more weeks to decide but part of me feels like i'm just being a stick in the mud.
.
for the second time in my life, i have the means to make a major purchase with cash. and tho we do need this thing, my love-hate relationship with money has rendered a sista immobile. my husband has left it up to me to make the decision so i can't later blame it on him if i feel i've done the wrong thing. which kinda pisses me off cuz what is a spouse for if not to be the fall guy in all and sundry difficulties?
i have to overcome my inertia for several reasons. one is the tax write-off. this is supposedly the last year to be able to write off this type of purchase on personal income tax. the other is necessity. as i said before, we do need this item. safety is another concern. we need a new one (did i fail to mention we have an old one?) because it will be safer due to design updates in the 11 years since the old one was made.
i have a few more weeks to decide but part of me feels like i'm just being a stick in the mud.
.
20: Aeon Flux
originally posted Fri., Dec. 02, 2005; 8:47 p.m. EST
Okay, first of all, I don't care for the name. Ay-awn? A-yon? E-on? Eye-awn? It boggles the eye and therefore the mind, thus rendering it a word that should be auditory at all times.
I love sci-fi and I haven't seen a good one in a while. The Matrix trilogy was okay but didn't quite live up to my expectations. Too much hype and not enough of what I envisioned in my mind. To top it off, I later heard the whole story (along with the Terminator series) was stolen from a sistuh. Talk about ugleh! Honey, that was it.
If it's true, I hope them Cohen brothers get their balls drained on that one.
So we're going to see Aeon Flux in about an hour.
More later.
.
Okay, first of all, I don't care for the name. Ay-awn? A-yon? E-on? Eye-awn? It boggles the eye and therefore the mind, thus rendering it a word that should be auditory at all times.
I love sci-fi and I haven't seen a good one in a while. The Matrix trilogy was okay but didn't quite live up to my expectations. Too much hype and not enough of what I envisioned in my mind. To top it off, I later heard the whole story (along with the Terminator series) was stolen from a sistuh. Talk about ugleh! Honey, that was it.
If it's true, I hope them Cohen brothers get their balls drained on that one.
So we're going to see Aeon Flux in about an hour.
More later.
.
19: supposition
originally posted Sun., Nov. 27, 2005; 7:55 p.m. EST
i consider myself to be a literate, worldly, knowledgeable, live-and-let-live kinda sista. i have friends and acquaintances from many many backgrounds and i'm guessing most of these people would also describe themselves using some of the same adjectives i've used to describe myself.
among them, i am the keeper of secrets.
one of us truly believes his stereotypical views of people are dead-on accurate. (but don't most of us? LOL)
and he'll go on and on when those same people don't live out (live up to??) his perceptions of them.
he also gets vehemently offended at being stereotyped.
he's a pain in my butt but he's still my bud.
grrrr!
.
i consider myself to be a literate, worldly, knowledgeable, live-and-let-live kinda sista. i have friends and acquaintances from many many backgrounds and i'm guessing most of these people would also describe themselves using some of the same adjectives i've used to describe myself.
among them, i am the keeper of secrets.
one of us truly believes his stereotypical views of people are dead-on accurate. (but don't most of us? LOL)
and he'll go on and on when those same people don't live out (live up to??) his perceptions of them.
he also gets vehemently offended at being stereotyped.
he's a pain in my butt but he's still my bud.
grrrr!
.
18: some things are personal...
originally posted Wed., Nov. 23, 2005 at 2:51 a.m. EST
but it's that time of year.
let me divulge.
with the imminent approach of the holiday commonly known as Christmas, i am beginning to dread leaving my home. thanksgiving has yet to arrive but everywhere i turn, there are christmas reminders. cities have put up decorations, stores are selling anything remotely related, and family members are already talking about The Gift Exchange.
i slipped and fell into the Gift Exchange by accident. i don't believe in the idea as a matter of principle. i think it's silly to have a set time of year to give gifts to people. even birthdays don't move me much.
i'm not anti-festivities though. celebrations are good. i love parties and get-togethers. but the gift-giving thing makes me queasy. truly. as in "my stomach is churning right now".
honestly.
i think one's taste -- whether it be in clothing, food, beverage, or neighborhood -- is very personal. i feel that buying someone a gift can be a form of intrusion. that's why i prefer to give monetary gifts unless i am absolutely sure my gift is something the person wants or needs. i know some people feel giving cash or its equivalent is tacky. to them i say "mind ya damned beeswax".
giving cash doesn't mean i value the recipient so little that i won't take time to find "the perfect gift". for me it means i respect that person enough not to waste her time or mine by buying a gift she may or may not like because it's the wrong color/size/style. money is one-size-fits-all and needs no receipt because there's no need to exchange it.
a cash gift/gift card/gift cheque allows the recipient to spend it as she sees fit. maybe she needs to pay a bill, buy groceries, or is in desperate need to cop a bit of her favorite recreational party favor. if my intent in giving is to give the recipient joy, what better way to do it than by allowing her to decide her own version of happy?
my issues with Christmas Gift-Giving -- henceforth known as "CGG" -- are many.
there's that thing most people have about getting a gift wrapped up in a package, one that they're usually hoping contains their heart's desire. well, i'm not the gift fairy and i sure ain't in the mind-reading business. so unless someone tells me what it is they want, how the hell am i supposed to know?
i like to give practical gifts because practical gifts are the kind i like to receive. but everyone is not like me. *shrug*
my other problem with CGG is the cost factor. do most families pick a name from a hat? leading to a (set) expenditure of cash for each name drawn. in our case that would be three names. if the spending limit is capped at $10 per gift, then it's cool. anything more and i feel like it's eating into my grocery budget.
if i spend my hard-earned $ -- okay, my hubby's hard-earned $ -- on a gift that won't be appreciated or used, i'm a mad sista. why waste money to show someone how much you love them? i show my family how i feel about them every day.
if i pick up your smelly socks and dirty drawers, clean up your crumbs and wash your dirty dishes, inhale your morning breath every day, spend my waking hours hunting bargains so we don't blow the kids' inheritance -- then you're safe in assuming i love you.
on the other hand, if i regularly forget to return your calls, ignore you when you're talking to me about some stupid football game, let you run around in dirty clothes for months because i don't feel like doing laundry, let you eat with dirty utensils, take a shower in a dirty tub because i didn't feel like cleaning it -- it's safe to assume i don't like you much.
ummm, okay. i don't do all that for my extended family but y'all get the idea.
back to the gift-giving thing...
i'm just not that into the herd mentality. i see shopping for holiday gifts as promoting this kind of thought in the worst way. i like to get my shop on, for sho'. but i like to shop when the rest of the world is doing something else. like sleeping. or in church. which leads to another thought.
why is it that people who say they believe christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ seem to be the ones spending the most money? i know people who call themselves christians who go almost bankrupt at christmas because they overspend. i know the supposed correlation between the birth of christ and gift-giving, but i don't believe 3 wise men would have been stupid enough to give baby Jesus their last shekels if their mortgages were due in a few weeks time.
i also think CGG sets a bad example for children. i believe children should earn anything other than the essentials of food/clothing/shelter. otherwise they're being set up to believe they can get anything they want if they learn to manipulate well enough. i think those might be the kids who suffer in adulthood.
generally, children love to receive gifts and getting them for christmas is what they love most of all. i recall my own childhood as a time when it seemed everyone lived for christmas. after we opened our presents, we couldn't wait to get outside to tell each other what we got, each one hoping to outdo the others by getting the year's hottest gift.
fun.
but not for those of us whose parents didn't have spare cash.
my christmases were spent at my grandmother's and it was she who usually contributed the most to my (small) pile of presents. my mother was a single parent and though i had contact with my father's side of the family, they didn't send gifts for christmas.
maybe that's part of it... i've always been a bit of a softie, never wanting others to feel less than. and i often feel that those who have amassed huge material gains are putting down the have-nots when the "have" is rubbed in the others' faces.
i believe CGG often leads kids to behave like little snobs. now that i'm an adult and aware, i'm in a position to make sure my own child understands the negative consequences of such behavior. i think it's all very sordid and mean-spirited, bragging about gifts. not at all what the holiday season is supposed to be about.
as it is, there have been a few times i've overheard my daughter telling her friends (and others) about gifts she'd received and i didn't like her tone of voice, her attitude, or the way she seemed to be lording it over the listener.
as a mommy, it's my job to call her on it. i have and i've explained to her why i don't think it's a good thing.
i want her to understand and remember that having nice things doesn't make us better than other folks.
but it's that time of year.
let me divulge.
with the imminent approach of the holiday commonly known as Christmas, i am beginning to dread leaving my home. thanksgiving has yet to arrive but everywhere i turn, there are christmas reminders. cities have put up decorations, stores are selling anything remotely related, and family members are already talking about The Gift Exchange.
i slipped and fell into the Gift Exchange by accident. i don't believe in the idea as a matter of principle. i think it's silly to have a set time of year to give gifts to people. even birthdays don't move me much.
i'm not anti-festivities though. celebrations are good. i love parties and get-togethers. but the gift-giving thing makes me queasy. truly. as in "my stomach is churning right now".
honestly.
i think one's taste -- whether it be in clothing, food, beverage, or neighborhood -- is very personal. i feel that buying someone a gift can be a form of intrusion. that's why i prefer to give monetary gifts unless i am absolutely sure my gift is something the person wants or needs. i know some people feel giving cash or its equivalent is tacky. to them i say "mind ya damned beeswax".
giving cash doesn't mean i value the recipient so little that i won't take time to find "the perfect gift". for me it means i respect that person enough not to waste her time or mine by buying a gift she may or may not like because it's the wrong color/size/style. money is one-size-fits-all and needs no receipt because there's no need to exchange it.
a cash gift/gift card/gift cheque allows the recipient to spend it as she sees fit. maybe she needs to pay a bill, buy groceries, or is in desperate need to cop a bit of her favorite recreational party favor. if my intent in giving is to give the recipient joy, what better way to do it than by allowing her to decide her own version of happy?
my issues with Christmas Gift-Giving -- henceforth known as "CGG" -- are many.
there's that thing most people have about getting a gift wrapped up in a package, one that they're usually hoping contains their heart's desire. well, i'm not the gift fairy and i sure ain't in the mind-reading business. so unless someone tells me what it is they want, how the hell am i supposed to know?
i like to give practical gifts because practical gifts are the kind i like to receive. but everyone is not like me. *shrug*
my other problem with CGG is the cost factor. do most families pick a name from a hat? leading to a (set) expenditure of cash for each name drawn. in our case that would be three names. if the spending limit is capped at $10 per gift, then it's cool. anything more and i feel like it's eating into my grocery budget.
if i spend my hard-earned $ -- okay, my hubby's hard-earned $ -- on a gift that won't be appreciated or used, i'm a mad sista. why waste money to show someone how much you love them? i show my family how i feel about them every day.
if i pick up your smelly socks and dirty drawers, clean up your crumbs and wash your dirty dishes, inhale your morning breath every day, spend my waking hours hunting bargains so we don't blow the kids' inheritance -- then you're safe in assuming i love you.
on the other hand, if i regularly forget to return your calls, ignore you when you're talking to me about some stupid football game, let you run around in dirty clothes for months because i don't feel like doing laundry, let you eat with dirty utensils, take a shower in a dirty tub because i didn't feel like cleaning it -- it's safe to assume i don't like you much.
ummm, okay. i don't do all that for my extended family but y'all get the idea.
back to the gift-giving thing...
i'm just not that into the herd mentality. i see shopping for holiday gifts as promoting this kind of thought in the worst way. i like to get my shop on, for sho'. but i like to shop when the rest of the world is doing something else. like sleeping. or in church. which leads to another thought.
why is it that people who say they believe christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ seem to be the ones spending the most money? i know people who call themselves christians who go almost bankrupt at christmas because they overspend. i know the supposed correlation between the birth of christ and gift-giving, but i don't believe 3 wise men would have been stupid enough to give baby Jesus their last shekels if their mortgages were due in a few weeks time.
i also think CGG sets a bad example for children. i believe children should earn anything other than the essentials of food/clothing/shelter. otherwise they're being set up to believe they can get anything they want if they learn to manipulate well enough. i think those might be the kids who suffer in adulthood.
generally, children love to receive gifts and getting them for christmas is what they love most of all. i recall my own childhood as a time when it seemed everyone lived for christmas. after we opened our presents, we couldn't wait to get outside to tell each other what we got, each one hoping to outdo the others by getting the year's hottest gift.
fun.
but not for those of us whose parents didn't have spare cash.
my christmases were spent at my grandmother's and it was she who usually contributed the most to my (small) pile of presents. my mother was a single parent and though i had contact with my father's side of the family, they didn't send gifts for christmas.
maybe that's part of it... i've always been a bit of a softie, never wanting others to feel less than. and i often feel that those who have amassed huge material gains are putting down the have-nots when the "have" is rubbed in the others' faces.
i believe CGG often leads kids to behave like little snobs. now that i'm an adult and aware, i'm in a position to make sure my own child understands the negative consequences of such behavior. i think it's all very sordid and mean-spirited, bragging about gifts. not at all what the holiday season is supposed to be about.
as it is, there have been a few times i've overheard my daughter telling her friends (and others) about gifts she'd received and i didn't like her tone of voice, her attitude, or the way she seemed to be lording it over the listener.
as a mommy, it's my job to call her on it. i have and i've explained to her why i don't think it's a good thing.
i want her to understand and remember that having nice things doesn't make us better than other folks.
16: "so we unpacked our adjectives..."
originally posted Tue., Nov. 22, 2005; 1:10 a.m. EST
oh happy day! i found a job i can do online from home. it's not anything spectacular but it's fun sometimes and it's a paid position. it involves two things i love well: writing and adjectives.
what more could a girl ask for?
.
oh happy day! i found a job i can do online from home. it's not anything spectacular but it's fun sometimes and it's a paid position. it involves two things i love well: writing and adjectives.
what more could a girl ask for?
.
15: Eeeeeeeee-bay!
originally posted Mon., Oct. 31, 2005; 2:26 p.m. EST
someone i met in the thrift the other day told me she makes a lil bit o' spare change selling on ebay. i'm thinking about it. seriously.
i've been checking out ebay. they got a lotta stuff on there. looks like some good stuff for dirt cheap. til you add in the shipping and handling. but the descriptions are oooky. i love adjectives so i'll have that much of an edge.
i've got a bunch of stuff in here i can get rid of and when i'm done with that, i might sell some of the things i make by hand. i don't want to rely on that too much tho cuz i put a lot of care into the handmade stuff and i'm not sure i'll get the prices i want. but it's worth a try any way cuz some stuff is just sitting around waiting...
post script: after a lil research, i think the E-bay market is oversaturated.
any way, i have more pleasant tasks to tend to...
.
someone i met in the thrift the other day told me she makes a lil bit o' spare change selling on ebay. i'm thinking about it. seriously.
i've been checking out ebay. they got a lotta stuff on there. looks like some good stuff for dirt cheap. til you add in the shipping and handling. but the descriptions are oooky. i love adjectives so i'll have that much of an edge.
i've got a bunch of stuff in here i can get rid of and when i'm done with that, i might sell some of the things i make by hand. i don't want to rely on that too much tho cuz i put a lot of care into the handmade stuff and i'm not sure i'll get the prices i want. but it's worth a try any way cuz some stuff is just sitting around waiting...
post script: after a lil research, i think the E-bay market is oversaturated.
any way, i have more pleasant tasks to tend to...
.
14: on writing: submissions, acceptances, rejections, limbo
originally posted Mon., Oct. 31, 2005; 12:41 p.m. EST
hey y'all.
my writing takes every form imagined: to-do lists, fiction, poetry, personal essay, e-mail, notes to friends and family...
i began submitting my writing for publication about 5 years ago. my first submission was accepted. it wasn't a particularly well-written piece, but it was heart-felt and a perfect fit for the anthology that resulted from the submissions.
since then, i've submitted sporadically. mostly to non-paying markets but sometimes to paying markets as well. the number of acceptances and rejections has been about equal.
this month has been a good one for me. i've subbed 6 times to various online publications. here's the breakdown: 3 poetry subs to paying pubs; 1 photo and 1 short fiction to a non-paying pub; 1 photo to a paying pub.
as i said, this month has been a good one. 2 of those subs were accepted -- 1 photo by a non-paying pub, and 1 poem by a paying pub.
the poem was accepted by a website that specializes in erotica. i was happily surprised when i got their acceptance e-mail and the contract. not that i thought my poem wasn't good enough. (what writer doesn't think his or her work is fabulous?)
i was just happily surprised that someone else thought so too.
my submissions tracker shows that i've had months where i've submitted once, twice, or nothing at all. if i'm going to really do this thing (get paid on a continuous basis for my writing), i have to submit more and better work, consistently.
wow... ya think?
.
hey y'all.
my writing takes every form imagined: to-do lists, fiction, poetry, personal essay, e-mail, notes to friends and family...
i began submitting my writing for publication about 5 years ago. my first submission was accepted. it wasn't a particularly well-written piece, but it was heart-felt and a perfect fit for the anthology that resulted from the submissions.
since then, i've submitted sporadically. mostly to non-paying markets but sometimes to paying markets as well. the number of acceptances and rejections has been about equal.
this month has been a good one for me. i've subbed 6 times to various online publications. here's the breakdown: 3 poetry subs to paying pubs; 1 photo and 1 short fiction to a non-paying pub; 1 photo to a paying pub.
as i said, this month has been a good one. 2 of those subs were accepted -- 1 photo by a non-paying pub, and 1 poem by a paying pub.
the poem was accepted by a website that specializes in erotica. i was happily surprised when i got their acceptance e-mail and the contract. not that i thought my poem wasn't good enough. (what writer doesn't think his or her work is fabulous?)
i was just happily surprised that someone else thought so too.
my submissions tracker shows that i've had months where i've submitted once, twice, or nothing at all. if i'm going to really do this thing (get paid on a continuous basis for my writing), i have to submit more and better work, consistently.
wow... ya think?
.
Friday, May 18, 2007
13: it's calling my name
my bed.
i've gotta get in it cuz i'se tired. i sho did wanna get all my stuff moved in tonite/this morning, but i'll have to take a break and finish later.
i can't operate under the influence of sleep-deprivation.
the remainder of my things will be right where i left them when i get back there in a few hours.
amen.
i've gotta get in it cuz i'se tired. i sho did wanna get all my stuff moved in tonite/this morning, but i'll have to take a break and finish later.
i can't operate under the influence of sleep-deprivation.
the remainder of my things will be right where i left them when i get back there in a few hours.
amen.
12: the gliterrati
12: originally posted Oct., 30, 2005; 8:35 p.m.
7:30 p.m.
why is is that people are so outraged/disgusted/furious when Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, Janet Jackson, and the rest of them folk do their thang?
so what if Janet was sunbathing naked? was she on private property or was she booty up in the middle of Wilshire?
if Tom Cruise has "derailed" Katie Holmes' career by knocking her up, that's a his and her thang. is the sista over 18? yeah? then i think she's able to make her own decisions. so what if the rest of the world don't agree?
and if Britney and Kevin never brush their hair or wash their butts ever again, why is it a mortal sin? cuz other people think they should? and if he spends her into the po' house, then she must be allowing it. maybe the sex is so good it blinds and deafens her to the ching-ching of her coins being siphoned into his coffers. she got a momma! if her momma ain't looking out for her why is the general populace so up in arms?
why do people feel celebrities should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us? is it because people generally live boring lives and feel the need to mind every body else's business?
probably. i guess that's what makes the internet such a fun place to hang out.
but when folk seem to think that this actor or that actress owes them some great debt of Morality by Example, they need to think again. these people are just people. they aren't gods or goddesses. except in the minds of those who need to get some business of their own.
when people get upset because their kids saw a naked nipple or a flash of cooter, they need to ask themselves why. my daughter saw the flash of boob and she didn't freak out. she laughed. and so did we. i breast fed my daughter. she knows what nipples are.
it's highly likely that children learn the most from the people they spend the most time with. if it's Tom, Janet, Britney et al, then someone is letting their rug rats spend too much time watching telly when they should be spending time with live people. my daughter admires ME, her momma, not some stranger she sees on telly.
sure, she likes to see all the hip hop divas and sundry singers when she gets the chance. but mostly she doesn't know who those folks are cuz i monitor what she watches on telly, what she listens to on radio, who she hangs out with, and what she wears when she leaves my house, with me!
so i say to Janet and the rest of 'em, ROCK ON. do your thang. sunbathe nude, pee in the bushes while walking your dog (Matt LeBlanc), flaunt your uncombed hair for the pooperrazzi, smoke enough crack to finance 10 college educations (Whitney and Bobby), and it ain't NO body's business if you do.
yeah, i know. people who buy your music/go see your movies 30 times/write you a gazillion fan letters/swoon at your concerts think they own you cuz they've contributed time and $ to your overflowing coffers.
to those people, i say this: if you don't like how they livin' then cut 'em loose!
don't go see their movies.
don't buyed their crack-infused CDs.
don't go to their tit-revealing concerts.
boycott them.
or just shut the hell up.
that's a wrap.
.
7:30 p.m.
why is is that people are so outraged/disgusted/furious when Britney Spears, Tom Cruise, Janet Jackson, and the rest of them folk do their thang?
so what if Janet was sunbathing naked? was she on private property or was she booty up in the middle of Wilshire?
if Tom Cruise has "derailed" Katie Holmes' career by knocking her up, that's a his and her thang. is the sista over 18? yeah? then i think she's able to make her own decisions. so what if the rest of the world don't agree?
and if Britney and Kevin never brush their hair or wash their butts ever again, why is it a mortal sin? cuz other people think they should? and if he spends her into the po' house, then she must be allowing it. maybe the sex is so good it blinds and deafens her to the ching-ching of her coins being siphoned into his coffers. she got a momma! if her momma ain't looking out for her why is the general populace so up in arms?
why do people feel celebrities should be held to a higher standard than the rest of us? is it because people generally live boring lives and feel the need to mind every body else's business?
probably. i guess that's what makes the internet such a fun place to hang out.
but when folk seem to think that this actor or that actress owes them some great debt of Morality by Example, they need to think again. these people are just people. they aren't gods or goddesses. except in the minds of those who need to get some business of their own.
when people get upset because their kids saw a naked nipple or a flash of cooter, they need to ask themselves why. my daughter saw the flash of boob and she didn't freak out. she laughed. and so did we. i breast fed my daughter. she knows what nipples are.
it's highly likely that children learn the most from the people they spend the most time with. if it's Tom, Janet, Britney et al, then someone is letting their rug rats spend too much time watching telly when they should be spending time with live people. my daughter admires ME, her momma, not some stranger she sees on telly.
sure, she likes to see all the hip hop divas and sundry singers when she gets the chance. but mostly she doesn't know who those folks are cuz i monitor what she watches on telly, what she listens to on radio, who she hangs out with, and what she wears when she leaves my house, with me!
so i say to Janet and the rest of 'em, ROCK ON. do your thang. sunbathe nude, pee in the bushes while walking your dog (Matt LeBlanc), flaunt your uncombed hair for the pooperrazzi, smoke enough crack to finance 10 college educations (Whitney and Bobby), and it ain't NO body's business if you do.
yeah, i know. people who buy your music/go see your movies 30 times/write you a gazillion fan letters/swoon at your concerts think they own you cuz they've contributed time and $ to your overflowing coffers.
to those people, i say this: if you don't like how they livin' then cut 'em loose!
don't go see their movies.
don't buyed their crack-infused CDs.
don't go to their tit-revealing concerts.
boycott them.
or just shut the hell up.
that's a wrap.
.
11: Google love
originally posted Fri., Oct. 28, 2005; 9:40 a.m.
i love Google y'all! i'm sure i'm not the only one, but i just had to put it out there. :-)
has anyone tried Picassa, Google's photo organizer?
that thang is waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy cool. not only can you use it to organize ya pics, it also has bom-diggedy editing tools. you can also e-mail straight from the utility and it compresses those H-U-G-E photo files into managable chunks.
gimme Google, Gimme GOOgle, GIMMEEEEEEE GOOOOOOOOOOOGLE!!!!!!!!
.
i love Google y'all! i'm sure i'm not the only one, but i just had to put it out there. :-)
has anyone tried Picassa, Google's photo organizer?
that thang is waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy cool. not only can you use it to organize ya pics, it also has bom-diggedy editing tools. you can also e-mail straight from the utility and it compresses those H-U-G-E photo files into managable chunks.
gimme Google, Gimme GOOgle, GIMMEEEEEEE GOOOOOOOOOOOGLE!!!!!!!!
.
10: comedy of errors?
originally posted Wed., Oct. 19, 2005; 1:46 a.m.
Wed., Oct 19, 2005; 1:41 a.m. EST
some days, life is an ongoing SNAFU. a comedy of errors, so to speak. but what's funny about a day full of errors? i usually can't find a damn thing humorous on those days.
monday was a day like that. urry thing that could go wrong did. had the runs, ran outta money, waited half the day sleeping in a mall parking lot cuz i had to get my siggie from work... it all sucked. some of it was my own fault, like not having a car charger for the danged cell phone, not making sure i'd put my debit card in my purse, and not realizing it would have made sense to return home and go back for siggie later.
but thazz what happens when you're a walking sleep-depraved maniac! your brain goes on auto pilot and only the essentials work. you'll likely remember to eat, breath, and pee, but not to take enough cash or plastic to ensure that you don't get stuck sleeping in your car in a parking lot!
.
Wed., Oct 19, 2005; 1:41 a.m. EST
some days, life is an ongoing SNAFU. a comedy of errors, so to speak. but what's funny about a day full of errors? i usually can't find a damn thing humorous on those days.
monday was a day like that. urry thing that could go wrong did. had the runs, ran outta money, waited half the day sleeping in a mall parking lot cuz i had to get my siggie from work... it all sucked. some of it was my own fault, like not having a car charger for the danged cell phone, not making sure i'd put my debit card in my purse, and not realizing it would have made sense to return home and go back for siggie later.
but thazz what happens when you're a walking sleep-depraved maniac! your brain goes on auto pilot and only the essentials work. you'll likely remember to eat, breath, and pee, but not to take enough cash or plastic to ensure that you don't get stuck sleeping in your car in a parking lot!
.
9: to-do lists
originally posted Sun., Oct. 16, 2005; 11:27 p.m.
11:21 p.m.
how many of you use them?
i do. often. almost every day. i try not to use them for random notes but find that i'm doing it more. if i don't, i'll forget something. (or some things)
i've been keeping to do-lists for a long time. maybe 20 years. i do have them going back to the 80s. that's a lotta paper to be clogging up muh crib, i know. but it's an obsession i have, being able to look back in time to see what i did on a particular day.
that's also why i have journals going back to grade school. really and truly. i was journaling before oprah made it famous. (that's not a crack on my sista. just a fact.)
i wish my daughter shared this interest but she didn't inherit the writer gene. she's the other kind of artist. she likes to dance, sing, act, draw... i love to dance and sing too but writing is muh fust luv.
uh-ohhhhhhhhhhhh. gotta go to bed. i have to get up roundabout 5:30 in the a.m. and it's almost 11:30 in the p.m.
a sista cain't drive while sleep deprived.
who am i kidding? i've been subsisting on sleep deprivation for too many years to count. i expect to drop from over-exhaustion at any moment.
yeah right. i've been wishing that very thing would happen since i can remember. hoping it would earn me a solo vacation.
hahaha.
the universe is a trickster! it ain't happened yet.
.
11:21 p.m.
how many of you use them?
i do. often. almost every day. i try not to use them for random notes but find that i'm doing it more. if i don't, i'll forget something. (or some things)
i've been keeping to do-lists for a long time. maybe 20 years. i do have them going back to the 80s. that's a lotta paper to be clogging up muh crib, i know. but it's an obsession i have, being able to look back in time to see what i did on a particular day.
that's also why i have journals going back to grade school. really and truly. i was journaling before oprah made it famous. (that's not a crack on my sista. just a fact.)
i wish my daughter shared this interest but she didn't inherit the writer gene. she's the other kind of artist. she likes to dance, sing, act, draw... i love to dance and sing too but writing is muh fust luv.
uh-ohhhhhhhhhhhh. gotta go to bed. i have to get up roundabout 5:30 in the a.m. and it's almost 11:30 in the p.m.
a sista cain't drive while sleep deprived.
who am i kidding? i've been subsisting on sleep deprivation for too many years to count. i expect to drop from over-exhaustion at any moment.
yeah right. i've been wishing that very thing would happen since i can remember. hoping it would earn me a solo vacation.
hahaha.
the universe is a trickster! it ain't happened yet.
.
8: this just in
originally posted Sun., Oct. 16, 2005; 10:46 p.m. EDT
10: 46 p.m.
hmmmm... my bio says i enjoy yoga.
does that sound like a sista actually participates in the discipline? hahahaha! fooled y'all!
seriously, i do enjoy yoga but i haven't done it in ages. i really want to get back to it tho. it helps clear the mind and focus the body like nothing you can imagine.
that means i'll have to go to bed early so i can get up early cuz there's nothing like a sun salutation just as the sun rises.
ahhhh... asanas... they're the choice of a new generation.
truly.
.
10: 46 p.m.
hmmmm... my bio says i enjoy yoga.
does that sound like a sista actually participates in the discipline? hahahaha! fooled y'all!
seriously, i do enjoy yoga but i haven't done it in ages. i really want to get back to it tho. it helps clear the mind and focus the body like nothing you can imagine.
that means i'll have to go to bed early so i can get up early cuz there's nothing like a sun salutation just as the sun rises.
ahhhh... asanas... they're the choice of a new generation.
truly.
.
7: vacation...
originally posted Sun., Oct. 16, 2005; 9:51 p.m. EDT
it was beyond wonderful. the best to date so far. we met people from many places. some u.s. citizens, a lot of europeans... thank goddess for high school french and the smattering of italian and spanish i've picked up in tha hood over the years.
we stayed at an all-inclusive right on the beach. how fantastico was it? tres, tres superb i tell you! the food was so-so. but the staff was great, the shows were very lively, and the scenery was breath-taking.
three of the staff members were exceptional entertainers and could go a very long way in the u.s. if they chose to pursue work in the industry here. i got the feeling that ivan (Italiano) doubted his talent. he was one of the funniest guys i've seen since john ritter. if they remade three's company, he would be a shoe-in for the role of jack tripper. doesn't matter that his english is accented. he has the looks for a leading man and american women have always been ga-ga over men with accents.
i wish i could live on that beach. even when it rained, it was beautiful... i miss it already.
viva la playa!
.
it was beyond wonderful. the best to date so far. we met people from many places. some u.s. citizens, a lot of europeans... thank goddess for high school french and the smattering of italian and spanish i've picked up in tha hood over the years.
we stayed at an all-inclusive right on the beach. how fantastico was it? tres, tres superb i tell you! the food was so-so. but the staff was great, the shows were very lively, and the scenery was breath-taking.
three of the staff members were exceptional entertainers and could go a very long way in the u.s. if they chose to pursue work in the industry here. i got the feeling that ivan (Italiano) doubted his talent. he was one of the funniest guys i've seen since john ritter. if they remade three's company, he would be a shoe-in for the role of jack tripper. doesn't matter that his english is accented. he has the looks for a leading man and american women have always been ga-ga over men with accents.
i wish i could live on that beach. even when it rained, it was beautiful... i miss it already.
viva la playa!
.
6: #rain
originally posted Tue., Oct. 11, 2005; 1:53 p.m. EDT
why?
never mind. i know why. flowers, trees, cisterns, people, drinking. but why not once a week, or every other week? why every day for a whole week? or two? it's more than annoying. it's discouraging. i don't like muddy or damp or clammy, all things i associate with rain.
i want sun and breeze, sand and sparkling crystal clear waters.
yes water. but at the beach, not on the roof of my house or car.
that's why i'm taking a vacation. well, that's not why. it just happens to coincide nicely.
tha Goddess is good!
amen.
why?
never mind. i know why. flowers, trees, cisterns, people, drinking. but why not once a week, or every other week? why every day for a whole week? or two? it's more than annoying. it's discouraging. i don't like muddy or damp or clammy, all things i associate with rain.
i want sun and breeze, sand and sparkling crystal clear waters.
yes water. but at the beach, not on the roof of my house or car.
that's why i'm taking a vacation. well, that's not why. it just happens to coincide nicely.
tha Goddess is good!
amen.
5: we done did it.
originally posted Tue., Oct. 11, 2005; 3:43 a.m. EDT
moved.
we done moved y'all. to say it was stressful is an understatement.
y'all know that list of stressful life events?
what you mean "no"?
y'all know what i'm talkin bout. i don't know who made it up, i just know i've seen it. a few times.
*sucking my teeth...*
ANY way.
the list consists of a bunch of stressful life events. moving is on there. along with getting married or your spouse dying. and i think each thing has a number and you add them all when you're done. the total score tells how stressed ya izz. i don't know bout the rest of y'all folk, but moving is VERY stressful for me. off-the-meter stressful. i can't believe i'm still alive.
i tried my best not to get all outta joint but it was hard. i have a vague recollection of not being able to sleep the night before we rolled out cuz i was too nervous (i had to drive a few hundred miles in the a.m.) and there was too much noise going on outside the bedroom window. thank Goddess we got the hell outta that house and that city. it was truly workin on my last nerve, most of it.
i was operating in my usual mode of sleep-deprived mania as we got ready to pull out of the city under cover of chilly night. i couldn't believe i was getting behind the wheel of a car in the dark with less than 4 hours of sleep. my daughter rode in the car with me and i felt super anxious. my hubby drove the moving van and my son rode with him. we all had our cell phones and i told hubby before we left that i'd be calling him as soon as i felt the need to pull over.
i thought i'd get close to 100 miles before that happened. hahahaha "nature will not be cheated." that's what one of my ex-es used to say and it's true. we got about 15 miles outside of the city and i had to stop. we got another 20 or 30 miles and i had to stop again. on the 3rd (4th?) stop, we stopped for 30-45 minutes. i took a nap and they got breakfast at Hardee's. the nap worked a small miracle. we stopped once more about an hour later, then we sailed into our new city on a wave of wide-awake enthusiasm.
believe it or not, by the time the men got everything in here, i was halfway done unpacking. we still have a ton of packed boxes tho and it's beeeeecuzzzzzzzzzzzz our new house won't be ready until next year. so we're staying in a 'partment until then it's kinda weird to be back in an apartment after living in the house. i miss having our own washer and dryer. we do have that option here but i'm passing cuz it's additonal $ and i don't want to worry about any leaks to the people under us.
what i don't miss is jostling laundry back and forth from the top floor to the basement. i miss some of the little ones in our old neighborhood but i don't miss many of the adults. i miss the relative safety we had there--in the midst of a never-ending crime spree that swirled all around us--because my husband grew up in that neighborhood and was well-known and well-liked by everyone there who knew him.
the things i don't miss are too numerous to detail here. i would be typing for days, commentary with
no end.
it's pretty decent here. quiet. mostly. the people are friendly. mostly. prices are less expensive for most things. our new house will certainly be less expensive than our old one. and newer. (yayyyyyyyyyy!) with more space than our old house.
any whooo, we're getting settled in to our new digs, our new town, our new lives. it's all so... new. but it feels like home already. i'm thankful.
- bliss
moved.
we done moved y'all. to say it was stressful is an understatement.
y'all know that list of stressful life events?
what you mean "no"?
y'all know what i'm talkin bout. i don't know who made it up, i just know i've seen it. a few times.
*sucking my teeth...*
ANY way.
the list consists of a bunch of stressful life events. moving is on there. along with getting married or your spouse dying. and i think each thing has a number and you add them all when you're done. the total score tells how stressed ya izz. i don't know bout the rest of y'all folk, but moving is VERY stressful for me. off-the-meter stressful. i can't believe i'm still alive.
i tried my best not to get all outta joint but it was hard. i have a vague recollection of not being able to sleep the night before we rolled out cuz i was too nervous (i had to drive a few hundred miles in the a.m.) and there was too much noise going on outside the bedroom window. thank Goddess we got the hell outta that house and that city. it was truly workin on my last nerve, most of it.
i was operating in my usual mode of sleep-deprived mania as we got ready to pull out of the city under cover of chilly night. i couldn't believe i was getting behind the wheel of a car in the dark with less than 4 hours of sleep. my daughter rode in the car with me and i felt super anxious. my hubby drove the moving van and my son rode with him. we all had our cell phones and i told hubby before we left that i'd be calling him as soon as i felt the need to pull over.
i thought i'd get close to 100 miles before that happened. hahahaha "nature will not be cheated." that's what one of my ex-es used to say and it's true. we got about 15 miles outside of the city and i had to stop. we got another 20 or 30 miles and i had to stop again. on the 3rd (4th?) stop, we stopped for 30-45 minutes. i took a nap and they got breakfast at Hardee's. the nap worked a small miracle. we stopped once more about an hour later, then we sailed into our new city on a wave of wide-awake enthusiasm.
believe it or not, by the time the men got everything in here, i was halfway done unpacking. we still have a ton of packed boxes tho and it's beeeeecuzzzzzzzzzzzz our new house won't be ready until next year. so we're staying in a 'partment until then it's kinda weird to be back in an apartment after living in the house. i miss having our own washer and dryer. we do have that option here but i'm passing cuz it's additonal $ and i don't want to worry about any leaks to the people under us.
what i don't miss is jostling laundry back and forth from the top floor to the basement. i miss some of the little ones in our old neighborhood but i don't miss many of the adults. i miss the relative safety we had there--in the midst of a never-ending crime spree that swirled all around us--because my husband grew up in that neighborhood and was well-known and well-liked by everyone there who knew him.
the things i don't miss are too numerous to detail here. i would be typing for days, commentary with
no end.
it's pretty decent here. quiet. mostly. the people are friendly. mostly. prices are less expensive for most things. our new house will certainly be less expensive than our old one. and newer. (yayyyyyyyyyy!) with more space than our old house.
any whooo, we're getting settled in to our new digs, our new town, our new lives. it's all so... new. but it feels like home already. i'm thankful.
- bliss
4: another day...
originally posted Fri., Aug. 12, 2005; 8:59 a.m. EDT
it's after midnite so it's officially friday.
i'm tired as a dog walking a Miss'sippi highway in the middle of an August day. i went to my client's site again tuesday and thursday. each time, i'd stayed up late the night before.
surprisingly, time fled vivace as i completed tuesday's tasks.
thursday however, it was the opposite. the hours ticked slowly by... assai adagio... assai adagio... ASSAI adagio...
tuesday there was the truck that pushed into a bridge at the K_______ A______ underpass, churning my normally fleet drive home into an endless mass of bumper to bumper road rage. still, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. i chilled with Al Green as i learned a few new back roads in my attempt to escape the confines of rush hour purgatory. i was happy to find a side street that put me about a half mile in front of the others...
thankfully, picking up my daughter was on my way home. else i'd have had to drive to the other side of the city just to get home from the burbs. bleeeeehhhhh!
did i mention our impending move south? looks like it'll be sooner than i expected. our house here is "under contract" and we go to settlement very soon. VERY soon. as in i should be packing instead of blogging. but i'll let my hubby take the hit on this one. he needs to bring home more boxes. if all goes according to plan, we'll be outta here the day of settlement.
i'm kinda excited about seeing this place empty. i'm very excited about tossing some old cookware and getting new stuff after we move. who am i kidding? i can't wait to be rid of most of this crap. most of it is second-hand. some of it is good second-hand and some of it is REALLY good second hand. still, i'll be glad to dump most of it. it would be wonderful if we could leave it all and just go. but i've never been good at that. i have to take all my office stuff, my tons of books, my clothes... i think i'm gonna get rid of the dishes the MIL left behind. the colors aren't bad but the pattern is horricidal and they're too heavy. my corning ware is light and airy, both in style and design. it's my second set and i love it.
i've been neglecting my other calling(s). one of my gifts is seeing and knowing. usually things are brought to my attention in dreams. the frustrating part is interpreting them. some of my dreams are literal sources of information. but some are cryptic and need a bit (or a lot) of decoding. sometimes the meanings are immediately apparent. other times i can't figure them out until later, sometimes MUCH later. LOL and sometimes i don't know if i've interpreted correctly. i think it's because i don't have time to write them down like i used to. there's just so much other stuff to do... i have a backlog of to-do in here.
well, it'll either get done or it won't. i have to concentrate most of my energy on packing and moving as of today.
bed time.
ciao!
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3: tha weekend
originally posted Mon., Aug. 8, 2005; 4:24 a.m. EDT
i worked at a client's site friday evening and most of saturday. not physical labor but i was still beat when i got home. friday wasn't too bad. but saturday morning came too quickly. seemed like i had just gotten in bed and it was time to get up and outta here.
on another topic, my baby just doesn't know what to do when mama ain't home. i mean she's cool when she's hanging with her lil homies. but when mama wants to get outta here without her, to do MY thang, i get full-fledged drama. i love my lil pookie but can a sista get a break?! i'm "mommiiieeee" 24/7 and sometimes it feels like a life sentence. LOL
friday evening, fo' i left, i tole that lil miss not to call me less'n it was an emergency. and didn't she call to say she had eaten her apple and bananas and "what else can i eat mommy?" and didn't my 45-year old hubby call to tell me to "tell the baby to open her bedroom door" cuz people were coming to look at the house? and didn't i get several more calls from her lil tail asking what i was doing? what time i was coming home? could i bring her some food from waco bell? yes i sho did.
i did stay at my client's after i was done working, to run my mouth. by the time i left, i had been finished working for 'bout 45 minutes. i enjoy my client's company. she's cool. a dynamic sista who don't bite her tongue and don't take no mess off nobody. we need her for president y'all! '-)
work is only a 20 minute drive from home and i got here by 11 p.m. i'm sure i stayed up until after 1 a.m.
greeting the wee hours does it for me. there's something delicious about being up around 3 a.m., while most everybody else is snoring... i love seeing the tentative tendrils of daylight as they creep up to my kitchen window.
being up when the sun rises soothes me somehow.
getting up saturday morning at 8:30 was a testament to how much i love the work i'm doing.
the drive out was a breeze. it was a nice surprise because i really expected mucho traffic on that road on a saturday morning. but i'd expected the same for my drive out on friday in rush hour. didn't happen then either.
my client didn't have the air on and saturday was scheduled to really heat up. didn't bother me tho. as long as i'm not dripping with sweat, i can stand temps a bit warmer than most in summer. it's not the heat that bothers me, any way. it's the humidity i don't like.
sista-client and i chatted about work and personal as i began my projects; she left shortly after. alone, i settled into my get-it-done rhythm. a few hours later, i began to feel the effects of sleep-deprivation. i took a bathroom break, ate a few grapes and did a few stretches. i also felt a headache creeping in. possibly because i was sitting too close to the monitor.
my client returned a few hours later. even tho we talked a bit more, i actually finished my projects earlier than we'd anticipated.
tho i set my own hours, there's nothing like getting off work early on a weekend. if i was childless, i'd actually prefer working on weekends. i like working when most people aren't. something about shopping when others are at the office is a turn-on for me. also, i don't like crowds and i have a particular abhorrence for standing in long lines. it's all great incentive for being self-employed. '-)
my client told me one of my favorite brands of juice was on sale at the nearby market and i'd planned to stop in on my way home. but when i got in my car, it was soooooooooooo hot, all thoughts of going any where but home caught fire and fried in my head.
by the time i got home, my headache was in full effect. it felt like a migraine. i drank lots of water and a big mug of hot water and lemon juice. it didn't work right away and i felt like i'd feel better if i vomited (which i forced myself to do). then i laid down for a nap and couldn't sleep.
i told my daughter to tell hubby that i needed chicken noodle soup. the soup tasted weird. it was campbell's, a brand i like, but the noodles tasted like they were coated with something. maybe it was just me. or maybe it was wally world cuz that's where i got it from. i finally slept. (until 10 p.m.)
later i got a phone call from my godsister. i felt much better so i talked to her for a few hours. when my son came in exactly at curfew (surprise surprise!), i was still talking. it was after 3 a.m. when we rang off. my daughter came looking for me shortly after 6 a.m. she brought her pillow and sheet and camped on the couch while i completed some things online for our new house. (i love that virtual showroom!)
she and i watched a Bratz movie; hubby came down on his way to church and said we were invited to his cousin's for dinner. i knew i wouldn't make it. (nap time, ya know.)
i made cursory remarks as he left.
my daughter and i watched Garfield until i got sleepy. it was almost 10 a.m. by then. she went up with me but i'm not sure if she got in bed with me. i passed out a few seconds after my head touched the pillow. i vaguely remember her and hubby saying they were going to cousin's and they'd return for me before dinner. they called from there and i guess i sounded like a half-dead hag when i answered cuz no one came back for me. there was a plate waiting for me when i got up tho. that was nice of them.
on a more personal note, i'm looking for a day spa to luxuriate in. it's been a heck of a ride and i'm in need of rejuvenation! i have 2 in mind. both are new to the area. i'd heard of neither until i "found" them. both seem to cater to people of color; both are a few miles away, one about a 10-minute drive, the other about 15 minutes away. i need the works so this ain't gonna be cheap.
time for lights out. it's almost 4:30 and i got a lot to do later this morning. earlier than i would like...
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