2 be Bliss, as I dance along the road to Nirvana...

friday was a busy day for my daughter and i. we woke up later than we'd hoped but still had time to get everything done. after we got showered and shod, we headed out into the heat. it wasn't super hot cuz there was a breeze blowing. a warm breeze but still, it was blowing. we fought mid-day traffic to get about a mile down the road to the bank. i hate banking on fridays but what's a sista to do? that's pay day for most folk and we're on that list. we survived the parking lot intact and tipped into the bank, where we were warmly greeted by the personable bank employees. tho the parking lot was full, there weren't too many folk in the bank. that was weird cuz the bank is not next door to a bar and it's miles away from stores. *shrug* it took me about 5 minutes to fill out the deposit slip, complete my transaction, and head back to my car. on the way out i held the door for the person behind me and noticed it was the SUV driver who tailgated ...

"you can pick your nose but you can't pick your relatives." - (i don't remember who said this) some people you gotta love with a looooooong-handled spoon... i'm not sure what was going on at a relative's house at 1 a.m. but what evva it was, it ain't have nothing to do with me. i have a relative who is in a "challenging" marriage. she chooses to stay and i choose to stay out of her business. before she got married, while she was dating her husband, there have been a few "emergency incidents" over the years. family members -- me included -- stepped in to help. after things quieted down, the relative chose to return to the husband. fine. we all make our own choices and have to live with the consequences. for many years after the relative married, she and i lived several hundred miles apart. now we live practically in the same neighborhood. up until now, i've gotten probably one "emergency" call. i choose not...

it's rare that i talk about my momma here. in fact, she's probably only gotten an honorable mention. my momma and i are friends now. but there have been times in our lives when we have been on non-speaking terms. various reasons... probably the age-old momma and daughter drama. over the years, as i've traipsed various spiritual paths, i've come to embrace the knowledge that i get a lot more peace on the flip side if i just let my momma talk and limit my responses to the requisite "oh yeah?", "whaaaaaat?", and "uh huh". adding my two cents worth to the mix will only kick the conversation into high drama. then i's betta get a parachute cuz the conversation (and my momma's voice) will soar into the stratosphere. you see, my mother has limited vision and can't see much beyond her fingertips. that includes other people's opinions. to be fair, she will occasionally listen to another person's point of view but only lon...

the cool folks over at the 5 minutes for mom blog are having a July 4th Giveaway. they have some really cool prizes, including a weekend getaway. i entered two (2) of the contests and i'm praying to win the one i really want and need. "-) go check it out y'all. "-) July 4th Giveaway at 5 minutes for mom thanks Mama Zen ! .

One night my daughter and I were in wally world, picking out the appropriate congratulatory greeting cards for friends and family members with upcoming birthdays, anniversaries, etc. 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 p...

decent. the upstairs neighbors are a bit clunky but mostly quiet. thank God they are much quieter than the previous neighbors. the previous neighbors had a little boy who needed to be tied to a chair. he would run the length of the apartment, pausing long enough to tie bricks to his feet, climb a piece of furniture, then jump to the floor. what a nifty trick for one so small. several times a day i thought our kitchen cabinets would fall to the floor in protest. they moved out less than a month after we moved in. amen. we never hear the young lady next door but we see her sometimes. she's nice, seems quiet. she says hello and smiles when we see her. the people across the hall share part of a wall with us but we never hear them either. we see them less than we see our next door neighbor. the people downstairs are friendly. we only hear them when they come outside on their patio. they have a little girl who is several years younger than our daughter. their little one is ti...

it's summer here and it sho is hot y'all. not that i don't love the heat. it's the humidity i could do without. probably means i'll be moving back to the desert some day. yep, some day... i'm really bad about drinking enough water and i once read that a high percentage of women are dehydrated and don't know it. i'm in the top 1%, surely. even in summer, i don't drink as much water as i should. but i do drink other stuff. some of it is stuff with water in it so maybe that counts? any way, here are my 10 favorite drinks (in exact order) : hot tea - tazo's passion cold bellini peach tea odwalla's pomegranate lemonade (with a bit of extra water cuz it's a little too sweet) cold tea sweetened with lemon and sugar almost-tart lemonade dr. pepper virgin pina colada shirley temple with extra cherries a cup of hot water with half a lemon squeezed in an ice cold heineken .

my daughter has a fit when i go without panties. she thinks it's gross. i think it's medically necessary at times. and, after all the problems i've been having with finding comfortable panties, it's becoming a feel-good habit. some days it's just too hot for a gazillion layers: panties, slip, skirt. some days panty lines are just too obvious and down right ugly . some days i just don't feel like finding a matching set. and some days my cooter just needs some air. i'm sure i'm not the only one who goes without panties sometimes. am i??? .

my hubby has been really firing on all cylinders lately. i haven't had to remind him to take out the trash in ages; he's been doing his own laundry (tho overloading the washer and dryer but those are rants, thus being saved for another day); he's been cooking yummy dinners and (mostly) cleaning up the kitchen after; he's been taking off his shoes at the door and putting them in the "yucky-shoe" box i left there for him. but those are examples of obedient hubby , not mind-reader hubby . mind-reader hubby is the one who got me totally cool birthday gifts without me having to tell him. or maybe that's the after-all-these-years-i-finally-remember-what-you-like hubby . okay, i've got it. here's an example of mind-reader hubby : we found a totally delicious juice at our local sam's (pomegranate lemonade by odwalla) that we all love love love. i brought 2 medium-sized jugs home on saturday. by sunday night, both were gone. my daughter ...

please pray for my ex-husband's happiness and healing. he seems to be going through a hard time right now. thanks everyone. .

i feel like a total idiot y'all. as part of our ongoing effort to reduce our overall wastefulness, i have installed power strips at various locations around the house. the theory (and our lower electric bill seems to prove it true) is that appliances left plugged in -- although turned off -- still use energy because they are plugged in. plugging the appliances into power strips is supposed to stop the energy leaks when the power strips are turned off. got that? okay. cool. me too. well why didn't i remember that i have to turn the power strip back ON to charge the darned cell phones? i plugged those phones in about 2 hours ago and promptly forgot them as i went about my normal day: laundry, filling out/scanning/printing rebate forms, preparing other items to be mailed out today, reminding my daughter of her days' chores, etc. i just thought to look at the darned phones and realized that one of them should have had an indicator light showing but didn't. u...

go back and number posts that aren't numbered. when i went to my feed page, i noticed that only some posts appear and those are in random order. WTF? .

hey y'all, i signed up for the crazy hip blog mamas ring. i've never been part of a ring before so i'm not exactly sure how it works. i'm still getting the gist of it. mostly i'm checking out the pages of other members. some of them are sooooooooo cool. any way, i stumbled my way onto the actual crazy hip blog mamas blog and i saw that i've been missing out on good stuff . they have all kinds of fun things for us crazy hip mamas to participate in. so here's where i get on: something i made that i was REALLY proud of. i've been making baskets for about a year now. i found the directions online when i was looking for cool arts and crafts stuff that we could do as part of our home schooling activities . it would have to be relatively simple and easy stuff tho cuz although i read and write pretty darned good and i've always scored off the charts in reading comprehension and on all my standardized exams, somehow i can never quite follow the wri...

i took 2 doses of the remedy last night before i fell asleep on the couch. i woke up around 3 and drank some peppermint tea (plain) then headed to the real bed. i felt okay when i woke up this morning. no itching but my stomach was a bit on the sour side. (again!) i drank another cuppa peppermint tea (with lemon and stevia this time) and ate a little bit. the itchy feeling surfaced again so i took another dose of my remedy. the itching has subsided again, thank God. i think it's time for more detoxing but i really want a vanilla ice cream cone. is it safe?! well any way, we're headed to the pool for a lil sun and water. but i might betta sit in the shade. i don't think rashy people are sposed to sit in the sun. .

grrrrrr! a few hours ago i felt my face itching. i was paying attention this time so i knew it was the beginning of a hives attack. last time this happened, i'd been up for about 36 hours straight and i ate something i shouldn't have. i was just about to go to bed when i felt my face itching. i was tired and sleepy so i didn't pay it much attention. i only wanted to finish up my project and get to a bed. pretty soon my face was itching to beat the band. i stopped at a mirror on the way to bed and horror of horrors! my face looked red and whelp-y. um... okay... my skin is medium brown. red whelps were scary enough to make me cry. i put a wet washcloth on my face but that only helped a bit. in fact, it made the itching feel... itchy-er, in a weird metallic way. (i still don't know what the hell that was about.) i didn't get much sleep because every few hours the itching woke me up and had to get out of bed to re-wet the washcloth. several hours later, my f...

there was a time when i didn't like cherries. cuz i'd never tasted one, you see. i'm not sure why i had the idea that cherries were nasty little balls of mouth rot. then one day i tasted one and i was happily surprised at how good it was. i've been a cherry girl since. :-) i know i've tasted bing and mt. ranier cherries. i'm not sure what others i've tasted. i've just finished a big mug of cherries. most of them were juicy and sweet but some weren't. some were too soft (overripe) and some were bitter. :-( i got them last weekend at the farmer's market. maybe i'll get more this weekend. not sure. i'd like to get locally grown this time but i don't think we grow cherries in this part of the country. .

from my hubby: my favorite candy, an ergo pen, a ream of paper you did good honey! two thumbs up. the remains of my birthday cake a gift from een goede vriend

it's the over-the-hill birthday y'all. funny, cuz i don't feel a day over 20 and i don't look a day over 30. '-) maybe i was asleep all that time and there was some alien life force living in my body and it just decided to leave last night, leaving me feeling young and carefree. but that must have been wishful thinking cuz when i opened my eyes i had a "tween" daughter and a husband and i was living in a messy but beautiful apartment in a place not my hometown. hmmm... why do the alien invasion thing, mr. or ms. alien, if you're gonna drop the person off with no warning? any way, back to my real-time life. i woke up shortly before dawn to see that my daughter and i had both fallen asleep in the living room, me on the couch and she on the floor. we both had blankets (cuz my hubby needs it cool so he can sleep well) but neither of us was covered. it was all so surreal and dreamy but i know it really happened... my hubby leaned over th...

at the suggestion of a fellow blogger (thanks shoush !), this year i'm making a list of welcome birthday gifts. i'm sure someone out there will be kind enough to pass it on to him cuz i'm not kidding when i say he knows about a third of the people on the planet by direct association and the rest thru six degrees of separation. i'm just joking y'all. no, not about how many people my hubby knows. i'm kidding about the pass it on part. those who know me in real time know i am anything but shy. i'll tape the list on the bathroom mirror where he'll be sure to see it. (if i give it to him in his hand, he'll lose it.) my birthday is this week so i'll have to print it tonight. :-) and if any among you is so inclined, please feel free to purchase anything from the list and mail to me at my PO Box, with the birthday card of your choice. you can e-mail me for the address. -:) there are links are for those of you who want to see what i'm talking a...

my hubby will be surprised that we got him father's day gifts this year. he usually gets me some small stuffed animal and a card for mother's day and/or valentine's day and a card with an equally inappropriate gift for my birthday. yeah i know, i know. he's doing his best and it's all done with love. but here's the thing: i have told him a gazillion times NOT to buy me gifts. in all the years i've known him (14), i can recall 2 gifts he's gotten me that i loved. one was a stephen king book and the other was a brooch that i've yet to wear. i'm more of a practical person. please don't buy me any jewelry (cuz i've got lots already; the good stuff is locked away and the fun stuff i make myself). similarly, don't buy me anything to wear. i'm hard to fit and i have a style that's not always off-the-rack. shoes: ditto. i like books, pencils, paper, pens, saline solution, essential oils, sesame oil, sea salt... going out to...

hey folks. i've been up for too long. i did have a few dozes between 9 p.m. friday night and now, but not many and certainly not enough . but i've been doing this off and on for years. the funny part is that once i get past the reallyreally sleepy nod , i can stay up for almost another 12 hours or so. weird. today's bliss list: return the non-working curling iron to TJ Maxx (shudda never got it any way; we don't DO curling irons round here) return webcams, mics, and vacuum bags to WalMart (just bought the webcams and mics yesterday. tested last nite. the cam wasn't too bad but the headset/microphone all-in-one sucked. hubby bought the vacuum bags about a month ago. of course there's no trace of a receipt so they'll hopefully just load up the refund on my gift card.) get my food from my grannie's; left it there yesterday in anticipation of a guest who likes to eat a lil too much of my hard-earned produce and other assorted organic goodies ca...

right now i have a taste for cheerios and bananas, a breakfast we used to cherish and chow down on as kids. too bad i won't get to enjoy it today. for one, we don't have any cheerios. for another, we don't have any bananas. even if we did, bananas usually give me a headache now so i don't eat them too often. every so often i'll chop up one in a bowl of vanilla ice cream. maybe the gas i get from eating the ice cream cancels out the banana headache cuz that's the only time i can eat bananas with no problem.

guess what i saw on the road friday afternoon y'all? i saw an old car up on a trailer, being driven along the highway. i could see that it was a police car but it looked like an OLD police car and that was what caught my eye. i did a double take with that same eye (the other was on the road y'all; i'm a good driver!) and saw that it read "Mayberry Sheriff" on the side. i almost peed my pants. we all know who "Mayberry Sheriff" is right?! it's none other than Sheriff Andy Taylor, lil Opie's paw and ole Aint Bee's nephew. just so happens that "The Andy Griffith Show" was one of my favorites t.v. shows when i was a little girl. and despite the fact that i never saw one lil girl who looked like me on that show, i wanted to live in Mayberry. maybe it's cuz i thought andy was so nice and handsome and i wanted a daddy just like him. or was it cuz mayberry was as different and as far from tha hood as i thought i could get,...

i'm thinking about getting one for my upcoming birthday. i thought about the belly button but heard that takes a long time to heal. i thought about my nose but heard it's REALLY painful. those are the only 2 locations i'd consider for new holes in my body so i guess i won't be getting it done. i think nose piercings are cool and i love the look of a small hoop in the nose. but the thought of unnecessary pain is not a friendly one. maybe i'll try a clip on for my nose. just a thought... .

i forgot to mention that i've lost a few pounds . i wasn't doing the apple fast specifically to lose weight. rather, my main goal was cleansing and flushing toxins. but i did wonder if this fast could slim me down a bit and if so, how much in what amount of time. i didn't get on the scale monday but i did tuesday. i was surprised to see that i'd lost about 3 pounds. and when i got on wednesday afternoon, i was down by 8. now, a sista was kinda shocked cuz it's been a loooooooooooooooong time since i've lost an ounce . i thought about it and i've decided i'm gonna do the 3-day apple fast again next month (probably after i pig out on "independence" day) to see what the results are. if they're favorable, i'll do it again in august. that means i've gotta get on a regular (at least semi-regular) gym schedule . i do NOT want to lose the weight and keep the extra skin. yuck-o! i want to get back to my yoga and pilates classes too...

hey good people. i guess that last post got a lil crazy somewhere 'round the middle. i'm feeling maudlin and i needed something to cheer me up. hmph! it didn't work. my daughter made me laugh earlier but now she's sneaking in the last of bernie mac fo' i make her bring her lil tail to bed. (i'm using her room while she watches telly cuz the hubby is in bed in our room and i don't feel like lighting up my office.) i'm tired y'all. and sad. and cranky. so i'm blogging and listening to my mood music. it's the "chilltime" playlist that i just created: carly simon, steve winwood, james taylor, seal, india.arie, zap mama, phoebe snow, enya, adiemus, jefferson starship, and elton john. i was listening to the bee gees (i love their greatest hits CDs) and chaka khan earlier. they didn't do it for me this time. i need to cry and i'm sure the "chilltime" playlist will help me along. tears are cleansing both physically a...

well folks, today i fell off the apple wagon. :-( but i got right back on and i'm gonna ride for an extra day. the day started out well. i had my hot water with lemon juice and my apple for breakfast. then my daughter and i headed out to a movie. (there are several theaters around the country that offer free family movies on tuesdays and wednesdays, most notably regal and amc. go check it out y'all! i'll post the link at the end of this.) we got there about 45 minutes early, got our tix, then headed to find my daughter's friend who works at the mall. it was weird being in the mall with most of the stores closed. starbucks was open, of course. when we got back to the theater, we walked in and the smell of buttered popcorn floored me. i am a popcorn fanatic and it was just more than i could withstand y'all. so i gave in. i figured it wouldn't hurt to have a small bag. and since a small soda came with it (the kids pack, discounted to $3 from $5.50 in honor ...

watermelon watermelon watermelon white or green seedless grapes peaches cherries strawberries (which i'm not supposed to eat any more) grapefruit lemons limes okay so it's really only 7 fruits, but i really really really love watermelon . '-) .

http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA359516 a link to an apple oat-bran muffin recipe (that i wish i could eat right now!) http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/RCP00191 a link to the tart cherry-apple crunch (sounds sooooooo yummy; i'll be making something similar after i'm all fasted out.) http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/RCP00192 a lot more apple info than you might want to know (but might wanna read any way, just in case) http://www.whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=15

i'm on my 3rd apple of the day. while i love certain fruits, apples haven't been on my top 5 list (or even my top 10) for too many years to remember. over the past few years, i've eaten a few at times of extreme hunger. at those times the apples have tasted really good. the part i like least on the apple is the skin. yeah i know, i know. that's where most of the nutrients are right? but because i'm fasting and these are organic apples, i'm eating the skin. i forgot what it is the skin does for a body, but i'll go check it out in a few. in the mean time, let's assume it does something wonderful and fantastic. i'm watching "everybody loves raymond". ray, his brother, and the dad are eating potato chips. now i'm craving chips and cheese, one of my favorite snacks from waaaaaaaaaaaaay back. :-( .

i just read this article The Tao of Making Money on a website about money stuff. the article is about fake hair. it's kinda funny but scary too. if you've ever wondered where your weave and/or extensions come from, you might find out by reading that article. LOL

it was pretty good. :-) and i've been drinking water too. smart water, which my daughter and i love. :-) some people say there is no difference in the taste of bottled water and sink water, or in bottled waters. i beg to differ. there are several bottled waters that taste like the water from the city/municipal water plants that they come from. i learned from a relative who works for a city water company. he told me that they sell water to a BIG name soft drink company that bottles the water then sells it. i've tasted that water and it is not on my top 10 list of choice beverages. so of course i'm not saying that all bottled water is better for you than all sink water. i guess it just depends on where you live. and what you like. on another topic, my headache is subsiding. on still another note, i've noticed that my nails have been growing noticeably since i added the zinc supplement. .

do you like the bollywood-style of indian movies? i do like some of them. however, i would love to see movies about indian people and culture that feature more in-depth plots. a sista can't live on singing and dancing alone! '-) seriously though, my interest in learning about people from "other" cultures runs very deep. i say "other" to mean just about anyone who's life experience has been different from my own. i love to meet people from all walks of life, all areas of the globe, and with diverse perspectives. that said, i'm happy to say i've found a blog that keeps up with the evolution of bollywood movies, along with a myriad of other topics: http://keralaarticles.blogspot.com it's an interesting read. go check it out. :-) .

i think it's time for more water. i'm not particularly hungry tho. maybe i'll eat an apple in another 30 minutes or an hour. .

i wish! what i learned yesterday: i should have taken extra apples with me. not that i was feeling hungry. but this IS an apple fast, not a no-food fast. i have a bad habit of going almost all day without eating. then towards the end of the day, i'll start eating. if i'm up late, i'll eat every few hours until i go to bed. it's not always stuff that's bad for me but i know i really shouldn't be eating in the wee hours. just like i shouldn't be up all night. but i digress... back to the topic. i can't expect to get the full benefits of the apple fast if i don't eat enough apples. right? so i've already had my hot water with lemon juice (8 ounces of water and the juice from half a lemon) and i've already had a small apple. i remembered to remove the sticker this time but i left it sticking on the counter top. hahahaha but it's cool. seeing as how i'm the only person who cleans up around here, i'll be the one to get it up...

you might wanna read yesterday's "oh what a beautiful morning..." before you read this one, so you can see the to-do list. but here's what really happened on day 1: woke up before 8; thought i heard someone banging at my front door! there was no one there so maybe it was my imagination or someone was banging at someone else's front door? i had me hot water and lemon (yummy!) did some blogging tried to order someting online and my laptop went to a blue screen then shut off (hmmm... i think that was a sign from the universe that i wasn't supposed to be ordering anything online yesterday.) got the little person out of bed and made sure she was showered and dressed before i got showered and dressed grabbed an apple for the road then got an extra cuz the little person said she wanted one too tried to leave but kept having "i forgot the..." moments left around 11:10 ate my apple and started a small bottle of water as i drove to the little on...

it's one of the smells i hate. i also don't like the sounds associated with cutting grass. at least not when they're very near by. it seems that no matter the season, our landscapers cut the grass at least twice a week. whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy? when they cut anywhere near our windows, i have to seal us up like sardines in here. the smell of the grass is bad enough. but the little things that are disturbed by the mowers float right up into our windows and that's worse. my throat gets itchy then my eyes feel swollen and my nose gets outta whack too. i guess these are allergy symptoms? and the kindling for the fire: every parking space around--you guessed it--either backs to a grassy area or is so close that grass on the car (or in the car if you've inadvertently left your windows open) is inevitable. it's all just too darned annoying! in my next life, the beach will be my backyard. :-) oh crap! they're right under my windows right now! gotta ...

it started out kinda rough but now it's fine. i was awakened by what i thought was the sound of someone banging at my front door. i'm not sure if it was real or not but there was no one at the door when i got there. *shrug* it wasn't yet 8 and i'd gone to bed late -- see last post -- but i was already up so no point in lying back down was there? i did a few wake-up thingies then lay back across the bed with the secret life of bees. the birds were singing sweetly and i was having a good cry cuz that lily is so funny and silly and just plain young. then i heard voices outside. i knew it was the indian family below us. they have quite an active life outside on their patio and the grassy area surrounding it. i like to listen to the lilt of their words. for me it's like listening to music. i don't have to know the language or the words being said if i like the other components of the song. then the male voice actually began to sing and it was wonderful. y...

i am a firm believer in intuition and intuitive living. right now, my body is definitely telling me it's time for an overhaul. it's actually been telling me for some time. i've been ignoring it for too long and i can see the consequences. i've been doing more research on the 3-day apple fast and i've decided to give it a go. after attending our sunday spiritual sustenance service, we stopped at the nearby healthy foods store. i bought 16 organic apples (3 different types, 2 green because i don't really fancy the red). i figured 5 apples a day and lots of water should be enough to fill me up. if i run out of apples, i'll have to make a mad dash to one of our local grocers that carries organic produce. a few of them do but since the store nearest our "church" is a healthy foods store and we were already in the neighborhood, i figured it was better to get them there. so everyone, i'll be starting my cleanse tomorrow. this should be interesting...

it's kinda late for me to be eating but i'm hungry. i don't like to eat after dark cuz i know it's not really a good practice. but i do it sometimes. i try to eat fruit at those times tho, cuz i know it's easy to digest. except i usually like nuts with my fruit. something about the crunching... it feels good to my teeth, i guess. so i'm gonna open a can of pineapple tidbits, chop up some watermelon, add a few dashes of pecans, then sprinkle on some good ole oat bran to help it all flush properly. speaking of flushing, i was reading that edgar cayce book earlier. talk about a man before his time and you're speaking of edgar cayce. his nutritional advice was right on the money. i just happened to skip ahead a few chapters to the good part. i saw something about a 3-day apple fast that will do a body some good. i've gotta do a bit more research on that. not that i don't think it's legit cuz i do. if a person can totally abstain from food and...

with tom cruise, penelope cruz, cameron diaz, kurt russell, and jason lee i'm watching it for the 3rd time. the first time, i thought it was weird. a good movie, but still weird. the second time i got it a bit more, and found some parts extremely funny. ("tech support!") and now, the third time, i just realized the sadness of it. wonder what i'll see in the 4th viewing? (not any time soon tho...) groovy soundtrack too. :-) .

it's what i'm reading now. i guess i'm about half way thru it now. i like this one. ;o) a good read for me is a book that i can't wait to get back to after i put it down, no matter the genre or the author. i hardly ever have time to read fiction any more. usually i'm reading self-help , occupational education, educational materials for home schooling, or other non-fiction . i'm not sure what's next on my fiction reading list for summer. i do own lots of unread fiction but i like to think i'm saving those for a time when i don't have library access, like if i ever take an extended vacation or if the library ever gets an incurable communicable disease and can't have visitors any more. today i picked up a book about edgar cayce and for the second time, your money or your life , by joe dominguez and vicki robin. .

we had a reeeeeeeeeee-lee bad storm today. i thought it was a hurricane for real y'all. the rain was coming down like the emptying of a holy keg, the wind was blowin' like a freight train haulin' butt outta detroit, and there was NO visibility AT ALL. it was horrible and very frightening because we were out driving in it. we were taking the kids to one of those fun, all-you-can-eat places to celebrate the end of the school year. i had my double blinkers on but it got so bad that we had to pull over for a while to wait it out. then i realized i'd left our windows open at home. as soon as it slacked up enough, i high tailed it back home to clean up the mess. but thankfully, there wasn't one. i was shocked. what with the way that rain was coming down and the way the wind was blowing, i just knew that everything close to a window would be ruined. well y'all, God fooled me. there was just a little water on the window sills and one side of my daughter's cu...

okay, so i know i shouldn't have done it. but the insect people were getting on my nerves with their sometime-y customer service. that's how i ended up with the VeryWise people like to inquire about our hearing. uh-uh-uh! bad idea. first of all, the insect people require no contracts. and for a relatively low fee, you can talk till the cows come home, text til the 2nd coming of christ, and call folk from coast to coast. the only way you pay the bugs extra $$ is if you request a service that's not included in the basics i just listed. i was happy not having to count my minutes, had no troubles with my handset, and was happy with the bill. then i moved and the handset was only good for every other word while in the house. then the batt-tree began to need a fix every few hours. grrrrrrrrrrr! i went to the insect customer service and got a rep who seemed to be having a bad day. it pissed me off and i didn't feel like the drama. so i did a lil research online. b...

i've had a lot of near misses in my life. my most recent one took place last month, in our local super-sized malwart. i was walking down a main aisle and as i turned the corner, i slid-walked into a puddle of unknown liquid. talk about a shock to the system! my mind went into "what the hell?" mode and my body did a fight-or-flight, grab-at-the-air attempt to stop me from falling and breaking my ever-loving neck. thankfully, i survived with all body parts and pieces in their original locations. however, i did feel a few aches and strains as i continued my shopping trip. now, back in the day, i'd have cut the trip short with a call to my lawyer. but the older i get, the less time i have for such distractions. yeah, i probably could have got a nice lil hefty sum for my troubles. but i just didn't feel like all the bother. i had my grandma and my youngin' with me. i just wanted to finish gettin' my stuff then get the heck outta dodge. and i was gonna...

why is it that sitting out in the sun makes me drowsy? does that happen to you too? my daughter was at the pool swimming while i sat on the sidelines with my grandma. i don't know if grandma got sleepy but i could barely keep my eyes open. part of the problem may have been that i was up late that night before and got up early that day cuz i had a ton of things to do. like now. i should be in bed cuz i need to be leaving home by 10 a.m. tomorrow. (?) but here i am blogging. and now there's a good movie on (that i've seen before). the stars are morgan freeman and gene hackman. morgan freeman is law enforcement and gene hackman is a wealthy attorney who's a suspect in the murders of several girls/women. i think the two are friends but i can't remember. i think it just came on too. my lips are poked out. i've gotta get some sleep cuz i'll be driving. it's cool tho. my body doesn't seem to need as much sleep as it used to. and there's alway...

people are funny. why is it that people don't remember the things they do? selective memory? too much to drink last night? told so many lies that it's hard to keep up? today i saw a person i know but hadn't talked to in a few months because of how our last conversation went. by his/her tone of voice, i felt like s/he was annoyed that i called. and his/her words were kinda inappropriate. so i decided that would be the last time i called that person. s/he was a fairly new acquaintance and the last thing i need is a friend who sounds annoyed when i call and says words i wouldn't say to a person i considered a friend. in his/her defense he/she may have had a lil too much to drink by the time i rang. from previous observations, i'm pretty sure this person could drink otis (from the andy griffin show) under the table so i wouldn't be surprised if intoxication WAS the case. so any way, at our chance meeting, the person made mention of me not returning a vo...

the other day we met a group of ladies who were members of a group called P.E.O. International. http://www.peointernational.org/ they offer loans and scholarships for girls and women to pursue higher education. .

today we had dinner at a family member's house. it was a pretty simple meal: baked chicken, rice, and (overcooked) green veggies. my daughter--who loves flavorful and spicy foods--kept pouring salt on her meat and adding butter to her rice. two of the adults (including the one who cooked) fussed at my daughter for using too much salt and butter on her food. my daughter gave me a sideways glance then rolled her eyes. after dinner, we had cake and ice cream for dessert. some people had two helpings. after we left, my daughter said the meat was tasteless and the rice was dry. she was almost right. but it was nice for me, that i didn't have to cook today. .

i'm watching this show that only comes on in the weeeeeee hours. i can't remember the name of it but i'll find out when the commercial break comes, then i'll tell y'all. but this woman, roz stevenson, is an african-american woman who's a publicist. and she's an older sista too. of course i've never heard of her before now. why is it that the best-kept secrets are secrets?! LOL oh, the show is called urban style. it's a show about successful african americans. and it only comes on at this time of morning. just like a similar show about successful latino americans. hmmmmm... looks like people of color just can't get too many prime time spots these days. 'less they're buffooning and what not... .

i used to love snickerdoodles. now i only like them. i found some homemade ones at the farmer's market we frequent. the taste is similar but the texture is a lot different. i guess that's good, in the scheme of things. i'm gonna lose a few pounds and snickerdoodles will be on my "few-and-far-between" list. not that i eat them often. this was only my second time buying them and i know it will be awhile before i buy more. we also got strawberries, watermelon, lemons, apples, and corn on the cob. .