Last Day of the Month, October 31st


This month is literally almost over. In fact, October has been a whirlwind. My family has already done Thanksgiving's menu and the guest list. This was the first year we had to have a guest list, seemingly the non-cookers want to invite extra folks. I guess I need to do a "20 reasons to be prepared to drink hard on Thanksgiving when the family gets together to eat". Somebody is going to get mad. I personally am going to chill. Me with 4 days off from both jobs is a feat to be enjoyed. So no worries.

My hair is doing nothing. It ain't locking. Doesn't seem to be growing a lot. It is boring right now and it doesn't help that on my last wash I just didn't feel like braiding it for a braid out. Now I wish I had. Oh well. My last retightening was short. She only had to do the back. She has challenged me to do two rows in the back. We will see. She also wants me to do a blurb for her website regarding taking her Retightening class and my ability to do it. Problem is I might have to explain I got issues due to my need to be a perfectionist and there was no way I was going to allow my hair to defeat me. We will see.

I put up a new food picture. Just so my sister can be mad, again. She hates when I send her pictures of new dishes. Drives her crazy. Don't know why though. LOL! The dish is Sweet Thai Basil Chicken and I got the recipe from Darius Williams' food blog, Everday Cookin . I tweaked it a bit. I used green bell peppers, because that is what I had, added some onions and sesame seeds as well. Yummy. It tastes even better the next day. In the comments I was asked about the recipe for the Chipote Shrimp and as soon as I can just sit quietly and do it I'll write it out. I have problems w/doing measurements. That is why I am not a baker.

Tuesday is the day. Make sure you make your voice heard and VOTE!

Have a great weekend!

Something to make you laugh...I think...


I told this story to my sister and one of my friends and it seemed to bring them laughter and tears at my expense.

First of all I am a bit neurotic about certain things. My car is one of them. I am the young old lady who will take her car to the shop for any minor thing and lawd don't let a light come on the dashboard. That is cause to ring the alarm.

On Saturday after running errands I notice I had a nail in my front passenger side tire. Not an ordinary nail but the kind you have to use a wrench to remove. Of course I got nervous, but it was late in the afternoon and I had to be home before my aunt got back. So I drove to one more stop and noticed I had another nail in the tire, just not embedded like the other nail. My tire wasn't losing air so I was like cool, I'll take my car to the Good.year place early Monday morning. Yeah that was my plan. I rode to book club w/my other friend and all was well Saturday.

On Sunday I went to my second job. Everything seemed okay until I went out to my car to get some money for food (I was starving.) I took a chance to check the tire and the tire was flat. I have factory rims so you wouldn't necessarily notice it. But my neurotic self did.

Let me say this too. I am assertive on my jobs and can have a strong personality, but when it comes to yard work, repairs and my car I become very dainty and ultra feminine. So no I do not know how to change a tire on my car. I have been known to stand by my car crying big crocodile tears until someone stops and does it for me. So my cousin called some folks and her best friend Miguel was supposed to come, of course he didn't, but she got someone else to do it. In the meantime, I am upset and furious. I can't concentrate because I need my transportation. I am so mad I get online to search for one of the local car dealerships and basically pick a car (that I could possibly afford) do a finance form and hit send. Yep, because of a flat tire, I was getting ready to get a brand new car. Seriously, I had to be delusional considering the state of the economy.

What was truly silly is that the tire is under warranty and I have roadside hazard and all that and it wasn't going to cost me the entire price of a new tire and if fixable, the repair is free. Yep. I was trippin'.

I ended leaving my car at the tire place because it is literally behind my part-time job, because the spare tire didn't seem to have enough air in it and I didn't want to take any chances. I know a Higher being was in control of this situation. So Monday, I drove to work after waiting an hour and a half to have the tire fixed for free. The nail which I saw first, had come out and seemingly if it had stayed put, the tire would not have flatten. Of course, my neurotic self keeps checking the tire to make sure it doesn't lose air.

When I told my sister and friend, they were like you were going to get a new car because of a tire? And in their fits of giggling my only response was I was tired and hungry. Their next question was have the car folks called me. Yep, via email and work phone and everyday since. I have caller ID so I am avoiding the calls, they'll stop calling soon, I hope. No I am not getting a car right now. Maybe in another year, but not right now. In the meantime, I will patch on my car. I really need to get a husband because next time I'll probably be signing the car forms...

Book Review: Orange Mint and Honey by Carleen Brice
Rating: 4.5

When I read the description of this novel in Essence, I knew it was a book I Had to read. In fact, I had hoped it would make the book club’s syllabus, but to no avail. However, it didn’t matter I was going to read this story anyway.

Shay Dixon is at crossroads in her life. She is in grad school and has reached a point where she can no longer do the work and she seems to be enveloped in veil of depression. With no job, and WWNSD (What Would Nina Simone Do?) moment, Shay calls her estranged mother and asks to stay with her for the semester she feels she needs to get back on track. Going to her mother is filled with despair because Shay’s issues with her mother are bone deep. She also will have to meet her little sister, Sunny. What meets Shay is a mother who is a recovering alcoholic who is so different from her childhood memories. Shay has to reconcile the two and in the meantime start to deal with own demons. With a cast of supporting characters, Shay learns to bury the past and live for the moment.

Carleen Brice has written a story that tells of a young girl’s pain and the ugliness of being a child of an alcoholic but she also shows the other side which is redemption. There were moments where I wanted to pop Shay for not recognizing some of us wish we had our mothers around to interact with, but I also knew her painful childhood had to be purged and when the climatic scene occurred I knew withholding such pain and anger could be toxic. The backdrop of the garden and references to orange mint and honey makes the story endearing as well as the well positioned Nina Simone and jazz songs gives a lasting quality to a book that will withstand for years to come. The characters were well-drawn, strong storyline and the pacing was wonderful. Emotional, honest and endearing are some of the adjectives to describe this novel. I like this sentence from the front cover: “Shay begins to realize that, like orange mint and honey, sometimes life tastes better when bitter is followed by sweet.” I highly recommend this story.

Where has the time gone?

October is half over and the holidays are fastly approaching. I have been busy it would seem. In fact, my book club's October meeting is this Saturday, it only seems like yesterday when we met with author, Angela Benson. By the way, the meeting was quite interesting. Kinda noisy since all but one of my members attended. Try reigning in 13 women. It ain't easy. Angela also sports a nice long set of Sisterlocks, as well.

I retightened the front of my hair and lets see for the left side it took 6 hours and the right side took about 5 1/2 hours. Yep, took a minute but it was the first time I did the entire front of my head. I am hoping (Please Carmen tell me I'll get faster.) I'll get faster as I do it more. No marrying of locks and when I felt it I was able to back out. I tried to not work on my head tired. I am also a night person so spending the 6 hours on my head Sunday night early Monday morning worked for me. Go me! When I finished I had to moisturize my hair because it felt just plain ole dry. Yuck! I'll start tackling some of the back, which I have done around the edges next week before I go to my retightening. It shouldn't take more than the usual time because she want have much to retightening, but she will have to combine some more locks in the front. Too thin for me. I retightened them, but they will eventually break because they are so thin.

Well, life for me is going well, no worries mon! Here are a couple of pictures for you to see what going on with my hair. Not much though. I'll hopefully be back with a more substantial post later this month to include some recent reads.