Happy Monday...Randoms

Sunflowers

I haven’t felt like blogging. And it isn’t because I haven’t done much in the last couple of weeks, but because I haven’t felt like putting fingers to the keyboard. I have been commenting on other folk’s blogs, so I guess it is only befitting that I finally grace you with some overdue randoms. Hopefully, this will ignite my writing mojo so I can write an editor’s note for my book club newsletter. So here we go, sit back get you some coffee or a drink because it is a long one.


If you live in the south or in Montgomery, we have had a summer of pure rain. Seriously, it rained 24 out of the 31 days in July. And August we just completed almost 2 weeks of hit and miss rain but it has been mostly hit. I can’t tell you the number of days I was soaking wet by the time I got into the house. Give you an example on August 13th I had to go take a Servsafe test for the second job. No biggie, it was bright and sunny when I got to the venue, but baby it wasn’t 30 minutes in when the sky opened and the rains of a torrential variety let loose. I forgot I had left my windows cracked. Seriously. Ugh! And a couple days later while on my main job I left my windows cracked because I park in the parking garage. Well, the sky opened up again and rained and rained. When I left that afternoon it was still drizzling, but where I parked there was a leak in the garaged and yeah you guessed it, my seat had a puddle of rain in it. My car was soaked. This is how you realize how damn dirty your car really is when everything is damp and dirt is all over your hands and clothes. I was miserable driving the 10 minutes home in wet car seat. It took two days to dry my car completely out, because with no sun and nothing but rain my car stayed damp. So I drove with towels on my seat. Very uncomfortable. So this rain isn’t giving me life, but it sure has disrupted mine.

My out-of-control grass and hedges

Due to the excessive rain, my plants and my garden have suffered. My lovely Portulaca (Moss Roses) has been basically killed because of the rain, the poor plant it is hanging by a thread. It is one of those plants that has succulent leaves, well with the rain it couldn’t hold all the water and the leaves started falling off. A mess. I just gave up on the garden because too much rain was causing too much damage on the tomatoes and cucumbers. Frankly, I was getting too scared to pick things out of the garden because ya’ll know I am scared of worms. One morning, I went outside a little later than normal to water the plants because the rain was slow to come that day, and I had been telling my sister something was eating my tomatoes because I find them on the carport looking like something had eaten them. She of course said rats/mice. I was like no it is birds because they want let my sunflowers have life because they are eating the damn seeds because I see them all over the carport. Well on this particular morning, guess what I found? A mama cat and a kitten enjoying the fruits of my labor. I am sorry you cat lovers, but I do not like cats. I am not scared of them like Mrs. TDJ, but I don’t like em. I was like shoo and get out of there. The kitten was all slow and the mama just left her baby, what kinda parenting? But I now knew the culprit to the tomato eating mystery. Anyway, this weekend when my yard guy came to finally cut my overgrown lawn and hedges, I had them cut all close to the raised garden because that baby is done. Dunzo. (My yard alone was systematically bringing the property values down because the grass was thigh high, just kidding I think.) The rain is going to have an effect on your veggies this year because the excess rain hurt them. So be prepared. I froze and gave away a lot of my tomatoes. So marinara sauce and tomatoes for my soup are available, because I ain’t trying to buy tomatoes out of the store because of the cost.

This is ridiculous...Over it!

Those holes are from roly polies, they are voracious this year.  A worm or two, but mostly roly polies...

Sunflowers will make you smile, but if you look on the ground you can see the discarded seeds of the birds. 

I did manage to make a few bouquets with my flowers, but I know next year plant more flowers. I miss my big, vibrant bouquets.

Probably the last bouquet...

A week ago I was reminded why I must have peace in all aspects of my life. I was on my 2nd job and the owner basically lost his ever loving mind. He basically went ham on the workers and tried to do the same to me. First of all, I am too old to be hollered at and told to stand somewhere and don’t move. All the counting in the world wasn’t going to keep me from handling him. Basically, I told him I wasn’t going to micro-manage these kids and I wasn’t going to argue and act a nut because he is having a temper tantrum. As I told my sister, “He forgot I have 3 degrees to his 2. I am here as a courtesy to his father, not him.” I was so mad. I haven’t been that mad in a long time. I was so mad it carried on through the entire weekend. I counted. Recounted. Counted again. I couldn’t shake the mad. The kids were excited that I “handled him”. Whatever, it shouldn’t have gone down like that. I talked to him later that night about the situation and told him with new people working acting in the manner in which he did makes it difficult to keep workers. You can get mad, but you damn sure better show it in a professional manner. Acting like a recalcitrant child gets you nothing, but hostile workers. Were the kids wrong in the situation? Yes, but it was done accidental by one of the new cooks still training. Instead of him listening or waiting until he calmed down he responded in a derogatory and demeaning manner and that isn’t going to cut it with me. I was thisclose to quitting. However, someone has to protect the kids. FYI – even his wife has cautioned him on his behavior.

So as I still blistered from that Friday night diabolical, I had a 50th birthday party to go to. A former book club member was having a big shindig to celebrate. The best part in my opinion was the scholarship she awarded to a student in attendance in honor of her mother who passed exactly a month to the day of the party. I went to get a glass of wine because I was still mad from Friday and when the bartender pulled the bottle out and started to twist the cap off of the Merlot, I declined the glass. I ain’t a highfaluting person, but I need my wine to have a cork. That is all.

I went to the party looking all staid and cute, but when I got home and had a drink I looked too different. See?

 Before I left...

Then the Amaretto Sour when I got home...

After the drink...

Just kidding, I didn't have the drink until I went to bed. My hair was falling out of the bun or whatever I had...so I worked it!

I haven’t been doing a lot of cooking either. Not feeling inspired. Rain man, rain.

Lala likes to scream Aunt Nana in the background when she sees my face on her mom’s phone. However, if you put her on the phone she says absolutely nothing. And I do believe she thinks she is a rock star. Check the pictures.

No photos please!  And she puts on her own sunglasses...

I will get to see Carson this weekend they are coming home to hang with family. Here is a picture of him with his 1st cousins in the pool. Those little muscles are getting ready for the club.

My niece is in college now. Sighing…I am still waiting on her to respond to my text from Saturday. I hate to have to show up on the campus of WSSU and embarrass her, but I will.

My cousin who I call my child will be here this weekend to celebrate graduating with his Master’s in Psychology. He didn’t march because he is heading straight to the PH.D program. So we are having a family get together to celebrate. Unfortunately, I am working but I will stop through after. Nope, didn’t take off because I am not a fan of crowds and folks doing the most drinking and playing cards. I can’t play any card games. Frankly, I don’t have the patience for it. Yeah, I am different.

I love muscadines. But I prefer the purple ones. I also tried some champagne grapes. Good, but too much work to eat them. Yes, I am lazy.

Muscadines

Champagne grapes...

The Guy and I are funny together because we make each other laugh. We do. He was telling me the story of his son who stepped on a carpenter’s nail and it went through his foot and how painful it was because they had to pack it and such. The Guy felt bad for his son and then his son asked if they were going to amputate his baby toe. I am sorry but I couldn’t help but laugh. He was serious when he asked. These kids are so dramatic. He will be fine if you thinking I am insensitive, he has to get another tetanus shot and he is walking with crutches temporarily, but he is fine.

I told my sister that folks are raising kids who may be book smart but they have no critical thinking skills. If they get a flat tire they will be unable to fix it or know who to call if it happens. Seriously. It is kinda scary folks. They can’t figure out the simplest situations without calling their parents. Lawd, help them.

I had book club Saturday. So I made sure to have a low-key day before the meeting because my left foot was hurting. See on last week I noticed there was an ache and it seemed to be more pronounced after working out especially if I was doing the walk/jog interval on the treadmill. So on Friday I decided to just do weights and the elliptical and to my consternation I found my foot was hurting more. Geez! And because I had to help on my 2nd job, by Friday night I was limping and of course I diagnosed myself with a stress fracture. So Saturday I was like early out and early back home to put the foot up. And I took some medicine to combat the pain. When I woke up that afternoon and to my amazement my foot no longer hurt. I had already planned to go to the Primed for an X-ray and diagnosis. It feels okay today so I am doing low key exercising so as not to put too much pressure on my foot. A customer told me I do not want a stress fracture on my foot. And I believed him.

Book club was great. I like our group with the smaller number because it is more comfortable and everyone gets to enjoy one another. Why are strawberry-ritas (in the can) so popular now? Anyway, we discussed The Perfect Marriage by Kimberla Lawson Roby. Of course I had a mini-photo shoot before the meeting.

So Vain...

Make up was cute...

Fantasia was here with Avant on Saturday. Of course I didn’t attend. One member was mad because she wanted to see Avant. I asked why? All his songs sound the same…shrugging.

I tried to watch the re-airing of the VMA’s last night when I got home. I watched Robin and Miley and my response was what the hell? And I saw Justin Timberlake’s performance, which was pretty good. Some of the guys from N’Sync are a bit thicker…just saying. After he finished, I turned and was like I can’t with MTV they do not play music videos except in the early morning. Hell, I watch MTV for Catfish.

See a lot of folks watch Reality television. I can’t say I don’t, but not that much. I prefer scripted television, but with my cable provider I don’t have enough channels for it to matter.

My book club members asked if I was watching the marathon of Scandal on BET. I didn’t. The emotions that I go through watching that show are too damn much! I can’t. But come October, I am back on it!

Labor Day is next week. I plan to do nothing. Seriously.

My birthday is on the horizon and I was asked on Saturday what I planned to do. Well, I will be going to both jobs that day and although I plan to take off the weekend, I have no plans. Oh yes I do. I plan to make ice cream, because I haven’t made any recently because my paddle broke. Oh and of course get a pair of gorgeous shoes. DSW gift cards are welcome. Just kidding…

Will someone tell my niece to text me? Geez…

Have a great week!

 

                                                       Beautiful sunflower, do you see the bees? Made me smile...

Maybe I should do a blog challenge, because I haven’t felt like blogging lately, the only problem is I haven’t wanted to do much lately. So, a challenge wouldn’t work for me. I finally scheduled some post of the recipes I had done awhile ago, so by the end of the week I just didn’t feel like being random and I had book club Saturday, so I figured I would blog Monday. Well Monday came and went and I still didn’t feel like blogging. Plus, my allergies are acting up causing me headaches and such. So here I am this Friday, about to be totally random and rambling and probably boring.

My first bouquet.  Beautiful...

I will not be blogging about Trayvon Martin’s case on this blog. My anonymous blog has my feelings, thoughts and what I feel needs to be done. I will say this, we as African-Americans need to start valuing our males so no one can devalue them any longer. Every day that I am in contact with a black male is an opportunity to see how much they are appreciated and I need to make it happen not sometimes, but all the times. A simple thank you with a smile to a young black male can make them feel a least for a moment special.

Speaking of book club, on discodiva’s blog I went to rambling in the comments about my book club. We have been together 14 years and folks are always impressed with the idea. However, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing and if you have read this blog long enough you know there were moments where I wanted to disband. Several moments. One reason I didn’t was I didn’t start my book club for any other reason but I loved to read and wanted to share that love with others and those not onboard with that mission are no longer a part of our book club. We currently have 11 members. We will be recruiting new members very soon. FYI – our members are found through our website and member and friend referrals. They go through an application process and then they actually attend three meetings where they can actually see how we are run and whether we are a good fit for them and we as members get to see if this person will be a good fit for our group. I always say, everyone wants to be in a book club, but aren’t willing to put in the work needed to stay in get the value from it as well. I have gotten some nasty emails from folks who are appalled they can’t just drop into a meeting and not be “vetted”. We are a bonded group and we don’t want someone to come in and fracture what has been built. If we were a transient group, bonding would not occur because folks wouldn’t be comfortable discussing issues that come about from our books. My feelings still get hurt from the emails, but somehow I am able to shrug it off and say thank you Lord because they weren’t going to be bringing the right energy to our group. My sister tried joining a group in California, but the group was transient and every meeting or outing there were different faces attending. Only the founder and her friend were consistent.

Smiling before book club meeting...

Our meeting Saturday was wonderful. We had a great time discussing Eric Jerome Dickey’s, Decadence. Although a few of us, including myself weren’t enamored with Dickey’s latest, we have to give him credit for broad vocabulary and his ability to write a woman’s voice. We also have some upcoming bonding excursions coming up as well and I can’t wait.

I have two more Creative Cooking spots to write up. I am so lazy this week.

Asian Turkey Wraps

Apple cinnamon muffins with a crumb topping...

I need to retightened and wash my hair. I started and then I stopped because I just didn’t feel like it. I need a vitamin or something. I told The Guy I needed to teach him how to retighten my hair. He responded, “Never had anyone want me to do their hair and I always wanted to see what you go through to do it.” I took that is yes he will learn to retighten my hair, but don’t hold your breath because I am still asking him to wash my hair.

I wished the treadmill was working again. The belt always needs lubing, which is ridiculous when it hasn’t even been a month since the last maintenance was done. Back to the elliptical and weights.

I guess I will walk/jog the neighborhood.

Does God show up for you and show out? He did that this morning. I am so Thankful!

My brother isn’t talking to me. It is my fault. Shrugging. I say what I mean and mean what I say. He recently went into the hospital and he posted on FB he had a sickle cell crisis. First of all, my brother has the sickle cell trait not the actual disease. He supposedly was re-diagnosed with a form of sickle cell that is in between the actual disease and the trait. However, him posting it on social media had my folks calling and it is so difficult explaining he doesn’t have the disease, but form of it that even he can’t explain to you. I learned about what his says he has and can explain it better than my brother and he is the one with the condition. But he isn’t mad about that I called him on posting things of that nature on social media, he is mad because I told him to not have his married girlfriend call me. I don’t care who he loves, but I don’t live a life of drama and I damn sure ain’t going to be in the middle of such drama. Whoosah!

My sister has finally given up the idea of going to New York for her 40th birthday. Thank you! Now we are looking at doing a family vacay in New Orleans where we do some community service while we are down there. Much more my speed. You know why I didn’t really want to go to New York, besides the number of people and small quarters? Bedbugs.

I just finished a pretty good book for review, The Goody Box by Valerie Coleman. It was pretty good until the ending. I do not like books that leaves so much open in order for there to be a sequel. It is 2013, and this book was done in 2010. I forget about the book when there is a long span of time before the sequel. And author’s every book doesn’t need a sequel. Please and Thank you!

I have been having a rash of turnovers on my 2nd job. Folks will put in a two week notice, but only work one week. WTF? I have a lot of interviewing to do for the next two weeks. And I have to take the Servsafe test as well. So not cool.

I am so vain...

Losing weight isn’t going well at all. I am so sorry I allowed the stress of my break in and the identity theft to make me not eat, because my metabolism is in the pits.

Just because...

My garden is at its end. I still have tomatoes, so I will have fresh tomatoes until about September. But the cucumbers, well they are some still out there but unfortunately worms are finding their way into them. Okay, if you have been reading my blog I am scared of worms. And I will abandon the plants if I see a worm. I can’t beat them. So I pulled three cucumbers last Thursday in between the rain, because it has rained everyday for a month. So I put them in a colander and thought nothing of them. On Sunday, I was making a tomato and cucumber salad and I started cutting a cucumber and it had a brown spot through it, the second was the same way and the third one when I went to cut it I looked down and there was a worm on my hand. Well, pandemonium ensued and I was trying to get the creature off me and throw the cucumber in the trash. Nothing was wrong with that cucumber, but I knew I was done with the damn things after that. Full disclosure, I ate one the other day after I made sure there was nary a hole on it. And the zucchini, forget about it. I got one good one and the other one I had some animal ate it so, whatever. No doing those again.

My cousin wanted to get some of my grape tomatoes for a salad they were preparing for a party. Guess what? I didn’t have but a few because I gave them away and I know freeze them for soups this fall and winter. Last year when they were coming out my azz, she didn’t need any. Oh well…

The other morning when I was talking to my sister, she had me on speaker phone and Lala was growling on the phone. Seriously?

How can such a pretty smile child, resort to growling?  If you have an answer, please let me know!



Hunny Bunny had a new hairdo, that I so loved. She didn’t care for it.

If Hunny Bunny would just get so vain, she has model potential.  Love the hair...

My sister did her own Senegalese twists. Now if she would learn to do retighten my hair.

Great job, now if she would stop saying no to retightening my hair...

Caitlyn goes to WSSU very soon.  Her mama is going to be a mess.  Me...I ain't about that crying life.

Caitlyn...she has a lovely, well paid for smile!

Just got back from Baumhowers’ for lunch. It was okay. I am about to go workout because those were wasted calories. I was trying to be a team player. Wings and curly fries. I wish I had eaten my salad because I feel yucky!

No big plans for the weekend unless you call working the 2nd job a plan and interviewing folks. Otherwise, I will run a couple errands on Saturday and rest when not working. I ain’t cooking anything, except my Sichuan wontons, but I am feeling light sandwiches.

Speaking of sandwiches, I made my chicken salad differently this time. I roasted my chicken instead of boiling it. OMG! The taste and texture and flavor took it to a new level. Thank you Barefoot Contessa for that tip!

I am so glad I feel great today, because yesterday was a bummer. The headache was aggravating. But when I got home and tinkered around in the garden, with some OFF on I felt better. Weird. I didn’t even have an appetite either. Allergies…no and stop!

We now have a place to go and take pole dancing classes, at Her Moves Dance Fitness. I am so looking forward to that and chair tease. They even have erotic aerobics. If I can get the Ciara chair moves, man I will be on fire. LOL! Don’t expect to see any pictures.

Hope you have some great plans for the weekend! If not, be sure to give yourself permission to do nothing if you want to!

And no post would be complete without a picture of my clubbing partner, Carson...w/his dad.

P. S. This post almost didn't get posted because Blogger and photobucket are on crack...!

“I don’t pop Molly, I rock Tom Ford.” Randoms

The picture is random, because I don’t remember if I posted it already and I am just too lazy to look and see.


Happy Belated Independence Day!

I did nothing much on yesterday. First of all, I feel like we are embarking on a Noah’s Ark existence because of the constant rain here. It has rained for a week and it doesn’t look like there is an end in sight. It is overcast and ready to rain right now. So, although I spent Wednesday evening going to Wally World and two of my local grocery stores, it almost was a wrap in me being able to grill my food. So I spent the morning in bed, frustrated and angry about a whole lot of nothing. I finally forced myself from the bed to finish retightening my head because I was too lazy to finish it like I was supposed to this week.

So about 1 pm, the rain stopped and I rain outside to get the coals going and check on my garden. And as soon as I got the coals on fire, I had to abandon ship because it began raining again. So I closed the lid and ran back in the house to fix me some damn dumplings because I was hungry and grilling was looking like a bust. Well, about 30 minutes later the rain slacked to a very light drizzle and I was able to see my coals ashen over and I put my meat on the grill. It wasn’t as hot as I like it, but in the end it was for the best. Everything was cooked low and slow, which created some very moist and tender meat. Yeah, I cooked up a slab of ribs, chicken wings, turkey burgers, turkey dogs, corn and firecracker shrimp.

My grilling in the rain...

So that was my 4th. I stayed home and wanted some ice cream so bad, but I just ate fruit. By the way I was going to grill some pineapple and peaches but the grill just was going too slow for me. Oh well, next time.

I have been making some great smoothies lately with spinach, blackberries, strawberries, peaches, pineapples, ginger and pomegranate juice. Yummy!

My folks are still traveling. My niece and my sister’s husband are driving from VA to Cali this week with a stop in ATL and then a stop in Texas. So far my niece has been driving like a boss.

Remember June's Supermoon...

I also looked cute on that Supermoon Saturday...

I do have some creative cooking spots to post one for Bourbon Chicken and the Dumplings aka Sichuan Wontons, which I devour because they are so good!

Sichuan Wontons

Bourbon Chicken

I need to work on my attitude. Seriously, I ain’t taking it from no one lately and I am letting them know. At manager’s meeting on my 2nd job, I was correcting and basically going off in a polite but over it way during the meeting. I will not allow you to lie on me or give an interpreted version of something I said. I say what I mean and I mean what I say. I think I am tired. Did I mention I had to pray hard before going to work that evening?

The Guy made me mad this week. He will not engage in my anger. Sighing…it still doesn’t make me less mad, but it does cause me to come to him with a more level head and not an emotional head.

No I am not PMSing.

My garden it doing a great job of keeping me feed with cucumbers, tomatoes and infrequently Zucchini.

I didn't realize I had a Zucchini until I saw this one and it was huge.  Sauteed with some onions and it was great. Those suckers are hard to see while growing, especially in my jungle garden!

My Red Hybrid Tea Rose is dead. It gave me one of the most beautiful blooms of the season early on and then it just started to die. I am glad I took pictures of it, next year I will plant a new one.

I didn’t plant enough flowers this year because of all the travel. I haven’t been able to make a bouquet at all this year.

We are in uniforms on my 2nd job and the shirts are so hot I feel like I am going to spontaneously combust.

Yes, I downloaded the Jay Z Magna Carta Holy Grail app and then the album. I am cheap and if having a Samsung Galaxy 3 garners me free stuff I am on it. So why did I wait up until midnight east coast time to try and download the album? And why didn’t it work? I went to sleep and woke up about 1:30 am and tried again and it still didn’t work. Ugh! Something told me to check the reviews and sure enough the large volume of interest crashed the damn thing or something. Anyway, when I woke up at 6 am to grill and couldn’t grill, I downloaded it then. Then being an ungrateful ass, I was mad I couldn’t play it on my music player. Well hours later I learned I needed to restart my phone and it would be there and it was. And my verdict? I like it there are several tracks I immediately liked because of the beats, but the more I listen the lyrics are very telling. Seeing the behind the scenes of the making of the album was also a bonus. So yeah, my ratchet side prevailed and I have Jay Z’s new album. What? I didn’t get compensated to say this either and getting it free was done for 1 million people. This is my opinion.

I need a vacation. I have been extremely tired this week and it is so strange to me to be so tired when I am normally going, going and going. I had a headache for 3 days straight not sure why and no my blood pressure is 120/74 average. I think I need some sleep and probably need to stay out of the garden because my allergies require extra meds.

I didn’t see Dark Girls or the BET Awards. Seems both were topics during a week of so much drama and loss of rights. Sighing…

I am currently reading Decadence by Eric Jerome Dickey for book club. The first couple of chapters started slow, kinda like Pleasure but the pace has picked up. I want to say more, but some of my members read this blog and I don’t want to do any spoilers.

RIP Francis Ray. She was one of the first African-American romance writers I enjoyed. I met her a few times and we had a good conversation at one of the NBCC about the opening pages of Eric Jerome Dickey’s Genevieve. Prayers for her family.

I still haven't seen the entire Being Mary Jane movie, I keep catching it during the last hour.  Da hell?  And what I saw was quite intriguing.

I am back watching Catfish.  This week's episode was a mess.  They were doing the most.  The guy that got Catfished, was angry at the other guy but he knew he had been lying to him.  I think he really was just angry at himself for his lack of self-esteem.  Next week should be interesting too...

To all the Gladiators out there, Kerry Washington pulled a Janet Jackson and got married on ya'll and you had to find out from the press.  I ain't mad at her because just be cause you are a celebrity doesn't mean you shouldn't have some kind of privacy in your life.  I know I was surprised.

I have been invited to a birthday party and the attire is dressy casual, but the colors are cream, white and red.  I don't wear none of those colors.  We shall see because the way my bank account is set up...I ain't buying a gift and a dress.  Why do I feel some kinda way about that, though?

The Trayvon Martin case...when it is over I will post about it.

I have no plans this weekend except trying to get some rest and get rid of some of this attitude.  Whoosah!  Enjoy your weekend...

Carson is driving...or he thinks he is...Which will be great for the clubs...

 

Lala and my sister.  She smiling right here, but Lala does the most...



Graduation Part 2 - The Finale

Yes, I did work out.

On Thursday morning, I woke up with a scratchy throat and I was like, uh oh! Seemingly, my cousin’s hot flashes were in overdrive so she cut the air down, mind you it was on 73, which to me is comfortable. But I woke up to it being on 65, really? And as everyone in the room was sleeping soundly, I got up and got dressed and went and worked out. At 6:30, east coast time, I was on the Elliptical for 15 minutes and got on the treadmill for 30 minutes. Got it in and I was sweating not only from the exertion, but the damn room was hot as hell. I would have done weights too, but seriously the heat was about to take me out. But my throat was no longer scratchy.


When I got back to the room, folks were like you got up and worked out? Yeah. Then I took a shower and got back into bed. But ya’ll I needed coffee so damn bad it was ridiculous. While the folks went shopping, I was like bring me back a venti mocha nonfat no whip. I was serious, but why or why could them not find a Starbucks. Ugh! I had to get a Cherry coke for some caffeine and it was not hitting the spot.

3 pics of me...trying to be creative

We were going to the barbecue for my niece at 3, so I was able to rest, work on book club stuff and just relax, because we had been running since we left Montgomery. So we headed to my sister’s stepmom’s house for fried fish and barbecue. Of course the graduate wasn’t there. Seriously, when they graduate they think they are grown and if you are the guest of honor, shouldn’t you be there to great your guests? Also, this would be the first time for me to meet my brother’s girlfriend. Sighing…I had to remind him I don’t call my sister’s husband by name and I am harder than my sister is on folks.

Because I was looking exceptionally cute, this one was taken for the guy...

The Graduation Cake...The drama involved...

The food was good and after we ate they decided to open cards and presents. My sister got my niece Dr. Seuss’ The Places You'll Go and that is such a wonderful book to give to high school graduates. We all were able to sign the book and offer thoughts for the future. Hunny Bunny, my nine year old niece, wrote the most profound statement in the book relating to Stars Wars and such. I wish I had taken a picture of the wording. Amazing. I even got a gift of pictures and it was sweet. My sister’s stepmom and Daurice were a crying mess. But I had my life and was not going out like that. Imma G. Plus, I cried looking at the prom pictures.

During the storm...and no lights

Why do I like this picture so much?  She is giving the stank face for real!

She was saying cheese so I could take her picture.

The Graduate, Caitlyn reading my book club newsletter which was about Her!

As we were still going through gifts and speech giving, the lights went out. Now mind you, The Guy told me that morning to stay dry because VA was going to get some bad weather. Well, after the lights went out it got windy and dark. Then the rain came. My goodness. We were able to keep ourselves entertained by talking and telling jokes. Best time ever!

Yes, I met the girlfriend. She called me Ms. Cashana, really? Anyway, I didn’t get to talk with her, because that is what I really wanted to do. I had questions that I needed answers to. And I wanted to let her know some things as well. But alas, she fled the scene when the weather started to act up because she lives in Portsmouth.

See the Applebee's menu...I am so for real.  They are getting it in!

Kay singing Aretha Franklin

My sister singing and doing the most

They dancing...in Applebee's

Tell me they ain't having the time of their life...

Yes, she took a picture with me.  Maybe she likes me a little bit...from a far.

On tap for the evening, was Karaoke. Yes, to my two readers, Karaoke. And it was at Applebee’s. I am not joking. We went to Applebee’s to do Karaoke and we turned the place out. Alabama turned Applebee’s into a night club with folks ranging from 1 to 65 years old. What? Lala was having the time of her life. Hunny Bunny was doing the wobble and she doesn’t dance much, but she was doing it! Caitlyn and her friends sang, my sister sang, AJ sang, JT rapped, my cousin sang and we all backed them up with dancing and singing. It was a blast. I will never forget how much fun as a family we could have. We shut the place down as we were the last folks to leave. The Applebee’s workers wanted us to come back next week, but Alabama had left the building.

Finally, we left Friday morning about 10 am and it was an uneventful ride back. Only thing was I had planned to drive from Charlotte to Georgia, but I my dreaded motion sickness kicked in and that was a no-go. This is why I didn’t put up a fuss at Captain D’s, where they chose to eat our only meal on the road. I haven’t eaten at Captain D’s in a decade or more. That is not real fish folks. It took me 15 minutes to order something that wasn’t going to make me hurl. Plain baked potato and 6 little shrimp. JT was like, “Who chose this place? I haven’t eaten here in years.” We weren’t happy. And thank goodness for the Sprite and later the Ginger ale. Yeah, my motion sickness was on fire. We got stuck in Charlotte’s traffic and when we were 30 minutes outside of Atlanta we got in more traffic caused by an accident and literally we went 6 miles in one hour. Talking about frustrated and I was co-pilot so I had to deal with short stops and shit, but AJ held it down. Once we dropped off AJ and JT, we still had an over 2 hour ride to Montgomery. I took advantage of the middle row because I was over the whole road trip thing. I got to my house after midnight. It was weird to see all the businesses closed; I guess I am rarely out that late.

Kay, Caitlyn - The Graduate and me!  I need a DSLR really I do.

This trip was a real blessing. To see my niece graduate with honors and to have come into her own was amazing. My family, man we are so good together. We do the dang thang. As much as we could have gotten on each other’s nerves, we didn’t. Seeing my sister and brother and all of us together for something wonderful is always a blessing. And now I can relax.

My garden survived, but my poor sunflowers and Zinnia’s took a beating, but they are looking much better now. I will post about my angst regarding my garden next. And best believe I have some randoms about road trips. Get ready!

Gail, me and Kay.  I don't know what Kay was doing, but I turn up when pictures are being taken.  What?  I am vain.