Happy Birthday to Me!

It is that time again...my birthday!  Happy Birthday to me...

Today plans to be a low-key day.  Want to know why?  Because I am working at both jobs today.  You know bills don't stop coming just because it is your birthday.  And you know the fight between me and the lizard although a draw, still cut into my money so a girl has to do what a girl has to do.  Go to work. 

Don't fret I took off a couple of days at the end of the week to just chill out, sleep in, make ice cream and drink wine.  What?  That isn't what most people do for their birthdays?  Oh well, I am a bit different. 

By the way, I am 44 today.  Go me!  And looking at this picture you can't tell either! 

                         

Flexirods on the ends of a ponytail, gave me some loose curls with only 8 hours to set after my wash yesterday

I am so thankful to see another year.  Did you know I am older than my mother lived to be?  So, I am grateful for another year.  I am blessed!

Enjoy your week!

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!

 

Hair Post...Bantu Knots

I decided I needed to do something with my hair, because right now I am so sick of my hair it isn’t a joke. Most people want the long hair, but I have long Sisterlocks and I ain’t enjoying them right now. Seriously, they are a pain. Luckily or unluckily, we didn’t have a real summer which means our temperatures didn’t get to 100 degrees this year. In fact, it rained the entire month of July and for the last two weeks it has been more of the same. So I am thankful that my hair didn’t get too hot and heavy this year. However, I would be remiss if I didn’t say that I miss being able to roll my hair on Softspikes or flexi-rods and have this big hair full of curls. I loved my hair back then. I really did. Now I am forced to do a braidout or wear it in a bun. This isn’t good because it thins the locks by wearing them in the same style, but hell I have few options.


So a couple of weeks ago, I sat down and looked at some Youtube videos on how to Bantu knot my hair. I love the vision of long locks with glorious and full curls. So after watching multiple tutorials, I decided to do it one night after my second job and right after a hair wash. Oh, I still hate washing my hair but really I just hate trying to dry it.

Freshly finished Bantu knots

First of all, I probably shouldn’t have done them on freshly retightened locks, but I did. My hair was slightly damp, but not wet. I lightly sprayed my locks with Oyin’s conditioner and Crimps and Curls to set the knots. It took me about 30 minutes to do my entire head, because I was also cooking my Sunday dinner that night as well. Multi-tasking. I found them tight and frankly they were very uncomfortable to sleep in and I knew this because the Youtube folks told me they would be hard to sleep in. I sleep on my arms (my years of wearing a perm and not wanting to mess up my curls) and it still was quite uncomfortable. I got up early that morning and sat under the dryer for 30 minutes trying to insure my hair would be dry. I took the Bantu knots down at about 3:30 pm and they had been in my head since 11 pm Saturday night. The hair in the front was dry, but you guessed it the hair in the back, which is denser and were in smaller bundles did not dry so that hair was straight. I was disappointed. Overall, the hair had curls and gave me a different way to make curls. However, the curls didn’t last long and it was cute for about 20 minutes before I had to put it up in a bun for work. Yeah, didn’t really have time for it to really set and give a great curly look. I am going to try it again soon, but I will make sure my hair is dry. I will use just the Crimps and Curls and hopefully let it set for at least 24 hours. The thing is once your locks get to a certain length it seems you aren’t getting the huge and lasting curls because the ends are heavier and weigh down one’s hair. My thoughts.

Freshly taken down before the fluffing.

A view from the back

Bantu Knots - Results...Still straight in areas.

I switched hair to a different side and got a fuller look, which I did like.  So I will try it again.  Hopefully, all the hair will curl...



Anyone still reading my blog with Sisterlocks? Any styling tips or help? Otherwise, I will be calling my consultant one more time about cutting my hair and if she doesn’t, well I guess I will be taking things into my own hands, after I watch a few more Youtube videos on trimming my locks.

                                                       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...



The One About the First of Two Family Trips…

Gorgeous Cake...



Traveling with family can be a rewarding experience. It can bring you closer and garner feelings of togetherness and a knowing that together as a family you can conquer the world! We decided last year we would be traveling to be a part of a couple of graduations. Everyone wants to support one another and let the graduates know how truly proud we are of their accomplishments. Well the first of the graduates had their commencement ceremony on last Thursday, May 23, 2013. So we packed into two vehicles and headed for Atlanta.


Since my break in, I am a bit neurotic and diligent about the security of my home so you know I wanted to leave during a time no one would notice and had a back-up plan for someone to watch my home for the one day I would be gone. So we left my house to pick up my cousin and her two grandsons and then we were to hit the interstate. For a trip that shouldn’t take but a couple of hours. Sighing…we stopped right before we go on the interstate so my other cousin could catch up and of course that meant folks were going in the gas station to grab up snacks and such. It is a two hour drive. Really? So technically, originally we were to hit the road at 11:30 am, however, we left after noon.

The drive was uneventful. We almost got lost getting to the hotel. Let me tell you this, using MapQuest is like taking your life into someone else’s hands. The MapQuest directions were slightly wrong, but my Navigation on my phone, was right. Once we got to the hotel, it was after 3 pm ATL time, so we knew we had to eat, shower, dress and be ready by 6 pm. Incidentally, my niece was already at her favorite cousin’s house because she flew in that morning.

All smiles on the way to the Commencement ceremony...

We met the graduate’s mother at a gas station on the way and it took us about 15 to 25 minutes to get to the ceremony location. Atlanta traffic is crazy. The graduation took place at Kennesaw State University. We had to pay for parking. But the school so graciously gave us a shuttled golf cart ride to the entrance of the commencement ceremony and the line to get in was ridiculous. Seriously, folks had been in line for at least an hour. Did I mention I had on 4 inch heels? Lucky for us, some of my family had gotten there early so we just slid in line. To wait. In heels.

JT the Graduate with his sister and brother

The thing about this graduation and what seems to be the norm now, is you must have a ticket to get into the graduation. The students are allotted only so many tickets and they have to hustle to garner more. My little cousin worked that hustle because he got 20 tickets. He is gangster like that. They tried the ticket thing here for our local graduates and let’s just say the shyte didn’t fly.

JT with his sister, the hand on the right is my nieces'

And when were allowed in they really did check tickets and take your tickets. Really? We were able to get a couple of rows where we were fairly close. My poor niece wanted to sit next to me but it didn’t happen. The ceremony started with the processional at 8 pm. This class was over 500. And the processional took 30 minutes. In fact, they didn’t hand out a diploma until an hour and half later. 9:30 pm they started handing out diplomas. Did I mention I have the attention span of a gnat? Did I mention that I forgot how boring graduations are? Did I mention my cousin’s last name begins with A? They sang and talked and gave speeches, awards, and scholarships for over an hour. I ate my four jolly ranchers up during that time period. And we had to stand through the entire processional and it was long. Long I tell you! My feet were over it. And yes, I sat down.

JT, with his cousins including my niece, Caitlyn

My cousin graduated with honors and over 200 of the students graduated with honors. What was funny was the Valedictorian had a 4.57 grade point average and my cousins were pondering how he got that average if the grading system is 4.0. Yeah, I had to explain the AP courses. We then had to stand for the Alma mater and recessional. We probably should have headed on out then. Getting out of the place was maddening. Or I was hungry. Seriously, I had road rage something awful. I just wanted to be out of there. And I did the cardinal rule no-no, I took off my shoes. There was too much stopping and going and holding up the exodus and it was either my shoes or … nevermind.

Proud moment!

We were able to take some good pictures after we found the graduate, JT. Then it was time to head to my cousin’s house for a small meal. It was after 11 pm before we got to their house. We took some kind of short-cut but it felt like we drove back to Montgomery with the time it took for us to get there. I was way over it. Our meal was simple and delicious or I was hungry.

On the way to the Cousins' before the cook out

The next day after very little sleep, because I was working on my book club website only for it to not upload, we headed back to the cousin’s house. They were giving the graduate a barbecue at 5 pm. So we were there a few hours before time to help. Well some helped and some slept. Any guesses who slept? And my poor niece was so tired she slept for about 3 hours solid on the couch, babygirl was tired.

This was my perch for most of the time at the Cousins'

The turnout for the barbecue was great. And we had a great time. However, we had to hit the road back to Montgomery. We started out at 5:38 pm, Central Standard Time. We crossed the Montgomery city limits sign at 9:48 pm. Maybe I was hungry, but I was truly irritated to actually get home after 10 pm. From a normal 2 hour trip. All I am going to say is we made 3 stops. Really?

We will be headed to Virginia in a few weeks and this trip has traumatized me. I needed all those traveling to get their bladders, stomach and minds together. I am not going to be stuck in a vehicle for 20 hours because they want to stop every few minutes. I am truly convinced me doing road trips will probably end in a few weeks. Really. I love my family but this is going to test my patience. And I already gave my niece notes on how her graduation better go, I am not for the standing, sitting, waiting and giving out diplomas hours after the start. I am not about that life.

A gratutious hair picture.  Looks lovely, huh?