Here's to the birthday girl!

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This is a BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT to my sweet friend who is also a fellow blogger and follower.  The birthday girl's name is Alice, and she is something to celebrate!  She's very special to all who know her and we can't help but to love her!

Happy Birthday Alice!  Thank you for adding sweet to my spicy life!

http://aliceandjay.blogspot.com/


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Why the hell I gotta have a title for every post?

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Whoo hooo .... it's the month of Halloween ... oh crap, no it isn't, not quite.   I'm sorry, I can barely contain my anticipation, so I said, "@#$% it, I'm moving on from September a couple of days early."  

My calendar said, "Like hell you are.  I put a lot of effort into giving you the best looking picture for the month of September, and by God you are going to look at it, until I tell you different."   Taken aback, I bit back, "Sheesh ... no need to get all huffy.  What's two measly days?  If you really think about it, time really isn't real."   But, I relented, since I honestly do appreciate September's calendar view.

Besides, I have to wrap birthday presents for my #1 friend whose birthday is October 1.  And since, I have a knack for choosing presents that require my participation in a scavenger hunt for the right-sized box to contain said oddly-sized presents, the mad dash is on!  Great, the last two days of September are NOW my #2 friend!   

Hmmmm ... I know I have a weird sized box somewhere around here ...

(sorry people she wandered off to climb those rickety attic stairs again in search of a box that she knows isn't up there to be found.  She's delusional like that.)


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I need to borrow a cup of shuga ...

I have a sweet friend whose very presence causes me to think of cotton candy, swizzle sticks and cherry coke.  She's a girlie girl oozing art from every pore of her sparkling imagination.  Our most usual "meeting" spot is our favorite grocery store.  Every time I happen to run into her, I walk away thinking .... dang God gave her an extra scoop of sugar, while I was busy sneaking two scoops of spice.  She's a real girl, the kind you men want to bend down and breathe in the smell of her hair.  By the way, her hair sometimes smells like "Love Spell" from Victoria's Secret.  A whiff of which is worth the smack you may get if you try to breathe her in.  I sometimes secretly wonder if she's an angel, and if God is sure he wants her hanging out with the likes of me.  If she's really an angel, there's probably no danger of my rowdiness rubbing off on her.  If I'm lucky, she will inspire me to put a little polish on my crusty temperament ;)  Or at least polish my toenails a pretty shade of fun. 

If that doesn't happen, and I keep being the same old rowdy me, well then ... yall are stuck with what the good Lord gave ya .... me, in all my rowdy glory ;)

What are little babies made of, made of?

What are little babies made of?

Diapers and crumbs and sucking their thumbs;

That's what little babies are made of?

What are little boys made of, made of?

What are little boys made of?

Snips and snails and puppy-dog tails;

That's what little boys are made of. And such are...

What are little girls made of, made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice and everything nice;

That's what little girls are made of.

What are young men made of, made of?

What are young men made of?

Sighs and leers and crocodile tears;

That's what young men are made of.

What are young women made of, made of?

What are young women made of?

Rings and jings and other fine things;
Sugar and spice and all things nice;
That's what young women are made of. And such are...

What are our sailors made of, made of?

What are our sailors made of?

Pitch and tar, pig-tail and scar;

That's what our sailors are made of.

What are our soldiers made of, made of?

What are our soldiers made of?

Pipeclay and drill, the foeman to kill;

That's what our soldiers are made of.

What are our nurses made of, made of?

What are our nurses made of?

Bushes and thorns and old cow's horns;

That's what our nurses are made of.

What are our fathers made of, made of?

What are our fathers made of?

Pipes and smoke and collars choke;

That's what our fathers are made of.

What are our mothers made of, made of?

What are our mothers made of?

Ribbons and laces and sweet pretty faces;

That's what our mothers are made of.

What are old men made of, made of?

What are old men made of?

Slippers that flop and a bald-headed top;

That's what old men are made of.

What are old women made of, made of?

What are old women made of?

Reels, and jeels, and old spinning wheels;

That's what old women are made of?

What are all folks made of, made of?

What are all folks made of?

Fighting a spot and loving a lot,

That's what all folks are made of.

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xox Pookie!

"Move it, your box needs a good airing out." signed The Universe

If you invite me to go somewhere with you, I will want to know WAY more than where. I want a list of the full cast of characters. I want to know how far away it is. Will I need to bring money? How much? Will anyone be jumping out of a cake? I want the back story. So, don't try to polish the Buick and pass it off as a Maserati, I'm nearly as inquisitive as Holmes.

Soooooooo, my best friend called me the other day and the brevity ensued.

K said, "Hey, C and I are going to the local BBQ joint downtown tomorrow night. They are hosting the game "Battle Between the Sexes. Wanna join us?" For some reason, I detected a sparseness in the air. My instincts went up, and I pressed for more details. She insisted she didn't know much else.   I told her I would have to think about it.  That was last Monday.  I had two days to ponder whether or not I wanted to go.  Against my resisting instinct, I said what the hell, and agreed to go.

The American Dream

My friend just bought his first house.  A slightly overdue event if you give a tinker's damn about pursuing the "great American dreams" in their proper order or at all.  When people would ask him why he didn't buy a house, he always said he was waiting to find a good woman to settle down with before he bought a house.  In his meantime search for the Little Misses, he lived in an apartment.  Until recently that is, when another friend of his, a guy, told him that he needed to leave his college style behind and step up his offerings in order to impress and reel in any future Little Misses.  Having personally been in his sights as a Little Misses possibility, I never resisted based on his college like apartment.  If anything, that was a plus in his favor.  He had no home style of his own, and that would have worked out really well for me, because I have strong views on houses and their contents.  Soooooooooo, I sorta disagreed with the reasoning behind my friend's purchase of a house, but not the fact that he chose to buy one.  Whether one does or does not enslave themselves to a house is a decision everyone has to make for themselves.  Even if the reason seems a bit pimpish.

Let the slavery begin.  Last night was his first night in his new house, and he is already sending me e-mails wanting a reference for a good plumber.  Ha ha ... his real LOVE/HATE relationship has begun.  I asked him what the problem was, and he said his hot water wasn't hot enough.  I suggested he first try checking the thermostat on the hot water heater.  He said he had looked for the hot water heater, but he could not find it.  I told him to check the attic.  He was appalled at the idea of climbing into the attic (understated clue) and admitted he didn't yet know how to access his attic.  I told him I would come over and help him if he wanted, or he could call so and so plumber.  He then sent me an email telling me how long it took him to get his phone switched over his apartment to his new house .... 37 minutes.  "37 minutes just to discuss changing the location!  Can you believe that?" he asked.  "Uhhhh, yes, yes I can."   Next he wailed about the cable company's four hour window of waiting for its crappy service.  He was none too happy about that huge waste of time, but conceded that he is too dependent on TV not to follow through with the hook up.  Well, he's not actually dependent on watching TV so much (he reads more than he watches TV), but he likes it for background noise, else he feels a bit lonely.  I understand that need, and told him to embrace the initial suck.  Okay, that's not true.  I didn't tell him to embrace the suck.  I was nicer than that...I totally empathized with his plight.  And I graciously withheld news of all further home troubles headed his way.

The new house may or may not get him the Little Misses, but it is definitely providing a new relationship.  A needy, demanding, co-dependent sort of relationship.  I hope he and his house do find a Little Misses to join them in their struggle journey.  They are going to need all the help they can get.




Sorry that this video is partially CHOPPED off.  It's totally Blogger's fault.  If you want to see this video in all of its GLORY, you  can find it on YOUTUBE -- search for Mumford & Sons -- The Cave.  As you can tell, I dig some of their music and thought this one was a contending winner for today.


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Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Yawn, big YAWN. 

I am a social butterfly who wasn't aware of that fact when I was surrounded by other social butterflies. For various reasons, over the years, my work place has lost most of those social butterflies. The most entertaining, cool and interesting ones have flown the scene. I keep hoping more will come along to fill the void. I'm happy to report that at least one came along, but unhappy to report that one just isn't enough. I think it would be so cool, if I could drive up to a window and place my order for a bevy of dynamic and social co-workers, whose mere chatter would fill the chasm in my well being of sociability.  Yeah yeah, I know I am responsible for my own happiness, but I think our work place contributes a lot to our overall happy factor.

Other than that short lament, things are going well today.  My friend is in from out of town, and she and a mutual friend met me at my house for a chatty lunch.  They are both accountants, and today is probably the HAPPIEST day of the year for them.   Their exciting happiness of being released from tax prison was contagious and I benefitted from their excitement and company.  I love friends!

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Aunt of 14 made me a winner !

Blogger "Aunt of 14" had a giveaway contest. I was one of three lucky winners. I was completely surprised when I received not only my super duper grand prize Affirmation Ball, but also some really cool goodies. If I had my camera with me, I would snap some happy pictures of the sweet loot she sent me, and share the visual with yall :)

Thanks again "Aunt of 14!!!"

YOU ROCK!


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Two in one day, sue me for boring you.

I was just thinking, cuz really, what else do I have to do?

Since it was a big deal that it even hinted at snowing here, it was a topic of conversation when it actually did. So, as you may recall, my friend, who lived here most of her life, recently moved to a state above me, where they frequently get snow and experience the four seasons. She asked me how I liked the snow here.

I said, "I loved it. It was great for one day, but I wouldn't want to live anywhere it snowed often, because I'm not used to it, and I don't want to get used to it on an regular basis."

She was like ... "Oh, so you would rather live where there are earthquakes and hurricanes."

Ummmmm ... I thought to myself, NO, I would NOT rather live where there are earthquakes and hurricanes, but the last time I checked in all my days of living here, we have never experienced an earthquake or a full on hurricane. So, where the hell did that barb come from?

She often throws out some barb, when I express my reasons for loving the location where I live. The same location she chose to give up for a job, four seasons and more white men. I don't tell her why I love living here to attack her choice of moving, however, I do feel like I have to constantly defend why I love where I was born, raised and intend to remain, because she is always telling me I should move. Sure, the town where I live has its drawbacks, but that doesn't stop me from appreciating all the good things about it. Family, friends, temperate climate, the surrounding nature, my home, very reasonable cost of living, and its proximity to two extraordinarly beautiful coastlines, gentle hill country, major cities, etc.

I don't try to make her feel bad about her choice, why does she continually try to tag on me for my life choices? It is my life after all ...


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The reader in me ...

I was going to imitate the Dick and Jane (learn to read) books and say something like .... "See Lickety Splitter Read" ... like those simple learn to read books would say ... "See Jane Run." It's too bad I didn't take any pictures to go with that visual, cuz that would have entertained me.

If you haven't guessed by now, there is a reader living in me. Said reader will read all sorts of things, but has been long starved of material that would lure me into reading a book in one fell swoop of a day. But, the last two books were tasty tempters and I read them each in one day. The last book entitled "Leaving Church" is a memoir, and it was "required" reading as my pass to the beach this weekend with my friends. They are both reading this book, so it appears discussion will ensue. One of my friends is pursuing a path in ministry ... so I can see why this book appealed to her. I am not pursuing a path in ministry, but would love to further my education in religion as a knowledge. And, I love memoirs, so this book was right up my alley! I love reading about other people and their journey through this thing called life. It was a very good read, and I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. before finishing it, which caused me to oversleep and miss Sunday School. I even missed church on television. Oh well, there is always the internet for my weekly inspiration.


P.S. I am super excited that you Saints won the Super Bowl. I love you, City of New Orleans. You will always have a special place in my heart of memories. I look forward to visiting you and my old friend this year!


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Back to the land of the living ...

Yesterday is thankfully now a bad memory. I contracted a nasty stomach bug of some sort, so I spent most of the day curled in a fetal position on the sofa, in a hot bath (likely 8 hot baths in all), or hugging the toilet. Sorry, I know that last one is a bad visual. I usually feel sorry for me if I'm sick, but I was too miserable to do even that. The one thing I was capable of doing was watching TV while enduring bouts of nausea and intermittently sleeping in an attempt to ward off bouts of nausea. My friends (the ones who knew I was sick) called to see if they could bring me soup, drink, meds, etc. But, I felt so bad, that I could barely answer the phone, let alone eat or drink anything.

Later in the evening, my XXB called to chat, I told him I was not feeling well. He wanted to know if he could help me in any way. By that time, I was feeling a little better, but extremely dehydrated, so I thought it would be a good idea to try to down something. I had no clear liquids in the house or crackers, so my XXB was sweet enough to bring me a Sprite and crackers on his way home from work and leave it on my front porch. I wouldn't let him come in the house because I didn't want him to get whatever I had. All went well with the beverage and crackers, and today, I feel almost as good as new.

The XXB being the total sweetie, that he is, has called to check on me today. It's so nice to be cared for :)

Photos taken at Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC

This is the "lawn" and fountain wall that is beyond the front lawn of The Biltmore House and quite the view from inside the house. My friend Amanda is on the top of that wall taking photo of my friend Ebony and me.

The next photo is the one Amanda took from the wall. We are waiting for her to come down, so we can take our tour.

This is Ebony and me up close and personal. I love her fuchsia sweater! She looks sweet, I look like a motorcycle rider.

This is a view of the Biltmore House located on 125,000 acres in Asheville, North Carolina.

This is a view of their back yard! Seriously! I'm guessing most of what you can see belongs to this estate because 125,000 acres is a lot of acres (and it looked very well kept).

I couldn't keep you, and that sucks.

It isn't easy parting ways with people that you love, but sometimes it's the only way forward. Wouldn't it be nice if there were a better way to let go, besides heart ripping pain? Wouldn't it be nice if we could just "remove" people from our lives as easily as we remove facebook friends we no longer want on our page? Some people have no trouble pushing the real life disconnect button, but I'm still looking for it. The danger of love for me is that my heart wishes to keep loving people I have grown to love. Granted, it's sometimes hard to recognize the feeling as love, because at times the feeling feels like hate. But, I know full well what that means. It means, I love something so intensely that it spurs me to feel the complete opposite of love, if I am deprived of it. Even, if I was equally responsible for depriving myself of it.

I am NOT searching for the "real life disconnect" button in order to disconnect from any one person, I simply wish to disconnect from the intense feelings I hold for certain people, so that it doesn't hurt when I think of them, talk to them or see them. I want to continuously love those people that I love but can't keep. Not with the same kind of love, but a less selfish love. So, I endure the heart ripping consequence of daring to love, while proudly wearing my lingering distress as a badge of honor. My heart was brave, and it will be brave again!



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