Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Checking in........

So far Louisville has been as nice as expected. I haven't really had a chance to do much outside of the workshop since we are at the facility all day with the exception of lunch. By the time we finish up @ around 4:30-5'ish, most of the touristy stuff is closed.....even the zoo! Sheesh. I've still got one day to make it Six Flags though. lol

The workshop is going as well as expected. It's a workshop, it can be interesting yet boring as hell at the same time. lol I'm still overwhelmed and really have no phluckin idea what I'm doing BUT I am doing what I came to do which is to (1) get an understanding of the grant writing process (which I have done) and (2) write a proposal. My boss told me that she wasn't really expecting anything on the level of a seasoned grant writer, she just wanted to see how I write so she could better assess my skill level. That took some of the anxiety I had away before leaving but I'm still pushing myself to put my best foot foward. Please believe that I know these folks ain't spent all this $$$ for me to come up to KY to take this ish lightly. :-) So now we are past the lecturing/exercise point and we are writing our proposals. I intially started out by myself, then the facilitator paired me up with some other chick. I knew that wasn't going to work because our areas of non-profit were different but whatever I just rolled with it. When it came down to get to the bulk of it, we both decided that it would be best if we wrote our own individual prop's instead of doing a collaborative one. We still use each other as support here and there but overall I'm happier with the current arrangement. :-)

During my down time afterwards, I've been trying to fit time in to utilize the gym next door, do a little site seeing, eat, sh*t, shave, shower, and do some research/work on the proposal. I'm not this busy when I'm at home. lol




I mapquested Churchill Downs yesterday and took a drive to go check it out. I have oodles of pic's but of course dummy me left my cable cord at the house. I found a pic online that looks really close to one that I took yesterday. I tried to see if there was a way that I could sneak in to get better pics of the track but no dice. It's just as well though, with my luck they probably would have arrested my tail for trepassing or something. lol


Today I ventured downtown to find the Louisville Slugger museum. When I googled it to find the address to map, I was instantly fascinated because the home page shows a pic of the museum with a gigantic LS leaning against the building.


**Sidenote....ma.p.q.ue.st sucks major tittayballs! They give pretty decent directions until the end when you are close to your destination then they drop the ball so you're forced to find the crap yourself. Good thing I'm pretty good directionally (is that a word? Who cares).
Anyway, after taking a wrong exit, I still ended up downtown so I just drove around until I found Main street and continued to drive until a saw that big bat. lol After taking pic's across the street to get the full bat on camera, I crossed over to see the thing up close. I was on the phone with my sister and told her that I wanted to see if it was made of real wood or not. lol Much to my dismay, it is just tons of metal. If I thought I had enough time, I would try to run down there before my plane leaves to get Z one. I'm hoping that we will not be in the workshop until one o'clock like she says because my plane leaves a couple of hours after that. Even if she's not, I'm still leaving. I'm red.ta.go.home. I miss my man and my dogs and I am not about to miss my plane foolin around with this stuff. lol
Someone had mentioned that there was a Muhammed Ali museum/center/something like that. I didn't map it and didn't really feel like looking for it. Instead I parked the car to walk to the Ohio river to get some pic's of it. Maybe, I'll ride back down tomorrow to try and find the Ali place. I don't know why though 'cause it's gonna be closed....*sigh*
I'm hungry, even though I ate earlier. I had leftovers from The Cheesecake Factory last night. I wish I had something sweet to eat on. I've got a granola bar in my purse but you know as well as I do that's not the kind of sweet I'm talkin about. As much as I've been going on about wanting chocolate cake, I didn't even get any last night. I took one look at my plate of food and knew that wasn't gonna happen. I ate about half of my food and was stuffed!! Maybe I'll go get some tomorrow. Scratch that...I WILL go and get a slice tomorrow. lol
So anyway, that's what's up. Everything and nothing. I'm rambling at this point.
**Note to self: this is what happens when your sugar is low....must eat chocolate cake.
Hopefully the next time I post, I will be at home. I hope they don't put me on one of those raggedy @ss planes again that I was on the first leg of the trip. I can't stand riding in those things.....they make me nervous.










Sunday, June 01, 2008

I'm in Louisville......


.....Kentucky that is. Home of the Louisville slugger (or so I've been told, lol). I'm here for work to take a grant writing workshop. Since that is part of my new gig, they felt it would be best if I get a better understanding of what the process involves. The workshop I will be attending is the best from what I've been told by co-workers so I'm hoping to learn a lot. Now that doesn't go without saying I'm not a bit nervous, okay maybe a lot because I don't know diddly squat about writing grants. I know what grants are and I know how to write in English so I'm hoping that gives me a bit of a headstart. lol

After a bit of a delay at the airport in Little Rock, I arrived safe and sound (as did my luggage thank goodness!)

Sidebar: I've had luggage that I've checked go lost before and on a direct flight no less. I'm here to tell you that shit ain't NO fun...AT ALL! After I went postal on the baggage claim folks and left the airport (still without my suitcase), I hit up the mall and Wally World to buy a few items to hold me over until I returned home. My luggage was returned the day after I made it back home. I suppose it was just good that my stuff got returned but it still sucked major tittayballs!

Anyway......since I will be here until Friday my suitcase was full of stuff that I just couldn't live without so of course it had to go under the plane. After seeing my bag and thanking the heavens that it got here with me, I went to the rental car place. The chick at the counter was trying to get me to do upgrades, gps units and all that jazz. Ummmm, no sweetie not unless it's free. I mapquested all my routes prior to my departure and I can learn a city pretty fast so yeah....thanks but no thanks. I told them just to point me in the direction of the main interstate and I was good to go. I was at my hotel about 15 minutes later. It would have been 10 if the durn sign to the hotel was facing in more than one direction. I actually passed the place because of that. Anyway, I check in and bolted off to find the center where the workshop would be and to grab me something to eat. The center actually took longer to find than the hotel because it is not directly on the street that it says it's on but off the street. I mean like waaaaaaaaay back off the street. I would explain further but I'm tired so you will just have to take it how I'm dishing it out right now. :-)

So here I am now....nervous, tired, and hon-ga-ray might I add. I ate at like 5 and it's durn near eleven pm here (I'm on EST) and I've got the munchies. If I were at home, I would drink some milk with Nestle hot chocolate mix to make chocolate milk. FYI......that is like the best little nightcap in the world! I know another thing I would be doing if I were at home right now....sleep. So that's what I'm going to do.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Just what the doctor ordered……….



Sorry for the delay. This was to be posted Monday but I was enjoying the weekend WAY too much to worry about actually blogging. Lol Now reading blogs….that’s a different story. :-D

This past weekend turned out to be relaxing (for the most part). After a presentation Friday morning at work and little else to do Friday afternoon (and more importantly after my boss left), I bounced and my weekend finally began. That evening we did little much other than enjoy the fact of knowing that we had 3 more days of doing nothing that we didn’t want to do.

We eventually made it out of the house on Saturday at around 12:30-ish to go climb Pinnacle Mountain. We were supposed to leave earlier that morning but you know by us being black folk and all, CP time reigned supreme. Anywho, we loaded up the pups, got on the road, and about half-way there it starts drizzling. Seriously?! UGH! I look at Z, he looks at me and we both decide to keep on and just play it by sight. I was going to wash my hair that day anyway so It really didn't matter. By the time we arrived, the rain had stopped as we guessed it would.

Any of you that live in AR that have ever climbed Pinnacle know that sucka is a beast and a half. Unless you are a freak of nature, you seriously will be breathing like a gorilla by the time you reach the half-way point or before. Lol Little did I know this was going to be THE most trying climb I had ever experienced. Problem #1, my mind tricked me into thinking that just because I can do a Tae-Bo dvd straight through that I would be fine. Problem #2, I decided to wear my N,i.k.e tennis shoes that matched the workout capris I had on. Why not be cute and sweaty at the same time….right? Wrong!!! Cute will kill you and it almost did me in! Now I knew that these shoes were not comfortable in any shape, form, or fashion to workout in. Even walking the dogs in them makes my arch hurt but oh noooooooooo, I just had to match. *sigh* So we are going up, my breathing is becoming more labored and then I feel it. Damn. I tried to push through the pain but those shoes were testing me. I tell Z to hold up for a second (or 180) so I could rest. He asks if I’m okay, I say no but told him we could keep going. As we continue up, we hear thunder and see lightning so we are hurrying (read I am trying not to keel over) to try and make it to the top. By this time my feet are killing me and I, for the first time ever climbing this thing, throw in the towel. I tell Z to go on ahead and I’ll wait until he gets back down. He has that are you serious look on his face to which I answered, yes I’m serious. Lol I couldn’t take it anymore. He told me we could just start going back down but I told him to go ahead and that I’d be fine. Hell I was high enough to get the same benefit as being at the top. Lol He just laughed and said okay and that he wouldn’t be long. After I caught my breathe a bit, I take Emma, who wasn’t the least bit tired might I add, over closer to the edge of the cliff so I could at least take some pics. (I’ll have to post those later. I forgot my camera today). While we are waiting on Z and Cochise to come back down, I am looking at the scenery and also watching people as they come up and down. There was one family that had kids from about the 7-12 year age range. One of the little girls was bawlin as she made her way up. Her face was red and all she kept saying was “it hurts, it hurts” and her mom said “it’s supposed to hurt”. The child was a bit on the chubby side so that I am pretty sure that was the most exercise she had ever had in her life so far. I felt bad for her though, cause I truly felt her pain. Lol I hope she made it up okay.

Z finally makes it down and tells me that I wasn’t that far from the top. I look at him and look up at the steep incline of boulders and rolled my eyes. I take a few pics of him and the down below shot but refuse to let him take any of me. I told him next time we come, which will be sometime again this summer, he can take as many as he likes because I will make it to the top in my raggedy tennis shoes this time thank you very much. Lol As we are going back down, Z asks me if I see that snake. I ask where and he points it out. After making sure it wasn’t hanging over my head or right in front of me, I took off like I was in the Olympics. But what about your feet you say? Shooooooooooot, I wasn’t stuttin nothing but the end of that trail by then (which we were fairly close to at that point). I didn’t get too far running because it started raining and I didn’t want to slip and fall. (FYI....I'm rather clumsy and walk into walls regularly) I figured I had gotten far enough away from the snake so I slowed down until I made it to the end. By the time Z caught up with me, he was still laughing his @ss off at me running away from the snake. I told him to KMA, because what I saw was thick, long, black, and in no way resembled anything I wanted near or around me. Well, unless it…………nevermind.

So that was our walk. The rest of the weekend was just really laid back with a trip to the movies to see “IronMan” (it was a’ight) and a little BBQ on Monday. It was just what the doctor ordered.

Update: Pics from close to the top Pinnacle






Sunday, May 25, 2008

Ain't No Way in Hell!!!

Take a look at this vid and please tell me how/why this kid is still breathing? I laugh at a lot of stuff I see kids do (and thank the lord they ain't mine) but this right here had my blood pressure shootin up through the roof! (Please note the 1:59 minute mark) I had to stop the video for a minute to catch myself. I was about to damage the laptop screen to reach through to slap both of these Dr. Phil watchin dummies. lol

What would you all have done? All I know is Z summed it up for me by saying if we had kids that did that, we wouldn't have none no mo'! lol lol lol lol lol



And for the record, I highly doubt if that was the first time the kid did that. Surprised my ass.....


I'll post about the climb tomorrow. We are headed off to the movies.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Climb every mountain..................

Today is the day folks. Z, the pups, and I are going to climb Pinnacle mountain.









I haven't seen this place in a good year since we last came out to climb. I figure if we do it today, I will still have 2 days to recover physically (just in case) before it's time to go back to work. I've been doing Tae-Bo for a good month and a half now so I am going to put Billy's dvd to the test to see if it was worth the 9.99 I paid for it @ Wally World. lol I think I'll be fine though. I can make it through the work-out without stopping or having to drink any water....that's a good sign right?

Wish me luck. Have a fun and safe holiday weekend!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

WOOOOOOOOOOOOW!

This is SO not shocking but still it amazes me to see the ignorance and blatant racism live and in living color that still exists in this country. These people did everything short of just coming right out and (calling Barack a n****) saying they would not vote for Barack because he is black. What is really evident to me is that the people featured in this clip are truly just a product of a racist mentality (and possibly inbreeding) that has been passed down from generation to generation. Not ONE, and mean NOT ONE of them could give a decent reason why he should not be president.

Just listen…..you’ll see what I mean. Please be sure to listen up to what the women at the 3:07 minute mark says. All I could do was laugh……for real.


Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Doin Da Butt

Press Play for some funny stuff (thanks to her brother). Lucky for her she didn't turn up on a milk carton and returned home safely. It's amazing how kids think they are fully grown once they turn 18. I remember being the same way. Most folks that read this blog are truly adults in every aspect of the word and know that being grown and mature @ 18 is the farthest thing from the truth. I hope her brother stays true to his word and keeps this video so that when she gets a little older she can see how young and dumb she truly was at eiiiiiigggghhhttteeeeeeeeeen-ah! (You'll get this after you see the vid). lol


Friday, May 09, 2008

Nothing in particular................

............to blog about so I will post about random observations and occurrences that have taken place over the past week or so.

Apparently I have a rather graceful lady-like walk when I walk in high heels. A few people at the new j-o-b have made mention of how I look like a glide when I walk past them. One lady even asked me to teach her how to walk "like that". I inquired what "like that" was and she preceded to mimick my walk while shaking her hips. lol She said that I and I quote "you really don’t shake them that hard but you just have a natural sway to your hips that would make a man come runnin". I got tickled, said thanks, got my water, and went on about my business.

Ladies, when you buy shoes from T.J. M.a.x.x please remember to remove the lovely price sticker from the bottom. I've seen more than a few offenders in the past 30 days that I felt I had to make mention.

The mime guy was not downtown last Friday due to the storms that we had in the area I'm sure but I did catch a glimpse of him in motion the other day. As usual I was in the car in passing but I turned down the radio to listen to what he was playing ("Poppin My Colla') and he was gettin it. Now exactly what he was gettin is a different story as I have no clue what type of dancing he was doing. I was expecting something similar to the robot but it didn’t quite come out like that. lol

I went to listen Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2004/) last Thursday at the Clinton Library. Google her. This is one smart and accomplished lady who is doing great things to better to the environment. Check out what she's doing with "The Green Belt Movement" (http://www.wangarimaathai.com/) .

There is a stackable cart in the ladies room at the new gig full of make-up bags. When I first saw it, I thought it was odd but figured it had to contain more than make-up since most women I know carry that with them. I finally discovered that the bags contained toothbrushes/toothpaste when I came in and saw someone brushing their teeth one day. There are A LOT of folks (well women anyway) that brush their teeth mid-day up here.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but my new boss is quite perky and upbeat. This has been somewhat of an adjustment for me as I’m quite the opposite. No, I’m not depressing but I’m just more subdued and laid back. Something that I’ve noticed about her is when she feels a bit full of herself she sticks her chest out kinda like a bald eagle or something. It caught me off guard the first time but now I just look and giggle on the inside.

If you slow down during your commute into work (ie going 60-65 instead of driving like a bat out of hell), it really will help to save on the amount of gas you use. Trust me I know! I am a reformed bat out of hell driver. Lol

Z is in the process of getting our supplies in order should natural disaster strike in our area. I’m talking backpacks to have our supplies in, a tent, water (and not just bottled water but some kind in pouches *shrugs shoulders*) and a whole lotta other stuff. With all the storms that have been passing over us lately how could we not but sometimes I wonder is he doing too much. lol One thing I am sure of is that it pays to have a former Marine in the house with you. Now all I need to do is take pic’s of our property and make sure our necessary paperwork is in order for us to take with us should we need to. *knocks on wood*

Mother’s Day is this weekend and I’m debating on whether or not I want to make a drive to Memphis. I know, I know it’s my mom but gas is high and I don’t ever feel like I have a real weekend when I’m on the road part of the time like that. *sigh* I know, I know, stop being selfish and go see my mama. J

I sent off all my Mother’s Day cards earlier this week but completely forgot my sister’s birthday is tomorrow. If….okay when, I go to Memphis tomorrow, I can give it to her then. Lol

Speaking of my sister, she finally broke down and got my niece (she’s 14) a cell phone. To say I was shocked is an understatement because she swore up and down that she would not get her one until she got ready to go to college. Lol lol lol Times are different though so I suppose it’s somewhat of a necessity than a luxury for kids to have that now. Anyway, it’s some sort of special service/account that A.T.&.T offers for parents with kids that allows them to control what #’s she can send/receive calls to/from. I called her # back after she left me a message and got truly tickled listening to her voicemail message. I think they are in Chicago now for some band trip. I should call to see how it’s going.

Why is the Steve Havey morning show broadcasting from a W.a.l-.Ma.r.t Super.Cen.ter in GA today? lol I like listening to him in the morning on my way into work but once I get to work I usually tune into my fav, WDIA in Memphis (http://www.am1070wdia.com/), online. The Bobby O'Jay show airs from 6-10 a.m. I believe. It's mainly talk radio but he plays music in between here and there. Sometimes O'Jay's views are rather distorted, IMO but I really love listening to the callers because they crack me up. It's usually a lot of older people that call in. Listen to it sometime they will have you rollin.

My friend is going through it trying to get her first born son potty trained. He’s two and is as she states stubborn as hell. Other people that I know (or blogs that I’ve read that have small kids) have also said that it’s hard getting these kids potty trained nowadays. While on the phone with her yesterday, I started to wonder how was it that our parents were able to get our generation potty trained so quickly. My mom swears up and down she had us goin on the pot before we were two. What was it?? How did they do that?? Have our parents been lying to us all this time?? Who knows.

Oh well, that’s it. My mind is now blank. Have a good weekend.

Tuesday, May 06, 2008

FIGHT, FIGHT!!!!


Ladynay says she's a six days late on posting this month's blog theme. I've got her beat as I'm a month and six days late on posting anything theme related. I don't remember exactly what last month's theme was other than it was related to love....like ummmm first loves, first kiss, or something like that. Don't hate me ya'll! lol This month's theme is physical fights and boy do I have a doozy. Like to hear it, hear it go......

Picture it, small town AR, 1996. My friends and I had come home from college for our month off during the holidays at the end of the year. Being in small town AR left a lot to be desired in the way of nightlife, so we all decide to venture out to the main juke joint in town, the Ebony social club aka the Ebony. *pours out a lil liquor for the now defunct (ie burnt to a crisp) club* Now during this time, AR Gal was single, always ready to mingle, and had her eye on two young gentlemen.

Now one guy who I'll call ummmmmmmm Juicy Fruit (blame his lips please) had a lot of drama associated with him (ie a crazy ass baby mama). During the summer just prior to the winter break, we hung out a lot with one another. Come to think of it, our interaction only came when I was at home on break or visiting. I don't even recall talking to him on the phone while I was away at school.

The other guy who I'll call Juicy Booty (he had a big butt for a guy, lol) was someone I knew of in high school (he was a few years ahead of me) but we really didn't meet one another until graduation day.....well night (that's another story for another day). I talked to him here and there while I was away at school and he would come up to visit on occasion during the weekend. He was just down the road @ UAPB so it wasn't really a big deal for him to come up.

While making the circle with my girls around the club to find our spot, I noticed Juicy Booty was there and we were in each other's face from that point on dancing and talking. I eventually noticed that Juice Fruit was also there and waved when I saw him. It's getting late and the club starts clearing out so we all make our way outside. I say my goodbyes to Juicy Booty and head over to my friends car where my girls are waiting. Juicy Booty yells something out to me so I turn around to yell something back. As I turn back around Juicy Fruit's crazy ass baby mama is in front of me and knocks me smooth in my face. WTF???!!! I reach for my face (yeah I'm vain like that) and the chick swings at me again but I duck out of the way and swing at her face. Now I don't know if she fell because I hit her or she lost her balance but what I do know is that hoe came tumblin down. My friends say I clocked her but let's face it, we were all a bit inebriated so whose to say what really happened at that particular moment. All I know is she was on the ground and something in my head just clicked. lol I proceeded to kick her in her guts with my four inch boots until my friends made me stop. By then Juicy Booty has made his way over, pulls me over to his truck, and tells my friends to meet us at Dodger Dog (it's a gas station folks). While in the truck, Juicy Booty is trying to calm me down as I'm cussin all kinds of sailor ways and here comes this crazy chick again bangin on his truck window. This not only pisses me off but JB as well. I reach over across him to roll the window down (stupid I know but I was in the moment of it all, lol). She reaches in to get me but I grab her hair and proceeded to bang her head against the truck door. He pushes me back across the seat, rolls the window up (not before getting her told), and rides out. We arrived at the gas station to wait on my friends and ole girl eventually makes her way up there. The gas station was nine times out of ten the spot to go after the club so this was really no big surprise. I see her, she sees me. She's still talkin trash and her friends tell her to and I quote "shut her drunk ass up". I was just ready to get to the house at this point (especially since I couldn't really see my face in the vanity mirror in JB's truck). My friends pull up and I sit in the truck talkin with JB a little bit longer and we roll out.

*Updated*I'm adding this late as Kat asked some good questions that made me realize I had left out some important stuff regarding the crazy baby mama

I never had contact with the girl prior to that night at the club. We went to high school together (she is a year younger than me) but we ran in two different circles. I had heard that JF's baby mama was the jealous type but they were not together at the time (at least that’s how it was told to me, lol) although I'm willing to bet he gave her reason to believe that they still were (especially since they ended up having another kid together). *rolls eyes and sighs* He talked to other girls and without fail, I would always hear about her fighting someone over him. So in essence she was young and dumb as was he. That's basically all this messed boiled down to. All I did that night at the club was wave @ JF but I suppose that was enough to light a fire under her @ss to make her want to take action and fight for what was hers. lol Please believe that she had him after that 'cause AR Gal ain't want no mo' parts of that mess.

So that's that. As long as I live, I will never forget that night. As harsh as it sounded, it has provided my friends and I with laughs to last a lifetime (I actually lol quite a bit putting this event into words just now). As far and JF and I, ummm yeah let's just say that communication with him ceased soon after this event and truly affected how I viewed dating guys with children going forward. JB and I stayed in contact quite a bit after that as he and I were together for the next 5 years. Perhaps I'll share should there be a relationship theme in the future. :-)

Monday, May 05, 2008

Sooooooooooo......

..........I'd been workng on a new post for the past hour and still haven't quite gotten all my thoughts out. I suppose I'll post it later (or perhaps never). *sigh*

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this. Everytime I hear this song on the D.oc.ker.s commercial it puts me in a good mood. I have no idea what people golfing in khaki's have to do with California Soul but the music is addictive. It's by Marlena Shaw, who I had never heard of until I went to look it up, and has such a good sound to it. I know I can't be the only one who likes it so enjoy.

Friday, April 25, 2008

My Bad.....

I did a plus one post after 100 and chunked the deuces. lol Thanks for all the congrats on making that number.


Let's see......what's been going on since I last touched down. The new gig is going as well as expected so far even though the morning started out a bit akward. This lady that sits, well sat, on the same row as me got escorted out of the building. I saw her, as I did every morning, when she came in and the next thing I knew I saw her being escorted down the aisle by HR saying "Bye ya'll". Now at first thought, I didn't think much about the HR lady being with her as I just thought she was leaving for the day. Plus a lot of people in different groups are pretty tight as well. Then I saw the HR lady helping her clean out her desk and let's just say I caught on real quick. So I'm looking at another chicka on the row with me and she's looking at me just as clueless. I just turned the hell around and kept on "working". Call me cruel but I mean really whaddaya say??!! So the HR lady has another chick come up to help carry the ladies stuff down to her car. We eventually catch a minute with the now ex co-worker. Neither of us pried, cause honestly it wasn't our business, but we just wished her well. She says that she knew this was coming and it's the best she's felt all week. Well hell, if she likes it, I love it. lol


Now my guess is that it had something to do with medical leave, or using extra days she didn't have, or something of that nature. From what I'd been told when I first arrived, she had taken a lot of time off from work due to problems she has been having with her back and had just returned shortly before I started working there. Every morning her husband would bring her to work, and wheel her upstairs. Now she wasn't paralyzed, even though I thought she was when I first met her.


Sidebar: My first day while in orientation, I saw ex co-worker wheeling past the room we were in just a smiling and waving. I figured then that she was someone I would be working with and came down to be nosy. lol Well imagine my shock later that day to see her standing straight up. I was like, damn she healed up quick. lol lol lol She saw the look of surprise on my face, laughed, and told me that the wheelchair was just temporary but she could walk with the help of her crutches. I'm SO glad she cleared that up 'cause I was beyond confused. :-)


I could tell that she was putting on a semi-brave front as she left, especially since she kept talking saying random shit (read akward as hell) as she hobbled her way towards the elevators. As relieved as she may be, her feelings seemed to have been hurt behind whatever went down. Anyway, like I said I wish her well.


In other news, no real work to do as of yet just a lot of reading and a few training meetings on db's and other applications that I'll be working with. I was supposed to have another training this afternoon but the guy rescheduled (for the 2nd time) again today. No sweat off my back as it made for a relaxing Friday afternoon at work. My boss left out this morning to go to Nairobi for the next week or so. Don't worry, I won't be a bad girl (well too bad) while she's out as I know there will be eyes watching me in her absence.


Anyway, enough about work. While coming back from lunch today, I saw the most random thing. Remember the episode on "Girlfriends" when Lynn was working as a mime in the park trying to make some money? You know when she spray painted herself all silver and had the little tin cup in her hand to put the money in to get her to perform. Tell me why I saw someone doing that downtown today. lol lol lol At first I thought he was a mannequin until I saw his money pail (along with his boom box from 1987 blasting Michael Jackson) down beside him on the sidewalk. I can't even lie......I cracked the fuck up laughing. I've heard that this is something of a normal occurance in other cities but I had never seen this in person. I am going to try to make it back down there next week sometime, with some coin change...okay maybe a dollar bill HA, to have him shake his shimmy for me. Lucky for you guys I just happened to have the digi cam with me as I've been making more of an effort to keep it on hand for occassions just like this. Now the pic is not the clearest as I was in my car but you get the picture (no pun intended).

Enjoy and have a good weekend!!



Monday, April 14, 2008

SHREK!!!!

Any potential productivity my current employer expected from me today has been completely diminished after watching this! ROLFLMBAO!!

Detroit city council members get into shouting match
http://video.woodtv.com/player.php?video_id=11445

Here's the version without the reporting
http://info.detnews.com/video/index.cfm?id=2142



Thursday, April 10, 2008

100th post!


I didn't realize I was this close to crossing the three digit threshold until I did the previous post. There's no time like the present, so why not go ahead and knock it out I said. lol As with many of my posts, this one will have no rhyme or reason to it. May as well stay with the trend right?

Z and I went to check out "The Ruins" (imdb.com/title/tt0963794/) this past weekend. If you've never heard of this flick before, it's about a group of friends that have traveled to Mexico. During one of their last days there, they decide to go on a dig to an archaeological site in the jungle and encounter some crazy stuff. I won't give away any of the plot but it's a cross between a horror/thriller film. It's not really bad but it's not really good either. Let's put it this way, it wouldn't be a horribly bad thing if you decided to hit up your local bootleg man to check it out. Got it? Good. The one thing that I did find of interest during the movie is that the girl that plays the main female character is the same little girl that played the bratty little kid in "Stepmom" with Julia Roberts. I had no idea that chickadee was so old. Well she is not really old, just older.....oh phluck it! Ya'll know what I am trying to say.
Other than that, life is just the same ole', same ole' humdrum. I'm just trying to relax until I start the new gig next week. *thinks to self if I blogged about it* Something tells me I didn't and I'm too lazy to go back and read to see if I did so just in case.....I got a new job. Yippee! *throws confetti in the air*


Party over.


So yeah, I start next Thursday which is the MOST random day ever but it's so that I will be on their pay schedule and will have no interference with my $$$. Anyway, it's a good company from what I've read and heard from others. The position is great, the benefits are AWESOME, and it offers a great opportunity to lead on to bigger and better things......if I don't block my blessings. :-) I'm definitely ready to move on from where I'm at and the main reason why is the funniest ever.


I.miss.having.vacation.days! lol


Working as a contractor for short term assignments, I haven't been afforded that luxury for the past couple of years so being able to take off work without missing pay is something I will quickly go back to enjoying. Annnnnnnnnd, it will be nice to have something that is more stable. Did I mention that the benefits are GRRRRRRRREAAAAT (and most are paid for by the employer) ??!! :-)


Anywho, I'm sure there's more to blog about but that's all I've got for now.




Yeah, they lost...so what?

I would say that I haven't blogged since my last post because I'm heartbroken that the NCAA Men's finals didn't turn out quite the way I thought it would, but it's not. As usual, I just didn't feel like it so there! lol

I won't get all mushy with the "hope of Memphis" talk that has been going around in the media. Don't get me wrong, the comradery (sp?) that it brought to the city was great I'm sure but at the end of the day...Memphis (the city not the team) still sucks. They've got a sucky mayor, a sucky NBA team, a sucky airport, sucky race relations, with major sucky crime.

Speaking of sucky...WTH is up with American Airlines??!! Boooooooooooooooo!!!

The loss was heartbreaking, to say the least. I've stated before that I'm not much of a sports fanatic but I made a point to keep tabs on the Tigers this season. I think I probably woke the dead Monday night when Kansas made that last shot to go into OT. I knew then that it was over for the U of M. *sigh*Almost doesn't count but I don't care. This team kicked ass, played their hearts out, and I'm still a supporter.

GO TIGERS!!!

Saturday, April 05, 2008

On their way........


.....to becoming the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Champs. GO TIGERS!!!!!!!



Wednesday, April 02, 2008

Everytime I Need a Good Laugh......

...... I go read this post.

http://justanotherdayindc.blogspot.com/2007/04/saw-by-any-other-name.html

I still laugh just as hard as the first time I read it.

Monday, March 31, 2008

You Can’t Make This Shit Up!

In my rush to get packed and ready for the trip to Memphis, I forgot to blog about lunch with my co-workers. The folks within my group did a good-bye lunch for one of the guys whose last day was Friday. We all were making small talk and eating when the topic of religion came up. Don’t ask how all I know is it wasn’t me because I wouldn’t touch that subject with co-workers with a 50 ft. pole. One of my colleagues mentioned that when his wife lived in Memphis she was a member of the church that Al Green pastored (which is funny enough in itself to me). My boss then asked, "Who is Al Green?" I choked on my water while trying to stifle a giggle. Yeah yeah, I know, that’s what I get but whatever. It was funny. After I compose myself, I asked him "You really don’t know who he is? He’s mainly known for his music with songs like….Love and Happiness, Let’s Stay Together". He tells me that he has NEVER heard of him until that day.

Now color me crazy but aren’t there certain musical acts that everyone is familiar with…….. Michael Jackson, Hall&Oates, Prince, Madonna, Rick James. Artists like this reach across the masses and folks just know who they are and have at least heard one of their songs. I thought Al Green fit into that category but apparently I’m wrong. I know it’s not anything serious to not know who he is but dare I say that it is a bit odd. I never thought I would actually have interaction with someone who has been "living under a rock" but low and behold he’s been right next to me the whole time. Lol

Newer post below....

Be Kind, Please Rewind……..

That’s how I feel about this weekend. It went by so fast, as they all do, but this one was more special because I finally got to see the fabulous Ms. Jill Scott and Raheem Devaughn live in concert. I’ve been waiting 3 months since I got the tickets waaaaaaaaaaay back in December and the wait was just about to kill me! lol I just want to go back and experience it all over again as those two put on quite a show. I can see it all re-playing through my head as I type these words. Strange I know but whatever.

Raheem opened and did his thing, interacted with the crowd and what not. There were two things that had me laughing during his performance, (1) his security guards trying to keep up with him as he maneuvered through the audience (especially this one guy that had the Mr. T mohawk cut) and (2) his use of flashcards with certain keywords on them. I got SO tickled at that, but then again it doesn’t take too much to make me laugh. He also humped the stage singing "You"….*sigh* Why man why?! Lol He didn’t perform too long. Maybe about hmmmmmmm 30 or 40 minutes but it was enough to get the crowd going.

During the intermission when the crew was changing out the sets, they bring out these rugs for Jill and the backup singers to stand on during the performance. So you see one mic at the front of the stage for Jill and three mics and chairs back to the left of her for the backup singers.

Z asks, "Is that it?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Z: "I mean are those all the people that are gonna be up there? Are they singing acapella?"
Me: " I highly doubt it."
Z: "So where is the band gonna be over in the right corner?"
Me: * giving him the side-eye * "Dude!! You know they are behind the curtain!" lol lol lol
Z: "Yeah, I know. It’s so hot in here it’s got me delirious!"

It was burning up in that place. I didn’t even realize it until people left out during the intermission of just how warm it was. Anyway, Jill comes out and everyone goes wild, present company included. For the next two hours and twenty minutes, I was privileged to hear this woman. Her voice so powerful, beautiful, and strong and her stage presence….wow!

OMG! Pump the brakes! I almost forgot………I MET RAHEEM!!!!

During the Jill performance, I had to go to the ladies room. As I’m making my way back to my seat, I see this guy. I think to myself that he looks really familiar. Me being me, I check out his shoes and think those look familiar too. As my eyes made their way up his body checking out his outfit up to his face it finally clicks. Hot Damn, that’s RD! So I go up, introduce myself and tell him how I really enjoy his music and what a great show he put on. I start to ask him for an autograph and picture but I then I remember that I left my purse with Z. Mother f*(&(^*%$!!!!!!! I get so mad at myself and just tell him that it was really nice to meet him and go sit down. UGH!!!!!! I’m still pissed at myself. Oh well……

Anyway, back to Jill. There were these two ladies in maybe their late 50’s seated in front of us. Every time Jill said or did something fun (read risqué) through body language they gave each other this look that was hilarious! I don’t think they knew that she was going to be so open about things of a sexual nature. Lol There was also a guy that made his way up to the front of the stage and acted a damn fool. I can’t even remember what in the devil she was singing because I was too busy laughing at him. I swear he looked like he was praise dancing to her song. Hotmess is all I can say. Lol All laughs aside, one thing I really, really liked is that Jill talked to the audience which she is not outside the norm. The things she shared helped the audience understand what she was going through when she wrote the lyrics. It gave a different perspective of how I understood certain songs to be and just made me appreciate her music even more. I could go on and on AND on about this chick but I won’t. Just know for me Jill is music and I’ll always be a fan.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Blah Blah Blah

My Easter weekend was spent on the road for the most part. I had not planned to go anywhere further than the couch or the bed seeing as we are going to Memphis for the JS concert (FINALLY!!) this weekend but I got a call from my BFF that she was coming in from Nashville to our hometown with her baby so "Auntie" ARGal agreed to drive up and see the little tyke. It was my first time seeing him (other than pics) as both of our schedules have been so hectic. Well, okay I admit I could have gone around the holidays but hell I just didn't feel like it....sue me. Anyway, I'm there visiting and even stopped by the house I grew up in...UGH. Nevermind, that's a different story for a totally different day. *sigh* Anyway, so where was I? Oh yeah, so after playing with the baby and visiting with folks here and there, the BFF and I realize that we are starvin like Marvin and call in an order to the ONLY obvious place....Ed's Country Catfish! lol Laugh at the name all you want but honeeeeeeeeeeeey that catfish (especially the filets) are so good! BFF tells me that she also wants a Nehi Peach pop. I ctfu because I haven't had one in years. Then I think and it actually didn't sound half bad soooo why not?! lol I figured I may as well have one last hoorah seeing as I was going to start bringing Billy Blanks and his sweat induced antics back into my life at the beginning of the week.

Sidenote: **I'm happy to report that I went a full 30 minutes with Tae-Bo yesterday before I quit that b*tch. I'll try it again today. It’s been a long time since Billy and I got hot and heavy together so cut me some slack. I walked the dogs too! That counts for something right? lol**

Before I picked up the order, I stopped by one of the local gas stations to pick up the sodas. As I’m walking towards the entrance, this kid runs past me and opens the door. Walking in behind him, I notice that he has a design cut in the back of his head. The closer I look, I realize its words and then figure it must be his name. Someone had cut La'Quin-something or another in the back of this kids head. Jeezus take the clippers STAT! I just shook my head and laughed. If it weren't for the fact that he had no hair on his face, I'm pretty sure the design could have gone around the circumference of his head. His name was that long. I’m amazed at how they were able to squeeze it in. Seeing that pretty much confirmed that I am very happy I don’t live there anymore. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’ll always have loyalty to the place. I grew up there but you couldn’t pay me to live there right now….even if I got a “good” job @ the steel mill. Lol

After hanging out for most of the day, I went ahead and booked it to M-town to see mama. She had told me previously that mass started @ 7:30 that night so if I wanted to tag along I needed to be there and ready to go by 7:00. Well, AR Gal isn’t one that lives on a strict time table so I opted out. Once I arrived at around 9 or so, she still hadn’t made it in yet. The priest is a little long winded (but he is great to listen to) and mass there tends to go longer than the norm. The average time for most masses is about an hour and your done. Lol So 10:00 rolls around and I’m in WTF mode…10:30, still no mama. I give her a call on her cell, no answer. Hmmm. I put my street clothes back on, grab my purse, and hop in the car to go look for her. I ride by the church first and do you know that those folks were still up there??!! Mama finally rolled in a little after 11:00. She told me that it took so long because it was a special service (an Easter Vigil) that included people converting to Catholic faith. I don’t remember this as a kid as we never went. We always went Easter Sunday and they just introduced the new folks. Lol I passed out not much longer after she got home. We did brunch the next day and then I rolled out. I had a good time though. It all went by so fast it kinda doesn’t seem like it happened at all. I have a feeling that this weekend will go the same way.

Monday, March 17, 2008

One reason why I love Barack so Much.....

......is his wife. Check out this vid of her speaking on Mr. Obama. This lady just oozes class.

*Note to Tocarra: Please take notes**

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid353515028/bctid490400930

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Have You Ever Seen Such a Thing??!!



Look at my baby! Look closer....a little bit closer (@ her ass!) lol

**Please note: EmmaBuns (one of her many nicknames) was half asleep when I took this, lol**

She's wearing a diaper! I kid you not. My Emma has gone into heat and in the process her own personal Aunt Flow has paid her a visit. *sigh* I thought I had at least another month before this happened. Oh well.

I first noticed this Friday but goodness only knows how long she has actually been in this stage. I don't think it was more than a couple of days before that but just not knowing has freaked me out. After tiring of getting her in and out of (and washing and re-washing) her rigged up rag draws I made, Z suggested that we get some diapers from Pet.Smart. WHAT??!! lol lol lol I had no idea that these even existed but they do!! So for $12, we now have peace of mind in knowing that she is not makin it rain all over the house.

In the meantime, I just need to call the vet to make an appointment to get her fixed (which I keep forgetting to do). I guess now would be a good time huh? :-)

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Are You Smarter Than a Sam's Club Employee?




I stopped by Sam's today to pick up my favorite thing since sliced bread. They have these vine ripened sweet mini-peppers that are SO good they make you want to slap ya mama!! I mainly eat them raw by themselves or in a spinach salad but they are also good on a steaks cooked slow in the oven. Good stuff!

Anyway, while standing in line to check-out there was a lady in line next to me. If you've never been in Sam's before, they have a separate lane for people with flat bed carts. They even have a large sign over the check-out area that says "FLAT BED CART LANE ONLY". The lady was in that line with a regular basket and asked the cashier if he could check her out since she only had a few items. I noticed no one was behind her or coming so I figured he would say yes. WRONG!! lol He shook his head back and forth and said no. She says okay and proceeds to take her items out of the basket and loads them on the flatbed and asks, "Can you check me out now?". *faints* I had to turn my head because I got a bad case of the giggles. Of course they guy had no choice but to check her out and all was well in her world as she was just a smilin as he did. lol

So was she smarter than a Sam's Club employee? In this case, yes. lol

Monday, March 03, 2008

The Freaks Come Out At Night

Saturday night, I went out for dinner and a little dancing to help celebrate one of my friends 31st birthday. The birthday girl chose to eat at On The Border, which has the BEST salsa and great margueritas. While taking a sip of my drink, I saw the most random mess ever. This lady (freak #1) walked past our table wearing cut off jean booty shorts, fishnets, biker boots, a jean jacket and a bra. Lemme repeat that....AND A BRA. *falls the hell out* Did I mention she was a ummm mature woman?. *lays back down* My eyes got big and my hand immediately covered my mouth to keep from spitting my drink out. So I'm laughing with tears forming in my eyes and everyone is wondering what the hell is wrong with me. After I compose myself, I tell them what I saw. I'm still trying to figure out how they didn't. I mean seriously...how could you miss that?! I would have had a pic, but the battery in my digicam was D-E-A-D. I don't know how....hell I rarely use the lil booger. Oh well........

After a lot of laughs and filling our bellies at dinner, the party moved to Cajun's Wharf, a seafood restaurant that also has a bar/club adjacent to it on the Arkansas River. Everyone is sitting around chatting it up when one person in our group spots a church member (freak #2) of hers with someone other than his wife.We all do the lil oooooooooo noise, crack up laughing and stare at he and his date as they make their way to the far far faaaaaaar corner. lol As he is walking he notices us looking his way and the look in his eyes is that of fear and confusion. It was if he was trying to see if he recognized anyone in our group that could rat him out. So the chick that goes to church with him texts her husband and tells him. His response....maybe it's innocent. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhh, no! Not the way Miss Thang was hugged up against him. Lucky for him the place is dimly lit IF you sit in the right area...ie the far far faaaaaaaaar corner. Even with the dim lighting, I could tell Mistah wasn't all that fortunate looking in the face. Why is it always the ugly ones that wanna step out?

All in all we had a blast. We did a little dancing to some old school Michael J. and a mix of other old and new songs while dancing with a crazy man (freak #3). Not just one person, but everyone! This guy was hilarious. He made the rounds dancing with all the ladies on the floor. We were done after about two hours though. We all joked as we walked out that back in the day, we would have just started partying (or started getting ready to go out)@ 11:30. We're old bags and hags now! lol

To round out the the post with musical accompaniment, I'm providing Whoodini's "The Freaks Come Out At Night". Be sure to pay attention starting at minute mark 1:59. The little kid with the puffy jherri curl is Jermaine Dupri. His hair is different, he's about a foot taller, and much richer now but other than that not much else has changed.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

OH NO SHE DIDN'T!!!!

So I'm sure many people watched the debates last night. I was all set to tune in.... well honestly I was cooking and watching "The Biggest Loser" when it dawned on me that it was Tuesday night and time for the big OH debate. I ran into the bedroom and turned the channel to CNN but they were talking about NY Philharmonic symphony in North Korea. I had to be early right? So I went back in the kitchen to finish up cooking. I go back into the bedroom and it's still not on. O-kay??? *sigh* So I'm flipping through the channels looking at the information and I see nothing regarding the debate. WTF? Is today the right day? Am I in the twilight zone? What is going on?

Needless to say, I missed the debate last night but thanks to modern technology I just finished viewing it on the MS.NBC site. Yep all 84 minutes and 37 seconds. While it didn't pack as many punches as the debate last week, it still provided some entertainment for me. I especially liked Tim Russert and Brian Williams (is that his name *shrugs shoulders*) as moderators. They were able to better control the debate and more importantly could shut Hillary down and helped cure her of the Imusthavethelastword-itis that she is afflicted with. I don't even think I saw as much of that smirk she has become notorious for. I could be wrong though, I did have to work while listening (and half watching) to this. lol

Of course, the alpha male of the Clinton camp had to get her cheap (and rather immature) shot in practically right from the jump. When approached with a question regarding her stance on NAFTA, instead of just answering the question she came out of left field with a complaint (read WHINE) about the ordering of questioning.

“I just find it curious. And if anybody saw 'Saturday Night Live,' maybe we should ask Barack if he's comfortable and needs another pillow," she said with a smile. "I just find it kind of curious that I keeping getting the first question.”

Excuse my French, but b*tch please!! Get over it and get over yourself already! Is your skin really that thin? Use those extra set of balls you keep on reserve and MAN UP!!

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Obama is a Mack Daddy!

The devil is busy.....and apparently so is ig'nance. *smdh* Please just take this as comedy cause I swear I laughed at this damn fool the entire time.

I present to you The "Honorable" James David Manning, PhD.




Are they handing out preaching certificates at Save-A-Lot now?


Here's the link (http://www.livesteez.com/videos/watch/XLUli4q)just in case.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

ATTENTION ALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS......



.......REMEMBER!!

When making a fake ID, attach a picture of yourself only... no matter how much you love your girl. *sigh* I wonder how often he has gotten a pass using this "id".


Tuesday, February 12, 2008

How Many of Me

One of my friends emailed a link (http://www.howmanyofme.com/) to me for a website that shows how many people in the U.S. share your name. According to this site, there are 303,421,415 people in this country. Of those in that number, 3,034 share my first name. I have actually met 28 people who either share my name or knows someone with the same first name as mine. That is still mind blowing to me because up until a few years ago, I honestly thought I was the only one. lol Let's see,last name...6554 people share my last name with me. Now the combination of my first and last name is not common at all. It's so uncommon that, according to this site, I am the ONLY person in these United States with it. I was just about to get giddy when I realized that this is untrue. Wanna know how I know? Keep reading.

A couple of years ago, I purchased a cookbook by Issac Hayes. It was on clearance. I found some good recipes while flipping through so I decided to take it home with me.

Sidenote: There is a recipe in there for creamed potatoes that includes miracle whip. It's so yummy! I'll have to post it later.

In addition to the recipes, he also had stories about his life from childhood up through adulthood. So I'm reading and come upon a story about his sister. They mention her name and I keep reading then I stop. I go back up a couple of sentences and reread, look up, reread, look up, and then I screamed. (Do not ask me why as I cannot tell you why I hollered like I had just lost my marbles.) Z came running out of the other room all panicked....bless his heart. lol

Z: What's wrong??!!
Me: OMG! OMG! OMG!
Z: Babe, WHAT'S WRONG??!!
ME: *while pointing @ the book* OMG!!!!!
Z: Are you hurt?!
Me: *cracks up laughing* No, Issac Hayes sister....he mentioned her in this cookbook....she has the exact same name as me!
Z: Okay???
Me: Okay??!! My name is not Susan! I don't have just a regular ole name fool, my name is like super random!!
Z: Oh okay....
Me: I can't stand you
Z: *laughs* That is neat though. Maybe you guys are related.
Me: Now THAT would be really random!

So there you go. My dreams of being an original are gone. Then again, if you put my first, middle, AND last name together.....I'm pretty willing to bet I am the only one. There's hope after all.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Please tell me why.....

....it's a been over month since the holidays ended and the folks around the corner from me still have their Christmas lights on? It's one thing to still have them hanging up but to turn them on every night....... I guess if it makes them happy who am I to question, but it still leaves me scrunching up my nose everytime I pass their house.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Are you voting?














**newer post below**

Yes, I Was Bored……

See what had happened was, Z was in the ATL this past weekend for one of his annual guys’ trip during the Superbowl. Therefore, the pups and I were left all by our lonesome to entertain ourselves. I was at the house Saturday evening and got tired of flipping through the TV channels and finding absolutely nothing on to watch. Then I thought, HEY, I never did take a pic of those brown boots to put on the blog and there’s no time like the present, so why not?! As you can see, I got carried away. I figured why waste a post on just one pair of shoes when I can do several. Maybe one day I’ll post the rest of my collection. 

FYI: For any of you who read this that live in central AR, Dryers Shoes (in Conway out by JC Penney) is having a going out of business sale. I scored a few for both of us this weekend. I’m talking good deals…..from $9.99 on up. Some of shoes that I got were regular price $100 and I purchased them for $35/$40 (and even some for $15). Not too shabby if you ask me.

While chilling around the house, I did happen to catch some older movies, “The Mirror Has Two Faces” (with Barbara Streisand), which I had never seen but was actually quite good and “Flashdance”. I have never seen this movie in its entirety, other than the infamous dance scene, so I decided to give it a chance. Boy am I glad I did because I am never watching it ever again! Lol I found it to be quite boring. Not much acting and definitely no good acting. I guess it was the thing during the early 80’s but there was only so much of Jennifer Beals and her legwarmers I could take. It was a hotMESS BUT that’s just me. Speaking of Jennifer Beals, she’s certainly come a long way since those days because she is absolutely wonderful in “The L Word”. Love that show! Did anyone catch it this past Sunday?! Good stuff!

I did happen to partake in a bit of the Superbowl. I saw approximately 20 seconds of halftime and the last two minutes of the game. Can I just go on record as saying that halftime is supposed to pump you up or at least keep you pumped up for the 2nd half . That’s what I thought anyway. I don’t mind rock music at all (I actually like several bands) but next year could they at least get the Red Hot Chili Peppers or something, I’m just sayin……..

All in all, the weekend was actually very relaxing. Even though I missed Z dearly, I did enjoy the quality “me” time. Here’s hoping all of you in blogland had a good one too!

Saturday, February 02, 2008

It's All About the Shoes!!!

My intent was to take a pic of the brown boots that I blogged about oh so long ago. Then I thought, one shoe is NO fun, let's show some shoesssss. lol

With that being said, I bring to you...my secret romance.



My Name is ARGal and I have a SERIOUS shoe addiction.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Where Did the Time Go?


Quite honestly, I can't tell you. I had intentions of blogging from my last post but each day when I got home after walking the dogs and unwinding I just didn't feel like it. Now that I think about it, I've barely even commented on my fav blogs. What can I say, I'm experiencing a drought. lol

Since my last visit, we have experienced strange weather (as most you probably have as well) in central AR with high and very low temps. This past Tuesday we had a wind storm that rocked everyone's world, yours truly included. The temperature went from a wonderful 73 degrees (per the thermometer in the car) to a staggering 42 degrees in a matter of a few short hours. Forty-two is not cold you say? HA!! I beg to differ when the hawk (and several of his friends might I add) are flapping their wings in your face at 30 mph. Needless to say, there was NO walking that day for me the pups. Like I told my neighbors, if my car was bobbin and weavin on the road like Muhammed Ali there was no way in the world I was to about to subject myself and the pooches to that and be tossed around like laundry in the dryer.

As I expected when I arrived home, everyone's garbage cans had been tossed to and fro. What I didn't expect was to find the some of the shingles from the roof on the freakin ground!! Seriously? UGH! So I gathered them up, stuck them in the garage, and called the folks to come on out to fix it. Little did I know that we weren't the only ones affected. Seems there's quite a long list of people who had the same problemo. In riding around town since the storm came through, I got to see some of the damage to other homes with my own eyes and believe me when I tell you ours was by far really minor. Anywho, we'll be waiting until they can get to us with a semi defunct looking roof.

I called to check on family and friends and was told some sad news. One of my BFF's cousin-in-law (is there such a thing??) was killed Tuesday afternoon when a tree in the cousins yard fell onto their home and killed the wife. My friend is devasted by this news and honestly it's affecting me to. I did not know the young lady but just hearing the way that she passed........so tragic. She leaves behind two young children, ages 10 and 7 I believe (don't quote me on that). Unfortunately, hers was not the only life taken as another young ladies life was cut short when a tree fell over, due to the high winds, on her car. Read about it here http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0108/492193.html

Count your blessings folks.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Clov.erfi.eld: Movie Review





Read at your own risk folks cause this here's a spoiler and it’s rather long. :-)

I'll start by saying this, if you like leaving the movie theater with a headache or watching one feeling somewhat dizzy, then this Bud's for you. Now this is not to say that I didn't like it (the movie not the headache) because for the most part I did but this isn't the normal feeling (physically or emotionally) one expects leave with after watching a movie.

If you've been to the movies within the past few months and have seen previews for this flick, you pretty much get the overall gist of what's going on. Some people are at a party in NYC, some stuff starts to blow up, and all hell begins to break loose all the while the events going on are being videotaped by a handheld camcorder. In case you didn't know, the entire movie is filmed with this thing. Let me repeat that....the.entire.movie.is.filmed.with.this.thing. I knew that going in that’s how it would be but in my mind I just expected or rather hoped it wouldn't. Weird...yeah I know. My brain is a many splendor thing.

At the beginning, it starts with a black screen with white text showing you that the U.S. Dept. of Defense had retrieved video from U.S. Area 447 formerly known as Central Park. This is pretty much tells you what happens at the end of the movie. A party is being thrown for a guy (I think his name was Rob) that is moving to Japan for a promotion he just received on his job by his brother and said brother's girlfriend Lilly. During the party, you are introduced to other random people namely, Marlena and also the guy behind the camera who videotaped most everything that went on, Hudd. He was hilarious for most of the film but I tell you one thing he was better than me because I would have dropped that camera a very long time before he did. lol There's also Beth who is introduced a tad bit earlier in the film but you really get the full understanding of the importance of her roll during the party. So you basically have 6 main characters throughout, Rob, Beth, Marlena, Hudd, Lilly and Rob's brother(I can't remember his name to save my life).

During the party, some relationship drama ensues between Rob and Beth (R&B). At the very beginning after the black screen, there is video of R&B that shows the last day they spent together as a couple. Throughout the movie during times when Hudd is not filming, you will see short little clips of that day. R&B have a lovers quarrel at the party, B leaves, there's a bit more partying and then BAM, you hear an explosion noise of some sort and then the lights blink on and off. People are screaming, crying, etc. etc. etc.

The party crowd and most of the neighbors in the building decide to head up to the roof to see what's going on. Everyone is standing around talking trying to figure out if it was another terrorist attack when BAM you see a building explode and flames shoot up in the sky over in the distance. Parts of the building (now that I think about it, it was probably several buildings but like I said the entire movie was filmed with a handheld so ummm I couldn't really focus, lol) start flying all over the place, namely in their direction. Folks started running back to the door to get inside and down to the ground level. Once there, there's lots of mayhem when out of nowhere comes flying the Statue of Liberty's head down the street. People didn't really have a lot of time to react because right after that the thing, which I now know as the Clo.ver.fie.ld monster (CM), came barreling down the street taking folks out. The main characters duck into a convenience store to avoid whatever is going on. After the thing goes away, they quickly decide they need to get the hell outta dodge and make a run for the Brooklyn Bridge (I believe).

On the bridge is where the first casualty takes place. Everyone gets somewhat separated when Rob receives a call from Beth (remember she left the party and went home). While Rob is on the phone, everyone is trying to gather back together as a group but it's rather hard with a gazillion other people pushing you in one direction. Rob's brother stands up on a light post thing, I guess so they could see him, then the next thing you know BAM!!! The CM takes the part of the bridge he was on out. Everyone runs in the other direction and back into town. When they get somewhere they can stop, Rob decides to run into an electronics store that had been broken into by looters (yeah you read that right) to get another battery for his cell since his had died.
Now on a side note, I thought you still had to charge the new batteries. *shrugs shoulders* That's Hollywood for you I suppose.

While in the store, everyone gets a first hand good look at the CM on tv. It's really big and looks like some sort of dinosaur about the size of a skyscraper and it's blowing flames and ish out it's mouth. Everyone else leaves the store except for the crew because Rob has to check his voicemail to see what Beth said. Apparently she is pinned underneath something and can't move. He and the crew (against better advice) decide to go and save her. While on their way they come face to face with the CM. Now of course, they had to stop and stare for a hot second, which gave them adequate time to see these parasite things (that look really similar to crabs) falling off of the CM. At first glance you think it's just shedding its skin until the things hit the ground and take off running after you. Ya'll should have seen the crew take off, I was in that movie hollerin!!! bwahahahahaha

So anyway, they go underground to the subway station and decide to walk the train tunnel to the next stop. They turn on the camera light so they can see a bit better. All of a sudden you see rats and lots of ‘em running for their lives. Almost everyone in the movie hollered out, ya’ll better start following those rats. Lol lol lol They stop again to turn the night vision on and begin to hear noises. Hudd (the camera guy) turns around and sees the things (that fell off of the monster) and tells everyone to run. As it turns out these lil suckers bite the ish out of you and kill you. The crew eventually makes it to a safe place and they discover that Marlena has been bitten pretty badly. After everyone gets their bearings they decide to leave the room and discover that they are at the stop they were trying to get to. As they walk, they discover a military safe place where injured people and dead bodies are being brought in. While the military is escorting them, Marlena says that she doesn’t feel well, the camera pans to her and there is blood coming out of her nose and eyes. The medical staff jacks her up and takes her behind a curtain where she proceeds to explode, I kid you not. Yuck!

Rob convinces one of the military staff to let them leave. As he shows them the way out, he tells them to be back there by 0600 hours if they don’t want to get blown to smithereens. So what’s left of the crew, Rob, Lilly, and Hudd, make their way to Beth’s apartment which is now sitting at an angle against another building. They decide to go up the adjacent building and climb over to the rooftop of Beth’s spot. Hmmmmm, me thinks that would have really been the point that I threw up the deuces and said "I’ll holla" but hey what do I know. Lol After climbing about 50 plus flights of stairs Lilly finally took off those 4 inch high heels and they made their way to Beth’s building by crossing over some rubble. Once in her apartment, they discover her and of course you think she’s dunzo but BEHOLD she’s alive with some rebar (sp??) sticking though her chest. Can you say ouch??!! Now Beth looks down and sees what has happened to her, she’s screaming, then they see the CM and she starts screaming some more. So to speed up the process to get out, everyone just counts to three and lifts her off of the rebar. Can you say ouch squared???!!! I seriously cringed!!!

Everyone makes their way back down to street level to get back to the safe area. Once there, they (the military) put Lilly in a helicopter and tell the others (Rob, Beth, and Hudd) to wait for the next one. Once in the next chopper, they get an aerial view of the CM and see the firepower being in brought in to blow it up. So they drop the bombs on the CM and the crew gets excited because they think it worked until the CM reaches up and grabs their chopper. Lol So they crash somewhere in Central Park and the crew is alive….big surprise. They begin running back into the city to see if they can make it back to the safe house when the CM comes from out of nowhere and takes Hudd out. Insert awwwwwwwwwwwww here. I liked that character a lot, he was funny. R&B pick up the camera and take shelter under one of those bridges in the park. They give their last good-byes on film just in case the camera is found and BAM it’s over. The military blew up them up, no doubt because the CM was there and that’s all she wrote. Now right after that they do show one more clip of R&B when they were at Coney Park. I’ve read on some sites that just behind them you can see something falling from the sky and into the ocean. I assume this is where the CM came from. * shrugs shoulders * I dunno, I would have to watch it again to be able to verify that but if you do decide to see, just be on the lookout.

Honestly, it’s not that bad of a movie if you can withstand the not so steady camera action. What I don’t like is that there are a lot of unexplained things like did Lilly get away, what exactly the little parasite things were, why you exploded if they bit you, where the CM came from, was there really one monster or two (in the beginning it seems like the CM has tenticles and is more of an octupus than anything but when you see it, it's more reptilish), and how in the hell did that camera survive an explosion of that magnitude??? From the angle the movie comes from though, I guess it’s supposed to be one of those unknown things and just shows you the viewer the perspective as if you were really there experiencing what was happening. Who knows? So go and check it out if you wish, wait for it to come out on DVD, or holla at your local bootleg distributor and get a copy. :-)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

I'm Down With AARP.......

......yeah you know me! Well not yet but one day soon I will probably be.

I made a visit to the local laundromat today to wash an old comforter we use in Cochise's kennel and the pillow top thingamajig that goes on top of our matress. While moving the items from the washer to the dryer, this elderly couple comes in with a box of clothes. I had the dryer doors nearest to me open so the wife asks if those were mine, I replied yes ma'am. She then strikes up a convo with me while loading her clothes into the dryer about how long it had been since she had been to a laundromat and that she was there because her dryer at home had broken. We continued on with me telling her how the same thing had happened to me the year before last. We went on with this and about how things are just not made how they used to be for about another couple of minutes.

As I went to go and reload my card....hmmmm let me stop here and explain the card thing to you. I'm not sure if this is the protocol for all laundromats as this is the only one I go to if I ever have problems with the set we have at home but the machines in this place do not take money. There is a machine that spits out these little cards after you put money on them. You in turn take the card, insert it into the machine, and it deducts money from the card. Got it? Good.

So I'm at the machine, and realize that I only have $5 bills. Well, it only costs $0.30 for each dry cycle and I wasn't about to stick five bucks in there for something that would only require like an extra dollar so I go to grab my purse to drive down to the gas station. As I'm walking to the table where my purse is sitting, the wife calls me over to help her.

AARP lady: Ma'am could you help me for just a second?
Me: Sure
AARP lady: Well, I just stuck my dime in the machine and pressed start but nothing happened. Do you know what I should do next?
Me: *me groaning* Oh no, a dime?
AARP lady: Was that not the right thing to do?
Me: Weeeeellll, the machines no longer take money. What you have to do is go to this machine *points in the direction of that machine* and put enough money in to go on a card. After that, it spits a card out and then you have to put the card in the dryer so you can dry your clothes.
AARP lady: Oh my! Well what do you think I should do?
Me: The attendant is over there so I would just let him know. *smiles*
AARP lady: Oh well you're so sweet, thanks dear. I told you it's been a looooooooooong time since I've been in a laundromat. I hope they are able to get that dime out.
Me: You're welcome. They should be able to.

So I grab my purse to go down to the gas station so I can make change and immediately pick up my phone to call my friend. Between her laughter she asked, "AR Gal, I can understand her not knowing about the money not going in the machine but what in the hell was she going to dry with ten cents??". lol lol lol I was wondering the same thing but she took the words right out of my mouth. The elderly....gotta love 'em!

Friday, January 18, 2008

I'm Still Here!

For some reason, I've been having issues logging into blogger at the house. Not sure what's up with that but I'll try and tackle that this weekend. In addition to that, the case on the laptop cracked....that's right cracked. I would show ya'll the pic but the connector thingy I need to hook up to the digicam is at home right so you'll just have to imagine. The crack is in the lower right hand corner and it's pretty ugly. It also affected the bezel (the plastic thing that goes around the front frame of the screen). Thankfully it has not effected the LCD screen. I searched high and low to find a replacement and finally came upon this website, http://www.sparepartswarehouse.com/ . I'm still pretty pissed that it cost $80 for some plastic but whatever.

In between the technology issues, I've been battling a cold with ridiculous amounts of meds and my good old stand-by, hot toddies (sp??). My battle is now drawing to a close but I have since passed it onto Z. I tried my best to stay away from him but when you're in close proximity to someone like that, I guess it's kinda hard not to. So in addition to figuring out my blogger issues and doing laptop repairs, I'll be sterilizing the house this weekend. Lysol and bleach here I come!!


That's all I've got for now. I've had a million posts pop in my head (and leave just as quickly) in the past two weeks. Hopefully posts will be back to semi-normal shortly.



Have a great weekend!!

Monday, January 07, 2008

My people, my people........


......why have thou forsaken me.

First we have sicko who took breaking up to a digusting level. When did breaking up over the phone go out of style??
http://www.ksat.com/news/14991628/detail.html

Then we have Ms. Mollie who decided she would rather go kick it on New Years Eve than to spend it at home with her kids. Hey there's nothing wrong with that, unless you agree with Ms. Mollie's babysit yourself method.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/jan/02/fire-kills-2-boys-home-alone/

To make a long story short:

Her kids are visiting her during the holidays. Her mom had been taking care of them for the past 6 months.

"Ms.Mollie" decides to go ring in the New Year.

She leaves her two young sons, ages 7 and 4, home ALONE.

A fire breaks out.

The kids are dead.

The grandmother has got to be in so much pain.

Ms. Mollie sucks!!

*SMDH*

I'm about thisclose to not watching or reading anything news related again. Has everyone gone stone cold crazy??!!





I've Been Tagged...................

by myself. :-D My e-buddy Pajnstl was tagged and I liked it so I stole it sooooo here it goes.

Two Names you go by:

1. Bullet 2. AR Gal

Two Things You Are Wearing Right Now:

1.Tennis shoes 2. Yoga Pants

Two Things You Would Want (or have) in a Relationship:

1. Love/Passion 2. Friendship/Respect.....yeah that's 4, sue me!

Two favorite things to do:

1. shop for shoes 2. Read

Two Things you want badly at the moment:

1. A higher paying job 2. A million dollars....make that 10 million

Two pets you had/have:

1. Emma 2. Cochise

Two people you think will fill this out:

1. I have no idea

Two things you did last night:

1. Watched The L Word (those chicks are bonkers but I love the show!)

2. Ate BBQ

Two things you ate today:

1. Leftovers from last night

2. a banana

Two people you last talked to:

1. Z 2. My neighbor

Two things you're doing tomorrow:1. work 2. walking (if it doesn't rain)

Two Longest car rides:1. OMG, AR to Louisville, KY (I thought we were never gonna get there....keep in mind I was 14 at the time)

2. AR to Atlanta

Two favorite holidays:

1. Christmas (when I can stand it, lol)

2. Fourth of July2 (cause I get sparklers)

Favorite beverages:

1. Milk

2. Apple Juice

2 People no longer alive who you'd like to talk to:

1. My dad

2. My granddad

I'm not tagging anyone but if you like it do it! Toodles

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

ATTENTION "THE WIRE" FANS.......



FYI......the first episode for the new season of "The Wire" is currently available via On Demand right now for free before it airs on Sunday. Can you say yummy???!!! I love this show!
ARGal is currently laid up with a muscle spasm in her back but her donkey @ss just had to share. lol
Happy Watching!

Things are back to the way it was……..

……before the holiday season came about. The real tale tale sign of the return to "normalcy" was the morning traffic. Gone are the days where I could leave home @ 6:30 and still make it to work on time. It’s back to the "leave the house by 6:15 or your screwed" rule I set for myself. Oh well…nothing last forever.

Christmas was great! Santa (ie mama) hooked me up with some moula and I received a cute little purse that my sister got for me when they were in NYC over Thanksgiving. The funny thing is that I was trying to get her to let me buy the one she had for $20 (cause I knew it wasn’t the real deal if you will but it was cute nonetheless). When I saw that my gift was the purse similar to hers (the one I have is a smaller version with a different strap) I could do nothing but laugh. I still like her purse better but the one I have is cute as well. I’ve already gotten several compliments on it already. Christmas day my mom and I went over to my sister’s house to eat and let mom open her presents. The three of us went in together and got mom a premium spa day package and some $$ to do what she wishes at her leisure. I just hope she is satisfied with it because we paid a pretty penny for that stuff. My sister says it’s one of the best day spa’s in Memphis….I sure hope so. After we ate, we all played the "Deal or No Deal" dvd game my sister bought as the family gift for her home. At first I thought it was going to be extremely boring but everyone really got into it, especially my mom, and we had a blast.

Z and I decided to go out for New Years. He actually went clubbing twice over the long weekend, as his birthday was Friday. I decided to skip that outing and let it be a boy’s night out. We had done our celebration earlier in the evening and he had received his gifts from me so all was well. We get to the party spot Monday night, Juanita’s (http://www.juanitas.com ). All the tables were either taken or reserved so we stood up the entire night, which wasn’t so bad until my footsies started achin. Lol I made sure to keep cup filled my fave mixed drink (coconut rum with pineapple juice) and really got roasted and toasted off of the champagne. I always forget how much of a punch that beverage packs until after the fact. Thank goodness Z was my designated driver because I was dunzo after I got home. I barely had enough strangth to take my clothes off, wash the makeup off of my face, and take my contacts out before collapsing into bed. While at the partay, Z stepped up to the plate and became a volunteer firefighter. The couple seated kinda in front of us had a visitor (who I suspect had surpassed me on his way to drunkard land) come over to speak to them. In his excitement, he made the décor catch on fire. In Mr. Drunkard’s defense, the decorations committee decided it was a good idea to place the very flammable party décor next to an open flame. In his excitement, he accidentally lit the party favor stuff on fire. No one noticed at first until the girl at the table started hollerin. ROFLMAO! Ok, I know it’s really not that funny but if ya’ll could have heard her… So her date starts trying to blow it out, then some random guy comes over from out of nowhere to blow it out which made it way worse cause he was causing little flicks of flames to go everywhere! Lol Z finally just took the damn thing, threw it on the floor and stomped it out. At this point, I’m dyin laughing (while backing up mind you) and look over to the bar to see Mr. Drunkard/Firestarter trying to blend in while looking like he ain’t done nothing wrong. I was through…..just through!! Lol lol lol

So after the near disaster it was time to count in the New Year. Now I had just pulled out my phone to do a time check and it was 6 minutes till midnight. The next thing I know the host is talking about we have 3 minutes left……30 seconds later…1 ½ minutes left. WTF? About 15 seconds later we are @ 30 seconds left in the new year. I don’t know what kinda of timer he was usin but we rang in the New Year about 3 minutes or so earlier than everyone else on CST. Lol lol I made sure to give Z some more sugar when the clock actually struck 12. After that we hit the dance floor and the dj played some really great oldies but goodies and then slowed it down. Honey some of these folks showed their tail on the floor. Folks d@mn near screwin, chickadees all bent over on the floor with their asses all up in the air, bwahahahaha. I looked @ Z and said it’s time to go. All in all we had a good time, I hope you all did too.

Laters!!

Giving you what I got....musically