Rantings of a Creole Princess

Hot Water + Utensils

Have you ever asked for hot water in a restaurant to put your utensils in before you use them?  Have you ever been with someone who did?  

Do you find it odd?

Be Gentle, Be Sweet...Adjust

The other day I was rushing like crazy. I'd been traveling so we didn't have groceries, I needed to get my hair done, get groceries from two different stores, go to Target, meet a girlfriend for a brunch drink, and get my truck washed.

But not until AFTER I got a tired fixed on my truck.

AND...we had tickets to the theatre for 3:00pm and The Robinator wanted to leave by 1:30pm.

JOY.

I was determined to get it all done so I got up super early and made the tire thing happen decided that a bun would be fine for the hair and rushed to the first grocery store.  As I'm rushing with my basket, a little old lady got in my path and I got blocked behind her.  I automatically stopped, put my elbows on the handle of the basket and slowed it all the way down.  She looked behind her, knowing she was wrecking the flow and tried to shuffle quicker.

Her:  Oooh, I'm sorry!

Me:  No problem ma'am.  I'm fine.  Take your time.  

And she took her time while I was trapped behind her even though she was really trying to get out of my way and I was in a crazy azz rush to get everything done that I needed to get done.

And the rest of the world buzzed about us as she shuffled along and I looked for a way around her without calling too much attention to my needing to get on with my shopping because I didn't want her to feel any more of some kinda way that she probably felt.

My husband is a big dude.  Tall and kinda broad.  The day my Golden Boy was born he was scared to touch him.  The next day, he was still scared.  The next day...Myles was placed in his arms.  I watched his entire body soften automatically.  His voice immediately came down so as not to startle little ears.  He adjusted without even thinking about it.  This is how you are with a baby.  Gentle.

When a kid talks to me, I stop.  I generally get down to their eye level and try to listen to what they have to say and try to be engaging in the conversation.  My tone instantly changes to nice lady, even if a second before, I wanted to light into someone's behind.

I adjust without even thinking about it.  I mean...your natural instinct should be to protect the vulnerable right?  Even if you're in a hurry.  Even if you have something major to do...the delay isn't going to kill you.  The impact on the child's feelings will be great right?  The impact on the little old lady will be a good thing right?

I was having lunch with framily.  Our bill was like...$40.  I paid the bill, framily left the tip.  Framily left $100 bill.  When I questioned it, framily  told me that the young man who was helping us had a hole in his shoe.  I didn't notice that.

Framily did.

Framily:  A dude his age cares about holes in his shoes.  If he's wearing them, it's because he has to.

I have a neighbor who doesn't have children.  The neighbor bought these awesome signs that say, "DRIVE SLOW, CHILDREN AT PLAY" because they got sick and tired of seeing jerks drive fast in our neighborhood knowing the kids are running and playing in and around the park.  My next door neighbor sat and waited on this one guy to pass by one evening and stood out in the middle of the street so he could tell dude to slow the hell down before he hit a kid.  He doesn't have any children at home either.  Just wants people to THINK about the neighborhood kids and their safety.

This post is just a ramble, of course, I just wanted to say something about the good of people and that the natural instinct should always be to be protective of those who are vulnerable.

That's all.  

Hope you're having a lovely day.  Sorry the blog has been so sporadic lately.  

 

Scenario from real life...

Your 85 year old grandmother is in a nursing home.

The nursing home arranges to have strippers come in as entertainment.

You good?

Teacher Wrestles Student

A science teacher / wrestling coach sees a student with a bag of marijuana.

The student punches the teacher.

The teacher, a wrestling coach, takes him down.

The superintendent puts the teacher on paid leave while they investigate.

She sent home a letter basically saying the level of violence from the teacher was too much.

The student, and another student, have been arrested for selling drugs on school campus.

Did the teacher go too far in subduing the student after the student punched him?

Scenario: Disrespectful?

You're on a group trip with friends from college.

Everyone arrives and gets situated in their rooms.

One of your male friends arrive with a woman who is NOT his wife.

He sends her up to their room and comes down to ask yall not to post any pictures on FB of him and old girl.

How do you respond?

Do you consider it disrespectful to yall that he brought his mistress along on a reunion trip?

How would you interact with her knowing she KNOWS he's married?

Would you go out of your way to make sure old girl isn't in any of your pictures?

 

 

Obese Child Question

When a child is obese...do YOU think it should be considered a form of child abuse?

Hmmmmmmm...

A woman is in a coffee shop working.

She gets up to go to the bathroom, leaving her laptop and phone at the table.

Another woman steals her laptop and phone.

When you're using your laptop or other thingamadoozy in a coffee shop and you have to use the bathroom...what do YOU do?  Do you leave it and ask someone next to you to watch it?  Or do you pack it all up and take it in the bathroom with you?

Feeling Some Kinda Way

Shanesha Taylor, 35

I first heard about Ms. Taylor the evening of her arrest.  I was in Scottsdale and it was all over the local news.  I watched the news teasers between commercials and then asked Mr. Google to tell me what was going on.  I read what Mr. Google had to report and then waited on the news to, hopefully, shine a different light on the story.

I was wrong.

The news simply told what Mr. Google said and...being that it was the local news there was a...hmmmm...shall we say...TONE about the reporting that I didn't care for.

The next morning I was discussing it with a framily member and I was like...it's the most fugged up thing I've heard in a long time.

And we know that's not really true because I know you, along the rest of us...have read some seriously disturbing ish about kids in the past week or so.  

So the basics are that Ms. Taylor and her two children are homeless and she's been out of work.  She is looking for a job and got an interview.  She didn't have child care however.  She went to the interview and left her kids in her SUV.  Reports are that she left the car in the sun.  It's Arizona.  There is always sun.  What if the building didn't have a parking garage?  Truth be told...I've never seen many parking garages in Arizona and...I would think that if you were desperate enough to leave your kids in the car...you'd want to leave them as close to the building you're going to be in as possible.  Probably somewhere you thought you could peek out a window and still see.

She probably did crappy on the interview too.  I mean..I can't imagine being on your interview A-game knowing that, out of sheer desperation, you left your babies alone in your car.

But you do what you have to do and you hope, wish and pray...you do well and return to your babies with a job in hand right?  That big thing you need to survive.  To provide.  

So...she's arrested.  Her kids taken.  Her vehicle is probably impounded.  And she's homeless.  Fucking joy.  Where is she supposed to get the money to get her car out of the impound when she gets out.  She can't get a lawyer without money so it might be a while.  Car is damn near as good as gone now hell.  And now she's homeless, without transportation, in a city where you NEED TRANSPORTATION and she has to try and get her kids back.

I hate this shit and what it was telling me.  What's it's BEEN telling me about the very real ish that is the world we live in.

So yeah...I tried to stay away from it because for every story like this one you hear...there are many more going on right now that you don't hear about because it hasn't made the news yet or you don't know someone who knows someone going through it.

People all over the world have sent in donations to help her out and it made my heart smile.  I read this and it pretty much summed up where my uneasiness came from:  

Some might see this arrest as exclusively a child neglect issue, which, I will confess, was my first instinct. But I would urge you to consider how this story underscores the desperate situations parents are forced into in this country, either by poverty, lack of affordable housing, single parenthood or some combination of the three. Not everyone can afford a babysitter, daycare or a nanny; America really is a nation of latchkey kids (or in this case, babies) being left by themselves while Mom or Dad work. There are larger issues at play here: between the cost of childcare in this country and the cost of housing, a lot of parents who want to work have to make difficult choices regarding their kids. And be honest: Shanesha Taylor certainly isn’t the only single parent who has left young children by themselves while she was trying to put food on the table. But Shanesha was doubly unfortunate enough to be homeless, so the young children were left alone in public, in her car, and she was caught. It’s a sucky situation all-around.

Poverty is the problem here; poverty is what led to Taylor’s criminal behavior. We shouldn’t judge Shanesha Taylor so harshly for not having any resources she could rely on. The types of punishment the government is pursuing — taking her kids away from her or putting her in jail — don’t address that lack of resources. Punishing her could actually strip her of even more future resources. Obviously I don’t think that babies should be left alone inside hot cars, but we need to have empathy for the complexities of this situation.

That came from this article:  

Homeless Mom Shanesha Taylor Charged With Child Abuse After Leaving Two Kids In Car During A Job Interview

I'm still feeling some kinda way about this whole thing and sad way deep down you know?  I'm curious as to your thoughts about it?  When you first heard it...what did you think?  How do you feel now?  Anybody ever been hit hard while trying to better their situation?  Who did you feel you could turn to for help?  

Insurance Anyone?

I was talking to a young man who was mad about having to buy healthcare insurance.  He was going IN!  Says he hasn't been to the doctor in over three years so why should he HAVE to have insurance.

I asked him if he had insurance on his car and on his cellphone.

He said it's not the same thing.

I asked what does he think will happen if he left and got into a horrible accident in his insured car and he said he's sure he'd be taken to the emergency room.

Well...who's going to pay for that if you don't have insurance?

Him:  But why does medical treatment cost so much?  It shouldn't cost that much!

Me:  But it does.  That's not going to change while you're in the hospital having major surgery.  Hopefully the doctors working on you have had the best education money can buy and they're using the best equipment money can buy and the nurses are stellar and the facility is top notch...you see where I'm going here.

Him:  But that's a bit if.  IF I get in an accident.

Me:  Or IF you get cancer.  I got cancer when I was in my early 20s.  Thank God I had insurance back then or I'd certainly be dead.  

Him:  You had cancer?

Me:  Yeah...but that's neither here nor there.  If you got in a bad accident or got cancer or something else bad, the hospital social worker person would come to your room with a stack of papers and get you and your mother to fill them out so you can get some government assistance to help pay for your hospital bills.  And you know who pays for that?  Me.  That guy over there.  Probably that woman.  Your teacher from grade school.  Your mom who has worked her entire life.  We pay for that with our taxes and honestly...we're sick of it.  So...pay your own way and then your bitching about what the government makes you do might get more than an eyeroll from us.  You probably pay more per month for your phone than you'd have to pay for insurance so I'm not even trying to hear it.  Shit.

The deadline is today and I'm certain that young man didn't sign up.  Do YOU know anyone mad about having to get insurance?  Do you agree with them?  If you don't have insurance...what's your plan in the event of an emergency?  

 

Thoughts?

Louisiana parish bans saggy pants; $50 fine for first offense

Read more: http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/25089335/louisiana-parish-bans-saggy-pants-50-fine-for-first-offense#ixzz2xBu8dUNJ 

Question...

How do you change a baby's diaper on a plane?  In the bathroom stall or in your seat?  

Zero Tolerance

A 6th grader finds out a fellow student is using a razor blade to cut himself.

She takes the razor blade from him, throws it away, and tells an administrator.

The 6th grader ends up being suspended for 10 days for touching the "weapon."

She also has to be reviewed for consideration of expulsion.

You good?

Are these zero tolerance rules ridiculous?  

Do you know a child who has been adversely affected by them?

How was it resolved?

Student suspended for taking razor from self-harming classmate

 

Marijuana Question...

What are YOUR personal thoughts on marijuana as it relates to altering the brain negatively?  Do you think it only happens when the drug is being abused?  Do you think that the people who abuse it probably had issues which would have benefited from people with initials behind their name long before the marijuana abuse?

Or...do you think it's harmless?

Scenario from real life...

A teenager is pregnant.

She gives birth to a stillborn child.

The doctor, well known as being highly controversial, finds traces of a chemical produced by cocaine in the child's system.

There is little doubt the mother used cocaine while pregnant.

The state of Mississippi charges the young mother with murder.

You good?

Teen Mom Used Cocaine While Pregnant. Her Baby Died. Mississippi Charged Her With Murder.

Throwback Thursday

You're married.

You like to participate in Throwback Thursday online.

Is it disrespectful to your spouse to post old pics of yourself with an ex?

EBT Cards Accepted at Lingerie Store

Lingerie store accepts EBT card

Apparently, if you receive food stamps and a welfare check in Louisiana, all of your benefits are put on your Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card.  And well...there are businesses that don't sell food, which also accept EBT card payments.

Should companies like the lingerie store be allowed to accept EBT cards when they apply for permission?  Or...should the benefit receiver be allowed to buy whatever they want to buy with, which is rightfully, their money once they've received it?  Is limiting what is allowed to be purchased with cash benefits infringing on a recipients rights?  

Thoughts?

On Ebony Wilkerson

Mom who drove kids into ocean wants release or lower bail

So...a mother calls the police and says she was attacked by her husband.

She then left with her children and drove from South Carolina to Florida to stay with her sister.

She started talking about demons and whatnot one morning and her sister called the police because she was worried about how she was acting.

The police stop her while driving and question her for 30 minutes before they had to let her go because she seemed okay.

Two hours later...she tries to drive her van into the Atlantic ocean after telling her kids to close their eyes and go to sleep.

Her 9 year old son tries to fight her for the wheel.  Pictures show her kids screaming for help and bystanders rescuing them.

The mother tries to fight off one rescuer as well.

She is arrested and is charged with three accounts of child abuse and attempted murder.

Bail is $1.2 million.

You good?

"But Linda, Linda..."

I saw this video last night and it cracked me up. He is just so cute and this is so funny to me.

Then...I read some comments regarding and many people don't think this is cute AT.ALL.  In fact...folks are seeing he needs to be spanked for talking back and that the mother is not disciplining him properly and this will make it difficult for him to do well in school, etc.

Hmmmmmmm...

I mean...can you spank a strong personality out of a child?  

What do YOU think?  Cute or a symptom of poor parenting?

Can't Get Moving?

What do you do on the mornings you wake up and CAN'T.GET.MOVING?  You can lay there and go over the entire list of things you need to get up and you know you'll do them just as soon as you get up but...for whatever reason, right now...you just can't get moving.

The experts say you should set your alarm clock for way earlier than you need to get up.  I guess that makes sense right?  You can only go for so long before you feel like a loser for not getting up and getting at it right?

Some also say to make a list of things you need to do the night before and keep it on your nightstand so you see it first thing in the morning.

I read something that said to keep a bottle of water on your nightstand and the first thing you do in the morning is drink it all down.  Apparently that will get you moving...if only to the bathroom.

So basically...you just need to get up out of the bed.

But what if you don't want to?  What if it's cold and dreary and there is snow on the ground and you don't really have anything that is time sensitive to do even though it needs to be done.

What's your advice then?  How do you get going when the weight of the world is sitting on top of you when you wake up?

Just so yall know...

...it's never going to warm up here.  

My feet are never going to be warm again.

Or at least that's how I feel.

*sigh*

What's the high out by you today?

Girl.Guy.Bye

When you've decided you're not messing with someone anymore, do you think you have to tell them or is it possible for you to just go on about life as if they no longer exist and not saying a word?

Those of you who don't live alone...

..are you ever home alone?

Buying a Home in 2014

I know two people who are buying a house.  Both of them have been working on this process for about 6 months now.  One is a couple and one is a single woman.

The single woman has excellent credit.  She already owns a home which is rental property now.  She has normal money for her down payment and a good job.  She is going through HELL.  I'm confused because she has EXCELLENT credit.  She didn't have any problems buying her first home and doesn't have anything in her creditworthiness which would be a signal that something is wrong.  She is using the same bank she used to buy the first home and baaaaaaaaaaaaaaby...they've been making it hard.  

I don't know much about the couple's creditworthiness other than they are responsible adults with jobs so I would assume they are on point too.  They've been going through it as well.  The hoops they are having to jump through really seem like a lot and I can't really fix my face when they tell me about all the crap the lender is putting them through.

I was sharing that it sounds like the crash has REALLY changed the process up a lot since we bought our house and it makes me worried about future house purchasing.

During this discussion I found out about this type of loan:  

How to Finance a Fixer Upper House With an FHA 203(K) Program

I've never heard of such a loan before but I am now glad I know about it.  This will revitalize so many neighborhoods torn apart by the housing bubble which went bust...bust...bust...bounce...bounce...bounce.

Do YOU know anyone who has purchased a home in the past two or three years?  Did it seem far more difficult for them than it did for you BEFORE the bubble?  Have YOU purchased a home in the aftermath?  What were you the most surprised about?  Any tips for people buying a house in today's world?  Have you ever heard of a 203 (K) loan?

Some People Need Another Way to Hear #ChooseHappy

You ever get tired of saying the same ish to the same people knowing good and well they aren't going to take anything you say to heart and yet ONLY want to wallow in all the ish they're comfortable wallowing in?

Jacked up childhood.  CHECK!

Screwed up opportunities.  CHECK!

Messed up in school back in the day.  CHECK!

The one you thought you wanted got away.  CHECK!

You got sick.  CHECK!

Insurance was messed up.  CHECK!

Wrecked your paid for car.  CHECK!

CHECK!  CHECK!  CHECK!  CHECK!

Guess what?  Bad shit could happen to any of us at any time.  You're going to let the bad shit make it so you never have any happy shit?  You're going to wallow in that shit until people can smell it on you from a block away?  Just walking around all Eeyore and whatnot sucking all the happy out of every place you wander into?  You're going to continue being the person NOBODY wants to be around because they aren't trying to let you infect their mood with your wave of nauseating crap cloud?

Yeah...no.  That's on you.  When you want to change...you won't even have to tell anyone.  It will show.  People will take a double take when they see you.  You'll start smelling better.

Less.

Like.

Shit.

#ChooseHappy or stay the hell away from those of us who are trying.  You ain't the only person with shit believe it or not.

 

Grocery Stores

Within 5 miles of you...how many grocery stores are there?

The Silver Lining: YOU have to do it!

Out of all the things in life I've had to deal with, child abuse, tragedy, cancer and infertility...infertility is the one that came close to breaking me.  Many of you were reading the blog back when we were trying to have a baby and it was one hell of a roller coaster of everything.  

And yeah...I barely survived it.  

Years later and I'll be in line at the grocery store and a kid is having a meltdown because he/she wants whatever crap it is they want that their parent isn't buying them.  

Years later and I'll go to a friend's house who asks me to take off my shoes because the kids eat off the floor and I'll step on a lego and tears will pop up so fast and I'll have to LITERALLY bite my lip to not scream an F-bomb at the pain.  

Years later I'll be on the phone with someone whose child is about to get cut for doing something or NOT doing something they were told to not do or do.  

I'll politely get off the phone while they handle that and go back to whatever it was I was doing.  I'll look around our home and be glad that, while it may currently be dusty...there aren't legos in the vicinity of my fluffy sock enclosed feet.  I'll fix a lovely meal that I know everyone will enjoy and Robby and I will get to eat it in peace along with a glass of wine and some cuddle time on the sofa while we watch television.

Our evenings are quiet.  We laugh a lot.  We read a lot.  We pretty much enjoy each other.

And the quiet.  We enjoy the quiet.

Now...here's where I'm going with this before your inner snark monster starts saying "She knows good and damn well she wishes she had a kid or six."  LOL!  Cuz you're totally right.

HOWEVER...it didn't happen.  It might not happen.  Should I dwell on it?  Should I allow the very real pain of it to hinder me from finding the silver lining?  The joy?  The things I'm grateful for...in the life we HAVE?

I don't think so.

I'm writing this for a friend.  They know who they are.  Life didn't give them what they thought they wanted more than anything and they have been wallowing in the ish for years now.  I didn't know them before they accepted their unhappy state of being but I'm assuming they were once happy...BEFORE the dream didn't come to life.  I'm not saying they are miserable but I am saying that they've allowed the disappointment to color every.single.thing they held dear.  They go to work and just do the minimal.  They withdrew from their family and friends.  They let that thing that didn't happen became the train wreck that DID happen.

They can't find the reason they should have to BE.

They don't know how to #ChooseHappy.

I'm not happy we didn't have babies but I'm happy with our life.  I'm happy I have him and he has me.  I'm happy we have Jaru.  I'm happy we have good people in our life who love us.  I'm happy for so much even though I wish we'd had babies.  Even though sometimes I see a toddler walking that toddler jerky walk and my heart skips a beat at what I don't have.  

Because I do have a lot to be thankful for.

Most of us won't get what we think we want.  That's okay.  We have to learn to live with that...just like the toddler who didn't get the $6 colorful piece of crap toy they fell out about in Target.  

They'll find something else to smile about soon.

P.S.  I love you.  :)

Question...

This is my favorite water bottle.  It was a gift from sincerethoughts a couple of years ago and I take it with me everywhere.  It holds a solid 40 ounces of water and I drink two of these a day.  I have left it somewhere probably about 8 times in two years and every.single.time I realize I left it...I call all panicky and whatnot asking for someone to please help me find my bottle.  And...once they return the call telling me they have it...I drive all the way wherever it is and get my bottle.  I've even left it out of town before and paid to have it FedEx'd back to me.

I LOVE my water bottle.  I know I can get another one.  Yes I have other ones.  But this one?  It's my favorite.  I feel the same way about my headscarf for sleeping.  If I leave it somewhere...MUST.HAVE.IT.BACK.ASAP.  No negotiating.  NONE.  COD if need be.  Just please send me my headscarf and thank you in advance.  

Have you ever left your favorite something somewhere and returned to pick it up even if it was out of the way?  Even if it's something you KNOW you can just replace?

Or is it just me?

Best side?

What is YOUR best side for pictures?  Left or right?

Doctor, Doctor

Have you ever had to take a parent to the doctor? Easy or challenging?

Black History Month Disrespect?

What do you think about posts like this?  Disrespectful?  Or just clean fun?

World Cancer Day 2014 - Glad I'm a survivor!

It's World Cancer Day!  Show a survivor some love and beef up on your commitment to early detection by making sure you continue to get your yearly physical.  Early detection SAVED.MY.LIFE.

Congrats, again, to all the survivors I know and love.  We're still here.  Let's make sure we spread the word about early detection to everyone we know so we have less occurrences of people not making it.  PLEASE.

 

Scenario...

A man has a blog.

An advice blog.

He keeps his identity pretty anonymous.

No personal pictures.  

NONE.

His blog is pretty popular.

He gives lots of advice on relationships citing his own, real time experiences.

One of his family members finds out about it and sends it to other family members.

They think it's funny as hell because they know he's the absolute ANTITHESIS to the person he is online.

Basically...dude is straight troll complete with the mother's basement stereotype and all.

One relative has been pissed at the advice blogger because of something that went down and finds it particularly amusing.

That relative posts a recent, EXTREMELY unflattering picture of the advice blogger with the link to their blog with a caption, "Always doing big things in his head only.  Enjoy the fakeness."

If YOU were friends with the relative who posted the pic and link...would you tell them to take it down?  Or...do you think it's perfectly fine?

 

Wife Pissed Because of New Baby Mama?

I'm just hearing that T.I. and Tiny had a fight at the Grammy's.

Rumors have it that it's because T.I. has a new baby less than a year old and Tiny is mad.

That would make me mad.

That would piss me off.

That would make a fool steer clear of me for LIFE cuz I'd clown so hard behind that there would be embers.

What about you?  

Even if you were in the public eye...do you think YOU'D be able to keep negative emotions under wraps behind a situation like that?

I'm not asking you onefromphilly and Erica B.  We already know how yall would react.  LOL!

Stroke

My mother had a stroke.  I remember she was paralyzed on one side of her body for a while after.  She had a stroke while giving birth and it was kinda hard for her to get back right when she returned home from the hospital with a new baby to take care of and three other kids.

Half of her face always sagged a teeny tiny bit after she recovered.  You couldn't tell unless you knew her but yeah...it was there.

I came in contact with a man recently who'd had a massive stroke.  He needed some help figuring out how to ask for what he wanted...but he did.  I helped him by completely stopping and focusing on him.  I didn't want him to think he was bothering me or I had something better to do.  It was obvious he was walking to run his errands and he didn't have use of one of his arms.  He walked hurriedly with a limp and you could tell that he was a very, very smart and kind man.

After meeting him it made me think about life and about things like strokes that could hit any of us at any given time.  I thought about my husband and I thought about the man's wife.  I thought about how she felt the first time he decided he was going to go out into the world alone, after his stroke, walking.  How did she feel knowing the world is filled with nauseatingly cruel people?  Did she follow him?  Did she have one moment of rest as he was gone?  how in the world did she get to the point where she was okay with letting him leave the house alone?

And I felt such a wave of amazing gratitude that she did have that strength to let him go out into the world without her even as I know I'd probably never be able to do the same.  I'd probably pack us up and move us back down home and ONLY let people I know love Robby be in contact with him.  

It made me hurt for them.

We don't know what's coming down the pipeline in life but I know we should all be prepared for the worst of it all while hoping, wishing and praying for the best.  We should make sure that we're being as healthy as we can be knowing that even being the healthiest could still be no defense against certain things happening to us.  We can't keep making poor choices about food and health and lifestyle wearing blinders about what COULD happen.

When Robby got home later that evening all I wanted to do was hug him tight.  I guess something else was in my hug because he was like..."Hey...hey...what's wrong?"

Me:  Nothing.  I just love you so much.

Do you know anyone with an illness that has changed their lifestyle?

 

House Temperature

What is the temperature in your home today?  Do you keep it set in the 60s or 70s in the house?

So...It Snowed Down South

Do you live in an area affected yesterday?  Did you have to go to work?  Did your children have to go to school?  How you guys fair?  I've heard some horror stories from my friends and I can't BELIEVE they didn't shut everything down and issue a state of emergency knowing good and well what was coming.

O Magazine Fill In the Blank

1.  My favorite healthy food is...

2.  And my guiltiest pleasure is...

3.  My workout philosophy is...

4.  When I need a pick-me-up, I...

5.  The craziest thing I've done in pursuit of wellness was...

MY ANSWERS:

How would YOU respond?

You're talking to a woman about Beyonce and Jay Z.

The woman says:  My husband and I would probably have a lot more sex if we both lost weight.

Then she laughs nervously.

How would you respond?

It's Winter. Duh.

I've reached that point in the season where I'm weary.  I was talking to a stranger recently and they basically said that people who are sick of winter need to get over it because it's winter every.single.year.

(WARNING!  DON'T LET YOUR KIDS READ THIS!  *INSERT.EYE.ROLL.HERE*)

SIP:  I wanted to punch him in the face yelling "B'DIE!" and then kick him in the shin and stomp all over his head while he rolled around on the ground screaming like a school girl getting her hair pulled by someone MAD.ABOUT.IT!

I chose to say nothing.

Of course it gets cold in the winter.  Of course it snows, sleets, all of that.  Doesn't mean we'll ever get SO used to it to think it's the best thing since stuffed olives.  Cuz it's not.

It sucks.

I'm so ready for some warm sun on my skin while sitting on my deck.  I NEED THIS IN MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just because I'm sick of it doesn't mean my expectations are that it's going to warm up tomorrow and winter be over.  Hell...I know it's not.  But I'm sick of it anyway.  And my feet are always cold.  And why should I comb my hair when I'm just going to put on a hat? 

Erica B. was passing out some stellar makeup advice to someone the other day.  Something about wings and red.  I almost rolled my eyes clean out my head.  It's too cold for all that.  I hardly even smile these day let alone put on makeup.  Imma save what she said for spring cuz honestly...right now...I can't.

My theme song came on yesterday and I turned it off.  Go get happy somewhere else Pharrell.  I just couldn't do it.

Am I the only person sick of all this?  Or are all of you those annoying..."It's winter. Duh." people too?

 

Surfboard

Since Beyonce's last album secretly dropped, the more I listen to it, the more I love it. You've all heard what everyone else has said about this album, it's sexy, liberating, honest, raw.  It's all of that.

When I heard Beyonce and JayZ were opening the Grammy's, well, I already knew they were going to drop "Drunk in Love" on us.  No need for me to wonder if it would be something the little kids should watch because well...information is readily available on these here internets.  Even if I hadn't seen the video and heard the song it would have been easy for me to find out what it was all about.

Surfboard kinda takes on a different meaning and well...you figure that out pretty quickly.

It didn't take the internet long to explode after the performance because it was "soft porn" and the kids were up watching the Grammy's.  How do we explain this to our kids?  What about all the little girls who look up to Beyonce and want to be her?  What did that performance teach them?

Well...it should definitely teach them that their parent's aren't utilizing technology properly because all of that could have been avoided had you added up 2 plus 2 and put your parental hat on while considering poor little woo-woo's innocent eyes.  I agree it wasn't kid appropriate but I also don't trust award shows to be kid appropriate.  Anything can break off.  Sandra Bullock just dropped an 'F' bomb on an award show.  

Not kid appropriate.

And the list can go on.

What is/was your take on the outrage?  Did you have any thoughts regarding?  Did your kids watch?  How old are they?  

 

When Easy Becomes Difficult CONSTANTLY

Have you ever known someone who could make the most simple task difficult EVERY.SINGLE.TIME?  A grown up.  Not a kid.

Like ordering at a restaurant.  Simple right?

Deciding on who is going to pick up what for dinner?  Simple right?

For some people...soooooooo not simple.

Know anyone like that?  How do you handle?

Houston Police Officer Stops to Play Catch with Kid

Do YOU ever want to say this?

HIV Man Unprotected

How does this keep happening? Unprotected sans ropas? WHO DOES THAT WITH RANDOMS THESE DAYS????????? I think it's odd they kept saying unidentified "people." Wonder if dude was swinging both ways?

What do you tell YOUR kids about Dr. King?

Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did

YOU farted!

When you were growing up...

What was the hot, hangout mall?

Is it still open?

Prentice Powell

Thoughts?

Speaking Ill of the Dead

I don't speak ill of the dead.  I was raised that it's not something anyone should do.  Sure...they might have done some jacked up ish but once someone is dead...they're dead.  They no longer have the power to hurt you.  They can't walk into the room and defend their self.

So why speak ill of them?

I guess it's kind of a manners thing mostly.  There are certain things that I was taught to be respectful of even if it seemed odd.  And sometimes...saying nothing is pretty respectful given the circumstance.  Not respectful of the person mind you...but respectful of the larger than life circumstance.

And death is pretty larger than life given that it's the END of a life.

I guess it's like...what kind of person are YOU?  

I still get that and I still know people who cross themselves when they speak of the dead and say a silent prayer.

Thoughts?