‘Cause I’m Versatile

Look what I won!  K Rock over at “Don’t get excited…” bestowed this on me a moment (or two) ago and since I was in the middle of the blog challenge – which I’ve obviously dropped out of – I never blogged about it.  My bad.

First – many thanks to K Rock – I appreciate you!  Second – my apologies to K Rock for taking so long to thank you.  Third – well, there is no third, but second seemed like a weird place to stop.

Anyhow, I’m versatile and now I’ve got an award to prove it!  I’m supposed to tell y’all 7 random facts about myself.  I don’t know what y’all don’t know by now, so I’m going to have to dig deep for these bad boys, but here goes:

1.  I hate mayonnaise.  I’ll eat it in tuna or chicken salad, but that’s about it. 

2.  I am shocked – yes shocked – at how easy weight is to gain and how hard it is to lose as I’ve grown older.  Who knew?  I thought I’d be a beanpole all the days of my life.  Not so much.  I really think my mama should’ve told me this!

3.  Little Miss Sunshine is a hilarious movie to me.

4.  I think the idea of a permanent wedding ring is a little…dull.  So far I’ve had two.  I saw a band the other day that just might be #3.

5.  I have never worked a job that actually required 40 hours of work a week.  Yes, I work 40 hour/week jobs.  But really?  I could get a month’s worth of work done in 2 days.  Three tops.  Thank God for the internet and text messaging!

6.  I have useless ESP.  Have I mentioned this?  Just yesterday I kept thinking about a birthday party I went to with my parents last time I was home.  Guess who my parents spent yesterday with?  Yep, the birthday boy.  Totally useless.

7.  I’m really quite pissed that I missed Friday’s Too Short concert.  Smoochy thought I was kidding, but I really wanted to go.  And if my friendgirl’s kids hadn’t gotten sick?  Yep, I’dda been right there fake c.r.i.p. walking and repping the west coast.  With all the other almost-forty-years old gangsta nerds!

I’m supposed to tag some folks.  But don’t want to exclude anyone.  So I tag…everyone!  Yeah, if you haven’t done this, and you read my blog I’m pretty sure you’re versatile and I’d love to read 7 randoms about you.  So get to getting!

Happy Monday!

I Aint Never Scared! 26

Yeah, okay – that’s not true.  My fears include:

~ Harm befalling my family/friends

~ Rodents

~ Closed-minded people

~ Fox News

First! Day 25

Kick off your shoes and relax your feet…

Did I tell y’all I graduated high school at 16?  Yeah, I did.  So as you might imagine my club experience prior to high school was…nonexistent.  The only “going out” I did consisted of high school dances in the gym, and prom and homecoming at heavily chaperoned hotels.

So, in the fall of ’89 I’m a freshman at UAPB.   My older cousin calls me to tell me we’re going out – to the club – that night, put on something nice and they’d be there at around 9:30 to pick me up.  Word!  I’m going to the club for the first time!  I got dressed, slapped on a little Wet ‘n Wild lipstick (#521 don’t play!) and waited for my cousin and her suitemates to pick me up.

They walked on the porch and rang the bell.  I let them in.  And here is where the laughing, snorting, pointing of fingers and other tomfoolery began.  My cousin stopped choking/laughing/whatever long enough to ask me, and I quote “what the hell you got on?” 

I thought I was doing it big in my cream shell, olive slacks and brown oxford shoes.  Apparently I was wrong.

I looked like this:

When I should’ve looked like this:

My bad. 

A trip to the dorm to borrow some clothes, some hair gel and a little eyeliner later? I was good to go.  And go I did!  I had a ball!

And that, was my first time at the club. 

24 – Cry Me a River

What makes me cry? 

I cry when I think about somebody doing anything horribly cruel to Lovegirl.  No one has, it is my prayer that no one ever does.  But sometimes in church the pastor will say that the devil attacks what you love the most and I will start crying on the spot.  I love Lovegirl the most.  The thought of her being harmed turns me into a big, snotty cry baby.  I try to pray over my girl every day.  I have woken up in the middle of the night, said a quick prayer over her, and fallen back to sleep.  I need my girl to stay healthy, safe, and strong.

My eyes may – or may not – have welled up as I was typing this brief post.  I’ll never tell!

Feel Better – The 23rd Day!

I’m supposed to write about something that makes me feel better.  How about somethings – plural – instead?

• Ice cream.  Butter pecan, peach, black walnut, bing cherry, french vanilla are a few faves
• Talking to a positive person on the phone
• Reading a good book
• Relaxing with a hot cup of tea
• Exercise
• Flipping through old photo albums
• Music – Bob Marley, Aretha Franklin, EW&F, The Commodores, and Tony Toni Tone are favorite mood lifters
• Prayer and meditation
• Quiet
• Fresh new pedicure
• Cleaning out a closet or two
• Cutting my hair – I’ll lop off the ends of two or three locs every once in a while
• Going for a ride – windows down, music loud.

What makes you feel better?

Day 22 – Something that upsets me

I am most upset when people with power abuse people without power simply because they can.

21 – Another Moment

One of my favorite  moments was doing the Cupid Shuffle on the Great Wall of China with my parents, middle brother, and his girlfriend.  I was still in awe that I was in China (though our trip was nearly over) and thought that our dancing (and singing) was just a great way to commemorate that portion of our trip.  Some travelers brought a special bottle of wine to mark the occasion.  Others took professional-grade pics.  Me and my people?  We did a line dance! 

I’ve posted the video before, but some things?  Bear repeating.  And the fact that my father who we told of our plans numerous times still decided not to learn the dance but participated anyhow?  Priceless!

The good, the bad, the ugly. This month. (Day 20)

The good:

Lovegirl starting kindergarten using our hard earned tax dollars.  My finishing school (yeah, I’m still geeked). The awesome clearance sale that Nine West is having on sandals – I can totally wear their 12M sandals and have come up on three new pairs in the last few days. The air conditioner being fixed.  US combat troops leaving Iraq.  My overall mood.  Top Chef. 

The bad:

The heat.  The unbearable, muggy, can’t escape it heat.  Our air conditioner that died in the middle of all that heat.  Public school kindergarten – enough already with the tracing of hands and coloring of shapes - get to work!   All the drama surrounding the mosque at Ground Zero. 

The ugly:

My thighs.  The cleanliness of my house.  Time to get to work on both!

The 19th Day: A Regret

In addition to what follows, I regret the fact that my home internet service is acting all kinds of wonky which has prohibited me from posting.  Hopefully the tech and I can get it straightened out this evening.

Moving on…

I don’t generally spend a lot of time on regrets or guilt.  I think both have a tendency to hold you prisoner, and I’m all about freedom.  Just because I don’t wallow in regrets doesn’t mean that I don’t have any – I just don’t have many and I don’t think about those that I do have often. 

However….

I regret not having given my career more thought when I was younger.  It didn’t occur to younger me that simply getting a degree – or three – wasn’t enough.  That I needed to concentrate on what/who I wanted to be professionally and make the moves to make it happen.  I’ve always been pretty fortunate and have worked a number of good jobs and two really great ones.  However, they’re just jobs.  I’d like a career. 

I truly wish I’d considered this as I was choosing my major and definitely would have done some things differently.

I know it’s not too late, and I’m currently researching options for attaining my PhD at little – or no – cost.  (If anyone knows how to get a PhD for little $?  Holler at your girl!)  I’d like to teach Public Health and since most Public Health courses are graduate level, I’m gonna need another piece of paper in my hand in order to be able to do so.

I also regret not buying this purse when it was still floating around at TJ Maxx.  Ah well!

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Posting…..

To bring you this quick, painless poll.  Please answer!  Thanks in advance!