Day 18, Saturday: Tell a story from your childhood....

 

 Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt     Going to my maternal grandmother's house. I used to LOVE her home.  To me it was fancy because it was so modern compared to the four room house we lived in at the time.  I mean it had TWO bathrooms! LOL   Visiting Mudear meant I could play piggy and kickball with my friends. It meant riding a for real ten speed bike all over the neighborhood with those same friends.  It meant stopping by the candy lady's house for freeze cups that only cost 25 cents.  It meant not having to come in the house when the street lights came on as long as I stayed in front of the house.  It meant being outside so long and being so fOnky and being so bitten the hell up by mosquitoes that we had to take bathes with a cap full of bleach.  It meant staying up all night to watch secular music videos because Mudear had this magical thing called cable!  It meant seeing the boy who lived across the street who I secretly had a crush on but who was a bit older than me. He would always walk by me and sing an old Hall and Oates song, One on One! HA...we were so UN-grown! LOLOL   Going to my grandmother's also meant I would be able to bake something in her kitchen!  She always always always had something for me to bake or even a new technique to teach me.  She was so patient with me and I tried to soak up every thing she taught me.   I have so many fond memories of being at my grandmother's house, it was home, it was safe, it was fun, it was love!    

       

Day 17, Friday: A favorite photo of yourself and why

   

  This is the day I did my big chop.  I cut off the remainder of my relaxed hair and rocked a teeny weeny afro (TWA).  That day in general was just really good. After the haircut, Babe, Big E and I went to Kemah and had the most lovliest of days.   I love this picture because I looked so dope my baby girl told me I was "brave."    

Day 16, Thursday: Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it

    So I'm a black woman (surprise!) and all my life I had to fight I've had to manage other people's generalized stereotypes of being black and being a black girl/woman.    When I was in grade school in MS, I was constantly told that "I spoke well" or that I "looked so clean" by my white teachers.  I was often made to sit by myself to take, and retake, tests because the teacher didn't believe I could score "this high" on a test while her white students didn't do nearly as well.   Even as an adult working in corporate American in a professional capacity I can't even tell you how many times I've been mistaken for the administrative assistant and asked to fetch coffee.  Of course there is nothing wrong with being an assistant but to automatically assume I'm one because I am the ONLY brown lady in the room used to be off putting. I couldn't possibly be one of your colleagues right?   I'm not a welfare queen, a baby momma, a drug addict or uneducated. Nor do I use the N-word, speak slang that much or speak ugly to my children or whatever stereotype YOU have about black women. I'm just a regular woman, with dreams and hopes who's full of life, has a great family and mostly a great life.   I'm not necessarily trying to overcome this "lot in life" because one I don't feel like my color or gender burdens me so much as it seems to burden simple people. Secondly, I can't control what other people assume about me based on their narrow view about black people and/or women.  All black people are not the same just like all white/Asian/Mexican/other are not the same.  If you don't take the opportunity to get to know me for ME, sadly that is your loss!  

Day 15, Wednesday: A Day in the life (include photos from throughout your typical day - this could be "a photo an hour" if you'd like)

Since I am playing catch-up I will do a SUPER condensed version of a typical day!    

I drop B at school

Look fly while sitting in traffic on my way to work (never mind my crooked scarf)

Crunch numbers



Get home, go over homework with B while whipping work in the kitchen. And by work whipping I mean preparing dinner!

  

Blog Every Day in May Day 14 - Ten things that make you really happy

 

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  1.  My family  

    2. Cooking  

  3.  Fresh white socks. So very serious!  

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4.  Really good friends  

  5.  Being hugged by this guy; best arms in the business!  

  6.  Accomplishing a goal, no matter the size    7.  My home. While it is in a constant state of decorating and remodeling, I love coming home! Still haven't made those curtains, but I have fabric now! #Progress  

  8.  My lemon bush; last year was the first year that it actually produced yellow fruit. If you follow me on Instagram you know I was OVER THE MOON!  

 

9.  Music.  These are the last three songs I listened to  

Madness by Muse

Run and Hide by Algebra

Stronger Than Me by Amy Winehouse



10. Everyday I get a chance to get it right!

 

Blog Everyday in May Day 13 - Issue a public apology. This can be as funny or as serious or as creative as you want it to be

  Can I tell yall that sweet Aleshea over at GlitznGrits put something on my spirit this morning with her post!  She even used my favorite Psalms!       I don't make many apologies.  I go out of my way to NOT hurt people's feelings or offend people while still being honest with them.  I am this way because I know what it is like for people to be mean and ugly JUST to be mean and ugly.  It is not a good feeling.  I also believe that you will have enough people beating you up, wanting you to fail, etc. and I don't want to be a part of that group.    If in my heart I don't feel like someone is owed an apology I won't give it just to smooth things over.  That's not being true to myself.    With all of that being said, I am most hardest on myself.  I seriously have no chill for myself.  I beat myself up all of the time over dumb stuff and I am going to apologize to myself for that!  I am full of so much awesome that I don't give myself credit for at all.  I am an amazing mom, a great provider and an all around good person.  I am going to stop being my worst critic and start patting myself on the back more. I will be treating myself better and congratulating me a lot more!      

 

Happy Monday!

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Blog Every Day in May Day 12 - What do you miss? (a person, a thing, a place, a time of your life...)

    My Great Grandmother Louise was everything!  She was independent, feisty and sharp as a whip!   My first memory of her is when I was little and she lived in this little Michigan town.  My sister and mom and I had gone to visit for the summer.  I remember getting up at the crack of dawn to go fishing with her and my mom. We'd pick lunch from her garden (she ALWAYS had a garden), stop at the corner store for $1 worth of lunch meat and head out!  We would be out there for hours! I loved it because I got to play with worms, make mud pies and play in the fishing hole while my mom and GG Louise fished and talked.    I can't find the picture now, but GG Louise had these mutt dogs named Runt and Stunt and I LOVED them so.  Later when GG Louise moved to our small MS town, she stayed in them streets!  She never drove mind you but you could find her walking all over town nearly everyday.  She'd usually have a fishing pole, a stray dog trailing behind her, a camel unfiltered hanging out of the corner of her mouth and a bucket/bag of some sort.  She also kept a bottle of brown likka in her fridge.  I once asked her what was that brown stuff for and she told me it was to "thin her blood!" LOL   GG Louise was a looker too y'all!  She had the smoothest, deep chocolate skin I have ever seen! Imagine that beautiful skin against the clear, gray eyes! GG Louise was fine honey! OMG her hair? Soft as cotton and I mean that literally! She always kept it in plaits cause when she needed to get fancy real quick she could slap on a wig!   I miss GG Louise because I didn't get the chance to hear her talk about her life like I would have liked.  Word in these ancestry streets is that she killed one of her husbands.  Now I would have loved to hear her tell that story.  I would have loved to hear stories about her childhood or parents, or education, her life.   While I miss GG Louise immensely, I still have the lessons she left behind. She taught me how to plant and till a garden and how to scale and gut a fish after you catch it, among other things.  The most important lesson I learned from her is how very important it is for women to be self-sufficient.      

Blog Everday in May Day 11 - Sell yourself in 10 words or less



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I cook

I drink

I laugh

I'm awesome

Gauranteed fun!

 

Blog Everyday in May Day 10 - Most Embarrassing Moment

 

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  I am naturally really, really shy and kind of clumsy so I have MANY embarrassing tales! LOL   Like the time I was going to get up in front of my entire school and do a solo dance for a talent show? Instead I walked out on stage and panicked AND got booed off the stage!   Or about the time I was in elementary school during field day and our entire class got on stage to dance for the talent portion?  I got on stage and laughed the entire time I was up there. Never broke out any of my fine dance moves.   Ironically, I LOVE dancing, even now.   Or about the time I was in high school and dating? I was on a date with one particular guy and I let out (what I thought was) a silent but deadly? Couldn't blame that on anyone else, he heard it.   Oh, and there is the time I was walking in too high heels on a date.   We were holding hands, I wobbled WE fell!   Oh or about the time I boiled an egg in the microwave at a previous employer and set the microwave on fire.  For the six years I remained at that firm they NEVER let me live that down. smh   Told y'all...a mess! lolol