Mamma's Birthday

So if you don't know by now I am a Halloween baby! I am a year older and I don't care who knows it! I earned the right to be this age! Whooo hoooo. Well I a going to make this short and sweet cause I a trying desperately to find something to do for my special day. Here is what is interesting is that I am thinking as I write this...everyday should be a special day.
How bout that?
Each and everyday should be a special one because we are alive and we are here to learn and grow and develop and experience this thing called life. I am grateful for the opportunity to be on this planet right now.
As I sit and assess my past year I did somethings I said I would do. I said this year would be my year I said that I was going to move and shake the world. Guess what? I did. I moved and shook the world I am in. And right now that is the most important thing to me. I began on the first day of this year when I realised that no one could treat me any worse than I treated myself and that I was the only person that was keeping me from doing the things that I wanted to do.
This year a light bulb went off that I have an assignment here and that I have some work to do here. It is my responsibility in the midst of my being Mamma that I complete the assignment that I gave myself before I was born.
So now time for me to be about business and get somethings done.
I think that is going to be the gift that I give me today. The permission to finish my assignment.
I keep thinking about the album I put back on the shelf and the book "Lili Goes To The Carnival", the events that I HAVE to make happen, the radio station that I was going to start and stopped. Uh huh, yeah you know what I am talking about.
From this day to the next birthday I will be about completing my assignment so that the Universe will NOT regret my existence.

That's all I have to say about that.

Til Next Time

Mamma

Bewitched Season 1 Episode 2

Bewitched
"Be It Ever So Mortgaged"

Endora is disgusted when Samantha refuses to use supernatural powers to cope with the routine tasks of a suburban housewife.

I don't know about you but somestimes wish that I could twinkle a nose and handle all of the things that have to be done in the span of my day!

Scarlet Takes a Tumble

This poor girl became an internet sensation when she fell off of her coffee table in her parents' basement. With over one million hits to this video she is now being interviewed and I am sure given offers for her immensely hilarious video.
The power of the internet is amazing and what it can do for a person in literally one day.
That is if you know how to work it or not which in this case I am sure that she was not trying to become famous off of the mistake she made stepping forward too far off of her make shift stage.
But if you just want a good laugh I say check it out. And just like Miss Scarlett said she is glad to make people laugh especially the way that the econonmy and the world is right now we all need a quick laugh and a smile.
I say thanks Scarlet you really made me laugh.





Til Next Time

Mamma

Early Birthday Party For Daddy

Kevin and I have such interesting jobs. Notice I did not say careers? He is an engineer on a ship gone for 28 days and I work from home in a virtual office setting. It works because he can make the money that he wants and I get to stay home with KJ and Lili since they are still so small and still make money.
What I don't like is the fact that because of his job he misses a lot of special days like birthdays and holidays and family events and events that I do.
So what we do is celebrate early before he goes back on the ship. We are usually early opening gifts, baking turkey and barbequeing in the summer. But it works for now at least.
This year we added his and my birthday to the list since he will be on the ship officially today. we did the basic stuff you know bought a cake, a card, let KJ and Lili make him a card and me one and exchanged it. He took the cards and pictures with him. I get to keep the cake. Oh how fun is that? I'll no doubt take it to my dad's so the other grandchildren can eat on it.
I took a picture of it just to have as a keepsake. Yes a couple slices have already been enjoyed but I want it to sit here so I can just remind me that I was special enough to buy a cake for this year.

On my birthday I am going to snatch up my sister in law who shares my birthday and go out to lunch my treat this year since she treated me last year. I have no idea where we will go but it should be fun!

Does it sound like I enjoy my birthday? Well really what it is about is loving me and realising that no matter where I go,..there I am. I had better get to know her and love her and care about her as no one else can.

So I have a week give or take a few days to just really show me what I think of me. How cool is that?

I'll think of ways to do that like a spa day or getting my nails done or buying myself a new outfit.

How about a coupon that says "Sleep In All Day?"

That really sounds like the best one of all right?

Ah poor Kevin, he will be working on his birthday so I will celebrate twice as hard for both of us. Teeh hee!

Til Next Time

Mamma

Toothless Lili

How fast time flies. One minute I am bringing home a tiny five pound baby girl the next minute she is five years old an losing her first tooth!

I just had to post this. I just took this with my cell phone so sorry for the grainy picture here. She was sad she thought she was not going to get another to replace it but if you look closely, Lili already has teeth in the back!

So we had a nice long talk about how she has to now stop sucking her fingers so her teeth can grow in straight and so that the tooth fairy will bring her money in the morning.

I know, I know but what better way to get her to stop sucking her fingers than to give her a sob story like that right?

Either that or a trip to an orthodontist.......the agony of that thought is too much right now!

Til next time.

Mamma

New Sitcom! "Bewitched"

Ok guys thought this would be fun to start with. I found one of my favorite after school shows and thought it would be cute to add to my blog. This is so cool. Some of these I have never seen so this should be a hoot!

Bewitched!

Samantha and Darrin appear to be an ideally matched couple. Very much in love, they decide to marry. Darrin doesn't know that Samantha, is, of all things, a witch.

Movie Of The Week "Dragonheart"

Dragonheart

Dennis Quaid stars as a medieval dragonslayer in this fantasy epic who must team with the last dragon to defeat an evil king.

I Can't Even Be Missed

Sometimes in this motherhood thing you believe that you are being taken for granted by all. Now I know I am not alone in this though. Husbands, significant others, partners, friends and children all believe that we are a mainstay.
They believe that without a doubt Mamma will always be there.
This weekend that just passed I attended the funeral of a friend who worked with me on the Juneteenth Committee. As a matter of fact she was a founding member. She also was a Master Cosmetologist and Lili's HIPPY teacher. Joyce was very instrumental in me pushing for her not to be tagged or labeled as a child with learning disabilities. With her help I won that battle and Lili started kindergarten on time.
While the weekend otherwise was uneventful, I began to think about what it would be like if I with all of the things that I do, if I just up and was no longer here, would my children notice, would my hunny notice, would others?
I thought and thought about it all weekend long as I went about buying the kids winter clothing and paying bills online and working at the swap meet, and blogging and meeting with my business partners about the next events and doing something in Atlanta in 2009. (That was a lot right?) I didn't even mention basic household stuff either like laundry, groceries and other things which got done.
So now its Monday morning and I had been up all night long for no apparent reason but to be up thinking.
I just wanted to see for myself. So I decided to disappear. I packed my laptop for working, I packed my clothes, I called Kevin who was in New Orleans on his way home from the ship and left a message. There has a been an emergency and I need you to come home soon as the kids will be here alone. I left a message on the refrigerator next to Imani's football schedule and hung other items for her to see. "I will be out of range, call Kevin as soon as you see this message I have an emergency, I will call later".
I know what you are thinking, "You just up and left the kids like that?" I sure did as Imani is old enough to legally be in charge while I am gone.
"You did it on a school day?". I sure did they interrupt my life all the time one day wouldn't kill them.
Lets start with my hunny first. He calls back and you could hear the anger in his voice. Not much for talking at 4:30 in the morning either but he said he would be home by afternoon. He asked if I had left KJ's car seat, "uh no figure it out" is what I wanted to say. With my comments on an emergency and nothing further, no questions were asked he just said ok and hung up the phone.
I drive off in the dark watching my neighborhood slowly become a dot. I make a stop for a breakfast sandwich as the line of day and night could be seen meeting each other in the change of shifts on the horizon.
I could hear the hustle and bustle of the trucker as they gassed up for their long drives and saw people getting ready for work and school.
I am now on my way to......... hell.... who knows where but I needed to get away. Clear my mind regain a sense of self away from what is a normal life where somehow I have just become the cook, the buyer, the waiting and doting wife who sits quietly while you are on and off the ship with lags in between. I am the bill payer, I am the community activist, the business owner, the speaker, the person with only one name, "Mamma". Or the person that is always conveniently available with no thought for my well being or my emotional status throughout the day.
So again I am driving I am now about 75 miles away from the house and counting as the black turns to blue black and I drive in silence thinking about what it was like when my own mother was no longer there, or thinking about when I heard that Joyce has passed away at home from a bout with cancer that kept returning. Funny she kept going too, she smiled and always smiled in her sickness she smiled as she continued to take her father to dialysis, and come to Juneteenth meetings, and take care of grand kids and children who had moved back home and were not working. Her husband and she were off and on but more on than off and he was home again now. Overall a good life and one with a sense of direction all her own. I dig that.
I park my car in a dark portion of a parking lot and lean back and fall asleep. I am now closer to the state capital.
When I awake from a vibrating phone I think "Let me call it's 7:15"
No answer at home. I call again, no answer, I call again and again and again, no answer.
I start the car and head back towards the house. Only one thing could have happened. I am such a mainstay in the house that no one noticed I was gone. No one noticed that my car was not in the driveway and that Lili and Imani were at school or on their way already.
I was not missed I was not even noticed until people are hungry, need clothes or money for activities or events.
My thoughts were correct. When I finally get home, KJ is asleep alone, the note I posted on the refrigerator near the football schedule in bold yellow, never touched or noticed.
I take my bags out of the car and slide into bed as I am groggy still and need to think this through.
No one noticed I was gone and Kevin is annoyed I bothered his slumber when in all reality his car problems are over and he should have been home instead of recovering from a car and truck show.
I figured out why too, I am the enabler in this family. I am here to watch babies and pay bills I am here to take kids to and from recitals and events, I am the one that enables this family to be fluid and be comfortable at my expense.
Hmmmmmm I don't think that I am liking this very much but it's true. My family is taking advantage of me and what it takes to run this house/home and do it seamlessly.
This story has a comedic lining to it in that I was not noticed even after I took the tooth paste out of the house. I was not noticed even when my big red car was not outside and my laptop was missing from it's usual spot.
I was saddened by the days events. But enlightened because it is official Mamma needs a break and a vacation from it all. I need to see Vegas, or Maui hell Timbuktu alone. With no noses or asses to wipe no kids to cook for or significant other who is gone more than he is home working.
This stayed on my mind all day and as I went to pick up Lili she said "Mother, Lili and KJ ate all the black and white cookies. I think we need to go to the store to pick up more so I can have some"
So off we went to get black and white creme cookies, cause she sure as hell couldn't take herself and right now I'm all she's got. I'll take a vacation,...just not today.

Til next time

Mamma

One Day At A Time "Dad Comes Back Two"

One Day At A Time
"Dad Comes Back Two"

It's the morning after their father's first overnight visit -- for the girls it means reconciliation, for David it means worry, and for Ann and Ed it means a rekindling.



Well all this is the last one in the series that I have access to.

Enjoy and don't forget you can go back and reference the ones I have here on the site at any time by just checking the archives.

Til next time.

Mamma

Crawford

A small town thrust into big politics when George W. Bush moves in next door. Gritty, authentic and often funny, CRAWFORD is Hulu's first movie premiere.

Alright you guys you want to know what Camden, Arkansas is like well this is it, it is just like this cept there is way more color of all kinds.

Enjoy.

Ok So What Is A Panini Anyways?

We are so chic in 2008 aren't we? So hip and with it. Yeah right. I remember when I was living in Atlanta how hip and chic I was that I had to get up and join the millions of hipsters on their way to a looooong commute of sitting in traffic on 400. Oooh what fun. Now don't get me wrong I loved my life in the ATL and have considered a move back to focus more on my career. (More on that later)

But I remember having to stop for coffee at Starbucks. Lattes and mocha and cream and whipped cream and biscotti and cute little book marks hanging for you to purchase so you could sit and relax and sip long slurps of a fancy coffee. $4.25 for a medium, oh goodness lets not talk about what a grande would cost oops a large.
Now that I live here in southern Arkansas I want spas and massages and long weekends at bed and breakfasts and slower week days. I want to take a night or two and drive to Hot Springs and get a spa treatment for about the price of a pair of cheap shoes and be chic and pampered with candles and incenses. Oooh so chic, so in the know. (do you hear the sarcasm?)
Now as of recent I have been seeing and hearing of this new sandwich that is now part of the chic list, the panini.

I have seen pictures of it, I've looked at them live and in person at restaurants that carry them, I notice even Hot Pockets offers a version of a panini. But I am confused, what makes this sandwhich so darn fancy and why do I want to have one so bad?
So I decided to go online and find out more about this damned panini.

Definition of a Panini from Wikipedia:
A panino (pronounced /paˈnino/) is a sandwich made from a small loaf of bread, typically a ciabatta. The loaf is often cut horizontally and filled with salami, ham, meat, cheese or other food, and sometimes served hot. A grilled panino is buttered on the outside and grilled in a press.

Definition of a Panini from About.com: From Derrick Riches

Panini (panini is plural, panino is singular in Italian) has become the new, trendy sandwich of this age. Now, put all that trendy stuff aside and prepare to make a great grilled sandwich. After all, a real panino sandwich is filled with cured meats and sometimes cheese. This sandwich, like all sandwiches, started out as a fancy meal for, but was also a working class meal that could be taken on the job.

So why is a panini so expensive? Are we paying for chic, trendy, and now? I think so cause to me its a grilled sandwich that I have been making on my George Forman grill for years! And I make a damned good panini too complete with the "Ruffles have Ridges" lines and everything and oozing cheese yummmmo!
I wonder what would happen if I just went into a trendy restaurant and just asked for a grilled sandwich with ridges would they understand? I should try that and scare the poor server who will probably be right out of training and not know that in all truth and fairness a panini and a grilled, ridged sandwich are one and the same.

Til Next Time

Mamma

Making Chicken Stretch

This is so off topic but so cool to me. I love saving money really I do and I don't know anyone that does not like to save money and see how they can make things stretch in their house.

Like me I love to do left overs and over and over and over. I think you get the point here. The biggest reason why is because it saves me time really, second is because it saves me money.

With all of the things that I have to do in a day I don't have to to become June Cleaver and cook and clean all day long. Now I do like a clean house and pretty one but the cooking thing....uuuuh no.

So I found ways to make my money stretch with certain meats and veggies.

First off I buy one or two whole birds and just place them in the freezer. Then when I feel like baking or slow cooking a bird I pull it out and cook it whole once it has been cleaned.

Now we can eat off of that bird for several days without switching it up we just heat it up and add veggies. However there are times when the bird is on its last leg before I get rid of the bones which no I ain't that domestic I don't save the bones for stock for soup.

What I will do is put on a pair of plastic gloves and heat up the left over bird in the microwave. I then proceed to pull off every sliver and piece of meat that I can find until there is nothing left.

Once I do that I can then add either taco seasoning, peppers and salsa for fajitas or douse the chicken with barbecue sauce, mix it up with my gloved hand and add a Kaiser roll for warm barbecue sandwiches when the kids are hungry throughout the afternoons on Sundays. I simply add either re fried vegetarian beans for the fajitas or quick slaw from the grocer's deli or KFC really for the second meal or maybe even a handful of potato chips on the side. Hey it IS a barbecue sandwich come one now!

Lili's Thoughts On Barack Obama

Lili at the Swap Meet

As we are winding down to the last few weeks before the presidential election, I am beginning to see many "fair and balanced" news teams begin to berate one of the candidates one of which is Barack Obama.
It took me by surprise to hear them talk about his past and his relationships with people with questionable character.
Hmmmm I think I'm related to people with questionable character, you know pooky 'nem down the street that won't work and sits on the couch all day while his wife works? Yeah who doesn't have someone like that or some person that does not fit the American norm?
I still hang out with Pooky 'nem, we still laugh and talk and I may even attend a function with Pooky 'nem every once in a while but I KNOW when to draw the line and say ok back to my world. Pooky ya'll it was nice it's been real but now it's time for me to go back to work. I love ya'll but I'm out.
As I was preparing dinner tonite in a rush after picking Imani and Lili up from dance rehearsal I was talking with Imani about the slandering that was going on and how sad I felt about it since we are getting away from the issues that are hitting home for the American people.
Yes I talk politics with my children they need to be in the know early and they need to know Mama was right there voting and doing what she needed to do to make the world better.
In the midst of the news being on and dishes clattering and pots and pans flying I heard Lili say matter of factly, "They call him names and that's cause they are going to lose."

Lili and Timeka

Huh? Hmmm let me analyze what my five year old just said about the presidential election. "They call him names (they = McCain/Palin) and thats cause they are going to lose." mmmm ok ok see in her little five year old world where she is learning how to be fair and to socialize with others respectfully, she knows that not being fair and calling people names if you will only in the end hurts you. Wow, even a five year old got that.
I am snickering as I write this knowing that in the end the polls will tell it all on November 4th, 2008. But for right now what my little Lili said made sense to me because instead of me hearing what you have to say about the state that we are currently in as Americans, and how you are going to get us out, you are badmouthing your opponent lets talk about the war we are STILL in, lets talk about jobs, energy, all of it. Let's get back to the issues. Don't snow us with bad talk about the opponent. The American people are not that dumb nor jaded by what the press is putting out because if a five year old can see through it, I know WE can.

KJ and Lili

Til next time

Mamma

Movie Of The Week

Bring It On

Kirsten Dunst plays the captain of a championship cheerleading squad, who discovers they've won in past years by stealing all of their best routines from an inner-city school.

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One Day At A Time "Dad Comes Back"

One Day At A Time
"Dad Comes Back 1"

Ann's ex-husband Ed drops in with a bombshell that Barbara desperately hopes will spark a reconciliation, in the first of a two-part story. Ann's mixed emotions and hospitality ...

Mind Your Own Business Month 2 "Health and Wellness"

Me and KJ and my double chin after his birth!

So now here comes my most favorite kind of minding my own business, health and wellness is by far the most fun for me.

I have several reasons. One I am good at this part since I love to take care of myself even if I have gained some weight. No .....a lot of weight. But when I was in my twenties it was about weight training and cardio. I was even teaching classes at a gym on Memorial Drive in 1994 in Atlanta four time a day and Imani wasn't even five months old at the time!

Ah but time has come to show me up and let me know that he is going to have the final say but I say "NO!". I am going to win this battle that I have with the bulge and with myself.

This month is the month that I was born and I want to make sure that each day this month that I work out and eat right and focus completely on me. Yes Maam you heard me right I am going to work on me and only in that regard. I won't neglect other people I just need to love on me right now. Especially with so many other people getting love from me like my honey and my children and family and friends. I am getting pushed way back.

So when I speak about wellness I am talking about it in so many different forms. Spiritual is one, self love is another and of course taking care of your physical and mental well being is another.

I'm posting this pic cause I need to get over the being shy about how I look thing.

I want to talk about all of those this month cause they are near and dear to my heart. This needs to be the year that I deal with some things and put some issues I have been dealing with rest before I get ready to count down to 40. Yep Mamma only has a few more years to go before I reach that age and I need to be done with somethings in my past. Period.

So this begins "Mind Your Own Business Month 2 Health and Wellness"

Random pictures of me and KJ

Why don't you join me on this one. Seriously I think this one is going to get interesting.

Til next time,

Mamma