I am a nobody,
nobody is perfect,
therefore I am perfect.
Damn! I still don't get it!
Cyndi again has awarded me another award. I was totally left speechless when I saw that she gave me not one but two awards.
So through my cloudy mind (and blurry tears), I left a comment on her page. I don’t even remember what I wrote. I just wrote down what came to me and sent it.
Cyndi honey, if you are reading this, please forgive me if my comment made no sense at all. I had the best intentions.
Now I know how the stars feel at the Oscar’s. Yeah, I feel THAT good!
“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.”
This 'Love Ya' award is sweet as I am always attempting to find new friends.
The people I give this amazing award to are:
Akilah, Chris, Carma, Sheri, Lucy, Mom, Tina, and Christine. Of course I have to add four more just because I love them so: Clarity,
Thank you all again for being such good friends to me. I feel like I am the luckiest woman alive right now!
Okay, not the luckiest, but definitely the most loved. : )
And it feels damn great!
Cyndi has awarded me two awards.
This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.
WOW ! I am deeply humbled!
The rules to follow are:
1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person that has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to another 15 blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment. Remember to contact each of them to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
So the 15 people I am awarding this to are:
Sheri, Akilah, Mom, Chris, Tina, Cyndi (Thank you for the acknowledgment in the first place), Lucy, Nilsa, Deutlich, Lilly, Stone, Carma, Brenda, Ashley, and Maxie.
Thank you ladies for bringing such joy to my life and entertaining a mom who is in need of some adult conversations.
You totally deserve it!
My daughter and son. He of course does not want to take the picture.
Have we really found the fountain of youth? The secret to living longer? It’s no myth according to some analysts, and it’s called “The Blue Zone”. These are the areas in which scientist say the people who live here, live longer.
The segment featured
Studies done have indicated that those in “The Blue Zone” have lived longer due to:
a) Genetics. (Mine are not too bad. We could eliminate some of the ‘fat’ genes though.)
b) No smoking. (Okay I sneak a little ciggy here and there now and again.)
c) Diet. (Working on it!)
d) Zest for life. (My motto is: smile while you’re making it, laugh while you’re taking it, even though you’re faking it, nobody’s gonna know!)
e) Religion. (Since I think about religion as much as getting a tooth pulled I rarely go into long discussions about it. But I believe that having faith in something bigger than you (e.g. a higher power) can have some health benefits. It’s called faith. Some do prayer. I just thank God that when he sees me on the caller ID he doesn’t hang up because he does answer some of my prayers.)
Okay genetics is a biggie. We totally don’t know what is in store for us if you have no idea about your families’ history. Family-wise my gene pool has high-blood pressure, bad breath (not that I have any), diabetes, sarcasm, cussing, cancer, yakking too much about nothing syndrome, incontinence, heart disease, ADHD, and too much girth in the middle that just stays with you. Hmmm… according to this I should be keeling over at any minute, or at least in the hospital with a diaper on and a constant supply of breath mints.
Smoking. To smoke or not to smoke? It is ever debatable in my family since 1 out of every 3rd person in my family does smoke. I only smoke occasionally (two ciggy’s a week) but according to this research you shouldn’t have none. Okay, *inhaling ciggy* let me know when you are finished *exhaling* reading this *blowing smoke circles* story.
Diet. Okay they emphasize that fresh is best. Fresh veggies, and fresh fruit. Living virtually as vegetarians/vegans. Shucks. That counts me out. I love a turkey ham sandwich with some mayo, mustard, on double fiber bread. Health nut? Not really. But I try to watch what I eat. (Trying is only half the battle)
Zest for life. Okay, some say that laughter is the best medicine. One thing remarkable about the people interviewed in
Religion. Okay this is a tough one, but virtually whoever you are praying to is obviously looking out for you because you are doing alright so far. I hope.
This research is purely based on the fact that they kept records of these individuals and realized that a fifty year old man has a greater chance of making 90 than a man residing in the
So if you and the significant other want to keep the longevity in your life, you might want to consider moving to one of these ‘Blue Zones’ and keep the zesty, happy, free of bad genetics, fresh diet, with lots of prayer life that you are used to. If you don’t keel over when having sex at 120 and your partner is two months shy of 125.
I usually don’t dream but last night I did. If I do dream it is because I’ve slept too much or I tossed and turned all night. I’m hoping it’s the former and not the latter or I’m going to be more tired then a drunken monkey.
I dreamt about Madea. For those of you who don’t know Madea, she is the creation of Tyler Perry who has the shows on TBS called ‘House of Payne’ and ‘Meet the Browns’. He has also made quite a few movies like ‘Diary of a Mad Black Woman’ starring Shemar Moore and Kimberly Elise; and the ‘Family That Preys’ with Alfre Woodard and Kathy Bates.
I love the character Madea. She is loud, boisterous, funny, and downright lovable. It’s a plus that ‘she’ is played by a ‘he’, but that’s okay. I’m no hater. I love people of all shapes, sizes, color, height, breed, and whatever you have between you legs; makes me no never mind. The only person that I tease about their height is my SIL who I’ve told to write a letter of complaint to the town mayor for building the sidewalk too close to her ass. It’s all in fun.
Now I realize that Mr. Tyler has been receiving some criticism from people for wearing the dress and portraying a woman. But hell, he is a success and people worldwide love his Madea! She’s the grandma everyone needs or wants. However my Grandmother is never as boisterous as Madea, but she gets her point across just fine. Plus, I love a man who is comfortable wearing a dress and not afraid to laugh at himself in public. Now back to my dream.
Well, me the hubby and my son were outside this woman’s house just sweep her yard. The yard was full of leaves and we were using brooms. WTF? But it’s a dream. Let me continue. So we finish sweeping and piling the leaves in piles, but we don’t put them into any bags.
I began to help the hubs without even knowing why or what we were doing there at some random stranger’s house. He knew though and insisted that I help. So that’s what I was doing when he said that we should stop and go to the old lady and tell her we were done. Done? “I thought we were to put them in bags?” I shouted at him. Strange, even in my dream I still show my irritation to the hubby.
Anyskittle, we go up these horrendous flights of stairs that go on forever. I mean it was like the sky was the limit. As we climbed up the stairs we stopped and looked at a kite that was aimlessly flying in the wind. No kid holding it on the other end, just floating in the sky without a thought or care. We continued our trek. We come to the ladies door and I knock.
I hear this shrill “Who is it?” I back away. The hubby then opens the door a smidgen and shouts in the crack “It’s me!”
“Who the hell is ‘ME’?” she says. The hubby stands back and looks at me. He has a slight grin on his face but proceeds to say “Umm, we were out sweeping your leaves.”
“Oh is that you? Come on in. Why didn’t you say so?” Madea then opens the door big as life. She has on a turquoise dress with little white flowers. I just stare at her as she is standing there smiling. I don’t move. The hubby and son go in and look back at me like I’ve lost my head.
"Your, your, your Madea!" I stutter.
“Yeah, won’t you come on in? I’ve just made some food for you’ll to eat. Ya hungry?”
I finally nod my head and walk inside. Her house has lots of trinkets and lots of little statues around. Comfy in a sort of maternal kind of way.
“Have a seat.” She leads us to her dining room and we sit down. She brings out all this food like a rotisserie chicken, sweet yams, collard greens, corn on the cob, biscuits, and dinner mints. Can you tell that I went to bed hungry?
Anyskittle, we laugh and Madea told more jokes than I ever heard. The details are kind of fuzzy because this is the time when the hubby began to shift around the bed and blow his fog horn in my ear. Let’s just say if you do decide to visit Madea, I’m quite sure she’ll be a gracious host. Just invite me to come along.
Or better yet, meet me at the theater when you go to see ‘Madea Goes to Jail’. It’s this Friday. Let’s make it a date!
At no time do I feel compelled to defend a man who hits on a woman, nor can I readily forgive them. I do realize that there are two sides to every story, so I try not to be so quick in my judgments. However, I feel compelled to answer the call to abused women everywhere.
As a little girl, I witnessed the most horrific abuse that a woman can endure. My father beat my mother. Since I was the oldest of eight I was a witness to a lot of physical abuse.
The man, who calls himself my father, beat on my mom while she was pregnant with child number five. It was not uncommon, and I grew up with this kind of abuse. However; this one sticks out in my memory so vividly. I remember getting ready because my mom was about to take us all out to
She went down like a boxer being KO’d in the ring. With her dress ballooning around her as she fell in front of her dresser, I soon knew what I had to do. Grabbing my two little sisters and little brother I quickly took them by the hand and led them downstairs until the fighting died down.
I was eight at the time, and my reactions were quick. Grabbing sister A (age 7) and brother T (age 6) by one hand, and grabbing sister N (age 3) in the other hand I half dragged, half pulled them down the stairs until the beating subsided.
As I stood in the big picture window overlooking our front yard, I prayed that someone could hear my mother screaming, and would come and rescue us. I watched as one man walked by the window stopped in front of our house, turned and looked at the sobbing children in the window and shook his head.
My brother and sisters were crying, especially sister N who wanted my mom, but was too frightened to go upstairs. I was the only one who stood without tears, having seen and heard it all before. At eight I knew how to suppress my feelings and not let it be known that I was hurting for my mom and that I wanted my father dead. The guilt I felt at wanting someone I love dead, confused me to no end. I have a hard time looking him in the face to this day.
The sound of my own blood rushing in my ears grew louder as the screaming wouldn’t stop. The sound of dressers falling and tables being overturned echoed in my head as my father threw furniture around. I imagined my mother shielding her belly with one arm and trying to ward of her attacker with the other. I silently said to myself “stop, stop, stop”, but my whispers fell on deaf ears, as no one would listen.
I walked the siblings to the door as if to take them outside. By now they were shivering, and couldn’t control their chattering teeth. Soon as I made the decision to take them outside, the screaming stopped. My heart raced a little as I wanted to know if my mom was okay. I stood at the bottom of the staircase listening, waiting, and soon realized that I couldn’t breathe because I was holding my breath. Exhaling loudly, my head jerked up when I heard my father shout at me to come upstairs. Looking up at him standing at the top of the stairs my scowl spoke otherwise, and I stared him down as if to contest him. He walked away and went into the bathroom.
I wanted to go upstairs to see how my mom was doing, but looking back at my sibs who snuck up behind me, I thought it was best not to otherwise. I could hear her whimpering and crying, but was conflicted on what to do. I stayed downstairs with my little brother and sisters and we huddled on the window seat in the picture window until the “attacker” left.
He was mumbling how he would kill my mother, and she better listen to him next time or else. I still remember looking at him with such disgust, and how he stared me down as if to say ‘go ahead try it.’ He won, and I knew when to back off when the odds were not in my favor.
In reflection, I look back at those times and wonder what would I have done if my parents owned a gun and I found it? Would I have been one of those children that you see on the news who tell their story over and over again to the media who wants to know what happened? Only to be lost in the system years later and on one of those “Where Are They Now” shows?
Now that the hubby and I are faced with our own crisis but working on it, I now empathize with the women who have to wake up everyday and move on with life after being assaulted in such a fashion. I constantly ask my mom why she endured such abuse for 21 years. To that she has no answer.
I’m not holding my breath for an answer either, because she is trying to move on with her life after being divorced from my father for 15 years now. This is the moment when I exhale, and I then realize that I have been holding my breath in anticipation that I am missing something in life. Something like moving on from the pain and realizing that no one will make my life better, only me.
In retrospect, with all that has happened to me in my childhood, I have decided to try to be very careful in my selection of mates. I’ve failed in some aspects, but in others I have dutifully have tried to correct my mistakes and have no regrets in my decision making. Only vow to learn from them.
To err is human, to forgive is divine. I’m still working on the forgiving part.
Okay last week I visited clever girl goes blog and I decided to play the letter game. I did this once with mom some posts ago, but I had the letter G. These kind of tags are always fun.
Tia gave me the letter 'I', which I will now dutifully play. I am suppose to list ten things about the letter 'I'. Here goes:
Ice Cream
What can I say? I love the cold stuff that can give you brain freeze when you eat it too fast. This may be why I have some poundage to lose, but ah well. Nonetheless, be it vanilla, chocolate, fudge swirl, strawberry, or rocky road (my fave), I’ll eat it. Ice cream gotta sell, big girls gotta eat. It’s a never ending cycle.
Love Bollywood. Have the movies ‘City of
Igloo
When I was a little girl I once dreamed that I would runaway and be adopted by an Eskimo family and live in an Igloo. Then I grew up. I still dream that one day I’ll build an igloo with my children and that we’ll spend the night in it. A girl can still dream right?
Iris
Lovely flower. Very calm looking and pleasant to the eye. I always admired them but never had the gumption to plant any. But this year it will be different. Instead of ornamental grass and weeds in my flower beds, I’ll plant some irises along with some other flowers as well.
Iced Mocha Joe
Love the drink, and I usually have one on some mornings when I am running errands early in the morning. There is however only one fast food restaurant where I get them from who can make it my way.
iPhone
Don’t own one, wouldn’t mind having one though. Tia talks about the iPhone so much I think I just might try and get one. Perhaps I’ll learn what the Apps REALLY is.
An Egyptian Goddess of fertility, also known as a winged goddess who represented all that was visible, birth, growth, development and vigor. The ancient Egyptians saw
I am Sam
Okay, shoot me, not technically an “I” word but it does start with “I” though. Loved the movie, and Sean Penn was excellent as the lead character. Dakota Fanning was great as well. This movie was such a positive reflection of those who are handicapped in our society and how they can, despite their limitations, can hold their own. They are real people, and unlike the rest of the world they are the most compassionate people I know. My aunt has Down syndrome and was born in the 60’s, back in the day when they were called Mongoloids, and they were not expected to live long. The docs in NYC said she wouldn’t live to see eight years old. My aunt is now 44 years old and physically active. She cooks, cleans, washes clothes, walks three miles every other day, and to relax she colors in her coloring books. She is obviously my favorite aunty.
Imagination
Active, very active and wild. I can convince myself that the bogeyman is in my room and I will crawl in one of my childrens bed (which by the way annoys them). Or with my imagination I can make the bogeyman go away. Either way, I’m quirky and active imaginations feed off of that kind of stuff. The only downside is when I am in the PMS mood; my imagination won’t make the annoying people go away.
“I Hate This Part”
A hit song off of the Pussycat Dolls latest CD, ‘Doll Domination’. Okay my imagination is not working for me right now and this is the only thing that I can think of. Love the song, and the Pussycat Dolls are obviously the inspiration behind my drive to losing weight. And when I do lose the weight, I will definitely get the pole. Hey, it’s for exercising people!
I hope that I gave the letter ‘I’ some justice. Okay, Tia that letter was hard, but thank goodness it wasn’t Q, X, or Z. Whew! My head hurts just thinking about the imagination one would have to have to write about either of those letters.
Presently, I am in the mood to watch a good movie. A good romantic comedy/romantic drama. You know a chick flick! Something that will make me laugh and do the ugly cry at the same time. With it being Valentine’s day and the hubby at work until 9PM, I think it only appropriate that I watch a good movie.
The choices are limitless. Lifetime of course has many romantic movies showing today, but they are not what I want now. You have to be in the mood to watch Lifetime, and what I really want is something on DVD.
How about?:
Racial tension in the streets of NYC. Romance between man and woman on different sides. Guys with tight pants that are just a wee bit high. Girls with Brooklyn/Puerto Rican Accents who can’t sing. The most touching scene is when Maria holds Tony in her arms while he lies dying. That is cinema at its best in 1961.
Ever After
Indeed the best Cinderella story ever made! Drew Barrymore and Angelica Huston were the best in the movie, and the other characters made the movie as well. Action, laughter, tears, and the very familiar story of Cinderella winning the Prince in a storytelling way that made my children believe that the story was true.
Notting Hill
Julia Roberts & Hugh Grant, what a duo! Actually the whole rich girl, poor boy –or- famous girl, successful bookstore owner made the tale of star-crossed lovers very believable and I fell in love with the movie. Not enough to list it as my favorite, but close enough. For added comic effect they put the dingy, filthy but lovable flat mate of Hugh’s whose presence the audience needed when the movie got too heavy.
Titanic
Made movie history and I went to go see it three times! This is the first performance of Kate Winslet that I had ever seen and of course I fell in love with her. Just a girl crush mind you, nothing serious. Leo was excellent and of course with the rest of the world I was bummed when he didn’t get nominated for the Oscar. However, the movie will live forever in my heart as timeless, and it was money well spent. Just the right amount of drama to make the romance believable and for years I thought that Jack and Rose were truly real passengers on the Titanic.
Atonement
Nothing that Kiera Knightley does is small. The romantic drama was a little over the top but made me appreciate the life that I do have with hubby and not to trust anyone to mess with that. Great storyline and I felt so sorry for the lovers.
Serendipity
I love John Cusack, and he was also in Say Anything, one of my faves as a teen. Kate Beckinsdale is not to bad either. I love movies with lovers wanting to be together but can’t for some reason or another. The whole fact that they reconnected after 10 years separated with a book holding the final say so, on whether they will get together made me weepy. A great one for the box of Kleenex on the coffee table.
Runaway Bride
Julia Roberts again with Richard Gere since their movie ‘Pretty Woman’. They make one of the most pleasant couples on the screen right next to Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Lots of laughs, just the right amount of romance to make the movie enjoyable. Plus, one of my favorites as well.
Pride and Prejudice
So many remakes of the classic story by Jane Austen but the movie starring Kiera Knightley was absolutely the best. You know wealth and status was such a determining factor in a woman’s amounts of proposals in those days.
Sense and Sensibility
Another with Kate Winslet and the movie was excellent as well. This is one for under the covers with the shades pulled down and lots of candy sprinkled around you, with the box of tissues nearby. Emma Thompson is a great actress as well and pulls it off real well. Especially at the end when she begins to cry at her marriage proposal by Hugh Grant. Such a chic flick!
Much
And last but not least, one of my favorites. Lover’s quarrels, innocent girls turning into women, accusation, sex, and jilted brides set in 1640
Well, with so many choices you would think that I had my full of movies to at least get into the holiday spirit. But NOOOO!
Had hair duty (3 heads total), bubble baths, cookie making, spaghetti and meatballs dinner’ cause of course it is a holiday, laundry (6 loads), homework, and kitchen cabinets to straighten.
The only thing that came close to anything romantic on TV today was whether Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana could make up her mind to plant a big one on the handsome admirer or tell him that she was Hannah Montana.
And how did you celebrate heart day?!?
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