Let's back up to Christmas

Christmas eve cookie baking with my mommy.



For Christmas dinner everything was so good- except the turkey. It was mushy and nasty and we wanted to capture that nasty moment. We promptly threw that turkey in the trash.


I wish my ma would take normal pictures. Those are her sisters and my sister as we were getting ready for Christmas dinner.


Act a fool and keep ruining my picture? Well fine then, I'll post it on my blog.



Serenity23 has been harassing me about posting pictures of my hair. I guess this means I need to learn how to use my camera. I haven't been able to figure out how to post my pictures off this thing. A few times I got lucky, but since then I haven't figured it out. So now, here goes picture week. I need to catch up. Since it took me an insanely long time to figure out how to get pictures up here, here are my 4 favorite Christmas pictures. I have more that I like, but this was too much work just getting these pictures posted. Let me see if I can find some good hair pictures...

Let it snow!

I got my dad to agree to drive by saying TheCount didn't want to drive and my dad said ok. I'm still trying to figure out why he only listens to TheCount. They checked the weather this morning and there's supposed to be a foot of snow down there so the trip is canceled. Great! Money saved :)

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I did our taxes last night. It looks like TheCount doesn't have enough coming out of his checks so we owe :( I'm not going to trip about it. I'll look into it some more to make sure I did it right and get him to talk to the people at work to make sure they fix his deductions. I was kind of upset last night because it's quite a bit of money, but then I remembered a conversation I had with a friend earlier in the day and we both kept saying "fret not." My verse for today is 2 Corinthians 4:8-9. I can't wait to break it down! It'll work out.

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Can somebody please explain to me how I lost $20 in my car Wednesday? It's in there somewhere, I just can't find it. Odd.

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I just went a month without shopping. Who in the world knew that was possible? I didn't buy any clothes, shoes or purses (not even those cami's on Monday). I don't think I've ever done that in my life. I think I'll keep it up in February. If I see something I just **have** to have, I'll ask that it be my Valentine's day present.

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If you're discontent with your life, the only person you have to blame is yourself. Especially if you don't have a family you're responsible for. If it's just you, and you're able bodied, what the heck is stopping you from doing what you want? One day my best friend will get it. I talked to her on the phone last night and once again she had NOTHING positive to say about her life. It's like she refuses to grow up and take responsibility for her life. I got her another book, lol. Something is going to click eventually even if I have to force feed it to her. My mother in law called her and fussed her out about not coming to church recently. You want change, but you won't make changes. It doesn't work that way honey.

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I tried to let TheCount help me name our kids- he picked the names Jose and Juan. He was sooooo serious about it too. I tried to listen to SimplyB and y'all see where it got me? LOL

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I ordered some products over a month ago, and I still don't have them. I guess this is my lesson on patience.

Can we call out sick?

My mom's birthday is on Sunday. She has been celebrating all month so I've already done some birthday events with her. Tonight she is having a pottery party so I'll be going to that too. I have no problem with this. I am a month long birthday celebrator as well. My problem is my dad (what else is new, lol). He decided he wanted to take my mom out of town for her birthday. Fine. He asked if TheCount and I wanted to go with them. We said depending on where it was, maybe. My mom found out what he was planning (and by found out I mean I told her) and she doesn't even want to go out of town, but she didn't want to rain on my dad's parade. My dad had all these delusions of grandeur that I had to quickly shut down because I wasn't paying for that. He finally decided on Williamsburg, Va. Y'all already know my dad lives in an alternate universe without food groups and where it's ok to tell your adult children how to spend their money. I thought he had moved, but I guess not.

 

Dad: TM, I put one of the nights in TheCounts name. So y'all are paying for that.

Me: **whatever**

Dad: And y'all are driving.

Me: No we're not

Dad: We're sitting in the back, it's mommy's birthday, she doesn't need to drive.

Me: No we're not

Dad: Yes you are.

 

Does anybody see something wrong with that scenario? I mean, was I even talking? So not only are we going on a trip we don't want to be on, we're paying for half of it and we're driving? Did I miss the part when he asked us if we would drive. Did I miss the part when he checked with my husband? TheCount called my dad yesterday to get the game plan for the trip. When we were leaving, when we would be back, what we were doing. My dad had no information for him. He didn't even mention the fact that one of the nights was in his name or that we were driving. I guess he only pulls those stunts with me. YOU decide you want to take your wife out of town for her birthday and you get your kids to pay for it. In 25 years, I'm going to try this. I already celebrated my mom's birthday with her. We've gone to two plays and we're doing pottery tonight, why do I have to finance YOUR plans for her?

 

TheCount: We didn't plan this trip, but after we get off work we're driving to pick up the people that have been home all day then driving 3 hours to their destination where there is nothing planned.Why?

Me: I don't know!

TheCount: Well tell your father no!

Me: I did! The only person he listens to is you, why don't you tell him no.

TheCount: I'm not his child, you are. We're going to show up at their house in your Saturn. Take that PapaTM! I bet he won't make us drive then!

Me: LOL!

 

My dad thinks this trip is a surprise to my mom except she heard him on the phone with me and he left the reservations in the printer so we're going through this trouble for nothing. Did I mention my momma doesn't want to go either? Why are we doing this again?

We Can't loooosssseeeee with God on our side!

I'm a bit short on time today so let's make this TheCount's day! Yesterday he had to stop and help the people involved in this accident. There is a lady trapped in that car, they brought the jaws of life to get her out. Pretty scary stuff!

 

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Can somebody explain to me why TheCount brought my car home with no gas in it yesterday? The funny thing is when I was on the phone with him he said, "oh gas is really cheap down here, I have to make sure I get some." Imagine my surprise when I got in the car and my gas light was on. o_O As soon as his plane lands in Missouri I'm going to call him and give him a little fuss.

 

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We're not watching t.v. this week. Yesterday we spent a lot of time laughing at each otherI started my workout routine back up and I was trying to get him to do some of the videos with me, but he had all these excuses, as usual! I think he doesn't want to do the same workout as me because he can't always hang as long as I can. If I can do something he can't, he won't be able to tease me about my lack of athletic ability. He sat on the couch trying to be my motivator while I worked my butt off (literally) with Billy Blanks.

 

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After I finished my workout TheCount started doing his perfect pushup. For some reason he couldn't do more than 3 pushups in a row. This is the dude that used to do 100 no problem. I motivated him by clowning him and teasing him and letting him know that he now has the arms of a "mere mortal." When we first started dating (2003) TheCount's arms were huge and my thighs were small! We're going to get back there by June. We have a new motto at home, "If you don't have time to exercise, you don't have time for bedtime fun." Was that TMI? Probably!

 

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Jazz: Re: Dancing. No we don't dance in public, but it's not for religous reasons or anything. The sad reality of my life is this: I have no rythm. I can't even spell rhythm, that's how bad it is. I think it has something to do with having a huge head and teeny arms and a big butt, I'm just not aerodynamic, lol.

 

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I'm trying to get TheCount on board with the names for our kids. He's fine with the amount, but goshdarnit, he just loves to disagree with me! I picked the names, found out the meanings, and found a Bible verse to go with each name. I'm going to put it up on the wall and pray over our kids before they even get here (and they won't be here for a while). This seems a bit "extra", huh? Oh well! I was sitting in church a few Sundays ago and God told me to do it. Y'all it was funny, I was listening to the sermon (that was in no way related to this topic) and all of a sudden I "heard" God say this to me and I looked around like maybe somebody was audibly saying something. I wrote down my instructions and followed through last week. But back to TheCount, I'm going to need God to tell him to get on board with the plan!

Smells Good! No More Funk!

I had a great weekend! Friday when I left work I went home and packed my bags so we could spend the weekend at my parents house. We went to church for intercessory prayer Friday night. I did not want to go. Not because I don't like praying, but because I'd never been to an intercessory prayer meeting. The church we go to now is much different from the church I grew up in, sometimes I find some people to be a bit "extra." We had a good time at church praying. Some of the "extra" people were there, but it was cool. I don't know if God is working on them and their "extraness" or me and my patience. Either way, I'm glad everybody was on their act right.

 

 I washed and twisted my hair Friday night while watching my 4 hours of Criminal Minds (as I do every Friday night). I didn't wake up until 1:30pm on Saturday thanks to a very large dose of cough medicine. I lounged around my parents house by myself because everybody had things to do (Walmart and the barbershop) and nobody would let me go with them. That evening we got all glammed up to go to my company Christmas party that finally got rescheduled. I wore the exact same thing I wore to my other company Christmas party last month (different company, different group of people) so I knew I was cute. Our table was only half full, and there was this really obnoxious dude at the table. I think he felt the "get away" vibes because he went and sat in the lobby right after the meal. For our evening entertainment we had two comedians. The first comedian bombed. Oh my goodness it was so painful, but he was not funny! Thankfully his set was only about 5 minutes. The main comedian was really funny though. It made me feel bad for the other dude though. We left early because we don't dance or drink and that's all that was going on. Did I mention I won $200. Yeah, y'all I won $200. I almost praise danced across the floor, thankya Jesus! Good looking out. They picked my name out of a hat and that was that! When we got back to my parents house my mom came running out of the room because she wanted to see my outfit. I had texted her what I was wearing (Black ruffle shirt from Walmart, Black blazer from Ann Taylor, Black and tan mini skirt from forever21, black tights from Walmart and 4 inch nine west pumps) and my parents couldn't envision what I was saying and they couldn't believe I had on a mini skirt.

 

Sunday I ended up working in the nursery at church (probably more on this to come) even though it wasn't my Sunday to be in there. I was tired when I left there! It was a really busy Sunday and there was a 5 minute period when we thought we lost a child, y'all have not seen panic and fear until you think you've lost somebody's child. I was about to flee the country I was so terrified and confused (I put gates up in front of the door because 15-24 month old like to escape). We were switching out staff because they were doing something special in the sanctuary and each of us had to go get consecrated and when all of our relief was gone and the original staff was back, we noticed Kennedy was missing. I went running around the halls looking for the staff that just left to ask what happened to this little girl. All of a sudden this lady walks in with her and we all looked at her like "and who is you?" Turns out it was her grandmother and she came to get her so she could be consecrated too. Yeahhhhh, that's why I don't like to switch out staff. Just stay where you belong- unnecessary panic!

 

After church I went out with my mom and 2 aunties to dinner and a play. Tortoise and Hare Bar and Grille is really good, and if you want to watch football, it's a great place to go. There were 8 TVs showing the Jets vs Colts game and the environment was fun. There was even a cute bartender if you're single and looking! Our waitress was really nice and everybody loved their food. I might go back for a Steelers game next season. The play we went to go see was Stick Fly. I recommend that too. I laughed, I got mad, I was highly entertained. Even a horribly embarrassing episode of me choking and gagging couldn't ruin the play for me. Since we were sitting near the back of the theatre I excused myself and gagged away in the lobby while watching the play on the screen. You know it happened during the climax of the play, right? The play is NOT appropriate for your children because there is cursing and talks of doing the nasty, but using the f-word. Even though I had face scrunched up in disgust at one point, even prudes can enjoy this play. I'm not going to tell y'all how my auntie was trying to encourage my flirtation with one of the actors. I had to walk away because my mouth will get me in trouble! I'm glad I'm married, because I think I would be a groupie if I wasn't.

 

We didn't get home until 1 am, so I'm tired and I look a hot mess today, but it was worth it! I'm going to have to spend $2.50 of my $200 prize money to go to forever21 right now and buy a camisole today because I look a hot unfinished mess with no undershirt on.

In a Funk

What do you do when you're in a funk? There are days when I get incredibly sad, sometimes for no reason at all, and this seems like one of those days. It started out with a slight disappointment that something wasn't going to go the way I wanted it to, then add on it was going to cost more than I wanted it to, and then slap on MrC not responding the way I wanted him to and toss in a bit of decongestants which always make me feel really weird. That my friends is an equation for disaster (and a very poorly constructed sentence). I'm telling my brain to stop being selfish and be happy. I'm telling my brain that it will work out just as it always does. I'm telling myself to snap out of it, but somehow this feeling of sadness is just sitting here on me. I'm going to eat my lunch, because starving to death certainly isn't helping my mood. I'm going to pray for a few minutes and listen to some music. My Nap.ster library won't load and I really need to listen to Smokie Norful's "I Need You Now." The Bible study I have planned for today is really fun, so I'm going to do that after I finish eating (my delicious baked ziti).

 

What are your best get out of the dumps solutions?

Turn the t.v. off

Last night my coughing was out of control, so I slept on the couch so I wouldn't wake up TheCount. He had to get up at 4 am to catch a flight to Houston and I didn't want him to have a rough day because of me. I was watching HGTV and couldn't sleep. When I finally did fall asleep the tv show that was on was incorporated into my dream. This happens all the time so I only watch 2 channels at night, Nickelodeon and HGTV. Well last night I had a dream that I was Bob the Builder and I was working with Bob Villa on my dream home (my house is nice y'all). We had on our bright yellow hard hats and were about to install my granite counter tops when TheCount woke me up to take me to the bed. Does this ever happen to you? What dream can you remember that was because of what was on t.v.?

 

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I finally gave in and called the doctor today because the coughing is too much! Well they were asking me a few questions and she asked if I had a fever. My initial response was, "I don't know, I'm not a thermometer," which caused me to laugh and laugh (in my head). Fortunately, coughing prevented me from saying my response. Does anybody know what show that line is from? No? So now I'm the only one that watches True Jackson, V.P.? Y'all suck, I ain't talking to you no more till you go watch some Nickelodeon.

Controlled Spending

I have recently put myself on a shopping ban. During my ban, I am not allowed to buy ANY new clothes/shoes. I realized that even though I was getting good deals on all the clothes I was buying, I was spending way too much money on clothes. It seems as though there are always clothing tags on our bedroom floor, and I'm always buying new hangers despite the fact that I donate clothes to the goodwill on the regular. Aside from buying NO clothes/shoes, I also curtailed my other spending including food and random things that I just like buying. I have done really well so far. I told TheCount I wasn't going to buy any new clothes until March and I really want to extend past March- but we'll see. Now when I decide I need something I type it up in my phone and begin my research and take my time before I buy it.

 

I have some purchases that I get to make soon and the amount of research I'm putting into them are ridiculous! Today I'm going to go buy a power drill so I can put my bookcase together- but I have a $25 gift card and the drill I want is $35 so spending $10 is reasonable. With the new bookcase, I can finally get my huge stack of magazines/cookbooks off my kitchen counter freeing up space for me to move things around. I have to fix my spice cabinet. It's above the stove, quite small, and it's packed! Every time I cook I find myself trying to duck and dodge the bottles that are flying out of the cabinet. I've been on the hunt for affordable spice storage solution- it's not easy. I have around 50 spices in my kitchen and all the racks I've seen hold 16 or 20 spices. I'm not buying 3 $40 racks- there's gotta be a better way. Anybody found a cool, neat way to store their spices? When I find it, I'll post my before and after pictures. I also need a new cutting board, TheCount killed the cutting board I used for my veggies.

 

The purchase I'm most excited about researching is my bridesmaid dress. I'm in a wedding in June and she wants us to wear fuchsia short dresses that don't look like bridesmaid dresses. I'm going to start my search today. If anybody has a good place they find party dresses- let me know so I can search there too.

Lies! All Lies!

I just went to a CousinCount's wedding website and read the story of the proposal- it really was quite cute! She's a teacher and he proposed over the PA at her school and then ran into the library (and pushing one of her students out the way that tried to stop him) and got down on one knee while her friend's recorded and photographed the whole thing. Very, very lovely! My problem is he said his father and future father in law helped him pick the ring. No sir! You came to our apartment, ate up our food (and took home the leftovers), and we went to the mall together and TheCount and I helped you pick out that ring! I even tried it on, so you could see it. TheCount got you a huge discount because he used the work there. Where's my credit man?

 

Another friend that's getting married asked me for some advice. I told her a location and a photographer- she's going to use them, but conveniently forgot I told her about it. Oh, this was all your bright idea now? Where's my credit man?

 

I could be a wedding planner extraordinaire, but my word of mouth clients are stealing my shine. What can I expect from people getting married on a Friday and a Monday, trying to be all different and stuff. Get married on Saturday like everybody else! People from miles around need to know about my wedding idea skills, so I can get my business going and be on one of those fancy wedding shows. They are trying to squash my dreams! I'm great and the world needs to know I'm great. I'm going to do a toast at their weddings and totally thank myself for being the inspiration for their day.

 

{I'm totally kidding guys, I really don't want the credit- I just thought it was funny he completely lied (or forgot) about the ring situation. I really am great at wedding ideas though- and I'm thrifty! I also have lots of time on my hands, so if you ever need help, holla at me!}

Because y'all needed to know this about my life

Y'all know Boss' Boss didn't acknowledge me yesterday, right? Righttttt. Y'all knew.

 

For the past few days on twitter, I keep talking about vomit. Real cute of me, I know. My body is trying to be sick which is causing all sorts of uncomfortableness, but I just keep on fighting. One thing about me is my blatant refusal to throw up when I'm sick. My body will try it, and I'll outright refuse. TheCount thinks I'd feel better if I stopped fighting it, but it's gross and I just won't do it. Yesterday night, I contemplated throwing up on him because he wouldn't get out of my face telling me it was time to go to church. I already told his raggedy behind I wasn't going, and he kept insisting. I didn't go, and had been sleep for a good 2 hours by the time he got back home. I woke myself up around 1 am because I was moaning in pain in my sleep. I whined myself awake, how lame is that? TheCount was in the living room preparing some work for today and he forced me to take medicine (I always seem to give in when illness interrupts my sleep) and sit next to him on the couch. I sat next to him and blew my nose and dry heaved into a bowl, it really was quite sexy, I know he wanted me! Since he refused to bring my humidifier into the living room, and I was much too dramatic to carry it myself, I went back in the bedroom and sat next to him while he slept and tried to force myself back to sleep. Every hour or so, I whined myself back awake, I really need to get that under control. I came to work today, simply because I hate using my leave if I'm not going to be enjoying myself. I can be miserable at my desk using somebody elses electricity. I'm not doing too much coughing and sneezing  so I shouldn't get any "if this heffa don't take her sick butt home" side eyes. You can only tell I don't feel well when I talk. Yesterday my office mate so lovingly decided to tell me I sounded terrible every time I opened my mouth. I repayed her love with a little love of my own, and posted a picture of her on twitter in all her cream stretch pant glory. I felt bad about it, so I won't post it here. You should have been on twitter (@mrscount) and you could have been part of the fun.

 

Crap! I forgot I have a conference call that started 5 minutes ago- gotta go!

Do I detect a hint of sarcasm?

This was my morning prayer today: Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you so much for the scientists that created Aleve. Thank you for giving them that wisdom. Bless their lives. Amen. My throat was sore yesterday to the point where by bedtime, I couldn't talk. I woke up in the middle of the night in pain. Finally at 4am I gave in and took 2 aleve. I am not a medicine person. I don't see the point in treating symptoms if it doesn't get rid of the problem. I always feel like if my body is in pain, it's telling me I'm doing something wrong. Taking medicine to make the pain disappear, doesn't fix the problem and makes me think I'm doing more damage. Maybe my throat doesn't want me to talk or swallow, maybe it's trying to go on vacation. Well I took the medicine, so vacation over throat!

 

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Y'all can't tell me my daddy isn't smoking crack in his free time. He wants to take my mom away for her birthday at the end of the month. He wanted TheCount and I to come too. Fine. We talked about some possible locations, and I told him "don't pick anything expensive, because we won't pay you back." A weekend trip for a regular birthday (53) should be $200 (in my cheap opinion). This fool called me yesterday with this loveliness:

Dad: "TM, airtran is having a special, we can go to Vegas for $129 each way- would you want to do that?"

Me: Would I like to pay $516 to fly to a city where we then have to pay for a room and then have to pay for meals and then walk around and look at each other because we don't have any money to go to shows and we don't gamble or drink, is that what you're asking?

Dad: I didn't say it was $500 to fly, I said $129...ohhhh yeah, that's each way, per person. So that's a no?

Me: Daddy, pick somewhere in driving distance. Let's go visit the amish in Pennsylvania, they have good pretzels.

 

Somebody come get this man!

 

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TheCount was such a lovely husband and fix me lunch this morning. It was the leftovers from dinner- that had been sitting, uncovered, on the stove all night. I understand, he was too busy playing video games to 1:30 am to put the food away, that's a valid excuse. I accidentally left the container by the front door.

 

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How many times to do you think you should have to introduce yourself to somebody before you get offended that they don't remember you? My boss' boss cannot remember who I am. We've had lunch together. Sat in 3 hour meetings with only 10 people in the room, and she comes to this office frequently. Most of the time she just acts like she doesn't see me, and I make a joke of the fact that I don't think she recognizes me. Yesterday morning she was in my boss' office and I needed to get in there.

 

Me: Good Morning, Lady'sName. I need to forward Boss' phone, excuse me.

Lady: Sure, no problem.

 

Later on we were in the kitchen. She was talking to WorkFriend and I was commenting too, you know, cuz I know you. She pauses and says:

 

Lady: I'm sorry, have we met?

Me: (are you serious face) ye...

Lady: (cutting me off) I'm Lady'sName (extends hand)

Me: I know, I'm TM, you're over my account. (still making the are you serious face)

Lady: Oh! I didn't recognize you here. I've never seen you in this building, I've only ever seen you in ClientsBuilding.

Me: (hussy, that ain't true. I see you and speak every time you come here. I spoke to you this morning and addressed you by name. This is about the 10th time we've met in person!) Yeahhhhhhh

 

It was pointed out to me yesterday that she probably thinks all black people look alike and she can't tell the difference between me and the other 5 black women that work on this floor (despite the fact that I'm 20 years younger than ALL of them). It's funny that a white person came up with that explanation.

 

I'm about to go walk past her see if she recognizes me today (I'm choosing to ignore the fact that she walked directly into my office and turned around and walked out without speaking already this morning).

You can't be serious

Dad: So do you want me to fix y'all a vegetarian lunch?

Me: Sure

Dad: So what can y'all eat?

Me: Anything except meat and sweets.

Dad: Soooo, can y'all have salads with beans in it?

Me: Yes

****The next day***

Dad: Can y'all have lobster?

Me: No, nothing that walks, swims, flys or crawls- no meat.

Dad: Oh ok. But y'all can have lettuce, right?

Me: Yes (ok, this is getting annoying now)

****As we're fixing our salads***

Dad: So, no lobster in your salad, right?

Me, TheCount, Ma: Right!

Dad: So what can y'all eat?

Me: (rolling eyes and neck) anything except for meats and sweets.

***One hour later while driving in the car***

Dad: Can y'all have cheese toast?

Me, TheCount, Ma: BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Ma: Are you serious?

Dad: It's not funny, I'm just trying to figure out what they can eat. How should I know what they can eat or not?

Ma: PapaTM, they can have anything except meat and dessert. Does that help?

***4 hours later at dinner***

Dad: Y'all want some of my steak and shrimp stew? (30 minutes later) How about some of this cheesecake?

 

I'm going to assume my daddy was absent the day they went over food groups in school.

Let's have a great week!

I had a good weekend, I hope you did too! Saturday I got to sleep in, which is always a good thing. TheCount agreed to run errands with me so we were gearing up to go out when his friend called and said he was in the neighborhood and he was going to stop by. We live 45 minutes away, why are you in our neighborhood!? Not only did he invite himself over, he invited himself on our errands. Surprisingly, the boys didn't complain as I took them on a typical errand day. TheCount is a one stop shopper. I'm a where is it on sale, ok that's where I'll go shopper. We went to Baltimore first so I could pick up some more Oyin Handmade products. FriendCount also got some stuff, he couldn't resist the smell. We went down the street to an African shop after that so FriendCount could get some more oils to mix with his shea butter. Then we went to pick up the pottery that my ma, sister, and I painted last week. It is soooooo cute! I have a boatload of pictures to upload, so those will be coming within the next month. Then we had to stop at Walmart because I needed some laundry detergent. From Walmart we went to Super Fresh so I could get some broccoli for .88 a pound and all Boca meat substitute products were $1.50. I couldn't pass that up, those are good meals for lazy days. My last stop was Target, so I could get a bookcase. I think FriendCount enjoyed having people to shop with, because he mostly hangs by himself. He was picking up dishes and toss pillows for his house too. We went and picked up dinner (the boys got Chipotle, I got Cosi- I like that place!) and went home and watched Lakeview Terrace. FriendCount finally went home and I twisted my hair while we watched He's just not that into you (I hated, hated, hated that stupid movie, it made me angry).

 

I tried to do a wash and go on Saturday with Kinky-Curly Curling Custard- it was a huge no ma'am. My hair looked neglected and was so dang dry by the end of the day. I'll try again next Saturday with a different product.

 

Sunday I worked the nursery at church, went to see "The Screwtape Letters" and had dinner at Rosa Mexicana with TheCount and my parents. It was a fun day! I picked the dinner location and everybody had such an issue with it.

 

TheCount: "I don't know why you always want Mexican, you always get the same thing" (cuz I like it you stupid turd)

Ma: "You know your father doesn't like Mexican, so don't tell him where we're going" (I ain't scared of him)

Daddy: "Oh, TheCount's going? Then I'll be there! Anywhere TheCount is, that's where I'll be!" (I only wish I was joking)

 

Dinner was sooooo good! I ordered chips and salsa and sweet potato fries and I shared my parent's rice and beans. Even my "I don't like Mexican food" daddy was talking about how good his food was. My ma was dancing in her seat, and TheCount and I killed their rice and beans, they ended up bring us some more and we just passed it around the table so everybody could have some. At one point I took my basket of chips of the table and was hiding them in my lap because everybody kept eating them all. The waiter looked at me like I was crazy and put a fresh basket out on the table. I'll admit it, I have a food hoarding problem. I was just scared I would be hungry! Lately I've found myself in the kitchen sneaking snacks at 1 am. Not a good look!

 

How was your weekend?

Fasting without prayer is just a hunger strike

This month our church is doing a fast. I've participated the past few years, but I think I'm taking it more seriously this year. Yesterday I wrote out my plan for the decade. For each year I wrote out the main things I want to accomplish. Buying a house and having kids were the main "big ticket" items on the list. Last night during our Bible study time, I asked TheCount to do the same. We'll put our lists together and pray over them. That way we'll let God know our desires, but ultimately it's in His hands. We're going to tape the list to the back of our vision board. I may or may not share our list here, sometimes, everything ain't for everybody.

 

Another thing I'm doing is changing how I spend my personal time with God. So often I feel the pressure to have long drawn out Bible reading sessions where I can say I read the book of such and such- but what did I really learn? A lot of the time when we have Bible study at home, I don't really enjoy it because TheCount has me reading this and that, then we need to discuss what we got out of it, then we have praise and worship time, and then we pray. Two hours later I am tired and I hope we don't have to do it the next night. Clearly that's not the right attitude to have- but I'm just being honest with y'all. Yesterday as I was reading the studies I have emailed to me each morning, Philippians 4:6 was put on my heart. I looked it up and I only ready Philippians 4:6-7. When I finished reading it, I opened a word document and pasted it in there. Then I looked up key words in the verse for their definition and typed it in parenthesis right into the verse. I learned more in that simple study time, than in all my marathon chapter reading sessions. Breaking down the words "fret," "supplication," and "keep" were the biggest eye openers. I also read the verse in different translations (biblegateway.com) just to make sure I fully understood what it meant. Today, I'm going to study Hebrews 4: 15-16.

 

If you have a hard time with personal Bible studies, try to do it this way. Simple, yet effective, one verse at a time. You can look up an issue you're dealing with and tackle it one verse at a time until you get it. Are any of y'all fasting with your church this month? What are you giving up? How do you handle your Bible study time?

 

{My title is something my pastor said 3 years ago during the fast. I typed it up, put it up on my wall and still didn't do any praying or Bible reading during the fast. I guess I was really just digging the weight loss from fasting, lol}

I'm too busy singing in my head to come up with a title

This morning when I got to work I wrote a letter of apology to a coworker. I said some things to him yesterday that I shouldn't have, and I felt bad about it. I've rethought how I responded to him so if he asks me to clarify what I meant yesterday, I'll be ready. I still stand by my decision that he can't date my sister (and this is a totally different dude from last week) but my reasons why were quite rude, off putting, and wrong.

 

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Can somebody explain to me why my office mate just strolled in here bare legged with capri's on? It is 28 degrees outside- no ma'am.

 

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Am I the only grown female that wears undershirts every day? I always have a cami on underneath my clothes. Winter, summer, spring, and fall. They're only $2.50 from Forever 21, so why not?

 

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This morning as I looked in the mirror, I said aloud to myself, "you can't tell me I'm not cute, I mean, you could try, but I won't believe it!" Sigh, I say the most arrogant things to myself in the mirror. At least this time I didn't say it in a public restroom, with people around!

 

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TheCount helped me twist my hair last night while we watched HGTV. As soon as we finished we promptly fell asleep on the couch snuggled up together- it was a great night. However, when I woke up at midnight I left his sleeping, snoring, sick behind right on that couch and I got in the bed.

 

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A male coworker asked me if I cut my hair. Y'all have seen pictures of me, right? My hair was down past my shoulders before. Were we just making small talk, or was that an honest question?

 

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I made myself a green smoothie for breakfast it was so easy and they're so good, I think I'll try to make one every morning. The only downside is they make me have to go to the bathroom. Was that TMI? Probably, just wanted you to know in case you decide to make one! Just add a few spinach leaves to your fruit smoothie- you can't even taste it, trust me.

 

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I'm off to find some more meatless recipes- if you have some good ones, leave me a link! I made chipotle bean burritos last night that were really good, I'll share the recipe soon.

Big Chop Pictures!

There are 3 random emails floating around cyberspace of me trying to email these pictures to the blog. I don't know what happened. The top picture is on Saturday, after the big chop. She put a TON of setting lotion stuff in my hair because she had to keep rewetting it since it kept getting dry as she worked on other people. My hair was literally sticky to the touch.

 

The second picture is how I went to work today. I really like it now! I went to Forever 21 tonight and got some headbands and hair clips. I am downright giddy, because I've also been pairing up my clothes to look cute lately, so you can't tell me nothing! I'm pretty sure I'm going to look like pure awesomeness tomorrow.

I did it!

On Saturday morning, I did the big chop! Nobody actually believed I would go through with it. I liked the salon I went to, but I didn't really like the stylist. My appointment was at 8am. I got there a bit early, and I didn't even get my hair shampooed until 8:30. When I got finished with the steamer, I went back out to the waiting area and waited until about 9:30 for my stylist. As she was cutting my hair, she kept stopping to work with other people leaving me sitting there with half a head of hair and stuff running all down my face. Twitter helped me out so much Saturday. I was panicking and the lovely ladies on twitter kept me calm and reassured me I would be ok, because my stylist certainly wasn't doing that! I didn't leave the shop until around 11. I've been reading natural hair blogs for a long time and when people describe their big chop experience they often say things like, "I felt so free," or "I was in love with my hair." I am not going to lie, I didn't feel that way. I missed my hair. I hated this new hair on my head. I actually considered crashing my car into a dang wall so I wouldn't have to go home. Thankfully as I walked down the street a man driving the trash truck honked his horn at me and gave me a thumbs up. When I got home, TheCount's reaction let me know he didn't like it. Of course he would never say that, but I've known TheCount for 11 years, I know his personality well. I put on some jewelery and make up and we ran out to the store. When we pulled back up my mom and sister were standing outside of our apartment door waiting. My mom's face lit up, and my sister smiled and told me she liked it. Of course all the lovely ladies of twitter were sending me encouragement, so I stayed calm and was confident enough to walk out the house. Before I left, TheCount pulled me into the room and gave me a present he had for me. He told me he was proud I had the guts to cut my hair and he gave me some diamond earrings!

 

My ma, sister, and I hung out all day Saturday which was tons of fun (pictures to come). On Sunday morning I got up to go to church, looked in the mirror, and said "what the heck have I done?" TheCount, who isn't known for his compassion, saw my distress and said, "well you knew you were going to cut it and it would be short. Didn't you prepare for this." I'll give you 1 guess as to what happened next. I started crying, but not just crying, great heaving sobs. TheCount walked me over to the couch and just sat and held me until I stopped. When I finished, I got back in the bed. I wasn't ready to face people yet. My sister came downstairs (we had spent the night at my parent's house) and told me that she wanted me to get up, part my hair in 4 sections, and try 4 different hairstyles by the time she came home from church. I rolled over and went back to sleep. After awhile I got myself together, read my Bible and prayed, and got on the computer. I went to my hair blogs and to Serenity23's blog. I looked through her hair tab and then got to the post right after she did her big chop. She had a moment of "what have I done" too (though nowhere near as dramatic as me, lol) but her approach was, "well, we gonna roll with it." I repeated that to myself, and hopped out of bed. I spent the day experimenting and game planning. Before we left my parent's house, my momma helped me twist my hair. This morning I looked in the mirror and smiled. I took my twists out and smiled some more! I like it! During my lunch break I'm going to go get some hair accessories and products to help jazz up my short haircut.

 

So far at work today, 3 people have complimented me, telling me how much they love it, 3 have completely ignored it, and 2 people are still trying to figure out who I am.

 

**Picture to come, I've been waiting all dang day for it to load, and it won't**

Happy New Year!

This is how I brought in the new year :) Enjoy this before and after shot of my room at church. I had the 15-24 month olds, thank God I only had 10 kids! Mary Mary performed at our church and they sounded amazing. I turned off all the lights in the room and we all just sat and listened through the walls. We finally left church around 2:30am, went to my parent's house for breakfast, and now we're on our way home!

How did you bring in the new year?