random facelift

This post serves no purpose except to state the obvious.  I changed the looks of things around here.  I'm not ready to follow my eTwin Alise over to WordPress.  I'll stick to my comfort zone over here at Blogger... It's nice and simple.  Like me.  Yeah, I said it.

Anyhoo... I really wanted the background to be a cornfield, but the best I could find on the design page was a wheat field.  Close enough.  It's rural.  

Leave me a comment, let me know what you think.  I will probably be adding some pages and features later, but it will definitely hafta wait until summer semester is over.

NaturallyAlise... is 11 years, 1 day younger than me...

...which means, of course, today is the 10th Anniversary of her 21st BornDay!!

So everyone go check out her blog and drop a few lines of poetry in the comments!!  In the meantime, check out her latest poem.  You can find Alise here and here!

Blog Swap Monday: Meet my Cosmic Twin, NaturallyAlise

Blogger's Note:  Alise and I are swapping posts today.  You can see what I had to say on her blog Black Woman Lost and Found!  BTW, I am a fat kid.  Fat kids love cake.  I love Alise MORE than I love cake... do the math!


The internet can sometimes be a mysterious, murky, macabre, melancholy, muh-fugging mess of a place.  However, not with my internet crew.  We are a lovely bunch of coconuts, emphasis on nuts.  Let me tell you about one of my lovely unlikely kindred spirits who I am swapping blogs with today...  AMY!  She is the wasabi to my sushi, the ham to my burger, the spicy to my Thai (dang, Precious I'm Hongree!), the ho to my sh*t, the Ru to my Paul, and the Pooh to my Phonte.  The funny thing is for all the ways we seem like we would be opposite, we are eerily and spookily alike.

I jokingly call Amy my melanin-deficient twin sister.  Check out our kindred-spiritness:

My birthday is May 7th, hers May 6th...  we are 11 years and 1 day apart....  spooky right?

We both have an unhealthy obsession with Thai food.

We both have an unhealthy obsession with Erykah Badu.  She is the patron saint of awesomeness.  Recognize.

We love the exact same hip-hop, even down to the old school stuff.

Both our names start with A... we like vowels.

We both have "favorite words" that we like just because how they sound... for example some of my favorite words are: voucher, macabre unconscionable, ennui.....  yeah, I'm a nerd, don't judge me.

We both love us some husky black men...  we like something to hold on to!!!

Who'd of thunk white girl Amy from the cornfield in Illinois would hook up with black girl Afro Aficianado Alise in North Carolina and form an awesome and treasured friendship/kinship.  I love my Amy; her advice and ear have gotten me through a rough patch and I am so glad to call her sister. *Cue the violins*

*Exits stage left, dramatically faints*
(Last week Amy called me "Dramatic McThespian", lol)
--

~Naturally Alise~

Visit me at:http://blackwomanlost.blogspot.com
http://naturallyalise.blogspot.com

And what you didn't know is that I'm just getting started!!!

So here we are at post number 101.  You might think that I would be running out of things to say.  You would be wrong.  I'm pretty sure I will never run out of random!  I'm having too much fun here in my lil' corner of the innanets to stop now!

This week is a special week for my eTwin, the poetic, awesome NaturallyAlise and I.  It's our BornDay Week! (Yes, we get a whole week to celebrate coz we are awesome and whatnot.)  So, in honor of the best week in the entire year, Alise and I are swapping posts on each other's blogs.  I am sure there will be more foolishment in the works, we just haven't finished plotting out how we're gonna  scam cool presents out of unsuspecting strangers  make this BornDay Week memorable.  One thing I know for sure is that we are gonna revisit the Side-Eye Hall of Honor.  I have a few more Side-Eyes of Greatness to share with you... I've only held off on that this long because some of my honorees have yet to get me a picture (I'm lookin' at YOU, Luvvie!!)  That will probably be on Wednesday.  Then Thursday and Friday will be the BornDay tributes.... or somesuch nonsense.


So be sure to check back in this week... coz you love me. 
And I'm cute.  

Using my 100th Post for the Power of Good!!!

Today is a Double Celebration!!

This is random and pressing details' 100th Post!

*cues confetti and party horns*

It has been a strange journey this last year and change! Ups and downs, lessons learned, pet peeves, foolishment, foolery, side-eyes, and ignance... remembrances, tributes, friendships, inspirations, pleas, public service announcements and advocacy... we've shared a little bit of it all together.  I am honored every time I log on and find that someone (and sometimes several someones) has had enough interest in what I have to say to not only take time to read, but to comment!!  Your comments are the special sauce on the Big Mac of my life! *No Ronald!*


To all of you, I say a most sincere and heart felt "Thank you!! Now get outta my bathtub!!"

But the Biggest, Awesomest and Most Supercalifragilisticexpialidociousest news of all is....

My girl Dwina got to bring lil' Man home from the hospital today!!!  

Thanks to all of the prayer, positive energy, love and support of any and all of you who kept them in your thoughts and prayers!!  Lil' Man is a bona fide miracle baby!  He's beautiful, and he is home in plenty of time for Mother's Day!!


Which is the coolest thing in the world, and made me break out in a Bro. Franklin dance!!


So in honor of this most excellent day and it's dual causes for celebration... but mostly b/c of Lil' Man, enjoy the following!!

Let me stop messing around with technology... I'm too old for all this new fangled tomfoolery!

All right.... I really thought I was on to something.  I'm trying to make up for being negligent around here, you know before Blog Protective Services comes to repo my lappie take rpd into protective custody...
But, it would appear that I am too technologically backas*ward to manage to do anything but further traumatize my eBrainchild.  


What did I do?  Glad you asked... like I said, I wanted to spiff things up 'round here.  So I decided to install a new comment format.  However, I appear to have lost all the comments made on previous posts with the exception of the ones that made it to the recent comments widget in the sidebar.  Yeah... I suck.  


Next time, I'm gonna be taking Alise up on her offer to help me with stuff like that.  Oh, wait.... does the offer still count if it was lost into cyberspace with the rest of the comments I inadvertently amputated?  FML.

So, what did I miss? .... yeah, thought so.

It's been nearly a month since I've tended to the eCrib, and boy-oh-boy, how the cobwebs gather!! My poor little blog is feeling terribly neglected. So I spiffed it up a bit... well, I changed the color scheme a little. It was the least I could do since I missed it's first blog-iversary. Poor lil' bloggity blog!

Anyhooooooo....

How've ya been? Holidays good? I hope so! Mine were pretty fantawesome (word to Luvvie, I jacked her adjective) to tell ya the truth! Is the family well? Good, good....

Enough of the small talk.

I have been less than inspired lately. I 'pologize. There have been some rant worthy situations in recent weeks, even some things that got my blood boiling, but none of them were bloggable. Either because they would have been bereft of any humor (and a rant with no funny is just mean for no reason) or because it would involve compromising someone's right to privacy and dignity (in other words, it just wasn't my story to tell).

There was a lot of fodder in the media that could have inspired a post. But I promise, if I'd read one more story about a certain Escalade wrecking, hoe hoppin' golfer, I might have snapped. So that was off limits.

I have a big professional change happening, but y'all don't want me to get started on that. It's only exciting to me and the people who work with me at the Ranch. And really, it's only marginally exciting to those who have any interest at all.

And, as I touched on in my last post, I've been doing the winter doldrums... but that's starting to get better, too.

Soooooo... here's what I propose. I'm gonna commit to do at least one post a week, more if the spirit moves me. I'm not promising gold, grand literature or even consistently good writing... but I will post something! I just might start with the saga of my brother's new phone! Yeah... that'll be a good one! I'll work on that for tomorrow!

Explain yourself, please!

Hello. Me again. I could apologize and explain myself for being all inconsistent, flaky and flighty and whatnot, but to quote my pal Tiha, "Kick rocks!" I'm just gonna say that there's been a lot going on in Amyland that has kept me an inconstant blogger and bereft of inspiration.

That said, where to start? All things being equal, let me give you some context... while I love autumn, the weather, the smells, the chill in the air, one thing I don't cope with well is the shortened daylight. Some years it's worse than others, but I have a touch of seasonal affective disorder. Fear not, I won't be swan diving off any bridges or anything. It's not that serious. I'm medicated! However, while most folks are counting down the days 'til Christmas this time of year, I'm focused on the solstice! Come on December 22!! The days start getting longer again, and I know I'm through the worst of it. Mood swings, irritability, melancholy... yeah, I'm just a barrel of freakin' laughs from about the third week in October until mid to late February. But knowing this about myself is half the battle. And it's manageable.

Then there is life. Work, home, relationship, friendships, finances.... all the normal stuff that most folks wrestle with... not to mention the hundreds of thousands of viruses and crap my son brings home from school. But that's material for another post!

Now, wait a minute!! Didn't I tell y'all to kick rocks?? That I WASN'T gonna explain myself?? Ok, then...

I have some exciting changes coming up in my real life this New Year! Many of you who know me in real life, and several of my might as well be in real life online friends, know that I applied for a management position at The Ranch. I didn't get it, but when one door closes and all that... I did get the next position I applied for just a couple weeks later. So, January 11, I start in my new role of Patient Care Coordinator. I'll be working evening shifts and five days a week... a big change from my three twelve hour day shifts a week, but I'll adjust.

I really wanna say thanks to everyone who supported me in the process of this life change.

Anyway, my hope is that now that my life is settling down and some of the uncertainty is cleared up, I'll be able to get back on my square, so to speak. And we're getting closer to the shortest day, so I'll be on the up side of that lil' issue soon, too.

A personal note to April... one of my co-workers and faithful readers (even tho she rarely comments, hmpf...) I know there were a few situations of late which gave you reason to hope for a rant or two. And they truly deserved the rant, I'll give ya that... I just didn't have it in me. I was plenty worked up, but just didn't feel the funny. And mean without the funny is just mean. And that's wrong. I'll do better next time!!

So, once again, everybody... kick rocks! I'm through explaining my non-explanation!

And Now for Something Completely Different...

This is a pic of my family from 1989... Trust me, none of us look like that anymore. But I love that pic of my Mom laughing her a$$ off! I miss her most about this time of year, but I sure am thankful to have been raised by such a fantastic lady!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Most of you will be spending the day stuffing your gob with decadent deliciousness, watching football and either enjoying or enduring family and friends. Some will be cooking themselves into a frenzy. Some will be burning up the highway making the rounds of different dinners and holiday obligations.

And some of you will, like me, be at work.

Now, before you say it, no "awwww's." This is not going in the whiney, self-pitying direction that sentence implies, because I'm a nurse. People don't stop being sick or injured or in need of care just because it's a holiday.

In fact, Thanksgiving being about.... well, being thankful, I find Thanksgiving at the Ranch to be gratitude inducing.

First is the obvious...I'm healthy enough to be at work and not in one of the beds.

Second, my family is healthy enough that I'm not sitting a vigil in the ICU waiting room, pacing the floor while someone I love is in surgery, or impatiently waiting for a doctor to see my family member in the Emergency Department.

Third, I am in a unique position to make a difference. I can make a craptastic situation a little less feces filled for my patients and their families. A smile, a kind word, an extra orange jello and lemonlime shasta... it's little, but when you feel like ass, it's a lot.

And finally, I get to cook on the weekend rather than Thursday, which means, of course I get the turkey after they go on sale!! Usually about half price. So I'm frugal... don't judge me.

So that's what I'm grateful for in working on Thanksgiving.

In general, I'm thankful for my family, my home, my friends and both of my loyal readers! I'm thankful for the opportunity to express myself freely and be accepted for who and what I am. Y'all rock my socks!

This year, I am especially grateful for some new friends in my life, both people I have met on these intrawebs and in-real-life. My life is richer for them.

Soooooo......

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope the food is fantastic, the football team you root for wins and drunk Uncle Joe doesn't tell any embarrassing stories to your new significant other about the time you.... well, fill in the blank with your most mortifying childhood memory.

Oh, yeah.... don't forget, friends don't let friends drive with the itis... take that nap before you hit the road for home!

Hello, World... what's good?

So I've been rippin' n runnin' around lately. Haven't stopped for ANY foolery for weeks now, and I'm in withdrawal!!

So a synopsis of my latest activities is a totally pointless exercise, because it's all boring, dull, lackluster stuff. The only thing of any real interest is something that's totally not ready to be blogged about... yet.

But I wanted to mention a couple things that have caught my attention... just in passing.

First, someone at VH1 decided it would be a good idea to do a second season of For the Love of RayJay. I can only assume it's the same genius who keeps shoving Real and Chance down America's throats.

Next, Eddie Griffin is on TV whining about being broke but looking like he's doing better than me. Really??? Cry me a river. Is he really still relevant?

And... if you get pulled over on interstate 57 near Ullin, IL at about 1 am on a Sunday nite, don't tell the state trooper you are on your way home from Memphis. He only will then ask to search your car. Apparently, there is something sinister about that.

Ok, so that's not much of a post. It's not even funny. However, it is what it is... just a way of sayin' I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!

I'm a bad stan....

I woke up this morning, and while I made the first pot of coffee, I was struck by a thought. I don't know where it came from.... I never really know, that's how my brain works. Anyhooo.... the thought was about another blog I read n stan hard for... Oh Hell Nawl.

A while back, they had an anniversary n whatnot. They asked readers to let them know how/why/what, and all that there, about how the readers came to OHN n what kept them coming back n stuff.... At the time, I really thought I came to find OHN through Luvvie (Luv gets the blame for a lot of ignance she ain't start), but this morning... for some reason, I remembered where I REALLY heard about OHN. It wasn't the LuvBug at all! Not that she isn't awesome... just that she's not the one to blame for my lurking and occasional comments over yonder... which led me to be filled with shame at a crime of omission on my part!!

Follow me here... coz my mind can be a scary place. This is pretty much where the train jumps the tracks...

My introduction to OHN was by a passing remark on Twitter from The PBG. The shame I feel and my crime of omission are not that I gave credit/blame to the wrong person for leading me to OHN.... not at all, but because that caused another random thought to blip across my brain.

I had never truly acknowledged that I stan hard for The PBG's blogs! I have mentioned NaturallyAlise numerous times. I wrote a welcome home post when Luvvie went on vacay this summer. Yet, I have totally neglected to acknowledge and thank the person who left the very first comment on my blog and was my very first follower!!

The PBG is probably one of the coolest people I have encountered on the intrawebs.... She is intelligent, wise, straightforward and funnier that any one person ought to be. She has three blogs... which I have linked through out this post.

Hey, You Asked... is an advice blog. She has this way of cutting through the bs and telling ya what you really need to hear... the truth!! Fifty-two(52)Flavors is her nail blog. Shoot... she convinced me, a nurse, that I could keep my nails looking great, even if I do wash my hands 183 times a day. And then there's See, What Had Happened Was.... which is mostly random life kinda ignance.

I should be mollywhopped for taking so long to give The PBG her props... because she's the bees knees! And I appreciated her encouragement. And she's totally the coolest!

So here it is, for what it's worth... I Stan Hard for The PBG and the whole ePosse. And thank you, Miss Ma'am! You're the Bestest!!

Awesome! Luvvie's back....

One of my favorite bloggers has been off galavanting and partying and having a good ol' time out in the sun while I and the rest of her readers have been Ig-starved for ages!!

Not that Luvvie can't have a life... but I've been getting a little twitchy, tweaky and whatnot.

Just a little welcome home for you Ms. Ma'am... now bring on the Ig!! I need a fix!!

Note: If you haven't already, please check out the following SuperWomen in my BlogRoll...

Awesomely Luvvie

House of Ig

The Red Pump Project

Black Woman Lost & Found

The Evolution of the Cubicle Crusaders: The Latte Mug

See, What Had Happened Was....

Hey, You Asked!

Fifty-two (52) Flavors

Random stream of thought (trynna stay awake)

I picked up an extra shift on midnites in the ER tomorrow nite, so I'm trying to stay up tonite, so I can sleep tomorrow during the day......  anyway, I'm gonna impose myself on the blogosphere a minute to keep me going.....

I posted a poem on Alise's fantastic blog.... leading me to this thought, I'm becoming addicted to the blogs I follow.  I love 'em.  Each for it's own merit.  Some for humor, some for advice, some for creative outlet, some for advocacy.  

Which leads to the next thought... my eFriends are sometimes more interesting than my in-person friends... (except Shannan, my bestest best friend).

And the next.... Shannan used to write a column for a newspaper, poetry, short stories and she's working on a novel.  So why the hell can't I get her to blog?  She would only be fantastic at it!

This is a pic of us in Shannan's kitchen.  All the good stuff  (conversations n whatnot) happens in her kitchen.  My son, Elijah, loves to hang out at her house.  Of course, he has a crush on Shan.

Next thought, I'm pretty sure my son is going to grow up to be a politician or a grifter.  

Listen to the following con he tried to run on us the other day.  First you hafta know that my dad lives with us (I inherited him when Mom died).  So, the boy comes to me Sunday and says "Pop wants to know if you want to come to eat with us at the Cabin?"  I'm like....I have to go to work, so naw.  

He disappears to the family room (where Pop is).  My brother is also staying with me (he's between wives right now).  So when Eli hears him come home from work, he reappears and says "Uncle Mikey, do you wanna go eat at the Cabin with me and Pop?" Mike's like, yeah, sure. 

Eli disappears again.  About 20 minutes pass.  Dad comes in the room.  "Where are you guys wanting to eat?"  Huh?  No....we thought this was your idea....  One glance at the boy and you immediately see the wheels spinning, and he knows he's caught up!  

Eli wanted to go to the dang spot and eat so he orchestrated the multiple invitation scam... he was tellin' Pop we wanted to go eat, tellin' us Pop wanted to go eat, when all along, the child just wanted a ride to go get some chicken and mashed taters.  

If I wasn't so tired right now, I'd be worried.....

On the other hand, he's also a really sweet kid.  Monday morning I'm taking him to school and the weather here in the Cornfield (aka DuQuoin, IL) was crap!! 34 degrees with a rain snow mix.  So we're getting close to the school when we see this kid, prolly 11yrs old or so, walking in the nasty weather with NO JACKET and a SHORT SLEEVED t-shirt on.  

Eli pipes up from the back seat, "Mama, I know you love me."  

Me:  Of course I do, son, very much.  

"I know you love me 'cause you made me wear my coat."  

Me:  Well, it's cold out, baby.... 

"That kid must be freezing, huh, Mama." 

Me: Yeah, baby, he prolly is.  His mama should have made him wear a coat, too.

 (Wait for it, folks).....  "Yeah, well, his mom needs a lesson!"  

Empathetic with just a hint of humor.  I love my kid!

Ok, well, I've imposed long enough to compose my most random ramble to date.... 

Thank you very much for your time and attention in this matter!

*falls into coma*

Fabulosity!!!

I feel like a freshman girl who got asked to eat lunch with the cool seniors in the first week of high school about this!  The PBG listed my little amateur ranked blog on her list of Fabulous Blogs!  

The rules are that once you're Honored, you pass on the love to ten other bloggers.  I know that my list is probably gonna include  many already named, but dammit, I love these blogs!

Awesomely Luvvie

by Luvvie

Hey, You Asked

by The PBG

See, What Had Happened Was...

by The PBG

Cubicle Crusaders:  IM Revolutionaries

by NaturallyAlise and Tiha

SuperIll

by Vandalyzm

(even tho you ain't posted for a while, dude)

Black Woman Lost & Found

by NaturallyAlise

(loooooovvvveeee poetry!!)

House of IG

by Luvvie, KindredSmile, LibraSong, O.N.E. and V.E.G.

Fifty-Two (52) Flavors

by The PBG

I'll Think Of a Title Later

by KindredSmile

The Red Pump Project

by Luvvie and Karyn Brianne

These are my must reads!! I love them all for so many reasons.  I know I have a lot of repeat authors, so I'm not sure what the "rules" are for spreading the love for them.....  but hey, a great blog is a great blog!!!  

So now that I have created my list of Fab Blogs, all I have to do is drop a comment on these pages to let them know that I think they're 

FABULOUS!!!

do it or don't

So, I'm realizing I've got stuff to say.  I've been mostly saying it on myspace, because that's where a lot of my work friends look for me to say stuff.   It's a very uninspiring environment, tho.  So I'm moving on to bigger and better blog venues.  Specifically this one.  I don't care if no one ever reads it.  The point is, I'm doing it.  I'm gonna make a commitment to at least an entry a week.  I'm not promising genius, people, just the effort!

Blessings.

A