Currently….

Currently: Discussing why I owe out my ass to the IRS on Twitter and getting some guidance.

Watching: This Excel spreadsheet on my computer screen that I’m supposed to be working on. I have been on this particular project for some months now and I am OVER. IT.

Listening To: “Feels Good” from the album The Revival – Tony! Toni! Tone!

Planning: How to revitalize my job search. I need to take a new approach to targeting companies I want to work for so I’ve been doing some reading and some research.

Thinking About: How I need to make doctor’s appointments for a mammogram and with a dentist.

Looking forward to: My bestie’s happy hour  for her birthday TONIGHT at this place.

Reading: Payback In Panama by Noel Hyde. I’ve read all the books in this series. The first 3 are the Russian Trilogy. Last 3 are the Cuban Trilogy.

Making Me Happy: emailing with my husband and his silly jokes that make smile. Helps to get through the work day.

February Writing Challenge

In an effort to keep my blogging mojo flowing, I’m going to be doing the following challenge that I saw over at Twenties Unscripted. I won’t guarantee that I will be posting daily, but I will use the prompts as inspiration. Click on the picture to enlarge. Feel free to join me!

Just Joking Around

I love to laugh..it’s good for the soul. Myron and I are constantly laughing, at each other, at other people and things that we see on the internet.

What has been keeping me in stitches lately is the Vine website and its related smartphone app. There are some very funny, creative and downright ratchet people uploading those Vine videos and there are several that have kept me rolling on the floor, crying with laughter.

If you haven’t learned to bodyroll, please take lessons from this young man:

https://vine.co/v/bYnKOiPT2nV

If you would like to get your proper twerk on and need to work on your form, then check this out:

https://vine.co/v/hOurJrKjppx

What? You haven’t heard of young Master Terio and his smooth dancing moves:

https://vine.co/v/haaHpa303O5

And finally the Vine that made me laugh till I cried and caught a stomach cramp:

https://vine.co/v/hmiHnlEqLmv

Please don’t call PETA on me!!!

If there are some funny Vine videos that I haven’t seen, PLEASE leave them in the comments!

Bowlarama!

Above are a few pictures from Myron and I’s 40th birthday bowling party on this past Saturday.  (And yes, I semi-bowled in a dress..LOL!)

We had a really good time, despite the fact I stressed myself out unnecessarily about the guest list. We paid for 20 folks to bowl, eat and drink which as you can imagine wasn’t all that cheap.  I had to chase folks down for responses and some people that I thought we going to come declined to show. And I was upset about that I must admit. It’s not that I don’t think folks don’t have their own lives and social calendars, but my husband and I really try hard to support folks when they have an event so I was a bit salty about some of the folks who declined. And of course I was all in my feelings about it, because I consider myself a loyal friend. But much like my peeps on Twitter and my husband pointed out, I have to give people the opportunity to explain themselves and they did. After a lecture from my husband (he secretly enjoys that, I think) about getting my mind right, I was OK and got my grown and sexy on to go kick it!

But at any rate, we had a good turn out! I had all that anxiety and drama for nothing.  We ate, drank and were very merry and got some nice gifts. I wasn’t expecting anything so that was such a nice blessing. I really appreciated the thoughtfulness. And I collected some rain checks for birthday lunches from some of my friends who couldn’t make it! #WINNING

Forty is starting out on a high note thus far!! I’m ready to keep it rolling!

I’m Still Here

My life hasn’t had too many words as of late but perhaps the pictures can speak for me.

We had a very good Easter:

My mom and my niece in their Easter dresses.

Miss Chandler is missing some front teeth!

Happy Easter from the Macks!

Daddy’s little girl.

It’s spring time in Houston (FINALLY) and Lent is over so it’s time for crawfish!! We went to the Pearland Crawfish Festival this weekend.

Corn, potatoes and bugs..10 pounds worth!

Lots of ducks to win a prize.

The brothers Mack: middle, oldest, youngest.

And of course, everyone loves a Carnival!

 

Hopefully it’s warming up where you are!

A Family Affair

Yesterday, Myron was on FB and saw something his aunt posted about one of his family members which triggered a bit of internet sleuthing and ended up with him mapping out 3 generations of his family tree on Ancestry.com. The site is pretty slick, as it lets you view copies of public records such as draft cards, census reports and marriage rolls if they are available.

We spent a good portion of yesterday evening talking about what he’d found out such as:

•  A female ancestor of his moved to the UK shortly after being emancipated from slavery.
• A male ancestor fought in WW1 and we were able to see his draft card.
• A great-great grandmother was married at least 3 times and we saw the various name changes on the census records
• A great-great grandfather apparently fought on the side of the Confederacy!!!  He applied for a Confederate pension but was denied. Here’s a picture of the application.

And we haven’t even started mapping my side of the family yet. I’m excited to see what I find out. I’m going to have to call my mama and take good notes.

Do I have any amateur genealogists out there? Any tips for us??

Friday Five

This was a quick way to kill a little time on Friday afternoon. The writing prompts can be found here!

Where’s a good place to check out some pretty lights?

 That’s a really good question. I don’t think I’ve ever looked for a place here in Houston to go and see pretty lights. There are certain neighborhoods that are known for having really nice Christmas decorations and lighting displays but that’s all I can think of offhand.

 How well do you sleep with the lights on?

I don’t. I’m a light sleeper anyway so having a lot of light in the room is a real distraction. There is a light right outside my bedroom window that I wish I could tear down but it’s attached to my building. I should get those black out shades.  I don’t do night lights either.

 What’s your favorite song with the word “light” or “lights” in the title?

 Of course, All of The Lights by Kanye West.

What “light” version of some food or drink is as good as (or better than) its regular version?

 The diet versions of Snapple drinks are just as good as the original, IMO.

 Which light in your house seems to need changing the most frequently, and which the least?

 The light bulb that seems to need to be changed the most is right about the washer and dryer in the garage. It is always blowing out. (That may have to do with the cheap bulbs we use too!) I have the old school “Hollywood” style clear bulbs in my bathrooms and they tend to need changing pretty frequently too because they are high wattage. We had several of the long lasting halogen bulbs but we haven’t gotten around to picking up more of them. They’re expensive too!

Have a go at the Friday Five, if you like, in the comments.

I Have Questions, You Have Answers: Round 10

This is shamelessly stolen from my Twitter follower @WitTitsOrSTFU. Thanks, dude!

• Where do you live now?
• Where were you living when you graduated from high school?
• Where were you living when you graduated from college?
• Comparing where you lived when you graduated HS vs graduating from College, which area would you prefer?
• Did you live on campus during college? If you lived at home during college, did you have a curfew?
• If you didn’t go to college after HS, what did you do?
• Where were you living in 1996?
• Where were you living in 2008?
•  Do you keep in touch with any of your college roommates?
• What’s the farthest you’ve traveled for a wedding?
•  If you’re going on vacation this year, where are you going?
•  What’s the farthest you’ve walked, and why?

Odds And Ends: The Call of Nature Edition

How was your weekend? Mine was great!

•  Friday night, hubs and I went to hang out with Beautifully Complex, her fiance’ and his brother at Fedora Lounge. Little did we know that it turns into the club after 10pm complete with valet parking. In a strip shopping center.  Doing too much you say? We thought so too but a good time was had by all.
• Saturday, we lounged around and had a hearty breakfast, then took a nap and then dragged oourselves from the couch to head to a baby shower for some friends of ours. We went, ate (really good baby shower food), cooed, oohed and ahhed and then made a break for it to go to the main event of the evening: Serious Cigars Customer Appreciation Event. Beautifully Complex’s fiancé is a diehard cigar buff and he invited us to come to this party that his cigar shop has every year. Free food, free open bar with top shelf likka and prize giveaways?? What’s NOT to love!! Here are a couple of pics from the party.




• Sunday, I was lying in the bed resting quietly when Myron came in our bedroom and mentioned that he wanted to check out this restaurant that he’d saw on TV that morning. The place is called Lucille’s and we hit up their brunch. Here are some Instagram shots I took.






• We’re family right? So we can share things with each other right? Good. Because I want to rap a taste about the middle of the night pee. Yes, THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT PEE. The MOTNP is when you are deep in the REM sleep and dreaming about the things you would do to Idris Elba (if you weren’t married) and the urge comes on so STRONG. Yet, you try to suppress the call of nature because you are in that good ass sleep and it’s Idris, yanno?? But the URGE defeats you and you stumble out of bed to the bathroom, in the dark but luckily since you are a girl, you just need to sit (provided that dude you live with has put the seat down) and you don’t need to cut on the light to harm your delicate eyes. So you do your business, stumble back to bed, poke your husband in the butt so he can move back over, lie down and get comfortable. And you can’t get back to sleep. MOTNP – I hate you.
• That’s all I got! What’s going on with you?????

Thanks Santa!

I love getting gifts in the mail. Hell,  it beats getting bills any day of the week. And my Secret Santa for the fourth edition of Christmas in Blogland really delivered, quite creatively I might add. 🙂

First I got this very nice card and upon opening, it told me to open the scroll. I follow directions (well most of the time anyway) so I did.

Sorry it’s a little blurry but do you see the handwritten note and the holiday decorations?? How cute is that!!!

Obviously my Santa is really reading because she knows all about my parking garage struggles and sent me this car tag to hep me explain to the  “safety ambassadors” why I am speeding!!! LOL!!

And to top it all off, my Santa remembered me lusting after a Michael Kors bag because she sent me a cute  Micheal Kors wristlet to place my coins into and this cute necklace (that I happen to have on today at work.)

THANK YOU ONDREA!!!!!!!! I really appreciate it!!!