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Archive for October, 2011

Manipulated Photoshopped Image

It’s never too early to start making those special requests for the soon-to-be-coming holiday. Ask not, receive not, right? Bloggers have the best forum for advertising such a thing ’cause you never know who’s reading you and may feel inclined to oblige such gifts. I don’t remember the last holiday list I made. I’m actually kinda late in getting this out, with the holiday being two months away. It’s gonna take some quick footwork on my part to stuff my stocking and all. Here goes what I’m aiming for:

  1. Denzel Washington or Patrick Dempsey, shirtless and shined up with a come hither look in their eyes when they see me
  2. Me sitting in Robin’s seat on the Dr. Phil Show with her tied up and gagged in the dressing room
  3. Get that Elizabeth chick off The View! Bitch get on my goddamn nerves with her know-it-all-but-don’t-know-nothing self!
  4. That injured soldiers are treated and taken care of as well as a retired politician or at the least, a home with a 0 balance mortgage
  5. For congress to actually work for the folks who elected them and put their personal interests aside
  6. A much increased job market for people to use their God-given skills and talent to support their families
  7. A published book read by Oprah and for her to give me a shout out on TV or I’ll take being her best friend. Shit, she could use another one.
  8. For Bill Clinton to clarify what the definition of is is when he was being questioned on hanky-pankying with Monica Lewinski
  9. Meet a retired b-ball player so I can be a cast member on The Basketball Wives and put Tami in her motherf-ing place
  10. Be a vegan for 30 days to see if that’s really the route I can live with.
  11. Travel to two countries that I haven’t visited already
  12. Somebody to cut me a check to pay off my house and while they’re at it, just give it a makeover. I ain’t all that picky. Shit, I could use one my damn self, come to think of it.
  13. Eat chocolate chip cookies without gaining one single pound (well, a can girl wish, right?)
  14. Run a marathon (but I’m realistic and know I’d be walking too)
  15. Eat grapes while being carried by sexy men in one of those thingies like the queens of Egypt were in back in the day
  16. If the retired basketball player doesn’t show up, I’ll take a philanthropist who tells good jokes

Hmmm…I think that’s about it, folks. I don’t wanna be greedy or nothing. What’s on your list for this holiday season? Anything on my list you want? You can’t have Denzel or Patrick though. I’ll cut you…

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"Dancing with My Baby" Acrylic on Board Copyright 2011 Totsymae

I really make it my business to learn something new every single day. Whether that leads me to opening up a dictionary or reading up on something or what have you, I pride myself on being a lifelong learner of sorts. There’s so much information to be had out there and seriously, I aim to soak up as much as I can. Sometimes though, I get surprised.

I don’t know how many of you ever actually peeped over there on my little bio but it ain’t all that, I admit but it’s who I am. Sometimes, I ponder on my transparency here. You know, do I say too much or do I need to pack up my suitcase and hit the road.  Then again, it’s not like I’m telling y’all anything on the real personal side though. And quite frankly, I don’t wanna bore you with a buncha shit going on over this way. I mean damn, I’m typing with one hand and yawning to think on just how bored I could make you.

However, good folks, being the lifelong learner that I am, I feel bound to sharing relevant information with you as I come across it. I genuinely care about you folks and I want you to be in the know. I only hope you’d do the same for me. Or maybe this here thing that came upon me is something you’re already into. When you look at the scope of the internet, there’s absolutely no limit on what you may come across and incorporate into your own personal life.

Now, I know that blog title got you all excited and you damn near broke your fingers on the keyboard trying to see what this fetish was all about. I know, ’cause y’all probably got a little freak-nasty up in you and whatnot or had one at one time and just retired your freak-nasty side on account of age or health. But oh boy, if you could turn back time, Lordy mercy for the soul you set eyes on and clamped a hold onto!

On the for real side though folks, sex is bigger than politics and religion put together, aint it? You remember that one politician who’d go in the airport restrooms and get to tapping his foot in the stall to signal he wanted some sex from another man? I mean, sex was so important to him that he risked it all. Had a good career going, wife and family who loved him dearly. What blew me away was this fella had to be in his early 60s. That freakish nature had a good grip on him, even as he was closer to meeting his Maker. I mean, I’d think his mind had flipped over to the Lord than foot-tapping in some public facility, you?

Just this year, there was this woman I worked with who got herself in steep trouble from sexting with a minor. Now, exactly what that boy was gonna do for her that her husband couldn’t, I ain’t figured it out to this day. You know, I just haven’t directioned my mind to explore folk like that. After I got to watching this little video the other day that was dug up for me, I can only imagine there’s some outta this world sexing going on in these bedrooms out here!  On the other hand, I got to thinking a little further on this fetish thing to the point I was scratching my head up.  If you think dressing up in a little see-through number from Victoria’s Secret alone is gonna keep the home fires burning, think again folks. It’s the fetish thing that’s in now.  I advise you to get with the program to get your little groove on in a creative fashion to keep your hunka burning love or your bad mammajamma. Now, I ain’t hardly got enough weight on me to pull this off but I figure if I put on a football suit and tackled the hell out of a guy, I may just have me a fetish going myself. Check this out, folks.

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About Tempestuous Tales: 

An urban legend becomes a nightmare when three women face tragic consequences:  an unexplainable vanishing, a sadistic marriage, and a visit from beyond the grave, after an ancient talisman grants their wishes.  Tempestuous Tales adds a modern twist to three classic short stories: The Monkey’s Paw by W.W. Jacobs, Night Drive by Will F. Jenkins and Bluebeard’s Bride by Sarah Holland, based on the works of Charles Perrault.

Paperback coming November 2011.  Download a free Tempestuous Tales mobile phone or desktop wallpaper here!  (http://www.kandiedelley.com/books/ttales/)

To read an excerpt from this story visit:  Vanishing at Mountain Creek (http://www.goodreads.com/story/show/277714-tempestuous-tales)

To read other blog posts about the Tempestuous Tales visit:  Spooktacular Web Tour (http://www.kandiedelley.com/kandie/extras/)

Watch the Tempestuous Tales Video book trailer:  http://youtu.be/fQQYs7APquM

Contest Rules:
Leave a comment on blog to be entered into a drawing to win either of the following:

PRIZE OPTIONS:
1) Free Ebook (pdf) copy of my book Getting Started on the Web for Writers:
FYI: I’ll also be giving a 8 week short podcast series on this before the end of the year, but the book talks about diversifying your talent to create multiple streams of income, understanding residual income and establishing/ managing your digital brand $3.99.

2) Free eBook copy of my book of poetry, Curtains: The Collective Works

3) Free paperback copy of my book Curtains: The Collective works (comes with Bookmark + music CD featuring songs from book)

4) $50 free graphic design services courtesy @KanDel_Media on twitter for samples of graphics see: KanDel Media FaceBook

 5) Free (pdf) copy of a sample Book Marketing Plan + my Marketing Blitz Handout

 6) Free basic press kit development (main header graphic + formatting.  Client must provide text for each page + book cover image.  Sample press kit: http://kandiedelley.com/pdf/kdpresskit-2012.pdf )

And here’s a freebie:  http://kandiedelley.com/pdf/writetips/StayingMotivated-kdelley.pdf

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"A Family" Acrylic on Board. Coyright Totsymae

Why has it been that folk run the other way when conversations come up on politics and religion? I get it and then I don’t. I know these are sensitive topics and can get on the heated side but aren’t these topics we need to be talking about in this time we’re living in? I mean, they don’t go away or get any better if we don’t have open discussions about them. It’s like sex, you know. It’s gonna be here. Sometimes, it’s good. Other times, it’s like, what the fuck, so we may as well open up some books, lay the cards on the table, put on the boxing gloves and get educated about it. That’s what brings me here today, folks.

Now. I may have my shit all twisted up and that’s why I’m soliciting your expertise on this little matter that’s been pinching on my nerves. Let me also say, maybe I take empathy too seriously, perhaps to the point that it makes no sense at all to feel anything. Worst yet, maybe what I have to say ain’t worth nothing. Be honest. You can tell me.

Well. Like you, I’ve been watching what’s been transpiring on this here globe. It’s spinning round and round, so what goes on in some other place has some kinda affect on what happens to you and me. For instance, if some young girl over in Africa is getting circumcised, as a woman, I feel that. I have a daughter, Little Totsy, so I feel that. Seriously. When my brother-in-law sat over here in my kitchen last weekend talking about the Gulf War he was in, that his unit was on the ground and didn’t know the war in Iraq had even started and they were walking the grounds and saw dead babies covered in blood with their mothers, I. Felt. That.

So. Now, we’re occupying cities across the nation. The dream of American folks’ been snatched up by Wall Street gamblers. We saw a similar movement going on in Egypt earlier this year and then, folk over in London caught the bug and finally, folk in America started saying hell naw, we’re tired of this shit too. So, there we go to marching, right. Though, somewhere along in there, we started looking at Libya’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi. Folk over there, according to reports, said he wasn’t making good on being the leader the world wanted him to be. I think it was the U.S. and some other folk that backed Gaddafi’s move to power. Correct me if I’m wrong on that. I very well could be. Well, when he got to backtalking and the problem became more prevalent that the poor were suffering, the wealth wasn’t spreading, and whatnot, it was a huge deal for the folk over there. Yeah, he’d done some things in the past too and he paid outta his pocket after a deal was worked out. Shit, what leader in power ain’t abused it? You know, the rebels ain’t got an endless supply of money to do all of what they’ve been doing, so they had to have some help from somebody, right?

Therefore. I’m trying to figure out, with your help, what I wanna know is what makes it okay to be glad about killing that man way over yonder? Was he doing anything any different over there than what those Wall Street gamblers did and Capitol Hill Gangsters do all the time? What makes us overlook Mitt Romney’s statement about selling foreclosed properties and letting investors buy them up by rich folk? Would the folk he aim to put out of those homes become like rebels in Libya? I kinda think yeah, ’cause they’re already occupying cities across the country. This is just my backroad logic, so if I’m drawing the wrong comparisons, tell me, ’cause I’m really trying to understand how we make certain situations okay. Does culture make it so? Is the American glass house made of some different shit? Can we really point the finger at the fallen leader anymore than we can at the folk in our own backyard? I ain’t trying to create nothing for the sake of having something to blog about, I’m just saying…

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"The Divas" Mixed Media on paper. Copyright 2011 Totsymae

Publicly reveal that she can’t control her bladder after having six children. The mother of the Kardashians did it. Now, all I can think of is that she’s bigger than most women down there and I kinda wonder how’s the sex been in the bedroom for her and Bruce, which makes me a little embarrassed for him (and by the way, doesn’t he look really plastic?)

Publicly scratch herself below the waistline. Yeah, I know men folk do it but it’s more acceptable for them to not give a shit. If a woman does it, she immediately becomes the poster child for being a stank-nasty bitch, starting to border something like a slut and looks as if she’s got a nest of crabs in her underwear but it’s totally okay if a guy is approaching her and she doesn’t wanna be bothered with him. Such defense mechanisms can be useful to ward off bootleg men.

Wear thongs if she’s overweight AND bends over in public for all the world to see. I’m not discriminating on larger sized women but honestly, if a woman absolutely feels as if she needs something like a rope or string to cut her ass in half, it looks much better on a smaller woman. I’m average in size myself and wouldn’t risk my reputation in this manner. Remember, should you option to do this regardless of my good and  practical advice, bad news travels fast. If I happen to be the one, unfortunately, privy to seeing the crack of your ass and I’m feeling a little wicked, I wouldn’t give a second thought to painting you up and exposing you here on this blog.

Pass gas in front of her date or even look as if she’s got an upset stomach within six months of getting to know him. I totally understand that farting and shitting is a natural bodily function but women, in most cases, date for a committed relationship. She simply won’t land this new fella if she starts giving in to Mother Nature. That’s why it’s not a good idea to spend overnight weekends with a guy early on in the relationship. I promise, should you decide you want to go on this romantic get-away of camping in the woods, you will have to shit out the food you’ve been eating at some point. You don’t want to put yourself in the position of being absent too long in the “ladies’ room” or have your eyeballs look as if they’re damn near popping outta their sockets from holding back all of what you’ve digested. Trust me, if after that trip you no longer are hearing from this guy you’ve broken yourself off to, it wasn’t ’cause you weren’t fantastic in bed. Absolutely, you were! Men folk are shallow when it comes to this kinda thing. He simply couldn’t get over that as beautiful as you are, something so foul would come from your body. I know you didn’t think it smelled that awful but believe me, it did!

Act like you’re suddenly watching your weight and not eat all of your food when you’re at a restaurant, knowing you’re tilting the scales already. Acting fake ain’t gonna cut it. The evidence is too visible to start making like you and Jenny Craig are best friends and all. Plus, inflation is dipping into everybody’s pockets. You don’t want to look ungrateful AND  fake. He may think you don’t know the value of a dollar.

Eat chicken, especially barbeque, on the first couple of dates. It ain’t gonna matter how cute you try to look, it just won’t go over well. You’ll fight the urge to go to licking your fingers and Lord help your poor soul should you slip up and stick one in your mouth like you’ve forgotten you’re on a date and start acting like you’re in the comfort of your own kitchen. Now, we both know you were raised better than that but that fella you’re dating ain’t got a clue. Should you make this fatal error, you’ll need to quickly get that hump outta your back and remove the chicken bone outta your mouth. Once he drops you off at the doorstep of your home, you’ll need to walk swiftly into the darkness of your closet, repent and pray to God that you even get the invite for a camping trip.

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The Survivors ll. Collage on paper. Copyright 2011 Totsymae

The Survivors ll. Collage on paper. Copyright 2011 Totsymae

I’m telling you. I’ve been moving in very slow motion over my way. I figure I needed to try writing or the longer I didn’t, it would be that harder to write. I suppose though, I was a little stirred up after watching the GOP Debate last night. Now personally, I can’t go into everything with you on all the whys of this and that ’cause I don’t think we’ve quite made it to the level of you inviting me over for tea or a sleepover, so we won’t go there and whatnot. The lowdown I can give you is that I’ve been watching the news and debates. I’ve undergone some major changes, internally and externally, so if Barack Obama was talking about change in relation to how I’m eating and my physical appearance, he fulfilled that campaign promise.

Folks, over the past few days. I’ve stuck with a strict raw food diet. I have to tell you that I can be somewhat of an extremist on certain matters. Now check this out. I was watching the GOP Debate last night and pondered the concept that when we look at the problem of obesity in children (and adults too, really) across the states we’ve united up and all, Herman Cain has been part of the problem, not the solution. What I do like about him is that he’s fired up to take charge. All of them are but that damn Cain is dangerous, talking about electrifying folk with that fence and all. I mean, damn. That’s some mean shit right there. Plus, a lot of foolishness has come outta his mouth.

Then, Mitt Romney ain’t got a problem evicting folks and letting Deep Pockets buy up the foreclosed homes and leasing them out to make their pockets even deeper. Like, that’s some cold shit. I saw him stopped by a reporter awhile back and he was asked what his thoughts were on Occupy Wall Street. This son of gun said he was just trying to get to the White House. And if you watched the debates, when he and Rick Perry were going at it, I know if they were in an alley somewhere, Perry would’ve knocked the shit out of him ’cause he had that I-could-knock-the-shit-outta-him look on his face. Check YouTube out. You’ll see.

Newt Gingrich, while he tried to unite the party with a let’s-hold-hands-and-play-ring-around-the-roses stance, he was still divisive on account of his attacks on the current administration. The fact of the matter is, parties don’t mean shit to those folk occupying Wall Street. They want jobs to support their families and all that crookedness to be straightened out. Nothing less. One other ironic element of the debate was that it took place in Las Vegas, where a lot of heavy weights duke it out for the boxing belt. Folks, the pot is melting. That explains it all, wouldn’t you say? Which means I’m just gonna have to keep juicing up these carrots to build up my strength. You know, in case I need to jump over that fence Cain got in his mind to build and I have to run for cover. No telling what’s gonna go down and you know we can’t keep stirring a burning pot with a wooden spoon.

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Google Image

I’m much in need of a little break from blogging right now. I’m still quite jetlagged and the energy simply isn’t with me to write, so I figure the most appropriate thing to do is to share some older blog posts that new readers may like and perhaps those who’ve been hanging out with me for awhile might want to read again. I’m trying to get it together over here and doing the family thing also so I know you can dig that.

I won’t bother with a blurb on the posts. I hope the titles are intriguing enough that one or two might grab your interest. With that being said, here are some of my very earliest posts. I hope you like. :-)

In Sickness and In Vanity: A Woman’s Guide to Dying Pretty

Lord, I Hope His Head Won’t Swing This Way for His Eyes to Land On Me

A Mother’s Love

I’m Not Interested In No Woman President

Toot Your Own Horn, Baby (& Lay On It Like A Mofo!)

Just Call 1-800-Hot-Totsy

Here’s some Flash Fiction for You Too

The Homecoming

The Wedding Crashers

The Art of Passive Bitching

Bastard in Her Bed

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I spent a little time painting in Photoshop and listening to music on the plane. 12.5 hours is a long time in the air. Copyright 2011 Totsymae

I want each and every one of you to know that I braved it through an eleven-hour layover in Seoul, Korea on my way back over here to the good ole U.S. of A. Actually, I didn’t have much of a choice. I met up with a little friend to hang out with during this time in a vast of a building. It was empty in that place around 11 at night. I had no way to charge my boyfriend laptop until the next morning, when I found out I could trade my boarding pass for an electrical adapter at the information desk. You know, the system’s different over that way.

Anyway, I was good and tired when I got back to America. I talked to my folks, dispensed a few gifts, went to my ole jail cell, place of employment to chat a bit and since I couldn’t fight it anymore, I fell my ass to sleep. It’s a 12-hour difference between there and here, folks.

I also have to tell you, from the time I left America and returned, I didn’t have seat mates ’til I boarded the plane from Korea. There  we were, the three of us packed in like big ass sardines, folks.  I had the window seat, right above the wing and it was a beautiful sight to see them clouds. I wanted to reach out and touch them.

Anyhow, Woman in the Middle, as soon as the cabin lights go off, got to tossing around like she was in her bed at home or something. It was supposed to be a relaxing time ’cause we’d been fed and everything but with all that there tossing I had to endure for what seemed like for damn ever, folks, Totsy got an evil thought going in her mind that she ain’t right too proud of. I got to thinking, “If you don’t stop that moving around up in this here seat, I’m gonna pop the shit outta you.” That was my exact thought, folks. But you’d be proud ’cause I didn’t act on it or nothing. I went on to thinking just how damn sexy an airline pilot is to me, flying that big ass machine and working all them controls, handling that turbulence and shit. You know, trying to think positive and all.

Then I had another evil thought as I was making my way through customs. I had to present this form saying what kinda shit I’d brought back in and answer questions on my whereabouts. Now, before I got up there, this fella had to get his little station ready. I knew right off he didn’t wanna be there. He carried on that way in his body language. I got up there and finish my round of questions and the little cover of my passport falls to the floor, ’cause he really don’t care shit about what he’s doing no how, folks. That’s what got me. That he’s got gainful employment here and don’t give a shit about it. Then, gives me this I-give-even-less-of-a-shit  look that he made my little cover fall to the floor and offers me a weak ass apology. I just looked at him and thought, “You sorry motherfucker, you.”

I did, finally, manage to have myself a pat-down at my final destination but it was by some woman. I figure I must’ve flown in at the wrong time ’cause my Denzel look-alike wasn’t on duty to meet up with me for this strip search pat-down I’ve been looking so forward to. Though, I have to tell you folks, I slept like a dream in my bed. Only four and a half weeks I’d been gone but once I hit Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, it only felt like a day and some change.

It’s still a little early for me to head out to handle a little business and I’ve got myself a gang of things to do before flying out again. Plus, I’m back with my little family and that’s better than cool.  Right now though, I gotta go see what I can fill my stomach with.  May cook me a little somethin-somethin’ while I watch one of my favorite morning news shows to get the lowdown. So my good folks, I’ll catch y’all later.

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Watercolor on paper. Copyright 2011 Totsymae

Folks, you can’t imagine the magnitude of my joy on packing up my bags to head back to America. I know. I know. Ain’t nothing much changed in the 4 weeks and 3 days since I left but hey, I’m coming back to check it out for myself to make sure y’all been holding the fort down.

I heard tale of some students protesting over yonder and getting arrested. Somebody over this way mentioned Clarence Thomas putting his hand up some woman’s skirt again. My sources ain’t verified this Thomas story with me yet, so right now, I guess I’m just spreading rumors. Y’all help me in confirming this story before I make it through customs and the U.S. Marshalls take me to the floor ready to cuff me up. I know I can count on Phil to help me out on account of a previous situation with Crazy HeiferAriana had my back too, so I got myself a small posse going. I’d hate to be sitting up in the federal prison and get turned into somebody’s bitch over a slight blog misunderstanding.

Anyhow, I don’t know what kinda internet service I’ll have in my next destination, after America that is, but I hope we can continue meeting up like this. I don’t expect to be playing the guessing game of where I am next time around. Let’s just pretend I’m on a top secret mission for the government and they need me to translate southern lingo. Imagine, if you will, somebody from the south, who ain’t polished, getting elected and they called on me, Totsymae, to work out the translations when the president spoke to folks of other nations.

Matter of fact, I’ve had a few different type jobs in my span of time but there’s one I know I could never do. What I could never be is a Dog Catcher. Shit, I get scared if a dog even goes to looking at me the wrong way, let alone me trying to run up and catch one, which brings to mind a true life story you may or may not wanna hear. But here goes…

At the old house I lived in, we had a carport, meaning, it’s a spot that pretends to be a garage that you can drive into but there’s no door. Well, inside the carport is where we kept the big garbage bin that was set out twice a week for the sanitation workers. Anyhow, this particular day, the bin was full to capacity ’cause Mr Boy, who had a great talent for sleeping late, didn’t take the bin out to be collected.

Now, next to my house was this rottweiler. This mothersucker used to chase the kids when they walked to the school bus stop or played outside. They were right to be afraid ’cause he was BIG and who the hell knew the dog’s intentions? What could they do but run and scream to the top of their lungs? That neighbor of mine had three dogs that were never chained up. On this one day the trash bin was filled up, my sister was visiting and  happened to have a headache. What I gave her was a huge generic bottle of aspirin from the military store that had AAFES written over it in bold colors.  It was a right strange bottle to be taking and Sis ain’t never seen anything like it. She read the bottle and saw the aspirin were expired. Naturally, she threw the bottle out but it was in the bin in the carport.

I also have to tell you, this rottweiler had a penchant for digging in my trash. Some mornings I’d get up and trash was all over my carport. I’d be mad as fire too! At my boy for not taking the trash out and that damn dog! Well, this dog got into the bin where this huge bottle of aspirin were and licked up every last one of those pills.

Folks, the dog died within the hour. I was like, DAAAAAMN! That neighbor of mine muttered about somebody killing his dog and yeah, I was naturally a suspect, folks. It wasn’t enough that I’d gone over several times (when the dog wasn’t out and about, that is) to talk with him about tying up those damn dogs or calling the pound on him. He took that folk were afraid as a joke (cause I’d seen him snickering) and ended up with a dead dog on his hands. I plead my case before you, folks. My attempts to get him to do right were futile. I didn’t lose sleep over the crime; therefore, guilty, I was not. I close my case on owner negligence by way of accidental suicide, folks of the court. The gavel has gone down.

After the facts, you be the judge. Was I wrongfully accused and need to counter-sue for defamation of character or should I go in hiding and live the life of a fugitive? Totsy ain’t trying to be nobody’s bitch, y’all.

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  • No kid I ever knew was brazen enough to talk back to grown folk and there was no such thing as negotiating with a child ’cause parents were the law of the land and that’s just the way it was.
  • The ice cream truck came to the neighborhood, we’d actually buy ice cream and had no thoughts of a child molester being inside ready to haul us off or that drugs were being sold instead of ice cream.
  • Playing outside with my friends, we had a time that was so good, we’d not want to go inside ’cause watching TV wasn’t even a thought and seldom were there any overweight kids.
  • My sister and cousin peeped inside the little door hole at our family-adopted uncle while he was in the bathroom and saw his peter and I was a pissed ’cause he closed the inside door and I wasn’t able to see it too.

    Copyright 2011Totsymae (InDesign/Photoshop)

  •  I loved reading ALL day and got SO upset to be pulled away to do some household chore.
  • Getting inside a cardboard box open on both ends with a boy and rolling downhill made me extra happy.
  • All I had to do was think about how my mom looked and it kept me out of trouble.
  • Playing church, school and store with my cousins was an all day event and we didn’t know what it meant to be bored ’cause we had the funnest times together.
  • I’d spend summers with my paternal grandmother and street race with the neighborhood boys, leaving them behind to eat my freakin’ dust!
  • My grandmother would give me the evil eye when I sprouted up like a weed from sleep to look at the ladies shout in church.
  • I would cut recess and the time I hid in the girls’ restroom, my teacher was red as fire when she swung the door open to see me crouched on the toilet in one stall and my best friend in another.
  • Standing on the armrest of the sofa in the living room and my sister and me falling backwards over and over again, so we could wake our mom up from napping for her to take us to our cousin’s houses where more fun could be had.
  • Eating boogers tasted sweet.

Aaaahh, those were the days, folks…

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And she gave me one over a month ago, so you can see the spirit of procrastination. I also, recently, received another from Donna at My Book of Stories. Celia’s official website is Africa 2 Asia,  and she’s over there in China, not very far from where I am now. Though, I will be heading out soon. I won’t go into that right now ’cause I’m still going through a little process.

From Celia, I got The Appreciated Follower Award and Donna prized me with The Versatile Blogger Award. I appreciate and thank you both.

Receiving these awards means telling a little something about  myself, so here goes:

1. I served in the Army National Guard for 6 active years.

2. I’ve been to both Paris and the Czech Republic twice.

3. According to a couple of degrees I have, I’m supposed to be well-educated but I kinda find well-educated folk a little boring.

4. My son, Mr Boy, and his best friend, recently scored so damn high on the test for the military, they can choose ANY freakin’ job they want and have decided to go into intelligence.

5. My paternal grandmother used to call me Totsymae as a kid, so I didn’t make this name up for myself for blogging purposes.

6. I used to have a fascination with the lifestyle of pimps and hos and  kinda fancied being a pimp myself at one time.

7. I used to sneak and hide to read romance magazines, which probably was the initial literature that got me really interested in reading as a kid.

Now, to pass the awards along to 5 other bloggers. Here goes again:

Val of Pen Name Valontine  – A poet, storyteller and military veteran

Zahir of Just Simply in Love  – Loves world music, writes poetry and well traveled

Sonia Rumzi  – Published writer and fluent in Arabic

Molly of Serendipity 4 Molly  -  Nature buff and seems to know everything about it

Virginia of The Purple Dog Painting Blog  – Artist and photographer who makes me chuckle

Congrats to all of you and do pass them on.

One last thing to share. Zahir from Just Simply in Love nominated me as Best Entertainment Blog. Here’s the link to vote for me. ‘Preciate it. :-) And thank you, Zahir.

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Watercolor on paper. Copyright 2011 Totsymae

By nature, I wouldn’t call myself a superstitious person but the fact that I’ve heard a few sayings, I’ve managed to fit them into my little life in a small way, still, with a steadfast belief that superstitious, I am not.

Now, my mother, bless her heart, was raised on a good number of them. Born and raised in the south, what other choice did she have? She told my sister and me, years back, that she’d not instill those kinda thoughts by raising us on them. Yet, she ran down a list of them and I can’t get them out of my head. Naturally, I want to believe the good ones. Like, if your hand itches, you’ve got some money coming. Who wouldn’t want their hand to itch in that case?

My great-grandmother said if you walked with one shoe on and the other off, it was a sign of bad luck. So you know I fear walking with one shoe on to this day? I tell you folks, I’m all discombobulated with these superstitions rattling in my head sometimes. Here are just a few of them:

  • A man needs to be the first one to come to your home on New Year’s Day to bring good luck. Let me tell you, folks. The then husband would get up on said day, do a little something out the doors and then come back. Now, I’d never heard tale of that ’til I married Then Husband. I never quite got that if he’s already in the house, why he had to walk out and come back? Wasn’t it enough that he lived there already? I’m not sold on this one. Shit, sometimes it’s good luck if a man leaves the house and never comes back.
  • On New Year’s Day, a meal of collard greens and black-eyed peas would bring good luck. See, the collards were for money and the peas were so you could have a discerning eye for the future. I think that’s how it went. Folks, I ain’t seen no more than I’ve always seen really. Only time and experience has helped me to know what’s good and ain’t good for me. I ain’t picked up no extraordinary psychic powers to this day. And money? I work, therefore, I get paid. Did I necessarily have to eat greens to know the paycheck was coming? Plus, I’ve never heard no lottery winner claiming to have eaten them some collards to win the jackpot. Shit, they just played the hell out of them numbers is what happened. This one I picked up from the then in-laws when I lived in Texas. It didn’t quite stick but I may have such a meal for good measure.
  • If your nose itches, somebody’s coming to your house. If you don’t feel like being bothered, you’d hate to have a nose itch but I’m telling you folks, every time that’s ever happened, somebody always ended up coming to my house.
  • If your ear itches, somebody’s talking about you. Then, I’d go to wondering who the hell could have me on their minds to be talking about me.
  • Laying a hat on the bed brings bad luck. That’s another one I learned through Then Husband. I don’t particularly have a thing for hats but with this in my head, I’m careful that a head scarf ain’t laying around on my bed, folks. I’m telling you, this shit’s got me all messed up.
  • Breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck. I may or may not have done it but maybe one could curtail bad fate by eating some collards and black-eyed peas?
  • Dropping a dish rag on the floor will bring death to a family member. Folks, you should see me trying to catch a damn dish rag falling to the floor. A baseball player sliding to home plate ain’t got shit on me.
  • If you walk between two poles, your mama’s gonna have a big tit and a little one. This one I got from my cousins growing up. Now, you could correct the fate of your mama’s tits by walking back in reverse order. I was in elementary school when I was enlightened to this one and making sure I didn’t cut the poles. I think I used to check my mama’s tits from time to time too. Making sure I hadn’t screwed up her tatas and all.

I’m sure I could call off a few more but will end it here. Maybe I should see what my co-pay is for therapy and get myself some help. So, any of you out there stuck with a few superstitions in your head? Show and tell, folks.

One last thing to share. Zahir from Just Simply in Love nominated me as Best Entertainment Blog. Here’s the link to vote for me. ‘Preciate it. :-) And thank you, Zahir. :-)

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