Concentrate On You

The artist contacted me and sent me a link to his song. I am loving this! It is my anthem! I need to make it my ring tone!

I'm in the classroom footage shot! No autographs please

WTF Have I Done With My Blog Posts???

WTF

The Doctor Is In: Not!

My life is filled with countless opportunities for me to laugh out loud! This entry will be no different.

I don't know if I've ever established this or not but I was born and raised in rural Mississippi, i.e. The Country, where the living is still good in 2009. I wanna go back. Anyhoo, my roots are still there and I still eat "country food" cold cuts like hog head souse, bologna and liver cheese. Since I'm in Memphis, it is not too hard to find such in Wal-Mart.

Tonight I stopped in Wally World (Wal-Mart) and decided to get some liver cheese. As I searched the cold cuts for the delicacy, I did not see it. I asked the stock person, an older gentleman, standing in the section where he was hiding the liver cheese? He looked and said they were out! What? Who else is eating liver cheese but me?!!! Has someone else discovered it's likeness to pate! (I can't find the special characters pate deserves.) He offers me some bologna. I didn't come for bologna! I wanted liver cheese.

The following LOL dialogue actually occurred next:

Stock Clerk: (he turns to face me and says) Sometimes when I eat sweet potato pie. . .

Thoughts In My Head: . . .I sure hope he is not eating liver cheese or bologna with sweet potato pie!

Stock Clerk: it messes up for stomach for a few days and makes me go to the bathroom a lot.

Thoughts In My Head: WTF!

Stock Clerk: What do you think I should do?

Thoughts In My Head: Get Away From Me!

Me to Stock Clerk: Go to the doctor. But if you want some quick relief, drink some ginger ale or mix some water and a teaspoon of flour and drink it. This will settle your stomach. But remember, go to the doctor.

Stock Clerk: I've never heard of that before. Thank you so much.

Me to Stock Clerk: You are welcomed. But remember to seek medical advice. I am not a doctor.

I walked away wondering what made him talk to me. I guess he figured anybody buying liver cheese had to be from the country and probably had an old time remedy for whatever ails you! And he was right!

My grandmother turns 90 in a few days, and has all kinds of natural remedies. I don't know whether to attribute it to our Indian heritage or just being from the country but she could make pain go away. As a teenager, I had severe monthly cramps that would keep me in bed for 2 days. Anybody feel me? Pain! Big Mama would go into the woods behind the house and bring back this stick for me to chew. The first time she brought me this tree branch to chomp, I thought she had flipped out. But I never questioned her and chewed the branch like a deer. The pain went away. I've got to ask her this weekend the name of that tree!

Dang

Last week my dad came up to the 2oth Annual Southern Heritage Classic. Instead of coming to my house, he wanted to meet for brunch at the casino. I have been doing all that I can to avoid unnecessary public places as I try to dodge the Swine Flu/H1N1. The casino is H1N1 waiting to happen.



I agreed to meet him but I really wanted to stay home and work on some creative projects I've been putting on the back burner.



When I arrived at the Horseshoe Casino, I went into the ladies room. I heard voices in the stalls but I hear ladies yapping all the time in the restroom as we use the facilities. No big deal. I came out and as I was washing my hands, my eyes caught of glimpse in the mirror of the stall behind me. There were 2 sets of feet in the stall. A pair of flat nondescript shoes and a pair of Cinderella type glass slippers. Hmmm. . . we women will comfort a friend even if she runs into a stall, so no biggie. But to be honest, at this point, I was curious as heck. I waited and washed my hands through 2 choruses of "Happy Birthday". The stall door opened. Out walks this trashy looking woman with a glass of wine in her hand and another person who was either a hard looking woman or a very very ugly man with a wig on! They went to the sink to wash their hands. Oh my! To kill my theory of a friend comforting a friend in a stall, the trashy woman reached over and smacked the other person on the butt! Well alrighty then. At least they washed their hands.

Brunch was terrible. The food was not good and there was a live bird flying around the buffet. After I saw that, I refused to eat another thing.

I Love B. Scott!

Love B. Scott is my love muffin! He always makes me smile no matter what. I love his positive energy and comedy!

The Wait Is Over! My TV is Back!

Today is not my birthday but it may as well be. I can finally get back to my TV fixations: Project Runway, Top Chef and The Real Housewives of Atlanta! I have not been able to watch much of the other reality TV shows. I had no idea Real Chance of Love was into Season 2. I thought it was probably reruns. I just happened to tune in and saw all new ladies. I could not get into the show. I am now convinced that it's not real. LOL. How many times does two gorgeous men have to search for love? Don't we all love Real's hair? When does America's Next Top Model air?

Let me get my snacks ready: Baked Cheetos, Fudge Stripes Cookies, popcorn and Coca Cola.
I'd better set the DVR too!

Toodles

~tlc

Snuggie

Am I the only person who thinks the Snuggie looks like a Monk's robe? I didn't realize how difficult regular blankets were. I see that they now come in fashion prints like zebra and cheetah! I'd better get on the phone right now.

Why?

Please help me understand why walkers choose to walk in the street rather than on the sidewalk? Especially when sidewalks are available?

Tomorrow is Mother's Day

Tomorrow is Mother's Day. I know that you are thinking that ~tcl has lost her freaking mind. Mother's Day is in May. But the first day of school for students is always Mother's Day (and Father's Day) for many parents. Those little beings who lived in your house, ate your food, ran up your electric bill and claimed to be bored all summer are going back to school. Bored even though you made sure they had every telephone device, video game and cable station known to man available to them. Now, they will belong to someone else for at least 8 hours. A friend even told me that when her preacher announced that tomorrow would be the first day of school, you wouldn't believe the number of hallelujahs and amens that roared through the crowd. These are their babies. How do they think we feel as educators? At least they can discipline them. I digress.

I am putting my glass on the counter because I know that when I get home, I am going to need a drink!

Cheers!
~tcl

Subscribe!

Did you know that you can subscribe to my posts by clicking on the RSS Feed icon or the "chicklet"? I love the term chicklet! Sometimes I'd love to be a chicklet! Anyhoo, subscribing this way allows you keep up with what's new with LOL whenever you log online. I love RSS feeds because all of my subscriptions that are on RSS are in one place! Love it!

Thanks and have a great weekend y'all!

~tcl

It's Starting To Happen!

I am forgetting stuff! Oh no! Work started this past Monday and I am not ready. Having worked summer school, I do not feel rested at all! I am wound up. When I signed up, they did not tell us until the first meeting that it would be an ALL DAY schedule. 8-3:30! Oh brother! The same traffic and stress during the summer as a regular work day. The bright spot was having really great administrators who were nice.

I was rushing Tuesday morning and stopped to put my shoes on. I knew that I had my phone in my hand. I got up and went into the kitchen. I could not find my phone. My counter tops are black as is my phone. I did not see it. I remember putting my Green Machine drink back into the fridge. I had put my bag in the truck already and had my husband call my cell. I could not find it. I could call him from the hands free device and figured it was lost in my bag. As we conversed as I rushed away to make it to work on time, the call dropped! The phone was NOT in the truck. I hoped I had not put it in the fridge!

I always carry my phone but figured I could make a day without my phone. Wrong. I felt lost all day long. The Internet was down at work so I did not have access to the web! Oh brother! The good thing was that we missed another long drawn out presentation! When will they learn that teachers are just as bad as the students when it comes to being lectured. Who wants to sit and watch a talking head for hours!

At the end of the day, I rushed home and finally found my phone: the couch ate it! I guess when I parked my bus to put on my shoes, the cushions went up and swallowed my phone. Explaining why we could not the hear the dang thing vibrating. Having to put the phone on vibrate during staff meetings is a drag. It was being silenced by the cushions! I was so happy to be normal cell phone user again! I will chalk this up to being in a hurry and not old age!

Do you know OOAK?

I have laughed at myself tonight! My friend sells vintage clothes. I've seen her list OOAK in her descriptions and all this time, I never knew what OOAK was. I thought it was a division of Anne Klein. I just found out that it means One Of A Kind! That's why she is The Fashionista and I'm The Creative Lady. I'm done!

DVDs I'm Buying on Tuesday, August 4!

What will you buy?

Michael Jackson @1995 MTV Music Awards

My friend Liz sent me this video of Michael Jackson's performance at the 1995 MTV Music Awards. He really brings it here! I love this. I can never get enough of seeing MJ dance. In this video, he sings a medley of his greatest hits. Superb!

~tcl

The Big 4-0

Today, I turn 40! Certain Welcome Wagon committee members have already welcomed me into the fold with advisement to purchase Ben Gay ointment and to "expect to hear sound effects when moving, sitting, standing, bending and reaching"! Ha! Thanks Liz!


Online friends have wished me good tidings like my Fashionista Poochie of Poochie's Closet. Jeff Majors, Etsy, Threadbangers and WDIA AM 1070 in Memphis have all wished me a Happy Birthday. My "twin" has already called and was actually the first person to ring in the 40s on my phone. Thanks Anthony! My dad is even up and online at this hour and has already sent online wishes. I'm not surprised. We are both Leos and night owls. Family members with normal sleeping habits will begin ringing my phone later this morning!

Now that I'm officially 40, I have to say that I feel great. Not to sound arrogant but it doesn't hurt either that I don't look 40. I work in a middle school and visitors often comment that I look like one of the kids. Now, I wouldn't go that far but I accept the compliment anyway. What's my secret? I would love to tell you that it's because I eat right, exercise at least 3 times per week and that I don't drink or smoke, have a beauty regimen that would shame Cleopatra and that I'm in bed by 9:30 every night. I would love to tell you that. In actuality, it is currently 3:50 AM, I haven't been to sleep and my first birthday meal was 5 empanadas, a Coca-Cola and a glass of Moscato. I haven't been on the Wii in well over 2 months. The Mii characters are probably really getting their snooze on. Beauty regimen. . .I have been known to crash out in my clothes with makeup on! So what's my secret? Good Genes baby!

Look at my ancestors! From left to right we have my great grandfather, my great grandmother, my grandfather, my grandmother and my great uncle. Such greatness. These folks and more have all made me who I am today.

I work with middle schoolers and they keep me hip and informed. I always know the latest music, dance crazes, fashion trends and must have gadgets. Getting checked by them and putting them in check occurs on a regular basis. I am barely "a buck 0-5" working with urban youth and I not scared. "I am a Clair". Clair as in Clair Huxtable from The Cosby Show. I give them "the look". They know that I don't play.

Though I don't make New Year's Resolutions, I do take birthday reflections. I will celebrate my 40th birthday for the next 364 days by being grateful. Grateful to be alive. The past few months and especially that last few weeks has been tumultuous. Many people have died. Lots have been celebrities. Some, I've known personally or exchanged emails with. Just like me, Steve McNair graduated from Alcorn State University. I watched him play football at Alcorn. It is because of Steve that I am a knowledgeable football fan. He autographed his covers of Sports Illustrated and Sports View for me in 1995 just before getting drafted into the NFL.

As a reader, I often wondered how writers could use a celebrity's name in their work of fiction without getting sued. My answer came after I received a response to my query from E. Lynn Harris. I still have that email.

Family members, friends, neighbors and co-workers have died. Life is so amazing. I remember laughing and talking with a co-worker/friend one Friday and on Monday heard that she had died over the weekend. While death is natural and a given, it is sometimes hard to accept. I've spent ample amounts of time lately grieving the loss of family and friends, Steve McNair and Michael Jackson. Their passing has made me even more determined to squeeze all that I can out of this tube of life. My spirit is renewed. I love to create. I love to write. You can best believe that I will do more of those things.

I am running the self clean function on the oven but later today, I will bake myself a birthday cake. I have a taste for German Chocolate. Though I always do this for other people, today, I will make myself a slideshow featuring my favorite music. I will go shopping and perhaps even wash my truck. But right now, I'm going over to my iPod to blast 50 Cents' "In Da Club" and refreshen my glass of Moscato. Today, I'm 40.

Cheers!

What I Know For Sure: About Las Vegas

With several trips to Las Vegas under my belt, I have learned a thing or two. It is less expensive to travel during the week, say Sunday thru Thursday. Weekend stays are usually more expensive and kinda hard to come by.

When going through airport security, remember to pack carry-on toiletries in a clear, quart-sized Ziploc bag. Do not try to bring that bottle of Dasani water on board that you bought outside the airport. No matter how much you paid for it, do not attempt to bring full size bottles of anything including toothpaste, mouthwash or expensive lotion. 3 ounces or less. Don't get angry. You're going to have to toss it. Sorry. Pack early. Check the TSA website for any changes to the guidelines for carry-on items.


If you are borderline OCD like me, be sure to wear some socks or footies when you have to take your shoes off. I don't know where those other feet have been and I don't want my tootsies mingling with what lies beneath us.


In terms of getting there, package deals are the best. Airfare, hotel and a car if you need it, can be priced better than booking airfare alone. Lastminute.com and Expedia.com has been the best online booking sites for us. The only drawback has been at times having to take a red eye flight home. Our hotel stay is usually cut short by having to check out about 8-10 hours early in order to catch the midnight flight home. But this is tolerable.

Skipping taxi cab fares by opting for the Monorail service has been a money saver while in Las Vegas. The 1 to 3 day unlimited ride ticket is very economical. The ride from the MGM to the Sahara is totally air conditioned and as a writer like me, you can meet some interesting people who are happy to be on vacation and willing to chat!

Wear comfortable clothes and shoes! I have also found that carrying a backpack is so easy to carry everything I need such as beverages, lotion, sanitizer, umbrellas and jackets. It may be 100 plus degrees in the summer, some buildings can be downright chilly.
Although Las Vegas is billed as being a Grown & Sexy kinda place, traipsing around in hooker shoes with your fanny hanging out, isn't always appropriate. Those sexy shoes may prove no match for the concrete jungle of Las Vegas and you may just hang them up, literally, like the person did in the above photo! Vegas now has lots of family attractions. So it is no longer "What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas. It all may be viewed by a toddler looking up your skirt!

Be prepared to dodge moms and dads pushing double decker strollers. Be tolerant of tourists taking pictures. Be courteous and ask if they want you to take a picture for them so they can all be in the shot with the waterfall or the Vegas skyline behind them.
Tell them not to worry, you don't need their camera! The one around your own neck costs as much as their whole trip to Las Vegas! Make sure that you bring your camera bag and charger, an empty memory card and an extra new battery or two. It will not go to waste. It's amazing how much zooming in and out on a camera really drains the battery.

Budget for Las Vegas. You can never have enough money or enough time in Vegas. While there is plenty to choose from eatery-wise, it can get expensive. Places off the strip still have some cheap eats. For example, the Tropicana's Garden Cafe has a daily, all day, $9.95 Blue Plate special. Their Legends restaurant also has a $19.95 lobster meal after 5 PM! Present a player's club card at the Sahara Casino and an $8.99 dinner buffet is all yours. Of course it's Las Vegas, if you are a drinker and a gambler, drinks are complimentary. But please remember to tip the cocktail waiters and waitresses!

Take advantage of the free stuff in Las Vegas. The water show at the Bellagio or the Fremont Street Light Show Experience are always fun. . .and free.

If you don't mind giving up some of your time, a time share pitch can net you a couple of free show tickets while in Las Vegas. Personally, we do not like the time share pitches because we don't want a time share and don't want to be pressured to buy one on our vacation.

Perhaps my best tip to give you is to bring your own toiletries. Include routine medicines like Advil or Tylenol, Alka Seltzers and Pepto Bismol! I know from experience. After a late night of riding the Monorail, walking and sightseeing until I was delirious, I was hungry by the time we got back to the hotel. I ordered room service. I wanted a lobster but decided on breakfast. Seemed harmless enough. Sausage, ham, scrambled eggs and cheddar biscuits. Who can't make breakfast? Apparently this particular hotel we were staying in! Within 20 minutes, I was sick. With no medicine of our own, my husband was off to the downstairs pantry to find me some relief. He came back with 2 items,
priced at $5.39 & $5.69. Both could have been purchased at home for far less but at that moment, I would have paid $500!

My last tip, remember to log your frequent flyer miles with your airline. You just may be closer than you think to your next vacation getaway! With a free trip, you may be able to afford to upgrade to first class!

MGM: Metro Goldwyn Mayer???

Over the years, I've stayed at the following Las Vegas hotels:

The Golden Nugget (Fremont Street Experience)
The Tropicana
The Mandalay Bay
The Monte Carlo
The Excalibur

Our most recent stay was at the MGM. I no longer believe MGM stands for Metro Goldwyn Mayer. For me, it is My Goodness Man! Are you kidding me? I was looking forward to it because it has a Monorail station at the hotel. The Monorail

is the best way to get around Las Vegas. A three day pass is just $28 per person and you get to ride up and down the strip in air conditioned comfort. It runs from the MGM to the Sahara. Try spending money on a taxi in Las Vegas and you will soon realize the Monorail is the way to go. At times, it was a little crowded. I heard there was a teachers' convention going on in Las Vegas. What foolish school system would send their teachers on a conference in Sin City? I have heard that they rarely make it to the meetings and never present shiggity when they get back to their home schools! But I digress. My husband and I found it amusing spotting the teacher-types. Some teachers cannot shake the "Mrs. Jones" look--even in Las Vegas.

The check-in lines at the MGM were long. When we finally got to the front, we were told that no more King Sized regular rooms were available but she could give us a smaller King room on a renovated area of the hotel. Renovated. We agreed to accept the room. We were located on the 5th floor, room 558. Seemed harmless enough. After the rough air ride, being just 5 stories up seemed alright with me. The trek to the room took us 3 minutes once we got off the elevator! No lie. It was the absolute LAST room down the hallway and due to the due to the mirrored effects, looked like we were walking "Through The Lookinglass" to Alice in Wonderland I felt sorry for my poor husband who failed to heed my advice of taking his rolling luggage. Mr. "I-Don't Want-To Wrinkle-My-Clothes" took his rollerless garment bag. He huffed and puffed as we bounced down the narrow corridor. My pink and green apple luggage was damaged during the flight but it still rolled! He will now listen to his wife. LOL.

But back to My Goodness Man! When we finally got to the room, it looked ok. But upon further inspection, I was not a happy camper. The smaller room type was not the real issue: The bed blocked the window. Not very feng shui! The view was of the top of the building. Not only was it at the end of the world but right across from the housekeeper's workroom or something. Very noisy. The room was renovated but it was a handicap accessible room. I shuddered to think that we able bodied people could be taking a room from someone who really needed it. We made the trek back downstairs to stand in the check in line. We were assigned a new room, with a view of the strip, at no extra cost, on the 21st floor! Yay! The catch: we couldn't check in until the next day after 3 PM! Oh man! In the future, we will ask all the necessary questions before accepting a room change.

The package from lastminute.comincluded a couple of show tickets. We wanted to see Disney's The Lion King showing at The Mandalay Bay. The first guest services person told us to check at the MGM's Concierge desk tomorrow morning for our tickets. The next day, we stood in the long and eventually wrong line at MGM for over 40 minutes just to be told we needed to go to The Mandalay Bay for the tickets. We were very frustrated with the poor services received thus far at the My Goodness Man. When I saw Zumanity while staying at The Excalibur, getting the tickets were easy. I knew that I needed to check the box office at New York New York. The simpleton at the MG desk should have told us the correct information. We would have had no problem going over the The Mandalay Bay to pick up the tickets. Again, I will digress.

The new room, 21-322 was much better. The view was not a great as the one I had in February at The Excalibur but it was good.

My observations about the MGM. It is in a great location. The Monorail station is located in the building. There are a number of good and reasonably priced restaurants. Not only can you find celebrity restaurants like Wolfgang Puck's, Top Chef's Tom Coliccho's and Emeril's but there is a McDonalds, Starbucks, Nathan's hotdogs and a pizza place with some great deep dish pizza!

I think the MGM is for Party People! There are several nightclubs that seem to cater to the anything goes clientele. Studio 54. Tabu. Need I say more. I could not believe the number of children that we say inside the hotels AND casinos in Las Vegas. They were everywhere and in my way! The lines are always long in the MGM. The service we received was always crappy. Seemed like some of the people may have been slightly intolerant of people of color. How about when we were the last people in line, the agent walked up, after we had been in line for over 15 minutes, and cuts the line off at us! Now we were already the last people in the fucking line. I was pissed. He could have waited on us. But my theory is that if a person doesn't want to wait on me, I don't want to be waited on by them! I'm not the one with the problem and I am not always up to trying to prove a point.

Would we stay at the MGM again? Not even if it were free!

Nearer My God To Thee!

Lastminute.com was the booking site of our most recent vacation destination: Las Vegas. We elected to leave on a flight the would allow us to finish out the family reunion activities. While I wanted to leave Sunday night, we selected a 7:00 PM Monday evening flight. We arrived in Las Vegas at 8:00 PM Pacific time. The flight was horrible! We flew through thunderstorm clouds and the turbulence was scary to say the least! The beverage service did not begin until late due to the bumpiness of the flight. Beverage and choice of spiced cookies or peanuts. Peanuts? Peanuts?! Hell, I don't eat peanuts in a car and I darn sure never eat peanuts on a plane. Superstious reasons. I'll blog about it in a later post. I always buy my husband the delicious Biscoff cookies online but I wanted a shot of something, anything alcoholic! I settled for a ginger ale. Can you believe we were given whole cans of soda on the new Delta/Northwest plane? I guess they figured that if this would be "it", let them at least have a whole can of soda! The pilot kept coming over the PA apologizing for the ride and that there was nothing he could do about it. As we flew over New Mexico, he announced there were storms behind us and ahead of us, the Phoenix airport was shutdown due to the storms. Oh $hit! The plane was quiet and cold. I check the weather before traveling. Didn't pilots do the same thing? If we landed safely on the ground, I vowed to walk back the 1430 miles back to Memphis!

The captain did a good job getting us to Las Vegas safely. I have never flown in bad weather and from talking to other people, it could have been worse. When I am up so high, it makes me think about my Creator and how far man has advanced to have a huge airbus slicing through the sky. Simply amazing.

Mr. Jamie Foxx!!!

How bold were we to miss the get acquainted night of the family reunion to see Jamie Foxx?! My husband's family blew his phone up all during the concert: Blame it on the alcohol!


Jamie Foxx is the man! I rarely sat down during the concert at the FedEx Forum! Do you know how badly I needed to get out and have some fun?! Mr. Foxx was awesome! There was even a guest appearance by Dave Hollister who blew some vocals!

The opening act, comedian Speedy was funny. He put the audience on blast for their choices of wardrobes! Thank goodness we arrived early and looked normal!

We were at the concert he did a few years ago and he told the crowd that he wanted to give us $5000. The crazy man let "Jamie Money" rain down from the sky! One fell directly in my hands that I still have. I'll have to scan it and put it on my blog.

If Jamie Foxx comes to your city: GO!