Thursday, November 30, 2006

Meme time!!!!

I have been tagged by Jaelithe, the irony is she tagged me because I hadn’t blogged in weeks, we hadn’t spoken in a while, funny thing is I see her little glowing green light on Google chat all the time and think I would just be bothering her and I posted a blog entry yesterday.
*note – Gmail is worth using for the chat feature alone, if you have not converted to Gmail, I highly recommend it.
** Jerry has a new blog – http://blaquepen.com/epicblackvillainy update your bookmarks and check out my nifty attempt at lovin’ my husband via pixels and html. Yes I fixed up him a new template. Its not done, but it ain’t half bad either.
 
On to the Meme
Five things (some) people (probably) don't know about me:

Hmmm…. Let us see…

  1. Every man I have had a serious relationship with has proposed marriage. That my friends, is my only dating claim to fame. They all want to keep me at some point. Never mind that that list is only three guys deep. That’s three marriage proposals. How many chicks can say that?!?! However the only one worth getting was the one I accepted. (collective awwwww)

  2. I can juggle. And draw. And paint. This bullet should really be that I have a ton of useless talents. But I’m not sure that I hadn’t told you all this before at some point.  Lets see I can pick up things with my toes. I have a photographic memory for random items ONLY. This will come in handy when Cammy starts losing strange things like her favorite polka dot sock, which I will know is in the toy box next to the kick ball under that homework she didn’t finish. See random useless talents.

  3. I’m way cooler by blog than I am in real life. I meet people who I’ve met via internets and they are always like you were way cooler via e-mail/blog/internets – even the husband said it once or twice.

  4. I hate designated gift giving holidays except for my birthday. I like the holiday and the celebrating I just don’t like the mandatory gift giving. Like this upcoming Christmas, I’m glad we are not giving gifts. I would much rather get a gift because somebody was thinking of me and saw something that reminded tehm of me or thought I would like or anything like that rather than they felt obligated to go in to hock in December. Now on birthdays I think both the mother and the child should get gifts, and all children should give their parents a thank you gift. Cause a birthday is YOUR holiday for to celebrate YOU – and that’s cool. But valentines day – and all those other random ones, should be designated gifts for kids only.

  5. I read cheesy romance novels. My husband thinks its cause he’s not romantic enough… Hey if it gets him to work herder in the romance dept that reason enough to keep them around, however I just like em. They are like lifetime movie channel for my brain with out the TV part. I read big ones little ones, harlequin, silhouette, Abercrombie or Arabesque or what ever the one owned by BET is. I got a soft spot for Nora Roberts. When I was a kid like early teens I had a thing for Danielle Steel. The best Christmas present I had one year my mom gave like six Danielle Steel hard covers, I was SOOOO EXCITED. I think its where I get to let out my inner girly girl. Cause I only just started to do pink.

And that my dears is the Meme. Tagging Spoken, and Jerry cause shoot I wanna.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

no title - just back

It has been a long time people.

I have missed  you, I have no acceptable excuses for my absence. My family life has been hectic. Work is… well, work. And it has been a long month.
My sisters wedding went well. As flawless as can be expected. At the end of the day the things that were forgotten (like the autograph frame) and other mindless hic-ups were just that hic-ups and was a nice, nice day. Will post pictures once I get them from the photographer.  So now I got a new brother. And instant nephews. What does one buy for a nine year old? I know the deal on the one year old, but I have no clue on the nine year old.
Which brings me to Christmas. Tis the most wonderful time of the year. I am excited about it this year. And I have no idea why, our families have decided against exchanging gifts for the adults, so its not the prospect of receiving really cool stuff. I think part of it is my anticipation of Cammy’s wonder. Everything is so new and cool to her, and the idea of waking up and finding cool stuff under the tree is way cool to her, the wonder is real and she’s such a good kid. This is the first year where she can really grasp that there is cool stuff and that its for her. So I’m gonna do the whole wrapping thing, which I normally don’t do at all. And if time will allow – I want to make a day trip to Chicago and pick up some stuff from Ikea, for her room. She likes Cammy sized stuff. And Ikea has TONS of Cammy sized stuff, for Mommy sized prices. Besides – that means me and the hubby can stop for Ginos East while we are there. We haven’t done that since before she was born. So I am making my list and checking it twice, and focusing on my house still as my project. If I do one thing at a time, I will probably get this going the way we are supposed to.
I bought a lamp yesterday for my bedroom, and a alarm clock. It is the first  furnishing I have bought for our home since we moved in FIVE YEARS AGO. Even then we only bought what he HAD to have, like the couch, and a dining room table, and a desk. That’s typically the way things get done around here– what has to be done. But I’m changing my M.O. I’m working on getting past what has to be done and into what we want to do, I’m no longer gonna allow for ends to just meet, we are gonna tie a nice little bow with them things too!
Cammy is well into school. She no longer cries when I drop her off (yea!!!!!) she gives me a kiss and a hug tells me she’ll see me at five thirty, and is off to play with her friends. We talk about school everyday and what she learned and what she likes and doesn’t. Who her friends are – how they play. She is doing GREAT at the potty training at school, average at home. She’s talking and writing and trying to read. She knows the difference between a horse and a donkey, and other similar animal combos.
She was sick for a week and she really missed school a lot, I think that was the turning point for us and school. She was so excited to be back.
I completely avoided the black Friday shopping, I didn’t even venture from my house until Saturday late to return my blender to Bed Bath and Beyond- who I happen to love, I got a new kitchen aid blender.
*Kitchen toy note to self, I need to stop trying other brands and just go with what works, buy a kitchen aid, I’ve tried Black and Decker, CuisinArt, all manor of diffent brands only to be back at the store in two months returning it and buying a kitchen aid. EVERY TIME.

Cammy and I hung out at Toys R Us so I could get a good idea of what she is gonna enjoy on Christmas.
*Christmas Shopping now- what does it say about society that parents were out with their eight year olds asking them what they wanted for Christmas and then BUYING IT RIGHT THEN. No Christmas morning magic, no surprise, no money got tight trickery - then chistmas morning wonder – none of that. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!!!

Moving on – my husband turned domestic king this weekend and made the bestest quiches ever, which I am munching on today for lunch at work.  One with Crawfish and another Lorraine quiche. He also made biscuits and apple butter. YUM.

My good good friend has been gone for quite a while, we miss you sea hag #3!!! She should be back soon. Life is so much easier when you have your friends around.

I have been excessively tired for a while. Btu I still got a lot to do – no time for sitting still. I gotta get my dad in my house to get some work done. Next item up – Cammy’s floor. I think I want to replace the hard wood, see if I can find 100 sq feel of flooring on the cheap. Maybe I should just apply to Extreme home makeover. But no body has died, we don’t have any major illnesses, unless they count crazy – which would be eccentric if we had money. Who knows. After that last one with the family with the catering business – I am so gonna think about it, cause that kitchen was off the banger.

Anyway I am back as much as I can figure right now – so I’ll be posting again soon.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

dads don't baby sit


c'babi
Originally uploaded by raquita.
A while back I told you guys that my favorite artist EVER was C'babi Bayoc. Well he still is. But I have had the pleasure of meeting him on several occasions, and have recently started being a little more active in my active appreciation of his work. I also have the honor of calling he and his wife friends, and neighbors. Which is an even greater honor than owning his work. They are wonderful parents, their couple is beautiful, and their family is awesome. they are the kind of couple we try to keep around to keep us honest, and aware of our life, they are like a reflection I use to remember, in general. He keeps a myspace page, and a blog and has taken on a great cause which as a black woman I hold very very close to my heart, the reafrimation of the black family.
so many media outlets fail to portray black families with the most essential peice, I beleive, in tact and active - the black father. Most are at best portayed as absentee breadwinners, glorified babysitters used only when mom has lost her marbles and sex is about to become a lost artifact in the relationship. and in reality while too many of our families are incomplete, there are so many fathers who are being daddy, and do so well. men like Jerry and C'babi (a father of three) give me hope everyday that we as a people will get better, that everyday, a daddy steps to the plate and makes a difference in his child and his womans life. I would like to give a quick side note shout out to Greys Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes for giving us a good look at a black man being the pig, committed like ham on last weeks episode.
anyway back to my point. C'babi is also at the for front of this fight and while is audience isn't as big as greys anatomy's yet, I have faith that it will be. He has started a new mission to show communities what men honoring their families look like, and he has started a new website called dads don't babysit, which showcases dads in their element as fathers. This is easily my favorite collection of his work, this father series, please stop by, if you know anyone with an abandoned building he is wanting to use the boarded windows and doors as canvas, so we can plant the right images in our kids and oru adults heads. Sometime I think we forget too. Shoot, I would abandon my house to have him paint on it - if Jerry wouldn't freak out about being homeless. so please send this information to any building owners you may know. And stop by his site, and leave words of enouragement and if you are feeling the mission, spread the word on your site as well.

First day of school


imgp7567
Originally uploaded by raquita.
Well.
You went, you screamed.
and then had a AWESOME day!! You teacher was so impressed! when we got there you were still playing and writing on the chalk board, jumping from thing to thing.
You are killing me with the Mommy don't leave in the morning. but The best way for us all to deal with that - is for daddy to do with walk in to drop you off, and for us both to go in the evening to pick you up. you learned about November, and thank you (like we don't already have the thank you thing down)
You didn't eat alot at lunch - but they aren't catering to your every culinary whim, how do you tell a school you kid is used to Pad Thai, and rosemary chicken so they shouldn't expect you to be too enthused about canned ravioli? you are still real big on the kid basics however, pizza and hamburgers.
you napped well, right on time, and you were your bright and beautiful self, although you did scratch you nose, and are fighting off a cold.
I am going to get on the ball and start scrapbooking ALOT MORE. there are so many moments we should have organised and documented.
congradulations Cammy, you are a offical Big Girl!!

*will post on wedding later!