How Mama Got Her Groove Back..Kinda

For the first time since Blu's birth, I had my first real big people's outing. As we were getting ready, I pointed out to DH that this was my first real big people's outing and he found that hard to believe. What about this person's event, he said, I was like that was a BABY shower! What about that person's thing, he said, and I replied: "YOU went and said you were representing us, remember?" Mae's 30th was my first real people's outing in a long time without a belly - yes o, my country self went to a few big people's events when I was expecting Blu. Anyway, there was no way I was going to miss out on this here gig. My friend Dolly had been hyping it forever saying there was going to be a soul singer, it was going to be in this new lounge, bla, bla, bla.

Thank God for sisters who agree to babysit, we had a reliable babysitter for Blu and we were all set to go. Not before he displayed for us well well. My boy did all sortsa things that prevented us from leaving the house on time. We finally got there and it felt so good to be out with my crowd. In no time, I had a resfreshing beverage in my hands and was enjoying the ambiance. Dolly and co really put their foot in it - they transformed the lounge big time with Mae's theme. I know who to call for my next gig.

The music was good, the soul singer was excellent, the beverages were a welcome change from what I've been used to, but two hours later, I started missing my Blu and mama had to go be with her baby. I heard the party was on until 3 in the morning and I missed out on a lot of major moments. All the same, I enjoyed the little time I spent at the party. Note to self: I's a mama now and I can't hang like I used to. At least not right now.

Wondrous Weekend

This weekend was quite interesting to say the least. Let me start off by saying that my townhouse has been rented! Yup, it was rented as of Friday so I didn’t have the open house on Saturday. I didn’t sleep in even though I knew I wasn’t going to host the open house. What’s this waking up at 7 o’clock deal every weekend? I didn’t go to bed until 1:30 am but still, I woke up early the next day. Anyways, just wanted to say that my townhouse has finally been rented out to this couple and I am praying it all works out. Here’s to a 12-month issue-free lease. And here’s to not going to the place two, three, four times a week to show people that weren’t ready to rent. Thank goodness!

Saturday started off great. We walked/jogged three miles at 8 something. Only thing was this time around, I missed ogling at my favorite house. There’s this eco-friendly (I have no proof that it actually is, it just looks eco-friendly) house that is just the bomb around the ways. The owner also owns the adjacent lot and they have some kind of vegetable garden growing. That is so my dream house. If I had money, I'd just walk up there and make an offer. I don’t know how I missed checking it out but that's the highlight of my route. DH’s open house turned out to be one-kind. I went with him since I didn’t have mine but it looks like we’re going to have another one next Saturday. I need to dedicate more time to talk about what happened. People have some serious issues.

It was my girlfriend’s birthday weekend and our plan was to take her to dinner and do something fun afterwards. We are all grown now. It’s unbelievable. The theme was grown and sexy but that somehow backfired on me. Let’s just say I’m glad DH encouraged me to take a shawl because I didn’t get the memo that we weren't doing that any more. We were celebrating her 30th and we’d suggested going to dinner and then going to a lounge afterwards but she didn’t want to go anywhere there would be smoking and drinking. Ummm, okay. How about drinking only? There weren’t that many choices left but on the way to work that morning, I heard on the radio that the comedy club was featuring quite a few good acts. It would be something fun for us to do in place of going to a lounge. There was no smoking allowed so I thought that would be perfect for all of us. I can’t stand the smell of smoke. We met up at a restaurant and I got there early with balloons and a Birthday Queen tiara waiting for her. It was really important to us that she feel special. People react to turning 30 differently but the most important thing for us was her happiness. She so deserves it.

Dinner was good. Dessert was great. We turned the wrong way on our way to the comedy club and landed smack dab in the hood. We went to a gas station to ask for directions but these drunk-looking men came up wanting to chat. Eventually, this really young-looking cop came back and we asked him for directions instead. He was really gracious when we asked him for the particular street. He was like “Where are y’all going? Uptown?” I wondered how he just guessed where we were going but apparently on that street it’s either the comedy club or the strip club. He guessed right. We said yes and he drove ahead of us and showed us the way to the comedy club. Really nice of him. Anyways, trust our people. The line getting into the comedy club was loooooong. Why? I don’t know. Even though we had our tickets, we had to wait in line. They even had a VIP section with a shorter line but they still made people on that line wait. Whatever. The jokes by and large were very BET ComicView-like or HBO comedy-like and I’d forgotten how much comedians like to use bad words. Other than that it was fun. I stole glances at my girlfriend who is pretty conservative and a few times I was worried at how some of the jokes might affect her. I was glad when she called me the next day to say thank you and that she’d had a great time. She’s not the kind to say that just to be polite so I believe her.

Life Is Good

It's so easy to whine about life and how things don't always go my way but here are some reasons why life is good:

• Despite health scares - some of it caused by me being a hypochondriac, I am healthy.
• We got some dining chairs that I LOVE. Y'all need to see them. Totally cool and on SALE. They are plush and comfortable. Vastly different from the earthy looking ones we had going, these totally change the entire look of the place. Spur of the moment purchase but absolutely no regrets.
• Hung out with three of girls from my inner circle back in the day this weekend and their new families. I am so happy that we are in touch and still have each other's best interest at heart after almost 20 years of friendship. How cool is that?
• Oh, and one of my friends betrayed me recently and I'm okay with it because I knew she would. Actually, make that two. Two of my girls - not just one. You can't tell someone something and expect them not to tell anyone. Girls like to talk. I knew they would that's why I only give such gist about myself and nobody else. If it gets out, it's my gist. Besides, I half-expected it to anyway. I let the major culprit know that I knew what she had done and kept it light. We're still cool. Back in the day, it would have been a huge deal. These days, I'm like whatever.
• The least likely of my girlfriends kept her word and it feels good because she'll be the only one I'll be sure of in the future. Need to give her kudos for doing that. I so threatened her. I'm glad she didn't drop the ball.
• Moving on. I got asked to do what I call an ise iya (don't really know how to translate this but it's pretty much something my oga asks me to do that I don't feel like doing). It involves me doing a web & audio training for people to access time and time again. I didn't really want to do it because I don't like the idea of having my voice recorded like that for some reason. Also, I wasn't sure I could maintain the phonetics for that long without resorting to my Naija-speak. I guess I also don't want to hear in the hallways: "Who did that recording? They sure had an accent." Spoke to DH about it and ended up not feeling so bad about having to do it. Life is good when you can turn a negative into a positive.
• What else? Oh yeah, my scale broke. Not literally. It stopped working and I had to toss it out. I haven't been able to weigh myself in my usual everyday compulsive fashion since November maybe. Anyways, I sure have packed up some pounds since that time and the good news is that I am totally loving my body as it is right now. Really weird, but hey, I ain't lyin'.
• An old friend said she saw some pictures of me and asked if I was pregnant. Comments like that have the propensity to upset me and I will probably post about how inappropriate it is to ask if a woman is pregnant in the future. Normally, I can't stand when people ask that but I said to her, "No, I was just fat." Life is good when I say stuff like that without being sarcastic. If I looked preggie in that pic, it was because of the extras. And I really thought I was looking good with my mohawk and cutesy strapless dress. Moving on before I get mad about that.
• DH and I did three miles yesterday around us. I finally got a chance to show him houses that I had been eyeing. God knows if I lived in one of them, I probably would never want to move back to Naija. Okay, that last sentence does not fit in there. The point of that was we finally worked out together for the first time since a long time.
• When we got back, he made eba while I was in the shower. We had been debating about getting Chinese or cooking on our way home. I know. That's why I am fat :-)
• It's Spring Break this week. It's not the same as when you're in undergrad and can literally check out for a week. However, I get to come home and stay home. What that means is this, I am living my pre-grad school life for a week and it feels good.
• I discovered this place that does dry cleaning for $1.50 a piece. That is so ridiculous! Spring jackets too! I tried them out by only giving them eight pieces and there were no oil stains or other foreign stains on any of my clothes when they came back. I am totally going back there.
• Despite using most of my bi-weekly allowance (more on this later) to get my hair braided, I didn't go back to the ATM for more money to tide me over the next two weeks. This cash-only thing might work and that's a good thing.
• Last but not least, I'd been feeling bad about having to drive my bashed car like that to work but as I was leaving for the day, I saw one green Camry that's way way bashed. Kinda funny to feel good about not having the worst looking car on the block.
• Oh, and finally, finally. I am so on a roll when it comes to getting our last two properties rented out. DH says he's got his wife back because something in me just sparked and I've been aggressive about getting these places rented. I placed ads on craigslist and in the paper and I have (yes, TWO) open houses on Saturday. I'll be at one from 10:00 am and eight people have confirmed that they'll be coming. DH will be at the other from 11:00 (good wife that I am, he gets to sleep in) and four people have confirmed they'll be there. The best part about that is that we had those numbers as of Wednesday. Who knows how many more will call because surely, not everyone will show up. The best best part is that I have two people so serious about the one I am showing that one wants to meet, sign a lease and put a down payment on the place today. The other says he'll fax in his pay stubs as proof of employment. If all goes well, I might have to cancel my open house and guess who'll be sleeping in? HaHAHAHAAA!!! (wicked laugh)

Green Series

These days, I've got a lot on my plate and not much time to blog. I'm going to be putting up blogs that never got posted for one reason or the other. Green is my favorite color and for some reason, I've decided to publish these posts in green so that it's clear that they were not written in 'real-time'. It should be interesting because some of them didn't make it because they were not very PC (politically correct) or because they were too whiny. I'm such a self-censorer. Not that that's a word but you get the picture.

Totally un-related, but I've been thinking about telling my friends that I have a blog. I'm not exactly sure why but I hate talking on the phone aimlessly and this might be a good way for them to catch up with me. My friends can be funny as in, how come you didn't wish me happy birthday like you did Filay? Etc. Etc. They are really not that bad but I'm trying to anticipate potential issues.

Hungry Shopping: A Don’t

Silly me. Silly me. I feel like smacking my behind for being so silly. As I was jejely contemplating going to this store my sister and I discovered to pick up some $60 jeans that I had been agonizing over because they were NOT on sale, my rich-ass girlfriend called to find out what I was doing. I told her what was on my mind and she was like oh well, she was going to a nearby mall to return a purse and asked if I wanted to come along. Why not? The company would be nice and I could just look around to see what was new. Anyways, we met up to go to the mall and she told me the story of her purse. The long and short of it was that a dude she’s known for less than three months bought her a purse because she’d mentioned that she was looking for an everyday purse. Mind you, ol’ girl wasn’t dropping hints to get a purse; she can buy it by her sweet self. Anyways, next thing she knows, dude shows up with this $2,000 Dior purse. How did we know it was $2,000? The lady at the Saks counter rang it up and there it was. Anyways, she still had no use for the purse and wanted to look around to see if she could use her newly-acquired store credit to get something else. Let me just say that if it were me, I would have asked for the entire money to go on my card (Bloomies does this, thank their souls) and walked right out of the store. Instead, my friend was still looking for an everyday purse at Saks. Oh well, she wanted me to help her out so we started looking all over the place for an everyday classic purse. We looked all over the place and finally settled on one from Dolce & Gabbana for sixteen hundred. “Nice”, she said, “I could use the rest to buy some jeans later”. Chacun a sa maladie.

With her situation being settled, she wanted to help me shop. Now, that’s where I shoulda drawn the line because girlfriends we are but shopping buddies we are probably not. I don’t do full price for clothes. At least, not willingly. I have to love it and even then, it requires additional thought. This is my year of staying within my allotted cash budget. Anyways, because I’d been so gracious to her, she decided to show me one joint that I’d never been to in that entire mall. We get there and get this, pants start at $155. At first, I thought the whole store was a joke but the longer I stayed, the more stuff I had in the dressing room. Before we knew it, it was 8:00 PM. We had been in the store for over two, or maybe three hours and I hadn’t had lunch. I am not a happy camper when I’m hungry so I hurriedly paid for all my stuff – 2 pairs of pants, 1 jacket, and some capris for the springtime – so that we could get the heck out of there and go to dinner. Anyway, as I was paying, I heard the lady saying something about returning anything within 10 days, yada, yada, yada. Okay. Thank you very much. In fact, you’ve just given me a great idea, maybe when I’m back to my normal senses, I’ll return all this junk and get my money back. I spent waaaaaaaaaay too much and all I can do now is blame it on hunger. Note to self: Don’t ever go shopping hungry or with rich-ass girlfriends.

Mommy for a Day

This weekend (Saturday only), I had the pleasure of babysitting my friend’s three-year old son. I’ve known him since the day he was born. In fact, I helped take him home from the hospital. I’ve always offered to babysit for my friend because that’s what friends do and I can imagine that it must be difficult for parents to find time alone once they have kids. She never took me up on my offer to babysit so that she and her husband could do dinner and a movie or just straight up get away. Imagine my surprise when my friend calls me late on Friday to find out if I can watch her son the next day. This is like three years after telling her I could. Anyway, I was surprised but I said okay. In fact, I looked forward to it and dreaded it all at the same time because this little boy is all about his mommy. What caused the need for my services? My friend needed to get her hair done desperately and her husband was out of town. Cool. I asked her to come by my place and I would hook her up with my people who are good for last-minute situations. As we dropped her off, her son started to scream and I’m not kidding when I say scream. His face was red and he didn’t stop screaming. My friend looked like she was about to get back in the car but I convinced her to go ahead. There are not too many people that do ‘ethnic’ hair in my area and she’d found someone at the last minute. It would have been her loss if she didn’t seize the opportunity.

Anyways, I drove off with her boy screaming my head off. Then it occurred to me that I needed to strike some kinda deal with this little man. I turned around and asked if he wanted me to turn around and get his mom or if we should go to the park instead. Surprise, surprise, he chose to go to the park. I asked if he wanted us to pick his mom up before we went to the park or if we should just go now and he said he wanted to go now. I asked if his mom would be okay with us going to the park, he said he was pretty sure she would say yes. Nice! I called my friend to reassure her we were okay because I figured she’d be worried since her son was in all kindsa states when we left her. From that point on, the day went smoothly. It’s amazing how you can get children to behave. I had several stops to make before we could get to the park (relax in my crib for like 5 mins, go do amebo at my sisters', drop off my drycleaning, and go to the African store). The whole time, I let him know exactly what was coming next and when we would be going to the park. We finally made it to the park and I let him have his time. He did his thing on the swing and then got all kindsa dirty in the sandpit. It wasn’t until he was neck deep in sand that I realized that my friend might not appreciate me bringing him back dirty so we had to quit the sandpit. Other than that, we had a blast.

All in all, it was a good pretend-mommy day for me. A couple of times, I forgot to buckle the thingy on his car seat. Yeah, I had my Britney moment, but I parked to the side of the road and fixed it quickly. Then, at the store, I caved in and bought him some candy but apparently, his mommy doesn’t give him candy. Dunno how I did that. I probably wouldn’t have bought it for my kid either but I figured it was the nice thing to do since he’d been such a good boy the entire time. Besides, right before picking up his mom, I figured I could get in one last errand. We were at Bed Bath & Beyond buying trash bags and he said I didn’t buy anything for him so I caved in and bought him the candy he'd picked up. What else? Oh yeah. I wasn’t really aware of the whole eating thing. He’d eaten a burger at 3 o’clock and had some goldfish crackers and juice so I thought he was okay. However, by the time we were all back at my house at 7pm, he was pretty cranky and hungry. Go figure. I guess you need to keep those machines well oiled. One thing I did notice was that he was way better behaved with me than with his mom. Apparently, kids know who they can take advantage of and they do so without missing a beat. When we were at the store, I asked him to help me with one of my bags and he obliged. By the time we’d picked his mom up and were carrying all my stuff into the house, I asked him to help me with a bag and he took it and promptly handed it to his mother. I guess he knew when the gig was up.