Did I tell you...

...that hedoesn't look like this anymore? he had the ponytail because i wanted him to be like the rest of the fam: john and i both have afros and ahmad has dreds. i wanted kea to have braids but i tried braiding it once...ONCE. i figured i'd wait about another six months and try to braid it again. but, daddy decided that he wanted it cut. up in here, daddy has the last word!! i talk all that trash but hubbs IS the man! anywho, now the littlest looks like this
i didn't like it at first but now it's grown on me...i still think he'd be the BOMB with a mini afro...don't you?
the new challenge is up at lotus. we have a sketch challenge this time. i did a layout about it..wanna see it? here it go:
if you haven't already...come over to the dark side...umm, it's too late at night and i haven't had much sleep. what i MEANT is come over and give lotus a try!
i'm sad about his
passing. yeah, i know he may have POSSIBLY done some terrible things. but, all i can think about is how much joy he brought to my life over the years. if he DID do wrong, i hope he redeemed himself with God before he succumbed. what do you think about mj?
i KNOW some one is gonna ask if i'm sick because this is less than 10,000 words but i'm just TIRED! i'll be back soon...PROMISE!!!

two warnings...

...for you! first of all, i haven't blogged in 13 days (forgive me readers, for i have slacked!). so, this is going to be an EXTREMELY long post! don't worry, though...just bookmark the site and read the rest over the next few days (YEP...it's gonna be THAT LONG!) on to more serious information: if you don't ALREADY HAVE a baby daddy, i IMPLORE you to please not give into the temptation of getting one! now, i don't mean those nurturing, caring men who are available and involved with your kids! no!!! webster's defines "baby daddy" as...what?!? it's not in YOUR dictionary?!?!? well, it's in MINE! i'll just read it TO YOU! it says: "baby daddy-adj:an idiot whose sole focus in life is to cause you to be stricken with a troubling illness (i.e. ulcer, stroke, heart attack). one who feels irritating his child's mother is more important than time spent with the aforementioned child". THIS IS REAL, PEOPLE!!! trust me...i have a baby daddy!!! when i met ahmad's father, he had a touch of crazy...now he has a full blown case. i think he's lost his mind along with his hair! here's the deal: we went to court a few years ago and ahmad was ordered to be with his father every other weekend and from june 7 to august 7th every summer...with the exception of july 4th. now, his father lives in georgia so that every other weekend thang? that was a performance that was 'specially for the judge...you all would have LOVED court that day! there were violins playing and every thang!!! anywho, his MOTHER gets ahmad every other weekend and every summer we have the same argument: he takes the team he coaches (even though he can't work with HIS SON...i digress) to orlando every july 4th so he wants to keep ahmad. THIS year, we asked him if he could do just that: keep ahmad for the 4th and let him come home a week early. that way, mama could visit cha, the family could visit disney and we would all be happy! well, you know the FOOL...excuse me, the father said no! i KNOW it's not of God to wish someone would get run over by a bus, so i'll just pray for that dude! LADIES!!!TAKE my experience...live it...learn it!!!! and if an idiot walks up to you and asks to be your baby daddy...SPIT ON HIM!!!
whew! glad i got that off my chest (happy thoughts...happy thoughts!) ahmad's party was great! it wasn't new orleans hot that day. our heat is different from other places because of the humidity. the thermometer might say 90 degrees but it actually feels like 195 degrees! it was really windy that day so no one spontaneously combusted! i made the first birthday cake i've made since i was a teenager!
now, i'm a pretty smart lady! i think i know sumthin sumthin! now i get the opportunity to teach YOU a lil sumthin sumthin: there are certain things you CAN experiment with adding to a receipe and other times you should leave well enough ALONE!!! you see, i have a receipe for cream cheese pound cake...the BOMB!!!! but, ahmad wanted a chocolate cake. so, mama decided "SCREW looking for a receipe for CHOCOLATE cake...i'll just add cocoa powder to THIS receipe!"....nooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!! it was the strangest looking cake i've ever seen! it felt like it weighed 25 lbs! my dad took one taste and told me, "girl, cocoa powder leaches the MOISTURE out of the cake!" (OHHHHHH!!!!) well, i know better for NEXT TIME!!! and there WAS a next time because i made TWO CAKES for john's party! i'll get to that in a minute! here are some shots from mahd's day:

i took some pretty HAWT shots (if i may say so myself!) but NONE of them (other than the one of ahmad!) can touch THIS ONE:for those of you who haven't already been KNOCKED OVER THE HEAD with this: this is my BABY!!! the first male child i carried in my womb...the first one i fed and nurtured and beat down (only when he needed it!). but, when i looked at this picture, i was like, DANG!!!! he doesn't look like a baby....he's a SEXY young man!!! i can see women batting their eyes at him and coyly asking, "do you see anything you LIIIIKE?!?!" aww, man! i hope he doesn't go away to college and hook up with someone who wants him as a play toy. if you all EVER get a post from john saying i'm in jail, you KNOW someone played with my baby and i had to SHANK her! i need you all to get together and get my address from taj, julie or jaime lynne so that you can all rally together and make scrapbooks for my family. because as taj pointed out, i won't be allowed to have scissors in jail!!!
speaking of taj, i got this delivered to me this past week:
i had such a good time going through all my goodies and i've already started kreating with them! it feels good to have people who understand this obsession and CONTRIBUTE to it! like peggy! i commented on some playing cards she used in some of her art and she sent me some...all the way from her little town!!! i'm gonna do a layout soon about all the great folks i've run across while kreating art!
ok, i've bored you long enough, so i'll save the story of john's party for the next post! one last thing: check out the layout i kreated for lotus this week:

the prompt is to use negative space...you likee?!?!? then get over there and play!!!! i have it on GOOD AUTHORITY that the other lotus buds rawked it hard, too...so GO AND SEE!!! i promise to be back soon with pix and drama from john's party!!!

my first...

...design team layout for lotus is live! we were challenged to use felt this week so i bought some felt sheets and cut out my own embellies! here's my layout:
the ray of sun with the arrow on the end? well, of COURSE it's pointing to the GASH ahmad put in his brother's head...they were "PLAYING!" (oh...right!) i've gone through this a time or two thousand so i know how rough boys play together! anywho, make sure you visit lotus to see what the other girls came up with!!!

because peggy asked

ahmad's party is tomorrow. i have a list of EIGHTEEN things to accomplish before then, so i really shouldn't be blogging AT ALL! but, peggy asked me two interesting questions and because i love her SO SO much, i feel the need to clarify my last post. she asked, "what's up with the two moms?" and "what the HECK do you mean you and your sister just found out five years ago that you're related?" well, she didn't EXACTLY ask THAT WAY but that's what she wanted to know! so, as quickly as i can...here's my drama!
the mothers are easy to explain. i don't believe in step. you know, stepmother, stepfather, stepdaughter. so, even though i've only given birth to three boys, you'll hear me say that i have six children: five boys and one girl. the extras came with my good husband...they were a part of the blessing that is him! my parents divorced when i was 2 and God blessed my mom with a husband who ONLY wanted me...he never wanted my mom to have more kids. he told my mom,"i'm satisfied with kean". i'm the oldest of my mother's four children, so i don't know what happened THERE! anywho, he will tell me to THIS DAY that i'm his favorite! so, i've never refered to him as my stepfather...he's my daddy! so, you'll hear me say "my father whose deceased" or "my daddy" and now you know what i mean! i said ALL OF THAT to say the two moms include the one who gave birth to me and the one who married my biological father. see, i hit the parent JACKPOT because even though my father passed away, his wife is still my mom, i still talk to her almost every day and she still drives 10 hours when one of her grand "chi'ren" graduates!
the sister thang is a little more complicated! i've known for a very long time that i had a sister who was a few months older than me but i've been searching for her. in 2004, nicole (my sister in the layout in my last post) invited me to a party for her brother-in-law. i fought against going so she and her husband decided to pick me up...you know, one of those "if we show up at your door, you'll have no choice" kinda things. when they picked me up, nicole's mother was in the car, too. so, nicole's sister shows up later. we all dance together and sweat together and have a GOOD time. at one point, nicole was standing between me and her sister she grew up knowing and she taps this guy in front of us on the shoulder and says, "turn around. i want to introduce you to my sister and my friend." he turns around and says, "oh, you don't have to tell me! THAT'S your sister and THAT'S your friend!" now, this isn't new to us because remember we went to school together and we've heard how much we look alike FOREVA!!! the ironic thing is that WE look alike but she and her other sister look NOTHING alike! so, nicole laughs and tells this guy, naw, you're wrong! it's the other way around! this guy ARGUED HER DOWN!!! fast forward: nicole's mom whispers to me, "come outside with me...i need to tell you something". now, i'm following her outside, saying to myself, "ok, my cycle just passed so she CAN'T be telling me that my clothes are soiled!" she asks me, "do you know how that guy and everyone keep telling you and nicole how much you look alike?" uhmmm, YEAH! "well, that's because you ARE sisters!" okay....i literally started looking front, back, side to side. she was like, "what are you looking for?" i said, "the cameras because i KNOW this is a joke!" she was like, naw, you two have the same father. then, i was preparing to BEAT HER DOWN because i was like, "you don't even KNOW my daddy!" uhmmm, turns out she does...she did...in a BIBLICAL sense! i ran into the club, BOO HOOING, and grab nicole and bring her outside. her mom tells her what she just told me and SHE starts boo hooing and...the rest you know. we didn't speak for a couple of years after we found out because...long story short (YEAH, RIGHT!!): she told our father OFF and stopped speaking to him and he died wanting to reconnect with her. i'm a person who loves HARD! if you're one of the people i'm down for, i can't STAND to see you get hurt! and it was like that with my dad. i hated seeing him waste away and just wanting to talk to nicole one more time before he died (my dad had liver cancer and was given 6 months to live...he lasted four...so, he knew it was coming!). i was SO angry with her that i didn't communicate with her for years. well, God spoke to me and told me that wasn't my battle...NICOLE has to answer for dishonoring her father. He let me know that i was blocking my blessings by holding this animosity in my heart for my sister. so, i reached out to her again...i ASKED the president of our class to announce that we are biological sisters. i figured with SO MANY witnesses, maybe our relationship will have a chance to survive this time! so, that's a SMALL part of my life's drama! and peggy:when john comes home from helping the church group and sees me on the computer, i'm gonna tell him to come to belgium and choke YOU because it's YOUR fault!

btw, i got this from pam:

::karma award::

Thanks TanishaRenee for this KARMA award! I juss love this sistah--she has such a beautiful spirit--and her work is truly funktified!!

The Karma Award: These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind of bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

So the following sistahs get this funktified award from me--some i've just met and some i've already known for some time---dont matta becuz they all encourage and inspire a sistah over here--Their flava of scrappin' is like grabbn a fork and stickin' it in a pot of collard greens and puttin' it all in ya mouff--Delicious--that was quite descriptive wasn't it??---Thats what I'm talkin' about when i get inspiration from them--if you dont belive me, go to their blogs and see for yourself--dont forget your fork and napkin--

Peace Ouutty and remain blessed!!!

Thomisia
Nana
Gerri
Bonafyde
Jennifer
Terrie
Kiwi
Taj
Iffy

groovy babyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

my very FIRST blog award!!! uhmmm, in case you didn't know...that kiwi...that's ME!!! i'm SO EXCITED! and especially to be lumped in with other great talents! i would like to thank GOD, my husband who so tirelessly deals with my kreations, the academy...can you tell i'm procrastinating?!?!? i'm gone for REAL this time!

this man...

...turned 43 on the 2nd! so, i stayed in the kitchen most of the day doing this:
until i had this:now, the man was out all day working with our pastor and a visiting church group. they were here to help rebuild our part of town (still a mess from katrina!). so, i made SURE to draw his bath (filled with bubbles, epsom's salt and bath beads) and i had his plate ready with a SMILE when he walked inside. do you know what MY husband said? "bay, i'm too FULL to eat!" seems the pastor took him to a BUFFET for lunch to thank him for all the work he did! if i didn't like him SO MUCH (my husband, not the pastor!) and if i thought i could get away with it...i would have SHANKED him!!!!

MAN!!! last weekend was SO busy but SO amazing!
*jamani graduated friday from high school...uhm, think i've told y'all that a time or SEVENTEEN
already! LOL!!! i was SO proud and happy when they announced JAMAL shawn perkins-
smith...what the HAM SANDWICH was up with THAT?!?!? i told him he should have just
stood there until they said it right! now, forever and ever we have to watch the video of
JAMAL walking across the stage...some foolishness, i tell ya!
*my mom who lives in florida came down to spend the weekend with us, so i had both of my
moms under one roof for the first timesince i got MARRIED! i guess the next time i'll see that is when somebody DIES! (God forbid!) anywho, my mom from florida started teaching me how to
crochet! i don't know how to connect anything yet but i can crochet the HECK outta that one
strand! i'll practice that and get some more lessons from her in the next few months!
*john and i went to my 20th reunion prayer brunch saturday. baybee, let me TELL YA: we had
CHURCH up in THERE, y'all! we had people testifying, preaching and SANGING (which is
actually BETTER than singing!) we had people cryin' all up IN there! oh, you KNOW i was
one of 'em (as john would say, with my SENSITIVE tail!) i tear up when someone has a
hangnail in a MOVIE!! i REALLY boo hooed when the class president announced to everyone
that the girl they all said looks like me...well, we found out about five years ago that we are
biological sisters! i was REALLY bawling then! i did a layout about it...wanna see it? here it
go!
i was SO drained when i left there! i just wanted to SLEEP for about three days straight...ALAS, there's no rest for mamas who commit to all of these different freakin' events in one weekend...or however that saying goes! hubbs and i got a few winks saturday night and got up early sunday to prepare for jamani's brunch. i wish i had taken a picture of the GALLONS of grits and LEGION of hash browns, biscuits,sausage patties AND links, plus scrambled eggs and grilled fish my husband and i made but i didn't...ya girl was tired and not thinking straight! as soon as we fed everyone and ushered them out (think:martin "everybody get to STEPPIN'!!!) we got dressed and went out to the riverview for our class picnic. we ate, took pictures and danced for about two hours. when we left there, we took my mom to the french quarter to stock up on some oils before she went back to florida. we FINALLY got to rest for a few hours once we got home sunday! great times were had...great memories were made...but i don't want to have such a full weekend again ANYTIME SOON!!! as soon as i finish this post, i'll get back to preparations for ahmad's 13th birthday celebration friday. i might be kinda NUTS because i'm hand decorating everything myself! ahmad has been a GREAT HELP with the cricut and the cutter! of COURSE, i'll take plenty of pix! and by the way, my mom didn't laugh TOO hard when i showed her the pix of kea writing on the floor! i was surprised; i expected at least ONE hearty "HA!!!!" or a "nan-nan-a-boo-boo!" but she just kinda chuckled...she's SLIPPIN'!