The Good Thing About Being Black....

HELLO PEOPLE! How the heck are you? I hope life is treating you well... I was just thinking about a story I wrote a long time ago before they had blogs and I sent it to my friends. They enjoyed it a LOT and I was wondering if I told the story again would it be just as funny? It is a true story and I think about it sometimes when I walk up and down the stairs.... Now as I remember I wrote: The good thing about being Black is you can have a black-eye and bruised face and nobody will no the difference. (Actually now that I think about it, it is not really a good thing if you are being abused and don't know how to ask for help hopefully someone who sees you battered will ask for help for you.) BUT in my case it was a good thing. Anyway...one night in the middle of the night I had to go pee. You know how that is you are warm and cozy in the bed and so you lay there talking to yourself about whether or not you should get up in the cold and go to the bathroom or stay warm in bed. The warm in bed feels so good, but it could actually be warmer if you pee on yourself cause you didn't get up and go to the bathroom like you know you NEED to! So half asleep I get up and start walking towards the bathroom, somehow in the sleep stupor I am walking in I manage to turn slightly and the next thing I know....BAM! I walked right into one of the pillars holding up the cabin...HARD! I stagger back and grab the right side of my face try to laugh it off but its kind of hard to do with the pain in my eye...lip...cheek...nose...I find my way to the bathroom and sit turn on the light and sit down still holding my face. I finish doing what I got up to do and get up and look in the mirror. WHAT THE @$%@##!!!! My eye is swelling shut, my lip is three times it normal size and my cheek is red and purple....I call out for Gary. "Gary". I am still looking at myself horrified as things continue to change colors and swell. "Gary". There is sounds of snoring coming from the bedroom...is that blue and purple I see on my eyelid, that would be cool if I wore make-up? WOW that's a pretty color of red. "GARY!!" I can't believe women pay to have collagen put in their lips to get them this big "GARY GARY GARY!!!!!!" Finally I hear WHAT?! "Come here!!!!" 'What the hell do you want???!!!' "LOOK AT MY FACE!!!" What's wrong with your face? "LOOK AT MY FACE!!!!" I close my eyes and point to the rainbow affect taking place there and then to my lip which is the size of a beach ball now. I said 'Gary I walked into the pillar and now look at my face!' WHY DDIDN'T YOU COME WHEN I CALLED YOU THE FIRST TIME!!!! What first time? Seriously Gary??? I could have fallen down the stairs and killed myself and you wouldn't have heard a thing would you? Gary said, "If you were really hurt you would have been swearing and then I would have known there was a problem." REALLY?! Gary is Irish and to him that means profanity is the acceptable language to use in all situations and MUST be used as often as possible and with much vigor and color!!!! Gary can stub his toe or drop something on the floor and a barrage of profanity will follow. I don't get it but that's how he rolls it. I remember when I had surgery and my sister came to help me and take care of my sister while I was recovering. Gary went to KFC to get some food for us, since I was recovering and my sister was being me at the time, which meant she spent most of her day in Flagstaff and two hours driving back and forth between Williams and Flagstaff. When Gary got back home with the food it was discovered that they had forgot to put the coleslaw in the bag, Gary had gone through the drive thru and he did not check the bag before he pulled off. To my sister's surprise upon the discovery of the missing coleslaw Gary proceed to let out a barrage of profanity that would have made Joan Rivers take notes! "Son of a $%^#&# Mother&#^#%@&*(@ they didn't put the coleslaw in the bag...@#^*&^$Y&#$(* )(#$)#($*#)($*)# $$$holes! @#%^$&*#&(*$&#)_!*#(&*** you ruined the whole thing! The WHOLE THING IS RUINED NOW WITHOUT THE COLESLAW!!!!" I am laying in the bed trying to get comfortable and my sister comes up the stairs and says in a hushed voice,"Should we be concerned? Do we need to leave?" I asked what the matter was and she said, "Don't you hear Gary downstairs?" I said oh yeah...ignore him he always does that when things go wrong or he stubs his toe or drops something...he's IRISH! He will calm down and stop talking in a minute. She said really? Are you sure??? I said yeah just go down and eat the chicken and mashed potatoes it will be alright in a minute. Gary you gotta love him! Sometimes.... Anyway...back to my original story...so that morning when I got up I realized that it was not a nightmare that I had the night before and that I really did have a black-eye, bruised cheek and a Steve Harvey size lip! I got dressed and went to work and walked around the whole day, at a LAW FIRM, and no one asked me any questions or said,'WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU EYE! WHY IS YOUR LIP SO BIG!!!' NOPE no one said a thing to at all which is why I thought it is good to be Black cause nobody can tell when you jacked up! On the one hand it was nice cause the true story of walking into the pillar at the time seemed kind of lame on the other hand really people you couldn't see I had a black eye and big lip???!!! I think I told the story better the first time, cause I was in the moment of the actual event. BUT when I think back on it, it is funny. See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie

SO What's It All About....

HELLO PEOPLE!!! Can you believe that January is almost over??? WOW the first month of the year 2015 and it will be over in 3 days...CRAZY!!! Time is flying by these days and people are becoming more and more self absorbed and actually more and more brazen with the things they are doing NOTHING seems to be off limits. I saw an advertisement the other day for a show that is coming to a cable TV near you. It is called "Sex in a Box", the premise of the show couples have sex in a box in front of an audience. I thought I was hearing things but NOPE that is an actual show and it will be on for you to view if you so chose. I don't believe the box is clear I think it is shaded BUT they will have lights on it thus you will be able to see the silhouettes of the people involved. That and they walk out afterwards and off to the side of the stage...I THINK they will be critiquing the performance? I don't really know why it's a show as my mouth was dropped open and you know when your mouth is open it clogs your hearing. Well, it does mine. Are we really that desperate for something to see on TV that this is entertaining???? LORD PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON US!!!! Somethings just make you shake your head in disbelief you wonder what are people thinking or more plainly....WHAT THE HELL???? I have been doing that a LOT lately things seem to be spiraling out of the 'norm' and into the great unknown and believe me it's really SCARY! My niece is seeming to go backwards again and that is NOT acceptable! She was supposed to come to the house the other day, she wouldn't come. She thought smiling, hugging and almost cooing like a baby would make me leave her at Grandma's house. Really? The deal is you are supposed to stay with me during the week and Grandma on the weekend but she wanted to try me and see how far she could get. SAD! Then I start to wonder is the medication starting to lose its affect or is she really just being a kid and trying to see what she can get away with? With my niece is harder to tell especially with the medication she is taking, I sit and wonder do I need to call the Doctor to have her up the dosage or just assume its a teenage thing? I don't have kids...never wanted them and it's moments like these when I remember WHY I don't have kids....Its like an Oprah 'Ah Ha' moment and say to myself 'oh yeah THIS is why I don't have kids'. To the parents who do have children that are well behaved, respectful and kind I SALUTE you cause I know it was easy getting them to this point. To the parents who have children and are struggling to raise them to be well behaved, respectful and kind PRAYERS for you cause you obviously need them! AND to those parents who had children and basically ignored them and they raised themselves, thus making you the parents of bullies and hellions...I say WHAT THE HELL!!! So what is life all about...what's it all about in general what are we all living for? Are we living just because we were one of the ones BLESSED to be given life or are we living in an effort to make a difference??? I hope we are trying to make a difference...but I have learned the hard way everybody is not like me. Its hump day people and time is flying by... what are you going to do with the time you have? See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie

Do You Remember....

THIS IS THANKFUL THURSDAY!!! What are you thankful for? HELLO PEOPLE! I have just a few minutes before I have to leave for work, I spent most of the morning trying to get the 'WiFi' to work! Don't you just LOVE modern technology?! UGH!!!! Anyway, this morning I was able to get the kids off to my mom's house and even had time to sit and WAIT for the bus...we took a leisurely drive over the hill even went UNDER the speed limit! We had to go under the speed limit cause the person in front of me wouldn't GO!!!! Got to my mom's and she had her house set on HELL like usual for this time of year! I don't understand WHY you would set your thermostat on the HIGHEST temperature there is and then walk around with a T-Shirt on? Why not put on a sweater or sweatshirt SAVE the energy and MONEY and be just as cosy???!!! I don't get it! I can only stay in her house for a short time when I go over there in the winter, it's just TOO HOT! Remember when you were little and your parents would embarrass you to know end, mostly just by being your parents?! My mom to this day will just put on anything and go out in public. ANYTHING! I have told her several times not to tell people I am her daughter. She has told me that "I was over there in Safeway and I was wondering why everybody was looking at me when I walked by? So I looked down and my gown was hanging down from under my pant leg and my coat was raised up in the back because I hadn't pulled it down over my clothes. They don't know they weren't laughing any harder than I was when I figured out what they were looking at." I said MOM! Did you see anybody that might know me? You didn't mention my name did you?! Well now that I have to have these kids up and out of the house before 7:00 a.m., I find that you just throw on anything you can find so you can get the job DONE! This morning I had on a dew rag...TOO short sweats over a slip that I was sleeping in and a TOO small sweatshirt that is a beaming NEON FLORESCENT GREEN!!!!Yeah we went out the door and I had on a flip flop and a boot! I was looking GOOD!!!! Good thing these kids don't know the difference and are just happy they got to have pop tarts this morning instead of Activia!!!! The Activia is mine cause you know I am old...BUT I didn't have anything else to give them for breakfast so...DON'T JUDGE ME!! I was thinking when I came back in the house and the sun was starting to shine, if my neighbors could see me looking like this what would they think? OH MY WHAT has moved in next to us??!!! FUNNY and SAD!!!! I thought about Dr. Nate Avery (#BLE) too and a conversation I had with him a day or two before he died. We were in the elevator and he was asking me how my children were. I said Dr. Avery you must have me confused with someone else. He said they're gone? I said no I don't have any...he stood there looking sad and I said what is wrong Dr. Avery you having a problem with your kids? He said, "yeah, they are growing up to fast and I don't like it!" I said OH they must be at that age where they don't want you around huh? He said, "yeah, they want you to drop them off a block before their stop or around the corner and I told them that I wouldn't pick my nose in front of their friends anymore but..." I said Dr. Avery I can see why your kids don't want you around...picking your nose really?! Then I just BURST into laughter!!! Dr. Avery was hilarious, for a neurosurgeon he made me shake my head in disbelief a LOT at some of the stuff he would say! WOW! Sadly he died WAY too soon! I was thinking about my dad again this morning sometimes when I think about him I get his PAIN in my chest...memories are the best though aren't they?! BE THANKFUL FOR THE MEMORIES sometimes that's all we have left!!! I read that somewhere and it is so true! HEY did I mention that this is the #YearOfPluto... the year of Pluto they are going to do a fly by, by the planet PLUTO and the Observatory is having all kinds of things to promote interest in this fly by that is happening in July...June? Anyway...Can you imagine what memory that will make to actually SEE the planet PLUTO???!!! I gotta get to work.... See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie

Your Phone is Ringing....YOUR PHONE IS RINGING!!!

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!!! Well good morning snow shine!!! SO how the heck are you all doing? I hope this writing finds you well and in good health. I asked my mom to come over last night to stay with my sister and niece while I went to pick up my TV so I could see the Oregon game last night. Really sorry they lost like that...I am sure they will be CHAMPIONS next time around...ANYWAY onto the next episode. SO this how the morning went. I got the kids up at 5:40 the alarm went off at 5:30 I got up and turned the heat up so it would warm up in here and then 10 minutes later when it went off again...we're off!!! Lynzee it's time to get in the shower and get ready for school, come on get up! She sits up in the middle of her bed and rubs her eyes, scratches her legs, stomach, arm, BUTT! While she is scratching I put a load of wash in the dryer. Lynzee can you go to the bathroom so that we can get the rotation started please?! She slowly drags herself down the hall...come on Stinky let's go upstairs and get your lunch started. My mom says from the room she is in, 'what do you want me to do to help?' Nothing just stay there and we will do our routine. SO I turn on the shower Lynzee is still moving like molasses and my sister is walking around in circles touching everything in sight....Lynzee finally gets in the shower and I ask my mom to get up and make sure that she washes herself. My mom standing in the door to the bathroom, "I sssssseeeeeeee yyyyyyoooooouuuuu". Momma really Lynzee is 16 years old just make sure she washes herself. Stinky come on! I put the washcloth and bath towel in the bathroom for Lynzee and I say to my mom make sure she washes herself. I call Kim to see if school is on a regular schedule or snow schedule, cause you know this is Flagtown and as soon as a snowflake falls they are either canceling school or delaying it. Now when I went to school we could have snow up to our BUTTS and we still had to go AND there was no delayed schedule!!! But I digress. Kim didn't answer her phone. Lynzee finally gets out of the shower, it's time to put my sister in the shower and get her ready my mom is justing standing in the hall starring. I am not sure at what but....yeah anyway. I get my sister in the shower go upstairs and start the lunch. Mom can you make sure that Lynzee is getting dressed and not just sitting there please? My mom is still standing in the hall...I walk by Lynzee's room she is just sitting there holding her towel around her looking at the floor...Lynzee get dressed. I go upstairs and get the snacks and water together for the lunch, get the meat out for the sandwich and run back downstairs to make sure everybody is still moving. They are, YAY! I go back upstairs and the dryer goes off...ding dong...ding dong...that's not really the sound it makes it is a musical sound, that I can't explain here BUT you get the picture. Ding dong....ding dong...my mom, "Your phone is ringing, is this it? HELLO!" Me: That is the dryer. Ding....dong...ding...dong...my mom, "YOUR PHONE IS RINGING! HELLO!!! HELLO????" Me: That is the dryer not the phone. My mom why don't you answer your phone!!! Me: IT'S THE DRYER!!!! The dryer is ringing to let you know its done it's not the phone! The finally all get dressed and leave...my mom leaves her glasses, her sweater, her blanket....Today I think I will leave my mom at home cause it was more work having her here than if I was by myself.... See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie

DAY THREE

GOOD MORNING SUNSHINE!!!! HAPPY FRIDAY!!!! I know the meaning of the saying 'Thank God It's Friday!' Today was the third day of my niece being back in the house with me and my sister, they were better today than they were yesterday! The third time has been a charm the only problem today was me. I didn't do any night before prep as I had done the two previous days...SO this morning I had to do EVERYTHING fix the lunch, get the showers and get medicine and shoes on so we could leave and try to beat the bus to my mom's house!!!! Another narrow escape! We flipped a U' Turn as the bus was coming around the corner again. I am glad my niece is with me now, I feel like I have some control over what she is being exposed to, in other words I can control whether or not her mom is having contact with her. NOW don't get me wrong about her mom contacting her that's another story that I don't have time for right now...my biggest concern is to make sure my niece keeps PROGRESSING and not REGRESSING!! She will be 18 soon and I hope that she is independent and no longer on the medication she is taking. It is truly sad to see a child with Down Syndrome on 'anti psychotic' medication. Now without going into much detail does that give you an idea of why I want to keep her mother's contact to a minimum????!!!!! FRIDAY is everyone's most favorite day of the week...looks like it will start to be mine as well! I was just thinking that next week should go FAST cause the following Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr., day which is a holiday so we will get three (3) count them THREE days off!!! As that thought crossed my mind I thought something else I was going to hope for this year. I hope that people including myself learn to stop and enjoy the day they are in and have been BLESSED to see! Each day is a gift and so many of us ignore the gift we have looking forward to or anticipating a future gift that may not be presented to us. Think about it. All of us have be given a certain amount of time on this earth and when we wish for Friday or the next three (3) day weekend to come we are rushing the time that we have for time that may not be meant for us to see. I hope people realize that anticipation is good in its place, like what's for dinner or what did we get for our birthday or Christmas, but we should learn to enjoy what we have while we have it available! Did you ever stop and think that when you are wishing for FRIDAY to hurry up and get here you maybe wishing for your life to be over? You see we don't know when your time will be done so when we wish for something far off in the future we could be wishing ourself away. Today is a gift that has been given to you, tomorrow is not promised to you so let's enjoy today and not worry about what will or will not be tomorrow because it may not be your problem to be concerned about. HAPPY FRIDAY!!! Enjoy your weekend and each day that you are given See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie

DAY TWO!!!!

ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT!!! Day TWO and this still can go either way! This morning was not as smooth as day ONE but that's okay...it took a lot of Stinky put that down....put your hand down don't block the water coming out of the shower! Put your hands down....STOP IT!!!! Lynzee you need to move around in the shower you just can't stand there you need to get your whole body wet...no the other side needs water too...Lynzee MOVE! The same dialog went on as we proceeded to get dressed, take our medicine AND get in the car! Get in the car Stinky...get in...no leave the door alone Lynzee can do it herself...YOU GET IN!!! Good thing there was no Po Po out this morning that I could see cause we did about 60/65 coming over Cedar Hill (Forrest) we get to the bottom of the hill there is a bus coming from Coconino headed towards Linda Vista/Grandview is that Lynzee's bus??? COME ON LIGHT CHANGE! We get the green light I hit the gas peddle cut off some cars coming as we swerve onto Grandview street, no bus in front of the house but I can see lights coming around the corner up ahead...flip a U-Turn, run around the car and open Lynzee's door just as the lights start to flash on her bus. WE BEAT THE BUS! WE BEAT THE BUS!!!! YES!!!!! Tomorrow is Friday I think I now know the true meaning of THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY! Tomorrow is another day lets hope that day three is the preverbal 'charm'!!!! This is day 8 of 2015 and so far this year is starting out with a BANG! Unrest and terrorist in France?! I thought they were like Switzerland...neutral and never involve themselves in anybody's business! This kind of puts a monkey wrench in my hope that 2015 be an 'uneventful' year. I am not deluding myself that there will not be any events that make the news I was just hoping that the events wouldn't involve war, racism, children committing suicide due to being bullied by their so called 'FRIENDS' and maybe just a little even just a tiny modicum of respect for the President. Wouldn't that be a glorious year?! I think so...I won't even pretend that people would be kinder and help their fellow man that would be a childish assumption. As 2014 ended I read this news report about this little girl who hanged herself in her closet after leaving a note on her Facebook page of "I wonder if I died today would anybody cry?" There were lots of people crying including me cause that is really sad that a child thinks their only way out of their misery is to take their own life. I heard about another child who hanged herself because she was really tall and the kids made fun of her for that, even after her parents took her out of the one school and put her in another...maybe I am getting my stories mixed up? BUT the fact that there are so many stories of this kind that I can be confused about which kid did what is INSANE!!! I use to be called Jolly Green Giant, String Bean, Skinny Minnie, etc. when I was growing up. I was even told that my mom should have named me Minnie instead of Mattie cause it rhymed better with skinny! I think kids have been taunted by other kids since the beginning of time unfortunately the taunts have either become more threatening or more cruel or kids are just not prepared for what may happened to them in the real world?? Maybe the kids these days are being pampered too much by their parents so much so that when they are out in society anything to the contrary of their parents accolades are hard for them to take. Parents should be their children's biggest supporter and cheerleader! BUT I think at some point they should also prepare their children that life is not always going to be rainbows and lollipops some people are not being raised in the same manner as you, and may take their unhappiness out on others!!!! I hope that aside from the story of the two little girls KILLING their brother that the deaths of children whether natural, at the hands of others or by their own hands is minimal this year. Life itself is too short to be anything but happy, if you are not happy tell somebody about it maybe they can do something to make you happy. Parents prepare your kids for REAL life not the fairy tale you prepared for them in the confines of your home. Until next time.... See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie

DAY ONE!!!

Hello People!!! How the heck are you doing? I hope this blog finds you well. Today was the first day of my niece staying with me (again) at my new place in Flagtown....The outcome could have gone either way good or bad...BUT it went well!! Lynzee stayed last night she got up this morning and got ready for school and we were able to get to my mom's before her bus came so she could ride the bus to school as usual! The only difference I am aiming for in this transition is that she stays here at night and everything else stay the same, she will still go to the Nuthouse after school, ride he bus as usual and life will be easy!!!!! PLEASE GOD LET IT BE!!!! After yesterday's phone call the to the phone company KARMA could have come back and bit me BIG TIME in my ASS! Not that I was wrong in what I did (shut up this is my opinion), BUT I was wrong in who I directed my anger at. The person who answered the phone was not the problem the problem started with the sales person who LIED to me about what I was getting. NOW had this person simply said when I asked for phone service for $9.99, that they did not have such a plan we could have discussed other options...BUT no Einstein decided he would just agree to whatever I was saying as if I would be naive or stupid enough to not know the difference when the bill came! RIGHT!!! Now the guy who answered the phone yesterday told me that they offered an unlimited plan for incoming and outgoing calls for $15.99 per month. HOWEVER since I wasn't told about this at the start don't try to sell me on it now, your sales rep screwed you! AND the sad part is the FIRST technician that came out to turn the phone on didn't help the situation either as it took TWO technicians to get the job done. The first guy said he had the phone working, HOWEVER when the SECOND guy came out he said that the phone line from the outside of the house WAS NEVER CONNECTED TO THE HOUSE!!! So how in the H E double hockey sticks could the first guy say he had done his job???? Seriously!!!! I explained all this loudly to the second person I talked to in the 'disconnect' office...in my opinion that is the problem with a lot of people in America nobody wants to do their job or go that extra mile to make the company they are working for look good. Good old fashion customer service is no longer around...SAD!!! Everybody says 'that's not my job!' I REALLY dislike hearing that, if you work for someone to me whatever is being asked of you IS your job!!! BUT that is just my opinion a work ethic I got from my parents!!!! The Bible tells us that we should do all things as if unto God...I will tell you first hand that my conversation with those people at the phone company yesterday...God was not in it anywhere...I am sure He was saying 'now she knows better than that'!! BUT sometimes people will take you right there! I guess our job is not to let them take you there!!!! I am working on it! Let's see how day TWO goes!! See ya when I see ya! Peace! Mattie