What better way to make my return than with a video for the public.

I could easily start my day out with a huge to do list and then obsess over it until I’ve either checked everything off or worn myself out and accomplished nothing….therein feeling like an ultimate failure.

But I’m not going to.  Instead I’m going to dump all of this to do crap on Y’ALL and then I’m going to see Captain America and eat some popcorn and reese’s pieces.  :)

Grade papers

Post grades

Create weekly meal plan using ingredients purchased yesterday

Vacuum

Hmmmmm borrow a vacuum to vacuum

Buy some candles

Move table upstairs to put candles on

Order pictures from Walgreens

Pick pictures up (I’ll actually do this as Walgreens is across the street from the movie theater LOL)

Send out some catching up emails

Call CBean

Try to find an old picture of me and TPS for my photo frame downstairs (Not only did I abandon that project but I’m just going to leave one of the spaces in the collage empty and we’ll take another one some day LOL)

Do my hair

Iron clothes for this week

Buy N’Dambi tickets

Clean makeup brushes

Prepare course materials for new class

Write blog posts for the week

Search for cheap ass photographer to take pictures of my cupcakes

Test pie crust recipes

Review business plan

Contact SCORE mentor about business structure

Find UPS Mailbox location

Order D&B number

Yeah…..y’all work on that.  I’m rolling over until it’s time for the movie.

This was my 5 minute Stream of Consciousness Sunday post. It’s five minutes of your time and a brain dump. Want to try it? Here are the rules…

• Set a timer and write for 5 minutes only.
• Write an intro to the post if you want but don’t edit the post. No proofreading or spellchecking. This is writing in the raw.
• Publish it somewhere. Anywhere. The back door to your blog if you want. But make it accessible.
• Add the Stream of Consciousness Sunday badge to your post.
• Link up your post on Fadra’s blog (linked in the image above).
• Visit your fellow bloggers and show some love.

I want to say that I first realized something today but honestly it’s something that I’ve known for a long time and maybe I refused to call it what it was or fully understood.

I was raised to live cheap….not frugal, not on a budget, CHEAP…..at the cost of living well.  The funny part is that I come from two people who vary greatly on the subject.  My mother is the CHEAP one.  My father was all about living well.  You want a bike?  Get this bike with the air brakes on the handles and the top of the line wheels so you can fly through the air like a jet.  It’s college t-shirt day at school?  Don’t go to Sears and get the state school shirt.  No…we’re going online to order you a shirt from any HBCU you want!  You’re thirsty?  Put that quarter sugar water down and come get a cup of this kool aid.

It’s not that he was a brand whore.  He believed in having what he wanted to have.  Period.  Point blank.

My mother on the other hand would suffer with sub par for the sake of saving pennies.  Hungry?  Eat these weinies.  I bought 100 packs on sale for $1.  Need new shoes?  These are on clearance.  I’ll glue the sole back on.  Out of makeup?  Go see what they have at the dollar store.  I remember taking my mother grocery shopping with me one time (I wrote about it once).  I shopped at Whole Foods before it was called Whole Foods because I go through stages where I value what I put into my body.  At the end of the day I spent $90 and she was astonished at how little (in her opinion) was in my basket.    When my mother buys a car she wants the cheapest box on the lot.  Been in a wreck?  No problem.  Manual windows and locks?  No problem.

The last time I bought a car my father called me and said “Diva…..don’t get the most basic model they have please.  Treat yourself to a few bells and whistles.”  I got the fully loaded one with heated leather seats and the moon roof and let me tell you….it felt gooooooooooood. That was the first time in my life I didn’t have to crank a handle to roll the windows down.  (Remind me to later write about the fact that one of my parents is actually a whole lot more supportive than the other too).

What brought this all to mind you ask?  GROCERIES!  I was making a grocery list and my mother asked “what are you getting?”

Fish
Asparagus
Olive oil
Spinach
Muscles
Kale
Ground turkey to make turkey burgers this weekend

She turned her nose up and said “You buy that expensive food….FISH….ASPARAGUS”

I have lost 8.6 pounds in 2 weeks in the weight loss competition at work.  For the first time in a year some health problems associated with my femininity didn’t flair up this month.  My nails and hair are growing like weeds.  And my mood swings and somewhat tolerable.  On the drive home I realized that her goal was to make me feel bad about living well.  She has chosen an entire life of living cheap over living well and, in my opinion, is paying dearly for it.

BRAND NEW DAY (just like in The Wiz)

I will not feel bad for living well no matter how much money you think I overspend!