Wednesday, November 30, 2011

My Keys!!

Last year, as I was leaving for work one morning, I dropped my keys down the elevator shaft in my building. When I called building management, they informed me that it would cost $56 to get them fished out and returned to me; AND that I could only pick them up during the hours of 9am - 5pm, Monday - Friday... or something like that. I have a job during those days and hours, so I bid my keys goodbye, thanked God that Edward could let me in and that I had a spare set inside my apartment somewhere.

But today when I walked into my building lobby, I saw theeeesssse!!...



They are a little rusty and beat up, but I recognized them right away. I guess someone else in the building has clumsy problems too because there were another set of keys next to mine.

This really isn't blog worthy, but I'm thankful that I didn't have to pay $56 to get my keys back and thankful that I live in a building where keys can be left in the lobby and your neighbors can be trusted. All it takes is one person with too much time on their hands, to figure out which door the keys belong to.

~Louise C.
"Like" me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CazleyLouise

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Overcoming Obstacles in Writing

When it comes to writing, I have A LOT to say. My friends make fun of me and my ‘letters’ which I have written to anyone who has ever pissed me off. I have written letters to companies who, service wise, gave me less than I thought I deserved; and I have written letters to friends who thought they could pull one over on me. For some reason, writing makes people listen. I got the apartment I currently live in by writing a letter (they were giving me the runaround). Writing a letter can also be intimidating to others, but if you know me well, you know that I mean no harm. Writing is just my form of expression.

Because I have a lot to say (in writing) I never have a problem coming up with topics for my blog. I find inspiration in every experience and in every aspect of my life. I have a folder in my email with numerous pending blogs. Just sometimes, my mind moves faster than I can, and I only have time to shoot myself a note with a paragraph on the topic for further completion. Some blogs are pending due to the content. I want to write about certain (sexy, indecent) things, but I just need to figure out how to share without getting into trouble and maintaining my ladylikeness. A true lady would never discuss things pertaining to vaginas and farts so I guess I am no lady. Oh well…

Because I have been giving most of my writing attention to this fabulous blog, I haven’t been able to give my third book the attention it deserves. I will definitely get to it, because once something enters my mind, I do everything I can to bring that thought to reality.

Blogging is like exercise for my writing game, because (in my opinion) the more you write, the better of a writer you become.

With all of the expressing of myself that I like to do, I seldom suffer from writer’s block, but there are times when I feel like what I am writing isn’t melding the way I would like or a paragraph just doesn’t sound right or is missing a certain something. Writing is fun for me, so the second it begins to feel stressful, I know it’s time to take a break. Shutting down and taking a walk or even disengaging for 30 minutes helps. You come back with a clearer, stress free mind and when you are relaxed, good things can happen; good words can flow.

Another problem I run into with my writing is having the time to write, and sometimes not feeling like it. But the solution is to write even when you don’t feel like it. (This tip came from Edward. Gotta give him props otherwise I won’t hear the end of it). You might think that writing even when you’re not feeling inspired might not produce your best work, but you might surprise yourself. Once you sit down and begin writing, things could go in a direction you never expected, leaving you with a finished product way better than you originally imagined. Or you could end up with a first draft, improve a seventieth draft or add length to an unfinished project. Even a minimal amount of writing counts!

What are some of the obstacles you run into with your writing and how do you overcome them? Do Share.

Check out this blog ‘How to Write’ for a humorous take on writer’s block.

And Happy Writing to You!

~Louise C.
“Like” me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CazleyLouise

Monday, November 28, 2011

Hosting the Holidays

When I was younger, the warm, joyous feeling that we call ‘the holiday spirit’ filled me the second that the holidays arrived. The comfort that we get from the food we consume and being surrounded by good company only add to the warmth and the excitement of the holiday season.

I love to cook and I love seeing the satisfaction on the faces of my guests (and hearing their compliments). Knowing that I am responsible for making all of these people feel good with my food is my reward. Because of this, I have always looked forward to hosting the holidays at my house. But this Thanksgiving, I realized that this might not happen until I am a grandmother.

I am a domesticated homemaker at heart. I love clean laundry, I like a clean home, and I like to feed the people in my home with food that I prepared. I don’t necessarily like all of the work it takes to get all of those things done, but the outcome fills me with happiness and glee. Corny I know, but I love everything that has to do with making my home a comfortable haven… although if you walked into my house right now you would not get that impression. It’s always cozy, but I need to clean my stove and mop my kitchen, no foolin’.

Anyway, I’ve been waiting for my opportunity to throw down in the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day, but I’ve never been given the chance because there are so many moms in my life who are already carrying the Thanksgiving torch and would slice my throat if I either didn’t show up or kept someone from attending their Thanksgiving feast.

‘When I have my own family…’ is the thought that has crossed my mind in the past, but that solution doesn’t work either because when I have my own family, I’ll be forced to cart the kids around from one grandparent’s house to the other.

So for now, I’m making peace with the fact that if I want to host Thanksgiving, I will have to settle for the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving or just step back and let the moms do their job and not host anything at all. And there is always my annual Christmas Party. It isn’t Thanksgiving or on Christmas Day, but for now, it’s the compromise I will have to take.

In my opinion turkey is overrated anyway. I never reheat the leftovers because (to me) turkey tastes so much better when it’s cold. And my kitchen is cleaner (or should be cleaner) because I wasn’t obligated to cook. And thinking about how much cleaning is involved after cooking a feast, I actually feel a little relieved that I didn’t have to do a thing.

~Louise C.
"Like" me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CazleyLouise

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

No More Caffeine After Noon

I dedicated Undies in a Bunch to my dreams because I love them. My dreams are sometimes scary, sometimes lovely; a subconscious origination or a continuation of something I have seen or read.

Dreams are like a movie projected onto the back of your eyelids, but this movie is ingenious because it was created by you. In reality you aren't seeing anything because your dreams take place with slumbered imagination. I find them awesome and amazing.

I don’t know if this comes with age, but I find myself becoming more sensitive to certain things. Certain over the counter meds have a bad effect on me and caffeine seems to linger longer in my system keeping me up at night.

Two days ago, I filled about 1/3 of a cup with coffee thinking that there was no way this tiny bit of coffee would affect me. That night, I fell asleep somewhere around 11pm as usual and had no problems falling asleep; but I was jolted awake at 1am by a cloudy dream of me being on the 6 train platform and somehow still passing the stop where I was supposed to get off. The 6 train I was supposed to be on, passed over my head on an elevated platform above the elevated (moving) platform I was already standing on.

The frustration from my dream must have been what woke me up. I turned on the television and set it to shut off in 30 minutes. I dozed off shortly after and ended up in a hair salon with my mom in the South Bronx getting a Wave Nouveau (A curly perm, which I sported in my teens) applied to my hair. I left my mom at the hair salon, but hopped on the 2 train and headed to her house. Once I got off the train at 149th and 3rd Ave., I realized that it was 4am and suddenly felt alarmed about walking the two blocks from the train to her house at that hour.

There is a church on 150th and Melrose Avenue called Immaculate Conception and once I hit that block, I got flooded by bright, high beam lights from car which jumped the sidewalk (in the opposite direction of the traffic flow) to ‘playfully’ run me down. There were no other cars on the street, just the one trying to run me down. I looked over my shoulder at the driver before I started running and the expression on his face was snide as if he found humor in my fear.

Once I began running, he turned his car around and drove away from me in the correct direction of the traffic flow. I didn't stop running until I hit my mom's block, but then I heard guys yelling and asking where the girl went. (In my dream I was called a girl, not a woman…okay?) I knew they were looking for me. When I looked behind me, I could see about three guys running in my direction and somehow I knew that they were with the guy who was in the car.

Usually if someone is chasing me in a dream, I can't run, and in this dream I felt like I wasn’t moving fast enough, but I made it to my mom’s building before the guys caught up with me. I didn’t need a key to get into her building, but the door still locked behind me.

When I got to my mom’s floor, the oldest of my two younger brother’s (Marc) had the door already opened for me. In my dream, my brothers were little again. Marc is 22, but in my dream he was 6. Asher is 20, but in my dream he was 4.

I bent down and gave Marc a tight hug.

“How did you know to have the door open?” I asked him.

“I knew you were coming.” He replied.

I was so relieved to be safe.

Although I knew the door was locked, I still turned around to put the chain on the door, but the chain was missing.

I woke up at 3am scared, sweating and thinking that I need to go back to church. It made no sense at all, but that's just what crossed my mind.

After I told Edward my dream he said, “You need to start writing these dreams down, lady. You could be the next Stephen King.” But I don’t want to have dreams with people chasing me. I love all of my dreams, but I’d prefer to have them be more relaxing because I hate waking up all stressed out. I have enough stress in my awake life.

Either way I wrote down what I could remember of the dream. I couldn’t get back to sleep until after 4:30. I’m too old to be missing out on sleep on a week night! So after noon, I won’t be sipping on anything caffeinated; unless it’s Friday.

Because my sleep was all jacked up from the night before, I was sleepy by 8:30 last night. I almost… almost made it to 10, but when I went to bed last night, I slept like a baby.

~Louise C.
"Like" me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CazleyLouise

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Um…You think I have enough soap?

I found all of these while I was cleaning out the bathroom. I think I’m good with soap for a loooong time.


Displayed above are the following:

Johnson’s & Johnson’s Baby Soap
Johnson’s & Johnson’s Baby Blossoms Soap
L’Occitane Soap with Verbena leaves
L’Occitane Shea Butter Extra Gentle Soap Lavender
L’Occitane Shea Butter Verbena Soap
L’Occitane Shea Butter Extra Gentle Soap Vineyard Rose
L’Occitane Shea Butter Extra Gentle Soap Milk
mark. Clean Up Time Conditioning Bath Soaps
Neutrogena French Milled Bath Soap
Dove White Bar
A Greek Olive Oil Soap (Don't know the name of it.)

Now I didn’t buy all of these soaps. The L’Occtaine soaps were gifts from France, the leaf shaped bar was a Christmas gift, the bar with the pretty wrapping was a gift from Greece, and the Neutrogena bar was from a hotel. I am responsible for purchasing the rest, though.

I get excited when I find the Johnson’s & Johnson’s soaps (especially when they are only 99 cents a bar) because they are my favorite and they are hard to come by.

Either way, I’m not allowing myself to purchase any more soap until I am down to one bar.

~Louise C.

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Isabelle Selby Photography Giveaway!

On 11/11/11, Danielle of Danfredo Rivera, will be getting married and has invited me to blogsit for her. My guest post will be up on Friday, so do visit her blog on... 11/11/11!!

Another great happening on Danfredo Rivera , is a Family Portrait Giveaway! Visit the blog to enter the giveaway. But if you don't win, you can get $50 off when you book your session with Isabelle just by mentioning DANFREDO.

Good Luck!

~Louise C.


Thursday, November 3, 2011

Introducing Baibe - My Furry Fam

If you're not a pet person (and I wasn't until 9 years ago) you won't appreciate this blog and you'll just think I'm a crazy cat lady. Either way, I'd like to introduce my beautiful furry fatty, Baibe (pronounced baby).

I introduced Baibe in Undies in a Bunch, but for those who haven’t read the book yet, here are a few introductory facts about Baibe:

She loves boxing herself into...boxes...


She loves bags and makeup...


She loves looking out the window...


She loves taking over my furniture with her snooze sessions...


She loves the smell of mint tea...


And she loves Victoria’s Secret catalogs...


She really loves Victoria’s Secret catalogs!!


Now that you know more about Baibe, I can go on with my reason for introducing her. I usually write about happy things, but I’ve been going through some real ish lately. Life is great, but it's also a roller coaster ride and in the past couple of weeks my roller coaster has been soaring down. I'm down, but I'm not out. I’ve been through A LOT of shitty situations, but I’m a fighter who is determined to win at this game of life. I have faith so I know the roller coaster will shoot back up again one day… Hopefully soon.


You never think that an animal would know how you are feeling. Some friends have told me that their pets can sense their moods and I didn’t believe it, but the other night (and this isn’t the first time) Baibe, who usually spends her time snoozing at the opposite end of the couch, hopped up next to me and squeezed her body as close as she could to mine, which is unusual for her because she likes her space… unless I am doing something that benefits her like brushing or petting her. But the other night she wedged her body as close as she could and she just stayed with me. And when I got up from the couch, she followed me; to the kitchen, to the bathroom. And when I woke up the next morning, she was stationed on the floor across from me as if she were on a post watching over me. I don’t care if I sound crazy. I love that cat and I feel like God used her for that moment to lift me up, because there is no way that I can look at that little face on the right and still feel anything bad.


To better days and the pets who love us!

~Louise C.