Stinky Booty, 2002 – 2018

I dreamed about this little Boo Boo right here.

In the dream she was in a doggy nursing home (I’m sure there is no such thing). Even if there was a doggy nursing home, my dog would not be in it! The only thing that was good about that dream was she was alive. She was still old, deaf and blind. All of which she was earlier this year. We were both happy to be in each other’s presence. The rest of the dream sucked. For those of you that don’t know, I had to release my dog earlier this year. Stinky graced this earth from March 18, 2002 until January 5, 2018.

Originally her name was to be LaRaye with a nickname of La La. No one liked that name but me. Even she didn’t like it. Wouldn’t answer to it at all. She could have just been being stubborn too. One day I was holding her in my lap and I sniffed those little feet and it wasn’t pleasant. Now we get her real name, Stinky. Over her lifetime she has been known by many names, such as Gizmo and Boo Boo. Stinky was the one that worked the best. According to my mom I jinxed her. She did end up being a pretty stinky dog all around. Lol. But Stinky was so much more as well. She was the queen. It was her way. When you took her for a walk and she was tired of walking she would just sit down. Nothing you did would make her move. When she rode in the car with you, it would be a struggle to get her to sit in her own seat and not on your lap. She would wait until you weren’t paying attention and jump over.

I remember the day I went to get her. I knew this guy who had a white shih-tzu that would fetch a toy and bring it back to you. The dog would drop it right at your feet and I thought it was so cool. I wanted a dog just like that. Same color but preferably a girl dog. I found out a pet store in Monroe, Michigan was getting a litter in. I was there as soon as they opened their doors. Two girl dogs, one white and tan (the one I wanted) and another black and white, Stinky. They were both so adorable. The only problem was the white and tan puppy didn’t like me. Like she would whine and push against me to put here down. Now this runt was all over me. She bit onto my sweater coat and wouldn’t let go. The tiniest little thing at 3.5 pounds with a pink bow in her hair. The guys at the pet store were showing me great items to purchase for a new pup. One was a squeaky toy. I sat the squeaky toy down and little miss picks it up, brings it to me and drops it at my feet. Sold!
An arsenal worth of dog crap and a $450 runt walked out of the store with me. I hate to inform y’all, but that was the first and last time that she did that particular trick. She would bring a toy and drop it at your feet only to fight you for it as if her life depended on it. She would lock on it like a pit bull as you dangled her in the air. Still cute, but not what I brought her for. Lol.

I happened to be a slight workaholic which I didn’t take into consideration in wanting to be a dog owner. A few weeks in, I was ready to get rid of her. Stinky peed on my new carpet repeatedly and was not ashamed of it either. She would pop a squat right in front of you. Granny to the rescue. At this point my mom was attached and so she set about housebreaking that little mutt. So I decided to keep her. She spent a great deal of time at my mom’s house. So much so Stinky pretty much stopped coming home. I was no longer the custodial parent. I became the parent with visitation rights. I would still spoil the hell out of her. There was not much Stinky didn’t have. She even had a Pit Bull cousin named Bae Bae who was her best friend.


This little life is no longer with us as well. She passed before Stinky. When we would go over to my brother’s house Stinky would get so excited. Then she would walk around for about 15 minutes whining because she realized her best friend, Bae Bae, wasn’t there. She never adjusted. She would do it every time we went to his house.

Stinky was something else. She didn’t like to take pictures once she got to a certain age so the majority of them looked like this.

She had her own blanket crocheted by her granny.

But that did not stop her from laying all over on mine.

She had a ton of clothes, this is just a few outfits.

One of her favorite pastimes, sunbathing.

Her main pastime, napping.

Riding in the basket with Granny. Spoiled ass 😍!

I believe the only reason that people should get a pet, dog, cat or otherwise, is to spoil them and love them. Stinky was both from the day I picked her up at the pet store to the day I laid her to rest. My stepdad would leave the house just to take her for rides in his Corvette. I am pretty sure that she didn’t even know she was a dog. Life without Stinky is just a little duller. She had so much personality and attitude. No was a word Stinky didn’t understand and if she did, she pretended that she didn’t. She had a good life. I could go on and on about this little heffa.

The day that was her last was totally heartbreaking for me. I felt as if I was betraying her. Two went in and only one came out. As she snuggled on me, not realizing what was about to happen, I knew all to well. Stinky’s quality of life had decreased to the point that it would have been selfish to allow her to continue to live on. This knowledge didn’t make it any easier. After, I just kept saying, I never want another dog. I couldn’t see myself going through the process again. I have adjusted and would love to have another dog. I happen to still be a workaholic so now would not be a good time. Dogs make us better people. They are truly an example of unconditional love. How can you not return the love they give you? It breaks my heart to see the evil that people commit on dogs and other animals. To see all the lonely dogs in animal shelters. I could easily be the spinster with a house full of abandon dogs 😂😂😂. Of course I’m not going to do it…maybe 🤷🏾.

This little life brighten my life and many others. Stinky is missed and will never be forgotten. She was one of a kind.

Dating 101

Isn’t it crazy how you meet someone and you care how their days go, what they did, what they ate, who they saw. It is like you want to be with them and see them every day. And then you look up and one day, you don’t. You don’t want to speak to them. You don’t answer their call or respond to their text. Sometimes the other person feels the same way that you do. They were only texting because they did not want to be the one to end the relationship. They may have a hard time with confrontation. Other times, that person is devastated. They are wondering what they said or did. Why don’t you like them anymore? They may start to develop insecurities. They are changed because they really cared and you are heartless with the way you are handling the end of the relationship. Ugh…it all sucks no matter what side you are on. But I will say it is better to be the dumper than the person getting dumped. Y’all know this is true.
I have just started dating again. I have been single for 2 years. I have also decided that I hate dating. I now know why people stay in unhappy relationships. My first foray back into dating started with dating sites. I did the free ones, Tinder and Bumble. No to both of those. I deleted them after a few days. I then joined Match. I didn’t want to pay at first because I’m cheap. But you can’t see who is interested in you unless you pay. So they ran a special with half off and I committed to 3 months. Once I was able to see the 19 guys that were interested in me, I wanted my money back. Unfortunately, that wasn’t happening. I proceeded to making sure that the 3 month membership I had just signed up for did not renew under any circumstances. Lol. I have seen guys that were interesting, but not as many options as I thought I was going to have. My 3 months ended at the beginning of this month and I did not go on a single date with any guy from Match. Now I must acknowledge the fact that I am shallow so that would change how I look at things. I am constantly trying to put aside this part of myself and even liked a few guys profiles. I am not sure if this is bad or not, but if they responded with the pre-written text that Match created, I wasn’t responding back. Come on! Just say hi. It is simple and effective. This one guy used the text that said something about going to a concert. Uh…no. I don’t know you to be going somewhere that I can come up missing easily. I’m good.
Now onto dating people off the internet. I met a guy through a friend of a friend. We will give him a fake name, Cosmo. Lol. I actually like this name for real. Cosmo was funny and had a great personality. I did not find him physically attractive but there was just something about him. We exchanged numbers and had stimulating phone conversations. We went bowling which Cosmo won (booo) and had some dinner at his place. Normally I would not have went to a guy’s house on the first date, but I didn’t feel any bad vibes. After the date, I really felt like it was the end. I just knew that he was going to let me fall by the wayside. And I was cool with that. No chemistry. Lo and behold, Cosmo still called and text me. Now we have set a second date. We played miniature golf which I won (hell yeah!) and went back to his place and watched T.V. Now after this date, I have never heard from him again. Lol. I have fun with it by saying that Cosmo was mad because I beat him at mini golf. The reality is he stopped talking to me because I didn’t have sex with him.
So, what the hell is going on with dating? Are we expected to be fucking after a couple of dates? Can shit just evolve naturally? What happened to kissing? Maybe a little messing around? Checking his penis size to even see if you want to go there? 🤗 (I don’t know what this emoji means but for now it means shyly feeling him out) 😂😂😂 Like I’m a little old-fashioned. I just want to take my time and get to know a guy. If the only thing he wants is sex, just tell me upfront. That way if I don’t agree, we just dropped it and not waste each other’s time. Or if the feeling is mutual, we can take it from there. But at this age, don’t try to run game and think my old ass is going to fall for it. Heard it all before, seriously! What I would like to see is sincerity and honesty. Can y’all do that?
So is anyone out here in the same boat as me? Hopelessly trying to move down a river that is constantly at low tide. Have you tried any dating websites? Met anyone interesting or have a great love story to tell? I would love to hear it. Please share! Or if you have a bad date story, I would like to hear that as well. It is slim pickings out here. That leaves me with just believing in God. Knowing that he will provide what I need when the time is right. But I may break a couple of rules along the way. They are made to be broken right 😉? Now for you all, don’t be like me, be well and whole.

10 Things That Makes You Happy

I have a new favorite obsession. Verizon has a rewards program called Verizon Up. With each bill that you pay it accumulates to receive a credit. Each month they offer different things for you to use your credit on. One month I used my credit on a free book from Audible. Audible is Amazon’s audio book division. The book that I purchase from Audible was “The Last Black Unicorn” by Tiffany Haddish. I really enjoyed that book. Tiffany read the book herself and that made it a great listen. I knew then that I wanted everyone’s book about their life to be read by the author and I wanted a subscription to Audible. But I am cheap and I have enough subscriptions that I pay on monthly. I have Netflix, Hulu (pretty much for Futurama only) and Amazon Music. Oh and Match.com. Not touching that on this post but I will talk about that soon. That shit gets pricey. So I hesitated and waited and then, I finally gave in. Audible was offering two free books with a subscription. I already knew what book I wanted, “We Are Going to Need More Wine” by Gabrielle Union. I was indecisive about the second free book. Still haven’t used that credit yet.

Now Gabrielle Union’s book was all that I expected and more. She laid herself bare and I envy her vulnerability. I can’t imagine sharing so much of myself with millions of people. She did that. I don’t want to talk about it too much because it is a book I recommend that you read. I don’t want to spoil this awesome read/listen for anyone. There was so many takeaways from the book, but I am only going to touch on one in this post. It really spoke to me and got me to thinking after I listened to this part of the book. An individual at some point in Gabrielle Union’s life asked her to name things that made her happy. She didn’t do so well. She was only able to list a few things. And when asked again the same question, she was still stuck on those first few items that she had come up with. I felt bad for her. It seemed like an easy task. I just knew that I could do it.

When I say that this was an extremely hard exercise to complete. I have not even completed it yet. Lol. Gabrielle I feel your pain girl! I just assumed I would find ten things because there is so much that I like. But the reality is that I can’t say that everything I like makes me genuinely happy. I am sure we all have our definition of happiness. My definition is more along the lines of something or someone who brightens my day when I do it, I am near it or I receive it. The feeling could last all day or be momentary. I just know that I want that thing or person to continuing being a part of my life. And if it or them are not, I am not sure if I would consider my life to be a good one. Here is my list so far. I will updated this post periodically based on my realizations.

1. God. I think this is self-explanatory.
2. Water, large bodies that I can sit and look out on. A serious sense of peace comes over me when I am near water. To the point that I have made the decision that I will own a house on the water at some point in time in my life. To wake up the morning and have a nice, hot cup of coffee as I sit out on the water. Heaven on Earth!
3. Sunsets. I love all the colors .Orange, red, purple, yellow. Beautiful. Sunrise is nice too, but not as heart warming.
4. Speeding. I know this may seem like a crazy thing to make one happy but it does. I am actually unhappy when I have to drive the speed limits.
5. Coffee. I can go a day or two without it. I have even gone a month without coffee. If someone said I could never have it again, I may not be responsible for my behavior. Just saying.
6. Books. They can be audio books, e-books, paperbacks or hardcovers. I really don’t care, I need them in my life. If I start a good book, I will stay up all night to finish it.
7. Music. I don’t really have a preference. It is whatever I hear and what makes me feel good. Y’all know the saying, “Music has charms to soothe the savage beast.” Me, beast. Music, the answer.
8. Family and friends. I didn’t separate these because my friends are like my family. They both are my support systems and the people who love and accept little old me for who I am. They may tell me about myself, but they won’t leave me because I have not changed yet or ever.
9. …..
10. …..

So this is where I stand right now with this list. I am sure if I put my mind to it, I can fill in the last two spots, My mind is overloaded right now. I need to dump some things out of it. Lol. I have never considered coming up with this kind of list. It was an interesting experiment. Can you list 10 things? Can you list 5, 3? Was it easy or hard? I just want you to be happy. The best way to be happy is to know what makes you happy. Will you take time to make sure at least one of your ten things are a part of your life every day? Happy people are essential to this world. We need your happiness. Find it, live in it and be well and whole.