Windy Progress

The winds are fast and furious today. No way would you ever find me up on this roof. Here I sit in my cozy office observing the progressive loss of my hillside view. Ah well... More progress.

The Carousel has Moved

Little J is seen here riding the same giraff that his grand daddy probably rode 60 years ago. The carousel used to be at Playland at the Beach which closed in the early 70s... its new location is at Yerba Buena Gardens.

Yes, we did finally get to see Santa after this.

Little sister now has a blog... visit her here

Too many hand and feet

After visiting the Titanic Exhibit and on the way to see Santa, a very confused Little J tried to shake hands with this fellow. No, you are not seeing triple. The man had 3 right hands and 5 feet.

Happy Holidays

Red Hat Happy Holidays Here

The Queen is out chasing turkeys off the roof. And yes Cassie, they do look a bit unappetizing, as does what they leave behind too... yuck.

Up on the Rooftop

Up on the roof top clop clop clop.... no it is NOT Santa Claus... it's turkeys.

Yep, those are turkeys on my roof. It seems we are part of their morning route. These two are just part of the flock. The other eight or ten of them were surrounding my car when I tried to leave for the celebration of life (see last post). Anyway I chased them off with my digital camera. Hmmmm... perhaps we won't have a Christmas goose this year. Why eat goose when the turkey is free?

In Celebration of Life

Today I had the honor of attending a memorial service/birthday party for the husband of one of my red hat friends. As part of the celebration Tom Rigney performed with the accompaniment of John Burr. What a special team!

The best gift I could ever hope for came this year from Tom. He knew my best friend has been battling cancer for quite some time. This friend also happens to be a number one fan of Toms. He knew she would not be able to make it to this service today. Can you believe... he recorded a CD just for her? He is one heck of a special guy.

Up a Tree

It's a winner. At least Little J thinks so. But something is missing. Will Santa bring gifts this year?

Preschool Party

Little J is the one who refuses to sit next to anyone. Exerting his independence perhaps? At least he joined in with the jingle bells. Then it was straight to the cookies.

By the way, he did make one little request of Santa. He asked to have a brother. He assured Santa that there is plenty of room to carry a brother around in Grandpa's car. I don't think so. Grandma and Grandpa are already worn out.

Spark People

Now I know I'm crazy. Someone told me about Spark People . No, it isn't crazy to go there. It's a great website with lots of good ideas. Trouble is... this is the holiday season. Not the time of year to be thinking about diet life style changes. But, I do manage to follow the program for the first hour every day. Here's the proof. One of the suggestions at Spark People is if you don't have time to log in your food consumption, why not take a picture of everything you eat. Of course you are supposed to go back and track the food later. Not me. Not after 10am when the postman brings on the chocolate, fudge, popcorn, cheese, fruitcake, and other assorted holiday goodies. Not after 12 noon when it's time for the office Christmas luncheon. Not after 3pm when it's time to meet a best friend for coffee and... Not after 5pm when it's time to grab some fast food between work and Christmas shopping. Not after 9pm when exhaustion sets in from Christmas shopping and one must sit back in the easy chair and rest one's weary feet and that stack of goodies the postman brought earlier just happens to have landed right next to that chair.

In or Out

It seems the indoor cats want to be out. And the outdoor cat wants to be in. Isn't that the way it always is?

Candle

Someone has lit a candle for my dear friend.

Signs Are Good

Rules are meant to be broken right? So I enter the hospital room siowly and silently, careful so I don't get thrown out. That lasted less than a minute. Apparently the message is for visitors and not patients. The good new is that the patient was able to break all the rules... well most of them.. That is definitely a good thing :-)

Leaving Las Vegas

Wondering how we ever managed to travel with kids before. Little J has been busy watching 16 episodes of Scooby Doo... All the way to Vegas and back. Plus wouldn't you know, the novelty of earphones wore off within the first 10 miles. Scooby Scooby Doo where are you..... Ah well the frequent giggles from the back seat make it all worthwhile.

100 more miles and we get to stop for Andersons pea soup.

Best Friends

This is my best friend. She checked into the hospital for surgery today. I'm asking for prayers for her.

Annie Freeman

I confess. I haven't read a book for a few months. Then a friend told me about Annie Freemans Fabulous Traveling Funeral by Kris Radish. I made it through chapter one last night (this is a feat since I usually fall asleep after one or two pages). I'm gonna love this one. I can tell.

Sunday

Little J thinks perhaps he will be "this big" if he helps Grandpa eat these cookies they are making. Check out that big grin.

Then check here for what Grandma was up to.

Is Dinner Ready?

Waiting for delivery of kid meal at Taxi's.

Red Hatting Southern California

Ok so I disappeared from Wittbits for a couple of months. I could come up with hundreds of boring excuses. Let's skip the sordid details and get on with it. I have surfaced once again... in San Diego with a bunch of red hat ladies I met last spring in Gatlinburg and some from other convention journeys. More later... just wanted big brother (and anyone else who might have stumbled onto this blog) to know I'm alive and well.

Workspace

WRITING PROMPT from Writer's Digest:
Describe your workspace in vivid detail. What items are on your desk? What pictures do you have on the walls? What does your trash can look like?

My workspace today? Can't seem to find it. It was buried in the corner of my little bedroom in my little two bedroom apartment. Now it's buried under a heap of boxes behind bigger heaps of red hat regalia.

Why? Cause I'm moving. Moving back into the big house. Well it's not exactly a "big" house but there is a tiny little den just off the kitchen, within reach of the all important coffee pot, where I'll figure out how to place two desks (one for business, one for play), file cabinets, shelves and maybe even a chair.

Pictures on walls? no... shelves on walls; shelves full of genealogy, books about writing (maybe I'd write more if I quit reading about how to write), and one clear spot for Miss Minnie Poopalot's observation deck.

Items on desk? There is a computer, two printers and a fax machine buried under the propagation of office supplies that are supposed to be stuffed away in the desk drawers.

Trash can? Uh...Maybe Miss Minnie Poopalot will leave me some real estate in that giant litter box in the corner by the sliding glass door.

My suggestion for the next writing prompt: Describe what's in your drawers. Just kidding. Not going there. Going out to container store for clutter control bins and baskets. Why the heck did I move all this stuff anyway?

Poop Prizes and Stuff

Taking a break from packing boxes upon boxes (amazing what one can accumulate in five years even in a small apartment), today was the annual Victorian Afternoon Tea. I held the lucky raffle ticket today winning a huge basket of little boy toys. It couldn't have happened at a more opportune time... time to instigate a new toilet training strategy in hopes of awarding daily "poop" prizes. When all else fails one must sometimes resort to pure bribery.

Not to bore anyone with more tales of a three and a half year old but get this... hubby takes kid to park. Kid doesn't want to leave. Hubby grabs kicking and screaming kid and wrestles his way into the car seat. Drives home. Goes to a party. Returns 4 hours later to find cops knocking on door. It seems two people reported a possible child abduction. They were quick to give the details including my personalized license plate (thank god there wasn't an Amber alert or this RHS Moll might have had some serious explaining to do). Well I am glad to see people are looking out for the welfare of our children. BUT my question is... how safe are our children if it takes 4 hours to check out grandpa?

Upside Down

Dinner at the Moraccon restaurant with a three and a half year old can be amusing. After experiencing the hand washing ritual, eating with fingers, and observing the belly dancer behind crossed fingers, little J's comment... "why is this place built upside down?" hmmmmm

BO Ugly

Meet BO Ugly. It seems I'm on a roll of bad rental car luck. Not going into my experience with Enterpr...earlier this week but perhaps someone there warned Avis that I was coming.

Anyway I was supposed to get a pontiac G6. But instead I got BO Ugly... This Burnt Orange Ugly box on wheels. It's so ugly that when we pulled up in front of the resort, the valet took three steps back, shook his head, and commented, "that's just about the ugliest car I've ever seen."

Oh well. It gets us where we want to go... And it's easy to find.

The J Word

Due to some unfortunate circumstances Little J has been exposed to the "J" word. For a much needed change of scenery, we went to play at Fairyland. I did not know there would be a "j-a-i-l" there and wouldn't you know, before I knew it, there he was all locked up and refusing to budge. Bail was easily arranged with one little ice cream. If only real life problems could be resolved with one single scoop.

So now we are pretty sure that Little J has picked up what "j-a-i-l" is. How long before he realizes the meaning of "i-n-c-a-r-c-e-r-a-t-i-o-n"?

My Obit

It might be a bit morbid but I just had to find out....

'What" will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Been Here Done This

I'm old. Old enough to have been where these young ladies are going. I discovered these blogs in More Magazine. Check them out. They have a great sense of humor (and some good advice) to go along with all those inevitable changes:
I'm Out of Estrogen
My Menopause Blog
This is My Body, This is My Blood

My Next Life

This is me next time around.

Work Reunions

Thirty some years ago I worked with this bunch of tour bus drivers. Today we celebrated Red's 85th birthday.

Three of these people still drive buses. Can you guess which ones? Hint... I am NOT one of them but if you read my blog you know that one of those who still drives is my hubby... he's the only one if the picture who happens to be dressed like a bus driver... actually he dresses that way 365 days a year.

Making the Best of It

It's hot. Miserably hot. Over 100. Today was supposed to be a red hat day. We were supposed to go to an ice cream social. Since only two of us were brave enough to risk heat stroke, we did the next best thing. We took the hubby and grandson.

We ate ice cream. Melted ice cream.

We sweltered in the hot sun for the sheepdog presentation. It was well worth it. Those dogs are amazing. So were the sheep.

Little J had a ball checking out all the John Deere equipment, playing old fashioned games, and crafting puppets and such.

We drank water. Lots of water. No heatstroke.

And the best news of all.... after many many tries and much much patience.... <<<>>>.....we are into our 2nd successful potty training day!!!! At last! shhhhhhhhhh

Paper Clips

This guy gets one little red paper clip. He barters. He barters some more. And more. He ends up with a house.

I must go through a box of paper clips every month. At least one box. What I want to know (other than how I can possibly trade up for a house) is where they all go. I clip things together every day. I send them off to various and sundry places. They are rarely returned. Where do they go? Hmmmmm... if I had every paper clip I ever used, I could build a house with them... a big house.

Happy 4th of July

All in all it was a happy 4th of July. The grandkids know how to celebrate.

All Paraded Out

Monday night in my role as Queen we paraded in Benicia. Today it was back to the Grandma role with Happy Times Preschool in Orinda. Thereby proving... red hats are useful for more than one kind of event.

Mill Valley

There's a cool and funky little restaurant in Mill Valley called Mama's Royal Cafe. We went there today to hear another one of our favorite people, Caroline Dahl who boogies like no one else we know. We were pleasantly surprised to sit amid such an eclectic collection of "art" and gorge ourselves on amazing amounts of Sunday brunch food. We even asked for a side order of sarcasm and abuse (yes they are on the menu) which the waitress kindly informed us that they had already served up in huge quantities today... I find that hard to believe.

Waxing Moon

I couldn't stand it. I had to know. The moon is waxing today. Here's a link to moon phases.

Not So Dumb Afterall

We fought through rush-hour get-out-of-town-for-the-holiday-weekend masses of traffic, all the way saying this has to be the dumbest thing we have ever done to see Tom. But with good fortune our luck changed once we arrived in Vacaville and got a prime parking space just outside the venue. Here we are with a few new Tom Rigney fans. The concert was absolutely wonderful... a great crowd, cool summer breezes, and a clear shot of the waning (or is it waxing) moon?

Red Hats and Corkscrews

Ok it's still hot. So we deal with it. We go out and do what we have to do anyway. First up today... lunch with some red hatters from Modesto. Then a little shopping. I found a stash of corkscrews that might be of interest to big brother... he is the master of all corkscrew collectors you know. Tonight we will top it of with a little... well, you should know by now if you read this blog... Tom Rigney !!!

Tom

We love Flambeau. Look here for our front row seats. We follow them everywhere. Just a bunch of harmless old lady groupies we are! But we know they love us anyway. Even if Tom tells the audience that some people could use some new fashion sense.

Preschool Graduation Party

Ok which one is Little J? He wouldn't by chance be the little boy on the far right who can't seem to sit up quite straight now would he? Anyway, notice he is sitting. He did sit through the entire year end presentation. He was good. Really good.

Now, about the lady with the red hat. No she is not a red hatter... she is Little J's teacher and just happens to be wearing a very stylish red hat. No wonder I like her!

Little J and Little I

My View

The view from my office is changing. Some call this progress.

Who's Going Up

Is this an elevator or a restroom?

18 Years

In recognition of 18 years sobriety DH presented me with this card this morning.

And the inside sentiment is...

"You're going to fry anyway."

Beaches

What a beautiful day we had here. Maybe it is finally spring. Took Little J to the beach.

Gatlinburg

Big Brother dropped me off in Gatlinburg so he could go cork screwing. Click here to check out my trip.

Sunny Weather In Virginia

I brought the rain from California to Virginia. But today, the sun finally came out. After a brief walk around the neighborhood, my sister in law and I spent a little time out in the kayaks. A LITTLE time because...
1 I never did that before and...
2 because I never did that before.

And Then...

Big Brother took us across the lake for lunch at Moosies....





Guess what? The sun is still out but I got sent to my room.... again.

History Lesson

Me and Booker T. Washington.

Dumpster Diving

First the chores. Big Brother recycles Sunday papers.

Room with a View

I had to be a little bad so I could be sent to my room.

*zz Kickin

Big Brother wants to make sure I behave on this trip so first stop today was the the Worlds Only Ass Kicking Machine. I'll be good. Promise.

First and last glich

View from my room on the second floor. First lesson learned... Next time check for elevators. This body doesn't do well hefting a 50 lb suitcase up stairs.

2nd lesson... Check to see if internet is free. I'm not spending 9.95 to surf all evening. My treo 650 does a fine job getting email, checking the weather, AND BLOGGING. Anyway I need to hit the sack so I can get up 3 hours before breakfast to get these heavy bags to the plane on time. It's gonna be a long day tomorrow.

Big brother.. See ya tomorrow.

Hats

Hats are everywhere. On the rack. On the walls. Hat boxes full of them. So now the problem... Going to a convention and I must make a choice. I just know I'll want the ones I leave behind. Was going to ship them all to big brother and have him drive them there for me. Hmmmm maybe I'll just take one. Life could be so simple.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

YES! I am FREE!

The dishes are all done
Those dang child proof locks are off the cabinets
Fingerprints have been removed from TV
Roll top desk is appropriately rolled down to hide all those nasty old bills
The toilet seat is down where it belongs
Toys are all stacked in the corner
Trash emptied
Laundry done
Everything vacuumed and dusted
Trash including all those leftovers that "someone promised to eat" in dumpster
One more job to do... remove that yucky bathtub ring and then...

It's candles, soft music, chocolate, bubble baths, and two nights out with my best red hatting friends!

And to think... they left these daffies for me...

Oh my, I am sooooooooo shrewd. But I deserve it.

36 Years Ago

March 14, 1970

Fortunate

Little J just turned 3 a couple weeks ago. Last night he opens his fortune cookie, carefully removes the tiny little slip of paper, studies it for a moment and then reads, "you will go to preschool and play outside in the sun." Not bad for a three year old.

Bragging Grandma

Chinese Musical

Life is but a Dream is an excellent show. This is the third year my Red Hat Chapter has attended this. If you are near San Francisco check it out . Hurry, it only lasts a couple more weeks.

Happy Birthday Big Brother

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday Big Brother
Happy birthday to you.

And remember... you will always be older than I am. Snurk

Whattention: Little J is 3

He celebrated his birthday along with Valentine festivities. Nemo was a hit at the birthday party. Grandma is grateful that his daycare/preschool teacher takes care of these things for her.

Whattention

Little J approaches, arms wide, lower lip quivering, eyes wild, "I need whattention" he says.

"You need what?" I ask.

"Whattention" Now he's almost in tears, grabbing at my leg.

I squat down which isn't an easy thing these days with my knees all out of joint. I am greeted with a bear grasping hug. As he nestles into my shoulder I figure out "Whattention."

Earlier in the day Grandpa and I were discussing the amount of attention Little J seems to need. Obviously Little J heard us say "whattention". Am I going to correct his pronunciation? Not a chance... for now anyway. And yes, I did clue in his daycare so they would know what he needs.

Got Bags

Update: I ordered some ChicoBags I ordered purple ones. I must have purple. But purple was out of stock and they said I wouldn't get them until February. Guess what? I got them yesterday!!!! Yes! Now to go shopping and fill them up.

ChicoBags

Have you ordered your ChicoBag yet? I ordered some ChicoBags I ordered purple ones. I must have purple. But purple is out of stock. I can be patient.

Road Kill Hat

OK It looks like roadkill. But, it is soft... really soft. And warm. My model has other thoughts however... he thinks it is better off as...