Court Days and Celebrities

Court days can be particularly trying and today was no exception. But after a lot of perseverance, a bit of patience, and 7 hours sitting on a hard bench we managed to finalize the process we started several months ago. We are now official legal guardians of Little J.

What a surprise it was when we arrived home to find that Wanda took care of all the dishes that we left behind this morning in our haste to get to court.

And speaking of Wanda, it seems she might now be a bit of a celebrity. She made the news in the Red Hat Society Friday Broadcast this week and will forever reside in the RHS archives at http://www.redhatsociety.com/ RHS members can click here to see the link.

Note to Wanda: perhaps you have been granted an extra life here. So that brings you back to 6, right?

Purple Hat Day

Today would have been Micky's 68th birthday. I miss this dear friend so much. She left behind a treasure of memories, a world of wonderful friends and a true red hat spirit. Always putting others first, ready for an adventure, a willingness to try just about anything, courageous in her battles, prepared for the inevitable, she travelled the distance and her journey was an inspiration to all who knew and loved her. In red hat spirit, I wish her a happy purple hat birthday.

Dancing Naked...

In Fuzzy Red Slippers... I've been talking a lot about dancing lately. Has something to do with my line dance class. Since I sometimes have a one track mind, when I get into something it's wholeheartedly. So, speaking of dancing, I keep this book that a dear friend gave to me a while back on my nightstand. It's a wonderful collection of little quips and observations, most of them pretty darn funny. Well today, I learned to be careful about what one leaves on ones nightstand....

One of the guys in my office did a little work on the "Queens" bathroom last week. Today he came into the office reciting "Flying". I gave him one of those what's-that-all-about looks. He tilted his head with one of those sh*t eating grins that guys get and says, "it's on page 83 in Dancing Naked...in fuzzy red slippers, the one you have bookmarked." I do believe my face matched my fuzzy red slippers.

An appropriate quote I heard yesterday from my friend that I found to be a Japanese proverb... "We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance."

Going now... getting slippers... closing blinds... gonna dance.

Mt Wanda

In an effort to train a bit for our Alaska voyage, we did a little hiking and exploring John Muir's history today.

Little J says, "so here is where Wanda was born." We tried to explain that Wanda was actually John Muir's daughter but Little J was more intersted in exploring the giant mountain where he insisted CatWanda once lived. It wasn't quite enough incentive to make it to the top but we did get far enough to look over the bay. Not too bad considering the day was quite warm and Grandpa is still working on his fitness levels after spending a few days in the hospital.

CatWanda stayed home where the de-fleaing process was happening. Yes, once again we bombed the house and beaded drops of Advantage smack between the shoulders of 3 disgruntled cats. My ankles already look like I have chicken pox. And, on top of that, it seems that while I was hiking up Mt Wanda, I may have brought a few renegades with me in my wool socks.

Scents and Sensibility

Caught in the act... no way can Wanda deny this one. She probably meant well, perhaps she was merely trying to cover up the litter box odor. A little eau de fig or cranberry would nicely do the trick. Fortunately she was discovered before she managed to blend the two thus saving one more life. Until early this morning.

After purposely putting Little J to bed late last night I had hoped for a nice Sunday morning sleep in. Then the faint mumblings of Elmo's World began around 6am. Drat, Little J didn't sleep in, I thought. Next thing I know a sleepy Little J is rustling beneath my covers. Elmo is still singing the alphabet at the other end of the house. Little J starts giggling. More Elmo welcomes. More giggles. "JJ, go back to your room and shut off that blasted Elmo thing. Wake me up when you see an 8 on the clock," I say.

"Not me. Wanda did it," Little J says. "Listen Gramma" Sure enough Elmo continues his worldly twang. Sure enough there is little Wanda zapping the alphabet keys, one by one. Too early for pictures but not too early to lose one more life. I think that leaves five.

Just a Little Mischief

The Saturday night dinner was about peaceful as it can get with a two year old and a four year, possibly due to the menu... one of the four favorite toddler food groups...pizza. There were even a few relaxing moments so the Grandmas and Grandpas could enjoy a tiny slice of conversation. It was almost an uncanny silence... for about two minutes. Then came the shrieks. Certain that someone was in urgent need of kisses and hugs and perhaps a Sponge Bob or Princess baidaid, four grandparents jumped to attention, each determined to be the first to reach the source of discontent. Instead we were greeted with the merriment of two grandkids who had been startled by the sudden burst of timed sprinkers and quickly discovered the joy of getting soaked, fully clothed.

Minor Little Annoyances

It seems once in a while there comes a day when every little thing you try to do comes attached with some kind of annoyance. Today it happened to be my day.

It started off at the hairdresser. I was unfortunate to have an appointment at the same time as the loudest and most talkative lady in the county. She never stopped. I tried rolling my eyes a few times in an attempt to signal my hairdresser about my disgruntedness. She never picked up on it. So now I know all about the loudmouth's planned trip to NY to visit her son, all the way down to what is in the refrigerator, or perhaps I should say what is not in the refrigerator. I know they live in the suburbs and "grandma" likes to stay and play with the kids rather than tour the big city. She stays away from certain delis, doesn't take cabs or any other method of public transportation, (how did she get there anyway?) and takes enough underwear for the entire trip so she doesn't have to do any laundry. Too much information.

It didn't get much better when I visited the local fabric crafts store. Why do clerks always have to ask what you are making? If they can't figure out why I have 3 yards of 1" elasticized sequin hat band, 2 red fabric pens, a large jar of red glitter, a tube of red glitter glue, 3 bags of red sequins, a jar of true red fabric paint, three different sized fabric paint brushes and one little white baseball hat, what business is it of theirs?

By this time it was way past lunch time but I figured I could squeeze in one quick trip into the mega bookstore before I crashed into sugarless oblivion. I know there is a ton of info on the internet about cruises to Alaska but sometimes I just have to have my hands on a good solid shiny covered picture book with maps, walks, directions and bunches of glossy touristy photos. It just feels right. In record time I managed to find two perfect books that I just had to have. No problem there. As I approached the counter, I was grateful that there was only one person in front of me. Well, make that one family that happened to be making one simple purchase. With a gift card. And a clerk on the phone. And only one clerk on duty. And a computer system that was down. Five minutes later, with about 10 more patrons, credit cards in hand, jockeying for the next available clerk, over the speaker comes an plea for a "visual receipt specialist." A middle aged woman, pencil balanced over one ear and yellowed receipt book in hand, announces she will take the next customer who happens to have cash. Huh? Cash? What's that?

Easy Access for Wanda

My dear departed friend left a room full of red hat things behind and today her daughter dropped off a few boxes of goodies. I am going to share some of the stuff but not this hat stand. I love it but it seems that Wanda now has easy access to three hats.

Rusty is perched on top of the red hat cat doll case watching over the Wanda experiments. We will see how the night goes. I've been too tired lately to lop off any more lives so Wanda does still have six left. Perhaps Rusty is on to something - if Wanda misbehaves she may rest for an eternity inside the glass doll case.

On the other hand, my visitor today fell in love with Wanda. I caught her trying to stuff the cat down her shirt when she left. So the question today would be, if Wanda disappears into another house, does Wanda get to start over with another 9 lives?

Mud Pies

Life is full of surprises. Yesterday my line dance teacher bid farewell to our group. I am so sad but I do understand that sometimes life gets complicated and we must make tough decisions about our priorities. I'm hoping everything works out well for her and look forward to seeing her in other classes along the way.

Meanwhile, she brought me this little gift yesterday. She insists she is just cleaning out her stuff and thought of me when she found this little treasure since the author shares my first name. I read through the book last night and am thrilled to have this little remembrance. I'm thinking about dragging out my old dolls and having a little mudpie tea party. But more important, I'm thinking about the value of the wonderful friendships we experience as we get older and share a genuine appreciation for those who cross our path.

One more comment: could this be a reminder to have a little fun today... fun as defined through the eyes of a child?

Collecting Stuff

My big brother collects corkscrews. He used to collect beer advertising openers. His latest home was built to accomodate his corkscrew museum. He travels the world to attend corkscrew addict meetings. He has visited most every thrift shop from coast to coast and north to south in the U.S. He has a famous virtual corkscrew museum (famous to those who collect corkscrews anyway). He has written many books about openers and corkscrews. He DID NOT write this one... unless he has a new alias that he didn't tell his little sister about.

My little sister collects things too, a rather eclectic collection of things too numerous to list here. She has not written a book, that I know of.

I collect red hats and cats (not red cats). I have not written a book... yet.

Do you suppose something was missing from our childhood? Or, does everyone collect stuff?