Howdy from Michigan

My husband's Grandma passed away last week and we are in Michigan for a few days. Grandma Margie was a wonderful woman who treasured every day of her 90 jam-packed years!

Upcoming blog topic: Chicago traffic. YUK

Big Winner

Yesterday my friend SS and I smoked cigarettes all day! Okay, they were bubble gum cigs but it sure was fun. We spent the day in the Twin Cities on a community education trip called "Tacky Tour of the Twin Cities".

We started off with breakfast at the H-E-double hockey sticks Kitchen then met two wild tour guides from the Wabasha Cave tour group. Gladys wore glitter and beaded purple slacks along with a lime green turtle neck and orange print shirt and her "sister" Virginia wore a knit dress, glamorous fur piece and french twist wig which highlighted her 5 o-clock shadow perfectly.

Who knew that when the State Fair site was selected the poor farm had to move to a street named Prosperity Avenue? Or that Newman's bar has been open since 1887 and had a fire alarm IN the bar so local firefighters could relax while at work?

The best part of the trip was our 13 minute shop-a-thon at the AXMan where I purchased two wiggly lobster pens.

There were 45 people on the bus and although tacky attire was encouraged only 4 brave souls actually took the suggestion to heart and dressed up.

You will never guess who won the prize for being the tackiest dresser! Or maybe you will when you see the pictures posted on this blog in the next few days.

Stay tuned.

Driving

First of all let me admit that patience isn't one of my top ten virtues. Pause here for the readers who know me to finish

Sometimes I am quite patient. When I work with seniors, when I am with the Kitchen Band members and when I am waiting for an open lane at the pool. Okay, maybe not so much at the pool...

However, what drives me crazy are people that sit at GREEN lights. They gaze out the window, take a sip of coffee, roll down their windows to hear the chirp or simply forget they are behind the wheel of a moving vehicle.

GREEN means go! You see the light turn green, you step on the gas and then the moves. It's like magic.

I was talking about this to my incredibly patient friend I told her I wished I had a big piece of neon pink plastic shaped like a pizza that I could just sail out of the window and toss it on the side of a person's car. The neon pink blob would read "GREEN means go!" thought that might be a safety hazard. Then I suggested a big sign that would pop out of the top of my car that read "PUT YOUR FOOT ON THE GAS PEDAL DOOFUS" but she also vetoed that idea.

My next idea was to get a loud speaker and then say "hey you, in the red Oldsmobile, step on the GAS" and yep, that idea wasn't popular either.

So, I've settled for muttering to myself and trying to refrain from honking the horn on my car.

The next time you are at a stop sign and wishing you were on Dancing with the Stars instead of focusing on driving please remember that I could be the person waiting behind you that might just be the day my patience wears out.

over

When it's over - it's over. Take down your holiday decorations!! Okay, if it is cold and snowy I understand leaving the lights up but for goodness sakes, don't keep them turned on!
Count how many dead wreaths are still up. Amazing.
They're dead, they're ugly, take them down!

Just for fun I pretended we still had a wreath on our door. I timed how long it took me to take it off and put it in the garbage. Walking slowly it took me 9 seconds.

Let's make it a law. If you put the decorations up you have 30 days to take them down.

Last weekend when my husband and I were out and about I started counting the number of wreaths still up. I got up to 17 of them and then started counting silently... I think my patient husband is afraid that one day I will just walk up to a stranger's door and remove the wreath.

My feelings about holiday decorations being up WAY past the holiday are well-known to our friends. One year upon our return from vacation in April, we returned home to find that our "pals" put up holiday lights and a dead wreath just for fun. ha ha ha. Was it a coincidence then that a few weeks later a FOR SALE sign magically appeared on their front lawn?

Tomorrow's topic: Drivers who stare out the window instead of stepping on the gas pedal.

Special blog readers

Thanks to everyone who reads "Chick Chat" on a regular basis. Thanks also for understanding that sometimes I am either busy or can't think of anything all that interesting to write about...

One of the blog readers is S.D. a lovely young teenager that I have known since she was an adorable toddler. She is a smart, beautiful young lady with fine Christian values and reads Chick Chat on a regular basis.

S.D. has an talented older sister and a sweet younger brother who are also delightful young people.

Kudos to Mom and Dad D. for raising such a wonderful family!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I have just enough Irish heritage to wear

GREEN today without guilt. I am not fond of Irish food or Irish music but do enjoy listening to someone speak in a good Irish brogue.

My 3rd grade teacher, Sister Mary Renee, was Irish. We learned to sing "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" and "McNamara's Band" with enthusiasm or else...

So today blog reader(s) I have an Irish Blessing for you:

May your troubles be less and
your blessings be more.
And nothing but happiness come through your door.

Blessings

My motto for today is:

Count your blessings and be joyful.

New Governor

This morning at 7:30 a.m. I am invited to a "meet and greet" for Tom Horner, a man running for Governor on the Independent ticket. If he selected Brothers as one of his stops, he must be down to earth, right? Check back later and find out the rest of the story and whether or he ate pancakes, wore a tie or had a sincere handshake.

The rest of the story -- updated at 5:40 a.m. on March 16th: Tom Horner, Independent candidate for Governor of Minnesota had a firm handshake, wore a nice tie, had a sincere smile, was quite intelligent and didn't badmouth any other candidate which I appreciated. While he didn't have any pancakes, he did indulge in a small piece of cinnamon roll.

Horner was upbeat, wants to bring Minnesotan's together from both sides of the aisle and I will be following him via his facebook and website pages.

Ironic

Guppy Girl Snyder has laryngitis. I consider it a small gift for my sweet husband and a bonus to my friends. Enjoy it while you can.

Sir Galahad

Earlier this week I was standing in the check out line at the grocery store. A friendly older man asked me if I was driving that day. At first I thought maybe I appeared intoxicated when I was just happy but just smiled and said yes, sir.

(always call really old people sir or madam)

The man said "well, young lady are you driving with your lights on in this rain and don't tell me they come on automatically!" I assured him I drove with my lights on in the rain and fog. Then he said "I have driven 2 million and 457 miles without an accident. Did you hear that? and repeated the statistic. Naturally I said "wow, good for you!" and wished him a pleasant day.

A few minutes later as I was loading my groceries into the backseat of my car, the same man pulled up. This time he got out and said "young lady, do you know who Sir Galahad was?" I said "yes, sir I bet it's you" as he helped me load the groceries in my car in the pouring rain. I asked him his name - Richard - and he told me that he liked people.

Now that is a sweet man who deserves to be called Sir Galahad Sir.

Tomorrow is...

Friday, March 5th is National Multiple Personalities Day. So today you can determine which personality you will exhibit tomorrow.

Won't your coworkers be surprised if you arrive at the office sporting a new tattoo and nose ring? You can be jammin' to hip hop music on your iPod and slugging down Monster power drinks at the same time.

Mark Twain once said "everyone is a moon and has a dark side which they never show" I think after awhile your friends, family and certainly spouses are bound to see the dark side.

I am usually annoyingly cheerful and upbeat even early in the morning.

A few weeks ago I woke up crabby. No reason, no problems just plain irritable. I went to the Y and was grumbling and snarling because some kids had the audacity to swim and have fun in the waterpark area. However, with the help of my friend and a reasonable amount of chocolate candy I was fine the next day.

So pick a personality and show your friends the NEW you tomorrow!

advice

Years ago when I was thin (Yes, really!) and stylish I wore mini-skirts. (Young blog readers just google styles of the late 60's to see what I mean...)

My Mom always told me "Vicki Lou, cover your knees or you will get arthritis when you are old" I laughed and ignored her advice. If my sweet little Mom were around today I would have to say "you were right".

Osteoarthritis isn't fatal and nobody sponsors a walk for it since nobody that has it can walk very far. I read a book on "Pain Free arthritis", when I got to part where it said coffee is bad for your knees I stopped reading and made a fresh pot of delicious java.

So if you are lucky enough to still have your in your life heed her advice and do what she says!