Wine and whales

One day we went wine tasting. I didn't really have any expectations but it wasn't what I expected. I had no idea that wine tasting was so popular!!! Seriously, hundreds of people were there! I liked sitting outside best though.

The next day we went whale watching. On the way to Newport Beach, we drove along the coast. It was fun, just for the experience. But dang! There are way too many people at the beach! I guess it's been a long, long time since I've been to the beach. But honestly, even if I had millions of dollars to spend on a house at the beach, I wouldn't do it. I don't like people. And too many of them take away all the pleasure of something. We saw million dollar cars on the road and a yacht dealership! whaaaaaat?!? And then we saw this,

that really balances out all the opulence :-)

We stopped at a fun little retro diner, called Ruby's, for lunch.

Then came Newport. Again, I didn't have any expectations but I didn't think it was going to be SO AWESOME! We saw whales! Up close! In the ocean! WOW! It was the best thing ever!!! There was a National Geographic photographer on the boat with us. When we were headed back to the harbor, he had his laptop set up in the galley so we could go in and see the photo's he'd taken. It was pretty cool.

there's our boat...

 Another beautiful day comes to an end.

dumb = funny

It's true, the dumber a joke is, the funnier it is. Like, what do you call a camel without any humps?

Humphrey. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

On our trip to California, you get a little bag of nuts and a little bag of cookies along with your little drink. And I do mean little. Remember when you used to get the whole can, if you wanted a soda?? Ha! Anyway, here are cookies...plane cookies...plain cookies. Get it? Pretty funny!!

they were even shaped like little planes

This trip was different too, because we flew into an airport we've never used before. Usually, we fly into Ontario. A couple years ago, we flew into San Diego. This time, we flew into Santa Ana. It was pretty cool. On our way home, the TSA line looked like this;

It's a super small airport but laid out so efficiently. I would definitely fly into Santa Ana again!

music

I haven't updated the list in a long time...

Bobby Sherman - My very first concert. Thanks Mom
The Guess Who - My first concert without any grownups!
Edgar Winter & Peter Frampton w/Golden Earring
Led Zeppelin - I paid a scalper $20 to see them
Yes - twice
Doobie Brothers
Cat Stevens
Elton John
Neil Diamond - twice
Jethro Tull
Sonny and Cher - yeah, don't laugh. They were very popular in the 70's
Mac Davis - ditto
This next group was all courtesy of my Aunt and I was a tween.
Andy Williams
Debbie Reynolds
Rod McKuen - he was a poet and a song writer
Paul Anka
Liberace - in the front row! And now that I'm older, I'll admit it...I LOVED him!! He was so blingy!!
Sammy Davis Jr. - I have the best story about this concert...when he sang "Candy Man", he was standing on stage passing out chocolate candy kisses. So I ran up and got one. I don't know, maybe I was about 13. Anyway, I put that candy kiss in my jewelry box for safe keeping. It was a treasure to me. Fast forward 3/4 years...my little brother, for some reason, looked in my jewelry box. Oh, I know you know where this is going...HE ATE IT! I was angry at him for years.
Hall and Oats
Black Sabbath - I don't actually remember this show but I do remember that I forgot most of it because of a bottle of Seagrams 7. Hey, it was the 70’s.
Kansas – twice. They were never as good as they were in their Freshman year
Blue Oyster Cult
BTO
Aero Smith - 3 times
REO Speedwagon - 3 times
Charlie Daniels
Marshall Tucker
The Pretenders
Joan Armatrading
The Bee Gees, at Dodger Stadium
The Eagles - twice
Chicago
Pink Floyd
Foreigner
J. Geils
Kenny Loggins
3 Dog Night
America
Shawn Phillips
Harry Connick Jr. – 3 times! And if I get the chance again, I’ll be there!
Yanni, twice
Then, sometime in the 80's, I became a fan of country music…
Kenny Rogers/Sawyer Brown/Lee Greenwood
Alabama
Brooks and Dunn - 5 times
Alan Jackson - 3 times
Brad Paisley - twice
Big and Rich – twice
Jake Owens
Toby Keith
Montgomery Gentry
Lone Star
Garth Brooks - dream come true for a true country fan!
Trisha Yearwood
Neal McCoy
At We’re All for The Hall 2013 – Keith Urban, Vince Gill, Montgomery Gentry, Trace Adkins, Tim McGraw, Hank Williams Jr., Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, Brantley Gilbert, Jason Aldean
At We’re All for The Hall 2014 – Keith Urban, Vince Gill, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Ronnie Milsap, Reba!, Carrie Underwood, Darius Rucker, Leeann Womack,  Brett Eldredge, Brantley Gilbert, Kip Moore, Kacey Musgraves.
I wish I could have seen;
Alice Cooper
Billy Joel
Journey - when Steve Perry was w/them
Bob Segar
Donna Summer

Update; 
Journey/Steve Miller
Earth Wind and Fire
Vince Gill
Trace Adkins
Straight No Chaser twice now
Trans Siberian Orchestra

Garth Brooks, again – YAY!

people

I don't like them, in general. At least twice a week, I have to stop at an intersection because some idiot doesn't care that their sign says don't walk. Stupid. At least once a week, I have to slow/stop because some moron just feels like crossing the street, like a goose, in the middle of the block. Stupid. Daily, the Kardashians in some headline aggravates me. Stupid. OK, enough of that...

Do you ever look at runners? Yesterday, while I was walking at lunch, there were a lot of runners out there. And they're all different. I mean, the way they run. Some of them hit the ground like their feet are on springs. Boing, boing, boing. Some of them run on their tip toes. Some of them don't move anything but their legs-their bodies don't even go up and down! Some of them lean way back, like a cartoon figure, while others really hunch forward. Some of them just seem to glide along while others stomp their feet. It's so funny to me. 

Do you ever look at fat people? People really gain weight differently too. Some of them, mostly men, gain all their weight in their belly. Some women with big bellies, have little skinny legs and arms. Some people have really huge arms or ankles. Some people get fat necks! People are funny.

Oh, and I really do like some people. 
:-) 
They don't all suck. I'll try and do better about not saying that...

Ta Da!

Last night, we committed to our kitchen layout! whew. That was not easy! Our 2nd island is a smidge smaller, but I like it better - it flows. It feels right, now;

This is my cool new sink

And THIS is my cool new range!

I'm starting to get excited now!!

Zzzzzzzzz

Oh this makes me so happy!!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3642608/Should-sleeping-TWICE-day-Two-shorter-periods-slumber-suit-body-clocks-better-increase-alertness.html

I have a relative who has a first and second sleep. When he told me that, I immediately thought, oh yeah, that's for me!!! I'm gonna do that when I retire! Seriously, it's so stupid to lay there in the middle of the night, waiting to fall back asleep! And I only do it because I have to get up to go to work. When I'm retired, I'll just get up and do something instead. Then I'll go back to sleep. Naps!!! How cool is that?

Well, it turns out, that's how you should be doing it anyway! YAY!!!

Color

I wish I was better at putting colors together. Some people just have a knack or an eye for putting colors together. I always struggle with that.

This is a really fun piece, about colors.

http://listverse.com/2012/12/24/10-fascinating-facts-about-color/

Also, WHY are there so many colors??? How many shades of white do you need? Or black. Black is black! Geesh! I brought that up because I've been looking for a good white, to paint our new kitchen cabinets. Oy. There's shades and hues and tones and...Ugh.

As far as the remodel, it's slowed down a little now. He can't go further, or is it farther, on the floor until the kitchen cabinets are in. And the kitchen cabinets aren't installed yet because we keep changing our minds about the layout. Thank heavens we're doing it ourselves, because we would drive a designer NUTS! Oh, well maybe not - a designer would know what to do, hahahaha! That's ok, we're figuring it out. 

First, we thought we wanted an L shaped island. But then when we put the cabinets where they were going to go, and cut out the foam top, (for the pretend counter) we didn't like it at all!  So now, we're back to my orignial idea of having 2 islands. My guy hated that idea the first time around, on paper. But when we moved the cabinets around, he really liked it! Oh!! And the IRS got my new stove money so my sometimes wonderful hubby said, "I'll sell my motorcycle. I don't ever ride it anyway." So now I can have my new slide in stove. Yay! This make me very happy :-)

Anyway, this is sorta what it looks like now;

It's coming along.

Noooooo

How can it be JUNE already???
sigh
July 4th is practically here. And then autumn and then Christmas!
sigh

I guess we're all just plugging along. We actually had a Spring this year, which was awesome. And summer won't arrive until this weekend, which is awesome! Not the heat part, but that it took so long to get here :-)

The diet has stalled. I haven't gained or lost a single pound in 3 weeks. Phooey. I'm sure it's all about falling off the wagon during vacation. I have no willpower. Which probably has something to do with not having a good filter either! Thank heavens my sense prevails, sometimes.

The kitchen re-model has progressed. At last, we made a final decisions about the floor plan, ordered cabinets and the counter top! Woohoo! And while we're waiting for the cabinets, my fella - who is strong and worthy and precise, has started laying the new hardwood floor. IT'S SO FABULOUS!!! I love it SO much! Yesterday he was mad though...he's no spring chicken. He said this is the first time he's really started to feel old. Because he's tired and sore and it's taking longer than he thought it would. I tried to make him feel better about it but I remembered an article I read a couple years ago, about aging. It said that the thing men fear/dislike most about getting older is their loss of strength and stamina. For women, it's a fear/dislike of being invisible. I wasn't sure I "got it". I do now. Not the women/invisible part though. But ever since I read that, I try to be more aware of little old ladies. Oh yeah, I was talking about the remodel!

Here's the new counter - solid surface material (Corian)

Here's part of the new floor - try to imagine it not dusty :-)

I'd show you the kitchen but it's just sorta pieced together right now. Not much to see.

Animals vs people

Well, you know I have to say something about this. You've heard about the Cincinnati Zoo, shooting the gorilla? In case you haven't, a 4 yr old boy managed to wriggle through all the fencing/barricades, at the gorilla enclosure and fall in, about 10 feet. A male gorilla grabbed him and dragged him around the enclosure. The zoo's emergency team, shot and killed the gorilla. They did this to save the little boys life. I have a love for animals. It's tragic that a critically endangered animal was killed. It would have been more tragic if a 4 year old boy had been killed. All this uproar is so ridiculous. Yes, the little boys parents should have been watching him more closely, but if you're a parent, you KNOW, a child only needs about 2 seconds to get into trouble. Yes, the zoo needs to take another look at the safety, but if this is the first time something like this has happened in 38 years, I wouldn't bust their chops over it. More children die from bicycle accidents. Good grief. What's happened to our sensibility??
Geesh! 

Vacations rock!

A couple weeks ago, my fella and I went out to Utah to visit family. We spent a few days in southern Utah and a few days in Salt Lake City.

I am NOT a fan of the desert. But southern Utah has some beautiful vistas. 

I guess it's all that red rock :-) But in another month when it's 110 in the shade, it won't matter. Boooo. 
This is what I'm familiar with, as far as the desert goes;

This is yuca tree. You know why they call it that? Because it's yucky.

While we were there though, we had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect and after a long Midwestern winter, it was sure nice to be outside in the sunshine where there is no humidity!

In Salt lake City, we got to have a day to ourselves, so we went up to the mountains;

It's been a LONG time since we've been in the mountains. Wow. It was AWESOME. I remember when we lived in SLC, I used to think, Utah is why the phrase "God's country" was coined. I still believe that is true. Sure, the beach is great but give me the mountains any day!!

See this little girl;

This is Buttons. We found her after the highway traffic came to a standstill because she was roaming around! So, I jumped out of the car and called to her. She came right to me!!! Thankfully, she had a tag with her mommy's phone number on it and we were able to drive her home. Her owner was a sweet little old lady who didn't realize she had gotten out of the yard. She was very happy we brought her home!

We even had a chance to drive around the old neighborhood, which is even older now, and stop by THE BEST SHAKE PLACE EVER!!! they've been around since the 60's and STILL, it's cram packed every Friday and Saturday night. Of course, we bought shakes :-) 

And NO trip back west would be complete without...

There's just something so right about a place that only does one thing, and does it well :-) Ahhhhhhh

Salt Lake City was my favorite place, of all the places I've lived. It's a tough community to live in though, if you're not a Mormon. 

the death of a tree

Of all the trees we've had to have removed, I was most sad about the GIANT Ash tree in our backyard.When we bought our home, it was a beautiful tree and provided a lot of shade over our house. Then a couple years later, when we had to have someone come out to quote taking down a couple trees, he told me that our Ash tree had been attacked by the infamous Emerald Ash Borer Beetle; 

It's hard to believe that this little sucker can kill a 60 foot tree! Well, it looked ok to me so I ignored him. During the next couple years, less of it grew back in the Spring and I was sad. So, last year we had it cut off. Not down to the ground though, because CHA CHING! So now we have 30 foot stump in our back yard. Anyway, I've been watching it die for the last year. It grew a lot of weird fungus/mushrooms at the bottom of the trunk;

That was after the bark started to split. Then, over the weekend, a big piece of the bark came off and I could see all the little beetle holes;

So far, it's estimated that Indiana has lost 6 million Ash trees!!! Little bastards.

I want a Sycamore tree! They're so cool looking! Maybe you've seen them;

My guy frowns when I say I want more trees. He would hate a Sycamore too - it sheds these funny things;

I won't tell him :-) There's a chance he would be ok with another new tree though...we found this tiny little spruce sprig last summer in our yard. We left it. It's still alive and it's bigger this year! He even stuck a marker in the ground next to it, so we wouldn't accidentally step on it!

Aaaand, on Arbor Day, the city was giving away FREE trees!!! You know I got one :-)

It's our state tree, a Tulip tree. When it's a little bigger, I'll plant in the ground;

Right now, I'm just happy it's still alive too.

The Weirdest ads of the 70's

There were a lot more but these made me laugh right out loud!