The Grand Opening

After months and months and months of waiting, my store's grand opening came to pass today and I hearby announce, it was a commercial success. The shelves were full, the stock was perfectly arranged, the floors were cleared, the trash was removed, the newly layed floor was waxed shiny and all the employees had on their new duds and wide smiles.

I arrived at 2:30 am, stayed until 11am and worked my ass off. I am exhausted and going to bed. I will be back again at 2am, six hours from now.

Zzzzz.....

Alice in Wonderland - new project

My niece T is turning forty in July and I love her heaps. She's my favorite and she knows it. She is really freaking out about being forty, I don't know why. You're only as old as you feel. And she looks pretty damn good for entering the summer of her life.

Her favorite book of all time is Alice in Wonderland. Or is it her favorite animated movie? Or movie? I don't know. I do know she is gaga over Alice.

I quilt. It is a hobby. I am ambitious and creative even if I am not an expert quilter. I am going to make her an Alice in Wonderland quilt for her birthday.

I have had a design in mind for twenty years. I had intended to make one for myself. Alice is not really my thing, altho I love the book and the illustrations. I am more a Wizard of Oz junkie than an Alice devotee.

So. I've been searching for tea cup or teapot fabrics for the backing. In doing so, I have hit upon blocks that could be made into tea cups or pots and a lot of very nice blogs about teapots and quilting.

My plan for the front is.... Alice in an oval in the center. The seven unequal size blocks around the oval will be devoted to the characters:

Mad Hatter,

White Rabbit,

Caterpiller,

Cheshire Cat,

Walrus,

Tweedle Dee and Twiddle Dum,

Queen of Hearts.

The borders are going to be hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. The frames for the blocks will either be embroidered lines from the book or the card suits. If that is the case, the borders will be changed to trees with white roses being painted red.

I also want to work in the pig baby somehow or Alice with Dinah her cat.

I have until July to get this project finished. It took twenty years to plan it. Can I make it in two short months? We'll see

Is this guy smoking hot or what?

Dimples. Hubba, hubba.

As my week unwinds

My sister K went home to Michigan last Monday. I was sorry to see her leave. After the death of my bestfriend Annette last year, K has become my bestfriend. It was always easy to shine on her influence over me, we're related. She is older than me by eleven years. She is an avid gardener, a woman of Christ, loves all kids and puts up with me. That alone should get her nod towards sainthood. But she is human too. She gets gas, snores sometimes and once in a blue moon will burn a waffle. This is why I love her so.

Her and I are co-reading the One-Year Chronological Bible. I am behind a month. Not because of her visit but because I cannot get off the Elmore Leonard books. They're like catnip!

And speaking of sisters, my sister M called two days ago to ask if I usually work Wednesdays. Yes I do, why? She was scheduled for pre-op tests this Friday (tomorrow) for surgery next Wednesday the 30th on her left arm, the elbow area precisely and she needs a ride home after surgery. See, she has Kaiser, the very butt-holios that ruined her arm in the first place and they won't do surgery unless you have a designated driver outta the joint. That's where I come in.

Next Wednesday, the 30th, is the Grand Opening of MY STORE! This has been in the planning stages since last Sept. The blood, sweat and construction stages have made work a disaster zone since October and for God's sake, it is finally coming to fruition, THIS WEDNESDAY! Anyhoo, I say, "What time will you get out?" She'll let me know as soon as she knows. Oooooo-kay.

I am mindful of two things while I mull this over. One, she never asks me to do anything for her. She is a solo-mio personality. She's secretive, a loner and a martyr. This is the same sister who blew off Blake Shelton for her birthday last February because the House of Blues in West Hollywood was too far to drive on a Friday night. She is the driver, always is, always will be, except it seems when Kaiser tells her she can't. The second thing I mull over is that in the last eight months that my store has been under construction and I have said over and over ad nauseum within her hearing range on many, many occasions that the GRAND OPENING is APRIL 30TH, she never listened to me or registered the date in her brain.

Kaiser lost her co-payment and she is fussing with her bank to get proof of payment. She'll probably put off the surgery until it gets so bad that she'll be forced into because of the pain. Did I mention she's a martyr? I arranged to have someone else get her so I could attend my GRAND OPENING! Duh! It's all moot now anyway.

And speaking of Blake Shelton.... I am getting a second chance this year to see him in concert. This handsome, sexy, tall drink of water is playing at the Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine festival this June. OMG! I am sooooo going. I called sister M and asked her if she wanted to go too, HELL YEAH! I said listen up bitch, we have over one month to arrange that night off so we can be front row center looking up Blake's long legs and drooling ourselves silly. I am going to splurge and buy the best seats available. He is worth it. Just thinking he is back in Ca, twice in one year and in MY OWN BACKYARD makes me tingle. I won't say where. I cannot stop smiling.

http://www.tvbwf.com/

What I know

I like iced coffee when the weather turns hot and dang its been scorching lately. I received a Starbucks gift card at Christmas. I still have $3 on it. I get large iced coffees with a Splenda and a splash of cream. If there is any left by the time I get home, I squirt in some Hershey's chocolate syrup and make it a mocha. Today I ordered my second one, ooooh, I am so indulgent.


I adore Emile Hirsh. I raved this weeks ago when I switched my BOOK LIST from a side page element to a post (April 7th). I saw him portray Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild and I love this kid. He was also great in Mudge and Lords of Dogtown, I wanted to slap him! He is going to star in Speed Racer with Matthew Fox when it is in theaters May 9th. I'll go see it. He is Generation Y's new Tom Hanks. Hide and watch.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0386472/

I live in a Hollywood bungalow. My landlord's own a huge spanish house on the same property. I never met the man, I dealt exclusively with the woman. He died Friday (4-25) of a long term illness, cancer. I took her some flowers, a condolence card and my rent check two days early.

Last Sunday morning I was sitting by my picture window reading when I heard something stirring in the bushes outside. I have seen skunks galore and on one occasion a possum crawling along the fence. When I heard twigs snapping I figured it was a fat possum. Uh. NO. It was a mexican sleeping under the bushes. He crawled out, hungover and walked up the driveway. WTF? I went out my backdoor and followed him. He was knocking on another tenants door and when he saw me, he asked me for water. By the time I knocked on the landlord's door, he had already beat feet up the wooded embankment onto another street.

This Wednesday is the Grand Opening of my store. I cannot get anymore ready. I am not one to wish my life away but shit, I wish it was Thursday already. I am exhausted all the time.

Bottom's up

A recent study found the average American walks about 900 miles per year. Another study found Americans drink, on average, 22 gallons of booze a year. That means, on average, Americans get about 41 miles to the gallon. Kind of makes you proud to be an American.

Engineers explain cats

I suppose if I ever wanted to increase my odds of finding a smart guy, I could enroll in engineer school - the odds are good but the goods are odd. That said, I love this video by an engineer who has a sense of humor and three nice cats.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHXBL6bzAR4


When I was looking for a new place to live I called several apartments in my price range close to my work. One of the things that I thought was unfair was "Pet Rent". I fully understand first and last months rent and a security deposit in case of property damage but I never grasped pet rent.

I have a cat. She is old. Nineteen years old actually. She has roughly 36,000 miles on her, has a passport and is health certified. She is small, four pounds including hair, eats less than a cup of food per week, chucks up an occasional hairball but gives me lots of affection, in her stuck up, conditional catty way.

When I phoned about the availability of apartments and got down to the money requirements, I was told by a few places that the pet rent for my cat was an additional $25 per month. One place wanted $40 and a non-refundable $150 deposit.

Uh. Really? What for? Why? Aren't pet damages included in the security deposit? Do you charge rent per child too? No? Why not? As far as I know, my cat has never picked up a Bic lighter and burned an apartment building to the ground making dozens of people homeless. Maybe you should consider that when renting to negligent parents of beligerant kids.

Mission Inn

Desert at the Mission Inn.

The Spanish Patio.

The rotating clock above the patio.

My weekly rundown

My sister arrived in California on April 4th for a three week visit. She has spent the night a few times and the rest of the time she is staying at her daughter T's house. She went from freezing cold weather to very hot weather. Yesterday in fact it was 102 degrees Farenheit in Anaheim. She brought a cold with her but now her allergies are beating her up.

Last night everybody came over to my house for supper. This was a momentous occasion for the simple fact that I cannot remember the last time I lived alone and everybody was around TO invite at the same time. There were eight of us all together and I made Thai satay chicken salads. For desert I made lime squares and a chocolate cream pie.

Today my sister and I went to the Mission Inn for brunch, we had the buffet. I love the Mission Inn. During my previous wild life adventures, I worked there. That was long before the millions of dollars were spent renovating. The cockroaches were in charge of room service and Brian the head chef was a coke dealer, waaaaaay back then. Anyway, that is all ancient history, the Inn is stunning in its current state.

We ate so much today, at the buffet. I may not eat for a few days! Ah-oog-ga! I went back three times. I had a micro greens salad, fresh fruit, dried figs, smoked cheese, chevre, chicken marsala, wild rice pilaf, a salmon filet on fruit compote, fresh steamed vegetables, rolls and too many other things that barely fit onto my plate. For desert I had a pistachio cake, chocolate baverois, black forest cake, pecan squares, chocolate mousse and more fruit and cheese. Good Lord, here it is seven hours later and I am still full.

(I am going to add some pix after I make this post. I am still not sure how to insert pix into a post. So far I have to do the pix and then insert the text, which I am too lazy to do. Oh well.)

For a year I have been begging for decent hours at work, a way to earn a living and pay my bills. I have been strung along for what seems like months. This week I have 42 hours on my schedule. Of course this is the last week that my sister is here and chances are they'll screw me back to 26 hrs the day after she departs. Figures.

Anyway, her visit is my excuse for not blogging. I wish she lived closer than 2400 miles away, in freezing, boring Michigan. She has a great life there but damn, I wish she'd at least move closer to here - close enough to drive in one day.

I am going to a birthday party for my great niece next Friday. She's going to be 13 years old. I love her enormously, she is so smart, talented and beautiful. This is her first co-ed party, boys are going to be there. Ooh la la. And my sister too, her grandma.

I have to work tonight from 0300 to 1200.

Creature feature

Since the Book List element didn't work as I had hoped, I added two other side elements instead. One is an ongoing list of the bad drivers I encounter during my day (or night) driving. It has their license plate numbers and their car models. I see color, not the year.

And since I have the vulgar habit of swearing when I write, I have added an adorable Cuss Meter. I am trying to be better at curbing nasty words but shit, some things must be expressed vividly, with foul language.

This website contains 258% MORE profanity than other websites who took this test.

Merde!

So, if you find yourself on my list of asshole drivers, you must have done something pretty aggressive for me to take down your plate number. Try to drive like a decent human. Please. For the sake of those around you trying to get home to their families, control yourself and your damn car.