To begin with I’ve never seen so many children at Soup before. They seemed to outnumber the adults 10 to 1. The sign was up by the register to “please wait to be seated”. We saw the outdoor patio looked mostly empty so we asked the manager if we could go ahead and pick our seats out there instead of waiting. After a kind yes the manager carried my tray for me making it a bit easier to navigate the maze like pattern of people all around us. We set our plates pilled high of salad down on the table and started walking towards the food bar to gather the rest of our glutinous meal.

The food bar area is much like an intersection if you will, without the stop signs or light signals. Since there are no guidelines to show you where to wait your turn, the true colors of a persons character emerge like your last drink on its way back up your esphogus. With the kids out numbering adults 10 to 1, I decided it was best to proceed with caution. Children were filling their glasses with every single flavor of soda possible, waiting knee deep in line for the apple cobbler Jerry said he never saw (I sent him out for refills and dessert too afraid to venture out on my own), and eating macaroni and cheese from the pasta bar with their sticky fingers. How many ways can I say “eewwww”? The line for the multi-flavored soda fountain was 5 to 6 people deep with a young boy in front of me as I waited my turn. Just as it was this boys turn to fill his glass he turned around, looked at me and offered to let me go ahead of him! I snapped myself out of the shock that had quickly set in and kindly told him, “thank you so very much, that was very kind, you go ahead.” See I have manners and apparently one child at Souplantation that night did too.

Balancing my full drink and tray with one hand, using my cane in the other I gathered my soup bowls and starteded heading over to the soup line. There was only one person ahead of me so I felt fairly confident I could take those few steps to the counter and set my tray down without tripping then sending my high calorie drink flying all over an underdressed teenager. While cautiously walking I saw the long row of deep stainless steel barrels of soup and was trying to decide “diet” or “just this once”, when out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 girls, probably 10 and 7 years old, running at a small gallop right towards me. There wasn’t enough time or any way possible to move my sorry ass out of the way quick enough, and as far as the girls were concerned I was invisible. Before I could say “woah nelly”, while really meaning, “what the hell?” both girls ran smack into my left side stomping on both my feet. The scene that followed was quite awesome as I contorted like an acrobat on a high wire, my cane flailing around my body as if to protect me, I handled my tray as if I were a pro juggler. And then it was over. The 10 and 7 year old were in front of me laughing and giggling as if they tripped over their favortie stuffed toy. And I was behind them quite shaken and in disbelief. Moving faster than I should have and before I could control my tonque, I loudly exclaimed “That was incredibly rude what you just did. Both of you need to get out of line now.” Much to my surprise they cleared the area ahead of me and I felt a bit of calm come over my body. Well, that’s not entirely true. I was still amazed that there was not a single word uttered, no apology, no eye contact, the girls just moved out of line like a couple of blind sheep being guided by a limp, old herding dog. Willing myself to calm down I once again started to focus on the soup, with “just this once” now turned into “I sure as hell deserve this” in the line up of delectible choices. While lifting the first full ladel of tomato onion into my bowl I felt my elbow get slighty knudged from the left. Looking over my shoulder I saw the same two girls, chattering a mile a minute while going about their business and again completely ignoring me and the fact that they were all over my personal space and then some. My frustration quickly resurfaced and all images of my contorted angry face got left behind while I said even louder “Girls, get out of this line, go back to your seats and let this nice lady waiting behind you help herself first.” What happened to my mouth next I’m sure showed up on my face like a huge gaping tunnel a semi could have driven through. Immediately following my comment about letting the “nice lady” I had just suggested the girls let go ahead of them, said woman sarcasticly and with a slight snicker uttered, “that’s alright, they’re with me”.My mouth opened wide in a repeat preformance of Semi’s Going Through Huge Tunnel’s. “Oh!” I said to Ms Nice Lady watching her stand with her hand on her old lady jeans. “Did you see they just trampled over me?” Again with a snicker, this blonde, short haired woman looking more like the wicked witch of the west than I, said “No, I didn’t”. How dare I insult her by saying her child misbehaved while she was busy overfilling her plate and no where near her kids. By now with almost a complete lack of words I felt would be useful or appropriate I replied with what was now my turn to say snickerlying “Oh, I see, that explains everything!”, and turned away trying to finish filling my soup.

From there on out the Snickety MoWitch and her two stampeding girls were behind me filling their trays with soup, potatoes, bread, you name it. I tried hard not to notice anything about them wanting to push this whole scenario out of my mind as quickly as possible. I skipped filling my tray with the “you deserve it” because honestly I’d already made myself a mountainous salad to eat,and moved on to cautiously making my way back to our table on the patio. Feeling strangely happy to leave Souplantation’s famous all you can eat Soup,bread,pasta, and dessert bar I silently made a mental note to never go to a resturant at 6:30 again! Ever! I proceeded slowly to the outside patio table where my husband was waiting for me.

From our patio table I was facing a window in which I could clearly see into the resturant as well as the door right beside the window that seperated the two areas. During our entire dinner that glass door became what I now refer to it as “the revolving door of nicety”. I decided right then and there these people in the outside patio area must have taken a class in “treat others as you would like them to treat you”. In other words everyone that had any ounce of decency had come out to join us. They were there to celebrate my mature and responsible action to a couple of wild unattentended children. Well, not exactly, but this story does sound better like that doesn’t it? Still, to share this end of the story I must admit every single man, lady, girl or boy with the exception of one young asian boy who clearly thought he was a king in a foreign country by showing his strength by keeping his hands in his pockets at all time, opened or held open the glass door that led them into the resturant. In fact I probably heard more “please, you first”, or “why, thank you” and “you’re welcome” more than I had in the last year while dinning in public. In fact the next time we eat at Souplantation, and we will, that is where Jerry and I are going to sit. Because only the nice people are allowed to use the revolving door of nicety.

When Valerie and her dad John were here last month he took us out to a great local sushi resturant, Oami, that a good friend of mine referred me to.

Of the 2 chef’s who were working that night, this was the only one who allowed me to take his photo.

John took this photo of me with my food, yum! Every bite was delicious!

Such a nice evening, full of wonderful memories. Thanks John and family. Here’s to Valerie and her boyfriend visiting Oami when they move out to the O.C.

Our good friends, the Bennets hosted a 4h of July bbq at their house and invited Jerry and I along with Terry and Karen. The feast consisted of dogs and “burgs” along with all sides like fruit, salad and Terry’s favorite chips, salsa and hummus.

Recently Steve and Jill got new family room furniture; a gorgeous red sectional sofa, matching rug and painting. I can attest to the comfortness of this couch as at one point I completely stretched out on it!

Steve and Jill’s oldest son Patrick , went to a wedding held at Disneyland last Sunday, where he came home with his own individual Toontown cake! Wasn’t that nice of him to save the cake so we could take photos of it, and partake in enjoying it with delicious key lime pie and chocolate chip sherbert.

Patrick enjoyed his Toontown cake while lounging in the hammock on their patio. Sounds like a good idea to me too.

The trip to Torrance to visit good friends Beth, Steve, and assorted family members was fun as always. While we had certain tasks we wanted to accomplish, most of them require purchases, and as always lots of laughter. There are many things I love about these long time friends: their generosity, their kindness, their compassion, certainly patience which will be explained a bit later, and as if I could mention just 1 more of many many more it would have to be their ability to shower me with love. I’ve never had friends who do this for me in such a wonderful way. They sing my praises with every move I make, whether it be the sewing projects I’ve done or the cooking. They even find a way to suggest they only too just woke up after I’ve slept in until some late late hour of the morning. I come home oozing love. It’s the most awesome thing ever.

Beth and I were sitting in her family room admiring her garden when I decided to take photos of it. Beth has a green thumb she just doesn’t really know it. Her love for geraniums is awesome: with a lot of different varieties strewn all over her patio and garden beds. She has several bouganvillas, a plant that I love and have killed over the years. This particular one is quite large. The big fountain attracts a wide variety of birds.

Colorful ceramic mushrooms sit at the base of 3 different bird baths. Beth’s yard is full of birds and yes even crows, of which both of us are not especially fans of.

On this particular visit I was in rare form. Let me explain. In past visits I started a trend in which I either break something or more likely am connected to something getting broken or not working, thus creating jobs for Steve. To be honest and reveal all, I don’t intentionally do this, it just seems to happen. This time I was on a roll and things were happening all around me. In a past visit I turned off Steve’s computer. And I mean literally. Turned it off. As in didn’t want to start up again. Here’s where the patience part comes in to play. Steve didn’t get mad, he just explained it was an “uh oh” waiting to happen. Lucky me. Or maybe lucky him, as he later explained he’d been waiting for this to happen so he could go out and buy a new one!

Steve & Beth’s new Mission style hutch has a extension cord plugged in to the wall behind it. A couple of visits ago I was told to plug the vacuum into the cord. I got about 2″ of carpet vacuumed with Beth’s new and powerful vacuum when everything on that side of the house lost power. Oh dear! On this recent visit I was working in the garden and I accidently stepped on a exposed sprinkler pipe, breaking it, or as Beth likened it: finished breaking it. Score: Patty 2, Steve 2

On one of my many trips to the garage I noticed this creature sticking out from around a box on the shelf. I kind of remember there being a story attached to it, making it something great for Steve and Beth to keep. I just don’t remember what that story may be. Still I’ve gone used to seeing his little face watch me ponder over the tool bench.

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Steve’s repaired glasses sit atop Pepsi he brought home for Beth. (I got a diet coke!-thanx Steve). I picked them up and upon doing so the lense popped out. Oops! Score: Patty 3 Steve 3. Also during this visit I managed to unplug the phone bases when I plugged in the coffee pot. Are you keeping track? Patty 4 Steve 4. Steve’s #’s correspond to the chores he has to do for the things I kept breaking. He’s gets well over a 10 for his patience. Thanks for yet another great visit wonderful friends!

It took 3 of us, a few interesting poses and suggestive comments but we managed to get Beth’s antique rocker covered with a beautiful needlepoint she found on ebay. We also were in the lookout for a nice arrangement for their new dinning room table. We found this wreath for the door at one of our favorite haunts: Mulberry Cottage. The gorgeous green flower arrangement was purchased at Michael’s. It goes beautifully with their new dinning room set.

If anyone knows me well, they know I love to organize anything and everything. I’m almost anal about it. I took it upon myself to organize Beth’s jewelry while we were visiting this last weekend. She got into it too at the end and we stayed up until midnight talking about the special meaning behind some of her most cherished possessions. It was such fun.

Be sure and click on the photo of the Air Force flag because you will find Steve in the picture to the right. Steve and Beth’s middle child, a son, is over in Iraq right now, fighting the fight. Please take a minute and say a prayer for this truly wonderful guy to come home safe and sound, to his wife and family. We love you!

Beth has 2 adorable kitties, sisters Tiger and Tigger. Tiger is shown below in the back of the closet being the shy one that she is. She sleeps during the day and is up at night running through the house, scaring anyone who might get up for a drink of water or a potty stop. Silly girl! Tigger is the youngest, the runt of the liter, and a bit more sociable. She loves to be around the action and you will frequently find her resting nearby. She’s also more mischievious and loves to do things she knows she shouldn’t! She’s shown resting in Beth’s red chair.

On one of our excursions in the neighborhood we saw this huge pink hydrangea in the front yard. Every year it gets bigger and more beautiful. Beth said she believes the owners trim it down during it’s off season. Maybe I’ll get the nerve to do the same to mine. And just look at my adorable new Jim Shore Tinkerbell figurine! I love it! It was an early birthday gift from Beth! Awesome! I also got a very sweet cloche, perfect for all sorts of wonderful things. Thank you my dear friend! So very much!

You can see the new Jim Shore Tinkerbell figurine under the new cloche from Beth on the left side of my desk shelf top. It’s there you can also see the photo I had enlarged to match our newly painted bedroom colors. I had Matt tweak the colors of the rose a bit, toning it down so the center wasn’t quite so pink, even still it looks pinker than it really is. I love it. Here also is a close up of the new Tinkerbell figurine.

I came home from my visit with Steve and Beth to take Matt for his 26th birthday (earlier in the week) out to dinner with my sweet hubby. We went to California Pizza Kitchen, yum! and ate wonderful pasta, rolls, and red velvet cake! Happy Birthday sweet Matt. We love you so much!

I had my latest and increased dose of Remicade 2 days ago and am elated on how well I feel. My hands work again! Mind you not completely like they are suppose to, but to be able to grasp my morning cup of joe safely is a huge one. Getting out of bed in the am isn’t as uncomfortable as it was a couple days ago and I can get to sleep with a simple plop of this grey haired head on the pillow again.

From where I blog I can see the back patio clearly, even a couple of bird feeders and the potted plants on the patio. I’ve been having a bit of an issue with our squirrel, Rocky (so named by my sweet husband). Seems he has taken note of where Jay and Kay (our blue jays, also named by hubby) hide their peanuts when Jerry passes them out in the morning. That hiding place would be deep inside my potted plants. Rocky likes to come by and dig the peanuts out, and of course being a squirrel he doesn’t clean up after himself, leaving dirt and such strewn all over the patio. When we emptied our small pond a few years back I placed the pretty grey river rocks we had on the pond bottom, on top of the potted plant dirt. This was more due to the lack of something better to do with these expensive rocks than for decoration although it does look nice. I didn’t realize at the time that it would prevent the scrub jays from hiding their peanuts in these pots, but hey, it worked so I thought I’d put more of the same rocks in all the potted patio plants (try saying that real fast). Of course the price of pretty rocks has gone up so I compromised and got the next best thing; smaller sized beige rocks. One bag at $4.59 of beige rocks covered the tops of remaining planted pots and I saved $6.50 or more by not making everything matchy patchy as I tend to like. Done. Or so I figured. The sun was shinning brightly when I walked onto our patio yesterday morning. It seemed like it would be a good day, until I saw a neat pile of rocks stacked in one of the pots, with dirt strewn all over. Again! I should have taken a picture of it, not that I could have posted it here, but it would have been fun to look back on it and imagine how cute Rocky must have looked stacking the rocks to get to that hidden peanut. Guess I should have invested in the bigger grey rocks. I bet he would have had trouble getting his little paws around those suckers!

Almost as soon as I entered the household area at Target I noticed there was quite a bit of chaos. Immediately after that I saw the 90% off signs and figured I’d just missed out on anything that was worth spending money on. So as I was wandering around the Target team members (stores always have a catchy name for their underworked staff) as they were placing Christmas ornaments on the shelf, I over heard a woman say “Just wait, she’ll be back out with more stuff.” This peaked my interest so I thought I’d stick around to see what came out next. 3 big carts later the team members finally brought out something I could sink my teeth into: napkins!! Yes, they did have little blue snow flakes on them, but they were 24cts for a pack of 60 Vanity Fair high quality napkins. I was thrilled and joined in with the other panicky looking women to get my fair share, after all this item was on my list and it was on clearance at 90% off no coupons required! Following the napkins were paper plates and Saran Wrap. One word of caution to my friends, if you’re ever over for a summer bbq hopefully you’ll understand why I’ll set the table with blue snowflake paper plates and pull out a box of Saran Wrap decorated with cute little snowman and Christmas trees to put our leftovers in.