Six Days on the Road....

Good meowning from the sunny Keys!  My Mom is hugging her coffee cup with purrpose of inhaling a wisp of caffiene, so I am the guest blogger this morning.

The trip down was purrfect with the exception of a flat tire on the boat trailer.  No worries as Pawps fixed it with traffic zooming by.  Pawsitively scary!  I stayed in my spot on the dashboard furrtively watching for birdies an amusing other travelers.  Purrty cool gig-if ya can get it!

I am happy to be here in our purrecious happy place where I can lay on the deck outside and watch for geckos.  I purrsonley love it!

Not to be too catty, but Mom needs to write her own blog, because it appurrs I have very little to say.

She will see you all next week when her travel lag as pawwsed and she's ready to pawty!

Furrever yours,  Hazel the One Eyed Wondercat

Dream a Little Dream...

 Happy Monday!  How wonderful was the 50 degree weather that found me able to take my last beach walk of the season?  On a sunny day with cool ice formations  everywhere, I was able to make may way down the shore looking for beach treasures and enjoying a fabulous February Sunday.  As we make our way south, the beachwalks will have considerably less clothes!

 On another totally unrelated note..A few years ago, I had chance meeting with Zach Zakar of the Zakar Twins fame.  I found him to be a gorgeous, funny, and very ambitious guy.  He told me, 'watch out for me,  I have big plans and you have not seen the last of me.  I have big dreams and am determined to make them come true!"  So as I read the Sunday Free Press, I was only too happy to see that Zach's promise was being realized.  He and his identical twin, Michael wrote a book and are now staring in a play by the same name!  I am only too sorry to be 5 states away as their performance hits the greater Detroit area.  Guess I will have to wait for the movie!  But I wish the boys all the best and am proud to have known Zach back when was just a twin (did I mention that he is gorgeous?), with a dream.  Congrats and good luck, Dollface.  And break a leg, Baybee!

I'm living my dream, Zach and Michael are realizing theirs and I hope you are all finding yours!

Have an amazing week and I will see you all next week when I alight in the sunny, dreamy Keys!

It's a Miracle...

Berry Manilow has a wrinkle.  And no amount of Retin-A or Botox will fix him!

Recently it was discovered that someone had thoughtlessly hit the back of my truck! The tail light is smashed and there are some scratches that mar the perfection of my dear Berry.

Somehow, if I would have crunched my ride, I would feel differently.  No one will say that I'm the best driver-and I own my vehicular foibles.  But knowing that someone else hit the back of Berry and just drove off, truly irks me.  I just would never do that!  Witness my little story below...


One time  at Target when the wind got ahold of Rocky Balboa's (my Mustang) door and I hit the truck next to me.  I assessed the dom-ahje (that's french, you know!) and trotted over to the front desk to have an announcement made regarding the new dent.  Shortly, a young woman came up to the front to answer the announcement. I explained and was able to take her out to inspect her truck.  Upon looking at her dent, she told me that her brother owned a bump shop and could easily fix it for her.  She thanked me and would not accept my offered money.  She did however; accept a grande Starbucks latte along with my thanks for her understanding.

 Berry Manilow is slated for a day at the spa where that nasty blemish will be fixed.  And I will always remember the kindness of a stranger.

Have the 'kind' of week that includes honesty, tolerance and understanding.  Hey!  Barry should write a song about it!  XO

Checkmate...

Hello Dolls!  For some reason as I try to write my post, my home internet keeps going in and out-6 times so far!  Soooo, I'm going to try to make this as short and sweet as possible!  And speaking of short and sweet, check out galpal Sue.  She perfectly makes that criteria, and we had a wonderful dinner out not once, but TWICE this week!

How scary is the Corona virus?  I have heard that it is possible to even be exposed from products recently shipped from China.  Please check the origins of things that you are buying-just in case.

I saw an episode of Dateline as well as a news story about girls getting murdered because of their activity on social media.  PLEASE do not share everything about your personal life!  It's just far too exposing and dangerous.  It has become too easy to learn about and become obsessed with someone and take it a step further.  It's a social problem borne of social media.  And it's totally preventable.  Keep some things private, for Pete's sake.

And we are half way thru (well, almost) February!  Not to wish any time away, but the gray days can pass anytime now!  Girl needs some sunshine!

On the cable front, we have binged watched 'Ozark' and loved it!  Can't  wait till season 3 in March.  Check it out if you are inclined.

Enough waffling on about nothing as well as dealing with my internet problems.

Y'all have a sweet week-Valentine's Day is on Friday.  Grab a kiss, Hershey's or otherwise!  XO

Can't you See...

On February 04, 2000 Randy and I eloped and made plans for our lives together.  We came into this union with previous marriages behind us and I like to think that we were more prepared and ready to make the compromises necessary.   (Randy is especially skilled at this!) This is especially important because we really are quite opposite people!  Randy loves to stay on the go and I am a total homegirl.  He's a workaholic and I am pretty lazy.  I adore sweets and he could care less.  He can stay on the boat all day and although I'm good for awhile, I really am a land lover mermaid.  Randy is a total people person and loves to be part of a group.  I am more of a loner and a total commitment phobe.  I can read all day and he can't sit still that long.  I could go on, but you get the idea.

However, we share way more important things-concern and love of family, mutual respect, love of dining and security, as well as the value of our special friends.  These are the things that bond us.  Our goals are discussed and agreed upon and we value each others opinions.

  Our adventures have spanned from Alaska to the Keys and many points in between.  We always have fun and are happy wherever we land.

I can't believe how fast time has flown and anniversaries are certainly markers of that.  I thank God often for the kismet that put Randy in my path so many years ago.  I wouldn't be single now for anything and I can't imagine life without him.  He has been my rock.

Hopefully he takes a minute to read my rambling.  Here's to the next twenty with all the adventures it will bring.  And if I don't say it enough-I love you.   XO

Tears of a Clown...

Coulrophobia.  Phobia or fear of clowns.  Okay, I can't say that I am exactly afraid or even phobic about clowns-a simple revulsion of them is more like it.  However, on Friday night when this dude was advertising for the Shrine Circus I didn't feel anything bad at all!  A few cocktails maybe helped but he really looked more like a chef with blue hair and bad makeup.  It wasn't till he skipped off that I realized the softening I experienced.  I also extremely dislike elves, trolls, garden gnomes, and flying monkeys.  I don't get why Keebler would employ tree dwelling cookie bakers, but hey, those Pecan Sandies….I've always hated The Wizard of Oz because of the abundance of various scary creatures, and even Travelocity's mascot of the traveling gnome annoys me.  I once made friends remove their garden gnome before I would visit their new cottage.  Can't explain it, those are things that just make me squirm and look like I've encountered a really bad smell.

But.... I have extreme trust in people.  I regularly forget to lock my car and house and leave my purse in my abandoned cart as I forget myself and wander away to look at something.  And it's only in my advancing age that I'm afraid to drive in a blizzard or fog.  I'm not afraid of heights, flying, swimming in the ocean or trying new foods.  Spiders don't bother me and I love my dentist.

Dane found it amusing that I feared 'things' that weren't even real as opposed to true danger and he loved teasing me about it.  But show him a spider and he would run shrieking out of the room!  All in all, I think I'm a pretty fearless person.  Probably my biggest fear lately is not having a few (or a few hundred!) books on backup to read.   Shudder!

That said, I want to know if YOU have any phobias or fears.

And if you want me to stop by for a Pecan Sandie, you better remove that yard gnome.  After all, a girl has her limits!  XO

Pop Muzik...

I just may have a new favorite (holi)day!  Yep.  Sunday was National Popcorn Day and as you can see, I was only to happy to indulge in the 'celebration!'

Growing up, popcorn was a staple snack in our home.  Mom never made it and Dad always did.  After taking a quick poll to see who wanted popcorn, all of us would traipse into the kitchen to watch him do his magic.  The routine never varied.  I would grab the huge bread pan and Lisa would snag a stick of butter from the fridge.  Dad always made a big production of adding the kernels and would always hit the lid on the pan-much like a chime-signaling that the popping was done.  With mouths in full watering mode, we watched as he carefully buttered and salted what had to be at least five gallons of popcorn. Someone retrieved the napkins and we filled our bowls with our favorite treat.  Mom was 'treated' to a mess in the kitchen that included greasy popcorn bowls and salt on the counters.

To this day, popcorn is still my go to.  I absolutely love it!  I make it exactly like Dad did totally shunning the microwave option.  The only change is that I pop in EVOO and use pink Himalayan sea salt.  Yes, I totally overindulge, but hey, it's a whole grain.  Right?!

Now on to honor a true holiday....Happy Martin Luther King Day.  I wonder what difference he would have made had he been allowed to live and spread his wise prophecy.  Among my favorite quotes of his is this one, "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

Have a wonderful week and stay warm my Dolls. xo