Wear a helmet!

Pat and I have been doing more bike riding in the past few weeks. We enjoy getting outside to exercise and have found some really cool bike trails very close to our home.
Since we've been doing this I have found what I find to be a very disturbing trend. I have noticed families out and about on their bikes. Mom and kids are wearing helmets, but Dad is not.
I actually had a conversation with our son-in-law, Danny about this. Robin, Gavin and Aidan all wear helmets and he doesn't. I asked him if he was too cool for a helmet - yup, too cool. I asked him if he though his head was harder than every one else's - yup. I also asked about life insurance, but I digress.
This is a worry, not only for our own grandkids, but for kids in general. This sets a horrible example for the kids. When they are riding away from their parents, to school for example, as soon as they get around the corner, they'll remove their helmets to be cool like dad.
A 12 year old girl was killed in our community on the last day of school this year. She was riding home from school without a helmet, because her family was "saving for one". This poor child was hit by a car a block from school and died. Just because she didn't have a helmet on.
I don't care how cool Dad thinks he is. He's not gonna look too cool when he's a drooling brain injury patient.

Too Funny

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I just realized you can't see the entire caption. It says "Can we haz new witch? Ourz melted!"

This picture just cracks me up. No, that's not Lucy on the left, but it sure looks like her. Why are Bostons in Flying Monkey suits funny? Dunno, but they are. Maybe it's the ears? I found this on my new favorite website which Kristen showed me. Much stuff to suck up your time and make you chuckle.

Toby's 21!

Yes, I know Kristen turned 21 last month. Due to work and travel conflicts we haven't been able to celebrate her special day. We were finally able to have her party last night. She requested the doll cake, which was pretty funny.
When the girls were little I made them all kinds of cakes for their birthdays. There was a troll, carosel horse, doll, dinosaur (for my nephew, Marcus), caterpiller, Barney (during Laura's dreaded Barney phase), etc, etc.
I haven't decorated a cake in years and it shows. I'm glad Kristen liked it, but I think she liked the margaritas we had with dinner better.

Can they do that?

A friend of mine, who is also a Real Estate Broker, was ranting the other day about our state's tax board. It seems that the Franchise Tax Board reported to the fine city in which we reside, that she filed a Schedule C on her tax returns for some number of years. The city is trying to extract business tax revenue when it has already been paid by the Realtor's employing broker. She called the city and told them this and they removed her from the system - until next time they run the gill net through the self-employed who live here. In her case, as in mine, our offices are in different cities, but our brokers still pay the tax to SJ. Guess who got a letter in the mail over the weekend? Yup. I called them this morning and was put on hold so long I got frustrated and hung up.
Susan was angry that the state shared her tax return with the city and I'm not too happy about it, either. Now I'm wondering... can they do that?

Empty Nest!

I came home to an empty nest. Well, not totally empty, as Kristen doesn't go back to Santa Cruz for a couple of weeks, but my baby flew the coop while I was gone. It was unfortunate timing, but I had to be in San Diego the week she moved into her dorm. This is the picture Laura drew on the white board in our kitchen while I was gone.
My friend Sandy was asking about the girls while I was there - what they were up to, etc. I told him Wa was moving into the dorm on Friday and he really hit the nail on the head. He said "and Mom is upset she won't be there to help Laura move". Bingo - I started crying a bit. This is the transition of life and I'm so happy for Laura and so proud of her. I'm just going to miss her. Luckily for me she's only a couple of hours away - IF she decides to come home to visit and get some of mom's home cooking. Fly away baby.... just not too far.

Int'l Convention 2008

I had a wonderful time at our Sons of Norway International Convention. With me here in this pic is my friend, Lully, from Oslo. We have been friends for 12 years, first meeting at convention. We used to only see each other every two years, but her husband Ole was elected President of District 8 the same time I was elected in District Six, so we get to see each other twice a year now, which is great.
Everyone at the convention was so nice, so complimentary. I chaired the Resolutions Committee and several people approached me at the banquet saying that our committee did the best job and were the best prepared. Thanks to President Ted for assigning me such great committee members.
I drove to San Diego, which was nine hours down, thanks to traffic in LA and 8 1/2 home. I am still tired, but have the glow of doing good things for Sons of Norway and seeing old friends and meeting new ones. I really had a great time, despite seeming like I was going in eight different directions all the time.