Happy Birthday, Dad~!

This video shows how I felt all day yesterday. From beginning to end it was wonderful. I wanted everyone to join in.

My dad turned 80 on Friday, April 24th, and, of course, the only "present" he wanted from his kids was for us to be all together. He loves it even if he sits there and watches the Lakers in the playoffs~! And what more could he ask...Lakers kicked Jazz butt.

I actually got to wash my car yesterday and make it shiny and silver again and then drove out the Valley. My baby brother called me just as I was getting on the freeway because Red Writer was hungry. (Yes, that will be her name in the blog from now on. She did not like her stripper name, Cinnamon. Sheesh.) She was STARVING and wanted to meet somewhere to eat. We decided on the Old Spaghetti Factory off the 210. Duarte? Not sure, but it started the day in the best way. I told my brother that I finally give up--I am going to get the iPhone. Leo LaPorte convinced me. He did say though that once you get used to a smart phone, you can't live without it, so I may be in trouble. My laptop is already an extension. People just assume I always have it with me now. Poor Red Writer. She is so not a geek, not even a wanna be geek. Her eyes glaze over and you can see her mind wander off into Red Writer land. I pestered her into a blog because she tells the best stories and I know she would be a hit in blog land. Now, I am tormenting her to get on Twitter (my new love). When she started to glaze over I asked her what was she thinking right NOW? She said do people with hairy moles not own mirrors or do they think it looks cool or do they not care? LOL. She also wanted to know if graffitti could be done in the Comic Sans font? (She heard me ranting about how people had their panties in a bunch about this font.) Graffitti in a funny font?

Which reminds me. We had to go to CVS Pharmacy near my mom's house so they could buy a card for my dad and while waiting in line I noticed the tattoos on the guy in front of me. Don't get me wrong. I like tattoos for the most part. But this guy looked like a Mexican gang member, or if he wasn't, he sure was wearing the uniform of one. You know, kind of baggy pants, white t-shirt, attitude. He had sleeve tattoos, really well done, but the one I was dying to take a picture of was on the back of his neck. (I admit it, I tried to sneak a pic but I figured that probably was not too smart if he caught me.) It was a bar code with his birthday-09-18-1985. I really really wanted to ask him if the bar code was real. I mean it looked real. Thick lines and thin lines. Like the movie "Hitman."

We went home and had the best BBQ. These are my nephews up a tree in my parents' backyard. The youngest one is Mr. Stoic. He takes pride in not talking a lot and getting him to laugh is a challenge. Yesterday we got them both laughing so hard we were all crying and our faces hurt. Teddy Bear and Killdozer drove in late and I think Killdozer is now convinced I am nuts. It has been a long time since the family has sat around my mom's kitchen table and told family stories for hours, took tons of pictures, and laughed till it hurt. He has never actually seen me that way before.

We sang Happy Birthday to my dad (8 candles), he opened his gifts, and everyone ate cake and ice cream and jello with spray on Cool Whip. What is up with that? Cool Whip was made to eat right out of the container with as big a spoon as possible for goodness sake. I wish my sister could have been there with her family but she is in Coachella at the Stagecoach Festival with a good friend of hers. I hope she brought her shit kickers.

I love you, Dad~! Happy Birthday~!

A Slice of Chicago in Culver City

It was so funny that I picked the crush on Brian Williams for the previous post on going to the Bonnie Hunt Show, and they do a short segment on her visit to New York and her crush on Brian Williams~! And, then I have a post called One Peeps Man about tattoos and Kat Von D and, well, heck, she is on the show that I saw taped yesterday. I am watching "Return to Me" while I write this loaned to me by my Book Babe buddy. If this was paper, you would see the tear drops. What a great movie. Now I really have to find it in the store so I can watch it again.

I wish I had pictures to show you of our trip to Culver Studios to see the show, but they allow no cameras. Do you know how frustrating that is? You go to a film studio and can't take pictures?? There are so many interesting shots I wanted to show you, but, alas, no such luck. They even have a metal detector now.

Bonnie's show more than makes up for that slight indiscretion. She is so damn funny and quick. She goes out into the audience after each show and talks to the people. She used to be a nurse and people just seem to flock to her. We have seen Ellen, and I loved her as Dori in "Finding Nemo," but her show was run so coldly and professionally, I felt like a prop in the seat. Stand up, dance, clap, laugh, sit down, look interested. The warm up guy I wanted to go down and cram the microphone down his throat.

I was so hungry waiting for the show to start. We left Temecula about 10 in the morning, got to Culver City about 11:40, waited for them to let us in at about 1 or so, then sat and waited until 1:40 when they finally let us in to sit down. I was dying for my hot dog and root beer by that time. I love hot dogs and even though I do not like mustard I ate mine anyway. Two ladies were in front of us and they did not want their hot dogs, so they did not take them. Book Babe and I were upset; they could have passed their hot dogs our way. I did mention I was hungry, right?

We saw Rosie Perez. What a hoot! She told funny stories and cooked a dish with no name, fish and smashed potatoes. There was show and tell with 3 sisters, their hairless cat and their pet rats. When the cage broke and fell that was holding the rats I thought for sure they were going to scurry off somewhere. They were huge! The little girl just picked them up and held them the entire segment. Kat Von D came out and told a little bit about her family and the story behind some of her tattoos. She can play the piano, even has tattoos of Beethoven. I thought she was adorable. We also saw Helen Hunt, who I loved in As Good As It Gets.

We went to Trader Joe's afterwards to get snacks to make it home and then we went to Claim Jumpers. Sheesh. Food seems to be a theme here.

Kat Von D brought her book for the audience to take home~! Johnny was not happy because Teddy Bear is starting to get ideas about tattoos again. I wish I could have it autographed. Maybe I can make a trip to L.A. and visit her tattoo studio. Well, if Teddy Bear lets me.

One Peeps Man

Do you like tattoos? I had dinner with my daughter, her boyfriend, and Casey at our favorite place, Claim Jumpers, tonight. Teddy Bear (my nickname for my daughter) was asking us where she thought she should get her next tattoo. I told her on Mars. She has a rose tattoo behind her ear. It is a pretty tattoo but I really like that you don't see it if you are looking at her. Her boyfriend does not want her to get a tattoo at all. Yeah, Killdozer!

We were teasing her about how one day she would be an old lady and have saggy baggy skin and her tattoos would not look so good then. It is one thing to have a tramp stamp when your butt is cute and tight or your boobs are still perky, but what happens when your butt has spread, and guess what, so does your tattoo! That cute dragonfly or butterfly might look a little scary, more like a vulture. And what happens if you get a tattoo on your chest someplace? You know, the older I get, the more I understand physics and the theory of gravity. What goes up must come down. I heard a lady say her breasts were now 36 long.

Killdozer said if she got a tattoo he would get a tattoo on his face. In the picture above, Kat Von D has the cute little stars on her face. He said for every tattoo Teddy Bear gets he would tattoo a Peeps on his face just like Kat Von D's. You know, the Peeps that you get at Easter. I wonder if he would do them in all the cute peeps colors--yellow, pink, purple? This from a guy who does not like tattoos, does not have any tattoos and does not want Teddy Bear to get any at all. He likes her just the way she is. Did I say how much I like him?