Yesterday we planned a trip to go explore a new place about a 2 hour drive from our house. It is a beautiful little town nestled in the valley just east of Santa Barbara. Friends have told us that we just have to go and see this place, as it is truly a great little place to spend the day. So we had made up our minds that this weekend, we were going to get out of the hustle bustle of schedules and just eat anything we wanted and go explore. So Saturday morning, we got in the car and headed out. I had told Randy to make this an official “exploring, do anything kind of day” we would need to start off pretty soon with some junk food, so we decide to find a Starbucks knowing that we could always munch on their lemon loaf cake and down that with a mocha frappachino. We get off the freeway at Camrillo and head to the Starbucks. We park and lo and behold, we look right next door to the Starbucks and there in all it’s glory is a donut shop, just begging us to come in. So we quickly pass the door to Starbucks, put my phone back in its resting position, (I had it out ready to use my Starbucks app to pay for our goodies) and walk in the door to the donut shop. We had watched several people sitting around the fountain outside, holding great looking donuts. We came out with two bags. One was mine and one was his. My bag had miniature cream puffs sprinkled with powdered sugar, which is one of my favorite health foods and a blueberry filled donut. Randy had a giant cinnamon roll and a maple frosted donut. Because it is a beautiful day and such a cool day, we find us a bench and sit down to munch down on our donuts. I look across the parking lot and there is a huge wood burning oven where a man is baking pizzas right there in the parking lot for people to buy and take home. Randy looks at me and says, “no” we want to have a good lunch when we get to Ojai and already, we are going to have to walk around the town to get hungry again after eating these donuts. But, I just couldn’t let this go, I had to walk over to see what the deal was and take a picture, so that’s just what I did. I was explaining to the nice pizza guy why I was taking a picture because they just don’t do that in Texas because it is always so hot. He asks me where in Texas I was from and we started talking. I walked away with a free piece of pizza after he told me, “welcome to California”. Randy told me that he thinks the guy would have given me his firstborn just to get me to quit talking, but I ignored that comment and walked to the car with my donut sack in one hand and my piece of free pizza in the other hand. We continue on our way and arrive in Ojai. What a beautiful valley and town. It reminded us of Santa Fe and just the quaintness of the town was beautiful. Shade trees all around the downtown and after realizing that it is 1:30 we decide that in order for us to be hungry for a great fish dinner down in Santa Barbara on our way back into LA, we shouldn’t wait too long to have lunch. We walk down the main street and come to a cute little diner called, Bonnie Lu’s. We look in the window and see quite a crowd, which tells us that the food is good, so walking through the door, the waitress welcomes us and seats us at a table by the window. Ordering a glass of tea, we decide that we shouldn’t order much more than a salad, if we are going to have room for fish and chips later on. The waitress comes and after taking our order, she comes back and just visits with us about the town.  This is my kind of town. People yell to each other across the street when they see a friend and stop to talk to visitors. Really a great little old fashioned town. We get our salads and proceed to talk and eat when I tell Randy that my salad could use some more dressing. When the waitress comes to the table next to ours to clear off dishes, we try to get her attention but cannot do so. Randy picks up his cane and holds it up like he is going to tap her in the rear in to get her attention. I immediately yell, “don’t you dare” which of course got her attention. Randy is laughing telling me that he was just kidding, that he would never have really done that but when I yelled, she turned around to see why I was yelling and saw the cane which was about 2″ from her rear. Randy is laughing and now I have to tell her why I yelled. I told her that I thought he was going to get her attention by poking her in the rear and that freaked me out, thinking that I was now at lunch with an official crotchely old man, using his cane to get peoples attention. After asking her for a little more dressing for my salad, which was huge with every veggie known to man, she picks up the salad and takes it with her, even though I had said, “no, don’t take it, I just need some extra dressing”. But she said, that no, she wanted it to be perfect. She brought back another brand new salad with the dressing all mixed in and set it in front of me. I told her that she shouldn’t have done that because I was already full and now, I had to eat at least some of it so I wouldn’t feel bad for her making me a brand new one. At this point, the other waitress comes over and says that we are having way to much fun and begins to visit with us. The couple sitting at the next table begin to look at us because now we have two waitresses at our table laughing and visiting about Texas, then the second waitress tells us that she lived in Texas a year, but came back because she just missed Ojai to much. We learn all about her and how she rides the trolley at night around town because the trolley driver is a friend of hers and he takes her riding on the last shift of the night and then drops her off at her house. This place is just a “hoot” and we hate to leave, but after getting our tea in a “to go” glass, we mosey on down the block to our car and head to Santa Barbara to shop for where we will eat dinner, AFTER our 4:00 Cold Stone ice cream snack. To say we came home at 10 last night, stuffed is an understatement, but then, today is Fathers Day and what better way to a man’s heart, but through his stomach? I think I have his heart now. Happy Fathers Day Sweetie, you continue to give me so much laughter and material to write about. Love to you. TK

Yesterday didn’t turn out exactly like I had planned. I had studied the DMV handbook until I knew every question that might be ask of me on the written test. It was going to be exciting to tell my kids, who think that ” poor mom can’t remember anything anymore” that I passed my test on the first try. The appointment was at 1:30 so, since I am still the type who likes to get to her tests plenty early, we arrive at 1. When we walk in, I notice that certainly, normal people, such as myself (yes, I do like to think of myself as normal, although I’m sure some of you might disagree) had surely hired someone to take their place to avoid standing in the 3 deep 10 foot long line to tell them I was there for my 1:30 appt. Looking around the huge room, all I saw were people that looked like the mug shots that were placed around the walls. Knowing that I had been warned about this certain DMV and what I might encounter, I dressed down in shorts, tshirt and flip flops. That was still to dressy. With no tattoo or face piercing, I truly felt like I stuck out like a blueberry in an apple pie. Finally, the lady behind the bullet proof glass window calls me up and I hand her my Texas DL and she asks me for my passport. What? Passport?, that was never mentioned when I went on-line to see what documents I needed. Because I am married and my name is different than my birth certificate, she informs me that I needed either my passport, or BC and Marriage License. So back to the drawing board. I was so ready to have a new picture taken, I had even had my roots dyed on Fri and Randy was there to stand behind me with his fingers pulling at the skin around my eyes so I would look like I was 50. Now, I will have to relearn the sample tests, as even though I think I remember all the answers, by Friday (which is the first available apt), it’s anybody’s guess if I can remember how many feet I have to have between my car and the car in front of me. Randy felt sorry for me and said he had just the thing to brighten my day. Visions of walking hand in hand into Chico’s brought a smile to my face, that was when he informed me that a Sonic Cherry Coke would be just the thing that would cheer me. So with Chicos in the rearview mirrow, we head to Sonic. While we are there, he tells me that at least we can go to the storage unit and find our summer bedspread. Now that did cheer me up. Our storage unit is, well, let me think how to describe it. We did get a really good deal on the monthly price, and I know why. Our “climate controlled” unit, which is controlled by I guess a 95 year old that thinks 105 degrees is cold, is in the part of the building that is right in the middle of the T (the upper middle of the T,) and the motion light only stays on for about 5 minutes. As Randy is unlocking the huge garage like door, I run down the long hallway so the light will turn on and give us light to start looking through our plastic tubs which holds all our treasures. By the time I got back down the hallway, we had exactly 2 minutes to look before I had to run down the hallway again to get the light to turn on. After about 10 times of this, we still haven’t found the bedspread and we are dripping wet. I suggested that maybe this summer we don’t need a bedspread and we will come back in the winter for our Christmas spread. At least we will be dealing with frostbite instead of heat strokes. We leave. We round the corner only to see the street roped off by police and yellow tape across the entire street. OK, I have to admit, this does get me so pumped up. There is nothing more exciting than car chases and watching arrests being made. News….happening right in front of us. Maybe just maybe, the wife beater shirt we keep in the car just in case Randy ever gets interviewed on camera, might just be coming out of the glove compartment. Since we don’t have a trailer out in the country with a couch on the front porch to stand in front of and we stilI have all our teeth, we always keep the wife beater shirt ready, for any impromptu interviews. I quickly put on lipstick, practiced my “he went that way, officer” when cars behind us began to honk for us to keep on going all the while reminding us that we are still “#1”. Maybe the Texas license plate has something to do with them thinking we are #1, hum… So not only did I not get my license that would make me a legal California Valley girl, I didn’t come home with my summer bedspread and I didn’t get my camera interview. Will let you know how Friday goes. Am taking my dental records with me, just in case I need them.