Shifting Gears   Baby Boomer…Member Life 2.0…Wife, Mother, Grammie…Bicyclist…GoldWinger…Mensan…Girl Scout…Reader…Knitter…Rotarian

When I find the perfect gift for someone, I usually buy it and keep it for that occasion.  But when I found the perfect Christmas gift for fellow Women of Substance, I knew I couldn’t wait – plus, if either of them found this gift, they would have bought it and scooped me!  For full disclosure, I had a tip from gal pal Lori who emailed me with the idea and where she saw it.  Thanks again, Lori.

Vickie was so excited about the whole Christmas in July idea that she declared that from now on, we will celebrate in July instead of December. 

The real Women of Substance - with a book by the same name!

Henceforth, we shall either be fashionably late or trend-setting early in our Christmas gift-giving.  Whatever you call it, it works for us!

We dined last night on the patio at Touch and enjoyed a light meal of tapas – then adjourned to Orange Leaf just a few blocks away to introduce Robin to the pleasures of the new frozen yogurt serve-yourself place Vickie and I love.  A perfect summer evening to sit and discuss everything and everybody, including ourselves!  And here’s what we can share with the world:

• Even though the waitresses at Touch wear short shorts that say “I like it dirty” (referring to their martinis we think), Vickie would still let Hannah work there.  Nix on her being employed at Hooters.
• Robin likes prunes – wants to know if dates taste anything like them?
• When Vickie said “farty bars” it sounded like “party barge” – trust me, you had to be there to find humor in that remark.
• I told Robin and Vickie that if I waited until December to give them their gifts, I may forget where I put them.
• We know one of the 417 Magazine 10 Most Beautiful Women – her hubby shared that she’s a finalist.
• Hannah got her driver’s license – and Vickie let her drive for over an hour as they came home from St. Louis on Sunday – practicing for their trip out west in a couple of weeks.
• The Touch salad is Robin’s new favorite – if they would add beets to it, it would be un-beet-able.  (Ok Tammy, stop groaning now!)
• Vickie recently saw that a movie was rated R for “male rear nudity”.
• Women of Substance are trend setters.
• Hannah just ended a totally texting relationship with a guy who’s related to Willie Nelson.  Robin and I aren’t sure how that can really be a “relationship”.
• Robin thinks Hannah needs a boyfriend at her high school – I think there’s safety in long distance right now.
• Robin saw Lady Gaga on the “Today Show” and said she was phenomenal.  She allegedly has more FB friends than Obama – Lady Gaga, this is, not Robin.
• Jim and Robin went to the Toby Keith restaurant twice the last time they were in Vegas – the food was crap but they loved the music and the atmosphere.
• Robin said Jim accused her of having “white trash nails” because her fake nails have grown out and the new growth shows at the base.  Vickie thinks white trash nails are ones that are chipped.
• If Jim has his dad’s belly in 20 years, Robin said he’ll be sleeping in the garage.
• We appreciate all our fat – it keeps away and wrinkles and gives us extra to lose if we ever have major surgery.
• Robin’s dream home is a Cape Cod style house on Catalina Island or in La Jolla.  Dream on!
• The dock at Jim and Robin’s lake home is now green – Jim put in solar panels on the dock roof and they now power the lights and the boat lift.
• Vickie got a free flashlight at Harbor Freight but was disappointed it wasn’t larger.  However, it came in handy on Sunday night when they lost power during the storm.
• Vickie and I have a problem with the Presbyterian Church allowing gay ministers – Robin approved.
• We all hate it when other people refuse to follow the scripts we have mentally written for them.
• Hannah is now flirting with some poor choices per her mom – but she has to make mistakes to grow and learn.
• On Vickie’s vacation they will spend 7 days in a cabin in the Grand Tetons without internet or cell phone access.
• None of us have made a final decision on the 7th district congressional race – but even though we’re “fed up”, we all know one candidate who won’t get our vote.
• Michelle Obama wore blue nail polish on the 4th of July – guess I’ll have to find a new signature color for summer.
• In households with two incomes, 25% of the women out-earn their husbands.
• The Food Network is porn for fat people.
• Great name for a tattoo removal business – On Second Thought.
• Robin’s dad got her excused from PE in high school because she was a cheerleader – he wanted her to take something meaningful like chemistry.
• The best thing to do with a Japanese beetle trap bag is to put it in your neighbor’s yard.
• Vickie is time-zone challenged.

And that, my friends, is all she wrote………..