Hula-gen Family Fun Fact #93

Hula's love of hats started before she could even walk.  And apparantly, before she even owned a legitimate hat.

Great Googly Moogly! These 8 Degree Wind Chills are Freezing my Coconuts

The ONLY thing I like about a butt freezing week like this, and I mean the ONLY thing, is the opportunity to wear a sassy wool hat.I did run today at lunch and aside from the lack of feeling in my face and the constant trail of snot streaming out of my left nostril it wasn't horrible.

At Last

About, oh, sixteen years ago, I won a contest over at Swampy’s place. The prize was a $50 gift certificate from Kemo Sabe, which is a really cool store in Aspen, Colorado. Now, I’m the worst at spending gift certificates. I love them; beg for them at Christmas and then hold on to them FOREVER. That’s because I want to save them for something special or make just the right selection. I love having choices. I hate having choices. If you give me one or two options, I can give you a decision in seconds. Well, maybe minutes. But if I have a whole store to choose from, you’ll have to buy me a cake because I’ll have a birthday before I make up my mind on a purchase. I mosied over to the Kemo Sabe website for some ideas…and got stuck…..time and time again.

I thought about applying them toward new boots for Hubby but finally decided the thirteen pair he already has would suffice. Chaps looked like a whole lot of fun, but since I don’t have anything to rope other than a squirrel or two, I decided to take a pass on those. I flirted with the idea of a Stetson hat for a few weeks, but finally realized it would be a waste of money because I really wouldn’t fit in wearing it to something like the Mayor’s prayer breakfast or a Chamber of Commerce board meeting. The days ticked by, and I couldn’t make up my mind. The choices were just too many.

First of all, I love a store that puts pictures of its customers on its website under a tab labeled “Kick Ass Customers”, and what’s not to like about a store where you can go to their website and reserve a beer for your next store visit. Helloooo Darlin’. Also, I love that they capitalize “Cowboy” because it deserves the same respect as “President” or “Senator”. Their goal is to bring out the cowboy in all of us, and I needed a little help in finding my inner cowgirl, so I called up the store and asked Adrianne for a little help. “Nana” as they call her took some pictures and sent them to me. I was tempted by the scarves. I could wear these with a suit…if it wasn’t 210 freakin’ degrees around here in the summer.

And the scarf with the brands was as cute as a speckled pup underneath a rose bush.

I got really excited about this picture frame, but it doesn’t go with the décor of my home or office.

They have some really funny signs. This one was in the running.

But it should say “her” instead of “him”. I’m the slow riser in our house. This one was pretty cute, too.

But as I was surveying the pictures, I came to this one, and something caught my eye.

In reading the front of the caps, I stumbled across the black one on the lower right and was smitten by the wording“No Sniveling”. Ha! I love it. It’s perfect to wear when I’m running and feel like quitting, when my daughter is whining or when I just want to make a statement. Yep, I had to have the hat. I liked it so much, I bought two and another one that just says “Kemo Sabe”. Leave it to me to have the whole store at my fingertips and end up buying ball caps. They arrived today.

I love them so thanks Swampy. The contest was fun, and the gift certificate was great, even if it did take me weeks to use it.

Dear Grandma

Dear Grandma B.,
Hope you’re doing okay. Gosh. It’s been a while. What? About nineteen years. Time flies. How are things up there? Tell Elvis I said hello, that is, if he made it there and all. I know you made it because if you didn’t the rest of us don’t have a snowball’s chance of getting there. Anyhoo. I wanted you to know I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately, partly because mama assigned me dressing duty for Thanksgiving. I remember watching you make dressing and I was…uh…kind of…um….hoping you’d give me a few pointers. I really don’t want to screw this one up, so a little tip or two would be most appreciated.

Mostly, I was thinking about you because of my ears. I know that sounds a little funny, but let me explain. I almost died of cholera a couple of weeks ago. Weeeell, it wasn’t really cholera, it was typhoid. Okay, okay, it was just a sinus infection and bronchitis. Maybe the deathbed thing was a little exaggeration too, but I FELT like I was dying. Because of my messed up lungs, I haven’t been running in about three weeks. Did you know I run now? I know. It surprises me, too. I used to always say I wouldn’t run unless my butt was on fire, but that was before my metabolism retired to Florida. So, I felt like I was well enough to get moving again and laced up my shoes this past weekend. I ran Saturday, and I ran again today at lunch. It was windy, damp and a little cool, (Don’t tell mama. She’ll have a cow that I ran in this kind of weather.) and I thought I should wear a hat to protect my ears. I know. I know. I have NEVER wanted to wear winter hats, but I put one on both days. It made me think about all of those times when I was a kid and you wanted me to wear a hat when I played outside and I didn’t want to wear one. I remember being a real turd about it. In fact, I remember stomping my feet and declaring that I would stay inside if I had to wear a hat. And remember that day there was no hat around, and you wanted me to wear the blue headscarf instead? Keep in mind, when you’re ten years old wearing a headscarf is right up there with eating liver and onions. I was a real doo-doo head about it, though, and I feel really bad about it now. I know you were just worried about my ears, especially since you’d been through so much with mama and her hearing loss as a kid. I’m really sorry about the way I behaved. Really, really sorry. I wish I could take it all back. But I can’t. Instead I thought you’d like to know that I’ve been wearing my hat. It’s not very attractive, but it covers my ears, and I felt really good when I finished running today. I bought a hat for home, and a hat for my locker at work. I promise to keep using them, and again I’m really sorry about being a poot breath about the “cover the ears” thing. You didn’t deserve that. If it makes you feel any better, I have my own kid now, and she can be a real doo-doo head about things like hats and chores. You were right when you said “what goes around comes around”.

Well, I gotta go. I have a lot of stuff to get done in the next few days. I have to figure out that dressing thing, make a pie and some cranberry relish. I have a lot of stuff at work to get done, too. I’ll be thinking about you on Thanksgiving and again when we decorate for Christmas. I always think about your cedar tree with the blue lights and blue decorations. It makes me smile. Like the hat thing. Take care and let me know if they have cheesecake up there. I’m dying to know. Well, not dying as in dying… Oh, you know what I mean. I miss you more than you know.

Love,
Hula Girl