Patti Danyoo Sikoo

My daughter turned 26 this past weekend.   I was thinking back to when she was little.  I can still hear her high pitched voice mis-pronouncing her name, it always sounded like her last name was Psycho.

All she wanted for her birthday was a maternity swimsuit and a sewing machine.  Easy to please, right?

As I went through her kindergarten and first grade journals, I saw that she was always very clear on what she needed to be happy.  "I'm happy when I go swimming... I'm happy when my brother plays outside with me..... "  Read on...

P.S.  If you're a menopausal, empty-nester mom, that's probably not the best time to go through old papers.

Birthday Pancakes

How to Start your 21st Birthday.

1.  Don the tiara from your best friend.

2.  Admire the Birthday Pancakes your mom made and cousin presented, pancakes that are covered in Royale Sauce from The Log Cabin Pancake House which is over 300 miles away.....

Happy Birthday, Ethel....errr.. Lucy...

Today's the big day.  The Big 5-0.  No, not me.  But almost me.  My other half.  No, not Tom.  He's my better half.  I'm talking about my other half, Ethel.  (I'm Lucy)  She will beg to differ.  She's Lucy and I'm Ethel.  It's an ongoing argument and as she turns 50, the argument turns about 19.

Happy Birthday, Connie, it's been quite a ride, sister.

Our friendship began over exercise if you can believe that.  We live in a small town with no gym and seemed to be the only two people interested in exercise so we met in our living rooms to exercise with a video in the VCR. Remember those?  VCRs.  They were hot.   We exercised so hard things on the mantle would shake.

Two Peas in a Pod

Over time, long talks on the patio would follow exercise and eventually the exercise was replaced by going out to eat or to a movie.  And now we kind of regret that and are trying to exercise again, but we can't get the stupid VCR to work, so we might as well sit on the patio.

Speaking of the VCR not working......  It was Connie I called in an emergency one day, "Aunt Mary's stuck in the VCR!" I screamed over the phone, "Come quick, I can't get her out."

See Connie and I have had a lot of those "come quick" calls.  When I needed neosporin on my butt, who do you think I called to apply it?  When Tom was out of town and I had a stalker, who do you think crawled in bed with me and my kids?  Yes, all of us in one room.  Quaking.  And it went both ways.  When baby Grayson was sick and cried all night long (literally), who do you think Connie called to come restrain her from a murderous act?

Oh, Aunt Mary.  I forgot about her, left you hanging.  Aunt Mary, my great aunt, went to Californey and ended up on the Bob Barker show and won, among other small things, a pick-up truck.  I recorded the show and would often watch it because Aunt Mary was pretty funny and she gave Bob Barker a run for his money.  One day, the tape of Aunt Mary got stuck in the VCR and I didn't want to ruin it, so I thought Ethel Lucy and I could extract it.  We couldn't.  We couldn't re-assemble the VCR either, so I lost both objects.

At some point in our friendship, Algore invented the internet.  We discovered email, how fun!  That shot our relationship up another level, then of course, many years later, text messages and facebook shot our relationship off the charts.

Even in the emails, we were there for each other.  Like Nov. 25, '96, 10:41 am I got an email with this subject line:  I NEED YOUR HELP!!   She wouldn't appreciate if I told you what THAT was all about.

Sure, we've had our ups and downs, like this email that began

I'm writing to beg forgiveness.  I didn't get around to feeding the cats.  Are they still alive??  And the goats, are they OK??  I had every intention to feed them.  Even had the boys remind me (although Will yelled out his reminder last night at bedtime!).

Of course I never asked her to feed our pets while we were out of town again.

And we have had sappy moments like this one

I just want you to know how much I enjoy receiving your e-mail messages.  I just read the one you sent (reading to Marj, waking up all crumpled, doing your laundry wrong) {editor's note:yeah, I wrote thrillers back then}.  The mood I'm in today, I almost started crying because it was like someone out there was saying "Hang in there, kid.  You've gotta friend."

Helpful, encouraging moments:

Have you ever burped up vitamins???  I took a handful on an empty stomach this AM before I left for work and thought I was going to barf before I got to the office.  I had to (HAD TO) stop and get a biscuit to calm things down.  Anyhow, I got your three messages and have decided that you stayed up so late just so you could feel like crap just like me.   You're such a friend!!!

What?!?!?!?!?  Your wick is stuck??  What were you doing?  Putting it in some undisclosed area??  Girl, we need a night out!

Help me! Help me! Help me!  I'm a big glob of fat growing globier and globier by the minute! I don't understand why. All I've had to eat today is three donuts and a trough full of Japanese food.

Weight and health was and still is a large part of our communication.

That's what you are!  A big 'ole dog head.  Do you honestly think that I care if you've lost three friggin' pounds??  I mean, just because I'm swelling up like a pus-filled sore, doesn't mean you should flaunt your diet successes in my face.  Just kidding. (Editor's note: that was before we knew you could say JK)  Of course I'm happy for you, but before you know it, you'll be in the hospital dying from anorexia and I'll be standing beside your bed (while eating a frosty from Wendy's) crying, saying something like, "If only I hadn't made her think she could actually lose that much weight...."

And I found the moment when Kwik Karry first entered our relationship.  Kwik Karry is the greasy spoon where we meet for breakfast as often as possible.  I've ordered the same thing for 20 years and now it's Val's Usual, except sometimes it comes out Val's Usually.  A little southern grammar issue.

After my first visit to Kwik Karry, Connie wrote: "So, now I can start a rumor about you and the preacher man and Casey.  A three-some.  Dining at the local greasy spoon.  How interesting!!  We can call this saga Breakfast at Hoyt's or As the Wagon Wheel Turns."

As will all great friendships, ours occasionally required some brutal, honest reprimands.

Notice how all your emails to me lately have been responses to my emails?  Get off the foggy headed wagon and put on that creative thinking hat and write me, girl.  I need gossip, lusty stories, made up rumors and the like!!!  My sanity at work depends on your messages.  You wouldn't want the guilt of me going off the deep-end because of your lack of creativity, would you?

So you see, it's all her fault I started this blog.

Happy Birthday, old friend.  You put the old in old friend.  (I'm such a young hottie)  Let me end this with a quote from you on April 1, 97.

Maybe I should try to get some work done, right??
OK, call or write later ifn' you get a chance.

More on the birthday girl:

In which she feeds the seagulls
In which she introduces me to Madea movies
In which she narrowly avoids the po-po
In which we take a three-hour tour
In which we take a cupcake tour of FL

Flashback Friday: Patti's 5th Grade Journal

For today's Flashback Friday, and because Patti turns 25 today, I have been reading through Patti's 5th grade journal. It is quite revealing.  For instance, on February 25th of that year, she was riding with Connie when they got pulled by the po-po.  I never knew that.  Patti describes in vivid detail Connie handing over her license and then she writes, "She told me that she should of..."  I flipped the page.  Nothing.  Nothing!! The page is torn out!

Her April 16 entry was prophetic.  "Guess what!?  I'm gonna work for a lawyer.  She's my mom's best friend.  Her name is Jackie Busbee.  You may know her from Monday when she came to school. I'm gonna be a prosecutor when I grow up.  A prosecutor is a lawyer who goes in court.  I hope I don't get even shyer than I am now!...

What To Get a 6 Year Old

Eva's 6th birthday came and went.  It was, as you can see, big news in town.

Everything we did on the day before her birthday was prefaced with "This is the last time I'll do this as a 5 year old."  Heavy sigh.  A very dramatic day....

Happy Birthday, Drew!

Today is Drew's first birthday. He had his big blow-out partayy on Saturday, which I missed, but I saw him the previous Saturday and gave him my present late one night outside a pizza joint. It was way after his bedtime; the pacifier was mucho necesario.
-
Because I was early, I had the honor of giving him his very first birthay present ever.
-
That's a lot of pressure.
-
I was afraid it would be a let down. Sitting on that table under the neon lights, Drew tore into the giant birthday bag, he peeked inside. . . I held my breath. . .
-
-
he reached in deep. . .
--
-
-
-
-

. . . looked up to me and said . . .
--
-

"Oh no you di-int!!!"
-

-
-
-
Oh yes, I did. I got Drew is very first Tonka Dump Truck. It's as big as he is.
-
So he climbed right in.
-

-
. . . And clapped his hands.
-
-
And then the Big Girls took him on the most terrifying ride of his life.
-
-

Read all about Drew's Birth here.

Happy Birthday Drew!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

-
-

Mom came down for the weekend and while she was here we celebrated her birthday. She and I sneaked off at some point for a little birthday treat.....

Happy Birthday, Punkinhead!

Happy 24th Birthday, Ms. Popps!

-
Ms. Popps, PunkinHead, Sweet P., what else? Patti's had quite a few nicknames over the years.
-
Click here for a complete history of her birthday celebrations. Click here for a complete history of her life and hair-dos.
-
This year's different. Robby is sweeping her away for a birthday date and our family celebration is postponed til Saturday. Maybe we can have a little morning party at Kwik to the Karry for our usuals on her actual b'day morning. Connie, you in?-
-
- - - -
-
When I looked through the old photos (at the two links above), I thought it neat to see this old one of "the gang" -- Steph, Patti, Marci, Hope and Marj, oh, and Emmit.
-
Then I remembered a similar photo taken recently at Steph's wedding. Lauren is in Hope's place and Eva replaced Emmit, who was left home where's he's been in retirement, tossed carelessly under Marj's bed.-
-

-
Happy Birthday, Patti, we all love you so much!!!!
Congrats on graduating Law School this December!
You're the bomb diggity.

TroutU Birthday Wishes for Li'l Buddy

Awwwww.....
-
..."With both happiness and sadness we here at Trout University wish Tommy Sliker a happy 22nd birthday. Tommy, my grandson, and the son of Tom Sliker the Director of Information Technology here at Trout University, has attending the school of fly fishing since he was a small fry...."
-
Click here to read the article in full.

Happy Birthday Li'l Buddy

Tommy turns 22 today.

-

When he turned 21, I reviewed his passion.
When he turned 20, I reviewed his hairstyles.
-
But this year, my friend, this year was the year of the video. And now I can review all his bright ideas.

Disney Magic Kingdom Tips

We did it, Disneyland, in the knowledge that most of the people I talked to thought it would be a financial disaster - closed and forgotten within the first year. - Walt Disney

For Eva's fifth birthday, we took her to Disney World. This was my fourth time to Disney so I wasn't totally ignorant of the value of strategic planning for a successful trip. But when a friend heard we were spending only one day at Magic Kingdom and offered up some helpful tips, I was impressed. The tips were fantastic and thus I will now pass them on to you. But first... the video.
-


-
1. Go Early. The park opens at 9:00. 90% of parkgoers will arrive at 8:30. Plan to arrive at 7:30. You'll get a great parking spot, ride the monorail over without a wait, buy your ticket without a wait and be standing in line at 8:30 with the first fifty to enter the park. It's a pleasant 30 minute wait. At 8:55 a welcome show begins and you are in an excellent position. The characters, including Mickey and the various Princesses will come in on a train to welcome you to the Park, the excitement level is off the charts.

Gates open at 9:00.
-
Go in, rent a double stroller on your left, purchase an autograph book if you haven't already done so, and proceed to your favorite ride. Because of traffic and long monorail & ticket lines, you have until 11:00 before the other 90% of parkgoers are fully in the park. Be aggressive, don't spend your time shopping.

2. Rent a Double Stroller. You are wondering why the double stroller. Disney lets you bring soft coolers and backpacks into the park. Take a large soft cooler full of drinks and lots of water. Take a backpack full of snacks.
The double stroller ($30 in 2010) will carry these items for you, as well as one kid and you will have a kid who wants to ride a lot, regardless of their age. The stroller will also carry all your purchases and it has two drink holders, so it'll carry your drink, too. It's a marvelous invention. Strollers are parked outside the rides and nobody messes with your stuff.
-
3. Do the Fast Pass. The popular, really busy rides have a Fast Pass entry. Go ahead of time, punch your ticket and you'll be assigned a time to return and get on the ride with almost no wait. Don't zig-zag all over the park to do it and wear yourself out, but be strategic and take advantage of it when possible.

-
-
4. Take a Break. This can be difficult to do, but trust me, take a break from 12-2 or 1-3 or more. The Park is at its peak with crowds, the sun is high and hot. You've been there 3-4 hours and your feet hurt. You're grumpy. You're saying bad things about the mouse. Turn in your stroller, keep your receipt so you can get another one at no charge when you return and walk away. Go to your air conditioned motel, nap, eat lunch, swim, whatever. Return to the park refreshed at 3 or 4, you'll feel the excitement you had at 9:00.
-
While other kids are screaming, parents tempers flying, they are hot and sweaty, you are totally refreshed and having a great time.
-
-

-
The park will come alive and seem new all over again.
-
5. Ask for Character Schedules. Go to the information desk and ask where and what time would you be most likely to see Snow White or Pinnochio or Woody or whomever. There are scheduled times and rooms to visit, but then there are also places where they tend to "hang out" and surprise you. If you can't ask at the info. booth, ask various employees, some will know and some won't, keep asking.
-
-
6. Birthdays. If you are celebrating a birthday, as Eva was, you can get a Birthday pin to wear around. There is a limited quantity of these, so that's another reason to go early. You can get your pin outside the gates before the park opens at the little info. booth. The pin will have your name on it and just about every park employee you see will say "Happy Birthday Eva!" The most impressive time for us was when we got on the ferry. As we boarded, Eva saw the captain up in his little room. She waved. He waved. Then he boomed over the loud speakers "Happy Birthday, Eva!" She was so proud.
Then, after we set sail, he came down and presented her with a ring, set with a glittering pink gem, and he put it on her finger.
-
-
As he walked away Eva sighed, "I'm never taking this ring off." (I think it was gone within 2 hours)
-
Those are all the tips I have, they came from a guy named Ron who goes to Disney every year. Thanks, Ron!
-
Oh, here's a little tip. You take the autograph book around for all the characters and princesses to sign and each page has a sleeve for a photo. If you take your own photos for this, take them landscape instead of portrait. I took most of mine portrait (see to the right) and then I noticed the autograph book sleeves are made for a landscape layout.
-
-

A warning. I had no idea how devastating the Day After Disney would be to a five year old.
-
-

Eva woke up the next day, jumped out of bed, pulled me down to her level and nearly shouted "What are we going to do today?!!!" When I told her our plans, she burst into tears.
-
Be prepared. Nothing can compare to Disney.
-
-
You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality. - Walt Disney

-

Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money.

The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
-
We believed in our idea - a family park where parents and children could have fun- together.
-
If you can dream it, you can do it.

I believe in being an innovator.
-

- Walt Disney

Happy 40th, Cousin David!

It all goes downhill from here, buddy.

Here's Cousin David back in the day:

Happy 40th Birthday, Cousin David. Hope you get some time off soon to party a little.

If you haven't been following the blog long, click on Cousin David's name (each one) to learn more about Cousin David.

In Which Christopher Robin Gives Lexi a Party and We Say GoodBye

-
We have come to the very end of this book, but before we go, we have time for one more story.
-
-
We start this story with Christopher Robin telling Owl he's going to have a party and a special party at that, dedicated to celebrating the remarkable achievements of one Lexi Bear, who showed a tremendous amount of Brain in the last chapter by discovering the Carillon, and by that we mean discovering Nana.
-
-
-
Christopher Robin asks Owl to let all of the animals in the forest know about the party, and so Owl flies off to ask Pooh to do just that.
-
-
The first person Pooh tells, quite fittingly, is the star guest herself, Alexa. Lexi wants to know if there will be little cakes with pink icing sugar at the party, but Pooh is rather too grand to talk about such trifles (or indeed cakes), so she just repeats what Christopher Robin had said and flies off to find Eeyore.
-
Lexi is naturally very excited to find out that there is going to be a party in her honour, although she is a little anxious in case the other animals just think that it is a usual sort of party, rather than a Alexaish sort of party, and what if they don't even know that she invented the Carillon and found Nana practically single-handedly?

-

Meanwhile, Pooh has found Eeyore in her Gloomy Place. Pooh tells Eeyore that she is actually invited to the party, but Eeyore doesn't believe Pooh at first and thinks Pooh is referring to Piglet ("the little fellow with the excited ears"). Pooh insists that she really is inviting Eeyore, but Eeyore still isn't convinced, and thinks that Christopher Robin most likely wanted to invite everyone except Eeyore.
Pooh is a little hot under the collar by now, and absolutely, categorically states that everyone is invited, including Eeyore, and Eeyore finally accepts the invitation, although she still thinks that there has been some kind of mistake, and it will rain anyway.

-

And on to the party! Christopher Robin has set out a long table for all of them to sit at, with Tigger at one end of the table and Christopher Robin in pride of place at the other. All the animals are there, Owl and Eeyore and Piglet and Rabbit and Kanga and Roo.

-

-

-

-
And all Lexi's friends-and-relations spread themselves about on the couch, and waited hopefully in case anybody spoke to them, or dropped anything, or asked them the time.
-
-
-
-

-

-

For little Roo this is the very first party he has ever been to in his life, so he is a little whirlwind of excitement, saying hello to everyone in sight and bouncing up and down.

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Kanga said to Roo, "Drink up your milk first, dear, and talk afterwards." So Roo, who was drinking his milk, tried to say that he could do both at once...and had to be patted on the back and dried for quite a long time afterwards.
-
The animals all have a good long munch of the party food, and then Christopher Robin gets up to make a speech.
-
All of the animals fall silent at this point...
...except Roo who was just finishing a loud attack of hiccups and trying to look as if it was one of Rabbit's relations.
-
And Christopher Robin starts his speech. He begins by saying that the party is a special party in honour of a special guest who did something special, which they all know about, and that he has a present for this special person.
-
-
Christopher Robin finally manages to find the present he has been searching for, and asks the animals to pass it along to Alexa. Eeyore is taken aback to find out that the present is for Lexi rather than for him.
-
The animals aren't paying any attention to Eeyore though, because Lexi's present is much more exciting. Lexi opens up the present as quickly as possible while trying to leave the string intact, because she might need a bit of string sometime, it could be Useful.
And what is the present? Well, Alexa is so thrilled by it that she almost falls over -- it's a picture frame with lots of different pictures (some marked "L" for Lexi and some marked "LB" for Lexi and Baby!).
-
-
-


-
-
-

Alexa says thank you for her lovely present, while all the other animals are still gasping in wonderment (well, except for Eeyore).

-
-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

And once the party is over and they have all said Thank you for having me, Pooh and Piglet walk home together through the forest.

-
"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.

In Which Christopher Robin Leads An Expotition to the Carillon

-
-
Christopher Robin makes a very exciting announcement - they are going to go an an Expedition! Pooh is thrilled to hear that they are going on an Expotition, because he's never really been on one of those. Christopher Robin says that the Expedition will be to find the Carillon Assisted Living, which is just a thing where you discover Nana, no more explanation needed than that really (Pooh has asked for enlightenment).
-
-

-

-
-

-


-
-
Christopher Robin explains that all the animals will be going, Pooh and Rabbit and Kanga and everyone, because an Expedition really means a "long line of everybody".
-
He tells Pooh to make sure the others are ready, and that they all bring Provisions with them (things to eat, Pooh, things to eat).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


So off Pooh goes to round up the others for the Expotition, and the first person that he runs into is Piglet. Pooh tells Piglet all about the Expotition and how they are going to discover something (Pooh seems to have forgotten on the way over).
-
Piglet is immediately worried that they might discover something fierce, but he calms down when he finds out that Christopher Robin will be there to protect him should the need arise.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
So now all the animals know about the Grand Expedition, and after they have gathered neatly together at the top of the forest, they all set off. They are all there - Christopher Robin and Rabbit are first, then Piglet and Pooh, then Kanga and little Roo and Owl, then Eeyore, and a long line of Rabbit's friend-and-relations right at the back.

(Rabbit insists that he didn't invite his friend-and-relations, they just sort of turned up, like they usually do.)

-
-
They are all walking along to discover the Carillon, and Pooh is making up a song about the whole affair, when Christopher Robin says "Hush!", because they are just coming up to a Dangerous Place.
And Pooh says "Hush!" to Piglet, and Piglet says "Hush!" to Kanga, and Kanga says "Hush!" to Owl (while Roo says "Hush!" quietly to himself), and Owl says "Hush!" to Eeyore, and Eeyore turns round and says "Hush!" in a scary voice to all of Rabbit's accumulated friends-and-relations, and all of Rabbit's friends-and-relations turn round and say "Hush!" to each other, right up until the "Hush!" reaches the very end of the line.
-

Meanwhile, Christopher Robin at the front of the Expedition has spotted a twisting stream with high rocky banks, which is very dangerous indeed. "It's just the sort of place," he explained, "for an Ambush."
"What sort of bush?" whispered Pooh to Piglet. "A gorse-bush?"
"My dear Pooh," said Owl in his superior way, "don't you know what an Ambush is?" "An Ambush," said Owl, "is a sort of Surprise."
"So is a gorse-bush sometimes," said Pooh.
Pooh now understands too, and says that if an Ambush is a sort of surprise then a gorse-bush surprised him once when he fell into it (presumably Pooh is referring to the incident in chapter one where he falls out of a tree).
Owl asserts, once again, that they are not talking about gorse-bushes, but Pooh says that he is, which is true.
-
Rabbit and Christopher Robin have wandered a little way up the stream to have a private conversation, because Christopher Robin is not entirely sure what a Carillon would look like if you were standing right in front of one, and he wants to ask Rabbit's advice. They both say that they used to know, although now they've forgotten.
-
Now that is sorted, they rejoin the other animals.
All the animals try to think of something to do to help, some with more success than others. Piglet's idea is to pop out and make Booo noises,
-
Rabbit says noises doesn't strike him as being immediately helpful, and Tigger is twittering on about what to do when a Sudden and Temporary Discovery occurs. . . Lexi finds the Carillon!
-
Christopher Robin isn't paying proper attention though because he is staring at Lexi, who is still popping out and yelling "Nana! Nana!" Christopher Robin asks Lexi how she found Nana, and Lexi says that she just found a place, any place, and Christopher Robin announces that it is not just any place, it is the Carillon!
-
-
-
Christopher Robin tells Eeyore that Lexi has very cleverly found Nana!! Eeyore isn't overly impressed, as you might have expected, but he does say "Well, anyhow - it didn't rain", which for Eeyore is verging on ecstasy.
The animals all pop out together and Christopher Robin writes out a notice to remind others that it is the Carillon and that it was discovered by Alexa.
-
Tune in tomorrow
in which Christopher Robin Gives Alexa a Party.....