Like Christmas in October!

It’s not that far away from my favorite holiday—Halloween! I’m like a big kid the night before Christmas when it comes to Halloween. I love the decorations; black cats, pumpkins, bats, and scarecrows. But my absolute favorite thing to do is dressing up. I find it really amusing going dressed up in full costume to a neighbor’s or friend’s and engage in small talk; knowing that they have no clue that it’s me that they are talking to. The aspect of the candy, well, let’s just say I try NOT to partake of this part; for as the saying goes,” a moment on the lips and forever upon the hips.” But I will admit to being a bit partial to candy corn.

Myself as Ragged Ann and Doug as Genie last year doing the door prize drawings.

This holiday really has become special in the last few years as I’ve been “hosting” a Tricky Treat Costume Ride for my bike club. It's a wonderful way to combine costumes and cycling together!  This year will be the fourth ride that I’ve done. I always hold this bike ride the last Saturday before Halloween. It’s kind of become a fun social event. Prizes awarded to best costumes and door prizes too.

Jay as the Tin Man strutting off in his costume.



Last year's Wizard of Oz Costumed Trio

There’s a costume contest before the bike ride. Everyone is invited to “strut” their costumed-self in front of group. There are prizes for the top four best costumes. The crowd judges by clapping and cheering for whom they think is best. It seems that the competition is getting stiffer every year as the costumes are getting more elaborate.



Doug, as the Head Hunter, and myself as a Clown in 2008.

It seems to me that it’s getting more fun each and every year. Last year there were about 25 people that attended. But one person, Doug, a fellow bike club member, had initially set the bar high when it came to being in costume. He has shown up as a pirate, a head hunter, and last year as a Genie. To put it in a mild manner, he REALLY gets into this dressing up in a costume. In fact, I remember jaws dropping when he pulled up in his vehicle as the Head Hunter.


Doug, as the Pirate in 2007!



Here's the group picture from last year.

After the costume contest, there’s a drawing for “door prizes”. Everyone that shows up gets a raffle ticket and then everyone that dresses up in costume gets an extra ticket. So everyone has two chances to win some fun prizes to take home. I will admit that most of the prizes are bike related but then you have to remember that it is a Halloween bike ride.

Debbie, a pumpkin, and myself as a Black & White Cruella in 2007.

And so, as I’m putting the last touches together for this event I’m finding myself getting more and more excited about it. Just like that little kid the night before Christmas!

Little Red 2010!!

“You took the RED part of Little Red literally”, said the manager of the Smokin’ Blues Barbeque laughed as he looked at my beet red arms. It’s Saturday night after the 2010 Little Red Riding Hood Ride, and I’m at a funky new barbeque restaurant in Logan, Utah. By the way I highly recommend the Smokin’ Blues Barbeque if you are ever in Logan, UT. It is wonderful balance of southern barbeque food, GREAT Service, and LIVE music. It was THE perfect way to end a very busy, long, and FUN day. I also enjoyed a blue berry crepe that was VERY blue and AMAZING!
The day started at 4:45AM when I scrambled out of bed to across the room to turn off my phone alarm. I wasn’t taking any chances with sleeping in. I MADE myself get out of that King size bed. Not an easy feat when I only managed to start getting some “Z’s” at 1AM the night before. You see there was this rowdy bunch down the hall… that I was kind of part of. You could say I’m my own worst enemy!

After swinging by the hotel continental breakfast for a quick bowl of fruit loops (a weakness and the only time I eat sugared cereal is on vacations), I jumped in my car and headed to the start. There were still some clouds in the sky and I was hoping that they would go away.

(Here's Diane and myself with fellow blogger- Sallie and her friend Karen.  They flew in from Chicago to ride Little Red.)

There were major concerns about the weather. It was raining the night before. In fact, it was a good down pour in some instances but the Saliva Sisters, a local legend, still went on with the show. These gals were very much worth standing/sitting in the rain to watch, and they are REAL troopers. The show went on through some spots of drizzling. I found myself cracking up to their witty parodies of songs. Here are a few pictures of their various costumes…

So at 6AM I arrived at the volunteer booth and was busy most of the morning checking in volunteers. There were quite a few family members (husbands, mothers, daughters, and sons) that just showed up that morning to offer their help. I was amazed at the turn out and we definitely needed the help. It worked out pretty well.
As I was doing my thing in the volunteer booth, there was a costume contest going on. It was all kind of fun watching what these ladies came up with costumes. My friend, Sofia won a first place for her costume. She was in her homemade Wonder Woman costume. Then, there was the Big BAD wolf wondering around in his Superman outfit, and another gent running around in a Super Red Costume. Here he is with me…

I finally managed to get a late start on the ride for the 80 mile distance. The ride and the weather turned out to be BEAU-ti-FUL! The first 35 miles went wonderful and then I started getting cramping in my inside of my thighs. OUCH! At the VERY busy Newton Lunch stop I ate cantaloupe and drank quite a bit of water in hopes that it would take away some of the cramping away. It worked for awhile but then the cramping came back. I cut the planned 80 mile ride back to 73 and took a shorter route back to the start/finish in Lewiston.

The finish was SO much fun! Everyone was cheering you on and then there was wonderful cold lemonade with a HUGE strawberry in it that was served. It was SO good! Such Fun! I visited for a bit and then got to work back in the volunteer booth that was now a lost&found, etc…

About 3:30PM, they did the raffle drawing for the Halloween Bike ride that I had donated. I saw a gal jump up and down across the field as her name was announced. She lost her flip flops and her hands were waving in the air as she ran up to the stage. I signed a little note to her on the back of the painting and got a photo taken with her. It was cute how excited she was. Her friend told me that she was more excited about the painting drawing than the bike drawing. Shortly afterwards they did the bike drawing and then there was quite the exodus of people leaving the field.

About 5PM, we started breaking down and cleaning up. Sofia and Kim came in from their fist century as we were working on clean up. They both looked tired but were in good shape I thought considering it was their first.

Thus at about 9PM, I found myself at the end of the day enjoying some barbecue and LIVE music at the end of the day.  YUMMY!

Loose Change for Loose Women... A Birthday Celebration?

Mother's Day was my friend Laura's Birthday, and she came up with a wild idea to celebrate her birthday.  No average birthday party for this gal!  Two years ago she had a "Pot Party" at a local nursery where we all got to buy a piece of pottery.  Then we picked and chose what to put in our "pot".  This year Laura called us all up and stated that it was a "Loose Change for Loose Women" Party that would take place at Barnes & Nobles.  She certainly makes life interesting! (This is the same woman that took me--who's afraid of heights-- for my birthday 2 years ago to an Indoor Sky Diving Experience.) 

WHAT?!?!?!!  After my jaw finally was retrieved from the floor, the first image that went through my mind was all of us, women, showing up at Barnes & Nobles with our bras full of change.  I could just hear us jingling!  The second thought was that surely we would be banned for life from THAT Barnes & Nobles!  But thank goodness that was not what Laura had in mind.  What this themed party entailed was all of us gals was saving change left over from purchases for the week prior, or finding loose change around the house or car.  UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES were we to empty out any piggy banks.  This was to be change that we discovered at home in those sofa cushions, or under the seats in the car, or that we acquired from purchases for the week prior.  Well, it was a good excuse to do a little spring cleaning in the house.  I cleaned and straightened my car.  I managed to accumulate about $3.34 over the weeks time.

So we are rather causing a bit of a scene as we empty out our baggies, socks, and jars of change on to the table at Barnes & Noble.  We put all of our change into a big pile.  Then we sorted and counted.  Then it was how and what to do with the change.  We figured out about $5 per person in the end.  Thanks in big part to our friend Jim, the donut man; who had given 51 coins to Laura for her birthday.  He also lent us the use of a jar that counted money as you put it in.

So we took shifts up with our part of the money and placed our order with the guy that was at the Starbucks counter in the Barnes & Noble.  He was so nice about the whole counting change.  We ended up tipping him in change before we left.  We all managed to place drink orders and with the benefit of Laura's Barnes & Nobles Membership Card we were able to save enough to also order some food too.  We ended up with a yummy lemon raspberry bar, a large sour dough soft pretzel, and a Reeses' peanut butter chocolate chunk cookie that we all shared.  Delicious!  We were quite the noisey group as we chatted and enjoyed the fest.  Here's myself and the birthday girl below...(She's talking with her hands again!  Such the Italian!)

Emmey also brought a little present for Laura which here she is using....

The 3rd Annual Black Widow's Valentine's Dinner

It was as always a very Fun filled event, and such a fun way to celebrate Valentine's Day for us single gals. Here we are as a group...

The widows that survived their husbands this year... Mrs. Walter Cronkite Head, Mrs. Aladdin, Mrs. Gumby, and Mrs. Happy-So-Lucky. As you will notice it was a very creative bunch this year. We did however have two of the widows that were unable to make it... I guess they were just TOO sick in mourning.

First there was Mrs. Walter Cronkite Head, a.k.a. Not-So-Good, read the write up that she did for her dear Walter... "Oh my dear dead Walter... You would have had to seen him to believe him. Walter Cronkite, as the world knew him but his real name was Walter Head, who was born in Idaho. From the very beginning, my folks didn't like Walter. They complained that he had a Big head, a bald head, and too plain for me. In other words, they thought of him as a common "tater". But the first time I laid eyes on him, my heart just melted like butter, or maybe it was sour cream... I can't remember for sure. That was a little less than a year ago. I remember our engagement party. We walked into the room, and all "eyes" were upon him. I picked them off as quickly as possible so that no one would notice... He had a heart of gold; I think that was "Yukon Gold". He was so "sweet" that I wouldn't have traded him for another."

"Walter loved to cook...and enjoyed anything outdoors, where he could get "baked" in the sun. He especially liked the Cowboys and Indians, but then he always come home "scalped"... Walter had his faults... He would just be "fried" when I went shopping and spent too much. When he drank too much he had a tendency to get "mashed", and sometimes in general he was soooo cheesy! He had a bag full of kids." Mrs. Head then introduced us to some of the offspring that she had brought along.

Next there was Mrs. Gumby, a true school teacher who brings along her teaching aids-- as apparent below in the photo of her. We teased her about being married to the first man of "being into green". She kept referring to him as Mr. G. Mrs. Head and myself made "G" jokes and asked if that meant he could find the "G-spot"? Oh, and other interesting info about Mr. Gumby... His father was Gumbo. He was on the moon 13 years before Neil Armstrong in 1956. His creator Art Clokey first combined clay and film professionally while working on commercials for Budweiser in the early 1950's. Gumby's best pal is a horse named Pokey. It takes 1440 still-frame pictures to make just one minute of clay animation-- Holy Toledo!

Next Mrs. Happy-So-Lucky who had left Happy out to park the car. She got concerned when he didn't show up half way through dinner. The next thing I knew my apartment hallway was a murder scene! Oh No!! Thank goodness this was after the main entree and before dessert! Who could eat at a time like this!??! Happy had happened to have his Day and Night Planner on him and that helped to solve the case.

Mrs. Happy-So-Lucky put on her police badge and quickly got to work on handing out warrants that were written out to ... "yes, you!"

Well, through the process of elimination and alibis the suspect happened to be narrowed down to ME!!??! Wait a minute!!?? WHAT?! I had no alibis and I had not place an extra setting at the table for Happy.... So I was arrested! I argued that it was all circumstantial evidence and was allowed reprieve so that I could read my obit for my husband... thank goodness!

Here's my obit picture with the write up about my dear Genie...

Local Amateur Magician Falls
to Death During Flying Carpet
Malfunction
Salt Lake City resident, Genie Abba Dabba Aladdin
fell to his death during a flying carpet incident last
night. The flying magic carpet trick that had become
a staple of his magic show and proved to be a fatal
last flight on Sunday evening. Genie had performed
this magical feat numerous times at various venues
over his 25 years of his magic career.

According to his manager what killed him was
the 20 lbs. that he had gained over the holidays.
“It put Genie at too much weight for the safety
suspension system of the flying carpet magic trick.”

The safety cable snapped while the flying carpet
magic trick was being performed for the Special
Olympics Children at the Villa Theater. Genie and his magic carpet careened the 30 feet to the stage where he died on impact. Thanks to the fast thinking on the part of a stage hand who pulled the curtain shut just as Genie’s actual landing took place, and then the Master of Ceremonies finishing up the show. Most of the Special Olympics Children were not aware of Genie’s last plummet to death.

Genie moved to Salt Lake in November 2003, having lived out most of his prime magic career in Las Vegas. He used to be the opening warm up act for Siegfried & Roy in Vegas but found himself unemployed after the October 3rd, 2003 show where Roy got injured by a tiger at a show at the Mirage. Genie tried to serve as the warm up magic act for several other Big Shows in Vegas but just couldn’t find a good fit for his special brand of humor. He had reached a time where he felt it best to go a semi-retired act route. He then moved to Salt Lake City, and started his own business of entertaining for large groups of children. It was a special segment that worked very successfully for him and business was thriving.

Genie is survived by his wife Red. Genie and Red met on a Bonneville Cycling Club Halloween Costume ride. Genie had done a quick impromptu magic show before the first ride in 2004. Red served as his assistant. It was love at first sight. The magic show had become a staple tradition that occurred before the Halloween Bike ride over the years since. Well, not anymore! (Above photo is Red & Genie performing together before the last Halloween Bike Ride in 2009.)

And so the evening ended with each of us consoling our friends and enjoying a dessert of Grapes with Cinnamon Walnut Cream. A FUN evening and now trying to get ideas for next year's event!

Coming Soon-- The Invite is Out for Dinner

It's a year since this picture of the "Tough Bunch" was taken at last year's Black Widow's Valentine's Dinner. In fact, this was the subject of my first post on the Allgood Life blog. We are about to meet again for another year of the Annual Black Widow's Valentines Dinner Party. The event 3 years ago was SO MUCH FUN that it's become an annual thing where I serve as the host.

For those of you that are not familiar with the "Black Widow's" here is a brief description... We are a group of single female friends that enjoy hanging out together. Most of us are Catholic but that's not a requirement. We have fun together and THAT'S what counts. I'm so looking forward to what the girls come up with this year. I'm always amazed at the amount of imagination that they all have. So the invite has been out for the dinner and it kind of describes the event in and of itself...

(here's a copy of the invitation)

You are invited to….
The Black Widow’s Valentine’s Dinner
On
Saturday, February 13th 2010
At
6 O’clock in the evening
Come to…..
Biker Chick’s Humble Abode

RSVP is appreciated.
(Please refer to enclosed sheet for more details-- which is shown here below...)

The Black Widow’s Valentine’s Dinner Memo:
TO: Guest
Subject: Not Required; But Reccomended!!

The following are not required but recommended for the Black Widow’s Valentine’s Dinner. It will certainly help to make it more fun and enjoyable evening for you.

Wear Black: Look like the Widow. Please try to look as sorrowful as you are able. There will be a small door prize for each individual that comes dressed for the part. Also, please consider that you may be asked to take a turn around the table to show-off how pitiful you look.

Bring a Picture: Bring a picture of your fictitious husband. You will earn an entry in the prize drawing for participating. I’m also very curious to see how nerdish or silly you second husbands are.

Have a Good Story: Have a good story of how your fictitious 3rd (or 4th for some of us) husband passed away. Please ladies make it interesting and humorous but not too long. Also, please consider that we will be trying to enjoy dinner while the telling of your story. Each one participating in this will earn another entry in the prize drawing. I’m very looking forward to the interesting ways your 3rd (or 4th) husbands were to arrive at the pearly gates.

Bring an Obituary: Bring a made up obituary for your fictitious 3rd (or 4th ) husband. Please bring it in written readable form, and it will be passed around for everyone to read for themselves, or if you prefer to dramatically read it to the group that’s also allowable. Again, you will earn an entry in the prize drawing.

Prizes! Prizes, and more prizes! This year I’ve stocked up on some good prizes. There’s a DVD, jewelry, skin care, make up, and various Avon items for you to take home with you.

Again, none of these are required to participate in the Dinner, but they are recommended. You may choose to participate in one or more of the above mentioned items. But please remember that all of this is done in the sense of fun, and please keep in mind that we will be consuming food. I thank you ahead of time for your participation in the Black Widow’s Valentine’s Dinner.

Halloween Fun & Some Ragged Ann Downtime!

One of my favorite holidays!

HALL-O-WEEN!

I've been preparing for a few weeks for this day. In the morning I hosted the 3rd Annual Tricky Treat Costume ride. There were over 20 riders that showed up for the event. I think the beautiful weather helped. It was sunny and in the mid-50's! I went around in my Ragged Ann outfit greeting everyone, offering a treat (from a black pumpkin that had assorted mini clift bars and sports gels), and everyone got a ticket for the drawing prizes. I had some good prizes lined up for a 1st through to 5th place for the costumes.

(Photos: Myself as Ragged Ann with the Genie doing the Door Prize drawings, the whole group, the Hockey Player with color print, Lovable Ralph the dog, Laila as a witch, Janice getting the Applebee's gft card, and Kim with Di in her black-n-white outfit.)

After almost everyone got signed in for the ride. I did the drawings for door prizes-- I had an Applebee's gift card, a color print of my Halloween Bike Ride painting, inner tubes, and a nifty little wine opener. Doug, costumed as the Genie, helped with the drawing. (I really thought he was teasing me about coming as me.) Janice(a witch) won the Applebee's gift card, Tonya ( a tough hockey player) got the color print, Penny (pj'd and rollers with her lovable Ralph in tow wearing a santa outfit and loving the attention) received one of the tubes, Rich ( another cyclist) received the other tube, and then Jay (Mr. Tin Man) received the nifty wine opener.

(Below- Doug as the Genie in all his glory!)

(Above photos- The Wizard of Oz trio, Mr. Tin Man doing his strut!)
Then it was on to the Costume Strut Contest as I had everyone clap and yell as each costumed rider strutted their stuff in front of the other riders. Some were shy; and some not so shy. First place went to Jackie. She was the construction safety cone. (I tell you I've never seen a safety cone signal before!) 2nd prize went to Doug who was dressed as an Aladdin Genie. 3rd place went to Dorothy (as played by Kim C.) and he companion the Scarecrow (as played by Steve H). 4th place was the third of the Oz trio-- Mr. Tin Man (as played by Jay). 5th place was claimed by Wonder woman (as played by Dana). But there were more costumed individuals than prizes but all were wonderful and very creative.(Picture below are the Costume Contest winners with me)

After the Costume contest, we headed out for the bike ride. We headed to the downtown area of Salt Lake and we received quite a bit of attention from everyone as we went along as a group. People yelled, or waved, or honked as we passed, and I felt like I was in a parade as we went down the one way street at the Gateway Mall. It was fun! There were a few moments where we had to regroup. It became the phrase to "wait for our safety cone"; as Jackie was wonderful enough to bring up the rear of the group. We wouldn't be safe without our safety cone! Following the ride, we had a get together where I served soup, cobbler, hot cocoa, and hot chocolate. A great deal of the riders hung out and visited for about an hour after the ride.

(Photo: Di's Neighbor, myself with doll, Anny, and Di.)

Later on in the afternoon, I went over to my friend Di's place and hung out the rest of the afternoon getting a little visiting, trick-or-treating, handing out candy, and a spot of her neighbor's spook alley(their garage). It was fun but by 9PM I was more than ready for bed.

(Photo- Di's neighbor and the entrace to her Spook Alley garage!)

Sunday I figured I deserved some Ragged Ann downtime, and I hung out on my loveseat with my ragged ann doll (made by my Mom years ago)watching some movies. One of which I would highly recommend... Henry Pool is Here. A black comedy movie about a sad depressed man who moves new into a neighborhood. His house that's newly stucco'd has a water stain that a noisey neighbor is convinced is the face of Christ. Things tend to happen and the situations get rather funny too.

(Photo of Ragged Ann Doll my Mom made me.)

The Little Red Riding Hood Ride!!!

Considering that when I got up at 4AM with it raining outside. It turned out to be a wonderful day to be on a bike! And what FUN too!

(Above Photo: Little Red Mascot- Von and myself as a Course Marshal)

After going to 3 different places in SLC I finally managed to get a caffeinated cup of joe. I guess there's something about being that early in the morning(4:30AM) that most regular coffee places are not open. I went inside a Maverik after fueling and they only had decaffeinated. Hello! I need fully leaded at that time in the morning. I'm a conditionally early morning type of person--- thus I NEED my hot black caffeinated cup of coffee before I perform very well. And I definitely needed something before driving two hours north. (Photos Below: Hawaiian shirted volunteers-Andrew and friend, Ann from BadAss Coffee being coy, Little Red-Myself-the Big Bad Wolf, and plenty of costumed gals!)

Well, the lottery winner in this case was a McDonald's. Those golden arches and their new coffees lured me off the interstate in Bountiful. Ahh, coffee! Now I was awake for the day, as I buzzed north along I-15 sipping my cup of joe and a sausage McMuffin. The weather was clearing up as the more I headed north. But as I got to Wellsville there was a fog and cloud cover. I was concerned about the weather for the ride.

I arrived in plenty of time to get a GREAT parking space! Right across from the start. I headed over to the volunteer and right away they needed help at the registration booth. I showed up and asked what they needed me to do. I kept on apologising because I had NO CLUE what I was doing but I muddled through as best as I could. As it started to slow, I left that area and managed to visit and get a few pictures. The weather was clearing up by almost every 15 minutes of time that passed.

Shortly after 8:30AM, I headed out on my bike wearing the Course Marshal bib. Mostly, I felt like the Course Marshal position gave me an instant PR position. I would go along and talk with riders and say hi. Periodically, I would point out safety hazards or make suggestions as I went along. I also notice that women would search me out at rest stops. They would ask me questions about directions of where to go for certain routes, and mention any riding concerns that they may have. If I didn't know the answer we would seek out someone of authority near by to get the answers. It was fun and I got to talk with a lot of wonderful women from all over the country. And had a bit of wind (never fun) on the way back on my 80 mile extension that I was the Course Marshal for but over all it was real FUN time, and a beautiful day too!