Who are all these people in our shopping areas?

Maggie had her dream weekend. We shopped both Saturday AND Sunday. Life doesn't get any better than that for her. Both days we were out early to make parking a little easier. No parking problem either day. However, there is a bit of a problem with the amount of people out and about so early. Generally when Maggie and I hit the stores early, there are very few others to get in our way. Not so in mid December.

With Christmas fast approaching, I needed to get a few things I had a specific idea in mind for somebody and we headed down to Cost Pus at Fisherman's wharf. That is a huge store full of colors and bright things that are entertaining to look at and to buy. They are also entertaining to try on. Maggie modeled several hats for the passers by.

Of course they didn't have what I was looking for, but we found something else. We put our stuff in the car and wandered around the wharf area. We stopped at Boudin to watch them make french bread and found out old friend Anna there. We say hello to her whenever we are around there. The bakery is a real working bakery, but there is a large exhibition window in the  front for tourists and others to watch. Anna interacts with the people outside the window via a microphone/speaker set up. As soon as she saw us the speakers blared, "Maggie, Hello! How are you doing?" Maggie thought that was hilarious and all the tourists were trying to figure out who Maggie was. Fame! So many things to worry about. 

After that we walked around the wharf for a while and admired the boats decorated for Christmas.

Sunday we returned to Stonestown for the first time since the great elevator outage of 2013. It was fine. Crowded and overwhelming, but fine. We did get a chance to try on some pink glasses, so the day wasn't a waste.

Like many malls, Stonestown has those kiosks in the middle and the sales people really hawk their wares. It is incredibly annoying. Generally you can avoid them but it was difficult maneuvering the wheelchair with the crowds.  It was freaking Maggie out a little to have these sales people in our face. One guy who insisted on trying to wrap some pillow around me and them Maggie was particularly annoying. I said "No Thank you" and he tried again. I stopped, looked him in the face and said, Look Buddy, I said no thank you - now BACK OFF. Very very Christmas-y. But it definitely cheered Maggie up for a minute but then  she ran out of energy pretty quickly after that happened.

We came home and caught the last quarter of the 49er game with Tim. As he often does, he grabbed Maggie out of her chair so they could sit together and watch the game. Hanging with him makes her very happy. 

All in all an excellent weekend. Now it's the last week of school and then vacation.

 We could shop every day. 

Oh save me. 

Hats Off!

One of the many difficulties with dressing Maggie is finding things that will work with her wheelchair. I've mentioned before the difficulty of wearing skirts because of the wheelchair straps at her hips which come up through the legs. It is just not acceptable for a girl to sit like that with a skirt on, even if you didn't go to Catholic school.

Another problem is the headrest on the chair. It is a complicated two part system that does a great job keeping her head in the right position, but wreaks havoc with any hat she might want to wear.  Brims are OUT. The hat gets knocked forward or completely off her head. Baseball hats work for a few minutes, but Maggie's constant movement and rubbing against the headrest makes the hat slowly knock down over her eyes. It's a problem when it's cold or particularly sunny (not a problem this summer). We can't keep her head warm or shade her face from the sun. 

Lately, though., Maggie has found success from a varied collection of hats. They may not be completely practical, but they have been entertaining. 

The easiest fix for the cold, of course is hooded sweatshirts. The hood stays on and keeps her warm. Of course Maggie discovered the string for the hood and has a great time wearing it like this.

 It is a little dangerous when we're driving and she can't get out of it, though.

Undeterred, however, Maggie recently acquired other head wear that stays on her head and she can't get herself into danger wearing either. In fact, she looks quite frightening in both - except for the HUGE smile she's wearing.

This hat was only a loaner. She wore it for a few minutes at the giants game the other Day. I believe this was a giveaway at a giants game earlier in the season. We posted this on facebook and my cousin Dennis said Maggie has to attend all the games and wear this hat because she brings them luck. He may be right. They haven't won since the day she wore it. 

But the best hat of all may be this gift from Nathan T. Nate is the son of some friends and recently traveled to Ireland with an organized group of kids around his age. (14?) He purchased this lovely pink viking hat that says "Ireland" across the front. Maggie is quite the imposing looking marauder, don't you think? When she's wearing this we should really use the full Irish name, Mary Margaret McDonald.

Thanks Nate, Now we can keep her warm, safe, and a little scary. That's perfect. 10th grade is tough. Even for a sweet little Irish lass.