Friday

Good morning.
The work week is going well. not real busy, but steady. I've got more customers dropping off pots, so I should have enough now for the plant sale.
Mom looks to be getting out of the rehab facility near the end of next week. That will be nice that she'll be home for Mother's Day.
Not much else going on.
Have a great weekend!

Back to work

Good morning.
A recap of yesterday...
I dismantled the love seat we replaced with the 2 new Pango chairs so it'll fit in the dumpster at work, and then I potted up 10 more Hosta's for my plant sale even though the temps were only in the mid 30's. It was sunny with no wind, and the gloves I wear are quite warm. And I did this all while Craig slept. Then after he got up and showered, I made us Lattes and we did our weekly shopping for groceries. Then I spent most of the rest of the day in the yard. I've now got a total of 253 plants potted up so far for the sale.
It looks to be a busy week in the Salon, which is good.
And for dinner, we had marinated baked chicken with fried potatoes and marinated broiled asparagus. And we made enough for leftovers on Thursday.
And that's all I got, it's time to get ready for work.

Tuesday

Good morning.
Yesterday turned out much better weather wise than forecasted. Instead of cloudy with a chance of rain, we had sunny skies, near 60, but with a cold north easterly wind. But I bundled up and helped Craig mow the yard, and then I dug, divided and potted up another 31 plants. I have a running total of 233, with a couple of weeks to divide and pot more. I'm sure to have a great selection for my sale.
And with less than 1/4 inch of rain from that last weather system, I've started to water the flowerbeds. I need to start weeding them, and the ground is too dry to work.
And for dinner, Craig fried up a couple of ham steaks with mashed potatoes and gravy and honey ginger carrots. very good! And we finished the evening with our Monday sitcoms.
And that's all I got for now!

busy, busy

Good morning.
As I expected, yesterday was cold, and wet, so no outside work. Instead, I cleaned the house. I also fired off a post at Dave's Garden which has got to be the most comprehensive gardening site I've seen. Several posts back I posted a pic of a plant I have but didn't know what it was. I was hoping one of my gardening readers would know, but no, so I posted it on Dave's Garden, and in a couple of hours had the reply.

It a Helleborus foetidus, or stinky Hellebore. According to the website, it's suppose to be hardy to zone 6 and higher. I live in zone 5, so I'm surprised it seems to be thriving. It's got very cool leaves.

In other news, we booked another campground for October, Ludington Sate Park. We have just 2 more to book and we'll be set for the entire season.

And what else do you do on a cold dreary day? You cook comfort food!

Craig made a delicious meat pie! Another variation of his Creamy Turkey Pie , but this one he called a Creamy Light Hot Italian Turkey Sausage Pie. And it was delicious! And big enough for leftovers. Click the links for the recipes.
And we watched the last episode of Spartacus. I hope they bring it back for season 2. It was really good!
That's all for this morning.....

Sunday morning

Good morning.
It was a busy week in the Salon. And this morning I've already cleaned the Salon and came home and did an hour of weeding in the gardens until my fingers started to get numb. It's a cool, damp, 51 out. We got some rain during the night, but right now we're in a dry gap with more rain coming later. It's soo much easier to weed when the soil is moist. I did manage to pot up another 28 plants on Friday afternoon, which was our last sunny warm day for a while. I have just over 200 plants for my sale and several customers have dropped off more pots, so I'm in pretty good shape to hit my 300 mark. If the rain holds off, I'll try and do some more weeding later, otherwise, it'll be house cleaning.
And now I'm going to jump in the shower, and then wake up lazy bones. It is after 9 already!

Spring in Michigan

Good morning.
It's been a very busy week at the Salon. And I've also hit the flower pot jackpot. I've been asking customers all week for any pots they might have and yesterday one said she thought she had a mess of them in her garage. She said she'd call me when she got home if she did and I could pick them up. Well she called, and not only did she have a bunch, her neighbor also had a bunch, and so did another across the street! So after work today, I'll pick them up on the way home. That should give me enough to finish my dividing for my sale.
Also spring has burst forth here in Michigan. Flowering trees and bushes galore!
Here's some from my yard....

A flowering Crab Apple above, and a flowering Patio Peach below.

This beauty is called a Rose Tree of China. The flowers remind me of Flowering Almond, but the flowers are larger and the bush is currently about 9 ft tall and as wide.

A cute leathery leafed plant called Bergenia.

And finally tulips.

If I get out of work early enough today, I hope to divide more plants as the weekend isn't looking good. Forecast is for rain and temps only in the 50's. Oh well, I really do need to clean the house also. We'll see.

Have a great weekend!

Out with the old!

An update on our IKEA experience.
Here's the ratty old love seat that really had to go.


And the nice new leather Poang chairs that replaced it.

They really are very comfy, and it took a total of 20 minutes to assemble. A total of 8 screws in each one. And of course with an open frame, the room looks bigger too!

And it was another beautiful day yesterday. I dug and devided another 27 plants for a running total of 176. But I'm quickly running out of pots! I thought I had plenty, but I have just 32 large ones left. I've placed an ad on Freecycle hoping to get some more. And I'll also place a flyer at work.

I also cleaned the mo-ho, so it'll be ready for our next trip.

And now it's time to get ready for another work week.

we're back!!

Good morning.
We made it safely back from our first camping trip. We were originally scheduled to go to Proud lake recreation area. It was to open on March 26th. Well, thanks to Michigan's economy, they pushed it back to April 1st. So we had to scramble to find an alternate campground. And we did. We ended up at Detroit Greenfield campground. It actually ended up closer to the things we planned to do, although a little longer drive in the mo-ho.
Here's Craig in our campsite. The campground wasn't very busy, which is understandable since it was a bitter cold, windy weekend. But like I said, we always have a back-up itinerary, in case of bad weather. And for this trip, it meant shopping!

Our evening view....
So, Saturday morning, we headed over to IKEA! If you've never been to one and are going to be nearby, you really need to check it out. It's an enormous home furnishing store!

And we found just the things we wanted. But that's a separate post right after this one. Then after a tasty lunch at a nearby Chilli's, we went to a large Camping World store. They were having a spring 'sale'. We thought it would be fun to look at the new mo-ho's. Well, they had none. All they had were used. But we looked at a couple. One had a 3 zone living layout with 3 slides. A kitchen/couch slide, a dinette/closet slide, and a bed slide. I thought it would look small divided into 3 areas, but it really looked nicely laid out for only a 37 footer. The salesman was a real piece of work though, we discovered that the generator had been removed. He acted like he didn't know about it. They'll probably sell it to some poor soul who doesn't know what to look for and they'll be stuck paying for a new one. I have a fairly low respect for salesmen.

Anyway, with temps not even hitting 50 on Sunday, with a still cold north wind, we decided to take a short drive into downtown Detroit to, you guessed it, The Greektown Casino!

Now, you'll remember back in early January, we stayed here for Craig's birthday, and liked it well enough to come back. But this time, no expensive hotel room. Just good food, and slots, which I won at and Craig lost at, so we ended up close to breaking even. Not bad, and lot's of fun.

And we packed up Monday morning and headed back to Lansing, just in time for some decent weather to return. It got into the low 60's with calm winds and sunshine. But no trip is without an incident, and this one was no different. Craig arrived home first to move the car and truck so I could get the mo-ho in the driveway, and the truck was dead. So I parked across the street in the golf course parking lot. Put the charger on, and got enough charge in about 10 minutes to start and move the truck. Then put the charger back on for about another 30 minutes. Ever since I had that remote starter put on, I'm getting a battery drain. If I don't drive it at least once a week, the battery goes dead. I need to get around and take it back in sometime and get it fixed.

So anyway, I worked out side the rest of the afternoon, dividing and potting up another 37 plants for my big sale in June. I now have 149 so far, hopping to reach 300 before I'm done.

The new season has begun!

The IKEA experience!

This is the IKEA experience post.....

We've been to a IKEA store in the Chicago suburbs before, and now they have one in Michigan. Near Detroit in Canton township.

Like I said, this place is enormous! It's so large with 2 floors, that they give you a map when you go in. You could easily spend the entire day here! And they even have their own restaurant!

Here's a picture of just one little section. This place has just about anything you need for furnishing your home, and all at really good prices.

We grabbed a couple of these colorful pillows for the couch in the mo-ho.

They even have complete kitchens set up with a one price for everything! Or you can also purchase things separately.

And this is what we came here to buy. They're called Poang Chairs.

We have this ratty old love seat in our TV/sitting room, and we really needed to replace it. Well, we wanted a leather one, but leather love seats are never on sale cheap enough, so these at $199 each with real leather cushions were a good find.
And you can mix and match to your desired style of wood and fabric. Fabric of course would be cheaper. The final price is determined by your selection.

But these chairs are for display only. You write down the number of each item you want and proceed to the warehouse section to pick it up.

Here's a board to help you find the area your chairs are in.

And with no difficulty at all, we find the bins quickly.

Now all the furniture they sell, are manufactured for easy shipping, which means they come broken down and in compact boxes. They will need to be assembled. But that's what helps keep the prices low. See, both these chairs fit snugly into Craig's Honda Accord's trunk.

And as soon as we get them put together, I'll get a pic of them in their new space.

baby it's cold outside.

Hello from a crispy cold Michigan. It was 32 out this morning as a bitter cold high has gripped the state. Yesterday's high was 47. brrrr! Today should hit 52 with tomorrow getting back near 60. So no work in the yard yesterday. Instead, we're on our first RV trip of the year. Yaaa! Since we have limited wi-fi, and I'm currently posting this from the car near a wi-fi hot spot, all I'll say right now is it's a shopping weekend, and I'll fill you in more later after our return.

At least he left a message

Good morning.
So far it been an extremely busy week at work. I've started around 7:30 each day, where as I usually start between 9 and 10. And I work until 7 0r 8pm, so it's been a long week. Today is another long day, but the weekend is closing in.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but our Salon is unique in that we have no receptionist. Each Stylist has a phone at their station with their own extension and appointment book, so they make their own appointments. We also have voicemail capability, so customers can leave a message if we're not there. So anyway, one of the first things I do on Wednesday morning, is check my messages. One in particular caught me a little by surprise. He spends the winter in Maui, and I've cut his hair for years. I even did his mom's hair for nearly 20 years until she passed away several years ago. So anyway, a few years ago he built a new mansion house, way on the other side of town. I expected I wouldn't see him after that, since it's a long drive over here, but he kept coming. Well, he's just returned from Maui, and the message was that he finally decided to find someone on that side of town instead of a 30 minute drive each way to see me. He thanked me for all the years of service for him and his mom and wished me the best. Now the fact that he's left me wasn't a surprise, I thought that would have happened when he moved. It was that he left me the message on Tuesday. He knows I don't work on Tuesday, and apparently didn't want to tell me 'in person', and that bothered me a little, I mean, I've known him for years. But at least he left me a message. Usually I go through my files and run across a name I haven't seen in a long time and wonder what happened to them. But I've been doing hair for 33 years now, and people come and go for many reasons. It's just part of the business. But every now and then, it still bothers me a little.
Anyway, our 'normal' spring weather ( low to mid 50's) is returning this weekend. It figures. It was 80 yesterday, and by Saturday, the high is only going to be 54. Just in time for 'my' weekend. But at least we've got some 'indoor' plans. And now it's time for me to get ready for work.
Have a great weekend!

nothing

Good afternoon.
Here's a pic of our early spring yard.

It was a very productive weekend. I managed to divide and pot up more plants, so now I have a total of 112 plants so far for my sale. Craig did an inital mowing of the yard, and that made it look even better. I also finished un-winterizing the mo-ho, and now it's ready for our first trip.
We also found out the campground we wanted to go to for our first trip is not open yet. The web site said it opened on March 26th but Craig wanted me to call because the web site wouldn't let us book a reservation. Well, the reason is, they aren't opening untill May 1st. Thanks to the state's budget cuts. But we were able to find another campground nearby.
And another busy week scheduled for the Salon. I have to go in early every day this week. Yuk! But I don't want to turn down the money.
And that's all I got for now.....

Ahhhh spring!

Good morning.
Another beautiful day yesterday. Our normal high should be in the mid 50's, but we hit 63 yesterday. The last several weeks have been mostly above normal. So I've taken full advantage of the weather and divided and potted up another 18 plants for a current total of 78.


And that unknown plant is getting ready to flower. Does anyone know what it is?

And here's another spring pic...
I just love this time of year with the 'rebirth' of life.

And yesterday I also started the un-winterizing of the mo-ho. Drained out the anti-freeze and mixed up a bleach solution and pumped that into the freshwater tank and then filled it with water and ran it through all the water lines. I let it sit overnight to 'sanitize' the system. Today I'll drain all that out and refill with fresh water and run that through all the lines and then we'll be ready for our first trip.

I just love spring!

A spring like Sunday

Good morning.
A little late posting this morning, don't know why, I just am. The week ended very busy at work. And it was so nice out when I got home,(68 and sunny), I dug, divided and potted up another 24 plants for a total of 60 right now. A very good start. Then I helped guide Craig and the mo-ho out of it's winter parking spot and into the driveway. I hope to get it un-winterized today or tomorrow. For dinner, we had home made pizza and watched another episode of Spartacus. I've already cleaned the salon this morning, and waiting for lazy bones to get up. I'm letting him sleep extra today because he got up very early all week for work. :-)
Well, that's it for now......

busy work week

Good morning.
It's been a busy week in the Salon. I'm completely booked today and tomorrow. Our 'normal' spring weather has returned. It's currently 33 out this morning going for a high around 50. Should be a little warmer this weekend. We've had rain off and on all week which has really greened up the grass.
Craig had a customer yesterday, an older lady, who couldn't get her car remote to lock or un-lock the doors. Craig determined it was a dead battery. Showed her how to open it and find out what type of battery she needed to buy. She thought that was too involved so she was going to go to a battery store like Batteries Plus, and let them do it. I couldn't see her driving all the way out there, and since we had a Meijer store just 2 blocks away and I had a break between customers, I ran out and got her a new battery and had her remote put back together before her hair was dry. She was very happy, and I did my good deed for the day.
And I'm still getting compliments from the new stylists customers on how clean the Salon is. I have a hard time believing other Salons are so dirty that customers go out of their way to mention that. But I've only been in a couple during all my years as a stylist, so it's hard for me to judge.
Well, that's all I got for now!
Have a great weekend!

No such thing as routine surgery

That's right! there is no such thing as 'routine' surgery. Don't believe it! I lost another customer yesterday. Her sister, (whom I also do) called me at home to let me know. Her name was Marilyn. I'd done her hair for years. A really neat person. Had some type of heart surgery several years ago and almost didn't make it. Apparently needed another relatively 'routine' surgery for another heart issue. She told me she'd probably miss 2 of her weekly appointments. That was 2 months ago. Her body just couldn't take the stress of another surgery. She died yesterday without ever waking up. So if you ever need 'routine' surgery, make sure you really need it, and make sure you've got the best doctor to do it. And even then, pray like hell!
Okay, in other news....
We had a ton of rain Monday night and into Tuesday morning. Must have been around 4 inches. So needless to say, no working in a soggy yard. But the grass sure did green up! So instead, I spent the day putting stuff back in the mo-ho. Bedding, towels, bath supplies, toilet paper, paper towels, dish soap, cleaners, etc. We keep the mo-ho stocked with it's own stuff so all we need to do when we go on a trip is throw in food and clothes. I even replaced all the batteries in the TV remotes, smoke detector, carbon dioxide detector, flashlights, safe, clock, etc. It felt good being in the mo-ho again and getting ready for our first trip.
And now it's back to work!

Mom

Good morning.
Well, it was another beautiful spring day yesterday, but no yard work. Instead, we went to Muskegon to visit my Mom. She's still in the nursing home/rehab center, but has been walking on her healed foot for just over a week. So she was looking forward to getting out of there for a few hours. It was her first time out since she arrived there in mid February. And she's walking pretty good. She thinks they'll let her out near the end of the month. So we went to Red Lobster where she had Tillapia, I had Salmon New Orleans, and Craig had Lobster nachos. All were yummy as usual. Then we needed to go to her apartment building and fill out dozens of forms for her renewal of government rent support. Then to the club, (VFW) for a visit with her friends there she hasn't seen since early Feb. She really enjoyed getting out for a few hours, and when we took her back, she promptly got into bed. She was pretty tired out from all the activity. We visited for a while more, then headed back to Lansing.
Since we had a big lunch, for dinner we just had ham sandwiches with leftover ham from Easter Sunday.
And here's a few more spring pics from the yard....

I love daffodils! They are so cheery in the early spring. As I write this post it's raining. Has been all night, so since it'll be too wet to work in the yard, I think we'll back out the mo-ho, and start getting everything back in it for the up-coming season. I just love spring!

a beautiful day

Good morning,
We had another beautiful day yesterday. Not 70's but upper 60's, sunny and low wind, so spent the entire day working in the yard. Besides deadheading, weeding and trimming, I managed to dig, divide, and pot up 36 plants for my big sale in June. Mostly day lilies. They are just about the only thing 'up' enough to divide. But I have nearly 50 varieties, so I found plenty to divide. Craig did his usual laundry, book work and made us a delicious Easter dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, scalloped corn, and of course deviled eggs. We almost ate them all before I thought to take a pic.
Now the only reason for the pic is for Garret and the post he did about making deviled eggs. Or should I say about making hard boiled eggs. Yes, there's a ton of different ways to boil and egg, and still, you may not get easily peel-able eggs. So long ago, Craig decided that this would be his method for making hard boiled eggs.....

Buy em that way! Now why didn't someone think of this years ago! It would have saved a lot of people much grief! Yes, look in the upper right corner, they're $2.79 for 10 eggs, but Craig says it's well worth it for not having the hassle. And you have deviled eggs in no time flat!

So that was our day, and it was great! Good weather, good food, and a productive day.

It's over, and just begining

Yes, it's over...... Our Spartans lost last night to Butler. The battered, bruised, injury laden team just didn't have any more to give. But they had a terrific run, and the way Duke dismantled West Virginia, I'm thinking Duke will take it all tomorrow. They didn't play that well against the Spartans and Duke doesn't have all the injuries the Spartans did.
But anyway, thanks for the condolences.
I just got back from cleaning the Salon. Did I mention how much more work it is to clean the Salon since we increased our staff? But that's okay, it's more income too. :-)
And to help cheer me up form last nights game, it's the beginning of spring! And here's some pretty flowers currently blooming in the yard....

Nothing better than a beautiful spring day to wipe away the gloom!

Oh, and a Happy Easter to everyone!

What a beautiful day

Good morning.
After I got home from work yesterday and did that afternoon post, I decided to clean the rubber roof on the mo-ho. Like I said, the weather has been the best! We hit a record hi of 81 on Thursday, and close to a record of 80 on Friday. And since I got out of work early enough, I wanted to make the best of the weather while we had it. (today and tomorrow are to be only in the upper 60's)

And of course, if your a regular reader, you see pics like this every year. It wasn't as dirty this year as in the past. Probably due to the fact I cleaned the roof twice last year instead of just once.

And I post these pics because I want someone to see the results of all my labor! Cause no one on the ground well ever see it! LOL! And if you click on the bottom pic, you'll see the flames Craig put on the air conditioning covers when we replaced them 2 years ago. Now why he needed to do that is beyond me, but if it make him happy so be it. I wonder if any camper on the ground has ever noticed them.....

And for dinner, Craig made a wonderful spaghetti. He uses store bought sauce, but enhances it with sauteed onions, green peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, extra garlic, oregano, and thyme. And instead of ground beef, he used hot Italian turkey sausage he made into meatballs. Tasty!

And to end this fairly slow week, I have a jam packed Saturday. 9 haircuts, 2 blo-drys, and 6 colors. And of course later this evening, our Spartans play in the Final Four!

So I'm off to get ready for work.

Another chapter of life

Good afternoon.
I know, an unusual afternoon post. It was a very fine day for our retiring stylist, Pat. I picked up the cake on the way to work this morning, and it wasn't what I ordered... I mean, it looked good except it had plain frosting around the edges. We were suppose to have confetti sprinkles. The person who makes the cakes does it in the wee hours of the morning and of course had already left. They offered to give me a refund, but that wasn't going to make it right. So I took the cake and went to work. I called Craig and said, Stop everything, You need to get to work before 8am. Bring the Christmas cookie sprinkles, I think I can make it okay. And as a trooper, he made it on time. And the sprinkles did the job.


And the cake was delicious! Meijer's makes tasty cakes!
Pat was very impressed on what we did. I think she enjoyed the day.

I had to make sure I got a pic of us together since we didn't have any pics of the staff. We'll miss her a lot, but things always change. Some for better, some for worst, and some just are. We've been through a lot of 'chapters' and I've enjoyed most of them.

Well, that's all for now..........