My last post of 2010

Good morning.
It doesn't feel like the last day of 2010. I don't know why, but it just doesn't.
Anyway, after an exhausting 12 hour day yesterday, I came home, ate dinner, had a few glasses of sherry, and hit the pillow around 10pm. Slept like a baby. :-)
Feeling refreshed this morning, except for this phlegm, drainage thingy that I've had now for a couple of weeks. I not sure what's going on, it's worst first thing in the morning, but by mid-day, pretty much clears up. I have no other symptoms, so checking on-line hasn't been any help. If it persists into next week, I guess I'll have to go to the doctor.
Just a short day today, 7:30 to around 2pm. Then over to Meijer's for our annual New Years Eve pig out food.
We've also gotten many different types of wine for Christmas, so maybe we'll do a little wine tasting thing also. One unusual wine is called Choco Vine. The label says "the taste of dutch chocolate and fine red wine." I wouldn't have thought of mixing those 2 ingredients, but we'll give it a try.
And no big plans for the evening, just food, drinks, and and movies. I doubt we'll even make it to midnight. :-)
Yep! we're a couple of old farts. :-)
Happy New Year! And if you go out, have a great one!

No bug bites today

Good morning.
I was not bit by the cleaning bug yesterday.
I was bit by the lazy slug. :-)
But that's okay. Sometimes it's nice to just do nothing.
Actually, we did do a few things.
We went out to East Lansing to Mercantile Bank. We have a money market account there. We received a letter stating our account has been inactive for 9 months, and if it stayed that way, we'd get charged a monthly maintenance fee.
WTF? Charging us to let our money sit in their bank for them to use for nearly free?
The only reason we have that account, is Craig likes to keep some 'cash' on hand for emergencies, and they are currently paying the best rate locally, (1.3%) which still sucks!
But that's also why the account is not 'active'. We don't touch that money if we don't have to.
Anyway, we went over there to deposit some money to keep the account 'active'.
And then stopped at Meijer's for some weekly supplies on the way home.
Craig made a big pot of turkey stock from the Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey carcases. That stuff is great when making mashed potatoes, or for boiling noodles or rice. Adds a nice flavor.
I did check inside the mo-ho for unwanted guests and found no evidence of any, and checked the water level in the 'house' batteries, which were good.
And that was pretty much it. I spent most of the rest of the day on the puter, checking out possible campgrounds for the up-coming season, blogs, and playing games.
For dinner, Craig diced up some chicken breasts and seasoned and sauteed them and warmed up some of the left-over potato casserole and baked an Acorn Squash.
It was yummy!
And this morning, it's back to work. Today is 9-7 as is tommorow. Friday will be shorter, right now, 8-2. That will depend on the amount of phone calls this week. Being 2 short weeks, we tend to work longer days to get people in. But the long weekend makes it worth it. ;-)

4th day of Christmas

Good morning.
Yesterday was another nice day.
But I became infected.
Infected with the cleaning bug!
I completely took apart everything in the bedroom. We have a king bed, and is it heavy! And I felt it was time to do a thorough cleaning. I took out the night stands, dresser, and took apart the bed. I vacuumed, cleaned the mini blinds, windows and wiped down everything. I can't tell you how long it's been since I vacuumed under the bed. I'm embarrassed to even guess. :-)
Other than that, it was our usual Monday. Went to the bank, post office, and meijer's.Came home, read the paper, and fixed a tasty breakfast/lunch. One of Craig's customers gave him a home made gift basket with assorted baked goods. One of them were whole wheat dinner rolls. I used 2 of them for sandwiches. They were very tasty!
Craig then did more paper work and laundry, besides helping me with the bedroom.
For dinner, we had those tasty pork cutlets I've become hooked on, and Craig made his new potato dish. It was really good!

We added broiled zucchini and had a very good dinner.
Topped that with our Monday sitcoms, and it was another nice day.
And today's our 4th day off before retuning to work for 3 days, and another 4 day weekend. I could get use to this schedule! Well, except for the money thingy. When your self-employed, no workey no money. And your probably saying, "what about all those other stylists? Don't' you make money from them?"
Well, yes, but that money mainly covers the salon overhead. We don't get that much extra profit from them. So our money mainly comes from our clientele.
And, I'm not sure what we're doing for today, maybe nothing. I'm not feeling the cleaning bug right now. :-)

3rd day of Christmas

Good morning.
Sunday was another nice day.
Craig got up around 8:30, (early for him) showered, then I fixed coffee and we read the paper, than it was out to do a little running around. Mainly to Menard's. They had AA batteries for 60% off. They were Rayovac, a decent brand. I won't by off brands anymore. I swear they last about 1/4 as long as name brands.
Anyway, I remove all the batteries from all the electronics in the mo-ho each year, and put in fresh each spring. Between detectors, clocks, remotes, flashlights, etc., it takes quite a few.
So this was a good deal. We also picked up a new bulb for our outdoor sodium light. It keeps going out, then coming back on. We replaced the sensor a few weeks ago, so Craig wanted to try a new bulb. I think it's the ballast going. We'll see if the bulb thing works.
And we also picked up some more air filters for the furnace. We have to intakes, and of course, they are to different sizes. We replaced them last week, and used up the last new ones.
Then, back home, I fixed us a late breakfast/early lunch, of an egg and Canadian bacon sandwich.
And while Craig did his usual laundry and bookwork, I managed to dust and vacuum between playin on the puter.
I also looked up current CD rates. Yuk! We have one maturing in April. Currently earning 5.5 %. The latest rates are running around 2.5%. Maybe I'll just hide it under the mattress instead. :-)
And after a very cold December, we appear to be getting a break. Temps are forecast to get above freezing later this week.
Then for dinner, we reheated some turkey, and the leftover sides. Craig is feeling much better, but wanted to eat up the leftovers, and will make his new potato dish today with pork cutlets.
And that was out 2nd day of Christmas. Now for our 3rd! I love long weekends!

the 2nd day of Christmas...

Good morning, and a happy holiday weekend to you all.
I've just returned from my usual Sunday morning routine, cleaning the Salon.
We had a very nice, low key Christmas. The turkey was delicious, as was the stuffing, potatoes and cauliflower. Craig's dinner plans didn't go as expected due to him being a bit under the weather. So I made the stuffing, and instead of the new potato and cauliflower dishes, I made steamed cauliflower and boxed potatoes. Still it was good. If he's feeling a bit better today, we'll try the new recipes with leftover turkey.
We watched several holiday DVD's, Craig took an afternoon nap, and I caught up on blog reading and playing on the puter.
I also managed to get a little ambition and scrubbed the entire bathroom. I needed to burn some calories from Christmas eve. :-)
And, a final tally of Christmas tips showed us a little ahead of last year. So we should have enough to pay for all our mo-ho trips this coming year. :-) Depending on where we decide to go.
And today I plan on a little more house work, and a lot more relaxation. I love long weekends!

Merry Christmas

Good morning.
And a very Merry Christmas to you all!
We ended a busy day at work on Christmas Eve. Getting done around 1pm.
We then ran over to Meijer's for some Christmas Eve treats.
The parking lot was packed! We found a cart and took it in with us. We knew from past experiences that there would probably be none in the store. We were right. :-)
The store was busy, but not terrible. Craig decided on a meat and cheese platter. Which meant Bologna and 5 types of cheese. Craig is a cheese-a-holic. And this is the only time of the year, I let him eat 'real' cheese. And the only time we eat bologna.
Then it was over to the freezer section for my speacial treat, chicken wings. :-)
A few more odds and ends for Christmas Day dinner, and then outta there.
Heading to the check-outs, they were all 5-7 deep. But we headed to the other end of the check-outs and managed to find a line with only 3 ahead of us. By time we got to the belt, our line was now 6 deep. Good timing on our part.
As the cashier was just about done ringing us up, I noticed the person behind me was putting a bunch of wine bottles on the belt up-right. As I was just about to mention that she might want to lay them done, the cashier hit the switch to move the belt and all the bottles tumbled over with one going right off on to the floor smashing into bits. Hasn't this person ever shopped before? You don't stand bottles upright on a moving belt! Oh well.
I took my change from the cashier, and as we left, I felt sorry for the people behind her. They'll have to wait until someone cleans up the broken glass and wine.
Despite the traffic, (we did see one accident) we made it home safe. It was a nice quiet afternoon/evening, stuffing our faces, and watching holiday DVDs.
Today, it's Turkey with White Castle stuffing, a new potato casserole Craig is trying, and also a new cauliflower dish.
And I really need to do some cleaning. We'll see how that goes......:-)

It's almost Christmas!

Good morning.
It's been a hectic week in the Salon. Very busy! I go in early today, (7:30) and I'll be there until around 1pm.
The Christmas tips are coming in nicely. Better than last year. We'll indulge with all the eatable/drinkable gifts. We get a wide range of things. Wine, liquors, candy, home made pastries, home made jams, gift cards, gift baskets, and even kraut soup(?).
All the monetary gifts go into our mo-ho gas fund. Which looks like it'll need a big boost as the gas prices seem to keep rising. :-(
Then after today, I'll get a 4 day weekend!
So with that, I'm off to get ready for my last work day.
Hope everyone has a nice Christmas!

The days highlights

Good morning.
Yesterday was very busy. Craig had his doctors appointment which turned out better that expected.
Then to the bank for the businesses deposit, and Meijer's for groceries.
Back home, I played on the puter, and Craig did his usual bookwork and laundry.
In the afternoon, Craig noticed a box outside the door.
I was excited to see that I got my new keyboard much quicker than expected.

I know you can't see the pathetic condition of the previous one, but trust me, it was pathetic!
The new one is very basic, as I needed an older plugin version. Most of the new ones are usb connect, but I don't have many of those ports on my old xp.

It's also a little bit getting use to it with the keys black and closer together, but it sure looks good!
And for dinner, Craig decided to do something different with our boneless skinless chicken breasts. He cut them up into bite sized pieces, put them in a bag with olive oil, lemon pepper seasoning, and garlic. then pan fried them. They were very good!

We had them with roasted potatoes and a new side dish, baked zucchini sticks. They were really good too! Of course the recipe is here.

And now, a short work week, with Christmas being on a Saturday.

Mom

Hi.
We've just returned from our visit to Muskegon to see my Mom. the drive was good. the roads were clear.
We arrived around 9:30, and were greeted in the buildings lobby by Mom and my sister-in-law, Ruth. My brother Brian had to work, so she came by herself. We went up to Mom's apartment and chatted for a while why I did some 'chores' for her. Then it was off to Applebee's for lunch. I had a tasty Bourbon steak with roasted red potatoes and sauteed onions and mushrooms. Craig had the quesadilla burger which he said was good. My mom and the sirloin steak, and Ruth had mini beef burgers with french onion soup. It all was very good. The restaurant was packed by the time we left.
Then it was off to the VFW. We were the only ones there when we arrive at 1pm. But it slowly filled by the time we left around 3:30. No luck with the pull tabs, but good conversation. Then it was off to the grocery store for some supplies for Mom. Then we took her home, got her settled, and back to Lansing we went.
It's been a busy 2 days!
And tomorrow, poor Craig can't sleep in because he has his bi-monthly doctors visit. He's thinking he's blood tests will be bad. We'll see.
And now it's Monday evening sitcoms.

free is good

Good morning.
Sorry for the late post, but I've been busy. :-)
I cleaned the salon this morning, and afterwards decided to set up the new cash register. There was no hurry getting home since I was letting Craig sleep in today since he'll be getting up early the next few days.
Anyway, as it always happens, I wasn't able to set it up because it didn't come with 3 AA batteries that I needed for part of the programing. Sooo I'm going back in shortly to finish that.
So back home, as it approached 9:30 and while Craig was still sleeping, I went online to redeem a $20 Best Buy Rewards Zone rebate they e-mailed me just for being a member! I like free money, so I got myself a new keyboard. My current one works fine, but it's gotten awful icky. I know I shouldn't snack and work on the puter at the same time, but anyway, I've got a new one coming now for free!
So Craig finally gets up around 10, we've read the paper, and had our coffee, and now it's off to the Salon and to pick up a couple of things a the store. The this afternoon, it's off to his niece's home for Craig's family Christmas.
So see ya!

tonight, life is good

Good afternoon.
Well, I just finished a very busy week in the Salon.
And after that, I foolishly went to Staples. Our cash register died a couple of days ago and I found on-line that Staples had the best deal. And, a $50 rebate! So I decide to go get it after work today.
OMG! The traffic was horrible! Why did I think of going anywhere the weekend before Christmas?
But I managed by saying to myself, "be patient, there's no hurry, I've got all afternoon,"
So, I got the new register and even stopped at Kroger's to stock up on 2 liter Coke for $1 each. Then my low gas light came on and stopped at Meijer for that.
And I made it home safe.
This will be a busy weekend with family get togethers and travel.
But tonight is cocktails, home made pizza and movies. Yes life is good.

Good evening

Good e-v-e-n-i-n-g.........
Geees, I sound like an old Hitchcock movie. What, you never heard of a Hitchcock movie?
Your obviously too young...........
Anyway,
Work has been crazy busy!
But that's good! And tomorrow is booked solid also.
Then on Sunday, we go to his nieces for his family Christmas. And on Monday, I go to Muskegon to see my mom for Christmas.
So a busy holiday season, as, I belive, it is for most of my readers.
So a happy holiday!
That's it for now!..

another quick one

Good morning.
It's been a busy week so far with no let up in sight.
The phone is ringing off the hook at the Salon, and I'm completely booked for the rest of the week.
Also on Tuesday, we took in the PT Cruiser. It's been starting kind of slow, but not the type of slow when you have a weak/dying battery. And while they were at it they could check about the occasionally squealing belt. So we dropped that off on Tuesday. Wed. morning, they called to confirm it was the starter going bad, and the belt tension thingy need to be replaced.
So we'll pick that up today. We tried a new mechanic that was recommended by a customer instead of going to the dealer. So far I'm impressed with his quick response, and the price was very reasonable.
Also I've been going into the Salon early to damp mop. With all the snow, we're getting a lot of salt tracks on the floor.
And that's where I'm off to now!

a quick one

Good morning.
Yep! it's another pic of snow in my back yard. Ain't it purty?
If I have to look at it, so do you. :-)
Seriously, it's way to frickin cold for Dec. It's currently 8 out right now. Yesterday got all the way up to 15. brrrrrrrr It's gonna be a l-o-n-g winter.
So yesterday, we went out to the bank, the post office, and Meijer's then home. I swear, people forget from year to year how to drive in snow!
Anyway, I did manage to get some cleaning done but spent a lot of the day on the puter. What did I do before the puter? I did a lot more puzzles, and probably had a cleaner house. :-)
I also recleaned the driveway as all the wind we've had caused quite a bit of drifting.
Dinner was simple turkey burgers with sauteed mushrooms and light swiss cheese and our Monday sitcoms for our viewing pleasure.
Such an exciting life we have. :-)

It's toooo c-o-l-d!

Good morning from a frigid Lansing.
It's currently 12 outside. brrrrrrrrrrrrrr! This has been one cold month!
But at least we didn't get the nearly 20 inches of snow Minnesota got. We ended up with about 6 inches. Here's some pics I took out the window in the afternoon...

I did go out around 4 when the snow let up to snow blow (I know, it really should be snow throw) the driveway. I'll have to do it again today, but will be easier with less snow.

I also ordered some cologne from FragranceNet.com. I wear Obsession and it's $47.19, where it's $65 at Macy's. And if you sign up for their e-mail offers, you can get 15% off that, or free shipping. That's a pretty good deal!

I spent the rest of the day reading blogs and playing on the puter.

Craig made his delicious turkey rice casserole for dinner. It hit the spot!
Maybe today I'll be more motivated to do some cleaning. We'll see. :-)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon. I also did a couple of maintenance issues.
I was fortunate that the winter storm that was due to hit the area, came later than predicted. I awoke to no snow, just a light rain. Temps hovering at 34.
But by the time I finished cleaning the Salon, it had turned to snow.
I stopped at Meijer's for a couple of things for dinner, picked up the paper, and carefully made it home on very slick roads. The temps are forecast to drop throughout the day with snow accumulation of 3-6 inches.
Here's a couple pics I took after I got home...

Front yard looking out over the golf course across the street, and back yard. Standing inside looking out, it is pretty. We'll stay home the rest of the day doing our usual Sunday routine. Craig doing bookwork and laundry, I being mostly a slug playing on the puter. :-)

The work week ended up very busy with a lot of phone calls on Friday and Saturday. Next week is looking to be quite busy also.

And thanks for all the comments and e-mails about the Salon decorations. It's a bit of work and it's nice to know it's appreciated.

Now it's time for my shower. :-)

The Salon at Christmas

Good morning.
The weather outside is frightful....wait, isn't that a song?
Anyway, the weather is cold, it's snowing, freezing rain predicted, and quite a mess.
Soooo, in the spirit of the season, I give you some holiday pics of our Salon.

The ceiling isn't black. There are no ceiling tiles, just the grid work. Everything above was painted black. It gives the small Salon a more spacious feel, and helps to dissipate the odors better.

It's been a rather slow week in the salon. Not sure why, but we'll probably be swamped next week. Sometimes it just goes like that.

But today is booked solid, and tomorrow is looking good too. Some of it will depend on the weather.

Not much more to say.

Have a great weekend!

When you own a business, your never off.

Good morning from a frigid Lansing.
Yesterday's high was all of 26. Too damn cold for this time of year. And the wind was nasty! But I managed with my new warm coat. :-)
Craig was awoken early, around 8am, by a phone call from the Salon. One of our stylists arrived at work to find a van parked near-by with it's motor running and no signs of anybody. Of course, our Salon opens before any of the other business in our mall, so there was no one else around.
She decided to investigate. (was that stupid?) She saw someone sleeping with a blanket. It creeped her out a bit to the point of calling me to see what she should do. She said she's seen that van a few different times, though not every day. I told her he was probably harmless, but if she was uncomfortable with him being there when she arrives to park in front of the Salon instead of in back like we usually do. And she could also call the police to have him checked out. After talking with me she decided he was probably okay, and she'd just park in front.
So we showered and stopped at the salon to find the van still there after over an hour. I told the staff if it was still there later, to call the police and have it checked out. Just sitting there running that long is kind of odd, and it can eat up the gas. I never got a call later, so he must have left.
Anyway, then it was off to Menard's to get an expandable ice scraper for the Kia they had on sale, and some light bulbs for above the kitchen sink. Then over to Meijer's for the weeks groceries.
Back home we pretty much took it easy. I did a little cleaning, but spent most of my time on the puter, reading blogs, and playing games. Craig did more book work. I don't know how he keeps up with all that stuff!
Then, Craig tried a new dish for dinner, Kung Pao Chicken.

It was really good! And easy! And of course, you can get the recipe over here. And of course, we watched the last season episode of Glee.
So another weekend over in a flash! And my weekend is 3 days! I don't know how you people that work 5 days do it! :-)

You look really good in the dark

Good evening.
Surprise! I'm doing an evening post!
Today has been cold and cloudy. A high of only 27. Yuk!
I got Craig up around 9, and we went to the Salon to drop off checks and make a list of stuff we needed at Sam's Club. Went to the bank, Post office, then out to Sam's. Picked up coffee and Windex for the Salon. Then to Meijers for more grocery supplies.
Back at home, Craig did more paper work and laundry, while I did almost nothing. :-)
I did put the faucet protectors on the out side faucets and closed off the water to the out side faucets. But most of the day I spent playing on the puter. :-)
And here's a pic of me modeling my new jacket. Garret got on my case for just posting a pic of the jacket. He doesn't realize it's like twisting arms to get Craig to take a pic. But I managed.
This coat is sooo warm! And damn! I look really good in this pic! And it's daylight!
And the reason for that comment is when we were at the cocktail party last Friday night, Craig at one point turned to me and said, "you look really good in the dark"..............................................
Okay, he hadn't had much to drink since he was the designator driver, but WTF!
I said "is it because you can't see all the wrinkles"? he said "No! That's not what I meant"!
I said sure.........ya right...............
It's a good thing we've been together all these years, because I know he meant I look really good with the bar lighting.
But don't we all? :-)
Anyway, the rest of the day was pretty low key.
Dinner was ham steaks, mashed potatoes and marinated broiled zucchini.
It was another good day.
And now I'm ....very ....very....tired.....bedtime......

another weekend for me!

Good morning.
Saturday ended very busy at work, and after we got home, it was time to relax.
We decided on home made nachos for dinner. I was stuffed!
Sunday morning, I cleaned the salon as usual, and after Craig got up, we went out to Kohl's. I needed a pair of pants for work. And since I'm on their e-mail list, I had a coupon for an additional 15% off everything, so I decided to look at winter coats also.
I found myself this little gem.

A hooded faux leather jacket. Regularly $140, on sale for $79. Take an additional 15% off and I paid $67.15. A pretty good price!
Now if you've ever shopped at Kohl's you know to never buy anything there at regular prices. I mean, they have everything on sale at some point. And there's no way that coat was worth 140 bucks. But is it nice and warm!
Anyway, back home, Craig did his usual laundry and bookwork, and I did a little dusting and cleaning. And I mean a little. Just couldn't get motivated. Winter weather has gripped us tight, and I'm just not accepting that well. Maybe I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), maybe I should get one of those lights. :-)

So anyway, the day went by quickly, (don't days off always fly by?) and it was dinner time. We fixed those wonderful spicy sweet pork cutlets with roasted garlic basil potatoes and marinated asparagus. It was very yummy and we made enough for leftovers later in the work week. And, our Michigan State Spartans will be playing on New Years Day in Orlando at the Capitol One Bowl. They'll be playing against Alabama, whose head coach, Nick Sabin, was States coach some years back. He dumped State for more money and LSU. Then dumped LSU for the pros. Didn't do well there and now back in college sports at Alabama where he's paid a ridiculous amount of money. They did win the national championship last year, but have 3 loses this year. It should be a great game!

And that's all I got!

An evening out

Good morning.
Yesterday afternoon, after work, we went downtown to the Harem lounge.

Yep! All they have on the front of the building, is a large h.

We were invited to a cocktail party being thrown by a customers law firm. Had a great time! Met some interesting people, had some good appetizers and tasty drinks.

On the way there, I snapped a few holiday pics.
A traffic circle intersecting the road to the capitol and the main shopping street.

They put lights on the roof lines of all the buildings. Looks very festive at night.

And the state Christmas tree that sits in front of the capitol. I don't know who actually decorates it, but i think it look horrible!
They just wrapped rows and rows of lights around it. Didn't even try to stagger them. And with led lights, from a distance, all you see is blue and red. I'm not sure I like led's on trees.

Sorry all these pics were from the car. It was way to cold for me to be out walking around any more than I needed to. :-)

Anyway, it was a fun evening. We don't get out much anymore. :-)

And now I gotta go and get ready for my last day at the Salon this week.

Yep! Snow.

Good morning from a c-o-l-d Lansing, MI.
This pic was taken Wednesday morning as I was leaving for work.

Winter seems to have settled here for good. The long term forecast is for a high around 30 with the lows around 20 and scattered flurries off and on.
Looks like John and Derek left the mid-west just in time. Although they left the bitter cold, they'll be dealing with cool relentless rain, as while their winters aren't as cold, they do get a lot of precipitation.
The last two days at the Salon have been fairly busy, and today and tomorrow look to be the same.
This evening we have a cocktail party to attend. One of our customers belongs to a local law firm that has an early evening cocktail party at a place called Harem. It's described as an urban Lounge. It's very big city like. Free food and drinks! Should be fun.

It's December, YUK!

Good morning and a happy December 1st.
And in celebration of it being December, we have are first miserable measurable snow fall. It's just a dusting, but it's enough to cover the ground. The forecast is calling for about an inch. Yuk! I'm never ready for it.

Anyway, yesterday we did finally find a vacuum. It wasn't easy. Nearly all of them have these stiff hard bristles on the beater bar. But we finally found one at Walmart that will work. It called Dynamite by Dirt Devil.
It has nice soft bristles and the handle collapses so it'll fit under the counter in the back room. And it's bagless. I love that!
Back at home, I didn't do much. I decorated our little Christmas tree, and cleaned the bathroom. It was cloudy and drizzly, so no outside work.
I also ordered more suckers.
We have are dish on the front counter at the Salon that we keep filled with Saf-t-pops. They have looped handles instead of straight so kids don't poke their eyes out. We also get the ones with a fruit/vanilla swirl. They're the most popular. And they don't sell them around here, we can only buy them from the company, Spangler Candy.
I swear, more men take the suckers than kids. :-)
Then Craig tried a new recipe for dinner, Salisbury Steak. I got it out of our Cooking Light Magazine. It was really good! I love trying easy new recipes! I forgot to take a pic, but the recipe is over here.
And of course, I watched Glee!
And now it's time for another work week.