still cold out :-(

Good morning. Yesterday was very productive. It was sunny and reached a high of 41. Not warm, but bundled up made it warm enough to get out. :-) With the mo-ho in the driveway, I spread Spectracide on the gravel parking area. Craig then watered it in good. Then we moved the mo-ho back on the gravel. We're hoping that will prevent the sweet ant problem we had last spring. I also cut down more of last years perennials, and trimmed back the clematis vines and several bushes. We have daffodils getting close to blooming and hyacinths and tulips starting to come up. Then Craig helped me wash and chamois the Kia and Honda. For dinner, Craig made a pan full of fried potatoes with onions, sausage, and mushrooms, with cauliflower on the side. It was very good. And from the long range forecast, we look like we'll be below normal temps until the middle of next week. :-( But even low 40's is better than 20's. :-) And today, it's back to work. Looks to be a steady week depending on how many phone calls we get.

It's finally gone

Good morning.

We appear to be headed back toward normal temps by the end of the week, and the long term forecast looks like spring will arrive here in Mid Michigan soon. :-)

I forgot to mention in my last post, that we finally got rid of our old satellite dish.

As you can see in this older pic, it sat in the back yard in the back of a large flower bed that runs next to the pond. We had it installed way back in 1989. Back then, there was no cable available, and the small dishes weren't around yet. That sucker was 10ft across. But we loved it! What was especially nice, was the ability to subscribe to just the individual channels we wanted. If we wanted just espn, we could order just that. And we'd get the subscription for just 6 months for football and basketball, so we didn't have to pay for the entire year.

But with the proliferation of cable and the small dish, the big dish market quickly shrank. Soon, providers started pulling programing off the big dish and we lost most of the channels we liked. About 5 years ago, we discontinued service, and the dish has sat there, unused, since then.

Anyway, I've got a customer whose husband collects scrap metal, usually from construction sites, and takes it to a place that recycles metal for extra cash. I told him he could have the dish, if he wanted to take it apart. It was gone by the time I got home from work Saturday.

Sunday, we managed to get the mo-ho out of it's winter parking place and out into the driveway. I'm happy to report that the furnace is working properly, and the hydraulic jacks are functioning good, and the slides and automatic steps are working. As soon as it gets a bit warmer, I'll un-winterize it and make sure the water pump and water heater are working. Our first weekend trip is coming up in a few weeks. :-)

On Monday, with the weather still bitter cold, we decided to use a couple of gift cards we received for Christmas. We used one for lunch at a place called Dusty's Tap Room. I had a ham and green olive pizza, (very tasty!) and Craig had a Chicago hot dog. The we used another gift card for the NCG Cinema and saw Battle: Los Angeles

The storyline was just okay, but the special effects and Aaron Eckhart made it very enjoyable. :-)

And after lunch and movie food, we didn't feel like a big dinner, so with the evenings programing, it was snack time, and we had wings! The first ones in months! They were very good! :-)

Oh, and Sunday, blogger wouldn't let me do paragraphs, and today, I get huge gaps between them. :-\

my late post. :-)

Good morning. ....barely :-) I got busy and forgot to do a post. Cleaned the salon as usual this morning. Did a bit more than I normally do, so it took longer. I also busted a mop, so I'll need to get a new one. :-) Work ended on a very busy note. I had an extremely busy Saturday, and didn't get home until after 4pm. Craig made pizza, and we watched some of season 2 of Spartacus. It's currently a whopping 28 out. Going for a high of only 32. They say we won't be getting back to normal (upper 40's) temps until the end of the week. :-( Soooo, it's inside stuff today. I'm cleaning out my dresser drawers. I have a crap load of things I don't wear any more and need to thin out. I also have a growing pile of stuff in the living room destined for my late spring yard sale. It feels good getting rid of 'stuff' we don't use or need. I think I'll work on the hall closet next. . I also want to back the mo-ho out of it's parking spot, into the driveway, and start checking all the mechanical stuff such as the jacks, slides, and furnace and such, to make sure everything is still working after the long winter. And that's all I got for now... ps....it appears blogger won't let me publish with paragraphs, so everting is just running together. :-\

a letter from the IRS

Good morning.

It's currently 18 out, with a forecast high of a whopping 32. :-\

We're in for a bitter cold, but sunny weekend. From the long range forecast, it appears this will be winter's last breath. I surely hope so.

The salon has been a bit slow this week. I'm done early today, but have a full day tomorrow.

Craig was in a bit of a tissy yesterday. One of our stylists called to

say she got a letter from the IRS stating the amount she claimed in 2009, did not match the amount Craig sent in.

Craig has to give each stylist a 1099 form stating what we paid them. And we also mail a copy to the IRS. Since they're all independent contractors, the only thing we pay them is when they have a customer that pays with a charge card. All the charges go into the Salon's account and we reimburse the stylists, minus a small fee for processing. Did you know, when ever you use a charge card, the business has to pay a company a fee to process them?

So anyway, at the end of the year, Craig gives them a 1099 stating what we paid them that year. For this particular stylist, it was $2301.75. The IRS is claiming Craig sent in a form stating we paid her $8301.75. Obviously, she's upset. If you look at the part of the form I copied, you can see Craig made a very loopy 2. So it's most likely a clerical error. So when Craig got home, he went and found the copies, and called our accountant to find out what we needed to do. He was very surprised the IRS didn't catch the obvious mistake, so he told Craig to write a short statement, and attach another copy, and give it to the stylist to mail in with her response that it must be an error on their part.

I then told Craig he needed to work on his 2's to make them look less loopy. He was not amused.

no early spring here

Good morning.
It's currently 33 out with light rain. It's rained all night. We're at the day's forecast high, with the temps expected to slowly drop during the day to a low tonight in the teens. So I may find some interesting traveling conditions when I go to work this morning, as the rain turns to freezing rain, then sleet and snow.
Yesterday, even though is was a cloudy dreary day outside, I managed to be productive, with a bunch of cleaning. The bathroom, the kitchen, and I finally got a can of air and cleaned the inside of Craig's puter.
And of course, I played on the puter. Craig and I even played a couple of games of Family Feud, where his 'family' beat mine badly. He's always been much better at fast thinking than me. :-) And I don't know where they get the people they 'poll' for the answers. Some of the answers are a real stretch. :-\
We also talked about getting the mo-ho out of 'storage'next weekend, and making sure everything is still in working order, like the jacks, slides, furnace, etc. That's helping us get through this late winter crap. Thinking of our upcoming first trip. :-)
And the Salon looks pretty busy so far this week. We'll see if we get any cancellations due to the weather.
And Craig wasn't in the mood for fixing any fancy dinner, so it was a souped up hamburger helper. Which tasted just fine. :-)

road trip

Good morning.
The picture says it all. We're under a winter storm warning for the next couple of days. Rain, freezing rain, and snow. We should be in the upper 40's, and we'll only be in the mid 30's. Yuk!
So you southern bloogers, keep sending me your spring pics to help me through. :-)
Spring will eventually come to Michigan....it will.
Yesterday wasn't as nice as forecast. No sun, and windy, but we had planned to go to Muskegon to see my Mom, so the weather didn't really matter.
Had a nice visit. Cut her hair, took her to lunch at Applebee's where she had boneless chicken wings, Craig had a quesadilla, and I had a ribblet platter. Good food! Then to the 'club' for drinks and pull-tabs. No luck with pull-tabs this time. But it was good to see her, and we got there and back safely.
So today will be our usual Monday stuff. Banking, shopping, and back home before the weather turns bad this afternoon.

I'm a slacker

Good morning.
Sorry no Sunday post yesterday. I didn't do nothing yesterday! Except of course, clean the Salon. But the rest of the day, I was a slacker. I planned on going out side to work in the yard, but it was cold, (low 40's) and windy. So I pretty much sat in front of the puter all day. Played games, downloaded more games, and read blogs. How many do I read? About a dozen. And for the people that don't do blogs, I follow on facebook. And 'gasp' for those that don't blog or do facebook, I e-mail. Which seems awfully slow. :-) I wonder, does anyone still do snail mail?
And it looks like we're in for some winter like weather this week. :-( Forecast highs of only mid 30's. Yuk! It's hard to believe it's full blown spring in a lot of places like Alabama, Charlotte, NC, and even Portland, OR. It's just not fair! Okay, I done with the pity party, let's move on....
For dinner, Craig made a tasty corned beef in a slow cooker. It was really good! Not to mention cooking 8 hours in a slow cooker makes the house smell good. :-)
So today is our last 'warm' day for a while, ( a high of 50 is forecast) so I plan top get out and enjoy it!

a taste of spring

Good morning.
We've had wonderful, spring like weather this week. Temps in the mid 50's, and one day in the mid 60's. The snow is all gone! :-) We took advantage of that and worked in the yard. I raked gravel out of the grass by the street, and Craig picked up branches. I also cut down some more stuff I didn't get to in the fall. We even got out a couple of chairs and had cocktails on the deck. It felt so good to be outside in'warm' weather again. :-)
But as always in Michigan, we'll pay for the warmer than normal temps. After this weekend of normal temps, (mid 40's) Next week is suppose to be colder than normal. :-(
But, we got a taste of what lies ahead.
And we've got one more busy day in the Salon, and then another weekend. :-)
And with blood tests out of the way, tonight is home made taco's!
Have a great weekend!

spring is in the air

Good morning.
First off, the pic of our barbecued pineapple chicken from Tuesday.

It was as good as it looks! And sooo simple. Broil the chicken for 20-25 minutes and baste with barbecue sauce the last 15, turning frequently. Then top with pineapple slice and broil another 5 minutes. Drizzle Catalina dressing over the top. We cooked 4 breasts so we'll have leftovers tonight. :-)
So Wednesday at the salon was fairly busy. And almost all the snow is gone. :-) Just some piles left as the temps are getting around 50. I've noticed a lot of singing/chirping birds, and I've even seen the tips of daffodils coming up behind the house.
I have a busy early day today, starting at 7:45, and I've marked off time in the middle to go get my blood drawn for my upcoming physical. Which means no breakfast or morning snacks. :-(
I think I'll survive. :-)
And I'm pretty much booked Friday and Saturday, so it's looking to be another good week.
So time for my shower and to get going!

total destruction, replay

Okay. Apparently, the video I had in my previous post was from a TV station in Japan, and thus copyrighted and banned from you tube. Sooooo, I downloaded it, changed the name, and used blogger to post it. You should be able to see it now. :-)

It was quite amazing to see the water rushing into the city and watch everything wash away. I can't imagine what it must have been like for those people watching it all on the hill.

In other news, I've been a total slug today, no cleaning bug in sight! I did manage to sort all of the change we save over the year. I rolled them up and they'll be deposited in our mo-ho gas account. :-)

I also spread spectracide around the foundation of the house. It kills all bugs and helps keep the house bug free. :-)

And, we're trying a new dish for dinner, barbecued pinapple chicken. We'll have it with asparagus and wild rice.

And back to work tomorrow!

a busy day

Good morning.
First off, Garret, the video works fine for me, so I don't know what happened with you. :-
And it was a beautiful almost spring like day. Sunny and mild with temps reaching 40.

After replacing the deadbolt on the entry door, all of a sudden, we realized the door handle looked nasty. So we decided to replace that too. Funny how you don't notice obvious stuff sometimes. :-)

But now they're both shiny and new.

And here's a pic of the yard. We still have snow on the ground, but it is slowly melting away. I expect by the weekend, it'll be all gone. I just hope it stays gone. :-)

And I got into another cleaning frenzy yesterday. I cleaned the laundry room and cleaned out the storage cubboards in there too. Threw out a bunch of junk.
It sure feels good to have things all nice and neat and clean. Too bad I don't do it more often. :-)
I also scrubbed walls in the TV room. One wall is textured and upon closer inspection, it was filthy! Apparently there's a lot of things I don't notice. :-)

We usually watch TV in this room instead of the living room because it has a large patio door with lot's of light and views of the yard.

And after all that cleaning, I relaxed and played on the puter untill dinner. Craig made a tasty spaghetti. Instead of a meat sauce or meatballs, he cut up some vegi-burger sausages. It was good. Remember, I've got blood tests coming up for my annual physical, and I'm trying to eat good. :-)

total destruction

Good morning,

I wanted to share this incredible video, taken by someone, as a town in Japan is consumed by the tsunami. You see the sea slowly filling the street, and then carrying away everything!
And back in Lansing.....
We had a nice quiet day at home. All of a sudden, (after watching that video) the snow outside doesn't seem so bad.
I replaced the door lock, and got into a cleaning frenzy. I scrubbed the toaster oven, the microwave oven, cleaned and dusted shelves, and cleaned all the windows and wall pictures. It's amazing how dirty glass can get.
Craig fixed an easy dinner of ham steaks, mashed potatos and gravy and butternut squash.
A nice, no natural disaster, kind of day. :-)

worn out lock

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon.
Well, it's another weekend, and we still have snow on the ground. But it is slowly going away. I can see large swaths of grass. And the temps mid week are to get near 50, so maybe it'll all be gone by next weekend. :-)
We came home from work yesterday, relaxed with cocktails, and I played on the puter while Craig started dinner. We had home made pizza. It was very good!
One of our projects for today, is replacing our entry door lock. Last Thursday, as I was leaving for work, I couldn't un-lock the dead bolt on the door. It was very hard to turn. But eventually, with some work, I got it open. Then it wouldn't lock. But working with it, I finally got it to lock. We didn't want to keep messing with it, so the rest of the week, we've used the garage door to come and go.
Now we have 3 doors to the house and they all have the same key. I sent Craig to Lowes to see if they could re-key a lock with our key so we'd only have to replace the one and not all 3.

Well, they now have a lock called
Kwikset Polished Brass Residential Double-Cylinder Deadbolt.
On the box it says.....
Polished Brass Residential Double-Cylinder Deadbolt
Kwikset Signature Series Product Featuring SmartKey® Re-key Technology.
Re-key the lock yourself in seconds in 3 easy steps.
Patented side locking bar technology offers improved security by protecting against lock bumping, an attack technique used to defeat conventional pin & tumbler locks.

So they re-keyed it for him and today I'll replace the bad one with this one.
I love technological advances!

Before, we would have had to replace all 3 to get the same key.

So, I've changed all the clocks, cleaned the salon, had a piece of leftover pizza for breakfast, and now it's time for my shower.

short post

Good morning.
Well, we still have snow on the ground, but with our daily temps hovering around 40, and the night temps in the 20's, the snow is s-l-o-wly going away, and with none in the forecast. :-)
It's been a steady week in the Salon with the phone ringing quite a bit. I'm completely booked today and Saturday. :-)
Also this week, I scheduled my annual physical, and Craig scheduled his Colonoscopy. Fun times huh?
So with blood tests coming up, I'm trying to be real good at what I eat. :-)
That means no wings for a while. :-(
But just wait until after the tests. :-)
And now, time to get ready for 2 more busy days at work.

patience

Good morning.
Yesterday turned out to be very productive. I got bitten by the cleaning bug good. :-)
I vacumed, dusted, washed the kitchen cuboards, and srubbed the kitchen floor. You'd think as nice as it looks when it's clean, I'd do it more often. :-) But I don't.....
And, we still have snow on the ground. It's suppose to rain today with a high near 40. That should get rid of most of it. But then, as it gets colder tonight and tomorrow, it's suppose to turn back to snow. :-(
I know, patience. The temps have actually been close to normal for this time of year, but I was hoping for an early spring.......
Other then cleaning, I played on the puter.
Craig made a tasty dish for dinner. He cut up a couple of chicken breasts and pan fried them with shredded cabbage. It was kind of like chicken helper, but with cabbage instead of noodles or rice. Very tasty!
And now it's back to work. The week is looking so-so. We'll see how the phones ring this week. :-)

calculating

Good morning.
Well, no road trip yesterday, but we did get out of the house. :-)
My brother Bruce and his friend Tammy, were on their way back from Ann Arbor to Grand Rapids and stopped in Lansing for lunch and a little visit. We went to Bennigans, had a late lunch and a nice chat. It was good to see him and catch up. I don't see my brothers very often. None of us seem to make much of an effort. Must be a guy thing. :-)
Back at home I played on the puter. I calculated the miles of all our trips we have planned so far. With gas on a steady rise, I wanted to get a clue on how much the trips might cost us. I estimated 7mpg for the mo-ho,(we usually get between 6.5 and 8, depending on wind and terrain) and $4.00 a gal for gas. Which might be on the low side after reading this morning news. :-(
But anyway, right now, we've got enough in our gas fund to cover our 9 trips plus a little extra so far. :-) That was good news for Craig. A lot of our trips aren't too far from Lansing. And right now, our farthest trip is to the KOA near Union, Illinois. About 280 miles.
Then for dinner, Craig made those tasty spicy sweet pork cutlets with broiled asparagus.
And with the temps this week near forty and rain predicted, I'm hoping the snow finally goes away.

long winter

Good morning.
Both Craig and I were in a sour mood yesterday. This long winter has really gotten to us. :-( It's only 12 out this morning and still nearly a foot of snow on the ground.
So today, we're going on a little road trip. Just to get out of the house and do something different.
We need a break in our boring winter routine. :-)
I did manage to clean the bathroom yesterday from top to bottom, while Craig did his usual laundry and bookwork.
And, we've been sorting through stuff to get rid of. I decided that since I'm not having a plant sale this year, I'll have a yard sale. We've accumulated stuff we don't use or need, and they're not worth enough to bother with E-bay.
And for dinner, Craig made his tasty Cabbage Roll Casserole, and we watched a few more episodes of Hot in Cleveland.
Now, it's time for my shower and to wake up lazy bones. :-)

nothin

Good morning.
Thursday was very busy, Friday was busy but shorter, and Saturday was shorter still. But it was nice to end the week on an easy note. :-)
After a couple of mild days with light rain, we're back to below freezing and more snow. :-(
Not much else to tell. We came home, relaxed, ate, watched TV, and played puter games. Very boring. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, I'll be able to finally get out and work in the yard.
So that's it for now. I'm off to clean the Salon....

our camping schedule so far.

Good morning.
Not a whole lot of news to share, but work yesterday was nice and steady, and today is booked solid from 8:30 right through 6pm. The day should go by quickly. :-)
Tuesday, we finalized our trip to northern Illinois. We will be camping with our friends from Wisconsin, Tom and Dean, at the Chicago Northwest KOA. Right now that will be the farthest trip we'll take this year. And with the gas prices where they are, the rest will probably be much closer to home.
Right now we have 10 weekend trips booked, with the destinations being,
Holland State park,
Young State Park,
Ludington State Park,
Indiana Dunes State Park,
Maumee Bay State Park,
Fort Custer Recreation area,
Chicago Northwest KOA,
Hoffmaster State Park,
back to Indiana Dunes State Park,
and Elkhart, IN KOA.
So we have a nice selection of destinations so far.
Also on Tuesday, I finished our last puzzle.

It is now March, no more puzzles. I need the snow to melt and to get a little warmer so I can get out side. I'm starting to get withdrawals being cooped up inside all winter. This weekend isn't looking good, but maybe next weekend. :-)

And now, time to get ready for work.

tax time

Good morning.
To catch you up, Sunday was a lay low sort of day. No cleaning bugs biting. :-)
I mainly played on the puter, read blogs, and worked on the puzzle. We still have snow on the ground, even though it's gotten above freezing for the last 2 days. It hasn't gotten warm enough, long enough, to get rid of the snow. And for a bit of trivia.....
They say we broke a record here in Lansing. The snowiest February on record. Whoopee....
But it is March now, so it should start looking up. :-)
Monday, after we went to the bank and P.O. and store, Craig started on our taxes. He broke open the new Turbo Tax software, and got to work. With-in an hour, he was a frustrated mess. This years version wasn't like last years. He couldn't find where to put our deduction for our medical premiums. That's Craig. He expects things to go in an orderly fashion, and if they don't, all hell breaks out. He finally gave up, had me print out the forms he needed from the IRS website, filled them in manually, and then had me fill in the individual forms on line and print them out.
I tried to get him to do e-file, but after he read all the requirements of some of the different sites participating, he decided it wouldn't be worth his time. Our taxes are a bit complicated, and most of the sites claimed they might not have all the forms we'd need. So Craig said it would be easier and quicker to just do it himself.
But to Craig's credit, we are getting a nice chunk of change back. :-) With the new stylists that started last year, he wasn't sure how much that would affect our income, so he made sure our estimated taxes were way over. He'd rather have a larger refund, then any chance of paying. :-)
And if we'd gotten that through out the year, it probably would have been spent. Now it will go right into savings.
And in other news.....
Craig's last turkey on Sunday, turned out delicious as usual, and we had leftovers on Monday. We'll also have another round of leftovers for Thursday.
And my fence patching appears to have worked. No rabbit tracks in the yard. :-)
And that's all I got for now....