my last post

Good morning.
The work week ended fairly busy, and we had a relaxing Saturday afternoon.
Had veggie burgers Saturday, and Craig fixed a nice pork roast on Sunday. I checked the water levels in the mo-ho house batteries, and ran the generator.  Also picked up branches in the yard, and now that we have a constant snow cover, set rabbit traps in the back yard. Today is actually suppose to get above freezing, so I plan to check the perimeter of the yard, to find where the rabbit/s are getting in.
Today, being New Years Eve, we are having our annual New Years Eve pig out. We'll go to the store today, and get some delicious, terrible for you, goodies, that we'll graze on the entire afternoon/evening, while we watch movies and TV shows that I've downloaded from the internet and burned to DVDs.
And that's it for my last post of 2012.
Happy New Year everyone!

mid week post for me

Good morning.
Another crisp 18 out this morning going all the way up to 29.
We had our first substantial snowfall Wednesday night. Just about 2 inches. Fortunately, the big storm stayed just a little south of us. Work has been a bit slow this week as is typical for between Christmas and New Years. I do have a fairly busy day today and tomorrow.
I went in early on Wednesday and took down the tree. The rest of the decorations I'll leave up through New Years.
My left eye is finally starting to return to normal after 2 weeks of staying dilated. They told me that since I used the dilating drops for 2 weeks, it'd take a while. I'm glad  right now that Lansing is so overcast and cloudy for most of the winter, as the few sunny days we've had have been murder.  :-)
We are going to try and eat sensibly this weekend, as I've been very bad the last 2 weeks. Normally when customers bring in treats, I'm pretty good at restraining myself. Not this year, I've devoured every thing that came through the door. And we still have our pig-out New Years Eve coming up. But, once it's all over, I'm pretty good at getting back to watching the calories. We'll see.  :-)
And with that, time for work.
Have a great weekend!

a post christmas post.

Good morning.
Another Christmas over, and another nice day.  :-)
 As is our tradition on Christmas, Craig fixed a turkey with White castle Stuffing, and as usual, it was delish!

Yes, I ate that whole leg and thigh.   :-)

Craig tried a new potato dish. A recipe he saw in a magazine. It added chopped onions and celery when boiling the taters. After mashing, he stirred in 2% shredded swiss cheese, put it in a casserole dish, topped with paprika and baked it. We both decided it was good, but not great. So too much work for just good. He won't make that again.  :-)

It's a little fuzzy as I had to sneak a quick shot. You know how he hates his pic taken.   ;-)
We spent the rest of the afternoon watching movies.
And this morning, I just finished installing a new modem.  Lately, the old modem hasn't been turning on easily. I'd turn it on, and the light would be dim, and then go out.  I'd have to do that numerous times before it would stay lit. I called tech support, and they decided to send me a new one. I left the old one on until I could swap it.
They had me swap all the cables and cords also. I have to mail the old one back this morning so I don't get charged.  :-)
Now, time to get ready for another work week.

Merry Christmas

Good morning and a Merry Christmas!

It is currently 17 out, and with some light snow yesterday afternoon, and during the night, we are having a white Christmas.  :-)
Sunday, we went to Muskegon to spend the day with my Mom and my brother Brian and his wife Ruth. After cutting Mom's hair, taking out her trash, and getting her shopping list in order, we met Brian and Ruth at Logan's Roadhouse. Everyone had a steak which was very good. After, we headed over to the VFW for drinks, talk and a few pull-tabs. It was a nice visit. On the way back to Mom's apartment, we stopped to get her some groceries. Got her settled in, said our goodbyes, and made it back to Lansing.
Monday, we worked a short day in the Salon, and as a holiday treat, bought a frozen pizza for dinner.  :-)
Spent the afternoon on the puter, searching campgrounds for the upcoming season.
We had wanted to go to Indiana Dunes State Park for Memorial day weekend, but even though it's not even January, I discovered the entire campground is already booked.  :-(
I didn't realize, Memorial Day is less than 6 months away, and popular campgrounds book up very early.
So, we went through our appointment books, decided what weekends we could take, and marked out 11 for this year. And since our first trip will be less than 5 months away, I booked 3 of them. We so far have 2 new campgrounds we are going to, Hocking Hills State Park in south-eastern Ohio, and will soon book a weekend at Starved Rock State Park in north-central Illinois. This year, I've convinced Craig to take an extra day off on some of our weekends, so we can go a little farther away.  :-)
And today, it will be a nice quiet day at home before we go back to work tomorrow.
Merry Christmas everyone!

it's the weekend!

Good morning.
Sorry for missing my Friday post, but it was a very busy work week. And now it's done.  :-)
It's been cold, windy and snowy. We have just a good coating of snow on the ground, so should have a white Christmas.  :-)
With just one more week to go, it looks to have been a very good year for the Salon. Anxious to see the final figures, once Craig tallies the totals.
A quick update on my back....
The aching muscle has finally healed, although my back continues to ache some in the morning. The visits to the chiro has been helping, but with the holidays, his schedule, and my schedule I've only been able to see him once each week. Hopefully after the holidays, with a better schedule, I'll get 2-3 visits a week.
Anyway, that's pretty much all I've got to say right now.
Have a Merry Christmas!

important stats

Good morning.
I don't know why, but as I was going to do a post, I decided to check out some of the tabs on Blogger Dashboard, and clicked on the stats tab. then there were sub-tabs showing all kinds of info about my blog.

Besides telling me were my readers are from, It even tells me what browser my readers are using, and what operating system they're using..

I don't know why I need to know all this info, but it must be important, right?  :-)
Any who, I found it mildly interesting.
And it gave me something to post about, since I didn't have much else to say.   :-)
Yesterday, besides going in to the Salon for that one customer, I didn't do much else. I cooked up a couple of pork cutlets and some squash and a noodle dish for a late night meal on Thursday, since we didn't make anything this past weekend with leftovers.
And that was about it.
Now, time for another very busy work week.

What's the chance of that

Good morning.
Yesterday, since my eye appointment wasn't until 10:50, we did our usual running. Bank, P.O. Salon supplies and a few groceries. Got home in time to drop things off, and over to the eye doctor I went.  I arrived at 10:40, and  I knew I was in for a wait, when the parking lot was packed, and the waiting room that holds about 40 people was packed. I ended up waiting until nearly 12:30 to be seen. Ugh! I hate waiting! But it wasn't the doctors fault. There were 3 emergencies he had to take care of that morning. If they end up running that far behind, I wonder how they get any lunch time.
But anyway, my exam was good, and he wants one more check in about 6 weeks. I made that for 7:50 am. He shouldn't be behind that early in the day.  :-)
And even though I don't send out many Christmas cards, I've gotten quite a few so far. He's two I received...

Strikingly similar. The only difference is the size, font, and one has glitter. One came from Muskegon, MI, and the other from Louisiana. What's the chance of 2 people buying the almost same card? And what's the chance of getting the same card from different people? Not much I bet.
After I got home, we had a nice lunch of Sauerkraut Soup. I have a customer that brings this in for me every year for Christmas, and it's delish! She uses smoked ribs for the meat along with carrots, onions and sauerkraut in a rich broth. I'll be happy to send anyone the recipe.
And this morning, I have to go into the Salon. It's normally my day off, but I have a customer who's husband passed away over the weekend, and she needs her hair done for the visitation later today, and the funeral tomorrow. It will only take about an hour of my morning.
And with that, time to get going.

Good morning

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon. I know, today's Monday, not Sunday. But yesterday morning I awoke with terrible gas and let's just say it wasn't pretty. After worshiping at the toilet, I felt exhausted. When Craig got up, he wasn't much better. Figured it had to be the homemade nachos we had Saturday night. But he washed the green onions, thoroughly cooked the beef, so it had to be some other ingredient. After checking labels on the sour cream, bag of cheese, he discovered the taco shell had a use by date of last Sept. Now we had just bought the shells a few weeks ago. But like I told Craig, we got them at Kroger, and they are notorious for leaving outdated products on their shelves. I had discovered that with refrigerated items, and several times have brought it to an employees attention. Obviously they would rather sell the stuff than throw it out.  I had never thought to check taco shells. I will from now on.  :-\
So anyway, nothing much was accomplished yesterday, I took it easy sipping chicken noodle soup, and an occasional nap.
I'm feeling back to normal today. I'm at another plateau with my back. The magnesium doesn't seem to be improving my situation. Some days, I feel better, some worst. But I'll give it more time.
I have an appointment with Lansing Ophthalmology this morning, and I hope to get a clean bill of health. I'll be happy to stop the dilate drops. The few sunny days we've had have been murder. One morning, I had to wear them in the dark to work, as the headlights and taillights were too bright. Fortunately, yesterday, and today are cloudy, drizzly, and rainy.
Well, that's it for now.....

a pretty poinsettia

God morning.
As expected, it's been a very busy week in the Salon. I worked 11 hours yesterday, and am working later than normal today and tomorrow.
Here's a pic of a pretty poinsettia we picked up earlier this week for the house....

I liked the whit streaking on the 'flowers' and the deep green 'leaves'.
We get 'traditional' poinsettias for the Salon, but like to get something a little different at home. And no, I'll never get a blue, purple or any other 'weird' color poinsettia. I do want it to look real.  :-)
Anyway, not much else going on, so have a great weekend, and I've got to get ready for work.

Back to work post

Good morning.
Another weekend over, and a busy week ahead at work. With just 2 weeks before Christmas, it'll be very busy.
Craig finally got the ringtone for his phone he wanted. He went to Tracfone's website, and was able to get it there for a fee of 15 minutes. Since he has over 5000, he had plenty to spare.  :-)
And what ringtone would it be that he spent so much time pursuing?
Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. If you don't know it, go to YouTube, and do a search.
I got the cleaning bug yesterday, and went all out on the bathroom. I didn't stop with the toilet, tub, shower and floor, I went through the cabinets, under the sink, I did it all! Now if it would just stay like that.   :-)
And with what Craig thought was to be a very boring Chicken dinner, we went online and ordered pizza and wings. I know, we were bad.  }:-)
And ordering online is way to easy. A few clicks, and it was on it's way. Hope it doesn't become a bad habit.  :-)
So overall, a low key weekend, and now, back to work.

Links restored

Good morning.
Thanks to a dreary, cloudy, cold wet day yesterday, I got around to replacing the links in my side bar, "all about me".
I'm using Photobucket for the links now, and I like their new "stories" style albums.
Anyway, with that done, I also tried and tried to get a ringtone from my puter to Craig's cell phone. I did manage to e-mail his phone, but the attachment wouldn't show.  Then I went to Myxer, to see if I could download from there. I tried, but Myxer said it was unable to connect to that phone. Basically, his phone is too old.  :-)

It is a Motorola 377g. Started selling in June of 2008.
He says he's keeping it. Doesn't need a new one. It works just fine. Just wished he could get a different ring tone.
Now my phone is an LG800. It's a touch phone. Way newer than Craig's, but old compared to current technology. It was first produced in June of 2011.

With the bigger screen, I can surf the internet when we're on our RV trips. It's still a Tracfone, so it's still costing me less than $10 a month.
Some day I'll get a smart phone, but right now, don't see a need for one.  :-)
I'll probably upgrade if/when Tracfone comes out with one.
So, with that, time to enjoy my last day off.
Oh, at my chiro appointment yesterday morning, he agreed I should up my Magnesium, so I'll do that and see if my back does better. I'll let you know.  :-)

Does this look,like a Christmas Tree?

Good morning.
Every year, the state put up a Christmas tree in front of the capitol.

The lighting of the tree happens the Friday before Thanksgiving, during a festival called Silver Bells in the City where they light the tree and shoot off fireworks above the capitol. Quite a pretty sight.

The last 2 years, they've put on led lights which basically gives the tree a blue glow, unlike the old lights which looked more multicolored.
This year, even though marijuana is illegal in Michigan, I think the people that put the lights on the tree were smoking it big time.
here's what they did.....

You should have heard the crowd groan when the switch was turned on and the tree glowed.

I don't know about you, but it looks like something from Dr Seuss who-ville.
They said they were trying something different this year, and it didn't turn out as good as they had hoped, and they would go back to a more traditional look next year.
Anyway, thankfully I don't go downtown much, so I won't have to look at it.
Yesterday was snowy/rainy, so I didn't do much. Mostly played on the puter. Craig did make a delish meatloaf for dinner.
This morning, I'm off to the chiro. Later.

another weekend

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon. It is a crisp 33 out and only going to reach 37. We had a little snow yesterday, but that has melted.
It was a very busy the last 2 days, as I had to work in the customers I had cancelled on Thursday.
I seemed to have reached another plateau with my back. It's no where as bad as it was, but I'm still a little stiff and achy in the morning. Maybe I just need more time, or maybe I need to up the magnesium. I'll ask the chiro Monday morning. Of course, thanks to my eye thingy last week, I haven't seen the chiro since Tuesday.
Also my sister noticed that the links in my sidebar, all about me, are dead. I checked, and sure enough, Webshots has changed their entire site, and I no longer have the ability to arrange my pics in linkable albums.
At least, all my pics are still there. All 745 of them. Which would have been no big deal had they got deleted. I have all the pics that I take also saved to disks.  So now, I know what I'm doing this weekend. Gravitating them over to Photobucket, and relinking them to my blog. I have managed to relink the Building of the pond, and My Motorhome albums. I'll work on the rest this weekend.
And with that, time to get going.

Eye and back update

Good morning.
Well, what a week it has been! And it's only Friday!
Okay, eye update......
As in my previous post, my injury occurred on Tuesday. Wednesday afternoon, at work, I started experiencing flashes of light around the edge of my eyesight. I though maybe it was from using drops to keep my eye dilated that was causing them. They seemed to come and go through the late afternoon/evening. On the way home, I had another series of them, and again the next morning. Checking online, I read that they could be symptoms of retina detachment that the doctor had told me to watch for. When I got to work, they seemed to subside, but I decided to call the doctors office, and see if I should do anything. I gave the nurse the description, area of sight and timeline and she said she'd relay the info to the doctor and get back with me. I was working on customers for a couple of hours when she called back. My doctor wasn't in that day, but the medical staff felt I should be seen, and they had an appointment with a retina specialist for 12:45. I had enough time to do another customer then called and cancelled the next several ones and headed to the doctor's office. I cancelled appointments up until 3pm. Figured I'd be back by then. Upon further examination, it was discovered some vitreous gel had pulled away from the lining, causing a small tear. Check the link for a better explanation. Good news, is it hadn't detached yet. He decided the best course of action was to laser it to seal it in place so it could heal properly. And he was able to do it then. It was already 2:15 by that stage, so I called work so they could cancel a few more appointments. The doctor said 30 minutes after the laser, I could drive.
He did his thing, I awaited for the vision to return to normal, and headed back to work and was able to finish the day.
I now have a 2 week appointment for a follow up visit. There's a 1 in 20 chance it may still detach so I'm under orders to not do any jogging, weight lifting or any type of activity that could jar or shake my head. Guess I get to be a slug for a couple of weeks.  :-)
And now, the back update.....
I've been going to the chiro for almost 3 weeks now, and have still been waking up with a tight stiff sore back. The chiro on Monday said after 2 weeks, my spine should be staying in place. He though it was the muscle now causing the problems. It's the same muscle I had a spasm in way back when this whole thing started, and the same muscle I pulled a week before physical therapy. My chiro said he thought that the muscle wasn't healing, and so every night it's tensing all up and pulling on my spine. He suggested I try Magnesium supplements. He said magnesium is vital to muscle health, and although most people get enough in their diets, with all the problems I've had with that muscle, I may have depleted my bodies store and may now be deficient. So I went out, got a bottle, and would you believe, the last 2 nights I awoke in the morning with a greatly reduced stiffness and soreness.
So although it was originally a spine issue, it became a muscle issue also. So although the physical therapy greatly helped the muscle issue, it didn't solve my problem because of  the spine issue. Now that the spine is right, I can now get the muscle right. I have to hand it to the chiro for suggesting the magnesium. And even though there is magnesium in almost every food, I discovered I was not eating any of the foods high in magnesium.
Okay, I've rambled on long enough. Time for work, and it's going to be a very busy last 2 days, thanks to having to move people from yesterday.
Have a great weekend!

I was blinded, but now I see

Good morning.
And good it is, because I can see!
Let me tell you the story.
You know how just one little thing can change everything? Well, yesterday, that happened.
I awoke at my usual 5 am. Did my moist heat for my back and checked the puter for the latest news and e-mails. Around 6am, My back felt good enough that I thought I should do my exercises.
If you remember a ways back, after I finished with my physical therapy, I bought some of the stretchy bands that they used, so I could use them at home.
Now these pics are to show you what the bands look like, not the actual exercises I was doing.

The bands come on big rolls and in different colors, depending on the resistance. I used the blue at physical therapy, so I bought 16 ft which, when cut,  would give me 4 individual bands.
Since my therapy concentrated on my back, the exercises all involved pulling the bands at different angles. One had me reach up and grab 2 that were tied to a high bar, and pull down and out. I hadn't got a hook in the wall at home yet, so I used the Top edge of the door. I put the band over the door, stood in front of the edge, and would pull down and out. Yesterday morning, I apparently wasn't paying attention to my form, and instead pulled out and down. As I did, the band slid off the top of the door, and WHACKED me in the face! I fell to the floor in intense pain. Moments later, when I stood up and opened my eyes, the vision in my left eye was gone! All I could see was like thick fog. I ran to the bathroom to find my eye was still there. I must have injured it somehow with the snapping force of the band. I could see with my right eye, but not my left. I went and got a towel and ice and laid on the couch with my eyes closed. I remembered that after my Lasik surgery, my eyes were very foggy, which they said was normal and by that evening, they had cleared up, so I was hoping it would be the same for this. They say eyes heal very fast. I laid there until nearly 8:30, when it was time to get Craig up. I was felling a bit more optimistic at that point, as I could now see some shapes with the left eye. Now it was more like a medium fog instead of a heavy fog. Craig was concerned, and decided I needed to see someone. I rested my eyes, while he showered, dressed, and made himself some coffee. By the time we were ready to go, my eyesight was slowly improving. I could see shapes and some colors now, and they were getting a little more recognizable. I agreed I should be checked out just in case. Don't want to mess around with your eyes. We went to an urgent care center, where they gave me a thorough checkup. They said I had a corneal laceration, and said I needed to see an ophthalmologist and referred me to Lansing Ophthalmology. By the time I left the urgent care center at 11:15, My eye sight was improving rapidly. I could now see everything, although it was like looking through sheer curtains. I decided to go anyway, just to be sure.
I arrived, got signed in, and taken to a room where I was more thoroughly checked. As the doctor peered into my eye, he was rambling off terms and words I didn't recognize to the assistant to write on my chart.
I did recognize corneal abrasion, which he mentioned a number of times as he looked at different areas of the eye, and subconjunctival hemorrhage. He set me home with 2 prescriptions for drops, and an appointment for Friday. His concern now is for possibly developing a detached retina which can happen from this type of trauma.  He said to watch for reduced peripheral vision, and an increase in floaters. By time I got home, I felt as I was seeing almost normal again.
As of this morning, I think I'm okay so far. My vision seems back to normal, though my eyes ache and my left eye's cornea is red from the hemorrhage.
The band hit me across the face at an angle, from my upper right eye, across  my lower left eye. Despite what I went through yesterday, I think I'm very lucky at this point that it wasn't worst.
And with that, time to get ready for another work week. It's looking busy, and I'm happy to be able to see to do it.  :-)

a tasty day

Good morning.
Despite the mild temps yesterday, there was no outside activities, due to the rain all day, so I did some cleaning, and Craig, besides his paperwork and laundry, made a big batch of chili.

Ummmmm. Doesn't that look tasty?
Craig doesn't like kidney beans, so he uses pinto beans. Besides making enough for a couple dinners, we freeze the rest in pint containers for snacking. We'll heat a couple up and have them with chips. Chips and chili dip.  :-)
I spent most of the afternoon, reading  some blogs, and playing games.
Our crock-pot dinner was also delish!

Yummy tender pork with onions, mushrooms, carrots and potatoes. Enough for leftovers too!
And later that evening, while watching some pre-taped sitcoms, we had to try out the chili also...

It was yummy! I know, way more food than we needed, but sometimes you just have too.  :-)
We did get our shopping done at Kohl's yesterday. I got 3 pairs of pants and 2 shirts. Craig got some new shoes, a shirt and a pair of pants. They didn't have the shoes on sale that I wanted, so I'll wait. We never buy anything at Kohl's regular price. Everything goes on sale at some point. With what we bought we supposedly saved $277 over the original price. But even at the sale price, with my 25% coupon, we saved $48.
And I've got another Chiro appointment this morning While Craig gets his beauty rest, so gotta go!

It's shopping time

Good morning.
Not only have I just returned from cleaning the Salon, I've put together a slow cooker of pork roast, potatoes, carrots, onions, and mushrooms. I love using the slow cooker. Smells great all day long.  :-)
As expected, it was a very busy week. Got out late yesterday, came home, and just vegged.
This morning, I'm getting Craig up early, so we can go to Kohl's. I need some work slacks, and Craig needs new work shoes. I'm also going to check out watches and shirts. They e-mailed me a coupon for 25 % off everything, so that should help.  :-)
The weather is very mild, 51 out this morning, but it's raining and is expected to continue through tomorrow. But that's okay, all my outside work is done.
 The parts came in for the dryer, and he's scheduled to return on Tuesday for the install.
My back continues to improve, though very slowly. My last adjustment was Thursday, as he doesn't work Fri-Sun. I'm looking forward to Monday.  :-)
And with that, time to get going.

Maybe this is it?

Good morning.
As was expected, it's been a very busy week in the Salon. Should look that way right through the holidays.
I'm happy to report, the Chiropractor I'm going to seems to be doing what I finally need. My spine was so out of whack, that although the physical therapy was strengthening my back, the spine was fighting it. That's why I hit a plateau and didn't get any better.  The physical therapy wasn't working on the initial cause of my pain. The Chiro said my spine was out of alignment so long, it was very hard to get it back where it belongs. The first few sessions just about killed me with him working hard to put it back. But the last session, it went back fairly easy. Even though I've only had 5 chiro sessions, I'm noticing an improvement with sleeping and morning stiffness. He thinks in another week or so, it should start staying where it belongs, and I'll be able to start spreading out visits.  I expect as I continue chiro treatments and my exercises, I should be back to normal soon.  :-)
Other than that, not much to say. We're in for another warmer than normal weekend, as temps are forecast to rise to near 60. That will be nice.  :-)
And now, time for work.

weekend done, and little done

Good morning.
Our weekend is over, and not a lot accomplished.  :-)
I did manage to do some cleaning.
Our clothes dryer has been making a squealing noise off and on for some time, so we thought we should get it taken care of. I went online and figured it was the belt. I thought I could probably do that myself, and found a YouTube video of the replacement. Good lord! After watching the video and finding out I'd need to take nearly the entire dryer apart, I changed my mind and decided it would be much easier to let a trained professional deal with it. I called Monday afternoon, and set up a Tuesday noon appointment. He arrived, and determined it was the pulley, which I assume is the same as a belt. Unfortunately, They had to order the parts, which should arrive today. But since I've got a very busy week in the Salon, I'll have to set up the job for next Monday.  He did say we could continue to use it, it would just make noise. He was impressed that we've had it for 10 years and no issues, but then again, it is a Maytag Neptune, and cost a small fortune back when we bought it.
We did manage to make big enough meals on the weekend to have leftovers this week. Monday, we had Craig's Tortilla Lasagna, recipe here, and Tuesday, it was Onion Apricot Pork Cutlets, a new recipe you can see here.
And I've got a Chiro appointment before work, so gotta go!

it's begining to look a lot like Christmas

Good morning.
 We ended up staying inside yesterday, so we tried to be productive.
Craig made a batch of broth.

He boiled the carcass from our Thanksgiving turkey, and added in several freezer bags of vegetable trimmings he had saved over the last few months. Doesn't it look all rich and tasty?

And we saw our resident possum. He's been hanging around the yard since he was a tiny little fella. We only see him on cloudy dreary days like yesterday, since they are suppose to be nocturnal.
I also got out some Christmas decorations.....

Spent the rest of the afternoon, reading blogs and playing on the puter.
This morning, I have a Chiro appointment, so I better get going.   :-)

brrr

Good morning.
Well, actually, I wouldn't say good after looking out the window this morning....

Just enough snow to make the driving dicey. Good thing we got the snow tires on the cars. I needed them when I went to clean the Salon this morning.
Our high is only going to be in the upper 30's for the next few days, so I'm glad I finished up the outside work on Thanksgiving.
I've finished up with my physical therapy, and now I'm on home maintenance. My back still isn't quite right, but it's a lot better than it was. I feel I still have a spine issue, and physical therapy focused mostly on the back muscles. So I'm going to add some chiro appointments with my home maintenance. I'll let you know how it goes.   :-)
And that's about all I got for now.

Twas a Happy Thanksgiving

Good morning.
Happy Black Friday!
Though it's kinda a moot point now sense so many stores are opening on Thursday afternoon.  :-\
When i left the Salon yesterday morning, around 7:30 am, I noticed at the Best Buy across the street from our mall, there were 4 tents set up by the entrance.  Can you imagine spending all Thanksgiving, camped out, waiting for the midnight opening?
Anyway, we had a nice quiet day. The turkey turned out great as usual. Here we had just taken it out of the oven and pulled the stuffing bag out.

You can see the legs separating from the body. Craig likes to cook it until the meat is ready to fall off the bones.  :-)

We had so much we had to put the scalloped corn in a separate bowl.

And of course, yummy leftovers.  :-)
We'll have another turkey dinner this evening, and then I'll take the rest of the meat off the carcass and freeze it for later use. I'll freeze the carcass too, and after our 2nd turkey, boil them both down for some great broth.
And now it's time to get ready for work. I have a normal day scheduled for today. Tomorrow is looking a little slow which is typical after Thanksgiving. People are busy with family or shopping.  :-)

Happy turkey day

Good afternoon, and a Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday ended very busy. Was happy I had Thursday off.  :-)
I went into the Salon early today to decorate it for Christmas. I refuse to put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. While doing so, I discovered a section of lights were out on a long garland we hang on a wall.

You can see it here in this previously dated pic. It's in the upper left. I worked on it but could not get it to come back on. So I ran over to Meijer's, (yes, they were open on Thanksgiving) and could not find any lights similar. So I thought I'd just not put them up this year.
Went back to the salon and continued decorating.
When I put up the front garland over the door, there was a section out in that too.

So I took out a working section from the back garland, and fixed the front one.
After getting all that done, I decided I didn't like the back wall so empty, so back over to Meijer's where I got what I think are lights that will work. I brought all that home as I was running out of time to get the turkey in the oven.
Got home, took my shower, woke up Craig, and preceded to get preparations for the turkey.
First, I needed to make a cheese clothe bag for the stuffing.

There's nothing worse that taking the turkey out and having to scrap the stuffing out. These cheese cloth bags take care of that.
You stick the bag into the cavity of the turkey, and fill it with stuffing. When the turkey's done, you just pull out the bag!

The cheese cloth comes just the right width, rolled up lengthwise. it's 4 layers thick, just right for stuffing.

Just cut off the length you need, sew up the bottom and side, and it's ready to use. I did 2 since we'll need another one for Christmas.
I then cut up celery and onions.
Once Craig had the turkey ready, I mixed the croutons with the celery and onions and helped him 'stuff' the turkey.

And here's our turkey, stuffed, seasoned, and ready for the oven.   :-)
It's a 13 lb turkey, and Craig will over cook it about 6 hours where it will be moist, tender, and falling off the bone.   :-)
 And while that has been cooking, I went out in the yard and finished cutting the last few thing down. It's a beautiful 61 out right now. It's going to drop into the 30's for tomorrow, but I'll enjoy it while we have it.  ;-)
 Okay, turkey's smelling good, and I need to help Craig with the sides.  :-)

I don't like drama

Good morning,
Just a quick post before I dash off to the Salon.
I'm going in super early today because drama has emerged.
Yesterday, all of a sudden, 2 stylists seem to be 'missing' supplies. And with no proof, they think they know who. Now Craig and I got rid of our old salon because there was too much drama. We figured it was because they were all employees and our staff was nearly 3 times as large. Apparently, we were wrong. Drama can happen at any time, any where. Soooo, I'm going in to add locks to a couple of supply cabinets, to hopefully put an end to this bit of drama. When we opened our Salon 15 years ago, the 6 supply cabinets we put in do have locks, even though no one has ever used them. Now, since we have 8 stylists, we have 2 more cabinets without locks. So with them locking up their supplies, I'm hoping this will end the issue. I'm somehow, not so sure. But I can hope.  :-)
So, after dealing with all that yesterday, back home I spent the afternoon, cleaning, and organizing the other half of the garage. We have a 2 car garage, but there's a wall that goes down the center of it making it effectively two, 1 car garages. I cleaned up 'my' side Monday, and yesterday was Craig's side. His side was more work because that side is next to the house and so it collects all the 'stuff', since we don't have a basement. But I managed to get everything organized and cleaned up and now he has a place to park this winter.
And with that, I gotta go.

another busy day

Good morning.
As hoped, yesterday was a nice day. Not sunny as forecast, (how unusual the forecast was wrong!) but mild with a high near 60. Our normal high should be 45.
So, I took full advantage of it.
First, I put snow tires on the Kia and Hyundai. 

When Craig bought the tires, he had them mounted on their own wheels, then it's just a simple swap.

And this is why we put snow tires on these cars.
The top one is for snow, the bottom one is the original low resistance one. Worthless in the snow.

And here's a snow tire about to be put on his Hyundai.
After those were done, I checked and adjusted the air pressure in each.
Then it was on to the downspouts. When I blew the leaves off the roof with my nice new powerful blower, I also was able to blow the leaves and debris out of the gutters.
So I just needed to get the hose out and flush out the debris from the downspouts.
After that, I changed the oil in the push mower, hung the bikes up in the garage, and put away the gas grill.
I also cut down a few more things in the yard. Today is also suppose to be nice and if it is, I'll be back out finishing up the last few things.
 We are ready for Michigan's long winter.
I also placed an online order for salon supplies, that should be delivered today. I really like the convenience of online shopping.  :-)

A day with Mom.

Good morning.
Yesterday was beautiful. Sunny, mild and near 60,but I didn't do a think outside. Why? I went to Muskegon to see my Mom.  :-)
We arrived around 9:30, and I helped her with a few things around her apartment. She had e-mailed my sister and brother that they reduced her Social Security by $100 but didn't know why. They asked me to get to the bottom of it if I could. Mom gave me the letter she received, and I figured out the reason.

She used to get help from a program that helped low income seniors with their medicare payment. And she certainly is low income. All she has is her SS payments and the help she gets from her kids. My parents never were very good at financial stuff, and with 6 kids, barely got by.

Anyway, our republican governor, and republican legislators decided that businesses were paying to many taxes and voted to reduce them. Well, the revenue had to come from somewhere, so one of the things they did was end the assistance program. So she isn't getting less, she just now has to pay for her medicare.

So once I got that figured out, we left for lunch at Applebee's. I had a hot roast beef sandwich with bacon and mushrooms that was delish, and Mom had the house sirloin and Craig had a cheeseburger and onion rings. Then it was over to the VFW for drinks and pull-tabs, which didn't go to good.  :-)

On the way back to her apartment, we stopped to get her some groceries. After putting her groceries away, getting her settled in with a Klondike bar, we headed back to Lansing, arriving safely.

On the way home, we stopped at a rest area. The Michigan dept. of Transportation runs the highway rest stops. This is the tiled floor in the entryway.

I like how they tiled the state in the floor.
And this morning, I have another 7am appointment with the physical therapist. I seem to be stuck in a no progress pattern. No worse, but not progressing either. I think it's time for another talk.
So time to go.

another busy weekend

Good morning.
We're looking to have another mild weekend.  :-)
 I got out of work early yesterday, as we had scheduled the guy to come out and put in the fresh air thingy.

He arrived, and in an hour was done. It's that funny tube thing back against the wall. It goes through the ceiling and out the roof. It has a lever that we can open and close to adjust how much air we want coming into the house. It seems stupid to have spent all these years insulating, caulking, and weather stripping the house just so we can do this. But apparently this has become common on newer homes that are built more energy efficient. With the dryer blowing all that air outside, it has to come from somewhere, right? At least I can control when and how much air comes in.  :-)
And with him done and gone, I spent the rest of the beautiful afternoon outside.
I finished clearing out the parking area for the mo-ho, and Craig and I maneuvered him into his spot.

You can see it's a pretty snug fit between the house and the maple tree next to the fence.
I also changed the oil in the riding lawn mower now the mowing season is done.
I think the leaves are down about a week earlier than usual.
Friday after work, I did our shopping for the weekend and picked up our 4th turkey. I know, your saying 4 turkeys? That's right, 4. This time of year they are sooo cheap and I love turkey! We were able to get them for between .49 to .55 a lb. You can't get any meat that cheap! And they're not big, just 10lbs. up to 13lbs.
We'll have one for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, one in early Feb. and one in mid March. And as you've seen on Craig's blog, we use all the leftovers too!
And now, since I've already cleaned the Salon this morning, time for my shower and to get going for another weekend!  :-)

my mid week post.

Good morning.
The Salon has been steady. It's been a nice week so far and today and tomorrow are looking about the same. The weather has warmed a bit with the forecast of mid 50's this weekend. If that holds, I'll be able to finish with the outside chores.
The mall parking lot sure has looked dead this week with no big box store pulling traffic in. Jo-Ann Fabrics moved out Nov. 9th. It's no big deal to our business, as our staff all have a clientele and we didn't get many walk-ins as it were. But the mall looks even more empty now. At least our side of the mall looks pretty good as 5 of the 9 businesses are on our side. :-)
The 2 on the other side are Edward Jones, and a tailor, neither of which get many customers during the day.
And I forgot to mention, last weekend the turkeys went on sale, and so far, we've picked up 3 of them. The cheapest was .49 a lb. I plan on getting 1 more. There's just enough room for that in our little chest freezer. With he price of meat continuing to go up, turkey right now is a great buy.  :-)
Anyway, not much else going on, and I've got another 7am physical therapy appointment, so gotta go!
Have a great weekend!

the weekend review

Good morning.
Well, that gorgeous Sunday gave way to a cold rainy Monday.
I went in for my physical therapy appointment at 7am. At 9am, the service guy came over for the fresh air install. Because of the rain, he didn't want to do the roof part, so finished the inside stuff and scheduled the roof for Tuesday morning as it was suppose to be sunny. Little did he know you can almost never trust the weather man. Tuesday, I awoke to find this.....

And we also had a coating of snow on the roof, so he had to reschedule again. So we're shooting for Friday afternoon. We'll see.  :-)
Craig also took this Hyundai in for an oil change, to replace a light bulb in the fog light, and have the odometer verified for his rebate. He would have changed the bulb himself except you had to do it from behind which would have meant crawling under the car, removing a plate before you could get to the light fixture. Turned out, it was under warranty, so no extra cost to him.  :-)
And this dealer unlike any we've been to before, washes the car, and puts a carnation on the dash.

Wasn't that sweet!  :-)

And since it only got up to 38, I spent some time preparing the meals for our 2 late nights.

I cooked up a couple of pork cutlets, and a couple of chicken breasts. One paired with broccoli and butternut squash, and the other with cauliflower and squash.
And if you think steamed broccoli and cauliflower are boring, try spray butter and grated Parmesan cheese. Yummy!
So when we get home late on Wed. and Thur. just pop one in the micro and we'll have a nice tasty dinner.
And I have another physical therapy appointment this morning at 7am, so it's time for me to get going.
The back does seem to be slowly getting better. It sure is taking longer than I expected.
But then, I've been told that when you get older, everything takes longer. This getting old crap is really getting old.  :-)