I'm a productive de-clutterer

Good afternoon.
It's been a productive couple of days.
I've filled 3 more garbage bags of stuff.  :-)
I even got Craig in the de-cluttering mood.  :-)
You just don't realize all the stuff that accumulates over time. Craig even found a box of floppy disks. None of our puters even have one any more.
In other news.....
We took Craig's Honda in for an inspection. The battery just isn't holding a charge. It's either a bad battery, a bad alternator, or a power drain. Still waiting for the mechanic to check it out and call.
And here's some pics I took yesterday that I'm sure you'll enjoy........

Yep! More snow. We got another 3 inches of it. It finally tapered off in the afternoon, and I was able to get out and clear the driveway. Believe it or not, it's suppose to get to 47 tomorrow.  :-\ Crazy weather.
Tomorrow morning I'm going in to the doctor. I've got this lump thingy on my eye lid that won't go away. I thought it was a sty, but warm compresses aren't doing anything about it and I've had it now for around 3 months. It's gotten large enough that customers are commenting on it. So, even though I don't have insurance to cover office visits, I decided not to wait for my April physical, and get it checked out.
I'll let you know the results.
And I'm typing this as Craig is starting dinner. We're having Mushroom Lasagna. That delicious  dish we tried a few weeks back. Can't wait!

not much

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon. Again.  :-)
Sorry for my lack of posts, there really hasn't been much to write about. Work ended up fairly busy this week. Nothing out of the ordinary to report.
We've had a dusting of snow every day now. Not enough to shovel, but enough to make the roads messy.
I stopped at the store on the way home from the Salon and picked up a few things to go with dinner today, so we won't have to go back out until tomorrow. We're having out 3rd turkey today. It'll be nice smelling it cooking all day.  :-)
Today, I'll probably do some more de-cluttering. I've discovered a couple of other areas that need a good thinning.
And that's all I've got!

A different bug bit me

Good morning.
Our mild winter continues, as we should stay in the low 30's all week.  :-)
I got in a de-clutter mood yesterday. Don't know where that came from, but I just started to go from shelve to shelve, drawer to drawer. I threw out a mess of old magazines, old catalogs, papers and such. Filled up 2 trash bags full. It's amazing how stuff tends to accumulate over time. It felt good to 'lighten up' on stuff.  :-)
In other news.....
Craig always orders his checks from our credit union. I've tried to get him to order them somewhere else to save money, but he's been brainwashed into thinking they only will accept their checks. Well..... They finally raised the charges enough for him to say he's had it, and went online to find another check source. After some hunting, he settled on Walmart of all places. They had the easiest website to use, and were half the cost of what he'd been paying at the credit union. They came yesterday, and look just like the one's he'd been getting from the credit union. I wanted to say I told you so, but I was nice.  :-)   For a change.  :-)
I also placed an online order for suckers. That's right, you heard me, suckers. Saf-t-pops  to be specific.

We have a bowl of them on the front counter in the Salon. They were originally meant to be given to kids.  But I swear, more adults take them than kids. Men especially.  :-\  And every one seems to agree, these are the best! They come in cherry, strawberry, orange and blueberry. Each with a vanilla swirl through them. I have to order them direct from the factory. Spangler Candies. We use to order by the case because of the price, but it takes nearly a year to go through 1000 suckers, and the wrappers tended to stick more as they got older, so now I order a few bags of 120 at a time, so they stay 'fresher'.  :-)
And with that, it's now time for another work week. Later!

our exciting life....

Good morning.
We've had some crazy weather the past few days. Saturday, there was snow on the ground. Sunday was cold and windy. Woke up Monday morning to very unusual thunderstorms, rain, and a temp of 45. By the afternoon, all the snow was gone.  :-) At least for now.
This morning, back to 31.
Didn't do much on Sunday. I spent a good part surfing the net. Booked another weekend RV trip. Craig made a really tender/tasty beef pot roast with carrots, onions, and mushrooms. Cooked it in one of those oven bags. Yummy!
Didn't do much on Monday either.. Our usual running around. Craig did make a big batch of chilli, and it was delish! Had plenty left over to freeze.  :-)
I did some light cleaning, but spent a good part of the day playing on the puter.I did start up the mo-ho,and let it run a while to make sure the battery stays charged up. it has a small solar panel on the roof that's suppose to trickle charge it, but who knows how well that works. Anyway, it did start right up after sitting since late November.
And that's the extent of our exciting weekend so far. Today looks to be another exciting lazy day. :-)

not much

Good morning. I've just returned from my usual Sunday morning ritual. That's right, cleaning the Salon. It was a mess!
Any who, not much to report. The work week ended busily, and we had a nice relaxing afternoon/evening where we had chicken cordon bleu for dinner, and watched a Hot in Cleveland marathon.
Today, Craig's making a pot roast for dinner, doing his usual laundry and bookwork, while I'll be surfing the net in search of more camping destinations to fill up our camping schedule.
And that's about it.....

brrr

Good morning.
And a cold one at that! It's currently 2 out this morning, going for a high of only 18. brrrrr!!!
Wednesday and Thursday were fairly slow at the Salon, but I'm booked today and tomorrow.
We've had just a dusting of snow the last few days, but it's looking like we''l get up to 4 inches buy tomorrow. We'll see.
Not much else to say. Time to get ready for work..

Crabby Craig.

Good morning.
Sorry for the late post, but I went into the Salon to do a quick clean of the floors. The mall uses so much salt on the sidewalks, our floors get white spots all over. Not that I'm complaining. Don't want customers slipping and falling.  :-)
We had another dusting of snow last night, and the temps are back in the teens to twenties.
Craig made a new tasty dish for dinner. He called it a variation of Shepard's pie. He used diced boneless chicken breasts, a bag of frozen mixed veggies,and sauteed onions and mushrooms. Mixed them together, put them in a casserole dish, mixed up 1 1/2 cups fat free milk, 3 eggs, 1 cup Bisquick, and poured it over the veggies. Cooked at 400 for 40 minutes. It was very good!  :-)
Craig has been in a foul mood of late. Since winter settled in and he's all done with end of year stuff, he's just been crabby. I think it's probably that seasonal disorder thing. I should talk him into getting one of those lights. Or a new car. I think a light would be cheaper.  :-)
Now time for work. it's looking slow this week. we'll see how the phone rings.

11 trips this year

Good morning.
Craig and I sat down yesterday, and put together this years RV schedule. We were able to come up with 11 weekends we can take off from work. That's down slightly from the past few years, but still a nice number.
So I spent the bulk of the day yesterday, surfing the net, trying to match dates with destinations. So far we've booked 4 weekends, and have 5 other weekends set with destinations. That leaves just 2 weekends to go.  I can't book all of them yet, as state parks only allow bookings up to 6 months in advance, and that's where we stay most of the time.
After putting together our RV schedule, Craig did his usual bookwork, laundry, and dinner, which was turkey rice casserole, with broccoli on the side.
This morning, I've just completed my work-out set. I know, I said Monday was my lazy day, but I'm feeling good, losing some weight, and wanted to kick it up a notch. Besides, you've got to work out when you feel like it, for the feeling can pass quickly sometimes.  :-)
Now time to hit the shower.

another Sunday post

Good morning.
The work week ended with us getting out early on Saturday.  :-)
Got home and I fixed us beef and cheddar wraps for a late lunch. Spent the rest of the afternoon discussing possibly getting Craig a new Car. His PT Cruiser is 9 years old, and not looking it's best. He's had his sights on the Fiat 500. I think it looks like a girly car, but that's just my opinion.  :-)

The North American international Car Show just started in Detroit, so maybe we'll go there and check some cars out.
Craig made us a tasty pizza for dinner, and we watched the New England Patriots cream the Denver Bronco's. (that's football for you non sport fans  :-) )
And, this is the time of year, we start thinking about the summer's RV trips. We brought our appointment books home, and today, we'll go through and decide what weekends we can take off this year. Actually, yesterday, I booked to dates already that we knew we would be off. So, we now have something to look forward to that will help us get through the rest of the winter. And yes, the winter is here to stay. we've had a dusting of snow every day for the last few, and it was 17 out this morning when I went in to clean the Salon.  brrrrrr
Now shower time and wake up Craig.   :-)

you don't know what you're missin

The pretty white snow clinging to everything. The crisp, refreshing, bone chilling temps. The slushy, slippery, drive to work. Seemingly endless weeks of it.
I just know you're all jealous of me. You are. You can say your not, but you really are!

Okay, so maybe not so much.
It took me 3 times as long to get to work this morning. There were cars backed up from a stop light way past my house, nearly 1/2 mile up the road. As usual, there was an accident. A side road connects to my road just before a train overpass. The over pass is always bad after a snowfall. People come around the corner to fast, lose control, and BAM! another accident. It took 10 minutes to just get past that. But I made it to work on time. The day was fairly busy, but short. Left at 1pm and did our weekend grocery shopping. Tonight it's spaghetti. Tomorrow, home made pizza. I got home and re-cleaned the driveway. Then took these stunning photos.
And I hear Craig  coming in the door, so it must be nearly cocktail hour.  :-)
Enjoy the pics.   :-P

it's b a c k

Good morning.
Yep! Winter is back! Woke up to about 3 inches on the ground, and it's still coming down. I cleared the driveway, and brushed off Craig's car. I'll probably need to clear the driveway again when I get back from work.
And speaking of work, the Salon has been nice and steady this week. Craig's had enough breaks to finish up his year end book work, so he's in a happy place right now.  :-)
We had a decent year. Business income was up slightly from the previous year. And we were able to stay on top of maintenance issues and was even able to afford to upgrade some of the furnishings.
We're also doing good on our 'diet' so far, with today another veggie meal, Spaghetti and salad. To make the meal more satisfying, we're adding diced Morning Star Farms Grillers ( they're a soy based meat substitute) to the sauce as a substitute for meatballs. I think the grillers taste most closely to real meat.  :-)
So we're trying to eat 2 meatless meals a week, which isn't too had because we really like the Morning Star farms meatless selections. A little expensive, but we stock up when they're on sale.
I've also been doing good with my 3 day a week weights routine. We'll see how it holds up.  :-)
Now time to get ready for work.
Have a great weekend!

We found a keeper

Good morning.
Another weekend over, but it was a nice weekend. We kept the mild temps around 40.  :-) This has been one of the mildest winters we've had in a while. And that's fine with me!  :-)   We've only had that one big dump in November where we had enough snow for me to clear the driveway. Any other snow we've had, has been just a dusting. That may change by Friday, as a system is coming through that might drop a few inches. We'll see.

Craig spent most of the weekend on the Business's books. He's got most everything done he needed to do. He's a happy camper.  :-)
I stayed out of his way, and cleaned, vacuumed, and made a batch of turkey broth from the carcases of the first 2 turkeys we had.

I also placed an online order for Salon supplies and ran the generator on the mo-ho, and checked the water level in the house batteries.
We also tried a couple of new dishes. Monday, I had Craig try a dish called veggie noodle bake. It had a lot of veggies, some penne pasta, and assorted cheeses. Craig like the cheesy flavor, but was overall, unimpressed with the dish. Not a keeper. Tuesday, he tried another dish, Mushroom Lasagna. It was a hit! Here's a happy Craig fixing the dish....

Yes, at this point he'd had a couple of cocktails to make him more camera friendly.  :-)

It was a bit more work than Craig likes to put into a meal, but he liked it sooo much, he said it's a keeper.  :-)  And we even had enough for leftovers!
And today, it's back to work. It's looking fairly busy this week.

Sunday post.

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the salon.....again..... :-)
We've been having great weather for Michigan.  :-) No snow, mid 30's to upper 30's, and even some sun!  :-) It's been a very mild winter. So far.....
Both Craig and I had a short Saturday, so after work, we went downtown to the Lansing City Market.

They tore down the old one a few years ago so a developer could have river frontage for a new project he wants to build, and built this smaller new one next to it. I was against giving public owned river front property to a private developer, but I don't live in the city, so I had no say.
Anyway, we'd been there just once after it opened, and wasn't impressed. They had just 2 produce vendors, a bunch of bread and pastry vendors, and a bunch of what looked like craft vendors. But being a beautiful Saturday afternoon, we thought we'd give it another try. They have 2 tiny parking lots and nary a spot open, but we did find one. Went inside, it was fairly busy, but we still were unimpressed with the selection. Sooo, we headed back to our side of town, and to Horrocks.
Horrocks started out as a small produce market, and over the years has grown into a unique store offering a huge variety of produce, cheeses, meats, deli items, wine, etc. I had gotten a gift certificate for them, and was dying to spend it.  :-)
They were of course very busy for a Saturday afternoon, but I had no problem amassing $50 worth of goodies.  
Back home, while I played on the puter, Craig diced green onions, lettuce and tomatoes, for taco's for dinner. After dinner, I made up a batch of oven fried zucchini sticks.

They hit the spot! We didn't have any marinara sauce for dipping, so we tried lite creamy Caesar dressing. They were tasty!
We ejoyed them with a Hot in Cleveland marathon of the first 6 episodes of the 4th season.
And now, time for a shower, and wake up lazy bones.  :-)

....

Good morning.
Our mild winter continues.  :-)
Since that rude November storm, we haven't had enough snow since to get out the shovel.  :-)
It's suppose to hit 45 today before dropping back in the 30's. But then later next week, back near 40 again. That means another week of no snow.  :-)
It could stay like this the rest of the winter, but I'm sure it won't. But it will, hopefully, make for a shorter winter.  :-)
The Salon has been slow this week, with all our snow-birds having flown south for the winter. But I'm booked today, and working later than normal,  so that will  make up for a slower Wed. and Thur.
And with that, time to go.....

unbelievably warm

Good morning.
Craig had a nice birthday lunch at Logan's Road House. He had an 8 oz. sirloin with fries and skewered veggies,  I had the 6oz sirloin with grilled shrimp, coleslaw, and skewered veggies. Everything was real tasty! They had even e-mailed me coupon for buy one get one free the day before, so a cheap birthday lunch.  :-)
Craig spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing freecell on the puter. I did laundry for him, and made ham roll-ups for a light dinner.
Here's a pic of the new, lightweight, unbelievably warm,  comforter.

When I first got it I was a bit disappointed. It's quite thin, only a couple inches thick. But I can't believe how warm it is! Let's just say, I'm pleasantly surprised.  :-)
And now, another work week lies ahead. Looks to be fairly busy.

I need to get back in shape. Don't we all?

Good morning.
I've just finished with my work-out. I'm back using my free weights. I started back up a couple of weeks ago.  Nothing too extreme, just trying to tone and get rid of holiday fat.  :-)
Here's a pic of my weight rack..

I have numerous weights with different sizes so I don't have to constantly switch plates for different muscle groups.

My collapsible weight bench.
I do a 3 day routine. Tuesday, chest and arms, Wednesday, shoulder and back, and Thursday, tummy and tush.  :-) I don't work out Friday and Saturday, because I go to work so early. Sunday I clean the Salon, and Monday is my lazy day.  :-)

Now just get rid of some fat from the tummy and hip areas, and I'll be looking decent. :-)
Craig's made good progress with the end of year stuff. All his totals balance, and he's done estimated taxes. He also funded my IRA, and reimbursed us for miscellaneous business expenses. I even helped by adding up millage from the pocket calendars we kept in the cars. We write down millage for anything business related, such as going to the bank for a deposit, and supply places. We get 51 cents per mile from last Jan. -June, and 55.5 cents per mile from July through Dec. It really adds up. Today, he's taking it easy. He'll do 1099's next weekend.
Today is Craig's 61st birthday, and we're going out to lunch at Logan's Roadhouse. He doesn't want to do anything to special.
And with that, it's time for my shower and wake him up.

Happy New Year!

Good morning, and Happy New Year!
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon. I did an unusually thorough cleaning this week. I needed to burn some extra calories after our New Year's Eve pig-out. :-)
This year's pig-out extravaganza included little cheesy sausages, Digiorno's supreme pizza, hot and spicy wings, sweet Hawaiian onion Krunchers, and assorted chocolate miniatures. It was an afternoon/evening movie, munching, pig fest!
And now, with the start of a new year, we will get back to a more normal eating habit.  :-)
Craig will spend the entire weekend working on end of year stuff. I will become as invisible to him as possible, so as not to disturb his progress. That means I'll do the laundry for him, and most likely lay low in my puter room, quietly playing games with headsets.  :-)
We did make it through the entire holiday season with no snow. We've had fairly mild temps the last couple of weeks, with the temp this morning of 38, which is also our high for the day. The temps will be slowly falling through out the day, as colder weather moves in. Snow will develop tonight. We are under a winter weather advisory. My Mom, 90 miles west of Lansing, on the edge of lake Michigan, is under a winter storm warning as they're expecting over 11 inches of lake effect snow over the next couple of days. We might get a couple of inches her in Lansing. Fortunately for us, lake effect snow only goes about 60 miles inland.  :-)
And Craig just got up, so time to go....