a quicky

Good morning.
It's been a busy week in the Salon.
And we are expecting a mini heat wave as temps this weekend are expected to rise into the 50's!   :-)
The snow has been slowly melting away, and I expect by Tuesday, it'll be pretty much gone except for the mountains in the store parking lots.
I think it's finally safe to say, spring is coming.  Finally....
Preparations continue on our upcoming trip to Vegas where we will look at about a dozen homes. We'll be subtracting and adding as it gets closer.
And as it gets closer, Craig has been his usual doubting self. He's always a mess when it comes to major decisions. Always second guessing himself. Me, I hem and haw about making a decision but when I finally do,  I make a decision, and then go with it.
Oh well, every one's different.
Now time to get going.

no, the snow isn't gone yet.

Good morning.
Well, it's snowing again.........................   :-(

We got about an inch last night. But, it shouldn't stay around long as it's suppose to reach into the 40's later this week.
Sunday, after cleaning the Salon, we drove up to Muskegon to spend the day with my Mom.
Upon arriving, the first words out of her mouth were, "I hear your moving to Reno." I said, "no, we're not. Who told you that?" She said "Louie and Bruce." I said, "I haven't talked to them." She said, "Linda told them.""Ohhh, she read on my blog that we were going out to Las Vegas to look at homes."
I assured her we were not moving out to Vegas for a few years, but  we decided it was a good time to buy.
I Cut her hair, took out the trash, and took to her to lunch at Applebee's. They've completely remodeled the place. Took down all the stuff they had on the walls, painted new colors on the walls, and all new tables and chairs and lighting. Looked nice. All 3 of us had steak and they were all very good. My Mom exclaimed it was the best one she's had in a long time.
Then it was over to the 'club' for a couple of drinks and pull-tabs. No luck at all with them this visit.
On the way back to her apartment, stopped for groceries and got her back home and settled in and made it back to Lansing.
Monday, I went in to the Salon early to do a customer. She had just returned from Florida Sat. afternoon, and was leaving Wed. for Minnesota. I agreed to come in on my day off so she wouldn't have to go to Minnesota with gray roots. Aren't I nice.  :-)
Then, back home, I spent a good part of the afternoon making a big batch of kale chips.

I got some curly Kale this time to try.

Drying in the oven.

Two big bowls of crispy tasty kale! One Olive oil and sea salt, the other Olive oil and Parmesan.
I tell you, they are as addicting as potato chips!
Well, one more day off, so I'm done here for now.

no spring here.

Good morning.
After work on Saturday, we headed over to Reno's for a late lunch.
It was an average week in the Salon, and was nice to end it with a sandwich and cocktails.  :-)
 The snow is s-l-o-w-l-y  receding.

Piles of sawdust.

But now the aftermath of the Dec. ice storm is reappearing.  :-(
And until the rest of the snow leaves, it's going to stay a mess. And this week won't help as the forecast is for below freezing temps most of the week.
It's been a l-o-n-g winter.  :-(
And spring is nowhere to be found. Even the pussy willows that usually burst forth in mid March haven't even begun to bud up yet.
Oh well.
Anyway, time to get on with my weekend at least.   :-)

snow, snow go away

Good morning.
This pic was taken on Tuesday. The first bare ground I've seen since December.

We've gotten up above freezing every day this week, so there is some more bare ground, but still a lot of snow.
But after another mild day today, it's another week of very cold weather. That will mean for the first time ever, I've not been able to work in the yard in March.  :-(
Work has been steady this week, and  that's about all I've got to say for now.
Go Spartans!

Tuesday update

Good morning.
We are crawling ever so slowly towards spring. After a couple very cold days, the rest of this week is suppose to reach into the upper 30's to low 40's.   :-)
Which will be nice, even though we should be in the upper 40's this time of year.
Already, we are starting to see some patches of ground for the first time since last December.
Sunday, we had corned beef dinner, and it was delish as usual. Monday, I made some more Kale chips.

This batch was with butter spray and Parmesan cheese. Craig likes these the best.
I also got Craig to pose for a pic, (you know how much he hates his picture taken) so I can e-mail it to our Realtor in Vegas so she will know who to look for when she picks us up at the hotel.

Long distance house hunting takes a lot of time! How did people do it before the internet?
And with that, time to enjoy my last day off.  :-)

another record

Good morning.
The weather has been crazy so far this March.
After last weekends warm-up, bitter cold and 6 1/2 inches of snow came.  We actually hit a record low 0f -5 on Wednesday night.  :-(
But then, by Friday, The temp had reached up to 50!
Sunday is expected to be only 21.
By next Wed. back into the low 40's.
At least we're getting a few warmer days here and there.
Now if it'll just get warm enough long enough to melt this snow. We still have over a foot on the ground.
Work has been steady this week. Nothing of interest there.
This morning, I got an e-mail from a volunteer with   Friends' School Plant Sale in St. Paul, MN.
She somehow found a picture of Ligularia 'Gregynog Gold' on my blog, and asked permission to use it.
Of course, at first I expected it to be spam or filled with virus links, so I opened a new tab and did a Google search for the sale. Sure enough, it does exist, so I replied  to her e-mail saying I was more than happy to help her out and she may use any pics she finds useful.
Then just to make sure, I ran a complete scan of my puter.   :-)
Now I'm off for one more work day before my weekend.

let's catch up

Good morning.
Wow! I can't believe it's been nearly a week since I've posted. Probably because not much to say. But I'll catch you up with what little has happened.
It ended being a fairly busy week. We've actually had a few spring like days.   :-)
40 on Sunday, and near 50 on Monday.  :-)
Today, 40, but then back into the cold for a few days, before warming again. At least it feels like spring will eventually come.
We still have a lot of snow on the ground, although the amount has been reduced a bit thanks to the few warm days.
I tried a new thing this weekend, Kale chips. You'll find the recipe here.

I was skeptical of this at first. How are some dried leaves going to taste good. But I was dead wrong!
These Kale chips are tasty and as addicting as potato chips. And a whole lot better for you.
I also spent part of the weekend researching why a customers puter is taking so long to start. I discovered that he had installed the AVG toolbar when he installed the anti virus software. That causes every part of AVG to start on start-up. Removing the toolbar did the trick without making his puter any more vulnerable. From my experience, never install any one's toolbar. You don't need them.
Another reason I've been absent from blogging, is I've been spending a lot of time on the puter and phone, booking another trip to Vegas. We are actually going to look at individual homes this time, and maybe even buy one.  I've finally convinced Craig that prices will only continue to rise, and if we wait until we retire, we may not like our choices then. And in the mean time, we can hire a management company to rent it out until we're ready to move.
So.... between making airline reservations, hotel and lining up a real estate agent, I've been a busy boy.
One nice thing, I was able to get us 3 nights at the New York New York Casino Hotel for free!
Remember last fall when we went to Vegas, and I had some comps for free food? Well, we were able to do that just from playing a Facebook game called My Vegas Slots. For no cost what so ever, you collect gold coins playing the game that you can redeem for real stuff in Las Vegas, like food, shows, and even rooms. Well, since last fall, just by Craig and I casually playing the game, We had accrued enough points for a free 3 night stay! So that helps reduce the cost of the trip.
So anyway, we're all caught up for now.

a record breaker......maybe

Good morning.
It appears we're heading for a record breaker!
The most ice coverage on the great lakes.....ever!
We are predicted to pass the record set in 1976 of 95% coverage. As of Monday, we were at 90.1%. And with another bitter cold few days, they think we'll surpass it. Yippee.   :-\

They say our 'normal' ice coverage is about 40%. The last 15 years have seen us mostly below that with virtually no ice coverage in 2012.
So far, Nov., Dec., Jan., and Feb. have been below normal, with March expected to do the same.   :-(
Normally in march, I'm able to get outside and do some early spring clean-up, but not this year, as we still have nearly 3 ft of snow covering the ground.  We are over 12 inches above normal.  :-(
In other news.....
I continued my extreme cleaning. I cleaned out some kitchen cupboards, throwing out old dishes, glasses and such.  I have way to much stuff!
While doing that, I made another batch of broth from the last two turkey carcasses. 
I also did a little redecorating. I told Craig I didn't like the frames on our pressed leaves, and wanted to paint them. He said what color? I said maybe like a suede brown. So here's what I ended up getting....

It's actually called nutmeg, and I think it helps the matting stand out better. I really don't know why I originally picked white frames, because they just fade into the light walls. And do you like the pressed Quince leaves on top, or bottom. I can't decide. It probably doesn't matter right?
Anyway, another weekend over, and hopefully another week closer to real spring like weather.
Now back to work for what appears to be another busy week.

the winter that won't end.

Good afternoon.
The winter that won't end continues.....  :-(

We received another 4-5 inches last night.
The work week ended very busy, and as a treat, we had a late lunch over at Reno's.
I'm tired of shoveling, tired of snow blowing, and tired of mopping floors.
But it is March, and hopefully, warmer weather will eventually make it here. But not this week, as we dip back into the deep freeze with night time temps below zero.   :-(
Our 'normal" high should be 38. Today.......only 15.   :-(
Soooo, I've kept myself busy with extreme house cleaning.
Today, I cleaned out the linen closet. I have way to many towels, and way too many expired meds creams and lotions. Filled up 2 garbage bags. I also cleaned out the entertainment cabinet, where I had so many DVDs I'll never watch again, and also a lot of old VHS tapes. Another garbage bag full. I also booked another RV weekend trip. And all this while smelling our last turkey slowly cooking to perfection in the oven.   :-)
And that's all I've got for now.