save my eye

Good afternoon.
Well, my eyesight has finally gotten clearer, so I decided to do a post.  :-)
Sunday, I managed to finish painting the kitchen, and cleaning the other 3 wood blinds. They look real nice.  :-)
This morning, we went out for our usual Monday routine, banking, post office and grocery shopping. 
While at the grocery store, I started to notice a blurred streak across my lower right eye when I looked from left to right. I at first thought it was maybe my eye was tired or I had a film on my eye, so I just tried to ignore it. By the time we got home, I was experiencing flashing halo's around the left side and top of that eye. I got concerned because it was similar to the symptoms I had nearly 2 years ago when I injured my left eye. I mentioned it to Craig who said I should call the doctor right away. I called Lansing Ophthalmology where I went the last time, and they were able to get me in with-in the hour.
Long story short, I had posterior vitreous detachment. The interior of the eye has a gel-like material. When a part of it pulls away from the retina, it causes the symptoms I experienced. It is apparently fairly common, and causes nothing more than new floaters.

So, My eyesight is okay. The flashes are gone, and I now have a new floater in my right eye I didn't have before, But hopefully, it will fade as they tend to do and become less prominent as it is right now. It really doesn't affect my vision, but in fairly bright light, I see it off to the side of my vision.  The doctor said I was right coming in, as it was possible the gel pulling away could have torn the retina at the same time. I was fortunate that wasn't the case. I have an appointment 6 weeks to have a follow up check.
And, in other news........

Amazingly, our 7 seeded Spartans keep winning! On to the Final Four! Where the other 3 teams are one seeds
I didn't get a thing done at home toady, because my eyes were so dilated, I couldn't focus very well. They are better now, nearly 5 hours later.
Time for dinner. We are having Turkey burgers since we can't use the oven.
Tomorrow, open faced roast beef sandwiches, Yummy!

with a house it's always something.

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon. It's another cold morning.  :-(
I got out of work late Saturday, working until nearly 5pm.
Back home, we started prepping for dinner. I wanted to try a new zucchini dish so I preheated the oven while I prepared the zucchini.  After a few minutes, we heard this loud sparking noise. Looked into the oven to see the heating element on fire! I immediately turned the oven off. The fire subsided, but a hot glow on the element remained. I figured it would slowly burn itself out, but after several minutes realized not only was it not out, but it was progressing along the element, like it was slowly burning up the element. I couldn't believe with the power off, it could still burn. I called the fire dept. for guidance. The person I spoke to hadn't heard of this before, but suggested unplugging the stove. I did that, and it immediately went out. I couldn't believe that even with the oven turned off, it could still draw electricity, but apparently it did!
So, we changed dinner plans and I went online to find a new element. I went to the Sears site, since it was a Kenmore range, and started an online chat with a customer rep. Gave him the model # and this is what he brought up...

But this is what the existing element looks like....

He said the first one would work with our model. I looked at both and couldn't see how that was possible. The he asked if I wanted the element supports too. I said don't they come with it? No he said, it's $6.95 extra. Well, that did it! I told him I was going to think about it, and ended our chat. I looked elsewhere online and found the exact replacement for nearly $20 less.
Now we'll need to adjust future meals around no oven until we get the replacement element. Today is no problem, as Craig already was planning on crock pot corned beef. And we do have a toaster oven we can use for smaller stuff.
And now I'm off to begin my weekend. And watch our Spartans this afternoon in the Elite Eight.

when is 8 x 24 not 8 x 24

 When it's really 9.75 x 25.75. But more on that later.
Good morning.
It's so far been a steady week in the Salon, but I'm booked late today and tomorrow.  I did get out of work early yesterday. My last customer, a foil highlight and haircut, didn't show. I called, and got her voice mail and left a message. Now I'll have to work her in next week.  :-/
And I ordered a return air vent for the living room.
The previous opening was L shaped and used 2 vent covers. One horizontal and one vertical. I didn't like the looks of that, sooo last weekend, I patched the upper part of the opening and extended the horizontal opening. So I needed a longer vent cover. I went online and ordered one from Home Depot. I needed one that was 8 x 24, and found one on their site. It arrived at the store on Wed. so after work, I picked it up on the way home.

Well, the vent was actually 9.75 x 25.75. I was sure they sent me the wrong one. But to make sure, I went back online to double check the measurements.  Sure enough, if you click on the specifications tab. the measurement they give is actually for the grill opening, not the over all size.  :-/
Soooo I couldn't use it because the vent cover needs to fit between the baseboard and a wall outlet. I don't want to hassle with moving up the outlet, so back on line I went and ordered a 6 x 24 vent cover which is actually 7.75 x 25.75. It's a bit longer than I wanted, but it will fit much better. I'll return the first one when I pick up the second one.
It's been a cold week for the end of March, so not much spring out there yet. At least all the snow is gone.  :-)
Now off to work.

post # 1732

Good morning.
Well, another weekend over and it's back to work.
Not that I haven't been working, I have, just not in the Salon.
I've got the breezeway/TV room painted, and I've been working on the Kitchen. We have 2 inch wood shades in the windows, and as I paint each one, I've been taking down the blinds and cleaning them also. They are a lot dirtier than I thought. There's 4 in the Kitchen and 6 in the living room. It's going to take some time. I'm not going to get the house done before it's time to go out in the yard. I have a lot of things I need to do outside also. It may take a couple of years to get everything done. Good thing I started early.  :-)
But now, time to go to the Salon.

nice visit with Mom

Good afternoon.
It's a nasty cold day today.  :-(
Yesterday, I went to Muskegon to visit my Mom.  Craig ended up going along, which is nice because he drives.  :-)   I got to read the paper to pass the time.  :-)
Gave her a much needed haircut, and took her to lunch at Applebee's. We all had their sirloin steaks which were very good! Then to the VFW for drinks and pull-tabs. We didn't have any luck on the pull-tabs.
My brother Brian and his wife Ruth stopped in for a visit.
On the way back to her apartment, we stopped to get her some groceries.
Got back to Lansing safe and sound. Traffic wasn't bad at all.
Today was our usual running around. bank, post office, and groceries for the week.
The local OfficeMax is closing, so we stopped there to pick up a few close-out items. I'm not surprised they are closing, since they never were very busy when I went in. I'll miss the convenience of them near the Salon. The next closest one is half way across town. I'll probably go to Staples.
 When I got the mail today, I received a card from Sparrow.

I had my Colonoscopy at Sparrow's St Lawrence campus.
The card was signed by everyone I came in contact with.

Now I can put a name to all the faces that had a part in looking up my butt.  :-/
I did some more painting today, while Craig did his usual laundry and bookwork.
I also checked our future flights to Vegas, and sure enough, they had switched planes for one of them and changed our seats so we weren't together. I was actually able to get us better seats for the flight. It's good I check the itineraries occasionally.
And for dinner, Craig is making a turkey rice casserole with the rest of the left over turkey.
And that's it for now.....

post #1730

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon, and in a few minutes, I'm leaving for Muskegon to visit my Mom.
Kind of an early Easter visit. She says she desperately needs a haircut, which is probably true since I haven't seen her since Christmas time. Craig's planning on staying home as of yesterday, but he's not up yet, so we'll see.
It was a fairly busy week in the Salon. I got home late nearly every single day.  :-/
The weather has turned bitter cold for the next couple of days, but the snow is pretty much gone. A nice spring rain would be nice to wash a lot of the dirty winter away, but it's looking dry for a while.
I did finally get my Kia's recall done. I went into work on Wed. and called the service dept. to try and find out why I'm having such a hard time with this. He apologized and said he'd send someone over right away to pick up the car, and promised to have it back by noon. And they did!  :-)
So that's out of the way now.
So with that, time for me to get going.

It's over

Good morning.
Well, I made it through another Colonoscopy.   :-)
Every one I've had, I had to do a different type of 'cleansing'. This year, it was 4 tablets of Duxolax at 12pm, them Miralax mixed with 64 oz. of Gatorade starting at 3pm.

And I still don't care for the taste of any of them. The Gatorade was okay, but having to drink 64 oz of anything in an hour and a half is a lot!
But, as usual, I survived. Got to the hospital yesterday afternoon, filled out way to many forms, and met way to many health care professionals. How come so many people need to know what I'm there for?
But got the 'procedure' done as got out of there. One thing I did like, They now use a  different medication to put you out, and when you wake up, your not groggy at all! It was like waking up from sleep. I was alert and ready to go! That was nice.

On the way home, we stopped at KFC for a treat, since I hadn't had anything since Sunday. I love KFC! But eat there only maybe once a year.
Then, that evening, we had frozen pizza. We like DiGiorno rising crust pizza. Really good!
And here's one more colonoscopy joke....

I did manage during all this to get the kitchen edged, and some more of the breezeway/TV room painted.
The snow has pretty much all melted except for the big piles. They will probably hang around now that the daytime temps are going back to normal March highs of low 40's.

Now it's back to work.
Oh, I almost forgot. I got a clean scope, so he says I'm good for 10 years.   :-)

rotor router time

Good afternoon.
It was a busy week in the Salon, and I did clean the Salon this morning as usual.
Today, I was busy painting. I got the rest of the dining room done, and half the TV room/breezeway.
 Need to pick up some more paint. Doesn't go as far as I had hoped.
And this is what I get to look forward to tomorrow....

I have an appointment for a Colonoscopy on Tuesday, so tomorrow, no food.   :-(
At noon, I take 4 Ducolax. At 3pm I mix the entire bottle of Miralax with the Gatorade, and drink it until it's gone. Then, I grab a good book and don't stray far from the bathroom, waiting for the 'cleansing' process to begin. I'm on a no solid food diet tomorrow in preparation, so the only thing I'll have the entire day is this....

Chicken broth. Oh, I can have jello, juice, and a Popsicle, but I don't really care for them. So, I have a large stock of broth to try and satisfy me for the entire day. My appointment isn't until 2:15 on Tuesday, so nearly 2 days without food. Hope I can make it.  :-)
This will be my 4th colonoscopy. Such fun. But since my dad died from colon cancer at the young age of 59, it's a necessary evil. And the procedure isn't bad. The worst part for me is going an entire day without eating. And even that wouldn't be so bad except knowing I can't eat, makes me more hungry.
But I'll survive as I always do.
And Craig, being very supportive, is making me a delicious dinner tonight,  Cabbage Roll Casserole! So I'll have one last good meal.  :-)
 So tomorrow, we'll spend a good portion of the day running around keeping me busy. At least until 3pm.  :-/
Now I'm off to watch the Spartans! Wish em luck!

What a diffrence a few days make

Good afternoon.
Well, it's turned out to be a pretty good week in the Salon. The phones been steady, and I'm also booked for tomorrow. Here's a pic I took when I got home today....

The snow hasn't melted as fast as I had hoped, but it is slowly going. It feels so good not being bitter cold.  :-)
And we received a letter in the mail from the ARC (Architectural Review Committee) approving our new security storm door for our Las Vegas Home. Next weekend, We will need to call and get it ordered and set up installation for when we are there next.
And I'm not having any luck on my Kia recall. After them not having the part in stock when I went out 2 weeks ago, I waited patently for them to call when it was in. When I didn't hear from them, I called and found it was in and they were holding it for me. I set up an appointment for them to come get my car from work, do the repair, and bring it back. That was Thursday. They never shower up. I thought maybe I had it wrong and it was Friday. Today, they never showed up. Sooo, I get to call again next week and see what the hell the problem is.  :-/
Well, time to go as Craig is fixing turkey cheddar sausages, and I don't want to be late.   :-)

slow going

Good morning.
It was a busy weekend with slowly trying to get the house in better condition for an eventual sell. After living here for nearly 30 years, I'm quite surprised how much I've let 'slide'.
I've so far got the entire hall and most of the dining area done. It's taking longer, as I find more things to fix. Such as....I took a picture off the wall, and found 2 other sets of existing picture hangers, apparently from other pics I had on that wall over the years. And apparently the recent pic was large enough to just hang over them. So, I had to remove them and patch the holes before I could paint.  Also, because I'm painting satin over semigloss, it's taking 2 coats of paint to cover.
Oh well, I have a lot of time before I can start working outside.
And speaking of outside, We are finally starting to see some bare ground!

And with temps the rest of the week forecast to be in the upper 40's, I'm hoping next weekend I can take a pic of no snow!
And it's looking to be a busy week at the Salon, so I better get going.

busy weekend

Good evening.
Yes, a rare evening post. Mainly because there's nothing I want to watch on TV, and tomorrow morning I plan to do some more painting. 
Spring is finally on it's way with temps this week in the 40's.  :-)
As of yesterday, still no ground showing, but I expect it will happen soon.  :-)
Craig picked up his new glasses on Saturday. Here they are.....

Brand name is called Oakley, style is called  Metal Plate, and the color is Titanium.

They look real nice.
And I've been busy painting. I forget how long it takes to paint! I've managed to get just the hallway and part of the dining room done the last two days.
And, we've had another change in an upcoming Las Vegas trip. I don't think I have one trip that hasn't been modified. This one had the Las Vegas to Minneapolis segment cancelled, so I had to call and get us rerouted through Detroit. And we also took advantage of a sudden break in flight prices and booked another trip for late October. That will give us 5 trips to Vegas this year, starting with the past Feb. trip.
And I've sold another item on e-bay.....

An original set of 10 Big Ten Swizzle sticks. I've had these and and others around for years, and in my continuing downsizing and cleaning out, I've been either selling things on e-bay, or adding them to the yard sale pile.
Well, I hadn't been able to find these anywhere on the Internet, so I thought they might be worth something.
I set a 7 day auction with a starting price of $.99, and a shipping price of $2.25.
At the end of the auction, I had a sale! But just one bidder, and just for the original $.99. So.... after the listing fee, I ended up with a $.66 profit. Oh well. I probably wouldn't have gotten that much in a yard sale.  :-)   Thank goodness for free shipping boxes from the post office.
And Sunday, Craig cooked our last turkey. We had just 2 this year and I wish we would have gotten more. But our trip to Vegas in mid November messed that up. We had left over turkey dinner today, and we froze the rest for a casserole later.
And with that, I'm tired and going to bed.

more power

Good morning.
It's been a slow week in the Salon, but I'm booked today and tomorrow.
It appears our winter is finally going to come to and end as after today, our temps will finally get back toward normal, which should be near 40 this time of year. We've been running a good 20-30 below that since early Feb.
I also received our new power packs....

About the size of a cell phone, nicely compact and I've already gave them a test run and they work perfectly.
I especially like the self storing cord. I wish everything came with one. I have so many cords lying around for all the different things. Now on our flights to Vegas, I don't have to worry about what I do on my tablet, knowing I have back-up booster source.
I also did get to the dentist Wed. and got my 4 front teeth smoothed. They feel much better on my tongue.  :-)
Now it's off to work.

Possible new table lamps?

Good morning.
We got more snow yesterday, so I had to clean the driveway. We had sleet and freezing rain later, so it will be interesting to see what the driveway looks like when I go out.
I got the bathroom mostly painted, and it looks nice and bright. Craig said it's been nearly 15 years since we last painted. I knew it had been a while, but didn't think it was that long.  :-)
Craig also has been online looking for new table lamps. He thinks the ones we have now in Vegas are boring. We got them at Target on our trip back in Nov.

Here's the 2 he's thinking about.....

Both are metal with metal shades. The top one also has a night light that lights up the center.
I know I have readers with great taste, so let me know which one you like to replace the current ones, before I tell you which one I like.  :-)
Oh, and I've discovered a sure fire hiccup cure.......
Apple Cider Vinegar. One swig of that, and your hiccups are history. Works fast too! Craig has always had a hard time getting rid of hiccups. He's tried every cure known to man. The only thing that worked was breathing into a garbage bag held tightly around his head. But the Apple Cider Vinegar does the trick. It tastes sooo bad that I think it shocks away the hiccups! The only bad thing is the taste tends to linger a bit.  ;-)
Now, I'm off for my dentist appointment before another work week.

busy day

Good morning.
Well, it was quite the day yesterday, I took Kia in for the recall and an oil change. After I dropped it off and left, about 30 minutes later, I received a call from the dealer informing me that they finished the oil change,but had run out of the reinforcing plates for the recall last Friday.  They wouldn't have any more in until Wed. Now the Kia dealer is w-a-y on the other side of Lansing, and it took me nearly 35 minutes to get over there. I said, "I made an appointment last Wed. for this and you are not going to tell me I need to haul it all the way back over here next week"!
The person apologized and said when they got them in, they would call and come and pick up my car at work, do the repair and bring it back to me. I was taken by surprise, but happy that they would do that. I arrived back at the dealer to pick up my car, and the service manager was there to apologize again, and reaffirmed they would call and pick up my car and, fix it and bring it back. I was impressed.
Back home, I put together the application to get our new security door approved by the ARC. (Architectural Review Committee) We want to get this installed on our next trip.
After talking to Virginia, (the HOA assistant manager of standards and compliance) it was determined that the Sandstone color of the door would probably not be approved. The HOA clearly states that the color has to be the shade of the stucco, trim, door, white, beige, or almond. Soooo, we decide to keep it easy and go with white.

As you can see, the house is a light grey and the trim is white. The sandstone color would only go with the stone around the pillars. White is probably a better choice.

So I e-mailed Virginia the filled application along with a pic of the door and the front of the house. It will go to the ARC committee this Friday, and we should hear from them with-in a couple of weeks I guess.
With that taking so much of my time yesterday, I accomplished little else.
We did do some online shopping, and I ordered a couple of External Battery Charger Power Packs.

On our long flights to Vegas, our tablets can get quite low on power depending on what we're doing on them. I wanted to have as much flexibility to use them as I want, so these will give us a power boost if we need it.
They were only $11.95 each with free shipping, and has a self storing cable.
And I'm happy to see Feb. gone. It came in as the 3rd coldest on record.  :-/
Will I miss Michigan when we move? Not the winters!
And that's it for now.

a different security door.

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon.
It ended up being a very busy week. Glad it's the weekend.  :-)
I ended up not getting my teeth smoothed. The dentist cancelled due to back spasms. I'm rescheduled for next Wed. Hope he's doing better by then.
I also have an appointment for the car recall on Monday, and scheduled my Colonoscopy on the 17th. Busy month.
We've also made a change of plans for the security door for our Vegas home.
We didn't realize at the time, but the door we and everyone else liked,  only comes in 32 inch width. Our front door is 36. Soo, back to looking. Since we really didn't like any of the doors with decorative bars, (they all look like your in jail) we finally settled on a.....
LARSON Secure Elegance Almond Full-View Laminated Security Glass Storm Door from Lowe's.

Actually, Craig wants Sandstone instead of Almond, but after looking at pics of the house, I think the Sandstone will be too dark.  The door has.....KeepSafe Glass with protective security shield - inner layer withstands repeated blows by blunt objects. And a .....Guardian 3 Locking System secures the door in 3 places and offers the most secure storm door hardware available.
So now we have to get approval of the door from the Architectural Review Committee of our HOA. That requires filling out a form, attaching pics of the door and front of the house. Anything outside the front door, including adding a storm door needs pre-approval. We would like to have this installed on our next trip, and the committee meets just twice a month. So we hope to get it sent out this week.
And now, time to get on with my weekend.   :-)