I hate this getting old crap

Good morning.
It was another bitter cold weekend, but I did get some stuff done inside.
I also found a Corning-ware outlet in Vegas for the next time we go out.
We got a set of dishes that we took out to the new house back in Nov., and after looking at the huge dishwasher that's there, decided we needed to add to the set since I'll never fill it with the 4 piece place setting I have. The house we have now only has an apartment sized dishwasher.
This is the set we took out....

I love Corelle for it's durability over other dishes, and still looks nice. So, our next trip, this has been added to our 'list'. We need to get more pieces before they discontinue the pattern as they tend to do.
I also received to notices in the mail recently.
The first is for a recall on my 2010 Kia Soul.

Something about a headliner plate that may come loose during an accident that causes the side air bags to deploy. Since it only affects cars with a sunroof, I'm assuming it's above the windshield. So I need to schedule that. Also I received a letter form Dr Brickner. He's anxious to see me again. Time for another Colonoscopy.  Yaaa. :-/
And, besides dealing with those issues, I have another dentist appointment this morning before work. I've been having an issue with a front lower tooth. It feels like I've chipped a piece off of it. The top left side feels rough to the touch with my tongue. Upon examination when I had my cleaning a couple of weeks ago, the dentist confirmed that, and the point that I need all 4 teeth in the front, two top and two bottom, 'smoothed'. Apparently this is common in people 'my age'. You start getting little chips on the edges of the teeth. Yaaa again.  :-/
So with all that, time for me to get going.

clean for another week

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon, and here's a few pics of it clean for another week...

Can you see the snow pile out the front window?

Yep! That's me!

When we do move to Vegas, we're taking that mirror. It'll look great in the front entryway.   :-)

 And also this copper sun. It'll look great on the kitchen wall by the table.

It was a very busy week in the Salon, and I'm happy for a weekend.
Saturday after work, Craig made us a tasty Mexican Pizza for dinner.

Then we watched a new movie. Dumb and Dumber To.

I really wasn't expecting to enjoy it, but it was actually entertaining!
Now, with the Salon out of the way, time to enjoy my weekend!

still to damn cold

Good morning from a bitter cold Lansing MI.
It's a lovely -11 out as I write this.  :-/
And the whole next week is still looking to be way below normal.  :-(
The only good thing about bitter cold........it doesn't snow much when it's that cold.
It's been a very busy week in the Salon so far, as I worked 12 hours Wed. and 11 hours Thursday. Today, only 8.  :-)
Thanks for all the e-mails and comments on the security door post. We both like number 2 the best also. Stylish, and functional. I've got a lot of readers with very good taste.  :-)
Now I'm off to work.

to damn cold!

Good afternoon.
I'm posting an unusual afternoon post, as I need to go into the Salon very early tomorrow and work on the front door. As posted previously, we got a new front door. But, it doesn't fit as good as it should.
There are huge gaps on the bottom and bottom left side and top right side that allow for terrible air drafts. By the door, it feels like a windows open! Soooo, I've purchased weather stripping and a door sweep to minimize the air flow. I'll need to do this when the Salon isn't open, thus, very early tomorrow morning.
Don't need bigger heating bills then we already have!
And speaking of energy usage, here's the smart meter readings from our house in Vegas while we were there.

The little blip on Jan 30th was our handyman Jerry fixing the water turn off for the fridge. We were there from the 6th through the 10th. The 8th was the highest, and that was because we micro'd snacks that evening. Also of interest, our energy usage before our trip was averaging around 6.5 and after our trip, it's averaging 6.4. The difference? I unplugged the microwave this time before we left. Just goes to show that every little thing adds up. Yes, the clock on the microwave eats energy.
Add we have another bitter cold blast coming Thursday, with lows around -13, and highs in the single digits.
 I wish I was in Vegas!
Also, Craig has been looking at security doors for our Las Vegas home. All we have at the moment, is a basic front door with a standard lock. Craig thinks a security door would help.
Here's a few of his choices.....

 I personally like the second one. A little artsy and different from a lot of the others that we've seen in the community.
The first one looks too much like your in jail.   :-)
Anyway, didn't get much of anything accomplished today, but that's okay. I've got an extremely busy week ahead.
Stay warm!

taxes done

Good morning.
Another bitter cold morning. Just a -3 this morning. At least, we're not getting any more snow.
Going for a high of just 5. We should be near 32 this time of year.  :-/
Craig did get our federal taxes done. This year, he used Tax Act.

He's used Turbo Tax in the past, but they've gotten so expensive for the one we need.
Well, my PC World magazine rated Tax Act a best buy over Turbo Tax for price and ease of use. Click the link and read for yourself.
We ended up purchasing the Deluxe edition for $12.99 since we have 1099's and also a K1, so we couldn't use the free version.
Still a fraction of the cost of what Turbo Tax charges since we would need to use Turbo Tax Home and Business which costs $79.99.
Craig said he didn't find it much easier to use, but he got through it and was happy with how it worked overall.
And Craig made a new dish for dinner.

French Onion Pork Chop Skillet.

It turned out very tasty, was very easy, and a nice addition to our recipe book.

I love the weekends

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon, and it is a bitter, bitter cold morning! Just -12 out with as wind chill of a -28!  brrrrrrr.
And the forecast isn't looking any better......

The salon was quite dirty thanks to snow and salt earlier this week.
 And, it was busy! I worked 10 1/2 hours Friday and 8 1/2 Saturday. Glad it was just 2 days.  :-)
Our neighbor in Vegas, Obbie, e-mailed me a pic she took at the afternoon cocktail party she had for us while we were there......

I miss the warmth.
We are going back in April, and booked a free room at Monte Carlo for our last night. For some reason, New York New York had no rooms available on that date. But the Mont Carlo will be fine. We have never stayed at that hotel before.
Thanks to myVEGAS Slots on facebook, so far we've gotten 7 free nights in Vegas, a total of $40 in free slot play, $65 in free food, 4 free drinks at the Red Rock Casino and free monorail passes. And it hasn't cost us a penny! What a deal!
And today, I'll lay low and out of Craig's way as he starts doing our tax returns. I'll do some cleaning and search for some other free comps for our next trip to Vegas.

our Vegas trip

Good afternoon.
Sorry for the late post, been busy.   :-)
Our latest trip to Vegas had us leave from Lansing last Friday morning. We arrived in Vegas at 10:30 am their time, and we were very fortunate that one of our new neighbors, Obbie and Gary offered to pick us up at the airport. Fortunate because our home is about a $90 taxi ride. Now we could have taken the city bus, and we did for our return, but form the airport, it would be about 3 hours with waiting and transfers.
Anyway, we got to out house, opened it up, which means, turning on the water, turning up the water heater, and plugging in the fridge. We were also fortunate with the weather. We had record highs four of the days we were there. I think Vegas is telling us to come out.  :-)
On this trip, we got the master bath painted and the second bedroom painted. We also had an area rug delivered and a few more pieces of furniture. We also bought a cappuccino machine so we could make coffee each morning instead of going out to buy.
Here's a couple pics of us and the neighborhood....

And here's our new area rug.....

And a new pendant light we pick out for the kitchen....

There are 6 spot lights in the kitchen ceiling, and I didn't like the fact that the one near the sink was behind me and so I didn't get enough light when at the sink. Now I do.   :-)
Oh, and that big thing on the counter is a new above the stove microwave that we'll hopefully install on our next trip.
Our neighbors, Obbie and Gary gave us a welcome back cocktail party Saturday afternoon where we met a few more neighbors. Everyone so far has been soo nice.
Sunday we stayed home and painted and received deliveries, and Monday, we went to the Red Rock Casino/Hotel with Obbie and Ingrid for lunch at their huge buffet.
Tuesday had us doing laundry and preparing the house for another long term storage. Obbie offered us a ride to the strip, but we declined saying we wanted to get accustomed to using he city bus system, since Obbie and Gary go home to Minneapolis for the summer, and we may not get any other offers for rides when we go back in July.
But she did take us to the bus stop, which is about a 20 minute walk from our house.
It was an hour and ten minute ride down to the strip, where we planned on staying at the New York New York Casino hotel for the night, and then an easy short cab ride to the airport the next morning.
It was a very busy bus and we saw a wide variety of passengers on the way there.
Had a nice evening at the hotel/casino. We actually went down and did a little gambling where we each had $10 in free slot play, courtesy of the facebook game, My Vegas Slots, which is where we also got our free night lodging.   :-)
Wed. morning we made it to the airport, and made it back to Lansing, arriving around 5pm.
Another good trip.   :-)
Now we have a really busy Friday and Saturday in the Salon.

we're back!

We're home!
From our latest trip to Vegas!
More to come when I get a chance.

easy peasy trip change....and for the better!

Good morning.
I know, 4 days, and 4 posts. I'm on a roll.  :-)
I got a call back from Delta a lot quicker than expected. And happily, I was able to get another fight, that's actually better than the one I had, for no more money!   :-)
Instead of going through Detroit, we will go through Minneapolis, which is better. We leave Lansing at 7:15 in stead of 6:00am which will let Craig sleep in a little and still get to Vegas at 10:30. I didn't book this trip initially, because it cost quite a bit more than going through Detroit.  So happy ending. So far. Unless between now and then they have another change. Out of 4 trips we have booked for this year, 3 have been changed already. So every week I have to check the status of each one. They do e-mail me when a change occurs, but only if the flight is less than 90 days away. And I want to know asap so I can get the best alternate flight and seats.
I also cleared snow from the meter behind the garage for the meter reader, and worked on the bathroom, which is turning into more of a project than anticipated.
And we booked another free night in Vegas. New York New York wasn't available for the day we wanted, so we ended up booking Monte Carlo next door.
Why do we want a hotel room when we have a house?
Well, as I've said before, our house is at the northern edge of the valley. A good 25 miles from the airport and getting a taxi out there takes time. So the last day there, we head down to the strip for a last night there, and then a quick, short, much less expensive ride to the airport in the morning, since we fly out at 6am.
Now, time to get to work.

Someone's been in our house....again!

Good morning.
Our house in Las Vegas has a smart meter. I can go online anytime to see how much energy I'm using. I went online the other day, and saw this....

On January 30th there was a small spike in the daily reading. Now since the house is currently empty, the reading should be about the same each day, This means someone was there and turned on lights.
I assumed it was our handyman finally getting around to fixing the water turn off valve for the ice maker. 
Sure enough, when I talked to our neighbor across the street a couple of days ago, She said her husband noticed a white truck in front of the house, and saw the handyman leave.
She was impressed I knew someone was there. She didn't know we have smart meters.  :-)
And so far, my estimate on our monthly cost to maintain the Vegas home has come in a little below what I figured. Our water/sewer bill is a little higher, but the gas is way lower. So we're happy with that.
Looking forward to going out there later this month. We've ordered a couple more pieces of furniture, and an area rug, all scheduled to be delivered while we're there, and we have a growing list of 'stuff' we want to buy while we are out there to add to the home.
Now, before we head out for the day, I have to wait for a call back from Delta. On one of our upcoming flights, they changed the flight out of Lansing, and now we arrive in Detroit 2 hours after our connecting flight leaves.  And we still haven't figured how to run back in time, so we need to find an alternate  flight.
I'll let you know how I do.  :-)

missed it again!

 Good morning.

Yep! Somehow I managed yet again to miss my blogoversary.
I've now started my 10th year blogging, starting way back in Jan. 2006. I know, hard to believe. I've written 1700 posts over the years with my peak year of 2009 with 266 posts, and my last year, 2014, with my second lowest posts at just 122. As with everything, my blogging has been evolving through the years. I posted a lot of "fluff' during my early years, trying to 'entertain' my readers. Now, I post for me. I enjoy going back through posts remembering things I/we've done and places we went.
And I just finished clearing the driveway.  We must have gotten nearly a foot of snow between yesterday and last night. The most snow so far this winter. The first pic was taken yesterday.

 And this next pic this morning.

Now time to get on with the day.

my weekend begins

Good morning.
I've just returned from cleaning the Salon.
Wasn't sure if I'd be able to as we are under a winter storm warning. Fortunately, as usual, The forecast was a bit off. Instead of starting last night, it's begun this morning. Had about an inch when I went into the Salon, and another half inch or so coming home. Forecast is for about 5inches today, and another 5 tonight. Yuk!
 Finished the busy week in the Salon, came home, fixed a couple of cocktails, and Craig made us nachos for dinner.

And yes, this is a pic from the archives as I forgot to take one and we make them the same each time anyway.  :-)
We then watched a movie called St Vincent.

A pretty good entertaining movie.
Today, I'm continuing work on the bathroom walls. Years ago, I textured them and never really like them, so now, I'm smoothing them out somewhat. I'm liking the look so far.  :-)
And with cleaning the Salon out of the way, my weekend begins.....