a hot time in Vegas

Good afternoon.
Yep! You guessed it! My absence meant we were in Las Vegas!
Left last Friday morning, and returned Wed. evening. Was a good trip.
But we're glad this will be the last we fly for a while, and the last for a while we have to spend an hour on the city bus to and from our house.
People don't seem to realize how dry it is out there. Here's a pic of our weather station, showing the temp and humidity inside and outside.....

Yes, it was hot out there this trip. Between 108 and 115. And you can see, the outside humidity level was at 1%. 1% humidity! You'll never see that in Michigan!
And even with the daytime temps overt 100, it still got down to between 78 and 85 at night, so it was very pleasant going out in the morning. Especially with the low humidity.
One thing we did while in Vegas was to go to the Top of the World restaurant at the Stratosphere.
It the tallest building in Vegas with a revolving restaurant near the top. It's the second tallest free standing observation tower in the western hemisphere, at 1,149 ft, only behind Toronto's CN Tower. And the 5th tallest building/structure in North America.

Here's a pic of us on the observation deck.

Yes, that is actually a ride that hangs off the edge of the tower behind Craig. And no, we did not ride it.

Behind me, the famous strip.

 And a view of the strip from our table by the window.

 I had a lobster BLT with fries....

 and Craig had a fancy cheeseburger.

And a pic of Craig with the strip in the background.
From the tower you can see the entire valley. Even the casino in front of our neighborhood way out at the northern edge of the valley.
And if you look real close, you'll see a hummingbird resting on a lower branch of this bush in our back yard.

So we had a good trip. We even went to check out the new IKEA store in the valley. Bought a few things for the house. 
Got back home to Lansing to find they had replaced all the windows and the patio door in the apartment. Nice that it was done while we were gone and they really look nice!
So another good trip, and the last one for who knows how long. The next trip we take to Vegas will be when we move there the end of August. It's really starting to hit that we are almost done with work and will be retiring and moving to Nevada. it's quite difficult to comprehend.  I've had a job since I was 10, and the thought of not working is really a foreign idea. But one I'm willing to try and embrace.   :-)
Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of the day before I go back to work tomorrow. Working from 7:30 to 6:15. Gonna be a long day!

yawn

Good morning.
It was a beautiful weekend. Got in some nice long walks and a lot of balcony time.   :-)
Did some cooking on the grill, and also made a batch of Crock Pot Pork Chops.
And there's really nothing else to say. A very uneventful weekend, and now back to work.

busy week

Good afternoon.
It's a very pleasant day so far with sun and low 80's. We went out early and did a 2 mile walk. It is suppose to get to 90 this afternoon, so wanted to get it in early.  :-)
It ended up a very busy week in the Salon. The busiest in quite a while.Worked late Friday and Saturday. Had homemade pizza for dinner Saturday night.
Starting to tell all our customers about our last day in the Salon. Which is exactly 8 weeks from yesterday.
For the most part, everyone is surprised, but happy for us. Being able to recommend a new stylist for them that is our personal recommendation in our Salon has been very helpful.
It still feels very surreal that we are retiring. I'm looking forward to retirement and moving to Vegas, but the entire concept seems so foreign. I've had a job since I was 10. But I immensely enjoy my lazy 3 day weekends now so I'm looking forward to doing that full time.   :-)
Not to say we won't be busy. We plan on doing more traveling, and getting active in our community.
And with that, I think the balcony is calling me.

weekend over, back to work.

Good morning.
Yesterday wasn't as nice as the days before, but we still got our walk in.
Spent a good part of the afternoon going through papers from the file cabinet at the Salon. Was a lot of stuff we don't/didn't need. Most went in the trash, some was shredded, and a few things we'll take back and give to the new owner.
And here's a couple of pics of 2 of our meals we had....

Above, what Craig likes to call Turkey Boats. He carves out a depression in a steak bun, fills it with sliced cheese, onions, and ketchup, then tops with a cooked Turkey Kielbasa, adds more cheese, then microwaves it until the cheese melts. Tasty!

And another day, chicken thighs on the grill, with baked beans and coleslaw.
Now back to work. It's looking fairly busy this week.

we're getting square

Good morning.
It's been a very pleasant couple of days.
The paving of our parking areas were done by the time we got out of work on Saturday, so we were able to park in our regular area. It was odd getting up Sunday and not going to the Salon to clean. It was nice.  :-)
We took a couple of nice long walks  Sunday and Monday. Also on Sunday, while Craig did estimated taxes and book work, I went online researching. We are currently using a credit card terminal in the salon like the one below....

This is what we use when customers want to charge services or retail. We also let other stylists use it for their customers, then Craig reimburses the stylist, minus the transaction fee. The new owner doesn't want to deal with the extra paper work involved so the stylists will have to go to individual card readers or stop taking credit cards. I did some research and decided a good one for us is the Square.

It fits in the jack on your smartphone.

You down load the app, go online and set up an account, they mail you the reader for free, and your all set up to take credit cards. You just open the app, type in the amount, swipe the card,  they sign right on the phone, and you e-mail them a receipt. One of our stylists has been using it for a while now and it seems to work very well. Of course, you need a smartphone but all the stylists have one.
Now time for my shower and last day off.

a lot going on....just not at work

Good morning.
It's been a very slow week in the Salon. Today, I'm done at 1pm.
It's actually nice not being crazy busy, except for the money part.  :-)
Anyway, got home yesterday to find all this going on.....

They are tearing up and repaving most of the driveways and parking lots. Got a notice last week with parking restrictions. Making it a bit difficult to get to and from our apartment. The notice said it would be a 2 day project. So should be done sometime today. All ready at 6 this morning I've heard equipment out there.
But it's just part of what's been going on here. Last fall, the complex was sold and a new management company took over. They have been on  a spending spree fixing the place up. They finished re-roofing the buildings, and now they are in the process of replacing every window and patio door on every building. That's approximately 32 buildings with 11 apartments in each. That's gotta be costing a lot! I'm sure the rent will be going up, Not that it will matter to us.  :-)
So lot's to watch from our balcony this summer.
Now it's time to get to work.

Hello

Good morning.
Another weekend over and back to work. Boy the weekends sure seem to go fast, and I have a 3 day weekend. And not much to do! I did manage to get Craig and I signed up for Social Security. Did it online. Was pretty easy. I also booked the Relocube for our move in August. That was real easy.
Since the shipper will be going either very close to California or might actually go into California before Vegas, I have to fill out a Gypsy Moth inspection list. Any outdoor items we plan to pack must be inspected for Gypsy Moth eggs. They e-mailed me a sheet describing what to look for and a form to sign and e-mail back that I did that.
Then while Craig caught up on his paperwork, I cleaned the apartment.
Sliced up some carrots and celery for snacking at work and some watermelon. Still trying to get the weight off I put on over the lazy winter and spring. We have been walking more and that's helped but it's been an adjustment since I no longer have the big yard and house to take care of. I'm a lot less active now, which I enjoy, but I've had to adjust my eating habits.
Anyway, time to finish my oatmeal and get to work.

and another weekend

Good morning.
It was a decent week at work, but a long day Friday and Saturday.
I did a final inventory Wed. morning so we'll have an ending inventory and the new owner has a starting inventory. We also got all the utilities changed over. Can you believe there was a $250 deposit for the electric and water? It's because she hasn't had a commercial account before. She'll get a credit after a year of no missed payments.
I'm going in later this morning for a final Salon cleaning. I'm meeting the new owner and showing her how I clean, and what gets cleaned each week and what needs to be done approximately monthly. With just one week out, I'm realizing why she wanted us to stay a while after we sold. There's a boatload of info we have just started to give her about owning and running a Salon. I guess since we've owned one for over 30 years, everything we do is just second nature to us. There really is a lot to learn I'm finding out.
Also.....
Craig ordered a vinyl window sticker.

Apparently, he wants to remember his home state after we move. It'll go on the back window of the Jeep, hence the orange lakes to match the car color.
That's about it for now.

the weekend update.

Good morning.
It was a most beautiful weekend! It couldn't have been better weather for a Memorial day weekend.
But now, it's back to work.....But not for much longer!
We did get the papers signed for the Salon. It is now officially not ours anymore. Of course, it still feels unfinished since she still doesn't have a lease, and we've got no money from the sale yet. She's applied for a home equity loan. That could take up to a month to process. So we should get the money in another week or so. And we've been assured the new lease will be identical to the existing lease. The management company has been very busy with more urgent matters and just hasn't gotten it out yet. So hopefully all will end well.
Remember the issues we had selling the house that delayed closing nearly a month?  We just need to be a little patient.
So we ended our weekend the way it started. With nice long walks and food.  :-)
Craig made a new dish I saw on Facebook.

They're called Taco Cups. Very easy and really tasty!

You can see a video and recipe here....
taco cups
And with that, I'm off to work. Long day today, but not very busy. Start at 8, end at 6:30.