another weekend for me!

Good morning.
Saturday ended very busy at work, and after we got home, it was time to relax.
We decided on home made nachos for dinner. I was stuffed!
Sunday morning, I cleaned the salon as usual, and after Craig got up, we went out to Kohl's. I needed a pair of pants for work. And since I'm on their e-mail list, I had a coupon for an additional 15% off everything, so I decided to look at winter coats also.
I found myself this little gem.

A hooded faux leather jacket. Regularly $140, on sale for $79. Take an additional 15% off and I paid $67.15. A pretty good price!
Now if you've ever shopped at Kohl's you know to never buy anything there at regular prices. I mean, they have everything on sale at some point. And there's no way that coat was worth 140 bucks. But is it nice and warm!
Anyway, back home, Craig did his usual laundry and bookwork, and I did a little dusting and cleaning. And I mean a little. Just couldn't get motivated. Winter weather has gripped us tight, and I'm just not accepting that well. Maybe I have Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), maybe I should get one of those lights. :-)

So anyway, the day went by quickly, (don't days off always fly by?) and it was dinner time. We fixed those wonderful spicy sweet pork cutlets with roasted garlic basil potatoes and marinated asparagus. It was very yummy and we made enough for leftovers later in the work week. And, our Michigan State Spartans will be playing on New Years Day in Orlando at the Capitol One Bowl. They'll be playing against Alabama, whose head coach, Nick Sabin, was States coach some years back. He dumped State for more money and LSU. Then dumped LSU for the pros. Didn't do well there and now back in college sports at Alabama where he's paid a ridiculous amount of money. They did win the national championship last year, but have 3 loses this year. It should be a great game!

And that's all I got!

just another day

Good morning.
Yesterday was wet and dreary, so no yard work. Instead, I cleaned the inside of the mo-ho, and restocked essential supplies for our next trip.
I also worked on the hydraulic jack that just doesn't want to come up. I have to physically pry it up, and last trip it was a mosquito fest. So I went online to figure out solutions. I've had this problem pretty much since we bought it in 2005, and I've tried various sprays and nothing seems to work. So one thing I read was to fully extend the jack, wipe off the cylinder, and spray with silicone spray. I did that 3 times, and still nothing. Oh well, It's just another to do thingy when we pack up. Maybe I'll look into having it replaced at the end of the season. I'm sure it won't be cheap.
And although I haven't said anything here on my blog, Our Michigan State basketball coach, had been entertaining an offer to go to the pro's. It's been a big thing locally in the news for nearly 2 weeks. Well, he's decided to stay here much to every ones relief. He's a top notch coach that's taken the basketball program to national status. That's if you follow college basketball. We went to the final four last year. And every player who stay 4 years has played in a final four. Better than any other college in the nation.
Okay, enough chatter, I know you want to see more pics of the yard, so here we go....

A couple of roses,

Clematis mingling with a honeysuckle vine above, and Clematis on both sides of the arbor.
And finally, a mass planting of Stella D'Oro in the front side yard around a banded grass with golden barberry, mugo pine, and a purple leaf sand cherry.

Now I'm off to get ready for another busy work week!

It's over, and just begining

Yes, it's over...... Our Spartans lost last night to Butler. The battered, bruised, injury laden team just didn't have any more to give. But they had a terrific run, and the way Duke dismantled West Virginia, I'm thinking Duke will take it all tomorrow. They didn't play that well against the Spartans and Duke doesn't have all the injuries the Spartans did.
But anyway, thanks for the condolences.
I just got back from cleaning the Salon. Did I mention how much more work it is to clean the Salon since we increased our staff? But that's okay, it's more income too. :-)
And to help cheer me up form last nights game, it's the beginning of spring! And here's some pretty flowers currently blooming in the yard....

Nothing better than a beautiful spring day to wipe away the gloom!

Oh, and a Happy Easter to everyone!

Final Four baby!

That's right people! Michigan State is in the Final Four!

That was an amazing game! These injury plagued guys just wanted to win too much to quit.

Craig and I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon game. It was a tense and stressful afternoon, but when it ended, it was all worth it.

And with the crappy cold wet day outside, I didn't miss working in the yard. And after the game, Craig fixed these tasty pork cutlets with stuffing and a Mexican veggie blend.
And we finished the evening with another episode of Spartacus. It was a good day.

Sunny Saturday

Good afternoon.
I know, an unusual afternoon post. That's because I got out of work very early today, and with it being to cold out, decided to get productive inside. So, I scrubbed the bathroom, and cleaned out Craig's puter. If you remember, I clean the inside of my puter once a year, usually sometime in February. And I did do mine, but for one reason or another never got around to Craig's. So today I did.
Here's the inside of his 'tower'. He has a mini tower. Isn't it cute? Well, underneath that large fan is a mass of fins.
Can you see the dust clogged fins behind the dusty fan blades?
And now, nice and clean. Quite the difference right? And now better air flow to keep the puter from over heating. So that's why it's important to open up the case once a year, and with canned air, blow all the dust out. Just make sure you hold the fan so it doesn't spin furiously and possible damage it. And that's your tech tip for today.
And last night we watched our Spartans win an exciting game against Northern Iowa to advance to the Elite Eight! Tonight we'll watch some of the other games and tomorrow we'll watch our Michigan state play Tennessee for a chance to go to the Final Four.
And Craig's making a new dish tonight, Chicken Cordon Bleu pizza. Doesn't that sound interesting? If it turns out, you'll see pics here tomorrow.

Whew!

Good morning!
Well, despite watching basketball through out the afternoon, I still managed to clean the kitchen and vacuum. And speaking of basketball, Our Michigan State Spartans squeaked out a thriller of a win! If you didn't see it and want to see the thrilling end, check it out here.



But it looks like our big star Kalin Lucas will be out for the rest of the tournament. But with Coach Tom Izzo running the show, they still have a chance to go farther in this tournament.
And after watching basketball all afternoon, we had a delicious corned beef dinner with a baked potato and ginger honey carrots, and watched another episode of Spartacus. This is one good show!
Today, with the weather due to warm back up a bit, I hope to work in the yard. We'll see.

Ah spring!

Good morning!
We had one more beautiful day yesterday, and since I got out of work early, I came home and made the most of it.
First I cleaned out the pond. That means scooping out all the leaves and debris that blew into it during the fall and winter. I also scooped out about 6 dead frogs. Since the pond has a liner and is only 18 inches deep, the stupid frogs have no mud to bury themselves in and so freeze to death. The first year I put the pond in I scooped out over 50! Took buckets of dead frogs and dumped them in the creek. It was gross! I was ready to fill in the pond. But then, a Great Blue Heron found our pond and has since visited it regularly every year to keep down the frog population. Now I have just a few every year. I also cut down more grasses and perennials from last year, and cleaned up the path on the side of the yard near the creek and cut back ground cover and evergreens.

Top, before, bottom, after.

Top, before, bottom, after.
Top, before, bottom, after.
This path snakes along the side of the property, between my landscaped backyard, and the creek that runs along our lot line. Since our property is in an industrial area, even though the property on the other side of the creek is vacant, we may, at some point have a neighbor with a business that is unappealing to look at. So many years ago, we planted an evergreen screen along the side of the yard. This path is between that and the creek. It would have been nice to incorporate the creek in my landscaping, but only owning the property on one side made that not feasible.

Look closely and you can see I've used broken concrete I've collected over the years to 'pave' the path. Then I used pea gravel to fill in the gaps.

And when Craig got home he made us some home made sloppy joes and oven fries, and we watched our Spartans barely win their first round game.

I actually did more in the yard, but I'll share that tomorrow as I need to get in the shower and get to work. I've got a busy Saturday!

spring is in the air

We've had an absolutely beautiful week weather wise. It's been in the low 60's for the last 3 days. Of course, I had to work 2 of them. And by time my work week ends, it'll be back in the low 40's. But that's March in Michigan. A little nice weather, a little crappy weather. But the daffodils are coming up, so spring is slowly on it's way.
Works been a little slow this week, and I'm getting out early today, so maybe I can get some more work done in the yard.
I also booked another camping trip. That's #9 with 3 more to book.
And tonight we'll watch our Michigan State Spartans as they, hopefully, start their deep run in the NCAA's. Quite a few higher seeds fell yesterday, and State's a risky #5 seed this year. The team just didn't seem to mesh together this season. Hopefully they'll get focused for the tournament.
Well, that's about all I know for now, so have a great weekend!

I love A-Train 8

Well, yesterday was a completely wasted day. First, I spent about 6 hours off and on playing A-Train 8 on the puter. Didn't do a damn thing productive. Then our Michigan State Spartans missed baskets left and right in a home lost to Ohio State. This was suppose to be 'the year' for this team, and now they have 7 losses. Oh well.
Good news, the turkey dinner was delicious! And I wasn't working. So not a bad day. I also ran the mo-ho engine for 1/2 and hours. Some say you should, some say you don't need to. Better to error on the safe side right?
And now it continues to snow. We have about 2 inches on the ground right now with a total accumulation of around 6-8 today. So we'll go out do just the minimal running around and get back home.
That's all I got for now.

Sunday post

Good morning.

I've just returned from Cleaning the Salon. It sure gets dirtier with more stylists. But I'm not complaining. It's nice to have the Salon 'busier'.

Friday and Saturday were crazy busy. That's good. It gave me a good week overall after my slow Wednesday and Thursday.
Today Craig's cooking our last turkey. (remember, we bought 3 when they were on sale around Thanksgiving)

We also finished puzzle #6.

It was fun, but the water was a bit difficult. And I've been watching some of the Olympics. And today we'll be watching our #11 Michigan State Spartans trying to stay in first place in the Big Ten when they play visiting #9 Ohio State.

And while we've been having fairly mild weather. (temps in the mid 30's) But we're under a winter storm watch for this evening and tomorrow. Predicting up to 7 inches. We'll see.

That's all I got for now.

Sunday post.

Good morning.
We are at 15 out right now going for a high of 24. We missed all the snow from the latest storm. It went to the south of us. It usually happens like this when we experience extreme cold weather. I'm a little later posting than usual because I did a super cleaning job at work this morning. Spent over 2 1/2 hours instead of my usual 1 1/2. Did a bunch of extra stuff I don't do every week.
We currently have 3 new stylist that have signed leases and will be starting in 1 -2 weeks. That will give us a full staff. The first time in 13 years. We've never had all 7 stations rented. The most was 6 when we first opened. It will be nice making some extra money. We have some repairs we need to do.

This is what I saw on the way to work yesterday, a full moon. The sky was just starting to show some light. I still haven't figured how to take pics in the dark. But it was beautiful.
We also finished up our 3rd puzzle on Friday. This one was a little harder with all those flowers and leaves the same colors.

And for dinner yesterday, we had home made tacos. They were yummy! We also watched Hangover again. And our Michigan State Spartans basket ball team is now 9-0 in the Big Ten and ranked 5th nationally. They've been fun to watch.

So it's now 9am. I think it's time to wake up lazy bones.

And I have a fun little thing to show you tomorrow.

It was a good run

The picture says it all. Our Spartans were no match for the very talented Wildcats. But we had a good run. Beat a lot of teams the critics thought we'd lose to. And on the bright side, we are losing just 3 seniors, so we'll have a good core coming back, with some great recruits. I went to bed at half time, with the score 55- 36 but poor Craig stayed up and watched it all.
And in other news,
Since the yard was covered in snow yesterday, I spent a lot of time on the puter downloading things to see and do in Columbus, Ohio. Where we are going in just a few weeks on our first trip of the season. We also ordered a few 'camping' items. Some more klippy klips for hanging lights on our awning, a couple of Coil-n-Wrap Hose Straps, and some Coil-n-Wrap Plug Dogs. And we also ordered a Winegard Wingman. It attaches to the antenna. It's suppose to help increase our UHF signals, and has had some good reviews. We ordered them from our local RV center because they e-mailed me a 10% off coupon. So it ended up being cheaper than camping world! And no shipping!
And today, with the snow still hanging around, I going to clean the inside of the mo-ho. Even sitting all winter closed up, it still gets dusty.
And apparently the water I'm getting on the dash of the mo-ho, isn't from the windshield. When the mo-ho was sitting in the driveway, and it rained, there was a puddle near the passenger side. And now that it's parked over on the gravel, the puddle is now more on the drivers side. So I'm thinking it must be coming in from the roof, and running to the front. I've already caulked most of the roof line where the rubber roof meets the edge, so I'm gonna get back up there when it's warm enough and caulk some more. But I must be making some progress. We were getting a number of leaks along the front. I spent last year caulking all along the windshield, and roof line. And now it looks like just one. So wish me luck!