I'm a slacker

Good morning.
Sorry no Sunday post yesterday. I didn't do nothing yesterday! Except of course, clean the Salon. But the rest of the day, I was a slacker. I planned on going out side to work in the yard, but it was cold, (low 40's) and windy. So I pretty much sat in front of the puter all day. Played games, downloaded more games, and read blogs. How many do I read? About a dozen. And for the people that don't do blogs, I follow on facebook. And 'gasp' for those that don't blog or do facebook, I e-mail. Which seems awfully slow. :-) I wonder, does anyone still do snail mail?
And it looks like we're in for some winter like weather this week. :-( Forecast highs of only mid 30's. Yuk! It's hard to believe it's full blown spring in a lot of places like Alabama, Charlotte, NC, and even Portland, OR. It's just not fair! Okay, I done with the pity party, let's move on....
For dinner, Craig made a tasty corned beef in a slow cooker. It was really good! Not to mention cooking 8 hours in a slow cooker makes the house smell good. :-)
So today is our last 'warm' day for a while, ( a high of 50 is forecast) so I plan top get out and enjoy it!

Trip #7

We've just returned from trip #7. The summer is going fast! Just as 2 weeks ago, we went to the Saugatuck area, and again stayed at Campit Resort. Since I had to work Saturday, it was just a short 2 nighter. But the purpose of the trip was to meet a couple of RV'ers, Mark and Craig.

And here's a picture of all of us inside their Motor Coach.

(no, that's not a real fireplace above our heads)

Mark and Craig live in Memphis, TN.

They found my blog through John and Derek's blog.

And I found John and Derek's blog the the HitchItch blog,

which I found searching RV Full timing, which we thought we might want to do someday. Anyway.......They said they were coming through Michigan, and would like to meet us in person. Well, it's been so much fun meeting new people through my blog, I said, of course!

And so far, in person,we've met Mo, who lives in Dowagiac, (his store's link, The Wren's Nest is in my sidebar)

John and Derek, (our first trip this year to St Louis, MO.)

And now Mark and Craig.(sorry, no link. They don't have a blog themselves)

And they are all, just the nicest people!

After we got set up, Mark invited us over for drinks. I was really wanting to see their Coach. It's a beautiful 2008 Monaco Dynasty!

Here's a pic from the outside. Our mo-ho is in the background,

a few sites away.(took this pic on Sunday afternoon after most of the other campers had packed and left)

Had a great weekend with them. They were a lot of fun, and took us to some very good restaurants. We talked and talked, and laughed, and actually had a lot in common. Wish the weekend could have lasted longer, but we had to come back to Lansing, and they were on their way to Ypsilanti, MI. Working their way back to Memphis. I hope our paths cross again in the future.

Okay blog readers, I know I have some Chicago area readers, and we go there 2-3 times a year, so don't be shy, you can see Craig and I don't bite, so e-mail me, and let's meet on our next trip to Chicago! We love meeting the people who read my blog!

I'm almost famous!

I spent yesterday in Muskegon, visiting my mom. I get back home and while checking my e-mail, discovered I won an award! Now, I've been blogging for 2 years , and it takes writing a post about a penis to get me an award? Go figure.
But I believe an acceptance speech is in order......
First, I'd like to thank the academy, and everyone who voted for me. I love you all!
Then I'd like to thank my Mom. For with out her, I wouldn't be here.
And in a strong supporting role, I'd like to thank my Dad. For with out him, I probably wouldn't be here.
Then, I'd like to thank my sister Linda, who only 1 year older than me, helped me to understand differing points of view. Like my Mom constantly said..."will you two quit arguing?" And my sister's reply..."we're having a healthy discussion!"
And I'd like to thank Craig, who for the last 31 years has been a constant source of amazement and support.
He expanded my interests. When all I wanted to do on vacation, was to go to the big city and hit the hot dance bars, he dragged took me out west to see things like the Grand Canyon (lots of rock and dirt) and repeatedly did this for years.(he never liked me dancing with other people)
He shared his interest in sports and his love for the Michigan State Spartans. (why do they go all season getting your hopes up, just to have them dashed at the end?)
He expanded my waist line. (damn! he's a good cook! And who wants to dance with a fat boy!)
And I'd like to thank...........what?....My times up!.........That's it?.........my 5 seconds of fame is over?......But Miss America gets a whole year?......
Of course she gets a crown, and all I got was a lousy e-mail.
It figures,
I should have known a penis couldn't last that long....oh well, it was a fun ride while it lasted.

computer maintenance 2 update!

A quick update!
After receiving a number of e-mails
about Zone Alarm,
I am now recommending Comodo.
This is because of user reviews,
to PC World magazine reviews,
and not so great reviews of Zone Alarm.
But Comodo is relatively new,
and I'm not always on top of the latest.
Zone Alarm has been around for quite a while. But apparently from independent testing, Comodo is better. And might I add, also FREE!
Download it here. From PC World magazine.
Thanks to my readers for the heads up!
I'm always looking for better, and of course Free!

computer maintenance 2

To continue with my last post on Computer maintenance, Here are 4 highly recommended programs to keep your computer safe and bug free. And did I mention, they are all FREE! And as most of my readers know, I like FREE!

So any way......

#1 is Zone Alarm.

A firewall, your first line of defense against the Internet.

You can download it here, from PC World,

(a great little computer magazine for us common folk pc users)

and it's FREE!

#2 is Avast.

Why pay for expensive anti-virus software,

when you can get a great one for FREE!

Download it here, also from PC World.

#3 and #4 is Spybot Search and destroy,

and Adware.

These programs will search and remove those annoying spyware and adware that sneaks a ride into your computer when you click on certain Internet ads or links.

Not really harmful, but tracks your Internet surfing,

and slows down your puter. Get them here, and here.

And of course, they're FREE!

.

I've been using free protection for 3 years now,

and I'm bug free!

.

Just make sure you run the programs regularly.

And that means more than once a year!

.

( The previous entry WAS NOT a paid advertisement, but reflects the personal opinion of the blog owner, who loves to help others get free or nearly free stuff!)

Free Rice

I ran across this on my sister's blog.
It's called Free Rice.
Play and feed the hungry.
I checked it out on Snopes and it's legit.
You play a word matching game,
and for every right answer,
they donate 10 grains of rice.
And the game is quite addictive!
The site started October 7th.
with only 830 grains donated.
And as of yesterday.....
3,403,520,350!
You might ask, who pays for the rice?
On each page you play,
there are sponsor ads at the bottom.
They pay to advertise on the pages.
So the more pages you play,
the more money they make to buy the rice!
So click here and play!.....Free Rice
have a little fun......
learn some more words.....
and help feed the hungry!
What could be easier?

what's on your desktop

On many of my blogs I read, I ran across a interesting subject over at Brad's blog. He showed a screenshot of his desktop. I really liked it. So I thought I'd show everyone what's on mine!
This is a stock pic of Lake Powell, which we've actually been to a couple of times and gives me much pleasure and memories. I tend to switch my desktop several times a year to give me a fresh look. Kind of like rearranging the furniture in a room.
I've also seen this "meme" if you will over at Lemuel's blog, and Wayne's blog. I think they have w-a-y to many icons on their desktop. I try to keep mine a little neater, with most of my links in the favorite's menu.
So, what's on your desktop?

For funny Friday, scroll down to the next post!

help us win!

I'm asking all my readers to do me a little favor.
Old Town Lansing is in the running for an Ikea makeover award!
Out of 10 finalist, they are currently in 2nd place. All you have to do is go here, click on the Old Town Lansing link, watch their 3 min. presentation if you want, click the "vote for this" link, register with an e-mail address, and vote for Old Town Lansing! The top vote getter gets national recognition and a monetary prize to help restore some of the old buildings.
So please vote!


Voting ends Aug. 22nd.
Thanks heaps!

The Mo Show!

One of my many blogging buddies MO, is now on BlogTalkRadio! I've neglected to give his show a plug on my blog,(sorry mo, been awfully busy) So here's his latest,


You can listen live, or catch the show in the archives. click this link to hear the show live or follow the archived link to hear past shows.
This weeks show should be a hoot!

funny friday

For today's edition of funny Friday, I've run across a couple of interesting things that I, of course, "steal" from other blogs, Which I read tooo many! They are called Blog Barnacles. They are fun things you can "stick" in your blog.

First up is......

My blog is worth $54,760.38 .
How much is your blog worth?

Now, just how did they figure that out? And if my blog is worth $54,760.38, how do I sell it? Who would buy it? I mean I can always start another blog, not really that hard to do. But it's not like I have a bazillion readers that would make it ad worthy. But any takers out there?

next up is .........

$4550.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth

Now this was a bit more interesting as they ask you questions about age and lifestyle. Hmmm.......Maybe I won't be cremated. I wonder if I could take out a reverse life loan? I mean once I dead, I don't care what happens to my body. And how would I advertise ?

And last is......

As if I needed to tell anyone that!

This blog even bores me at times!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Our motor home is packed, and after work today we're off to Indiana Dunes State Park and Chicago!

OH,NO, I've been tagged again!

Damn!
It happened again!
I've been tagged for a meme!
Don't these people know I hate memes?
But,... okay,...... I think I have to do it because it's some type of blogger code.
I can thank Jamie for this. I will get even........
So here it is...... It's called Pieces of Eight.
The Rules:
List 8 things about yourself. At the end of the post, tag and link to 8 other people. Leave a comment at those sites, letting them know they’ve been tagged, and asking them to come read the post so they know what to do.

This is my 8 things about myself.

1. Out of 6 kids, 5 boys and 1 girl, I'm the tallest. 6ft
2. I raised Gerbils when I was 12. Had 35 before my mom had enough of it, and made me get rid of them all.
3. I was president of our Junior Achievement company. I was also the second highest seller, after the kid whose mom sold Avon.
4. I've performed in 2 community plays, Unsinkable Molly Brown and Carousel. I played bit parts in both. I was asked to try out for the lead in Carousel, until the director heard my voice.
5. I'll eat almost anything! I have 2 conditions for food. 1. I don't want it looking at me. 2. I don't want it moving.
6. My first job was delivering newspapers when I was 10. My second job was working in the celery fields. My third was a dishwasher while I was in high school.
7. I tried joining the navy when I was 21, but didn't pass the physical. High blood pressure( I was nervous) and bad eyesight( I've since had Lasik)
8. I HATE SPIDERS!
To those who accept this meme, ....... My great uncle who owned the restaurant where I washed dishes, made the best pie!, a pineapple pecan creme pie that is to die for. I'll give you the recipe if you ask nice.

And now...... the selected bloggers..........

first is of course is Morgen . I know he loves memes!
2nd is Lewis, I can't wait to see what he says,
3rd, Albert, which should be very interesting,
4th, Steve and Warren, Of course this is a twofer.
5th, Shaney, cause he's such a cutie,
6th, Vinnie, a fun read,
7th, BentonQuest, another michigan blogger,
8th, Anthony, A canadian point of view.

1 and done!

The plant sale is over!

It started a 9am, and ran to 1pm.
The weather was iffy,
scattered rain showers.
Fortunately, they were mainly light.
Started out with 230 plants,
divided from my yard.


By 11am, I had sold 146!
By 1pm, I sold another 46!
Leaving me with only 38 left!
Grand total...........$475.00!

So.... despite the weather,
people came out to shop!
But I priced the plants to sell.
Nothing over $5.00.


And the leftovers?
I put an add on Freecycle,
and Craigslist for free plants,
that should get rid of the rest.
Would hate to compost them.

Planned on taking pics of the sale,
but just got too busy!
Craig helped by hauling the customers plants to their cars,
while I took the money and answered questions about the plants.
And like I said, all the proceeds go to our mo-ho gas fund!

A mobile post

Good morning all from site 12 at the

Little River Casino RV Park!

Just north of beautiful Manistee, Michigan!

This is finally our first mo-ho trip of the season!

That's right! I got me a Laptop,

and they have wi-fi!

It's a fairly basic laptop, can't play my newest games, not enough power or memory. But seems more than adequate for mobile surfing and posting, and keeping up with my favorite blogs. So even on our trips, if the park has wi-fi, I'm on! And of course this laptop came with the new Vista operating system. Man! what a memory hog that is! I can't believe they actually sell these laptops with only 512 memory! That's absolutely the minimum Microsoft

recommends. I went with the 1G.

And as niffty as the finger pad is,

I also got me a wireless optical mouse.

It comes with this small USB connector.

Just plug it in a port, and your off and mousing!

And when not in use the connector snaps in the bottom of the mouse ,

disconnecting the battery, saving battery life.

How cool is that!

And of course, the first thing I did was install

some extra security. I Un-installed the free 60 day Norton, and installed the FREE Avast! Like I've said many times, I always like free! And it comes highly recommended from PC World, which I subscribe to. I highly recommend this magazine for people who, like me, are computer challenged. Always lots of info and tips.

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

We're going to do some sightseeing, a little gaming, and lot's of eating!

But right now while Craig's still sleeping,

I'm off to read some blogs!

I won an Award!

Okay, I've been hit with the meme thingy again. Morgen, who apparently delights in tormenting me, has awarded me with the "Thinking Blogger Award". Although I'm sure I'm not worthy.

Now, I don't know who thought up this silly award, but I will graciously accept it in the spirit it was given. BUT, as part of the conditions of this "award", I have to "award" 5 other bloggers. So, because I read some blogs I'd like to give recognition to, I decided to accept.

Here is my 5 selections for my "Thinking Blogger Award".


1. No Matter What.
This is definitely a blog that makes you think. And at times makes you laugh.
From serious commentary, to gut busting jokes. A good read.

2. Captain Caveman.
A guy with a fascinating past. Rediscovering himself and reinventing himself. And taking us
along for the ride!


3. Recovery Beach.
On the road to recovery, and showing us how he's handling and accepting his new life.


4. Saturday Night Soup.
Great paintings, and the stories behind them.

5. Spirit of Saint Lewis.
Because he is a crazy free spirit and just such a fun read!

So go give them a look see.

You may find a new must read Blog!

As if we need more!

The Wrens Nest.

Today's post is for my Blogger Buddy Morgen .

He owns a business called The Wrens Nest.

Today is his on-line store's,

Grand Opening!

Owning a business myself, I know how much work

that can be. And I was amazed at how much time it

took to get his on-line store up and running!

This is his brick and mortar store in beautiful downtown

Dowagiac, Michigan. The store carries a wide selection of

unique gifts as well as variety of wonderful things for the home.

Am I starting to sound like a paid advertisement?

Well, it's not.

I just know how difficult it is to run a successful business, so I'm giving my friend a little free plug here.

So click on this link, and check out his Great stuff!

The Wrens Nest.

Oh, and if you want to visit his brick and mortar store.

You'll find Dowagiac, in southwestern Michigan.

Happy shopping!

all about Craig

We've been busy digging thru more and more old photos. I didn't realize it would be so much work. And lots of time scanning! We're still not done yet.

But not to worry, we are finding some treasured pics.

Can any one say MULLET?

Any way, while going thru the pics,

we came upon some of Craig's

that were pre Wayne and Craig.

After Craig got his masters from MSU,

he went to work for Texaco.

Worked on the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.

He would spend days at a time

out there on these things.

Here he is sitting in a massive pipe

trying to stay out of the sun.

Oh, and he said he was reading Jaws.

The reason for this post is all the time

he was on that platform, he had to wear

a hard hat, company rules.

Well, we just received our

latest issue of truck-n-tow magazine

and they had a new solution for

the ugly hard hat.

The cowboy-style hard hat.

I wonder. What's next?

Can you see construction workers

wearing cowboy hats on the job?

Oh...... that suddenly gives me

lots of visuals......

more old photos

I've spent a lot of time lately going thru old photos.
I have boxes full of them. We always took tons of pictures on our travels. We've covered a lot of the US. Most of the pictures were of scenic shots. After many years, a lot of them look the same. So I've been throwing out tons of them, saving just the ones that really mean something.
I've also started scanning the older ones. You know from the 35mm days, before digital cameras. I love digital cameras, except now I take even more pics.


I'm also uploading some to Webshots .
A picture hosting site.
And it Free! I always like Free!
I like Websots over some other picture sites
because I can up load 50 pics at a time
instead of only 6 or less.
Some of the pictures I ran across,
were the building of my pond and
Some stepping stones I made.
I built the pond in 2001 I think.
Here's a link to the album for any one who's interested.
pond

The pond is approx. 15 x 30 feet.
I started it in the summer, and finished
it the following summer.


I also made some stepping stones.
The ones in the garden centers were too small.
I wanted ones more like 2-3 feet across.
Here's the link for the making
of the stepping stone.
stepping stone

I'm still going to post pics of Craig and I thru the years, but I've got more pics to go thru first, and of course Craig already told me he has to approve of the final set. So I don't embarrass him I guess.

busy, busy

Since my last post, I've been busy with some projects.
Catching rabbits, (I've got 3 so far) Booking motor home trips, (I've got 6 so far)
and organizing and thinning my vast overload of pictures!
Of course besides working!



Here's just one of the many piles
I've dug thru deciding what to
keep and what to toss.
And of course the memory
trip along the way.
Just for fun I'll scan some
of the pics later to show you how Craig and I
have progressed over the years.
It will be hilarious!

I've been reading my latest issue of PC World, and for all the bloggers who have fled Blogger for Word Press, You may want to read the latest edition of PC World.
(that World thing has a nice ring don't you think?)
They did a comparison of several free
and inexpensive programs
and rated Blogger Tops!
Read about it here PC World
I personally have been very pleased
with Blogger. And like I've
always said, Free is good!

funny Friday

For this installment of funny Friday , since everyone had such a good time with the
"How Normal are You" quiz, Let's do a kissing quiz! And of course, I chose this one because.......

Are You a Good Kisser?

Have a great weekend!

A busy day

Yesterday was quite productive. Craig vacuumed and did laundry. I scrubbed the kitchen cabinets (they're white and show everything!) and the floor and did the dishes. (well, I put them in the dishwasher)
In the afternoon, Bill, (the husband of a customer of mine) came over to "tweak" my computer.
He installed Opera, which is a browser like Internet Explorer. Well, he says it's better. It's a lot

easier to control how you accept or decline cookies, which are little codes websites put on your computer to store your surfing preferences. Most cookies don't do anything, but a lot of them, especially third party cookies, can.
I can see this is becoming way to technical, so let's just say we downloaded it and installed it and Bill took me for a test drive in it. The best part of Opera is it is a safer browser than IE. Especially if you like to surf "questionable" sites. (I didn't ask, but I think I know what he meant)
Not that a healthy male like myself would ever go to those kind of sites!

He saw that I had an Antivirus program and
also have Spybot and Ad-Aware.
So he also wanted me to have CCleaner.
Another free little program.(I always like free!)
This program is much more thorough than the
disk cleanup utility found in system tools.
It found 648mb of trash on my computer!
Even after I ran the disk cleanup utility!

After Bill left. Craig fixed another Delicious meal.




One of his specialties. String Pie.
Of course, here's the recipe, cause I know you'll want it!.

• 8 ounces spaghetti
• 1 med onion peeled and finely chopped
  
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/4 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 jar (14 oz) spaghetti sauce
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons butter, melted
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1. Cook pasta, drain.
2. Preheat oven to 350 F
3. Cook beef, onion, green pepper in large skillet over medium heat until meat is brown, stirring to separate meat. Drain drippings.
4. Stir in spaghetti sauce
5. In a large bowl, combine cooked spaghetti, Parmesan cheese, eggs, and butter; mix well.
6. Place in bottom of 13x9 inch baking pan.
7. Spread cottage cheese over top
8. Pour meat sauce mixture over cottage cheese.
9. Bake 20 min or until hot
10. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top of casserole and heat until melted.

Serves 6-8 ( The picture above is a piece that was left over that I'll eat for dinner Wed.)

And of course Craig never follows recipes to the letter. He always improvises somewhat.

Here he added chopped tomatoes and green onions when ready to serve.