Sales...."Where am I"....and Plates

I have cable TV in my computer room....*smiles*!!

Thursday hubby and I went to an estate sale. It was in a not very good neighborhood and the guy running the sale had our son work security there at the door and generally keep an eye on things. We got lost trying to find the place and ended up in downtown Detroit before we finally got on the right expressway and eventually found our way to Highland Park where the sale was at. This house was jammed from floor to ceiling....4 floors of stuff....the lady that lived there was a real hoarder. Bless her soul....she's dead now, and her grandson is selling all the stuff. You could barely get through the house. I did pick up some antiquey things to resell.

Today I drove back to the sale since it's the last day and basically giving the stuff away. And of course I got lost trying to find the place again. I think I ended up in Hamtramck before I turned around and found my way back to the sale.

Anyway, I got a few more deals. Of course, I always buy crap I don't need and now I'll have to try and resell it or whatever. For instance, there was this beautiful dress that I liked...but it was a size 16....I wear a size 10....but I bought it anyway. Why did I buy it?? I guess I could have it altered to fit if they can alter it that much....or I could eat alot of burgers, fries and pizza until it fits....

And I bought this statue of something that I'm not sure what it is. It's either a cat, a dog or maybe a pig but I'm not sure....but I bought it anyway.

I bought a few other animal figurines cause they kept talking to me saying..."please please buy me or they'll throw me in the dumpster...". I bought a cat, a dog, a snowman, a lion. Like I really need them cluttering up my house. But they're happy. They have a new home.

Then I got lost trying to find my way home. Thursday Hubby was with me and he gave me directions...although his directions when we were driving THERE wasn't so good...but today I was by myself. I ended up near Northland which is a dilapidated mall in a not so very good neighborhood, but at least it was something I recognized so I got off the damn expressway and finally figured out my way home. I really need to get me one of those GPS, or GSP's or whatever they're called...those little things that actually talk to you and tell you how to get places so directional illiterates like myself don't get lost!

Tonight Hubby and went out to eat at the same restaurant that we went to for his birthday with our son. The one where we had that waitress that screwed up our bill. I told hubby that I hope we don't get her again....and of course there she was!...our waitress for the evening. I think she has a speech impediment and I couldn't understand a word she said. We went there for the ribs, so we decided to order a 2 lb rib dinner and split it instead of ordering two 1 lb dinners. I told her that we would be splitting it so we would need an extra plate. There is a different server who brings the food to the table, so this server brings our food and the ribs are on this big platter, the size of a turkey platter, and gives my husband a plate. So where was MY plate?? Apparently, I was suppose to eat off this huge platter! There were two of those small 6" plates that they give you with the rolls so I just used one of those. So I've got this tiny 6" plate in front of me with only a couple of ribs on it cause that's all that would fit....and hubby shared his veggies with me and I gave him 1/2 my sweet potato (which luckily was served on it's own dish cause I had no room for it on my tiny plate). So I've got a couple of ribs and some veggies on this little tiny childlike 6" plate....and that half-wit waitress came by a couple times asking if everything was okay, and I just smiled and said "Yep" and she never even offered to bring me an adult size plate!

Hubby said I should have simply asked her for another plate. But why should I?? I mean, if you go to a restaurant and order a meal, shouldn't bringing you a plate to put it on be part of their job??? Besides, I don't like to make trouble...I don't like to complain....I can make do with whatever I got....like that 6" plate. It served me well...

Good winter soup....Yum....and cookies

Today I decided to simmer the hambone that I had in my freezer since Xmas and make some good soup. After I got all the meat off and got a good broth going, I threw in some potatoes, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, onion, Northern beans and noodles. I made a huge pot so we'll be having soup for awhile. It was delicious...Yummmmmmmmm! I also baked Xmas cookies! Well, they were some refrigerated Xmas cookies I had bought for Xmas but never got around to baking since I had so many other goodies. So I baked them today and put the frosting on them. Cookies are cookies any time of the year.

I went to the library today to get some tax forms since the IRS never sends us a book anymore. I always do my taxes on the tax program at work, but I like to do it myself first on paper. Sometimes, it takes awhile before I can get the time to do it at work. And I'm anxious to know what our refund is going to be...

While I was there I decided to rent out a couple of CD's. Mainly, I wanted to hear Susan Boyle's CD and decide if it's worth buying. It's just amazing what a great voice she has. Some of her songs bring tears to my eyes. She does a whole different type of "DayDream Believer" (Monkees) that is really good....she sings it as a ballad. I definitely want to buy the CD now that I've heard it.

I also rented out a Brian Setzer Christmas CD! Boy, I'm really in the Xmas mood today for some reason....must be the snow or something. I also got hubby to help me get all the Xmas decorations back up into the attic. I was getting tired of seeing them in my spare room. Maybe that's why I'm still thinking Xmas....Well, I put Rudolph and Santa up in the attic where they belong for another 9 months. OMG, In only 9 more months, Christmas will be here...!!! I better start shopping. Believe it or not, I actually have....I already got about 6 presents for people for next year.

Tomorrow we got the cable guy coming out to the house. Our computer room use to be our son's bedroom and he use to have cable TV. When we painted the room a while back, hubby decided to cut the wiring and stick it inside the wall and paint over it. So now I decided I want a TV in my computer room. I bought a nice 15" digital flat panel TV and went to hook it up and lo and behold, there was no wire where a wire should have been. I was completely baffled. Where did the wire go?? Hubby explained what he did..... He broke a hole in the wall to get the wire out but it still can't be used cause he had cut the end off (why?..I have no idea). So now I have a hole in my wall, a wire sticking out with no end to connect to my TV. That's why the cable guy is coming out tomorrow.

A Shanty Days Winner......

I had a great time in Caseville over the Shanty Days Weekend. I entered my chili in the chili cook-off but I didn't win this year. But I did win the Shanty Days Raffle! There were 3 tickets drawn with 3 winners. Mine was the second ticket they drew......so I won $250! Thanks to the IGA cashier who talked me into buying another ticket. I had already bought a ticket, but she talked me into buying another one, and it was my second ticket that won. As soon as I saw the numbers, I felt that it was a lucky ticket because the numbers reminded me of Mini Sue's birthday. Her birthday is 11-14 and the number on my ticket was 0114...close enough to be lucky, I guess.

I watched some of the events....mainly the Polar Bear Dip. I couldn't believe how many women or girls participate in it and even kids. Some wore shorts, but most had on their bikini's and one guy even wore a bikini...bra and all! When he got out of the water, his bottom was bottoming out and you could see his....well, you didn't need your imagination...haha.

I went up to the Eagles Fri and Sat night. They had Karaoke Friday night and was suppose to have a live band Saturday, but the band never showed up which bummed everybody. Everybody was looking forward to some good dance music and the guys "forgot" I guess. My guess is that they were probably all at the beer tent!

So now I'm back home....worked today....and wondering what to do with my $250 winnings.

I'm leaving tomorrow for Caseville. I think I'm going to leave the dogs home this time. I'll only be gone til Monday....than back to work on Tuesday. I feel so guilty leaving them though. Mini Sue is use to it, but I'm afraid that little Keno will wonder where I'm at and he'll feel like I abandoned him and he'll never see his "ma" again.....and he'll cry. He'll be stuck with "pa".

So tomorrow I'm going to be working on my chili that I'll submit for the chili cook-off Saturday.

I finally figured out how to download my pictures from my camera to my computer!!!! It's a little more time consuming than the way I was use to, but at least I can do it now. Now I have to learn how to scan pictures and save them to my computer. I'm hoping it's not that difficult.

The house my son put an offer on also got 4 more offers, so he submitted a higher offer. I doubt if he will get it, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

I'm going to go watch the men's figure skating. I am hooked on these winter game olympics.....

See ya....

Been Busy....

I work tomorrow and then Friday I'm off to Caseville for the Shanty Days weekend. I'm going to enter the chili cook-off contest again this year. Last year, my chili came in 2nd place. So I'll get that started Friday. There's a lot of preparation but once it's in the crockpot then I'll let it slow-cook for hours. I like to make my chili hot and spicy. I have to remember to buy some jalapenos....

Tuesday I worked out at the gym. I did 50 mins on the treadmill which amounted to a little over 3 miles and I burned almost 400 calories. Then I was too exhausted to do much of the other machines but did a few.

My son called us Tuesday and wanted to show us another house he put a bid on. It just went on the market Monday and he had a bid on it by Tuesday and it's a bank-owned house. The bank said that they will go through whatever bids they get by Thursday at 5:00. So far, I think he has the only bid although it's a low bid. We're keeping our fingers crossed. It's a really nice house and doesn't need anything done except maybe paint a couple of rooms. So I taped "Lost" and we didn't get home until after 10:00.

Today I met a friend for brunch around 10:30 this morning. We wanted to try a different restaurant and there's one near us that has a sign that reads "Breakfast Specials"....so we get there and there's nobody in the parking lot. They don't even open until 11:00!! Now I would think that if a restaurant has breakfast specials, you would think that they would be open for breakfast! 11:00 is more for brunch I guess but then you're really getting into the lunch crowd. So we went across the street to another restaurant, which ironically has the same name....so maybe the two restaurants are owned by the same guy. They should put a sign up that reads...."If you want a breakfast special, go across the street..."

Been watching the Winter Olympics. Tonight we watched the snowboarding and watched Shaun White win the gold....he was awesome!

Happy Valentine's Day....

It's Saturday night and I just got back from going out with a friend of mine. Last time we got together was before Halloween. I remember her telling me how one of her dogs was suffering with cancerous tumors. So she told me that she had to have her put down. I know how hard that is. And now her other dog is grieving and missing her buddy. She is the same friend who lost her son to cancer several years ago.

So anyway....we usually go to this one bar but it has since changed hands and she heard that it isn't any good now, so we first decided to go to this other place. But the last time we went there, I remember being blinded by these low bright lights that hang over the tables. I was hoping maybe we could sit somewhere else, but when we went to sit at this booth, I could see the damn light bulb blinding me and we decided not to stay. I admit that the place was packed and apparently nobody else was being bothered by these lights......I must have super sensitive eyes or something.....or maybe I need to wear sunglasses when I go there.

So we headed on down the road and went to this place that a cousin of hers use to own but he has since sold to someone else. There was a birthday party going on so there were alot of people and they were loud, so now my ears were throbbing....and then the band started and we were both getting headaches. We stayed, ordered dinner, had a couple of drinks and tried to talk, or rather shout, and have some conversation. I couldn't wait for the band to take a break, but then the bar music started playing and it was louder than the damn band! By 11:00 we decided to leave, drove to her house and talked in the car in her driveway. I must be getting old....can't stand the loud music anymore... Or maybe it's cause I'm still on my no-beer diet, cause beer and loud music seem to go together. My gin and tonic wasn't doing the trick, I guess. Plus, I only had two drinks and being sober in a bar with loud music doesn't go together either....

Earlier today I went to the gym and worked out. I've been getting back to the gym this week. I worked out Tuesday, after work Thursday, and again today. I do the treadmill and the leg and arm machines. I've been on this somewhat diet for over a month and I've only lost 4-5 pounds. Big deal....

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day!.....I got hubby a card, Godiva chocolate bar, and some more lottery tix. Maybe I'll go shopping and buy myself something. Oh, that's right...I already did. After I worked out at the gym, I went to Macy's cause they are having a great shoe clearance and I bought a pair of shoes. But that was today, or technically yesterday...Saturday anyway....and tomorrow, or technically now it's today is Valentine's Day so the shoes I bought yesterday doesn't count. Which means that tomorrow or actually today once I go to bed and wake up, it'll be Valentine's Day and then I'll go shopping again and buy something else which will then technically be my Valentine's Day present to myself....!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY...

Happy B'Day Hubby.......where's your money??

Today is hubby's birthday....! With all the snow we've been dumped with I wasn't sure if we would go out to eat like we do every year or not. He spent all day shoveling our driveway, and I shoveled the back patio and all the areas that the dogs like to run....from the patio all the way to the chicken wire part where they love to bark at whoever or whatever they see in the front, and from the patio all the way around this tree that they love to run around and bark at the squirrels in the tree. So we did alot of shoveling....cause we got dumped big time with all that nasty white stuff. You know the type....when all the schools are closed type.

I managed to get my car out and go shopping for a birthday cake and some lottery tix for hubby. And I got some valentines sent out for the grandkids. Then my son came over and the three of us went out to dinner. They ordered steaks and I ordered the ribs, and they were the best damn ribs I've ever tasted!! And a crew of the wait staff came over with a birthday dessert and sang a silly song for him...which was funny! Then we came home and my son gave him a really neat present. It's a piece of driftwood with this face of an old man with a beard on it...a very unusual piece. We both really like it and we have the perfect place to hang it in our family room. We thought about taking it to the cottage, but we really want to keep it here. There's a wall with a picture that I have been wanting to replace with something else and just haven't found the right thing. I knew I didn't want just another picture and this is perfect....

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Oh...Woe is me....today the bank statement came, which always makes me break out in a sweat cause I absolutely abhor trying to balance my checkbook. Maybe once a year I get it to balance on the first try but every month it's a challange. No matter how careful I try to be with my recording checks, adding and subtracting, there are always errors that I have to find in order to balance. Sometimes the mistakes are in my favor and I end up with more money in my checking account than I thought. But sometimes and most of the time, I end up with less money than I thought. I've been off sometimes as much as $100 or so. Well, this month took the cake...! I made so many errors that I ended up with over $1000 LESS in my account. I kinda wondered why there was so much extra money in my checking account. Twice, not once, but TWICE I mistook a number when subtracting. Once I thought a 4 was a 9, which gave me $500 more than I really had. And another transaction I thought a 7 was a 9 which gave me $200 more....that accounted for $700 more in my account than I actually had. Then there were several transactions where I added the checks instead of substracting them!! I am such a f'ng moron!! It's a good thing I didn't have checks bouncing all over the place. But I keep a lot of money in the checking account since I only get about 1/4% interest in my savings anyway.

So how was your day??

Hallelujah......

I know it's been a week since I posted anything, but I haven't had much interest in being on the computer much. I'll check my emails every day or so and that's about it. I spend maybe 15 minutes a day on it. I'd rather watch TV!

Friday night my middle son and his fiancee came over to visit since we didn't get a chance to see them during the holidays cause of us being in Caseville. She and I talked alot about the wedding plans and I showed her the dress I bought. Right now, they are looking for a place to have the ceremony and they had checked out a couple churches Friday afternoon. She attends this church that everybody seems to rave about....but they are refusing to marry them because my son hasn't "been saved"....."...and accepted the Lord as his personal Savior....Hallelujah!!!!...Praise the Lord...!!" (I'm saying this in jest). Now I'm assuming that she has since she is a member of this church and you would think that would count. And maybe if they were married in that church, then maybe my son would maybe start attending services occasionally and then maybe one day he will make that decision for himself....as this is something that is between an individual and God....not some church forcing it on someone just so they can get married. Maybe I'm being naive, but I would think that as a 'minister of the Lord', one of their functions is to marry people who want to get married. It is not up to them to judge people and make demands. So screw 'em....

So they've checked out some other churches who would be more than happy to perform the ceremony if you're willing to really pay for it....Yeah, for $800, they'll marry ya....yeah, it's always about the money, isn't it???

So there's this small non-denominational church near me. It's the same one I went to last Christmas when they had this Christmassy pageant thing going on. I remember being impressed and thought that if I ever wanted to go back to church some day, I think I would like to try this church.....a very simple, nonjudgemental type of church. Anyway, they happened to check out this church and for a simple normal fee of $100, they would perform their wedding ceremony for them. I don't know what decision they will make, but that would be a nice church to have the ceremony. Maybe I'll go one Sunday and check it out....
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I watched "The Bachelor" tonight and I swear they are doing the same 'script' as "The Bachlorette" last season. Remember, when Ed had to leave because of his job and then he came back because Jillian is more important to him than his job and then, of course, he is the one she picks and they are engaged now. So tonight, Ali has to leave because of her job.....and I'll bet anything that before the show ends, she'll be back and she'll be the one he ends up with.....deja vu. You would think the writers could come up with a different scenario. Oh well.....all I can say is that whoever Jake picks, I sure hope they both know Jesus as their personal savior so they can qualify to get married!

Happy First of Feb....

So Saturday hubby and I went to Alexis's birthday party. She and her mom (son's fiance) live with grandma and grandpa out in the Riverview area, which is about a 45 minute drive for us. I've met her parents before because I has at her party last year and also at the Downriver Cruise in the summer with them. But hubby has never met them yet. So now he has....

She loves Hannah Montana so I got her a HM tote bag, hairbrush, and shampoo. She really liked it. I also gave her a couple scratch-off lottery tix. They had lots of pizza and salads and veggies and dip. I didn't do too bad. I ate mainly salad, veggies and one small piece of pizza. I had NO beer cause I'm on my no-beer-for-at-least-three-months diet. I took a bottle of Smirnoff's with me...haha.

After we got home, I saw that the Miss America pageant encore was on at midnight so I watched it. I remember when the Miss America pageant was a BIG deal and it was always shown on a regular local channel. Now it's on some cable station and I didn't even know it was going to be on cause I never saw any advertisements for it. Guess it's not a big deal anymore. Anyway, I wanted LA or NEB to win, but Virginia won. I always keep my own type of scoring when I watch that show and I had her down for strong points for looks cause she is really pretty and high marks for her talent cause she really blew the roof off the place with her singing, but I hated her evening gown....guess yellow just isn't my color. But I'm glad she won.

Tonight is major TV....."The Bachelor" on at 8 and "24" on at 9...which means I have to tape Bachelor cause it's on for 2 hours and hubby and I are both hooked on 24. AND TOMORROW IS *L*O*S*T*!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The premier of the last season starts tomorrow. OMG...I so cannot wait!!

Today I went to the Doctor for my 6 month checkup and everything is fine. My LDL cholestrol had been a little high at 167 and he put me on cholestrol pills and it's down to 99...! And besides the pills, I also switched to EggBeaters which has 0 cholestrol compared to a lot that regular eggs has. And since I eat a lot of eggs, I'm sure that switching to EggBeaters helped alot.

I told my doc that I wanted one of those C-125 blood tests that tests for Ovarian cancer because I don't want to wait until I have symptons cause by then I'll be in a Stage 3 or 4 and that's why it's so deadly. I told him I wanted to have it tested now BEFORE I get symptons. Well, he told me that that test is very very inaccurate alot of times and if I got an inaccurate result then he would have to send me to my OB/GYN and I and her would both get upset and involve a lot more expensive testing and everything would turn out okay anyway. He said unless I tore his arm off, he won't do that test. He told me to talk to my OB/GYN. ??????WHAT?????? So, in other words, when I get actual symptons, then they'll do a test???? Right, and bury me in 6 months while you're at it!

Now does that make any sense???

Oh...and I'm starting my tax job on Wednesday....