Shanty Days weekend....

I drove up to Caseville last weekend for the Shanty Days winterfest. Actually, I left Thursday night after I got home from work. I don't like driving at night but it wasn't too bad. At least I didn't stop and shop along the way cause most places were closed by the time I drove by. So I got up there about 9:30 and saw that the place was just as I left it....no frozen pipes, etc. I always worry about that...or worry that the furnace stopped working. I have a breezeway where the half bath is and there is a separate wall furnace in that area, and I keep the thermostat set at about 42. Then there is the regular furnace for the rest of the place that I keep at 55-56. The thermostat only goes down to 55 so can't set it much lower. I would if I could....probably keep it at about 52 if I could. Hell, our thermostat for the main part of our house here at home is set at only 53!! But we have a separate gas wall furnace in our family room that we keep on and we keep a piece of plastic up over the doorway to contain the heat in the room, so we're nice and warm and cozy out there....which is where we are most of the time.

We take FAST bathroom breaks!...LOL

And we have electric blankets for sleeping, so we're toasty warm enough.

And we dress warm in the house!!

And our gas bills are still higher than they should be...damn gas companies!

So anyway....had a good time in Caseville. I didn't enter my chili in the chili cook-off this year. I decided to party up at the Eagles instead Friday night instead of sitting home making chili. They had karaoke Friday and Saturday nights. Friday night after about a couple of pitchers of beer, me and a couple of friends got up and sang "Rockin Robin"!.....Rockin Robin...tweet, tweet, tweet; Rockin Robin...tweet, tweet, tweet; Go Rockin Robin cause we're really gonna rock tonight!!!!

And that's what we did. WE ROCKED!!

But I think I should have stopped after the two pitchers. Saturday I felt like crap allllllll day....sick, sick, sick....I was a sick little birdie. I finally got into town later in the afternoon and went down to where the Polar Dip was being held and only caught the last two jumpers. Missed most of it. But I felt better later in the day and went back up to the Eagles for some more Karaoke and dancing fun.

Sunday I didn't do much all day....and I drove back home on Monday. Had to be at work by Tuesday.

So that is it for Caseville for quite awhile. I won't be getting back up there until the end of April...unless I can get a short weekend in. I'm busy now doing taxes until April 15. Then my neice is getting married April 23.

Then it will soon be summer!!...OMG, I can't wait. I am SO DAMN SICK OF THIS WINTER AND ALL THIS SNOW!!!

Today I put on my bathing suit and boots and went out into the snow and hubby took a picture of me....I posted it on Facebook. I won't jump into icy waters, but I can stand in the snow for a few minutes.

I rented the movie "Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2" tonight since there is nothing on TV to watch except that stupid American Idol. Why don't they just get to the 20 contestants and get on with it??? How long has this show been on and they still haven't picked the contestants? Who the hell cares how you pick the contestents....just pick 20 and then start the show!!!

And "The Bachelor" is another waste of TV night on Mondays. Personally, I think Brad is a jerk and not even that good-looking. He has this menacing look about him with his eyebrows and big nose. I catch parts of the show here and there and some weeks not at all. Who cares who he picks. He won't stay with her anyway.

I watched "V" last night and then got all ready to watch "Detroit 1-8-7" and it wasn't even on!...just another dumb show came on in it's place. I was so pissed I was screaming at the TV!

Is there nothing good on TV anymore??

So most nights I go in my room with my warm electric blanket and watch "Lost" episodes. I just finished Season 3 and gonna start Season 4. That was the best show on TV. Nothing will ever top it or even come close.

Nite....

Toaster #4.....

The last toaster I bought apparently wasn't the last toaster I bought. To refresh my memory here is where I stand. Toaster #1 was bought at Target...a cheapo $15 toaster that absolutely did NOT toast evenly meaning one side was toasted and the other side was burnt. Refunded toaster #1. Toaster #2 was bought at Sears...a pricier one at $50, but it just didn't look right next to my microwave. Refunded toaster #2. Toaster #3 was bought at Sears...the priciest of all at $55. It still didn't toast evenly but better than toaster #1 and looked much better next to my microwave than toaster #2. Tentatively and temporarily decided to keep it. But I was getting real tired of toasting a slice of bread and then having to turn it around and repop it back in for an additional 15-20 seconds to get the other side toasted enough.

So today I happened to be at K-Mart and decided to just 'look' at the toasters. There he sat....all nice and black just the way I like em, and he had all the right buttons I could push, and his price was oh-so right...$19.99!! He was a cheap slutty little toaster...and he wanted to go home with me!! He was talking to me...telling me how he'll perform to my satisfaction, telling me how he longed to get all hot and steamy for me and how he'd love to toast my bread. How could I resist him??? So I got out my money and gladly paid for his services...!!!

I wish you could have seen my hubby's face when he saw me walking in with that toaster box under my arm....hahaha... But better yet, you should have seen the expression on toaster #3 cause he knew he had been replaced! Hey buddy...if ya don't perform to my satisfaction, you gonna get replaced...

So I got out my vacuum attachments and cleaned out the toast crumbs the best I could and packed him up in his original box and styrofoam and off to Sears I went. Yep, I got my $55 plus tax back. And my cheap little toaster sits proud in my kitchen, looking perfect next to my microwave. And guess what??...I did the toast test and he even performed as promised....BOTH SIDES WERE TOASTED EVENLY!!!

Now I'm a happy toast-maker....

Toast anyone??

My toaster died on me. The heating elements in the middle which toasts both pieces of toast went out so only one side of the bread toasted. So I had to toast one side, flip it over and toast the other side. I finally got out to buy a new toaster. I thought it would be easy to just pick up a new toaster...a nice cheap one that would basically do the trick. I mean, what is the big deal to toast a couple slices of bread??

Off to Target I went in search of the perfect cheap-ass toaster. I had to admit that the cheapest was $15 and wasn't what I wanted. I want a black toaster to match my microwave like I had. The next step up was $20 and it was black so that's the I bought....an Oster 2-slice black toaster with the bagel and cancel button. I took it home and put in a slice of bread to test it and basically had what I already had with my broken toaster. One side was toasted and the other was barely toasted. I set it up higher to a little darker and then one side was toasted and the other side was burnt. WTF?? Dumb-ass cheap toaster.

I cleaned out all the crumbs and took it back to Target...

So off I went to good ole reliable Sears. First of all, why in the hell is it so damn hard to find a BLACK toaster?? Most everything is chrome or brushed stainless steel or brushed chrome or whatever it's called. I know that alot of people like those stainless steel appliances which to me looks like they belong in a restaurant or a school kitchen...very commercial cold look if you ask me. So now all the small appliances are the SS look. The only reason why I want a black one is cause it sits next to my black microwave. My appliances are actually that bisquit color...a lighter shade of almond, I guess. Anyway, whatever....

I go to Bed, Bath and Beyond and basically see the same toasters as Sears with very little much else to choose from. Nothing cheap-ass....

I go back to Sears and debating between a black Kenmore, a black KitchenAid and a brushed chrome with some black in front. By this time, I have decided to pay more money at least in the range of $50 or so. I call hubby. I can't decide. So I'm describing them to him on the phone. I even put the phone up to each toaster and pushed the handle up and down so he could hear them..!! (I got a weird look from someone watching me holding a cellphone up to a toaster, like I was having the toaster talk to my husband..) I tell him that I should have brought a slice of bread with me. Then I would find an outlet somewhere and actually test it in the store. He said he really didn't think that would have been a good idea. He advises me to go with the Cuisinart, the brushed chrome one. I hang up. I am still not sure. I really wanted a black one and the other two were black. I didn't like the looks of the Kenmore one, even though it was the cheapest at about $35. I almost decided to just go and buy the KitchenAid but I went with what hubby said and bought the Cuisinart for $50.

I take it home and get it all set up next to my Microwave and I don't like it. It's too wide and squatty looking and I just don't like the chrome look. Even hubby said he didn't like it. So I packed it up and took it back to Sears.

Okay, so now I've taken back two toasters. Went from hoping to find a good cheap-ass one for ten bucks or so and ended up having to go over fifty bucks to get what I want.

I exchange the Cuisinart for the black Kitchenaid that I really should have gotten in the first damn place. Also, my dishwasher is a Kitchenaid so I know it's a good brand. The KitchenAid one is $55...so it better damn well work!

I take it home and get it all set up next to my Microwave and it looks great!! Now for the toast test. I put a slice of bread in and one side is perfect and the other side is a little less toasted...still not even. Although, not nearly as much difference as that cheap Oster one I first bought.

I'm toasted out......I'm keeping it.......I'll get use to the uneven toasting. I'll just butter the one good side and I won't even look at the other side. Cause I really hate when things don't match up.

Now you would think that all these toaster companies could come up with a way to toast both sides evenly. I mean, how f*****g hard can that possibly be?????

Super Sunday....

Tonight was SuperBowl!!! The Packers won!!...Go Packers!!! We had a two-person, plus 2-dogs party! I served veggies and dip, crackers and cheese and chips and dip and made a pizza. Mini Sue and Keno loved it! I found the best frozen pizza ever!! (Notice all the exclamation points I'm using...(love exclamation points)) I went to Gordon's Foods and almost bought the Digiorno's pizza cause that has always been the best so far. This little old lady was selling these samples of things they sell in the store and she had these small samples of pizza that was really really good. So I put the Digiorno's back and bought those instead. They come 3 to a pack...full-size big ones...for $14.99. I baked up one tonight (15 mins) and got the other 2 still in my freezer for later. It comes with cheese and pepperoni so I added some onion, green pepper and mushrooms. It's better than Little Caesars which doesn't say much, I know, cause Little Caesars tastes like no-taste nowadays. Not like it use to be back in the day. But it is even better than Digiorno's!

Nothing tastes the way it did day back in the day, have you noticed???

I went to Big Boy's and ordered a Big Boy hamburger and it was a step above a Mcdonald's Double Cheeseburger that I could get for $1.19! It was so fuckin' bad, I couldn't believe it. Now Big Boy's has a day when you can build your own hamburger....and I heard that even THAT isn't that great. Hubby also informed me that arabs now own Big Boy's....no wonder. Glad that Indians don't own it or we would be eating soy burgers or some such crap since the cow is so sacred to them and all.
__________________________________________

Today I went to the show and saw Black Swan. Since it has nominations for the academy awards and golden globes, etc., I assumed that it was a good movie. FORGET IT!! It was one of the stupidest movies I've seen. It made no sense. Half the stuff was her fantasy or her imagination or whatever. She apparently was turning into a swan or something at the end. I have no idea. I think she dies...I think she stabbed herself but I'm not sure since it could have been a fantasy and wasn't real anyway.

I have no idea why the masturbation scene was relevant. I have no idea why she fantasized about her girlfrind going down on her....or maybe it was real and her friend was just trying to freak her out into THINKING she was there and she really wasn't.....I HAVE NO IDEA....stupid stupid movie!!!!!!

By the end of the movie, I could care less if she died or not....I just wanted to go home....
______________________________________

Oh....first day of work went really well. Nice office building but my office is small but comfortable. I really liked the other place, and I think I'll like this place too. But this place has a radio playing through speakers up and down the hallways.....a speaker right outside my office. I find it so distracting. I cannot work with music. I can't sleep with music. I can barely tolerate music radio stations in my car. How the hell am I suppose to concentrate???????

Lucky time in Caseville

I got back from Caseville yesterday. Just in time to hibernate here at home for the coming blizzard that is forecasted to started coming anytime soon. It's now 7:25 p.m. and I see no snow as of yet. From what I hear we'll be getting up to 3 feet of snow!!..LOLOL....well, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but 12-18 inches may as well be 3 feet. The way most weather reports are so inaccurate most of the time, I won't be surprised to see an inch on the ground in the morning....ho-hum...

I had a really good time in Caseville. A lot of partying and a lot of relaxing and watching TV. It snowed alot and I had my driveway plowed a couple times. I spent alot of time up at the Eagles....a meeting and partying in the lounge afterwards; bingo and partying in the lounge afterwards; and my friend's birthday was celebrated last Friday night. Oh my...maybe I shouldn't mix my drinks. I was having beer, Black Russians and Cherry shots. Next day didn't feel so hot and laid around the house all day swearing off booze FORRRREVVVVERRRR!! Even stayed home Saturday night and went to bed by 10:00 and didn't get up til Sunday at 10:00 a.m. Of course, by Sunday night I was wide awake and was up half the night watching TV.

Was lucky at Bingo and won $40 both nights I went....$80 total. Got a $10 pull-tab winner in the bar and alot of dollar winners...came out ahead of what I spent. But the best thing was for my Birthday friend. I got her 3 pull-tab tickets for her birthday and she won $125 on one and $5.00 on another! I had luck surrounding me that week.....everything I touched turned to gold..LOL Too bad I don't have a pile of gold sitting in my driveway instead of all that damn snow.

So with all my lucky winnings, I did alot of shopping in some of the nearby towns....Pigeon, Caro, Bad Axe....and spent every damn dime of it Plus more!
______________________________________

My boss called me yesterday and I start my tax job Thursday! He moved to a new location which a bit closer for me to drive. I can't wait to see my new office. He's on the 6th floor though and I don't like being on high floors in buildings. So I'm a little nervous about taking the elevator that far up. Yes, I said 6th floor, not the 60th. I'm just a big baby when it comes to heights. I have a phobia about going up higher than 3 or 4 floors in an elevator. Years ago he had me deliver something to someone on the 10th floor or something and I had to take the elevator 2 floors at a time to get there. I get off, get back on, go up 2 floors, get off, get back on, and so on and so on until I got to the 10th floor. It's just a phobia so QUIT LAUGHING AT ME!!!