CHRISTMAS WEEK IS HERE!!!

So really no new babble since last week.  My sister is coming into town today for Christmas.  She has three weeks of vacation.  Lucky b*tch.  Since she is coming, I spent yesterday getting ready for her arrival. I had to wrap gifts.  I even wrapped a bunch of cheesy USF Holland stuff that I bought at the big sale on Friday at work.  Then I stepped into my stamp room to get some stuff under control in there so we can put her dog in there when we let my girls out.  Oh yeah, we have to keep the battling bitches  separated since Polly and Stitch agree to disagree and we can't afford too many more $100 vet bills when they do get together.   Even though I had all damn day to get into my stamp room, I finally stumbled in there about 8 pm.  I got sucked into Pawn Stars on TV.  Oh yeah then Brad Metzer's Decoded came on so I had to watch that.  Then Funniest Commercials 2010 was on.  How could I not watch that?

After I did get into my stamp room, I pretty much embraced it and got into the swing of putting stuff away and piling up stuff I want my sister to look at to see about donating or selling.  Polly came and checked on me a couple of times and I had to take her out but after I got done piling up crap, I sat down at my desk and worked on organizing the stamps that I took off of the wood and put on cling foam.  I also worked on my "stamp catalog".  I am working on my own catalog that I'll  be able to look through so  I can see what stamps I have for whatever project I want do.  Hopefully, some stamps sets won't be forgotten or over looked any longer.  It's a big endeavor but I know if I work at it a little at a time, I can get it done.  Or if Deb comes over she can tweak her nose and it will be done even quicker.  LOL.  Last night I got six stamp sets done in about a 1/2 hour.  The hard part for me is walking away from the TV and getting to it.

Well enough babble for now. Again I have to walk away from the TV.  CBS Sunday Morning (my favorite Sunday TV show) is over so I can go take a shower.  TTYS.

WTH...NEW WEEK!!!

Yes once again, it's a new edition of "WTH"!!!  So today is Monday, the day after the massive snow storm we were supposed to get this past weekend.  Well it only turned out to be a fart in a windstorm for Michigan.  Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio, and just about every place else got wicked bad weather but we got nothing.  Oh sure, Saturday it rained all day and was probably close to 40 degrees.  So it became a sloppy mess on the roads in the apartment complex.  Melted a lot of the snow that we got last week.  Saturday night is spit a little snow at us but the TV news guys were still forecasting blizzard like conditions.  Didn't get the snow so much here in Holland, but the temperature dropped quite a bit in a few hours.  Got down in the teens and very windy for a time.  So all the slush on the roads turned to solid crappy ice.  Luckily there are some clear spots so I can take the dogs to the dog walk area.

Because of the impending blizzard my plans were called off.  My stamping girls were going to get together for Christmas but we called it.  So I planned on getting some stuff done but I made the mistake of sitting in front of the boob tube.  Mythbusters was on and they were busting a myth about a blind guy driving a car and got arrested for drunk driving because the guy telling how to drive was drunk.  It was hilarious.  After that was done I turned the channel and Untold Stories of the ER was on.  So I got sucked into a spell and watched it for three hours.  Great stories.  I think the best was the guy that was brought into the ER because he had taken "performance enhancing" drugs and was "saluting"  for five hours.  He was in great pain and had his woman at his side.  Well that is until his wife showed up.  Pretty funny stuff!!!  It was kind of like a train wreck and I couldn't look away.

Minnesota had record snow fall. So much so that the Metrodome's roof (something like that where the Vikings play football) collapsed.  They had to reschedule the game for today in Detroit where the Lions play.  So about 4:30 or so this afternoon, my boss comes running into our office to tell us that we got a pickup called in at the Pontiac Silverdome to pick up a piece of roofing for the Metrodome.  Woo-hoo!!!  HOLLAND swoops in to save the day!!!

So that's my first installment of  "WTH...New Week!!!"  Stay tuned.  Maybe I can delight you with more babble later.  Bye.  Thanks for stopping by.

Bentley's Tails!!!

Hey Everyone...I received an email from my friend Debbie in Denver about her darling little bundle of fur, Bentley.  This is too hiliarous not to post.  Keep in mind that Bentley loves to sleep.  As a matter of fact that's all he would do when we were hanging out at their house.  I am just copying and pasting this from Debbie's email to me.   I hope you enjoy it!!!


Okay, so you know our sweet little Bentley hates to be left home alone.  Every time we return home Bentley spends a minimum of 5 minutes whining, crying, jumping up and down and licking our faces because he is so happy to have us home.  He makes us feel so guilty we hate to leave. 
We have been wondering exactly what he does while we are gone?  Does he sit by the door crying?  Does he take a nap?  Last night we decided to set up the video camera so we could see and hear what he does in our absence.  We were gone for about 3 hours and when we got home Bentley went through his routine of jumping up and down, licking our faces, whining and crying.  We walked into the kitchen and I noticed the camera had tipped over.  I didn't think anything of it and started to watch the video.  I was relieved to see that he does not whine or cry when we are gone, and I could hear that he was walking around the kitchen and occasionally playing with his ball that makes noises.  The video is pretty boring and I was thinking about shutting it off when all of a sudden I see these black legs walking in front of the camera!   Did I mention that we set the camera up on the kitchen counter?  Bentley had somehow managed to jump up on the counter and he was checking it out!  I couldn't believe my eyes!  I had 4 or 5 animal crackers in a small bowl and he enjoyed snacking on them.  He walked back and forth across the counter several times and even got down and back up on the counter a couple of times.  We were so shocked that our "little angel" was having so much fun in our absence! 
On his 3rd trip on the counter he tipped the camera over so were were not able to see how many times he was up there throughout the evening, but we laughed all evening over the "little darling's" antics.  When the cat's away the mouse will play. So now we are on to his little games and he won't be able to make us feel quite so bad when we have t leave him at home.  We have also learned that we need to make sure the bar stools are pushed in so he won't be able to get on the counter quite so easily.
We can't believe he had us so convinced that he grieves all the while we are gone.  Quite the contrary, he has a pretty good time checking out things he would never do when we are home.
Thought you would get a laugh out of this!

Thanks for the update on your little darlin', Deb.  I really enjoyed it.  I hope the rest of you do too.

WTH DAY TWO

So today was just another crappy day at work.  I think I woke up sad and work did not make it any better.  Maybe it was having to clean the snow off my car again.  Maybe it's still post vacation funk.  I don't know...I just know that I was not looking forward to today.  Luckily, my friend and co-worker, Pam and I had made plans to go to Crazy Horse for ribeye tonight.  So I had that to look forward too.  I think part of my funk is that as much as I don't mind living by myself, I guess I feel a little lonely since coming home from vacation.  As much as my sister drives me crazy sometimes, I think in a way, I am looking forward to moving in with her when she retires and we move to Colorado.  I hope I don't live to regret these words.  Time will tell. 

At least I am not as screwed up as Sharon on Y&R.  Thank goodness for that.

Thanks for reading and letting me rant a little.

WTH???

So I think I have settled into some post vacation funk.  Not really feeling terribly happy lately.  It snowed all damn day yesterday.  I think we got about a foot of snow and it snowed all damn day today too.  Supposed to snow all damn night tonight with another 4-8 inches by morning.  WTH???  Then I get an email from my friend in Denver telling me that it is going to be sunny and 60 there today.  PMORDTMT!!!  Oh yeah, have I told you about how Denver gets 300 days of sunshine a year.  Today was the first day I saw a good portion of blue sky since I have been back from vacation.  It was beautiful but oh so brief because I had to go back to work.  Then I get out and even if the sun had come out, it had already set at 5:08.  Ridiculous!!!  Brushed about 4 more inches off my car since lunch and then hunkered over the steering wheel for 35 minutes to go 5 frickin' miles.  PMORDTMT again!!!  Okay.  So I'll stop ranting and raving for now.  Just feeling kind of blue and wanted to vent.

TTY'allS.

BACK TO THE REAL WORLD...

Well I'm back from vacation.  It's funny how much more I liked my job before I went on vacation.  Today was the day from hell at work.  There was some kind of problem with AT&T this morning, too many people off in customer service, and phone calls up the wazoo.  Crazy, insane, NUTS.  I also had to go to physical therapy today so that I can learn some exercises to strengthen my core that will not kill me.  I was achy all morning.  That's the other thing I don't like about not being on vacation.  I realized that I did not have the aches and pains I have in Michigan when I was out in Colorado.  I'm sure some of it has to do with the climate.  Here's the other thing...Colorado gets about 300 days of sunshine.  I've been back since Monday and have not seen sun since I've been back. Talk about depressing.  Anyway that is my beef today.  Thanks for letting me bitch a little.

Big Giveaway.

Hey Everyone...My friend Toni hooked me up with this great website that is giving away a Silhouette Machine.  I would so enjoy one of these.

Check it out.http://www.decorchick.com/giveaway/silhouette-machine-giveaway-and-special-discount-code/

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

• 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! 

Sorry I have been away for a few days.  But I would like to introduce you to Bentley.  Bentley belongs to my friends, Debbie and Gordy.  He is a champion Miniature Schnauzer and he is a little beauty.  Quite a character too.  Here is a picture of him when he was our tour guide at Eldorado Canyon on Tuesday.   Eldorado is one of his favorite places to go and we sure did have fun hiking with him.

So Tuesday we went to Bass Pro Shop and hiked in Eldorado Canyon and Wednesday Debbie took us looking at houses.  She thinks we should do a single family home rather than a condo.  Dianne and I did find one place that we liked that is in a "front porch" community.  We also saw a couple of places that had great mountain views but the floor plans were a little screwed up for what we  want.  After looking at houses, Deb brought us back to Tom  and Cindy's in time for Tom's birthday dinner.  After a nice dinner that Cindy worked her butt of on, the neighbors came over to wish Tom a happy birthday and for drinks and cake.  Tom and Cindy are fortunate that they have super nice neighbors.  I hope that Dianne and I can get that lucky when we move out here.

Today, Dianne and I slept in   Then kind of hung out watching TV while Tom and Cindy took a nap.  Cindy prepared a huge ham, two sweet potato casseroles, green bean casserole and stuffing.  About 3 pm or so we toted all the food over to their neighbor's for dinner.  So we got to see all the people we had met last night.  It was a very nice time.  Unfortunately, Tom couldn't make the dinner.  He is on call this weekend for his job and he had to drive into the mountains to an outlet mall so he could fix some cash registers that were down at the Gap and Old Navy. 

So now that you have met our tour guide, Bentley, I'll leave you with a picture of Eldorado Canyon.  This canyon is famous for being a destination for people all around the world to learn to do technical climbing on the sheer cliffs.  It is beautiful, but those people are nuts!!!

The Haunted Stanley

Yesterday (Monday) we went on a little trip to Estes Park where the Stanley Hotel is located.  The Stanley Hotel is famous for the book by Stephen King and the move "The Shining".  This is a side entrance but it is a gorgeous old building.   I would like to stay there some time.  It is on my bucket list along with the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.  The inside of the hotel looks as it did a century ago and it is beautiful.   They are famous for their ghost sightings and my friend Gordy has seen two on a previous trip.  I was hoping to bump into one but no such luck for me.  The views from the hotel are stunning.  It is on a hill and everything is just so beautiful.  Even in a snow storm.

Before we ventured up to the Stanley, we had lunch and hit some shops in downtown Estes Park.  We ate at the Grubstake and I bought a hooded sweatshirt at one of the shops.  I told the lady to cut the tags off and skip the bag because I wanted to wear it.  (It was about 20 degrees and I needed something warm under my jacket.)  So as I was trying to zip up the sweatshirt I couldn't get the zipper to line up right.  I made a comment and the sales lady came around the counter and said "Honey, you are zipping it up to the wrong zipper."  I was trying to zip the sweatshirt with my jacket zipper.  I had an outburst and said "I'm such a retard."  That made everyone laugh.  Well everyone except Bentley. 

Bentley is my girlfriend's dog.  He is a champion Miniature Schnauzer and he is beautiful.  He's also the most laid back dog I've ever met.  I'm sure he doesn't like me but Debbie said that is just how he is and he does like me.  Bentley went with us yesterday on our adventure. 

We decided to not head into Rocky Mountain National Park but to head home because it was starting to get dark and with the snow it was getting a little icy in spots.  But on the way back we stopped at a house along the Big Thompson River that Debbie is trying to sell to one of her clients.  This place was a dump but the location was oh so beautiful.  The scenery was stunning and we got to see some beaver work up close.  The beavers have selected this spot as a place to build a dam and they are very busy cutting down aspens.  It was very fastinating to get up close to the trees and take a good look at how beavers operate.

BIGHORNS!!!

Yesterday we took a ride to the old mining towns of Black Hawk and Central City which are now casino towns.  It's really kind of a shame that they have ruined the character of these quaint old towns.  But anyway, we had a good time at the casino for a couple of hours.   Then my sister and I shot our winnings on some beautiful CZ rings.  After the ride to the casino, we were going to meet up with my friends, Debbie and Gordy, at Edgewater Pizza and then spend a few days with them.  So on the way  back we decided to take a turn and head to Idaho Springs.  As we were cruising along, we were going around a curve in the mountains and all of a sudden the traffic stopped.  We are all wondering "WTH???" and I looked out the window and saw a sheep's ass in the window.  I yelled "SHEEP"!!!  Cindy told Tom to flip a U-turn so that we could stop and take these pictures.  We thought at first that there were only four or five sheep by the road but the more we looked the more we saw.  Then low and behold, this big ram came down the mountain to round up his girls.  What a great opportunity to see wildlife up close.

WE'RE HERE!!!!

Day 1: We arrived in Denver around noon yesterday. We didn't do a whole lot on our first day here but hang out with Tom and Cindy and eat. We hit a couple of really good places to eat. The first one was Village Inn, which Cindy and Tom refers to as an upscale Denny's. I had a bowl of potato soup and half of a "grown up grilled cheese" sandwich which was yummy. After that we came back to Tom and Cindy's condo. Tom has a bug of some sort and wasn't feeling the best so we hung out until it was time to eat again and hit the road for Deli Zone where Cindy's son, Cody, works. Had a yummy Frech dip sandwich. Back to Tom and Cindy's where we had a shot of Patrone tequila. After that I had the instant sensation that I was going to puke. After I let out a few belches and had some 7Up my stomach calmed down. We watched TV for a while and being utterly exhausted, Dianne and I went up to our room and crashed about 8:30 Denver time.

Day 2: Slept in today. Tom had a doctors appointment so we are just hanging out for a while. I guess we are going to hit Wal-Mart later today. Tom wants to make ribs tomorrow and I guess they are killer good. I don't expect anything too much today except maybe seeing some great mountain views on the way to Wal-Mart. I'll update you all later.

COUNTDOWN CONTINUES

Denver is getting closer!!! Today was my last day of work for two weeks. Tomorrow I will have a full day. I have to get up early to take my girls to camp. Then I'll stop at my good friend, Deb's, for a haircut. Then I have to beat feet home so I can grab my suitcase and head for Chicago. Well actually Elk Grove Village. My sister and I are going to do some last minute things at her place, like take her dog to camp and pack her stuff for the trip.

Then Thursday morning we have to get up bright and early and go to Carol's house so that we can park our car there and get a ride to Midway airport. It's a 2 hour non stop flight to Denver. By noon,Denver time, we will be in Colorado hugging my cousin, Tom, and his wife, Cindy.

Can you tell I'm excited? I cannot wait!!!

NOT MUCH NEW TODAY...

Not much new today, my friends. I had a bout of anal glaucoma this morning where I really couldn't see my ass going to work. But I decided to go in anyway. Unfortunately my left contact was inside out when I put it in so I could hardly see and could hardly keep my eye open. So until about 9am when I went and yanked it out of my eye I just couldn't get with the program. WTH am I talking about. I couldn't get with the program all damn day. You know how you reach a certain point of the day and you know that you just won't get much more done at work? Well that hit me about 8am.

But I got through the day. Looked at the crap on my desk trying to decide what I should pack up so I don't have too much to take home if we close down and decided I don't have too much left that I have to take except for my picture of Wyatt Earp, Lawdog, and my pencil cup and paperclip holder. Oh yeah and my dog a day calendar. That's about all I have left that I want to take with me.

Countdown to Denver is 40 days!!! YAY!!! Can't wait. Okay I gotta go now and check out my girlfriend, Deb's, real estate website to see what's new in the condo community in Denver. See ya soon!!!

BUT THAT'S GROSS!!!

Okay...the countdown continues at 44 days. As I mentioned yesterday, my sister and I are heading out to Denver next month. Cannot wait. I need a vacation. Could be a permanent vacation if the Teamsters don't vote in the "new" contract for YRC and save our asses.

So anyway, YRC, the parent company of Holland, have negotiated a five year deal with the Teamsters. The Teamster rank & file would be giving up just a shit load in concessions that many guys and gals have stood on picket lines for over the years. Sad, so sad. What makes me mad are the people in the ivory tower that thinks the company's woes are soley the result of the Teamsters. HELLO!!! People if it were not for unions, we would not be making the money we make or have the benefits we have now. Of course, now with the economy the way it is and the younger generation thinking they don't need unions, things are in the crapper. Well anyway, I kind of strayed from the reason for this rant. Our leader, Mr. Jeff Rogers, had a town hall meeting this afternoon to explain how the CEO of YRC, Mr. Bill Zollars is retiring (part of the union negotiations) and how we need the Teamsters to vote "yes" for the contract or we will be done and we will all be out of jobs. So when Mr. Rogers started at Holland, I roughly introduced myself at a town hall meeting. I asked him something about "What happens if YRC goes into the crapper. Will they cut us loose before they flush?" Needless to say, this one question made it's way to many of the terminals. Very funny. Very, very funny. Today, when Mr. Rogers asked for any questions, I raised my hand. He looked at me for a split second before he asked my question. I decided to play nice, so I simply asked "when is the vote?". After the meeting, my boss asked me what kind of chaos I stirred up in the meeting. (He knows me pretty well.) I said that I only asked one question about the vote. Then here comes Mr. Rogers down the cubicle hallway. Louie kind of called him into the cube and I confessed there were really two questions I wanted to ask. He said "what was the other question?" So I said "How much was Mr. Zollar's good-bye bonus?" He said "A lot." So I pushed it further "like over $7M?" He said "Yes, but that's gross." DUH...your damn right it's GROSS that the guy that has mismanged YRC for the last 14 years is only getting $7M gross. Like gross or net really makes much difference when you are getting something in the millions.

So that is my funny story for the day. Hope you enjoyed it!!! Stay tuned for more. I can foresee many new adventures in my near, near future.

COUNTDOWN GURU...WHERE ARE YOU???

So, Bev's Wild Adventures are fixin' to commence again. This time the destination is Denver, Colorado. Well actually my sister, Dianne, and I will be visiting my cousin that we visited in San Francisco two years ago. Only now, Tom and Cindy live in Centennial, Colorado. They moved a year ago September and they both love it there.

I formulated a plan a year ago for moving to Denver when YRC finishes kicking the crap out of us. So while we are out there, we are going to hook up with one of my best friends, Deb, who is in real estate. We want to check out the area so we can decide what area of Denver we want to relocate to when we do move. My sister is thinking about Golden,CO, as a possible location. She said if we don't have a mountain view, she is going to insist that we take a trip to Nepal to see Mt. Everest. I think a mountain view in the states would be a whole lot easier. (Please Debbie, find a place with a mountain view.)

Right now we are at 45 days and counting!!! Time is ticking away. I can't wait!!!

August Musings

Had a great weekend here in Holland, Michigan. I talked my sister into coming up from Chicago for the weekend. We both took Friday off to have kind of a mini-vacation. She arrived Thursday night and we went out to dinner at Crazy Horse. Just about died when they seated us in a section with Bev Doolittle's "Hide & Seek" print hanging on the wall. It was awesome to sit in the booth underneath it and be able to gaze at it off and on during dinner.

Friday we cruised up to Grand Haven to have a burrito at Butch's Beach Burrito. YUM...it was awesome!!! The Coast Guard Festive was going on and the town was super crowded so we drove past Lake Michigan and the state park and decided to head up to Muskegon to check out Kohls. So North we went and went to Target, the Sprint store, and Kohls. Had a great time shopping and decided to do a little more in downtown Holland. Holland has a great downtown shopping area. It's the old time type of downtown with great stores. We parked right outside The Seasoned Home so headed in there first. This is a spice store and when you walk in the spices hits your senses and it is just a great co-mingling of smells. I love it in there. Dianne bought some Beau Monde dip mix and then we headed over to Fustini's Oils and Vinegars. All Fustini's sells is high end olive oil and balsamic vinegars. Can't even tell you how many infused oils and vinegars they have. On to Jet's Pizza for dinner and then back to my place to eat and relax.

Saturday we got up early and my friend, Lorrie, was at my place about 8 am. We were heading back downtown. Art in the Park was going on and I've heard just fantastic things about it. We decided to eat first so we headed over to the Windmill Restaurant and had breakfast. We wanted to go to the farmers market before heading over to Art in the Park. Fustini's was doing a demonstration at the farmers market to show off their oils and vinegars and we wanted to pick up some tips for making great salad dressings. The farmers market was huge. Much bigger than I expected. It was also much warmer than I expected. We stayed for the demonstration, Dianne bought a lot of fresh fruit and veggies and then we walked up to Fustini's so that Dianne and Lorrie could buy some oil and vinegar to take home. Then it was on to Art in the Park which is in Centennial Park. There were so many booths set up it was hard to take it all in. I did buy a necklace that says "Woof". It was too cute. After sweating our asses off at the park, we stumbled back to the car and headed back to my place. We were all exhausted. Lorrie headed home and Dianne fell asleep on the couch. I actually went in the bedroom and napped with the dogs.

Anyway...that was my exciting weekend. Yet another "wild adventure" for Bev. LOL!!! Thanks for visiting and checking out my ramblings.

New Friend

I have a new friend at the apartment complex! Her name is Jane and she has a darling little long haired doxie named Sophie. I met her Tuesday as we were walking our girls and we walked around the complex together talking. She stopped over today and we walked our girls again. She told me that she had stopped at the office asking if anyone was looking for a work out partner. I told her, "YA...ME. I'll work out with you." So at some point we are going to start using the gym that we have here. She is a nice gal that had a jerk of an ex-husband. Kind of glad to have a new friend in this city. Although I have friends at work, I really don't do that much with them during the week. Plus if it means I will have a work out partner too...all the better!!!

Calgon Take Me Away

Well no wild adventures for me today. Just another mundane day at work. I've decided that my job sucks and I want to get the hell out of here sooner rather than later. Here's a synopsis of my job...

My title is Corporate Account Specialist which means I monitor some of the big accounts for our company. I'm the "go-to-person" for these customers. Oh yeah, I do corrective actions on our screw ups on shipments, too. Well that is if I have time to do all that stuff. I don't. What I end up doing all day is making sure that the correct load number is on the correct shipment so that we get paid for moving this freight around the country. One of my favorite accounts used to be Briggs & Stratton until a couple of weeks ago when I had to start updating "their" website. Their website SUCKS!!! It takes me a good 45 minutes to an hour to do this and I find all kinds of stuff that they never gave to us anyway. Oh yeah, and then we got GM back. So that's another hour or so of dinking around with their load numbers. It sounds pretty easy but it is mind numbing. MIND NUMBING PEOPLE!!!

I'm fed up and sick and tired. Thanks for letting me rant.

Happy Father's Day

Just a shout out to all the Dads out there. Happy Father's Day to all of you. I wish my Dad was still around to celebrate with but he will be gone 10 years now in October. Where does the time go? I tried to find a picture of him to upload but couldn't find the file. I only had really old pictures of him uploaded anyway. So love you Dad. Think of you and Mom everyday. For those of you that still have your dads, give them a hug and a squeeze today.

TOO MUCH STUFF!!!

Well I planned to organize and clean my stamp room today. I ended up sleeping in/dozing until almost 11am. Wild dreams about being in college and sharing a place with 4 other girls. Crazy...I am not in the mood to share my living space with 4 other people. Yikes...where do these dreams come from? Anyway it is now 2:35 pm and I did get my kitchen cleaned which I wanted to do anyway because I want to sort out my stamp sets for sale and put price stickers on them. I figure the kitchen counter will come in handy for that. When I was at my sister's house over Memorial Day, I brought back a third trunk full of stamping/scrapbooking items to consolidate in with mine or sell. I have a lot of my own stuff to sell so we figured we might as well get it all together in one place. Right? Does that sound about right and a damn good plan? Now I am not so sure. This stuff has taken over my house and my stamp room is a mess from stamping in there. I have a terrible bad habit of not putting everything away when I am done with it. Now I will probably have an hour of so of work just to get the supplies I do use all the time put away so I can get at the stuff I want to get rid of. YIKES!!! Why don't I learn that taking 5 minutes to put things away can mean a big difference in my time later?

Last week, my friend, Deb, and I went to a Copic marker class. We had a great time and learned so much about our favorite coloring media. We are now certified with Copic markers. I was very impressed with the class and even more excited about the markers themselves. Great product...pricey but so worth it in the end. I included the logo just to show off. HAHAHAHAHA!!!

Anyway...catch ya on the flipside.

Happy Memorial Day 2010

Hey y'all. I hope everyone enjoys their day off tomorrow but please take the time to reflect on the true meaning of Memorial Day. Please remember our veterans that helped to keep our country free.

Anyway..I'm home from vacation at my sister's. We pretty much dejunked her bedroom and linen closet over the course of a week but her bedroom is full already. Just not overflowing like it was. I hope it lights a fire under her butt so that she keeps cleaning without me being there with her. It is my only hope if I want to move to Colorado with her in the next year or so. If she doesn't get her butt in gear, I may be moving there myself. Her house is in such chaos, it pains me to see her live that way.

So on the brighter side of things, we had a great day at Bass Pro Shop yesterday. We had a great fish and chips dinner there and I found some shorts, a top, a small cooler, and a couple of necklaces to buy. Oh yeah...bought some dog treats for the girls too. After that we went to Cel's house to teach Cel, Carol and Darlene how to knit. They are all friends of my sister's from Holland. After an agonizing long hour of trying to teach the girls how to knit, Cel announced that we should play dominoes. So out came the box of dominoes and I learned how to play Mexican Train Dominoes and we had a great time. Then Cel and Ted served up a huge meal of rib-eye steak, ribs, baked potatoes, baked beans, salad, and taffy apple salad. We were simply stuffed.

During dinner the Black Hawks hockey game was on and Carol told me about one of the players having seven teeth knocked out in one of their last games and he only lost five minutes of play time. They shot him up with Novocain and he went back out on the ice. I commented that "that makes my asshole pucker up just thinking about it" before I realized what I was saying. Of course we were sitting at a table with everyone being related to trucking but I think I shocked some of them. Ted said "Well can't add much to that, can we?" Carol mentioned that actually that's how she felt too but just didn't realize it. We had a great time at dinner with good friends. Wish I would have taken my camera to get pictures of everyone for posterity sake.

My May Vacation

Okay...I'm PORDTMT now. I just typed a couple of long paragraphs telling you all the splendid details of my vacation so far and I don't know WTH I did but I deleted the whole thing. Pissed!!!

So anyway...I'll give you the shortened condensed version of my last post. Friday...drove to my sister's to start a fun vacation to help my sister declutter her bedroom. Saturday...worked all day on her big closet and took out eight or nine garbage bags full of clothes and purses to donate to Goodwill. Yikes...her closet is full again of clothes that were in a pile in front of the small closet. Sunday...wicked hot, humid Illinois day. We drove to Kenosha, WI, to attend Dianne's neighbor, Becky's, graduation from Carthage College on the shores of Lake Michigan. Beautiful campus, beautiful day, 20 degrees cooler on the lakeshore but the commencement exercises were mind-numbing boring and lasted almost three hours. Good food at Becky's afterwards. Monday...another mind-numbing day going through Dianne's SHOE closet. Took seven bags of shoes to Goodwill. Plus they were not like giant clown size shoes like mine, but tiny, little baby size 6 1/2 shoes. The closet was all shoes.

To sum up my vacation so far. Going through other people's crap can be mind-numbing, my sister is a little nuts, and I wish I would have known about Carthage College when I went to college simply so I could have lived on the shores of Lake Michigan once in my life.

So good night for now. My mind is numb and needs some rest. Catch on the flip side.

The Plan

Can you believe it has been forever since I've posted to my blog...my how the time has flown. So anyway since last summer, things have been crazy in my life. I've got a "sweet deal" on a new (used) 2007 Impala. I moved to a cozy little apartment in Holland (which I love!!!). But the best news is that I have devised a plan for me and my sister to get on with our lives.

So anyway, I have always wanted to live in the West. When I was a kid and we would go to California to visit my Grandpa, I would always ask my folks if we could move there because I loved it so much. Then one of my best friends moved to Colorado about 25 or so years ago. I've visited Deb and Gordy many times and love, love, love it out here. Last September, my cousin Tom and his wife, Cindy, moved to the Denver area from the Bay Area in California. Well now that I am single again, why not move out there? I'm not getting any younger. My sister can retired at any time, but if something happens to Holland before that, we have a plan which we have already started to implement.

We are going to sell or donate about 80% of what we own and 90% of our clothing and then move to Colorado. We'll buy a place together and buy only what we need when we get out there. Since Dianne can retire, I'll have to get another job. My dream job would be to fold shirts at Bass Pro Shop. LOL!!! Just this weekend I was at my sister's and I found a "flip-n-fold" under her bed. It's mine now and I can start practicing my shirt folding skills. I am super excited!!!

It will be a long process getting rid of most of our prized possessions. We are both packrats and have way too much stuff. Then to think of my stamping stuff...geezopeets!!! I have a lot of stuff to downsize!!! But I am up to the challenge. I'll keep praying to God that he helps me make the right decisions to reach my goal. If all of you would keep me and my sister in your prayers as well, I would appreciate it.

Later...