Labor Day 2011

Well folks my vacation is over. I'm sad just typing that. Since it is Labor Day I decided not to do any labor today. My friend, Lorrie, and I went to the Gerald Ford Museum today since it was a free admission day and I really wanted to see the special Benjamin Franklin exhibit they have there. Lorrie had never been there before and really seemed to enjoy it. The Ben Franklin exhibit was pretty cool. It did not have as many artifacts as I thought it would, but I guess since he lived a long, long time ago maybe not a whole lot has survived. What was there was very well done. Unfortunately because everything there was fairly old the lights were pretty dim and my old eyes were having a problem reading everything I wanted to read.

After the museum, we strolled past the labor organizations that had tents set up on the bank of the river. Then we hit the craft booths and went and did a little craft shopping for ourselves. Lorrie wanted to make a fleece blanket for her grandson, Oliver. You know the fleece blankets where you cut and tie the edges? We went to Michaels and then to JoAnn Fabrics as they had fleece on sale. We found a really cute jungle animal print for one side and picked out a solid brown for the flip side. I was pretty proud of myself as I did not buy anything at either store. We also stopped at Subway for a sandwich as we were both hungry after our museum and shopping adventure.

But now my vacation is over and tomorrow I have to go back to work. I'm not looking forward to it at all and I'm sure tomorrow will be a very long day. So I should probably sign off on my vacation adventures and check out my work email. Maybe I can eliminate a few hundred emails before I get to work tomorrow.

Goodnight to all of you. Thanks for following along on yet another Bev's Wild Adventure.

WTH??? Where Did the Time Go?

My vacation is almost over and it makes me sad. (I'm saying this like the guy on the Geico commercial that says "and that's why yellow makes me sad." I think the commercial was written for a guy that worked for YRC.)

My sister left for home today so now I can begin work on cleaning up my apartment. For some reason it gets kind of junked up and more messy than usual when she is here. Of course it doesn't help that this place is less than 1000 square feet, I'm sure. We brought a bunch of paperback books from my storage unit to sort thru so that I can sell them so I think I have close to 300 books in my kitchen and dining room right now. I'm going to try and go thru a few of them today plus I am doing laundry. I decided it's time to wash all my bedding. Sheets, blanket, comfortor and pillows are all going to be clean when I go to bed tonight. Not that I want to go to bed because that means I'll only have one more day of vacation. Surprisingly, my stamp room is the cleanest room in my place right now. I even made two cards last night without having to hunt for stuff. YAY!!! It was awesome.

Tomorrow on my last day of vacation, I'm going to the Gerald R. Ford Museum as they have a special exhibit about Ben Franklin there right now and tomorrow it's free admission. I was planning on going by myself, but one of my besties, Lorrie, said she had never been there and wanted to go too. I try not to impose my love of history on my friends as many of them do not share my enthusiasim for the subject or just don't get it at all.

I'm going recap what we did on vacation just so I have a journal of it for future reference. Basically that is one of the reasons I started my blog in the first place.

Friday, August 26th, we didn't too much but did a little shopping, etc.

Saturday, August 27th, we ventured up to my storage unit and dug in and worked at sorting and donated a car load of stuff to charity. We also dropped my sister's car off to my friend's house so her husband could replace the shocks and struts.

Sunday, August 28th, we visited with my only remaining aunt at my cousin's house in Ypsilanti. We rode with my cousin Sherry and her husband, Ed. We visited with my Aunt Ruth, my cousin, Lorrie, and her son, Chris. It was Lorrie's birthday so I had some reprints made of some family history and framed them for her. This included a family portrait of the Cooper family in 1913 (my grandmother's family on my Dad's side), my grandpa and grandma's wedding picture and wedding invitation from 1913, and the immigration papers from my Grandpa Nickel's family from Germany in 1893 when my grandpa was 10 years old.

Monday, August 29th, let the burger tour begin!!! My friend, Deb, came over and we headed north for Shelby, MI, for a burger at the Brown Bear Tavern. It was awesome and tied for the top spot on our burger tour with Goog's in Holland. Since we drove all the way to Shelby, we took a minute and walked thru town. We checked out a pawn/antique shop across from the tavern where the proprieter was not really aware we were there. He would let out a crappy smoker's cough every now and then so we knew he was there. But he was pretty busy playing solitaire on the computer. We checked out the pharmacy in town and I bought a Tervis Tumbler for my collection at a ridiculous price. Then we headed over to the Shelby Gem Factory and were dazzled by sparkles beyond compare. The Country Dairy in New Era was our next stop and we had hot fudge sundaes and bought some cheese and brats to bring home. We headed for home then but somehow got turned around and ended up where we began in Shelby. Too funny.

Tuesday, August 30th, my sister and I headed to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum and the second stop on our burger tour at the Choo Choo Grill. (Unfortunately we rated them last on the tour.) The atmosphere is so cool in this little restaurant and I would love to go back and have breakfast there sometime. Since we were half way to Sparta, we cruised up there and did a little more in my storage unit.

Wednesday, August 31st, my sister and I headed north once again but this time we headed to Rockford for the third stop on our burger tour. The Corner Bar in Rockford came in fourth in our review. We also visited the WWW Shoe Outlet and then back to Sparta for more fun in the storage unit. We donated another car load of stuff and came home with a trunk full of books and a back seat full of trash.

Thursday, September 1st, was supposed to heat up so Dianne and I decided to continue on the burger tour and cruised up to Muskegon to the Station Grill. We drove thru a lot of Muskegon and I'm not really sure how we found the place but we did and we really enjoyed our burger there. We gave it the third spot in our ratings. We also made a stop at Wal-Mart for some warm weather clothes.

Friday, September 2nd, was another hot day, so we checked off another thing we wanted to do during our vacation and went to the movies to see "The Help". It was an excellent movie and I can't wait to read the book now. Then we headed downtown to do a little shopping at Teerman's, Fustini's, and Home and Company. From there we met my co-worker and friend, Pam, for the fifth and final stop on our burger tour at Goog's Pub and Grub in Holland. Googs and the Brown Bear tied for first place on our burger tour but I suppose I'm kind of biased because I love Goog's.

Saturday, September 3rd, since we were burgered out by this time, we headed back downtown to the Farmer's Market. Holland has one of the best Farmer's Markets I have ever been to and we loaded up my market basket with goodies like apples, peaches, kale, summer squash, cupcakes, and a jar of meat rub. One final stop at Meijers for a few groceries as my sister wanted some yummy almond Dutch pastry,banket, to take home with her. Then we headed home to feast on fried summer squash and to roast some kale. We just kind of chilled after that and watched TV and we were not looking forward to going to bed because that meant we were one day closer to our vacation being over.

So there is my synopsis of my week. Hope it wasn't too boring for you but hey these are truly Bev's Wild Adventures!!!

Burger Tour Day 5

Hello from Burger Tour 2011 Central!!! Today is the fifth and final day of the West Michigan Burger Tour 2011 for Dianne and Bev. In many ways I guess you could say we saved one of the best for last. Today we visited Goog's Pub and Grub in Holland. Like I mentioned yesterday we have dined at Goog's many, many times as I live in Holland now. It is close and yummy for burgers, burritos and pizza. We started off our meal with an appetizer. Their Bacon Bleu Chips are one of the best damn appetizers on the planet. They top home made potato chips with bleu cheese, melted mozzarella and bacon. It is yummy with each and every bite. Because of their yumminess it is hard to leave room for the huge burger they bring out. I'm fairly certain they are 1/2# and are very juicy and flavorful. There is a wide array of selection too. Dianne opted for her old stand by olive burger but I decided to go with one of their new menu choices, the cheezy tator burger. This burger has bacon and crispy tator tots topped with cheeze. Mmmmm, mmmmm good. Unfortunately, I could only eat half of it. Come to think of it, I've never eaten a full burger at Goog's yet.

Now comes the time to pick our winners. Dianne and I both agree that the Brown Bear and Goog's ties for first place. The Station Grill is next and then the Corner Bar and the Choo Choo Grill. It was hard to pick a winner but I believe doing five burgers in five days made it easier. But I don't think I will need a burger for a few weeks. I'm kind of burgered out if you know what I mean.

Burger Tour Day 4

Hello Friends!!! The Burger Tour 2011 continued today with a stop at the Station Grill in Muskegon. I've been there before and was not overly impressed but today I gotta say, the burger was excellent. My sister and I got kind of a late start today and i thought I knew where the restaurant was and I got off the freeway where I thought I should, but we spent a lot of time driving thru the hood of Muskegon. In case you've never been to Muskegon, there seems to be a lot of "hood" there. We finally turned around when we got on the freeway heading north. So we turned around and headed back towards Muskegon and ended up going towards downtown which is closer to the lake and was quite nice. By this time Dianne got the GPS going on her phone and found out that we were only about 4 1/2 miles from the restaurant. Somehow we found our way even when the GPS lost its signal and cruised in to the cute as heck restaurant. It's in an old filling station and it is really cute inside and out. It wasn't crowded and we quickly ordered up some bacon cheese burgers. The smallest is a 1/2# burger and it was very flavorful, juicy and the condiments did not over power the taste of the meat. It was very tasty. As a matter of fact, we both ate the whole burger which I usually can't do with a 1/2# burger. My sister said that to her the burgers from the Choo Choo and from the Corner Bar were just burgers. The Station Grill and the Brown Bear were really good burgers. So we have checked off four of the five burger joints off our list. One more remains and that is Goog's Pub and Grub in Holland. Since it is in the town where I live I have been there several times and I know it is excellent. I know it's going to fit in one of the top three spots for sure. It's going to be a tough decision. Come on back tomorrow for the final review.

No storage unit work for me today, though. It was in the 90's today and quite humid. I was sweating standing still. But we did drive by the beach in Grand Haven, which is one of my favorite places in Michigan. From there we went to Wal-Mart in Grand Haven since I don't like the Wal-Mart in Holland at all. I wanted to pick up some sweat pants for this winter. Nothing like thinking about cold weather wear when it's 90+ degrees out. LOL.

Burger Tour Day 3, Storage Unit Day 3

HOLLA!!! My vacation is half over. It makes me very sad. I've really enjoyed my time off and I have gotten a lot done so far this week.

Update on the 2011 Burger Tour. Today my sister and I were planning on visiting my storage unit again since today was supposed to be the last day of nice weather. Since we were going to Sparta, we decided to detour to Rockford to continue our burger tour at the Corner Bar. The Corner Bar in Rockford is known for its hot dogs and if you can eat 12 dogs you get your name on the wall. So it was kind of a surprise that they placed in the top five for the best burgers in West Michigan. The menu claims that they have "Dam Big Burgers" (or was it "Dam Good Burgers"?). There is a dam in Rockford so that is how they came up with the catchy title for their burgers. Dianne wanted just a cheese burger and I went with a cheddar cheese burger that came with lettuce, tomato, and onions. Homemade chips were on the side. The burger was very big and I could only eat half of it. It was very good and we felt that it beat out the Choo Choo's burger from yesterday. But we still think that the Brown Bear is taking the top spot so far for flavor and yumminess. Tomorrow we are going to the Station Grill in Muskegon. I've been there once before and the burger was good but I don't think it was as good as the Brown Bear. But we'll see how it is tomorrow. It will be a new experience for Dianne.

When we finished lunch, we headed over to the Wolverine World Wide Shoe Outlet to see if I could find new boots for this winter. I found some slip on clog like ducks there a few years ago and was hoping to find some new ones but no such luck today. It sucks to have such huge feet. Everything that fit was kind of ugly and the stuff that was cute was too small. I guess I need to check out the clown shoe store next. LOL.

So on to Sparta to my storage unit. We dove right in and pulled out empty boxes and empty totes into the driveway so we could get to the small mountain of junk that we still had to go thru. We dug right in and started loading stuff into the car for charity. I cannot believe the Christmas stuff I had that I had forgotten about. It seemed like the car was full in no time so we headed off to Mel Trotter's Mission Store to donate the stuff. When we got back from dropping the stuff at charity, we came back to kind of organize the empty bins and boxes and I just ran out of steam. I could not concentrate and was flitting from box to box. I decided it was time to put the stuff back in the unit and head for home before traffic got too bad. I did find the nativity set I bought years ago that I thought was so cute. Now I can put it out this Christmas and enjoy it. We also brought home a few boxes of books to go thru so I can sell them. It felt so good to come home and just stand in the shower and get the storage unit dirt off me. My sister thinks I should feel good about how little is left but I cannot wait until the unit is empty and it is all behind me. Then I can tackle the next pile of crap that I can find to go thru. It's never ending. NEVER ENDING!!! But I just keep praying for patience and persiverance to keep going and keep elminating my hoard.

Burger Tour Day 2

The Burger Tour continues today!!! My sister and I have sampled yet another burger joint.

We started out the day at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum. It's been a while since my sister has been there and she wanted to go so we spent the morning there. It was not busy at all and I always enjoy my visits. The 20 minute movie they have was just starting after we got there so we sat thru that and then headed to the exhibits. I always learn something new everytime I go there and I always get a kick out of the beginning of the exhibits when you step back into the 70's where leisure suits, platform sneakers, macrame and eight track tapes were the norm. When we got to the end of the exhibits we found out that a new traveling exhibit about Benjamin Franklin is starting on Friday. I was bummed that we didn't know about it. But I did find out that the museum is free on Labor Day and even though Dianne is going home on Sunday, I might just take myself down to the museum to see the new exhibit. After strolling thru the museum we went out to see the President's and Mrs. Ford's graves.

After the museum we headed out to our second burger joint on the 2011 West Michigan Burger Tour. Choo Choo Grill here we come. Luckily when we got there there as an open booth that we could slip right into. In case you have never been there this is a very tiny restaurant. I think it might hold 18 people total at one time. My sister had an olive burger with cheese and I had the Depot Burger which was a deluxe burger with ham and cheddar cheese. It was very good but I have to say it was not as good as the Brown Bear's burger that I had yesterday. We played tourist when we left there and I made Dianne pose for a picture on the steps under the awning.

Since we were halfway to Sparta, we decided to head up to my storage unit up there to get rid of more stuff. We didn't stay long but we did pack up a bunch of stuff that belonged in the dumpster and some books that I am going to sell. It's amazing the stuff I have. This storage unit has made me realize that I have accumulated way more than I ever needed or wanted. Plus I know that the stuff that is going away will never be back and I will never be going down this road again. I have a much more critical eye when I look at things now. Retailers are so good at marketing crap to the vulnerable masses. I don't want to be a collector of crap again.

Let the Burger Tour Begin!!!

It is day four of vacation and we finally went for our first burger on the West Michigan Burger Tour. My friend, Deb, joined my sister and I to kick off our burger tour. We decided to hit the joint that was claimed to be the best by the news anchor at WZZM TV. Like he said, they were all good but the station made him pick a winner. The first place winner was The Brown Bear Tavern in Shelby, MI. When we walked into the bar, the first thing you notice are all these different chandaliers hanging from the ceiling. So totally unexpected and out of place but yet they all looked like they belonged there. The Brown Bear is known for the Bear Burger which is a one pound burger. Lucky for us, they also have a Cub version which is a 1/2# and a Wimpy version which is a 1/4#. We all opted for the Wimpy burgers. Dianne and Deb both ordered the olive burger and I ordered a Pine-a-Pino burger which had ham, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, onion, and bleu cheese crumbles and jalapenos. I asked for it without jalapenos but unfortunately, they left the pineapple off as well. But the burger was delicious even without it. They claimed on the menu that they used top quality meat and it made all the difference and I have to agree the meat was excellent. They also had bakery buns which were yummy too. Like Deb pointed out the condiments did not take away from the flavor of the burger itself. We all agreed that the burgers at the Brown Bear were excellent. We would all highly recommend the trip to Shelby for a burger at the Brown Bear.

We decided since we drove all the way to Shelby we might as well walk thru town. (It's like a block or two long.) They had a nice Good Neighbor Pharmacy so we stopped in. The cashier was very friendly and greeted us and told us about the sales that were going on. Dianne and I both ended up buying a Tervis tumbler.

Our next stop was the Shelby Gem Factory. We were greeted by Larry Kelly who started the company. He ushered us into a theatre to watch a 10 minute video about how their synthetic gems are made. When the video was over we oohed and ahhed over the gems themselves in the showroom. The gems there are really beautiful at a fraction of the cost of the real thing. According to the guy we spoke to in the showroom some of the stones they produce are stronger than the real stones especially the softer stones like amythests and emeralds.

Our next stop was Country Dairy in New Era. We missed our exit to get off at New Era and had to take a 5 mile detour to get there. We especially wanted some cheese curds and ice cream. We knocked around the store and picked up some cheese curds, aspargus brats (can't wait to try them), and garlic chive cheddar cheese. Then of course, we ordered hot fudge sundaes. Gotta say, those sundaes were delicious. We decided not to go on the tour of the dairy because it was getting kind of late and we didn't know if we really wanted to spend $6 a piece for the tour. So we headed home however we some how ended up back in Shelby. We were going in the wrong direction and didn't even realize it. Plus it was only like a couple miles down the road to the dairy that we had gone at least 10 miles out of the way on the way there. We all burst into laughs when we realized where we were.

It was a really great day. The weather was perfect, the burger was perfect and the sundae was perfect. We had a great time.

Tomorrow it's off to the Gerald R. Ford Presidental Museum and the Choo Choo Grill for another burger. Stay tuned for updates.

VACATION AUGUST 2011

Hey, hey, hey...it's vacation time!!! Six years ago my sister and I took vacation this very same week in August. We went to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and had a great time. We were planning on doing that again this year but we didn't have the extra cash to spend so she came to Michigan yesterday and we are just hanging around here. Our main goals are to clean out my storage unit in Sparta and to complete our West Michigan Burger Tour. One of the local TV stations had a contest to find the best burger joint in West Michigan then they visited the top five burger joints and picked a winner. So now we aim to visit the top five places and pick our own winner. The contestants are the Brown Bear Tavern in Shelby, the Station Grill in Muskegon, Goog's in Holland, Choo Choo Grill in Grand Rapids, and The Corner Bar in Rockford. Their pick was the Brown Bear in Shelby which is known for it's one pound burger. So stay tuned for our reviews.

Six years ago when my sister and I took vacation one of our fondest memories was staying in a hotel across from the Soo Locks in Sault Sainte Marie. We both love the locks and it was so nice looking out our windows and seeing the locks and the ships going by. If you've never been there, it is definitely a place you should visit at least once in your life. Put it on your bucket list for sure. So while we were there Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. This time around Hurricane Irene is going to hit the east coast. When ever we had the TV on while we were on vacation six years ago it was pretty much non stop hurricane coverage. My sister is already searching the TV for hurricane programing.

Speaking of the hurricane one of my best friends is an insurance appraiser. My friend, Deb, (that just moved here from Denver in June) was called out this morning to head east. I called her this afternoon and she said they were packing up the camper to head to Richmond, VA, tomorrow morning. We stopped to see her and Gordy for a few minutes this afternoon. She said they could be gone for a few months to a year. I hope it's a quick trip for them and I hope they are home soon.

So stay tuned for more of Bev's Wild Adventures. I mean what could be more adventurous than a burger tour? TTFN!!! (Ta-ta for now!!!)

Crap, Crap and More Crap

Hello to all my friends from Bev at Crap Central. So as many of you know I am a recovering Crapaholic (or hoarder if you prefer). I have a storage unit in Sparta that I have had for oh I don't know maybe six years now. My goal is to elimate this storage unit and I have been working hard on it when I can but as many of you are aware, it has been an unbearably hot summer. The last time I went to the unit was the second weekend of June and loaded up my trunk with 15 boxes of stuff to go thru. Well they rode around in my trunk up until the last weekend of July. The only reason I unloaded them then was because I got up at 6:30 in the morning on a Saturday to move my car back in front of my building (they were redoing the parking lot and I had to park away from my building that night). I decided since it was only like 80 degrees instead of 90 and I hadn't taken a shower yet, I would unload my trunk. Plus I had a primo spot right by the stairs.

So I decided I had to do something with it today and I tackled some of the boxes in my kitchen. I threw away pretty much all of two boxes really quickly. Then I started on a box that was marked "Living Room-Unpack" so I was thinking it was from when I moved from my house on Preston to my Mom and Dad's house in 2001. Yeah, NO!!! It was stuff I packed up in 1986 when I moved into my house on Preston. OMG!!! I had three beautiful stacking ash trays. I can't tell you the last time someone smoked in my house. An alarm clock that was probably one of the earliest models of digital alarms. A Santa bank with $2 in quarters in it, a wooden ANR semi model, a really fancy cut glass candy dish, a pine cone (from where? not sure), a cute donkey figurine and my favorite, a figurine of the RCA dog. He's on my shelf now. The donkey is going to work tomorrow to live with my Smart Ass and Dumb Ass statues. So anyway I have a couple of boxes packed up for charity and I huge bag went to the dumpster. I also got caught up on my shredding today. That felt really good. I have been putting it off for along time and it is finally done. YAY!!!

So small accomplishments today put I am really pleased with what I got done today. Just praying for the strength to carry on and keep on keepin' on. So if you could say a prayer for me too, I would appreciate it.

Hello Friends!!!

Hello my faithful followers. It's been a while since I entered a post. It's been a really hot week here and every where else too. It's almost like we have been living on the f'ing sun this past week. Of course, in Michigan that also means humidity up the wahzoo. It's been a week of 90+ degrees but the heat index has made it over a 100 most of the week. Today it finally rained for most of the morning which was really nice. We needed it. It's been so hot, I havent even walked my girls this week. But I don't think they minded too much.

So speaking of my girls, Mabel has a little bit of an issue with health related problems. She has non contagious mange that causes an auto immune deficiency. She has battled this her whole life and it causes her to be very itchy. We were finally getting that under control and last year she started really going overboard on the itching. She has a big bald crappy looking patch on the back of her neck and her shoulders are pretty bad too. I think she might have an allergy issue with the carpet here or something. Well because she does so much itching, she tends to "preen" herself with her teeth. Well little Mabs has an underbite and in February I noticed a gray patch behind her bottom teeth. It was spongy and looked bad and I was afraid she was rotting from the inside out. So of course I took her to the vet. They took her in the back room and when they came back with Mabel the vet also had a ucky gray patch on a napkin. Turns out it was matted hair woven between her teeth. So anyway, I've been checking her mouth every month to clean out whatever hair is stuck between her teeth. This past Saturday I looked and saw some hair to get out of there and kind of picked it out. Well she was licking a lot so I figured there was some hair that I didn't get and she was trying to spit it out. Sunday night she started licking again like she was on Saturday. I figured I better check it out and it turns out that one of her front teeth on the bottom was really loose. I tried to get ahold of the tooth but I couldn't with my fingers so I went to my stamp room and got a pair of hemastats, poured some alcohol on them and then grabbed hold of the tooth. It came right out but it kind of freaked me out because of all of Mabel's health issues. So I took her to the vet on Monday to make sure she didn't have an infection or anything. She didn't but now whenever she smiles at me, she looks so funny. I know I will learn to love her new smile as much as I did her old smile. She is my sweet Mabel after all.

Tuesday, June 28th...Day from Hell

Today was a day from hell at work. I think I have ADHD. That is all.

Two Months Later...

Where has the time gone??? I can't believe it's been two months since I posted anything. I've been busy with a couple of things. I've been trying to clean out my storage unit in Sparta. The crap has been in there way too long and I'm finding that I have an emotional attachment to very little of it. I have found some great treasures though. Like my favorite salt and pepper shakers that I kind of wondered if I would ever find them. They are now where they belong in my cupboard filled with salt and pepper. I've donated a lot of stuff but I have thrown out much more than I've donated or kept. The stuff has been breeding over there and everytime I go back, it surprises me how much more stuff is there than I remembered from the last time I've been there.

Another thing I've been working on are the yearly calendars that I make. I started late this year and really didn't get going until the middle of March. But I've been smokin on them and I plan to be done with all 12 months by the end of June. So far I have 10 months completely finished. So eventhough I haven't been working in my stamp room as much as I wanted to, I have been plugging along on my stamping project and will have plenty of time to relax closer to the holidays.

I did take a week's vacation in May and my sister came up. We were going to finish cleaning my storage unit in Sparta but the Friday before vacation I found out Mabel needed surgery because she had a growth on her gums. The vet was certain it was cancer, but we got really good news that it was just a calcium growth. My prayers were answered. It kind of disrupted the whole week as she had surgery on my first day off. It did not help keeping me focused. My sister and I went up to the storage unit after dropping Mabs off at the vet but I was pretty distracted. We did take a big load of stuff to charity and brought a load of trash home. Here's the funny part...I pull up the dumpster at the apartment complex and they are painting the damn catwalk. I was freaking out because I had two huge bags of stuff in the back seat to dump before I had to go to pick up Mabel. So I ran the trash over to my storage unit here in Holland. Went back the next day to get the trash out of storage to throw away. What a day. I tell ya!!!

Anyway...not much else is new. Oh wait...my friends Debbie and Gordy that lived (yes I said "lived") in Denver and said they would never leave there have moved back to Michigan. WTF???

So I leave you with that!!! Talk at you soon!!!

Been Busy!!!

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I've been busy organizing my stamps that are on wood into my stamp cabinet and cataloging what stamp sets I have. It's been a daunting task but I've been keeping at it. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Well I have my wooden stamps done and tomorrow I start on organizing the stamps I'm going to mount on foam.

I've been praying that I would have the determination to keep going on this project and I think I've been going steady for about a month. All I can say is "thank you God for answering this prayer". It's been so great to just keep plugging along and not get discouraged on the progress I'm making. It didn't become a mess overnight and it's not going to get organized overnight either but I am extremely pleased with the progress I've made. My goal is to have my stamp room 90% organized by the time my sister gets here for vacation in May.

I only have God to thank for helping me get through this. Thank you, thank you, thank you for answering this prayer.

MARCH MUSINGS

It's finally Friday!!! I can't tell you how happy I am to be done with work for the week. It was like groundhog day all week long. Get up, go to work, come home for lunch, go back to work, come home, eat, watch TV, and go back to bed to do it all again tomorrow. This week was particularily exhausting. We had a terrific end of the month and in the freight world, it means lots of freight and not enough drivers. We had service failures all over the place all week long. It never got any better. Freight was sitting at origin terminals because we didn't have enough road drivers to move it down the road. I hate having to tell our customers the same sad excuse.

On another front, my sister is not ready to retire because she is not old enough to get Medicare and to pay her COBRA it would be $1200 a month. Well I was talking to my boss and he asked about Dianne and asked if she was still working. I said "Hell yes. She's going to work until she's 80 like Edith in Knoxville. She must think she is going to live until she is 150." So we talked some more and we got on the subject of how much her COBRA would be and he told me that she could get insurance from Blue Cross for about $300 to $500 a month. He checked it out for himself and his sister. I gave her the info but of course she won't check it out. She passed it off to a friend that retired in January to check out first.

Tonight I spent some time in my stamp room getting my punches on my brand new punch board that Mark put together for me. He did a beautiful job. I can't believe how great my punches look all lined up on the racks. Before I hung them up, I made a sample of each punch so that I could have a sheet to look at to see what I have. I got the idea from my friend, Deb. She has a beautifully organized stamp room and I like to steal any idea from her so that my stamp room will be organized too.

That's all for now. Have a great night and a better tomorrow. I know I will because groundhog day is over for the week. YAY!!!

February Greetings!!!

Hello to all my friends out there!!!

Well it's February and I'm officially another year older. Older than dirt that is. Had a great day on my birthday. I had jury duty and I knew because it was my birthday I would get picked for a trial and sure enough...I did. I have to go back to court on March 15th for trial. Oh well another day off from work.

After jury duty, I went to my friend, Deb's, house and she gave me a haircut and then we went to the scrapbook store and hung out and bought paper for cards because neither one of us has any paper. LMAO!!!

It was fun hanging out with one of my best buds on my birthday. After I got home, I made seven cards. Yeah baby!!! That's what I'm talking about!!!

So I know that none of you ever get tired of hearing about my dogs, Polly and Mabel. Well those of you that know Mabel, knows she has a skin condition and her favorite pastime is scratching. Scratching her ears, her shoulders and her neck. She has a patch on her neck that is really nasty. But anyway, I was watching Dr. Oz about a month ago and he had a little segment on about the benefits of coconut oil. They said it has great properties for helping with skin conditions. It does all kinds of wonderful things for eczema and scoricis (excuse the spelling) and you can use it as a topical ointment or internally. So I started giving it to my little Mabel and I think she is having some favorable results. It's slow but I think it is helping. Today while I was walking them, I ran into a neighbor that I have not seen in about a month. The first thing she said was that Mabel was looking so much better. That made me feel really good. It gives me a little bit of hope for my baby.

Well that is all for now. I will be back soon.

Finally Friday!!!

So it seemed like it would never get here, but it is finally Friday. Actually the week seemed to go by pretty quickly. Although it seems forever ago that I had dinner with my buddies last Sunday. We had so much fun and it went by so quickly. But anyway it's Friday and that in itself is reason to celebrate. Don't you think?

I think I may catch up with some stuff on my DVR tonight. I watched today's Y&R. It was Cliffhanger Friday and what a great ending to today's show. I can't tell you right now because I just gave out my blog address to a friend who doesn't have cable right now and can't watch it. She's going to go somewhere that has internet and catch it on Hulu, so I don't want to give anything away.

Tomorrow I think I may hole up in my stamp room and try to catalog some of my stamp sets. Well that and make a few birthday cards. I still owe one of my BFFs a birthday card. Her birthday was only like, oh I don't know...TWO MONTHS AGO!!! Geezopeets...can I be any lazier? My cousin's birthday is tomorrow and I am going to meet her Sunday for lunch so I will definitely attempt to get a card made for her tomorrow and one for Deb too.

Have I bored you enough yet? Okay...I'll sign off for now. Check back later. I may have something more interesting for you. TTFN.

PONDERINGS...

Just because I didn't know what to title this post I just titled it Ponderings. Actually I am going to be going back thru my blogs when I write my memoirs: The Year of the Frozen Pizza.

So here are some of my thoughts for today 1/11/11:

You know that Geico commercial where the drill sergeant makes a terrible therapist? The guy on the couch says "and that's why yellow makes me sad." I'm wondering if he is talking about YRC. They make me sad too.

I'm kind of a hoarder but I don't understand why someone that doesn't throw out their trash is considered a hoarder and not just lazy. I mean I am totally hooked on Hoarders on A&E but so many of them just appear lazy to me. Who wants stinky trash crapping up their house. Apparently some people have no sense of smell because a lot of those lazy people have TONS of just trash that they didn't want to take out and throw away. Don't even get me started on the people that let their animals crap all over the house and don't clean it up. It's crazy I tell you. Just crazy!!!

The crazy bastard that shot the senator and all the other people at the Safeway in Tucson looks really crazy. Did the parents have no idea he was a whack job? Oh wait they said on the news that they knew he had problems just didn't realize he had spiraled that far down. Ummmm..what about the little shrine with the skull in the back yard. HELLO...I don't mean to be critical of them, but when Steve was acting crazy and different I knew something was going on.

Okay...enough rants or ponderings from me. Happy 1/11/11 to everyone.

Happy New Year!!!

It's a new year! I hope it is a good one. Have you all made new year resolutions yet? I have. One big one is to get rid of stuff and storage units. They have to go. More stuff out and less stuff in. That's my new motto. My second resolution is to start my memoirs: The Year of the Frozen Pizza. Hmmm... come to think of it, I haven't had a frozen pizza yet this year. Okay...I gotta go now. I hear a frozen pizza calling my name. Stay tuned for more to come. I may be testing out my memoirs here on my blog.