Bev's Wild Adventures

Labor Day 2011

2011-09-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-09-04T10:20:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-02T16:55:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-01T16:23:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-31T16:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-30T16:24:00.001-07:00

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!!!

2011-08-29T19:01:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-26T19:18:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-07T18:07:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2011-07-22T17:56:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-28T17:15:00.001-07:00

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

Two Months Later...

2011-06-11T06:49:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2011-04-07T17:07:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2011-02-26T18:02:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2011-01-14T17:32:00.000-08:00

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...

2011-01-11T15:44:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2011-01-02T10:29:00.000-08:00

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.

CHRISTMAS WEEK IS HERE!!!

2010-12-19T07:37:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2010-12-13T18:33:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2010-12-12T10:52:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-07T17:25:00.000-08:00

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???

2010-12-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-12-03T19:06:00.000-08:00

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.

2010-11-26T09:46:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-23T08:31:00.000-08:00

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!!!

2010-11-22T19:35:00.000-08:00

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!!!!

2010-11-19T11:39:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-16T18:42:00.000-08:00

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...

2010-10-07T17:52:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-10-04T17:59:00.000-07:00

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???

2010-10-03T18:47:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-08T16:34:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-24T16:40:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-21T16:31:00.000-07:00

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

2010-06-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-06-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

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...

What's New???

2009-08-24T09:47:00.000-07:00

What's new? Let me tell you that I have been having so many wild adventure that there are too many to tell. (No...just kidding.) I'll give you a brief run down of coming posts...Went to a "free" concert and lost my car in a flood. Had birds in my furnace pipes...now no air conditioning. Bad storm kicked the crap out of my pole barn and flipped the garage door inside out. Been sorting through crap and throwing things away like crazy. Addicted to Yoville and FarmTown on Facebook...not a good thing although crazy fun. Trying not to let panic get the better of me as I try to decide how the hell I'm going to move out of my house. Yikes...gotta go back to work. Oh yeah...next time I'll tell you about "The Plan". TTFN...Ta Ta for now...(Pooh).

WTH...It's almost Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

So in case you don't know, my sister and I work for the same company. My sister, Dianne, lives in Illinois and I live in Michigan. She usually comes to Michigan to see me, but I decided that I was going to go to her place for her birthday, May 8th. So I took a couple of days off from work so that we could have a long weekend and went to the Northwest suburbs of Chicago. I went to Holland's Bensenville terminal to meet everyone she works with. Well I didn't get to meet everyone but I did meet a lot of people. Plus they had a food day and everyone brought a dish to pass. I made my dad's favorite cake, St. James Coffee Cake, and Zippy Dip. Afterwards, we took some pictures of all the girls. This terminal is closing on June 12th so this was a little bitter sweet. They are all going to different terminals that are closer to home or where they can get better hours. My sister said that it is so sad because everyone gets along here. It's just a nice place to work.

Another Digi Page

2009-05-04T16:37:00.001-07:00

So here is another attempt at digital scrapbooking. These are my stamping buddies. We were celebrating my friend, Toni's, birthday. We always get together for birthday at Olive Garden. I have never been much of an Italian fan but my friends have gotten me hooked on Olive Garden. I think you can probably see the names underneath everyone. After dinner we always go back to someone's house for cake, card giving, and usually a stamping project. I scrapbook with Toni too. I gotta say I just love this digital scrapbooking. It is amazing what you can do with the program. I can't wait to get really good at it. I guess that is all for now. Enjoy!!!

Digital Scrapbooking

2009-04-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

HA!!! I did it!!! This is my first digital page. There are a couple of goofs on the page but I did it, uploaded it to Costco and printed it. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. But there is so much more to learn. I hope my brain doesn't fill up too fast. I have a lot of pictures to scrapbook. The top two pictures are of Polly. Actually they are the same picture only the top photo was cropped a little. Mabel is in the bottom picture. She is a little camera shy so I didn't get a real good picture of her. Maybe next time.

My New Hobby

2009-04-19T16:06:00.000-07:00

So in case you did not know this about me...I am a crapoholic. I even have a new blog that I am working on so check it out sometime. www.crapoholicsanonymous.blogspot.com. Anyway I have a passion for buying supplies for whatever hobby I have. Not necessarily actually engaging in the hobby itself but buying lots of supplies for it. Hence, adding to my addiction for a lot of stuff which is what crapoholism is really all about. (Catchy name don't you think?)So my new hobby is digital scrapbooking. My sister bought me a kickass computer program for my birthday. Memory Manager & Storybook Creator 2 from Creative Memories. So since I had the programs and it required more memory than I had on the old POS PC I had before, I bought a laptop. This is something I have wanted to do for the last few years so I am really glad I have it now.

Anyway, back to my new hobby...digital scrapbooking. I absolutely love it!!! My friend Trudy invited me to come over a couple of Fridays ago when Toni was going over to scrap. So I made one page that night of my girls and my head was swimming with information that was immediately sucked into a black hole when the night was over. Last Friday we went to the Creative Memories consultant's house. Sally is awesome and has been doing this for a few years so is very knowledgeable and helpful. We had an awesome evening and I did three whole pages. I did another page yesterday. But I need more embellishments, papers, etc. Luckily for my crapoholic tendencies, all this stuff goes on my computer. Not into boxes in my stamp room. That is a good thing because I have more stuff than I can possibly use in this lifetime and I have to lighten the load very soon so I can move on with my life.

Another Funny Story About Wyatt

2009-02-16T09:11:00.001-08:00

So here is a picture of my boy, Wyatt, on our golf cart. Steve got this cart from his mom before we moved out to the country. Wyatt was not too keen on anything to do with this cart at first, but Steve made him get on the cart once and took him for a ride in our old neighborhood. Well needless to say, Wyatt wanted off as quick as he could. But Steve persisted and got him on the cart the next day and took him for another ride. Well the second ride did it...it hooked Wyatt into wanting a ride anytime he looked at the cart. When we moved, we would take Wyatt out for long rides on the property with the breeze blowing in his face. He loved it. A couple of times he didn't realize that it was a good idea to wait for the cart to stop before exiting and he took a couple of rolls off the cart because there was something on the ground he wanted to pursue. Talk about heart stopping moments. I mean he was up there in age. So when the ride was over we would get off the cart and if Wyatt didn't think the ride was long enough he would wait on the cart and just sit there. Hoping he would get another ride. Or if we were just outside he would eyeball the cart and get on and wait. He was quite the character. I really miss him a lot. I mean really, really miss him A LOT!!!

Wyatt Earp--Lawdog

2009-01-19T11:07:00.001-08:00

In my last post I mentioned my dog, Wyatt. I just thought I would let everyone see what a handsome boy he was. He was my best buddy but it sure didn't start out that way. He was 7 pounds of pure demon when we got him. The first time we took him to the vet, he told us we would have a good dog when he was four years old. I thought he was joking but he wasn't. We used to call him "Devil Dog" and I remember telling my sister once when he was about 6 months old that maybe I made a mistake and should take him back. He was a handful. LOL. But he turned out to be a good dog and very devoted. He loved me and Steve just as much as we loved him.

Let me tell you one funny story about him. In the first house Steve and I lived in, we would put baby gates up so that Wyatt couldn't get out of the kitchen when we were gone. We scared the crap out of him with those baby gates when he was a little shaver and he wouldn't go near them. The kitchen was kind of small (ok, the whole house was kind of small) and the kitchen table was pushed into the corner under the windows. Wyatt loved to look out the windows, so we had one chair pulled out and under one of the windows so he could look out while he was caged up in the kitchen. Well I guess he thought it would be even better to look out of all the windows from the kitchen table. So we pull in the driveway and we look at the side window and we see Wyatt looking out at us over the curtains. Steve said, "Is Wyatt on the kitchen table." I said, "I believe he is." Well he had figured out how to get on the table, but he couldn't figure out how to get off the table. He waited for us to come in the house and lift him off and put him back on the floor. Luckily he was still a puppy and only about 40 pounds.

Next time I will tell you some more funny stories about my boy. He was quite the character!!!

OOOH...AHHH!!! Pretty!!!

2009-01-14T13:28:00.000-08:00

So you all have probably noticed that I enjoy the weird and unusual. I like to post some pretty crazy pictures on my blog. I just received this picture in an email from a friend today and wanted to share it. It is a picture of a sunset at the North Pole. The sun is under the moon. I thought it was pretty cool. Not weird or crazy...just awesomely cool. (I don't know if awesomely is a word, but you get the idea.)

Anyway, not much happening around here today. Just another cold, cold, winter day. It was 4 degrees when I came to work and from my handy dandy Weatherbug on my computer it says that it is now 10.3 degrees in Sparta, MI. Woo-hoo...good thing my girls have jackets to wear now!!! Although I don't believe any of us will be lingering when they have to go outside to pee.

So, you want to know what I am doing this weekend? I am getting together with my stamping buddies. We are celebrating two birthdays. Jenni & Lorrie are both having birthdays this month. Plus we are doing a "princess" challenge. I have seen Lorrie's completed project and it is just frickin' awesome. I am not going to give anything away, but perhaps next week I will post a picture of what she made. So we will be at the Olive Garden at 2 p.m. and from there we will be going over to Lorrie's to stamp. Deb has a project for all of us to do. We will swap our challenges and then have cake. YUM...CAKE!!! I really can't wait because Lorrie adopted an English Pointer named River. I haven't seen him in a while and I understand he is really blossoming. He knows that he has a great home with people that love him. It is a good feeling to love a Pointer. Just ask me...I know that for sure.

I have always loved hunting dogs and that is one of the reasons we adopted Wyatt. He was an German Shorthair Pointer. He was smart as a whip and, oh my, what a character!!! My two English Pointers are smart as whips too. Polly is super smart and has a way of looking right into your mind sometimes. Mabel is just a little lover and a 50# lap dog. She sits on my lap on a nightly basis while I watch Young and the Restless. What can I say. They complete my life. Like I told Steve when I got Polly "I don't know that I can live without a dog." Now that he is gone I am really happy to have my girls. The are so much company to me.

So enough of my ramblings for the day. I am going to sign off now. Have a great day!!!

WOW...Has it been almost a month already?

2009-01-13T09:36:00.001-08:00

So can you believe it has been almost a month since I updated this crazy blog of mine? I can't!!! I caught a cold the day after Christmas and it has been hanging on and hanging on and hanging on. I went to bed at 9 p.m. on New Year's Eve. Missed the ball dropping and everything. So sad...so very sad.

Anyway, at some point I am going to take you back to a happier time and post some pictures from California. But right now I am posting a picture of a little burro. I have an affection for burros. Don't ask me why. They are just so stinkin' cute. If I had the time for one, I would probably have one myself. Some day I want to go to Oatman,AZ, and mingle with the wild burros. Wouldn't that be a blast? If any of you have done that, please post a comment to my blog and let me know how much fun it was.

Work is going okay, although we took a cut in pay to "save" the company. Personally, I think they should probably cut the "saviors" and that might help save the company. But at least I have a job in this tough economy. I don't have to find a refrigerator box to live in just yet. Which is a good thing right now because we are getting a bitter cold Artic blast in our region. They predicted a blizzard for the lakeshore today but I guess that might be rescheduled for tomorrow. Although as the temps drop the wind has picked up too. While I am rambling about cold weather, one of my friends at work made jackets for my girls so they can go outside to go to the bathroom without freezing. They are just adorable in their new coats!!! When I get pictures transferred to my computer I will post a picture or two of my babies. Polly, my little model, posed so nice for me. Mabel, my shy girl, really was kind of freaked out by the camera. But I finally got a half way decent picture of her in her jacket.

Well I have probably bored the crap out of you. I will post one more picture for you...from one of my favorite movies.

Have fun and enjoy the pictures!!!

WOW...Did you miss me?

2008-12-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

Okay...I cannot believe that my last post was on November 30th. I have so much to do with the Christmas season and have not gotten anything done. I haven't been on my computer at home in a long time. I come home exhausted, eat dinner, watch The Young and the Restless, play with the dogs and watch some more TV for about an hour and go to bed. I'm usually sleeping by 9:10. I think I have some kind of post-vacation funk going on. No ambition or interest in anything. No Christmas tree yet and the house is a mess. I have to make our "food day" treat for work tomorrow, but I have already warned people that if we get the snow they are predicting for us that I won't be in tomorrow. They are saying we are supposed to be getting 6-12 inches after midnight tonight with the possibility of 1-2 inches an hour. YIPPEE!!! I hate frickin' winter and I hate driving around in this frickin' snow. So there, the crabby side of my has come out on my blog. Sorry about that. It sucks driving 45 miles one way in this crap. I stopped by my friend Cindy's house on my way home last night and visited with her and her boyfriend and his Boxer for about an hour last night. Since I was late getting home to let my girls outside, I was driving a little faster than usual and hit a slick spot and almost went into the ditch on one of the country roads by my house. My asshole puckered up and my whole body got white hot instantly. So anyway, since I don't have a tree up yet, I thought I would post a picture of a Christmas tree from Christmas past. We had a tree like this for many years. Yeah baby...those are some good memories.

Back Home

2008-11-30T14:30:00.000-08:00

I know that those of you that followed my blog about my trip to California are crazy sad that my trip is over. I know that I am crazy sad about it. This also means that I have to go back to work tomorrow. (BOO!!!) I just spent the last two hours clearing out 837 emails on my work email. It probably would have taken me all day to do it at work tomorrow. So at least I have that done. Whew!!!

I picked up my girls at the kennel last Tuesday and they look amazing. Polly must have lost 10 pounds. She looks like the model and spokesdog that she is meant to be. Mabel had some ear issues before I took her to the kennel and I changed her food a week and a half before to see if maybe she had some allergy thing going on. All the sores on her ears are gone and she even lost a few pounds. I am so glad to have my girlies home with me.

I am ready to go back to Disneyland (yes it is "the happiest place on earth"). I also thought that perhaps all y'all would like my opinion of the rides that I rode at Disneyland. Here goes:

Space Mountain--roller coaster in the dark--not as scary as I remembered it.
Autopia--cool little car ride--check out the crazy road signs
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience--great little film--good special effects (and I do mean special)
Star Trek--great ride--very fun simulator ride through space
Finding Nemo--this is an okay submarine ride--would not recommend it for tall or heavy people
Peter Pan--hands down one of the best flights I have ever had. We took this ride about 5 times.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride--not as good as Peter Pan
Spinning Teacups--HELL YES, great ride!!!
Snow White--not as good as Peter Pan. Watch for the Evil Witch to appear in the upstairs window when you are in Fantasyland.
Alice in Wonderland--not as good as Peter Pan
Storybook Land--take this enchanting ride at night
Dumbo--hell yes, another great flight
Pirates of the Caribbean--too cool--took this ride over and over again
Haunted Mansion--another cool one--took this ride over and over again too. With Christmas upon us, it was decorated in the movie theme of "The Nightmare before Christmas". I would have probably enjoyed it more if it was the regular theme.
Splash Mountain--splashy all right
Matterhorn--cool rollercoaster...think I lost my phone there
Train ride--can't miss this classic--great ride at night
Toon Town--this was a charming cartoon village. Don't miss it, especially if you want to see characters.
Monorail--classic ride around the park
Theatre and Museum on Main Street--definitely check this out. Short film with Steve Martin is great.
Indiana Jones--cool ride--kind of a roller coaster in a big old jeep
Jungle Cruise--animals are getting a little old but this is definitely a classic. Fun ride at night.
Mark Twain Steamboat ride--another classic ride. The animals are getting a little ragged on this ride too.

We also went to California Adventure. Not a place I would have to go back to except for one ride. A lot of the park looks like an old Hollywood set and that is hella cool.

Soaring over California--this is probably one of the coolest rides ever. It is a simulator that makes you feel like you are in a hang glider flying over California. Definitely a must.

Tower of Terror--okay so Cindy talked me into going on this one. You get an awesome view of Disneyland at night (if you have your eyes open). But there is a lot of up and downs on this ride. Scared the crap out of me.

Grizzly Peak Raft Ride--pretty much like a lot of raft rides but fun

Bug's Life movie--very fun and fun special effects

I know I have probably left some rides off my list but as I think of them, I will try to update you. Hope you all enjoyed my journey through Disneyland as much as I did. TTYL.

California...Last Day!!!

2008-11-24T09:18:00.000-08:00

Yikes!!! Vacation in California is almost over!!! It seemed to take forever for the time to come and now it is almost over.

We had our Fake Thanksgiving dinner last night. Both of Tom's kids, John and Jenna and Jenna's boyfriend, Cory, were here and Cindy's son, Cody, came down from Sacramento with a buddy of his. Cindy put on this massive feast that was yummy good. Today is Tom's 52nd birthday and Jenna will be coming back for dinner tonight. Poor Johnny got the flu that we have been dragging all over California with us last night. Poor kid. I think he was up most of the night and we had his electric heater in our room. I gave Tom hell for not waking us up and getting it for him. I think we need to buy him a case of beer or something for letting us hog the heater the last few days. California can be really chilly at night and a lot of the houses are on slabs so they don't install furnaces in the homes like we do. They really don't work very efficiently. Their furnace people and contractors really need to come to Michigan and see how it is done right.

We started packing yesterday and I think we are going to be able to get everything in our suitcases without a problem. Although Dianne seemed to pack way more than she needed. We have decided to check a second bag on the way back just so we have one less to deal with on the plane. I guess it is only a $25 charge because we bought the plane tickets in March.

I guess we are going to hit a few places today. Then we are going to have a birthday dinner for Tom and then heading back to the airport for our trip home. Dianne and I are anxious to see our pups and give them hugs and kisses.

So anyway, that is the rest of our trip. Hope you enjoyed the journey with me. I'll still be doing my crazy blog with my usual ramblings and musing so feel free to follow along if you like. Bye, bye for now.

Napa, Alcatraz, Etc!!!

2008-11-23T10:25:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday we headed up to Napa. This was about an 8 hour trip so we got to see a lot of scenery. The hills are a beautiful golden brown and I never get tired of looking at them. It was a gorgeous ride.

Tom and Cindy belong to the Shell Vacation Club and they had booked us at a gorgeous resort call Vino Bello. We had a suite. Dianne and I had a cozy room with a king size bed, a kitchenette, sofa, a huge bathroom, and a washer and dryer and a LCD TV. Tom and Cindy had a full kitchen, dining room, living room, a huge, huge bathroom, and a master bedroom. It was beautiful. We just ordered pizza (yummy) and had it delivered to the room. So while we ate, we watched an great Disney video explaining about building the park. We just were not ready to let go of Disney yet.

Wednesday morning, we got up and us girls went to the spa for a passion fruit scrub, a cave mud wrap, followed by an hour massage. It was awesome. Part of the package included a cheese and fruit plate with a glass of wine. It was a great way to relax and it felt very decadent.

After the spa, we headed to the vineyards for some wine tasting. We stopped at V. Sattui Winery first and tasted 8 different wines and I decided that I like Port. I never knew this before, but Port is part wine and part brandy. The guy pouring the wine also clarified the term of wino and I decided I am not a wino. He said that the only thing a wino worries about is running out of wine. I guess that is not me after all. We did send some wine home from this winery as they only sell their wine at the winery. After getting a buzz on there we headed over to Sutter Home Vineyards as Dianne works with a guy whose wife works for Sutter Home in the Chicago area. She got us in for free wine tasting and the employee discount for anything we bought. At Sutter Home we learned something else...Port wine is great with pretzels and chocolate. YUM-O!!!

We decided we would just eat back at the room so we stopped at the grocery store to get something to eat and the fixings for Zippy Dip. Tom and Cindy were anxious to try "crack in a jar." So we ate at the room and played Disney Trivia. The wine took it's toll on Dianne and I and we had to crash fairly early.

Unfortunately, Dianne got a touch of the flu or something and was up most of the night. As we were leaving in the morning, Tom and I got everything loaded in the car and waited until the last minute to leave. We loaded Dianne up in the car and headed for Tom and Cindy's house which just happens to be my Uncle Jake's house. They are renting it from our cousin Nan's son. They had to have it almost gutted and redone and now it is gorgeous. Anyway, we put Dianne to bed and Cindy and I went off to the Disney outlet. We found some great bargains and we got back, we waited until Tom's son, Johnny, got home and then we headed off to the Pie Hole (Baker's Square) for dinner. After I went to bed I ended up getting the touch of the flu too. I was up most of the night with rocket powered butt pee. Because Dianne and I had been sick we totally screwed up our day at San Francisco. Tom and Cindy had a whole day planned but we only ended up going to our tour of Alcatraz at night.

If any of you have been to Alcatraz, you have not experienced until you go at night. It was awesome!!! They give you a personal audio system to wear and former guards and inmates narrate your journey through the prison. There is an area where you can walk outside and just take in the lights of San Francisco at night. It was breath taking. I highly recommend the night tour. On the way back to Tom's we stopped at the recording studio his band practices at. He played us some tunes. It was pretty cool. A brand new experience for me. He also gave us some band CDs, T-shirts and a poster. The band is called "3 in the Same". Their website is www.3inthesame.com. Check it out.

Saturday, Tom, Cindy and I went shopping for our Fake Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. So we ripped through Wal-mart and Safeway and headed home so we could go to our cousin Nancy's for dinner. We got to Nancy's about 3 p.m. She lives in Livermore which is kind of out in a valley and we took the scenic route through the hills. She cooked a very healthy dinner and I filled up on the yummy veggies. I know that is hard to believe, but everything was so good. So we sat around and yakked for a while and then came back to Tom's house.

Well I know this has been kind of lengthy but I feel really, really bad about not keeping up on my blog like I promised. Har, har, har (pirate laugh). I have to go now as we are getting ready for Fake Thanksgiving dinner. TTYS.

Disney Day 3

2008-11-19T18:25:00.001-08:00

Okay so on day 3 we could not get into Disney until 9 a.m. so we kind of slept in a little later than usual and then went to PoFolks restaurant for breakfast. It was tons of food for the price and very good. It was kind of like a Cracker Barrel. So we ate and headed back to Disney. Because we didn't get there until about 10 we parked in the Chip and Dale parking area and took the tram to the park. We headed right over to California Adventure. This is a part of the Disney park that is okay but not something you need to go to. We did go on a few great rides but all the time I was thinking "it's not Disneyland."

The first ride we hit was Soaring over California which was friggin' awesome. It is almost like you are hang gliding over the best parts of the state of California. The Golden Gate Bridge, Napa Valley, Pacific Ocean, golf courses, and you end your trip at Disneyland. We got off the ride and went immediately to get a Fastpass ticket to ride it again without standing in line again. From there we went over to Grizzly Peak and rode the river rapids ride. We checked our gear in a locker and put on our ponchos and rode the rapids. It was hella fun, but as soon as we changed we went back and Soared over California again. In my opinion, this is the best ride over at California Adventure. We walked through the rest of the park and went to the Bug's Life Theatre which was really cool and in 3D. As we were walking around High School Musical 3 was doing a street performance which was pretty good. We had a giant corndog for lunch and headed back over to Disneyland. On the way over we checked again on my cell phone. I told the girl at lost and found that I lost it on the Matterhorn and she said very little is recovered from the Matterhorn. Good thing I only have 6 weeks left on my contract. LOL!!!

So back at Disney we headed over to Toontown. It was really cool because all the Toon houses looked like they came out of a cartoon. We were walking around and who do we see again but Minnie Mouse. I was hella excited because I had just fallen in love with her the night before. So Tom and I had our picture taken together with Minnie. She was really in awe of Tom's tallness. She was so cute. I just love her. It was great to feel like I was 12 again. From there we went to her house and Mickey's house and we went past Goofy's gas station. When we left Toontown we rode Peter Pan again and Tom and I rode the Teacups again and he did the spinning. The colors around us were blurring we were going so fast. Dianne said she didn't think we were going all that fast, but I think we were. When we came out of Peter Pan's ride, Cindy looked up and saw the Evil Witch in the upstairs window of Snow White's castle. So we caught a glimpse of her but only for a moment before she left the window. It was cool as we had read that she sometimes appears in that window.

Since A Small World was closed we didn't get to ride that but we did hit the Monorail ride, and hit Pirates and the Haunted Mansion again. By this time, the park was getting ready to close as the park closes at 8 on Mondays. There were a couple of shops we wanted to check out before we left, because there was just an awesome photo album that I decided I had to have. It is stinkin' cute. It is a 12x12 scrapbook with Tinkerbell on the cover and when you open it, you hear Tink's wand noise. It is frickin' cuter than shit. So we hit a few more shops in the park and then headed to the gate as we were planning on hitting Downtown Disney for dinner and more shopping. So we loaded up on the tram and headed back to the Chip and Dale parking lot to get the van and head back to Downtown Disney.

When we got to Downtown Disney we went in search for something for dinner. We stopped at the Jazz Kitchen and Tom and Cindy got gumbo and jambalaya and some popcorn chicken. Dianne and I opted for beinets (little donuts) and coffee. Then off to the Disney store. It seemed like we were there for hours but I guess we weren't. Tom, bless his heart, found Disney Crocs in my size. However, that is also Cindy's size and we both wanted a pair because they were 40% off. I told Tom that if they didn't fit Cindy I would buy them. They didn't so now I have Disney Crocs. So Dianne and I decided we were tired of shopping and went to get in line to check out. Here's the thing, Disney is great at moving people until it gets to the cashiers at Downtown Disney. The cashiers there were slower than shit. There were a couple of Japanese girls in line ahead of us that were taking forever.

I don't know if any of you have plumbing trouble when you travel, but I seem to. And while I was shopping I started getting cramps and knew I would have to find a restroom soon. Dianne was in line ahead of me when we were checking out. I asked if I could take cuts, which I did, and pinched my cheeks as best I could. Luckily Dianne noticed a restroom to the left of the cashier. So I paid for my stuff and left a toxic cloud of gas as I fled to the toilets. I feared the dreaded rocket powered butt pee but I was lucky.

After that we all dragged our tired asses back to the van and back to the room we went. Dianne was out shortly after hitting the bed, but Tom and Cindy and I stayed up talking. Before we knew it was 2 a.m.

Well I have probably bored the crap out of you if you read this far. Tomorrow I will fill you in our trip to Napa. Bye

California Adventures

2008-11-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

Greetings from California!!!

Well here I was telling everyone that I was going to update this blog on a daily basis and then I didn't. That is just too bad because I have so much to tell everyone.

We had an amazing time at Disney!!! It truly is "the happiest place on earth." Tom and Cindy are natives so they have been to Disneyland numerous times and know all the ins and outs of navigating around the park. On day 2 we were able to take advantage of the one early entry that we had on our 3 day park hopper pass. So we got up early and got to the park and rented the carts and rode some rides (Teacups and Peter Pan, of course) and then had breakfast at Riverbelle Terrace. From there we hit one of my favorite places...Frontierland. We took the Mark Twain riverboat cruise and soaked up the atmosphere of the old west. Tom and Cindy rode on Thunder Mountain and Dianne and I did a little shopping. We just kind of bummed around on day two until about 2pm and then headed back to the room to rest up and get ready to eat at Medieval Times.

We had a 5pm reservation at the restaurant and we were able to walk right in and enjoy a drink at the bar. When we were seated for dinner we were in the blue knight's section which was directly across from the knight's entrance into the arena. For those of you that have not been to Medieval Times,it is a dinner theatre with horses and knights, jousting and sword fighting. The only food you are served is food you don't need utensils for as you don't get any knives or forks. We had garlic bread, 1/2 a roasted chicken, a beef rib, and half a roasted potato. We were also served tomato bisque soup but I passed on that as I just don't like tomato soup. But back to the show. The blue and yellow knights really knew how to play to the crowd. These guys have to be really athletic as they are falling off their horses and sword fighting and those swords are heavy. The horses were gorgeous and there was even a little horse show where they showed some battle moves that they used to teach the horses. Kind of like a mini Lipizzaner Stallion show. We all agreed that the show was excellent but the food sucked. If you go, don't plan on getting a great meal but the show is definitely worth it. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this...one of Tom's friends hooked us up with 2 for 1 tickets to the show. That made it even better!!!)

After dinner we headed back over to Disney. We thought that they were going to have a parade and fireworks and one of the cast members lied to me and told me that the Christmas lights were supposed to be turned on at 5pm. The lights were not on and there was not a parade scheduled and because of the winds and wildfires in the area, the fireworks show was cancelled too. The fireworks were not cancelled until right at 9:30 so we had waited around for a while waiting for them. The closer the time got, the more crowded Mainstreet became. Dianne and Cindy were sitting in their carts and I was sitting on the fence behind them. There was a couple with a little girl right next to us. I wasn't paying particular attention to them, until the mom used the phrase that sends me into orbit whenever I hear it. I'll try to set up the scene for you as best I can. So where we were seated, we could kind of see a little bit of the fireworks that were going off from the Fantasmic show on the Rivers of America where the Mark Twain is docked. These fireworks do not go up very high, but you can catch a glimpses of them in other parts of the park because there is not any wasted space at Disneyland. So anyway, the little girl got super excited because she saw a couple of fireworks through the tree limbs and thought they were standing in the wrong place for the show. Her mom bends down and says to her "Honey, we are not waiting for THOSE ONES, we are going to see THESE ONES." Then she kind of made a motion towards the castle. I was like in shock because I often don't get a double whammy on poor grammar in one sentence. Dianne looked up at me immediately because she knew I was going to have some kind of a reaction. She was not disappointed. We laughed our asses off and I made some comment about the mom making sure her daughter grew up with bad grammar. For those of you that know me, you know that this was like a nails on the chalkboard moment for me.

After the fireworks were cancelled, we decided to make our way back to the entrance of the park and head back to the room. We did take our time and Tom and I kind of strolled back while Dianne and Cindy went ahead on their motorized transportation. When we got up to the town square, Dianne was very excited. She said "Look Bev, it's Mickey." Mickey had come out to mingle with the crowd but was posing with kids to have take pictures. I had to have my picture taken with Mickey!!! But while we were waiting out comes Minnie. OMG!!! She is gorgeous!!! Dianne saw her first and said she stuck her shoe out of the door and kind of waved before she came out. She said it was hella cute. So anyway, Dianne and I got to have our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie. And now we have become huge Minnie fans too. She is so nice!!! Both of them blew little kisses to us. It was great being 12 again for a few minutes. After the highlight of my night, we dragged our asses back to the room and got ready for bed so we could do it all again on Monday.

So anyway, I know this is a lot of reading so I will sign off for now. Dianne, Cindy and I have to get ready for our spa treatment this morning. (We got into Napa last night and we are staying at the most amazing place. But I will tell you about that later.) Bye for now.

Short Update

2008-11-18T08:29:00.000-08:00

OMG...we are having so much fun I haven't even had time to update my blog about Disney. Disney has been amazing the last two days. We dragged ourselves back to the room last night about 11 p.m. after a full day at the park. But now we are ready to leave for Napa where we should have some great internet service, so I will update this crazy adventure blog when we get there this evening. Bye for now...

Disney - Day 1

2008-11-16T13:59:00.000-08:00

Boy did we spend a fun filled day at Disneyland yesterday. We got up early and had breakfast at the motel before we took off and we were waiting at the gate at 8 a.m. for it to open. When we got up to the gate, we were pleasantly suprised because the whole park had been decorated for Christmas. They didn't turn all the lights on last night but at least we got to see it decorated. When we got to the park at 8 a.m. it was beautiful sunny day and about 80 degrees. I got some awesome pictures with the Matterhorn and the castle with a beautiful blue sky behind it. At some point (I think it was about 11 a.m.) we started noticing a smokey smell and ash and soot falling from the sky from the wildfires that are in the area. The sky was getting darker and a strange shade of brown as the wind blew the ash clouds closer to Anaheim. It certainly was different. Because of the winds they cancelled the fireworks show last night.

When we got in the gate, Dianne and Cindy both rented motorized carts to zip around in. One thing about Disneyland is that it was built before handicapped accessable was really an issue so if you have a wheelchair or a cart or a handicap card, you can go into the exits and avoid the long lines. Tom rented the cart for Cindy and while they were getting the carts, Cindy and I made a mad dash for Space Mountain and got on right away. I was a little apprehensive about it because I had ridden on it before and it scared the crap out of me then. But it was much more enjoyable this time although I did a lot of screaming and felt a sore throat coming on after that. We pretty much knocked out the rides in Tomorrowland in a couple of hours and headed out to ride the Spinning Teacups. It was hella fun and Dianne and I thought we were spinning really, really fast. Tom said we weren't. Just normal fast. We took in most of the rides around Storybookland after that and then headed out in search of lunch. We went to a pretty nice restaurant called the "Blue Bayou". It was pricey but good. You know what I'm talking about when I say pricey...limited menu and poor lighting so you can't read it. The food was good and Tom and Cindy said that is very hard to just walk up and get into this restaurant. Actually this restaurant is visible from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride which we took in after we ate. So we did some more rides like the Haunted Mansion, Matterhorn, and Splash Mountain. Some where in there, I lost my phone. What a dumbass...what did I need it for anyway. About 2 p.m. we decided to come back to the room to rest to go back at night. We went back about 7:30 and spent the rest of the night there. We were lucky that we got to see the Fantasmic show at 10:30 because they had cancelled the previous shows due to the high winds.

Okay, so the carts really made the park so much more enjoyable. We are all pretty much sick, lame, or lazy, and we did take turns driving the carts around. The strange thing was that I felt a lot like my mom driving that thing around so I was glad my sister had rented it and she had control of it. Although, I gotta say, she reminded me of my mom a lot in that thing. LMAO!!! Tom is really too tall to be comfortable in one of these carts so we mostly followed the cart drivers to wherever we were going. But it was awesome to be apart of the "handicapped" party to get into the rides quicker. We probably rode on 20-25 rides and it was really not very crowded until we came back at night. Then it was a frickin' madhouse for our cart people. Actually it was kind of madhouse for us walkers too. Oh yeah, here is the other great thing about renting the cart. It is yours for the day. If you are leaving and coming back later, you just park it and take the key with you. You come back and it is there for you. Frickin' Awesome!!!

So anyway, come back tomorrow for Disney - Day 2 if I din't bore the crap out of you on day one. Har, har, har!!! (Pirate laugh). Bye for now.

California...We're Here!!!

2008-11-15T06:52:00.000-08:00

Greetings from California!!! It is officially our first full day in California. It is before 7am and we are eating breakfast at our hotel waiting for "the Happiest Place on Earth" to open. We don't have long to wait now!!! So after flying into San Francisco and Tom and Cindy picking us up at the airport, we began the journey to Anaheim. It took us about 7 hours to get down here with a beautiful drive down Mickey's favorite highway...HWY 5. We were planning on going to Downtown Disney last night but Dianne and I kind of pooped out early from all the traveling. Actually it wasn't that early for us. It was about 2 am est.

It is sunny and hot here already today. There is a huge fire going on in the L.A. area that we were watching on the news last night. The news told us not to panic and it appears that Disney is safe. So we are set to go and cannot wait. Tom and Cindy surprised us with some friggin awesome t-shirts that a friend of theirs airbrushed. Dianne got a shirt with Pirate Mickey on it. My shirt has Goofy, Tom's is Grumpy and Cindy's is Tink. We are all wearing them today and we are going to be the talk of the place, let me tell you. I hope to have a picture of us taken today wearing them so I can download it tomorrow.

So anyway...bye bye for now. I will report back later with a Disney update.

CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME!!!

2008-11-14T03:43:00.000-08:00

So as you can probably figure out I am up early updating this crazy blog one more time before I leave for California.

My sister and I took the girls to the kennel last night and it was very hard leaving them there but I think we are leaving them in good hands as we have heard that the owner of the kennel is a "whisperer." Jake, the young kid that took them in,was super nice and seemed to know all the questions to ask and genuinely loves dogs.

We also talked to our cousin, Tom, (Mr. Massive from yesterday's blog)a couple of times and he is super geeked about us coming out there. Tom and Cindy have thought of everything and have gotten super-duper deals on just about everything too. He wants it to be our "best trip ever" to California.

So for now, I am signing off as I have to get ready to be "leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again." (For you younger folks...that was a big, big song from the 70's.)

California Countdown

2008-11-13T04:57:00.000-08:00

My California countdown continues....we are down to the last day before we are "leaving on a jet plane, don't know when we'll be back again." YIPPEE, YEE-HAW, WOO-HOO!!! My sister and I are super excited because tomorrow we will be hooking up with family and having the time of our lives at the "Happiest Place on Earth." So for all of you that are interested in this trip I'm taking, follow along on this super-duper blog or Mr.Massive will be coming for you!!! LOL!!!

California Countdown

2008-11-09T07:12:00.001-08:00

So here is my entry for my five day countdown to California. We received the five day countdown from the Countdown Guru in California this morning. Every 10 days or so, my cousin, Tom, becomes the "Countdown Guru" and his wife, Cindy, becomes the "Countdown Fairy". They sent us just an awesome countdown today. They always include pictures and fun facts about Disneyland. In five days the four of us will be experiencing the "Happiest Place on Earth" together. Tom and Cindy have been to Disneyland numerous times and they know the ins and outs of the place. Tom said in his email today (and I quote) "WELL WELL WELL 5 DAYS LEFT. GET CRACKIN AND START PACKIN!" I started packing last night. I am so excited. If I was a dog, my tail would be wagging so hard that my butt would not be able to keep up with it.

In the countdown pictures today, Tom included a Disney blast from the past about Bear Valley Jamboree. That was one of my favorite attractions the last time I went to Disneyland when I was 17. According to his email, the attraction was run out of town by some other bear named Pooh. What a crock... But I guess Bear Valley Jamboree can still be seen at Disneyworld. You know what this means??? The four of us will have to plan a trip to Florida. YAY!!!

Now for the picture on today's post...this was my folks, my sister, and me. We stopped at the neighbor's house before we left for California on June 6, 1962. I am standing in front of my Dad and my sister is standing next to me. I told her that I particularily liked the look of the skirt and ankle socks pulled up half way up to her knees. (Doesn't she look stunning??? Kind of bigger version of my Mom.) I wanted her to recreate the look 46 years later but she said she would only do it if I would join her with the same fashion statement. I think Tom replied that he would pretend not to know us at the airport and leave us there. LOL!!!

OZ

2008-11-07T12:05:00.000-08:00

So anyway, I am fixated with OZ. I don't know when this happened. Maybe it is because my girls (The Pointer Sisters) came from a rescue organization called Pointers from OZ. Another thing I am wondering is if Oz is in Afghanistan. Poppies are a huge crop in Afghanistan to produce heroin. Dorothy fell asleep in the poppy field so that is kind of why I think Oz may be in Afghanistan. Plus have you seen the commercial for US Goverment website. When Dorothy tells the Wizard she wants to go back to Kansas, he types in "passport." So it just goes to show that Oz cannot be in the US if she needs a passport to get back to Kansas. Just some ramblings for you to think about. Sometimes when I tell people what I am really thinking about it, they find it disturbing and they look at me like "WTH???" If you agree with them or with me, let me know. I would love to hear your views. I know I am a little off bubble, but I would like to know really how much off bubble I am. LMAO!!!

I know you are all probably as disappointed as I am that Mr. Obama will not be appearing in the next season of Dancing with the Stars (see the picture on the October 17th posting.) He probably won't be appearing in the remake of The Wizard of Oz either, but at least Palin and McCain will have good parts in the show. LOL. Maybe after they star in The Wizard of Oz they will do a remake of the Maverick movie. I just love it that Sarah and John are so mavericky!!! LMAO...I cracked myself up again.

California Countdown

2008-11-02T15:23:00.001-08:00

So it is 12 days and counting until we jet off to California. But who's counting? I AM!!! Of course!!!

Yesterday some friends from work came over for a bonfire. We had good fun, laughs around the fire and just a really good time. Not too many people came but that was fine with me because it was a nice small group. Steve came over and helped me find wood for the fire and got the fire started before everyone showed up. Cindy and Joe came over first. I had called and asked her to pick up pretzels for the Zippy Dip. I couldn't really tell if she was glad or mad that I made Zippy. I think glad because she asked for it immediately when she came in. LOL. Zippy is like cocaine in a dip. It is awesome. The more you eat, the more you want. Just when I had given up hope that anyone else would come, Rachel and her husband, Marc, and her sister, Sandy, and their friend named Sam showed up. We saw them turn around in the neighbor's driveway so we knew someone else was coming. Then just when I thought everyone that was going to show had showed up, another car pulls up and it was Julie and Todd. It was really great sharing a couple drinks around the fire with my friends from work. When it got too cold everyone decided to head for home. I had the kitchen cleaned up and the dishwasher running before midnight. We had a good time. So thanks, friends, for coming to my "last official bonfire party" at my home in Sparta.

Another Goofy Picture

2008-10-31T12:45:00.000-07:00

So those of you that know and love me, know that I love dogs. Especially hunting dogs. This is one classic picture. A shout out to Rock for sending it to me and giving me the idea that it is a perfect blog picture. At least it is the perfect picture for my blog. LOL!!!

Here is a picture of my girls. The Pointer Sisters, Polly & Mabel. Polly is in the front and Mabel is behind her. They are the reason I go home every night. Mabel gives the best hugs and Pol Pol is just a goof. They are both rescues from the south where Pointers are just "huntin' dawgs" and if they don't hunt there is no sense keeping them. Polly came from Georgia with her back legs broken and Mabel came from Tennessee and had non contagious mange. They are happy and healthy now and are the best girls ever. We all share the love of country music. Especially Mabel since she came from the Nashville area. Hahahaha...I crack myself up!!!

Oh yeah...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Black Friday

2008-10-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

So anyway, today was "Black Friday" at work today. They announced that they were cutting the hourly personnel down to 35 hours a week. Even though I transferred to a department that is salaried, my boss kept me hourly so I wouldn't have to pay towards my health insurance. (It's only about $10 per week. Much cheaper than losing five hours pay every week.) So I was kind of concerned because the rumors were flying about the hourly people having their hours cut. My boss called us all into the conference room and he started out by saying "We are all salaried here blah, blah, blah." And I asked, "even me". He told us that he had made me salaried a couple of weeks ago because he knew this was coming and he didn't want my hours cut. I asked him why I had still been getting time cards and turning them in and he said "I've just been throwing them away because I couldn't tell you yet." For some reason that struck me really funny. I try to look for the funny stuff in almost anything because right now there is not too much fun in my life. It will be fun in 21 days when I leave for California and Disneyland (The Happiest Place on Earth).

Spinning Teacup ride here I come!!!

California Countdown--24 Days

2008-10-21T12:37:00.001-07:00

So I know that everyone is as crazy excited as I am about me going to California. LMAO. It is only 24 days away. Not long at all. Soon I will be at the "Happiest Place on Earth" riding in the spinning teacups. For all of you out there that have not ridden in the spinning teacups it is a blast. There is a wheel in the middle of the teacups that you turn to go faster and faster making the teacup spin faster and faster until everything is a big blur. (Sometimes you are so dizzy you can hardly stand it and then you throw up.) So my cousin, Tom, was telling me that the way to successfully ride the teacups is to lock eyes with the person sitting across from you. That way you are not focusing on the spinning scenery racing by your face. I thought that was pretty neat and you would want to know that. You know what??? I feel like I am 17 again...the last time I went to Disneyland. A picture of the teacup ride is in my October 14th posting. I really cannot wait.

This Just In...

2008-10-17T12:12:00.000-07:00

Wanted all my friends out there to see who will be on the next season of Dancing With The Stars.

Vote for Palin...She's Pretty!!!

California Countdown Continued...

2008-10-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

So we are down to 28 days before we leave for California. I have so much to do before I go and it is like I am paralyzed when I get home and absolutely nothing gets done. I am really starting to get on my own nerves. Plus, I am worried about not having enough money to do everything I want to do out there. So I think I will open my "never-ending" garage sale again tomorrow and see if I can make a few dollars to throw towards the trip. I go downstairs or out to the garage or barn and see all the stuff I have and then when I turn out the lights the crap starts breeding and when I go back again it seems that there is twice as much stuff. I worry about not being able to downsize my stuff to fit in an apartment. It is really frustrating to be a pack rat. I so need a vacation!!!

Countdown to California

2008-10-16T08:16:00.000-07:00

Okay...so I am down to 29 days before I fly out to California. I am crazy excited to see my cousin, Tom, and meet his wife, Cindy. My sister, Dianne, is going with me and we are going to have such a blast. Tom and Cindy are picking us up at the San Francisco airport and whisking us away to Anaheim to Disneyland (The Happiest Place on Earth)for 3 days, then back north to Napa for 2 days. After that, we are going to go back to their house and hit San Francisco for a day and go to Alcatraz. Plus we are going to do a "fake" Thanksgiving and celebrate Tom's birthday before we leave to come back home. I CANNOT WAIT!!!

OMG...It spins and I'm a retard...

2008-10-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

So for the squeamish, I suggest you look away and stop reading now. I have to tell you something...I have a good friend here at work that totally gets what a goofball I am. She sent me this picture and we both buffalo growled and did lots of scream laughing at it. So this is a shout out to Cindy for making me laugh like an idiot today. Here is her take on this picture:

New Years Eve party hat = $1.50
New Years Eve dinner party = $75.00
Taxi Cab home = $15.00
Discovering your party favor noise maker spins...PRICELESS!!!

At another time I will elaborate on my adventures with Cindy. I heart her!!!

Wild Adventures

2008-10-14T13:27:00.001-07:00

I don't know if any of you have noticed that my adventures are not really adventures or wild up to this date. I had to give my blog some snazzy title and I figured I would have some wild adventures when I go to California and Disneyland. Well at least I will have an adventure. LOL.

So some of you may not know how my mind really works. I am a little off bubble some times and think of things differently that others do. So here is one of my ramblings...

There is a neat little way to remember which side of a boat is the port and which is starboard. Here's the way to remember...the words "left" and "port" both have four letters in them. So if you think "port is on my left" it is an easy way to remember.

So I was talking to one of my friends over the phone and he said he could never remember whether Disneyland or Disneyworld is in California. So anyway I started to explain the "port and left" thing to him. Well then I started rambling about Disneyland being in the west and Disneyworld being in Florida which is south. He totally thought I was an idiot but we came across a better way to explain it. "West and Land" both have four letters in them. California is west. "World and South" both have five letters in them and Florida is in the south. Thank goodness Rock helped me figure this out so that I could say what I meant. Thanks for your help Rock.

So anyway, now that you have wasted a lot of time reading this, I hope you all learned something. LOL...

Spinning Teacup Ride here I come!!!

Cranefest

2008-10-13T11:25:00.001-07:00

Well, I went to Cranefest on Saturday and it was amazing. There are approximately 1000 acres that are in a nature preserve just north of Battle Creek called Baker Sanctuary. They created a huge marsh to keep the Sand Hill Cranes coming back. There were probably 5000 or more coming into the marsh around sunset. They have the coolest little call. If I could spell it, I would, but I can't. We learned a lot of tidbits about the cranes. They are approximately 5 feet tall and only weigh 12#. They don't have any nerve endings in their legs so they don't feel the cold water and they have been carbon dated to 60 million years ago. Fascinating creatures. There was also a "Birds of Prey" exhibit, a huge tortoise and we got to touch a baby Black Rat snake. Anyway, it was quite a drive but well worth it. We left the DeGraff Nature Center in Holland at 1 p.m. and got back to Holland about 9 p.m. Cranefest also has an art festival for 2 days in October at the Kiwanis Club that adjoins Baker Sanctuary. The rest of the month of October you can come and enjoy the cranes without the crowds. Sorry, I did not get any pictures but they were just too far away. We did go on a mile long nature hike that was very interesting but it was also very hot and I was a hot mess.

Now for the disturbing part of the trip...there were a lot of "granola heads" at Cranefest. For a few moments it almost seemed like we were at a "Freakfest". The temps were up in the 80's and there was a young fashionista there that had on a "sweaterdress", tights, and UGG boots that was trying to keep a toddler in line. I was hot just looking at her. There was also a lot of dogs there. There was one rather portly fellow that had a Miniature Pinscher that barked continually. I know that this particular breed is known for barking, but why would you bring a barker to one of these events? The portly fellow seemed oblivious to the whole thing. I am sure he hears so much barking on a regular basis that it is totally tuned out. However, I could not tune it out. And then there was a brother and sister couple that were kind of weird. Poor Pierre...you could read through his t-shirt and he never shut up about anything. His sister, Wanda, had just huge boobs and they sagged down to her waist. It was frightening. I just hope that someone will mention to me when I need a new bra to give some support to the girls. LOL.

Well I guess that is enough for now.

Cranes!!!

2008-10-11T06:56:00.000-07:00

So today I am off to Battle Creek with Margaret. Margaret is a long lost cousin I never knew I had until I started working with her a couple of years ago. We have become big buds and she invited me (actually I kind of invited myself) to go on a field trip with DeGraff Nature Center in Holland. The Sand Hill Cranes are migrating and there are supposed to be 5000 of them in Battle Creek this weekend. So if they are there and I get any good pictures, I will try to figure out how to post a picture to my blog tomorrow. I have seen a couple of Sand Hills here at home in the spring and they are huge. I cannot imagine what 5000 of them will look like. It is going to be awesome. So anyway, I was telling my sister about the cranes and she wanted to know how they knew to be in Battle Creek today. We decided that they must have made reservations. LOL!!!

GRRRR

2008-10-08T08:17:00.002-07:00

So while trying to figure this posting thing out, I posted the same thing twice. Nice. Sorry you have to read such dribble twice.

GRRRR

2008-10-08T08:17:00.001-07:00

Another Day

2008-10-08T08:08:00.000-07:00

So anyway, today I will try to amuse you with my day yesterday. I fired my realtor because she is a stupid jerk, she did nothing to try and sell my house and stood me up on two consecutive appointments. I fired her through the magic of email and she just went off on me. She said that she wanted out of the contract the second week she was in it, that I was hard to work with, and she only listed my house as favor to her husband. GET OUT!!! I thought it was for the potential of a $25,000 paycheck.

Anyway, I had to bum drugs off a co-worker to simmer me down yesterday and then I went home and stamped like a maniac. I stamped three months worth of my 2009 calendar and almost completely colored a fourth month. Let me tell you, stamping and coloring are great therapy. I stayed up until 10 p.m. coloring and watching the first show of the new season of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe. He is much hotter than McCain and Obama so I was glad I missed the debate. LOL.

So anyway, another chapter in my life. Pretty pitiful, huh?

Another Day in the Life of Bev

2008-10-08T07:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, so today I will amuse you with the trials and tribulations of trying to sell a nice house on 10 acres in this economy. It just does not work. So I fired my realtor yesterday just because she is a stupid jerk and she didn't do anything for me and stood me up on two consecutive appointments. Anyway, I fired her through the magic of email and she just went off on me and made it sound like the reason the house didn't sell was all my fault and she wanted out of the contract the second week but she had listed my house as a favor to her husband. GET OUT!!! She called me and solicited me for my business. Why in the world would she being doing this as a favor to her husband when it could result in a $25,000 paycheck.

Anyway, I was so upset the rest of the day that I went home and stamped like a maniac on my 2009 calendars. I got three months stamped and a fourth month almost completely colored. Let me tell you, coloring and stamping is great therapy. I felt so much better after that. I colored until Dirty Jobs was over at 10 p.m. After all it is the new season of Dirty Jobs and Mike Rowe is such a hotty, I couldn't go to bed before that.

So there you have it...another day in the life of Bev. Pitiful isn't it? LOL!!!

2008-10-06T09:59:00.000-07:00

I am not exactly computer savvy, so this may be the crappiest blog you will ever read. But bear with me. I am going to California in 39 days and I know you will want to be there with me for every thrilling moment.

Bev's Wild Adventures

2008-10-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

I'm a Pointer Mom, stamper, scrapbooker and history buff. My dogs are my great joy.