Oh Ice Cream, you are my downfall!

Every day this week I have walked approximately 1/4 mile to work from my car, up 5 flights (or approximately 92 steps, I think, I lost count when I stopped being able to breath!) of stairs, and then 1/4 mile back to my car at the end of the day. Plus Rich and I took a couple evening walks after dinner. I figured if I must keep eating ice cream a few times a week (and I do!) then I better make sure I get plenty of exercise in!

Looking forward to the long weekend. We don't have anything in particular planned. Chris and Marissa are going to Charlevoix for the weekend. We could go and stay there for a night but seeing as we are going to Las Vegas next week we should probably just save our traveling for then. Or we could go walk around the State Fair but I'm mad that they sell tickets for some of the concerts when they used to be free! But still, I like to walk around and see the animals. And people watch. I could people watch all day long, especially when I have my dark sunglasses on and they can't see me looking at them!


Everything in my garden is so dry. We haven't had any significant rain here in quite a few weeks. My clematis is still doing good, though. I am surprised and pleased at how well it's done since I planted it. I was under the impression that they take several years to get established, but this little pretty was popping out blooms right from the get go!! It gets a good Southern exposure so that must be just what it needs.



Let's see...what else. Kitties are all doing good. Max was a little under the weather for a day or two so it he wasn't picking on anyone, but he's back to his usual stinker self now!



Well, going to dinner tonight with Shauna and Brad to celebrate his birthday.

Mexican!

Hey, maybe I'll get some fried ice cream!

Brenda Photo Challenge-Sweets

Birthday cake for a party today!

This picture hangs at the bottom of the basement stairs. Hard picture to look at when you are on a diet!

Sweets don't last for too long in this house!

Thanks to Tegan for hosting this Brenda Photo Challenge.

Weekend Gone

Well, this weekend sure flew by fast! On Friday when I got home from work, these were in the mail!




Woo hoo! We'll be world travelers now!


That evening we went to dinner with the usual gang. My SIL and I wanted to walk through the huge consignment shop right next door to the restaurant, but they were closed by the time we got done eating. Darn!

Saturday I went out looking for decorations for our newly redone rooms. I found this,



which goes perfectly with the colors of the bedspread.

I also bought new light fixtures for the bathroom.



Just simple white globes, but they make all the difference. We put the old ones in the front of the house on Sunday and they were gone in 60 seconds! Good riddance. They were very hard to keep clean and I'm all about simplifying my life these days!

In the afternoon on Saturday we went to a new racetrack that opened a month ago. This was the first time I have ever been to horse racing. My nephew works there in the kitchen so we went for dinner. I bet $5 on a horse in the first race to win, place or show, (which means first,second or third place) and I won $18! But it must have been beginners luck because I lost the next 4 races! I ended up down $2! We had a good time and the food was good. The weather was awesome and it was so nice to sit outside on the patio and watch the races. We will definitely be doing that again.

Sunday just kind of went by. Helped Rich install the new lights in the bathroom. Cleaned the house and went to Home Depot and Wal Mart. Visited Shauna at work for a minute. Went to the grocery store. That's about it. It was hot and getting hotter as the day went by.

But I'm not complaining because winter is right around the corner!

Bathroom Work In Progress

Well, we managed to finish most of the bathroom before I went back to work on Monday. We had some issues with the paint. It sat in the garage for too long. The walls had to be primed and then coated twice before it was evenly covered. Anyway, it turned out great!

Before: Please excuse all my crap on the counter. I'm not much for cleaning up before I take a picture!



And after: Still crap on the counter, just a little neater!



The counter top looks wonderful. They did a excellent job installing it. When we were hanging the mirrors on Sunday night, one of us accidentally hit a mirror on the faucet and cracked the corner, so that person had to go to Home Depot and buy another one! I'm not naming names..but let's just say it wasn't me!!


We still have to change the light fixtures and I am seriously considering taking the shower door out and putting up a curtain. That shower door is such a pain in the ass to keep clean, it's old and the glass is a little etched and it never looks completely clean, anyway. What I really would like is to install a curved curtain rod and a nice colorful shower curtain. Actually you can see the shower door in the reflection in the mirror..yeah, it's brass, and ugly so it has to go! More before/after pictures to come!

Tomorrow is Friday!

Brenda Photo Challenge-Play

Relaxing Play

Family Room Play


Play that (sometimes) pays!

Kittie play!



To see more participants in this Brenda Photo Challenge go here

Winding Up The Vacation

Well, it's Friday after 5:00 pm and my vacation is officially over! It has been a great two weeks and has flown by faster than any two weeks when I am working ever does!

We took a great trip, redid the bedroom and just took the time to relax and enjoy drinking my coffee slowly every morning.

Today the new vanity top was installed in the bathroom. This weekend I probably will be painting. I hope the colors work out ok. I'm a little less sure of this one but we'll wait and see.

I have a baby shower to go to on Sunday. I went shopping today for the gifts. Man, baby stuff is expensive these days! I got three different kinds of blankets, all ones that she had registered for. I'm a little late shopping so there wasn't a whole lot to choose from. Here's the top of the package:



Those little animal heads are actually wrist rattles! So cute!

One Room Down One To Go

Well, I promised myself that the second week of my vacation would be devoted to painting and redoing the bedroom and the bathroom. We got the bedroom done so far. Took us three days and a lot of hard work, but I think it's worth it.

What do you think?

Before: (I know..but it seemed like a good idea at the time!)








After:








The vanity top is supposed to be installed this Friday, so the weekend will probably be spent painting the bathroom.

Home Again/Weekly Winners

We are home again. Got home yesterday and even though we were only gone for 6 days, we saw a lot of beautiful things. Anyway, more pictures and may as well do the weekly winners, too! Click on any of these pictures to make them bigger so you can appreciate the beauty!


A light house in St. Ignace. We spent the first night there on the way up. Had a nice walk on the boardwalk and an awesome fresh whitefish dinner.


This is Alger Falls. Just a very small falls on the side of the road, literally! Rich just pulled over, I jumped out and took a few pictures! It was pretty though!




These two pictures are of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising. We took a 2.5 hour boat cruise around the shoreline. It was beautiful and very photogenic! I took a ton of pictures.

This is Munising Falls in well..Munising!



These two pictures are of Canyon Falls and the river leading to it. It was very pretty and very loud!


This is Copper Harbor. It is the most northern town in Michigan and the farthest we drove. It's a pretty little town with not a whole lot going on!



We took a drive up Brockway Mountain in Copper Harbor to take this pretty picture. We were 726 ft. above lake level and 1328 ft. above sea level. All I know is were were way up there!!


This is just a small island in the middle of a inland lake we passed. It's nothing special, I just like the way it lookes against the setting sun.


And lastly, our trip meter when we got home. Lots of driving. Good thing gas prices went down to a stunningly low $3.85 per gallon! *insert sarcasm here*