The Brenda Photo Challenge - Best of 2009.

OK This photo challenge snuck up on me. Gotta get into the habit again!

There was way too many to pick from. I love any picture of a pretty scene outdoors!





And any picture of one of my cats in the sun!





Go HERE to see more Best of 2009 pics!

Quiet Weekend

It's Sunday night and this has been a pretty quiet weekend.

Friday night we did not do dinner with the usual gang. Seeing as we were on our own for the night we decided to try a new (to us) restaurant called Deadwood in Northville. I know several people that have been there and we wanted to try it. Well, it must be pretty good because there was a hour wait to be seated. However,there is no restaurant good enough to wait a hour for so we left. We'll try again some time when we can go earlier!

Saturday we went to the Plymouth Ice Festival.



This usually attracts tons of people every year. The ice sculptures are usually huge and very impressive. This year not so much.



Oh, there was some good ones..














But there used to be sculptures that were 10 feet tall and so incredibly detailed that it was amazing. I suppose they lost their sponsers due to the economy. There is nothing untouched by this economy.

We enjoyed it anyway and it was actually not too cold out so we were able to take out time and look at all of the carvings.

In the evening we went to dinner at a new Mexican restaurant downtown with my brothers and their wives. Thre was eight of us. We had a great time and the food was excellent! We don't do that often enough!

Today was a quiet day. It's so gloomy out and has been for days! We really need to see the sun pretty soon around here! Oh I did talk to a old friend who lives in Cape Coral Florida! I was tempted to tell her to make up the guest bedroom cuz we're jumping on the next plane out of here!!

Tomorrow I have a appointment at my primary care doc for my 3-month diabetic blood work and at the urologist for that fun procedure! The good thing is the appointments are in the morning and I am off for the rest of the day! That in itself is worth it!

House Stuff

The weather this last week has been wonderfully mild for this time of year. In the mid to upper 30's every day. Not much wind for the wind chill and no snow. If we can just hold on through the next 4 weeks we will be on the downside to Spring!

I have been wanting to get rid of the shower doors in the upstairs bath for a while and Saturday was finally the day. They were brass and the glass was etched in places (how does that happen, anyway?) and they were a real hassle to clean, and then they never looked clean anyway! I had purchased a shower curtain and liner last week to sort of give us a little more incentive. Turned out it was not as big of a job as I thought it would be. A hour of scraping and scrubbing and a little caulking and the tub almost looks like it never had doors at all! I love my new shower curtain.



I found these two sided hooks which work really well with the curtain and the liner.



One good thing about the doors was they gave me something to hold on to when getting in and out of the shower. Not that the tub is slippery, but it's always nice to have that stability, you know? We considered putting a bar up but really didn't want to put any holes in the fiberglass wall. So I found this



at the hardware store. This thing is STRONG! Nothing pulls this baby down! I think I could hang a elephant from it and the whole shower wall would come down before the suction let go!

Sunday was pretty uneventful. Just did the dreaded grocery shopping for the week. Have I mentioned how much I HATE meal planning and grocery shopping? It's not even the cost of food. It's just trying to figure out what to make that's easy, half-way healthy and quick!

When I start 4 day work week I will plan to do my grocery shopping on Friday and get it out of the way for the weekend!

Yep, think I'm going to do that!

Friday!!

Well, this week seemed to go by pretty fast! Only one more full week and then I start my 4-day work schedule! Yay!

Tuesday was my birthday so we went to dinner at Mexican Fiesta. When we were ready to leave we did not have singles for a tip, so we went to the cashier to pay the bill with the intention of putting the tip on the table when we got change. Everyone had had to do that a time or two! Anyway, you should have seen the waitress giving us the stink-eye when she walked by our table and did not see a tip sitting there. Then she kept walking by and giving us dirty looks! Luckily we redeemed ourselves when Rich walked back and left money on the table! Although I admit I was tempted to just walk out!! Jeeze..what is with us and tipping issues in restaurants?

The weather had warmed up a tad. This weekend it's supposed to be 40! That's pretty warm for this time of year. All the snow is melting. If we could just skate (ha!) through the rest of this month and next month like this we will have it made!!

I got a "Teach yourself Italian" CD and book for Christmas that I have been listening to in my car a lot on the way home from work. That's probably 1-2 hours total a week! I doubt I will ever be fluent in Italian, but slowly I am picking up the words. I love it because it reminds me of my grandmother and the old days when she lived with us and her and my mom spoke Italian to each other!

So on that note: Buonasera!

Good Morning

Agh! 7:30 on a Saturday morning. I almost never sleep in on the weekends. Actually, 7:30 is sleeping in because I am usually up at 5:45 during the week!

It's about 8 degrees out right now. It is frickin' freezing!! But I guess the whole country is cold. I know your guys in the south are freezing too! You're just not frickin' freezing! We got about 6 inches of snow on Wednesday, too. It was one of those times where it snowed all day while I was at work and when I came out to my car, it was covered. Plus had a slow drive home.

You know what really gets me? I see people driving with their cars just covered with snow! The only clear space is where the windshield wipers have swiped! Side windows, back window and head and tail lights just covered! And they drive like that! I guess they just expect everyone to just get out of their way. They are about as safe to be on the road as a drunk driver!

GOOD NEWS!! I got my 32-hour appointment at work!! Starting on February 1st, I work Monday-Thursday! Woo hoo!! I am so excited!!

No big plans for the weekend. This morning Marie and I are going to breakfast and then probably shopping. I need to get some neutral colored sweaters to wear to work. Then maybe I will try to do some more organizing and cleaning. Got a couple closets that could use it.

These snow men stay on the fireplace all winter. They are so cute and make me smile!



See my new kittie? He's on the side bar and will follow the mouse and try to swipe at it some times!

Try to stay warm!!

Monday Already?

Well, that four days certainly went by fast enough!

We got all of the Christmas decorations down and put away. Did all of the miscellaneous stuff one day and then the trees the next day. We took it slow so it didn't seem like a monumental task!

We still have the outside lights to do but that will have to wait because damn, it's cold out right now! I can deal with the snow, but when it's freezing cold and the wind is blowing it makes it very hard to be outside for too long.

If you want to feel like the healthiest eater in the world, check out This site It's just unbelievable what some people eat! I especially mean the Double Coronary Burger! It even includes tater tots!! Good lord!!

I spent a good part of the weekend organizing all the papers that I am always printing off of the internet about crafts and jewelry making and miscellaneous stuff. All these great ideas and things to make and do. Now I just need the time!

Well, that's all for this lovely Monday. Full week of work. Bummer.