Easter Décor and More

When the kids grew up and went out on their own I stopped putting out any of my Easter decorations. Actually stopped with any decorations except for Christmas. I never was one for decorating for every holiday so it wasn't really a big deal. 

Gradually though for the past few years I have been adding little decorations here and there for different holidays. Most of them come from the dollar store as I really don't want to spend a lot of money on them, except for Christmas of course because it's my favorite holiday to decorate for. 

This is what I have for Easter décor this year.  

This pretty Easter tree that I have had for years. 

This little Easter tree with a bunny family. The tree lights up. The boys like to play with the little bunnies.

This candle which I think came from the dollar store years ago. It looks like it could use a little cleaning!

Three little bunny candles in a wooden crate. I think this is a dollar store find from many years ago, also. 

These two towels hanging over the microwave and the plaque below that I posted about before were all from the dollar store this year. 

That's about it for the Easter stuff but I've been also doing a little bit of Spring decorating, too. 

I saw this paper flower arrangement at Home Goods and thought it would look good

in this vase that was from flowers I received from a co-worker when I retired. 

I put the arrangement on my antique sewing machine where the bunny house sits temporarily.  I like it. 

Lastly, we had to boys for a sleep over last night. We made them popcorn for a snack. 

They like to pull up the stools from the island and watch the popcorn bag get bigger and bigger!

Until the next time stay safe and well my friends. 

Anniversary

Yesterday, the 18 was our 44th wedding anniversary. We got married in 1977 at the ripe old age of 20 (me) and 21. Babies! That was way to young to get married but apparently it worked out ok! 

Anyway, once in a while we travel somewhere to celebrate our anniversary like this trip we took for our 40th, but normally we just go out to a nice dinner. 

Yesterday we went to Andiamo's, an upscale Italian restaurant. There is one close to our house but we decided to go to the one located in downtown Detroit in the Renaissance Center, or the RenCen as us locals call it. It's also where GM Headquarters is located. There's also shops, hotels and offices in the RenCen. It's located right on the Detroit River. 

Per these pandemic days, we had to go through a area where we could get our temp taken and receive a little sticker to wear that said we were screened. 

We got there a little early for our reservation with the intention of walking around the little shops in the center but they all were closed. 

This is a picture from the atrium looking up at the GM Tower. The building on the left is the Marriott Hotel and I'm not sure what's on the right, probably more offices. The shops are located on either side by the palm trees. I couldn't believe they were all closed. 

Anyway, it was pretty much a ghost town.  

This is a view from the front of the Detroit River.  The city across the river is Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The tall building on the left is Caesars Windsor Casino. We haven't been there in many years and now we couldn't go if we tried! 

Canada has locked us out! 

Since there was nothing else to do we went into the restaurant about a hour early and they were able to seat us since there was hardly anyone there! 

This was the view from our table. It was cloudy out or these would be much prettier pictures! 

No fancy cocktails for us! I usually like Bud Light Lime but since they rarely have it in restaurants I order a Bud Light with a lime in it! 

I ordered Chicken Marsala and it was absolutely delicious! 

Because I told them when I made the reservation that we were celebrating our anniversary they gave us a free desert!

Isn't this cute? We really enjoyed our anniversary dinner.  The food and the service was top notch! 

Next year for our 45th I'm hoping to be able to take a nice trip somewhere, preferably warm and sunny!

Until the next time stay safe and well my friends!

This, That and A Blue Jean Jacket

There has not been much going on around here lately. We enjoyed a few days of sunny, warm weather but now it's back to being cold again. Ug! It won't last for too long, though.

Last Monday was pretty windy and our house sits on the top of a hill. The wind can be stronger here and it will catch the front screen door and fling it open if your not careful. Shauna and the boys were over and Levi was standing at the screen door looking out. We didn't realize he had opened the door and the next thing we knew the wind pulled the door open and flung him out onto the deck! 

Here he is with the offending door behind him! Thankfully he wasn't hurt, just scared!

Levi and Maxwell both had little colds last week so I didn't see them after Monday for the rest of the week and weekend. They are feeling much better now. 

My friend and I went shopping at JCPenney on Saturday. The store is closing and they have everything 40-60% off. I found a few summer tops for a good deal. I also saw a blue jean jacket that I liked. It was marked down from $50 to $30. I've always wanted one but never bought one for some reason. I decided to take my chances and see if the price would go down more in a week or so.  

The next day I went online to see if there were any other stores that had deals on jean jackets. It just so happened that 0ld N@vy was advertising their jean jackets on sale for $15 for that day only. I drove to the closest store which was about 8 miles away and found one I liked. When I brought it to the cashier she told me the sale price was only if you ordered it online. I guess I misunderstood the ad! 

I was going to go outside to my car, order and pay for the jacket online and then arrange to pick it up at the door a few minutes later! Luckily she kindly only charged me the $15 for the jacket so I didn't have to do that! She said that the ad was confusing. 

Anyway, here it is. I saw another blogger a long time ago put some pins on her blue jean jacket and I thought it looked cute! I put my flag pin that I used to wear at work along with a crystal cross that belonged to my mom. It's hard to tell but the flower pin on the other side is made of pink ribbons for breast cancer research. I put that on in honor of our niece, Ann, who lost her battle with metastatic breast cancer a year ago. 

That's pretty much it for me right now. I haven't heard from anyone that we signed up to about getting the COVID vaccine yet. I would rather hold out for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine anyway. Hopefully by the time summer vacation hits! 

Until the next time, stay safe and well my friends. 

Quitting Smoking

On March 4th of this year is has been 29 years since I quit smoking.

I smoked for exactly 20 years. I started when I was 15 years old because most of my friends smoked and I wanted to be stupid like them. I pretty much smoked regularly except for the times when I was pregnant.  I was able to refrain from  smoking for those months but went right back to it right after the baby was born. 

The last year or so that I smoked I absolutely hated it, and I also felt really stupid, especially if I was around people who didn't smoke.  I smoked a pack a day and was pretty addicted.  As soon as my feet hit the ground in the morning there was a cigarette in my mouth! 

Plus it kept me thin! If I was hungry or craving something sweet I would have a cup of coffee and a cigarette and the craving would be gone! 

But eventually everyone I knew that smoked started quitting one by one. I really wanted to be a non-smoker! The first time I tried I lasted 2 weeks before I caved in to the cravings which were relentless! 

The year I turned 35 and realized that I smoked for 20 years I knew it was time to stop smoking once and for all! Lent was coming up so I decided I that would be a good time to try again. I figured that if I couldn't stand it after 40 days I would give myself an out and just start smoking again!

It  was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do in my life! At the time I worked in a dental office about 8 miles away from my house. Every morning on my way to work and every evening on my way home I had to talk myself past every store and gas station where I used to stop and buy cigarettes! 

I can't recall if I used anything for a crutch like chewing a straw or using nicotine gum. I just quit cold turkey. It was all or nothing for me! One thing I did have was a strong desire to be a non-smoker and worthy of my friends and family that either quit smoking or never smoked at all! 

Another thing that helped was using shampoo's and soaps and lotions that smelled good. I was happy to not smell like a cigarette all the time!

My taste buds came back and food started tasting really good, too! Even a hot dog was dangerously delicious! It didn't take long for me to start gaining weight!

When the 40 days was up all I could think was that I never want to have to quit smoking again so I was never going back!  

I used to dream that I started smoking again and would be so disgusted with myself! When I woke up I would be confused asking myself, "Did I really start smoking again?" What a relief to realize it was only a dream! 

It took a good 6 months before I finally stopped thinking about having a cigarette 24 hours a day! Little by little the cravings went away and after about a year I didn't think much about it at all. 

It goes without saying how glad I am now that I stuck with it. In 2008 when it had been 16 years since I quit smoking I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. The urologist asked me several times if I smoked. When I googled smoking and bladder cancer there was a article that said the toxins can stay in your body for up to 16 years after you quit! Luckily we caught the cancer very early and surgery removed it all. 

One of my friends that I smoked with as a teenager never quit and she passed away from lung cancer before she was 58 years old. 

So now it's been 29 years and I'm still pretty proud of myself and still occasionally kick myself for being so dumb when I was 15 years old!

In other news, look at all the Easter signs they had at the Dollar Tree!

There were so many I had a hard time choosing! I took the pictures to send to Shauna to see what one she wanted too! She wanted one of the ones with the 4 eggs hanging down in the top pictures. 

This is the one I bought for myself. 

It's got glitter and pretty pastel colors! So pretty and only $1! I love it!

Until the next time stay safe and well my friends!

Atlantic City Feral Cats

On my post regarding the feral cats we saw in Atlantic City during our trip in 2015,  I knew but failed to mention the Alley Cats Allies Atlantic City Boardwalk Cat's Project. I knew at the time they had a TNR policy regarding these cats but didn't know much about it until a fellow blogger (Thanks Jane) mentioned it to me in the comments. 

I only took a few pictures of the many cats we saw but they all certainly looked healthy and well cared for. Some were very friendly and would come up to people to be petted! 

They all had a tipped ear, meaning the very tip of one ear was cut off to show they were neutered or spayed and vaccinated.  

I've posted a link here for anyone who may be interested in reading more  about this project and how it came to be! Plus what a success it's been! If I lived close I would definitely be a volunteer!

I need to check out if there are any programs around my area to volunteer in.

Until the next time, stay safe and well, my friends!