Sunday Post

Seems the only time I bother to post is on Sunday's anymore! This time of year is pretty mundane with working all week and not doing much else. There's really nothing to post about unless we decide to venture out of the house like we did today.

The Detroit Historical Museum was offering 1/2 of admission this weekend so Rich and I figured it would be worth $3 to take a drive to downtown Detroit and check it out. I'm sure that sometime during my school days I went there but it was so long ago that I really don't remember anything.

It was kind of interesting to walk around and look at the different displays about the history of Detroit and Michigan. I won't bore you with pictures of boring stuff but there was a couple of things I though were fun:

Excuse the blurry picture but this just cracked me up. Apparently Michigan had a reputation as a disease-ridden swampland in the early 1800's! You can't really read the caption but it says "Don't go to Michigan that land of ills. The word means ague, fever, and chills" Written in 1820.

I loved seeing this because I had both of those Barbie cases! It really brought back memories of how much fun I had playing with those dolls with my friends!

There were lots of old dolls on display, too. Some of them were interesting.

And some of them were a little scary! I wouldn't have this one in my house!

And they probably could have done a little better representing the Girl Scouts!

The lower level of the museum was modeled after old Detroit with cobblestone streets.

All in all I'm glad we went. Next time we may go here;

The Detroit Institute of Arts. Although we'll have to be really bored and looking for something to do because I have no appreciation for art!

On other news...my supervisor at work is retiring in two weeks after working at U of M for 47 years! I will be sad to see her go but I'm happy for her, too.

I'm retiring too....in about 9 years!

Have a good week. I'll be back next Saturday for the Brenda Photo Challenge!

Not A Lot Going On

Last Thursday was my birthday so I took the day off. I had to go to the Secretary of State office to get plates for both of our cars and my driver's license renewed. Of course, in spite of my best efforts, my new picture is as awful as the last one! Olson Mills they are not!!! Plus they had the audacity to ask me my weight! Can you believe that?

It got cold out the last few days and we even had a inch of snow. Can't complain really, so far this winter has been a piece of cake...knock on wood. We just have to get through the next month and a half and we are on our way to Spring once again!

This is my favorite little night light. The heat from the bulb is supposed to make the little shade go round and round...but since it got cold a few days ago it stopped moving! Sensitive little thing!!

Had the kids over for dinner last Sunday. I made mashed potatoes and usually I use red skin and don't peel them, but for some reason I used regular Idaho potatoes and peeled them. I put the peeling down the garbage disposal and jammed up the pipe downstairs so bad the water from the kitchen sink was filling up the wash tub downstairs!  I thought we were going to have to call a plumber!

Luckily, Rich had the idea to fill the sinks in the kitchen to the brim with hot water, block the wash tub downstairs and let the water drain from the kitchen sinks at the same time. It worked beautifully!! The pressure from the water draining pushed the blockage right out! No more potato peels in the garbage disposal any more.

Actually, I really shouldn't peel the potatoes at all. All the nutrients are in the skin.

Well, that's all the excitement for me these days! Tomorrow starts another week of work and waiting for Friday to get here!

Happy Sunday!

Last Tuesday I called off of work because I did not sleep a wink...literally. I saw every hour from 11:00-5:00 and at 5:00 I called and left a message on my supervisors voice mail telling her that I could not possibly work on no sleep at all! Right after that I finally fell asleep and slept until 10:00. And although I was still tired, I stayed awake to be sure I would sleep that night. Man, I have had sleeping issues for a long time, but it's been especially bad the past few months! I usually fall asleep fine and wake up in the middle of the night not being able to go back to sleep. The problem is I never really know when that's going to happen so I don't want to take a sleeping medication every night. I'm going to have to try some natural sleep aids.

So since I had the day off I figured I would contact AT&T because we have been unable to access the Internet on our PC for the last week or so. All of our Internet connections are wireless and everything else was connecting just fine..our lap top and our phones. So first I tried to place a call to them...which was kind of ridiculous because it was the day after a holiday and the were swamped with calls. I waited for about 15 minutes and then decided to go on their website and do a chat...

So here is my set up...live chat with AT&T on the lap top and trying stuff on the PC. Turns out it was the little gizmo that sits on top of the component and just decided out of the clear sky to stop reading the wireless signal. So they sent us a new one, we hooked it up and all is well with the PC again!

The lap top works just fine for everything we need but when it comes to typing entry's on this blog I much prefer the PC keyboard.

I received a Amazon gift card from Brad for Christmas so I decided to buy the kitties a Christmas gift with it. I've been wanting to get a water fountain for the cats for a while. I heard about this one called Catit so I ordered it for them and it arrived on Thursday.

The water just bubbles up from the center. Of course they were all curious about it and a little scared at first.

Then we moved it to it's permanent spot on the fireplace hearth and eventually they figured out that they can actually drink the water! Now they all drink from it! We have to replenish about a glass full of water every day.

In other news, yesterday my SIL Debbie and I went to the funeral home to visit a fellow blogger Judy from Brighton The Corner Where You Are. Her fiance of 7 years passed away on New Years Day. I've been reading her for a couple years now and she feels like a friend, like all of my blogger buddies do. The funeral home was only about 45 minutes from my house so I was glad to be able to go and visit her and give support. It was nice to meet her. I wish it could have been under happier circumstances, though. Maybe someday we'll get together again in a happier time.

Anyway, having the kids for dinner tonight to celebrate Rich's birthday on the 4th and mine on the 12th. Can't wait for some family time!

Guess I better go clean the bathroom!

Happy New Year

So I'm just a little late on the Happy New Year wishes. We spent a very low key New Years Eve...barely staying awake until 12:00, and then hitting the decks because of all the gun shots going on outside!

Spent New Years Day just hanging out at home, slowly putting away the Christmas stuff. Got all done except for the trees.  I was off today so I took the trees down and cleaned up the house. Looks back to normal once again!

I meant to show you all the beautiful Waterford ornament my son and daughter-in-law gave me for Christmas.

The picture doesn't show the pretty blue color very well but take my word for it, it's gorgeous!

The only New Years resolution I ever made and actually kept was last year when I vowed that I would not buy a new purse for the whole year. And I didn't. But the year's over now and I got a Kohl's gift card from Rich for Christmas so what better way to spend it? Behold!

Once again the picture doesn't show the colors very well but it's a soft lavender and grey. So pretty and the perfect size for what I need!

I have a busy week ahead of me at work.  My coworker needs to take another week off to take care of her mom's estate business so I'm on my own still. Only now it's no longer the holiday and things will be much busier. At least it's a short week again.

Well, I hope that 2012 brings you all peace and love! I am going to try to blog more, comment more on other blogs and try to get more followers! Wish me luck!

Day Off

The Monday after Christmas was our work holiday so I was off. Rich had to work so I had the day to myself to run some errands.

I did  something I've never done before. I took back a few gifts that we received from my son and daughter-in-law. Normally I don't like to do that but they included the gift receipts and it was stuff that we were never going to use so I figured it was no big deal.

The first place I went was to TJ Maxx. If your not familiar with that store, it's sort of a outlet where you can get name brand stuff for a lot cheaper. Everything from clothes to accessories to household goods. I usually don't shop there because I never seem to find anything I like. So of course, when I returned the gift they only would give me a store credit. I walked all around the store looking and was about to give up when I spotted this nifty thing

It happened to be the exact amount of my store credit, too, so I bought it.  Now being vertically challenged as I am (5 ' 1") this stool will come in pretty handy in my kitchen. And the best part is it stores under the sink.

No more dragging one of the dining room chairs into the kitchen when I have to reach something!

Next stop was Kohl's where I purchased this rug:

I love it! Apparently the cats do too because they've been laying on it ever since and being dark brown it shows every single cat hair!

Oh well!

In some sad news, my coworkers mom passed away late Christmas Eve. So sad but her whole family, including her seven kids were able to be there with her, one daughter from California. I know what she's going through.

Looking forward to a long weekend; not looking forward to putting all the Christmas decorations away!

Happy New Year!

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with family.

This is how I ended up displaying my grandmothers and moms old ornaments.

See the little crochet covers on the candle holders? Those are wristlets that my grandmother made for me a long time ago. They are too small for my wrist but I thought they looked cute here!

It was a feast of Italian food! For some reason I only got pictures of the pizza

We had mostacholi and Italian sausage too!

Then there was the sweets table.

Gah! There was a bunch of goodies left over, too, and no one wanted to take their stuff home! So Rich and I spend rest of the weekend in a sugar coma!

I did buy this little cake for Brad for his graduation.

Since there was no one around at the bakery to write on it I had to do it myself!

I'm no cake decorator but I think Brad appreciated it!

All in all it was a nice Christmas spent with family!

Merry Christmas Eve

It made me feel better that I am not the only one not in the Christmas spirit this year! I feel better today, got good sleep last night and now am ready to get my holiday on!

It wasn't too bad working yesterday. It was pretty slow and laid back but still I didn't get off until 4:30. They had a pot luck and here is part of the food that we had...it was all over the department!

Sorry for the blurry pics but I was trying to sneak pictures before someone saw me!

We had our secret Santa at work, too. This is what I got from mine:

To go coffee cup, cappuccino mix, note pad with my initial, Christmas socks, and a fleece pillow. That pillow is actually a blanket folded up and tucked into a little pillowcase. Great stuff!

After work  Rich and I grabbed some dinner and then went to the grocery store for the food I need for tonight. Luckily I only needed the makings for puppy chow and mostacholi so I didn't have any trouble finding anything. Talk about putting off until the last second! It was packed from the parking lot to the checkout lines!

Tonight is a feast of Italian food...mostacholi, home made deep dish Sicilian pizza, home made Italian sausage and a bunch of sweets! Oh, I think we'll throw in a salad somewhere too.

I'll be posting pictures of the feast for sure!

Merry Christmas to you all!