Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Happy Anniversary, Janet & Bob!

Today is my sister & brother-in-law's wedding anniversary. Janet & Bob were married on this day 37 years ago... way back in 1971.

Happy anniversary, Janet & Bob!

I doubt they're reading my blog today though... because the 2 of them, along with their youngest daughter & her husband, Sara & Derek, left for Namibia this past Saturday. Bob & Derek are doing some hunting, while Janet & Sara are doing some photography.

They're going to a hunting ranch. The owner spends about half of each year in the States drumming up business, and then he spends the other half at his 1.5 million acre ranch in Namibia guiding hunts and running his business. What a life! There is usually an exotic game show that takes place in Mt. Pleasant every year, and this guy participated this year... so Janet and Bob not only got to meet him in person, but they invited him to their home for dinner, and then to stay overnight for the few days he was in town for the show. So now they have a friend in Namibia, and that will make their trip even better.

My family, we're not world travelers. The only borders we've crossed have been Canada and Mexico, and not all of us have done both. So when I say Janet, Bob, Sara & Derek left this past Saturday for Namibia, it sounds very strange on my tongue. I think it's very cool. (Me, I couldn't take the long flights, even sans the neck thing.)

I can't wait to see their photos and hear all about their trip to Africa!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Kev's new work truck

I mentioned a while back about a celebratory evening...

This is the reason for celebration...



Kev traded in his 1999 Silverado for a new one, and this new truck is what's called a "work truck." That means is doesn't have many frills on it.

It's a shade of gray, like his last truck, but a lighter shade... isn't it pretty?



It's a short box with a back seat, and this one has 2 doors on both sides (our 1999 didn't have a 2nd door on the driver's side), and the 2nd doors open all the way out, very handy...



Inside it's pretty simple upholstery, which actually I find I like much better, and simple vinyl flooring, but there are 2 glove boxes, and it does have air conditioning and a killer radio/CD player. It came with 3 months free of XM radio (which is how Joycie got the idea to con me outta XM) and also a test drive of OnStar. The seat divider is pretty simple; it doesn't open up, one of the no-frills work truck features...



And... no keyless entry, so we have to manually lock the doors... we have to push the lock down, ourselves! pushing that little plastic thing! can you imagine?!!... wait, there's more... no power windows; we have to roll 'em up and down using a handle...



Yes, kids, that black thing on the door with the round end... that's a manual handle one turns to roll the truck window up and down. I bet you've never seen one of those before, huh.

The back seat is quite comfortable. I wouldn't want to take a long road trip riding back there, but it's comfy enough. Especially for people whose asses are lower to the ground than some, like myself... not a whole lotta leg room, but plenty for me.



Now that Joyce has an XM radio contract for 3 years, Kev can get it at a super reduced price on the family plan, but he's still not decided whether or not to keep it. He's got a lot of nice CD's and is used to listening to them... like this mix Joycie made for him...



All in all, Kevin got a super duper excellent deal on the new truck. Our 1999 truck had some body work that needed done and some other stuff... so instead of sticking a few grand into that, he got this gorgeous "no frills" work truck. Kev did a lot of research, as is his routine, and we were beyond thrilled with the deal he ended up with. Also, he has a friend who owns a business of the spray-on truck bed liners, so he got a great deal on that, too. Good job, Kev! And he looks pretty darn good driving his beautiful new pickup...

Friday, July 18, 2008

Happy Moving Day!

My best friend, Sandy, and her husband, Brian, are moving into their new home today down in Texas. They've been living in Hurst for the past 23 years, where it's a really busy place. Hurst is between Dallas and Ft. Worth, and it's really all just one gigantic metropolis. So Brian and Sandy went and bought a beautiful piece of Texas earth out in the country and had a house built on it, along with a big shop for Brian. And it's gorgeous. Sandy's been sharing photos with me during construction.

The exterior is brick, like most homes out there in that hot Texas climate, and no basement, as is also typical. I love their floor plan. Entry from the garage to the kitchen, where there is also a laundry room, a half bath, then off the side, a big game room. There is also a breakfast nook off the kitchen with a door leading out to a patio. Formal dining room, living room with a beautiful fireplace, which is open to the kitchen area. Off the entry way, before the living room, is an office/den. Then 2 bedrooms and a full bath, then a master suite, with a gorgeous bath, his & her sinks (hers has a vanity), walk-in shower, spa tub, separate little room for the toilet, and a wonderful walk-in closet with all kinds of built-ins. Beautiful tile work throughout. I can't wait to see it in person.

Front of their new home, with brick and local stonework...



Entry, gorgeous door, and that's the door to the office there with the beautiful window above the double door, love the Texas star...



Brian and son, Brandon, in the living room. The fireplace is so beautiful. And Brian has a big, ol' flat screen TV going in the space above it...



Sandy's kitchen. Beautiful. Just beautiful. I want it so bad...





The master bath, with the lovely tile work...



The closet I also want badly...



And this is Brandon's truck sitting outside of Brian's shop; notice it has garage doors on both ends, so they can open them and get that cross breeze going... how perfect is that...



It's a huge shop, and it makes his GTO-in-progress look so little...



Brian got a handle on some awesome cabinets that a local college was getting rid of, and they're perfect for his shop...



I love the big sink and the big sprayer, that would come in handy...



I'm so happy for the both of them.

And one last photo, this is Brandon and his girlfriend, Jenny... what a cute couple they make...

Neck update and other stuff

I saw Dr. Adams yesterday afternoon (the neurosurgeon), and I told him my vertigo was pretty much over and that I wanted to return to working full-time in the office with no restrictions... and he agreed! So Monday, I'm hoping my life will begin to return to normal. As normal as our life gets anyway...

Last time I saw Dr. Adams, thankfully in his Midland office closer to home, he had given me a doctor's note to be out of the office for 2 weeks because of the vertigo (which wasn't related to my neck), and so I had to see him yesterday to get an official doctor's note so I can be back in the office full-time. It'll be nice not to bother with my company's health services department any longer. Done. Thank God.

While at his Midland office, up at the counter when I was checking in, I noticed the files they had ready to go for his appointments that day... His main office is in Saginaw, so I'm sure they pull all the folders for his day's appointments and take them over to Midland. I couldn't resist snapping a couple of pics with my cell phone...





But I can't decide if it's NUF SEX, as in 'nough (enough), or dyslexic FUN SEX....

I had to drive over to Saginaw to see the doc yesterday, and from our house, it's close to an hour's drive. It felt kinda weird driving, since I couldn't drive with the vertigo the past 3 weeks. My appointment was at 3:30pm and I left my house around 1pm... I thought to give myself plenty of time, and hey, if I saw a garage sale, I'd stop (always on the lookout for books).

Yesterday, like the day before and like today, was hotter than allgitout and muggy. Ugh. Not a good day for garage sales; I saw 3 I think. Not worth stopping. But I did see this, sitting on a front porch in town...



I had to back my car up and get my camera out. I thought I was the only one in this county that had one; here's mine...



These are called inuksuks. A few years back when Kevin and I drove up to Cochrane, Ontario, way up north through the Upper Penninsula of Michigan through Sault Ste Marie and up highways 129 and 101 in Canada, we kept seeing these little stone people along that gorgeous drive. (Beautiful country up there.) I took a bunch of photos of them, film back then, not digital. While in Chochrane, we hit a gift/souvenir shop, and they had little replicas of them... that's how I discovered they are called inuksuks, and I bought one (it's on my desk at work). We went up there to collect "Junior," Kevin's chest-mounted black bear, from the taxidermist. We stayed overnight in some hotel, and it turned out to be really nice, and we had a nice dinner there too. It was a great road trip. On our way back home, Kev and I gathered stones so that I could make my own inuksuk at home.

Speaking of road trips, Kev and I took a short one this past Sunday. We decided to take some back roads... I took this photo of the 2 of us back on a dirt road along one of the many, many farm fields we saw...



Yep, Kev's taking a little break... guys are so lucky that way on road trips. *sigh*

Our plan for the day was to go walk on a beach. In Michigan, you're never that far from a beach on one of the Great Lakes. We decided to try and get to Albert E. Sleeper State Park, but we made it only as far as Caseville. We stopped right before Caseville proper, and we took a walk out on this long pier out into Saginaw Bay. It was a gorgeous day, but also super, super windy.



We didn't make it all the way out to the end of the pier, because it was so windy, half way there & my shirt was blowing up around my ears. Too much wind to keep things under control, and I almost lost my hat. I took this photo by perching my camera on a rail across from us...



And the wind almost knocked the camera off the rail. My hat says "Soo Locks." I believe I bought that on our Cochrane road trip when we went through Sault Ste Marie. I wouldn't want to lose it.

We stopped in Caseville for lunch, where I had the best cheeseburger I've ever had. Wish I could remember the name of the place. It was a "black and bleu" burger with cajun seasoning, swiss cheese and bleu cheese dressing. Yummy. Caseville is known for their cheeseburgers...

But after lunch, we ended up just heading back home... I think because our truck was parked in that direction. About 20 minutes down the road, Kev looked at me and exclaimed, "Shit!" We never made it to the beach... forgot all about it. (I told you that was one good cheeseburger. The margarita was pretty good, too.) But I had had enough of the road trip and was happy to be heading home. Won't be doing that again soon. Like probably not until next summer. The neck can't take it yet.

On our drive, we also saw tons and tons of political posters everywhere. I saw a ton of them yesterday, too. Lots of elections going on. This one, however, is by far my favorite so far...

Stop and smell the daisies



Kev knows daisies are my favorite flowers, and he leaves this bunch for me when he mows the lawn. When I sit at my computer, I can see them.

When Kev and I were married, way back on April 2, 1983, we had 2 huge vases of daisies at the church... one on each side up in the back at the alter...



I still have those vases. And the man...

Fertilizing our lawn for us

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Kev cares...

Thursday morning, I saw the doe and her twin fawns on our front lawn. Kevin and I have seen them before... one morning we watched the fawns race around the edge of the pond, going along the long south side around to the west, stopping, turning around and racing back to their momma, who was eating at the corn feeder Kev has out on the east side of the pond. It was really cool... we watched them for quite a while, and those 2 little fawns were really moving fast. Back and forth, back and forth. I wanted to get some photos, but I couldn't find my camera... turns out Sammy had it up in his bedroom. Grrr...

I took this shot of one of the fawns and the doe eating away at our too-well-pruned forsythia bush (Kev and I chopped away at that thing earlier this Spring, and we got a little heavy-handed and did an awful job of it).



Look at the ribs on the doe. Feeding twins must not be easy on her. I let them fill up as much as they wanted on the forsythia. Poor momma.

Then yesterday morning, there was a doe out by the pond...



At first I thought it was the doe with twins, but then I realized she's a little too well fed. Then I noticed a second doe...



And then a third deer...



and then I was all "What?!!!"....



Yep, a buck in velvet. Awesome. I didn't tell Kev about it, just showed him a slideshow of the photos I've been taking... and you should have seen him sit up and take notice when the photo of this little buck showed up on the slideshow... Kev was pretty happy about that.



Another thing that made Kev happy yesterday was that I was able to report that Baltimore Orioles have finally found our Oriole feeder. They're very shy, though, and this is the best photo I got, after the pair, male & female, flew up into a nearby maple tree.



Beautiful birds. Kev and I were both happy to see a pair, because that might mean a nest and babies. Yay!

I don't even care...



Yesterday, the turkeys were all over my rock garden & herb garden. That's right, I don't care... I didn't bother to try & scare them away.



Because my rock & herb gardens are pretty much all weeds... weeds, weeds, WEEDS! Like the sign says...



Kathy gave that to me for my birthday in April, and it's so very true. *sigh* Well, there are some herbs in there...



I had hoped this year would be better than the last 3 or so for working in my gardens, but the infection and 2nd surgery to my neck put the ol' damper on that party. Hopefully next year. Sammy & I have a little saying going, though perhaps it's more like a mantra or a prayer...

"Everything'll be fine in 2009!"

Friday, July 11, 2008

Joycie with the mad MSPaint skillz

Joycie seems to be enjoying her job lately because she's busier now... earlier on, she was bored outta her gourd too much, and there is no job worse than a boring job.

Shortly after she sent to me her first MSPaint artwork, she sent me this one. (You have to look at this one full screen to really appreciate the detail.)

Hmmm... I notice a theme.

And then she sent me this one...



Definitely a theme. Then I noticed the starfish was smiling. Smiling! But then I noticed his expression looks a little, well, a bit crazy-dumb, and kinda like he's enjoying the show above him just a little too much, if you get my drift.

Yep, definitely a theme.

I sent an e-mail back to her, telling her how awesome her artwork is, how I love the detail on the plants and the coral. Then I asked for maybe some artwork with a more friendly, upbeat tone, something positive, perhaps even pretty...

That was about 3 weeks ago, and nada. No artwork since. E-mails, yes. Artwork, no.

I don't know if it's because she's finally gotten busier at work or because she's just one of those "dark" artists, y'know... she just can't do happy art...

Monday, July 07, 2008

Brando

One of Sammy's friends, Brandon, is over at our house kinda often, and Sammy is actually over at Brando's house right now. Sam stayed overnight there because he went home with Brandon when his folks picked him up here from staying overnight here Saturday night.

Sammy has some really great friends; they're great boys. We enjoy having them stay over, and when he's over at their houses, we don't worry one bit. All their folks are great, too. Of course, some of Sammy's friends are girls... there is a big group that always hangs out together, and Kev and I are very happy about it because they are all great kids. I hope this group sticks together all the way through high school.

Brando is a hoot and a half, and we always have a good time when he's here. He's one of those people that's comfortable anywhere, and he has a keen sense of humor. Here's some photos from April, when Brandon stayed over for a few days. He went with us to my sister, Janet's, for a family gathering, and then he and Sammy put dish soap on the trampoline and a sprinkler underneath it and had a good ol' time...









When Brandon's here, I can get Sammy to ham it up for the camera. I love that last shot of the 2 of them. Cracks me up every time I look at it.

Brandon's hair, when not wet, is blond, and it used to be really long. He has these wonderfully soft curls. But it was getting a little too long, and he looks good with his then-new hair cut. I finally found a photo of Brando with his long locks, taken back in November of last year at Sammy's birthday party...



He's a cutie pie. He calls me Madre a lot, and I call him Honey and Sweetie.

Every once in a while, Brando will send me a picture text on my phone, like, he sent me one the day he got his hair cut. He sent me this one the other day...



It's the Poptart Ninja. No reason; he just thought I'd like it. He was right, too.

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

I shake my fist at the universe & ask what the hell did I ever do to you...

But all I get is a distant echo of an evil chuckle...

Guess what I now have? Go ahead, guess.

Vertigo. Not caused by an inner ear infection, unfortunately... because I believe that would be the easiest to cure. Instead, mine is likely from a task I did at work in the office on Friday when I was up, down, up, down, up, down for about 20 to 30 minutes at the copy machine. Moved those little "crystals" around in my inner ear.

I saw my family doc yesterday morning, and he gave me 2 prescriptions, antivert and valium. I take a pill every 3 hours, alternating between the 2. And I sleep, and I sleep, and I sleep. Also, the dizziness is abating somewhat. For about 90% of people who have this type of vertigo (i.e., objective vertigo; not caused from an inner ear infection), it clears up in about 3 weeks or so. The other 10%, it never clears up.

There is a thing called the Epley Maneuver where a trained physical therapist moves your head around to "readjust" the crystals in the inner ear, but my family doctor wouldn't prescribe it due to my neck problems/recent surgeries. I see the neurosurgeon this coming Monday, and will ask him about it. For 70% of the people who have the Epley Maneuver, it clears up the vertigo the first time.

I can't drive, I can't walk a straight line, and I can't watch myself type this post... blech. I have a bunch of stuff to post about, and will try to do so soon... Meantime, fingers crossed. Again.