weekend update

Well, since I enjoyed reading Kari's account of her weekend, I thought I would write about my weekend.

Saturday we got quite a bit done. First we took the Focus into Midas to get the brakes looked at. Then we went to Bob Evans to eat breakfast, our weekly ritual to get out of the house. Then we came home to wait to hear the bad news about the car. While at home I worked on the computer a bit. Found that we might be able to "sell" the ebook on Amazon published as a Kinele book, but I will have to reformat it.

The car needed new shoes, rotors, and two link pins. Oh my. Oh well. Had to be done. So we authorized the work to be done. They said probably it would be ready around 1 p.m. Dave and I decided we needed to get out and move around a bit, but since the car with the Metropark sticker was getting fix. So we went to Farmington to their Founders Day celebration. Did a lot of walking and looking. Saw a man dressed all in gold, acting like a statue, tipped his hat when we walked by. Wow - he was good. I thought he was a statue.

Then we came back to get the car.

I then made pork chops with gravy, low calorie. Very good. I recommend them. I am having fun making all these new low calorie recipes. It gives me ideas for more or at least how to modify them so that we like them even better.

Sunday morning comes.....we hang out for a bit. I decide to start the laundry I needed to do. Then I wanted to shorten the curtains in our bedroom. That didn't take too long. By the time I was done, Dave was ready to get out and do more sight seeing. We went to Royal Oak's largest garage sale. It was a garage sale that was in a parking garage. It was huge. Nothing there caught our eye. Lots of junk.

Last stop was Como's for pizza. Then home to vegetate in front of the TV and computers. I did little things like changing the bed sheets and wash towels.

Healthy appetizers

Dave has been giving me suggestions for food to fix for him and I that is lowfat, low calorie, or both.

This is one that I made that I recommend:

From the Healthy Living magazine.

Mini Bacon Quiches
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/2 cup reduced-fat ricotta cheese
1/2 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash pepper
2 packages (2.1 oz each) frozen miniature phyllo (fillo) tart shells

1. In a small bowl, combine the first nine ingredients. Place tart shells on an ungreased baking sheet; fill each with 2 teaspoons mixture.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until filling is set and shells are lightly browned. Serve warm.

They were good cool also.

MAC Facilities Begin Upgrades

With kickoff of the 2008 football season just six weeks away, Mid-American Conference fans will no doubt notice upgrades at a couple of venerable facilities while fans in another MAC city will be celebrating the final season in their school's home stadium.

read more | digg story

will they answer my question?

I emailed Rod and Mario with the FSN Detroit website asking them a question and they are suppose to answer it on an upcoming Tigers Live game. Will they answer it today? We shall see. The question I asked was: Do the Tigers still do all those fancy-dancy hi-fives they used to do when they hit a homerun and then went to the dugout?

Silly question, but I remember they used to have some very elaborate hi-fives with each other. Choregraphed perfectly. Maybe they will look up old film footage of them and replay them.

so I thought the ebook was all done......

My sigh of relief changed today. Dave was going through the ebook and found that the team schedules had either changed or there was minor errors. So........I had to log into my laptop, go back into the Word document, make the changes, then convert to a pdf file, then upload to the website again.

Okay, done. I can get back to work.

But wait, I forgot to reset the bookmarks in the pdf file. So had to spend time setting up the bookmarks and then upload to the website.

Whew, all done.

Right?

Wrong.

Dave and I were suppose to start working out in the yard in the evenings this week so that we could get caught up on that. Dave started early, but came in when I was done with work and he sheepishly told me that there were more corrections that he found in the pdf.

So while cooking supper, I made the changes in the Word document, converted to pdf and showed Dave how to do the bookmarks in the pdf program. Once the bookmarks were done, I uploaded the files to the website and we were done.

Right.

So we went outside to finish work in the yard. We sweated and got dirty. For two couch potatoes we did pretty good. Dave got a whole section of the driveway weed free and I weeded and then put stuff down to keep the weeds at bay behind the garage where the three bushes are. It felt good to get it done. There is still more to do in the yard, but we will get it done this week. I also have to clean the house. Will get that done also. The bathtub was cleaned yesterday.

Then Dave checked the pdf file again. Yep, one more correction. This one I was able to fix right in the pdf file, so that was quick.

I hope Dave doesn't find any more corrections.

The ebook link is on this blog and I encourage anyone that wants to find out all the inside information about college football for this season - specifically the Mid-American Conference - then buy this ebook. You will be one step ahead of the game.

Finally finished Dave's ebook

Dave has been working hard on an ebook for a football preview of the Mid-American Conference. In the past when he has done this, he hasn't charged for the document, but he put so much work into it and so did I that we wanted to get something for the hard work. Well, I think we have it mostly done and I can breath a sigh of relief. The ebook will go on sale on July 2 and I will put a link to the store as soon as it is up so that all my family and friends can go there and buy it if they feel like it. It will be $4.95 and you can use either a credit card or paypal. I set up the store, set up the website, made graphics so that others can advertise the book on their websites. Dave is getting the advertising for the book out with google adwords and other people's website.

If any one wants to advertise the book on their website, please let me know (Mindy).

having fun at the CVS

So, since I work from home I don't get out much. Saturdays are my day to get out all by myself. Crazy, I know. I usually go to the grocery store, but sometimes I get a manicure and today I had my hair trimmed. But I also went CVS to get Father's Day cards and such. Well, the line was long and only one register open. When a second register opened, I noticed that the people getting in line were confused about where to go, so I decided to direct traffic. So with a smile on my face and lightness in my tone, I started telling people where the end of the line was, pointing out the next in line so that person could go to the second open register.

Then a gentleman in line behind me asked me if I knew if CVS gave rainchecks because he wanted to get one for the Arizona tea that was on sale, but they had run out of. I hollered out to one of the cashiers asking that very question. The answer was yes, so the gentleman stayed in line.

It is funny....the cashiers seem grumpy and hassled... but when I started my joking and stuff, they seemed to perk up and one of them even smiled. It was fun.

old memories

I had this for breakfast: Hard crunchy bread (brownberry will do), butter, jam, olives, cheese.

Every time I eat this type of meal, I am reminded of a trip to Israel. But the memories are very fragmented.

• The hot sun - so bright it hurt your eyes
• hail stones lying at the base of an orange tree with oranges already on the tree.
• Old Jerusalum - crowded, dirty, smelly, clothing hanging for sale, dead animals hanging for sale.
• Not wanting to pay to see the Dead Sea, but needing to use the restroom - a group of us girls led by Marian Selleck chose to go behind the building and relieve ourselves. She was such a rebel.
• bumpy bus rides
• The beautiful color of the mosques
• The head-bobbing, sing-song people at the wailing wall.

That is about all I can really remember. I wish I had the pictures from that trip, but I think I gave them all to Jerry.

June 1, 2008 - Jenna's Baby Shower

Last weekend, Mindy, Kari and I all traveled to Grand Rapids for my neice and nephew's baby shower. Jenna and Japhy will be parents soon and my sister will be a grandmother. Such fun. Here are some pictures that I took.

Sister Cindi and Aydan

Mindy, Luke, and Charly

Kari, relaxing, finally without a child in hand.

Cindi, Aydan, and Mindy

Mindy and Luke

Charly

Jenna and Japhy opening their gifts.

Some of the guests.

More guests

Japhy's dad Steve and Mike, Cindi's husband.

having a good day today

Thank goodness it is Saturday. Time to get things done and relax if possible. This is how my day has gone so far today. Sleep in past 8:00 a.m. (8:07?) Take a shower, get dressed. Have my chauffeur (Dave) drive me to Bob Evans where we consumed a good, but cheap breakfast. I had grits and a side of bacon. Then we came home to decide what we would do next. We opted for driving to the Erie Metro Park to hike the nature trail. We chose the 1 mile loop. We did that twice. I was completely worn out from that. On the drive home we made three stops. One to get a candy bar for me. Two to buy some hanging plants to put on our light post out front. Three, BabiesRus so that I could pick up a gift for the baby shower that I am going to tomorrow. Oh, and Dave stopped at the gas station to fill my tank for tomorrow. (Lordy gas is costly.)

Then when we got home, I went back out. First went to the farmer's market up the street and got two medium onions, one large zucchini, two parsnips, a bunch of bananas, 6 ears of corn, two plums, two oranges, one pink grapefruit ($5.81). I am going to keep going back there to get different vegetables. See if I can get more vegetables and fruit into our diet. Riley will eat some also.

Then I went to get a pedicure and manicure. It was relaxing.

Finally I did the grocery shopping. I think I forgot somethings. I need to make a better list.

Now Dave and I are watching the Wings hockey game. Hopefully they will win.

Tomorrow should be a nice day. Going to my sister's house. She is having a baby shower for her son and his wife. Kari will be there with her two kids and Mindy will be riding with me and bringing Luke. It will be fun.

colorful blog design

My eccentric daughter very kindly allowed me to redesign her blog. It turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. I had a good time choosing the colors, working with her to get the right fonts, etc. Needless to say, Mindy is a tough client. She had very definite ideas and that was refreshing. I like to work with people who know what they want and can communicate it.

So if you like Mindy's blog and want to see more, check back and see what I do with my blog. Also, I am available for hire if you want to spice up your blog.

eye twitching - update

I think I blogged about this. My right eye has been twitching. It started about a month ago and for a week it was kind of driving me crazy. Well, it had just about completely stopped twitching until yesterday. Yesterday, Formulawn came to fertilize the grass. (By the way, the yard is looking good, grass nice and green, healthy, and no weeds.) Well, they knocked on the door to ask me if we wanted the grub control, since it didn't look like it needed it. (We had put some grub control on last fall and maybe that helped.) They were spraying the lawn while they were talking to me. The smell was not very pleasant. I quickly went into the house and shut the door so that Riley wouldn't breathe the fumes.

Well, my eye started twitching. Now today my back and head are itching. My eye is still twitching. I just took some Zyrtec so hopefully the itching will go away.

Dave's comment on Dancing with the Stars

We are trying out this new website design. Dave was working on the website, checking out how the articles and pictures were uploaded. He was watching Dancing with the Stars with me, in between flipping back and forth to the Wings hockey game. I was checking out the website design on my laptop whenever he switched to the game. I checked it one last time and noticed the change he had made. (Headline and caption under picture - click on image for larger picture). He thinks he is so funny. It did crack me up because it was so unexpected.

lifestyle change - ongoing

Dave and I are still working on our weight loss. It is frustrating because we have drastically reduced our intake and have been walking just about every day, and we are not seeing a lot of results. Don't get me wrong, we won't give up. But it does get discouraging.

perfect pizza - maybe

This might be my best attempt at homemade pizza. I used a thin crust recipe. The crust was delicious. (click on picture to enlarge and see the crust detail.)

lifestye change - day 11

I am still trying to stick to the lifestyle change. We went on a walk today. Drove to the Lake Erie Metropark. It gets so boring walking around the neighborhood. Plus the sidewalks seem to make my joints hurt more. Walking along the nature trails at the Metroparks really feels so much better, but you sometimes are surprised by wild life. Two deer were scared off by us walking by. I only saw their tail ends, but they made a lot of noise leaving the area. We walked only 1.5 minutes(edited - miles), but it was very relaxing also.

I continue to be hungry for the wrong things. I melted some truffles in the microwave and dipped some pretzels in the melted chocolate so that I could have a chocolatey snack. Don't tell Dave what I did, as I didn't let him know that I did that.

eye twitches

My right eyelid has been twitching. I don't know why, but it is annoying.

Conversation with Dave:

Me: You know every time I say something and you disagree with me, my eye twitches.

Dave: No, your eye twitches every time you are wrong.

Very funny, Dave.

sometimes I have a good idea

Watching the Tigers

Me to Dave: So the psychology of stealing a base is so that it keeps the pitcher's busy thinking of the runner and makes him throw crappy pitches.

Dave: (looking confused) Well, not really. Well, okay, I guess.

Me: Don't you agree?

Dave: (Grudgingly) Yyyyeessss, I just wasn't prepared to let you know that you were right.

baby mama, baby daddy

I HATE those terms. When did we become illiterate? I guess this falls in the category of lol or rolf, but please. We are intelligent people. Why do we have to pick up the lazy speech patterns of people who have not graduated from high school and sell drugs for a living? Why are we copying them. I thought that only people who didn't know any better used these terms, but I heard Harvey Levin on the People's Court use it and there is a movie out that has that title. Disgraceful. Please do not ever use those terms around me.

Lifestyle change - day 9

Well, I was up 1.5 pounds today. That is okay. See, I like to track my weight daily. It gives me a reminder to be careful with my food intake. My daughter has been encouraging me to track my intake with a website like Dave does. But I have tried that in the past. I have tried Weight Watchers and other things and I have noticed that as soon as I impose a number or a limit on myself I want to rebell. I am not sure why this is. It is funny, if I start thinking that I am hungry for a donut and then tell myself, no you can't have it, it isn't on your diet, then I really, really want the donut and like a little child I will whatever I can to get that donut. But, if I say, okay, you can have the donut, but wait a minute, wait an hour, wait until later today, etc, then usually I don't want the donut. Strange, but true. Or I will say to myself (not out loud, that would be crazy, right?) "is there anything else that you would rather have or have instead since you don't have any donuts right here?" " Why yes, I would rather have a piece of toast with cinnamon on it. " Wow, that actually sounds good. I think I will go have some right now.

lifestye change - day 8

wo-wo - 3.5 pounds so far. I know that this will not continue, but I am going to enjoy it.

lifestye change - day 6

I think I did really good today. This is what I had to eat so far. Breakfast: English muffin (butter and jam), lunch: piece of steak, supper: chicken fillets on the grill and rice/pasta dish with taco seasonings, a small cup of 100 calorie tapioca pudding. I haven't had my one pepsi yet today. I had a capuccino and then had 32 oz of water with lemon and sugar added.

Our walk lasted 35 minutes. I tried walking with my dansko work shoes to see if they worked better. My knee didn't hurt as much today, but my right hip did have the stabbing pain in it half way through the walk. I just took two acetametaphin, so I hope my leg pains will get better by bedtime. I do think the pain is a little better than last week.

Dave is doing great. He is counting calories, using a website called Calorie Count. He logs everything he eats and how much exercise he does. He wouldn't get on the scale until yesterday. So, so far he has lost one pound that he knows of. I lost 2 pounds since we started.

I think I will buy some more V8 next time we go to the store so that I can get more vegetables. I have to remember to take my vitamins also. I keep forgetting.

lifestye change - day 5

Another 1/2 pound - 2 pounds total. Walked and worked in the yard. Had two small homemade breakfast burritos, two bacon, low-cal pizza, and a small steak. So still doing pretty good.

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed

Dave and I went to a matinee to see Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. It is a documentary by Ben Stein. I really enjoyed it. It was thought provoking, interesting, and enjoyable. I loved having my mind stimulated by this movie. I am going to do more research on the whole debate.

This goes along with the fact that in our colleges you have to be a liberal to be able to speak your mind. I feel so sorry for college students nowadays. It seems they are being shown a lobsided view of the real world. The liberal view.

Anyway, this movie is definitely a movie to see.

lifestye change - day 4

Yippee! I lost another 1/2 pound. But then Dave wanted to go out to breakfast. Well, I had thought I would eat eggs, bacon, and toast, but that was $7.29. The country breakfast that I usually get is 4.79. So I got that, but stopped eating when I was full. Well, maybe a little past full. Dave was even better and got the 2.79 sausage biscuit.

Then we went to see a movie which I will talk about in another blog entry. After that at home we at sandwiches made with tortilla shells, cheese and deli meat. I drank water with lemon and a little sugar in it.

Then I cleaned the garage, did some laundry and scrubbed and washed down the front door mat. It is lying outside in the driveway, getting dried out. Then Dave and I went for a walk. This was a lot longer walk, 35 minutes. My hip and knee joints were hurting pretty bad by the end of the walk.

Now we are going to each eat a fish sandwich. I might have yogurt and granola or popcorn later this evening.

Hopefully we can keep up the good work and not give up.

lifestye change - day 3

Another day of lifestyle change. I didn't lose any more weight. I weigh myself in the mornings. I had the last two toaster strudels, a piece of steak, two hotdogs (with buns), water, coffee and a can of pepsi. Okay, I know. I am lacking in vegetables and a little too high in sugar. I did use sugar substitute in the coffee, though. I probably will have a small can of V8. There is one left in the refrigerator. Hope it is still good. It has been in there a while.

Dave and I went for our walk at 4:30 and increased the distance a little bit. My hips aren't hurting quite as much today. But I might take some acetametaphin before bedtime. Sometimes my joints hurt worse at night and first thing in the morning.

Maybe I will have lost 1/2 a pound in the morning. I hope so.

lifestye change - day 2

I did okay on my lifestyle change today. Lost one pound so far. Went for a walk, same distance. Pain in my hips from walking yesterday and sitting all day today. Probably will lie down on the floor while watching TV part of the night tonight. My body really is complaining about the little extra exercise. Will have to keep moving though. It should get easier.

lifestye change - day 1

Yesterday Dave and I went to the store. Picked up food that we both wanted for our "diets". Today, I drank more water than usual. Yes, Kari, still probably not enough. Dave is watching his calories. I am just trying to eat less, stay away from sweets if at all possible. Then after work Dave and I walked around the block. Not too taxing, but a little work out. Definitely more than we are used to. We will increase the distance a little each day.

Trip to Forbidden Caverns

Instead of just lying around the cabin all day, we try to find an attraction nearby that isn't too touristy or costly. We choose the Forbidden Caverns. It was very interesing. This maze of caverns is privately owned. The temperature is 58 degrees all year long. There is a river running through the caverns. Very clean water, no weeds, fish or anything.











The caverns are made of limestone and I guess a by-product of that is onyx. There is the largest amount of white onyx found in a cave.










In the early 1920s until 1943, the cavern was used to make moonshine.










And the caverns are the sleeping place for very, very small bats.









It was very, very cool.

yearly vacation

Every year we go on vacation - a much needed vacation. Gatlinburg, Tennessee.



This year we are in a beautiful cabin. Soft towels, wi-fi, surround sound theater, beautiful view.

Dave relaxing.

Joanie looking beautiful.

Les relaxing.

gunk in my hair

A couple of days ago, I took a shower and then dried my hair. I must have put vaseline on my hands before I dried my hair, because now my hair has gunk in it. I have been using vaseline to help with my dry skin. I have washed it since then two times and I still have greasy hair in the roots. Guess I just have to keep washing.

Picture of Brett

I just realized that in the previous post there isn't a picture of Brett that looks nice. So I thought I would post a picture.

Birthday dinner - Mindy's birthday

At our latest birthday dinner, we had a little problem taking pictures with the window right behind us. We closed the mini-blinds and that allowed us to take a picture of Mindy, Kari, and Aydan.











But when we took of picture of Brett and I across the table the closed blinds made us be all washed out.









So when we opened the mini-blinds there was too much light for Brett and I.










Meanwhile, Aydan didn't really care for all the silliness.

blog promotion

Usually I do not search out and read other blogs. Don't know why. Probably do not have enough time. But I did see an article about this blog and thought it was a good idea.

Meghan McCain and other friends write about the campaign trail and her parents.

http://mccainblogette.com

interfering with the neighbors

Sometimes it is so hard to know what to do. Tonight Dave was looking out the front window which faces the neighbor's house across the street. You can't help but notice things that go on when they happen right in front of you. Then it is hard to know what to do. What Dave saw was things starting to fly out of the SUV in the driveway across the street. Coats, papers, an umbrella, a walker. He pointed it out to me and I noticed the older gentleman who lives there going from one side of the car to the other, opening the door, peeking in, then slamming the door, going to the other side, doing the same thing and then repeating the actions again. Then the older lady who lives with him got out of the car. The two started gesturing and yelling. You could tell they were very upset with each other. Finally the gentleman (and I use the term loosely) went into the house and slammed the door, leaving the lady outside. She tried to get him to open the door, pounding, yelling, pacing. He refused. She was outside for about 20 minutes. I didn't know what to do. I called the police department (not 911, the regular number) and asked that they send someone by to intervene. I didn't think that we could help any. The only time we had ever had any interaction with the gentleman was when we first moved in and he pretty much told us he didn't ever want to talk to us again after that first meeting.

Then the neighbors who live right next to this house started to get involved. I felt a little better because those neighbors actually seem to have a relationship with him, they park their car in his driveway, they clear his walks from snow sometimes, etc. But still the man would not let the woman back in the house. The neighbors allowed the woman to get into their house. I called the police back and let them know that the woman probably had a place to go. The man finally got back into his car and drove off, but he never let her back in - at least that I know of. He isn't home yet and it is dark now. I hope I did the right thing.

banana toast

I am eating banana toast. My mom used to make it. It is delicious. Just toast some bread to your liking, put on a liberal amount of butter, and then slice bananas and place them on the toast. Everytime I make this, I remember my childhood.

MAC Basketball

Wow, it has been more than a month since I last posted. Dave and I are at the MAC Basketball Tournament in Cleveland and I am getting ready to watch the last of four games today. Tomorrow will be four more games. I am going to be worn out. Well, I am already worn out. The chairs are uncomfortable and there isn't much room to move around. There is a lot of walking around also. If I was in better shape, I would be able to handle it. But watching the games from press row is a lot of fun. Dave and I are getting so we know a lot of people and there is a lot of camaraderie.

cleaning the house

As quite a few of you know, I am a terrible housekeeper. But I think I was inspired (and probably shamed) by my daughter who is 8 months pregnant and who recently posted that she did a bunch of cleaning. I can't even imagine how she did that with a big cumbersome belly, a 1 1/2 year old, and working from home.

Anyway, today I cleaned the bathroom, even mopped the floor, cleaned the kitchen (still working on that), dusted the living room a little bit, emptied the vacuum cleaner (I might get around to vacuuming, if not, it is ready when I do). I hope to also reorganize two closets, change the sheets on the bed, and make a pizza fro scratch.

Usually my Sunday routine is: sit in front of the TV and computer and vegetate.

breathing is overrated

I am doing so much better since my 3 week long cold. I am taking Zyrtec - it finally is available over the counter - and since I have been taking it again, it seems my coughing has been better. I still have a little problem first thing in the morning.

Well today I forgot to take it in the morning, but I didn't even think of it because I was doing okay, except for the coughing spell first thing in the morning. I took some cough medicine for that. Tonight Dave and I ran up to the grocery store to get some necessities. I was going to go alone, but Dave offered to drive and I took him up on his offer, which I am glad I did. As soon as I walked out the door my lungs tightened up and started wheezing and coughing. I was able to go to the store, but I was glad Dave was driving. As soon as I got home I grabbed my inhaler (which I haven't had to use in a long time) and remembered that I hadn't taken the Zyrtec. I am still wheezing a bit, but it is getting better. Needless to say, breathing is overrated.

grandkids

I had the awesome opportunity to see both Luke and Charly this weekend. Kari needed someone to watch Charly overnight on Saturday night, so Mindy and I offered to take her. I thought it would be nice to see both grandkids and Mindy and I could both help each other to take care of both kids. I went to Mindy's on Saturday and she and I and Luke went to Marshall to meet Kari and Mark and Charly. Then on Sunday, I took Charly back to Kari and Mark, meeting them in Jackson. It was a lot of fun hanging out at Mindy's with her and Luke and Charly. Both kids are so much fun. I love that Luke is so mellow. Charly wasn't any trouble at all, but definitely has a mind of her own.

soft socks

Such a simple thing, but I love soft socks. A few years ago, I bought a bunch of socks that looked soft. They were mail order socks, the kind that come every 6 weeks. I ended up with way too many socks, so I was forced to wear the socks and keep wearing the socks until they were all worn out. They weren't as soft as I would have liked. My feet get cold and have dry skin, and rough socks are not pleasant to wear. But I have been wearing those socks, until now. I finally thought I was ready to buy some new socks. I found some really nice soft socks. They are golden toe socks from JCPenney. I am wearing them now. They are soooo comfy.

drastic changes

I colored my hair tonight. It is very blonde. Almost the same color as when I was little. Well, maybe not, but it is a lot lighter than it was. Just thought I would warn people who haven't seen me lately.

Dave will be in for a big surprise when gets home from the high school basketball game tonight. A different woman will be in his home. lol

Update: Dave is home and hasn't said anything about my hair. I wonder how long it will take him to notice.

1 hour and 30 minutes so far.

Update: I finally told Dave. He said he was sorry for not noticing. But both Mindy and Kari said it wasn't that different, even though I thought it was.

detroit's mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick

Well, it looks like the mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, has been found to have lied during the trial when two police officers sued the city of Detroit for falsely firing them. Supposedly they were investigating an affair between the mayor and his chief of staff. Both the mayor and the chief of staff had vehemently denied that they had an affair. But the text messages from the chief of staff's city owned pager have finally been released to the press. The text messages show that they were definitely having an affair. What a slime.

dry skin

My skin is so dry. When I put lotion on, it just pushes the dry skin scales around and doesn't soak in. The outside of my calves seem to be the worse part. Dry, scaly, and itchy. Oh my, don't you love the cold weather?

better and better

Okay, I am optimistic that I am getting better. My voice is still hoarse and cracks, but the coughing is greatly decreased.

Sunday I met Brett, Kari and Mindy for my birthday dinner at Red Lobster. I love seafood and I don't get to eat it much because Dave doesn't like it. We had salmon, crab legs, and seafood pasta. Luke came with Mindy, so I was able to see how much he had grown and changed. I hope to see Charly soon. But it was good to spend time with my three kids.

I called Dave's Aunt Emily today. I wanted to call her sooner, as her birthday is Jan 12 and mine is Jan 15. She understood, especially since my voice still isn't good. She is doing okay. She is feeling her age.

My dad called on the 16th to wish me happy birthday. He is doing pretty good. I think he gets a little down because his friend/partner Inky passed away in late December. He said he was even more down because he has been playing cards and he hasn't been lucky playing cards at all. I think he plays bridge.

My sister called on the 15th and she is doing good. I couldn't talk long because I was still feeling too bad and couldn't talk very well.

I quit my second job. It was really too much stress and it has been nice for the last two days only dealing with one job. I do want to work extra working on websites for people. So if any one knows of someone who wants help with their website, send them my way. I have to potential clients waiting in the wings. I am just waiting to hear back from them when they have the information that I requested.

Dave is working tonight - listening to the Eastern Michigan/Toledo basketball game on the web and watching the Central Michigan/Western Michigan basketball game on the television so that he can write his sports exchange post game articles that are due 90 minutes after each game. Tomorrow night he will be watching the Miami game. He has been updating our website, macreportonline.com, and turned in a lot of CD reviews for Living Blues. So he is keeping very busy. He does more things, but I can't remember them all. Those are the ones that I remember.

Well, that is what has been happening.

can't talk

Seven days of hoarseness and raspiness. Well, most people might be glad that I can't talk, but it is causing me a lot of problems. It is hard to work effectively.

One person said I sounded like I had a sex change. They didn't want to talk to me very long.

Another person said that I sounded sexy. Spooky.

Kari said I needed to start singing "smelly cat" (reference to Friends)

Another client said he didn't want to talk to me any longer because I sounded like I was in pain.

I can't call Dave's Aunt Emily to tell her Happy Birthday because she probably wouldn't be able to understand me or even know who I was.

I can't call my dad to see how he is doing because he probably wouldn't be able to hear me.

I need to rest my voice, but I have to work also.

Oh, well, maybe tomorrow it will be better.....

thank you husband

As most of you know I have a cold right now. When I get a cold it is not pretty. There is a lot of coughing and other nasty noises coming from me. I am also grumpy when I have a cold because it usually makes it hard to breath and that seems to be an important function tied to living. So when you can't breath people get testy.

Well, my husband probably didn't think he would have to deal with this when he married me. But he does a good job of ignoring me when I cough and stuff. He has gotten us supper for the last two nights, run to the store and generally been there when I needed him. When I was having a particularly bad time of breathing and coughing, he held me and patted my back and told me it was going to be okay.

It is so nice to have a husband like Dave. Thank you Dave for all you do.

politics - Hillary Clinton

Why would I want to vote for a woman to be president? Especially Hillary Clinton. If by some chance, (God forbid) she becomes president, she and Bill will be in the White House. Now, women out there, do you really believe that Bill will not have anything to do with "running the country"? Do we really want to reelect Bill? Bill and Hillary did so well the first time? Please.

If I wanted to vote for a woman to be president, I would vote for Condoleezza Rice. That is a woman who has integrity.

holidays 2007

Well, during the holidays I completely forgot to blog. Hopefully I will get back into the groove again and start blogging.

entered contest at Lifetimetv - please vote for me

I entered the "Look Good Naked" contest at Lifetimetv. Please go there and vote for me.

http://www.mylifetime.com/photos/keri/rate.php?id=183118

Mindy, I hope you don't mind that I used a picture that has Luke in it.

work was extremely challenging today

I love my work, but today was a big challenge. A server went down and clients were calling and calling and calling and instant messaging and emailing. I barely was able to eat lunch or get up to stretch my legs.

my nose is growing

I have a huge zit on my nose. I feel like Steve Martin in Roxanne. My nose seems to be getting bigger. If it gets any bigger I will not be able to see. I have to go to a football game tomorrow, so I will have to use some clever make up tricks to cover up the offending blemish.

Blogging

This is kind of fun. Maybe I will take the quiz again later and I will have advanced as a blogger. What kind are you?

oh brother where art thou - a classic movie

Dave and I love this movie. We are getting so we know some of the lines. These are lines that can be used in your every day life.



"Believe me Delmar, woman is the most fiendish instrument of torture ever devised to bedevil the days of man. "


"It is a fool that looks for logic in the chambers of the human heart."

"A half a gopher would only arouse my appetite without bedding it down."


"I'll tell you what I am - I'm the damn paterfamilias! You can't marry him! "


"Well Pete, I figured it should be the one with the capacity for abstract thought."


"Pete, the personal rancor reflected in that remark I don't intend to dignify with comment. But I would like to address your general attitude of hopeless negativism. Consider the lilies of the goddamn field or... hell! Take at look at Delmar here as your paradigm of hope."


"Do not seek the treasure.


"You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek. But first... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a... a cow... on the roof of a cotton house, ha. And, oh, so many startlements. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the ob-sta-cles in your path, for fate has vouchsafed your reward. Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation. "

But there is a part that we either fast forward through or switch to another channel for a bit so that we don't have to watch it. It is when the "cyclops" beats them up. It is particularly violent and makes me uncomfortable. I think it makes Dave uncomfortable also since he didn't seem to want to watch it either.

handyman debbie, assistant dave

A couple of weeks ago our reclining rocker broke. The wooden piece in the front that holds the springs came off on one side. I think I have it fixed. It took a little trouble getting some of the hardware off and then Dave had to help pull the piece of wood that had the springs attached so that it popped back in place. Then I put all the hardware back in place and nailed some nails in to keep the wooden piece from popping out again. I certainly hope it lasts for a while. Don't want to have to buy more furniture right now.

McMillan Family Get-Together

I was the oldest one at the get-together. I think my sister, Cindi is a close second. We met at Cindi and Mike's house in Grand Rapids. Actually Ken Morris, our step-father, was the oldest person there. But here are the "sisters".








Minky, Mike, Luke, Mark and Charly - fathers and their children.










Brett with mom on the right and Aunt Cindi on the left.










Cindi's son, Japhy and his beautiful wife, Jenna, who we found out is 8 weeks pregnant. Congratulations. Kari is sitting to the right.









Beautiful Lisa, Cindi's daughter, hold Charly, my active and lively 18 month old grand-daughter.



Check out Mindy's and Kari's blogs to see what we ate and more pictures.

dancing with the stars

I wish I could be on dancing with the stars. Well maybe not, but I do love watching the show. Probably because I imagine myself dancing like that. Note to self: Get video to help you learn to dance like or sign up for lessons.

Malarkeys, Westland, Michigan

Dave and I have been having bad experiences a restaurants. The food hasn't been the greatest, the service slow and unfriendly, and the facilities not as kept up as you would want to see at a restaurant that you are eating at.

But we took a chance on a new restaurant, at least new to us. Dave says that local, unfranchised restaurants are better, in his opinion. So we went to Malarkey's Irish Pub in Westland. We were served promptly and the waitress was friendly. She even offered her suggestions for what to have to eat that was good. I chose the hamburger, cooked medium rare. Dave chose the french dip. Both meals were excellent by our standards, which I think are fairly high. The waitress came back to the table a couple of times to refill our drinks and make sure that our food was okay. The manager stopped to ask also. Overall, the atmosphere was pleasant, with lots of TVs running. I would have liked a little more choice over the content that was running, but that is not always available and we weren't going to stay long to watch the sports events scheduled for that night.

We will definitely go back there and see if our first impression was the norm or if it was just a fluke.

big boy restaurant

Dave and I eat out at least once a week and I think I am going to start writing critiques of the places that we eat. We have definite ideas of what we like and how we like to be served. Also, I tend to look around and be aware of how the restaurant seems to be run, how it is managed. So I will be commenting on different places that we eat at and my impressions.

I haven't figured out if I am going to have a scoring process, but if I do, I will come back and score this restaurant.

The first is the Big Boy Restaurant in Fowlerville, MI. We stopped at this place on our way to Mt. Pleasant. We had gotten a late start because we had to turn around to go back to the house because we forgot our binoculars for the football game. I have fond memories of Frisch's Big Boy from when I was growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio. My dad knew Dave Frisch and at one time was offered a job as a manager at one of the restaurants, but Dad turned the job down.

We were seated immediately and the waitress that seated us asked for our drink order. When she brought that, she informed us who our waitress would be and that she would be with us shortly. This is actually a very cool thing because it shows me that the waitresses are willing to help each other out. We didn't have to wait long for our waitress to show up and we made our order. I ordered the fish sandwich, Dave ordered the big boy sandwich (minus all sauce and stuff), and we ordered an order of fries to share. The food was delivered in a timely manner. Dave's food was prepared correctly with no extra stuff on it. My fish sandwich was perfect also. The fries were just right. The waitress refilled our drinks without asking and before our original drinks were empty.

Now what impressed me is that this fish sandwich seemed to taste the same as the first fish sandwich that I ever ate at a Big Boy restaurant. How can that be? That had to be about 48 years ago. Incredible. I have had some bad experiences at Big Boy restaurants when they run out of their signature tarter sauce and have to use the Gordon's brand. The sandwich tastes awful. This was just right.

We ordered the pumpkin pie. We usually don't get dessert, but the pie was so tempting. I asked for extra whipped cream if at all possible. The pie was delicious, not store bought, possibly fresh pumpkin.

Overall, it was a very nice experience.

More reviews of restaurants to come soon. Thursday night we went to a local bar, Malarkeys in Westland, MI, so that will be the next review.

The other noteable things about our experience was that the bathrooms were clean.

children

The kids and I get together for our birthdays. We just added Brett to the tradition. The girls and I started it so that we would have a "reason" to go out to eat and spend time with each other.

I am so glad we added Brett this year. Because now it feels complete.



I think I must be the luckiest mother in the world. I have the world's best children. I am not even sure I deserve them. But I thank God for them every day.

If as spirits in heaven we choose who we are going to come to earth with, I think that the four of us must have done just that. I would be the mother and the three of them would be the children. When we all get together it is like we are soul mates or something. I always feel like there is no other place I would rather be than spending time with them. The laughter comes so much easier. The tears do too. It is like all my feelings are heightened when I am around the three of them. After spending time with them, I feel recharged and relaxed.

It has always been like that and I hope it is like that forever.

halloween

It was kind of fun last night. I made Dave go buy some candy. He did good. He bought two bags, one of sweet tarts and the other suckers. I put them all in a bowl. Then I turned on the porch light, got my Eastern Michigan sweatshirt and cap on and waited for the kids to show up.

Right on cue, they started coming to the door. Cute kids, large and small. I got a kick out of the older kids. They half-heartedly got dressed up, held out their pillow cases, and did a nice job of saying thank-you. They didn't even look sheepish that they were "too old" for this. Nope, they wanted candy and were just having a good time walking around asking for it.

The other cool thing was that I was standing on my porch, I looked south down the street and there was a lot of activity, kids and parents walking around, people chatting with each other, someone mowing their lawn. It looked friendly and peaceful. What a nice looking block of houses. Maybe that is why people were driving in from somewhere else and trick or treating on our street. Yes, they were. I noticed a car with a load of people. After they were done with the block, they opened their trunk and poured the bag(s) of candy into a container in their trunk. Hmm, they were amassing quite a stash.

Well, we ran out of candy fairly quick. Guess we will get 3 bags next year. I turned off the porch light and closed the blinds. No one came to the door after that.

Last year we went away for the evening, but I am glad we didn't this year. I enjoyed seeing all the kids and saying hi to the parents.

The rifleman

When there isn't anything good on TV in the evenings and Dave and I want to have something on while we are working on our computers, Dave finds the old classic TV shows. I love Lucy, The Andy Griffith Show, and finally The Rifleman. I am enjoying watching these shows, but especially The Rifleman. I especially like the relationship between Lucas McCain and his son Mark. Lucas listens to his son, but yet is a stern disciplinarian. They have their differences and disagreements and sometimes Mark disobeys Lucas, but then they have a good sit down talk and they actually communicate their feelings and thoughts to each other. The story lines are weak, but they are just the vehicles to get across the themes of duty, honor, love, truth and justice. And that Mark McCain is one cute kid. Why didn't I have a crush on him when I was younger. I don't remember having a crush on him. I should have. I was about his age when the shows were on.

Football, falling and other fun things

Yesterday Dave and I went to the Eastern Michigan vs Western Michigan football game at Eastern. It was raining, but we hoped that it would quit by game time. The photographer that originally wanted to take pictures and we were counting on had something come up and would not be there, so I was going to take some pictures.

While walking down the steps of the bleachers to the field, I must have twisted my ankle, and I fell down hard on the steps. My back end hit the corner of the aluminum seat, so I have a pretty deep bruise on my hip. It will be pretty colors in a few days. My pants got wet from the steps and my ankle was a little achy, but after sitting for a bit, I was able to get up and go down to the field. What amazes me is that no one saw me or if they did, they chose not to come to help me. Granted there wasn't anybody near by, but I would have thought someone would have seen me. Oh well. Good thing I wasn't hurt real bad. I would have called Dave down from the press box to help me, but they had the music playing very, very loud. I did call him once I got the field and was able to get away from the speakers.

Well, I stayed on the field for the first half. The rain did clear up and I got a few good shots. Today I am a little achy, but not too bad. The game was good. Eastern won.

More later....going to Lansing to see baby Luke.

annoying neighbors

The "old guy" across the street has an "old woman" living with him. Right now - 8 p.m. at night, dark - she is trying to position a trailer that is attached to an old van that she sometimes drives. The van has a bad muffler. She has been positioning the trailer and van for 45 minutes now. All I hear is varoom, varoom, varoom. She inches forward, she inches backward, forward, backward, turn the wheel, forward again, now backward.....She is really irritating me.

emptying the dishwasher

I hate to empty the dishwasher. I don't really know why. I would rather wash the dirty dishes that are piling up (because the dishwasher is full with clean dishes) than put away the clean dishes. I am okay with puttting away the plates. The cups seem to be a little more of a problem for me. But I really get hung up at the silverware. I noticed that if I do one section at a time, first the plates, then the glasses, then the cups, I do better. But the silverware is a jumbled mess that just makes me want to go back to watching TV or reading my book. The spoons, forks, knives and spatulas are all jumbled together. It would be nice if there was a spot for each of those. All the spoons in one section of the silverware basket, all the forks in another. I did find that if I empty one section at a time that it works a little better for me. Does anyone else have this same problem?

crazy conure

I have a nightgown that has tiny snaps down the front. Riley the conure likes to chew on them until the come apart. He is really good at getting them unsnapped.

On another note, Riley likes a certain flower like seed that smells like licorce. A very pleasant smell.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Sunday - My dad celebrated his 85th birthday on Thursday. I called to say happy birthday. Turns out he isn't having a happy birthday. Yesterday half of his electricity in his mobile home went out. The lot owners are telling him that he has to pay to get it fixed. The line somewhere between the meter (four units down) and Dad's unit is bad. The lines are buried with the other lines, cable and such. He was initially quoted a price of $6,000. Oh, my. This doesn't sound right to me. How come if you rent a lot from a mobile home park you have to pay for the cost of a line that is buried on the mobile home park's premises? He is going to have a lawyer look over his lease and get other quotes. I am going to call him sometime this week and see how things are going.

Update: I started this on Sunday and didn't finish it. I still have to call my dad. Reminder to self, call your dad.

not sure what to say

I got to sleep in a little bit this morning. Dave had to get up early to work for a couple of hours, but I was able to sleep until almost 9 a.m. Then I made us some breakfast, took a shower, and then slowly got dressed. I was out the door a few minutes after Dave. Dave was off to watch the EMU vs UofM football at Al's house. I declined, as I wanted to take this opportunity to do whatever I wanted to do.

My first stop was Krogers. I had purchased some lightbulbs for the ceiling fans, only to find out they were not the correct size, so I thought I would return them. I also had cans to return and needed some cooking oil, q-tips, and anti-diarrheal medication. (what a combination) So that is what I did. I had to get tough with another shopper in the U-scan line. She was going to get the next open spot, even though I had already been standing in line before her. Granted, I was on the other side of the sign, but the sign was in the center of the area where people stand. I didn't feel too bad about gently reminding her that I was next, since she was the one that was causing problems at the service desk and I had to wait for her to do her business there for a good 10 minutes.

I then headed for JCPenney's to purchase needed underwear, socks, and a couple shirts for Dave and I. Penney's was having another sale (do they ever not have a sale?) and I was able to get some good prices on the needed items.

Next stop, the library. I had been without a book to read for a couple of weeks. I have been too busy with setting up the work, setting up the website to work with Joomla, and trying to find time to relax. I got three books. We shall see if I read them. I have already read all the books in the mystery series that I had been involved in and I didn't see any new books in any of the other series of books by other authors that I usually read, so I guess I have to try another author or two and see if I can get interested in their series of books.

After the library, I stopped to get some KFC, since I have been having a craving for that and Dave doesn't like it. I went home and watched a Lifetime Movie. Lifetime Movies are pretty silly and it is hard to watch them with other people around, especially Dave. He always points out how ridiculous they are. Of course, I do the same when he tries to watch bigtime wrestling or something like that.

All in all, it was a nice day. I got a little bit of cleaning done and hope to get more done tomorrow.

huge child

Oh my, check out this 17 pound baby.

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/070926/ids_photos_ts/ra3291886192.jpg;_ylt=Ao7zbpjRYWQs8CXHuPJyjeyek3QF

allergies

I feel bad because I don't post very much. I think about it and then never have the time. I am going to try to post a couple more things today. Right now I want to complain, but don't want to actually complain to anyone specifically. I am having a bad day. For some reason I am having a horrible allergy attack. I have different kinds of allergies. Some are the sneezing and some are the asthma. But this one is the itchy nose. I mean itchy all over. Outside, inside and scratchy throat. If I am not careful, I will rub my nose raw and get an ugly scab on the top of my nose. I have done it before. I am trying to work and deal with this. I took an allergy pill, a benedryl, some cough medicine with codeine and have put an ice pack on my nose. Oh, and I sprayed the inside of my nose with Astelin. I still itch.

perfect salad

I think I made my perfect salad. At least perfect for me.

Crisp iceberg lettuce, cut up in small pieces.
Grated colby cheese
whole grain bread crumbs, toasted in skillet with butter
White wine vinaigrette, homemade (oil, white vinegar, sugar, garlic powder, salt)

Very tasty, yep, it was very tasty indeed.

Lazy Saturday

Well, I am having a slightly lazy Saturday. Dave is busy writing articles for Blue Ribbon YearBook and then he probably will have to start on his CD reviews for Living Blues. I left about 8:30 this morning to give blood. The Red Cross had been calling and calling me to see if I would give, as there is quite a blood shortage right now in the Detroit area. It seemed like it took forever to fill that pint and now I am feeling more weak that usual after giving blood. So I am just sitting around, reading a book, and intermittently popping up and doing a little bit of housework. I have cleaned the tub and sink in the bathroom, done 1 load of laundry and have two more to do. I want to put some nail polish on my nails and do some other little chores also. I am also feeling a little out of my element, since I have the website done and don't have too much more to do with that. I did want to set up a better photo gallery if I can.

Well, that's about it for now. More later maybe.

computer software

Dave has me working on a project for MAC Report Online. We want to change the website to a content management program. So I have installed Joomla and have been busy trying to configure and program it so that it is useful to our needs. For me this is fun (and frustrating sometimes) because the program is free, the addons and plugins are free, and I love taking software and figuring it out. We did pay for a template.

I feel like it is Christmas when I get new software to work with. This is even more exciting; there are all kinds of plugins, addons, etc to play with.

It is a work in progress, but you can watch the progress by going to www.macreportonline.com/Joomla


Comments, help, questions, constructive criticisms are welcome.

gross advertising

Watching TV and working on the laptop - commercial comes on for AllBran. It is a construction worker at a work site eating something from a bowl, walking around the job site. He is telling about how AllBran has really helped him. I don't think he uses any wording that describes the actual bowel process, just that he needed to be more regular. But behind him you see first a man pulling a huge iron girder out of a wall and then a dump truck dumping a load of bricks. How gross is that? Was that suppose to be sublimal?

Frank Marino

The last act at the Blues Festival in Pittsburgh was Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush. There were a lot of "groupies" in the audience, but by the time Frank played, a lot of them were so drunk they probably don't remember any of the concert. Frank is know for his hard, loud rock 'n roll blues. He also doesn't like to take breaks or stop playing. He is known for three hour long concerts. He had to cut his usual concert short for the festival format, but it still was not disappointing.

Well, that wasn't enough of Frank for Dave, so this last weekend we attended his concert in Detroit at St. Andrew's Hall. This was the real thing. Three hours and five minutes. No breaks. No chairs to sit in. No air conditioning, just fans. Oh my. Dave and I came prepared with ear plugs, comfortable shoes, and well-hydrated. Still, I had to sit down by the wall after 2-1/2 hours. Dave hardly noticed that I was gone. I think he loved it.

The sky is falling, the sky is falling

Well, at least it seems like it. Helicopters, small planes and now a bridge, just falling out of the sky. Sheesh.

Road trip to Blues Festival in Pittsburgh

Well, two weekends ago, Dave and I had a road trip to see a blues festival in Pittsburgh. Here are some pictures.

Larry McCray. Good, as always.


















Bernard Allison. He was a surprize for us. This is the first time we had heard him and he was very good. Plus he has two of the whitist band members, and they seemed even paler in comparison with the blackness of Bernard and his drummer. All musicians were awesome.

He even copied Lonnie and Ronnie Baker Brooks - going out into the crowd while playing. He doesn't have the handshake down yet, but the crowd loved it. I took this picture as he was walking past me. I was seated of course.

All and all, Dave and I had a good time, even if we did have to wait a long time for the music to start.

Blues on the Mall - Lansing, MI

We went to see Ronnie Baker Brooks in Lansing last Thursday.









I took this picture of these ladies dancing. What I find endearing is that they were just dancing away, not caring how they looked. They were happy, like little kids moving and shaking. How cool that we adults can sometimes just let loose and become kids again.





Ronnie is great at performing. His signature style, as is his dad's, is that he goes out in the crowd while playing a song and shakes hands, plays the guitar with a bottle (slide) and plays the guitar behind his back.


Mindy and Mike and Luke met us at the mall for the second half, after they got done meeting with Joel Zumaya and getting their picture taken with him. Check out Mindy's blog for that picture.

Finches visiting our birdfeeder - thanks Cindy

My sister gave me a thistle birdfeeder. We have seen two types of finches so far. A gold finch and a house finch. They are beautiful. I have the hummingbird feeder hanging out, but haven't seen any activity by it yet. They are probably too fast for us to see.

work today

Wow, what a day at work. I think I did pretty good at keeping up with things and not going crazy, but probably I could not have not whined to Kari or Bob about how busy I was. I had one VPN connection to get corrected, then immediately more calls started coming in. One to fix another VPN connection, one to fix some templates, another to install two of our programs on three computers, one of which proved to be a big problem, an email came in to fix a file on one website, another email to fix a graphic for a template, multiple questions about the software, more training for a new transcriptionist and a couple Instant Messages with questions. I barely got time to eat or relieve myself. I haven't had a busy day like that in a long time. It felt good to be able to handle things, but yet frustrating that I couldn't fix the couple things that I have left unfinished. Sometimes eight hours are not enough to handle all the problems that crop up.

Hopefully tomorrow will not be that busy.

Riley - ninja warrior

This is Riley sitting on his/her tail - preening - with the sound from the G4 TV show - Women Ninja Warriors.

Here are some pictures of Luke, born 5/17/2007 at 11:46 a.m. by C-section. 6 lb, 11 oz, 19 inches long.

Happy Mother's Day

Sometimes I miss my mom. She and I were not that close. I am not sure why. I think she didn't understand me and probably I didn't understand her. But I liked her. I just felt like I couldn't talk to her about things. I tried, but she would act like I was bothering her, so I stopped trying. Maybe I didn't listen to her, but I don't remember her really confiding in me or trying to.

But there was some kind of connection between her and me. I remember a few times when I thought she must be psychic or something. When I was pregnant a second time and Brett was about 14 months old, Jerry was studying for his exams and he was sick with a very bad cold. I all of sudden started spotting. I think the next day, my mom called to see how I was doing. I told her and the next thing I knew she and Ken were driving down to get Brett and I. She took us back to Grand Rapids and put me to bed. Then she called our family doctor. He had me go to the hospital where I miscarried. Mom took care of Brett while I was recovering.

There were other times when she would call out of the blue when things were going on in my life. So even though we never really had any heart to heart talks with each other, she always seemed to be there for me. I hope I was there for her when she needed some one also.

Driving to the hospital where she was dying, I knew I wouldn't make it to be there by her bedside when she took her last breath. I had been there the night before and I knew that she was at peace with dying. Looking at the clock in the car, I thought to myself, "Go ahead Mom, you don't have to wait for me", and later the nurse told me that she passed away at that time. I wonder if she still hears me now and then as the years go by. I do miss her, even though it has been 11 years.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom.

5/4 - 5/5 - weekend activities

Yesterday was a pretty good day. We went to a new restaurant for breakfast. We are compiling information for a book about good family dining places to eat breakfast at in Detroit. The place we went to will not be in the book. The food was not that great. We both came home and spent a good portion of the next hour in the bathroom. Good thing we have two.

Then I took off for the Red Cross, as they have been calling me and asking me to give blood. I had made an appointment for 10:30. I still felt a little iffy after the breakfast, but was hopeful that things would calm down, which it did, gradually, and 1-1/2 hours later I was out of there. I was lucky this time, didn't have any problems with blood pressure, hemoglobin, or clogged veins, and didn't get light-headed.

When I got back Dave wanted to go bowling. Great, I just gave blood, in my left arm and he wants to bowl. But I don't want to say no because we really need to start getting out and moving around and loosening up our joints so that we can exercise and loose weight. So I wrapped my arm up and we went bowling. We only bowled two games each so I didn't stress my arm out very much. Dave got a 205 on his second game. I didn't break 100 on either game.

Then we came home and relaxed. Then we were back in the car again, this time to go to the Eastern Michigan versus Central Michigan baseball game. The weather was slightly cold, but EMU won and it was fun to get out of the house.

Then today we checked out another breakfast restaurant. This one was good, so it will be in the book. Once home I browbeat Dave into helping me clean the house. It felt good to get things picked up and the floor vacuumed.

In keeping with our resolve to get out and exercise a little each day, if possible, we decided to go to the Lake Erie Metro Park and walk the 1-1/2 mile nature trail. Last weekend we walked the mile one and wanted to go back and try this one. This trail takes you along the shoreline of Lake Erie, so that was very scenic. We left about noon and it took us about 30 minutes to get to the park. For some reason we didn't plan very well. We didn't bring a lunch or drinks or even snacks. We just took off and left without preparing anything. I don't know what we were thinking. So a little more than half way through the walk I started noticing my blood sugar dropping. I looked over at Dave and he was fading also. We stopped to rest, but we both were not doing well. I think Dave was actually doing worse than I was. I totally forgot about his disease, where if he gets dehydrated, he gets ill and could die. Crap. I was scared. We were a little ways from the car and we did not have any fluids with us. Luckily we parked near the nature center and they had a vending machine with pepsi, water, and gatorade. After stopping for a few minutes, I was feeling a little better, but Dave seemed to be worse. I was holding his hand and encouraging him to keep going. I was trying to ascertain if I should make him sit down and have me go ahead to get some gatorade, but he said he could make it. He did. He sat on the bench outside the center, while I ran in to get the gatorade. As soon as he had his first sip, he said he started to feel better. I had enough change to get a pepsi.

We sat on the bench and looked at each other and wondered what we had been thinking. Why had we not been prepared for our hike? It has been so long since I have had to worry about Dave and the affects of his condition, that I had totally forgotten to be prepared.

It won't happen again, at least not this year.

Once the gatorade was gone, we got in the car, with me driving and drove to the nearest party store to pick up more gatorade and a candy bar for each of us. So much for dieting. But it was necessary that we both get our blood sugars back up quickly.

Then we headed back for home. Dave slept off and on in the car and is sleeping now on the couch. We did stop to eat supper on the way home.

Lessons learned. But this was a scary one. Dave works hard to live his life as normal as possible and he does a good job of managing his medications, so well, that I forgot about his condition. Low blood surgar for me isn't a big deal. Hypoglycemia (not caused by insulin injections) will not hurt you, as your body will not dip too low. You just feel uncomfortable. But Dave's low blood sugar was also accompanied with some dehydration and that is what causes his body problems.

Of course, it didn't help that I also was a pint low in the blood fluid area either, having given blood yesterday.

Well, all is well now. But having this little reality check, I am reflecting on how much Dave means to me and how devastated I would be if he were to not be in my life.

Good quiche

I have been reading a series of mysteries by Diane Mott Davidson, where the main character is a caterer and she has added delicious recipes in the books. I get very hungry when I read the books.

I tried this recipe and it was awesome. When I made it the recipe that I had wasn't correct. It didn't have the cream cheese in it, but still it was very good. It took me awhile to find the Jarlsberg cheese, but found that it was a hard swiss cheese that grated easily. If you like quiche, give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Crustless Jarlsberg Quiche
1/2 cup butter, sweet
1/2 cup flour, all-purpose
1 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cup cottage cheese, small curd
1 teaspoon mustard, dijon
9 eggs
11 oz cream cheese; softened
3/4 lb jarlsberg; grated
1/3 cup parmesan; grated

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat, add the flour, and stir just until mixture bubbles. Slowly add milk, stirring constantly. Stir this cream sauce until it thickens. Set aside to cool. Stir baking powder, mustard and salt into cottage cheese. Beat eggs well, then beat in softened cream cheese and cottage cheese mixture. Slowly beat in cream sauce, then thoroughly incorporate Jarlsberg and Parmesan. Pour into two buttered 10" pie plates. Bake for about 45 minutes or until puffed and browned. Cut each quiche into eight large wedges. ---*Dying for Chocolate* Diane Mott Davidson