Monday, December 31, 2007

The year is almost over now. We will be going to our nephew's tonight to celebrate the new year. Yesterday I did a layout with some of the photos we received with Christmas cards. Always like to do a layout with the Christmas photos...think it's a better way to remember all these friends. Will remember to take some pictures tonight. So to all of you out there....HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sunday, December 30, 2007

Sunday morning and I am relishing the fact that I was able to sleep in a little longer. Dinner yesterday was very nice but should have made a couple of adjustments...like making it a buffet. Was nice being with all the relatives...some meeting for the first time. Tomorrow we go to our nephew David's house for New Years Eve and I will be bringing my Meat & Cheese Salsa and for David, Rum Balls.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Busy day. Banks, CVS, back home to start straightening up this house. Alex should be back here today...hope so. Saturday we are having 15 for dinner. Will start making the food tomorrow so I won't be overwhelmed on Saturday. This way I can just pop most things in the oven and then I will be able to talk with people. Ü

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Well, my washing machine is all better now. When the men who installed it ATTACHED THE HOSES TO THE WRONG PIPES! Hello! It didn't even occure to me that that what was wrong. I thought for sure it was the computer in the machine. Ahhhhh. Anyway...I'm doing some wash right now.
Alex went back up to her place as she has an appointment tomorrow morning but will be back tomorrow afternoon. John, I know, is working today, tomorrow and Friday...earning some extra money to pay for all the gifts.
Went out this morning just to grocery shop and really not many cars out on the road. Of course, it was really, really foggy out. That might have stopped people from going out...don't know.
Christmas was good at our home. Everyone got pretty much what they wanted and there were even a few surprises. Hope everyone out there had a good Christmas Day too. Oh, and by the way, today IS the feast of Stephen. (St. Stephen)

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

"It's Christmas Day." "I haven't missed it."
"God Bless us, Everyone."

Monday, December 24, 2007

Christmas Eve...finally here. Oh...and my new LG washing machine...the one that is digital and is supposed to be really great! Well, it's not working right. Finally figured out why my bathroom rug turned blue....HOT WATER!!!!! It's washes everything with HOT WATER!!! Not sure what the wash temperature is at but the rinse is definately HOT WATER!!! Called Best Buy and they gave me a number for customer service. A service person will be her Wednesday, December 26th between 7 and 9am. The person I spoke with thinks it might be the computer that is in the machine and if it can be fixed they will fix it...if not, they will send out a new machine. Ahhhhh.
John came over and brought more presents to be wrapped and he and Alex went to the movies to see, "Walk Hard". Think that's the name of it. He will be spending Christmas Eve with Brandy and will be here in the morning.
So...if anyone if reading this, Juan and I are wishing you a very Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Alex and I went to Kroger's for a few items and ran into Katie, Ron, & Haley. Nice seeing them and told them that for sure we will have the taco's next month. Juan usually makes them New Year's Eve but this year we are going to our nephew's house.

Fooling around with my new toy, Cricut, and finally figured out at what speed, depth and pressure to use to cut out the vinyl letters I wanted to put up. They are now around the mirror Juan found while garbage picking. I had spray painted it white...it was black...and put it up in our new guest room. The mirror always reminded me of the mirror in Snow White so I knew exactly that I wanted to use part of the quote from the movie. Just had to add my own little word at the bottom. Ü

Saturday, December 22, 2007

Happy Birthday to me! Actually, I'm not officially my new age until 9:02pm. My friend Pam called me to welcome me to Medicare and sang Happy Birthday. Alex came in to be here until the 26th...will go back to her place and come back here on the 28th for the rest of the week. We went to Outback for dinner and everyone ordered steak. Of course, we had the Bloomin' Onion. Nice dinner but John and Alex together act just like they did when kids. Geeh! Juan got me the Cricut for my scrapbooking. Trying to figure it out right now. Oh...the scratch offs...I did them this morning and ended up getting $37.00. State of Michigan just doesn't like to give away too much money.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Almost here...in a couple of hours I will be officially OLD!!!! Have my Medicare Card and now they are going to take out of my Social Security an additional $96.00 a month for the Medicare. Sigh. On a different note...so far love my new washer. Only thing is when I washed our bathroom rugs (two are blue & one is green)...I now have three blue rugs. Must be the detergent. Have to use a high effeciency detergent now with low suding. I have washed all three rugs together before and nothing ever happened, so the only thing different is the detergent.

Juan went to Dearborn Sausage in Detroit to pick up some things thinking it wouldn't be that crowded. Wrong! He got ticket number 67 and they were waiting on ticket number 84...hehe. Everyone there for their Chirstmas Polish sausage, hams, Chrusciki (Polish angel wings)(which they were out of) and everything else for the holiday. Their sausage and hams are the best anywhere.

In case you are wondering about the above ornament (the Queen from Snow White)...had to get her this year as Alex has always said she reminds her of me! Ü It's the eyebrows. Hopefully that is all.

John came over to take Aspen for her haircut. Poor doggy...I have to give her a tranquilizer as she really dosn't like getting haircuts. She did fine and looks great. Sunday will be GiGi's turn.
Will let you know tomorrow what big bucks (if any) I get from all those scratch offs.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

New washing machine is here and I'm currently trying it out for the first time. So far, so good...very quiet and noticed it uses much less water. Reading the directions have noticed that it is a little bit more higher maintenance. Just a matter of getting used to it. John came by to drop off some presents for me to wrap. He still has more to buy. Why is it that men usually wait until the last minute to buy presents...or is it just John? Now he is scrambling to find certain items. I think the retail stores love people like John. Because if they can't find the item that they wanted to buy first...they just start buying anything and it ends up costing them more money. Well, I guess it's not exactly the last minute...there still are three more days to shop for that perfect gift....and it's out there somewhere.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Let see...John came over and helped Juan take the old washing machine out. What a mess underneath. The reason for my getting a new washer with the front load is because with the top loaders there is always the chance of the clothes balling up and then you get that...boom, boom, boom and you go running to turn off the machine. This is what I think did in the old washer. And, I know there have been complaints about the front loading washer I am purchasing. Mold! There is a rubber sealer in the front that retains some water so you have to be sure you dry it out after you are finished using the machine. Hopefully this won't be a big problem as I have read lots of the reviews and people seem to really like it. We'll see.
Juan's sister Soco called last night and said she had homemade tamales for us. We went today and picked up four dozen. Had some for dinner and they were EXCELLENT! Soco, Henry and Paul (who is back from Texas) will be joining us on the 29th for dinner. Now there will be 17 people for dinner. Ooo boy!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Have decided not to get the pedestal for the washer. It will look like I have a refrigerator in my laundry room! It just would be too high and would be higher than my window. Would measure over 52" so will just have to bend over to get the clothes out just like I do with the dryer. No biggie! John is suppose to come over tomorrow after work and help take the old washer out. The people who are bringing the new one would take it out but I want to clean the floor where the old one stood before the new one is put in place.
Received a surprise in the mail today...a big surprise! Someone sent me a birthday card with lots of scratch off lottery tickets inside. Ü Will wait until Saturday (my birthday) to scratch them off and find out if I have won anything and will let you know.

Monday, December 17, 2007

Finished my Christmas shopping today and they are all wrapped and ready to go. Even found the right toy for GiGi and Aspen...like they don't have enough. But all you have to say is, "What is Santa bringing you in your sock?", and they both go over by the mantle and look at their sock. Think I will bake some more cookies tonight. Will have to keep an eye on them though as some that I baked a couple nights ago are a tad over done...maybe more than a tad. And I will freeze them right away. This way I don't nibble.Ü

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Well...it came! Snow!!! And lots of it! Here is Juan with his trusty snowblower. We are suppose to get more later today....ahhh....Chirstmas.
Washing machine just died...leaking on the floor. Had to trek out to Best Buy and bought a new one. The one I purchased is a front load washer. It's a LG steam washer with a pedestal, so it will be higher than my dryer which itsn't that old. Will look odd but, oh well. It will be white in color and not the cherry color pictured above. They will deliver it Thursday and take away the old one. I see it's going to be an expensive month. Ahhhhhh!

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Today we ordered gutter guards for the house gutters. Just another step in old people proofing the house. The trees around here are pretty big now and just too much for Juan to be going up and down a ladder or me.
Baked a couple batches of cookies. I did Spritz cookies that for some reason just never look like the cookies in the pictures. They are the kind you put the dough in this container thingy and press down. The disk I used was a tree. Some how mine don't look like trees but, they taste good so guess that is all that matters.
Big snow is a comin' tomorrow. Well, at least that's what's predicted. We are supposed to be getting 6 to 10 inches. Juan went and bought more of that oil mixture stuff you put in snow blowers and tested it to make sure it works. If does. Will have to wait and see if the weather man is right.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Added something new! Do you like it!...you have to have your sound on.
Ummm, let see....well, Juan went and applied for his passport. Did I mention??...we are going to MEXICO!!! Not anytime soon...for two weeks the end of September and into October. Going on a tour that starts and ends in Mexico City. Should be fun...at least I hope it's fun. Will have all three of my hunny bunnies all together. Ü

Alex wanted me to get a picture of the squirrel that comes to our bird feeder who hangs upside down to get to the bird food. Smart little thing. We do put out some peanuts out for them but noticed that the blue jays come and take them.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Completed a scrapbook page and did little else today except for going through papers that I should get to before the end of the year. The Pinocchio in the picture is just like one that belongs to Juan except his needs some work done to it as it was left outside one night and was damaged a bit. Will have to see about getting it fixed.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Today Juan and I went to The Henry Ford Museum. Hadn't been there since John was in middle school. They seem to have changed it quite a bit. Since it is decorated for Christmas, they had the big tree, the train village set up and crafts for children to make. Didn't like where they place the Christmas tree. It used to be that when you walked in the door you could see this giant tree in the distance. Now it's over in a corner somewhere. For all the work they do decorating it...it should be centered. Had some interesting spots like walking through the Human Rights exhibit and the Dymaxion House which was suppose to be the house of the future. Noticed that some of the items that used to be in the Village are now in the museum....like the chair Lincoln was sitting in when he was shot. Still didn't see everything. You get kind of lost on which way you are walking. Of course, we could have looked at the map...hehehe. Afterwards, we stopped at Miller's Bar for a hamburger and onion rings. You would think my Juan and only would smile in front of the Christmas tree....oh no....but in front of Miller's Bar...ah, yes....now that is something to smile about. Ü He'll never change.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Blonde again! Finally went and had my hair cut and dyed. Would have never thought in a million years that I would ever be blonde but, better than being half grey. Have included a picture of our Christmas tree and how it used to look. This picture is from 2004. Think that was the last year that we decorated the tree...and not all the ornaments are included as I was already getting tired of doing it. The last two years it was just the tree up and all the lights with only the new ornaments. If you click on the tree you will be able to see more of the ornaments that were put on the tree...and like I said, this wasn't even all of the ornaments.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Seems that we have been getting a lot of comments about our tree. Ü Have heard from both Alex and John that they will be helping next year to put up the tree. Don't really think they know what is involved...we'll see.

Made Juan one of his favorites today...Peanut Brittle. Easy recipe and here it is for anyone interested:

Microwave Peanut Brittle - Yields 1.5 pounds

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup salted peanuts
1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda

1. Butter a cookie sheet. Combine sugar and corn syrup in a 2 quart glass bowl that has been buttered or sprayed with Pam and microwave on high 4 minutes. Stir in peanuts and microwave on high 3-1/2 minutes more, then stir in buter and vanilla and microwave for 1-1/2 minutes.
2. Stir in baking soda until light and foamy. Pour onto cookie sheet and spread thin. Cool completely and break into pieces and serve.

This recipe uses a 900 watt microwave so adjust for higher wattage ovens.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

They now have the neatest things at Kroger's and I imagine they are now at all the grocery stores. There is a whole section of gift cards and I'm not talking just gift cards from Kroger's. These are from stores and restaurants in the area. Applebee's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Blockbuster's, The Gap, Starbuck's, Macy's, Banana Republic, Kohl's, Outback, Home Depot, Barnes & Noble, Macaroni Grill...the list just goes on and on. Makes it so much easier instead of going to each one of these places to purchase a card. Love it!

Saturday, December 8, 2007

Juan and I just got back from going to some restaurant in Westland that John recommended. Getting old...can't remember the name. :) Very country inside and they give you a bucket with shelled peanuts...think it was...ahhh...Texas Roadhouse...think that was the name. Anyway, we both ordered steak, which was good, but had way too much salt seasoning. So if we ever go again will be sure to ask for no seasoning.

Suppose to get freezing rain and sleet tonight. That...I don't like!

John came while we were out and picked up his shirts and left a present for me to wrap. Will go down in my dungeon tonight and wrap more presents.

Friday, December 7, 2007

hmmmmm....A day that will live in infamy. Well....finally did some wrapping up of things. Still have more to get...ahhh. Juan and I have decided to go to the Henry Ford Museum next week. Haven't been there since John was in middle school.

Always liked the above pictured skier. Geeh....made that ages ago. But, she has no where to ski as we didn't get any of the snow last night. It missed us.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Another quiet day. Did a little Christmas shopping...should go downstairs and wrap what I have before nosey people come around. Planned out the menu of what I going to serve when Ann, Reno and all come on the 29th. There should be twelve of us for dinner that day as that is all I can fit around the kitchen table. If we ever cleaned out the basement we all could fit around the ping pong table and have much more room for all the food. Ann and I rotate each year for the dinner. Possibly in two years, when it is my turn again, we will have the basement cleaned out. Am not counting on it though. And guess what??? we are suppose to have more snow tonight. Only one to two inches...enought to shovel. John called and said he was going to stop by but it is 7:30pm and he isn't here so don't think he will be coming.

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Snowed last night. Not a lot but, none-the-less, it snowed. Pretty! Had to take GiGi to the vets for her rabies shot plus they had to take blood for heartworm and I had to get a years supply of heartworm medication. Found out she has yet another ear infection...so more medicine. All in all cost me $115.00 for this little trip. Has been a rather quiet day. Just picked up a few things at Krogers and that was that. Last night watched the last show of "Beauty & the Geek" and my favorite couple won...Jasmine & Dave. Tonight "America's Next Top Model" and "Project Runway" will both be on so will have lots to watch tonight. In between I switch back and forth to watch my Mexican soap opera "Pasion" with my #3 hunny bunny, Mexican actor Fernando Colunga.

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Did some Christmas shopping this afternoon. Really don't have much more stuff to get. Ironed John's shirts and was thinking that I should make some Christmas cookies, but....the only problem with that is that I LOVE to eat them. So...am not sure if I will or not. Can't really seem to get in the mood for the holiday. Moon and sun and stars must be lined up some crazy way...just can't get with it. All of our snow that we received Saturday is now all gone...bummer. Don't know how people living in the warmer climates can deal with Christmas without the cold and snow. Need SNOW....and lots of it. As a kid I can remember being so bundled up and playing outside in the snow forever. Snow angels, snowmen with real coal eyes, forts to hide behind for the snowball fights. Now, I plug in my electric snow blower and walk up and down and driveway....and if I tried to make a snow angel...probably would have a big problem getting back up. Ü Ahhh, so it goes.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Well, the tree is up and the ornaments are hung...and yes, I can hear Alex screaming right now as she is looking at the above picture. Took us all of about 30 minutes to put the tree together, hang the ornaments, put the skirt at the bottom and the bears around the tree. This is in compare to 2 weeks of putting up the tree. One week for Juan to put the hundreds and hundreds of lights on and the other week for me to put on the hundreds and hundred of ornaments AND...that's not counting the time to take it down. Yes, we could buy a tree that already has the lights on but I seem to only find those with just white lights and I like the multi colored light. They do make them...saw a sight that sells them online...cost for a 9 foot tree...$900.00. Don't think so! So...if we don't look outside, we are pretending that we live in the tropics. :) Merry Christmas everyone and Alex & John, it's still the same...just a different look.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Last night Alex and I went to Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village. Cold...yes...snowy...yes...windy...yes...but, still it was very pretty with everything decorated like long ago. There were people walking around dressed like the 1800's, Model T & A rides, horse drawn wagon rides, carolers, reenactment of Civil War soldiers, WWI soldiers, Revolutionary War soldiers, bonfires throughout, roast beef being cooked outside, chestnuts roasting (by an open fire), ice skating, carousel rides, Santa, real reindeer...just lots going on. Not a good night for digital cameras...batteries do not like the cold so not many pictures. The event was sold out for last night with 5,500 people in attendance. Most of the homes were open with people inside dressed for that period. Alex just had earmuffs on and when it started to snow she had to use her scarf for her head. The event was from 6:30pm to 10:00pm with fireworks at the end but we left at around 8:30 as it was starting to sleet. The roads weren't too bad...just had to go slow.

It's December...suppose to be snow. :)