Jan Suchy has written a book. Jan and Gene were my next door neighbors for the last 22 years. Gene has been the treasurer of Holliday Park since before I moved in and just retired from that post last year. Since he retired our carrying charges have gone up twice. I know, gas prices, etc. But they didn't go up when Gene was managing the money.
Anyways, about Jan. The title of her book is Three Heavenly Lives. It chronicles her childhood years growing up in Dubuque Iowa, her 19 years in the convent and her 30 odd years of married life. I'm assuming it was self-published and since she isn't in the business to make money, she is selling the book for $5.95. I bought one and finished it yesterday. Those of you who know her will believe me that there is not a harsh or offensive word about anybody. Except maybe herself. She tells of a time while she was in the convent and one of her sisters (there were 9 siblings) left the Catholic church and joined the Lutherans. She wrote her sister a letter telling her she was going to hell. She also tells how deeply she regrets that letter and that sentiment.
One of her stories that I had heard before is that after she accepted Gene's proposal, he set a date for the wedding a year away and told her that she would need a dowery of $5,000.00. He later explained that he wanted to make sure she was not just trading the security of the convent for the security of marriage. He wanted her to know that she could make it on her own. When she presented him with $9,000.00 before the wedding, he offered to double it if she decided she didn't want to get married. But she did.
Something I didn't know about her was that she suffered two miscarriages in her early married years and ended up with a hysterectomy.
In other news, I learned that the guy who bought my unit died before he ever moved in. It seems that the wife is going to move in anyways tho.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Friday, April 21, 2006
Springtime Tulips
I had lovely tulips on the side of my house. Overnight they sprung almost full grown. Beautiful red tulips. Crap. I don't want to take care of any flowers. When I bought this unit, I made the lady pull up all the flowers and lay sod right up to the bricks.
Whoever laid the sod probably didn't even know those bulbs were down there and now they have presented themselves. Yes they are beautiful, yadda, yadda. But, in my case, beauty is in the eye of the caretaker and that makes them ugly to me.
I sent my resident daughter outside to pull them up and she did. The next morning I saw them sitting in my trash and could see about 20 buds waiting to open. So I called Jeannette and she offered to adopt the plant and put it in her backyard. Now when I look at them at her house, they can be beautiful again.
Whoever laid the sod probably didn't even know those bulbs were down there and now they have presented themselves. Yes they are beautiful, yadda, yadda. But, in my case, beauty is in the eye of the caretaker and that makes them ugly to me.
I sent my resident daughter outside to pull them up and she did. The next morning I saw them sitting in my trash and could see about 20 buds waiting to open. So I called Jeannette and she offered to adopt the plant and put it in her backyard. Now when I look at them at her house, they can be beautiful again.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Alien among us
I mentioned in my Slacker post that we had been to the Windsor casino last Thursday with Martha. We liked it so much we decided to go again on Tuesday the 18th and Jeannette made the reservations. When we get on the Windsor bus we have to show our proper ID so the bus driver will know that there will be no problems at the border. Usually we flash the passport pictures and get on the bus. This day, there was a little delay getting on the bus and after flashing the picture page, Martha closed her passport and the bus driver saw that it said Canadian.
He asked to see her green card. He asked a little belligerently. She didn't understand the request, not having had a green card for almost 25 years. Jeannette tried to find out why he thought she needed one. The way I understand it is that a green card is necessary for aliens who wish to live and/or work in the US. Martha lives is Quebec City, Quebec, Canada and was just here visiting Jeannette for the week. The bus driver was listening to no one and kept hollering "Lady, let me do my job." It was the day after Martha's 85th birthday and she was visibly shaken.
The upshot was that he wouldn't let Martha on the bus, and she and Jeannette went back home, got Jeannette's car and drove to Windsor where they met up with me and Rita for the day. Rita and I took the bus anyways in order to get our $15.00 bus packets, then we drove home with Jeannette.
We heard the driver explaining to some of the front passengers who had witnessed the demonstration that Martha would have been able to go over on the bus, but she would not have been able to come back. Bringing her into Canada would have been no problem since she was a Canadian citizen resident. He is not allowed to bring any Canadian citizens across the border to the US on his bus without sufficient entry documents.
Jeannette got the full explanation from the bus company supervisor when she called to complain. She still lodged a complaint against the driver for his intimidating, belligerent manner, and failure to explain at the time.
He asked to see her green card. He asked a little belligerently. She didn't understand the request, not having had a green card for almost 25 years. Jeannette tried to find out why he thought she needed one. The way I understand it is that a green card is necessary for aliens who wish to live and/or work in the US. Martha lives is Quebec City, Quebec, Canada and was just here visiting Jeannette for the week. The bus driver was listening to no one and kept hollering "Lady, let me do my job." It was the day after Martha's 85th birthday and she was visibly shaken.
The upshot was that he wouldn't let Martha on the bus, and she and Jeannette went back home, got Jeannette's car and drove to Windsor where they met up with me and Rita for the day. Rita and I took the bus anyways in order to get our $15.00 bus packets, then we drove home with Jeannette.
We heard the driver explaining to some of the front passengers who had witnessed the demonstration that Martha would have been able to go over on the bus, but she would not have been able to come back. Bringing her into Canada would have been no problem since she was a Canadian citizen resident. He is not allowed to bring any Canadian citizens across the border to the US on his bus without sufficient entry documents.
Jeannette got the full explanation from the bus company supervisor when she called to complain. She still lodged a complaint against the driver for his intimidating, belligerent manner, and failure to explain at the time.
Monday, April 17, 2006
The Sheedy Scoop
I had dinner with Rita's family and here's all the Sheedy scoop.
Jerry and Linda have been in their new house long enough to know that they really like it. Jerry and Neil have facial hair, Kelly not. Kelly brought a girlfriend (name, Diana) Neil, not. Linda just got back from a trip to Las Vegas with her siblings. She has 3 sisters and a couple of brothers and they are close and do trips together. This new house is close to one of her brothers.
Kelly is laid off from his good job and hopefully it is temporary. Since he started this job and had good insurance he has been to a sleep clinic. He has a pretty severe case of sleep apnia. They outfitted him with an apparatus that sits next to his bed and to which he is supposed to hook himself up in order to sleep well. They found that he quit breathing an average of 72 times per hour, and the longest non-breathing interval was 125 seconds. He tried holding his breath for 2 minutes (after an inhale) while awake and couldn't do it. He finds being hooked up very tedious and has been told to try wearing the apparatus while awake for increasing intervals in order to get used to it. There is a surgery that could be tried, but they told him that many people end up using the machine even after surgery.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Slacker, Me
I don't do anything. I can't just blog about casino experiences all the time. Martha (Jeannette's Aunt) is in town and we have been to Windsor and Motor City. We were supposed to do MGM on Tuesday but are going to Windsor again. That's our favorite.
My feet have been hurting really bad. I go from hardly being able to walk to not being able to walk. In the not able to walk stage it hurts slightly less when I'm sitting and slightly less than that when I'm lying down. Its been more than a week now. I'll give it another week then think about seeing a doctor.
I get sunshine in my living room in the afternoons and it gets pretty hot in here. I can't open the front door cause that's where the hot is coming from. Yesterday I was smart enough to open the side door and got a nice cool breeze. Today its cold again and there's no sun.
I am going out to dinner today with Rita's family. Happy Easter to all of you.
My feet have been hurting really bad. I go from hardly being able to walk to not being able to walk. In the not able to walk stage it hurts slightly less when I'm sitting and slightly less than that when I'm lying down. Its been more than a week now. I'll give it another week then think about seeing a doctor.
I get sunshine in my living room in the afternoons and it gets pretty hot in here. I can't open the front door cause that's where the hot is coming from. Yesterday I was smart enough to open the side door and got a nice cool breeze. Today its cold again and there's no sun.
I am going out to dinner today with Rita's family. Happy Easter to all of you.
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
How Quickly we Spoil
We had a couple of days of weather in the 60s and I am thoroughly spoiled. Getting off the casino bus last night it was quite a bit colder than it had been when I got on at noon.
The full tank of gas that came with my car is almost gone and I saw gas at a reasonable price (the fact that I can call $2.46 a reasonable price means that George W. is truly winning) but I wouldn't stop and pump it because it was cold outside.
I figured if it went up 5 or 10 cents in the next couple of days (as it is wont to do) that's a dollar. I would have paid someone a dollar to pump that gas.
The full tank of gas that came with my car is almost gone and I saw gas at a reasonable price (the fact that I can call $2.46 a reasonable price means that George W. is truly winning) but I wouldn't stop and pump it because it was cold outside.
I figured if it went up 5 or 10 cents in the next couple of days (as it is wont to do) that's a dollar. I would have paid someone a dollar to pump that gas.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
New Car Woes
On the car's one week birthday, we came out of the restaurant and the boopy thing didn't unlock the doors. I had to manually use the key. Can you imagine. The next time I needed to unlock the doors, it worked. Then again it didn't work. The door unlock and the trunk release are on the same button. Hit once to unlock doors and hold down to release trunk. When it didn't work, none of it worked. Before I called the dealer I tested the other buttons. While the unlocky part wasn't working I pushed the remote start button and the car started just fine. Then I had to open the door with the key to get in and stop it.
So, I called the dealer, got my salesperson's voice mail and told her my problems. About a half hour later she called me back and said that the guy was going to be there at 11 if I could bring it in then. I could, and I did. When I got there she noticed my book and we discussed a book she was reading called My Sister's Keeper. It just so happened that Erika had loaded that book into my ITunes file and it was going to be the next book I listened to. She showed me to the waiting room without ever mentioning my problem.
After an hour and a half, she came in and told me that the guy had to get a part that was at another store and that he thought that if he put in a longer delay it would work better. "Good", I said, "because it is a real pain when the doors don't unlock and I have to open the door with the key to push the inside trunk release and ... She looked confused and laid "unlock??" He's fixing the starter. I told her no, the starter works fine, its the unlock button that doesn't work. Oh, she said I'd better go tell him. Good Grief
A half hour later the guy comes in and apologizes for working on the wrong thing but says he needs a pick up a relay that will only take a few minutes to install, and rather than have me wait for him to go pick it up, he takes my address and says he will come out and install it at my house tomorrow. (today, now) Hopefully it will all work out.
So, I called the dealer, got my salesperson's voice mail and told her my problems. About a half hour later she called me back and said that the guy was going to be there at 11 if I could bring it in then. I could, and I did. When I got there she noticed my book and we discussed a book she was reading called My Sister's Keeper. It just so happened that Erika had loaded that book into my ITunes file and it was going to be the next book I listened to. She showed me to the waiting room without ever mentioning my problem.
After an hour and a half, she came in and told me that the guy had to get a part that was at another store and that he thought that if he put in a longer delay it would work better. "Good", I said, "because it is a real pain when the doors don't unlock and I have to open the door with the key to push the inside trunk release and ... She looked confused and laid "unlock??" He's fixing the starter. I told her no, the starter works fine, its the unlock button that doesn't work. Oh, she said I'd better go tell him. Good Grief
A half hour later the guy comes in and apologizes for working on the wrong thing but says he needs a pick up a relay that will only take a few minutes to install, and rather than have me wait for him to go pick it up, he takes my address and says he will come out and install it at my house tomorrow. (today, now) Hopefully it will all work out.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Long suits and shortcomings
In taking a little stock here I find that my shortcomings have nothing to do with my height and my long suits are all in my head.
Among my long suits, I have excellent reading and comprehension skills, very good reasoning power, and a good memory. I know a lot of stuff and have always considered myself a pretty smart cookie.
In the shortcoming department, I have absolutely no physical talents. Any physical attributes I might have had are quickly falling by the wayside. I used to be a pretty good dancer. Ballroom, square dancing, line dancing and even in grade school days, tap dancing. I learned the steps easily and executed them well.
I was an excellent typist. My last testing at a temp agency after I retired and decided to work temp jobs had me at 82 wpm with 0 errors.
I was a good singer. School music classes and performances. A talent show and Karaoke on cruises, Glee clubs, church choirs and even just with the family. I loved to sing.
All the physical pieces of me that used to allow me to do those things either just don't work, or hurt when I use them.
Keep in mind that I am still very grateful for all the things I can still do. I can still walk, just not very far. I can still sing, just at the very low end of the keyboard. I can still type, only the backspace and delete keys on my keyboard are the most used.
When I am 100 years old, and I don't remember any of your names, and my body is just a drool machine, remember that in my head there is still a lot of singing and dancing going on.
Among my long suits, I have excellent reading and comprehension skills, very good reasoning power, and a good memory. I know a lot of stuff and have always considered myself a pretty smart cookie.
In the shortcoming department, I have absolutely no physical talents. Any physical attributes I might have had are quickly falling by the wayside. I used to be a pretty good dancer. Ballroom, square dancing, line dancing and even in grade school days, tap dancing. I learned the steps easily and executed them well.
I was an excellent typist. My last testing at a temp agency after I retired and decided to work temp jobs had me at 82 wpm with 0 errors.
I was a good singer. School music classes and performances. A talent show and Karaoke on cruises, Glee clubs, church choirs and even just with the family. I loved to sing.
All the physical pieces of me that used to allow me to do those things either just don't work, or hurt when I use them.
Keep in mind that I am still very grateful for all the things I can still do. I can still walk, just not very far. I can still sing, just at the very low end of the keyboard. I can still type, only the backspace and delete keys on my keyboard are the most used.
When I am 100 years old, and I don't remember any of your names, and my body is just a drool machine, remember that in my head there is still a lot of singing and dancing going on.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Cracked Up
Sean's comment line "Youth isn't all its cracked up to be" cracked me up. However, after I finished laughing, I began to wax philosophical and he is, of course, absolutely right. The more I waxed, the philosophicaler I got. (Is there any kind of award for the best made-up word?)
Nothing can be "all its cracked up" to be because nobody cracks anything up to be something unless its something they haven't got. And if its something they used to have or expect to have in the future, they tend to dwell on the good parts.
While you're taking the good with the bad, isn't it nice that the good stays with you and the bad tends to disappear.
Nothing can be "all its cracked up" to be because nobody cracks anything up to be something unless its something they haven't got. And if its something they used to have or expect to have in the future, they tend to dwell on the good parts.
While you're taking the good with the bad, isn't it nice that the good stays with you and the bad tends to disappear.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Almost twins
Jeannette and I picked up our new cars together on Thursday. She sold her car on Monday night and since I was going on an overnight gambling trip Tuesday, she used my car for the next couple of days. Thursday afternoon she left work early and picked me up to go pick up our cars.
After the paperwork, our sales lady had them pulled up one behind the other in the service bay and it turns out they are exactly the same color. The names of the colors are different because they are two different models. Mine is a Focus and the color is Tundra, hers is a Fusion and the color had a different name.
When I looked at the color swatch, it was blueish grey. Now that it is sitting in front of my house in sunny, cloudy, rainy and even snowy weather, it looks mostly grey.
I love how clean it is, inside. I was never one to accumulate a lot of litter inside my car, but dust will out. And the day I wash windows inside my car is the day after I wash them inside my house.
After the paperwork, our sales lady had them pulled up one behind the other in the service bay and it turns out they are exactly the same color. The names of the colors are different because they are two different models. Mine is a Focus and the color is Tundra, hers is a Fusion and the color had a different name.
When I looked at the color swatch, it was blueish grey. Now that it is sitting in front of my house in sunny, cloudy, rainy and even snowy weather, it looks mostly grey.
I love how clean it is, inside. I was never one to accumulate a lot of litter inside my car, but dust will out. And the day I wash windows inside my car is the day after I wash them inside my house.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Monica's back
For any of you that had stopped checking Monica's blog (I still checked it every day, just in case) she's back. Now if we can just get Marcel to start blogging. Note to Monica - Since we always like to see comments from our non-blogging brothers, there is a selection at the top of this "create post" page that says "Moterate comments" when you click on that it directs you to a "Comments" page where you can select who may comment on your blog. If you select "anyone" it will allow anonymous commentors.
On the birthday front, we (Rita and I) spend Rita's birthday on an overnight gambling trip. I think all future birthdays should be casino related. We had a great time. I wanted to buy her a birthday dinner and ended up paying for our first breakfast stop at Tony's at Birch Run (you Michigan people know what I mean). We shared a breakfast that included eggs, hash browns, toast and ham. After we had both eaten our fill, they could probably have served that plate to another table. The servings are that big. We did finish the ham and the toast. We asked for the hash browns extra crispy but only the top was crispy. The good news was that even tho we only ate the crispy top parts, it was still enough for both of us to eat our fill. There was still a pound of mushy hash browns on the plate. If we had been on our way home, instead of on our way there, we would have brought all those potatoes and eggs home and had enough for a week.
At Mt. Pleasant, we were able to use the points from our playing cards towards our meal. In fact, when you put the card into the machine to start playing, it doesn't say you have x amount of points, it says you have x amount of dollars and cents. You just presented your card to the cashier and she swiped it. So. I got $6.75 off of my $7.75 soup-salad-drink and desert bar that I had for dinner. Of course after that my credit was back down to zero and I didn't notice where it was at right before we left.
I found out later that we could have done that at Little River also. I had a $5.00 coupon that I had received in the mail from them tho so dinner there was pretty cheap also.
You young folks take notes about this stuff so that you don't have to learn it all by trial and error after you retire.
On the birthday front, we (Rita and I) spend Rita's birthday on an overnight gambling trip. I think all future birthdays should be casino related. We had a great time. I wanted to buy her a birthday dinner and ended up paying for our first breakfast stop at Tony's at Birch Run (you Michigan people know what I mean). We shared a breakfast that included eggs, hash browns, toast and ham. After we had both eaten our fill, they could probably have served that plate to another table. The servings are that big. We did finish the ham and the toast. We asked for the hash browns extra crispy but only the top was crispy. The good news was that even tho we only ate the crispy top parts, it was still enough for both of us to eat our fill. There was still a pound of mushy hash browns on the plate. If we had been on our way home, instead of on our way there, we would have brought all those potatoes and eggs home and had enough for a week.
At Mt. Pleasant, we were able to use the points from our playing cards towards our meal. In fact, when you put the card into the machine to start playing, it doesn't say you have x amount of points, it says you have x amount of dollars and cents. You just presented your card to the cashier and she swiped it. So. I got $6.75 off of my $7.75 soup-salad-drink and desert bar that I had for dinner. Of course after that my credit was back down to zero and I didn't notice where it was at right before we left.
I found out later that we could have done that at Little River also. I had a $5.00 coupon that I had received in the mail from them tho so dinner there was pretty cheap also.
You young folks take notes about this stuff so that you don't have to learn it all by trial and error after you retire.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Hey Dude, I got a Dell
Can you tell, I'm typing this on a new computer. Well, used, but different. Erika's University was selling their used ones and she picked one up for me. Lyle did his magic on it and then Gretchen spent a couple of nights transferring all my files. She was up till midnight last night, poor thing. But she did get my MSMoney to work. I use MS Money for Windows 95 and I like it. I don't want to be new and improved. If she hadn't been able to get it to work it would have been a deal breaker.
Oh, yeah, and I bought a new car. It is another Focus 4 door sedan. The color is blueish grey and they call it Tundra. It is pretty much exactly like the one I have with a couple of extra things like an extra safety package (anti-lock breaks and side airbags) that just happened to be on it. I did have them install a remote starter tho since I will be parked at the mercy of weather I can pre-heat and pre-cool.
So, new house, new car, new computer. One would think I had won the lottery, but sadly, I'm broke.
Oh, yeah, and I bought a new car. It is another Focus 4 door sedan. The color is blueish grey and they call it Tundra. It is pretty much exactly like the one I have with a couple of extra things like an extra safety package (anti-lock breaks and side airbags) that just happened to be on it. I did have them install a remote starter tho since I will be parked at the mercy of weather I can pre-heat and pre-cool.
So, new house, new car, new computer. One would think I had won the lottery, but sadly, I'm broke.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Not a very warm welcome
After 5 days in Indiana, I got home this morning to a very cold house with no electricity. I couldn't check my e mail, I couldn't watch my tapes; all I could do was bundle up under a comfy throw and read my book.
Rita had already left for her Tuesday schedule so I couldn't call her to find out exactly when the electricity had gone off or if there was any information about when it would return. I hadn't been listening to the radio at all on the way home. (IPod)
I finally called Gretchen at work and she said it must have gone out sometime between 3:30 AM and 6:00 AM, the two times she was up medicating for her cold. She was under orders to change my VCR tapes on Tuesday morning but she couldn't do that without electricity.
Around Noon, I thought I may as well go to the casino in Windsor as sit here in the cold all day. As I pondered that, I realized that that way I would miss all my programs tonight for sure even if the electricity came back on because all my tapes were full. Since I had just been to the casino yesterday, I thought going back today was a bit much, even for me.
About five minutes after I made that decision to stay home the lights came back on. I am sitting pretty, in a nice warm house, all VCRs reset and reprogrammed. I have checked all my e mail, caught up on all the blogs and now will settle in to start watching tapes.
Life is good.
P.S. Rita stopped over on her way home a little while ago and she never did lose her electricity.
Rita had already left for her Tuesday schedule so I couldn't call her to find out exactly when the electricity had gone off or if there was any information about when it would return. I hadn't been listening to the radio at all on the way home. (IPod)
I finally called Gretchen at work and she said it must have gone out sometime between 3:30 AM and 6:00 AM, the two times she was up medicating for her cold. She was under orders to change my VCR tapes on Tuesday morning but she couldn't do that without electricity.
Around Noon, I thought I may as well go to the casino in Windsor as sit here in the cold all day. As I pondered that, I realized that that way I would miss all my programs tonight for sure even if the electricity came back on because all my tapes were full. Since I had just been to the casino yesterday, I thought going back today was a bit much, even for me.
About five minutes after I made that decision to stay home the lights came back on. I am sitting pretty, in a nice warm house, all VCRs reset and reprogrammed. I have checked all my e mail, caught up on all the blogs and now will settle in to start watching tapes.
Life is good.
P.S. Rita stopped over on her way home a little while ago and she never did lose her electricity.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
I love the irs
There's a sentence I'll bet none of you ever thought you would see in print.
All my life, from the time I had taxable income (soda jerk) I have prepared and filed my own income taxes. They have ranged from the simple (1040EZ) to the complicated (schedules involving rental property, income and expenses).
Near the beginning of this century I ventured into Tax Cut and e-filing on line.
I liked that very much, but the Tax Cut itself was a big pain in the neck. The delux program came with free e-filing (after rebate), free state tax program (after rebate), $5.00 rebate from Best Buy, $10.00 rebate from I don't know who all. Anyways the rebate forms were way more complicated than the tax forms and the whole thing still cost me about $45.00.
This year I went to irs.gov. They make you choose a company from a list of companies and I just took the first one OLT.com (On Line Taxes.com) I was able to fill in all my information, they did all the math. Because my income is below (way) $50,000.00 my e-filing was free. There was a $7.95 charge to e-file the state return. The forms were available in printable PDF form but for an extra $4.95 they are sending me a printed copy of all forms.
I love those guys.
All my life, from the time I had taxable income (soda jerk) I have prepared and filed my own income taxes. They have ranged from the simple (1040EZ) to the complicated (schedules involving rental property, income and expenses).
Near the beginning of this century I ventured into Tax Cut and e-filing on line.
I liked that very much, but the Tax Cut itself was a big pain in the neck. The delux program came with free e-filing (after rebate), free state tax program (after rebate), $5.00 rebate from Best Buy, $10.00 rebate from I don't know who all. Anyways the rebate forms were way more complicated than the tax forms and the whole thing still cost me about $45.00.
This year I went to irs.gov. They make you choose a company from a list of companies and I just took the first one OLT.com (On Line Taxes.com) I was able to fill in all my information, they did all the math. Because my income is below (way) $50,000.00 my e-filing was free. There was a $7.95 charge to e-file the state return. The forms were available in printable PDF form but for an extra $4.95 they are sending me a printed copy of all forms.
I love those guys.
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
the survey
I did this morning's blog before I read about the survey. So there's another new one under this.
4 jobs
Soda Jerk
Typing Pool
Secretary
Bookkeeper
4 TV shows
Amazing Race
Big Brother
Grey's Anatomy
Coronation Street
4 movies
Dirty Dancing
White Christmas
Absence of Malice
Pretty Woman
4 Foods
Steak
Soup (pea, chili, veg)
Chicken Fingers
Pizza
4 places I have vacationed (not counting visiting family)
Caribbean
Europe
Thailand
New Hampshire
4 places I have lived
Detroit
Melvindale
Westland
4 places I'd rather be right now
Kewadin
Las Vegas
California
Anywhere Jackson is
4 jobs
Soda Jerk
Typing Pool
Secretary
Bookkeeper
4 TV shows
Amazing Race
Big Brother
Grey's Anatomy
Coronation Street
4 movies
Dirty Dancing
White Christmas
Absence of Malice
Pretty Woman
4 Foods
Steak
Soup (pea, chili, veg)
Chicken Fingers
Pizza
4 places I have vacationed (not counting visiting family)
Caribbean
Europe
Thailand
New Hampshire
4 places I have lived
Detroit
Melvindale
Westland
4 places I'd rather be right now
Kewadin
Las Vegas
California
Anywhere Jackson is
Hip or What
Who's the hippest grandma on the casino bus. Why, its that lady wearing the IPod earbuds. I went to Windsor on my own yesterday so I was under no obligation to talk to or listen to anyone. Erika loaded a new book for me this weekend. I don't even know the title but it is about the "Petit Yayas". I listened to my book all the way to the Windsor then shut it off through customs and into the casino. Inside the casino it was very, very loud. It was very, very crowded. It was free Paczke day.
After I had lost $30.00 pretty quickly, I sat at a nickle poker machine and played one nickle at a time and listened to my book for about a half hour. I still had 3 of my $5.00 left at that point and took it out and went to play Babushka. I won $35.00 on that and started my day all over again. At the poker machine I could listen to the IPod pretty good, but back in the general population, the background noise was too loud.
I did listen to it all the way home, and just this morning noticed that I had almost no battery left. Something I will have to learn to check before each outing.
After I had lost $30.00 pretty quickly, I sat at a nickle poker machine and played one nickle at a time and listened to my book for about a half hour. I still had 3 of my $5.00 left at that point and took it out and went to play Babushka. I won $35.00 on that and started my day all over again. At the poker machine I could listen to the IPod pretty good, but back in the general population, the background noise was too loud.
I did listen to it all the way home, and just this morning noticed that I had almost no battery left. Something I will have to learn to check before each outing.
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Rolling Over
Tim said it could be done and we did it. We is kind of a misnomer, my part was mostly pointing out to Erika what she was doing wrong and saying, "if I was doing it I would ,,,".
I got a picture-hanging kit with eye screws and wire and everything. I felt so professional. Erika wanted to document each step with pictures a la Treebeau but its a rule that the camera has to be where the baby is and she came here this weekend sans baby.
Anyways, we hung the mirror with a longish wire and put three cheap thin washcloths rolled up behind the top part of it and it is perfect. I roll over in bed and can watch TV out of my good ear. Y'all know what I mean.
I got a picture-hanging kit with eye screws and wire and everything. I felt so professional. Erika wanted to document each step with pictures a la Treebeau but its a rule that the camera has to be where the baby is and she came here this weekend sans baby.
Anyways, we hung the mirror with a longish wire and put three cheap thin washcloths rolled up behind the top part of it and it is perfect. I roll over in bed and can watch TV out of my good ear. Y'all know what I mean.
Saturday, February 18, 2006
Over and Out
Even if I decided now that I wanted to move back into 33908, I can't. The final water bill came (who knew they charged $25.00 to issue a final bill) and the final accounting I got from the office turned out not to be a check, but an invoice.
Rehabbing the unit to Holliday Park specifications turned out to cost much more than I had anticipated. There were several things I knew were going to be fixed and charged. One of the things I didn't anticipate was them spending 1 1/2 hours cleaning the refrigerator (at $48.00 per hour), that I thought was already clean. Another is the removing of the full length mirror in the hallway (six screws). They charged 1/2 hour labor for that. The list is long.
Another reason there was nothing left in the kitty for me, is that I anticipated receiving $750.00 for the aluminum siding program that is supposed to be picked up by the new buyer and returned to the seller I paid it as a new buyer of 34721 and the seller got it. Well they are not returning that to the seller anymore. Somewhere between becomming a buyer and a seller, they started a new aluminum siding program so they are keeping my $750.00. It could have been worse, they charged the buyer of my unit $1,875.00 for the siding program.
I have had time to absorb the shock of it all, and have decided to just pay the thing and get on with my life. So, this is me getting on with my life.
I loaded EZ Christmas onto my Ipod today, all by myself. Next I'm going to hit Rita up for all of her Time/Life albums.
Rehabbing the unit to Holliday Park specifications turned out to cost much more than I had anticipated. There were several things I knew were going to be fixed and charged. One of the things I didn't anticipate was them spending 1 1/2 hours cleaning the refrigerator (at $48.00 per hour), that I thought was already clean. Another is the removing of the full length mirror in the hallway (six screws). They charged 1/2 hour labor for that. The list is long.
Another reason there was nothing left in the kitty for me, is that I anticipated receiving $750.00 for the aluminum siding program that is supposed to be picked up by the new buyer and returned to the seller I paid it as a new buyer of 34721 and the seller got it. Well they are not returning that to the seller anymore. Somewhere between becomming a buyer and a seller, they started a new aluminum siding program so they are keeping my $750.00. It could have been worse, they charged the buyer of my unit $1,875.00 for the siding program.
I have had time to absorb the shock of it all, and have decided to just pay the thing and get on with my life. So, this is me getting on with my life.
I loaded EZ Christmas onto my Ipod today, all by myself. Next I'm going to hit Rita up for all of her Time/Life albums.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Ipod Mama
I love it. Gretchen loaded two of my three CDs last night and if I hadn't had trouble learning volume control I would have taken it to bed with me. This morning I figured out the volume. Gretch got pictures loaded for me too. We only put on 15. I just found out how to put a few favorite songs in an "On The Go" file. I'm going to take it with me to the casino today to show Jeannette.
This was a great choice of birthday gift and I don't need another one, ever.
This was a great choice of birthday gift and I don't need another one, ever.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Lovin' the Olympics
Just kickin back and watching the Olympics all day. This is the life. All you hard working people, this is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
I love being so close to Canada that I can watch the Canadian channel all day. They start very early morning and run a lot of the events live and give color comment on the canadians. Then during prime time when everyone is running tape I go ahead and watch the NBC channels and get a lot of the color comment on the american competitors.
Its really funny to hear the canadians pronounce "Flying Tomato".
I love being so close to Canada that I can watch the Canadian channel all day. They start very early morning and run a lot of the events live and give color comment on the canadians. Then during prime time when everyone is running tape I go ahead and watch the NBC channels and get a lot of the color comment on the american competitors.
Its really funny to hear the canadians pronounce "Flying Tomato".
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