Saturday, June 29, 2013

Track Met & Garage Sale

In last weeks blog I mentioned how having one scheduled event during the week just throws the whole week off for us retired folks. My niece Amy told me she got a big laugh from it and I should see her schedule. She has four girls that are involved in so many sports that Amy and Greg have been known to pass each other on the road heading for the next event or meeting in a parking lot and switching girls. Yes I prefer retirement schedules.

Speaking of sports our Darrius is getting right into these track mets. Last Wednesday they put him in with the 9/10 yr olds (he’ll be 9 in Sept) and he did very well (even tho he didn’t think so). Today (Saturday) they are down in Ann Arbor to a met and he came in 7th over all for the 9 yr olds so they will be going back tomorrow for round two.

I have a picture of Darrius and Pepper. There’s nothing like a fort in the living room and having your best friend share it with you.

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Friday was our family/friends garage sale here at our place. This is the second year and I’m thinking this may be a annual event after the turn out we had.

Here’s the guys putting up the 10x26 tent across our front yard.

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Forgot to get a picture of it all up and during the garage sale I only had time to grab the camera once. We weren’t officially opened yet in this one. Actually I think we still had another hour before we were.

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But the people started coming and soon our whole street was nothing but cars. Thankfully we had lots of help with Nadene, Stint, Larry M & Larry B to drag things out and set things up then Margo, Amy, Greg came shortly after. I wish I’d gotten more pictures but maybe next year. Once all was done we ended up with a grand total of almost $900. As for myself I ended up in the hole as I found things I couldn’t resist.

One of the things I got was a free standing fireplace. My plan was to take it back to Texas and have Larry build it in to the entertainment center. But after placing it in the living room here it just may stay in Michigan.

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After all it’s cold here too. One of the best things about this sale was several old friends showed up that I haven’t seen in years and even a relative. Plus I got to meet several of my neighbors. Pretty cool.

The one that really enjoyed that day was Pepper. She was in seventh heaven with all the people that would come up to the porch and talk with her. (She wasn’t allowed to leave the porch just incase someone was nervous around dogs. It took a couple of time outs in the house before she got the message she had to stay on the porch but she did good.

So that’s it for this week. Heading to Renee’ and Brian’s this week for a few days. Renee’ has a couple of honey do’s/daddy do’s jobs on her list at the new house and we haven’t seen the inside of it yet. So I’m excited.

Till next time………………… 

 

Sunday, June 23, 2013

What a busy week

A week of on the go but what did we do. For those of you who are retired have you noticed that if there is only one thing during the course of the week that you had to schedule a specific time to be there for it just throws your whole week off? It’s like you can’t do a thing the rest of the week because you have this event or appointment on your “schedule”. Heaven help us if we end up having two or the unthinkable three or more things that we need to remember for that week. Well we had such a week. First we needed to be at the grandson’s track met (which also included a sleep over at our house), then I had a nail appointment, a visit with our attorney was in order, spending time with our niece from Albq., a parade in our town, toss in a wedding and the kids come in from Cleveland. It’s going to take two weeks to recover from all these commitments. How did we ever work 40+ hours a week and get anything else done, it’s beyond me.

Darrius’s track met was long but we enjoyed it. I think the total length of time he was actually in an event was less than a minute but total time we were standing and watching other events and waiting was over two hours. He got 1st place again in the 70m race and this week he signed up for the 200m. I’m not really sure what happened here. In watching the race it was very clear that he was first over the line. But when they went to get his award he was given 2nd place and was told the award was given for the overall event for all racers times. As you can see in this picture he wasn’t buying this at all and not happy. The 3rd place was for Broad Jump.

Last night for overall scores (not individual heats) he got 3rd place in Long Jump, 2nd place 200m, and 1st place 70m. The mad look on his face is cause he got 1st place in his individual heat for 200m, so he was expecting another first place ribbon. We were trying to tell him that 2nd place overall was even better cause that means he beat older kids too...he wasn't trying to hear that..lol
#too competitive

Our niece Marcey flew in from Albq. Friday morning (for the wedding) and we were able to spend some time with her and Nadene that afternoon. Due to other commitments her husband and kids weren’t able to come with her but hopefully we’ll see them soon.

Our town has an annual event called Yankee Doodle Days which lasts about four days. Lots of things going on and of course a parade is always held. Was a little surprised that our high school band wasn’t in it, they have always been in the pass. Wondering if the new band directors aren’t as in too these things as the retired ones were. There were plenty of other things marching down the street so it was still good. Unfortunately our town Fire Dept. who are always at the end of the parades wasn’t able to be there. Just a few hours before the parade they were called to a house fire just a few blocks off main street. The home was a total loss, parents gone and kids had a campfire in the back yard night before and didn’t get the fire all out, spread over the grass and to the back of the porch. Luckily everyone got out of the house.

Our little great-great niece Delilah came to our house with her gr-grandma Diane after the parade. Here she is enjoying her sucker with Pepper waiting in hopes of it being dropped.

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Last night was our great nephew Jeremy and Courtney’s wedding. What a beautiful bride and handsome groom. And oh they looked so young. Here’s a picture of them with his parents our nephew Mike & Julie.

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Renee’ and Brian were in town this weekend so we decided to meet for breakfast. Sent a quick last minute email out to family if anyone was available to join us and we ended up with 17. After breakfast some came back to the house and we sat on the porch for a while and visited.

So that was our week. Next week is going to be a busy one too. Our annual garage sale (that was only supposed to be one time) is Friday. I think there’s eight of us who have some valuable treasures to offer for sale. Should be fun and hopefully we all make a few dollars and get rid of some junk (I mean treasures)

Till next time ……………………

Monday, June 17, 2013

Gr-son’s 1st track met–Visitors from Retama

Darrius had his first track met on Wednesday and of course we had to be on the side lines cheering him on. I knew Darrius could move fast but after watching him take 1st place on the 70m & 100m in his class I was amazed. But I also have to wonder how this kid can move so fast down the track but so slow when I ask him to do something???

Saturday we had Retama visitors over for dinner. Lon/Pat Garvey who have a home not far from us here in Michigan came with friends Pat/Kathleen Gomez who have a house in Retama. Bob/Kathleen are doing some summer traveling and are spending a few days at the Garvey’s. We had a great time sitting on the porch as they filled us in on all their travels and what’s happening down in our winter home.

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Even Pepper and their little dog Cookie had a good time together.

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Other then the two things above our week has been pretty quiet. I met some friends one morning for coffee at these neat little cafĂ© called Sweet Linda’s. Larry’s been working in the basement doing some wiring for his shop equipment.

So that fills you in on our week. Till next time…………….

Monday, June 10, 2013

Porch Pictures–Trip to Old Town

Sorry folks but there’s just not much to talk about this week. Basically all we’ve done is work on the porch. The siding for the ends came in so we got that put up. Got the ceiling panels painted and what a hassle that was. I hate using oil base paint, it takes so long to dry. After three days we said the heck with it and got the 4x8 sheets of ceiling up. One thing I found out is I just don’t have the strength in my arms like I use to and thank goodness for our neighbor Fred saw me struggling and came over. So except for the posts, which we’re still trying to figure out what we want to do with them, the porch is finished.

The neighbor was going to dig up some Hosta plants so decided for the time these would work good along the front. So since there isn’t much to talk about I’ll share pictures.

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We didn’t totally work on the porch all week even though it felt like it. There were trips to Menards and Lowe for the materials needed for the porch. Exciting ha.

Larry did work on the basement and put studs up for the wall at the bottom of the steps. Also I wanted something on the floor there that I could sweep with a broom so we ended up just getting some wood snap together flooring. When he gets the walls up I’ll need to paint those and do something with the steps so they look better. Pictures later on that.

Nadene and I have been wanting to go to Old Town and see what was there. It’s a area along the Grand River in the north part of Lansing that has been brought back to life with quaint shops, condo’s, restaurants and even a general store where you can buy a little bit of everything. I found this picture on line of it to give you a idea of what it’s like. 

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Here’s one of the condo’s

We had a nice afternoon of just walking around and going into the Artist Shops and Antique places.

So that’s it for what we did last week. Not much exciting. I just wonder what we’ll do with ourselves once all these projects are completed. Maybe just sit on our new porch with a glass of wine and watch the world go by.

Till next time………………………….

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Fuel/Smart Phone Frustrations & Gr-son’s Graduation

What is it with the price of gas. Yesterday when we drove pass Meijer’s there was a line up at the pumps. The sign said $3.77 and of course we didn’t need fuel but we knew something was up. Then a few hours later when we came home it was $4.17. Anyone ready to buy a horse and  buggy  and use “natural” gas. Course we’d have to leave for Texas in July to get there for the xmas open house. From the local news this increase is all do to a “rumor” that a “glitch” at a refinery that “might” have to buy fuel from “another” refinery. Go Figure! Maybe we can start a “rumor” that there was a “huge” excess of gas found, do you think the prices will go down. Probably not!
Another means of our frustration have been our new Smart Phones. Several weeks back we had to change phones as our old reliable flip open ones had started having a mind of it’s own by refusing to except calls, voice mail showing up 2-3 days later and only allowing us to talk so long before hanging up. Really didn’t want to change as Verizon’s new and better “Share Plan” was going to cost me more $$’s and get less coverage. So tell me why when you are just sitting there going through all these “freebies” that you’ll never use, you can’t figure out a easy way to just “answer” it when it rings. Know more “just push” a button, nope now you have to “slide” your finger across. And don’t you just love it when a text (yes we do that when I swore I never would) comes and this “Smart” phone tells you who’s sending it but trying to “actually” find the text is a whole different thing. And going into my Voice Mail – grrrrr. First off I haven’t figured out how to get this d*** phone to show on the main screen that I have a new one. Nope have to “tap” here and “slide” there to see if I have one. Oh then if there is one I get to “tap” again and put my super secret password in. The only problem is somehow this New Improved Phone wants it to be so secret that I can’t put my hand in front of the screen or it goes “black”. I have to sneak up on the side of it with one finger and “tap” (again) the super secret code. About the only good thing with these phones are my fingers are starting to grow muscles with all the “taps” & “slides”.
OK, enough frustration vent, on to something more fun. We worked on the porch putting some of the “pretty” things on it. Not finished yet but we’ll get there, next week will be putting the ceiling up.
The other fun thing that happened was our new grandson Dar’Relle had his high school graduation yesterday. Here’s a picture of Brandi, Darrell, Dar’Relle and Darrius. Better known as Big D, Middle D, Little D.
Dar'Relle's Graduation
Dar’Relle has been offered a football scholarship at Ferris State University and will be heading there later this summer. Brandi and Darrell are not only excited with him having this opportunity but also the future decrease in the grocery bill. We say Dar’Relle is our newest grandson but actually he and his sister Aaliyah have been a part of our family for over 10 years.
So that’s it for this week. Cool temperatures headed our way later today and only highs in the 60’s this week. Not liking this at all, but that’s another frustration that I can’t do anything about but wait for Mother Nature to bring the warmer temp’s back.
Till next time………………………………..