Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras! Or around here it's Happy Paczki Day! The paczki (punch-key) is a big round doughnut filled with assorted stuff and contains about 300 calories. It's actually some sort of Polish tradition that you have these huge lard balls on the day before Lent and since we have a rather large Polish community, paczkis are literally everywhere. I haven't tried one cuz I'm afraid I'll explode. I wanted to try something different with the blog pictures, so I hope the paczki pic comes out okay. There's also a website dedicated to the history of the paczki if your really interested.

I think I should finish the cross-stitch tonight (Yea!). It's taken me almost 5 months to complete! Seems like a long time, but this was a pretty complex project and I really did try to work on it at least 4 or 5 times a week. Tomorrow I'll start another smaller picture ~ this one will be French Fleurs & Plantes. It doesn't look as involved and there seem to be quite a few half-stitches so I should finish it in less than 5 months (I hope). Tomorrow I'm also going to tackle the craft room. I promised myself that as soon as I finished this project, I was going to organize (again) the craft room and scrapbook at least once a week until I'm caught up. My room became a sort of dumping ground for stuff we didn't know where to put. Well tomorrow I'm going to figure out homes for all the wayward stuff. Wish me luck.

Shannon's Blog

Mom & I took another walk around the neighborhood today and boy, was it ever cold. We both kinda felt obligated to walk today, though, because yesterday was soo windy that the members of the Celebrity Fit Club were forced to stay inside and make nachos instead. After that walk in the park a few weeks ago I was so exhausted I could barely make it upstairs to bed, so I really want to get in better shape and I think these little walks will do me good. They’re probably a pretty good idea for Mom, too. I know it’s probably just her Winter fur, but she seems a little thicker around the middle. We both probably need to spend less time in front of the fireplace and more time outside. Besides the walks being good for us, it’s also a lot of fun to take in all the new smells and to poop on other people’s lawns. I especially like it when there’s a little “yippy” dog stuck inside the house just a-bitchin’ while I squat in their front yard. And it’s not like I’m the one who has to pick it up and carry it home, so I have a good walk pretty much every time we take one. I’m really looking forward to the Summer when I can go swimming in the lake and stink for a week. Those are the best times!

Mom's Friday Feast
Friday, February 24, 2006
Feast Eighty-Two

Appetizer
Choose one: moving to another state, having triplets, or never being able to eat chocolate again.
Well, I'm not a huge chocolate fan, I've moved out of state several times (it sucks) and I can't ever fathom me creating one small living person, so the thought of making three all at once is beyond comprehension.

Soup
Name a news story that truly shocked you.
Lately it would have to be the City of Detroit's refusal to let the Zoological Society take over ownership of the Detroit Zoo. The city council would rather close the zoo altogether than let the Zoological Society bail them out. The state has offered to pay the city $4 million, which would not only save the city money, but would also garner an extra profit of $4 million. The city council's response was "This ain't no plantation no more. You just can't own us like you used to." So the all black city council would prefer to permenantly close the Detroit Zoo than to give ownership to the Zoological Society. What the hell do they want?!

Salad
What was your very first job?
I worked in my Grandma's ice cream parlor. She made homemade ice cream & I thought it would be a great job because she said I could eat all the ice cream I wanted. After a couple of weeks I despised ice cream. Smart Grandma.

Main Course
If you had the chance to read the diary of someone you're really close to, would you? Why or why not?
I'd like to say no, but I would probably peek anyway. Fortunately, I've never been in that situation.

Dessert
What's something you're looking forward to?
The Summer. Last Summer was the first time in about 10 years I've lived some place where the weather was pleasant. It was always so hot in FL that we never wanted to leave the house. I stayed outside way past dark on almost every night my first summer in MI. There's no better way to listen to a baseball game then on a little transistor radio in your backyard under the stars.

Celebrity Fit Club 1 ~ Midwest Edition

Today was the premier episode of "Celebrity Fit Club 1 ~ Midwest Edition." This club was formed because of a potent desire to finally become the physically fit hoochie mamas we know we can be. Membership is exclusive (not everyone can be a hoochie mama) and new members must be voted on by the governing board consisting of the two founding members. As a matter of fact, membership is soo exclusive that presently the only members are the governing board, one of which is a dog. (I'm the other member.) So anyway, Shannon & I took a leisurely walk thru the neighborhood this afternoon. On our stroll we traipsed thru some mud patches, pooped on several lawns and smelled remnants of dead things past. Nothing too exhausting on our first trip out since the walk in the park a couple of Sundays ago. We were only out for about 30 minutes, but I think that's a good start for Shannon. Now we're going to relax for a bit, eat a hearty dinner of pizza rolls and then work on the old cross-stitch. Tomorrow's edition of "Celebrity Fit Club" will probably entail another trip thru the hood and maybe a few ball tossings. The weather guy is predicting flurries, but as long as it's not too cold, we'll be out there. (And yes, we picked up the poop.)

Insuring Katrina

When we moved from FL to MI our car insurance doubled in price. It actually doubled! To begin with, I guess MI is a very expensive state for insurance and the fact that we live so close to a major car-stealing city only adds to the misery. Well now, six months later, our monthly car insurance doubled (almost) again! That means that in the less-than-a-year since we've moved our monthly car insurance has almost quadrupled in price. We pay more for car insurance every month than we do for homeowner's insurance! Vickie says it's due in part to the fact that we have Allstate and they have to hike up everyone's insurance to help pay for the hurricane claims down south. She's probably right, but do I have to single-handedly pay for the entire state of Louisiana? I'm just baffled by this and it really REALLY makes me mad!

The Weekend

As with most Saturdays, I slept in (till about 1pm) and then awoke to the frigid cold of Michigan. It got as low as 2 degrees at one point during the day! (More about that later.) After a relaxing dinner out and a short trip to Home Depot for some stuff for the upcoming bathroom remodel, we met her mom for a pleasant eveing of folk music. Every weekend a different neighboring city hosts the "Coffee House Series." The entertainment is usually a folk group or some other folksy-type music. This week it was the Raisin Pickers and it was held at the Jolly Senior Citizens facility. Needless to say, Vic & I were probably the youngest ones there, but the group was great and we had a really good time. Next week it'll be Blackthorn, an Irish band that we've seen before. They're great, so we're both looking forward to them.

My plans for Sunday were to get the laundry out of the way earlier so I could spend the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing. Ha! Remember how cold it was the night before? Well, our hot water pipe burst and was spewing water all over the laundry room! Water was was just pouring out of the ceiling light fixture and had I not been in there, we probably would've had terrible flood damage to the house. Our handy neighbor came over and fixed the problem, but this involved me laying on my stomach up in the COLD attic holding a pipe while he welded on the new piece for what seemed like an eternity. It was actually only about 3o minutes or so, but it was damn cold up there, so it seemed like a lot longer. Then we made the mistake of telling him that we were planning on replacing our back door soon. We didn't mean that afternoon, but he insisted on helping and starting tearing apart the old door frame. His 10 minute welding job took closer to 2 hours and with evening starting to set in none of us wanted to hang a new door, but Vic & I didn't want to spend the rest of the night with a huge hole in our living room wall either. So we hung a door. A very nice looking door with a larger window which really brightens up the room. By the time we finished with all these projects I didn't get to plop down on the couch until almost 10:30! So my relaxing Sunday was anything but, but we got alot accomplished and don't have to worry about a drafty door any more!

Olympic Issues

Lindsey Jacobellis
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

I've been watching the Olympic games every day that they've been on now and although I've really enjoyed them, most of the events have been less than memorable. By that I mean I watch and applaud or grimace at the event when it happens and then about 30 seconds later I've forgotten about it. Except for yesterday's women's snowboarding event. American Lindsey Jacobellis was considered the best female snowboarder in the world and was predicted to take the gold medal in her race yesterday...but didn't. She was so far out in front of her competition during the medal race that the other girls weren't even in the picture. And then on the last bumpy thing she did a little showboating, wiped out and the Swiss girl (who was in 4th place and waaaay far back)passed by her and took the gold medal. For some reason this whole scene of events has stuck with me ever since I witnessed it. Normally I hate it when athletes show off; football players who start their dance before they get to the end zone, basketball players who slam dunk, baseball players making one-handed catches. But Jacobellis didn't just screw herself and her team, she let America down. She was out there competing not for Casey the Tigers fan, but for Casey the American and it kinda makes me mad. Normally I'd say "she got what she deserves," but as the person she's representing I think I was short-changed and deserve something more. I'm sure, in time, I'll forget about this just like every other missed chance for an American Olympic gold medal has passed from my memory, but for right now it stings a bit and I feel cheated.

Sick

Back in FL I used to get headaches quite a bit. I always thought it was due to the air conditioning. Absolutely every place you go is air conditioned because of the sweltering Summer heat. I figured it had something to do with the manufactured air flowing thru dirty duct work and filtering out all those headache-causing particles. I think I was right because since I've lived in MI I've only had one really bad headache...last night. I was so sick at work I had to leave early. I'd rather be puny & sick at home than at work. After some sleep and plenty of drugs I now feel much better. We've lived in MI now for over 8 months and it's taken that long to get a serious mind-numbing headache, so I think that's pretty good! Just one more reason why MI is better than FL.


Friday, February 17, 2006
Feast Eighty-One

Appetizer
If you were a color, which color would you be, and why?
Green. The sweatshirt I'm wearing now is green and I really enjoy being outside in the non-Winter months. And I loved Ireland which is about 100,000 different shades of green!

Soup
When was the last time you went to the doctor, and what was your reason for going?
Sometime this past Summer I registered with the VA and had to see a doctor for a routine checkup. She was actually a Physician's Assistant and was happy to write me prescriptions for any drugs I wanted. Scary.

Salad
What do you collect?
We've been trying to get all the state quarters and are having a little difficulty obtaining all the 2005 coins. I also try to get matchbooks from cities we visit.

Main Course
What were you like in high school? Name one thing you miss and one thing you don't miss about those days.
I wasn't popular, but I wasn't a nerd either...I was just somewhere in the middle. I hated my high school years more than any other time period in the history of me. High school, for me, was a colossal waste of 4 years I will never be able to get back. Every minute of every school day was complete torture and I literally had to struggle to get thru each day. I purposely faded into the background in every school situation so I wouldn't have to interact with all the beautiful people who picked on the nerds or become a nerd that got picked on. I'm sure if you asked anyone I went to school with who I was, they would draw a complete blank. And I'm glad.

Dessert
Imageine you're standing in front of your home, with your back towards your home. Describe the view - what can you see? Trees? Cars? A zoo? Wal-Mart?
There's a beautiful tree on our tree lawn and the house across the street has a huge flag pole in the front yard. The people who moved in have been trying to dig it up from the day they moved in last Fall. I'm sure they would be out there today working on it if the ground wasn't frozen. It can be quite entertaining.

Olympics, Eh

One of the great things about living in Detroit is that we've got a Canadian TV station to watch the Olympics on. I'd say about 50% of my Olympic viewing has been on CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Channel, eh). They really give you a different perspective on the games. Sure, they're a little biased toward Canadian athletes, but not as much as NBC is toward the U.S. athletes. Watching CBC also brings with it a whole new set of commercials and announcers that talk funny ("Let's tawk aboot hawkey, eh?"). It's great! Some of their announcers really suck, but they talk great! I think the CBC should broadcast baseball, too!

And in response to the burning question on everyone's minds, "Are Tom and Katie breaking up?"... who really gives a beaver's butt what Tom and Katie ever do?

Snowy Day At Park

Snowy Day @ Park
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

Inspired by the Winter Olympics, Vic & I participated in Olympic Dog Walking festivities this past weekend. What this really amounts to is us finally getting up off of our lazy asses to take the dog for a much needed walk. Shannon really enjoyed spending last Sunday at the park chasing tennis balls, barking at ducks and scaring passing poodles. It was a bit chilly when we set out, but after walking and playing for a while it wasn't too bad at all. The sun was out and the snow made the park seem very peaceful. Shannon really had a great time but paid for it later. I guess she just doesn't get enough exercise, so later on that night she was really feeling the effects of the afternoon on her body. She was so sore that she was having difficulty just moving around. We let her lay on the couch and put a heating pad on her hip area for the rest of the evening. She seems to be okay now, so I guess it was just sore muscles. Vic & I were really scared there for a while, though. We're planning on heading back out there this coming weekend, but we'll take it a little bit easier this time. Hopefully these walks will be good for all of us!

Union

norma rae
Originally uploaded by wahoo1265.

I went to my first union meeting ever tonight. It was very underwhelming to say the least, but it did bring images of Sally Field to mind. The whole meeting dealt with whether or not to agree to a a proposed contract with the city. Since I'm still technically on probation I didn't get to vote (kinda disappointing). I won't bore you with the details, but the short version is that I still don't know for sure if/when I'll be laid off. I'll probably know more after the millage vote on the 28th. Still, I felt very union-y sitting there with my fellow oppressed peoples. I almost wish I had brought a black magic marker and some cardboard!

Snowy Shannon

That folk music thing I was really looking forward to isn't until next weekend, so instead I spent part of the afternoon playing in the snow with Shannon. She absolutely loves the snow! She dashes out the door and throws herself on the ground, rolling around and making doggy snow angels. It snowed enough for Shannon to roll around in, but not enough to make a snowperson or shovel the driveway. The rest of the evening will be spent in front of the fire watching the Olympics. That luge really impresses me. I'm not to thrilled with driving 80 mph in a car much less going the same speed on a little sled down a winding icy path. Pretty cool.

Looking Forward to the Weekend

I'm really looking forward to the weekend. Our only plans are to see a sort've Celtic/Folk duo this Saturday ~ they are the first in a string of folk-related concerts this month. I'm mainly excited about the prospect of doing nothing for a few days. Just laying around the house in big sweats and yelling at the kitties to get off of stuff. I like my job, but not working is soo much better and I really like having weekends off. My cross-stitch project is about 80% done and I'll post a photo of it after it's complete.


Friday, February 10, 2006
Feast Eighty

Appetizer
What was a class or course you took while in school that you realize now was a total waste of time?
Home Economics. I couldn't cook then and I can't cook now. As a matter of fact, I was so bad that my little group always assigned me the task of washing dishes.

Soup
Who is the tallest person you know?
My brother is about 6'4". He literally towers over me when we stand next to each other.

Salad
What's your favorite midnight snack?
Dutch apple pie w/Cool Whip or chips & chip dip.

Main Course
Have you ever found money somewhere? If so, where did you find it, and how much was it?
I found $5 in a pocket once and was ecstatic. I don't remember ever finding anything larger than a couple bucks on the ground.

Dessert
Where would you like to retire?
In Michigan, but further north. Maybe somewhere in the middle of the state near horses and cows.

Sudokus

Has anyone tried these Sodoku puzzles? At first I didn't understand them, so I feared them. But now the puzzles and I are one and I welcome them into my home. "Come little Sodoku puzzles. Tempt me with your numerical ways. You are a worthy opponent, but I, I am the master. The puzzle grasshopper, if you will. I shall, and do, defeat your every number challenge. You are no match for me and my trusted sidekick, Mr. Pencil. It is wise that you should bow to my higher intellect and become my house elf, my servant, a serf on Caseyland. You are by far not my equal, but nonetheless I welcome you into my home (and sometimes I take you to work) and together we become one. One Almighty Puzzle Empress."

Work

I had a training class today on hostage negotiations. All this really means is that I don't have to go to work tonight. Yea!! I've also been scheduled for more waste-of-time classes in April and May. Does this mean that I may not get laid off or does it mean that the police department has excess funds that they have to use up before the end of their fiscal year so they are registering their three dispatchers for every training class that comes down the pike? Well, I'll find out more regarding my job status this Monday. There is a union meeting then and they are supposed to tell us where we stand with negotiating with the city. I'm actually not that upset about it all any more. I figure if I get laid off then it'll just give me the opportunity to try something new and possibly something I'll enjoy more! Or maybe I'll win the lottery.

Money, Money, Money

I wanted to try to do this year's taxes on my own, so I loaded up the TaxCut program and gathered all my paperwork. It took me about an hour and I'm happy to report that my federal tax return this year is $385,296! Party at my house!

I finally got to see the latest Harry Potter movie this weekend. After much whining, Vic relented and took me to the movies. Yea! Going to the movies is very expensive. Two tickets, popcorn and a drink cost us almost $30! Good thing I've got that hefty return headed my way.

There have been many rumors around work about the possible lay-offs. I've heard so many different things that it would take a seperate blog to list them all. I should find out for sure by the end of this month. Hopefully, if I'm one of the lay-offs, I'll qualify for unemployment. It actually wouldn't be bad spending some extra time at home ~ I could get a lot of painting and putting away done. It would really be nice if it happened in the Spring instead, because I could spend all day working in the yard. And really, the loss of money shouldn't affect us too bad. I mean after all, we'll have $385,296 in the bank!

Super Shmooper

Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Bowl. I'm about sick of hearing about the stupid game already! It makes me mad that it's being held in my own backyard and I wasn't even given the opportunity to buy tickets for it! It makes no difference that I'd rather be at home watching it from the comfort of my couch, just steps from my very own bathroom ~ I still would've like to have been asked. Actually, I'm really ready for baseball to start. I've printed out the Tigers schedule and blocked off the games I want to go to for the whole season. I'm sure Vic will be just thrilled to see my handywork! Go Tigers!


Friday Feast Seventy-Nine

Appetizer
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10=highest), how sociable are you?
If you mean how often do I go out & socialize, I'd have to say 2 or 3. Vickie & I are probably the most stay-at-homiest people I know..especially when it's cold outside and we can throw a log on the fire. If you mean how am I once you get me out of the house and into a social gathering, I think I'm probably a 9 or 10. I'll talk to anybody and feel comfortable in just about any setting.

Soup
Name 3 DVDs you currently own.
Wow, we've got quite a few. I'll list 3 that most people might not have:
1. "Waking Ned Devine"
2. The 2004 Hurricane Ivan DVD put together by the local news station
3. "The Commitments" in Chinese with English subtitles

Salad
If you were to win a superlative award now (such as most talented, class clown, most likely to succeed), what would it be?
Best Joke Teller Ever

Main Course
What is your favorite radio station?
89X ~ "Detroit's source for alternative music"

Dinner
Complete this sentence: I believe __________ because __________.
"I believe for every drop of rain that falls a flower grows" because Laverne & Shirley say so.

"Hi, I'm Robert Osborne."

It's " 31 Days of Oscar" time again on Turner Classic Movies! Every February (with some spillage into March) TCM plays only Academy Award winning or nominated films and this gives me the chance to finally see movies that I've heard about for years but never got the chance to see. For instance, it was during this festival of moviedom that I finally got to see "Lawrence of Arabia." It's the perfect movie if you've got about 4 hours to kill and don't mind slipping into a catatonic state where you find yourself mumbling your dog's name over and over again. But I've now got this "essential" movie out of the way and never ever ever have to see it again ever. And make sure to watch host Robert Osborne both before and after each movie because he imparts little bits of trivia about each film (sometimes Robert is my favorite part of the movie! I like to think he's saying "hi" just to me!). Tonight is "African Queen" and "Casablanca." Two wonderful movies that I've seen dozens of times, but will probably watch again anyway.