Save Katrina's Blog!!!

I am so upset to see Katrina deleting her blog. We bloggers live vicariously through each other. We go to bed and breakfasts, we go on houseboats, we go to Mackinac, Chicago, South Carolina., New Jersey. We do bike trips, car trips, airplane rides. We marvel at the size of each others pets, and the very odd things they do. We laugh with each other and cry too. We reminice together. We bitch about stuff. It's what we do. So I wish for Katrina to not end this link.

Please vote on the right for what your thoughts are, and post your comments.

Joey

I feel so bad. The Tigers traded Pudge. Oh don't get me wrong, I don't feel bad for Pudge at all. My heart breaks for Joey.

Joey LOVES baseball. Joey plays baseball. For Joey, the sun rises and sets with baseball.

Joey is our friends 10 year old son. I remember, not too long ago, as much as he LOVED Pudge, he could not say Rodriguez to save his life. It always came out "Ronriguez". Yet he LOVED Pudge.

Yesterday I heard about the trade at work. At first I was shocked, but immediately I thought - I wonder how Joey took the news?

When I arrived home, I talked to Den and asked him if Joey knew about the sudden departure. He found out earlier that Joey was so upset, he started crying, ran up to his room, and immediately wanted all of his Pudge things OUT of his room. Pudge and The Tigers broke Joey's heart.

Of course, I started to cry. I felt horrible for Joey. Like baseball, the sun rose and set with Pudge "Ronriguez" in Joey's eyes.

With this, I hope that Joey finds comfort somehow. His little 10 year old world just got rocked.

Auntie Val loves you Joey. My heart breaks for you... Not Pudge.

Kwaymegate

Ok, I just don't get this. Maybe I should have studied government instead of doing whatever else I was doing.

So how is it that a public official that is voted into office by the PUBLIC can not be "voted" out of office? It is amazing how the story with this thug keeps getting worse and worse. It makes me not even want to visit the city at all. Plus with some of the city council members being roped in to the crap too. Oh and let's talk about the schools and how they are so far in debt that they are facing quite a few closures.

I am sure that a lot of people would disagree with me on this, but I could easily have lived in a different time period. Picture Hill Valley in Back to the Future. Kids could play all over the town and be safe. People were held accountable. People had integrity. And the thing is, that this was the way it was, when most of our parents were growing up.

My parents sometimes talk about living in Detroit and Hazel Park. They talk about how safe it was to walk to Bell Isle to go skating. They talk about shopping up and down Woodward going to Hudsons, and other stores.

Have you been down there lately?? Although I must say that some parts of the city are looking better, I just have to ask... what the hell is wrong with some of the elected officials.

I think they should be "voted" out!

Chicago 2008

After our trip to see Chris graduate, we went to Chicago for a 1 day, whirlwind trip... and boy was it ever!

We did more in this one day than I've done in any other visit to Chicago. We walked until we thought we would drop. We took tours, shopped until the credit cards were smooth, dodged rain drops, pointed at favorite spots, Ooh! ing and Ah! ing. Went up in some buildings, down in others.

We ate at The Weber Grill Restaurant. Let's just say that everything we ate was worth of my "lick the platter clean" title. We tried to get into one of Katrina's recommendations Pizzaria Due, but it was hot and muggy and they had no air. Unfortunately we didn't stay because crabby kiddies make for crabbie parents.

When we passed Heaven on Seven, immediately I recalled the fabulous dinner we shared with Kraig and Katrina. We avoided the Underground Wonder Bar for obvious reasons, lol.

We kept our niece with us for this jaunt, and ran her ragged. Notice the before and after pictures of them at American Girl. Look at their faces after they have bags in hand.

This time we stayed at the Marriott Downtown on Michigan Avenue. It was the best hotel we have EVER stayed at in Chitown. It is just a block or two north of the river, and in the center of EVERYTHING!

A night view from the Hancock Bldg.

Plus when we ate a room service dinner at 11:30 pm, the food was fabulous. We are DEFINITELY staying there again!!!

Emotionally Drained.

Wow, am I exhausted! Literally I don't know which way is up, or what is coming next. I'm getting envious of Miralee and Jro for posting more than I do... and I LOVE blogging! Time to rearrange my priorities!

It all started last week when my brother Mike, Niece - Ashley, and great nephew - Christian rolled in to town. They came in on Saturday evening and stayed until Thursday. Thursday, our family, our guests, and my parents all rolled out of town heading to Illinois. We went to see my nephew Chris, graduate from Naval Bootcamp.

We sat in the upper deck bleachers in this HUGE building waiting for them to come in. We were entertained for a while, and then it happened... this large garage door opened up to the outside and there they were. The recruits. Standing in formation waiting to come in. The crowd went BANANAS! It was an awesome sight to see. Chris later told us when the door opened, they could hear everyone cheering and screaming - and he was 3 companies back from the open door.

Words can not express how moving this whole ceremony was. It is easy to go along in your day and not realize how much we take for granted. These amazing individuals have chosen to protect you and I. Because they have made this monumentous decision to join the service, not only do they have a future, but they also protect ours. Because of people like this, we are free.

The anticipation was too much for Christian... As for Ashley, seconds felt like hours.

A very emotional, family reunion.

I never realized that my brother, The Chief.. has to look up at his son.

Gregory LOVED this ceremony. When they saluted, so did he!

The way it should be.

Who would have known...

Who would have known that the washer would provide hours of entertainment.

Hiatus...

Just a quick update...

We have a new washer and dryer. Pumpkin is completely facinated by the washer. I took a photo of him watching it... for over an hour!

Plus my brother, niece, and great nephew are in town, so I don't have time to post.

Later!

My Name is Feefee.

Yep. He calls me Feefee, or Feef. And because he calls me that, A LOT of people call me that. And now that you know it, you'll probably call me that too. Go ahead and chuckle. I would tell you what I call him, however some readers have been known to take things to an extreme. They know who they are... and you do too.

You have no idea what grief I am taking over this dryer fire. I have heard it all...

A guy I work with, that is on the Fire Dept that came here (but HE did not come here) called...

"Heard you had the F.D. at your house... AGAIN" - he then erupts into laughter.

This one is compliments of my brother, Mike...
"So you no sooner go to work Monday and feef tries to burn your house down...LOL... I told her empty the lint filter more than once annually..LOL..."

Oh and then Miranda had to pour salt in my wound with her little comment about the Laundromat, lol. (I did laugh as she did call me out)...

So while Den worked his 72 hours STRAIGHT... I called the F.D. multiple times, and of course, I hear from one of the firefighters... "don't set anything else on fire before he comes home".

Oh the grief I get.

So I have to tell you...

Dennis FINALLY came home today, and we went shopping! We bought these machines... ok, so the photo didn't load, nor save. So anyhue, we purchased the LG 4.2 cu ft front loading washer, and the LG 7.0 cu ft dryer. I am SO relieved. They come tomorrow.

So while the dryer fire turned into a "washer and dryer" purchase, that turned into a "paint the ceiling while nothing is in the room job", which turned into....

A "Let's change the color of the room too" job. BTW... he's talking on his cell phone while painting. He brave ain't he? lol

My new homekeeping assistants will be delivered and installed tomorrow. Thank GOD.

Day 1 w/o dryer

Within 24 hours, I have realized how bad THIS SUCKS. First off, we have my brother, niece, and great nephew rolling in on Saturday, I have laundry piling to the ceiling, and my podunk hillbilly drying rack only holds a few items. Plus dear husband is in the middle of working a 72 hour shift. (He went to work Monday won't be home until Thursday). So here I am, like a true pioneer woman, with clothes hanging everywhere, although we have WAY more today than the pioneer's did.

24 hours and this totally sucks.

Don't Leave Home...

Literally. If you listen to anything I say, please let this be it...

While doing laundry, I took some stuff out to hang, then restarted the dryer. I was going to go out by the pool, where my sister, brother in law and the kids were swimming. However, I wanted to check one more time to see if the clothes were done drying. As soon as I walked up, I could smell something burning. I opened the dryer, looked inside, but didn't see anything. It was then that I saw smoke coming out from between the washer and dryer.

THE DRYER WAS ON FIRE!!!!

I immediately flew out to get my B-I-L, and ran back in, he came straight from the pool, sopping wet, and sure enough, there were flames under the dryer. He shut the gas off, took it off the line, while I ran next door to get the neighbor guy, and a wrench (to disconnect the gas line).

The fire put itself out before we could get the dryer out the garage door (First Floor Laundry is a WONDERFUL thing).

So my point is this...
1. NEVER leave your house (even to go to the yard) while the dryer is running.

2. ALWAYS clean your lint filter. I do this EVERY TIME I use the dryer, because I am married to a firefighter, and he is a neurotic about anything that is attached to a gas line or electrical line. Literally, everything gets cleaned fairly frequently.

3. TO ALL YOU WOMEN... It is HIGH time we learn how to remove the panel off the dryer. THIS IS WHERE THE FIRE WAS. Because we couldn't get the panel off, we had to take the whole damn thing out to the garage - it would have been on the driveway if the fire didn't go out. If we could have gotten the panel off, we could have put it out with an extinguisher - which is what I would have had to do if I were alone - hence the reason to learn how to remove the panel.

If I had been alone, I would have been screwed. I was in a full blown panic, and didn't know where to start with this. So... KNOW YOUR DRYER. KNOW HOW TO SHUT THE GAS/ELECTRIC OFF, KNOW HOW TO REMOVE THE PANEL, AND FOR GOD SAKES... KNOW WHERE THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER IS.

Your assignment for the day, if you choose to do it...
Find out how to remove the panel, and make sure all looks clean down there. We just had a little bit of dust, but it was still enough to ignite.

Pardon me while I go breathe into a paper bag now...

RIP Bozo

Thanks for all the laughs.

Kids Eat Free... assignment to follow

The other day, after back breaking labor in the back yard (at least on Den's part), we decided to take the kids out to dinner. We went to our FAVORITE place... Chili's. We have celebrated everything at Chili's... new apartment, new job, engagement, new house, new baby...etc. Chili's is "our place".

We had a wonderful time as always... until the bill arrived. $45 dollars (not including tip). OMG! Now for some of you high rollers, you are probably wondering what the big deal is. For us, we were floored. Mainly because we had been to Chili's so many times before and don't remember the bill being that astronomical.

Then I realized... if we all had water, we would have saved $12 in beverages. If we would have just shared our Fajitas for two with Greg, (which he ALWAYS eats a fajita), we could have saved an additional $4.99.

This all transpired 2 days ago, and I am still reeling over it. So today while opening the mail, I found coupons for Don Pablos announcing on Sunday's Kids Eat Free. At Da' Francesco's Kids eat free on Mondays.... see where I'm going with this?

Your assignment... Keep an eye open for restaurants that offer "Kids Eat Free" days. Inquring minds want to know. It's either that... Or I have to learn how to cook. :-(

Post away my friends, post away.