Crazy Daze

 

We have been working on the doll house, sporadically.

It is hard to find time to really get into it.

 

I did pick up some tiny kitchen cabinets and appliances.

Painting tiny little door frames, and staining tiny little doors,

is surprisingly relaxing.

Terry is working on the two story porch situation...

 

Look at the flower boxes I made,

I'm so proud of myself.

 

Painting ceilings.

 

Speaking of ceilings...

 

We bought black paint a million years ago,

to paint the basement ceiling.

 

One  night, I decided that if I start this project,

then we must finish it.

 

It might take us all winter,

but we will get it done.

Best estate sale find in a while...

Terry paid $20 for it, and

this little jigsaw is one I can use.

 

Now, switching gears...

 

LOOK AT THIS !

 

Every time we go out to my brother's house

out in the boondocks,

we come back with this mess.

 

These little backwood towns need a car wash

 right as you exit their city of dirt roads.  

Terry's birthday present to himself...

A table saw.

He's been wanting one FOREVER.

 

Now, for the craziness...

 

This year, we decided to put off Thanksgiving for a day.

We went to the casino in Mount Pleasant,

on Turkey Day, with Bob and Peggy,

 and planned to cook dinner on Friday.

 

Sandy called me at the casino and said the oven would not heat up.

Oh boy.

 

When we got home, Terry tried every trick in his book,

but the stove just did not want to cooperate.

 

I had a turkey ready for the morning, and stuffing,

and I called mom and said,

"Hey, were coming over tomorrow to use your oven".

 

So we did.

We had a good dinner,

 took a nap,

 and went to the appliance store and bought a new stove.

 

(Side note: Terry won at the casino. and that paid for the new stove.)

 

That's how things usually go, right?

 

There she is, and Terrry actually picked it out.

Got a good "Black Friday" deal on it too.

 

They delivered it this morning,

 and we put the old stove in the basement.

 

My plan is that when we move,

I will get the old one fixed and leave it with the house.

 

Good plan???

 

I don't know.

 

But she's a nice one.

A Whirlpool.

Convection oven, self cleaning,

and larger capacity.

 

Here's a picture of the perfectly clean oven before I start cooking.

 

Oh yes,

while I waited for the delivery men,

I put up the tree.

 

Glad that's done.

Project: Not my House

 

Plenty of things going on lately,

none of them having to do with Project House.

 

Terry and Bob put in a new storm door at mom's house.

 

We've been working on our project dollhouse...

 

Totally redoing the front of the house.

 

Painted the outside, and stained the staircase.

 

Terry is working on putting brick on the front of the house.

 

Almost done painting...

 

It almost looks like a real house in this picture.

 

Carved our pumpkins.

 

This last weekend,

 my brother asked us to come out to his place

 and help him with a little project.

 

That butthead (Bob) made me get up at six in the morning,

I will get him back for that someday.

 

There's Terry on the roof of the pole barn...

 

 

Bob rented a cherry picker

and they got right to work.

 

Bob built a cupola for the barn,

and he's been waiting to install it

for a long time.

 

Finally, this was the day and he had everything ready,

so it went off without a hitch.

 

The base went up,

then the mid-section,

then the roof,

then the lantern,

then the giant copper eagle (weather vane),

and finally the windows are going in.

 

And there she is.

A very nice addition to the barn.

 

We nicknamed it the "Wonkavator",

cause it looks like the contraption

 that Willa Wonka and Charlie flew off

 in at the end of the Willy Wonka movie.

 

Glad it's done, and Terry was glad to help.

I did not like him on that roof,

but he was fine.

 

Another day, another adventure.

Dollhouses... Really?

 

Too creepy...

 

A hawk went after a dove,

and it flew right into the back door.

 

This is the imprint it left on the glass.

 

The dove sat dazed on the sidewalk for a while,

and when I went to check on it,

it was gone.

 

Not sure if he flew away, or the hawk finished the job.....

 

but this picture is just eerie.

 

So, we have crossed over into new territory...

 

Found this old doll house at an estate sale for $20.

Turns out, it's twenty-five years old,

 and they sell these kits for hundreds of dollars.

 

This house was put together, but nothing more was done to it.

It probably sat in that basement all these years.

 

It was clean and dry, and we couldn't say no...

 

 

So this is our winter project.

We're going to fix up this old house,

 and maybe this will quiet my inner need

 to shop for a real new house.

This is gonna be fun...

It Was a Good Day

Plenty has been going on around here,

not just buying pumpkins...

 

 

Terry quit his job on 9/27/2016

 and started his new job on 9/28/2016.

 

 

So far, so good.

He seems much happier.

 



 

Nature has returned to our little backyard in abundance...

Petey is back, along with a couple of his friends (or children), we think.

Finches, and cardinals, and woodpeckers,

and this nasty guy.

 

This Bluejay is stealing Petey's nuts right off the table.

 

Amazing to watch.

 

***

 

Ooh, I'm so mad this picture came out blurry.

Today we went downtown to the Motor City Casino,

 and Terry ran into an old friend,

 who happens to work there.

 

Nice guy, and he gave us restaurant comps...

 

 

Oh my gosh,

we stuffed ourselves.

 

It was a good day.

It was the best day...

Life is an Adventure

 

Friday morning, set out for Bob and Peggy's

where we would take a trip west,

to Michigan City Indiana.

 

Should have known it would be a wild ride

when Bob couldn't get his seat adjusted in his driveway.

 

We wanted to take Route 12

 so that we could run by Irish Hills,

 and maybe some other places we'd never been.

 

Traffic and detours,

and more traffic and detours...

 

We made it to MIS,

and realized that we were going way too far

 away from our destination,

and wasting a lot of time and miles,

so we turned around and

got back on our westward course.

 

We encountered Amish carriages,

 and clydesdale's pulling tractors,

 and school buses,

 and detours,

 and more detours,

but the last straw was when we finally made it to Michigan City

 and entered the exit ramp...

 

Our 4 hour trip was already seven hours in,

 when we got caught behind semi trucks hauling windmill sections...

 

Oh my God, they were going -10 miles per hour

trying to round the off ramp.

 

After our long trip, we were pretty short on patience.

 

We just laughed when we couldn't even get a picture

 of the "Welcome to Indiana" sign

 because there was a construction sign in front of it.

 

We reached our destination,

 and signed in to our little shoebox of a room

at the Super 8.

 

We didn't realize that there was a Michigan-Notre Dame game

 this weekend and all the hotels were booked.

 

My God, the comedy of errors just kept coming...

 

We left our stuff in the hotel

 and started off for the Blue Chip Casino

 which was just a few minutes up the road...

 

We were immediately stopped by road closures,

 and detours, and even a train,

 and by the time we got to the casino it was 8:30 at night.

 

There it is, the "Blue Chip Casino".

 

The steakhouse restaurant had a two hour wait

 and the machines ate all of our money.

We went back to our little shoebox hungry and poor.

 

Tomorrow will be better...

 

We woke up to a beautiful day,

and had "GrandSlam" breakfasts at Denny's

and then we hit the Lighthouse Place Outlet mall

 where we all bought ourselves some new shoes...

 

and some other junk.

 

Oh my gosh,

this city has a nuclear reactor thing looming over the whole town.

It's everywhere you go.

 

It's a little disconcerting. 

 

After some shopping,

it was off to New Buffalo, Michigan,

to the Four Winds Casino.

 

and we made it there with no problem at all.

We even took a drive down by the lakeshore on our way.

 

I had an angel over my shoulder here,

as this little lady sat by and just winked at me

 every time my machine started ringing.

 

I was the big winner of the day.

 

But what I really want to talk about

 was the Bloody Mary that I ordered when we first got there.

 It was strange to me that it had a stack of olives in it,

 but I nursed that delicious drink the whole afternoon

 and I kept going back to the bar,

 and asking them to add ice and more olives.

 and they did, and I probably had 20 olives

by the end of the day.

 

Here's Bobby throwing in his last $10,

before we left.

 

Back to Indiana...

 

After we regrouped,

we drove down to Washington Park,

and walked on the beach to watch the sun set on the pier.

 

What a beautiful place.

 

We couldn't believe that you could actually park right next to the shoreline

 and walk down to the water and enjoy Lake Michigan,

 and the lighthouse, and the ambiance.

 

You just can't do that anywhere near Detroit.

 

Then we went for ice cream. 

 

Ahh, Sunday morning,

we said good bye to our tiny motel room,

ate another giant breakfast at Denny's.

and hit the road.

 

We made it home in 4 hours.

 

It was a great weekend.

It seems that the more crazy stuff that happens,

the more fun we actually have.

 

Life is an adventure.