identity theft...

Well, I’m not sure that our “identity” was necessarily stolen, but we did notice a couple of strange charges to our credit card the last couple of months.

I didn’t just let it go either – we called immediately to inform the credit card company.

The first charge we noticed was last month was for just over $30 and it was for some magazine subscriptions.  We assumed that the magazine renewed itself, so we weren't so upset about that one and the credit card company reversed the charges - so all was good.

This month, there was a charge for just under $100 to Overstock.com.  We've never purchased anything from that website.  I emailed Jerome and asked him if he bought something from them and he said "Oh-Oh…nope. Overstock is definitely not ours… Looks like someone might have our information..."

So, I called the credit card company.  They asked me if I was sure that we or someone in our household hadn't made a purchase to that website?  I reassured her that the charge did not come from us.  she put me on hold for quite some time while she called Overstock.com to check it out.

When she returned she told me that indeed, the charge came from someone named "..." from Missori and that they purchased a book on aging.

Overstock said that there had been several fraudulent charges coming from that computer.

So, they needed to cancel our credit card right away.  And let me tell you, it was immediate!

I'm glad they did mind you, however we use our credit card for EVERYTHING.  And we only use that credit card.

We pay the balance every month.  We use it for everything for points toward gasoline.  (side note: in the year 2008, when gas prices were through the roof, we earned $1000 of free gas from using this credit card , their membership card & gift cards - this past year we were lucky to receive half that.  But still, nothing to sneeze at!).

Every bill that we pay automatically from that credit card needs to be contacted and told the new credit card number...which, by the way, we won't have for 3-5 business days...and yet, bills are being paid before we'll have the new number.  So, not only will we have to contact them when we have the new number, but I had to contact several today with a totally different credit card so that the bills would be paid and we wouldn't get a late fee or worse, have it effect our credit score.

Today it was comcast, netflix and aflac...I think that's all we'll need to do for now.  But once we get the new number, I'll have to redo those three and an additional 10 companies and websites will need to be informed.

So, Mr. Identity Theif, THANKS ALOT for all this hassle.  And for what?  Some mags and a book on aging???  WTF?

BTW, the credit card company actually told me this guys name.  I googled him, I have his address and his phone number - I could go visit him if I wanted...he lives in what looks to be a very nice home close to a body of water.  Lucky guy.  I don't understand, if the credit card company knows the guys name and it's easily google-able, then why don't they go after him - especially since they said that there have been other fraudulent charges coming from that computer.  Is it because of the size of the charges?  Not a big enough fish?

baby back ribs...

Two newsworthy things happened over the weekend.  My husband broke one of his ribs and my son allowed us to announce that he will be a father (and we will be grandparents!).

Thursday night, I fell asleep watching TV on the couch in the living room.  Friday is one of my days off and I like to watch late night TV whenever I can and I don't want to disturb the only full-time working member of this household.  Also, even if Jerome had been downstairs with me watching TV that late, when I fall asleep on the couch he has been duly informed never (and I mean NEVER) wake me up - otherwise I will not be able to fall asleep again for hours.

Early in the morning I heard this series of thuds, but being in the dreamy sleep that I was, I thought maybe the cats had knocked something down.

A few moments later, Jerome woke me up and told me he fell in the bathroom.  He looked a little in pain, but I didn't think right away that it was serious.  The mark on his side and arm were not that bad looking.

Then he started trying to walk back up the stairs and bring me into the master bath to show me where it happened.  He could barely walk and when he did walk, he was walking on his tippy toes.  Then he started shaking uncontrollably.  Then I knew it was serious.

What had happened was he had turned on the shower and let it warm up.  Our shower stall is really, really big and doesn't require a shower curtain.  The over spray or  mist from the shower started to accumulate on the tiles.  He walked into the bathroom, slipped backwards and then righted himself as he landed on the corner of the shower stall, where three tiles meet to make a triangle.  Crack, right into his ribcage.

We called his work to let them know he wasn't coming in.  We took showers (carefully) and then headed to the local Urgent Care.  The building was closed.  Not just closed but For Sale.

So, we headed to the next place.  We're in the country so we don't have a local hospital.  When we got to the next Urgent Care, it also was not open.  The hours began at 8am so we had some time to wait.

We were the only ones there and so he was seen immediately.  They took x-rays and yep, they say he broke his 7th rib (my mother asked later, was it the 7th from the top or from the bottom?...I don't know).  He broke it in half and the bone does not match up anymore.  It will heal a bit offset.

They don't wrap your chest any longer when you break a rib because it constricts your breathing and they've found it can cause pneumonia in some cases because people are shallow breathing.

So, he has to rest.  He can't lay flat.  At times he says he feels it moving around and it hurts.  He's been sleeping on the chair in the living room.  I'm sleeping on the couch.  He's worried his Kart2Kart Champion days could be over.

Other than that - I'm going to be a grandma in the late summer.  This was a surprise, but I guess not totally unexpected.  Not sure what all will happen from here - his girlfriend is in her third year at Grand Valley and he's still got a long time in the Army - there is talk that they won't marry right away,...but it's early still and things can change.

Anyway, I'm excited - it will be nice to have a little baby in the house again and I understand being a grandparent is so much fun.

stalker alert...

I'll bet you think that I'm going to write about someone from my craigslist dealings - well, I'm not.

Did you realize that anyone, and I mean ANYONE can look you up these days - and FIND you!

On Thanksgiving while I was checking my facebook, I saw on the sidebar a picture of a familiar face.  The heading was something to do with Classmates trying to find you.  The person who was in the photo was not a classmate, but an old boyfriend...a stalker boyfriend from the mid-90's.  He just can't help but continue his stalking ways by now looking me up on facebook.  I had, just a week before that, added my maiden name to my facebook because someone that I was real classmates with was trying to set up our 25th reunion (yeah, I'm old).  When I saw stalker-boys face, I immediately got rid of my maiden name and only use my married name on facebook again.

Well, today as I was facebooking, his picture came up again - this time the sidebar title was "See who Googled you" and it says "Updated January 26".  UGH!  Now he's Googling me.

I asked one of the ladies at work to look me up on facebook and see what she sees (since she is not my "friend") and it seems that she could see ALL my photos and movies.  So, we got another co-worker involved and asked him how to shut that stuff up!  He helped me out and now, only my friends can see that stuff.

But, it's obviously too late.  I Googled myself and this blog is out there along with other things.  Links I click on not only go to me, but to stuff that my husband has put out there.

I would hope that 15 years will have matured stalker-boy and that he is just curious to see how I look these days (fat and old :) ) and not going to be up to any of his old tricks.

a year ago...

...I started selling stuff on craigslist. I'm happy to announce that a year later we've gotten rid of nearly 100 things that were taking up room in our house. We are a bit richer in our pockets and definitely richer in space.

You have to have a certain amount of patience to deal with craigslist people. They are not always true to their word. It's not like eBay where you can give them a good or poor rating.

They don't always show up when they say they will, they don't always write back when they claim to be interested in an item and there are so many ill people...

As I recently emailed to one scammer "I have never met so many people (via email or otherwise) with more health afflictions than the people I deal with on Craigslist." That is so true. I have heard all the sob stories.

If everyone that emailed me really came to pick up and buy the items, I'd have twice the amount of stuff gone.

Initially I had just posted items without starting an account. But since it was becoming such a difficult thing to remember how much I was asking for an item when the ad expired (and I needed to re-post), I decided that opening an account was the better choice. When you open an account, it remembers everything - you just have to re-download the pictures when the post expires.

Craigslist is also a neat place to read some dramatic postings. Usually I will search under "re:" and then read how some people are rebuking other posters for asking for too many things for free or warning other people not to believe the post. Eh, it's something to do :D

We've given a lot of things away too. When we had the garage torn down, the contractor wanted to know if we would like to set aside any of the reusable material. We asked him to set aside all the wood that was still in good condition. We were thinking that we'd either give it to Habitat for Humanity or use some ourselves.

After the garage was torn down, there was so much wood that we decided to give it away on Craigslist. Of course when you are offering something for free, people come out of the woodwork (no pun intended). We had around 25 different people stating that they wanted the wood. I went through the list and responded to each person. We ended up giving it to two different people...and DIFFERENT is an understatement.
The first guy that I offered it to emailed saying that he lives in Armada and would use it on their goat or chicken shed. When he came out and looked at the wood, he was amazed at how nice the wood was. He said "they don't make that kind of wood any longer". He told me that he changed his mind, he would use the wood to make some furniture. After taking 1/2 the pile (because he didn't want to be greedy) he asked me if my husband and I like farm fresh eggs? I said YES! He came back a few hours later with 2 dozen eggs from his chickens! I thought that was awesome...and like I was in Little House on the Prairie :)

The second guy that came out was MUCH different. After speaking to him on the phone, I got the immediate impression that he was a bit of an overlord. The way he spoke to his wife was very demeaning.

They showed up and as I brought them to where the wood was located on the property, he asked me why are we building the garage? I told him that the previous garage was falling down and this is just a replacement. We continued to the wood pile and with one look; they were very disappointed.

I mentioned that the previous guy decided that he'd make furniture out of it. And with that, the guy looked at his wife and said "what do you think WE'RE gonna make out of it, dear?" in some weird mocking sort of way. I asked if he still wanted it because I had a very good response and many more people are interested. He said No, we'll take it. And with that he started picking up the pieces of wood and taking it to his truck. His wife went back in the truck to stay with the child that was sitting there. I went inside to get out of this guys way. A little while later, I hear some rather loud speaking and I go to investigate. This guy is loudly speaking to Jerome - I guess you could say he was yelling.

I found out later that Jerome came out and said "Be careful of the wood, there's still some nails in it". That's all he needed to say to the guy when he started telling Jerome that we shouldn't be building - that the poor people are going to rise up and steal everything from the rich people and that he should google "end game" and see what's going to happen in the near future.

My husband has no patience for people like this and he was trying to get away. The guy kept going on and on about how "the foreigners are stealing our money" how "there are death camps set up all over the United States" and the whole end of the world scenario. It was amazing. After Jerome asked him which foreigners he was talking about; you know, I'm a foreigner (and being told Rockefeller), Jerome told him to "Just pick up the rest of the wood and leave!". It was VERY strange and what a difference between the two people that came to pick up the wood.

So, I guess you need to be careful, but all in all, everyone that we did finally meet with (other than the wood guy) were all very nice and decent folk and so far, no one has asked for a refund.

helio and the auto show...

Last week Thursday, the current company I work for (VM N.A., a division of Penske Corp.) had a photo op with Helio Castroneves. We were informed that this would happen through company email. I forwarded the email to my husband and asked him if he knew who this guy is. He told me that he had never heard of him. However I was still going to get my photo with him, since it means I would have to drive to the HQ building, leaving work an hour or so early :D

He races for Penske and won the Indy 500 last year ( and in 2001 & 2002) and I guess he was also on Dancing with the Stars in 2007 (he won there as well - must be nice to be such a winner)...I didn't know because I don't watch either of these things - I'm looking him up right now on Wikipedia.

I needed to drive to HQ anyway because I was also informed that my name was drawn for 2 free tickets to the Auto Show and I needed to pick them up.

So, I arrived earlier than most and was first in line to have my photo with Helio.
This Thursday Jerome and I decided that we'd use those free tickets. The Auto Show is not something that I've ever really been in to. I do and have worked in the Auto Industry for over 18 years, but am not all that thrilled with cars themselves. Most everything now is just a part number to me.

Back in the day, when things were good, we used to be able to take a day during Supplier Week and go to the Auto Show during working hours - since technically the Auto Show would be work related. Sometimes we'd be there during a time when Chrysler would be presenting a new product. I remember being in the audience when they presented the Town & Country for the first time. I still have the little frog clicker that they handed out...wonder if it's worth anything now.

Jerome was able to attend during Supplier Week, but I was not and haven't been able to since 2007. Economy and all.

We happened to pick the day that the Auto Show had been evacuated for a time because of an electrical fire in the Audi area. By the time we got there, everyone was back in the building. There was still a smell of burning wires.

Anyway, I have nothing much to report about the Auto Show. Jerome toured me around, showing me all the things he wanted me to see - which was good, because otherwise I'd just walk around aimlessly. We went downstairs and did the eco-friendly drive in a Ford Fusion.

At the end, Jerome asked me what was my favorite part of the evening. I told him that dinner at Mosaic before the show was really good. The drive in the Fusion was nice. Seeing the MINIs and the Smarts I liked and then playing foosball on the huge foosball table with complete strangers I think was the most fun I had.

BTW, if you are ever in Greektown and you want to try a really nice restaurant, I would HIGHLY recommend Mosaic. I had heard about them when they first opened downtown on an NPR show about what are the good restaurants in the area. That show does not exist anymore. Anyway, I wanted to try it then, but never got around to it.

It's much more affordable during lunch hours. Dinner is a bit pricey, so we did the next best thing; Jerome ordered from the appetizer menu and I had soup and salad.

His appetizer was amazing! He had the Tenderloin Vol-au-Vent, which was surprisingly a satisfying portion and I had the Warm Pistachio Goat Cheese Salad - the patty of goat cheese on the top encrusted with pistachios was enough to have a bite of goat cheese with every bite of salad.

We both had the Roasted Tomato and Asparagus Bisque soup, which was quite unique. The soup is on the thick side and they pour both tomato and the Asparagus soup in the bowl at the same time, however they stay on their sides. Then they do a little jerky movement with the bowl and the soup turns out looking like a ying-yang, only red and green. They add a little Parmesan cheese and a drop or two of olive oil in the middle with some clipped greens like parsley or maybe chives. It was fantastic. You could either take a spoonful of the tomato or a spoonful of the asparagus or mix them together for an interesting mix of tastes.

Oh, and since it is in Greektown, you can still get saganaki (flaming cheese "Opa!").

update, update...

Garage door panel has been installed. With some reinforcement and from all the signs we can see right now, it's working wonderfully.

Jerome is still skeptical and just waiting to see if something will go wrong. In the meantime, he checked out the remotes and installed the remote keypad in the house and they all seem to be working fine.

Fingers crossed.

garage door update...

So, we had ordered a new Amarr panel from Dynamic Doors to replace the creased one. The charge is $640 for a new one. They wouldn’t offer us a credit because they believed that their door was a quality door and not the reason for the crease. They had to special order the new panel with the windows in it. We’ve been waiting for weeks for this panel to arrive. It was supposed to be delivered and installed before the tour, but days before we received a phone call from Dynamic Doors and they told us that the “recycled” windows were not fitting in the panel properly, so they would need a few extra days to figure it out. In the meantime, they would install another plain panel, just so that we would have a full garage door in place during the tour.

The man arrived Friday evening (dark) to install the door panel. Jerome explained how the door was flimsy and probably needed a reinforced frame so that this wouldn’t happen again. They went over a bunch of stuff that would be required for when they finally received the panel with the windows. The installer was to make sure that the opener was working properly and to adjust the force, etc. before he left. Once it was done and the installer was gone, Jerome went to test the garage door opener. He pushed the button several times. The door was very jumpy each time it was going up or down. Then it reversed on its own, which was good, except it hadn’t hit anything, so it was a little puzzling. One more time up and down, and then…whammo! The top plain panel (sans windows, so more structurally sound) began to crease in the very same spot! OMG! Not again! Jerome was really upset and immediately sent out an email to Dynamic Doors.

Mike from DD came out Tuesday night and we went over the issues. We decided that it must have something to do with the three panel door. We are now having him order a four panel door and he is checking to see if he can get a credit for the door and have us just start all over again.

Just before the holiday break, Mike called us and said that he spoke to Amarr and they don’t believe that it’s the three panel door that is the issue. They will try again to put a panel on that has the windows. Jerome is very skeptical that this will work, but has said as long as it doesn’t cost us anything, you can keep trying the three panel and see how many you crease. And credit us for the first door panel since it seems to have turned out to be the door panel that was the issue in the first place.

Mike is supposed to come tomorrow to begin the process of seeing how many top panels he can crease. In the meantime, we've had to rig a rope to the latch of the garage door opener so that when we close the current garage door, we'll be able to pull the rope and unlatch the latch.

We’re still waiting to hear from Chamberlain.

justin's in afghanistan....

Justin (shown in photo in the front of the line) was supposed to leave December 17th for his first (and hopefully only tour in) Afghanistan. He found out when he returned to Ft. Bragg after his block leave that it was pushed up a day.

Then again they were talking that it will be postponed another week or so. His company was on a 2 hour notice, so they couldn’t leave the area. He did finally leave on Christmas Eve Eve Evening (wow, that’s a lot of eve’s). The photo above was taken while they were changing planes in Maine heading to Germany. He called and told us as we were on our way, driving to Florida.

By Christmas Eve, he was in Afghanistan.

If you’d like to send him a letter or package while he’s in Afghanistan, please email me at yvonne.bosch66 [at] gmail.com and I'll give you his address. Apparently, we're not supposed to post it on the web anywhere.
Since he's been there, he's purchased a fantastic hat. I guess it's pretty cold over there in the mountains, so this should keep him warm. Funny thing is, his digital camera was stolen already, but his hat seems to be able to stay on the side of his bed and no one touches it.

2010 ms walk...

Just registered!

This year we have decided to do the new St. Clair location. It's closer than the others and along the river, so I think it will be a good destination.

The other thing is that the date is later in May than the Ann Arbor event or the Detroit event. It's on Saturday, May 15. The walk will start at 10am. At least we can sleep in a little.

We always need team members - usually only end up with a few. Click here if you'd like to join our team and walk with us. It's always a nice morning.

new years and the week following...

Just before leaving Tennessee, I got onto my email account and sent a quick note to my sister Terry to let her know we were on our way home and to expect us that evening. We drove several hours to get home - we did it in one day.

She finally looked at the note and quickly called us as we were pulling up in our driveway. She was not expecting us until the next day. So, they were not at our house; they were at my parents. They did not have time to clean up and make the place "look pretty" before we arrived. But it's all good. We would have just messed up anything that she had done with all of our luggage and stuff from our trip.

Oh, did I mention that she, her husband and son were staying at our house from December 26th? They were in town for Christmas and it's much easier to stay at our place than at our parents. Plus, they took care of our kitties...Oh, and they brought their 2 dogs; Zoey and Mocha. Kitties were not happy. at.all.
Jerome and I had joked that by the time we came home (evening of December 29), Sparky and Zoey would be such good friends that Sparky would be taking rides on Zoey's back. wrong.
The day after we arrived, there were plans to go to my nephew's restaurant in Wixom and enjoy some nice Italian food. Alex is an assistant chef at Volare's and brought out appetizers and dessert "on the house"! It was very nice.

Well anyway, we were planning a little family party for New Year's Eve at our house. We invited my sister and her family (of course), my brother Ray and our cousin Martine and her daughters.
Jerome made some fantastic food, as usual. He made huge scallops, we had crab legs and filet mignon. And he made his famous tiramisu. Just lovely. Terry made some appetizers and Martine brought some as well.
We toasted the New Year with everyone present and played games until around 2am. It was really nice.
Saturday, Bill and Nick left for Massachusetts; they both had to be back to work on Monday. Terry and the doggies stayed. We had a couple of days together before her daughter Erin and Erin's boyfriend Chris arrived - back from a conference in St. Louis and visiting Chris' family in Chicago.
We took Erin and Chris to Jerome's favorite place; Kart2Kart for indoor go-kart racing. Of course, as you've seen before, Jerome came in first for our group. Chris was a great challenger and was rather upset that he didn't do better. We tried to reassure him that he actually did better than most. It's just that Jerome is very good :D
They decided to stay an extra day so that they could do a little Detroit tour, but after the go-karting, Erin got very sick. So, they stayed the extra day so that Erin could recuperate. Which is too bad since all of the Detroit area that Chris got to see was the inside of my house.
Thursday morning was crazy with Terry and Erin packing the car to head back to Massachusetts, Chris packing the car to head back to Chicago and Jerome and I heading back to work.

All went well and everyone arrived safely at their destination. A good time was had by all...except for the cats who spent most of the time holed up in our bedroom.

They are happy now.

in the morning we'll have...

Well Donkey says we'll have waffles, but we had a really nice French toast. Tamim is the cook and he's not bad. He likes to try new things. The French toast had caramelized sugar, so no need for syrup.
We all got ready and headed out to Nashville. On our way we drove by the Nissan plant and the building where Tamim works. He showed us his cool new car - the Cube. He had a pool car for the time that we would be visiting so that we could all fit and drive around together.

We then drove to the Opryland Hotel and walked around. Apparently this is the site of the old Opryland Amusement park, where my Aunt Nan and Uncle Jim took me as a child. They knocked it down and built this huge hotel.

There was a cheerleader convention going on the day we were there. Little girls running around in their cheerleader outfits. We were lucky they were there at one point - eating - because of them, our buffet was $10 cheaper and drinks (pop) were on the house.

After we had enough of the hotel, we drove into Nashville. We visited the Parthenon that is in the middle of a park. We stopped at Kenny & Co. which is a very nice bathroom boutique. And then to the mall to do a little shopping. It was Tasneems 30th birthday and Tamim was going to buy her a purse that she had been eying.

After a few hours, we decided it was time to eat again and we stopped at Dalts Restaurant. Tamim had bigger ideas for us, but since we were too late to stand in line for this one "live music" cafe and we were not so hungry to go to this Southern Cookin' place, we settled for Dalts.

Once we got home, we got comfortable and headed up to our suite and spent several hours playing Wii Fit with Tamim. Tas fell asleep while putting Alefia to bed.

Wii Fit is hilarious!

Anyway, we had a great time and headed back to Michigan the following morning, after pancakes. :)

florida to tennessee...

The next day we took our time, but we were off to Tennessee to see our friends Tamim, Tasneem and their new baby Alefya around 10am or so.

The plan was to get there by the evening. The GPS said that it was going to take 11 hours, but Google said it would take us 12.5 hours. Strange that Google would be so different than the GPS…or is it? As we were about 45 minutes away from supposedly “being there” and we were still in Georgia, we knew something was wrong. As it turns out the part of Tennessee that we were going to is in a different time zone and it’s an hour behind. So, the GPS made the correction and that’s why the time difference.

We arrived kinda late, but Tamim had prepared a beautiful salmon dinner for us. We met little Alefya, who doesn't seem to cry or carry on - she's got the secret, she just smiles and smiles.

After some conversation, we were tired and headed to bed.

christmas in florida...

We arrived at our friend’s house on Christmas Eve evening. The meal that was planned was calamari, shrimp cocktail, mussels & crab legs. My first time having mussels and they were pretty good. They had one other friend over for dinner. Her name is Jane. We heard an interesting story about her, but since it’s not ours to tell – I will leave it only to our memory – but I assure you, it was a good one. Dinner was very nice – the weather was amazing – we conversed over wine and dessert and headed to bed.

The next day was Christmas. We exchanged gifts in the early afternoon. They got us these very cute tealight sconces from Pier I Imports, for us to use on our new deck/patio/porch over the garage. We got them some items from Trader’s Joes; Bell’s beer and cookies (YUM - doesn’t that go together well?).
That evening they had invited Terry’s brother Greg and his wife Veronica and their friends from Metamora, MI; Bill and Joann, who are snowbirds. The menu had prime rib and haricots verts. Marina made a beautiful (and tasty) Yule Log. Another evening spent conversing over drinks and goodies.
The day after Christmas, we went to the Delray Beach Tennis Center for an art fair. Picked up a couple of things; a small painting for us and a photograph for our friends Tamim & Tasneem, who we will be visiting later on this trip. After the fair, we went down to Ocean Blvd and had lunch at an outdoor café called Surf Sliders. The weather was still beautiful. We also had plans to go to Terry’s brother’s place to take a look. Gregory and Veronica are building a new home. It’s been taking about 3 years, but now it’s nearly ready to move in. It’s a Spanish style house, but on steroids. I believe it’s supposed to be a million dollar home. Really unique home – I’ve never been in one like this. A lot of color, which I like. I didn’t take any pictures and I’m a little disappointed at myself for that.
When we returned home, we were exhausted, so we all went and did our own things; either napping, watching TV or swimming in the pool. Later, when we were refreshed, we headed back out to visit the American Orchid Society Gardens. Orchid’s come in so many varieties. So many colors and size of flower, it’s incredible. The grounds were very pretty too and soon we found Terry pillaging around in the dirt looking for seeds that may have fallen from different flowering trees. I think he ended up with at least two different variety of flowering tree seeds. I’m sure he’ll be successful at growing them too.
Late the next morning, we left for Tennessee to visit our friend Tamim and Tasneem. Before leaving, Terry and Marina gave us an orchid and a small poinciana tree. I'm not very good with plants. They've given us a coconut palm too, but it quickly died in my care. I'm thinking these poor plants are doomed.

one cute story during our travels...

The last time we headed to Florida during Christmas, when we came to a Florida toll, we were told by the toll collector that the person in front of us paid our toll. We were pleasantly surprised and thanked the collector and drove away. About a minute down the road, Jerome was like “we should have paid it backwards and paid the toll for the person behind us”. Oh well.

So now, two years later, Jerome says to me that he is going to pay for the person behind us. When we drove up to the toll, the lines were quite long, so Jerome kept changing lanes. He was hoping to pay for someone with a “reasonable” car; possibly a family. He had his eye on a Cobalt with a family inside, but they didn’t follow him to the final lane he chose.

What pulled up behind us was a huge red pick-up truck. Jerome was very disappointed and wanted to retract his offer, but I wouldn’t let him. I said you need to have the Christmas spirit whether it’s a large truck or a small car. He eventually obliged. And we paid for the gas guzzling monster truck with a smile on our faces.

For quite some time, we stayed together and at one point they passed us and gave us a smile and a wave. That was either for paying for their toll or because we have antlers and a red nose on our MINI. That's when we noticed the “Palin” bumper sticker. OMG! Stick a fork in him, he’s done!

We came to the next toll and we found ourselves behind the same red truck. We were thinking that maybe they would reciprocate.

We started reading the rest of their stickers – one said “did you vote for Obama? Thanks a lot A$$hole!” LOL! He looked at me and said, well, I guess we’re a$$holes…a$$holes that paid for their toll! (However, since Jerome is not a citizen, he really didn’t vote for Obama – but he says he would have - still, even today).
Turns out that this toll booth we came to was one of those where you pick up a ticket, so no reciprocation was had – just a good laugh at ourselves.

the holiday season...

December 23 we headed out early, driving to Delray Beach Florida. Destination: Terry & Marina's Place.

Lot’s of crazies on the road that day – trying to do their last minute shopping I guess. Several times Miss MINI nearly bit it or bought it. But nothing really happened other than close calls.

End of the first day we ended up near Macon, Georgia – not bad. The next day we had a lot more driving to do before we got to Marina and Terry’s.

family and etsy...

It's been a month since I've had a real post...that didn't include my father selling another painting; which by the way, he sold 5 paintings between Christmas and New Year. 4 of them to family members in Tennessee, but still - one was sold to someone from California. YAY!

So, my sister (who is a lovely artist), asked me to help her set up her own etsy account.

So, while she and her family were visiting (over the holidays), we spent many hours on the computer setting up her shop. Take a look, I have the link on the sidebar under ETSY.

Please take a look, start up a conversation (she would LOVE that), and buy, buy, buy! one of her lovely Welcome Slates or Lithographs.

it's been a while...

There's a lot of things that I'd like to post,...about work, unemployment compensation, what we did on our holiday vacation, Justin's deployment, how craigslist was very good to us last year and my sister and families visit.

However, I'm really tired right now, so it will all have to wait until later this weekend...

Here's a photo to keep you satisfied :D

he sold another piece...

Today I was renewing expired items and adding a couple of new paintings to my dad's etsy account. No lie, within 1 minute of posting a new painting - someone bought it!!! Man, he's doing better than we thought.

Dad is a little repetitive when it comes to his paintings. This one is nearly identical to the "Blue Trees of Winter" that was "found" by FoundHandMade.com earlier this month.

Anyway, the woman who purchased this one lives in Pennsylvania and said "Your work is wonderful! I am treating myself. I am a huge tree fan."

Awesome.

I just noticed that this blog is started to become my dad's blog - LOL.

artwork blog...

My dad's artwork showed up on an art blog called FoundHandmade (scroll down to the December 13th post under "White Winter II". His painting is #2 in the above picture.

I think that's AMAZING! I'm sure he's going to be pretty excited about this when I show it to him tomorrow.

Fame at 79 years old ;)

They said in their email that "if you register and log-in to your account, we will give you a free block to upload your item to, which will then link back to your shop!"

We've tried this, but the website is still trying to get paid. Waiting to hear back from them to see what we're doing wrong.

UPDATE: They got back with me and gave us 2 "blocks"; free for a month. Very cool. Too bad most of his stuff is expiring in the next day or two. I'll have to reload and re-post his art.

2009 Romeo Christmas Home Tour

You can read a little pre-walk article by the Romeo Observer. And check out more photos here. And an after-walk article by the Romeo Observer.

It turned out really well. Group after group would come in; one after the other. We were told that there would be about 15 minutes between groups, but that was not the case. Many times we still had a group in the house when another was waiting outside on the front porch. We had 10 groups of 25-40 people each group.

Jerome and I had a couple of friends helping us out. Beth Nelson was stationed upstairs and Deepa Rajendran was stationed in the Dining Room. Jerome was at the front door and kitchen and Mom and I were in the Living Room.

They all came into the living room and I gave my little spiel about the house:
Welcome to the Heap house :)
The house was built in 1947 (and then I had to explain why the historic plaque says 1948).
The style of the house is Colonial Revival - and then I went into the difference between Colonial Revival and Georgian Colonial (which was how the house was described in the real estate listing when we bought it).
It's currently a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath house, but when built was a 4 bedroom and 1 bathroom house.
It's about 1800 sq. ft.
We are the 9th residents of the house and then I told stories about the former owners, but only one or two per tour, otherwise they'd be standing around far too long.

Then I explained about the paintings and photography that are around the house, the late 1960's nativity and the stuff we found behind the mantle.
I said that the whole house was open for them to look at; upstairs, main floor and downstairs. That we have hot chocolate and rice krispy treats in the kitchen - both of these things were a first for the tour - usually the owners don't want people traipsing all over their house and they never offer refreshments. Just for that, I think we were a favorite :D

Everyone was very nice and polite. We heard a lot of compliments and that makes all the work, worth it. One lady said "the way you have it decorated and painted, it feels like I've been here before; I feel comfortable and I've never been here.

The questions that I received most were about the color choices for the walls (if we ever do this again, I'll have the paint swatches out so that people will know the name of the color - since I can't remember off the top of my head). The stove "collection" that we have. The Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet dolls we have on the mantle. And about the garage demo and build.

Jerome was asked over and over, where was he from (France). He was told he was a smart man on several occasions when he told them that his wife picked out the colors and he agreed with it and when he agreed to keep what seemed to be junk (like metal window frames from the old garage) and allowed me to use it as decorations.

(The flash from the camera makes the walls seem much more yellowy-orange than they truly are)

Deepa had questions about the type of China on the table. Where the glassware was from (Belgium). Who was the artist for the painting in the dining room (a friend Roberto Baruchello) and if she was French (she's Indian).

Beth had questions about the original wood floors, the wall treatments (squares and stripes). The marble bathroom and if she lives here.

We met a lot of people who knew some of the former owners. A lot of folks were taught by either Pat or Fred Portwine. One older man (I believe he was in his 80's) knew the Scott's, the Nordman's and Terry and Marina. (His name is Mel and he says Hi Marina).

The day was really fun and a full day for sure. Beth showed up at 10:30am, the pre-walk started at 11am. We got to tour all the homes for free. As we left, we were given the bag luminaries, cat litter to put into the bag, candles, this years Romeo Christmas ornament (which was one of the houses on the tour - The Wellington Jersey Residence) and a 1 year free membership to the Historical Society.

Afterward we went out to lunch at Times Square and then came home and had an hour or two to get the luminaries up and running. Fix the first batch of hot chocolate and watch a video of our New Orleans trip in November 2000 (Beth's family lives in N.O.). Then the first group showed up just after 4pm and the tour was on and relentless until 9:30pm. After that, we all reconvened at the Village Presidents home for the after-glow party. We were exhausted and couldn't last until midnight.

It reminded me a lot of our August party (which we were unable to have this year). We invite everybody and their brother and you spend about 5 minutes with each person; a whirlwind and fun.

This lovely vintage ornament wreath was made by a local artist; Janet Haslett of Richmond, MI. If you are interested in obtaining one of these, please post a comment and I'll give you her contact info.

justin time (just in time)...

Justin was here for a couple of weeks. It is called Block Leave and he was able to take this time before he deploys later this month.

The Army has changed him a bit...of course, to the better. He is growing up and some of those old young boy traits are finally falling away. I didn't catch him in any "over the top" stories (lies) and I didn't feel afraid that money would disappear out of my wallet or the keys to my car needed to be with me at all times.

It was a lot less stressful too because he is now old enough to do stuff that he wanted to do when he was too young. And I could look at him as an adult and not have to remind him of rules.

Oh, and he helped around the yard, which was always such a pain to get him to do. This time, it was raining on his head and he still stayed out the whole time until the job was done. AMAZING! However, I did have to ask him to help - he didn't offer, but we'll get there.

He will be deploying soon and this does not make me feel very secure. There is only one good outcome of deployment; come home safe and sound.

I don't want him to lose his easy nature. Easy to laugh and easy to smile. He's always been that way. I don't want him to see or do anything that will take that away.

thanksgiving coma...

(my brothers; Ray & Marty - they're ready to eat)

We had a really good time on Thanksgiving. We nearly had everyone in the Family on Thursday (other than my son and my sister-in-law Chris). It was really good food, but gets cold so quickly :(

Jerome was cooking like a mad man!

The next day we picked up Justin from the airport and headed to my parents for a second round at the Thanksgiving food.

Today is a bit of a quiet day - nice.

flight delay...

Justin's flight out of Fayetteville, NC was supposed to take off at 8:58am today, but it's delayed (at the moment) until 12:53pm!!! Fog. He still has to catch a connector out of Charlotte, NC and then fly here.

I think he'll be late for dinner. :'(

UPDATE:
Justin won't be here today. His flight was so delayed that he already missed his connecting flight and was told that there would not be any more flights out of Charlotte today. He is told to come back in the morning and do it all over again.

but before that, there is thanksgiving...

Having family over tomorrow; my oldest brother Marty, his wife Chris (she went to the wreath making event with me) and their kids Jacob & Jordan. My youngest brother Ray and his youngest daughter Cate. My cousin (from Belgium) Martine and her twin daughters Jill & Lynn. My son Justin. And possibly surprise guests (not tellin').

Jerome was busy last night shopping and starting to prepare the dishes and then he will continue all night tonight. I'm the cleaner and house preparer - he is the shopper and cooker. I like it like that.

I pick up Justin from the airport tomorrow at 1:15pm. And we are expecting everyone around 5pm. Hope everything works out the way it's planned.

The table is set with my parents china that they received for their marriage in 1951. It is Wentworth china with the Viola pattern. It's made in Japan, so why do they call it china? ;)

BACK TO WORK!!!

whoa, i am all christmassed out!...

You know Christmas can be so gaudy! I hope I haven’t overdone it. I have Jerome tell me whether something is too kitsch and I hope his all-seeing-kitsch-eyes are working when it comes to what I’ve put up.

The only thing left as far as decorating is concerned is the basement. Jerome had a good idea and I hope we can make it happen. My mother had a group of ladies come to her house a couple of years back to learn how to make these really cool looking paper snowflakes. Jerome says we should make a bunch and hang them from the drop ceiling tiles in the basement – tons of them. It will look like it’s snowing.

I think I’ll try to have the kids make some on Thanksgiving. Sweatshop style :)

Then I want to hang a bunch of paper decorations that my son made me throughout the years. THIS might end up looking kitsch!

And finally, we’ve done a few crafty things together like making ice luminaries and recycling old Christmas cards (photos to follow).

I think I may have spent a little over $200 on different items for this tour. Including, but not limited to:
holiday ribbons (different sizes and colors) from Michaels
wreath making event at the Henry Ford
vintage ornaments in a jar and eucalyptus sprig from The Lambs Tail
an assortment of ornaments from The Home Depot
60 feet of cedar roping from Sherwood Forest Garden
a poinsettia from The Home Depot
a pump pot and some cups (for refreshments) from Sam’s Club

wreath making at the henry ford estate...

When I worked on Detroit's west side a few years ago, a friend that I worked with brought me to the Henry Ford Estate for lunch. The HFE has a room called The Pool Room which used to be an indoor pool inside the mansion. They have covered the pool and made that part of the room into the dining area of the restaurant. It's very beautiful and you get an idea of how the Ford's lived (very nicely, by the way).

So, for the duration of my time working on Detroit's west side, I frequented this little restaurant - took everyone and anyone there. I nearly always ordered the quiche of the day and soup of the day which were always fantastic.

Also during that time I had picked up one of their fliers and saw that they have little events there like "Tea with Clara Ford" or "Spring Bouquet" where you make an arrangement of spring flowers as a centerpiece for Easter.

Five years ago, I decided that I would try out the wreath making event. This is taught by a couple of guys who own their own floral decorating business. They teach you step by step how to make a wreath with 5 different types of evergreens; juniper, 2 different kinds of cedar (I remember one was called incense cedar), white pine and can't remember the fifth...oops.
I really enjoyed it and decided again this year to go again. This time I invited my sister-in-law, her mother Pat, her sister Debbie and my 10 year old niece Jordan. It was sticky, dirty, smelly (like pine, so not bad) fun! And we all got to take our beautiful wreaths home.
I highly recommend this class and the "Tea with Clara Ford", which I took my mother to last year. I'm sure the other programs are just as good, but I can only recommend what I've done.
After the event was over, we all headed to Romeo to catch some lunch. Then off to The Lamb's Tail Holiday Fair. This is a cute little antique shop in Armada. I purchased a jar full of vintage ornaments (very reasonably priced) and a sprig of colored eucalyptus.

When I got home, I used my newly tuned wreath making skills and through this together:

2009 Romeo Christmas Home Tour...

Finally “that time of year” is upon us; the 2009 Romeo Christmas Home Tour.

Two tour times; 4:00pm and 6:30pm on Saturday, December 12.

Tour six holiday themed historic homes. This year our house, 249 West Gates Street, will be one of the six houses on the tour.

Tickets for the Christmas Home Tour are $15 (proceeds will benefit the Romeo Historical Society) and they are available right now at the following stores in Romeo:

• Kane’s Town Hall Antiques (205 N Main St)
• Connelly’s Creations (175 S Main St)
• Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (218 N Main St)
• or by calling 586-752-4111

Hope you find the time to come and visit.

food critic...

I decided last night that since we do eat out a lot, I should do a little write up on the restaurant we visit – especially if it leaves a lasting positive or negative impression on me. If it sticks in my mind.

Last night we were headed to Younger’s Irish Tavern in downtown Romeo for their Wednesday special; dollar burgers. Yes, the burgers are a dollar, but if you want anything on them, it’s extra. Only once did we try to actually make them $1 by just ordering the plain burger and a glass of water. Anyway, when you have it with all the fixin’s, it’s a very good burger and a really good gimmick to get customers in the door.

As we were pulling into the parking lot, we noticed the new restaurant “Polish Village”. There was an empty parking spot over there and Jerome said we should give it a try – support local businesses. A couple of week’s back we went to the real Polish Village Cafe in Hamtramck and enjoyed the stuffed cabbage (golabki) and kielbasa. We were hoping for something similar.

The restaurant is very spacious, having plenty of tables and booths but also plenty of isle way for customers and wait staff. But the atmosphere was uninviting and had an unfriendly feeling and smelled of sauerkraut. We decided that they kept the furniture from the previous business that was in the space and just set up shop.

We sat in the first booth we came to, but were asked to move because the booth seat was apparently broken. So we moved deeper into the restaurant.

The wait staff was friendly and took our order quickly. I ordered the combo meal; city chicken and stuffed cabbage with mashed potatoes. Jerome ordered the potato pancakes. We both ordered the stuffed pepper soup.

The stuffed pepper soup had a tomato base, with rice and peppers. The serving size was large and it was a filling soup and we could have stopped there and had been satisfied – with a fair review. But we continue…

In a reasonable amount of time, our main dish arrived. The presentation was fine. The first thing I tried was the city chicken, which was in a nice thick brown gravy. The gravy had a pleasant taste and the city chicken was pretty tasty. Then I tried the sauerkraut – MAN was that stuff salty and tasted like they poured a little too much vinegar in the recipe. The mashed potatoes were a dry thick consistency which makes you believe they were from a box. But on top of that, they had a very strange bland taste which didn’t become any better no matter how much butter and salt was added.

Finally the stuffed cabbage (golabki). The tomato sauce was a thick sauce which had a nice flavor. They were not very generous with the sauce as it could have used more. The meat and rice inside were quite tasty too; yet the cabbage that surrounded it was undercooked and hard. Ended up not finishing the cabbage or the sauerkraut.

Jerome was not impressed with his potato pancakes either – he said it reminded him of a glorified hash brown.

He was disappointed and we decided that we would not come again.

The waitress and the manager came by the table to ask how everything was, but we were too polite to let them know our real thoughts and just said unenthusiastically that everything was fine.

garage door mess...

Over the weekend, Jerome was installing the garage door opener. He only needed my help every now and then.

The instructions (yes, he is one to actually READ the instructions) said to put a 2x4 on the ground in the path of the garage door to test the reverse mechanism. This will help you determine the “force” that is required. There is a little tuner on the side of the opener.

Jerome did what was instructed and the door did not automatically reverse.

The instructions also said to push the button and then hold the garage door as it is going down as to prevent it from going down – the automatic reverse should go into effect.

Jerome did what was instructed and the door did not automatically reverse…in fact, the garage door continued to close while Jerome was holding the door and the “force” was so strong that it buckled the door – creasing it so much that it split. I happened to be there when it happened.




Oh My God! It brought tears to his eyes. Our beautiful special order door; the top panel completely dented…and ugly.

He was crippled. I told him to give the garage door guy a call and see what he says. Maybe it’s covered by the warranty. He called the guy and was told not to feel bad, that it happens to a lot of people.

The thing is, the door cost us around $1700 – it’s not insulated because the garage is not attached and so it doesn’t need insulation. The top panel (the panel that was destroyed) was mostly made up of windows; hardly any metal – so, considering those two points; hardly any structure. And then you think what kind of cheap metal is this thing made out of that it can bend so easily? It’s not Jerome’s fault, he was just following the instructions.

The garage door guy came out last night to take a look. Since it’s a special order, it will take upwards of two weeks for it to come in. We asked if we could reuse the current windows in the new panel. We were told that we could, but we should try to not open and close the door very often in order to make sure the windows will stay in tact. That means we either won’t park in the garage or we will keep the door open all the time. The guy will get back to us regarding the cost…not covered :( (Update: got an email from the garage door guy and the new panel is going to cost nearly $700!)

So, the next step is to see if the manufacturer of the garage door opener will reimburse us something, since the reverse mechanism seems to be malfunctioning…we’ll see.

neighbors!...

We’ve got neighbors!

5 years ago today, was the first time we laid eyes on this house. At the time, the property to the west of us was a wooded lot. We were informed pretty early through the process that the little old lady (Ilene Lock) who owned the lot was about to have it zoned and put it up for sale. We were also told that she would be more than willing to sell us a 1’X200’ piece of land for $1000 and we could buy as much as we liked – but to let her know ASAP, cuz it was going on the market within the month.

We were already shell shocked by how much we were spending and were not yet used to the new payment and whether we felt comfortable with adding an additional $10,000 on to what we already owed. Turns out we more than could have done this and we are totally kicking ourselves that we aren’t very risky.

We moved in on June 15th, 2005 and apparently, the lot had been sold to a builder a few months before. By the time we moved in, one house was close to completion. We thought there would only be enough room for the one house, so we were not all that concerned. When in October of 2005, he started clearing the lot closer to our house, we started getting worried.

(photo taken mid-October 2005)

He began pouring the footings for the basement in mid-October and by the looks of it, was going to be building a very large house on a small, awkward lot. We were assured by the Village Inspector that the builder was not allowed to change the grade, and that the hill would remain in tact.

As the house was going up; this huge vinyl beast, we couldn’t help but feel like we had really made a mistake by not buying some of the property. The guy wouldn’t have been able to fit two houses on the lot if we had purchased around 10 feet...or could he?

(photo of water in the window well taken July 2006)

Being that the house is on a hill, and the hill cascades down toward our house, we started noticing problems immediately. During a downpour, the water from the hill directly fell into our western-most window well. It filled up with water and started leaking into the house. I have a movie of Jerome trying to use a bucket in the well to remove the water during this torrential rain storm. Jerome ended up constructing an additional level of protection with cinderblocks left behind by the former owners. It seems to have done the job – that, and the fact that the builder had finally installed some gutters on that monstrosity.

(by mid-February 2006, the second house was up)

Fast forward to the economic crisis. The house never sold. It stood there vacant since they finished it in late 2005. The builder never finished the inside, nor the driveway or landscaping – he went into foreclosure. The house he built next to this one (west of this one), has had 2 owners already. The first owner purchased it for nearly $300,000 and put more than $50,000 into it before GM transferred him to another state. GM gave him what he bought the house for and then put it on the market. The market plummeted and GMAC ended up selling it for $235,000. It’s up for sale again (by owner); they are asking for the same amount that they purchased it for, but in the meantime, here is this vacant, never lived in ramshackle right next door that is bank owned.

(photo taken May 2006 - the house (gray one next to ours) pretty much stayed looking like this for the next 3+ years - however, empty and not cared for)

About a week ago, we noticed a lot of activity around that house and over the weekend, Jerome said that it’s true, we do have new neighbors.

A young couple purchased it from the bank and have big plans for it. He is a builder and her family owns a local sod farm. They are putting in new flooring, new kitchen countertops, they want to make a walk out basement. They are going to put up a retaining wall between our properties and build a deck and put in a swimming pool. They will be sodding as well and have verbally offered up any extra sod that they don’t use. Oh, and they want to do it all in a month (with the exception of the swimming pool which will go in next year). He also mentioned that he would love to brick the house. Now that would be awesome and expensive.

I asked how much they purchased the house for and how much our property value has decreased. He told me $130,000!!! MY LORD! This house is around 2300 square feet.

Well, we’re hoping for great things. It will be a little strange having someone over there, but I hope that the look of the place will improve now that there is signs of life.