bringing things up to date...

This is a post all about the month of May - up to this point, we still have a week and a half.

May 6 - I was invited to attend the Meals on Wheels volunteer recognition breakfast.  Being that I only work part time, I volunteer twice a month.  I sat with a group of older retired folks that volunteer their time in Clinton Township and Warren.  They all seem to do this as a "couples" thing.  Maybe when Jerome retires (in 30 years), we'll be able to do this together.  It was a really nice breakfast.  They served a bunch of different juices and for the main course they had scrambled eggs with cheese, pancakes, bacon, ham & sausages, hashbrowns and fruit.  They did a little presentation including a slide show of letters of appreciation that the MonW program receives from the people we deliver to.  Quite a nice morning ...and then I headed off to work.

Later that evening, we made plans with one of our friends from the MINI Club to attend The Moth Radio Hour that was being held at Cliff Bells in Detroit.  The Moth is a story slam where they give the audience a subject and members of the audience step up to the mic to tell their story that is related to the subject.  The subject today was "Monday's"...however, according to the website, the subject was supposed to be "Money", but the radio announcer messed it up earlier in the week and they had to scramble to update the website with the newest subject.

Cliff Bells doesn't take reservations, so our friend Sara, who happens to work downtown at the Fox stayed downtown the whole afternoon and saved us a spot.  It happened to be a really good spot...right on stage!  The stories were all pretty good and I will definitely attend again.

I did have a scare however...while sitting at my seat, I looked into the audience and I could have sworn that stalker boy had a clear view of me.  The next story teller up was...stalker boy!  YIPES!!!  Turns out it was a matter of mistaken identity....Thank God!

May 7 - Purchased our plane tickets for Seattle!  We're going to see my niece Sam and her hubby Mike.  While there we will also try to visit our old friends Andy and Helena who moved to Seattle abruptly in 2006.  Also plan on paying a visit with the old lady that spent her honeymoon in our house.  Other activities include a "Food Tour" of Pike Place Market, a Ghost Tour, a trip up to Vancouver BC.  From there we take a train to Whistler and then fly back in one of those water planes that take off and land in the water.  Plus much, much more :D  We'll be there for a week and a half.

May 10 - Got a strange call from the State of Michigan.  Seems that the little S-Corp that I started back in 2003 when the Ice Cream store in Mt. Clemens was for sale, has been dissolved.  They said I hadn't filed the proper paperwork and they had an old address that they'd been sending warning letters to, only to be returned to them.  Funny thing is that they say they dissolved it in 2008, but in 2009 we were charged by the IRS a penalty for filing their forms a week or so late.

Thought about it and discussed it with Jerome and we decided that we'd cut our losses and not try to renew it.  But now I need to dissolve it on the Federal level.  So, I contacted a local CPA and just yesterday sent out the final paperwork....sad really.  Didn't know I was sending the wrong form.  Another funny thing is, every year with that wrong form, I sent a check for $25.  They never had an issue with cashing that check and another funny thing - the check always had my address on it with the ID number of the S-Corp in the memo.  If they really tried, they'd have been able to figure it out.  Oh well.  It was inactive this whole time anyway.  So, good-bye "WWDI Inc.".  I will miss your name and your possibilities...BUT I still have your official stamp!

May 15 - The 2010 MS Walk in St. Clair, MI.  Wow, what a nice day and what a nice walk.  This was the first year in this location and how nice.  It's only down 32 Mile road from where we live...however that's about 30 or so miles down the road.  This location is right on the St. Clair River.  We walked in the neighborhoods, which were similar to areas in Grosse Pointe.  We got to watch the drawbridge go up for some sailboats.  It was very picturesque.

Later we headed to Clinton Township for the Detroit Tuned Spring Clean up party.  This is a yearly event hosted by our MINI doctor; Chad at his shop.  I don't even know how many MINIs were there, but it was tons.  Nice weather and we all sat around our MINIs and chatted it up while eating Pot Luck food.  We even had a clean car that day, got a dent removed and some touch up paint.

This weekend I'm meeting with my son's fiance and her mother to discuss the baby shower and then later in the evening I will be heading to my old friend Debbie's place for a Partylite Candle Party.  Sunday is our May Wheels to Meals (...not Meals on Wheels, that's the volunteer thing I mentioned earlier - this one's a MINI thing) that our friends Lou and Dee are hosting.  We drive to Port Huron and eat brunch at a restaurant of their choice, which in this case will be Bistro 1882.  And later we go to our other house and stain the deck - YIPPEE!!!  Well, at least that's on the agenda.

We're about to replace our driveway.  We've already had the estimates and have decided on a contractor and paid him the initial amount.  Now we're just waiting for it to be done.  While we wait, we are getting the $h!t off the existing driveway, like the mulch we just bought, the pavers for the patio, the shed, etc.  And thus...

...we've also been working like crazy in the yard.  Jerome mentioned the other day that if we knew that we'd STILL be working so hard in this yard after living here for 5 years, would we still have purchased this house.  NO WAY!...maybe.  What else would we do with our time?

I am totally up to date now :D