anything new and exciting ~ september

Some things have already been covered by way of photos or postings, such as my granddaughter's 3rd birthday party and our airbnb guests.

I had wanted to mention that we were asked to pick up Peyton's cake on our way to the party.  Turns out that Peyton's name was misspelled on the cake (Peypon)...didn't notice til the drive home. 

Happy Birthday Peypon!

Bummer, but not a huge deal for a 3 year old, right?  The cake was otherwise very beautiful and you could tell that there was a lot of work that went into it.

Next day, returned to Fraser in the morning to pick up Peyton so we could bring her back to Romeo for the Labor Day Children's Parade in Romeo.  We had her dress-up in her princess dress that we bought her for her birthday.  She seemed to enjoy the parade but mostly the candy that was being flung at her.  She was horrified by a man dressed in a Buffalo Wild Wings costume and she met Miss Michigan Teen who tried to coax Peyton into walking in the parade with her, but Peyton was a little unsure. 

Miss Michigan Teen 2013 & Miss Peypon!

Really wanted her to see the Peach Festival Parade that was later in the day, but mom said she needed a nap.  When do kids stop taking naps?  I certainly can't remember.

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We had two more guests stay with us since my last post about Airbnb.  A nice young couple from Buffalo NY that stayed over for the weekend.  They were attending the St. Jerome's Laneway Festival that had its only US destination here at the Meadowbrook Music Festival.

And then an older guy that stayed during the week.  He is a traveling Physical Therapist coming from the west side of Michigan.  He has told us that he will reserve with us again.

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We wrote up and had the condo tenants sign a new contract that starts in October.  I'm very happy they are staying.  First because then we don't have to do a bunch of work to the place and find a new renter, but also because we're used to them and they are used to us and I think it works pretty well.

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The new Fall Line-up has started and we're watching a ton of things, but the show that Jerome is most excited about is Amazing Race!!!  He loves, Loves, LOVES it.  Wants to be on it.  I think if we were, my back would go out during the race and he would be eternally resentful of me.

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My mom brought her neighbor Donna over to the house to check out the kitchen.  Donna is from Poland and has lived in the US for many years.  The kitchen was so close to being finished by then but still needed the molding and sills put back around the windows.  Donna seemed impressed, although she noticed that it wasn't finished.  As we had a little something to drink and sat in the living room to talk, she expressed her surprise at Jerome and I (mostly me) for having set up this Bed & Breakfast thing as she feels I have a friendly, welcoming smile but to her, I don't seem like I am much of a people person.

As they were getting ready to leave, I went out to my garden to dig up a small plant that Donna had said she would like.  I placed it in a plastic bag with extra dirt and some water, then placed that into a small box and handed it to Donna.  She nodded and accepted the box, remarked at the fact that it had some buds on it and told me in her thick Polish accent that she will not thank me for this plant, that is not what they do in Poland.  "We wait until the next year and if the plant grows the next year, then we will thank the giver".

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*Friends* ~ We've done a few things with friends this month

We went to dinner and show (Spam-a-lot) with our friends Dee & Lou one weekend and then the next weekend they invited us out to The Townsend Hotel in Birmingham for dinner and to spend a night.  Quite swanky! especially in the pocketbook.

Left: Saint James, Paris  Right: The Townsend Hotel, Birmingham

I met up with some old Chrysler friends for lunch; Ann & Mike.  Always nice to see them.  Mike wants to meet monthly now.  I'm thinking that's a bit too much.  Quarterly would work for me.

Had lunch with our friends Deepa & Pratap at their house which is always a nice time with never a dull moment in the conversation.  We see that our other friends, Irina and Brett have a brand new puppy, Lily that is so adorable!  It's a Sheltie.

We went to a party that my old friend Debbie's daughter was throwing at her new place she's renting in Detroit; The Research Lofts on Trumbull.  What a cool place with exposed brick, concrete floors, high ceilings and Alicia's room has the original boiler room door as her bedroom door, which she never closes because she's afraid that it will lock her inside the room.  This building used to be an old nail factory and was recently made in to unique residential lofts.

Jerome set up an evening Whirlyball game with his colleagues.  He thought it would be a cool team-building exercise while some of the people from the office in Germany and Japan were in town.  The whole time you play, you've got a stupid grin on your face and are laughing hysterically.  You may never score a point, but you have plenty of fun trying.  We did dinner afterward at Art & Jake's across the street from the Whirlyball place.

We went to a retirement party in Livonia for an old colleague of Jerome's.  She was one of the secretaries at TNO; the company that brought him over to the US back in 2000.  We met up with people we hadn't seen in a while and were surprised that some were back in the US already.  One inparticular was our friend Paul.  He is from the Netherlands and his wife if American.  They moved to the Netherlands in 2011 and a couple months back, Jerome received an email from Paul letting him know that they were planning on coming back to the US and if Jeorme could be a work reference.  Jerome was on-board with all of that and was being his typically helpful self.  Imagine his surprise when we arrived at the retirement party and Paul was sitting there.  They've been back for over a month and hadn't told Jerome that he was back.

Our Annual Pot Luck was held on the last weekend of the month.  This is the latest we've had it in the season and actually it's not even the same season, it is now fall.  We welcomed to our home and fed 77 people.  Most had been there before and some had not.  Most everyone that came were very interested in seeing the kitchen re-do.  We had a lot of praise that day my friend.  That is always nice to hear after you've worked your tushy off for months (as my dad would say, "look behind you").  We heard nice things about my decorating style which makes me smile.  Someone said that it is like walking in to Pottery Barn!  I like that it looks like that even though I don't typically buy from stores like that since everything is made in China.  I try to find unique things at local stores or use what I already have.

Party aftermath

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Believe it or not, we've done even more than all of this in the month of September.  It's amazing and we have even more on the schedule for the next two months.  I don't think we can say that we are ever bored.


OH! And I was published!  Here's the page from the Great Outdoors Magazine ~ Fall Winter Edition