Orange Is The New Pavement

I have decided that summer is now the season of orange barrels!   I know that the roads are in bad shape and in need of repair but pleeeassseee  lets do one or two roads at a time.

I am so sick of trying to find new routes to get to where I am going and no sooner do I find a replacement road; more barrels are put out and another road is closed!

This summer here in Grand Rapids seems to be worse then normal.  I feel like every road heading north and south is ether ripped up or completely closed.  I am so sick of orange signs, orange cones and barrels. 

Why or why can't they complete one road then go to the next one.  It seems like they love to rip all the roads up at once and let them set a while before doing much work on them.  When going past the road construction it always looks like hardly anyone is working on the road.  I think they have so many ripped up that they don't have enough workers to get them all done.  It seems like they could save a lot of money by working on one or two roads at at time.  Put all the workers on those couple roads and get them done faster, then move to the next road. 

Look at all the money the city and state could save by not having to buy so many signs, barrels and cones!  I think I might look into buying some stock in the orange cone and barrel company!

I feel so sorry for the business that are held hostage due to road construction.  Some make it though the mess and some don't.  If it didn't take them so long to get the road completed it might save some of those poor business!   

Lets end the season of orange.. lets hope that our government officials can find a better way to repair the roads with out having to rip up the whole area at one time!

Ok.. end of my rant for today

Until next time take care...

The Water-Saving Garden by Pam Penick Book Review

After our home was hit by a tornado a couple years ago we lost a lot of trees.  Our yard now gets a ton of sun which doesn't help the grass and plants, they are constantly needing water.  I saw this book "The Water-Saving Garden" and though this might give us some ideas that will help.

After reading the book I learned what plants work with less water, different containers to use, and water ponds.  I wish it covered more for people who live in the midwest.  It was geared more for the western states.  

The ideas were somewhat complicated and costly.   I wish there were more ideas that would fit in everyone's budget. I did enjoy the colorful pages full of plants and gardening plans. 

I would diffidently recommend this book for anyone that lives out west or who don't get very much rain.  It is an easy read and full of good information on plant and container choices. 

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review."

Happy Father's Day Daddy

It has been a few years now since my dad passed away, but it is still hard on Father's Day.  I miss his voice, his smile, the mischievous twinkle in his eye, his teasing, even his snoring.  I truly miss his hugs and the love that he gave.  My dad was the best.  He would do anything for my me and my sister.  He was always there for us. 

My dad was a hard working man.  He would work two jobs so we could have braces, musical instruments, go on trips etc.  He worked 40 - 50 hours at Steelcase in the desk department and then come home gulp down dinner and go to the high-school and worked as a janitor.  On top of working he also kept the house and cars up,  built things, remodeled the house, and played with me and my sister. 

If there was something that me or my sister might want we would give him that look and he would find a way to get it for us.  On our birthdays he would always have a gift just from him.. he loved to make it very hard for us to open it.  He would put it in a wooden box then layer it with all kinds of stuff, other boxes, lots of duck tape, anything he could think of to make it hard.  It would take us a while to open it but it was always worth the struggle!! Sometimes all that would be was a note to tell us to look somewhere else!  In the end it usually was a pretty piece of jewelry.  He loved to buy jewelry!  Sometimes dad and mom would hide a tiny box in the birthday cake. 

My dad's childhood was tough.  My grandma was very loving but his dad was very tough.  He had a very bad temper and my dad could never do anything right.  My grandma had to work so my dad was pretty much on his own during the day.  They had a garden and my dad was out helping grandpa till it and for some reason grandpa didn't think dad was doing it right or something so he got mad and hit him over the back with a new shovel.  The handle broke in half on my poor dads back.  You had to be very careful around grandpa.  After dad graduated high school he left home and joined the Air Force to get away from it.  

 

Because of what dad dealt with grandpa he never raised a hand on me or my sister.  He left the discipline to my mom.  This did not make mom to happy being the bad guy all the time.

I remember we wanted a dog and mom was totally against it.  Next thing you know, dad is coming home with a little bundle tucked inside of his coat.  Poor mom got stuck having to have another dog! 

My dad was always taking us somewhere.  Every summer he found a way for us to travel.  He had a truck and made a homemade camper for the back of it.  My sister and I would sleep on the table and my folks on the sides of the camper.  It wasn't that comfortable but it worked.  We got to see a lot of this wonderful country!  Our last trip we made as a family my dad took us though 13 states in less then 3 weeks.  It would have been a little longer but it was cut short due to a horse injury.  My sister wanted to go on a trail ride and we were in North Dakota.  The town we were staying at had trail rides so we went there.  For some reason the horses were spooked during the ride and went wild.  My poor dad fell off and got stomped on by a couple horses.  He ended up with a bruised arm and broken rips.  We ended up having to cut the trip short and head home.  Even though he was injured he drove all the way home.  He wouldn't let poor mom drive. 

When I graduated high school I started working at Steelcase.  I worked the night shift.  Many times dad came to my rescue.  We had a blizzard in 1978 and I got snowbound in Grand Rapids because I worked nights the roads were impassable.  Dad and mom came and helped dig me out after a couple days to get me back home.  Another time I went to an auction with a friend and was dropping her and the items she won back at her apartment.  I had my purse in my arms so I sat it in the trunk so I could help get the chair out for her.  Well, stupid me not thinking closed the trunk with my purse still in it.  Both sets of car keys were in my purse so I was stuck.  It was after midnight and I called dad and he came to the rescue.  He had to pull the back seat out a bit and with a coat hanger was able to pull my purse out.  Needles to say I never had both sets of keys in my purse again!

He was also the best grandpa in the world too.  After I had my daughter he was madly in love.  He would sit with her for hours rocking her.  When Stephanie was a toddler my folks bought her a big play house.  She would beg my dad to crawl in there with her so he and my mom would take turns playing in the house with her.  He was always making her things.  He started buying her stuff and making her furniture for an apartment some day.  Stephanie and my dad were so close, he even showed her how to drive. 

 

I miss dad so much, we all miss him.  But I know he is around us all the time.  

Happy Father's Day Dad....

Estate Sale Clients Drive Me Crazy! A Rant

I run a small estate sale business which I use to love, but after six years of dealing with crazy clients and grumpy customers the fun has pretty much disappeared.

I really don't understand why people wait until the last minute to contact us for a sale.  Even though they know they are going to have one, the home has been empty for months, they are going to sell the house soon (like yesterday) etc.  They call me and think I can do their sale right away.  They need it done in a week or so.  I am sorry.. it takes some time to pull their stuff out of the cupboards, closets, and attics.  It takes time to clean their dirty dishes, organize their messy garage.  It takes time to price each item.  If it was that easy why don't they do it themselves!

I usually come in to a big mess.  Papers all over, food stuck on dishes, mice poo, dirty rooms.  We basically come in to a pig pen.  And the clients wait to get the items they want to keep out so we have to work around their stuff.

Then I get the clients whose items are in their eyes worth a lot.  This makes it very hard for me to sell and then at the end the client isn't happy because there is a lot left.  So then it ends up going to an end buyer or to a charity.  If they would just let me do my thing.

I get clients who have me come in and see what they have to sell and then when I come back to get started all the good things have been taken out.  Family have changed their mind about selling said items...or I get them taking things as I am getting the sale ready.

I do not understand why these people even call to have an estate sale.  If you aren't going to let the person do the sale the way they think it should be, why bother calling for someone to do it.  They need to trust the person they are hiring to do the sale instead of making it so difficult.

Yes I use to love starting a new sale.  The fun of digging out buried treasure and setting up the place so it looks like a show room.   Now I just hold my breath for the next problem to arise.  Get it ready and get the hell out of there before they drive me more crazy.

Customers are no better.  They come in complaining that the prices are to high, yet my prices are lower then Goodwill is, or an antique shop.   They are more willing to pay top dollar at a antique store then my bargain prices at the sale... go figure

So thanks for reading my rant.. I am done for now ... lol

Take care, until next time....

Captain America Civil War Review

My daughter has been wanting to see the new Marvel movie Captain America Civil War, so today we decided to check it out.  I am not a big fan of action movies but I have enjoyed the past Marvel moves.  With the cast that was listed I figured it wouldn't be much different then the other ones.

Well, I was wrong... this one dragged on and on.  It starts out with Captain America's friend Bucky captured and being reprogrammed by the Russians.  Then it jumped to the Avenger gang doing their thing.. saving the day, but this time with some collateral damage.  A building accidentally was blown up by one of their members.  Now they were getting bad press and the government wanted to control the group.

Here was the bad guy setting up scenarios for the Avengers to fix and by doing so he was able to make the group look bad.  He also found the book with codes to turn Bucky into a bad guy again.

The whole movie moved very slowly.  I wish they would have expanded the story more.  It seemed like it was missing some substance.  I did like the conflict that the bad guy made with the Avengers.  Half were for letting the government control what they do and the other wasn't.  This caused a huge riff in the group.  Of coarse Tony was on the side of the government and Captain wasn't.

The bad guy was getting his vengeance by watching the Avengers fall apart. I wish that they would have expanded on this more instead of moving around the concept until the end.

A new character was introduced in this installment.. the Black Panther, and a appearance of a young Spider Man.

If you are a die hard Avenger fan you will probably like this move.  I wish we had waited until it went to the cheap movies or Netflix.  I am not sure it was worth the $8.00 a ticket to see it.   Hopefully the next one will be better.

How May We Hate You Book Review

How May I Hate You by Anna Drezen and todd Dakotah Briscol

When I read the description of this book it sounded like it would be pretty funny!  I am sure that working as a concierge you would meet a ton of crazy people.  

Well, after starting to read it I found it a bit boring and gimmicky.  Granted, there was some stories that were pretty funny, but that was the problem.  There were only some stories.

The book felt very chopped up with a ton of boxed things like quizzes, word searches, erratic illustrations etc.  It made it a very difficult to read and to keep my interest.

In between the craziness were some pretty funny stories.  It would have been a much better book if they would have just kept to story telling.  

This is a 144 page read, if you can make it that far.  I had a hard time pushing myself to keep going,  I kept hoping it would get better. 

I don't feel that I could really recommend this book to my friends.  Better to check it out at the library so you don't feel bad skipping pages.

ABOUT HOW MAY WE HATE YOU?

Most people think hotel employees are effortlessly cheerful, naturally helpful, and genuinely like their work. 
 
Most people are wrong.
 
Find out what really goes on in the world of hospitality with this hilarious book full of funny and absurd stories, anecdotes told in dialogue, factoids, and hoax pop quizzes by two veteran concierges who paid their way while working at a combined 50 hotels in and around Times Square. They are very pleased to help you learn: 
·         The Truth About Bed Bugs
·         The Mythology of “Loyalty Programs”
·         The 411 on Hotel Residents
·         And so much more
 
Filled with photographs and infographics, How May We Hate You? is both romp and commentary on the hospitality industry and life behind the nametag.

"I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review"

Digging Out

I have a very hard time getting rid of family things.   Each item has some kind of memory.  Somethings even still have a familiar smell.  It is amazing what won’t trigger a flash back to my childhood.

My house has been topsy turvy for a while now.  A few years ago my daughter was living in a dorm and ended up having to come home due to illness.  We moved her back home and all her stuff got dumped in the basement.  Because she was so sick I spent most of my time taking her to the ER or the doctors.  I never got to the basement to organize and figure out what to do with her stuff.

So, as time progressed.. so did the mess in the basement.  I just never could find the time to get down there and straighten it out.  I was busy with my new estate sale business and trying to eBay.  I also was helping my folks and taking my daughter to school and doctors.

A few years ago my dad passed away and a couple years later my mom sold the house.  Well.. as you can guess I brought home a lot of stuff.  Things that held so many memories.  So now all of that is mixed in with the stuff.  Plus, eBay stuff is all around too.

Since my estate sale business has slowed down I have been trying to organize the house.  I am working in the laundry room right now.  Today I was pulling out containers that I haven’t looked into for years.  Totally forgot about them.  I opened one and found a bunch of Precious Moments.. hmmm they are going in the sell on eBay pile.

I opened another box and found a bunch of old books that I had when I was little.  I stood there and looked at each of them .. remembering when mom would read them to me and my sister.  What to do with them.  I didn’t even remember I had them.. do I keep them or sell them.  We do need the money right now.  Ok.. I bit the bullet and put them in the eBay pile.

Then I opened another box.  Inside all wrapped up was snack dishes from my grandma’s house.  There were three different sets.   Oh no.. now what am I going to do.  These were grandma’s, how can I get rid of them.  I totally forgot about them, yet they mean a lot to me because they were grandmas.  Ok.. stop it now..be smart…I doubt that I will ever use them.  We do need the money.  Grandma would understand.  Ok.. I will get rid of two of the sets and think about the other.  At least that is a start.. right?

I remember grandma using those snack dishes at her card parties, showers and ladies get together’s.  What ever happened to those days when pretty dishes were used and friends would get together for the afternoon and have fun.  It is sad those dishes aren’t needed anymore.

So my eBay pile is getting larger.  Now I need to take pictures and list things.  Never ending project trying to dig out.  One thing seems to lead to another.  Oh well.. tomorrow is another day.  I will keep chipping at it, who knows I might get it done before I die!

Until next time.. take care…