Office Photo

What's with the weather? I keep hearing on the news about stormy cold weather across the country? I can't understand it. Here's what it looks like outside my office window today.

VEGAS BABY!

Rachel Evans and I after the pageant (She went to AU and was in AU Singers with me. She will also be competing at Miss GA in June with us.)


My friend Christen and I at the pageant. She was also in AU Singers w/me


Brittney and I in Paris Paris (I stayed with her and her mom, she is from Rome)

The view of the Monte Carlo on fire from our hotel room!

After the pageant when all the girls were faking the "OH MAH GAWD CONGRATULATIONS!"

My four friends from AU Singers. Greg, me, Tyson, Christen. (Tyson is Miss Alabama's boyfriend!)

Have another offer coming in on the house tomorrow at noon. I hope it's a good one, I have the hot tub guy coming to my house for an estimate tomorrow.

Guy called today and told me the news from his accountant was not good. He is qualified to buy a place for around $600,000 which puts him out of the game on this house. Oh well.

Dan

Hi fellow bloggers,

Sounds like Dan and Jackie have the most exciting things going on.
Jackie - I had a "date" for dinner with the gentleman next door to me -Fri nite- got your phone call when I got home, but too late to return your call. Sounds like you had a ball
in Vegas - oh, how fun to be with the "beautiful people"
Chris - congrats on making the tennis team - go Chris!!!!
My week was going good till Sat. Bridge Tues, pinochle on Wed, MRI for my knee on Thurs - followed by our pool championship game. Anybody who lost 4 out of 4 games was out - our team lost 3 out of 4, so we were in the running. I ended up with the 9 ball shot - which wins the game - it was a tough shot and with coaching from my captain - "hit it on the right side - HARD - and it may bank and go in the pocket. Well, I did as I was told - it did go into the pocket - everyone cheered and hugged me - but wait - the cue ball banked also and slowly rolled down the table and dropped into another pocket - which meant we lost the game to the other team - I had a few seconds of being a champ!! Teams start again in April.
Fri, I played bridge here at the Reserve and later went to dinner with my neighbor Frank - his daughter met us at the resturant.
Sat I decided to take my newspapers down the hall to the trash - I save them up till I get a plastic bag full. Anyway, they were too heavy to carry - so I dragged them down the hall.
I had invited Dave for dinner Sat. nite -- realized that I was in some kind of back pain. By Sun a.m., I was in agony and could hardly function. I stayed in all day and my friend - Sue, brought over dinner. Mon I already had a P.T. app for my knee, so I went and told them about my back. They said I had a strained back and thru my spinal cord out of allignment. They gave me 4 different treatments and sent me home to ice and heat every hr. for 10 min and come back on Thurs and Fri. I am going to my chiropractor tomorrow to see what he can do, since I am still in big pain. I take a lot of Advil which keeps me moving. I can sit and walk, but not much else. Dave picked me up last nite and took me to our church for our retreat and my friend Kathy picked me up for bridge today. I have a back brace and that does help. I can't sit around so I do whatever I can . Hope it' doesn't take too long to heal. I started working on P.T. for my knee, but now I don't know I have a knee.
Bye for now,
Mom

House For Sale

Hi Gang,

I sent out the before and after pics of the house I remodeled with my friends Chuck and Craig. We put it up for sale last week and had 5 showings on Saturday. Sunday was the 1st open house. It was raining most of the day but still had about 20 people show up. One guy really liked it as his office and wrote an offer last night for 1,000,000. The house is listed at 1,095,000 and appraised twice at 1,100,000. The land lord of the buildings behind us also wants it. He has not written an offer but keeps telling Chuck he will give us $950,000 cash. He is kind of a jerk and fought us with the city on changes we wanted to make to this house. He wanted the house last May when we bought it but kept writing low ball offers so they gave it to us. He is stuck on this price so Chuck asked what he was basing this number on. He knows what we bought it for and is guessing what we put into it. Chuck said he got a little threatening on the phone yesterday and said "I could have shut your entire project down if I wanted to." This is not true since we had permission from the city for every change we made. He also said "you're lucky I haven't put up a sign advertising the 4 story building that will be built where my stores are now." This is also not true since I was just dating the West Hollywood City Inspector and he told me no plans were ever submitted for any changes to his building. The guy is just trying to get it for a cheap price and thinks he can scare us into giving it away.

My friend Guy is also very interested in the house. He has called me several times and wants me to "hold" it for him like a pair of jeans at Macy's. The truth is, he just doesn't have the money. I have to act like I don't know this but Craig is the one who ran his credit and it's just not going to happen. I also hate the idea of selling the house to a friend and then hearing about any problems he would have in the future.

Today is the Broker's Open". We will have all the agents from the area walk through between 11 and 2. Hopefully they may have a buyer or 2 looking for a perfect little contemporary in the heart of West Hollywood.

I was busy this past Sunday with the SAG Awards. We did makeup for about 18 ladies from People Magazine. The Grammy's is the next show and we have 24 ladies booked for makeup so far. I have 5 makeup artists working that day. I will be in the Caribbean for the Academy Awards and Muriel's baby is due around that time. I will have someone there to run the show, I hope.

I'm thinking of going back to working Tues-Sat like I did at Jose Eber. I did the same amount of clients in 4 days and always had a 3 day weekend to come home. Fabienne will have a fit but as long as I have coverage, I can do what ever I want.

I'm having Muriel's baby shower here this Sunday. We did not know it was Superbowl Sunday when we sent out the invites and was wondering why we only got a few replies.

I just started looking for a company to build the hot tub behind my house. I don't have a lot of room but enough for an 8x8. Hope to have it done by spring as well as a grill/bar and seating area with an outside fire place. Chuck better sell this damn house this week!!! I'm off to work now.

Love, Dan

Karen's office staff, minus one

Not so bad yesterday, only one staff member got fired, she was a full time person who made appointments, filed, just one of the best workers we've ever had, and really jolly! I cried when I said goodbye to her. Our girl who does the billing, was saved by the skin of her teeth, because she resent an insurance bill on this one employee recently..so that may have been why she was in her electronic records....whatever..thank God she didn't go, or the good life at that office as I have it now would have come to a screeching halt! The big, orange pumpkin in the picture, Rhoda, is who we lost. Pam, behind her in the jeans and black jacket, is who we almost lost! Everything I have is ruuuuuuineddddd!

There she is, Miss America....VEGAS STYLE!

HA HA HA in reference to the nice little vote going on! I want to know who voted what! lol

As many of you know, I went out to Vegas this weekend for Miss America and came home sunday night.

Thursday I arrived at 11 pm, went to the hotel, threw on a dress, and met some friends at a club called Tao. Walked up to the line and we immediately got called by the bouncer to walk to the front of the line and escorted in VIP. It was AWESOME! hahahaha

Friday we slept in because we got in late the night before. Then two of us were asked to model $3,000+ gowns for a top designer in his private suite in Paris...so fun! I was also able to get a full consultation with the designer and he told me what would look good on me for my Miss GA gown. After modeling gowns for two hours we ate at a very large buffet inside Paris. Later I went back to the hotel and got ready and met three of my friends from AU Singers who were also out there. (One of them is Miss Alabama's boyfriend!) We ate at a sushi place and then the girl and I went to another club for all of 5 minutes. Wanted to get a good night sleep before Miss America!

Saturday we slept in, ate lunch, and then got ready for the pageant!!! We had to be in our seats by 4:30 and the pageant started at 5. Needless to say I was NOT happy with all the reality crap they put into it. The eliminations were just humiliating and the whole production was just awful. It was lots of fun to be there though and see everything behind the scenes of the tv production!!!

After the pageant we had a nice dinner and then went to the Bellagio to meet another friend for a drink. As we walked through the lobby a man in a nice suit asked us to please come be vip at his new club. He said celebrities would be there so we figured why not. To make a long story short, little did we know we would be asked to walk a RED CARPET WITH PAPARAZZI!!!!!!!! Yes, cameras were flashing, people in street clothes lined the rope looking on like "who are they?" Tito Ortiz (sp?) who is a UFC fighter was walking right behind us. We walked into a private area where they had an open bar and then they took us into the club.

I thought I would have trouble getting out on a flight on Sunday bc they looked AWFUL but I woke up at 5:30 (3 1/2 hours sleep) and got on the second fly out.

So my first 21 year old Vegas experience was as Uncle Dan would say, "THE BOMB!!!" I have never felt more confident in my appearance after being treated VIP status every night. It also helps I was out with other beautiful girls. I just kept telling myself "enjoy it now because it won't last much longer!!!" hahahahaha

Will post pictures tomorrow!

Tennis

I finally have some news blog-worthy... I made the tennis team at my high school. About 25 guys tried out for 13 spots. Hopefully I'll avoid the injuries Aunt Mar got.

Ant Party

Vines

Ok, we cut all the branches and thick vines on this one row, on a cold but sunny day! Now we have someone coming to pull out the 3 foot roots this week!

Afterwards.....sangria in the hot tub!

Tomorrow, 2 of my 7 staff members will be fired for looking into a co-worker's on line medical record. They don't know it yet, I've known since Wednesday. I've been sick about it! It's our biller, Pam, my roomate, and a girl named Rhoda, that is the best worker we've ever had. My fun job is coming to a screeching halt tomorrow!

Kar

Visit with Jeannie

Hello Bloggers!

I had lunch with Jeannie yesterday...She is doing great, still working for a urologist. Her husband, John, has been out of work since last April. He had a year's severance package from Cigna, but it's coming to a screeching halt come April, 2008. Jean said companies don't want to hire 55 computer geeks! He's got some phone interviews this week. Our friends are coming over today to help us cut down the vines in row 2 of the vineyard, then we are having an expert pull out the vines with the 3 foot roots, next week some time. This is our one row of table grapes, but they aren't doing well, so we are going to replace them with another row of tramenette, which is a white grape that makes a sweeter wine.

Anyhow, after the vineyard work, it's hot tub time and steaks on the grill! Other than that, it's deadsville around here!

Karen Smart Car Test Drive

From a few months ago, but thought I'd post since, well, because I can. We have a new Smart Car dealer up the street. Karen took a test drive, but doesn't think her cleaning supplies would fit in the back. Of course, I wanted her to buy it so we could have her advertising all over it, like in the "dummy" picture I made up.

Vegas Proposal

I can't remember if anyone saw this yet, but this video is from September, 2006, at Bellagio in Vegas, about a half hour after I proposed marriage to Karen inside Prime restaurant. After we ate, we went out on their patio for dessert and after dinner drinks to view the famous fountains.

Garden Center

Hello... I went to Nephrologist this a.m., and I just need to keep taking my meds to see if they help my body from secreting too much calcium into my kidneys which probably explains my propensity for Kidney Stones. Still have a 5 mm stone in there. Walking time bomb... my pain killers go with with me everywhere!

Karen and I had a nice lunch on the water near where our rehearsal dinner was... same water... just down the boardwalk a bit. We also went to Home Depot where we purchased and planted some lyropies (sp?) impatients, and a robellini palm. Neither of us are a green thumb, but how hard is it to dig a hole and put a plant in it and see what happens? Oh, we also are experimenting with a small bouganvilla but don't think it will get enough sun exposure.

Also, went over to the swim club and did 20 laps... great for my dieting program, but hell on my dark hair coloring. Yawning yet? Way too much info? :-) Ok, that's it for tonight.

Hi all, nice to see Dan's addition to the blog. He will stay with Karen and I after his cruise on Sat, March 1 and Sunday March 2nd. I went to the Panthers professional ice hockey game tonight with my friend Rob and two of his friends. He has great club level seats that entitles you to free pasta stations, carving stations, fresh fruit, open bar, etc. Anytime his company can't fill the seats with clients he calls me. Nice deal! Looking forward to being off Wed. and Thurs. Need to see the Nephrologist in a.m. to see if the potassium citrate I've been taking will help the chemical makeup in my kidneys not to create kidney stones. Fun eh?

I'm on the damn Blog

Hi All,

I called Mike and he told me how to do it. For God sakes, any idiot could get on this thing.

I just booked my flight to Ft. Lauderdale for the end of February. I'm going on a 7 day gay cruise with my best friend Bill from Newport RI. Jimmy and I won the costume contest last year so they offered us this $54oo cruise for $1000 YAHOO!!! Jimmy did not want to go so I asked Bill to take his place. Sorry Mother, I don't think you could handle a gay cruise even though you handled Woody's in Philadelphia for cocktail hour.

Work is going really well. The new location in Beverly Hills continues to grow and it sounds like Mar is getting my makeup into a salon in Philadelphia finally. My assistant Muriel is about to have her baby so I'm looking for a temp. to cover her hours while she is out.

I was offered to do makeup for the cover of Playboy Magazine for Shanna Moakler. They are still working out the details but this is a huge thing since Playboy usually uses their own Makeup Artist. Shanna picked me and told them she was not interested in their people.

We have rain in LA which is much needed although it has been sunny and in the 70s for the past week. The mountains are so Green right now and the tall ones are capped with snow, really pretty!

The investment house I bought last May with my 2 friends is going up for sale tomorrow. I will send the MLS link when it's listed. The house came out really well considering the amount of arguing I did with my friends over the remodel. I don't think I will ever buy a place with partners again. To many Chiefs trying to make decisions. We bought the place for $720,000 and listing for $1,100,000. We did a refinance this past week so we could pull some money out of the house before the sale. I can now pay off my CCs in full, fund my retirement acct. and get the hot tub started.

I'm off to work now. That's the update from LA

Love,
Dan

this is just a test from Dan

I Got Married, Why?

Sorry it's sideways... just tilt your head a little.

Hi All,
Another exciting (???) week here at The Reserve!!

Bridge lessons and practice at O.Y.R.all day Tues - Tues nite went to our Singles dinner - about 23 of us attended - my neighbor -Frank-(with whom I share an occasional martini) - told me in front of the crowd that I was the most beautiful woman at the Reserve and also the nicest -Whew!! He also said - would you like to have dinner at Coleman's Sat. nite and I said "sure" - no interest, but a nice place to go for dinner.(:>) He lives next door to me and is in his 70's - very nice.

Well, I was ready for a big nite - never heard from him again till about 2 o'clock this afternoon, when he came to my door and said "so Mary, are you still going to come over about 5pm to have a martini with my daughter and me?? - She wants to get to know you"" -- there went my dinner - boohoo - I'm sure he didn't remember - can't trust these seniors!!! Guess I'll defrost a chicken leg!!

Wed I played a match at Huntington Valley C>C> and afterwards drove to Karen's for my Dr. app. next day.

Saw the Dr. she recommended - he looked at my x-rays and took another one -- isn't sure if I need a knee replacement at this time. Wants me to have an MRI to see if there is a problem that can be taken care of by Arthroscopy - I doubt it. He also want me to start Physical therapy to strengthen the knee in case I do get a replacement.

I drove home in a rainy, snow storm- Thurs. - got home safe - returned my pool cue for a #19 - 18 was too lite and I was having trouble "banking it" - I love thos pool talk!! Next week is the championship playoff - out of 8 teams, 4 have been eliminated - we can only lose 1 more next week or we are out - great fun at this club!!

Last nite I saw the movie "There will be Blood" - excellent acting - but rather gory - went with a friend from 3rd floor - then on to an Italian resturant with a bottle of Vincente cab wine.



Have a good week - I'm off to nextdoor for cocktails!!!


Love,

Mom

Mike's Schedule Jan 19-27

Karen Carag asked that I post my schedule:

Saturday, January 19 Off
Sunday, January 20 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pool Bar
Monday, January 21 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pool Bar
Tuesday, January 22 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pool Bar
Wednesday, January 23 On Call
Thursday, January 24 Off
Friday, January 25 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Inside Lounge
Saturday, January 26 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Inside Lounge
Sunday, January 27 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pool Bar

Off to fertilize the lawn and attempt to put in landscape lighting. Help Barry!

Hi, it's almost 2 a.m, just home from work. I'm off Saturday for a change, and hope to have a relaxing day around the homefront catching up on some things. Sorry I've missed your calls, Karen. Not much doing here. Work picking up and excited to watch the NFL playoffs on Sunday. I work Sunday 8 a.m to 5 p.m.

The blog lives on!

Hey Mike, you saved the blog..I was afraid it was going to die! Mother is here in Rising Sun, arrived last night, had a late dinner, and in bed by 9:30pm. She has an appt. with an orthopedic surgeon at our hospital this am, to see about getting a knee replacement. She's heading home later today, depending on when it's safe to drive with the winterey mix they are predicting today of snow/sleet/rain.
Hey bar, you had some rain/snow in Atlanta yesterday I see..hope that is helping your drought situation a bit!
It's so weird around here without my kids home..
Kar

Hi all. Worked till 9 p.m. this evening. Spoke with Dan on the way home. He's trying to get on this blog and contribute, but him and I can never seem to be home at the same time so that I can talk him through how to get started. He did want me to post that Joni's Aunt only has received one response since her mailing about the book she is preparing for Joni's birthday in April. Dan is the only one who has contributed to date. I have it on my "to do" list, so you others who have dropped the ball on this, get on it!

Karen and I visiting lawyer in a.m. to discuss living will, will, etc. Not fun thoughts, but needs to get done!

JT's Baptism

Hello there!

Went to JT"s Baptism party yesterday. Kerry has a beautiful house! It really needs furnishings and drapes, but the painting is done, beautiful Willimasburg colors. Her kitchen was remodeled, and that is so nice, too! She has a big back yard that had a lot of fox and deer walk through! I saw a fox while I was there!

Marilyn was busy trying to run the kitchen....Aunt Jean looked good...

Here's some pics..

Mar, when I left there, I somehow ended up riding past Villanova..it's about 10 min from Kerry!

Off to work..another day, another dollar!

Kar

John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Hi fellow bloggers,

The doctor and I attended a "Beatles" themed party last night with Sue and Richard, at our friend Chuck's house. He calls it a "Wassail" party, and always has it the 2nd weekend in January, with various themes in the past.

It was one of the most fun parties I've been to in years! Susan was Lucy (in the sky w/diamonds), Richard was "Nowhere Man", and had a recording of the song in his pocket for anyone who asked who he was......

Chuck was "the Walrus", (glad I didn't do that, barry!).

Sgt. Pepper was there, Lovely Rita Meter Maid was there, a girl was a "yellow submarine", and brought her crew....

One girl was an "octapus' garden under the sea". Jun won 3rd prize for best costume! They had a band playing all evening; they played all songs, but lots of Beatles' songs, too. When the band went on break, they had Karioke of Beatles songs..one picture here is me on a microphone singing Sgt Pepper's Lonley hearts Club Band, with 2 others, (and a little help from my friends)

I loved being on stage.....Jackie gets it from me!!! :>

At the end of the party, everyone gets a tee shirt with the Beatles/Wassail theme...behind the band you can see all the tee shirts from all their years of this party!!!

Fun!!! Oh, and in his living room, he had old video tapes of the Beatles performing on Ed Sullivan, etc....

We've been to Chuck's Toga party, and Pirate parties in the past..he has done Wizard of Oz, Margharitaville, sock hop, 3 ringed circus....you never know what it's gonna be until you get the invite after Christmas!

Off to Kerry's baby's Baptism party today...

Kar

Toot Toot! Beep Beep!

Hellooo... Karen and I bought tickets today to see Donna Summer on Sunday, February 17.  I've heard her music for the past 30 years, so I might as well hear her perform her hits live at least once. Karen knows her from her older sisters who used to listen to all her songs.

Karen's mailing of 280 lettters generated two phone calls and an e-mail inquiry on its first day.  Looks like she'll be getting a few new clients out of it, which is great.  All nearby "high end" clients in our Weston community.

I'm on day 3 of my new diet.  Lots of working out, egg whites, salads, dry chicken, water and protein shakes.  My goal is to lose 10 lbs. by February 15.  Check the blog on that date and see if I did it.  Have a great weekend!

Friday Night

Hey Bloggers,
I just opened my calendar from Mike..it is so good! All families are distributed everywhere...and beautifully done. If any of you haven't ordered one, it's worth the $25.00! I'm not writing on this one..just hanging it for a conversation piece!
Great job, Mike!
Kar

Hi Evrerybody,

Just came from my billiards club - we have a new team this quarter -only 3 on a team and we play 3 times -1 of our players was not there - we won 1 and lost 2. This group is the most fun here - only about 9 women and about 20 men - they love our company and make a big fuss if we get 1 ball in a pocket - I got 2 together tonite and they went wild!!
I spent the day at Mar's - took Steph (who is home for 3rd day with a cough and going back to school tomorrow) to lunch and a movie (Enchanted) to get her out of Mar's hair so she could go to rehab and catch up on Dan's orders.

Last Fri nite - Eileen Carlin and I celebrated our day apart birthdays - saw "kite Runner" (I had read it) - very powerful movie and then went to the Irish Pub in Ambler for dinner- hashed over our many yrs. and how we couldn't possibly be 79.

Sat nite I went to Nancy's daughters 50 birthday party and dinner at Colemans (a lovely resturant in this area) - Dave picked me up.

Tues was a bridge match with another C.Club - Wed , I saw the movie "Atonement" - by myself (very good) and at nite was Pinochle Club and tonite pool.
Tomorrow nite is a dinner party at my bridge partner's house and Sun, Mar, Kar & I go to Kerry's Baptism party.

Sorry if my social life is more exciting than yours (except Karen's)- Mike insisted I let everyone know what I do all week.

Bye,
Mom

That'll Leave a Mark!

Back from Colorado

Hey bloggers, did you miss me?

We had about 3 feet of snow in the 5 days we were at Courtney's in Vail, Colorado! It was fun spending time with Jess, Brian, Courtney and Albert. We went skiing 1 day, and took a private lesson for 3 hrs with the 6 of us....Jess, Court, Jun and I did fine..it was a bit rough for Brian and Albert...but fun! You talk about skiing on powder..it had just snowed 1 foot when we got there!

We went tubing a day, too.

I hurt my back right before we got to Colorado, but Courtney gave me an acupuncture treatment with amazing results..I'm now a believer in that stuff!

The last day, we got out of the mountains and drove to Denver to visit the downtown area, damned if it didn't snow then, too!

It was nice to fly into PHL and have it be 60 degrees after freezing in CO all week

Hope you all are well..sorry to hear about Nibits...looking forward to the Holmes calendar

Mike, do you need the $ up front, or do you trust us to pay after delivery....not sure what your 2008 rules are! hey, your garage clean up looks great

Jun's sister leaves us tomorrow for good...we will really be starting the empty nest syndrone tomorrow:<..it was so nice to have my kids home...

Time to start taking Christmas decorations down! YUK!

In the pictures: one is Courtney's red house, one of her at her naturopathic pharmacy, one of us in Vail, one of 5 of us tubing..(Courtney had to work), and then one of me tubing down the slopes, and one of Jun walking towards our little B& B we stayed in.

Kar

Hi everyone. Just got done working on some more I.D. Badges for my friend Dick Haslam's concrete cutting company.  I print them out, cut, and insert into plastic pouches from Office Depot, and attach them to black lanyards.  He has a lot of turnover, so he needs new ones each month or so.

Karen is doing a mailing of 280 letters to Weston residents today, so we anticipate that will generate a few phone calls for her home cleaning business. She's off to two new clients today that have small condos near Lago Mar Resort, and the people just arrived for "the season."

I'm off until Friday afternoon, so I'll be around the house working on various projects and hitting the gym.  Karen and I are resolving ourselves to eat better, and I need to lose some weight. Who doesn't right?  

Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Happy New Year???

I finally have some news to publish, but it isn't good! I was in a tennis accident on Friday. Somehow I tripped when I was running (leaping) for a ball and next thing you know, I'm on my back with 6 people staring at me! My leg was in agonizing pain and when I tried to stand up the whole room started spinning and I thought I was going to pass out. After about 15 minutes on my back, my friends had to drag my body to the sidelines when a private drill was about to start and the pro wanted us to clear off the court!!! Someone brought me a pair of crutches so I could get out to the parking lot.

My friends took me to the ER at St. Mary's since I couldn't straighten my leg or put any pressure on it. It took me 2 1/2 hours to be seen by a physician's assistant and she wasn't able to tell me anything about my injury. She said she wasn't authorized to send me for an MRI. Instead, she gave me some pain killers and sent me on my way suggesting I call an orthopedic doctor. I decided to go straight to my sports rehab center and they diagnosed me with a torn hamstring and immediately started to work on it. The sooner you treat an injury, the faster the recovery.

I am out of tennis for the remainder of the season (about 3 months). This stinks because I am captain of a team and all my social life revolves around my tennis friends. Hopefully, they'll keep me in the loop! I will go to rehab every day this week and then 3x a week until the spring. Today, I was able to put some pressure on my foot and walk without the crutches so at least I don't need any help getting around.

Mission Accomplished

All done with garage cleaning and shelf installation. Put up a total of 5 shelves and now just about everything but the car is off the floor. Looks great and feels good to suddenly have space to move around. Now it's time to attack the Christmas decorations. Working Monday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Garage Cleaning

Our garage has become, in the words of Jack Holmes, a "National Disgrace!" Karen has about 1 inch of tolerance on either side of her can to not hit junk. You have to pry yourself out of the car with the jaws of life because of so much junk. Today was Part I of the garage cleaning: removing all trash, reorganizing, buying and building additional shelves. Yes, that's right, I said "build." Well, actually, no tools were needed, everything just kind of snaps together, but even that can be like brain surgery to me. Anyhow, all three shelves are built and we're buying two more on Sunday. Part II of cleaning on Sunday is loading up all the shelves with all remaining junk and seeing if you can walk from the car to the garage door without breaking our neck, which has been the case lately!

Be looking for the final result in tomorrow's blog!

Mom,

Glad you had a good birthday. Sorry I didn't catch you before your pool practice!

This is Patch "skating on thin ice". It was down below 20 degrees the last 3 mornings, but back up in the high 60s this weekend.

OK Bloggers, by popular demand, here is a couple of pics from my bar.

The fish tank stand still needs to be finished. Hopefully by Chris's graduation. Mike, remember I told you I was going to display Pop Pop's father's tools?? That's them in the shelves on the corner. Mom's old pub chairs go great!!

The cabinets and the drawers took the longest to make.

What can I get ya?