Rainy and Chilly

There have been a great many changes in my life in the last couple of months and all of them good, I think. I gave up cable for now. With rabbit ears on my TV I still get CBS which is where most of my programs are in the first place. The only channel I can not get right now, is ABC, which is Castle on Monday nights, but I can watch that online. Actually, I will most likely wait and get the season on DVD. We have so many movies and streaming from Netflix, so it is not like I am actually missing anything. I am not.

This actually helps me because I have more time to dedicate to school. And I don’t feel like I am missing anything at all. Now, don’t get me wrong, I might change that tune after a while and now, when I say there is nothing on TV there really is not. Sacrifices needed to be made and since I need the internet for school and we need a home phone, this was the one thing that we can get by without I think. I am not saying that we will not get cable again, but for now, it is off.

The weather here is cloudy, rainy, and chilly. I think last night they mentioned snow flakes by the middle of the week or so. Not sure. I know it will be in the 20’s for the low this week. Nice day to read and relax, which is what I am doing. Well, back to my book! Ciao!

Spring Cleaning in Fall

So last night while I was sitting in the bathtub reading, I realized that I had a closet full of clothes that I can not wear or do not like for the most part. So, after having gotten out of the tub and got dressed, I went in and started to clean out my closet. I would say that 90% of the stuff that was in there was too small for me. So, I have it all in a pile waiting on Doug’s sister to come over and pick through it and anything that she does not like, I am donating. There are so many things in there that I honestly have never worn because they were bought for me over my objections. These things still have the tags on them.

It is not like I will be without clothes because I have so many clothes that I literally have them on the floor because I have no place to put them all! Well, that is partially the truth, I hate folding clothes, so I usually live out of my clean laundry basket and they end up being tossed on the floor when I am looking for a specific thing. So, I am trying to get better organized for the new year and see what I need in terms of clothes. So, when I get my school money I can buy what I need.

It is actually nice to be finally getting this done. I have been wanting and meaning to do this for so long and I honestly always found something better to do instead. Before we moved from the house to the apartment, I cleaned out my shoes. I got rid a a couple of pairs, but I am not really a shoe person, so I tend to wear most of my shoes. Although I have a couple of pairs of heels I only wear when I have to.

This year has flown by so quickly, here we are almost at Thanksgiving and I have to wonder where the rest of the year went! School is going well and I am really enjoying it again. I was so burnt out by the time I took a few months off I actually thought I would never enjoy school again. But I was wrong and I am grateful for that. It flurried here the other day and stuck to the grass for a bit, well, at least until the sun came up. It was interesting to see the white on the ground, but the forecast for Thanksgiving does not call for snow in my little corner of Michigan. Not really sure if I am happy or sad about that.

My table and chairs that Doug got in February were finally put together for my birthday last month. They look nice and I love them! It is nice to be able to eat at an actual table at home now. Doug made his first ever pecan pie the other night and while I am not a fan, they look great and smelled good too! I think he is making pumpkin today and tomorrow for a few of our friends and for us. They are delicious! He made them last year for the first time and they came out great!! I am looking forward to that!

The trees around me are naked all ready because it has been so cold here as of late. Some trees still have some leaves, but I missed the colors this year and I am bummed about that. Not sure if we will get to the apple cider mill this year again, but it is okay. It is sunny and chilly here, of course the sky is clear so there is no clouds to hold in the warmth. I am finding myself colder this year than I was last year, but I think it has been chillier this year anyway. Well, going to run. Ciao!!

School News & Other Stuff

School is going well. So well that I got a 100% on my first  paper in class. Yay me! I have all my assignments and reading done for this week. My Discussion Question is not due until Thursday which happens to be my birthday as well. My goal for this week was to get my assignment due on my birthday done and posted before that. So I can take Thursday off. I am going to Red Lobster for dinner that night. So now that is checked off, I can relax some. I also have the assignment that is due at the end of week done as well. I am way ahead of the game for this week and I am happy.

For my birthday I am upgrading my phone. My birthday present to myself. I am getting the Samsung Admire. It will be my first smart phone and I am looking forward to it!!! I am so excited!! The weather here has been cool and today clear mostly. I am loving the fall weather! Well that is about it for now. Ciao!

A Day for Relaxing

I missed church today because when I woke up my back hurt badly and I am  not saying that the pews are not comfortable, but I could hardly sit up on the side of the bed. I knew I would be very uncomfortable and would not concentrate on the message well, so I did not go. I am going to read my bible later.

I also woke up very tired today with a headache. Ugh. The weather is nice again and cool. The windows are back open and the air off. I am all kinds of happy now. Thursday is my birthday and I am going to Red Lobster for ‘Endless Shrimp’. I always get a coupon for my birthday from them for $5 off two adult entrees. I got a free dinner from Texas de Brazil, which is a Brazilian steak house. I have been wanting to try it, but it is usually about $40 a dinner, but it is all you can eat. With my free birthday dinner, we would only have to pay for one dinner and our drinks. So, that makes it worth it to me to try this place.

I had been to another Brazilian steak house, Gauchos before and while it was good, I did not really feel it was worth $36 a dinner. So, since this place is different, I am hoping that I like it better. I also got a Cold Stone Creamery email which is a buy one get one free for my birthday and I will definitely be using that!! I love Cold Stone a lot, but we don’t go often which is fine with me. I am a moderation kinda girl. Too much of a good thing is still too much in my book.

Today is a Humphrey Bogart marathon in my house. I watched Casablanca and I am watching To Have and Have Not now. I will watch The Big Sleep later and possibly The Maltese Falcon as well. I love Bogie. He is one of my favorites. They sure don’t make movies like that anymore. *sigh*. I think that is about it for now.

Ciao!

Bipolar Weather and Five Days

The weather here in my little corner of Michigan has been rather bipolar lately. What I mean by that is during the day lately I have had to have the air conditioning on because it is warm outside. Because I live on the eighth floor of a building and the scientific principal of heat rises comes into play, it can be 10-15 degrees warmer where I live than at ground level. So taking this into account, if it is like 73 on the ground, it is 83-88 degrees here at my house. Which really sucked in the summer, let me tell  you. It works to my advantage in the winter though.

So, lately I have had to have the A/C on during the day and when the sun goes down, I turn it back off and open the windows again because the nights are great. Seriously, it is almost the middle of October, where is my fall temperatures? I miss them! I will share a quirk about me: I am such a die hard Florida girl that I will wear my flip flops until the first snow. I hate regular shoes so much. People up here think I am nuts, but I don’t really care.

School starts in five days. To say that I am looking forward to it is well, an understatement at best. I am a bit nervous though. I know I will be okay once I get into class and get stuff working again. I did not realize how burnt out I was on school until recently. It sort of came as a shock to me. But looking back it makes so much sense. I needed the break I took to decide if I wanted to continue or just quit. I needed time to recharge my batteries and do a little soul searching too. At first, I looked at this time off as a major punishment and did not how I would get through it. Now, I look back grateful for the time to be really sick and to just do some things for fun.

I have my passion for school back and it is nice to feel that way again. It has been a while since I felt this way. I am not sure when exactly I lost the passion for school, but it was totally gone. I got to do some things that I love during my time off. Things like read a book that is not a text book, cook more, try new recipes, just relax and be me for a while. I needed to do those things too. I always feel like there is not enough time in the day a lot of times. I think that I could possibly manage my time better which is one of my goals for my first class.

Getting back in to a routine for school will be challenging after not having to have a schedule for anything for so long. Instead of trying to make my day fit a defined schedule, I think I will see how my class unfolds first before I make my schedule for my day. It seems to work better when I do that. Since I got out of the review classes, I have three less classes to deal with or even think about. Yay! I do still have to take a statistics class, but I think I will be okay with that class. I just have to work harder.

Well, I am going to go! Ciao!

Rejuvenation

Today seems so different from last week. Well, that is because things are different from last week! To begin with, I went to church this morning and it was so uplifting and it made me feel so good I was wondering why I stopped going before. I have no real answer for that. Which kinds of bothers me a little bit.

The phone thing is fixed and I am happy about that more than I should be probably. The weather has been so wonderful the last few days and I am thrilled with that. Yesterday was a great day and I had fun with Joe and Vickie. The weather was so nice outside all day and got a bit chilly last night, which was perfect for the bon fire.

I seem to be in a happier mood and I like that. It is nice. Church this morning was great and is I think most of the reason why I feel rejuvenated today. It was uplifting and I really enjoyed it a lot. Looking forward to next week too.

Making vegetable beef soup tonight for dinner. With some great bread, it will be wonderful. I can’t wait! Great day for soup. I am getting into some of the apple recipes as well, but not until Late October or so when the apples are better.

Things are looking up for me finally and school starts again soon. I am so ready and honestly I was questioning if I should continue in school or not. I know I had my plans, but sometimes plans don’t always work out well. But I really feel that I will be able to continue and finish my bachelor degree for sure. One day at a time and sometimes I lose sight of that. Life is pretty good right now, I have those that are my close friends and they make a real difference in my life!!

Ciao!

Cooler Temperatures

I admit that I hate summer. Living in Florida it was so hot that you would melt right where you stood if you were not careful. Here in Michigan, the summers before this one were not too bad, considering that I am from Florida and that deep in the South it can get to be 102 in the shade during the summers. However, we reached 100 degrees this summer here in Michigan. That my dear readers, is too damn hot no matter where you are from!

I always look forward to September and cooler temperatures because fall is my favorite time of year with the leaves changing colors and being able to wear sweaters and sweatshirts. I have the windows open and it has been nice the last couple of days.

One of my favorite fall activities is to go to the cider mill. The smell of apples is heavenly and the ice cold, fresh cider is amazing. Not to mention the freshly made apple donuts which are still hot to the touch and you can see the steam rising from the paper bag. They are so good.

Hockey season also starts soon and when I say soon I mean in the next few weeks. I am also happy because all of my TV shows are coming back starting with Castle on Monday! School also starts soon, October 11th. Which I am looking forward to. I needed the break but will be thrilled to be back soon.

Well, off to watch a movie. Ciao!

Making Monkey Bread

I honestly have never had monkey bread but I found a recipe on one of my favorite websites for recipes ( to see the recipe go to my food blog here). So, I printed it out and thought I would save it. Well, I got sick and had to wait. Thinking that I was feeling better today, I decided to make it. ( There will be pictures on my food blog, so check them out!) I will post a pic of the final product here, but for the recipes and other pics, they will be on my food blog. There is a link in my side bar and above, so check it out.

I apparently was not feeling as well as I could be and I thought I was. I got slightly dizzy and clammy by the end of making the monkey bread. So, since it was in the oven I sat down before I fell down. Sitting here writing this  I can smell the cinnamon and it smells so good!!

I am all kinds of happy that September is here because fall is my favorite time of the year really. Cooler temps and the apple cider mill opens at the end of the month. We did not go last year because honestly we had so much going on with just moving and Home Depot’s dad dying. Dealing with various family members who were bitches and pains in the ass. It was a hard year.

It has been a month since Julie’s mom died and I am doing better but I still miss her so much. I still have not taken her cell number out of my phone yet. I am just not ready for that. I am going to send Julie’s dad a Christmas card at Christmas though. I miss him too!!

It is supposed to get cooler here in Michigan soon and I am so ready for that!! I love being able to have the windows open and being comfortable. I honestly did not turn the heat on once last winter. Not. one. time. I was so happy!!  This summer has about killed me though. Sigh. Too hot. You know it was hot here when I am from Florida and I am saying it is too damn hot!! LOL. Well, I am going to go. Ciao!