Scheduled Caloric Intake Overage in Celebration Of A Most Auspicious Annual Event Which Commemorates The Start Of My Yearly Journey Around The Sun

Actually this post should have been entitled 'A Scheduled Caloric Intake Overage in Celebration Of A Most Auspicious Annual Event Which Commemorates The Start Of My Yearly Journey Around The Star Known As Sol' but evidently there is a field limitation on the post title!

As many of you know I've been on a Lifestyle Modification Plan for almost 20 weeks now. As some of you know Monday is my birthday, and a Scheduled Caloric Intake Overage in Celebration Of A Most Auspicious Annual Event Which Commemorates The Start Of My Yearly Journey Around The Star Known As Sol is what I call going out to dinner to celebrate my birthday.

I've been averaging lately about 1100 calories a day except for Sundays when I can do 1500. For someone who used to do 1500 calories for lunch it has been quite the change for me. I figure a birthday dinner is a reasonable gift to myself for this event!

I would like to think my birthday dinner would be a classy and refined affair!

I went back and forth on this subject for quite awhile. Finally I decided a couple of weeks ago when I hit the 90 pound lost mark that I deserved a nice meal for my birthday.

There were quite a few choices and places I considered. Over the days I whittled the list down. Right now I am torn between Olive Garden and their infrequent Never Ending Pasta Bowl which is running in this area, or one of the three Chinese places I used to frequent on a regular basis.

One of the Chinese places is the best sit-down restaurant we have been to since we moved to Michigan just over 9 years ago. The other two are buffets, both with their strong points.

Olive Garden's Never Ending Pasta Bowl however is something the kids and I love plus they have 2 new sauces this year. They run this twice a year at most so it seems the timing of this is almost a sign to go there! Scott really loves the bread sticks there as does Danielle. I like them as well in addition to the excellent salad they serve.

However, I am sure my dinner will be somewhat less refined, though still pleasant!

The longest I recall ever being able to maintain a diet has been 3 months. I've passed that by two. In addition I have have never exercised this rigorously for this long. Since I actually started exercising a few days before the dieting started, it's been 140 days in a row of riding the exercise bike. I hate exercising, but always feel good afterward. These days on my normal 90 minute work out I burn about 920 calories.

I'm not calling going out to dinner breaking the diet, because it is scheduled and planned for. I do plan to do a minimum of 90 minutes on the exercise bike both Sunday and on my actual birthday, returning to my normal caloric guidelines after my birthday passes.

Based on this I feel I am justified, and am OK with the decision.

Heck! If I can still move after dinner I plan on taking a nice 2 mile walk to help offset some of the extra calories so long as weather permits.

I can hardly wait for Sunday! In addition to the food it will be so nice to go out to eat. The kids and I have really missed that this summer though I have been bringing in Chinese and Italian food for them at least 2 times a week when they are at my house. I know they prefer dining out though.

Heck who am I trying to kid! My birthday dinner will probably be like this!

On my actual birthday since I have the kids, I'll see if they want to take in a movie or something. They may be a bit subdued as school starts the next day. That's one of the reasons I decided to do dinner Sunday so in the back of their minds they won't be thinking they have school the next day.

Friday

So, the kids and I ended going off to Ming 10 and had an excellent lunch. The place was packed! We've been there many times and at all hours and never have I seen such a crowd. We were placed in the furthest section away form the food. Because there was so much traffic the food was constantly being replenished and never had a chance to sit for long so everything was wonderfully fresh.

After a thoroughly delicious repast eating stoutly like trenchermen, we headed out. We stopped at the Meijer that is adjacent to the complex that Ming 10 inhabits as my good friend Brian told me that his wife Carrie had found Dreamfield pasta there. This was good news because after the local grocer by my house stopped carrying it (they replaced it with disgusting gritty stone ground whole wheat pasta) I had been reduced to mail order to keep it on hand. Dreamfield uses a unique method to encapsulate most of the carbohydrates in the pasta so out of a normal serving which contains 40 grams of carbs, only five are digested. And it looks and tastes like regular pasta. Being a diabetic, Dreamfield pasta is something that lets me enjoy pasta without my blood sugar being affected!

They did indeed have it, so I picked up a few boxes, a roll of electrical tape, some cat treats, and a pair of wire cutters. Thursday after I got home from work Scott seeing the portion of the dash from the Mustang that contains the cigarette lighter was spurred into action and wanted to install the radio I bought for his car last September! I could not find my wire cutters so a new pair was needed.

We had gotten as far as we could Thursday having removed the old radio and gotten together everything we needed for the installation of the new.

Returning home I began working on the wiring harness that would mate the new radio into the existing wiring. I had bought the radio from Crutchfield and they sell a kit that makes the radio, which was a totally different size, fit like it was custom made int he dash of the car. They also give you a wiring harness that mates with the existing one in the car and that is wired to the new hardness. This requires some time as you have to solder and then tape each connection which I did. here's a picture of my work area:

So, after about two hours work all total I had the harness made, we got everything plugged in and the adapter faceplate would not mate with the holes in the dash of his car! A quick inspection showed I had put the new radio in upside down so I turned the bracket 180 degrees, and got everything connected. We turned it on and nothing came out of the radio except static, the same symptom of the broken radio! Scott was distressed because the person we got the car from said it was a bad radio. I checked the connections int he trunk to the antenna and they were fine, so, I pulled the radio out to find the antenna connection had slipped out! We got that firmly in place and Scott, with the radio playing, carefully put all the screws back in the pieces of his dashboard he had removed.

He headed out with his friends, and Danielle and I watched TV while snacking on some popcorn samples that had been delivered. Scott and Steve showed up a bit later and played Left 4 Dead here awhile before heading out to meet up with more friends. I dropped her off at her Mom's house around 6 PM and then Tails and I spent a very quiet evening watching TV and puttering on the computer. I retired around 1 AM.

Friday night

After work I decided to be industrious and I installed the custom order sliding shelf into the bottom left double-doored cabinet of the entertainment system. I'll post pictures later on. I wanted to remove the all-in-one printer device out of sight since it did not go with the home entertainment theater motif. AND the printer is white so it really stands out against my black components.

What a pain the install was. The bottom two brackets, which could easily have had metal between them to held them into place did not, so it was a fun experience particularly with having to work inside the back of the cabinet to get the rear screws in place. Lucky me got it right the first time and now the printer is hidden in the cabinet and slides out for easier access if you want to scan something or replace in cartridges. Now I must decide how to fill the empty shelf!

I picked up Danielle around 5 pM and we stopped at her Mom's and picked up her things, fed the Guinea pigs and gave them water, and then I ordered us dinner from First Wok which we picked up and eat while watching Ugly Betty. We then played Left 4 Dead for almost 3 hours on expert setting until Scott arrived home with the friends around 9 PM. I swear I was twitching when we stopped playing!

Danielle and I watched some TV, she and Scott (Who has SAT's this morning) went to bed around 11, while I stayed up until 2 AM or so on the computer.

YAW! (Yet Another Weekend)

Saturday I woke up, expecting snow. The forecast had been screaming for days that Saturday would be this snow and wind filled extreme weather event. At 8AM when I awoke, there was nothing.

I got up, and started the Operating System load on the new HT PC. At 8:30 that was going well, and the snow had started. By 9:30 when I was ready to ride the exercise bike the ground was covered and the wind was blowing. A check of the Weather Channel showed the storm had merely been delayed a few hours. I rode the exercise bike and Danielle got up.

She was a bit distressed because she had wanted me to drive her over to a friends house, pick up the friend, come back here so we could play Left for Dead, and then take the friend home afterward. I told her I was just not going to take the Mustang out onto slippery roads. The visible snowfall was somewhat misleading as this snow was some of the finest flakes I had ever seen, almost powder-like in consistency. So while often looking out the window it appeared it was hardly snowing, the snow accumulated on the ground.

See below for a recap on Saturday's Storm, particularly on road conditions. I feel justified in not venturing out.



The majority of the day passed quite nicely, I did some additional work on the new PC, plus played Left 4 Dead with Danielle and watched TV with and without the kids depending on what they were doing.

We were all supposed to go to dinner with Chris that evening but his friends hijacked him and fed him earlier. The X asked if we wanted to go out anyway and while I would not venture out in the Mustang the X's vehicle is much more bad weather worthy...though I myself would still not have gone out.

I went outside and shoveled out a space large enough for her by the front door so the kids and I would not have snow in our shoes. While there was about 5 inches of snow, it was HEAVY! It was so very fine and thus very dense.

The X picked us up and we went to Ming 10 around 5:30. Surprisingly, with the storm raging outside, the place was very crowded. We had quite a view of the weather outside form our table. Two of the walls forming the Corner of Ming 10 are glass, so you get a real view outside, and it is a raised view as it is on the second floor. As we ate and darkness fell, the storm increased in it's ferocity, and the snow fell more heavily and the wind was blowing faster. I love watching nature like this and I was constantly looking out the window.

Scott was disappointed because they were not making lo mein this evening, they had run out and only had already made vegetable lomein. He still manged to eat a good amount of food, even going after some the vegetable lo mein.

The X outlined some upcoming business travel, which is good for me since it means some extra time with the kids which is always a good thing, I just wonder how they feel about it. I of course agreed to the extra time in support of the X's business pursuits.

We finished dinner and departed, I was chilled just on the very short walk back to the X's car, which was already covered in snow as it if had been sitting there for hours. The ride back home was a little bit slower than the ride out.

She dropped us off at my house around 8 PM and we spent the rest of the evening, together, in pairs, or alone, playing Left 4 Dead, F.E.A.R. 2, talking on the phone, and watching TV. It was still snowing when I went to bed around 11:30.

***

Sunday - I awoke to a very bright room and subsequent examination showed bright sun and blue skies interspersed with fluffy white clouds. There was also quite a lot of snow that had to be removed!

After riding the exercise bike, Danielle and I had fun trying to print out the driving directions to her friend's house. Google Maps was misbehaving. At first I thought it was because I was using the beta of Windows 7, so, I rebooted back into XP and the same thing happened, though Danielle and I got a laugh as when XP loaded a coupon I had queued to print several days ago printed.

Finally after expending almost half an hour I just did a screen grab of the Google page with the directions and the map zoomed on the destination.

I went out and cleared the snow. As Scott's car was there I had to adjust my snow removal strategy as his car was in the way.

Once the snow was clear I stepped into the front hall, switched coats, and Danielle and I, carrying all the empty boxes from the HT PC build slated for the garage. departed.

The roads were well cleared and except for the side roads by her friend's house we had no trouble. The local roads were badly cleared but at least the ground was level so other than slow going we made it OK.

I dropped them off at the mall and headed home, driving through McDonald's around 1:30 to get Scott some lunch, and me a snack, to hold us until what I perceived to be a later dinner. I had given Danielle $20 to spend at the mall, after teasing her about asking for money after I recently bought her the Netbook, so I knew she would at least snack while out.

Scott and I ate and watched a couple of episodes of the Simpsons off DVD before his disappearing downstairs to await the arrival of his friends who showed up and remained as Scott got into his Left for Dead costume. They have been dressing as the four main characters of Left for dead and then delight in freaking people out as they act like the characters in public places. Now note these firends of his are all male, and one of the characters is a female....I refused to look at the friend playing the girl......you would just not understadn why without a picture......

Once again I reminded Scott of my "Have fun but the Police better not call me to come get you!" rule, and his friends headed out. I worked on importing my FireFox, IE, and Roboform data into the new System, copying items from the old system to removable storage, and watching some TV until 4 PM rolled around and it was time to pickup the kids at the mall.

The trip went uneventfully and soon Danielle and I were back home as I raced to get the chicken stock for soup heated so I could add the spices, onions, olive oil, and carrots to the pot tand get it simmering.

I removed the old HT PC from the entertainment system and installed the new one it's place. The old one, for now, resides on the dining room table, connected via WiFi. This is in case I missed some data needed on the new PC. Tails of course jumped into the shelf as I was putting the new (Heavy!) unit into place, and I had to hold it with one arm as I shooed her out of the opening.

Scott arrived home early and we passed the time in the usual manner. After a couple of hours had passed I added the chicken to the soup pot, and after 45 minutes put the soup pasta on to cook in another pot. I drained that, added it to the soup pot and let it sit another 15 minutes. We ate around 7 PM. On Sunday's we eat not later than 5, I was glad I got us a snack earlier.

The soup was delicious and we watched a couple more Simpsons. Danielle and I started watching City of Ember, which turned out to be a really good movie. Bill Murry played the mayor of the forgotten underground city which made it even more enjoyable.

All in all, it was a very good weekend. My only complaint would be that it was too short! There is a half a pot of soup leftover in the fridge which will make a most enjoyable dinner Tuesday night!

More Daze

Here's a recap of the week thus far.....

Monday:
Well, after about 9 days of NO snow, we had a couple of inches overnight. Not enough to really fire up the mega snow blower, but enough where I will need to go out and shovel it before the kids get home from school.

It is actually 30 degrees here, the warmest it has been in weeks where temps have ranged from 5 below zero, to single digits, not going above 20 degrees. So, this is like a heat wave, and the sun is shining as well.

Some additional sporadic snow is expected over the next few days, we shall see what the weather brings.


Tuesday:
It was the X's night to take the kids for dinner. She arrived early so we could go over their edline reports because both Scott's and Danielle's grades have been slipping. Each have promised improvement this quarter, which will be good. Do well and get rewarded! Do poorly and expect loss of privileges!

The X asked if I wanted to accompany them to dinner, and I did, with us ending up at Red Robin. There was no parking in our usual area and I was blamed as I had said "There will be no parking in our usual area" as it was dinner time. We cruised nearby areas and found a place that though a bit further away as the crow flies was actually closer because we could walk places cars could not drive.

It was a bit windy and bitterly cold, the X was really missing the balmy weather in Las Vegas. She remarked that will it was cool for Vegas at around 60 degrees, people out there were bundling up in heavy coats like we were wearing in the 12 degree cold!

We gladly arrived, it was god to be out of the cold, and we were quickly seated. I limited the fries I ate, had water with dinner, and did not request a side of mayo as I usually do (for the burger and fries). So, while this was really out of bounds for the diet, I had behaved during the day and did not go crazy at dinner.

It was even colder on the way back to the car and it was snowing lightly. We topped at "Play and Trade" so Scot could get a job application, and then headed over to Hobby Lobby as Danielle needed some school supplies. There is no such thing as a quick trip to that store with the kids, so I looked around as they were looking for items.

Danielle ended up just getting a book for drawing in as their prices for school type supplies are too high. The X suggested Staples and Danielle and I started walking that way, only to discover it was closed. We drove a mile or so up the road stopping at a Staples where I was able to procure the supplies Danielle needed, along with a journal for her.

Back to the X's house we went as Scott needed my old camera which was there, and the X wanted me to look at her furnace to see where the filter goes. They had changed it since I lived there, replacing the old slot with an extra wide one that takes $$$ filters. I told the X if she ordered the filter we could figure out how replace it, as you have to setup the filter inside this suitcase-size container.

The kids and I headed back to my house and enjoyed some TV, including new episodes of our favorite comedy show Scrubs, before retiring.

Wednesday
Scott, who had been feeling fine in the morning came home from school looking like one of the Zombies in Left 4 Dead. He had a terrible sore throat to the point where he said during the day he felt like it was closing and he could not breath, I told him next time something like happens to have the school call us instead of trying to stick the day out.

Danielle was at her friends house, so around 5:15 PM I headed out, armed with the Family Video Game and DVD returns Scott was supposed to take back. It was, of course, snowing and the roads were slippery. I picked up Danielle and when we were almost back in my neighborhood I called First Wok and ordered Chinese food for dinner which we picked up after dropping off the rentals.

We watched TV and had an enjoyable dinner, though Scott was still feeling bad. Whatever he had was most infectious and virulent; right after dinner my throat started hurting which was accompanied by a pounding headache. By bedtime I was all congested and feeling terrible.

It was hard sleeping and it seemed minutes after I feel asleep it was time to get up as Danielle was knocking on my door. She had a bad sore throat and a bad headache!

So, the three of us stayed home. The kids went back to bed and I got up to login to the work network and begin my work day.

Around 11 Danielle got up and I took a lunch break at noon making some doctored Ramon soup. Discarding most of the packaged seasoning (while is LOADED with sodium) I added chicken, no sodium chicken broth powder, and other spices and soon had a steaming pot of soup. Scott got up, and we all had a nice bowl of soup. At 1 PM I resumed work.

By the afternoon we were all feeling somewhat better. I went out around 5 PM because snowing or now, sick or not, I had to drive into the office to perform some tasks in support of our Long Island facility and the kids would be going back to the X for her week with them.

I made some packaged Velveeta and Shell dinner (using the 2% reduced fat version) and around 7:30 the kids and I headed out.

The 3.5 ride into work was nightmarish, but I made it OK, and headed home which took about 4 times as long as the drive usually takes.

I had a snack, and went to bed. Of course it was still snowing..........

Monday

Monday was another quiet day; I arose early in spite of my late bed time and poor nights sleep. I was greeted by a glorious sunny day and a clear blue sky, something you do not see a lot of during the winter here in West Michigan!

I worked on the computer until around noon. Danielle was the first one of the kids up, and shortly I had her wake the other two as we would be meeting everyone (except Christopher who does not like Chinese food) at Ming Ten for lunch.

The four of us squeezed into the Mustang and drove over. The nine of us had an excellent lunch. Ming Ten is the best Chinese Buffet we have found in the area. The food is well above buffet quality and then have a sushi bar and a made to order hibachi grill. Scott loves the lo-mien with chicken that they make there.

Chinese food in Michigan was a bit disappointing after living on the east coast. It took us quite a while and many disappointing dining experiences to find a high quality regular sit down Chinese restaurant (The First Wok) and buffet. One thing I still miss is Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce, you just can't find anyplace out here that has that!

The weather, which had still been gloriously sunny when we entered Ming Ten, began to deteriorate while we ate. The sky got very cloudy and then heavy cloud cover totally rolled in and the day got very dark. I joked that the weather in the morning had been "Sunny for part of the day and then apocalyptic cloud cover later in the afternoon". It was amazing how dark and dreary it became in the short space of time.

When I went to pay at the end we hit a bit of a snag as Mom had two discount coupons and they also wanted to claim their senior citizen discount. The waitress (and later the manager) said you could only do one.

So, I had them split the bill into 3 bills and I had to give them three different credit cards before they could process it! What a pain, but, hey to save over $15 it was worth it!

Lunch over I drove the four of us back where the kids took Scott's car back to the X's house. The majority of the rest of my day was spent watching TV (mostly Christmas themed shows I had recorded in the DVR) and using the computer. I also did some pre-work for the upcoming installation of my new AV receiver which should take place this weekend if UPS tracking is correct.

I'm glad the kids are having extra time with Uncle Kevin, Lili, and Lucy, but I am really missing them this week! I know I volunteered to give them extra time at the X's house but the days have been kind of empty without them, particularly as I've been doing work from home for the most part. At least I have Tails for some company.

Friday

Not much to say, I had to work so after rising I headed into the office. The temperature was still below freezing, though predicted to rise to the upper 30's. The roads were not too bad but there were some slick spots so I took my time.

Work was like a ghost town! I swear I saw tumbleweeds roll by my cube several times. I am in a division of GE that provides IT services, so, even though I sit in Grand Rapids as I did when we were Smiths, I am not part of the Grand Rapids company which is a different division. So, while they kept the same holiday schedule Smiths had, which gives them off from Christmas to New Years, my division does not have this.

When I pulled into the lower parking lots, there was only one other car, and by the sheer amount of snow and ice on it, it had been there for days, maybe even since that first big storm a week ago.

After a fun day at work, I came home, relaxed with Tails until about 5 PM when mom picked me up and brought me over to the X's. Friday was Kevin and Lili's anniversary; in fact, they were married out here in Grand Rapids on a previous trip!

We were going to our favorite Chinese place, the First Wok for dinner, but, mom told me they were delayed at the mall...not an unusual occurrence where Lili is involved. If ever there was someone born to shop, it is Lili; she loves a good session at the mall.

After confirming via a call phone call that the X and company were on the way, we headed down to the restaurant. We had an excellent dinner, some of us sharing our dishes with each other. It was nice to have all of us together (and Scott's friend Ben...the X said there was a story behind this but I forgot to ask her) and it was a very enjoyable dinner. I was quite impressed by the way Kevin and Lili's daughter was so polite, saying "Please" and "Thank you". I asked Kevin, sotto voce, if she could give my kids some politeness lessons!

Afterward, mom and dad dropped me off at my house as some of them were going to the movies (more than one movie actually, depending on preference, I was so beat I just wanted to relax.

Tails and I watched some TV, and I was in bed around 12:30 AM. All in all, other than work, a relaxing day.

Recipe - Cornbread Stuffin' Muffins

So, I was really missing my cornbread sausage stuffing this year! Last night when I was doing my shopping prior to Scott getting off of work,I picked up a couple of packages of Jiffy brand corn muffin mix.

Today, an idea hit me, and while I was out running errands I stopped at the local grocery store and picked up some sausage and onion. A new recipe was born.

Note that in the spirit of Thanksgiving dinner this is NOT one of my healthy recipes though I may go back and do such a variation down the road. This is bad food, but, for a first try it came out fantastic!

Ingredients
1 8.5 oz box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
5 oz sausage (Jimmy Dean or Bob Evans Original recipe)
1 cup chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup milk
2 tbs butter
1/3 cup Egg Beaters
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp freshly ground back pepper

Preparation:
Flatten out sausage in frying pan and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning, 1/8 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp freshly ground back pepper. Cook until edges start to brown, flip over and cook other side. Remove from pan in place in bowl lined with paper towels to drain grease. After sausage has cooled, crumble coarsely.

Reserve 2 tbs sausage drippings and add to this 2 tbs butter. Once butter has melted add onions and sprinkle with remaining spices. Stir well and cook, stirring occasionally until onions start to brown.

Return sausage to pan, stir well and cook an additional two minutes. Remove mixture to a bowl lined with paper towels to remove grease.

Make muffin mix according to package directions substituting the 1/3 Egg Beaters for the 1 egg and increasing the amount of milk from 1/3 cup to 1/2. cup This will be needed to make mixture a bit thinner so it seeps down into and over the sausage and onions..

Spray a 12 muffin pan with PAM or other cooking spray and then divide sausage and onion mixture between the 12 compartments. Top each muffin with the muffin batter and if need be carefully smooth to edges. Let set for 3 minutes and then bake per package directions.

These Stuffin' Muffins can be eaten as is, substituted for stuffing with your favorite poultry dish, covered with gravy, or served however you like.

A Bunch of Pictures

Below are seven assorted pictures running from early June onwards. All can be clicked to open larger versions in a new browser window.

My version of Sliders or "White Castle" style burgers made

with fresh baked rolls, 92% lean ground beef (with chopped

onions, a dash of sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper

mixed in), grilled and topped with Velveeta cheese & Pickles

The two packages of fireworks mentioned in the 4th of July Post

Fun with Lasers; Danielle by the light of the Green Laser

Tails in Flight! See her achieve dizzying heights as she

tries and fails yet again to catch the laser pointer!

Tails on my bed, after landing from repeated laser flights

Tails in one of her new perches, next to the TV on my bedroom dresser

Tails occupying the space usually taken up by my Home Theater PC.

Stay tuned for an upgrade gone horribly wrong post on that subject!

Snow, work, kids, and such.

Thursday night it was snowing again and by yesterday morning we had another inch on the ground. I am hoping that's the last of it. After 107 inches of snow for the year, I have had enough.

At work, we are finally getting ready to be transferred into our new division at GE next week which is basically an IT support group. It will be a big change for us all; for example none of us will be doing any hands on technical work going forward once the Grand Rapids site is fully transitioned; we are not looking forward to that at all, but, on the other hand it is good to have a job. It will be strange, we will now be 'guests' or even tenants of the Grand Rapids location but not part of that business, which means we'll all be moved into an area together (goodbye my window seat that I love!) and have different benefits, vacation and holiday policies. Goodbye week off at Christmas!!!! Aarrggggg!

Danielle is over her strep which is good, though it made her lose 3 days of school and fall a little behind. Scott is doing well. Thursday night I took them both to Hobby Lobby to get Scott a sketch pad, I ended up spending over $50 getting the each a set of sketch books and pads, plus an artists carrying case for Scott and a set of artists pens for Danielle; when it comes to creative things like this I can't say no!

Chris came home from Kettering University yesterday; this is his second B session of his freshman year where he is supposed to be working with a partner company but he still does not have one. Of the eight 3 month B sessions to graduate he needs five with a partner company. He had an interview in the area a week or so ago is hoping to hear from by Wednesday so he does not have to go to Detroit for an interview. Then too he would have to live in that area instead of being able to stay at his Mom's house. He had exams this week and I was IM'ing with hm the other day and he feels he did good in them. He is the typical student, staying out until all hours, catching a bit of sleep, and then running off to class.

I thought my takes were all taken care of but the accountant told me they were rejected by the IRS. Turns out the X did Chris' on-line for him and somehow set it to claim him as a deduction for himself which as a full time student being claimed on my taxes he can't do, so, now amended tax forms for him and me had to be done to fix it for of course additional money, but, considering I get a very good refund using the accountant I have no issues with paying the extra $50 to take care of this.

Last night the X stopped in bringing dinner which I ordered from First Wok, Scott had his friend Ben over so he joined us for dinner. Afterwards the X, Danielle, and I watched "The Mist" which turned out to be pretty good. A bit after they left she called because Danielle had forgotten her antibiotics. Since I knew the X had to journey out sometime between 11 and midnight to pickup Scott and that Danielle would be in bed already I ran them over the her house.

I often marvel over the way my divorce works out with the X; last week we ended up having sinner together four times for example, I like to call this a 'dysfunctional' divorce....and I really wish I could stop carrying the torch for her..but the heart has a mind of its own... I do hope her business issues resolve this year, she works so hard for so little return, it just does not same fair.

Yesterday after work I also began the chore of setting up my new Home Theater PC, I worked that on and off until 2AM this morning. I'll probably do a separate post on that later.

For the cat fanciers out there Tails is doing fine; she enjoyed being up late with me last night, often sitting in the chair next to me at the kitchen table where the new HTPC is being set up, or curled up on the couch with me when I was sitting there.

The sun is shining, the temperature, which had dropped into the low teens overnight is predicted to hit upper 40's today, so perhaps we are finally going to see some spring like weather. I guess that's all for now!

Tuesday

Not much to say other than the snow continued heavily and I got to use the snow blower yet again!

We also had a repeat of last weeks X and kids visiting for dinner, she brought Chinese food (the same menu items in fact) and she and I watched Supernatural.

February broke a Michigan record for the amount of snow and snowy days in the month. We are at about 93" of snow for the year in this area and are certain to easily break 100". The average yearly snowfall around here is 71".

Tuesday's Continued Snow

The Snow predicted yesterday began around lunch time and by 2 PM it was snowing hard. Scott was supposed to have an audition for the talent show after school, so I left work about 15 minutes early figuring he would either call me as I was almost home or shortly after I arrived there. That would decrease the time to pick him up. As the road conditions were deteriorating rapidly this seemed a good idea as I was having trouble getting traction in certain areas. I arrived home around the same time I would have had I left work in normal conditions, and awaited Scott's call.

A few minutes later I was looking out the front window and I saw the kid's bus drop off both Danielle and Scott; evidently the school had the common sense to cancel after school activities! I was most pleased as I was not looking forward to that trip out.

Tuesday is usually the night the parents whose week it is not gets the kids for dinner. The X was supposed to be by around 5 PM for this. She called and reported really bad road conditions, this in the large company truck she was driving. She was concerned about taking the kids somewhere and bringing them back, plus them getting in and out in the cold multiple times.

Suggestions?" she asked? "Pickup Chinese food from China Garden." said I. She liked this idea and said she would, and she would see us shortly. About 20 minutes later she called and talked to Danielle and said she was stuck in traffic on the approach from to my house. About 15 minutes later she called to tell me she was even with my street.

China Garden is about .7 miles down the road, two minutes max from my house if you catch the red traffic light. It was about 40 minutes before she arrived (and yes she had called ahead and the food was ready and waiting). She said the traffic and roads were terrible and I believed it watching the snow come down and the temperature was only in the teens.

Normally I am not overly impressed with China Garden; those who read here regularly know we prefer First Wok. I had never had the House Combination Lo-Mien from China Garden as I have tasted their Chicken variety which did nothing for me. The combo dish was excellent. About an 8 compared to a 9.9 from First Wok, but far, far better than I anticipated. The rest of the food tasted better than usual as well...a fluke or a new chef perhaps? I will have to test this theory the next time the kids want Chinese food in a hurry!

The X and I watched Supernatural from last week, she left, and the evening was spent with the usual TV watching and game playing, though at 9PM when the snow was almost tapered off I sent out and snow blowed so the kids could get tot he street int he morning for the school bus. There were drifts of a couple of feet in the driveway which made things fun even with the snow blower.

Happy New Years

New Years Eve
I had a very quiet New Years Eve; I spent parts of the day cleaning up after the great prefab build mess and relaxing with the kids.

For the main meal of the day Scott, Danielle, and I ate at First Wok, they have an excellent luncheon special , though Scott opted for his usual Chicken Lo Mien with no vegetables. We stopped at Hollywood video to pick up the latest Harry Potter movie (which they did not have) so a quick trip to Family Video was made where we found a single nights rental copy; must be a popular movie!

We headed back stopping at Forest Hills Foods where we picked up snacks for the evening. Scott had asked if his friend Ben could come over, I said OK, and he arrived around 8PM. Close to 9PM I baked Cinnabon Rolls for the kids and some assorted appetizers (hot dogs in puff pastry, jalapeno poppers, gourmet pizza rolls, and mini pepperoni pizzas. By 9:30 we were seated before the project TV to watch the DVD of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix which turned out to be very good!

A tired Tails gathers her strenth prior to midnight!

The kids each ate 3 Cinnabons except Scott who ate four and I enjoyed some of the other appetizers.

Ben was supposed to be picked up at 1AM but his Mom was running late so he was there until almost 2AM before we were able to retire.

New Years Day:
We had all been up late so we slept in, me getting up around 9, Danielle at 11, and Scott around 1PM. It was a quiet day mainly of relaxation, snow removal, capped off by dinner with the X at Applebees which she paid for. Watching the snow while we dined was very nice, I was glad she was driving though!

All in all, a quiet, yet enjoyable New Year!