Sunday

What a change from yesterday's weather, with the hideous east wind and dampness and not above 50 all day. A good day to do stuff inside.

I cleaned out under my kitchen sink and cleaned out the fridge and paid some bills and did a Netflix ab crunch pilates thing. I put a roast in the crockpot to make enchiladas. Sal called as they were headed to the Club H whilst their dinner cooked so I went down for one beer and Donna was there with her doggies. We talked about Costa Rica which Donna has been to and for which Sal is hot. Especially some little place called Congo Bongo. There are many tripadvisor reviews for many little cabinas down there. And the airfare is only about $330.

Came home and made the enchiladas and hoping there is a Simpsons on while I dine.

Also I tripadvisored restaurants and stuff in New Orleans. Anne had suggested this place called Mothers but tripadvisor reviews pretty much ding it.

James Armstrong was very good at the Grounds last night. It was a full house and I drank too many Old Milwaukee Lights in the can and had the grumbly tum today.

This weekend went way too fast.
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Not much

Apparently my weekly post is all I can manage. Today I was out and about and my phone rings at 2 p.m. and it's Connie Z saying Don is wondering if I am coming in to do my show. Last week, the utes emailed the baseball schedule which said I would not have a show today or next week April 25. So much for planning.

Man, it was a beautiful day today. I cleaned up my grill in preparation for cookout season.

Last night after work I went to FP Mall and bought those jeans Sal told me to get and they SEEM to be great. But I'll see. Plus I bought a boatload of clothes in Penney's on the way out of the mall, two sundresses, a pair of shorts, two tank tops, two other tops and didn't try any of them on so now I will be returning everything but the tank tops.

Tom, Son of Kiger (as Dr. Sue calls him), is over at my neighbor's drinking and yukking it up in a big way and has been for about 3 hours. Hmmmmmmmmm.

I took my little flat of plants outside for some sun and now they are all nearly dead. Duh. I have no green thumb. Next weekend I might just start jamming seeds into the ground. I see on the NWS site that next Saturday it will also be 72 and sunny like today after a kind of crappy week.

James Armstrong at Grounds tonight. Lil Ed at FFB next Thursday. I see they want $10 to see him and it starts at 8:30. And Polka Floyd Sat. April 25 at Grumpy Dave's at 9.

Also heavy trash is the week of May 11.
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whirlwind

First, let me say that I am sorry to have accused Chip of cheating at cards when we were at Dylan and Stef's Friday night. I may have seen him steal the deal and PERHAPS reneg once or twice in other card-playing times, which may have been inadvertent, but cheating is a bad charge. So, sorry. I hope this doesn't ding me from future card fun.

Stef's party was a swell time. Many older folks were there when we got there at 8:15 but by the time we left at midnight, it had been taken over by utes, as it should be.

Friday I called in sick at work because, well, there are many reasons but I really was stuffed up and well, there wasn't any news and well, it was Good Friday etc etc. I stayed in bed til almost 2 reading. And eating.

Thursday was a swell time at the ClaZel. MANY people were in attendance, tons of whom NEVER come out for fun. Amy and I left at midnight and she offered to give Fred and Jo Sears a ride and when we got to the car, Fred says "Oh I forgot it was a two-door" as if this was a deal-breaker so I get in the back saying I was fully bendable, which after all the whiskey I drank, was true. Chip sent me some photos which I could not retrieve from home from my work email so I will post them later.

OMG, the horn players for Stacy Mitchhart are just the cutest boys EVER. It was a high energy night. Chris Shutters got onstage and played Red House, one of the best versions I've ever heard and then Stacy came back onstage and played with Chris and Stacy's band. Chris's PR person gave me a CD of his because somebody (my new friend Patrick) had told her I was the person who needed to have Chris's CD, which I played a cut of on my radio show today.

Kelly Wicks called during my show today to discuss the state of live music in BG. I opined that the ClaZel was not doing themselves any favors by having so many blues bands because the crowd for that was limited. I also said that Alex was doing a good job of bringing bands to Howard's and we agreed that the sound situation in there is not good. Plus the hospitality for the bands there is marginal, as Greg Ginn and the Texas Regulators had to buy their own beers, for chrissakes. Kelly also said the corporate sponsors for the Swamp had pulled out for this year and that personal donations would be appreciated. At last, the full schedule for the festival is online.

Amy and I discussed tonight that maybe the Swamp could pull back on the number of bands it books as most festivals we see have MAYBE 6 bands over the course of a day rather than the 9 the Swamp has. Something to consider to save money.

Today, hmmm, did a radio show, went to the Corner Grill for sausage gravy and biscuits with scrambled eggs, went to Meijer, cleaned the house. Tomorrow I hope to screw around in the yard, hoping the damn NE wind will have died down. Plus I will make the biggest delicious breakfast ever. As I will not be receiving any chocolate bunnies. Which I would not be so keen on anyway as I have not seen any made of 70% cacao.

Also I went to the bank this morning to find out how fast I could pay off my house if I made extra principal payments which the woman I talked to could not tell me so they are are having a mortgage person call me. Christ, I rolled out of bed for THIS? Some online mortgage calculator says that if I pay an extra $1,000 a month, I could pay if off by next October. I hope this is true.

Got 2 books at the library today that I had ordered in: Jim Harrison's newest novel "The English Major" and "The Hour I First Believed" by Wally Lamb which is 752 pages.

Note to self: car windows.
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Hippity hoppity Easter's on its way!

And I get to stay home! I'm so delighted. I asked my mom if she wanted me to come down but since I have to go there two weekends in a row in May, she said I didn't have to. I sent her a card. I will be making myself a giant breakfast.

Tomorrow night is Rod's Collision opening for Stacy Mitchhart at the ClaZel and Friday is Stefan's birthday party. So laying low to save up energy for this activity.

Last night I booked a flight to New Orleans for May 28-31, just a short trip. Staying at the Richelieu which has the Paul McCartney suite, in which I am not staying. Anne is also going and I booked a flight to coincide with hers so we are on the same plane out of the layover in Memphis. My plane leaves Detroit at 6:30 am. Anybody want to make some quick cash and take me there? Amy has said she would come get me Sunday night when I get back. Of course, I'm not holding her to that. I just HATE that parking and shuttling and stuff at DTW. Please. Are you not my friend????

Also last week I bought 4 new CDs: Elvin Bishop and Little Smokey Smothers, Buddy and Julie Milller, Blues of the Future Vol. 3 with Watermelon Slim and many other good folks and James Hunter's The Hard Way. Plus I got a tribute to Doug Sahm in the free box at the radio station with artists like Los Lobos and Joe King Carrasco. Plus I apparently ordered a Eli Paperboy Reed CD off amazon.com when I wasn't paying attention the other night.

Many of my plants are coming up that I put in that starter box. Looks like it's cosmos, asters, zinnias, chives and cilantro. One of them is so big the plastic dome hits it so I need to get it out of there. Hmmm, how? This weekend I will set them outside again for some fresh air and sunshine.

Found out today I have no radio show April 18 and 25 (baseball). But then it should be smooth sailing on through summer.

And it's not too early for me to extend my annual Memorial Day cookout invite to be held the Monday of Memorial Day itself. As always, stop by no earlier than 3, eating around 5:30.

Another 2 pieces of my bamboo fence took a fall over the weekend so I rolled them up and will reattach when it warms up. Got me a whole new pack of zip ties for this.

I have 2 daffodils blooming but that's about it. The plants out front I put in last year seem to be coming back. Mostly.

Have had the Wall-E movie for almost 2 weeks and haven't watched it yet. Where does the time go?

Fortunately, Sal turned me on to a good brand of jeans so maybe I will have some nice looking pants the next time you see me.

What will I wear to New Orleans??? It's always a challenge when you have a fashion plate for a daughter.

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Shopping

Amy calls today about 11:15 to see if I want to ride to the Rt 20 shopping extravaganza and I agree to see if they have those canvas skimmers at Target. Suddenly presented with a variety of goods, I purchase:
Two bed pillows
Two ceramic pots that I envision on my new porch
A Houdini wine opening kit that includes the rabbit opener, a foil remover, an extra corkscrew for the opener, two corkers, a pourer, a corker for fizzy drinks
Two boxes of Triscuits
A bag of Panko bread crumbs
A pair of Keds slip-ons
Two outdoor glass-top, fold-up end tables
Two pairs of underwear
Three pairs of garden gloves
An Easter card
A magnet-backed pad of list paper
12 cans of kitty din

Now I'm making a lovely dinner of baked potato, a red snapper fillet I got at Stimmel's giant seafood sale and some green beans with bacon.

Saturday night we went to the ClaZel to see Frostbite with Doreen Robideaux singing. They were very good (Whippin' Post especially) and it was a small but appreciative crowd. Stacy Mitchhart's promoter fell at the bottom of the spiral staircase and broke her bottle and cut her hand so she was walking around with a wet towel wrapped around it. The boys were watching the Final Four games at the bar. All of my pictures are so bad I can't even post any. I need a new camera. Sal's Olympus takes great pictures. I need to look into this. Gonyer bought one on eBay. I better look around.

The Humane Society wine and cheese is May 29 at the Hilton Garden Inn at Levis Commons. I am donating a bracelet that I have had for years that is too big and I kept meaning to have it made smaller and have earrings made from the extra links but alas, it ain't happening. Plus I found this other bracelet I bought somewhere that is much nice anyway. Plus last night I shined up my old asian themed bracelet and wore that.

I talked to my mom for an hour tonight. My sister has taken in another dog, a husky mix. So that's 2 dogs, 4 cats. And Karen's disability was denied surprise. And my mom had to have 2 teeth extracted. It's just one thing after another with those two.
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Yay weekend!

I planted 72 little seedling things in a flat with a plastic dome cover and now only 6 days later, I have things coming up! I made this chart of what I planted and now, depending on whether I turned the flat around or not (can't remember), I have chives and cilantro coming up OR cosmos and asters. I'm trying to keep them warm by leaving them on the floor by a register and shining a desk lamp on them for a few hours. I am hoping that it will become warm enough to put them outside for a while each day to get good growth going.

Didn't go to GNO although I hear it was heavily attended. The May one is at Deb's with the annual white elephant swap at Martha's driveway. Time to dig out stuff I don't need. And probably come home with more stuff I don't need.

I got an email back from the arborist saying I would receive a letter outlining how the city will fix my sidewalk and my driveway apron and save the tree. No letter yet.

Have been very bad on the cooking school, making too much stuff that I don't end up eating all of and then feeling bad about how there are starving people.

Wednesday I went to Elder Beerman and bought two pairs of jeans and two belts and today I took back one pair of jeans plus a pair of shoes I had bought about 3 weeks ago which I had tried on several times and although they were the Born shoes, could not talk myself into thinking I'd wear them and a shirt I had bought before I went to Mexico that at the time I thought was black but was actually navy blue. Plus the one pair of jeans I kept turn out to be ill-fitting although they have the spandex in them, they have baggy legs and after a couple hours of wearing them, the waistband is stretched out and they look like they are some large mom's jeans.

I have been keeping track of what I eat to see why I am not slimmer and although I have had a breakfast burrito from McD's twice this week (300 calories, 16 g. of fat) I have otherwise eaten sensibly. Plus I lifted weights Monday and did a Pilates Wednesday and walked Thursday. Maybe it's that 500 calories of wine a day. I'll get right on that. I did have a cookie one day.

At least, work has been much better since I adopted the less-thinking regime.

Radio show tomorrow plus Frostbite at the ClaZel. Big James is at Hines Farm but I feel the ClaZel is all I'll do. Starts at 7. Come on down!
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