Bucket List

I was going through some files on the computer and found My Bucket List.

I hadn't looked at the list since 2014, so I took some time to update it.
I have no idea how long it will get, but I am trying to cross at least 101 things off of it during my lifetime...

I currently have 71 things crossed off of the list...
Some of those items include:
 - Graduating from College
 - Traveling:  Ireland, Scotland, England, Japan, Alaska
 - Doing things: Singing Karaoke, Tea at the Ritz, White Water Rafting
 - Adventures: Six-seater planes, Helicopters, Submarines
 - Family: Married, Children, Grandchildren
 - etc. etc. etc.

With 24 left to do...
Such as:
 - Attending: Stanley Cup, Superbowl Games
 - Travel: Mediterranean Sea, All 50 States, Greece, Kauai, Pearl Harbor, Sydney, Italy, U.P.
 - etc. etc. etc.

Still have to come up with a few more to make that 101...

Namaste.

Completely Michiganders...

I was browsing through some of the post on the blog (fixed a few typos) and saw how much I commented on our relocation and trying to sell the house in Kentucky...

So, I thought I should let everyone know that we have closed the chapter on Kentucky and are 100% Michiganders... FINALLY.

MBB is still not extremely happy about moving to the Artic, but there are far more items in the positive side of the list than he expected.  I am extremely happy with our location - though we won't talk about visitors!

And - I asked my friend about the meaning behind Michigander...
Apparently, Abe Lincoln was the first to say the term... And it wasn't in a good way, but it stuck.
In 2011, a poll was held that revealed that 58% of residents preferred that term (according to Wikipedia).

So, I am a Michigander!

Namaste.

Memorial Day in the USA

My blog tracker lets me know that I have visitors from all over the globe, so I thought that I would share some knowledge about the US's Memorial Day holiday. I was listening to the radio yesterday and the DJ broadcasting (who is an American) didn't even understand what the holiday was for...

Memorial Day is meant to be a solemn day of remembrance to honor the US Soldiers who lost their lives in a war. It is not a day to honor any US Soldier - that day is Veteran's Day and the two are confused often.

Memorial Day was originally established to honor the soldiers who died during the Civil War and was originally known as Decoration Day.
In 1966, Congress declared Waterloo, NY as the originator of the holiday in 1866.
In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a National Holiday to be celebrated on the last Monday in May.

According to CNN, approximately 1.2 Million Americans have died from the Civil War to present day wars (https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/23/us/memorial-day-fast-facts/index.html).  

I remember, honor and give thanks that those men and women stepped up to defend the USA and gave the ultimate sacrifice to allow my fellow Americans and I to live as we do today.


Namaste.

#FridayFinds - Scramblers!

We have visited Scrambler Marie's a few times and it is a fav of mine...
Though MBB has high standards for breakfast, so he is "okay" with it...
This is a Breakfast/Brunch/Lunch place that closes at 3pm everyday:

Here are a few pictures from various visits:
Crab Cake Benny (this has been a repeat for me):

Lean & Green Omelet:

Banana Nut Cakes (MBB was not a fan, I didn't try it as the nuts ruined the pancake for me):

MBB got a waffle today and said that it was the best waffle that he has ever had (of course, I didn't get a picture). 

He has also had "Toast of France" (French Toast) and the Stuffed French Toast.  He liked the Toast of France, but I did not.  I called it warm bread... But I am a French Toast snob - their aren't many restaurants who can make me happy.  He wasn't as happy with the Stuffed French Toast.

Namaste.

#FridayFinds - Chinese / Black Pepper Chicken-ish

We have a few Chinese Restaurants that we visit.
This one is near our Pool Hall (and came recommended from a co-worker, so we have visited a few times)...

I talked them into making Black Pepper Chicken for me (it is amazing how such a popular dish in Kentucky is so hard to find in Southeast Michigan/Northern Ohio)...
It is definitely a different spin (grilled chicken instead of fried and way peppier/spicier), but it hit the spot as far as a craving!

I won't say that this is our "go-to" Chinese place, but it is one that we will frequent again.

Namaste.

Playlist

I have found some songs that I enjoy listening to...
No particular genres / artist...
Just music that I like - depending on my mood...
In all actuality, my list on Amazon Music is way longer, but I tried to keep one song per artist here...

7 - Prince  (NOTE: the only song on the list not available on Amazon Music)
All About That Bass - Meghan Trainor
All of Me - John Legend
American Soldier - Toby Keith
Angel - Sarah McLachlan
Angels Among Us - Alabama
Back In Black - AC/DC
Back To December - Taylor Swift
Beautiful - Christina Aguilera
Big Girls Don't Cry - Fergie
Bless The Broken Road -Rascal Flatts
The Champion - Carry Underwood
Creep - Radiohead
Desperado - Eagles
Dibs - Kelsea Ballerini
Drunk On A Plane - Dierks Bentley
Four Five Seconds - Rihanna/Kanye West/Paul McCartney
Friends - Michael W. Smith
Girl Crush - Little Big Town
Girl On Fire - Alicia Keys
Hallelujah - Alejandro Fuentes/Askil Holm/Espen Lind/Kurt Nilsen
Hero - Enrique Iglesias
Hips Don't Lie - Shakira
Hot N Cold - Katy Perry
The House That Built Me - Miranda Lambert
Humble and Kind - Tim McGraw
I Believe - Blessed Union of Souls
I Can Only Imagine - Mercy Me
I Don't Dance - Lee Brice
I Get Weak - Westlife
I Will Remember - Sarah McLachlan
If I Were A Boy - Beyoncé
If Today Were Your Last Day - Nickelback
In Case You Didn't Know - Brett Young
In Color - Jamey Johnson
Love, Me - Collin Raye
Love Me Like You Do - Ellie Goulding
Love Yourself - Justin Bieber
More Than Words - Extreme
Most People Are Good - Luke Bryan
One Power - Daniel Nahmod
Perfect - One Direction
Perfect Work of Art - Karen Taylor-Good
Pink Houses - John Mellencamp
Remembering - Ashley Campbell
The River - Garth Brooks
See You Again - Wiz Khalifa
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
The Sound of Silence - Disturbed
Stronger -Kanye West
Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics
Take Me To Church - Hozier
Take Your Time - Sam Hunt
Tonight Looks Good On You - Jason Aldean
Tuesday Morning - Melissa Ethridge
Wake Me Up When September Ends - Green Day
Where Is The Love - The Black Eyed Peas
Where Were You - Alan Jackson
You're Beautiful - James Blunt
Hell of a Highway - Jake Worthington


I'm always looking for new music and am open to suggestions...

Namaste.

#CraftyTuesday - DIY Barn Door

We have been in need of a door for our Master Bathroom...
We have some oak boards that we salvaged from the 2012 Tornado...

Demand meets Supply...


MBB and I tackled the project of making a Barn Door!

I tried to take pictures throughout the process...

First we have the raw boards that we planed and got to the right sizes.  We did have to fill in some "holes" to keep light from shining through:

 

Then the sides were routed to allow for overlap and two cross boards were created to hold the boards together (metal strips on the back).  We used spacers to determine where to drill the holes...

This was our "dry run" before staining/polying:

And the color makes an appearance...
I used one coat of Walnut and two coats of Poly:

And the final product with all of the hardware:

We are still debating whether to put a cross board on it for more stability...

Namaste.

Home

We have been working on making the Michigan house a home.

I feel like we are making some headway and are about to burn the last of the boxes.
So, I have finally put out the welcome sign that I had been eye-balling for awhile...

It helps that I feel like we are just days away from closing the chapter on our last home down in Kentucky...
It is warming up and I (cross my fingers) think that we are done with the snow, so I am hopeful that we will have some visitors soon.

Namaste.

Happy Mother's Day!

I'd like to take a moment to say to everyone a Happy Mother's Day.

Whether you are a Mom, stepped into the roll of a Mom (shout out to step-moms, dads, siblings, cousins, etc), buried your Mom or lost your Child - today is a day for you.

 

Namaste.

Major Renovation

I know about Septic Systems... I grew up with them.
You know (speaking from a 10 year old's memory) - don't flush stuff that shouldn't be flushed because it stays in your backyard and Dad will find it out if you didn't when he gets the tank pumped.
Every so many months - you have to flush septic stuff down it to keep your house from smelling.

What I did not know...
>That you should ALWAYS pump your septic every five years (whether you think it needs it or not)!
>Apparently, if you don't the chemicals from the waste in the septic could destroy the tank.
>And, when you are buying a house... Get an inspection on the tank whether you think you need it or not.  You never know - you may have a hill-billy system that isn't a true system (true story).

That education led to a major renovation of a new septic system...
Which is why I now know what a septic tank and leach beds look like as they are being installed:

I'm glad that this part of my education is coming to a close.

Namaste.

Pool Ying Yang

We have been slowly getting the new house decorated.

There is a new picture in our Pool Room that I absolutely love and am thrilled that it is on our wall:

It doesn't look like all of the other pool photos that we saw (we did get a few of those too)...
And I like that.
I like different.

Namaste.

Hashtags...

I use them...
On twitter...
On facebook...
Here...

I made up a few for there: #CraftyTuesday and #FridayFinds

Then, someone asked if anyone knew what a "typical" hashtag was for a Tuesday...
Have I mentioned that my best friend's name is Google?
:)

Here are some "typical" daily hashtags for future reference...
#MotivationalMonday
#TransformationTuesday or #TravelTuesday
#WellnessWednesday
#ThrowbackThursday or #TBT
#FoodieFriday (which kinda goes with my #FridayFinds)
#ShoutoutSaturday
#SundayRead or #SundaySpecial


Namaste.

#FridayFinds - Travel Edition Take 2

I am beginning to see a trend... Texas.

I have three quilts that now reside there...
I have spotlighted travel on #FridayFind twice now...Both are from Texas.

When I am traveling, I tend to eat things that MBB doesn't care for...
So, there is lots of Fish, BBQ and Sushi!

Up this round is a stop at a Suchi place in Dallas:  Uchi

We (my sushi buddy and I) sat at the bar and the head chef took care of us...

They started by bringing us a complimentary starter...  

I don't remember what they called it, but I do remember it being yummy.  

Then, as is our norm, we each order something and then share.
Here was the first:

And the second:

(I think there was a third, but my camera made me think that it took a photo... and didn't...)

And a Japanese type cheesecake with caramel and ice cream for dessert:

I wish that I could give you the names of everything that we had... but these pictures have been on my phone for a couple months and many trips ago and my memory was only kind enough to remind me of the "Japanese cheesecake".

I will say that the food was at a "treat price" (in other words, it didn't break the bank, but was higher than norm for a typical restaurant meal) and the food tasted really good.

Namaste.

My View

Yesterday was the first really nice weather day we have had this spring...
Let that sit in a minute.
First nice weather day
Yesterday
May 1st

Yep, I'm still dumb founded too.


But I took advantage of the weather to sit on the back deck and just be...
It was so peaceful and wonderful and relaxing...
I think I set there for about an hour just enjoying the view:

I didn't get a repeat today...
Some raindrops decided that they liked the view this evening too.

Namaste.