Ghettoesque...

Monday morning I will meet with the City Assessor who is "following up on my basement building permits: 3/4 bath and egress." 

So in true fashion, I had joked with a friend about trying to "ghetto" my house before the visit so that my taxes didn't go up too much! 

Maybe I shouldn't say things out loud, as sometimes, wishes do come true!  In the past 24 hours, the city grass between the street and the sidewalk has been tore up for work.  I thought it was for water line repair.  Today I received a letter in the mail from the gas company about upcoming work (date tbd) to work on the gas lines from the main to the house which will cause trench and yard work (fortunately they will repair concrete and yards at city expense!).  And then this afternoon a friend of mine called me as he was going by my house and inquired about a car out front and asked, "Are you dating anyone?  There is a white car out front of your house."

So how is this for ghetto?  Now if I can only figure out what to do with the inside?  I should really not say anything else, who knows what will happen!

News: Investigative Reporting

I'm not a big fan of the news.  I see enough negativity at work to last me; however, last night I was waiting on the final load of laundry to dry in the dryer so I was watching the 11p.m. news.

What a bad idea!  I found myself tossing and turning all night long. 

Why you ask? 

What seemed like a five minute clip that I was revoltingly glued to the television was on BED BUGS!

I even checked my mattress before going to bed!  Note to self, AVOID the news if I intend on functioning in the future.  A couple hours of restless sleep is just not going to cut it for my 12 hour workday today!

Hope you slept well and the bed bugs didn't bite you in your dreams!

Green Be Gone: Greeting Grey

DK's Bedroom Before

DK is the Ex-BF (of 2.5 years ago).  He HATES painting.  His bedroom is the only room in his house that I didn't paint for him since he's owned it.  He and his dad painted it, although I admit I may have had some input on the color.  The room ended up being Gumdrop or something similar and we thought it would go well with a new black and white comforter, black curtains, black and glass night stands and Ansel Adams framed pictures.  It would have.  Almost.  IF they hadn't purchased it in a semi-gloss which made the color so obnoxiously hideous.  That was...four years ago.

Last summer while hanging out with DK on his jetski, I offered to help him repaint.  Shortly there after he was involved in a relationship and I decided they could do it together!  Unfortunately that relationship didn't work.  Two weekends ago, some fifteen months later, I finally fulfilled my promise to help paint his bedroom.  I'm not really sure why, and I may have thought several expletives while painting the room while he and T watched the UofM/MSU game!  He did tape the room and cleared out the furniture!  He also offered to get me things every twenty minutes or so! 

Seeing that DK is color blind, he didn't care what color to paint.  I decided he needed something calming and neutral that wouldn't scare away any new girlfriend.  I actually went with one shade lighter than what I had painted his living room, a light grey.  I did ask for his help in rolling the second coat - which proved most disastrous as he really had no idea how to roll paint on a wall!  I caught most of the running drips, but not all!  But it looked so much better than before!

DK's Bedroom After

Now if only I would actually finish the painting in my house!  I still have to finish the laundry room and outside window trim!  Maybe I'll even do it before next year! 

City Assessor Pays A Visit: But Who Really Pays?

Sunday night I went to grab the mail and noticed a pink tag on the ground on my porch. The tag had blown off the door and was from the City Assessor’s Office. Apparently, someone had been by the house on 10/14/10 to follow up on the basement remodeling due to the building permits.

I struggled for about half a second on whether or not I wanted to call and follow up. Afterall, I haven’t had a new assessment since I moved into my house in 1999. I know that with all the work I have done, my city taxes will go up. I’m not looking forward to an increase, but the market hits shouldn’t affect it too much!

I only hope they don’t notice the new furnace, new doors, new windows, new plumbing, new electrical, well and everything else! My goal…keep him focused on the ¾ bathroom addition and the egress window and keep my mouth shut! Wish me well!

Mini Vacation: Weekend Recap



Copper Canyon - Southfield, MI


The weekend went fabulously well. I definitely think there is something to be said for spending time with someone that you don’t really know. From experience, it just affords little expectations and the ability to really enjoy yourself while learning about the other person.


I was suppose to have Friday off after teaching late Thursday night. I’m beginning to enjoy teaching and have to say that a smaller group leads to some excellent conversations! Friday morning I had to do a home visit, which forced me out of the house earlier than I had anticipated and I was able to get all my errands done. I managed to pack and even left out the kitchen sink!

I grabbed AG to take him to his parents as it was on the way to my friend’s house. AG decided that being punctual was of little importance and we grabbed a late lunch and I was about 25 minutes later getting to MS’ house, which he wasn’t exactly ready to go, so it worked out well.

We met my parents and TS at the Library Pub in Novi and had a great time! We were really early compared to our company, so we had lots of time to kill and enjoyed the conversation. We headed to the hotel, Marriott in Southfield after dinner. The hotel was very nice, no complaints from me! We watched the movie Get Him to the Greek, which he enjoyed and I fell asleep.

Saturday we met for the Motor City Brew Tour in Southfield, two LONG miles due to construction from the hotel. Four other people were late due to traffic and going to the wrong location. We sat in the parking lot drinking River Red – American Amber Ale, German Kolsh, Sven/Ollie American IPA and Rocktoberfest. We finally pulled out of the parking lot at 11:50a.m. (50 minutes late!) and headed to Liberty St. Brewing.

Liberty St. Brewing is a cute brewery in Plymouth. We had pizza and each had two half-pints. MS and I shared, so we had four samples: Steamy Windows, Punkin Pie Ale, Naked Sunday and Red Glare. The Punkin Pie Ale was by far my favorite!

Our second stop was CJ’s Brewing in Commerce Township. We had pitchers and tapped coolers to sample a wide variety of beers and continued to drink until it was time to move to our final stop. Beers included: Smoked, Smoked & Oak, Golden Ale, American IPA, a chocolate Stout, Cherry Ale and a couple more! The Golden Ale and Cherry Ale were my favorites!



"Beer Goggles" that were passed around for the photo op!



We ended the tour back at Copper Canyon in Southfield. We had seven pitchers of beer to sample! Beers included: Alt Ale, Devils Peak (American IPA), Porter, Java Stout, Roctoberfest, Rye IPA, and Northwest Gold. I purchased a bottle of some Apple Turner over beer from 2007 that was super YUMMY! We were the last to leave the brewery, since we had no time constraints as we were unable to get dinner reservations at The Whitney.

We then headed to Detroit to check in to the St. Regis hotel. The hotel was fine and the price was definitely right. By the time we checked out, only one elevator worked and we had issues with the shower pull, but I would stay again! We crashed when we got back to the room and never did eat dinner! We woke at 9:00p.m. and headed to the haunted house, Realm of Darkness in Pontiac.

The haunted house was a cluster F@#$ of disorganization. We were extremely disappointed. I do not find it even remotely scary to be screamed in the face by people I can’t understand that act like you can’t see them initially!



It was after midnight when we made it back to the hotel. Sunday was spent at Motor City Casino where I contributed a few dollars! Then off to Troy so MS could get a new Red Wing hat. We stopped in Howell for a late lunch at my favorite, Tomato Bros. where MS has now fallen in love with the breadsticks! We finished out the trip at the Tanger Outlet Mall where he found great deals at VanHeusen for shirts and ties. The drive back to his house was especially long as I felt like I had driven all around the state (I did!). I then had an hour to spend with MS at his house before AG got back to his parents for me to take him home.

My weekend finished as I got home after 9p.m. to a chilly 60 degree house! A great weekend! Hope you had a fabulous weekend!