Thank Goodness For Trust...

The other day, K and I had this conversation:

K:  So-and-so--you remember him, he retired last year--and his wife just got a divorce.
Me:  Really!?!?!?
K:  Yeah.  They were married all those years and divorced after he retired.
Me:  Maybe she couldn't handle his being around all of the time.  {said with a smile}
K:  Rumor has it that there was more going on.  She supposedly started running around on him.
Me:  Well, I think it probably wouldn't be considered a mid-life crisis--she would have needed to do that 15, 20 years ago.
K:  What would possess someone to start that after so many years?
Me:  Well, how does he KNOW that she JUST started running around?  If he worked shifts, it would have been very easy for her to be meeting someone while he was on night shift, for example.
K:  That is true...

Tonight, at 11:00, the phone rang.  I was in the bathroom WITHOUT a phone.  I didn't get to the phone in time to answer it.  Caller ID told me that it was K, who is on night shift.  Thank goodness we trust each other completely.  Otherwise I might be doing some 'splaining in the morning.  :D

Wheels!

This past Thursday, after 5 or so months, we once again became a two vehicle household!  K finally got 'the bug' and went out to get himself a truck--thank goodness!

It's not as if my life was that horribly terrible without a vehicle at my disposal 24/7, but it certainly will be easier for me to get some things done with having one.  When you have to make appointments around someone else's work schedule, it makes it very difficult to actually come to terms with wherever you need an appointment.  I was having a hard time trying to get in to the tanning salon because they changed their hours for the summer.  K gets home from day shift at 6:15 and the salon closed at 6:00, so I was left with only his days off to go in.  This meant the MOST times I could go in was once a week, except for when he was on his long weekend.  I also have not been able to get an appointment for a mani/pedi--something I DESPERATELY need.  I'm hoping I will be able to work something out with my manicurist within the next couple of weeks.

Anyway, the truck.  K FINALLY got a grown-up truck.  It is a 2011 Silverado--this is the first time he has had a full-sized truck.  Every other truck he has had is a small one, so he is due to have something this size.  He will actually be able to put a plow on the thing if he wants.  It only had 20,000 miles on it--barely broken in for a truck--and it has 4 wheel drive.  YIPPEE on the 4WD!  Now, this isn't some Hollywood version of a truck--it is 'only' a work truck.  There is nothing spectacular about this truck--no power windows, no Onstar, no CD player--all it has is the 4WD and air conditioning.  And that is all you need in a work truck.

This very possibly will be the last truck K will ever get.  By the time he would need a new truck, he will be retired and we most likely will go back to having only one vehicle again.

And now for some pictures:

If you noticed, the truck sits considerably higher than the Envoy--something I am painfully aware of.  It was certainly a task for me to get in and out of the thing--I actually had to JUMP to get out of it!  Anyway, the running boards--thank you, K--will be installed next week.  I am waiting to take the thing out for a ride--I think I'll like driving a full-sized truck.

Another Concert

On the 15th of June, we went to see a performer that I never really thought I would go to see--and enjoyed every minute of the concert.  We found ourselves at the Barry Manilow concert--and this happened, mainly, because my best friend is a huge fan and wanted to go.  I was pretty much surprised at how much fun we had.  Don't get me wrong, I AM a fan, just not a 'Fan-ilow.'  ;)

The venue where this concert was is an ice arena where they hold other events.  And we had fantastic seats. We sat in the first row of seating that was off of the floor and I think we had better viewing because we didn't have to worry about the people in front of us.

For some reason, my phone makes things look much further away than they actually are.

Anyway, we were given 'glow sticks' when we first sat down and it was really cool to look across the arena and see everyone waving the lighted sticks:

So, we finally got to see Barry Manilow:

Once again, I took sucky pictures with my phone.  I really don't know how to take good pics at a concert.  And then K told me to just take a pic of the Jumbotron and I got this fairly okay one:

It is hard to imagine he will be 70 on his next birthday.  He still is a very good performer.  The only problem is that whatever plastic surgery he has had makes him look like a caricature of himself, but other than that, he is not much different than he has always been.  He always was, and always will be, an entertainer--something that all performers cannot aspire to.

Of course, he sang 'Copacabana.'

And here is a short video of the song--I will hope that I won't be asked to take it down.  ;)

I'm happy we decided to go.  It just goes to show that you need to take a chance once in a while.  This is the second time I went to a performance that I wasn't especially excited about--the other one was to see 'Wicked'--and found myself having a great time.  I hope this is a good sign, because I have been 'coerced' into seeing 'Mamma Mia!' in August--and I most definitely am NOT an ABBA fan.  ;)

Again, About a Hotel

On 15 June we were in Green Bay for a concert.  (More about that in a later post.)  The concert took place at the Resch Center, which happens to be across the street from Lambeau Field, home to the Green Bay Packers.  The hotel we stayed in was only 0.10 miles from the Resch Center.  In other words, the only way we could have been closer to the home of the Packers is if we stayed on the field itself.  ;)  So, the hotel we stayed at is 'party central' for Packer fans on game weekends.

First, all of the parking lots in the area of this hotel are open for tailgating on game day.  There are a number of hotels, bars, and restaurants where those who watch the game--either at the field or on TV--celebrate a win or mourn a loss.  We stay as far away from the Green Bay area--and surrounding towns--on game weekends as we possibly can.  From what I understand, Green Bay and the surrounding towns are overrun with rabid fans who do an awful lot of partying and drinking, no matter if there is a win or loss.  Obviously, a lot of these people are males--and we all have some degree of knowledge as to how a group of guys can get when they overindulge.  So, when I made the reservations at the hotel, I was a little worried as to what we would find.  But, I made the reservations anyway because of location, location, location.  We knew how great it is to just walk to an arena for a show after we saw Clapton in St Paul, so we went into this with fingers crossed.

The hotel is older, that was apparent.  However, on first impression, you could tell that it was well cared for--at least the outside and the public areas.  I certainly wasn't expecting much in the way of how well the rooms were, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Now, the room was nowhere near in perfect shape, but unless you are one of the first people in a newly constructed hotel, you are not finding perfection.  The carpeting in the room definitely needed upgrading, but other than that, the room was well kept.

If you ever read any of the articles that say 'The 10 Filthiest Surfaces in a Hotel Room' or anything like that, you know that remote controls are something that you don't want to touch until you disinfect them.  So imagine my surprise when I saw this:

They now make remote controls that can be CLEANED!!!!  How cool is that?  This was the first time I have seen this and certainly hope it isn't the last!

One of the first things I do after unpacking is to sit down and look at the hotel folder that has all of the particulars of that hotel and the surrounding area.  Usually the folder will have information such as check-in/check-out times, 'things to do', escape plans, and area maps.  I HAD to take a picture of the map I found in this particular folder:

I had to laugh, very loudly, when I saw what was highlighted on the map:  where the liquor store was located!  :D  That most definitely was another first for me.

Considering we go to so many concerts/events, there is a better than average chance we will be back in Green Bay for something.  After the decent stay we had, I won't hesitate at all to stay at this hotel again.

Our Own R2D2

I mentioned a while ago that we can't do central air conditioning in our house because of the heating system we have.  Our house is heated with hot water, so that means our furnace is a boiler and the hot water runs through pipes, which heats the house.  Because we have no forced-air heat runs, we can't cool our house with our heating system.  This leaves us with the easiest/cheapest option and that is window units.

Every spring/summer, K has to haul up our window air conditioners from the basement.  To cool our house, we need a minimum of three units and that means quite a bit of work for K every spring and fall.  (We have to remove the a/c units because of our winters--we really couldn't afford to keep them in throughout the winter, as the heating costs for the house would skyrocket!)  He is constantly trying to figure out a way to make less work for himself--aren't we all always doing the same ;)--so he keeps looking for lighter/different units we could use.  When he first heard about portable a/c units, he decided we needed to go that route for cooling.  This year he went out and got one.  And here is a picture:

That is our R2D2 unit in the dining room.  It completely took up all of the space between the dining room table and the window--and as hard as I tried, there was no solution to the problem.  Not only did it block the pathway, but I had to move the table further out into the middle of the room and that created an even smaller path through the room from the kitchen to living room!  This did not make me a happy camper, at all.

After running this thing for a few hours, K realized that he did nothing to drain the water from it!  Anyone who has an a/c unit knows that they pour water out the entire time they are running, but with this thing being completely inside, we had to come up with some way to drain the water.  And this is where the bucket came in to the picture.  (And no, I didn't take a photo of it.)  So, a hose was hooked up to the unit and it was put into a bucket to drain.  Problem solved--NOT!!!  For some reason or another, the hose wouldn't screw properly, so the unit poured water onto the floor.  After fashioning an aluminum foil 'pan' to place under the leak, things were a LITTLE better, but I still was cleaning up water every couple of hours.  Obviously, this was NOT going to work.  And K had to agree--finally.  Two days later, the window unit was put in.

We now have a (horribly) expensive R2D2 air conditioner sitting in our basement, unused.  K said he will be hooking it up to use down there, but it hasn't happened yet.  I do believe it will help a lot with cooling this house, but it has to be RUNNING for that to happen.  We find ourselves halfway through the summer and I'm not too positive this thing will run anymore this year, but we always have NEXT year to look forward to.