Rebecca Yelled at Me

...because I have not blogged since Friday. I took away all her fun of reading updated blogs on Sunday night. Sorry, Rebecca! Better late than never, right?

Pretty nice weekend here at the Haskell Home. For the most part, we stayed in. Yay. I did not feel like having "set" plans, just wanted to go with the flow.

Friday after work was hilarious. Rebecca loaned me some workout videos she does not use anymore, and Kurt sits in the room while I do them sometimes. He likes to harass me, and was talking about how *easy* the videos were. I laughed, because besides the fact that he is totally uncoordinated, he has only used the gym maybe 4 times since it opened downstairs, and is totally not in shape yet. So, I challenged him. We came home and did the video, and umm, Kurt did not do so well. He stopped after part one, and for what he did during part one, it was not very good. Because he is not coordinated, he probably only did about half and was off beat the entire video. I guess it was not to easy, hun Kurty? :). I love being right. My Mom's birthday was Friday. Happy Birthday Mommy! I sent her two packages and she had only received one as of her birthday. She really liked it though (gift one was two drummer shirts) and I already know she will like gift two....

Saturday was another fun day. Kurt and I went to Lowe's in the morning so I could pick out the tile for the walls of the second bathroom upstairs. I had a vision in my head, which was what we bought at Lowe's. I looked at sinks too, but nothing there was right for me. Britton was over and while Kurt was working upstairs on the bathroom tile, Britton and I watched two movies: Accepted and The Break-Up. Both were great, lazy movies. I liked The Break-Up more, but I did not like the ending of that one very much. Accepted kinda started slow, but ended up being funny and good. I worked out in the afternoon after the movies, took a shower, and then Rebecca got here. Kurt, Britton, Rebecca and I did dinner at Quatro's, which was yummy. Came home and hung out at the house for the rest of the night. Oh, Rebecca introdued me to this show called Queer as Folk, that I am now addicted to. Total Lori show, but Kurt and Kory won't watch with me. :(.

Today, went this morning to Cabela's to buy some new workout clothes. Kory gets a discount since he works there, so I got awesome deals on really high end stuff....Also bought a new pea coat--mine is like 5 years old (maybe older) and really needs to be discarded. The new one is cranberry and so pretty! Got some cute Columbia gloves to match. Anyway, I ended up buying two Under Armor sports bras, one pair of black North Face capri pants, one pair of long pants (Under Armor), Under Armor black shorts and a black Northface tank.....I needed the stuff, my workout clothes are so old and worn. Watched another episode of Queer as Folk today, i love it!

Kurt finished the upstairs bathroom, for the most part. He put up all tile, and now needs to grout, put the sinks in, paint and I need to accessorize. I ordered the sinks online tonight, and they are super kewl. Click here to see them. Today at Lowe's, I accidentally found the perfect black stands for the sinks. Kurt will have to go back and pick them up when we need them.

So, that about sums up my weekend. Hope everyone else got a chance to relax as well.

Busy Times

So, I had a pretty busy Saturday and weekend in general.

Saturday morning, I got up, took a shower, and headed to Rebecca's to hang out before my hair appointment. She massaged me some, which I apparently needed since I was in pain. Thanks Rebecca! After that, we went to Trader Joe's, and I discovered the best workout bar ever. I read on a blog previously about this bar, and have been looking for it since. It is a new one by Clif, and I have not seen it in any store yet. Well, Trader Joe's came through for me. I bought a bunch, and OMG, Yum. I highly recommend. It seriously tastes like a condensed blueberry muffin. I am def going to buy these in bulk. Oh, it is called Blueberry Crisp Clif. After that, got my hair done with Marnie. I actually got about 3 inches cut off, new highlights and some sideswept bangs, which is totally not like me. I dont change things with my hair often. Kurt can't really tell a difference, but I def can.

Then, drove home, changed, and left for dinner with Cliff and Lisa in Detroit at Pegasus. What a pain it was getting to Detroit. This winter blast thing is going on down there, and traffic and parking was a total chore. Pegasus was OK. The food was very good--I had a grilled shrimp meal with green beans and rice and diet coke, kurt has a greek salad. But, the service was horrible. The staff was rude--all of them. They practically kicked us out when we were done because they wanted our booth for others. I wont go back there. I can get Greek food elsewhere. But, it was nice to see Cliff and Lisa......Kurt and I headed to the Windsor casino after that, where I played some poker and blackjack and did not win. But thats OK, I had a good time.

Today, slept in a little bit. I needed it after the long day on Saturday. Got up and did some stuff around the house, stopped at the grocery store. I was feeling guilty for not working out yesterday, so I did one of the videos that Rebecca loaned me. Loved it. It kicked my butt. It was like cardio Pilates. I will be doing this one again. It hurt. Then, tonight, I did another workout in the gym.
Oh, went to Lowes today with Kurt to pick out the flooring for one of the upstairs bathrooms. Him and Kory pretty much finished it today, except for the grouting. It looks SOOO good. they also finally hung the mirror I bought forever ago from zGallerie in the other bathroom. It needs to be cleaned (they got stuff all over it hanging it, but it looks so kewl. I love that mirror.

Cold in Michigan

It is so cold in Michigan right now. Almost record cold temps.

Current temp? 0 degrees Farenheit. Feels like? -15 degrees Farenheit. Not even kidding. And the rest of the week is not much better. It is not going to be over 23 degrees all week. Nice. Today, I went outside to the grocery store briefly and I could barely stand it getting into the car in the garage, it was to cold. Ugh. I can't stand this.

So, got to sleep in this morning. This working out crap annoys me sometimes, because I get fairly anal with what I am eating and doing. Bec, Kory and Britton went for pizza for lunch and I did not go, because I don't want to be counter productive with the working out. So, I just need to stay away from those kind of eating establishments...........Rebecca said the pizza place they went to was not that good anyway, so I am kinda glad I did not go.

The rest of the day, I just tried to get some things done around here. It is so cold though, I dont even want to get off the couch with my blanket. I did some laundry, did some dishes, picked up the house......My husband, the pseudo-plumber, fixed some things in my bathroom today that I have been begging him to fix for months. My sink and my shower had clogged pipes, so the water was taking longer to drain than normal, which in turn made the sink/shower get dirty more quickly, which drives me insane. He took eveything apart and now everything works. Yay.

Oh. Rebecca brought over a small refrigerator for the basement and I put water in it today. It will be nice to have it down there. I tend to forget it and have to run back upstairs to grab some.

The Colts won the Super Bowl. I did not really care who won, but I was rooting for the Bears since they were the underdog. So many turnovers in the game, it was crazy. Prince was the half time show, and I actually really liked it. Kewl lighting and fireworks effects.

Kurt's Birthday--Part 2

Today, we celebrated Kurt's birthday again. Went to Fishbones in Detroit for dinner with Kory, Rebecca, Britton and Gary. It was really good. I had gumbo soup and sushi. Afterwards, Kurt, Gary and I went to the casino in Windsor. Kurt and I won $102.50. My portion was only $2.50. I played Texas Hold Em. Kurt played blackjack and craps. It was a lot of fun, but nothing beats Vegas........

This morning, Kurt and I went to work for a short time, had a meeting with a new client. We then went to a couple stores.....One, this place Kurt likes for paintings and furniture....We bought a painting for the basement once it is done. Stopped for lunch at Zoup, and then at the Pier One Clearance Store. It was fun. Then, he hung all the posters in the gym. I really need to take pics....

Happy Birthday Sweetie!

It's Kurty's birthday today! Happy 36th birthday honey! I told him he is old today, as he is closer to 40 than 30, LOL, and I have not even hit 30 yet. Ha.

We went to dinner tonight with our friends, Tammy and Tom. We went to Uno's. I had salmon teryiaki and rice, and a smoothie. I think the smoothie was a mistake, as I am somewhat lactose intolerant. I usually can handle a smoothie, but now, my stomach hurts. Rather, it started hurting about half way through my workout, and I had to stop. But, half a workout is better then none, right? It was nice to see Tam and Tom, we have not seen them in forever.

We also stopped in Home Goods and I saw this ottoman that I may go back and buy. It would literally look perfect in the sunroom. It is really modern, and the same colors that are in there. Went to Michael's as well and bought frames for the gym posters as well. Just need to bring them in the house and hang them up now, and the gym will be pretty much complete. The only things left really then are hooking up the satellite down there (right now we have the TV hooked through upstairs), and need to buy a couple mirrors for the walls. I also would like to get a DVD player and some videos.

Had to workout alone tonight because Kurt had a little bit too much to drink at dinner tonight. Three raspberry pina coladas and three rum and cokes too much. Ha.

So, court was somewhat annoying for Kurt this morning. One hearing went well. It was filed pointlessly by a father. In MI, there is rule that you cannot move more than 100 miles from your residence without permission from the court or the other parent in the case. Well, our client moved like 103 miles away. She did this like 3 months ago, and the father never said anything. She says he actually agreed to the move. 3 months later, he files a Motion for Change in Custody based on her violation of this rule. Done out of spite, pretty much. So, she hired us over the phone, as she lives in a differnet area now. Met Kurt at the hearing, and Kurt pretty much got their Motion thrown out. She was thrilled. The other hearing was the annoying one. We had a client that was very unreasonable. We filed a Motion to Change Custody for him, as the mother moved to another state and left him with the kids. He wanted her to have no parenting time, or parenting time only in the state of MI. The other side hired an atty, and they stated they only wanted 2 weeks in the summer. This is very, very minimal, and less than the Judge would probably give her. Our client would not agree. Somehow, miraculously, Kurt got him to understand and agree, but the guy was not happy, and told Kurt he was not working in his best interests, yada yada. Kurt was like "it would not be in your best interests to go in there in front of the Judge, because your deal will be worse....." Sigh. People seriously just dont get it. Why do they hire lawyers if they think they know everything? Seriously.

The rest of the day was nice though. Phones were fairly quiet, which is not the norm on Friday afternoons. I got some paperwork done, returned some calls.

Oh, and we heard through the grapevine that a lawyer we know was disbarred! Apparently, he stole money from a law firm he was working with as well as a local bar association. How stupid can you be? I am wondering if there is more to the story, like a gambling or drug prob.

Friends and Family

So, tonight I went to dinner with my friend, Nancy, at Big Fish in Dearborn. I had a coupon to use for 40% off one meal, and I love that place. The food was awesome, as usual, but the service was somewhat annoying. This waitress walked by the table WAY too many times......I really wanted to be like GO AWAY. And then, she came and took my credit card slip away before we left and that is a pet peeve of mine. I never did that to customers when I waitressed. I think it's so rude. Anyway. It was awesome to see Nancy. She claims she thought I would look different now that I am a lawyer, but apparently, I don't. :).

Yesterday, Val (my ex-stepsister, LOL, who Kurt just calls my sister now since it's easier than all those pre-words), came over after work and spent the night. Rebecca ended up coming over too, so we all hung out. We took Val to Uno's for dinner, and then once Rebecca got here, we watched Napoleon Dynamite on DVD, which I have never seen. I really need to watch it again because I did not get to see the whole thing.

So. I think I need some sleep. I am so glad tomorrow is Friday. This week has been total insanity at the office and I so need a break.

Remind me to schedule a hair appointment.

First Snowfall of Newport

So.....Saturday, I slept in, then got up and went into the office for most of the afternoon. Rebecca met me there around I think 430 p.m. and we ran some errands I needed to run. I picked up my new can opener (with 20% off coupon) from Bed Bath and Beyond, and we went to two Dunham's to look for this flooring Kurt needed to finish the basement. He needed 3 packages and we only found two. Boo. But, today, Kurt and I stopped at a Dunham's in Canton and found the last one. Yay.

Kurt and Kory worked on the gym basement most of the day yesterday and part of the night today. And, tada, it's done! I will take pics another time and post. It's awesome. It looks like a real gym! No, it does not have the luxuries of Rebecca's gym, but to me, it's better because it's in my basement, I can watch what I want on TV, and it has everything I need. Kurt ended up putting in a closet, where he is storing my medicine and other workout balls. We bought a TV today at Rex in Monroe and hooked it up to our satellite. So, tomorrow, I will be starting my workouts and keeping track of those and my progress. Can't wait.

Today, we went to lunch for my Grama's birthday, which is tomorrow. We went to this place in Livonia called O'Charley's. I had soup and salad and I bought my Grama a really kewl ring from Kohl's. She loved it. My two aunts were at dinner, my Dad, Grama, and me and Kurt. It was fun.

Saturday night, we had a fun dinner. We went to Dolce Vita, which now has sushi, YAY. There are no sushi places in Monroe, so I was psyhced to find out that they are now serving it. And, it was super good, especially considering they are serving it at an Italian place. We started to watch a movie, John Tucker Must Die, but Kurt thought it was stupid, so we ended up turning it off. Speaking of movies, Rebecca and I watched Little Black Book before dinner, and it was hilarious. I loved it. Really lighthearted, cute movie.

I went outside and took some pics of the snow. We had our first major snowfall here today. Which only equates to about 2 inches, but still. Click here to see them, they are the first nine pictures. I am shocked I went out in that weather, but, for a picture, I will do just about anything. ;). I hate to admit snow is pretty, because I can't stand winter, but it is the one, and only positive thing I can say about snow.

World Record

So.

Incredible things are happening at our house. The oven? It was used two days in a row. Yes, yes it was. I made two meals in a row. In the oven. This is truly a remarkable thing.

Ha.

So yesterday morning, I had my first multiple hearing day. Also, I had my first hearings at the Friend of the Court. Everything went well, and I was especially pleased with one hearing. Here are the deets:

Child: Age 6, boy.
My client: Dad, has not been allowed to see the child much in 6 years, and has gotten nowhere asking for parenting time himself.
Other side: Mother. Control freak. Has enjoyed having complete control over parenting time for 6 years. Pregnant with third child, only 23 years old. No lawyer, representing herself.

We filed a Motion for specific parenting time and reduction in child support. Went in front of the referee and advised what was going on. Said we wanted specific schedule. Referee asks other side what she wants, she agrees with me. OK. She also says, I will agree to whatever you want, Mr. Referee. OK. I jump all over that. I tell the referee we want every other week in the summer (which is VERY rare) and every other weekend during the school year. The Ref asks her if this is OK and she just says YES. I am thinking, WHY are we in court? Anyway, my client was thrilled and the time starts this weekend. Strange. I usually have to argue more than that. Which would have been none. Gotta love those cases.

Oh, and everyone welcome home my laptop! After vacay, I took it in for repairs. They called me becausse they needed my restore disks, and I could not find them at first. Finally found them and took them in and picked up the finished product today! I am beyond thrilled to be sitting on my couch and typing and watching American Idol. Now I just need to get Kurt's fixed, which requires calling Dell, which is basically my worst hell. I hate calling there.

I think that's about all going on in the household in the past couple days......I miss having Rebecca around to talk to! Damm her going on a cruise....

For all those who read this who are wondering how she is doing though, she emailed me today from an Internet Cafe and she is having a great time. She says she is getting an awesome tan, and today, her and her Mom were on shore in the Bahamas and were going to Atlantis to a casino and aquarium. I am so jealous! She also advised that she bought Kurt three bottles of foreign rum, so he will be psyched.

Where Did the Weekend Go?

I did so much this weekend, but still feel like I did not get a weekend. I can't wait until this workweek is over so I can relax next weekend.

Saturday, I went grocery shopping. I bought so much. Our house was pretty much, umm, empty, and I bought stuff to fill it and bought double so I dont have to go back for a while. I hate grocery shopping......Got home, helped Kurt clean the rest of the afternoon, and then everyone got here. Kendra, my niece; Keith my brother in law, and Kellie, my sister in law. Kory was at the auto show all day and got back right before they did. We had a fun night. They looked at my Costa Rica pics and then we went to dinner at Quatro's. Dinner was really nice, and Kurt taught Kellie how to play Keno. LOL. Came home and we bought a movie on Pay Per View called The Little Man. Kurt and Kendra picked it out. It was really idiotic, but our family will have fun watching anything, so we made it amusing. After that, we all talked and went to bed.

Today, we woke up and Kendra and I headed to Briarwood Mall, while everyone else headed to Cabela's (which is where Kory works). Kendra and I walked the mall, then headed downtown to go to Urban Outfitters. I had never been there before and loved it. Then we had Chinese for lunch, and walked the mall some more. Everyone met us later in the day, and they headed home, while Kory and I headed back to our house. Rebecca was here when we got there, and her and I headed to get pedicures. She wanted one for her cruise, and I just really needed one. I don't get them as much in the winter, but I like to every once in a while. Went to a new place at the mall, and I did not really like it as much as my normal place (which is not open on Sunday). Came home and went to dinner at Red Lobster, and then watched our normal Sunday night TV (i.e. Desperate Housewives, Intervention). Rebecca then left, because she has a plane to catch in the morning.

So, what I got at the mall. I actually bought myself a few things, which is rare. At Urban Outfitters, I bought an adorable t-shirt that says "Vegetarians Have More Fun". I then bought a little book called Pug Mugs, which is freaking hilariously cute. Also bought this great air freshener for my car that has an anti-Bush little saying on it. So me. Can't find a pic of that though. Let's see.....then, Bath and Body Works was having a sale, so I bought three body sprays, and Victoria's Secret was having a sale, so I bought some body sprays and two new bras--one black and one white. Really cheap. Oh, I got this great new nail polish (which I put on tonight) at the MAC counter in Macy's called Sacred White. Also bought a make-up brush for eye shadow and some brush cleaner. I think that's it..........It was a fun day, and I love spending time with Kendra when I can, because I rarely get to see her. It's hard to believe she is 18 now!

The Meeting

So, got to meet my friend Julia's new boyfriend tonight.....Actually not too "new", but I have not met him yet. We have both been so busy--me with work and her with studying for the bar. Wow, I don't envy her right now. We were talking at dinner and it was bringing back the awful memories of my studying this summer and wasting an entire summer. Well, I guess it was not a "waste" because I did pass, but my summer was not the most fun. Anyway. Tony, her boyfriend, is a really nice guy. Him and Kurt talked a lot, and they both love sports, so he is already ideal to Kurt. They watched a playoff game while Jules and I caught up. It was really nice to see her. I miss seeing her everyday like we did in school. I am sure once she is done with the bar exam we will start seeing eachother more. I hate that she moved to Clinton Township though, ugh. That part of the state if the absolute worst to get to, it is so freaking congested and trafficy. I keep trying to talk her into moving here, hehe. Tony is a doctor, so he really could open his own place ANYWHERE, and I don't see any better place than Monroe, do you? hehe. We had dinner at Eastside Mario's, which I love and my food was really good. I had angel hair pasta with spicy marinara and shrimp. Yum.

Friday night, Kurt, Kory and I headed to Quatro's for dinner. While there, we saw our friend Gary....on a date. It was strange to see him there because we don't normally see people we know in Monroe. He lives nearby though, so I don't know why I would think that it was weird. Kurt is predicting that the date was not going well, but I don't know. I will have to ask Gary later.

This morning, I went and got a massage in Monroe. Rebecca was busy all weekend, so she was not coming over to give me my Desperate Housewives massage on Sunday night, LOL. So, I headed to Blu Water. Had a new therapist today, Steve, who was awesome. I had him just do upper body, since that is my prob area and he did a great job. I am so screwed up. Stress goes straight to my shoulder, neck and back muscles. After that, I did a few things around the house--laundry, some dishes, picked up some stuff.

Just ordered my niece's birthday gift online.....Every year I order her stuff from Sephora....She is an addict like me. I am not going to list what I got her though because I have no idea if she reads my blog or not? I am guessing not, but I am not ruining the surprise....I will post what I got her AFTER she gets the gift.

I am exhausted now, so I think I am going to head to bed. Hope everyone is having a good weekend....

They Understand Us...

Just had one of the best dinners. The entire menu at this place is vegetarian. Kurt had lasagna and I had a pasta meal with tomatoes and soy......Also salad with their homemade dressing. Everything was awesome.

We have started seeing kewl animals. We saw this huge butterfly after dinner. We were looking through some brochures, and *thought* this creature was a paper weight. Two seconds later, the butterfly started flying towards us! Huge. I think the wingspan was about 12 inches. Wow. Then, we saw some geckos playing on the wall outside our room. They were really cute. I love those.

It is so quiet here, and dark. They have no lighting going from the rooms to the lobby, so it's so peaceful and you can hear all the nightlife as you walk. The US would never allow this because of lawsuits and the like (not lighting pathways), but I loved it.

Anyway, off to bed. Will write more tomorrow night....

Spam

So, my life has been crazy busy. We are trying to hard to get like everything caught up at the office, but every time I get close, we have more people hire us. Well, I guess I should not complain about it....

Last night was fun. My Aunt and I went to dinner and the theatre. Dinner was at Cuisine, this place I love. I tried something new, called skatefish. Loved it, and highly recommend. Then we saw "Spamalot" at the Fisher. I really liked it, it was funny. I recommend it if it's in your area, especially if you love comedy and theatre. The variety in the show was incredible and the singing was awesome.

Got my Secret Santa gift in the mail today! One of my online message boards does an exchange, and I got my gift! I hate not being able to open it until Friday. Blah. It's sitting on the counter begging to be opened.

I am started to get excited about my trip. I called my cell phone company today to ask about the cost to call home and it's like $1.99 a minute. Don't think so. I will prob be getting a calling card or something while I am there. Or just contacting people by internet. Kurt and I are both taking our computers for night and when we are in our room, which will be rare, I am sure.........I can then work on pictures I took during the day and stuff too. Hooray!

Monday was a fun day for me. I argued my first contested Motion in court. It was on a custody case. Basically, long story shot, the Mom and Dad, for the first two years of the child's life, shared custody on a 50/50 basis. The Mom started to get some kind of aid from the state, and because she did, the state went after the father for repayment. The Mom had lied to the state and said the child lived with her fulltime. So, he hired us to take care of it and get everything in writing with the courts re their agreement. Well, the Mom showed up and did not want that. Anyway, I won. The Dad now has half custody of the child, until the court's can look into the situation and make a final decision. So, I started off on the right foot with my contested motion stuff. Yay.

"I Put the R in Rad"

So, the rest of the weekend was fun after the "hunter idiots" fiasco....

Rebecca came over and we ran out to Target and to a couple stores in the mall. I bought Gretel a new little outfit...I can't resist. Now that I know she likes clothes, she has to have more than one outfit....I don't want her doggie friends to make fun of her when she goes out.....haha. The little outfit says "rockstar" on it, and it is so appropriate for her personality.....After Target, we headed to Old Navy and I bought a totally "Lori" shirt, that says "I Put the R in Rad." Which, like, I totally do. Right? LOL. I also got a couple t-shirts for our trip on clearance, and a Black fleece because I liked it! And it was on sale.

While at the mall, Kurt called us to see if we wanted to see Borat. He has been wanting to, and Rebecca has not been wanting to, but she decided she was game...so we picked up Kurt and headed back to the theatre.....I am SO GLAD Kurt talked us into it because I have not laughed that hard in ages. I was laughing so hard in parts, I had tears streaming down my face. The movie was very nonpolitically correct, but I loved it anyway. It was so stupid, so stupid, it was funny. After that, we met Kory up at Pete's Garage after he got out of work. After dinner, we came home and watched a Dave Chapelle video Rebecca brought over, then I was off to bed. It was a tiring day dealing with the stress of those hunters being in our yard....

Today, we got up and went to the office until about 730 p.m. Ugh. At least I got a lot of paperwork done. And have been home the rest of the night. I love being home. Threw some laundry in, got some more Xmas cards done, and wrestled with the doggies. Currently, Oscar is lying by me snoring really loudly, it's hilarious.

My Favorite

I had a great day. Except for the brief stint at the office this morning. We planned on working this morning, so Kurt scheduled an appointment for someone to finish up their probate paperwork. I was so not in the mood to be business-like this morning. But, we finished it and another case at the office can be closed, so that is good.

After that, headed to Ferndale to get my "hair did" at Sinbad's with Marnie. Got a couple inches cut off, and new wonderful highlights. I love the way Marnie does them. I can go over three months between highlights, and they still don't really need to be done at that time. She does colors pretty close to my natural color, and mixes in a lot of my own color, so it always looks great. Yay for Marnie. Afterwards, I went to Rebecca's so she could try a new massage technique on me involved hot stones.....ummmm, loved it. I heart Rebecca, her massages keep me sane. We went to "lupper" (a combo of lunch and dinner) after that at Monterrey. I had spicy shrimp fajitas that were awesome. We stopped at Astoria after that and picked up some desserts. I bought Kurt some chocolate mousse, Kory an oreo cheesecake and myself tiramisu. Triple yum.

Been home the rest of the night, chilling on the couch. Sad that Michigan lost the big game, it was soooo close.