Things that bring a smile to your face

[oblong]

[Tigeraholic1]

 

[CMRivdogs]

During one of our Christmas season gatherings, one of my nephews mentioned he was taking an art class. He's done brass work and sculpture but never really tried portraits. He was looking for some subjects for class. 
My wife sent him a picture of our son, who's about his age, and he did a great job. He then asked for a shot of our grand son.

This is what we got. 
 

It's now been framed and ready to be hung

[gehringer_2]

42 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

During one of our Christmas season gatherings, one of my nephews mentioned he was taking an art class. He's done brass work and sculpture but never really tried portraits. He was looking for some subjects for class. 
My wife sent him a picture of our son, who's about his age, and he did a great job. He then asked for a shot of our grand son.

This is what we got. 
 

It's now been framed and ready to be hung

very kewl.

[Tigeraholic1]

These guys are amazing. 
 

 

[CMRivdogs]

I gotta brag a bit. My grandson won a gold metal in Social Studies in the 7th grade class competition Friday in the Aquinis Academic Olympics at Cabrini High School. His school finished in first place in the Tourney. 

[chasfh]

 

[chasfh]

Wt

[Motor City Sonics]

Passive/Aggresive brilliance on my street today. There's one guy who complains when people mow their lawn too early (meaning 11am or Noon) because he works 3rd Shift. He doesn't ask nicely. He's a jerk about it. Well, someone this morning, used their snowblower on the sidewalk down the entire length of my side of the street --16 houses. Expect one house, the jerk's house, which didn't get touched. A clear message. Whomever did this, I'm buying you a beer.

[oblong]

Near me there must be a beef between two houses.  The property lines do not line up with your driveways.  There's like a 3 foot area beyond the driveway.  This one house shoveled their walks up to the end of their driveway, did not go out the 3-4 foot.  The other house shoveled their walk up to their properly line.  The result?  A clear sidewalk except for 3-4 feet.  They both use services to clear their snow so....

 

[Biff Mayhem]

On 2/14/2025 at 8:04 AM, Motor City Sonics said:

Passive/Aggresive brilliance on my street today. There's one guy who complains when people mow their lawn too early (meaning 11am or Noon) because he works 3rd Shift. He doesn't ask nicely. He's a jerk about it. Well, someone this morning, used their snowblower on the sidewalk down the entire length of my side of the street --16 houses. Expect one house, the jerk's house, which didn't get touched. A clear message. Whomever did this, I'm buying you a beer.

I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m saying that’s a level of pettiness that I’ve rarely seen. 
 

Hitching my wagon to this, I had a boss (had) who set a daily alarm for 4:28 so he could walk through the office to ensure that no one left two minutes early. 
 

A former employee of his sent a glitter bomb to his house. 

[gehringer_2]

On 2/14/2025 at 1:26 PM, oblong said:

Near me there must be a beef between two houses.  The property lines do not line up with your driveways.  There's like a 3 foot area beyond the driveway.  This one house shoveled their walks up to the end of their driveway, did not go out the 3-4 foot.  The other house shoveled their walk up to their properly line.  The result?  A clear sidewalk except for 3-4 feet.  They both use services to clear their snow so....

 

If he moves to A^2 they'll give him a ticket for leaving that 4' if it's on his property. I've got about 15' past my drive, my neighbor always does it anyway so I do half of his walk if I've gotten out first.

[Motor City Sonics]

2 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

If he moves to A^2 they'll give him a ticket for leaving that 4' if it's on his property. I've got about 15' past my drive, my neighbor always does it anyway so I do half of his walk if I've gotten out first.

I took my garbage out at about 2pm once (our pick up day is Monday) because I knew I wouldn't be home until about 1am and I didn't want to make noise.    One of my neighbors must have called it in because I had a warning notice on my door about taking my garbage out before 5pm.........This is on a Sunday, mind you.    I think it was a $300 fine if I did it again.  

You want to know how much noise I made taking out my garbage late the next time?    I made sure that wheelie bin made bumped everything it could on the way to the driveway.  

Yet, there is a woman, who NEVER EVER shovels her sidewalk or throws salt down...........and this is not an old lady incapable of doing it, either.   She has plenty of physical strength to fill her backyard, garage and house with junk (she's a hoarder), but can't clean her sideway.      Never gets a ticket or a warning.   Ever.     I take out the garbage 3 hours early and I'm a criminal

EDIT:   It's a non-HOA neighborhood.     I'd never live in a HOA neighborhood. 

Edited February 18 by Motor City Sonics

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, Motor City Sonics said:

I took my garbage out at about 2pm once (our pick up day is Monday) because I knew I wouldn't be home until about 1am and I didn't want to make noise.    One of my neighbors must have called it in because I had a warning notice on my door about taking my garbage out before 5pm.........This is on a Sunday, mind you.    I think it was a $300 fine if I did it again.  

You want to know how much noise I made taking out my garbage late the next time?    I made sure that wheelie bin made bumped everything it could on the way to the driveway.  

Yet, there is a woman, who NEVER EVER shovels her sidewalk or throws salt down...........and this is not an old lady incapable of doing it, either.   She has plenty of physical strength to fill her backyard, garage and house with junk (she's a hoarder), but can't clean her sideway.      Never gets a ticket or a warning.   Ever.     I take out the garbage 3 hours early and I'm a criminal

EDIT:   It's a non-HOA neighborhood.     I'd never live in a HOA neighborhood. 

There are rules in A^2 for about everything but they almost never bother you unless a neighbor complains. The guy across the street leaves his beat up old pickup on the street weeks at a time - he's got 100' of driveway. You can't leave a vehicle parked in A^2 on any street for more than 48hrs. I keep thinking the plow drivers will call in on him but they don't. The SO gets frosted because she doesn't like it behind her when she backs out of the drive. He's a nice enough guy but I guess he's just totally oblivious since he apparently never wonders why he's got the only vehicle on street.

[Motor City Sonics]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

There are rules in A^2 for about everything but they almost never bother you unless a neighbor complains. The guy across the street leaves his beat up old pickup on the street weeks at a time - he's got 100' of driveway. You can't leave a vehicle parked in A^2 on any street for more than 48hrs. I keep thinking the plow drivers will call in on him but they don't. The SO gets frosted because she doesn't like it behind her when she backs out of the drive. He's a nice enough guy but I guess he's just totally oblivious since he apparently never wonders why he's got the only vehicle on street.

My garbage did NOT get picked up because some idiot parked in front of my house and the automatic truck could not get close enough to pick up the bin.    Car stayed there for about two weeks and my next door neighbor let me put my bin in front of his house the next week.  

[MichiganCardinal]

I’ve battled weight my whole life, lots of yo-yoing. It was psychological hell in the latter part of 2024, where I was stuck in this vicious mental cycle where I wanted so badly to lose weight but couldn’t get past the mental block of thinking it was just too much and I was incapable.

Finally, October 18, 2024, I started calorie counting. I can’t tell you why that date, I just took the step. I didn’t tell anyone, not even my girlfriend of two years, for a month.

I joined a local CrossFit gym in December, and it absolutely Kicked. My. Ass. But I kept going back.

I was 312.4 on 10/18. As of this morning I’m 260.6. Down 51.8 pounds. I’m not sure my end goal, but I do think saying I lost 100 pounds would be cool.

I’ve told a few people. Thought I would share here. 🙂 

Edited Saturday at 12:53 AM by MichiganCardinal

[MichiganCardinal]

On 2/18/2025 at 2:56 PM, gehringer_2 said:

There are rules in A^2 for about everything but they almost never bother you unless a neighbor complains. The guy across the street leaves his beat up old pickup on the street weeks at a time - he's got 100' of driveway. You can't leave a vehicle parked in A^2 on any street for more than 48hrs. I keep thinking the plow drivers will call in on him but they don't. The SO gets frosted because she doesn't like it behind her when she backs out of the drive. He's a nice enough guy but I guess he's just totally oblivious since he apparently never wonders why he's got the only vehicle on street.

I’m just seeing this weeks later, but when I lived in Ann Arbor I once had a crazy neighbor call code enforcement on me because I had two cardboard boxes sitting next to my trash can. Three days before trash collection day.

I saw the code enforcement guy taping a sign to my door so I went out to talk to him and made a new friend. We talked about the Lions for 10 minutes and then he said he hated his job but it paid well. Fair enough. 🤷‍♂️ 

Now I live in the middle of nowhere in Monroe County and no one bothers me. Bliss.

[oblong]

2 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I’ve battled weight my whole life, lots of yo-yoing. It was psychological hell in the latter part of 2024, where I was stuck in this vicious mental cycle where I wanted so badly to lose weight but couldn’t get past the mental block of thinking it was just too much and I was incapable.

Finally, October 18, 2024, I started calorie counting. I can’t tell you why that date, I just took the step. I didn’t tell anyone, not even my girlfriend of two years, for a month.

I joined a local CrossFit gym in December, and it absolutely Kicked. My. Ass. But I kept going back.

I was 312.4 on 10/18. As of this morning I’m 260.6. Down 51.8 pounds. I’m not sure my end goal, but I do think saying I lost 100 pounds would be cool.

I’ve told a few people. Thought I would share here. 🙂 

Congratulations on your progress.  Do you take classes at the CrossFit?  I found that was the key for me.  I had a gym membership my whole adult life and would go for a bit then quit. Repeat a year later.  Once I started classes I stuck with it. I liked being locked in and given direction.  Have met some great friends over the last 12 years. 

[microline133]

2 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I’ve battled weight my whole life, lots of yo-yoing. It was psychological hell in the latter part of 2024, where I was stuck in this vicious mental cycle where I wanted so badly to lose weight but couldn’t get past the mental block of thinking it was just too much and I was incapable.

Finally, October 18, 2024, I started calorie counting. I can’t tell you why that date, I just took the step. I didn’t tell anyone, not even my girlfriend of two years, for a month.

I joined a local CrossFit gym in December, and it absolutely Kicked. My. Ass. But I kept going back.

I was 312.4 on 10/18. As of this morning I’m 260.6. Down 51.8 pounds. I’m not sure my end goal, but I do think saying I lost 100 pounds would be cool.

I’ve told a few people. Thought I would share here. 🙂 

Bravo, sir. Definitely a smile in my face reading this. Good for you!

[MichiganCardinal]

56 minutes ago, oblong said:

Congratulations on your progress.  Do you take classes at the CrossFit?  I found that was the key for me.  I had a gym membership my whole adult life and would go for a bit then quit. Repeat a year later.  Once I started classes I stuck with it. I liked being locked in and given direction.  Have met some great friends over the last 12 years. 

Yes! During a past weight loss, I had a Planet Fitness membership, and it worked for a few months, but there was no accountability or personal drive to maintain.

Doing the classes has been a game changer. I’ve made a community of people from widely different athletic backgrounds, but I enjoy going, and it’s been the difference.

[oblong]

10 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Yes! During a past weight loss, I had a Planet Fitness membership, and it worked for a few months, but there was no accountability or personal drive to maintain.

Doing the classes has been a game changer. I’ve made a community of people from widely different athletic backgrounds, but I enjoy going, and it’s been the difference.

Awesome.  Yes it gets to the point where guy don’t even think of it as working out but just going to see your friends. 

[CMRivdogs]

I've found with classes there is some degree of accountability. Last year I took Pulmonary Rehab for my IPD, it was a good start for me. In the early fall, my wife started water aerobics at the local Y (free thru AARP) both going together allowed me to keep up with the needed aerobics. When she paused for knee replacement surgery and follow up PT, the timing didn't work for me (too short of a waiting period from dropping her off to picking her up) and I fell out of the habit. Now we're back to the Y a couple of days a week.  

[CMRivdogs]

A small thing but nevertheless, I picked up the sax for the first time in months today (the alto). It felt good and my lips gave out before my lungs. Actually my O2 Level held fairly stready.
 

My wife was out of the house on a self care day, since she works from home I try not to disturb her with the horn. The weather is getting better, more time in the garage than the dining room.