Christmas Parties and Fun

We had a Christmas Party at the Park last night and one at the bridge club today. I enjoyed them both very much. I ended up coming in 2nd overall at the bridge party besides having a ball.
The weather has been great. Mac and I are enjoying our new furniture here in Florida.
Tues. I went to see "Australia" with my girlfriends. My good friend Harry is coming Monday and Mac and I are going to the theater on Sun.
Tomorrow night Evan is playing at Joe Louis between periods of a hockey game in front of a crowd of people.
When I am not out playing I play scrabble with Beth on the computer.

Florida Home

Mac and I had a hard trip down from Michigan. We left the Sat. after Thanksgiving and the traffic on Sat was fine, but Sun. after Atlanta it was one traffic jam after another. We finally stopped overnight in Gainsville to get off of the road. I hate I-75 any time, but this was the worse. I heard from some neighbors down here that it was still bad on Monday. (The construction, the accidents, etc.)
Mac and I have been working all week on unpacking and getting new equipment for our house. We are being welcomed here with open arms and it feels real nice to be here. Mac's nephew, John Sparks, dropped in the first day we were here. He was coming by on his way back from Lake City. We had lunch together and Mac and John fixed the bathroom sink leak.

Today we went to the doctor to get our regular blood work done. We aren't sick at all, but we usually get a cholesterol, liver, and blood sugar test twice a year (maintenance). We both weighed 90.4 which was low for me. He weighs less than me usually.

The weather has been a little chilly and we have had the furnace on a few times. It is sooooo much better than Michigan though, anyway you look at it.

Winter is Here

I haven't blogged in ages. I have been to busy with Scrabulous, Wordscraper, and now Lexulous to do anything else whenever I have a bit of computer time. It is very stimulating though. What am I grateful for today--my cold is getting better, no new snow, enough energy to go off to Yoga at 8 in the morning, that I can spend the Thanksgiving holiday with family, that my Christmas newsletter is done and a lot of my Christmas shopping.
Sofie's giggle, as Anja opened the birthday present from her on October 30th, still echoes in my mind. She was so excited about the gift that it was a miracle she hadn't yet told Anja what it was already.
I just love being a grandma!!!

Puzzling!!?

When I had all of the company last week I didn't bother to go to the Library and collect my weekly NYT Sunday crossword. I went in Mon. and got the two I had missed with a bonus puzzle. I have been sick all week. Great gobs of green and chartreause snot come out of my nose and lungs. I have been hoarse and tired. Regardless of this I was able to do one of the crosswords 100% and the other all but about 3 squares and the bonus in about 3 hours Monday night. Last night I did my very first Killer Sudoku. (My sister Beth gave me a hint about them when she was here.) I guess my body is sick but my mind works OK.

New Outfit

My new blouse came yesterday from Cloldwater Creek. I bought it in Ann Arbor and it is the 4th and final top that I have purchased to go with these pants.
I got such a deal on the pants ($2 at the Izod outlet in TC). I even found them at the Birch Run Izod on sale for $40 last week. The pants set me off on a huge shopping binge that ended in Ann Arbor.
(I got one top in Brighton, two others in Grand Rapids.)
Mary was with me when I tried this blouse on in a size L in AA. It was just the right colors but a little snug. It zips up the front and looks cute that way too. Mary encouraged me to ask them to look for an XL at another shop. They found it in Troy and sent it to Gowen for free. I just love it. Since the pants were such a good deal I don't feel bad about spending $53 on the blouse. (The blouse was on sale too!)
I now have another nice outfit for Sean's party weekend in New York. I am flying to NY a few days early to play bridge with Harry and then he will take me to the party and I am riding back to the NY airport with Shannon and Caleb.
My next big party is the 4th of July weekend. I will be having 11 people overnight in two campers and our dorm room. We have the fireworks purchased and the pills to sedate the dog and I even ironed the boat decorations. We will have all of this done and it will rain all weekend.
Oh welll, as Mac says, we will just about have this place whipped into shape by the time we leave in November for FLorida.

I'm Lonesome

We had a great family reunion at Jerry's Boyne home. Shannon and her family came to Gowen the night before and we stayed overnight at Jerry's and then spent Father's day in Traverse City and met Patrick there, followed by a week in Gowen with Shannon's family, Beth and Mary and now they are all gone and I miss everyone a lot.

What's Up

Today we found out that Mac doesn't have prostate cancer. He had a biopsy on Friday and we got the results today. He is very relieved. I even got shingles from the pressure of his depression. He was so up tight that I felt like I should just shoot him to put him out of his misery. I did get to go to Ann Arbor for a few days in the middle of all of this PSA nonsense. That was really fun. I played bridge and shopped and saw some of my old and dear friends down there. I had to cut the visit short when Mac found out he had to have a biopsy. The procedure took about 10 minutes and the results came back pretty fast.(3 days)

Mary is in Ann Arbor now and soon we will all converge on Jerry's place for a huge family reunion. It will be the first time I have been with all of my sisters and brothers since Dad's funeral three years ago. Shannon and her whole family should be arriving in Detroit right about now. It will be great to see them after all the time they have been in Europe.

I have started a great new scrapbook. I identified 23 fantastic females in my life an told them that they were going to be in a book together. They are my favorites, I asked them to tell me what their favorite things were. I got two responses so far. Beth sent her photos of grandchild #1, ultrasound of #2, owls, movie angels and her family. Jo sent pictures of her and Sean, her dog, a great looking key lime cupcake with sprinkles and an ultrasound of follicles and some drug they use in the fertility process. I am really amazed with the creativity they both used to express a collage snapshot of themselves. I have been loving my part too, which is to write up the reasons that I am including them each as a favorite. I have done Beth, Shannon, Anja, Jo and Sofie so far. My sister Mary tells me that I can say she is my favorite sister because she drinks more than all of the rest and is the thinest. I will try to say something a bit more than that. 18 to go.

More about Me

I have had a nice day. The first thing I accomplished was ordering Mac some Mach III razor blades on the internet for less than they ever cost at Meijer with free shipping to boot. Then I went to Yoga and came back with a bucket of KFC thighs and legs with coleslaw for lunch.
That tasted yummy but I followed it up with coffee ice cream--very nice.
This afternoon I made a great vegetable curry with cauliflower, spinach, tomatoes, butternut squash and chic peas. It was wonderful. I am freezing a bunch of it so that when I have company soon, I can serve it to them. I also planted some Cosmos and watered the flowers a bit. Mac let me read to him about Prostate Cancer from the internet and that makes him a little less anxious all of the time.
I just got out of the hot tub. We got the water in yesterday and the heat and chemicals adjusted today and it was great to be in it again. It is a little brisk out and there was a light wind so it was perfect weather for a soak.
Too bad about the Red Wings last night. Maybe they can finish off Pittsburgh tomorrow. Tonight we get the very last returns on the Democratic primary. It has lasted way too long and used up way too much money. I am sorry that Hillary hasn't topped it off. The split is going to be hard to mend with the democratic party. Anyway, when there is a political return or a Red Wing game I can watch anything I want on TV and entertain myself at will. Mac just gets glued to the TV, like he was last night through three overtimes.

This and That

Last night the itching that I had on my back turned into little red spots with blisters. Yikes, I have shingles again! Second time this year. I have been taking L-Lysine every day to ward them off, but I am not surprised. Mac isn't the only one being anxious about his current prostate problem. Plus I have had very little energy lately, in fact I told Mac on Saturday after I came back from the gym that I was having trouble swimming as the water was hard to push. Now I know why I was tired enough after yoga.

One good thing about having very little physical energy is that I was able to launch my FAVORITE WOMEN project. I picked out my favorite 23 women and put them on notice that I will be needing some contributions from them. That took about 3 hours in front of the computor. I have even started to write up the paragraphs for the book which will explain why they were chosen. Beth has sent me a bunch of photos to use and I will get her page done first.

I had a nice Skype call to Shannon and her family today. We talked for about an hour. They will be home soon and we are almost done getting ready for their arrival. Shannon was mad at me for not reading her blog lately. She said that there were no comments. I know what she means as I never get any comments to mine. I like writing it anyway. It is a diary and I use it as a memory jogger when I do my scrapbooks.

I did a little research and found out that the Orthopedic surgeon that comes to Greenville does take my insurance this year. He didn't take it last year as it was only BC/BS but this year it is Medicare plus blue and that makes a big difference I guess. Anyway, I cancelled with the GR doctor I was going to see tomorrow and I am now going to schedule an appt in Greenville with this guy. I hope I can see him before I am unable to walk, but I would rather be going to him, than 4 or 5 round trips to GR. I wish that I had looked into this sooner. The last knee shots were in December and they wear off after 6 months or so.

I got a lot of ingredients and I was going to make a curried vegetable dish tonight, but when we finally got home after, (lunch at Ponderosa, 3 stops to see if we could get Mac's glasses fixed, the Library twice (had to go back because I left the key to our safety deposit box inside a book that I returned), the bank to clean out our box, Walgreens for the photos of Beth, recycling of the newspapers, and finally Meijer where we took back cans, refilled our giant water bottles, did some grocery shopping, drove home and unpacked everything) I was pooped.

I don't know if it is the medicine or the Shingles but I am going to go to bed now and tear into the two NYT sunday puzzles I xeroxed at the library. My dog Rascal will curl up beside me I'm sure.

Prostate Problems

When I was in Ann Arbor, I think that I had a lot on my mind and wasn't good enough at bridge either Wed night or Thurs afternoon, but I enjoyed playing anyway. I will be going down again before August to make up for the rest of this weekend. I left for AA without my phone charger and without any of my prescription medicines. I guess that I am a little upset by what is going on with Mac and he is totally off the wall. ( He is right now glued to the TV watching the democratic national committtee trying to decide whether to count Michigan and Florida votes and it is keeping his mind off of his problem and that is good.)
He talked last night with a guy who really had prostate cancer and had it removed. Mac got the feeling that this is not a death sentence but he is still hightly anxious about it all. This morning I got up before him and left for the gym (I do this every sat. a.m. and told him about it yesterday and we had words about it as the gym is 10 mi away and gas is so expensive, now. He thinks I should just do yoga at home. ) Anyway when he woke up after I was gone, he couldn't figure out where I could have gone. You can see that his mind isn't very clear right now.
----- Original Message -----

Trip to Ann Arbor

I planned to be in AA from Wed til Sun. I came back on Thurs because Mac was frantic. The ultra sound looked great but they want to do a follow up biopsy because it is ENLARGED. {Basically he is 76 and 76% of men his age have prostate cancer. Most of them die with it--not because of it. They don't treat it, it doesn't do anything to them and they die of something else first. (Dad had it there at the very end)} All they had to do was call mac and try to schedule a biopsy and he freaked out. He spent the rest of the day trying to contact me, but I was playing bridge and my phone was down in batteries so I had it turned off. I finally called him when I was free by using Gargi's phone and found out about the biopsy. He was crying on the phone and I left AA and came home. It is hard for me to be having fun with my playmates while he is so miserable.
I did get to do some shopping and see Allan, Gargi and Karen. I will go back and see all the rest of my friends when the dust settles up here. The biopsy is for next Friday (june 6th).

A Few of My Favorite Things

I had to push myself, but I got up and out of the house early to go to 8:30 am Yoga class, followed by 23 minutes of swimming laps. I went to Meijer, as usual, and then went home for lunch, all prepared to roast up some veggies tomorrow when it is supposed to be cold and rainy. I'll be roasting asparagus, 3 colors of peppers, garlic, vidalia, onions, red skin potatoes and broccoli. We already have the portabella mushrooms sauteed to add to the veggie mix.
I spent the afternoon alternating between bidding on ebay for Sofie's current favorite toy and doing gardening. I planted half a flat of wave petunias and 1/2 a flat of impatiens, plus the primroses. I managed to win one of the auction I was working on.
When the mail came, my new "memory stick" arrived. I can't believe how cheap it was, and it fits my camera perfectly and will hold 4 times the amount of photos as my old one.
I walked Rascal for a mile and put him through his paces. He is getting better and better at the "come" command and can go very far in the heel position as well. He isn't good at "sitting" or "down", but once in either position he will stay for quite a while.
Except for the Red Wings losing, everything was great. The weather was wonderful and we were spending a lot of time on the porch looking at our brand new picnic table and umbrella. They are going to be very useful this summer.
After the game, Barry helped Mac put our boat in the water. It was just then that it started to rain like crazy and the wind came up and a very dark cloud blew in out of somewhere. Luckily the boat now has a powerful new engine, so Mac could scurry over the lake and bring it into the dock. After that it rained on and off for a while.
I made a great 8 layer salad for dinner and we had brats, but we didn't grill them or eat on the new table as it was too cold.
We waited for Barry and Nancy get done with their errands and then they came over for dessert. I made an experimental dessert that we all loved. You grill pineapple slices and add a scoop of coconut sorbet. Top that off with caramel mixed with rum. They are called Pina Coladas and they are great. That won't be the first time that I make that recipe this summer either.
We all got our winter parkas on and went for the first boat ride of the summer with both dogs, under an almost full moon.

Grateful for my Blessings Today

I have had a wonderful day. To start with, this morning I found out that I had won a new memory stick for my camera on an ebay auction. It supposedly holds 1GB and I got it for $2.99.(I love the Muu Muu that I got on ebay for Sean's upcoming Luau 4oth bash.) Then I took the dog out to pee without a leash and he went out and did his thing and came right back in when I called him. (He is getting used to us and our routines and soon we can just let him out and back in and not have to venture out ourselves.) Then I went to the gym for an hour of water aerobics plus an hour of Yoga, followed by shopping at Walgreens, Meijer, Walmart (to get Mac's glasses adjusted) and best of all the Two Season's greenhouse.
I bought the wave petunias, impatiens and alyssum that I buy each year, but I also bought a nice lavender plant and two primroses. I am going to try growing the lavender in a pot near the beach as it needs a lot of sun and I have mostly shade. The primroses are for Anja (I don't know if they are still her favorite flower or not.?) I used to have some but they have disappeared so I thought I would try again. Maybe they will be in bloom when she gets here next month.
My last errand in town was to go to the lung doctor for a check up. I haven't changed much in four years now and that is good news. My blood oxygen level was 94% this year and 95% then. They said, just call if you are in trouble, no more regular two year visits. (I weighed 5 lbs more than two years ago, but I am working on that.)
I have already dropped about 4 lbs since getting back from Florida. One of the things I have realized just lately is that the down side of not ever getting new knees is that I have to get serious about keeping these two out of pain. Losing weight is one way to help that along. I almost wanted new knees so that I wouldn't have to lose the weight--Isn't that sicko?--prefering a drastic operation like that, to controlling my food intake. (Rascal's dog obedience training accounts for some of the weight loss as I have recently added in a mile each day to work on his homework lessons.)
At the doctors office, I really had to add a lot of things to the list of pills I take. The additions were Melatonin, Chromium Picolanate, Magnesium, Alfalfa, Calcium with D, L-Lysene, Acidopholous and then I am now on Estrogen and off of the Fem Ring. I can't get anything else done as I have to take pills all day long.
Mac and I are having a good time this week trying to copy Landon's fart cuteness. He kept saying excitedly, "I farted!" each time it occurred. I kept replying that he should say "Excuse me." and he picked it right up. He changed it to "I farted!! Excuse me?" Of course I am almost where I want him to be. He is such a character!
Well this is the night for Grey's Anatomy so I have a nice way to finish a great day.

Brady's Birthday Weekend

The fact that Brady's Birthday always falls near Mother's Day makes a bit of a conflict for him. He can't complain this year, however, because he had a terrific weekend celebration. Thursday, the day of his birthday, he got to go on a field trip at school ( his Mom was along too) and then aferward he met all of his friends at a local park for a "presents-optional" frolic with cupcakes and juice. He received some great gifts (a rocket, a skate board and 4 webkins) from his friends and it was a very nice party. He had to hurry home because there was dinner and then soccer. The soccer game was followed by more gifts at home from his parents and us and then Ethan spent the night with him.

Friday Ethan was there all morning and then they went to afternoon Kindergarten together. After school, Sherry hired a sitter for Owen. The three older boys, Mac and me, and Eddie and Sherry spent the evening together. We went out for dinner in downtown Traverse City and then we did an indoor putt putt course. Eddie, Brady and Landon, each had a "hole-in-one" and Sherry and I tried our best. Evan is still figuring out who won.

Saturday was special too because Brady and Eddie had a father-son golf outing in the morning. They were using the new set of golf clubs that Brady got from his parents for his birthday. That afternoon Brady fell asleep and slept until 11:00 p.m. He was just tuckered out. We fed him some oatmeal at 11 and then he just went back to sleep.

Mother's Day Gifts

Here are pictures of some of my Mother's Day Gifts. I was nice to myself a little earlier and bought Mac and me lovely chairs to "shade" bathe in. I thought that was both a nice Mother's day gift for me and a Father's day gift for him. Mac didn't think that was enough so he brought me a nice pot of shrub roses that I can plant outside when the danger of frost has past. It was a very thoughtful gift on his part.

Anja sent me a book to read "Fire and Hemlock" and a lovely postcard from a museum. I read the book and loved it. In this book the main character "Polly" describes herself as a "hero in training". When I was coming home from two hours at the gym yesterday I realized that I am a "grandmother in training". I have to work-out to get strength and energy to keep up with the grandkids. Just picking up Owen is a load and he always wants to be cuddled and held (I love it.)

The book is by Diana Wynne Jones and Anja has read a bunch of these books and I've ordered her one at Amazon.com to have waiting for her when she returns. It is nice that she is finding books to take the place of the Harry Potter series that has ended. How many times can she reread one of those??

Sherry and Eddie and the kids gave me a sack of gifts. Scrapbooking things, a picture frame with a sailboat, some ginger cream and a nautical candle. I also got a card hand drawn by Owen. I helped him draw on it for me. He loves to work with markers, but you have to keep them out of his mouth still.

Sean called and told me that he had just hung the porch swing for me, so that now I can come and visit and sit in it and enjoy his view of the river. I am coming out in July for his party so that will be very nice.

Shannon called from Prague and had to go to a wi-fi cafe and call from outside on the lawn as it was too noisy in the cafe to talk. She and her family will be coming back soon.

All and all it was a great bunch of gifts and a nice day.

Monday Morning

It is 7:30 a.m. and I have been up for an hour and a half. I am waiting now for Mac to finish cooking a nice breakfast for me: sausage, red potatoes, eggs, toast and tea. I have a nice life. I have been working on the diagramless crossword puzzles that Jeanne Foster sends me from Florida. I love them. They are my favorite kind of puzzle and so hard to find.

I also played ball for quite a while with our new dog Rascal after walking him around in the yard a bit. We haven't let him off leash yet so I haven't gotten to play ball outside with him yet but I am really looking forward to it. Being part cocker, he is a great retreiver. Being part Shelty he is a bit too loud for Florida where we live on top of people. I hope we can quiet his warning barks a little.

Yesterday I found out that I can fly a lot cheaper now that I am a senior citizen(65). I was looking up prices for flights to New York in July for Sean's 40th birthday bash. I looked up adult prices first, forgetting that I had a birthday, and then it came to me to check out whether I qualified for senior fares and I did!!! I am still glowing. This is the best senior discount yet and I really need it. Being retired gives me all kinds of time to buy things and go places and not enough money for all the things I want to do. Also--not being an adult any more gives me all kinds of freedom to act any way I want--not that I needed anyone's permission.

I was on the deck around 7:00 last night (Our favorite time of the week when all of the weekenders have left for home and their jet skis are quieted.) and saw the first sailboat of the year. I think the water is still too cold for me to try sailing but maybe I'll give it a go in my wet suit next week.

We are spending this weekend (starting Thursday) in Kingsley. Brady's birthday is Thursday and then Mother's Day is Sunday. We are going up in two cars and leaving the camper there as we are going up again for Brady's Grandparent day in Kindergarten two weeks from now. We will probably be babysitting here for the Memorial day weekend as Eddie and Sherry want to do some more house hunting in Wisconsin. The last weekend of May, I will be in Ann Arbor playing a lot of bridge and catching up with my girlfriends down there. Roz might even have a party Friday night. This is going to be a busy summer.

Good Week

We are enjoying being in Michigan. We have a lot of the yard work done, the dock in, the boat out and getting ready for its new motor (a fast one for better tubing with the grandkids). The camper is out of the pole barn and everything seems to be in working order. The spring flowers are running through their cycle. My favorite wildflower, cowslips, are out now and I have even spotted a snake. We planted three new trees and have two bags of grass seed to put out. All of these things are ready for summer and winter is coming back next week with sleet and snow and freezing temps.
We started obedience classes with Rascal on Wed. We are working on "heel", "sit" and "stay". I have been working with him religiously on these commands and he seems good on "heel" and very slow on "sit". I think he has something wrong with his left hip and it makes sitting a bit hard for him. I persist though. (I will have the vet look it over when we go in for the bordatella booster.) He fits into our life like a lost piece of a puzzle. We are so lucky to have him. He is very, very into Mac and that is great.
I have some of the summer plans sorted out. In May we are spending two weekends in Kingsley(Brady's birthday and Grandparent Day in Brady's class) and then we are doing something with Eddie's family for memorial day. I am going to Ann Arbor for four days in May for lots of bridge and hopefully some mini-reunions with my friends.
June is way busy. Mac and I have some doc apts. in GR. I have squamous cell carcinoma on my left arm and it has to be dealt with, Mac is getting his annual screening and I am getting my eyes tested. After that, it is going to be very family oriented. Shannon and her family are coming back to Ann Arbor. They will be going to the family reunion in Boyne along with Beth, Mary, and maybe Sean. Beth and Mary will spend some time with us in Gowen and then I will put them both on return flights.
We have no idea of how many people will be at the cottage for the 4th of July. Mike is talking already about his trip to Indiana to get the fireworks. Sean has invited me to his big 40th birthday party in New York and I am flying out for it on the 19th and meeting Shannon and her family there.
August will start out with a bridge tournament in GR. I am hoping that some of my friends come to it. I already reserved three rooms at the hotel for our group. (Gargi, Allan said yes, Alice said maybe, Harry and Emily are also thinking about it.) The rest of August should be spent with Shannon's family here in Gowen. I have missed them a lot while they have been in Europe. I am hoping for a lot of swimming and yoga and crafting when they settle here for a while before moving on to California. They have had quite a lot of travelling. Right now they seem to be having a good time in Prague.
I borrowed the DVD "Howl's Moving Castle" from the library and viewed it last night. It is a cartoon movie based on a children's fantasy book by Diana Wynne Jones. Anja has read nearly all of this author while in Europe and I wanted to share some of her enthusiasm. This cartoon is very well done. It is an Hayao Miyazake film and way above Disney's creations. I will try to check it out again when she is here in August so we can watch it together.
We had the HD TV equiped with a DVR this week, but that DVR isn't functioning correctly yet. A repair man is coming tomorrow. Our Charter Bill is over $200. per month. It includes high speed internet, three boxes on three TV's, all of the premium channels and our phone.
I just love our DVR on the other TV. We tape Bill Maher who is aired very late Friday nights and watch it on Sat afternoon. Mac and I are both enjoying the HBO John Adams series which I taped in its entirety. ABC has been running the Harry Potter movies on Saturday nights and I have 4 of them taped and saved for both Evan and Anja.
Well, I should get back to either of my two tasks for today. One is to continue sorting and cleaning in the craft room. I am making into a baby room for Owen and a storage room for me. The other one is to wrap and put cards on all of the gifts that I have ready for the Sept/Oct birthdays for Jerry's 6 grandkids. I may even clean the other toilet. (My least favorite housecleaning job.)

Wonderful Saturday April 19th

Saturday April 19th was Karen's birthday and yet I had a such a party of a day you would have thought it was mine. It started with a beautiful sunrise, when I woke up at 5 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep.
My day included a session at the gym (Yoga and swimming), picking up some discounted photos from Walgreens and coming home to a very nice Skype call from Shannon and the girls.
I did a bunch of scrapbooking with the photos while Mac and Rascal had their naps and then we visited some Amish friends (one had an adorable two week old infant and we brought some gifts) and we sat down and talked to the other couple over coffeee and cookies.
The lady that we got Rascal from, asked us to bring him back for a little visit with her four kids as they were really missing him. He was so into them that I am now positive that he will get on with all of my grandkids. What a great dog! I was also able to show him to Shannon's girls by way of the Skype call. I think her kids needed to know that we were taking good care of Rascal and they were pretty impressed.
When we got home we had a great meal of venison steaks, (Mike Gurr had given us a lot of his deer) with mushrooms sauteed in garlic and butter and fresh steamed broccoli. We followed that with blackberries and whipped cream. What a feast!
The evening weather was gorgeous and Mac and Barry built a huge fire to sit around and watch the nearly full moon. The sky was clear and there was just enough wind to make a nice moon reflection across the water. It is so great to sit and appreciate it with Nancy and Barry as they are as enthralled as we are with moon scapes.
p.s. I am writing this on Sun and I just had to throw in a picture of the tulips that opened today. We sometimes regret coming back so early as we miss the pool and easy walking in Florida, but now that the weather is getting better, we are really enjoying the Spring. I also got a return phone call from Karen which was really nice.

Landon and Owen for the Weekend

We had Landon and Owen with us for the weekend while the rest of their family went house shopping in Wisconsin. We had a great time with the boys. In the pictures you can see the boys playing with bubble stuff in their "bath tub", Landon cutting play doh with a butter knife, and Owen working intently in the sand box.
We had other fun times too as the weather was nice we were outside a lot and when inside we did some painting, games and puzzles. Of course the Teletubbies, Franklin and Little Bear got some attention, as well as Willy Wonka which was on ABC Sat and Sun nights.

Gabby and HDTV

Here are two big additions to our pleasured life. We got home on the 31st of March. We had the new TV by the end of the week and the new dog on the following Monday. The TV and the dog are in competition for our attention. When Gabby wins we get healthier and when the TV wins we get fatter and dumber.

Gabby looks like a pure bred small black lab. We don't really know anything else about her. She is about 1 and weighs 30 or so pounds. She seems to be trained and we are learning how to interpret her signals to go outside. She is very loving and gentle. She is very full of energy.

Ready to go home now??

We are almost all packed and just waiting until Sunday (and maybe an easy trip through Atlanta).
We are leaving a month earlier than we had planned. Eddie got a promotion and has to move to Wisconsin (Milwaukee). Instead of coming down to Florida, they are spending his entire vacation getting their house ready for the market. We are also going up there to help them with the kids while they continue to de-clutter and get the house saleable.
I am sad to be leaving my exercises and bridge but I know that we can have a longer time next season when they won't need us as badly. They are going to go house hunting over Memorial day weekend.
It is also sad that they will be so far away from us now. We have been spoiled by having them less than two hours away since they started having kids. Now they will be a "fast ferry" away from us across Lake Michigan.

Really Busy and Really Loving It All

This was quite a week. Some days I was just moving quickly from one activity to another. First it was DST week and that meant our Water Exercise Classes couldn't be in the water (too cold out) at the usual time. We had to move them from 10 a.m. to 11a.m. and I had to run from the pool to my place and change fast and eat lunch and get to the Bridge Game by 1 p.m. After Bridge I had just enough time to swim and shower and get to dinner and/or the next event. Friday there were no regular classes to teach or Bridge, but I had invited the Scrapbookers over for videos from 2-4. My DVR, which I adore, has been storing Scrapbooking shows for two months and I wanted to share some with my class. Also Mac and I had lunch with one of my bridge partners at Lake Ashton. Then, at night there was a fun St. Patrick's potluck.
We found out that Evan's Mite C hockey team made it into the finals of the Cherry Cup Tournament. Evan's team is coached by Eddie of course. They play the final game this weekend for the championship. Go Aggies!
Sherry has a bunch of Educational toys called Leapsters. Even though he can't read, Landon loves to play with them and does know all of his alphabet and the letter sounds at 3. On Monday Landon wanted to know when the "leapster" bunny was coming. Once you hear it, you want to say it that way forever.
I found out the Harry won't be coming to see us in Fla this season. He promises to come to Michigan though if there is an interesting Bridge event. He is reallyl getting into Bridge more and more.
If I have it right, Shannon is now in Paris with Lynne and Kristen and she will be joined there by Caleb and the girls the end of the week and they are all going to England for "Leapster" in Devon.
Sean and Jo are in Mexico for a week so our family is really very international right now.
I have to do our taxes now. I woke up at 5 a.m. and that was really enough sleep as I went down at 9:30 p.m. so I am all by myself and wide awake. We have to pay a little money this year so we won't file them until next month, but this is a good time to get them filled out and ready to go.

Update

We are back from a hectic and fun two weeks in Michigan. Mac and I really are appreciating Florida more now that we have had some big-time experience with snow and freezing rain and sub zero temps. We got to see Eddie, Brady and Evan play some hockey. We were sick the entire time we were up there, but we had loads of fun anyway.
I got some great news today. I found out that I may never need knee surgery. There will be a lot of tweaking involved to keep me out of pain, but the cartilage is not degenerating. I will have to keep up a vigorous exercise schedule and I should lose some weight to give those knees a break, but basically no surgery is good surgery.

Where did the Month go?

I have been so busy this month that I haven't posted for two weeks. I am just playing for the most part and really enjoying my time in Florida. The two classes, Water Exercise and Scrapbooking, are doing well. I have been playing bridge three times a week and seeing some movies as well.
I had a lot of nice things happen for my Birthday. First I got a lovely picture from
Anja in France. Then I got flowers from Anne and Melonie. It was a beautiful boquet that has lasted for 7 days now. Then Mac got me a gift certificate for a pedicure that I had today. Many people sent me cards. All of my kids and grandkids made phone calls. There was a group birthday party for all of the Feb. birthdays on the 14th at the bridge club and then a potluck with music on my actual birthday itself. Beth called me Sat. night and we talked and laughed for a long time. Sunday and Monday I came in first at bridge, to top off the birthday events.
Today I got a permanent and tomorrow I start packing. We are leaving Thurs. for Michigan. We will be up in the cold and snow for about 10 days and then back again to Paradise. We will be going to at least 3 hockey games when we are up there.

Endorsement For President

Before the movie (Atonement) this afternoon, I found out that Paris Hilton had endorsed Hillary Clinton on her blog and I thought that maybe I should too. I really want a female president in my lifetime. I am convinced that she can do the job well. I know that people don't like her very much, but I think it is very hard for a women to be sweet and soft and convince others that she would make a fine Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces. If not now, when? If not her, who? I like Obama but I want him to wait a few years.
There it is-- I made my endorsement.

Enjoying our Retirement

It is 10:00 a.m. and we have already had calls from Shannon and Eddie. Shannon and her family are on their way to the Alps with a group of home schooling French people (some of whom speak English). She will be gone for a week and not getting any emails. Eddie called on the way home from the ice rink with Evan and Brady. Eddie's hockey team--he coaches and Evan plays on the Saturday team--are 12 and 1. Evan got two assists this morning and Brady was the water boy. (On two nights of the week this role is reversed but Eddie still coaches.) Mac and I really like it when the kids check in for the day.
My sisters and brothers are all doing well. Karen started us off with an email about how things were good with her and the rest of us responded with how well we are too. (Somebody has to be lieing.??) How can we all be enjoying our jobs or our retirements or our mixture (like Jerry)?
I feel like we are pretty well blessed in our family with such healthy kids and grandkids and with our mutual respect and caring.
Mac and I are going to go get the mail now and walk around Lake Menzie in Dundee while we are over there. We are going to a comedy this afternoon called "The Sugar Bean Sisters" and will probably go out for dinner. Tomorrow I am playing bridge all day in a Swiss Team Event at the club.
FUTURE PLANS
When the one year listing is up on our real estate posting we are going to make some improvements on our unit. We are going to get rid of the plastic windows and storm doors on the front and back of the Florida room and put in real doors and a nice glass front window. We will probably get a new mattress and a new refrigerator too. We don't want to fix it up and then get an offer on it. The listing ends Feb. 14th.
We are leaving the 21st for a week in Michigan. We will be going to a hockey tournament in Lansing while we are there. Eddie is playing in an old timers league. Some of his old team mates from Mich and Wisc may turn out to play on his team. We have some cold weather clothes down here (we wore them down when we left Mich.) I told Sherry that I would have to borrow her boots though. It will be a fun week in Traverse City. Owen will be able to talk to us a little now. They will be coming down to stay with us the first week of April too.
Shannon will be staying for few months in Michigan this summer. Some in Gowen and some in Ann Arbor and a few weeks in Bedeck, Novia Scotia. If she buys a new van in Michigan for the trek into Canada, I may be able to ride along. That sounds good to me, I hope I have enough energy for a trip like that though.
My sister Mary is contemplating a trip to the USA in June for a weaving conference in Tampa. I would like to be in on that too. We will see what likes ahead.

Teaching Again

Here is picture of my water exercise class today. We had 7 (one exercised on the side of the pool) this a.m. and I am very happy with how the class has progressed so far this month. We did 50 minutes of continuous exercises today, none of which are aerobic. The scarecrow in the back is me of course.
I am also teaching a scrapbooking class and I am finding out that teaching really makes me very happy. I had forgotten how much I really love teaching.
This was such a good week for me. I did lousy at bridge (always just out of the money, but still fun). Mac and I walked around Lake Menzie. I got a great call from the Williams (they called me at 5:30 a.m. and I was up, we talked for an hour). Anja told me to check out my son's web page because he has listed fake relatives. Sure enough there is a mystery cousin listed.
Mac got a great present from Eddie for his birthday(It's a Red Wings T-Shirt with Rawfalski's name on the back of it). We got 2 haircuts and went out for dinner about three times this week. I am now reading a new book that was written by the husband of one of my bridge friends.
Mac and I both record each morning what we are grateful for that day. This morning I noted that I was grateful that I haven't even noticed that I have knees lately. The shots have started to do the good work of keeping me out of pain.

I have finished the Efudex face treatments

Here is the finished forehead. I put the Efudex on twice a day for two weeks and here you see the resulting reaction. Each red mark is a piece of bad skin that is being removed from my face. I started this process this summer doing one cheek and then the nose and then the other cheek and then the chin and under my nose. I have to wait two weeks or more between applications but now I have done the whole face and I can forget about cancer on my face for a few years. Yeah!!

Being Naughty!!

I did something I shouldn't today. I rode on the new roller coaster at Cypress Gardens. It is somewhat like the "Blue Streak" at Cedar Point. It is bigger, but it is an all wooden one which I like better than the metal one. I really liked it. I have been to CG three times this season and I was always listening to the "click, click, click" as the coaster climbed the first hill. Each time I heard it I thought it was calling to me. I drive by the park quite often too and I see the long expanse of the coaster from the road and that was luring me as well. I finally gave in as I was at the park without Mac and had a girlfriend with me who likes white water rafting so I thought that she might be game. We did it, I am not in pain and I wouldn't mind doing it again. My friend (she is 70 years old) nearly lost her $70 leather cowboy hat and her wig too. She caught them as they were about to fly off.

Veggie Sticks

We had a potluck Friday night at the club house. I decided to copy a food item that was brought to the Christmas potluck at the bridge club. It was a big success, but the veggies didn't get eaten. Everyone thought it was a decoration instead of something to eat. It was fun to make anyway. Now Mac and I have to eat a few more veggies this weekend: summer squash, zuchini, pepper bottoms (three colors), cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and cucumber.( Someone told me to do fruit next time, what a great idea.!)

What a Week!!

I have been very active this week. I have started two different classes in the park. We now have a water exercise class and a scrapbooking class. They have both had the kickoff meeting and seem to be going well. I am excited about both of them and hope that all the participants are just as happy as I am.
We went to the Willie Nelson concert on Saturday and had Jim and Maria all day Sunday. Both of these were great. We love the Willie and the Sandviks. It is just wonderful that Maria is growing hair again and that just maybe she has this thing licked. She has a great attitude.
I have had a 1st and a2nd at bridge the last two outings (both with Jeanne) and have eaten at Jimmy T's twice.
All of these things were this week and what is really surprising is that I have had a case of shingles to fight to boot. It is the lightest case that I have ever had and I am taking an anti-virus med for it, but I have done two exercise classes and several 1/2 hour swims while fighting it and it seems to be all but gone right now.
I didn't manage to post the right link in the last blog. I hope it gets in this time. It is fun to learn how to do this. If the link is there, you can use it to check up on my bridge results.
I really like this picture that John took. We are all taking pictures of him and his sister and he is coming right back at us.
I cancelled going up to Detroit for the nationals. I had originally thought that Mac and I would just go home early and I would go to the tournament with Gargi and play some with Allan as well. I was feeling so bad about not wanting to go, but when Mac started enjoying Florida for the first time and wasn't wanting to go home, or for me to leave him, I felt that I should honor his request as he has been coming down here for me for years. What was great was that Gargi and Allan were both kind of iffy about the tournament anyway and weren't all that disappointed. We had a great time last August in Grand Rapids and we hope that we can do that again instead.
Wow--what a relief. Even Harry, who was going to attend, is now going to come to Florida during the week of the nationals as his friend's father has a birthday around that time.
We are supposed to go to the Gatlin brothers this weekend but the rest of the time we will be watching football and hockey or something. I wish that Shannon and Caleb's computor was fixed as I miss hearing from them.

You can check out my Bridge Results

Since you don't get the Lakeland Ledger and can't look for my name in the weekly bridge results column you might want to look me up online. The full names are given under the games heading. whbc stands for the "winterhavenbridgeclub". So far this year I have been mostly second or third when I play. I am looking to be #1 but it hasn't happened yet.

The After-Math

While I was doing my morning "Jumble" puzzle yesterday, the answer to--what was life for the retired Arithmetic teacher?--struct me as being a good title for all that has happened to me in the 6 years since I retired. I can't even imagine that six years have passed. It seems like the time is just flying by and I am just as lucky as I can be to have had this time to spend with my family and friends. I have had such a variety of stimulating and fun experiences.
We have so many fun things planned for this month. We had the birthday weekend with Mac's nieces and nephews last week and the dinner with our park friends. I have my two games of bridge per week planned with my girlfriends. We are scheduled to go to the shuttle launch on the 10th, but we may not be up for a 2:23 am event. We will see our friends from Seattle anyway whether at the launch or some other time. This Sat. is the Willie Nelson concert and Harry is supposed to visit after that. We have tickets to the theater in Winter Haven the following Saturday and possibly the Kenny Rogers concert the first of Feb. I need to mention the park events too, like the water exercise classes that I am helping to get started on Friday and the scrapbooking classes that I start next Tuesday. I am also running for Vice President of the assoc. today and we have a potluck this month.
Mac is as happy as he has ever been here in Florida this season and that makes me think that we will be coming down here for a number of years. He sees how much healthier he is where he can do his daily walks. He is just happier in general lately.
Yesterday I got the cutest Skype call from France. The girls have "borrowed" some guinea pigs for the time they are in France. As they had several back home, theses animals have made a huge emotional impact on the girls. Caleb kept talking about how to "roast" and eat these kind of pets to tease the girls and they were just telling him to "can it". I should include technological things on my list of blessings. Being able to see the Williams while I talk to them is very heartwarming for me. By the way, Sofie says that when she grow up she wants to have two houses and one of them will be in Florida with me. That sounds good to me too.
All for now.

No dog for now

We spent the weekend in West Palm visiting Mac's nephew John and his 6 dogs. As usual we came back with lots of dog hair and full of doggie kisses and love, but we didn't bring Foster back with us. We really love him, but he isn't potty trained. While we were there for the weekend he left at least 8 pools of urine. It broke our heart to leave him, but we couldn't adopt a dog that had such a problem. John says that he can cure him and we may reconsider at a later date.
Mac had a lovely birthday party down there so it was a good weekend anyway.