Short-timers

Ok, we're now officially short-timers...we have to leave S Florida on Friday. We've had a great time - enjoyed the kids and grandchildren, as well as the weather and being with our friends from Fairfield! Today we went to Shooters and had a slice of key lime pie - I think they have the best in town! We've decided we should try to eat outside every day this week if at all possible - won't be able to do that when we get back to Iowa! DH is outside doing some "daddy-do's" - he's cleaning up around the palm trees in the back yard. That's something else he won't be able to do when we get back to Iowa!! Gotta run...the sun is calling!

More on Sunny Florida

We've been having a great time - it is just so beautiful down here! The ocean is gorgeous at this time of the year...it's been windy, but that just makes the ocean all the more beautiful. It is a great blue/green with the white, white, white breakers coming in! The wind has made a lot of fun for the parasailers - there were dozens of them outside out hotel yesterday evening. Today while we were at Aruba's we saw one land on the beach, fold up his sail, put his board on his back and walk down Commercial! Pretty cool. We sent Great-Grandpa and GG back to Sarasota this morning, went back to our condo and read! Then tonight, we had supper with the kids and grandchildren and now the little ones are having their baths! Just another day in Paradise!

Sunny South Florida

I'll write more later when I have time. Right now I'm waiting to go with our daughter and grandchildren to take #1 grandchild to ballet class. Yesterday we picked up our friends and rode the water bus down to Los Olas to have lunch with our daughter. What a great day for a boat ride! It was about 83 and sunny - no wind - but LOTS of boats on the intercoastal AND lots of people trying to get on the water bus. Ooops, gotta run - #1 gd wants to see a funny youtube!

Tomorrow we leave!

Today was an exciting day. Last night at the church dinner, I started seeing a bright light in my right eye. By the time I got home I wasn't noticing it quite as much, so I basically forgot about it and went to bed as usual. This morning when I awoke, I still had the bright light, so I told DH that I was going to call the eye doctor to see if I needed to come in. I actually got an appointment for 2:15 this afternoon - couldn't believe it! Since I had my appointment, I decided to call the Garmin help site to see if they could help me with my unrecoverable error from yesterday. I was on the phone for an hour and a half talking to a really nice guy who get me started again. Then while we were waiting for Vista to "approve" the maps (aargh!) he finally asked if I minded if he took over my computer on a remote assist. I told him to go for it! Somehow he was able to bypass Vista's scan and start extracting the files - yeah!! So then he was ready to hang up (after an hour and a half) and said, "Oh, by the way, this will take a while to download to your device." I asked how long and he said, "Probably another hour to an hour and a half!" So, by noon, I finally had the maps on our Garmin and ready to roll! Sure took a long time, but hopefully it will be worth it!

I'm not going to be making any cards while I'm gone, so I worked on straightening up my studio. It gets to be a mess when I'm working. I don't understand that either! When I was at work, sometimes my desk would get messy, but most of the time it was organized. Now that I'm playing, I can't keep my desk organized for anything! I end up with about a 6" square of workspace after I get everything out. Maybe you're supposed to make one card, put things away, make another card, put things away, etc. Somehow I just don't think that would be very efficient. Maybe I'll have an epiphany while I'm sitting on the beach having a margarita!

I'd better run - DH should be home soon and tonight we have to finish packing, get the house set up for my meeting tomorrow morning, do the laundry, water the plants, and get everything ready so we can take off as soon as my meeting is over about noon. I doubt if I'll get to write tomorrow, so stay tuned...

I hate computers!

I've been working all day trying to download a new set of maps for our Garmin. In fact, I started this process last night! It's taken about 7 hours to get the new maps to the computer - NOW I have to get them from the computer to the device...aargh! Nothing seems to be working right...I don't know why I can't just blink and it be done! Oh, now I'm getting "an unrecoverable error occurred - exit and start over." I have a feeling I'll be on the phone to Garmin tomorrow again!

Great day today

This has just been an absolutely awesome day! I have been working in the office most of the day - putting away "stuff" that was moved in order for the room to be painted. I love the paint color - it's called Indian Paintbrush and I'd say it reminds me of an adobe brick - sort of orange, sort of red. It's so inviting! It seems so much more "homey" in here now. The new color, up against the white woodwork in this room, is very striking. I thought maybe I'd made a mistake in choosing this color when I saw just the first coat on the wall, but now that there are 2 coats up, I definitely made a good decision! DH loves it too.

This picture is of another valentine that I made for this year. It's much prettier in real life - it's a pale pink background with a die cut "label" cut out of black. I used a cuttlebug folder on the pink background and the label is cut from SU's sizzix die. The two hearts and strip of paper are just scraps of designer paper, the hearts cut with a die cut and given to me by a crafty friend. I like the effect of the pink, black, and red all together!

I'd better run - I've got a meeting tonight and I still have some things to prepare for the meeting. Until tomorrow....

Painter's Here

My painter is here again and since he's going to be working in the room my computer is in, I think I'd better vacate! Hopefully, I'll be able to get back on and write more this afternoon.

Big Snow!

Here is a picture of the snow I was talking about yesterday! I'm 5'7" and this is way over my head! DH took this picture about 10 miles south of Waterloo, Iowa. Snow like this may not melt until May!

Today was my last opportunity to sing in the choir at church for a while. Since we're going to be in Florida for a couple of weeks, obviously I won't be singing. We sang the benediction, "Blessings of Aaron" which is a beautiful song with wonderful harmony. Prior to church, during practice, our choir director asked us if we'd ever practiced this piece without piano accompaniment. We told her we hadn't, so she said, "Let's try it!" After singing it through twice a capella, we knew we would be singing it without accompaniment. It was truly beautiful. While we are in Florida we attend the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church - the church made famous by Dr. Kennedy. It is a spectacular church with 80-member choir and a 6600 pipe organ.

I'd better run - I've got to concentrate on the Super Bowl! I'm missing the plays AND the commercials!! More tomorrow....