New Year's Eve

Happy New Year to all of you!  We had a party at the clubhouse tonight - had lots of people there, some who never come to anything.  That was nice - maybe they'll attend more things now that they've been to one of our parties.  We came home about 11:00 and now we're just hanging out waiting for the ball to drop!

Today was a sad day for us Cyclones.  Coach Orr passed away today.  He was so well loved!  You can't go to Hilton Coliseum without thinking about his entrance to the Tonight Show's theme song, "Here's Johnny!"  He always told jokes and even if the jokes weren't very funny, you laughed because Johnny was laughing so hard it was contagious!  RIP Coach!

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Monday

This is the last Monday of 2013 - this year just flew by!  We had a good day.  The weather wasn't so fun - it was chilly and gray, but it got better as the day went on.  Jami had some work to do, so she worked on her computer while the rest of us got ready for our day.  When she was ready we headed to Sarasota to see Dad & Roberta, and lunch at the pool.  When we left for points south, we had tons of traffic!  You can sure tell that it's after Christmas as the traffic has increased to close to twice as much as it was.  We were in two close calls - thank God for the safe trip.  Traffic was equally as heavy on the way back up to Clearwater.
Jami and the kids got home safely too, so all in all it was a good day!

Tonight we had bingo because we couldn't have it tomorrow night.  I won!  I'm only $10 in the red now!  Would sure be fun to get into the black next wek.  The bonus number was up to $102 tonight and no one won it!!

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Soggy Sunday

We all got up this morning and went to church.  We had one of the elders of the church who spoke in the absence of the minister.  He wasn't very good - too bad when you have "guests" you want them to enjoy the experience.  Not so much today!

After church we went to Post Corner for lunch.  That was fun!

Then we went across the street to the beach.  Even though it was raining, we were able to see a bunch of dolphins.  There were at least 7-8 of them just playing in the rain!

This afternoon I took a nap and the family went to the park again.  This evening, after supper, Dave fixed a bonfire (in the Weber grill) and then we made S'mores on Dave's redneck marshmallow cookers!!  Notice the electrical tape!

He's so funny!!

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Saturday

The kids got here about 11:15 and we've had a full day!  We had tenderloins for lunch and the girls each ate two of them!  They helped me bread them!  They thought that was a lot of fun.  They even whipped the eggs!  When they're being good, they're so much fun!  After lunch we borrowed bikes and went for a looonnnggg bike ride!  They kept riding while we sat on the lanai and watched them!  Then we went to the nature preserve where the alligator usually is, but we didn't see him today!

Supper was brats and/or hot dogs and salad.  After supper I skyped with my family while they went to the Largo Park to see the Christmas lights!  Now they're home and all 3 kids are pooped!  They're watching a movie and I'm about to crash, too!

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Rainy Day

We didn't get to go to the Legion today because it was raining!  Bummer!  Instead, we cleaned the house and got ready for Jami and the kids to come.  They were supposed to be here tonight, but decided to wait until tomorrow morning instead.  They'll stay for a couple of days, so we're hoping for good weather while they're here.  Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, but Sunday doesn't look so good.  We were hoping to take them to the pool in Sarasota tomorrow, but that will depend on when they get here.

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Christmas

We had a lovely afternoon & evening with Sudi & Howard and now I'm watching the "heartattack kids" play basketball!  In case you don't know who the heartattack kids are, they're ISU.  It seems they go ahead and then Boise State ties up the game.  I'm finding myself holding my breath!  I'm sure Fred's mom isn't watching - she'll be a wreck!

Back to our day.  We went to the beach before we had dinner.  It was a beautiful day!   For dinner, I made Ruth Chris' sweet potato casserole and it was wonderful.  Unfortunately it made a 9 x 13 pan full, so we'll be eating sweet potatoes for a while!  Sudi had fixed ham, green bean casserole, fresh fruit, and crescent rolls.  Plus we had key lime pie for dessert!  Great job, Sudi!  After dinner we played cards...interesting version of Wild Card, which HB won!

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Christmas Eve

We had a beautiful day here - a little on the cooler side, but beautiful anyway!  I slept until 11 because I didn't get to sleep until 4:00 AM.  Then I went for a bike ride.  This evening we went to Chris & Wolfy's for a pot luck, then we went to church for Christmas Eve services.  Church was packed!  We were a hair late, but we really didn't miss much.  I'm glad we went because it's very important to us that we go to church on Christmas Eve.

When we returned to the park, most everyone had already left.  It was cold sitting outside, so we didn't stay long either.

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All confused!

I'm really confused now!  Last night we played cards, so it should have been either Monday, Wednesday, or Friday.  Tonight we played bingo, so it must be Tuesday....NOT!  It's Monday and I am struggling with this schedule!

We went to Sarasota today.  Had a great time.  Dave, Merle & Dad went fishing and only dressed out 3 fish.  Nothing much biting today.  Roberta and I went shopping and then we went to St Armand's Island for lunch at Columbia Restaurant on the circle.  The guys met us there.  I had a 1905 salad and  since I brought home half of it, I get to eat it again tomorrow!

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Sunday

We went to church this morning after we went to Publix and to Office Depot looking for envelopes for Christmas cards Dave bought.  It seems all of the envelopes were sealed shut!!  This definitely wouldn't work!  Well, we didn't find any envelopes either place, so after church we had to go buy some more cards!  We give cards to people in the park and that was all I had left to do, or so I thought.  Tomorrow we're going to Sarasota  and wanted to give Dad & Roberta their gifts.  Guess what?  We didn't get Roberta's yet!  So we'll be leaving early to stop at Beall's and get her a gift card...she loves that!

At church today, the choir did a Christmas cantata called "Morning Star".  It was beautiful music, but the choir is so bad, it sounded awful...all except for one song and that one they nailed.  One lady who stands in front is always flat and her voice is the loudest one!  Plus she breathes after every 2-3 words, not at the end of a phrase.  Becky would have a cow!  I wish I had taken my phone so that I could have recorded it just to see what she said!  It was still a great message about the Christmas story!

This afternoon, after we finished our cards, we went swimming - it was very hot here.  The pool felt very, very good.  Tonight we played cards because tomorrow night we're playing bingo because Tuesday night is Christmas eve...got all of that?  Anyway, I'm a loser tonight.  We got beat by about 2,000 points!  My Cyclones won, though, so the evening wasn't a total loss!

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Saturday

It was a hot one today!  It's 10 PM and it's still 75 degrees!  We had to turn the air on and it's December 22nd!!  Amazing!

We went to Sue & Penny to the farmers' market in St Pete this morning.  It was very fun - lots of interesting booths.  Produce, jewelry, prepared food, and artwork.  We stayed for a bit over an hour because it was hot out there in the sun.  We got our sweet potatoes, celery, grapes, green beans and some wonderful guacamole!  We'll probably go back to it sometime in the future.  It wasn't nearly as big as the one in Des Moines, but I swear there were more dogs!!  Several of the vendors had doggie dishes with water in them for the 4-legged visitors!

I worked on Christmas cards for the park.  Dave got me a new box of cards from CVS so I started with them.  Unfortunately all of the envelopes were sealed shut!  Now we've got to try to get them exchanged because they're no good the way they are.

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Pretty day

It was another pretty day here.  High in the low 80's and not much humidity until tonight.  We went to the Legion and  had lunch with sever from the Ranch.  We also toasted Bob for his birthday!  Sorry he's not down here where the weather is nice.  When I called him he was at work, but no customers because of the icy roads..

Tonight 12 of us played cards.  Sandy and I were partners and we won!  It was really a close game.  We were 5 points behind going into the last hand and we beat them by about 400 points today...those darn 7's!!
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Fun day

We had another beautiful day today - one that was filled with fun!  We left at 8:00 for Sarasota for the day.  Dave, his dad, and his dad's friend went fishing.  They caught a good mess of whitings and got back to Dad's about 2 minutes after we got there.  Roberta and I went shopping.  We went to Beall's and to Home Goods and Big Lots.  Big Lots and Home Goods were so busy - the check out lines were horrible, so we ended up putting things back and leaving the stores empty-handed!  So, we went back to Dad's and fixed lunch.  About 3:00 we came back to Largo.  We both took naps and then about 6:30 we went to Largo Central Park to take a walking tour of the Christmas lights.  They were beautiful and free!

 When we got home, I took a picture of our place with the nativity flag up.  I think it looks good!

 This is our tree in the lanai.  It's pretty, too.

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Productive Day

I got lots of things done today!  We went to coffee first thing and following coffee, we had our annual Christmas cookie walk.  I think we had 25 different kinds of cookies at $3 a pound!  Some of them look really, really good!  After the meeting, Dave took Ron & Marcia to the Tampa airport while I worked the cookie walk.  Once we'd cleaned up I came home and printed labels for our Christmas cards.  Dave got home and helped me stuff and sign everything!  He had to go to the grocery store, so he came home with stamps and we even got our cards in the mail!  I also mailed gift cards for Cheyenne and Allison to Bob, along with Bob's birthday card.

At 1:00 we went to the clubhouse and helped collate and staple the 2014 directories for the park.  That project is now done.  All that is left is to distribute them!

Dave is done painting at Sue & Penny's for now.  Sue's bedroom is really pretty!  It's two shades of gray and will have a hot pink/orange bedspread and some wine colored curtains.  After the first of the year, they are tearing up the carpet in the bedroom and will put down new gray carpet, too.  Their home is lovely now.

Tonight we played 7s and my team won BIG!  We were ahead by almost 5,000 points going into the last hand which we won.  Because we won it before they got everything they needed, we didn't even count those points!  It was a good day!

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Tuesday

B & B day!  It went pretty well.  I bowled fairly good - I improved each game, which is what you're supposed to do!  I got a 120, a 121, and a 130.  I couldn't pick up a 10 pin for anything and that's one I'm usually pretty confident that I'll pick up...not today, however.  I missed them all!   If I'd gotten spares every time I left a 10 pin, I'd have had a great score!  We're done bowling until after the new year gets here!

At bingo, I won bottom line with the number 66.  I just had a feeling I was going to get it - the girls of 66 helped me, I'm sure.  All 3 of us at our table won - Tanya won $10, Mary Etta won $40 and I won $24.  Pretty cool.

I made crock pot peanut clusters today.  They'll go with me in the morning for our "cookie" exchange.  Dave's going to take Ron & Marcia to the airport while I go to the coffee and cookie exchange.  Then we'll pick them up on the 26th.

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Monday

It's a little chilly here today and pretty darn cold tonight.  Should be down in the 40's - brrrr!  I made some cards today.  Nancy and Sandee joined me and we made a bunch of cards!  Nancy made 10 Christmas cards and Sandee made 3.

This evening Alan had a surprise birthday party for Bobbi's 75th birthday.  She was really surprised!  Twelve of the ladies played cards after the party, but I was tired and didn't want to stay.  I came home and now Dave's asleep in his chair.  I'm ready for bed, because tomorrow is a bowling day!

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Sunday

The children had the sermon this morning at church.  Actually, they put on a Christmas program with lots of singing and a great message.  Good job, kids!  Church was well attended today.  After church, we hurried home, changed clothes and went to the clubhouse to register for Poker on the Run.  We don't run - we ride our bikes and follow clues to get 5 cards.  When we get back to the clubhouse, we see who has the top 3 poker hands.  Dave didn't have anything and I had a pair of 3's.  Needless to say, we didn't win anything.  Each hand costs $2 and then all of the $$  is given back to the top 3 winners.  I have yet to see any of that money - we're  losers!

This afternoon, Dave painted the ceiling at Sue & Penny's.  Tomorrow he'll paint walls since it's supposed to be cold out.  It'll be a good inside project.  I've got to make cookies or candy for the cookie walk on Weds. and Tuesdays are really, really busy so guess  I'll make them tomorrow.  I'm trying to decide if I should make cookies or crockpot peanut clusters...both are good!

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Beautiful here!

I had a sleepless night last night.  I didn't get to sleep until around 4:00 AM and I got up at 7:30...ugh!  Not enough sleep for me!  Dave & I went out today and drove around some neighborhoods looking for a great place to take some pictures of a lighted boat parade, in case we decided to go tonight.  We were going to the Madeira Marina, but the boats wouldn't be there until around 10-10:30 so we elected to stay home!

We also went to the Wagon Wheel flea market today - that was a first!  It was really, really busy!  I found a pair of sunglasses and we bought some oranges, but other than that I didn't see much I couldn't live without!  We came home around noonish, ate a Subway sandwich, and while Dave went to the store, I tried to nap...nothing doing!  After he got home, he took a nap, so I was able to also!  Now we're watching Ironman and we're turning into pumpkins.  It's past our bedtime!!

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Oh my gosh!

Again, the Cyclones are going to keep me up all night!  Right now it's 82-81 Iowa with 25 seconds to play.  They're going to kill me!  I get too excited and then I can't sleep!  Come on guys!  Ok, we're up by 1 with 18 seconds left...hold on guys!

We went to the Legion today - it was a perfect day weatherwise.  It was about 77 and plenty of sunshine!  It was great sitting at the Legion, but we didn't see any dolphins today.

Woohoo!  We won!  Now I don't have to send any $$ to my Cyclone friend, Ed.  He bet me $1 that his Hawks would win this game...we bet way back in October!  So now I get to keep his dollar!  Sorry, Ed!

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Wasted days and wasted nights!

I wasted all of my day today and so far, all of my night!  Ok, so that's not what the song lyrics meant, but that's all I'm hearing tonight!  I guess I didn't completely waste my day.  I made a call to an insurance company (that Dave wanted me to do) and got answers on a different insurance policy.  But mostly I just hung out while Dave was in Sarasota fishing with his dad!  I took a bike ride, too!

When Dave got home, we took another bike ride and had popcorn for supper.  It was a little chilly riding around the park.  I'm glad I had a jacket on.  Tonight we've just watched a noisy movie (him, not me).

Hopefully tomorrow will be more productive!  If it's nice, we'll go to the Legion.

More later.

Cold front coming!

We have a little cold front moving through the area today...it's down to 68 right now!  It's 0 in O-town, though, so it's not a big cold front!!  I think it's supposed to be in the 70's tomorrow, instead of the 80's!

Today we had coffee, then an HOA meeting.  After lunch we tried to play some shuffleboard, but there were only 9 of us.  So we had 2 courts going and 1 scorekeeper and 3 new shufflers!  That was fun - teaching them how to play with no pressure.  We played 2 games at 1:00 and 2:00.  Around 3:30 we went to Post Corner with Sue & Penny for pizza.  Then home for 7s from Hell where Penny & I were partners.  We are winners tonight - by about 5,000 points!!

It was a fun day!  We even got out Christmas shopping mostly done!

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Perfect Day

It was a perfect day weatherwise again today!  I could really get used to this beautiful weather.  I must admit, though, I'm having a very hard time getting in the mood for Christmas!  I've got to think about my cards and the gifts I've got to get.  It's hard when it's in the 80's!  Hopefully I can get most everything done by the weekend!

Bowling today was fun.  I bowled pretty well.  I had a 130, 132 and a 113.  We  had our holiday party today - everyone brought treats.  Dave and I chose not to go to lunch with the group...we came home to eat leftovers!  I tried to take a nap, but couldn't so I just read.  Dave  sprayed for bugs - we have millions of little box-elder-type bugs...boy does it stink around here.  I hope the breeze picks up so the smell will go away!

Bingo was typical...I didn't win again.  I only needed 1 number in every game but 2, but my number didn't get called...:(  - I just needed a little luck and I didn't get it.  Oh well, it was fun anyway!

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Beautiful again!

It was definitely another beautiful day here!   We met Sudi, Howard, Nancy & Rod at S & H's place and then went to lunch at the Seabreeze Island Grill in Redington Shores.  Our food was really good, the drinks were potent, and the company was fantastic!  Thanks you guys - it was great to see you all again!

Tonight at cards wasn't quite as much fun!  My team lost by about 1,000 points.  That Sandy is quite a card shark!!

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Sunday at The Ranch

Another beautiful day here!  I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record!  It truly is beautiful here.  We had the windows open all day - there was a nice breeze coming in!  Dave's closing them as we speak.

We went to church this morning where we lost some faith in  humanity.  There were 3 older ladies who were very rude in church.  Two of them talked in their normal voices while Pastor Laura was trying to give the announcements.  Then we had a baptism and the great-grandma talked most of the time during the sermon and during the pastoral prayer.  She was just busy "loving on little Bentley"...but it's rude to talk all the time the Pastor is talking, especially during a prayer.  Just common courtesy to be quiet and listen...at the very least, you could whisper!

I made ham balls this afternoon.  Boy, are they good!  We ate out on the lanai and came in after the Christmas lights turned on.  Speaking of lights..here's our place!

I took the picture last night and Dave changed out the flag for a nativity flag today.  I think it looks pretty cool.  We have lots of units decorated here in the park...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas (minus the snow and cold weather!)  It's still 70 here tonight!

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Beautiful day!

It was another beautiful day here.  In fact, it was almost hot!  We returned some of the Christmas stuff we bought yesterday and got a few more things.  Now our house looks pretty darn good!  We also bought some risers for our beds so we could store stuff under them.  Now we need a ladder to get into bed!!  After we worked on Christmas decorations, we decided to go to the pool.  The water was absolutely wonderful today!

Tonight we had taco night at The Ranch.  It was really, really good!  Ten of us ladies decided to play cards tonight!  I was a loser, but since this wasn't a regular night, I don't think it should count!

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Beautiful day!

This was another gorgeous day!  We went to the Legion and had a great time sitting out on the water eating lunch.  The dolphins were plentiful and very active.  It was really fun watching them today!  I think there were 19 of us from The Ranch at the Legion today.

Dave and I went to Home Depot and bought some Christmas lights.  Dave put some of them up this evening while I was playing cards.  We need some color though, so we'll get some other lights tomorrow.  I hope to go to the flea market tomorrow since I've not been there before.  Maybe they'll have Christmas lights.  We've still got 4 little spiral trees and 2 larger ones to put up tomorrow.

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A Day Early

We came home a day early.  Our middle grandchild has the flu or something which kept her up all night vomiting, so Jami didn't want us near her.  We decided since we were leaving early tomorrow morning, we'd just come home today instead.  It was a lovely day for driving - 86 degrees and abundant sunshine!  We're grateful for a safe trip and we're grateful that Bob & Ann got home safely also.

After laundry and resting for a bit, we took a bike ride in the dark to see all of the Christmas lights.  Our park is certainly festive.  We've got to get some more lights up - our place looks puny compared to many others!

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We're almost pumpkins!

Today was a beautiful day!  We went to ride the water taxi and had a great 3 1/2 hour ride!  The day was just perfect for a boat ride!  We found a lot of homes for sale and a lot for sale...the lot is 7 million, but it has 8 trees on it!!  I might just buy 2 of them!!

 The is the lot for $7 million!  Then the picture below is just a pretty house!

 Just one of the bridges we went under.

Below is a picture of the Carrie B, a river boat that does tours like the water taxi.

 These 2 little puppies jumped into the water chasing an iguana.  They were just having a great swim.  Their mom & dad, plus 2 other dogs were on the opposite bank waiting for them to give up and come back.

 The house below was for sale for $45 million...2 acres, 20,000  sq feet, but 8 bedrooms and 8 baths!

Great day for a boat ride!

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Merry Christmas to us!!

We bought ourselves a Christmas present today.  We are now the proud owner of a Nikon D5200 DSLR camera!!

Isn't it cool?  I'm going to sell our Sony and our Canon, so if you know someone who needs a camera, let me know.

Obviously with a new camera, I had to take some new pictures!  This camera has some special effects that Danny thought were cartoonish, so we had to experiment with the effects!

 This is Danny without any special effect...

and this is him with special effects!

 Here's Megan's special effect...

and Kelly's.

Danny taught me how to finger-knit.  I'd never done that before, but I know how now!!

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Weak signal

I'm at the condo on the beach tonight and we've got a really weak signal - just two bars.  So I'm not sure I can even get this posted, but I'm going to try!

Dave & I had a good day today.  I slept until 8:45 and about lunchtime we went to Royal Vista for our annual update from Wyndham.  It was much more interesting the way they did it today.  It was in a group setting for the first time ever.  Then our rep came to our table.  We'd had him a couple of years ago and I'm sure he wrote in his notes that we weren't interested in buying, so he passed us off to a supervisor, who answered many of our questions.

This afternoon we went grocery shopping, went to Beall's Outlet for some shirts for Dave.  Then we went to watch the blimp.  It had evidently just come in and they were parking it.  We loved the fact that it was being guided by a John Deere tractor!

Back in the hangar until the next trip!

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Wet Sunday

We're in sunny South Florida, right?  Where's the sun?  It rained and rained here today.  When we went to church it was starting to mist a little and when we finished lunch at Bru's it started pouring.  We took Dad & Roberta out to Alligator Alley and it quit raining just as we got there.  It  poured on us before that - I mean it was raining cats & dogs!  We were proud of the people on the road.  Everyone was driving sensibly in that part of I95 and I595.  After we dropped them off and we headed back to Jami's, we saw two 1-car wrecks.  We're pretty sure they hydroplaned and hit the barrier wall.  Dad called and told us they were in the sun - lucky them!  When we got back to Jami's it started pouring again.  Their pool was level full!  I bet we had 2" of rain at least.

Even though it was a wash out, we enjoyed the day.  Church was good, lunch was good, and we all got home safely.  Plus, Jami & Dave got several more things done on Jami's daddy-do list.  Tom started with the Christmas decorations and the kids made a gingerbread house!  Fun times!

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