Sunday

We had a lovely day.  We didn't bring church clothes with us - should have known better!  We didn't go to church so we drove down A1A to see God's beauty of the beach instead.  Then we went to Bru's Room for lunch and to SteinMart to get us some long pants for church!  You see, we forgot that we had tickets to go to the Christmas Pageant at First Baptist Church.  Thank goodness we found something because we would have been underdressed definitely.  The pageant was wonderful as usual (this is our 3rd time of seeing it but each year has been different.)  I think that year's was the best one we've seen.  This pageant utilizes about 1,000 people including an ice skater, dancers, choir members, orchestra, stage hands, etc.  Then there are horses, camels, sheep, goats, a donkey, and even chickens!  What a production!!

Pizza was on the menu for supper and then back here to the condo for bed.  Whew!

More later...

Saturday

Last night I couldn't get the internet to work here at Sea Gardens, so no blog.  We've been in Ft Lauderdale for a day and a half and Dave's already asleep...I took a 3.5 hour nap this afternoon, but I'm still tired.  Being around a toddler who is walking tentatively and 3 older grandchildren is tiring!  We've been having a bunch of fun, though.  Bryan, Erin, and Aidan go to Disney tomorrow for a couple of days and Jami's family and us are going to the Christmas pageant at 1st Baptist Church tomorrow afternoon.  We didn't bring anything but shorts, so hope we can get in.

More later...

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends.  I know that we did!  Sudi & Howard joined Bob, Ann, Dave, and I and another 74 of our friends.  It was a great afternoon and  wonderful food.  Everyone seemed happy and thankful.  We had way too much food, but that happens sometimes.  We brought home extra mashed potatoes - those will supplement what Jami has left over.

We leave in the morning for Jami's for a few days.  We'll be home Wednesday some time unless we just decide to come home earlier.  If everyone is at work, we may come home early - you just never know.

More later...

Whew!

This was a whirlwind of a day!  We had coffee this morning, then shuffleboard...but we didn't shuffle.  Instead, we came home and started cooking dinner.  I made another Pinterest recipe today...that's two experiments in cooking in 2 weeks!  This one was definitely a keeper.  It was Oven Roasted Lemon Garlic Chicken with green beans and potatoes!  It was delicious!!

Bryan, Erin, and Aidan got here about 1:00 so we had a late lunch with them.  Aidan was so cute and had so much fun exploring that I forgot to take any pictures of him!  He's trying to walk and here with no carpeting, he walked a bunch.  He's a little unsteady, but he tried a bunch anyway.  I carried him down to the shuffleboard courts so he could meet his great uncle and aunt!  He held onto me tightly because all of these people kept talking to him and he was afraid someone else would want to hold him!!  I loved having all of his attention!  Then they took off for Ft Lauderdale and we got busy making two pecan pies and a banana dessert that my mom used to make!  I hope it's good. Bob and I both loved it when we were kids.

Tonight I played cards...or tried to play.  Marilyn and I got beat by 10k points.  At the other table, Ann and Sue got beat by about 8k points.  Not a good night for the home team!

More later...

B&B

Bowling was so-so today.  Well, actually it was worse than so-so.  I'm wondering if I should even be bowling.  My hip hurts so bad when I bowl,,,grrrr.  I bowled a 112, a 144, and 121.  Not too bad, but the worst part was that Bob beat me!  He had a nice 162 in the middle game.  I beat him the other two games, though!

I won again at bingo - $12 this time.  I was close numerous times, but just couldn't get there.  I only needed 1 number on 2 different cards to win $28, but my numbers weren't called, darn it.  Tomorrow, Bryan, Erin, and Aidan fly into here, have lunch with us, and then drive to Ft Lauderdale.  We'll be there Friday thru Tuesday and come home on Weds.  They fly out of here Thursday.

Now we're watching the finale of Dancing with the Stars!

More later...

Monday

Again I got beat at cards(12-4)!  My partners and I couldn't get such good cards.  Today was a lazy day...and a cool one.  It got up to 72 I think, but it was only 47 this morning!  I almost wished I had another cover on when I started to wake up!  Oh well, one nice thing about Florida...the cold weather doesn't usually last long....and tomorrow is supposed to be a little warmer.

I had a chiropractor's appointment today, and I tried to get my hair cut but they were too busy.

More later...

Sunday

Well, I had another sleepless night last night.  Thank God, they're few and far between!  I did finally go to bed about 2:30.  I think that football game and thinking about Coach getting fired kept me up.  My muscles were so tight that I just couldn't relax.

This morning we went to church and then came home for lunch.  After lunch we picked up Bob and went to the Wagon Wheel flea market.  We walked around a bunch and even sampled the tomatoes and plums.  Mmmmm - good!  If we weren't heading to Ft Lauderdale this next weekend, we'd have bought some!  It was a fun time.

This evening we watched the Nascar championship race.  We were hoping that Jeff would win it all, but it wasn't to be.  He ended up 6th - not bad for his final race.  Since he's now retired, I don't know who I'll cheer for next year.  Maybe I won't even watch!  I know it won't be the same without #24!  I was able to finish the newsletter and calendar for December - yahoo!

More later...

Boring!

Today was one of the most boring days I've spent here in Florida!  It was rainy, drizzly, cloudy - generally yucky!  Yesterday we had a good day, though.  We went to the Legion and met Bob & Ann there.  It was cloudy when we first arrived, but it turned beautiful within about 30 minutes.  We didn't see any dolphins, darn it!  After eating, we dropped by Sudi & Howard's place.  Dave is putting their car top carrier on Craiglist for them.  So he took some pictures and got some information.  We chatted a bit and then came back home.  Won at cards last night and ate B&M brown bread from a can...interesting.

This morning was our monthly breakfast - that was good again as usual.  Then the boring started...and stayed!  We watched my Cyclones lost another one at the end of the game...grrrrr.  So now, I'm not only bored, I'm also sad and frustrated!

More later...

Fun!

I sure enjoyed watching "Good Morning America" this morning.  They had most all of the past crews on this morning.  It's their 40th birthday on air.  What fun!!  Since it was going to be rainy and cloudy, we chose to do some inside activities today.  After Dave's check-up with the oral surgeon, we took off to check on some cabinets that Dave found on Craig's List.  They were beautiful cabinets, but a little more $$ than we want to spend.  We'd have almost as much in our cabinets as we have in our home!

The cabinet place was south, so after we left there we went to St Pete to find Trader Joe's.  What a fun place!!  So many unique items!!  That was worth finding.  We then headed off to see the progress on The Pier.  The Pier as we knew it, is gone.  It's just a flat drive out to the end where the building used to be...wow.  I wonder what their timetable is for the new one.  After having lunch at Fresco's, we headed home for a nap!  Dave's nap was short.  He wanted to get Doreen's gutter brushes in this afternoon.

Tonight we've been watching "Building Alaska" and just hanging out.  The rain on the roof is so soothing!

More later...

Wednesday

We had an interesting day today.  We started with coffee and then we had a meeting with the park manager which lasted a good hour!  Unfortunately, we didn't learn anything more than we already knew!  We're at the mercy of ELS!

Tonight at cards, my team got clobbered!  We got slaughtered in both the first and 2nd hands.  We held our own on the 3rd and even won the 4th, but by that time we were like 8,000 points behind!  Oh well, 11-3 isn't bad!

More later...

B & B

I was terrible at B & B today!  I couldn't do anything at bowling.  I didn't even have a 400 series.  I did, however, win poker during one game...that was $5.00.  After bowling, we went to Quaker Steak & Lube for lunch.  Good place to eat.

When I got hoome, the  guys were here working on putting insulation and a vapor barrier under our mobile home.  They got done mid afternoon and then we went for a bike ride.  The weather was lovely again today.  I sure am glad we get to come here!

Tonight at bingo, I was close...I won one game, but had to split with another lady.  So I won $6!!  Whoohoo!

More later...

Monday

It was another beautiful day here!  Love, love these low humidity days!  We rode 2 laps today and even found time for a nap!  At cards I'm 11-2!  I had good partners tonight and it seemed that my cards coincided with my partners!

I'm watching DWTS and I was about to get angry.  But then they redeemed themselves!  What good dancers this season!

More later...

Sunday

It was absolutely beautiful here today!  It was around 75 with a wonderful breeze.  Perfect.  We went to church this morning and then went to JD's for breakfast.  We sat outside and actually had to put on our jackets because of the breeze.

This afternoon was just a lazy one.  I sat out with Bob for quite a while and Dave and I took two laps around the streets in the park.

More later...

Saturday

We had our craft and bake sale this morning.  I took my cards and sold several...I think I made $35 at $2.50 a card!  I then bought a couple of kitchen towels that fasten to the oven handle and a faux Tervis Tumbler with the Holiday Ranch logo on it.  In essence, I spent most of what I made.  I left at noon - we just didn't have any customers after about 11:00.

This afternoon I helped Bob take the little white lights off of their fake palm trees.  Now he can string some new lights into the fronds and put Ann's trees back in their lanai, When Ann got home from church, the four of us went to Post Corner for pizza...mmmm, was it ever good!  It was a nice night to sit outside, too.  That's the first time we've been there this season.

My Cyclones were playing Oklahoma State this afternoon/evening.  We were ahead until late in the 4th quarter and then ended up getting beat by 4.  We played really well, but just couldn't get it done.

More later...

Friday

This afternoon, our weather finally cooled down a bit!  It is beautiful here this evening!  At noon, however, it was another hot one!  We went to the Legion today.  Unfortunately, Dave's temporary crown come off this morning so he could eat lunch.  He couldn't get into the dentist to have it re-seated until 3:00.  So he drank a pitcher of iced tea while I had a BLT.  It was absolutely beautiful there today.  There was a good crowd and almost all of the tables were full.  I guess the snowbirds are back!  We'll have to start getting there earlier.

I found out today that a dear friend of mine from Gilbert passed away last night.  He was a special man who helped me get my house in Gilbert.  He was also a big Cyclone fan and owned a couple of classic cars.  I can't even imagine a world without Lindsay.  He will truly be missed by many, including me.

Cards tonight ended up good.  I'm 10-2.  I thought it was going to be awful - we were down 7k points after the first hand.  We made that up and went ahead by 600 points on the 2nd hand.  By the end of the 3rd hand we were only ahead 150 points, but we got them by 2k points by the end of the game!

More later...

Kickoff

Tonight was the first official activity of the season here at The Ranch.  We had our welcome back wine and cheese party.  There were 50 tickets sold, so we had a nice crowd.  I think there were 5 new people at the party.  So that was good.  Dave and I went up at noon today to help get things set up and get the cheese cut.  Someone made sangria - boy was it good!  I even had 2 glasses of it.  At Thanksgiving, we're going to have white wine sangria...I've never had that.

Didn't do much else today.  I guess it was a lazy day!

More later...

Another hot one!

We had coffee this morning, followed by our monthly home owners meeting.  After the meeting, we started our fun shuffleboard.  I didn't do so well.  I actually went 0-2 today.  I woke up dizzy this morning and hurting something awful.  My muscles hurt so bad from bowling yesterday that I'm even having a hard time standing up after sitting!  I am really, really out of shape!  I guess I'd better get to riding my bike.

Cards were good tonight.  I'm 9-2 there!

More later...

B & B Tuesday

We had 14 people at bowling this morning...we were missing several.  It was fun, though.  I bowled pretty well for 2 games.  The 3rd game wasn't very good.  I had a 157, a 159, and a 111.  I was lucky to get a 111 the last game.  My hip was killing me and so was my hand.  Tonight my hand feels like it's got cramps in it.  Guess I wasn't ready to bowl!!  I split one of the cribbage pots...whoopeee!  I won a whole $1.75!

Tonight at bingo, I won $24...I'm probably done for the year!  I've won 3 weeks in a row, so can't imagine this will last!

More later...

Monday

Beautiful rainy day!  We needed the rain!  Dave and I got lots done today!  We went to the Tax Collector and became Florida residents.  We got our license plate and our Florida drivers' licenses.  We also got our voter registration completed and went to the chiropractor.  Oh, we also went to the bowling alley and had our bowling balls cleaned.  They were really gross!  Tomorrow is the first B & B.  I hope I can hold that heavy bowling ball!

I'm now 8-2 in cards!

More later...

Lazy Sunday

We had a very lazy day today.  It wasn't quite as hot...just 88 today!  We tied the record set in 1990.  We've had about a week of record breaking heat, but it's supposed to break this week.  We're ready for just a little cooler!

We went to church this morning and then went to Maggie Mae's for breakfast/lunch.  We had to wait for about 30-40 minutes to get in, but it was good!  When we got home, we just hung out.  Dave did go out and put some stuff on the yard to kill some bugs around us.  At 3:00 we had appointments at Massage Envy.  Boy, did that massage feel good.  I haven't had a massage since June!  We came home and again just hung out.  Just a lazy day!

More later...

Saturday

It was sure hot here this morning, but this afternoon it cooled down a bit.  We were able to ride two laps today and we felt good as long as we were riding.  When we quit, there didn't seem to be any air movement at all.  Dave & my brother worked outside all morning.  When Dave got in around 1:00 he was completely drenched with sweat.

This evening we went to dinner with Bob & Ann for Ann's birthday.  We had a good time and great meals.  We love Cheddars!

More later...

Friday

Have you ever watched Tiny Houses on HGTV?  What a hoot!  These little houses are really tiny.  One that this couple (with 2 little kids) was considering was 124 square feet!  I can't even imagine!  They ended up getting one that was around 325 sq feet!  Oh my!  I would go crazy!

We had another hot day here...I'm pretty sure we broke the record again today.  Record was 87 and it had to be 90 today!  Fall has not come to Florida yet.  We went to The Legion for lunch today.  Sudi & Howard joined us.  It was fun to see them.  We also saw bunches of dolphins today so it was a successful day!

We had 8 card players tonight.  I'm now 7-2!!

More later...

Interesting day

To say today was interesting is an understatement!  Dave and I went to the oral surgeon this morning for an 8:30 appointment.  Two and a half hours later, we headed home.  They got the root of the tooth out, but they also had to do a bone graft.  Poor Dave is on a soft diet and is on pain meds.  He's not in any pain...just pressure.  We'll see how he feels in the morning.  We're planning to go to lunch at the Legion, but that may be in jeopardy if he doesn't feel well.  We think he can eat fish as long as it is soft.  The biggest problem is that he is hungry!

More later...

Wednesday

We had another hot, humid day here.  I think they said it hit 92.  This morning was especially oppressing.  By the afternoon, we had a little breeze so it wasn't so bad.  Dave and I got our Florida car insurance this morning and afterwards we stopped by Beall's.  Dave's sister gave me $80 in Beall's Bucks and I had another $20 so I needed to spend $100!  We got Dave 2 shirts, me a shirt and a nightgown, and a couple of things for the kitchen!  Pretty good shopping.

I sat out and talked to Bob for a while this afternoon, cause Dave had a dental appointment.  He was having a tooth pulled and two teeth prepared for a bridge.  The tooth fell apart into at least 14 pieces, so tomorrow morning we take Dave to an oral surgeon to get the rest of the tooth out.  Yuck!  They did the crown preps anyway, so now he'll have 8 weeks of no chewing anything hard!  The worst part is that his surgeon appointment is at 8:30 AM!!  That means I have to get up early, too!

More later...

PS:  I'm 6-2 in cards and I was the big winner at bingo last night.

Tuesday

This was our last Tuesday before bowling begins next week!  So we cleaned house today and moved furniture around.  We found out that we like the furniture where it is for the most part...so we moved it back!  Since it was so hot out, we didn't go outside much.  We just stayed in the a/c!

Tonight at bingo...I won again!  This time I only won $54, but it was fun.  I was close on other games, but no cigar!

More later...

Oh my - another hot one!

It was really hot and humid today, but I guess that's why we come to Florida.  Bob & Ann's air conditioner quit when they got back, but today they were able to get cooled down.  I'm sure they'll sleep better tonight.  Dave and Bob worked outside getting ready for the new unit to be installed and Bob only saw 1 snake!  Thank goodness it didn't freak him out...he actually got along fine.

This afternoon Dave and I had chiropractor appointments and then tonight I played cards.  Ann and I were partners and we won!  I think I'm 5-2!

More later...

We're home!

We had such a good week!  The reunion with my guys was wonderful!  The grand children were fun.  Jami is always a delight, and the weather was hot and humid!  Once the reunion started, I didn't get much sleep...I was either out late or I had been standing so much that my hip killed me and I couldn't sleep!  Oh well...we're home now and all is well.  We stopped on our drive back to have a late lunch with Dave's sister and her hubby.  Then when we got to the Ranch, my brother was here!

More later...