Finally!

Dave got done painting today!!  Yay!  He's just got a teeny little bit of touch-ups to do.  I'm so glad!  He's so glad!! 

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Thursday

I had a boring day.  I worked on some paperwork and some organizing, but that's about all.  I did have to run to Lowe's for another gallon of paint for Dave.  He's painting the last awning - all 20 feet of it!  He's finally got the underside done...2 coats.

We finally had some rain tonight.  Boy, did we ever need it.  It didn't last very long, but it rained hard.  Thank you, Lord.

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Wednesday

Coffee this morning, followed by several guys coming to help Dave take the big front awning off the front of the house so that he can paint it.  We took all of the Christmas lights and decorations down yesterday so he could do this.

I swept the floor and worked on updating my Christmas card list.  Tonight I played cards.  We taught a new lady to play.  She was my partner and caught on really, really quickly.  She said she'd played canasta years and years ago, so she had no problem getting into 7s from Hell.  We won, too!!

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Just one B again!

We didn't bowl again today.  There were just going to be 5 of us today, so we opted to skip it again.  Next week about 6 people will be back, so we should be able to bowl then.

Sudi called and asked us to come over to see their new house today.  It is really, really nice.  There's so much room!  So many possibilities!  Loved the pool and the back yard area.  Then we went to eat at Mickey Quinn's for a late lunch.  Good food and good friends!

Tonight was Bingo.  I won $26 tonight.  Not bad for me!

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Sawgrass

We actually did something fun today.  We went to Sawgrass Lake Park to see the baby alligators.  We saw itty bitty ones today.  I haven't checked our pix yet - maybe tomorrow. 

Tonight there were 9 of us to play cards, but I elected to stay home.  I'm just pooped!  I was so tired last night that I couldn't sleep well.  Hope to sleep well tonight!

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Merry Christmas!

Yesterday was a very busy day for us.  We had to pick up the food and cook the turkey.  Marv and Rich carved the 5 turkeys and the slices were perfection.  They were all evenly cut - just beautiful!  Last night we had a Christmas Eve party with a little gift exchange.  I made a meatloaf for the dinner.  It was delicious!  We had to rush to get to church, but we got there in the middle of the first song.  It was a beautiful service with a good sermon.

We started today out with church again.  Then all the work began in earnest.  We had about 80 people show up for dinner - maybe less because we had some who signed up and didn't come.  I'm glad the dinner is over.  I'm tired!  Dave just said he was going to bed and it's not even 9:00!! 

Hope everyone had a great day.  We sure did!

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HoHoHo

We played  Santa today.  We got all the cards for the park sorted and delivered today, thanks in part to help from Jim & Lorraine.  Whew!  It was hot out there delivering cards! 

Tomorrow is a HUGE day = we've got to cook a turkey before noon.  Then we have to pick up all of the food for Sunday and deliver it to everyone involved in the cooking process.  Then I have to make a meatloaf and have it cooked by 5:00 for a Christmas Eve party. 

Oh, by the way, I won tonight at cards!!  We didn't even play the 4th hand we were so far ahead!

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Thursday

Dave and I both slept in this morning...well, one of us slept later than the other!  Dave actually slept until 6:15 - that's almost unheard of for him!  I slept until 8:15!  Much better!

I sorted more Christmas cards - our couch is full, but I have almost all of them sorted by lot #.  I got another stack tonight - it's about 4" tall, but that'll sort easily tomorrow.  We actually went to Scully's for lunch today.  The dolphins entertained us.  We saw what we assumed were 15 different dolphins just swimming around enjoying the day.  It was a gorgeous day on the water. 

This evening we went out to Lake Road to see the Christmas lights.  They were beautiful, but a whole bunch of people had the same idea.  It was packed with cars!

Tomorrow starts our busy days!

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B

There's no B&B today, only a B.  We were only going to have 6 bowlers so we elected to take a day off...yay!  So instead, Dave and I washed all of our lanai windows - all 24 of them...some of them 3 times.  We used Woolite like Ann did, but ours looked pretty streaky, so we cleaned them with the spray cleaner that is made for the vinyl windows.  Now they look pretty darn good, if I do say so myself!

Since that took us most of the day, there wasn't much time for anything else.  I went to bingo tonight and won $16...much better than the $1.40 I won last week!

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Monday

Dave and I delivered the turkeys to the ladies who are going to cook them on Saturday.  Since they have to thaw 4 days in the fridge, this was our day to do that task.  We also went out and finished our shopping.  We have a $400 budget and according to my rough calculations, we're almost exactly at $400!  Hope there's nothing I forgot to get!

We delivered excess books to the library for their sale and ran some other errands.  When we got home, I made crockpot peanut clusters and Dave helped me spoon them out.

Tonight was cards and I lost again.  We just couldn't get those darn 7s!!

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Sunday

I'm a little nervous about having enough food for Christmas dinner...so, guess what the sermon was about...giving it all to God and receiving the peace that passes all understanding.  Now, if I could just do it.  After doing some research and getting some opinions from Sandy who has done these dinners before,, I feel better about things.  My big concern is the turkey.  We have 81 people attending and we have about 85 pounds of turkey.  All of the websites say if you're serving 100 people, you should have 100 pounds of turkey.  So I guess I'm right on.

We had our massages this afternoon and then went out to eat.  Beautiful day here.  It was -6 in Waterloo while it was 80 here.  Brrr..........

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Saturday

What a busy day we had today!  We had our annual Christmas breakfast buffet this morning and it was wonderful.  The quiche was awesome!  Plus they had pancakes, eggs, sausage, potatoes, Danishes, pumpkin bread, and fresh fruit cups.  Great start to the day!

Then it was time to shuffle.  We only had 14 people today - not enough for all 4 courts.  It turned out to be a tie - Bluebirds won 9 and Redbirds won 9.  I only played once, but I won my game.  I played Gilles - it was fun to beat him because he's good!

This afternoon while Dave was doing touch-ups, I took a bike ride and then I sorted the hundreds of Christmas cards that were in the box for the residents.  Now it'll be easy to sort in the rest of the cards that we get.  We'll deliver them on the 23rd!

We're now at 80 people for Christmas dinner...I planned for 60.  I guess I'd better get some more food ordered.

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Friday

Dave had a chiropractor treatment this morning and after that we went to Sarasota.  Roberta is flying back to Indy tomorrow because her brother passed away today.  She had hoped that he would wait for her to get there, but he was ready to go.  When we got home, we took naps and just hung out.  I didn't even go to play cards tonight.

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Thursday

We had another beautiful day today!  It is just gorgeous in our little world!!  I guess it rained hard around 2:00 AM and we had sea fog, but by 6:30 it had all dried up.  Dave went to work at church so I got to lounge around! 

Dave got the doors painted today and sealed the door knobs.  He also took down the lights outside the doors and painted them.  Since it's so humid, he's letting them dry over night.  Then he'll put them on tomorrow.  Then all that's left is touchups!!  Oh, the front awning is also not done yet because it's decorated for Christmas.  So that won't get done until January.

Tonight, Ann and I joined the "Golden Girls" for trivia night at the Fat Cat Tavern.  We got 5th, before the final question.  We should have stopped there because we missed it.  Grrr............
Oh well, there's always next week!

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Wednesday

This morning after coffee, I was officially nominated as a candidate for the Board of Directors of the Home Owners' Association.  I am excited, but the election isn't until January so we'll see if I get one of the two positions.  There are 5 people running and one is an incumbent. 

Since I didn't sleep well (it was 3:00 before I fell asleep), when I got home from coffee and the HOA meeting, I took a nap.  I didn't wake up until about 4:30!  Sure hope I sleep tonight. 

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Monday and Tuesday

Monday was a day that was very productive for me...and Dave, but different tasks.  Dave worked on painting the lanai floor and I worked on Christmas cards to be mailed and Christmas cards for the park residents.  I got them all done except for the kids' cards.  Dave can work on those in his spare time. 

Cards were not so good.  We were only 140 points behind going into the last hand, but Ann went out way early so we didn't even count...we got clobbered!

Today was B&B.  Bowling wasn't too bad, but we only had 11 bowlers.  We're not going to bowl next Tuesday - only about 6 people were going to be there so we're taking a day off. 

This afternoon Ann and I went to see the International Champion Elvis impersonator (for the last 4 years).  He was really good.  We were there for 2.5 hours!  Good music and well worth the money.  His name is Dwight Icenhower so if you ever have a chance to see him, go!  Great tribute to the "King" of Rock 'n' Roll.

Bingo - not so good.  I won, but only won $1.40!!  Big deal, huh?!

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Sunday

We had a great service this morning at church.  Pastor Jack talked about "violent mega joy"  He was really on a roll this morning.  We laughed and laughed!  After church we stopped at Hammerhead for a couple of things so Dave could continue his projects. 

We had tickets for 'Every Christmas Story Ever Told (and then some)" this afternoon.  Bob, Ann, Dave, and I all went.  It was very funny - Ann and I laughed so much.  Unfortunately the guys didn't like it as much as we did.  We may not ask them again!  It was definitely slapstick comedy!

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Saturday

Shuffleboard this morning wasn't very good for me...I lost both of my games.  Both opponents kept putting me in the kitchen (which means -10 points).  When this happens you have to waste a puck trying to get out so you don't get to score.  Grrr.....  Oh well.  Maybe next week! 

After lunch, Ann, Sandy, Lorraine and I met at the hall to make sock snowmen.  I got things ready for the ladies.  We made 12 of them - all with their own personalities.  They are so cute!

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Friday

This did not seem like a Friday.  We usually go out for lunch on Fridays, but since Dave is still painting, we didn't go anywhere.  Plus it's pretty chilly here! 

I worked on Christmas cards and got about 40 of them all done.  I've still got more to do another day.  Tonight I played cards.  Sandy and I just couldn't get our 7s.  I guess that's why they call it 7s from Hell!

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Thursday

Just more of the same around here.  Don't get to go anywhere until the works done.  Dave is still working with paint.  One of these days he'll get done.  Even Bob (Dave too) painted their trim and shutters.  We're going to have the prettiest places at The Ranch!

Tonight 4 of us ladies went to Fat Cat for trivia night.  We didn't do so well!  We ended up in 16th or so out of 20 some teams.  The beer round was 70's rock.  That category killed us!

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B&B

Tuesdays are busy days!  We went  bowling this morning.  I had a decent day, but Dave didn't.  After bowling, we went to Fat Cat's for lunch.  Good food!  Sometimes the service isn't so good, but it wasn't bad today.  We had 15 people at lunch and only 13 who bowled.

We came home and took short naps because the phones kept ringing!  Grrr.................   

Tonight at bingo, I won $5 - not much, but at least I got to say bingo.  In fact, I think everyone but one got to bingo.  We only had 13 at bingo, so the pots weren't too big.  I don't know what happened to our crowd.

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Monday

Do you ever wonder why time goes so fast when you're not looking?  My mom always said that time goes faster the older you get.  I guess she was right.  I am having a hard time believing that it is only 20 days until Christmas!  Speaking of Christmas, Dave and I went to Wild Fields to get some of the items ordered for dinner.  We are on the way to finalizing everything we need.  We're not doing this next year!  We'll sit back and let someone else do the planning.

Dave and Bob painted his trim today.  Tomorrow is bowling, so there won't be any painting done tomorrow. 

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Sunday

At church this morning, we got to sing several Christmas songs and saw the cutest little baby girl get baptized.  He name is Esther Azalea Pearl and then her last name.  What a mouthful!  Pastor Jack gave a wonderful sermon about "God is Love", followed by communion.   I am always so inspired when I get out of church. 

After worship, we met Sudi & Howard at JD's for breakfast.  We sat and gabbed for a long time - good food, good friends!!  Can't wait to see their new home.

Dave painted the shutters this afternoon and then when they dried, he and Bob put them up.  Now the house looks better!!  Love the charcoal gray color on the shutters and trim. 

I worked on our Christmas letter and various other paperwork.  I was supposed to reconcile the bank accounts, but put it off for another day...maybe tomorrow.

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Saturday

Dave got 4 of the awnings painted and put back up today.  He painted while I shuffled!  He'll soon be done with the entire house except for the big awning on the front of the house.  He can't do it until we take down the Christmas lights.

I didn't do too bad today shuffling.  I won one and gave one away.  I was up by 14 points going into the last frame.  I couldn't hit his pucks and I couldn't score...he ended up scoring 16 so beat me by 2 points.  Grrrr................

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Friday

This was a different Friday for us.  Dave worked on painting the awnings and I did paperwork and cleaned.  Tonight he's asleep in his chair and I'm just hanging out now that cards are over for the night.  Speaking of cards, my team got clobbered!  Oh well, Monday is another opportunity to win!

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Thursday

I had a leisurely morning while Dave was working at church.  Then I went to lunch with Ann and Barb.  We went to Wildflower.  It's a cute little place with good food.  This afternoon I got my hair cut while Dave was painting over spots that got missed.  Now he's in bed and I'm watching Cyclone basketball.

More later...