New Year's Eve

Dave and I had errands to run today and we wanted to walk one of the nature parks.  After walking at Largo Nature Park where we saw lots of critters, we then ran errands.  We decided to eat lunch at JD's and then had to get gas and pick up medicine for Dave.  We didn't get home until almost 3:00.  Then Dave helped me put together an egg casserole for tomorrow.  (People here call them stratas.)  So it's in the fridge and we'll bake it in the morning.  We have to be at the clubhouse for brunch at 10:00. 

Tonight we ate popcorn and watched The Lion King...fabulous animation - the animals look so real.  I wonder how they did that!!

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Monday

No Fun Shuffle again today.  Only 4 people showed up so we elected not to play.  Maybe next week!! 

I felt better today.  Since we didn't shuffle, I went to get my hair cut.  I was getting very shaggy.  Not any more.  She cut it really short!  It won't blow much in the wind at least! 

I was the only one who didn't win at bingo tonight.   I wonder why I don't win????  I was waiting on almost every game, but no such luck!

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Sunday

When I woke up this morning, I was still dizzy but we went to church anyway.  By the time church was over, I could hardly wait to go back to bed.  I got up around 2:45 this afternoon and ate my salad.  Then a bit later Dave said he was going to nap in his chair so I went back to the bed to read.  I fell asleep again.  This time I woke up about 6:00!  My neck is stiff but I feel much better!  Sure hope I can sleep tonight!!

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Saturday

The best thing about this day was getting to video chat with my family while they were all together for their Christmas!  We even got 'blown kisses" from both Rowyn and Oaklyn!  McCoy was all smiles, too...and Blaise told us he's coming to Florida this spring with Grandma Linda!!  The girls don't get to come, but Blaise does.  It'll be fun to have him around here!

Other than that, my day sort of tanked.  My Cyclones played very poorly and I had a bout with vertigo and had to go lie down.  I'm still having a few problems, so I'll be taking a mecclizine when I go to bed.

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Friday

Dave and I divided up the leftover ham and turkey and delivered it to those who cooked it.  I am loving having leftover ham.  It is so good on my salads!  So is the turkey, but the ham is wonderful!  Since we were out delivering goodies, we also got our walk in.  Tomorrow is going to be a busy day.  We're planning to take down all the Christmas decorations.  What fun!  I've enjoyed having them up.  The lights are so inviting.  I'm going to miss my fiber optic angels, too.  They are so pretty!

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Thursday

No lawn care this morning for Dave so we both slept in.  He slept until 8:20 and I got up at 8:57!  That was fun!  I guess we were both tired from yesterday!

After breakfast and showers, we ran errands.  Went to Skechers where he bought two new pairs of shoes.  Then to the Walmart Neighborhood Market for some groceries.  After that we put our cold groceries in a cooler and went to Sawgrass.  We finally saw a big alligator and a little one in about the same area.  We even talked to a couple of park rangers to see if the big guy with the stub tail was still in the park.  They had no idea how he lost his tail, but he's still around.  It was a great day for a walk.

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Merry Christmas

We did it.  We had another successful Christmas dinner!  There were 51 people at dinner and lots of food!  We even had two tables of desserts.  I'm very tired but it's a good tired.  At Thanksgiving, Sandy sits down and lets everyone else clean up.  Didn't work that way for us.  Seems like every time there's a dinner, it's the Midwestern folks who do all of the cleanup.  The Eastern folks just watched up do the work.  Wonder how I can change that?????

We called Bryan today so got to see the little ones.  Didn't get Jami called, but saw a picture of the older grandchildren on Facebook!  That was good.  I also didn't get Bob called but I sent a text out to my family.



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Christmas Eve

This morning we were busy cutting the hams off the bone and making our cheesy potato casserole.  We've got everything ready to go into the oven tomorrow afternoon.  We then helped Sandy set up the clubhouse for tonight's Christmas Eve party.

Dave and I did something different tonight though.  We went on a StarLite Dinner Cruise.  Good food, good music.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate.  We weren't able to see a sunset, but it was a beautiful cruise nonetheless. 

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Monday

Boy, did it ever rain last night!!  Bob's gauge showed 5 inches of rain!!  I cancelled shuffleboard because there was water standing on the courts.  I went up to the courts to make sure no one came, but no one did!  So I came home and Dave and I finished getting items we needed for Christmas dinner.  I think we're all set to cut the hams off the bone.  We'll be heating them up after they've been cut off.  That way the people should be able to get their meat a bit easier.  I'll be glad when this dinner is over.

At 1:00 we went up to the clubhouse to sort all the Christmas cards for the park.  We had good help.  I got stuck with First Street which has the most cards.  I was getting along well, but Kathy and Dana finished Fourth Street and then came to help me sort.  It was drizzling when we took off to deliver them.  Unfortunately it didn't take long for the drizzle to turn into rain.  We were delivering 1st and 4th while Dave and Sandy delivered 2nd and 3rd.  We didn't get 1st or 3rd done because we were getting soaked.  So we waited a while and Dave and I finished delivering as the sun was coming out!

Had bingo tonight - I didn't win anything.  Grrr...

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Weekend

Jami came over this weekend and only Danny came with her.  I fixed tenderloins for us Friday night.  Then we played "Farkle".  Saturday we got up a bit late and fixed bacon and eggs for breakfast.  After breakfast we went to the Largo Nature Park for a walk and to see some wildlife.  We got lucky.  This is the first time we've seen 6 limpkins in one outing!  We watched a limpkin crack open a shell to get the meat out of it.  He just laid the shell down and hit it hard with his beak until he could get it open enough to such the goodie out of it.  Very interesting to watch.  When we went to the other side of the park, we saw 4 species of birds all in the same 10' area - a roseate spoonbill, a tri-colored heron, a juvenile ibis, and a pied-bill grebe.  They were fishing for food so didn't mind us taking pictures of them.  A little later we watched a Great Blue Heron catch a fish by stabbing it with his beak.  Then he had to work to get the fish off his beak to swallow it.  We had a good time.  Danny used one of our cameras and took some really good pictures. 

We ate lunch at Gators and then after a rest we played dominoes until Danny started to get tired and grumpy.  Today we went to church.  After cooking burgers on the grill, the kids left and Dave and I both took naps!  I'm reading Michelle Obama's book Becoming and I'm hating to put it down.  It's extremely well written and if you like her, you'll love this book!

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Thursday

After Dave got home from lawn crew at church, we cleaned the house - mopped and vacuumed and dusted.  It looks really nice!  Tomorrow, Jami and Danny are coming over.  Megan is sick and Kelly needs to work on college applications.  Unfortunately it's supposed to rain this weekend.  I hope it holds off Saturday so we can go to the water with Danny.

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Wednesday

Man is it ever cold here!  I think it got up to 54 with a wind chill of 46!  I'm freezing, but then I look at the temp in Waterloo - it's 19 and feels like 7!!  Now I'm not so cold any more!!

We went to Verizon today and got new phones.  It only took us about 2 1/2 hours!!  That's one thing I hate about going to the phone  store.  It's worse than going to the doctor - takes forever!!

We also had errands to run - went to Walmart and to Sam's! 

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Tuesday

Bowling - what can I say?!  As usual, I have bowled better than I did today.  My first game was not good, but I was over 100.  My second game was my best game.  My third game wasn't much  below my second game!  Dave's games were fair, decent, awful!  The best part of bowling today was going to Abe's for lunch!  I LOVE their "blackened bowl".  It's a bowl of black beans, rice, blackened chicken, with pico de gallo, guacamole, and sour cream!  Yum, yum!!  There's enough for about 4 meals, too!

Tonight it rained here.  No, it poured!  We had over 2 inches just while we were playing cards in the clubhouse.  Cards were a challenge tonight.  Doreen and I played P & D.   D has had a stroke.  She looks just like she used to, but her brain doesn't function well at all.  Tonight was really bad.  P is very forgetful, but then she's 88 or 89 so that explains that.  We only played 2 hands while the other table of 4 played all 4 hands.  Challenging to say the least!

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Monday

We didn't shuffle this morning.. Only 5 people showed up and they decided it wasn't worth playing, so we went home.  Dave and I took our walk and then went to Aldi's after lunch.  It was a warm one today. 

Tonight was bingo - I won $25.50!!  Yay!!

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Sunday

Great sermon today.  Breathe in the breath of God and pour it out into the world when you exhale.  Another quote from today was "if you need to get, you don't "get" Christmas."  Boy we're going to hate it when Jack retires!  We liked church so much today that we stayed for the next service - the 11:00 service was a cantata with a 56 person choir and a 24 person orchestra.  Wonderful!

I worked more on the spreadsheet that I'm developing for the Ranch finances.  I've got it done, but my balances don't jibe!  So I've got to get back to it and figure it out.

This is going to be a very busy week!

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Saturday

Beautiful day again!  This morning, Karen (across the street) went with us to Sawgrass.  We got our walk in, but didn't see much wildlife.  No alligators at all - it was too chilly to see them.  Bummer.  The Audubon Society bird counters were out doing their Christmas bird count.  That would be interesting!  You should have been the lenses those people had!!  Talk about lens envy!

This evening we went to the clubhouse for a surprise party for Kathy's 70th birthday...cake and ice cream - yay!!

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Friday

Today our middle granddaughter turned 16.  My, time sure does fly!  It's really hard for me to believe that our Florida grandchildren are 18, 16, and 12!!  Wow!  Seems just the other day that we became grandparents for the first time!

Dave took Bob & Ann to the airport at 5:30 this morning.  I had a really hard time sleeping, but I got to lounge around in my nightgown this morning so I was happy.  It rained a bit this afternoon and Dave and I were out walking when it started in earnest.  When we started our walk, it was just drizzling.  By the time we hit 2nd Street headed home, it started raining...not drizzling! 

I baked cookies today,  so now I'm officially ready for the holiday season. 

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Thursday

Beautiful day here.  Yesterday and today were just about perfect!  We heard an update on Oaklyn.  She had a followup in Iowa City yesterday.  Her oxygen levels before her surgery were in the 70s to low 80s.  After her surgery she''s stating in the 90s!  She's walking just holding on to someone's finger.  She hasn't been getting her pump feedings.  They are doing syringe feedings and she's doing great with them.  She's eating yogurt, frosting, and Lucky Charms marshmallows!!  She weighs 27 pounds!  Best news of all is she doesn't have to go back to Iowa City until February!  She'll probably have to have a heart transplant sometime in her future - probably in her teens or 20s, so we'd appreciate it if you'd keep her in your prayers.  She is a very special little girl who will turn 2 in January!

Today I mixed up a batch of peanut clusters.  Dave helped me spoon them out!  Yummy!!

Tonight we went to the Botanical Gardens with Bob & Ann.  We took my scooter so Bob wouldn't have to walk the gardens.  It was a big lifesaver!  The Gardens are decorated for Christmas and are just beautiful!!

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Tuesday

Bowling this morning was a big disappointment.  I didn't bowl very well.  In fact, only 1 person bowled well...everyone was a little off today. 

After bowling we went to O'Keefe's for lunch.  Good place to eat!  They have a large menu and every one of us had something really good. 

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Monday

At shuffleboard this morning, I won both of my games!  It was such a lovely day to be outside.  After lunch we had our monthly board meeting outside in the lanai.  Dave and I took our walk after that was over and he finished cleaning the roof of our house.

Tonight was bingo and I won enough money to come back next week!!

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Sunday

At church today, we sang some wild songs.  Great beat...just hadn't heard the songs before.  Good sermon.  They're doing a series on Joseph...interesting. 

After church we went to Sam's and to the Wagon Wheel.  When we go to the WW, we get our walk in there. 

This afternoon we did all the cards for the park and got them delivered to the "mail box" in the clubhouse.  Bob came over to get his directory updated.  Of 149 units here in the park, Dave and I sent about 70 cards...maybe 72.  So we only know about half of the people. 

Tonight we watched Kansas City beat New England...oh, too bad! 

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Saturday

Another beautiful day here!  Dave and I finished addressing, signing, and getting ready to mail our Christmas cards.  Next on our agenda is working on the cards for our friends here in the park. 

Today we went with Bob and Ann to meet Sudi & Howard at SeaBreeze for lunch.  It was delicious as usual...or mine was, anyway.  Then we went to their condo.  We hadn't seen it since they moved in.  It's beautiful and WHAT A VIEW!!!

We didn't take our walk until about 4:30 or so.  It was starting to get dark as we finished. 

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Fridat

Dave and I went for our walk today...at Largo Nature Park.  We had a banner day.  We saw lots of critters so we really enjoyed our walk.  We didn't take the good cameras, so didn't get great pictures.  Some, though, were very good. 

This limpkin was just making an awful racket...just kept clicking away.  Finally we looked down in the water below him.  Mr Alligator was just hanging out waiting for a tasty morsel. 

These are all taken with my phone.  I love this egret.  He's backlit and starting to get his breeding plumage.

While we were over by the canal, two roseate spoonbills flew in.  I was about 12 feet away from this guy.  He was so pretty!

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Thursday

I love Thursdays!  I got to sleep a little later.  When I get up, I take my time eating breakfast and playing games on the computer.  Then I try to be ready when Dave finally gets home from lawn duty at church.  Today we went to Lowe's, Home Depot, Walmart, Target, Hospice Thrift Store, and to the dry cleaners before we came home.  Lunch for me was celery and peanut butter.

This afternoon we put up roll-up blinds in our bedroom and did laundry.  We even rested a bit and now it's bedtime.  Time goes so fast!!

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Wednesday

We had 31 at coffee this morning!!  Sure glad to see some people turn out for events.  Now if someone would just volunteer to do Christmas!  I've got it all figured out; I just don't want to be in charge of the whole thing!

Dave had an appointment with the retina specialist today.  His eyesight is much improved with the drops, so no shots in his eyes!  He doesn't have to go back for 5 weeks!!  I about froze in the waiting room today so I went out and sat in the car in the sun!

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Tuesday

We bowled today.  I had another good day at bowling.  I bowled a 454 series!  I had a 145, a 165 and a 144!  I felt like I was starting to throw the ball pretty well...that's two weeks in a row of some pretty good scores.

After bowling, Ann, Chris, and I went to Gulfport to meet some of the others from the park at O'Maddys for lunch.  On Tuesdays, Gulfport has a large outdoor market that goes for blocks...five or six at least.  There were canopies on both sides of the street.  Good thing I know how to parallel park, cause a pickup pulled out when we were looking for a parking place.  We were right across the street from the pier.  Nice!

Ann and I decided we'd come back to Gulfport on a warmer Tuesday when we had more time. 

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Monday

We got up early this morning, checked out of the condo, and met Jami for breakfast at Lester's Diner on Atlantic.  We love to go there for breakfast.  Someday we're going to go there for lunch, or maybe just dessert.  Their cakes and pies look delicious!

Those cakes are about 6-7 inches high!!

After breakfast, Jami took off for work and we headed back home.  Had an uneventful trip home.  Lots of traffic on 75, 275, and 19 and were glad to be home safe and sound.  I took a short nap while Dave went to the grocery store.

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Sunday

We've been in Ft Lauderdale or Pompano Beach for the last 3 days.  We came over Friday and have enjoyed being around Jami and her family.  The girls and Danny have grown up.  I didn't hear even one squabble all 3 days!  That has to be a record!  Kelly is working and applying to different colleges.  Megan's got her grades up and is trying to decide where she wants to work after school and during the summer.  Danny is 12 and is getting so tall.  He's playing soccer and loves fishing and the water in general.  At the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, he finished 1st in his age group.  His time was 20 minutes...the adult who won did the 5K in 15 minutes.  Not bad!! 

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