Long Day!!

This was a long day, but a really fun one!  We left for Sarasota at 9:00 this morning.  It's a really easy drive there!  Dave and his dad took off right away to go fishing on Lodi Beach.  They had some luck, but not enough luck - they didn't bring home enough fish for a fish fry!  They each caught 2 fish and the Mennonite guy right next to them caught 8!!  They must not be living right!  Anyway, the important thing is that they had fun fishing!  Maury said he caught a flounder and a flying fish, while Dave caught a whiting and a flying fish...a flying fish????  I guess I'll have to look that one up - I've never heard of a flying fish!  Flying pigs, yes...flying fish, no! 

While the guys were off fishing and eating their peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, Roberta and I went shopping.  We went to Beall's and then decided we'd better have lunch.  We hit a little Italian restaurant called Papa Giorgio's where we split a margharita pizza.  It was really, really good!!  We had to wait for a long time, but it was worth it...I love margharita pizza!  For those of you who've never had one, they don't have anything whatsoever to do with margharitas - they have very little tomato sauce on a relatively thin crust.  Then they have sliced tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella cheese...wonderful!  After lunch, we went shopping some more - first to Dress Barn, then to SteinMart and Bed, Bath & Beyond.  We shopped until we dropped!  I found a lighted palm tree for our lanai - it was originally $119 and I got it for $59. 

It was a beautiful day to either shop or fish.  It got up to 82 degrees.  Then, about 4:15 the "cold" front came through with a misty rain and winds.  It dropped to 59 degrees in about 45 minutes.  We had left all the windows open in the house and we'd left the big coffee table and several silk poinsettias outside for people to pick up free.  We were hoping that poinsettias weren't flying around the Ranch and we were hoping that the coffee table wasn't ruined.  We didn't see any poinsettias or the table when we got back, so evidently people picked them up and took them home!!  Yay - that's a few more things disposed of!! 

More later...

Tuesday are busy at the Ranch

Tuesdays are B days at The Ranch - bowling and bingo!  Dave and I went to bowling this morning, along with about 20 other people.  Bowling basically sucked, although I did feel more comfortable delivering the ball today....I think if I do this enough, I'll get my form back.  However, it's going to take some time...and my OWN ball and shoes!  I threw an 11 # ball today - it was too light.  I then threw a 12# ball - the thumb hole was too big so I had a hard time holding onto the ball...aarrggh!  So, my scores were horrible!! 

We came home, measured the aqua room, and then went to Floor Decor and purchased laminate for the room.  Dave and Ron moved the big couch outside and the neighbors claimed it - yay!  We moved the brown chair & ottoman outside and another person claimed it - yay!  We then moved the large coffee table outside - no one has claimed it yet - boo!  Then Dave tore out all of the carpet and padding - there's concrete under it all.  It (the concrete) really stinks!  It'll air out tomorrow while we're gone.  We're going to Sarasota tomorrow...didn't get to go today because Maury & Roberta had doctors appointments today.

Tonight, then, was bingo.  Dave stayed here and finished up cleaning out the aqua room and took the carpet & padding up to the dumpster.  I won 2 games - $48!!  I'm really feeling rich - ha!!  At least I can play 5 more weeks!!  More later...

Big Day!

This was a big day for us...we got so much done today!!  I worked on cleaning out cupboards (and washing them down) while Dave painted the rest of the yellow room!  It's NO LONGER YELLOW!!!!

Now it's a very pretty, cool aqua-ish blue!!  Dave also started pulling up the carpet, so tomorrow after bowling, we're going to a floor store to see about picking a laminate for that room.  When Dave got done painting, he came out and helped me get stuff out of the cupboards.  We got all of the upper cupboards cleaned and cleaned out.  We took 3 boxes full of "stuff" that we didn't want down to Sandy to put in the Chinese auction in January.  There's still a bunch of stuff to take to her, but we don't have boxes to put the "stuff" into!!  Hopefully we'll get more of it out of here soon!

Tomorrow we're going to go bowling...I'll see how my knee does with bowling!!  More later...

Delightful Sunday

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day...and it was Sunday too!  A perfect day to worship the Lord!  We weren't planning to go to church today, but Dave got up, looked at the soon-to-be-aqua room and decided we could go to church.  So, we found the closest Presbyterian Church and went!  It was like being in a small, old-fashioned country church, only we're in a big town and the church building itself is new.  They had a woman pastor with one of those voices that is kind of like scraping fingernails on a blackboard!  There were 23 people in their choir...and they were awful!  There was one lady (I couldn't pick out which one) who had the strongest voice, but she was about 1/2 a step off key and all the others were somewhere else - either 1/2 step up or 1/2 step down...oh, my!  The Pastor's sermon was good - it was about John the Baptist, the people were friendly, but I just didn't like it much.  Dave thought it was fine - very homey!  I actually missed the contemporary touches that we have - praise music and a fantastic preacher!  The congregation was mostly elderly...the couple who sat behind us had been together 64 years.  She asked us at least 15 times where we were from...and told us she was from Massachusetts and her husband was from Texas!  He kept telling her, "Honey, you've asked that same question 10 times already...they're from Iowa!"

After church we went to lunch at the Columbia restaurant on the Intercoastal...a gorgeous day for sitting in the sun!!  Then on the way home, we stopped at a yard sale just to see if they had any small end tables.  It was horrible...I wouldn't have had anything they had for sale.  The furniture was chewed up and falling apart. 

Then we came home and Dave touched up his painting.  We put ceiling tiles back in half the room, moved the furniture to the painted side of the room, cleaned out the carport, and Dave started tearing wallpaper border off the other half of the room.  Tomorrow he'll paint that half and by Tuesday we should be able to put that room together.  Wednesday we're planning to go to Sarasota...Dave and his dad are going fishing!  I wonder what Roberta and I will do???  Bealls, watch out!  More later...

Football Saturday

I can't believe that I'm in Florida and actually got to watch the Cyclone football game!  We played really well, I thought!  K-State is ranked #11 in the nation and either they didn't play like a #11-ranked team OR we are better than our record shows!  We played them pretty evenly and ended up down by 7.  I wish we could have won it!  Anyway, I'm proud to be a Cyclone!  This football season was a lot of fun - a victory over Iowa after a triple OT game, a victory over Okie State when they were ranked #2 in the nation, a victory over Texas Tech when they were ranked #17 in the nation!!  Throw in there games against Texas ranked #10, Baylor ranked #22, Oklahoma ranked #7 - what a schedule.  To be able to win 6 games with a schedule like that is wonderful!  Love those 'Clones and Coach Rhoads!!  Fun, fun, fun!!! 

Dave and I got some things done today.  We got all of the ceiling blocks painted twice, plus Dave got the wallpaper off of 2 walls, got the holes filled, and is ready to paint tomorrow!!  We also got the Christmas lights lit outside, cooked a wonderful supper, and just had a great day! 

More later...

Back home again...

We're back in Clearwater!  We left Ft Lauderdale about 9:30 this morning and got back here early this afternoon.  Dave went out to get groceries and some stuff for removing the border in the "yellow" room.  So, tomorrow, we'll start working in there.  He got the paint for the walls and for the ceiling tiles.  I'll paint the ceiling tiles while he works on the walls!  I can hardly wait to get rid of all that yellow!!

I bought us a bedspread in Ft Lauderdale, so our bedroom is now complete until we get all the other painting done.  I washed dishes when we got here and washed down walls in the kitchen.  As soon as I get a couple of big boxes, I'll start going through drawers, etc., getting rid of stuff that we're never going to use.  I guess the park has a big rummage sale sometime in January, so hopefully we'll find room to store some of the things we no longer want!

More later...

Last day here for a while.

Today is our last day in Fort Lauderdale for a while.  It was a beautiful day here.  We finished our shopping so we were able to have Christmas with the grandchildren before we leave in the morning.  I hated to see Jami's face tonight.  She is very sad that we're only here for a weekend...she loves having her family around.  We'll miss her too!

Tomorrow we head back to Clearwater.  Check out from here is 10 AM so we'll be on our way about 9:45 AM!  We have to stop over at Jami's before we leave.  I borrowed a plastic cup from her cupboard - it's a Thomas the Train cup - and Danny asked me about it tonight!  He is so funny!  He told me I couldn't keep it that he needed it!! 

After that we need to fill up the car - there's $3.25 gas at the Hess station at A1A and Oakland Park, so we'll head there for gas, then go by the pretty beaches, out to 595.  More later...