Weekend Recap

What a great time we had Saturday. Jesse and Connie and Sarah and Eric got here about 1:00 PM. We had popcorn, chips and dip, pretzels, and celery and carrot sticks to munch on while we watched Pirates of the Caribbean - Curse of the Black Pearl and Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (total of 4-1/2 hours!). We paused the movie long enough to grab hamburgers and brats and sit back down (with our food) to finish the movie. We left about 6:30 to head for the theater where we saw Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End. Total time involved - 7-1/2 hours! We got home about 10:30.

We were planning on going to church, but Dan was up most of Saturday night coughing from the cold he had. When the alarm went off Sunday morning, neither of us was in any shape to get up. We knew we wouldn't get our normal Sunday afternoon nap since Rick and the girls were coming over for the weekend, so we figured we would try to get some sleep while we could.

Rick, Taylor and Ashley arrived about 1:30 PM. As soon as they got here, they headed for the pool, where they played and swam until about 5:00. We had a nice dinner and the girls played for a little while until it was time for bed.

Today, Taylor and I scrapbooked for a little while and then headed for the pool. We played/swam for an hour or so. By then it was time for lunch. We ate and then Rick and the girls headed back to Sanford. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with them.

We have had a busy weekend, but a fun one!

Where'd the time go?

I can't believe it's Friday already! Where did this week go? Tuesday we had another quiet day to study and enjoy the lovely warm weather. The weather is wonderful but everything is so dry. We haven't had any rain at all this month and we only had 1/2 inch in April. The humidity has been running about 25% which is lower even than Arizona.

Wednesday, Aunti Vi was too tired to go out, so we went grocery shopping for her and then delivered the groceries and visited with her for about an hour. After that we went down to visit with Uncle Len and take care of his mail. We got home about 5:00. It was nice to have Wednesday evening free. We don't know what schedule our new minister of worship will set for the choir. He may want the choir to go year round - I hope not, but we'll see.

Thursday, I spent the day studying and prepping for Bible study. We changed the starting time from 7:00 PM to 6:30 PM. People didn't like being out until 9:30 so we're now aiming to finish by 9:00 PM. We came home and then decided to go to the midnight showing of Pirates of the Caribbean III. It was good! The only thing bad was we got home at 3:30 AM! We couldn't sleep in this morning as Aunti Vi had an 11:00 AM doctor's appointment. The doctor was very pleased with the way she has adjusted to her new medication. She feels so much better and the dizziness she was experiencing as a result of her old medication is completely gone. She doesn't need to see the doctor for 2 months, but in that 2 months she wants to have the cataract removed from her left eye. I need to call the opthalmologist and see when she can have it done.

Tonight I scrapbooked for a little while. I'm trying to get this year's flower show pics done. Rick and Csilla's daughter Taylor is also starting to scrapbook and loves to bring her stuff over here and scrap with me.

Tomorrow (Saturday), Eric and Sarah and Connie and Jesse are coming over for a "Pirates of the Caribbean" marathon (parts 1&2) and then we're going to see part 3 tomorrow night. We're just going to have hamburgers and brats for dinner and then head to the theater.

Sunday, Rick and the girls are coming over and will stay until Monday afternoon. Tuesday, our new patio extension is finally going to be started. We contracted with the paver company in February, but due to workload and weather issues, they haven't been able to schedule it til now. I can't wait until it's finished!

Well, it's 11:30 PM so I think I'll sign off for now.

Quiet Monday

Today was an unusual day - we had nothing to do!!! Amazing. It was the first day that had nothing scheduled to do in over a month! We're supposed to be retired which means a quiet lifestyle. We are busier now than we ever were when we were working, although this whole week is quiet. The only thing we have is taking Aunti Vi shopping on Wednesday, Bible study Thursday night, and a doctor's appointment for Aunti Vi Friday morning. I'm almost afraid to write that it's quiet because something invariably comes up!

Over the weekend, we're going to go see Pirates of the Caribbean with Sarah and Eric and Jesse and Connie on Saturday. Then Rick and the girls are coming over Sunday afternoon and staying until Monday. Csilla won't be with them as she is going to Chicago to visit her brother.

We're going to enjoy this quiet schedule while it lasts!

Thursday Thoughts

Yesterday (Thursday) was another lovely day here - high in the low 80's and crystal clear. Dan mowed the front lawn and then spent several hours in the pool. I joined him there for a short time.

I spent the day reviewing for Bible study last night. We're using Beth Moore's "Daniel - Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy. " We have 12 registered for it and have been averaging 10 per week. When we did this study in January (ending in March), we had a total of 12 between the morning and evening sessions. This time we don't have a morning session (no one signed up for it). It's kind of nice to only have one session.

After Bible study (we finished about 9:30), we went to see Shrek the Third. We enjoyed it very much. The dialogue is lively and will keep you laughing. Many of the jokes go over the kids heads, but the tongue in cheek take off on the fairy tales will keep adults amused. We got home about midnight and after unwinding for a little while went to bed.

Today, we're going to head up to Brandon (about 45 miles away) to take back the "Daniel" books that we didn't use. I'll probably start prepping for Bible study next week also.

Nothing Much Doing

Today was a relatively quiet day. We got Aunti Vi groceries yesterday after we finished at the doctor's so that freed this afternoon up (we normally take her shopping every Wednesday afternoon). She did call me to tell me that the tranquilizer was making her dizzy and her vision blurry so she won't be taking that anymore. She now realizes that she is creating a lot of her health issues!!

I did some Bible study in prep for facilitating tomorrow night and I'll finish up tomorrow. Beth Moore's "Daniel" study is a powerful one. We went grocery shopping for us this afternoon. Tonight was our last choir rehearsal til August. It will be good to have a couple months off.

I now have all of the flower show pictures from our two trips over to the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. I've sorted through them and decided which ones I want to include in the scrapbook. Now I just need to find time to work on it!

Change of Plans

We were planning on having a quiet day at home. I needed to study for Bible study Thursday night and get some housework done. So much for the best laid plans. After I wrote the previous entry, Aunti Vi called - said she couldn't breathe. Last week when we had her to the doctor, they changed her heart medication because of side effects she was having. The new heart medication is less strong than what she was on and she thinks it isn't working - hence the problem breathing. So I called the doctor and was able to get an appointment right away. We drove down and picked Aunti Vi up and took her to the doctor. The doctor said she has an oxygen level of a newborn baby - in other words, that isn't the problem. She also had an EKG which was perfectly normal. The doctor said Aunti Vi is worrying about her health too much and gave her a sedative. We'll see if that works. She has another doctor's appointment next Friday.

A Great Day!

Yesterday (Monday), we went to the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival. It was an absolutely wonderful afternoon and evening. Due to the weather (threatening rain and t-storms), we questioned if we really wanted to go, but figured we'd have a nice ride if nothing else. After a very brief rain shower on the way over, the weather was wonderful - lovely breeze and cool temps (in the 70's). We arrived about 5:00. The crowds were non-existent. It was wonderful! We walked around and took lots of pictures (roughly 300 which we'll be uploading to Shutterfly later). The flowers were absolutely beautiful! We stopped at Norway and had dessert (we hadn't had dinner yet!) - Dan had strawberry cheesecake which was more like a strawberry mousse and I had chocolate cake which was was chocolate cake on the bottom, chocolate mousse in the middle and topped with a chocolate ganache. Both were delicious! We then continued around to The American Gardens Theater and got there just in time for the 7:00 concert by Davy Jones of The Monkees group. He's still good! We continued on around World Showcase and continued taking pictures. I am so glad we've gone to digital. Not having to worry about film is wonderful. The downside is I'm not worried about running out of film so I'm tending to take more pictures! We left EPCOT about 8:30 and headed for Giordano's for pizza. We love their stuffed pizza! After eating, we headed home, arriving about 11:00. It was a good day and I'm so glad we didn't let the weather stop us. We had no rain at Disney and very little rain here, but we saw lots of puddles on the way home. It was a great day!

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. When we arrived at church, Eric and Sarah met us and gave me a beautiful Mother's Day card. After church, we stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond to get some bed risers for Aunti Vi. While Dan went there, I went to Michael's to pick up some scrapbook stuff. We then went to The Shores and put the bed risers under the head of Aunti Vi's bed (to help alleviate her acid reflux). We also gave her the prescription that we had picked up on Friday. When we got home there was a voice mail from Doug wishing me a happy Mother's Day. We watched the NASCAR race for a little while before we fell asleep! I also received a beautiful e-card from Csilla. We may go out to dinner tonight, but we haven't decided yet.

Yesterday, we went to the Disney on Ice - Disneyland Adventure. The storyline was cute and involved The Incredibles going to Disneyland to have a "normal" vacation and of course they wind up saving Disneyland. The skating was mediocre, but you don't go to a Disney show for the skating. After the show, we stopped at The Scrapbook Shoppe. They have gorgeous stuff. The worse part is they're 40 miles from home. But they were on the way home yesterday!

Tomorrow we're going to try and go to the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival again (we were over there on my birthday weekend). However, it all depends on the air quality. Today is clearer than it was yesterday, but we'll make a final decision in the morning.

Cabin Fever

I'm suffering from cabin fever. You would think living in Florida cabin fever would be a non issue. We haven't seen blue sky for two days due to the fires in southeast Georgia. Winds have brought the smoke down to the bay area and made it difficult to be outside. When you walk outside all you smell is wood smoke and the sky is overcast - not from clouds but from the smoke. Normally this time of year our winds are from the southeast, but with the tropical low sitting off the east coast, winds are coming from the north/northwest and bringing the smoke down. The weather people are saying it should clear by Monday, but we'll see.

We have tickets to go see Disney on Ice at the St. Pete Times Forum later today. It should be fun. It's indoors so the smoke/poor air quality should not be a problem.

This is my first post, short, but it's a start.



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