Patio's Done, Now Our Work Begun!

The patio extension was finished late Tuesday afternoon. It adds 210 sq. feet (21x10) to the patio on the south side of the pool. It's also under the live oak tree which means it will be shady for the majority of the day (as opposed to the rest of the patio being in full sun all day). Now our work begins. We need to redistribute the sand that was excavated to add the patio extension, move (and stack)the leftover pavers, and decide whether to sod or simply try and grow grass from seed (not an easy task in sand).

We had a good Bible study last night. It's hard to believe there are only 3 weeks left. Last night's study was a true challenge - the seventy seven's of Daniel 9.

Tonight Sarah and Eric are coming over for dinner and then scrapbooking. We always have a good time with them and enjoy the scrapbooking time. I finally finished the EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival pages. The total number of pages for the festival was 46! I was trying to decide on which pictures to work on now and I think I'll work on our Discovery Cove trip last fall when we swam with the dolphins at Sea World.

Tomorrow, Rick, Csilla and the girls are coming over. They'll be here until Sunday afternoon. I will probably do some scrapbooking with Taylor too.

That's about all - lunch is ready so I'm going to go eat!

Where did the week go??

Goodness, I just realized I hadn't posted in almost a week. Where did the time go? Thursday was Bible study - always a high point in the week. We have 12 in the study on Daniel. We're in the last 6 chapters which is the eschatological (end time events) part. Normally there is a 50% attrition rate with these studies. This study has stayed at 10-12 people per week. Beth Moore is a truly gifted speaker and teacher and she has a way of making difficult passages understandable. I've been praying about which study to facilitate in the fall and believe the Lord is leading me to facilitate "Jesus the One and Only." It was the first Beth Moore study I did when we moved to Florida and is a wonderful study on the life of Christ.

The weekend was relatively quiet. Just doing stuff around the house and yard. Sunday morning was church and then Sunday night we went to see Evan Almighty. It was cute - I liked it better than Bruce Almighty.

Today the contractor is here to finish the patio - YEAH!!! I'm really looking forward to finally finishing the backyard (for now).

I received a phone call this morning asking me to do a scrapbook demonstration at a local senior center July 3rd. We'll see where that leads. Last night I finished the 4 pages I had laid out last week. I have just a few more pages to do on the flower show and then I can tackle something else.

Tomorrow is our weekly shopping with Aunti Vi. Thursday is Bible study and then Friday Sarah and Eric are coming over for dinner and a night of scrapbooking. Saturday Rick, Csilla and the girls are coming over to celebrate their anniversary (June 29th), Csilla's birthday (June 30th), Ashley's birthday (July 2nd) and our anniversary (July 7th).

Well, that's about all for now. Time to go out and check on the patio progress.

This week's happenings

The last two days have been quiet yet productive. Monday, we drove up to Palm Harbor to a scrapbooking store that we found while on the Tampa Bay Scrapbooking Treasure Hunt in February. This store has everything and anything you could want in relaation to scrapbooking. I bought some paper and a few embellishments. When I got home I completed 3 more pages from the Disney Flower and Garden Festival. So far I've completed 20+ pages from this year's flower show. I'm getting down to the finish line - only about 10 more pages to go. I'm really thrilled with the way it has turned out. Tuesday we drove up to St. Petersburg and South Pasadena to visit 2 more scrapbooking stores. When I got home, I completed 3 more pages and laid out 4 pages which I hope to complete tonight.

Today, we took Aunti Vi to have her pre-op physical for cataract surgery. She passed the physical but after reading some of the material the doctor gave her last week, she's not sure she wants to have the surgery. There are many rare complications to cataract surgery. What her concern is if something goes wrong she will be blind since she's almost blind in her other eye already. The surgery is scheduled for July 19th right now, but she will probably cancel. When she saw the doctor last week, he was ambivalent about the surgery - he said she could have it now or wait another 6 months until after her next vision check. She's also concerned because she's not feeling 100% right now - nothing is wrong, she's just beginning to feel 97.

Tomorrow evening is Bible study. Friday is quiet right now. Saturday, we're going to go to a baseball game between the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers. It should be fun.

Well, I'm going to go do some scrapping!

Scrapbooking and other things

Yesterday Connie and Jesse and Sarah and Eric came over for an afternoon and evening of fun and fellowship. Connie and Jesse got here about 3:15. We headed straight for the pool. Sarah and Eric got here shortly thereafter. Eric joined us in the pool, but Sarah was tired so she laid down in the guest room. After swimming for a little while, we came in and Eric made his "beast" pizza, a 16" pizza with a stuffed crust and over 5 pounds of toppings (ham, sausage, pepperoni, 3 kinds of cheese - it's delicious!). For dinner we had the pizza, salad and Connie brought Key Lime pie and carrot cake for dessert. After dinner, we scrapbooked and watched TV. I didn't get any pages done as I was "serving" as mentor and idea bounce-off person for Connie and Sarah. It is so neat to see how their scrapbooking has progressed. Eric was also scrapbooking some of his plane pictures that he's taken over the years. Connie and Jesse left about 10:00 and Sarah and Eric left about 11:00.

Today was church. Connie and Jesse normally go to second service (contemporary) while Eric and Sarah and us go to first service (traditional). However, last night Connie said she wanted to go to first service (if she could get up - first service is at 8:15). We got to church at 8:10 and down in our "regular spot" were Connie and Jesse! We went down and sat with them and Sarah and Eric joined us about 8:15.

We got home from church about 11:00 and sat and read the paper. We then laid down for our Sunday afternoon nap. We got up about 2:30 and had lunch. Right now we are just sitting watching the NASCAR race and flipping between the US Open Golf Tournament and the Cubs game.

I need to spend some time studying and prepping for Bible study and I also want to get a couple scrapbook pages done.

Well, I'd better go and get stuff done.

Great Day

Today was a fun day. We had multiple errands to run and after we finished them, we stopped at Crispers (a salad/sandwich/soup restaurant) and had lunch. It was delicious. After that, we went to see "Surf's Up" a cute computer generated animated movie. We got home about 6:00 and decided to go out to the beach for sunset. It was the first time we had been out to the beach in quite a while. The water was warm and crystal clear. We walked north on the beach for about 3/4 of a mile and then back to the car. Our one mistake was not putting swimsuits on! I was so tempted to go in with my clothes on but I refrained! The sunset was absolutely gorgeous.

Tomorrow, Sarah and Eric and Connie and Jesse are coming over for a pool party in the afternoon and scrapbooking tomorrow night. It should be fun!

We got a call from the paver contractor today. The pavers are supposed to be delivered Monday and then the patio completed on Tuesday. I sure hope so! We've been waiting 5 months for the work to be done.

Update on Aunti Vi

Tuesday, we took Aunti Vi to the ophthalmologist to have her eyes checked. There has been no change in her vision at all since the last check up. However, she has decided to go ahead with the cataract surgery on her left eye. The next step is to get medical clearance. She has an appointment with the nurse practitioner next Wednesday.

Fun Day

Today was a good day. We got up this morning and worked in the yard for several hours - Dan mowing the lawn and me weeding the back garden and trimming the palm trees by the pool. After working, we relaxed in the pool enjoying the warm water. We then decided to head up to Tampa to Busch Gardens. The theme parks (other than Disney) have a Florida Resident Special - pay for 1 day and then come back all year - basically an annual pass at 1 for the price of 1 day's admission. Can't beat it!!! It was very warm and humid, so we only stayed for 2 hours. We just wanted to get the lay of the land since we hadn't been to Busch Gardens since 1977. We probably won't go again until the fall when temps are cooler.

Tomorrow we take Aunti Vi to the opthalmologist to start the process for cataract removal in her left eye. She had the right eye done several years ago and now wants to have the left eye done. We'll also go grocery shopping with her tomorrow.

I talked to the paver contractor today. They came and picked up the wrong pavers and the new pavers should be here by the end of this week and the patio extension completed by the end of next week. I sure hope so - we've been looking forward to the patio extension since February.

Well, that's about it for tonight.

Another Week

I haven't posted this week because it has been a relatively quiet week. Monday and Tuesday we just hung out at home doing things that needed to be done. Wednesday we were supposed to take Aunti Vi shopping but due to weather concerns we decided to wait until Thursday. Aunti Vi still did not want to go out on Thursday so we got her groceries and took them down to her. Thursday night was Bible study. We finished the first 1/2 of Daniel (chapters 1-6) - surviving in the Babylonian like society in which we live today. This week we start the eschatological piece of Daniel (chapters 7-12).

Dan had an opthalmologist's appointment Friday morning. His vision hasn't changed in the last 18 months so no new glasses needed. Friday evening we had dinner with my cousin Leonard who had flown down on Thursday to visit his dad. We had a good time but it was difficult to talk as Uncle Len gets disoriented very easily and kept trying to get out of the wheelchair to get into bed (he thought he was in his room at the assisted living center).

Saturday was a great day! We left home about 7:30 to head over to Sarah and Eric's. Connie and Jesse were also meeting us there. We all left about 8:15 - the guys in Eric's Grand Prix and the ladies in our Intrepid. We drove together for the first 10 miles and then we headed northwest to the Scrapbook Expo in Tampa and the guys headed northeast to Fantasy of Flight. We (ladies) had fun scrapbooking the day away. I got 8 pages done, Sarah and Connie each got 6 done. What was so great was there were 2 sections - a crop section (which was a separate admission but included admission to the shop section) and a shop section. So if you were cropping and needed something you could go over to the shop section and get it. The guys also had a good time - between Dan and Eric they took 296 pictures of planes. We'll upload them to Shutterfly later and send the link. We all regathered at our house and had hamburgers and chips for dinner. Connie and Jesse left about 8:00 and Eric and Sarah left about 9:00. Obviously a very good day!

This morning we went to church and came home and took our Sunday afternoon nap. There is a gospel quartet at church tonight but we don't know if we're going to go or not.

Quiet Days

Nothing much to write about - Sunday we went to church in the morning. There was a reception for the new Minister of Worship and Adult Education in the evening. He's from Texas and is in the process of adopting a little boy that they've had as a foster child since he was 2 days old (he's now 7 months old).

Monday, we worked in the yard - weeding the front flower bed and resetting the landscaping edging. One thing about Florida - the soil is sandy, so anything you set on it winds up sinking into the sand. The landscaping bricks we used to edge the flower bed are 4-5 inches thick. Yesterday, before working on them only about 2 inches was showing above ground! I trying to save one of the plants in the bed, but I'm thinking today it's too far gone - but I'll give it a litlle longer before digging it up. It was so nice to be able to go into the 90 degree pool after working hard on the landscaping. We swam and played for an hour or so before coming in and eating (I had put dinner in the slow cooker earlier). After dinner we headed to Wal-Mart to do some grocery shopping. When we got home, I worked on my scrapbooking for a couple hours.

Today was another quiet day. We had hair appointments this afternoon and minor errands to run. When we got home we ate lunch and then worked in the yard some more. Yard waste is picked up on Wednesday, so we wanted to make sure we got it out.

Tomorrow is our normal day to take Aunti Vi shopping. We probably won't stop down to see Uncle Len since Leonard is coming down on Thursday and will take care of his dad's mail. We'll probably get together some time while he's here.

Well, I'd better go and get some work done!

Barry, Frogs and Other Things

It was a relatively quiet week this week. Wednesday the paver company was here to do the prep work for the patio extension. The pavers were delivered Thursday morning. One problem - they were the wrong pattern! They are supposed to come out Wednesday and pick up the wrong pavers and then the new pavers will be delivered after that. So our patio still isn't done :(. Thursday was Bible study. I am really enjoying redoing Daniel. There is so much there. Friday night I was in charge of a scrapbook party at church. We had 4 who came and worked on their scrapbooks - it was fun!

Tropical Storm Barry was a blessing. We had minimal wind, but lots of rain - about 3 inches which was desperately needed. We hadn't had any rain since April 15th and then we only had 1/3 of an inch. The grass is greening up nicely after being brown for the last 3 weeks. We have been on watering restrictions since May 1st. We've only been able to run the sprinkler system 1 day per week instead of 2.

When I got up this morning I looked out at the pool and noticed a frog in the pool - not unusual after a heavy rain. However, when I went to get him out, I found 3 more frogs in the pool! We've never had 4 frogs in the pool before! I got them all out and put them where they could get to the lake behind our house!

Well, the sun is now out - the storm has passed. I'll probably head out to work on the flower bed which desperately needs weeding!