Well, things are moving along

Well this was the week that we were suppose to find out if we were going to be able to do the house. We don't have the final figures yet, but it looks like we just might be able to be able to do some of the work, if not all of it.


Mark, the contractor did come on Wednesday afternoon - right at 4:00, with his son - who works for him. They came in with a blow up copy of the plans they had emailed us. We walked through the house and talked about the concerns we had (a wall moved in the kitchen/laundry room that didn't need to be moved and would have cost BIG money to move, because it involved moving the door into the garage - not a good idea). We also didn't understand some of the measurements in the bedroom walk-in closet. We addressed all those concerns while we waited for the electrician to get here. He arrived at about 5 and we walked through the house again talking about were light plugs, switches, pendents, cans, etc needed to be and what needed to be moved, etc. The electrician told Mark that he should have figures to him by this past Friday and Mark said that he should have final figures to us sometime this coming week. However, the ballpark figure he gave us was within what we had thought it would be and we think we will be able to do it.

Dan went down and talked to the bank on Thursday and we are waiting to hear back from them on some things that we are looking at - different options we have. So, to make a long story short, we shall see. Right now, things are promising, but only time will tell - but I will keep you posted.

In the meantime, that doesn't mean we haven't been doing things. Dan has been wanting to put a patio on the back of the house - outside the pool enclosure and a retaining wall/flower bed around the pool - well, we finally had the money saved to get that done - and the work was started on Friday.

Everything has been formed up and now we are waiting for the inspectors to come on Monday - after that - hopefully Monday afternoon, but no later than Tuesday, the concrete man will be back to pour the concrete. Dan says by next weekend we will have a usable patio. As you might be able to tell from the first couple of pictures, it is going to be a pretty good size. We have also ordered the fire pit that Dan wants for the patio, and it should be the first part of the week. All we will have to do is get some chairs to go around it, and next weekend we can have a cookout and a fire. Sounds like a good time.

Dan has also been sorta busy in the house - remember that wall I told you about that left a hole in the bedroom wall - well, he finally got that filled in with drywall and has been working on "mudding" the wall. I don't know - but I guess it takes a while to do that???? Plus, he moved the pocket door over to the bathroom door that will close the guest bedroom/bathroom off, but not interfere with the door going out to the pool deck.

He says he wants to get these walls finished and the trim work back up before the contractor comes in (I don't know, but I'm sure there is a good reason for this). Anyway, I hope to be able to post pictures each week of all the work being done on the house - but we will have to wait at least a couple more weeks. IF we are able to do this - it will be the first of April before we can get started. That will be after Spring Break, and after all the doctor appointments. Like I stated earlier, I'll keep you posted.

Now, finally, for this week - Thursday after work Dan and I took a sunset cruise out on the pontoon boat and I took a few photos - I posted one on my Facebook page, but I wanted to leave you with one on the blog today. I hope that you have a great week and that you'll stay with me - looks like things might actually be starting to happen around here! Yeah! For those of you on Spring Break, have a great week and remember those of us that are still working for a couple more weeks (our Spring Break is not until the last week in March - but that just means we will only have 9 weeks of school left when we get back - Yahoo!!!!) Take care and I hope you enjoy the sunset ------------------

Not exactly the week I thought I would have

Okay, I thought that by this time we would know how much it was going to run to have the remodeling done on the house and we would have made a decision on what we were going to do - NOT!

The guy from the company who is doing the bid for the remodeling job was suppose to come on Friday afternoon after I got home from work, but after work on Friday I checked my phone and there was a message on it from him. He wanted to come next week with the electrician because he wanted to make sure his drawings were accurate, so his pricing would be accurate. He did email us a copy of some drawings that he has done and we like the concept especially in the master bedroom closet/bathroom, but there are some issues with the scale, especially in the kitchen/laundry room/master bathroom (they are all inter-related since they back up to each other and when you square up these angle walls they will all be affected.) Anyway, to make a long story somewhat short, he won't be here until Wednesday afternoon at 4 - which means we won't be able to make any kind of decision until next week. As most of my friends will tell you, I am not the most patient of people, so this is really driving me NUTS!!!!! I wanted to get it done yesterday and now having to wait to even make a decision another week - well, it is not the best of circumstances!

Mark, the owner of the remodeling company, did tell Dan on Friday, that one of the things that is bothering him is the idea of us staying in the house while all the work is being done. Dan doesn't see what the big deal is, but I can sorta understand where he is coming from, especially when we are talking about tearing down just about every single interior wall in the entire house. Anyway, we have talked to the kids that live here in Lake Placid and they have both told us that we can stay with them if we need to - not an issue. So, if the need arises, we do have a place to stay. Anyway, I know I said this last week, but hopefully, this time next week, we will know what we are going to do.

Also on Wednesday we were suppose to have Dan's nephew from Michigan and a bunch of his motorcycle buddies here for a couple of days on their annual Florida road trip. Now these are professional guys who like to take a road trip on their Harley's once a year, and a few years ago, when we lived in North Florida they stayed with us a night or two. So, Dale called and asked if they could come by and stay a couple of nights with us here - of course we said to come on. Well, he called yesterday and he has pneumonia and can't come, but the other guys are coming anyway. It should be interesting and fun - There will be four of them and only one queen size bed - and three blow up beds that will be thrown on the floor around the house - we'll see how that plays out. I may be staying over at the kids house for a couple of days - we'll see.

It has been so windy here that Dan and I have not been out on the boat at all this weekend and it is suppose to rain today - it hasn't yet, but it is cloudy and I know that we could sure use some rain. Dan went out twice this week with our neighbor fishing for shell crackers - they didn't catch anything the first day and Dick, our neighbor, caught one Friday, which they threw back. Dan said that neither one of them wanted to clean one little fish. I'm sure they will have a chance to catch plenty in the days ahead.

We went out to eat on Friday night to Jaxson's - our first time there. We had heard about this place over on the north side of Lake June, but we had never been. We decided Friday night to try it. It was really good - we both had Prime Rib which was excellent and fried cheese cake - yep, you read right - fried cheese cake. Yummy - but I wouldn't recommend it for just one person - Dan and I split one piece and it was more than enough. Anyway, the food was excellent, the service and good, and the manager/owner(?) came over and checked with us a couple of times to make sure everything was good. We will definitely go back. Other than that, we have pretty much stayed at home (I know, I know - will wonders never cease!).

Oh, we did go over to mom's for dinner last night, but other than that, it has been a fairly quiet week. I guess I will let you go for now, but before I do I just wanted to wish my oldest daughter a very Happy Birthday. I know that your card and all will be late - your birthday sorta slipped up on me, but don't think that means I don't love you very much. I hope that you have an absolutely fabulous day today at your party and a wonderful day tomorrow on your birthday - Love you, Crystal!

Everyone else - have a great week -and I'll talk to you later

Fun on the Lake

After a really rough week at work, I was really ready for a nice quiet, relaxing weekend. Friday night after eating some cold fried chicken the kids came over and we took a quick ride around the lake. Of course, I didn't take my camera, but that's okay - it was just nice to get out on the lake. It was the first time that the kids had been out on the boat so we just had a nice little ride. After coming back home we talked for a little while then, after they left, Dan and I just read our books for a little while before heading off to bed. A Relaxing and Nice evening.

Saturday morning we got up - sat out on the back porch, drank our coffee and just hung out. Dan did want me to go look at a piece of furniture at a garage sale right around the corner that he thought might look good in the guest bedroom, but when we got there someone was buying it. Oh well - not meant to be. So we left and went down to the Main Street Cafe and had breakfast then it was back to the house for a nice quiet day at home.

Most of the day was spent in the chair on the back porch reading my book - but I did manage to get up and go in the pool for about an hour before heading out on the boat for a nice ride around the lake. The above picture was actually taken the first part of last week - but I thought you might like to see a sunset on the lake - this is not a very good picture - it was really pretty cloudy the day I took this picture and I didn't have the right lens on the camera, but it's a start.

The pool felt absolutely wonderful - love the pool blanket! It has added about 15 degrees to the pool and making it extremely comfortable to be in - even in February! Dan and I are talking about getting in the pool before we go to bed at night since it is so relaxing. It might help us both sleep better.

One of the things that we are amazed at is how much the pups love to go out on the boat - if we just say the word "boat" they are running around so excited and when we head down to the dock they beat us to the boat and jump on board all by themselves - even little Jessie. We haven't figured out if they really like the boat that much, or if they like being with us that much. Anyway, it is nice that they enjoy the boat as much as we do.

Now, what has been going on around here - well, we have all been the the doctor (except the pups- I have to make their appointment with the vet in Lakeland for the last week in March - Spring Break) and I have three tests that I have to go through in March - Colonscopy, bone density, and mammogram - two of the three don't bother me, but I do detest the colonscopy. Not the actual test, the prep for the test - but with the family history, it has to be done. All three will be done during Spring Break - I know, what a way to spend your Spring Break, but I would rather spend the first part of Spring Break doing that and getting them over with than having them hanging over my head. Plus, they will all be done by Wednesday and then I can enjoy the rest of the week!

We have also talked to a home remodeler - he was here last week and took all kinds of pictures and measurements. We discussed what we would like to do (and we found out that we could take every single inside wall out of the house - none are load bearing!) and he is suppose to be working up an estimate on the cost of the work. We asked that he break it down into stages and then we will be able to see what we can afford to do. I REALLY do not want to go back to work at school next year (but I am looking at some other means of income) so we will see what he comes up with and then we will look at our options. Dan really does not want to do the work - all of a sudden he realizes that we are older then we used to be and it is hard work doing remodeling work. Really???? Anyway, I am hopeful, but we will see. Maybe we will have the estimates by this time next week and will be able to make some kind of decision by the end of March. We'll see!

These last two pictures are just a couple that I took while coming in on the boat the other day - I thought you might like to see them. (the last one is the bird rookery, but it doesn't show up very well, once again - wrong lens!)

Anyway, I hope you had a good week and that you have a great week next week. Take care and I'll talk to you later!

Boat!

Goodness things seems to be moving at a fast pace right now - last weekend Dan got his new truck - which by the way, he told me yesterday that he "loved" and thanked me for not letting him get the stripped down white truck that he was trying to talk himself into. Now, this weekend Dan bought the boat. Now, don't get too excited. It's not new - but it's a nice used pontoon boat that looks almost brand new. It is not as fancy as the first new one we looked at, but Dan says that he will be happy with this one. It's a little smaller than the new one at 16 feet, but it will fit completely under our covered dock.

These are not the best of pictures, but he beat me back to the house after putting in at the boat launch. He drove the boat home and I drove the truck home. Now, let me get a little off subject for just a second. This was the first time I drove his new truck. Not only did I drive the truck for the first time, but I had to back the trailer down the boat dock and then after I pulled the trailer out, I had to back it up to be able to get out of the park area. I'm very proud of myself, because I don't normally back up any kind of trailer. It just took me a little while, but I did it AND Dan let me do it.

Okay, back to the new boat.

We have, of course, already had our first adventure. We were in the pool yesterday afternoon - yes, I said in the pool, but that's a whole different story - and we both kept smelling gas. Now the guy across the canal was pressure washing and was using a gas powered motor, so we didn't think anything about it. Well, about two hours after the above picture was taken, Dan went out to get the boat ready for our evening ride on the lake and discovered that the gas tank (there on the left of the picture) had a huge split in it and almost all the fuel that we had just bought was gone! So, we had to call around and find a new gas tank - Walmart in Avon Park. By the time we got back home it was after 9 and we decided that we would wait until today to do our first ride around Lake June.

We took that ride today and I must admit that I think I'm going to like this. We even took the pups with us. Now, I know that we will be getting floatation vests for the pups, especially Samantha, as she is the curious one and was up and looking over the sides of the boat. We will get them a vest so I won't have to worry IF they should happen to fall overboard.

Well, Dan and I are going to go down to the Volunteer Fire Department and pick up some bar-b-que for lunch. I'll try and write more later and let you know about all that happened this past week - it has been a busy one! In the meantime - take care and -----------------

I'll talk to you later!!!

The Last Great Adventure!

So much has happened around here in the last couple of weeks - let me see if I can get you caught up.


First, as you all know, Dan and I have been trying to sell the 5th wheel since last August when we bought the house. A lot of things that we have been wanting to do have all been hinged on getting the 5th wheel sold. Well, it has finally happened, and not exactly the way we thought it would.

Last week Dan and I were up in Lakeland for doctor's appointments - our regular annual appointments that we have been waiting to have (actually, it's my first appointment in almost 2 years, but because of our schedule last year, and the good ole insurance company, I couldn't get my annual before we left for Alaska - so the last time I saw a doctor was in April of 2009!). Anyway, the doctor's appointments went fine - got our blood work done and everything - except I will be going back next week for the gyno. appointment and then in March for my bone density and mammogram. After the doctor's we met Dan's cousins over in Plant City. Norm has cancer and he is not doing well - in fact, he was flying back home to Michigan the next day. So, it was good to see him and his sister, Faye. We had a nice visit before he had to leave to get to the airport and check in with the airlines with his oxygen tanks. Anyway, after the visit with the cousins we decided to go by Bartow Ford and see our friend that works there and see how he is doing.

We pulled into the dealership and saw Marty - after catching up with news we starting talking cars and trucks and one thing led to another and Marty said - "Well, why don't you trade the 5th wheel into us and get your vehicle now." I said, "You'll take the 5th wheel in trade?" and he came back with "We'll take anything in trade except husbands and wives!" Well, to make a long story somewhat short Marty found a dealer to buy the 5th wheel and we came to an agreement on the price as well as a price for the trade in of the 350 dually. Dan picked out a truck that he was interested in and I even drove a Ford Edge. We got all the figures together and told Marty we would be back in touch after we talked about our different options. The truck Dan looked at was a used 150 and pretty "plain Jane". I didn't think that he would be happy, but he kept saying that it would be "fine".

Dan and I talked everything out and decided that our best option at this point was to pick up the 5th wheel and get out from under the debt - I mean, it's one thing when that is your only payment and it's your house - but when it is on top of the house and all the things that goes along with the house it was a little much - so, we decided to call the dealership that had the Montana and give them a figure that they could buy the rig outright (and we wouldn't have to go pick it up either). They took a day and then came back and said they just couldn't do it right then - they had 6 on the lot. So we told them we would be down to pick it up on Saturday. Dan called Marty and told him that we would take a white truck that Dan had seen on the Internet - it was a real stripped down model - didn't even have carpet, but it was a "new" 2010 and a "manager's special". I didn't think this was such a good idea, I didn't think it was much better than the used truck we drove when we were up in Bartow - but it was really cheap and Dan said that he could "live with it". (I knew better!)

Saturday morning we were up bright and early and headed down to Ft. Myers to pick up the Montana. We got there right at 9 am, and they didn't have the unit ready to pick up - they had it closed up, but no keys or all the manuals on the unit, or the remote for the unit. Anyway, it took about an hour to get everything together and get hooked up (they had let the battery run down and we couldn't get the jacks to work - we had to get a jump box to get everything running!), but finally, after an hour we pulled out of the dealership with the Montana in tow.

Dan had planned out the quickest route to Bartow from Ft. Myers, but he didn't bring any map or the Garmin with us because we had everything cleaned out of the dually. So, we are driving down the interstate and he misses the turn - no big deal, we have another way we can go. After 45 minutes on the interstate, we turn off to go toward Wauchula. Dan says that we are going to need some fuel before we get to Bartow, but he didn't seem in a hurry to buy any, so I don't think I need to worry. We head across country and guess what - no fuel stations - nothing but wide open land. Now, if you know anything about Florida you will know that you have populated areas and then you have areas where there is NOTHING - well, we were in the second of those two options. We finally see a mile post and we are 25 miles from Wauchula and 7 miles to empty in the truck. Now, we are both starting to panic - you just can NOT run out of fuel in a diesel truck. We are driving and the truck is saying that we have 0 miles to empty and it is 5 miles to this little crossroads called Ona. I'm praying that we make it to Ona and that Ona will have a fuel station that is 1)open, and 2) have diesel fuel. At this point I was thinking I don't care what it costs! Well, we make it to Ona and there is a fuel station that is open and they have diesel ($3.51 a gallon - not too bad!) - Dan pulls in and almost cuts another car off, but when he gets out he apologizes and explains the situation and the other driver is not upset. So, we are able to put about $40.00 worth of diesel in the truck and make it to Bartow with no further problems. I just had to tease Dan and tell him that he just had to make this outing our "one last adventure" with the Montana since we never just go on trips - we have "adventures"!

We finally make it to the Ford dealership about 1:00 in the afternoon and pull the rig over to the side lot. Dan goes over and looks at the truck and I can tell he is not a happy boy - so I told him to look at other options. So, we look at a couple of used trucks that are completely loaded, but even with the trade ins were WAY too much money. Now, I'm starting to get worried that he is not going to find something he wants and we are going to end up with having to take the unit back to Lake Placid, when Marty said - let's look at another new 2010 truck - Ford is offering some really good rebates on these trucks. So, off we go to the new car lot and Dan falls in love - well, maybe that's a little overboard, but he falls in like with this --------------------------------

A brand new - 2010 F150 - with almost all the bells and whistles. I have to admit, it's a really nice truck and I'm sure that he will be much happier with this truck then with the one he was originally looking at.

So, we no longer own a Montana 5th wheel or, for that matter, a F-350 dually. Dan has a new truck and we are looking at being able to hire a contractor to come in and do all the remodeling work on the house AND there is a very good possibility that I won't have to work next year. If things work out the way I think they can - Dan will even have his pontoon boat this summer - it won't be a new one, but it will be a boat. Hopefully this will all come together in the next few weeks - I'll keep you posted.

While I am sad that one door has definitely closed for us (there is no way that we will go back to the full time lifestyle), it is exciting to think that there are other things that will be happening in the next few months that we have been wanting to do. We might not be full timing anymore but that doesn't mean that we won't travel some and they will still be adventures for us in the future - heh! - I have Dan and life is ALWAYS an adventure with Dan!

Hope things are going well with you all and -------------------

I'll talk to you next week!

We're home!

Well, we made it home last Sunday afternoon - but by the time that I unpacked and did the laundry I was just too tired to worry about downloading pictures and blogging, so I waited until today.

This week was a little rough at work - the kids were really wild, I guess that's what I get for being gone a week, but in the long run it was sure worth the effort. I kept thinking that I would get on during the week and update the blog, but by the time I got home every night (after 6) I was not up to it - sorry!

Anyway, let's go back to the wonderful cruise - and it was wonderful. I know that I said that I would take lots of pictures to share with you - but I didn't! Actually, Dan and I didn't do anything except rest! We did not go on any excursions - we had one scheduled, but it didn't happen, so we just relaxed the entire time. Let's look at day by day with the only pictures I did take - the towel creatures that the cabin steward made each night.
Day one: We left the house about 7:30 to drop the girls off at my mom's house. By the time we had everything unloaded and explained everything it was 8:30 before we were on the road to Tampa, but we didn't have any problems on the road and even stopped from breakfast at McDonald's. We arrived at the port and found the parking garage with no problems. Parking cost $100.00, but that was still less than if we had tried to spend the night in Tampa Saturday night. We parked, unloaded the luggage, walked across the street, and got in line to check in. Actually check in wasn't bad - we were there before the big rush. We had to wait about 1/2 an hour before we could board the ship - which might have been a good thing since Dan forgot his hat in the car and had to walk back over to the parking garage to get it. He didn't have any problems going back through security and he didn't have to wait in line again to come back to the waiting area. When we boarded our cabins were not ready yet (or course not), so we went upstairs to the buffet and snagged a table to wait for Carol and Neil to get there. They were coming by bus from north Florida and we had touched base to let them know we were there and would be waiting for them upstairs. It wasn't long before they arrived also, and the fun began. Of course, the first thing on the agenda was food - and the buffet did not disappoint. We all had a good lunch and then sat around at the table until the cabins were ready. We left each other with the plan of getting together for the "launch".

Dan and I went down to our cabin on deck 6 to unpack our luggage - Dan's luggage was on a cart as we were walking down the hall, so he was able to get his. It was probably another 45 minutes before my suitcase arrived, but it gave each of us time to get things unpacked without being in the other person's way. After we got everything put away we went back upstairs and met Carol and Neil and just stood out on the deck and watched the shore line disappear. We were actually followed out by some dolphin - swimming and jumping along the side of the ship. Dolphin are magnificent creatures and I love to watch them. A good beginning to the cruise.

We had signed up for "Anytime Dining" which meant we could go down to the Dining room anytime after 5:45 for dinner. We were standing in line, ready to go in when they opened the dining room doors. Carol and Neil had changed their dining time to the same as ours and we were able to be seated at a table for just us four. We were lucky and got a wonderful waiter, whom we requested each night of the cruise. He was from Thailand and was quite a "jokester", which was great for Dan and Neil. After dinner we went to the first show - and it was awful! (This is probably the only thing that we were not impressed with on this cruise - the entertainment was just not what we had been used to on other cruises.



After a busy day we went back to the cabin to find our wonderful little "seal" on the bed. Then it was time for bed.


Day two: We woke up to pouring down rain for our first day at sea. This was a day of sailing all day, and we thought that a day of rain might be good. We went upstairs and found Carol and Neil - had a wonderful breakfast upstairs at the buffet (we decided NOT to go down to the dining room for any meal but dinner - just too much food). Anyway, by the time we finished with breakfast the rain had passed and the sun was out. Dan and I just walked around the ship some -looking in the on board shops and even checking out the casino. Then we decided to go back to the cabin and read a little before a nice morning nap. Well, I didn't nap then, but I did start reading one of the two books I brought with us. Then it was back upstairs to eat (are you starting to see a theme here?), walk around some, and back to reading and napping - I did take an afternoon nap.

It was "formal" night in the dining room, which for Dan means he doesn't wear jeans - we are just NOT into getting all dressed up to eat. Most people on board this cruise did not get all dressed up - although we did have some in tuxes, but I don't remember seeing any ladies in long gowns. I have a "dressy" top that I take to wear with black slacks, but no dresses or really fancy clothes (that's one of those differences between the first cruises we went on and now). After dinner we tried the show again - this one wasn't too bad as it was an outsider that sang Motown. He was pretty good and put on a nice show. Then it was back to the cabin for a little reading before turning the light out - where we were greeted with out creature of the night-----------

a lovely little elephant!

Day Three: We woke up to wonderful warm weather and sunny blue skies. We were heading to our first port - the Grand Caymans Islands. By the time we had finished breakfast we had docked and were cleared for disembarkation. This was a tender port, but since we didn't have an excursion booked we were able to wait a little later and there was not problems getting off the ship and onto a tender. We went ashore and did a little shopping - really just walking through the shops and looking. I don't think we were on shore more than an hour total before Dan was ready to head back to the ship. We went back to our cabin and sat on our balcony and watched the people on shore, looked at the beautiful water and even read some. We met Carol and Neil for lunch and then decided we needed to take another nap from all of our exercise that morning! We just spent the afternoon in the cabin, reading and napping. Just relaxing.

Once again, we were down for dinner when the doors opened and had a wonderful dinner, but decided NOT to go to the show - it was the "house" singers and dancers and we just didn't want to sit though another disappointing show. We just sorta hung out for a while before heading back to the cabin to be greeted by ------------------------

I'm not really sure what - maybe a horse? Not sure, but it was cute.

Day four: The day went pretty much the same as yesterday other than we were in Honduras - we did not have to tender at this port, but the only place we could go was the private shopping area that they had set up and a beach area. Well, Dan is NOT a beach person, so after walking around the 'town' it was back to the ship for us.

Well, as you can tell from the first three days - we were just tearing things up - NOT! - and nothing changed the next three days! In fact it got even slower!

This was our creature on night three (and probably my favorite of all the creatures!)

Day Five: This was suppose to be the day of our one excursion - in Belize we were going to go to some Mayan ruins and I was looking forward to seeing them. However, we got a letter in our cabin on the night of the fourth that said the cruise line could not come to an agreement with the tender operators in Belize and they had cancelled that port and we were going to Costa Maya, Mexico instead. Now, I don't know if I told you before, but Dan and I had decided that we were NOT doing anything in Mexico - we just don't feel like it is safe anymore. So, we did not book anything else and we were refunded our money for the excursion.

Day Five was in Cozumel Mexico and Day Six was in Costa Maya. Nothing changed in our schedule - in fact, by this time I had read everything I had brought and was working on the book that Dan brought ( a western - not my type of book, but at this point I'll read anything).

This was our creature on night five (maybe this was my favorite) a crab and

this was the one on day six.

Our last day was another day at sea and it was really rough - a lot of people on board got a little sea sick, but Dan and I are both lucky - we just don't get sea sick. We spent the day walking around, in the casino - I actually WON some money - I put in $10.00 and walked out with $28.95. First time that has EVER happened! Dan didn't win any and in fact lost $20.00 - so I guess in the long run we still came out ahead by $8.95. We only play penny slots, but it is fun and as long as you don't get carried away it's fine.

This was our last towel "creature", but I don't guess a flower is really a "creature" but it was nice on the bed.

The final morning was easy - we had packed the night before and were going to carry our own luggage off, so we would be able to disembark earlier than others. We were upstairs to eat our last breakfast with Carol and Neil by 7:30. By 9:00 they called for us to disembark - we hugged Carol and Neil goodbye and headed off ship. By 9:30 we were in the car, and on the road headed back to Lake Placid. We stopped at Walmart in Arcadia for things like OJ and bread for my lunch. We were home by noon and loaded the car. Then we went and picked up the pups before coming home to unpack and do the laundry. As you can tell, we didn't do a lot on this cruise, but we were able to relax and spend time together and with our friends. That was the nice thing - PLUS we got a check for $75.00 when we left - after our refund for our excursion we didn't go on we actually had money left on our on board account - that was another first. Dan says we would take more cruises if they would pay us.

I enjoyed the week - it was just too short (isn't it always?). Hopefully I'll be able to stay up to date now - I hope that you all have had a good couple of weeks and that you enjoyed my cruise creatures. Oh - in case your wondering, the first picture was taken out our balcony on the last night at sea - a beautiful full moon on the ocean. Thought you might enjoy it.

Well, that's it for this week - I'll talk to you next Sunday!

Leaving in the Morning!

Okay - I'm just about ready to head out and spend a fabulous week with my "bestest" friend ever! Okay, so I'm pushing it a little with the spelling, but I am looking forward to spending some time with just Dan without the "girls" (just don't tell them that!) Which "girls" am I talking about - well, our four legged ones of course. We love the girls - but it is nice to get away from them. They can come between us, if you know what you I mean.

I worked till about 6 every afternoon getting things ready at school for me to be gone all week. I even brought work home which I said I wasn't going to do, but you do what you have to do. Anyway, when I left yesterday, I said that "if it wasn't done, it wasn't going to get done", so I'm not going to worry about. If the sub can't handle it - well, too bad! I did the best I can do (now, I do have a little bit of a back up plan - I always have Melissa who can give the sub help and the teacher right next door to my room, who also teaches math - so, I'm not leaving the sub completely without recourse.) Now, if you know me at all you know that I have everything separated out by subject and then by day - detailed plans written and even back up stuff IF he should run out of things to do. Let's just say, that I am sure that I have done as much as I can do and I'm not going to worry about it anymore.

Yesterday I only worked 1/2 day due to the memorial service that we went to up in Lakeland. One of our really good friends lost their daughter last Sunday. Their daughter and our oldest daughter were only two days apart in age and they had grown up together. The family wanted Dan to talk about memories of the girls growing up and he was his usual "quick witted" self. He had everyone laughing which was exactly what was needed. After the service everyone - well, not exactly "everyone" because the chapel was packed - went out to eat at Fred's Market. There were a lot a school people there (our friends are both in education) and so, Dan and I saw a lot of people that we had not seen since our retirement eight years ago. While it was nice to see them, I just wish it could have been under different circumstances.

Before the service yesterday we did have time to go by Walmart and pick up a few last minute things for the cruise and I was even able to get my hair cut - stopped at a "Super Cuts" and 45 minutes later my hair had been washed, cut, and dried (great scalp massage!). Then we were at the chapel by 4 - I felt like we got a lot accomplished in a short amount of time.

Today, we have been busy - have the last load of laundry in the washing machine - got my nails and toes done this morning and Dan colored my hair this afternoon. Made a stop at Walgreens to pick up the things that I forgot when we stopped at Walmart to get all the "last minute things". (So much for getting everything done early!) Now we are completely packed and are ready to put the suitcases in the car. Boarding pass and passports are in my purse - camera is sitting on top of the suitcase so I won't forget it. The only thing that I can think of that still needs to be done is that Dan needs to pack the girls treats to take to my mom's (she is keeping them for us) and then we will load their blanket and heating pad, food, and leashes in the morning. We hope to be on the road no later than 8. I think that you can tell that we are both more than ready to get away. I will be sure to take plenty of pictures to share upon our return.

I hope you all have a great week and that all you people in Georgia and North Carolina have dug out of the snow and ice by now!

Take care and I'll talk to you next Sunday!!