Well, IT has begun!

If you are wondering why Dan is so happy, or I should say, is smiling that kind of smile (you all know what "that" kind of smile is), just look below:

There was a wall here a week ago - actually less that a week ago. I came home on Tuesday and he had taken the dry wall down on the inside wall - I came home on Wednesday and not only had he taken the dry wall down he had taken the studs down also. If you look past Dan's legs in this picture you will see the pool area. We can now sit in the front room (which at Thanksgiving was the dining room) and see all the way out to the pool and to our bedroom.

This area had been the living room, but the more we talked about it we just weren't sure how it was going to work with the living room in this area. So, we decided to try the idea I had when I first saw the house last year - have the living room in the front of the house and the dining room in front of the kitchen. So, we are going to give this a try and see how we like it. We still have time to change our mind, because there isn't anything that we are doing now that would change anything.

I guess you could say that I was somewhat surprised when I came home and saw the wall gone. I mean after all, we had just talked about taking this wall down on Monday and we have the trip next week. (Can't wait, but I'll talk more about that in a little while). Anyway, Dan said that he wanted to get started - soooooo, I am now living with the remodeling project. I will keep you informed and updated. Right now, it hasn't cost us anything, but that won't last long. Oh well, I'm sure that you will get the idea as time goes on.

Well, other than straightening up the house and doing laundry I started packing today for the trip. (Yeah!) One week from today we will be on the ship and heading for warmer weather - not that it is that cold here. Temperatures were in the 70's today, not too bad for the middle of January. Anyway, I have a lot of my stuff packed - I don't take as much as I used to when we cruise - I'll never forget the first cruise we went on - I had a biggest suitcase you can imagine and a garment bag and a overnight bag. Really! And we came down to Florida from North Carolina! I didn't use half of what I took. Now I get everything in one small suitcase and a cosmetic bag. What a difference a few years make!

I think that Dan started his packing also, but he still needs a bigger suitcase - although he uses a duffel bag. Not that he takes that much more stuff, it's just that his clothes takes up so much more room - he takes things like jeans while I take Capri's. Things like that just take more space plus he's a big guy. He is suppose to go over to the storage room tomorrow and get his suitcase. Of course, we will have to finish after I do laundry after this work week, but at least we have a good start. I've done all the preboarding stuff on line - have our boarding pass and the luggage tags. We are sooooooo ready to go - just have to get through this week. Which leads me to another issue.

I know that I will need to take another day off work next week. The daughter of one of our friends passed away this morning after going into a comma on Friday. She was only two days older than our oldest daughter, Dana, and she and Dana had grown up together and had even shared their first apartment together. It is a very sad situation. Please keep this family in your prayers as they go through this difficult time.

I really don't have much else to report - at work I'll be working on getting all my lesson plans done for this week and next. Try to keep things picked up at home (which might be difficult, depending on what else Dan decides to work on), but the housekeeper comes on Tuesday so hopefully he'll try and keep a lid on it this week.

I hope that you all have a good week. BTW, to all my friends that are in North Carolina and North Georgia - I hope that you all stay warm and that the snow storm they are predicting for you will not be as bad as they say (unless you want it to be). We lived in North Carolina for a little over six years and never saw more than an inch or so of snow - looks like you are getting it all this winter. Just be careful (and my Atlanta family - if there is ice - STAY HOME!)

Well, I'm going to sign off for tonight - I'll try and post next Saturday since we will be leaving for the ship first thing Sunday morning. Take care, have a good week, and ------------------

I'll talk to you Saturday!