Saturday, December 24, 2016

Saturday and a Shopping Trip at Amelia Island

I slept well last night. Ginger gave me some meds to help me sleep and also dry up what is trying to be a cold. So far, so good. The man sitting beside me on the plane to Charlotte had a terrible cold and I am trying to fight it off of developing. So far...so good.

We ate breakfast at Caroline's this morning and it was a terrific breakfast. I am still full and it is 1:25 in the afternoon.  The kids are off on a run. I am sitting on the porch in the wicker chairs in the sunshine trying to get the blog up to date.

The bad news is that Ginger's grandmother passed away last night. She will be flying out to Ohio for the services which are being held on Thursday. Since I am here, Scott has to stay here with me. My plane takes off on January 4th. I could stay here by myself while they are gone with Nathan, her son, to the services... if they got back in time to get me to the airport the morning of the 4th. But I don't think they are comfortable doing that.

This morning we all went over to Amelia Island and walked all over the place after visiting the street market there. Ginger finished up her last minute Christmas shopping. After a couple of hours, we came back home. Scott and Ginger are doing a run right now. I stayed here with the animals and am resting.

It is a beautiful day. Yesterday was chilly and cloudy. Today is lovely!

More later....

This afternoon Ginger's son, Nathan, came. She and Nathan are going to leave Tuesday to go back to Ohio to the funeral services for Ginger's grandmother, who passed away last night. She should be back on Friday. He is a very nice young man. When he got out of his truck, I extended my hand to shake his hand and he gave me a huge hug instead.

Scott and Ginger cooked dinner. Ginger cooks her veggies over a grill in a large cage type utensil.  I actually had never seen a thing like that. It reminded me a bit of an old fashioned popcorn popper.  But it worked. She put some seasoning on them and put broccoli, cauliflower and tomatoes in it and Scott grilled them over an open flame. Then they put some special seasoning on the pork and grilled that. They walked down the lane to get the mail and deliver some gifts to friends that live down that way and I watched the meat while they were gone. Dinner was great.

We visited awhile over dinner reminiscing over past experiences.

Nathan is watching a movie now. It's "Jack Reacher". I have not seen the movie. But it might not be one I would enjoy.

It's 6:20 now and I want to read to relax so I will go back to my bedroom and read. It's been a wonderful but exhausting day.

More later...

As it turned out, I did decide to watch "Jack Reacher" with the others. I got to bed before 9:00 but did not fall asleep right away. Too big a day, I guess.

I cannot send e-mail from here so texting and this blog are my only way to communicate with anyone. 




Friday, December 23, 2016

Friday Another Beautiful Day

I slept a little longer this morning. It was nearly 5:00 when I finally got up. I took a shower and washed my hair.  Then I came in for breakfast. I had some more of the cereal Scott bought for me and it is nearly gone. It was a small box.

We watched the last half of  "All The President's Men" since he went to bed last night before it was finished.  Then we went to the market and he bought a few things he needed. I bought some more cereal and some gum. Then we went to Panera Bread and I treated him to breakfast. We intend to go to the movie tonight to see "Collateral Beauty" with Will Smith.

Now Scott is going to run and I am going to watch the news.

So More later...

Scott never did get to run. It was just too chilly get out. He is off today although Ginger does work. This morning we watched "The Book Thief". It was part of his Apple TV. He has 112 movies on Apple.

I am still not hungry and it's nearly 1:00. I still have part of my dinner from last night.

I never did eat my leftover dinner. It's 3:45 now.

We will eat out again tonight and then go to the movie.

More later....

We went to Chili's for supper and I had their wonderful potato soup. Afterward we all went to see the movie, "Collateral Beauty" with Will Smith. It started slow but soon reached an interesting climax. I thought it was pretty good!

When we got back home, I washed my face free of makeup and got ready for bed. I had washed my hair this morning in the shower so did not want to take another bath or shower. 

When I turned my phone back on, Leslie had texted me about my old friend, Madelyn Miller.  She had fallen and broken her arm and her hip. She is in her late 80's or early 90's.  I don't believe she will make it. I called Tom Allen and he told me she does not want to do her physical therapy and she will not be able to recover unless she does.

I started to go on to bed but realized it was only a little past 8:00 and I would be up in the night if I went to bed that early. I will try to wait until 9:00..my usual bedtime.


Thursday, December 22, 2016

Thursday and Another Quiet Day

I slept well last night and was up, as usual, at 5:00 AM. Old habits are hard to break.  Ginger was up when I came into the kitchen. She was getting ready to go to the hospital. After she left, I dressed and made up my face and had a bowl of cereal for my breakfast with a cup of coffee and one of chai latte.

Scott came in too late to have breakfast. He did turn CNN on for me on the TV. Then he left for work.  Perhaps he stopped on his way to the island and got something for a breakfast.  I hope at least he got some coffee.  

 I will work on my blog and read my kindle today. Hopefully it will be warmer today. It has been in the 40's since I've been here. I'd like to take a walk today and I'd like to wash my hair tonight.

We may have some more of our spaghetti tonight. We made enough for two meals.

More later...

I spent the afternoon out on the porch in a wicker chair in the sunshine. I had both the dog and the cat out there with me. 

No, Scott is taking us out to eat tonight at one of his favorite Mexican Restaurants as soon as Ginger gets home from work.

More later...

We enjoyed the Mexican Restaurant. It was way too much food though. I brought half of it home.

I watched "All the President's Men", a movie I had seen several times already but one of my favorites.

I went on the bed afterward. I was really tired.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Wednesday and In Florida

Well, I made it yesterday! It was quite a trip. I stayed Monday night at the Hilton and told them, as they told me to, to send me a wake up call at 4:00 AM. I also told them I would need the shuttle at 5:00 since my plane was to take off at 7:00 AM.

Well, that didn't happen. They didn't call me at 4:00 AM and luckily I had taken an alarm clock and it did wake me up. Then I called the desk to ask what happened. The woman who checked me in did not make a note of either. So when I talked to the young man on duty in the morning, I told him about it and he did order the shuttle. It came on time and I got to the airport in plenty of time. But I also was unable to connect to their internet there at the Hilton. They gave me three different codes but none of them worked.

Going through security at the Tulsa airport, something in my carry-on set off an alarm.  So they went through everything in the bag, stirring it all up and then I had to be patted down by a woman there. They found nothing illegal but a bottle of lotion  and that didn't set off the alarm but they still threw it away. It was larger then 10 ounces. It was brand new and a Christmas gift. I don't know what danger a bottle of lotion is but that's "security". I asked them if they had encountered very many 81 year old women  terrorists.  They said they felt someone could always plant something on an 81 year old person.

Finally I got on the plane for Charlotte. There I sat next to a man with a terrible cold. If I'm as lucky as I usually am, I won't get it. I read my Kindle until we got to Charlotte. When I got to the Charlotte airport I discovered that the gate I needed to find to leave for Jacksonville was all the way to the other end of the terminal. I had my carry-on and the computer bag to carry. That's when I felt my 81 years. Those two bags were very heavy. When the plane took off for Jacksonville, the man at the gate said I should let him check that carry on since the plane was packed and it would be a complimentary check. I was happy to let him do that. Then I just had to carry on the computer bag.

When I got to Jacksonville and the baggage area, I found both of the bags just fine. Scott circled around until he saw where I was standing outside the terminal at the baggage door and picked me up.  To say I was delighted to be done with the air travel for two weeks  would be an understatement.

We stopped for gas and shortly after that we arrived to their home. Ginger came in soon and started dinner. We had a nice dinner. I was pretty hungry. All I had had to eat all day was the breakfast bar I had in my purse. Somehow I wasn't particularly hungry all day. I will use one of their carry-ons when I go back home. Theirs have wheels. The one I brought was my Bob's and it was old and did not have wheels.

I slept fairly well last night. I think we went to bed fairly early after watching a movie. It was called "The Family" and was hilarious.  I think we all went to bed at 8:00 so I was awake at 4:00 and just got up. Scott was up.

Scott had been notified by his staff about that time that his parked work truck had been hit and wrecked out on the island and he needed to come in and assess the damage. After he lined me out on where things were etc, he went on to work.

He thinks he will be back home at 2:00 or so.

Later...this weekend, we will see a movie. They have waited for me to come to go see it. 

More later....

I think the one they want to see is called "Collateral Beauty" and stars Will Smith. There are a couple of others I would like to see. One is "Fences" and stars Denzel Washington and the other one is "Manchester By The Sea" with Casey Afflect.  Maybe I will see those at home.

More later again...

Scott came home after 2:00 and started fixing dinner for Ginger and me. I pitched in and helped. We fixed spaghetti.  It was very good. Scott browned some sausage on his grill while I stirred up the spaghetti and added spices. It was a good dinner.

Later Ginger went to a crafts party and he and I watched the movie, "The Judge" on the TV. Later I watched a chick flick. He watched it as long as he could but finally just had to go to bed.  I finished it before I took my bath and went to bed at 9:00. It was a good first full day. I did little things like emptying the dish washer. :) It is truly a vacation.

Monday, December 19, 2016

Monday and Packing

Today I will pack to leave for the motel this afternoon when Marilyn R. is ready to leave. First I will eat breakfast and give Missy her breakfast too. I have started my packing with packing all the stuff from the bathroom that goes with me. When I get the large suitcase down and the carry on she will know what is up and get nervous.

Right now, I had better got get our breakfasts and then I will get back with this after my breakfast and after I pack. I will not go to exercises today. I will pack and get ready in case Marilyn wants to leave earlier.

So, more later...

O.K. I am all packed and ready to go whenever Marilyn is ready. I have printed off her hotel reservation confirmation for the 25th. That's when she is coming back. I will be coming back over a week later on the 4th of January.

Bob came over before exercise class and brought me a Christmas gift. I gave him his...a tin of various popcorns. His was from Missy.  He is caring for her while I am gone. I even found an appropriate card from her. He gave me some Calgon hand soap and some Calgon lotion complete with a little holder to keep them in.  I was going to go down to the Dollar General store and buy some lotion this morning. So that was really timely. I put lotion on my feet after my bath and then put socklets on and go to bed that way. Eventually that softens my calloused feet in the winter. And I had just run out of hand soap in the bathroom too so even that is timely. That was nice of him. He will be kept busy coming over here to feed and water Missy and clean up her litter box.  He says he will stay some and watch my TV and give her some company too. She will enjoy that. She really likes him. (and she has not bit him either...yet.)

More later...
 He came back over after he got back from the church and we went over to Brahms and had a chicken sandwich and a small cup of coffee.  Now he is checking his bank balance and his e-mail .

He just encountered a threat of some sort and the computer is rebooting and Avast is checking his drive. It may take awhile.

Back later...

I managed to clean up his computer and get ready to go about the time Marilyn called me  that she was ready to leave.

I'll get back to this after I find a hot spot.

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Sunday and Cancelled Services

Last night my daughter, who is one of our pastors, called to cancel the services today. This morning it is -2 degrees outside and many of us are way too old to get out in that type of weather. In fact, it's too cold and windy for anyone of any age to be out there. I will see how the weather does before deciding whether to go out to Leslie's for the cookie party at 3:00 this afternoon.  I think we only got about an inch or so of snow last night. Today and tomorrow I will definitely wear a coat...and that's against my religion!  :)

I slept pretty well last night. I woke at 12:30 and went to the bathroom and took my thyroid med but got back to sleep within an hour.

Marilyn texted me last evening too and said I should eat lunch tomorrow at home. We were going to have dinner together in Tulsa but Marilyn is 83 and she doesn't need to be driving around Tulsa in this type of weather. No one does. So I will eat out somewhere...preferably somewhere close...perhaps Brahms which is a half block away.

Missy and I have had our breakfasts and I have had coffee and a cup of Chai Latte too. That always warms me up inside. She wanted me to open the door so she could see out but I don't need that cold air on the storm door in my apartment.  So, this morning, she is out of luck.

Tonight I will watch my DVD of  "The Christmas Carol". It's a Christmas tradition with me.

More later...

Bob and Phyllis F. and I went out to El Pueblo for lunch. "Just Us" had frozen pipes and drains with this freezing weather. They had  heaters on the drains and pipes to get them thawed out.

We had a good lunch. We had not been out to El Pueblo for quite a long time.

Now, at 3:00 or before, we will go out to Leslie's for the Cookie Exchange party she is having. In the meantime, I will just play free cell on the computer.

So more later...

This was the counter where Leslie set most of the cookies.  Her sister-in-law Alberta is holding my great grandchild, Maia. That's her friend, Connie, on the right. I almost missed her but the purpose of the photo was the cookies.

This is Leslie's best friend, Cyndi. She made some really terrific cookies. Cyndi is the salt of the earth.

I had a really nice time out at John and Leslie's. She had a very good crowd for the cookie exchange. She and John have lots of friends.  They have lived out there in that area since they moved back to the Caney/Independence area when they left Kensington,  Kansas after John had taught there for just one year after graduating college. They missed their families. So he got the VoAg position at Caney Valley High School. He taught there until he retired.

When I left, Leslie gave me money for my motel at the airport and spending money at Yulee. My kids are so good to me! I am very blessed!

Anyhow, Bob came home with me and watched the football game before 60 Minutes and then left to go home and I took my bath and Missy and I lay on the sofa with her afghan until I was just too tired to stay up any longer and then we went to bed.