Merry Christmas

MIA

I haven't been around much.  Life has gotten in the way, lol.

Right after I wrote my last post I got a terrible cold that I had for more than 2 weeks, ugh!

Son and daughter-in-law came to town and I saw son for about 10 minutes the whole time they were here.  I talked to dil through the bedroom door, ha!  I didn't want either of them to catch what I had.  They stayed at her mom's house (her mom was in NY).  Hippie, son and dil went to my brother's for Thanksgiving while I stayed home and coughed and slept.  It wasn't a great Thanksgiving at least for me.

Also, I had some doctor stuff going on. 

I've been trying to get it together for Christmas.  I finally got my Christmas cards out last week.  (I usually send them out Dec. 1)..

I wasn't really into decorating.  Hippie knows how much I love having them up though.  He started putting some of them up for me which I was thankful for.  He really is too good to me sometimes ;-)  Everything isn't all up but it's good enough.

I think I've turned into my mother.  I never thought I would, but we put up one of her little trees this year instead of our big one. 

I also got a new snowman window this year.  I really love it.

Son and dil will be coming for Christmas.  Hopefully, everything will go good then.  I don't think I'll be blogging again until the new year but you never know.  hah!

Warm Heart Wednesday

First there was Alphabe-Thursday, then Saturday Census, now Warm Heart Wednesday, how could I not be a part of the beginning.  Ha!  In these troubled times both personally and in the world, this makes perfect sense. (Although Jenny- I still miss Saturday Census lol).

 Last Thursday, my friend Magellan and I ended up at Panera Bread. We sat at a table that was in front of a little fire place.  I had a cup of chicken noodle soup and a half a grilled cheese sandwich.

What could warm a heart more then a fire, comfort food and a good friend.

Check out other Warm Heart Wednesday's at Jenny Matlock.  http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/2015/11/warm-heart-wednesday.html

The Voice-moving on

I think I've said this before but every season they seem to add a new dimension to the Voice.  This time it was bringing back a contestant which at first I thought was good until I didn't.  It pretty much seemed like they didn't have a chance to be voted through or picked by the coach. 

While I'm complaining, I really don't like either in the blinds, knockouts that they don't show all the contestants singing that get on the show. They do some montages which would be fine but why can't they at least show their performances in total online?  Doesn't make sense.

What's with cutting half the teams last night?  I think that's too many to cut at one time.  Is it my imagination or does it seem like they are trying to shorten the season. It seems - rush rush to me.

In any case, I only voted online I didn't buy any ITunes.  I only voted for 3 from each coach.  I voted through 8 out of the 12 left.  It may even be 9 because one team I only remembered one for sure that I voted for, ha!

I still overall like the show but I am getting somewhat disenchanted with it.  I know, 1st world problem, who cares lol.

The Voice

Well, this is the first night of the live performances, the second tomorrow. We'll get to see who stays on Wednesday but my prediction is unless something terrible happens, I'm pretty sure Jordan Smith is going to win from Adam's team.  I just got that feeling the same way I did last time with Sawyer Fredrick, ha!  He does have an amazing voice though.

Yo Ho!

So, we had 51 kids come for Halloween.  I remember when son was little we had so many more come to the door.  Although, a lot of people on our street don't give out candy anymore, it's really quite sad.

My spirits were lifted when a pirate ship came along behind a mom and her young child.

It was so cool.  I asked if I could take a picture, lol.  I told the dad he was a good dad (I didn't think at the time but I hope he was the dad.)

Happy Halloween!

Are ya' ready.  We'll see how many we get this year.

Wordless Wednesday

What's been happening

1. Hippie's birthday was last week.  He turned 69, wow.  He's an old man, ha.

2. My birthday is this week.  I'll be 64.  I'm getting kinda old too. 

3.  Next birthday, I'll be getting Medicare.  OMG!!! How did that happen?

4.  In September,  I decided to get Amazon Prime.  There was an offer for $67 for the first year instead of the $99 (or whatever the normal price is) so I thought why not.  I've been wanting to try it.

5.  After I signed up, I bought a fit bit.  I haven't started using it yet.  Hopefully, soon.

6.  I was talking to hippie about buying myself a Kindle Fire for Christmas.  He suggested since it was going to be my birthday, I should buy it for that.  He didn't have to say it twice.  I now own a kindle.  I've set it up but haven't used it that much yet.  I still love my Ipad but it's running out of room.  Thus, the kindle.  I think with the stuff I bought, I should be on my way to paying off the $67 with the shipping costs I'm not having to make.

7.  It's been very cold here.  This weekend we went down into the 30's at night.  During the day today it was only in the mid 40's.

8.  I'm still kinda iffy about Facebook.

9.  A couple of weeks ago, some of the Dinner Friends went to the memorial for hospice that we bought the brick for our friend that died last year from kidney cancer.  The brick turned out wonderful.

10.  This year has just kind of flew by.  Once Halloween comes, it will be a rush to the holidays.  With their school schedules and their new cats, I'm not sure son and daughter-in-law will come home for Thanksgiving.  We'll see.  It depends on if they can get someone to come in for the cats.  Hopefully, that won't be an issue with Christmas.

 TTYL...

October

Fall has really hit with a vengeance.  I've had to put the heat on the last few days.  It's been going into the 40's at night, brrrr.  Some leaves are starting to change and are falling already.  I've had to sit with sweatpants and flannel shirt on the patio.  I do love the cool weather though.

I went out with the dinner friends on Wednesday and we were hoping to sit on the patio where we went but alas it wasn't in the cards, too chilly.  Oh well.  I still love fall the best.  It will get warmer again for a bit (I hope lol). 

Finally

Happy Fall Everyone.

Surprise!

We've got small sunflowers growing under the bird feeder, ha!  I guess some of the seeds from the feeder got pushed into the ground and grew.  Hippie cut some yesterday and put them in a vase on the patio. 

Next to it, I think I've shown a picture of the little guy before.  My sister-in-law had it in her yard and gave it to us when she moved into her condo.  We just have him standing in the patio instead of in the elements. He could use a paint job but hippie doesn't think so.  Oh well..

Follower

What can I say; I finally did succumb to peer pressure and joined Facebook, ha!

Welcome to 2015, me.  I've only been on a little over a month.

I can't say I love it but I also don't exactly dislike it. 

The issue I have with it mostly is, I knew pretty much what the people’s views of who I would be friending with would be on certain things but knowing it and seeing it in black and white can be a bit disconcerting.

In fact, someone put something on that I disliked so much that I almost stopped following them because of it.  Then I decided to put my big girl panties on and live with it.  I mean if that's how they feel, that's how they feel.  We will not change each others minds of that I’m sure.

I don’t know, now that we are getting into the political season I can only imagine how things will go.  I might just have to not go on too much ;-0

A blast

Magellan, her boyfriend, hippie and I went out Saturday for dinner.  We ate a place that was like a 50's diner. 

It was like crazy, man. I was on Cloud 9 when I had a chocolate milkshake.

I almost wished I had rolled up my jeans, had bobby socks on and penny loafers, ha.  It was a pretty hip place, unreal!

Afterwards we went to a bar in the neighborhood and had a couple of drinks.  I was like nodding off so we split and were home by 9 or 9:30. 

See you later alligator....

38 years

So, it's almost the end of our anniversary day.  38 years.  As people say, where has the time gone?  I met hippie in 1973, when I was 23.  I met him at a bar when I was celebrating my birthday.   Wow, that was such a long time ago.   I love him just as much as when I first saw him ;-) although I didn't know it at the time, ha!

Windows?

Has anyone installed Windows 10?  I got the free download but I'm afraid to install it, ha!  I'm scared it might screw all the stuff I have saved.

Yikes

What a difference from the cool weather we had towards the end of August.  It's been in the high 80's all this week and it will get even hotter..   Mother nature... what am I going to do with you?

Beekeeper

Last weekend we went to a family picnic at our nephew's house.  The weather was so gorgeous, 70's with a little breeze.

He is going to become a beekeeper.  He is going to take classes and by next year at the picnic he should have bees.  I hope they are not buzzing around us, lol.

He bought a hive but now they are going to use it as a decoration and use something else.  I think it's darling and wouldn't want it messed up either.

I hope by the time you read this Mike, you are feeling better after having your tonsils out, from your favorite Aunt ;-)

Brrr

Not really, but cooler than it should be this time of year.  It's been in the 60's and 50's at night.  I even thought about turning the furnace on today but didn't.

We are getting a nice preview of fall which will be here sooner than we think.  Wow, I can't believe it.  But autumn is my favorite season so I'm good with it.

School Days

Daughter-in-law starts her college teaching career tomorrow.

Son who has an AD and BA, will be starting school tomorrow as well full time.  He is going for a BA in Computer Science.  He gets free tuition because of daughter-in-law's job.  Luckily, a lot of his per-requisites transferred.  He is taking accelerated courses (5 this semester).  He's been out of school for 9 years.  He is a little nervous but excited as well. 

Onward and upward!

Dinner Friends

It was Dinner Friends Wednesday.  We went to a really cool restaurant we've never been to before.  I had Pasta Bolognese.  They had some interesting food combinations but everyone loved what they got.  It was a small, intimate restaurant.  It reminded me of the type of restaurants they would have in New York City (not that I've ever been, ha!  One of the friends has been and she said this was true.)

The owner came out and talked to us and then he made a Margarita Sorbet right in front of us.  It was made in a bowl within a bowl.  He told us the inside bowl was colder than dry ice.  He stirred it and stirred it with a whisk until it was done.  It tasted amazing and like it had just come out of the freezer.

I brought home dessert.  It was a funnel cake stuffed with banana, with chocolate on top and a sauce under it. 

The food was divine.  Yum!!

Errant Cats

Last Tuesday, son and daughter-in-law picked up 2 cats from a no kill shelter.

I guess they probably got 2 because Lenny and Fred are best buds as it said on the shelter's website, lol.  They are not too friendly yet with the humans they are living with, I guess it will just take time.  They haven't seen much of them because so far they've been hiding together different places.

I think it was on Thursday, son called and said wife couldn't find the cats and was looking all over for them so he got up and helped.  Turns out they jumped behind their stove @@.  Apparently, the stove can't be pulled out.  He said it was a pretty narrow space and they thought the cats wouldn't be able to get out.  They called maintenance and they were supposed to come on Saturday but they would have to pay out of pocket because they would have to remove part of the counter to get the stove out.  Oh Brother!

They ended up taking a picture and taking it to the shelter where they got them from.  They told them to wait until Monday to see if they come out unless they start crying.  Apparently, the shelter said sometimes they wouldn't see them for a week.  (Crazy!)

Luckily, son texted Saturday and said the cats got free on their own.  Hopefully, they've figured out some way to block their passage way to behind the stove. 

Trying something new

Ever since we've lived in this house, we've had the same cable company.  It rhymes with Fox.  Initially, we had the TV only, eventually adding the internet  and the land-line phone.  The price has gone up and up for less and less content on the TV since we have two with only the basic channels.  I've been thinking about switching forever and so we finally did.

We went with the old phone company (the one with the the letters,  ha.)  We are getting much more than we were with cable at least for a year at a better price.  Although hippies receiver isn't working right now so he's not getting HD TV.  We're waiting for the repairman to contact us.

Hopefully, once this bug is worked out we'll have no other issues.  Now I have channels in the bedroom that I haven't been able to watch for years.  Since hippie is the master of the big TV in the living room, I really haven't been watching much in recent years.  I guess I'll have to reacquaint myself.

The Newlyweds

So, son and daughter-in-law moved to Iowa last Thursday.  It's been quite the week for them I think.  They took only what could fit into their small Cavalier.  They really didn't have much in furniture in Vegas since they knew they weren't staying.  They sold or gave away everything they didn't take.  Plus, they UPS'd some things.

Son loves their new place since they have 2 bedrooms and a dining room.  However, when they got their the owner had been making repairs for quite a long time so they had no utilities.  Friday they were under the impression their electricity would be turned on.  Nope, an inspector came and they didn't get it turned on until Monday.  Then earlier in the week they came on to turn on the gas but they couldn't because something was wrong with the stove.  Maintenance came to fix it, then gas was restored.  Yesterday I spoke to him and their refrigerator wasn't working.  Again, a call to maintenance.  It needs a new compressor which is supposed to be fixed today.  He doesn't seem too upset about it (I would be, it's not like they didn't know what day they would be coming, ha).  He's just happy maintenance is faster than when they lived in Vegas.

They already went to a resale shop and purchased a couple of desks, end tables and a TV stand (for the TV they don't have right now;-)   They also bought a frame and a mismatched mattress and box spring for a good deal.  At Salvation Army they got some temporary dishes.  A lady was moving out and she gave them a couple of wicker chairs for them to use until they buy something for the living room.

Oh, to be starting out again.  It would be so much fun!

Cinderella

Magellan and I got free tickets to see Cinderella at the Palace Theater in Playhouse Square on Tuesday.  One of our Dinner Friends had tickets and she couldn't go and gave them to us.  Did I mention they were FREE??

I LOVE, LOVE going to the theater but don't get to go often.  Hippie's not much of a theater goer, ha!  It's been over 5 years since I've gone with son.

I was excited because... well... it was a fairy tale musical in a theater production.   Of course, I've seen the cartoon version, and years and years ago, I saw the TV version with Leslie Ann Warren.  I didn't know what to expect.  Of course no pictures were allowed.  However, I did get one picture before it started.

Some of the songs I remembered and some I didn't.  The tale was a little different than the original and it was much more funny.  The cast was wonderful.  I really have to make more of an effort to find someone who wants to do theater to go with me.  Although a few of the Dinner Friends have talked about going to see The Phantom of the Opera again because it will be coming back next year.  I've seen it 3 times I think.

There was a bar and we got some drinks.  I got a glass of Riesling and Magellan got a drink called The Glass Slipper.

When we first found our seats and were sitting down Magellan spilled her drink on me and herself.  Oy!  It wasn't too bad though, thank goodness.  Since we didn't have to pay for the tickets, we got valet parking which was much more civilized than having to walk to the parking lot, lol.

All in all, a very good night and a good July for doing some things! 

Home

Thursday morning was an even more gorgeous day than Wednesday.  We ate breakfast on the deck.  Coffee, fresh fruit and muffins.

Then we packed up, straightened up and were on the road by noon.

I dove back with Magellan.  We followed the birthday girl and another friend.  We decided we wanted to stop for lunch before we left Marblehead so we all went to Ritski's.  There was also rooms attached to this place. I got a BLT and a really good potato salad with redskin potatoes.

We sat on the patio again and our view again was amazing.

We stopped at a comfort station in the middle of town in Vermillion, Ohio.  Then we noticed a consignment store and went in there.  Magellan bought a really cute sprakly blue top that was $12.  However, when she paid for it she found out it was marked down 50%, so $6.  Don't you love when that happens.

We got home after 5.  I laid down immediately and slept for 3 hours.  I was exhausted but I had such a great time. 

Fun times

 After we saw the boat, we went for a walk and the woman whose birthday it was, one of her friends she's known for a long time was staying in Marblehead with some of her girlfriends too so we went to see if we could find her.  Turns out she was staying the next street over from us.  It was kind of crazy.  We talked to her for a while.

We went to lunch at a place called Crabby Joes.

 This was our view from where we sat and ate.

Then we went to Ferguson's Gallery https://www.facebook.com/FergusonGallery

In what was a serendipity moment, one of the Dinner friends noticed a piece of woodworking that looked like something her brother makes.  She talked to a person there and sure enough they had purchased it from him and were selling it.  That was pretty neat!

We then looked through some other stores and one of the friends went ahead.  I saw her go in a place and from afar I thought it was another store that was named Like Us.  She then texted us and said she was in a winery.  As we were walking there, the sign on the sidewalk did say like us but had a facebook insignia above the words.  I guess I did notice it but didn't pay attention or put 2 and 2 together.  The winery wanted people to like them on facebook, duh!

Anyhow, it was called Rocky Point Winery, ha.  I guess there is also an inn there as well but I didn't notice it was until I got home and looked at the picture I took.  We sat in the front on the patio.  In the back they also had seating and you could play cornhole.

After that we had to meet Magellan at the double wide because we were going to a winery to eat.  We ordered a taxi and we were supposed to be picked up at 7:00.  We waited and waited, called again and someone was supposed to be coming.  We went outside to wait.  While out there, one of the friends put line dancing music on her phone and the 7 of us were dancing in the street. It was a blast. However, I hope no one was taping us from one of the houses and we end up on youtube somewhere.

At 7:30, we just drove to the winery it was called Mon Ami

https://www.monamiwinery.com/

The food was fabulous.  I got pulled pork sliders and french fries.  The others bought wine for a wine tasting.  I didn't.  I didn't want to get ill since I was feeling better.

We went back and had a birthday cake.

The candles were angled so it said 7 0 but you really can't tell.  We had wine, some had jello shots and we made jokes about the friend turning 70.  It was all in good fun though.

The birthday girl and me and another DF went for a walk after dark and ended up at where her friend was staying.  The woman that owned the place gave us a tour.  Wow, it was beautiful.  When you sat on the front porch when you looked out you were right by where the boats docked.  In her dining room they had a big pool table and a juke box.  Party house!  OMG, the master bath was probably the size of my dining room, just wow! They were drinking and playing cards when we got there and there was probably about 6 or 7 woman staying there too.  We didn't stay for drinks and probably stayed 15 minutes.

I ended up laying down around 12:30, I think everyone pretty much went to bed after I did.