Sorry to anyone who like to follow this blog and have found that I’ve been lazy (or preoccupied). I will try to do better.

We have been busy packing for our trip back to Michigan. We leave Sunday, the 8th. We always hang around for the big Kentucky Derby party hosted by the Michigan Club. This year that event is May 7th.

This past month has been VERY busy! We have attended several parties including a “birthday party” for four girlfriends who will have birthdays after the snowbirds have left for the summer. We also attended an appreciation dinner by the Michigan Club, a dinner/dance for Baby Boomers members, a Front Porch Pickers picnic, a farewell party at the home of friends, an evening with another couple, and a birthday lunch for a super nice lady friend. We went to a 40th anniversary party for best friends the Conklins, a couple dances (including one featuring the Dukes) and even spent an afternoon helping a friend with her computer and smartphone. With that lengthy list, you can understand why I haven’t been doing as much blog posting.

And we’ve been packing. Packing involves moving the lanai furniture into the garage (stowing the fabric cushions in plastic bags). Thank heavens John finished that chore on Tuesday before we got nearly 4″ of rain. The lanai and everything on it was soaked.

Of course I have scheduled the vacation changes which take time. I have scheduled shut off our Brighthouse cable service which includes our wi-fi for Monday after we’ve left. I’ve contacted our newspapers, the post office, and our credit card company.

I also spent a full afternoon making sure my smart phone would work as a hot spot.

Last year we used Charter wi-fi and TV in our Michigan home, but this year I’m trying a cheaper solution. I have established a wi-fi ($30 monthly) hotspot through my smart phone. We’ll get our TV through our digital roof-top antenna so we’ll get all local channels but maybe nothing like HGTV and History which we enjoy here in Florida. Hopefully some of our Brighthouse channels will still be available to us via my smartphone myBrighthouse service. Doing it this way will give us connection to the outside world when we’re on our way home, at our place in the upper peninsula and also when we go to Evart.

Last year we paid for a month of Charter that we couldn’t use (because we weren’t home). This way we’ll be able to take it with us where ever we are and at a savings of about a hundred a month.

The hot spot will extend to my computer and John’s tablet. That way John will be able to access the stock market and major news stations. We’ll all be happy!

The only requirement for making my phone into a hot spot was keeping my “unlimited Verizon usage” and paying the $30 monthly. It has cost me a bit more but hopefully it’ll pay off.

My to-do list is still huge. Lots of the stuff I have to do is “last minute” but I think it’s all doable.

I’m so consumed by John’s health problems, that I rarely think about mine, but this week I made an effort and had my first mammogram in many years and I also had ultrasound on a lump on my neck. Hopefully both tests will show that everything’s fine. (I haven’t heard back yet, but both techs sounded like I have nothing to worry about.)

I also had my eyes checked this week and that was a bit scary because I know my both mother and my aunt were blind when they died. I was worried about glauchoma but I show no signs of it. Whew! But I know I have the starting of macular degeneration (which I was diagnosed with last year), but I was pleased that it hasn’t progressed at all.

So I am apparently quite healthy, and I just need to worry about John.

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I got the results back and I’m healthy. Nothing negative to report at all. The neck swelling is apparently fluid and the mammogram showed nothing irregular. I have my fall tests scheduled with my primary care physician when we return, and an appointment with my wrist surgeon in Michigan, but I guess for a 74-year-old lady, I have no health major concerns.

Let’s see… What’s happened lately?

John has been suffering from side effects from his new medication which has caused nausea. Not fun.

We had a visit from Mary Lou and Hugh Battley this week. They are Michigan friends who attend our big Evart festival. They were staying in the Orlando area. On Tuesday they stayed overnight with the Conklins, and Wednesday they came here for a brunch. In addition to the Conklins, Cindy & Mike Baker also joined us for the brunch. It was sort of an Evart reunion. They even made music.

I worried for about a month about our license tabs. Two of our three mandatory license renewals came quickly (they expired on John’s birthday, March 1st), but the GMC truck’s didn’t show up and we will drive it back to Michigan. Finally I contacted the Michigan Secretary of State’s office and the tab was re-sent. And yes, you guessed it, the first one finally arrived and two days later, the second one came. We’re doubly set.

We haven’t gone to the pool much. John’s concerned about “catching something” and swimming pools are a prime spot for picking up germs. I know that if I catch a bug, he’ll end up with it so it just isn’t worth the risk. After spring breakers have headed back north, we may try the Nantucket pool, which doesn’t have as many children.

During April, we have several fun activities to look forward to: a dance with a great band April 1st (Rocky and the Rollers). John’ll be in the mixed chorus concert a week from tomorrow (the 4th). The Michigan Club will give all workers a great appreciation dinner April 8th. We are invited a cookout/potluck at the home of fun friends on the 9th; the 10th there’s an Elvis street party. The 17th we’ll attend a dance and dinner (free) for Baby Boomer members. And on April 23rd, our friends the Conklins are going to host a 40th anniversary party.

The number of activities in April is down a bit from earlier months, but we’ll be out and about.

We’ll also have doctor appointments galore. John has several and I have one with my GP and one with my eye doctor.

Forty-two days from today we leave for Michigan (May 8th).

I love being in Florida, but I’ll be ready to head back. Just hope the snow storms have stopped by the time we drive back, and the rock slide damaged highway is repaired near the Tennessee/Kentucky border.

We celebrated John’s 78th birthday yesterday by first going to one of his doctor appointments in Tampa. After that, we went to Busch Gardens where we saw a great Chubby Checker performance at 1:30. We left Busch Gardens and enjoyed a nice late lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. At home we had margueritas and birthday cake. Not very exciting but l am sure he enjoyed it.

142 days ago (as of today, February 28th), we arrived in Florida (October 10th, 2015).

It was warm and lovely during the months of October, November, and December. But January and February we had cool weather but spring’s now right around the corner. Two weeks from today clocks spring ahead when daylight savings plan goes into effect. The temperatures are now warming and hopefully we’ll be in the mid-70’s this week.

In 70 days we’ll be packed up and on the road north. In fact 70 nights from tonight, hopefully we’ll be just north of Atlanta.

I love it here in Florida, but with the cool weather it’s felt like I’ve been robbed of some of the fun stuff we enjoy.

We’ve attended some enjoyable parties. On January 23rd, there was the very nice Michigan Club SnoBall and since then, several other fun evenings. We attended a wine and cheese party put on by the H.O.A. We had a good time at a couple caribbean themed dances, and last week I was chairman of the Michigan Club’s annual pizza party which was a tremendous success.

Sadly John’s best friend, George, died last week. We knew it was going to happen, and George called him two days before he passed. They’d said their good-byes. Still heart-breaking.

John’s health continues to deteriorate. He’s now on a new medication which may help. We’re praying.

Yesterday were told today that the medicine my husband’s just been prescribed might cost (are you sitting down and ready for this?) $8,000 to $9,000 per MONTH. Thankfully we do have Medicare approval which will cut the price by 2/3’s (still leaving $3,000 per month). Also we have insurance and maybe some other help. Even with this huge price tag there’s definitely no assurance that it’ll help at all. Worth a try and they do give us a free month, but our Michigan doctor (pulmonologist) said most folks don’t benefit.

Can you imagine buying anything else that expensive with no “give you your money back” if it doesn’t work guarantee? There has to be a way that folks aren’t taken advantage of by the pharmaceutical companies for drugs with minimal efficacy.

As I had figured, my superbowl “pool” numbers didn’t pay off. At least I personally know the winner of the $500 (final) prize so I am sure the money went to someone who can use it. (And maybe I can guilt them into a beer on their tab.)

Because of the cool weather, we’ve been stuck inside but, not wanting to give up on the idea of being in the south in pleasant weather, we rode in our golf cart to a 9:00 a.m. Home Owners’ Association meeting today. Wasn’t at all cold because we have the sides down, and in fact we were too warm when we were headed home in the sun.

Tomorrow it’ll be colder (high in the 50’s instead of the 60’s) and we want to go to our 10:30 exercise class using our cart. At 2:00, John has a cardiologist appointment and at 5:00 we’re invited to a Fat Tuesday party. We’ll probably go in our golf cart to all. It’s just so much easier.

But Wednesday, Jon has an appointment in Tampa and for that we’ll go by vehicle.

I truly think we could get along better without our car than our golf cart. We use our golf cart every day (several times a day), and the car maybe once every week or two.

I’m in a Super Bowl (gambling) pool for tonight. My numbers are 2 for Broncos and 6 for the Panthers. Hopefully my numbers will match the last digit of a quarterly score, or better yet, the final score. In other words, a score could be 22 (or 12) for the Broncos and 6 (or 16) for the Panthers and I’d win (either as a quarterly or final score).

I just went to a website that shows the odds for each number combination. Based on the past 49 Super Bowls my numbers have NEVER come up at the end of any quarter!! NEVER EVER! I’ll pray my numbers will win, but I’m not very optimistic because I’m sure there are others He would correctly deem more worthy.

Here’s where you can find the best and worse Super Bowl pool numbers: Super Bowl Odds Probabilities.

We’ve had several days of beautiful weather. Today it was 84 and about the same yesterday and 70’s tomorrow. Unfortunately it’s not going to last and we’ll have a high of only about 60 the day after tomorrow.

We attended the lovely Michigan Club SnoBall last weekend. It was beautiful, as usual and the food was very good. We even enjoyed the dance music, which we’d feared would be inappropriate for a such a fancy event but was darned good.

Now I need to start working on the Michigan Club Pizza Party. I’m chairman but I have a very helpful committee so it shouldn’t be too bad. John will be working on the beer dispensing equipment. I’m sure it’ll work out ok.

Most of my life I spent my winters in Michigan where I’ve experienced lots of frigid temperatures. I remember once when it got down to -32. There was also an occasion when the fuel in the car “froze.”

There is something about Florida cold that is more penetrating. You can look out at lovely sunshine, but when it’s only the 50’s, it’s dern chilly!

This week the temps plummeted. Last night and the night before, it went down into the 40’s. Burrrr!

At least we haven’t had frost but the heat has been on and I threw another blanket on the bed.

I noticed this morning one of the “walkers” had on snowboots, a heavy jacket, and one of those Yooper Stormy Kromer hats.

The news suggests bringing in your pets and cold shelters have been opened for the homeless.

But the hearty tourists are determined to enjoy the “warmer” weather so they can be seen in tee shirts, shorts, and flip flops.

Our new chairs and table. We may enjoy lunch here, but probably won’t eat dinner at the table until later in the season. (When we have dinner at this time of the year, it’s so dark out that we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the view.)

Perfect!

In early December I made a purchase (for myself) from Choxi for an undergarment that didn’t fit at all (despite the fact that I’d checked and used the measurements suggested for the item.) It wasn’t cheap ($29) so when it didn’t fit, I contacted the company and set it back. As a result, after it was returned, I had $29 credit for other purchases.

I shopped the site and found a RCA 7″ tablet for John. With the credit ($29), I only had to pay an additional $12, or $41 total.

The tablet came but it was a disappointment because it wouldn’t charge. I thought it was just the charger cable, so I bought another charger on eBay, but it didn’t work any better. It was obvious that the tablet was the problem.

I contacted Choxi on December 21 and talked over the problem. I was given a choice: return the tablet and have a replacement shipped or I could get a $41 refund. I opted for the refund. I made sure, I had the amount to be refunded in writing:

The confirmation email I received included this statement: “Once processing is complete, a refund will be issued for the amount of $41.00.”

Today I saw the refund amount in my Visa credit card on-line statement. It was for $12. I wasn’t happy. I called Choxi and explained the whole situation and that I have in my possession an email which stated the refund would be for $41.

After a loooong conversation, I got the customer rep to agree to credit the $29 back to my credit card. At first he said, “But it’s a credit on your Choxi account and you can spend it.”

I said, “I’ve purchased two items from Choxi and I’ve returned both of them. Why would I want a $29 credit with your company?”

I’ll hope the $29 eventually gets into my Visa account. I’ll post that happens.

=======

Didn’t take long. The full $41 has now been credited to our credit card. Thanks Choxi.

In Michigan, we enjoy eating in front of our great room window facing the lake. We sit there long after the meal has finished just chatting – often for hours.

Here in Florida we eat at the bar, which is convenient, but it doesn’t give us a view of anything but the TV set.

Today I shopped for a small table and two chairs to go in front of our slider windows which overlook the golf course and pond. The set will be small enough that we’ll be able to see past it and it won’t obstruct our view. I shopped for THREE hours but I think we’ll like what I picked out.

Here is a photo I put together of the two purchases (two chairs, although my photo shows only one, and the table with a totally transparent pillar). I’m not sure I got the sizes correct, but close.

Sadly my main resolution (self-promise), like the one millions of others make, is to lose weight. I say “sadly” because I’ve made the same promise for years and years. Never works!!

I mentioned my desire to slim down to my physician who discouraged me by saying that I am where I should be. Regardless, I would feel better if I could lose about 15 pounds of belly-fat.

I know the basic “how-to-do-it.” I just need to eat less and exercise more. I need to cut-back to a maximum of one glass of wine with dinner, not two or more; and at parties, consume less and no munchies.

I will be happy if I lose 3/4 to 1 pound a week. If I can do that, by the time we get back to Michigan, I should be down to my goal.

I won’t eat many sweets (’cause I don’t enjoy them anyway), and fewer chips. I’ll try to eat more salads.

And now that the temperature is lower, I will try to walk more. I will attempt to meet a goal of 8,000 to 10,000 steps daily. I’m not going to talk about it, just do it! I will weigh myself at least once a day in the a.m. and keep a ledger at least weekly. If I don’t see a four pound loss by the first of February, I will go back to writing down every bite I eat. I won’t be upset if every day I don’t stick to my goals, but if I can work toward ultimate goal, I should be successful.

And I’ll try to remember to take my vitamins and eat more hot peppers (’cause they help with digestive problems).

This I vow!!!!

We wore ourselves getting ready for our Christmas Eve party and our big Christmas turkey dinner so today is a “day of rest.” Sure feels good to have nothing pressing.

Tomorrow the Conklins are coming over and we’ll play a little music. We could have done it today, but we needed more time to “recover.”

Today is Saturday, I had only two glasses of wine at our party (Thursday) and one yesterday with dinner but I have felt “hung over.” At least today my headache’s better. My daughter said it’s a “let-down” response. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact couldn’t sleep for a couple nights before the party and was too wound up the night after it. (Therefore I was probably only averaging only about an hour or two of sleep each night.) Last night I crashed for nearly SEVEN hours. Much better!

We’re enjoying left-overs. At noon today, John had made some yummy turkey noodle/vegetable soup with homemade noodles and lots of carrots and potatoes. Tonight it’s ham sandwiches with ham left-over from Christmas Eve.

It’s been really hot here. Today it was mid-80’s which was a record-beating repeat of every day this past week. We’re watching a football game from Texas where they’re having a blizzard. Seems really strange. I heard it’s been cool and windy in Michigan and many lost power because of the wind. Our power up north was out one night last week for about 30 minutes. I frequently check the status of our security system (which monitors motion, door-entry, power, heat, and water) and everything’s fine.

Several days ago, John decided to clean our oven with the self-cleaner. Unfortunately the process creates an ugly smell so we opened all the windows and doors, hoping it would all air out and continue to smell fresh.

Since coming to Florida in about 2002, we’ve bragged that, except for an occasional Florida crawly bug (which are controlled by our regular insecticide service), we have no insects. Ants, yes, and occasionally a cockroach but mosquitoes and flies have been non-existent. We removed our screens and we’ve left windows and doors wide open. It’s been wonderful!

But somehow the smell of the oven being cleaned attracted flies. Not just one or two appeared.. there were dozens and dozens and dozens. We swatted for a couple hours and eliminated them. Sometimes we could get three with one hit! It was awful.

So we hauled out the sliding door screens from the garage and installed them. Can’t help but feel that the flies are temporary but they are a nuisance and we can’t live with them as plentiful as they’ve been.

It’s now been a few days and they aren’t as many as they were a few days ago, but we definitely feel we need the screens. How could one oven cleaning change the balance of things? We want to go back to no flies.. even if it means a dirty oven.

Tonight the two of us took an after dark golf cart ride around Kings Point. It was a beautiful evening (about 75 degrees) so no jacket was necessary. We were enveloped in the wonderful warmth of the Florida atmosphere.

Christmas lights were plentiful and lovely. It was nice to see the holiday festive creations in our lovely community.

Our court (Newcomb) was as nicely decorated as any area we visited.

We live in a great neighborhood in Kings Point: Nantucket V.

Tonight I re-discovered that this blog is “followed” by one of my favorite “neighbors.”

She has read this boring site for years and years. I’m honored. Somehow I feel I should live up to her respect for what I write. Unfortunately I do this rather haphazardly. I write when I feel like it or when some update seems to be necessary.

I’m going to try to add more frequently to my blog but it’ll probably have to wait until we get past Christmas. Until then, I’m going to be really busy. We’re hosting a big crowd Christmas Eve and we have parties galore.

But I vow that I’ll try to write more frequently. I love writing. It’s just that I’m always short of time.

Right now I’m vegging. I felt rotten most of the day, so I stayed in. It was some digestive thing that knocked me off-center, but I’m back to normal now…. and vegging. Life is good!

We’ve gone to a couple of parties lately. Shelly and Richard included us in their Thanksgiving party, we attended a Rocking Through the Ages dance Sunday evening, and last night John sang in the Kings Point Mixed Chorus Christmas Concert last night followed by the “after-glow” party. It was all very nice but I didn’t feel up to par last night and feeling uncomfortable continued all day today. I think it’s passed now. Thank heavens!

We will be busy this next week. Sunday is the largest of our Christmas Party gatherings, the Baby Boomers Christmas Party.

Unfortunately we’ve had a problem with our USPS mailbox lately. The lock is broken/stuck and won’t be replaced until Friday. In the meanwhile, we can’t get any mail nor packages delivered via USPS. I hope it’s soon fixed because John’s cellphone should be coming as well as a bathroom rug for our newly renovated bathroom. We’re also expecting a wall art piece which you can see here but it should arrive tomorrow via UPS.

I think the art piece (photo above) will compliment our great room.

Our guest bathroom looks great with the new vessel sink, granite, rubbed bronze faucet, and new vanity lights. It’s lovely. The kitchen still needs the backsplash to be complete, but the granite, the faucet, and the undermounted sink have made it much nicer.

Our place is shaping up and we sure don’t want to start over in another place. This one serves us nicely!

Our granite counters were installed yesterday in the kitchen and guest bath. Looks good but there’s lots to be completed. Love the new faucets. The vessel sink in the bath and under-mounted kitchen sink are both nicer than I imagined. (Prettiest vessel sink I’ve ever seen!)

With no water hooked up in the kitchen or bath, it was a pain to rinse the dishes in the master bathroom, but it was only for one day. Tonight John got the kitchen drain and water working!

Our new guest bath mirror arrived, but before we can hang it, we need to patch screw holes and paint behind where the old one was located. The different lights may require wall repair. Since the light fixture won’t arrive until Tuesday, there’s only so much we can do. It’ll be great when it’s finished but we aren’t there yet.

When these things are complete, we still need to do the tile back-splash in the kitchen. That may wait until after Christmas. We’ll see.

The granite workers arrived this a.m. at 8:45 and finished the job about 1:00 p.m. The job was a week later than we’d thought but they were fast and efficient.

We have new granite counters in the kitchen and guest bathroom. It looks very nice. We didn’t pay for super large pieces of granite, so we have three seams, but it is still very nice. We’re pleased with the results. Much nicer than the white formica.

The installers put the granite in, but the plumbing is up to us. John has said he can do it, but it has turned into a bigger job than he thought. The kitchen sink has to have the “drain” lowered because the undermounted sink takes up space below the sink area which means the drain starts closer to the floor. John will have to revise the PVC piping.

In the bathroom, it’s the opposite situation. The vessel sink sits on the counter so the water lines and drain have to go higher.

The vessel sink is the prettiest I’ve ever seen.

The new rubbed bronze oval mirror will arrive tomorrow and the four contemporary rubbed bronze lights about next Tuesday.

It’ll all look grand when it’s finished, but it will take a lot of effort. I’d like to have John call in a plumber. It would be a small job for a professional with the proper tools, but for John, it’ll be a several day challenge.

Hopefully I can post photos in about a week (or maybe two). As long as it’s ready for the Christmas Eve crowd, I’ll be satisfied.

It’ll be nice to have our kitchen and guest bath done! After that’s finished, I’d like to concentrate on the “office area” so we can have extra storage added.

To get it right, I’d be happy to pull out the cabinets John installed and start over, but maybe we can work around them. The desk that is currently there is a joke because it will never be used as a desk. It just has a pile of stuff on it. The only flat surface we need is a place to put my printer and set the router and modem for our wi-fi. What we need is a big pantry and closet space for the vacuums, mops, etc.

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Thursday came and went. No granite yet and no set date for the install.

We cleared Thursday and Friday of this week but those days have passed. Next week we are busy ALL WEEK until Friday.

When they finally call us, we’ll have to tell them Friday (the 20th) has to be the day. We can’t miss Elvis party (Monday); doctor appointments and Michigan Club party (Tuesday); ticket buying, Pickers Meeting, Sportsmen’s Club Meeting (Wednesday); and RV annual Storage Club meeting (Thursday). The following week is clearer, but we would like to get it done!

Seems like this business figures we can just “be there.” That’s not how it works.

Yesterday we invited a sales person into our home to give us a quote on granite for our kitchen. His prices are awesome and he knew all about granite. Therefore we have signed a contract with his company but…. and here’s the big but….

we went through hell!!

This sales guy was a “talker.” When he finished his sales pitch we knew all about his family, his history, his interests, his assets, his holdings, his marriage, but he never once asked anything about us..

He wasn’t interested in us and we are interesting folks. He never found out we are musicians. We have homes in central Michigan and in the U.P. and we came to Florida because of my mother. My cousin was Stephen Foster. We have four children between us and we’ve been married for 30 years.

Once, when he said, “I don’t know what you did for a living,” so I said that John was a pilot and air traffic controller and I worked for a hospital, so I at least get that much in, but he didn’t follow up on anything. He didn’t care.

We could have yacked about our history as long as he did .. maybe longer, and we may have wanted to, but we weren’t given a chance.

Today (day two) he took off on a lecture about the internet and the risks thereof, so I finally broke in and said, “I have at least 10 websites, I have been the webmaster for a major hospital, I know all about the risks, I understand the internet…” but still he didn’t pause and continued as if we needed to be educated. Believe me, I know more than he does!!

Two hours later he finally left.. We had hardly gotten a word in sideways and we were exhausted and John hasn’t recover all day.

No matter how good the job turns out, I feel we’ll have some bad feelings. Why can’t some people learn to be quiet. Listening is a skill.

His price, product, and knowledge sold us so he didn’t have to do much. We didn’t need to hear about his uncle’s and his father’s successes, his finding a rare/valuable painting, his wonderful abilities, etc.

It would have been nice if he’d taken a breath and sounded interested in us. If he’d said, “Tell me something about the two of you.” The truth is, he didn’t care about us, his clients, his purchasers. All he wanted to do was to sell himself.

I asked if others would take over the process now that he’s sold us on the granite installation and he said yes, so we went ahead with the deal. Hopefully our involvement with this individual will end now that the contract has been sold.

We’re still worn out!

We took a boat trip down the Manatee River leaving from Palmetto, FL, on Sunday, October 25th, with a big bunch of our Kings Point friends.

The capacity of the boat was 44. We had about 42. It was a tight fit and seating had to be found for the last ten to arrive. But things went along smoothly until a loud alarm sounded 3/4’s of the way through the cruise and the engines died unexpectedly. But we were never at risk. We could have been towed back to the starting point. The captain got little frantic. Finally he got one of the two engines running and we limped back.

Being subjected to something totally spontaneous and unexpected made it more fun!

We had wine so we were ok!!

After the boat trip, we all enjoyed dinner at a Mexican Restaurant. The day was fun and memorable!

Today we went to the “Sit and Get Fit” exercise class. We’ve vowed to attend regularly (Tuesdays and Thursdays). Felt good after an hour workout. No, it’s not a strenuous class, but enough to make you feel you have worked lots of lazy muscles.

Tomorrow and/or Saturday I hope to get to the pool, and Sunday we have a sightseeing boat trip planned up the Manatee River from Palmetto. There’ll be about 16 of us going and then we’ll all go out for dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant. Sounds like fun!

I feel lots better.

Last night we went to a party (Michigan Club Wine and Cheese Party), and today attended a Nantucket V Home Owners Association meeting.

The weather has been a little over-cast today with a few light showers, but right now the bright sunshine is almost blinding.

Seems that I take a couple steps toward “feeling better” but then the next day, I go back a step or two. Can’t seem to really improve that much. My cough is still deep and nasty, and I run out of steam even walking across the room.

We’ve been here for six days and I’ve been miserable with this lousy cold most of the time. I’ve stayed inside and away from folks so I won’t spread my bug to our Florida friends.

We’ve settled in. The stuff we brought with us has been put away. We like the looks of the new deck chairs on the lanai. The whole place is very comfortable. Only clean-up chore left to be done is washing the windows. John power washed the patio and lanai which left lots of ugly water-spots on our huge 9′ sliding doors, and other windows.

Because I’ve been coughing so much and have had a constantly running nose, I haven’t made it to the pool. Tomorrow, maybe?

Actually tomorrow I’m hoping to go to nearly new (resale shop), and to Walmart. We’ll see if we can fit the pool in.

We’ve been considering buying a bigger place. We had a few to check out, but we really love this place, especially the view, and doubt that any place could measure up. It would be nice to have more space, but we’re getting by.

We need to look at adding more storage in the “office” area. It would be a simple fix and lots cheaper than a new condo. John has told me to measure everything and draw up some plans so he can “see” my ideas. I’m sure that with the details worked out, he’d be glad to either do it or find someone who will. The next step is in my court.

My cold still has me knocked out! I feel rotten. Yesterday it seemed I was nearly back to normal, but last night I slept poorly. Every two hours I was forced to get up to try to get my coughing under control. I’m tired and not well….

Our trip south was exhausting.

The traffic was horrid. Friday we ran into a blinding rain storm as we went through Knoxville and couldn’t see a thing. (I was so scared and held the handle on my side of the car so tightly that my right hand is still sore.) Saturday, more rain storms through the mountains. Just south of Atlanta, we hit a construction area that stopped traffic. It took about 90 minutes to go 5 miles. We made it to South Shore Pizza to pick up our carryout pizza at 7:15. That was more than an hour behind the arrival I’d figured out when I did the schedule, but we were finally home.

By the next day, we’d discovered a few condo problems. There was a leak behind the master bath toilet, the garbage disposal leaked, and on the patio and in the garage (by the door) there were swarms of ants.

Most everything has been resolved: the disposal was covered by a Kings Point insurance policy (KPW) we pay extra for (a new one was installed at no charge), the toilet was just a fitting that needed to be tightened, and tomorrow morning the bug guy will come and spray for ants and any other critters that may have taken residence in our place.

Unfortunately Friday and Saturday I felt truly yucky and was major sick when I woke up on Sunday. For several days, John hadn’t been feeling really good and part of his problem was a coughing bug. I started coughing too with lots of chest crud. It has hit me hard. We missed the Oldies but Goodies Dance Club dance Sunday night and I slept sitting up most of Sunday night since I coughed non-stop when I would lay down. Yesterday I hid out in the condo, hopping not to give it to anyone else. Today I’m much better. I’m not very energetic, but my cough is much better. I’m actually thinking that, if I continue improving, I’ll go to the pool tomorrow.

We went shopping this morning (by golf cart) and this afternoon I unpacked hanging up my clothes and taking inventory of my wardrobe. We’ll attend a bunch of parties and events over the next six and a half months. Sure glad I’m feeling better!