Three posts ago, I added Sue Sussman’s video of “Middle-Aged Woman.”

Last night a “comment” about the video was posted to the youtube site which is where the video of Sue’s performance is actually “stored.” (Most of us don’t have the tools on our websites to provide videos without youtube or a similar service. You can view Sue’s video from youtube or my blog.)

The comment was from Sue’s granddaughter.

She said, “cant believe my grandma’s on youtube. you go grandma.”

What a way to bridge the generations!!

When my mother was well and lived in Sun City Center, she would call me and complain about all the snowbirds who flocked to the South during “the season.” She’d whine about the lines in restaurants, the lack of parking places, and other inconveniences. I was never very understanding. Now that we’re here and in the midst of that time of the year, I understand why my mom complained.

This week it has been so crowded at the South Club pool that, even going early didn’t assure that we had a place to sit. The parking lot has been jammed, folks wander around looking for a seat, and when one is vacated there’s a mad dash by the masses. Today we finally admitted to ourselves that the guests have crowded us out.

After we ate lunch at the Friday South Club “pool party,” we went to the North Clubhouse pool. The water was considerably cooler and it’s not nearly as pretty, but we had lots of space and quiet. It was heavenly. We will probably go back there this weekend.

We have heard that a lot of folks rent places for the first three months of the year, so next Tuesday (April 1st) many of them will probably be gone. I’ll be looking forward to going back to the South Club but it’s not fun to have to jockey for a place to relax.

I haven’t added to my blog since Saturday (the day before Easter) and here it is Thursday. Admittedly stuff has been piling up.

Let’s see — what has been happening?

I’ve spent a lot of time with Mom. She’s not doing very well. With my mother’s alzheimers, one of her major health issues had been loss of weight. For at least three or four years, getting her to eat had been a chore. She didn’t want anything except sweets. About six months ago, her doctor found the right appetite stimulant and suddenly she was hungry. She’d eat everything put in front of her. It was such a refreshing change that the staff just kept giving her more and she packed on more than 20 pounds.

Last month, the doctor felt she was gaining too much weight so he took her off the medication. Without the stimulant, she doesn’t seem to remember how to chew and swallow. Again it’s really work to get her to eat anything. After a few calls to her physician, we have her back on the medication. We hope she’ll respond to it again. She is developing other health issues (swelling of her legs and feet, fixed stares, etc.) It is possible that these symptoms are not related to the dietary issues, but it’s coincidental that this all happened at the same time. She seems to be slipping away.

After Busch Gardens on Friday (Good Friday), we had a cool and rainy Saturday, and cool Easter Sunday.

Lots of routine stuff took our time earlier this week: John had our vehicle and our golf cart serviced, golf cart inspected, I sold some instruments on my dulcimers.biz website, normal stuff like laundry and house cleaning. I also had to straighten out an error by our credit card company. They took a payment for the full balance of our credit card, which was a larger than our normal balance, out of both our credit union and our bank so they were double paid! As a result, we had a credit coming of over a thousand dollars!! Don’t know how you would feel about that, but I’d rather have the money in my account earning interest for me rather than in my credit card company’s hands. I had to get them to reverse the payment from the bank account. It’s all fixed now.

The cool weather continued through Monday and Tuesday, but yesterday (Wednesday) and today have been warm and wonderful. We were at the South Club pool both days. It looks like many families are together because of the Easter holiday. It’s been crowded, so finding a lounge chair on the pool deck has been difficult, but we managed.

Wednesday was especially busy. We spent a couple of hours at the pool and Wednesday night we went to the Elks Club in Ruskin and joined a big table-full of friends. Great spaghetti and friendships.

I also had a “wardrobe malfunction” at the pool. It seems my favorite swimsuit decided to deteriorate on me. Yup, it became see-through on the backside. Chlorine does that to some fabrics. I had been really careful too. I always hand wash my suits after I get home, but it still happened.. I was oblivious to the problem until a friend (Nancy) quietly mentioned to me that the rear of my suit was transparent and I was able to cover myself with a towel. It’s now in the trash. (And I realllllly liked that one too.) (Ladies, this is a warning. Hold them up to the light before you go out in public and make sure they haven’t become see-through.)

Tonight was karaoke night at Rockin’ Rendezvous. Kings Point has lots of talented folks. We enjoyed them. One singer did “Proud to be an American.” By the end, everyone was on their feet, singing in unison. It was really moving and felt good!

We have less than three weeks left before we’ll be heading back to Michigan. Days like today make us aware of why it’s so much fun down here! We had perfect pool temperatures, wonderful weather, a good time with friends tonight. Couldn’t have been any better.

Later I’ll post some photos of tonight.

On March 13th, Rockin’ Rondezvous featured a lip sync contest which I mentioned about five or six postings ago. Sue was the hit of the evening with her rendition of “Middle-Aged Woman.” I included the lyrics in that earlier posting about the evening so after you watch the video, you can scroll down to catch any words you may have missed:

We thought we’d beat the Easter Weekend crowd by going to Busch Gardens on Friday. Well, we were wrong! Traffic heading to the park was horrid. Once we got to the park, although it was more crowded than we’ve seen before, they can accommodate the masses, so it wasn’t too bad.

John and I saw the Irish Thunder show again and this time we had the best seats in the house (center front row). We also got great seats for the Herman’s Hermits show with Peter Noone (4th row center).

Peter and the group really got the crowd going. It was amazing to see the huge audience singing “I’m Henry the 8th I am” with gusto. Their music may be more than 40 years old, but they still have a following.

Here’s a small clip from the show:

We also went to the Budweiser Brewmaster Club presentation which was an interesting and enjoyable visit. We’d recommend. (Wish they didn’t make you wait 30 days to return. We plan to revisit to Busch Gardens in April for Charo, but that’ll probably be April 4th which is only a couple weeks from now.)

The traffic on the return trip home discouraged us from a shopping trip to Brandon which we’d planned to include in our day. Oh, well.. it was a fun full day.

Today we finally got our 813 area code phone number. Our new number is 813-944-3129. Any of the folks we’ve met here in Sun City Center can now call us as a “local” call. We need to inform Mom’s facility, accountant, vet, etc.

Now that we have Vonage service and we’ve been fully transferred to them, let’s hope it works as advertised!

Tomorrow we’re heading back to Busch Gardens – our second visit this year. We’ll get to see Herman’s Hermits and take in the wonderful park. Should be a beautiful day! Not too hot and since it’s Good Friday, we think it’ll be less crowded.

Tonight we were invited to a street party on Inverness Greens Drive here in Kings Point. Bill and Donna Markland and Bob and Sue Bemis hosted it. It was billed as “A Night With Elvis” and sure enough “The King” was there. It was a fun time, with music, food, dancing, and lots and lots of friendly people. We estimated the crowd to be about 150-200 folks. Everyone had a fun time.

After the party, a local realtor, Pam Reno, gave us a tour of the condo next to the Markland’s. It was lovely and is definitely on our short list especially with such great neighbors!

On our way home, John and I also stopped at Sifield Greens Drive where we learned quite a bit about some vacant units from couple who lived next to the units. We were even invited in to see their place which had a perfect view.

The pool has been heavenly for the past three days. Today it was a tad windy, but the water and air temperatures were perfect. 75-85 degree temps are predicted every day for the next ten days.

We have less than a month left before we head back to Michigan. We’re going to savor every remaining day!

Tonight, after dark, we went back to the South Club pool. We’d enjoyed near perfect water and air temperatures all afternoon and it was just as enjoyable this evening. It was nearly empty. There were a few party people in and near the hot tub but the scene was lovely and tranquil. We didn’t get home until after 9:00.

The only minor problem were some flying insects (sorta like locusts).

They weren’t so bad that they broke the mood. We loved the evening.

Susan Sussman did the cutest “lip sync” at the Rockin Rondezvous contest night. She was a hands down winner!!!

You’d have loved it.

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The lyrics:

I’M A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN

I’M A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN, AND I’M REALLY IN MY PRIME
I’M A MIDDLE-AGED BROAD, AND I’M LOOKING MIGHTY FINE
MATURE AND SEXY, HEALTHY AND FIT
NICE AND RIPE, AND I CAN’T REMEMBER SHIT

I’M IRRITABLE AND CRABBY, AND MY MOOD IS ON THE SWING- YES, IT IS
MY CYCLES ARE IRREGULAR, AND MY UNDERWEAR CLINGS
MY THERMOSTAT HAS REALLY GONE AWRY
I’M SWEATING LIKE A PIG, WHILE MY CHA CHA IS TOTALLY DRY

OOOHHH, I’M WORKING ON A HOT FLASH
YEAH, I’M ON THE VERGE
BUILDING UP STEAM FOR A POWER SURGE

HOT FLASH
NOW MY FACE IS RED
LOOKING FOR A TOWEL TO MOP MY HEAD

HOT FLASH
OOH, IT COMES ON QUICK
MY CLOTHES ARE DRIPPIN’ AND MY SKIN IS SLICK
(PANT PANT PANT) IS IT WARM IN HERE?
(PANT PANT PANT) IS IT HOT IN HERE?

HOT FLASH
AT THE GROCERY STORE
JAMMIN’ MY HEAD IN THE FREEZER DOOR

HOT FLASH
200 DEGREES… (spoken) WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN’ AT?

I’M PERIMENOPAUSAL, AND I CAN’T REMEMBER SQUAT
THERE’S A RINGING IN MY EARS, AND I TEND TO FART A LOT
A 5 O’CLOCK SHADOW WASN’T IN MY PLANS
EVERYTIME I SNEEZE, I FRICKING PEE MY PANTS

I CAN’T SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT, MY LIBIDO’S OUT OF WHACK
I’VE GOT BIFOCAL CONTACTS, AND I’M SWEATING MORE THAN SHAQ
I’M FEELING REALLY ANXIOUS, MAYBE I COULD SCORE SOME CRACK
OR DRINK SOME BLACK COHOSH TEA (bleah, ick)

I’M A MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN, I SUDDENLY DON’T REMEMBER WHO YOU ARE
I MUST BE A MUSICIAN, BECAUSE I’M PLAYING A GUITAR
YES, I’M MIDDLE-AGED, HERE ON THIS STAGE
I’M MIDDLE-AGED, COMPLETELY CRAZED
I’M A MIDDLE-AGED….
(DON’T MESS WITH MY SOCIAL SECURITY!)
MIDDLE-AGED WOMAN!

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The person who wrote it (I believe her name is Lisa Koch) really did a great job poking fun at conditions all mature women relate to. Sue’s rendition was awesome.

The evening was a mixture of fun and so-so time.

One thing really upset us was that, for the first hour of the evening, there were several tiny kids (2-4 years old) on the dance floor and to me that’s totally inappropriate in an adult drinking setting. If a child gets hurt by being bumped by someone who can’t see them at knee level, who will be sued? Is it appropriate for tiny toddlers to be subjected to adults in a drinking setting? Twice I saw adults walking across the room carrying a tray of drinks and a near miss occurred. The tiny kids were obscured by the tray and didn’t pay any attention to the adults.

The seating was also at a real premium. Although they aren’t supposed to, folks saved seats all over the place. We arrived early and found our places, but it was a mess because by the time the event was scheduled to start (at 4:00), all seats were taken. As folks arrived, they didn’t appreciate finding 3/4’s of the chairs reserved for folks who hadn’t arrived yet.

We were in the midst of folks we didn’t know at all. They were very nice, but it wasn’t as much fun as last week.

When the lip sync contest started, it didn’t matter who we were sitting by. We all enjoyed the efforts of the four acts.

We left as soon as it was over.

We have so much that we want to cram in before we head back home.

This Saturday, Sun City Center will have “Funfest” which is a total community involved festival. We’ll be part of a dance demo which will be put on by Bernice and Art May, the folks who provide us with our dance lessons. It’s just two short dances, so very easy.

We want to go to Busch Gardens.

We have a dinner to attend Saturday and a party on Monday. (Guess that leaves Sunday for Busch Gardens.)

We have looked over the bus trips that we could take before we leave for home on April 15th. We have one in mind on April 4th, but it’s hard to commit to a day away from Kings Point when we could kick ourselves because the pool here is so lovely.

We want to take in all of the Thursday Rockin’ Rendezvous, and I want to be with Mom for her evening meals. There are dance lessons, Friday Pool Parties, get togethers, meetings, dances, parties, etc. It’s hard to crowd it all in.

This whole phone transfer business has tested our patience. We are FINALLY scheduled to be completely moved to Vonage VoIP telephone service on Thursday, March 20th. The process was delayed and our regular phone number wasn’t operational for about two weeks. But at least Vonage has given us a month’s credit for our trouble. We were able to get Speednet to restore our old phone service until Vonage takes over. I don’t know who to blame for the problems we’ve had but there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

I’m anxious because, once we have our regular phone number transferred to Vonage, I’ll subscribe to a second “virtual number” here in the Florida (813 area code) so folks down here can call us with a local number. We should be able to receive both our 989 and our 813 phone numbers seamlessly on the same phone. It’s not really “forwarding” but it’ll work that way.

I LOVE techie stuff. Can’t wait to be able to play with all the features which will be available to us. Waiting until the 20th will be a test of my patience but at least folks can reach us on our regular number now.

Last night we went to a Kings Point Ballroom Dance Club dance at the main clubhouse. It was a nice evening. We sat with enjoyable folks, the music was good, and we had fun dancing a lot. I wore a dressy dress (the one I wore New Year’s Eve) and John looked great. It was fun!

Today from 12:45-1:45 we are taking a swing dance lesson and it’ll be warm enough for the pool when we finish. Tonight there are spaghetti dinners at the Ruskin Moose and Elks Clubs – maybe we can go.

In addition to our phone problems this week, we also had electrical problems with our golf cart, but John was able to fix it.

Life is good!!

Back on February 16th we attend some real estate open houses of residences that are for sale here in Kings Point. Last night we got a call from a Keller Williams realtor.who informed us that we’d won a $50 gift card. We’d signed up for the drawing at the condos we toured. Obviously it’s not the lottery, but we’ll enjoy spending it.

Kings Point has dozens (actually hundreds) of homes/condos for sale, but there’s a “no sign” rule so it’s hard to discover which ones are available. Keller Williams uses a small inconspicuous placard that has been deemed “acceptable.” It’s actually hard to spot, but hopefully it will be adopted by all realtors.

We’ve found that word-of-mouth is probably the best way to learn about available units, but even neighbors aren’t always aware when a place goes on the market.

We already have the condo where Mom and her husband lived so now isn’t the time for us to buy. We will have free use of this place until Mom is gone. We’d be stupid to take on the expenses associated with a second condo, especially since prices are still going down, but it’s tempting because there are so many available and there are deals to be had. We’re keeping out eyes open and making a list of the ones we prefer. If/when something happens to Mom, I hope we’ll be able to find the perfect place. (Notice I said “I” because John’s not totally convinced that we want a place down here.)

The past weekend was chilly (60-70) but today it’ll warm up to about 75 and by next weekend it’ll be about 80-85!

Still no phone service. It looks like Speednet hasn’t released our number so it can be moved to Vonage.

We were invited to play for an outdoor BBQ at the Episcopal Church and really looked forward to it. We had a polished list of 32 of our favorite tunes ready to go. I don’t know about John, but I felt really good about how we sounded and was sure we’d do a great job and leave a great impression. I could see all kinds of opportunities coming our way because the hammered dulcimer is so unknown around here. It would have been a good way to display the instruments.

When it came to our performance, the best way to describe it was “blown away!” We arrived about 1:40 for our 2:00 performance but the winds were so strong that they recommended that we should forget about it. We hung around until about 2:30 and had to agree that there was no way we could play. It was about 62 degrees out and the winds were gusting to about 35 mph. (Flags were straight out which is an indication of high winds.)

Graciously they still give us a BBQ’ed pork dinner which we’ll enjoy tonight. (We tried refusing but they insisted and it was obvious that the crowd would be down from what they’d planned so we thanked them and accepted their offer.)

They’d decided that sound equipment wasn’t workable in the wind because the mics would just pick up wind noise, so they’d put away the amplification.

There was a band playing when when we arrived — all horns and a drum. They were good. But with the wind, even their sound died out 25 feet from where they were playing.

We didn’t even try it. John’s hammers would have ended up in the next county and we’d have been playing for ourselves because no one could have heard us. The tent was empty. No one stayed to eat there because it was so cold and windy. We were relieved that they didn’t insist because the situation wasn’t good, but I’m disappointed. We were ready and we would have blown them away, instead we were.

Our phone problems will (hopefully) soon be resolved. We have the Vonage phone service now, but we’re using a temporary number because our Saginaw (989-781-0849) number hasn’t been “ported” (transferred) yet. Once it’s working, I can set up an 813 number so people down here can call us as a local call.

It’s been a busy week.

Last time I wrote was a week ago.

Saturday, the 1st, was John’s 70th birthday. We went to “Little Harbor” for lunch and sunset. It was cool but lovely. We left about 6:40 p.m. so we could make it to “The Follies,” a big production put on by residents of Kings Point. It was a fun show, a tad long, but enjoyable. Dancers, vocals, more dancers, cloggers, all performed. No hammered dulcimers or other instruments. (Only instrument was a guitar.)

Tuesday, the 4th, we drove down to Sarasota where we had a lovely dinner with our friends, Wayne and Linda Conklin. The food was grand, the conversation lively, the friends “the best,” and the wine super. For me it was a great 66th birthday!

Wednesday we took a Romance Riverboat Cruise down the St. John’s River leaving from Sanford, FL. It was a fairly long bus ride, but the scenery and meal made it worthwhile. Yup, the food was fantastic (prime rib). We were back by 4:45, just in time for me to be with Mom for dinner.

Thursday (yesterday) we were busy. I spent a couple of hours in the beauty shop having my hair done and had to apply for our annual Kings Point badge. With our situation being fairly unique, it takes forever to fill out the paper work.

We went to Rockin’ Rendezvous last night and had a fun time. We sat with (cute) Brenda and John, who we are getting to know. They’re dern nice folks. We’ve watched them across the room and I’ve always commented that she looks like she’s having so much fun. This time we were part of it.

Tomorrow, Saturday, the two of us are going to perform for a picnic/BBQ at the Episcopal Church. It should be a fun, informal play. It’ll be our first real performance down here.