Cool weather has hit Michigan (40’s tonight).

Only week and a half until we’re in Florida.

There are so many last-minute things to do. We haven’t started packing the truck, but a lot is on the dining room table (in the staging area) ready to take it out. It’s loaded!

I feel I’m as ready to head south as I can be at this point, but there’s a lot I need to accomplish. I need to carry the stuff from the dining room to the truck, read through (and follow through) the list of things to do. The house still needs to be cleaned before we can “lock the door” behind us.

There are little things (like changing my ship to address on eBay and Paypal). I need to contact my Visa credit card and the local police so they’ll know we’ve left for the winter.

I’ve about finished packing clothes. There is lots of laundry to be done. And more.

But I look ahead and in less than two weeks we’ll be in the sunny south. Hopefully we’ll have arrived on Saturday, gone to an Oldies but Goodies Dance on Sunday (with Flash Back), John will have gone to a Monday chorus and we’ll have picked up our badges. On Tuesday, I’ll have attended an exercise class or two, and we’ll feel comfortable in our Sun City Center, Kings Point, residence. We’ll go to Karaoke on Tuesday evening. And I want to spend a lot of time lounging at the pool after walking to it.

Sounds hectic, but I love the pace.

It’s that time of the year! Every fall, from late August until the first heavy frost, I suffer from ragweed allergy. I try to stay inside, but it seeps in.

Today it’s especially bad.

I found this map on line.

That’s another reason I love heading to Florida. There is NO ragweed in our part Florida.

I subscribed to the Entertainment discount coupons on September 7th at http://entertainment.com.

They offer a $.99 one-month trial and that is perfect for us since, when the month is up, I can cancel. Renewal is almost $5 monthly. Since there are very few Florida Entertainment deals close to our community, renewing for the second month wouldn’t make sense.

Tuesday, the 15th, we tried for the first time to use a discount coupon for a nice dinner but it didn’t work. We wanted to celebrate our 30th anniversary but I was unable to print the coupon. The instructions said you could print a coupon OR use your phone, show it to your server, and you’d get the discount. As it turned out, despite what it said on their website, the waitress said they only accept printed coupons. She suggested putting our phone on a scanner and printing it out that way. We left the restaurant and ate elsewhere. The next day (the 16th) I tried following the servers suggestion, but come to find out, that meant we could only use the coupon that one day and we couldn’t get back that soon. (The printed coupons are normally good for two weeks. I didn’t know that the phone-type coupons expired that day and wouldn’t even be available on the 17th.)

I sent a complaint email to Entertainment’s customer service. Today I got an response saying that that my account had been “re-set” so the coupon could be used. This time, I was successful printing out the paper coupon and next Tuesday we’ll go back to the Rustic Inn and we’ll enjoy our delayed steak dinner. Hope it’s worth all this trouble.

In the meanwhile, I looked ahead to our time in Florida. The only coupon I found that we could use in our area is a pizza coupon on for South Shore Pizza and Subs on College Avenue (aka SR-674). It’s only about two miles from the entrance to our gated community (Kings Point). The coupon is for 50% off the regular price and their pizzas are excellent. Our tradition is to grab a pizza before we go to our condo as we get down there. South Shore is conveniently located for that evening.

Our current $.99 Entertainment membership will expire on October 7. But I thought of a solution. Our current subscription is in John’s name with our Michigan address, skaryds@dulcimers.com, and our 989 phone number.

Before we leave for Florida, I will subscribe under Sharon Skaryd using our Florida address, my gmail or Brighthouse email and our Florida 813 phone number. It’ll cost me $.99 for a month as a new member. With that membership, we’ll get half off the South Shore Pizza price. I will need take time to print it out before we finish packing (since I take the inkjet cartridges with us).

We can pick up the pizza and then head to our condo in Kings Point, Sun City Center. It’ll be just as close as stopping at Hungry Howie’s where we usually pick up our first evening meal to enjoy at the condo. Pizza from South Shore is better but usually more pricy! Hungry Howie’s a bargain at $6, but I just figured it out and the regular price for a large pepperoni from South Shore would be $10.99 plus tax. With half off the $10.99, we’ll pay approximately $5.50.) Sounds good!

We’ll just need to remember to exit at the Ruskin exit to the west, instead of the next exit which is toward Sun City Center to the east. And hopefully we left a couple beers in the ‘fridge.

Perfect!

Since I fell and badly broke my wrist on July 11th, 2014, my life has changed and things are totally different. The 5 1/2 hour surgery when two plates and 16 screws were inserted left me with a hand that doesn’t work like it should. It’s numb and hot and cold sensitive with little flexibility.

Yes, I get by, but even little jobs like peeling and removing the apple cores causes discomfort. (I tried to help John peel apples but my whole hand’s been sore since I did that little chore for about a half hour.)

I doubt if I’ll ever feel I can move and use it normally as I did before I fell.

As a result of this change in my life, things continue to change:

I’ve gained more weight because I’m less active.
I find walking and dancing more difficult because I’m fearful of falling again.
I’m less energetic because I’m not moving around as much (one breeds the other).
It’s an effort to do any housework, so it doesn’t get done.
Because I’m chubby, I feel old and unattractive.
My clothes don’t look good on me.

Oh, well… It could be worse. We can afford the best of care.

I still have my wonderful husband beside me and our life is pretty easy.

When we get to Florida, I’m sure I’ll be more active. I vow to go to exercise classes and walk more. I’ll feel younger.

Four years ago I wrote a blog post about feeling younger when in Florida. https://sharons-blog.com/?p=6659

At that time, I said, “Something about the Southern climate and attitude changes us. (snip) I’ll bet if a test could be done, we’d each de-age by 20 years. I can’t help but wonder if we stayed in the south all year if our age-regression would take us back to childhood.” I feel that way more and more. I can’t wait to be a kid again.

Tonight we’ll attend my Midland High School Class of 1960 reunion. It’ll be the 55th! Not overly anxious but it might be fun/interesting. I’ll report on the event later.

—————–

It was an ok night. Not great, but I’m glad we went.

A big reason for going to a reunion is to compare yourself with others. I felt we measured up. My guy was the best looking, and even John said I rated very high among the ladies.

It was nice seeing Sue Lloyd, Carole and Jim DeLong, Pat Sycle, Cindy Dehn, and other “old” friends.

There was no meal, just munchies but enough to fill us up. Drinks were on the high priced side. (Steep for an American Legion which is usually very reasonable.)

In October 2004, I started selling hammered dulcimers.

My friend, Rick Thum and awesome instrument builder, had encouraged me. I’d decided to try selling on line and established http://dulcimers.biz. My sales were never huge, and in fact I didn’t sell any at all in 2014 (eight in 2013). Starting this summer, things seemed to be picking up. I have sold four in the past few months.

Wednesday, I called Jim Newman, owner of Jake’s Cabin Dulcimers. Jake’s builds the smaller instruments Rick Thum used to sell: Meadowlarks, Wrens, and Travelers. I was placing an order with him. During that call, he informed me that he is giving up his business. Unless he is able to sell the rights to those instruments, there will no longer be a Jake’s Cabin Dulcimers.

I’m not changing anything on my website at this point. I am suggesting that buyers check with Chris Foss (Songbird Dulcimers). I admire and respect Chris. His instruments are an excellent quality. I also recommend Lost Valley Dulcimers formerly built by Linda Foley and Curt Sanders and now built by Jerry Cyr.

I’ll also continue to give information to those who are just getting started.

Maybe I’ll find another builder with instruments I can distribute. I’ve thought about calling and talking with Chris or Jerry, but I figure there’s time and I want lots of free time to play in Florida. I don’t want to be tied to my computer revising site pages.

We’ve been making plans for the next couple of months.

We’ll only be in Michigan for about three more weeks but here’s what’s lined up:
My 55th class reunion is this Saturday.
While in Michigan, John has plans for doctor and optical appointments and we both have dental cleanings scheduled.
We will probably try to go to the grand opening of the Evergreen Tavern on September 25th and/or 26th for a pig roast.
We’re still owed a dinner for our 30th anniversary.
October 3rd or 4th we’ll visit Audra, John’s daughter.
October 6th we have a Skaryd family dinner planned in Owosso.
October 7th a senior luncheon.
And on Sundays at the Evergreen from 4-8, Tuesdays at the Back Forty from 6-9, and Thursdays at the Evergreen from 6-9, we can attend country dances. We may not go to all but they are available and fun.

Then we’ll head to Florida on October 9th and arrive on the 10th.

On October 11th we have an Oldies but Goodies dance, a Michigan Club welcome back wine and cheese party on the 20th, a bar-be-q and potluck on the 29th, a Baby Boomers Halloween Party on the 31st.

In October, we have dermatologist, pulmonologist, optical, and physical appointments.

If we feel like it, we can go to exercise, chorus and dance classes, Tuesday karaokes, Thursday Rockin’ Rendezvous, and several meetings including John’s Wednesday “pickers” gathering. We have pool parties and pool relaxation. There’s a Kings Point garage sale on the 23rd and 24th.

And that only takes us through the end of October. We have lots more in November and December, but looking two months out is sufficient for this update.

Busy busy busy. Love it but I’m already tired thinking about all the stuff we have on our agenda.

Previously I’d vowed I’d wait until a week before we leave to start packing. Last year I started too early and by the time we were ready to leave, I forgotten what I’d packed. I couldn’t remember if or where it was stashed. I ended up unpacking and repacking, so I promised myself I’d wait until “last minute.” Sadly I’m too impatient. Nothing’s in the truck, so it’s not technically “packed,” but I went through my closet and moved everything I’ll be taking together. I can see how much that’ll be. I can easily add to the grouping, if I discover items I’ve missed. Everything is still accessible.

I also went through the two flat bins I use for capris and slacks. I have twice as many pair as I need for Florida so I’ve decided I’ll leave quite a few pair in Michigan. I tried them on and picked out a bunch to leave behind. At this point I am able to fit those capris, slacks, and shorts that I’ll take in one bin. I’ll use the other bin for tops. Dresses and items I don’t want wrinkled will be dealt with differently.

Lingerie, bathing suits, and jackets will all go in a plastic garbage bag with other items (maybe hair care, medicines and office supplies). And my jewelry, and perfume will go in my carry-in bag. My shoes are all packed now in a heavy clear plastic bag.

This year it seems there are more than the usual number of extras: wine, musical instruments, air purifier, vacuum cleaner, deck chairs, and power washer but we’ll manage somehow.

I’m gathering a pile of stuff in the dining room: Tax records, extra bottles of instant coffee, and other things from my packing list are in that staging area. More will be added over the next three weeks. I want to be packed by about October 1st. John will be packing all the pails of wine and the perishable food that we’ll take from our refrigerator.

Since I have several lists to check against, I feel I’m sorta organized.

One of those hair-pulling days.

I have a good size USB drive I use for back-up and it is messed up. When I try to use it, an error comes up saying it is write protected even though it isn’t. I decided to work on it and see if I could reformat it.

I tried countless on-line suggestions but none worked. I stumbled on one which sounded do-able — to let my computer format it in “Safe Mode.” All of the extras would be shut off and the formatting might work.

I started up the computer in “safe mode” but my computer has a four digit number for a password and when I tried to get in, my pin number didn’t work. I couldn’t get any further.

I called Lenovo’s customer service. Come to find out the password is a Windows function so I’d have to work with Microsoft. I was given a Windows/Microsoft site to reset my password, but I figured out on my own that if I needed to use the Microsoft password, maybe that would solve the problem.

Yes!!! My original Microsoft/Windows password worked. Once I got in, I shut off safe mode, gave up the idea of formatting the usb thumb drive, and bought another from eBay.

But before I got to that point, I read the user guide. It was scary. It said that if I’d forgotten my password, there was no help for me. Either an authorized service center would try to fix it or I’d need a new mother board. Both would be at my cost. I hadn’t forgotten my pw but who would believe me? When I got it to work, I felt much better. Whew!

Today, September 10th, is our 30th wedding anniversary. Sadly neither of us felt up to par today.

To celebrate, the plan had been to go to a steakhouse (Rustic Inn in St. Charles) and then dancing at a nearby establishment (The Evergreen on Swan Creek Road). But both of us felt yucky all day (an intestinal thing) and we finally admitted it to each other.

We decided to postpone our celebration to another time within the next week. Hopefully then a nice (extravagant) meal will be enjoyed. So our dinner tonight was a cheap bottle of wine and a frozen chicken kiev on rice while watching the ripples on the lake outside our great room window. I’m not complaining and I sure felt better staying home and not trying to go out. Hopefully we’ll enjoy a fancy restaurant meal in a few days.

Tomorrow we’ll be celebrating a milestone. September 10th is our 30th wedding anniversary!

Yup, 30 years ago we were married.

It was a very small ceremony at a nearby church. The minister was our friend, Dick McCool, chaplin at St. Mary’s, who passed away several years ago. You can read about him here: sharon’s blog post about Dick (Chaplin Richard) McCool. He was a very close friend and he always said we were his best “success story.” It was special to have such a brave, inspirational person officiate. He was amazing.

The witnesses to our wedding were my parents, John’s parents and his two children. When the ceremony was over we headed to my (our) house on Hemmeter where we had cake, coffee, and munchies. Nothing fancy. It was appropriately low-key.

The next morning, John and I headed out on our honeymoon to Toronto. We almost missed the train, but it was all fun. We were only gone part of a week.. a lovely experience.

No big hype, but whatever we did stuck. We’ve held onto those vows for 30 years, and plan to continue together for the rest of our lives.

As John says, it’s getting a little late to start over and by no means do either of us desire a “re-start.”

John’s making pear wine in the kitchen and our house smells like a cheap bar. I swear if I take a deep breath, I’ll be over the legal limit. (And the fermentation is just starting. It’ll get worse.)

Did I mention sticky floors? I use my swiffer floor scrubber many, many, many times each day but the floors can still stop me in my tracks. I love his wine, but the time when it’s being prepared is a challenge. Come and rescue me if you don’t hear from me. I’m probably stuck to the kitchen floor.

We’ll be hauling the wine to Florida with us. Last year we used five gallon carboys and one cracked down the seam while in route. Every time we stopped, I commented that I could smell wine. By the time we got to our condo, we’d lost half from that container. They could have followed our trail all the way from Michigan down I-75. This year John’s doing it differently. He’ll put the wine in five gallon covered “pails” which are less apt to crack. There are other advantages of pails over carboys: they are lower and flat on top so some stuff can ride on them and they are stackable to bring them back to Michigan.

It looks like it’s going to be tough cramming everything in. We thought that on this trip back, we’d be traveling light, but the load keeps growing. The wine might crowd out the deck chairs I really want to bring for our lanai. I’m so hoping for four of them but I may have to settle for two, if we can even fit them in.

Yesterday when I discovered that the “Email Me” link on the right side in the “Menu” area of this page no longer functioned, I got busy and I found a fix for it.

I will have to add the same fix to several other pages where I thought folks could send emails to me. Hope this works. Please try it out. Just say hi.

And thanks!!

I’ve been posting more lately.

Maybe that has something to do with why https://sharons-blog.com has been getting more hits.

I just checked and, Webilizer (the tracking system used by Bluehost, my company) shows 12 months of data at a time.

Since September, 2015, only has four days, it’s really not a complete count for this month. Yet the 12 months October 2014-September 2015 has recorded 1,272,786 hits for https://sharons-blog.com. During the same period, dulcimers.com, which is my main site, has recorded 1,554,477. Doesn’t seem possible!

Who is listening to the ramblings of this 73-year-old lady, Sharon Skaryd? Just who are you? Sometimes I wish I allowed comments, but I found many years ago that there are too many abusers when comments are permitted. Language, sex toy promotions, etc. all would have to be deleted and I just don’t have the patience to deal with perversion.

Note: Because of this post, I tried the email link on the right side of the page (in the menu area). It isn’t working. Times have changed and the method previously used has been eliminated so I need to revise it. I will also have to change the coding on several pages. I will try to do it this next week. I do hope folks know I would welcome any emails sent to me at sharon@sharons-blog.com or to skards@dulcimers.com.

Yo..hoo….. who’s out there?

Five weeks from today (on Friday, October 9th), we take off for Florida. We’ll leave as early as possible and arrive 640 miles later at the Quality Inn in Sweetwater, Tennessee, at about 6:30 p.m.

The next morning (Saturday, the 10th), we’ll be up early, enjoy a breakfast provided by the motel, and hit the highway by 8:00. Our arrival (after several potty stops and lunch break), will get us to our condo at 5:54 p.m. Obviously the times may vary a little but I figure everything out pretty closely and unless there are major traffic problems, we should get there pretty much on schedule. We want to arrive before dark. Sunset occurs at 7:05 that night. By arriving before 6:00, we should be able to eat, then unload while it’s light.

Eat? Yes, we wait until we get to the condo to enjoy dinner. We’ll stop at Hungry Howies in Sun City Center and pick up a large pepperoni carry-out pizza which we’ll have ordered 10-minutes before Exit 240A. The plan is to take our still hot pizza to the condo, rush inside, pop open a couple of beers and enjoy meal #1 at 2604 Newcomb Court.

Then the unloading will start. There are always a few things that need to come in, and that’s why we will appreciate the hour (or more) before darkness. We won’t be able to totally settle-in, but it really isn’t necessary because so much is still at the condo from spring when we left. The bed will be ready for us, cable and internet started. We’ll bring in the perishables and do the rest the next day.

When we get up the next morning (Sunday), the Tampa Tribune should be on the drive. We’ll spend most of the day getting everything out of the truck.

Sounds like I have everything figured out but John’s wine may create problems. He’s making more and more which takes up a lot of space. We want to take back four stacking deck chairs with fluffy cushions. Might be a tight fit. (Especially since we have a few other big items to take back: our musical instruments, air purifier, power washer, and Shark vacuum plus our clothes, shoes, and food.)

Maybe Sunday we’ll have time to go to the pool, but probably not. (I’ll want to wash my hair and freshen up because at 6:30 Sunday evening, we’ll be at the Oldies But Goodies dance at the Community Hall in Sun City Center. Our favorite band, Flash Back, will be playing for our dancing pleasure.

Betcha after a glass or two of wine, and some trips around the dance floor, we’ll be ready for bed Sunday night (October 11th).