Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Good morning ghosts and goblins! It’s a chilly start here in Central Florida and we’re enjoying the change! 


Sue and Wayne have been busy with workers around their South Florida home but found time to carve a pumpkin! πŸ‘πŸ»

New awnings ...


Worker bees 🐝 leveling pavers ... all necessitated by Hurricane Irma! (I guess you could say was good for the Florida economy!)

Mark and I loaded the RV for our Sarasota trip tomorrow to Giant Recreation World’s annual rally. We’ve rented a golf cart ensuring fun for Robbie and BeeZee too. 






Monday, October 30, 2017

Monday, October 30, 2017

Good morning chilly air! πŸ”₯ 




After lazy start to the day I pulled the furniture out and did my pre-Christmas room rearranging, ready for the Christmas tree. I know, I know it’s not even Halloween yet. But I am late! Mark reminds me (every year) how the Christmas tree was decorated in the living room in Boca when ONE boy remarked “is that a Christmas tree?” while Treat or Treating!  πŸŽ„ πŸ˜‚ πŸŽƒ

Julius and Shorty Hotpants are lookin’ fly and ready for the wee goblins. πŸ‘» 

Anyway, while I was doing this, Mark made himself scarce and went tromping about in the forest with Lew. πŸ‘πŸ». Tonight, we are invited to Lynn and Lew‘s for dinner. Schweet! 



Oh oh ... we’re kinda fuzzy! That’s what occurs when 6 of us have dinner together. πŸ˜‚ Pork roast, smashed potatoes, veggies and salad. Yum. We had lots of fun, lots of laughs and, of course, were the last go home! πŸ™„



Sunday, October 29, 2017

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Good morning sunshine! The rain moved on from our area ... it’s clear and cool(ish.) Since I was tossing about by 4 am tidying my craft / eBay room was begun. By the time Mark and the doggies were awake at 8, I had progressed to sorting beads that Shay donated to my jewelry making fun. Another couple of hours and I should be able to vacuum out there without worrying what goes up the vacuum. Ha ha!

Last night Sue and Wayne were at a Halloween party at the yacht club. The costumes were apparently terrific; here’s Sue and Wayne’s...


Great costumes ... but I bet Wayne froze. By all accounts it was a fun night. 

Mark worked on the RV’s front with compounding and waxing ... 


Nice! We’ll be looking good for The Sarasota trip this week! GRW Rally here we come. 

RanDawn stopped in for a short visit on the bike about 5ish. We had a wine and made plans for dinner next Sunday at Stavros just before their Charleston anniversary trip. 





Saturday, October 28, 2017

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Good afternoon! Well it wasn’t the day we had planned but rather the day we were dealt. Aunt Jane called to say her daughter Kathie was in town and invited us for a visit. We thought we best go as the only reason Kathie would be back in town (she was here for a week Oct 8-15) is that Cliff ‘s going downhill. Fast. So, we are going there for 2 o’clock today.


Jane and daughter Kathie ... 


Cliff and Beau ... 

Meanwhile, I painted the fireplace surround with a high temp paint to freshen up and finish the trim in our bathroom. Yay. The black paint can be put away! We have one more door trim to construct, paint and that will be the finish of our 2017 interior home improvements.  (We are still dealing with our insurance company regarding our roof, post hurricane Irma.) By the look of it, Mark and I will be shingling the roof ourselves! Damn insurance is a rip-off. 

Tonight’s Sue & Wayne’s Halloween party at the Yacht Club. πŸŽƒ The rain is pouring down in South Florida now and driving will be awful. Hope it’s a fun time anyway!

Randy and Dawn are picking up Makenna for the weekend. We had planned to see them and go for an afternoon boat ride. However, aside from aunt Jane’s call, the forecast is now for thunderstorms and wind. Wha waaa. 


Plans now are to have dinner at Stavros with the St G clan after the movie. πŸ‘πŸ»

Randy and Dawn were surprised at the language in a PG13 movie. Ha ha, their granddaughter is just eight! Oh oh ... 



We met them at Stavros Pizza for a very delicious dinner then came back here for wine. Makenna taught me how to edit a photo, or at least were the app is. There’s going to be a big learning curve for me, but for her, no problem. Here’s a sample of her craft ...

Mr Wipple, please don’t squeeze the Charmin! 🀣

It’s now 1030 and we are pooped! Ta Ta. 





Friday, October 27, 2017

Friday, October 27, 2017

Good (early) morning! Ha! Mz BeeZee heard me stirring so trotted into the bedroom at 4 am. She’s a party waiting to happen ... perfect. 😍 So, I got busy with finishing the fireplace project. Heehee ... here it is, 


Here’s the B4 ...


So, project accomplished, both BeeZee and I went back to bed til 8 o’clock. πŸ’€ 

Tonight, Randy and Dawn are coming for lasagna dinner. 




Now it’s 1130; Randy and Dawn arrived home safely. Mark’s lasagna dinner was excellent and we had a lot of fun playing dominoes afterwards. Finally, I was the big domino winner. Yay me. It’s been a long dry spell. Ha ha



This was an interesting move that Randy made. It seemed easy to fix, except he had his entire train lined up wrong.  Ha ha ... always fun! 





Thursday, October 26, 2017

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Good morning! Shay and Rod were our first anniversary call, then Aurelia shortly afterward. (Winnipeg had rain overnight and snow on the ground this morning. With a strong wind of 50 KPM, it feels cold!) Aurelia likes our fireplace renovation and happens to have a red brick fireplace! Here’s how I did it. 

First, I vacuumed the brick. (If it feels sticky you’ll have to wash the brick with TSP.) Mask the floor and prepare the painting area. 

Second, I painted the grout lines with acrylic (Behr Marquee Swiss Cream Satin finish.)

Third, I thinned the acrylic paint 50/50 with water and painted the bricks, about 6 at a time ... waited about 45 seconds then wiped the paint off with a clean rag. (If you want more paint on the brick, just blot it off instead of wiping. DONE! ✅

In our home it’s a corner fireplace πŸ”₯ and the original owner cheaped out and didn’t finish the surrounding wall. I found a red brick wallboard at Home Depot ... Mark cut the panels and I finished them using the same steps above. Viola! 


Left panel on ... right panel happening! πŸ˜… (We used Liquid Nails plus drilled through in a few places and nailed it just to keep it in place while the glue dries.)

Mark said ... “No guts no glory!” 

Final panel on! We will let the liquid nails glue dry for a few hours before caulking. Cool 😎 

This afternoon was fun at Nancy’s “ Witches ‘n Bitches” game day. 

Rose was Bitchin’ ... Lynn and I were witchin’ ... FUN

Flo, Pat, Elaine & Nancy all witches

Carin and Carol ... whatever. Haha.

Back at home, Mark chilled champagne and we enjoyed a bottle of bubbly on the front porch. 

Schweet! 


Cheers! After we enjoyed dinner at Red Lobster ... Lobster bisque, Caesar salads, lobster, shrimp, linguine and dessert. What a night! πŸ˜‹

Randy and Dawn phoned to see how our dinner was, then Darlene phoned to wish us a happy anniversary. It was a very good day! ❤️











Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Good evening y’all. It was a gorgeous 59F this morning so we got right into our fireplace project. Home Depot had the brick panel we needed ... so away we went with Da Mounty. Why Da Mounty? Well, Mark had just wiped down the Dodge and covered it yesterday. Our idea was that HD would cut the panels in half. 


Er, NO, Home Depot wouldn’t cut the panels. Hahaha. Well we weren’t going home for the truck ...


so duck down and drive! πŸ˜…

We made it home with scarcely sore necks and began working. 




These are the Red Kingston panels we started with ... Mark cut the puzzle pieces and I faux finished them to match the fireplace (whitewashed) brick. 


The side pieces are standing beside the actual fireplace brick, and the upper panels are leaning against. Everything needs to cure before we install it tomorrow. 

Tomorrow is a busy one for us ... our 24th anniversary, finish the project, witch game day at Nancy’s then our anniversary dinner at Red Lobster. ❤️

We paused during our project for 4 o’clock happy hour ... a fun retirement schedule adopted from mom and dad. πŸ§€πŸ·

In other news ... Randy golfed yesterday and hit par on a Par 5 ... 🏌️ ... ✅ ... maybe the Harley balls are decent? He’s well under 100 nowadays ... SCHWEET. Dawn’s working all week but they’ll be here Friday for dinner.  Randy is working on board replacement on their deck. That’s a regular maintenance thing in our area due to humidity. 

Sue and Wayne are still having repairs done at home after September’s Irma hurricane. They have gone to the yacht club for dinner and dancing tonight. 

It was a great night so we enjoyed a fire by the water with Robbie and BeeZee. 


Fire πŸ”₯ ... 

Mz BeeZee πŸ’•πŸΎ

Ta Ta TIL morning 






Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Good afternoon y’all. It was another worky work day at our house. Mark trimmed palm fronds then worked on the new bathroom threshold. Yes, he’s still in the bathroom, finishing up. There was a lot to be done!

Me? Well I’ve been planning, er plotting a fireplace update. After researching Pinterest I found one or two that confirmed my idea to whitewash the brick. I despise orange-y brick ... it doesn’t go with anything in our home. 

After a great dinner of baked chicken and potato casserole, Mark and I played Mexican Dominoes. We had some fun ... I scored 9 up to the 5th round ... but, alas, ended up with a few lousy hands. Ha! It was fun. 

Tomorrow morning we are off to Home Depot to pick up some brick board so I can finish my fireplace project.

START OF MY PROJECT:


AFTER TODAY:

Whitewash, stage 1. 

That’s it ... it’s time for Below Deck. πŸ˜‚




Monday, October 23, 2017

Monday, October 23, 2017

Good morning! We’re expecting a mostly rainy today and tomorrow as a (real) cold front moves into our area. Yippee! 

But, today is a busy one. We are going to Randy & Dawn’s for lunch. Afterward, Dawn is cutting Mark‘s hair. Bye-bye ponytail ... hello big boy haircut. πŸ‘πŸ» (Mark is growing a mustache and beard ...  a new man for our 24th anniversary on Thursday.) 😜

BEFORE ... 
Randy was saying, “hey, it looks good loose.” 

DURING:


AFTER:

Awesome πŸ‘...thank you Dawn! ❤️


Then, tonight we are going to Oakwood smokehouse for ribs with Lew and Lynn. (Lew noticed Mark’s haircut right away and thought Mark had joined the military.) πŸ™„

Randy and Dawn met the 4 of us for dinner and we had a fun time. Lew and Lynn are having their New Year’s Eve party this year ... and planning a neighborhood cruise in June! The food was great! 

Back home, it’s time for wine and “the news.” 

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Sunday, October 22, 2017

Good afternoon and a very Happy Birthday to our dear Randy-Man! ❤️



We’re on our way to Jeremiah’s in Mt Dora for the BIG celebration. πŸ₯‚πŸΎ


Happy happy ... Randy & Dawn had a few at the Hideaway before Jeremiah’s. πŸ˜‚


Cards and presents ...


Charlotte & Makenna with Randy


Brittany and Charlotte 

After dinner we went to the restaurant’s porch so the young ones could smoke (really!) and it began to rain. 


Birthday fun ...




Makenna loves Randy 

Charlotte’s ready for a hug she promised Randy a month ago. 😜

After dinner (at Jeremiah’s) we sat on the outside patio so the younger ones could smoke. Yes, people still smoke. We ordered another round and were laughing and talking when a Johnny Depp look-alike asked Randy and I, (in a very swishy feminine voice ) while nodding at Mark, “Is that Mike?” Ha ha ha, darn it. Randy and I couldn’t think quick enough and both said no. What we should have said was yeah it’s Mike but he doesn’t do that anymore. Ha ha ha ha. We were all laughing so hard our stomachs hurt. (It’s no wonder that Mark has decided to get rid of his ponytail.) Well, after Mark and I left, Randy went to get the car and pick up Dawn. A red truck pulled up beside Randy and put his window down ... so Randy put his window down. The guy looked at Randy who had glitter on his face from opening birthday cards and said “oh wrong guy!” I guess we are not going to Jeremiah’s on a Sunday night anymore. πŸ˜‚ 

On our way home, Sue phoned laughing about Randy’s restaurant story. She reminded me about Wayne and her riding in Randy’s black van down A1A in Fort Lauderdale near the Elbow Room. A good-looking guy called out from the bar “I’ll have the driver!” 🀣 

Well, it was a fun night and a memorable birthday for Randy. 


Saturday, October 21, 2017

Saturday, October 21, 2017

Good morning. It’s a beautiful sunshiny day here in Central Florida. It was nice and cool when Mark left for bow hunting this morning at 5:30. (I went back to bed to think about my chores for today.) I have bifold doors painting to do, but needed Kilz primer which was outside in the storage cabinets. I definitely was not going out there at 5:30 in the morning! So, I began putting the backer plates on the kitchen cabinets. I think they should’ve been on there right from the start, as they help to keep the cabinets cleaner. 


I like them ... 29 to put on. 😜


Roger sits just right for 2 Scotties on his lap! (My knees don’t bend like that!) πŸΎπŸ’•πŸΎπŸ’•

It’s now 1:45 and I ran out of paint! πŸ˜… Although the bifolds were primed, the paint soaked in like crazy. They definitely will need a second coat. Drat, They are very fussy to paint. Mark needed a few things anyway so went to Home Depot for me. Sweet. 

Today is Pam’s birthday ... we phoned and sang to her recording. It was her day off and she was enjoying a relaxing Saturday. (Apparently it was a tough week at work for her with an unruly student.) Scary people out there for sure. 

Tomorrow is Randy’s birthday. We’re joining RanDawn in Mt Dora for a pub dinner with Dawn’s family ... 11 people in all. 

Tonight it was pizza on the Pizzazz and watching football. We read Rick’s blog and saw dozens of pics from their Thanksgiving. 

Friday, October 20, 2017

Friday, October 20, 2017

Good afternoon. It’s been a beehive of activity around here as Mark worked on the bathroom door trim and I begin listing items on eBay.

Never mind, there is a funny story to go with all of that. Mark needed a few things at Home Depot and at Winn-Dixie. He got into the car and apparently it didn’t smell very good. Here’s the messages back-and-forth, Ha ha ha.




Phew! Heehee ... I left the leftovers in the KIA last night. My bad. 


Roger and Bonnie went to a birthday party last week ... and look fabulous. ❤️  They’re getting both Chief and Ella ready for a dog show in a couple of weeks. 

If you have clear night skies in your area, step outside this weekend to watch the Orionoid meteor shower! 

Sue and Wayne are at Smokey Bones tonight for dinner. They’re still catching up after Hurricane Irma 6 weeks ago.

That’s it for us.