Friday, December 31, 2021

Friday December 31st, 2021



Tonight, Mark and I are hosting a small New Year’s Eve gathering. Everyone has been double vaccinated plus boosters. Regardless, we will have the windows open in the sunroom and chair set up in the backyard too. 

Perhaps a few photos … 


Some enjoyed the bonfire at 72F


Some visited and drank …



Some danced. It was a fun time! Everyone brought hor deourves to share. 


πŸ₯³ Happy new year πŸ₯‚πŸ₯°

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Thursday, December 30, 2021

Good morning. I woke up at 5:30 and decided to unboxed the new art brushes I got for Christmas. This led to sorting some of the old brushes and deciding to donate a few. To someone who paints, this is like giving away one of your hands. Ha ha. The new arc light is working beautifully … giving even lighting around the entire art area. πŸ‘πŸ»



Are you ready for 2022 … it’s coming! This year was a mixed bag at our home. Hunkered down until our vaccinations against Covid19, we puttered about the house. By June we ventured out with masks 😷 … by July through September we felt safe enough around our vaccinated friends to socialize again. Then, booster shots … dropping anti-vaxxer friends like hot potatoes … and now December, wearing masks again. 🀷‍♀️ 

Plenty of household projects got accomplished! That was very good! Perhaps the coming year will include a big RV trip? We’ll have to see how the virus news plays out. Meanwhile, we’re happy to be living in a comfortable home with family and friends nearby. Do you know that today is two years since we learned about Covid in the USA. 

Tonight we met with Kim, Bob, Lani and Mark at Del Sol Mexico in downtown Eustis. We had dinner and then came back to our house for drinks and conversation. It was a fun evening, plenty of merriment. πŸ˜‚



Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Good morning. Mark and Wayne oh have gone after the Ocalla woods this morning. When Mark left at 5:30, he woke me up to do the dog sitting duties across the street. Those kids need to be out by 7 o’clock! 

There has been a little Ebay action during the last week, which is odd because there was nothing prior to Christmas. Oh well, glad to have some business and move some inventory that has cluttering up our garage. And, Sue has brought me boxes and boxes and boxes of more things to list. πŸ˜‚ Hey, it’s what we do! 

Lani and Markymark got home about 3:30, hauled their luggage in and then went shopping. πŸ™„ Those poor doggies. Tonight they’re snuggling on the big bed with them. πŸΎπŸ’•zzz 

Us? We poured a stiff drink after dealing with Empire’s shenanigans again. December 5th the contract was signed … TODAY I finally received an email about our “lifetime warranty” contract. I printed it out so it was readable and … guess what … it sucked. I asked Mark to read it over and give me his opinion. His was just like mine, and we had four days left to cancel the contract. They give you 30 days to read it over, but of course they don’t give it to you until the last few days. If I had delayed printing it, we have been stuck. Anyway, after a few phone calls we canceled the darn thing. The warranty wasn’t worth the paper I printed it on.  So, now we are able to get back $1600 they were charging for a lifetime warranty which, actually only covered three years of service should we damage the floors. I think our homeowners insurance covers more than that. Buyer beware! It’s unfortunate … but we will not be using Empire Today for the bedrooms reflooring. Nice product, good install but too many shady dealings and puffery. 

After sorting out that, we poured a double and sat on the front porch while Mark smoked a cigar. It was a lovely 70°  





Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Tuesday, December 28, 2021

Good morning. Of course both Mark and I were up early as we are still walking the dogs across the street, feeding them, etc. I think they are fed up with us by now as they are starting to poop and pee wherever the heck they want in the house. OMG. They are being walked between six times a day; the last one at 10 o’clock and the first one at seven in the morning. We certainly know Lani and Mark don’t walk them any later than that. πŸ€” Oh well, we will get through this and they are expected home Wednesday about 4 o’clock.

I put away the superfluous Christmas items but have left up the two trees and the garland on the fireplace mantle until after New Year’s Eve. We will have about 16 here for a small party. We are all double vaccinated and have boosters. Even at that, we will have doors and windows open. Hey, it’s Florida and it’s going to be 70s New Year’s Eve. 

Mark had an eye doctor appointment to check his eye pressures. He’s using an eye cream to tighten his lower eyelids (fix 1 problem, cause another) and is good til April’s checkup. He’s hoping no surgery … but whamo … this cream is pricey. 

Tonight we sat poolside with Henry and Brady for a couple of hours. It was such a lovely night. 



Pretty clouds on our walks tonight. We’ll be happy to see Lani & Mark tomorrow. 

Monday, December 27, 2021

Monday, December 27, 2021

Good afternoon y’all … we’ve had a fun Christmas! Sue and Wayne left about 8:30 … 

They made a stip at Prevost on the way … home safely by 2:30. We sure had a fun time with them here. Next year will be a bit different with them living half an hour away! 

We’re still dog sitting for Lani & Markymark … they’ll be hime in a couple of days! The pups are teDy to see them; we’ve become old hat. πŸ˜‚

Yesterday, Boxing Day, we took a boat ride down the Dead River. Being a holiday week there were plenty of boats buzxing around the water. 



Wayne with their 3 … Mimi, Shorty and Chikki. It was a nice afternoon. 



Sue and Chikki

Wayne brought pickerel for our dinner last night! It was great! What a treat. Now this afternoon I’m at the chiropractor for a snapping tendon in my neck. It’s intermittent … difficult to treat I bet. No one is wearing a mask (except me) … but they should be! Omicron is in Florida … in fact we’re the USA hotspot this week. πŸ™„

After a dinner of leftovers, Mark and I sat on the front porch for an hour just enjoying the quiet evening. Then it was time to walk the dogs again. It’s now 930 and Mark has gone over to take them out for their last walk of the evening.

Ta ta til tomorrow. 

Saturday, December 25, 2021

Christmas day 2021

Merry Christmas. We started our day with a breakfast of scrambled eggs, sausage patties, and hashbrowns. Plus, champagne.  



It’s a beautiful morning, and we eat our breakfast in the sunroom. Afterwards, we open the gifts and then sat on the front porch with a 2nd cup of coffee. The leaves were falling from the sycamore tree with a light freeze. Sue and Wayne brought their dogs into the porch and let them enjoy the morning with us. 

We are still dog sitting, so Mark and I went across and fed the dogs. At lunchtime Sue and I went over and sat with Brady and Henry for an hour outside by their pool. It was so pleasant, with the bubbling springs in the pool. 

Back home, we started preparing dinner, prime rib roast with potatoes carrots and onions cooked around it. It will be sautΓ©ed mushrooms as well as gravy and horseradish sauce.  

We had a fun time at Christmas dinner! 

Okay 

Diane got a new selfie stick for Christmas, and we were trying very hard to figure it out. There’s a bit of a learning curve with this one. Lol

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We heard from Susan Wayne that things were not going very well in Canada with the Covid virus. Our thoughts are with you all. 

Friday, December 24, 2021

Friday, December 24, 2021

Happy Christmas Eve y’all. It’s been a busy day around here, but lots of time for socializing.

Tonight we met Randy and Dawn at puddle jumpers on Lake Dora at 5:30. We hadn’t seen them for a while, and won’t be together for Christmas this year. So, it was fun to meet them for dinner and lots of laughs.



It was a beautiful evening, the lake shining in the background. 

As usual, Randy gave us plenty of laughs by accidentally flipping his spoon out of the lobster bisque and onto his shirt.



Ha!

Earlier today, LaDonna and Wayne all came over and we had a visit, sitting in the backyard.


The ceegar smoking section


Sue with Shorty Hot Pants


Wayne with Chikki and Mimi. 

It was a fine day! πŸŽ„ Merry Christmas everyone!