Bad splitter....

Last night, after our movie was over, we popped it out of the DVD player and expected to watch a little more TV before going to bed.  HORROR....no picture on the TV!!

After rebooting the "box", Joe gave up and called Brighthouse technical customer service.  The woman who was working late on a Saturday night seemed to be American and well-spoken!  Wonder of wonders!  After 45 minutes of trying this and trying that, she gave up and said she would send a technician to our house 'tomorrow'.  I was amazed at Sunday service, but he showed up within the two-hour window we were given, and he determined that we had a bad splitter.  Not sure what that is, but he fixed it, and did some tweaking, and we have our cable TV back.  Whew!!

We are TV addicts.  Hate to admit it, but we have the TV on all the time, and we follow so many shows that we have to use the DVR for about half of them.  Also, tonight is the first time the Eagles will be playing a game that is actually televised.  Now, we have four TVs in the house.  The 'big screen' is in the living room (where the Ryder Cup is on, right now), Joe has a 32 inch on the wall in his "man cave/office" and there is a small flat screen in our room and the guest room.  It's not like we would have missed anything, because only the living room TV was having problems.  But football just looks better on 60 inches, I guess.

Anyway, disaster averted and we once more have a happy home.  All anxiety has abated and life is good again!  LOL

I have the last load of laundry in the dryer.  Decided to put off doing the sheets until tomorrow evening, when I can take them out of the dryer and put them on our NEW MATTRESS!  I am so looking forward to going to bed tomorrow night!  

That's really all I have for you, for today.  I'm grilling steak for dinner and have some fresh strawberries to clean and slice.  Guess I'll get up and start getting organized for all of that.

Hope you have all had a good Sunday!  I am going to delete my Multiply site before I go to bed tonight.  I still hate saying good-bye over there.  I've added some photos here, of the Multiply friends I've met in person through the years.  Check out my photo page for a peek.  Peace, love & hugs!

Good Saturday Evening....

We got the cleaning done this morning, and went to the 4:00 Vigil Mass this afternoon.  After church, we dropped our friend, Al, off at his house, and then we went to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Peking House, for dinner. We got to see wedding pictures for our waitress, Lisa's, son's wedding.  It looked like a beautiful celebration and she looked fabulous in her dress (which we saw a picture of the week before the wedding).  It's nice to have a place (like Cheers) where everyone knows us, and knows what our "usual" is once we are seated....hot and sour soup for both of us, Kung Pao Chicken for Joe and Szechaun Shrimp for me.  Yum.

Joe just pulled out one of our favorite movies to watch tonight.  With football season upon us, we always have to watch (at least once) "Invincible", which is a true story about Vince Papale, and the Philadelphia Eagles.  It's a great story - like a male version of Cinderella!  Joe is from Philly, and had season tickets back when Papale was playing.  He remembers everything that happens in this movie.  Makes it more fun to watch, for us.

Tomorrow, laundry and relaxing.  Hope your Saturday was good and wishing you a good Sunday!  Peace, love & hugs.

I took the afternoon off from work, to go mattress shopping with Joe.  We spent way too much money, ten years ago, on one of those Sleep Number beds.  I hated it after one week.  We've had it since 2002.  After hating it for three years, we took out the air bag insert on my side and got a piece of foam custom cut for it.  Now, Joe is fed up, too (finally!).

I've been doing some research on line about the memory foam mattresses.  Decided we didn't want to spend that much money, either.  Too many customer comments, stating dissatisfaction.  Seemed like a better plan to purchase a standard, less expensive mattress, then buy a memory foam topper for it.  So, that's what we set out to find.  After visiting three stores (Badcock Furniture, Famous Tate, and American Mattress), we went to Sam's Club.  We found an extremely nice Serta mattress at Sam's, for much less money than the 'cheapest' mattress at any of the other places we went.  We think this one will be comfortable without the memory foam topper.  If and when it starts being uncomfortable, then we can put a memory foam topper on it.  They will deliver it for us, on Monday.  I am so looking forward to having a new mattress.

While at the furniture store, we did find some living room furniture that we really liked.  That is next on the list.

At work this morning, the Curator of Education and I had to sit through a conference call to defend our state grant application.  It started at 9:00 and didn't end until noon.  It was brutal, but we did well enough to have some rank in receiving some of the funds.  We just don't know how much yet.  We did it last year, too.  I'm very glad it is once a year.  It was nice to close my office when it was over, and head for home!

We have nothing planned for the weekend, other than the usual cleaning, laundry and church.  Who knows what will happen, but right now - no plans.  I am excited about one thing that is happening next week!

My Multiply (now Blogger) friend, Kris, will be in Florida and we are planning to get together.  We met a couple of years ago, for the first time (in person), but haven't been able to coordinate schedules since then, when they have been in Orlando.  This time, we will make it work (Wednesday or Thursday)!  (Photos will follow!)

Wishing you a good weekend!!  Thanks for checking in.  Peace, love & hugs.

Thoughtful Thursday....

I'm stealing an idea from another blog (again!), but I found it interesting and wanted to expand on it some!

If you could go back in time, where would you go?  That's my Thoughtful Thursday question!

My answer on the other blog (and here) was to the early 1950s.  I was born in 1951, and have memories of my mom in the kitchen; of milk being delivered to the door; of the bread man coming to the door with his yummy treats; even our doctor made house calls.  Families had one car back then, and it went to work with Dad, so services came to the door for moms and kids, who were 'stuck' at home, without transportation.  Going shopping was a big deal!  We got dressed up to go shopping!  Seriously!  TV had three stations, all in black and white.  Mom had the radio on all the time and those songs still make me warm and fuzzy!!  It would be interesting to visit that time, as an adult and knowing what I know now...

Tonight is my facial night (every four weeks).  I so look forward to it!!  More relaxing than a massage for me.

Wishing you all a good Thursday!  It is Friday Eve!!  Enjoy.  Peace, love & hugs.

Wednesday is Hump Day....

 

It may be Wordless Wednesday, but I can't post here without words, so it is what it is!!  LOL

My export/import Multiply files failed.  Twice.  I think five years' of data is just too much to pull over.  I'm going to delete my Multiply site this weekend, and be done with it.  My photos there are all duplicates from my Picasa files, and my blogs are not 'journals' that I need to save.  I wanted to give it a try.  My Yahoo files transferred to Multiply nicely, but that was only about two-year's of data.  So, good-bye to seven or eight years of my blogging life....  And, hello to Blogger!  Hopefully Google will be around for a long, long time.

I miss having birthday reminders.  I think birthdays are special, so please remind us that your special day is coming so proper greetings and salutations of the day can be shared!!  If I don't have a reminder, it won't happen, and I've never written down birthdays because Multiply and Facebook always remind me!  I need to do better!

Wishing you all a good day!  Peace, love & hugs.

 

Multiply Import....

Well, my friend, Linda mentioned that she saw a link on Multiply to allow us to export our Multiply 'stuff' to Blogger.  I immediately went to my Multiply site, and sure enough, the link is under your picture!  I have about 5-years' worth of data there, so not sure how long it will take, or how ridiculous it will look, once it gets here, but I'm in the process right now.  Sure hope it is all in one file and that my new friends here won't have to be bothered by it.

There really isn't anything there that I would die for if it is lost, and I did delete a few of the very early things.  I guess I'll know a little later how it is working.

I intended to do a 10-Thought Tuesday post, so will do that now....

1. The Board meeting went well today, and I'm glad that is over and behind us;
2. I'm excited about the Multiply stuff coming over to Blogger;
3. I will stay connected at Multiply for awhile yet, until a couple more folks decide where they are going;
4. I am taking Friday afternoon off, so Joe and I can look at mattresses and sofas, to get an idea of what we want and how much money we will need.  The mattress comes first, and we may buy it online if that is better for us price-wise.  I get free shipping with Amazon Prime;
5. We need to make a grocery run tonight, after work.  I really hate grocery shopping, but it seems like we are there twice a week;
6. It was delightfully cool this morning, but it is too soon to switch clothes around in the closets, as we will have 90 degree temps again for awhile yet;
7. I bought some patterns recently, thinking I need to start sewing again.  We'll see....
8. My sewing machine is a Singer, and was top-of-the-line back in 1973.  That should tell you what my sewing machine is like....LOL
9. My mom was an amazing seamstress and made the majority of our clothes when we were growing up.  I did not appreciate it as I should have!!  She also worked full time!
10. One of our Board members has been fighting cancer.  It was in remission for a couple of years, but she had a set-back six months ago.  It was great to see her at the Board meeting today!!  Praise God.

 So, that's it for now.  I'll go check on my import process!!  Peace, love & hugs!

Mellow Monday....

I surely did hate getting out of bed this morning, but my day is moving along nicely.

My friend and co-worker, Gregory, who is also the "my techie guy" that I mention now and then, is out west on a photography adventure/vacation.  He has been posting some photos each day, and you really should take a minute to look at them.  Go to his website:  www.GregoryMills.com  and take a look.  My favorite, so far, is of the cowgirl (amazing lighting effect) and the smoky Grand Tetons.  Breathtaking.  I kind of got lost in them for awhile today.  I've never been west....well, not totally true.  I had to go to Boulder, Colorado, years ago, on a business trip.  All I saw was the inside of a classroom, so I don't really count that.  Gregory's  photos make me want to go see it all in person.  Wow.

I forgot to mention how wonderful the artists' talks were last Friday, at the opening reception.  Our auditorium holds 152 people, seated.  We had probably 25-30 people standing - SRO!  It was awesome to see that many people come out to hear Kirk Ke Wang and Theo Wujcik talk about their work and their collaboration on this exhibit.  A huge honor and surprise was that James Rosenquist (www.jimrosenquist-artist.com/) actually came to the opening. You can check out the exhibit here, if you are interested:  www.PolkMuseumofArt.org

It will be nice going home this evening, with the laundry done, the bookkeeping done, and the house in order.  I like Monday evenings when I've done, on the weekend, what needed to be done!!  Joe has a Finance Committee meeting at the church tonight, but we will have time for a quick dinner before he has to go.

 

Now don't curse or delete me!!!  I am beginning to think about Christmas.  Someone posted that there are only 13 weekends left until the big day.  I have our cards.  They came last month, but aren't addressed or signed (maybe a little too early for that, anyway).  I need to plan time for that, and - yes - my newsletter that goes to some people we never see.  The years I didn't do it, some actually asked for one!  I really enjoy getting news from people we don't see often.  I also have plans to make a few gifts.  Two of my good friends (Shirley -needlepoint, and Melody -a quilter) always make something beautiful and useful for our little group, for Christmas.  I just never make time to do it, but found something on Pinterest that I am going to try.  I'll post a photo when I get one done (if it turns out okay!).

Have you started planning for the holidays?  My friend, Brenda, has a 'Christmas all-year-long' blog that has some great tips in it.  Check it out here and leave a comment for her:  http://christmaswithbrenda.blogspot.com/   Brenda is from Multiply, too.  She has some great ideas.

That's all I have for you today!  Hope your Monday is going well, and that you can have a restful evening!!  I believe Dancing With The Stars begins tonight.  Joe used to make fun of me watching, until I told him that DWTS is my football.  He seemed to understand that analogy, and now even watches with me, once in awhile.  It's actually a love/hate thing with me.  I enjoy the dancing and the competition, but I hate how it drags on and on and on.  I do get frustrated with that.

Wishing you a good evening!  Peace, love & hugs.

The weekend winding down....

Nice to have a slower Sunday.  Yesterday kept us hopping.  

Doing the laundry (as usual on Sunday), and finally getting the bookkeeping caught up.  I do books all week at work, and don't do it here at home as I should.  It piles up and I could shoot myself for letting that happen.  Much easier to do a little each week!!

We caught up on all the seasons of the TV show, Breaking Bad.  Violent, scary, and so well done.  We really became addicted to it (no pun intended!).  Now we are catching up on Hell on Wheels (the name of a town).  It is post-Civil War and the railroad race, from coast to coast is on.  Very good show.

We did go next door this afternoon, to see our neighbor's re-furbished kitchen.  They had some work done, and it makes such a difference.  They had a drop-ceiling removed, got new stainless appliances and had new lighting installed.  It looks so nice.  Ours needs some work, too.  All it takes is money.  Sigh.  Right now we are saving for a new mattress and sofa.  First things first.  We got our pool redone last year.  Maybe in another year we can start the kitchen.

I am making lemon sorbet in our ice cream maker.  We will have pulled pork BBQ for our dinner.

Wishing you all a good week ahead!!  Peace, love & hugs.

Saturated Saturday....

Our day started early for a Saturday!  Up at 5:30 and out the door by 8:00.  We had a nice breakfast before we left, and had time to read the paper.  I knew our next meal would be late in the day, after the swim meet.

We got there just before 10:30.  Found Kathy and Jim and located Tristan's team tent....

His school's name is Seacrest.

It was crowded, but we had good seats on the bleachers.  It was not shaded, though, and even with my Factor 50 sunscreen, I got a little burn sitting there from 10:30 until nearly 4:00!

Grandson Tristan was in four races.  He was pleased that he didn't come in last once!  LOL  Last year, he didn't even know how to swim.  This year, he is swimming crawl, backstroke and breast stroke, coming in far from last, but not quite making it in the first, second or third place yet.  We are very proud of his progress.  Last year, he got an award for being the most improved swimmer.  In these pictures, he is in lane #3....

After the swimming was done, we all went to a restaurant, there in Punta Gorda, called Captain's Table.  It was right on the water, and we enjoyed a wonderful meal.  Jim's birthday (Tristan's step-dad) is this coming week, and Tristan will be 16 on October 3rd, so we took Tristan's gift with us.  He loved the chess set, and got money in his card.  We had a card for Jim, and dinner was our treat.  We left there around 6:00 and got home before 8:00.  It was a good day!

I called this blog Saturated Saturday because the day started with rain, then we were at the pool, and we had rain nearly all the way home.  Happy that there was not rain at the pool!!  All the kids got to race.

Wishing you a restful night, and a great Sunday!  Peace, love & hugs!!

Froggy Friday....

 

I thought this background was kinda cute.  I like frogs, and have a little collection of them.  It all started with my involvement in the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life.  I had a team and was team captain for seven years.  Many of you remember me writing about it in previous years.  I "dropped out" last year, but the team did attend Relay.  I just got tired of pushing people to raise money, get involved, sign-up on line, etc., etc.  We were the top fundraising "friends & family" team for three years in a row.  I've decide I am too old, too cranky and too tired to continue with it.  So, Jeremiah's Friends (as in Jeremiah, the bullfrog - our team mascot, and Jeremiah 29:11, which was the team's motto) exists no more.  We always decorated with frogs, no matter what the theme of the event was.  Also, FROG stands for Fully Rely On God... a little hidden meaning there.  For my new friends, I am a cancer survivor, but lost my parents, my younger brother, and my two first cousins to cancer.  Not a pretty family history, and a hated disease.  Cancer sucks.  Enough said.

On a brighter note, we are ready to head to Punta Gorda, FL, tomorrow, to see Tristan swim.  His birthday is coming up, and so is his step-dad's.  We planned to go down that way NEXT weekend, for a little birthday celebration lunch.  Kathy suggested we just do it all tomorrow, since we will all be together.  It will save us another trip next week (and gas money), so that's what we will do.  I'm glad Tristan's birthday gift arrived yesterday!  He likes to play Chess, and doesn't have a chess set.  We got him a tournament set, that fits into a canvas tote, so he can even play on the beach if he wants to.  Hope he likes it.

Not much else going on.  I already wrote about the opening reception that is tonight.  Joe will meet me here around 5:45, so we can hear the artists speak about their work.  That starts at 6:00, in our auditorium.

Wishing you all a good first-weekend-of-autumn!!  Thanks for checking in.  Peace, love & hugs.

A Thankful Thursday....

I am thankful everyday, so Thursdays really don't make me any more thankful than any other day.  It does make for a good title, though!

We went from having nothing going on this weekend, to having our Saturday filled!  Our grandson, Tristan, is swimming in a swim meet this Saturday, and it is in a town only two hours away, so we are getting up early to head down for that.  He is swimming in four races!  Wow.  Of course, I will take photos!  This one is of him in a competition over in Orlando, last year.  I forget which one is him, but I think he is the middle swimmer, of the three.

So far, Sunday is free and I hope it stays that way.  Tomorrow night is the opening reception for the current exhibit, here at the Museum.  The exhibit has been up for a month or so, but we don't do openings in the summer.  This will be the first of the "season".  Both artists will be speaking and I'm looking forward to that.

Joe and I DID go out to dinner last night (a couple of folks asked me in comments on yesterday's page).  We went to a little place called "The Red Elephant".  It's a family kind of pizza place, but they have a nice menu.  Joe got a small pizza, but I had a chicken breast rice bowl.  Then we went to Publix for a few things before heading home.  I did ironing last night.  Ugh.  So glad that is done.

Nothing exciting to report.  I did read in another blog this morning about how hard it is to find the perfect wallet and purse.  I agree completely!  My wallet is stuffed with all kinds of things I think I can't be without, and my purse is huge and weighs at least 20 pounds.  I've tried to downsize, and I always need something I don't have.  Joe laughs, and says that I really need to just pull one of those suitcases on wheels!  I've seriously thought about it, actually.  LOL - no, seriously.  When Joe and I are shopping, and I see purses, I have to stop and shop.  Joe has a favorite saying..,"curses, purses"!!!  So, have you found the perfect wallet and/or purse, or is it always a desperate search for one when you go shopping?  Do you carry one until it falls apart, or is your closet overloaded (like mine) with  purses that appeared to be perfect, but were found lacking?  I really am a purse-aholic.

Have a good evening!!  Peace, love & hugs!!

Wordless Wednesday....

You all know me well enough to know I can't let something go without some words!  LOL  Hope you have had a good Wednesday so far!  My day is beginning to wind down, and it has been a productive one.  Staff meeting, bills paid, in-box sorted through, etc., etc.

I had a nice lunch out with my friends, Helen and Cheryl, today.  We went to a local fixture - a diner called Reececliff.  It has been in Lakeland for over 50 years.  I've talked about them before, having meatloaf, and liver & onions, and chicken & dumplings on the menu, and not much of it is really 'homemade', coming from cans and the freezers.  But, it is inexpensive and still okay.  It was good catching up with friends, anyway.  I had a cup of chili and a tuna salad sandwich on rye.

I think we need to go to Publix tonight.  Maybe I can get dinner out, too!  (big smile here)

Have a restful evening and a good night!  Peace, love & hugs.

Ten Thoughts for Tuesday....

Let's see if I can gather ten thoughts together!!

1. I woke up feeling blessed and thankful this morning.

2. Kris' 10 thoughts brought tears to my eyes!  Happy Anniversary Kris & Walt!

3. I am sad to think about closing my Multiply site because there are a couple of friends there who haven't moved yet and I don't want to lose them.

4. Multiply brought me new friends, and I've met so many of them in person!  Lisa Alexander, Kris Beaver, Linda Eller, Tony & Laura Burgess, Brenda Covert and her daughter Jasmine, Ruth Wilkinson and her daughter and grandkids, Lanie Jenkins and her husband Albert (and the pups), Lyn Chamlee, Theresa Brennan and her husband John, and daughter Megan.  What a blessing it has been to meet 'cyber-friends' in person!!

5. Even the friends I haven't met in person, feel like family.  We have shared so much on Multiply - good times and bad, joy and sorrow, pain and prayers....

6. So, I am looking forward to finding the same camaraderie right here on Blogger, and continuing the friendships brought over from Multiply.

7. My friend, Genny O'Donnell, is the person who introduced me to Yahoo360, and I followed her to Multiply.  I met Genny in Italy!!  We were on vacation and Genny, her sister and parents were in our travel group.  We formed a friendship then that continues today.  We've been to visit her and she has been to visit us here.  A true blessing, and the reason I got started blogging.  Thanks, Genny, if you are reading this!

8. I have been trying to diet again.  Last year, I lost 54 pounds.  Confession - I've gained half of it back.  I like to eat.  I like to eat out.  I have no control.  I have started using MyFitnessPal on line, tracking what I eat.  If I would just be sensible, the weight would come off.  Sensible.  Sigh.

9.  If I would start walking again, that would also help.  I live a sedentary life.  Having bad knees and ankles doesn't help.  Hard to get excited about moving when it hurts.  Is that just an excuse? Probably.

10. So there you have what's on my mind this morning.  I do wish you all a great Tuesday!!  Peace, love & hugs.