Friday Foto Friends....

I am linking up with Deb at Breathing In Grace for her Friday Foto Friends meme....join in!

Did anyone else do this for your profile picture on Facebook?

I really like the way it looks!!  Happy Independence Day!

I took this photo a long time ago, but wanted to mention that

Joe and I are going to the beach one day over our long weekend!

I snapped this photo with my new Galaxy S8 phone last week.

This is our kitchen.  I was sitting on a stool by the peninsula.

Our kitchen is long and I love all the cupboard space!

LOL - I found this sign and made it my work computer's wallpaper.

I found out yesterday that there will be a blurb in our newsletter

about my 20 years and retirement.  I have begged that there not 

 be a party. I don't want a fuss or speeches.  Just a lunch out with staff is all I really want.

I hope they listen!!  I can be a real blubber-head.

I attended a retirement party last evening (before my facial) for the investment manager I have worked with for all the time I've been at the museum.  He manages part of our endowment.  We have become friends and he is seeing another friend of mine, who was also at the party. Good to see them both.  Cynthia and I talked about lunch next week.  Hope it happens.

Speaking of lunch, I'm having lunch with my girlfriends today.  Cindee and her hubby have been to Paris and she is anxious to tell us about their trip!  Heather may also join us and she is just back from England.  There will be lots of conversation and plenty of animation I'm sure!

Thanks for your visit!  Hope you are looking forward to a long weekend too!  Peace & hugs.

Thankful Thursday.....

I'm linking up with Rebecca Jo at Knit By God's Hand for Thankful Thursday!!
Join in HERE!

It's so good to be back in Blog-land!  

I am THANKFUL to have my computer back!!

I am THANKFUL that tonight is facial night.  So relaxing!!

I am THANKFUL that prayers are being answered and 

my friend T.T. is healing after some pretty radical surgery.

I am THANKFUL for The Dollar Tree!!  

Sometimes they have just what you are looking for and it only costs $1.00!!

I am THANKFUL for air conditioning in this awful heat!

Tampa set a record yesterday - hottest day since 1977.

I am THANKFUL that Vinny's infected ears seem to be healing nicely.

And I am THANKFUL for all of you who visit and comment.

Thank you!!

Peace, love & hugs!!

Last week's Hodgepodge this week.....

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 311

I know Joyce is taking this week off, but I didn't post answers to last week's Hodgepodge, so am using last week's as this week's post!  Ha!!

1. The first day of summer rolls in later this week. What are ten things you'd put on your list of quintessential summer activities?  This is hard for someone to answer who lives in Florida, where it is always summer!  I'll just say we will try to get to the beach more often and after July 31st, I will be sleeping in every day.  No more 5:00 a.m. alarms (unless it's for fun!)!!  Will you try to manage all ten this summer?  Indeed!

2. Do you collect seashells when you're at the beach?  No, unless it is a perfect specimen that I just can't resist. What do you do with them once you get them home?  I have a few displayed in the guest room, in a bowl.  What's your favorite place to comb for seashells?  The Gulf beaches are known for shelling.  How many of these 'best beaches for hunting seashells' have you visited?  Just Sanibel and The Bahamas.  Which one would you most like to visit?  I'll just stick with St. Pete's beaches, which are only an hour from Lakeland.

Calvert Cliffs State Park (Maryland), Jeffrey's Bay (South Africa), Sanibel Island (Florida), Shipwreck Beach (Lanai Hawaii), Ocracoke Island (North Carolina), Galveston Island (Texas) and The Bahamas.

3. At a snail's pace, shell out money, come out of your shell, go back into your shell, drop a bombshell, happy as a clam, clam up...which 'shell' phrase could most recently be applied to some event or circumstance in your life?  I am usually happy as a clam, but we have had to shell out some money lately, getting the new house situated to our liking!  Explain.  No explanation required....new front entrance, painting, leaking window fixed, loft added to the shed, a new HVAC unit is next....

4. What summer activity do you dislike?   Slathering on sunscreen.  Why?  It is sticky and a pain to apply in all the places it should go before a trip to the beach or a walk around the block.

5. What's something you see as quickly becoming obsolete?  Conversation.  Does that bother you?  Yes, and bothers me more that I have started to dislike long conversations (with people other than family and good friends).  I would rather send a text than have to make small talk or keep a conversation going with someone I don't know well.  The "art" of conversation is dying, I think. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  I will be catching up on your blogs and some of those who participated in last week's Hodgepodge...it will all be new to me, so this was fun to do!!

Thanks for peeking in today!  Sending peace, love & hugs.

Tickled Tuesday plus.....

Here's a chuckle for Tickled Tuesday...

I'm still trying to get my computer back in order, and am making some progress!  It took over 43 hours for Carbonite to get everything downloaded.  Love Carbonite though!  Nothing is lost.

On top of the computer upgrade (new faster hard drive), Joe and I also traded our Galaxy S7 phones in for the new Galaxy S8.  Whew...struggling with all those changes too, but making progress there as well.  It just takes a little time.  And patience (which I've been short on.....).

I've been gone an entire week plus a couple of days I think.  Work has been crazy with all the changes and the audit looming.  We celebrated a co-worker's birthday by going out to lunch.  A few spouses joined us, including Joe. It was fun and was a much needed respite!  Of course I only got one picture (of the birthday boy).  We were a rather large group... had to put four tables together.

Oh...this will make you chuckle.  I got home from work one evening and Joe told me he made an appointment at the local SPCA to get the cats' annual shots done.  He found out they can do all three for less than the veterinarian charges for one.  Sounds good....but I asked him how he was going to take all three cats by himself?  Oops!  Yes, I had to take time off from work so I could come home, help capture them and get them in their carriers and then get three carriers to the  SPCA.  We ended up being there over three hours. It's a popular place because of their reasonable pricing.  They also discovered that Vinny has an ear infection.  He got the foulest smelling medicine put in both ears, and it is also sticky.  He is still dealing with the mess, poor baby.  The vet told us not to wash it off, so we followed orders and have just watched him being miserable.  I'm sold on the SPCA Medical Center though.  They were so good with the cats.

This past weekend, we got some things done at home, ran some errands, got the laundry done, etc.   We had Cheryl and Helen over for dinner Sunday evening.  I made meatloaf, mashed potatoes and fresh green beans, plus a tomato salad.  Cheesecake for dessert.  It was good, if I may say so myself.

I was vacuuming before company, using our 15+ years old Oreck when it just stopped. Craziest thing. It just stopped.  I finished with my little Quick-Up and told Joe the Oreck was done.  He said he would take it to the Oreck repairman but found out he had closed his business. Back home, Joe thought he would just tinker with it a bit and WOW...he found a plug inside the handle that had become unplugged. He reconnected it and the vacuum now works just fine!! I was thoroughly impressed!!  I like my Oreck!

I have so many blogs to catch up on! I just can't do social media on my phone or Kindle. I've saved your posts in my Feedly Reader and will get there....

Not much else to report.  Working hard to get through June and July!! Retirement is coming!

Thanks for your visit!!  Peace & hugs.

My Computer is Home....

My computer is back, but it is busy downloading files from Carbonite and I'm having a hard time getting all of my "apps" up and running.  Not all my passwords are in LastPass and Google passwords has been disabled.  How is an old lady supposed to remember passwords from years ago?

Frustrating, but it will all work out in time.

I've missed being here!  Not a whole lot to write about but I'll catch up!

Peace & hugs!!

Long Weekend Recap on Monday.....

My computer at home is down.  It will be repaired but not until Saturday (new hard drive).  I really can't type on my phone or my Kindle.  Fingers are just too clumsy for anything more than a quick text.  That said, I am working on this before work to post today.  I most likely will not be posting the rest of the week.  I can read blogs okay, so will try to catch up on over 40 in my Feedly reader.  I didn't want you to wonder where I was or why I wasn't posting comments.

We had a wonderful time with our youngest, Jeff, who arrived on Sunday, June 11th. It was great having him with us all week (his birthday was June 10).  Joey and Darlene (and the puppies) arrived on Wednesday, so we had the whole gang here until Saturday morning.  We were missing Jeff's girlfriend, Kali.  She wasn't able to take the time off from work.  Hope to see her at Christmas time though.

We ate and ate and ate.  We ate out at Miller's Ale House (a favorite).  We ate out at the Japanese Steak House (another favorite).  We ate out at Thai Oshi (also a favorite).  We ate out at Fred's Market.  I made vegetarian vegetable soup one night (Darlene is a vegetarian most of the time).  I made breakfast for us....

You get the idea....we all like to eat!! LOL  Darlene is still having some health issues and isn't able to walk very far.  When I get around better than she does, you know something isn't right.  She had an MRI before they came down, and we are anxious to hear the results.  Darlene is a dancer and had her own dance studio for years and years (both in New York and in Philadelphia).  The hips and knees and ankles take a beating when you dance all the time (especially ballet!).  So we just hung around home, watching movies and catching up on what's going on with everyone.

After the kids left on Saturday, Joe wanted to go to Tarpon Springs for lunch at Hella's and (mainly) to pick up some of the Greek bread from Hella's bakery.  He got FOUR loaves.

Sunday (Father's Day) he wanted to go to Brandon for Italian Beef at Portillo's.  What did I say about eating?

It was a full week and weekend.  We are so very blessed.  Here are some photos.....

 Yes, our youngest is 50 now.

 My three guys.

 There were decorated bicycles all over Tarpon Springs. Cute idea

 We always buy a new garden flag at Susan's, and I also bought some tea and spices next door to her at the Spice Shop.

 Joe's favorite Greek bread...very much like his mom's Italian Easter bread.

 Portillo's.  Good stuff!

Lucy was happy to have her sofa back!!  The cats don't mix well with the pups.

Back to work.  I'm really starting to count the weeks now.  Lots to do, though, before that magical day arrives!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Peace & hugs.

Thankful Thursday....

On this Thursday, I am thankful to have both of our "boys" here for Jeff's birthday week and Father's Day (even though they are all leaving before Sunday).  I will be back on Monday with a weekend recap!!

This was taken last night as we settled in to watch a movie.... Live By Night with Ben Affleck (because part of it was filmed in Brunswick, GA, and Joey saw them filming there).  It was pretty good...gangsters in the 1920s.

See you later! I'll catch up as I can.  Peace & hugs.

The Wednesday Hodgepodge is Back!

Many thanks to our hostess, Joyce, for this week's Hodgepodge questions.  Grab the questions HERE, post your answers and then link up with a whole bunch of Hodgepodgers for some Wednesday fun!

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 310

1. The Hodgepodge lands on June 14th this week, Flag Day in the US of A. Do you fly your country's flag at home?   Proudly!!  Sometimes, often, or every single day?  We fly a stars & stripes windsock all the time and switch it out for the flag on appropriate days.  Have you ever visited the city of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia)?  Yes. That's where Joe is from.  Did you make a point of seeing The Betsy Ross House?  No. We missed that one.  Have you ever made a trip to Baltimore?  We love Baltimore.  If so, was Fort McHenry on your itinerary? (where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write The Star Spangled Banner) We usually don't get farther than the Inner Harbor and all of those wonderful restaurants.  I have not been to Ft. McHenry.

2. Red flag or white flag? Which have you encountered most recently? Explain.  Probably the white flag of surrender.  I have so much work to do that I have surrendered to the stress and am just taking it as I can. It will all get done. It will.

3. Are you a stay in the car listen to the end of a song kind of person?  Sometimes. What kind of person is that?  One who loves a good song and just needs to hear it all.

4. What are some of the traits or qualities you think a good dad possesses?  Patience is the most important (after love).  In other words, what makes a good dad?  One who is involved and listens and lets you know you are loved.  What's an expression you associate with your father?  Fun!!  Laughter. My dad was always so much fun.

5. What's one rule you always disagreed with while growing up?  A 10:00 p.m. curfew my senior year.  Is that rule somehow still part of your adult life? No curfews now, but I am usually ready to go to bed by 10:00!  LOL  Is that a good or bad thing?  I guess it's a good thing.  I know the curfew was for my protection and I did get permission now and then to be out longer.  If I was going to be late, though, I had to find a payphone to call and let them know.  No cell phones back then!  Had to keep that dime in your shoe.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  Yesterday, a coworker asked me if I was okay and said I looked tired. Well, I AM tired.  But I threw on some extra eye makeup this morning. Maybe that will help.  I think retirement will help too!  It's coming!

Peace & hugs, y'all!!

Adding a PS:  I learned last night that my long-time blogging friend (from the Multiply years) has lost her life to cancer.  Lanie (as she was known on her blog)/Melanie Leggett Jenkins (as she was known on Facebook) fought a battle with lung cancer that spread to her brain.  We talked on the phone a couple of months ago when she called to tell me her doctors had done all they could do and she was in hospice care at home.  We met in person a few years ago when she traveled to Florida with her husband, who is a truck driver.  I will miss her sweet spirit and wit. Rest in peace, my dear friend.

Tickled Tuesday....

Time for the weekly Tickled Tuesday cat joke!

Out to dinner last night with our son Jeff.  Joey & Darlene arrive tomorrow!  Jeff is going to Tampa to visit with a friend there today. We'll see him back tomorrow, then the fun begins!!

Thanks for peeking in!  Peace, love & hugs.

Monday's Weekend Recap....

We have had a busy weekend, but a good weekend!  I'll go back to Friday first.  I need to explain something that has now been announced to the press and public so I am free to talk/write about it.

The Polk Museum of Art is now the Polk Museum of Art at Florida Southern College.  We have affiliated with Florida Southern College and are now (will become) an academic museum.  We are maintaining our independence as a private 501(c)(3) corporation, but have partnered with another non-profit which is only one block from the Museum.  I've mentioned FSC several times in my blogs. It is a Methodist college and has 12 Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings making up the original main campus. We are so blessed that they thought this was a good idea when approached over a year ago. Our Board and theirs have been hard at work, along with attorneys, to make this happen.

The college has many more resources than our museum. We will benefit by being able to tap into purchasing power, fund-raising power, interns, and a much larger audience, as we saw on Friday night at the opening reception and announcement of the affiliation.  We normally have 120 people at openings. Friday there were over 300!  This photo is from the museum's Facebook page...

Part of the affiliation legalities includes the merging of our financial and human resource areas.  Well, I am the finance and human resource department at the museum.  The college has eight people in their finance department and a separate human resources department.  Guess whose job is being eliminated?  Yes.  Mine.  Luckily, I have achieved my 20-years there and am retirement age, so my retirement has been announced and I am working hard to help get all the financial business smoothly merged with FSC.  Their software is so much more sophisticated than ours.  It is a process and has involved many meetings between the museum and the college folks.  I was just over there on Friday to oversee getting our first payroll done by them.  What normally takes me 20 minutes took over two hours, but we got it done, it worked and it will be easy-peasy going forward.  The financial offices there look out at the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed water dome.  Isn't this lovely!!

This has brought my stress levels up a bit, with our fiscal year changing to a May 31 end (shortened from June 30), it is month-end, and now year-end for me with the audit beginning and a lot more merging of resources to be done before my last day on July 31.  They have also "hired" me as a contractor to be available if needed through the calendar year end.  I have been blessed with three job offers from colleagues which I have basically turned down by saying to give me a couple of months of retirement before I make a decision. It does make me feel good, though, to know my work has been noticed and respected.  I really, really, really don't want to work anymore.  Really!

I mentioned last week that I skipped the opening reception because we had dinner plans with old friends we hadn't seen in several years.  We drove down to Valrico and were welcomed with hugs. We caught up with what's been going on and then they drove us to an Italian restaurant they discovered and love. Allegria Italian Ristorante was wonderful.  We will go again for sure. Nino is Italian and Cheryl is German (just like Joe and me!).  Back to their beautiful home after dinner, Cheryl had Italian cream cake for dessert, with coffee.  We sat at the table and talked for another two hours. We agreed we shouldn't let so much time go by before getting together again. They have lots of grandkids down there and are busy with family all the time, but agreed to come to Lakeland next.  We have known them for so many years....

Cheryl is one of 10 children of my step-grandfather.  Grandpa John was my maternal grandmother's 3rd husband.  Technically, Cheryl is my step-aunt, but we formed a friendship and have just considered ourselves friends.  They are in their early 70s now.  Time goes much too fast.

Saturday allowed us to sleep late (ahhhhh) and then a co-worker stopped by to see our new house and to talk with Joe about a business matter with some work she does on the side.  She is ready to move here when she turns 55 in two years!  Mas Verde really is a lovely community.

When she left, we had grocery shopping to do at Sam's Club and Publix. Got that done and then the rain came. It poured....that old cats and dogs thing. We settled in and watched a couple of movies.

Sunday also allowed us to sleep in.  Got up around 8:30 and had breakfast and read the newspaper with a couple cups of coffee.  Nice and leisurely, the way weekend mornings should be.

I baked a cake for Jeff's birthday.  He arrived at 8:15 pm.  Joe picked up Italian subs for our dinner.  I made homemade ice cream to have with the cake. Yummy!!  Of course, I also got the laundry done.

Back to work today. Busy, as mentioned above. I do have Thursday and Friday off to spend with Jeff and Joey and Darlene (and the grand pups).  They arrive on Tuesday for the week.

Thanks for your visit!  Peace & hugs.

A High School-ish Sunday Stealing....

Thanks to Bud for today's Sunday Stealing. I'm pretty sure I've answered these before but did them again just because.  Hope you are having a good weekend!!

The High School Questions

Welcome back to Sunday Stealing which originated on WTIT: The Blog authored by Bud Weiser. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. You may have heard the expression, “honor among thieves”. In that age-old tradition, we try to credit the blog that we stole it from. We also provide a link to the victim's questions in our "Previous Victims" widget. (It's our way of saying "Thanks!") Sometimes we edit the original meme, to make it more relevant to our global players, to challenge our players, to select the best questions, or simply to make it less repetitive from recently asked questions from a previously post.

We found this gem from blogger called Diana Pharaoh Francis from the blog "Mad Libs".She explains that the questions came to her by way of R. Clement Moore. But, they were probably stolen at that blog as well. So, of course, that will be as far as we go. Tracing back our theft's thieves might take some time. Please consider liking WTIT on Facebook. Click here.

Cheers to all us thieves!

Sunday Stealing: The High School Questions

1. Did you date someone from your school?  Yes.

2. Did you marry someone from your high school?  Yes. (The  first time.)

3. Did you car pool to school?  No. We lived a block from school.

4. What kind of car did you have?  I didn't have a car.  Mom & Dad did.

5. What kind of car do you have now?  Kia Sportage

6. It's Friday night...where are you now?  Friday nights usually find me at home.

7. It is Friday night...where were you then?  During high school, at a football game if it was Fall.

8. What kind of job did you have in high school?  I worked two summers in an ice cream parlor, one summer cleaning rooms at a motel, and did lots of babysitting.

9. What kind of job do you do now?  Accounting.

10. Were you a party animal?  No.

11. Were you considered a flirt?  No.

12. Were you in the band, orchestra, or choir?  Marching band, concert band, and chorus.

13. Were you a nerd?  I don't think so.  Not really a term in the 60s.

14. Did you get suspended from school?  Never.

15. Can you sing the fight song?  Yes, and can still play it on my trumpet.

16. Who was/were your favorite teacher? Mr. Hoeltzel

17. Where did you sit during lunch?  In the cafeteria with friends.

18. What was your school's full name?  Walnut Township High School.

19. Where did you party the most?  I didn't "party".

20. What was your school mascot?  We were the Lakers and the anchor was our symbol. No mascot.

21. Would you do it again?  What?  High school...good grief no.

22. Did you have fun at Prom?  Yes.

23. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with?  No.

24. Are you planning on going to your next reunion? No.

25. Do you still talk to people from school?  Yes.

26. What are/were your school's colors?  purple and gold

Thank you for playing this week on Sunday Stealing! Please consider liking WTIT on Facebook. Click here. Link when you have posted. Stop back and visit other player’s posts. That is really what this is all about, making new friends! Have a great week. See you next Sunday!

Thanks for your visit!  Peace & hugs.

Saturday 9 Cookie Monster.....

"C" Is for Cookie

Welcome to Saturday: 9. What we've committed to our readers is that we will post 9 questions every Saturday. Sometimes the post will have a theme, and at other times the questions will be totally unrelated. Those weeks we do "random questions," so-to-speak. We encourage you to visit other participants posts and leave a comment. Because we don't have any rules, it is your choice. We hate rules. We love to answer the questions, however, and here are today's questions! 

Saturday 9: C Is for Cookie
Don't blame Sam. Harriet requested Cookie Monster. 

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This week's featured artist, Cookie Monster says his favorite TV show is Monsterpiece Theater. What show do you try never to miss?  Gray's Anatomy and all of the Chicago ones...PD, Med, Fire, and Justice.

2) Though he goes by Cookie Monster professionally, he is still called Sid by his family. When will you next get together with your relatives?  Tomorrow!!

3) Now for the cookie questions! Where do you weigh in on this age-old controversy: Is a brownie a cookie or a cake?  A brownie is a brownie and falls into its own category between a cookie and a cake.

4) Fig Newtons contain no cholesterol. Do you read nutrition labels before eating snacks?  No.  Or does knowing the truth about your favorite sweets ruin your enjoyment?  Knowing the truth sometimes helps me make a better choice, but only sometimes.

5) Biscotti are designed for dipping into drinks. Do you like to dunk your cookies?  Definitely.

6) Do you prefer cookies made with milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips?  I like them all.  Or are you a rebel who prefers butterscotch chips?  Don't you know I like them too!!

7) Bill Murray once said, "Raisin cookies that look like chocolate chip cookies are the main reason I have trust issues." Do you like raisin cookies?  Nope. Ick.

8) Nabisco still sells animal-shaped cookies in a red box that looks like a train car labeled, "Barnum's Animals." However, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus gave their last-ever performance on May 21, 2017. Have you ever been to the circus?  Many times, actually.

9) Have you ever received a memorable fortune in a fortune cookie?  No, I have not.  Have you?

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!

Thanks to Crazy Sam Winters for this week's Saturday 9!  You can join in HERE.

Thanks for your visit!!  Happy Saturday!  Peace & hugs.

Friday Foto Friends Link-up.....

Thank goodness it's Friday!! And that also means it's time to link up with Deb over at Breathing In Grace and share some photos!

We finally FINALLY saw some sunshine peeking through the clouds yesterday!  I took a couple of photos on my way to the bank yesterday afternoon.

 Both shots of Lake Morton, the swan lake.

The opening tonight at the Museum is going to be mobbed.  I'm not unhappy to be missing the craziness.  (We will be having dinner with Cheryl & Nino, down in Valrico.)  We usually have 120 people for an opening but have over 300 RSVPs, so have made arrangements for sound and TV coverage to handle the overflow. Our auditorium only holds 152 people. I have visited the galleries three times already because the paintings are so amazing.  Rembrandt's Academy...the paintings are by students of Rembrandt.  The collection came to us from the Netherlands. Here is just one of them...

 Check out the fine details! Fingernails, book pages, hair... just wow!

We also are showing some of our permanent collection and one of my favorites has been brought out.  It is 15 Men by James Michaels.

Happy Friday!! Thanks for coming by!  Bring on the weekend!  Peace & hugs!