Monday, December 19, 2011

After messing around for about 20 minutes this morning, I finally got my Journal published to the web.  It’s getting more and more difficult to get it online.  They keep changing the program and making it more difficult to get it working.  If not this year, next year may be the final straw that broke the camel’s back.

We got a very leisurely start this morning since we really didn’t have anything scheduled for our day today.  We’ve pretty much had something to do almost every day and today we would be trying to pick up our first mail delivery.  It was reported on the radio that this is the busiest day of the year for the Post Office.  It didn’t seem too bad when we got there around 11 o’clock, but as we were leaving the crowd seemed it was definitely showing up.  As luck would have it, our first mailing was there and Sharon picked it up and we were on our way again.

After we got back home we sat down and had lunch.  We’ve been working on a bowl of Ground Pickle and Bologna for the last couple of days and we attacked it again today.  When we were done it looked like we’d have at least one more day of it.  Not a problem, we both love it.

After lunch, Sharon brought out a jig-saw puzzle that she was going to put together.  She worked on it until bedtime only taking a break long enough to whip up Spaghetti and Meatballs for Supper and then to wash the dishes so I could dry them.

I was camped in front of the TV most of the day doing what I do best......nothing.  And as long as I was doing it so well, I continued to do it for the rest of the night.  It wasn’t a great night for TV but I managed to tape enough on the odd channels to watch until the bewitching hour rolled around.  It came early tonight at 10:30.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

We were off this morning to Golden Corral for the Breakfast of Champions.  I didn’t see any Wheaties there, but they had just about everything else.  We were supposed to meet Jaycee Dale and her boyfriend Rod there but after we waited for them for 15 minutes Sharon called them.  She said they forgot they were supposed to meet us this morning, so we went in and had Breakfast by ourselves.  We managed to get there before the “Bus” arrived, but because we waited for our Breakfast Party to arrive, they got in the food line ahead of us, so we waited until it died down a bit.

We came directly home after we loaded ourselves up with delicious food.  I think the food is better this year than it has been in the past.  I was well satisfied with everything on the menu.  Sharon even made a comment that the steak that she ate was very good indeed.  But she’s quite biased since every piece of meat she eats is quite good.  She’s quite the carnivore.

We’ve been having trouble with our icemaker over the past couple of weeks and Sharon is disgusted with it.  She wants it in a compartment outside or in the garbage.  So I moved a few things around today to find a place to store it until we get home.  I’ll check over the next couple of months and see why its not producing ice like it should.  If I can’t fix it I’ll toss it when we get home.

I also needed to reconnect our sewer line today.  I had two long sections put together, and I know I have a short length in a compartment drawer.  After taking care of the icemaker I went out and rehooked the sewer.  While I was out there I met the folks next door.  I didn’t shake his hand after handling sewer hose, but we did talk for about 20 while I was doing it.  He’s a retired firefighter from Toronto, Canada.  We had a nice conversation and Sharon overheard us and came over to join in for awhile.  They will also end up eventually in Desert Hot Springs at a time when we’ll be there.  Perhaps we’ll see them out there.

After having eaten a big breakfast this morning neither of us was really hungry for Supper even though we both ate the leftover spaghetti and meatballs from last night.

After supper I camped out in my usual spot and Sharon sat and stitched all night.  Even taping all night barely helped us to make it 10:15 and “lights out”.  And its going to get worse with Christmas and the resulting repeats coming for the next month.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Today was a dumping day for us.  It should be the last time I’ll dump here for this visit even though we’ll be here until Monday morning.  We mostly had a free day today so we decided to wash the car and get some of the road dirt off it.  When we stopped at the car wash on the corner, they told us they didn’t have any change, so we knew from there on out, it was probably going to be a chore to get this job done.  We decided to take the car to a car wash that Sharon had seen the other day featuring hand drying for only $5.  We knew it was down on Florence Boulevard but we didn’t know exactly where.  We managed to find it after thinking we probably wouldn’t find it.  We had the car washed and sure enough they hand dried it and it looked great when it was done.

For the rest of the day we just relaxed until later when we had planned to meet Jerry and Mary Milan at the Elks for Supper tonight.  This would also be our last Wednesday night with them for awhile.  The food is pretty good so we don’t mind getting together with them on Wednesday nights.  Besides the conversation and the beer is much better than the food anyway.

By the time we got home we would be watching taped shows for the rest of the night.  We had to delete half of them because we had already seen them.  This time of the year absolutely stinks for watching TV.  If you don’t like Christmas cartoon shows then there’s not much else on the tube.  And what’s not cartoons, is the seasonal repeats.

We managed to catch enough to get us to 10:30 before we turned off the idiot box and headed for the rack.  We had tolerated all we could handle.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

We woke up to a very nice day for traveling today, which was nice because that’s exactly what we planned to do today.

We were off this morning to Sun City West just northwest of Phoenix to visit friends from home.  They bought a house out here last winter and we were anxious to see it and them.  When we got close we turned on the GPS and “Jill” took us right there.  It was a good thing we had the GPS cause we would have had great difficulty finding it without.  Concise directions would have gotten us there, but we were glad we didn’t have to follow that.

We arrived about 10:30 and just took the nickel tour of the house and then sat around and talked for awhile.  The house was very beautiful and we were flabbergasted to hear it was twenty years old.  The design and architecture were as modern today as they were years ago.  We had missed saying good-bye last fall when they left early to get busy on the house for this year.  We had one last gathering last year at Chuck and Loretta Mattas’ house that Bill and Jan missed with their early departure.

At lunchtime we took off to the China Buffet in Surprise, AZ and it was the best Chinese food that we have ever eaten.  They had things on the menu that we had never heard of before, and it was all very good.  Bill and Jan picked up the tab much to our insistence that it certainly wasn’t necessary.

After we got back from lunch it was about 3 and we though it was best for us to leave to try and beat the traffic through Phoenix.  We didn’t have much luck in that respect but at least the vehicles kept moving and not jammed up.

We managed to roll in alongside the motorhome about 4:30 and Sharon immediately took off with our clothes headed for the laundry room.  She decided to catch up on the laundry before we leave on Monday.  I of course, settled in front of the TV after having driven through all that traffic.  I find more and more difficult to fight the traffic these days.  I think I’m just getting old.

After Sharon got back I helped her put away the laundry and make the bed before we both settled down and relaxed.  It was another total bust for TV tonight as everything on tonight was repeats.  I guess that’s what our immediate future is for TV over the next month.  We finally made it to 10 o’clock and then just resigned ourselves to bed.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Sharon had planned to do some shopping today, so when she got ready she took off for the grocery store.  By the time she got back she had a full car of groceries.  It took us 5 minutes to haul the bags in.

There was no point in me trying to put this stuff away caused I had no idea where it was all going to fit.  When she’s done it’ll al fit very neatly.....somewhere.

We decided we were going to have egg salad for lunch so I cooked the eggs while she was gone.  After putting away the groceries she whipped up the egg salad for the sandwiches.

We spent the afternoon just sitting around and waiting for dark.  We were invited over to Jerry and Mary Milan’s to see the Christmas lights in their park. 

We had Crab Cakes for Supper tonight.  Sharon boiled up some noodles that we were going to have with it, and I mad up a Bechamel Sauce to go over the Crab Cakes.  It had been a while since we had Maryland Crab Cakes and they turned out quite good indeed.  We also had a salad to top off a wonderful meal.

By the time we finished up the dishes the sun fell out of the sky and it was getting dark outside.  We played out daily game of Jeopardy and then took off in the car to see some Christmas lights. 

By the time we got to Mary and Jerry’s park, the traffic was pretty busy.  It took us a while to actually drive through and check out the lights but it was a very enjoyable ride.  The old folks do quite a number on their houses over here.  There are streets where almost every house is decorated.  And the owners sit outside their houses and wish people a Merry Christmas.  It’s quite a nice touch.

Afterwards we stopped at Jerry and Mary’s for a Christmas drink and to say good-bye to them for this visit.  We were there long enough to see Angie and Scott and the two kids before we left.

We got home about 9 and managed to watch a couple of shows on tape before we took the final bow and “left the building”.  It was about 11.

Saturday, December 24, 2011CHRISTMAS EVE

Today was a pretty normal day with not much happening.  There will be activities going on in the clubhouse for most of the day today, but we’ll avoid them as usual.

Aside from Sharon taking a trip to Walgreen’s for a couple of things we’ll just hang around the house and do nothing.

We had planned to have Cornish Game Hens for our Christmas Eve Dinner tonight, and Sharon cooked them in the afternoon.  We also had a salad and a mixture of Red, Green and Yellow Peppers with Red :Potatoes.  We washed it down with a couple of Old Fashioneds and it was all a very delicious Dinner.

After Dinner and Dishes we relaxed in front of the Telly for the night.  There wasn’t much on except for 24 hours of the Christmas Story so we surfed around the channels to find enough to take us through the night.

We eventually made it to 10 when we packed up our possibles and headed for the sleeper.

Sunday, December 25, 2011CHRISTMAS

We got up this morning with a plan to drive to Mesa to Dennis and Mary Ceshkers for dinner today.  Sharon made a Blueberry Dessert yesterday that we would take with us on the trip up there.

Sharon got ready this morning and headed off to church to an early mass.  I held down the fort while she was gone.  When she returned we hit the road headed north.

We arrived in Mesa about noon and in plenty of time to sit around and converse for awhile.

We had a wonderful NY Strip Steak for Dinner along with a potato Casserole and Cole Slaw with apples.  And then, of course, we topped it off with the Blueberry Dessert.

We left Mesa shortly afterward to get home and finish the stuff we had to do to leave tomorrow.  While Sharon took down our Christmas decorations, I filled the water tank and dumped the holding tanks.  By 5 we were done with all our chores.

We still had plenty of time before the Packer/Bear game would start tonight.  At the start of the game it looked like it might be a repeat of last weeks game but in the second half the cream came to the top and the Green and Gold finished them off.  They secured for themselves home field advantage all the way through the playoffs.  By the time the game was over, the only thing we had to watch is what we recorded earlier.

We were up til just after 10 before we called it quits and went to bed.  It had been kind of a tiring day today.