Busy Day

We got up early and worked before breakfast and then left the house to go to Plaza Cadillac to have my car checked out.  Oil, lube, rotated tires, new filters, etc. etc.  $0.00 cost!!!!

Came back home for a quick lunch (salad and leftover salmon).  Yummy!

Rested for a few minutes and then went to have our hair done.  Vanessa O'Connor did a good job on both of us and it was late when we got out of there.

Went to Oak Wood for ribs, and each ordered a full slab of ribs.  We each have half of a slab left for dinner another night.  The full slab was on sale for $13.99!!!!!  The ribs came with two sides and a slice of bread.  We each had a sweet potato and cole slaw.

Polar Vortex

Chicago is having unbelievable weather and we are so glad to be here in The Villages.  It is cool here (40's) but we are not complaining.

I worked most of the day and did some laundry while Terry went to the grocery store.  She did not need me slowing her down.

We had our leftover dessert (brownie) for breakfast and it was yummy and so decadent.

I made lunch (don't let the word get out) as I had a taste for grilled cheese sandwiches.

Terry prepared a wonderful dinner for us (Barb and Bernie joined us).  We had wine, appetizers of brie and crackers and artichoke dip.  Dinner was salmon, rice, salad, rolls and dessert.  Barb and Bernie brought some dessert too and we ate well.  It was a fun evening of catching up.

Barb and Bernie have lived in The Villages for 21 years and have seen many changes.  She and Terry worked together at Shell Oil when they were both fairly newly weds.

Glad to be in Florida

The weather in Chicago is going to be historic and we are so grateful to be in Florida.

We have checked on all of the kids tonight and everyone is home, warm and safe.

I've closed the Township for Wednesday and Thursday for the protection of our staff.

We had a nice day.  After breakfast, we made arrangements to go to Miami Beach's South Beach to meet our new cousin Malcolm Bishop, who will be in the states for a few days.  We will be staying at the Gates Hotel (Hilton by Doubletree) on South Beach, where Malcolm is staying. Cousin Rick and Elaine will join us for dinner (driving down from Boca Raton).  Waiting to hear from Cousin Jeff and Judy, and hoping that it will work for them to join us also. 

Malcolm is a second cousin whom we found through DNA on Ancestry.com.  He was raised in Wales and did not know that he was 41% Jewish until he did his DNA.  We have common great grandparents.

After lunch, we, and our mah jongg set, walked across the street to play mah jongg with Arlene, Joan and Ethel.  Terry and I both had a nice afternoon and had some mah jonggs.

Afterward,  we went to Bonefish for their Tuesday special.  We all had salmon, a salad, two sides, and dessert.  Terry and I brought our dessert (brownies) home and ate the ice cream in the restaurant.

Just finished watching Finding Your Roots.  I'm finishing the crossword from yesterday and will start today's paper and then the crossword.

Spoiled

Color me spoiled.  I always say that I bring my cook to Florida with me.  I used to say that I brought my cook and my cleaning lady.  Well, my cook is still coming but the cleaning lady quit!

The cook made eggs Benedict for breakfast.

We both worked and then left the house to run some errands.  We recycled our newspapers at the Temple, put mail into the box at the postal station, went to Chase Bank and then headed out to Spanish Springs for lunch at Too Jays.

I had a taste for salami and it was satisfied and Terry had one of her favorite soups - split pea, along with a salad.

We wandered around the Historic Section to see if they had replaced any more of the manufactured houses with site-built houses.  It does not appear as if many more have been replaced.

When we came back home, I listened to a call with the Illinois Partners on how to make the public understand what social service agencies do.

Terry made us chicken, along with a salad and we watched CNN.  The news could really make you sick.

After dinner, I went into the bedroom and was on Google Hangout to participate in the Township Meeting.  It was a fast meeting as the weather was not ideal in Skokie (it had started to snow again).

We are now going to be reading for the rest of the night.

Rainy and Cold Day

For those of you following the saga of the missing box - IT ARRIVED yesterday.  I opened some of the important things yesterday and left the rest for today.

I got up early (even though we went to bed late) and did two loads of laundry before Terry got up.  I had wanted to wash the new sweats that I bought yesterday.  Have spent the whole day in the sweats.  Terry has a sweatshirt and jeans on.  This is very casual Sunday.

When I went out for the newspaper (on the driveway) I had to put the umbrella up - yuck!

Terry did some laundry also and then made us waffles (frozen ones) for breakfast.

We both worked a good part of the day.  I ran out of steam around lunch time and will finish my bookkeeping, etc. tomorrow.

Took a two-hour nap and then read a good part of the day.  I'm trying to catch up on the magazines that I had not had time to read while at home.

Terry did not give up on chicken pot pie and today was a good day for comfort food.  She made a pie that was delicious with nice big chunks of chicken, vegetables and cream of chicken soup, topped with a crust from a package of biscuit mix    It was yummy.

Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer here.  Chicago is going to be hit with another snow storm and freezing cold weather.  Our friend Steve postponed his trip back to Chicago because of the weather.

Talked with our cousin Rick and they were staying in today too.  They are in Boca and their weather is similar to ours.  We are hoping to see him and Elaine next month.

Dreary - Cool Day

We moved slowly this morning.  It was dreary and cool day (but, we are not complaining after all Chicago is having an awful January).

We finally got out of the house and went to Walmart and did a little grocery shopping.  I also bought some sweats to use on the cold days that we are expecting.

At 5:30, we picked up Arlene and Joan to go to Ethel and Steve's for dinner.  Ethel cooked, but let that be our little secret.

We had a delightful dinner and a lot of conversation and it was late before we realized it.  We also realized that we had not taken a photo, but by then everyone was ready to leave and had their coats on.

Sarasota

We got up fairly early.  I answered student questions and then we got dressed, had some breakfast, and made our way down to Sarasota.

It is a two hour + ride to Sarasota and our main objective was to visit my friend Jean Wright, who fell and was in a rehab in Sarasota.  She has a winter home there and was on her way to the gym when she fell.  She broke her arm and did some damage to her back.

Diane Falk, a mutual friend, was staying in Ft Myers and she drove up and we met at the rehab facility and spent some time visiting with Jean.

After visiting with Jean, Terry, Diane and I went to lunch with Terry and my cousins, Betty and Bill Shapiro.  We went to First Watch, not far from Jean's rehab and all had a great lunch.  Everyone cleaned their plate.  I forgot to take a photo of Betty and Bill and Terry.  We are hoping to see them once more when their son Matthew is in town.  We met them earlier this month when their son Adam was in Florida.

After lunch, we stopped at a Starbucks, across the street, and Diane went in to get Jean some coffee.  She's been drinking hot water because their coffee is so bad.  Diane bought her a big cup of hot coffee and some instant coffee that she can put into her hot water.  We dropped Diane off at the rehab and started our trek back to The Villages.

We came home and stopped at the postal station, our premium forwarded boxes that had been mailed on Wednesday were in the box.  My box from last week is who knows where.