Monday! Monday! Met another Blogger Today!

I used to totally hate Monday's rolling around, now I look forward to them because when you are retired every day is Saturday!
Up fairly early-I'm finally learning to sleep in if 8:30 is early to me-coffee outside and putering. A nice slower laid back morning. Then I got myself onto a cleaning tear like I do everyday. Rick started up the Motorhome for a spell, and the generator. The he was outside puttering around, and he found a leak around the water heater. He came in to announce he was possibly shutting off the water. It was more of a drip, but water leaking anywhere usually sets me to worrying. Come to find out the plug was loose but after getting out his trusty tool box (that has everything in it that anyone in this park would require or need)..and tightened up the plug..but there must have been a crack in it so into the car we hopped for a quick trip to Steward's RV repair and picked up a couple of new ones. Now we have a spare. No big deal and an easy economical fix.
This afternoon Dee dropped by with Arlene another blogger :) She goes by the nickname Leno in the chat room. It was so nice to meet her and put a face to the name. Her husband was with her (Kevin) but he was in a hurry to head back so we didn't get to meet him. We do plan to meet up with them down the road in the not too distant future. Thanks Arlene for taking the time to stop by and meet us!!

Arlene, Rick and myself

After they left we gave Miss Lilly a grooming outside on the table and then a shower. Tucker might get his turn tomorrow.

She was very well behaved and made mom's job much easier. After dad gave her her shower I made supper for us. We had coffee outside with Debbie and Ken then came in to do the blog, check on you all and watch some TV...so all in all another great day under the sunny skies in Florida...be safe out there folks..

Home is where you park it

"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the courage to spread your wings and fly"

The Hotel Jacaranda!!! BRUNCH

Today we were invited to brunch at the Hotel Jacaranda in downtown Avon Park. What a gorgeous place. Construction began in 1923, the official opening was in 1926 and restoration is continuous. It was named after a 150 year old Jacaranda Tree that had to be felled to make room for the building. The property at the time cost $4.00 a running foot right on Main Street. The architect was William Heim who also designed the city hall and Sebring Fire Station and the architecture is out of this world. The hotel and restaurant has been in continuous operation since the day of opening in 1926.
The hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 
It has been home for hundreds and hundreds of young pilots training in '41-'45 and baseball players (including Babe Ruth) lived at the Jac from 1926 to the late 30s.

Lobby Area of the Jacaranda registration desk is just off to the right-entrance to restaurant is right beside the fireplace

Lobby sitting area with beautiful antique furniture

Beautiful old wooden piano 

Lobby Corner library area-many older books available for guests to read

Rick and I at Brunch

Claudette and Ernie at Brunch

Thank you Claudette and Ernie for treating us to such a special brunch. The food was wonderful as was the company!

A great variety of food choices was offered. So if any of you are ever in the Avon Park area it is a 'must do'. It is so busy for the Grand Buffet on Sunday (11 am-2pm) I would suggest you call ahead and make a reservation. All inclusive, soup, salad bar, beverage and dessert for $10.99/per person. They also offer Monday-Friday Buffets so don't let this gem of a restaurant slide by you when you are in the area.

Upon our return we took the furkids for a walk, sat outside and read our books for awhile, then came in and had one of those 'retirement' naps. Took the kids for another stroll, visited with neighbours, had supper, and now we are settling in to watch some TV. 

Just another wonderful day in Florida!! We are blessed. Stay safe out there!

Home is where you park it

"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the courage to spread your wings and fly"

A Relaxing Friday!

We didn't' get the forecasted thunder storms but we did have a misty grey day. A great day to relax. We headed off to the post office then to the grocery store. After lunch I made some chocolate chip cookies, read my book for awhile and had a nap. Yup I had a nap in the middle of the day!! I must be retired. After supper Deb and I took the furkids for a walk around the park. I love walking and just might get back into power walking again. So it was a quiet day, reading eating and sleeping. 

We are now watching some TV and looking forward to tomorrow! Have a wonderful weekend folks..be safe out there...

Home is where you park it

"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the courage to spread your wings and fly"

A great Thirsty Thursday!!

I came across this RIG yesterday I think this is what you and JB need Brenda -Its a horse hauler and motorhome combined :)

Yesterday was another great day here in the state of Fl...had coffee did our putering...then Deb myself and Dee took off to walmart. We hurried back and spent the afternoon in the sun at the pool..day was nice and hot. Sat around happy houring for most of the afternoon. I cooked a roast beef dinner..(wow did that heat up the mh but I was craving)...it was delicious..then we headed over to the dance at the club house. There was a large crowd there and a good time was had by all. There was a one man band who was really good. He played country, and alot of rock and roll from the 60's. 
Luckily on our return home we found 'american idol' on west coast time on our sat dish..so we didn't miss it after all. They have some amazing talent lined up this season so far.

Suzie and Rick

Rick and I at the dance

Phyllis and her sister

Judy and Ernie

Aunt Debbie and Tucker

Kenny deep in thought

Rick -that is suppose to be a smile-

Pretty Lilly girl

The handsome boy Tucker sitting out with us all

All in all its been a great day! The weather, company and fun was super fine. What more could we ask for. Be safe out there and have an excellent weekend.

Home is where you park it

"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the courage to spread your wings and fly"

Hump Day! Lets wear food today

Today was a busy day! We were up and out by 9:15am off to Sebring. I had a hair appt for 10am. I liked the stylist :)...then it was off to petco for food for the furkids..and walmart for a few necessities.
Upon our return home, we walked the dogs and tidied up the MH..Rick orange oiled all the woodwork and cupboards for me today..thanks hon..not only are you handsome but your also handy :)
At suppertime we headed over to the monthly spaghetti supper with Jim and Dee and Deb and Ken..I borrowed this picture for y'all from Dee and Jim's blog.
Upon picking up my plate of supper, I headed to the salad table and what do you think happened. The whole plate of spaghetti slid right off the plate and all over me the floor etc. It was even between my toes.Thank you Debbie for helping me clean it up and getting me another plate.


Yup folks you can dress me up but you can't take me out!!

It doesn't look like a big stain but trust me it was. It just doesn't all show up..thankfully for the clorex pen I got it all out. Whew...Of course Dee was quick on the trigger of her camera, on the way back to our place after supper.
After visiting outside with Ken Deb and Dee we came in and watched American Idol..wow they've go some good talent this year.
Thanks for all the comments on the sunset pictures on last night's blog-I have to confess they aren't all mine my next door neighbour took some of them. Good job Deb.
So as you can see it was just another regular day in paradise. Not sure whats on for tomorrow only tomorrow will tell. Stay safe out there everyone!!

Home is where you park it

"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the courage to spread your wings and fly"

Sun Sun Sun Pool and Sun and the big bug reveal!!

Today was another wonderful hot sunny day here in the floridan paradise. After coffee and putering Deb and I took off for the pool and had ourselves a sun day on this wonderful Monday. Rick puttered around the rig, shining, polishing and cleaning. Company arrived to visit this afternoon for a spell, then we took off and went and picked up supper. Thankfully the company was late leaving and I wasn't expected to cook:)....
Tomorrow I'm going for a hair cut and I'm nervous because I'm pretty particular about who cuts my hair. But like my dad used to say its only a week between a good haircut and a bad haircut.
As for the bug on last night's blog...it is a "mole cricket" totally harmless and come to find out great for all you fishermen out there. They apparently make great bait on the hook. Now I almost feel bad about snuffing him out :(....but how was I to know~he sure didn't look harmless.
Ok time to hit the shower, watch some TV and read some blogs. Sorry no pictures today~I was busy sunning myself.
Have a super day folks and stay safe out there.



Home is where you park it


"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the courage to spread your wings and fly"

An OH OH day....

Just to let you all know how tired I was last night-I took my laptop to bed (something I've always said I'd never do)..and read blogs. I just couldn't sit up any longer.


Well today was an oh oh day. Oh oh she is rooting in the cupboards..is she bored? Nope..shes just.. having 'cooking' with drawls. Not that I'm not still cooking daily, but at home I often would take a day and just cook cook cook..so thats what I did today. Well for part of the day. I cleaned the rig after coffees and blog reading, then cooked for a few hours. Made meatballs, and a big spaghetti sauce which I simmered on the stove for a few hours. When he found me rooting in cupboards Rick jumped up and said what do you need I'll do a walmart run-and he had the keys in his hand. I think he was worried that I was bored and might say "lets go home or I miss home"..so he was willing to do whatever it took to keep me happy while I cooked :)..bless his heart.
Dee from Tumbleweed wasn't feeling good so we took a walk up to see how she was doing.
This afternoon we took off to Maxwell's Grove..a gem of a little place, a local secret! The have a little country store with everything in it, and all kinds of finds, fresh fruits and juice jellies wines etc. and the best orange vanilla twist ice cream I ever tasted. I even found 'beaman's chewing gum there' I haven't seen that in many years.
Upon our return, we sat outside with Deb and Ken for a bit then we all came in and had supper. Heavens knows I had enough made to feed the whole park. Then we had coffee out under the awning and chatted the evening away. We found this working its way toward the furkids xpen..not knowing what it was we soon put a halt to his journey. Anyone know what it is?

sorry hes missing a back leg on the right

not the cutest creature I ever saw

To offset the not so cute creature above-here are a couple of cute ones. Who love to call out to auntie Debbie next door every day!!!

Hey Aunt Debbie you home?? Its Treat time

And here are a couple of really nice sunsets in Avon Park..

Just another wonderful day in the Florida sunshine....have a super week folks...be safe out there..

Home is where you park it

"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the 

courage to spread your wings and fly"

Friday, Saturday and Sunday!!!!

Well it has been a large weekend. I might need to sleep all week. What a great time we had. Our company arrived early afternoon on Friday and departed today. We were sad to see them leave-but glad they came to spend the weekend with us. Friday we missed the wine and cheese party at the clubhouse. We 'over ran' on our happy hour here at the MH with friends and neighbours:)..which carried on through out supper and well into the evening. A good time was had by all.
Saturday morning we girls headed out to get the 'shopping' trip behind us. We all found some great buys-came back changed into swim suits and grabbed the boys and headed for the pool. The weather was hot and gorgeous so we spent the whole afternoon poolside. Until it was time for happy hour again. With a nice supper of bbq'd salmon, salads, with all the fixings and apple pie behind us it was happy hour again. We sat out most of the evening, enjoying each others company.
Today our friends left to go back to the Estero area to their place and we headed over to the clubhouse to partake of the Avon Park hosted 'car show' here are just some of the cars on display. I fell in love with the '56 chevy-and apparently others did also because it was the people's choice for 1st place.

1956 Chevy-and isn't she a beauty-she was the winner of the People's choice 1st Place-and she had my vote as soon as I saw her..

The owner let me sit in it-As long as I didn't have anything sharp in my back pockets-heck I would have taken my shorts off to get to sit in this beauty-thankfully I didn't have to!

How pretty is that!!

Yuppers- I got to sit in a 1967 Chevy Nova SS- I used to have a 1975 SS !

So there is a sampling of the cars registered for you all to drool over :)...there was a bbq at the club house during the event and also an ice cream social. The music was excellent and not being able to hold ourselves back we showed em all how to Jive!! Dee and Jim from Tumbleweed also have pictures of this event on their blog! So pop on over and check out their pictures.

After the car show, we headed back to the mh to walk the furkids-then took off to wally world to get some laundry detergent and graced the laundry room with our presence and managed to get all the weekend bedding and towels all done up. Now I just spent over 3 hours due to slow wifi - uploading pics and filling you all in on our weekend. Tomorrow will be a blog reading day to see what all of you have been up to for the last three days.
Have a great week~and be safe out there!!

May joy and peace surround you, Contentment latch your door, And happiness be with you now and bless you evermore.

"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the courage to spread your wings and fly"

I Almost Bit off more than I could Chew!!

Thursday morning was 'scrub the carpet' morning..then I thought well I should scrub the ceramic in the bath, shower room and kitchen before getting out the little green machine and doing the carpets. I sure will be glad upon our return to Canada to finally have the time to have this carpet removed and more ceramic installed. As I love ceramic. During our renos in our home this year we put in ceramic and used a colour grout-looks so nice-which is what they did when they did this MH...or so we thought.
Was scrubbing away on my hand and knees, and noticed under the slide humm the grout there is white-so since June I've been travelling with a dirty floor - mind you I was washing it every couple of days. And I never noticed this before.
So after 3.5 hours and bleach and 7 Mr. Clean magic erasers the floor is now clean and sealed. And the carpets are all scrubbed and looking fine.

A work in progress after elbow grease and before

This is how it should look-who knew? 

Needless to say, I am a hurting unit today! So for all you folks out there the best best thing to clean the ceramic grout with is Mr. Clean Magic erasers and lots of elbow grease. Needless to say I will not be on my knees today praying or swinging a tennis racket with my elbows. . We have company coming today for the weekend and I'm pretty excited-hopefully the elbows will work for 'happy hour' -humm might have to use a straw.

After cleaning yesterday we showered up and headed over to the pot luck supper. And what a good supper it was. There was a great turn out and tons of good food. I took a taco salad and it was a major hit and it received great reviews. I chose this for the potluck because it makes a large batch. 

Richard and Kathleen

Dee, Jim in the hat and Jon

Some of the folks at the pot luck

After the pot luck we headed back to our rig, had coffee with Kenny and Debbie, then watched American Idol and Greys. It was 10pm and I was ready for bed. I resealed all the ceramic on my way to bed, so it would dry overnight. Upon reaching the bedroom area I wasn't totally sure I could get back up off my hands and knees.

Today I'm cooking- tidying up and prepping for my company which should be a great time. So it is looking like a busy weekend. There is a wine and cheese party today, and a car show tomorrow, and good hot weather forecasted. So wine, food, great company, excellent neighbours, good food, excellent weather, and many happy hours - what more could we ask for. I'm excited.

For those of you who attend potlucks here is how you make 'taco salad'...

1. 1 lb ground beef, cooked, 1-chopped head of iceburg lettuce-1 large onion chopped (not cooked)-2 chopped tomatoes-shredded cheese-1 large bag of broken up nacho cheezy dorito chips, and toss it all together with a small bottle of ranch dressing. voila-your done :)

Have a super weekend folks..I probably won't be putering until Sunday-but I will be thinking of you all.

Stay safe out there.

Home is where you park it

"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the courage to spread your wings and fly"

Tuesday and Wednesday Excitement

We got up fairly early (8 am or so), did the coffee thing and puter thing, walked the dogs..showed and did the usual household chores. Debbie and I headed over to the pool for some sun and a swim. We stayed there a couple of hours, came home changed and met Jon over at the shuffleboard area and played a couple of games of shuffleboard. Then we came back sat around for a bit, and hopped in our cars and headed up to the "Clock family Restaurant" for supper. What a great little place it was. Good home cooked meals.

We came back to the resort, stopped in to check on Dee and Jim and see how she made out at the doctor then came home sat out and had coffee with Deb and Ken. The kids called us,so we hopped on skype for a quick visit. Then it was read some blogs and off to bed. Not a very exciting day, but it was a fun one.


Wednesday:
We got up fairly early this morning (around 8). rick took the dogs out and I made the coffee-I figured that was a good trade off-then we checked emails etc. After showers we were off to Sebring to pick up dog food for the furkids at Petco-then over to Tanglewood Park to meet up with friends from home.Rick and Ernie used to work together many years ago. They have a lovely home and the Tanglewood Park is beautiful.  Ernie and Claudette thanks for the lovely afternoon. We went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch-another excellent eating spot. We plan to all get together again in the near future.

Elaine, Rick, Claudette and Ernie

We arrived back at the mh around 4ish and walked the furkids-visited with Deb and Ken outside for a bit until it rained. We didn't get much rain just on and off. Suppose to go up to the 80s for the next few days. We are just getting back from WalMart from picking up some groceries and are now settled in to catch the fist episode of American Idol.
Hope your all having a super week...be safe out there..

Home is where you park it

"May your day be filled with blessings like the sun that lights the sky~and may you always have the courage to spread your wings and fly"

“Life is like a party. You invite a lot of people, some leave early, some stay, some laugh with you, some at you, some didn't come. But in the end, after the fun, there would be a few who would stay and help clean up the mess with you. And most of the time, those were the ones who didn't even make the mess: ) How true this is!!! “