Mission Accomplished Two!

Today was part two of our decision to give things away.

So The Animal Welfare League received some Skipper kibble food, treats, pill pockets, medicinal canned food and a couple of bottles of dog medication as well as pill syringes.

We did go inside and met some of their temporary charges, and I instantly fell in love with a five year old male neutered Yorkie and later on with a male domestic long haired black cat of only eight months old… but contained myself temporarily. Hubby also found himself smitten with a little female black puppy of a Lab mix, and again we both realized it was too soon… and left empty handed…

But for any of you who have that urge to parent a cutie they do have more than they should, many good four legged babies do need homes…contact your local shelters they are too many that could be yours for a song and a dance and small fee.

After that we went over to our bargain lunch out at Subway for $12 bucks for the two of us! I had my fav of a salad with everything topped with seafood salad and some oil and vinegar with a sprinkle of pepper. Hubby went the other route and tried their six inch pastrami sub; we both had ice water…good and cheap.

From there we decided to take the plunge and go down to Punta Gorda to automobile dealer’s mini city named by only one Palm, but they own several different brand dealerships from Mazda, Toyota, Chevy,  Hyundai Jeep/Chrysler, Lincoln, I think that was it, sorry if I missed any. They are all under the auspicious of Palm, where we did buy our car from way back when.

We got prices on a few that had the type we were looking for, and were able to meet one salesman who was helpful without being pushy.

And then we came home.

Yep, no sale today, our plan is still on track.

But it was helpful for Hubby mostly to check them all out, while I waited in the car. My fear was dinging them possibly with my walker so I waited inside with air running and music jamming. I know that many will feel that I wasting air and gas, but even though it was a mild day, I was warm and warm is not good for me, better waste a bit of gas than have me back on IV’s, ya know?

The type vehicle we are looking for is of course a new one and either the Town and Country Chrysler or the Dodge Caravan, both about ten thousand less than the Odyssey of Honda's that Hubby looked at the other day, and more within the realm of our ability financially. Believe it or not, not that much more than what we paid for our current vehicle; way back when.

They are mini vans and few make them anymore, but with all my gear, walker and scooter, and a boat to tow if we need to that is the reasoning why we need that type of vehicle. The outside thingy/lift that goes on the rear of the car allows the scooter to be exposed to the elements and Hubby nixed the concept when I said that then we could perhaps get a regular car. The one we have now is a SUV with a tow package on it as well as a roomy back inside area that can hold all my stuff when the one seat is down.

So that is what we determined that we needed for those reasons.

Evacuation is something that could be an issue being in a hurricane area and we are also living directly on waterfront property so that makes it more likely.

Any-who, we are just trying hard to figure it all out as we go along, just like the rest of you… and so on that note of you gotta do what you gotta do, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Mission completed!

Some days you know that accomplishing what needs to be done just won't get done due to life happening!
But then they're days when you feel Geez it went how I thought it would go, but not exactly!

Today was the second one.

Sure we arrived at the gym/rehab around eleven A.M. and saw our new pals minus one, and I was able to get on the stationary bike and start off from my month long absence with a ten minute trek upon its generous seat.

Although, the glitch here was that it was broken info wise and resistance wise and for the first few minutes I did try to set it and then caught a woman who works there and asked, why I could not get it to set.

She explained that they were waiting on the maintenance people from the company and that they cannot fix it even if they knew how…

No wonder it was such an easy-rider, forgive the pun, nah, accept it!

Why not, it was my first day back into the fold and this was encouraging me that I really could do it!

I had pre-determined that for being gone so long I should ease back into it all and realized that fifteen minutes this first day would be an acceptable beginning… although with my walking more over this last week I do believe I was getting this enormous body of mine back into some type of conditioning?

I only used two of the many choices of equipment the second one was the total gym, which is that slant board thingy and believe it or not I actually did three sets of twenty-five, yay!

From there we dropped off the three heavy duty black yard bags of skinny washed, dried and folded clothes off at the Goodwill.

After that it was lunch time and today we chose Applebee’s; newly renovated. We both ordered the same thing for a change, their Napa chicken with Portabella and of course other things, onions and peppers and roasted red potatoes etc., but only 490 calories. I had my unsweet iced tea with extra lemons on the side, always, and Hubby had his black coffee with sugar.

Any-who, we enjoyed every piece and went out to our car and again it wouldn’t start! It is not the battery, because that was replaced and was checked each time, no it has to do with the electrical/computerized system that Hubby and Number One determined a while back, and both are very capable with mechanical machines. Hubby has five years of aeronautical engineering school under his belt and Number One Son studied auto mechanics and had been certified as a teen; so both do know machinery, plus putting cars together and replacing their engines as a beneficial hobby years ago, etc...

So the long and short of it is after about what seemed like an eternity, PS we do have free towing on our car insurance, but it did start up after several tries in about fifteen minutes…

We were both thinking time to go get to a car dealer, but when we drove to one and Hubby got out of our car and got into one on the lot and began playing with it, no one came over to help…how odd?

In actuality the price listed on it was a bit above our comfort zone range at nearly 40K, and so I waved Hubby to let’s go, and we did.

Our plan is to wait till next year when our out of pocket expenses by this time next year will be much less, and hopefully all the recalls will have been handled appropriately.

So our last stop was to Sam’s Club for gas at only $2.81.9 a gallon the best price around and also to take home two large Maxwell House coffees and we were done for our day out.

See accomplished, but not unscathed; who really has gone through an entire day with perfection, seriously, hmm?

On that note of still trying on those rose-colored glasses to see the world in a smidgen of a ruby glow, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

"Lotto or not? That is the question."

"The best thing about giving is that the reaction is always greater than the action"
"The first great gift we can bestow on others is a good example."
"A truly creative person rids him or herself of all self-imposed limitations"

Now I wonder if any of you know whose were whose?

The Lotto or lottery is not something either of us play regularly, in fact years can go by between purchasing a card, so the title I chose could be pertaining to either of us, hmm?

But Hubby is the one who is less likely to think we had a chance of winning anything that way…so if you guessed it was his, you would be right.

The first one on this opening page of tonight’s blog is also difficult to know if the correct person received it, since we both have been amazed about when we have given a gift to anyone and how they reacted. Sometimes with sincere gratitude, but at times we have been told honestly that we shouldn’t have and so this second fortune too could have been a jump shot on suitability for either of us, and probably any of you too? Again if you guessed Hubby you would be correct.

And so if you have been keeping tract of how this usually works with me using these fortune cookies fortunes from China City in Port Charlotte Florida for a topic on occasion you would know that although I don’t eat them, Hubby and I share the fortunes and yes those last two are mine…process of elimination; how brilliant of all of you!

Now bestowing a gift of setting a good example is what most parents do, and I was not very good at that… I smoked and moved on from jobs that did not agree with me, but in spite of that neither son ever smoked and both have stuck with jobs for more than a decade, much longer than me. (Note: Hubby was always our financial safety net, and I did quit smoking on July 11, 2006!)

But I did exonerate myself when I volunteered as I felt helpful and useful and able then… but no more, sadly.

And so that last one is not happening… although, I shall be going back to exercise, probably this week! I have made a commitment to give all my skinny clothes away to Goodwill, since I spent the weekend, besides taking that break yesterday, washing and drying six loads worth, and the hanging ones are still yet a force to be reckoned with!

All of Skipper’s left over food and medicine will be going to the Animal Welfare League this week too… and so besides cleaning the house in spots that do not see the light of day literally, it has been a busy last few days…!

Yes I did push myself past my limitations and my body has been feeling it, but bouncing back faster than I thought with proper care; I should be a professional on that by now, hmm? So I guess I can, sure I can, I know I can! And I am!

On that note of a positive all she wrote, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night, and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all those overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Jack's on Marion

How do I describe a place that should be where everybody knows your name? Jack’s on Marion in Punta Gorda, Florida…

When you enter you feel that it might be the same as many that you have been in before.

We entered on the side entrance by their bar, where a woman greets all who come in with a welcoming hello and if you sit at her bar, asks “what can I get for you?”

She’s no Carla, I would say around the same age, but taller and a bit classier, make that a lot classier.

Hubby went up to the front to find the hostess to ask if the two seats we had found would be alright to use, since the impression was that she had to seat you…The young woman with hair that had a maroon tinge and she was also wearing an interesting outfit of a mini printed jump suit covered by a navy colored sheer overcoat of sorts of some old fashioned sixties material, but the look was definitely from this century.

She apparently told Hubby that we would be fine there and came over with our maroon colored cloth napkins that contained our silver ware. There must be a theme here with that color… any-who she did tell us her name, but sadly we both forgot, so unlike me, anyway our server was Sara, the hostess had said and quite soon after Sara came to our table to ask us for our drink orders, which we both chose ice water this time. We also gave her our lunch orders since their menu for lunch was clearly sounding/reading delicious and so we both found our hearts desires very quickly. Hubby got their roast beef au jus with their seasoned fries and I chose their endless soup and salad, Calypso soup and a tossed green salad with grape tomatoes with Balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

We arrived about ten to noon, 12 P.M., and they had been slammed/quite busy so we were told due to the parade for the Veterans Day celebration that had occurred earlier that morning and they were still regaining momentum for their lunch crowd and large party of nearly fifty in their back room. This was explained to us by Sheena the manager, when after about a half an hour I wondered where our lunch was…I was hungry!

Believe me when I say that both Hubby and I were pleasantly surprised that what we had ordered was well worth waiting for!

The chosen items off the menu were not only price amazingly reasonably, mine was a mere $7.00 and Hubby’s was only $9.00!

My soup was to die for, incredible, sea foods that were of very high quality, large shrimp, lump crab, clams and lobster, I think, in bisque made with coconut milk, even Hubby tasted it and loved it as well as his own choice. Even his fries were far superior from most all other places, since he never finishes theirs, but these he did!

Believe it or not usually when they have those all you can eat soup and salads the first servings are so big I never take advantage of ordering more, but this time I nixed the salad, although very good in its own right, but I had to have that soup again! It was almost addictive… must go back for more! We most definitely will!

This was after we had walked for over an hour through the weekly Farmer’s Market, held every Saturday from 8-1. We always, when we had gone before, chose to eat at Fishville, but I do believe we now have a new favorite restaurant that is not only a culinary marvel, but priced at lunch time very affordable for us retirees budget. And this is sad, they are not that new, but why did it take us so long.

After there, we had items to pick up at Publix that we needed, actually our usual shopping for the house, and again I walked with my super duper walker extraordinaire! Good thing too since my motor ran down in the produce dept of Publix and Hubby did his quickie transformer move and I once again was able to continue being transported by him with me pushing the shopping cart.

On that note of pleasant exhaustion, not so much really… anyway, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all those overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

PS we beat the rain home… Happy it’s here; we sure needed it.

Dinner!

Tonight we had that on sale T-bone steak Hubby had bought at $8.99 a pound at Publix grocery a while back; it usually sells for $12.99 a pound; it was put on the grill/barbecue with just a bit of salt and pepper on it, since that's all she needed, and WOW!

A couple of Idaho bakes and that is all that was needed for an old fashioned style great meal! Of course we had mixed veggies as well as a concoction of onions, mushrooms and garlic to use on either the meat or the potatoes… Neither really needed a thing, and the meat was done to perfection, rather rare…but we know where it came from.

To eat this same meal out would have been quite a bit more I do believe; most likely for that entrée around twenty-five bucks ala carte a piece if not more…Doing it at home, ourselves, it came in at just a little over five bucks a piece with everything…Well worth the splurge for us.

Our food desires are diverse, we also enjoy seafood quite a bit too, and surprise we are about to get a brand new seafood restaurant not even a mile from here. The Goal Post sports bar restaurant owned by the people who also own Smuggler’s at Fisherman’s Village and the elite Captain’s Table above it, as well as the Crab House at Laishley Park have decided to turn the Goal Post into another seafood grill restaurant, and Geez it is just down the block practically.

In the old days I could have walked there!
Something to look forward to and be sure to hear it here first my own personal critique!

I love the hustle and bustles of building and businesses choosing here to do that, and quite a few renovations up and down the Trail, i.e. the Tamiami/ route 41, named for being the original route from Tampa to Miami, but of course you all knew that…
So much good going on for the area, and we live amongst it all!

Sure there is some bad things, but tell me where there isn’t, really?
I am not living here looking through rose colored glasses I can see all the good though above and beyond the bad.

“If you'll permit me to smash two idioms together shamelessly, what a cockeyed optimist really needs is a pair of rose-colored glasses. Both idioms suggest the same basic premise, that a perpetual optimist may not be viewing the world very realistically. By wearing rose-colored glasses, a person's grasp of a situation or circumstance would be unnaturally filtered or soft-pedaled. While a more optimistic worldview is not a bad idea in itself, deliberately failing to acknowledge unpleasant or negative aspects of the human experience can be a form of delusion or denial.

The origin of the idiom "rose-colored glasses" is still a mystery to this day, although there are a few interesting and plausible theories. The idea of a idyllic rose-colored worldview can be traced back to at least the 17th century. Quite possibly the popularity of romantic imagery in artwork inspired viewers to associate optimism with the rose gardens and deep reds they saw. Victorians certainly were familiar with the idea of a "rosy glow" or "painting a rosy picture." Viewing the world through rose-colored glasses could be an extension of painting extraneous roses to liven up a painting or decoration.”
Thanks to: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-rose-colored-glasses.htm#didyouknowout

At times perhaps we should have a pair, better than saying to your male partner to grow a pair, hmm?

On that note, allow me to blush in a rosy glow… as I wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Bocca Lupo's...

... Our local pizza parlor that makes its pies in a coal fired stove; and every full moon the large 18" pies are sold for half price, thus our dinner tonight!

We eat about half of one pie and save that other half for lunch the next day and the second pie gets frozen to take out slices when so desired… great plan, since it took us the better part of twenty-eight years of living in Florida to find a pizza place that had pies as good as we remembered from up north in New Jersey!

Did I mention that the owner is from New Jersey?

Well, he is.

Any-who today was quiet although I did get a few loads of laundry washed as well as my piece meal cleaning of our refrigerator. Yesterday, I took care of the door cleaning and today it was the three drawers turn.

Slowly but surely it will be immaculate like I used to be able to accomplish in one foul swoop!

Not the same gal I used to be, but trying to get things done just the same, no make that differently.

Yesterday, while at the eye doc he had said that I could put my contact lens back in the right eye that had the surgeries and most recently the cyst that he popped this morning if it didn’t feel bad, so I did.

Only for some unknown reason my eye is blurry, and even in his office when his tech tested me before he came in my vision was blurry then too, down to only seeing the big “E” again, scary and this was before he popped the cyst.

It is true I did not have my lens in, but even with it out I was able to see more than the big “E”, since the bubble was pushing my lens off so for days the lens had been out, but by today he felt that with the medication it should be ready to put the lens in and so I did, but most of the day it has been very blurry even with the lens in and so now I am a bit concerned. 

Of course, I tried calling his office and the two times I did call the on the first they were closed for lunch and the second time they had left for the day!

The service said that on Thursdays and Fridays they close at two…I did not recall that, but I hadn’t been there since August, so it could have changed.

Oddly enough, probably not related at all I have a sore soft bump on the back of my head on the left side, just above the soft tissue of the neck, wonder what that is? I haven’t bumped my head there recently, but I have been a bit dizzier today…oh well...who knows.

Ah sweet mysteries of life or not so sweet… anyway allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask all of you to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!

Clarity?!

Clarity: clearness, lucidity, simplicity, precision, transparency, and perspicuity.

clar·i·ty

noun \ˈkler-ə-tē, ˈkla-rə-\

: the quality of being easily understood
: the quality of being expressed, remembered, understood, etc., in a very exact way

: the quality of being easily seen or heard

From the always reliable:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clarity

With all that being said and well by trustworthy sources I do believe that on here, as well as in life I have been misunderstood way too many times.

Not just with the world at large, but with family members.

My heart aches and breaks when this happens way too often.

It is more in the realm of foot and mouth disease, which I perpetuate to be a person who sadly suffers from on too many occasions. Without being too specific, since it has never been a good thing when telling it all too, too much at times, but considering I enjoy writing and expressing myself here nightly one would think that I would not have this as an issue at all?

But sadly I do.

Privately it can create havoc in your life.

Publicly it can be rather embarrassing!

And guess what?

I am done trying to explain too personal misunderstandings! At least on here, she said oh so cryptically.

Finis, over, not in this lifetime, never ever again, or in any of my near futures, okay, folks?

So now you are all aware of the possibility that something may or most definitely did happen today with me and someone who is probably not a stranger to me, hmm?

Well, let’s put it this way, nothing physically bad, only what I said above was brought up, and as usual and defined as being misconstrued; how perfectly regular and normal for me, true?

So now I will move on to what we had to do today.

At ten forty-five A.M. I had an eye doctor's appointment and as I thought, he popped my eye cyst!

Yep, that is what it was, but still not serious.

And now I am back on eye drops for four times a day for only a week that are a hybrid of antibiotics and steroids.

So I suppose it was a good idea that I went to take care of it.

Then we went over to Wally’s World for my classic neuvo natural hair coloring and my signature aroma of Gardenia ala Jovan.

After we went there we tried Best Buys for a USB port exterior floppy disc player, but a vendor from Microsoft there told us that they did not have them…Guess I will have to order one of the Amazon ones that our Number One Son sent us a link to.

Still trying to access those old puppy PICS of Skipper.

Any-who, from there we ate lunch at Panera’s and I had a twofer of cup of creamy tomato soup and ½ of a Caesar salad with apple, and Hubby had a Southwestern chicken on flat bread with potato soup and his came with a bun too; and our usual beverages.

Then home.

I cancelled my other doc appointment for tomorrow.

Maybe it’s because I was extremely tired or perhaps not, since I walked everywhere we went with my new wheels. Good thing too, since in Wally’s I could go no further and Hubby did a quickie conversion of my walker to transporter, which worked out perfectly! He transformed it back for the continuance of our day's journey.

On that note of what we did do, allow me to be the very first to wish all of you a very happy good night and ask you all to kindly count all your blessings and share all your overages with you know who and we will too!

And next time please be here or be square, ya hear!