Happy Spring!

Greetings Matey! Oh I love this oldie - it's from 2008 and we went on a Disney cruise with some cousins! What a fun time that was!

Happy Spring --I wish it was spring -- but we seem to be having to wait and wait for a real warm up. You know what makes me kind of jealous lately??? When I'm watching the news and I see reporters with GREEN lawns and trees blooming in the background! Here it is still brown, brown and more brown. OY!! The forecast isn't looking great for a green-out for a while yet. I suppose this gives me time to rake up the 5,000,000 leaves that have drifted into our yard. But really -- who wants to do that???

And so, while I dream about warm temps -- you know what else I'm dreaming about -- Disney World! We've often taken our trip in the spring during spring or Easter break, so I've had a little fun looking back at some favorites!

Here's an old favorite of me and Maddie with the Mayor of Disney!! Counting down the days until we visit again!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year friends! I just love a new year, especially when it's an even number! I know, I know, the last even-numbered one was a bit wonky with the pandemic starting and all, but I have confidence that the year will turn out to be a good one!

How were your holidays? Ours were good and fun and the weather on Christmas was super good and warmish! I hate to jinx it, but we've had the best late fall/early winter! And, of course, you know that the cooler temps and low humidity are good friends to my hair -- which is always uppermost in my list of worries -- how's my hair look???

It's been SO wonderful to have Maddie at home for an extended visit as her classes don't start again until January 24! She had a very good semester -- even with an insane amount of work in an English class being taught by a grad student. OY!!! I can't even explain how awful that class was for her and such confusing and WEIRD assignments for an English Comp 102 class. PTL - it's over! Grad students should never teach classes without a real instructor overseeing them. Reviews of her on "rate my professor" are not going to be good.

Miss Maddie turned 20 on December 20! What a fabulous girl! I love her so! We went out to a breakfast place called Good Evans for a birthday lunch!And we had cookies with the Chick-Fil-A logo! LOVE that place! We had a good time out at Philip and Catherine's celebrating on Christmas Eve. It was a "breakfast for dinner" theme. I do love that as not much beats french toast casserole and my famous quiche! The next day we celebrated at home with just Connor and Maddie and had Olive Garden- YUM!

In other big news, the Rickster retired - so that made our December rather busy as we tried to get rid of 25 years worth of stuff out of the office and either shredded, moved to storage or to his home office -- here at home. Good thing no family events coming up as there is no room in the dining room for anything -- just saying -- we should have gotten rid of more stuff. I told him that! :) He has a few cases he will continue to work on. My temporary gig at his office went on for 7 years (after 32 years at my old office), so I must admit I am tired of the law (that's putting it nicely). I'm still in charge of checking phone messages, printing stuff off and other assorted duties. Yes, I am a saint! I would show you a photo of all the stuff - but it would scare you -- yep - it scares me. This is gonna take a while (a long while) to get through. The job never ends!

I also worked as a part-time gift wrapper. I LOVE that job. Such a wonderful group of mostly old ladies. One lady is 86 and has been gift wrapping for 18 years! She said she hopes to make it to 20 years -- hope I can do it that long too. It hasn't been as busy since the pandemic and all, but gets crazy the closer you get to Christmas. One guy brought in 25 gifts to be wrapped! Couple days later, he brought in 20 more! We gift wrappers like to be busy, so we were good with that.

In case you're wondering, I'm just putting in Photos here and there because I've had trouble with formatting the blog and the only way to not have it end up ONE LONG PARAGRAPH is to Insert photos.

Also, our attempt at Christmas photos was a bust. I thought I looked ok -- you know I am getting older -- but the photographer freaked me out when we told me I had a fake smile and needed to try harder. UMMM -- well, that actually made it even more difficult and every photo was awful. Mads and Rickster looked good, of course. Now, I ask you -- is that a fake smile?? Yep I guess that was, but believe me, the photos she took were bad -- very bad. <

That's my report for now. Hope you are enjoying a warmish January. Let's get this month over with and on to Spring!!

Daydreaming

Thank you all for your kind get-well wishes!
We now have the residual colds/coughs
from Influenza A!
Soon, I'm sure we will be feeling better!

In the meantime,
on cold winter January days -

it helps to get through this never-ending month by remembering

some fun times in Florida last year!

Daydreaming of warm, sunny days

and fun times at the

happiest place on earth!

We need a little Disney! 

Ice, Rain and More Ice!

Oh my word!

Our area joined the other parts of the country

hammered by icy rain and ice!

I was hoping the weather service would be 

wrong again, but no  . . . this time 

they were correct!

Sleet, rain, icy rain and more ice!

It's such a mess!  I think I would 

rather have a foot of snow

than all this ice!

Maddy is hoping for a day off tomorrow (Tuesday),

we will see -- keep your fingers crossed!

In the meantime, stay safe

and let's all dream about warmer days!

21-Day Positivity Challenge

I know it may be hard to believe,
but sometimes
I feel more like Eeyore
than Tigger!
Woe is me!!

Eeyore - Disney - 2011

So, for the last few weeks and through the end of
April (and beyond)
 Maddy and I have taken on a
positivity challenge.
We will attempt to be less cranky, less demanding,
less bossy - truth be told, that's a tough one for me!

Eeyore - 2015

Of course, we haven't been 100% successful.
You know work, school, life gets in the way
sometimes and bogs a person down.
But . . .
we've both been making real
efforts to be more patient, positive and enthusiastic!
And I think that deserves some
Scotcheroos, don't you! :)

Tigger - 2011

Yippee Skippee!

Hello Friends!

Yippee Skippee Friday!

Is it just me or do the weeks when we have a Monday 

holiday seem even longer??

And, did I tell I am back at work??

Yes I surely am!

The office administrator for Mr. Tennis 

left for a new law firm and I was drafted! :)

It's very, very different than my prior

law office -- much smaller, so I need  to wear lots

of hats (some days none really fit me).

It's an adjustment.

The best news is that I can arrange 

my hours around Maddy's school schedule.

Photo courtesy of Disney Parks blog.

In other unrelated news,

we just heard that Oswald the Lucky Rabbit 

has returned to Disney Land!

Oh my gosh -- he is one of our favorites!

Fingers crossed he goes to DisneyWorld too!

(Note Maddy's Oswald hat above -- we love that crazy rabbit)!

And, what are you doing this weekend?

More de-weeding is on my agenda -- have moved

decluttering off for a while to attack weeds!

Perhaps a little high school football Friday night 

will be in order.

Definitely a chocolate covered donut on Saturday or Sunday or both.

I'll get one for you too!

Happy Weekend!

xoxo

The Great Flooring Project - Part 2

When I last left you, we were here -- DisneyWorld!

and shopping was the first order of business!

When we left, this was our dining room

(look, it was April and there was snow on the ground outside!)

Floor had been done about 15 years ago and was light honey stain.

Living room -- Muffy liked the old carpet!

But, there really was no way we could have stayed home

the whole time as we would have had to walk

on the floors to get out . . . so

it was a necessity that we leave town! :)

Anyhooo -- I hesitated just a minute

upon our return to peak at the floor before we

went in and . . . drumroll please . . .

Loved it!

Living room now -- no more carpet! Reflections make it a little tricky to see the real color.

We had to wait an extra day

to let it totally dry (?) before having the furniture

and appliances moved in.

Maddy and I went to the zoo that day and

out to eat -- yes --we know how to

extend a vacation!

On moving-in day -- it rained on and off!

What a relief -- it wasn't raining when the

guys were bringing in the furniture 

or the appliances.

As expected

 (like Eeyore - I always expect the worst!)

there were some issues with the dishwasher,

refrigerator AND the bathroom.

After a few hours of work, the plumbers

successfully got everything working again!

Yippee! 

Now, it's time to clean up the layers and layers

and layers of dust and 

get set up again.

More on the fun Disney trip next time!

My Fave Souvenir

I'm not a big one on souvenirs --

well, except I do usually get a refrigerator magnet.

That just seems a little dorky now that I say it out loud.

Who collects refrigerator magnets???

But, there was a woman doing caricatures on the Boardwalk one evening,

and so Miss Maddy plopped herself down in the chair

with Sorcerer Mickey in tow and had her picture drawn.

(Thought I did such a great job scanning it

until I just realized I missed part of the castle

that she drew on the right-hand side.)

Oops -- visualize it there, ok!

I love it -- I really love it!

For once, a cool souvenir from Disney* and it's not a magnet!

Cheer Clinic!

On Saturday, Maddy and her friend, Kelsey, attended a cheer clinic put on by local high school cheerleaders. They practiced almost 3 hours on Saturday morning! No sleeping late and no donut for little Miss M that morning! Then Saturday night, they performed at half-time. What a great job they did! Kelsey is not even 4 yet, but she is really a natural! It was so much fun to see the girls and to watch the cheerleaders teach them the routine. They didn't all remember each step of the routine, but it very sweet nonetheless. And bonus -- they danced and cheered to "Under the Sea" and each received a great little Disney t-shirt!

Maddy and her favorite fan -- Dad (a/k/a Mr. Tennis)

We Heart Disney!

To say that Maddy is a Disney fan is a bit of an understatement! She LOVES everything Disney -- especially DisneyWorld and her fav buddy, Mickey Mouse. Simba (from the Lion King, remember?) is a close second, but Simba is often sent to the naughty stair. Of course, she actually loves nearly every Disney stuffed animal ever made! She did go through a Princess phase and loves them too, but that phase seems to be passing a bit lately.

A few months ago, a friend got the inside scoop on buying tickets to Disney on Ice early. I jumped on the chance and have been keeping the Disney on Ice performance as a special treat for Maddy. I normally would not go to something like this on a school night, but the tickets were an incredible bargain and it seemed that it was the only performance that would work for us.
So, we had a little road trip last evening with Jodee and the cute Carson and Shari and the adorable Kelsey. Shari's hub, Geoff, came along too and is also kind of cute. Jodee drove her "mom van" complete with DVD player. The kids watched a movie on the way and we did not hear any of them utter the famous words, "Are we there yet?"

The show was amazing -- fun effects, great skating and a cute story. Maddy and I really enjoyed hearing some of our favorite Disney songs and seeing the characters. Definitely made me want to start planning a return trip to DisneyWorld and I know Maddy would agree! It was really a fun evening! For those of you who know Jodee and how much she loves to get photos to go along with her blog posts, yes, that is her below scanning her photos while waiting to get out of the parking lot. Thanks again for driving Jodee!