Jill's House

It's coming along....maybe April? Maybe May? Umm -- Jill tells me the color is CORAL, not PINK. I, of course, would prefer PURPLE. But no one asked me. (Probably a good thing).

The Word

Tim's word from The Company is -- GO! Full steam ahead!

He's hoping to leave for language school in June. It's gonna be a very short 5 months....

Lack of Blogging

I've most likely written at least 15 or 20 blogs in my head since last posting. But they usually come upon me when I'm driving -- not an auspicious time to be blogging -- even if I could get on the internet while speeding along at 75 miles an hour on I-65.

So what has happened since our trip? My laptop expired. No warning signs -- died in my sleep. Woke up on Monday morning, January 15, turned it on and -- well, it didn't turn on. Deader than the proverbial doornail. Sony suggested I send it to San Diego where for $699 (payment in advance) they would install a new motherboard if that is what it needed. We decided to try Best Buy. One of the nice things about Bob's job with the state is that he gets odd days off -- this was one of them. Off to Best Buy where there is a "Geek Squad." They looked 'Baby V' over and told me essentially the same thing. Since I needed one the next Sunday, it was a given that we would need to get a new one. They convinced us that since we wanted a new desktop shortly anyway, why not get two and get a *deal*!

I am the proud (?) owner of two new computers -- a Toshiba and an HP. Neither of which are yet working up to my specifications.

Bob's printer died yesterday -- he overworks the poor thing, and it was time. So we bought a new one this morning -- which refuses to be installed...."no printer driver found." I downloaded the right one from HP.com. It merely sneered at me -- "no printer driver found." I think we'll take it back.

I've been to Indiana -- actually was there the day after both the Bears and the Colts won their rights to the Superbowl. See Torrey's blog to see how this is playing out at THEIR house!! (http://www.marriedcouplebytorrey.blogspot.com) Spoke at the hospital where Christopher was born, and the next day at the hospital where both his mom and dad were born. Now THAT is cool!

Then got to spend the night at my favorite Ray of Sunshine Motel where we went to PF Changs for dinner and watched the last half of American Idol. Do those folks really think they can SING?

Finally went to see Dorothy for my rather belated due-in-September checkup....the woman's version of "turn your head and cough." She was pleased with all the lab results that came back meaning that the Doritos and chips I've been consuming with aplomb don't seem to have affected my cholesterol -- too much. I have started on my version of the South Beach plan....we'll see what happens with that.

She was NOT pleased with my -- um -- lack of exercise. I didn't share with her that my 2007 resolution was to exercise less than I did in 2006. And I fully intend to keep it. Nor was she happy w/ my weight. Hence the South Beach. In two carb-less weeks, however, I've only lost 7 1/2 pounds. Oh to be younger when Atkins just dropped the pounds off of me as though there was no tomorrow.

Two of our Life Group families had grandbabygirls this past week. Neither of the babies live in IL.

Tim comes home from candidate school in Arizona tonight. I'm excited to see him to find out what the final word is from The Company, and if he is truly heading to North Africa sometime this year.

The new screen for the desktop is lovely -- even though spell check doesn't work on Word Perfect and no one can seem to fix it for me, including uninstalling the entire thing and reinstalling the entire thing.

Sigh.

Hmmm....I think it is time for my South Beach apple.

More pics from Christmas in Florida

Papa AND Grammie AND Deven...




My Florida Family




The "boys" -- serious talk time at the pool.




Christmas -- the noisest trucks were the best!




Sharing seaweed salad....


Trees like this you don't see in Chicago. Amazing!

Pictures

Blogger is being persnickity about publishing pictures so I'll try again....




I took this one for my friends Nancy & Rebecca who are convinced that life without coffee is not worth a hill of beans...




Tigertail Beach on Marco Island...the day was windy, but warm and beautiful.




This is the House-to-Be




The fam -- looking in to the lanai/family room from the pool area.




Looking from the family/living room out over the lanai to the pool.....

Christmas Number Three -- in Florida

Of course, we were there when the weather here in Chicago was rather nice. Now that it is blustery with frozen roads and 4 to 8 inches of snow predicted for tonight, we are home....

It was a lovely trip. Temps in the 80's. There is something to be said about not having to think about a jacket or coat or slipping on the ice, but I'm certainly not ready to move there. We might have been the only grandparents coming from the North to visit the children and grandbabyboy, however! It did feel just a tad backwards!

Highlights:

Sprint Airlines was on time both ways!!

Jill and Derrick and Deven. Of course!

Seeing where they live now, and the home-to-be.

Overhearing Derrick saying to a worker at the home-to-be: "I just want to show my parents around." Not: Jill's parents, or my in-laws, but My Parents. I still all googly inside when I think about it.

Deven learning that AND is a conjunction. He was so tickled when he figured out that instead of saying, "Hi Grammie. Hi Papa," he could say, "Hi Grammie AND Papa."

Walking into church with Deven holding hands with Bob and me. I've not done that since Tim was little....

Wondering who I would meet that I would have a connection to...at the Naples Zoo (we had been there all of about 45 minutes) when I struck up a conversation with a woman and her son. Turns out he went to Taylor with Tim -- graduated last May with Tim. Had tried to call Tim's friend Wes on New Year's, but Wes was at OUR house!!

Visiting my best-friend-from-Michigan, Diane. I've not seen her since Torrey's wedding, but we've known each other since I taught OB in the school of nursing at Providence and she taught Peds. Our offices were right next to each other. She and her husband Sandy were renting a condo for 6 weeks in Bonita Springs, and had been there just a week. That was an extra special bonus! Their son Hugh was deployed to Iraq last Wednesday. (Hugh is 4 days younger than Jill -- Diane and I had had great romantic plans for them, but children NEVER do what you tell them to!!)

Going to Tigertail Beach at Marco Island. I am SO sorry I didn't get a picture of Deven in a 2 1/2 year old sulk. It was priceless.

Getting back from our long walk around Corkscrew Swamp and finding the doors had been locked already. Apparently we were to be out of the parking lot gates at 5:30, not just getting to the nature center. Hmmmm.....they were nice enough to let us out so we didn't have to spend the night with the alligators.

Seeing the amazing house-to-be. Absolutely gorgeous with 4 bedrooms so there will be someplace for all the northern visitors to stay.

Watching Deven consume seaweed salad at the Thai/Japanese restaurant we went to. He's pretty picky about what he eats, but lobster, crab, seaweed and broccoli top his list of edibles.

Being able to crash in our own little condo that one of the docs Jill works with was gracious enough to LOAN (not rent) to us for our four days.

And last, but not least, already breaking my new year's resolution of No Exercise. We got plenty.

But I'll do better -- I'm home now.

Clean Slate Day

January 1 -- always seems like a clean slate day. As in last year, Bob is busy at his desk, getting ready for 2007. We've put away all the Christmas decorations except the tree -- I'm hoping Tim will stop by with his friends and help do that.

I've thought of some excellent resolutions that should be fairly easy to keep instead of the usual ones:

1. Enjoy my food instead of worrying about my weight
2. Don't worry about exercise
3. Read more books than I did last year (106)

I'm sure I can think of a few more along that line....

We celebrated Christmas Number Two on Christmas Day with Tim. It was a very lazy, enjoyable day. Bob gave me a lovely new pot in which to cook roasts and turkeys. It is lovely and -- um -- huge. The small nine-pound turkey we had could have gone swimming and birthed little turkeys in it. In fact, it is so huge, it doesn't fit in the oven unless we take the handle off the top. For the time being, anyway, I'm back to the old blue speckled one....We opened presents, watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" (the first one) and "The Devil Wears Prada". We ate junk food. We relaxed. We had a good time just being our little family.

Christmas Number Three coming up next weekend. In Florida, where the temperatures are in the 80's. Which means hunting through the summer clothes in the attic to find some shorts and tees.

Oh dear, what an awful thought!! Florida in January.

Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?