Going Home

I got up at 3:15 for a trip to the bathroom and Larry said he'd been up since 1:30 and couldn't fall back to sleep because of indigestion. I said if he couldn't sleep we might as well leave now. At 3:30 he agreed and by 4:45 after we finished packing the car we were on the road. That was more than 3 hours ago.
Now we have to decide our route home. Do we dare stay on 95???
At 8:15 we stopped for a break and got coffee and Egg McMuffins (yummy but 8 PP).

Today we've gone through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia. We took 95 and we haven't had any traffic problems. The rest areas in NC are much nicer than the ones in SC.

A month at The Villages - our last week

April 21, Saturday - Happy 5th Anniversary
Nadine and Michael left before 8:00 this morning.  Nadine had an evening flight and tomorrow an Open House for her own house MLS# 603457
Note 5/13/12:  The house sold in 18 days but the pictures are here for now:  http://www.trulia.com/homes/Pennsylvania/Newtown/sold/20728162-241-Bucks-Meadow-Ln-Newtown-PA-18940

A month at The Villages - Nadine & Michael - April 18-20

April 18, Wednesday
I was expecting Nadine & Michael on Wednesday afternoon, so when the doorbell rang at 11:30 and I was still in my pajamas I was surprised to see them at the door.  Neither of them had heard their phones ring when I called to find out what time they thought they would arrive.  I was concerned that we might not be home when they got here, what a joke.

We took a golf cart tour around the neigborhoods and then stopped for lunch at Mallory Country Club.  We had three Angus burgers and Michael had a portobello.

A month at The Villages - April 16-17

April 16 - Monday
Fred left today around 11:00.  Larry and I took a golf ride over to Lake Miona Rec Center to check out their fitness walk.

A month at The Villages - Fred's Visit - April 12-15

April 11, Wednesday
We took a walk to the Coconut Cove Rec center and played shuffleboard.  Larry beat me every time.  We had smoothies for lunch and then I went to the pool and Larry took a nap.  My neck seems to be getting better.  At least my back isn't hurting me so much even though I can still hardly move my neck.  Today is the day Fred is really supposed to come.  At least for tonight Larry thought we should have dinner when he got here.  Yesterday he didn't seem to think he would want to eat.

Fred did come and we had meatballs and spaghetti for dinner.

April 12 - Thursday
Larry took Fred for a drive in the golf cart to see some of the sights around the Villages and I stayed home to do yoga.

 The next 3 pictures are of  our neighborhood and house

I'm sitting at the pool now watching everyone standing around, feeling like I'm a character in the movie Cocoon, and looking back on my day.
This video is how the Villagers do laps.

"Maybe today would be the day my neck and back pain would be gone," I thought as I opened my eyes. No such luck. So I followed my neck recovery plan of the week and went into the glorious walk-in shower to let the hot water pour over my back and neck, every once in awhile upping the temperature as I would get used to it. I followed this with a few doses of my heat pad. While I was doing this Larry and Fred had breakfast and then went out in the golf cart for a partial tour of The Vilages and I was going to tackle the last part of my recovery - the Neck and Shoulder yoga routine that I've done for ages.. I took some pictures as they were leaving and when I walked back into the garage tripped over this uneven part of concrete and nearly fell flat on my face. Maybe the jolt would push my back into some normal alignment. Unlucky again, but at least I didn't fall on my face.

After yoga came breakfast and The View and with some more back pain I applied the "muscle pain" oil.

Dinner tonight was at The Lighthouse. We shared calamari for an appetizer. Larry and I had the pepper encrusted tuna salad and Fred had salmon AND I forgot to take any pictures until I was down to my last piece.

April 13 - Friday - Happy Friday the 13th
Just another day at The Villages but I actually woke up without the normal nerve pain on my back.  In fact, late yesterday afternoon, after the pool I felt like it was going away but didn't want to get too excited about it.  In the back of my mind, when I ordered the massager I thought that the pain would probably go away since I was ordering it.  It did arrive while I was cooking dinner but haven't used it yet.
Larry and Fred went to play golf after going to the pool.  We did some sightseeing around Spanish Springs and other areas that Fred hadn't seen plus we were able to catch some action at the Polo Field again.

Made one more check at another Publix for that elusive Mocha Almond Fudge Edy's ice cream.  I did an early morning run to Publix for the things I was going to need to make Chicken Tortilla Soup and they didn't have it there.  I bought a container in Spanish Springs last Monday.

April 14 - Saturday
I can't remember much of what we did on Saturday but Fred convinced us to have 2nds at Happy Hour.

April 15 - Sunday
It was another lazy day today.  Fred and Larry had a shuffleboard playoff and then there was some pool time for Fred and I.  Larry took a nap (or watched golf).  We went to Mallory for dinner.

A month at The Villages - April 1-11

My goal here is to keep a diary of what we're doing during our month at The Villages.  Of course we've already been here for over a week so I'm going to have to count on my memory.
April 1-11  As I just wrote this date I realized that our month is almost half over!  Where did the time go?

April 1, Sunday was written about --> here <-- and below are some pictures of our place.

April 2, Monday
Based on what I wrote for Sunday, today must have been the day we went to the driving range to see if I could swing without it hurting.  When we got to the range we found that it had moved to the other side of the body of water where you hit your balls into and that there was now a permanent structure.
I didn't feel any pain from the practice but opted to just ride when Larry went to play later in the afternoon rather than risk finding out too late that I shouldn't have.

 The turtle below is know as a Florida Softshell Turtle identified by it's pointy nose.

We also went to the pool for awhile in between the golfing activities and for dinner we had cheese and crackers and a Vodka & Tonic.

April 3, Tuesday
We played some modified tennis and pickleball.  I was concerned about my knee more than anything else and my shoulder was secondary.  I was all outfitted in my protective gear for all my past, present and potential injuries.

Earlier we took a trip to Walmart to buy tennis balls and also bought some more groceries.  That night we tried our version of the Chicken and Asparagus.

April 4, Wednesday
Today I woke with my back and neck in some pain.  More about that was written here and I'll try to stay clear of talking about that anymore except as a sideline if necessary.  We walked into town, went to the pool and made yet another trip to Publix and had a big salad for dinner.
After seeing the signs about not feeding the alligators

 you'd think I wouldn't have been surprised to find a real alligator.



April 5, Thursday
Another day for a walk and the pool.  Larry played golf and I stayed home and made meatballs which I froze.  Dinner was hot dogs, a good quick after golf meal.

April 6, Friday
I went to Yoga at the Lake Miona Rec Center.  It was classified as an intermediate class and I was concerned about how I would do because of my "not to be mentioned" pain.  But there wasn't any flowing just a lot of stretching and I was glad that I went.  It was a large class of over 40 people.  Larry came along with his Kindle and waited for me.  While we were there we got the guest passes for Fred, Nadine and Michael.  Later we took the golf cart over to the Polo Field and watched a match.

 At half time we helped tamp down the divets

 We didn't actually have any wine, the man who took our picture trusted Larry to hold his glass

For dinner we had some hearty appetizers - salmon dip from Sweetbay and imitation crab meat with hot sauce and Larry's delicious V&T.

April 7, Saturday
There was a craft show and sale at Sumter Landing this weekend so we walked over to check it out.  It was a huge one and we found a woman selling medicinal oils.  I gave on a try and bought a vial.  It did make the pain much better.  We also found a couple who were selling coffee called Coffee Gourmet NY and I noticed on the apron the woman was wearing the area code 914,  Westchester County so of course I had to stop and talk.  It turned out that her best friend was someone I thought I went to high school with and her husband had taught at Longfellow Jr High School which was where I went but he was there after me.

We had chicken leftovers that night.

April 8, Sunday - Happy Easter
We went to Easter Sunday Mass at 9:00 and it's a good thing we left 45 minutes early for the 15 minute drive because we got stuck in bumper to bumper traffic and then had to go in the social hall which also had SRO.  When we left the traffic was already built up for the next mass and in the midst of it all, an ambulance had to come through it.

We went back to the craft show and I got more oils and confirmed with Barbara Shein (from coffee company) that her friend had indeed been in my high school class.  Larry watched the Masters and I went to the pool.  For our Easter dinner we had tilapia, sweet potatoes and asparagus.

April 9, Monday
Off to the pool again on Monday and then when Larry went to play golf I went to Weight Watchers.  I needed to do my official weigh-in for the month and I was anxious to see what the store concept looked like since Penfield is in the process its conversion to a store.

 I lost 3 pounds YEA!!  being in pain has some advantages.  Finally it started to feel like my back didn't give me jiggling pain when I walked.  We had crabmeat and a lobster tail for dinner on the lanai with V&T.  One of our favorite casual appetizer kind of dinners.

April 10, Tuesday
These was the day we were expecting Fred to arrive.  He was flying into Orlando and then taking the Villages shuttle out here.  Larry thought he would arrive around 7:00 and was going to call when he got here.

We drove around the Villages in the golf cart and looked at some Open Houses.

We were going to one at 2:00 but it was only 1:30 so we went to Mallory GC for lunch.  I had a juicy hamburger and Larry had pork sliders.

For dinner we had peanut butter pretzels and V&T.  Good thing I lost 3 pounds.

At 7:30 we hadn't heard from him.  By 8:30 we still hadn't heard.  "Larry aren't you wondering why you haven't heard from Fred?  Maybe you should call him, he might have lost your number and is just sitting there waiting for you."  Finally Larry decided to call and when he looked on his phone for Fred's cell number, he didn't have it.  He had assured me that they had each other's numbers.  I knew I had his son Paul's number in an email so got it for him.  When Larry reached Paul to get Fred's number, Paul said Fred wasn't coming until tomorrow!

April 11, Wednesday
We took a walk to the Coconut Cove Rec center and played shuffleboard.  Larry beat me every time.  We had smoothies for lunch and then I went to the pool and Larry took a nap.  My neck seems to be getting better.  At least my back isn't hurting me so much even though I can still hardly move my neck.  Today is the day Fred is really supposed to come.  At least for tonight Larry thought we should have dinner when he got here.  Yesterday he didn't seem to think he would want to eat.

Fred did come and we had meatballs and spaghetti for dinner.

Location:Cokesbury Dr,,United States

And yet another pain

I can't believe this year.  Just when I thought I was starting to feel good one more pain came on the scene.  We played some mild tennis the day after we got to the villages.  Just hit back and forth.  No games, no score, no competition.  I felt fine when done but the next morning I woke with some tennis elbow as well as neck and upper back pain.  It still hasn't gone away and I can barely turn my neck.  This neck pain is nothing new but we always blamed it to spending too much time knitting or crocheting when we were driving long distances.  I didn't do that this time.

I have self diagnosed myself and think that I have misaligned my spine.  According to this website http://hrgroups.ning.com/profiles/blogs/2131108:BlogPost:4631  you can do that from anything, and this is my year.

I also feel like it's having a big impact on my nerves, pressing on them or something.  I've been doing my favorite neck and shoulder yoga which usually always helps but I don't feel so many bones rearranging themselves this time.  From this website, http://www.neworleanschiropractic.net/chiropractic/effects-of-misalignment.html,  I deduced that I have a C6 Verterbrae misalignment.  I hope it aligns itself soon!!!

What would you do?

I don't picture John Quiñones asking this question on his TV show but this is just something to think about.

 You and your spouse/partner are on vacation. After a week at a rental unit the other party washed the towels and put them in the dryer. When they were done you were the only one home. Being a nice person you took them out and hung them up where they belonged.

The two bath towels that were used were similar but not the same. You didn't remember which one was the one you used for the week.

The main difference was one was practically new and very soft. Which one would you take for yourself?

Paper

I downloaded a new app for my ipad called Paper.  You can use it to draw, take notes, sketch, or whatever you can do on paper.
There are some great examples here --> http://www.blog.fiftythree.com
These are some of my attempts.  So far I just bought the additional color brush for the app and just ordered a stylus to use with it because I thought it would work better than my finger.

I wish I had talent! 

Chicken and Asparagus

We sampled a couple of recipes at Publix and combined ingredients from them and made up our own.

Chicken and Asparagus

Ingredients: (use as much as you need)
fresh asparagus
boneless chicken breasts
roasted peppers and onons
blackened seasoning
olive oil

The Villages

We left Orlando yesterday morning and arrived at The Villages by 11:00.  The previous night on our way to the mall we got stuck in so much traffic that we wound up going directly to church.  On the way home we stopped at a Subway and bought a sandwich to share back in the room.  We were anxious to get out of there the next day.  The place we stayed was nice but more family oriented than we wanted to be.  Too many kids, been there - done that!  Now we're with the old folks but since it's Easter there'll be grandkids all over the place, but not ours.

Check in was  a breeze, we went to Publix to stock up on some good food after our previous 3 days of not such good eating and a bunch of buy one get one free bargains.  We sampled a good chicken dish and bought the ingredients to make a modified version.  There was an unexpected brief downpour in the afternoon and by the time we were thinking about dinner it was too late to make the chicken.  We decided to have hot dogs instead but never bought the sauerkraut and beans so we took the golf cart to Sweetbay.

At first we couldn't get the golf cart to start.  It had been charging all afternoon but it seemed dead.  I went inside to read the notes about the golf cart in case there was a clue.  The only thing it said was to check the batteries for water.  When we lifted the seat, I saw a switch that was set to off.  One flip of the switch and we were off.

Then when we were at Sweetbay we heard "Hi guys!" and there was Susie Q.  Friends from back home, who we haven't seen since we were all here 2 years ago, we ran into at the grocery store.  We don't even run into each other at Wegmans and Joyce & Richard live in the same town.

Last Full Day in Orlando

Today is the 1st day of rain we've had all week. It was sunny this morning while we got caught up watching Game Change on HBO. If you didn't like Sarah Palin before, you won't like her any more after the movie. Then we went out for a walk, played 2 rounds of miniature gold - Larry won both and we're going to sit at the pool but it was already too clouded.
Back to the room we went to see what was on HBO - could be a movie day. While we were watching X2 it got very dark, started to thunder and then the rains came. "Do not Disturb" sign went on the door - it may be awhile before we step out again.

Well it looks like the sun is out and the movie isn't even over. We're going to the outlet mall to do some walking around (my butt is really sore) and then to the church next door. Tomorrow we can just get up and go to The Villages at our leisure. A short one hour max drive.




- Posted using BlogPres from my iPad

Location:Chelonia Pkwy,Orlando,United States