Let’s Stick With This

 My best guess is the Blogger App would not update and that was causing my problem, probably in conjunction with the old I-Pad not being able to update to the newest ISO so by going through Safari I have it working again.  It is not as convenient as using the App but like many things in life, I will deal with it.

I may leave something out or repeat myself but I will start with last weekend.  We had to change our theater tickets from the first weekend in March to the third weekend when we would be home.  Gerre and Barry could not do it Friday so we opted for Saturday and just didn’t go to dinner so we could attend church.  They had grandkids’ ball games so it all worked out.

The play was Godspell and they did a superb job!  Their mudicals are usually their best efforts, though we enjoy the range of plays they choose.  There have been one or two I could have skipped.  But again, I just deal with it.

Sunday evening, our elusive Israeli neighbors stopped by for a visit.  They arrived home before us, took off Tuesday and we will leave before they return.  I received a set of three lotions from Wiesbaden, Germany in the classiest black bag and box I have ever seen.  It isn’t necessary for them to buy me things for the few things we do in their absence,  Lord knows we are like two ships passing in the night as it is!  But she insists.

I invited our Tennessee friends for lunch on Monday while they are in town.  We hadn’t seen them for quite awhile and everyone looked great, all of us having lost weight.  While I did WW, they did keto.  The best exercise or diet is the one you will do so to each his own.  We had a nice visit for a few hours catching up.

Tuesday I did laundry and my friend Judy stopped by to give me a gift.  It was an umbrella.  During an outing I had left my umbrella under a chair and when I went back for it, it was gone.  She is so sweet.  We got to talking about all the wildflowers in bloom and were trying to identify the ones we had seen so far.  As a thank you, I ordered a Texas Wild Flower book from Amazon that was delivered to her the next day!

I took it easy on Wednesday,  I had been so busy getting caught up I just did what I had to but nothing extra.  Thursday I worked on our taxes.  I had been missing one K-1 and got to thinking maybe they sent it to my old email.  It took some doing but I finally had it sent via my new email.

Thursday I was invited to breakfast by Jody and we had an almost 3 hour meal!  But we got caught up.  Time just flies by when you are with friends that are so easy to talk to.  It is like no time has elapsed at all.  Before we leave for the summer I will invite her to lunch one day.  If you don’t make time, it never happens.

From there I went to play Shanghai.  I did great until the last hand and then got caught and went from tied for 1st to 5th!  I dealt with it!

We have a friend receiving medical care at Methodist in Houston.  Another couple who are mutual friends are with them at one of the RV parks near the Medical Center.  The fellows asked Ted where they could shoot and he arranged for them to come to his club on Friday.  The girls stayed behind because with 3 treatments a day, it was too much for Jana.  Once he had gone to meet them I looked at the calendar and realized I had to get blood drawn for my Tuesday hematologist appointment.  Ted was home when I got back but I left shortly thereafter for a haircut.

I spent the evening finishing up our taxes.  Because I paid the same Estimated Taxes this year because I didn’t know how much the new tax bill would affect us, we are getting a tidy sum back.  I also can send much less each quarter this year.

Life is Good!

I Think I Can

Tuesday we made our way to Apple and bought a new I-Pad. Since Tommy had kept on me to get a new one, Ted texted him we were at the Apple store. I told him there was no Apple store in the valley and he would just have to be patient! Once we completed our transaction, we met them for dinner at the Mexican place. He helped me check out the new I-Pad and is offering suggestions on how to learn to use it and this Wordpress.

Thursday I weighed in and am still 4 lbs. below goal. I am doing well. Then we drove to Lufkin and looked at two RVs. I found a layout I like but these two aren’t just what we would consider. We are going to be gone again until mid April so that is on the back burner and may just stay there.

Ted had cleaned the courtyard, deck and furniture and I did the front porch and furniture. The lawn people came today so the outside is presentable again. The pollen was terrible this year! The laundry is done, things put away, mail and taxes handled, so I did some dusting, mopping and vacuuming today (actually Rhomba did it). Ted delivered the things we got for Carol earlier in the week but we had things for John and Irene so we met with them at Landry’s for dinner Friday night. It was good to catch up and certainly didn’t feel as if 2+ months had gone by.

I appreciate you all hanging in with me and the blog. I hope to learn quickly!

Progreso, Mexico 

Well I can’t seem to add anymore so I will stop here.

To Photo or Not To Photo

It seems this app needs to be updated by the developers!  There is a photo icon that goes to my albums, it shows a circle completing and says Upload, then nothing appears.  I will mess with Wordpress and see how that works!  I hope the developers decide to fix it!

Blogger is apparently going away as I know it.  Google is not supporting and/or doing away with various platforms.  Photos will still not post on my new I-Pad.  I have tried to sign up on Wordpress.  They tell me they are sending an email for me to confirm but none never comes.  

Not sure where to go from here!

OMG - The Mail!

We arrived in Victoria early enough to set up, eat ribs at Uncle Mutt’s and attend Mass at 4 pm.  We were happy to get home and call it an early evening.

We left about 9:15 the next morning.  We had decided to take The Grand Parkway, the third circle freeway around Houston (though it is not completed yet).  We would pick it up before Sugarland and get off at I-45.  Thank goodness I put it in my GPS because it is not real apparent where you leave 59 to pick up 99.  I led the way and when I got off 59 it was not clear cut how to get on 99 but I followed the purple line of the GPS and did it!  Ted had complete faith in me and just followed.  Another problem was at one point it said to take 290 to Austin.  What??  I knew not to do that but stayed in that lane in case it led to 99 north.  At the last minute it said move left to continue on 99 North.  Gee thanks!  But we made it!  

We spent the rest of the day unloading the trailer.  Getting 2+ months purchases, clothes and food from there to here was tiring.  Despite having everything spic and span earlier in the week, the light rain made everything dirty again.  After dinner I tackled a huge box of mail.  I was able to separate garbage from things I needed to tend to.  Then I went to bed.

Monday, Ted left to finish up at the trailer and then called me when it was time to put the trailer back in storage.  It takes two so he knows when he has backed in far enough.  After all, it is over 40 ft. behind him.  He worked on the pollen laden outdoor furniture, deck and porch while I worked on that mail calling my name when we returned home.  We went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner after I started the first of four loads of laundry.  It was a long three days!

Despite having our calendar cleared until Saturday evening, I was invited to lunch on Tuesday with three Forum friends to pass off all the games I bought for the Silent Auction basket.  I was in a pretty good place with the taxes, laundry and putting things away so I agreed.  Two big shopping bags out of the house!  

I met Diane, Susan and Kathryn and passed the bags, went over our two basket contents and did the paperwork because we are a charity and need such things.  It was nice catching up on the Forum news and was a pleasant afternoon.

Ted suggested we go find a new IPad.  Sam’s will sell you one.  Good luck setting it up!  Best Buy will transfer for you as soon as they finish getting accredited.  So off to Apple which is probably where we should have started to begin with.  I told them of my Apple ID problem and it took three associates to finally fix the problem.  At least I hope it is fixed!  I am finishing downloading apps that didn’t come over and so far so good except for Words With Friends.  I had a previous account and it is the one that showed up.  So I notified the current players of my "new name" so we can continue to play.

I am going to start a new blog to see about photos.  The Apple guy said Blogger has only 1.6 out of 5 and lots of photo problems in the comments.  I may have to switch to Wordpress.

The End of Our Winter Sojourn

Tuesday we drove to the detailers and left my car.  Then Rick and his crew arrived to start washing the trailer.  In the meantime Eugenia came to clean inside.  I told her if it was high or low it was dirty.  To polish all the wood requires a ladder that Ted doesn't want me climbing and floors, baseboards, behind the toilet, between the shower and vanity, etc. requires crawling around and I physically cannot do that.  So for right now, the RV inside and out is clean as well as my car inside and out.  Until it rains!  It will be a smaller job emptying it and just putting it away versus having to clean everything.  Because we are leaving again in 2.5 weeks we hope to get permission to plug in so I don't have to empty the refrigerator.  Of course then every time I need something it will be "in the trailer!"  

We decided to drive to Alton to have chicken again and invited Sue and Niles along.  We had some good laughs talking about traveling mishaps in Europe.  

Wednesday we attended the Open House picnic for the gun range improvements.  I sure hope a new, updated IOS I-Pad fixes this "cannot post" problem for photos.  From about 3 tables to a full shade cover shooting stands and separate picnic area complex, the work put in was enormous.  Ted helped with the painting and screen stretching part after the welding was done.

For his part we were invited to a potluck for all the workers on Thursday.  I made warm, German potato salad and bought an apple pie at HEB.  If I do say so myself, the potato salad was as close to my mom's as I have ever made.  A lady asked how I made it and a fellow chimed in saying it was great.  Made me feel good.  Earlier in the day we had dropped Ted's truck off to be washed and waxed and then we both got haircuts.  I came home and got rid of the gray!  Then we went back for the truck.  All was clean.  Then it rained!

Friday I hit the nail salon.  I knew I had more time here than when I get home.  Two months of mail, our taxes, Ted's sister in law's taxes, 8 medical appts and another 10 day trip in the next month will keep me busy.

I played mahjongg in the afternoon and won 2 games after a long drought!  It was a fun time with lots of laughter.  When I returned home Ted was in the backyard.  The electric and water had been turned off too early!  We plugged in to our backyard neighbor's post with his permission and Niles used channel locks to turn the water back on.  We contacted the owner, he apologized for the mixup and I was able to tell him all was well.  

We went back to the Italian restaurant we had been to the week before with Gerre and Barry for dinner and had the same waitress who recognized us!  Two meatless Friday's down, five to go!  It's hard to imagine we used to do this every Friday!  

Tomorrow we will drive to Victoria and spend the night.  If we drive straight through we would hit Houston traffic mid to late Saturday afternoon and then have to go to church Sunday.  This way we can stop and fuel my car, go to church, eat dinner and leave early enough Sunday morning to miss bad traffic.  Sounds good in theory!  We will be at Woodlands Lake emptying the trailer on Sunday and putting it back in storage on Monday morning.  

It will be good to get home and get things caught up but it is with heavy hearts we leave our friends and "second home" until next year.  

A Visit With Friends

I am really slacking off!  What I am writing is off the top of my head.  Let's see what I can remember!

Gerre and Barry arrived on Wednesday later than originally planned.  She was in charge of her church's Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and they started out Wednesday morning later than planned. 

Ted and I attended the Ash Wednesday Lenten service and then we picked them up for dinner at Cracker Barrel where I ate trout and Ted had pancakes.  

Thursday we traveled to Mexico but we were caught behind the road patching caravan and it took 1.5 hours!  Our first stop was Almost Free pharmacy and then on to El Disco where Gerre did a bit of shopping.  We met up with the boys in Pancho's Bar, already on  their second margarita.  From there we headed to Jessica's for Ted's eyedrops but didn't even stay for the free margarita.  We received farewell hugs from the owners who wished us safe travels.  

That evening we went to Golden Chick for their roasted chicken for me and Gerre and tenders for Ted and Barry.  We have learned they are mostly in small Texas towns and Alton, TX fills that bill.  We all agreed it is great food for little money.  We came back to the coach house for a game of Shamghai.  Gerre had a Shanghai and didn't even realize it at first.  I also was holding one, needing to draw a card that would fit but with three jokers to manipulate, but I never got the chance!  

Friday our guests went to find a Sun Hut to use a gift card and in the afternoon we played mahjong while the fellows went to Da Range as our gun range is aptly named.  Sue had pointed out an Italian restaurant when we were shopping so we chose that for our meatless Friday dinner.  The pineapple pizza with extra sauce on thin crust was excellent.  We will certainly go back.

I was under the weather again Saturday morning so begged off a trip to the Mexican flea market.  By 10 am I was feeling much better so our afternoon and evening plans stayed intact.  The annual Toppa Hoppa (not sure what that means) started at 3:00.  We all went to the clubhouse for wrist bands and to buy into the "game."  There were 5 food stations and one dice roll when you bought your game sheet. You had to roll 5 die and get a 6 to get your ship, then a 5 to get your captain and the cumulative score of all 5 die to get your crew.  

My first roll I got my 6.  At our first stop I got a 5 and we bought $2 margaritas from the roving wagon and feasted on Frito pie.  Next stop was 1-2 ribs and cole slaw.  I threw a total of 18 for my "crew."  Our third stop was pulled pork and broccoli salad.  I was getting full so gave the pork to Ted.  I rolled in the teens.  Fourth stop was charro beans and mini corn muffins.  Three spoonfuls of beans and one bite of muffin and I was done.  I rolled in the teens again.  Our last stop was chicken Hawaiian skewers.  There was no way I could even think of eating it.  The chicken chunks were huge!  Someone gave me a ziplock bag and I took ours home. We stopped at the clubhouse for a brownie bite and one inch square cheesecake.  My total crew was 63.  Scores in the 80s won the first three prizes but Ted and Barry tied for last place with just 6 that they finally got at the end.  Barry won the roll off!  We said our farewell because they were taking off early in the morning.  They promised to return next year possibly for Smokin' on the Rio if the dates work.

I played mahjongg in the afternoon and we attended evening Mass at Our Lady of San Juan of the Valley Basilica.  Their 15 piece mariachi band provided the music and singing cantor.  Mass was a combination of English, Spanish and Latin.  Some I got, some I didn't.  We had dinner at BJs where I tried their tri tip sliders.  There are four but I put half the meat on one, the other half on another and didn't eat the two extra buns.  They were good and I would get them again.  

Monday the people to wash our RV did not show.  Ted tried three times to call but got no answer and there was no way to leave a message.  He called Rick who had been too busy and he said he would work us in Tuesday in the afternoon.  Ted emptied our tanks, checked all 14 of our tires and started gathering his things together in the coach house.  We took down my two card tables and put up the table Norm had given us along with four chairs.  We will leave that along with the tower heater he gave us too.  I have all the meds sorted by person and the games are in two Jessica Pharmacy sturdy shopping bags.  I emptied our hall closet and put the coach house things away and re-organized everything.  We are good to go!