Last Week, Mixed Feelings

Nothing much happened Monday, we fielded a few calls on the motorhome and have finally heard from a few legitimately interested in purchasing an RV.  Since we are getting ready to move, we are holding back a bit so we can get home, empty and clean it before having lookers.  

Marisa and I had our annual girls’ day out Tuesday, getting our facials.  I also had some waxing done!  These hormone therapy pills are playing havoc with all kinds of things.  She did a great job and I really could see a difference in my skin.

Then we took Steve and Patty, who are parked next to us, to Texas de Brazil steakhouse as a thank you for the meals Steve has cooked in his smoker and shared, the checking to be sure our water and electric were  turned on and sharing their Wi-Fi password with us until we got our communication problems squared away.  I wasn’t sure I would ever be hungry again!  It was all so very good.

Our last (possibly forever) Newmar luncheon was Wednesday.  I don’t know if there was some kind of Hispanic holiday or celebration but Golden Corral was full!  And then a mariachi band came in and played.  We saw Paul and Ruth (old HitchHiker friends) again but didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.  Ted went to find the busboy that took care of our group in the private room and then we did not see them. Ted was shooting at 2:00 and was in a hurry to get home.  I did laundry and read my book.

Thursday, despite what has happened in Matamoros, we went to Progreso to finish up our shopping.  The US side parking lot was full.  The streets were crowded with winter Texans and no one seemed too concerned about what happened 85 miles away in Matamoros.  We have NEVER in 15 years, crossed into Matamoros or Reynosa, they have been considered dangerous for as long as I can remember.  They are big cities with major roads from the interior of Mexico coming in.  Progreso is a 3 block little village of restaurants, souvenir shops, pharmacies and dentists.  I know of only two incidents in all these years happening there and neither involved US citizens.  Ted had his pedicure, I bought what I needed and home we came.

Kelly and CeCe flew to Florida to visit Kristin and the three of them headed to Disney the very next day.  They were there bright and early on Thursday.  It was a “do over” for our August Covid escapade last year.

Upon arrival in the FL sun!

On our way to Disney World,

Buzz Lightyear

Sporting my Minnie ears.

Friday 

Best way to visit the Hall of Presidents.  Comfortable chairs, AC, dark, enough time to catch a few winks! 

Friday was back to Disney starting with breakfast at Topolina’s

She had a ball with Grammie and Auntie Kristin fawning all over her.  

Wrapping It Up

We were invited for fajitas at Sue and Nile’s house on Thursday.  They were kind enough to switch it from Wednesday when we declined the invitation because of Ash Wednesday and we would not be able to eat meat.  The lady starting with dementia across the street who lost her husband Christmas Eve was there with her daughter and son in law who are trying to wrap up her affairs.  I’m not quite sure what the long term plans are for her.  Jim and Karen did not come because they both had colds.  

With Bill and Ornell gone, we attended church alone but picked up Jay and Stella afterwards to have dinner at Golden Chick and then attend a show at their park.  It just so happened they had a group of 20 people coming and had reserved four tables.  It worked out well for us.  Piano Man put on a very good show.  

Stella’s birthday was this week so the same group went to Dirty Al’s for dinner on Sunday.  I chose not to play mahjong so I could clean the RV and do some laundry and we could leave at 3:30 to get to the restaurant in time.  We had a chicken and fish botana and brought five chicken tenders home.  I have been using them as snacks in lieu of lunch!  

Other friends Don and Trudy who were unable to come for the season have come down from Nacogdoches for a visit.  Ted took Don to sporting clays in Edinburg on Monday and Trudy picked me up for some shopping.  I had been wanting to go to Sketchers and finally made it.  I bought two pairs for the summer and all our travels.  Then we went to the new boutique opened nearby by the gal who owns Lionel’s.  She always was 1/3 of the Retama fashion shows for years.  The other two have gone out of business and taking different routes while Sandy opened her second shop.  I bought a bright, cheerful yellow blouse for my cruise in May!  That evening we went to BJ’s with them and Karen and Dave.  

It was back to the dentist on Tuesday.  We left at 8:00 and we were back home about 11:15.  Considering it is over a half hour to drive there, we hit a traffic jam of a semi on fire, and I had 2 fillings taken care of, that timing was amazing.  The Customs officer asked me what I was taking back and I said “two fillings.” He waved me on!  Recently at home I had a root canal with a temporary filling ($1300).  Then I paid my Dentist $200 to put a permanent filling in.  Down here I had a cleaning, check up, photos, panorama X-ray and two fillings for $250.  Ted’s cleaning was $40.  

It was a low key day Wednesday  I bought hair coloring in Mexico simply because it was there  I chose based on photo and number because the description was in Spanish  and so were the instructions!  No bilingual here!  Good thing I knew how to use it and the color turned out ok.  Then I got my hair cut!  

Thursday was ladies’ breakfast again and a good sized group turned out - close to 20!  I rode with Mimi and Mary since Sharon and Marisa were not going.  I offered to drive!

To send Trudy and Don off, we went to 492 BBQ with them and Mimi and Jim.  Everyone enjoyed their food and fellowship until it was time to say goodbye.  They will not return to Retama as season renters anymore. We will miss them.  

We attempted to attend the fish fry at Mission West on Friday but as we got out of the car ladies exiting the hall said they were all out of fish!  So a nearby Whataburger had a Whatacatch sandwich for Lent so that had to do. But it was good!

The season is ending and the entertainers are heading back to Branson so we went to card bingo next door instead of a show after church and dinner.  Ted got down to one card twice, I never moved.  

I played mahjong on Sunday then we went to the Pizzaria at Niles’ request.  We are now down to a dozen days until we head for home.

We are getting requests about the RV but the first have been dealers, consignment companies and scammers.  We are being extremely careful and have learned that an escrow at our brokerage firm to receive funds send the crooks on their way.  We are in no hurry and have decided if the right deal does not come along we will simply use it this summer and re-evaluate our winter plans in the fall.  

Need to Put My Nose to the Grindstone

Our time here has just flown by. There are three things I still need to do, one being the dentist.  But we are invited out this week again. Don and Trudy are coming next week and we will spend time with them. They had dr appts and could not come down for the winter. Simon and Garfunkel is Tuesday and a tour of the Gelman stained glass windows museum is coming up.  These are located at the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan of the Valley in San Juan TX. The Basilica itself is worth a visit. We have attended Mass there.  A small museum is attached to the church and life size metal sculptures of the Stations of the Cross are spread throughout the gardens. I am looking forward to this trip. 

We were able to see our favorite comedy duo Spittin’ Image on Saturday night.  We tried to see them in Ohio last summer but couldn’t get the dates to work out!  Great musicians and singers as well as comedians.

Monday we went to the dentist and after cleaning and photos he suggested I get two very old (silver) fillings replaced in two upper molars. One filling looked like a bow, it had separated into several pieces. The other one was not as bad.  He was concerned about a back molar on the bottom but after a panorama X-ray he determined it was a wisdom tooth, was no worse than the other two but was doing absolutely nothing because it didn’t hit my upper teeth.  He said if it gives me trouble to have it pulled.  It would serve no purpose to try to save it with a root canal and crown.  I didn’t see that coming but I made an appt for next Tuesday to get the two upper fillings replaced.  Ted was fine.

Tuesday was Mardi Gras so when we left the clubhouse after playing mahjong, the golf carts were lining up for the parade and the Jambalaya was cooking in the kitchen.  

We were leaving at 6:15 to see The Simon & Garfunkel Story so we left the bead throwing and partying to the others.

 

The McAllen Performing Arts Center is gorgeous and the show was fantastic.  We were not in “peanut heaven” but Floor, Row 33, Center. Very good view of the two actors who looked very much like Art and Paul, but more importantly, sounded like them.  They started the story in their school day friendship telling their personal story and singing the songs about what was going on in their own lives and the world at large.  Certainly makes the words more meaningful when put in that context.   

 

Week 7

I finally got around to fixing a pot roast on Monday that I had lined up the whole weekend but different plans got in the way.  We planned to play card bingo at our park but we just finished eating at 6:45 and I was not walking out on all those dishes!  

Tuesday was mahjong and a beautiful card and 4-piece box of chocolates from Ted.  He knows not to buy me a big box of candy or flowers (nowhere to go with them) but he figured 4 pieces of candy would not get him in trouble.  

We had a bit of excitement on Wednesday.  First the electricity went out and all kinds of stories were circulating.  Eventually three poles were repaired but no one will say what hit them! At Margarita night later on at the park next door, Bill and Ornell were there holding a table and we were joined by their neighbors Wayne and Gail.  About 5:30, though we didn’t see or hear it due to the loud music, a meteor flew through the sky like a ball of fire (described by those who saw it) and caused a sonic boom.  They said it flew over Mission to west of here and landed but again no one seems to know where.  From a government that could track calves to a pen in Canada during mad cow, there seems to be a lot of “we don’t know, it was nothing or it won’t hurt you” going on all across our nation!  

Thursday was breakfast with the ladies and when I got home I made two key lime pies to take to Ornell’s spot next door.  They are our Cajun friends who live on the TX/LA border, also from TX Boomers, and she was making gumbo to serve to our other friends from home who are down here and a couple from Montreal.  They served them tamales earlier in the week but had to show them how to unwrap them to eat!

In the photos, Stella, from our Texas Boomers group, Ted and me.  Second one, Gail, Jay, Marlene and Mark.  Not shown, Wayne, Bill and Ornell.  It has been cool in the evenings and we ate outside, thus the jackets.

Ted, Ornell, Gail and I all went to card bingo and Gail won $32!  This weekend Spittin’ Image is performing and they are our favorite act to see. 

I have been busy working with the girls to book a 4 day weekend cruise on the Disney Wish to celebrate Kristin’s 50th birthday in May.  We have our plane tickets and cabin booked.  I am going down for a week arriving two days early and staying 2 days after.  

Then we will have a do over of our Covid interrupted Disney World trip of last August.  This one will be over Labor Day.  Kristin, Ted, CeCe (we have to kidnap her) and us will share a 2/2 family suite at the Grand Floridian for 4 days.  It sleeps 9 so we have all kinds of room including a full kitchen and LR.  We may do one day at Magic Kingdom but this will be more a resort vacation than park hopping.  Ted and I will fly down to be there a week spending the extra time at Kristin’s.

O

And our Barcelona to Dubai cruise is still on starting in November.  Whew!  

I may need all of 2024 to rest!  

Welcome to T-Mobile

When Ted could no longer get Messages, he attempted to contact Verizon and he could not reach them.  When they tried returning his failed calls they couldn’t understand each other, so we threw in the towel.  After dinner with Dave and Karen on Friday we went to T-Mobile which was right there in that strip mall.  We were able to keep our phones and phone numbers, they paid off the $400 balance remaining on the two phones, cut our monthly bill in half, gave us Netflix for life, and Paramount+ and Apple TV for one year.  What a deal.  It is working so far.  Now we need to see what kind of coverage we will have at home and while traveling.  Fingers crossed.  There is no contract so we can get out of it if we need to.  

Saturday we attended Mass and had dinner with Bill and Ornell.  We continued on our own to Mission West to see a live performance by Ron Mosier.  He put on a fantastic show.  Ted shot at Mission Skeet on Sunday while I played mahjong and we went to Pizzaria with Sue and Niles afterwards where I had great lasagna!

We had to return to T Mobile on Monday to tell them how we wanted our phone payoff credited.  The authorization had not come through yet so that was a waste of time.  I played mahjong Tuesday and won the first two games in record time.  Barb and I left early because Lark Drive was having a block party and I met up with Ted to attend.  There has been so much turnover that we as renters have been here longer than most everyone else.  We are in the second photo, on the left.  Ted is in a green shirt and I am on his right in pink.

Wednesday we met up with Paul and Ruth, Haulin’ Hitchhiker protégés, back to the early 2000s, when we both owned HitchHiker 5th wheels.  They now have a Newmar too so we all attended the Newmar owners monthly luncheon at the Golden Corral.  It was good to catch up with them.  They told us the old HitchHiker gang is having a rally in Shipshewana in October.  If we still have the motorhome we may just meet up with them all on our way back to Texas.  

Sue and I had a girls’ day out to Mexico on Thursday to get her dog his medicine and to pick up a few things I still needed.  We were unable to find Ted’s eye drops!  I think we have enough for the rest of the year but I will have to put them on Ted’s med list in the Medicare D questionnaire next year to be sure we get the best plan for him.  Good Rx lists it at $259 but I have no idea what it will be with our own insurance.  We stopped at a Tea Room in Hidalgo for lunch.  It was a cute place and the food was good.  We learned of three fun tours in the area to look at as day trips for the ladies.

Friday was back to mahjong and a bit of laundry.  Saturday was a big day.  The village garage sale was going on but we forgot all about it until we noticed the increased traffic.  Kathy’s children had cleared out the coach house across the street and probably some things from inside the motorhome.  I hope they got rid of some things.  They have been here 10 years so a lot has accumulated.  In another 4-6 weeks they will take Kathy back to Minnesota and get her settled in assisted living.  Smokin’ on the Rio BBQ cook off was held in Mercedes.  We have judged the food for several years but they changed the times and beans and chicken were up at 10 and 12.  That meant we couldn’t do ribs or brisket until 2 at the earliest.  With church at 4 it became a problem so we passed.  

It has been nice attending Mass with Bill and Ornell and then going to dinner.  We took them to Southern Fried and they loved it.  We are running out of our haunts!  They returned to the campground next door while we went to Fiesta Village to see a 50s singer.  He was a fun entertainer.  Lots of singing along, jeopardy type questions and funny answers from the audience.  

There was a Super Bowl party at the clubhouse but we chose to stay home in our recliners with our own pizza.  We have attended them in the past and most people are more interested in talking, drinking and eating than the game.  Once we sat in the front row of hard chairs and at half time we turned around and we were the only two people still there!

Great game and to our delighted surprise, Kansas City won.   

Chiefs WIN it!

Chiefs WIN it!

OMG The CHIEFS WIN IT!!!

Can You Say Cold?

The Brownsville couple came and really liked our motorhome.  They stayed almost two hours.  They too asked if bringing an inspector was ok and we said yes.  However, neither has done so yet.  I did get an email saying the second couple had requested an appraisal based on our build list and they would share that with us.  And they are having trouble finding an available inspector, they are booked to May.  I said fine, we will be here through mid March and then back to the Houston area until mid July.  

Today we went to Space X in Boca Chica.  It was so cold, windy and drizzly that we didn’t stay off the bus long at our stops.  We left here at 6:30 and returned about 2:30 and it didn’t warm up at all!  First photo is Airstream Park for employee living arrangements.  The second is a plot of land owned by someone who bought a “lot” years ago and has held it and now wants to sell it.  The two tall buildings are for assembling the rockets. The black and white rocket is supposed to go up this month.  Amazing to see this huge complex with no government involvement.  I am in the front row with beige arms standing in front of Ted.  There were 48 of us but not everyone wanted to get off the warm bus!  

Thursday morning was our ladies breakfast and I learned the lady with the new hip that I stayed with after her hip replacement fell and damaged her new hip.  She is having surgery today I think to repair the damage.  I believe she will go to a rehab facility when discharged.  Her husband is just not capable of caring for her.  

It was card bingo night and our Texas Boomer friend that we ran into at church has been attending with us.  We find a partner for her because Bill is not interested.  I won a dime game and Ted won a quarter game for a total haul of $25 in nickels and dimes.  Now Ted won’t have to go searching for change each week.  

Earlier in the day we had a cleaning machine demonstrated from our “winning” a free rug cleaning at the Expo.  We were really looking for someone to come clean our 4 x 35 strip on the big slide.  I explained this but they insisted on coming, so I said ok.  They cleaned the carpet but what they did for the white grout in our tile floor was amazing.  They use steam from water pressure only.  There was a stain from under our breadbox on the solid surface sink area and it cleaned it perfectly.  If it didn’t cost $2600 I would have bought it!  I also suggested they change their target customers to smaller cleaning companies where a few machines shared doing nothing but grout cleaning would be a huge success.  He said they can also do ovens but I didn’t have one to clean.  Ted gave the young man $25 for his tremendous efforts.  

Today is mahjong and then dinner at BJ’s with Karen and Dave.  And another week here is coming to a close.

Going Nuts!

This gosh awful lack of reliable communicating is driving me nuts!  15 years and no problems and all of a sudden nothing works as it should.  Today my phone calls said “cannot be completed as dialed.”  Everyone’s phone isn’t a viable number?  Off to park under the tower to do what we needed!  I may be home sooner than planned.

A friend had her hip replaced and needed a companion to sit with her while her daughter took her father to the dementia doctor.  I volunteered and spent a few hours visiting with her.  The next day I played Yahtzee again with Sue and Kathy, the widow across the street who is starting to show signs of dementia.  We can help her decide how to play her dice throws and she can add her score which I find remarkable.  My corporal works of mercy for this week.   

Thursday was ladies’ breakfast again.  Sharon has been driving me and Marisa each week.  Marisa does not drive and with only one car here, I don’t have to coordinate availability with Ted.  He usually keeps Thursday morning free but so far our breakfast threesome has done fine.  There was quite a crowd today!    

There was no card bingo this week, it will be on Saturday.  Next week we have an invitation to a shooter pal’s home for a cook out and our field trip to Boca Chico is coming up.  The best part of leaving this immediate area is we can get our phone to download all kinds of things hanging out there in space!

Friday night was pizza at the Pizzeria again. Niles is taking chemo so when he says he wants something to eat, we all go along with it. 

Saturday we attended Mass again with Bill and Ornell. They are enjoying Fr. Roy!  We went to 492 BBQ, just awarded restaurant award for cleanest restaurant and best ribs, then played card bingo. Ted up once. me up once, Ornell twice - but no luck!

The excitement yesterday was a transformer blew right before the Bengals game!  It was hot so Ted started up the generator so we had AC and TV until it was fixed.  Do not mention #58 of the Bengals please!  What a way to lose a game!  

This morning I made a chocolate eclair cake for our cook out this afternoon over in Alamo. 

A couple are coming tomorrow from Brownsville to look at the motorhome tomorrow.  They said afternoon. I will go ahead and play mahjong and let Ted be the salesman!  

Cindy and Tim are leaving for Aruba on Wednesday but my Valentine to Karen arrived in time for them to take it to the home for her before leaving.  They have to hide it from her or she would eat it all at once. The nurses give her a piece at a time. 

Living With Spotty Communications

We spent an inordinate amount of time to learn Verizon knows their tower is faulty and have no intention of doing anything about it.  T Mobile was upfront and said our address was listed as no internet service and ATT swore we would be good.  So we bought a prepaid hotspot from Walmart, loaded 15 gigs on it.  It was ok, not a lot to write home about though.  And in 5 days we were out of gigs!  I tried the website they gave us to load more time, and the ATT.com/prepaid did not work.  So off we went again.  To make a long story short, they swore we could not have used that much bandwidth unless we were streaming.  All we did was check our emails.  They finally wrote a note to Walmart to take back the hotspot because it did not work!  So we spent $100 and retrieved $50 of it.  And we are back to Verizon and most of the time I can’t get on the internet.  Messages is the most reliable communication so I have no idea what is going out and what isn’t without paying very close attention.  However, Jay called me when I was in Mexico and it worked fine on Mexican T Cell and Rafi our neighbor butt dialed me from Israel at 5 am and it came through.  But I can’t call Sue down the street!  

Tuesday we bought tickets for a tour of Space X in Boca Chica at South Padre Island, it is the launching area for Leon Musk’s Space launches.  I think it will be interesting.  I played mahjong and won a game.  Wednesday we met up with the Newmar owners group for lunch and stopped at Macy’s to shop a bit.  Sue and I joined Kathy (new widow with dementia) for a game of Yahtzee.  It is a game we can assist her with and she did ok.  Thursday we got a bite to eat before I got a haircut and we played Card Bingo next door at Bentsen Palms.  We didn’t win, didn’t even get close.  Friday was shooting and mahjong.  In the meantime we made arrangements with Steve next door to use his Wi-Fi in a pinch and also gave his phone numbers to our kids to use in an emergency if it becomes evident we are not getting the message and not responding, 

Everything is going fine not withstanding the dead body found in the river at the foot of our street.  We have not heard any particulars.  We were totally unaware until the people at the Newmar lunch asked what was going on at our end of the road.  We had to ask around to find out.

Here is a sunset as we came home one early evening.  We have been here two weeks and most nights our sunsets are spectacular.  

All my days are running together, broken up only by our quest for good communications.  We went to church/dinner/Neil Diamond legend show on Saturday.  We ran into Boomer friends from home at church and went for burgers with them plus Jay and Stella on Sunday.  The Expo was this week and we went one afternoon.  Boy can you see the recession in play there.  Even H‑E‑B known for their generous coupon books were not passing any out.  That evening we went with those same folks to Margarita Wednesday and stayed pretty late.  

Thursday was busy!  Breakfast with the ladies in the morning, a drive to Edinburgh for a funeral visitation for Rafi’s (our next door neighbor at home) house sitter’s mother.  Marina is a dear and we pick up the slack when she travels which is frequently.  She is going to stay in this area to take her father to Texas Oncology for treatment so Rafi asked us to have Nancy get the house key, the mailbox key and the current collected mail together for another friend who is stepping in!  Whew!  A quick stop at McDonald’s and on to card bingo.  I got down to one card twice but Bingo was called on the next card both times.

Friday was back to mahjong and I won a closed hand!  The highlight of the day!

We learned something Saturday.  Progresso, MX is crowded!  The lines looked as if the Americans were invading the Mexican border!  We had to stand in line to get in and out!  We bought Ted’s eye drops, back analgesic cream, some antibiotics, vanilla, etc.  We had a cinnamon roll at Renee’s while the mariachis entertained.

We went to church with Bill and Ornell, ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant and then saw a yodeling cowgirl show.  She has some voice!  

Sunday was mahjong and I won 3 games … first time ever.  I had stuff out for dinner but Sue called after dropping me off and said Niles wanted to go for pizza so we agreed. Bonnie joined us and we got caught up some since she just returned from vacation.

An Entire Week Searching For Phone and Internet Service

Not having communication service is frustrating as h*ll when you are used to having it at your fingertips! Verizon was useless in communicating with us and basically said they were not going to address it again.  From the Verizon folks here in Retama, there is an outage on the tower a mile from us and it has been for months!  Most everyone had to address it.  If you have Wi-Fi in your house, Verizon gave you a net extender so you could have calls over Wi-Fi.  Our motorhome does not have Wi-Fi, my Verizon phone Hot Spot was our internet.  So we tried T Mobile.  A friend came over with her T Mobile phone but only had one bar.  I checked their coverage and our address had no coverage it said.  So we tried ATT and they assured us their mobile hot spot would work.  And so far we have been ok.  What are the odds Verizon will give me credit for “no service” to pay for my ATT service?  Slim and none!  We spent an inordinate amount of time this week on that problem.  

Ted, Sue and I made a trip to Mexico and was it crowded!  Sue and I hit the pharmacies while we waited for Ted.  We will make several more trips over in the next 3 months!  I love lonches and no Mexican restaurant I have found in Houston makes them.  So a stop for lunch and also a cinnamon roll and coffee, with mariachi trio, at Renee’s is still on the back burner.

I played mahjong but didn’t win any games.  Ted went shooting in Edinburgh again and our crowd met for dinner at Southern Fried.  Best catfish ever!  So week one has been pretty routine except for the communication part!  Let’s hope ATT keeps working!  

Saturday we attended Mass with good old Fr. Roy.  Since it was the Epiphany I knew the three wise men would arrive complete with Philomena the llama serving as a camel!  And they did!  In the first photo if you look next to the brown head cover, the two white ears are the llama’s.  Once she bolted and jumped 5 pews.  

We were given a gold coin (chocolate wrapped in gold foil) from the wise men when we left.  

We had dinner out and went to a Branson show at Lemon Tree Park to see Goldwing Express.  $9 a ticket and I won a free appetizer at one steakhouse, a dessert at another and a free entree at Cowboy Chicken!  Three places to eat on Saturday nights!

Ted went to shoot on Sunday and no one was there, possibly because there was a tournament the day before.  I went to play mahjong and won two games, one of which was a closed hand!  So proud of myself!  

Rough Ending to 2022

Thursday we took some things to the motorhome and I couldn’t get the freezer drawer open.  With the slides in it was hard to get a tight grip but it felt like it was jammed.  Once we moved it to the park Ted was able to pull it and the glides had gotten “yucky” and were just sticking so Ted used WD40 on them and all is ok now.  These rigs just sitting is not good for them.  

Our microwave handle at home had pulled out at the bottom a good while back.  We glued it and it held until Patrick pulled on it at the bottom versus the top which we had trained ourselves to do and it pulled out again.  No time to do anything about it so we reglued it and will deal with getting a new one installed in March.  It has seen 20 years of service.  Same for the toilet seat that cracked and the washer that gave out on the last load of linens after 25 years of service not to mention hundreds of miles in being moved from Florida to Texas and in and out of storage.  We took the sopping wet sheets and towels to the motorhome where I spun the water out and then we took them home to dry.  One load at home = three in the motorhome dryer.  

So we finally thought all was good.  Decorations put away, motorhome packed up except for the refrigerator and freezer items and then my phone, email, texts and messages went berserk!    Someone was asking about doing a favor for them with my Amazon account.  I have learned many recognized the current scam, some had their filter stop it and everyone else tried to reach me while I was frantically trying to work with Xfinity 

Somewhere in your email set up is a place to have emails forwarded automatically.  Someone was able to put l04donnarae@hotmail in that spot.  Be sure to check yours!  I didn’t even know there was such a feature.  With emails, they were able to use my address book using my real address.  If you got a hotmail one, notice the first letter is a lower case “el” not the number one and of course hotmail was wrong.  Then I had to change my password but was unable to send or receive mail.  Turns out the Xfinity guy used the letter “el” instead of the “one” on his end so I was not being recognized and we wasted a lot of time.  I think it is good for now, at least let’s hope so.

We finally went to church in what we wore all day.  We sat in the back hoping no one took notice of us.  We went back home, did the last of our checklist and went to the new Chik Fil A that we found out is drive thru or eat outside only.  So we took our meals home.  Ted watched Ohio State football, I turned on the bedroom TV and instantly went to sleep.  I assume 2023 arrived with no fanfare from me.  Hopefully we would take off on time in the morning and have an uneventful trip to Mission.  

We left Sunday morning in a heavy fog but traffic was light and after two fuel stops and one pit stop, we arrived at Retama about 4:00.  Steve and Patty next door said we arrived right on time to share a prime rib dinner with them, Steve and Marisa. What a welcome invitation that was!  And delicious.  We got set up and I turned in early.  

The next day was spent mostly on the phone with Verizon because service here is almost non-existent!  We have never had this problem.  With the problems I had with my Xfinity security I really needed to be able to keep close watch on things.  There is a “ticket” out on an outage at our tower.  Let’s hope that gets fixed!  

Steve couldn’t find where to turn our water on and determined Ted had to cut down bushes (really small tress) in the storage area to access “whatever” and also clear it to get the garbage can in and out.  

I guess last year’s renter didn’t take care of things like we try to do.  But we were thankful, as was the owner, to get a new renter immediately when we couldn’t come.

Niles called and told us to meet the group at the Pizzaria at 5:45 and we did.  It took two tables so I didn’t get to talk to Karen. She Messaged me the next day to set up a lunch next week so we can catch up.  

Tuesday Ted went shooting and in the afternoon I played mahjong.  I won the second game and was one tile away from winning a “closed” hand (you are not allowed to pick up discards).  It was 3 tiles away when someone else won.  

We had bean soup I made from our Christmas ham for dinner and called it a day.  No plans for Wednesday but a Thursday trip over to Mexico is set up.  We will make dental appointments for cleaning, Ted will get his pedicure he won’t get in the US and I will start scouting med prices for now.  We are off and running!

  

Christmas 2022

Kelly, Pat and Cassie arrived safely on Friday, so that was a big relief.  I had made taco soup, cornbread and a fresh fruit pie in a chocolate crust for dessert.  Not knowing just when they would get in made this plan work best.  They settled in and Saturday we just visited and made preparations for our Christmas dinner.  

At 4:00 we went to a neighborhood restaurant not far from church where we were seated in about 10 minutes followed by prompt delivery of our food.  Every plate was cleaned so it was a good choice.  We arrived at church in plenty of time to park and get seats.  Masses were going to be said in the church, gym and brand new Chapel of  the Angels, our newest freestanding addition to the campus.  It filled up entirely as I am sure the other two venues did too.  It was my first glimpse at the new building and it is impressive with almost 30 relics displayed in individual monstrances along the south wall.  I will return to peruse them more closely at another time.  

We went home and opened presents so the mess would be over with and not dealt with Christmas morning.  I received two blouses that did not fit, one too big and one that fit but was not comfortable across the front.  Kelly and I will return them.  All the others fit, along with a white cotton cardigan to take to the Middle East where periodically I will need to cover my shoulders and wrists!  You all know how sexy my wrists are!?!  Kara gave me a cross body small purse to replace my last one that had the strap break and a cross body travel bag to put that white sweater in along with a scarf to cover my head, an umbrella for the sun, a water bottle, phone, etc. during our cruise.  

Monday we spent getting things back in order.  So much had been bought and brought, things were in need of being put where they belonged to regain a semblance of order.  After dinner we drove to Hockley to see the Gullo Christmas lights.  

Cassie was taking a bus to Austin on Tuesday so we stayed close to home.  Ted and Pat changed out our thermostat because we have been unable to use our phone to regulate it.  Something to do with a 3G thermometer and 5G router and phones.  Pat also replaced a switch in our bathroom that was not working properly.  They drove Cassie downtown to Greyhound and got her off.  She arrived safely and in time and was met by her friend.  This friend will take her to her Uncle Bob’s in Dallas to meet up with her folks on Friday.  Kelly and I took two gifts to Amazon Return at Kohl’s and made a stop for some groceries at Walmart.  Then the four of us went to Joe’s Italian for dinner. 

Wednesday was shooting for Pat and Ted with Ted’s buddies and Kelly and I headed to the Premium Outlet mall to Chico’s.  I had several things to return and wanted to buy two specific items if they were available.  We were told that a few of my items were from Chico Boutique vs. Chico Off the Rack.  So I returned what they accepted and bought a pair of “travelers” slacks to use when I have to pack my clothes.  I had my eye on a simple black sheath dress but they didn’t have it.  

So we stayed on 99 to 45 and went to the mall.  I was told there that the items didn’t come from there either!  I told them I mostly order on line and what I liked best was knowing my size and I didn’t pay much attention to which store because they send me about 16 emails a day!  So I came home with some of  the items, one of which MAY fit Alexa if they aren’t too big (size point 5) but the size one shorts will fit, I just didn’t need them.  While there, I tried on 2 dresses to see how they fit and the size one fit great so when I got home I went on line and ordered the black dress.  

Thursday is packing day … Pat and Kelly head to Dallas and we will be moving the motorhome to Woodlands Lake campground to get ready to leave.  I took all the pantry items and meds over and put them away.  Tomorrow we will do the cold food and the rest of our clothes.  

We have lost two friends recently, both unexpected.  The husband of a friend in both Forum and Newcomers who was a regular in my bunco group for 18 years lost her husband to a cerebral hemorrhage the week before Christmas.  Our neighbor for over 10 years right across the street from us down in Mission died in his sleep Christmas Eve.  It is so sad to lose someone so unexpectedly, especially during the holidays.

Closing In, Moving On

Things are ready with company arriving tomorrow.  Presents wrapped or sent where they need to be, cookies baked and given to recipients, cards under control, groceries purchased, decorations up, table set.  It is a less than formal presentation due to preparing my Mikasa Christmas dishes to be taken back to Michigan for Kelly.  I have white Fitz & Floyd that with red or green chargers, place mats and napkins will suffice for any company I would have.  We just don’t entertain much anymore.  

I played Canasta on Monday and once again did not move from my seat, but … I won my dollar back being last.  You keep changing partners so there is enough blame to go around!  

Tuesday we went to the lawyer’s to sign our new legal documents we had redone with a few new ones added.  Our 56, 53 and 49 year olds no longer need a guardian!  

I had two doctor appointments on Wednesday, first the GYN, second the oncology surgeon.  Everything is fine and he ordered some scar tape to use on the two spots where my drains had been.  They get rubbed and bother me.  He was delighted to wave my mammogram results in front of me even though I knew the great results immediately after the test.  I am now under the care of the medical oncologist only.  I see her in April.

I invited my friend Irene and her husband John to dinner for her birthday but they said they didn’t want me to go to that trouble and we would go out.  I said it was no trouble but they insisted.  Maybe it’s a comment on my cooking!  This from a guy who loves James Coney Island!  He and Ted shared Guinness while we talked before going to the restaurant.  

We did our big grocery shopping on Friday.  I am about out of refrigerator and freezer space.  H‑E‑B has what they call a Meal Deal each week.  If you buy the main course (protein) you get 5 free items.  It was the hams this week which I was buying anyway.  So I received mac & cheese, fresh green beans, napkins, fresh sweet potatoes and a half gallon of ice cream!  Nancy gave us a $5 coupon off a $75 basket which was easy to do!  In fact, I could have used two coupons.  

We went to church, Communion to our friends, and to Whataburger for a quick meal on Saturday.  I was ready to just get home and put my feet up!  

With so much done and no social event until Wednesday, our Sunday and Monday were “niggles” days - A bunch of little things that take five minutes if you only take time to do them.  Ted picked up our new legal documents and went to Office Max to have two copies made.  There was some mix up on using the lawyer’s system to print them at home.  Office Max was easier and they did an excellent job keeping the originals on top of the two copies in a big stack.  The originals were placed where they belong and he retrieved our passports at the same time.  We need them to return to the US from Mexico.  We kept one copy here and sent one to Kara.

I emptied the hamper since I will have enough with linens when the company leaves.  Four bags went out for paralyzed vets and my dish packing containers were brought out of the closet.  Hopefully we can get the service for 8 packed in them securely for their trip back to Michigan.

My last social event was the Newcomers December luncheon and fashion show.  Once again I got to see lots of old faces and met a few new ones.  Chico’s provided the clothes for the show but I shop there all the time and pretty much knew what to expect.  It was a salad and fresh fruit buffet with rolls and both tuna and chicken salad to make small sandwiches.  Good cheesecake for dessert.  No drink was offered other than water unless you wanted to go to the bar and buy something.  I found that a bit strange for a $35 lunch!  Whatever!

Kristin is in Michigan having changed her ticket from today to yesterday to avoid the cancelled flights.  Kelly and family have made it to Texarkana and will be in tomorrow.  

  

Cookies and More Cookies!

I found a lighted garland for our mantel but now am in search of a red candle!  There are none to be found.  I have boxes of candles and only one red taper!  That one elusive candle for the right side will finish it.  That’s it for decorations considering the kids leave 12/30 and we head out 1/1.  Getting the motorhome ready will take precedence over putting away decorations.  That little bit may still be there when we return in March. I doubt Nancy wants to do it!  Update:  Ted found a pair of red candles.  Project finished.  

It was a slow weekend after my whirlwind week so we went to church, took Communion to Jeanette and Dick and ate at the Mexican restaurant.  Then I made cookies!  Lots of cookies.  I am not sure what to do with them all.  I have some for my friend Irene, and of course Nancy, and I will take a box to our neighborhood luncheon on Thursday, but my freezer is stacked full!  I have no containers left.  I hope the kids tear into them.  

Tuesday was Shanghai and dinner at the country club and I came in second.  I hung on to a player (an 8) and threw an ace then had someone go out.  Those 8 points vs. 1 for an ace set me in second place.  But I won a few dollars.

Wednesday we went to Mass in the evening for the holyday because Thursday was going to be too busy to do it.  I had a breakfast at 10, lunch at 1 and dinner at 6.  Come morning I chose to skip the breakfast and take my time preparing for the other two outings.

I had my car hatch up at the lunch restaurant and it was filled with groceries after everyone arrived.  After a nice meal where I was gifted three boxes of tea and Christmas cups as lunch coordinator, we went to Jeanette’s for dessert and presents.  

I had taken a box of cookies and there was a peppermint chocolate cake.  I took a piece home for Ted.  We exchanged gifts and I had to run. I needed to change my top to my gold and black dressy sweater for my 6 o’clock dinner.  It was an hour away in Houston so I had to take the interstate, the toll road and head west along a major thoroughfare, but I made it in plenty of time to secure a table for our group.  There was a vote taken on having this dinner held as a luncheon in the daytime and that is what will happen next year I guess.  I saw so many people I have not seen all year because of my surgery, traveling and my back pain from my meds.  I had signed up for three things to work at but had to cancel because I knew I physically couldn’t do it.  I am delighted to report the new pill is not causing the joint pain problem but I did take it for 7 months before it did!  Time will tell!

Ted had to make a trip to church on Saturday to unload all the groceries in my car and then again on Sunday to turn in our “tree tag” gifts.  I had ordered 4 children’s puffy jackets from Macy’s and only two had arrived.  One was not coming until 12/29 and I was able to cancel it.  I have heard nothing about #4 so if it doesn’t come before we leave, I have given Nancy custody of it until next Christmas!  We went to Mass, took Communion to our friends, went out to eat, then home.  We laugh that we now come home at a time when we used to be going out!  

Sunday plans were to attend the German Christmas Market with Tommy and Susan but we awoke to rain and they bailed.  We also had told Jeanette and Dick we would take them to the Christmas Concert at First Baptist church.  He is 90, she is 80 and while she gets around fine, she is not comfortable taking him out alone because he is not steady on his feet.  She called and asked if we could go to dinner before since Dick has not been out except to his daughter’s in a long time.  Since we weren’t going to the Christmas Market, it was fine.

We chose a restaurant on the way to the church that had burgers to filets.  Everyone ordered something different and all plates were empty in the end.  Dick kept saying how much he was enjoying being out in a social setting.  Our neighbor, Debbie, a recent widow was so delighted to see we attended.  Otherwise, she would have had no one in attendance.  It is probably the best Christmas gift we are giving this year.

 

 

So Busy and Some Wonderful News

I had some trouble getting my haircut last week.  I was asked to come Saturday instead of Friday.  Because I have had trouble in the past with changes/cancellations, the last thing I did was check my phone.  No messages.  I drove a good half hour to get there only to find Cindy was not there and the only message she left was to tell some man she wasn’t coming in.  No message for me.  I was really upset!  If this was an isolated occurrence that would be one thing but it happens a lot.  I texted a message.  “I am leaving the salon and driving back to The Woodlands.”  I heard nothing until Tuesday “I will be back at the salon on Thursday.”  No apology, just an assumption I was going to be okay with it once again.  I never answered her and got a haircut elsewhere.  I won’t need a haircut until we are in Mission so I am good until sometime in April.  I will get my hair cut right before we come home.  I will worry about it then!

On Wednesday I had an 8:55 am mammogram with tomography at M D Anderson for a 35 minute appointment.  They took me in at 8:55, I left at 9:30.  I had to drive home two miles and the results were on My Chart when I arrived.  These folks never fail to impress me.  It was all good too!  Thank you, Lord Jesus.  

From there I went to a local restaurant’s party room for a holiday card party with lunch.  A group of 36 women were invited to attend.  It was great seeing so many friends, lunch was fine, but I didn’t win!  The overall winner had 11 points, the biggest loser, over 500!  I had almost 200 I think  

Thursday was a different group from Newcomers having lunch and taking a tour of the Tomball Historic Village.  What a pleasant surprise to learn of this jewel of a complex.  I didn’t even know it existed.

It was Forum Sustainers up on Friday.  We took Harris County precinct buses to Cartex, a lavish Christmas decorations business.  I looked for a new garland for the mantel but everything they had was so big!  It would be a great commercial property place to shop but I didn’t see anything that filled my need.  From there we went to the Houstonian Hotel complex.  Their penthouse was rented by George H W Bush and he used it as his TX residence while in the White House.   We ate in a stylish dining room with excellent service  and food that was very pricey.   This was the decoration in the lobby,

Meanwhile back at the ranch … I have been searching for  a cruise that would take us to Maastricht, The Netherlands to see the Andre Rieu Orchestra. First ship stopped when there was no concert, the second stopped in July and normally they perform the entire month.  I was so excited, was talking to a travel agent and then “boom” 4 days in July were deleted from the calendar, one of which was our dock date there! 

 

We gave up and said we will just wait until they post the US schedule which they did on Wednesday this past week.  Lo and behold there were two convenient for us cities - Detroit and Columbus!  The problem was when they went on sale at 10 am Friday, I was to be on a bus to Houston. I texted Kristin and Kara to see if they could try to get tickets. 

I waited and waited for her to respond and she called me on my way to Tomball on Thursday.  While working with the Red Wings folks reserving a suite and dinner at the arena to entertain customers, she asked the young man if he had access to the Andre Rieu tickets. He said “who”?  Then he remembered an email he had disregarded. Guess who now has two floor tickets, row 6, on the aisle at a $100 per ticket discount because of his colleague status!  And a day before they hit public sale. Our seats are right at the top of the orange F. 

What a great week I had!  Ted and the kids were all so delighted because this had been on the top of my bucket list for so long and Ted promised me would go wherever we needed to this year to see him. It couldn’t have been any better, date or city. We will just start our summer travels later and come home at the end of September instead of the beginning.