Finishing the Master

On Sept. 12, I told you we, actually Arne, had painted our bedroom. A couple weeks ago I found curtains at BB&B that we really liked so had to order them in the length we wanted. They arrived yesterday, less than an hour before my MahJongg ladies. I did get the corner windows pressed and hung before they got here and showed the end result. You can see for yourself in these photos, which really don't catch the true color...

Last week I began teaching ESL classes again. Right now I'm teaching on Tuesday AND Thursday mornings. They didn't like the Tuesday teacher so I'm teaching both days while the search goes on for another teacher to take one of the days. I started with three ladies and got two more today. Since the trailer where we meet is small, we don't have room for but maybe one more. They are nice ladies and are trying hard to learn English. I've signed up for a Spanish class starting in November at the Lifelong Learning College. I figure it will help me appreciate what they are going through trying to learn another language.

I played pickleball with the "non-beginners" yesterday and see I need lots of practice. It's possible to play pickleball every day here in The Villages as there's open play at every rec center from 7-10 AM and some days even more hours for open play.

Not Lovin' These "Love Bugs"

We were told the love bugs appeared each May and September. Well, seems that is true as we just had our second session with these "lovely" critters. They weren't so bad in May, except when we drove through them on our way to Ft. Lauderdale. This month, I've already swept up hundreds of thee critters and they don't seem to be done with their lovin'...In case you don't remember them from my May blogs, here's another picture.

I AM LOVIN' the fact that Jim Furyk won the FedEx Cup today at 40 years old. He's a nice guy with a nice family and while I would have liked to see Phil win it, Jim is my second choice.

Yesterday, Arne and I went to see "Get Low" with Robert Duvall and Bill Murray. It's based on the true story of a Tennessee hermit who throws himself his own funeral. Duvall does an outstanding job. I didn't realize he is 80 and played Boo Radley in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Now I want to see that movie again.
Played pickleball a couple times this week and am really liking it. I'm ready to move from the beginner groups to Intermediate. We'll see if they're ready for me. :=)

Played basketball this afternoon. Had several new gals come out as interested. We're working on our teams for the Florida state games in early December. You have to play in those to qualify for the National Seniors in Houston next June. I'm starting to see improvement in my play, which was definitely needed!

Won money again in Wednesday's golf group. Got closest to the hole for women, even though it was almost 30' from the pin. It was very windy and guess the other ladies didn't make the green. I tied for low score which meant we had to take it to the highest handicap men's hole. Rick and I tied on the first two handicap holes but he won the third. I said we should go by the women's handicap as I would have won on the fourth handicap hole. :-) Rick was such a gentleman and gave me half his winnings which I didn't want to take since I won money on closest to the hole but he insisted. I'll buy he and his wife a drink at next Wednesday's 19th hole. I noticed the gal in charge of our Wednesday games said this week would be men's handicap and the following week would be based on women's handicap, in case of tie. Guess I made a point. :-)

Mama Mia!

A few weeks ago, another transplant from Arizona asked if I'd be interested in going to the Mama Mia party at Katie Belle's. She lives outside The Villages and Katie Belle's is the only restaurant to which you must be a Villager or come with a Villager. I said I loved Mama Mia and would get us reservations. Today was the day. We arrived around 7:40 AM, breakfast was served at 8 and the show began around 9. They did a warm up song getting everyone off their...chairs. They passed out tambourines and maracas of which I got a maraca. As each song was sung in the movie, the words were on the screen so we could sing along, shaking our tambourines and maracas. It was a lot of fun and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed that movie. Meryl Streep was outstanding!! While Pierce Bronson's singing was lacking, his other assets more than made up for his singing voice. :-)

Still Coughing...Sorta

Four weeks! That's how long I've had this cough. It does seem much better since my golf partner on Friday told me she uses her Neti pot morning and night to clean her sinuses. I got mine out and started using it again and it does seem to be helping. I haven't had a choking cough since Friday night, when Arne and I were at Carrabba's for dinner. I'm sure people around thought I was choking on my food. Arne even wondered if he should try Heimlich maneuver.

I wanted our bedroom and bathroom painted so Arne started cutting in on Tuesday, Aug. 31, while I played golf. The next day I "helped" by rolling paint on the walls. Arne didn't think much of my job and said he preferred to do it himself and at his pace. I wanted him to hire a painter but he didn't listen to me. So...Arne painted every day and finally finished on Labor Day. He did absolutely nothing else for that week and did comment that he preferred the root canal he had the week before to painting. The walls do look beautiful. The color is Sherwin Williams Rainwashed. Now I have to get new curtains for the windows. We've been working with a decorator on window treatments for the living and dining rooms. The hardest part is picking out the fabric.

I've been playing beginner pickleball and signed up again for Coach Moe's free clinic on Monday evenings for the next three weeks.

In early July, Arne gave me a book on piano playing. The author suggests you pick out a song you like and learn to play that before moving on. I picked "Tennessee Waltz" and am still working on it. I can play the right hand by itself and the chords by themselves but when I try to put right and left together...disaster!! I printed out some exercises for fingering and do those during each practice. I'll give it a year and if I still can't play it, I'll...cry!

Made it to basketball practice this afternoon. I'm really rusty and missed most of my shots. It's just been too hot to practice hoops on the outdoor courts and we only get the high school gym on Sunday afternoons.

"School" starts again Sept. 21. I will be teaching English to the same Hispanic ladies I had in the spring. I will be teaching Tuesday and Thursday mornings until the ESL director finds someone to teach one of those mornings. So far, no volunteers have come forward. Guess I'll have to do some recruiting.

Not the Best Week...

Basketball was supposed to start last Sunday. I wasn't feeling 100% so when our former neighbors, Al and Donna Smith, showed up at church, I made the decision to skip BB and we went out to lunch with them. Monday afternoon I played Mah Jong with intermittent coughing. I hope I didn't expose anyone to my upper respiratory infection. Tuesday, I woke up feeling awful so canceled my tee time. I went to the doctor and because my symptoms weren't bad, he prescribed Amoxycilian. Golf was rained out on Wednesday, which was probably a good thing for me. I spent most of the week reading "House Rules" about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. No fitness center since Monday! :-(

I was feeling better this morning so went to Beginner's Open Pickleball. I played for an hour and a half before deciding I should probably quit. I didn't feel great this afternoon so probably overdid it. I canceled basketball for tomorrow and will just take it easy one more day. Hopefully, I can get back to the Fitness Center on Monday.

Oh...I did go to see "Eat Pray Love" on Thursday with a neighbor. We decided it was a chick flick and our husbands wouldn't care for it. I had read the book several years ago and did enjoy the movie.

Back to Normal

Kadin and Gracie left a week ago. We have a memento of their visit as they left a plastic glass on the piano on which was printed "Tips are Exepted". Guess they thought the piano player should be rewarded for his playing. How cute!


ANTS! While the girls were here, I got many ant bites on my left foot as one evening we were following a toad in the grass. I had a flashlight but didn't see the anthill. Poor Kadin was sitting on the anthill and got many bites on one of her legs. Earlier this week, I was pulling weeds out of our front landscaping. I had on flip flops and this time got many bites on my right foot. They get quite itchy and after a few days look like zits. Fortunately, Arne had some calamine lotion, as well as some advice to wear shoes next time. :-)

We've had quite a bit of rain this week but nothing compared to Iowa. A friend sent us a slideshow of ponds and flooding south of Ames. I'm glad I didn't complain about being rained out on the 8th hole on Friday and HAVING to go to lunch early.

What a shame! In the PGA Championship, Dustin Johnson is charged with grounding his club in a "waste bunker." People were standing in the "bunker" which I guess is allowed on this course. I like that golf is a gentleman's game but I believe this is a sham and a shame! With all of the people standing around him, Dustin didn't realize he was in a bunker. Where were the officials to move the people back who were standing just a few feet from Dustin? Have I expressed my unhappiness over this decision????

They've Come and Gone!

Moondog, Nick and Daniel arrived at the house around 11 PM on July 20. On Wednesday, Aaron 2 came with his grandparents, aunt and uncle who live in the area. He had been staying with them for a few days. It was nice to meet them. We are fortunate that his adoption has worked out so well. As Lisa wrote in a poem when Aaron was a month old, ...you have twice as many loved ones as most other children have. We feel blessed that Aaron was raised by wonderful people and we are now able to be a part of his life.

On Saturday, the 24th, we all headed to Orlando. I had reserved four rooms at a motel that looked to be one of the original Disney World lodgings. I don’t think the decorating had been changed in over 30 years. But, it worked just fine for us, giving us all a bed and shower. Erik and girls arrived late Saturday night making the family circle complete.









Sunday and Monday were spent at Disney World. It was very hot and humid and at times tempers got a little heated. Lisa was intent on keeping everyone together. One problem...some wanted to just go on the “roller coaster” rides while others wanted to do other things. I was in the latter group and rode Space Mtn twice, Splash Mtn, Thunder Road, Mt. Everest twice, Tower of Terror and Aerosmith’s Rock n Roller Coaster.

Tuesday, the 27th, Aaron 2 and Daniel flew back to Phoenix, Lisa, Taylor and Moondog flew to New Orleans, and Nick, Erik, Kadin and Gracie came to The Villages. The girls went swimming EVERY day and loved riding in the golf cart. Friday, the 30th, Arne took Erik and Nick to Tampa for the Tampa Bay Rays and Yankees baseball game. They were hoping to witness history as A-Rod hit his 600th homer but was not to be. They had a great time anyway. The girls and I went to a movie and to Olive Garden.Saturday night, the 31st, we went to a Japanese Steakhouse for dinner cooked on a hibachi grill around which we all sat. Everyone loved the presentation and the food was excellent also.




Sunday, August 1, Erik flew home, with Nick following on Monday. Now we had just Kadin and Gracie for five days. On Tuesday, we went to Pauly’s Pizzeria where the girls created their very own pizzas and dough knot desserts which we ate for lunch. In the afternoon, we all went to Line Dancing for two hours. That evening, we had birthday cake in honor of Arne’s birthday.Wednesday, the girls spent several hours in art lessons with Grandpa. I took them swimming for a couple hours in the afternoon.
Thursday, more art lessons, swimming and craft at one of the recreation centers. They each made a model golf cart.
Friday morning, water sports with races and diving for coins. In the afternoon, Arne took the girls to a Magic Show.Saturday afternoon, we headed for Orlando as the girls had a 4 PM flight to Albuquerque. I told Erik I felt like we had put the girls in one of those bank money tubes and sent them on their way. When he picked them up, they said the flight was sooo awesome! Guess they won’t mind traveling alone again.

Sunday, I was very blue as the house was quiet and the skies full of rain. I’m better today as I get back into the swing of Villages Life.