***Welcome To The New Cruise Countdown Club***

Sharon, I think we were alright last night with the frost. Bill put down a good layer of water on the grass and flowers and bushes. I guess time will tell. How are you doing with your back? Do you think going into the hot tub will help?

Outside work planned for Saturday. The weeds are getting out of control already. Have a nice relaxing weekend and I hope you feel better soon. Have a nice Easter.

Kathy

I have some muscle relaxor pills and some pain pills, between the two it helps and this morning it was better. I had to go to the dentist and get my crowns and was worried I wouldn't be able to get or out of the dental chair, but made it ok. Then I went and walked around the shopping center for a while, found a couple of cute sleeveless tops on sale.

We covered up the 2 strawberry plants I put in the ground and one other perennial i had planted, they look ok today. I think it got warmer than they thought today.

I found out from my blood test that my thyroid is getting to be hyper again, strange because I have taken the same level of synthroid for years. Maybe thats why I'm always so warm, but you would think I would lose some weight too! Also had the bone density test done and it showed an improvement, that was good and I'm not even taking any medicine for it.

Hope I fee like cutting grass tomorrow, its growing at a fast clip! If not it will have to wait until next week.

You have a Happy Easter too if i don't "talk" to you again before.

Sharon, I think we may have gotten frost last night . When I woke I saw frost on the roofs. Nice and sunny today. I hope you will find some relief over the weekend with your back. Will you go to the resort over the weekend?

Just shopping for some needed supplies from being away for 2 weeks. Daughter's house tomorrow to see everyone. Have an enjoyable Easter.

Kathy

I felt so much better yesterday, then today my back seemed to get worse as the day wore on. Really tired of this I have things I need to do and want to do and can't.

WE slept late this morning and didn't do much of anything else all day. We did go grocery shopping for some things Bill needed for his lunches and we took an Easter Lilly over to Bills sister. Funny she had called and asked what time we are picking her up tomorrow, we told her we never got invited. Not so sure she wants to go without us being there.

We will go to church and then the buffet and then come home and maybe watch golfing. We are both happy that Tiger Woods is still not doing any good, he deserves to not play good anymore! Don't know if we will go to the resort or not yet.

Happy Easter have a nice day,

Sharon, I sure hope you will be able to get some relief from your back. I spent so much time and money for them on Easter. It would have been much cheaper to just go to a eat out someplace. They always get me to buy everything as they do not do anything at all. We left early as there were way too many kids and after awhile I enjoy the piece and quiet.

It is windy yet sunny today. I hope you had a nice and relaxing Easter and that your back did not cause you any problems. Very busy today.

Kathy

We had a really nice Easter, my back was feeling better so I am now just taking generic excedrin instead of the pain pills. We went to church then to the restaurant. They had a guy making 4 omelets at a time, so we each told him what we wanted in ours and in a few minutes we had them. Very tasty too! I didn't eat any of the stuff for lunch, but did hit the dessert table and had a mimosa too.

Bill talked to his sister yesterday and she said they never came to pick her up for dinner, guess Bill's daughter forgot she invited her! That was pretty rude, dont' know why she asked her to come in the first place she is always so busy with her business. We were glad we had make other plans. Only one grandson has a little 2 year old daughter and of course Bill's other DGD who doesn't talk so its never a problem with "wild kids' for our get togethers, but I have been places where others kids can get on your nerves, don't blame you for going home to some peace and quiet.

Yesterday my back was good enough to cut the grass, I got about half of it done and plan to finish it today, but boy is it ever cold and windy out. I'm not sure if we had frost last night or not, we didn't cover the plants and one of them looks a little wilted, bet it frosts tonight for sure!

Have you gotten all caught up at work? Any surgery scheduled yet for Bill?

Sharon, the nurse called last week to give him the results of the test, but she did not know anything about having the surgery. So he is now going to make an appointment and see the Dr in person and get this decided. So I will keep you posted on how and when it will happen.

That does not surprise me about Bill's daughter. From what you have told me it is just par. Too bad they didn't pick up his sister, rude but once again par.

I saw on the news last night that your area had frost warning. I think they will have the same for tonight. When we came home the grass was really long. Our old guy quit and he sent 2 names of people who would take over the maintaining of the lawn. So we called the 2 and the second came right out last week and did it and he is keeping the same price as well. We thought with the higher fuel costs, that for sure he would raise the rate.

I am glad your back is feeling better. Have you used the resort yet?

Kathy

We did have a hard frost last night, I think the cherry trees are done for, no cherries this year as it was in full bloom, also the head of the tulips and daffodils are all hanging down, I don't think they will straighten up again. We did cover one little perrenial and the 2 strawberry plants so they are ok.

I got the grass cut but had on my winter coat, ear muffs and gloves to do it. Since i got the first half cut on Monday I was afraid if I didnt' get the rest done, the first half would have grown up so much you could tell where I quit and where I started!

Had fun with the line dancing last night, but oh my gosh there were several families with a bunch of little girls around 13 there. Guess its spring break or Easter break. They lost interest pretty quick though so we had room to do our thing. Had the manager of the place put on DWTS so we could see who got eliminated, kind of thought it might be her or Gladys Knight.

Actually I think you are thinking about the DD from Ohio, who never lets us in on her plans and stays at her sisters when she comes for a visit, but this was one of the local DD's that invited Bill's sister for dinner. So that makes 2 of them that could be a little more thoughtful!

Yes, it did get cold last night. I could not stay outside too long and with the wind it was down right cold. How was your back with the dancing? I know what you mean. On our trip there was sure a lot of kids on the planes. We did not think about the spring break when we planned the trip. That is also the reason why the planes were so filled.

Well at least you were able to finish the grass. However this time of year the grass grows so quickly. I think it is supposed to warm up over the weekend. One week we have the heat turned off and the next week it is on. Bill has an appointment for the 24th to see the Dr. So we should find out something then.

It was sure nice being away and the weather in Hawaii was perfect. Now being back to the grind is a real wake up call. Even though they called me everyday while I was on vacation, and they were not calling to see how my vacation was doing. The jerk never wishes me well just bitched. I'd say Aloha and he would say right, no expression.

I think that some people jumped the gun with planting flowers. With the nice weather they got lured into a false scene of good weather.

Kathy

Where did you stay in Hawaii and what island? I know I read once in the CC boards that your Bill said he had lived there for quite a while. Must be nice to know the right places to go and see. I was there a couple of times with the travel agents and would like to go back some day. I used to have to call in to work too when I was on vacation, its a pain isn't it!

I went to zumba but only worked at about a 75% level, want to not hurt my back again. Then afterwards I went to the resort and swam for a while, the water was nice and warm, just perfect. There was only one other man there when I got there, and then 2 more men came. They must come a lot at the same time because they were talking quite a bit to each other.

Came home and took Tinker for her walk, she was ready to go. I don't think we have to cover the plants again tonight,only have the 3 we cover, but we did have white frost on the ground again this morning.

Good I'm glad Bill will finally find out what and when he is going to get something done. It must weigh on his mind quite a bit, best to get it taken care.

Our favorite shows are on tonight, Person of Interest and the Mentalist. Funny such a silly thing to look forward to isn't it.

We flew direct to Honolulu and stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. They do some filming there for the new Hawaii 5 0. Then we flew to Kauai and that is the island where he used to live. He was also stationed in Oahu for a short time during the Viet Nam War. On Kauai we stayed at the Kauai Marriott at Kalapaki Beach. In Maui we stayed at the Grand Wailea Resort.

We flew back from Maui to San Diego and stayed at the Hilton San Diego resort & Spa. We heard that the ship had very rough seas and that there were 49 buses to take everyone from Mexico into San Diego. Most people said it was a major night mere. Bill called that one right. He got real sick going to the airport when we left home and was sick on the plane ride over. He got sick again on a tour in Maui. We had to come back separate as there was only 1 seat on the planes home. I went first and he got a flight 4 hours later. He took the train from the airport to downtown and got on another one to take him out to where we live and I picked him up from the train.

Good you took it easy at Zumba today. It must have been nice to go to the resort afterwards. It is starting to warm up now. I heard rain for the weekend. I have bunco with the girls at one of their houses tomorrow night. It will be a late night for me.

We have a painter coming tomorrow to paint our bedroom and then in a few weeks after that they are coming to sand the bedroom floor. Like we did in the fall for the living room and hallway.

Kathy

I will have to write the names of those hotels down in case we get a chance to go, it would be nice to know of some good places. Sounds like it should have been a wonderful trip, too bad Bill was sick so much of the time, did he (or you) enjoy going anyway? It was really good that you didn't do the cruise so you missed having to do the bus business! That was riduculous exepecting people to lug around their luggage on a bus!

I had some good luck a little bit ago, I was looking for a place to stay by Ohare the night before our flight. I found on ParkSleepFly the Hyatt Regency, next to the convention center where we go to the jewelry show. The price was $109 for up to 4 people with 14 days of free parking. The Holiday Inn Select that we usually stay at was priced at $169 and the Radisson at the same price with only 7 days of parking. I thought I would call the hotel direct and see about a better price, the hotel guy said their rooms were $179, I told him about the web site and he transferred me to someone who handles the "best price guarantee" for them. He found the web site and the price I mentioned so he beat it by 20%, and gave us the room for $87.20!

So your house is going to be all spruced up for spring, that will be nice. Are you changing the colors or just having it freshened up? I worked on a flower bed this morning, just got the weeds out and ready for a few annuals when I'm sure it won't frost anymore.

Going dancing tonight, the gal from the lessons is supposed to come so it should be fun and Bill won't have to dance so much. He is usually tired on Friday nights, guess all the work all week catches up to him, but heaven forbid he should even think of lightening his work load! Ha Ha

Sharon, when we first got to Hawaii Bill said that this was not a good idea and he was going to turn around and go back after a few days of rest. But then he just keep plugging along and we finished it. We had talked that we should have stayed in Hawaii as the weather was perfect. When we got to San Diego it was 20 degrees cooler, and that was kind of a shock. But we did a lot and had a nice rest before we got to fly back home. The only shock for me was us taking separate flights back home. But Bill prepared me for it in advance. As when they called our names there was not time for discussions. I had to take the ticked and get on.

So how was dancing last night? Did you have a good time and was the music not too loud? I had a good time at bunco last night. I got home around midnight. No we changed the colors in the rooms. The painter finished our room yesterday. Now Bill has to rip out the carpet and get it ready for the floor sander. He said he was going to do some today. Then after we have that room complete and everything back into it, we will do the other bedroom. We will have to stay at a hotel close to our house when they come to sand the floor in our bedroom as there will be no place for us to sleep. When they come to do the other room we do not have to leave. He is also getting a whole house fan put in on Monday. So that should cut down on the air conditioning.

Well I should say that you did get a good deal on the hotel room. The Hyatt is a very nice hotel. Just keep in mind that they have the windows where no when can see in during the day but at night if you leave the curtains open everyone can see in. So close the curtains. Especially when you figure in the free parking, you cannot beat that deal at all, and they have free airport shuttle to the airport. Can't beat that at all.

Well we are supposed to get a lot of rain today and tomorrow. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Our club has what they call a spring fling on Sunday. What that is an open house for the members and the sign up for all the leagues that they have. Also free hors d'oeuvres from 3-5pm. I have some shopping to do and depending on how the weather is will depend if I work outside or not today.

Enjoy the weekend.

Kathy

Your bedroom will be nice when its done, I kinda wish we had hardwood floors in the bedrooms, but we had everything carpeted, well except for the kitchen, dining room, laundry room and bathrooms, ha ha, guess we didn't have everything carpeted ! That fan should be nice too if the weather so far in any indication.

The gal never showed up again on Friday night, she has been saying she is coming for the last 3 weeks and hasn't made it yet! We left early, there was a party of some sort going on and they were enjoying the karoke but we werent.

We got some thunder and lightening and a little over an inch of rain last night. Today, around 2:30 we got some heavy rain but only for about 15 minutes. We are supposed to get more tonight and the sky looks like it will. I bought Tinker a Thunder shirt, you put it on her and its supposed to make her feel more secure and not be afraid of the thunder. I think it worked somewhat as she was pacing around and then after i put it on her she laid down and went to sleep. She hates storms for some reason. So I hope this will help.

We went out for a late breakfast and then went over to the resort. Bill's DD and DSIL were there but there was also a ton of little kids. However we went into the steam room first and then showered and when we came out all the little kids had left! It was perfect and quiet. We floated around on our noodles and talked before DD left.

Hope your spring fling is fun, eat an appetizer for me! What league are you signing up for?

Sharon, we do the bocce league every year. Our team is still together except for one couple who are dropping out of the club, because the guy's wife does not like our company. He just got married to her 2 years ago and she has total control over him.

Yes, we did get a lot of rain over the weekend.It is windy and gloomy now. We were surprised to see such good wood floors under the carpet. It looks much nicer with the polished wood floors rather than the carpet.

Does this lady still show up during the week with your dancing. How come she has not been showing up for the Friday night dancing? It was good that all of the kids left the pool area so you could have piece and quiet and enjoy the pool.

The spring fling was very crowded. The good thing is with all of the appetizers that were offered we did not have to worry about dinner. We got into some raffles but did not win anything this year.

Kathy

The gal that doesn't show up on Friday nights is the instructor on Tuesday nights. She has the music and knows the dances so it would be nice if she came and helped us to do the dances. Sometimes you just need someone to get it started to remember it.

I know whats under our carpet because we put them down, its just some plywood. There was nice wood floors at the old house, I didn't know that either until I had new carpet put down when we put it up for sale.

Not much else new here, gloomy and very windy. I'm just doing some laundry and have to go up to the post office soon, another bday card for another one of my nephews.

Sharon, yes, it was very windy yesterday. Today the sun is shining bright and it seems like very little wind. The workers came to put the whole house fan in yesterday. So we will just have to wait and see how well it works.

I finally went to the personal trainer last night. It is way over due to get my butt into gear. He showed me new exercises to do. Since I have never worked out at all. I also got 5 hydro massages and a free tee shirt. So I hope I will be able to get some kind of benefit from this. The place is not very far from our house. My daughter has been loosing weight while we were away and it seems to be benefiting her.

They are coming to do our bedroom as far as the floor sanding goes on the 25th. Then the flowing Wednesday they will do the last bedroom. It will be good to get this house back in order once again. Have a good day,

Kathy

I have been outside cutting grass this afternoon. I didn't get outside until almost 2 and then the clouds started coming in, I was worried I wouldn't get it done before it rained, but lucked out....no rain yet.

Yesterday I stopped by DH's daughters beauty salon to give her something and was talking about wanting to stop coloring my hair but didn't like the way it looked when I tried. She said she had some time before her next appt so she would put some highlights in and then next time some low lights and I wouldn't have to color it all over anymore. I was kind of shocked when I saw my hair, she put in a lot of highlights, so many its almost the main color of my hair. I think it is way to light, almost a white with a little yellow color tinge. I don't want it to look like this when we go to my GD's house in Texas but not much I can do about it. I don't want to hurt her feelings and redo it myself at home after she worked so long and hard on it. Guess I'll just leave it and hope the low lights will add a little color next time, probably not until a month or more though.

Isn't this the week your Bill sees the dr? Hope he can get somethng scheduled to help him feel better. I know if it was me it would be weighing on my mind.

Speaking of "weighing" I wanted to lose some before the trip, but no didn't happen, still have a couple of weeks, maybe I could get rid of at least 5 pounds! What exercise did you get to do?

Sharon, he showed me how to hold a Swedish Ball on the wall and roll up and down. We also have them here at home so I can continue to do these exercises at home. My legs were like rubber when I got home. Then with different color bands doing arm pulls. Once again my arms felt like rubber as well.

It was nice and sunny here today and it went into the 70's. I think I heard rain tomorrow. Bill went downtown today to see the skin Dr. He had something cut off of his hand and arm. They biopsy and let him know in a week. Next Tuesday he goes to see that other Dr. So hopefully they can get something scheduled in May.

I go to a place close to me every 2 weeks to have my hair taken care of and then on the alternating week every 2 weeks I get a pedie. So what are you going to do, just wait for her to do the low light treatment?

Kathy

Yesterday we went on a bus trip with the local bank to the Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington, Il. It is the home of the former CEO of Fisher Nut Co. The description says: It houses the worlds largest collection of fully restored automated musical instruments, Tiffany and other glass lamps, rare slot machines, steam engines, locomotive used by Henry Ford, street clocks, fortune telling machines, 8000 pipe, 1927 Wurlitzer orgain in an auditorium with balcony seating. The centerpiece of the collection is the Eden Palais Carousel, the most complete example of a European salon carousel in existence . It was a fantastically beautiful place with a swimming pool and tennis courts all set on around 320 acres. Their 5 children are all involved in the business and live in houses on the 320 acres. Then we went to Port Edward for lunch and on to the Volo Auto Musuem. Lots and lots of restored 50, 60, 70s cars and things like Ghost busters car, Elvis car, Marilyn Monroe car and others. Was a nice day.

Talking about your arms feeling like rubber, when we used to use the weights for some of the Zumba routines i could barely get a drink from my water bottle without using both hands! So I know how you feel. Must mean that it is working and you will get stronger in time.

I'm just going to leave my hair the way it is until the next time and then I will have her put in some darker color, my hair color always seems to fade away by 4 or 5 weeks anyway.

Today I have to get down to the Sec of State office and get my renewal sticker for the truck lic plate. Then I'll stop at the new Kohls they recently built. I have a 30% coupon and a $10 off card so I should be able to find something I "need".

Its gray and cloudy again here today, don't think its going to get very nice out all day. We are not going dancing tonight, Bill is always so tired and never wants to dance so I got irritated with him last week and told him weren't going anymore. Every Friday night is the same thing lately, so I just got tired of it. I did enjoy going and visiting with everyone since I don't see many people all week.

This weekend is the is the Horse Fair in Madison, WI, not sure whether we will go on Sat or Sun, both days look about the same weather wise.

Sharon, when we got back from vacation Bill noticed that he had expired plates as they never sent him a sticker. So he called to Springfield and they told him to just come to an office and they would give him a new one.

I don't remember you telling me that you were going on this bus trip yesterday. All in all it sounds like you had a real nice day viewing and going to some nice places to eat. I never heard about that place but I know there are some very nice estates in that area. It must have been au some to see all of those things.

I woke up this morning to cold and raining outside. Today is not going to be a good day at all. Over the weekend I guess you will just have to choose the best day to go to WI, as both days are supposed to be about the same.

I went to Carson's a few weeks ago as they have this coupon thing, if you bring in a piece of used clothing they give you coupons to use for purchases. It must be good for you now that you have a news Khols near you to shop.

Too bad about not going out on Friday's now. It seems like you enjoyed getting out and seeing everyone. Have a great weekend as it sounds like it will be fun filled.

Kathy

We left about 10:30 for the Horse Fair and once we got up there it took 2+ hrs to get off the highway, pay and get through the gates and find a place to park! It was a total madhouse. Luckily they opened up a parking lot that was not too far away from everything so we didn't have a real long walk to get to the arena. We went through one of the main buildings that has vendors and I found an off white purse with, of course, sparkley flowers on it. Also got a horse hand puppet to take to my GGS for his birthday. Thats about all we bought except for food which was outrageously pricst. We were about ready to leave when they started talking about a show that started at 7:30pm called The horse an epic. So we bought tickets and stayed to watch it. It lasted almost 3 hrs, we were really ready to go home by then. It was a long day but it was fun for once a year. It gets bigger and bigger evey year and now so many people come its just impossible to buy anthing without standing in line a long time, that goes for the bathrooms too! Have to tell you about 2 of the acts, one guy rode a donkey and had 2 buffalo, they pulled in a horse trailer with a flat top and the guy had the buffalo jump up a ramp and get on the top of the trailer then he followed riding the donkey, unbelievable! The other really good act was a guy from Austraila that rode one horse and had 3 others that followed doing exactly what he did without any reins or ropes on them. Then he would take one of them with him and have it do something while the other 2 stood still. He had one of the horses lay down and all three of the others came in sideways and stood over it. Really neat to see,and of course the dressage to music is always spectacular. Makes me want to ride again!

This morning I went to church and Bill is now working on the lawn mower, it has been spitting oil out and he changed the filter, but is afraid it might be the rings and I guess that is pretty bad. I'll have to mow with it again for a while to see if he got it fixed by changing the oil and filter or not.

We are going to the resort this afternoon, going to try and get there around 4, seems like the kids are all ready to leave by then so with any luck it will be quiet and peaceful.

I got a swimsuit top and a sleeveless ruffled top at Kohls, saved $54.12, only cost $27. My 30% is still good until the 28 of April so I may go back and see if there is anything else I might want. I have gotten those Good will coupons from Bergners too, but so many things you can't use them on.

The bus trip we went on, we almost forgot about. We signed up so long ago didn't even realize it was the day until we checked the calendar, we write everthing down on it, but have to remember to look at it!

Sharon, it sounded really crowded. But at least you had a very full day. I keep forgetting to ask you how far away were you from the horse ranch that burned down in Mc Henry last week where all of those horses were killed form the fire.

How was the resort yesterday. Did you have the place all to yourself or where there still kids around. So what day are you leaving for your trip? It was very windy over the weekend, and it is kind of windy today as well. Bill's aunt and cousins who live in Mc Henry drove in to see us yesterday. They said that they could see the fire from where they live.

Have you ever gone to see Meade Evil Times? I was thinking about looking into getting tickets sometime . Well another work week in hand. Enjoy the day,

Kathy

We are about 1/2 hr away from McHenry and I'm not sure exactly where that fire was.

We got to the resort around 4:30 and it was perfect, the only people there was Bill's DD and hubby. One other family came later with 2 kids but they stayed with them in the water so they were well behaved. Afterwards we went to Chilis for dinner. Seems we get full so fast that all we ordered was 1/2 order of the Texas Cheese Fries and a bowl of Baked Potato Soup. Of course I had a strawberry margarita too!

I have been to Midevil Times several years ago. Its a place where you eat your dinner with your hands, no silverware is given to you. Then you cheer on the knight that has your color - each side of the arena has a different color. Its a fun night, something different. I saw Groupon (I think it was groupon) had reduced price tickets.

We will stay at the Hyatt on Sunday night so we are close to the airport for our Mon morning flight. I'm taking my tablet so I'll be able to check in with you while I'm gone. I have been thinking I'm going to call the pet sitter and tell her I will pay her more to take Tinker for a walk a couple of times while we are gone, otherwise I'm afraid she will just sleep the whole time. It will wake her up a little to get out. I hope she has the time to do it.

Windy again here too but a little nicer than yesterday, we had a frost again last night, everything was white this morning. Glad we are not getting the heavy wet snow they are getting out East today!

Sharon, Bill goes downtown this morning to discuss when the surgery will be. Then when he comes back he will finish clearing out the bedroom for the floor sanders on Wednesday. We stay at the hotel for the next 3 nights.

Well I hope you have a nice trip and time away. Let's hope the sitter can take Tinker out for walks and take care of her while you are away. When will you return. Yes, we are not out of the woods as far as frost is. But we are getting close to May and I think they say that after the 15th we are clear of frost. Better them than us up East with all of that snow.

Nice and sunny here today and I think it will warm up a bit also. So is it you only go to the resort on the weekends or will you try to go during the week as well?

Enjoy the day today.

Kathy