More cruising...

I can't believe it but we are going to try for one more cruise this year! Jim found one that was on sale and very inexpensive so he signed up. We'll be flying to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to embark on a seven day tour of the Southern Caribbean.

The dates will be December 9-16 so we will essentially be giving each other a cruise for our Christmas. Actually, perhaps this should be Jim's birthday cruise. We were in Alaska on my 55th birthday and it looks like we'll be in the Southern Caribbean on the Carnival Destiny for his 55th birthday!

Just for Lydia...and...oh yes...anyone else who likes to look at "OLD" pics

Here you go, Lydia...these pictures are just for you (and, of course, for anyone else who enjoys seeing "OLD" pictures--Ha!)

For those who don't recognize the happy couple, that's my roomie and her boyfriend/husband of 30+ years.

The date on the back of this one says Nov. 17, 1972. It was taken up in our dorm room--- maybe even that night day that Alan proposed to your mom!? (I didn't realize that he had proposed so soon. It's amazing how much one can find out on the internet. :o) )

The date on this one was Jan 11, 1973. It was the spring semester and we were back in Nacogdoches early. Most likely we were there to beat the bad weather. We really took advantage of the snow days and enjoyed more than our share of snowball fights. I think that’s what C. was expecting in this picture –a snowball thrown at her.

And here’s the orange ’69 camaro…at least that’s the color I remember.

That same semester but at the end of the semester. This picture was taken in the front section of the cafeteria where all the vending machines were.

I’m thinking that this is your mom and dad’s first anniversary of dating each other. They are so much in love!

The final picture is taken on a bridge somewhere in East Texas. We took a day trip to Lake Livingston with Chuck …the date was March 22, 1974.



So, how’s that for a little bit of history? I love it!

And a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you, my old friend!

Retirement Feelings--Now That School Begins Tomorrow

Now that school begins tomorrow I can tell a little more about how it really feels to be retired...It feels absolutely terrific! I can attest to the fact that the loss of the stress that I dealt with now for the last three years or so is a big plus! I have been able to cut back on my meds now that the stress is lowered...what a great thing this retirement is!

Remembering that I had planned to do a lot more traveling, Jim and I are planning a trip to Denver and on to the Boulder area for the second weekend of September. Hopefully we will be able to visit family members in Colorado then. And as we have already proven that we love to cruise this year we're hoping to get one more cruise in before the end of the year--one to San Juan, Puerto Rico and the islands around that island. Hopefully, it will soon be among our list of places we've been...

And then there's also a quick trip to Las Vegas to see Jim's mom. We plan to take Patrick along with us then too. It will most likely be sometime after October 12, 2007, which is the date that Jim has scheduled his gall bladder surgery. The sonogram that he had to have shows "medium" gall stones and one very small kidney stone. After visiting with the surgeon (who just happens to be someone we've known forever --grew up across the street from Jim and went to our church), we both feel good about the process--keeping our fingers crossed that he will make it to that day without any further difficulties.

And now, the pictures at the first of this post-- are pictures of our kitchen and breakfast room. The painters came and scraped the popcorn stuff off the ceiling and pulled the paper off the walls in order to get ready to paint and texture tomorrow.

The granite countertops and the tile backsplash are next...maybe I'll put a picture up tomorrow...

For now,

Cheryl

Remodeling Time

This weekend we spent Friday afternoon and part of Saturday and Sunday making decisions regarding our soon to be newly remodeled kitchen. Having already chosen the slab for the granite countertop, we have also chosen a new cooktop

and a new oven

and a new microwave (which I don't have a picture of...Maybe I'll e inspired to do some cooking!). With all of this new stuff it's going to seem like a new house...

Finished product (we hope!)

The reason that I say (we hope!) is that yesterday after taking Jim's car in to the shop earlier that morning -- and that's another story...but anyway, I discovered that the floor around the aquarium was soaking wet! Something about the way that Jim had set up the aquarium caused it to shut down and then overflow below the aquarium so that the 25 gallons of salt water that I had rushed to the pet store to buy at the last minute the day before (ties to story about the car) was soaking into the carpet around the aquarium! I immediately called Jim and said HELP! He tried to tell me what valve to turn...I wasn't strong enough to turn it...and then he told me where to stop the siphon. Finally I began trying to get the water up with the old shop vac that we had...

Jim got home and began working on the tank at about 3:45 or so...Now it just so happens that Monday nights are our dance lessons night. I suggested to Jim that we would have to miss, but he was not inclined to do so for fear of never being able to catch up. So as a result at 5:25 we were dashing off to the pet store to buy the salt water we needed to fill up the aquarium again. Then we left the store and drove over to UTA for the dance lessons. We were only about 30 minutes late so we essentially missed the review part of the lessons.

When we got home following the lessons we stopped at Colter's to eat and came home so that Jim could put the water into the tank. Of course, all of this makes it sound much simpler than it is...Finally, again, we have a beautiful tank. Pictures below:

OKLAHOMA!

Yesterday morning we got up at 4:45 and left about 5:05 for a quick trip to Oklahoma and back. Believe it or not, we drove to Hunter, OK, which is just east of Enid, Oklahoma (almost to Kansas) to pick up an aquarium full of live rock and coral as well as a bunch of fish, invertebrates, and other stuff that were in the aquarium of the mayor of Hunter, OK. He had advertised online the sale of his aquarium and all the reef fish and live rock that were in it as well as the lights that help the live rock grow and Jim bought it from him today.

We did not buy the aquarium itself because Jim is going to put all of the stuff into the one we have now. Ours is actually bigger than the one that he had and so the stuff will easily fit into it. We got home at about 5:45 pm after our drive with one tiny stopover at Robson Ranch near Denton. We are hoping to go up there in October for a tour and a weekend stay so we just stopped a moment to see where it is.

So now all of the stuff for the set up is in buckets of salt water that we brought back as well as the water we took out of our tank in order to get it all ready. Jim took out all of the gravel/rock that was at the bottom of the tank and replaced it with the living sand from the reef tank. Finally he was so exhausted he couldn't do anythng else so we made sure that the air was pumped into each place where there were fish (about 4 or 5 different large containers sitting in the game room. That is what is shown in the picture above...the tank being readied and set up--IN PROGRESS.