Visitor - Residential Counsel - Grandson Graduation

 Shalimar, FL   (Hi  76   Lo  69)

Monday I went to my first class for yoga. I didn't realize it's all from youtube. I thought someone was teaching it in person.  It was also all seated. I'm really out of shape even in sit down yoga I couldn't do some of the moves, especially when it comes to using the knees. I was also sore the next morning. Oh brother. I'll be doing more of the yoga at home and watching youtube.  We had tornado warning while in class and the management moved us all in the hall way. I was watching radar and grabbed a few photos of the rain.  No tornadoes were reported in the area, but sure looked like there was one around if you depended on radar.  This is overlooking the pool area. 

The other side of the building. Dark and lots of rain. 

    

This is our river on the sidewalk every times it rains. That's slick by the way. 

I picked up Ruth, my friend from Illinois, at the airport at 5:30, she was only half hour later then scheduled. The pilot went around the storm system and it quit raining by the time she got here. (nice)

Tuesday, it rained and stormed most of the night but cleared part of the day so the only thing we did was go out to lunch at AJ's restaurant. We sat outside by the water and it was really windy. It seems there's always a strong wind along by bayou. 

Wednesday, We're so active I can't keep up. Doing what? Playing games on our phones. lol We both love bubbles and words with friends so we sat all morning and played. Talk about relaxing. I'm also crocheting gnomes so I go back and forth. In the afternoon I had my first residential counsel meeting. It went great and several people were there.  We turn in questions and management tells everyone the answers at the meeting. It's going to be fun and informing job for two years. 

Thursday, it's the last day for Ruth's visit, so we took off for Okaloosa Island to Stewby's restaurant. We both want as much seafood as we can get. I really like Stewby's and should go more often but it's on Oklaoosa Island with lots of traffic. It wasn't real bad today, but we lucked out. We also went shopping, Ruth needed some light weight pants, hard to find in Illinois. We came back home and played cards.

Friday morning we were up early. The flight was 9:00 and we weren't sure how long it would take to get thru the boarding. When Ruth was going in the shower there was a huge spider. Neither of us deal with spiders. With her help and her shoe, I got it, but it was so big it wouldn't go down the drain. I looked it up and it may have been a wolf spider. I didn't have shoes on so didn't take the time to get the camera. I just hope there's no mate. 

I came back home and thought about going back to bed but instead I got my air bed back in the bag, cleaned the floors, did the laundry, got some paperwork done for the neighbor for the next council meeting. I tackled the shelves of thread and put in cardboard separators. I reorganized the linen closet. I haven't done that since I moved in, so it was really needed. I was on the NC zoom like every Friday. 

Saturday, rain and storms kept me awake most of the night. It was pouring when I got. It's a good day for ducks and stay in to get more organizing done. I worked on the craft cabinet. It took a few hours but it's nice and neat now. All done with organizing. 

Our grandson graduated from high school today so I watched on Youtube a special website. Jack Walter got Summa cum laude award and was one the first to graduate out of 705 students. They did it really neat with two lines of kids. A gal would call a name from each side and kept it going very smoothly. Impressive. 

Click photo to enlarge.  This is what it looked like on the website. Two lines.

Jack getting diploma. He's the last of the grandkids graduating from high school.  Now there will be two more graduations in the future both from college.

I'm a proud grandma with all three doing very well in school and on to colleges. 

This week will be back to normal. Stay tuned. 

Summer Agenda - Changes in Schedule - Council - Pour Painting

 Shalimar, FL  (Hi  83  Lo  64)

This is the last week before the summer agenda. The bowling has ended till August and different summer activities will start next week. I need to find something else to do for Monday and Wednesday and noticed there's Yoga at the same time bowling was held. I'll try that and see if it's something I'll like or can do.

Monday I had another massage and chiropractor. They've worked out the worst of the pain in the neck so maybe with another session I can be pain free for the trip coming up. 

I had diamond art on Tuesday then on to meditation. I decided to get some shopping done when that was over. I have a guest next week and needed some little things. 

Thursday was my first meeting with the counsel. It's going to be a great group to work with and I'm looking forward to doing my part in at least getting the problems to the right management who can help, it's out of my hands after they know. I'm learning a lot about the people and the way things are run in a big over 55+ community. I'm so glad I'm here. The general meeting is next week, that's for the residents to hear the answers to questions we put to the managers. 

In the afternoon I went to pour and paint. We poured water paint on a big canvas and swirled it around for different designs. It turned out really nice and so did the other ones. 

The residents paintings

Saturday I got more river rock for the patio area and a few more items like damp rid for the humidity here. I hang them in two different closets to keep the humidity down. It's already starting to get a bet wet.  In the evening we had a cookout with hamburgers, hot dogs and brats. Tomorrow is Mother's Day and I'm going to be crocheting all day trying to catch up. My guest comes in Monday evening, so I'll have a new blog on our week's activities next weekend. 

Indian Flute Festival - Cinco de Mayo

 Shalimar, FL   (Hi   78   Lo  71)

Sunday I went with Lois and Debbie to the Native American Musical Echoes Flute Festival. It was windy and chilly by the bay, but the sun was out and perfect day. There were several vendors with flutes and pictures painted by different artists along with artifacts from the tribes in the area. I love going to these festivals. We got there about 9 and left at noon. 

CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE

John John Grant

Lois, Debbie and Dee

Showing different Indian steps

Jonny Lipford

The rest of the week was normal. It's the first of the month so there's a few more meetings to setup the month and Thursday was the activities meeting. This is for the month of May, plus all I do on the side like bowling, card playing, shuffleboard, etc. This is the perfect place for me.

There was also counsel voting this week and I'm now on the counsel. There's several from different villages that were elected. Just for an FYI, there's six villages in the complex and over 500 residents. We're the go between the residents and management for anything that needs attention (complaints mostly). It's a two year term. If you want to be on it again, you have to wait out a year. My first meeting is Thursday. 

Friday we celebrated Cinco de Mayo.  Margaritas are great! We had line dancing and tacos. There weren't as many this year as last year, but a good time was had by all. 

Our table from Village one. 

The whole group and those dancing

The margarita bar

Saturday was our village one meeting to start out the month. I'll be secretary now from the counsel and bring the info to the first Saturday meetings.

In my "spare" time, I'm still crocheting gnomes for the August craft fair. I now have 26 done and doing a variety to represent the months of the year. There's so many ideas the craft group gave me so there's a list I'm going to do.

I'm a storm watcher and there's plenty of tornadoes this year that have been more powerful then normal. This one in Oklahoma was amazing. (Taken from the TV screen)

This is the top and bottom of this tornado.

Reed Timmer (storm chaser) debris from the funnel

I'm adding the photos so I have a record of it for dates. w/ pictures

Easy Going Week - Birthday Party - Tornado Outbreak

 Sharlimar, FL   (Hi 78 Lo 66)

It was a normal quieter week than last week. The normal schedule was Wii bowling Monday and Wednesday mornings and card playing in village five all afternoon  on Wednesday. Diamond art and meditation on Tuesday. I made the little ornaments that Lessie gave me. 

While I'm on crafts, I made five catnip mice for an order and got that in the mail. Postage is crazy high from  when I first started sending out orders. Most are now $5.55, it's more then the articles. 

Monday afternoon class was on the importance of sleep. There was no real answer except taking pills. I sleep average 4 to 5 hours a night, seldom anymore then that. I take no afternoon naps, but I'm feeling great and seem to be doing well. It's a myth that older people sleep less. You're supposed to get 7 to 8 hours sleep per night. We have classes on different subjects every month. Karen leads our classes.

We had a special birthday party for one of our residents that the card gals gave. Shirley is 90. She's legally blind but can see just enough to still stay alone. We had a cake and flowers for her. 

Margaret, Shirley and Lu

Thursday I had my massage and chiropractor appointment. I really needed it, my neck has been locked for a couple weeks. It's making me light headed. I'm now moving better and no headache.

I'm still working on the patio. They took out the bushes and I wanted to cover the dirt so I got some river rock and put it on top of webbing mat. It's to let water thru but no weeds, we'll see how that works. Now to figure out what to put in that area. Statues?  gnomes? Small stuff or bigger stuff? I'll take ideas, just put it in the comments.

Friday I had nothing planned and glad I didn't. I watched a series of tornadoes with storm chasers all the way from Texas to Iowa. Several destructive storms. I put this on the blog so I know from year to year what's the worst years for tornadoes. My sister and kids are in the Midwest and I follow a lot of RV'ers that travel or live in the Midwest.  I spent the entire day crocheting and watching storm chasers on YouTube.

Saturday was another down day and I don't plan on doing anything more than yesterday. I will clean up the apartment and do laundry but that's it. 

Thank you for reading. I'll leave you with a full moon. Tomorrow starts a new week and beginning of another month.  We're moving along to 2025 quite nicely.

Electronics Assistants - Birthday Party - Sing-a-long

  Shalimar, FL    (Hi   80  Lo  65)

Sunday was so much fun and a learning experience. About 15 school kids came in to help residents with cell phones, tablets and iPads. There were almost enough kids to have one on one with the residents. Each person had a question on what they needed help with. I went from table to table to hear the questions and learn anything I didn't know. The kids were amazing and very patient with everyone. There was only one cell phone that didn't want to do what they thought it should and that was with an update and changing how the screen looked. I didn't learn but a few little tricks, so was pleased to be keeping up with updates and new electronics. I'm even learning more about Apple products.

Monday I had Wii bowling then on to a special 89th birthday party. We had several attend and the Emerald Coast quartet with six guys, sang for half hour while people had lunch.

Lois and Jim are in the middle. It's Jim's 89th birthday

Thursday was another special event. The meditation leader Kathy, had a girl scout group come in to do a sing a long. They were from all over the states and had a get together for a week. There was a good turn out for the afternoon,             

They did a little dancing.

Friday was a running around day. I don't get out very often and when I do, I do a lot in one day. I had to return an Amazon order that wasn't right. It was so easy. I had a QR code and just handed the box to the lady in Kohl's she scanned the code I got a receipt and it was done. By 2:00 I had the credit in the bank. Now that's fantastic service.  I got a few groceries that I needed that isn't included in the Hellofresh meals, like bread, milk then to mailed out a crochet order to a gal. 

 I'm still very active along with all the special events along the way. Each day is different which is terrific. I still have Wii bowling for a few more weeks, meditation class, zoom classes, diamond art get together, two card playing days along with nightly cards. Saturday's is the social hour and now that the days are longer and warmer, I sit outside with a group of gals from time to time. I'm also making meals twice a week for a couple gals. I don't let grass grow under my feet. It's been a great move.

Eclipse - Storms - Volunteer Dinner - Taxes - Painted Patio

 Shalimar, FL  (Hi  78   Lo 54)  

Monday and Tuesday were the same as normal with Wii bowling, cards, and GBM zoom, diamond art and meditation.  I was going to crochet but helped neighbors with phones and made meals in between events.

Wednesday  started with the eclipse. We had 80% coverage and it was noticeable. I sat outside in front yard for the beginning of the eclipse with Anne and Judy. 

While sitting outside, a black snake went in front of me into the bushes. It's not going to bother us, we need them around for bugs and mice. I've never seen a mouse, guess that's the reason. 

I moved to the lounge patio to join another group for the rest of the afternoon. 

I couldn't get pictures and I'm sure there's a ton of them from the area on the internet. I did get one from Rick, our son in Chicago which was total. 

We had a good time with snacks and wine. The storms started moving in later in the afternoon. We were warned from the managers to bring in everything from the yard due to high winds. They closed the schools and we all took cover. We had tornado watch but in our area no warnings. The town next to us had damage and it was said to be a small tornado, but it wasn't verified by the local media. Besides torrential rains and winds, there was no damage except a few little branches down. 

Thursday was the volunteer dinner which was cancelled yesterday because of the storms. I did go to crochet group and played shuffleboard before going to the dinner. It was a dress up affair, Sunday best. The dining room was decorated so pretty and elegant yet simple. 

We had a piano player, Pam. She played the whole time we were eating.

Dee

This is the latest that was accomplished with the puzzles. They're up on the wall. I had Ryan Hall on youtube with the storms that I watch every time there's storms and he's telling where the tornado warnings are located and to take cover. The wolves are watching and I love it.

The 1000 piece puzzle now on the wall.

One big problem, it's the 13th (before sending out the blog) and I got a letter from the IRS that says  there's a problem with the filing of the taxes. It's due the 15th. I had already worked with taxes on a free site online, but since there was a question about HOW to file being single I let AARP do it at the office here. Seems something went wrong, so I went back to the online preparation and sent in the bank info for payment. It didn't go thru because the email was used from another source. I had a friend check it and found the error that was done here on campus and the website to resend it. After two hours I finally got it to accept the new entry.  Now I wait to see if it went thru and hopefully nothing else will be done.  Next year I'll know how to do it and will work with the online   freetaxusa.com, It's very easy. 

Saturday I worked 3 1/2 hours on the patio. It turned out great!  I'm not as young as I used to be. I'm sore and there's muscles that are yelling at me, Here's the before and after,