VSG Maintenance Group
Tuesday, February 28, 2023
One sleep until the Florida Keys. Most everything is packed away somewhere either to come with us or out of the way here. Mike ended up with some extra room in his suitcase for me to use which was a big help as I just couldn't fit completely in mine. Darn shoes... The guy fixing the shelf and rod in the owners closet is supposed to do it this morning (did I tell you it crashed down from the weight of our clothes because it isn't a square closet and one end of the rod was floating in the air?). Anyway, nothing like last minute getting that all stuffed full. It has our leave-behind hanging clothes but also any dry foods or toiletries that can't withstand the heat in the garage. Any other storage which can deal with the heat is in large plastic totes on shelves in the garage. Easy to move to the new condo when we come back in May to close but we will still need to box up kitchen stuff and some miscellaneous stuff we leave in drawers at that point. But we shall worry about that later.
Our taxes are filed. I get a return from Massachusetts since I stopped being a resident. It doesn't offset the large payment for the federal which will be sucked out on 4/18. I did pay estimates whi*****luded the capital gain on my house, but Mike's gain was at the end of the year and he didn't pay an estimate on it in January. Oh well - hopefully we will be in better shape next year. This is the year of large expenditures.
DD asked about our trip itineraries: In the Florida Keys for the month of March (friends visit for 4 days the first week, Mike's DS will be there for 3 days the second week, and we stay in Key West one night for our 1st anniversary/my birthday). When we leave to drive north on 3/31, we stay one night in St. Augustine, 6 nights in Hilton Head, and one in DC near Mike's son on the drive home. We will be on Cape Cod for Easter and the day after, then fly out late the next day to Tahiti (via LAX - LONG flight). 1 night in a hotel in Tahiti, 18 days on a sailing cruise around the islands, then 2 nights in an overwater bungalow. We spend 4 days in New Zealand, 3 in Australia, and 5 in Hawaii before we return home to Cape Cod for a few days. Back to Florida in late May to close on the condo (we are driving to Virginia then taking a car train to get the car back here), move our stuff, and get this house on the market. We return back to Cape Cod for about a week, then are at my Aruba timeshare for 2 weeks with DD and her boyfriend. No more travels for the summer other than possibly a week back here to do more settling in at the condo. WHEW! It exhausts me to type this. Mike keeps the details in a spreadsheet. I mentally can cope with only one segment at a time. I think we need to settle down a bit in 2024. Maybe just short trips?
Time to finish coffee and get a Justice walk in. We have one more Bocce match this afternoon, then early dinner at a casual restaurant and that is pretty much it for here for a while. Feels sad to leave but not.
Have a terrific Tuesday!
I am all caught up on receiving Amazon packages ! I don't think my "on the way" queue has been empty before ! DD, so sorry to hear about your host mom. Diane, I hope you were able to get back in your garage, and that the skylights hold. Ducks are quacking, and roosters are crowing. Sadie loves deer and rabbit poop, but turns up her nose to duck and goose excrement. Small favors.
We're headed out for our morning walk, and I hope to do some shelling this afternoon before Mahjonng dinner and games.
Age: 64; 5' 5"; High weight: 345; Start weight: 271 (01/05/15); Surgery weight: 218 (05/27/15); Pre-Op (-53); M 1 (-18); M 2 (-1.5); M 3 (-13.5 ); M 4 (-13); M 5 (- 8); M 6 (-12) M 7 (-5, Xmas); M 8 (- 9) Under surgeon's goal and REACHED HEALTHY BMI 12/07/15!! (Six months and one week.) AT GOAL month 8. Maintaining at goal range (139- 144) ~ four (4) years !!
LOL - like a ferry but it's a train. It has sleeper and restaurant cars plus a bunch of cars that the automobiles ride on. We drive to Virginia (about 1/3 of the way to Florida), then ride on the train overnight to Sanford FL (near Orlando). From there we drive the last 1.5 hours to our place. So elapsed time is faster (since it travels while we sleep), plus we save on hotels, gas, tolls, and wear and tear on the car. Sort of a wash cost-wise (a bit more expensive but worth it).
Greetings all
More rain and hail this morning but at least it's brief. Sky lights hold up amazingly well in it. Years ago in the midwest we had the mother of all hail storms one july - it was in huge piles flowing down the street and big as golf balls. I had a sky light I was concerned about but it held. But another time my car got totally trashed.
Liz you indeed have an exhausting travel schedule! But I am sure it will be lots of fun. I did not know about car train but it sounds like a great idea. Kind of like when you take your car on a ferry boat. And you get to ride in the nice train car. I am thinking we should do a train trip like one in canada. But to get the train it's a drive to sacramento. No trains here anymore. Good for mike for keeping a spreadsheet on details. Thats what is needed!
We watched another poker face last night and still like it. Liz that second episode was my least favorite. I like #4 best which pertains to a barbecue stand.
We watched an episode of the new Eugene Levy series "The Reluctant Traveler". Kind of cute.
CC how much snow did you get? DD are you home yet?
We were supposed to have a studio board meeting today but it got canceled at the last minute so I missed scrabble for nothing. I had even done my homework by studying the financials. Oh well, I will report later.
I am sitting here in my new robe from Coldwater creek which is soft and fluffy and mostly cotton. Love it. But I think the camisole is going to not be good. I got a big enough size but the boob space apprears to be inadequate. We will see.
Planning on lentil soup tonight. Supposed to be a very high protein item.
Cheers all. Diane S
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Wow Liz, that itinerary is something else. Absolutely need a spread sheet or you could get turned around and end up in the wrong city on the wrong day.
Ocean Diane, we had to go to great lengths to keep our lab from raiding the cats litter box. If she got one, we called them poopsicles. Bella really loved poopsicles, but left other types of poop alone. We eventually installed a cat door on the laundry room door (where their box was) so we could always keep the door shut. Cats come and go, but Bella was cut off from snacking.
CC, I'm thinking about your secret eating. My dh is so tuned into sleeve eating. He never cares if I order something and can't fini**** his viewpoint is, you deserve to have a meal, and just eat what you want of it. He doesn't get upset if 3 hours later I need a small snack. He lets me do my thing. But when we travel with one of his brothers, his brother is constantly monitoring, and making comments about wasting food etc. It makes me crazy. And rebellious. And they know about my surgery. My SIL tries to smooth things over by offering to split a meal. But I want to eat what I want to eat. So I have to sneak eat around them or because he likes to announce We had such a big breakfast, we don't need lunch. Sorry, I can rarely go all day on one breakfast. Anyhow, we are traveling with them again in April. I am debating whether to send an email once again explaining how a sleeve works, or if we should have the talk face to face, or whether DH should talk to his brother...
Diane S, it sounds like the weather has gone mad in your neck of the woods too. We have record breaking snow amounts this year, but snow is of course not a surprise. It sounds like you are getting astonishing sorts of weather.
My thoughts of Brazil have been with me today. I remembered something I wrote once, That Brazil's heat melted my Scandinavian soul and reformed it into something more exuberant. Or as my mother said when I returned home wearing my Brazilian wardrobe, "You look like a hooker." I thought that was hysterical. Because looking back at pictures of me at 16, I look like I'm in some kind of modesty cult. I wore a lot of turtlenecks. Anyhow, I doubt I looked like a hooker, just somebody with collar bones :)
Tomorrow is conferences. Bracing myself for the 12 hour day. If all goes to plan, I will only do conferences 4 more times after this.
