Beautiful Saturday

Here are some water lilies which were growing alongside the River Walk in San Antonio.

Another fine day in Tucson! I got up and worked out on the Wii, showered, and had breakfast. My new rule of "no eating after 7:30 pm" is working very well. I never thought I'd be rejoicing over 143 again, but... that's 3 lbs less than it was when I got my new scale just a couple of weeks ago! I have to think that the exercise is helping too.

Jack and I met up at the clubhouse, where they were having games for prizes and we each came out of it with some gift certificates. And then we had errands of various sorts. Jack had to get stuff to fix a leak in his shower. I had to get a pad to put under my DDR to keep it from sliding on this carpet. I needed Tide. Stuff like that.

Dinner was Jan's Beef Stroganoff, which she'd given to Jack. (He, being a single gentleman, gets all the sympathy food from the ladies in the park, and then he has me over to share it!) Delicious with a salad! and we had some of my mincemeat pie for dessert.

Black Friday

A beautiful rose for you!

Black Friday could also be called "Doing Our Part for the Economy Day!" And that's what we did. Jack's been wanting a Wii of his very own, so we went out and found that, along with the Wii Fit Plus bundle to go with it. Now he has no excuse not to get fit along with me! Best Buy had the Wii system, and Target had the Wii Fit Plus, each at $30 off, but Target was out, so we ended up getting both purchases at Best Buy. We also got him "Wii Play" which looked fun.

That was pretty early when we went out. In fact, we were back home by 10 I think. After we got his system all set up and tried out, we determined that one of the remotes was not working, so back into the car we went and off to exchange it. We tried out the Wii Fit and it's working great. Wii Play is very fun, too.

I had lunch on my deck, sitting in the warm sun, and it felt great. And there is a little cat which seems to have taken up residence under the cover that I use over my firepit. He was watching me eat, and then decided that he should help me eat. I kept pushing him off, but he kept coming up and trying to eat off my tray. I don't know where he belongs, but I have no intentions of having another cat. Eddie would have a fit. He really dislikes other cats.

This evening, Jack and I walked over to Sunflower Market to lay in some supplies for dinner. Jack made what I'd call "glop" -- a dish that my mother used to make -- consisting of hamburger, various vegetables, and tomato sauce all mixed with macaroni. This happens to be one of my favorite foods, and Jack did it justice! I'd intended to bring my mincemeat pie over for dessert, but I forgot it.

At 7, we saw Toy Story 3 in the Fiesta Room. Cute movie, and it made perfect sense, even though I'd not seen TS 1 or 2. So a very fun day!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A couple of examples of Nature's Bounty for you today, as we celebrate Thanksgiving here in the USA. This was a good day! I worked out on the Wii and then went to the grocery to lay in supplies to make my pie. I had bought one jar of mincemeat, but needed two. So the quest began. I found the first jar at Walmart, but today it was all put away, to make room for the Friday specials. Safeway on Tanque Verde came through for me again!

Jack helped me with the pie, peeling the apples and reconstituting the mincemeat, and that was a great help. I just had to do the crust.

And we were off! Gary drove us over to Nancy's new condo, which she was happy to tour us around. Pretty place with 2 bedrooms and a little private courtyard, nice living room/dining room and a great kitchen! Nancy's family (Harold & Kathy, and Steve) were there, along with Jan and Gary, Vicki and Earl, and Jack and me.

Dinner was served. Vicki had made delicious and moist turkey with yummy stuffing, and there were yams and carrots (my fave), and green bean casserole, salads, mashed potatoes and gravy, and good friends, good laughs, and just a very nice time. Oh, and the pies! Vicki had made pumpkin and I'd made my mincemeat, and both were scrumptious! The best part was being with such a great group of people.

Whirlwind

This is a sample staircase from the Texas Statehouse in Austin, TX.

I've been a busy girl for the past few days, and I've gotten a lot done. One thing that I accomplished was that I signed a deal to move to a different cottage in this park. While I have really enjoyed this one, there are things that I don't like, like the lot that it's on, and I've been coveting a larger, more private lot. So I'll be moving to a new cottage, probably in mid-January. I'm excited!

The moving-back-in stage is coming to a close, as we've just about gotten all of that stuff done. Today I did 10 loads of laundry, including all the bedding, blankets, towels, and sheets from the RV... PLUS all our clothes. This will be the last of Jack's laundry that I'll be doing, at least for now.

We took the clean stuff over to the RV, which is now in storage, and we winterized her. This involves pumping potable antifreeze into the lines, using the water pump. It's a pretty simple procedure, costs just $4 for the pink stuff, and it'll buy me peace of mind as the temperatures drop below freezing at night here over the next couple of months.

Tonight we went over to Broadway Proper and enjoyed a nice dinner with Mary, Jack's Mom. The dinner was delicious, and we like her new apartment!

In my Winter Digs

We drove on into Tucson yesterday, arriving at 11:30 am. Arriving early in the day like this allowed us time to get our work done while still keeping some sanity. We began by stopping at Jack's cottage, plugging it in, turning on the water, turning on the refrigerator and hot water heater, and then off-loading his things into his cottage.

Next, we drove the RV to my cottage, plugged it in, turned on the water, turned on the fridge and hot water heater, and then off-loaded my things.

The tanks of the RV emptied themselves into the sewer of one of the empty sites as we watched. Then we cleaned out the tanks and moved the rig into the "triangle," a place in the park where we can store it till Monday, when we'll store it for real.

Then came the real job of putting everything away, so Jack went to his house and I went to mine, and away the things went!

I'm happy to be here, in a way, because it's lovely here, I enjoy my cottage and my friends, the church here, and the action of the city. I'm looking forward to doing some more of the things that I have enjoyed in the past, and am hoping to do some new things this year. I am a little sad to be here, too, because I miss my house and my friends in Michigan, and also because I am sorry to have Jack's and my journey be over, for the time being.

We had such a great time, seeing and doing so many things. Our mileage total for the RV was 5062. We averaged just over 15 mpg in the RV towing the car. I have not tallied the miles for the Fit, but we did fill that little gas tank a few times!

Today was good -- a big day for our church, St. John on the Desert. There was a pancake breakfast to begin the morning. Then we had the service. After church was a luncheon accompanied with a presentation on exercising our minds using puzzles (fun!). THEN, we pitched in to decorate the sanctuary for Christmas.

Jack and I had some errands to run, so we got that done. Finally, I got back here and hooked up my computer! :)

And here, for your viewing pleasure, is a photo from the front of a building in Austin, Texas.