Graphic "T" Thursday

Every Thursday in Ocala is graphic "T" day in the office at Winco.  Doug felt that it was a great idea for the employees, but never thought of participating in it himself.  The women that he worked with had a different idea, however.  Every week they let him know that they were ready to see his graphic t-shirt collection.   I always thought that it was funny that he garnished so much attention for always dressing professionally.  He changes immediately after work, so except for Sundays, I almost always see Doug in  t-shirts.  

Meg and I did encourage him to participate.  She even bought him a new Rolling Stones shirt, which he actually wore to work one day.  It wasn't a Thursday, however, but one in which he had arrived late from a delayed flight and didn't want to go home to change first. 

This week, Doug came home from work with two new shirts that he had received from several of his coworkers.  He realized now that he had no choice but to participate in graphic "T" Thursday.  I loved the shirts and was glad that he was going to wear one.  It fit his personality perfectly and gave everyone a glimpse of the Doug that I know and love.  

Coming Together

It has taken over a month to get the house unpacked and everything organized, but it is finally starting to come together.  This week I finished the music room with a new vinyls stand for Cameron and my albums.  I also got a nice bag for Cameron's new golf clubs, which Rena and Cameron both loved.  They fit perfectly into the new golf bag stand that I bought for the garage.  

I also organized the lanai, fit all of the games in the front closet, hung a curtain above the laundry room where we stored all of the Legos, turned half of my closet into a storage room and found a nice spot for the rocking chairs on the front porch.  I still need to unpack Cameron's bedroom, organize the lanai, hang our pictures on the walls and buy outdoor furniture for the back patio.  It sounds like a lot, especially since we also have to have the exterior of our home painted and the landscaping completed, but we are getting a lot closer to my goal of being completely done with all projects by Thanksgiving.  I can't wait!

Fall Weather in Florida

It looks like fall in Florida with all of the decorations in our neighborhood and advertised fall festivals.  The weather, however, does not feel like fall to me.  Growing up in Indiana, we had a lot of gorgeous days in September, but there were also cold, gray, rainy days as well.  I been conditioned to make sure that I got outside on the nice days as I knew that there would be less and less of them as winter approached.  

It has been totally different spending September in Florida.  Every day has been over 80 degrees with many in the 90s.  We haven't had much rain and there has been an over abundance of sunshine.  I still wear shorts and no sleeve shirts most days and have thoroughly enjoyed it.  With fall fast approaching and knowing that weather will soon be changing in Indiana, I had to laugh when I saw this meme on Facebook.  Although we have had a lot of 100 degree days, I could still understand the sentiment and had no complaints about the truth of the statement.

One Sore Foot

 In June, my left foot started hurting and it really hasn't stopped since then.  I should have taken time to do something about it then, but was so busy packing, cleaning and getting ready for the move that I didn't do anything about it.  I think that I went more with the "hope and pray that it went away" method for healing it rather than doing anything about it.  It got so bad that I had to give up my daily walks and spent a lot of evenings sleeping with ice on it.  

Once we moved, I promised Doug that I would do something about my foot.  I had had planter's fasciitis before and the pain was the exact same.  Thus, I got out all of the information from over ten years ago to read what I should do to help it heal.  Ankle exercises were recommended, which I had already started, as was ice.  The one item on the list that I hadn't thought of was the planter's fasciitis brace.  It wasn't quite a boot or an ankle wrap.  Instead it kept the foot at a ninety degree angle during the night so that the achilles could rest and hopefully heal.  

I got out my old brace and gave it a try.  It helped, but not enough to get me out walking again.  I ordered a new one last week and have already started to feel a difference.  Hopefully with that, ice, ankle exercises and keeping shoes on my feet I will soon be out taking my morning walks again. 

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa arrived in Bloomington yesterday afternoon for a weekend visit with Brett and Cameron.  While Cameron was at the IU vs Louisville game in Indy, Brett, Grandma and Grandpa headed to French Lick to the casino.  Brett had never been to one except on the cruise.  Although they weren't big winners, they did have a lot of fun.  Brett played the slots mostly and thought that he would try Black Jack the next time.

Last night, Grandma and Grandpa took the boys to an Italian restaurant for dinner where Cameron caught them up on the IU football game where the Hoosiers almost pulled out a victory. Brett told them all about his campaign efforts and the new pamphlets that he bought for door knocking.  They also took some great pictures together before the evening ended.

This morning they all met for lunch at Red Lobster  before Grandma and Grandpa headed back to Syracuse.  Cameron was happy to show off his new Jared Goff jersey to them as well.  All four of them said that they had a fantastic weekend and couldn't wait to get together again after the election was over.  I was happy that it worked out so well and couldn't wait to hear about their next visit.

Chicago Nightlife

A huge benefit to living in Chicago is having access to a lot of activities for friends when they visit.  Meg took advantage of those tonight when Gabrielle, Stella and Carson arrived for a weekend of fun.  They did a mini bar crawl, enjoyed a charcuterie board at Meg's apartment, went on a walking tour of Wicker Park and showed Stella several areas that they thought she might want to live in when she moved to Chicago this winter as she will also be an accountant with Plante Moran starting in January.

Meg sent us pictures of her night.  It was fun to see Nick and the girls enjoying Chicago's nightlife.  Meg thought they would check out Lincoln Park tomorrow.  I love that they are taking advantage of all that the city has to offer.  Chicago is the perfect place for young adults to live and thrive.  

Pumpkins in Magic Kingdom

Doug left work at one this afternoon so that we could travel to Magic Kingdom.  I really wanted to see the Halloween decorations and this was the perfect day to do so.  I almost talked us out of going as I realized on the way that tonight was Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party.  I thought that the park would already be crowded by the time we arrived at 2:30.  

Thankfully, I was completely wrong.  There was hardly anyone there when we arrived and we were not only able to see all of the decorations, but also walk on several of our favorite rides including Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion.  We both had a lot of fun.

Attendance at Magic Kingdom started to increase after 4 p.m. when the party goers began to arrive.  With wait times on the rides increasing, we decided to hop on the monorail and head to Epcot for dinner.  Doug had not gotten to try the Food and Wine Festival offerings from the American pavilion yet, so we headed to their booth first.  We ended up ordering everything on the menu including Cioppino: seafood stew, Chilaquiles: corn tortilla chips tossed in salsa verde with ranchero chicken and egg, a hot beef sandwich with horseradish cream and pickled vegetables, and freshly baked carrot cake with cream cheese icing.  All four of them were delicious and well worth the walk.  We rested in the pavilion for a little while before leaving the park.  We made it out just before the rain hit, happy with our trip and thoroughly enjoying the start to the weekend.