Where in the World.....?

Sue, Patrick and the kids are apparently en route to or already landed in Europe. I am hoping Patrick ...or someone....will take advantage of the blog I made him for the trip so I can follow their adventures as they happen. Sadly, I think it is doubtful, because no one contacted me about how to use it....but I have sent instructions to Sue and am crossing my fingers!
   The blog site is: http://herecomethemays.blogspot.com/    (that first entry was part of my set-up!)

So...back to us....Tom is off to golf with Frank, despite the fact that this is going to be a very hot day (as was yesterday's uncomfortable golfing). I have two HR Block classes to prepare for for later today, one virtual, one with my friend Chris.

We had a special dinner at Hebes last night. It was good to see Gary and we enjoyed sampling the new Bistro menu.

I guess Gee Gee isn't going to the 60's bash since Donna closed it out today. :-(

California for us is  not that far away. :-)  Looking forward.......

Busy week ahead!

Not sure my scheduling was the best, but at least nothing overlaps! Four H&R Block classes will be in progress for me. That's a lot of learning! (but I can do it!)

Happy birthday, Margie Ferrare! Whoo hoo!

I was delighted to have my brother in law ask for help in making a blog for use on their upcoming Prague trip. I made him one! http://herecomethemays.blogspot.com/   I hope they use it. How fun to follow along while they are on vacation!

Talking about tripping.....I am really looking forward to our visit with all the relatives in the Bay area in October. :-)

That will be without nephew Cody who will still be studying in Paris and Zoe who will be somewhere in the world at work.

In other family news, Hannah got engaged! :-) (See Facebook for lots of photos of the happy day!)

I did it my way!

Google is dumping their igoogle feature which I love so I am going back to the lesser known, but really wonderful (read no ads or banners!) website http://www.myway.com   I highly recommend it!

You click on "my page" and then you get to personalize the whole thing..what it looks like and what information you want on it. I really like it...just sayin'  (I updated and set up my list of frequently accessed websites...this is going to be an easy transition and save me from an online bill paying nightmare.

So Happy New Year and have a great day!

First Day of School....but not for me! :-)

Wow....seven years retired now....? Hard to believe....but still happy happy happy! :-)

I'll be thinking about my friends and colleagues tomorrow as they meet and greet their new students....I, on the other hand, plan to be on the beach, enjoying the sun and sand. :-)

So this weekend. the last of the old summer vacation time frame of yesteryear, we did some dancing (including with our visiting friend, Teri, on Saturday night),

Tom and Teri

Newlyweds

Teri and Me

 and bonfire-d with Chris and Michelle and hung out. I'm sorry we never made it to Myrtle Beach, but we just couldn't figure out working around Tom's assorted medical stuff with certainty on how he'd be feeling re the long drive. Too bad, just when Margie moved there (-ish)

Other summer vacation regrets include not having a chance to visit with Alex and the boys. Hopefully that will be in the cards one of these days.....

So...September. Wow. I am NOT looking forward to cold and snow......

Learning about the Marketplace

Tuesday-Thursday of this week I traveled the 90 miles round trip to New Brunswick to attend the CMS National Training for our NY region. This was my second year in attendance and it was fascinating.

Guess whose team won "Medicare Millionaire"? :-)

Have  a question about the Marketplace opening up for business on October 1? I may just have answers! :-)

While I was in New Brunswick I also had the pleasure of making phone calls from Barbara Buono for Governor headquarters there. I even got to see her in person!

Me, hanging with the Democratic candidate for Governor of NJ

I also had the best lunch ever at Old Man Rafferty's:

Poor Tom missed me very much. We went to the movies Tuesday night, but I was too tired to dance on Wednesday night (after a full day of workshop sessions followed by two hours of election phone calling!) (The Thursday session started at 8 a.m.!!!! and I was driving in life threatening thunderstorm/heavy rain conditions the whole way up. :-(

In other news, my first teacher-led instruction HR Block class of the season was cancelled due to lack of others signing up. I was, however, successful in signing up for Chris's class for basic review, which should be lots of fun! 

I can't believe it is so close to September. (Oh, did I mention how pleased I was to find I received a third quarter homestead benefit on my tax bill? Whoo hoo! What a nice surprise after all these years.)

The beach at last!

Hard to believe we live so relatively close to the beach and the first we got to it this season was August 13th. But, we got there. It's a start anyway.

We went to Island Beach State Park and then took a peek at Seaside Heights and the aftermath of Sandy. So sad.

But our beach day was good and it turns out there is something called a senior citizens pass available for free entry to all the NJ state parks. I am going to send for it! Whoo hoo :-)   (and then go places!)

Talking about going places, I realized as I walked in to Prospectors last Sunday for Sugarfootin' Sunday that  I had been there dancing every night from Wednesday...no wonder my legs were ache-y!

My camera gave me a scare when I tried to take a picture of Gary at my t-shirt selling tent at his 2013 Hollystock event. (It was sunny this year and I was a volunteer.) The scare was, it didn't work. :-(  I read some stuff online and fiddled with the stuck lens a few times and now it seems to be working again. Whew.

I got my new tax bill and it appears I have a third quarter reduction for a homestead benefit. That was a nice surprise after all these years of nothingness!

That was good news. On the bad news side, I got an e-mail indicating that the library book I thought I'd returned with the bunch on Aug. 5th was still with me and now I owe the library $1.20. Boo hoo! (It wasn't even one of my top ten :-(  

I had lunch with Kathryn on Thursday, Gee Gee on Sunday,  the DEAR group on Monday, and Tom on Wednesday. I think it's time to get back to the gym..... and for my next resolution....more sleep!

August already!

I saw it was August and panicked for a moment...despite the fact that this is the seventh year that I don't have to worry about getting my room ready for the new school year as summer races to a close. Have I mentioned lately how much I love being retired?

Recent good news was that our air conditioner got fixed instead of having to be replaced (thank you, Walt Nesbitt!). Bad news was I had bronchitis for two weeks...still suffering a bit actually.

On the medical front, it's mostly all good. Tom doesn't have to have surgery this quarter and my testing didn't come up with anything obviously bad. I might still go for some exploration of a jaw nerve to see why I had the weird symptoms.

We had fun at the Jamboree in the Hills and Randi's pig roast and Doug Brewin's performance at the 4-H Camden County Fair. It was fun to see Jill and Mike and Ann for lunch at Bonefish Grille (My meal was soooo delicious!). I was disappointed that although the restaurant was just across the street from Gina that we didn't get to see her (and Howard and Robert...who were on the way to the airport).

I signed up for like ten HR Block classes today. Looks like I'll have a pretty busy fall!