Week before Christmas

Merry Christmas to all. Today is Saturday and I am watching Christmas movies, it is raining outside and cool indoors, I had to turn on the heat to take the chill out of the air. All the shopping is done and gifts sent and received at their locations up north. I have a few gifts under the tree from family which I will open on Christmas eve during a webcam. I wish I could have been up in PA for Christmas, but it was not ment to be this year. The cost of airline tickets is too high from Melbourne to Scranton. I will try again next year.

It was so cold here last week we all thought it was going to snow, that is if there was any precept in the air. The weather sure did feel like a brisk fall day in upstate NY.

This is going to be a short post for now, but I wish only the best for my family and friends, be well, healthy and safe. Love to all

Looks like I will be back full time soon. Facebook will be charging for their services and like many people in this economy, I just can not afford it. I love the blogspot site, it has many large advantages over the facebook one. I look forward to keeping you all up on what is happening in my life here in Florida.

Ede and Joe are Married!!!

I went to Joe and Ede's wedding in GA this past weekend. What a beautiful wedding outside. Will be posting photos in the gallery so click on over.

come over and check out my facebook at www.facebook.com

I will be updating this site soon.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

I am a home owner!

This is my new home!

The final papers were signed on Thursday! I was shaking throughout the whole thing. So many papers to sign, but now the house is mine. I spoke with the old owner about 45 minutes after everyone left. I told him thank you and he was welcome at my home anytime with his family. He had intended to live there for many more years, but job and the fact the area is growing so fast he wanted his boys to grow up in a rural area. He put so much love in to the house, you can see it. He was very glad that I was the one who bought it, it made him feel good that I would take care of it. I have a few projects to do, which are going to have to happen over time. I have a wall to put up in the garage (9x8) and a new fire door that will go from the garage in to the laundry room. I have to have a fire door per code and one is not in place right now. I got a garage door opener that has to be installed. I am going to ask my friend Jeff if he would run the electric for me to I have an outlet for the opener. I would like to get a new garage door that is wind rated that will help me to lower my cost of insurance. That will run about $400 and I have to install it myself.

I would also like to get the cement pad down outside the sliding doors along with the roof of the screen room. I will have to wait on getting the sides and screens up and do it a little at a time. I will buy a piece every payday when my check allows. At least it will be a place to sit in the shade and have the grill there.

Next February when I get my taxes back, I plan on replacing the AC/HEAT unit. It is an older unit and will need to be replaced. I works well right now, but at 15 years old, it is not energy efficient. You can see photos of the house in the gallery.

I have been moving things over a little at a time. I am going to try to make 2 trips today if possible. I was offered a bedroom set and dining set from a girlfriend from work. All she asks of me is that if I need to get rid of anything that I offer it for nothing to some one who needs it, which is not a problem for me. I just thank God that she offered me the furniture which she did not have to do. So many friends have offered their services to me. It shows me how blessed I am to have good friends.

My STNY email is NO longer available. You will be able to reach me at joannboman@cfl.rr.com now. My AOL is still available too.

I will be sending out change of address cards to everyone, so look for them in the mail. They will have the new address along with my phone numbers.

All is going well, I am having a blast with work. Things continue to go well. The weather has been beautiful here, but we do need rain. We are in a sever drought right now and have a high fire danger going on.

Diane, John and Evie are waiting for their new house. They should be in the new house with in 2 weeks. I should be in my house at the same time. I do not want to move over quite yet, because if I move, they will have not furniture here and I can not do that to them. I am enjoying their company right now.

Well, the race is on and I am going to watch it. I wish every one a very safe week ahead.

As always, you all remain in my thougths and prayers. Please stay safe, healthy, and happy. Hope to hear from you soon.

Hello everyone

Well, the news is good so far. I am waiting for a window to be repaired and then the closing can happen at my new home (pictures are in the photo gallery). We were all set to close on Monday or Tuesday and I received a call that a kid broke the master bedroom window and the whole window needs to be replaced and it will take 2 weeks from ordering to installation. Eric and the mortgage company are trying to get somethings worked out and maybe we can close the end of next week. Please say a prayer things work out.

Diane and John made it down here. It was a long ride and I was all set to switch driving with Diane and she kept saying no, she said she was just grateful for me being there and having someone to talk with. I did help her with her mom in the car during the trip with her meals, drinks and snacks, which she was very grateful for. I finally got to drive on the 4th leg of the trip and it felt great. It was from GA to Palm Coast in FL. I wanted to continue to drive home, but Diane wanted to drive again, so she did.

I did get to see the family for a short time. I know I was there to get the Rizzos down here, but Diane said it was ok to go over and see the family, she knew how much my family means to me and she knew how much I missed them, so she said for me to go over when I get home and say hi, which I did. Each one had something for me, I know Diane did not have much room so most of the things I kept at my feet during the trip. I picked up my baby cooler for work, a roll of shrink wrap for my move, Amy gave me a DVD of Elizabeth and all the new thinks she is now doing. Sue gave me my favorites to bring home and eat, banana bread with nuts and 2 large containers of vegetable soup. Diane, John, Eve and I intend to eat all of it. I thank all of you who came to see me, even though I would loved to spend more time, the short time I did have was special. Thanks for all the hugs, I got to bring them home with me and can keep them close.

When we got home, everyone unloaded the car and we got mom to bed. I wrangled my cats in to my room and let the dogs in. Evie managed to stay awake almost the whole trip. She nodded off every once and a while. Everyone was over tired and nerves were at edge. John came home from taking Ron to his house and we managed to get his truck in to my garage. He came in and sat in my chair shoes off and dozed off. Diane wanted to go to the store and get some shopping done, then come home and lay down. I told her to rest and she said she would rather get the shopping done early and come home change and relax and have dinner. I cooked dinner on the grill, hot dogs and hamburgers. It was nothing fancy but boy did it taste good. Everyone really enjoyed having it cooked on the grill. It also helped we had a few glass of wine with dinner, watched a little tv, talked and finally decided we were tired enough to hit the hay.

I did finally get my car from the airport, and it cost me $18! That was for only and day and a half, how expensive. Oh well, what could I do, it's home.

Today has been really relaxing, which we all needed. John has been walking outdoors all day and enjoying it so much. Trixie and buttons have a great new friend, Penny. She is a collie that lives next door. They run up and down the fence and sniff each other. It is so good to see her active outdoors. Diane said that mom even looks better today. A small bit more alert, but she still realizes mom has issues that she can not handle. Diane is so much more relaxed today and it is good to see it and hear it in her voice.

That was our trip and we are all glad it is over with. Now to get their house so they can get settled.

I am waiting to hear how Alice is doing with all the testing her Dr. is having her do. Have heard from Jeanne on the Island which was good. A few friends from my old job wrote and it was great to hear from them too. I still need to write back and I will shortly.

Well, John asked me to go to see my house and I told him I would. He just wants to get out and look at the area. I am happy to do it.

As always everyone please stay safe, happy and healthy. You are always in my thoughts and prayers.

Happy Valentine's Day

I would like to wish everyone a Happy Valentines Day.

This photo was taken by Joe, what a talent he has.

It is a special day that anyone can tell their family and friends how much they care. My thoughts are you should always let the special people in your life know how much you care for them everyday. You never know when or if you will ever see them again.

So this special message is for everyone that has ever touched my life, I thank God that he brought you into my life and you will always be part of it. I do not care if it was from my past, present, or as he graces me with new friends and family in the future, Thanks for being part of it.

The weather is cloudy right now here. The weather channel said it was suppose to be partly sunny and in the low 80's here. I do not know, there still is some fog, but the clouds are very thick here. I have all the windows and screen doors open and there is a gentle breeze coming in.

House hunting is going slow. I found one and have been going back and forth with the bank for the past week. Now the bank lowers the price and some one else has entered the bidding war. This is proving to be very frustrating for me. I have asked my agent to show me some other homes just in case. I will keep you up on the out come. Please say a prayer and keep your fingers crossed that I win the bid, otherwise, I guess it was not meant to be. Wish me luck.

I have not heard from anyone in a long time. I am wondering if everyone fell off the edge of the earth? I understand that everyone is busy, but a short note is not hard on the computer, especially since everyone has to answer e-mail. I am guilty of it too, so to those who have written, I am sorry I did not get back to you in a timely manner. I will make it a point to keep in contact with everyone that sends me a note. Those who do keep in contact, thank you, you bring a piece of life to me down here.

Weather is on right now and it looks like the race is going to get wet, both the sprint cup and the nationwide series. Looks like Monday is going to be the day that it will be run. I was offered a chance to go to the 500, but it was such short notice that I just could not do it, money is short to with buying a house. What a chance and I turn it down, I have to question why. All you race fans understand what I am saying. Right now tickets are only 55 dollars and still available. the ticket I was offered was 365 in the Earnhardt tower 2 sections from the start finish line, and it was free. What, am I nuts? Oh well, life goes on, I will sit and watch it tomorrow on TV if it is run, otherwise, I will copy and watch it Monday.

My girls are doing well. Angelica loves to sit at the sliding doors and watch the birds at the feeder. She lays on the pillow and just stares out. I had a whole flock of birds feeding across my lawn. I do not know what kind they were, but they are native to FL and protected. On the street signs, they show the birds crossing the road and you have to watch out for them. I have the usual blue jays, cardinals, doves, and woodpeckers with the red head at the feeders as well as black weird birds too. I have thistle food out, but no little birds yet. They are nice to listen to during the day.

Well everyone, I hope that you all enjoy this day and just give a hug to family and friends and wish them well. I send a hug to everyone and wish I could give it to you myself. I will be up in NY on Friday February 27Th, and will be leaving about 1:30 to 2pm to head back to FL. via car. Please pray for safe travel in both directions.

Nancy sent me a photo of Joe and Ede. What a nice couple. I wish them both all the happiness for their future plans, what ever they may be.


Love to everyone, and as always you remain in my thoughts and prayers. Stay safe, happy and healthy.

Hello everybody, it has been a while!

This is a photo of Elizabeth at Christmas time. She is getting big, crawling, and talking up a blue streak.

Hi everybody. Sorry it has been a while since I last updated this blog. I have been busy working nights, which has finally come to an end until the Christmas reset in October. Home Depot has just had us reset the new spring patio reset, nice patio sets and grills.

Work is going well. I have to be at work at 4 am Monday to help clean up Vero to get ready for the 2 day garden road show, one day indoors, one day out. I will not be attending the show, it is for the garden part of our group, I am in hardware. I will be working in the Merritt Island store for the 2 days to cover for the garden associates from the store.

I am excited, I will be flying home on the 27th to help Diane and John drive back to Florida so I will be in town for only an hour. I will get to see some of the family for a short time, get my fill of the cold and snow, then get back to the warmth of Florida. Did I say warmth, LOL, it has been in the low 30's and one night in the 20's last week. The day times last week was only in the 50's. At least this week we will be in the 70's and 80's all week long, and I can not wait.

Well, NASCAR has started again, thank goodness. I really missed it. Tonight is the Shootout, which should be exciting.

I am also looking for a house. I have checked into renting, but have decided it was cheaper to buy. The ones with low prices are going like hot cakes, so my real estate agent has to get me out quickly to see them before they go under contract. Wish me luck in the house hunting.

If you have written to me via email, I am sorry I have not written back as of yet. I will be doing some letters soon, so expect to see them in the email box. Please contact me and let me know what is going on.

Well, the race is about to start and I have been looking forward to watching it. I hope everyone is doing well.

As always, I hope everyone stays healthy, happy, and safe. You all are always on my mind and in my thoughts.

Merry Christmas to all.

From my house to yours, Merry Christmas!

I know it has been a while since I updated my blog. Unfortunately, I have had to work on Saturday a few times to make up for what I would loose in my check. Many of you can relate to what I am saying with the economy the way it is.





Well, what has been going on. Work is very rewarding. I am enjoying my job very well. My supervisor has changed my job in hardware from taking care of compressors and air tools to all of the hand tool bays. Basically, she has increased my duties and responsibilities to take care of more merchandise. It usually takes me all day long to get through my area, but I am learning about many tools we carry, and of course, customer service is number one, so taking care of the customers is top on the list. It has been a really bummer having to work the extra time because of not being at HD for 90 days yet. I would have been at Covidien 10 years in January and had 4 weeks vacation.





With it being Christmas, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas. Click on this link for a gift from me. http://www.jacquielawson.com/viewcard.asp?code=0212320003.





Christmas was different this year, no snow, 80 degrees and sunny. Christmas eve was strange for me. Usually my family would spend the evening together and open gifts to each other, have finger foods and enjoy each others company. This is the first year in 52 years that I did not spend it with my family. This holiday holds special meaning for me because it was my moms favorite holiday and she always made it special. I now have a new life and must make new triditions. I still miss the family at this time of year, but life must go on.





The house is coming along slowly. My friends Diana and John were down with the dogs to visit for a week. It was so good to see them again. They were looking for a house down here and found a few. They can not really move until they get their home sold upstate. When they left last Friday, they headed right back in to a storm. They left sunshine and 80 degree weather here to go back to the snow. It was the first vacation they have had in a very long time, and I think they really enjoyed themselves. Diana unfortunately broke her nose from a fall, but she was a trooper and the week went on. They hope to get the home sold soon, we will see. I have some pictures of it on the blog site so take a look. If you know anyone who is looking, send them Century 21's way. I think they are asking 215,000 for it, and it is worth it too.





I hope everyone plans a special day with the people you care about. Let all your friends and family know how much you care, the will be a day that comes and you will regret you did not say anything to them.





I wish every one a Very Merry Christmas and thank you for being part of my life, you truly are a blessing to me.

As always you all remain in my thoughts and prayers. Please stay safe, healthy and happy.
Love to all, Jo

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is going to be a quick message today.

I would like to wish everyone a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to let you know that you will all be in my thoughts through out the day. I wish I could be with each and everyone, but that is not meant to be. I will be spending my Thanksgiving with 2 special people and will most likely stuff myself as usual.

Please stay safe. Thank you all for being part of my life.

Joanne

Happy Cool Sunday Morning

Hello all, hope everyone is safe and happy. I miss you all and wish you were able to come down and spend some time.

Well, last night a cold front came through. We got down to 60, sorry those in the north. I know your weather is not even close, 20's and 30's from what I can see. I am thinking about you though. The weather is going to be cool here today 64 for the high. I am going over to the house this morning and get laundry done and hung out to dry. The dew point is going to be about 40 degrees, which means that it will dry quickly.

I took Angelica to the vet on Saturday. She has a upper respiratory infection that she got from the shelter. It is in the beginning of it, so we caught it early. She walks around like queen of the hill. Annie comes out to sit on the chair with me and of course Angie is already there. I coax Annie up and Angie starts to hiss at her. I tap Angie on the nose and say no, that her sister was here first. No hissing aloud.

I heard from John, he sent photos of his new plane to me. It is way too cool. I can not wait until he is able to fly it. Have not heard from Nan in a while, will have to call.

Sue is doing well. I do talk with her often. Have not heard from Diane, so I don't know what is going on there. Amy called to see how I was doing, and all is well with her and the family.

Work is going well. I just had a long week, a lot of traveling. This week is generally in Palm Bay and Melbourne, but in Sebastian and Vero at the end of the week. I am so much enjoying my job down here, it always something new everyday and learning something new on a daily basis. Our MET team is having a competition for the Hardware Department against other MET teams. Wish us luck in winning it. There is a lot involved in order to win, a lot of work ahead of us. Wish us luck.

I am planning on working on the house all day today and hopefully getting the Kitchen and my bath done, along with laundry.

Well, have to get going. Please drop me a line and let me know what is going on. It kind of keeps me in touch with home.

As always, please stay happy, healthy, and safe. You are always on my mind and in my thoughts.

Good Morning All

Happy Veterans Day to all the service men and women who have and are serving our country.
Thank you.

Good Sunday morning to everyone. I am sorry I did not update last week, it has been so hectic here and trying to get the house ready to move in has been top on my list. There have been some unexpected costs, like for the refrigerator to get it to cool, and the ice maker, the plumber to fix the water valve for my washer which was leaking, just a bunch of unexpected, that's taking care of a home I guess. I love the extra space I have, and the girls are finally coming out, except for Tina, she still hides in the closet. Jo and Annie are out from under the bed. Annie is exploring the outside of the room, which is great. I hung my first official load of clothes outside, and they all dried!

I cleaned almost all the kitchen, the stove was yesterday, man what a mess it was. I went to get a burner for the stove along with the spill trays at Home Depot. The trays fit, but the burner was bent and unable to use, I need to take it back and see if there is one not bent. Thirty dollars for one of those burners. I need to clean the cabinets down today, so I can get the kitchen set up finally and get the boxes out of the living room.

I got the curtains up in the bedroom, and they look great, blue of course. I put on my dark blue bed spread and it looks sharp. The bathroom in the master still needs the shower to be scrubbed, which I may do this morning and then it is done. The people before me left things in the drawers everywhere and in most of the cabinets. I blew through all of them and everything went out for the garbage. I feel sorry for the garbage men that is for sure.

Work has been going great. Something new every day. What a change from the same old thing everyday, like we did in Hobart. I am learning so much about tools and pneumatics. I am assigned the compressor and pneumatic sections of the hardware department. I sold one on Friday up in the North Melbourne store. It makes me feel proud to be able to help some one out. I know I am not making the money I use to, but with the travel time and mileage, it kind of makes up for some of the loss. The cost of living down here is a lot better than NY, that is for sure. I got my first pay check and it was a lot more than I thought it would be. I am on a biweekly check schedule, and it is taking a little getting use to.

I finally got my licence and registration changed over to Florida. The registration cost me $183 dollars for a first time registrant in Florida, a bit of an ouch. Now it will be about the same as NY was. Hopefully I will be getting back the money I just paid for the registration I just got in April up there.

Well, I went and did it. Ron and I went out to Home Depot, Lowes to look scaffolding, Publix, and then he took me to the animal shelter. He likes to look at the dogs there. He was dragging me through the lobby, and in the corner, I spotted a white cat. What a mistake to see the cat, I fell in love with her immediately. She looks so much like Angel did, except for she has blue eyes. He kept saying forget the cats, come and see the dogs. I looked at the dogs with him, which were mostly pit bull mixes, something I would not even entertain. There were a few mixed breeds of labs, boxers, even a weird Sheppard mix. Then we found one that was small and just melted our hearts, mostly Ron's. I went back to see the white cat, and he fell totally for the dog. Me, I fell for the cat. I put in a application for adoption, which was excepted, and on Monday she will be spade, then I can pick her up on Wednesday, since they are closed on Tuesday for Veterans Day. When I found Ron, he was outside with her and had already called Jen, which she came over and fell in love to. They did adopt her and she will be spade on Monday or Wednesday next week. We all found our new babies and are over joyed. I named my new baby Angelica, Angie for short. It is kind of filling the void that Angel left when she passed. I still miss her so, she was my special baby. Angelica is a very loving cat and she cuddles. They say she is 3 or so, but she is teething, which makes her about 4-7 months. She is still a kitten by my estimate. I will be taking her for a well check at my new vet. I met her when I was down, I think it was in March at a gathering at the house. Ron and Jen use her for all their animals, which makes me feel secure about the decision to use her.

Well, that is all for now. I need to go with Ron to get something from the tool place. I love and miss you all. Please drop me a note and let me know how everyone is doing.

Please stay happy, healthy and safe. You are always in my thoughts and prayers.
Love Jo.

Very Sad Weekend :(

This is a very sad weekend for me. I lost Angel May on Saturday morning. I had her to the Emergency Vet Hospital in Melbourne on Thursday night and they told me she had a urinary tract infection as well as being dehydrated. They sent her home and between Jenny and I, we took care of her. On Saturday morning when I went to get her for a vet appointment, I found her under my bed, she had just passed away. After a lot of crying, Ron came over and he, Jenny and I buried her under Jenny's rubber tree. I miss her so much it hurts. There are still tears flowing at times, but I know it was for the best. I think that the stress of the move, her in the car for so long, and something else going on with her happened. She was about 12 1/2 years old, and now she is with Snowball, April, and Tammy along with being with mom who will look after her for me. There is a big empty hole in my heart right now and it is going to take some time to get over. The other girls are doing OK and I need to spend some time with them and keep them safe too.

The house is coming along slowly. With getting up around 3:30 or 4 in the morning and by the time I get out at 2:45 and get to Ron and Jenny's and change then get over to the house, I only have a few hrs a day to clean. I have to be back for dinner, then it is to bed because of getting up so early. So it is taking some time to get things done. The kitchen is about half way done. Cabinets and stove need to be cleaned, then it is complete. I want to set up the bedroom and Florida rooms next along with the master bath. the Florida room is not to bad, but the master bath, that is going to take some scrubbing. I did find out, Florida does have some really large bugs, which I am in the process of taking care of.

Went for a traveling day yesterday, I think it was a way of keeping my mind off Angel. Ron and Jenny took me to some different stores, out to lunch at Chili's, which has some great food, and the library. They had a special dinner for me in honor of Angel. Just thinking about it, make my eyes tear up. I was so glad that Jenny was there with me when I found Angel.

Alice, thank you so much for my Birthday/home warming gift. You know it is going to come in very handy, that is for sure.

Sorry to hear that the weather is not going so well up there, snow and snow showers? It has been nice down here, around 80 every day. We had some rain yesterday, but not for too long. It was overcast all day though.

I am looking forward to hearing from every one soon, I hope. Just drop me an email and let me know what is going on.

Love and miss you all.

As always, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Please stay safe, healthy and happy.

Love Jo

Hi everyone, another week done!

Hi all, I finished my first week at work, it has been a long one. Being a DYI person, I am so enjoying my time at Home Depot. I started out in orientation all day on Monday and Tuesday, a lot of computer work. I did get certified on the cherry picker and the electric ladder. The cherry picker, for those who I use to work with, it is the lift truck that warehouse uses, the stand up one. I am so tired, every day the time was getting earlier and earlier. I am getting use to getting up early again. I now work 5:45 to 2:45 pm, and travel to a different store every day. I am going to be in the Palm Bay store on Monday and Tuesday to finish up with some of the orientation on the computer, get certified in the radial arm saw cutter and the circular saw cutter, along with making keys and cutting chain and rope. It will be off to the hand power tool trade show on Wednesday and Friday. On Monday November 3, I will be on the floor as a member of the Merchandise Execution Team or MET team.

I did have a bad night on Thursday night. Angel May got sick and I had to take her the the emergency hospital vet, who said she was dehydrated, had a UTI, and was constipated. They filled her with antibiotics, fluids, and an enema and sent her home. It was all a result of the trip down and all the changes that have happened over the past 2 weeks. I have to take her to the vet on Saturday, the vet is the one Jen takes her animals to, and I met her on one of my trips down. She is so nice but the the Hospital cost me $270 that night, and I can not wait to see what this is going to cost, but she is worth every dollar spent. Jen said that she is very reasonable. Please say a prayer she is going to get well soon.

Well, I am getting very sleepy, I did not get to bed until after 11 last night and had to get up at 3 to go to Titusville this morning. I will write over the weekend and catch you up on other things. Love to all

You are in my thought and prayers always
Jo

Hey Everyone!

I finally made it! I packed until 2:30 am on Wednesday morning. I then got up about 7 in the morning. I had every intention of leaving by 10 am, but that did not happen either, I did leave by 10:30 after many hugs and tears. I was a little late in picking up Ron at the Scranton airport. He really enjoyed the trees and the colors throughout PA. He did not enjoy the cow, horse, and skunk smells on the way down. With every fill up, we switched the driving chores. I had my first experience driving a truck with a dolly behind it, different.

We arrived in Palm Bay about 8:10 am. We had no rain or any other type of weather while driving down, we were very lucky. Ron is just dictating that he got better gas mileage than I did, but he did not remember that he slept most of the way down either. I could not sleep in the truck, it was too uncomfortable. I unloaded my girls, which did not exactly enjoy the trip at all. They are just now coming out of hiding off and on. I think Angel is finally getting her sea legs, she was actually eating and drinking while I was working at the house. I finally found 2 of the other girls, who were hiding amongst the boxes and furniture. I was really worried about them, because I had not seen them in over 24 hours. I unloaded the rest of the car and we went over to Ron and Jenny's after I got my girls settled. It took a total of 20 hrs and 20 minutes to get down to Florida. We made very good time. When arriving at Ron and Jen's, we had every intention of crashing for a while, but by then I had my second wind and was raring to go. I had to go and see the girl from HR at Home Depot to get papers signed. That was another 45 minute trip back up to Titusville, north of Palm Bay.

I did explore when I got back to the Palm Bay area and went to a bunch of different stores. Thank goodness for the TomTom I bought myself for my birthday, it came in so handy! I use it where ever I go to find my way around.

On Friday I had every intention of getting my new drivers license, but that was not meant to be. On October 1st, Florida changed it so you have to have a Birth Certificate and a second form of Id to get the license. It took me most of the day to locate the birth certificate, too late to go to the license office or even the DMV to have the registration changed over. I did get my insurance changed over to Florida though, one down and a bunch to go.

On Saturday, I had to go and get some things from Home Depot, get a new checking account set up and then over to the house to sort through everything and do some cleaning. I got a lot done and found Jo Lynn and Annie hiding amongst the boxes in the living room. I brought them in to the bedroom and under my bed they went, an old familiar place. Had to go to the store to get some chicken wings for dinner tonight, but Ron worked all day and everyone was tired, so we are trying to decide where to go for dinner tonight, then home to bed!.

Well, that is all for tonight. I will write again tomorrow and let you know how things are going.
Love and miss you all, please keep in touch with me.

You are all in my thoughts and prayers. As always, stay safe, happy and healthy.
Jo

Another week closer

Well, it is another week closer to moving. Boxes being packed still, and many more to go. I want to thank everyone who has been so supportive. Your support has been a great comfort to me knowing that you understand why I need to do this. I am scared, but can not wait for a new chapter in my life. New job, new home, and new friends, but missing family. I never realized how much junk one person can accumulate over the years. I have been throwing away many things I have not used in years, giving family the opportunity to go through what I do not want to take and the rest is going to the thrift store in Davenport so some one else can use it. Everything seems, I hope, to be falling in place. It seems like there is so much to do and not enough time to get it done.

I did a real stupid thing on Friday, I left my cell on top of the car and drove off. Needless to say, when I found it on I88, it was in many pieces. It looked like a truck or car ran over it, with no hope of Resurrection..... Thank goodness I still had my old phone, which I reactivated. A new phone would cost me well over $200 and right now I can not afford it. The only problem is that it is not blue tooth and the wired ear port in the phone is broken along with the speaker phone button. I did order a new phone off line at a lot less in expense, and it should be in at the end of the week, I hope. I will be using my cell as the primary phone when I move down, thus the reason to get a newer phone that is dependable.

John, Nan and I went down to Chris and Kim's for Kiersten's birthday. We got started a little bit late do to my losing my phone, but we finally went down and had a good time. Kiersten's party was a lot of fun from what I could see. A lot of screaming little girls having a great time. I am so glad they were having such fun. Kiersten got a lot of nice gifts and Kim's cake was extraordinary as usual. A few little mishaps, but the cake worked. I helped out by hanging things up for Kim and some light housekeeping. I really enjoyed myself, thank you so much. I am going to miss not being able to be at the special occasions, but OOVOO is available and we intend to make good use of it.

Shelly is very anxious to start driving her car. I have not heard what has been going on over at Sue's, but I know she has been keeping busy.

We have had some major changes outside. The state is getting ready to put in the temporary bridge and have cut down many trees that buffered the sound of the road. It looks so different out there, we are so wide open now. More dust and noise.

The trees are so beautiful up here. Many of the trees are so many colors. I wish everyone could see how nice it looks. I will have to take pictures and post them.

I am going to say goodbye for now, I have a lot of work to do and sitting here typing is not getting it done. I hope everyone stays healthy over the coming winter months.

As always, you are in my thoughts and prayers. Please stay healthy, happy and safe.

Another Beautiful Sunday

This is a photo taken at the Oneonta warehouse during inventory. It is not the best photo, Light colored shirt and the harness I had to wear is not flattering at all. I thank him for taking it as a memento for me.

Here it is Sunday again, where did the weekend go? I have been busy packing and getting rid of things I have not used or seen in 6 months. The packing is going well. Things are getting set for the move. Utilities have been scheduled for turn on, on the 13th of October. I am getting excited for the up coming move, but there is still so much to do. I have 24 days before I leave for Florida.

I found my dishes, silverware, some kitchen towels, and many Tupperware of all kinds including glasses. Now all I need is pots and pans, microwave, toaster, the smaller things. I have to get the stuff for the bathroom as well, especially a shower curtain so I can take a shower, which I will get when I go down I guess.

Work has been keeping me busy lately. I come home and pack some more. I never realized how much junk one person can accumulate over the years. Now since this is a new chapter, time to get rid of the junk and start new. My will has been made along with the living will for medical. Now all I have to do is get it signed and notarized.

I have sent out new address cards to everyone, if I forgot you, I did not mean too, my address book was lost when my computer had problems so please let me know by contacting me at joannboman@stny.rr.com or give me a call on the house phone. Just a heads up, I will not have a house phone for a while when I move, I will be using my cell phone. If you have Verizon wireless, all calls to me on my cell phone are FREE and I can be called anytime. Otherwise, you will only hear from me on the weekends, where I can call for free to any phone, or after 9 pm at night during the week, but at that time I will be sleeping, because I have to be at work at 6 am. If you have the Internet and an video conference ability, I have a service called OOVOO. It is free and I can talk with you any time. You can download it for free at http://www.oovoo.com/.

I do have the ablility for other services including skype.

Shelly has finally driven on the road. I let her drive my car from her house to mine, she did really well. Now she needs to get her car on the road, practice, and get her license. She needs to have confidence in herself, she does really well.

Elizabeth has stretched to 25" long and a little over 10lbs. She is now 4 months old. She had to go to the Dr. this past week for her shots. Now Amy and Jason can start to feed her cereal by the spoon, which is a good thing they say.

Diane had surgery on her elbow on Wednesday, she is doing very well. Mary is helping her out.

I did here from Alice this past weekend. Joey is in Japan, stationed at the same base as Uncle Alan was. This is great news for the whole family. Everyone is doing well on the Island from what she told me. She sounded happy for me about the move, a little shocked that it was actually happening, but happy.

Well, it is back to packing again. Everyone stay safe.

As always, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers. Stay healthy, happy and safe.

The time has come.

Well everyone, I have done it. I was offered a job in Florida and I accepted it. Yes, you read it right, I will be moving to Palm Bay, Florida on October 15th. I know it will be a big shock to a lot of people, but I decided I needed to do this for Joanne. It is time that Joanne starts to enjoy some living. I have new friends that are my age and I enjoy their company as they do mine. I will be 52 this year and it is time for changes, basically, to start a new chapter in my life. I have prayed every day that this would happen, and it did. The opportunity presented it-self, and I went for it. I am ecstatic, yet scared! So many emotions running through my head all at once, so many things to do, especially packing.

I will miss the family, but everyone seems to have busy lives now and they are always on the go. Family, extended families, etc. I will miss Christmas most of all. I so enjoy watching everyone open their gifts and watching their faces. Photo's taken of all the events that day and on Birthdays, Anniversary's, etc., I will miss all that. I will NOT miss the cold, shoveling the snow, and being charged to live in NY via taxes, and high prices for gas. I will miss the friendships I have forged over the years and the special friends that have forged a special place in my heart. I will have to enjoy these events now via OOVOO. It is a free video service. I can actually see peoples faces and talk with them live. I suggest that everyone download the program. I also have skype and a few other video services.

I hope everyone will wish me well on this adventure. I welcome you to come down and visit. As details roll in, I will keep you apprised of what is going on. Everyone stay well and safe. Please stay in touch and let me know what you think. More information will follow over the weekend.

As always, I will keep you in my prayers and thoughts. I hope to hear from you all soon.

Love Jo

Good Morning Everyone

Well, it has been a while since I last wrote, I apologize for that. Nothing has really happened here to write about, but I will try to catch you up on things that have happened during the past week. The leaves are turning here rather quickly. Does this mean that we are going to have a early winter, it sure does look like it. The apple trees are so full, the limbs are breaking.

As I wrote in the last blog, Chris and Kim celebrated their anniversary last Saturday. John and Nan were down for that, I could not go because I was taking care of Diana's (my girlfriend) mother. Her and her husband finally had a chance to get away for a few days and asked me if I would stay with her, which I agreed. Evie and I had a good time and watched old movies.

Tuesday was Mackenzie and David's birthdays. Mackenzie was 6 and David 4. They are getting to be so big and grown up already, where does time go. I remember when both were born, and it doesn't seem that long ago. I did not get to talk with either of the kids, but sent gifts. I know David had a party with all his friends, and they all had a great time. Mackenzie had a bowling party on the past Saturday, I did not hear how that went. I hope she had a great time too. I would have went, but as I said before, I was babysitting.

Mary is going to go back to school for her GED. Diane has made arrangements with BOCES and the school district, along with NY, to get her back to school. If things work out, she will also be taking Culinary Arts also for the next 2 years. Please, everyone say a prayer that there will be an opening in the Culinary Arts class so she can start it in September, rather than in January. At any rate, she will be going to the GED classes starting in September. I wish her the best of luck and hope she takes it seriously.

Amy, Jason, and baby Elizabeth are doing great. Sue and Roger saw Elizabeth for the first time last Sunday. Sue says she looks just like Mom. I think she looks like Amy, with a little of Jason thrown in, but there is a slight look of mom in her. She is now 10 lbs. and growing like a weed.

Shelly is training to be a supervisor at her job. She is working "40" hours a week, I think she is learning what real work is about. She had been working about 24-28 hrs a week for the past year, so the full time is a shock to her system. LOL. She is doing it though. To get the position, she needs to get her drivers license. I hope she is working on it, she really needs to learn to drive, but is scared to learn for fear of making a mistake. Good luck Shell, love you and hope you start to take this in stride.

Sue and Roger are doing well. Sue is working hard as usual. They had some friends over last night, and watched the race.

Me, myself, are as usual, work, work, work. It seems to be a never ending thing in my life. I have been reading a great series by Catherine Coulter, it is the FBI series, thanks Jenny for turning me on to it. I am up to the fifth book called Riptide. This one is a little harder to get into, but I am plugging along. It should be as good as the others. Today, Sunday, is my reading and laundry day. I did go to the movies by myself yesterday. I went and saw Momma Mia, what a great movie. I recommend it if you remember ABBA and their music. The movie is not about ABBA, so don't worry, but their songs fit the movie fantastically. I really think everyone should "take a chance" and see the movie, it is really worth it. When you do go, stay through the credits, there is more and you will get a great laugh out of it.

Florida has been hit hard with rain this past week thanks to Fay. Ron and Jenny sustained water damage to their home. With 19+ inches of rain that fell, they had rivers for roads and still today, have a moat in front and on the side of their home. The company that put the roof on their home before they moved in, did a poor job and used inferior materials for the ridge cap and the bull around the chimney, this is where most of the leaks were. One sky light has some leak, which I question if they used ice shield around it? The pool was over filled, and it has still been raining there every afternoon, like they really need more. I really miss being down their and can not wait to see them again. I told Ron that I would give him a hand with repairs when I get down next.

The Baseball camp is finally over by us. The last group has left on Friday, thank goodness. The traffice by there was horrible, but it is finally over. YEAH!

Well, I have clothes to hang out to dry, birds to feed, plants to water, and a book to get to, so I will say goodbye for now. Please drop me a line and let me know if you want to see anything else in the blog or if you have any news to add for all to read about. Please let everyone know the blog address so they can keep in contact with us too. I miss you all and wish that you could all be here, or me there, but all our lives have taken their own paths, so this is the only way to get hold of everyone to let them know what is happening.

Everyone take care of yourselves and stay safe, happy and healthy!

You are all in my thoughts and prayers always.

hello there....

This is another beautiful cake Kimberly made for an Anniversary Party. Isn't it a beautiful cake!

Another week has come and gone, the time seems to be slipping by so fast now. The weather is getting cooler each week, and the days are getting shorter too, if you notice. Today it is only going to be in the upper 60's, and rain of course. We seem to be getting September weather now, in the 70's during the day and around 50 at night. I noticed that on my way to work, the leaves on Gunhouse Road are starting to change, a sign of fall. Where did the summer go? Did we really even have a summer? It seems like winter just got over in May and now we are going into fall already.

School will be starting soon for all the neices and nephews. School shopping is well underway in all the stores. Every where I shopped this and the last few weekends, all the parents are buying the supplies and clothing. I am glad I do not have to worry about going to school any longer. I have been enjoying reading lately. Jenny turned me on to Catherine Coulter's FBI series of books and they are great. If you get a chance try the first book, the Cove, and see what you think. I know you will really enjoy them.


Joe called this week, he will be attending Ashworth University for his Associates Degree in Computer Information Management, then going on for a BS in more computer things, I am not really sure what it is going to be. I know he talked with me about a networking degree a while ago. I wish him the best. Love and miss him. I wish him the best on the Cisco exam.

Tomorrow is Nancy and Mary's birthday. Please if you see or talk with them, wish them a Happy Birthday!

Chris and Kim will be celebrating their anniversary on Saturday. Wish them a Happy Anniversary when you see them.

Elizabeth went to the Dr. this week and is growing by leeps and bounds. I think Diane said she was 9 lbs 8 oz. I could be wrong, but close. I don't remember how long though. The whole family is doing well.

Diane, Michael, and Mary are doing well too. Dianes garden is growing like weeds. Mrs domestic, who knew.

Me, I am just taking one day at a time. Work, work, work, as usual. News this week is not very interesting, but I caught you up on what is going on that I know about. I am missing Florida, and wish I was there with Ron and Jenny and all the other friends I have met, but right now it is not ment to be. Hopefully soon though.

Well, everyone enjoy your day and please stay safe, healthy, happy, and remember to tell those you care about, how you feel.

As always, you remain in my thoughts and prayers.