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