The week off

The week off started out by visiting a good friend, Ceci - who just came back from Norway for the winter. I was really glad that she had returned to Orlando because I wasn't sure what I would have done or where I would have stayed during my week off. We played a couple rounds of golf and I was able to earn myself a Haagen Dazs milkshake one day and strawberry shortcake for dessert the next. YUM! No wonder I'm putting on weight in the wrong areas!
Then, it was off to New Jersey for the weekend. It was Bob's mom's birthday. I was really struggling to figure out what to get for her birthday. So I was extremely happy when she really liked her new jewelry box!
The flight back to Orlando from Newark, on the other hand... not so happy. The flight was scheduled to leave at 6:10pm. We left the gate and proceeded to just wait on the tarmac for another 2 hours! But I guess I shouldn't complain because Bob's flight was delayed for a lot longer than mine! He did get to watch Tiger win yet another tournament on TV though!
Now it's back to business. Playing in Daytona this week. Although, hmm... I guess not quite all down to business yet. My housing host took me to an old theater tonight to watch a movie. The Athens Theater was built in 1922 and they play classic movies, independent films and occasionally foreign films as well. My housing host mentioned that it was going to be a Russian movie tonight, but it's actually a movie that's based in Russia. It did start out with people speaking Russian and with subtitles too, but then everyone started speaking English after that! Anyhow, I thought it was a pretty good movie. It was called Transsiberian.
And oh! Did I mention that I'm trying to grow another tomato plant! Yes... little Elvis is finally sprouting! I put a couple tomato seeds into a little pot and then into a cup, so I can put it in my cup holder. And 2 weeks later, whaddaya know! It's sprouting! I'll probably put it into the big pot when I get back into Tulsa. Bob mentioned that the seedling at home is sprouting too. I didn't think it was going to which is why I started out on this new quest. And so far, it's been a messy one. I had to go digging for Elvis in my car today. Thankfully after replanting from the mishap, I was able to find a carwash where the guy let me us their vacuum for free! :-)

199,000 Miles!

Yet another milestone for my little car... 199,000 miles! Eventually it will need professional detailing - a fancy wash and a nice wax. Will need to make a few more cuts for that!

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

It's a GO! During the week of the Duramed Championship event in Mason, Ohio... the tournament officials have agreed to assist me in hosting a hair donation charity event!
June 19th will mark the 2nd anniversary since my mom had lost her battle to cancer. Since her passing, I had already donated my hair once to Locks of Love, which provides wigs to children under the age of 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. Pantene Beautiful Lengths, on the other hand, will provide wigs to women who have lost their hair to cancer treatment.
Did you know that it takes 6 ponytails to make 1 wig??? What are you waiting for? Grow out that hair and meet me in Mason, Ohio later this summer (week of June 15th)! By the way, this event is open to men as well :-)
Here are the requirements:

• Donated hair must be a minimum of 8 inches long (measure hair from just above the elastic band of the ponytail to the ends).
• Wavy/curly hair texture is fine—you may straighten hair to measure.
• Hair should be freshly washed and completely dry, without any styling products.
• Hair may be colored with vegetable dyes, rinses and semi-permanent dyes. It cannot be bleached, permanently colored or chemically treated.
• Hair may not be more than 5 percent gray.

Made the first cut of the season!

Yay! Yay me! And I made a birdie putt on the last hole to make the cut on the dot! It was one of those Tiger moments, when the golf ball was just sort of leaning over the hole, but thankfully the wind and grain was able to give that ball one more little nudge! Bob said that I made a $500 putt, which is absolutely true! Hopefully someday, it would be a $500,000 putt instead! :-)
I hope our volunteer cart driver is feeling better. He started throwing up by a tree on the 4th hole and unfortunately, all of us girls saw him doing it. He was persistent about continuing on, but finally on the 11th hole, he was replaced by another volunteer. I shook his hand to thank him for helping us out that far. The other two girls were afraid to make any contact with him. Hmm... it made me think twice after. Oh well...
In other news... a bee landed on my wrist band and was crawling on my arm while I was on the 18th fairway. Come to think of it now, I'm glad it didn't sting me. Maybe I wouldn't have been able to make my birdie putt then! Plus, I was already stung by one last season in New Hampshire, when I sat on a bee at the scoring tent. Talk about ouch!

Let the season begin!

The Duramed Futures Tour is back in full swing. Today's event started at 2:25pm for me - the 2nd to last group. I got to sleep in again, which was really nice :-)
But I guess I was still out of it today... out of competitive playing that is. Walking up to my ball on the 1st fairway, I finally realized that I had forgotten to pick up my pin sheet for the day! Silly me! Thankfully my other playing partner was nice enough to share hers for the first 2 holes. I was able to have the volunteer cart driver pick one up for me before the 3rd hole, as the second hole came back towards the clubhouse. Won't be forgetting my pin sheet the rest of the season now!
Shot 75 today... not too shabby for not playing competitively all winter long. Will have to do better tomorrow, since I didn't win the lottery today! Darn!

Dog update

Ok... the dog's fine now. Phew!!!

On the way to the golf course today, I saw this sign:
Kenneth Brokenburr - 2000 Olympic Gold Medalist 4 x 100 Relay. That's pretty cool. I'll have to wait until golf becomes an Olympic sport :-)

Dog and Dental floss

Yes... my housing host's dog ate my dental floss. They were trying to figure out why little Tige wasn't feeling so well today. So, I decided to check the trash bin in the bathroom and yup, no dental floss. Tige had a near-death experience during the last holiday season when he chewed on some electrical wire. Hopefully this won't be another trip to the ER! We'll just have to wait and hope that the floss will come out the other end. Will keep you posted these next couple of days...

Made it!

Finally made it to Florida today! After 14+ hours of driving yesterday, I was not ready to drive again today. But I'm glad I was able to get pass Atlanta last night. I was watching the news this morning and traffic was bad and the rain did not help either.
I'm all moved into my housing for the week. Time to get back to the golf! Wish me luck! :-)

The first night and first meal...

Last night was our first night at our new house. I was so tired from the move that I slept like a baby!!! Unfortunately, I will only get one more night at the house tonight. I'll be leaving for Florida to start my golf season on the Futures Tour. I'm really excited to start playing again!
As for our first meal of the house, well... Bob actually fed me all day today. In the morning, he made coffee. Then, by noon, he made chicken salad sandwiches. By tea-time, we had some leftover meatballs with french bread. And by dinner time, he made chicken and mushroom pasta! The pasta was out of a box but it actually tasted like real food! Guess I'll know what my honey is going to eat while I'm gone! :-)

The Move

The move is finally over... Yay! Unfortunately, we did get a ding on our bed frame when the movers were trying to set the dresser in the bedroom. There are also scratches above the ding, which reminds me about the new scratch on the hardwood floors, right at the very front door! I think it probably happened when they were bringing in the fridge. I was just at Lowe's and we will most likely be able to fix them, but it's just a matter of how well. Talk about a frequent traveler to Lowe's. One of the guys said "You're back!" when he saw me. :-s
This home move also entailed a baby cut on my pinky (p.s. aluminium dryer vents are very sharp!) and tripping over the lawn mower and falling on your butt. Yes... I will be sore tomorrow. And the flight of stairs in the new house doesn't help either!

Day 10 & 11...

I didn't get to blog yesterday because we had to unhook the internet. The cable guy was suppose to show up yesterday but I guess there was a confusion with the date, but anyhow, we're back and running at the new place now! We had to unhook the tv cable too, which meant... no tv, no internet,.. so what do we do??? We ended up going to IHOP! I really wanted a strawberry milkshake and can you believe it... they stopped serving milkshakes 6 months ago! Although the new dessert - Crispy banana caramel cheesecake (with ice cream of course) was yummy!!! So it was not all a lose :-)
The carpet was finally installed today and it looks great! And speaking of today, it snowed! Can you believe that? It was over 70F on Sunday and now it's barely over 40F, with sleet and snow! I hope the plants and trees don't freeze. And speaking of trees, there's a tree in our front yard in full bloom with little white flowers. Bob says that it's dogwood. It's tough to believe him because he says it's a Dogwood for every other tree. I'm going to have to do some research on this one. Oh! And look! No more piles of carpet on the front porch! The guy that did the hardwood floors said that he would dispose of it for an extra $25 bucks. And yup, we didn't even think twice about spending that money! I'm just glad I didn't have to care take of that!
The movers are coming tomorrow to move the big furniture. We'll be able to sleep in the new house tomorrow! Yay! :-)

Day 9...

Here's the before and after pic of the office floor. LOVE the hardwood floor!
For whatever reason, after the big progress in the kitchen yesterday, it feels as if I did not accomplish anything today! And it seems that we have an ant problem in the kitchen!!! I did buy some bait but the ants don't seem like they were going for it (or at least not yet). We'll see what happens tomorrow...

Day 8 at the new house!

Made a lot of progress today! I was able to clean out all the kitchen cabinets and painted some kitchen shelves as well. Then I touched-up some of the cabinets. Thankfully the paint color that I had picked for the closets is similar to the color of the kitchen cabinets. Eventually, we will have to take all the cabinet doors out completely - to sand and repaint. But no time for that now. That will be a project for the next off-season!
The hardwood floor was installed in the office today and it looks awesome! It matches what is currently on the ground floor and we actually had the same contractor to do it as well. The previous owner was at the house today to pick up her package and she said that her husband would be envious about it! Too funny!

Visit to Oklahoma City

This past Saturday, Bob and I drove out to Oklahoma City for a friend's wedding reception. We decided to spend the night there instead of driving back to Tulsa. That same night, we decided to check out the site of the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The National Memorial & Museum was designed in a very symbolic way. Those that were killed in the bombing were represented in chairs, where each chair was arranged in rows based on the floor of the building and where they sat on each floor. The image was powerful, especially when taking the tour at night with the chairs lit. And it was especially sad when seeing little chairs as well for all the children that were killed. There was a day care located on the 2nd floor of the building.
On a happier note, our hotel room was compensated for by the hotel management. There was a clerical error and someone was trying to get into our room! The clerk had signed us in for room 811 but gave us a key for room 810 instead. Thankfully I had latched the door so Bob actually heard someone trying to open the door while I was in the shower. Phew!

Pretty Flowers!

Spring must be getting close! There are all sorts of flowers blooming in the backyard. I'll have to start identifying them. The previous owners did go through the yard briefly... but it's tough to visualize the type of plant when you're just looking at dirt on the ground, dead scrubs, or twigs on a plant.
Can't wait for more stuff to bloom in the backyard! And to actually spend some time out on the deck!

Day 3 at the new house

Ok... this is almost like that joke... where the guy is so excited about snow when he moved to a new state. He was delighted as to how pretty is was, but then by the middle of it, he was quite angry about having to shovel his driveway all the time or getting sued, and having his roof collapse on him. And then, by the end of it, his wife decided to leave him because he was going crazy and he decided to burn down his house! Ok... Thankfully, I'm not that deep into it yet. I still at that first part where I'm thinking how nice our house is :-)
So all the carpet and carpet pads are finally out and as you can see - it is all piled up on both sides of the front porch. Hopefully the home owners association won't come knocking on our door anytime soon. We found out yesterday that we saved $180 by removing (and eventually disposing) the carpet on our own. Somehow it feels like with all that work put in, it should be a lot more! Nonetheless, it's probably still a really good steak dinner at Fleming's :-) *hint*hint*
More painting today. It took 1/2 gallon of paint and over 4 1/2 hours to paint one closet! And only to find out later from Bobby that I had missed a spot! :-P And oh, did I mention that I haven't even had a chance to paint the trims yet??? It's going to be another long day! By the way, did I also mention how much I HATE TEXTURED walls?!?!?

Day 2 at the new house

Armed with a pair of pliers, a baby screwdriver, box cutter, gloves, and of course, my mask... I was back at the house removing the carpet and carpet pads. I'm so happy that it's all DONE! I forgot to take a picture of the front porch today. That's where I have everything piled up!
I don't know how many gazillion staples I pulled out yesterday and today. And the dust...! Phooey!
Tomorrow, I'm going to start cleaning and painting the closets. And in between all that, we can't forget our dental appointments and to pick up the hardwood floors!

Day 1 at the new house!

So here it is! Our new home! It's a little bit old and needs a little bit of TLC. Ok... maybe quite a bit more than we expected. I've already started tearing out the carpet for the office downstairs, the stairwell, and the hallway upstairs. So, only 4 more bedrooms and 4 closets to go! They sure use a lot of staples for those carpet pads! And it's amazing how much dust and dirt is under that carpet pad. YUCK!
The backyard will need some work too. Although with the weather being so cold, it's difficult to tell what's already planted in the backyard. Looks like I'll just have to wait a little bit longer before I start planting my garden again. As for the deck, that is going to be Bob's project. He has promised to finish staining the deck... by the next snowfall!
Well, looks like it will be another busy day tomorrow. I have to clean and paint the inside of the closets and pantry as well. Seems like there's so much to do and so little time! And of course, I can't forget to practice my golf too. The season is going to start in 3 weeks!