Under the Sun

A year and a half ago, when my stepson and his girlfriend told us they were engaged, we were thrilled. When they said the wedding would be in January 2010, it was a bit of a let down. “That’s so far away,” we whined. “It will never get here.” But get here it did. The Big Freeze, quite possibly the worst in Florida history, ended just 3 days before the outdoor wedding was to take place. The rain, which was a concern right up until 2 hours before the ceremony, held off until late that night.

The wedding and related activities were at the Grand Cypress Resort in Orlando. I stayed at this hotel for a weekend many years ago. A friend of my roommate was the Houston Hyatt’s General Manager. When the Grand Cypress opened, she was sent here to help them get up and running. We stayed as her guests, in a fantastic suite, and everything was free. This time, nothing was free (not even wi-fi), and we stayed in a normal room. I have to say though, that I was just as awestruck this time as when I was a wide-eyed twenty-something guest of a Hyatt big-wig.

The pool is one of the resort’s big draws. It’s a half acre, lagoon style pool (2 pools really), with waterfalls, 2 jacuzzis, a bar, and a snack bar. Only the smaller pool was heated, and since it had been freezing for nearly 2 weeks, that meant the unheated pool was Really Cold. Dennis was determined to go swimming, figuring he’ll never get another chance at this pool. There was a small slide in the heated pool. He did try the big slide, just to be able to say he did, but I wasn’t there to capture the moment. He said it was freezing, and he jumped out immediately.

Because the bride had so many out of state relatives, instead of a rehearsal dinner, there was a welcome dinner to which everyone was invited. It was at the resort’s western themed outdoor area. While it was still a little chilly for us Floridians, the Ohioans (?) and Virginians didn’t mind. Food and drink was plentiful.
Here’s Bill and Jason at the Welcome Dinner

And Jason and his almost in-laws.

The ceremony was outdoors, complete with a white canopy and white folding chairs. I didn’t get many pictures because I wanted to fully enjoy the wedding rather than be behind a camera lens. I’m looking forward to getting the professional photos.

Dennis wasn’t in the wedding. He’s too old to be a ring bearer and too young to be a groomsman. But he looked good in his tux. He managed to keep socks and closed shoes on for several hours!

This is my new daughter-in-law

This is my distinguished looking husband dancing with his new daughter-in-law

Cutting the cake

The Groom’s Cake. Yes it’s a real cake, and yes it’s a real axe. No, Ace of Cakes didn’t make it. ;o) Jason is a Firemedic. That’s his official title, which indicates he’s both a firefighter and paramedic. His groomsmen were his entire shift at his fire station. Imagine a dance floor full of firemen (in tuxes) singing “The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire!”.

Congratulations Jason and Sarah! We’re so happy for you!

Florida finally thawed out last week. So much so in fact, that we’re going to have temperatures about 10 degrees higher than normal through the weekend. January is usually a beautiful month here — highs around 72, lows around 50. The month is nearly half over, and so far we’ve been freezing and sweating.

My plants that survived the freeze: broccoli, some leaf lettuce, parsley, green onions, rosemary, and chives. My rosebush handled it well. We’ve been gradually re-landscaping with native plants, and the natives survived.

My plants that succumbed to the freeze: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, green beans, snow peas, and basil. I have plenty of basil seed and it grows quickly, so I hope to have more basil before long. I haven’t checked our citrus fruits. We have a grapefruit tree, a tangerine tree, and several orange trees. Most of the oranges are late season fruits, meaning they ripen in spring (many varieties ripen from Nov. – Jan.). I’m sure the fruit on the trees froze, which makes them inedible, but we should be able to juice them.

In other news, I’m officially a MIL! Me, a mother-in-law! I have a daughter-in-law! My stepson got married on the 16th. The weather was perfect for an outdoor wedding, the bride was beautiful, the groom was handsome. Both families are thrilled with our newest family member. Pictures to follow in another post, after I get a chance to upload them.

What I said: “Go brush your teeth.”

What he heard: “Go take a shower.”

I couldn’t figure out why it was taking him so long to brush his teeth, and went to check on him. Someday his wife might ask him to take out the trash. I wonder what he’ll think she said.

We’re getting there. I’ve taken down the fall decorations, and now have boxes of Christmas decorations scattered throughout the house. I’m determined to finish in the next 2 days, so we actually have time to enjoy them before they get packed away for another year. We don’t pull everything down until New Year’s Day or Jan. 2. so I’ll have almost a month. I love holiday decorations!

Oh, the title of the post, right? Yes, well I found Menu Plan Monday after clicking several links from somewhere else. I no longer remember where I started, but was glad I ended up there. I do try to plan menus, though I don’t manage to do it often enough. I find that when I plan, I save money, time, and the stress of figuring out what’s for dinner. Here’s my plan for this week. As always, it’s a plan, not a requirement. Things change, and my plan can change as needed.

December 7-13
Monday – Pasta w/pesto sauce, sliced tomatoes
Tuesday – Basil-balsamic pork chops, broccoli, rice pilaf
Wednesday – hot dogs, mixed greens salad (Sadly yes, I sometimes feed my family hot dogs. Do you think adding the mixed greens salad makes it better? I’m going to tell myself it does anyway.)
Thursday – potato soup, homemade rolls
Friday – shrimp fried rice (or pork fried rice if there are leftover pork chops from Tuesday)
Saturday – French toast, fresh strawberries (It’s strawberry season here in Florida. Yay!)
Sunday – minestrone soup, homemade rolls

Crookshanks, who will be a year old in June, loves my computer. Only mine. Never Bill’s. Never Dennis’. I usually have to move her from my chair to sit down at the computer. Sometimes I have to move her from the computer itself. She loves to type (so far she hasn’t sent any messages). She watches the cursor. And sometimes she watches me. Okay, so I was playing around in the picture of her peeking over the monitor. However, imagine trying to actually get some work done with those eyes looking right at you.

My husband’s grandmother passed away this week. He and my stepson left yesterday for Tennessee to attend her funeral. Dennis and I were unable to go with them, so we’re home holding down the fort.

Mamaw, as she was known, was 103 years old. She outlived 2 of her 3 children. My mother in law is her only surviving child. She had 16 great grandchildren, Dennis being the 16th and if I’m counting right, 4 great-great grandchildren. Most people, after offering condolences, comment on how amazing it is to live to be 103. What’s even more amazing is that until a few weeks ago she was relatively cognizant for her age. She remembered and recognized people who came to visit her at the nursing home, and was able to carry on a phone conversation. It was only in the past few weeks that she lost those abilities.

In 2005, we went to Tennessee to attend a 100th birthday bash for Mamaw Payne.

Thanks to the number of people who commented on her age, I started thinking about all the changes that took place during her lifetime. And thanks to the power of The Google, I was able to get an idea of what it was like the year she was born. (She was born in October, so not all of these events took place after she was born.) Here’s a little taste of what was going on in 1905.

New in 1905: Rotary Club (founded that year), Palmolive soap, Vicks Vap O Rub.

Albert Einstein introduced his special theory of relativity, and that famous equation, E=mc2 was born.

The U.S. Forestry Service was created.

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt got married.

Las Vegas was founded.

Wilbur Wright flew the Wright Flyer III a record 39 minutes.

Jules Verne, the father of science fiction, died at age 77.

The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

More than 95% of all births took place at home.

The average wage was 22 cents per hour.

The leading causes of death were pneumonia, influenza, and tuberculosis.

The American flag had 45 stars.

The twentieth century has seen such an explosion of inventions and ideas that it boggles the mind. Mamaw was born just after the turn of one century, and left this world just after the turn of another. What an amazing century it was.

Rest in Peace Mamaw.

Our 7 month old kitten, Crookshanks, decided to check out Dennis’ guitar. I sneaked up on her and shot video. Yes I know my video skills need work — maybe that will be my new hobby for 2009.

Look closely near the end of the video and you can see Dennis’ face reflected in the guitar.

I had hoped to write a decent length post, but it’s late. We’ll be up early tomorrow morning and I need some sleep.

The stockings were hung on the upright piano with care.

In keeping with a recent (past few years) family tradition, we took a bike ride around our neighborhood to look at lights. Bill brought my camera and took a few pictures.

And one of our house of course.

The Wii is wrapped, as well as Wii Play. The extra nunchucks and Okami are in the stocking.

Number 1 Son and his fiance will be here in the morning. So will my niece, her husband and their 9 month old twins. We’ll have plenty of coffee and cinnamon rolls. Bill’s parents will be here in the afternoon for dinner. Bill will cook a smoked turkey, and I’ll bake a ham.

We’re missing Mom terribly, but life goes on. She loved Christmas, especially when we all were able to get together.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah,  Happy Holidays to you and yours.

We’re ready for trick or treating. This year Dennis will actually trick or treat in our neighborhood. We usually do a hayride in our friend’s neighborhood, but now that he has a friend nearby they want to TOT together. We also usually put out a bowl of candy with a note asking people to be kind and not take too much (they comply with our request), but this year Bill said he’ll stay home and hand out candy.

Dennis carved one pumpkin yesterday, very similar to the wolf picture above. He has another to carve today. With our weather we have to wait until last minute to carve, or they’ll rot before Halloween. And by tomorrow they’ll be ready for the compost pile. But for tonight, the night that counts, they’ll look great.

The costume is finally done. Dennis decided to be his Runescape (an online game) character, and though it was a bit tricky to make, he’s happy with the results.

So what are you and your kids doing tonight?

We got her last Monday from the shelter. We had been talking about getting a kitten but didn’t think our 13 year old grumpy cat would allow it. We finally decided to just do it. There were many adorable kittens at the shelter, but this little one (whose name was Ruth) felt right. She’s 4 months old.

Simba, the grumpy old man is actually pretty patient with her. Of course our Dingo, our Sheltie just loves her. Sweet Dingo loves everyone.  She didn’t take long to fit right in with our family.

One morning last week we couldn’t find her, and looked everywhere. We were starting to get concerned, when Dennis noticed her in my crochet bag! We’re having so much fun with this little cutie.