Not Much Happening, But We’re Busy

Linda is back to her beading club and her Thursday morning classes, in which she learning a lot and getting projects done.  Next month she will be taking a new class on Tuesday morning in Newport where she hopes to learn some advanced techniques.

And she’s doing taxes again this year! After a 4 year vacation, she has volunteered with AARP to help senior citizens in the area file their taxes.  She’s been classes to brush up on what’s new, and then she had to take a test to be certified, which she passed with flying colors.  Her first appointments start on February 9, and she’ll be working every Wednesday until April 18.  Yes, that’s the correct date for the deadline for filing taxes this year.

I’ve got a couple of classes of my beginning Windows 7 class under my belt.  After the first 15 minutes of the first class I knew I had to slow way down and start with the basics.  The class is a real mixture of beginning computer users and people with new computers moving from Windows XP to 7.  Some of them are bored, while others are lost.  Luckily I have 4 good assistants to roam the room and give individual help.  I helped present a program for the PC club on backing up your data from your computer, and it was well received.  It feels good to be back participating in group functions, but it’s taking a lot of time.  We haven’t even been to the beach this year.

We did add a new bike rack to the carport.  This was important because we want to add some additional storage out there for our tools and garden equipment.  These small condos don’t have a lot of storage room.

We also got the new drapes in the living room and wood blinds in the kitchen.  This finishes off the kitchen nicely as they blend with the cabinets.  The drapes are textured sheers that add a nice airy feel to the room, with a decorative rod.

  

That’s about it from “the Village”.  Let us know what you’ve been doing so far this year.

An Outdoor Concert

Thursday started with an appointment with a draperies consultant to discuss new drapes for the big living room window and the sliding glass door.  We saw some interesting material and the consultant measured everything.  We decided to meet at her shop next week to review the prices and make a final decision.  We’ve had two other people out for suggestions and the prices were very different, so it’ll be interesting to see what this one is.

Thursday afternoon there was an outdoor concert at Clubhouse 2.  We got there around 4:30 to get some dinner.  They had a catered dinner of hot dogs or roasted chicken.  We had the chicken with potato salad that was really good.  We brought our own beverages (a nice Zinfandel). 

The actual concert started at 6:00.  The band was Doc Anello and the Swing Machine.  I’m sure you’ve heard of them, and probably have one of their CDs.  HUH.  Anyway it was a good group and they played music from the 40s, 50s, & 60s.  The leader, Doc, sang, and they also had a female vocalist, Madeline Vergari.  It turns out that they play regularity at Disneyland for dancing.

There was a small dance floor that was well used. And the dancing even spread into the walkways. Clubhouse 2 is a nice setting for the concert as there’s a large patio with tables, and a large grass area for setting up chairs. We ate on the patio, and then when the music started we moved to lawn chairs so we could enjoy the music without getting blasted.  We even danced a few times, and my hip didn’t bother me a bit.

There’s one more concert this summer on September 3, so call us if you would like to go.  It was a lot of fun.

Partially Finished & The Start of the Week

We have been trying to finish the remodeling here at the village.  The kitchen was just about done, but we needed pendent lights over the bar and hardware for the drawers and doors. We looked and looked at a lot of different lighting stores, and finally decided on some fixtures from Kitcher.  The first shipment was damaged, but we finally got our order.  We also decided on the hardware from The Great Indoors.

Monday, Ted our contractor came over to install everything.  We’re very pleased with the results. We were having a problem with our dishwasher.  The dishes weren’t getting clean.  We contacted our local repair people and they discovered that the dishwasher was hooked up to the cold water line.  Ted fixed that and now we have clean dishes again.  It’s amazing how the small things can affect how appliances work.

While Ted & I were working on the kitchen, Linda had her biweekly beading club meeting.  This month they’re making a necklace, and I’m anxious to see how it comes out.  She’s feeling much better and is starting to get her energy back

Tuesday I spend in the PC lab as a supervisor.  It’s fun helping people solve problems, and teaching them some new programs.  I’ve forgotten how satisfying volunteering can be since we left Olympic National Park.  I’ll give you a more complete description of the computer facilities here at the village in the future.

Wednesday I got a call from the head of the Photo Lab asking me to sub for the afternoon supervisor.  I was glad to fill in at the lab.  I helped a couple of the more experienced photographers in the club work in the studio with the lighting.  It was fun to learn new techniques.  Here’s a picture they took of me during the session. That’s about it for this entry.  Next time I’ll talk about the outdoor concert scheduled for tomorrow. 

A Little Change of Plans

We planned to go out and shop for our new floors for the house in Laguna Woods Village.  That would finish off all of the remodeling we’re doing right now.  But, our dog Pearl, has not been feeling well.  So we decided to take her to our Vet in Garden Grove.  They are open on Sundays.  The Vet has a very different arrangement in that they don’t take appointments, its first come, first serve.  We got there around 11:00 and checked in.  There were several people ahead of us, so Linda called Valerie and went over to visit with Iris & Violet while I waited with Pearl.  After a 2 hour wait, it turned out that she has a urinary infection.  They gave her a shot, and we took some pills home.  Hopefully, that will cure her.
After that we stopped at one store to look at flooring, but we still haven’t made a finial decision.  The kitchen cabinets are a little darker than we expected, so the original maple floor we had chosen is too light.  Now we’re looking for something a little darker, like a natural cherry.
We didn't have lunch because the vet appointment took a while, so we opted for an early dinner.  Since we missed out on the good food a Pei Wei on Wed. night, we decided to bring some back home for dinner.  We had to have the lettuce wraps.  If you’ve never had these at PF Chang’s or Pei Wei, we strongly recommend them.  They’re consists of  chopped chicken with veggies with a special sauce placed in a lettuce cup.  Crunchy and savory, they’re great.  Because it was a cold day, I ordered the Hot & Sour soup, and then we shared an order of Mandarin Kung Pao Chicken.  A great meal, and my fortune cookie was really good.  It said I will have a long and comfortable retirement-perfect!