The Bittersweet Replacement

After 5 years, a whole lot of good times and 197,775 miles; the Santa Fe (Betsy), was traded in. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I loved that vehicle. It was dependable, smooth riding and a "looker". Of late, it has been starting to show signs of it's age. It was bittersweet, but we recognized the need to trade, while it was still worth a trade-in. Greg and I talked it over and decided to enlist John's help with shopping for a replacement.

John went right into action. Knowing what we like, he was able to scout out the perfect replacement, in just a matter of hours! John has been working in the Dulles area, so on his way home from work he swung by the Pohanka dealership in Fredericksburg. He called to tell us that he had found what he thought we'd like. I drove over to John and Amber's. The three of us went to the dealership and took a test drive, long story short, we bought it!

It is a 2011 Hyundai Veracruz Limited. I have named her "Double L", which stands for Luxury Liner. From the heated leather seats to the back up sensors, she's loaded. With seating for 7, an incredible stereo system and personal climate control for all aboard, this is a luxury liner for sure!

Thank you John, for your love of car shopping and your expertise in dealing with car dealers! You got us a sweet deal for a sweet ride! A Big thank you to my honey for buying me this new car. You always give me your best! I love you!

My "Grandoggie" Blog

I was having trouble coming up with a topic for my blog. I had a couple ideas, but couldn't get them going. Well, I have finally come up with a topic. The last few times I have gone to church, as I have gotten out of my car, I have heard the dogs that live on a farm next door. I have been tempted to peep through the trees that separate the property, but haven't. You see, the dogs that live there, are small dogs. They sound so much like my "Grand Dogs", that it makes me really miss them. So, last night on the drive home from church, I decided that I was going to blog on each of the dogs. Maybe that will help with my missing them. The next 9 blog entries will be on each of my "Grand dogs." I will start out with the "Ladies", as it is only right. We all have been taught that "Ladies go before Gentlemen", so here we go.....

Dolly, a beautiful, warm brown, long haired Dachshund. Dolly is owned by my daughter, Emily, and her husband Jeff. I don't know exactly how old Dolly is, as she was a shelter dog. I first met Dolly when I was in Alabama, visiting Em and Jeff. They were volunteering at Little Tykes Small Dog Shelter in Daleville, near where they lived. Emily and Jeff took me up to the shelter to see what it was all about. My were there a lot of dogs there. They were all barking and running around. Dolly was off to the side in an enclosure, as she had recently given birth. The main focus was on the tiny ball of dark fur that she had produced. It was a female and it could fit in the palm of your hand. I don't know how Dolly ended up at the shelter, but it was God's plan, for which I am sure. With a heart for helping, the Gelzinis' brought Dolly and her newborn home to their house. I think the plan at first, was to provide some quieter surroundings, and some nurturing for the Mother and baby. Dolly had a medical condition at that time. She has a skin/coat problem. Perhaps it was due to stress, who knows. With some tender loving care, she was soon sporting a lovely coat. And with tender loving care, that "baby" grew and was named "Daisy." That "stay" turned into adoption. Dolly and Daisy never returned to the over crowded shelter, they had a new home and a new family that loved them.

When I think of Dolly, I have to smile. She is such a loving dog. It is fun to watch her eat. Mind you that there are now 9 dogs in the Gelzinis home. They all get fed at the same time. With a big self dispensing dog food bowl, Dolly will run up and grab a mouth full. She will then go find a quiet spot, away from the other dogs and munch on her food. When she is done, she will go back again and again following the same routine. It is cute to watch.

One of Dolly's "tricks" is to display her teeth in a grin, when she is told to smile. She will also do this when you say "cheese." It is really hard to get a good shot of her doing this, although I have a few, as she is usually jumping up your leg and the camera angle doesn't always get it. Dolly is also a "pants biter." She would never rip your clothes, or hurt you. It is as if she wants to get your attention. Living in a house with 8 other small dogs, you have to develop a method of getting your owner's attention, and she has.

One of the privileges that Dolly has, that no other dog in that household has, is to get to go to the groomers. When she goes and get's (excuse the pun), "dolled" up. She is exactly that....a doll. She comes back with a clean shiny, trimmed coat, smelling good, and with bows on her ears!

I hope this gives you a good "mental picture" of what Dolly is like. She is a true sweetheart. Just writing this makes me wish I could pick her up and get a snuggle.

Well, writing about the dogs, has not made me miss them any less....Perhaps even more.

June 1st....Oh please let it be a good month

Well, this morning I flipped the page on the calendar. June 1st already. Where did May go?

Summer is beginning, and I am not quite ready for it. I need more cool Spring weather, to get the gardening done. When the temps climb into the 90's, I have no desire to step outside, much less mow the lawn and weed the garden. I am allergic to sweating!! Looks like I am doomed, as all that work needs to be done, and it is supposed to be hot and humid the next few days. Oh well, guess I will suck it up and in the words of Larry the Cable Guy, Get er Done!

Went to my Dermatologist today for my routine 6 month check up. I had three pre-cancerous spots frozen on my face and ear. All was going good till he looked at my left upper arm. There was a small spot there that looked just like the cancer from last spring. He did a biopsy. We'll have the results in about a week. If it is cancer again, hopefully it will be the same kind, not life threatening. I know what is involved with the procedure to remove it, so I am not scared. It is the price you have to pay for all those years of sun damage.

I was meeting Amber and John at the Olive Garden around 6:45 for dinner, and I got out of the Dr.'s right about 2, so I had a few hours to kill, so to speak. I had planned this clothes shopping event, but in light of getting the biopsy, I didn't want to be trying on clothes. So I changed my plans somewhat. I did go to several stores and got all my errands done. John, Amber and I had a nice dinner at the Olive Garden. We then went over to Cold Stone and they treated for ice creams! Yummy!!

All in all, I had a good day, and as I glance at the clock, it is but a few minutes from being tomorrow. Time to go settle in with one of my new books I picked up at Borders while I was out. I got Eat, Pray and Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I recently heard that Julia Roberts was going to be on the Ophrah Show. I was curious, as I admire Julia and wanted to hear what she had to say. She is starring in the movie based on this book. It sounded interesting, so I got a copy. I'll let you know how it is. I also picked up Spoken from the Heart, by Laura Bush. Mrs. Bush is another person that I admire. I will let you know how that one is as well.

So with a mere three minutes to spare, I will go to bed for today!

Memorial Day Weekend 2010

First of all, I would like to thank all the people out there who are serving in the Armed Forces. I would also like to thank all the people who have served in the Armed Forces, all the spouses and families. Being a Navy wife for 28 years, I know what the families go through. I know what it is like to raise children and run a home, while your loved one is deployed defending our country, whether it be in times of war or times of peace. The sacrifices,, of all involved are great! I appreciate being able to feel safe, here in the United States. I am thankful that the war is not being fought on our shores.

I would also like to remember those who have served and are no longer with us. You may be gone, but your courage and bravery will never be forgotten. May you rest in peace.

God Bless America!

Day Six with My Mac

Day six with my Mac.

Today was a quiet day. I slept in till 9:30, which was a little unusual for me. The past few nights I have been getting to bed rather late, so I guess I was just catching up on some much needed sleep.The mail lady brought my package from Amazon today. Inside was a brand new copy of Switching to the Mac, the missing manual. I am so excited to get it. I sat down and started reading it right away.

Amber came over around 6 pm and we went down to Salsa's for dinner. as usual, the Shrimp Taco Salad was a delight! We came back and she showed me a few things on the Mac. I am grateful for the help.

After Amber left, Greg called and we went through some installations of programs. I got Scribus, which is a publishing program. I also downloaded Google Earth. I haven't installed it yet.

Already it is late , so I will keep this short. I need to get a normal night's sleep.

Tomorrow I hope to learn some more neat stuff about my Mac.

Me and My Mac

I have been using my new Mac off and on most of the day. Have only used the PC, sitting beside it, a couple times to retrieve pass words. My memory is not what it should be, I have to refer to lists constantly! Oh well!

I gave Linda the "grand tour" of the Mac, what little I have learned about it! I actually used some of the cool tips Jeff and Emily had given me on Saturday during our video tutoring session. They were my "Apple support" for the day. Back to the story.... I find myself really liking the touchpad on the Mac! That is something, as I couldn't seem to get the hang of it on the PC. Today, when I have gone to the PC to look at something, I go for the touchpad. I use it a little on the PC, but it being so small, it doesn't have the capability of the Mac's touchpad.

Bottom line....I think I'm gonna like the Mac touchpad!

Well, it is getting late, so I am going to close for now. I'll be back at the keyboard in the morning!

An "Apple" a day.............

Me and My Mac, Learning a new way of computing.

I am wondering how the times is going by so fast! Here it is May 16th already. Today marks the 5 years since my Mother passed away. On the 31 st, my Father will have been gone 12 years. I miss them both very much.

Well, I have decided to make the topic of my blog, my new Mac. Last Friday I took the plunge and decided to change over from a PC to a Mac. I had been entertaining the thought for sometime now, but didn't think I would have Greg's support. He likes PC's and I don't think he would consider switching.

About a week before Mother's Day, Greg started asking me what I would like for a gift. I couldn't really think of anything, so I asked for a rain check. I went down to Emily and Jeff's to watch the pooches while they went to Atlanta for a few days. That Thursday, Emily and I met Amber in Williamsburg, where we spent a few days, at the Legacy of Williamsburg Bed and Breakfast. That was our Mother's Day celebration. We had good weather and a great time. When I returned home, Greg asked again what I wanted for a gift. I told him that I would like a Mac. I really had expected him to "Poo Poo" the idea, but he didn't. He completely surprised me and said ; although he didn't want one, if I did there was no reason not to get one. That was it.....the hunt was on!

I started watching all the Mac videos I could find. I looked at the different models and the features. I don't know what half the specs mean, but I do know what I have in my PC and I wanted the same or more. I decided on the Mac Book Pro 15". This past week, Greg said that he was going to finish up a day early and would be home Thursday night. He said that he was going to take the next day off. I asked him if he would go up to Columbia to the Apple store with me. We headed out Friday morn. We went to Malcolm Grow to get his blood drawn, then we headed over to the Exchange on base so he could get a haircut. We noticed there were some roads closed and some barricades up, so we figured something was going on. He headed into the barber shop and I headed for the clothing dept. Wow... I am going to have to go back there again soon. That is a goldmine for fashion. That's a topic for another day! When I asked, the cashier told me that it was Military Appreciation Day for the Air Show. When we came out of the Exchange, that was obvious, as a stunt plane was going by.

We got up to Columbia Mall and parked in the usual area, by LL Beans. Walked all throught the mall and arrived at the Apple Store. It looked like it was pretty busy, but there were some Macs open, so we went over and started checking them out. I took notice of how we weren't approached by and salespeople, which was good , at the time, as I wanted to get on the Mac and play around and see if infact it was what I wanted to get. After a few minutes, I had made up my mind and went in search of someone to sell me one. I was told that someone would be right over. I watched and waited, and we weren't the next ones to get helped. Guess I was a little impatient, but I was ready to buy and it didn't seem to matter. We left. I'll admit that I was a little down, but we were being ignored, and I knew that I could go up to Annapolis and try there. We went down to the lower level and had lunch at the food court. We had to take the esulator to get up to the level to exit from. Greg asked if I wanted to go back and try again. I was torn, I didn't make my mind up till I got to the top, as to which way I would go. I turned right and we headed back to the Apple Store. When we arrived, there was a salesman at the front door, he looked like Santa. It was as. if he was waiting for us. He asked if he could help us. Then he walked us through the process of purchasing my first Mac. While he went in the back to get the Mac, some young men decided to steal an ipad off the front display table. At first I heard this shattering of glass and some gasps. I thought someone had dropped something on the floor. But it was much more serious than that. I looked up just in time to see three boys running out the front door. The alarms then went off and Apple employees started running towards the front door. It was too late, they were gone! When our salesman returned with the Mac, he said that it is a normal occurrence. Funny thing is, when we first went there earlier, there was a policeman standing guard at the front door. He wasn't there when we came back.

It is Sunday afternoon and I have had my MBP for 2 days. I can already tell that it is going to be a good relationship between us! BTW I did also get the One to One policy, so I can have Apple help for the first year. That's for when I can't ask one of my three experts, ( Jeff, Emily and Amber), for their help.

Yesterday morning I had a three person video conference with Emily and Jeff. That was cool! I also love the back lit keys, what a plus!

So stay tuned to learn how the relationship is going.

Later