Finally! Destin, Florida!!

We finally made it to Destin on the 20th of December after a little detour to Vegas for Lib and Led's wedding! These are just a few pictures to let you share in our adventure. Our friend Lou made us a sign that is proudly installed in front of our motor home at Camping on the Gulf in Destin! The boys love that they were included! Harley isn't wild about the new playpen. We had hoped he wouldn't jump the fence, but of course he did. But always prepared, we brought deer netting. He figured out how to get under the one loose spot needed to open the gate. At least he just runs for the door to the coach! As you can also see from the picture, Woody is ensconced in his usual chair (thanks Holly and Jan!).

The sunset is at the Pass at Destin Harbour as is our picture! We love the new area around the Emerald Grande and Harbourwalk. When we win the lottery, we're going to buy a condo there!

We are back to thinking about a more permanent place down here! We would miss Christmas dinner at the campground...the food this year was wonderful. We're doing water aerobics on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and trying to walk on the other days of the week...too bad that we're eating even more. Who knew that exercise would stimulate your appetite! Tomorrow is New Year's Eve and we're joining friends at Capt. Dave's on the beach for dinner and then back to our beach to watch fireworks. We can see both Destin and Sandestin's fireworks.

Life in retirement just gets better and better! I'm still doing a little bit of editing and consulting, but with the price of gas down, I don't need to work as much! We're still planning on Nova Scotia this summer. Hope you all have a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year!

A Horny Mousse and Woody's Present

Check out Woody's Christmas present I won with all my gambling winnings! In other words, I could afford to put his name on the car only!! As many of you know, I spent all summer tracking a "horny moose"...in other words, a moose with horns. While I got a cow moose, I never found a horny moose. My BFFs Jane and Bill bagged me a horny mousse! My life is complete!

We finally arrived in Florida Saturday night after a bit of trauma. We were loading the coach and I wanted to fill the hot water heater. When we turned on the water, it went everywhere! We had our sink water filter tube break! Woody, who as you know is great at a lot of things but plumbing is not one of them, capped it off and we headed out! I'm so proud of him! Then we arrived here to plug in and got a 50 amp message when we have a 30 amp coach! I decided to just deal with it later since everything was working and it may have been a computer fault...said a little prayer, and woke up this morning to everything working...thank you Lord! It was beautiful last night but today we have the cold front. It's in the 50's and will drop to the 30's tonight. Tomorrow though and through Christmas, back in the 70's!

Just watched the Titans beat the Steelers...anyone that wants to buy football playoff tickets, let me know. We won't be there for the playoff game! We're keeping our fingers crossed that we'll make the Super Bowl which is in Tampa! We'll just unhook and drive right on down from Destin! We just love Camping on the Gulf! Our friends are all here with just a few exceptions who've had some health problems this year. As we all get old, I'm sure we'll see fewer each year...sending a little prayer for good health to everyone! Can't wait for David and Estelle to get down to start up our canasta tournament for 2008!

Hope you'll all have a blessed and happy Christmas week!

Libby and Led are married!

We had a great weekend in Las Vegas and married off Libby to Led!! It was a great time...they stayed at Caesars Palace and we were at Paris! http://www.parislasvegas.com/ Both hotels were great...the slots were even loose at Paris! At least I didn't lose too much other than a daughter! The wedding was at the Little White Wedding Chapel where tons of celebrities have tied the knot! Even better...we wore jeans! No mother of the bride junk for Marilyn and me! Here are a few pictures! Enjoy! The kids will be home on Wednesday! Hopefully they will have a dollar or two left! Big hugs to all of you. We head to Florida this weekend, so watch for posts!

Love those grandkids!

If you've never seen "Ragtime the Musical" you should definitely go! Our beautiful niece (although you can't tell it from this costume) did an incredible job in her role as Emma Goldman inthe play at Belmont University. It was fun seeing Janis and Mike and Janis's mom, but Woody was sick as a dog! I can't believe that Jessica graduates in the spring!

We had a wonderful trip to NC to visit the grandkids. Mimi and Riley made turkey bread, which most of you will recognize as cornbread dressing! We put up the Christmas tree and had a wonderful time. Molly and her clan came for Thanksgiving dinner and Riley and Sebastian played all day with swords and early Christmas presents that Mimi and Grandad brought. I even made train blankets for the little ones! I'm just getting so domestic in my retirement. Jennifer cooked an incredible meal! It's so nice to have a gourmet cook for a daughter-in-law...although I just consider her a daughter! She is wonderful! I'm so blessed to have her trying to control my son!

Unfortunately Ole Miss (her alma mater) destroyed Miss State (Woody's alma mater) so that was the only depressing part of the weekend. The weather was great until we left and we had snow from just outside of Ashville, NC all the way to Cookeville, TN! Slow going when you're out of practice driving in the snow.

We've had a great time catching up with all our friends but I'm so ready to go to Florida! We won't get to spend as much time this year due to my friend the dentist! Still not finished, but I'm taking a month off to run south and then we'll head back north and finish up the mouth! It had better be worth it when all is said and done...although the work so far is divine! I should have done this years ago.

We're off to Las Vegas on Thursday for Libby's wedding...yep, she's going to tie the knot! I'm delighted that she and Led are so happy together...no pressure, but Mimi would like more grandchildren! http://www.parislasvegas.com/ This time we're staying at Paris! We're having dinner with Margaret and then just playing for a bit...not sure what show we'll see; we've about seen them all! My gambling is limited now that we're old and retired.

I'll try to do better on posting more often...we've just been busy busy busy as we say in the Edens household! Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving and Beyond!

At this time of year, I get really sentimental. Woody and I are big Thanksgiving people...less so Christmas. We're gathering up all our stuff to go to see the grandkids, and wait for it, including the stuffing...or dressing as we say in the south. Our son thinks no one can make dressing as good as Mom! I make one pan of oyster dressing and one "plain". Ginny is our pet sitter for the weekend. She's great and the boys love her! I just want to wish all of you a wonderful holiday season...we are so blessed to have the best family and friends a couple could want.

Tomorrow we go to an 80th birthday party for a dear friend, and to our niece's Christmas musical at Belmont. Life is good!

I'll write more on Sunday to brag on Jessica!

I'm so ready for Florida!

I am so ready to head to Florida!! It's really getting cold here in Hendersonville! We've had a great week...finished our Christmas shopping and will get it all wrapped this week. I'm finishing up quilts for Sebastian and Riley to use when they watch TV. Most of the stuff is going to Charlotte with us for Thanksgiving so we have to have it all ready. Friday night we went back to 2 Country...slightly different band, but still playing songs I don't know. We left early. Tonight we went to Red Lobster and celebrated Woody's birthday a few days early. I have to go to the dentist again Monday, so we thought Monday might be an issue.

This week is the first week that I felt just a tinge of boredom in retirement. After two years of being retired, I guess this is a pretty good track record. I think it's because it's cold and dreary and I thrive on sunshine. I thought about applying for a job in Obama's administration but think I might have too many crazy relatives and difficult children to survive the vetting process. The application is 63 questions, and basically, if you don't walk on water, forget it! I really don't want to go back to anything remotely like I left, so I'm trying to imagine what it is I would like to do. I wish we had liked retail a bit better, as Halo Properties in Hendersonville is going to build work/live lofts near Indian Lake Village! That would be way cool. Walk to shopping, restaurants, book store and movies!! So if any of you have suggestions about what I should be when I grow up, let me know.

We went to the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, and it was fabulous. It was so fast paced that I had trouble catching my breath. This is the first movie since Mama Mia that we wanted to see. I think Hollywood forgets us oldsters! I guess we could move to California and become actors, or maybe extras! The only problem with that is we have no talent. My sister got that!

Notre Dame finally won today! I'm not sure what's going on with our quarterback...he showed up in a fur coat the first time he rolled into South Bend as cocky as you want a QB to be, and everyone thought he would be fabulous. None of the Clawson boys are living up to their expectations. Oh well...hopefully we'll improve. And then of course tonight, Alabama beat Mississippi State so Woody's bummed.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Barack Obama and Hope!

As many of you know, I was a huge Hillary Clinton supporter who unwillingly transitioned to Barack Obama. In listening to his speech on Tuesday evening, I harkened back to the days of John F. Kennedy...I felt a sense of excitement about our country and hope for the future that I haven't felt since Bill Clinton was elected! Watching the diverse crowd of supporters, I remembered coming of age in the 1960's and, even then, hating the black-white divisiveness that poisoned our country. I guess I've always been a liberal! Having been raised by the most wonderful black women and white women in Jackson, TN, (it took a lot of people to get me to where I am today!) I was so proud that our country selected the best man for the job. That being said, I'm tired of talking about race...Barack Obama is both white and black, and represents the best in our country...so get over it! He's going to be an excellent president if we support him and do our best to address the issues that are confronting our country! So...here's what we need to do. We need to put aside partisan politics, confront the needs of our country and not the special interests, live within our means, recognize that family values are not owned by the GOP and that we need to focus on the needs and responsibilities of and to our families, address the need to offer healthcare for all, and generally get on with re-establishing our country as the world leader!

During this election cycle, I've blogged under the name HealthcareforAll on everything from the Washington Post to the NY Times to MSNBC and CNN! I've tried to keep my blog for fun things...but today, I just felt like sharing with you my thoughts on the election. Please indulge me! Promise that you'll keep an open mind if you didn't vote for President-elect Obama; and if you did, be ready to help our country get back on track!

Have a great weekend! I'm still recovering from lots of dental work with more to come, so my weekend will be quiet! and soft!

Go Titans!

Just now recovering my voice after screaming my head off last night at the Titans Colts game! We won! Our guys looked fabulous in the 2nd half...did worry a bit at the beginning because we looked flat. Like a lot of people, I think our guys didn't really believe that they could beat Indianapolis...Lou Holtz has a saying: Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it! As a Notre Dame grad who was on campus for the 1988 National Championship, Lou can do no wrong! I need to get motivated! There is so much I need to do here in the house, but I just can't get motivated to tackle anything for some reason. Woody helped me put some storage in the closet in my office and I can't even find the energy to clear my desk and put things away! And heaven knows, I can't get motivated to diet and exercise! The flower beds are still only half cleared from the horrid bermuda grass our neighbor used in his yard. He has the only bermuda grass in the neighborhood and our beautiful yards are being infested! Well, at least bermuda does well in the hot, dry summer...and with global warming it may be the way to go!

Maybe tomorrow will find me more energized!