The Christmas Season in Florida

This is my second Christmas season in Florida. Today I happened to get a Sunday edition of the St Petersburg Times. As is typical for this time of year, it was loaded with the holiday ads and flyers. I had to chuckle when I saw the JCPenney brochure. I never saw these clothes on the ads up North in December!

Giving Thanks

Since this turkey had no weight label, we had to figure out how much this bird weighs. Answer: around 12 pounds. That's the turkey, not Wayne. Wayne is 36 pounds.

I was Wayne's assistant in the kitchen. The menu: Citrus glazed turkey, cranberry/orange relish; Praline brown sugar sweet potato bake; turkey sausage, apple, chestnut, dried cranberry stuffing, mashed potatoes, bacon wrapped string beans

We were joined by Howard and Johnny.

Oink! Oink!

Dessert: Eggnog cheesecake, pumpkin pie, no bake oatmeal coconut peanut butter cookies

Tuesday Afternoon Off

Lucky me . . . got out of work at noon. Working this Saturday morning, so I get a shorter day this week. Around mid afternoon I decided to take a walk and enjoy the balmy weather. Just a few images along the way; taken along Tampa Bay in Saint Petersburg.














Looks like these birds were having a family gathering for Thanksgiving.

Sugar Wafer High Sugar Wafer Crash

You would think that I would know better. I was in Publix last night, after making a couple stops; the card store, CVS. I was hungry for something but not sure what. Salty? Sweet? Ying? Yang?

I spied the sugar wafers and they sure looked inviting. I haven't had them in a long while. I couldn't control myself. My hands quickly grabbed one chocolate and one vanilla. So, home I went, wafers in hand (actually, sack in hand). When I got home, I opened both packages and put them in a Tupperware container.

I was watching some old movie on TCM and finished off half of cookies. And, much to my surprise, I slept right thru the night! Go figure! I thought I would be vibrating!

Down side. Today at work, I was dragging. And when I came home for lunch, I finished off half of what was left. What was I thinking???

I vow I will not touch one tonight. Maybe I'll pretend I'm a puppy and just pop open that Tupperware and bury my face in that bowl?

B-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!!!

Can you believe it???!!!

Well, not exactly. On my way back from doing a little shopping at Publix tonight, I noticed that the temperature on the Rabbit was registering around 50 degrees! And when I stopped at the light, I did notice a little smoke coming out of the tail pipe...

I broke down: Put flannel sheets on the bed on Sunday. Actually have my heat on now. I still think it's funny to see people every now and then, with gloves and a scarf on.

Rib Fest 2008

Wayne was working at the Bucs game on Sunday, so I had the day solo. I decided to spend it leisurely. I brought my book with me to the downtown Starbucks. There were a lot of people and traffic downtown because of the Rib Fest going on in Vinoy Park. I then went to the Barnes & Noble store at the downtown USF campus to browse for some Christmas gift ideas.
Leaving empty handed, I headed back to my apartment. It was a beautiful sunny day, although it was 'cold' by Florida standards, maybe in the high 50s. B-r-r-r-r-r-r!!!


Upon entering the park, there was a motorcycle display. Lots of leather and chains in that area . . . right next to the kids' playground.

The park was filled with people! Live entertainment on the stage. Not quite my favorite style of music, but both bands I heard were good.

This was quite the setup! You could wander around and decide which vendor you would like to patronize. I decided to try Desperado's, since they were last years champs, according to their sign. I went for the Desperado Platter. And it was GOOD!!! Enough left for a couple more meals!

I sat over near the Bay. These birds were eyeing my ribs...

I had to shower before bed because my clothes smelled so much of smoke!

I caught this sign on a front lawn on my way back home.

Veterans Day

I'm glad that Veterans Day stayed on November 11. The credit union was closed so I decided to have a quiet, relaxing day. About mid-morning I headed over to the Gulf, to John's Pass. I browsed the shops, sort of planning to start some Christmas shopping. I had lunch and then headed over to the beach. I brought a book with me and read and napped for several hours. It was a beautiful day, around 80 degrees, but the water was chilly enough to only wade in up to my knees.

Sunset is a bit earlier!!!

Roser Park Fair

Sunday afternoon, Wayne and I went to the Roser Park Arts and Crafts Fair. There wasn't much that we were interested in, but was nice to stroll around the park.

We went to the new Five Guys in downtown Saint Pete. First time for both of us. Had bacon cheeseburgers and one small fry order. We'll be back! Actually pretty good...and who's counting fat grams and calories???