A couple of weeks ago I spent six days in Florida visiting my family. It went way too fast. I didn’t even have time to get bored. Mostly, it was a relaxing time of just hanging out, doing a little shopping, and some eating. To my delight, when I returned, I was the same weight as when I left! It’s great to go on vacation and not gain weight.
Of course, everyone in my family is into healthy eating now, so mostly I was eating salad, drinking water and tea. There were a few nights with delicious chicken as well, and some 
vegan stuffed cabbage, made with lentils instead of beef. Not bad! When I spent the day with Mary, we went to Sushigama in the mall. That was different and fun! I don’t think I’ll ever become a big sushi fanatic like Mary is, but it was nice to try something different.
Spent a day with Terry as well, we went thrifting, and had breakfast at Dunkin Donuts. I had a bagel and cream cheese, and that was probably the worst thing I ate the whole time I was there! Didn’t get too much at the thrift shops, just a few items, but still, managed to go down with one suitcase and come back with two. (Best find: a thick terrycloth bathrobe with a completely intact hanging loop for only $3! The loop on my robe has been broken for ages, and terrycloth is not the fabric of choice for bathrobes at the moment. I found plenty of them in the stores all winter, but they’re all kind of…fleecy. Yuck! Who wants to put that on when you get out of the shower?)
My mom gave me a ring that used to belong to my great grandmother. It surely existed before 1900, though not sure how much before the turn of the century. It’s a beautiful ring, but what I love most about it is the history. Apparently, years ago, my great-grandmother, or my grandmother (forgot which) used to bring this ring to the pawn shop every November so she would have money to buy the Thanksgiving meal, and then in December, she would get it out of pawn. I look at the ring on my finger and wonder how many holiday meals this ring has financed!
My dad is still watching the Spanish language soap “La Patrona” on Telemundo, only now they have removed the captions, so you don’t know what’s going on! He said he had the cable company in to look at it, but they weren’t able to do anything. Mary says she’ll give a call to the cable company. It there’s one person who can be a squeaky wheel and get things done, it’s Mary!
One thing I did see on Telemundo, which struck me as hilarious, is the AT&T commercial where the guy is talking with the little kids. It was in Spanish, but it wasn’t simply dubbed into Spanish, it was actually a whole different commercial! If you know the original in English, you’ll probably get a kick out of this Spanish equivalent:
The weather was extremely pleasant while I was there, not hot at all, and the whole time I only saw two bugs! Not bad, for Florida! Everything looks pretty much the same. I guess as long as I keep visiting at least once a year, there shouldn’t be too many shocking changes in the landscape. Oh, wait! The building where I used to work was completely torn down and they’ve build something bigger on the same site. I didn’t go visit. It’s been so long now, I’m sure nobody I used to work with is still there.
I’ll be returning to Florida in the summer, but this time on a road trip with Russ, and we’re Disney-bound! Also going to get to spend some time with Joey. Joey’s got a new car, and he’s working on going back to college. Go, Joey! We may spend a day with him at Universal Islands of Adventure.
Both kinds of vacations are nice—the quiet, simply visiting type, and the wow, let’s go to the theme park type. By the grace of God Russ and I are now in a place where we can afford to step away from our “real lives” now and then and enjoy a little of each.
