A few random photos and random thoughts....

Monday, March 26, 2018

March has been a crazy month for sure. Warm weather, followed by rain, followed by snow and freezing temps, back to warm, more snow and now rain for the rest of the month. Phew, we are MORE than ready for spring!

We have several Tractor Supply stores to choose from and at our last visit, spring had arrived there!


Spring has also arrived during the warm days - wasps/hornets looking for a place to nest. He's at the top of the post on the right hand side (ewww, didn't realize how dirty the house is...time for pressure washing!)

The pups enjoyed being outside with it...we loved the ONE DAY we had where we could enjoy the deck.



And I enjoyed the wearing of the green on St Paddy's day - my favorite pair of leggings. (Glad it was warm!)

A trip to the Dollar Store produced two little duckies (for $1 each) for the #2doods. They loved them so much...for a couple of hours. Then the beak was gone, then the head....then in the trash. LOL! But they enjoyed them!


We were pretty sure Cooper would be a non-shedding dog since he is 3/4 Poodle and that has turned out to be true. We had no idea about Murphy since he is 1/4 Poodle, 1/4 Golden Retriever and 1/2 Rough Collie, but we suspected he would be a shedder. Yup, also true. Here is today's brushing - can't imagine what it will be like when it gets really warm!

BUT, Murphy has no doggy odor (we're guessing that's from the Collie side) and Cooper can reek like a swamp dog. A little trade-off....

Ciao for now!

THEME REVEAL: The A to Z of Goldendoodles

Monday, March 19, 2018



There are many different Doodles...
Labradoodles, Goldendoodles, Bernedoodles, Sheepadoodles, Cadoodles
and those are just the standard sized!

We have two adorable, funny, lovable Goldendoodles - Cooper and Murphy. Join them in the A to Z challenge to learn more about them and Goldendoodles.

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Doodle on! 


Follow my A-Z posts on my other blog!


Some random photos for March

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Remember our heart-shaped garden tub? Stu loves being able to soak, wash & rinse all his scuba gear in it. He even built this frame so things could drip dry.

No, not lobster. This is hasselback chicken - so simple even I could make it. Took longer for my oven to preheat than it took to cook!

This is what Siri told me when I set the timer the other day:

Discovered the silicone mini-loaf mold I bought for our 90 second Keto bread (yes, lo carb and cooks in the microwave in 90 seconds) works wonderfully for our parmesan cheese crisps (also lo carb - a great snack to take to the movies and yes, I know you're not supposed to bring in anything but we ARE on a diet). Takes maybe 90 seconds to bake!

Another new find on our lo carb diet, Sugar-Free Gummy Bears made with Jello. I finally have a chewy treat! Great little mold set of three silicone pans and three eye droppers.



Ciao for now!

The Chop Shop Salon & Barber Shop [Crossville, TN]

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Anyone who has ever moved, understands every woman's problem. Finding a new hairdresser. HORRORS! We have technically been residents here in Tennessee for a year. I've tried three, maybe four and none were that great a match. So I kept on looking. Local Facebook groups kept mentioning one person's and one shop's name: Sam at The Chop Shop. So I made an appointment.

Every so often you find that unique thing - place - person. Today I found it: The Chop Shop in Crossville, TN. Why unique? Check out the photos...









My Google and Facebook review:

Skilled, personable and efficient. Best haircut in a year! I've been searching and trying other stylists in the local area and finally found it. Thank you, Sam Antha!

296 West Ave, Crossville, TN 38555(931) 787-1288
Monday 9AM–2PMTuesday 9AM–6PM
Wednesday 9AM–4PM
Thursday 9AM–12PM
Friday 9AM–4PM
Saturday Closed
Sunday Closed

Ciao for now!

March 13 2018: Enjoy the Simple Things

“Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most.”
Clement Mok

Till next month...

My, how they've grown! #2doods

Friday, March 9, 2018

Just a little reminder for us and our readers of how much these pups have grown. Cooper will be a year old next month and Murphy in July. I had fun looking back....not as many photos of Murphy when he was younger, most were of the two of them and either playing (blurred) or sleeping. LOL!

Cooper
Murphy
Front Door Views
They still have very different personalities. Cooper is hyperactive, sometimes obsessive and a tad more on the jealous side (although they both have that tendency - pet one, better pet both!). Murphy will play just a hard but doesn't seem to need it as much as Cooper. I don't think Cooper will ever get fat.

Biggest challenge with them both is walking on the leash - trying to get them both used to the Gentle Leader and get them to behave around other dogs. Yes, a definite challenge but we love them both.

Ciao for now!

Cruise ship held up by drunken pirates!

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

Sorry for the late post...here is a quick wrap-up!

We've been off cruising...we did two weeks on the same ship with the same itinerary in late January, early February. Western Caribbean, our favorite due to the amount of scuba diving available for Stu. Normally all four ports have diving: Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel. This time around, there was no diving offered in Cozumel but after three days in a row of underwater fun, that was okay with him.

I do want to share this photo of the ladies room in one of the truck stops on our way south (we drove). Not your typical one at all!


Oh, wait, you don't understand the blog title? Let's go back to day one - embarkation day. We had driven to Tampa and spent the night in Wesley Chapel, giving us a short drive to the port. What we hadn't realized was it was also day for the Gasparilla Pirate Fest. We worried about road closures driving to the port but were met with none. Light traffic, actually.

We were scheduled to leave at 4pm but they were still loading luggage and provisions. So we missed our window. Due to the number of boats on the water due to the celebration, our next window was 6pm. Oops, we missed that one, too. We finally left at 10:15pm. It didn't really matter to us, we enjoyed seeing the port lit up at night. But it did matter to the Captain - he had to make adjustments to the amount of time in our first port of Cozumel. So, we were held up by drunken pirates!


  

We tried to get a photo of the Sunshine Bridge when we went under around midnight but just not enough light.


The rest of the cruise was pretty much the same as previous cruises - Stu dove almost every port and I wrote/edited to meet my publication deadline for Paradise Drift. I did leave my comfort zone, I promised myself I would try some new foods and I did. Stu was impressed {snicker}. I had fun using my new insulated tumbler, too!


We did have fun with another band new to us, ALTERR. What a wonderful group of guys, all from the Philippines. The group has been through several iterations before sticking with the current core group consisting of Sonny (lead guitar), Mario (drums), Geraldo (bass guitar), and Lito (keyboard). They all shared vocal duties and they did quite well with a wide variety of tunes ranging from oldies, to 70's-80's, pop, hard rock, country and more!


You can see all their photos and videos in our SmugMug Album.

We saw them almost every performance and on the second week of our cruise, we got to meet the folks behind ALTERR. Alva & Terry - the sweetest couple, we fell in love with them. Here are a few shots of them.




A few photos from formal night - now that is a shrimp cocktail!



Caught a nice sunset from our balcony....



We had a couple new towel animals - a whale, a bat, and Stu just had to decorate the frog!

We had the best wait team in the dining room...


...and the best room steward. She reminded us both of our sweet friend Angelita in Ecuador!


Oh, and when we were in port between the cruises - our balcony faced the valet parking and we spotted our car. We're the little black Jeep in the back row. LOL!


The last night at sea, the captain came on the intercom and announced that heavy fog was in the forecast for Tampa in the morning. In order to hopefully avoid a stalled arrival, he was going to push to arrive very early (by 4am) in order to beat it. And he did! Wow...

Here are some select shots taken during the cruise - all the photos and videos are HERE. As always, click any photo for a larger view.









And wonder of all wonders...who would ever have believed it. A husband wife duo who were entertainers - were in Cuenca, Ecuador when we lived there. The Musical Nomads! Small world for sure...



(I hope you are enjoying my Simplicity posts. I love seeing them every month on the 13th.)

Ciao for now!

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