Today was just one of those gorgeous south Florida perfect days. Wow. Sunny, nice breeze, water was refreshing ( man of wars jelly fish for awhile), just all out gorgeous.
I took a ride to say hello to a friend this morning early. He was waiting on his movers. He lives in Tampa now. He was supposed to stick around and we were going to go out tonight. He bailed. He's on his way back to Tampa. I knew he would. He was supposed to come over last night for dinner and he didn't. He has a bad habit of doing this. Oh well. He is consistent.
My kids are all up at their Dad's this weekends. So I am on pet patrol. Again. My wusband is going on active duty on March 6th and getting deployed to Iraq in 2 weeks. He will only be on active duty for 4 months due to the fact that he is a Dr. I guess they rotate them in and out so they are fresh and willing to serve in the reserves. I am not sure. He has kept me totally in the dark on this whole thing.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend. It looks like mine will stay quiet.

Meet my friends from the beach. Carmella, her son Aiden and her brother Mario.

A while ago I talked about one of my really good friends Walter. He owns this little Italian restaurant on the beach. He also has ACL> accute mylogenic leukemia. He had a bone marrow transplant just before Christmas. His sister Carmella was his donor. (pictured with her brother Mario and son Aiden) Lets just say Walter is having a really tough time and may have Graph Host disease. Not good. He was having a really rough day today. I drove Mario to the airport. I also pick him up when he comes in to town on Sundays.

This illness has affected the whole family so deeply. It's been going on since last June. Unbelievable. Mario lives and works in DC. He works as a maintenance supervisor in the Senate building. The 3 - 11:30 pm shift. He was late for work again today. He took yesterday off . He has no leave, vacation or anything else left. It has all gone to keeping his brothers restaurant open so Walter has some way to keep his house, etc. He has to be able to pay his bills. Mario has been down at least every 2 weeks since Walter got sick. He has been down the last 4 weeks in a row. 2 weeks over Christmas. The staff has been trying to keep it going , but they are young. And the old saying holds true. " While the cats away the mice will play" I feel really bad for the whole family. Walter's kids are great. They are 16 and 19. His oldest is a freshman at college. The younger one is kind of adrift. Mario is trying to do everything he can for everyone. But they miss their Dad. He raised them alone.
Carmella just had a baby 4 months ago. So she is busy with a 4 year old and a new born. Cute kids. Aiden is a dream. He and I went and explored the mardi gras vendors and had a blast. We banged the African drums, looked in all the vendors and he kept saying :don''t touch" I was really impressed. Then a street musician gave him a tambourine, I played the drums and the musician sang. We had such a nice adventure together. Then we listened to some music and danced. Fun kid. He makes me want grandkids.

So now you have met Mario. He and I really like each other. But alas he doesn't live here anymore. And has no plans to move back. I really wish I could do more to help him cope with all this. But he just keeps going and will do anything to help his younger brother. I will just continue to listen and let him vent. Thats all I can do.

THE AMAZING RACE

My daughter and I will be submitting our application and video to the Amazing Race today. We shot the video yesterday. They should have a great laugh. My daughter in law has wanted to do the show for the last 5 years. Originally she was going to do it with my daughter. Everyone decided our teaming up would be funnier and probably win us the race. And get us on the show. They have never had a mother in law / daughter in law team. And our relationship isn't the best on a good day. She frustrates the hell out of me. She' s a drama queen and very selfish. Time will tell. And she says I never listen.

I hope everyone is having a great week.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!

I have been out of town at Disney for a few days. I was a friend of Mickey's for years. (character) So I still have friends that are friends also. My sister said it was embarrassing that I kept getting bear hugs and being totally engulfed by stray characters. I miss my friends and they miss me. It also makes it fun. Bear hugs are good.

My baby sister was in from New Jersey with my 13 year old niece and her friend Molly. My niece is 6' tall already. WE had a blast. Molly had never been before, so we showed her a really good time. She fell in love with the Animal Kingdom as much as we love it.

My take on Valentines day is not a good one. I believe it is a card company holiday and the retailers and florist jack up prices sky high. I also believe that your sweetheart should treat you special everyday. And a card company shouldn't instill guilt one day a year. I would rather go out to dinner any other time than on a holiday. But that's just my opinion.

This is also the first time in 11 years that I have had this weekend off. I have worked the Miami boat show every year and it is always over Valentines day. I find it kink of funny that I don't have a sweetie this year and I actually have it off. But I had a nice day anyway. I worked out with a new friend who used to be a trainer. We worked out at his gym. Then he detailed my car for me and we watched a comedian on tv. The comedian was really funny. It was a gorgeous day out. But I don't go to the beach 2 days in a row. And yesterday was just glorious. But never fear. I will be at the gym first thing then off to the beach. These sunny low 80's type of days are my kind of a winter.

Have an awesome day.

Happy Sunday

I have had a quiet week. My back has been bothering me. My friend Tom gave me a massage on Friday and fixed it. Thank God. I was in desperate need of an adjustment for sure. Now I am sick with a head cold. I will try and fix that up today.

Tomorrow I head to Disney for a few days. My sister and niece will be there and I am going to tag along and steal half my sisters bed. ;-} I will also see some friends from my Disney days. I am actually looking forward to a few Disney days. Just getting out of town will be nice for a change. And the weather is supposed to be really nice. Sunny and 80 during the day. Mid 50's at night. Nice. My sister lives in my home town in NJ and has been freezing.

I snuck in a ride yesterday for a few hours. It was still raw out and I was starting to feel crappy. So I came home and took a nap.

Last night I went to the movies with my daughter and a friend of hers. "He's just not into you " is funny. And all women should see it and men. Especially us single woman. You will have a few Oh My God moments.

I am off to the gym this morning for a short workout. I will ride today. My carpets are getting cleaned at noon. Then I am going to go ride and find some live music. A lot of the local biker bars cater to destination riders looking for someplace to listen to music on Sunday afternoons.

Have an awesome week.

It's cold again. Tonight they say it will go down in the 30's. I am not sure I like that idea.

My weekend was ok. Nothing big happening. My back has been really bothering me. Thats not good. But I still haven't given up the gym. I am just taking it easier.

I have a friend of mine that has been coming in an out from DC helping at his brothers restaurant. His brother is one of my best friends. We were really surprised to have a very mutual attraction to each other. But as all things go we have thought it out and decided logistics are just not good. I have no intention of moving out of sunny south Florida away from the sunshine, and my kids. He has no desire to move back to South Florida. Now he has a government job that he likes. I know and love DC. I lived there for 7 years. But I am NOT moving back. I really like my lifestyle. So before we acted on this mutual attraction we thought things thru. He's back in DC today and back to work. I will miss the connection. He's one of the nicest and real people I have gotten to know in a really long time. He's cautious and thinks things out before he acts. Wow.

My other sweetie is gone too. Oh well. That has always been the nature of the relationship. I do believe I am going to take a long break from guys. Maybe I will find another Mario locally. That would be really nice.

I hope everyone is staying warm.