Happy Birthday............

............ to Poppa!  Yes - today is his birthday - and I don't even have a nice picture of him to post!   Due to an amazing response to my e-mail regarding this year's sock giveaway, I have no time for anything but knitting socks.  I have 15 pairs to knit for ladies, and 6 pairs for men!  I currently have 10 and 2/3 pairs of ladies done, so fairly soon the ladies will be able to pick.  The men will probably have to wait until I get home to pick theirs.

The bears are back home.  They are happy to be here.  Taffy no longer had a droopy head and Squeegie has his nose back and brand new eyes as well as some re-inforcement behind his fur to keep him in good shape!  I'll try to post pictures "soon".

From the back Squeegie looks just like this.

Back Home..........

....... after several minutes of silent communication and careful consideration.......

... Uncle Shaun and Gus decided............

.......... that they would bundle up and brave the bitter cold to go for a walk together!  My reports are that the snow was compressed by a short-lived mild spell and some rain........ but since then it has been too cold to snow!  Hmmm.............. the cooler weather we've been experiencing here suddenly doesn't sound so bad after all!

As you can see, it hasn't been too cool for the hibiscus blooms to be open and beautiful!  But, back home.......

  ....... Munchie is doing his best to be quiet and stay out of Mommy's road, since when he arrives home from school, she is still working (she works from home now).  So he is snack-shopping in the cupboard where he knows all the good stuff is kept!  Once he has chosen his snack-of-the-day he will take it downstairs and watch TV.....

... while he relaxes in his Lazy Boy chair that Poppa and Nanna gave him for Christmas.  If he falls alseep for a few minutes.....

..... he will probably wake up to find that his little brother, Curtie has arrived home from daycare and is having a nap too.  When Mommy is finished working and has supper ready....

.......... she'll wake them up so they can have a bite to eat before bath and bed.  Poppa has done a few chores here, but more on that later........

Breaking News!

I would like you to take a really good look at this.............

.... photo of our little Squeegie.  You can see that his fur is getting rather frazzled, his nose is wearing thin - and though it is difficult to see in this photo, his eyes are worn from being in the dryer.  Hint: click on the picture to see a larger image.  Then.....

...... take a look at this little lady. She is in pretty good condition (but, she is only 5 - Squeegie is 13!), but we noticed her neck is a little floppy and perhaps needs a bit more stuffing.  So........... after much thought and consideration........... they both went yesterday to the Teddy Bear Hospital and Spa for some tender re-conditioning.  The doctor there is called Margie and you can see some of her projects on her web-site - http://www.margiescuties.com/home.  We expect the "kids" to be away for about two weeks, which should get them back home just in time for Squeegie's birthday on Feb. 14th!  The really good thing is that Dr. Margie lives in Lakeland, FL which is only about 40 minutes away from the villa.  We are missing them madly as you can imagine, but..........

........... little Minnie is trying her best to fill in for them - and for such a little girl is doing a pretty good job.  One day down and 13 to go!

Florida...........

......... is a most wonderful place to be in the winter.  Although......

.... it has been cooler down here the last few days - Squeegie was trying on Poppa's jacket - we haven't had any below zero (F) temperatures and not one flake of snow!  Meanwhile up north of the border it has been frigid and snowy!  We are sooooo happy to be here.....

.... as you can see!  Back home in Canada, our little boys......

.... are staying indoors where the temperatures are warm and away from the snow and cold - apparently watching Star Wars on the TV!  Before I get too carried away about the weather though, I should show you.....

..... this beautiful floral arrangement which was delivered shortly after our arrival here.  Believe it or not it is still looking very much alive and well!  Thank you to Gramma and her gang!  We noticed a big change in the kitchen...........

... when we arrived!  For those of you are fortunate enough to have visited us here, you will probably notice that we have all new appliances in the kitchen - stove, fridge and microwave.  Just look at that fancy fridge!  I have so much fun getting cold water and crushed ice - I find I am drinking just for the fun of it!  The stove is quite similar to mine at home - with the ceramic top and warming centre - except, of course mine is white and this one has a burnished stainless finish!  I finally used the microwave the other day - again similar to mine, so no problems figuring out how to operate it!  I feel so spoiled!!!  Just before Denis & Liz left to fly home to Canada, I prepared.....

.... one of my typical casseroles for them.  And, since there were more dishes than usual....

.... I even tried out the new dishwasher!  It is wonderfully quiet and did a great job on the dishes!  What a life!  Great weather and fun indoors too.  Poppa is apparently.....

........ having fun too!  As you can see, he is gathering together his cleaning bucket.......and Squeegie is ready to be his assistant!  Meanwhile..........

...... I have organized my yarn supply and...........

........ in the evening once we all get comfortable.........

......... I do some knitting!  Imagine that!

Happy New Year!

But, before Happy New Year, came Christmas Day in Florida!  We .....

..... carefully set up the cards from our relatives and friends - we received these at the Villa and it was so nice to know that people were thinking about us!  Then we.....

..... put up a really cute Christmas ornament that we had received.  This is a knitted replica of Santa's entire Chirstmas wardrobe to keep him warm while he is delivering presents all night!  So adorable!  After church on Christmas Eve (At Corpus Christi in Celebration), we retired to bed with the bears feeling quite excited about Santa coming.  When we got up in the morning.....

.... sure enough Santa had found them and left them each a present!  Inside they found a chocolate bear  and a chocolate bar for each of them and....

........ they each got a pair of slippers!  They were so excited, they insisted on putting them on right away and wearing them all day!  After we had breakfast and tidied up, we went over to....

.... spend the rest of the day with Liz and Denis.  We had a most wonderful turkey dinner with all the trimmings and a very enjoyable evening.  As it turned out.....

.... the bears each got another present!  Of course, after that all Squeegie wanted to do was go back to the villa so he could eat pretzels and peanut butter cups!  Thank you to Liz and Denis for a great Christmas dinner and the presents!  Take note of Poppa's nifty Floridian shirt!  After dinner we went.....

........... out to admire the Christmas lights in Florida.  It always surprises me how much people decorate for the season in the warm climate...................

............ but as you can see............

........ they most certainly do decorate and the lights are gorgeous!  So..........

........ we are hoping everyone had a wonderful Christmas and wishing you all a Happy New Year and all the best of everything in 2014!

The Journey......

..............was uneventful.  As I mentioned in a previous post, we stopped in at Munchie's house for a short visit....Mommy is going to send me some pictures - I'm sure she will!  We left there on the 15th of December and spent the first night in .....

.... Sutton, West Virginia at a Day's Inn. As you can see, it was very nice and the bears weren't long getting relaxed.  The weather between Munchie's and this location wasn't too bad.  We had stretches of snow, blowing snow and bare pavement.  It was somewhat tense, but not as bad as it could have been!  Second night found us............

.... in Orangeburg, South Carolina.  About half-way through our second day we drove out of the snow and into sunshine.  The drive through the mountains is always enjoyable - but Squeegie hates driving through the two tunnels that go under the mountains - he thinks the mountain will fall on us!  So, he was happy to get into the hotel for the night and turn on the television to relax while Poppa & I went out for supper.

Taffy and I love the tunnels and once through the tunnels it wasn't long until we were in ..... Cocoa Beach, Florida!  We stayed there one night.....

......... at La Quinta Inn - right across the road from the beach of the Atlantic Ocean.  The time went quickly and soon we were on our way to..........

......... the villa - which felt like home!  Here is Squeegie out enjoying the Florida sunshine by the pool!  The temperature was............

......... quite balmy as you can see from this shot of the gauge in the car.  Yep - that's 30C degrees - we had the windows down and the wind blowing in our hair - it was wonderful.  And so, finally .....

......... a beautiful sunset in Florida ended our journey on the 18th of December, 2013.

The Preparations..........

......... for a drive to Florida!  I packed the ............

 ...... luggage for the four of us (Taffy's has flowers, and Squeegie's is a grey carry-on).  Poppa and Squeegie.....

..... got bundled up and went outside.....

..... to blow some snow.  When Squeegie came back in.....

..... he was quite cold, and climbed up on the mitten rack over the hot air register to get warmed up!  Poppa & I went....

.... to see our optometrist - and we both got new glasses - just in time for our journey southward.  We picked up Auntie Colleen....

 and went......

..... for a visit with Gramma Grace.  She was looking well and we enjoyed the visit.  Poppa did some last minute .......

.... work in the kitchen where he managed (by working extra long hours) to.....

..... get the backsplash installed - it was a lot of work, but doesn't it look nice????  I took enough time to ......

.... make a small pair of socks, which were a special request from Munchie when he was at our house.  I was talking to Mommy yesterday and she says he is quite pleased with them and wants them washed every day so he can wear them to school!  How cute!  I'll need to make a pair for little Curtie too!  On my last day at work......

.... our Manager treated us all to lunch and we exchanged presents....we had a good time as you can guess by the picture!  These are the people I work with every day and they are a great bunch...we get a lot of work done and enjoy ourselves too!  Kev-Inn is the guy on the right side of the picture - just in case you didn't recognize him!  And "HI" to the rest of the gang too!  Finally - enjoying a beautiful.............

..... Canadian sunrise .... we were on our way!