January 2006 – Julie's Journal

Edward’s & Mary Ann’s visit

Edward & Mary Ann arrived last Thrusday and left early Sunday morning. We were all prepared to show them Lakeland, but Edward just wanted to play golf, so he and Dan played Friday and Saturday. After I played tennis with all of the guys Friday morning, Mary Ann & I went touring. We toured Florida Southern campus located on Lake Hollingsworth downtown, where there is the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural designs – 12 buildings in all. Interesting uses of light and stone. Then, we went to Lake Mirror and walked through Hollis Gardens and all the around the lake (not even a mile). On the other side of the lake was an interesting building that we found out was Amtrak – the train station. We went over and up to the check in area and found that there are trains going all over the place from Lakeland. MA & Edward think they will ride the train down next January.

I took her to see Lake Morton and it is the one nicknamed “Swan Lake” because there are a jillion swans of all colors there. We ate at a sub place downtown and took lots of side streets. Mary Ann was totally impressed with how beautiful Lakeland is.

Friday night we had Patsy, Bob, Carol, David & Andrew down for cocktails then we all went to an Italian restaurant at the Lakeland Airport afterwards.

Saturday, Mary Ann, Carol, Patsy and I went to Dade City for the famous Cumquat Festival. It was really fun. That will probably be an annual outing for us. There were many craft artists, all sorts of food and we all even were given a bag of tangerines.

Bob and Carol invited us to go to a Wine Tasting Saturday night at Tim’s Wine Shop. It was a private party just for Bob & Carol and there were a total of 13 of us. We had seven different Sharaz Wines from around the world, very generous servings, plus a complete delicious dinner of salmon, pork tenderloin, marrinaded broccoli, great potatoes, all sorts of beautiful cheeses and fruits and bread. That was an event we’ll always remember. We enjoyed meeting some of their friends who we did not previously know, and to get to be with Jill & Tom again.

Mary Ann and Edward have made reservations in Mulberry for next January.

January 16th, 2006

This was sort of an eventful day, so I thought I’d put all of the stuff that happened on the blog.

1. Today is Jeb’s and Kathy’s 19th wedding anniversary.

2. Fiona had her adenoids removed this morning. She had to be put to sleep and they rode her in a red wagon to the operating room. She has eaten popsicles ever since and did just fine.

3. Michael is better. He had a very serious issue breathing Saturday night and Jami called the doctor and she had to sit upright in a chair all night and hold him and not let him lie down.

4. I played tennis with 7 men this morning. I rode my bike there and back.

5. Carol and David came down to Mulberry and walked a couple of miles with me and Dad. The kids are out of school today because it is

6. Martin Luther King’s birthday.

7. Dad, Carol and I attended the Parish Mission at St. John Neumann tonight. Fr. Carey from Portland, Oregon is giving the mission.

8. Debbie, Larry and the 3 older kids are on their way back from North Carolina where they got to play in snow and passed through Atlanta today. Debbie will meet Patsy tomorrow to pick up Noah (at Wildwood).

9. Laurie & Johnny made an offer on a huge house (4,900 square feet) and it was accepted this afternoon. They’ll close on April 3rd.

10. My friend, Anne Baron, had her first radiation treatment this morning at 9:00 a.m.

11. Dad’s friend, Betty Sweeney’s, son, Dan had a heart attack and has to have quadruple by-pass surgery either Tuesday or Wednesday.

12. Joe and Sandy are spending the night at our house tonight (in Atlanta) on the way to Pensacola to see Margie.

Patsy’s birthday

Laurie, Patsy, Carol and I went to Sweet Tomatoes for lunch for Patsy’s birthday today and to Ole Time Pottery and some other stores. We had so much fun. The funniest thing that happened was when Laurie (who is 30 something) climbed in the shopping basket at Ole Time Pottery and Patsy pushed her around the store. Carol tried on a fur vest at another store (Home Shopping outlet) that she wanted to buy because it’s suppose to go down to the 50’s on Friday, but it was too expensive and she decided against it. We had a lot of laughs and fun. Happy Birthday one more time, Auntie P.

Internet Phone Wizzard

Internet phone wizard is a hit!

A few weeks ago, ClarkHoward talked about a device called the “Internet Phone Wizard.” He said on air that he was going to try it out and see how it worked. It’s a tiny box that hooks up to your computer and telephone line. Then, if you’re subscribed to an Internet phone service such as Skype, you can talk to people on an actual phone for free. A lot of people don’t want to deal with Internet phone calling because you have to sit in front of a computer and wait for the call. But with the Phone Wizard it rings on your home phone, just like normal. What’s so stunning to Clark is that usually technology doesn’t work as it’s advertised. But the Phone Wizard works just like it says it will and it even improves call quality. If you make mostly domestic calls, it’s not worth it. But, if you have family or friends abroad, consider using it. It costs $50, but it will save you a ton in overseas calls.