Merry Christmas to Everyone

The biggest news for us this year is that Meade and I have moved to the house we bought in Hernando, Mississippi. We've been here since January 5th and really love it. It is so peaceful and there is no traffic unless we choose to go into Southaven (about a half hour north) where there are almost all the stores and restaurants we ever went to anyway. The only one we're missing is California Pizza Kitchen. We usually go to Southaven once a week on Saturday or Sunday. The biggest thing to get used to is the cold. But we're adapting to it real well. It is nice to have changes between the seasons.Lee came to visit us and says that we overachieved in getting away from the city.
Here's a picture of us on our front porch.


Lee is still living in Orlando in the house he grew up in. His best friend Zach who was his housemate for two years had to leave in September to be with his family. It's a shame because they were getting along great. Lee has a new roommate and her boyfriend living with him but I'm still looking for someone else to join them. He still has his dog Eevee and three cats. His roommate has two cats so it is a full house. Hopefully he will move up here someday but if not, it's ok.

Lee got a promotion at Einstein's so he is now closing shift manager. I'm proud of him because he specifically went after the job. He also had to pass the Florida Certified Food Manager test in order to get this position and did so on the first try. He didn't have any trouble getting the hang of the paperwork, which doesn't surprise me in the slightest. He's smart just doesn't like school.

Mom came up to visit us for 6 days at Thanksgiving. It was nice having her though I think she found it too chilly. We didn't really do anything special except have Thanksgiving and put up my Christmas decorations. There is a 6 foot tree in the living room, a 5 foot on the sun porch, a 3 foot in my office, a 1 foot in the dining room and a 6 inch in the kitchen. I know that's a little ridiculous but I can't help it, I love Christmas!

Meade and I went to Las Vegas in August. We stayed at the Luxor for a week. It was a very nice hotel and I got a great price, probably because it was so hot :) Meade made money playing poker and I lost as much as I was willing to, which is really not much. We went to Fantasy, the topless show. It was good. We also wandered around a lot and went to California Pizza Kitchen for lunch one day. Here is a picture we got made at the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.

We went on a cruise out of Mobile, Alabama on the Carnival Fantasy in November. It was supposed to be a 6 day cruise but stupid Hurricane Ida closed the port so it was shortened to 5 days. Carnival reimbursed us the day we missed so it wasn't a big problem. The weather was great. My sister Stephanie was able to come down and go with us. She was taking a break from chemotheraphy because her system was just totally worn out. We had a great time. She and I went on two shore excursions. I snorkeled on both of them and she soaked in the sun and relaxed. One of the excurisons included glass bottom kayaks and we did that together. The cruise director had said it was a real relationship tester but we didn't have any trouble whatsoever. Here's some pictures from the cruise.




Meade and I have gone to the local Sheraton for a one night stay several times this year. They have really nice rooms with a hot tub. I get in at least 3 soaks for each visit. The rooms are only $60 a night and we know we wouldn't use a hot tub at home very often so we figure this is a better way to do it. Meade can play poker while we're there and it is only a 40 minute drive.

I am on a different project at work. The one I was on for the last 4 years got severely cut when it was reorganized but I landed on this new project without any period of no income. It helped that one of the leaders on the new project was someone I used to work with on the FDLE program. I'm really thankful he put in a good word and got me picked up. I was worried because since I'm working from the house in Mississippi and not that many projects are telecommuter friendly. I've been to Boston twice and to Orlando once on business trips for this project. I'm going to San Diego in January.

The doctor was worried about something they saw at Meade's physical this year so he had a stress test and electrocardigram of his heart. It turned out there wasn't a big problem though he does need to lose weight and had to get back on a beta blocker for his blood pressure. He was on that before but when he lost weight he was able to get off of it so we expect that to happen again. I had a colonoscopy this year. It wasn't that big of a deal. They found polyps but none of them were a problem.

I've started volunteering at the local Headstart school. It is a fabulous program. I go twice a week for two hours. The official reason I'm going is to establish a reputation so when I am ready to take a very big paycut I can start teaching there. They don't require state certification and the classes I have already taken are sufficient. But I am also going because it just makes me happy to spend time with little kids. I am usually in the class of 4 and 5 year olds. They have classes with kids as young as 1 year old. But that feels more like daycare than teaching so I don't like it as much.

We're still big football fans. Both of our teams (Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans) got a real slow start this year, especially my Titans (0-6) but they are both ending the season on a good note. Miami may even make the playoffs. We're going to Nashville to see Miami and Tennessee play on December 20th. It will be Meade's first live NFL game. I usually go to one or two a season. We leave from there to go to Orlando for a week to visit family for Christmas.

You can reach us at connielgg@yahoo.com


Hope all of you have a joyous holiday season