January 1 - 5, 2025. Ice Maker - New Year's Eve Party - Theater Club - Vietnamese Lunch - Potluck - Christmas Over

My Blog Reflection

Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.

Dalai Lama

December 31, 2024.

Kelly once again hosted the ladies morning coffee klatch. The ladies stayed and talked for two hours. After they left I started on a new project.

This season the icemaker has been performing poorly. It has barely been making any ice and ice was forming on the back of the tub. I looked with a flashlight in the water tray and saw black areas which shouldn't be there. I got online and learned that the black areas are an indication that the plastic tray has deteriorated. When this happens the ice cannot eject properly. The icemaker was quite easy to remove so I did that and ordered a replacement from Amazon. It will be here within two weeks. The refrigerator is a 2001 model so I can't complain. It is plastic after all.

In the meantime I am making ice with a silicone tray that makes six large cubes. It will suffice. I don't know where the ice cube trays out of Marge disappeared to.

In the evening we attended the New Years Eve Party in the Clubhouse. The room was beautifully decorated in black and white.

The DJ did a great job of selecting music that everyone liked to dance to. Here he is setting up the music and party lights as we arrived.

Eighty purchased tickets but only about seventy attended. It was definitely a somewhat younger crowd than last year. A lot of dancing to the faster songs.

We sat with Paul, who is a board member (behind the balloon), his friend, Joann, to my left, and Dennis and Ruth. We had never Dennis and Ruth before. They are at the other end of our street. All nice people.

We had the obligatory New Year picture taken. Looking back these pictures are great for showing how we change over the course of a year. Kelly takes a great picture, I don't. LOL

After the balloon drop at midnight we were ready to call it a night even though the music continued on.  I am not used to staying up so late. LOL

January 1, 2025

We got to bed around 1:00 a.m. I was up at 6:30 a.m. ready to take on the new year. After breakfast I took down the outside lights. 

This morning I got an email that there is a Theater Club Meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. It is always the first Wednesday of the month, apparently even on New Year's Day. Nine of us attended the meeting, three of whom are board members. Apparently there is no set number of members so a quorum is a majority of the number who show up. We had a lengthy discussion about the Christmas Party/Show. It was a first attempt and most agreed it was a disappointment. We learned you can't have a "party" and then try to put on some entertainment.  Lesson learned. 

The spring show date was set for February 16th but must be changed due to people with other commitments that date. The board is now looking at a March date. The theme will be "Golden Gate Has Talent".  Everyone expressed concern and exasperation with the lack of people willing to "perform" a song, a skit, etc. Part of the problem is that the past participants are aging out and the park is turning over to a younger crowd. The younger folks simply do not join groups, many are still working, and they not interested in these types of activities. I think the Theater Club's days are limited. 

January 2, 2025

To start off Kelly's birthday cuisine lunches we headed to "Sugar Loaf Brazilian Store and Restaurant" just a couple of miles away. Celina, Richard, and Donna joined ups. When we arrived the place was locked up tight as a drum. They had a Christmas Tree set up inside the door so apparently the place shuttered not long ago. Several doors down in the shopping strip was the Vietnamese "Quan Ngon Bistro". We went there and tried out Vietnamese food. I had "Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio" (Vermicelli Grilled Pork with Egg Roll). Kelly ordered an appetizer of Fried Dumplings and the special - "Banh Beo" and "Banh Beo Tom Thit". It was a large round rice noodle cooked like an egg white in a cup with some stuff on top, don't ask me what. All the dishes were tasty but I don't need to go back. The place wasn't cheap but then again it isn't cheap to eat at McDonald's anymore either.   

January 3, 2025

I went up this morning to play Cornhole and no one showed up. I don't know why. There wasn't any announcement about it that I saw. Maybe it was too cool for many.

Dinner tonight is the monthly potluck in the clubhouse. It is always well-attended. The meat this month was chicken. I signed up to make a sweet potato dish, a first for me. I like sweet potatoes and Kelly doesn't so we rarely have them. The recipe I had was to steam them first and peel them.  Our steamer pot could only hold three of the six potatoes at a time so it took longer than it should have to get them ready to bake.

Once peeled they were sliced, laid in a pan, then covered with brown sugar, butter, water, and baked. They obviously were a hit because the baking dish was brought home empty.  Two ladies at our table brought Tupperware dishes and filled them with chicken, side dishes, and desserts to take home. I had never seen anyone do that at a potluck before. Pretty ignorant in my book.

January 4, 2025

We are glad not to be in Missouri right now where up to an inch of ice and several inches of snow are predicted for today and tomorrow. It is cooler here but nothing like that. 

We drove to the 28th Annual Art Festival in Dunedin, Florida. It was a beautiful day for a stroll down the several blocks of booths lining both sides of the downtown streets. This festival is a BIG deal. Artists from all over the south display many types of paintings, sculptures, jewelry, pottery, etc. We absolutely loved many of the art pieces but they were too rich for our blood. 

I did buy a loaf of oven roasted Italian bread. I can’t wait to try some smeared with butter. After a couple hours we headed home. We stopped at Walmart to get eggs and ended up spending $47.00. It happens every time. LOL.

After putting away the groceries we took down the Christmas Tree and decorations and packed them away until next year. Another holiday season under our belt.

January 5, 2025

We are monitoring the weather back home as ice, snow, and cold temperatures move in throughout the Midwest. We hope everyone stays safe and any electric outages are short-lived. For us a sunny day with a high of 67 degrees. I'll settle in and watch football.