Saturday 12-30-23 Awesome Day Crafting & Games

 

Awesome Day

We had another gorgeous day. 

I spent most of the day working on my Mickey Mouse diamond painting project. Larry downloaded and started learning a new graphics design program called Gimp. It is very powerful but also very complex and not user friendly. He played with it for hours and finally had to walk away. As time goes on he will try to learn more.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Pyramid Mini of 5 games. It took me 12 minutes and 16 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

I played three games of pinball. They were Tales From the Crypt, The Addams Family and Doctor Who.

Tales From the Crypt

The Addams Family

I worked out for an hour. I worked out with the Wii Fit for a half hour and Gold's Gym for a half high.

In the evening we watched YouTube videos. Then we watched Quigley Down and Under. Then I watched the fifth episode of the second season of Reacher on Amazon. Then I watched Murder on the Orient Express. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.

 

Friday 12-29-23 Dancing, Games, Crafting & More

 

Beautiful Day

We had a beautiful day with a lot of sunshine. There was a breeze so it was very cool. The high today was 56 degrees.

Last month Larry submitted the paperwork online for us to begin our Social Security Retirement benefits. He indicated we wanted them to start in January. We quickly received emails saying my application had been assigned to Albuquerque and his to Denver and we would get a letter about approval within 30 days. It had been about 40 days and we hadn't heard from them so today he called. He started by calling the office in Albuquerque. Only took a couple of minutes for a gentleman to answer. He looked up and processed the paperwork while we were on the phone. He told us how much I would be getting and that because they pay in arrears January's payment would arrive in February. The guy was extremely helpful, nice and very competent. Next Larry called the Denver office. The lady who answered was just as efficient as the previous person and was quick to approve Larry's application. We will both get payments on the fourth Wednesday of the month. We're excited about getting this started. We have no idea what we will do with the money but better in our account then in theirs😃😃.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Tri Peaks Adventure of 20 games. It took me 1 hour, 9 minutes and 22 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group. Then I played a little Angry Birds.

I worked on my diamond painting project of Mickey Mouse. 

Part of Mickey and bottom area

In the afternoon I played games on both the arcade and pinball machines. 

On the arcade machine I played two pinball games (Fun House and Junk Yard) and two arcade games (Mappy and Pac Man). I scored 7080 on Mappy and 6740 on Pac Man.

 

Junk Yard

Fun House

Mappy

On the pinball machines I played three pinball games, which were Doctor Who, Red & Ted's Road Show and Who Dunnit).

Who Dunnit

Red & Ted's Road Show

I worked out for an hour. I used the Wii Fit program for a half hour and Just Dance for a half hour. While working out with two Just Dance programs (2018 and 2019) I danced to some kids songs. Four of them were new ones, they were Shinobi Cat, Friendly Phantom, Monsters of Jazz and Boggiesaurus. 

Shinobi Cat

Monsters of Jazz

Boggiesaurus

 

Avatars I earned in Just Dance 2019

I attended Ett McAtee's Weekly A2 at 6:30 for an hour. Karin Rabe and Greg Moore covered for Ett while she's in Hawaii. They called four tips to 12 participants. They did a great job calling the dance. I had fun dancing to them and with friends. They did a couple of Trivia questions.

Dancing with friends

While I danced and played games Larry continued playing with his Raspberry Pi. For days he has been working getting his new Raspberry Pi 5 working the way he wants with the jukebox software. The new Pi uses a different operating system then the earlier model and some things didn't work the same. He ended up solving a couple of problems he has been working on and the new Pi is now installed in the jukebox.

After the dance we watched Call the Midwife Christmas Special on PBS. Then I started watching the second season of Reacher on Amazon. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.

   

Thursday 12-28-23 No Dancing and Just Having Fun

 

Fun Day

We had a fun day. 

There were no virtual square dancing today so I spent most of the day working on my Mickey Mouse diamond painting. 

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Klondike Mini of five games. It took me 12 minutes and 30 seconds, which put me in 26th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I played four games of pinball: Doctor Who, Godzilla, Goldeneye and Indiana Jones. While playing Goldeneye I entered my initials on the high score board of 846,599,770. I also entered my initials for the #4 high score in Indiana Jones of 38,323,480. I did very well playing pinball. 

Godzilla

Goldeneye

Indiana Jones

Larry continued playing with the new Raspberry Pi.

I also worked out for an hour. I worked out on the Wii Fit for a half hour and Gold's Gym for a half hour.

In the evening we watched the sixth Mission Impossible movie on Paramount +. Then we watched a little bit of Monday Night Football. After Larry went to bed I continued watching the 8th season of Shetland. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.

 

Wednesday 12-27-23 Dancing, Playing Games, Working Out & Crafting

Super Day

We had a super day.

I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Hard Road Mini of 5 games. It took me 45 minutes and 22 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds 2 and Angry Birds and Friends.

Playing Angry Birds

I attended two virtual square dances. First was Ett McAtee's Weekly C1 at 1:00 for an hour and fifteen minutes. This week Di Green filled in for her because she in Hawaii for the holidays. Di called six tips to 17 participants. Today was National Fruitcake Day so in between the tips Di did Trivia about fruitcake. The songs she called to were ingredients in the cake. She did some fun calling when she called moves that you cut she would say cut the fruitcake. Dancers showed their fruitcakes they had. One gentleman showed a fruitcake he made. The cakes looked delicious. Di danced with Terry and Larry danced with me and we had a great time dancing with friends.

Second was Dave Eno's Weekly C1/A2 at 6:00 for an hour and a half. Dave Hutchinson, Karin Rabe and Greg Moore helped Dave called the dance. The format was three C1 to 9 participants and three A2 to 11 participants. Karin and Greg called the first tip in both C1 and A2 together, Dave Hutchinson called the second tip in both C1 and A2 and Dave Eno called the third tip in both C1and A2. In between the A2 tips we had Trivia questions. I had a fun evening of dancing with friends.

I continued working on my diamond painting project, which is Micky Mouse. I worked out with the Wii Fit for a half hour and Just Dance for a half hour.

Larry continued playing with his Raspberry Pi. He needed a charger and a USB cable. After I finished working out we went to town to pick up the charger at Best Buy. On the way there we stopped by Walmart and picked up the cable. 

By the time we got home it was almost time for Dave's dance so we had a quick dinner.

After the dance we watched a cute animation movie on Freevee called Sing 2. After the movie we watched YouTube videos. When Larry went to bed I watched The Majestic movie from our collection. Then I started watching the 8th season of Shetland. I already watched the first episode but I watched it again. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.  

   

 

Tuesday 12-26-23 Diet, Diamond Painting, Games & Wii Fit

 

We had a beautiful day with a lot of sunshine. There was a breeze out of north so it was a little cool. The high was 58 degrees.

In a bit over a month I will be going on a cruise and some of the clothes I would like to take along no longer fit. I have put on a bit of weight due to eating too much and not enough exercise. I do virtual square dancing and some in person square dancing along with my steps (which I do in place) but none of it is physically taxing. 

Today I decided to cut back on the amount of food and workout on my Wii Fit and Gold's Gym. I was surprised how long it had been since I used the Wii Fit, it was 523 days, almost two years. I got my Wii Fit board and controllers (2) out and changed the batteries. The board takes four AA and each controller takes two AA batteries. I worked out with my Wii Fit for a half hour and the Gold's Gym program for a half hour. My legs are a little tired. I knew I gained weight but didn't realize it was 14 pounds. 

 

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 10 games (5 Spider and 5 Pyramid). It took me 54 minutes and 39 seconds, which put me in 13th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

I played five pinball games. They were Doctor Who, Cirqus Voltaire, Attack From Mars, Apollo 13 and Playboy. I had fun playing pinball even though I didn't get the high score.

Apollo 13

Attack From Mars

Cirqus Voltaire

Larry called Wiseners Auto Clinic to see about the Minnie. Rick said it was almost ready they needed to do the inspection. They called back within the hour. Before lunch we went and picked the Minnie up. It was in the shop for almost two weeks. They replaced two tie rods and Larry said it seems to wander less now. To know for sure we will need to drive it further. We will have to go camping.

After dinner I decided to start a new diamond painting project. It's a Mickey Mouse kit. This project has 20 different colors of diamonds. Five of the colors are real close in color so you have to be careful on the number to get the right color. This makes it a little challenging but it's all fun.

Diamonds in the kit

Mickey Mouse

In the evening we watched the 5th movie of Mission Impossible on Paramount +. When Larry went to bed I watched the fourth and final movie in our collection of X-Men, which was called X-Men: Days of Future Past. Then I finished watching the fourth season and final episode of The Last Detective. I ended up doing 17,500 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.   

 

Monday 12-25-23 Merry Christmas

 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone. I hope you had a great day. We had a super day.

We celebrated Christmas at our house. Louise and Alice showed up around 9:00 am. Alice was wearing a couple of her Christmas gifts, a shirt and a matching bandanna. She looked very cute in her outfit. Larry wore a great outfit. He wore a sweatshirt with the Loony Tones on it and red pants. He looked great. Louise brought some snacks (chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge and coconut caramel cookies) and for dessert pecan pie. Last night I made the filling for deviled eggs and filled the eggs this morning. I also put a relish tray together with sweet pickles, salami, pepper jack cheese and olives. While we visited we snacked on the relish tray and goodies. When we munched on the goodies I fed Alice some dog treats that Louise gave me as a Christmas gift. For lunch we had brown sugar spiral ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing and garlic and cheese biscuits. This was the first time I baked the ham and put the brown sugar on top of it. The biscuits were made from Pillsbury biscuits mix. I used pepper jack cheese instead of cheddar cheese. The lunch was delicious. Louise played Iron Man on the pinball machine. She had fun. Larry also showed Louise the jukebox and she thought it was cool. Louise and Alice left around 1:30. We had a super celebration. 

Outfits from last night

 

A gift with cute tag to me from Shirley

Alice in her new outfit

Larry dressed up for Christmas

 

Relish tray and snacks

Christmas lunch is ready

 

The jukebox

After Louise and Alice left I did the dishes. Larry played with his jukebox.

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event today was Event: World Tour Mini of 7 games. It took me 11 minutes and 40 seconds, which put me in 17th place in my group. Then I moved onto playing Angry Birds.

After playing games I took a nap for a couple of hours. When I woke up I played three pinball games: Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy and Johnny Mnemonic. I did ok playing Doctor Who but I played great on the other two game. When I played Guardians of the Galaxy I became Grand Champion and on Johnny Mnemonic I got high score #1. 

Guardians of the Galaxy

Guardians of the Galaxy new grand champion score

Johnny Mnemonic

Johnny Mnemonic new #1 high score

In the evening we watched our Christmas traditional movie, which was the Polar Express. It's a cute 2004 animated movie starring Tom Hanks as the voice of the train conductor. Then I watched the third X-Men movie called X-Men: The Last Stand. I watched a couple episodes of The Last Detective. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 1st place in my group.

A scene from The Polar Express

Tom Hanks character
  

 

Sunday 12-24-23 Christmas Eve Celebration

 

Christmas celebration at Louise's

When Larry woke up at 5:30 he saw lightening and heard thunder and it was raining hard. By the afternoon the rain was gone. 

I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong before going to bed. The event today was Event: The Hard Road of 16 games. It took me 2 hours, 27 minutes and 10 seconds to complete, which put me in 14th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds.

I started the day out by making mini waffles for breakfast. Then I did some housework. I cleaned the bathrooms, dusted, vacuumed the house and mopped the floors.

Housework

Larry continued playing with his new Raspberry Pi. He's having fun learning how it works.

We left the house at 2:00 to go to Round Rock to celebrate Christmas with Louise and Alice. We arrived there about 3:00. Louise and Alice met us at the door. Alice was dressed up for Christmas with bells around her neck. Larry wore white pants and a red shirt and I wore beige pants and square dancing red shirt and we both wore our red hats with flashing lights on them. Before dinner we visited and snacked on fudge, peanut butter fudge, caramel coconut cookies and a relish plate with pepperoni, cheese and pickles. For dinner we had chili, Fritos and corn bread. We had pecan pie for dessert. After dinner we opened our gifts. It took a couple of hours. We got a lot of great gifts from Louise, Shirley (Larry's mom) and Barbara. Shirley's presents had cute labels from the Southern Arizona Humane Society. We had a super Christmas celebration with Louise and Alice.

Christmas tree after we opened the presents

Christmas Wreath

Louise opening her presents

Alice relaxing in her bed

One of the cute tags

 

Gift Louise gave me

A Christmas box Shirley gave me full of note pads, pens, a book and snacks

Larry opening his gifts

Louise and me getting ready to open gifts

Opening my gifts

When we got home Larry played with his Raspberry Pi and did my steps. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 4th place in my group.

After Larry went to bed I watched the second X-Men movie, X-Men 2. I watched an episode of the fourth season of The Last Detective. 

We had a super day.