Updating

We are finally starting the remodel in the kitchen. We have hired a professional ktichen crew to do the work. I took before pictures after we had finished taking down all the decorations and emptying the cabinets. When I showed them to son #1, he commented on how nice they looked. Yes, they are in good condition for almost 50 years old. But, as they say on all those HGTV shows, they are in need of serious updating.

So we are taking down the soffit and have cabinets that go all the way up, with crown molding along the ceiling. We are adding a base cabinet on the bare wall and moving the frig to the right side of the range. We will have all new appliances and granite counter tops.
       How blessed we are that we can afford to do this.

Just too nice in Florida to be stressed...

My health insurance has started a new routine of offering a fairly good discount off the yearly premium if I either stay in really good shape(low BMI, low cholesterol, low blood pressure etc), or if necessary I am willing to follow the advice of a health coach provided no charge by the company the city has partnered with. Last May, while I was in Virginia Beach, I went for the screening. This was after traveling for awhile between FL and VA, and not attending zumba for months and not watching what I was eating(except to look at it as it was going towards my  mouth to make sure I didn't miss!)...so no surprise when my BMI was too high, but somewhat surprised when my cholesterol was borderline high. So that meant starting in January, I had to hook up by phone with the "health coach" every three months.

By the time of our first phone call, I was back in zumba and  cutting way back on carbs, so I was already following a plan and losing weight. No problem she said, just fill out the online questionnaire about your health and we will talk again in April. The questions had to do with weight management and stress. Today was the day of the phone call.

Health Coach: so I see on a scale of 1-10 you have rated your stress level a 2. That's pretty low.
Me: I am retired and I live in Florida, other than a kitchen remodel going on now (hammering in background), not much to be stressed over.
HC: Wow, I can hear birds singing in the background.
Me: Yes, I am sitting on my  back porch while we chat.
HC: You're sitting outside?
Me: It is a lovely sunshiney day...like I said, no worries, I'm happy.

Easter Sunday we celebrated Jesus Christ's resurrection and we sang:

“He lives to silence all my fears; He lives to wipe away my 
tears.  He lives to calm my troubled heart; He lives all blessings to impart (CW 
152:5).

Speed Limits

I lived more than half my life, almost all my adult years, in Tidewater, Virginia with half a million other people. Some days, watching the traffic report, it seemed like they were all out in cars, in a hurry to get somewhere. Speed limits there were treated more like suggestions for a good place to start. Going the posted speed usually meant someone was on your tail, anxious to pass you at the first opportunity. On the interstate driving the limit of 55 felt dangerous, because it caused others to follow too closely or pass too abruptly, like they were suddenly surprised that someone would be actually following the speed limit.

Now I live in Florida where the interstate has a speed limit of 70. Tourists and others using the highway do not seem to have a problem going fast. I live in a community surrounded by farming. Most roads are posted at 45-55 which means traffic goes 50-60. That is until you reach the part of the road that passes by my 55+ community. That's age. not speed limit. Here there are signs warning of golf cart crossings for about 1 1/2 miles. They can be translated, "Watch out for old people!" who see the posted speed of 45 as just that-a limit-and may choose to go 30-35 because that's what they are comfortable doing. Even worse I have seen some in a golf cart travelling on the state road which is not legal and with capable top speeds around 25, very dangerous. Crossing the road at 3 designated spots is all that is allowed.

Within my community the speed limit is 30, more than the 25 I am used to for residential areas. Here the old people become speed demons, passing me if I am doing 25. I had an older golf cart that would average 12 mph on a full charge. After being passed so often by other golf carts, the old cart wouldn't turn over one day, and DSH decided we could get a brand spanking new one. This one will actually go 19 mph. I feel like I am really flying when I am in it. Until today when some old guy in a hurry passed me in his golf cart. Oh, well!