2013 Holiday Newsletter

Happy Holidays!

Freddie Mac sporting his Christmas tie

Ginnie Mae: "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful"

The Housing Recovery

Got our house finally fixed the way we wanted it - then sold it

So this year’s big news is that we finally sold our “other house” and are now a one-abode family. We fixed it up so nice that when we got the professional pictures from our real estate agent we agreed that we would buy that house! 

Fortunately, we priced it right and it was on the market for less than a week. We can now apply those proceeds to fixing up the “new” house.

Which means it is yet again time for changing of the tarps on the roof. Hopefully, this will be the last year. The view is still spectacular – we have yet to be bored with it as some of our neighbors are. We also have to figure out what to shoehorn into this house or give away as we no longer have the other house for “excess storage.” We have started to move things out (via craigslist or goodwill) but there is still a garage-full to go.

View from our house at sunset of bay and ocean

Double rainbow view

The Year In Review

We started the New Year with inviting Jason & Deanna over New Year’s Eve with their young girls so that the kids (Baeleigh & Carleigh) could watch the fireworks over Sea World at 9:00. The girls were asleep by 9:30 and they all went home by 10. We committed ourselves to staying up until 12:30. Party hearty!

Baeleigh giving Ginnie Mae a hug

Dee has had a few medical episodes this year. In February just before Valentine’s Day, she had excruciating pain in her abdomen. It was painful to even wear a shirt. (She did not go outside shirtless.) She went to her primary care physician who looked her straight in the chart and stated “gall bladder” – Dee being of the right age and gender for such a diagnosis. He scheduled an emergency ultrasound. We waited all day (fortunately at home) when the ultrasound scheduler called to say they could not fit her in and would she like to schedule for tomorrow or the next day? We would not. Instead, we were already at urgent care (Dee’s blood pressure was already at 200!) and waited to see an emergency physician. Who also said “gall bladder.” It was like Tourette’s. He did an ultrasound with a portable unit, but did not see anything. He blamed the crappy resolution of the portable unit and Dee was ultimately send down into the bowls of the hospital for a “real” ultrasound. Also not conclusive. The doctor loaded her up with pain meds (real pharmaceuticals) and sent her home.

Us - actually going out

In two days Dee started getting a rash on one side of her abdomen. She figured out she had shingles (not the things we need on the roof).

Melon - on Weight Watchers oatmeal.
Who knew?

Dee still has her gall bladder and has since gotten the vaccine. Although your insurance will not pay for it until you are at least 60, she heartily recommends it for everyone.

At Easter we went whale watching on a sailing yacht joined by some friends and Dee’s nephew, Matthew. It was a great time and we saw some sort of porpoise not indigenous to our waters. We were not nearly as excited as the crew that was sailing us! However, we got a few great pictures!

Beginning in June the nightly SeaWorld fireworks made sure we were home by 9:50 pm. We continued our new tradition of hosting an Independence Day party as we have a prime spot for seeing several fireworks displays. Unfortunately, this year the winds were not with us and the extravaganza produced by SeaWorld was nearly completely obscured by its own smoke. L Fortunately, we had a great time anyway and hope to have better fireworks next year.

Dan and Sue posing with us on 4th

In October Dee got an invitation from Laurie, one of her best friends from high school, to meet with other people from her high school class (mostly people she did not hang out with in high school). A bunch of old people showed up instead. Fortunately, one of the highschoolers, Donna, had the yearbook at the ready so that everyone could stimulate those aged neurons into prior memories. Donna and her husband Loren hosted parties over successive days of that weekend and kindly invited us to all the festivities and we ended up having a great time. In fact, the couple lives just a couple miles from us (and has so for decades!). We have probably run into them at the grocery store and did not even know it. In addition, their son is a drummer for a jazz trio (very good) that plays once a month at a tavern less than a mile from our house. We hope to see more of them and we are definitely going to more jazz nights.

Matching hairdos

We have joined the collective and bought iPhones. Dee is on her 4^th iPhone. It’s the phone’s fault. Seriously. It just does not wash well. Les really hates that Genius Bar. Ugh!

We are still members of the QUAFF homebrew club and go to many of the club’s events. Les is still judging beer competitions periodically. He judged at the America’s Finest City Homebrew Competition and at the San Diego County Fair. Sadly, none of his own entries placed in competitions this year. More for us to drink!

Les hung up his own shingle around the middle of the year (overmanlaw.com) and has slowly been accruing clients. Someday there will be money too. Fingers crossed.

Dee’s business has been slow, but she has had several opportunities for relief work during the year.

Bob in his party hat

Les’s brother Bob has come by for a visit on several occasions – including his 50^th birthday – and we always enjoy having him around. 

In addition to being here for whale watching, Matthew was here for Thanksgiving. Before Thanksgiving we also got to see Dee’s brother Larry, who was in town for a big train show in Ontario (near L.A.) with Matthew. We met them at the Getty Center in L.A., a really nice art museum. We were also happy to entertain Barbara Sandberg who came to us from Three Rivers.

We hope more people will visit us next year. Maybe it will be YOU!

Love,

Les & Dee

Harvey
Freddie Mac & Ginnie Mae

Melon

Berry Pi (the Betta fish)

Better not leave a lump of "coal" in that stocking!