A Funny Observation in Florida

Did you know the term "Cougar" means something totally different than the big cat?

According to www.urbandictionary.com

COUGAR

Function: noun

Definition: A woman aged 40 years or old who preys on younger men. During a hunt, she can often be spotted by her leopard print outfit, which makes her feel and look younger.


Background: The name “cougar” was used because it was associated with the leopard print clothing that was popular among these women to help them feel young. My definition of cougar places the age of the woman starting at 40. Age 40 is recognized as “over the hill” and therefore many people have their midlife crisis then. Therefore, major shifts in a person’s own identity occurs so to maintain a sense of their youthfulness, cougars will have plastic surgery, get Botox injections, and wear provocative clothing.

So, now that I know that you know what a "cougar" is, I must share a funny observation with you.

This is a picture of a Jaguar driven by a Cougar....

with a "Protect the Panther" licence plate.

Please tell me you find this as funny as we did!

Florida Day 3!

What do you choose to do when you can do WHATEVER you want? That was the question facing us on day 3 of our vacation. The plethora of choices was almost paralysing. Our friends would be arriving in the middle of the night so we had a whole day of freedom ahead of us. What would we do?

So, I said "Hello, to my little friend"...the SW Florida Travel Guide! We decided to drive down the coast and take advantage of the convertible. Our goal was a little island south of us called Marco Island.

We jumped in the convertible.

I was the navigator. So I grabbed the trusty map.

It was my job to direct Doc from Ft. Myers to Marcos Island.

We made it just fine because...

I got skills. Mad skills. Mad navigating skills.

I navigated our way to the Land of the Elderly. Nothing against elderly people, mind you, but these older people live out the stereotype of the Florida retiree.

I submit into evidence, exhibit A... (yes, that is a real life classic Cadillac convertible)

May I also submit Exhibit B... (Can you say Macular Degeneration, boys and girls?)

And finally, members of the jury, Exhibit C. (Apparently the elderly enjoy living in condos on the beach. There were about 94 Condo buildings just like this lining the beach.)

I rest my case.

The island did have nice palm trees. Ok. I realize that pretty much ALL of Florida has nice palm trees but I'm trying to be positive here.

The other thing that I will say for Marco Island is that it has a Mexican Restaurant. Unfortunately, it didn't open until 5 and we were famished at 4.

However, they did have a "Pub" hooked on to the the restaurant that was open. It served great food from the closed restaurant. Makes sense, right?

Then we enjoyed a lovely sunset as we finished our dinner. (Or at least a lovely mural of a sunset on the pub's wall.)

We got back in the car, put the top down and cruised back to our vacation pad just in time to enjoy the real deal and get ready for our friends to arrive!

Did I mention I love sunsets?

Florida Day 2!

I'm not going to lie. One of the biggest reasons I look forward to vacation without the kids is the potential for getting some good sleep. Ahh, sweet sleep...without interruption! That's exactly what I got the first night in our vacation house! I slept in. Doc got up and around earlier than I did and I didn't even feel him get out of bed! Around 10:30 am. I finally woke up and made my way out to find him.

With the sun shining down, I thought it would be a good time to take some photos of the house and more importantly the view!



Doc knows that the secret to making me feel loved is a cup of coffee in the morning, placed in my hand, made just the way I like it. He's good! Then he told me he would make ME breakfast this morning!

Good food. Great man. I love him. And eggs. And eggs he makes me. With fruit and toast! Did I mention that he picked out only the fruit that I like, from the fruit salad, for my plate? Sigh!

Next we decided to go to Fort Myers Beach. We explored a little there and then headed back to Ft. Myers.

We were on a mission. And we were successful. We found the two things we were looking for... a gym and a hair salon. Doc needed a workout and I needed to get rid of the roots and split ends that made me look like I hadn't stepped into a salon in MONTHS. Wait. I guess I hadn't.

We found Gold's Gym for him and The Red Salon for me! Alleluia!

Then, after the workout and hair rescue, we went to our neighborhood Applebee's for dinner. On the way, we took in the local fashions....

We finished our evening out by going to Barnes and Nobles where we hung out and looked at books that did not have pictures of Elmo. Nothing against Elmo.

Florida Here We Come!

Doc and I officially left for vacation on Sunday!



We spent the flights looking at each other with big cheesy grins. Well, that and doing some interesting reading. And by interesting, I mean weird. Doc has to take boards again this year so he has been reading and getting refreshed on all that doctor stuff.


Sometimes when he reads "interesting" things he shares with me so that I can learn, too. Like for example, did you know that one can get squamous cell carcinoma on one's scrotal skin? And further more, did you know that it is caused primarily by occupational hazards and was most commonly noted in chimney sweeps. I kid you not. Chimney sweeps. It says so in the AFP journal.


I, myself, prefer to read just as interesting, though not as gross reading material. Interesting...but in a different way, for sure!


Then, I spent some of the flight making fun of the irony of this package of peanuts. Sure I'll open this package of peanuts. Just let me get out my scissors from my carry on. Oh. Wait. I forgot. You confiscated them at the security checkpoint. Hmmm.

Finally, we began our decent into Ft. Myers. Helloooo, beautiful!

We would have been a little happier that we had landed if we hadn't have been seated in the VERY LAST ROW. Right in front of the lavatory. The lavatory which smelled REALLY bad. And we had to wait and be the very last passengers off the plane. We held our noses and held onto the hope of fresh air and warm weather.

The reward at the end of the flight was a rental car that looked like this...

We made our way to the vacation house and then headed out to dinner at a little Italian Restaurant!


Where we spent the rest of the evening looking at each other with cheesy grins!

And eating really good Italian food!

Love Day with the Family

My Valentine's Day got started with the delivery of these! Ivory roses from Doc for me and one pink rose for each of his daughters! He has always bought me ivory roses from our beginning and we had them at our wedding!

Valentine's morning, Doc got Ladybug out of bed. She loves it when he gets her up. It starts her day off right!

He brought her down to the kitchen where a Valentine's Day breakfast was waiting!

Complete with heart shaped chocolate chip pancakes!

Once everyone was at the table, the party began!

After breakfast, came the presents! I gave Doc a KU basketball history book! I think he liked it, judging by how engrossed he became while flipping through the pages!

The kids got chocolate and various other presents!

They were most excited about giving Daddy the cards they picked out for him!

The most popular card was the Kung Fu Panda card from Bub because it played the song, "Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting." Of course the card incited an impromptu dance party in the kitchen.


Then they played with Bub's playdough and created "treats" for me to "eat."

Like this ice cream cone Bub made. Delish.

As the kids played away with playdough and Doc sat engrossed in his book, I enjoyed drinking coffee from my Ruby Red Slippers mug that Birdie gave me! I thought to myself, there really is no place like home, especially when your home is filled with love and laughter like mine is! I was reminded once again that eventhough being a mom and wife is crazy at times, I am truly blessed! How great to have a day to celebrate the love we have for eachother!