SURPRISE!!!!

Is he really posting something for the first time in over a year-and-a-half???

In fact, the last time I posted something, people actually still said O-M-G!!!

I'm going to try to recap the major events of the past 20 months in a couple minutes or less. Ok, here it goes...

Home: We hired an architect/designer and a contractor and began a MAJOR home renovation in September 2011. What started as an idea to tweak our house basically turned into a complete gut. The final inspection for Phase I will finally happen this week, and then we'll begin Phase II which will be much less involved (basically remodeling). The renovation involved not being able to live in our house for about 5 months, lots of stress, and LOTS of money!! We're happy with the results, but I'll be ecstatic when "The Beast" (that's what I call our house now) is finally done. I won't bore your with a zillion before, during, and after pictures. Here are a couple of pictures of The Beast as it looked yesterday, the day after a major snowstorm.

Mrs. TBF: Healthy, happy, beautiful, and working hard. Her job - while managing to be stressful, aggravating, and rewarding at the same time - is going well. She's in London on business through Wednesday. Hmmmmmmmm... maybe I'm blogging because she's not here, there's no more football on TV, and there's not much else for me to do right now? We celebrated 25 years of marriage with a trip to Barbados this past November. The traveling has definitely slowed down since moving back to the U.S. 2.5 years ago, but it'll pick up again after we're done with the house.

Family: My parents are doing well living in Florida full-time. They are warm, tan, healthy, and happy. Jo Mama - Mrs. TBF's mom - is feisty as ever in Chicago, and doing well. My sister, brother-in-law, and their four kids moved to New Jersey for his job last year. They live about a 90-minute drive from us now, which is nice.


Me: Other than the all-consuming renovation of The Beast, my day-to-day life is pretty much the same as it was in Switzerland. OK, minus the German lessons, taking public transportation everywhere, being treated as "the foreigner", not being able to make any noise after 10 p.m. Ummmm.... OK.... I take it back. My life is nothing like it was in Switzerland. I turned the big 5-0 last September. What else? Nothing much, I guess. I'm still retired (4,525 days, and counting) other than my "job" making sure that all Mrs. TBF does is work and relax, and that's about it.

I'm not going to make any promises about blogging in the future (you see how well that has gone over the past couple of years), but I may surprise you.

I pretty much did this one because I wanted to see if I still knew how to access my blog.

Is anybody still out there? Let me know if you are.

Over The Pond... AGAIN!

Ok, so here's why I haven't blogged in over a month.

Our trip to London went well. We visited with friends (one of whom was celebrating his 50th birthday), saw a show (Million Dollar Quartet), took a self-portrait in an actual polo field, ate out at a couple of nice restaurants, and came home.

Then, Mrs. TBF went on the strangest business trip in history (Poland and India in the same week) while I stayed at home and... OK! I could have blogged then, but I forgot. Also, I'm happy to say that, due to the kindness of two different neighbors who had me over for dinner, I managed to eat very well while Mrs. TBF was gone.

Let's see... what else happened?

Oh! I was at our local grocery store, and two nuns in full nun-regalia were standing in front of me in the check-out line. I deliberately grazed one of the nun's habits, thus obtaining a nun "booster shot" from when I deliberately grazed a nun's habit who was standing in the security line in front of me in Lisbon Airport last spring - thus, obtaining (in my mind) an excuse for pretty much never having to go to church again (as long as I can manage to keep touching a nun). Ummmm... Actually... I'm guessing I shouldn't advertise it. I'm thinking I could probably be put in jail for that.

And now? I am currently sitting in a hotel room in Paris.

First, we spent four nights in Basel - my first trip back since leaving last July (Mrs. TBF's second) - and now we are spending four nights in Paris. We're currently staying in a hotel (it semi-sucks!) that Mrs. TBF's company arranged for a conference she is attending. Tomorrow, after checking out, we will head over to our regular hotel (which definitely does NOT suck!) for the last two nights of our trip. We'll chill for a couple of days, do some shopping, and eat some good food. Then, it's back to CT on Sunday.

Then? The home stretch to home renovation which will begin around August 1st. We have to finalize plans with the architect/general contractor, arrange for a mover to pack and store our stuff (we'll have to move out for about four months), and about a zillion other things that I don't really care to think about at the moment.

Is There Anybody...

...OUT THERE?

Yes... WE'RE ALIVE!!!!

Have you all forgotten about us?

Does anybody still care?

Well...

I think it's time to start blogging again.

I know, I KNOW... I said that about eight months ago, but I'm going to try to make a real effort to set aside time every single day (or... every few days... let's not get carried away here!), to once again put my thoughts on the blog whether you want to read about what we're up to or not.

That's right, people! You're powerless to stop me!!!!!!

How can I quickly recap the last eight months?

Here goes...

Mrs. TBF is doing very well at home and at work. I drive her to work every morning, and I pick her up in the evening. Fortunately, her office is only about 15 minutes from our house, so it works out great. In fact, we still only have one car, and we have no intention of buying a second car in the near future. We thought we'd try it for a couple of months, all went well, so here we are with me serving as Mrs. TBF's personal chauffeur. Maybe I'll buy me a chauffeur's cap.

I continue where I left off in Switzerland: full-time retired person. My job continues to be to make sure that all Mrs. TBF has to do is work and relax. I take care of all the stuff around the house, finances, shopping, etc. I joined a gym where I swim three times per week, and I manage to keep myself busy AND out of trouble. The two major differences between here and Switzerland are that we now have a car, AND I don't have to take language lessons since I am fairly fluent in American English after nearly 50 years of practice!

Let me tell you something...

Not having a language barrier is a HUGE deal!

Mrs. TBF LOVES our house, and I pretty much decided after about one month of living here that I HATED a lot about it! Therefore, we have decided to do a MAJOR renovation on our house that will require us to move out for a few months. The hope is that we will BOTH love the house after the renovation. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing major wrong with the house. It's just that we want to bring it into the 21st century and make it completely our own. We've been working with an architect/designer and a contractor for a couple of months now with the goal of coming up with something that will (hopefully) end up being pretty spectacular, and we plan on beginning the work sometime around the end of July or beginning of August.

Other than that, just your normal getting-used-to-a-new-house-and-new-area stuff. New York City is only a 40 minute train ride away, and we've been enjoying going into the city for dinner, etc. Also, let me say this: It sure is easier having West Palm Beach and Chicago only two hours away instead of twelve hours away when we want to visit family and friends. Plus... no jet lag!

That's enough for now. I'll just start blogging again (tomorrow?) in stream-of-consciousness like I normally do, and then I'll throw in the occasional flashback from the last eight months. It'll be easier that way.

Whew! My brain is exhausted. I need to rest!