November 23-25, 2000: Thanksgiving Weekend

This was the first year that we celebrated Thanksgiving without Grandma Thomas.     Her job used to be to stir the gravy, but I took the honor this year.  We had a nice meal at Charlene's house.    On Black Friday, my mom and I drove to Ann Arbor to visit with the Gonyos.   We went to lunch at Dave and Busters which was fun.   We went shopping at Twelve Oaks mall.  Alex had his first haircut at JCPenneys. We got to see Wendy's house in Howell.  She had it decorated so cute.   

On Sunday,  Marianne dropped me off at the train station to go back to Chicago.  My mom drove herself back to Muskegon, but somehow got lost on the way to the outlets in Howell.    Some nice man offered to drive ahead of her so she could follow him. He was driving too fast and my mom was trying to keep up with him.  Well,  a police officer saw her speeding, so he stopped her.   She said it was worth it, as she found some nice things in the stores.

November 19, 2000: Prince Concert in Grand Rapids

I took the 'El' to Oak Park to Yolanda's apartment on South Blvd.    I finally got to see her apartment.    We always laughed at the time that my Mom, Grandpa Thomas, and I stopped over to Yolanda's apartment to visit, but she wasn't home.  It's been a joke at work, as people in Chicago don't just stop by each others homes for a visit.     I remember seeing just cactus in the window that time.  Now, I was finally going to see the inside of her place.     

Yolanda, Lilly, and I drove to Grand Rapids from Chicago to see the Prince concert.     There was a winter storm on the way and I warned Yolanda that Michigan's storms were brutal, but she figured she could handle it.  The line to go inside the VanAndel was wrapped around for 2 blocks.    The tickets were at will call.  Prince didn't sell his tickets online.     We waited outside in line in the cold and snow for 1 1/2 hours.    We were so glad when we finally got inside.     Prince didn't start his concert until everyone was in the building, which I thought was very nice.     Prince did an excellent concert.  We all had a great time.   The drive home was not easy for Yolanda.   The snow was coming down so hard that we could barely see outside the window.   She did an excellent job, though.  She dropped me off at my apartment on Oakdale which was very nice.

November 16, 2000: Whirleyball

Ceylon and I got a ride in Jeanette Walls's Land Rover over to Whirleyball for our work group outting. Our new Safeway director, Julia Devine, came too.   We sat in bumper cars and used rackets to throw the ball to each other, while driving these bumper cars. It was alot of fun.      

November 5, 2000: Grand Rapids: Tamara Ryan & Tamara Hubek Coon

Had breakfast with George, Marianne, and Joy at the VFW, then left for Grand Rapids.     I went to Tamara Ryan's house in Grand Rapids.    Tamara Hubek came from Kalamazoo.    They were impressed at how well I dressed.   That sure made my day.   We took a walk around the neighborhood and to the park.   We went to this wonderful Mexican restaurant on 28th Street for dinner.    They had wonderful queso dip.   We looked at Tamara Ohs Ryan's photo albums which was fun.    Then, I drove Tamara Hubek Coon back to Kalamazoo.   We had alot of fun on the way.

Then, I went to visit my old roommate, Rose Carlson's apartment in Kalamazoo.  It was decorated like Martha Stewart would do.   She still watched the "Young and the Restless".   Then, I had to drive back to Chicago. I got an attitude from the toll booth lady in Chicago and knew I was back in the big city.

November 4, 2000: Nina's Wedding

Joy and I went to their church bazaar and met up with Jo Lawver.    Jo said that Jase called all of his old girlfriends and was now dating one of them named Brenda.   She's a teacher in Brighton, but lived with her roommate in Bloomfield Hills.   Brenda told Jase in the first few weeks of their courtship that she wanted 5 kids.   Chad was back with Kristy.    He was substitute teaching in Bloomfield, Indiana.   

Joy and I got ready for Nina's wedding.    The wedding was at a Baptist church in Royal Oak.  We saw Nina before the ceremony.  She looked beautiful.    The  bridesmaids wore the Indian dress, sahris, which they got in India.     Nina had Betty, Brooke, her sister Nithia, and Tricia in her wedding.    The reception was held at the Marriott hotel on Big Beaver Rd in Troy.    They had Indian appetizers which were so spicy. Joy and I drank so much water, as we were not used to it.     There were ice sculptures of swans.   They had a slide show of each of them growing up, which I had never seen before. I thought that was pretty neat.   Joy and I had fun dancing at the reception.   

Nina already had her Indian ceremony in India, but she wanted to have an American ceremony, as well. 

October 23, 2000: Norm's House

In the morning, we watched the talk shows.  George thought they were so crummy and didn't want to retire and watch them.     Grandma, Norm, and I watched "Young and the Restless".   Norm thought the character, Sharon, was very attractive.   I helped George wash Grandma's car.   The temperature was 84 degrees which was wonderful.    

Then, we rode over to Norm's house.   I was so surprised how big it was inside.      He said he had at least 12 closets in the house.  His wife used to have all of the closets full of clothes.      His house was decorated in the 50s/60s style.   He showed us his indoor pool. He was in the process of putting solar panels together that would be used to heat the pool.    

Got back to Grandma's mobile home and had lasagna for lunch.  Then, I had to take the cab back to the Tampa airport to go back to Chicago.        I talked to the cab driver who said he had moved to Florida from New York 20 years ago and never regretted it.

October 22, 2000: Busch Gardens

George, Marianne, Joy, Grandma, Norm, and I went to Busch Gardens for the day.   Grandma paid for our admission which was really nice of her.  Of course, George found the bakery near the entrance, so we sat down and had a muffin and planned our day.   George, Marianne, Joy, and I went to the dolphin show, bird show, acrobat show, and ice skating show.    We all had lunch in the German restaurant, where they performed the shows.    

I was the only brave one to go on the roller coaster upside down 7 times.  

We went to Pizza Hut in Zephyrhills for dinner.  When we got home, Joy and I played cards.