Saturday October 23rd

 The soul usually knows what to do to heal itself.
The challenge is to silence the mind 💓

I can already picture another Saturday like this one,

 and I am smiling in anticipation.  Please, please do not 

rain on my parade.  It'd been too much rain as is.

Don't think too much.  You'll create a problem
 that wasn't even there in the first place...

~Nadiya~

Tuesday August 10th ~

 I have always been delighted at the prospect of 

a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a

 bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning...

Another beautiful day here in Puerto Rico.
  Looking out from our balcony.  Not so bad, 

even with a tropical depression on its way.

A stormy looking day, but I have to say it sure is picture perfect.

The Tokyo Olympics came to an end on Sunday with team

 USA atop the medal table after trailing China for several days. 

This morning I trapped Taina.  Sibling to Rocco. 

 Mom is Spitfire and dad is Poo Poo.  She/he will be

 home on Friday.  Was not easy, but worked out good.

When something is important enough, you

 do it even if the odds are not in your favor...

~Nadiya~

Monday February 22 ~

 If you feel like you are losing everything,
 remember trees lose their leaves every year, and they

 still stand tall waiting for better days to come...

These are all from Lauderdale by The Sea, just

 about 15 minutes from us, and where at one time

 Arvid and I lived.  Point being, Florida sure is

beautiful and we are sure enjoying "winter"

These pictures were not taken by me, I just

think they are beautiful, so had to share.

Counting down the days until we go to visit my

 parents in NC.  It's been a while and I am so happy

 Arvid was the one who suggested it.  Was not sure 

how he would react if I did because of Covid.  

May this week be the start of better things to come.  

What a wonderful thought it is that some of

 the best days of our lives haven't happened yet...

~Nadiya~

Wednesday December 9th ~

 A year ago I never would have guessed

 life would be the way it is now... 😭

This kitty seems to be telling us exactly how things 

are today.  Life has changed and unless you get the go 

ahead you cannot go into any establishments.  

You need to be checked and sanitized.  Now even 

more than before.  Welcome to Covid life 😷.

Wednesday, and time files.  Soon time to go home. 

I'm OK with that, at the same time I am really worried

 about my feral kitties.  Who will care for them?

Happy day all.  The boys slept in toady.  Again 😍

A year ago everything was different.  And now that 

I look back I realize that a year can do a lot to a person...

~Nadiya~

Saturday November 14th ~

Hang in there, as better times are ahead.  he secret

 of crisis management is not good vs. bad, it’s

 preventing the bad from getting worse...

Saturday and I'm happy.  The sun is shining and life is good.

No cooking for me today.  Already an even better day.

  Not that I mind cooking, but sometimes it's OK to not have

 to.  Arvid is easy to please when it comes to food.

COVID cases are once again rampant throughout the USA.

Just yesterday Florida saw a staggering 7,000 case.  Hig numbers

considering it was getting a tad bit better a few weeks back.

Here in Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vasquez is taking it a step further.

In Florida Governor Ron DeSantis does not plan to do

 much.  From what I last read yesterday, he was not planning

 to do much changes.  All is still wide open.  Not that I am 

disagreeing,  at the same don't know when we will see

 an end to this "mess"  It's way too crazy now.

Seems like we will be in Puerto Rico for some time.  

We love it here so that's not a problem, but according to the

 Governor of Puerto Rico, if COVID continues to be rampant we

 may be heading into another LOCKDOWN!! That is not good.

A beautiful start of this day.  Beautiful blue skies,

 and no rain is predicted.  It did rain earlier this morning, but

 we were tucked in bed so that didn't count.  Sniff is basking 

in the sunshine once again.  Seems like he sure missed it.

 Happy Saturday to everyone.  Stay safe, and keep your distance.

No matter how much falls on us, we keep plowing ahead. 

That’s the only way to keep the roads clear.  In the face of adversity,

 we have a choice. We can be bitter, or we can be better 🎅...

~Nadiya~

May 11th ~Life Today

What comes easy won’t last long, 
and what lasts long won’t come easy...

Our days are going by so fast.  Not even
 sure how this is happening, but it is 😉🌝.

I spend a lot of my time taking pictures.

Wherever we go, my camera goes with me.

It makes me happy and it makes for happier days.

During these times, not much else going on anyways.

I love scenic pictures, I love all pictures .

Arvid of course is one of my favorites
to photograph, that is when he allows it 😒.

Our walks takes us mostly along the River.  Always pretty.

Squirrels are always fun to watch and take pictures.
 Some pictures I zoom in from our balcony.

Canoeing has become a favorite sport during these times.

My favorite subject of course is Sniff.  He also can be moody.

I never thought the day would come when I would "see"
 so many people starving. It's happening here, it's happening
everywhere, and unfortunately it happens more than we know
all over the world, but to see people here in Fort Lauderdale
and Miami making lines for food, going hungry, unable
to feed their families, that I never thought I would see.

Monday again.  Another week begins.  Another
week closer to Florida-Fort Lauderdale reopening.
Good things always coming our way.

Soon it's balcony time.  The boats are already in full swing.

Life is a journey. When we stop, things don't go right...

~Nadiya~

Puerto Rico ~ Jan 9th

Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets...

Greetings from Puerto Rico.  What better way 

to start the day than with a delicious cup of coffee. 

Thank you Nirvana.  The coffee is delicious

 and I love your cup.  Maybe I'll keep it.

Puerto Rico is fastly becoming our destination
of choice.  I am going to enjoy it for as long
as Arvid is all pumped up about it.

Those who know us know we are on a mission.
What the mission is is quite different for Arvid and
for me, but one thing is for sure we both have
 the same goal at the end of the day.

Don't listen to what they say, go see...

~Nadiya~

Hello Saturday~

A smile is happiness you'll find right under your nose...

After a busy day running around, yesterday turned

out to be a very good day for us.  Especially for Arvid. 

 He had one of his favorites, baby back ribs.

When he was done, there was not a shred of meat on

 the bones, and he ate the entire rack without any problems.

 He also ate all of the garlic rolls.  After that meal,

 let's just say he was not able to move for quite 

some time.  I had my usual.  Chicken wings.

Saturday.  Lots of soccer games today for Arvid.  

Both he and Sniff are happy little dudes.  Arvid will 

watch and Sniff will sleep either on him or by him.  

Either way he's a happy boy.  They both are.

It's a beautiful morning here.  Wishing everyone a great 

weekend.  Remember calories don't count on the weekends.

May your weekend be filled with positive 

thoughts, kind people and happy moments...

~Nadiya~

Hello Beautiful Day ~

The way you treat yourself sets the standards 

for others on how you demand to be treated.  

Don't settle for anything other than respect...

One thing that will never change for me is my

 love of mornings.  While Arvid sleeps, Sniff and I are

 wide awake.  Well sometimes Sniff is partially awake and has

 to spy around the corner and decide if it's time for him to come 

out, but as soon as he sees his brush, he's all ready to go.

This morning was quiet with just a few boats passing by.

When my nieces were here they did not want many pictures 

taken of them nor did they want me to post anything.  For

 two young girls they sure wanted their privacy protected.

  I asked them, "don't you want to be like everyone

 who as soon as they go someplace new, posts so 

much that anyone can track their whereabouts?"

Their answer surprised me because it sounded just like

 what Arvid would say.  Both Reshma and Danielle said, 

"we don't have to impress anyone.  We know who we are and where

 we are.  The world does not need to know our every move."

I had nothing to say because I was also very impressed. 

For young girls you would think they would be posting all day 

long in Facebook and all other social networks.  They did not. 

When I mentioned this to Arvid he said, "smart girls.  I like that."

I of course had to get a few pictures of them.  Lots of protests, 

but I managed. They said, "because you're our aunt."  I had to

 promise not to post them.  I sorta did not tell them everything.

I wish more people would start taking their lives and
 their privacy more seriously.  I have seen and heard of
way too many things just because someone had
to broadcast to the world where they are.

Our home is quiet again.  The girls did quite a bit while

 they were here.  They even managed to get Arvid and 

I down to the pool. 2019 is already in full swing.  

Hope so far it is treating everyone good.

Today we have another open house.  Always fun
 because as mentioned before, we get to meet interesting people,
hopefully one will buy the house and at the same time
we get to go downtown to our brokers office.  

There are two ways to live your life.  One as though nothing 

is a miracle, the other as though everything is a miracle....

~Nadiya~

As The New Week Progresses ~

It's only Tuesday and I'm done with 95% of the week.  During these
hectic days its vital to stop for a breather and enjoy the moment...

The week started with a bang.  It's not as if things went wrong it's just

so much was happening all at once.  I cam t work and there were leaves everywhere. 

Granted this is not uncommon especially with the wind, but I like the place to
be immaculately clean.  Of course I started to sweep right away.
My maintenance couple wanted to start blowing.  Not me.  I preferred
to sweep and bag the leaves.  It was too much to just blow. 

Took a while but with 3 of us working together it was taken care of.  The I

decided to not renew the lease on one of my tenants.  Meant he had to pack and go. 

Fortunately I gave him 2 days notice.  He was not a "bad" person,

but I did not think he was the right fit either for Almost Home.

Between my maintenance couple and I we stripped the room turned it upside

down and prepped it for cleaning.  Always a deep cleaning is what we do.

All of this in the first 3 hours of the day.  That combined with the calls and the

tenants it made for a hectic start of the week.  Now should be better.

Arvid and I have not had a vacation together in a long time.  All he talks about

is wanting to go to Mexico in March.  For Arvid Mexico is the only place

where he says he can actually relax and be on vacation.  Out there we

have no phone calls and it's just so peaceful and relaxing.  I am

not thinking about it (as yet)  Too busy with the hotels.

Sometimes you just need to disconnect
and enjoy your own company...

~Nadiya~

Bye Bye Trees~

Take a quiet walk with Mother Nature.
It will nurture your mind, body and soul...

On Saturday we did what most people would probably not do.  We chopped down

 all the trees in your back, front and side of the house.  Total of 7 huge trees and 

5 smaller ones plus some "bushes" that we had no clue what they were.  

The men did tell us that the so called bushes were flowers that would bloom soon.

  What the heck they went too.  Yup!  We like it treeless.  My mom and sisters were

 horrified that we took down all the trees.  My mom said, "they are Floridians."

The good thing about this is that I got a few planters out of the trees.  Who

know maybe I might decide to grow something.  Problem is I don't like 

grass and outdoors.  But I  like the idea of growing tomatoes and 

some other vegetable.  Hopefully Arvid will pick them.

As you can imagine, Arvid worked as hard as the 5 guys who were there.
Arvid worked side by side with them for 11 hours.  Yes it took them 11 hours
 to do the job, and even so they forgot 2 smaller trees.  I will chop them down with
the machete soon.  I worked on Saturday, at the hotel and when I came home I
also helped with the yard stuff.  Lucky for me I only had 5 hours of yard work.
Those who know me know that I DO NOT like grass! and outdoor stuff!

Hope everyone had a good and peaceful Easter Sunday!

Advice from a tree.  Stand tall and proud.  Go out on a limb.  Remember your roots. 
 Drink plenty of water.  Be content with your natural beauty.  Enjoy the view...

~Nadiya~