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December 14, 2015 - 10:53 p.m.
"welcome home, tina" or "brilliant beef stew"

Hey Journal!

It was back to work today! I was dreading it last night and this morning. I don't know what it is but it's the end of the golf season and I'm just itching to have some peace and quiet. I was really not looking forward to going in today but it turned out not to be a bad day after all!

There was a funeral luncheon today so we had a little company. The restaurant staff came in around 10:00. II had a lot of stuff to do today and the day went by quickly. I spent a good portion of the day working out the Holiday Fund. Friday was technically the last day that the members could contribute (then we gave them two extra days just in case.) Today, I totalled everything up and then figured out who would get what.

We got slightly less money than we did last year and I adjusted everyone so that it made sense.

I loaded all of that into the computer and then made sure that it was correct about three times. After that, I double checked the bonuses and tomorrow I will send it off to be paid!

After the restaurant was done with the funeral luncheon and after everyone had left, Dan's dad asked me to help him with something. For some reason, earlier this year, Steve decided that Tina, the plant that has always been in the restaurant, had reached the end of her life at the golf course. Tina is supposedly 120 years old and is a ponytail palm. She got her name because her hair resembles that of Tina Turner.

Dan's dad couldn't bear to see Tina go out with the trash and he wanted to take her home. He's been talking about it for months. We went upstairs tried to come up with a plan to get her into his truck. He pulled his car around the back of the restaurant and onto the patio right near the door.

At first we bagged the pot and the bottom of the plant with a big garbage bag and tried to put the entire thing into the car. It didn't work out so well but the tree was kinda loose so we decided to lift it out of the dirt, bag the bottom of the plant, and then put the pot in the back next to it.

It worked out pretty well and it just fit from back to front!

Dan's dad left right after that to bring Tina home and I finished up what I had to do in the office and hit the road at 4:30.

Dan had taken the day off from work today because he had some extra days to use and wanted to relax after our busy weekend. He went to lunch with his mom to the Professor's Diner and then went out to get supplies to make us dinner!

When I got home, the house smelled so good! Dan had cooked a nice beef stew! It smelled amazing and I couldn't wait to eat. It had about 15 minutes left.

Just before I got home, however, I got a call from Dan's dad. He had brought Tina's pot inside and, after assessing the situation, decided that there was no way it would fit in his house. Not only is the pot GIGANTIC, the tree is ridiculously tall. It can't fit in a normal-height room!

Why did he call to tell me this, you might ask.... Well, because he was bringing it over to us!

They arrived with the plant about 15 minutes later and unloaded it here. I had picked out a corner of the dining room but after seeing the pot there's NO WAY it would ever have fit there. The pot would have been sticking out into the middle of the room and I think it would have been too tall!

We decided to put it over on the tiled area by the sliding glass door in the family room. We got it in place and then Dan and his dad carried Tina inside. We put her in her pot and then trimmed her up a bit. It looks good. It's weird, but not bad!

One Dan's mom and dad left, we got a string of Christmas lights and decorated Tina for the holiday season! It looks so weird but so great!

I did some research online and found that this tree needs direct sunlight but can survive the winter inside. In the summer it should be put outside. It doesn't need much water at all -- only ONCE during the winter and the dirt should be BONE DRY before watering it.

Anyway, the story behind Tina is that she's over 120 years old and EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE. I don't know if that's true... but that's what we've always been told.

With that taken care of, we ate our Beef Stew and watched World News. The dinner was so good! Dan did an excellent job and it was cooked perfectly! We should have this more often. We had a little bit leftover and I had another bowl before bed, actually.

We had to catch up on our TV shows tonight... we started with the rest of last night's Blood and Oil. Tonight was the season finale and, quite possibly, the end of the show. I'm still holding out hope, though... it's a great show but if it does end I'm happy they were able to tie up all of the loose ends! It ended on a good note and they didn't leave us hanging!

I showered up after that and then we watched Quantico and Major Crimes.

Now I'm just getting ready for bed. It's a little late -- past my usual bedtime... but that's typical!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)