Good news all around!

A short while ago I received a phone call from Julia at Great Hang Ups to report my submission in the art show at the Thrasher Horne Center was juried in. Yippee! I am now 3 for 3 as far as entering shows, not being juried or judged out of the show. Julia claims I can't deny being an artist any longer, since I've not been "voted off the island".

Other good news for me, it's all about me, is Hurricane Ike looks to be staying further south rather than originally thought. What a great relief, and not that I wish evil on anyone else, I'm so glad it probably won't have Orange Park in its bull's eye. Next in line is Josephine, and I pray again that she stays away from my house! The bulk of my concern is that I'll be away when all the storms are threatening and I hate the thought of making extra work for my neighbors. I'm going to leave Justin with names and phone numbers for "just in case" scenarios. He's talked me into allowing him to come up to WI at the end of my stay so, for a long weekend, my home will be left in the loving care of my neighbors and Dee.

The weather man just reported the highest wind gust here being 29 mph in Orange Park. It's been relatively calm here all day, with only a few sprinkles during the day. I ran some errands this morning, including a trip to Office Max, a bad place for me to go, since I love office supplies a great deal. I bought more hanging files as well as the tabs which mark the top of the file, plus a pack of AA batteries, since they were available near the check out. They always get ya at the register!

After getting my supplies, I stopped at the cemetery to pick up the withered bouquet. Strangely, I felt a bit of relief about not having all that stuff there to pack up in case the storms come here, as I usually had to do. Huh, what do you know? Traffic was light on Blanding so it didn't take me long to get to the car dealership to pick up Jennifer. She was having some work done on the car and we decided to have breakfast while waiting. At Grumpy's, we had a delightful meal, and later met some of my Art Guild friends. They were talking about their entries in the show, too, saying to not take it personally if work isn't juried in to a show. Maybe I should call them to report my good news, or perhaps, they already know it!

Sitting here in the family room and typing on the laptop, I can hear the strains of a wedding march. What a weekend to have an outdoor wedding ceremony! I'll bet they were sweatin' all day about the storm would do.

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On October 4, which also happens to be anniversary of Janis Joplin's death, there are two weddings in my circle. One is Travis and Jessica's, and the other is Jen's sister, Kristin, and Mike's wedding. Today I removed mail from my box and found an invite to a bachelorette party at the end of the month for Kristin. Part of it looks perfect to me---Joe's Crab Shack! I'm in!!! The invite encourages us to bring plenty of money to cover Joe's and then bar hopping complete with cover charges. That's not going to happen, I'll do Joe's and come home. Jen and her mom might ride with me since they only wish to have dinner and come home again. We are in charge of being the party poopers! I'm up to it!!!

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Justin is coming to help me tighten things up here in the morning. First I have to go vacuum at church and then I think we'll meet for breakfast before coming here to get busy. I know this might be a waste of time and energy and plastic bags, but I'll rest easier knowing it will be more or less secure in my absence. I have come up with a plan for preserving the video tapes by wrapping them in plastic and placing them in the dryer for safe keeping. Brilliant, yes? One of these days I'll take the advice of my friend/financial planner guy and buy the machine to convert tapes to DVD, but really, can you see me doing that? Me neither.......