Two posts today, in case you didn't notice!!!!!!

On a roll today!

I guess I have some catching up to do, updating-wise......Let's see, where shall I begin?

*

Let's work backwards: Last night was spent making evangelism calls to several families who had registered their kids for VBS. Leann and I set out from church about 6:45 pm after a briefing with Pastor. Instead of using the GPS, we had a giant map book to help us find these homes. He'd marked them with Post-It notes and highlighter which is fine, but it was the getting to the arrow and highlighted area that proved tricky. I wore my superhero glasses, which is what I call them since they have "accu-vision" lenses, to help read the street names and house numbers as Leann drove. She is also quite adept at turning around, and eventually we were able to visit four homes before our game was called on account of darkness.

*

One area where we were looking ended up being a dead-end, not too far from my friend, Martie's, home. I called her to ask how we'd find this address and she said, "No, no, no, no, no! You do not want to go to that neighborhood! Not now, not ever!!!" Okay, great! Now what? I assured her we were big girls (which we are!!!!) and that is was still light out and we were only dropping off a folder. She said "okay" and then directed us. Apparently the road we were looking for was dissected when the freeway was put in so we had to retrace our steps all the way back to Blanding Blvd. and then look from there. We actually did find the neighborhood and located the correct trailer, only to be met with a "DO NOT DISTURB" sign on the door. That's all we needed to see so we bid a hasty retreat after leaving our folder on their porch. Whew! I asked Martie if I should call Mark, her son, for a police escort and she thought this would be a good idea.....we did just fine without any help other than from the Lord.

*

The earlier part of my day was spent at home, since my scrapbooking ladies weren't able to come. Again, nuts!

*

Tuesday was a full, fun day for me, however! The morning began with water aerobics (it just occurred to me that I missed class this a.m.!!! ooops!) and then enjoyed some poolside chatting with my neighbors, Ellen and Judy B. Ellen's husband mixed up some of his wonderful fruit smoothies which are quite delicious. The flavor was peach and strawberry this time, South Carolina peaches, to be specific. Yummmy!

*

Her hubby and she have since left to go "on tour" with the band, meeting the group for a show in New Orleans. It will be quiet around here now without Ellen! Actually it will be great for her hubby to get back on tour since he's been pretty well laid up following another hip replacement surgery this year. His previous one liked to pop out of the socket at the most inconvenient times! When is it truly convenient to have your hip come out of the socket??? Anyway, she'll be back on the weekend sometime and things will return to normal 'round here.

*

I didn't get to sit poolside terribly long as I had lunch plans with my friend, Brenda W., out in Middleburg. We agreed to meet at Smokey's BBQ, my first visit to their new location. I arrived first and found my friend, Christine and her boyfriend, Greg, already having their lunches. What a delight! Greg just happens to be Brenda's brother and lives on the same driveway as Brenda's family. I refer to them as the "Ewings" because in that "Dallas" family everyone lived in the same house or, at least, somewhere on the property! Greg and Brenda's parents also live on the same driveway, which can also be considered a road.

*

We enjoyed our corn nuggets and conversation which had to be cut short by my next appointment, with Brenda's daughter-in-law, for my pedicure. Her shop is in the same plaza as Brenda's office so it couldn't have been more convenient. I finally had to give in and have my toes done because they were driving me nuts---rough, ragged, and just plain ugly. My intent was to wait until after water aerobics is completed because the scraping and such we do wreak havoc on our toes. Couldn't do it, though, had to give in! Brenda took my seat in Lisa's chair when I was done, and I would have loved chatting some more. I had to continue on down the road to my hair appointment. I purposely booked my appointments closely to avoid any back-tracking or step retracing, in the name of conservation. Remember, I'm a car hugger these days!

*

Arriving about 20 minutes before my scheduled time, I was prepared to grab a magazine and sit on the outside bench to wait my turn, but Susan was ready to take me immediately. I had ordered some eye crayons from Susan, who also sells Avon, so got my hair cut and purchase picked up in one fell swoop. No stopping at Whitey's this time as I was still full from my lunch and ready to get back home to rest before meeting the ladies for dinner at Aron's.

*

Judy J. and I ordered the stromboli which was absolutely fantastic. Neither of us made much of a dent in our meals so the nice waitress wrapped it up and gave extra sauce to use for dipping. Oh, it's so delicious! The calzone seems to have much more dough involved where the stromboli is more dense with cheese and pepperoni, less doughy. The other two ladies enjoyed their meals and then off we went to Bible study. I had to swing by to pick up a new lady for the class, up near the Hilltop Restaurant. She doesn't drive so I am happy to be able to do this. Justin didn't join us that night, it seems he had a better offer---dinner out with his former classmates. I guess that's okay.......He did offer to come and cook dinner for me last night but I had the evangelism visits to do---nuts! Maybe tonight????

*

Monday was busy with church activities as well as things are getting closer to normal as summer breaks are nearly over. The temperature doesn't agree, but I think that must be a "Northern thing", equating school starting with fall and 'those' temperatures. Yesterday was one of our hottest days this year! Anyway, Monday morning was Bible study, the subject, based on one of my favorite passages, "Prepared to Answer"----

"But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.." I Peter 3:15.

*

After Bible study we went to have lunch at, believe it or not, Applebee's, instead of our usual Longhorn. We had a nice group of six ladies since a couple couldn't make it that day. We ladies enjoyed our time together. The same night many of us reconvened at church for Ladies' Group but didn't have enough to form a consensus about some of the decisions waiting to be made, except for where to have our next breakfast social! We chose Grumpies in Orange Park, not too far from my house. I just have to make sure they can accomodate us on a Saturday morning before I begin the publicizing of this breakfast.

*

Lisa and I have been in regular communication regarding their upcoming visit, making arrangements for Disney Tickets and such, determining what types of foods the little ones like or dislike, and so on. I also sent her the weather forecast for the first few days when they are here and she said she's keeping that a secret from Noah, since he hates the heat. Excuse me....Florida in August?? When I mentioned this to Lisa early on when making their plans, she said, "We just had a winter with 72 degrees below wind chill factor! I think we can stand a Florida summer!" She's correct, they earned this temperature! Our plans for the Magic Kingdom are to arrive at the Park approximately 4:00 p.m. after the boys had their naps and stay until closing, 11:00 p.m. Most of the crowds will have thinned by then, the rains may be over, lines shorter, and perhaps just a tiny bit cooler. This was suggested by one of my neighbors who does this every time she visits Orlando. I hope it's wise.

*

We are staying at a hotel nearby and will have our rooms waiting for us when we leave the Park, and enjoy a nice, hot breakfast there in the morning. Justin is going with us and will have to miss some work, unfortunately, but also doesn't want to miss seeing the boys enjoy their first visit to "Mickey's house"!!!! We are not concerned about not getting our money's worth, because we feel there is substantial "value" to be had in simply enjoying our time and not running anyone ragged. Of course, we'll see and do as much as we can, but not to the detriment of anyone's pleasure.

*

Ugh, I am just sick about all this garbage involving Brett Favre!!! I am terribly disappointed in him, I think. Not sure exactly how to feel since I don't understand the whole mess, but am alive with disappointment!!!!

"The Importance of Vowels"

Right off the bat I'm frosted this morning, and not due to outside temperatures, to be sure! When I first awake with the dawns early light, usually I catch the end of "Wings" or "Becker" (by the way, in case you didn't know this, my TV stays on all night long.....). When it goes to a commercial and if I am awake enough, I'll switch over Fox and Friends to see what has happened overnight.

Much to my dismay, nearly every time I went to the news, the conversation was not about news, but rather ridiculous stuff such as the "big" story today: An English teacher somewhere (if I were actually watching, I'd know from where!) has determined that certain words would be okay improperly spelled. What? He or she is giving a pass to students who misspell commonly misspelled words, surrendering to, what?, society? Thank you, text messaging, for ruining everything!!!!!!!

My blogging friend, Jami, again with the Jami reference, is a counselor in a TX prison. One of her first postings after returning to work following surgery was about starting a new program to help her inmates learn to read. Jami remarked helping these fellows face their greatest regrets, including never finishing school and/or learning how to read! This might lead them to a life of crime, out of frustration or whatever. I cannot even imagine not being able to read or write. Jami was going to teach some of them the alphabet and the "importance of vowels". That phrase just struck me.

On one hand, it could be a great scenario in a "Seinfeld" coffee shop discussion, deciding which would be the most important vowel.....But, on the serious side, continued lowering of standards in our children's education, due in part, I believe, to the advancement of text messaging and abbreviations, is a horrendous, horrendous mistake! As are run-on sentences!!!!

Of course, the anchor team was quick to throw out their most commonly misspelled words and admitted to some grievous errors, including "enuf", "expecially", "speach". Then, one of them remarked about "Spell Check" catching the errors so kids aren't learning or having to learn how to spell correctly because of the reliance on the machine for repairing poor grammar, punctuation, and spelling. It never occurred to these folks to mention the fact that sometimes we actually use a pen and a piece of paper to write things, and there is no spell check button to press. At one of the Writer's Conferences I heard an editor speak to the matter of submitting a manuscript and she exhorted the writers to edit their own work plus let another person edit it, stating that Spell Checker is an Editor's worst nightmare!!!!

The female anchor commented that if she had an applicant in front of her and had misspellings and errors in the resume, she'd stop reading there and then, sending them on their way. For this I rejoice! I do hold the text messaging craze to blame for the serious lack of proper spelling, since "texting" totally eliminates the use of vowels, substituting consonants to complete full sentences, most of them warnings about their parents watching over their shoulder!!!! I hate it! Really? I wouldn't have known!!!

One of my neighbors is a psychologist (this is a word I like to misspell!) and was talking to me about the term papers and such she has to write as part of her business. She expressed not being able to get used to using or reading contractions. This was totally news to me! I have never really had to submit a paper for anything and simply do not (don't) recall there being a rule about when and when not to use a contraction. Am I also guilty of disregarding the importance of vowels? I never met a contraction I didn't like! And punctuation rules!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Forget about it!