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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Muggy takes on a whole new meaning

I am sitting here in my happy place! Hey, it's great to be back home again after two weeks in WI. And I am weary as can be! It feels so wonderful to be sitting here in my family room on my love seat with my feet up. Ah....The room is a bit of a mess as it's still in prep mode in case a storm came our way while I was gone. The house keepers are due on Wednesday so I'll have things put to right again before they come.
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On the downside, I have the sniffles and am looking forward to a good night's sleep in my own bed tonight. I did sleep some last night in the hotel but not soundly at all, having to get up every now and again to go potty. I must have had six or more sodas at dinner (Luigi's with the Hackmann families). There was no noise from the airport, and I mention this because Lynn wondered if it would be noisy from the planes, being that close to the airport. Not one bit, but, of course, we have the TV on all night long. The Packer game was a huge disappointment and we decided to just roll over and go to sleep rather than watch the humiliation on the field.
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Okay, so let's recap: I wrote briefly about the surprise party for Lynn on Saturday. Most never even knew about it because I didn't dare write anything in my blog about it since Lynn is one of my regular readers (thanks, Lynn!). There were leftovers from the food, needless to say, so it was taken back to Mom's where it was divided between the girls who could put it to use. Mom will eat good off some of the food, too, which is good to know.
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Sunday we went to church where the order of service was the Morning Praise, our favorite. It's not the one from the hymnal, it's original to First German, and includes several we've sung at Good Shepherd. One was a song I've sung as cantor at G. S. and another a te deum that simply lightens my spirit. "You are God, we praise you; you are Lord, we acclaim you..." Thanks to Pete for introducing me (us) at G. S. to these hymns of praise! "Oh, God, you are my God for you I long..."
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After worship Mom, Lynn, Alayna and I went to Bible study while Justin and Kerry went back home, Justin under the guise of packing...this didn't occur but he did get to hang out with his auntie for a bit without other peoples around, which is great. A bunch of us went to breakfast after study, but Kerry headed back to Oshkosh instead of coming with us. Jill and Danny came, too, after she opened up the ice cream parlor for the day. I had the most delicious pot roast dinner with peas mixed in with the meat and a side of corn plus a baked potato. Usually I have the potato pancakes at Perkins but I had them twice this visit so opted to have lunch instead of breakfast. I saw several people there I'd gone to high school and/or grade school, including the fella who'd come down to our church to help us figure out if we're ready for an elementary school or not.
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Lori and David were also there with his mom and step-dad so we got to say "hi" to them once more before they headed off to Kewaunee to get an antique table from her sister-in-law and then they were going to the Packer game. David's boss gave him the tickets so they couldn't refuse! It's too bad the game didn't go well but just being at Lambeau Field was a real hoot for them, to be sure. Their son, Dusty, didn't make it to Lynn's party because he was working so, sadly, I didn't get to see him at all this visit. I will at Christmas time when we're back up there....Man, we just got home and already planning a return trip!
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Our travel today was a mess but manageable. We'd stayed at a hotel in order to get some sleep and avoid driving like a couple nuts from Manty to MKE, particularly after staying up "late" to watch the game. The hotel was near the airport so in only moments were had the rental car returned. Bravo to Justin for suggesting curbside check-in rather than standing in the long lines indoors. As far as I know, I wasn't charged anything extra for having my luggage over weight, which I am absolutely certain it was! Without further ado, we found our cheese curds for our friends and Justin's father, and through security lickety split.
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Once we boarded, seated separately due to having a full plane, we took off for Memphis. No sooner did we get air underneath us than the smoke alarms were going off in all the bathrooms. I could tell we were "slowing down" especially after hearing the gear drop and the flaps were down. Sure 'nuff, we had to return to the terminal, only to be met by assorted fire fighting equipment. I was not scared at all, since it was obvious we were not ablaze. Justin was near the flight attendant's seat and had the inside info as to what the problem was. Evidently a new A/C system had been installed and perhaps shorted out or something. All the passengers had to "de-plane" and get re-booked on different flights. Justin and I ended up going home much later than 6:22 a.m.! First, we flew to Minneapolis on the 9:10 flight and then to Jacksonville, getting back to Florida by 5:00 pm. He'd wanted to take his friend to a job fair at UNF but that plan was scuttled by the delays.
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Other than that little glitch, nothing else was missed other than an afternoon poolside! Oh, wait, it's overcast, drizzling, and humid as can be! You can cut it with a knife..........is that original or what???