Another day older and still in my bed

Yesterday, the anniversary of my birth, was such a flurry of activity that I did not have time to write! The morning began early enough with getting up right after 6:30 a.m. to make sure the men in my household and Justin were ready for departure by 7:00 for Orlando. Justin was driving over from his father's house, where he has been dog sitting. I made some coffee for David to have while driving and Justin put a can of soda in each pocket. It was 38 above zero when they left here but it was expected to warm to the high 60's later in the day. In fact, further south where they were, it did get up to 71!

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Once they were out the door, I went back to bed since I could feel more rest was needed. All of a sudden my eyes flew open and my feet hit the floor when I remembered Dee was coming by at 8:30 with a birthday gift for me. There was time before she was expected so I decided to make the ladies in my home a nice hot breakfast. (Yes, Linda, I made breakfast on more than one occasion, the difference being these folks get up 5 hours later than do you!) The recipe I used is for egg souffle which turned out wonderfully, but we had to pace ourselves since we were having lunch in an hour and a half! They really sleep late!!! After all, it is vacation, right?

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Dee came and we visited in the river room for over an hour. Her gift to me was wonderful, two boxes of chocolate covered cherries, which she wanted to yank away after we discussed my lifestyle changes coming up after the company is gone. She could not believe that I could pace myself with something like this, but I truly can and do, historically speaking. In fact, I have the little favor from Linda's table at Ladies' Advent Service November 29th, unopened, on my night stand as we speak. I know there is delicious dark chocolate in there but will wait for just the right moment to open the little bag and have a piece. I am so weird!

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Once Alayna and Lori got up and had their breakfast (I did not know A. won't eat eggs and cheese mixed together!) we got ready for lunch. In "Lord of the Rings" the boys referred to 'elevensies' which is what our lunch would become, so soon after breakfast. We ladies were meeting Twila and Kathy B. over at The Club where we had a very very nice lunch and excellent conversation. Lots of the latter! Twila gave me a beautiful necklace and earring set which had screamed my name when she saw it; Lori gave me gift bag, which, when she handed it to me declared she had no idea what was in it! David was the designated shopper, that rascal, and now I know why we met him on the street near Great Hang Ups when we were leaving! Dee helped him select a necklace, chain, and earrings for me from there, made by a fellow artist/friend, Sonya. He did good! Kathy had given me my present already at church last week, a long beaded necklace in purples. Brenda N. came by in the late afternoon with a present from me, made by the lady in the Bahamas who received my clothes cast-off. Brenda bought me a matching bracelet to the necklace from Joy, the lady joyfully wearing my clothes. So, my colorful collection of beads and jewels has increased once more before the end of the year!!! What great fun!

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My mailbox bore a half dozen greeting cards plus the good wishes which came via the Internet. Sadly, the timing was not right for the boys to meet us in St. Augustine for the tram ride to see the Lights so we ladies went alone. We did not hear the song we longed to, "Dominic, the Donkey" this time which was a disappointment for Lori and me---and a relief for Alayna! The driver of the tram encouraged the passengers to sing along with the songs, which we did once in a while, not as robustly as we could have, but the text messages sent to Alayna's cousins indicated that we did. I defended Lori and me when I heard about the accusation and A. agreed it was not THAT bad, just that there was a young man in the seats in front of us and she was embarrassed in front of him. Or behind him. Manufactured or faux embarrassment, I call it.

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We found our family together back at my place and had a bite to eat, every man for himself before playing a few rousing games of "Catch Phrase". Always good for huge laughs, and denials of brain activity. Justin had to excuse himself because he was meeting friends and his roommate at their place to play poker at 11:00 pm. Wow, I was ready for bed and he had walked around Epcot and other parks all day. In fact, he sent me a text message reporting he had a hitch in his giddy-up! I wrote back, asking if he was okay, and he answered me that other than some pain, he was having a great time. Typical Justinism!

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As Justin was leaving, he reported that he would be over here for church tonight because it was at 6:00 and his father's party did not start until 8:00. Victory's service is at 6 pm, Good Shepherd's is at 7:00.......oh. I think I might not see him until next year! Justin cannot miss this party tonight as it his father's 'last blast' in this residence, since he is moving out soon. Justin uses his father's place as a playground with his friends, having all the great enticements that young men, and evidently old men, enjoy such as the pool, outdoor kitchen, large-screened TVs in the media and game rooms, etc. Tonight's party will be the fireworks fun boys in their 20's and 50's enjoy, sending hundreds of dollars worth of gunpowder and noise into the air at midnight---likely before midnight. To use an expression from the banned list: whatever!

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Those of us enjoying the Eve differently will attend worship at 7:00 pm and then come back here to have Papa Murphy's pizza and play Alayna's new game, "Would You Rather...?", which Justin and I gave her for CHRISTmas. The other night we played Lori's new game, "Cranium", which was a blast once we got passed the directions. They made it seem more involved than it actually was, and David is such a hoot to play games with!! During the day today, Lori and David might go back to St. Augustine to walk around a bit, plus the young folks if they wish to go. The weather might be fine for that, possibly as nice as yesterday, as WI people go! I will remain here and put the final touches on the newsletter as Pastor sent over the information yesterday afternoon, for which I had been waiting.

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Lori and I went to get her hair cut after my birthday lunch, going to see Barb, the lady who cuts my hair. Lori looks so cute and coiffed now, making her hair almost bouncy-looking, just by trimming the back. So cute!!! We had intended on stopping at Kohl's to make Justin's exchanges but since we went home a different way, missed that stop. She wanted to see where Twila's house was, since Twila mentioned at lunch that her house is hard to find. We found it, no sweat!! Once home, I decided to take a nap before our big night in St. Augustine and Lori went for a bike ride. Dusty had parked it in my foyer, which is entirely out of our way and safer than parked outdoors (not like I live in a dangerous place or anything...). She rode once more down along the river but came back sooner than she had last time, because the wind burned her face. See? I told you it was cold out!!

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We had such a laugh last night....Lori has to wear "das boot" on her left foot to immobilize her Achilles' tendon, for now only 25% of her walking around time. She applied her boot before we left for St. Augustine and away we went. When we were walking from the car to the ticket stand, she complained that her other foot was now also hurting and then realized that oh, my goodness!----she had put the boot on the wrong foot!!!!! What??? After all this time of wearing the boot, upwards of 23 1/2 hours a day, she now put it on the wrong foot?!? She could not switch it over either since she only had one shoe along, on the goofy foot, and could not put a left shoe on her "right" foot! Hee hee, hee haw.......