Quieting the evening at home

Which brings me to now......the furnace is running and running, trying to warm my room and me! I had such a big lunch that eating supper was not foremost on my list until just now. When I got home this afternoon, I had determined I was going to take a rest but that never happened. Let me back up a bit....

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After leaving Great Hang Ups, the Rosses and I went to have lunch at Longhorn across the street. Jen was hungry for a steak so Rick relented and agreed to Longhorn instead of Mongo's, where Leoni's used to be. It was cold in the restaurant and even though the Manager turned up the temp, it never seemed to improve. It felt better almost outside than in, only because the sun was shining on us. This cold snap is really getting old, and I apologize to my northern readers for saying this!

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Longhorn had a new sandwich on the menu which I opted to try, forgoing my usual chicken tenders. Knowing the sandwich would be large, I asked Christopher if he'd like to share with me, which he did. I told him he was taking Justin's place as my designated eater! At O'Charley's for Mem's birthday Chris helped me with my dinner, too. After our lunch, I headed to church to set up for the Lord's Supper tomorrow. Carol was just leaving when I pulled up and she told me she had put the tables in place already so all I needed to do was fill the glasses, etc. That was easy! A meeting for the tuberous sclerosis group meets in our Fellowship hall once a month and today was their day. I tried to be as unobtrusive as possible but one of our members who is also part of this group called out to me. I was forced to interact! What can I say?

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Once done with the setting up, I headed back home, forgetting all about stopping at Office Max for the ink cartridges----again! On the way home, near Blanding, I saw what must have been a funeral procession lead by a motorcycle cop, only the limos used were the long, white "prom"-style cars, two of them, followed by the rest of the mourners. Quite impressive looking but yet out of place. Hmmmm.......

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So, now I will settle back with my book, Grandma Speaks, until my eyes refuse to read any longer. Have a great evening all, and think about my friend, Suzanne, who is camping this weekend, despite the cold weather......I am warm!

"Such Joy"

These last two words from the opera, "La Traviata" are perfect for describing my day so far. This morning I was at Great Hang Ups nearly as the doors opened to see my friends, of course, but to also touch base again with Kevin, the glass artist. He has made several of the pieces in my home, including one "custom" lamp which my great-nephews enjoyed turning on and off by touch, as well as the lovely piece Dee gave me as a gift which sits in my river room. Originally plans were for Kevin to hold a "trunk sale" at Hang Ups in early December for which I usually serve as hostess, but, for some reason or another, it never came to be.

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Jen and family were already at the shop when I got there because I had to stop at McDonald's to get a soda on the way over. We went inside to find Dee only, as Julia had not gotten in yet. Once she did arrive, the kids enjoyed playing with the dogs and admired the art work. Kevin and Alex, his wife and a restoration artist, were due momentarily but Dee was going to the gas station across the street to get a coffee for Julia. I offered to go instead as I needed gas, too. But, just as I was about to go, the door opened and here came my friend, Pete, my former counselor, the one who "fired" me! (He was the man who initially called me an enigma, hence my personalized license plate.) What a grand and joyous surprise! The last time I'd seen him was riding down Wells Road and they came past me with Pete waving wildly, just like I do! Dee told me not to go to the gas station, to stay and talk with Pete and help him make his decision about the framing. By the way, the other "Pete" who counseled me at this same time declared that I was NOT an enigma---instead, he said that I was a "what you see is what you get" person. I'll let the two Petes battle that one out.

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Pete asked me which shows I'd be going to and I explained that I have had to limit my show ticket purchases due to my alimony interruption, but I still have opera tickets purchased "before", which Linda and I will use in February. He told the story about wanting to buy tickets for Valentine's Day for his wife because she wanted to see Billy Joel/Elton John. He tried his hand at using on-line Ticketmaster for his purchase, and ended up paying twice what he thought they were going to be! With no way out without losing 25% of his purchase, so he is stuck, and will be a really big hit come Valentine's Day!

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So, anyway, we had a great reconnect and he even took along the address to my blogsite. I wrote it out on his receipt and then he asked me exactly "how" he would access it, not being all that comfortable on the computer (see Ticketmaster notes above.....). I am so proud of Pete because he found the blog and even left me a comment on one of my recent postings, way ahead of the game! Bravo! In case my readers don't go back to read his comment, he told me that reading my site was going to have him smiling all day. Mission accomplished!!!

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Another fun thing happened when another customer came in to pick up a framing piece plus showed off a couple incomplete works he has been working on for many years. It turned out he is a firefighter by trade, but a poet and painter for fun. Not only that, he races cars and motorcycles, a man confident in his manhood, comfortable with fighting fires and writing poetry. Some say driving race cars is poetry so it works! But, the most blessed thing was when he went to his car to bring in a large piece he had written, mounted, and decorated with sleeve patches from his Unit. The lengthy poem was lovely, well done, and gave me goosebumps as it told of their service to the community and dedication to each other, no matter what. I told Julia I was leaving her shop richer than when I came in-----and after this morning, it is true!!!!!

My tummy hurts!

In waking early this morning, my tummy was just growling and growling away. It is not an unusual occurrence after eating later in the evening to be extra hungry in the morning. Since the remainder of my delicious white mountain bread took a furry green glow and had to be disposed of yesterday morning, I knew toast was not an option for breakfast. Normally I eat 'breakfast' mid- to late- morning, not 7:30, but I was going to make an exception to the unwritten rule. Aha! I had leftover apple dumpling from my nearly missed dinner plans with the church ladies (when I didn't get the memo!), so I tippy-toed to the kitchen to re-heat the dumpling (you are what you eat!!!) without waking Joanne. It was more than half which means I barely made a dent in my dumpling Tuesday, but did eat the ice cream off the top to soothe my tongue which I'd burned on my chili the night before. Medicinal purposes, for burned tongues and snake bite!

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There was just too much discussion on Fox and Friends today about the upcoming events in Washington DC so I decided I needed a "fix" from my friends on "Seinfeld". There is a complete episode guide that came with the boxed set to help find the particular show which I did find---known as "The Clip Show". I needed that! I just laughed and laughed while eating my dumpling in the warmth of my bed. So, does my tummy hurt from eating apple dumpling or from laughing??????

Time with Twila

Yesterday morning, late, Jennifer called to ask me about the serving time and so on at Koko's. As if I knew......I did! I told her they started serving lunch at 11:30 and serve their last table at 2:00 pm. Her grammy is in town, visiting from Boston, and Jen wanted to take her to lunch someplace "charming". And I was invited to join them! I didn't mind since I'd not been there in a whole day! We met at Hang Ups first and then went to dine at Koko's. Chef Hung cooked for us, always treating me very special, cooking an onion separate for me because he knows I don't care for the veggies. There is nothing on this earth like excellent customer service!

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We were talking about the capital expenses I experienced here in 2008 and her grammy could not understand why those things were not paid from our monthly dues and such, as they are at her retirement community in Fort Meyers. I explained that no provisions were made early on in our Association for these major repairs so now we must pay as we go, great sums in many cases. She was curious about what our building looked like so I invited them to come up and see for herself. She liked my place and was equally tickled that her son, Bruce, did so much of the updating and floor replacement when I first bought the place.

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They could not stay very long, however, because they had to collect Memrie from school and meet Bruce at the pediatrion's office. Bruce was going to help hold Memrie down as they did a blood draw for a work-up the doctor wants. The two ladies didn't think they could hold Mem adequately so Bruce was coming to be the firm one.

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I had a couple hours before Twila and I were going to a funeral for the dad of one of the boys with whom Mark and Justin were friends at St. Johns. Mark came up from college, near Orlando, to attend the funeral and met Twila and me at the church. We saw many many St. Johns people there, some former classmates, teachers, and even one of my neighbors. Being a Roman Catholic service, Twila and I weren't sure what to expect but we got through just fine. The communion portion took twice as long as the funeral portion, which they practiced as "close communion". Both of us were surprised by this, since we thought normally R.C.'s permitted and encouraged all denominations to take the Lord's Supper. But not having ever been before, this was merely conjecture on our parts.

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We opted to miss the reception afterward and went to Olive Garden instead. Twila loves Olive Garden and Red Lobster but some in our group do not, so this was a perfect opportunity to indulge. She is having her hip replacement surgery on Tuesday so we are tearing up the town beforehand! She had an Italian margarita and I had the strawberry one, and we very much enjoyed our dinner and time together. Two Fridays in a row spent with Twila! She told me about her granddaughters' sister-in-law attending a soccer party at the estate of my former spouse and being blown away by his house. Twila didn't think it could possibly have been the same house because why would this older man have teen-age soccer players at his house, but in putting names and faces together, Twila's granddaughter figured it out. It's all about connecting the dots sometimes. How about that?