Tomorrow morning at this time Justin and I will be in Philly's airport, waiting for the next super sonic jet that will take us to Newburgh, New York. Mona has assured me that the plane is teeny tiny so my expectations are for a tight squeeze. Good thing one of us is losing weight! Justin is on a diet and reported that he will need to have his tux for Jamie's wedding re-sized. He was measured for it in April on Easter weekend and already it will be too large for him. He is still a "man of size" and I, "a woman of size" so we can plan on being wedge into this sardine can of a plane to get to see JR's graduation. We can do it!
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Mona asked us what size luggage we will have because, in order to get onto the grounds where graduation is conducted, we have to pass through two security zones. In order to avoid trouble, John is going to pick up our luggage and us, take the bags to their hotel for holding, and then off we will all go to graduation. JR seemed to think it was okay to take my telephoto lens in with me as long as I do not have too large a bag (okay, okay, hold the jokes about me being a large bag!) and I pray he is correct. Justin wondered about dress code for this event but we have not been informed on that yet. Here is the fun part: we have to be ready to go Saturday morning at 4:30 a.m. in order to get through security by 7:00 a.m. for graduation which is at 10:00 a.m.!!!! Talk about a long day!
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This morning I am off to Bible study at Victory, my final one until late in June. Pastor is going to have an abbreviated version of the class on Sundays and incorporate the Bible truths into his sermons. I really wish for Justin to hear some of these DVD's, the one about the family especially. Actually it was about social order and how this "order" is shown in the Trinity, the Church, and then the family. I only wish it were WELS material, I would feel so much better about it.
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Tonight is worship, celebrating the Ascension of our Lord. This will be the last time I see some of my church family until I get back on the 14th of June. Boo hoo! Kelly T. came over yesterday and helped me wrap my gift baskets, having all the stuff needed to make them pretty and presentable. In nothing flat we had "biddable" gift baskets! The spaghetti dinner one I put together with the money from Monday Bible study consisted of a red checked tablecloth, supporting a shiny aluminum colander which served as the basket. In the colander went a jar of meat sauce, pasta, a pasta fork for serving, a cheese grater, Italian seasoning, plus a small container of shredded Parmesan cheese (sprinkling kind). The best part, I think, was finding a tiny cardboard container of wine, with a screw cap, looking sort of like a milk carton. I thought that was the icing on the cake! As Kelly and I were wrapping them up, I suddenly remembered my disposable wine glasses and we added two of them, bases criss-crossed, in the front of the basket. Voila! I would have liked to include some Andes candy but was afraid, if the baskets were outside any length of time, that the candy would melt, so omitted it. The total for all that was just shy of $30! I hope it goes for more!
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The other basket was my donation, scrapbook supplies. I found a kit for a smaller-sized scrapbook, and added a paper cutting tool, adhesive, some sticker embellishments, an archival pen, and a pair of scissors. I had a wicker basket on hand to use so there was no cost in that. All the winning bidder needs to add are the photographs, and I could have thrown some of those in, too! Kelly and I wrapped them in no time at all, and away she went with two completed baskets in tow! We were to include a tag or sign indicating the contents of the bag so when I did mine, I embellished with an image. The Italian dinner tag shows a plate of spaghetti sitting on a red checked tablecloth, just like the one included in the basket! $5 at Wal*Mart for an oblong table cover!
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Time for me to go now so will sign off for now. My time this afternoon will be used for packing and finishing up the newsletter for church, as I will be time-crunched between the two trips! Quack, quack, quack from a very wet Orange Park!!!
