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

Monday, November 2, 2009

Brrrr....it's cold out there!

This sounds like two weeks ago when I posted about the "cold" weather but today is not nearly as bitter cold as that day was. We are supposed to touch the low 70's today, much to everyone's (except me!) delight but right now it not quite there. It is obviously more chilly than it has been lately, except for the day two Mondays ago when it was 44 in the morning. Folks are glad to be able to wear sweaters for a while but that will get old, too. By the end of the week, I hope the temps prove more hospitable for my visiting friend!
*
Justin is coming today after work to do some cleaning. I want things to be nice for Linda's visit and he will do his share to make this happen. He might still be working when I leave for my meetings tonight at church but that's okay, he knows where everything is and all that. We are having a brief Outreach meeting before the Ladies' Group meeting so I have to be at church earlier than usual. Tomorrow is the day to go grocery shopping to lay in supplies for my friend's visit and for the dinner on Thursday night. I have four replies in the affirmative already which makes me quite happy.
*
Last night I cleaned out my fridge, and filled up the kitchen waste basket in no time flat. There were several containers from juice or lemonade (make a note, I need more lemonade and some Firefly for Linda's visit....) so mostly I made sure there was plenty of room for my purchases. Today Judy C. hauled in eight cases of soda into the Fellowship Hall, using her former luggage cart with bungie cords to hold them in place. Hmmm, now there is an idea! It folds up completely flat and the straps wrap around so they will not dangle....I could use that for my purchases of soda instead of bringing them up one at a time. Good idea!
*
This morning was Bible study and we had a full house around the tables. A member who has been absent for a long time with health problems was finally given the go-ahead to drive so Cindy made it to class. Our study is of the Gospel in the Psalms and is more in depth than I would have imagined. As we left, there was a great deal of discussion regarding whether or not to return to Longhorn for lunch, our usual place. Since Patty had been let go, we had other servers taking care of us, and somehow the bills for the meals were going up and up. It seems she gave us a rather sweet deal, not the reason she was let go, however, and these other people are not honoring the deals we had become accustomed to getting. Some would order from the kids menu and had their drinks included in the price. No longer---the drink is billed separately plus the tip is automatically included in the price because of the number of people in the party. A deal breaker to most of them. Next week, we are going to Steak 'n Shake where some will have the $2.89 special of steak sandwich, fries, and drink. I will have the Wisconsin Butter Burger, of course!
*
It was a good thing we decided to give Longhorn one more chance today because when we walked up to the door, there was Patty, waiting on the bench!!! She was having lunch with us! Let me back up a bit: during the conversation at church about where to go, Jackie suggested that I call Patty some day and we can invite her to lunch with us, but not at Longhorn, so she would not feel bad. I thought that was a great idea and said I would give her a call, as the Hostess had given her cell phone number to me the week before. Sure enough, there was Patty, waiting to have lunch with us, on her old turf! She is going to go with us next week, too, and I invited her to Bible study as well. Others did too so she might be there--we shall see! My guess is she was raised Roman Catholic due to her Italian heritage, but may likely not be a regular attender. Outreach at Longhorn---it's a beautiful thing!