The tinkle down theory

What am I doing up so early? It was before six a.m. when I found myself awake and taking a walk to the bathroom. That water drinking is taking its toll on me! I had to laugh, though, discovering something I refer to as 'the tinkle-down theory". Even though our units are fairly isolated and insulated, there is little, almost no sound barrier between our bathrooms. Having had my bath remodeled not too long ago, I know this to be true. Well, if someone flushes their potty on the 5th floor, I can hear it in my bathroom; and then someone goes in the 4th floor bathroom, and then it's my turn, and on down to the next floor. It stops there because Gus is out of town right now! It's like a signal to us all to get up and go potty! It is not obvious in the daytime hours, but during the night, it seems to work fairly well.

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I guess the good news about the mess in Haiti is that most of the businesses and such were not busy when the earthquake hit. At least that is what I heard one man in Haiti report although some reports have schools being in session, etc. The government offices were not open for business, I guess, which is why the leaders escaped the collapse of their buildings. My sister knows a missionary who is missing at present in the capital city and they are awaiting news of his situation. The young man is in his last year of seminary and was presently training Haitians to be Bible teachers, doing the Lord's work. I hope when word comes, it is good news, that he is safe and well.

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Yesterday went well for me emotionally as it was spent with church family and Justin at Victory for Bible study. Some of the ladies asked us to join them for lunch but I declined, so Justin and I could be by ourselves. We originally were heading for Mimi's Cafe for some meatloaf but their parking lot was so full, we decided to go to Wasabi for Japanese instead. We had a good visit, no crying, just being together was a good thing. He pumped gas for me, the good boy that he is, and then I had to take him back to church to get his car so he could go to school.

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In the car on the way back to church, he told me, hesitantly, about a class he is taking, "Apocalyptic Art". It sounds fine to me but he was concerned I would be upset about them sort of dissing or discounting the validity of the Bible's account of the Apocalypse. I encouraged him to defend the Bible the best he can, but mostly he has to just pass the class. You cannot argue properly if it is not apples and apples, if the prof is not a believer, denies the inspired Word of God, it would be useless to argue. Justin knows the truth, and knows he needs the credit. I offered my photos taken at Patmos where it is thought John wrote the book of Revelation but he did not accept them. Too bad that Justin cannot attend the Bible studies going on at Victory covering Revelation but they take place on nights he has class. Oh well.....The Bible is not the sole book used for the class, and he loves the art, obviously, so just pass the class without compromising his faith. (A man on TV just described the mess in Haiti as being apocalyptic...), not art at all.

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The river is covered in haze this a.m. with pink ruffled clouds above it. From my bed I can see my poinsettia and mini-CHRISTmas tree which I collected from the cemetery, where they sit on my table in the river room. Neither look like they are near death at all so I hope they stick around a long time for me. As I told Jen R. on my Facebook page yesterday, I still have the plant Rick and she gave us the day after Timmy died, in the same container, after all these years. The plant is not what I would describe as flourishing, as it is likely root bound and such, but it still lives! I cannot say the same for Timmy's lemon tree which succumbed to some insects a year or so ago. Cindy S. tried to save the tree after it was cut back but it was too far gone. Fausto, a master gardener from church, also tried to battle the "little bastards" which infested the tree but sadly, it was just too late. All those years it was outdoors and nothing happened to it, but since I moved here to the river, not so much. Timmy's father has a seedling from a seed of this tree and I trust it is still alive. I will have to ask Justin if he has seen it and how it is doing. I have two lemons from the tree in my freezer and sometimes wonder if I should cut one open to salvage the seeds, to see if they would grow after being frozen.....I will ask Fausto if he is up to the challenge.

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Our foliage around the church which was not cold-weather hardy is all brown/black and wretched looking, begging to be cut down. Oh, how I wish it had been removed before the funeral service Tuesday but, oh well....It looks so dumpy around our property but now that we have a new maintenance guy on board who loves projects, plans are being made to refresh our appearance. The past few years the focus was primarily to finish our classroom building and now that is completed, we can move on to other needy projects. At the funeral home visitation Monday night, one of the ladies drew me into their group and asked, "Kim, do you like to pressure wash?", knowing that I do. Enthusiastically I replied that I do like to pressure wash but don't have my machine any longer. It seems a group was being assembled to do the washing at church and I said to count me in but NOT when it was cold out! All agreed it needed to be much warmer before that project was tackled!

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Last night Brenda N. and I had a nice dinner together at Chili's where we accidentally discovered it was Happy Hour. Oh my goodness! If I had known that, I would have ordered differently but oh, well, bottoms up! Since we enjoyed each other's company for over three hours, we did just fine. I had a delicious pulled pork sandwich which I actually pulled off the bun to eat and some fries, while she had quesadillas. She had called me a couple times yesterday, finally getting me as I dropped Justin off at church, as she was thinking of us on the anniversary. It is not easy to pin her down so I was glad she was able to go out. She thanked me for introducing her to the library as a source for free movies which Cary and she have been enjoying, especially since she was laid low with a sinus infection over the holidays. They watched "The Winds of War" over New Year's weekend and were blown away. She does not have cable TV and can pick up only a couple stations on my "old" TV, but they do have a VHS and DVD player to enjoy the free movies from the library. She even gets the oldies like "African Queen" and a few others I did not recognize. Her era and her great fun! Thanks, Judy R., for making me get a library card!