The mail brought me a wonderful surprise, and no, not a check yet. Instead, I got a lovely 'thank you' card from my sister-in-law, Sharon, and her care giver, my cousin, Rochelle. Sharon is listening to the CDs I sent for Christmas plus they caught me up on Sharon's news. There is little 'news', really, since Sharon is blind and relies on everyone else for doing stuff with her. Rochelle wrote the card for her and told me about Sharon's upcoming birthday plans. They are having a pizza party with ice cream cake the night before her birthday, and I am so glad to know that. Rochelle took her to the dentist and all checked out fine, and then they went to Shopko and to lunch. I appreciate it greatly that Sharon has Rochelle to take care of her needs and spends time with her. By now Sharon might have gotten her card from me as I sent it ahead of her birthday. These two cards must have passed in the mail!
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At lunch time I was with the kindergartners, arriving just as they were finishing their reading program. I got to see/hear them reading little poems they wrote to go with a picture they drew about groundhogs. So cute! I am glad they could read the words because I sure could not make them out. They also made picture book with rhymes about the snow, as if they are familiar with it. Again, so cute! Laurie went into the church office to work on some things for Mike C. who is subbing for her tomorrow as her littlest guy has a doctor appointment. We went outside for recess but it was a bit damp and cold out there. Some of the kids did not have jackets so we agreed that after two laps 'around' the playground, we would go back in. The whole concept of 'around' escaped them as some crisscrossed in the middle of the yard and BANG!!!!, two heads collided! Only one was reduced to tears, and I was able to hug the tears away from Wesley's face, but could do nothing about the lump on the forehead. The other boy, Akin, brushed it off and moved on. We did last a bit longer than two laps as they found ways to amuse themselves.
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Once Laurie came back in the classroom, I turned it back over to her after the boys picked up the mess of Legos. One boy, Brant, drew a picture of a snake for me and sealed it into an envelope. I got to take home a souvenir for my efforts today, and sadly, so did Wesley with his head bump! As I headed toward Fleming Island I stopped to get gas and nearly froze my hand off on the nozzle. Gloves would have been good but then they would smell like gas! Yikes! Sorry, Wisconsinites and others up north, it was just really cold here!!
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I met Twila and Elaine at the movie theater and once more I was given a ticket at the Senior pricing. The first time it happened, same ticket lady, I told her I needed to pay the other price, a dollar more, and she apologized to me for the mistake. Now the past two times she did the same thing, and I accepted the discounted rate. One mistake I can overlook, but not two! Tuesday is also the discounted popcorn, snacks, and soda day so it did not cost us so much. The movie was okay, yes, just okay, but time well spent with friends. As I told Linda on the phone, it was no "Bucket List"!!!! But the scenes from Rome were fun to see again as were the street scenes and Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Not bad for only $5.00!
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The four of us chose Bono's for our after-the-movie dinner which smelled just wonderful outside. And inside as well. It made me sad that they do not carry the beans and franks I like so much, like Sonny's has, but at least we could share an order of corn nuggets. Three of us had the sliced pork of which I ate half plus a little container of green beans. Twila took the leftovers home with her in a genuine doggy bag, for her son's dog, for whom she is caring. I just love these times with the ladies and look forward to having some of them back here on Thursday night for our Julia Child's dinner. Even the lady working at the concession stand asked if she could come sometime, announcing, "I'm fun!". That is my kind of answer, too! We should just surprise her sometime and ask her along or to our dinners! I do not even know her name, but that's okay, I will!
