Well, at least a big Sunday is in front of me, our congregation and especially, our preschool! Precious Lambs is celebrating 10 years of "Feeding the Sheep" in our church and community, complete with a special worship service and picnic with an Open House in the classroom building. I am feeling a bit frantic but do not know where or how to direct it. According to my checklist all things have been handled but what if I missed adding something to the list in the first place???? Certainly a circumstance is going to arise that will need some on-my-feet thinking, and my plans may not prove to be what others would do, but it will be fine. Hopefully the weather holds and we can send the children outside so it will not be too crowded in the fellowship hall. The idea of eating outside was vetoed because so many cannot tolerate the heat but the way the A/C has been acting lately, well.......
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When chatting on the phone with Joanne a minute ago, I looked over my shoulder to check out the clouds rolling in. There, in the basin, are about a half dozen manatees have a wildly good time in the shallows. Rain is beginning to come across the river from the northeast and a boat is heading south, trying to outrun it. The sun is still shining from behind me and only a few drops found their way to my windows. A splash 'n dash shower, it seems!
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Joanne is having troubles with the owner of a house she has listed for sale. We both know the lady, who has since moved out, but abandoned the belongings she no longer wanted. You just cannot do that when you move, regardless of your motivation or reason. Furniture and other junk were left in the driveway in front and have been rained on several times in the two weeks they have been there. Neighbors who were formerly sympathetic to this lady and her 'poor' situation are now furious that she is acting this way, totally disregarding them and such. The house and yard, especially when listed for sale, MUST be cleaned up and the home left smelling halfway decent. The water was shut off already so Joanne could not really clean much and there was no vacuum cleaner left behind for the floors. She said she had no idea why she called me, other than to vent. I feel so very badly for her, in this rotten real estate market, to have to deal with such a situation. The owner has basically thrown her hands in the air and said, "Forget it!". There will be no proceeds provided someone buys it but she obviously does not care from a citizen's point of view. Before Joanne would totally abandon the listing, the house has two buyers coming by for a second look this weekend and hopefully their agents can get them to see the healthy 'bones' of the house and overlook the disarray. And so many of my friends in real estate wanted me to be a Realtor---no thank you!!!
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This morning I was called upon to go upstairs to my neighbor, Nancy's, unit to help her with some computer stuff. She is a writer, too, but the work she had for me was related to Board of Directors stuff. Nancy asked me to become the Secretary of the Board and she would take over being the Treasurer but somehow I again mustered the courage to say 'no'. But I will help her do a mass e-mailing of the Minutes, which she asked me to preview, and scan the financial statements for her. She came by here a few minutes ago to retrieve the originals from me and I asked her if she got contacts list I had sent her. She said she had but had grown weary of trying to figure it out. Since I use Google and gmail, I am more familiar with my own set-up and not too sure about hers. We can try that again after this weekend when all the events are over. What a week with VBS and the anniversary to finish it off!
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Last night my phone was kept busy with phone calls coming in from various neighbors asking whether or not my A/C was working. Earlier in the evening, or late afternoon, we had a slam, bang window-rattling thunderstorm with rain, and it was like, "Wow! I never heard one THAT loud before!" booms. It seems that the lightning may have affected the pump that pushes the water for our A/C systems but I would not know about that since my unit was not running. It is advised to shut the system down completely when this occurs so it won't run tight so I did that. Travis told me that a pump repair man would be here today to make the repairs but then called me later to say the breaker had been tripped and we were good to go. In the meanwhile, my other neighbor, Patty, called to ask about the A/C, and I told her to shut it down for the night, and then called her back to say we were good to go. Later, she called me back to ask if mine was working yet, and I had to report it was not even in the 'ON' position. It never got above 80 in here so it did not matter to me. She cares for her elderly spouse and it was going to be long night for them unless she got theirs to operate.
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The mess in this house has gotten to me, so as soon as this is wrapped up, I am getting busy. Much was put away last week when Mike finished up but enough left around to make me upset. Justin is not coming to clean today as he is going to a soiree in celebration of his father's birthday at Whitey's tonight. Justin has come a long way these past few years, to be sure. We have to be so careful what we wish for.....So, therefore, I must tackle the cleaning, or some of it, myself and at least put some order where disorder reigns. My suitcase is still out in the guest room where I had been staying, making perfect sense to me, but now it is well passed its emptying time. I miss some of those clothes!
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Less than an hour from when I began this posting, the sky has cleared and is only dotted with puffy white clouds. Boats are making their way up and down the river, with the manatees frolicking further out in the basin. The water appears somewhat sudsy for some reason. Such is life in north Florida! Today I received my order from Vista Prints from where I ordered my self-designed address labels complete with pictures of Greece, plus a new mouse pad ( I use one with my laptop, too) with Greek scenery, taken from my photographs of Mykonos. Neat! For those who get a snail-mail card or mailing from me, watch for the new labels, and especially when it's CHRISTmas card time. If I cannot be there, I can at least enjoy my memories of Mykonos!
