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

Friday, August 20, 2010

All talk and no action

The thunder has been rolling for what seems like hours already and only a few sprinkles to show for it. I rushed through my dinner to avoid being trapped in the cabana in the midst of a downpour, and all for naught. Instead of coming up here with the second of my sliders, I could have stayed and enjoyed some time with my neighbors. Ellen and Maggie were heading out for a benefit of some sort this evening which left me sort of on my own. Tomorrow evening is Cajun night and I have RSVPd to attend, in hopes that we are not rained inside. If the weather is threatening, we will be inside The Club for that rather than at the cabana. Marlena has arranged for me to have my sirloin sliders since I do not eat the shrimp which is part of our menu fare. The same type of meal we had at Suzanne's birthday last week, only sans the Boston butt.
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Today I did a bunch of cleaning, without even breaking a sweat. My e-mail was loaded with excess stuff and I spent way too much time going through and deleting or saving important stuff elsewhere in the computer. Boy, do I ever have a hard time parting with things, making it extremely difficult when it comes to removing e-mails and other stuff in the computer. What ever will I do when I get to tangible pieces of paper which must be sorted and decisions made regarding their fate----like my long distance bills from 1991??!!?? Even though I chuckle about it now, when push comes to shove, will I be able to do it? At this moment, I will say 'yes' because as of tomorrow, Lisa will have my treasured record albums which I never ever ever could have parted with even two months ago. Perhaps, readers, you remember not long ago sleep alluded me, and while I was awake, had made some determinations regarding things in my life. Is that vague enough for you? So now that the e-mails have been organized a bit and have one empty bin where the albums used to be, I can next move on to going through the archive boxes in the guest room. Of course, that will wait until my house guests are gone so they do not have to try to sleep in worse disarray than is already there!
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Unfortunately I did not have any pool time today as I put clothes on first thing this a.m. because of my plans to go run errands. It seems if I start out in the swimsuit, my tendency is to remain either in the suit or move into my nightie after swimming, not good when wanting to go out somewhere afterward. The nightie is to help transition from the swimwear to clothing. So, to avoid the problem, I got dressed right away and resisted the temptation of sauntering out to the pool. My mission was to go to Wal*Mart in search of some new capris as I had to park a couple pair on the shelf, they were too big! Now don't get excited or anything, I think they were purchased too large in the first place. Also, I needed yellow ink for the photo printer as I taxed my supply printing the posters and invitations last week for the upcoming Mystery Dinner.
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My first stop, however, was Great Hang Ups to see Dee and Julia, to see about getting my vignettes framed. We never had finished the process the day I was there with Kris and I would like to have them done when Kerry gets here. But, Dee was out of town delivering a piece to the Florida Watercolor Society show in Tampa. Go, Dee!!! Julia and I spent a while hanging out, with her bringing up the delicate subject of Timmy's artwork. Presently it hangs in the bedroom hallway, shrink wrapped on fiber board. She said she has been thinking about it for a while, at nine years, it might be time to start permanently framing the art. Where would I begin? Justin's art hangs in the same hallway, also shrink wrapped on fiberboard....again, where would I begin? There are at least three times as many pieces of Justin's work as Timmy's, with Justin's being better pieces, given that he painted well into high school. Of course, some of Justin's are permanently framed and prominently displayed in my home, so it would not be like dissing him. This time of conundrum is the reason why she has hesitated in bringing it up, but since I told them about my lining of the chairs dissolving from the sun, she felt it might be time to bring it up. Gulp!
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So, after leaving her, I headed to Wal*Mart for my other shopping. I struck out on the capris but did find a nice pair of stretchy black slacks that might work out for church pants. They also came in brown and grey but I did not like those colors. Navy blue would have been an excellent option but there was none, rats! My other planned purchase was a DVD, "Letters to Juliette" but the nice man told me it will not be released until mid-September. I was sure I saw it advertised as available OnDemand but I guess that does not necessarily mean the movie is in stores. Instead I got a video from the same folks who did "Fireproof" called "Letters to God", so I will have to watch that. It might work out for family movie night at church, too, which would be cool!
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When I got home from the store and started to gather my purchases, Gus came up the parking lot on foot, having been in the pool. He was holding a small, battery powered radio, exactly what I had been looking for at Wal*Mart! The sales clerk showed me a weather radio with AM/FM features but it really was larger than what I wanted for at the pool. There is no such thing as a transistor radio any longer, I guess, except for Gus's! It is likely not a transistor radio but it was the right size, complete with detachable head phones. When I told him I had just been shopping for such a thing, he immediately offered me his. Naturally I refused it but he did tell me where to get one of my own, the drug store!! Of course, I should have thought of that. He said it was less than $10 and serves him well on his walks and at poolside when the cabana music is not playing. Exactly what I am looking for, so I do not have to miss my 'live' radio shows during the day! Bravo, Gus!!!