....to the sounds of the house. Rarely do I let my environ be quiet but I hear voices today, perhaps from outside, not inside my head, activity on the floors above mine, and the ice maker in my kitchen. Boy, I wish my ice cubes tasted good. Judy J. asked me last night if I changed the filter on my ice maker and I asked her "Where is it?". Guess that answers the question. Am I supposed to pull out my fridge, climb back there and try to find a filter? No! I can buy ice at the store and use that instead! Or suffer through wretched-tasty ice cubes---phooey!
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There, I turned my radio program back on for background sound while I write. The A/C has just turned on, adding that noise, which also means it must be warmer than 80 in here. I cannot wait to see what Kerry makes of my temps when she is here, I am prepared to have the A/C running for her visit. Outside it started out to be 71 degrees but since I woke up, has risen to 79. Good, heading in the right direction, but certainly too cold for water aerobics. It has nearly an hour before time for aerobics so if it gets about 10 degrees warmer, I will go out. Whether I get in the water or not, well, that's another thing!
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Yesterday was incredibly busy and whether you noticed or not, I did not post a blog at all for Tuesday! The early part of the day was spent at the big computer, putting the final touches on the church newsletter, sending it off, and printing a few hard copies in color for the select few who get them. After that, I wrote the newsletter for The Palace which went rather well considering I had no Board meeting information to report. Somehow or another our building and its business (at least I hope so!) gets done even when no BOD meetings take place. Silence can be frightening sometimes, and hopefully there is nothing going on that is being ignored by the powers that be. Somehow I managed to find plenty to say, as folks would mention things to me through out the month to be added to the letter, such as making sure the trash bags are tightly secured before throwing them into the bin. Common courtesy-type of things. And I included a recipe for Tomato Basil Pie, which one of my Facebook friends had entered in the county fair in Belle Plaine, MN, and won first place! I do not eat tomatoes but have eaten this type of pie twice here in The Palace. My mama raised me right, I used good manners and ate the slice of tomato pie....
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Much of the heat is off, so to speak, regarding getting my house ready for company as I have enlisted the help of this lady I met at aerobics. She is older, works part part-time for the owner of The Club, and has an elderly lady that she escorts to Bible study and luncheon once a week. Shari wants more work but so far has no clients and mentioned that she does house cleaning, anything, to earn money. Shari lives in a Habitat for Humanity house and is extremely ambitious and a true joy to be with, full of pep and wit. She had given me some of her business cards to share with folks who might need some elder care, and I decided to call her (since I skipped aerobics!) to see if she would be interested in cleaning my house. I hate to leave all the work for Kerry, right? I can just see Kerry and Shari jousting for position with dust mops and Swiffers! It is mutually beneficial to Shari and to me so Friday is the day she is coming.
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Justin forgot to bring a change of clothes along to work with him on Monday so he did not come to do my list of jobs I had for him. He won't walk around my house in his work clothes, no matter what, he always showers and changes his clothes before going to work or even visiting here. His list will remain until he can get here, stuff that neither Shari nor I can or will do. If he cannot tackle the entire list before Kerry comes, much of it can wait until her visit is over, and then Lynn and Linda's visit is over...I am going to have the most excellent September!!!!!
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In the afternoon, I decided to head to the Island, as I had to pick up a scrip from Wal*Mart. Because I had called ahead, the order was ready and I walked in and out with little damage. Nearly I bought the boxed set of "House" DVDs offered at the check-out area but resisted since I am not sure Kerry is a big fan. That reminds me, I must ask Justin to bring his portable DVD player for her to use in the guest room. Since it was after 2:00 pm, it was Happy Hour at Sonic so I headed over to get my Route 44 Diet Coke at half price. Kerry will get a kick out of that, too, when she is here. Oh, I can't wait....Anyway, with my drink in hand, I went to Great Hang Ups where Dee was already at work matting my water color project. She had several vignettes ready for me to view and while I was there, she kept working and rearranging the remaining pieces for my approval. With other clients coming in, and ad salesmen, and the phone keeping things busy---before I knew it, the clock read nearly 5:00 pm! I had to fly! Judy J. was picking me up for dinner and Bible study at 5:30 and I was not even home yet. I passed our 'old' office and saw Justin's car there so pulled in to say hi. He was waiting for his father and very sadly told me he had a couple more hours of work to do yet that night. Getting ready to close the Brookstone house which is a good thing but a long day for Justin.
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I did a quick turn-around once home and got myself downstairs to wait for my chariot to arrive to collect me. My Bible study material was in the car so I grabbed that before jumping into Judy's. At first she wanted to go to Cracker Barrel but I mentioned Panera for the mac 'n cheese for me, and Judy loves their chicken with strawberry salad. We dined el fresco which was a delight and then went to church. Since the kindergarten is no longer using the room, we can use it for our Bible studies. No sense in cooling the Fellowship Hall if the classroom building serves us well. Pastor handed out the packet for our last night of Communicating Christ, and it turned out to be one page, front and back. The title page "Church Membership" and the reverse was for filling out our information. Since only one of us is not a member yet, Tyler was the only one needing to fill his out. There was a short segment on the video about what it means to be a member of a congregation, what God asks of us, the congregation, and what we as members expect of each other. Very nice wrap up. Tyler is being baptized on Sunday, confirmed, and going to the Lord's Supper. I wonder if I will cry...hey, I already did when I heard about this the first time! He is former Navy, and unbaptized. The Lord brought his wife, a WELS girl, still active-duty, into his life and now look, he is going to be a member of our church!
