Out of whack today

And out of sequence as well! I am writing this late afternoon, after spending much of the day downloading the photos between both computers, posting some to Facebook, e-mailing some to the families involved, plus including many in my blogsite. More than once Justin has mentioned to me that I should have two monitors on my desk and today, I would not have scoffed at his suggestion. Some of the photos were posted twice on Facebook and many because I could not tell by jumping back and forth from page to page to see which ones were already there. Tomorrow, I will set up the laptop on the desk next to the "jumbo-tron" monitor and compare there. My guess is that Justin would know how to have two websites opened at once, side by side, but I do not. Oh, I do know how to do this when watching my radio show, having a Word document open and working while watching, but not two websites at once. Maybe I need to take a class!

Speaking of Justin--he called me a little while ago to report a funny church sign he saw along Highway 17 on his way downtown: "You think it's hot and smokey here....." in reference to smoke-filled air northeast Florida is experiencing these days. Today I have not ventured out at all, and have my doors closed in an effort to keep the smoke out. Even turned on the A/C for a bit to help move the air around. The temperatures are in the mid to high 90's and the smoke so dense here on the river that at times, I could only see the trees closest to the building. At present, the breeze outside has moved some of the smoke away so I can see Mandarin. Victory is having its VBS this week, during the daytime, and had to keep their kids indoors today due to the heavy smoke and air quality advisory in effect for NE Florida. Hard to keep them busy without letting them run off some steam, but they did it, I heard.

I have a bone to pick with my battery-powered toothbrush....Ever since I replaced the battery in it, my toothpaste goes flying and spattering when I use the brush, regardless of how tiny a drop of paste is applied to the bristles. If I am dressed, my clothes are dotted with paste, and if I am not dressed, my body and the mirror and sink have spatters. While I am hoping the more active toothbrush is doing a better job working on my gums, etc., I cannot help but hope the battery gets a bit less enthusiastic sooner rather than later, simply due to the mess. Am I too fussy or is this a legitimate gripe?

Another gripe is the smokey skies prohibiting the use of the swimming pools here at my house. What I so looked forward to enjoying has been 'yanked' from me the past two days because of the rain of ash and thick blanket of smoke. Today was absolutely choking out there, and I am a great great fan of bonfires. Our area simply needs some good, soaking rains to extinguish the fires and make the foliage less likely to burn. One report said the best thing for us would be a tropical depression but who hopes for that???

We had a great time playing Trivia last night, even though it was hard to hear in the back of the restaurant. Others had troubles hearing, too, so it was not only us needing the questions repeated on several occasions. "Nothing Tips Like a Cow", our team's name, took 3rd place which means next time, we have $10 to spend toward our meals. Or $3.33 per family! Cary and Nancy from Victory joined the fun, too, again and he ordered a piece of cake for dessert. It was absolutely enormous and we just laughed at it. Jesse thought it looked good so had a piece too as Justin and I enjoyed our cherry pie ala mode. When the bills came, it showed the chocolate cake as being "Cake for Two"....now they tell us! The 3rd place prize would barely cover the cost of that slice of cake. We won't make that mistake again...Our waitress was new and she likely did not know it either until she rang it in. It certainly lived up to its name! I was still in "pie mode" (ha, get it?) from being in WI and so was Justin, since I brought him a slice when I came home. Their desserts seem to be homemade, especially the pies. Stephanie's mom, Jean, was with us, too, from Janesville. She came for Erica's graduation and is helping with VBS this week with her daughter and granddaughter. My leftover pot roast with mashed potatoes made a lovely lunch for me today, thank you very much!

Tonight is the last choir rehearsal for the season, as we sing on Sunday. Our anthem is Psalm 150, one of our all-time favorites, which had been directed many years ago by Gordy. The sheet music is all marked up with men and women's parts being moved up and around, all around. Robbie, The Maestro, is changing back to its original writing but it sure makes for some fun rehearsals. Men who usually sing tenor are singing bass, and vice versa. Now that I am back, Kristi can help the altos instead of singing soprano, as I can carry that part by myself. Since Suzanne, our first chair alto, left, the altos need a stronger voice to help them along. Kristi is able to move back and forth, which I admire greatly. Perhaps next fall when we resume, we can find more willing voices to help round us out. Brian H. is moving to New Jersey later this month so there goes one of our tenors. Pastor and Sterling remain as the men of the group, and three or four of us ladies for the upper voices. We have to keep our music simple to match our skills!

It is Wednesday! That means it is cheap hamburger night at McDonalds, where I normally stop on the way home from choir. I have not have a burger in ages, since before I left for WI. Do not cry for me, though, as I had bratwurst and perch sandwiches when I was away, plus a magnificent steak sandwich at the Charcoal Grille. I really should have stopped there once more before leaving town to have another one! Maybe tonight my usual sleep pattern will return and I will go to sleep at the 'normal' time for me, instead of me staying awake later, due to the time change. Often I would fall asleep with Bill O'Reilly and wake up to him as well the next morning. That did not work in Manitowoc because everything happens an hour earlier than it does here. So I laugh myself to sleep with "Frasier" or "Seinfeld" reruns...and last night, "Friends" did the trick.

I am nearly done with my book, "Why Johnny Can't Sing Hymns" which took me longer to plow through than I expected. One section was quite involved, including a study on contemporaneity and other topics such as historicism. Hmmmm.....The same book that started out with me in tears had me scratching my head and looking things up on-line for compare. The sign of a good book, as this, is that it makes you think. The next book I wish to finish is "The Freedom Writer's Diary" which is halfway done, and then one of my other more sociological reads waiting for me. More head-scratching coming my way. Softcovered books work better at the pool but more of mine are hard-covers. Right now I don't see one of the books of I was thinking of reading, which makes me wonder if I took that one to WI with me, and left there. No worries, there are plenty 'virgin' books here for me to press into service!

Tomorrow evening is a fund-raiser at The Club which Julia is giving me a ticket to, hopefully she will get the ticket before I go over there. It is a tapas and wine tasting event to raise funds for an Alzheimer-type center similar to the Senior Center for Clay County. Free is good, and perhaps I can make a small donation in exchange for my free admission! Time to get ready for choir, splash some toothpaste around my bathrooom before I go!