The Lost Friday

Friday went by so quickly, it seems. It began with friends and ended with them, but different sets. I like that! Early in the morning, I walked over to the “Breakfast Club”, as I have taken to calling it, since we have not played games for several weeks.  This time only Carol W. was there which is perfectly fine with me. She is the wife of Randy, our token man at water aerobics. He was expected to join us but he goes to the gym first and sometimes forgets to come for breakfast. She did not leave him a note as a reminder. Carol invited me to join them at an Italian restaurant in Mandarin to hear Randy play the piano at dinner time but I was already booked for Dinner and A Movie. My other friend, Mary, was going along as well.

After breakfast, on the way out, one of my pool friends, who works in the office, called to me. Patty wanted to know how many tickets I wanted for the upcoming fashion show. I was going to order two at some point but since she caught me, the first two sold were mine! The show is a fund raiser for the Quigley House, a home for battered women and their kids, for which my friend, Penny, works. Hmmm…I had better confirm the date so I don’t accidentally double-book. When Justin cleaned out the pantry, we got a few items together to donate to Quigley House. All I have to do is get it to Penny.

When I got home, I busied myself getting the soup made for our dinner. I had soaked the beans overnight in baking soda in an attempt to defuse them somewhat. I had mentioned to Justin that I can use a can of chicken broth to help flavor it since the packet in the bean bag said “chicken flavoring” on it. I am a bit slow on the uptake because I did NOT notice the bean soup was meant to have chicken added to it rather than ham. I never even knew to verify that but so what? In went the broth, the season packet, and cut up ham, and a handful of shredded carrots.

What I did not bargain for was the inability to properly ‘boil’ the soup since the pot was so full. If it came to a rolling boil as the directions said it should, soup would splash out onto the stove. If it did not boil enough, the beans would be tough when dinner came around. Fortunately, when Justin straightened the pantry closet, the large stew pot came to the front, allowing me to reach it down. Using both hands and one foot, I managed to pour the larger kettle of bean soup into the larger still pot, with plenty of room for boiling and stirring. Problem solved!

Justin was going to try using his own car for going to work and but if that didn’t work out, he was taking mine. When I went out for breakfast, my car was gone which lead me to believe his would not start. We needed his to be able to run in order to get to the repair shop in the morning, so I was sad. Later, when he came home, he said the car did start but he was concerned it would not again when it was time to leave work. The landscape equipment is kept deep into a neighborhood, actually beyond it, and would be hard to give a wrecker-driver directions to help him if he needed it. Seems reasonable.   

  

When he came home from work, he asked if I needed anything from the store. Sure! He went to Winn Dixie and got fresh dinner rolls and some bread for making sandwiches. Betty drinks regular Coke so he got her a small bottle for the evening. When he came back, I asked him what he had gone to get, thinking he wanted something for himself. He said he did not need anything, but knew he had left me without a car all day…What a nice guy he is!

The soup turned out wonderfully, despite the chicken flavoring, and all were happy. The ladies, Betty and Robin C., were glad to see Justin and spend some time with him. Once we finished our meal, Justin cleared things away as we ladies got set to watch our movie, “Midnight in Paris”. Robin had brought brownies and Betty, a coffee cake which tasted like a cheese cake. Yummy for dessert! Justin was going to hang out with his other friends but when he went to start his car, it would not. Instead of using mine and joining his friends, he jump started his, drove around awhile to get the battery filled back up, and then stayed home! He watched the end of the movie with us (said it looked good, what he saw of it!) and spent the evening with us old ladies! He said he did not wish to fool around with his car in the morning, wise choice!

My neighbor, Randy, offered to plug his charger into Justin’s battery overnight but Justin kindly refused this suggestion, being sure that now the battery was fully charged and ready to go. Other of my neighbors offered their help if we encountered problems with the car on the way to the shop, or to just get out of the parking lot, and I am so so thankful for the support. Now, just to get it fixed…awesome!