Carol had gotten movie info for our group to go today but we did not know about Mary's 'emergency' patient this a.m. We decided that if she was tied up as it got closer to movie time, we would just go Saturday instead. I had only found "The Artist" at a single theater near 5 Points but Carol kept checking AMC to see if they would bring it back. Yup, they did! We will at last get to see it, since we tried the first time a month ago!
Normally I do not watch much 'weather news' but today I have been keeping an eye on things as tornadoes weave around the heartland and even south into Alabama. TN got hit again, as it had a week or so ago, and last year. I hope the people I know and love in Knoxville and Maryville are doing okay. I talked on the phone with Linda J. for an hour and a half this afternoon as she was watching heavy snow fall around her house, and we both agreed snow is far better than a tornado. But then, the snow 'covered' her DISH, and now, that's a problem! She told me Tommy rigged up an attachment to his branch trimmer device to use for removing snow from the DISH...that guy is so innovative!
Late yesterday afternoon Judy C. called, wondering if I had plans for dinner. I had thought of having leftovers but I would love to meet her for dinner. She had coupons for "Steak 'n Shake" so we went there before Bible study. My lovely dinner of a steak sandwich, fries, and Diet Coke cost me less than $4.00. Cannot go wrong with that!
I had been so hungry for cheeseburgers since we stayed home from Trivia on Tuesday night, so I had the mini-burgers at lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. As you see in the photo, the little pile of pickles is for real, and I love them on the sliders. I ate two of them and only a few fries, the rest coming home with me. Justin ordered the bbq bacon cheeseburger, which is what Sheldon orders there on The Big Bang Theory. The juice was just running out of the burger and it looked sooo good! Therefore, I had my fill of cheeseburgers on Thursday!
Bible study at Victory was fabulous, every chair filled again. It was Justin's likely last time for a while now that he's getting extra hours at his landscape job. He picked up Jesse's hours today because he had a doctor appointment so Justin will be extra happy, and extra weary when he gets home.
Oh, I nearly forgot to mention what happened after dinner last night---Judy left ahead of me, making our way toward Blanding Blvd. from Wells Road. The traffic lights got us off of Wells and into a very long line of cars heading north, toward church. It was then I realized that everything, everything! was dark ahead of us. No lights, no traffic signals, only car lights as far as the eye could see. Oh no! There was no place to go but forward and even if I wanted to, I could not have moved over far enough to pull into a parking lot. We were committed!
Now, how were we going to turn onto Argyle Forest, with no signals??? Perhaps there was a cop directing traffic? Nope...all of a sudden our line was moving and away we went around the corner, as cars wishing to go straight tried to pursuade us otherwise. I wonder how the turning cars managed to get around the corner in front of us, and how the going straight across managed to return to going straight...I didn't stick around to find out.
As we went up the hill toward church, it was pitch dark. All the stores were blackened, even the Publix, which is really a problem. It occurred to me that we would be in the dark at church as well. Oh oh....I pulled into the parking lot after Judy did and saw other vehicles there, more than usual for BIC. It seemed that Mike K. and Lonnie were attempting to get the parking lot lights operable again (they had been repaired once this year already!). I asked Mike, "What did you guys do? You knocked out the power for the whole area!!" He laughed and said, "We were nervous about messing around with the lights so we went downtown and threw the switch for the whole city!" It was nothing to laugh about but we did anyway. I asked Judy what she thought about Amber getting around that corner (certainly that wouldn't happen again, right??) so she called Amber, catching her before she left her parking lot. Whew! Amber was able to pull back in, just in time.
Judy and I made our way back to the classroom building where the emergency lighting was on in the hallway. There we found Pastor with a tiny flashlight and told him Judy called Amber and said not to come. He was looking in his phone for Mike S. phone number to let him know not to come, but Mike was already in the parking lot! I wasn't THAT dark that we didn't see him! No, he had just pulled in...and the lights came back on! Since Amber wasn't coming, Judy didn't want to tell her to come back, and class was cancelled.
Judy arranged to stop by at Amber's house to help her copy the notes from last week's class, which worked out well. Amber is having a bit of trouble grasping it all, so having Judy help her with the notes will be a plus. Amber is out of work right now on medical leave due to her having troubles concentrating after her stroke. The doctors are adjusting her medications and such to help her with focus and such, and we hope that does the trick so she can get back to work.
Justin was surprised to hear me come back in since I was about an hour and a half early. He was in the family room getting ready to watch "American Idol". At one point he came into my room to have me Google something and then stayed, asking me to change the channel to "Idol". Ugh! Good thing I love him! He wanted to see/hear one of the performers, a guy from WI that he was rooting for. It is simply painful for me to look upon the ugly woman on the panel named Steven Tyler! Justin's guy didn't make the final cut so I was released to go back to watching yet again, "The Godfather"!
