Yesterday after church a nice group of us went to Sam's St. John Seafood to have lunch for Gretchen's birthday. She is 85, I think, or perhaps 86, but seems much younger at heart. She is a stitch!!! Before the meals came she opened some of the birthday cards she had gotten at church with one particular card bringing down the house. On the cover it showed two little girls in birthday hats with the text---"You're another year older..." and on the inside it said---"and I'm not!" But the funny part is the uproarious laughter that the card plays when opened. Contagious laughter, like Hawkeye Pierce's laugh from MASH. Oh my gosh! What a hoot! Jackie was the presenter of that card and she hit a home run with it, in my mind.
Justin had his first visit to Sam's Seafood and ordered the fish sandwich. It was enormous and he licked up every bit of it. The portions are generous there and I usually order the fried pollock which is a nice, neutral fish I can tolerate. Next time, it's the sandwich for me with just the right amount of pollock to make a meal for me. I could easily dump it off the bun, which was sizable, and also omit the lettuce and tomato. Ethel teased Justin that he ate like me as he dismembered his fish sandwich. However, he does eat fish tacos, which I cannot wrap my head around!!
Anyway, Gretchen brought her laughing card along to add a laugh track to our Bible study and our lunch later. I had told Linda about the card the night before so prior to class getting started, I called Linda on her cell phone so I could have her listen to it over the phone. She was at work but said she had a moment to listen to it. Later in the day she told me she had to explain to the pastors what all the laughter was about, and I wasn't even there!!!!
At Longhorn, we asked to sit in a different person's area due to last week's experience with Jason, but he ended up serving us anyway. Of the six of us there, only one didn't feel funny about being asked to tip extra heavy last week---Jackie, of course. She felt sorry for him, struggling to make ends meet, etc. Pleading his case, Jackie rattled off his fine points of always remembering what type of drink we get, saying he gives us good service, and so on. This is not always true as it seems he is often flustered but is very nice while being flustered. Every time Jackie orders the sweet potato, she asks for no cinnamon but inevitably, it comes with it. Today was no exception, she had to scrape off the cinnamon as best she could. I wonder how large a tip Jason got for the extra cinnamon from Jackie....
It got really quiet for a second when Jackie defended Jason's request for extra tips and at that point, Gretchen pulled out her laugh track birthday card to liven things up. She is such a hoot! As we sat and enjoyed our time around the table, she told us she was going to just record our laughter at the table to listen to at home. Nice! I treated her to lunch and she thanked me for that, but Judy jokingly asked, "Should we have them come over to sing happy birthday?" Gretchen threw her hands up and said, "No, no, no, no, no", because she just HATES that, and we knew it. At the next table was a gaggle of ladies celebrating someone else's birthday and when they were singing to her, Gretchen remarked, "I'm so glad that's not me!"
She had to put some more money into her car over the weekend, as her air conditioner went out. Back to her old friends at Pep Boys to replace her compressor. As much as she dislikes putting money into her car, she said, "I use my air conditioner alot!" She likes to be cool and was not complaining one bit about the temperature today. However, she kept her cardigan on all during class and in the restaurant which is unusual.
Last week she had surprise company as her daughter-in-law and granddaughter came to town from TX for a visit to Nemours Hospital. The granddaughter had been diagnosed with cancer as a toddler and, following treatment, has to come back every so often for check-ups and such. Good for Gretchen and good for Rebecca! She was so thrilled to see them again.
Justin had a long day once more but was not as worn out as he was on Friday, when it was hot out. He took his shower upon getting home and then came in here to fill me in on his day. Generally he gets home when The Five is on and he knows how much I enjoy that show. It's better if he can wait to overflow with words until 6:00 pm, to have my full attention. There will be a test!
One of the major commercial jobs they do is a senior living property and he usually has stories about it. He has already picked out a unit for me, as they are similar to townhouses on some parts of the property. The little grandma's and grandpa's often want the guys to do stuff for them "as long as you are here" but they are not supposed to do that.
He gets frustrated that they don't understand or follow the protocol for getting extra work done but I defend them, of course. One day he said he couldn't get mad at this one lady who chased him down with her walker because she reminded him of Lucy, from Victory. He loves Lucy (is that a cliche?) and would never think of being mean to her. Nor should he be mean to those folks over there. I asked him how he would like it if someone at Grandma's apartment building was rude to her and he said, "That's different..." I don't think it is!
But, what had him upset this time was one of the landscape workers from other company they combine efforts with on this property, being 'useless'. Jesse and he think the job should take 3 hours but their boss thinks it should take longer. This allows time to dilly dally for some on the team, and drives Justin wild. He would sooner get the work done and not to have slow down to accommodate the less-than-inspired workers from the other crew. Their boss showed up on the job and was able to witness the efforts, or absence of effort, from his partner's team and will hopefully address it.
Before Justin left for work this a.m.(I was awake early) he reported making sandwiches which would explain the mess I would find in the kitchen. Last week he had problems with the sandwiches he made using the BO/GO loaves of bread we bought Monday. The crusts were so dry, he claims, that they nearly choked him. I wonder now, without going to look, if it is diet bread, the stuff made with saw dust??? Anyway, my landscaper son took sandwiches today with the crusts cut-off, like finger sandwiches. Very dainty in his enormous hands! I could not help but chuckle at this picture!
For our dinner, I reheated the spaghetti dish from last week, added two hot dogs from the meat drawer, plus the remaining half of my steak from lunch. All in the same pan in the oven which made for some interesting flavors. We each got a hunk of steak, a good portion of the pasta dish, and a baked hot dog. We are members now of the Clean Plate Club as we finished our leftovers and polished off the remainder of his second attempt at the Strawberry Pretzel Torte.
While we ate, Justin and I watched the end of "Seinfeld", The Marine Biologist episode, with the greatest laugh line in the history of the show. I never grow weary of that scene in the diner, when George pulls the golf ball out of his shirt pocket and see the look on Kramer's face...
After this we watched Jeopardy! and Justin was beside himself about the woman playing at the 3rd podium. He was convinced that she looked like me and made faces like I do, and gestures like me, and was 'cute like you..." I think she won so we will see her again tomorrow if we are home to watch the show. Justin paid me a compliment and I wonder if he knows it. He said, "Oh, when they show her up close, you are prettier than she is..." Thank you, Justin! He wanted to call his grandma to see if she agreed that person looked like me but I reminded him she watches at 6:00 pm central time and this was at 8:00 pm our time. I should have encouraged him to call her anyway, right?
The dishwasher is busily taking care of the dishes while we ready ourselves for sleep. Good night, all!
