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No longer on the river and, again, an empty nester. Back to living on Fleming Island and making some more friends!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Filling in some more blanks

A few more things occurred to me which took place during my time here but weren’t recorded for posterity, including Linda and I having lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings on Tuesday before Ladies’ Bible study. I ordered the fried dill pickles to share and had chicken sliders as my entrĂ©e. Linda had the pulled pork, I believe. Oh, that Bible study is something else and when it was done that day, my second time attending this visit , I said to Linda, “I envy you…” because it is such a good, in-depth study. They are looking at II Samuel covering the decline of Saul’s reign and the ascension of David into the role of king over Israel. Kathy W., the leader, uses the notes made by her late husband, who was a pastor and missionary. No dozing off in this class or you’ll for sure miss something!

On Wednesday the weather was at last decent enough (i.e. not too cold!) for Mom, Lynn, and me to get our pedicures. It was too cold in December/January when I was there to have them done, Mom’s birthday treat to me, and we were running short on days this time, too. We had to suck it up and do it! Not exactly flip-flop wearing days but we muscled through. The place they like to go at ShopKo Plaza is called Sassy’s. Not a busy place but at least 10 chairs and no waiting for us. While we three were being worked on, the Travel Network was on, showing restaurants around the US whose specialties were Italian foods. Oh my goodness! I wonder if I get this channel on my TV. Our mouths were watering at the sights and sounds of Italian food being prepared, served, and enjoyed.

We went then to ShopKo so I could look at the shoes. They always have such cute ones there and I did find a couple pairs I liked. Sadly, only one of the pairs I liked came in my size, marked at $10 on sale. Cool beans! When I got to the register, they rang up at only $6.43, as there was another discount on top the sale price. More cool beans! That’s only a bit more than $3 a shoe!  Mom was not successful in finding the right type of shoe for her feet, as she needs a strap on them to secure her them to her feet. She is fixed with sandals but is always in search of better or different church shoes. Even though it snowed a couple times while I am here, the spring line of shoes brings more sandal-styled footwear. Mom will keep looking though.

At one point during our outing, Mom lost her sunglasses from her coat pocket. After the three of us ate our lunch at Panda Express, Lynn and I retraced our steps in search of the missing eyewear, inquiring at the stores we shopped in and where we had our pedicures, without success. Mom was devastated at the loss because Lynn had bought them for her as a gift, plus they did the trick in keeping the brightness in check. But, at least we tried to locate them.

That night was Lenten worship and the soup ‘n sandwich supper following the service (that’s a lot of S’s there!). The service begins at 4:00 pm which works great for the students of the school to attend, as well as their parents, with the evening meal taken care of. The next service begins at 6:30 so folks can come to eat before the service as well. We tried having a meal at GS on Ash Wednesday one year but it didn’t go over very well. This one at FG certainly does with various ‘groups’ in the congregation sponsoring it each week. A free will donation is taken which helps toward covering the costs and members donate desserts. This last time I had a giant chocolate frosted rice krispie treat with peanut butter in it for dessert, and I couldn’t even finish it! 
In these two weeks of my stay in Manty, I didn’t make as many meals as I’d done over the Christmas visit. I did make Mom and I grilled cheese sandwiches with blackberry jelly one morning for breakfast, plus prepared a pork roast Jill provided for dinner one night. Also made spaghetti and meatballs which we had two nights for dinner plus one meal of pork chops with au gratin potatoes. We must have had more meals at home but right now, I can’t think of them. When they come to me, and they are noteworthy, I can add them in!