Two seconds to write....

.......starting--NOW!

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I am just about to leave for Bible study at Victory, anxious to see/hear what the subject matter will be today. Last time was about the family, society, how God established the family, the pecking order, about relationships, etc. So interesting!

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Immediately after class I must shoot right over to Ruby Tuesday to meet some of my former co-workers from Sprint, where I worked for nearly five years prior to Timmy being born. Judy J. always kicks my butt for leaving only a few months shy of being fully vested in the Sprint retirement fund thingy but my services were required elsewhere. It really would have been close to impossible to handle all that---a new baby, a nine-year-old, plus two jobs. Come on, Judy, give me a break, okay???

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I am looking forward to seeing the ladies again, hoping I remember them once I see the faces. Agnes called me, insisting, "Now, write this down so you don't forget..." because the ladies want me to come. I will probably be the youngest one but I really have no problem with that. After lunch I must stop at the store to get the ingredients for the taco salad and prepare that when I get home. I might have to get some margarita mix or something equally festive to serve with our meal, something in keeping with Cinco de Mayo!

Oh, oh...am I in trouble?

No posting yesterday! Two on Monday does not count for missing one on Tuesday....

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It was a full day for me, but really, I can make no excuses. When I first got up, before Joanne did, my time was spent with the Windex and dust cloth, polishing glass and moving dust around, as Mom would say, in my formal rooms. When Joanne came out, we sat and talked a while as she filled me in on her first day at Court. After cooling her heels and being interviewed much of the day, eventually she was selected to serve on a jury for a criminal case. While she cannot tell me any information regarding the case or what is involved, she can describe for me the process and processes she witnessed. The jury was finally seated at 4:30 pm and heard opening testimony until 5:30 on the dot.

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She was exhausted when she got home, late, because she still had work to do at the office afterward. Joanne said she was not the only business person on call for jury duty and wonders how other people do it, when they are the bosses and not simply another person's employee, how can they leave their business for sometimes weeks. Joanne is not allowed the discuss the case, read the papers, listen to the news, or conduct research on her own. An example is, if she heard an expression or a word she did not understand or wanted clarified, she must wait until the end of the trial at deliberations to ask for clarification. Wow!

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Early in the day I spent time playing a bit of phone tag with the carpet cleaning people I use. Sunday night I spoke with Adam who was going to turn me over to Aaron, who usually takes care of things for me, and have him call me Monday. Well, that day came and went, with me sort of forgetting about it, too. Tuesday I called back and Adam gave me Aaron's number to call directly. He had forgotten to call me back and now we had to shuffle to get the rugs cleaned before Thursday's dinner. Wednesday he was not working as his wife and he were going with their daughter on a field trip to St. Augustine. After much forth and back, we finally came up with a Tuesday afternoon appointment. Okay! Great!

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EXCEPT...Kathy B., who has never been to Joe's Crab Shack before, had planned to go out there together after my dental cleaning appointment, arriving at the beach about 1:00 pm. She wanted badly to look for shark teeth after lunch which means it would have been late afternoon for us to get back here. When I called her, she immediately suggested we regroup and come up with an alternate plan, which turned out to be Whitey's Fish Camp, on the water, lunch, with clean teeth! The carpet man said I should call him when I was done with lunch and he would meet me here to do the rugs and carpets, finishing before I had to leave to meet Martie for supper and Art Guild. Whew!

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Kathy and I had a wonderful time on the porch at Whitey's, enjoying the delightful weather and equally delightful food and drink. I had the "Jamaica Me Crazy" fruity drink and she had her diet beer. One of Justin's former teachers was there and she asked about "my handsome son". I gave her the Reader's Digest version, telling her how he must make up some lost time, lost credits over summer because of messing up his last semester. His teacher told me she retired a couple years ago from St. Johns, was remarried, and has done lots of traveling. She has just gotten back from the Mediterranean and I told her Justin and I had been there a couple times together. Nice lady!

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After lunch I stopped in at the booty shop to make an appointment for a hair cut for Friday morning. Jennifer R. had already called Tuesday morning to ask me to breakfast on Friday but we will be done with that before my hair cutting time. Once in the car and driving home, I made the call to Aaron, giving him the "all clear" to meet at my house with his machinery. He said he had one stop to make first and then he would be there. It was around 2:00 when I called him so I made sure to go straight home so he would not have to wait for me. Martie and I were meeting before Art Guild for a quick bite so I knew I had be out of here by 5:45 at least to go meet her. Aaron and Jennifer, his wife, did not show up until almost 4:30!!! Kathy and I could have gone to the beach after all!!!!!

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As always, though, Aaron gave me an amazing price for the carpet cleaning, and said he would close the place up for me when they finished, so I did not have to stick around to wait for them. It was great to come home to freshly cleaned rugs and carpets, and they even got the chocolate stain from the river room rug, dripped there by someone's darling granddaughter.....Martie must never know.....shhh!

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Martie and I enjoyed a light repast on the porch at Dairy Queen, close to her office and only blocks from our meeting place. She was quite excited to be going on a cruise, courtesy of her son and family (including the chocolate dripper!) in July. I nearly asked if I could go along, but I will be traveling up until June 14th myself. We shall see....might reconsider and invite myself along. They would not have to entertain me, I can certainly do that myself on the deck of the ship. Anyway, we arrived at Art Guild in time to not have to set up chairs. As Mentor, it is my job to greet people when they come in, have them sign-in, introduce myself to new members, etc. The official membership Chair was not there with the sign-in sheets so we had a piece of tablet paper to work with. The area was small where sign-in took place due to the art swap happening after the meeting, so I hung back a bit. I recognized most of the faces, only a few visitors last night, making my job quite easy.

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Martie, Dee, Anita, and I shared a row of chairs and both Dee and I were called forward to receive our gift bags from the retiring President. Every year Caroline has prepared these lovely bags for the Board members, including some special thing in each bag, personal to the member. Mine including a 20-ounce bottle of Diet Coke!!!! Oh, how I loved that! In fact, I just finished the soda now as I finished this posting! Thanks, Caroline!!!

I had a fling!

Oh, my! Look at the delicious strawberries and chocolate sensations before us! Now this is what I call a Spring Fling! Judy C. is removing the protective covers from the dessert spread as we are ready to begin our fun afternoon. Janet called upon me to lead the prayer and I was honored to do so! On the wall above where Judy is working you can see a framed piece, The Lord's Prayer, which was a gift to us from my sister, Lori, when Timmy died. The brass plaque reads: The Big One, which is what Timmy called The Lord's Prayer.

The ladies wait for the next fashion model to come out with her up-to-date outfit on. Kathy B. is on the left in blue, behind her is Ethel, and across from Ethel is Gretchen. At the end of the table is Carol D. and her daughter, Laurie.

In the foreground here is Twila Squared, Twila's (in the yellow top) granddaughter. In pink is Donna W. and her daughter-in-law next to her, with her mom behind her, next to Twila.

Here is Anna in her lovely "Ball Gown", all decorated in every sort of orb! Such great fun this fashion show was! It seems that Anna did not mind one bit serving as a model for the show, which makes my heart quite pleased!

These fine ladies joined us from Victory Lutheran, where I attend Bible study and occasionally worship on Saturdays with Justin. Bonnie, in the black top, is the church secretary; next to her is Nancy M., a fellow scrapbooker, and next to her is Marilyn, who is a former co-worker with Terri T., the person who helped me dish up the cake for the New Member Welcome. It was great for these two ladies to get together again, a wonderful surprise for Terri! In front of Marilyn is our party favor, a clay flower pot with decorated cup cakes stuck inside. The "flowers" are actually mini marshmallows!

This table of young ladies came to us from another end of the county, Christ Lutheran, in Keystone Heights. We will be serving as a joint ministry with this congregation as their pastor is retiring and the congregation can no longer afford a pastor. Ours will serve them with worship at 1:30 in the afternoons on Sunday three times a month, with one of our members, a former Lutheran school teacher, being Certified as a Staff Minister, to help serve both congregations. This will begin soon so it was nice to have these people come up to make our acquaintence. Some of us plan to go down there to worship on occasion, too, to lend moral and "sisterly" support to Christ Lutheran.

Here is the line up of models from the fashion show, with Janet, our hostess supreme: Far left is Janet; next is her daughter, Tamara, sporting her "14 carrot" ring (mini carrots fashioned into a ring!); Tam's friend, Jennifer who wore the turtles around her neck earlier; Lynn K. in her "evening gown", covered in stars; her daughter, Anna, in the ball gown; and Judy C. in her "sack dress"!

This is a "before" picture of the sandwich and appetizer table, before the guests devoured it. At the end were finger sandwiches and mini-quiches. All was delicious and the company amazing. We are pleased to have 60 ladies attend, some with daughters, in-laws, moms, sisters, or simply with their sisters in Christ! I borrowed a mom, Judy J., and am glad she came. She had a great time, lots of laughs and good fellowship. This will be a difficult show to follow, if it happens again next year---I suspect it will!

Monday on the river

Yesterday, at church, Jennifer P. asked me about sitting out by the pool, when we discussed whether their pool was warm enough to swim in. She said her boys went in, and then came out to warm themselves on the pavers around the pool where the heat was stored. I told her I had not been poolside this season, except one day in March before my court hearing. She was surprised because I am tan, which I attribute to sitting here in my window with the sun beaming in on me. This does not get my legs any color at all, being under the desk, so I must consider making plans to sit poolside during the day and tan my legs soon!
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Last night I stayed up late to write and watch TV in the family room. Joanne came in well after dark, did a bit of cooking before heading to bed because of rising early for jury duty. Normally the family room is her domain and because I had not turned on the A/C since getting home late afternoon, she was too warm to sit in there with me. I told her to turn on the air if she wanted to, which did cool it off enough for her to move out of the river room to where I was. After going to bed, I heard Jo get back up some time later, her thinking that I had gone to bed and left the lights on. But nope, I was still in there, using the laptop to communicate with the world. I doubt she got a full night's sleep, because I suspect she got up again later, since the TV channel was set this a.m. to the Weather Channel, which I swear I was not watching when I shut it off! Sometimes, the harder you try to go to sleep, the worse it is to actually do it!
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This a.m. I did lie in bed a whole lot longer than normally would, due in part to staying up so late last night. When I woke up the last time, I heard the 'parting music' to "Monk" playing on my TV, which means it was after 8:00 a.m.! Wow, that is late for me. I got myself showered, dressed and ready for the day just in time to leave for Bible study. Kathy B. and I established that she was to be called when we finished class so she could join us for lunch. She had no school today or tomorrow because the school where she teaches is being 'sanitized' due to a student testing positive for the H1N1 flu. Yippee! A free day off! She did join us for lunch and is spending the balance of her day taking care of things around the house, making good use of her 'snow day'. Lynn K., our pastor's wife, thought she was off today too but not so. She very much looked forward to having a couple free days, as well, but it was not to be.
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When I got home from the restaurant, carrying my to-go box with me across the parking lot, the maintenance lady, Connie, yelled to me. I must have looked startled because she apologized for making it sound scary....She asked me if my neighbor, Donna, had said anything to me about the snake. No, what snake??? Connie told me she was hosing off the promenades and courtyards on Friday, and when she got to my door, she noticed a long, grey snake intertwined in the bars on the kitchen door!!!! AAAAHHHHH! I could not believe it and have to wonder just how long it had been there, and why I didn't see it. What if I had? What would I have done about it???? Piled chairs against the inside wood door to keep it out, I guess. Connie used an extension rod to coax it to wrap around the stick and one of the young men downstairs escorted it to the island in the basin. Yikes! Here is the bad, scary part---my kitchen door, the wood one, was not quite closed tightly, which means that wicked serpent could have found its way into my house. She suggested we no longer keep the house doors open (what???) so no snakes come in. How did it get up there in the first place???? Oh, honestly!

Sunday evening coming down

Poor Joanne! She has to get up extremely early in the morning tomorrow to report for Jury duty downtown in Jacksonville, as she is still a registered voter in Duval. She called the appointed number tonight to make sure she needed to show up and the message said all those contacted must appear...by 8:30 a.m. They park at the football stadium and are shuttled over to the courthouse, having to be front and center for duty promptly at 8:30! That means she has to leave home at least by 7:00 a.m.! Joanne plans to go to bed early so she can get up easily in the a.m. You sure don't want to mess with City Hall, or the courthouse!

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This a.m. I picked up the beautiful cake and table decorations for the New Member Welcome, plus three cases of soda, at Publix. Spring green was my color of choice and looked quite festive when completely set up. The three new members posed with the cake and then it was cut and served. I had a helper come to move the line along after the kids were done picking out which piece they wanted, with my "emergency cake" not needed to be cut into. I was concerned the 1/4 sheet wouldn't go all the way around, but it did, just barely!

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Janet was waiting less than patiently for these festivities to be over so the room could be set up for our 60 ladies coming that afternoon for the Mother/Daughter event. Tables were set up and chairs put in place. Judy J. was my "mom" and we were allowed to sit at the "VIP" table because I was the one leading the prayer. We had ladies from the sistering congregations there, too, which was wonderful. We had all finger foods, no silverware, including sandwiches, mini quiche, and desserts. The fashion show was a hoot, with funny outfits made up. For instance, a T-shirt with tea bags attached to the bottom of a shirt; a "ball gown" which was a formal with all sorts of different balls attached to it; an "evening gown" with nothing but stars decorating the dress...see the pattern? It was just a hoot with little girls and no longer young women serving as models.

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Just prior to the event getting underway, Kathy B. got a phone call from the school where she teaches, reporting that there was no school for the next two days because of the flu! She did not know if it was preventative or if a case has been discovered, but Lynn, our Pastor's wife, was so relieved to have two days off! She also teaches and has been working some long hours recently, getting things ready to wrap up for the end of the year. She said she was going to sleep all day tomorrow....or at least late! Kathy B. is joining us for lunch but not Bible study because she, too, wants to sleep! I have such a good life, sleeping anytime I want to----well, almost anyway!

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The choir sang twice today, once singing the psalm with the congregation plus the response after the 2nd reading. Suzanne said when she was singing the words as part of worship, she got a bit choked up. Guess I am rubbing off on people! "Every knee shall bow, every tongue shall sing that Jesus Christ is Lord!" We also sang "Draw Near" as the first communion distribution hymn, followed by "I Am Jesus' Little Lamb", since it was Good Shepherd Sunday. Oh, dear! Carol knew it was a funeral hymn and she came to sit down next to me. She reached over to pull out a hymnal and said, "We can do this...." and proceeded to sing along. Nothing came out of me but tears, and then it was my turn to go up for communion. I was mopping as I made my way from the pew and up the aisle, and Janet reached over to squeeze my hand as we stood to go to the rail. Kristi was behind me and patted my shoulders. It was under control through the Sacrament and when I got back to my row, I reached over to get a tissue from the MIDI speaker. Kristi came along and gave me a giant hug, and then, when Suzanne came back, she hugged me, too.

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I just cannot help it, and I imagine folks think "Isn't she over this yet?" or similar thoughts. Though Timmy died just over 8 years ago, but it feels like yesterday sometimes. I certainly know I have nothing to fear for my child, he is safe with the Lord, as Jesus' little lamb, but I still miss him terribly. And am sad he is gone from me. "....and when my short life if ended, by His angel host attended, He shall fold me to His breast, there within His arms to rest." And some might wonder why this makes me cry? REALLY??? I am also quite moved by the expressions of love, comfort and concern from my friends, and that is why I love them all so much!!!

The little "bad" elf on my shoulder....

........says, "Oh, go ahead and blog, you have time...." while the Good Elf tells me to remember my new discipline...

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I will, I promise to keep an eye on the time. This morning I must stop at the Argyle Publix to pick up the cake for New Member Welcome on my way to church. I am also getting a plastic table cover, paper plates and plastic forks so all can be wrapped in the cloth and disposed of, for quick cleaning. I will not have to worry about cleaning up too much because there is another function this afternoon, the Mother/Daughter Spring Fling! Janet is the hostess for that and it is going to be a hoot! We are having a fashion show complete with comedic outfits, featuring McDonald's wrappers and something with bells attached. I cannot give away too much, only a tickler to get the ladies to come. Not a problem, there are 60 signed up!

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Yesterday was wonderful, just wonderful! After a lovely morning at home, I quickly straightened up my room to avoid further criticism from my housemate, and then concentrated on The Palace Press. A much shorter newsletter than the church letter, it does not take me very long to get it out the door. Or off the keys as it were. Now that the roof and elevator project are completed for the most part, there are fewer "fires" to put out. We are gearing up for the painting and sealing of cracks, etc. on the exterior of the building. This will certainly cause some fireworks, expected or unexpected. When approached by several people to serve on the official Board of the condo assoc., I respectfully declined, not wanting to give up my "role" as peace keeper, or disinterested third party, as the case might be. Hugh compliments my work on the newsletter, telling me that no one can tell "what side" of an issue I am on based on my writing. Only what the information is, stated in a somewhat straightforward manner. "We report, you decide": I learned well!

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Once that newsletter was completed, I needed to only print one off because Gus does not have Internet to receive his. I delivered it to his door and left for Lake Asbury for Hanna's birthday party. I was thinking about Tarren as I drove, as she is Hanna's godmother. If they hadn't moved to IL, I bet they would be at the party, as well. I had printed off directions from our buddies, Mapquest.com, to help me find the neighborhood where Janet and Suzanne live, because I can never remember if they off the road by Winn Dixie or beyond W/D. It was beyond, but the quest directions took me halfway to Penney Farms before I just knew this was not right. Ricky's parents live down this way so that is why I have trouble remembering which is which. I turned around and managed to find their house with little trouble, once putting the goofy, messed up directions away. I think we all have Mapquest nightmares to share, right Linda?

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The birthday party was underway when I arrived but I managed to find a seat poolside and enjoy the warm weather. John was cooking hamburgers and hot dogs, Michael running forth and back to get things, and Judy was swinging on the swing with Teresa. The kids enjoyed the pool and the water slide Judy brought with her. It is the inflatable type with water running over it, and the kids come down into a pool of water at the end of it. I got a firsthand look at some of the kids Suzanne tells me about from the neighborhood, and even got to see a real life Barbie doll mom! I tried to see if her feet like the doll's feet but didn't get a good look....

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Suzanne's aunt Virginia was there, too, and it was so nice to see her again. She had been a member of G.S. years ago and I remember helping to serve for her hubby's funeral. It was the same day we had a little flood at the office, cannot remember what caused the flood, though, and I had to leave the clean up to work for the funeral. Funny how things connect in our minds---the funeral and the flood. Virginia has since remarried, and I got to see her daughter and granddaughter, too, who used to live in Scotland.

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After the birthday party, I headed the rest of the way to Clay Hill. I consider Suzanne's an oasis, a place to rest on the way out there! It is a much shorter drive when you have a place to enjoy food cooked on the grille (hot dogs!!) and some cake and some laughs. I arrived a bit after the planned start time for the festivities at Woodruff's and was met by Louise and Fred when I pulled up, as they had only just arrived. Fred used to work with us at Rosewood and had done some of the remodeling and the A/C at my lake house. It had been a while since I had seen him, but I see his daughter-in-law with some regularity at political functions and such. Louise and Beth are both Stampin' Up people so we had lots to discuss, especially during National Scrapbooking Month!

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Fred can certainly bend an ear and as he sat next to me on the picnic bench chatting, Louise piped up that Fred should give someone else a chance to talk to Kim! Wow! There are some people that even though you do not see them every week or month, or whatever, once back under the same tent, as it were, it is like no time has passed at all! It was great to see all of these folks again, Jimmie's side of the family, including BoBo, his sister, with whom we spent an exciting weekend during Hurricane Francis in 2004, when all sought refuge in Middleburg. Jimmie's mom was there, too, during the storm. I recall that Lisa (the bride) had wanted to put Granny in the closet when there was a tornado warning, and Justin was going to help put her there for safe keeping. We never did go to that extent of keeping her safe, but I chuckle now at the idea of it.

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Anyway, BoBo was there and Jimmie's other sister and his brother, nieces and nephews, etc., plus Brenda's usual clan whom I get to see with some frequency. The kids had a good time driving the golf carts around the property, little girls driving the cars, unreal! The main recreation events were two "horseshoe" type games set up, with ropes connecting golf balls which are then tossed toward horizontal bars (PVC pipes, Middleburg-style) painted with fluorescent colors. The balls, if they connect with the bars, wrap around and points are scored based upon the color of the bar, and if it stays wrapped or falls off. They played all afternoon and into the dark, trying to light the two areas with car lights which blinded those not playing. The "Boss Hogg" cooking team, JD and his grandpa, prepared marvelous bbq food, a real treat for us! Jason and Lisa opened their wedding gifts and read their cards aloud, which were just lovely. They are so happy, and I am happy they finally got married!

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Brenda told the story about how they went to the pastor where Bren has been attending church, now immersed up to her eyeballs in church activities. Jason and Lisa began going too, and when they talked to the pastor about getting married, he had some tough questions for them. In answer to their question about whether he would marry them or not, he said, "No, not under the circumstances." What had to change? They had to live apart and abstain from *** for at least a month before he would marry them. Brenda broke out in a cold sweat because she sooo wanted them to get married by the pastor, but they surprised her by saying to him, "We can do that." And they did! Lisa went to live with Brenda's parents down the road, and the two of them kept their vow to abstain and not live together. I am proud of them both, because it meant so much to them to be married in the church, with the Lords' blessing, and now mine!

Gearing up for the day

It is a lovely morning on the river, all sparkly and calm looking, save for a few small boats dotting the water. One is sailing and one is anchored, apparently fishing just outside the basin. Joanne and I keep watch for the manatees to reappear but ever since that "day of the great wind", no more sitings.

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Mom asked me about my teeth, I believe in an e-mail, so I should catch you up on this. At this time, the sensitivity has settled into the top left side of my mouth, possibly the back most and one a bit forward, which still have nerves in them. Every time I go to the dentist, it surprises me that I still have live teeth in my mouth! They only "bother" me when I apply cold directly to the area and hopes are that the sensitivity will subside. My regular cleaning appointment is scheduled for Tuesday so they can take another look then to see if the x-rays show any developments since last week. Like Judy R. said, we really depend upon our teeth for daily living, not the least of which is eating. The most use is smiling and talking so we must keep our teeth working with us, not against!

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So much for quiet on the water---a pair of jet skis just shot out from somewhere nearby and woke up the river! I miss jet skiing...I mentioned this Joanne a couple weeks ago and she said I should get one if I miss it so much. WHAT? Are you kidding me? The last thing I need is something else that costs money, needs attention, and requires assistance from a second or third party. If I really need to ride a jet ski so badly, I can rent one at Volano Beach, or simply reminisce about the good ole' days--when I was spry enough to get off and on without drawing a crowd! Justin would have a fit if he thought for one minute I was going to rent a jet ski---he is always so concerned about my re-injuring my goofy knee.

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Last night my plans sort of went south when my friend who had planned to come over to watch "Fireproof" with me accidentally fell asleep. Kelly had been with me at the scrapbooking event most of the day and had to leave a bit early to collect her son from school. She was going to come over about 6:30 after dropping her son at his grandparent's house, but fell asleep and missed the movie, and the appointment with grandpa! When she called me, she was driving like a nut to drop off her son but said she was just going to go back home and finish the nice nap she started. I had cooked some hot dogs for supper so went ahead and ate, and then went down to the sundeck to sit with the neighbors.

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All was not lost in having plans change, although I did miss out on going to the symphony with Rachel from Victory because of scrapbooking plans. She did manage to drag her hubby and bro/sis-in-law with her, so I don't feel as badly. My neighbors have put me in charge of setting up a social event when I get back from WI, either an "Insteda Dinner" function or even a cook-out on the sundeck. It went from a suggestion to a done deal in no time at all!!

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Afterwards, as night fell and folks went inside to have dinner, my neighbor, Nancy, asked me to come upstairs to look at her scrapbook. Nancy is a writer and is quite demure compared to me, and I am honored that she wants to spend time with me. Several months ago she needed to send some re-writes to her editor and was not sure how to do it, so she asked me to come help her with it. I impressed her with my skill at cut and paste (hold your applause, please!) and attaching to e-mail. She is in her mid-70's, a widow, and enjoys the topmost floor end unit facing the Navy base. Normally she hosts the Independence Day party with full view of the fireworks display on the river. Anyway, her scrapbook, made for her back in the 1930's by an eccentric aunt, features not family photos, but rather, magazine and catalog pages from this era. All handmade pages and covers, with vintage graphics detailing fashions, automobiles, foods of the day. What a trip that was, in more ways than one!

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One day last week, I got a phone call from a former co-worker at Sprint, whom I hear from every now and again. She invited me to have lunch with a group of "alumna" that gets together fairly regularly. Agnes told me they directed her to track me down and invite me specifically, so I had better come up with some good material to use at lunch Thursday! Whew! No pressure there....Most of these people I have not seen nor heard from since I left there in 1996 after Timmy was born. The one lady and I used to ride share when I lived in Middleburg, and I have seen her once since then, shopping with Mom and Lynn at Dillard's in Orange Park. Maybe the top I bought that day is what I will wear on Thursday so she remembers me!

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Joanne just came through and brightened my day: she told me my room is a mess and that I sound like my mother, cautioned me to watch out! What?? I guess my room in total could be neater, since I have an empty shoe box out and a laundry basket loaded with unfolded clothes. And my scrap booking box on the bed...not really that bad, not compared to other times. Once again this a.m. she said I need to get a jet ski, and I told her that I already wrote about that today, saying Justin would have a fit if he heard that. This is what prompted the remark that Justin and I are both like little old ladies, and that I sound like my mother! Well!

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My afternoon is full with celebrations including a wedding reception--Clay Hill-style. Hanna is having her party today in Lake Asbury, turning 6, I believe, as I do the math in my head. Tarren is her Godmother and I really wish she could be here for the birthday party! Yesterday during the scrap booking event, my phone rang so I stepped outside to talk, as well as warm up, since the house was quite cool. It was Jason W. calling from I-95, returning from the Keys, where Lisa and he honeymooned this week. Yes, honeymooned! Finally, an officially married Jason and Lisa, with the celebratory party today. He apologized for taking so long to call and hoped I would still be able to make it. Only family is invited, and a few of their friends, and Miss Kim! Jason did not mention Justin but I sent him a text message telling him about it. Jason and Justin used to work together at Rosewood when Justin was still in high school, with Jason as the chauffeur since Justin did not drive. Jimmie was their immediate boss, Jason's dad, who put up with nothing, especially when he showed up on the job site and caught Jason playing a video game instead of working! We laugh now, but not so much then....I know I am going to have a marvelous time with church family at the birthday party and heart family in Middleburg today, perhaps even getting to spend some time with Christine!

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Post post script: no sooner did I hit the Publish button and did Joanne spot the manatees in the basin....make a liar out of me!