An "oh my goodness" moment!!!

At one point this late morning, I went into the kitchen to get a soda from the fridge, and noticed the painters on my porch. They are such nice, friendly guys so I popped my inside door open to greet them. One man asked me where I had been because he said he "had not seen my smiling face" lately. I explained that when the sun isn't shining, I will not come out to sit by the pool, so that is why they did not see me much last week. Plus, as I noted, they did not work when it was raining!

*

As I was chatting with them, the one man asked me where I was from. I asked him, "What makes you think I am not from here?" and chuckled. He said I didn't sound like it so I confessed to being from WI. Remembering I still had two bottles of water for them, I offered my "guests" a drink, which they accepted. Since they had gloves on, I loosened the caps before handing them over.

*

Stepping back inside, I started a conversation with them through the screen door, regarding the news of the day. I asked, "Did you know that today is the 40th anniversary of the first moon walk?" The one man jumped into that right away with, "I know. I wish that Michael Jackson wouldn't have gone that way....." WHAT? Michael Jackson? What does he have to do with the moon------oh, wait, not 'that' moon walk, the REAL moon, Neil Armstrong on the face of the moon, kicking up dust....It never occurred to me that these men would think I was talking about dancing!!! The one guy said, "Oh, you're talking about the real moon, not the dance floor." Yes, the real moon, reflecting the sun's light to use at night, making living where I do so much more enjoyable! Oh, my goodness, no, not Michael Jackson, no....................

A day which shall live in infamy

No, not the fact that today would have been my 35th wedding anniversary, in a different life, but rather, the first time man walked on the moon! Unless you have missed it, this is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo mission that made it to the moon in 1969. A truly momentous, historic event, I would declare unparalleled in history. It usurps D-Day, the Kennedy assassination and, even the death of Michael Jackson, simply by the impossibleness of the whole idea. I do not know if that is a real word, but it seemed to express it best for me, so totally "out of this world" as far as accomplishments go. Breaking the sound barrier, momentous. Getting into orbit, momentous. Circling the earth in a space ship, momentous. Actually walking on the moon, historic!

*

There is a memorable scene in the movie "Apollo 13" which was about the failed mission to the moon where the astronauts nearly died. The mission was successful, however, as the people in Houston and on the space ship worked together to save the men. The expression, "Houston, we have a problem" is from this movie. The head astronaut, played by Tom Hanks, is sort of looking in the "rear view mirror", as they had to abort and head back toward Earth, and his face said it all. So near, and yet so far. Imagine if the moon landing was taking place in 2009 instead of 1969---Geraldo Rivera would be reporting live from the face of the moon, drawing a map in the dust with his flag staff!

*

I am having company for dinner tonight, as my sis-in-law, Nancy, and her four teenagers are coming over to swim and see my home. She invited me to come along to St. Augustine with them today and while that would have been nice, I fear I would have been a hindrance instead of a joy for them. My brain is rolling, trying to think of what to serve to a large group like this---teens, two of whom are boys---who eat like thrashers, I am sure! My thoughts are to buy the family-sized lasagna from the grocery store and something interesting for dessert. I heard that one of the girls can't have blueberries but I am not much of a blueberry girl anyway.

*

On the northern front, today is the day that my nephew, JR, is leaving "home" after two months on leave, and going to his training center in OK. He is amazed at how quickly two months can pass when on leave and I pray that his training time passes just as quickly. Justin and I were torn about what to get him for his graduation other than money because after being in barracks or dorms in OK, he will be based out of Germany. There will be limits as to what he can take along with him, so we opted for a cash gift. Normally I like to be a bit more imaginative, personal, and original in my gift-giving but hope he had a good time spending it while he was on leave!

*

Neal Boortz was going on and on about the spending bill monies that went out, after visiting the website run by the government, which supposedly tracks where the money went. We have a controversial "turtle tunnel" being funded by our tax dollars in South Florida. Are you serious? A turtle tunnel? And then he went off on a rant about other areas getting federal money which is supposed to make jobs, including monies going to "Manitowoc, MN, for canned pork"! This got my attention....there cannot be two Manitowoc's so he must have meant WI. Sure enough, he came back to it, Lakeside, but I was so excited sending a text message to Justin to see if he was listening that I missed what he was saying about it! While I was texting, Justin called me! He was wondering if I was listening to Neal. I do not think the Manitowoc area stations carry Neal's show on the radio but folks can listen on the Internet like I do. Justin gets it on his iPhone via a podcast. Would the men have been able to land on the moon without the development of these technologies? I doubt it seriously---think I will have some Tang!

What am I talking about?

How can I complain or rather, remark, about being weary and worn out when my friend in IL is expecting 1200 people over four days at their family VBS? I would take it all "back", if I could, but my back is giving me a fit right now. Not to put the blame on VBS, however. The blame goes to carrying up all the groceries yesterday afternoon. I am sure of that! Having a more tired back than painful is the better description, and it seems I really need to do some moving about in the weightlessness, or reduced weight anyway, in the pool at some point. Certainly that would have been a blessing late yesterday when my discs started to nag at me. I must also blame standing at the stove and cooking, and then cleaning up the mess, for the weariness of back I experienced! But, good spaghetti resulted, probably several day's worth of it!

*

For breakfast this week I have been having a piece of string cheese or curds, my form of protein, in order to stimulate my metabolism each day. Stand back, you do not want to be too close when THAT happens. How does one know, though, when the metabolism is stimulated?? I guess losing weight vs. storing it is one good way to measure. Justin, my personal trainer, ahem, ahem, suggested I have some protein first thing in the a.m. My friend and former co-worker, Karen, was a bit taller than me, incredibly thin, and would eat frozen cookie dough as an afternoon snack. Or, entire cream pie from the middle out. And stay thin! It was amazing that we stayed friends as long as we did! It wasn't her fault, it was her metabolism that kept her thin, and what kept her hubby and me so very heavy.

*

During the night I woke several times to hear rain pounding on my windows and gurgling in the drainage pipes which run from the roof to the river. I do not mind hearing that but some of the residents in my building do mind the racket. Minding it is one thing, fixing it is quite another! We are so all about not being annoyed or bothered by things in life, when, hey!, rain gutters carrying water will not do so quietly. At least not during the storm! I guess we could go back to having the water pool on the roof and then leak quietly into our homes again....

This is a picture from the Clay Today newspaper which circulates through the Florida Times-Union. Jean Nichols came up to me at church last week Sunday with this clipped out of the paper, asking me if I was writing for the paper under a different name.....How flattering, because the lady in red is much thinner than me, but nearly everyone she showed it to said it looked just like me!

*

This morning The Maestro is playing the organ as we use one of our newer liturgies from the CW Supplement, Divine Service 1. When I spoke with Suzanne yesterday, I told her I wished that we could have had a run through one more time before the choir sings two portions we have not practiced in two weeks. She is quite confident that we will get it, as she will be playing the viola with us, as well. I told her to play really loudly in case we mess up! It is the exception rather than the rule that the organ is used in our worship so I am tickled to be singing with it today. Justin, when quite young yet, used to say that when he won the lottery, he was going to buy G. S. a pipe organ but the pastor told him he'd better also win someone to play it!

*

Oops, time got away from me so off I go to church for Bible study and worship! I will write more later..............love to all, and enjoy your worship this morning!

The week ended!

Whew! With a closing service last night where the parents came to see what the kids learned all week, including their special song with arm and hand motions, Vacation Bible School is over for 2009! Only yesterday I mentioned that our numbers had reached nearly 40 for Thursday but last night we had fewer than that as our larger carload of kids did not come. We had two families from the community that came with vehicles packed to the rafters with kids but for some reason, did not finish up with us. But, we still did have one new child register, a cousin to children who are alumni of Precious Lambs, so that was Good News!

*

One daddy who brought his little one each night sort of hung around a bit after dropping him off since "Chase" would often cry right as the door closed. He will be a part of our preschool in the fall and this was a good way to introduce the child to structure and the other kids, as well as introduce Dad to separation. He told Betty and me that this was as hard on him as it was on Chase! My heart melted, how I loved to hear that! How brave of him to admit this! Oh, for more fathers who felt this way about their children....Since they are 'newer' to our preschool family and such, it was a privilege to have them join us this week!

*

My primary job is to sit at the registration table and check the children in when they arrive for VBS. One of our newer members, Betty, brought her three great-grands to VBS with the youngest of them, Krystyna, giving me a present Thursday evening. She had made a picture of a mountain with a cross on top, with flowers blooming from the cross, a butterfly and the sun in the sky. At the bottom she wrote: "Mis Kim I drew this because I thought you would like it." Talk about a special special present! She barely knows me yet so I had better live up to her expectations!

*

At the closing service, Pastor thanked all the parents for sharing their children with us, and then he thanked the staff who worked so hard all week to make this happen. He said he guessed we would all go home and sleep soundly---I sure did! I did not wake up for the last time until 8:00 a.m. today, with the sun shining across me. I must have wakened earlier because I had changed the station at some point, which I can do without looking or even being conscious! My first order of business was to send the link to my blog to two folks who asked me for it last night (I am so tickled about that!) and then posted some photos of VBS.

*

On Fox and Friends this a.m., besides talking about the passing of Walter Cronkite, a reporterette is in Twin Lakes, WI, at a country music festival. My aunt and family used to live in Twin Lakes and that was the first time I was ever on a boat and ever caught a fish---a blue gill! One of our members at G. S. is from Twin Lakes (not far from Lake Geneva where the Navy has a training center) and might possibly be in this area during the weekend concert. I know they are traveling so I would not be surprised that they are up in WI right now, freezing, as the reporter is! According to the weather report, they are expecting drizzle and/or rainfall, which is badly needed, today with the high temperature of 67 above zero! So, why was she wearing a sun dress?

*

While at VBS last night I got a phone call from my downstairs neighbor. Since we have known to experience leaks of the liquid nature in our building, I thought I had better take the call. Tracy, mom of the pianist, reported that she was moving her bedroom from the back of their home to the front, riverside, but were being barraged by the consistent thumping of music, mostly the bass. She wanted to know if I was making big music upstairs, or if Justin was home and playing music. I assured her my home was devoid of bodies, especially the kind that play big music. My guess is that the lower level people in the end unit, home to two teenaged boys and their parents, had the surround sound music going. It is about time for them to start playing it this a.m. also, as folks come over for breakfast on Saturdays and they gather on the riverside patio to smoke and eat and listen to music. This does not bother me, but I am an early riser and do not mind the smoke and sound. Tracy is allergic to smoke so I hope they do not have to move their furniture back again!

*

The shore birds are lovely this a.m., swooping and diving for their breakfast or for a bath! There appears to be a breeze going on and several boats are scooting along in the water which is glittery and flat. Speaking of flat, has anyone seen the newest thing being promoted on TV commercials, the neckline slimmers? It looks like a nebulizer on a spring which one props under the chin and then pushes up and down to slim the neck. Who is going to go first and get their chin lifted? You can do the neckline slimmer while wearing your Snuggie, right, Linda?

*

My friend, Ellen, also likes to shop from the TV, ordering things from the all-shopping channel, which I cannot remember right now. I used to dread the day that Justin discovered the shop from TV stations because when he would see something on regular TV that he thought his grandma or I would like, he would write down the toll free number for us to order. At one time Justin was intent on getting his grandmother a hand-held sewing machine "so she can sew on the bus ride down here". I can just see her sewing away on the Greyhound bus, making those cute shorts and shirts outfits for the boys!

Vacation Bible Study photos

Due to overcrowding conditions, a blessing in itself, the Bible lesson portion of VBS was conducted on the patio outside the Fellowship Hall. At this time we usually lost some of our audience, as this was the second last activity before closing, and they start to wind down a bit. Mario is shown with his head down while others lean on their arms, listening to Miss Jennifer read the story.

"I have a great idea! Let's give the kids weapons!!!" Actually they did rather well although proper use of the rhythmn sticks and clacker thing the girl on the right has needed repeated instruction. But, once the singing was underway, the kids kept the beat and were very ready to participate in praising God!

The class I assisted with is sitting behind the row where Sarah is sitting. Mario, Twila's great grandson, in the white shirt is looking at Hanna who is looking at her little brother with triangle. I think that day the triangle needed to be restrung because somehow or another it came off the ribbon which supported it. If the kids had a shaker on Wednesday, they wanted a different instrument the next day. THAT they can remember!!!

Mario and the Langley boys are learning the movements for one of the songs they were singing. It worked better doing the smaller groups than the entire group, complete with distrations. From left are Mario, Brant, William, and Wesley.

Little Andrew, this being his first night at VBS, fit in perfectly and enjoyed his "eye scream" ice cream treat all the way to his ears! The object lesson was a scoop of vanilla ice cream, with strings of red liquorice for eye lashes, and then chocolate shell as the eye color. Then a nice cup of lemonade, which would have made my head spin around!

Such goofy weather today

While I understand that other areas of the nation are getting much needed rain, we are getting more not-needed-right-now rains, with intermittent sunshine here. Early this morning I had already figured there was no pooltime for me today so I got cleaned up and dressed in street clothes, for a change! It was better for me to be fully dressed anyway since the painters are working outside my condo, covering my plants with cloths to protect them from spatters. I gave the one man in my courtyard a bottle of water which I had gotten from Justin a few weeks ago, just for moments as this. The paint is being applied by roller and goes on nice and rich with the sealant product included. Almost like rubber to the touch.

*

Much to the painters' delight, I am sure, Cassidy is playing the piano downstairs for their listening and dancing pleasure. When school starts again, it will be sadly quiet musically around here, except for the weekends when there are weddings at The Club. Last year she gave piano lessons which were not quite as pleasant an experience for the listeners, but when she is playing for her purposes, I get to enjoy it. Soothes the savage breast, particularly when she plays Finlandia, "Be Still, My Soul" melody.

*

Tonight will be the closing of our Vacation Bible School for 2009. We grew from pre-registered 12 kids to nearly 40 as of last night, when often the number decline as the week wears on. I have such fun photos of the kids eating their ice cream treat, actually licking their plates clean. One little guy had chocolate all over his face, even his cheeks were stained. I will post them another time as I am writing from my laptop at present which won't allow for the photo card.

*

I see a brave painter pair on the outside of the building, suspended from the roof on the river side. This is the first time I have seen them actually at work from above, as it were. The greyness of the skies would certainly prevent me from painting when dangling between heaven and earth, since there is no escape once they are out there. Certainly they know what they are doing, as this is not the first job for them, but it is a first for me, having them out there like that!

*

Last week, speaking of painting, I picked up a piece I had framed at Great Hang Ups, in a red frame with a red beveled matte. I love it, but am not sure where to hang it. My walls are kinda full, unless I put it in a room no one sees...I have been thinking of taking a piece of mine with me to Mom's so we can redecorate the family room while we are at it. She has used the same decor since before she moved to the apartment, it is time for a change. Mom loves her Amish stuff, and feels sad about possibly getting rid of it, so I suggested she simply put up the arrangement into another of her rooms instead. Works for me!

*

Earlier in the week I made flight reservations for Justin's and my trip to help Mom move in September BUT, I goofed! Presently Justin's school schedule is Monday and Wednesday evenings but when the fall schedule begins, he is going to Tuesday and Thursdays. This has not been established yet, but he had told me his plan and I simply forgot this when I made the plans. From the looks of it, he will miss one class now that I made the change to the reservation. It cost me to make the change but that is better than having him miss two classes. Nuts!

*

My sis-in-law is due in town, may possibly be here already, coming from WI with 4 teens as her passegers. They will be staying with her brother at his big house but I hope to at least show them my place while they are in town. I know that teenagers are not as easily impressed with views of the river but if I can take them down to the pool, that might be fun for them. Either house has a pool so that is not a huge draw over here.

*

My tummy is grumbling so I think I will go to find some food. It might be time to go to Publix again and stock up on some grub. Joanne's food items are still in the fridge and cabinets which I should pack up for her at some point. Of all the food of hers in there, I can use the ketchup and bbq sauce, but that is about it!

I hear water rushing!

Oops, I accidently hit "enter" rather than "tab" and sent my blog off for posting quite prematurely, with no text in the body! A bit of concentration problems going on here, possibly because I here water rushing from outdoors. Without actually going to look myself, my guess is the pressure washer folks are in my courtyard today! It is my turn to be spruced up! But, wait....it seems they are a couple floors above mine yet, and it sounds as though the machinery is outside my doors---weird the way sound bounces around in my building! Both my eyelids are in full-flutter mode already today and I have only had one can of soda. Perhaps I was not done sleeping when I got up.

*

The river is quite silent appearing this a.m., with not one boat or flying vehicle to be seen at this moment. The sky is filled with clouds which makes the idea of water aerobics fade quickly. Originally I had planned a meeting with a man from church this morning but I have since postponed it. It can wait until next week, after all the VBS activity is done and we can settle down a bit. I just heard a small plane high overhead and spotted a single boat cruising down toward town, now again, all quiet....

*

There is the most darling Cheerios commercial on again, where a little boy shows up in his parents' bedroom with milk and "O cereal", as Timmy used to call it, very early in the morning. The sweet child tells his daddy that he has to get "that cholestral off of you", so the daddy sits on the edge of the bed, eating his cereal. The boy has a huge dimple and tousled hair....After the daddy thanks the child for the breakfast, the boy walks around to the other side of the bed and wakes his mom. I swear he looks just like I remember Timmy looking! Would I have been such a good sport about being awakened with milk and cereal? Probably not! I do remember one time, on a Saturday morning, opening my eyes to see a small boy wearing a ranger hat with his favorite blanket wrapped around him, standing next to my bed. No jammies? The blanket was included with the other items in his coffin, not that he'd need it....The ad makers are wise to the fact that certain scenes actually do take place in our homes and in our lives, and capitalize on that fact. I am going to buy some Cheerios!

*

It certainly does my heart good to see the markets coming back up this week. There is so much going on around us that we are seemingly powerless to affect, including the socialized medicine bill being forced through. My friend told me last night that PrezBO wants it passed before the House and Senate take their summer recess. Such a small percentage of people are involuntarily uninsured, and yet the entire nation now must fall under the plan, at a huge cost, not the least of which is personal liberty---again. Small businesses or businesses in general will once again get hit in the bottom line, with more staff being let go due to the high taxes...it seemingly never ends!

*

A Marine from Middleburg was killed over the weekend in Afghanistan and my friend, Judy J. is attempting to get the information about his body's arrival in the States, if he will be buried locally or at Arlington National Cemetary. I want to be present if his entourage travels from NAS to Middleburg, so Judy is making the contacts today as she will stand with me if it happens here. She is recovering yet from a case of shingles so has been keeping a somewhat low profile, as her undergarments cause an irritation, obviously. Poor thing, especially in the summer!

*

Ms. Lisa is escorting a crying little one from the opening devotion portion of VBS, with Kathy B. lending a hand in Lisa's absence.

*

Last night was one for weeping at VBS, as two little boys had problems. One, his first time experiencing a week of VBS, got a bit upset when the music was too loud or the DVD was too loud during the opening so Ms. Lisa took him out to get him settled. Moments later, one of the Langley boys pulled on his elasticized lanyard for his name tag, which popped back, snapping him in the eye! Once more a hustle for the door where a cool cloth was put on the eye until it stopped stinging. We did not think about the snapping elastic scenario when distributing the name tags......That reminds me of years ago when we had a train themed VBS. All the kids were given bandanas to wear around their necks, to look like conductors. Little did we know they would try to strangle one another or snap each other with them. Good thing we waited until the closing service to distribute the train whistles!