Happily resting tonight

What a great day and greater yet, evening! Justin is busy on his laptop and I am using Linda's as the three of us are watching "Runaway Bride" in her family room. Justin and I got back here about 8:00 or so, after dinner with Kerry at Friar Tuck's, where I had a bratwurst. Other than freezing my arms off in there, we had a lovely meal together. Jill was waiting at Mom's for Kerry to get back from dinner so we parted company there. We, mostly me, I guess, had enough unpacking and hanging up of pictures at Mom's so that is why we came "home" to rest.

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This a.m. as we arrived at church, we saw someone being helped up from the pavement in the driveway at church. Linda recognized immediately who it was, and I realized it was Kerry doing the assisting, as well as Lettie. She had pulled part way into the driveway and Kerry helped move the injured lady into her car for transport home. The lady's glasses had broken and cut her eye and she had a small cut on the hand which hit the ground. Kerry felt so very badly that she could not grab Marilyn before she fell, but I was glad she was there to help her.

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I met the new pastor at First German this a.m. before church. He actually came outside to meet me, which one of my sisters nicely pointed out. Linda had already warned him about me so he was braced and ready for the hug. I also had a hug for Pastor Rosenow who was in the parlor, greeting. It was a great great service and wonderful to sing in First German. We attended Bible study after church and then the whole gang except for Lisa and family, went to Perkins to have a late breakfast/early lunch. Mom wanted to thank us for our help with the move and all that, plus we just love to eat together!

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We went to Kohls to return a couple items and ended up coming back with an art piece for Mom's new bathroom wall. Once at Mom's, Lori, Kerry and I got busy going through boxes, putting up pictures while in search for a missing bag of stuff from Mom's medicine cabinet. The apartment looks more like a home than even the other apartment did, which we attribute to having much more light flowing in and seemingly more room. After dinner, I got a phone call from Jill to report, "It's a blessed day!!!" ----the missing bag finally turned up! It was in a clothes hamper and not a box, which is where we had been looking....who knew? Nobody knew, until Kerry heard where the bag was found. She winced and said to Justin and me, "I think I might have put it in there........" Oops! When packing up on the way out the door, things sometimes get put just any old place and that is what happened here. We rejoice and drink a toast to Jill for solving the mystery! After all that excitement today, I think bed will feel just great tonight...and tomorrow night in my own bed again. I am singing, "Let the sun shine....Let the sun shine in...the sun shine in...." for when I get back to Florida!

Greetings from Wisconsin!

A great comedian once said that everyone has to be somewhere, and he is right! I am somewhere---I am in Manitowoc! One piece of good news is that I not freezing my butt off either. It was in the low 70's today and I was warm when hustling about, packing up Mom's stuff. The packing which remained for us to do went relatively quickly, allowing time for a nice lunch at Perkins. We also dropped off a bag of items at the Lutheran High resale shop, one less box to pack up this way.

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Justin and Mom took a TV to the new apartment so she could wait for the cable man to come. While she waited there, Justin and I went to Kohl's to look for some stuff for her walls, since she decided, with my influence, to update her decor. We LOVE to do that type of thing so we were in our glory! We hope she likes her new pieces and we look forward to hanging them up. The new apartment is real nice and I know Mom will be really happy there. Especially now that the cable is hooked up! But tonight will be long for her at the "old" place without any TV!

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Well, here I am with Linda and Justin in her family room, watching some TV and visiting and typing. Guess I will wrap up my typing and stick with the visiting....Talk to you later!

"Lovely work---Soft but strong"

When I got home from my massage therapy treatment, I immediately opened my e-mails. One came from the president of the Art Guild with the sad message that one of the characters from the Thrasher-Horne Center had died in late August. Last week, actually, now that I think about it. Tony Falcone, Curator at THCA, died of a rapidly progressing cancer. He was the man who hung the show which the Art Guild did last fall when Judy R. was here for her stay with me. Not only did Tony hang the show, he also served as the Judge for us, my third show to enter, and my third Juried in. Whew! Later, I received a "Report Card" in the mail from Tony, showing me the "grades" he gave my piece, all 3's and 4's out of a high of 5. Across the bottom of the page he had written a note which said, "Lovely work--soft but strong". The report card has been on my desk a long time, as have most pieces of paper, sadly, but now this one has grown in much greater value to me. Tony's absence will be noticeable...............

Here is the painting which got the favorable report card from Tony last fall titled

"Rains Unites the Earth and Sky" using only two colors of paint for the whole piece

How great to start the day laughing!

My friend, Dee Dee, from grade school through high school, sent me something this morning that just made me roar with laughter! And it is not even 8:30 yet here! She sent a picture, not to scare anyone, it claims, of what to look for in swine flu. Paging down, there was a picture of a smiling pig man ("Seinfeld" reference) sitting on a doctor's lap. It said, "If you wake up looking like this, do not go to work!" I am laughing writing about it! The picture is a photo-shopped pighead on a human body with modifications.....it is just funny. I wrote back to tell Dee Dee I have had this illness for some time now!

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Well, the mess was less today but still significant as once more the silver was removed from my hair. It is time for my hair cut but do not know if I have time for that or not, with the day being broken up with appointments and things to do. Including packing (I know, Mom, I always put it off....) The wash machine is taking care of the get-up I wore and things I used for the silver removal, hoping that nothing good was ruined. Thinking I am being so incredibly careful, it still gets "slung around", as Kathy B. describes it, without my trying.

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A new rep from Thrivent Financial is coming by today to visit with me and go over my policies. After she is finished, I am planning to go to Office Max for a large poster board to use on the bulletin board at church for the missions board, to make it look purty. Plus deliver some of the newsletters I printed off in color for a couple special lady friends who do not have Internet at home. The ones run off in the office are in black and white, not quite as eye-pleasing as the color ink copies come out. At 2:15 pm I get to see the massage therapist, Carol, who will help me with my sciatica. I end my night with choir rehearsal and at some point, packing my bags. My luggage is either huge, or the smaller bags which can go in the overhead bin. The medium-sized piece is at Justin's, I think, because they all fit one inside the other, and it is not here. The largest bag will work well for bringing back the poppyseed-filled doughnuts and cheese curds, but is more difficult for me to haul around. Last night I told Martie I would bring back some non-slimy natural casing hot dogs from Newton Meat Market for us to eat on Movie Night!

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Lately I have been complaining, rather, remarking, about the terrible amounts of dust I have in my rooms, particularly my bedroom. In part, I believe the computer, with its jet engine operating system, might move the dust around some, but what is the original source of this dust? In conversation with Lori, my sister, the other day, she was telling about Dusty being in his dormitory at college. I asked if he has to have his plastic covering on the bed and futon as he did at home, because he has dust mite allergies. She said the main thing is to keep things vacuumed and she cannot expect he will do that, nor the roommate, so he will need to depend upon his medications. I had complained about the dust on my books and magazines piled on my bed, and she scolded, "Quit losing so much skin!!!" Ewww! Am I allowing the fan on my computer to shoot my dead skin all over the house??? Why aren't I thinner then?

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Here is a little something posted on Facebook by someone I do not even know personally. She is a "friend" of my blogging friend, Jami, and she made my day for me. She wrote the following after I answered a status update by Jami: "Kim, you're a boost for all of us....Trust me!! I take what you say in your post and try to use it myself....You have no idea how many times you've posted something and it actually worked for me too!!!!" "I love to tell the story!"

I am totally soaked!

"It was useless to try to outrun the thunderstorm", I tell myself now, as I sit here in my nightie and wet hair. Two showers today, one in my bathroom and the other in the parking lot at Publix! Again! What is with my going to Publix that this weather does not understand? As I drove home from Middleburg this afternoon my windshield and car was pummelled by giant, incredibly noisy rain drops. At times, I could barely see in front of me and felt terrible for the kids trying to walk home from school in the storm. Hopefully someone was going to be at their houses when they get there to help them dry off and get out of the wet clothes! I had to take care of myself when I got home!!!

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It was not raining when I went into the store and had hoped I could grab my few purchases and get back to my car before the heavens opened. Not so much! There was an employee who said he would walk me to the car with an umbrella so I could drive up for my groceries but I declined the offer because it was lightning pretty good---I will wait. Just when it seemed to catch its breath, another lady and I headed out, she with her umbrella open. As we got into the parking lot, the wind kicked up with a renewed vengeance and the rain just poured! Her umbrella turned inside out and because she was thin, got pushed around by the wind. I got behind my car and opened the hatch, standing there for some protection while unloading my soda cases into the back plus a couple bags, all thoroughly soaked. The cart was placed in front of my car and I got in as quickly as I could, still wearing my pool shoes because of the fresh pedicure. The toes are none the worse for the wear, thank you! And thank the Lord for heated seats! It was 89 degrees above zero as I drove to Middleburg, and only 72 degrees when I came home in the rain, soaking wet!

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Supposedly I am going to Art Guild tonight but part of me wants to just stay in now. My sciatica seems to be okay right now, certainly the ice helped and the staying quiet except for the pedicure and running through the rain. I am expected to give a little talk at Art Guild about the Mentoring Program but if I am not there, certainly one of the membership ladies can handle it. My e-mail account will not open which is nearly as crippling as the sciatica.....not really, but it sort of feels the same as having casts on my arms!

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This morning Pastor sent me a request to gather and prepare information to submit to the "reporter" from our District who sends news blurbs to our Synod magazine, "Forward in Christ". Thinking time was of essence, I jumped on that immediately, sending this man photos and brief details of each event, including VBS, Dedication Sunday, and our new classrooms. We have plenty of good news at Good Shepherd!

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As I said to Mom today, I am so looking forward to seeing my sisters and mom this coming weekend, although we have loads of work to do. While I wanted this to be as stress-free as possible for Mom, it seems there will still be some. I was going to ship one of my paintings to her house for hanging in her "new" place but when I went to pick it up, I didn't like it! Totally changed my mind about giving the painting to Mom. Justin and I can go shopping and get what we need to decorate Mom's new family room, that is, if we have enough time!

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Justin, Dustin, and Alayna might find some time to do some hanging out together, at least I hope they can. I do have to find some time to meet with my cousin, Rochelle, as she either misses me or needs a "family" consult about my sis-in-law, Sharon. Thursday night plans are to have dinner with Linda and Tommy plus whoever else wants to come at the Green Street. She is making lunch for us on moving day, having it available for whoever wants it, either at her house or at Mom's. She would not mind having the rest of my family seeing her new home, but am not sure they will all come over to her place, where Justin and I will be their guests.

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One or two very important things I must take care of when in Manty is to get a mess of poppyseed doughnuts to bring back here for my niece, Tina, in Palm Coast. Some of my neighbors have requested cheese curds so I will need to leave room in my luggage for cheese and poppyseed doughnuts. Am I a stereotype or what?

Abounding in love..........

Pray for me, my friends, that the evil beast of sciatica stays far far away from me, particularly this week! Saturday at church I did a little bit with the folding chairs but absolutely did not handle the tables at all. I washed a couple of the folding chairs which were dirty from the garage but then Mike needed help with holding up the now crookedly hung shepherd in the new building. My seemed discomfort did not really appear until yesterday afternoon as I climbed up from the pool. It was not a shocking jolt or anything like toothaches do, but more of a burning sensation, this time down the inside of my left leg.

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My formerly wet chair now supports an ice pack (oooh, my favorite!!!) which I am leaning tightly against, only recently getting off the bed to try a new position. It is easier to eat Spaghettios sitting up than lying down, even on a good day! Don't cry for me, Argentina, at least, not yet...I have let my "stores" decline because of the plan to be gone for several days so I hit my hurricane closet for something to eat for supper. Originally I was going to finish off my expensive Boar's Head natural casing hot dogs from the fridge but when I opened the baggie, whew! Nope, no longer edible, in fact, quite slimy as well as stinky!

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Earlier this afternoon I talked to Lori and she told me about Dusty being delivered to college, getting him situated in his dormitory. She is taking some dance classes through the YMCA designated for empty-nesters so is having a good time with that! She is doing better than I would have, although I thought Justin was going out-of-state for college when I planned my trip to Greece! Good thing I had not tightened up those plans before I knew he was staying local! Dusty is only a couple hours away by car, quite manageable, and has already called his mom once today! No one had better tease him about that either, a guy loves his mom, okay?

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It is good that I have a stash of movies to watch as I am going to try laying low through this, enjoying my iced back. Fortunately, Justin has delivered some Diet Coke for me so I will be set with that for a while, plus my water bottles. I am refilling a 20-ounce bottle with water each time I empty it, which, of course, there are warnings about doing. I am sure there is a conspiracy about water bottles circulating out in the world. I could do a pitcher of water but like the portability of the bottle, no dirty glasses. Talk about lazy!

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This is my week to clean the church and think I must call someone to take my place, no matter what happens with my sciatica. Lori told me I can just sit and watch Mom's moving, as if I would do something else than that anyway.....No, I really want to pitch in and am certain I can, knowing full well that no lifting or toting will be done by me. That is why I am renting two dollies for the move, so the boxes can be loaded on the dollies and hauled up. Should take no time at all this way. My cousin, Jimmie, who also has the heart-ache of sciatica, has offered to drive the truck so I will have to make sure Mom has contacted him about it unless we do get the smaller truck which even I could drive!

Pastor Kuske, Bonnie, Judy C. Gretchen, Ethel, Twila (not in the shot), and Betty

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Bible study this Monday morning was again a true delight as we spent time finding the Gospel promises in the Psalms. We looked first at how King David was consumed by guilt over his obvious sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her spouse, and compared his sins with the ones we do daily. So easily can we point our fingers at others when we are just as dirty and rebellious as those people were. Like I mentioned in class, we have the good fortune of not having someone write it all down for the future generations! Then we found Psalm 103 which tells of our loving God who is slow to anger, abounding in mercy....what a great comfort this is for us!

Wow, where to begin??

Today was so incredible a day that I could barely stand it! Right now I let myself get too cold by not changing immediately from my swim suit when I came upstairs from the pool, and I am also sitting on a damp chair because of the same wet suit! After the pool season is over, I might have to get the chair shampooed because of getting it wet like this more than once! It will smell like a wet dog before long!

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I needed a good soaking in the pool under the sun because I was bone weary, and still am, from the busy weekend. Yesterday after a long-range planning meeting at church, I helped a bit with getting things set up for today's pot luck, plus put together a bulletin board for Missions. Pastor needed me to take a picture of the finished building so he could use it for the Dedication service folder so I had to go home to download the photo and e-mail it over to him since my memory card did not fit in his computer. Judy C. and Twila were coming over for dinner, which I was preparing, and for movie watching, which turned out to be a very very enjoyable evening. And the food was good! I used only food I had on hand including a package of ribs, baked potatoes, and some of Joanne's frozen veggies! We watched an HBO Movie I bought called "Grey Gardens" a true story about the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jackie O. It was very good! Judy C. is well on the road to being my new best friend!

This morning began with Sunday school, which had a mission focus for the students, who will be adopting the Apache Mission for the first half of the year. One of our missionaries we are supporting is at Apacheland so it is appropriate to have the students support this as well. This photo is the one I took for Pastor to use on the Dedication service folder. Our service focus was also one of missions and we sang lovely hymns reflecting this message. The first hymn we sang was "Lift High the Cross" which set the wonderful tone for the service! Christ Lutheran's members, or at least some of them, came up for worship with us, about 10 or so members, which made for a nice full church today!

After the worship service, we reconvened outdoors near the new building for the Dedication service. It was brief but concise, thanking the Lord for His hand in this project and for all the people who helped make this day possible.

At the conclusion of the Dedication service, the Contractor/Member, Cliff, and Committee Chairman, Mike K., swung open the doors and invited all into the classroom building for a tour. I help Mike C. hang the shepherd right inside the hallway, and as you might notice, it is a bit crooked! I told him the story of putting up the Christmas tree, when my spouse would lie underneath it and adjust the base, asking me, "How does it look?". I always said, "It's fine, it's beautiful!", but when he got up and looked at it, the tree would be leaning way over one direction. Inevitably!!! I think "we" might have to adjust that wall hanging up a bit or this person will be annoyed every time I see it! He also hung the art work donated in Timmy's name in the foyer of the classroom building which pleased me no end!