A good tired

I am a bit hungry this morning, but I did have a bite to eat before going to bed. The people I was with last night were divided on whether to get something to eat after the Rally or just getting home. They had kids waiting for them to get home which was cool with me, but I think John would have liked to have had dinner. He had his own car so he easily could have stayed to eat. I was cool with however it worked out. I was very cool, in fact, after the sun went down, it was in the 60's! No tank tops for us, not those of us with the thinned blood. My hometown of Manitowoc was warmer than we were in north Florida. And only a week ago, exactly one week earlier, we woke to snow coming down in Manty! The world is upside down! One of my more recent reconnections on Facebook was spending time in the Orlando area at a timeshare. Rae Sue mentioned that this is the coolest its been in their years at the timeshare but managed to suntan her goosebumps!

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Justin was my first call of the day yesterday morning, asking me to go to the store and get him some poster board. He dictated to me what I should write on it, because my penmanship is better than his....My writing is also quite small so in that case, we could use a Post-It Note! Anyway, we made our arrangements for pick-up at UNF at a certain time in front of the library, where I used to pick him up before he had a car. Before I headed out, since I needed to pick up a scrip at Wal*Mart anyway, I began working on postcards to distribute on Sunday at church, inviting the ladies to the Mother/Daughter Tea event on May 2nd. My forte is the publicity thereof. After getting the layout and such worked out, I realized I had no white card stock paper to print them on, not even colored card stock that would work in my printer. Foiled again! Added that to my list for the store, plus ink for the desk printer, as I had enough for the auxiliary photo printer.

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Needing card stock meant I had to venture into the stationery department which can be dangerous for me but I managed to find the bulk papers in a display all their own. Whew! That was close....When I was checking out, the clerk had to remove one of those alarm attachments from the ink cartridge box so folks won't steal them. I said to her that it would be cheaper at this point to buy a new printer than to keep buying the ink! But likely not worth the hassle, plus the new printer would require ink refills at some point anyway, right?

*

As I was driving out to Fleming Island, my phone went off. Once more it was Justin! I answered, "I was just thinking about you!!!", and I was. A year ago on this date, I had to meet him at the OP Hospital ER because he was having stomach pains, so we missed the noon Tax Rally downtown. Judy J. and I did attend the one in Orange Park from where I posted photos. Anyway, he started out by saying, sadly, "Mom?" Oh, oh, now what? It seems he checked his syllabus for the afternoon class he would be skipping out of for the Rally, and discovered he was being quizzed today, a grade which counts. I did not say anything one way or the other, leaving the decision entirely his, him knowing I would attend the Rally either way. Finally he decided to attend the class and not mess up his grade, and, at that point I confirmed his choice. He has a lifetime to do this type of thing but only one day to attend this class and pass the test. And I think he did pass the 'life' test in making his decision for school. No worries! I called Judy J. to see if she wanted to ride with me but she opted to sit it out, too, saying she was working in her yard, etc. I called my friend, Peggy, who was going to the Rally and she picked me up on her way through. Perfect! Only one car to park (parking is a problem downtown) and away we went!

*

Although I had a step to sit down on, much of my time was spent standing up, too hard to stay seated with all this excitement and stirring speeches and the music. The honor guard was dressed in period clothing from the time of the first Revolution, followed in by a woman dressed as Lady Liberty. The band played regular music prior to the event beginning, and even played a local favorite, even in Florida it's a favorite, "Sweet Home, Alabama", written and originally performed by our own Lynyrd Skynyrd. John, Peggy's husband who had joined us, wondered why a Jacksonville band sang about Alabama and I said they were broadening their base! No one cares, you know, it's just a fun song and last night it brought the house down!

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At the Rally I was constantly on the look-out for people I knew, and did spot several people from Victory, four different folks. One guy who is in the printing business was distributing bumper stickers as he walked through the crowd and some people stuck them immediately to their hats or shirts. He is the man from whom I order the banners for church events and such, as he gives us a discount. His wife and her family were near charter members of Good Shepherd and I did get to see them at GS on Christmas Eve's candlelight service, complete with the grandpa in tow! I saw one couple who used to own a restaurant near Mequon, WI going up the stairs opposite of where we were stationed but they did not see me. Evidently they skipped bell and choir rehearsal last night!

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Our spot was directly above an Italian restaurant and we could see/smell the meals coming out for the el fresco diners. At a point before the Rally ended, a man dressed all in black came up from waiting tables to stand near us. He turned around and looked at me. I flashed him a smile and he left. Well!! I must have scared him....Nope, I did not. He came back a minute later and gave me a stack of discount cards for the restaurant to use on a future visit. I shared my booty with Peggy since it would not be likely I could use that many discounts, and since John works downtown, he might use them faster than me. I was most grateful, though, to Hector for giving those to me. No one else around us got them, only me. I must look like a pasta eater!

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I have made the appointment for my Well-Women check-up and that is what I am! My paperwork from Life Line Screening came at some point in the last two weeks and when I read the report yesterday, I did the happy dance. All systems are go, all reports are within 'normal' range, and even the one cholesterol test I thought indicated borderline is within the normal boundaries. Yippee! I AM the new normal--deal with it!

It's Tax Day today....

....and Tax Freedom Day was April 9th, I believe. Those who work outside the home and earn a paycheck with tax obligations withheld, the first 99 days of the calendar year were worked to pay your tax bill for 2010, on average. The days after April 9th are yours, enjoy!

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Well, I can now proudly show off my toes to the kids in the kindergarten classroom as I was able to get a pedicure yesterday afternoon, at long last. I had been meaning to go since before Arno's funeral at the end of February and now, finally, they are lovely. I describe them as brats with ketchup on them! Lisa had to work a bit harder on them than when I come in regularly as she had to shape the nails, do a bit of digging around, trimming of hunks of skin, etc. She was able to make the great toe on the left foot look decent despite the fact that it had broken about half-way down in early February before Lynn and Linda came, when I stubbed it against the trundle bed. Yikes!

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My tax deposit for the first quarter of 2010 is in the mail for a couple days now so it should certainly arrive, or at least be postmarked, prior to today's deadline. Last year I was able to go without making quarterly estimated deposits because I had a refund which my CPA rolled into 2009's obligation for me. Normally I do not have refunds but since my income was reduced so substantially in 2008 which my deposits did not reflect, I had paid ahead, so to speak. I would sooner write a check if my deposits are short than to have the gov't. hold my money interest free.

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Yesterday morning my first call of the morning came from Justin. He thought he woke me up but I just sounded all scratchy from not talking for a few hours. Justin wanted to know if I was listening to Neal but I was instead listening to the podcast of Glenn's program from the day before. He was telling me that Neal was talking about an illness that Justin thinks I have---Williams' Syndrome. Before you go look it up, let me tell you what Justin told me: the person with this disease has no social qualms, talks to anyone, described as a 'cocktail party personality'; makes little or no negative differentiation between races; takes people at face value; looks people in the eyes when talking with them...He said he was listening to this and thought, "That's my mom!!", and I am complimented by that. Of course, as we talked, I looked up the Syndrome and most of the other characteristics are not at all flattering, like the lower intelligence, sunken chest, wide spaced teeth, etc. But I loved it that Justin heard those other traits mentioned and thought of me. I am so glad Neal was not listing off 'short-tempered, foul-mouthed, rude, and insensitive' and then have Justin think, "That's my mom!" So, yes, I was tickled by this phone call!

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Another very bright spot of my day was catching up on some of the mail (I actually did decide to complete, somewhat, my Census form, begrudgingly) and found a lovely "Thank You" card from Ron's grammy. She had high praise for my home and all its colors and fun stuff to look at, how she felt right at home with us here and with my friends "around the table" for Easter, and, the icing on the cake, what a nice young man Justin is! He even checks in on her when he comes to visit "Ronnie". Moms like to hear favorable reports about their kids! Grammy S. also said she hopes we get to do something together again soon, and believe me, I'm in!!!

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The big news of the day is the search being resumed in Putnam County for the missing child, Hailey Cummings, missing a year at this point. It sort of sickens me as the police and investigators are searching a portion of the St. Johns near where she lived, based upon a 'tip' they received. Both the father of the child and his now ex-wife (yet in her teens) are already in jail for drug trafficking. He married the babysitter, then age 17, within a month of the child's disappearance. Just something else to give this part of the world a bad reputation, to say nothing of the sure death of this little child. If the investigators thought she was alive, would they be diving and searching the river? My heart...

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Last night I sat in the family room and watched TV all night! Of course, I had my laptop with me as I listened to the box but I absolutely did not want to go to bed too early, trying to regulate my resting, somewhat. Originally I had made plans with Ellen to go to Happy Hour at The Club where a prix fixe menu is also offered. Unfortunately, Ellen's dogs were not quite ready for pick-up from the groomer's in Avondale so she had to be standing at the ready for them to come home. No worries----I have foam boxes and a cardboard box in the fridge for my own prix fixe dinner. Normally I do not have Wednesdays at home but since there is no church service or choir rehearsal this week, I had off!

*

My bed is sort of cleaned off, sort of, I say again, but my desk is piled full. Some filing needs to be done and shredding as well. Still my sliding doors are open and wind has been active all week. There was a brief rain storm on Tuesday but it did not warrant closing the doors. Nor did the rain wash away the yellow film from the concrete and tiles outside. Yesterday three more of the arms of my wind chime in the river room fell off. Two actually hit the floor and I heard a third one drop but could not find it at first. Then, I peeked into a lovely jug I have on the floor and there it was, right in the jug! I could not do that again if I tried. My Facebook friends suggest replacing the rotting strings with fish line or similar but some of the glass 'icicles' do not survive the fall to the floor so even if I did restring it, the balance would be thrown off. I have saved the ones which did not shatter and will offer them to someone with the skills to make something out of them. Linda M., that might be you! Linda J. and I got that particular sun catcher chime at Joann's Etc. at St. Johns Town Center Mall a couple years ago. Little did I realize the sun would take its toll on the strings!

Typing with one hand behind my back

Not really, but I am typing with one eye shut, because the sun is so brightly shining in the window, reflecting off the water. I cannot keep my right eye open, involuntarily it closes! No worries, I only need one for this 'job'. It took me forever to fall asleep last night for some unknown reason and truly, I was not overly tired at bedtime. It might be because I took my usual morning pills in the late afternoon, which includes a B12 vitamin, which might possibly be stimulating. I should take them by the handful, if that is the case! I doubt iron or calcium tablets would interfere with sleeping, I am merely speculating here. But I woke up at my usual time so it seems I am back on schedule again.

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One thing about the sun shining and my laptop balanced the way it is on my pillows in front of me----the screen rather serves as a mirror and that is not a good thing, especially when I am lying back. It makes me look fat! Ugh! I am glad the sun is out because yesterday early afternoon we had rain for a bit and the skies stayed sort of grey the rest of the day. In fact, when the kids were on the playground, we had to go running inside when the heavens opened.

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On the way to church/school yesterday, I stopped at Target to see what I could find for the kids to play with. I did find some squishy balls with tentacle things all around it, I do not know how else to describe it, except, when holding it in my hand, it felt icky and almost wet. The kids will love them and they were in the dollar aisle! In the toy dept. I found the Nerf football thing, looks more like a bowling pin than a football though, with "Packer" colors and insignia on it. The kids were a bit, shall we say, "restless", yesterday, only the 5 boys in class, so they needed to run and play to burn it off.

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Little did I realize how only one toy between 5 boys would be such a problem. Every time there was a tussle for the football, they would turn to look at me from the middle of the pile, thinking I would settle it. No way! Battle it out, guys, figure it out yourselves. It seemed to work better, the football whistles if it spends time in the air, when I threw it to them, but it would take a long while for them to come up with it from the bottom of their pile. And it makes a wonderful club, where I actually did step in and stop that game. No clubbing!

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Oh, and they were sooooo dirty when we got back in after rolling around in the dirt. All needed their hands and faces washed, their clothes brushed off, and Akin's head brushed off. Next week I am giving them the squishy balls instead of the football to see how that works out. When we were in the classroom, I said something to them about not looking at me to settle the battle, that the players have to come up with the ball themselves, to not stand and look at me to figure out who had it first. Little Mario said, "You are like the coach", thinking that would influence me, but I told him the coach knows better than to get into the pile with the players. Guess I would be more the ref than anything else. Am I getting old, or do kids no longer know how to play?

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While at Target, I also found their discounted DVD rack, $5.00! I got an oldie but a goodie, "Love Story" which is good for cleaning out ones eyes and washing of the cheeks. "Love means never having to say you're sorry". That is not true but it is such a sweet sentiment and a good movie, can't wait!

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Laurie is such a wonderful teacher, what can I say? Everything in her classroom is a learning tool, including the egg cartons with plastic filled eggs. After coming in from the rain, the kids went to the 'centers' and three of them played with the eggs, which told the Easter story. One egg had coins in it, signifying the money paid Judas' to betray Jesus; one had dice in it, for casting of lots for Jesus' clothing; another had a stone in it to indicate the stone in front of Jesus' grave. The boys were telling me the story as they opened each egg, and they put the eggs in the correct chronological order in the carton to retell the story. They were also studying weather and rainbows, which again tells the story of the first rainbow of promise, and so on. Love it!

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Before going into the classroom, I stopped to talk to the preschool teacher and some of the kids on the playground. A man had been there to take their class pictures complete with costumes and props. It is not about posing in your good clothes, not for the little ones anyway. I asked Ms. Deb about getting together with them at their monthly meeting next week, the date about which there is some question since the calendar and reality are different things. We finally settled on Monday night despite what the calendar showed so we can discuss the upcoming celebration of Precious Lamb's 10th anniversary. After finally get a set date from the Council/Elders, it is time to set the wheels in motion as time can often get away from us. Deb was telling me I was off by a year, though, that the school is actually 11 years old. This made me furrow my brow because I knew Timmy had been there in the first few weeks it was open, having to finish his month at ChildTime before transferring over and he stayed at Precious Lambs until starting pre-k at St. Johns, in 2000. Huh.....how did I mess this up?

*

Later, Deb came up to me with a scrap of paper with dates and numbers on it, to tell me we were both right. Whew! The approval for the preschool came in 1999 and the first class and first director/teacher came in 2000. Whew!!! I knew it! I am not crazy after all....Deb did not come to our church/school until about 5 months after Timmy had died so I knew that was in 2001. Deb said, "I could have sworn I was here for ten years already....." Not quite, off by a year. The missing year! Next year, then, we should recognize her 10 years of service with a special event....shhhh!

*

I took the paper from her, then folded it before tucking it away in the same place where I keep my phone and some cash. Deb chuckled, saying her daughter, also Kim, emulates me, tucks her phone in 'there', too. We laughed about that and then Deb said, "She really emulates you, wants to be like you...." Okay, THAT I did not see coming and was blown away. You just never know sometimes, you just never know.

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Back to church I went last night for our single session Bible study titled "Christian Unity", after sending out a reminder notice to the members yesterday afternoon. At first there were only two us who showed up but just as we were about to begin, Carol came in, which added much to our discussion. A couple weeks ago this same class was held in a member's home in Mandarin by invitation and a half dozen folks came for that one. I asked Pastor before we began if personal invitations might be the way to go for this type of church-held event. Of course, we can invite folks all the time, but I feel badly when people miss these opportunities. Especially when talking about unity, and how we can serve each other and Him.

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I had invited Kathy B. and she had considered coming to the study, but the previous night she had begun a new exercise regimen which left her feeling aching and sore. I shared with her the story of my sisters and my first time going to Jazzercises, how Kerry and I could barely move the next day. Of course, Lori and Lynn were hurting, too, but did not live with me. Even going potty was difficult because of the sitting and standing muscles that complained. We just wwaayy overdid it the first time, dancing can't hurt us, right? Wow! Kerry did live with us, in our split-level home, and my then-spouse amused himself by putting M & M's on the steps in order to get us up the stairs. Ha ha! It worked.

Is it really morning?

The sun is reflecting brightly on the river this a.m. and while it sounds and looks windy, according to the dancing palms, the water is remarkably still. No white caps, like we had yesterday. But, after I trundled out to the kitchen to get a soda, I saw the clock on the stove. What? 7:15??? Why am I up already?? Evidently I must be done sleeping! No wonder I only trundled out to the kitchen instead of skipping!

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So, how did you like the photos I posted? The ones posted to Facebook elicited responses and comments but none from this blog thus far. More were posted to FB simply because it is easier to do so. It was a busy start to the morning on Monday, which did not include an airport run. Judy called me after she got back home again to give me a report, said Pastor Deutschlander was a VERY nice man. I guess they covered a myriad of topics in their hour and a half drive to Keystone Heights so I am glad it worked out the way it did. She had Pastor autograph my book for me, "The Theology of the Cross". He wanted her to attend the session and hear him speak but she was not dressed for attending, only for driving. Judy got into a disagreement with her Garmin about which way to go, which really made me laugh. I can imagine the voice in the Garmin just sighing and saying, "All right, you win..."!

*

I made my way down Kingsley Avenue toward the Aamco Transmission shop, fearing my trany would quit part way there. No need to fear, all went well. I got the car delivered and had a nice chat with the man running the shop, as I waited for Jen R. to pick me up. Another couple came in and the man sort of clunked his coffee cup on the counter, exclaiming he was NOT a happy camper. Oh, oh! Now I felt better about the whole thing.....He was complaining that their car, which had been in this shop for service Saturday, leaked transmission fluid all over their driveway, and they demanded it be fixed. The lady I had spoken with Saturday when making the appointment, Diane, was not there yet. When I was getting into Jen's car, Diane came walking up so I called to her and said I was a bit nervous now after hearing what I had. She assured me all would be well, she would take good care of me, etc. Okay then.

*

Tony, the man to whom I had turned in my car, called me later on to give me a status update, saying their machinery and such found no problems. Huh, what do you know about that? He asked me more questions such as the frequency of the problem and so on. The guys were taking it on a test drive to see if it would act up and then they put it back on the machine again. Later, he called again, knowing I was apprehensive about getting a huge bill for a new transmission. No problems, they found nothing, but he did ask if the fluid had been changed when the tires were put on. Nope, only the oil was changed a month ago, which is good to know because Tony said my fluid is considered 'lifetime'. Like my tires??? Whose lifetime?

*

About two or so, I called them back again to check the status, wanting my car back. Tony answered and he said, sadly, "Well, we took the transmission out..." and I exclaimed, "WHAT????" Then he laughed and said no, they had not taken it out, he just wanted to make me laugh, and he said, "See? It worked!", and I told him, "Yeah, but now I have to go change my pants!" He was sending my car back with a technician who I would then drive back to the shop. Louis came to get me and of course, the car behaved perfectly. Louis also assured me, saying the car would not leave me stranded, I would get a warning light on my dashboard and it would go into Safe Mode...Okay, sure, good. He also said my car was too young to have needed new tires already (I agree) or to have the transmission mess up. Using the cruise control has no adverse affect on the system, either. I was so glad that he was my driver because I could ask the horse's mouth all the questions I had, and trust his answers. There was no charge at all from the Aamco people since the diagnostics is free. By the way, the problem with the guy's car early in the day----the leak was not part of the work performed on Saturday on their collector car Mustang. The man apologized profusely, but privately, while his complaint was public. Always the way...

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Judy had mentioned that morning that if I wanted to have dinner I should call her so I did. After I offered to be her driver, she called back to say she had errands to run so would meet me at Koko's. Oh well, I tried! She did allow me to buy her meal in thanks for all the driving of me she has done including the airport on Tuesday morning. I had also brought her a stick of Chermak summer sausage which she went ga-ga over. Since I cannot bring her a perch sandwich, she was glad to have the hometown sausage!

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Since I was homebound most of the day, I got much accomplished including work on the newsletter for church and other communications. I brought up my mail which did not bring a check but did provide a giant stack of paper to be dealt with. Ugh! I used the information from the Hospice speaker at Ladies' Aid last Thursday in the newsletter, good advice for how to interact with a very ill friend or family member. Suggestions such as 'hold my hand', 'bring my favorite meal in a disposable container', 'cry with me', 'laugh with me', etc. Some of the things seem so very obvious to me but I guess some are just not that comfortable in situations.

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Speaking of friends, Judy J. and I have had some in depth conversations regarding this topic of late, with Judy telling me how glad her kids are that she has so many people she can call 'friends'. Her family is all in Michigan so then the friends step in and fill the empty spots. Linda J. and I had such a laugh on Sunday night about this same topic. I was reading Facebook and saw a posting of Linda's where I was just about to comment, when the phone rang. It was Linda!!!! My fingers were poised to type and she called me! We talked about the value of our friends and our friendships, etc., which make us truly wealthy. Better than jewels, better than gold, better than silver the friends in our fold!

Photos on my most recent trip to Manty

Can you believe it???? It snowed once again on my visit to Manitowoc. I wore no coat when I went up there and had to depend upon a turtleneck and sweater for layering, plus a coat of mine that Mom uses now. At least my nylons kept my feet warm....NOT!

My sisters and niece posed for a family photo, minus Jill who had to go to back to work after the funeral service for Rochelle. From the left is Lori, me, Kerry, Mom, Lynn, and her daughter, Lisa

Mom attempts to support Auntie Marie while the ladies chat with David and Ronnie, Marie's sons. David is the man whose lifetime sweetheart, Rochelle, died after being diagnosed with a brain tumor only a month ago.

Lisa and her friend, Vicki, smile for the camera. Vicki used to work in David and Rochelle's restaurant in Cleveland many years ago. It was great she was able to come for the funeral, nice to see her again!

Lisa and the boys came to Manty to have dinner with us on Friday night. Gabe looks very somber but he really did have a nice time. Manny is having a birthday at the end of the month so I gave him his present in advance. The cotton throw was extremely soft and fuzzy and Manny loved rubbing on it while he ate his pizza.

Here is a better shot of the group, with the giant pizza in the middle of the table. It is called a 'football pizza' probably because it could feed the entire team! Seven of us ate off of it and Lisa took the rest home for Noah to eat after work. Yummy!

Manny LOVED his birthday cake provided him by the nice waitress. He ate nearly every bit of it after eating several pieces of pizza, all the while rubbing on the blanket in the bag next to him.....I am sure it's washable!

Listening to the wind in the palms

After a lovely night's sleep, undisturbed as far as I remember, I am now hearing the breezes moving through the palm branches outside my door. The slider is open in the river room, has been since I got home yesterday afternoon, allowing the outside to come in. It is a bit chilly for me outside the bed but under this comforter, it feels great. My up-north family and friends sometimes sleep with their windows cracked open well into winter but this is as far as I go with the fresh air thing.

*

Kathy picked me up at the airport, where I was right on time. But she just blew me away by meeting me as I left my concourse, standing in the common area. I cannot tell you the last time anyone has met me at the airport in such a fashion! It brought back the memory of my meeting family at the airport where I would wear a goofy hat or sparkly deely boppers on my head. How else would they find me in that mob of people?? Kathy came in regular clothes but I knew her immediately!

*

We had a slight delay in finding the correct baggage area, it seems the baggage came out on the far end of the other side from where we normally get ours, so by the time we got there, the belt was fairly empty, and a handler was pulling the bags off as they came through. I spotted mine on the floor near his feet and gathered it up. Kathy came with her car instead of mine, saying mine did its questionable acting up thing I told her about. Her son-in-law and she switched the cars out yesterday when hers was done at Pep Boys and parked mine at home. I was sort of glad that it did happen for her so it proved to me that I was not imagining things.

*

On the way back, we stopped for me to pick up my tax return and then we went home. She asked if I wanted to get something to eat or anything but I said I just wanted to get home to sleep! Kathy helped me get my suitcase upstairs and I was just amazed to see the yellow coating on the tile floors in my courtyard. Normally Connie sweeps or hoses the common areas on Fridays to make all things are nice for the weekends so either she did not do it, or this accumulated overnight. Justin had come over to my house to clean out the fridge after the Easter feast and I was not sure what kind of mess I would face. Ta da! My kitchen was clean and presentable, the empty dishes stacked nicely in the sink. The lovely bouquet that Ron and his mom brought me Easter Sunday looked a bit sad, petals falling around it onto the table and such. Too bad I could not enjoy it longer but that is the nature of cut flower arrangements.

*

After she left me, I got busy with my washer running to take care of the laundry from the closet floor first before the contents of my suitcase going in. And then, I had to tackle the problem of having a sickly car. I was going to pick up Pastor Deutschlander from the airport tomorrow morning but now Judy J. will be the one, as was the original plan anyway, and then drive him to the pastor's conference in Keystone Heights. And I will miss the conference talk which is what I was interested in hearing. Rats! My friend, Jen, is picking me up at the repair shop, Aamco Transmissions, in the morning when I drop it off for its going over. Pep Boys, my first contact, told me they do not handle transmissions so I called the experts.

*

Justin called me to say he was absolutely NOT available on Monday, that even the slightest delay in his being on time for helping his father would bring wrath, so Jen was glad to pitch in. Once more, frantic moving is taking place, cleaning out the double garage on the property where Justin's father/boss lived, finding places to store the stuff and the worse job, finding bodies to help with this project. The days are running short for getting this completed and tensions are high, so I do not need any part of that. Who knows? Jen and I might even enjoy a lovely, casual breakfast while Justin and his father are hustling like nuts...Justin had asked me to go to church with him this Sunday but now that my car is misbehaving, I do not wish to chance a trip that far or on such busy roads. So Judy J. is picking me up for church this a.m., my go-to girl!

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This a.m. on Fox and Friends there was story about a WWII veteran returning to college to earn a degree in psychology at the age of 84, so he can work with returning soldiers from the Iraq/Afghanistan conflict. His fellow students are the ages of his grandchildren, he laughed, so no girlfriends to be found on his campus. But, you know, good for him!! My driver to the airport yesterday morning, "Frenchie", told me about his years of service in the Navy, passing through Jacksonville but not stationed here, and so on. He liked his time in the service, 22 years, and then he moved from Manty to Sheboygan where he worked for the streets department. Now he does this shuttle driving for his living, although this is retirement for him. His face was a relief map and he was fun to visit with, although he was definitely a man who knew his mind. Sort of a gruff guy, but in talking, he mentioned about his friend/neighbor passing away and how he promised the man that he would help his wife with things like snow and mowing and such. "...and then he died." Don't tell me you have no heart, Mister, not when you do things like this!

*

My niece, Alayna, had the privilege of hearing and seeing some Viet Nam War veterans speak at her school on Friday and she is shown on their local TV news, sitting in the audience, paying rapt attention. She is gorgeous, what can I say? The TV station ran the story, and my sister, Jill, sent me the link so I could see it, too. In watching the footage, one part brought tears to my eyes---a young man was walking amongst the displays and such, and when he passed one of the veterans, he reached out and shook the guy's hand. The guy's hand was in his pocket, so the young man had to have initiated that gesture and it moved me. Alayna had mentioned on FB how much she enjoyed their talk and presentation, ending her posting, "God bless 'em". Yes, God bless them!

The rest of my time was spent....

.....doing what else? Eating and church stuff! After the funeral service was over and folks had dissipated, Lori came back to Mom's to gather her belongings before heading back to Holmen. She had an important meeting the next morning so it was important for her to get home, and especially before dark. We are at the age when night driving is not advised any longer. At least some of us find that to be the case. Lori and I shared the guest room at Mom's which did not go as well as it should. We have quite different sleeping habits, mine includes having the TV on all night, very quietly. Lori does not know the concept of quiet and could not tolerate the flickering of the TV. Finally, in frustration, she yanked the cord from the outlet, end of discussion! We won't try that experiment again! Like Lynn said, she had an empty bed in her house....Otherwise, as always, we had a great time although we were both tired in the morning!

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Mom, Lynn, Linda, and I went to dinner at The Oar House, or Whore House, as Lori pronounced it. We could have laughed as loudly as we could there and not disturbed a soul, as we were the only customers in the dining room! Sad, but true. I am so glad I suggested going there or they would have had no business at all. Their perch was done to perfection with an almost shredded wheat-type coating and the dinner rolls were fresh made by the chef. Oh, yummy! After our meals we went to Linda's to see her newly decorated family room, completed with the pieces we had picked out at Taylor Creek only a month ago. Tommy finally got them all hung up, making the room feel even more cozy and warm. Snow was predicted for overnight which Linda claimed was Tom's fault, since he took the plow off the John Deere!

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Thursday we did wake to snow on the ground and continuing to fall, on and off all day. I took pictures which will be posted as soon as I can once home again. Mom and I were going shopping and stopped to have breakfast at Four Seasons. She discovered a new favorite, a fried egg sandwich with a fruit cup, from their Senior's Menu. I had potato pancakes and fried eggs, doing a respectable job with my meal for a change. We went to Wal-Mart first so Mom could some scrips filled, and I shopped while she got her hair cut. Once checked out, we headed to Copp's for some groceries and to see Susie. Jill's birthday was on Thursday and I wanted fruit tart for her cake. Nope, no tarts until the fruit improves so we settled for a raspberry pie instead. And no sugar cookies either...obviously they did not get the memo that I was back in town! Mom suddenly remembered something----we forgot to pick up the prescriptions from Wal*Mart! Now, how did that happen? We could not go back because Mom and I went to Ladies' Aid that afternoon and ran out of time. It was an interesting speaker that day, a Hospice person whose entire program was about laughter!

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Last night (Thursday actually) I made Jill a birthday supper which was enjoyed by Mom, Lynn, Jill, and me. We had a turkey roll, mashed potatoes and veggie mix with cheese, all from Mom's freezer. Plus the pie. Danny brought some pizza with him to Mom's to eat instead of the dinner and played video games while we ate and opened Jill's gifts. Together we watched Jeopardy! before our wild party broke up.

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Friday, I went to church to hang out with Linda and then we went to lunch with her sister, Georgia and my mom. We ended up at Harborside (I was thinking of you, Dolly!!) because our first choice did not serve lunch (?) !!! How can that be?? It was in a hotel! Anyway, we had a great time, even knew some people there, of course, who were not quite as noisy as our table. The perch sandwiches there are served on fresh-baked hard rolls from an area bakery, and were soooo delicious! Perfection! After lunch and saying good-bye once more to Linda, Mom and I went to Wal*Mart where we got her scrips picked up. We came home again and just hung out until it was time to meet Lisa and her boys, plus the rest of the family at Luigi's for pizza. I am glad she was able to come because I won't see them again until June when Justin and I return for Alayna's graduation party. Manny has his 5th birthday, which I consider to be a very special number, at the end of this month, so I gave him present in advance. He loved his pillow and cotton throw with "How to Train a Dragon" all over it. And the waitress, seeing the present, brought him a piece of cake with a candle in it! Very special indeed!

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I am going to shut this down now and go wait for the shuttle driver to come for me. Not that I am anxious or anything, but this is not the simplest place to find the first time and I do not want them to be lost. My watching for him will ensure he will find me immediately! See you tomorrow, or rather, later today, probably, back in Florida!