Just call me poker-eyes!

My eyes are sore and make-up entirely gone, and I am happy. Not about the way I look or the way my eyes feel, but from watching a wonderful movie with Judy C. Her daughter had gotten a gift card for the AMC Theaters but where she lives, there are none. So she gave it to her mom to use...nice! We are going again next week to see "Red Tails", a WWII movie about Black pilots as heroes. 


But, now, back to WWI, the Great War...This story takes place first in Great Britain, showing a young boy witnessing the birth of a pony. It progresses to the boy forming an affectionate bond with the horse, named Joey, who is put to work on the family farm, with hopes of saving it from being a total loss. When the Great War started, the British army representative came to town to buy horses from people and away went Joey, sold to save the farm. 


The movie follows Joey and his heart-sick young owner through the war, and all the lives touched by this valiant beast. At one point, Joey got tangled in barbed wire right between bunkers occupied by the opposing sides. One guy from the Brits' and one from the Germans' bunker came out to work together to cut the horse loose, and decided who would get custody using a coin toss. Fortunately the Brit won and the horse went back to the bunker with him. Truly a good good movie about the struggles of making a living and for ending life, and preserving, all at the same time! I highly recommend it!


Justin and I went to Bible study and church this a.m. The class was held in the church office which was a bit tight of a fit, but can't be helped, I guess. We could swap rooms with the Sunday school but I am not in charge of arranging the rooms. The preschool room is off-limits to other uses so one of the classes meets in front of the church, setting up tables at which to work.


The Fellowship Hall has been vacated with an extremely well-attended workday Saturday clearing everything out. One of our newer members, Sterling, who rides his bike as transportation, took charge of organizing the garage portion of the classroom building, with more than one person telling me about it. I was told he worked there all day but he said it was only three hours...A Navy man who plays in the Navy Band, physically fit from all the bike riding. And an organizer, to boot!  When I thanked him for his work, he sort of shrugged it off as nothing. I told him my lifting and toting days were behind me and he said, "That's reversible..." and he is probably right about this!


Justin asked me what time the movie was and when I told him 3:45 pm, he said, "Oh, good! We have time to go to lunch!" Yes, we did, going to Olive Garden with Judy C. and Terri T. Judy had a gift card for there also. Life on gift cards, it's a beautiful thing! Justin and I had the soup and salad, both us full to the brim for less than $20, and in good company. He was taking some of his bakery to his friend's house for football watching but the games did not begin until 3:00 or after. 


On Friday I got the e-mail that goes out to Victory members which tells about the Sunday service and other events for the weekend. It mentioned a baptism being held at the 2nd service, which Pastor had mentioned at Bible study on Thursday as well, when Rachel was recording the music for the service. When I saw the name of the parents, I was overjoyed, and toyed with attending to witness the baptism. 


Years ago at the lake house, my 'pool boy', Jeff, would come at the break of dawn to take care of the pool. My bedroom was immediately off the pool/patio and I had no curtains or blinds covering my windows. I don't know if anyone could see in or not, but when I would hear the squeak of the screen door, I flew for my robe!


Jeff, a nice young man, was the boyfriend of my friend's daughter, Natalie, who shared ThanksLiving dinner with us recently. He did pool work as his side job, working in the graphic arts for his day job. Eventually he got a job at the brewery, working the worst hours at first, which caused him to quit the pool business. Natalie and he also broke up at some point, so I did not see him at all. 


Anne H. works at the same brewery, so I kept up with his news and goings on via her, as well as Brenda N., whose daughter is Natalie. It's that social network again! Jeff got married a few years ago and now has a baby, who was baptized today. Anne sent me an e-mail and a text message from Pastor's phone, besides the church e-mail, inviting me to come to Victory. But, I had to sing a psalm for the service, I thought, and could not go. It turns out the psalm we practiced is for a different upcoming service, so I blew that! I can still send Jeff, the pool boy, a card, and rejoice that perhaps his wife and he will have found a church!

I shall sleep better tonight!

Last night, I had a terrible time falling asleep, due in part to having to get up early in the morning to get Justin's car to the repair guy. We had decided to leave here about 7:30 a.m. for our less than 30 minute trip across the bridge. We wanted to leave a large margin of error in case the car acted up. As it turned out, we left closer to 8 a.m. with his car starting right off without any problems. Whew!


Once we found the shop, actually a bus lot where "Pat", we found out, is the head mechanic for the school buses there. Pat, whom we had never met, is the gentleman friend of our teammate at Trivia, Justin's, mother. I know, right? Justin is Erica's boyfriend, and Erica is my friend, Stephanie's, daughter. Victory friends! When Justin S. sent me a message at CHRISTmas in WI, telling me that Pat could do the repair for cheap, my Justin made me laugh. He told the family members that his mom was her own social network, finding someone to fix his car for less. 


Altogether this repair cost far far less than what RPM told us they would charge. Pat also changed the burned out light bulb in Justin's taillight, and managed to get the hatchback open, despite the broken latch, to access the light bulb! He showed Justin which cable needs to be replaced in order to make the latch operative, and offered to install it for him (takes 10 minutes according to Pat) once he has the replacement! Nice!


While the car was being worked on, Justin and I went to Publix to pick up a few things. He stocked up on some noodle meals (perfect college student food!) on sale for 45 cents each. Both the cashier and the bagger remarked about how good these are, and how they eat them a lot as college students! Justin bought another confetti cake mix and a can of frosting to make treats for his friends, plus the little cups for lining the cupcake pan. We found some break and bake cookies on sale, a strange brand, plus some cleaning products, real miscellaneous shopping, just to pass the time.


We were unfamiliar territory on that side of town, but thanks to Justin's cell phone, he got familiar! Besides Publix, he found us a McDonald's where we got breakfast and sat down inside to eat. They had TV's on there so we could watch/listen to the news as we wiled away the time. Justin had his iPad with him on which he played a game. My book was left in the car because I didn't really feel like reading, and talked with Justin instead. We got a text message that the engine mounts were installed so we headed back to the shop. Pat was still doing the lightbulb thing so we stood around and watched/chatted with him while he finished up. 


With renewed confidence, we headed back to Orange Park, Justin so glad to have his car up and running again. We got our groceries upstairs and put them away, then we retired to our own rooms. He was glad to have that broken-down car burden behind him, and I was just dog tired! After our little rests, he came into my room and relocated the router and modem to hopefully allow him better reception in his room. He got busy baking and, after my rest, I did a load of wash. Instead of making the confetti cupcakes, he made red velvet ones which smell and look great! His friends were not doing much so he was not going over to Mandarin. 


Feeling somewhat celebratory and a bit relieved about his car, I suggested we go to Manny's Bistro for dinner. The 'family' has all been asking about him, so off we went. The parking lot was nearly full when we got there and I joked that perhaps we'd have to park at La Nap and walk over. (In 2010, my friend Judy C. and I had our cars towed from this same parking lot when going to La Nap!!!) Because they were so busy, it was hard for the family to hang around to visit at all, but he got a couple of nice hugs. 


Rosaria reminded Justin about how he grew radishes in his backyard garden more than 10 years ago. Wow, even I had forgotten about that!!! She was struggling for the right word in English to describe what she was telling about, calling them 'pomadoro', for the color, before he recalled the radishes. Such fun that was! "Oh, you so handsome, honey, so handsome..." Yeah, that won't get old any time soon!


The rest of the evening will be spent watching the returns out of South Carolina and reruns of "Big Bang Theory", bouncing back and forth, waiting for the results. Who will be the next to leave the race? Any bets?

The Lost Friday

Friday went by so quickly, it seems. It began with friends and ended with them, but different sets. I like that! Early in the morning, I walked over to the “Breakfast Club”, as I have taken to calling it, since we have not played games for several weeks.  This time only Carol W. was there which is perfectly fine with me. She is the wife of Randy, our token man at water aerobics. He was expected to join us but he goes to the gym first and sometimes forgets to come for breakfast. She did not leave him a note as a reminder. Carol invited me to join them at an Italian restaurant in Mandarin to hear Randy play the piano at dinner time but I was already booked for Dinner and A Movie. My other friend, Mary, was going along as well.

After breakfast, on the way out, one of my pool friends, who works in the office, called to me. Patty wanted to know how many tickets I wanted for the upcoming fashion show. I was going to order two at some point but since she caught me, the first two sold were mine! The show is a fund raiser for the Quigley House, a home for battered women and their kids, for which my friend, Penny, works. Hmmm…I had better confirm the date so I don’t accidentally double-book. When Justin cleaned out the pantry, we got a few items together to donate to Quigley House. All I have to do is get it to Penny.

When I got home, I busied myself getting the soup made for our dinner. I had soaked the beans overnight in baking soda in an attempt to defuse them somewhat. I had mentioned to Justin that I can use a can of chicken broth to help flavor it since the packet in the bean bag said “chicken flavoring” on it. I am a bit slow on the uptake because I did NOT notice the bean soup was meant to have chicken added to it rather than ham. I never even knew to verify that but so what? In went the broth, the season packet, and cut up ham, and a handful of shredded carrots.

What I did not bargain for was the inability to properly ‘boil’ the soup since the pot was so full. If it came to a rolling boil as the directions said it should, soup would splash out onto the stove. If it did not boil enough, the beans would be tough when dinner came around. Fortunately, when Justin straightened the pantry closet, the large stew pot came to the front, allowing me to reach it down. Using both hands and one foot, I managed to pour the larger kettle of bean soup into the larger still pot, with plenty of room for boiling and stirring. Problem solved!

Justin was going to try using his own car for going to work and but if that didn’t work out, he was taking mine. When I went out for breakfast, my car was gone which lead me to believe his would not start. We needed his to be able to run in order to get to the repair shop in the morning, so I was sad. Later, when he came home, he said the car did start but he was concerned it would not again when it was time to leave work. The landscape equipment is kept deep into a neighborhood, actually beyond it, and would be hard to give a wrecker-driver directions to help him if he needed it. Seems reasonable.   

  

When he came home from work, he asked if I needed anything from the store. Sure! He went to Winn Dixie and got fresh dinner rolls and some bread for making sandwiches. Betty drinks regular Coke so he got her a small bottle for the evening. When he came back, I asked him what he had gone to get, thinking he wanted something for himself. He said he did not need anything, but knew he had left me without a car all day…What a nice guy he is!

The soup turned out wonderfully, despite the chicken flavoring, and all were happy. The ladies, Betty and Robin C., were glad to see Justin and spend some time with him. Once we finished our meal, Justin cleared things away as we ladies got set to watch our movie, “Midnight in Paris”. Robin had brought brownies and Betty, a coffee cake which tasted like a cheese cake. Yummy for dessert! Justin was going to hang out with his other friends but when he went to start his car, it would not. Instead of using mine and joining his friends, he jump started his, drove around awhile to get the battery filled back up, and then stayed home! He watched the end of the movie with us (said it looked good, what he saw of it!) and spent the evening with us old ladies! He said he did not wish to fool around with his car in the morning, wise choice!

My neighbor, Randy, offered to plug his charger into Justin’s battery overnight but Justin kindly refused this suggestion, being sure that now the battery was fully charged and ready to go. Other of my neighbors offered their help if we encountered problems with the car on the way to the shop, or to just get out of the parking lot, and I am so so thankful for the support. Now, just to get it fixed…awesome!

Timmy's birthday

Well, here it is---the day which would be Timmy's 16th birthday. Yikes! What an incredible concept for me wrap my head around. In fact, I will not even try, because, as I told Beth B. this morning, he is always going to be 5 to me! Beth lost her daughter, Hannah, the age of 12 to brain cancer at  in 2010, and she considers her daughter as always being 12. We have become fast friends for some of the obvious reasons, and I was glad she was able to attend Bible study yesterday morning.

Justin pointed out to me that I attend two Bible studies on Thursdays now, since the Bible Information Class began last week. "Ask, and ye shall receive!" He had to work today and was going to have lunch at Sweet Tomatoes with his father, a custom since 2002, to celebrate Timmy's birthday at his favorite restaurant. He called it "Taste Tomatoes", with the strawberry on the sign. No, it was not a strawberry, but as far as Timmy was concerned, it was! 

So, without Justin, I went to Bible study at Victory, and then took my car in for an oil change. Instead of sitting in the waiting area in the shop, I had a small stromboli at Aron's Pizza, next door. I love it that the young waitress knew what I was going to order, and even brought the to-go box with extra sauce in anticipation of my taking half of it home with me! The guy at Sun Tire, who also rotated my tires for me, assured me all was well under the hood, news I love to hear, and I was on my way home again.

For awhile this afternoon I worked on the church newsletter, writing an article about the coming of the season of Lent. Imagine that! We no sooner finish Epiphany season and now Lent. I like doing the research or the reading about the seasons, hymns, liturgical colors, and so on. I need some info yet from the preschool staff and then the newsletter is good to go.

I also sent out a blanket e-mail to all our members inviting them to a Work Day at church this Saturday, to prep the fellowship hall for renovation. The building has to be emptied out (and put it where?) as the roof is being modified and the ceilings replaced. We understand the kitchen remains 'as is' but will still be affected by the overhead renovations. I hope lots of people with good, strong backs show up to do the heavy lifting. 

A couple people have asked me if I was having a Super Bowl party and I said I would have to wait to see if the Packers won. As we know, the Packers did NOT win but I have opted to have a party anyway. Why not? Without a team in the running, it might be even more fun, and I have not had a gathering here, of any size, since the Ladies' Group party in early December. I don't care how many people come, it's a party with two or three, or even only one!

In the late afternoon, I got a text message from Justin telling me he was ready to get picked up. Usually I have to get him when my favorite TV show is on but today I got to see the majority of "The Five". Soon we should have his car repaired and he can drive himself. Saturday is the day for the repairs, yay!

Since I had to be at BIC by 7:30 pm, Justin and I timed our visit to Sweet Tomatoes accordingly. While we were there, I mentioned to him that I saw several folks eating by themselves, so I could have done the same. He jumped on that quickly with "I would never let you come alone on Timmy's birthday!", even though he 'had' to eat there twice in one day. Good answer, Justin! He said he knows that now he gets two of everything, including CHRISTmas dinners, birthday parties, and other events, and is good with that, as long as he doesn't overeat. That guy!

We had enough time after dinner for me to bring him home again, instead of his plan to walk from Wells and Hwy. 17. He wanted to watch "American Idol", but when I walked in the house after class, I discovered more had taken place...He was cleaning another closet! After American Idol was over, he tackled the pantry closet near the foyer, having two card tables set up and using the glass table in the family room. Wow, I have alot of stuff! This closet had not been cleaned since we moved in and was loaded by Martie and Brenda T. in 2006. 

Again, many items will be donated to Quigley House or to anyone who wants them. Foods which had expired in 2007 were disposed of, just in the nick of time!, and other items relocated to the freed shelves in the front hall closet, cleaned out on Tuesday. Sometimes a person just has to organize and shift things around to make more room, and that happened tonight! The tables are still in place with the items to be donated waiting to be boxed up. Robin and Betty are coming tomorrow night for Dinner and a Movie so they can have first pick before we box them up. Nice!

Time to rest!

What a busy and fun day I had today! First order of business was to take Justin to work on Fleming Island, in the rain. Yech! At first I had the notion to go to McDonald's for a breakfast sandwich (had coupons!) but then considered the fact that I was meeting my two lady friends for an early lunch. Nah, no need to get a sandwich when I will be eating a more substantial meal in a few hours, needing to leave room in my tummy for beef brisket. 


Robin C. invited Betty and me to lunch to celebrate my birthday which I don't mind doing. Since I was the birthday girl, we got to eat where I wanted to go. Koko's is closed so I chose MoJo's BBQ instead. Betty had no idea where it was, her first visit. I do hope she liked it enough to go back another time. When we last ate together, we promised to not let so much time go between visits, and we were true to our words! Plans are made to meet again, here, on Friday night for Dinner and a Movie. I am making a kettle of bean soup since Justin won't have time to cook for us. He has offered more than once to cook for us when I have my ladies over but because he has to work late on Friday, I will make my soup and be done with it.


From the restaurant, I headed to the groomers to get my hair cut, but had to wait a little while as she was running behind schedule. No worries about that, because I enjoy reading the Neighbor to Neighbor newspaper when I go there. Barb was telling about her battle with the insurance company and the hospital in regard to an outstanding bill that was supposedly handled. Too many hands involved and none of them getting it done. I told her the guy who runs the hospital lives in my building and she said she might come over some day and knock on his door. Not really, but I understand her frustration. He, of course, has nothing to do with the billing mix-ups, but someone in his office had supposedly taken care of it. No one told billing, I guess. It's bad enough to battle cancer but then to battle bureaucracy, well, that's over the top!


After the beauty shop and shearing thereof, I went to the car parts place to get Justin's engine mounts. I had spoken with a lady named Dawn when checking if they had come in, but when I walked in, a lady named Beth met me at the counter. OH MY GOODNESS! It was none other than Betty's daughter! Years ago, when the preschool was still fairly new, Beth worked there, and her son, Marcus, red-haired cutie pie, attended. How funny to hug her and tell how I just got done eating with her mama! She was glad Betty went out, said she needs a change of scenery from school and homework. I told Beth not worry, I had it covered!!!


From Advanced Auto I went to the Edward Jones office to sign a piece of paper which took only a few minutes, since my friend, Debbie, was gone for the day. We can talk for an hour otherwise. I should ask her to come over some time....I made my way home in rush hour traffic and was glad to at last make it back here. My little heater was turned on, the baby blanket across my legs, and laptop fired up, so to speak, until it was time to leave for choir. Robbie has a sinus situation going on right now and I assured him I would not be one bit upset if he cancelled rehearsal but he felt good enough to put us through our paces.


...and now, to the roar of jet engines outside the windows, I am enjoying being under the blankets, snug and warm, as it continues to mist. 

This picture was taken this morning at sunrise when both the sky and the water were shaded in pink. After I snapped the photo, I realized it was raining. What a capture!

The gifts that keep on giving...

....or the mama who does that! Justin needed new glasses for some time, his lenses being all blotchy with the film or protective layer looking all spotted. I would not be able to tolerate that in front of my eyes all day long. When Living Social offered a deal last November, I snapped it up to give him 'new glasses' for Christmas. Before they were going to New York for the Packer/Giant game, he was lying on my bed lamenting not having new glasses for the trip. I gave him the certificate ahead of time but he did not get to the eye clinic to make it happen. Well, now we have and somehow it ended up costing more money, above what I paid for the 'deal'. Oh yes, it was a deal, make no mistake, but I didn't realize that the lenses are charged separately than the frames and the eye exam.I guess I should have but...We could have stopped with the eye exam, kept the prescription information and ordered the glasses from Zennia on-line at an extreme discount, and I would have been money ahead. But now he will have new glasses to wear for times other than when he's working. 


For Christmas, he also got a stock certificate showing he is an owner of the Packers. Instead of keeping the certificate in the folder it came in, I thought it needed framing. We took it to Great Hang Ups to have it properly matted, in green and gold, mind you, and framed. Not only did I have to buy (not really 'have to', I wanted to!) the stock, but also insisted it be framed. Good thing I am friends with the framers! 


Dee, by the way, is now retired but we did get a chance to see her. She had high high praise for the home inspector I sent her, my former co-worker, Jim. He is the guy who called Timmy "Hurricane Hank" in the office. Dee said he did a thorough job, could come in the time frame she needed, was personable, and helpful. All good things! Yay! The sad news is that our favorite restaurant, Koko's, next door to Great Hang Ups,is now closed, the owners having also retired. Something must be going around!


For a couple years, perhaps since the Great Flood, I have been wanting to go through the little closets and sort through the items stored there. Justin and I took care of the front hall closet, relocating leftover tile and grout to the cubby near the elevator, and disposing of old paint, etc. Connie would take care of the paint cans for us, all he had to do was take them downstairs. He vacuumed the shelves and the floor, and we put back what was being kept. A bunch of items were sorted out to take to the preschool at church or given to others. It gets easier and easier to let things go, it seems. He did find three cans of beer in the closet, from 2006 according to their dates, his graduation! He wanted to keep two of them, as collector's items, while I poured one into the plant at the front door. Nourishment for the greenery!


We played trivia tonight, with seven in our group, but only five teams in the competition. It was great fun, going into the final in 1st place. That did not last, though, as we blew the final question. We were supposed to put in order a series of four movies according the year they came out. Inevitably we mess up on these type of questions (not really a question...). The list was Poltergeist, Police Academy, Airplane!, and Jaws 2. We got every one wrong, but did not put any of our points at risk. We got 2nd place, again, and are not ungrateful. Besides the fun of the game, the company and the food are great!


Tomorrow, Stephanie's mom comes down from WI for a month, her first time visiting alone, since her husband died about two months ago. And on Saturday, Erica leaves to return to school in WI, at WLC, after her long 'winter break'. I asked her boyfriend, Justin, to come to trivia anyway, even if Erica is not there. Justin is the one who arranged for us to get Justin's car worked on this coming Saturday---we hope! The parts should be in, I will call tomorrow to check the status of them so we can get his car back on the road!

Oh, goodie! The debates are on!

Yes, I am a watcher of the debates---whether I see them live or replayed in the night or in snippets on the news the next day. We are minus one who dropped out today, narrowing the field yet again, now down to five participants.

Looking around my room, I see several areas needing attention, perhaps tomorrow for that. One thing is the plastic bag holding the Ladies’ Group documents and folders. A trip to Office Max is in order as I would prefer to have one or two larger ring binders for organizational purposes instead of the paper-covered folders like were used in school. I am all about being concise and orderly with my stuff like that, so I can grab it and run!

When I did my sheets the other day, I had to empty the bed of the reading materials which are stacked elsewhere. One of my “Breakfast Club” friends, Carol, mentioned that she has a bookcase next to her bed and I thought, “hmmm….” but would not wish to eliminate the night stand already in place (and piled with books!) Perhaps, though, a small bookcase on the other side of the bed would work, although I have a lovely glass-topped table with my special Engleton lamp displayed upon it. There is room on the existing shelves if I moved some stuff around which might be the more economical way to go.

Once the end-of-year and beginning of the New takes place, I might be able to secret my rolling file cart into the closet and do the filing in there. Justin is going to relocate the modem and router from the built–in bookcase shelf to the other shelf closer to the river room. This will, hopefully, allow him enough speed to make use of his Netflix subscription from the family room, and then I should be able to access it as well in my room. So he claims. Right now I cannot imagine having a use for the Netflix but guess it would not take me long to get caught up in the fervor of it. However, I won’t mind one little bit having less wires showing, although he does not seem to consider my accumulation of wires to be all that much. At least, not compared to his mass of wiring---wow!

What a great debate this is! The moderator has his hands full keeping the candidates and questioners on track. Newt is talking about young entrepreneurs in the doughnut business which reminded me about Judy C. making doughnuts at home. She got a machine, similar to a waffle-maker, she described it, for making ball-shaped doughnuts in the comfort of her home. She had her two grandkids today because of the school holiday and this would be their afternoon activity. Sounds good to me! Not only can she make those, she can also make her own soda at home, and likes it!

On the way to work this a.m., Justin asked me how to make a bad dream stop. Other than waking up, I am not sure. It seems we both had that type of dream (I had two this a.m.), my first one involving him as a young child. In my dream, it seemed my extended family and ours was shopping at a mall with a major toy store in it. Justin, about age 6 or so, was begging for something inappropriate for him. When I refused to buy it,he took off on me. Originally his father had been shopping with us but then was no longer in the picture. Everyone was looking for him, scared that he would get out in the street or something. I called his father to report Justin missing and he told me to keep looking but then had some business stuff to talk to me about. Why does it always come back to the business?? I am hoping we found him and I am also hoping I did NOT buy him what he was begging for! I don’t remember what Justin said his dream was about (shame on me!) but it might come back to me later and I will add a post script to this.

Right now, though, I want to focus on the debate. At this moment, Ron Paul is speaking, whom Justin refers to as “Walter” from the Jeff Dunham comedy routine. I get that!!! How funny!!!