The smell of sauce in the air

Justin is busily cooking spaghetti sauce in the kitchen, having gone to the store for ingredients earlier today. He no sooner began than did the aroma of garlic find its way to my room. What an awesome smell! He is like a mad scientist in the kitchen, adding a little of this and a little of that to make his sauce extra special good, including some corn! I'll take it!

We are having a marvelous day weather-wise. I was able to find a couple of my friends poolside this afternoon. I took my new card folder outside with me so I could write down the address info and such for the upcoming 'going away' party for Lee. Cynthis put me in charge of invitations so I did that this afternoon----at least four of them! The water is, of course, cold but Bill, who is more hardy than some of us, dived in a couple times. Shiver!!

About late afternoon, my upstairs neighbor sent me a text message asking if we had dinner plans. Oh oh...now what??? At first I invited them to come down to join us for spaghetti but Debbie had troubles reaching Dick to get confirmation on that. 

                          

In the meanwhile, Justin thought the sauce would be just as good tomorrow while Koko's would be good tonight. That's what we settled on---dinner with our neighbors at Koko's!! Justin ate there on Wednesday night with Michael G. and was still craving sushi so off we went. "If someone calls to go to dinner, turn off the stove and go!"---one of our house rules. Nothing goes to waste, only eaten on a different day. That works for me! So thankful for my good neighbors...

A Friday Fish Fry

Oh, how my mouth waters thinking about the delicious fried perch people are enjoying in WI and other lake regions on any given day, but especially on Fridays. Yum! A week or so ago a lady with whom I used to worship at GS, sent me a message from her home in WI, asking for good places to eat in my hometown. Her hubby and she were going to Manty for a long weekend and wanted to go to the places she has seen me write about. I sent Dawn to The Green Street Tavern among other places. I envy her, but in a good way! 

This is my plate from The Green Street Tavern: perch sandwich and cheese curds!

It was a glorious day today with temps in the low 80's. I kept looking outside to see if anyone was sitting out there but saw no one. Instead of going out, I stayed inside and went through things on my desk and in my files. A never ending project, so it seems. I also paced myself on soda consumption as Justin had counted the remaining cans for me the night before, to make sure I'd have enough before he went to the store again. I did good!

Justin had talked to me about going to have appetizers with his boss and his wife after work but he hated to 'ditch' me again. I somehow manage, you know? But he is so sweet...Anyway, just as The Five was coming on, Judy C. called. She said she knew The Five was on but wanted to ask me if I had plans for dinner. Michael and she were going to Sam's St. John Seafood and asked me along. Sure!!! I was all set...

We agreed to meet at 6:30, giving me enough time to watch/chat with Linda, fix myself a bit and drive those couple of blocks to the restaurant. I like their fried pollack, which is what Judy had, as well. Michael had the shrimp, and he took our cheese grits home with him. In WI a perch plate comes with rye bread, but here, a pollack plate comes with grits!

When I got home, I had time to watch part of Jeopardy! and then go outside on the north end to watch an expected fireworks show, hosted by a wedding party. It was to take place at 8:45 but I sat with a couple of my neighbors waiting for half an hour after it was due. Seemed to be a dud. Oh well...

When I got back upstairs, Justin was suprised he didn't hear anything. I told him it was a dud, but then we heard the booming. There wasn't enough time to get back down to the north end so we hung out the patio doors and saw what we could over the neighbor's canopy. It was very nice and had the most amazing echo on this very still night. The moon, a hunter's moon, I am told, was full and brilliant in the water and in the sky. Picture perfect!

                              

When I posted this photo on Facebook, one of my friends wrote that they were just waiting to see what I would post regarding the moon. She liked what she saw!

What a marvelous day!

My day began with an easy ride to Victory with my mom riding shotgun (inside my phone!) with little or no traffic with which to contend. So refreshing! Mom told me about an interesting LWMS Rally she attended on Tuesday evening, hearing a speaker address missions to the Amish. This was not something I was at all familiar with, nor had Pastor Hoyer heard about it. 

Our group was fewer in number today because of the Southern Women's Show taking some of the ladies downtown. Lucy was back from her trip to MI, attending the wedding of her nephew, and seeing her son. She brought a small box of Dunkin Donuts, while Rita brought in a dozen delicious doughnuts from Cinatti's Bakery. I had one from each box! 

                                

Pastor had a box of a strange fruit donated by one of the preschool parents. It is from Guatamala, a pretty colored prickly looking thing called rambutan. This box came from Gautamala, but the child who arrives at preschool everyday with one in hand is from Thailand. It seems this breed made its way to the Far East. The fruit, once peeled, has a taste and texture like a large grape. Fran took a couple along at Pastor's urging, to show her grandson, Michael.

From Bible study I drove toward Orange Park to meet my lady friends for meatloaf at The Club. The lunch buffet featured my favorite, as this was pointed out to me by Jacquie, so plans were made. Lee has her house on the market, and within less than a week of being listed, had two offers on the table. She filled us in on the drama of trying to get the appraisals and inspections and such in order. She needed some time away to collect herself, and that's where we come in!

As we were finishing up, our other pool friend, Cynthia, came in. We asked her to join our group and the ladies had dessert while Cynthia ate her lunch. I so very much enjoyed that---much like what happens at the pool!!! Cynthia appointed me to be the official inviter for Lee's going-away party since I have contact with everyone (just about...). 

When we got outside, Jacquie and I had words left over so we went over to my house to talk for a bit longer. Like for several hours! It was great! We visited here until Justin came home from work, and realized what time it was. At nearly 5:00 pm we parted company and I went to my room to log-on for my chat with Linda while watching The Five.  

When Justin came in, he made Jacquie and me laugh. Under his breath he was muttering, "jack booted thugs..." as he presented me with a sizable stack of catalogs which had come in the mail. Unfortunately, there were none from Pottery Barn, which is where this "Seinfeld" quote had come from. It's the catalog time of the year, that's for sure!

Off to Publix I go!

Justin had a dish of cut-up chicken in the fridge, looking somewhat gross, if you ask me. He was planning to make a chicken dish in the slow cooker for our dinner. He asked me if I would mind going to the store to get an onion and a container of mushrooms. Of course I would do that, going all the way to Publix (make it sound like a journey!) rather than across the street and down a couple blocks to Winn-Dixie. I chose Publix because Justin told me exactly where the mushrooms were located, exactly which ones to buy, so I wouldn't mess up the recipe.

                       

Upon getting home from the store, I sent Justin a text message to ask him what was to happen now. He told me to cut up the onion, put the chicken in the slow cooker ("set it on warm, not cook!") with a 1/4 stick of butter, and layer it with the mushrooms. Now, doing the math, it seemed to me this recipe would NOT be done cooking in time for dinner. These type of recipes generally cook for 6-8 hours and it was already 3:00 pm. Regardless, I plugged the machine in and let it do its thing.

About an hour later, Justin sent me a text message asking me if it was okay for him to meet his friend, Michael, for dinner. Of course it is! He and I sort of live by that guideline--if the phone rings, turn off the stove and go! Since I anticipated the chicken would not be quite ready to go by 7:30 pm, it mattered not to me!

I could have gone to Happy Hour due to our plan change, but opted to stay in to eat dry bread and water. Or, leftover bratwurst and pasta salad. My friend, Kathy, was looking for me at HH, but I excused myself, leaving her the option to come up here if she needed to talk. She often does come by for a visit but did not come tonight. Justin said I should erect a booth like Lucy has on the Peanuts cartoons, and charge 25 cents for a visit!

The TV news has me riveted, watching as the GOP caves yet again and agrees to the debt ceiling increase, etc. Ugh! Stephanie, my friend at Victory, didn't know yet at this hour if she was going to work in the morning or if she was going to the Southern Women's Show Thursday morning. She had anticipated the shut-down and planned for it financially, was ready to ride it out for the long haul. Around midnight or sooner, she might know what her day holds for tomorrow.

A going-away day!

Quite a different one than yesterday, it started out on-the-go early. I had to go see my friend, Peggy, have her take a look at my temporary bridge and x-ray the site where the tooth was extracted. She said it appeared to be filling in, which is good. It would be another four weeks before more work could go on for the permanent bridge. We decided to wait until after Christmas for doing this, postponing the expense until the next tax year.

Yay! From the dentist office I wandered over to Wal*Mart to pick up a scrip and a few other things. My bottle of Obsession is getting empty, not quite but getting there, so I thought I would pick up a new one while I was at it. It's gone up in price since the last I bought it (I think...), now at $15 for a half ounce. The smaller bottles are better for traveling which is why I get them, plus it's less of a hit a half ounce at a time! 

Brenda and I had made plans to meet for lunch, though I was going to be there a bit early since my dental appointment was brief. Oh well...I took my Isaiah book and worksheet into the restaurant with me so I could do my homework while waiting. The waitress kept my soda glass filled as I waited for Brenda. 

When she came we compared coupons, as is our custom, and ordered exactly as we do each time we meet. Let me rephrase that---I tried a different relish this time which made my steak sandwich taste like it had spikes sticking out of it. Much more potent than their crazy green relish I usually order. I asked Brenda to remind me the next time to not order the mustard relish! Drank a whole lotta soda at lunch! Brenda treated us to shakes (using the coupons again, bo/go) and parted company. That hour goes by so quickly!

                        

Once home, I carried my purchases upstairs, welcomed by the racket of jack-hammers again. This time the work was going on is between the 2nd floor and garage, removing some stucco or something. Not sure what that is all about but I did my job of asking the residents to remove their vehicles from the area so the work could go on. 

                            

The rest of the day was spent piddling away at the desk. This evening, I was all set to go to a building committee meeting, leaving Justin at home to fend for himself. As I sat in the parking lot at church, finishing my homework, it seemed odd that no one else was arriving. I thought I had better check my e-mail from Mike K. to verify the date, and sure enough---I was a whole week early! I had so wanted to just stay home tonight because of the dreary weather, but went to the meeting, which was not!

I surprised my boy by coming home so soon. Justin had ordered a pizza for dinner but I didn't care for any of it. Instead I had some of the pasta salad from the night before and watched Jeopardy! in my room. Justin's season tickets allow him certain benefits which includes discounts or special deals on things, such as Papa John's Pizza, the official pizza of the Jaguars. Whatever he doesn't eat for dinner he has for breakfast or mid-day snack at work, so it all works out. This time he also got the chocolate chip cookie which has been advertised. Surprisingly, it is quite a lot smaller than the pizza! Sort of made us laugh...

                                    

An at-home day

Happy Columbus Day everyone! Yes, it is a holiday which normally means the banks and post office are closed for business. It also means no school for the kids and no Bible study for us. Nuts! Not a single one of the attendees are affected by the work stoppage and Judy usually brings the kids along with her when there is no school. But, no Bible study for us today. That means no lunch at Longhorn, either!

It's a good thing, I guess, that I was home this a.m. because at last I got a call back from the insurance company regarding my health policy. It seems my insurance coverage expired last April, after my debit card did! I was issued a new card with a new expiration date but it never occurred to me the insurance was linked to this card. 

As I said to the nice lady who called me, a local number, it would have been lovely to get an e-mail or a letter about this, as there is a 30-day grace period when something like this occurs. She told me there was no note or anything on my account regarding them contacting me. They just dropped me like a hot potato! 

Maracella transferred me to an agent who could help get back on insurance, though I had to wait a year after being dropped to be picked up again by the same policy. I didn't really care which policy it was, just wanted to be covered. "Ben", in Miami, was able to help me find a similar package to what I had. He also did price the (ahem, ahem) AFFORDABLE Care Act's policy, just to see. Wow! 

While it covers "everything" like pre-existing conditions and so on, for the small price of 3 times what I am paying now, per month, with a $5000 deductible, I very politely refused. Holy cow! And that was lowest priced package offered. My sympathies to those who will be compelled to make such a purchase! I don't think I have ever reached my deductible in a year's time (thanks be to God for this!), even with everything being covered, there is no way I could justify paying such a terrible fee for health insurance. And then find a doctor who will take it...

Once this ordeal was taken care of, I got busy writing Thank You notes to the folks who made our Sunday event so wonderful. It took a trial run and one ruined card to figure out how they will go through the printer. Got it figured out, cards printed, and ready to be mailed tomorrow when mail service is operating again!

                                 

Justin asked me the other night if I could make a salad using bowtie pasta. He had picked up two boxes at Publix and has been asking for such a salad. I said I could use them, and got myself busy this afternoon in the kitchen cutting up summer sausage to use in the recipe. For the 'sauce' I used a mixture of mayo and Henri's Tasty Dressing. It tastes great, if I do say so myself! Had a nice sausage sandwich for lunch, while I was at it.

For dinner, Justin and I worked together making brats with caramelized onions (okay, Justin did most of that!) to have with our pasta salad. He got done working earlier than usual, and was quite hungry when he got home. To hold him over he had some banana nut bread, but we did decide to eat dinner earlier than usual. 

He has the 'habit' of having me watch "Duck Dynasty" before we watch "Jeopardy!". Tonight he said, "I think I am getting you to like it!" Tolerate, yes; like it, yes, but the reason I do like it is because he does! I love it that he likes it, and enjoys a wholesome program such as this. 

He knows I am skeptical of reality TV shows and will admit to the situations being contrived, but I try not to dissuade him from enjoying them. In fact, some of the family members on the program remind us of our friends in Middleburg! I am good sport, if nothing else. There you go, Jack! (One of the characters on Duck Dynasty uses "Jack" as punctuation in a sentence).

Pastor Kuske's anniversary recognition

Pastor Kuske's dad, Prof. Kuske, was our officiant today. It was a lovely service...

 Kathy took her place at the piano once more to play a pre-service hymn, "The Navy Hymn" as today is the birthday of the Navy. It was so wonderful to hear her play again!

 Chefs Mike 'n Mike ready to serve us our lunch!

 You will never figure out whose plate this is, but doesn't the food look good???

 Pastor posing with his cake

Two good friends, Gretchen and Terri T.

 The food tables are all ready to go!

Look at all these desserts!

 Looking from the end of 'my' table to the other end of the room. I was seated with Danny and Kathy Roy plus the Brown's and Husted's

Some of the guests from the neighboring apartment complex joined in the celebration