A busy busy day!

Things are happening in advance of Linda's arrival next week. Yesterday the lady was here dusting and from what I can tell, she did a good job. Then, in the afternoon, I went to the groomer so I'll be presentable for my company and more comfortable in the heat.

Speaking of the heat, it is most oppressive today. I drove to Bible study at Victory this a.m. and it was already 80 above zero at shortly after 9. Normally I don't mind the heat but because I had places to go and people to meet, I appreciated the air conditioning wherever I was.

After Bible study, I had an appointment for an oil change at Sun Tire. Originally I was going to simply sit in the waiting area but every seat was taken. A man offered me his, but I thanked him for that, choosing instead to go to Aron's Pizza next door to wait. The timing was exactly right---I saw my car driven around the building and parked again just as I boxed up my leftover Strombolli. 

He really wanted me to get the right ones!

From the oil change I drove out to Fleming Island to Wal*Mart to pick up a prescription and a few other things. Justin had asked me to get him some more freezer treats called Pop Ice, which he likes to have as soon as he gets home from work. For the life of me, I could not find the brand he requested. I sent him a text message asking if he'd take a substitute. He called me back via Face Time. At first I didn't know how to answer the call, but then I figured it out. He had me show him the shelf and witness for himself that no Pop Ice brand was available. Another brand would do the trick, but not his first choice. They are quite inexpensive a treat---got 96 for less than $5 for this off-brand. 

It was hot in the store, and hot outside, so it was good to get in the car and drive back home to my air conditioned house. I am not really complaining about this, as heat is so much easier to take than the cold, in my case. No pool time for me today, as my day was full (blessed!) and errands needed to be done. Tomorrow comes the vacuuming man, and then all things will be ready for Linda's arrival!!

This place is a beehive!

Something is going on all over our property and in my house! Early this morning the tree surgeons arrived to begin the pruning of the palm trees.  Normally this is done on a annual basis but last year we had too much other stuff going on. I was glad they did it this year because the trees outside my windows were beginning to be troublesome. Not only were they taking up some of my view but also were rubbing against my sliding glass doors on especially windy days. Having them trimmed reduces the amount of debris which can become a projectile should a storm arise. 

The trimmer has his rope looped over the top of the tree he already finished working on, and is now cutting branches on the adjacent palm. I opened my sliding door and asked him if his mother knew what he was doing. He chuckled and said she did but wasn't very happy about it. But, he added, she was also proud of him. I said I was proud of him, too, and thanked him for doing this for us. 

In this photo taken from my river room 'skinny window', you can only see the tree trimmer's leg sticking out under the fronds. These trees were seriously in need of pruning!! 

Besides all the activity outside, I had company inside. I recently bought a coupon online for cleaning service and today a young lady named Martha came to dust in preparation for Linda's arrival. All I asked her to do was dust---no toilet cleaning or shower scrubbing for her today. Doing the dusting around here is not a simple task with all my collectibles and tchotchkes.  It's more involved than simply moving the dust around, and more than I care to do. Already this week I killed my back by stripping my bed and then remaking it---ugh! So glad I saw the coupon and that Martha came to my rescue!!

Going outback...

...with the church peoples! Today was the monthly outing for the Over 50 Lunch Bunch, held this time at The Outback Steakhouse. I had to leave water exercise class early in order to get myself turned around and over to Wells Road in time to meet the group. Judy C. saved me a seat. Even though I got there about 5 minutes ahead of the scheduled time, I was the last one in. 

We had 3 gentlemen with us today, two being non-member guests of Linda's. Judy and I were seated at the far end of this table. 

The service was a bit slower today than we usually experience with a group this size, which was disappointing. On the other hand, the bloomin' onion appetizer was delightful and held us over until our meals were delivered. Oh, my goodness, so delicious! I can't wait to have another one, that's how good they are. 

I worked off my calories by washing my bed clothes and then remaking my bed. After doing this, I am convinced that I shall never return to WI because my poor aching back would not tolerate snow shoveling. Making the bed is such a laborious thing to do, especially since I did the mattress pad as well. Sometimes Justin helps me with this task but he is working so much these days that I just go ahead and do it myself to get it finished. As soon as I was done, I laid myself right down on it! 

It's storm season

This morning the sky presented like this, looking ready to be a gorgeous day. I went out to the pool for a while and paddled around a few times. It's usually quiet on Mondays due to The Club being closed but a few people did join me later. 

This storm brought me into the house this afternoon, the thunder booming across the water. Justin managed to work most of the day, coming in a bit earlier than usual after being soaked through and through---again!  It's been like this all summer long, mostly on the weekends which just ruins my pool fun!  

Mind and thought management

The news these days on a national level is nearly wall to wall coverage regarding the candidates. It is early in the game and yet things are quite heated already, primarily one particular candidate running on the GOP ticket. When he is speaking or giving an interview, I often think of the advice given by the leader of the Writer's Guild to which I belonged, "Use your words economically." (I am a slow study!) This is often good advice, and would be especially so for this particular candidate. He has some good things to say, but sort of undoes things with his 'stray statements' which make him look foolish. He already has foolish stuff in his way and he pours gas on that fire right along. Are we all guilty of this in a lesser proportion?

There is an episode of "The Big Bang Theory" where one of the genius's moms comes for a visit. Sheldon's mom is from TX (bear in mind that she is made to look extra foolish, 'simple' actually, as compared to the geniuses who have no use for religious faith) and comes out with comments that Leonard feels compelled to correct. Many of the statements were common usage at one time, from even when my mom was growing up, while others have faded from use, or are strongly discouraged. The one remark was about Indians (Raj is East Indian) having a drinking problem, and Leonard informed her that 'we don't say that, either'. She looked at him quizzically and said, "I don't know how you people can even carry on a conversation anymore..." 

She is right---it's not safe! Every word has to be weighed and measured to avoid insulting or causing an offense toward another person. Finally Leonard said he would make her a list of the expressions or words which are no longer acceptable, to which she replied, "That'd be mighty white of you!". I don't even know what that means and cannot say I use it. Such a statement isn't even necessary to say 'thank you'. An economy of words would limit Mrs. Cooper's responses to 'thank you', and keep it at that. Good advice again for us all so we don't step on someone else's toes. "But let your communications be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil." Matthew 5:37 

But, on the other hand, people do not need to be so thin-skinned and delicate that every minor slight sends them into a tail-spin. We have not come very far from one sister looking at the other at the breakfast table and getting into trouble for it. It doesn't mean a thing and yet the rule is made to not look at each other anymore. What else can you do? No more looking at each other. This is not a reasonable thing but it's causing a ruckus at the table, on one person's part, anyway, to be looked at. Now just about all we say and do can be misconstrued by someone, and we might not even be aware of it. We don't want to deliberately hurt others but at the same time wish to avoid cutting our feet on eggshells. 

"You're a codfish!"

Oh, my goodness, I am so waxing nostalgic!  One of my Facebook friends has recently purchased a set of DVDs to watch with her young son and her husband. Some of the titles are newer but others are from the old days such as "The Wizard of Oz" and "The Sound of Music", among others. One title is a movie released to theaters this summer or late spring and is already in the stores. Those who have watched "Home" liked it but apparently the movie didn't flourish in the theaters. I am not a fan of these animated/Pixar-style movies but others have no problem with them. 

Erica was telling how her son, usually madly running about, sat still for longer periods watching "Mary Poppins". He is about 2 1/2 so for him to stop playing and watch portions of the movie was remarkable. This brought to mind my family's experience with Justin and "Peter Pan". When he was little, we got a Disney book series of such titles which came with cassette tapes. At the sound of the 'chime', the child was prompted to turn the page, as the book was read to him. When we were in the car, Justin had his little briefcase with the books and the tapes with him, and his own kid's cassette player. Mom and Dad could listen to the radio and/or talk while he entertained himself with the books and tapes.

One of Justin's very favorites was "Peter Pan" and a favorite line was when Peter called Cap'n Hook a codfish. "You're right, Pan, I AM a codfish". Because he loved the story so much we decided to try having him watch the movie. We didn't get the animated version, though, but instead the stage version with Mary Martin as Peter Pan. He was between three and four at this time, usually more interested in running about than sitting to watch. Prior to this movie, he'd never sat down to watch anything except perhaps a cartoon on occasion. 

Well, Mom, my former spouse, Justin, and I sat down one evening to watch "Peter Pan", with Justin sitting on his father's legs. It was after dinner which might have helped but that child sat there and watched the entire movie, hardly moving. The adults had as much fun watching him as watching the movie. We couldn't believe our eyes! Justin was riveted, absolutely riveted. 

Justin was a changed man after watching the movie, wanting to act out the scenes from movie. I had to establish with him the rule of 'no flying in the house!'. He wore a cape and loved to call everyone he met a 'codfish'. That had to be corrected quickly as this was quite rude but also so darn cute! We called his bedroom the nursery (or at least I did...) since he fell in love with that book, much as the children in the story called their room the nursery. 

Justin and I gave the book/tape sets to my niece's family which was a bittersweet donation to make. By the time Timmy came along the cassette player no longer worked but the books still worked fine. I am not sure if my great nephews still have the books, it's likely they do not, but I love remembering the joy they brought to Justin, and to us, those 25 years ago. 

Another story: One time I was chasing Justin around the house in an attempt to get him ready for church. He was wearing only his training pants (no Pull-Ups in those days), which were thick underwear. I threatened him, "Justin, if you don't get dressed, you'll have to go to church in your underwear!"  He stopped in his tracks and looked at me with a gleeful expression, "I'll look just like the Man Cub!" Yes, another book in that set was "The Jungle Book". Oh, my goodness, that child made/makes me laugh!!! I sometimes still call him the Man Cub but never a codfish, because that is just rude...

Assorted Thoughts

This might be an untidy posting but my head has been busy with info and news, some of it worthy of note. 

Thursday as I drove back from Bible study, I heard an author on Laura Ingraham's show talking about what the secular university system is doing to our society, and in particular the students who enter the university as Christians. Some study showed that about 50% of those who believed in God as first year students graduated as doubters or outright deniers.  This hurt my heart as I've seen this occur with people near and dear to me, and I hate it. A friend from church, now deceased, told me this one time: "The only thing you can hope to take with you to heaven are your children."  Lord, may it be so!

Yesterday my child, my tiny baby boy, had to miss church due to having a dead battery on his truck. Before church began he sent me a text politely asking if he could borrow my car to get a new one.  Of course he may! When I got home after lunch I suggested to him that he call AAA instead as they will install it for him plus check the alternator to make sure it is healthy. My new battery last summer was $135 and came with a three-year warranty. Since it was pouring rain at the time, he agreed to my idea. The guy came and had a hard time getting a pulse (ha ha) on it, even thought the blasted thing started for Justin the 2nd time he tried it. Nuts!  Anyway, as the guy finally got the clamps fixed to the terminals, he told Justin what type of battery it was. Immediately Justin Googled it and found AAA's quoted price to be almost right on as from Sears or others. This extra service of having the battery installed and doing the other checks makes it more valuable. Now it's done and hopefully all that will behind him. 

My friend, Judy's, back went out last Monday while she was doing some regular cleaning on her porch. She bent over to do something and then could not really stand up again. She got herself into the house and onto her bed with the heat pad. Michael let me know the next day what happened and asked me to call her in the afternoon to see how she was doing. Of course, I can do that, knowing what she's going through.  She was doing better but was far from okay. After her surgery in late winter she had gotten some pain pills which she never really did require. Thankfully Judy kept them and they have been helpful to her in managing the pain.

I suggested she see my massage lady, Carol, who has been such a great blessing to me, and most recently to Justin. Judy did make an appointment but couldn't get in until Friday. I took her to the appointment and because I referred her, was able to recognize a nice discount. Carol took her time with Judy and, as of yesterday, (Sunday) Judy was standing up straight. Michael drove her to church and lunch, dropping her at the door to save her steps. It's hard for Judy to be limited by this as she runs circles around us (me) otherwise.  A couple weeks ago she rode horses with her son on his farm in NC. Amazing lady!