"Welcome to heaven, Rick!"

My niece wrote a little comment on a photo of Timmy's posted on my facebook page, saying she missed him but knew he was having a ball in heaven. I wrote back that Timmy and the Lord got some more company from Good Shepherd tonight as one of our members, Rick, went home. He had put up quite the battle these past couple years with the most recent illness being the one to wear him out. Pastor got the phone call during our Bible study and opted to take it, expecting to hear the news we did get about Rick. As recently as Sunday yet Pastor was able to have a devotion for Donna and Rick, through blinking and head movement could they tell he could hear the Message.

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"Good night, Rick, and welcome to heaven!"

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Love,

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Shorty

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I just tried the second time to call my mom to sing Happy Birthday but her line is tied up. Either other folks are calling to sing and wish her well or she is on the Internet reading the newspaper and hopefully my blog! She is 84 years old today, and when you are this age, it is not embarrassing to have those numbers noted.

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So, when does that happen? When are women, or people in general, not hesitant to share their ages? My blogging friend, Jami, had a real hard time facing the onset of age 40, but has since realized it is not such a big deal. In fact, she is meeting her friends in Las Vegas to celebrate this rite of passage. I like to remind her that I had a baby at age 40, so it is not so bad! When people are "back on the market" doing the whole dating scene, are they going to be straight forward? Girls wants to appear older so they do not get carded, and when they are older love the fact that they are still carded! Old guys going out certainly do not want people to know they cannot sleep through the night because of prostate troubles.

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Someone I used to know made the comment once that "age was just a number", but that might have been when no back muscle spasms have occurred for awhile. Nothing reminds one of their age like a health problem, as I mentioned about experiencing the sciatica problem which kept me homebound for a couple weeks. Oh, I hated feeling like that. Thanks to Dee and Julia for getting me fixed up with Carol, the massage therapist!

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One time when I did a huge amount of pressure washing at church, getting ready for our 25th anniversary, my hands and arms were affected by the vibration. The doctor sent me to have "shock treatments" (now it all makes perfect sense, does it not?) to determine why my hands and forearms were feeling so funky, and the tests showed I had carpel tunnel syndrome, a result of the lengthy pressure washing. It was so worth it, believe me, to have things spruced up for our big event! I got braces to wear on my wrists and had to use them whenever I used the lawn mower or blower or my beloved pressure washer. My former spouse did not like that, I think he associated the wrist band wearing with his sister who has numerous ailments. We certainly did not want to show signs of human fraility, now did we??!!??

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Surgery was not required for the carpel tunnel syndrome and although it has been years since I moved into the condo and was not able to use the pressure washer or blower, I have my wrist supports standing by for when the occasion will arise again. I sold my "old" pressure washer at the church yard sale, because it was losing its ability to perform and plan to replace it for church use once we have our garage/storage ability back again. Until then, I look sadly at the stuccoed sign in front of the church, covered in mold and mildew, and sigh that I have no pressure washer to clean that off!

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My sister, Lori, who is a few years older than me, had her first and only child at age 40. She is a real trouper, that Lori, strong like bull! But one day she told me a sad story. She knew she was getting old when David and she were trying to carry a sofa from their downstairs up to the living room and she had a terrible time trying to support her end. In her younger days, she could pick up her little hubby and carry him across the threshold, as it were, but now, it was all she could do to hold up her end of the sofa. It was a humbling experience for her to realize she was not as strong as she used to be. Perhaps if they moved furniture up and down stairs more often, she would build up her muscles!

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A p.s. to the original posting: My sister, Lynn, sends the most beautiful greeting cards, and her birthday card to me was no exception. The message was perfect for this posting today and I will include it:

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You'll always be young in spirit, no matter what the years may say, if you live life to overflowing and with joy, embrace each day! May your birthday be blessed to overflowing and may God give you the gift of a spirit still growing!

Taking a break from the newsletter

This afternoon as the time eased by, my friend, Kathy called me. It appeared she was coming back from a school board meeting and asked if she could drop by with some more surveys for the Synod Team. Since I will be at church tomorrow night for Bible study, she asked if I could just take them along. Sure! It was a welcome break to have Kathy come by and enjoy some time on the river with me. I mixed a drink for us and we discussed a few of the items on the agenda of the School Board tonight. Nothing good coming as far as the budget discussions go. Hopefully the powers that be will come to a favorable agreement regarding the teachers and the funding.

We sat and discussed many other things including music, which is particularly close to her heart as a musician and singer. Another topic was about fixing up our homes, the timing thereof of projects and the lengths of our do-it-yourself updating. It was perfect timing for this conversation as just this afternoon I was wiping things down in the kitchen and tried to wipe finger prints off the door frame around the pocket door. When Bruce replaced the trim, the painter had already left, which means the frame was never touched up. I just may try it myself, because, after all, I used to do it for a living! Why does it seem like a much bigger job now, merely touching up, than painting an entire house inside and out used to be???

Ever since Suzanne brought up this subject in her blog the other day, I have been pondering the age factor in my life, our lives. As I walked from my car this afternoon, carrying my grocery bags, and wishing Dave the Doorman was still here, I considered my age. Exactly at what point do we (I) cross over from being one of the young ones to being the same age as the ladies 20 years older than I am? Like some of those with whom I have lunch on Mondays. Would I be their age if I still had a 13-year-old to raise? I will bet not. My point of reference would be entirely different, my focus redirected, my 'freedoms' limited. Physically, if I lost some weight or grew taller, perhaps I would have increased stamina or an interest in running or riding bike, like my church friend, Jennifer, does. Bearing in mind Jen is much younger than me and has young kids at home.....

Kathy and I talked about when people, such as parents or in-laws, no longer are interested in receiving things as gifts ("I have no use for flowers") and start to purge their homes of as much as possible. For years and year now, Gretchen has been going through stuff in her home, sorting and getting rid of things, and coming up with fun pieces or articles to show us. People at her age like to say they don't need another thing in their homes, like my mother-in-law used to say when it came to gifts. I just wonder when that will happen for me, if it will. I remember my mom did not like it when I moved my rooster collection to a back bedroom here, but, for me, I was done collecting roosters, I had enough. I hope I never get tired of colored glass!

Sure, blame me!

Yesterday morning when Joanne was making breakfast, I came into the kitchen for a soda as she was putting a dish in the machine. She said, "Here! Look! If there is any doubt we have a problem....." and let the comment trail off. She was gesturing at the row of bowls in the bottom rack as well as the silverware rack being loaded with ice cream scoops. What was she getting at? What problem? Well, it seems that since she moved in here, and in spite of shopping for unusual food items at Whole Foods, she has fallen into the habit of eating ice cream with chocolate over the top---daily! In my own defense, I told her one of the bowls had held my rice from dinner the night before.........But it is my fault she is hooked on ice cream. At first I would pin her down and force the ice cream down her throat, but now she comes willingly, and even in the wee hours of the night for her fix!

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Joanne is taking part in a weight loss contest at her office (New Year resolve and all that) and has lost several pounds already, in spite of living in what I describe as the "carbohydrate capital of the world". She knew this coming in so it was not news to her. Joanne is often "forced" to dine out with clients and her buyers' agent when they are out and about, and then comes back home to tell me what wretched meal she ordered. Never a big juicy hamburger or a plate of fried chicken---no, she orders some sort of fish prepared in a way that I would never even imagine. My face screws up when she tells me what she ordered and ate, but she loves that and I am quite happy for her!

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Boy, this morning I woke up with a jerk, and I haven't done that in a long long time! Ha ha ha! In my early morning dream state, I was being attacked by aggressive alligators, while seeking shelter in a raised structure at the beach. What in the world??? I was not alone in this structure, Martie was with me, talking on the phone and totally oblivious to our situation. In the dream I was screaming at her to hang up and help me throw these corn cobs at the alligators so they would not attack us. It seems when I awakened, I just may have been hollaring out loud, because my mouth was so dry and my throat sore. Wow, what a weird dream! I am hungry now for corn on the cob!

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Mike and Cindy in my river room

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My friend, Cindy, called me late last night to share a scary story with me. Her recurring theme through the story and following conversation was that no matter what, Timmy was still influencing us. Her grandkids had spent the night this weekend and while in the course of getting things together, car loaded, and good-byes being said, the older toddler of the two opened the front door to her house and went outside. Only a moment passed before Cindy realized that CJ was absent and she shreiked, "Where is CJ???!!!???" Everyone hustled to locate him as the little guy had headed around the back of the house toward the pond where he usually feeds the geese with his grandpa. Cindy said they are so incredibly careful to secure the back doors and windows to prevent access to the pool area but CJ chose the front door instead! This totally freaked Cindy out but she was impressed by how coolly and calmly Tara handled CJ. Cindy was a mess the rest of the day, although nothing really happened, other than him getting away from their normally watchful eyes. It only shows how quickly things can happen, or nearly happen, but sometimes it takes a tragic accident like Timmy's to bring it all home!

I have my mad face on.....

.........because there is nothing to listen to on TV today. No football, no Law and Order, no "Music and Lyrics"! The TV listings on the computer as well as the preview channel indicated that "Music and Lyrics", a movie with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, was coming on at 3:30 p.m. A great way to spend a "down" afternoon, watching this mindless movie---except when "they" conduct an overthrow of the network and opt to rebroadcast something from Tuesday's Big Event. Ugh! I had no idea Josh Groban was one of the performers, oh, for heaven's sake. Imagine my disappointment....So, here I am back here at this machine instead of vegging out as originally planned.

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Joanne and I had something interesting going on here earlier this morning. She likes to gaze from the river room with her trusty binoculars as she is quite the bird watcher. I heard her crowing and then she came tapping at my door to announce there was something floating in the river with a dog sitting on it. I thought it looked like a bale of hay, surrounded by birds who seemed oblivious to the object with a dog floating on it! We were puzzled at what was going on and what to do about it. I suggested we call the Coast Guard about it and was going to find the number on-line but, in the meantime, she called 911. Not what I would consider a real emergency but who knows? In the meantime, Joanne spotted a person sitting up on the floating thing so then we knew it was not an abandoned dog, but perhaps, an abandoned person!

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She called back one more time to report that a human appeared to be on with the dog, or two people, as the case might be. While Joanne was on the phone the 2nd time, we saw a police boat cruising up to the floating thing. With her x-ray binocs she could keep an eye on things from my porch but not even my telephoto lens was able to pick out exactly what was going on. The police boat eventually left and the floating thing remained doing just that. It was gone by the time I returned this afternoon, and the birds with it. The dispatcher whom Joanne talked to earlier said another person had also called in the same report. We were so curious about what they were floating on, since it did not appear to be a boat or raft---certainly did look like a bail of hay to us---with a dog on it!

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Church was sort of empty today as Pastor and his wife were at a marriage retreat sponsored by the Synod, in Orlando. People seem to think they do not need to attend when the cat is away. Pastor's kids stay with his aunt and uncle who live near there, which is quite nice for them all. Paul did the liturgy portion of the service and Michael read the sermon. All went smoothly except for a "misprint" on one hymn board, which is the one Paul read from. I could tell by the melody coming from the MIDI that it did not match the hymn Paul announced but it did the match the hymn posted on the opposite board. Those of us who caught it sang out enough to make up for those who did not. With that the only slight snag in our service, not so bad. Paul sort of ad libbed the benediction, but I liked the way it came out. After church he told me that Pete had told him once that the benediction can be the trickiest portion of the service and he regrets now blowing that off! Pete was right, but Paul muddled through just fine.

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Emily and he are planning an anniversary cruise in a week or two, so his mom and her hubby are coming down to stay with Sarah. I offered to give them a break or anything if they needed it. Paul assured me his mom and dad have been counting the minutes to come down from Saginaw to do this with Sarah. She has quite the fan club, that little one! Paul and Emily have been busy trying to get things done around the house before they arrive, like always when you have company coming!

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We had a brief meeting after church regarding the collection of information for the LES Team. The data package was due to be sent off tomorrow but I guess there are too many empty blanks yet. Ugh! (I am getting good at that "ugh" thing....). One of those at the meeting felt the need to flex a bit and bogged us down with some minutia that really has no affect on the outcome from the Synod Team. Apparently there is some discrepancy between the dates of incorporation and date of first service and the date of leaving mission status...........please! Really, it matters not, and I suggested we simply use the information found in our church's history as written for our 25th anniversary and let us move along, please! "Death by committee!"

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After church I met Brian and Kathy at Red Lobster, one of Twila's favorite places to eat. On the way in to the restaurant, I met two of our other members just leaving, with to-go boxes in tow. Brian, Kathy, and I enjoyed a great social time together as well discussing some upcoming plans for the youth group and even younger! One of the young parents from the congregation called me yesterday with a suggestion for serving the littlest ones in our membership. It is such a delight to hear that others wish to contribute in some way and stimulate interest in new avenues of serving our members!!!! Love it!!! A few years ago, I conducted a monthly group called "Moms 'n More" but it sort of faded away without developing a life of its own. It will be wonderful if a similar group is begun again, with different people at the helm!

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I told them the story about the security deposit and Brian already knew it, and knew it well from his own daughter's four moves and four lost deposits. He says it is a racket to not return the deposits but I guess the difference in our case is that we (Justin) actually had a check in hand at one point and then it was stopped. I have asked Justin to gather the paperwork from his room as well as from Grove's so we (I) do not look terribly foolish when presenting our case. It seems that college students are easy prey, or is that they cause so much damage and do not seem to care about it if the parents pay the money? I hope it is the former!

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I have given in in one small way to the 'earth' and 'green' movement quite by accident. Joanne has a guru whom she subscribes to in matters real estate and life management. Many in her office are also in this group and attend the conferences and such that go with "membership". One of the projects planned to help kick off sales and such in 2009 is to do a set number of what are called "pop-by" visits all last week. So besides the real work of listing and selling, she also had to make up some drop off bags to leave at her clients' homes, both past and future, just to remind folks that she is here to serve them. In her bag, one of which I was a recipient, was a light bulb, complete with tag line about shedding light on our real estate needs. It is one of those fluorescent curly bulbs which I installed immediately in my bedside lamp. I am now doing my share!

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That brings to mind the Publix stop Justin and I made yesterday before the opera. I waited for a few moments in my car before going in because I had a head start on Justin, which gave me a chance to people watch. Nearly every shopper that went into the store was carrying the nifty, European-looking mesh bags for their groceries. Oh, no, I am more than glad to take and use the bags already supplied by the store, thank you!

Let the day end!

Oooo, and it was an expensive one at that! I headed over to church to clean and had the presence of mind to check the schedule to make sure it was my week. As far as I could tell, it is not my week, contrary to what the service folder told me, my cleaning week is the last one of the month! Terri was on for this week, but it is really quite confusing the way it shows up on the schedule. It lists specific dates for the start and end of the week of service. For example, the February schedule has me listed to Greet "February 8 to February 14th." So, that means on the 8th, I greet. I do not know but it seems it was more clear the way it used to be written up. Others get confused, too, so it is not just me being dense. I called what I thought was Terri's cell phone number but got her dad, my friend, Gordy, instead so we had a good chat. He said that someone else told Terri they were taking care of the cleaning so I guess I am off the hook. I am just concerned that I will show up at church in the morning and find a dirty rug! I could have vacuumed anyway when I was there but it did free me up for more time with Justin!

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Justin and I met at Publix at the Town Center Mall because I needed a few things. It turned out he did, too, so my bill was a little more after he got there. He did purchase his own hair products which I found noble. Since it has warmed up some these past couple days, my plan to purchase hamburger was thwarted, as the temps were creeping up toward the mid-60s, too warm to keep in the car that long. My mother-in-law used to keep a cooler in her car just for these occasions.

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We left his car parked there and drove to Staples, a bit further down the Mall from Publix. Finally! I got my ink cartridges so I can print some more photos, both for my scrapbook and the Flock Board at church. Arno gave me money for CHRISTmas which I used to make this purchase so I will send him a photo of Justin and me to put in his room at the Home. We got only what we came in for, strangely enough, and headed to the theater from there.

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We decided to eat a light lunch at ChickFilet where I had the three piece order of fingers and he had a full entree. I ate only two of the three because I got full quickly, although they were delicious.

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While dining, I suddenly remembered to ask him the status of the security deposit due back from the other condo. He had gotten a check for the reduced amount, which had deductions for the cleaners and for touch-up painting, we thought. He deposited it in his account because it was made out to him. (In hindsight, he should have endorsed it over to me and have me deposit it instead!!!) The bank did an automatic hold on the deposit due to the amount and I guess it would take 10 days or something to make sure it cleared.

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Some time had passed and I sort of forgot about it, remembering today. Well, he told me that he has to call the bank because the check bounced. What??? A check from the real estate company bounced? Well, actually it was denied. Okay, what does that mean? Had he not checked into that? Called me? Called the realtor? Anybody??? Ugh! Kids!!

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Justin was chokin' a bit, upset now because I was upset, something he wished, advisably so, to avoid at all costs. Too late, I am upset! He said he did not have the agent's number and I "encouraged" him to look it up on his cell phone. He came up with the number and I called her office, managing to cajole the cell phone number from the receptionist. Upon reaching Cat, she said the check had been stopped because apparently the costs the owners experienced were going to consume the entire sum of the deposit. Well, isn't that nice? After the check has been issued, the place inspected by her, the agent, they can stop the check???

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So, neither of us finished our lunches and had to head toward the movie theater to meet the Hilcheys for the opera. The parking lot was packed but we found a pretty good spot and then got in line for the tickets. The people were lined up, snaking around in two lines (might be a good idea to open another window or two!). I bought tickets for Justin and me, while he paid for their tickets so they wouldn't have to wait in line. I took mine to go in and save our seats, as we heard many folks ordering opera tickets. The line for drinks was equally as long and it took way too long for me to get our sodas. Fortunately the feed did not start right away but by the time they finally arrived and got in, it was so dark they could barely see to walk. Olivia said she was on her knees trying to find the steps to our seats. Good thing I did not go too high up!

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Afterward Sandi offered to buy us dessert and since we had to go the Mall again for Justin's car, we opted to go to the Cheesecake Factory for our treat. I had the warm apple crisp and Justin had carrot cake, which he barely made a dent in. Mine came home with me to be consumed tomorrow but he did not take his along. Justin was going to Jesse's house tonight so we parted company but not before he offered to come this week and bring "Night in the Museum" with him. I have not seen it and the next one is ready to come out. Always always I am playing catch up on these things!

Let the day begin!

Hey, where is the sun this morning???? It did not wake me like it normally does and I can barely see it peeking out behind the clouds in the buttermilk sky. Joanne left here quite early as she has an appointment with clients in Welaka first thing to write a contract on a condo in foreclosure. I mentioned them yesterday, I believe, the 50 cent on the dollar sale price. Terrible for the developer but a fantastic buy for those in the market to purchase! She got home before I did last night but did not last long in the family room before heading off to bed.

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Yesterday I attended a Tupperware Party at my friend, Kelly's, house in Fleming Island Plantation. Arriving fashionably late, I missed the consultant's demo of the microwavable dishes in which she made a chicken and then "baked" a cake. The reason I was late was I could not locate my invitation and finally had to call to find out the time. NOW!! It did not matter, I was not planning to buy more Tupperware as I have become a fan of Gladware disposable/reuseable storage dishes. Tupperware reminds me of a "Seinfeld" episode where Kramer gives a homeless man the leftover Chinese food in a Tupperware bowl and is upset the homeless won't return the bowl. "It's assumed!!!" Not having his Tupperware bowl really throws Kramer for a loop!

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While not being blown away by the plastic bowls and 36 minute chicken, I did meet and chat with some nice people, including Kelly's mom and sister. In her first life, Kelly was a beautician, and she graciously offered to do a repair on her friends' haircut before she left. Throw on the animal print plastic drape (not Tupperware) and the scissors flew, adding layers to the original haircut. She did this in a room separate from the party but where we could sit and watch. What a great friend Kelly is!

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Her family was making plans or nonplans for the evening so we made our own to go visit Twila at the hospital. The area where the hospital is located is near where Kelly used to live so she knows it like the back of her hand. I let Kelly be the 'wheel man' for our trip. When we got to the hospital and walked four miles to Twila's room, we found Jean sitting there with Twila. She had stopped up after work and was going home shortly so we took over for Jean. Twila had been feeling urpy and had indigestion much of the day but when we left, she thanked us, saying we took care of her indigestion problem with our visit. Again, just another service I offer! I wonder if they had anyone in the hospital waiting to pass a kidney stone...............

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Today will be full, at least the first part anyway, as I am going over to church to clean. Not my favorite job but necessary nonetheless. From there I am heading toward Justin's place as we are attending the opera again today at his invitation, which is at one o'clock. We are trying a different theater to avoid, possibly, having feed troubles from New York. ".....looking all New Yorkish............" Oh, Suzanne, you just break me up!