A quiet Friday night, so far

Hey, where are my scrapbookers??? Well, Twila is leaving in the morning for her timeshare with Twila Squared and her kids, so she was too busy getting ready for that to go cropping. Hmmph! No, really, though, it is okay, she is excused. Anna is busy moving, or getting ready to do so, making this not the very best time for cropping. Caroline is having some serious back troubles making it impossible for her to ambulate, much less crop. Kelly is on her way to Sarasota to see her father-in-law for what might very well be the last time, so she, too, is excused. Friday night crops here are generally the church ladies and none were available this time, which makes for the peaceful, quiet evening with the full moon on the river....

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Last night before I went to bed, I checked the e-mail one last time. Sure 'nuff, there was a lovely note from Linda, asking if the moon was beautiful here, too, as Lynn and she witnessed the same moon in WI when leaving Bible study in Mishicot. It warmed my heart to know, to almost be able to hear them, discussing our shared moon. Certainly Winona had the gorgeous moon lighting its sky and thoughts of the river crossed minds there, too.

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Poor Joanne was so tired when our dinner was over that she went right to bed. I made quick work of what was left to clean up in the kitchen, and although Jo said she would finish in the morning, I told her to not worry about it at all. Certainly I can clean up after my gatherings. The ladies are quite good about clearing dishes away and putting leftovers away in the smelly fridge. There was little left behind for us to deal with, as the ladies took their remnants home. Christine took a dish or two of my taco salad home with her, supposedly for Greg, but she told me not to be surprised if he never got any of it! My grumbling tummy tells me now to go get some of my own leftovers to enjoy for supper!

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While we were eating, I got a phone call from an old friend, reporting that a cry had gone out for prayer on behalf of our friend, Cindy and her mom. Mom had taken ill late afternoon and into the evening, requiring an ambulance ride to the hospital for Teresa. She was put on a ventilator and the medical people seemed of the opinion that her systems were going into shut-down mode. She has been ailing as long as I have known her, probably about 7 years now, and Cindy had finally taken her parents into her home to make it easier to care for them. Now, the very nice lady whom I refer to as "Mother Teresa" was lying near death, and Cindy was asking for our prayers. Updates tell us that Teresa has fluid in her lungs, for some reason, and attempts are being made to remove that, plus they are treating some sort of infection as well. It might be the crisis has passed for now, but it is really quite "wait and see" for her.

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Our dinner was quite lovely despite the news about Mother Teresa, but we had a couple empty seats at the table. I hate that because there is nothing better than a full table! The Brendas both had work so couldn't make it, Dee had artists dropping off work to be hung at the library, and Justin made plans to go the gym with Jesse. He assured me they were going to the gym at his student suites, the one I pay for in his rent, rather than the one where Jesse is a member. Justin did express his desire to pay extra for the gym Jesse belongs to, because, of course, the machines are better, the treadmills are better, the maintenance is better, the sky is bluer and the girls are prettier, etc., etc., etc. Everything is better than what he already has, the story of his life....Justin claims it "only" costs about $30 a month, and in his case, there are many many other ways he could spend that money than a duplication in services, but what do I know? I am only the mom.....

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Oh, yes, the dinner....(I just went off about the gym situation, didn't I? This is only one "issue" that I have with him right now, but Monday he starts his summer classes and I pray that he does not, again, at the last moment, decide he blew it and not take those finals! Ugh! No wonder entire days are dedicated to celebrate mothers!)*******Chicken enchilladas, dirty rice, homemade key lime pie, taco salad, and oh, yeah, toquitos! Add cherry pie, a perfect match for the key lime tartness, and we have ourselves a wonderfully filling meal! With my delicious sangria to wash it all down---which reminds me---I have some leftover in the fridge, which, by the way, does not seem to smell like fish any longer.....

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p.s. Late afternoon yesterday, Agnes called and apologized to me for messing up on the time for the luncheon. If only I had waited another couple of minutes, the ladies would have started to arrive. But, no, I left and missed the whole thing! She promises to call me the next time they meet and give me the right information this time....and I will be more patient and wait for them to get there!

A busy day for a Friday

Bright and early this morning I was up, showered, and dressed to meet Jennifer R. for breakfast. All week she has had to drive her daughter to school here in Orange Park because Ricky is traveling for work and not able to drive Memrie. This was the only morning I had this week to meet her for breakfast and since Mem needs to be at school around 7:30, we eat early!

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Grumpy's was our restaurant of choice, and I was tickled to see waffles on the menu now. Ordinarily I have rye toast and bacon at Grumpy's but once I saw waffles, all bets were off. While we were eating, one of the men from church came in, Joe Z., but he opted to sit by himself rather than join us. He told me he has a "nest" in the corner that he likes, where he can watch the room and the traffic on the street while he eats. Jen was amazed when I told her he was over 90 years old, because he is so active and vital yet.

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Once finished with breakfast and Jen set off for her Mom's to help in the childcare center, I went back home for a bit before going to get my hair cut. On the one hand, I look more civilized since my hair is cut, but, on the other hand, my silver is back! Oh, man! I stopped at Great Hang Ups on the way back through to say "hi" to my lady friends. Dee had just hung several pieces from the Watercolor Society and was labeling the art work while we chatted. It was good to catch up with them again, having not been able to sit and visit for a week or so. We are planning a "girls' night out" before I leave on vacation at the end of the month, so the calendars will be compared to find an open night for all of us!

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From Hang Ups I went to pick up Sheila, a prospect member of Good Shepherd, who asked to be put on the cleaning list with me. Awww, shucks! She does not drive so I am her wheel-man for Bible study on Tuesdays as well as today, on cleaning day. We had to gather the vacuum cleaner from the preschool classroom as theirs is on the fritz and have not gotten it repaired or replaced yet. Sheila got busy with the vacuum cleaner while I dusted, getting the job accomplished, the Lord's house ready for worship, in a short time.

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Sheila asked me if I could drop her off someplace, and I said I would. It seems that she and her little three year old granddaughter walk from the west end of Wells Road all the way to the IHOP area on Blanding, and back again, every single day. Now, it was 93 degrees outside today and Sheila had already walked that distance twice today, so, of course, I would take her up there. It takes them 45 minutes one way, and quicker on the way home as Sheila is quicker without the child in tow. I find this unbelievable, in this day and age, that anyone, especially a child, has to walk that far twice a day, for day care! She goes there because the State will pay for most of it. She would like to move away from where she is living now but needs the type of housing the State pays for...

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I sort of talked her into stopping for a bite to eat before I took them home and we enjoyed a late lunch at IHOP. I ordered the roast beef and she had the glazed chicken. Akeila had French fries, since she had a lunch provided again by the State at her daycare. My meal came with a bowl of clam chowder which managed to fill me up. I ate only a portion of the main course and put the rest in a foam box which I sent home with Sheila. It was not as good as at the Cracker Barrel or Perkins, not by a long shot! But she appreciated it, and took part of hers home, too. We risked it by transporting Akeila without a car seat in my car, because we had not planned on picking her up. I got them dropped off safely and am glad to have the help with the church cleaning, plus spending good time with our prospective members!

What happened to my gang?

Well, I was there but no one else was! Hmmm....good thing Agnes told me to write it down or I would have messed up the date and time for our Sprint luncheon---oh, wait! I did write it down. I checked my note where I did write it down, as directed, and sure enough, I was right! It was disappointing to not find them there, with the Host and I walking through to look for familiar faces. He even called the Fleming Island store to see if perhaps I goofed on the location, but there was no group of ladies up there waiting for me. Huh, well, even though I was quite hungry, I opted to simply move on to the grocery store for my ingredients.

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Oh, the store smelled so wonderful with the roasted chicken and fresh baked bread aroma! Remember, I was hungry! Fortunately I got all I needed and little else, then headed for home. In the meantime, Christine called me to report that she was using my kitchen to prepare her chicken enchilladas. So my kitchen was going to smell good, too! She was gone by the time I got back here and yes, it did smell good in here! Except for my fridge: we are having a problem in there with a stench. Yesterday I took everything out of the fridge and wiped it off, threw out that which was questionable, washed the shelves and sniffed everything. Relieved that nothing smelled like fish any longer, I put it all back in, nice 'n neat. Later I came back to get a soda and ta da! Fish smell again!!!! Let the record show that I do not buy or eat fish, so............

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Bible study at Victory was again a delight, today's "tour" taking us through "Unio Mystica", the mystery of being one with our heavenly Father. It is quite wonderful to realize the Word dwells in us richly, we are to be examples of God's new creation. From Ephesians 3: 26-29--You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. Pastor Hoyer is going to use this video and it's subject matter as his summer sermon series, tying the morning Bible study into the sermon message. I hope Justin makes sure he gets to church to hear these lessons, and it would be lovely if he arrived in time for Bible study. When it is time for the Sociology tour, about relationships, I would love to be there for that Bible study and sermon. Wow, that was such a powerful message in the class.

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Time to go make the taco salad! I can smell the good aroma eminating from my kitchen now-----hopefully will cover the smell of fish!

Two seconds to write....

.......starting--NOW!

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I am just about to leave for Bible study at Victory, anxious to see/hear what the subject matter will be today. Last time was about the family, society, how God established the family, the pecking order, about relationships, etc. So interesting!

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Immediately after class I must shoot right over to Ruby Tuesday to meet some of my former co-workers from Sprint, where I worked for nearly five years prior to Timmy being born. Judy J. always kicks my butt for leaving only a few months shy of being fully vested in the Sprint retirement fund thingy but my services were required elsewhere. It really would have been close to impossible to handle all that---a new baby, a nine-year-old, plus two jobs. Come on, Judy, give me a break, okay???

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I am looking forward to seeing the ladies again, hoping I remember them once I see the faces. Agnes called me, insisting, "Now, write this down so you don't forget..." because the ladies want me to come. I will probably be the youngest one but I really have no problem with that. After lunch I must stop at the store to get the ingredients for the taco salad and prepare that when I get home. I might have to get some margarita mix or something equally festive to serve with our meal, something in keeping with Cinco de Mayo!

Oh, oh...am I in trouble?

No posting yesterday! Two on Monday does not count for missing one on Tuesday....

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It was a full day for me, but really, I can make no excuses. When I first got up, before Joanne did, my time was spent with the Windex and dust cloth, polishing glass and moving dust around, as Mom would say, in my formal rooms. When Joanne came out, we sat and talked a while as she filled me in on her first day at Court. After cooling her heels and being interviewed much of the day, eventually she was selected to serve on a jury for a criminal case. While she cannot tell me any information regarding the case or what is involved, she can describe for me the process and processes she witnessed. The jury was finally seated at 4:30 pm and heard opening testimony until 5:30 on the dot.

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She was exhausted when she got home, late, because she still had work to do at the office afterward. Joanne said she was not the only business person on call for jury duty and wonders how other people do it, when they are the bosses and not simply another person's employee, how can they leave their business for sometimes weeks. Joanne is not allowed the discuss the case, read the papers, listen to the news, or conduct research on her own. An example is, if she heard an expression or a word she did not understand or wanted clarified, she must wait until the end of the trial at deliberations to ask for clarification. Wow!

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Early in the day I spent time playing a bit of phone tag with the carpet cleaning people I use. Sunday night I spoke with Adam who was going to turn me over to Aaron, who usually takes care of things for me, and have him call me Monday. Well, that day came and went, with me sort of forgetting about it, too. Tuesday I called back and Adam gave me Aaron's number to call directly. He had forgotten to call me back and now we had to shuffle to get the rugs cleaned before Thursday's dinner. Wednesday he was not working as his wife and he were going with their daughter on a field trip to St. Augustine. After much forth and back, we finally came up with a Tuesday afternoon appointment. Okay! Great!

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EXCEPT...Kathy B., who has never been to Joe's Crab Shack before, had planned to go out there together after my dental cleaning appointment, arriving at the beach about 1:00 pm. She wanted badly to look for shark teeth after lunch which means it would have been late afternoon for us to get back here. When I called her, she immediately suggested we regroup and come up with an alternate plan, which turned out to be Whitey's Fish Camp, on the water, lunch, with clean teeth! The carpet man said I should call him when I was done with lunch and he would meet me here to do the rugs and carpets, finishing before I had to leave to meet Martie for supper and Art Guild. Whew!

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Kathy and I had a wonderful time on the porch at Whitey's, enjoying the delightful weather and equally delightful food and drink. I had the "Jamaica Me Crazy" fruity drink and she had her diet beer. One of Justin's former teachers was there and she asked about "my handsome son". I gave her the Reader's Digest version, telling her how he must make up some lost time, lost credits over summer because of messing up his last semester. His teacher told me she retired a couple years ago from St. Johns, was remarried, and has done lots of traveling. She has just gotten back from the Mediterranean and I told her Justin and I had been there a couple times together. Nice lady!

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After lunch I stopped in at the booty shop to make an appointment for a hair cut for Friday morning. Jennifer R. had already called Tuesday morning to ask me to breakfast on Friday but we will be done with that before my hair cutting time. Once in the car and driving home, I made the call to Aaron, giving him the "all clear" to meet at my house with his machinery. He said he had one stop to make first and then he would be there. It was around 2:00 when I called him so I made sure to go straight home so he would not have to wait for me. Martie and I were meeting before Art Guild for a quick bite so I knew I had be out of here by 5:45 at least to go meet her. Aaron and Jennifer, his wife, did not show up until almost 4:30!!! Kathy and I could have gone to the beach after all!!!!!

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As always, though, Aaron gave me an amazing price for the carpet cleaning, and said he would close the place up for me when they finished, so I did not have to stick around to wait for them. It was great to come home to freshly cleaned rugs and carpets, and they even got the chocolate stain from the river room rug, dripped there by someone's darling granddaughter.....Martie must never know.....shhh!

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Martie and I enjoyed a light repast on the porch at Dairy Queen, close to her office and only blocks from our meeting place. She was quite excited to be going on a cruise, courtesy of her son and family (including the chocolate dripper!) in July. I nearly asked if I could go along, but I will be traveling up until June 14th myself. We shall see....might reconsider and invite myself along. They would not have to entertain me, I can certainly do that myself on the deck of the ship. Anyway, we arrived at Art Guild in time to not have to set up chairs. As Mentor, it is my job to greet people when they come in, have them sign-in, introduce myself to new members, etc. The official membership Chair was not there with the sign-in sheets so we had a piece of tablet paper to work with. The area was small where sign-in took place due to the art swap happening after the meeting, so I hung back a bit. I recognized most of the faces, only a few visitors last night, making my job quite easy.

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Martie, Dee, Anita, and I shared a row of chairs and both Dee and I were called forward to receive our gift bags from the retiring President. Every year Caroline has prepared these lovely bags for the Board members, including some special thing in each bag, personal to the member. Mine including a 20-ounce bottle of Diet Coke!!!! Oh, how I loved that! In fact, I just finished the soda now as I finished this posting! Thanks, Caroline!!!

I had a fling!

Oh, my! Look at the delicious strawberries and chocolate sensations before us! Now this is what I call a Spring Fling! Judy C. is removing the protective covers from the dessert spread as we are ready to begin our fun afternoon. Janet called upon me to lead the prayer and I was honored to do so! On the wall above where Judy is working you can see a framed piece, The Lord's Prayer, which was a gift to us from my sister, Lori, when Timmy died. The brass plaque reads: The Big One, which is what Timmy called The Lord's Prayer.

The ladies wait for the next fashion model to come out with her up-to-date outfit on. Kathy B. is on the left in blue, behind her is Ethel, and across from Ethel is Gretchen. At the end of the table is Carol D. and her daughter, Laurie.

In the foreground here is Twila Squared, Twila's (in the yellow top) granddaughter. In pink is Donna W. and her daughter-in-law next to her, with her mom behind her, next to Twila.

Here is Anna in her lovely "Ball Gown", all decorated in every sort of orb! Such great fun this fashion show was! It seems that Anna did not mind one bit serving as a model for the show, which makes my heart quite pleased!

These fine ladies joined us from Victory Lutheran, where I attend Bible study and occasionally worship on Saturdays with Justin. Bonnie, in the black top, is the church secretary; next to her is Nancy M., a fellow scrapbooker, and next to her is Marilyn, who is a former co-worker with Terri T., the person who helped me dish up the cake for the New Member Welcome. It was great for these two ladies to get together again, a wonderful surprise for Terri! In front of Marilyn is our party favor, a clay flower pot with decorated cup cakes stuck inside. The "flowers" are actually mini marshmallows!

This table of young ladies came to us from another end of the county, Christ Lutheran, in Keystone Heights. We will be serving as a joint ministry with this congregation as their pastor is retiring and the congregation can no longer afford a pastor. Ours will serve them with worship at 1:30 in the afternoons on Sunday three times a month, with one of our members, a former Lutheran school teacher, being Certified as a Staff Minister, to help serve both congregations. This will begin soon so it was nice to have these people come up to make our acquaintence. Some of us plan to go down there to worship on occasion, too, to lend moral and "sisterly" support to Christ Lutheran.

Here is the line up of models from the fashion show, with Janet, our hostess supreme: Far left is Janet; next is her daughter, Tamara, sporting her "14 carrot" ring (mini carrots fashioned into a ring!); Tam's friend, Jennifer who wore the turtles around her neck earlier; Lynn K. in her "evening gown", covered in stars; her daughter, Anna, in the ball gown; and Judy C. in her "sack dress"!

This is a "before" picture of the sandwich and appetizer table, before the guests devoured it. At the end were finger sandwiches and mini-quiches. All was delicious and the company amazing. We are pleased to have 60 ladies attend, some with daughters, in-laws, moms, sisters, or simply with their sisters in Christ! I borrowed a mom, Judy J., and am glad she came. She had a great time, lots of laughs and good fellowship. This will be a difficult show to follow, if it happens again next year---I suspect it will!

Monday on the river

Yesterday, at church, Jennifer P. asked me about sitting out by the pool, when we discussed whether their pool was warm enough to swim in. She said her boys went in, and then came out to warm themselves on the pavers around the pool where the heat was stored. I told her I had not been poolside this season, except one day in March before my court hearing. She was surprised because I am tan, which I attribute to sitting here in my window with the sun beaming in on me. This does not get my legs any color at all, being under the desk, so I must consider making plans to sit poolside during the day and tan my legs soon!
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Last night I stayed up late to write and watch TV in the family room. Joanne came in well after dark, did a bit of cooking before heading to bed because of rising early for jury duty. Normally the family room is her domain and because I had not turned on the A/C since getting home late afternoon, she was too warm to sit in there with me. I told her to turn on the air if she wanted to, which did cool it off enough for her to move out of the river room to where I was. After going to bed, I heard Jo get back up some time later, her thinking that I had gone to bed and left the lights on. But nope, I was still in there, using the laptop to communicate with the world. I doubt she got a full night's sleep, because I suspect she got up again later, since the TV channel was set this a.m. to the Weather Channel, which I swear I was not watching when I shut it off! Sometimes, the harder you try to go to sleep, the worse it is to actually do it!
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This a.m. I did lie in bed a whole lot longer than normally would, due in part to staying up so late last night. When I woke up the last time, I heard the 'parting music' to "Monk" playing on my TV, which means it was after 8:00 a.m.! Wow, that is late for me. I got myself showered, dressed and ready for the day just in time to leave for Bible study. Kathy B. and I established that she was to be called when we finished class so she could join us for lunch. She had no school today or tomorrow because the school where she teaches is being 'sanitized' due to a student testing positive for the H1N1 flu. Yippee! A free day off! She did join us for lunch and is spending the balance of her day taking care of things around the house, making good use of her 'snow day'. Lynn K., our pastor's wife, thought she was off today too but not so. She very much looked forward to having a couple free days, as well, but it was not to be.
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When I got home from the restaurant, carrying my to-go box with me across the parking lot, the maintenance lady, Connie, yelled to me. I must have looked startled because she apologized for making it sound scary....She asked me if my neighbor, Donna, had said anything to me about the snake. No, what snake??? Connie told me she was hosing off the promenades and courtyards on Friday, and when she got to my door, she noticed a long, grey snake intertwined in the bars on the kitchen door!!!! AAAAHHHHH! I could not believe it and have to wonder just how long it had been there, and why I didn't see it. What if I had? What would I have done about it???? Piled chairs against the inside wood door to keep it out, I guess. Connie used an extension rod to coax it to wrap around the stick and one of the young men downstairs escorted it to the island in the basin. Yikes! Here is the bad, scary part---my kitchen door, the wood one, was not quite closed tightly, which means that wicked serpent could have found its way into my house. She suggested we no longer keep the house doors open (what???) so no snakes come in. How did it get up there in the first place???? Oh, honestly!