How great to start the day laughing!

My friend, Dee Dee, from grade school through high school, sent me something this morning that just made me roar with laughter! And it is not even 8:30 yet here! She sent a picture, not to scare anyone, it claims, of what to look for in swine flu. Paging down, there was a picture of a smiling pig man ("Seinfeld" reference) sitting on a doctor's lap. It said, "If you wake up looking like this, do not go to work!" I am laughing writing about it! The picture is a photo-shopped pighead on a human body with modifications.....it is just funny. I wrote back to tell Dee Dee I have had this illness for some time now!

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Well, the mess was less today but still significant as once more the silver was removed from my hair. It is time for my hair cut but do not know if I have time for that or not, with the day being broken up with appointments and things to do. Including packing (I know, Mom, I always put it off....) The wash machine is taking care of the get-up I wore and things I used for the silver removal, hoping that nothing good was ruined. Thinking I am being so incredibly careful, it still gets "slung around", as Kathy B. describes it, without my trying.

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A new rep from Thrivent Financial is coming by today to visit with me and go over my policies. After she is finished, I am planning to go to Office Max for a large poster board to use on the bulletin board at church for the missions board, to make it look purty. Plus deliver some of the newsletters I printed off in color for a couple special lady friends who do not have Internet at home. The ones run off in the office are in black and white, not quite as eye-pleasing as the color ink copies come out. At 2:15 pm I get to see the massage therapist, Carol, who will help me with my sciatica. I end my night with choir rehearsal and at some point, packing my bags. My luggage is either huge, or the smaller bags which can go in the overhead bin. The medium-sized piece is at Justin's, I think, because they all fit one inside the other, and it is not here. The largest bag will work well for bringing back the poppyseed-filled doughnuts and cheese curds, but is more difficult for me to haul around. Last night I told Martie I would bring back some non-slimy natural casing hot dogs from Newton Meat Market for us to eat on Movie Night!

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Lately I have been complaining, rather, remarking, about the terrible amounts of dust I have in my rooms, particularly my bedroom. In part, I believe the computer, with its jet engine operating system, might move the dust around some, but what is the original source of this dust? In conversation with Lori, my sister, the other day, she was telling about Dusty being in his dormitory at college. I asked if he has to have his plastic covering on the bed and futon as he did at home, because he has dust mite allergies. She said the main thing is to keep things vacuumed and she cannot expect he will do that, nor the roommate, so he will need to depend upon his medications. I had complained about the dust on my books and magazines piled on my bed, and she scolded, "Quit losing so much skin!!!" Ewww! Am I allowing the fan on my computer to shoot my dead skin all over the house??? Why aren't I thinner then?

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Here is a little something posted on Facebook by someone I do not even know personally. She is a "friend" of my blogging friend, Jami, and she made my day for me. She wrote the following after I answered a status update by Jami: "Kim, you're a boost for all of us....Trust me!! I take what you say in your post and try to use it myself....You have no idea how many times you've posted something and it actually worked for me too!!!!" "I love to tell the story!"

I am totally soaked!

"It was useless to try to outrun the thunderstorm", I tell myself now, as I sit here in my nightie and wet hair. Two showers today, one in my bathroom and the other in the parking lot at Publix! Again! What is with my going to Publix that this weather does not understand? As I drove home from Middleburg this afternoon my windshield and car was pummelled by giant, incredibly noisy rain drops. At times, I could barely see in front of me and felt terrible for the kids trying to walk home from school in the storm. Hopefully someone was going to be at their houses when they get there to help them dry off and get out of the wet clothes! I had to take care of myself when I got home!!!

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It was not raining when I went into the store and had hoped I could grab my few purchases and get back to my car before the heavens opened. Not so much! There was an employee who said he would walk me to the car with an umbrella so I could drive up for my groceries but I declined the offer because it was lightning pretty good---I will wait. Just when it seemed to catch its breath, another lady and I headed out, she with her umbrella open. As we got into the parking lot, the wind kicked up with a renewed vengeance and the rain just poured! Her umbrella turned inside out and because she was thin, got pushed around by the wind. I got behind my car and opened the hatch, standing there for some protection while unloading my soda cases into the back plus a couple bags, all thoroughly soaked. The cart was placed in front of my car and I got in as quickly as I could, still wearing my pool shoes because of the fresh pedicure. The toes are none the worse for the wear, thank you! And thank the Lord for heated seats! It was 89 degrees above zero as I drove to Middleburg, and only 72 degrees when I came home in the rain, soaking wet!

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Supposedly I am going to Art Guild tonight but part of me wants to just stay in now. My sciatica seems to be okay right now, certainly the ice helped and the staying quiet except for the pedicure and running through the rain. I am expected to give a little talk at Art Guild about the Mentoring Program but if I am not there, certainly one of the membership ladies can handle it. My e-mail account will not open which is nearly as crippling as the sciatica.....not really, but it sort of feels the same as having casts on my arms!

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This morning Pastor sent me a request to gather and prepare information to submit to the "reporter" from our District who sends news blurbs to our Synod magazine, "Forward in Christ". Thinking time was of essence, I jumped on that immediately, sending this man photos and brief details of each event, including VBS, Dedication Sunday, and our new classrooms. We have plenty of good news at Good Shepherd!

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As I said to Mom today, I am so looking forward to seeing my sisters and mom this coming weekend, although we have loads of work to do. While I wanted this to be as stress-free as possible for Mom, it seems there will still be some. I was going to ship one of my paintings to her house for hanging in her "new" place but when I went to pick it up, I didn't like it! Totally changed my mind about giving the painting to Mom. Justin and I can go shopping and get what we need to decorate Mom's new family room, that is, if we have enough time!

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Justin, Dustin, and Alayna might find some time to do some hanging out together, at least I hope they can. I do have to find some time to meet with my cousin, Rochelle, as she either misses me or needs a "family" consult about my sis-in-law, Sharon. Thursday night plans are to have dinner with Linda and Tommy plus whoever else wants to come at the Green Street. She is making lunch for us on moving day, having it available for whoever wants it, either at her house or at Mom's. She would not mind having the rest of my family seeing her new home, but am not sure they will all come over to her place, where Justin and I will be their guests.

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One or two very important things I must take care of when in Manty is to get a mess of poppyseed doughnuts to bring back here for my niece, Tina, in Palm Coast. Some of my neighbors have requested cheese curds so I will need to leave room in my luggage for cheese and poppyseed doughnuts. Am I a stereotype or what?

Abounding in love..........

Pray for me, my friends, that the evil beast of sciatica stays far far away from me, particularly this week! Saturday at church I did a little bit with the folding chairs but absolutely did not handle the tables at all. I washed a couple of the folding chairs which were dirty from the garage but then Mike needed help with holding up the now crookedly hung shepherd in the new building. My seemed discomfort did not really appear until yesterday afternoon as I climbed up from the pool. It was not a shocking jolt or anything like toothaches do, but more of a burning sensation, this time down the inside of my left leg.

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My formerly wet chair now supports an ice pack (oooh, my favorite!!!) which I am leaning tightly against, only recently getting off the bed to try a new position. It is easier to eat Spaghettios sitting up than lying down, even on a good day! Don't cry for me, Argentina, at least, not yet...I have let my "stores" decline because of the plan to be gone for several days so I hit my hurricane closet for something to eat for supper. Originally I was going to finish off my expensive Boar's Head natural casing hot dogs from the fridge but when I opened the baggie, whew! Nope, no longer edible, in fact, quite slimy as well as stinky!

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Earlier this afternoon I talked to Lori and she told me about Dusty being delivered to college, getting him situated in his dormitory. She is taking some dance classes through the YMCA designated for empty-nesters so is having a good time with that! She is doing better than I would have, although I thought Justin was going out-of-state for college when I planned my trip to Greece! Good thing I had not tightened up those plans before I knew he was staying local! Dusty is only a couple hours away by car, quite manageable, and has already called his mom once today! No one had better tease him about that either, a guy loves his mom, okay?

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It is good that I have a stash of movies to watch as I am going to try laying low through this, enjoying my iced back. Fortunately, Justin has delivered some Diet Coke for me so I will be set with that for a while, plus my water bottles. I am refilling a 20-ounce bottle with water each time I empty it, which, of course, there are warnings about doing. I am sure there is a conspiracy about water bottles circulating out in the world. I could do a pitcher of water but like the portability of the bottle, no dirty glasses. Talk about lazy!

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This is my week to clean the church and think I must call someone to take my place, no matter what happens with my sciatica. Lori told me I can just sit and watch Mom's moving, as if I would do something else than that anyway.....No, I really want to pitch in and am certain I can, knowing full well that no lifting or toting will be done by me. That is why I am renting two dollies for the move, so the boxes can be loaded on the dollies and hauled up. Should take no time at all this way. My cousin, Jimmie, who also has the heart-ache of sciatica, has offered to drive the truck so I will have to make sure Mom has contacted him about it unless we do get the smaller truck which even I could drive!

Pastor Kuske, Bonnie, Judy C. Gretchen, Ethel, Twila (not in the shot), and Betty

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Bible study this Monday morning was again a true delight as we spent time finding the Gospel promises in the Psalms. We looked first at how King David was consumed by guilt over his obvious sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her spouse, and compared his sins with the ones we do daily. So easily can we point our fingers at others when we are just as dirty and rebellious as those people were. Like I mentioned in class, we have the good fortune of not having someone write it all down for the future generations! Then we found Psalm 103 which tells of our loving God who is slow to anger, abounding in mercy....what a great comfort this is for us!

Wow, where to begin??

Today was so incredible a day that I could barely stand it! Right now I let myself get too cold by not changing immediately from my swim suit when I came upstairs from the pool, and I am also sitting on a damp chair because of the same wet suit! After the pool season is over, I might have to get the chair shampooed because of getting it wet like this more than once! It will smell like a wet dog before long!

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I needed a good soaking in the pool under the sun because I was bone weary, and still am, from the busy weekend. Yesterday after a long-range planning meeting at church, I helped a bit with getting things set up for today's pot luck, plus put together a bulletin board for Missions. Pastor needed me to take a picture of the finished building so he could use it for the Dedication service folder so I had to go home to download the photo and e-mail it over to him since my memory card did not fit in his computer. Judy C. and Twila were coming over for dinner, which I was preparing, and for movie watching, which turned out to be a very very enjoyable evening. And the food was good! I used only food I had on hand including a package of ribs, baked potatoes, and some of Joanne's frozen veggies! We watched an HBO Movie I bought called "Grey Gardens" a true story about the eccentric aunt and cousin of Jackie O. It was very good! Judy C. is well on the road to being my new best friend!

This morning began with Sunday school, which had a mission focus for the students, who will be adopting the Apache Mission for the first half of the year. One of our missionaries we are supporting is at Apacheland so it is appropriate to have the students support this as well. This photo is the one I took for Pastor to use on the Dedication service folder. Our service focus was also one of missions and we sang lovely hymns reflecting this message. The first hymn we sang was "Lift High the Cross" which set the wonderful tone for the service! Christ Lutheran's members, or at least some of them, came up for worship with us, about 10 or so members, which made for a nice full church today!

After the worship service, we reconvened outdoors near the new building for the Dedication service. It was brief but concise, thanking the Lord for His hand in this project and for all the people who helped make this day possible.

At the conclusion of the Dedication service, the Contractor/Member, Cliff, and Committee Chairman, Mike K., swung open the doors and invited all into the classroom building for a tour. I help Mike C. hang the shepherd right inside the hallway, and as you might notice, it is a bit crooked! I told him the story of putting up the Christmas tree, when my spouse would lie underneath it and adjust the base, asking me, "How does it look?". I always said, "It's fine, it's beautiful!", but when he got up and looked at it, the tree would be leaning way over one direction. Inevitably!!! I think "we" might have to adjust that wall hanging up a bit or this person will be annoyed every time I see it! He also hung the art work donated in Timmy's name in the foyer of the classroom building which pleased me no end!

I hope it won't take THAT many pastors to bury me!

The "news" this a.m. is focused on the laying to rest of Teddy Kennedy, something like seven priests officiating....yeah, that is all I will say about that.... The good news might be the TV Guide Preview Channel might run stuff about Teddy's life, legacy, and antics instead of the insipid Michael Jackson stuff or the horrid "Punk'd". Replacing one show full of "bleeps" with another, I guess!

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Dreams, again, this early morning. Bad dreams this time, waking up crying, seeing things I do not want to see any longer in my dreams, crying "that" cry, ugh, rough start to the morning. I guess it should be expected since I met some new ladies at scrapbooking last night and I shared with them just how I got involved in this passion of mine....thanking Anne Hoyer for this! I recall her telling me that every other check in her register was written to "Creative Memories", which Phil confirmed!

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It all started in October of 2001 at the Reformation Service dinner at Good Shepherd. Anne asked me how I was doing and I told her I wondered what to do with all Timmy's pictures and such. Boy, did I open a door with that! Anne and her friend, Nancy, were just on the way back from the Scrapbook convention in Orlando that weekend so were still fired up from all they saw and did, and the rest is history! The next week, Judy C. brought her scrapbook she made about her trip to Thailand, and I loved it, thinking, "I can do this!!"

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Jennifer R. got on board with me and we caught a few others in the web with us, setting up a work station in the game room upstairs at The Preserve, later moving it down to Mom's room so Jen would not have to climb the stairs. We would pack all our materials and supplies plus four or five ladies into the relatively small work space, but I do not think anyone minded. At the lake house we used the enclosed porch for our hobbies and then at The Palace we originally used the river room. Now we are not set up permanently but haul out what we need each time, whether it be our painting supplies or scrapbooking stuff. The "Timmy" album was not the first one I did because I had real problems with getting started---cutting the pictures and quite simply, facing it. Once begun, however, it flowed right along. I recall Judy C. coming up to me at church when we were cropping there, saw what I was working on, and squeezing my shoulder, knowing what a big deal this was for me.

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I also remember going to buy the supplies and buying wwaayy too many things, not even knowing what they are used for. Like a man in a hardware store buying tools for which they have no use, this was me! I bought the fluted edged scissors in every pattern, the markers and color pencils, cutting devices...My pages have totally evolved to being much more simple, mainly because my albums are more about places than people. The photos often speak for themselves, not so much journaling required. Eventually my "extra" supplies were shared with others and my paper stacks are gradually declining, although I have a long way to go before I will run out. There is plenty to share with Maggie when she is ready to begin her trip into the world of scrapbooking. She wants to do albums about the plays and theatrical productions she was involved in, and hopefully, they will not cause her to wake up crying.......

This place is a bee hive!

My printers are both cranking, my desk piled with colored papers, photos ready to be cropped, talking on the phone, pressing out letters to be applied to a bulletin board---whew! All this while listening to the radio! Yes, I am a producer today! The photographs are being printed for scrapbooking tonight over at Victory Lutheran. Some of the other items are intended for putting together a bulletin board, abandoned in the Fellowship Hall after the preschool moved to the new classroom building. We are having Mission Festival this week at church, focusing on our LWMS "Befriend a Mission" program and the missionaries "assigned" for us to adopt. How did we ever get these things done before computers and the Internet????

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I really would like a nap before heading over to Victory because of staying up too late to watch the football game and then a wonderful movie, "Freedom Writers" starring Hillary Swank. Such an incredible movie (note to Kim----get that one next!). It came on a second time at some point during the night because I woke up and heard the movie in about the same place it was when I turned it on the first time around! Either I had seen this in the theater the first time or rented it, somehow, "Freedom Writers" became an instant hit for me. An English teacher tackling the inner city school kids, at first rebellious and wretched, wins them over while introducing them to literature and journal writing. Good, good movie! But now, I am sleepy!

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The football game was enjoyable, and came down to the crunch, with the Jags losing to the Eagles by one point in the last ten seconds. As I was talking with Suzanne on the phone, giving her the play-by-play. I related the final seconds of the game, counting a total of eight hands touching the ball, making it look more like basketball than football!! Whoo hoo!

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Even though we talked on the phone and Facebook chatted for nearly two hours last night, we had words leftover. We met to have breakfast this a.m. in Middleburg, after she dropped Daniel off at school. Suzanne had never ever been to the Black Creek Cafe so I introduced her to it over waffles with strawberries! She thinks John might like this place because it has good, home-cookin', including advertised menu items such a "Framer's Special" or "Redneck Special"! Waffles are good enough for me, or at least, the half I ate!

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Each of us had banking business to take care so we parted company, with me heading back to Orange Park and her to the Middleburg branch of the same bank! The skies looked quite threatening and it was not long before I was driving along in the rain---again! No thunder and lightning, just a heavy, steady rain. By the time I pulled in at home, it had pretty much let up so I had time to get my soda case from the car without getting drenched. Rain---the great equalizer!

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Connie, The Palace maintenance lady, sought me out to see if I wanted to join her sister and her for a show at the Thrasher-Horne starring Vicki Lawrence. What I did decide to do was throw it out to the neighbors to see if a group would like to go en mass. Jessica, the official title-bearer of Social Team leader, thought it sounded like a good idea so I will put it in the newsletter this weekend. Hopefully Connie will be patient and wait to buy her tickets until we know who and how many from here will be going.

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I printed a mess of photos from the Alaskan Cruise, and, yes, I am a bit behind in my scrapbooking! Oh, they are so pretty and such nice people went on that trip with us. It will make for some lovely pages, to be sure. Also, I was putting stuff together about our mission in Apacheland, AZ, which is where one of our missionaries serves. Considered to be a World Mission, I put together a nice array of photos snitched from the website and a brief write up about the mission for use on the bulletin board. Using my long neglected Sizzix tool for stamping out letters, I was busy doing that, as well, to enhance the presentation for the bulletin board.

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Justin and I talked on the phone at some length while I was working, him catching me up on all the fun in his life, including feeling good about being back in class again. Sadly he missed out on the one class he really wanted but he is sort of chummy with the professor, her pet, from the sounds of it, so he might get in yet! He said he would take a folding chair to sit in, just to be in the class. Love the enthusiasm!

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Tomorrow I have a meeting at church for Long-Term planning and then we will getting some things ready for the pot luck function for Mission Festival on Sunday. I am quite excited about the event, hopefully we will have some guests from Christ Lutheran come up and join our worship and meal. Janet is our spit-fire organizer and will see to it that all things are ready for the feast and festival!

One or two lonely boats

As the rain comes rolling across the river from Mandarin, the third or fourth shower today, two smalls boats are bobbing in the water, its fishers most likely bracing for yet another soaking. One vessel is straight out from my window while the other just down from the basin, neither incredibly far from land. The rains have been soft in nature, not the pounding drops that hurt when they hit. Unless, of course, if one were on a jet ski, and trying to outrun the rain. That stings like crazy when it hits the body, like insect bites all over the face, arms and exposed body. It has been a long time since I experienced that but the painful memory is fresh enough!

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Due to the inclement weather I decided to not go downstairs for water aerobics, which I wonder are taking place at all. Nope, there are no people in the pool and now, of course, the sun is peeking out. If there is a rainbow, I cannot see it. The shuttle launch was scuttled once more, and I say that is what they get for scheduling it in the middle of the night anyway! This time was a leaking valve so it is good to stop the count down until all mechanicals are in good working order. Tomorrow at 12:22 a.m. is the next attempt so I might be up to watch it. Especially if I take another 5-6 hour nap like I did two weeks ago!

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Maggie O. is staying at Ellen's off and on to help take care of the pets while she is away, and this late afternoon friend Michelle will be returning from the hospital to also stay at Ellen's. She broke her leg and needs to be in a living situation without steps to deal with. I called our neighbor, Patti, to see if she has an extra wheel chair that Michelle can borrow to get herself from the car to the condo so Maggie is going to get that chair from Patti when the time comes. We are blessed here with such great neighbors!

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Maggie was leaving here when I came home from choir rehearsal last evening and I hollered for her to come to my place on the way out so I could give her the frozen yogurt I had bought by mistake. Justin figured it was Joanne's because I would not buy this normally. We each had a bowl of it, and he liked it, I did not. He did not want the yogurt, though, so I offered the carton to Maggie, who loves frozen yogurt. My favorite flavor, too---Mint Chocolate Chip. I also returned a borrowed movie to Maggie, the one about Cole Porter.

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Speaking of movies, Dee and I, we discovered separately, have been growing our library of DVDs recently. She and I compared notes at lunch the other day and are going to share with each other. Martie and I are going to have movie night or movie day, shooting for at least once a week which will also be great fun. Many of my friends are out of work, or have reduced funds due to cutbacks so it is no problem to come up here, for free, to watch movies instead of going to dinner and a movie.....I can cook! The one I am so looking forward to watching is called "Grey Gardens", an HBO movie about the eccentric relatives of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. It was recommended to me by the waitress at Aron's Pizza who just raved about it. It stars Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange and looks pretty cute. I must get some popcorn!

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Dee likes the period movies such as "The Duchess", "The Queen" and "The Other Boleyn Sister", plus she likes romantic comedies. Some of those are part of my collection, the comedies, plus a couple not so comedic, like "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "Ordinary People". That might be a good one to watch alone since it such a tear jerker. I am wishing I had saved some of those address labels to mark my DVD boxes with so I do not forget to whom I loaned them. Dee, I believe, has "27 Dresses" which is good one to watch with a group, ooohhh, I am getting so excited about this!!!! She said she watches her movies after 11:00 pm so we cannot count her in on the movie nights, and she does not do other things while viewing, while I must. I explained to her that I had a hard time at the movies because I like to do more than one thing at once, such as look at a catalog, sort mail, or use the computer. Baby steps, baby steps.....

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When I was talking with Suzanne this a.m., who just got offered and accepted a new job, I saw Brillion, WI on Fox News. The reporter was talking to a man and the caption read: Snow throwers are bread and butter of Ariens Company. I do not know what the big story was because my attention was elsewhere but I did see Brillion and snow throwers! Not snow blowers, throwers. Speaking of which, it is now thundering and lightning, no more sun peeking through. Rumor has it this will be the fate today, storms coming and going, which might mean no to our outing tonight with The Palace peoples.

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When Wally came to get the yet sick laptop from me yesterday, I told him how I had to again manually turn off the computer after waiting more than an hour for it to go through its shutdown process. He said that turning computers off and on is the hardest on a machine than anything else we do and so if I can leave it powered up all the time, with sufficient circulation, it should be fine. It seems to be a waste of electricity to leave it on but if that is what it takes to keep it alive, its life support, as it were, I will do it! Not the desk top, however, because it sounds like a jet engine when it runs due its large fan, and I would not tolerate that racket if I am not using it. I have a thing about noises sometimes.