Sorry this is so dark, but the waiter took the photo for us, against the light, as we were dining al fresco at PF Chang Thursday after Bible study. Linda O., me, and Frieda, waiting for our lunches.This a.m. I start out with tears in my eyes, but most of them are from laughing. In listening/watching yesterday's radio show this morning, the guys were playing a montage of the boo-boos the anchors and reporters are making in mixing up the names of the president and Osama bin Laden. The solution to me was simple: One is a last name and the other a first name. Make a choice and stick with it! Use either both guys' first names or both guys' last names, or the entire name to end the problem. All the guys I listen to on the radio, either Internet or actual, took a turn messing it up, as did many others the past few days. Even the crawl at the bottom of the newscasts messed it up on occasion, which is worse yet than speaking it. One late night comedian stated in his monologue, "Man, this is rough week to be a news anchor!"
One thing I have to say about all this is I am glad I never had to live in a 'mansion' like OBL did! This is not what I would consider to be palatial but I guess compared to a cave in Afghanistan, this was plenty opulent!
It is interesting to hear how many months of surveillance and such took place prior to the raid, with the capability of satellites and such. It brought to mind when I traveled to Santorini in 2007. Justin was able to watch our ship pull into the caldera and had wanted me to stand on the deck and wave at him. I could not do that because of having to be at a certain point on the ship to catch the tender to the island but otherwise, how cool would that have been??? Such are the capabilities of modern technology...
One of the guys this a.m. remarked about how many 1000's of searches were done on engines Sunday night and Monday, records showing by primarily the younger teens, to find out who in the world is this Osama bin Laden. They did not even know what all the excitement was about, but still partied in the streets. I am not terribly upset about the celebrations, because folks did present the American flag, sang the National Anthem, and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Perhaps not in every venue but I did see some of that broadcast over the air waves. The news was enough to pull folks away from 'Celebrity Apprentice' and into the streets to jump around in joy. In fact, one lady at Monday Bible study did make the remark in passing that she wished the announcement could have been after the "you're fired!" ending of that TV show. Ugh, really? Yes, really!
Did 'we' really do our young people a favor if we sheltered them from the horror of the terror attacks on our nation, if now, they do not even know why our military men and women are in battle? Good intentions often lead to poor results, and while the past few days people have been excited about being Americans and feeling patriotic, today it will be all about NOT wearing USA garments or showing your American pride. Today is instead Cinco de Mayo, a Mexican day of celebration. Actually, it is more an American excuse for a party, and, according to Wikipedia, marks a battle victory against the French, and is basically uncelebrated in Mexico. So there! But, immigrants from Mexico, both legal and illegal, will be allowed to sport their country's colors and insignia, but it will be considered an affront to wear USA or a flag on one's lapel. Welcome to America!
The sky is full of clouds but somehow it is still bright enough to cause me to squint a bit. No rain in the forecast today so am not sure what the deal is with the clouds. Perhaps to make it more comfortable for those working outdoors, like Connie, our maintenance lady at The Palace, who is pressure washing. That makes me a bit envious because I used to so enjoy pressure washing, but right now, don’t think my back or legs would care much for that type of activity. Truly I cannot wait for the pool temperatures to be warmed up to where I can tolerate, so I can get back in the water and thrash around like a manatee!
After the window washer guys left yesterday, I began to move things around in my room, having tried to clear the path to the windows for their ease of access. It is absolutely disgusting how filthy it is in out-of-the-way places discovered when furniture and computer towers are moved around. I would hate to think about what’s under the washer and dryer, although new floors were put in those rooms not terribly long ago.
Thinking about my dryer---I went into the laundry room to pull out a pair of capris waiting in the dryer for me, and also grabbed three nightgowns to put away. Man, I really go through the nighties around here! Or, I do loads of wash so seldom that the nighties pile up. This scenario is more likely the case as I don’t accumulate great mounds of dirty laundry like families would. There are plenty of towels around here so it would take a very long time to exhaust every last one of those. Running out of clean nightgowns, though, makes me do a load of laundry!
So, since Justin is quite horrendously busy these days, I will have to drag the vacuum cleaner out myself and this would probably be even a better job than would he do. My son sometimes accuses me of being too particular about some things, like when a rug is crooked on the floor (does not line up with the floor boards or ceramic tile grout lines) or piles of dead blind mosquitoes accumulate behind my desk! The other day I dripped rice pudding, unbeknownst to me, across my bedroom floor up to my desk. I discovered the problem when I removed the dish and found a big, sticky mess under it. The spots on the floor did not appear until they dried and gathered dirt on them, like fluorescent paint! Yech!
Oh, I had to laugh at myself just now---I was going to go into the kitchen to find something to eat for breakfast, and saw that it is nearly 11:30 a.m. I can find something to eat, instead, for lunch. Perhaps my beef barley soup leftover from yesterday would be good! My friend, Linda M., wrote on Facebook about how she made some barley soup recently and added a can of Italian diced tomatoes. As I said to Linda M., something is wrong with me because I thought this sounded just too delicious!
On Facebook yesterday afternoon I got a message on my ‘Wall’ from a friend in Manty, Barb. She said that her quote from the wrapper of her Dove chocolate said, “Live well, laugh often, love much”. Barb said it made her think of me so she wrote to tell me about this. First of all, I did not know there are messages inside the wrappers, so I had to go look, several times!!! Secondly, I have such a necklace that my sister, Lori, gave me a couple years ago. Right now I am not sporting the necklace because the chain broke but feel I must get it repaired since Barb wrote to me!
The reason I even have a bag of those Dove chocolates is that they were in the BO/GO bin at Publix a couple weeks ago. I got one bag for Gretchen, her favorite treat of all time, and kept one for me. Dark chocolate is healthful, especially since I do not eat them all in one sitting. “Only” 210 calories for 5 pieces plus the health benefit can’t go wrong!
Last night we came in 3rd out of three teams playing Trivia. Where did everyone go??? It seems the team, the Flab Four, area radio personalities, was busy with a movie premier somewhere but am not sure why the other teams did not come. We stunk on ice for the most part, and as I told Mom during my ride home, too many heads might affect our outcome. Sometimes we are so very sure of an answer only to find out it is wrong. The guys, Justin, Ron, and Jesse, plus Rita’s son, Sumner, were all stumped by the three sports questions. Because we had so large a number, 9 people playing, we had to sit in the back of the restaurant where the roar of the A/C makes it very hard to hear and concentrate, and discuss. Hence, we ‘only’ came away with the $10 third place prize, and we will gladly accept it!
Poor Justin, as we were leaving the diner, asked me if he could borrow $20 from me, as he was going to be overdrawn and had no money. He is supposed to be earning unemployment benefits but had a glitch, which he claims is resolved, and is not being paid for his work to help his father get ready for this auction coming up on the weekend, all the moving, hauling, toting, and stress. He was nearly in tears of frustration about the whole thing so, me being a softy, said I would help him out. But I only had a few dollars in cash, not enough to help him, so he found a VyStar on his cell phone, just down the street, and he led me there so I could withdraw cash. I could have gone across the street to the gas station to their cash machine but he did not want me to pay a fee for the withdrawal. He simply must get a real job somewhere, and he said he wants a job where he has to shower in the morning before work, instead of after work. And THAT is why he should return to college and get a degree!!!!!
What a gorgeous sunrise from last week, just downloaded from my camera!Today I enjoyed very much my lunch with Linda O., Frieda, and Judy J., although I am not sure how much Frieda got from the whole thing. She has lost her hearing, not entirely, but wears aids in each ear. Her throat is quite husky and sounds painful when she speaks but that is caused by a condition she has affecting her throat. In March she had taken a fall and after going through rehab, it was determined she could not live by herself any longer, which brought her now to Jacksonville. And soon, they go to CO to work at the home for unwed mothers---how cool is that?
My goodness! I am so sleepy today due in part to having had a wakeful night. Drinking all that water during the day takes its toll on me as I find myself taking a walk more than once during the night. Normally I drink my sodas most of the day and into the night with little problem but then adding the water, well, complicates things. But I am going to do it! And that’s it!
The reason I was wakeful stems from being concerned about sleeping too late and having then to hustle when the window cleaners arrived. Justin came by on the way to work to take down the glass shelf in the living room window as well as helping me move the work center from next to my desk. The window guys helped me put them back and I even got them to take down some of the lanterns so I could dust them. Certainly it is easier to clean the windows without these things dangling in their faces. So, now, all things are nice and clean. It must be going to rain now that the windows are washed!
Manatees are having a great time in the basin today, enjoying the lovely day. The temps today were expected to hover near 90 but thus far has not soared that high yet. It might only get to the mid-80’s which is still quite pleasant. It was a great day to have the windows done, as the guys remarked about the nice breeze as they scrubbed away. They got the patio doors done from the outside, setting up their 40’ ladder in order to reach my doors, and used an extension wand to apply the soapy water, then squeegeed it off. No more bird poo on my doors! My nice neighbor on the first floor gave me permission to have them set their ladder on his patio for easier access. Mike is going to the hospital today to have his knee replaced, and Gus was going to be there with him. I wished Mike the best, telling him I would keep him in my prayers, and Gus started to cry. He is so emotional and such a sweet man, a good friend to his next door neighbor!
Yesterday I successfully completed the newsletter for my building and today I printed off and addressed prospect mailings as my contribution to outreach. I wonder if anyone actually reads what I send them---I sure do hope so!
I just got home a short while ago from Ladies' Group where some of us stayed a bit longer to keep Carol company as she had to wait for Cliff to be done with the Council/Elders' meeting. It was nice to sit and chat, with Betty and Judy C. staying as well. When we left, Betty said it was good to hear some of the history and such of our members and congregation. Betty is a newer member and it is great to have her getting more comfortable, including now, taking part in Ladies' Group! One of our projects coming up for the Ladies' to keep us busy through the slower summer months is to redo the photo albums put together many many years ago on the sticky-type pages. It would be best to have them on archival pages for posterity purposes.
The other day I was fussing about there being no news on the news and now there certainly is! Because I do not watch commercial TV and had no news on last night, it was great to turn on Fox this a.m. to be greeted by the story about OBL being taken out. Wow! With all the other commotion in the mideast, he was almost forgotten in recent months, maybe even years. Every time a new video was released, his face would come before us, but less often than when the war began. Bravo US military! Bravo! Now we must be cautious and aware of the increased threats in retaliation for this victory in the war against terror. And prayers for those in harm's way overseas and at home!
This morning was spent at Bible study and then lunch at Longhorn. About a third of my new favorite mac 'n cheese came home with me as I added a salad to my meal today. I ate about half of the salad and no bread, I know better than to have bread before a meal. On the way home I stopped for gas (gulp!) paying $3.83.9. Yikes! I know some areas around town and around the country pay more or less than we do, depending upon demand and added taxes. Those who buy from Sam's or BJ's get discounts, almost worth the cost of membership that way.
In the afternoon I worked on the newsletter for The Palace, which is sporting its giant flag in recognition of the taking out of OBL. Part of the time I was working was spent in 'text' conversation with Justin. He was having a wretched day today, trying to get the office furniture and other things moved between the two offices. Justin was in charge, so to speak, as his father was laid up with a bad back. I offered to bring him something to eat before going to my meeting as he had already been working over 12 hours. That is a long day, and he was incredibly frustrated with the entire process. He was also sad because he had wanted to wish his friend, Sarah, farewell as she leaves for a stay in Spain, where her family is from. We are a little concerned for her safety, the traveling as well as the stay while there. Justin told her to make sure she gets nice and tan, and not hang around with people who are too white, so she won't become a target. Might be overkill, so to speak, but in this day and age, it helps to be extra careful. My guess is that he likely did not get done with the project of moving until it was too late to see her off. By running up there to get him some dinner, I was a bit tardy getting to the meeting but I let Twila know I was running late. Only by about 5 minutes, so not too bad considering!
Tomorrow morning the window washers are coming so I got busy moving stuff out of their way, as much as I could without Justin's help. He said he would come by on the way to work in the a.m. but if the window washers come at 8:00 like they said they would, well, my hanging stuff might just be in their way. My desk is nearly cleared entirely although not necessary, now that I think about it. I actually pushed it back away from the window but it's nice to have it cleared off even if only overnight. The stuff is stacked in a basket to be replaced after he is done. Judy J. is driving us to have lunch in Mandarin with Linda and Frieda so hopefully nothing delays my being able to go. Barring the washer from falling out the window, I am sure in three and a half hours' time, they should have those few windows and the sliding glass doors done in no time!
It is still light out so I can see the manatees frolicking in the basin. My leftover pizza from last night is my dinner tonight and it’s pretty good! I was hoping the crust would not get tough and I believe the way I reheated my Papa Murphy’s prevented that from happening. Earlier I pulled the patio doors closed because the breeze had a bit of a chill in it but it's stuffy in here. There is no pleasing me!
Somehow I found myself awake at 5:15 a.m., and wandered room to room making sure no water was dripping. Not sure what I heard that woke me up but it’s a good safety tip when one finds themselves awake in the wee hours to go and check for leaks!
Awake so frightfully early and again, no news to watch! That’s twice in two days this happened to me, Friday and Sunday. One day the royalty in England and this time a deceased pope, exhumed for public display. Yikes! The good part of waking up when I did was it allowed me the time I needed to put together a punch list for the old parsonage. Mike K. e-mailed the list to me last night and I told him it would be ready for church this a.m. I did it! Friday I put a list together based on what he told me over the phone so I just had to incorporate his comprehensive, exhausting list into my incomplete one. Wow, is there a lot of work to do out there! And Mike needs some help!
There is not much I can do to help but I certainly know quite well how to put together a punch list and make the phone calls and post the sheets and make photo copies and and and…send e-mails to the able- bodied. Some of the Council knew he was working on the parsonage, but most of the congregation, to my knowledge, was not aware the tenant had even moved out! These are things we need to know about and I will rally the forces to get folks to help out. Lots to do in regard to the yard and he is busy inside the house right now doing painting and such. Considering the house is going to be 20 years old this year, yeah, it probably needs some work! Just think---20 years ago I was using the parsonage shower without benefit of hot water or curtains on the windows as I left that jobsite to go to my next job at Sprint. And now Mike says it needs a new shower door installed….I ask, "Who needs a shower door???”
We had a good houseful of people in church today, thanks in part to a reaffirmation of baptism for a little guy born last November. Besides the immediate family, about seven others joined them, in addition to a separate group of seven people visiting from WI. Some of them had worshiped with us on Easter and today were joined by folks who live on the northside of Milwaukee. One in their group retired from the Navy Saturday which is what brought them all together this week in Jacksonville.
After the service we had Fellowship Sunday since we did not have it last week, plus a home-baked baptism cake. Mmmm….that’s twice in a week’s time I had home-baked cake. Judy C. and I went to have lunch afterward at Aron’s, her first visit and she liked it. The place was nearly empty, which is rare for a Sunday, but it was nearly 1:00 pm when we got there.
So, now I have half a stromboli to enjoy with my leftover pizza. We had that last night when Maggie O. and Judy here to watch “Waiting for Superman”. It was extra interesting because Maggie is a teacher, now retired but still working as a sub in area schools. We had wanted to watch it with Michael, Judy’s son, who is trained as a teacher, working both in Lutheran schools and the government ones. We just could not wait for him any longer so went ahead without him! When watching it, one part in particular reminded me of the businessman I saw on TV, an American living in China. He remarked that in China his children were learning academics, but in the USA, kids are taught self-esteem. Hmmm…..In the documentary, one of the charts shows how lacking our students are as far as math and science went, but they are way out in front as far as thinking they are doing better! America’s kids excel at self-confidence, or would that be over-confidence?
Tonight I got a phone call from my friend Linda O. She wants to get together for lunch next week so I am going to cross the river twice on Tuesday for my Victory friends! Linda’s mom, Frieda is now living with her, but they are only in Jax for another couple weeks. Linda's daughter, Heidi, had asked her mom to research some mission opportunities for them to become involved in together, and one was found! Heidi, Linda and Frieda are all going to work as ‘managers’ at the New Beginnings Home near Denver, a home for unwed mothers. Three generations of this family soon to be tending new families…I was incredibly moved by this prospect and so happy for the ladies they will be taking care of!
This morning I had the distinct pleasure of communicating with Linda J. via the chat tool on Facebook. We exchanged our glorious morning greetings and then inquired of the plans of the day. Later today Tommy and she are heading to the confirmation and party at the church/home of their friends in Minocqua whose daughter is being confirmed. When the daddy was a Pastor at FG, Linda would sit with the mom and help juggle the children during the service. One of those babies is now the confirmand. Seems impossible but it really is not. I know they will all enjoy their time together and soon the family will be moving south to Mequon!
Linda’s first order of business today was to clean out her silverware drawer. We marveled at how ‘crumby’ such a drawer can get and my theory is that it the most used drawer in the kitchen. In Linda’s case, her toaster is right there so extra crumbs get down into the toaster.
This discussion brought to mind a story from the old days when we lived on Kel Lane. My mom had come down to winter with us. She had only been with us a few days when I opened the silverware drawer and discovered what appeared to be a handful of instant potato flakes piled in it. I asked aloud how the potato flakes got into the silverware drawer but none of the two adults accounted for this. Justin piped up, “Maybe Grandma put them there….She doesn’t know where everything goes yet….” He is so darn funny! When I shared that story at work (my other job - Sprint), the ladies just roared with laughter. They also thought he was a hoot! Like the time he excitedly told me about shopping for a Christmas tree with his father while I was at work: "We found a tree that is beautiful like you---broad at the bottom and comes to a point at the top!" A compliment from a 4 year old boy is greatly appreciated!
