Today's earworm...

When darkness veils his lovely face,

I rest on his unchanging grace.

In every high and stormy gale,

My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ the solid rock I stand

All other ground is sinking sand.

Oh, I hate that Dukakis!

Well, hate might be a bit harsh---rather, I hate that I scratched out my first answer, Dukakis, and changed it to Rockefeller. I was right the first time but another member of the team, Nothing Tips Like a Cow, suggested Rockefeller as the answer to “who was GHW’s Democratic opposition in 1988?”. I can still see pictures of ole Mike standing in the tank with the helmet on, and how he lost ground in the debates over the capital punishment question. Rats! I scratched out his name when I should have let it alone! That answer did not break us but I am beating myself up for changing it! At least I did know the answer "Vienna Boys Choir", the very first question out of the starting gate! (Started by Emp. Maximilian in the 1400's). Good guess!

Last week the owner of the Diner introduced prime beef burgers and I had hoped to have another one tonight, but nope, had to settle for less than prime. It was still delicious, no worries, but last weeks’ sandwich set the standard from that time forward. Jesse was able to join us part way into the game as he got out of class early, but did not arrive in time to help us with a baseball question.

I stink at the sports questions but sometimes surprise myself, like knowing the name of the guy who slugged a football player on his own team. Woody Hayes! Tonight’s question was the name of the manager of the team who won the World’s Series in 2002 but lost it in 2006 (I think…) We didn’t know but Cary and Nancy, in talking between themselves, actually did mention the name of the right answer, some guy from the Pirates. They are from IN and PA so have some knowledge of this. If they had said it aloud, it would have been right!

Justin reported that his boss lost one of the all-day lawn projects they do on Wednesdays so now, sadly, has less work at the moment. He figures he can work for his father on Wednesday instead of the Thursday, freeing him up for Bible study. I mentioned that Pastor H. said just last week that he missed having Justin in class, and before I could finish my sentence, he said, “Me, too…”, meaning he missed the Bible study. I rejoice he feels that way!

Late afternoon, I got a message from my upstairs neighbor, Randy, asking me if he could bring me my chili. He had put it in his freezer the day it was made so it was frozen when delivered. He was feeling a bit punk health-wise, and he claims it was unrelated to losing money on the Jaguar game. Randy said that when he placed his bet, he had drunk “the Kool-Aid” for the hype for the game. Justin, when he heard this, was upset that Randy bet against the home team but I reminded Justin that he is a college football guy, and not emotionally tied to any professional teams other than who is going to make money for him. Not like I understand it either, but it is all very methodical, like a job for him. At least, this is my deduction.

*

I was roused from my bed this a.m. by the ringing doorbell, so I hastily grabbed my caftan as I headed toward the door. It was well after 10:00 but I had just not put my feet on the floor yet, only to get a soda first thing when I woke up. When I got to the door, no one was there except a box left for me. Inside was a book that had been on back-order for some time, and when my order from Amazon failed to arrive a month or so ago, they offered to send my back-order overnight at no extra charge. And they did it!

The book is a Hemingway writing titled “On Paris”, articles written when he was a correspondent living there. I became interested after seeing the movie “Midnight in Paris”, which is now on pre-order from Amazon, due out toward the end of the year. On Facebook, I mentioned that something must be wrong with me as I cannot wait to tear into it! But I cannot, I admit it, yes, I cannot read and listen to my programs at the same time. Must be getting old!

Good thing I slept late this morning

It is going to be a late night tonight as I am watching the football game, not blacked out as was predicted. Apparently the last of the unsold tickets were picked up by the visiting team’s fans and spared Jacksonville the embarrassment of a black-out on national TV. The announcers said more than once that the local fans have really taken it on the chin this year with the team doing so poorly. Right now the Jags are ahead 6-0 against the Ravens at half time. This is not quite the same type of ball game as yesterday’s Packer/Viking game, nothing ‘edge of my seat’ about it---yet.

The days have been beautiful here recently---bright blue skies, mostly cloudless, and star blankets at night. This evening is no different, a starry dome instead of the dome the Packers played under Sunday. I kept my eyes and ears open for the Goodyear blimp but did not see it. Nor did I hear the fly over, which makes me wonder if there was one at all since it was dark out when kick off took place.

Last night I made dinner at home, consisting of pork chops, baked potatoes and creamed corn. For my dinner tonight, I cut up the leftover chops, even used my blitz hacker from Pampered Chef to mulch the pork. Then, I cut up the remaining potatoes and placed them over the top of the mulched pork, popping the casserole into the oven. I had added some sangria to the casserole before reheating it so that added extra good smells to the kitchen, and taste to the meat. I still have a couple more meals-worth of food after eating my dinner and fear I will grow weary of the pork before it gets too old.

My to-go boxes have chicken tenders and a baked potato from Longhorn on Sunday, as well as half a bbq beef sandwich from today’s Longhorn lunch! I should just put it all in the blender and whip it up, drink it with a straw! That won’t make it any less food, I guess…

I am so enjoying the Bible study about Nehemiah as it seems I knew nothing about either Ezra or Nehemiah aside from memorizing the names of their books of the Bible. Nothing ever stopped me from reading this book or studying it and am glad to now have the opportunity. We have this man who joins our studies, Joseph, who is someday taking custody of my old TV. Today, as he likes to do, he attempted to add some of his personal stories to the mix in the midst of the class. Pastor is adept at redirecting when he sees it coming. As we read about how Nehemiah kept a low profile at first when he got to Jerusalem, waiting until he had surveyed the project before speaking up, Joseph piped up that he thinks he is like Nehemiah….Pastor remarked, “Yes, I believe that Nehemiah considered himself a very humble man…” and left it at that. Whew, that was close!

After getting home from lunch, I made some prayer chain calls as one of our members had leg surgery today, and came through safely. Fran has had surgery once already on her veins which was not entirely successful and there was hope of trying again to open the clogs. The doctor was not able to open them wide but did improve the flow which will hopefully reduce the pain and discomfort she experienced. Tomorrow they will know more when she gets up and tries walking. Please keep her in your prayers, too, if you don’t mind. She is a dear lady and I love her.

After the calls were made, I worked some more on the newsletter, and was getting information for the letter as I wrote, from the congregation president. He was gone over the weekend but returned today and sent me more information regarding our financial situation. I was not able to translate the images from Power Point into Word but was able to do it in Excel. An extra page for the newsletter which required some more text from Jim. Once I add the information from the preschool, I am ready to go to press. Oh wait---still need Bible study information for November!

Wow, this football game is taking a turn for the worse here! A player from the Ravens’ team was just ejected from the game for punching a Jaguar in the face, nearly clipping the ref in the face too! He is out! As the announcer just said, this has been a very physical 3^rd quarter. Lots of flags being thrown, almost all on the opposing team. I just came back in the room after checking outside for what could have been the sound of a blimp. I think it must be a helicopter but it’s too dark out to see shapes. My downstairs neighbor was outside with his flashlight, probably looking for the alligator. Tommy claims to be able to see his orange eyes at night when he shines the flashlight across the water. And people wade around out there---not me!

Oh, oh, oh! I almost forgot to mention my good news---the insurance adjuster, Greg, called me last week Thursday to inform me that the insurance carrier for the people directly below me has decided to not pursue the lawsuit against me for The Great Flood of last year!!! He told them how he found no negligence on my part, the pipe broke in the wall while a leak was being repaired (technically speaking, the pipe is actually owned by the Association since it’s in the wall), and I was “held harmless” in this mess. A letter stating this is forthcoming but Greg said it might take up to 10 days to get it since his company outsources the letter writing. What? Really? What used to be done in a day or two, basically quickly, now takes three times as long by someone else. Perhaps in India or Indonesia?

What is going to happen with Iraq and Iran now that our troops are coming home? My upstairs neighbor, Randy, mentioned this to me when he brought the chili, how now there is nothing between the world and Iran’s nukes. Yikes! He is a Marine and has much knowledge of this volatile region. His son is active duty in the Marines and I wonder where he is stationed. My nephew is soon to leave Afghanistan and return to Germany so he will be somewhat out of harm’s way. Oh my, oh my! But not tonight---tonight is football and the unidentified sounds from outside. Blimp? Or just my reflection in the doors???

We have a good and gracious God!

A year ago, Angelo was born in Sheboygan, a few weeks early, so after being baptized, was transported to a Green Bay hospital to the NICU. Lisa could not travel due to her C-section so could not be with him until a few days after his birth. Notice Noah's thumb holding the pacifier for Angelo...

After a couple weeks, his lungs were strong enough to do what they are intended to do, and he joined his brothers and parents at home. His special formula helped to beef him up and allow him to fit into his older brother's Christmas outfit! In this photo, he is not crying but yawning, as his favorite aunt bores him to sleep.

Lisa keeps us updated with photos of the boys and especially Angelo's as he grows by leaps and bounds. He is nearly always cheerful, although his parents beg to differ. The dimple in the chin makes me weak in the knees!

And, here is the birthday boy! Celebrating his first birthday with a cupcake. His older brother, Gabe, is sneaking up behind him and one can certainly see the resemblance between these two boys. As I told someone today, I am a much better auntie than mother...these boys own my heart!

A lovely day

I did tons of cleaning today—well, at least it felt that way. Due to some recent conversations, I found it important to do some research. The place to begin was in my e-mail files, going back as far as I could when putting in search words. Yes, I know, how vague can I be?? But I must. What a wild trip it turned out to be, especially the notes from Judy R. and Linda J. over the years, going all the way back to when I first started to communicate with Judy after our cruise in 2007. Wow! Since we have begun using Facebook this much, the letters have gotten fewer as notes and private messages can be sent via FB. I read messages from my family members and friends marking the anniversary of Timmy’s death and his birthday, and so on. Some e-mails, the extraneous forwarded ones and such were deleted, sent to the trash heap. That is the extent of my cleaning for today!

That is not the only nostalgia, however. We have an independent TV station here that shows really old programs, and some not so old (Seinfeld, Frasier at bedtime) and right now, I am watching “Movin’ On”. This used to be one of my favorite programs in the early 1970’s , about truck drivers and their adventures. Now, when I see it, how funny it is! Very poorly done, the acting quite amateur, and the story lines rather lame, but, I still like it. They sure spend a lot of time in the truck stops! It rather reminds me of Bonanza, which I watched this summer with my mom. Even some of the actors are the same as in Bonanza!

I think I am now all caught up on my Internet programs, thankful to have dual screens at my desk in order to do so. Justin let me know that around Christmas, the new Roku will be coming out, in purple, no less, so I can then watch programs on the TV instead of the computer monitors. There is also a subscription feature on the Roku for downloading and viewing movies, similar to NetFlix or OnDemand. This likely would not be something I would do, as I can find stuff to watch for free after I watch my Internet programs. ‘Twill be nice when I buy myself a Roku for Christmas!

This conversation was had already not long ago with my friend, Betty, as I lamented not being able to shop for my family. No longer do the adults on either side of the family draw names for buying each other a present and I really miss that. Nothing to stop me, or anyone else who decided to do so, from picking up a little something if so inclined. We do buy for the kids, though, which is great fun. It’s fun to watch them tear into their presents and see the excitement. But often I will see something in a store or catalog and think about who this would be perfect for…As I said, nothing stopping me, right? Last year I gave the female adults a mounted vignette of my summer painting project. It’s not likely I will do that again this year, will have to come up with something else.

Before getting busy with my cleaning of mail boxes I worked on the invitations to my ThanksLiving feast. If everyone comes who is invited, I will need an extra table! It would be too good to be true if everyone was able or interested in coming but it will be fun to try! We won’t eat until after the football game is over, the Packers versus the Lions starting at 12:30, I think. Much of my meal prep and dressing of the table will take place the day before (I love being in charge!) so I should be able to watch the game and make things ready for guests. I sure miss having a TV in the kitchen---that might make all the difference for me, you know?

The other day I got a lovely handwritten letter from one of the young ladies who stayed with me this summer, Sydney. A couple weeks ago I got one from Nicole, as well as her class picture. Oddly enough, just the morning that Sydney’s letter came, I had changed my Facebook photo to the one of Sydney and me. Such nice girls they are! She would like me to come to CO at the end of May for a special concert the three houseguests will be part of. That would be very cool, probably in more than one way!

It’s windy outside this evening, I can only hear it blowing since it’s dark out. Water is hitting the breakwater and wind whipping the trees. No doors open tonight as it is rather cool out there, lows in the 40’s overnight. We got up to the mid 70’s today, bright and sunshiny, but definitely cooler and dryer than we are used to. The Packers play the Vikings tomorrow afternoon and the Jags will play on national TV Monday night. Terri T. and I have already made plans to have lunch tomorrow and I promised her I would stay to the very end of the meal instead of running off to watch the football game! Not sure who else will join us but at least two for sure tomorrow!

Friday night’s outing was such a blast, not raucous, but just great fun with my lady friends at the Pampered Chef (intervention) party. Both Kerri and Rachel love to cook, and are quite creative in the kitchen. After the presentation portion of the party, Rachel was showing the ladies a website she frequents called “Pinterest” where crafty or kitchen-comfortable people can go for ideas, etc. I am sure there is more to it than crafts or cooking, but that is what she enjoys. It requires a tutorial to get around in it, and I am not interested (or Pinterested!) but the others sure were! Rachel had walked the over two miles to Kerri’s house but I took her home since it was late and quite dark. Not the safest areas to be walking alone at night.

I was telling the ladies about our recent book sale at church, and they wished they had known about it. Many are big readers and would have liked to visit our tables. Never even crossed my mind to invite them over---oops! Victory is having a yard sale in early November and Anne asked if we were having a sale. That’s when I mentioned the used book sale, and told them the unsold books were re-gifted to Christ Lutheran’s yard sale which was this weekend.

The conversation rolled again to my not reading used books and someone else mentioned they won’t ever read books from the library. See???? Rachel told them how she never thought of it either until I brought it up over dinner that one night. Carol, from Victory, and a fellow writer, said in all her years as a media specialist (librarian) in the school system she never heard THAT excuse for not reading! I just blew her away with that one! But the other lady agreed with me, she prefers a Kindle to paper books for that reason. I am still a paper book reader. One new electronic device at a time please!

A Friday whirlwind

My day began quite early, complete with bright sunshine, as I had to be at The Club by 8:30 for our new social outing called “Meet, Eat, and Play”. I carried my very heavy box of Trivial Pursuit over, and for some strange reason, the Scrabble dictionary. Wishful thinking, I suppose. The reason the box is extra heavy is there are other boxes of cards in addition to the Genus edition for added variety. While we had six of us at breakfast, only three of us could stay to play. Mary, my new friend met at the pool late summer, joined us for breakfast and watched us play for a bit before having to see a client. She is in pain management, using reflexology and therapies similar to what my wonderful massage lady, Carol, uses.

Mary needs to find a new place to live, as the lady with whom she stays now needs the room for her granddaughter. I had been asking around if anyone knew of a garage apartment or a studio/efficiency place, but no luck. At breakfast, I asked Randy and his wife, Carol, if they knew of a place and Carol thought she might so hopefully that will work out for Mary.

Sloane, Maggie O., and I played the game, the short-cut version, which I ended up winning simply by default. We had to finish up as Sloane needed to get going, and since my pie was full and I answered my last question correctly, was declared the wiener! Maggie and I then went to Basketique so she could get a birthday gift for her friend, Pat, and I picked up my jar of muffuletta which the proprietress had ordered for me. It’s an olive mix and extraordinary tasting. The owner of the shop, Pat, told me that it is so good, a person could take a spoon and eat the entire jar in their closet. I laughed and said, “I live alone---I can eat the entire jar if I want to!”

Maggie loved the wax flower bowl I told her about and got one for Pat which was then bagged so beautifully that Maggie would not have to do any additional wrapping. She dropped me and my purchase and the heavy box of Trivial Pursuit at my door before she headed home. Tomorrow night she is attending the show “Mamma Mia” at Thrasher-Horne and is going to walk through the art gallery to see Dee’s show. I am glad she is getting to see it since last week when we did the walking tour with Dee, Maggie was unable to attend.

It was after noon when I got home so sat at the desk to listen to the radio. I was sleepy but resisted lying down. The temperatures outside were still chilly, starting out at 41 that morning and conducive to napping after my busy morning. My neighbor, Randy, contacted me via instant message, offering me some chili he was making. I told him I like sissy chili but he brought me a sample later on after it had brewed a while. It was quite good, did not have a residual burn in the throat or remove my fillings, so I said I would accept a container of it from him. We talked in the kitchen until my feet went to sleep, with me managing to get a story or two of my own in.

Eventually I did take my rest, but not sleeping, before it was time for me to get ready for a Wine ‘n Whine Pampered Chef gathering at my friend, Kerri’s, house. Her husband and she used to be at GS but when Victory was started, they transferred there. Joel was extremely helpful in the construction of Timmy’s memorial pond at The Preserve house, having done this type of work for a living at one time. Joel is the brother to the music director at Victory, Rachel. Anyway, the other Victory ladies were there, too, and we had a great time. Several are learning to knit using this special yarn which makes up into ruffles or interesting lacy looking scarves. Rachel was able to help those stuck to get finished and to help another lady get hers started. It is amazing! This is so not your grandmother’s yarn!

My order was simple from the party---I ordered a trivet and a jar of cherry almond topping to be served with pound cake or lemon cake, or over ice cream. Truly delicious! I really like the ‘rubber’ trivet for using when hot dishes are placed on the table, to protect the surface from burn marks. One young lady that came in after the party began was a co-worker of Kerri’s, at Pastiche, a gourmet restaurant in Jax. As she was about to leave, I said to her, “You look so familiar to me..” and she said I looked familiar to her as well. It turned out she is the niece of the lady who owns The Club, so I see her around there periodically, as well as being a St. Johns student in Justin’s class! She was a debutante when our friend, Olivia, was going through that. We knew we knew each other but it took a while since we were out of our elements. Love that!

It was an early start and late ending to a fun day, and sleep will be appreciated!

News ‘n Notes

That is the title of the bulletin insert at Victory, which I was able to help with this morning when I arrived. The pre-k kids were still in the back of the church having their snack so we have to wait in the church office, doing our thing. One of the fellows who is a known curmudgeon with the nicest wife was doing some folding, and not being careful about it. His pastor is quite particular about things like this so I was attempting to fix the unevenly folded papers. “Oh, you mean the page that no one reads?” he asked, caustically. The secretary was sitting right behind him and said, “Hey! I put a lot of work into that…” At that moment, I noticed one of the hymns included for Sunday’s worship as being sung at Timmy’s funeral, the one I chose, “Oh, For a Faith That Will Not Shrink”. I started to sing, attempting to defuse the situation between H. and the secretary.

Shortly, after my brief musical interlude, Pastor came through and asked me if I was serenading H. I told Pastor I was trying to soothe his troubled spirit, as H. had also gone off about Facebook being nothing but gossip. Having never visited the site nor used it, he declared it must have been invented by a woman because it’s nothing but gossip. I said, “Mark Zuckerburg is a man….” and very kindly asked him how much time he spends on the site. “Never!” “And yet, you know sooooo much about it!” as I sang some more for H.! He is an older man who, when you report the sky is blue, he would say it was red. You know the type. Sing for him!

The Bible study was fantastic today, a much smaller group than usual, as some ladies had gone downtown for the Southern Women’s Show. We are discussing Jesus’ giving the Keys and how many churches now are not using them. Lucy, one of the older ladies, who was celebrating her birthday today, was expressing her joy over her children making sure their kids are raised in Lutheran churches, in the faith. She gets teared up easily, like someone else we know, and was probably more so today. Lucy said she never talks about her faith to her family in the Philippines and sort of wishes she had. She said she would not be traveling back there to talk to them so I suggested she write them a letter. Lucy said, “I could do that!” Grumpy H. said he showed her how to type e-mail and I said, “Hey, Lucy, contact them via Facebook!” which made everyone except H. laugh. Sing some more…..

Some days the soda just tastes so good, and today is one of those. It goes down so well and I fear that by tomorrow a trip to Walgreen’s will be in order. They are offering a sale on Diet Coke, as is Publix. I need my personal shopper, Ellen, to run to the store for me and deliver it to my door. Talk about spoiled!

*Eating Cheetos and typing at the same time results in a messy keyboard, leaving sticky keys and yellow stuff between them. All cleaned up now as though nothing happened here. Yet, my fingertips remain discolored.

*Cold weather has come to the First Coast, with the high being only 65 today, but bright and sunny. I figured it would be good to wear layers this a.m. when getting dressed so I took out a shell in teal and a bright splash of color button-front jacket. As I sat in the church office, serenading the troubled soul of H., Pastor came through and remarked, “What a nice bright outfit today, Miss Kim!” I told him I wanted to look joyful and be warm. Of course, H. disagreed that it was chilly today although he had long pants on when normally it’s shorts. I left it alone….

*My friend, Rita, was planning to go with the other ladies for the Show downtown but had been sick, going to the ER via ambulance after playing Trivia with us on Tuesday night. She had told us that night about having a racing heart at her cardiac rehab visit that day, but had settled down by Trivia time. By the time she got home and was getting ready for bed, it started up again and did not subside, hence, the ambulance ride.

She was waiting today to hear from her cardiologist so we did not go to lunch or anything after Bible study. She has a young son at home that needs driving to school, at a magnet school near downtown. I wondered what would happen if she had to stay in the hospital---who would tend her son? He is a middle schooler so can feed and dress himself but not drive to school. Rita’s husband works most of the time in Canada but her in-laws are in the area and might be able to help out as needed. She’s had many health problems for her young years (only in her 40’s), starting with cancer when she was in high school. I hope she hears something from him soon and gets an answer/solution for this condition.

My bathroom vanity is a big, colorful mess right now. Earlier in the week, I figured out how to take my towel bar apart and dumped my necklaces and bracelets into the sink filled with sudsy water. The jewelry had gotten quite dusty hanging there on the rod and simply using the dusting wand did not suffice. They needed washing! I swept them into the water and swished them around a little, then let them soak. Later, I went back to let out the sudsy water and replaced it with clear water, soaking some more. Finally, I opened the drain and let the water go, in hopes that the jewelry would dry before I tried to hang them back up again.

What I did NOT consider was them becoming quite tangled with each other. Oh, fuss and bother! I put a towel under the bar and slid the necklaces back on, keeping some off to give away ‘to those less fortunate than me’ (I dislike that expression!!!). Many are so similar in color and style that I don’t need to have duplicates, and some even have their price tags still attached. The ones going to others’ homes will be put into baggies for sharing at church on Sunday but want to make sure they are totally dry before I bag them up.

Voila! A great find for someone like me is a product found in the refrigerator section at the grocery store. Manwich! It comes in a plastic tub, about a pound’s worth of sloppy joe’s in a resealable container. Perfect as a stand-alone meal, BUT it is also an amazing thing to have on hand for cooking. In fact, I used a container of Manwich when I made my fabulous chili last week. It has green pepper and onion already in it, probably not as much as I would normally use, but enough to give it sufficient flavor. Another plan I have for this product would be to make spaghetti, give it a try anyway, to see how it works. It can be mixed in with pasta and made into a casserole in a hurry. Or Shepherd’s Pie….What a great idea it was for Manwich to do this! And I got them for $2.50 each at Publix. No dirty dishes from browning meat, just mix and go!

                       Before they were washed....