Day is done!

In more ways than one, these Days are done! Justin and I went grocery shopping after he got home from work. First he needed to shower to wash the labors of the Day away. Normally he likes to go to lie down for several hours but instead, once The Five (Justin teases me that The Five are my family, as his Grandma says the NCIS people on TV are her family!) was over, away we went to Publix. I had a $5 off coupon to use, if we purchased at least $30 worth of stuff. And we certainly did!


He is obsessed with finding the perfect floor appliance for my rooms as he is not a fan of my vacuum cleaner. However, I am a fan of my Sears canister machine, called Dummy, which is a name acquired back in the mid-70's when 'we' had our first Sears canister vacuum. Our next door neighbor, Jim, with whom we shared a driveway, would take his dog out for a walk and call to him, "Come on, Dummy, come on", attempting to sort of harshly whisper to BeBe, to hurry the him along. So, as my sister, Kerry, who lived with us, and I would use the canister vacuum, pulling it behind us, we'd say, "Come on, Dummy, come on!" My former spouse would also use that expression when vacuuming, even when we had the central vacuum system, pulling the hose around behind us. 


So, where was I going with that? Oh, yes, Justin wants to get a cordless device to use for the quick touching up or for the dusty/hairy floors in my bedroom and bathroom. The other rooms are likely dusty, too, but this is the room I live in and it annoys me. He did find one, a vacuum with a Swiffer as part of it, but it was over $30 at the grocery store. You know it's cheaper at Home Depot or Wal*Mart. I passed on his suggestion, but he can get one for himself for Mother's Day!
                                     
Justin and I stocked up on a few things we needed and somethings we didn't. We enjoy the BO/GO bins and deals, but I refuse to buy things I won't eat or use just because of the deal. Last year I bought two bags of Dove Dark Chocolates from these bins, and I still have two pieces left from the bag I kept. The other bag went to Gretchen for her birthday, and it's nearly birthday time again! 


He got some bread to make sandwiches with, taking peanut butter and jelly ones for his lunches or breakfast when he's working. Bread is getting expensive, too, but it was BO/GO, so why not? We bought other items to use with some of the groceries Randy left for us, so we will be enjoying a nice batch of Velveeta Cheese with Ro-Tel Tomato dip for our BO/GO Frito Dippers. We will party hearty! I guess Randy made his own mac 'n cheese using the Velveeta cheese food, buying his stuff at the big box stores. Such a big block of cheese we have---maybe we should try making our own mac 'n cheese!


During the Day, I printed off postcard invitations for the Mother's Day weekend breakfast for the Ladies' Group. I will miss out on this outing at Honey B's, owned by relatives of the Sister's Tea Room ladies. Janet will have to be the leader in my absence and won't mind one bit! She is going to use a devotion based on "Life as a Cupcake" so she asked me to incorporate a cupcake into the invitations. No worries, I love playing with my Google images!
                                    
Michael lead our Bible study this morning, a new topic which escapes my memory at the moment. Oh, I remember: "Bear Each Others Burdens", which is a topic I find interesting. He will be the leader until May, and then, mid-month, his Call expires. Rats! I guess that would not prevent him from leading Bible study because we had lay people as leaders in the past.  


Only five of us went to Longhorn where I ordered the steak and baked potato. Makes such great leftovers when I use the oven to reheat it...oh my! One unfortunate thing happened today, though, with our waiter of choice, Jason. When he was bringing our tickets to us, for payment, he whispered in my ear that he is getting ready to move and having trouble getting his security deposit together, so 'anything extra you can give me will be greatly appreciated...'. Oh yes, he did! He wanted to me to tell the other ladies (I must be the boss of the group!), so I did. This bugged me, though, and I gave my standard tip. Not sure what the other ladies did, but I found this off-putting. As boss of  the group, I think I will recommend we not ask for his area any longer because of his request. Tipping for service is one thing, tipping for a security deposit is quite another!

A quiet Sunday

We had a good house, so to speak, for our Sunday worship, the Sunday after Easter. Also generally known as "No Show Sunday" as one of the poorest attended of the year, GS had a reasonably well attended service, including some more visitors. On Easter we had quite a number of guests, perhaps due to the mass mailing and delivery of 'invitations' left on door knobs in some of the communities around the church. During the service, Robbie, The Maestro, sang Psalm 63, which had been introduced to us by our former pastor years ago. The congregation joined the refrain and I have been singing it in my head all day long: "In the morning I will sing, I will sing glad songs to you, I will sing glad songs of praise to you..." Sigh....


For lunch, Justin, the Chappell's, and I went to eat at Applebee's because Judy had a coupon to use. In my Sheldon-mode, I had trouble deciding what to order since they did not offer the potato skins on their menu. I did spot the orange chicken which turned out to be quite tasty. We each had something different, so it was probably good for us to change it up a little. Judy's sandwich was a fried green tomato with turkey sandwich, which left her somewhat disappointed. For one thing, it was not easy to eat, sort of fell apart in her hands. Justin had some sort of tortilla sandwich served with homemade potato chips were simply marvelous. I might go back just to have some of those! Mike had some sort of wrap of which he ate every morsel, so I was the only one with the to-go box.


Yesterday afternoon when Justin came home from the movies, I asked him if he was still celebrating Greek Easter at his father's house. He had completely forgotten about it, so had to check with them to find out if it was still on. A week ago there was question regarding their celebration would be last weekend or this one, and it ended up being sort of both. Because Justin was overfull from our feast at The Club or simply didn't feel well, he did not make it on Sunday to his father's house, so went on Monday night instead. Tonight they will have some traditional Greek foods except for lamb...he brought home some baklava, pastiche, and some other delicacies.


I didn't think I would find it weird to have my neighbor gone, but it is. After spending so much time in proximity to each other those couple of days before he left, it seems strangely quiet now. No unexpected ringing of the doorbell or trips upstairs to receive his castoffs. Justin and I went up to got a laundry basket full of stuff from his fridge and freezer, and a couple days later, he brought stuff from his cabinets. He left a stack of unmatched dinner plates in the cupboard, and as tempted as I was to grab them, thought better of it. Not like me at all! So, anyway, it seems, as I said, strangely quiet around here without that flurry of activity, or the lack of it!!!!, going on. Facebook shows he made it to CA for a wedding on Saturday but if I was a betting woman, would have thought he wouldn't be there on time.


If there is one thing Justin and I know how to do, and do well, it's packing boxes to move. Not as though it is for a grade or anything, but to be organized and somewhat orderly is important for my peace of mind. My neighbor's process was far too disorganized to suit me. His "I'm almost done" was so far from what I would consider almost done it made my head spin. As I told Linda via our chat, it made ME nervous and I am not the one moving!


Justin used my car on several occasions this weekend, between going to the movies with Jesse, then to play games at his friend's house, and again today after church. My gas tank indicated the use so I gave him my debit card to have him fill it up on his way to his father's house. As I came down the hill toward my parking area after church, the little gas light came on, and the dreaded ding sounded. Yikes! 
                 
Not making so many trips to the Southside really helps to stretch the tank of gas out for me. But I sure do miss going to Trivia with Stephanie! She misses me, too, as she indicated on Facebook this evening. If only she could make it to Thursday's Bible study...but she works during the day!


I cannot believe how many 'reality' shows there are on TV these days. There is no aspect of daily living that escapes the camera, and is made into a show people will watch. From giving birth to being a butcher, it qualifies as being considered entertainment. The reality show I watch is Fox News and the occasional episode of "Law & Order"! Those other shows are so staged, as Justin can personally attest.


The other day Justin was lamenting that his "Extreme Home Makeover" T-shirt had a stain on it. He expressed how he liked having it as his souvenir from working on the site. At first he was resentful being 'volunteered' to help on the framing crew, and was downright scared. He didn't know the first thing about framing and now he was going to be expected to be one! Justin softened after he was able to convince his two buddies to go with him, making it more of a fun thing than scary. 


Well, the man who hosts this nationally televised program (for one of the broadcast networks) needed a bunch of guys to be doing some 'work' behind him as he introduced a scene. Justin and Jesse were two of those who got busy in the background, marking off squares on a sheet of plywood, and then using the SkilSaw to cut them out. Over and over... for no particular reason other than to look as though they are busy building a dream house for this lady and her foster kids. Thankfully a program like that one does not feel the need to add salty or filthy language to keep people watching.


Tonight I caught up on some of my Internet TV show, watching a wonderful segment featuring only individuals who had come to America seeking asylum or safety from communist/socialist/fascist regimes. Wow! Talk about powerful stories! Either the guests themselves, or their families had emigrated here and cherished the liberties afforded them in the USA. Almost to a person they cautioned against our nation turning into the type of regimes left behind them, as they see things going that direction. It can be insidious and it can be blatant. About half the guests mentioned their concern with the government-run school systems being the starting point for the ideology. What a good but frightening program THAT was!


Oh my! The horrible storms plaguing our nation...My sister in Oshkosh filled me in on the forecast for their region and my niece in Sheboygan commented on the thunderstorms and winds in their area. Hopefully they won't have hip-high hail drifts as TX had Thursday, or the damage hail can cause. Even the regular-sized hail stones wreak havoc but to have them come the size of a baseball---that would be deadly. 

Paul is pitching to Sarah, on their quiet cul de sac

Speaking of baseballs, my goddaughter, Sarah, is quite the softball player, with her daddy serving as a coach on the team. The Cardinals won a championship of some sort last season and are doing great again this time. Emily posted a video on Facebook of Sarah and Paul playing catch in the yard, and I was amazed at her mad skills. But, sadly, after church when they went to Sonny's for lunch, Sarah got sick and was still vomiting this evening. Emily posted a photo of the two cats, including Boots Day, and the dog, hanging around the sofa where Sarah was lying, keeping an eye on their little girl. Hopefully it's only a short bug and she is back on her feet in the morning!

Photos from Laura and Rick's visit

Laura was fascinated with our map of the "Lahaie Day World Travels" so she asked Justin and me to pose with it. If you click the photo, you might make it large enough to see the pins, red and yellow heads, pressed into the map, to show the places we or I have been. 

I don't know why this photo has not been taken by me, but Laura captured it perfectly!

Laura snapped Rick standing in the river room doors, gazing across the river, just after sunrise

This is a shot of the river room and my bedroom doors as the sun was coming up

                                 

This is what Rick was gazing at!

Here is Laura's picture taken from the 3rd floor over toward The Club

       Another view of the water from the river room

This makes my heart happy!

My young friend, Christie, daughter of my scrapbooking guru, Cindy, is working and living in Paris for a year as an au pair. While yet in high school Christie had worked at State Farm, continuing her education at UNF and working at the same time. Besides all that, she became quite an accomplished baker and cake decorator, does fabulous presentations when she does so. Over the years, she had taken a couple trips overseas and decided to try getting a position as an au pair, landing an assignment in Paris. 

We can keep up with her as she resides in France and is able to travel around the countryside. Her schedule is flexible enough to allow this. The photos she posts of the sights are incredible (add photographer to her list of accomplisments!) 

Christie's birthay was this past week and her parents flew over there to spend it with her, and take in the sights. Yesterday, Christie sent me a message via Facebook, reporting that her mom and she were thinking of me as they toured the fabulous "Opera Populaire' of "The Phantom of the Opera" fame. She posted the photos showing me the things I would enjoy seeing in person. How nice of them to think of me this way!!! Christie and I share a love of the movie and the play, and the Opera Populaire!

In the top frame the elegant staircase is shown, featured in the movie, where the song "Masquerade" was performed. In the lower left frame is "Box 5, shall remain empty for my viewing" as demanded by the Phantom. In the right frame, the crystal chandelier is hung from the frescoed ceiling in the theater. "Gentlemen, please, a little illumination!" (cue haunting organ music.....)

The best laid plans...

...are made! After some ado, I have finalized my travel plans to WI in May. Going alone this time, as Justin has to work, I decided to use my earned miles from Delta to purchase the ticket. In order to do that, I had to contact the Sky Miles department to find out how to transfer the miles from Justin's "account" into mine, since those miles are actually mine in the first place. 

Yesterday I got an e-mail from Delta directing me to their website and followed the step-by-step directions on how to go about transferring them. In the past I had done this but simply could not remember nor find out how without their guidance.

Of course, it costs money to transfer the miles from account to account (ugh!) but it was far less than the cost of a round trip ticket. This process took a bit of time, and I used it to make sure that I was doing everything correctly and not causing myself any mix-ups. 

Once that was complete, the miles showed up in my account and I was free to make the reservations. Well, from one day to the next, the amount of miles needed for the flights on the days I had chosen had increased!!! Those snakes!! I had to be in Manty on the 11th, for sure, so that day had to stay fixed but I extended my time by a day or two. Finally, I managed to find a schedule that worked with my miles.

Twice I went through the entire process and got to the page where I had to click "Continue to Confirmation" and twice, it went blank. Eventually I would get a message reporting "Unable to Process", and if this continued, I should contact them using a toll free number. At one point in my frustration Justin said, "I think you better call the number..." My cheerleader suggests throwing in the towel---but he was right.

That process had me repeating my selections into the phone to the mechanical voice asking me questions and then I was directed to a live operator. It didn't take long for someone to come on the line and she started working on this before I even said "hello"! I heard my name, and as I said "yes", she was rattling away with her questions. Where do you want to go? When do you want to come back? Are you flexible? (NO! I am as stiff as board, thank you!) She was able to maneuver things around to allow me to travel the day before I actually must be there (whew!!) and arranged for me to come home again two weeks later. 

I did make her laugh, though, as she was being strictly business with me. She asked if I wanted an aisle seat and I told her I prefer a window seat. Mrs. Singh asked if I wanted a full reclining seat or not, and I told her I did not recline at all. "I already look like a sack of potatoes in the seat, I don't need to lay back and make it worse!" Finally, the ice was broken, so to speak. 

Lickety split my itinerary was e-mailed me, after she had to charge me $25 for using her services to make the arrangements. Wait just a doggone minute!!! What? I explained to her how twice I tried to do it myself and the website threw me out, referring me to her department in the first place..She apologized that she could not refund the fee, and thanked me for my business. 

Well! I was glad to be able to inform Justin my arrangements for travel were made and he would be able to take me to the airport on his day off, a Thursday. This is good! When he heard I was charged for the help making the reservation, he agreed this was not right. I told him I was writing a letter, and off I went to do so. 

I wrote to the same man, Neil, who helped me with the miles transfer info, explained how I am usually not a grump but holy cow!, it was not my fault I needed to call for help. They could not process, but I could!! This a.m. I had an e-mail from another fellow/department telling me my fee would be refunded to my account and apologized for the problems I had making the online reservations. There! THAT, my friends, is called 'good customer service'!

On the drive to choir last night, I called Mom to make sure she checked her e-mail for my itinerary and such. Since I was driving I could not look at my copy, but tried to recall for her the times, etc. She wished I came earlier or a day sooner, but I explained I had to take the times and dates available for using my miles. I did the best I could so as not to miss my friend, Christin's, appearance in a show on Friday evening. She is singing the lead in "The Sound of Music" and I am going with a group, including several from my family, and Linda J.!                                                                         
                                               
My sister, Lynn, is being feted at a special banquet, celebrating her retirement from LTC on the same night that I arrive in MKE. Because of that, Lynn is not available to collect me. I told Mom that was fine, I would ask someone else or use the shuttle service. Mom offered to treat me to the shuttle ride and I accepted her offer. That is so nice of her! Mom will be Lynn's special guest at the banquet, which I find incredibly wonderful---for them both! 

I am also going to miss attending Mom's Ladies' Aid banquet that same afternoon (is that all they do up there is eat???) and while I would enjoy seeing the ladies and all that, it just won't work out. I am not doing one thing to mess with my reservations, now that I have them!!!

The smoke and ash situation

The sun is making a futile attempt to shine through the layer of smoke which hung over the river this early morning. As you can see, or not see, the land on the opposite side of the water is not visible. Later in the morning, the wind moved the smoke away and it was bright and clear until the cloud of smoke moved in. The sky went then from this pinkish/blue haze to more orange/brown looking. 

Here comes the spooky smoke blanket which moved in late morning, which caused alarm for Connie. Since the sky was so orange in color, coming from the south/west, she was concerned that fire was not far behind. She had me check the Internet to make sure everything was okay, plus I checked the weather reports which did not indicate any fires in the Orange Park area. This heavy blanket moved in and lasted well into the evening, leaving its stench to choke us. 

 This was the view from the courtyard as I left to go to choir at 6:15. The sun was trying to push its way free of the smoke cover but just looked bright orange instead. The colors inside the house all afternoon were foreign ones, sort of casting an eerie glow to the rooms. Even Justin noticed how 'weird' it felt, having this blanket of smoke rolling around us. 

Click photo to enlarge

When I got down to my car, making my way through the "flurries", I discovered an accumulation of ashes on the sill of my car window. This had taken place since late afternoon after I got home from giving Randy a ride back from his storage unit after he parked his motorcycle there. So, in less than 4 hours time, the ash rained down all around us. Hack hack cough cough....

Things didn't work out

Another smoky morning, no sign of Mandarin across the river or even the palm trees at the end of the breakwater. And talk about stink! Justin described it as being the smell of vomit but I am not too sure about that. He worked out in that heavy air all day on Monday but said it didn't really bother them too much. I was concerned for their eyes and lungs, but mainly the smell bothered them. By the afternoon, when the winds came, the smoke moved off the river and I could see!

Last week my friend, Chris N., with whom I used to paint and scrapbook, contacted me via Facebook. She wanted to have lunch! I am so in! We made plans at first to meet on Monday since there was no Bible study that day, but then she remembered a doctor appointment which would interfere. We settled on Tuesday, before she goes to play bridge, and decided to eat at Pengree's, which is a bit closer to her bridge game place. 

I went the few blocks to Pengree's and was surprised to not see her blue Beetle parked out front. She wasn't inside either, so I told the hostess I would wait outside in case there was a mix-up. Chris's cell phone number was no good anymore and Martie didn't answer her phone to get me a better number. I could have gone in to eat but it was 'only' 11:00 a.m. and I was not quite ready to eat. We planned to meet early enough so we could talk before her 1:00 pm card game, whether we were hungry or not!

I didn't mind waiting for Chris under the boughs of this ancient, enormous oak

I waited about 15 minutes and then decided there must have been a mix-up, maybe she thought next week Tuesday or something. I left another message on her home phone and went to church to get Timmy's Easter lily. I had forgotten all about it on Sunday, being in a rush to get from church to The Club for our Easter buffet. As I waited at the light to turn onto Kingsley Ave., I saw Martie driving through on her way to work. How funny is that! She is coming over for dinner on Friday, I finally pinned her down! I met Chris through Martie, and we really hit it off.

There were extra cars in the church parking lot since work is going on in the Fellowship Hall. I got my keys out to admit myself to the church but found the door unlocked. Before yanking it open, I tapped first and then went in. Cliff was meeting with some fellows, looking over the situation in the sanctuary, which is next on the list of areas to be rejuvenated. It was okay for me to come in and get my lily, but I tried not to be intrusive. On Friday night Justin and I noticed one of the drywall cracks seemed wider and darker near where we generally sit, and I wondered if that happened when the cross was erected on the exterior side wall of the church...ooops! No worries, though, these guys are on it!

I took the lily to the cemetery and then headed for home. It was getting hot out, in the low 80's but it seemed the smoke had mostly thinned out. Justin had eaten dinner at his father's house on Monday night and brought home a wonderful mini-loaf of homemade walnut bread. He wanted me to have some that night but I was too full, so he left me a piece to have today. That was what I had for my lunch, and oh my!, was it ever delicious! 

The afternoon was spent watching the printer as the 'members away' newsletter was spitting out of it. Since there is one entire page of photos, I only print three at a time because they need some time to 'dry' a bit before feeding them through again for the text on the reverse side. I know what you're thinking----do the text side first. Next time, I will! I also have to wait to fold them up for insertion in the envelopes. Guess I will need more ink again soon!

Justin had a shorter day today, getting home right after 2:00 pm, just in time to hear that Rick Santorum dropped out of the race. Rats! I rather expected it, especially since it looked like he would have an uphill battle for his home state. Add to that the health problems of his daughter, Bella, and yes, it was just time. He fought valiantly and brought up issues, well, some of them needed to be talked about. Others were a distraction and brought negative attention to our fight, but anyway, I am sure we have not heard the last from Rick. To support Mitt is not a tough thing to do, as I have the utmost regard for his abilities to turn things around. I only wish he were more conservative in his thinking, more small government...Sigh....

Chris called and left me a message, apologizing for the mix-up. She had gone to Panera Bread instead, and then realized her mistake. By the time she would have gotten to Pengree's, I would have been gone already, and she had no phone to let me know. I reminded her we chose Pengree's for its proximity to her bridge club, and she said, "I just saw the "P" and got mixed up!" Next week, we will try again and hopefully hit the mark!

For dinner Justin and I had the pot roast I had made for us on Monday night (I did not know or did not recall his plans to eat at his father's) but pot roast is just as good again the next day. First, though, we had to go upstairs to Randy's unit as he is moving out and wanted us to have his refrigerator foods. We got numerous bottles of salad dressing, sauces, ketchup, and so on, plus his cleaning supplies except for the Soft Scrub. He is a big box shopper so I now have plenty of Cascade for the dishwasher! It will be so sad to have him gone but he kept much of his belongings here in a storage unit so he promises to be back! His lady friend still lives here which will serve to keep him somewhat attached to this area as well.

Tonight I watched the pilot for the TV show "The Big Bang Theory" (TBBT) and it was interesting and fun to see how the characters have developed since that first episode. The brainiest of the characters with no social skills to speak of was almost flirtatious in the pilot. He is more amusing now without much humanness at all, like Mr. Spock, his idol. He (Sheldon) is the one Justin compares me to, with his needs for order. The show has far too much focus on the humanness of the other characters, sickeningly so, which annoys me greatly, but I enjoy Sheldon and his quirks, or what others consider quirks...

At one point, Sheldon went into his new neighbor's apartment and discovered a terrible disarray. She had given the two guys, Leonard and Sheldon, a key to use to admit a furniture delivery. Having little sense of societal propriety, Sheldon used the key to go in to clean her apartment in the middle of the night. He could not sleep, knowing there was disarray with only two doors separating him from it. "This is not a messy apartment. No, this is a swirling vortex of entropy!" I used that very line on Justin when I went to his bedroom door. I won't go in and clean while he's sleeping, but he said I can maybe help him tidy up in the morning. There are only two doors between my clean room and his disarray....

P.S. I just thought of something my friend, Carol, said the other night at choir. I used one of Sheldon's expressions, and she looked at me, and asked, "Oh, has this (TBBT show) taken the place of the other show?" She means "Seinfeld", of course, and no, not yet!