Slaving away in the kitchen

Justin and I signed up to make supper for the VBS volunteers, not realizing what we were getting ourselves into. Yikes!  At first we were told it might be about 15 people, which is indeed a managable number. But then I was told it was closer to double that, depending upon the teachers bringing their kids along. Justin and I quickly had to revamp our strategy, since he would be working all day and not have sufficient prep time before I had to have it at church. And, it never occurred to me that we'd also need salad and dessert, too. Thanks to Betty, there was a half pan of brownies leftover from her meal served the night before so she let me use them. Whew!  

I had the job of registration for the first night, getting walk-ins signed up and making out name tags for them, etc. I also had tags already made up to give to those pre-registered and checked them in for their classroom. I counted how many students were in each group which helped the ladies making up the story-telling snacks for the kids. Judy and Tamara were doing that and seemed to be a good team together.

After I was done with registration, I stopped once again at Publix (many times this week already due to the soda sale going on!) and got the extra things I needed for the supper. I decided to make PBJ in addition to the wonderful ham and cheese sandwiches Justin was making, just to make sure I had enough food, especially since kids might balk at the poppyseeds on the hot sandwiches. 

When I got home, Justin had already begun the process of putting the sandwiches together, being careful to keep the 'wet' ingredients between the cheese and ham so the rolls wouldn't get soggy. Brilliant plan! My job for preparing them was to brush the sauce over the top and bake them once I get to church. They turned out great, were most popular especially with the adults. Most of the PBJs came home with me which will not go to waste, especially with a houseful of young people!

Young blood

Last week my neighbors, Betty and Kathy, were being entertained by their great-grand and grand children, respectively, visiting from Atlanta. Amy brought the three little ones, a pair of boy/girl twins and their younger brother, Beau, to spend some time with the family. Oh, what fun to have them around, especially at the pool. They are a hoot and bring their great grandma and grandma much delight.  

Beau playing mini-golf

On my floor, my neighbors have their daughter and granddaughter staying with them for a while, plus the infant daughter of another of their children. So besides the younger kids, we can add two baby girls to our building for the time being. And, this morning, I saw my upstairs neighbor, Debbie, carrying her infant granddaughter against her, sound asleep. Debbie put her finger up to her lips to motion to Connie and me that we should not greet her loudly or disturb that baby. We shushed....Debbie must have had her out in the car to get her to sleep or something.

In my unit, I have four teenagers plus Justin, who will soon be 27. He is the old man of the group. They don't get to spend much time with him as he is gone to work when they get up and they keep themselves fairly busy when they are back here again. A couple times they have gone out before dark to swim but got thundered out of the pool one night and it got dark quickly another night. But at least they get out there. Like today, they got done with set up at church early so came home mid afternoon and off to the pool we went. Their escort, Kelly, came, too, which was great. She is a very nice lady and relates well with the kids. I like having a bunch of young blood in the building these days!

Getting ready for VBS

Tonight I enjoyed dinner at home while the young folks were at church getting things set up for VBS. Michael C. is cooking for them, and asking Jacob to help him with the preparations. He is doing a shrimp boil! Not my favorite thing to eat, though Michael is swift to remind me that I like the potatoes and mini-corn cobs. I do, yes, but not enough to drive over there. I feel sorry for him, though, as he is suffering with a terrible head cold. Yesterday he laid down on a pew and slept for a couple of hours while the kids prepped for VBS. 

Last night I ate with them, however, as Mike S. served a smoked pork butt for dinner. There was barely a scrap left so I am glad I didn't stand by at home waiting for leftovers! Judy made a pasta salad to have with it, plus we had Italian bread. Oh, yum! 

Today after church, as is our tradition, I treated the kids plus others to lunch at La Napolera. We had to divide the kids between our vehicles, with Justin taking one or two with him, since we had their chaperon, too. I nearly drove past the place and had to do a rather reckless turn into the lot. I regret that, should have gone with my first inclination to go past and turn around. I could have caused bodily harm or an accident doing such a thing. I hate that I did this!!  

Anyway, some of us had a good laugh over our lunch plans. Judy had already made arrangements with Gretchen to dine elsewhere, and I heard her talking with Terri on the phone at dinner last night. When we gathered inside church before leaving, I said to Terri, "We are going to La Nap, and you guys are going to Sam's St. Johns..." assuming she had been asked about it. She had not! How we laughed, because it was as though I ordered her to go. Normally she is the one who gets Gretchen to go along. She didn't mind going to either place, but it just came about so funny. There were far too many in our group for us to try Sam's anyway, and we had plenty at our table with the 8 of us in our group. Terri is a good girl and goes where she is told!

Yesterday after church, I got the group together for a quick picture before the chancel would be switched over for Vacation Bible School. 

A good Sunday

This morning I had the privilege of worshiping and partaking of the Lord's Supper with this fine group of young folks, and their young teacher! 

When I came in from the pool this afternoon, I discovered our basin was overtaken by a number of vessels, including jet skis. Mom just asked me the other day if people swam in this water and I said it wasn't really that kind of water----well, today it was! 

Happy birthday, America!

My young house guests spent the day in Orlando at Universal Studios, celebrating Independence Day on rides and adventures. I will be excited to hear about their fun in the morning. They will be getting home late tonight after I'm asleep. So, because they were gone, I spent time around the pool with my pals and then the evening with some other pals. My neighbor, Nancy L., had a patio party from where we could watch the fireworks on the river. It was a great, great day! 

Jerry, one of the guys in our water exercise class, is enjoying a libation from the cabana complete with sparkler! 

 The men were competing in pool races

Bill striking a pose!

The cabana was slammed with food and drink orders so the big guns were brought in to help---Chef Sheldon himself came down to help cook and get the crew over the hump. He told me he never saw that many people at the pool and cabana before. Might help to have him come down every now and again to see for himself. Loved my hot dog on America's birthday!

The river is starting to fill up with boats to watch the fireworks display later

The rocket's red glare, or white glare, as the case might be, as taken from The Palace by my neighbor. Nancy W., Justin, and I enjoyed wonderful food and the company of others on the terrace at Nancy L.'s unit which overlooks the launch of the fireworks from the barge parked in the river off our shore. Awesome! 

Call the plumber!

The other day I went to Home Depot to order my new washer. I'd like to be able to safely do the kids' laundry while they are here and not put those nasty grease stains on their garments. Somehow nothing happens with Justin's items but my white, or formerly white, stuff comes out with spots of grease on them. I just don't get it but the grease-spewing machine has to go!

Unfortunately, as you might expect, there are a few glitches---the fine print on the paperwork indicates the hot/cold water valve must be operational. Nuts! Mine are not, and while previously shutting off the control valve was sufficient, that will not do for the new machine installation. Call the plumber yet again! But I really don't like having grease spew forth onto my clothes, so I am doing it!

Counting the days....

Justin is in the process of getting the guest room straightened away and prepped for our pending house guests. Last year he described my CO guests as 'those kids you love so much...'. Yes, I do! It was just about a year ago when he was moving from his friend's house where he had been renting for a few months. Because my extra rooms were in use, he went to stay at his father's for a week or so. I guess he thought he could settle in there but that was not to be, so as soon as those 'kids you love so much' were off to the airport, he unloaded his car into my foyer!  This time, for his move back home, we entirely emptied the bedroom of my belongings so he could get settled in. This time it was for an indeterminate length of time so we may as well get him comfortable. He is that!

Back to the present: in order to make more room for the boys in the back bedroom, I suggested to Justin that he relocate some of the stacked items to my room and closet which really did free some floor space. Some of the bins are empty ones, those he used for moving to Ron's and then back home again. They do come in handy once in a while. The other ones with stuff in contain items he has no room for in the closets or on the shelves. Or, are clothing items which no longer fit or for another season. While it makes for more room in the guest room, I will be happy to have them removed from my little corner of the house.

Today I went to Publix to pick up some of the items needed to supply my guests such as bread, sandwich meat and cheese, chips, milk, cereal, hop tarts (as Timmy would say), and other such items. Connie was so very kind to help me carry things upstairs. The other day she nicely used the hand truck to tote all my soda cases upstairs to my unit. I let Justin know via text message and wrote back suggesting we stack the soda cases in the living room to make a platform bed for the young lady. She is sleeping on an air bed in the living room, for privacy's sake. Not very private but it's away from anyone else for sleeping purposes. She will use my shower and the hall bath will be hers to ready herself. This will work!