Timmy's toy

This morning my former upstairs neighbor, Jessica, contacted me, asking if I wanted this toy back again. I had given it to her five years ago when they had two little boys, one an infant. She wondered if I wanted it back or if she should pass it on. After pondering only a moment, I told her she should pass it on, I didn't need it back. Yes, it had been Timmy's but, no, someone else's little one can have fun with this activity ball. I love it that of all the things Travis and Jessica have gotten for their now three children, that she remembered this came from me. Bless you, Jessica!

Christmas Day 2015

Justin and I decided to open our gifts before church this morning, not having enough time to do so last night between services. Justin purchased a Christmas stollen for our breakfast which we enjoyed as the unwrapping was underway.

My Christmas stollen, from Publix

I can always count on Justin to help me 'clean up' with products from Bath and Body Works! He knows I very much like the hand sanitizers, body wash, foaming hand products, and this year, body spray! One particular bottle has pictures of Tuscany on the label, with the contents being a lemoncello-scented soap. Gorgeous! 

Justin got me two cardigan-styled sweaters, his theme of gift giving is keeping his mama warm (just like my mom!). Here I am laughing as I modeled the burnt orange one, worn over my caftan which Justin says looks like Qadalfi. He had this sweater in mind for wearing at my desk as it gets cold sitting next to the windows in the winter. The fabric is so soft, feels cozy to the touch.  

When this present arrived via FedEx, he couldn't stand it and HAD to give it to me right away. This is a microwavable scented heat pad which wraps around the neck with moist heat. He said he got this for when my neck/shoulders get achy when I'm at my desk. The scent is quite soothing, as is the moist heat. It goes perfectly with the color of my new cardigan, too!

Among the items I got Justin for Christmas were a few things he had on his Amazon wish list. He is holding a Darth Vader bobble-head character which he will display on the shelf I got him for supporting/raising the height of his TV. He got to open the shelf early because when it arrived, he received the delivery and the picture of what was inside was printed on the box. Surprise ruined! Jesse helped get the TV up on it the other night when he ate dinner with us. I also got Justin deflectors for around the windows on his truck, three t-shirts and Packer shirt (Nelson's), socks for work, candy and nuts.

Justin had mentioned in passing that he didn't have a case for his shotgun so I got him one. I also had a picture of The River House framed for him (one for Jesse, too, as it's owned by his step-dad). We will hang it in the kitchen with the one of Whitey's, adding The Palace watercolor plus the new one of The River House from the water, all three painted by Beth Haizlip. Might need some help getting them hung because of it being an exterior wall, concrete block.

Another 'warm' item he got me was a pair of iGloves where some of the fingertips are made to allow for using the iPhone while wearing gloves. You can't quite make that out on the pointers and thumbs but I should be able to even type while wearing them. 

Here is one of Justin's t-shirts from our home town, also got him a red one. See our soda stockpile in the foyer?

I had the privilege and delight of seeing my friend, Kelly, who was down here from N. IL to see her son and his family. He is in the Navy, stationed at St. Mary's, GA. Her hubby and she wanted to worship on Christmas Day so came from the Southside where they were staying, to worship at GS. I am so glad they did, as I hadn't seen her in the flesh since Linda and I met Kelly in 2007 at the Women's Leadership Conference. Kelly walked up to our table and asked if she could join Linda's and my 'holy huddle'. We hit it off right then and there, and thanks to Facebook, have remained in touch. 

We had just over 20 folks in worship, with Lord's Supper served, with four of those being guests, including one couple from Victory. Since I am normally not here for Christmas services, it just really hit me how sad the attendance was for our candlelight service last night and our Festival this a.m. Before the service Justin and Michael went around and gathered up the expired luminaries from the night before, working up quite a sweat (in the 80's here!)

As Justin finished the ham, I began carrying stuff to the table in the dinette. We had two Jell-Os, cranberry sauces, salad, olives and pickles, rolls. and spiced apples.

As we ran out of space for our dishes Justin remarked, "We should have probably eaten at the big table..." On the far left see the iPad propped, ready to play "It's a Wonderful Life" for us as we ate. We had yams with marshmallow and pecans plus our wrapped ham and apple cider sauce. Yum!

Here is the ham after being sliced. The crescent dough could have baked a bit more but the exterior was nicely browned. The sauce really made it, though. Because we were so full after our meal, we waited to have our pumpkin pie later when we finished watching the movie. We needed an intermission to sleep off our heavy meal! It was a wonderful day, a quiet one, to go with our 'Wonderful Life'!

Christmas Eve

This morning Justin and I went to Publix to get some more soda and few other things for our meal tomorrow, and then stopped at Metro Diner for breakfast. I had not eaten breakfast there before, instead ordering a lunch instead. Today, I took the leap and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast meal!

Justin wishing to not pose for the photo as we await our food to arrive. He ordered only a chicken biscuit with our plan to have him help me with my meal. This was an excellent idea.

 My meal came with eggs and hashbrowns. I didn't try the eggs but Justin said they were good. I very much enjoyed about a fourth of the hashbrowns. See my former neighbor's name peeking out from under the plate (Travis Cummings, State Rep.)

This sausage gravy and biscuits was fantastic, almost as good as my friend, Judy's, gravy! I ate half and Justin finished them off. 

When Justin and I got home, we were met these wet vacs, now at rest after their workout yesterday. My heart aches for those who suffered damage and are displaced today. 

Just before Justin and I left for the first service of the night, the moon rose over the river

This is the first time I've seen the luminaries put out in front of our church and along the sidewalk. See Cliff carrying the bin after placing them along the street. This might be the last time it happens, though, since our Altar Guild lady who took care of this is leaving us. 

We had a good attendance for the Christmas service with children participation and our choir's involvement

Here are the children processing into church as the congregation sang. Justin is on the far right edge of the photo   

Zachary is doing a reading for the Christmas program

Justin and I were back to church for the 10:00 pm candlelight service. Since I am usually not here at this time year, I don't know how many people usually attend. Tonight we were blessed to have 7 people join us from Christ, Keystone Heights, which swelled our numbers to 24. Pastor plus two gentlemen, including Ryan, above, helped him read the passages which accompanied the Christmas hymns and carols.

Michael is taking a turn at doing some readings. He also served as acolyte and usher for the service. 

What a rough day!

It feels so good to be seated at my desk, where my chair has a lumbar support pad as part of it. Yesterday my back was doing fairly well, but today, it took a beating. 

I went to meet my friend, Brenda, for our Christmas lunch which is usually something we do before I leave for WI. Since I am staying here, we went today. We had excellent service and she treated me to a milk shake to go. Our time goes by quickly but she needs to get back to work. After lunch I stopped at Winn Dixie to get some vegetables (yes, you read that right!) because Justin and I were having company for dinner and I wanted to impress Jesse. Baby carrots and green beans, each a buck a package is too good to pass up!  I also got a strawberry rhubarb pie to serve for dessert, with vanilla ice cream to top it off. 

We'd gotten notice that the A/C units had to be shut off due to repairs being made this afternoon. As soon as I got home, Connie called to tell me to send out a notice to the Owners and residents to turn their A/C back on. I did that. Just a few minutes later I got a frantic call from Connie informing me that there was a flood in a 4th floor unit and the water had to be shut off again. Then she called to have me send out notices for help with the clean up. Four floors were affected. Here we go again!!

I sent off the notices and then took off for upstairs with towels in hand. I have no mop, only use a Swiffer, which isn't much good with inch deep standing water. I did my best to help Ellen who was absolutely frantic. Others were there to help with the towels and to try to move stuff out of the way of the water. I took control of the phone calls that needed to be made to the insurance carrier and the water remediation folks. She was in no state and I was glad to be able to help her out this way. Her housemate came home from work and he was a calming influence for her. 

The water folks showed up and the A/C repair guy was on site at Ellen's. Justin came home after having been to the movies and immediately got busy helping folks below Ellen. Hauling, moving, securing things, etc. Every one dripping wet from sweat because it was a hot day. My shoes and jeans bottoms were wet from walking in water upstairs. We brought some of our 3rd floor neighbor's special items here for safe keeping, so glad to be able to do that little bit to help, and give them peace of mind. They are renters and their landlord is putting them up at the hotel on the property for the time being. 

Once everyone was taken care of, I grabbed my wet towels (quite heavy!) and took them to my unit, leaving them outside my door. Justin later put them over the rail to drip some more. The lady in charge of maintenance said it was okay to leave them out overnight but I am sure by morning we should take them down. Many railings on our building had towels drying over them!!! Bet it looks pretty right now....not!

Justin wondered if we should cancel our dinner plans but after a short rest, I was able to get the scalloped potatoes and ham put together. Justin cut up the onion and ham, while I did the potato slicing. I had the casserole almost entirely put together when I realized I'd forgotten to add the ham! What? Justin's big idea was to transfer the whole works to a lasagna pan and layer it with the ham. That did the trick, and took less time to bake. I'll store that in my mind for next time. We had a salad with our meal plus steamed carrots with a honey glaze sauce. In the midst of our chaos, a wonderful meal was prepared and served. Oh, my aching back!!!  Good night!

At the Shop!

Today is the one where the housekeepers were expected to arrive, at 3:00 pm. Sunday I got a notice from Living Social that the company whose voucher I purchased was not able to hold up their end of the deal. What???! Living Social would refund the cost of the voucher to all of us who had not redeemed them yet. Nuts! I had counted on having this house cleaning all taken care of so we could finish decorating and make other arrangements prior to our guests arriving. Now what will I do???

Quickly I needed a Plan B. I already knew my young lady who cleaned my bedroom and bathroom was unavailable. So, no Dawn for me. I thought about Marlena but she is somewhat unpredictable and working extra hours for Christmas. My next call was to Owene, who has helped me out in the past with her lady from Haiti. I cannot call Marys myself because her English is limited so must use Owene as a go-between. Anytime between today and before my company arrives will be fine.   Justin assured me he would do the vacuuming but not the dusting, because it's too putzy. Please help me, Marys!

I ran to Great Hang Ups this afternoon to pick up some work I had framed. My print of the painting Beth Haizlip did of The Palace from the vantage point of the river is in a lovely blue frame. It will look nice in the kitchen with Beth's other piece that I gave Justin last year for Christmas, of Whitey's, again from the water. We have a theme going on here!  

Justin wanted to use my car tonight and I had left the pieces in the back seat of the car. I didn't want him to see the other two, no longer wrapped in black paper like they used to wrap in. Julia switched to a clear plastic wrap which keeps the prints protected, but visible. I told him I had to get something out of the car and went out the door. It was sprinkling a bit but that was okay, if I went fast. Sure enough, as I stepped off the curb near the elevator, the rain started to come down in buckets. I just had to laugh at my timing. Fortunately I had a sweater in the car to wrap the pieces in and got underneath in the attached garages as quickly as possible. Who laughs in the rain? I did, it was just so darn funny how that worked out. 

Smiling and wrapping

Before Justin left for work I had him carry out the plastic bin in which the gift wrap is stored. It is an upright bin, looking almost like a missile. There are rolls of paper in there that might be decades old, or at least 15. Gift bags have sort of taken away the charm of wrapping boxes. Inside this missile are rolls of paper, flattened gift boxes, ribbon (which I no longer use), and has a suspended bucket for bows. Since my back has been giving me trouble, I dreaded standing over the table to wrap, but Judy C. suggested I do it while seated. Hey, I probably would have done that anyway, what was I thinking??  Because Justin was gone all day I could just spread my purchases around me and wrap to my heart's content.  

The other night Justin had a blast shopping for gift bags. He does not care one whit for wrapping the old-fashioned way and loves the utility of these bags. But, not just any old bag for his gifts. He showed me those he purchased, telling me which ones reminded him of me ---"Oh, Mom would really like this one!" or "This one looks like Mom!" In our house, even the bags are a gift! He even put a couple back after he found some that had JOY on them, in glitter. He was at the Dollar Tree for the bags, so they didn't set him back too badly.

As I wrapped my presents for him, I caught myself smiling because I knew he would like the things I got him. Plus, the gift wrapping just put me in a happy place. There is kids' paper in the missile, some with Scooby Doo prints. I probably wrapped presents for Timmy with that paper, don't think it's old enough to have been for Justin. I used it today, though, 'cause, why not? Many years ago his father and I would set up a table in a spare room and wrap presents together. Not only for our family but, in those days, for our extended families, when we could travel with wrapped gifts. We'd take an evening, if not more, to get everything wrapped. I sure don't mind doing it alone especially since it's only gifts for Justin. As I wrapped, I smiled!

What a full weekend!

My fun began on Friday with our group going to Tallahassee for David Chappell’s swearing in ceremony to mark that he is officially a practicing lawyer. He is a judicial assistant to an appellate judge for the State of Florida. Not shabby at all! Our group met at church at 10:00 am and eventually parted company about 8:30 that night, after two meals together plus the reception at the Court House. We DO know how to have fun!

Saturday morning was choir rehearsal after which I stopped at Publix for soda and a few things. Saturday night was Robbie’s graduation celebration at their home. Justin had an appointment with his groomer, who now makes house calls, so Jesse and he were both taken care of at Jesse’s home Saturday afternoon. Now Justin looks nicely groomed for the holidays. And for the football game which he attended today. Unfortunately, the Jags lost, which is such a disappointment after last week’s victory.

Today was a full one as well, beginning with Bible study and worship. Between the study and worship our little choir ran through our anthem “Prepared for a King”. The children were finishing their rehearsal and then we flowed right into ours, trying to do so before members started arriving for worship. The place was a beehive! At the beginning of the service the choir sang a hymn from the Supplement and the congregation joined in the refrain, “For You, O Lord, My Soul in Stillness Waits”. Interestingly, I had used the refrain for my Christmas letter this year. Later in the service we sang our anthem, both which went well. Our service had extra folks today with Judy’s visiting family and Betty’s 5 family members in town. We have had one couple return for their 3^rd time, with their baby, Noah. When I spoke with them their first visit, Kate told me they were church shopping and I was glad to see them back again today, three Sundays in a row.

The choir rehearsed again immediately after church, running through the two anthems for Christmas Eve. Kristi told me it was okay to leave early since the melody part didn’t really need much work, mainly the harmony voices. I was thankful for that since our rather large in number group was heading to Chili’s and I didn’t wish to miss a minute! We had 11 at our table and that was minus our three men since Mike ‘n Mike were busy preparing soups for our soup supper and Justin was at the Jaguar game. Judy had ordered for me already so all I had to do was show up. 

In the foreground is Betty and her granddaughter's family. On the other end see Judy's son and daughter-in-law, plus OJ with Terri, Judy, and me.

We had surprisingly good service for the time of day and number in our group with only one person, OJ, having to wait for her meal. The Chili's manager even came over and apologized for the delay, which means a lot. Because we got to the restaurant so quickly after church, we found there was time between finishing lunch and the tree decorating for us to all go home for a bit. This was welcome for me as my back has been giving me a fit again lately. The heat pad felt good as I watched the Jaguar game, until it was time to head back to church.

I got back over to church, the traffic not too bad, in time to watch Mike helping to drape the Christmas tree with lights. It took four people to figure out the lights but eventually they got them strung and operational. OJ and Terri are quite the team, regular whirlwinds! Betty's family helped place the ornaments on the tree (I love it!) and in short time the sanctuary was ready to go. We had to head to the VA hospital for our caroling, three vehicles. I rode with Terri since Betty's van and Judy's were full with their family members. We arrived in good time and proceeded to the halls to sing carols to the veterans and staff. Justin was concerned about my going, knowing it would be hard on my back, but I made it.

If it wasn't for our singers from out of town, our caroling group would have been Terri, Judy, Betty, and me. Sort of sad, if you ask me. It's great to have kids along to sing, the residents love seeing them.

After caroling, we all met back at church for the soup supper prepared and served by Mike 'n Mike. Usually there is not a problem getting people to show up at least to eat but this year only the pastor and his family were there waiting for us. We had three types of chili and three other soups, of which I had broccoli cheese and turkey noodle. Yum to both! The third non-chili soup was a seafood chowder but I had enough with my other two. Plus some French bread to dip in my bowls. 

It feels good to be home reclined on my bed with the heat pad doing its thing on my poor aching back and bones. The weather here has turned cold, about 30 degrees colder for the guys at the stadium than it was last week! Dramatic drop by any standards. Betty's family is going to DisneyWorld tomorrow and I hope the weather warms up for them at least a few degrees. They are tough Illinoisans so are not as aware of the cold here as we are. Terri made arrangements for them to get discounted tickets using some connections she has through work which is a blessing for a family of five. She also told them about certain perks they can get as first time attendees. Terri is quite the gal, that's for sure. I hope Michelle and family have a great time at the world's happiest place. I am enjoying my happy place right now! Good night!