Scattered thoughts

Multi-tasking Rules!

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Too many jobs facing me right now. This morning I was "invited" to serve on a personnel committee and to edit a survey letter from the condo president. I can help edit the survey/letter but am fairly certain I won't have time for the other committee. My concern with that one is I'll be expected to be heavy handed with our paid people and I really don't want to do that. I love my role of peace maker or peace keeper, but also don't wish to shirk my responsibilities as an owner here at The Palace!

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I am going to the movie today by myself which is cool, but prior to that is a visit to the bookstore to see if I can find the book and DVD I've been looking for. Justin has plans to attend a football game with a high school friend today so isn't going to church this afternoon. After church tomorrow he's coming over here to watch the football game and have some brats!

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On my reality show, What Not to Wear, the gang is making-over a set of female triplets from Minneapolis. It's faster paced because of having three to shop, cut hair and apply make-up....wow, they look great! And don't sound overly Minnesotan in their diction. None of the girls were allowed to see or shop with each other and won't see their sisters until the big reveal when they get back home. Have the tissues ready! One of the things which I LOVE about this program is the street scenery of New York City!!! Oh, on the big reveal, all three girls went first to hug each other and then straight to their mommy!

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Speaking of love, have you seen the advertisement for Prudential Life Insurance where the little boy asks his daddy about life insurance: what is it?, do we have it? and the daddy offers assurance to the little guy that they do have insurance in case anything happens to his daddy......boo hoo hoo..... If you fathers out there don't run right out and get life insurance this minute, I am going to smack you!

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There's also an ad showing a teenaged boy in a courtroom with his parents and lawyer, and is found liable for personal damage to property with a car. He has to pay $100,000, and the suing attorney tells them he'll get his college fund, his parent's retirement savings, and even have them sell their home to pay his settlement. The sweet part is the young man turning toward his parents and saying softly and sadly, "I'm so sorry". Yes, I'll bet he is, and is sad because of the terrible financial hardship he's imposing on parents by doing something stupid with his car. It really "drives" home the point of acting like a hot dogger (a.k.a. jet skier) and the ramifications thereof.

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State Farm has an ad where a dad is standing in his living room window, cradling a newborn baby and says, basically, he is at the point in his life where it's just not about him anymore. In way too many cases, that thinking leaves their minds, but, for now, I love looking at this picture.

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Just prior to the WNTW program was the very tail end of a fashion design "reality" show where people evidently were vying to "dress" a star for some event. Of course, the 'man' designer is the one who won, and the two women who didn't win handled it like troupers. But, the male whose design was chosen, was bawling like a baby. There should be a sign posted that says "Please don't feed the stereotype!", to borrow from Justin. Dee and Julia were talking about the reality programs they enjoy watching, many on the cooking channel. I don't think my TV picks up that station......

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It's time to go to the bookstore and movies so I have to change my clothes to make myself warm because it's always cold in the theater. Even Justin freezes when we are there. I might take a look at Payless because they send me such wonderful advertisements via e-mail which are quite enticing. Lisa said something funny when she was a little girl though: "They say they're Payless, but they're not!!" From the mouth's of babes!

Saturday on the river

Sssshhhh! It's so quiet out there this morning, it's spooky! The water level is high yet but absolutely no wave action, which I think makes for perfect fishing conditions.

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Well, I did have my personal high last night by winning at Scrabble and totally alienating my playmates, unintentionally, of course. It was merely an accident that I was able to empty my entire rack of tiles, covering two triple word scores as the final play of the game...........using the word: printing, now valued as a 224 point word!!! We never did determine the total score, but Kathy B. remarked that my "printing" earned more points than any of them had total. Somehow the piece of paper used for score keeping was shredded immediately. Guess we won't be playing THAT game again any time soon....We did have great fun playing "Catch Phrase" which is a cross between hot potato and Password.

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Sadly, only two girls showed up for Youth Group so Pastor, Paul, and the girls watched "Narnia" and then joined us in the Fellowship Hall for pizza. They didn't play the games with us at all, were doing their own thing in another corner. Maybe it will take a couple months for the word to spread about Youth Group, which has been idle in our congregation for some time. I am so glad someone stepped up to make it happen again! I've not seen or read any of the Narnia stuff and Emily wants me to borrow their DVD so I can watch. I think it's the "Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe" story, isn't it? I can look it up......Yup, it is from C. S. Lewis.

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The movie "Nights in Rodanthe" came out yesterday and Martie and I might go see it today when she's done working. It depends upon how much she got done last night with packing for her vacation. Her hubby and she leave Sunday for a trip to PA to see her sister. Martie will have her stuff ready to go, but she couldn't promise anything about Ernie's packing! He is a busy man, you know. This is not really the case, but he told his doctor the other day that he is active. Martie about fell off her chair! Nothing could be further from the truth, at least in present times. Years ago he served our country as a Navy SEAL so I guess he's entitled to be the tiniest bit "not active" in his later years! Back to the movie---I love Diane Lane and Richard Gere together in a movie, and have to not pay any attention to their politics or life-styles while enjoying the movie. It's based on a book by Nicholas Sparks and looks to be my kind of heart-wrenching, shirt dampening story! More ganging up on me occurred last night when Kathy told me she'd read the book..............................."There's a book????"

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If Martie can't go today, I might just go myself. This is how badly I wish to see the movie. If it's wonderful, I'd probably go again with whomever wishes to join me. The timing will have to be just right if I decide to see the movie, attend church with Justin and then get out to Joe's Crab Shack for a bridal shower. My type of shower!!! It's been months since I've been there and I really need to go. My friend, Jen's sister, Kristin, is getting married soon and her co-workers are giving her the party. I'm skipping the parts before and afterward but definitely will love the part at Joe's!!! I plan to take Judy R. there when she comes down for her visit in November. Whee! We're going to have so much fun!

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Today is my oldest sister, Carol's, birthday, and she is 63! You know you're getting old when your sisters are having birthdays beginning with the number 6!

Please Note: There were actually two postings yesterday.....goofy Internet!!!!!

Personal highs and lows

In watching the end of "The Story..." last night, and again watching it today, I am considering the parts where Ben and Katie's family would sit around the dinner table and revisit their personal highs and lows of the day. What an excellent recap and evaluation of what makes up a day in peoples' lives. How often don't we just do and do and do and not even pay attention to stuff around us, and how it affects us or others? Think about it...

I already had a number of highs today, including getting my toes and my fingers done, at least partially done. Lisa looked at my nails and determined they need more hydration, which means another mark in the corner of water drinking. Who'd think? She put a clear layer of nail treatment on them instead of my standard garish color, saying the nails needed to breathe. They need more hydration to help keep the ridges and peeling to a minimum. I was aware of the peeling and Lisa W. said it would help, so, I'll do it!

I'd called Brenda W. to see if she'd want to meet for lunch but it turned out she isn't working today. What? On a Friday, the busiest day in a builder's office? It seems both Jimmie and she are off work on Fridays now because of work cutbacks. Ouch! I just hate to hear this kind of stuff, you know?

My low would be having thought the posting was saved only to find out it wasn't. My signal has been fluctuating the past two days so that's probably what happened here. Let's see if I can recreate what I wrote...

I wrote about having lunch with Dee and Julia at Koko's today, which would be my personal high so far. Tonight my plans have been changed by the church calendar, scheduling youth group with pizza/game night on Fridays instead of the last Sunday. Oops, glad they brought it to my attention at choir on Wednesday. I was going to an Open House at The Club but it's no big deal if I go or not, because I really missed my church family when I was gone. My next "high" might be winning at Scrabble!

Can't remember what else crossed my mind and was lost in the air somewhere over Orange Park. I hope you have more highs today than lows!

Remarkable Grace

It’s 8:00 a.m. Friday and I’ve already been crying. In the wee hours of the morning I get to hear/see old episodes of JAG, a military courtroom drama. Not all the drama takes place in chambers, of course, and what made me cry was seeing one of the major (actually a lieutenant!) players return from Afghanistan minus a part of his leg. Today’s episode had his wife seeing it for the first time and she showed remarkable grace in handling the situation. In essence, she told her husband she’d have a much tougher time looking at his casket than a bandaged leg. Yesterday’s show was just as emotional, with the normally non-plussed Cmdr. Rabb shedding tears of relief when the surgeons managed to save this same man’s life, even having him come back to life after having been declared dead.

Something really strange happened here yesterday—the dredger machine in the basin and its matching barge just up and sailed down the river toward Jacksonville. Just like that! I’d only a few days earlier commented about them still working out there and now it’s gone! The larger of the barges remains beyond the basin but I see no activity out there, no little boat scooting around like before. The water level is high yet this a.m. but no wave action at all, the grasses below my window barely showing above the surface. One thing about living on the lake, it was mostly calm waters with many, many more mullet jumping, sometimes making the only “noise” audible. At least, before the boats and jet skis woke up.

When Justin and I first moved to the lake, Mom and Lynn came down to see the place. We hadn’t completely settled in but we still could make them comfortable. Lynn and I walked out to the end of the dock one morning, and, fortunately, had the camera in hand. Again, it was fairly quiet, but then, we heard this sort of snorting sound from a few docks down. At one point water spewed into the air and it was then I realized what was coming our way---a herd of sea cows! At least seven or so passed right under my dock where we stood, and I was snapping and laughing at the same time. Unbelievable! This was August and not really manatee season but no one evidently told them about it! They just seemed to be passing through, amusing folks as they went.

Well, last evening I watched the end of the movie I recommended yesterday. It is so much better without commercial interruptions. In speaking with Martie about it, I decided “The Story of Us” would be good purchase for my permanent collection. Normally I don’t care to purchase movies as I don’t watch them over and over (okay, okay----so I know a few of them by heart---sue me!!!!), but only buy the ones which I will watch again and again. “Phantom” comes immediately to mind, “Under the Tuscan Sun” and “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” are favorites. Also, “As Good As It Gets” is repeat-worthy. And, I don’t have to tell you about “The Bucket List”…..”like smoke through a key hole…..”: Edward Cole’s description about how quickly time passes. I am going to Middleburg today to have myself groomed so might stop at the world-class Wal Mart to see if they have “The Story of Us” on their shelves and to also look for the book Judy R. recommended. The Shack synopsis tells the story of a man in mid-life crisis is mourning the loss of his daughter who’d died a couple years earlier on a camping trip. Yes, Judy, I will hang on for this double whammy!

I’ve decided to have Lisa Woodruff do my finger nails as well as my toes (I usually have her do the nails I can’t reach!!!) because my nails are peeling and need that grinder tool used on them to smooth the ridges. When it gets later in the morning, I’ll call Brenda W. or Christine to see if they are available for lunch.

Martie and I went to a health fair at the Thrasher-Horne last night when she was done working. We toured the displays and even got to see my former general practitioner doctor Boyd. He remembered me!!! He was the doctor I saw before my current one, but he’d left to sail around the world. Last night he said he’d gotten it out of his system, and I have to wonder if he didn’t leave just to get away from that rotten insurance stuff like my lady doctor did. Deborah is on a medical sabbatical to Qatar, and when we hugged each other “good-bye”, I thanked her for going to do mission/medical work there. Deborah told me that was only part of the reason, that she was sick and tired of having the insurance companies calling the shots and not allowing her to practice medicine ethically or as necessary because they held the money purse! So there! I can see how frustrating it must be, to have hands tied because someone else is paying the bill. Because of third-person-payers, first-person-payers can’t afford to pay out of pocket anymore!

I can’t help but relate the story of Justin’s first visit to see Deborah after Dr. Boyd left. I’d been going there for a bit before Justin needed to see a doctor so I’d already formed a bond with her. She’d purchased the stackable washer and dryer from the lake house from me to use in her office, before I met her. I got treatment-in-kind to pay for the machines, works for me! Anyway, when she walked into the exam room expecting to see only a teen-aged boy, she saw me sitting in the chair next to Justin. We hugged each other as usual and then she stuck out her hand to Justin saying, “I’m Dr. Harter, a devotee of your mother.” That’s all he had to hear, the deck was stacked against him from that point on!!!! When she tried to poke and prod him as he lay on the table, he kept giggling because of being terribly ticklish. Try as he might, he couldn’t help but draw up and try to get away. He kept saying, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” all the while giggling. My big boy!

Just when I’ve about decided to keep Comcast as my Internet provider, they mess up and cause me to have no connection—AGAIN! I’m truly torn as to what to do because someone else cautioned me about Bellsouth/ATT being less than trustworthy. I did notice yesterday that the TV was out of whack as well, so perhaps work was being done on a company-wide level which affected both the Internet and TV service. Late afternoon I sat down to watch some episodes and have some on there since before Christmas. Many of them are Frasier programs and I’ll guess that they didn’t get watched because Justin got me the first four seasons on DVD. Those can be played on my computer, which allows me to stay in place here at the window instead of shutting down and going to sit idly in the family room. He’s also shown me how to connect to Internet floating through the air in my family room so even if I’m in there vegging out, I can still be “working” on something while I view. Carol Douglas hates this word but I like it—multi-tasking! Speaking of which, I am sweating as I write, since the sun is beating on me at present. So, I can write and perspire at the same time! What a talent!

I must have words left over!

My dear friend, Judy R., sent me a note yesterday urging me to read a book called "The Shack" and told me to hang on for dear life. I read a synopsis of it and yes, Judy, you are correct, I need to read the book! I already read the "Dinner with a Perfect Stranger", loaned to me by Linda J. and loved that as well. Amazon sells these two books as a pair, which is why I mention them both. Bye for now, have to run to the store for the book!!!!!

I think you guys are all ganging up on me to make a reader out me...hear that, Christine????

The Story of Us

Set your DVRs or VCRs for a great movie on Lifetime tonight. It's called "The Story of Us" with Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer, from 1999. I know, I know, my son doesn't like me to watch that channel under normal circumstances but tonight, I can make an exception. If you read my profile for this blogsite, you'll find this movie listed under Favorite Movies, so just know I have history with this one.

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I saw this movie on an airplane back in early 2000, which my friend, Jimmie and I like to say "sucked". Not the movie, the turn of the century fluff. Neither of us were all that thrilled with the new millenium, let me tell you! I was still married at the time but had only a short while prior been informed he was no longer "in love", as it were, the whole cliched mess after 25 years of marriage. That was the beginning of the roller coaster we rode until finally "dissolving" in 2004. Pete rode the roller coaster with me, helped me to hang on and held the barf bag when I needed it. So, anyway, I just wanted to set the background for the scenario under which I viewed this movie.

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To not give it away, at least too much, imagine yourself in the situation I found myself and watching this movie in a "theater" from which you could not depart....so I watched. My former spouse was asleep, or at least looked that way, so I was more or less alone with the 400 others on the flight. This trip was something we earned by purchasing X amount of trim and trusses from the lumber company, one we always looked forward to each year. And Hawaii??? Come on!!! Who'd want to miss that? Certainly not me! So, I watched and wept and watched and wept, my whole shirt totally soaked with tears. It was such a good movie, with a happy ending. I can't give it away though, you must watch and then imagine the heartache experienced....like biting on a sore tooth. You just can't not bite on that tooth!

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I'll be awaiting your reviews and comments, even if you didn't get to watch it yet. I have to go check Jami's list of favorites to see if we shared this favorite movie!!!!