Brrrr....it's cold out there!

This sounds like two weeks ago when I posted about the "cold" weather but today is not nearly as bitter cold as that day was. We are supposed to touch the low 70's today, much to everyone's (except me!) delight but right now it not quite there. It is obviously more chilly than it has been lately, except for the day two Mondays ago when it was 44 in the morning. Folks are glad to be able to wear sweaters for a while but that will get old, too. By the end of the week, I hope the temps prove more hospitable for my visiting friend!

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Justin is coming today after work to do some cleaning. I want things to be nice for Linda's visit and he will do his share to make this happen. He might still be working when I leave for my meetings tonight at church but that's okay, he knows where everything is and all that. We are having a brief Outreach meeting before the Ladies' Group meeting so I have to be at church earlier than usual. Tomorrow is the day to go grocery shopping to lay in supplies for my friend's visit and for the dinner on Thursday night. I have four replies in the affirmative already which makes me quite happy.

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Last night I cleaned out my fridge, and filled up the kitchen waste basket in no time flat. There were several containers from juice or lemonade (make a note, I need more lemonade and some Firefly for Linda's visit....) so mostly I made sure there was plenty of room for my purchases. Today Judy C. hauled in eight cases of soda into the Fellowship Hall, using her former luggage cart with bungie cords to hold them in place. Hmmm, now there is an idea! It folds up completely flat and the straps wrap around so they will not dangle....I could use that for my purchases of soda instead of bringing them up one at a time. Good idea!

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This morning was Bible study and we had a full house around the tables. A member who has been absent for a long time with health problems was finally given the go-ahead to drive so Cindy made it to class. Our study is of the Gospel in the Psalms and is more in depth than I would have imagined. As we left, there was a great deal of discussion regarding whether or not to return to Longhorn for lunch, our usual place. Since Patty had been let go, we had other servers taking care of us, and somehow the bills for the meals were going up and up. It seems she gave us a rather sweet deal, not the reason she was let go, however, and these other people are not honoring the deals we had become accustomed to getting. Some would order from the kids menu and had their drinks included in the price. No longer---the drink is billed separately plus the tip is automatically included in the price because of the number of people in the party. A deal breaker to most of them. Next week, we are going to Steak 'n Shake where some will have the $2.89 special of steak sandwich, fries, and drink. I will have the Wisconsin Butter Burger, of course!

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It was a good thing we decided to give Longhorn one more chance today because when we walked up to the door, there was Patty, waiting on the bench!!! She was having lunch with us! Let me back up a bit: during the conversation at church about where to go, Jackie suggested that I call Patty some day and we can invite her to lunch with us, but not at Longhorn, so she would not feel bad. I thought that was a great idea and said I would give her a call, as the Hostess had given her cell phone number to me the week before. Sure enough, there was Patty, waiting to have lunch with us, on her old turf! She is going to go with us next week, too, and I invited her to Bible study as well. Others did too so she might be there--we shall see! My guess is she was raised Roman Catholic due to her Italian heritage, but may likely not be a regular attender. Outreach at Longhorn---it's a beautiful thing!

A wonderful day seeing friends!

After church today, I had a chance to take a few photos, or rather, let Terri use the camera and she snapped away! Here are Carol, Laurie, Mark, and Dawn. Carol is holding one of the lovely Mexican sunflowers which are blooming along the building. Laurie's kids took great pleasure in pulling the 15' tall plants over to pick the flowers for their mom and Grandma!

Here is am, posing with Mark and Dawn, long time members now living in the outskirts of Milwaukee.

Kelly is the daughter of Mark and Dawn, and a daughter of our congregation. She was a teacher in the preschool when Timmy was a student there. When Kelly went to Martin Luther College, she kept a photo of Timmy tucked in her mirror, telling me he was her inspiration to be a teacher. When he died, Kelly wrote me a letter, and said she was naming her first son after Timmy. And she did! Her son, Alexander Timothy, is standing in front of me with his brother, Aaron. Kelly's husband, Paul, is on the right side. They are off to Disney as part of the Make a Wish Foundation's treat for them, because of Alex's disability. Kelly's next son is due in February---My Three Sons!

Happy All Saints Day!

But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;

the saints triumphant rise in bright array;

the King of glory passes on his way.

Alleluia, Alleluia!

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My day began with moist eyes, make that soaking my cheeks, as my sister, Lori, sent me a message. She reported lighting a candle at an All Saints' Eve service at their church last night in memory of Timmy. Wow, what a way to start the day!

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Besides sniffling this morning, I am also chuckling as I am watching "Roseanne". I don't know how I can find this funny especially since this episode is one where Dan loses his business and had to have a fire sale at his motorcycle shop. They are in danger of losing their house and the cable is getting shut off....and so on. Besides all that, their daughter and her boyfriend sneaked off and got married because her boyfriend lost his job at Dan's shop. He was offered a job in Minneapolis and wanted to take it, but did not want to leave his girlfriend. One disaster piled upon another....Yet somehow these people manage to find humor in things. "You know nothing of my powers, do you, boy?" as Roseanne has a nose to nose chat with her new son-in-law. Funny stuff! Now the two sisters are saying good-bye to each other, in a tender moment, telling each other they love them. Darlene asked, "Did you ever know that you're my hero?" to which Becky replied, "You are the wind beneath my wings", which reminded me of Lori and me! Oh, no, not again!

Eureka! I have found it!

Did you realize my desk is white? Neither did I! Well, I actually did but since it has been ages since the top was visible, well, it is certainly nice to see! One or two items remain for pending use but the files have been filed and the threshing machine (a.k.a. shredder) is smokin'! Bravo for me! This project was on my to-do list for before Linda arrives Wednesday and although she told me it did not matter to her if it was cleaned off, it did to me! It is important to set short-term goals when faced with "challenges" such as this. Next? My closet?!?

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The moon is nearly full and I was looking forward to seeing it reflecting on the river but sadly, a huge grey cloud moved into position to prevent it. The temperatures got up to 84 above zero today, making it one of the hottest football games played between the Gators and the Dawgs. When last peeking at the score, I saw the Gators were ahead 24-10 and had recovered a tipped ball. Earlier I had heard the jets roaring overhead, figuring they were lining up for the fly-over at the beginning of the game. I spoke with Joanne about that time and she, too, was having an "at-home day"! How funny is that? As I dressed in my less-than-presentable shirt this a.m., I thought to myself, " I can wear this because I am having an at-home day today..." and then to have her tell me she was doing the same thing just made me chuckle. The streets are just crazy out there, according to both Joanne and Justin, who called me late this a.m. Last night it took him a long time to venture between Jax Beach to his own home and today he was going back that same way to watch the game at his friend's house.

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I have done alot of laughing in my house today, all by myself....is there a pill for that? First thing this morning, I was chatting with Linda via Facebook when the Fox and Friends anchors came out dressed as the "Seinfeld" characters. It was just a hoot! They really pulled it off. Dave dressed and did his hair like Kramer, Clinton was Jerry, wearing his "dad jeans", and Allison came out looking like Elaine, complete with a headful of long dark hair. The Kramer character was dead-on, even when the camera was not specifically on him. Then, I had to chuckle when I got deeper into my pile of papers, many which had been here since before the great washing of the marsala sauce on my desk. They were crisped together, some of them somewhat important pieces for my own files, and I could not help but chuckle, remembering that horrible mess!

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Just because the desk is cleaned off does not necessarily mean the passenger side of my bed is clear...In fact, extra stuff got placed on the bed in order to accomplish the desk cleaning. As often happens, things moved from pillar to post. I made a pile of stuff to go to church with me tomorrow and stuff to be put into my closet (so much for tackling the closet any time soon!). There also remains a pile or two on the table to be dealt with but that was NOT on my to-do list for before Linda gets here! When I folded some towels this morning, I saw some were looking rather tough and put them aside for the preschool to use. For some reason they have a use for old towels and I am glad to oblige.

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In checking the TV Guide on-line, I saw "The Perfect Storm" listed on one of the networks. When I saw that movie at the theater, we sat too close to the screen (how did we know???) and I was terribly sea-sick after watching it. Whew! If we went to eat afterwards, I cannot remember, but whenever I see the movie name listed, I remember rockin' and rollin' in the ocean, feeling quite urpy. Like watching our home movies!

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Don't forget to set your clocks back an hour tonight!

No repercussions

No post on Thursday and no one said a word! If anyone would have, I would have noticed it myself. Wednesday night's posting seems to have taken the place of a Thursday in my mind, which is definitely NOT a good sign! However, due to not writing the blog I instead worked on the bi-monthly newsletter sent to members away and shut-ins, printed it off and ready to mail. We are having a Greeters Orientation at church in a week or two so I got those guidelines written up and sent to Pastor for his review. The morning was spent first talking on the phone with Justin and then heading to Bible study at Victory. Earlier it had been as thick as pea soup out there but it was cleared by the time I drove across the bridge.

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Justin was cramming for his mid-term test in political science and shared a few interesting items with me. Sort of makes me wish I had studied this when I was young and could absorb. But then, I did not care! Now that I care, I cannot absorb. Because of the cramming, he opted to not attend Bible study. Next week he will be there, as will Linda, for which I already braced them. Three church secretaries in one room---can they stand it?

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After the class we were in the office talking and Pastor Hoyer commented about his sermon theme being about End Times. I made the remark that it was nearly time to sing "Jerusalem, the Golden" and he picked up the unfinished service folder and said, "We are singing it this Sunday." He said it was the new tune which, of course, I expected it to be, and then he asked, "That's your favorite hymn, isn't it?" I had already begun tearing up, and I said it was, asking him if he read that in my blog. He said no, Bonnie, the secretary, had told him. They must have been talking about me!! We sort of touched on a few things in class, when he described how, at our baptisms, our souls are already in heaven. "I'm but a stranger here, heaven is my home..." he recited. What a wonderful hymn and memory it stirs for me, as well as a picture of what awaits us...

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On the ride home I tried once again to call my mom but got the answering machine. Hmmm.....where could she be? Aha, it is newsletter day at First German. I dialed the number and when the secretary answered, I asked, "Is my mama there???" Linda laughed, saying Mom just finished her coffee and muffin after working on the newsletter and was going to head home. How funny! Later on I called Mom and talked with her at some length. Normally I speak with her every other day but had gotten so busy with all this other stuff and did not call for a few days. My sister is moving into the same building where Mom lives, having given her notice at her "old" place. With a great deal of relief, believe me! It makes me happy that Mom will someone under the same roof as she in case she needs something.

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A huge mistake, listening to "In Christ Alone" as I try to write. Almost can't wait for my funeral or one of the other's who have said they want this hymn sung at their service. "...what heights of love, what depths of peace..."

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Originally I had planned to worship at Victory Sunday to sing "Jerusalem, the Golden" (yeah, right, who am I kidding???) but I understand there will be special visitors at G.S. this weekend whom I cannot miss. Some of our former members, the Vances and Heldman's, are passing through on their way to Orlando. Kelly's oldest son, named Alexander Timothy, in memory of my Timmy, is being treated by the Dreams Come True Foundation to some time at Disney, as he was born with spina bifida. It works out well since they have family and ties in this part of the world anyway, and it makes me happy to be able to see them. The last time Paul and Kelly came through, I think it was the last time anyway, they stayed with me at my lake house. I remember Kelly gave me tiny red hat, because when they were with me, I "had" to attend a Red Hat Society event with Martie and I did not like it! I fussed, "Those Red Hatters got NOTHING on me!" so she bought me a tiny red hat, saying that was the only one I was ever going to need! I am so excited to see them all!

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Last night was spent working on Joanne's mailing after she delivered the inserts and the labels for the back of the envelope. Setting up in the family room on the glass topped table, I got busy folding and stuffing, gluing, and then applying the "referral" label to each piece of mail. Not quite 200 envelopes, ready to go in less than three episodes of "House"! She did not bring the stamps so I had to drop the finished envelopes at the office this afternoon. There I got to see my friend, Christine, who was busily putting a listing into the computer. Joanne was out taking care of something with her dad, which I knew, but I got to see many of the agents and staff in their full-out Halloween regalia.

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After RE/MAX I went to Office Max (almost maxed out!) to return my carrying bag for the laptop and exchanged it for a router. Hopefully Justin will take care of that on Monday when he is here. He says it is simple to hook-up but I defer to him on this type of thing. Also on the list was a memory card for my new smaller, purse-sized camera, which strangely enough, did not come with any. What's up with that??In the building business, it baffled me that washers and ranges did not come with a power cord, it had to be purchased separately. Sewing machines, also, did not come with the foot pedal to operate it, had to be bought separately. Yesterday's newsletter took lots of paper so I bought a ream at the register. It was wrapped in pink which made me wonder if the paper was pink too. There is a limit to how much pink paper a person needs---I can't believe I just said that!

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It is nearly time to meet Martie for our after work adult beverage and repast so must go and make myself beautiful after sitting here bawling my eyes all down my shirt. Note to self: no more listening to the Supplement when trying to make sense in the blog!

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Loved talking with Rosalie this afternoon, by the way. Hal has a brand, new shiny hip on his right side, having the replacement the same weekend that Pastor Schuppe was at their church for missions. She felt badly they were going to miss seeing them, but he came over to their house to pay them a visit! I would love to have heard that conversation, or those, as the case might be. The following week Rosalie got to see and hear Paul Prange at her church, whom she knew as a vicar many years ago. He sat with them at their table afterwards for the feast and they got all caught up. She told him how wonderful it was to have both Schuppe and this Prange in so short a period of time. Both were described to me as being " gifted" men, and I will threw in, so is Pete gifted! No argument from Rosalie about that either, as she was with me for about 10 days after Timmy died. There is nothing like good, Christian friends, to go with your family!

Thank you, Lord!

I thank Him for sparing me yet another root canal, or a re-do of an "old" one. The endodontist, who always calls me "hon" (loves me for my money, I am sure) found no cause of my discomfort, and put me on the "watch list". I have to call there in the morning tomorrow and let them know I will not need to come back in for a follow-up. I am brave in saying that as I have not yet slept tonight, things can change overnight, or during the night, it seems. And, there was no charge for yesterday's series of x-rays taken in search of the offender.

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As I was heading in to see him, the ladies from the office next door, my regular dentist, were going to lunch, and suggested I come see them when I was done. These offices are both in my former office building, the endo being my suite. When I left, I went next door and visited with them a bit, making an appointment to get the previous root canal "topped off" as I had never done that. It seems Justin has neglected his teeth so I made an appointment for his teeth cleaning to be done as well. I will tell him eventually that plans were made without his input....Hey, he is a big boy now and should be on top of this himself, but dropped the ball. He is only 10 months late for his cleaning, so I am glad they mentioned it to me.

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(Warning) When I came in, Yvonne asked me how long it had been since Timmy died, and I gave my standard answer of "nearly 9 years or it could have been yesterday." I guess the one "girl" did not know about Timmy so she must have been filling her in. Others must be thinking about Timmy, too, with all the news about Somer Thompson and such, and most of this staff knew him. In fact, once they asked me to bring in his scrapbook and kept it a couple days to make sure all had a chance to look at it. It was easier for them to not have me there when they did look at it, and I respected that.

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Today, Martie and I went into Great Hang Ups and the first thing Julia asked me was how many years it had been since Timmy died....There was a new client sitting at the counter and Julia was telling her about him. This lady, Kathleen, had brought in a sizable piece to be cleaned and re-glassed, a painting done by her son, now deceased. She did not say how or how old, just that he was much older than Timmy. After six years, she still has trouble controlling the tears, and I told her the rule was to just let them flow. Kathleen said it bothers her husband which is too bad, but I think some people, men in particular, are just uncomfortable about the open expression of sorrow or loss. Martie did not hear all our conversation and wondered later if this woman knew the Lord. I told her that I tried to share my faith in the Lord and how it gives me great comfort. I told Kathleen my tears are for me, not for my son, because he is forever with the Lord.

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This a.m. I had to fly around my house to get ready, as Martie called, wondering if I was prepared for our day. Um, what? I had totally forgotten she was going to see my dear friend, Carol the massage therapist, to get her back worked on. Rats! She had not yet left her house so I got ready in record time, dressing as fast as a fireman, and was downstairs before she pulled into the parking lot. We got up there in plenty of time and Martie was given the tour of the place by the manager. Leaving Martie in the caring hands of Carol, I headed to Wal*Mart to pick up my prescription and did a little extra shopping. Really? At the door were tiny bags of pretzels in individual packages for Trick or Treat which I bought for the preschool kids. They are having a Fall Party Friday and this would be a good addition. Not too expensive either. While driving up there I had decided to not buy any more DVDs but sure enough---the $4 bin got me!

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Justin had sent me a message to report a good buy on soda so I went over to Walgreens to take advantage. He is a good sale spotter!!! They were four for $10 which is quite a decent price, like we were used to paying. My car is now loaded and should take me at least through the weekend, and then some. It depends upon how much I am out---I drink more when I am home, go figure! When I got back to get Martie, she was not quite done so I waited in the car to listen to the radio and read through the Bible study for tomorrow. I had not grabbed my Bible though so could not look up the passages. If I had an iPhone I could have but alas, will have to do that later, I guess. Carol came up front so I went in to talk with her. We were comparing notes on the movies I had, as we had this conversation in the past. She and her hubby do the NetFlix and just love it. Dee buys her movies as do I so we can exchange between our collections or lend them out, without time restrictions. Because of Martie's "treatment", she had to walk down to Hang Ups so off we went to see the ladies.

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Julia had to stay in the shop through lunch so I offered to bring her back a bento box from Koko's. Martie and I had a very nice lunch, prepared by Huang, of which I brought most home with me. The waitress asked me if I wanted double rice and also brought my to-go box at the appropriate time. Some of my chicken was shared with the dogs in the shop when we delivered Julia's lunch and then Martie and I came back here to watch a movie.

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Much to my delight, "Freedom Writers" was in the $4 bin and that was what we watched this afternoon while Martie "marinated", according to Carol's directions. Oh, we sobbed like babies and I said over and over again, "I love this movie!". I cannot wait to share it with Linda. Do any of you out there remember seeing this movie with me at the theater???? I just cannot remember who I saw it with but do not think I went by myself to this one. Help me out, here, I am getting old!

Looking forward to seeing my friend...

....the endodontist yet again! Yes, once more I have a tooth giving me hints of trouble, one which had been on the list for repairs before but put off taking care of the tooth when it settled down. Over the weekend I noticed that it was feeling sort of "active" and this morning it was clear I should make the call. Like an expectant mother waiting for the right time to call, the same applies for me and my goofy teeth! This rather makes the decision for me of whether or not to go stand along the street in respect of Somer Thompson. Twila and I were in the thinking stages of doing this, not attending the service itself but watching the procession to the funeral home for the family's private services and burial.

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Today I was attempting to send off the Flock Talk and many many came back to be as undeliverable. Well, for goodness sakes! I am unsure why this happened but the majority of the addresses were hotmail.com with a few being comcast.net. Later on I will try once more to send off to the bounced back folks to see if there was a problem on their end and not from mine. Perhaps Lynne will need to print off extras this coming month for those who cannot open it.

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My feet are wearing the fuzzy slippers right now and my capris are allowing for my calves to be chilly. The temperature outside is in the mid 70's, not too shabby but during the night, or early a.m., I was awakened by a thunder storm complete with heavy rain. Because the sun has not quite freed itself of the clouds I am not toasty in my window. There was a rocket launch scheduled for 9:30 this a.m. but think it might have been postponed due to the overcast skies. Perhaps the sky at the Cape is not as overcast as here, in fact, from the live feed, it shows blue skies with dotted clouds. Regardless, I likely won't be able to see it go up.

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I am hungry but not sure what I want to eat before going to the dentist. Of course, I should have something or will have trouble handling the nitrous oxide. One time, my low blood sugar mixed with the nitrous put me on my bed, feeling quite unable to even roll over to pick up the phone to call the dentist. She advised me to have a tablespoon of sugar (my kind of dentist!!!) to help boost my sugar level and then I felt better. Wow, who knew? Me, now!

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My sister, Jill, told me last night that she is going to look at an apartment in my Mom's building. While I am absolutely delighted she is getting out of her other place which has so many problems, I was surprised to hear Mom's building would take her. Their website indicated it was a 55+ building but she assures me she can live there. Jill said it was going to be tight money-wise to move there but she would no longer be responsible for lawn care and snow shoveling, nor pestered with mice and noisy neighbors overhead. Lots of pluses for her, besides the negative of paying extra rent. She will let me know how it goes on Wednesday, and I will pray it goes well. I would just love it if she can be so near Mom if she needs any help with anything. Or Mom can help Jill, as the case might be!

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I wish Mom could be here to watch this funeral news with me, she would recognize much of what is being broadcast. The church where the funeral service is held, the TV cameras up and down Kingsley and Blanding, she would recognize all of them. The cameras set up across the street from the cemetery, showing one of my "friends" standing in the driveway to check for invitations, as this private service is invitation only.

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They are making small talk on the live reports leading up to the start of the service, talking about how valuable the friends and family have been for the mom of the dead child. As someone told me after Timmy died, every funeral from now on will be Timmy's. As rotten as it sounds, I am feeling those feelings experienced nearly 9 years ago. Make no mistake, you cannot even begin to measure or put a price on the support you provide at such times as these, so do not ever hesitate, if it ever comes up, to step up to show your support.

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They just showed the family and the mom of Somer Thompson arriving at the church, slightly after the service was scheduled to begin. One of the TV stations was set up at the home and I saw Mr. Day's car in the driveway of the home, and also saw him as he went into the church. Strangely enough, just as they closed the doors of the church, the TV station went to its regular programming, which was a judge show! I do not miss a thing by not watching daytime TV....I tried another station to see the coverage and they had introduced Cheryl to "come on down" as this woman who absolutely should not be jumping came bopping down to the podium, arms covered in tattoos. Oh, just, whatever.....not in the mood today.