A wake-up gem to start your Sunday!

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalm 139:7-10

This is so cool!

As I write, I am seeing the end of an afternoon movie on TBS called "My Prince and Me", a silly little flick that takes place mainly in WI. A spoiled heir to the Denmark throne sneaked to college in the USA to try to be 'normal' and expected to see more wild college life as is shown on 'late night channels'. He did not expect to meet a decent girl on track for med school and fall in love, her not being aware he was royalty. At one point her roommate encouraged Paige to invite "Eddie" to her home for Thanksgiving, in Manitowoc!!!! Get out!!! I wonder if there are actually dairy farmers in my hometown named Morgan...hmmm? Paige ended up following him to Denmark after he was called home to take his father's throne. They were engaged but then she decided that being a queen might not be for her, since she wanted to be doctor and not conform to the life of royalty. She went back to WI to graduate and is busily having her photos taken with her roommates and fellow graduates (say 'cheese curds!'), when she hears her former fiance quoting from Macbeth. He came to her graduation!!! He declared he would wait until she finished medical school and said together they can change the way the monarchy is treated and acts. Now, whether that happens or not, is left for a sequel, but I was just blown away by having the queen of Denmark (not the one in WI) come from my hometown. Something else to brag on in Manty!

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My thermostat in the hallway reports it is 81 in my house today and I am lovin' it! The doors are all open but there is little breeze right now. Somehow the boats are managing to catch the wind as the river is dotted both directions with lovely sails. There might just be a regatta going on today and it is a glorious one for it. Suzanne was in Fernandina yesterday setting up the booth for the TV station, getting ready for the Shrimp Festival. My family used to go there years ago and see the reenactment of the pirate battles, hear the cannons blasting, eat good food and enjoy the art fair, etc. It is a good weekend for such an event. Now there are about two dozen boats sailing passed my windows. Fantastic!

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I heard wedding music earlier and I knew there was going to be a 'big' wedding this weekend, as one of the Club owners was on the sundeck last night. We were all hoping the rain would come last night and spare the families of having to resort to Plan B----and it did! We had a nice thunderstorm, no hail or damage here but further west the counties were under tornado warnings or watches. It lost its steam by the time it got this far east, I guess. It made for good sleeping though, falling asleep to rain.

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I did have to rely on my phone alarm to wake me this a.m. and am thankful that I thought to set it last night. Otherwise I might have slept through my breakfast with Terri T.! Some mornings this past week I was up before 6:00 a.m. but today I felt like I wanted another hour or so. What is up with that??? Anyway, we met at Grumpy's at just after 8:00 and sat there, talking, 'til nearly 10:30! Nice long breakfast, we were almost hungry for lunch when we left. Thankfully I was full enough to not buy foolishly at Publix, my next stop before going home. The frivolous purchase was ice cream bars, but it was a planned purchase and not impulsive. The soda was on special today, buy two 12-packs and get the third one free so that is why the 2nd trip to the store this week. Also, I needed to get a few items to serve at the ladies' group Spring Fling on Sunday, where I will be modeling the outfits from Bealls. Must remember to take a pair of my new shoes along to pull the 'get-ups' together!

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My friend, Betty, and I were planning to have dinner together at Koko's but her grandkids decided to come over for a visit, so I yielded to them. No worries, I will not be hungry because last night I was lured to Papa Murphy's where I bought a Chicago-style pizza for me, and a gourmet garlic chicken pizza for Jessica. She never tried a Murphy's so this was a real treat for her, and for me. Last night was the final opportunity to get the sale price on the chicken pizza and she loved it. Whether Travis had any I do not know because she sent me a text message after 9:30 to say she loved it. Not sure if he was home yet at that hour or not. Mine is larger, being thicker so will take me days to eat it. I hope it reheats well and won't get too tough.

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Before we ate, a large group of our Owners came and went from the sundeck for several hours. Including the baby! Jessica was trying to keep Beckham awake and Maureen, the official grandma in the bunch, kept him occupied. At a certain point, Jessica took him inside to swaddle him which is really calming for him. It just blows people away, especially the mama's, to see a baby all wrapped up like that but, as I told the gang, it worked for baby Jesus!

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The night before, our newest Owners, one a re-owner, came to see my house. They live in an end unit on the south and have a different view than does mine. Bob and Rosemary immediately fell in love with the place, loved the decor and the scenery. Bob, who lived in this building before, was part of the reason I bought here in the first place, as I remembered his home years ago. Even though he lives here again, he was awed by the views, front and back, looking out over the pools. Last night his wife, Rosemarie, told me again how beautiful my home is and again I thanked her for her compliment. They said it was charming and homey--nice!

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While movie watching today, I also managed to prepare an Outreach mailing complete with hand-addressing, my personal touch. Yesterday I printed off several copies of the church newsletter because it seems having too many photos in this edition prevented it from going out (hotmail accounts mainly) or taking a long time to download. I will have to keep that in mind for next month! The church office photocopies the newsletter for those without Internet but black and white does the photos little justice. I will hand-deliver the color copies to a select few tomorrow morning, and for anyone else who wants one!

One more thing...

...I was thinking about Justin and something he told me in the parking lot at church Thursday, after Bible study. He was the one with the time crunch, since he had to go to work but still, "he had words left over". This was something he had told me when he was a little boy. I had gone into his room to tell him one more time to stop talking and go to sleep!!! "But, Mom, I have words left over...." Yes, when he was tested for admittance to St. Johns when he was 5, the assistant Headmaster called me to report that although Justin was polite, well-mannered, and all that, he DID have a problem---"Justin exhibits some verbal over-flow...." What?!? Have you ever heard of such a thing? What a way to phrase it! Go ahead and say it, Mr. Edwards....he is just like his mother!!! This verbal overflow made Justin a perfect candidate for the pre-k program ( and another year's worth of tuition!) where the teachers would work with him to dial it back some. Didn't work....

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Back to the the parking lot (I digressed (over-flowed)).....Justin was excitedly telling me about the comic books characters, picture my eyes glazing over, and still trying to absorb what he was telling me. Then he launched into why he was doodling something on the napkin during Bible study. I did see him write a few things but paid little attention to what it was, figuring it was stray thoughts. Well, he had come up with the idea, shared with me before, for designing a glow-in-the-dark paint for cars so that no matter what, they can be seen at night. A safety issue, not for the person driving the glowing car, but the other drivers being able to see them. He had asked his friend, the civil engineer, what the painters use on the roads to mark the lanes and arrows and found out it was plastic. This is his mind going......

*

Justin asked me, as one subject flowed into another, if I knew the expression 'aliens and robots'. I said I had heard it but he offered the explanation for me. He said, "Mom, you and I are aliens...." which I could have easily told him. But, wait, there's more. "Some people go through life looking either straight ahead, or side-to-side. Aliens look up and all around....." I was just given a great compliment, I think! He related a recent experience with his robot friends---this past weekend the three guys had gone to the fairgrounds downtown for a Wing Fest, where area restaurants and vendors gathered to sell their wings. It turned out to be too rich for their blood so they went to The Landing instead. They were heading for the American Cafe and got separated in the crowd gathered for a free concert. Justin positioned himself on the stairway leading to the restaurant where they were headed and could see his buddies, but they could not see him. He waved his arms and tried to call out over the band, but to no avail. They were looking straight ahead for him, or side-to-side, and not up. Huh....As Justin put it, "What was our goal? To get to American Cafe. That is where they should have looked, and not at people's shoulders and backs!" Robots vs. aliens. I just hope and pray I never get separated from Justin in a crowd and not be able to find him, and become less alien!

Justinisms

One of my more faithful readers commented (thanks, Darla!) about how she finds Justin and me amusing. Really, Darla, you would be amazed at just how funny this kid is, without even trying. Or so sweet. Make no mistake, he gave us wwaayy too much grief regarding doing homework and chores, oh my goodness, he was much/is less than inspired. We often wondered where he got this work ethic and attitude because his father and I were all about work and our business, but Justin was not. But he would use his being very bright to figure out ways and plans to avoid work, or to streamline it, anything he could do to get out of it!

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As far as coming out with funny things, my mom often recalls her favorite episode, one of his "Justinisms", as they came to be known. The three were of us were driving down one of our incredibly busy streets heading toward home one afternoon when Justin was about 4 or 5 years old, I think. At this time, the area of this road had few businesses or dining establishments on 'the way home'. Justin announced that he had to go potty, to which I said there was no place for me to stop right now, he would have to wait until we got home. I was not lying, there was nothing on the southbound side of Blanding, not even a gas station, for a long stretch. From the backseat he heaved a great sigh and said, "Okay, then. I'll just hold my knees together and pray....". After a beat, Mom and I just lost it, laughing, and I decided I had better find a place to turn around and go back the other way, crossing three lanes of traffic, to find him a bathroom!! We needed one now, too!!! Holding our knees together and praying, we went potty at the Hardee's.

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Mom sewed clothes for the kids in our family, and for Justin, camp shirt and short/slacks sets were wonderful. One day he opened a 'care package' that we had picked up at the post office, mailed by his grandma to him. She would draw pictures of "ephaloes" (elephants) for Justin, his favorite animal since he was little, and one of those was in the care package, too. He pulled out a couple new outfits, perhaps even a pair of pj's, and hugged them. I said, "The Lord has really blessed Grandma's hands so she could make these for you...." to which he agreed. We drove a bit down the road before he announced, "The Lord has blessed the hands of the banner makers, too...", referring to the cross-stitched banners hanging in our church. Yes, the Lord does bless the hands of Twila and also June, who used to help with the banners. It just blew me away that he would even think of that. Every now and again when I look at the banners which remain hanging in the church, I think of his remark, which I have shared more than once with Twila, whom he considers his 'other' Grandma!

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Justin used to tell us his dreams, just like I do! He would sit at the breakfast table and relate the entire dream, pausing as he tried to remember, or so we thought, the highlights of his dream. At one point I realized he was embellishing this particular dream, making a story out of it (likely not eating breakfast and time was of the essence, of course). I said, "Now I think you're making stuff up..." to which he replied, "I'm just adding details for interest...." Again, Mom and I were dissolved in laughter. "I'm just adding details for interest..." Love it! I wish we would have harnessed those dreams/stories back then!!!

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There were countless examples of Justinisms, but I think the one I remember now was not that long ago. It was spoken when our friends, the Prange's, were visiting us from Morton Grove. In fact, that visit was about 5 years ago next month, as today is my great-nephew, Manny's, birthday! We showed the Prange's photos taken at Manny's baptism and one of the pictures showed Gabe, who is only 16 months older than his new brother. Gabe was born with a moustache and sideburns, very attractive on an infant. Justin piped up, when showing the photos, "You'd think Gabe would shave for his brother's baptism!" Of course, we chuckled here at my house, and I was told by Pete that their entire visit in Florida, that line was the highpoint! He said they'd be driving down the road and one or the other would say, "You'd think he'd shave for his brother's baptism..." and just lose it. They probably had to hold their knees together and pray,too!

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Okay, family and friends, can you remember any other Justinisms from little boy on up? You would think his mom would never forget them, but somehow, I have. We should have written them down, right? Now is my chance if you can jog my memory....

Busy, busy, busy

There is a man on the radio right now, a guest on one of the programs, whom I would love to kiss 'n hug if I had a chance. What he has to say is so profound to me, talking about the Founders and so on, what some of the earlier mindsets were back in earlier days of our nation. The guest referenced a speaker from those days who preached about how folks were 'worshiping the golden calf', caring more about their stuff than they did about their religious roots, saying the people worshiped their prosperity rather than the Lord who provided it for them. Is that not the truth?!?

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Presently, besides my laptop playing the radio show for me (is it still radio if it is a podcast???), there is substantial hammering, pounding, and prying going on below me. It seems my neighbors might be replacing their ceiling or something. I saw planks lined up against the rail on the 2nd floor, dark stained strips which could become a ceiling...Won't I be surprised if if it is actually the floor being done? If so, then why did it sound like they were hitting the bottoms of my feet? Guess I could go down there and check it out, I suppose. On the first floor, one of the Owners is having a wood deck being built over his tiled patio, for some reason. It is possible the wood brings the height/level up to match the doorway to accommodate his motorized chair. Saws and hammering is taking place below my window and below my bed!

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Yesterday, Justin was here to clean and check items off the 'honey-do' list. Instead of coming on Thursday as originally planned, he came Wednesday since he could not do the job he had been assigned. His father is moving into the small home we own in Brookstone and work is going on to freshen the interior as it shows its age plus wear and tear from the various renters. Justin's job was to pressure wash but there was no water service as it was disconnected by the tenants and not restarted until today. His father is in the southernmost part of the state right now so Justin has to open the house and lock it back up at the end of the day. Including this a.m. before Bible study, which was highly inconvenient as Justin had to run way over there and back again before 10:00 a.m., something he was not prepared for until the phone call came to let people in!

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Justin is optimistic that the market is turning around, at least the one he is directly involved with, but after talking with Joanne this a.m. and hearing her stories, I have my doubts. The Realtors must work and work and work in order to put a deal together, having to negotiate with lenders on a property, sometimes more than one if the Seller has a second mortgage as well....yikes! It might take as long as 4 months before a package can be put together, since many of the sales are in foreclosure or being sold short. Miss Chardonnay has had a few recent contracts and for that we all rejoice, since some of them are nearby and affect the 'comps' on our properties. If any of us here decide to list our condo for sale, the Realtors will refer to the MLS to see what the sale price was for area properties, and determine the selling price for ours. At this point, it matters not what we actually paid for the property, it is about how much it will sell for now. If there were no sales around here, that is not a good thing! Poor Joanne, no wonder she is sick....Still on IV antibiotics which she can stop and start on her own since she was also a nurse. She was going to the doctor this a.m. and said it just wears her out to get up and dressed and out the door. Barely up and already planning her nap...I get that!

*

The river, and the skies above it, are busy with boats going up and down the river, many of them working vessels, with helicopters and planes in the air. Choppers are flying just above the surface, at least it appears that way from here, and moving along quickly. Between the motor boats and the saws and the pounding and dogs barking, it sounds really quite alive around here. I am sure Justin has plenty of noise too with his pressure washer going. He has called me a couple times since we parted company at Victory with various fun facts or something important to tell me. The last call he made was trying to get me to download some additional podcasts but I was unable to do so. He said he will come next week to set it up for me, speeches from the recent CPAC gatherings. I would LOVE to have them but could not get them to load.

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When he was here to clean yesterday, he kept venturing into my room to talk to me, which really tickles my funny bone. It is like he bubbles over with stuff. At one point he stood in the river room door way and just gazed at my book shelves, saying, "You have a lot of books..." as he reached for one of my favorites, "Eats Shoots and Leaves", which used to have a place of honor on my dresser. One day he had walked in, picked it up and after looking at it, said, "You are such an English person!" since this book is about punctuation and grammar. He pulled that one from the shelf yesterday and again told me how because of me, he had won a trivia contest in one of their hangouts. He knew what the subject matter was in that particular book, and no one else did! You're welcome, Justin!

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Even though I was listening to the radio on-line as he worked, he kept coming in to ask me to look up different songs on the computer, ones he had heard on American Idol (yes, he is a fan....) so I can listen to them. Or, he would relate an entire episode of a TV show to tell me the punch line. Again, I love it! We had a misunderstanding though, regarding an item on my list. I had twice now requested that he vacuum the face of my dresser and the bathroom vanity. When he left my room without doing that, packing up the vacuum cleaner and such, I reminded him about doing it. He claimed he had, even though I was right here and saw he did not. Upon further discussion, he did not know what the face of the dresser or vanity were----he was going around the base where they met the floor, thinking that was the face. Instead of vacuuming, then, he took the Pledge and physically dusted the dresser fronts and the bathroom vanity, a more thorough job than the dusting brush would have provided. In the building business, that would fall under 'scope of work', making sure the contractor knew what was expected of them! I was not angry and neither was he, just was sort of a learning thing for us both. Huh....

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He had to be my teacher, too, today, besides the failed download attempt. He was playing trivia at Applebee's last night and said he was the only one in his group who knew about the universes of the superheroes. Um, what? That was a 20 minute explanation in the church parking lot as he described which heroes were Marvel Comics while others were DC Comics, and they will never battle each other as they are in separate universes. Good for you, Justin, for knowing that trivia! But, he could not explain why Superman does not have a good sense of humor! (Seinfeld trivia, bring it on!!!!)

A couple observations...

Yesterday while waiting for my prescriptions, I sat on the bench near the pharmacy for a couple minutes as I had found the items I needed to buy and wanted not another thing. A mom came through with two young girls, perhaps 11 or 12, old enough to walk around without their mom. There was a Dr. Scholl's display near where I sat, with handrails on it. Apparently one stands on this thing and it determines something about your arches or feet, recommending a certain product Dr. Scholl's offers. The one little girl said to her mom, "I wanna stand on this thing..." to which the shopping mom said, "No, stay here with me" where upon the little girl slipped her shoes off and climbed onto the gizmo. Why did she even ask her mom if she was going to do it anyway? Why did the mom tell her no when she had no intent of stopping her or even a good reason she should not? Mom was standing right there searching the vitamin shelves so it was not that the child wandered away, but the mom had said, "No", and that should have been that. There was no follow through, and likely none expected since the girl had no hesitation at all about doing it anyway. Huh...

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Last night Martie and I met for drinks and dinner when she got done working. Usually we meet at the Mexican restaurant just up the road from where she works and have a margarita, and eat. She wanted something different so she suggested the Olive Garden. We found ourselves going in tandem to the restaurant, as she came around the corner off of Kingsley as I came from home. My drink of choice was the berry sangria and Martie had a standard margarita, not the Italian one. Martie had a late lunch so we shared a house salad, more than enough for two people, and I ordered the appetizer of flat bread with tomatoes and mozzarella. It was okay, but do not think I would order it again. Should have stuck with my usual of chicken scampi! My tummy was mad about the salad (thank you VERY much, Joanne!!!!) as it evidently did not sit well. I fell asleep early but soon woke up feeling awful, realizing the storm had ended and the moon was out in full force. That was quick!

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When at Wal*Mart yesterday I found a display with discounted picture frames. I needed a new frame for the bulletin insert from Timmy's funeral service and found a lovely one for $3.00. The existing one hung on the wall in the preschool and the hook let loose, causing the frame to break. It has taken me this long to remember to get a new frame! When I got home, I tried it on for size and found that the insert had faded substantially so I will replace it with a fresh one from one of the service folders. So, I have two things to get hung up in the classroom building one of these days. I remember taking my tack hammer and little cup of nails/hooks with me to the fellowship hall when I hung up a picture donated by Jean N. but could not locate the little shelf that went with it. I left the tools on the sink but now cannot recall the last time I saw them...Perhaps under the sink or in a cabinet or in the hall closet. If I cannot find the hammer, I will have to take a different one from home. Maybe Mike C. will help me hang the larger framed piece I picked up yesterday from Great Hang Ups.

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My boy has been somewhat a stranger, because I have not seen him since Thursday at Bible study. It seems he is done with his spring classes and has been keeping busy working and playing. He plays beach volleyball on Saturday mornings and am not sure what they do the rest of the day (his friends and he) and likely do not need to know. I sent him a wake-up text message on Sunday because the week before, when he was staying at his friend's house in Mandarin, he did not leave enough time for the travel to church so he missed it. He said they got busy downloading stuff on their phones or something and I did not want that to happen again. On this past Sunday, Justin told me he had just gotten out of the shower so was on track to make it to church on time. His friend's parents are in Hawaii celebrating their 25th anniversary so the two guys are staying at his house, watching the dog and the grandma. That is the sweet grandma who wrote me the lovely Thank You card after sharing our feast at Easter, etc. Justin sent me a long message yesterday reporting that he is busy at Ron's getting ready for his birthday party this weekend, a Redneck Party. Last week he told me they were trying to 'guilt' Ron's folks into coming back for their son's birthday. Wouldn't these kids be surprised to have the parents show up??? At least Grammy will be there!

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Justin said they bought clothesline to hang 'granny panties' and other wretched items from, and I told him that his auntie Lynn would be so proud of him! They also picked up two kiddie pools (a.k.a. above ground pools!) for keeping the beverages in, and other fun ideas. Unfortunately they could not find any discarded toilets to decorate the yard and Justin, in his typical fashion, even asked Ron if they did not need to replace a toilet in the house.......NO!!!!! They already have a trash barrel they are using for roasting hot dogs and such, since Jesse's sister operates a hot dog cart, has a great connection for jumbo dogs. I can taste them already...mmmmmmm! I do hope the kids clean everything up perfectly and don't kill the grass with the kiddie pools or the slip 'n slide they are fabricating out of sheets of plastic. I can already hear his moans and groans about hurting himself...

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Justin will be coming here on Thursday after Bible study to do the cleaning and whatever else I want him to help me with, giving me until 5:00 pm. I can pack all sorts of jobs into that time frame, believe me! This means I will have to get busy with the dusting again. It seems the worst of the pollen problem may be behind us with a couple rain showers and brisk winds perhaps moving it along. We had rain on Sunday, I think, and again last night, briefly but the breezes have been delightful, making the wind chimes sing in the river room. Another of the ice cycles from my glass sun catcher fell the other day, leaving only two or three hanging in there. I told Justin a new sun catcher would make a lovely Mother's Day present....like I am hard to buy for!

I am too tired to write tonight

It is thundering and lightning and raining, which makes me want to just go to sleep. Especially since I did not get a rest today with my busy afternoon. First to the doctor where I got to listen to the staff enjoying their lunch break in the front office when I was in the waiting area. They sounded like a fun bunch to me! I met my new doctor, named Betsy, who was more like a kid than a doctor. But, boy, she knew her stuff and checked me over from head to toe. Very thorough but also very fun. But what is in store for me down the road? Yes, Jill, I am following your good example (and Mom and Lynn's) of getting the *gulp* dreaded colonoscopy done. My Little Marine, Judy J., will be so proud of me and might even insist on taking me and picking me up again. Instead, though, I think I will ask Justin to be my caretaker for this, in case I need to lean on someone "durable".

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One of the fun things from the doctor visit was presenting my sheet of paper from Life Line Screening which detailed the results of all the tests they ran, which were highlighted colorfully on the page, in columns. Right down the line the readings indicated "normal, normal, normal,..." as Betsy followed them down. When she got to the one that read, "Desirable", I told her, "Yes, I tested positive for desirable..." and how the three of us laughed. Her MA was in the room, too, getting a kick out of us. I also told the doctor how I am the new "normal" and she got a kick out of that, too.

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She is all about skin health and breast health, too, and wants me to come back again so she can remove a mess of my skin tags and beauty marks. She also soon figured out that I spend time poolside as she could see the residual affects of my tan line. She asked me if I had anyone at home who could help apply sunscreen and I sadly told her I did not....She said I should ask my neighbors to do that for me. Okay, I have that handsome Navy pilot just down the corridor from me I could ask....or the baby doctor up on the 5th floor i could ask...I am so glad that she can do that in her office rather than have to go see another doctor for that. Too bad she cannot do the 'other' test in her office, too, but instead she is sending me to a female gastroenterologist just down the street from here.

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After I left the doctor's office with all my paperwork in my hand, I headed over to see the ladies at Great Hang Ups, after getting a soda and some yogurt parfait from McDonald's. My framed piece turned out wonderfully, as expected, and I will take it over to the classroom building tomorrow. I might not hang it up tomorrow but must get it out of my car before I wreck it. We got caught up on the past weekend's events which included two art shows, the Sunday one being the show I had to miss due to the fashion duties at Bealls. Rats! Mike was fortunate to have about one half of his inventory sell on Saturday at the Town Hall event. Julia and I compared notes about how filthy our feet were after being on those grounds. She fears her sneakers may be ruined but is going to try Oxyclean on them before giving up. Dee received a gift certificate to eat at Koko's which she intends to share with me, and Julia, of course!

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I went to Wal*Mart to get my scrips filled, wishing the doctor's office had called them in for me so I would not go shopping. I did well, though, because I did actually need a few items including a padded envelope for mailing a DVD called "Road to Emmaus" given to me for Linda J. by Bonnie at Victory. Also picked up a box of silver remover to fix the peeking through problem in my hair. I must say that the ladies that work in the pharmacy at Wal*Mart are so very nice, always recognize me even though I sometimes do not have to come in for several months. Somehow, though, they never remember my birthdate---they ask me every single time, starting when I drop off the prescription paperwork to when I pay for it later!

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Funny thing about this spell checker---it does not recognize 'colonoscopy'! It offers the word kaleidoscope as an alternative..........very interesting!!