Thinking about some things

Ugh, had a crazy dream again this early a.m. which involved someone taking shots at my upstairs neighbor, Travis. Strangely, it took place at my family homestead in Manty, where he has never been. I remember being upset about it because the person doing the pot shots was not located, and it concerned me that my mom was at home all day with her doors unlocked. I ran around the house, locking the doors, both the screen doors and wood ones, but someone would go behind me and leave them unlocked. Hmmmm.....what does THAT mean?

Another part of the dream, in the living room, my niece had set up the old stereo on a coffee table in the middle of the room, and was trying to figure out how it worked. I remember looking at my desk, in the former family home where I had no desk in real life, and realized the calendar was out of date. Instead of taking it down, I was looking for scissors to cut the bottom off of it....then I woke up. Unfinished project in my dream!

It is not sunshiny here yet but it is also not windy like it was yesterday. In fact, the fronds on the trees are scarcely moving. When I went to the kitchen for a soda, I spotted the delicious looking chocolate cupcake in the fridge, topped with whipped cream and a raspberry. Travis had brought it down to me after Beckham's birthday party yesterday. I saw the grand- and great-grandparents leaving when I got home from church, and the young folk must have stayed. They were making the scrapbook pages I mentioned last week and I am excited to see what they have so far. Jessica wants to do more cropping and I am right there to do it with her!

Judy C., Mike, and I went to Sam's St. Johns Seafood for lunch after church yesterday. Believe it or not, I really like their fried pollack. My portion was so large, I could not eat it all. Judy ordered the same thing, only hers was broiled, but the same number of fillets. My side dishes were green beans, of which I ate about half, plus the fries, which I barely touched. I was full until about 6:00 or so when I had some cottage cheese with pears. Just not hungry hungry these days.

We are having a Listening Sunday coming up soon and after church Jim B. and Mike K. were discussing it. I heard my name mentioned, and said, "Oh, oh...." I can't help it---I listen every Sunday!! Later Mike came and asked me about the attendance sheets that I use each week I am there, wondering how he could get a copy of the one from yesterday. The leaders want to mail the notice about the Listening Sunday to those members not there Sunday to get the official hand-out about the upcoming event. I made a copy of the attendance sheets for Mike but he left before I got back up front with it. Instead, I took the copies home and scanned them for e-mailing. He got the sheets, almost instantly. E-mail is faster than me walking from the church office to the parking lot!

One of the things I have been thinking about lately is how important it is to know with whom you are standing on an issue. The mess overseas, the local and national upsets, how does one sort it all out? Many years ago, when my sister-in-law and I were both taking classes at the technical college, I was able to help her with her English composition class. She, being more capable, was able to help me with my bookkeeping class. Somehow, that did not work out! Helping cannot make me learn it, you know?? Whether my helping Marian taught her English comp. or not, I cannot say either. Anyway, she had to write paper on a certain topic, and she chose smoking. At this time, she yet smoked, as she did not have her first heart attack until years later. I asked her what exactly she was going to say in her paper. She told me it would be a pro-smoking piece, and when I was surprised, she said, "Well, I have to! I smoke!"

So, there you go! Because she was directly involved in the action of smoking, she had to defend it, in order to justify her behavior. Like the way I defend my lifestyle, because I like it so well. Of course, I could still enjoy the social aspect of dining out and simply order differently.....Or I could acquire a 'taste' for my own cooking, learn to tolerate standing at the stove and making myself food to eat. If I made enough portion-wise, it can feed me for several days! Perhaps gruel!

Another remembrance I have came to mind in looking through Timmy's scrapbook a week or so ago with Betty and Robin. There is a photo of him attempting to open the pantry door, which he dearly loved to get into and ransack. The lever-style handles allowed him ready access. When he figured out how to climb up the shelves like a ladder and pull stuff down, something had to be done. He was invited to help with a project. His father took him along upstairs to find a door with a locking door handle, using the electric drill to remove the hardware. Timmy was right there, enjoying being a helper.

Then they came downstairs and repeated the process on the pantry door, taking off the handle and replacing it with the locking one. This duo put the pantry handle on the door upstairs, working side by side, on this project. Oh, Timmy was so happy to be helping his daddy with the project. That is, until, he tried to open the pantry door which now had the locking handle on it! The project he helped with turned out to be his undoing! He didn't foresee the ramifications of his 'work', until later when the dust had settled. Sadly, sometimes we don't see the ramifications if we are too close to it, or are even participating in it. Sometimes there are none.....

My kind of day!

It appears I have used this title before, because as I began to type it, the computer automatically filled in the blanks for me. It still works though!

If I don't type, I know for sure I will simply gouge the skin from my legs, the normal result of having shaved them. I know, TMI, right? In fact, I even scraped enough skin off the other night when shaving that it drew blood. Wisely, I took out a fresh razor when I had already used the dull one. All these years, it seems that I cannot quite get the hang of this. On the bright side, Lisa W. told me the skin on my legs is nice and smooth, after I told her about hacking away at my tender flesh in preparation for my pedicure. It will soon be summer so I need to be in the habit of carefully grooming my legs for swimsuit weather! Lisa remarked that she has seemingly less hair on her legs than she used to and I assured her it will pop out elsewhere---like on her chin. She was horrified, of course, as a yet young woman, and then confessed to having a chin whisker now and again. I knew she was just too perfect!

My grandfather clock is messed up on the chiming, and I wonder if I need to call the repairman back again. Justin thinks I should just wait, let it run down, and then rewind next weekend with the time change. That might be good advice, let it rest for a bit and then try again. It was not terribly long ago that the clock was repaired so it might be under warranty, actual or implied. There can be nothing worse than a clock that cannot tell time...

Last night I had a wonderful, early dinner with Joanne at Carrabba's. I had not seen her much since New Year, it is quite different than sharing a house with her, you know?? She used to be part of a networking group from where she would procure greeting cards. I hoped she had some extras that she could spare. She did, so brought me a small bag of cards when we met at the restaurant. Joanne had floor duty at the office until 5:00 pm so we figured at 5:30, we'd be able to just walk in and get a table immediately. Not so much! The restaurant was already full when I got there at 5:15 and was assigned a pager thing. Can you believe it? 'Round these parts we do not normally eat dinner this early but I might be mistaken about that. Many of the groups did have kids which might explain it, but I had to laugh that we were leaving the restaurant when the sun had not yet fully set, done with dinner before I normally begin dinner!

Before Joanne got there, Judy J. called me from Detroit, where she is visiting her brother, who is near death. She has been there a week already and I am glad she is getting time with him before he goes home. The reason for her call was to get some funeral hymns from me. Oh, do I love that! She asked me about the hymn we sang once, and when we were done, she turned to me and said, "I want that sung at my funeral!" I knew it was "In Christ Alone" and promised her I would scan it from the Supplement and e-mail it to her at her niece's house. Also sent along "Jerusalem, the Golden", my top two hymns for my funeral, which will be followed closely by "Be Still, My Soul". Her brother is suffering so, and death will be welcome. Eternal glory, 'bliss beyond compare...' soon to be his.

Sadly, when it came time to eat, I was not terribly hungry, as I was still sort of full from my lunch (I should have eaten that earlier, as well!) but I do have some wonderful leftovers to enjoy another time. It was great for Joanne and me to catch up on all our news, her big story being recently completing her certification for dealing with international transactions. She told me I would be surprised at the number of buyers from other countries in our area. Richard, her spouse, is working nearly full-time right now doing security work at local venues. Finally, a niche perfect for him.

The other night I watched The Bucket List on TV, and yesterday afternoon, Linda J. watched it on DVD at her house. This was after we did a little Facebook chatting, then switched over to the phone for over an hour. "We had words leftover"---a Justinism. Her leg is giving her a fit, nursing a terribly sore heal with doing physical therapy for her knee rehab...She is having trouble sleeping in bed so tries to get a night's sleep in her recliner chair, which, as she said, is not really good sleeping. I hope she did get a good night's rest last night.

After we hung up, I watched a movie I had borrowed from my upstairs neighbor a couple weeks ago, figuring I should get them back to her. The name was "A Walk In The Clouds" and turned out to be a very nice movie. The first of the movies Michelle loaned me was not that great, in fact, I did not watch the entire thing. Instead, I popped in an oldie but a goodie, "The Way We Were". Before "Bucket..." came out, this movie and "The Phantom of the Opera" were the two most watched videos in my house hold! Today I watched the "Making of....TWWW" where the directors, writers, composers, and yes, Barbra Streisand, told about the deleted scenes, and so on. Very interesting, still is after all these years. It came out in 1973 and I loved it. Still do, even though I have no use, absolutely no use for 'her' politics!!!

Today, I dragged myself to church, reluctantly because of the crazy winds and gloomy skies. I was thinking about the campers at Hannah Park, a group from Victory, wondering if they endured the storm, or the sense of a storm. It seems it did not really rain, only felt like it. Man, that crazy wind again, though. It kept Gretchen from Bible study but did ease enough for her to venture across the Buckman for church. We had a few more folks in church today, including about nine visitors/guests. I hope we have a good turn-out for Ash Wednesday.

We have a busy couple weeks coming up including the Branches Band coming to play a week from Monday night. We are having a soup and salad supper beforehand. Tomorrow night is Ladies' Group with our fearless leader in the hospital awaiting her heart surgery. She is now scheduled for Thursday but was not allowed to leave the hospital. Not too urgent to operate now but too precarious to go home. We had the distinct pleasure of Mark coming to church today, being dropped off by his friend from St. Johns. It had been over a year since he was there and I was just delighted to see him again. This business with Twila, his grandma, must have scared him a bit. Ash Wednesday and Lenten services, followed by choir rehearsals midweek, plus other church meetings and Bible study. The days or evenings being just full enough!

A convention of sorts

Click on the photo to enlarge, if you wish!There seemed to be an ibis convention going on outside my windows. This shot shows more than a dozen birds but more were in the vicinity. The eating must have been good because they hung around a quite length of time before heading off for the next seminar site!

A good Bucket List night

Edward Cole: "The simplest thing is... I loved him. And I miss him. Carter and I saw the world together. Which is amazing... When you think that only three months ago, we were complete strangers!"

"I hope that it doesn't sound selfish of me but... the last months of his life were the best months of mine. He saved my life... And he knew it before I did." (One of the top items on the Bucket List was "help a perfect stranger for the good"....)

Man, I like that movie so much! I wonder sometimes how much my memory of the first viewing affects my continued appreciation for this movie. It was through the liking of The Bucket List that I connected with my blogging friend, Jami, in Amarillo, who has brought so much to my life through the written word. No matter where you go since the movie came out, folks are talking about their personal bucket lists, things to do or experience before they 'kick the bucket'.

Just last week when my neighbor's adult son and his friend were here from Chicago, they reported wanting to see the shuttle launch so badly. It was on their bucket list to witness up close and personal, and time is running short. Not only for the space shuttle program but also possibly for Denny, who has multiple health problems. As the gang sat on the sundeck that evening, my neighbor, Rose, mentioned something from her list. She is about 10 years my senior, a recent newlywed (around two years), and does lots of traveling and such since then. She asked me about my bucket list and I told her I really didn't have one, which surprised her. I have had, and continue to have, the time of my life, richly blessed, and cannot think of another thing I absolutely must do before I ‘kick the bucket’.

If anything at all, it does not require travel or jumping out of a plane or marking up my body. It would require me to sit at my computer with a big box of nose napkins as I would finish the book I have begun about Timmy. If 'we' learn anything at all from the movie it is that life is more than 'stuff' and 'adventures', it is about faith in the Lord, and it is about the people in our lives. "Edward, find the joy in your life. Close your eyes, and let the waters take you home..." quote from a deathbed letter written by Carter to Edward.

I am always like this after I see the movie...it feels good to me!

I really like this time of year....

...for a number of reasons, not the least of which is hot cross buns being available at Publix! And in my kitchen at this moment. Another wonderful thing found in the drug stores are the Russell Stover dark chocolate coconut eggs...oh, yeah....

As I write, I am watching "The Bucket List" on TV. I thought to myself, I should write the script before they say the words, and see how close I get to being right. Originally I had planned to have some friends over for Dinner and a Movie but Justin said he was coming after work to vacuum, so I made no such arrangements. And Justin 'forgot' to come. Even though we had talked on the phone only an hour or so before his scheduled quit time. As I said to him, "Hmmmm......" Perhaps I will see him tomorrow.

Earlier today I was so darn cold, my hands were like icicles even though I was sporting my fuzzy slippers, covered with the Snuggie Lisa gave me for Christmas, and the heat pad behind me. Now that I have taken a hot shower and am under the covers, I am warmer. It might have been the wicked wind blowing out there that made is seem colder, when the temperature was 68 above zero.

My dear friend, Twila, is in the hospital at this writing, waiting to hear when her bypass surgery will be performed. She went in on Thursday for a cardiac cath and the doctor found more wrong than he expected, planning to do the bypass. At first it was to be the next day (Friday) but then decided to run more tests before the operation. She might be able to go home over the weekend and then go back, they are waiting for final word on that. Twila called me this afternoon, "to check in", telling me she was bored, staring at the ceiling. Poor thing! There is nothing sick about her, this all started because she flunked her stress test!

Well, I had some excitement here again yesterday morning...after I woke from my crazy dream. Thinking back, it's interesting that Twila and her son, Kenneth, were in the dream, too. But, anyway, as I was lying here watching the news, I heard something strange. Leaping to my feet, I went toward the hallway and sure enough, there was water dripping through the ceiling vent in the half bath! AGAIN!!!! Quickly, I grabbed my phone and located Jessica's phone number as I also went to the laundry room for a pail to catch the water. Also got beach towels to throw down on the floor, while telling Jessica, "I got water coming through the ceiling again!!!!" I am getting wwaayy too good at this!! I told her the shut off valves are under the bathroom sinks...and hung up. I called Jeff, my downstairs neighbor who is Maintenance Supervisor but he was at the airport, waiting to fly for work. I next called Connie to let her know what was going on and she said she would check it all out when she got to work. Jessica had found the valve behind her toilet, shut it off and the water stopped. Meanwhile, I discovered the water was also dripping into the kitchen, like the last time so I got a hand towel to sop that up as it continued to drip after the faucet was shut off.

Connie came in to check out the situation. She offered to repaint my ceiling with Kilz if I wanted her to, but we shall see about that. It's hard to see the discoloration from the previous leak but it is definitely there. Owen H. suggested lightly spraying the edges with bleach, so no painting would be required, and I am willing to have Justin try that some day. Owen is the one who came to the rescue the last time we had a leak from above us. I told him about it today when we met for lunch. His response, "Again?!"

Today I went to Middleburg to get my toes done at Lisa W.'s new salon. Very nice digs! She is alone in the space, not sharing with the beauty shop like she did in the other building. I really liked it, and got my royal treatment of having my feet pampered. It is so good to have my nails trimmed (she complimented me on their condition!) especially since the last pedi. I had was with Linda in Manitowoc. No rough edges remain on my heels or anywhere...just plain nice, and pretty! From her shop I drove up to Bee's Restaurant to meet my friends, the Hilchey's, for lunch. Olivia is home on spring break so we took advantage, as long as I was already out in the 'burg!

A disturbing yet important dream

I have to write it down before I forget it---yes, another dream! My hands were both asleep when I woke up, which is odd...

In the dream, my family was yet intact, with Timmy sort of coming and going. We were living in a building, like my condo or it could have been a hotel. Outside we were watching lots of aircraft as they came and went, when all of a sudden, a weird looking plane sort of swooped low, and dropped something which turned out to be a timed-bombed, which sunk into the ground. Everyone started moving away, and my family, including Mom, found our way down a hill which turned out to be toward the little creek which was across from our house when I was growing up. Cool!

The explosion did not occur immediately. As we made our way toward the creek, Mom, Justin, and I were telling people about Jesus. I met people that I knew for years, stopped them to ask if they knew Jesus was their Savior, made them look into my face. (Right now my tears are flowing here.) On the bright side, all that we talked to said they did know their Savior.

Only a little bit prior to this chapter in the dream, I was choosing from vinyl samples for my new kitchen floor, and said I wanted wood instead! That seemed, in the dream, to be a radical choice...There was construction going on in my home, and I was careful where I put stuff down in the house, as though that mushroom cloud coming would not make a huge mess, or that I could return to this home! Funny, even in the urgency, I was concerned with leaving things somewhat tidy.

We decided to make a run for it, before the mushroom cloud developed. Somehow we were able to pack up our luggage, or was it already packed?, and as I left the house, rode alone in a small elevator to the ground floor. I noticed tons of ants and some other bugs on the walls in the elevator car, and thought momentarily that they could be food in case I was stuck in there. I got downstairs to load my stuff in the car, and it seems to me that there were people in the third row of seating, perhaps Twila and her son, Kenneth. Mom and Justin were in the middle row, and my former spouse and me up front. We had to find room to put in Timmy's portrait in the back of the car, (silly me for thinking I would ever have a place to hang it again!), and the boys' scrapbooks, which would tell me now that Timmy must have already died. I also remember my then-spouse muttering about the insurance on the rental car, saying that by the time we finally left, the insurance would be expired. Really?

As we drove away, we were praying, trying to make our way out between the buildings, as we seemed to be in the loading zone for this structure. When I woke up this a.m., my hands were clenched together in prayer, under my pillows, and fast asleep!

Nothing like a good night’s sleep!

Man, I feel so much better today after sleeping with few interruptions until 7:30 a.m. today. Waking to the sun across the bed is wonderful and thankfully the winds are quieter today. Still moving the palm trees around a bit but not wild like yesterday. In fact, my sliding glass doors and kitchen door are open to allow the air to move through. Nice! The washer and dryer are busy taking care of my bed clothes and even my fuzzy slippers are being freshened up. For some reason, they get funky smelling, and I was blaming it on my wastebasket!

I am not sure what I am so happy about this morning, being that I have to write a sizable check to the Tax Collector’s office for my real estate taxes. Ugh! Yes, I should have paid them before the end of the year in order to get them deducted from the income taxes for 2010 but somehow, being sick much of December and then traveling, I simply put them on the back burner, and might have to pay the price this year. If I pay the taxes for this year before the year is out, I will get twice the deduction on 2011’s taxes. Is that prudent? Probably not but that is the way it is, for now.

At Monday night’s meeting, we voted to begin a Reserve fund for capital improvements. Over the years, it might accumulate enough that we will not be assessed so much every time we have a major project around here. Next up is likely the repairs to the sundeck, which leaks when wet, and drips a white solution (concrete and grout?)onto the cars parked below it. Some of the Owners who park under roof use car covers to protect their vehicles, or park outside when rain is predicted. Those with less ‘valuable’ cars will trade spaces with those who do have quality or newer cars, etc., to protect them. We have put it off for years, this is an on-going problem but the other projects took precedence.

We are also facing paving and repairs of the road down to the condos from the street, a cost to be shared with The Club and the other condo buildings on that end of the property. To start this Reserve, however, it needs to be fed, so therefore, besides the increase as of January for our monthly fees, we will now have an additional monthly sum charged to us based upon our square footage. Having the Reserves in place will help folks who are trying to sell their units because if the Buyer is getting a mortgage, the finance people like to have a Reserve in place before making the loan. Our last three sales in the building were cash buyers so the mortgage companies did not have to be involved, but now with tightened lending, more criteria have to be met. Hopefully this will help us all, hurting up front, help us later.

Friday my mailman brought me the recent book purchases, one which I have already cracked open, reading here and there. One of the titles is: “Generation Me: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled---and More Miserable Than Ever Before”. Whew, a long title there! Let’s leave it at “Generation Me”. Another one is titled “The Entitlement Free Child” about raising today’s kids in the “Me, Mine, Now Culture”, and the last one is “The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupifies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future”. Further down the cover of this last book is a stamp that states: “Don’t trust anyone under the age of 30.” This is in contrast to the 60’s rant of not trusting anyone OVER the age of 30. Should be some interesting reading, not sure the “Me, Mine,Now” book though since I do not have little ones anymore. Might donate to the library or see if one of my friends with kids would like it. Hate to offer it to anyone, in case they would take it the wrong way.

Yesterday I had a lovely exchange with Robbie (a.k.a. The Maestro) who sent me the link to a biography of Paul Gerhardt, the German hymn writer. I love it that he thinks and knows I would like to watch/listen to this. He was telling me about the research he is doing of the lectionaries, trying to coordinate with Pastor regarding which source is being used for our services so that Robbie can more easily select pre- & post-service music as well as anthems for the choir to sing. We learned about this at the SoWE event last fall, some pastors planning up to 6 months or better ahead for this very purpose. Robbie was talking about his love for the hymns and ancient liturgies, doing the research. I am so excited for him!

Well, my sheets are dry and smell just like they were on the drying strings, as Justin would say. The soap I use is the Publix brand called Spring Fresh and I just love it. Even the dryer sheets are scented the same way. I will make my bed, nice and slow and easy plus perhaps fold some of the towels from the overflowing basket. That is all I fold, the rest is either bundled into the drawers or hung on a hanger. After I have died and folks have to come and sort through my belongings, they will be simply horrified at the condition of my drawers---in more ways than one!