Some good stuff, some less than good

It was one year ago today, September 23, that the Great Flood took place. I am still a nervous wreck when I hear some sound I cannot identify but I do have clean and organized rooms to accompany my frayed nerves!

In reading the news on-line this a.m., it was reported that indeed someone had been killed in that wreck yesterday on the freeway. From the article, it seems a small pick-up truck was cut off in traffic by another car, swerved to get out of the way, entered the median and then came back on the road, wildly out of control. A sedan then swerved to avoid the truck and hit the light post, killing the passenger and seriously injuring the driver. The article does not say what happened to the truck, if they collided or not, or if other injuries were sustained, but did say the police are in search of the first vehicle that caused the upset in the first place. When Justin was learning to drive, more or less against his wishes, I would remind him that people tend to think they are the most important ones on the road, and to keep that in mind when driving. Their protective shield of steel and plastic tends to make people feel invincible or powerful, and greatly self-important, and sometimes, that ends badly. As it did yesterday.

On another note, the manatees are out in the river, enjoying the last of the warm days this season. It surprised me to spot them, frolicking and splashing outside the basin area, rather than where they normally carry on. Actually they are eating the grasses along the perimeter but they make it appear like so much fun.

The other morning I got a message from my neighbor, wondering why I was not posting the Bible passages on Facebook any longer. That was odd, because I never stopped doing it. Hmmm….Later, another friend from WI contacted me via Facebook wondering if I was having so much fun that I didn’t have to mess with Facebook…okay, what? It seems my privacy settings were strangely set in such a way that nothing I posted on the Wall was showing up, but folks could see my replies to other people’s postings. More than one person wrote later to express their relief that I was back, telling me they missed my morning postings from the Scriptures. Take THAT, you Facebook shunners!

Last week, I received a very nice letter from one of my high school teachers, in response to a note I sent him earlier in the year. He apologized for typing his letter but said it was easier to type than to write these days, due to arthritis in the hands and fingers. Howard mentioned that getting a ‘thank you’ at this juncture in his life makes up for the heart-ache and struggles of those days (not because of me, of course!!!), which is the icing on the cake. My friend, Judy J., lost her brother this late winter and she remarked at how many of her brother’s former students and kids he coached had come to the hospital to express their thanks for his guiding hand and continued influence in their lives. After she told me this, I decided to write to my teachers whom I thought were especially influential to me and let them know how they helped me, or blessed me, as the case might be. Howard is the only one who replied, although I did not expect to be acknowledged. Every time my fingers hit the keyboard, I am thankful to Miss Liese for teaching me how to touch-type!

Yesterday I bought a small cylinder of candy-coated cashews from a vendor at the Quilt Show. Some I ate in the car on the way home from Rita’s, waiting to open them when her son was not with us, as he has a peanut allergy and I didn’t want to cause a problem. The rest I ate here at my desk for lunch today, and now have quite sticky fingers and keys! Must get the alcohol to clean the keys and the pressurized air to remove the nasty crumbs. Oh, they were tasty!

I am hearing the faint roll of thunder in the distance, which my niece an hour south of me reported was tormenting them right now. In regard to funeral/memorial service for Marian, her mom, who passed away on Sunday---it seems there will be such next weekend as the family is coming from WI for a wedding taking place. It makes good sense to have both events when the brothers and sisters are in town, though I might have to sit this one out, unless my niece or Justin really wants me to come. Sure don’t want to cause any trouble or make anyone uncomfortable with my showing up---you know?

Monday I have set an appointment to meet with lady friend, Diane, who also invests money for me so we can discuss what in the world is going on with these markets. She has some suggestions for shuffling things around for added protections and I would prefer to meet in person instead of over the phone for stuff like this. Either way, I often have no clue even if she looks me straight in the face. But I like spending time with her, so no matter what, it’s a win!

Martie might be coming for dinner tonight, but had to see how her sister came out of surgery. June is having a cardiac catheterization done today and Martie wanted to hear what was going to happen in case she had to rush to June’s side. June has, it seems, some congestive problems which I was not aware of, and perhaps this procedure today will relieve some of her congestion. A few days ago Martie said the doctors thought she had pneumonia but it must have been disguising the real problem. Either way, I decided to make some dinner for myself and enjoy an evening at home.

For Bible study on Thursday, I picked up a dozen doughnuts to share with the group, bringing home more than half of that number. It ended up being two boxes shared since Harold and Lucy brought some, too. It didn’t matter to me---I brought the rest home to enjoy another time. When I went to get one for my breakfast this a.m., I had to fight the ants for it!!! Yikes!!! Immediately I got a trash bag, dumped the box in, and put it outside the door for later. Connie was on the 4^th floor and heard me come out, so she offered to take it down for me. I explained I would take it later but wanted to get the ants out of the house. She reminded me that the pest people come next week and I am so ready for their visit!

It was late when I went to sleep as I watched the debate and the programs following it last night. I slept until nearly 8:00 a.m. today, waking only once in the wee hours. My morning dream involved my moving in some place, and then having to be away. When I came home, I was greeted by several friends and discovered all my decorating had been done, with Dee and Julia doing a ‘hanging’ in my absence! One wall had pictures of my sisters displayed, and other areas had decorator items placed about, making for a homey appearance. I also remember looking in my pantry or a closet and noticing how neatly I had placed all my stuff, whereas my neighbors in similar quarters had a big mess. It’s funny because I don’t even have pictures of my sisters to hang on a wall. How does Dee do it????

What a wonderful day!

Even though it was the one year anniversary (it was a Thursday) of The Great Flood, it was a good day.

As I write this posting, I am listening to the debate and have to laugh at myself because the little tone sounded when the speakers are to be done is the same sound as when I get a Google message. I keep thinking someone is instant messaging me (now a verb!) even though I know it’s on the debate. This week’s event is sponsored in part by Google, hence the tone.

This a.m. was Bible study, our topic today being one of my favorites, “….He shall wipe away all our tears…” We read several passages from the Old Testament, many from Isaiah, which talks about the end of our tears and sorrow once we are with the Lord. Pastor Hoyer gave me the assignment to research the painting which goes with today’s lesson, The Last Judgement, to see if we can find out who is pictured in the fresco, which is located on the church walls in Munich, Germany. I told him I would do it, and then he made the remark that we sure miss having Justin in the class to speak to the art questions and such. Plus, he was quick with the iPad for looking things up for us. He will be so delighted to know he is missed!

After class, Rita and I went back to her house where I parked my car and got into hers. Together we went to have lunch and then head downtown for the quilt show. Our lunch was at the newly opened Bubba Burger on Baymeadows Road, owned by the people who are renting on the 5^th floor here. It was good, the fries extraordinary! Next time, I will order the smaller burger as the regular one was too large to finish. At the quilt show, we found several quilts made and entered by our fellow Bible study friend, Dawn, including the one commemorating the Islamic terrorist attacks which won her a first prize. She has offered it to Pastor Hoyer when the show is over, and I know he will be honored to have it. Absolutely gorgeous work at the quilt show, and it reminded me of the scrapbooking conventions that I used to visit!

When we were done at the show, we drove to Rita’s sons’ school to pick him up from chess club. We encountered a detour on San Marco Blvd. and Rita felt a bit lost but by following the signs, we got there! He attends a magnet school quite a distance from his home but he is flourishing there as a ‘gifted’ student who started his education while living in China. There he attended a British-run school whose curriculum did not match up with the grades here. Jon is doing great and is absolutely loving middle school. Rita told me how excited he is at the end of the day, and today, without prompting, he expressed how much he loved school, and in particular, one math teacher. Who loves a math teacher? A gifted young man, that’s who!

One the way home from Rita’s house, I had to stop for gas, just as it began to thunder and lightning. In getting on the freeway, the radio reported a 30 to 45 minute traffic delay on I-295 due to a number of accidents which have occurred. That made my stomach come into my throat, as I recall the horrible wreck we saw when Linda and Lynn were here. The first one I came upon was a motorcyclist, fortunately standing, being strapped to the backboard. It seems he would carried or lifted over the guard rails as the rescue squad and fire truck were on the northbound side of the road. That one wasn’t too bad….for me, anyway. The next one, the radio described as ‘serious’ was just that, as the car was being loaded onto the wrecker. It was a sedan that looked like a convertible, but did not start out that way. I pray no one lost their life in that accident or suffered terrible injury. The other two accidents were fender-benders by compare, and did not hold up traffic. In fact, I was hardly delayed at all, and certainly not by a half hour. Sure glad the accidents slowed the traffic down though, as rain makes people nuts!

Water aerobics wrap up

Caught Mary with her mouth open during the strenuous portion of the work out, with Sistie coming up behind her

Marlena had the group form a circle for their "Rockette" routine, using the noodles

Another Rockette routine, this time in a row. Far left is Maggie O., then , Marlena, Mary Lew, Randy, Mary, Olivann, Sloane, Ina, and Sistie

Off to the races! Mary won, and Marlena took 2nd place. Maggie O. and Marlena sat it out, and Olivann goes crossways in the pool during the races.

Marlena's mom, left, named Marjorie and our neighbor, Jo, came out to watch the big show for wrapping up water aerobics officially for the season. Later, we all went into the cabana to eat our lunch, which came from The Club, since it began to rain right after we ordered our meals!

We stink on ice!

Well, not entirely the whole game of Trivia tonight but at least the 2^nd half. We lost our footing on a couple answers. Since we had so many players tonight, we divided into two teams and were nearly tied for last place when the final question came up, with our ‘former’ team. Our usual team, "Nothing Tips Like a Cow" was dead last and our smaller team, a spin-off, "In One Ear and Out the Other", was second last. Rats!

Justin’s two friends, Sarah and Megan, who are roommates, joined us for Trivia, which made our numbers swell. You would think having these two future medical folks on our team would help us win but that didn’t work out. I blew on answer, the actor who did the one-armed push-up at the Academy Awards---I just could not come up with the name. It was Jack Palance, in case you were scratching your head, and he was 73 when he did that. And usually my food is quite delicious but I didn’t care at all for the mashed potatoes this evening. Oh well, the ice cream was good and the game fun!

Once again, I had water dripping into my house at the window in the river room. This time I called the condo president who said he’d come up to see the leak. In the meanwhile, Justin came and he helped me take the picture down that covers the top part of the window so we could determine the source of the leak. Tommy’s suggestion was to have someone rather dangle out the window and try to caulk it from outside. Well………

When he left, I told Justin that this was not the answer but at least someone on the Board knew of my problem. I called Jessica, my neighbor directly above me, and instead of saying ‘hello’ she immediately announced, “Yes, I have water pouring in my porch and it’s coming from above me!” That means the empty unit on 5 has a leak somehow or another causing the problem. I KNEW Tommy’s answer was not the right one! I called him back to tell him that Jessica had a leak, but got his voice mail. Also, I called Pat who is a Realtor and on the Board to let her know there was a problem upstairs. Hopefully someone has a key and can go in to check that unit for trouble. At least this is not a plumbing problem but just from the rain.Yikes!

It is nearly a year since The Great Flood, this week being the one when Lynn and Linda were here. Despite the horror of the event, it is good having the boxes dealt with and reduced greatly in number. My spare rooms are far more orderly and so far I don’t miss the items we donated to the yard sale at Christ, Keystone Heights, or to Quigley House, or simply trashed. I refer to that as clearing out at gun point! Decisions made willy-nilly but yet, decisions made!

This morning was a lengthy but extremely beneficial meeting with Pastor and Judy C. We met at Panera Bread where I enjoyed a pumpkin shaped frosted cookie and my Diet Coke. We went over the Worship Conference notes at some length, even though I managed to get the actual ‘notes’ down to two sides of a page---whew! The spoken word goes a long way, too, as we discussed what we saw and heard. He was most grateful for our efforts and we discussed other matters rather pressing, not totally unrelated to worship. Time sure flies when you’re having fun! And it was rewarding to complete, submit, and discuss, and hopefully, it will be taken to heart!

Today, after I got home, my door bell was ringing madly, which usually means it’s Connie. Sure enough, there she was with a package in her hand. When I opened the door, she said, “You sure have that mail man freaked out. He wanted me to make sure you got this…” It was the 2^nd order of books from Amazon, and the first order remains a mystery. As I exclaimed to her, I was not hard on the mailman at all, and she agreed, but he was still apprehensive about my getting the delivery this time. Connie said she is asking our Board to add a light over the mailboxes so the mailman can see better what he’s doing. Not sure if that is the problem or not but I rejoice for getting my books at last. And now, to read them!

I am stuck in reverse!

Over and over again this late afternoon I have had to reverse my podcast because for some reason or another I would lose my place or be distracted by something on the TV (muted) and not listen with even half an ear. During the first hour, I fell asleep so had to replay that portion again later. Sometimes I can hear better in my sleep than I can awake!

I heard some sad news yesterday morning in regard to the extended family. My niece in Palm Coast called me after 7:00 am to report that her mother had finally succumbed to her illnesses and died that morning. The staff at the nursing home tried to help Marian, and then the EMTs worked to get her heart started again, but to no avail. When she opened her eyes, she saw Jesus’ face. I wonder if she has seen Timmy yet….

Marian’s first heart attack and bypass surgery was when she was 44 years old, in 1992, right around the time that Hurricane Andrew tore through south Florida, as I remember we took a ride south of Ft. Lauderdale to survey the damage. Never really bouncing back from that problem, she struggled with her diabetes and ailments related to that, had knee replacement and over a year’s worth of bed sores from that, strokes resulting from the multiple heart ‘episodes’ that she’s had over the years, and so on.

I asked Tina if there was something I could do to help her and she asked me to call the Manitowoc family, so I did that. I also let my mom and Lynn know this news, plus Marian’s good friend, Marcia. Lynn is the same age within a month of Marian, and had been her classmate at MLHS for four years. All these years of expecting this phone call, and then when it comes, it is yet a shock…The good news is that the pastor serving in Palm Coast had been to see her within the last month and only this past Thursday or Friday, the vicar had been there and given Marian the Lord's Supper. I am so glad to know that!

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Lately my dreams have been the vivid type which leave me on edge after I wake up, often involving Timmy and my misplacing him. One time I was checking a jobsite and had ‘forgotten’ he was along with me. To my relief, he was in the car in this fancy seat belt/car seat rigging (I should market that!). But the franticness of wondering where he is, what did I do with my child, all the while still having to take care of business----oh, my heart goes pitty-pat. This mornings’ dream had me trying to drive a box truck without benefit of windows! Finally I stopped the truck and said, “I am not driving this truck without seeing where I am going!” What does that mean???? Some people claim they don’t have dreams, but of course they do, just not remembering them. Most of the time I like mine because I get to see Timmy’s face, and Justin’s as well, and love it so much better when I wake up smiling rather than shaking.

The Bible study was okay yesterday, as we are going through the Synod’s stewardship program. I am not a real fan of break-out groups and such to come up with collective answers, but it’s only a couple weeks’ worth of the sessions. I used to be all about the ‘spiritual gifts’ stuff....

The worship was quite nice, using the Divine Service with the entire service being included in the giant-sized service folders. Using ledger-sized paper, even the hymns, which were from the Supplement, were included in the folder. I am not sure what that’s all about, unless some folks were having troubles following along in the CWS or something. I can ask him tomorrow as Judy C. and I are meeting with Pastor to review our report.

After church Judy, Terri T., and I went to lunch at Chili’s. Judy and I in particular like the appetizer trio which is a meal in itself. Plus, half to go home! Chili’s has TVs in the dining room so I could keep one eye on the game as we chatted. After lunch I headed home to be tortured, watching the most wretched of football games EVER!!! Do I hear ‘blackouts’ come our way for the rest of the home games? I am so glad this did not happen last week on our own turf…

Tonight I was cleaning out the fridge a bit, removing unused leftovers and such. I don’t know if I ever mentioned that I made a cherry crunch torte over a week ago, using the last of my Door County cherries. The first piece was surprising sweet, and it was my opinion that normally the tartness of the fruit overrode the sweetness of the crust or sauce for the cherries. Well, it was extremely difficult to extricate future slices of bars from the pan, even though I sprayed it (seems I wrote this already…). Therefore, I have about ¾ of the torte left and it’s going into the trash, IF I can get it out of the pan!

Kim and Justin

Someone asked me how tall Justin is these days, and here is my proof that he is taller than me! The fellow, John, also asked me if Justin was done with college yet, and I had at admit that perhaps that might be the case---at least for now. He is enjoying helping his buddies with their classes but is not taking anything for himself right now.

John told me he is personally three credits away from his degree but just can't face that math class in front of him. That would shut me down immediately!

Bits 'n Pieces II

It seems I have used this title before as it defaulted when I began typing it in. It works today too!

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After the memorial service at church yesterday, I was worn out emotionally and went to bed much earlier than usual. Morning did not come soon enough for me as I was tormented with horrible dreams influenced in part by TV programs I had watched before sleeping or listened to during my sleep! One was on the news channel about the Anthony case in central Florida and featured largely in my dreams, rather, nightmares. Yikes! So glad to be awake but am left unsettled in heart….

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Good news was received from Amazon in regard to my missing order. Make that GREAT news---they are reshipping my order at no expense to me. If my original order turns up, I can simply refuse the shipment and it will be returned to them. Also, a book on backorder has been bumped up to Next Day Air shipping when it becomes available at no additional charge to me, to make up for my inconvenience. I love great customer service!

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Areas around me had received many inches of rain but I cannot say if we had that here in OP or not. Justin’s area at the beaches had the most rain at 10” with street flooding and even flash floods in places. Eagle Harbor also had heavy rain overnight. It was so dark out Saturday that it was just after 8:00 a.m. before I woke up, no sun in my face at all that day!

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My dinner was the food from the memorial service at church Saturday, eaten around 4:30 or so. More a late lunch than early dinner but I was not hungry until bedtime. Just love those single-serving sized Orville Reddenbacher popcorn bags, perfect for bedtime consumption.

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I worked on the newsletter sent every other month to our members away. It is also mailed to those I describe as ‘seldom seen’, and sadly, needed to print off a few more letters. Pretty soon mailings will be thing of the past unless the Pony Express takes over! One thing which I really strongly dislike is hearing the beep beep beep from the printer, warning that the ink is low----cha ching!

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Robbie (a.k.a. The Maestro) interviewed me for a class last week and has told me a couple times of different things I said to him which he has already pressed into service. He is going to print off the finished paper for me so I can see how my recorded words translated to text. Hopefully I don’t sound too foolish, but I will guess not if he is using some of things I talked about in his work.

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Today in church, we heard a WELS Connection discussing the recent Synod convention. One of the ladies behind me asked if that was the one I was at with Judy. I told her this was the Synod convention, and I was at the Worship Conference. She was not aware a new translation of the NIV was coming out either. When I go next to the doctor, I am asking him or her for some patience pills please because I am being easily rattled these days!