A celebratory day!

Justin and I had the privilege of attending the 15 years of God's grace at Victory Lutheran Church this a.m. As Pastor began his sermon, he asked those who were in attendance at the very first service to please stand. There were about a dozen of us at this service, plus some at the first service. 

After the service, the men got busy stacking chairs along the sides temporarily while tables were put up. Lickety split, they had it done. Justin pitched right in, and was even putting tableclothes on as they went! 

When Justin was done setting up tables and putting the table cloths on, he was enlisted by Pastor Hoyer to help him with the wine, and fill the glasses. Justin was not all that familiar with opening the wine bottles but he got the hang of it. While he did that, I went through the serving line and filled our plates with food, catered by Maggiano's!   

Fortunately Anne with her parents and sister came to sit with us where we had parked ourselves. Eventually Pastor did come to sit down but then had to get up to say a few words during the slide show presentation. Joel H. was pretty much the MC for the event, one of those who attended the first service, from Good Shepherd. Now he is quite involved in the work at this congregation!

Publix once again comes through with a lovely and tasty cake (Stephanie packed some up for me to take home!) for this celebration. Not only did cake come home with us, but also leftover ziti with cheese and Italian bread. Love it!

Fun and friends

The Ladies' Group and others gathered for an early lunch today. We had 21 people including a friend of one lady who visits every year from Milwaukee. I tried to get as many faces in the group shots as possible, using my cell phone camera. Excuse the blurriness which might appear.

 Twila, Sue, Kristin, Jean, Kathy

 Kathy, Kristi, Joyce, Betty on the left side with Twila, Ethel, Gretchen, Terri on the right side

 Betty, Ellen, Rebecca, Bonnie, Donna on the left with Terri, Judy, Jackie, Julaine, Judy, and Janet on the right

 Judy, Terri across from Joyce, Kristi, Kathy, and Jean

 Janet, Judy, Julaine, Jackie, and Judy (look at all those J's in a row!!!) and Donna

 Jean, Kathy, Kristi, Joyce, Betty and then Twila, Ethel, Gretchen, Terri, and Judy

 Judy, Terri, and Gretchen

 Betty and me!

Judy ordered the dessert! It looked and tasted amazing!

A 'friend'ly gathering!

Hal and Rosalie treated me for breakfast this morning at Grumpy's. We ate there the last time they visited me, and Hal was delighted to get his S.O.S., a real treat now that he's out of the Navy!  They served it to him, not on toast as is usually served, but at his request, on crumbed biscuits. After breakfast, they dropped me off at home, and went to go visit their former neighbor. 

While they were out and about a horrendous thunderstorm came up, causing tornadoes further to the south of us. It gave us lots and lots of rain. It was so bad that when they tried to come back home again, the street was blocked by a tree which had fallen across it. I gave them directions to go around and come into the property via a different route instead. I let my invited guests know of the fallen tree as well so they would know to come in on Milwaukee Avenue instead. 

This is one ominous looking sky!

The small group was assembled to spend some time with Rosalie and Hal, especially Joe, who was top on their list of folks to see. Gretchen was also invited but not expected once the rain began. We knew that going in!

                         

Hal and Joe talked over old times in the Navy and other stuff while the ladies chatted on the other side of the room. I did take pictures of them but they were too blurry to use---sorry!

This will do, though, with Rosalie, Carol, Joe, Judy, and me. I am standing just ahead of the chair where Joe was seated which is part of the reason why I look so much larger than the rest! It was a very nice gathering, if I do say so myself!

We won! We won!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, The Palace team won at trivia tonight!  Whoo hoo! We broke our three month long losing streak, losing by just a few points each time we lost. And this time we won by nearly 20 points. It seems like everyone had something to bring to the table, to help us win. I was of very little help with the finale since I didn't know the names of the cities which hosted winter Olympics the last ten years...um, um, um....But, I did get my "Lutheran" card back by knowing the right answer to the Bible question!! I lost my 'card' last time by messing up on the Bible question.

Justin and I had the tapas menu for dinner, each of us having an order of chicken sliders and shared onions straws. It was a perfect-sized meal for me, and I think Justin too. Next week is the mini-buffet instead of on trivia night which was a bit much. Nancy W. was there but had to leave part way into the game as she'd been awake since 1:30 in the morning. Still having troubles with her noisy neighbor. Poor thing!

The other day Nancy sent me a text message with a picture of a swimsuit on it. My 'personal shopper' found the perfect swimsuit for me on sale at Ross For Less. She picked it up for me and came by to drop it off. She has done this before when my rice steamer quit and found a new one for me, plus once she came upon a green glass candle holder at a resale shop. I am now all set for summer, suitwise. 

Nancy stayed to chat for a while, shedding a tear or two over the heartache of her troubled son and the mess he's made with his life. He is 45 and still can't get his life together. Nancy wanted to know how to block his text messages so Justin showed her how to do it. She is full of compliments to me on what a nice young man he is, and I have to just squeeze him for being the kind of man he is, especially to me. It's so sad, this situation between her son and her, but it's his own making. Glad she can come here and talk things over with me. I count my blessings...

Just a little late....

...but finally, got my oil changed!  I had toyed with taking care of it before I left for WI in December, and now, more than half way through February, it is done. Also I had my tires rotated and new wipers installed. A person needs good, workable wipers, especially these days of heavy pollen accumulation on the cars and windows. While the car was being tended to, I enjoyed a very nice lunch next door at Aron's Pizza, having a stromboli. Even ordering the small resulted in my taking half of it to-go, which is normally how this goes. Will be good for dinner tonight!

Justin will have the remaining chicken breasts and pasta from last night's dinner while I have my stromboli. No sense in making something else when we have such tasty leftovers. He is always quite tired when he gets home from work, and might not feel like cooking. And I am certainly okay with leftovers. 

Work progresses on getting the guest room ready for our company which arrive on Thursday afternoon. I offer my assistance (i.e. nagging) to help him toward the goal but it's really best for him to take care of this himself. Besides the making of the beds, he needs to remove his excess from sight, deal with his clothing and other items that have overflowed from his room. I had truly hoped that would not happen again, but yet, it has. I need to address my excess in that room too, but it's MY room!

We have the floors mostly vacuumed but the ktichen will need it once again because he carries stuff in on his shoes every day. That's okay, he cleans it up by sweeping it right out the door! I will take care of the dusting when it's closer to the Brazee's arrival as the jack hammering and pollen undo the dusting if done too far ahead. I am so excited for them to get here!

A welcome change

Last April, early in the month, work began on our sundeck/terrace here on the building. Plans were to have the project wrapped up by the 4th of July. As of today, the project yet continues. Ugh! Right now, we are all being seranaded by the sounds of hammer drills and grinders yet again, removing several dozen of the tiles laid only a few months ago. A problem with standing water remains after assurances that the situations would be resolved, so now, tear it up and adjust the slope. My sympathies to those who live on the second floor, having to go through this mess even longer.

The good news is that the weather is allowing for the workmen to remain on the task, not being run off by rain. The sun has returned, though our mornings start with cooler temps, it warms nicely by afternoon. As long as it stays dry, tile men and landscape crews can do their work!

My coat on the model in Kusadasi, Turkey

I had to chuckle at church yesterday, as I came with my coat on, the temps in the 40's that morning. A young girl of the congregation, not yet confirmation class age, was wearing a strapless dress, sort of like one would wear to a school dance, and me, all bundled up. I wore my ruby red blouse that my mom got me for Christmas several years ago in addition to my coat, and appreciated having the layers. I did see others dressed for summer too, including a man who came to church in shorts, sandals, and a floral shirt! Such is our Florida weather! 

Judy C. was in Charleston for the weekend so we went to Chili's without her. At first Betty thought she would miss it because she was asked to serve cake for the baptism reception after church. But, as Justin so kindly informed me, the mess was cleaned up and all put away, with everyone else waiting for me to finish up my meeting with Carol about the exterior paint colors. Well! These things take time!

Justin is planning to make our dinner tonight, using some chicken breasts we got at Winn Dixie the other day (I did go back to get another of those pork roasts). He is coating them with an egg, crumb, and cheese mixture, with a pasta 'n sauce side dish. 

Justin had off from work today and seems to be making some forward progress in his room, getting things straightened away. He half killed himself with the fumes from the foaming bubbles in his bathroom, as I "encouraged" him to spray it all down. Phew, what a strong smell! I asked him the other day how things were coming in the guest room, and he told me that he is 60% ready for our company to come. Oh, I would like that to be 100% ready, but he still has Wednesday to finish the job. Always by the skin of his teeth with these projects!!!

Lots of talking

I have a sore throat from all the talking. One conversation on the phone lasted nearly two hours while I mostly listened! My friend from church had much to discuss, as together we serve on the building committee. She is full of ideas and thoughts, bounced them off me. Boy, I sure do wish we had unlimited resources to do the things we have ideas for our project!

I have also been talking with family, often with my fingers instead of my voice, since my auntie died. There are details and such needing to be determined yet, but sadly, I won't be able to make it to her service. My schedule and pending house guests just don't allow for it, especially with my trip coming up in March. 

I don't actually have a sore throat but it is scratchy and I am clearing it regularly. Today in worship I had trouble singing, sounded rather croaky. We had a houseful of visitors, too, with a baptism. The highlight, other than having both sacraments today, was a couple visiting from WI with Manitowoc roots. The woman was in high school with my older sister and the husband was the son of the former pastor at Bethany Lutheran. Small world in the WELS! It was great chatting with them. They enjoyed our winter weather and were bracing for their drive back up to the Appleton area. "Pam" said they always to come to churches early when they travel because her husband likes to talk to people beforehand. Sounds familiar!! Such nice folks, I am glad to have had the time to visit with them before and after worship!