Smile power

This morning I had to scoot to the Island bright and early for a dental check up, a 9:30 appointment. I was past due for a cleaning (how did that happen??) but I came through with flying colors. My smile was all polished up! After the cleaning was done, the doctor, Peggy, came in to do her checking. She found all to be in order and we had a chance to visit a little bit. I mentioned that we recently celebrated Timmy's anniversary and she even knew the date. I told how a group of us went to Sweet Tomatoes and her assistant/receptionist said, "On the 19th, right?" I said, "Yes, how did you remember that?" and Yvonne replied, "Well, that was his birthday..." That means so much to me, 15 years and they still remember. When I stood up from the chair, Peggy pulled me in for a hug, and told me I smelled good. Double nice!  Peggy is going to join my table for the PACE function in March!

As I was waiting at the drive-thru at the bank, Terri texted me to see if I had made plans for lunch yet. I had not, so we agreed to meet up at Grumpy's. I told the dental folks that I was going to eat blueberry pie for lunch but was only kidding. I could have had something to make my teeth dirty but had a cheeseburger and fries instead. Loved the time with Terri, especially the impromptu lunch invitation!

I am so glad for my friend, Mike S., who got to spend the day in a boat, fishing, his true heart's delight. One of his customers had him take the day and they spent it on the St. Johns River, from Julington Creek to the Fuller Warren Bridge. Sadly, between them, they caught one fish, a throw back. He told me he was going to wave when he passed my place but it was still foggy when they went through. I was at the dentist anyway and wouldn't have seen them, but it's the thought that counts. While Mike was fishing, my family was in the throes of another winter storm. School closings, meetings cancelled, work from home type of day for them. It's hard to imagine the contrast sometimes. 

My neighbors dropped off this lovely plant as a thank you for protecting some of their precious things after the most recent flood. So thoughtful of them!

Tonight our group met at Sweet Tomatoes (our 3rd Tuesday night in a row of getting together---I'm getting used to it!) for Miss Betty's birthday. Terri had to miss because she had Bunco but the rest of us were there. Justin also had a dental appointment this afternoon and feared he wouldn't be able to eat but he was just fine since the tooth worked on was a root canaled tooth. So glad he was able to round out our group for Betty. She loves Sweet Tomatoes and we like her to be happy, especially on her birthday!

Busy church day!

My day began with Bible study, looking at the people involved in the life of King David. Pretty interesting stuff. We have a good gathering of ladies, including one of our newer members, Trish. Every seat was taken! After class a group of us were going to have lunch, Judy at first resistant. The plan was to go to Pengree's but when we got there, it was closed. Shoot! I forgot, as did Jacky, that they are not open on Mondays. It's hard to get consensus with a group so I sorted made the decision for us to go across the street to the Dairy Queen. We often go to the one on Blanding Blvd. and are happy. Judy opted to go on home, but 6 of us went to DQ. No, it wasn't as 'nice' as the new one on Blanding, but it did the trick. 

We did enjoy our lunch time together, and when we parted company, most of us would be meeting up again in a few hours for Ladies' Group. Isn't it funny how that works out? The same faces at Bible study are those around the table for our Ladies' Group meetings. Fortunately some others do come for which we are grateful. Our president is a teacher and another lady works in retail. In March we are going to try having our meetings on Sunday after worship to see if more ladies will attend. We'd love more involvement, more interest, and more hands for our projects. We will get more input at our Ladies' Brunch next Saturday morning, hoping for a great turnout.

It's a Chili day!

Tonight I walked through from the kitchen and noticed that one of my birthday balloons, now nearly 30 days old, has lost its poof! 

I've created a monster in my Justin, quoting "Seinfeld" or making references at every turn. Ever since watching "The Millennium" episode, we, especially me, can hardly see or say balloon without thinking of Kramer! In this episode, in anticipation of the century turn, both Kramer and his friend, Newman, are making plans for millennium parties. One has already reserved a venue for holding their party, even though they had a couple of years to wait.  It seems out of character for them to plan so far out, being seat of their pants most of the time, but they did. Kramer started hauling folding chairs into Jerry's apartment, assuring him they would be out of the way stacked against the wall, for over 2 years!! Why????

The balloon joke comes in later when Kramer shows up at Jerry's apartment again, this time carrying a huge bouquet of balloons, maybe a dozen of them. Jerry says, "Kramer, there is no way those balloons are going to last until the millennium!" to which Kramer replies, "These are my everyday balloons." Silly Jerry! Even now as I write, I cannot help but laugh. Now, to me, every time I see a balloon it's an 'everyday balloon'. 

This morning was Bible study and worship. In our Bible study we are finishing up a study on "My Son, My Savior", the Synod's most recent DVD release. I had seen the movie in entirety when in WI, but in this case, we are seeing snippets and then having discussion of what we saw, etc. I am not as impressed with this movie, not up to the caliber, in my opinion, as the previous two. Anyway, it will be nice when we are through with this and back to regular study. 

The last Sunday of the month is Fellowship Sunday, sponsored by the Ladies' Group but run by Judy. She makes finger sandwiches which are most popular, plus cookies. Betty has started making cookies, too, both of them good bakers. There is a collection basket out, the proceeds of which are applied to the scholarship fund, presently our pastor's son who attends Martin Luther Prep. We don't collect a whole lot but at least enough for a plane ticket now and again. When no students are in Synod schools, the collection goes into our mission funds for LWMS. 

After church our group headed to Chili's once the Fellowship stuff was cleared away. We all enjoyed our time together at lunch, one of the highlights of my week. I am still using gift cards for our meals there. Justin was with us again, being a 'bye' week between playoffs and the Super Bowl. Love having him back at lunch on a regular basis now that football is coming to an end for the season. Only 26 weeks after the Super Bowl and it starts up again, but who is counting!?

Gorgeous morning greeting

My neighbor, Sharon, took this photo of the morning sky earlier today. It looks as though it's on fire!

Justin and I are having an at-home day today, only because we have no other plans. I am so cool with it. He stays in his room and me in mine, with periodic meeting in the middle, the kitchen! Justin pokes his nose in here occasionally, too, when he has something to show me or tell me. Saturdays are favorites of mine, sadly, because of the TV! Yes, I've said it, the television is my friend on Saturdays. From when I wake up until 10:00 a.m., weekend hours, I watch Fox and Friends, switching between it and Law & Order on another channel. The rest of the forenoon is spent watching reruns of L & O on a couple of channels. Love that!

Space Shuttle Discovery launch, as seen from my river room, July 26, 2005

Probably because of the anniversary of the explosion of Space Shuttle Challenger a couple days ago, the movie "Apollo 13" was shown this afternoon. Three hours worth. At first I wasn't going to commit to this movie, but given there was little else I wanted to watch (no L & O in the afternoon), I did it. I have seen it before, more than once, and I had to laugh at myself. Caught myself holding my breath or hands clenched during portions of the movie. Even though I knew they made it back safely to Earth, it was nerve wracking. THAT is a good movie!

Milking my birthday

When my sister, Lori, and her family were here to help celebrate my birthday, I took Lori and Dusty to eat at Saigon-Tokyo for dinner on Sunday night. This was the day after my party, mind you. Justin stayed home because his stomach was upset, thinking he overdid it on the birthday cake which had come home with us. Anyway, Tracy, one of the owners of "Koko's", is a friend of mine on Facebook and had offered me her good wishes on my actual birthday. Very nice!  

Well, after we had finished our meals, Tracy and her staff came over to the table to serenade me with a birthday song, complete with drums and tambourine! We were treated to fried apple pie and it was wonderful. Lori there accused me of milking my birthday, and I told her I had nothing to do with this celebration, nor did I influence the one which took place at lunch earlier in the day! 

Dee won First Place in the art show, the theme was about the performing arts. 

At my party, when I was 'roasted' by neighbor, Debbie, she promised to take me to eat as my gift from Dick and her. Tonight, she made good on that promise and took me where I chose to go, Saigon-Tokyo. Still milking the birthday at this late date. Our original plans were to visit the art gallery at Thrasher Horne Center to see our friends' entries, including the artist whose piece Debbie bought before Christmas. I passed on the Opening Reception last night because Debbie and I were going tonight, only to find out the gallery would not be open. That didn't stop us from having dinner, though. Dick is gone on a golf trip so we ladies went by ourselves. We talked and talked and talked, and then some more!

When we got back to The Palace, Debbie parked the car, and walked across the lot with our neighbor, Kay. She was just returning from an away trip for PACE and was excited about what she'd learned, etc. We tried to make plans to talk about it, but her schedule was full. We made plans to get together during the week, then, when her schedule cleared. She is one busy little bee!

A bit after the fact (i.e. the beginning of the year) I started to write in my journal titled "364 Day of Thanksgiving". I'd gotten a copy for Linda, Pastor Hoyer, and me. It is part book and part journal, written by a WELS pastor in TX. I gave a copy to Pastor H. because I occasionally reference what I've read in that other pastor's blog, when in class, and thought he might appreciate reading this book. A few years ago Linda and I did a thing where we wrote our blessings on little slips of paper and kept them in a jar or elsewhere. When I was in WI at ThanksLiving time, she read me a few of hers. I should pull mine out, too, to see what I wrote. Now we can write in our journals about the things for which we are thankful. I had such a good day today, I have lots about which to write!  

A day of memories

Today marked the anniversary, the 30th, of when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. At the time of this event, we lived in our 'big house' in Manty, with floor to ceiling windows in the dining room. The day the drapes were installed, Leon, the shop owner who made them, was the man on site. He described them as being theater drapes. It was quite the job to get them hung. 

Our office was in the basement in this home, a very nice room designed to serve as our office, complete with wall heater to help warm it/me. I had a tiny TV on my desk and was watching this historic launch. A grade school teacher was going into space, imagine that! Her students were watching as she boarded the shuttle with the astronauts. They were also watching when those infamous words were spoken: "Go with throttle up". The Challenger exploded, most not sure of what they were seeing. 

I flew up the stairs and called to Leon to come watch on the family room TV. Together we watched, along with the nation, the horror of the shuttle blowing to bits. Mission Control was just that, controlled, finding out later that the shuttle had exploded. They had no TVs or screens in their room other than the ones they used to monitor the equipment, being in Houston. It took a bit before they determined that there had been a 'major malfunction'. Quite the understatement, but, again, understandable, given they had no visual of the explosion. Still makes me feel sick thinking about it. Can it be 30 years already??? 

Here is Billy modeling my new coat in 2007, holding a fancy cane, much like Kramer's (Seinfeld) in "The Wig Master". Behind him you can see some of his gold records. 

This is a day of nostalgia for another reason. 7 years ago today my neighbor, Bill Powell, passed away at home. Somehow I missed all the excitement during the night when the rescue squad came, having been called by Billy before he passed away. Ellen was at their beach place but a niece was staying with them, and heard the EMTs pounding on the door, finding Billy was already gone. I still can't believe this-he was so young-in his early 50's. The Lynyrd Skynyrd folks have sure had a rough time of it. Billy was a survivor of the plane crash in 1977 that took out their lead singer, a guitarist and his sister who sang back up, plus the pilot. 

Billy had a love of life and knew his Savior, which is a great comfort to me. There used to be a plaque in the elevator with a quote from Billy, but it has disappeared, and no one knows what became of it. Such a shame what folks will do.  

Mom's birthday

Today is my mom's birthday, turning 91 years old. Oh, my goodness! Her mother before her lived to be 99 3/4 years old, and might have made it to or past 100 if she hadn't broken her hip. Mom's doctor says she is in excellent shape, has really few ailments other than her 'goofy' back which requires her to now use her walker even in the house. The back is weak, doesn't hurt her actually, but gives her the feeling of giving way if she walks around without it. But, as I mentioned, she is doing great for 91. In fact, when Justin and I called to sing for her, she was gone out, probably with one or both of my in-town sisters. We left our birthday anthem on her answering machine so she can enjoy it forever!

Mom at Christmas this past year

My sister, Kerry, let me know that she called Mom and sang to her earlier this a.m. and informed Mom that some flowers would be delivered today from Kerry and her daughter. Mom said she wasn't sure where she was going to put them. Oh, that mama of ours! Jill, my sister who lives in the building with Mom, said she would make sure there is room for the bouquet. Kerry is a flower and plant person, absolutely loves having the color and scent in the rooms, and outside as weather permits. Jill is planning to take Mom out to eat and is getting her a box of chocolates. Mumsy will love both those things! 

This afternoon I had a luncheon with the Republican Women's group at The Club. Our speaker was an author who has done a series of books about the government and its characters, using the theme of children's books. Very cute and most accurate! They look almost like Dr. Seuss books. Anyway, he was extremely interesting to listen to, a man whose background is in economics and finance, spelling out the dangers we are facing in this next year if 'we' don't get things turned around. He really knew his stuff, is considered an expert in his field regarding the dangers of Keynesian economics. The woman who books for the speakers was seated next to me and I let her know how much I appreciated the speakers we've had. Not a dud in the bunch!