Thankful Thursday 7/31/14

It may be early, early Friday morning in Dallas but it's still Thursday in Alaska!

1. It's been a week of long days at work, but I'm so thankful I have the opportunity to do one plus jobs since one year ago today I didn't have a job.

2. It's been a fun week reliving memories of the trip posting pictures on fb and the family blog.

3. Facetime with Emma yesterday. She was eating hotdogs and 'matoes for lunch. She wasn't about to share her 'matoes with me.

4. Wednesday night we got in the spa to cool off after a walk around the neighborhood. All of a sudden we smelled skunk--very fresh skunk. You've never seen two middle-aged overweight women crawl out of the spa and get in the house faster!!! Thankful the smell stayed outside.

Day 11 and Thankful Thursday

Today is Day 11 of my "being under the weather." I haven't had anything like this any time that I can remember. A week ago Monday I left work mid-morning with a fever and stayed home the next day. After lunch on day 2 I was resting and thought, "I have energy. I am better." I got up, cleaned up, and truly was better. At work the next day I was cold and felt a cold coming on. The next day it felt more like bronchitis coming on. Days 5, 6 and 7 was scratchy throat. Day 8 I went to a walk-in clinic and started an antibiotic. Day 9 when I thought I would be seeing good results I was worse than ever--I had the most serious sinus pain I could ever imagine. Day 10 I stayed home and while I'm much better today I am not quite up to being at work.

So what makes me thankful?

1. Having medical insurance. Even with high deductible insurance it is comforting to know I have help with medical costs. The antibiotic without insurance was $53.78--with insurance $10.00.

2. Having a work team leader who is supportive and allows me to work at home on days like this.

3. Having family who have been concerned and care.

4. Having a friend who will make me dinner even if her first words to me yesterday when she got home from work were "You look terrible."

5. A co-worker gave me a sachet of this last week when I returned to work. I'm not a hot tea fan as I know I'm sick when I want it. This cinnamon spice tea is really good and has felt great. I immediately ordered it on ebay and it came on Tuesday. I think I like the sachets instead of the paper tea bags.

Thankful Thursday 04/18/13

1. I went to two networking groups for career transition in the last week. One begins a 12-week session next week.

2. Yesterday I got into the pool for the first time--too cold to get completely wet but it surely cooled me off after working outside.

3. An acquaintance from my previous church sent a postcard which I received on Monday. It was refreshing to receive.

Thankful Thursday 2/7/13

1. I was concerned about having to drive a truck to Texas and tow my vehicle in mid-March. I am so thankful that a friend here was very willing to accept my offer to do this with me.

2. When I was checking on airfare to fly Nancy back to west Michigan from Texas everything was rather expensive for a one way trip. Last night I stopped by her house to make the flight arrangements. The fare was $100 less than when I had checked on Tuesday and Wednesday.

3. I had to go out to Renae's for a man to buy the dinner bell. Since he didn't have tools to dismantle it on Tuesday this was trip #2 for the bell. With the snow today and the forecast I thought the roads would be terrible, but they were wet and not any problems.

4. Thankful for health insurance. I hope I don't miss it after March 1.

Thankful Thursday 01/10/13

1. A dear, dear friend who has invited Renae and me for a "real" dinner one night each week before we move.

2. My condo is officially "for sale by owner".
http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/reo/3534601194.html

3. A comment by a friend on fb that made me almost cry but reaffirmed what good friends I've made here in Michigan tha I will miss very much.

4. Amtrak that can bring a friend right to Dallas over spring break!!!

5. Good results in Monday night's football champioship game for me. Roll Tide!

Aa Random Saturday

Miscellaneous thoughts from today:

You do have to put baking powder in cornbread. I had it but forgot to add it with the other dry ingredients.

My friend's son will be getting married this summer. Yesterday he and his fiance had their first meeting with their minister and his wife. He is about 80 miles from here and the fiance is living in Texas. Between now and the wedding the minister, his wife, and the couple will meet by Skype every two weeks and for the year following the wedding as well. I haven't been through that process but that certainly impresses me as a minister who sees his responsibility as much more than pronouncing a couple husband and wife and collecting his fee. Oh, there's no fee either for this.

Today I sold my table and chairs. They had no real sentimental value to me, but I liked them. I found them at a garage sale about 5 years ago and had them refinished. Renae recovered the seats on the chairs for me. For some reason I don't like selling those or the hutch for the big move. The younger couple that got it were obviously happy at how nice they were and said they would take good care of it.

Thankfully I'm not as sick as others, but this cold has pretty well wiped me out. I slept hard for over an hour late this afternoon which means I didn't get to Hobby Lobby Appreciation Day.

My parents are the best.

Weekend Trip

Friday I left work to pick up two friends, Jayne and Renae, to make a weekend trip to the Creation Museum. Thanks to Mom and Dad's membership and generosity for sharing passes.

 

We joked about being "Friends of Lynn" throughout the day since it said we were his guest on the back of the passes.

 

The museum is very interesting and very well done. We also great enjoyed seeing one of my very special friend's portray Anna in a Christmas Town drama.

 

Another highlight was seeing her daughter and her family and going out to eat with them. So hard to believe that the sweet little junior in high school when I first met her is now the amazing mother of 3 children. Just because it was so cute I asked him to tell his joke several times:

How do you keep a spider to keep from stop (sic) smelling?'

 

He then sweetly plugged his nose and said, "Hold his nose."

 

If you are in the Cincinnati area in the near future and eat at LaRosa's I highly recommend the Montgomery Inn pulled pork pizza. Mmmmm, very good.

Thankful Thursday 5/17/12

1. Had my first Skype call tonight with my sister and great niece Emma.

2. Enjoyed coffee tonight with two very good friends.

3. One more day of work and then the weekend.

4. This week's beautiful weather!!!

Vacation

‎  1 ferris wheel ride
  2 runs on the beach
  2 Chick-fil-a meals
  2 pairs of sunglasses purchased
  3 trips to the grocery store
  3.5 books read
  4 flight segments
  5 hours on a trolley tour with stops at St. Augustine
  6 mile bike ride on the beach
  6 fish caught between the 2 of us deep sea fishing
  7 breakfasts on the balcony overlooking the ocean
  7 restaurants
  8 runs scored in a Daytona Cubs/Lakeland Flying Tigers game
  8 days with a great friend
  9 hours at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
10 miles driving on the beach
13 dollars spent at the ice cream truck
18 holes of miniature golf
349 miles on a rental car
= a priceless vacation

Thankful Thursday

1. Lots of good times spent with friends this past week--dinner with the Vandermeys at Penn Station and walking Shadow with Jayne last night.

2. My nephew-in-law was offered a job this week.

3. My great niece had her 6-month birthday yesterday!!!. Happy half-birthday Emma!!!!!!!  And John Michael had is 15th birthday on Tuesday. How can the wonderful little boy now have a driver's permit?????

4. My car is waxed for the summer.

5. A great week for sports: last weekend was Final Four with men's and women's national basketball championship games. Baseball started yesterday with most games today. The Master's started today.

6. Most importantly--it's Holy Week and Sunday is the greatest day in the Church's yearly calender. He is risen. He is risen indeed.

Thankful Thursday

1. What a good week for lunches:
      Monday with Heather and the boys and I won the "7000" game!!!
      Tuesday a picnic at the park. It was so much fun to watch a few kids chase the Canada geese and wonder when the geese were going to retaliate.
      Wednesday with Jayne at our breakfast place.
2. This time of year provides the best drives to work. The trees, flowers, and crops have filled out and are maturing so it's very green. The rolling countryside is just nice as I drive through the country from the Hudsonville to the Zeeland exit.
3. I think of myself as a glass is half empty kind of person so I'm thankful when I realize that compared to another person I'm much more glass is half full thinker.
4. Got a great deal on a baby gift this week! 
5. My niece's dye test came back with good results. When her father sent a picture of her in recovery I thought she be dyed, but she wasn't. I was thinking neon blue, green, or orange!

Blockbuster

This morning I found out that with Blockbuster's bankruptcy, they will honor their gift cards only through Wednesday, April 6.

Renae has a coupon for two movies, 2 Cokes, and a bag of popcorn. At lunch I took the coupon and her gift card with $16.92 to get movies and use up her gift card. The coupon is actually still valid after April 6 so I just had to use up her gift card. I got $15.96 of movies so had .94 left to spend. Of course, I couldn't leave that on the card.

I could get a Coke for $1.59 or get the Blockbust special of a Coke, a big box of candy, AND a bag of popcorn for only $3.  As I paid for the special I told the  two clerks, "Hmmm, I'm paying $2 to use up my friends gift card. It sounds like a scam to me." They laughed and laughed even harder when I said, "I think I'll keep her coupon."

Concert

Last night I spent a free evening with Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. By the time Renae saw the concert advertised and was interested in going, it was sold out. We went hoping someone may turn back tickets or there would be no shows. About 10 minutes before the show started a ticket lady saw us waiting and gave us two tickets front row center balcony--basically some of the best seats!

The concert was good--lots of 80s music so I recognized most of the songs.

60 years at Olive Garden

A friend posted on Facebook a picture of her in-laws with the caption "Celebrating 60 years at Olive Garden".

Someone commented: ‎60 Years at Olive Garden! That's pretty slow service!

Fall

Helping Renae open the pool is way more fun than helping her close it.

A Flipper's Car

This is a picture of the car Renae bought in the spring. It's not her actual car but the same year and color.

Last night I visited with my 91-year old neighbor. Below is the conversation which then goes into my telling Renae about it.

Neighbor: Do you have friends with a red car?

Me: (yelling so she can hear) Yes, Renae has a red car?

Neighbor: Well it looks a car for some young folks.

Me: Well that's what she's trying for.

Neighbor: Tell her I thought she was some young flipper.

Renae: Yes, it worked!

Losing my Cells

The pump on my pressure washer has gone out. Yesterday morning I picked it up from the repair place without getting it fixed, but I was too dressed up to get it out of the car at Renae’s on my way home yesterday. The smell of gas has been quite strong in my car yesterday and today. On my way to run an errand at lunch today the thing tipped over in my vehicle so I had to pull into the first driveway and tip it back over. Unfortunately gas spilled in my car.

Conversation with Renae shortly later:

Rho: I can’t believe gas spilled in my car. I guess it’s good I still have cardboard down in the back.
Renae: Gas doesn’t stain.
Rho: But it still really smells.
Renae: We can use carpet cleaner to get rid of that.
Rho: But I miss the brain cells I’m losing.
Renae: It’s ok. You have enough so you can afford to lose some.

Remind me again that she’s my friend!

"Don't Forget to Let Rhoda Know. . ."

Last night I went downtown to the Grand Rapids Festival and heard Embellish perform. It was great to see Heather and Dennis as well as their two sons. Heather's mother told me that Isaac would be pitching this morning so I was talking about it to him. I told him to make sure he had his mother let me know how he did. Today I had an e-mail from his mom that said when they drove in the driveway he said, "Don't forget to let Rhoda know about the game." I was kind of surprised since I see the boys maybe once a year now. However, it made my day!

Dinner

Great dinner deal tonight. A local restaurant had a $9.99 prime rib special before 6:00 p.m. We ordered that, but the manager came by and said they were out of prime rib and gave us a $5 coupon to use. We ordered other meals.

When the bill came, Renae's dinner and both our drinks were on my bill and rung up on my card. My dinner was on her bill and rung up on her card. No $5 off was on either slip. The server apologized and said she'd take care of it. The slips came back with $5 off, but I was still paying for two drinks and a higher priced meal. She and another server worked on it, but it came back wrong again. I was a bit worried about how many times a charge would show up on my credit card bill. Finally the server got the manager involved. He worked at the register for a few minutes, came over, and said, "Thanks for your patience tonight. We're sorry for the confusion; you're dinner is taken care of."

It was the server's first night, and I think the $5 coupon got her flustered. They didn't expect a large turnout for the special and the manager said he wouldn't have had her on the floor had he known. Except for not charging us correctly, which we didn't mind in the long run, the server did a really nice job for her first night.

A Friendship is Born

Ten years ago this week I received an e-mail that ended up having a huge impact on my life. There are two very different memories of exactly how the e-mail was worded, and this is my version: “The scores on the spreadsheet are wrong; fix mine” or at least something pretty close to it.

Little did I know when I set up a friendly competition for the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in 2000 that I’d make a very good friend from it. Renae was actually Julie’s friend, and Julie had invited her to be a part of our bracket competition. At that time I put everyone’s picks into a spreadsheet to tally and report the scores from. Somehow in copying formulas I apparently had not grabbed all the columns so Renae’s score was wrong following the first/second rounds. Who knew she was an Excel guru???

I’m guessing the e-mail message was somewhere between what I remember and the very flowery request that she remembers, but the result is that we ended up talking on the phone. We began e-mailing as well, and from that original e-mail a really good friendship developed.

That summer I moved to Ohio and Renae helped me get settled there doing a lot of projects when I got settled as well as on her annual visits. She began looking for jobs for me in Michigan and four years later I moved here. She has spent many hours working on projects at my house. We’ve golfed, traveled, gardened, raised chickens, watched many basketball games, and shared many other experiences. Oh yes, and there’s been a lot of laughter as well.

It takes a long time to grow an old friend.-- John Leonard

no friendship can cross the path of our destiny without leaving some mark on it forever.-- Francois Mauriac

Friendship multiplies the good of life and divides the evil.-- Baltasar Gracian

A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked.-- Bernard Meltzer