one more thing on my list

 I've just added another event to my "not gonna do that" list. I admit this doesn't sound as scary as sky diving or bungee jumping off bridges (both very high on my "not gonna do that" list) but I've decided, after seeing an example on TV, that I will not be trying gravy wrestling.  So don't bother to invite me to your next GW event.

happy news, sad news

I had an unexpected visit this afternoon from my cousin and his wife.  They had come to my sale a few weeks ago and decided to stop by to see if I had moved yet. We had a lovely visit and they shared lots of information about their children and grandchildren. That was all good. On the other hand they told me that one of my other cousins (one who was also about 10 years older than me) died about six weeks ago.  I had no idea and now I feel really bad that I didn't attend her funeral. But really, how hypocritical is that?  We weren't close. I hadn't spoken with her in  about five years.  My first reaction was I need to do a better job of checking the obituaries.  My second thought was I need to do a better job of staying in touch with family members. I think I'll work on the second one.

Fort Wayne Taste of the Arts

I had a wonderful time at the "Taste of the Arts" festival downtown today.  Great food, great musical performances and a reminder to me that within a few weeks I'll be able to walk to downtown festivals all summer long.  Of course I'll need to wait until next summer for most of them.  One of the unexpected pleasures of the day for me was meeting a local (also nationally known) church music celebrity.  My friend and I stopped at the Trinity English Lutheran booth and Al started talking with a friendly man  whom he introduced to me as Bob, their youth choir director.  After a little bit of conversation something clicked and I said "Bob? Are you Robert Hobbey?" Turns out he was and I explained that I know his name because we play a lot of his music in our church. We then had a fascinating conversation about the music he has written for the Pope's visit to the US. He will be in New York to hear both pieces performed.   How exciting is that?

A happy insurance surprise

One more step toward becoming a renter.  I checked into my apartment's requirements for renter's insurance today and was told that they require $100,000 in personal liability insurance plus whatever property coverage I choose. This seemed a little steep to me but maybe they are concerned about people falling off the balconies. Whatever??? I called my insurance agent and explained what I needed. He said their standard renter's insurance policy included $300,000 in personal liability so that part sounded ok.  Then he asked me how much property coverage I wanted. I suggested $10,000 but he told me their minimum was $16,000.  Ok, how much will all this cost? After working through the new computer system which his national franchise had mandated, while we chatted for about ten minutes about the weather and our grandkids, (he has been my agent for 33 years after all) and considering that I have never had a claim on my homeowners insurance in all this time, he finally came up with a number $142. A month??? No, no, $142 a year, about $12 a month. I'm liking renting more and more.

rapidly approaching broke

I thought that I might have budget problems between now and that time my house closes. You know, like making payments on windows and carpet and stuff, but it turns out the financial pressure is coming from my grandchildren.  In the last week I've agreed to purchase candles, a coupon book and detergent, all to help school and/or band fund raisers.  School is obviously back in session.

lost and found

Happy to report that my terrible problem from last evening has been resolved. This morning I realized we had probably booked our flight with American Airline, found a phone number on their web site, called and spoke with a robot who was able to give me my code number. With that I could pull up our flight information which I printed out so I won't loose it again. Let's hear it for a low tech, old fashioned phone call (well, except for the robot voice).

Lost on the internet....

Dumb move of the month - a couple of weeks ago my friend and I ordered some plane tickets on line for our trip to New Mexico in October.  We searched out the information on my computer but paid for the tickets with her credit card so she could get the points.  I carefully wrote down how much I owed her and have since written a check to her.  What I neglected to do was print our the flight information. I know where we're flying from and the dates of the flights but don't know how to retrieve the actual information, like, for instance, the airline we are flying on.  I'm hoping my friend can track it back through her credit card charges.  Any other suggestions?

Wouldn't you just know it?

I had an email from a friend this evening asking for the route I had driven home from Washington state last year.  It's a route I like that avoids Chicago traffic. Her daughter and family are coming from Idaho to visit and she wanted to make the drive as easy as possible for them.  That's all fine and I was happy to provide the information but I realized that I didn't know where my atlas was. After a little digging I found it in a box bound for the used book store. After sending the information I began wondering what else I have given away, sold or trashed that I will go looking for in the months to come. I fretted about this for a few seconds, then realized I can always google it.

advice from the oldest man in the world

I saw an interview on TV this morning with a man who is 112 years old, believed to be the oldest living person in the world. His secret to a long life "Take it easy." He said it in Japanese but that was the translated gist. I'm happy to say I promptly followed his advice, spent this afternoon at Lake George relaxing on a deck, chatting with friends, enjoying the view of rain speckled lake and sipping wine.  I know how to follow good advice when I hear it.

Who needs an ice maker?

I do, that's who.  About a week ago the ice maker in my refrigerator started making strange noises and stopped making ice.  Because of their schedule and mine, the friendly Sears repairman was not able to come until today.  In the meantime, because I really like ice in my ice tea and ice water, I had to remember the recipe for ice cubes.  Once I remembered the recipe  - fill ice cube trays with water, place in freezer, wait patiently - I realized I had another problem.  In my zeal to clean out my house and give away or sell anything I didn't have a use for, in preparation for my move, I managed to get rid of the ice cube trays that used to lurk unused in my cupboard. So I half filled little plastic cups that are usually stacked in my guest bathroom, and set them in the ice bin.  It worked and I managed to have enough ice to get through the week. Today the necessary repairs were made and I now have ice in abundance. Hooray!! But now another question is haunting me. What if the refrigerator in my apartment doesn't have an ice maker?  Will that be a deal breaker, or will I, gasp, have to go shopping for ice cube trays?

giving up my land line???

I'm debating whether I want to keep my land line after I move or just get along with my cell phone. My daughter and family gave up their land line recently and I'm still able to stay in touch quite easily. More and more of my friends and family are calling or texting me on my cell these days. I admit that I really enjoy texting. I started keeping track a couple of weeks ago of calls received on my land line and it seems that 90% of them are trying to sell me something, ask for a donation or "give" me something.  My favorite was the caller with a very thick accent who informed me that the US government had selected me to receive an award of $9,000. Right! I laughed and hung up. Maybe I should keep the land line for its entertainment value??

a fine addiction

I must admit it. I have an addiction. Not cocaine or meth or even alcohol. My addiction is to old episodes of "Friends". My enabler, or maybe it's my supplier, is Netflix. Case in point - this evening I decided to watch one episode.  Four episodes later it's too late for me to write a decent blog.  I may need to join Episodics Anonymous.

Last Comic Standing

I have a new favorite reality show, "The Last Comic Standing". Some of the jokes are a little off color but overall there is a lot of good, original humor. My favorite so far this evening - a young comedian said he had just written his will and left everything to his grandma because he loves her so much. Then he mailed her a copy just in case she was thinking about writing hers.

the boxes make it real

Yesterday the movers delivered a large stack of boxes in a variety of sizes so I can start packing up everything for my move.  Even though I've been planning this move for a couple of months now suddenly it seems much more real. And suddenly I realize I'd better get busy.  This stuff isn't going to pack itself, but putting everything into brand new fresh smelling boxes will be satisfying.

family history I never knew

I was sorting through even more pictures today and came across a box of very old pictures of my husband's family.  These pictures seem to date back to the 1920's or earlier.  Among the pictures were some newspaper clippings (mostly cut out without any date). These are typical notices of funerals, weddings, visits to their home towns, the usual.  However, in among them I found a small notice that my mother-in-law and father-in-law had been involved in an auto accident in their roadster and Helen (who was 33 at the time, so two years before my husband was born) ended up in the hospital with some broken bones. The first article quoted the driver of the other car as saying that they ran into the back of his car.  However a later clipping said that they were suing him for $5,000.00 because of her injuries. $5,000.00 was a good amount of money in 1931.  Unfortunately there was no more follow up information.  Did they win the lawsuit?? Sadly, there is no one left on that side of the family to ask.

sorting through pictures

Today I started one of my last "sorting" projects before my move. Pictures, many many pictures, two big deep drawers full of snapshots.  Some pictures are easy to keep - old pictures of parents and grandparents, pictures of grandkids, pictures of friends.  Some are easy to get rid of - unidentified scenic views, blurry unidentified scenic views, mystery people.  Some I can give away like packets of pictures that belong to my daughter.  Why are they in the drawer?  But some are a bit more problematic. I'm not keeping pictures of my ex children-in-law but what about a picture of my daughter in her wedding dress from that first ill fated marriage?  I guess if it was easy I would have done this long ago.  My plan is to save the best family pictures, arrange them chronologically, and have my son copy them onto a cd or whatever electronic device he recommends so I can hand on to my kids one little cd or memory stick of pictures which they can then tuck away in a drawer until they start sorting stuff out.

curiosity satisfied, decision made

Well, I finally got to see a condo in Midtown Crossing in downtown Fort Wayne.  This was my other option if I liked it better than the apartment at Three Rivers. I was underwhelmed.  Too much work, a strange floor plan, just not my cup of tea. So I have decided to rent at Three Rivers for at least one year to see if I really like living down town.  One thing I keep hearing from friends "but there are no grocery stores down town." Today I timed the trip from the apartments to Kroger on North Clinton. The drive took seven minutes. Where I live now it takes me 12 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store. So I guess I don't see the problem. There's also a little convenience store in the apartment building in case I run out of milk or something.

Really??

Now I've seen it all.  I have lived in my present house for 33 years. It's located on a fairly busy street and for some reason people driving by seem to think it's ok to throw stuff in my yard. Over the years I've picked up sandwich wrappers, soda cups and straws, beer cans, pop cans, cigarette packs, pieces of wood and plastic and more, much more.  Happily, only about one bit a week but after 33 years it adds up. But today, for the first time ever someone threw a pillow in my yard.  A pillow?? Appeared to be a standard size bed pillow with a blue pillow case. Happily tonight is the night to put out the garbage so, after pushing the cart out to the curb, I gingerly picked up the pillow by one corner and dropped it in the bin  Now the pillow is gone but I'm still left with the burning question - why would anyone toss a pillow in my yard? Any ideas?

miracle cure

It was a faulty battery, wouldn't hold a charge, so now I have a brand new battery and my little blue car is humming along again.  Everything is still under warranty so no cost for anything, that's good.  No explanation though of why a battery in a car with 2200 miles on it should go bad. Perhaps it's just as well that I didn't get an explanation.  I had some necessary electrical work done at my home today and the helpful electrician spent 15 minutes explaining what they had done and why.  After a lengthy lecture on wires and double taps and new sub breaker boxes and three lines vs four lines and so much more I came away with this - I know which breakers go to which appliances (nicely labeled, thank you) and which master switch will turn off the stove. If the buyers need to know more I will give them the electrician's name.

good day, bad day

Today started well. I picked up two granddaughters for the day. Made a few phone calls before we started our day of roaming the mall. Discovered that I could get a larger apartment on a higher floor. That's good. We drove to the mall, had lunch there, all good, decided to come back to my house for a while before returning them to their home. Still all good. After relaxing for a while, we hopped in the car (my 2015 Fiat with 2200 miles on it, that I have only owned for four months) and discovered that it wouldn't start.  Dead as a doornail (whatever that is). No lights, no grinding noise, can't get the key out or shift gears. Not good.  It's in my garage, not in the mall parking lot or along the road somewhere. That's good.  Called the Fiat dealership, after several left messages and attempts to reach someone (not good), discovered it's all covered by warranty. That's good.  A nice man came from the towing company, jump started the car and hey presto! it started right up. "Let it run for about 25 minutes." he said. So I thought that would be a good time to drive the girls home.  Backed the car out of the garage, put it in drive, and it promptly died. Not good. Called for service again. Knew the process a little better this time. told them to send a tow truck this time which they did. Actually a flatbed truck. That's good. Watched my car being driven away, not good. Will find out tomorrow what's wrong. Clinging to the promise that everything is under warranty. That's good. Realized, after everyone was gone that I had no way to get to a meeting I was supposed to attend this evening. Not good, but realized I really didn't care about missing the meeting. Called, made my excuses, emailed my report, relaxed for the evening. That's good.

Thin places

We did something different at our church today, we moved our worship outside to the courtyard. It was a lovely service; the day was overcast and breezy but no rain, perfect to sit outside and I appreciated the emphasis in the hymns and sermon in praising God through and in nature.  In the sermon the pastor talked about "thin places" on this earth where we feel closer to God. He mentioned that his thin places were always on the water - lake, river, ocean - any body of water.  Naturally I started to think about my own thin places and I realized that my "thin place" experiences always involve hills or mountains. How strange, since I grew up in very flat country, or maybe it takes something out of the ordinary to sharpen one's awareness.

getting a "do-over"

I attended a memorial service today for a doctor husband of a Korean friend of mine.  I didn't know until today that it is traditional, in the Korean culture, to bury a family member who dies within three days of the death but then to have another memorial service on the first anniversary of the person's death. The anniversary service today was a beautiful event with heartfelt comments, excellent music and a lovely catered luncheon.  It occurred to me that having this first anniversary tradition gives family and friends a chance for a do-over.  I'm guessing it's true for many people, I know it was for me, to look back after a funeral and think "Oh, I should have done... or someone should have said... or why didn't I remember to..."  I don't expect the tradition to catch on here but it's not a bad idea.

a "cultural" evening?

I went to the art museum with a friend this evening. There was a reception with snacks, a rock band, and we actually spent some time viewing the exhibits.  The Chihuly glass was most exciting to me but there were several other interesting exhibits.  I'm always impressed when I go to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art at the really excellent exhibits they have.  You would think I'd get there more than once a year. Maybe, now that I'll be living down town I'll go more regularly. After the museum we met some other friends at a wine bar - another unique experience.  They had a system set up where you could sample lots of little 1oz glasses of wine. I tried 4 kinds, liked one (not a bad average). So there it is, an evening spent with art and wine.  doesn't that sound cultural? Probably as close as I get.

66, 110 over 72, 98.2

I gave blood this afternoon, something I do every eight weeks or so, and am always interested in learning my vital statistics - heart rate, blood pressure and temperature.  Everything was great this time. My temp was 98.2 which it almost always is. My heart rate was 66 which is good and lower than usual.  My blood pressure, usually about 124 over 80, was 110 over 72, excellent.  I suspect this evident good health has something to do with the energy I expended over the last two weeks taking care of two grandkids and three granddogs. However I would prefer to think that it has come about from following Dr. Oz's advice. Some weeks ago on his TV show he said that it's very good for your health to drink one (only one) glass of red wine each day. Well, that sounded way more fun to me than more exercise so I decided to give it a try and I have been very faithful in following this advice. Cheers!

something I never knew about my house

I have gone through the inspection and inspection response process and among other repairs I agreed to the buyers' request to make sure that the heat/AC vent in the hall bathroom is working. Evidently when the inspector checked there was no air coming out. Well, the requisite HVAC licensed repairman came today and checked it out and discovered that, while there is a vent cover in the bathroom, it leads to nothing but a capped duct pipe.  It has evidently been that way since the house was built. The repairman said typically there isn't a vent in an interior bathroom so he doesn't know why this was ever installed.  To actually make it a working vent would involve tearing out a big chunk of the basement ceiling. Needless to say I do not want to do that. After I explained the situation to the buyers (through our agents of course) they agreed that we could forget about the bathroom vent repair. Of course the fact that (also today) their agent came to mine asking that the closing date be delayed a month due to their financing process, made it easier for them to see my point of view on this.  So now we are closing on Sept. 30.Who knows what mysteries might unfold in the meantime.

A weird talent

I will readily admit that I enjoy reality shows and one of my favorites is "America's Got Talent". However this evening I saw a talent that I thought was just really weird, and yet the performer was sent through to the live show. His talent- swallowing stuff and bringing it up again.  Tonight he swallowed a small tomato, then a sharp razor blade, managed to slice the tomato in half with the blade while everything was inside, then spit everything up - first the blade then one half tomato then the other half. Ewwww...Since prodigies start young he was probably a disgusting little kid

Friendships old and gone

I had a lovely brunch get together this morning with three friends that I have known since high school (just a few years). It got me thinking about friendships and why we hang on to some while others fall by the wayside.  When I think about it, almost all of the people I count as good, close friends date back to my high school and college days. I have some friends who, when through circumstance, I haven't spoken with or seen for months, sometimes years, I can still "pick up" the friendship and know that it will be as if there was no gap in time. Others, people I've worked with and felt very close to at one time or another I just seem to let go. I'm not proud of that.  I feel sometimes that I should stay in touch with everyone but, except for Christmas cards, that just doesn't happen. I don't think it means that friends I've lost are less likable, or undeserving of my friendship.  I always enjoy meeting new people but I suspect that I have a limited capacity for real friendships.  It has occurred to me that many of the people I don't stay in touch with also don't stay in touch with me. I'm guessing we all have friendship limits.

Shoe shopping with a boy

I took my 14 year old grandson shoe shopping today.  He needed a better, more comfortable pair of shoes for marching band practice. Now I am sure that shoe shopping with any of my granddaughters would be at least an hour long experience - not so with a boy.  We walked into Shoe Carnival, found the right area for his size (men's size 10 these days) walked up one aisle and down another til he spotted a style he liked. His sister, who was with us, pointed out a pair that had a really nice insole, he tried them on, they felt good and we bought them.  Total shopping time - 12 minutes.  Boys are so easy.