Once again I am sitting in front of my computer with my 22 oz. of Kozy Shack gluten free Original Rice Pudding wondering where the week went.  Last weekend was so busy with music that there was harldy time for anything else. We had OneConcert again which took all Sunday afternoon and evening.  It was so much fun and to me it was energizing.  I got the husband involved this time with his trumpet and he got all kinds of kudos and gushing compliments. 

This weekend is looking good too, but with things of a different nature. First of all (except for my rice pudding which was treat #1) I got to come home to a cleaner house today.  My sweet friend Zenaida came to dust and clean floors while I was gone and it smelled so good when I walked in  – the Murphy’s Oil Soap, I think. I thought I was hiring her but she didn’t want the money (which planet is she from!?) As I said, she is so good to me.  Next, I get to go out for supper tonight! No cooking for this lady.  It’s our almost monthly night out with Jack and we are going up to a restaurant on the river to relax and have dinner. He is paying this month.  Jack is one of those guys who always wants to offer a cocktail, appetizers, wine, coffee and dessert as well as the meal so I end up feeling like a queen or something. Oh, he even picks us up. How wild is that?  For my next treat I am getting up at 7:30 in the morning and going for a massage.  I know it’s kind of an unusual hour but I’ll feel good all day because of it.  I hope to accomplish at least five or six important things with the rest of my Saturday, and with my Sunday too.  I absolutely love weekends!



Would you please be amazed at my clean, shiny floor!



Background to story: ( Monday afternoon) On the way home from work I stopped at the west Bradenton Walmart to get some supplies for my employer. I waited in line at the checkout forever, finally paid and headed to the parking lot with my bags, keys, register slip, etc… in hand.  Unlocking the door, I heard something hit the pavement so I set things down inside the car and looked for what had fallen.  My bright red aluminum credit card case was lying slightly under the car and I picked it up and put it in my purse. Drove home.

The Dillema: (Tuesday evening) The husband and I are on our way to a meeting, planning to carpool with someone.  We find out at the last minute that we are not carpooling but driving ourselves there – but since we started out early, we suddenly have nearly an hour before the meeting. What to do with the time? Suddenly I am thinking of a Wendy’s Frostee and how I would really like to get one and just sit and enjoy it for a few minutes.  We are passing a Wendy’s so pull in and I go in to order. I pull out my credit card case for the first time since Walmart and … what?! there is nothing in it. It is empty, cleaned out. I still am able to get the Frostee but am inwardly freaking out and trying to imagine what could have happened to those nine or ten important pieces of plastic (driver’s license, credit cards, etc…) I go out to the car and confess my discovery to the husband. He also freaks. 

The Plot Evolves:  I start to think when I might have left my purse unattended for even a moment… can’t think of anyplace I’ve been except at home or at work.  The husband starts calling credit card companies to check on balances and our loss protection plan.  I try to remember exactly what was in the case but I’m a little foggy on some of it.  I suddenly remember when I last used the credit card and being at Walmart.  I know I didn’t leave it in the store because I remember dropping it in the parking lot. DROPPING IT IN THE PARKING LOT!!!!!  Aaaagghh!  I call Walmart and am routed to the service desk.  After an interminable length of time someone actually asks me what my name is and I tell them.  After another interminable length of time someone says they have some things with my name on them in a plastic bag. Oh joy, I can hardly believe it.  Husband stops making calls and we begin to breathe normally.

The Plot Resolves: We decide not to press our luck and set out to get the cards immediately. It is in the opposite direction from our meeting and will make us about an hour late but is clearly the right thing to do.  We make the drive and I go in and ask at the service desk.  Walmart is fairly careful with some things and it requires a manager to unlock the room where lost and found valuables are kept so I wait an interminable length of time for a manager to appear. The manager is a 5 foot 1, 95 lb. slip of a girl who looks to be about 14 years old, but has a definite aloof, authoritative air.  She disappears into the locked room while talking on the phone, but eventually comes out with a small baggy containing all my credit cards and my license.

Postscript: What must have happened is that when my case hit the pavement, it popped open and ejected my cards forcefully under the car where they weren’t visible – who would have thought? In it’s resting state, on it’s side, it was closed and appeared not to have opened so I didn’t check it. In hindsight, I should have.  And in leaving the parking lot I was looking where I was backing, and where I was going, not where I had been. There was an employee collecting carts in the close vicinity and in all likelihood, it was he who found the cards moments after I had left. The manager said that they often find things and are very good about turning them in. Obviously this could have ended in a very different manner.  I am grateful for every honest person involved, and for every prompting that led me to discover the loss and remember where to look. And we still made it to the meeting for all the vital parts.

The Oneacrewoods is a unique property. I’ve thought that since my first glance down the drive back in the old days – that’s when I fell in love with it and my feelings have not changed a bit!  To find such a sizeable lot with a double house and so many unusual trees within a 1/2 mile of a business district is not a common thing. And now, a new landmark, our own lion guarding the entry.  We needed this. 



Hello, welcome to the Oneacrewoods! Roar!



It belongs to the person next door, and the drive is one that we share. I guess since it is really his property and we just have access rights he can put anything there that he wants, so bear in mind (or lion in mind) that I did not go out and buy this lion. It just appeared yesterday while I was at work.  He’s got a rather friendly face, for a lion, and he is about the size of a real lion… none of those trailer park yard ornament varieties. Kind of a red sandstone color.

My first thought was that he was a little ostentatious for the Oneacrewoods.  I can see him fitting in at Buckingham Palace or some large gated estate maybe. The truth is I think lions are a little ostentatious in front of gated estates too.  I mean, who are they kidding? We’re to think they have lions guarding their gate? Is this Africa?  I even queried Facebook to see what my friends thought of this lion and got mixed reviews. Paint it, cover it, name it, cool, stately, needs a lamb – clearly there are many kinds of people in the world with different tastes. Thank you all for your opinions, but as I read them I was often thinking “really?”

So there he is.  I asked the husband what he thought of the lion and he said “where is he?” This is after he had driven past, within four feet of this life-size object.  Reminder to self: do not take this man on your next lion hunting safari.  Yes, so there he is and it looks like he’s staying a while. I can use him as a landmark, telling my friends to turn in by the red lion and not having to worry about them saying “which red lion?”  That’s the beauty of being a bit odd and more unique. I’m just sayin’…



Is that a little smile I see?



Lots of rain again! I’m going to do something outside tomorrow even if I have to wear my boots and rain gear. Reminder to self: check for spiders living in boots before putting on.

Who remembers where they might have heard the quote in the title of this post? I remember.  Quote the next line if you do.
Answer in next post.



Rain barrels are full – water just runs off the top



So, did you ever join a cult?  I did, although I wouldn’t have called it that then.  Even now, I like to think of it more as a stage of learning that had some pretty positive points to it.  I guess for others it was a real nightmare and kind of wrecked their life. Today I had occasion to read some of the history of the church written by people who had different takes on it. It has been a bit upsetting and I don’t think I can be sure who the bad guys were and who the good guys were – just that there were obviously some of both. I’m also thinking that whenever you put people and power together, you are probably going to get some corruption along with the package.

What is interesting to me is that, having joined the “cult” I really became quite busy applying it’s teachings to my own life and didn’t notice a lot of the disturbing stuff that was probably going on.  It wasn’t like we were being prepped to drink kool-aid, or shave our heads and wear robes in the airport  – but we did do some things that were considered pretty odd to others.  But odd in a normal sort of way.

I grew up going to a evangelical, protestant church where my family and most extended family had gone for years.  I knew about youth groups, church camp, VBS, and could find scripture references as fast as anyone could and it was okay I guess.  But other than the arguments at school between the Lutherans and the Catholics and us, I never had my thinking challenged in the areas of faith and personal philosophy of life.  Then along came the cult.  After my initial objections, which were more social than anything else, I found it very exciting that I could study the Bible and discover stuff I hadn’t heard about or thought about before.  It felt dangerous, but good, that God could lead me to be different for reasons I really believed in. I think it was a good thing that I got excited about God at all and for that I’m thankful.

I’m not in the cult anymore.  I’m not saying it was easy to break away from 20 plus years of thinking and doing certain things. There was pain involved.  I changed but I don’t really see that God did.  I appreciate his constancy more each time I survive another upset. The beliefs I hold about him keep getting more real, more central and more important to me.  I believe God has led me into, through and past a lot of different situations and has made something beneficial for me out of all of them.  I have no regrets and frankly, can’t thing of anyone I’d like to trade lives with.  I also believe that God does this for anyone who decides to trust him to do it.

I have been disappointed.  On the scale from 1 being least to 10 being greatest, this is only about a 2 but it is the most recent disappointment I’ve had so here it is…  (It’s also slightly disgusting)

I’m making soup with my home canned tomatoes, a whole chopped onion, a bunch of celery, some white beans and as the final ingredient other than spices I’m preparing to cook some brown rice.  Thankfully I decided to cook it separately and add it later.  After rinsing it under running water as per instructions and putting it into the pan to boil, what do I see but a horde of little black guys floating to the surface, taking their last breaths I suppose.  This is long grain organic rice and I guess having used no pesticides, the bugs come with the rice, for the same price.  What a deal. 

Well, they’re floating, so I thought maybe I could fish them out with a spoon. That worked pretty good but everytime I stirred the rice a few more came to the surface. Evidently, not all of them are bouyant – the more muscular ones are heavier? I don’t know.  What to do?  I mean how dangerous could they be? They’ve been eating organic rice all their lives in this bag where they probably were born.  Couldn’t we just eat them?

Now for all of you who have ever eaten at my house – rest easy.  I did throw them out.  I checked the bag and threw it out too.  I’m just sayin’ I hate to waste things so this was disappointing. 

I went in search of comfort food in my kitchen (shortly after reading about fudge in someone’s blog) and there wasn’t any, unless you count grapes or metamucil cookies, and I don’t.   There was nothing that fit my craving.  What a different life I lead than in the past!  Where are the cookie bakers, the hot chocolate drinkers, the brownie fiends? Instead I am left with the “disappearing husband” who can’t eat any of that stuff and doesn’t even dare have it around anymore.  Every once in a while – like this last weekend – one of my young, healthy family members comes home and blows the fat restricted cardiac diet out of the water.  We went out for pizza –  Dennis asked if there were any low fat pizzas on the menu and the waiter looked at him like he was from another planet.  We ate macaroni and cheese –  I had to have something for dinner for the aged guest who can’t chew very well. (excuses?) There were cookies after church – I left before visiting the snack table but my daughter who stayed brought a cookie home for me.  We went to a birthday party and had ambrosia salad and cake from Publix, decorated in bright indelible colors. Twice I opened a can of soda, well, and drank it, of course.  It’s been months since I did that.  I was even inspired to post my love of butter on my facebook page. Crazy things happen to people who restrict themselves over much.

 But now the weekend is past.  I’m back to eating cereal in the car on the way to work, in the dark, mostly at stoplights. I feed the cat better than I feed myself.  I let the refrigerator get almost empty of everything before I grocery shop. I don’t want to cook so we have a salad almost every night.  I am imaginative as I throw it together but it still gets a little tedious. And no matter how hard I try to use it up, there is always some form of salad green rotting or turning yellow in the fridge.

All this is to report that the husband is indeed, still disappearing, losing weight and exercising.  Still motivated. Still in a good mood about it all.  He’s going for another check up on the blood pressure tomorrow, but lately  it is often too low  rather than too high.  My day off tomorrow will have to include vegetable procurement which is our biggest grocery expense anymore.  Vegetables are good.  Fruit is good… hmm….  There are two bananas left and I’m thinking they are just right for some banana bread.  Oh yeah.

It’s been hot and steamy these days.  Hot is around 90 degrees, although it starts out cooler in the mornings because it’s autumn. On my usual walk out to prepare the pool for the morning swim (at work) I always look around at the gardens to see if anything adverse has occurred, at the machinery to see if there are malfunctions with the pool pump or the irrigation, and at the wildlife – if there be any.  The place is pretty wild actually, lots of raccoons, possums, osprey, woodpeckers, lizards, fish, manatee, dolphin. There is always something to notice for the discerning eye.  This particular morning there was a low, prolonged croak coming from high in the canopy and it wasn’t hard to locate – such an unusual sound.  I should have recorded it but by the time I got the camera it had quieted down.  Here is who it was…



Great Blue Heron perhaps?

 If it’s a Great Blue Heron, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one in a tree before. You might not be able to see the scale of bigness here without something to compare it with, but take my word for it, this was a big bird. Lots of amazing things in Florida.

Yesterday as I was leaving work my employer announced that a new worker was coming to train on Monday morning.  She has spent time training on the night routine already and now will learn how to do the day routine BECAUSE she is going to be the new travel nurse.  I’ve been taken seriously in my requests not to travel anymore! And my employer hasn’t been upset with me that I can detect.  She’s actually been very appreciative of the recent care I’ve given during her bout with the flu.

This new full time worker, I think, will allow me to have my regular weekly schedule of four days with Wednesdays and the weekend off.  In addition, when they travel I will have mini-vacations when nothing is required of me.  Oh how I look forward to that!  I’ve recently suffered from a “burn out” energy crisis but I can feel myself getting motivated to do stuff again at the thought of having that time.  I will no longer have the dread of the next request to go out of town.  It’s like entering a new era of life. 

And I don’t have to get anxious about it being an era of less money either – because there is that aspect of it.  I have word of a possible place to get extra hours at higher pay for less strenuous work.  That is really what I need at this point to spare my joints and muscles the constant pain. I am so grateful for this turn of events and will live in a mode of inner celebration until further notice.