Ain't No Sunshine on my Gums...I Have No Idea Why I Titled This Post That Way

Some days before Thanksgiving Roy and I were out at lunch. No surprise that we were eating out but I overheard a conversation behind me between four family members. They were loud talkers so it isn't as if I was trying to pry. You couldn't help but hear them. A couple of times to Roy I sang, do you hear what I hear? A dinner, a dinner planned so very wrong and that's the end of this song and that's the end of this song. Anyway, as they planned their family lunch on Thanksgiving Day, it was obvious it was all out of hurt feelings. And these planners didn't even care. Their discussion went back and forth on the side dishes and they had a lengthy discussion on dessert. I kept thinking "picture what you are planning to put forth." Think of the presentation...I know presentation hasn't been a strong suite of mine but working with Jason six years has rubbed off on me. The following is what the foursome planned for Thanksgiving Day lunch, turkey, stuffing (not cornbread but just white bread stuffing), cauliflower, mashed potatoes with white gravy, heart of the stalk celery sticks and bread pudding. That is one white and boring Thanksgiving dinner! Several times one that seemed a little more timid than the others would say, well Aunt so n so loves sweet potatoes. What about green beans...not green bean casserole. That is when green bean casserole was added guess because it is made with bland colored cream of mushroom soup. Gee no olives or carrot sticks just to add something? Come on people where is your cranberry sauce? I wondered if all this would be served on white plates? Thanks but no thanks I love all that was mentioned except for cauliflower but just imagining what all those choices would look like, just kind of made me sad. As these four planned and schemed, it was obvious this dinner plan was revenge on some other relatives that hadn't taken kindly to what the present groups choices were for Christmas dinner last year. Oh there were other reasons too, all involving hurt feelings. Ah, been there experienced that...well not exactly that situation but the stressed, hurt and revengeful family situation. I was very close to going to that table of divisors and duplicitous planners, probably braver in my mind now than when all this was actually happening. But then, just at that time some other family members came in, saw their relatives and stopped for a moments visiting on the way to being seated at a table. I could hear the sound of paper being crumpled and purses opening and closing. Believe me, there was all kinds of conversation concerning Thanksgiving Day and here and there in that conversation the wishes of sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry orange sauce, JELL-O salads and pumpkin pies. Who knows what happened on Thursday, but I have pondered what I heard and hope some kind of compromise was reached or bad feelings put away. I don't know, I have a feeling that those who attended have been dreaming of a white Thanksgiving just like some ones they've never known until last Thursday.


Oh, this past week has been an interesting one. It is always a great deal of fun to come off of pain meds after being on them for almost two years. Actually, it wasn't as difficult as I had anticipated having done this one other time in my early 30's. The difficulty being unique and unexpected. So I have a week and two days behind me and I'm doing good. On the way home from brunch today Roy said that I'm sweeter off the pain meds but scale of emotions has widened quite a bit. He said, like sweet to cranky or cranky to sweet in zero to three seconds. And like Martha, in the Bible, a crowd has returned to my brain. Those of you who have heard Beth Moore talk on this, know what I am talking about. The attention span on pain meds is much more focused than how I am now in my natural habitat. You should see the unfinished projects from this week. Going to try and wrap those up today. Ha ha ha! That made me laugh. Seems like the brain fog has cleared but my knees are beginning to ache. Not looking forward to the return of that. Get this, all this time on these pills, I'm allergic to them! Thus as of late that's the reasoning of some of the difficulties. Guess the recent rash was the tip off. OK, I just have to mention how loud the acorns sound this year falling off the trees. Has anyone else with oaks noticed this? It sounds like gunshots at times. Just heard a loud acorn fall and had to report.

It is nice having a break from Sunday School on holiday Sundays. It's the only time one can go to brunch without the skipping of church. Hey, I went to church like a Presbyterian today. Didn't carry a Bible. I can say this because we are Bapterian. Anyway, after the 9:30 service we went to Pappasitto's for brunch. They are now serving it on Saturdays too, 9:30 am. I digress, so we went and had the best migas and breakfast tacos. Afterwards, we went to Life Time, no not to work out, so that Roy could see where some of our money goes on a monthly basis. It was the only wise thing to do after the tour but to walk across the street and see Anthropologie. They had so many candles burning. Awesome winter fragrance on a hot summer feeling day. He decided since many scents don't agree with him, to explore everything that is open or soon opening in City Centre. We both had fun but only one of us was carrying a little bag at the end of our City Centre experience.

Now if I was really spiritual I would take these three stories I just told you and weave them into some kind of teaching thought. Unforgiveness and bitterness, being set free (not from an addiction because I didn't abuse them or think I couldn't live without them) but guess it would be set free with a new enthusiasm and then shopping. See, I got nothing. No insight, no not nothing. Am I upset? No way. I will tell you over the years there have been some situations that have caused much pain and unhappiness. There are things that happened that should have never been. I think this is why I approach the holidays like I do. No unrealistic expectations over "togetherness" or not quite having any Hallmark card moments. If you don't have the situation you want for a holiday, taking it deep into your heart and not letting go of hard feelings just takes energy. And we need our energy for good things and events, giving, sharing and encouraging. Create your own celebration. Ain't no rule that you have to have these kind of times like every bad movie on Life Time (not my gym but the TV channel) seems to dictate. Heck, if Fu's were open on Thanksgiving, we were going to go there and have our Thanksgiving meal. It sounded kind of fun to me. And if something in your life needs to go, for a season or forever, ask friends to pray. Prayer brings us all closer to God and to one another. Like if there is someone you don't like, start praying for them. God changes your heart toward them...speaking from experience here. No reason to share this dislike with your unlikeable person, it can destroy all that closeness. Last but not least, have fun! You don't have to spend money to do that at all. We have so many times we HAVE to be serious, let's have some joy! Let's celebrate those little joys that only go on and create joyous experiences and times. Oops, I tied this all neatly in a bow and wove it all together. Believe me, I didn't have this in mind.

Here is something I am happy about, I didn't get taken in by the Oilers, I mean the Texans today. They were up several points against the Colts today when we got home, but I decided to take a nap instead of watching the game. That was a good decision.

Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen

Remember when I wrote bragging about our $70.00 sale of books to Half Price Books? We surely had cornered the market on knowing how to sell books. Ha! We have nothing to do with it. This morning Roy ran another box of books to sell. I have been a reading machine for the past few weeks. Current titles, not many Christian books and he got $7.25! Where is the justice? Oh well, once upon a time, Roy got $70.00 for a box of books and they lived happily ever after. The End.

We are going to put that $7.25 to work. Roy is getting Mustang Sally some new shoes. Her shoes cost some change. Now if we can times $7.25 up a 100, we will have those new tires paid for. :)

It has been one of those mornings. Roy went to Moeller's to buy some rye bread, gingerbread men and order 2 orange cakes...Moeller's is closed today.

I have a couple other things I would like to get done today, so I'd better stop blogging.

Thanksgiving 2009

I may only have a few minutes to be online. Roy has been inventorying his father's coin collection. Around lunch time, we took a Lupe's break, then waddled into Walgreen's for a magnifying glass and some yummy chocolate and peppermint candy and then over to Academy. Think the magnifying glass has helped tremendously in organizing the coins. Dimes are the hardest to read. On our way home we stopped at U.S. Coins and Roy made an appointment for them to look through what his dad has collected.

Yesterday was a great Thanksgiving Day. We eased into the day. Roy was so good and even went to workout. Uh, I stayed home and gave thanks...thanks for not having to be in a gym working out. Then we had this brilliant idea to go see Blind Side at 12:30 when most people would be eating their Thanksgiving lunch. There were just a few people in the theatre. We came home after the movie and by the way, it is such a great movie, please go see it. This is coming from someone who rarely goes to see movies. We might make a second trip to see it again. When we got home we began to warm up and heat all the fine food that had been prepared by Logan Hill, the play grocery store, Central Market and Whole Foods and we thanked the Lord for the hands that had prepared the food...cause none of our hands had anything to do with it. We only have mad microwave and re-heating skills. It was delicious!

I was thinking last night about Thanksgiving through the years. Most are forgettable, a few memorable for horrible reasons and the even fewer that were absolute joy. In all these memories I am thankful to the Lord that no matter the circumstances, He was there and He made a way. I am thankful for yesterday. Roy and I had a thankful Thanksgiving. God is so good!

Hope you had a great shopping experience if you participated in Black Friday. I just read Peggy's F B update. While she was in Toys R Us today, she put toys into people's shopping carts that they hadn't picked out. Said she was doing it for the economy. Now that is funny.

We Are Adopting Again and Other Junk

We are going to try again. Our first attempt to adopt met with failure. If I remember correctly she died before she knew she had been adopted by a Baptist family. So, I just mailed off our check and the choice of what we wanted this time. We decided to go with a Sister interested in Education both of adults and children. Yep, we are adopting another nun. Hope the one they choose for us has a little more longer of a life span than the previous sister. I'm excited over this, what a great way to begin Thanksgiving. Some people adopt children which is so wonderful, but guess we have a calling to adopt nuns. What a great habit...ha ha...lame joke...to get into.


How embarrassing! I don't know who was more, Elizabeth or me. Today, I was in the land of Sugar to get highlights and a haircut. It was time to remove the foil and rinse, then wash and condition. Elizabeth is awesome, she gives a great massage as you sit there letting the conditioning do it's work. It is wonderful all the attention Elizabeth puts into her efforts. As she was finishing up, she began wiping the side of my face, she continued, got a wet cloth, and applied vigorous force to that side of my face. It dawned on me, little sweet 18 year old Elizabeth must think I globbed up my make-up and she is trying to repair my goof. Only thing, she was working on an age spot and no amount of Shakespeare's Hamlet, "out, out damn spot" was going to remove the age blemish. Slowly but surely just as I was going to thank her for trying so hard to "help" me, she realized what that smudged dark spot was...oh yea it's an age spot. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I tipped her well.





Yesterday church was just dang fun. The choir sang in both services. Pastor Gregg taught a great lesson on the tower of Babel. Unfortunately, we missed the lesson in our class but had a great stretching time at the end. Got to love when a personal trainer combines God's Word and stretching. I was praising God because this was one Sunday that I didn't have a few panic and heart episodes before getting to church.

This has been an interesting week. Feels much longer than several days. It must be due to the fact I am weaning myself off of pain meds. In some ways it has been surprisingly easy but in other unexpected ways it has been really, really rough. Roy told me that I wasn't even cranky or irritable last night. I've asked friends to be especially forgiving if I say something out of the ordinary. There is much riding on getting off the meds. The hope is the lightheadness, the feeling of blacking out, the dizziness and the total absurd amount of sleep that has taken over my life will abate and some kind of normalcy will return. I do feel like my brain is coming out of a fog. So why the week of Thanksgiving to do this, well it just happened that way. Come to find out, all this time I have been on them, I am allergic to some of the ingredients. Thus the symptoms have become worse and worse over the past months and a rash has begun to show up. I knew something was wrong because of how I felt and everything else was checking out OK. Roy has been so supportive and helpful and Buddy has been a good nap companion. I sure hope my voice is showing up in this paragraph. I don't want to sound whiny and old yet I don't want to be flippant about how tough this month has been health wise. Let me say this has been a hard journey and I am learning so much from the Lord on this pilgrimage. I read the other day, you learn more in a storm than in annoying drizzle. I have faith I will see things more clearly on the other side of all this. We studied II Chronicles 20 this week in Bible study. Yep, it was great to be reminded the battle is the Lord's.

We are planning on spending a quiet Thanksgiving around home. We ordered a few dinner items from the play grocery store. Roy picked up some cranberry/orange sauce at Central Market and I got a small pecan pie yesterday at Whole Foods. Depending on how things are going and if they are going well we want to see Blind Side.

The days before going off the meds, I finally went through Christmas decorations stored in the back of the walk in closet. Roy has helped me go through stuff and he has made several trips to drop off at Good Will. Think we are becoming BFF's with that group. Even got paid, I found a total of $3.31 and two Starbuck cards with balances on them for a bonus by going through all the boxes.

I Got Nothing

I got nothing. Feel like I am in a blogging funk. There are some things I have been thinking through and studying but all of that is so serious. I don't think it is at a point where I can write about it. With December coming on so soon, I am in the process of starting my day later so I can have the energy I need for some things coming up in December which happen to be at night. I find myself dog tired by 6:00 pm most days and try to stay awake at least till 9:00 pm. While I am enjoying life to the fullest my energy and ability level is reduced considerably. So I have to say no to quite a few things I would rather say yes to. Well, I am totally bored with this subject matter.

Although the holidays aren't my favorite time of year, there are things about the holidays that I do love.

• Peppermint/chocolate chip shakes at Chicky
• Balsam scented candles
• Winter Forest soap
• Holiday theme Starbuck coffees in red cups
• Nordstrom doesn't decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving
• Customer Appreciation Night at the Nord. So much fun! So many points.

Buddy and I are on the outs. This morning she bit my wrist when I was sound asleep. I woke up yelling, which of course Roy was thrilled by, and she took a swipe at my face but she missed and I kind of think on purpose. We have been ignoring each other. Think we are warming up to each other this evening.

After Bible study today, Peggy and I went across the street from the church we meet at for lunch. A little neighborhood place. Our conversations run the gamut of all types of various subjects. After that I ran over to the outdoor mall at Cinco Ranch to look at Eddie Bauer's for shirts for Roy. I also looked at a couple of shops that were nearby. The sky was clouding up with some awfully dark colors. So I headed back into home.

This weeks homework was interesting. We all seemed to get hung up on the same series of questions. We have lots of rabbit trails on subject matter but our core group leader keeps us on task, well most of the time. One verse jumped out at me and into my heart from this week's study, "We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help." This was a part of Jehoshaphat's prayer in II Chronicles 20:12b I am looking at some situations that I have no clue what to do about them. I have no answers. I don't even have questions, I just got me some situations that I haven't a clue about. Now there is a verse to pray and to look to God for help. Hmm...guess I do have something...

I Have No Title

Our adopted daughter Becky blew Dayspring out of the water yesterday. Her lesson was awesome! She made this adoptive mom's heart rejoice at the goodness, wisdom, and the teaching gift that she obviously has. In the top five things I took away from my job at church, meeting and getting to know all the young admins is right there near the top. Becky worked for the preschool ministry as an admin and she then became the recreation ministry associate. Since she is newly retired at the age of 27, we are going to go to lunch at the Nord sometime after Thanksgiving and we can sit there talking till 1:30 without the worry of getting back to work. If anyone is looking for a young, gifted teacher, I would highly recommend Becky...and she is funny too!


Saturday morning was a tad bit exciting around the home front. Roy had just come back from working out. I was keeping the laundry moving and hadn't yet gotten out of my jammies. Roy was in the kitchen talking to me when I interrupted him, nothing new there, asking if he heard that beeping noise? He did and went into the hallway to investigate. He came back and said those are fire alarms, you better get dressed. Now I seriously debated about how I should look if there happened to be a fire and if the TV stations came to cover the fire. It is a known fact they look for the strangest person to interview and the way my hair was sticking out, maybe all the stations in town would stand in line to hear my comments. Good sense and the rule of good hair grabbed me back into reality... I went and took a quick shower cause if we had to evacuate the building I at least wanted to be clean. Roy came back in and said it was a false alarm. Buddy was on edge for the rest of the morning because she saw her carrier out. After a while, Roy volunteered to take the mail to the mailbox, but I think he just wanted to check out the happenings. What had caused the alarm to go off was improper ventilation of a condo that is being remodeled. The workmen opened the front door but none of the windows. That little mistake Roy reported from his journey to and from the mailbox, caused three fire engines to report. They had their fans in the hallways getting rid of all the smoke. I anticipate there being a directive sent from the manager's office today from the condo board. They probably will camp out on the rule of no workmen or remodeling is to be done on Saturdays. There are three condos being worked on in some capacity on our side of the building and they have all been working on Saturdays.


Since I am under orders to take things a little easy these next few weeks, it has given me the opportunity to get a lot of reading in. I think I read 7 books last week. Loved South of Broad but forgot that Pat Conroy drops the F bomb about every other sentence. I had a little worried thought that after seeing the word so much, I might accidentally drop it as well. So far, so good. I finally finished Waltzing at the Piggly Wiggly. Now this book is your typical small town in Mississippi story compete with characters and a secret from the past. The cover of the book is so cute and well Southern. Imagine the complete surprise when two, very descriptive sex scenes show up by surprise in the book. Wow, I didn't see that coming. Usually you know it is going on in these kind of books by the demur wording. Guess it's because a man wrote the book, although all other parts of the story are written like a Southern woman's point of view. Guess it is the new South. I also found two books I forgot I had, both having to do with spiritual pilgrimages. Read both of those on Friday and Saturday.


Today is beautiful and I think much cooler. My morning hasn't turned out quite like I thought it would. Having a few repercussions from accidentally taking too much of my blood pressure medicine yesterday. But now I am feeling good. I'm ready to be outside.

This Week

Oh, I could be in so much trouble. The Anthropologie opened just across the street from Lifetime. That is where I work out. In fact, on Tuesday, as I left the Spa, I went out the side door that is directly a simple few steps to Anthropolgie. It is a good thing I am not young enough or thin enough to buy clothes there. Their candles are so delicious. They even have a candle whose fragrance is wood burning in a fire place. Can't wait to try that out. Bought a couple of books and some glassware. Oh and a bar of soap. Can't forget the Simple Journal either.

Today Peggy and I were going to the Nutcracker Market but Peggy had some grand baby babysitting to do. She is going in the morning and checked in to see if perhaps I would like to go. After today's shopping I know I still don't have it in me to do that. My goal, next year Nut Cracker Market. Just traversing to and from the Nord to Eddie Bauer's today was a tough go. The past few weeks I have been getting tired too quickly and almost to the point of being out of breath. That happened twice on Tuesday, once after shopping at the above mentioned store. Today, I had a couple of little episodes right there in the Galleria. Thank goodness for Starbuck's passion iced tea. It cooled me off and gave me a chance to sit and get some restoration happening. It was a good day shopping wise. Roy got two shirts from the EB, on sale with an additional 30% off. I had some Nord notes and got a couple of tops and also picked up my pants that were being hemmed. After a bit of rest, I went to Old Navy to get some camisoles and they were on sale. Yahoo! Then I ran into Barnes and Noble and will miracles never cease, I didn't buy anything. I did go the Starbucks there for another iced tea. Those 3 barista boys made my day when they began flirting with this older woman. Don't think they were looking for a cougar but a nice tip. One asked if I had the day off and I replied no I'm retired. He said what? Why would a a woman in her 30's retire? See, I told you they wanted a nice tip. Then they asked what I was doing on such a beautiful day? I rubbed salt into the wound by telling them I drove a convertible while enjoying this wonderful day. It was too funny and in fact they were standing at the door when I drove by and they cheered in passing. Made a stop at Whole Earth Provision Company. They have Reefs on sale and I bought a mood ring for $2.95. Bought it because it is cute, not to chart my moods. Made a quick look-see at Sport's Authority. Got a pair of deeply discounted work out pants.

Yesterday was brunch day at Bible study. I really didn't eat too much because I was meeting a friend for lunch that day. Had some Lupe worthy beef fajitas at the little neighborhood joint we went to and I can't remember the name of the place but everything was awesome. Oh, it just came to me El Rancho.

Wednesday Amy K and I went to lunch at Grand Lux. We had a fabulous time catching up and encouraging one another in the faith. Can't beat the Bento Box at lunch. The leftovers were my dinner before choir.

Tuesday night before Revelation Bible study, I met Denise and Marcia for dinner at church. Good tilapia and great conversation.

I read something this week that has me thinking just a bit. You know I am a fan of laughter. Love to laugh and make others laugh. I read something the other day about laughter and the article mainly had to do with marriage but I think laughter is a good foundation of any relationship. So to wrap up my shopping extravaganza I will leave you with these words to ponder.

"Laughter is one clue to compatibility. It tells you how much you will enjoy each other's company over the long term. If your laughter together is good and healthy, and not at the expense of others, then you have a healthy relationship to the world.

Laughter is the child of surprise. If you can make each other laugh, you can always surprise each other. If you can surprise each other, you can keep the world around you new.

Beware of a relationship in which there is no laughter. Even the most intimate relationships, if based only on seriousness, have a tendency to turn dour. Over time, sharing a common serious viewpoint on the world tends to turn you against those who do not share the same viewpoint, and your relationship can become based on being critical together."

Oh there are too many people who hide their criticism underneath the spiritual gift of discernment. And really, it is the gift of discerning of spirits, so technically not the gift of discernment. Oops, I could be on the verge of critical. Anyway, I once heard Beth Moore say something in Sunday School. She said a good way to know if it is the gift or just a critical spirit is, the discerning is always negative. If joy, kindness and good is never discerned, then it's just being critical.

OK, go have some laughter this weekend or good shopping or good shopping at the Nutcracker Market.

Oh Buddy, You Did Your Mom Proud

Friday afternoon was Buddy's appointment with the vet. We had never been to this vet before because the old vet retired. What's that saying, old vets never retire they just simply close their business. Anyway, Buddy's records were transferred and that took care of that. Buddy saw Dr. Rose and Dr. Rose fell in love with Buddy. Buddy was the weight she should be, behaved while getting her shot and was laid back when they trimmed her nails. The nurse brought Buddy back in and said, she doesn't need to go back into her carrier, she can roam around the room. Now Buddy has never been too fond of the carrier but after looking around a bit, she jumped into the open carrier and gave me a look like, let's roll. That is when Dr. Rose came in and finished the exam. She could not get enough of Buddy. She could not say enough good things about Buddy. She was asking me all about Buddy and why SHE is named Buddy. I sat there on that little bench in the examining room and felt downright proud of Buddy. Roy is going to be so proud, she received an A++ from the Dr. Me thinks that means honor roll. Could she be Magna or Summa Cat Laude? And Dr. Rose said she is one of the most beautiful cats she has ever seen. That translates to me, Class Beauty and Most Popular. Hey, don't begrudge me this happiness. This is the closest I will ever know a "child" being honored. It didn't phase me one bit that the new vet is a bit more expensive than the previous one. Nothing is too good for my baby!

Half Yearly Sale at the Nord

It's that time of year when the world falls in love, every song you hear seems to say, Happy Half Yearly Sale and buy a few things new....and this song of mine in three quarter time wishes you and yours some good luck too.....

Wednesday began a favorite sale of mine, the Half Yearly Sale at Nordstrom. I haven't been shopping all that much this year because my daily uniform is much more casual now than in years past. But I realized I should have some other shoes besides New Balance running shoes, Privas and dressy shoes with heels. Much like my spiritual walk, as I begin most days with some quiet time with the Lord, I began Wednesday with some quiet time with the Nord. I went online to see the different offerings of shoes, pants and fragrances. I saw a pair of boots that has had my attention for the past year. They were on sale but I kind of disregarded the fact of the matter, they never have them in my size. Lisa P had texted me early Wednesday morning to see when I would be arriving and to set our lunch time. I got there about 9:20 and still able to score my second favorite parking place. My original plan had to go see Penny. She was holding some pants and a top for me. It was too much upon entering for me to get past the handbags and jewelery. Actually, once I remembered I had just bought a new purse, it was on to jewelery. Found a couple pieces of jewelery without duplicate. So picked those up and then over to Clinque bonus time. Got the last two colors of the lip liner I like. Funny, we have been studying the still small voice of God in Bible study. And since we are to pray about everything, I had asked the Lord to direct my steps while shopping. Afshin Zarafat once said in a sermon, if we are listening to God, we will hear Him speak to us, giving us the words we need as we share the Gospel or to hear Him give us direction. OK, I don't think he said the direction part now that I think about it, that comes from my own experiences. Anyway, in my spirit, I heard go to shoes. I mean just that little bit into the store I had seen the wind of rushing, the earthquake of women's pounding, earth shattering footsteps and the fire of passion to get a good deal...then came the still small voice, shoes.... And there they were on the top shelf of the shoe rack (I just realized that sentence could have a whole nother meaning if I said, top shelf rack) there were the boots. I turned them over to look at the label on the sole, and they were my size and ON SALE! Praise Him! And then I looked over to the left and there was a pair of shoes that screamed cuteness. Oh my yes, my size and ON SALE! Tried them on and bought them both. Then as part of my usual tradition of finding shoes on sale, I did a little happy dance right there in the midst of the Nordstrom shoe department.

I went to BP and hooked up with Lisa. We confirmed our lunch time and we dismissed ourselves to lives of shopping. In addition to the 2 pair of pants Penny had on hold for me, I was able to find two more pair that were on sale and a couple of deeply discounted tops.

After a delicious lunch of crab bisque and crab stack, I went back to have some dressy pants altered, longer hem. Then I was out the door. I called Roy so that he could rejoice in my Proverbs 31ness of making the good deal. He was mildly happy and only inquired if I had bought him shirts. Reluctantly, it is the women's and children's half yearly sale, not the men's. I reminded him of the good deal I found on jeans and shorts for him. Thus freely up a tidy sum for me to spend at the Nord. He just laughed.

I was oh so happy to return to the Nord last night to have dinner with Dena. My Nordstrom gift card came in the mail from the Rice Epicurean points I had turned in with two free meal cards. So Dena and I used one of those cause of all my friends, we split the best and get more bang for the buck on those kind of deals. We tried the new item on the menu, tempura shrimp. It was OK, but I probably won't order it again. We split the pizza special and shared a white chocolate bread pudding. After coupon, our meal was $6.98...oh so Proverb 31. We perused the main floor and did not come away disappointed.

On Wednesday a humorous incident brought me much laughter. From time to time I encounter "different" people while shopping. I cannot forget the woman in Macy's who yelled dial tone into her phone that hung around her neck like a soap on a rope. She was a great deal taller than me and kind of stood behind me in a candy cane shape. She kept asking about my purse because she had lost hers and thought quite possibly my purse was her purse, all the while during our nervous conversation, nervous on my part, she yelled dial tone into her soap on a rope phone. Wednesday it was a mother/daughter combo. The mother was quite old and she wanted to try on a leather jacket. She did and quickly decided it didn't flatter her. So the daughter who is probably around my age, so she is a young thing, decided she would like to try on the jacket. She said to no one in particular, where's a mirror? Since I was standing right there I said, "there's one right over there leaning against that pole." The daughter's face scrunched up and she said to me, do you work here? No, I replied, I was just trying to help you. She let me know that unless I worked there, I should not talk to her. Then she stood there and glared at me until I moved on to another rack. Who knows? Maybe her mom had told her about not speaking to strangers or something and I was considered stranger danger.


I think I might have some Nordstrom Notes coming in the mail...who am I fooling, I know there will be some Nordy Notes in the mail. Through today, you get double points for each dollar spent. So I am getting 4 points per dollar. Yahoo!

I was actually planning on making dinner tonight but Roy's Sunday School class is meeting at Fuzzy's tonight for dinner. Ah, it's been a good week and I thank God for it.