Senior Center...

This Blog post is not about the home in which Claude and I live...Yes, we are officially both senior citizens but we have not quite yet started referring to our home in that light. But we have both done things to help with our local Senior Center.

Claude participates with the Georgetown-Scott County Senior Activity Center board. Each year, as Mayor of Sadieville, he is invited to help with distributing the Meals on Wheels. He really enjoys this opportunity. This year he went on Wednesday, March 20th. Some kind soul took a picture of him with Judge Lusby our Scott County Judge Executive. Don't they look happy providing this service. Claude is on the left and Judge Lusby is on the right.

Claude learned through their monthly board meeting at the Georgetown-Scott County Senior Activity Center that they wanted to have a purse auction for a fundraiser for the Center. My dear hubby knows I have found my perfect purse. The first one was purchased in 2005 in Berea, Kentucky. It is cloth with just the right amount and sizes of pockets. This makes it washable if it get dirty. After my first one wore out, I carefully took it apart and have used it as a pattern ever since to make my next one. I've even made some for family and a friend or two. Claude's brain made the connection and he asked me if I would make and donate a couple of purses for the auction. We thought they were looking at May for this auction. I purchased the quilted reversable fabric and Sunday evening enjoyed several hours of sewing putting them together.

Claude learned in the Senior Center meeting yesterday they have now scheduled the auction for August. Matters not. Our donation is complete and ready when they are.

 

Sometimes I'm amazed at the involvement we have with our community. It is a nice feeling to be that connected to our city and county in such a nice way. Being seniors can be a good thing.

A Comment...

Had a tearful start to my morning yesterday. I received a comment on a Blog post I did from April 2011. The Blog post was titled "Mother Dear I Love You So". It was about a visit with my mother in the nursing home.

This is the comment I received:

Diane Haggart has left a new comment on your post "Mother Dear I Love You So....":

Wow I am so glad I came here as you just proved my point. I stumbled in to a negative feminist sight that was teaching about why all the mother songs were bad because it stated it compared them to flowers and beauty . I. just was looking for help for mothers day.
I said all moms are beautiful to little kids just like all moms are beautiful when they are old as well . you made me think of my dear mother before she passed.I m so glad there other sisters out there that think like I do
Thank you I needed this Sister Haggart

I opened up my Blog post and read it. It was one of those moments I needed to reflect on. I put many of these in my Blog as we tread the journey of Alzheimer's. I entered these posts for me to have to reflect on that journey. I wanted to end it by remembering all the positive things that happened, not just the bad things.

I was touched that after all this time Diane (whom I do not know) went back in my Blog entries somehow and found that post to read and it gave her an uplift. I'm more grateful she took time to type me a note about her experience. Think of it...we can lift and help each other even when we are far away and don't know each other. That is truly a tender mercy.

Thanks Diane for drawing me back to re-read this entry about my mom and feel close to her again.

I sat yesterday afternoon visiting with my father. He shared with me a dream he had during the night. His face had more joy in it than I see usually. His eyes were bright with excitement and just pure joy at this dream. He said he was in a beauiful place somewhere, he did not know where. He was singing in a huge choir. He was just enjoying it so very much during the dream that his heart was full. Even as he shared it you could see he remembered every detail and it was still filling him with happiness. 

I asked him how he felt about the dream.  In my mind I'm seeing a heavenly choir in the hereafter. Papa is rid of this mortal body that won't do what he yearns to do, like singing in full voice again. I didn't want to plant that idea in Papa's head if it wasn't already there, but I was very curious if he had thought of that. All he could say in response to my question was, "I just felt happy!!"  And it showed in his face and eyes.

I visited a little lady from Church this week in her home. She is actually supposed to come to my home but I went to her's so it would be easier for her. We visited for a good while before I had to head to Papa's to check on him before teaching my Institute class that evening. Most of our visit was about her health concerns. As I left, she gave me a big hug and I hugged her right back. Then she said something about how much my visit to her meant. She was definitely lonely. She can drive and get out and about but she is still lonely.

I look at Papa and work with him and realize he is just lonely.  I think of Jim Parker at Church who lost his wife last year and he is also lonely. It is not that these people don't have some things that fill there lives, they have family that cares for each of them, but they are still lonely.

I hope I'm always sensitive to that feeling in others. I feel it in myself sometimes and I think that is silly. I have a hubby that fills my life, I have family and dear friends, I have involvement in my Church and community. My life is far from being empy and without human interaction. But I think we all feel lonely sometimes. I just think it is a much more intense version when you have lost your spouse.

I'm rambling but I want to record and remember this understanding about being lonely and the need for me to remember and be kind to others who are lonely. Life is an interesting journey and sometimes, writing these things down so we can reflect on them, remember them better because they have gone from our mind through our fingers to the page, and draw strength then from re-reading them is very important.  I think often of giving up this Blog and then someone like Diane reminds me that we just might lift and serve someone else by a little action that we many never even know touched someone if they don't send you that little note saying 'thanks'.

Thank you Diane for your little note. I'll Blog on a little longer...

Carrots Are Good For Your Eyes...

Somewhere in my childhood I remember my mother telling me that eating carrots was good for your eyes. How? I do not remember that part at all.

I'm also sure I remember being a young married lady when drinking carrot juice became 'fashionable' for some. They bought big juicers and made carrot juice to drink to make them healthier...and...if one drank too much they became orange!!

One of my favorite carrot dishes as a working mother of three teenagers was shredding carrots and cooking them with butter and brown sugar in a skillet. Being shredded makes them cook much more quickly (this is a huge plus when you are that busy) and cooking them in butter and brown sugar makes them taste a lot like candied sweet potatoes. Yummy!!

My dear hubby ran across a recipe I have prepared two times now using carrots. I mentioned it in my last Blog post and am now including that recipe just in case someone else might like it. I only have the page with the recipe on it, but it appears to have come from something called American Profile.com. It was submitted by Kelly McKillip, Sequim, Washington.
 
Toasted Hazelnut and Carrot Stir-fry

2 tablespoons clarified butter or vegetable oil or mixture of both
1 pound carrots
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (I will only use 1/4 teaspoon now)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I used the powdered spice version)
1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped

1) Peel and cut carrots into matchstick-size pieces.
2) In a large wock or frying pan, heat butter or oil over high heat. Add all remaining ingredients except hazelnuts. Stir until carrots are coated and just begin to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Add nuts and stir-fry 1 minute longer.

This recipe does cook up quickly and is a great side dish. The first time I prepared it was in the morning for our Homemaker's Club lunch and we didn't eat it until later and it was very good. The second time was this weekend and we ate it immediately after being prepared and it was very good.

The thing that takes the most time is cutting all those carrots into match stick size. I always keep those baby carrots that are already peeled and a nice snack size in my refrigerator. I just took half of my two pound bag and used that. I cut each baby carrot in half. Then I sliced the half into pieces the width of a match stick. Then I sliced those pieces into the final size of the match stick. I placed all these in a plastic container and covered with water. Then I placed the carrots in the refrigerator until ready to cook them for my meal. The first time I cut them up the night before and left them overnight to prepare in the morning. Just drain all the water off and cook away.

This is an excellent little recipe and not hard to prepare. We'll definitely keep this one in our veggie rotation, especially when company comes.

Now, I must go and look at my eyes in the mirror and see if they are any better at all...

Why, Yes, Yes I Did...

Our youngest grandson, Hayden, when asked a yes or no question will often reply , "Why, yes, yes I can/did/etc." I just love it when he says that. It seemed an appropriate title for a Blog post that is really a catch-up on all that's happened since March 9th when I last posted to my Blog.

Why, yes, Saturday, March 9th I did...Attend a great Seminary and Institute Inservice for teachers. These are always so uplifting and we are taught important aspects of how to teach.

Why, yes, Monday, March 11th I did participate in a special '40 Day Fast' for the 'Come and See' scheduled for April 21st at Church. Each family in our ward (congregation) picked on of the forty days prior to April 21st for their family to fast in an effort to help find friends and neighbors and co-workers that might be interested in learning a little more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The day I picked for Claude and I to fast was Monday, March 11th.

That Monday was also the date for the Friends of Sadieville to have their monthly board meeting. I am Chair for this board and we were able to keep this meeting to about 1 hour. Yeah us!! And we covered all topics needing discussion and planning. Now I have to complete my 'to-do list' from that meeting. Partly done but not complete yet.

Why, yes, Wednesday, March 13th I did attend our Countryside Homemaker's meeting at Detta Wilson's home. We had to postpone it due to snow the Wednesday previous. (As I type this we are having more snow today. Goodness!!) We had a great meeting. I'm president of this club and conducted the meeting. Our lesson was titled 'Shopping Your Closet'. Faye Privett was to have taught the lesson. She attended the training and was ready to teach the first Wednesday but had a doctor's appointment the second Wednesday so I taught in her place. She left the materials off on Saturday and I pulled the lesson together Sunday evening. It went very well and the ladies had lots of comments and discussion. That always makes a lesson better. Detta served meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I made a new recipe for carrots that Claude found. It was delicious. Maybe I'll post it separately. Maggie Williams taught our craft which was gift bags made out of cloth. Pictured left to right:  Maggie Williams, Sandi Christensen, Kathy Dunaway and JoCarol Wilson.

I returned home after Homemakers just in time to dump my Homemakers things and gather what I needed to head to Georgetown and sing with Papa at the nursing home.

Why, yes, Thursday, March 14th I did get a haircut. Yippee!! We are heading out on our big trip soon and I had to work to time the haircuts to be in good form for our trip.

This day was also Aubrey Anne's birthday. She is our middlemost grandmonster and she turned the ripe old age of 15. She called us to thank us for her gifts before we even got her called to sing Happy Birthday. She was a happy teenager and looking forward to dinner out with her family at Golden Corral.

In the evening we had the Relief Society Birthday Party at Church. The Relief Society is the organization for the ladies 18 years old and up. The actually birthday would be March 17th but our celebration was March 14th. It was great fun. The round tables were set up in the cultural hall and each was decorated differently. The ladies asked to decorate a table were given a theme. Some of them were:  the Islands; Princess; Candy; Polka dots; Cupcakes; etc. They also provided the dessert which was the centerpiece for the table. I sat at the Island themed table. Little plastic grass skirts had been taped around the edge of the seat of our folding chairs. There was a lei hanging from each chair. The cake on our table was decorated like an island with a hut and flowers made out of a chocolate you can mold. The cake itself was a coconut cake. There was a talk, a video presentation, a chance to decorate puzzle pieces and a game like Jeopardy. Great fun and so nice to be with the ladies.

Why, yes, Friday, March 15th I did go to the Louisville Temple in the morning with my hubby. Then we headed to the Marx home for a nap before the kidlings got home from school. Bo the cat even managed to climb up in the bed and nap with us. We spent the night with the Mini's while Andie and Michael had a date night. The Mini's had a new movie for us to watch with them. Something titled "Wreck It Ralph". While they watched the movie I worked on Claude's old laptop he had given to the Marx's for the Mini's. It seems the Microsoft Office files were not being recognized. Claude was very pleased that I figured out how to get them to work again. I was happy he was pleased.

Why, yes, Saturday, March 16th I did stay at the Casa Marx while Claude went to New Albany, Indiana to teach an emergency preparedness class. Andie was able to do some shopping and baking in preparation for Hayden's Blue and Gold Scout Banquet that evening. Hayden would leave Wolf rank and become a Bear in the Scouting program. The Mini's and I put a couple more games on my Kindle and played puzzles and also some Wii. I was able to get Andie and Bailey's hair cut. Claude returned and we took the kids to the park so Andie could decorate cupcakes for the banquet. While at the park the kids didn't want to play on the playground equipment at all. They wanted to walk the path through the park and around part of the lake. Hayden got out in front of us a bit and turned to look at us way behind him. He made some comment about us being slow. Bailey piped up and said, "Well, old people are slow and they are OLD!" Goodness. After our hike we took the Mini's home and headed to Frankfort. Claude took me to the cemetery. I had a feeling the flowers on my mother's grave were not right. Sure enough, they had blown out of their container with all the rain, snow and wind we have been having. We fixed the flowers and then headed to the Carter family's home for dinner and ice cream. We totally enjoyed our visit with these dear friends. They make a mean container of chocolate homemade ice cream. Two bowls of that each and we headed back to Sadieville to get things ready for Sunday.

Why, yes, Sunday, March 17th we did call our Andie to wish her a happy birthday. We waited until we thought the kids would be in bed. Michael answered and said she was upstairs putting the kids to bed. He said he would text us when she came back down and we could call again. So very different from a few years ago. So many electronics. We sang a very pitiful rendition of Happy Birthday. Claude pitched it higher and I just couldn't find my note. It was pathetic but we had a very good laugh. Michael got Andie a guitar for her birthday and Claude gave her some pointers about how to play it. You see, my hubby and my kids are all left-handed. Andie was wondering if she should learn to play left or right-handed. I think we settled on her trying to learn with her right hand if she could.

Why, yes, Tuesday, March 19th I did go to the Family History Center for our 4 hour shift with my hubby. Afterward he took me to 5 Guys for a burger before heading home.

Why, yes, Wednesday, March 20th I did have my annual mammogram. Then I picked Papa up and took him to the nursing home where we sang to a packed house. Papa was very happy with the turn out and that some of them actually applauded after we sang.

Why, yes, today, Thursday, March 21st I did bake a cake for tonight, mail birthday packages to Michigan, get my camera ready for travel and now I'm Blogging.

Through all of these days that are so many thing that have been done like preparing Homemaker things to be done in case I'm not home by the next meeting, preparing the things for Friends of Sadieville that will be posted on Facebook before leaving for our trip, preparing two Institute lessons, one for tonight and one for the Thursday after we return, making my grid for our trip and getting all the bases covered for Papa while I am gone, preparing and chipping away at my to-do list before we travel, do my visiting teaching and the list goes on.

So I can confidently state that since March 9th, "Why, yes, yes I did..."

Down With the 'Valli'...

May I just begin by stating how nice a date is with one's honey even after 43 years of marriage. Since my last Blog I have filled my days with those things that must be done, that need to be done, and that others need us to do.

Papa has had a head cold all week so each day I checked in on him, bought some groceries he needed so he wouldn't go out of his apartment, bought some more cold meds to get him through the worst of it, and visited with him to break up his monotony. I've covered the Wednesday afternoon at the nursing home. I've done my own laundry and Papa's. I've prepared and taught my Institute lesson. And the list just goes on. These are things that don't truly inspire a Blog post but they are important and fill the days with productive living.

Last night was the change that adds the fullness to life. Claude and I went to Louisville to listen to Frankie Valli for the evening.

Frankie Valli told us his career really started in 1962. Do the math. This is 2013. That is 51 years of career. One has to admire just that length of work.

Claude and I talked about that on the way home. We both are aware that most of us work for a 'retirement' at some point. Most of us are looking at the dollars and trying to find that right place for us to quit full-time employment and focus ourselves in a direction at retirement that we couldn't do while we had that 9-5 job. Yet, here is a man that will be 79 in May and still going strong. Surely he has met that financial road block to retirement. But he showed and talked and gave no indication he might stop anytime soon. I read an article in AARP Magazine about Dustin Hoffman. He states in there that when a person is doing the things he loves he just doesn't look at it as a job so he doesn't feel a need to retire. I'm thinking that is where Frankie Valli is regarding retirement.

He has a quartet of young men singing backup for him. They are excellent. They do all the synchronized moves that would have been done by the Four Seasons. Frankie is the lead voice and moves a bit on the stage but not in those synchronized moves. There was a brass section, a drummer, a percussionist, a base player and two guitar players, a young man that played a sax, a flute, the tambourine and the keyboard, and the real keyboard player that directed them all. This director has been working with Frankie Valli for 35 years. He owns that keyboard and is all over it. The music and all the vocals were superb.

Our seats were on the Grand Tier level in the middle of the row of Whitney Hall at the Kentucky Center. Perfect location. Whenever I purchase tickets for a show there I pick seats in this area. This time we were in row D. Seated in Row C directly in front of us were and older distinguished looking gentleman and his companion. She had every diamond looking rhinestone on her she could possibly wear, lots of animal print furs for her vest and purse, bleached short hair that was spiked out as though she just got up from a good night's rest and ran her fingers through her hair and tons of make-up. This couple seemed to be so very happy to be together.  At one point in the show the lady in Row A in front of us stood up to dance and sing with the music. This apparently gave the lady in front of me in Row C the right to stand and dance also. She was a very tall lady and I was already having trouble seeing around her head with her sitting. Her standing completely blocked my view of center stage where Frankie Valli was standing and singing. I was trying to peek around her and even asked the man next to me if I was getting in his way. He assured me I was fine. After a bit the distinguished looking gentleman tugged on his companion with the fur clothing and accessories and spiked hair and told her she needed to sit down. I don't know if he was aware of my trying to see around her or if he was aware that the lady in Row A sat down and now his companion was the only one in the Grand Tier standing and dancing. She sat down alright but she was not at all happy about it. We all enjoyed the rest of the show and at the end all of us stood to give all the musicians a standing ovation. Then I noticed that all of us stood except the lady in Row D. At one point we all stood again for another standing ovation and again the lady in Row D did not stand. This time her distinguished looking companion reached down and put his arms around her and tried to say nice things to her so she would stand. Nope, she was not going to do that. I found myself chuckling. This lady was clearly older than me. Old enough to not be pouting...but alas, that is exactly what this lady was doing...and she was doing a most excellent job of it. She wouldn't hold her companions hand as they left the theater. I explained all of what I saw to Claude as we walked to our car. The bottom line was this lady made a spectacle of herself by both of her choices. She stood out like a sore thumb when dancing alone in the very center of the Grand Tier and she stood out by sitting alone when everyone else stood and gave credit to the entertainers for their performance. I am totally blown away by the pouting of a lady clearly into her 70's. Unbelieveable.

Frankie Valli has a new CD.  He sang some numbers from it for us to enjoy. Basically he stated that when approached about making a CD he knew he couldn't do the current style of music. He said they researched and found songs from the 60's that were 'stolen' from the Four Seasons. Really they are all just great 60's songs that he is singing. One of them was "Let It Be Me".  Oh my, the audience was singing along. I'm enjoying singing melody and harmony. Claude's singing. The nice man to my left is singing. Great fun. After that song I turned to Claude and we both said, "That is worth the price of that CD!" I have researched and we will be purchasing that CD.

I can highly recommend seeing Frankie Valli if he comes to a venue near you. He is still in great voice and puts on a grand show. We left refreshed and totally enjoyed our date night.

Along Comes Kindness...

This week has been a week for sick-o's. Truly. Not the perverted ones. The blowing, sneezing, coughing, hurling, fever, achy, can't sleep kind. It felt like I might should have make a sign for our front door that said, "Under Quarantine. Do NOT Enter!!"

By mid week I could feel my episode with a very, very nasty head cold begin to break and want to clear. Albeit is doing that every so slowly but it is happening and I can feel it.

Thursday when I got home from Institute my hubby was curled up on the sofa with a throw over him. His words, "Do you think I have a fever?" were all I needed to hear to know he was about to go down my path. I took comfort in knowing it was only a head cold and, assuming it was what I have, it would start to feel better in a couple of day.

I did find that my trip to teach Institute was quite wearing so I knew I wasn't fully mended yet.

Claude had a meeting in Louisville all day Thursday. He never woke up to go and I didn't wake him. If he was that sick, he didn't need to be around others and he needed to rest. Rest and liquids are always the best medicine.

Friday, he woke up and was feeling very sick to his tummy.  That seemed to be a stronger symptom than mine. He was also running a lot higher fever than I did. Maybe his was going to be worse. We fixed him a big glass of 7-Up over ice and tucked him in bed with the remote and his set of DVD's for a favorite comedy series. He did not get any better as the day wore on.

This morning he woke up and asked me to look at him and see if I noticed anything. Ummmm...YEP!!!  His left cheek was somewhere between two and three times larger than his right cheek. That was not good and definitely not something I experienced. We both are sure he must have an abscessed tooth. That would explain the nausea and fever being greater than mine. He also had a nose bleed at one point. It would seem he didn't get my cold after all.

I called our dentist to leave a message to get him in first thing Monday if at all possible. I got her emergency number from her office message. I called it and had Claude speak with her. She prescribed an antibiotic and some pain meds. I headed to Georgetown to pick up the things to help make my hubby begin to feel a little better.

We settled into an afternoon at home. I was in my sewing room working on my little gift project when I the phone rang. It was my friend, Laura. If memory serves, she asked about snow in our area. I told her her we had a little. Then Laura said, "You should check outside your front door." Hmm...I had opened the blinds from my sewing room and looked at the back yard but Laura insisted I should check the front door. I did and found a most wonderful package on our doorstep. In it was an enormous container of chicken noodle soup and what I thought was a box of tissues (in reality it was a box of crackers).

Laura told Howard, her hubby, that Claude now had what I had. Howard's reaction was, "But Claude is the one that makes the soup!"  Such good friends that know us so well. They set to work preparing chicken noodle soup for us. Then they drove all the way over from Frankfort and placed it our front door step. Then drove away and called to be sure I went to the front door.

After heating it up we placed it in our special soup mugs we got from the potter on Claude's birthday trip. Man-O-Man was it just the best thing on a cold, snowy day when we are both under the weather.  We are so grateful for these dear people in our lives.  Even if they hadn't brought soup, we would still be grateful for these friends. But we are deeply grateful they took all that time and effort and care to help us.

Thank you Carter family! 

'Hand'y Gift...

I had an interesting experience about a week ago. Claude and I went to the Louisville Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints last Friday. The session we attended I sat next to a young girl. She was probably in her late twenties.

After our session she quietly came up to me and said, "I just want to tell you, you have very pretty hands." I smiled and thanked her for the gracious compliment. She will probably never know that lift that gave to me.

I love hands. I have pictures of hands that I will always treasure. A couple of my favorite songs from my past have to do with hands. I just think hands are fascinating things.

As I look at my hands I can see the age in them. You know, those brown spots that are the neon lights of hands saying, "I'm getting older, see!!" My hands look exactly like my mother's hands. They move in the same way my mind remembers hers moving. I have used my hands without gloves to protect them to do lots of things that wear away at them. Coloring hair when I was a beautician. Laying in the sun till they were a nice dark brown color. Cleaning my home. Digging in the yard. So many things that just age hands. So when I look at my hands I see years of experience, work and even love. I don't see them as exactly pretty. More as a sign of a well-lived, full life.

When this young lady gave me this compliment, it was totally out of the blue and very welcome. Such a little thing to boost one's feelings.

Next item...

As president of the Countryside Homemakers club, I have tried to have a little gift for our 14 members each month. I prepared as much as I could last summer and just have to put finishing touches on before giving the gifts. For March I purchased bright emery board nail files, a package for each lady. Today I needed to figure out how to give them.

My mind reflected back to that sweet compliment last week. I Googled hand quotes on my laptop and it gave me a link to Goodreads. These are quotes from books and the author is given credit for the quote. I feel pretty confident these are quotes attributed to the actual for that stated them or wrote them. I scrolled through several pages of these quotes and picked four that I really liked.

I then opened my Word software and created a postcard file with four cards to a page. I had a place with some hand pictures already in my computer files. I picked the right one for this gift. It was a picture of the 'Praying Hands'. I posted about that years ago but it is one of my favorite stories. I put that picture in the background of each of the postcards. Over the picture I put my four quotes with each quote being in a different font.

After printing enough post cards, I simply punched a hole in the corner of each post card and a hole in the corner of each package of nail files. Then I tied those corners together with a bright paper ribbon. Simple but full of care.

My four quotes are:

• "I feel the healing hands of God touch my heart and kiss my soul." ~~ Harley King
• "Of life's two chief prizes, beauty and truth, I found the first in a loving heart and the second in a laborer's hand."  ~~ Khalil Gibran
• "We have hands; we can stand on them if we want to. That's our privilege. That's the joy of a mortal body. And that's why God needs us. Because God loves to feel things through our hands." ~~ Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love
• "To receive everything, one must open one's hands and give."  ~~ Talsen Deshimaru

I'm very happy with this little gift. I'll share my little compliment story and then I'll give these little gifts.

Then I'm going to take my camera and get a picture of all our hands. We are making a display of things we have done this year for the annual meeting in May of all the Homemaker Clubs in our county. I think that picture of all our hands will be the best center for that display. We have all used our hands to cook for our lunchs, teach us each crafts, prepare our lessons, and serve each other. The picture of our hands will be a nice tribute to this year of being homemakers together.

Strange Moment...

Thursday nights I teach an Institute of Religion class in Lexington to the Young Adults (age 18-30). Everything Thursday I prepare something for refreshment after class. However, this week I have been very sick and felt like baking cookies or a cake and giving it to these young people with a shiny red nose would be counter productive. I mean, really, who wants to eat something from someone with a cold, even if they are a fanatic about washing their hands. Just seemed not the best idea. So I opted to stop in at Walmart and pick up two packages of nice cookies for refreshments.

I selected Chunky Chocolate Chip and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies. Ever the practical lady, I wanted cookies I would enjoy in my home if they didn't eat them all.

I took my place in the express lane. When it came my turn, the nice checkout lady rang up my total while I search in the caverns of my purse for my wallet. She got my total and looked at me kind of stunned and said "6.6.6". I looked at her and said, "What?"  She looked back at me and said, "6.6.6. (Pause)  Would you like to purchase some gum?"  I looked at her and said, "That is not good! Is it really $6.66?"  "Yes," was her reply.

By this time the lady behind me in line was paying attention. We all knew that 6.6.6 is the sign of the devil from Revelation. I usually find it strange when the purchase just ends in an even dollar amount like $6.00. But this was really strange to me.

I found the exact amount of money and told her this was most amazing as I was actually taking these for refreshments for a religion class I was going to teach. Then all three of us burst into laughter.

I stopped at Papa's to give him a haircut and shared this story with him. He also had a nice laugh out of it.

When we got to the end of the lesson last night I explain to the class my strange little experience and asked that the person saying the closing prayer be sure to bless the refreshments - carefully. Again, we all got a good chuckle. However, BJ did say a very nice closing prayer and included a nice reference to those cookies.

I'll just add that there were left over cookies which I took home and Claude and I enjoyed. Silly numbers!!  I think I'll have one of those cookies for breakfast!!