Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Club, Class, Coupon and Concert

Club:
On Friday night, we had our first AYM--Guys (A Year of Memories) meeting. Everyone enjoyed the project so much that this year, we are doing one for the guys. For some of us, it was like pulling teeth to get the guys to do their stories. For others, once started, couldn't be stopped! Here are the results:
For Butch's page, I titled it "ReMEmber 5."
"Favorite Memories @ 5" is Bruce's page.



"5 Memories" for Hugh.

"5 Memories @ (5)" is what Nancy used for Bill's page.

"Memories" for Pete.



"5 Memories @ 5 Years Old" is Jeanne's title for Jim's page.

The meeting ran a little longer than I thought as the guys spent a lot of time recounting their memories. It was especially fun hearing about the "old" days in Nashville. Jack joined in with Bill to tell us a few historical facts. I've decided to do a scrapbook for Jack. He's very enthusiastic. As I told Connie, it will be fun working with a "willing" subject!

Class:
Last week, Mindy asked me what I was doing on Saturday. I told her that I was teaching a class in the morning, but that was it. She said, "okay, mom, I'm going to come over in the afternoon. We can watch a movie and stitch and then go out to dinner after. Tell dad the plan." Since moving back, she thinks she is our social director! The next thing I knew, she texted me that she had invited Steph. Of course that's okay with us. Steph seems to be the one thinking she's always left out. I guess Mindy is going to start planning her social life too.

Coupon:
Anyway, when I got home from my class, Steph was snoozing on the couch---Butch had taken her shopping to find a new tv. Mindy arrived about 3 and we started the movie---Nine---don't waste your time. We had decided on Whitfield's for dinner because I had a "coupon" good for $25.00. You can see where this is going. Had it only been Butch and I, we could have had a really nice dinner at a bargain price. Add Steph and Mindy, then there's cocktails and a bottle of wine, not to mention dessert. With coupon and tip, the bill was just short of $200. Sheesh---maybe coupons aren't really worth it. Had this one not been expiring on February 1st, we'd have gone to Chili's for their 2 dinners for 20 bucks special. For some reason, that's not a place we order drinks.

Concert:
I flew to St. Louis on Sunday to attend the Idina Menzel concert. She's one of my favorite Broadway idols. I was flying back home on Monday for book club. Lest you think I'm just some crazy, jet-setting fool, I have to make a confession. I looked at my calendar wrong. I thought this was the weekend before I was going to St. Louis for the scrapbook retreat in Barry, IL. AFTER I got the tickets, I realized my mistake. No way was I going to drive one day and back the next. Luckily, Southwest goes to St. Louis now. It only cost me $210 for the flight and $55. for the ticket---about the cost of a Broadway ticket. Plus, if you take off the $100 worth of gas it would have taken for the two tanks of gas, it was the smart thing to do. Or so I thought...

I left on Sunday morning. It was my first time flying since all the new security in Nashville. When I got to the airport, it was packed. I felt pretty good to be able to skip the long lines and just print my boarding pass since I wasn't checking any bags. When I went through security, I dodged the long lines by taking the "expert traveler" lane. I consider myself pretty expert by now. I know the drill---at least I used to know the drill. Now, you have to take everything off---well, not everything, exactly---but all bracelets, watches, everything out of pockets---including tissues. Luckily, I didn't put on any jewelry, nor was I wearing pockets. It took quite awhile for everyone to go through the new body scanner---and then to re-dress.

On my return, St. Louis doesn't appear to have such stringent security, so I just went through the old-fashioned regular metal detectors. I got on the plane as usual and chose a window seat. Normally, I really spread out and "hog" the center armrest, somewhat leaning over to make the middle seat unappealing. But this flight didn't look like it would be very full, so I leaned against the window to nap. Now, I can sleep pretty much anytime, anywhere. In fact, once, on my way back from Sandy's, I fell asleep in Kalamazoo before we even took off and woke with a jar when we landed in Detroit. I was pretty confused as to where I was as I didn't realize the plane had taken off. Granted, that's a pretty short flight, but the point is that I slept through take-off and all the way there. I've even slept through a root canal---honestly---and facials---I quit getting them because I was missing the whole enjoyment of it.

Back to my story. So, here I am napping nicely when I notice while I'm sleeping, a terrible odor. I don't understand how people are killed by smoke in their sleep. I smell things in my sleep---like skunks that have been run over on Old Hickory---the road above my house, or cookies baking in the oven---which turned out to be a pretty mean trick at Sandy's. I smelled that heavenly smell and  roused myself to "get 'em while they were hot" only to find it was the sugar cookie candle she was burning in her kitchen!!

Now I'm smelling this terrible stench. I haven't opened my eyes yet as I'm trying to figure out what it was. Then it hit me. Now, I don't consider myself to be terribly prejudicial, buuuutttttt, SOME groups of people carry an odor with them. I'm not going to say who that would be, but just let me say this in the way of a hint---"dot." I opened my eyes and sure enough, I was right. I couldn't believe it. I looked around---there were plenty of center seats available all around. In fact, I think my row was the only one occupied. That's what I get for going to sleep before staking my claim to that space!! I sort of put the air on full blast and angled it slightly at her. It helped a little. It was an unpleasant flight home. Seems I can smell while I'm sleeping, but I can't go to sleep in the midst of a bad smell. I had this palpable feeling that the stench was getting on me. So much for my boast of being able to sleep anytime, anywhere.


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