“The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do, and the more genuine may be one’s appreciation of fundamental things like home, and love, and understanding companionship.”
Yesterday, my good friends Helene, June and Linda met me over at Holy Family School. We were dropping off our donations for the little pre-schoolers. It’s always fun to buy and collect items during the month that we think the school could use, anything from crayons to baby wipes. It’s always an adventure.
It seems like every week, we can find some great bargain to add to our collection. This is what I gathered this month. Helene had her own trunk full of goodies.Checking out the playground and Community kitchen construction out back.Miss Roseanne gave us a little tour.We were fortunate to have a chat with our friend, the very busy Miss Sondra. The Community Garden and children’s playground are really coming along.
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After our visit to Holy Family School, Helene and I just had to take Linda and June over to One and Only Burger on Hwy 5. We’ve been bragging about their fries forever. They had never been.
“Friendship, like fine wine, improves with age. And, the more you have, the happier you feel. Just sayin’.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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Yesterday, a bunch of good friends gathered to celebrate the 60th birthday of Linda Grossman, “World’s Greatest Realtor” and awesome friend. I can say that we are “old friends” now because she turned 60. Welcome to the club.
Loretta and Bill contacted her friends and planned a surprise birthday party at Delaney’s Pub yesterday. A sweet surprise for a sweet lady.
Gospel of 22nd March 2020 – John 9:1,6-9,13-17,34-38
As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. He spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man, and said to him, ‘Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam’ (a name that means ‘sent’). So the blind man went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored.
His neighbours and people who earlier had seen him begging said, ‘Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some said, ‘Yes, it is the same one.’ Others said, ‘No, he only looks like him.’ The man himself said, ‘I am the man.’
They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. It had been a sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man’s eyes, so when the Pharisees asked him how he had come to see, he said, ‘He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see.’ Then some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man cannot be from God: he does not keep the sabbath.’ Others said, ‘How could a sinner produce signs like this?’ And there was disagreement among them. So they spoke to the blind man again, ‘What have you to say about him yourself, now that he has opened your eyes?’ ‘He is a prophet’ replied the man.
‘Are you trying to teach us,’ they replied ‘and you a sinner through and through, since you were born!’ And they drove him away.
Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied ‘tell me who he is so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You are looking at him; he is speaking to you.’ The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.
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My take on it… Wow! Even though Jesus performed a miracle and gave sight to a blind man, the Pharisees were on His case about not keeping the Sabbath. So, I guess you can’t perform miracles on the Sabbath? Even though these negative people didn’t believe, the blind man said, “Lord, I believe.” Sometimes it just takes one person at a time to see the light. The nay sayers and negative people will never see because they don’t want to, even when the truth is right there in front of them. Such is life.
So, after Mass, Helene and I stopped at McD for coffee. Our other third musketeer, Jerry, was out of town. After that, I called my old friend Miss Zelda. We’ve been trying to get together for lunch for weeks. Today was a perfect day for outside dining at Palio’s.
Hi, Miss Zelda. Lookin’ good.
After lunch, Miss Zelda asked if I had time to go over to Callaways to check out the flowers and shrubs. Everything was so beautiful, but pretty pricey. Personally, I don’t buy many flowers or plants because I have a black thumb, it green. My standard line is, “I can paint a flower, I just can’t grow a flower.”
Very pretty flowers.After I got home, I was exhausted for some reason. I took a two hour power nap and decided I better get out for a walk while it was still so lovely out. I’m not sure how many loops around the pond I made, but every time I checked my steps on my phone I thought, “I’ll just walk one more loop. I wanted to get at least 4K steps, then it was 5K, then I stopped checking and after a while, I walked a loop, sat to rest a minute, then walked another. I wanted to push myself. The sun was setting and was just too gorgeous to go back home. Maybe I could make it to 8K.Who would want to go inside when this was the view?
“You know what you call a large room full of talented artists? Amazing… you just call them AMAZING.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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I swear, every year the auction and collectors bowls created by the awesome local artists and artisans gets more amazing each year. I use the words amazing and awesome so much when I describe these talented folks because there are no better words available.
Today was the preview night, and the weather was just perfect, sunshine and about 80°. I’ll just get right down to showing off my awesome friends’ and other artists’ work.
I have three different bowls donated this year. Sid and Helene joined me this evening. There were so many awesome bowls, and I got to see some dear artist friends that I haven’t seen in ages. And who did we run into first thing when we arrived? The Murphy dynamic duo. Sherri’s bowl is so cute. So many friends, so little time.
There were quite a few more beautiful pieces, but I didn’t photograph them all. I’ll have to wait till May 12th to see them all again. It will be the best year ever, I’m sure.
“Friendship knows no boundaries, no age, no worries, just friendship.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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Another fun Friday with our senior artist friends over at Towne Creek. Today we worked on Easter projects.
It wasn’t too crowded, so Helene and I got to do a little crafting.We take a break around 5 for our feast. Today, we had all kinds of goodies for their homemade bunny bags. The Peep cupcakes are always a big hit. This year I made lemon this time. Helene made sandwiches and deviled eggs. Yum!
Well, old Willie Shakespeare had a good quote going on there. Wednesday is smack in the middle of the week and smack in your face, reminding you that the week is with half over or half started. You pick.
I made a very yummy breakfast today. I bought this yummy Asiago cheese bread that I sliced down the middle, toasted with jalapeño jack cheese. Then, I spread avocado all over and added sliced tomatoes. With a side of fruit, and some green tea, it looked like a fancy meal from a five star restaurant.
Sometimes you have to pamper yourself because YOU deserve the best.
Today, I spent most the day in lazy Wednesday mode. I had a nice Zoom meeting with my Charlatinto Spanish group in the afternoon. It was quite appropriate that it was Wednesday. I have a funny inside Columbian joke about Wednesday, but I’ll save that for another time. 🤦♀️
I was feeling kind of antsy by 6 pm and considered a walk, but I pulled something in my left leg earlier and it hurt a little to walk. The sun was out, but the howling wind and cooler temps were not welcoming. I put on my gym shoes anyway and walked over to put on my coat. Limp…limp. Well, that didn’t feel good. I said to myself, “Self… maybe you can just walk it off. You can do it!” I limped over to the door and slowly crossed the street. It took me a couple of blocks, walking through the park, and giving myself a pep talk. And you know what? Yep, you guessed it. The pain went away and the limp disappeared. The power of positive thinking.
I made quite a few loops around the pond, with the wind blasting me in the face, before I quit. I looked at my steps when I got home, and my phone said 4,602 steps. Oh no. I wanted to get at least 4K, but I was so close to 5K. Therefore, I walked around my kitchen, up and down the stairs, did some tidying up around different rooms until I made 5K. I always try and push myself a little further. Give yourself a goal every day and you have something to strive for, something to be proud of.
“ Spreading manure around in your fields helps your crops to grow. Spreading manure around in your world… just stinks.”
~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis
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I had a bit of a mental meltdown recently. I don’t claim to be an empath or psychic in any way, but like many sensitive people, it bothers me SO MUCH when people are nasty or inconsiderate. I generally hang out with positive upbeat people, but lately, the toxic comments, nasty cartoons, slander, and downright disrespectful attitude pushed me over the edge.
Remember, I have quoted my angel mother many times. “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say it at all.” Didn’t your mamma raise you that way? How are we raising our children in this atmosphere of hate, bipartisan anger, and total disrespect? Yes, we have freedom of speech, but does that give us the right to be cruel? You are also free to be kind.
I seriously believe the Devil or some nasty evil force is trying to divide our country and even our families, tearing us apart, slowly but surely. It seems like now, if someone doesn’t like your politics, your religion, or color of your skin, they think they have the right to harass you, ridicule and make fun of you, or even worse, to harm you. STOP IT! The best example I have is the constant bashing Biden or trashing Trump. Has Covid made everyone crazy? Even something as serious and deadly as Covid has torn our country apart. Vote for who you want, get vaccinated if you want, wear a mask or not, but don’t tell me I’m wrong.
I may not believe the same things as all my friends and family, but I still love them. You know why? Because, as strongly as I believe in my convictions, they believe in theirs. But, give the trash talk and nastiness a rest. It hurts my heart. Literally, it hurts my heart to see and hear all the hate.
I guess what threw me over the cliff was just one too many texts and instant messages with nasty hurtful crap. I just shut down. I decided to fast from food and crazy crap. I managed to fast for 36 hours, drinking just green tea. I watched fun tv and listened to positive podcast. I still go on Facebook because I love seeing the positive pictures and jokes and babies growing up and distant cousins and wonderful old friends. I just scrolled past or deleted the crap. Many of my friends don’t even know who I voted for or my stance on Covid, and some send me crap or post crap on Facebook, thinking I’m in their camp. Guess what? I don’t go to Crazy Camp! I just delete all that stuff.
So, after getting that all off my heavy heart, if you are still reading this, know one thing. I LOVE YOU! But just remember, I don’t do CRAZY!
Today, I had some lunch around 2. I hadn’t eaten since Sunday evening. And, to replenish my creative soul and feed my shopping fix, I went to The Dollar Tree to pick up some crafts and Easter stuff for our Towne Creek Visit this Friday. I love the Dollar Tree. They really need to change their sign to the Dollar and a Quarter Tree, but that’s their business, not mine. I still love them.
I found way too many things.
Well, even though I’m feeling a little better, I’m still going to slow down and distance my self from any and all negativity.
Toni Andrukaitis 