I am not sure that the last question has been asked on a regular basis but Monday morning was fairly steady. The temperature was pleasant, and I had enough to keep me occupied. The phone rang constantly, but there was an even split between genuine calls and spam. "Don't hang up!" said the recorded message. "You are a recorded message" I would say, and disobey orders!
Around mid-morning, I received a call on my mobile phone. It was the host of the morning show from the local radio station. "Hi Tracie. We had someone cancel, and I called the runner up, but they didn't answer. Do you want to do the (the) zoom call tonight?" He went on to say that he saw my name, as he knows I enter most of the contests, and apparently, I am a lot of fun to have on these calls and ask really good questions! Why yes, I would love to take part! To whom am I zooming? The rising star had already risen, having had four consecutive 'number ones', and a fifth probably coming soon. I had some homework to do! Haven sent me the details later in the afternoon, and I left work to come home with about an hour to spare.
Kylie Frey is a young lady in her mid twenties. Born in Louisiana, she moved to Nashville and is now in great demand! Many of her heroes and heroines are asking her to perform duets with them. That was one of my questions. "How does it feel to have them call you?" She was very humble, and acknowledged that it was quite the thrill. The call started with two hosts, the star, and me! The other host asked me where I came from, and how I got 'into' the country scene. I told him my story, and then introduced me, formerly, to the star. Kylie was at her parents' home and her dad was in the room. "I just want to say,, I admire your dad," said I, "encouraging you to leave college and follow your dream". An exclamational sound was heard, followed by, "Wow, girl, you do your homework!" This, in turn was followed by Haven shouting, "I told you she has good questions!" I felt rather embarrassed, but that gave way to the feeling of being 'hip' and 'cool', which are perhaps two words which make me more old fashioned than I feel!
The call was very personable, and appeared to be enjoyed by all. I was asked who my favourite stars were, and I gave a list, leading into the fact that I generally have favourite songs, and one of them was Kylie's hit, "Me and these boots". We had a conversation about how our boots become part of our skin, and if we could, we would sleep in them! "You are Texan!" said the other host! I realised that I really do like Country music, or at least the messages within the songs. They are real. From love songs to simply talking about boots!
My face contained a beam throughout the evening. I kept remembering snippets from the call, which I told to Dana. I sent an email to Haven, thanking him for the opportunity, and to pass on my thanks to the 'team', and Kylie. I apologised for not knowing the name of the other host, which was to my detriment, and considering the 'lead up' to my introduction, rather remiss! However, the smile was still on my face when I went to sleep! To be (almost) famous to the local radio station host is quite exciting! I wondered what my life would be like had I not moved here! The opportunities that I have had, in Austin, especially entering local contests, and winning, have been immense. Of course, I would have been just as content to be near my family, and spend time with my grandkids, and would never had known the difference! Nothing makes up for not having all my family around me, but my son thinks I have 'found my calling'!
My mail that was languishing in the post office, was finally delivered! I was still on a residual high on Tuesday morning, and sent another email to the postmaster, thanking him for making sure it was redelivered. I did not receive a reply.
I did receive a reply from Haven, who thanked me back! The other host was Eric Raines, who is rather a big name in the radio (and I believe country music) industry! I had, indeed, heard of Eric!
We had another 'steady' day on Tuesday. Wednesday was busy up until mid-afternoon, and then it started to slow down. However, just before I left, there was an upturn! I had sent Samantha a picture in the morning to let her know, "Bertie is in the bath". The turkey was chilling in a bowl of coke and apple juice, awaiting the heatwave of the following day!
I had a chat, via text, with my friend Lynda, who resides in Oregon. It is funny how two hours time difference makes it hard to know when to call. Six hours across the ocean seems simpler! Thank goodness for technology!
Thursday started early. I walked my usual four circuits and then returned to have coffee with my husband! Bertie entered the crematorium about nine thirty, and after an initial period of excess heat, was cooked at a lower temperature. The prep work for the accessories began and Samantha arrived to help around ten. Sauces were made, vegetables boiled, sausages wrapped, and Yorkshire puddings cooked! Yes! I have finally cracked it!
"Want to come with?" Samantha asked, after explaining something about an app on her phone. I still don't think I have the lingo right, but suffice it to say, she had to do a 5k walk (or run) to get an award, which ended up with a picture of a turkey. 3.1 miles! Of course I would go with her. The weather was perfect. We wore shorts and t-shirts and headed out. "Can we do the trails?" I asked, as to walk around the circuit six times would be a bit of a trial! The first trail completed half a mile! Great! We walked up to the second, and up the stone steps to the adjoining neighbourhood. We climbed up, and slid down the very steep hills. Returning to the stone steps we had half a mile left! Dana thought I was joking when I told him I needed a shower as I had just walked three miles, plus! Samantha went to get Edward, and when they returned, dinner was served!
Our afternoon was very relaxing. After clearing away the turkey, roast potatoes, sweet potato pie, green bean casserole, brocolli cheese, turkey bacon wrapped beef sausages, cornbread, brussels with cran-raspberry sauce, stuffing, and of course Yorkshire pudding, (there were two left, as Samantha and I did not eat our quota of three,) dessert was put out. A sliver was enjoyed by all!
The usual 'take out' box was given to the kids as they left, and I fell into bed! What a day!
It was another early start on Friday. It was a day off! Dana was
going into the office, to clear up some paperwork, but asked if I wanted to do anything. "Let's go out for breakfast!" I stated! We did! IHop was quite busy, but we were seated immediately, and we had a traditional Ihopian treat! I felt happy! Dana dropped me at home, and he went to the office, returned home a few hours later saying that it had been quite busy! A blessing! (In disguise!) I decided I may as well stick to routine and completed my housework. Of course, being later than usual, and not really focussed, this took me a lot longer than anticipated, and I was easily swayed! My neighbour had been suffering with a knee injury and I made her some cookies. I sent her a text to see if she was at home, and as I did not get a reply, popped them over, boxed and wrapped with a note, and left them by her front door. Knowing that she 'sleeps in', I did not want to ring the doorbell. I received a message shortly thereafter to say they were not home, but would be returning the next day. I went to retrieve the cookies. They were gone! It was a bit of a mystery. Who would have taken them? It was then that the texting and 'whatsapping' started to get confusing. My mother had said that my brother in law had been taken to hospital as he had a detached retina. I sent my sister a message. Samantha had sent me a picture of one of the dogs in the garden, apparently 'being a good boy and doing his business' Why? Hmm! I sent Samantha a messaging saying, "Very nice", and received a message back saying, "It's being lasered now". I was confused. Why was the dog's business being lasered? I was just about to reply when I saw that particular message was from my sister. "Dorothy probably picked it up!" was the next message. "Dorothy who?" I was unaware of a friend of my daughter's called Dorothy, and why was she dealing with the dogs? Then I saw this pertained to the cookies! I made the decision to continue washing my floor and stop checking messages!
Thankfully, my friend Lesley called as I left the store. I was able to sit in the truck whilst my daughter and her husband went into a couple of stores that I did not need to go to. It was lovely to talk to her, and catch up on some news. It gave me a chance to 'dry off' as my umbrella was in the bed of the truck, in a bag, and I had not retrieved it when we had been going in and out of the shops! We finally got to the penultimate stop. Edward had a gift card from the store, as a store credit. Rumours of the store's demise have been rife for a couple of years, and he wanted to get his money back sooner rather than too late! "Buy some gift cards", suggested Samantha. They had several for restaurants and other stores. This seemed like a good idea. I offered to buy one, and gave him the cash. He went to the counter. The cash card was swiped, the gift cards rung up and a couple more purchases required an extra dollar and change to be added. I took my card, ripped it from its backing, stuffed it into my purse, and folded the cardboard that I had torn. Edward folded the gift card in half, and it cracked. "The codes aren't going through!" said the salesperson. He called his supervisor. "What's wrong?" we asked. "The activation codes for the gift certificates wont go through", said the cashier. "Server's down", said his supervisor. "We need a code"! We stood. "We need a code," shouted the cashier. Another member of staff came over. "We need the manager", he said as he put in the code. "How many store people does it take to change a lightbulb?" I asked Samantha. We started to laugh. The four men stood around the till. A fifth was called. "Hello. What's up!" he said. "Activation codes wont work", said the third man. "Server down?" asked the fifth. "Wont be up until tomorrow", said number two. "Need to refund", stated four! We surmised they had been through this routine before! However, Edward had cracked the card and it would not scan. A new card was needed. I then had to take my gift card out of my purse, with the ripped cardboard, and put it back on the pile. All five looked, vaguely, rather than in horror or distain! "Do you want these?" one asked, regarding the two extra things. "Nope", said Samantha. The dollar and change was returned. "Thank you for shopping with us today", numbers one to five said as they fled the scene!
Walmart was our final stop. I crawled around, hanging on to the trolley to keep me vertical. I was now moaning! "I am so tired!" My son in law asked my daughter. "Is she moaning again?" My daughter replied, "Ask her!" My son in law looked at me, then back. "I can't. I don't understand her!" We checked out quickly, and headed home.
I walked Sunday morning, cap on and hood up. It was dry, but windy and cold. I made breakfast and went for another walk. I had a lovely long 'facetime' chat with my sister, who told me of her ordeal regarding my brother in law. Thank goodness for the wonders of technology! Both to chat and repair his eye!
The pool is going to have to be devoid of my company today, as even I am not going to venture down with the wind chill factor making it feel a good five degrees cooler than it is! No need to go and sit with a coat, hat and boots on!
I am, indeed, thankful for many things, and do not take anything for granted. Thanksgiving traditions have become part of my new life, and again, I am thankful for it all! Family and friends, near and far, on screen and off! I am thankful! I know I will be busy tomorrow as work flowed in over the holiday and weekend, and for that, too, I am thankful. I don't think there are any outstanding 'meet and greets' that I have forgotten about so it will probably be a regular week! As regular as it gets here, but I live in hope to find something exciting to write about in ............ another story!
No comments:
Post a Comment