Day 259 - Saturday in the Park

I think it was the 4th of July....

(Got you singing along, didn't I?)

It was a fun day. I bought some Levi's 501s with some Kohl's cash, so they were free! (Considering I used a coupon to purchase all the stuff that earned me the Kohl's cash two weeks ago, they really were free.) What a great deal. I also bought some more fun socks at SteinMart, a shop vac at Home Depot, and some peanut butter stuffed pretzel nuggets for Steve from Costco. In the middle I stopped by and visited with our former neighbors and friends Silvia and Derek and saw our old house. It no longer feels like home, and that's a very good thing.

At dinner tonight, we visited with Mom and Dad's regular dinner partners, Chuck and Gail. They are a younger couple (late 60s) in their second marriage. They are very nice and VERY talkative. They come across like just "regular" folks (they like football and NASCAR), yet Chuck shared with me that two of their closest friends are a gay couple, Rex and Bob, that he wants Steve and me to meet sometime when we come back to visit.

I got a network adapter to allow their Blu-ray player to connect to the Internet, and after two software updates, finally got the thing to connect to Netflix. We watched the movie "You're Not You" with Hilary Swank and Emmy Rossum, which had been recommended at dinner by Gail. It was a sad movie, but we all enjoyed it.

Dad needs to contact his Internet provider, because the movie had a lot of stops and starts in the beginning. We finally resolved it by pausing the movie for about 10 minutes, so that the player could download a little more of the movie. I checked his Internet speed, and it is slower than the promised DSL speed. I hope he can handle talking to them and seeing if it can be fixed without any additional cost.

I wrote down instructions for switching between the TV and the Blu-ray player so he can watch a cable channel or a movie on Netflix. I know that will be a problem for them. Mom really wants to watch movies, but won't take the time to learn how to use the remote controls. Dad is willing to learn, but his dexterity isn't what it used to be. I would take bets on how much they watch Netflix movies between now and my next visit, but that's probably not wise.

I'm still glad to be able to spend time with them, and grateful for all they do for me every day.

Heading to church at 8am to sing with the Praise Choir, and then heading back home after the 9am service. I've got Steve's favorite candies (sugar free chocolate cashew clusters) to bring home. I hope it isn't so hot that they melt into a big blob before I get them home!



Keep Sparking, dear friends!