Carol's Corner

The tent is up in the backyard again. Eric had this idea that he and his friends could set up the tent and sleep in it tonight. They dragged it to the backyard and tried for almost 20 minutes to figure this thing out.

They gave up and said they needed Dad to help. They all jumped in the pool.

Bob came home from work and spent 45 minutes setting up the tent. I made the boys watch. They spent more time flexing their muscles than observing the tent set up.

I don’t think I’m ever going to be able to drop them off at a campsite for a long weekend.

As of 9:39pm they are watching a moving in the airconditioned house.

Vacation Bible School is over. It seemed like a month instead of a week. I must say that I was very proud of my boys. Eric helped out with the 4th-5th grade class until one of the girls got obnoxious crushing on him. After that he was excused and helped dish out snacks.

David was some kind of speedster gopher running around helping people in need. Andrew enjoyed the 1st grade class and set a good example for the other kids by being good.

I ended up with cheese goo and blue icing embedded in my clothes, but it was all for a good cause.

Today I went for a “Women’s Wellness Checkup”. This is not something to look forward to, but something that has to be done.

I went to a new Dr. His office is covered in U.G.A diplomas and certificates. He went to the school of Pharmacy, then to Augusta for Med school, then to Florida for some more Med stuff.

He was jealous when I told him that I would be in Athens this Sat. He was just in Atlanta last weekend and helped move his daughter to Columbus.

He talked about going to The Masters. He grew up in Jefferson. He loves all of those places.

I hope the dogwood trees are still blooming.

After working all these long days, weeks, and months, I have finally decided to retire. Now I know you’re all thinking that this move is long over due. You will be glad to know that I am going to take time out to “smell the roses.”

Don’t go planning any surprise retirement parties for me. I won’t hear of it. I’m just glad that I’ll have some time now to travel and come to Atlanta to see my kin.

Last night I slept alone in the house, except for Jake the Great. Bob was sleeping outside in the yard with Eric, David, Andrew, and Terry our neighbor. We started out the evening with Veggie Pizza from CiCi’s, since it was Friday. Then we watched Jesus Christ Superstar. Then Bob and the boys went outside to sleep in the tent he put up in the backyard.

They were all back in the house by 6:30am because the sun started to come up, and it was 60 degrees outside.

(As it turned out, David crept back into the house before midnight and slept until 8:30.)

This is the way Ettensohns camp.

Yesterday Bob turned 43! How did that happen? We took him out to eat to Mario’s*. We had never been to Mario’s, but had heard good things about it. For some reason I had the impression that it would be a pizzeria type restaurant with booths and linoleum floors. Instead it was white table cloths, wine glasses, dimmed lighting and carpet. They didn’t even have a kid’s menu.

Luckily I have 4 (including Bob) very polite, well mannered young men in my family. We had no spills, arguments, or complaints. We only had one bite of very buttered bread hit the carpet. Other than that, it was a perfect dinner out. I can still taste the garlic.

*Mario’s is my hair designer’s father’s restaurant.

The next time you are visiting me, you should remind me to take you to the Polk Theater. It’s like a small version of the Fox Theater.

This past Sunday I went to the 2:00 show. The movie Monster was playing. It was very violent and a sad, but true story. I wanted to see the gorgeous model/ actress, Charlize Theron (sp?) since she won the best actress award.

She deserved it.

My friend from work played the piano before the show. It’s behind the curtain. She played the Charlie Brown theme and The Sting and other familiar tunes beautifully.

It’s something a little different than a regular movie. Seniors are $3.25.

So, What happened at the trial?

After listening to 2 officers and the man in question describe the event, the jury deliberated for approx. 1 hour, and found him guilty of possession of cocaine.

Even though he said the drugs belonged to his sister and he was trying to protect her, we still thought he was guilty because he admitted that it was his pipe with cocaine residue inside in the same cigarette box. The cigarette box happened to be in his front pants pocket. This was discovered after he ran into a ditch trying to make a left turn while fleeing from the sheriff’s car. The sheriff was trying to pull him over for not having a tag light. He said he tried to get away because he thought his license was suspended. Hum… We didn’t get to stay in the courtroom to hear his sentencing, but I don’t think it helped that he pled guilty to 6 previous felonies.

What happened to my BLOG from Monday about Jury Duty’

I am a proud American. I was selected to be a jury member for a trial that will be held this Wednesday. I am not at liberty to discuss details at this time.

I reported to the Polk County Courthouse in Bartow this morning. I had to wait in a long security line of other possible jurors. The beeper went off when I went through. They had to give me the stick treatment, but never found out why I beeped. I went through to the lobby where they were having a bake sale. Luckily I brought a drink and lunch. We had to go to the 2nd floor and meet in a large room. After a lot of instructions, and a brief video, we had a break.

After the break, a woman read off our jury numbers and assigned us to judges and courtrooms. This took a very long time since some people had the same number as other people (they thought) and some people didn’t hear their number, and some people had issues.

My herd was ushered out into the hall and counted. One guy was in the wrong herd. We were told to go to the 8th floor. Four of us decided to take the stairs, so instead of starting to exercise tomorrow, I started today. That wiped me out. Luckily I had my drink. The water there tastes like sulpher.

After getting to the 8th floor and taking a quick R.R. break, we went to the courtroom where the judge was already speaking. Within minutes I was told to sit in the jury box. There were 12 of us out of about 50.

Both Attorneys asked us several questions. That was when I found out that some of the people I was with forgot to start up their thinkers today. They were so confused by the questions, or maybe they didn’t know where they were. It bothered me to think that they drive on the same roads as thinking people use.

So it ended up that they picked 6 out of those 12 and had to interview 6 more to get another person. So 7 of us will go back Wednesday.