Hi, time is acclerating, I am living proof.

So today I said to Mike, Let's go eat lunch at Panera Bread. I like their tuna sandwich and tomato soup. I thought, Wonder who I will see at Panera that I know. St. Petersburg is a fairly large city, but it is really just like a small town. You simply CANNOT meet someone who doesn't have a connection to someone you know. It's kinda fun.

Well, another man was parking near me, we were parking at the same time. His pick up truck was decorated as though for a parade float. BILLY FOSTER FOR MAYOR signs were lined up all around the flatbed of the truck, is that what you call it? He had stickers, he had a hat, he had a shirt and they all loudly proclaimed one message and one message only, VOTE FOR BILLY. As we walked into Panera together I said, Are you thinking about maybe voting for Billy Foster? He grinned wide and said, Yes, I'm thinking about it, Billy and I went to law school together 25 years ago. Well, KEM has to top that. I said, Billy and I rode the school bus together in elementary school. So, we hoped and prayed Billy would win, as the polls were indicating a narrow race, surprisingly. We both expressed nervousness. Oh yes, the election is TODAY.

At Panera I saw April. April is a marvelous woman. You walk into her house and she has no material possessions. Just plain emptiness. It's striking. She has achieved what I only blab on about, living a life of simplicity, order, control, discipline. She is my MODEL. Once I asked her, HOW ON EARTH DO YOU ACCOMPLISH THIS?? She smiled and said, It's my job description and I love it. So every Friday she cleans her whole house from top to bottom. It's a piece of cherry cupcake. I mean it, her living room has a small sofa and chair, an empty coffee table and a lamp. That's it, Sisters. The kitchen has one thing on the counter, a toaster. This place is STREAMED-CLEAN LINES, it's full of CLEAR SPACE. It's a vacuum. You can breathe in the easiness of it all. I do know she allows her daughters to own things, so she's not insane or anything. Once I read a book about the Amish. This nonAmish lady stayed with some Amish families to see if she could figure them out. One kitchen she walked in was so pristine and sparsely furnished, with only the sun shining on the floor, that the lady got the most serene feeling in her whole life. PEACE, Baby, PEACE. Oh, and April personally exudes this joy and peace. I don't know if she reflects her home or her home reflects her, but it's a GOOD IDEA, either way.

Okay, so what happened next? OH. BAD NEWS. In Mike's Singing for Your Health class tonight, I was sitting at the piano admiring my brand new inky blue J. Jill cardigan. I saw a little teensy pull at the ribbed cuff of the sleeve. On the edge. Noticeable, more or less. It didn't bother me. UNTIL. Until I rolled back the cuff to examine it more closely. And what to my wondering eyes doth appear but a little hole? Now, this just kills me. I look over clothes like I look over lettuce . . . THOROUGLY. I make sure seams are matched and everything looks even. Come on, have you ever bought a pair of pants and one of the side seams twists to run down the front of the leg, instead of where it belongs? If you buy something like that it's a recipe for regret. It is for me. It's completely uncivilized that they pawn stuff like that on us poor gullible human beings. It's up to us to put a stop to it by DEMANDING quality goods. When I shop with my sister it falls to her to find cute things and to me to examine and compare and choose the best of the lot or size or whatever. Uh-oh, I'm gonna hear about this, just like hair. A NORMAL person just takes the first one and goes on their merry, (ignorantly) blissful way. Well, I picked out the very best sweater last night. Now it has to go back. It's going to be so embarrassing, but I HAVE to do it. And I need to do it soon because I don't want them to think I've been wearing the sweater for a week and then returning it. They'll think I ruined it, and I didn't, TRUST ME. This can only happen to me, because I'm so picky. You can't SEE the hole, but still, IT'S THERE. And who's to say it won't get worse? I will be interested to know how J. Jill handles this. Of course, if I WERE normal, I would pick the very first one and it would always be perfect because that would be poetic justice or something. I only find worms in my salad because I'm looking. People who don't look don't have worms. And if they do, they are none the wiser.

NOW. Now for the GREAT NEWS!!! Billy Foster is the proud new mayor of St. Petersburg. At lunch Mike and I discussed what might happen. I predicted, Billy Foster will win by 8 percentage points. This was a bold KEM declaration because the newspaper was insisting that the other candidate, whom I shall decline to mention by name and dispostion, was ahead in the polls by 5%. So, Billy won by 6%. KEM was close. And is VERY happy. Furthermore, I fully expect to wake up in the morning and read the final counts and Billy will have won by 8. I sincerely hope Billy's fabulous sister, Faye Ellen Foster, has come to town for the big celebration. You know about her if you have read one of my earliest blogs. I'm turning into a real pest, ain't I??

Well, that's all she wrote,
KEM