Trash Can Savvy

It's a small thing, but I won the neighborhood dignity contest this week.

We have garbage pickup on Monday and Thursday, but when there's a holiday, it gets changed all around. Christmas week, it was changed to Monday and Wednesday. I did read that in the paper, and Mama pretty much keeps up with things like that. I took it out Monday but really had nothing to offer Wednesday. The next week, this week, I figured it would be the same schedule - Monday and Wednesday - since it was a holiday.

So I dutifully rolled the container to the street Tuesday night, kind of noticing that there weren't any more on the street. Then the next morning when I went to get the paper, there still weren't any out up or down the street or down the side street. Of course, Mama said, "Why is our trash can sitting out today?" I started getting the feeling then that I had goofed up but was not about to admit it to the maybe 1 person, if that, in the neighborhood who noticed that I had the trash container out on the wrong day. I figured it could just sit there another day.

But in about an hour, I heard the truck roaring down the street, and my garbage got picked up. I know that they could have sent a special truck just for me because they loved my cookies last week and didn't want me to lose face. But somehow I think a whole bunch of people just missed out and were thinking about what a with-it neighbor they had. I'm sure of it.

It was good to be back in church today although hard to get out in the cold weather. My coordinator's email this morning said her temperature was 17 degrees in Pennsylvania, so it was really kind of balmy compared to that. The sun was shining, and the sky was blue, and it was good to chat with our friends again. The sermon this morning was about last year's New Year's resolutions, how successful we were on keeping them, and giving us some better ones for this year, ones that will actually make a difference in our lives. I can only try.

I have taken my pills 3 days in a row - all of them - even those huge vitamins and calcium tablets. Without bananas in the house, I have to get creative. Yogurt works for the smaller ones and the ones I can split, but the fish oil capsule can't be split (thank goodness), so I have to do some psyching myself up. It will be good to buy a supply of bananas tomorrow.

I have to work this afternoon, and it's time.