Friday, December 19

The first thing I did this morning was call the doctor's office to make an appointment for Mother, who has an infected wound on one of her fingers. She got the wound last Saturday, when she cut her finger on the serrated edge of a wax paper box. She has been treating the wound herself, but it has gotten worse, so I felt she needed to see a doctor. The appointment was set for 1:15 this afternoon.

After that, I hopped on the treadmill for 35 minute, and then exercised with weights.

Once I was ready for the day, I put together a small goodies gift, including a nutcracker ornament, for a friend, and then addressed my last Christmas card, to be mailed to an old high school friend with whom I had lost touch after graduation in 1960, until this year. She has recently moved back to this state from Utah, and I'm hoping that she will be able to plan a trip in the spring to meet me and another high school friend of ours in that friend's state.

After that, I got ready to go with Hubbie and Mother downtown to a new soup and sandwich shop about 11:30 a.m. Several friends have mentioned how good this eatery is, so I decided we should try it as Mother's eighth "12 Days of Christmas" gift.

On the way to the eatery, we dropped a contribution off at a food pantry for the disadvantaged, and then delivered the goodies gift to the business where our friend works.

The soup and sandwich shop is located inside an antique mall, and is interesting in that it features mismatched tables and chairs. The centerpieces are pint canning jars holding a variety of twigs and other "outdoorsy" stuff. Food is served in plastic baskets, with soups served in Styrofoam bowls. Hot drinks are served in mismatched mugs.

The shop has a certain charm, but the chicken and rice soup I ordered was much too salty, and I told the waitress so. However, the chicken salad sandwich on wheat bread was good. The soup and sandwich was served with potato chips, saltine crackers, and a dill pickle, none of which I ate.

Hubbie ordered taco soup and a ham and cheese sandwich. I tasted his soup, which wasn't salty tasting, but was very spicy hot.

After we'd eaten, we toured the antiques part of the shop, but didn't find anything of interest. So we went to the store that has a sale every weekend to see if we could find anything we could use $10 coupons on. We spent about 30 unsuccessful minutes in the store before it was time to leave and go to the doctor's office.

We only had to wait a few minutes at the doctor's office before being called back to an examining room. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic for Mother, and told her to bathe the finger several times a day in clear, warm water, or warm water with a little mild soap, Epsom salts, or hydrogen peroxide.

Back home, Mother and I watched the San Francisco Ballet's interpretation of "The Nutcracker," which I had recorded on DVR from the public television channel. The performance was over at 3 p.m. Afterward, Hubbie and I went to the pharmacy to pick up the medication for Mother, and then to the WDCS to pick up groceries for the weekend.

It's obvious by the congested traffic and the packed stores that Christmas is upon us. Of course today is Friday, the last payday before Christmas, which increased the number of shoppers. Maybe when we decide to shop on Monday, there will be fewer folks out and about...but probably not, since school will be dismissed for the holidays, and lots of workers will be on vacation next week.

We got back home in time for supper, which was baked talapia fish, baked sweet potatoes, and English peas.

Afterward, Mother went home, and we relaxed and watched TV.