We slept really late this morning, but it didn't keep me from doing a treadmill session and resistance workout. While I was getting ready for the day, Mother came over and continued working on her jigsaw puzzle.
It was a dicey weather day. After a temp of 13 degrees last Monday, we saw mid-70s today, with the threat of thunderstorms and possible tornadoes. But, thankfully, nothing more than a brief torrential rain happened in our town. In fact, the whole state dodged the bullet this time, and now the storms have moved to a state east of us.
Nothing exciting happened today, beyond tracking the storms. After lunch, I joined Mother in working the jigsaw. The puzzle only has 400 pieces, but they are oddly shaped, and the motif is difficult...a plate of gingerbread men...so it'll take at least another day to complete it.
We opted for a simple supper of egg omelets (egg substitute for Mother and me, and regular eggs for Hubbie), filled with onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and shredded mozzarella cheese, and served with potato pancakes, cottage cheese, bagels with muscadine jelly, and fruit for dessert.
Mother went home after supper, and Hubbie and I watched our favorite college basketball team play to a wide-margin win.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 26, 2008
December 26
I woke up in the middle of the night last night, and had trouble going back to sleep. So I got up late. Hubbie was already up, but I think he'd only been up a few minutes. I hit the treadmill first thing, before breakfast. After a couple of days hiatus, I needed a workout, and it felt good to get my heart pumping and my blood stirring again.
Mother came over after I was ready for the day and began work on one of her new Christmas jigsaw puzzles, while Hubbie and I went to a few stores looking for after-Christmas bargains. The mark-downs were mainly on Christmas cards, trim, wrapping paper, gift bags, etc. I picked up several boxes of cards, as well as a stack of gift bags at the WDCS. I did the same at the everything's a dollar store, where Christmas stuff was fifty cents. All I found at the other discount chain store was some ribbon marked half price. I bought four rolls of that in colors like gold that I think I can use throughout the year.
At the other store that has a sale every weekend, Hubbie found an inexpensive pair of khaki pants, and I found a pair of black dress slacks. The tag on the dress slacks declared that they were marked fifty percent off, but I'm convinced clothing stores often jack up prices, then mark them down in an attempt to make customers believe they're getting a bargain.
A lot of times, merchandise offered on the sale and clearance racks is stuff I've never even seen in the store before. It's stuff they've brought it in from other stores, with new jacked-up price tags that are then marked down (SALE...50 % Off!! original ticket price ) .
Last year, for instance, I bought a sweater at full price at the beginning of the season. And then at an after-Christmas sale, I saw the very same sweater at another of their stores with the price tag marked up to twice what I originally paid, with a red sticker that declared it was now on sale at half price.
Another thing that Hubbie and I have encountered lately is that the WDCS registers do not always reflect stated sale prices. Several times, after checking our cash register receipt, we've had to return to the store to demand a refund on an item for which we'd been overcharged. Today is an example. The stated placard price for red grapes was $1.98 per pound, but the receipt registered over $3 a pound, bringing the bag of grapes to over $7!
Since we needed to run a couple of errands this afternoon, we stopped back by the store and got a refund on the overcharge. This seems picky, but if that store overcharges hundreds of customers in their various stores this way, they are profiting nicely through unaware customers. They are counting on customers not bothering to challenge them for a mere dollar or two. In most cases, I'd venture to guess that many folks don't even check their receipts. But we do. A dollar here and a dollar there can add up to lots of dollars in the course of a year.
Back home, I went upstairs to work on my computer, and while I was up there, someone came to the door. Later, Hubbie explained that the visitor was the brother of the man who was injured in an accident last month, just before Thanksgiving, when he was hit as he crossed the highway without stopping at the intersection, and was catapulted into our yard, slamming against a tree.
Hubbie learned that the 38-year-old man, who had to be extricated from his wrecked truck with the jaws of life, is married and has a little girl. He has been in a trauma unit of a hospital in another state ever since, and has undergone several surgeries. But, the brother said, he will never be the same again.
The reason the brother stopped by was to ask if we'd found a gun that had been in his brother's truck. Hubbie has found no gun in our yard. He speculates that it might have been flung out of the truck and buried somewhere in the the undergrowth of the ditch, or is under water, which means that by now it would probably be rusted beyond repair. We figure the wife of the injured man wants to list the gun in an insurance claim.
Mother came over after I was ready for the day and began work on one of her new Christmas jigsaw puzzles, while Hubbie and I went to a few stores looking for after-Christmas bargains. The mark-downs were mainly on Christmas cards, trim, wrapping paper, gift bags, etc. I picked up several boxes of cards, as well as a stack of gift bags at the WDCS. I did the same at the everything's a dollar store, where Christmas stuff was fifty cents. All I found at the other discount chain store was some ribbon marked half price. I bought four rolls of that in colors like gold that I think I can use throughout the year.
At the other store that has a sale every weekend, Hubbie found an inexpensive pair of khaki pants, and I found a pair of black dress slacks. The tag on the dress slacks declared that they were marked fifty percent off, but I'm convinced clothing stores often jack up prices, then mark them down in an attempt to make customers believe they're getting a bargain.
A lot of times, merchandise offered on the sale and clearance racks is stuff I've never even seen in the store before. It's stuff they've brought it in from other stores, with new jacked-up price tags that are then marked down (SALE...50 % Off!! original ticket price ) .
Last year, for instance, I bought a sweater at full price at the beginning of the season. And then at an after-Christmas sale, I saw the very same sweater at another of their stores with the price tag marked up to twice what I originally paid, with a red sticker that declared it was now on sale at half price.
Another thing that Hubbie and I have encountered lately is that the WDCS registers do not always reflect stated sale prices. Several times, after checking our cash register receipt, we've had to return to the store to demand a refund on an item for which we'd been overcharged. Today is an example. The stated placard price for red grapes was $1.98 per pound, but the receipt registered over $3 a pound, bringing the bag of grapes to over $7!
Since we needed to run a couple of errands this afternoon, we stopped back by the store and got a refund on the overcharge. This seems picky, but if that store overcharges hundreds of customers in their various stores this way, they are profiting nicely through unaware customers. They are counting on customers not bothering to challenge them for a mere dollar or two. In most cases, I'd venture to guess that many folks don't even check their receipts. But we do. A dollar here and a dollar there can add up to lots of dollars in the course of a year.
Back home, I went upstairs to work on my computer, and while I was up there, someone came to the door. Later, Hubbie explained that the visitor was the brother of the man who was injured in an accident last month, just before Thanksgiving, when he was hit as he crossed the highway without stopping at the intersection, and was catapulted into our yard, slamming against a tree.
Hubbie learned that the 38-year-old man, who had to be extricated from his wrecked truck with the jaws of life, is married and has a little girl. He has been in a trauma unit of a hospital in another state ever since, and has undergone several surgeries. But, the brother said, he will never be the same again.
The reason the brother stopped by was to ask if we'd found a gun that had been in his brother's truck. Hubbie has found no gun in our yard. He speculates that it might have been flung out of the truck and buried somewhere in the the undergrowth of the ditch, or is under water, which means that by now it would probably be rusted beyond repair. We figure the wife of the injured man wants to list the gun in an insurance claim.
Christmas Lights
These are two of the houses that are covered in Christmas lights in our community. For sharper photos, I'd recommend a tripod for night shots like these, but in order not to get in the way of other drivers, I hopped out of our van and quickly snapped these, hand holding the camera, which was set at a high ASA speed.
The lighting display at the home in the top photo is done each year by a gentleman in his 70s. This year, he is 77, in fact. But he was still able to climb on the roof of his house to place strings of lights criss-cross on it, and set up the many displays in his yard. In a newspaper article last week, he said he begins the lighting project in September.
I like the photos in black and white, which seems to make them look more wintry.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Christmas Day
I skipped my exercises again today. After breakfast, while I got ready for the day, Mother came over and put a beef roast in the slow cooker with carrots and onions. Hubbie peeled potatoes. After that, we spent the rest of the morning watching Christmas programs..."Scrooge," with Alastair Sim, and the Christmas parade from Disney World.
By this time it was close to noon. I mashed the potatoes, heated the canned asparagus, and put the fruit salad on the table, and we sat down to our traditional Christmas dinner. Afterward, we continued our movie marathon, with "Miracle on 34th Street, "It's a Wonderful Life," and a Holiday at the Pops program that I recorded several years ago.
We finished our programs about 5:30 p.m., and Mother went home. Around 6:30, Hubbie and I had a supper of cold roast beef sandwiches, and celery sticks stuffed with cream cheese dips. I had a Little Cutie tangerine for dessert, and Hubbie had a slice of rum cake.
After supper, Hubbie's sister and my daughter called to wish us a Merry Christmas, and we chatted with them for quite a while. That was our day, other than watching normal TV fare for the evening.
By this time it was close to noon. I mashed the potatoes, heated the canned asparagus, and put the fruit salad on the table, and we sat down to our traditional Christmas dinner. Afterward, we continued our movie marathon, with "Miracle on 34th Street, "It's a Wonderful Life," and a Holiday at the Pops program that I recorded several years ago.
We finished our programs about 5:30 p.m., and Mother went home. Around 6:30, Hubbie and I had a supper of cold roast beef sandwiches, and celery sticks stuffed with cream cheese dips. I had a Little Cutie tangerine for dessert, and Hubbie had a slice of rum cake.
After supper, Hubbie's sister and my daughter called to wish us a Merry Christmas, and we chatted with them for quite a while. That was our day, other than watching normal TV fare for the evening.
Christmas Eve
I skipped my exercises this morning so I could go shopping before Hubbie's daughter arrived. After a day cold enough to wear my "Nanook of the North" suede and fleece-lined coat with hood to go shopping yesterday, I left the house today in a knit turtleneck shirt, with a Christmas vest, but no coat, because it was sunny and positively balmy.
I stopped by the store that has a sale every weekend first to pick up another gift for Hubbie, plus a white knit turtleneck shirt for Mother. With these two items, I was able to use the other $10 coupon.
From there, I went to the WDCS to get a gift card for Hubbie, plus liquid bandage for his winter-dry fingers that are developing cracks. Then I stopped by a farm supply store to get another gift card for him.
Hubbie's daughter was already here at 10 a.m., when I got back home. We had a nice visit. For lunch, we had 11-bean soup and chicken noodle soup, with deli turkey and cheese sandwiches, along with crackers and various dips and Italian cheese ball. For dessert, there was a choice of lemon bread, rum cake, and a heart-healthy recipe of chocolate chewy cookies.
Daughter remarked that she would be entertaining grandchildren this weekend, and she wanted to help them make graham cookie mini-Christmas houses, using half-pint milk cartons. But since school is out, she wasn't sure she could find milk cartons. So we went down to the art gallery to see if any were left from the workshop a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, the arts council director had already disposed of them.
Daughter left about 1:30 p.m., taking with her a recipe of baked fruited popcorn, a hunk of rum cake, some lemon bread, and an Italian cream cheese ball, plus the recipe for the chocolate chewy cookies.
For the rest of the afternoon, we watched Christmas movies...a musical version of "A Christmas Carol," starring Kelsey Grammer, and the classic, "A Christmas Story."
After a supper of bagel pizzas, served with cottage cheese and grape tomatoes, I made a double recipe of fruit salad (which Hubbie loves), and then we set out to tour Christmas lights around town. We were out about 30 minutes, when Shih Tzu begged for water, which of course, we had failed to bring with us. So we came back home to let her get a drink and fetch her jar of water and bowl to take with us.
We set out again, listening to Christmas carols as we traveled to the historic downtown district, to the park at the river, and to various residential areas. This year, the city has done a bang-up job of lighting the downtown area, and the park at the river, and there are some homes that are just dripping in lights and light displays. At one residence, the owners have cleverly projected a scene of Santa and his airborne sleigh on their white garage door.
We toured for about two hours, and then returned home to open gifts, as is our custom on Christmas Eve. Interestingly, the two gift cards I gave Hubbie exactly matched the amount of cash that he gave me, so our gifts cancelled each other out. Also, the gift I bought him at the store that has a sale every weekend was not what I thought I was getting. Instead of an electric shaver with various attachments, I had grabbed a hair trimming kit. So we'll be taking that back for a refund in a day or two.
One gift I gave Hubbie was sort of a silly one. "It's something to take care of your needs when I'm not here," I explained, as he was unwrapping it.
He looked at me in surprise. "An inflatable doll??" he asked.
Mother and I burst into laughter as he finished unwrapping the gift...a long-handled wooden back scratcher.
I was pretty surprised, too, when I opened one of my gifts from him, and found a four-roll pack of bathroom tissue. "Toilet paper?" I asked. "Look further," he said. So I peered into the tubes and found a small plastic bag containing a pretty brown polished stone pendant tucked into one. That was one of two polished stone pendants he gave me, besides a chunky necklace and earrings, and a small, sparkling diamond-like pendant. On the practical side, he gave me a small electric food processor that I'll use mainly to chop nuts.
Hubbie got a new billfold from Mother. And I gave him Enya's newest CD. Enya is one of his favorite performers, so we have a collection of most of her works. I also gave him a big bag of homemade peanut brittle (which he loves). I didn't make the peanut brittle. I bought it at my beauty salon, where the hairdressers were selling it for a friend.
Mother got things for her new cat, plus clothing, jigsaw puzzles, puzzle books, a jar of lemon curd, calendars, and a "Chicken Soup" book about cats, among other things. Of course, she had received gifts each day for the twelve days leading up to Christmas. Among those gifts was a Christmas apron, Christmas village pieces, scrapbooking supplies, word search books, a loaf of lemon bread, canned peaches and pears, a watering can floral arrangement, Jelly Belly jelly beans (her favorite), and lunch at a new soup and sandwich shop.
Following the gift exchange, we enjoyed cups of hot chocolate and Christmas goodies. After that, Mother went home, and we watched TV news before heading to bed.
I stopped by the store that has a sale every weekend first to pick up another gift for Hubbie, plus a white knit turtleneck shirt for Mother. With these two items, I was able to use the other $10 coupon.
From there, I went to the WDCS to get a gift card for Hubbie, plus liquid bandage for his winter-dry fingers that are developing cracks. Then I stopped by a farm supply store to get another gift card for him.
Hubbie's daughter was already here at 10 a.m., when I got back home. We had a nice visit. For lunch, we had 11-bean soup and chicken noodle soup, with deli turkey and cheese sandwiches, along with crackers and various dips and Italian cheese ball. For dessert, there was a choice of lemon bread, rum cake, and a heart-healthy recipe of chocolate chewy cookies.
Daughter remarked that she would be entertaining grandchildren this weekend, and she wanted to help them make graham cookie mini-Christmas houses, using half-pint milk cartons. But since school is out, she wasn't sure she could find milk cartons. So we went down to the art gallery to see if any were left from the workshop a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, the arts council director had already disposed of them.
Daughter left about 1:30 p.m., taking with her a recipe of baked fruited popcorn, a hunk of rum cake, some lemon bread, and an Italian cream cheese ball, plus the recipe for the chocolate chewy cookies.
For the rest of the afternoon, we watched Christmas movies...a musical version of "A Christmas Carol," starring Kelsey Grammer, and the classic, "A Christmas Story."
After a supper of bagel pizzas, served with cottage cheese and grape tomatoes, I made a double recipe of fruit salad (which Hubbie loves), and then we set out to tour Christmas lights around town. We were out about 30 minutes, when Shih Tzu begged for water, which of course, we had failed to bring with us. So we came back home to let her get a drink and fetch her jar of water and bowl to take with us.
We set out again, listening to Christmas carols as we traveled to the historic downtown district, to the park at the river, and to various residential areas. This year, the city has done a bang-up job of lighting the downtown area, and the park at the river, and there are some homes that are just dripping in lights and light displays. At one residence, the owners have cleverly projected a scene of Santa and his airborne sleigh on their white garage door.
We toured for about two hours, and then returned home to open gifts, as is our custom on Christmas Eve. Interestingly, the two gift cards I gave Hubbie exactly matched the amount of cash that he gave me, so our gifts cancelled each other out. Also, the gift I bought him at the store that has a sale every weekend was not what I thought I was getting. Instead of an electric shaver with various attachments, I had grabbed a hair trimming kit. So we'll be taking that back for a refund in a day or two.
One gift I gave Hubbie was sort of a silly one. "It's something to take care of your needs when I'm not here," I explained, as he was unwrapping it.
He looked at me in surprise. "An inflatable doll??" he asked.
Mother and I burst into laughter as he finished unwrapping the gift...a long-handled wooden back scratcher.
I was pretty surprised, too, when I opened one of my gifts from him, and found a four-roll pack of bathroom tissue. "Toilet paper?" I asked. "Look further," he said. So I peered into the tubes and found a small plastic bag containing a pretty brown polished stone pendant tucked into one. That was one of two polished stone pendants he gave me, besides a chunky necklace and earrings, and a small, sparkling diamond-like pendant. On the practical side, he gave me a small electric food processor that I'll use mainly to chop nuts.
Hubbie got a new billfold from Mother. And I gave him Enya's newest CD. Enya is one of his favorite performers, so we have a collection of most of her works. I also gave him a big bag of homemade peanut brittle (which he loves). I didn't make the peanut brittle. I bought it at my beauty salon, where the hairdressers were selling it for a friend.
Mother got things for her new cat, plus clothing, jigsaw puzzles, puzzle books, a jar of lemon curd, calendars, and a "Chicken Soup" book about cats, among other things. Of course, she had received gifts each day for the twelve days leading up to Christmas. Among those gifts was a Christmas apron, Christmas village pieces, scrapbooking supplies, word search books, a loaf of lemon bread, canned peaches and pears, a watering can floral arrangement, Jelly Belly jelly beans (her favorite), and lunch at a new soup and sandwich shop.
Following the gift exchange, we enjoyed cups of hot chocolate and Christmas goodies. After that, Mother went home, and we watched TV news before heading to bed.
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, December 23
We slept really late this morning, not getting up until nearly 8:30 a.m. I headed for the treadmill right away, postponing breakfast until afterward.
While I was getting ready for the day, Mother came over and started a pot of 11-bean soup with ham, onions, banana peppers, and a can of Rotel. We'll serve this when Hubbie's daughter visits tomorrow. I won't indulge, of course, but there will be choices of heart-healthy leftover chili or chicken noodle soup for me.
After that, Mother sat down to her jigsaw puzzle, while we watched a Christmas movie. This mornings's fare was "A Christmas Carol," performed by the Northern Ballet Theatre of England. I taped this from the public television channel several years ago, and have enjoyed it every year since.
We had time for only one movie before lunch. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the Post Office, to the store that has a sale every weekend, to a bank, to the everything's a dollar store, and to the WDCS.
The parking lot at the store that has a sale every weekend was packed, so Hubbie let me out close to the door and then went in search of a parking space. I looked for something for Hubbie for Christmas at the store, and found it. The problem is, in my rush to pay for the item and get it bagged before Hubbie came looking for me, I forgot to use a $10 coupon I had. So now I'll have to go back to the store tomorrow, return the gift for a refund, and then buy the item again, using the coupon this time.
Actually, we had two $10 coupons, and I did use one of them to buy two on-sale corduroy shirts for myself. The shirts are alike, except one is brown and one is tan.
From this store, we went to the everything's a dollar store, where I hoped to find small Christmas bags. No luck. So we went on to the WDCS for grocery items. Besides foods for us, we bought ingredients to make dog biscuits. Hubbie picked up several homemade biscuits at a craft fair recently, and Shih Tzu loves them. So we decided we'd try our hand at making some for her, using a recipe I found online.
While at the store, we met our neighbor, who said she had baked sugar cookies, using a recipe we gave her last year, along with samples of the cookies that we had baked. She said she wanted to send some of the cookies over to our house this evening. So when we got back home, I made up a plate of crackers and Italian cream cheese ball to have on hand as an exchange gift.
After we got back home, we watched another DVD, this time the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in a story titled, "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve."
By the end of the movie, it was supper time. Tonight, we had boiled chicken with dressing from the freezer that had been leftover from Thanksgiving, gravy made from low-sodium chicken broth, and no-salt green beans.
After supper, the neighbor's husband delivered the cookies, and we gave him the cheese ball plate. He said they were on their way to another town for a Christmas celebration with family, so I hope the cheese ball will be a welcome addition to their holiday goodie table.
Later, we made the dog biscuits. Once they had cooled, Shih Tzu sampled one, wagged her tail furiously and begged for more. Looks like we'll be making these often, rather than buying the little homemade bone-shaped ones at $3 a dozen. Tonight, we used cookie cutters that I already have on hand, like a lion, a reindeer, and a leaf, but maybe we can find a bone-shaped cookie cutter somewhere.
While I was getting ready for the day, Mother came over and started a pot of 11-bean soup with ham, onions, banana peppers, and a can of Rotel. We'll serve this when Hubbie's daughter visits tomorrow. I won't indulge, of course, but there will be choices of heart-healthy leftover chili or chicken noodle soup for me.
After that, Mother sat down to her jigsaw puzzle, while we watched a Christmas movie. This mornings's fare was "A Christmas Carol," performed by the Northern Ballet Theatre of England. I taped this from the public television channel several years ago, and have enjoyed it every year since.
We had time for only one movie before lunch. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the Post Office, to the store that has a sale every weekend, to a bank, to the everything's a dollar store, and to the WDCS.
The parking lot at the store that has a sale every weekend was packed, so Hubbie let me out close to the door and then went in search of a parking space. I looked for something for Hubbie for Christmas at the store, and found it. The problem is, in my rush to pay for the item and get it bagged before Hubbie came looking for me, I forgot to use a $10 coupon I had. So now I'll have to go back to the store tomorrow, return the gift for a refund, and then buy the item again, using the coupon this time.
Actually, we had two $10 coupons, and I did use one of them to buy two on-sale corduroy shirts for myself. The shirts are alike, except one is brown and one is tan.
From this store, we went to the everything's a dollar store, where I hoped to find small Christmas bags. No luck. So we went on to the WDCS for grocery items. Besides foods for us, we bought ingredients to make dog biscuits. Hubbie picked up several homemade biscuits at a craft fair recently, and Shih Tzu loves them. So we decided we'd try our hand at making some for her, using a recipe I found online.
While at the store, we met our neighbor, who said she had baked sugar cookies, using a recipe we gave her last year, along with samples of the cookies that we had baked. She said she wanted to send some of the cookies over to our house this evening. So when we got back home, I made up a plate of crackers and Italian cream cheese ball to have on hand as an exchange gift.
After we got back home, we watched another DVD, this time the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in a story titled, "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve."
By the end of the movie, it was supper time. Tonight, we had boiled chicken with dressing from the freezer that had been leftover from Thanksgiving, gravy made from low-sodium chicken broth, and no-salt green beans.
After supper, the neighbor's husband delivered the cookies, and we gave him the cheese ball plate. He said they were on their way to another town for a Christmas celebration with family, so I hope the cheese ball will be a welcome addition to their holiday goodie table.
Later, we made the dog biscuits. Once they had cooled, Shih Tzu sampled one, wagged her tail furiously and begged for more. Looks like we'll be making these often, rather than buying the little homemade bone-shaped ones at $3 a dozen. Tonight, we used cookie cutters that I already have on hand, like a lion, a reindeer, and a leaf, but maybe we can find a bone-shaped cookie cutter somewhere.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Monday, December 22
The first day of winter yesterday ended with temps dropping to 10 degrees overnight, the coldest we've had in a couple of years this early in the season. We made sure there was heat on in the camper and the sun room, and Hubbie placed a light in the well house. Even though crucial water pipes are wrapped in electrical insulation, Hubbie still let the faucets drip in the downstairs bathroom, which is near an outside wall, just to be on the safe side. Thanks to these precautions, we had no frozen pipes this morning.
The central heat kicked on frequently through the night, so we were toasty, too, and the house was warm when we got up at 7:30 a.m.
I started the day, as usual, with a treadmill session and exercises with weights. Once I was ready for the day, Mother came over to work on the jigsaw puzzle we started yesterday, and I headed for the kitchen to do some baking.
I made a loaf of lemon bread as Mother's 11th day of Christmas gift. And then I baked a rum cake for Hubbie. While I made these goodies, I watched Christmas movies...an animated feature, "The Polar Express," and "Mrs. Claus," a musical starring Angela Landsbury.
After lunch, Hubbie moved the card table with the jigsaw puzzle into the den, so Mother could join me in watching a musical version of "Scrooge," starring Albert Finney, and "The Nutcracker," starring Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Then we watched The Raleigh Ringers, a hand bell ensemble from Raleigh, North Carolina, perform Christmas music. I recorded the concert on DVR from the public channel earlier this week. We saw this group perform live at a college in another town back in the summer and really enjoyed them. I bought their Christmas CD at that time, and we listened to it on one of our recent trips to another town.
The concert ended around supper time, when we sat down to chicken noodle soup and light biscuits with honey.
After supper, Hubbie air popped popcorn so I could make a batch of baked fruited popcorn for his daughter, who plans to visit sometime this week. Earlier today, he broke pecans and cut up candied cherries for the recipe.
I received a very nice Christmas gift today. The director of an arts council in the southern part of our state sent me a book of student generated poems, stories, plays and photography. The kids who created these works were students of various artists-in-education, including me. It's a thrill to see photos by students I taught illustrating such a nice book. I'm anxious to find time to sit down and read it.
The central heat kicked on frequently through the night, so we were toasty, too, and the house was warm when we got up at 7:30 a.m.
I started the day, as usual, with a treadmill session and exercises with weights. Once I was ready for the day, Mother came over to work on the jigsaw puzzle we started yesterday, and I headed for the kitchen to do some baking.
I made a loaf of lemon bread as Mother's 11th day of Christmas gift. And then I baked a rum cake for Hubbie. While I made these goodies, I watched Christmas movies...an animated feature, "The Polar Express," and "Mrs. Claus," a musical starring Angela Landsbury.
After lunch, Hubbie moved the card table with the jigsaw puzzle into the den, so Mother could join me in watching a musical version of "Scrooge," starring Albert Finney, and "The Nutcracker," starring Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Then we watched The Raleigh Ringers, a hand bell ensemble from Raleigh, North Carolina, perform Christmas music. I recorded the concert on DVR from the public channel earlier this week. We saw this group perform live at a college in another town back in the summer and really enjoyed them. I bought their Christmas CD at that time, and we listened to it on one of our recent trips to another town.
The concert ended around supper time, when we sat down to chicken noodle soup and light biscuits with honey.
After supper, Hubbie air popped popcorn so I could make a batch of baked fruited popcorn for his daughter, who plans to visit sometime this week. Earlier today, he broke pecans and cut up candied cherries for the recipe.
I received a very nice Christmas gift today. The director of an arts council in the southern part of our state sent me a book of student generated poems, stories, plays and photography. The kids who created these works were students of various artists-in-education, including me. It's a thrill to see photos by students I taught illustrating such a nice book. I'm anxious to find time to sit down and read it.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Sunday, December 21
We got up about 7:30 this frigid morning, and I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises before breakfast.
About 10 a.m., we were ready to head to another town to join Hubbie's family for a Christmas celebration. We were among the first to arrive, but others, who had to travel a greater distance, arrived nearer to lunch time.
The first thing we noticed when we arrived was that Granddaughter was wearing a cast and special shoe on her left foot. It seems she broke a bone in her foot, though she doesn't have a clue how she did it. She'd been having pain in her foot for a while before she decided to see her doctor. I wondered if wearing high heels had caused a stress fracture, but she's not convinced that's the problem. It's just one of those mysteries.
Before and after lunch, several of us worked on the 500-piece jigsaw puzzle that we brought along, but we were unable to complete it by 4 p.m., when we left to come home.
I limited my snacking before lunch, even though there was an array of tempting tidbits, including several kinds of fudge, like pumpkin and peanut butter, besides the traditional chocolate ones, plus a cookie assortment, veggies with horseradish dip, cranberry brie, and the three dips and cheese ball that we brought along. There was also chocolate cake, chocolate pie, and coconut cream pie for dessert.
Lunch choices were ham, green bean casserole, plain green beans, hot corn, cheesy potatoes, cranberry sauce, cole slaw, and homemade crescent rolls. I ate sparingly, but I did sample all of the dishes except the ham and green bean casserole. And I couldn't resist a slice of chocolate cake.
After lunch, there was a gift exchange among the 13 adults and five children gathered. Hubbie and I received several garden-related items, like whimsical stone-like ornaments with faces on them, a round brass eye-catcher ornament that whirls in the wind, and a rabbit lying on its back holding a birdbath or butterfly watering dish. These will all work nicely in Hubbie's shade garden.
Besides these gifts, Mother and I received Christmas ornaments and beauty products, and Hubbie got gift cards to home supply stores. One gift card was cleverly presented in a double-layer wooden gift tag. The tag was secured with a screw at one corner, and embedded in the top layer of wood was a tiny Phillips head screwdriver, which, when used to take the screw out, opened the two layers of wood to reveal the gift card within.
I got a neat gift from one of Hubbie's daughters. It's a small ceramic "pillow " vase with three holes in the top. It's meant for creating miniature fresh or dry arrangements.
This year, the little ones made cute foam Christmas tree ornaments that they proudly distributed to each of us. These will be right at home on the eclectic tree in the sun room.
By this time, folks were ready to get on the road home, but before we left, we donned the Santa hats that Hubbie's ex provided, and lined up in front of the Christmas tree for family group photos. Daughter set the timer on her camera and snapped several shots, hoping at least one will have us all smiling, eyes open, with no kids making weird faces.
We got back home about 5:30 p.m., and I heated low-fat, no-salt chili for Hubbie's and my supper, which we ate with crackers spread with Italian cream cheese. We had fruit for dessert. The rest of the evening, we relaxed in front of the TV.
About 10 a.m., we were ready to head to another town to join Hubbie's family for a Christmas celebration. We were among the first to arrive, but others, who had to travel a greater distance, arrived nearer to lunch time.
The first thing we noticed when we arrived was that Granddaughter was wearing a cast and special shoe on her left foot. It seems she broke a bone in her foot, though she doesn't have a clue how she did it. She'd been having pain in her foot for a while before she decided to see her doctor. I wondered if wearing high heels had caused a stress fracture, but she's not convinced that's the problem. It's just one of those mysteries.
Before and after lunch, several of us worked on the 500-piece jigsaw puzzle that we brought along, but we were unable to complete it by 4 p.m., when we left to come home.
I limited my snacking before lunch, even though there was an array of tempting tidbits, including several kinds of fudge, like pumpkin and peanut butter, besides the traditional chocolate ones, plus a cookie assortment, veggies with horseradish dip, cranberry brie, and the three dips and cheese ball that we brought along. There was also chocolate cake, chocolate pie, and coconut cream pie for dessert.
Lunch choices were ham, green bean casserole, plain green beans, hot corn, cheesy potatoes, cranberry sauce, cole slaw, and homemade crescent rolls. I ate sparingly, but I did sample all of the dishes except the ham and green bean casserole. And I couldn't resist a slice of chocolate cake.
After lunch, there was a gift exchange among the 13 adults and five children gathered. Hubbie and I received several garden-related items, like whimsical stone-like ornaments with faces on them, a round brass eye-catcher ornament that whirls in the wind, and a rabbit lying on its back holding a birdbath or butterfly watering dish. These will all work nicely in Hubbie's shade garden.
Besides these gifts, Mother and I received Christmas ornaments and beauty products, and Hubbie got gift cards to home supply stores. One gift card was cleverly presented in a double-layer wooden gift tag. The tag was secured with a screw at one corner, and embedded in the top layer of wood was a tiny Phillips head screwdriver, which, when used to take the screw out, opened the two layers of wood to reveal the gift card within.
I got a neat gift from one of Hubbie's daughters. It's a small ceramic "pillow " vase with three holes in the top. It's meant for creating miniature fresh or dry arrangements.
This year, the little ones made cute foam Christmas tree ornaments that they proudly distributed to each of us. These will be right at home on the eclectic tree in the sun room.
By this time, folks were ready to get on the road home, but before we left, we donned the Santa hats that Hubbie's ex provided, and lined up in front of the Christmas tree for family group photos. Daughter set the timer on her camera and snapped several shots, hoping at least one will have us all smiling, eyes open, with no kids making weird faces.
We got back home about 5:30 p.m., and I heated low-fat, no-salt chili for Hubbie's and my supper, which we ate with crackers spread with Italian cream cheese. We had fruit for dessert. The rest of the evening, we relaxed in front of the TV.
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