Monday, January 19

I woke up with a slight tummy ache this morning, so decided to skip water aerobics. I was glad I did, for a couple of reasons...because a cold wind kicked up that would have been very uncomfortable going to and coming back from the pool, and because Hubbie's daughter called early to say she and Great-Grandddaughter planned to visit this morning, which meant we needed to scurry to straighten the downstairs area, and fix a pot of chicken noodle soup for lunch.

Hubbie went to the store to pick up fresh bread and deli meats to have with the soup. For dessert, we filled a basket with packaged individual cups of fat-free chocolate puddings, fruited gels, and applesauce, as well as individually packaged fat-free fig bars.

Daughter and Great-Granddaughter (who was out of school for Martin Luther King, Jr., Day) arrived about 10:30 a.m. Daughter has recently joined a fitness club and is interested in losing weight, so we provided her with several recipes to try.

Daughter stayed until about 1 p.m. After she left, Mother and I finished several scrapbook pages that we'd started before the holidays. Then I made copies of the pages to add to February birthday gifts for Granddaughter and Daughter-in-Law.

Tomorrow will be a big day for Mother's cat, Snoops, who is scheduled to be spayed. She has been driving Mother crazy, because she continues to come into heat every few days, and then frantically tries to find a way to get outside. In one of her frenzies, she shredded Mother's bedroom window sheers the other day.

Our local Humane Society is sponsoring the spay/neuter clinics until April for folks who meet limited-income qualifications. Mother, who is on a fixed Social Security income, meets those qualifications, which means the procedure will only cost her $10.

When Hubbie first called the Humane Society about getting the procedure done, the cat was scheduled for a middle-of-March date. Mother didn't think she could wait that long, so Hubbie called a vet's office and got an appointment for mid-February. With the way Snoops is acting, even that seemed an eternity. So Hubbie tried another clinic, that in turn called the Humane Society, and got Snoops scheduled for tomorrow. Hooray!

Supper tonight was spaghetti, using leftover Swiss steak and sauce added to a jar of spaghetti sauce. We served this with green beans and cottage cheese. After supper, Mother went home, and we settled in for an evening of TV.