Thursday, December 3

Slept late this morning, after being sleep deprived for several days. After breakfast, I hopped on the treadmill and then did weights exercises. Once I was ready for the day, Hubbie and I ran errands...first to the auto repair shop, because the brake warning light on the van has been coming on. The shop owner added brake fluid and the light went off. If it comes back on, we'll take the van in to check for a leak in the line.

From there, we went to the bank, and then to the appliance store to check on our upstairs TV which, we learned, has a problem with the sensor. A new sensor is on order. In the meantime, we brought the TV home and will take it back when the sensor comes in.

Our next stop was the everything's a dollar store. Finally, we went to the WDCS. It was about 12:15 by the time we got back home. While we were gone, Mother started pots of chicken stewing for soup on Saturday.

Following lunch, Hubbie ran a couple of more errands...to the art gallery to pick up an empty milk carton to use in making a sample graham cracker cookie Christmas house, to a grocery store to get cans of icing for the Christmas house workshop, and a head of lettuce, because all the lettuce at the WDCS this morning was wilted and brown, and then to the WDCS for more boxes of house-brand graham crackers for the workshop.

This morning, I got word from the art gallery director that we'll need to conduct two sessions of the Christmas house workshop on Saturday, because more kids than usual are signing up, which is why Hubbie made a trip to pick up extra supplies.

While he was gone, I made arrangements for us to go to our primary care clinic tomorrow at 11:15 to get H1N1 flu shots. There is to be a clinic at our local health department later this month, and flu shots will be administered on a first-come-first-served basis for as long as the vaccine lasts, but that would mean standing in line for a long time, and I wanted to avoid that.

Then I called Mother's ophthalmologist to make sure it is okay for her to get the shot so soon after cataract surgery, and was told that it's fine.

Speaking of Mother's cataract surgery, she said that this morning while applying makeup, she closed her right eye (the one that still has cataracts) and looked at herself through her clear eye. "My God!" she exclaimed, "The doctor made me old!"

When Hubbie got back from his errands, Mother created a graham cracker cookie Christmas house, while I made turkey enchiladas for supper.

Just as we sat down to watch TV, a freelance newspaper reporter called. She works with another edition of the regional insert to the state paper, similar to the one I work with occasionally. She wants to do a food article about the graham cracker cookie Christmas house workshop, and asked me to do snapshots for it. I had planned to do that anyway, so it's no problem. She also wants to call tomorrow afternoon to do an interview with me, though I can't think what I can tell her that would be interesting. She said she wants some recipes, so this evening, I sent her one for soft gingersnaps, which seems to fit into her gingerbread theme.