Saturday, February 7

I started my Saturday with a treadmill and weights workout session, as usual. Afterwards, while I was getting ready for the day, Hubbie went to the Extension Services office, where he was to meet a group of Master Gardeners at 9 a.m. to work on the flower beds. But at 9:30, when no one else had shown up, he came back home. He tried calling other members to find out what had happened, but was unable to reach anyone.

So he showered and dressed to accompany me to the WDCS to shop for groceries on this moderately warm day that would have been more comfortable with less wind. We got back home around 11:30.

Mother had come over and chopped lettuce and other veggies while we were gone. Hubbie and I had big plates of this salad base for lunch, topped with sliced canned beets, dried cranberries, and almonds, as well as leftover boiled chicken, and low-fat cottage cheese, and served with warmed bran muffins and hot tea, along with small bowls of mixed fresh fruits. Mother, whose stomach doesn't tolerate a lot of raw veggies and fruits, opted for chicken noodle soup from a package and half a chicken sandwich.

Right after lunch, our neighbor's teenage boy came to the door selling orders of barbequed ribs as a school fundraiser. We agreed to buy an order, of course, which we are to pick up Friday at one of the businesses in town. We are usually suckers for kids selling stuff for school or other organizations. That's one reason we have so many boxes of Girl Scout cookies in the freezer, and why we have several magazine subscriptions, scented candles, etc.

Today is Son's birthday, so I called him after lunch, and we had a nice chat. He and Daughter-in-Law (who celebrated a birthday last Thursday) were traveling home from a shopping trip when I called, so his cell phone kept cutting out. I had to call back three times before we finished our conversation, which amused both of us. Cell phones are not yet an exact science.

Other than Daughter-in-Law and Grandson suffering bouts of a 24-hour bug, everything seems to be fine with Son's family. They were basically unaffected by the recent ice storm beyond Son missing one day of work.

Then I called Sis so Mother could talk to her. She said she was able to go to work during the ice storm, but one employee had an auto accident that kept her from coming in...it seems her air bag failed to deploy causing her to bump her head and get squeezed into the steering wheel. She came to work the next day, but complained of pains, so she saw her doctor and learned she had a concussion and bruised ribs.

Hubbie went outdoors to work in the yard this afternoon while the DVR recorded our favorite basketball team in SEC play. We like to wait at least an hour into recording before watching a game, so we can zap the annoying commercials. Unfortunately, our team, coming out like Gang Busters in the first half, let the game slip to a disappointing loss in the second half. Phooey.

For supper, we had pizzas made with wheat bagels topped with slices of provolone cheese, no- salt diced tomatoes, sauteed onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms, along with minced garlic from a jar. We sprinkled the pizzas with no-salt seasoning, pepper, dried basil, oregano, and shredded Quesadilla cheese. These were baked for about 25 minutes, until hot and bubbly, and served with sauteed potatoes.

Later, Hubbie and I watched a movie titled "The Copyist," about a young woman who becomes a copyist to Ludwig Von Beethoven (a copyist is a person who makes neat copies of a composer's music). This is a work of fiction, since Beethoven never employed such a woman, but it is a very interesting PG-13 movie...given this rating because of some adult content (Beethoven, played by Ed Harris, moons the woman, played by Diane Kruger, in one scene, and there is a little mild language). The story centers on Beethoven's final symphony, completed in 1824, shortly before his death. At one point in the film, we are treated to a portion of this Ninth Symphony that includes a singing chorus.

Friday, February 6

Twenty-one of us showed up for water aerobics this morning. As the days grow warmer, the number of ladies attending sessions will also grow. The pool was a bit nippy today, but felt good once I got used to it.





When I got back home, I decided I wanted to clip articles about the Go Red for Women Luncheon event from the various newspapers. I wish I'd thought to clip them as soon as we'd read the papers, because it was difficult turning up the right issues out of a stack that's been collecting for a couple of weeks. I don't know what there is about looking through back issues of newspapers...an article of interest jumps out at me when I first read a paper, but hides from me when I look for it later.





After lunch, I took Mother shopping. She wanted to stop by the greeting card shop, and then go to the WDCS for incidentals and a few grocery items. We both wore red in observance of Go Red Friday, which is aimed at increasing awareness that heart disease is the number one killer of women, and to show support for programs that prevent or reduce the risk for heart disease.



We were home about 2:30, but didn't feel like doing anything beyond watching a couple of "Monk" episodes that I'd recorded on DVR. Hubbie was more productive than we were...he worked in the yard most of the day.





For supper, Mother made salmon loaf. We had baked sweet potatoes and English peas with it. After that, more (yawn) TV.



Note: since we have a freezer full of Girl Scout cookies made with peanut butter (got a case of them at a silent auction), I checked online to see if they are on the salmonella tainted products list. Thank goodness, they are not. The bakers of Girl Scout cookies do not get their peanut butter from Peanut Corporation of America, which is the focus of a tainted peanut butter investigation.

Thursday, February 5

After sleeping late this morning, I had a cold cereal breakfast and then did a treadmill session and resistance exercises. Other than regular household chores, I did nothing important for the rest of the morning.



For lunch, I fixed a breakfast meal...an omelet made with egg substitute and sauteed onions, bell pepper, and mushrooms. Hubbie and I shared the omelet, and I made a small recipe of white gravy for him to have over a couple of leftover biscuits. I had low-fat cottage cheese and half of a wheat bagel with mine. We both had bowls of fresh fruit, sprinkled with chopped almonds and a few dark chocolate chips and dollops of fat-free whipped topping.



After lunch, we went to the WDCS for groceries and incidentals. Yesterday, when Hubbie stopped by the store to pick up deli meat, he discovered that there were absolutely no meats or cheeses in the deli case. We don't know why. Deli workers were behind the counter, but appeared to be too busy for Hubbie to inquire. We forgot to drop by there today to see if the deli was operational or not.



Back home, we lazily watched a couple of one-hour TV shows, and then I made a batch of bran muffins to have with leftover stew. Mother, who stayed home through the day, joined us for supper.

We spent the evening, as usual, in front of TV, watching a very strange movie called, "Fear X." One online site rates this as a three-star movie, but I don't know why. Rated PG-13, it's supposed to be a psychological thriller about a man searching for his wife's killer. It's a plodding movie, with the main character going into and out of dreams or fugues or something. He supposedly learns disturbing things about his wife, but we're fuzzy on what those things are. The man finally finds his wife's killer, who shoots him. He lands in the hospital, and then he's escorted to the border and has to leave the state. Why did the guy kill his wife? Who knows. It was never revealed, as far as we could tell. If the movie is supposed to have deep meaning and symbolism, it was lost on us.

Seventeen of us showed up for water aerobics on this eighteen-degree morning. If the out-of-the-north wind had been blowing briskly today, I might have wimped out of going. But I'm always glad I've gone once I'm in the water.




When I got back home, Hubbie said he had made a 10 a.m. appointment at the barber shop, so he commandeered the van to run a few errands beforehand.





Mother came over once I was ready for the day and started a pot of stew, using an uncooked portion of beef cut from the Sunday roast, along with carrots, onions, potatoes, low-sodium beef broth, and various herbs and spices. It was delicious, served with light canned biscuits and honey.





After lunch, Mother and I made several greeting cards (see above...for a closer view of the cards, click twice on the picture). Mother made the Valentine, and I made the other three. For the "Thinking of you" blue card, I used leftovers from a scrapbook page project. After I cut out blue hearts for the page, I used the "holes" for this card.





The note card on the right was made by gluing a square of decorative flower stamps to card stock and adding a white bow to the top. The stamps were included on a sheet of address labels.




The card on the left is a combination of rubber stamping, flower stickers (I bought a large sheet of these for a dollar), and "stitching," done with a white pen. The scalloped edging was done with decorative scissors.




We finished the cards around suppertime. Later, Hubbie and I watched our favorite basketball team in SEC play. It was an exciting game, but, drats, they lost by two points.

Tuesday, February 3

If today's windy-cold weather is any indication, I'm betting that the groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, was absolutely accurate yesterday in his prediction that we'll have six more weeks of winter.

I started the morning with a treadmill session and weights workout. After I was ready for the day, I put together a memo and artist-in-education photography course description, explaining how my program would fit into science curriculum frameworks for a local middle school. This was at the request of a teacher from that school, and the local arts council director.

After that, it was just a normal day of household chores. Mother came over around 2 p.m., and we went to the beauty shop to get haircuts. There, we learned that the hairdresser who cuts Mother's hair was without power at her home until last Saturday.

And then the power went out again today, but she got a call while we were there telling her that it came back on this afternoon. She also said that her yard is littered with broken trees..."It looks like a war zone," she said. This normally upbeat, cheerful lady looked positively worn out today. My heart went out to her.

I didn't do much after we got back from the beauty shop. Mother went home, preferring not to join us for supper tonight. So, I fixed fajitas for Hubbie's and my supper, using leftover beans and leftover beef roast sauteed with green onions, bell pepper, fresh mushrooms, and salsa. I spooned this mixture onto tortillas, sprinkled shredded Quesadilla cheese over the top, rolled them into foil and put them in the oven to heat. At the table, we spooned salsa and sour cream over the tops of the fajitas. With these, we had potato pancakes made from leftover mashed potatoes, and the rest of the leftover beans. I added a leftover piece of corn on the cob to Hubbie's plate, and a small helping of leftover greens to mine.

Later, Hubbie called his daughter and son. Daughter said her power was restored late this afternoon, and his son's and sister's electricity finally came on around 7 p.m. It's been a long, long week for family following the awful ice storm of last Tuesday. But TV reports this evening say that other communities are not as lucky...one may not have power restored for four to six weeks! What kind of personal courage and fortitude must it take to cope such adversity?

Monday, February 2

Eighteen of us showed up for water aerobics this morning. The pool was moderately comfortable, and the workout felt good.

I was anxious to talk with one of the water aerobics members, who is also a member of Extension Homemakers. A member of her club died last week, and I wanted to know what had happened to her, since Mother and I had seen her at the EH Christmas party in early December, and she looked well at that time. I was told that the lady, 88 years old, had recently been diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that carried her off in a matter of weeks. That's scary.

After I got back home, Mother put color in my hair in anticipation of haircuts tomorrow afternoon.

We didn't accomplish a lot after that. Hubbie ran errands, and Mother and I gathered birthday cards and gifts, and simmered a pot of chicken for soup for the upcoming birthday party at Son and Daughter-in-Law's house on Feb. 14. The soup broth and chicken breasts are in the freezer for now. We set aside some of the broth and chicken, added noodles, and had steaming bowls of it for lunch.

While Hubbie was out, he picked up 3-D glasses at a grocery store, so we could watch a 3-D episode of "Chuck" tonight. If we'd had the glasses yesterday, we could have watched a movie promotion in 3-D. But it didn't matter, because I was able to go online and get that video, plus an advertisement at thrillicious.com. This is a fascinating technology that is predicted to be a pretty common way to view TV in the near future.

For supper, we had hot roast beef sandwiches, along with leftover mashed potatoes, and gravy combined with carrots and onions. We spent the evening, as usual, watching TV.

Sunday, February 1

We awoke to another promise-of-spring morning on this first day of February. Since it's Sunday, I skipped my exercises. Mother came over while I was getting ready for the day and put a beef roast in the slow cooker with onions and carrots.

For the rest of the morning, we did this and that. Hubbie discovered that the paper deliverer tossed our newspaper in a ditch full of water, so he drove up to the nearest convenience store and got another one.

Hubbie and Mother read the paper, while I programmed the DVR for this week's favorite shows and movies.

At lunch, the beef roast was particularly tender, succulent, and flavorful, seasoned with a variety of herbs, spices, and garlic, and served with the carrots and onions that were cooked with it, along with mashed potatoes and beef broth gravy.

Mother went home after lunch, and Hubbie and I watched a couple of episodes of "Lost," and then a suspense movie. For supper, we had cold beef roast sandwiches, salad, and fruit.

Then we joined the rest of nation in watching the Super Bowl game. We are not die-hard fans of professional football, so we decided to side with the underdog Cardinals, who played admirably, but lost anyway. We also watched the game to see the much-touted commercials, and halftime show.