Monday, August 16

Up at 7 a.m. and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast. Hubbie had an appointment wtih his chiropractor at 9 a.m., and he left before I was ready for the day. Before I showered, I got a call from our neighbor lady who feeds our cats while we are on trips. She wanted me to drop by her house this afternoon to take a look at a digital SLR camera that she had an opportunity to buy from a friend. I agreed to do that.

Once I was ready for the day, Mother came over to work on gathering materials for making scrapbook pages of Niece's wedding. While she did that, I made phone calls. One to return a call to the nurse at Mother's and my doctor's office. I had to leave a message, since she was busy.

Next, I called the ladies of the scrapbook club to remind them of our Thursday meeting. Every month, one of the ladies asks to come by our house so she can ride with Mother and me to the meeting, and every month I agree, because it is no trouble to take her with us. I assure her every time that we never schedule anything else for meeting afternoons, so she is in no way imposing on us, and that if it is ever inconvenient, I'll let her know. But she worries every month, anyway.

I didn't reach the other scrapbook club member, but then I never do when I call. I always leave a message, and she usually shows up each month.

Before lunch, I washed several loads of clothes, and planned the week's menu. It was a brain-strainer, as usual. I simply run out of ideas after a while. But I finally cobbled a menu together, and made a grocery list based on it.

At 1:30, I visited the neighbor who asked me to look at the camera she thinking of buying. It's a really nice Sony SLR, that the friend is selling with five lenses, a flash unit, several memory cards, and a battery charger for only $600. He is a professional who wants to upgrade his camera system. This is a a dream deal, and I urged her to accept it. Her reservation is in learning to use it, but I convinced her she could use the automatic functions first to get used to it, then when she's more comfortable with the camera, she can read the manual to begin using more advanced functions.

To get her started, I showed her how to hold the camera, how to change the lenses, and how to access a few of the simple functions on the camera. I spent about thirty minutes with her, before her grandson awoke from his nap. He's a two-year-old with busy hands, eager to explore the camera equipment. So the neighbor had to quickly put it all away.

The nurse called back and said Mother's urologist had sent the doctor a report that showed Mother's constipation problem. The nurse asked if Mother was feeling any pain, and she said 'no.' The doctor recommended, though, that Mother take a daily dose of Miralax to ward off any further problems.

While I had the nurse on the line, I scheduled a fasting lab test for myself for Wednesday, when Hubbie is scheduled for the same test. I also scheduled an appintment with the doctor for later in the morning of that day.

Later, Hubbie and I shopped for groceries at the WDCS.

For supper tonight, Mother and I fixed microwave baked potatoes topped with barbecued pork from the freezer (heated, of course), barbecue sauce, and chopped Vidalia onions. Served this with a salad.

I accompanied Mother home after that, and then Hubbie and I watched TV. Tonight's feature was "Breakaway," a 2002 R-rated movie starring Dean Caine and Eric Roberts. A suspended Chicago cop (Caine) matches wits with a professional thief (Roberts) in a mall. The thief and his cohorts take hostages, including the cop's wife. The thieves hope to make off with $12 million in cash, and the cop must try to stop them and save the hostages. The thief (Roberts) needs the millions to save the life of his son, who has leukemia.