Monday, Sept. 13

Had trouble going to sleep last night. The last time I checked the clock, it was 3 a.m. But I got up at 6:30 nevertheless to get ready to go to water aerobics. Fortunately, this morning, the trip to the pool was without incident...no traffic jam due to road workers paving an intersection.

There was a nip in the air, though, and I might have enjoyed a light jacket and fleece pants or shirt instead of the t-shirt and shorts that I wore. But by the time I left the gym to come home, the weather was quite pleasant for the walk up the hill to the parking lot.

At home, once I was ready for the day, Mother came over and started a pot of chili while Hubbie and I took a stack of area rugs to a laundromat to wash. I preferred washing them in one of the large heavy-duty machines designed for such tasks rather than putting them in my home washer.

While they washed, we went to the store that is going out of business. Nothing much left of interest, but I did get a bottle of strawberry ice cream syrup, and Hubbie picked up a package of root beer hard candies (not my favorite).

At home, we scrounged around for lunch....I decided to finish off the leftover veggies, while Hubbie chose a Mexican TV dinner, and Mother opted for Ramen noodle soup.

Afterward, we hit the trail again...this time to get more tomato sauce for the chili, and kitten food, at the grocery store, and a couple of more plastic totes at a dollar store.

Wasn't paying attention to the cans of tomato sauce, though, and failed to get the no-salt variety. So Hubbie hotfooted back to the store to exchange it. While he was gone, I filled a tote with crafting supplies for the closet shelf. As I was doing this, I heard a bump, and Mother called from the other room that she had fallen.

I rushed to her aid and tried, unsuccessfully, to help her back to her feet. Fortunately, she had fallen on the carpet near the stairway, so with my help, we got her rolled over onto her knees, and she was able to lift herself enough to sit on a bottom step, then scoot to the next step. From there, she was able to grasp the railing, and together, we got her to her feet.

I asked her how she came to fall like that, and she said her feet just stopped and down she went. The soles of her shoes are rubber, and I think because she shuffles rather than lifting her feet when she walks, she becomes unbalanced. I suggested she start using the walker we got for her, but she just doesn't want to. So I suggested she must not walk anywhere in our house or her house without her cane, then.

A similar incident happened to one of the ladies at the pool over the weekend. Seems a bottle of liquid laundry detergent fell from a shelf in her laundry room, opened, and spilled onto the floor. The lady was cleaning it up and went to an adjoining bathroom to fetch more towels. Either the liquid seeped to the bathroom floor, or the lady had it on her feet, but either way, she slipped and fell into the bathtub. She wasn't able to stand up, and of course her cell phone had flown to a far side of the room.

Her husband was away, so for about an hour she tried to get the phone by snapping a towel at it. She finally got it close enough to grasp so that she could call her neighbors, who immediately came to her aid. Fortunately, like Mother, the only thing this lady injured was her pride.

Later, for supper, we enjoyed steaming bowls of chili...the first of the season. Soups, stews, and chili, are favorite meals at our house as the weather cools.

After that, we spent time in front of TV watching one-hour programs.