Friday, Dec. 3

Today is Granddaughter's birthday. Happy Birthday, Granddaughter!

Up at 7:30 this morning, but skipped my exercises so I could get ready to go to a local branch bank, where Caring Hands Hospice staff and volunteers gathered to light a Christmas tree in memory of deceased hospice patients, friends, and family. For a $10 donation, we could buy a beautiful pewter snowflake and then write the name of our loved one on a big, white snowflake to be added to the tree. I bought one in memory of my father. Last year, I bought an angel in memory of my brother. Hubbie bought one in memory of an uncle.

A young woman sang two songs in honor of the occasion..."Mary, Did You Know," and...well, I've forgotten what the second one was. But she has a very pleasing singing voice and we enjoyed hearing her.

The event included a variety of refreshments, including donuts, chocolate cupcakes, a cheese ball and crackers, and veggies with dip. I indulged only in a small glass of punch, made with equal parts pineapple juice, cranberry juice, orange juice and 7-up. I liked it, though Hubbie was ambivalent about it.

Mother didn't go with us this morning, since she's still feeling puny. She just can't get her energy back, and her appetite is very low. If she doesn't perk up pretty soon, we'll be off to the doctor again.

Since we were out, we decided to run errands...to the everything's a dollar store, where I got red "grass" for a food basket to be used at the "dirty Santa" gift exchange during the "Water Babes" Christmas party at a local restaurant next week; to a new pet store, where we bought a thick coat for our elderly Shih Tzu to wear on cold winter days; to a vet's office for dog food; and to a grocery store for few food items.

Then we stopped by a fast food restaurant to get a couple of cups of chili for lunch. We brought them home to eat. After lunch, Mother came over, and we prepared two kinds of soup...potato and salmon chowder. Before we could do either one, though, we found we needed carrots, ground dill weed, and shredded Monterey Jack cheese. So Hubbie headed back to the grocery store to get these items.

Mother sat at a table to chop onions, celery, and carrots for the potato soup, while Hubbie peeled potatoes and sliced them in the food processor. In the meantime, I made the salmon chowder (see recipe in an upcoming post). Once the potato soup veggies were cooked, Mother finished that soup. I would have done it, but she insisted on doing it herself, though by the time she was done, she was plenty ready to sit and rest in a rocking chair.

Done with kitchen duties for a while, we decided to watch the Christmas movie, "Polar Express," for the rest of the afternoon.

For supper, we had helpings of the salmon chowder, with the last of the yeast rolls. Mother went home afterward, and I baked a couple of chocolate fruitcakes, using a Weight Watcher's recipe.

We'll serve the potato soup, salmon chowder, and 11-bean with Rotel, for lunch tomorrow, along with barbecue sandwiches, when Daughter, Granddaughter, and two Great-Grandchildren come to attend the graham cracker cookie Christmas house workshop at the art gallery.

Television fare tonight included the movie, "A Walk in My Shoes," on a prime time channel.

Note: We never did receive the slow cooker we ordered online, so yesterday Hubbie called the online store and reached a very nice lady who checked with Fed Ex and learned that they somehow lost the cooker. So, of course, we will not be charged for it. Since it didn't arrive before Thanksgiving, we bought one at the WDCS, but we feared if the one we ordered ever did arrive, we'd have to pay $20 or so to send it back. Glad it all worked out in our favor.