Monday, Dec. 6

Up at 7:30 on this yet another frigid morning. Did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast.

When I came out of the room where the treadmill is I was startled to see Mother sitting in a rocking chair. I didn't know she'd come over. Seems that while I was exercising, a friend from the Extension Homemakers Council had dropped by to leave gifts and cards for Mother and me. The gifts were small jars of homemade jelly. We've exchanged gifts with this lady every year at the EHC Christmas party, but this year we didn't go to the party. So we'll put together a gift of a bottle of chai tea and cookies for the lady, and I'll deliver it to her next week.

Before I got ready for the day, I gathered materials together for Mother to begin making Christmas cards for Caring Hands Hospice. The Caring Hands card-making group is to meet Wednesday for a session, but I'm not sure we'll be able to attend. Right now, the session is scheduled for 10:30 to whenever on Wednesday, but Mother and I will attend the Water Babes Christmas party at 11 a.m.

If the card-making session is changed to the afternoon, then we'll be able to attend. The Caring Hands coordinator is trying to work it out for us to meet in the afternoon at an independent living center, so that some of the residents of the center can join us in the activity.

Things get complicated in the first two weeks of December, when it seems everybody wants to schedule parties and other activities.

Spent the rest of the morning doing household chores. After a soup lunch, Mother prepared carrots and onions, Hubbie peeled potatoes, and I browned and seasoned a pork roast for the slow cooker.

Then Hubbie and I ran errands...to the bank; to a grocery store to pick up on-sale fruits (found bags of six pears for $1. The pears are very ripe and need to be used right away); to a fast food restaurant for gift cards; to a cake and candy making supply store for white chocolate; and to the WDCS for groceries. Here, we found sweet potatoes for ten cents a pound. Grabbed 22 pounds of those. They'll keep for a long time, and each time we bake some for a meal, we'll bake enough to put into the freezer.

We were back home around 3 p.m. I did a few things related to card making, and then tried to order more bottles of chai tea to be used as token gifts, but the online site is blocking visitors from ordering...guess they're being overrun with orders right now. I'll try again tomorrow.

Supper was very good, but I had to hurry and eat, because I needed to be at the college at 6 p.m. to meet my student. To my consternation, there was a basketball game going on tonight, so parking spaces were at a premium. I had to park quite a distance from the library, but I got there right at 6 p.m. My student didn't arrive until nearly 6:15, probably because of difficulty finding a parking space.

Then we had difficulty finding a study room in the library. Semester final tests are coming up, so the college students are using the study rooms to cram. Walked all around the upper level, and finally found an unoccupied room.

Tonight, we learned the contractions of I am, you are, it is, that is, he is, she is, as well as names of primary colors, objects and humans, like desk, door, boy, girl, student, teacher.

We also reviewed the alphabet, and numbers up to nine, as well as the student's address. She seemed well versed in these already.

She does have trouble with the words chair and yellow, which she tends to pronounce as "char" and "chello." When corrected, though, she pronounces them correctly. So I keep coming back to the words and asking her to repeat them.

Tonight, I sent her home with a workbook for practicing writing letters, numbers, and her address.

Nice surprise today: the mail yielded a $100 check made out to our scrapbook club to be used toward a community project. The club won't meet until January, so we'll discuss how we want to use the funds at that time.

Also got a $10 coupon to the store that has a sale every weekend that I'll need to use before Dec. 24. I'm sure I'll have no trouble doing that.

And a jigsaw puzzle in a tin arrived in the mail. The puzzle is a Christmas gift for Mother. It features a photo of the cat and the cat's name on the lid of the tin. I think Mother will really love this gift.