Saturday, Dec. 18

Up at 8:15 and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Before I got on the treadmill, though, Hubbie decided to run errands...not such a good idea, since Shih Tzu had diarrhea and needed to go out as soon as Hubbie left the driveway. I was dressed in shorts and t-shirt and had time only to throw on a cape before going outside. Br-r-r.

Finally finished my session, though, and got ready for the day. Mother came over, bringing three Italian cream cheese balls with her. And then she made two more here. That should be enough for family get-togethers and for giving as gifts with crackers.

I decided to again search for my address cards. This time, I found them...right where I put them, in the Rolodex. They were in the front, but turned backwards. Once I discovered them, I remembered I'd turned them backwards to keep Hubbie from alphabetically filing them before I finished writing my Christmas cards. I was relieved that I could now send a letter and Christmas card to my friend in another town.

Other than adding rum to the cloth wrapping the chocolate date/candied fruit cake I baked a couple of weeks ago, I didn't do much for the rest of the morning.

After a veggie soup lunch, with crackers and Italian cream cheese ball, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the post office, to the everything's a dollar store, to the WDCS, and to a pharmacy store. At the pharmacy, I bought Christmas-themed paper Christmas sacks at eight for a dollar. I looked for them first at the everything's a dollar store, but there were none there.

At the WDCS, I thought we would never find white taper candles. Even after a store employee sent us to the right aisle, I searched and searched the shelves before finding them. I would have preferred pure white candles, but the vanilla colored ones I found will have to do.

Strange episode at the checkout counter: the older checker seemed frazzled. I commented that I imagined she would be glad when Christmas was over. "Yes," she said, "for more than one reason."

I didn't respond. But presently, she continued. "Christmas is always a bad time for me. Two years ago in September, two of my grandsons died in a house fire. And last year, in October, my husband died."

I expressed my sympathy. "And then," she said, "folks at the funeral said it was cheap of us to bury the boys in the same casket. But those boys were inseparable in life, and we didn't want to separate them in death."

I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing. But I thought to myself that those people had a lot of nerve criticizing a family in mourning for their choices in funeral arrangements.

Thankfully, at this point she had finished ringing up our purchases, and we were able to leave. I seem to be one of those people that other folks feel free to confide in, and if this lady needed to unburden herself, I'm glad I could help. But I left the store a little gloomy.

It was about 3 p.m. before we got back home. Mother had retrieved the leftover lasagna from the freezer and put it in the oven for our supper. While it heated, we sat down to watch the musical, "Scrooge," starring Kelsey Grammer, which helped restore my cheerful spirits.

Mother went home after supper, and after the dishes were cleared and the kitchen cleaned, I made a rum cake for Hubbie. Since the cake is made with a yellow cake mix and vanilla pudding (which also contains yellow dye) I won't be able to eat any of it.

While the cake baked, Hubbie and I watched our favorite college basketball team play to a disappointing loss.

It was a night for basketball games, as we watched another state team also go down in defeat.