Up at 7 a.m. and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. While I was on the treadmill, Hubbie bathed Shih Tzu.
Mother came over while I was getting ready for the day and fixed egg salad and tuna salad.
Around 9:30, Hubbie went to a Master Gardener meeting, which lasted until about 11:30. While he was gone, Mother and I did things related to an upcoming trip. I also gathered scrapbooking materials for doing pages about the recent 50-year high school graduation reunion. Our school colors were purple and gold, and luckily, I have enough cardstock in those colors.
After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the other discount store, to the WDCS, and to a grocery store.
At the WDCS, we met Mother's and my friend who came to our town Tuesday to visit with our other friend. We spent a long time visiting with her. She said her husband will retire as a newspaper editor next year and is planning to write a book about unsolved murders in their area. He has a vested interest in the subject, since his sister was murdered in the 1970s, and though he and others know who did it, there was no evidence to prosecute the guy. He dumped the body in the woods, where hunters later discovered it. She was in her twenties at the time, with children. She was separated or divorced from her husband, but was seeing and became pregnant by a married law enforcement officer.
At home, at suppertime, Mother cut up and sauteed baked potatoes, while I put together Ziplock bag omelets. We had this with toast. Mother ate only half of her omelet and took the rest home to have for her breakfast in the morning.
Later, Hubbie and I watched the horror flick, "Quarantine," an R-rated, 2008 movie starring Jennifer Carpenter. The film was made on the order of "The Blair Witch Project," like a documentary viewed from the perspective of the cameraman.
A TV reporter is on assignment covering a local fire department. They are called out to an emergency at an apartment building, where they break down a door, and are confronted by a bloody, crazed woman. Others in the building exhibit similar symptoms, which includes cannibalism. The government seals off the apartment, and the TV folks and the firemen are quarantined (because of a supposed virus that's causing the cannibalism).
Lots of camera jumpiness, screaming, a vicious barking dog, background sirens that go on and on, and blood. I guess the screaming and sirens replaced dramatic background music. Never heard a sound from the cameraman, though, who surely would have been as terrified as everyone else. His only response was to butt his camera lens into the head of one of the crazed cannibals. Caught myself laughing at this and some other ridiculous scenes.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Wednesday, August 11
Up around 7 a.m., and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast. Once I was ready for the day, I washed a couple of loads of clothes.
Mother was already here when I came downstairs...Hubbie had accompanied her to our house. We spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen today. Mother boiled eggs for egg salad and tuna salad for an upcoming trip. Then she sauteed onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms to use on bagel pizzas later.
Hubbie and I prepared fruits for the freezer. Some of the grapes and peaches we bought while we were at the grape festival were getting overripe, so we bagged two gallons of grapes and two quarts of peaches to freeze. We'll make juice from the grapes later, from which we'll eventually make jelly.
From a few of the peaches that needed to be used, I made a cobbler for supper. This was at the request of Mother, who had a hankering for the pie. I'm perfectly willing to fix whatever food seems appealing to her. Peaches are her favorite fruit.
For a change today, we didn't run errands. Hubbie, though, did visit a chiropractor, because he's been suffering from a pulled muscle in his back. This was his second appointment. He also went on Monday.
Later, Mother scrubbed and baked potatoes to have with the bagel pizza for supper, and I put together the pizzas. Mother ate half a pizza and half a potato before deciding she was full. Hubbie and I indulged in the cobbler with ice cream, but Mother took her helping home for a snack later.
As usual, Hubbie helped clean the kitchen after supper. In so doing, he dropped a glass while trying to put it in a cupboard, shattering it everywhere. It was an old glass of no consequence, but as he cleaned it up, I told him to use a wet paper towel to gather tiny shards. When I got back from accompanying Mother to her house, though, I noticed he was using a dishcloth to pick up the glass. He planned to wash and use the cloth again, but I insisted he throw it away, because tiny pieces of glass can stubbornly cling to cloth, and I didn't want them to find their way into our food. He didn't see the reasoning, but I researched online about how to clean up shattered glass, and when he saw the advice is to use a wet paper towel, he decided I was right.
Later, we watched TV, including a movie called "Black Point," a 2002, R-rated film, starring David Caruso. Two years previously, a man's small daughter goes missing while he is shopping with her at a mall. His wife blames him and eventually divorces him. He becomes obsessed with finding the girl. Currently, in Alaska, he meets a woman who is being abused by her husband, and he has a one night stand with her while the husband is away. Stolen money, double-crossing, and a trail of dead bodies are parts of the plot of this suspense movie.
News topics of the day:
1. The proposed sales tax did not pass, so we will not be looking forward to a community center and sports complex anytime soon. It failed by a mere 101 votes.
2. While talking to the arts council director this morning, she said there had been a bad accident on the road that winds up a mountain out of our town. We turned on the radio and learned that it was a tractor-trailer hauling a load of crushed cars. The load had shifted, and the whole thing tipped over on its side, scattering the crushed cars and holding up morning traffic.
3. A Texas pedophile, on the run from authorities, was captured today in our town, just down the road from our house, near the college. Funny: yesterday, while Mother and I were at the beauty shop, a woman came in asking if the hairdressers had locked the back door, because there was a fugitive on the loose. One of the hairdressers asked if it was the pedophile they'd been hearing about. The woman said 'yes.' Looking around at a shop full of very mature women, the hairdresser said, "Well, then. I don't think we have to worry."
Mother was already here when I came downstairs...Hubbie had accompanied her to our house. We spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen today. Mother boiled eggs for egg salad and tuna salad for an upcoming trip. Then she sauteed onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms to use on bagel pizzas later.
Hubbie and I prepared fruits for the freezer. Some of the grapes and peaches we bought while we were at the grape festival were getting overripe, so we bagged two gallons of grapes and two quarts of peaches to freeze. We'll make juice from the grapes later, from which we'll eventually make jelly.
From a few of the peaches that needed to be used, I made a cobbler for supper. This was at the request of Mother, who had a hankering for the pie. I'm perfectly willing to fix whatever food seems appealing to her. Peaches are her favorite fruit.
For a change today, we didn't run errands. Hubbie, though, did visit a chiropractor, because he's been suffering from a pulled muscle in his back. This was his second appointment. He also went on Monday.
Later, Mother scrubbed and baked potatoes to have with the bagel pizza for supper, and I put together the pizzas. Mother ate half a pizza and half a potato before deciding she was full. Hubbie and I indulged in the cobbler with ice cream, but Mother took her helping home for a snack later.
As usual, Hubbie helped clean the kitchen after supper. In so doing, he dropped a glass while trying to put it in a cupboard, shattering it everywhere. It was an old glass of no consequence, but as he cleaned it up, I told him to use a wet paper towel to gather tiny shards. When I got back from accompanying Mother to her house, though, I noticed he was using a dishcloth to pick up the glass. He planned to wash and use the cloth again, but I insisted he throw it away, because tiny pieces of glass can stubbornly cling to cloth, and I didn't want them to find their way into our food. He didn't see the reasoning, but I researched online about how to clean up shattered glass, and when he saw the advice is to use a wet paper towel, he decided I was right.
Later, we watched TV, including a movie called "Black Point," a 2002, R-rated film, starring David Caruso. Two years previously, a man's small daughter goes missing while he is shopping with her at a mall. His wife blames him and eventually divorces him. He becomes obsessed with finding the girl. Currently, in Alaska, he meets a woman who is being abused by her husband, and he has a one night stand with her while the husband is away. Stolen money, double-crossing, and a trail of dead bodies are parts of the plot of this suspense movie.
News topics of the day:
1. The proposed sales tax did not pass, so we will not be looking forward to a community center and sports complex anytime soon. It failed by a mere 101 votes.
2. While talking to the arts council director this morning, she said there had been a bad accident on the road that winds up a mountain out of our town. We turned on the radio and learned that it was a tractor-trailer hauling a load of crushed cars. The load had shifted, and the whole thing tipped over on its side, scattering the crushed cars and holding up morning traffic.
3. A Texas pedophile, on the run from authorities, was captured today in our town, just down the road from our house, near the college. Funny: yesterday, while Mother and I were at the beauty shop, a woman came in asking if the hairdressers had locked the back door, because there was a fugitive on the loose. One of the hairdressers asked if it was the pedophile they'd been hearing about. The woman said 'yes.' Looking around at a shop full of very mature women, the hairdresser said, "Well, then. I don't think we have to worry."
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Tuesday, August 10
Well, last night around 9 p.m., I began getting uncomfortably warm. I grabbed a hand fan and vigorously fanned my face. Then I looked at the thermometer in our den and saw that it was 80 degrees, when we set our central air thermostat at 74 degrees. Hubbie checked the central air/heat unit outside the house and found that it was running, but nothing was happening indoors.
So we spent the night in the camper again. We got up early so I could get showered and ready for the day. Obviously, I skipped my exercises.
Hubbie called the repairman as soon as the shop opened at 8 a.m. He arrived pretty quickly and discovered that a capacitor needed to be replaced. He commented that this unusually hot summer has dealt a mighty blow to air conditioners, and he is working sixteen-hour days trying to keep up with his calls. The company has a crew of 40, and all of them are busy all the time right now.
At 9 a.m., I called the beauty shop to see if I could get a haircut appointment for Mother. She hasn't had a haircut in several months, because she was trying to let it grow out in the hope that it would look thicker. But Sunday, she announced that she was sick of it and wanted it cut again. And she wanted it cut today, because we had a date to visit with a couple of friends this afternoon. Also, she wants to look nice to go a couple of events we have scheduled this weekend.
I wasn't sure we could get an appointment for this morning, but as luck would have it, there was a cancellation, freeing one of the hair dressers. Everyone at the shop has been asking when Mother would return for a cut, so today after it was done, they cheered and applauded her. One of the ladies told her she looked twenty years younger. Mother laughed at that, but it lifted her spirits, anyway. She does look a whole lot better.
After we got back home, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the pharmacy, the bank, another pharmacy (to look for low-dose aspirin with no color), and to the WDCS. We were back home around 11:30.
While we were gone, Mother started a pan of spaghetti sauce simmering.
Mother relaxed after lunch, and I answered an e-mail letter from a friend and did other computer stuff. Just before 2 p.m., we went to our friend's house to visit with her and another lady who traveled to our town from her home a little over an hour away.
We chatted for a couple of hours, and our hostess served big hunks of spice cake with cream cheese icing, and glasses of iced tea as a refreshment. At 4 p.m., we said our goodbyes and returned home.
Just before 5 p.m., I went to an arts council meeting that lasted until around ten minutes after six. At home, we had spaghetti and cottage cheese for supper, and then I went to a 7 p.m. meeting of the community theater board. Got back home around 9 p.m. and watched TV with Hubbie until bedtime.
Long day.
So we spent the night in the camper again. We got up early so I could get showered and ready for the day. Obviously, I skipped my exercises.
Hubbie called the repairman as soon as the shop opened at 8 a.m. He arrived pretty quickly and discovered that a capacitor needed to be replaced. He commented that this unusually hot summer has dealt a mighty blow to air conditioners, and he is working sixteen-hour days trying to keep up with his calls. The company has a crew of 40, and all of them are busy all the time right now.
At 9 a.m., I called the beauty shop to see if I could get a haircut appointment for Mother. She hasn't had a haircut in several months, because she was trying to let it grow out in the hope that it would look thicker. But Sunday, she announced that she was sick of it and wanted it cut again. And she wanted it cut today, because we had a date to visit with a couple of friends this afternoon. Also, she wants to look nice to go a couple of events we have scheduled this weekend.
I wasn't sure we could get an appointment for this morning, but as luck would have it, there was a cancellation, freeing one of the hair dressers. Everyone at the shop has been asking when Mother would return for a cut, so today after it was done, they cheered and applauded her. One of the ladies told her she looked twenty years younger. Mother laughed at that, but it lifted her spirits, anyway. She does look a whole lot better.
After we got back home, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the pharmacy, the bank, another pharmacy (to look for low-dose aspirin with no color), and to the WDCS. We were back home around 11:30.
While we were gone, Mother started a pan of spaghetti sauce simmering.
Mother relaxed after lunch, and I answered an e-mail letter from a friend and did other computer stuff. Just before 2 p.m., we went to our friend's house to visit with her and another lady who traveled to our town from her home a little over an hour away.
We chatted for a couple of hours, and our hostess served big hunks of spice cake with cream cheese icing, and glasses of iced tea as a refreshment. At 4 p.m., we said our goodbyes and returned home.
Just before 5 p.m., I went to an arts council meeting that lasted until around ten minutes after six. At home, we had spaghetti and cottage cheese for supper, and then I went to a 7 p.m. meeting of the community theater board. Got back home around 9 p.m. and watched TV with Hubbie until bedtime.
Long day.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Monday, August 9
Up around 7 a.m. and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house before I got on the treadmill, so I gathered photos of Niece's wedding for her so she could begin working on scrapbook pages.
After I exercised, I printed photos of my sons for making scrapbook pages. One page will feature my oldest son playing guitar with his band, and the other will feature my youngest son posed as a farmer behind a pile of corn he grew in his garden.
Then I spent quite a bit of time at my computer looking for photos to submit to our state newspaper for a coffee table book they will be printing. Getting into the book depends on folks voting for favorite photos. Being published in the book gives the photographers opportunities to be seen by advertisers and others who might want to purchase images from the photographers. And, of course, it's a way for the newspaper to make money, since those who appear in the book will want to buy it.
Time got away from me, and it was 11 a.m. before I finished that project. Since I hadn't dressed yet, I hit the shower and got ready for the rest of the day. Then I listed everything we had in the fridge and pantry that might appeal to Mother for lunch, and she settled for a fried egg sandwich. She says she doesn't get hungry anymore, but will eat if food is put in front of her. She has even lost her appetite for coffee, which she used to drink by the gallons.
After lunch, Mother peeled and quartered garden tomatoes to be stewed, and then she napped on the couch, while I continued doing things at my computer. Later, she stewed the tomatoes and put leftovers in the oven for our supper.
We bagged the tomatoes for the freezer after supper, and then I accompanied Mother back to her house. At home, I did a few more computer tasks before Hubbie and I watched TV.
We saw "Eagle Eye," a 2008, PG-13 movie. Described as a "cell phone thriller," it's a far-fetched action film that asks viewers to really, really suspend disbelief that the government can tap into cell phone conversations, even if the phones are off, and that a computer brain could, of its own volition, get a notion to kill off the current president and his administration and install its own administration. And it could do this by controlling our heroes through cyber terrorism. At least I think that's what it was about. Not sure. Lots of car chases and running from place to place.
After I exercised, I printed photos of my sons for making scrapbook pages. One page will feature my oldest son playing guitar with his band, and the other will feature my youngest son posed as a farmer behind a pile of corn he grew in his garden.
Then I spent quite a bit of time at my computer looking for photos to submit to our state newspaper for a coffee table book they will be printing. Getting into the book depends on folks voting for favorite photos. Being published in the book gives the photographers opportunities to be seen by advertisers and others who might want to purchase images from the photographers. And, of course, it's a way for the newspaper to make money, since those who appear in the book will want to buy it.
Time got away from me, and it was 11 a.m. before I finished that project. Since I hadn't dressed yet, I hit the shower and got ready for the rest of the day. Then I listed everything we had in the fridge and pantry that might appeal to Mother for lunch, and she settled for a fried egg sandwich. She says she doesn't get hungry anymore, but will eat if food is put in front of her. She has even lost her appetite for coffee, which she used to drink by the gallons.
After lunch, Mother peeled and quartered garden tomatoes to be stewed, and then she napped on the couch, while I continued doing things at my computer. Later, she stewed the tomatoes and put leftovers in the oven for our supper.
We bagged the tomatoes for the freezer after supper, and then I accompanied Mother back to her house. At home, I did a few more computer tasks before Hubbie and I watched TV.
We saw "Eagle Eye," a 2008, PG-13 movie. Described as a "cell phone thriller," it's a far-fetched action film that asks viewers to really, really suspend disbelief that the government can tap into cell phone conversations, even if the phones are off, and that a computer brain could, of its own volition, get a notion to kill off the current president and his administration and install its own administration. And it could do this by controlling our heroes through cyber terrorism. At least I think that's what it was about. Not sure. Lots of car chases and running from place to place.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Sunday, August 8
Up around 7:30, and accompanied Mother to our house after breakfast but before I did a treadmill session and resistance exercises.
Mother has been feeling a little useless, so I gathered the necessary ingredients and let her prepare veggies and turkey roll for the slow cooker.
After I'd exercised, I printed a photo of her with Niece at Niece's wedding, and of Great-Niece at the wedding for her to use in making birthday greeting cards.
She worked on the cards while I got ready for the day. The turkey roll was done by noon, but we had forgotten to put the leftover steamed veggies in the oven to heat, so it was around 1 p.m. before we sat down to lunch. The turkey, with the potatoes and squashes, plus carrots and onions that had cooked with the turkey, plus canned cranberry sauce, was very good. There is enough of everything left for supper tomorrow night.
After lunch, I printed a photo of Mother and me wearing clown noses to make a birthday greeting for a mutual friend, and a photo of Mother holding a basket of grape tomatoes for her to make a birthday greeting for one of her friends.
We were finished crafting around 3 p.m., and I accompanied Mother to her house.
Hubbie had spent most of the day mowing the yard, but by 4 p.m., he was ready to watch a movie. We saw "Washu Warrior," a 2008, PG-13 movie starring Matt Frewer. In 1862 China, an English lord rules the opium trade. An English boy is left orphaned when the drug lord kills his father. He is taken in by a Chinese man, who teaches him to be a Washu Warrior, which enables him to avenge his father's death and restore justice to the people he calls his own.
After that, we watched an episode of "Lark Rise to Candleford," from the public channel, and a show called, "Person's Unknown." We're not crazy about that one, so we ditched it in the middle and went on to something else. Won't be wasting our time on it again.
Mother has been feeling a little useless, so I gathered the necessary ingredients and let her prepare veggies and turkey roll for the slow cooker.
After I'd exercised, I printed a photo of her with Niece at Niece's wedding, and of Great-Niece at the wedding for her to use in making birthday greeting cards.
She worked on the cards while I got ready for the day. The turkey roll was done by noon, but we had forgotten to put the leftover steamed veggies in the oven to heat, so it was around 1 p.m. before we sat down to lunch. The turkey, with the potatoes and squashes, plus carrots and onions that had cooked with the turkey, plus canned cranberry sauce, was very good. There is enough of everything left for supper tomorrow night.
After lunch, I printed a photo of Mother and me wearing clown noses to make a birthday greeting for a mutual friend, and a photo of Mother holding a basket of grape tomatoes for her to make a birthday greeting for one of her friends.
We were finished crafting around 3 p.m., and I accompanied Mother to her house.
Hubbie had spent most of the day mowing the yard, but by 4 p.m., he was ready to watch a movie. We saw "Washu Warrior," a 2008, PG-13 movie starring Matt Frewer. In 1862 China, an English lord rules the opium trade. An English boy is left orphaned when the drug lord kills his father. He is taken in by a Chinese man, who teaches him to be a Washu Warrior, which enables him to avenge his father's death and restore justice to the people he calls his own.
After that, we watched an episode of "Lark Rise to Candleford," from the public channel, and a show called, "Person's Unknown." We're not crazy about that one, so we ditched it in the middle and went on to something else. Won't be wasting our time on it again.
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