Tuesday, Jan. 11

Up around 8:30 this morning, and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Mother came over while I was on the treadmill. While I got ready for the day, she and Hubbie prepared veggies for potato soup, which we planned to have for supper on this extremely cold day.

There wasn't enough time before lunch to do much of anything beyond checking e-mails and my social network page, and call my Literacy Council student to postpone our session from tonight to Thursday night, because I had a community theater board meeting tonight. Of course, we'd agreed that if the schools are out for ice or snow, then we will not meet either, and they were out today. But since we haven't had a session since before Christmas, I'm anxious to get back on track again, and don't want to wait until next week.

After lunch, I made photo greeting cards on my computer to use as thank you notes for Great-Granddaughter and Hubbie's two daughters for birthday gifts I received from them. Great-Granddaughter's features a photo of her with Sis and me displaying our balloons and gifts. The cards for Hubbie's daughters feature photos of our house on a snowy day.

While I did this, Mother worked on the jigsaw puzzle. I joined her once I was done with the greeting card project. This is one tough puzzle, and it's slow-going completing it. Sis helped us while she was here over the weekend, but we still have a little way to go on it. The reason it's so difficult is that it's a painting of pots of flowers...and with paintings, the changes in colors are so subtle that it's hard to detect them. We once had a puzzle of a painting of a garden full of yellow irises that we finally gave up on, since we were able to find so few pieces after the border was complete.

Later, I made a batch of bran muffins to go with the potato soup. As usual, pulling together a meal is a family undertaking.

Mother went home afterward, and I set the TV for a western movie on DVR for Hubbie to watch while I was at the community theater meeting.

The meeting was at 7 p.m., but only five of us showed up, because several are involved in the production of an upcoming play, and a few are sick. Our president couldn't make it, because she lives out in the country, and secondary roads are still frozen.

So the vice-president conducted the meeting, lining up folks for various chores related to the Civil War reader's theater, scheduled for two weekends beginning January 21. I volunteered Hubbie and myself to usher on the afternoon of January 23.

The vice-president, like me, had a recent birthday, her 60th. She informed us that as a consolation prize for reaching that exalted age, her husband is taking her on a vacation in Florida.

The former board president thanked me for the sympathy card I sent in condolence of his mother's death. He said she had recently reached her 100th birthday, and had lived a wonderful life. I was glad to hear that. It's heartening to know there are so many centenarians these days...gives the rest of us hope.

On a lighter note: this morning, Mother related the story of her cat crazily tossing one of her shoes around, and reaching inside of it as if trying to dig something out. She finally retrieved the shoe and peered into it, discovering a dead mouse tucked way down inside! Apparently, the mouse had died from the rodent poison Mother had set out, and the cat had found it and decided to use it as a toy, including hiding it in the shoe. Good thing Mother found the beastie before she stuck her foot in there.