Monday, Feb. 7

Today is Son's and Great-Nephew's birthday. Happy Birthday to both!

Awoke at 7:30 this morning to a smattering of snow on the ground, but apparently nearby towns got quite a bit more, because schools were closed as near as fifteen miles away.

Even the community college a mile down the road was closed. I couldn't quite understand why, but Hubbie reminded me that the school accommodates students from not only our county, but several surrounding counties, and roads outside of our immediate area might be icy.

Here, however, the sun came out briefly, and the temperature rose, so what little snow covered the ground quickly melted.

I started my morning with a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Mother came over while I was doing that and worked on her jigsaw puzzle, which she finished this afternoon.

Once I'd finished exercising, Hubbie put color in my hair in anticipation of Mother's and my haircut appointments tomorrow. Other than playing on my office computer, I didn't accomplish anything else for the rest of the morning.

After lunch, Hubbie ran errands to a grocery store and the WDCS, while I reviewed my lesson plan for tonight's session with my Literacy Council student, and Mother started two pots of chicken stewing. Once cooked, the chicken and broth were put into the freezer to be used as soup at the February birthday party at Son and Daughter-in-Law's house later this month.

After supper, I went to the college to meet my student. We worked from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., during which time she practiced answering questions: What does the girl have in her hand? The girl has her dish in her hand. What does the man have in his hand? The man has his cup in his hand.

She practiced this question and answer combination with several items: pan, book, pencil, pen, bird, fish, dish, etc. Has/her/in/her/hand, and has/his/in/his/hand are tongue twisting sentences for her, so it took most of the evening to practice them.

She also practiced the sounds of the letters b/c/f/g/h, and the numbers from fifty-one to sixty. Finally, we looked at a map of the world to touch on the names of some countries that are in the news: Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan, and others.

Because we had come to a stopping place, I ended the session about ten minutes early. So I was home around 8 p.m.

Tonight, Hubbie and I watched the 2001, R-rated movie, "The Score," starring Robert Di Niro, Angela Bassett, and Marlon Brando. An aging thief (Di Niro) agrees to one more heist.

Aggravation: as Mother was leaving our house after supper, the male cat dashed out the door. Hubbie was still hunting for him when I left to meet my student. By the time I got back home, though, he'd found the rascal. He was hiding, frightened, under a bush.

After all, even though he sits on the windowsills and appears to yearn for the outdoors, he hasn't been out for any length of time since he was a kitten. So when he saw Hubbie he cautiously came out from under the bush, and then couldn't get into the house fast enough. It's cold out there, and he doesn't have a winter coat of fur like the outdoor cats. The ones outdoors are nothing but huge balls of fur with eyes.

Oddly enough, the two female cats never try to dash out the door. I guess they know when they're well off.