Tuesday, Feb. 15

Another beautiful spring-like day...sunny, temp in the 60s. I slept late, until around 8 a.m., then did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast.



While I got ready for the day, Hubbie trimmed Shih Tzu and bathed her. Mother came over mid-morning and relaxed while I spent some time working on a lesson plan for tonight's meeting with my Literacy Council student.



Just as I began work, Shih Tzu needed to go out, and since Hubbie was in the yard cutting back Rose-of-Sharon bushes, I took care of that chore, and then because she also indicated she was hungry, I also fed her before I got down to the business of a lesson plan. I think Shih Tzu is equipped with some sort of radar that tells her exactly when I might be busy, which is precisely when she wants to disturb me.



For lunch, we opted for PB&J sandwiches. Afterward, Mother and I shopped online for a pair of house shoes that she might like for her birthday. We found a very nice pair of black leather ones that have a firm sole.



I knew when she told me yesterday what she'd like for her birthday that I wouldn't be able to find the kind she likes at any of our local stores, because I searched everywhere in town for a pair at Christmas time. So I was glad to find what she wanted online.



Later, Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...to one of the stores that has a sale every weekend to look for earring backs (mine are getting loose, and I've almost lost some very nice earrings when one of a pair would fall off). The store didn't have what I wanted, so we proceeded to the WDCS for a few groceries items.



While there, I looked for earring backs. I wanted gold ones, but they didn't have any. So I settled for some cheaper ones that will work until I can locate better ones, maybe online.



The store had racks of winter clothes on sale, and I found a green turtleneck shirt for $3. Hubbie suggested if there were two on the rack, I should get them, so I did.



From there, we went to a farm store to get dog food. While there, I ran onto a rack of winter jackets, where I found a dark blue denim one with a sheep's-wool-like lining reduced from $40 to just $10. Couldn't pass that up! It's a nice length that hits just below the waistline.



Didn't do anything productive after we got back home...just played on my laptop computer and read the local daily newspaper.



Supper tonight was smothered steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Mother went home afterward, and I went to the local college library to meet my student at 6 p.m. While I was gone, Hubbie attended a 7 p.m. plant society meeting at a local bank, where a guest speaker presented a program on Japanese maple trees.

At tonight's tutoring session, the student learned to identify calendar information by answering questions: what is today's date? Tuesday, February fifteenth. Naturally the "th" sounds are the most difficult for her. She tripped on "first," too, but she'll practice these at home and do better next week.

We also worked on other question and answer sentences: "I'm reading my book. What are you doing?" "I'm writing my name." This kind of question and answer conversation helps her understand intonation responses: "What are you doing?" with emphasis on the word "you."

Part of the session included practicing words without having to know the meanings. The purpose is to enable her to pronounce certain sounds that will occur in later lessons: tam, tan, rang, ran, thin, thing, sing, sang, sung, ton, tongue, etc. She became frustrated with the word thin, which was very nearly impossible for her to pronounce tonight. We'll be practicing that sound a lot in the next couple of weeks.

I learned tonight why she was unable to attend our session last night...one of her children developed an earache and had to be taken to the doctor yesterday. Naturally she didn't want to leave the child last night.

Hubbie was already home when I got back a little after 8 p.m. He'd brought some snacks from the refreshment table at the plant society meeting, which we enjoyed with cups of hot chocolate.

After we watched a couple of one hour TV shows, we headed to bed. It was a good day.