Tuesday, March 15

Had another one of those nights when I woke up in the wee hours of the morning and tossed and turned until around 5:30 a.m. Went back to sleep and slept on until Hubbie woke me around 8:30.

He was dressed and ready to go to the other town to leave the van for repair. While he was gone, I did a treadmill session and weights exercises, and then played on my office computer.

Hubbie called at 10:30 to say he was on his way home in our van, because a couple of guys in the repair shop decided to do the job themselves, rather than send the van to another shop and provide a loaner car to us.

He arrived at 11:30, in time for Mother and me to get to the beauty shop for a noon appointment.

While I was getting my hair cut, a woman walked in who had an appointment with another hairdresser. This woman and the hairdresser had been friends long ago, but the woman had been gone for 20 years, living in Seattle.

The hairdresser asked her if she is still working, and she said that she had recently retired, since she is of an age to receive Medicare. She also revealed that she has a 40-year-old boyfriend.

She hastened to add that her boyfriend has a good job, lest we might think he's a gold digger. This relationship might seem enviable to some women, but I'd have to reserve judgement until I saw the boyfriend. As for me, I can't conceive of being seriously attracted to a man who is younger than my oldest son.

We got back home before 1 p.m., and had a lunch of hot pork roast sandwiches. Afterward, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the bank, to a grocery store for on-sale pork loins and a package of salmon fillets, to a pharmacy store, where I spent a $5 AARP discount coupon to buy a bottle of foundation makeup, and to the WDCS. While we were gone, Mother made a batch of Chinese Beets...recipe follows:

CHINESE BEETS FROM HELOISE

3 cans sliced beets (reserve one and half cups of juice)
1 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)
1 cup cider vinegar (or to taste...I use less, because I don't like a strong vinegar flavor)
2 tbsp. cornstarch
3 tbsp. oil, optional
1 tsp. vanilla
Dash salt, optional

Mix beets, reserved beet juice, and other ingredients in a saucepan. Cook 3 minutes over medium heat or until mixture thickens. Cool in refrigerator.

We were pretty lazy this afternoon. Mother started another jigsaw puzzle, while Hubbie watched a basketball game on TV, and I read my novel.

Later, we had baked fillet of Salmon, with a rice dish, and the Chinese beets. Very good. Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I watched TV, including another of our state's basketball teams, who have gone on to play in the NCAA March Madness tournament. Both the men's and the women's teams from this college are in the NCAA. Unfortunately, the men lost tonight.

Wow, it was cold today...only in the low 40s. Predictions are for warm weather, starting tomorrow, and I am so ready for it.