Sunday, May 8

Happy Mother's Day!

Got up just before 8 a.m., but skipped my exercises, as I did yesterday morning. This morning, I wanted to be ready by 11 a.m. to go to lunch at a local steakhouse.

Both of my sons called before we went to lunch. Had long conversations with both of them. I was happy to learn from my younger son that insurance is helping to pay for damages incurred during the recent tornado. The trees that were uprooted have now been cut up, the power is back on, and things are looking and feeling more normal for his family.

Older son is doing well, too, though he is mourning the loss of his uncle, who died of a massive heart attack a few days ago. He, his brother, and his sister will attend either the visitation, the funeral, or both. Older son was closest to his uncle, so the death is hitting him hardest.

We arrived at the restaurant a little after 11 a.m. Even this early, the restaurant was already crowded. Luckily, though, we were ushered to a table right away. By the time we left, the church contingent had arrived, and the restaurant was crowded wall to wall and rafter to floor with diners, while lots of folks waited to be seated.

We ordered combo meals...Mother ordered ribs and chicken, Sis had fried catfish and ribs, I had ribs with chicken, and Hubbie had ribs and steak. That's a lot of ribs. Mother and Sis didn't touch theirs, and Hubbie and I ate only one or two rib portions. We brought the rest home for another meal.

For sides, Mother had baked sweet potato, Sis had fried sweet potato, Hubbie had regular baked potato, and I had the fried okra. We all sampled the sides.

Back home, we watched a DVD of the musical movie, "Guys and Dolls." Well, actually, I watched the movie. Hubbie, Mother, and Sis snored through a good bit of it. The movie is the original 1955 version, starring Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, and Jean Simmons.

Later, we had strawberry shortcake again. Afterward, we exchanged Mother's Day cards. Sis and I were especially delighted with the hand-crafted ones that Mother made for us, with greetings in her own handwriting.

Then Mother and Sis worked on the jigsaw puzzle, which they finished today, while Hubbie and I watched a Lifetime Movie Network 2008 movie, "Nothing but the Truth," about a woman who refuses to give up the source of a newspaper story she wrote that outed a CIA agent. The movie stars Kate Beckinsale and Matt Dillon.

Mother and Sis went to Mother's house around 8 p.m., and Hubbie and I continued watching TV, including the 2010 unrated western movie, "6 Guns," starring Barry Van Dyke, and Sage Mears. A woman's husband and small boys are slaughtered, and she is raped, by a gang of five killers. She loses herself in the bottom of a whiskey bottle, until a bounty hunter (Van Dyke) takes her in hand and teaches her to shoot a gun. The woman wants revenge, the bounty hunter wants to bring the five to justice for monetary gain.