Thursday, May 26

Up around 7:30 this morning, and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises after breakfast. Mother came over while I was getting ready for the day.

The first thing I did once I was back downstairs was call our scrapbook club friend, who lives in a town that was struck by a small tornado last night.

Fortunately, our friend is okay. Her home was untouched, though the tornado damaged homes, uprooted trees, and knocked down power poles just a couple of miles away. Her son saw the tornado and raced to her house to accompany her to a neighbor's shelter. But she said by the time they reached the shelter, the storm had passed and the sun had come out. However, her electrical power was out until around 2 a.m. this morning.

Later, Mother and I gathered materials for making sugar cookies. After lunch, Mother insisted on making the cookies, while Hubbie and I ran errands. Our first stop was the Literacy Council office, where I picked up an English/Spanish side-by-side book that explains major English concepts, as well as an English/Spanish dictionary. I realized I needed these when I ran into trouble explaining the word "whose" to my student.

From there, we went to the newspaper office to drop off a word search contest puzzle, and pick up last Friday's issue, since our paper carrier didn't think to close the plastic bag containing our paper, and it got soaked in a rainstorm.

From there, we stopped by the bank, and then picked up a quart of blueberries from the roadside vendor (the vendor called this morning to let me know she had the berries). Unfortunately, though, there are no more strawberries. Earlier she said strawberries would be available until the middle of June. But it seems excessive rain doused the crops.

We went to a pharmacy store next to pick up several personal items, and a case of bottled water. We had $3.50 in coupons for these things that were already on sale. Also, the amount we spent qualifies us to use a $5 AARP coupon on our next purchase.

Then it was on to a grocery store, where we bought ten cartons of fat-free whipped topping, on which we spent a manufacturer's $5 coupon. Several brand names were listed on the coupon, and we could buy ten of one item, or mix and match products. But whipped topping was the only one listed that we regularly use. We now have enough topping for both us and Mother for several months.

By the time we got back home, Mother was almost finished baking the cookies. She's been in a frenzy of cookie-baking the last few days, and now has several types to take camping with us. From each batch, she chose the best looking ones to put in the freezer to use as fair entries in July.

Supper tonight was Tuesday re-visited...split pea soup and PB&J sandwiches. Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I wasted time in front of TV. We watched the 2002 Lifetime Movie Network feature, "The Rendering." A woman helps send her stalker to jail. But he's able to frame her husband and threaten her from jail.