Thursday, July 21

Up at 7 a.m., and did a treadmill session and weights exercises after breakfast. Once I was ready for the day, I spent a while ironing clothes, particularly those I'll need for an upcoming camping trip.

Then I called the doctor's clinic to make an appointment for Mother to get a urine test next Monday, to make sure she no longer has blood in it. Her appointment is scheduled for 10:30, which will give me plenty of time to go to water aerobics and then get ready for the day.

After that, I got a call from the president of the Extension Homemakers Council. The new president is an irritating, officious man, who plans to whip us ladies into shape (aside from delighting in being the boss, I can't think why a man would want to head up a woman's organization). Mother and I studiously avoid meetings on the county level, but our scrapbook club is a part of the council, so I can't always avoid dealing with this guy. Today, he wanted an accounting of our volunteer hours for last year, as well as a list of members and officers for our club.

Thankfully, I'd had the presence of mind to ask for the volunteer hours of the other members of our club at our meeting last month. But I had neglected to go through my own calendar to find Mother's and my hours. I did this promptly, and called him back with the number...because July 31 is the deadline for reporting, and I'll be out of pocket then.

He didn't want me to list the members and officers to him on the phone, preferring instead that I mail them to him, which I did later this afternoon. As for the officers, that's a pretty short list...I occupy all the positions, because the other members refuse.

Mother stayed home this morning, but came over this afternoon so we could go to a scrapbook club meeting at the Extension Office at 1 p.m. One of the members came around 12:45 to ride with us.

She brought her Cricut machine with her, with the objective of sharing it with the rest of us. Well, as it turned out, she hasn't a clue how to use it, so I spent our club time figuring it out and using it to make some letters and designs. I offered to show her how to use the machine, but she didn't want to. Neither did the other member. Mother, of course, would never be able to manage it.

A year or so ago, when we discussed how to use our club funds, her suggestion was to buy a Cricut. The rest of us poo-pooed that idea, because the machine is expensive (a hundred dollars and up), because the cartridges for it are also expensive ($20 to $40 or so), because we couldn't justify who would be in charge of keeping the machine between meetings, and because we couldn't decide who would possess it if and when the club disbands.

We decided that buying rubber stamps and punches was a better idea, especially since we were awarded $200 to buy supplies for a community project, and our project is making cards for Caring Hands Hospice (even though it's mainly Mother and I who make the cards).

At the meeting, Mother made a couple of sympathy cards for Caring Hands Hospice, and one of the members used rubber stamps that I'd brought to make personal greeting cards. The lady who brought the Cricut worked on scrapbook pages.

We were back home just after 3 p.m. Mother went home, and I relaxed until time to prepare supper for Hubbie and me...a hamburger for him, a turkey burger for me, with leftover macaroni and cheese, and canned whole kernel corn.

Later, we watched the 1997 movie, "187," starring Samuel Jackson and John Heard. A teacher is attacked and nearly killed at a New York inner city school. After months of recuperation, he agrees to act as a substitute teacher at another school, this one in Los Angeles, where the kids are also tough and scary. A student is killed in this school...was it gang-related, or did the teacher snap?