Friday, Dec. 16

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. Chilly this morning, but the pool was warm, and thank goodness, today I remembered to take the shorts I wear over my thread-bare swimsuit. Today was the last day of aerobics until Jan. 9. I think I'll retire my old suit and treat myself to a new one next month.

Back home afterward, I presented Mother with the fifth of her twelve-days-of-Christmas gifts...three calendars featuring wild and domesticated animals. We'd received the calendars from various organizations. On the one featuring cats and dogs, I had noted family birthdays for each month. Mother enjoys these calendars for the beautiful animal photos.

After that, I got ready for the day. As soon as I came back downstairs, Mother announced that our local newspaper had called to tell her she'd won this week's word search puzzle contest award of $50.

She said that the paper asked her to drop by the office to have a snapshot made for Monday's edition. She told them she was housebound right now. So I immediately did a few shots until we got one that we liked...Mother is camera-shy, so it's a trick to get a decent shot of her.

After I'd e-mailed the photo to the newspaper, Hubbie and I worked to finish the etched Christmas ornaments for his family. This required applying etching paste to each ornament. The paste has to stay on the glass for five minutes and then be washed off. For this procedure, it's necessary to wear gloves and a face mask to prevent injury to skin, and to keep from breathing the fumes of the toxic paste.

It took about an hour to complete eight ornaments, because each one needed to be done individually and then timed for rinsing. I applied the paste, and Hubbie did the rinsing.

Once the ornaments were done and we'd had lunch, I helped Mother go to her house. For some reason today, we had to stop twice along the way for Mother to rest and catch her breath. Inside her house, she collapsed exhausted into her chair. I waited a few minutes to be sure she was okay before I left.

While Mother relaxed at home, Hubbie and I ran errands...to a meat-packing plant to buy a chuck roast for our Christmas dinner (I hope this one is more tender than the one we got at the WDCS recently, which was like shoe leather). From there, we went to a grocery store to get cottage cheese, and the to the newspaper office to pick up Mother's winnings.

Then we stopped by the store that has a sale every weekend, so I could use a $10 coupon toward a top and leggings to be worn under clothing in cold weather. I bought some of these for Mother recently, but the ones I bought today are for me.

Our last stop was the WDCS for groceries. It was 4 p.m. by the time we got back home. Several messages were on our phone, including one from an occupational therapist at the home medical services, who wanted to arrange a time to come and show Mother how to use her medical devices. I returned her call, but got her voice mail.

So I started supper...a pot of salmon chowder. Naturally, I was missing one ingredient, Monterey Jack cheese. So Hubbie had to go to the nearest grocery store to get some.

In the middle of removing the bones from canned salmon, the OT called. I grabbed a paper towel to use in lifting the telephone receiver. Then at a critical point in preparing the chowder, Hubbie called. The store was out of shredded Monterey Jack. What should he do? "Just get a block of it, and I'll shred it myself. Gotta get back to my chowder before it burns."

As soon as Hubbie got back home, he helped Mother return to our house. The trip back wasn't as tiring for her, since it's downhill.

The chowder was good, with slices of sourdough bread. Afterward, we watched one of our favorite holiday movies, "A Christmas Story." No matter how many times we see it, we laugh out loud at it.

Mother went to bed immediately afterward, since it was 8:30 by then. Hubbie and I continued watching TV until our bedtime.