Wednesday, Dec. 14

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to a water aerobics session that was not destined to be. I was a few minutes later than usual leaving the house, so I sat in my driveway forever waiting for a break in traffic that would allow me to get on the road.

In the gym dressing room, I discovered I'd left my shorts at home...I wear shorts over my swimsuit when the swimsuit gets so worn it's revealing-thin in the back. Couldn't go into the pool without my shorts, so I called Hubbie. He brought me a pair, but they were the wrong ones...a pair of cotton ones that are too large and would have fallen off as soon as they were wet and heavy. So I gave up the idea of swimming today and returned home, frustrated.

Once I was ready for the day, I spent the rest of the morning doing this and that. First, I gave Mother her third twelve-days-of-Christmas gift...a large container of baby talcum powder.

Then I typed a few paragraphs and printed copies describing Mother's bout with a bleeding ulcer, which she included in Christmas cards to her friends. I also prepared several Christmas cards to be mailed to family members. A card to my brother included a pewter angel, purchased through Caring Hands Hospice in memory of my sister-in-law. I don't know when I'll get around to getting the rest of my cards done.

After lunch, Mother got dressed in regular clothes (she's been living in her comfortable fleece wear), and I helped her go to her house. It was a nice, mild, day for her to walk over there. She spent the afternoon working on her Christmas cards.

Meanwhile, Hubbie and I ran a few errands...to the post office, to a pharmacy to search for a brand of combination body wash and shampoo that Mother likes (she has a sample from the hospital that is nearly gone). When I checked online, this pharmacy store was listed as one that carries the product. But unfortunately, our local store does not.

An obliging young man suggested he could order it online for us, which would save shipping costs. But when he tried, he was blocked from doing it. I decided to go online and order it myself.

From there, we stopped by a home improvement store, where I waited in the van while Hubbie purchased what he wanted. Then we returned home.

Since it was only 2 p.m., I gathered the materials needed to do glass etching. I only had time to wash the glass ornaments, trace letters from a template onto contact paper, put the contact paper on the ornaments, and use an exacto knife to cut out the letters.

Around 4 p.m., I put spaghetti, sauce, and corn into oven dishes, so that Hubbie could heat them while I was at an art gallery committee meeting. While I did that, Hubbie accompanied Mother back to our house.

I arrived at the art gallery near 5 p.m., but no one was there except the director. She said the other committee members had opted out of coming for various reasons...illness, leaving on trips, etc.

Since I was at the gallery, I took the opportunity to view an exhibit by an art instructor and his wife, who teach at one of the local colleges. The director and I discussed a few business things, including the annual Soup Saturday, scheduled for the first weekend in February. I need to put that date on my calendar, so I'll be reminded to make soup to donate.

I also picked up a copy of this month's county slick magazine, which features a snapshot of a friend and myself painting Christmas ornaments. When I mentioned that I'm working on etching several glass ornaments, she gave me an etching kit she recently purchased but decided not to use. In exchange for the kit, I offered to monogram an ornament for her, which very much pleased her.

Talking about the magazine snapshot reminded the director to ask me to e-mail photos of the graham cracker Christmas house workshop, which she wants to submit to the county magazine...deadline tomorrow.

Back home, after supper, we watched the evening news that I'd recorded on DVR, and then Mother was ready to go to bed. Her back was bothering her, because she had twisted wrong while she was at her house this afternoon.

Hubbie and I continued watching TV, including this week's TNT mystery movie, "Good Morning, Killer," starring Catherine Bell as an FBI undercover operative hunting down a serial killer.