Saturday, Jan. 21

Slept late this morning. After breakfast, I went to Mother's house to help her take a shower, and then throw a load of laundry in the washer for her. It's difficult for her to gather her laundry and take it to the washer, but she is able to transfer the laundry to the dryer, and then fold it afterward. I want to help her in any way that makes things easier for her, but I also want her to perform whatever tasks she feels capable of doing. She knows there are things she can't do anymore, like cooking.

Came back home, changed clothes, and did a session of stair-stepping, resistance, and weights exercises. By the time I was ready for the day, it was already time for lunch. Hubbie helped Mother come over to our house, and after a potato soup lunch, we planned the menu for the week.

Then, Mother diced veggies, cubed ham, and sorted beans for a couple of batches of 11-bean soup, and a recipe of barbecue pork chops. I bagged the veggies and ham for the refrigerator. We'll cook the food tomorrow...the soup as our donation to the Arts Council "Soup Saturday" event, and the pork chops for our lunch tomorrow.

Although Mother can't cook anymore, it makes her feel useful and needed to do some kitchen tasks, like "slicing and dicing" veggies and meats. She can do these tasks while seated at a small table in the kitchen.

Later, Hubbie and I ran errands...to a grocery store for a couple of items, to the WDCS for more groceries, and to pick up a package of photos that I'd ordered online earlier, and to the bank.

Back home, we watched our favorite college basketball team play to a skin-of-their-teeth win. While the game was on (I'd recorded it on DVR earlier) Mother helped me with supper by preparing a box of cornbread mix for the oven. I served the cornbread, as well as biscuits (and honey), with steaming bowls of leftover New England stew.

Mother went home afterward, and Hubbie and I continued watching TV.