Wednesday, Jan. 25

Today is Great-Grandson's birthday. Happy Birthday, Great-Grandson!

Up at 6:30 on this rainy morning to get ready to go to water aerobics. It seemed to take me longer to get started today, so I was late arriving at the college parking lot. Had to park quite a bit farther away than usual. Guess that was good for extra exercise, but I'm not fond of walking long distances in soggy weather.

The pool was topped off this morning, meaning that the water was even chillier than it was on Monday. But it was okay once I got used to it.

Our usual leader was not there, so a substitute was at the helm. This lady doesn't follow any set routine, but just makes things up as she goes along. I'm not crazy about this approach.

Back home, as soon as I showered and got ready for the day, I went to Mother's house to help her shower. Threw a load of laundry in the washer afterward. While I was doing this, Hubbie went to a fast food restaurant to get cups of chili for our lunch.

We had lunch a little early, around 11:30, because I had a haircut appointment at noon. Mother was supposed to go with me, but since it was such a wet day, I called the beauty shop and cancelled her appointment.

Just before noon, I went to the shop. The shop is being re-done...the walls have been painted in three complementary colors, and the operator stations are now rolling units that look something like automotive tool units. Large, framed, floor- to-ceiling mirrors adorn the walls. I don't like them...they show too much of me! The ladies laughed when I shielded my eyes and walked sideways to the sinks, so as not to have to see myself.

Back home, Hubbie took the van to the shop, because the brakes were screeching. The problem was the brake shoes, which had to be replaced. Needed new tires all around, too, so the tab was pretty high. Always something.

No sooner had Hubbie come in the door than he discovered he'd forgotten to take the Red Box DVD with him, so he had to turn right around and drive to the grocery store. The grocery store is only a block from the auto shop, and it would have been more convenient to drop the DVD off after he left shop. Oh, well.

While he was at the shop, I grated white American cheese for a recipe of pimento cheese. Since Mother was disappointed that she couldn't come over to our house today to help with preparing food for a family gathering this weekend, I took the cheese, jars of pimentos, and salad dressing to her house, so she could it. Then, I came back home and baked a couple of dozen chocolate cupcakes.

I relaxed after that until time to prepare supper, which was baked potatoes topped with leftover barbecued pork chops, and sides of corn-on-the-cob, and a choice of Lima beans or butter beans, and slices of hot, buttered French bread. I fixed a plate of the food for Hubbie to take to Mother.

After supper, we turned the TV off and spent an hour reading our novels. Then we watched our favorite college basketball team play to a just-by-the-hair-of-their-chinny-chin-chin win. Since the game was not available on our cable channels, we watched it at ESPN3 on my laptop computer.