Thursday, Nov. 29

Up at 7:30, and did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Sis and Mother stayed at Mother's house for most of the morning, so that Sis could locate Christmas decorations, and Christmas clothing for Mother, as well as assist in doing laundry.

They came to our house around 11 a.m. We didn't do much before lunch, but afterward, Mother, Sis, and I, went downtown to browse an antique store/flea market, where the owner had lots of Christmas trees decorated in various themes.

The shop had lots of interesting Christmas ornaments, most priced very reasonably. I bought a wooden one that says Christmas Whimsy for the big tree that already has hundreds of ornaments on it. Guess I didn't need another one, but it was so cute I couldn't pass it up.

I also spied a mug with a country scene on it that I thought Sis would like. She loved it, so we snared that, too. Spent a total of $4 on our treasures.

At the shop, too, there was a regular sized pinball machine. Couldn't resist the opportunity to try my hand at it. On the second pull, I shot the ball around, and used the side buttons to guide it right into the bonus hole. The machine lit up and jangled noisly. I raised my hands and shouted, "Pinball Wizard!" The guy running the shop laughed, and said, "It's addictive, isn't it?"

It was a beautiful day for an outing, and we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Back home, we set to work making potato soup. Hubbie had already peeled and sliced potatoes enough for two recipes. Mother and Sis diced onions, carrots and celery, and I started the process of cooking the soup. At the point where it was necessary to make a rue of butter, flour, spices, and milk, Sis assisted, since I couldn't deal with two pans at once. Once the rue was ready, I divided the drained veggies into the two pans, then added the drained water back to the soups. Added shredded Monterey Jack cheese to the pans, and then Sis and I brought the soups back to a boil, stirring them to make sure the milk didn't scorch.

Once the soups were done, I finished making the Chinese chicken soup, using the boiled chicken we made yesterday. Mother cubed the chicken, Hubbie shredded cabbage, and I simmered everything with soy sauce and grated fresh ginger, then added chopped green onions, and Ramen Noodles at the end.

Sis and Mother sat down to a supper of soups, with Sis's homemade rolls, and Hubbie and I went to the college where I swim, to attend a chili/soup supper, that included a bake sale, and silent and live auctions.

Hubbie and I were careful to only sample a couple of kinds of mild chili, before we enjoyed bowls of my soup.

All the soups and chilies were entered in a contest for the best hot chili, the best mild chili, and the best soup. The college president, my dentist, and one other person, judged the entries. Imagine my surprise when my soup won that category! My prize is a soup and chili cookbook. I noticed that my dentist kept going back for bowls of my soup, but I didn't put two and two together.

I noticed other men going back for bowls of it, too, which surprised me, since I figured guys would prefer the spicy chili. One man even asked for my recipe. Of course, a couple of women wanted it, too.

At the silent auction, Hubbie won the bid on a car emergency kit, but I didn't win anything I bid on.

At the bake sale, I bought two pound cakes, and a slice of a cinnamon coffee cake, baked by my former art instructor's wife (one of my favorite people). She bakes all sorts of great stuff from her mother-in-law's old recipes. Her mother-in-law is deceased, of course.

During the course of the evening, another former instructor of mine asked if I would agree to do the publicity for his upcoming readers theater production about the Civil War in our county. This will be an event in recognition of the sesquicentennial of that war. I agreed to help him. The production is in February.

I was delighted, this evening, to meet a lady who is also a Literacy Council tutor. Her student is Spanish, too. She is a young woman, who is a surgical nurse, and she recently announced that she is pregnant. She has an important test coming up, and needs to learn the English words for various medications.

This tutor is a retired elementary education teacher, who said she sometimes wonders if she is adequate to tutoring an adult. I laughed and told her my degree is in media arts...photography and journalism...so I'm probably even less adequate.

It was a fun evening. Back home around 8 p.m., Hubbie and I spent the rest of the evening watching TV.