Saturday, Dec. 29

Slept well last night, and got up around 8 a.m. Hubbie and Mother were already up. Daughter slept a little later.

Did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises, and then helped Mother set up another puzzle. She and Daughter worked on it while I got ready for the day.

Around 11 a.m., Hubbie put a pan of sweet potatoes in the oven, and later I put dishes of chicken and dumplings and Lima beans/butter beans in with them. A little after noon, we had these for lunch, along with a little of this and a little of that...cranberry sauce, goulash, cottage cheese, fruit salad. Except for sandwich makings, this pretty well took care of leftovers.

Learned today that daughter tries to avoid foods containing tomatoes, since they aggravate her stomach (I guess she has an ulcer). Wish I'd known that earlier, since goulash and homemade tomato soup were both on the menu this week. She ate them without complaint, and then suffered stomach problems afterward. If I'd known, we could have made a pot of potato soup.

After lunch, Daughter went out to start her car to make sure it was in working order, since she wanted to head home today. The car started, but she reported that she would be unable to leave the driveway, because of a pile of packed snow left by the snow plow that created a barrier to the road. So Hubbie had to go out and pick-ax the snow away. He also drove the truck over it several times to smooth it down, so Daughter's low-slung car could pass over it.

Later, we went to the WDCS to shop for groceries, and so Daughter could buy minutes for her cell phone. Felt good to get out after being confined since last Wednesday night. Cabin fever was just about to set in.

Back home, Daughter and I made another stab at recording "The Night Before Christmas" book, and this time we managed to do it. Afterward, we worked with Mother on the jigsaw puzzle, until around 3:30, when Daughter decided to head home. Even though Hubbie had smoothed the driveway out, the tires on Daughter's car still spun, and when they finally did grip, she shot out onto the road. I held my breath until I saw she was safely on her way.

Mother and I continued with the puzzle until 5 p.m., when she was ready to head to her house. I gathered chicken noodle soup and sandwich makings for her supper tonight.

Later, we had tomato soup, with pimento cheese sandwiches, and Little Cuties mandarin oranges for dessert. Then we spent the evening watching TV, including our favorite college basketball team, as they played to a wide-margin win.