Thursday, Dec. 6

Up around 8 a.m., and did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house while I got ready for the day.

Before I dressed, however, Granddaughter called, and we had a nice long chat. We keep up with each other somewhat on our social network pages, but it's not the same as a phone call.

Granddaughter is a very industrious person, who not only works outside the home, but also devotes herself to her family and their activities. Somehow, she also finds time to be an extreme couponer, who saves a ton of money on the family's food and incidentals. I don't know how she does it all.

I'm busy, but my activities are not earth-shaking. Young women like Granddaughter are the ones who are doing the important work of the world. Where would we be without them?

One of today's activities was a luncheon/educational talk at the hospital conference room. The free lunch was barbecued chicken breasts, green beans (hot with black pepper), potato/cheese bake (couldn't eat this because of the yellow cheese), and mixed fresh fruit for dessert. I was able to eat the chicken, beans, and fruit, but Mother couldn't eat the beans. However, she ate two big helpings of the potatoes. She must have been potato hungry. Hubbie ate everything, of course.

The talk was about reducing stress, a timely subject for the holiday season. On the table was a flier listing life stressors. Of the 42 listed, I found only two that applied to me...vacation, and Christmas, which were numbers 40 and 41...very low on the scale of impact. Naturally, family and friend deaths, divorce, serious illness, money problems, being fired at work, etc., rated very high on the scale.

The speaker listed lots of things folks need to do to avoid stress, among them things we all know but sometimes fail to do, like get enough sleep, exercise, and stick to a healthy diet, as well as taking care of problems before they get too big, writing in a journal to help put things in perspective, or to help develop steps to solving a problem.

The speaker ended with a humorous list of quotes about stress. The one I liked best was an anti-stress kit that featured a circle that said "Bang Head Here." The directions are: 1. Place this circle on a firm surface. 2. Bang your head on it until you are anti-stressed or become unconscious.

Back home, Mother headed to the couch for a nap, and Hubbie and I ran errands. We were on a mission today to try to find suitable token gifts for the men in Hubbie's family who will be visiting on Dec. 16.

My idea was to find something, like meat rub, for the guys, since they like to barbecue. Went to several specialty stores without finding anything. We finally ended up at the WDCS to buy a few groceries. I was sure there'd be something there for the guys. No dice.

So on the way home, we stopped at the farm store. No meat rub there, but there were tins of barbecue-flavored peanut brittle. We weren't sure how the candy would taste, so we bought a tin for Hubbie to try. He liked it..."tastes like peanut planks (a candy bar he remembers eating as a child)," so we bought three tins of the inexpensive candy.

It was 3:30 by the time we got back home. We set to work immediately getting a large butternut squash and baking potatoes ready for the oven. Hubbie split and cleaned the squash, and scrubbed and pierced the potatoes. Meanwhile, I found a package of frozen speckled butter beans in the freezer, and cooked them with a small amount of ham and spices.

Mother finished her nap shortly after we got back home, and even though she'd eaten a large lunch, she was ready for supper around 5 p.m. After supper, Hubbie accompanied her home.

Then Hubbie and I went to a card shop open house, where we bought several greeting cards, and the newest edition of a children's Christmas book. I have all the editions but one. We also registered for a $50 door prize, and indulged in refreshments.

Back home, we spent the rest of the evening watching TV, including a Lifetime Movie Network feature called, "Christmas Crash." A couple having marital problems go with their young adult children to their lodge for Christmas. While there, the couple decide to get some alone time by flying their private plane to a cabin across the lake. The plane crashes, and the couple learns how much they need each other.