Well, phooey...just learned that Feb. 18 was National Drink Wine Day, and I missed it. Guess I'll just have to raise a glass today.
Up around 8 a.m. this morning, and after breakfast, with a leisurely couple of cups of coffee, I went to Mother's house to help her take a shower, but she was already dressed. She wasn't sure if this was her usual day to shower or not. She's having trouble keeping days and dates straight. So I'll make sure she has a shower tomorrow afternoon.
Back home, I changed clothes and did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises. By the time I was ready for the day, it was near noon.
Mother came over after lunch, and we spent the afternoon working on scrapbook pages. Today, we finally finished Grandson's wedding pages, and began work on pages for the birth of a great-granddaughter.
While we worked on our scrapbook, Hubbie worked in the yard, including climbing up on the roof to sweep off leaves and gumballs. It always makes me edgy when he climbs up on the roof, especially since he has lately complained of numbness in his right hand. I've noticed that he often has difficulty keeping hold of his dinner fork, because of lack of sensation in the fingers of that hand. If he continues to have problems, he'll of course need to visit his doctor.
Around 3:30, I put potatoes in the oven to bake. Mother and I worked a little while longer on our scrapbook pages, and then we cleared everything away and finished supper preparations. Mother helped by cutting up salad veggies. I boiled ears of corn, and heated the remainder of the chili.
While we enjoyed our supper of the baked potatoes topped with chili, shredded Monterey cheese, and sour cream, along with the salad, and corn-on-the-cob, we watched our favorite college basketball team play to a spectacular win on the road!
During halftime, Hubbie accompanied Mother back to her house. After the game, we continued watching TV, including the 1985 comedy movie, "The Man with One Red Shoe," starring Tom Hanks, Dabney Coleman, and Charles Durning. One of two rival CIA bosses sends the other on a wild goose chase, when he targets a stranger in a crowd as a spy.
The "spy" (Hanks)is targeted because he's wearing one red shoe, making him easy to follow. All sorts of things happen to this guy, but he remains clueless. Meanwhile, the bungling CIA agents fall all over each other and create mayhem trying to discover the spy's secret. They also send in a female agent to seduce him, but the plan backfires when the two fall in love. This movie is no Academy Award winner, but it is funny.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Friday, Feb. 24
Up at 6:30 this morning to get ready to go to water aerobics. Wow! The weather sure did change from yesterday...temp in the 80s yesterday, temp in the 50s today, with a bone chilling wind. Wore a coat over a hoodie over a fleece outfit today, plus a knit toboggan and gloves for the walk to the pool.
About 15 of us showed up this morning. The water was comfortable, and I really enjoyed it. Our regular leader was back, after having a flare-up of fibromyalgia. I was interested to learn that her massage therapist is the daughter of a woman who worked in the same office as Hubbie and I did before we retired (in fact, this woman is now also retired).
Funny: after Wednesday water aerobics, as another member and I were walking out of the gym, a tall, slender, handsome, African-American young man (looked like he could be a basketball player) opened the door for us. We complimented him on the cute hat he was wearing.
It was white knit with ear flaps...a Peruvian style hat (some have long braids in place of ear flaps) that is popular with young people right now. This one, though had black pom-poms on the flaps, and on the back of the hat. On the front were large black eyes, like a panda bear. The young man thanked us for the compliment, commenting that his grandmother had made the hat for him. He was obviously proud to wear it.
Back home afterward, once I was ready for the day, Hubbie, Sis, and I went to the hydroponic farm to buy tomatoes. This was Sis's first time to see the farm, and it will also be her last, because we learned that the store part of the operation is closed. The owners have opted to concentrate strictly on selling commercially. In fact, the young woman said they are having trouble producing enough to satisfy their current contracts.
However, she did have a number of tomatoes she was willing to sell to us...these are culls from the uniformly-sized ones required by commercial buyers. Sis and I bought all of them.
From there, we stopped by a grocery store to pick up a head of lettuce and a package of turkey bacon. At home, we fixed bacon/tomato/lettuce/sweet-onion sandwiches, with a side of leftover fried potatoes, for lunch.
Soon after lunch, Sis left to go back to her town about an hour or so away. On the way out of the house she commented, "Thanks for the food, fun, and fellowship, and for winning all the Skip-bo games."
Hubbie suggested she might need to practice playing the game before she visits again. "You might also want to use more wisdom in your drawing next time," I laughed about a game that's 99% chance.
Later, Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...to the bank to buy a couple of tickets to the Red Hot Luncheon in March; and to a store that used to have a sale every weekend to look for something for Mother and me to wear to the Red Hot event. No luck.
Bought a pair of black undies, though, to wear under my swimsuit. The new suit I've worn only a few weeks is already getting a thin place in the back. It'll soon give me what we at the pool call "Liberty Bell" exposure. The chemicals in the pool just eat swimsuits up.
Also bought a sports bra for Mother. It has a zipper in front, which should be easier for her to handle than hooks in the back. The bra should also be more comfortable than a regular one. She really doesn't need to wear a bra most of the time, but for those times when she thinks she needs support, I hope this garment will work.
From there, we went to the other store that has a sale every weekend. Found a red cotton-type pull-over sweater with scoop neck and three-quarter length sleeves that might work if the weather doesn't get too hot (it'll be pretty cool in the building, anyway, and a sweater will probably feel good). The sweater was on the clearance rack for $5, so even if I can't wear it in March, it'll work for the fall.
Also on the clearance rack, I found a cotton shirt with three-quarter length sleeves in a petite size that Mother can wear. It's in pink and blue spring colors that probably won't work for the luncheon, but it'll be handy for some summer events. It only cost $6. I'll add this to Mother's birthday bag.
Our last stop was the everything's a dollar store to pick up a gift bag. Hubbie bought a couple of boxes of zinnia seeds there, too.
At home, I mixed a batch of whole wheat pancake batter, and Hubbie did the honors of cooking the pancakes for our supper. We ate all but three of the them, and Mother took those home with her.
Hubbie accompanied her to her house right after supper. I turned the TV off at 6 p.m., and Hubbie and I spent the next hour cleaning two kitchen drawers. These were the kitchen implement drawers. Lots of interesting things in those drawers. We've no idea what some of them are used for, though. These mystery things are in a box for family to look though.
Back to TV, we watched a movie called, "Silent Predators," starring Harry Hamlin. Twenty years previous, a truck carrying genetically bred rattlesnakes crashes, and the snakes escape. Now they are wreaking havoc on a small California town.
About 15 of us showed up this morning. The water was comfortable, and I really enjoyed it. Our regular leader was back, after having a flare-up of fibromyalgia. I was interested to learn that her massage therapist is the daughter of a woman who worked in the same office as Hubbie and I did before we retired (in fact, this woman is now also retired).
Funny: after Wednesday water aerobics, as another member and I were walking out of the gym, a tall, slender, handsome, African-American young man (looked like he could be a basketball player) opened the door for us. We complimented him on the cute hat he was wearing.
It was white knit with ear flaps...a Peruvian style hat (some have long braids in place of ear flaps) that is popular with young people right now. This one, though had black pom-poms on the flaps, and on the back of the hat. On the front were large black eyes, like a panda bear. The young man thanked us for the compliment, commenting that his grandmother had made the hat for him. He was obviously proud to wear it.
Back home afterward, once I was ready for the day, Hubbie, Sis, and I went to the hydroponic farm to buy tomatoes. This was Sis's first time to see the farm, and it will also be her last, because we learned that the store part of the operation is closed. The owners have opted to concentrate strictly on selling commercially. In fact, the young woman said they are having trouble producing enough to satisfy their current contracts.
However, she did have a number of tomatoes she was willing to sell to us...these are culls from the uniformly-sized ones required by commercial buyers. Sis and I bought all of them.
From there, we stopped by a grocery store to pick up a head of lettuce and a package of turkey bacon. At home, we fixed bacon/tomato/lettuce/sweet-onion sandwiches, with a side of leftover fried potatoes, for lunch.
Soon after lunch, Sis left to go back to her town about an hour or so away. On the way out of the house she commented, "Thanks for the food, fun, and fellowship, and for winning all the Skip-bo games."
Hubbie suggested she might need to practice playing the game before she visits again. "You might also want to use more wisdom in your drawing next time," I laughed about a game that's 99% chance.
Later, Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...to the bank to buy a couple of tickets to the Red Hot Luncheon in March; and to a store that used to have a sale every weekend to look for something for Mother and me to wear to the Red Hot event. No luck.
Bought a pair of black undies, though, to wear under my swimsuit. The new suit I've worn only a few weeks is already getting a thin place in the back. It'll soon give me what we at the pool call "Liberty Bell" exposure. The chemicals in the pool just eat swimsuits up.
Also bought a sports bra for Mother. It has a zipper in front, which should be easier for her to handle than hooks in the back. The bra should also be more comfortable than a regular one. She really doesn't need to wear a bra most of the time, but for those times when she thinks she needs support, I hope this garment will work.
From there, we went to the other store that has a sale every weekend. Found a red cotton-type pull-over sweater with scoop neck and three-quarter length sleeves that might work if the weather doesn't get too hot (it'll be pretty cool in the building, anyway, and a sweater will probably feel good). The sweater was on the clearance rack for $5, so even if I can't wear it in March, it'll work for the fall.
Also on the clearance rack, I found a cotton shirt with three-quarter length sleeves in a petite size that Mother can wear. It's in pink and blue spring colors that probably won't work for the luncheon, but it'll be handy for some summer events. It only cost $6. I'll add this to Mother's birthday bag.
Our last stop was the everything's a dollar store to pick up a gift bag. Hubbie bought a couple of boxes of zinnia seeds there, too.
At home, I mixed a batch of whole wheat pancake batter, and Hubbie did the honors of cooking the pancakes for our supper. We ate all but three of the them, and Mother took those home with her.
Hubbie accompanied her to her house right after supper. I turned the TV off at 6 p.m., and Hubbie and I spent the next hour cleaning two kitchen drawers. These were the kitchen implement drawers. Lots of interesting things in those drawers. We've no idea what some of them are used for, though. These mystery things are in a box for family to look though.
Back to TV, we watched a movie called, "Silent Predators," starring Harry Hamlin. Twenty years previous, a truck carrying genetically bred rattlesnakes crashes, and the snakes escape. Now they are wreaking havoc on a small California town.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Thursday, Feb. 23
Wow! What a gloriously sunny, warm day, with the temperature reaching near 80 degrees.
We were up around 7:30 this morning, and after breakfast, I went to Mother's house to help her take a shower. But Sis was already in the process of helping her. I joined them in the bathroom, though, to show Sis our routine.
Back home, I changed clothes and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises. Mother and Sis came over while I was getting ready for the day and started a recipe of pork chops with onions and apples. Sis peeled apples, and Mother sliced them and onions. I browned the meat, and Sis basted them with a honey/mustard mixture. We put the prepared dish in the fridge until later.
Sis mentioned that she wanted to visit a garden nursery she'd learned about online. So after lunch, we went to a town about 20 miles away to look for it. It was about seven miles outside of town, and it had all the things Sis wanted, except for cherry trees.
Hubbie chose a couple of plants for our garden, too, and then we returned home, where Hubbie and Sis unloaded them. Then we went to another a package store in another town to purchase our favorite kinds of wine. We enjoy shopping in this large, well-lighted, well-kept store. Unfortunately, they didn't have the type of red table wine that we wanted in a large bottle. So we were told that if we bought two of the small bottles, we would be given a fifteen percent discount on our total purchase. We took advantage of this bargain.
On the way home, we briefly visited a nearby state park, where I'd hoped there might be some early wildflowers or jonquils in bloom. But there wasn't. The park looked pretty winter-bleak today. The only color in the area was a small area of green wheat.
Back home, I put the pork chops in the oven, along with a large dish of mixed veggies from the freezer. We relaxed while the food cooked, and then near 5 p.m., I fixed a pan of instant rice. The meal was very good.
After supper, we played three games of Skip-bo. This was supposed to be Sis's night to win, but instead I won two games, and Mother won one. I asked Sis if she wanted to continue playing until she won, and she said, "No, there's not enough time...I have to go back to work Saturday."
So we quit playing and enjoyed dessert...Mother opted for chocolate pudding with fat-free topping, and the rest of us had ice cream topped with the remainder of the blackberry cobbler.
Mother and Sis went back to Mother's house afterward, and Hubbie and I watched our favorite college basketball team as they played to another very disappointing loss. We don't like the poor showing of our team, lately, but we're devoted enough to see them through to the end. Real fans can't be fair-weather friends. This is a young team, and they'll do better next year.
We were up around 7:30 this morning, and after breakfast, I went to Mother's house to help her take a shower. But Sis was already in the process of helping her. I joined them in the bathroom, though, to show Sis our routine.
Back home, I changed clothes and did a treadmill session and resistance exercises. Mother and Sis came over while I was getting ready for the day and started a recipe of pork chops with onions and apples. Sis peeled apples, and Mother sliced them and onions. I browned the meat, and Sis basted them with a honey/mustard mixture. We put the prepared dish in the fridge until later.
Sis mentioned that she wanted to visit a garden nursery she'd learned about online. So after lunch, we went to a town about 20 miles away to look for it. It was about seven miles outside of town, and it had all the things Sis wanted, except for cherry trees.
Hubbie chose a couple of plants for our garden, too, and then we returned home, where Hubbie and Sis unloaded them. Then we went to another a package store in another town to purchase our favorite kinds of wine. We enjoy shopping in this large, well-lighted, well-kept store. Unfortunately, they didn't have the type of red table wine that we wanted in a large bottle. So we were told that if we bought two of the small bottles, we would be given a fifteen percent discount on our total purchase. We took advantage of this bargain.
On the way home, we briefly visited a nearby state park, where I'd hoped there might be some early wildflowers or jonquils in bloom. But there wasn't. The park looked pretty winter-bleak today. The only color in the area was a small area of green wheat.
Back home, I put the pork chops in the oven, along with a large dish of mixed veggies from the freezer. We relaxed while the food cooked, and then near 5 p.m., I fixed a pan of instant rice. The meal was very good.
After supper, we played three games of Skip-bo. This was supposed to be Sis's night to win, but instead I won two games, and Mother won one. I asked Sis if she wanted to continue playing until she won, and she said, "No, there's not enough time...I have to go back to work Saturday."
So we quit playing and enjoyed dessert...Mother opted for chocolate pudding with fat-free topping, and the rest of us had ice cream topped with the remainder of the blackberry cobbler.
Mother and Sis went back to Mother's house afterward, and Hubbie and I watched our favorite college basketball team as they played to another very disappointing loss. We don't like the poor showing of our team, lately, but we're devoted enough to see them through to the end. Real fans can't be fair-weather friends. This is a young team, and they'll do better next year.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Wednesday, Feb. 22
Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. These weeks before Easter are a time of prayer and self-denial. It's a good time to give something up. It should be something that would really be missed during that time. When I was around ten years old, that something was comic books.
Believe me, I thought the weeks would never end until I could grab a comic book again! I particularly liked the "Archie" comics, about a 17-year-old redheaded high school boy and his two main crushes, Betty and Veronica. I'm contemplating now what I could give up that would be as meaningful as that. Chocolate, maybe?
Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. The pool was a bit cooler than it was Wednesday, but it still felt wonderful. Our usual leader wasn't available this morning, because her fibromyalgia is flaring up. So we had a substitute leader today. She's okay, but I don't prefer her style.
I don't usually stay until the very end of the sessions, because I want to get down to the dressing room ahead of others, so I can find a bathroom free, and there will be plenty of room for changing into my clothes. With the regular leader, there is a certain point in the session when I know it is best to leave. But with the substitute, who doesn't follow the usual routine, I have trouble knowing when to quit. I managed today okay, though.
Back home, Hubbie and I gathered the ingredients for making chili. Sis and Mother came over soon after, and while I was getting ready for the day, they got the chili ready to simmer. Mother diced the necessary veggies, and Sis did the rest.
After a lunch of leftover soups, we went on an outing to the home of one of the ladies in water aerobics. Lots of jonquils are blooming on her property, and she wanted me to go by and see them. I tried to call her before we went, but she wasn't home. I took lots of snapshots of the flowers, and as I was finishing, the lady's husband drove up. He said his wife was visiting her doctor, but he was delighted that we were enjoying the jonquils.
Back home, Mother and Sis finished the jigsaw puzzle they started yesterday, while Hubbie worked in the yard, and I went upstairs to my office to download the photos and upload some of them to my social network page.
Later, while I made a blackberry cobbler, Sis went through a stack of recipes that Mother and I discarded when we sorted our cookbooks recently. Sis found a bunch she is able to use, but there is still a mighty stack for other family to go through when they come for Mother's birthday party the first weekend in March.
Supper was very good. Thanks, Sis. Afterward, we played three rounds of Skip-bo. Mother, Hubbie, and I won them...so it's Sis's turn tomorrow night.
We ended the evening by enjoying helpings of the cobbler topped with ice cream. Hubbie had regular ice cream, Mother and I had low-fat, low-sugar, and Sis had the lactose-free kind.
Mother and Sis went to Mother's house after that, and Hubbie and I watched TV until bedtime.
Believe me, I thought the weeks would never end until I could grab a comic book again! I particularly liked the "Archie" comics, about a 17-year-old redheaded high school boy and his two main crushes, Betty and Veronica. I'm contemplating now what I could give up that would be as meaningful as that. Chocolate, maybe?
Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. The pool was a bit cooler than it was Wednesday, but it still felt wonderful. Our usual leader wasn't available this morning, because her fibromyalgia is flaring up. So we had a substitute leader today. She's okay, but I don't prefer her style.
I don't usually stay until the very end of the sessions, because I want to get down to the dressing room ahead of others, so I can find a bathroom free, and there will be plenty of room for changing into my clothes. With the regular leader, there is a certain point in the session when I know it is best to leave. But with the substitute, who doesn't follow the usual routine, I have trouble knowing when to quit. I managed today okay, though.
Back home, Hubbie and I gathered the ingredients for making chili. Sis and Mother came over soon after, and while I was getting ready for the day, they got the chili ready to simmer. Mother diced the necessary veggies, and Sis did the rest.
After a lunch of leftover soups, we went on an outing to the home of one of the ladies in water aerobics. Lots of jonquils are blooming on her property, and she wanted me to go by and see them. I tried to call her before we went, but she wasn't home. I took lots of snapshots of the flowers, and as I was finishing, the lady's husband drove up. He said his wife was visiting her doctor, but he was delighted that we were enjoying the jonquils.
Back home, Mother and Sis finished the jigsaw puzzle they started yesterday, while Hubbie worked in the yard, and I went upstairs to my office to download the photos and upload some of them to my social network page.
Later, while I made a blackberry cobbler, Sis went through a stack of recipes that Mother and I discarded when we sorted our cookbooks recently. Sis found a bunch she is able to use, but there is still a mighty stack for other family to go through when they come for Mother's birthday party the first weekend in March.
Supper was very good. Thanks, Sis. Afterward, we played three rounds of Skip-bo. Mother, Hubbie, and I won them...so it's Sis's turn tomorrow night.
We ended the evening by enjoying helpings of the cobbler topped with ice cream. Hubbie had regular ice cream, Mother and I had low-fat, low-sugar, and Sis had the lactose-free kind.
Mother and Sis went to Mother's house after that, and Hubbie and I watched TV until bedtime.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Tuesday, Feb. 21
Today is Fat Tuesday. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday, and the beginning of Lent.
Slept late this morning, until around 8 a.m. I skipped my exercises after breakfast, because I had every intention of going for a bike ride this afternoon, since predictions were for a sunny, mild day, with temperature in the mid-60s.
But as the day wore on, I kept getting sidetracked. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the newspaper office to leave the word search puzzle contest, and to the greeting card shop to get a card and a gift for a lady who is retiring...we have been invited to her retirement party next week. She works for the same agency that we did before we retired.
From there, we went to the WDCS for a few grocery items. And then we decided to swing back by the medical supplies store to look for some sort of table that Mother can use to craft and work jigsaw puzzles while sitting in the rocking chair. We found one that works great. It's a rolling table on a chrome leg that adjusts up and down.
It doesn't adjust low enough, though, so Mother has to sit on two pillows to raise her high enough to work comfortably at the table. The sales person let us bring it home to try. It is a rental table that he said he would sell to us for $75. These tables normally sell for $140. We'll take it. It's one of our birthday gifts to her.
When we got back, we saw that Sis's truck was in the driveway. I feared that something might be wrong and rushed to Mother's house to check on her. Everything is fine. She is just here for her regular monthly visit. She said she'd alerted me to the days she'd be here, but somehow I either didn't get the message, or failed to record it in my brain.
After a little while Sis and Mother came to our house, where they began working on a 300-piece jigsaw puzzle. The table worked nicely.
Later, I fixed a supper of fried potatoes, fried okra, small amounts of baked sweet potatoes and boiled cabbage from the freezer, leftover chicken and rice, cornbread, and biscuits. It was a strange combination of foods, but satisfying enough.
After supper, I fixed a batch of instant chocolate pudding for dessert later. Then we watched the 1999 movie, "Jane Eyre," based on a novel by Charlotte Bronte. After a cruel childhood, Jane Eyre becomes the governess of a child in the custody of a brooding master, Edward Rochester. Romance blooms, but he holds a terrible secret that he hopes to keep hidden from her.
Slept late this morning, until around 8 a.m. I skipped my exercises after breakfast, because I had every intention of going for a bike ride this afternoon, since predictions were for a sunny, mild day, with temperature in the mid-60s.
But as the day wore on, I kept getting sidetracked. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran errands...to the newspaper office to leave the word search puzzle contest, and to the greeting card shop to get a card and a gift for a lady who is retiring...we have been invited to her retirement party next week. She works for the same agency that we did before we retired.
From there, we went to the WDCS for a few grocery items. And then we decided to swing back by the medical supplies store to look for some sort of table that Mother can use to craft and work jigsaw puzzles while sitting in the rocking chair. We found one that works great. It's a rolling table on a chrome leg that adjusts up and down.
It doesn't adjust low enough, though, so Mother has to sit on two pillows to raise her high enough to work comfortably at the table. The sales person let us bring it home to try. It is a rental table that he said he would sell to us for $75. These tables normally sell for $140. We'll take it. It's one of our birthday gifts to her.
When we got back, we saw that Sis's truck was in the driveway. I feared that something might be wrong and rushed to Mother's house to check on her. Everything is fine. She is just here for her regular monthly visit. She said she'd alerted me to the days she'd be here, but somehow I either didn't get the message, or failed to record it in my brain.
After a little while Sis and Mother came to our house, where they began working on a 300-piece jigsaw puzzle. The table worked nicely.
Later, I fixed a supper of fried potatoes, fried okra, small amounts of baked sweet potatoes and boiled cabbage from the freezer, leftover chicken and rice, cornbread, and biscuits. It was a strange combination of foods, but satisfying enough.
After supper, I fixed a batch of instant chocolate pudding for dessert later. Then we watched the 1999 movie, "Jane Eyre," based on a novel by Charlotte Bronte. After a cruel childhood, Jane Eyre becomes the governess of a child in the custody of a brooding master, Edward Rochester. Romance blooms, but he holds a terrible secret that he hopes to keep hidden from her.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Monday, Feb. 20
Today is President's Day. Hubbie hung our flag on the well house, and Mother's on a post of her front porch.
Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. Sunshiny morning, but it was cold enough last night to cause frost on the windows of the van. Hubbie scraped it off for me. As much as I love the sun, it blinded me when I tried to get out of my driveway. I couldn't see approaching traffic to the east, so I had to head in that direction and turn around in our neighbor's circular driveway.
The pool was delightfully warm today, and I thoroughly enjoyed my swim and aerobics. Back home, I went to Mother's house to help her take a shower, and then throw a load of laundry in the washer.
Once I was ready for the day, I reviewed the lesson plan for my ESL student. We met at our usual 2:30 hour. I started the session by drilling her on transforming sentences into questions using "which." The question words, "who, what, where, when, how, which, whose" are difficult for her to grasp in sentence transformation. She knows what the words mean, but she just can't seem to understand how to use them in sentence structure. We'll work on it until the light bulb goes off for her.
We began work on the English 3 book today. Lesson one teaches the use of past tense of irregular verbs. We touched on this a little in book 2, but she was introduced to new words today: sends/send; spend/spent; lends/lent; cuts/cut; puts/put; shuts/shut.
The lesson also deals with shopping and paying for food, and ordering from a restaurant. These were in the form of a story about shopping, at the end of which she answered questions. Ordering at a restaurant was in the form of a conversation between two people and a waitress. The student had no trouble understanding either of these exercises.
Back home, Hubbie had put the leftover chicken and rice casserole, as well as a dish of Lima beans, into the oven for our supper. He had also accompanied Mother to our house to join us in the meal.
I was a bit concerned about her. When I walked in, she was holding her head in her hand. I asked what was wrong, and she said she was having a dizzy spell. She recovered after a few minutes, but I wonder what caused it. If it happens again, I'm going to encourage her to see her doctor. She ate well at supper, even asking for a second helping, which is good.
After supper, Hubbie accompanied Mother back to her house. He said she seemed fine when she got there.
I turned the TV off at 6 p.m., and Hubbie helped me make a batch of decaf chai tea. Then he read his novel, while I worked this week's word search puzzle contest.
Back to TV, we watched an episode of "Downton Abbey." The daughter who tried to elope, was brought back home, and then finally received the blessing of her father to marry the man beneath her station, has now announced by letter that she is pregnant.
The staff member whose wife died under mysterious circumstances is now being tried for murder. Certain other staff members were called to testify for the prosecution, which puzzles them, since they are firmly in the corner of the accused. Their testimony manages to convince the jury of his guilt, and the judge sentences
him to death by hanging. Later, his sentence is commuted to life in prison. We viewers know, though, he is not guilty, so something has to happen to rectify this injustice.
The eldest daughter is faced with marrying a newspaper magnate, who blackmailed her into agreeing to marry him, because he knows that earlier, a visitor to the mansion, an Ottaman attche', seduced her, and then was found dead in her bed. Her mother and staff members removed the man from her room, but the newspaper magnate has nevertheless found out about it.
In tonight's episode, though, the father of this young woman has figured it all out, and has suggested she go to America, where the scandal, if it should be published in the newspaper, will not affect her.
Before that happens, though, her true love, the doctor's son, proposes marriage, and she accepts.
Meanwhile, one of the kitchen maids is miserable, because she was talked into marrying a returning soldier on his deathbed. The young man had been madly in love with the maid, but she did not return his love. Now she is receiving widow's benefits from the military and feels guilty. No amount of counseling from the other staff, and even from the young man's father, eases her misery. As a last resort, the staff drag out a Ouija board, upon which they make sure she receives a message from her dead husband, telling her to go live on his father's farm.
Now that things seem on an upswing, the servant's ball can and does go on. This event has the staff and the lord and lady's family intermingling in dining and dancing.
Downton Abbey is, of course, a form of soap opera. But even though we're not fans of daytime soaps, we're enjoying this nighttime British period drama series.
Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. Sunshiny morning, but it was cold enough last night to cause frost on the windows of the van. Hubbie scraped it off for me. As much as I love the sun, it blinded me when I tried to get out of my driveway. I couldn't see approaching traffic to the east, so I had to head in that direction and turn around in our neighbor's circular driveway.
The pool was delightfully warm today, and I thoroughly enjoyed my swim and aerobics. Back home, I went to Mother's house to help her take a shower, and then throw a load of laundry in the washer.
Once I was ready for the day, I reviewed the lesson plan for my ESL student. We met at our usual 2:30 hour. I started the session by drilling her on transforming sentences into questions using "which." The question words, "who, what, where, when, how, which, whose" are difficult for her to grasp in sentence transformation. She knows what the words mean, but she just can't seem to understand how to use them in sentence structure. We'll work on it until the light bulb goes off for her.
We began work on the English 3 book today. Lesson one teaches the use of past tense of irregular verbs. We touched on this a little in book 2, but she was introduced to new words today: sends/send; spend/spent; lends/lent; cuts/cut; puts/put; shuts/shut.
The lesson also deals with shopping and paying for food, and ordering from a restaurant. These were in the form of a story about shopping, at the end of which she answered questions. Ordering at a restaurant was in the form of a conversation between two people and a waitress. The student had no trouble understanding either of these exercises.
Back home, Hubbie had put the leftover chicken and rice casserole, as well as a dish of Lima beans, into the oven for our supper. He had also accompanied Mother to our house to join us in the meal.
I was a bit concerned about her. When I walked in, she was holding her head in her hand. I asked what was wrong, and she said she was having a dizzy spell. She recovered after a few minutes, but I wonder what caused it. If it happens again, I'm going to encourage her to see her doctor. She ate well at supper, even asking for a second helping, which is good.
After supper, Hubbie accompanied Mother back to her house. He said she seemed fine when she got there.
I turned the TV off at 6 p.m., and Hubbie helped me make a batch of decaf chai tea. Then he read his novel, while I worked this week's word search puzzle contest.
Back to TV, we watched an episode of "Downton Abbey." The daughter who tried to elope, was brought back home, and then finally received the blessing of her father to marry the man beneath her station, has now announced by letter that she is pregnant.
The staff member whose wife died under mysterious circumstances is now being tried for murder. Certain other staff members were called to testify for the prosecution, which puzzles them, since they are firmly in the corner of the accused. Their testimony manages to convince the jury of his guilt, and the judge sentences
him to death by hanging. Later, his sentence is commuted to life in prison. We viewers know, though, he is not guilty, so something has to happen to rectify this injustice.
The eldest daughter is faced with marrying a newspaper magnate, who blackmailed her into agreeing to marry him, because he knows that earlier, a visitor to the mansion, an Ottaman attche', seduced her, and then was found dead in her bed. Her mother and staff members removed the man from her room, but the newspaper magnate has nevertheless found out about it.
In tonight's episode, though, the father of this young woman has figured it all out, and has suggested she go to America, where the scandal, if it should be published in the newspaper, will not affect her.
Before that happens, though, her true love, the doctor's son, proposes marriage, and she accepts.
Meanwhile, one of the kitchen maids is miserable, because she was talked into marrying a returning soldier on his deathbed. The young man had been madly in love with the maid, but she did not return his love. Now she is receiving widow's benefits from the military and feels guilty. No amount of counseling from the other staff, and even from the young man's father, eases her misery. As a last resort, the staff drag out a Ouija board, upon which they make sure she receives a message from her dead husband, telling her to go live on his father's farm.
Now that things seem on an upswing, the servant's ball can and does go on. This event has the staff and the lord and lady's family intermingling in dining and dancing.
Downton Abbey is, of course, a form of soap opera. But even though we're not fans of daytime soaps, we're enjoying this nighttime British period drama series.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Sunday, Feb. 19
Had one of those wide-awake nights again. Finally drifted off around 3 a.m. Got up around 8 a.m., but whenever I sat still today, I nodded off.
Skipped my exercises this morning. After breakfast, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. She and I worked together to put a chicken and rice casserole together. Mother chopped onions and bell peppers, and diced the cooked chicken. I prepared the rice and sauteed the veggies in olive oil, then mixed the ingredients together with garlic, spices, sour cream, spicy mustard, chicken broth, and shredded Mozzarella cheese.
The casserole was good at lunch, served with a side of English peas. After lunch, we watched "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown," that I'd recorded on DVR, but only got around to watching today. Then we watched the 2008 movie, "Odysseus: Voyage to the Underworld," based on Homer's forgotten adventure, "The Isle of the Mists," about an underworld queen and her winged harpies (huge and horrible vampire bats).
Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house afterward, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon in lazy activities...he reading his novel, and I reading the Sunday newspaper and playing on my laptop.
Evening TV was a variety of one-hour shows.
It was good to see the sunshine today, though it was shivery cool outside.
Skipped my exercises this morning. After breakfast, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. She and I worked together to put a chicken and rice casserole together. Mother chopped onions and bell peppers, and diced the cooked chicken. I prepared the rice and sauteed the veggies in olive oil, then mixed the ingredients together with garlic, spices, sour cream, spicy mustard, chicken broth, and shredded Mozzarella cheese.
The casserole was good at lunch, served with a side of English peas. After lunch, we watched "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown," that I'd recorded on DVR, but only got around to watching today. Then we watched the 2008 movie, "Odysseus: Voyage to the Underworld," based on Homer's forgotten adventure, "The Isle of the Mists," about an underworld queen and her winged harpies (huge and horrible vampire bats).
Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house afterward, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon in lazy activities...he reading his novel, and I reading the Sunday newspaper and playing on my laptop.
Evening TV was a variety of one-hour shows.
It was good to see the sunshine today, though it was shivery cool outside.
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