Monday, March 4

Today is Mother's 91st birthday. Happy Birthday, Mother!

Slept late this morning, until after 8 a.m., There was no water aerobics session today, since this is spring break for the college, but I did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and she worked on her jigsaw puzzle while I got ready for the day.

Once I was dressed, I did this and that until lunchtime. After lunch, I completed a monthly report for the Literacy Council, and then reviewed the lesson plan for today.

I met the student at 2:30, as usual. Today, we began Level four studies. The first lesson involved learning the long sound of the letter "u," how to separate words into syllables, and how to recognize which word syllables are stressed.

The student also read aloud a story about computers, and then answered questions about the story to show she comprehended what she read. Her workbook included a lesson on prepositions...prepositions still stump her a bit, so we'll be working on that as much as possible in the future.

In conversation, the student talked about how the home of her in-laws, where she lives, is being improved to make it ready to put on the market. Improvements include spackling, sanding, and painting. The student joked that she has sanding dust in her teeth. This is a lady who loves order, and right now the home is anything but orderly, and it's driving her crazy.

Back home, Mother and Hubbie had changed clothes to go out to dinner. In honor of Mother's birthday, we took her to the local Japanese restaurant. She was very entertained by the hibachi chef, who cooked our meals of chicken and shrimp, with veggies and rice right at our table.

I wasn't sure Mother would enjoy the food, since she's not a real fan of oriental food, but she ate more than I've seen her eat in a long time. The servings are huge, though, and we all brought a good deal of it home. There's enough for another meal.

At home again, I accompanied Mother to her house, and then Hubbie and I settled in front of TV, as usual.Tonight, we watched the first episode of "Vikings," a nine-part series from the History Channel that depicts the Norse reign of terror in Europe. In the first episode, a farmer develops a navigational tool based on a sundial. He works with a shipbuilder who builds the first ocean going long boat. Drama based on history. Anxious to see the second episode.