Monday, Aug. 12

Had trouble going to sleep again last night...it was 2 a.m.  when I checked the clock before drifting off. Didn't get up until nearly 8:30 a.m. Hubbie had risen a little earlier.

Did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house while I did that. Before I went upstairs to get ready for the day, I washed blueberries for Mother to sort and bag for the freezer.  Hubbie and I had bought the berries at the warehouse store on Saturday while we were in the town where we attended his great-granddaughter's birthday party.

Once I was dressed, I did several things before lunch, like going through last year's calendar to total Mother's and my volunteer hours. I'd already contacted the other two members for their hours. This information was requested by Extension Homemakers, along with a request that our club submit annual club/member dues.

After that, I downloaded photos from the Saturday birthday party to a CD, to be given to Hubbie's daughter. This was at her request. I usually just post pics to Hubbie's social network page, then obtain print copies for family members, but Daughter wanted the option of ordering photos, so that if any of the snapshots struck her fancy, she could order enlargements.

Started a couple of loads of laundry, then fixed Mother's Ramen noodle lunch. Hubbie was running errands...to the pharmacy/grocery store to pick up prescriptions, an angel food cake mix, and a free bag of Cheetos (this week's offer from the store).

Some of the free things from the grocery store are useful to us, some are not. We pass what we can't use to family members. I am using the free bottle of hair conditioner. A bottle of salsa is on the shelf to be used later. Hubbie and Mother can enjoy the Cheetos, but since they contain yellow dye, I will avoid them. Daughter was the beneficiary of a box of macaroni and cheese, and a box of stove top dinner.

While Hubbie was out, he also went to the barber shop. It was after noon before he got back. I waited for him before I had lunch.

While Hubbie was away, I noticed a road grader traveling back and forth in front of our house, so when he came back, I asked what was going on. He said a truck hauling pea gravel blew a tire in the curve (the one we can't see around when exiting the driveway), messing up the hydraulics, which caused the bed gate to open and pour the gravel out. I guess the grader was smoothing the gravel out.

Men were busily guiding traffic onto the non-graveled lane, and scraping and sweeping the smoothed gravel into the ditch. I went out to snap a picture of the process, and one of the guy came across the road to talk to me. When I mentioned how laborious their job must be, he said a street sweeper was supposed to come along soon and efficiently do away with the gravel. 

After lunch, I baked an angel food/pineapple cake, continued doing laundry, and called both of the other scrapbook club members to remind them of our Thursday meeting. I worked it out so that one of the members will drop by and pick up the other one. I will take the lady back home if the one who brings her needs to run errands in town. Spent quite a bit of time on the phone with the two ladies.

A storm cropped up while the cake was in the oven, so I was really keeping my fingers crossed that the power wouldn't go off. It didn't, thank goodness.

Around 2:30, I was ready to relax for a while. Mother was working on her jigsaw puzzle. Later, we put leftover beef stroganoff, a dish of spinach, and a dish of English peas in the oven to heat for supper.

After supper, I accompanied Mother to her house, where I adjusted her TV...she had somehow hit the closed caption function, and some other function, and stuff was running across her screen and annoying her.

Back home, Hubbie and I watched TV, including a 1995 disaster movie, "Outbreak," starring Dustin Hoffman, and Morgan Freeman. Doctors and scientists scramble to contain a deadly air-borne virus.