Monday, Oct. 14

Today is Columbus Day, and ordinarily we would hang the flag on well house, but the weather looked iffy, so we decided not to.

Up at 6 a.m., so Hubbie could get ready to go with the Master Gardeners to the capital city for a tour of a celebrity's farm. I showered and dressed, because I expected the guy who was to work on the stairwell and upstairs bathroom to arrive around 8:30.

Hubbie left home at 7:30, and though I was dressed, I decided to do stair stepping for a few minutes before the painter arrived. I finished a session and began exercising with resistance bands and weights when the painter called. He was delayed, but would arrive around 9:30.

Before he got here, I accompanied Mother to our house. After the guy arrived, I got frozen Reliance grapes out of the freezer and thawed them in water so I could simmer them in water and then squeeze them for juice.

The grapes didn't yield enough juice for a recipe of jelly, so I'll buy a bottle of white grape juice to go with it, then try to make the jelly maybe Saturday.

After I juiced the grapes, I called one of the scrapbook members to let her know we won't meet this week, but I will try to schedule another time in the next couple of weeks. She and I commiserated on home improvement projects. She has been having lots of problems with her house, in which her washing machine flooded her utility room, ruining the floor.

She got the room fixed, but only a few days ago, the machine leaked on the floor again. So she had to get the machine repaired, then deal with the wet indoor-outdoor carpet in that room. I'm not sure why she went with indoor-outdoor carpet. I think I would have chosen some other flooring.

She has also had living room carpet replaced recently, and with that, she had similar problems as we are having with the wallpaper removal/painting project....delays in getting workers to come on the days they say they will.

Not long this lady and I ended our conversation, one of ladies from my high school class called to tell me another classmate, a man, had suffered injuries in a car accident. He's on the mend, thank goodness, from a fractured sternum, caused by his seat belt.

His daughter, in the car with him at the time, suffered a broken knee (which was crushed to fragments) and wrist. These injuries occurred when a driver crossed the line into their lane, causing the accident. I need to either call this man or send him a "thinking of you" card.

My classmate was in a chatty mood today, so we talked of many things, including home improvement nightmares we've both experienced.

By this time, it was near noon, so I fixed omelets and toast for Mother and me. The worker didn't leave for lunch until around 1:30, and then he didn't return until around 3:30.

Mother and I decided to occupy our time this afternoon watching "Phantom of the Opera." When it was over, I called the other scrapbook club member, who was also chatty. Her story was about her Shih Tzu dog that suffered a mysterious injury. She noticed one morning that he just wasn't acting right, and after another day, she knew she needed to take him to a vet.

She and her daughter attempted to crate the dog. But it was having none of it. Neither did it cooperate in getting into the car. She finally had to request that vet come to their house to look at the dog. This was a costly request, but when the vet examined the dog, he thought the animal needed to be transported to the vet's for an X-ray.

It was determined that the dog had suffered an internal injury in the back, sustained he and the dog's owner decided, from the dog falling asleep while on the back of a love seat, and then tumbling, back first, onto the floor.

The injury required that the dog be crated and medicated for two weeks. Fortunately, he is now back to his old self again.

Wow! Whatever the painter used (some sort of sealer) on the walls of the stairwell and bathroom this afternoon had such a strong odor that it gagged Mother and me, though it seemed not to bother the painter at all. I finally had to prop the front door open with a chair to let some of the fumes out. He has to put another coat of on the walls tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to it.

Around 4:30, I put leftovers in the oven for supper, and started a pan of corn-on-the-cob cooking. Hubbie had called earlier in the day and thought he would be home somewhere around 5 or 6 p.m. Turned out he got home just after 6:30. By that time, Mother and I had already eaten, but I kept supper warm until he arrived.

Mother stayed around for a while and watched a couple of TV shows, then was ready to go home about 8 p.m. Hubbie accompanied her. Then he and I watched episodes of "One Tree Hill."