Tuesday, Dec. 10

Up around 8 a.m. on this cold morning. Did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast.

Hubbie checked on Mother around 9 a.m. In a few minutes he rushed back inside and grabbed a broom.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Your mother insisted on coming over today," he said, "so I need to sweep the water off the porch."

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Outside waiting for me," he said. In a minute, he helped her in the door."

"What are you doing here?" I asked.  "I thought you'd want to stay home, since it's still frozen outside."

"Well, he insisted that I come over," she said, indicating Hubbie.

I think it's more likely that Mother did the insisting. She probably had a case of cabin fever and just wanted to trade "cabins" for a while. She also wanted company.

She went to her jigsaw puzzle, while I went upstairs to get ready for the day. Hubbie decided he had cabin fever, too, and wanted to go run errands.

 He had a 10 a.m. dental appointment this morning, but since he's got a mild cold, he decided to call his hygienist to see if she wanted him to meet his appointment, or postpone it. She preferred he postpone it to next Tuesday.

Just the same, he wanted to get out and run around. But when I didn't hear the van leave, I looked out the window to see him, shovel in hand, trying to chip the ice from around the tires. Seems the vehicle had frozen to driveway and wouldn't move. But the shovel and some kitty litter, he finally freed it.

By this time, though, he was frustrated and tired, so he came inside to rest and have a cup of hot coffee. The errands could wait.

Later, I fixed a lunch of scrambled eggs with cheese and leftover fried potatoes, and served with toast and jelly.

Then we waited for the pest control guy to come. He was scheduled to be here between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. But around 1:30 p.m., he called to say the weather prevented him from keeping his appointments, and he will re-schedule in a week or so.

So Hubbie and I decided to run some errands, now that the van was free, and Hubbie was rested. We went to the bank, the post office, the Extension Office (to drop off Christmas stockings...our scrapbook club donation...which are to be filled and given to underprivileged children), and to a grocery pharmacy to pick up prescription, and several dozen cans of icing for the children's Christmas house workshop this weekend.

By now it was 2:45, and time for my haircut appointment. Hubbie dropped me off and then ran another errand. I was sort of surprised to see a long rug rolled out from the front door. It was to cover an icy patch, but when anyone walked in the door, we were greeted with, "I guess you noticed we rolled out the rug for you!"

My hairdresser was delighted to see I brought along a bucket of fruited popcorn...her favorite. I mentioned that I would have also brought a jar of wine jelly, but I wasn't sure how it would be received.

Some folks get offended at even the hint of alcohol. But my hairdresser and the others were enthusiastic about the jelly and assured me they wanted some. One even wants the recipe. So I'll deliver some to them in the next day or so.

From the beauty shop, we went to a dollar store, and then to the WDCS to satisfy a fairly long list of items. It was 4:30 by the time we were finished.

Came back home and unloaded and put away everything. Mother was ready to go home, so Hubbie accompanied her. Then we went to a business downtown for a reception. The folks here did a splendid job with the food. And we were hungry after running around town all afternoon.

Refreshments included delicious hot brisket, with slider buns for making sandwiches, served with salad, dips and chips, crackers and cheese, and a variety of desserts.

When we had eaten, we brought home a plate of the goodies for Mother's supper. She really enjoyed it. I sat with her while she ate.

For the secretary/receptionist of the business, I took a gift of jars of wine jelly and crab apple jelly, neither of which this lady had ever eaten. So she is anxious to try them. I also put a tub of cream cheese in with the gift, though I figured there would be plenty of crackers left from today's reception that she can take home.

We were back home around 6 p.m. Later, we watched the first episode of the "Bonnie and Clyde" mini-series. Unfortunately, I seem to have recorded the first episode twice, but didn't get episode two. I'll have to record that one when it repeats on Dec. 21.

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Note one: we were a bit perturbed when we arrived at the WDCS and waited on some folks to load their purchases into a truck and then vacate the space near the store. They'd bought a lot, so it took quite a while for them to finish loading. But that's not what aggravated us. It was that the young man decided to light up and then stand there leaning on the hood of the truck while he smoked. We drove around and came back a few minutes later, and he was still there, draped over his hood, puffing away. We finally gave up and parked a half a world away, and picked our way over the ice to the store.

Note two: outside the store, we met one of the water aerobics members who has not come to the pool in a very long time. She invited me to her annual "Cup of Cheer" get together at her house on Dec. 19. She also asked that I tell all the others at water aerobics about the party.

Since I'm not sure I'll be attending this week, I sent a message to the water aerobics leader, who can make an announcement at the pool tomorrow or Friday.