Saturday, Jan. 19

Today is Granddaughter-in-Law's birthday. Happy Birthday!

Slept late this beautiful, sunny morning, until around 8:30, but did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, but we didn't accomplish much for the rest of the morning.

Hubbie ran errands, including to buy fresh batteries for the central heat/air thermostat, because the unit wasn't coming on. The batteries didn't help, however, and he had to call the repairman.

After lunch, Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle, and I went upstairs to get ready for the day. Naturally, while I was in the bathroom, the repairman came to check on the unit, which is directly across the hall from the bathroom.

So after my shower, I threw on a robe and scooted to the office, where my clothes are stowed in a closet. The repairman's back was turned, and Hubbie stood between him and me, so it wasn't a problem.

The repairman got the unit running, but warned us that we are due for a new one. Figures. Of course, the unit is about seventeen years old, so it's no surprise it is seeing its last days.

Seems like everything is falling apart around here at the same time, though. On the plus side, the heat/air business has taken responsibilty for the water leak that caused a hole in the den ceiling, so after they install the new unit, they will repair the ceiling at no charge.

Back downstairs, Mother diced veggies to be sauteed for bagel pizzas later. She also washed a couple of bags of beans, so we can make recipes of 11-bean soup, with ham and Rotel, tomorrow. The soup will be our contribution to the "Souper Bowl Saturday" event in February.

Later, Hubbie and I watched our favorite college basketball team play to an expected, but disappointing loss. They fought hard, though, and had their opponents on the fence more than once. I'd recorded the game, and the game following it, on DVR, which was good, because there was a power outage in the first half of the game that lasted twenty-five minutes.

The bagel pizzas, served with cottage cheese, and vegetable chips, were very good. Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house afterward, and around 6:30, we went downtown to the old movie theater to see a $2 per ticket movie..."Breaking Dawn, Part 2," the last of the Twilight series. These are not my favorite movies, but Hubbie seems to enjoy them for some reason.

We got up to leave before the final scenes, though, because we thought the movie was over. So did lots of other folks. All of us stood in the aisle near the exit to watch the rest of it.

We always take our own snacks to the movie theaters, because I don't dare eat what's sold at the concession stand, since I can't read the labels for yellow dye and salt. So tonight, Hubbie made himself trail mix from cereals, pretzles, Craisins, nuts, etc. I sliced an apple and put it in a Ziplock bag, and fixed a thermal cup of hot apple cider. Hubbie opted for bottled water. All of this I carried in a quilted handbag.

Funny: got an e-mail from the writer and director of the upcoming readers' theater production, in which he thanked me for the cast selection article I submitted to our local newspaper. I thought I'd thoroughly read the paper last night, but somehow I missed that article. Maybe because it was under such a large headline!

Friday, Jan. 18

Up at 6:30 to get ready for water aerobics. This was one of those days when I had trouble launching, mainly because after I'd bundled up for the chilly morning, and started out to the van, I found that the windows of the vehicle were glazed with frozen stuff.

So back indoors I came to ask Hubbie where the scraper was. Of course, he hurried out to scrape them himself. Took a while, though, and I feared that by the time I arrived at the college parking lot, I wouldn't be able to find a space, and would have to turn around and come back home.

But I lucked out, and got there just ahead of the rush of student cars following close behind, so I was able to slip into a choice spot ahead of anyone else.

In the dressing room, I learned from another member that the pool was still cool, at 81 degrees. Oh well, it didn't kill me to get in it on Wednesday, and it wouldn't kill me today, so I showered and headed up to the pool.

Once I got used to it, the water felt fine, and I enjoyed my swim. Only seven of us showed up for the session today, though. Our leader decided that we would spend the entire session in aerobic mode, with no cool-down, because just standing in the water tends to chill the body, and we older ladies don't need that.

Today, we learned that the pool will be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday, which is fine with me, since it means I will not have to miss aerobics when I go to the cardiologist's clinic to finish up my tests, including a treadmill stress test.

While I was gone, Hubbie met an appointment at the doctor's office for a fasting lab blood draw. His appointment was for 9:30, so his tummy was rumbling at breakfast time, since he couldn't eat. Water or plain coffee is permitted, though, so I suggested he have a cup of hot coffee to quell his hunger.

Back home, I put a cup of coffee in the microwave, and set the timer for the usual couple of minutes. When I took it out and added a teaspoon of dry creamer..FROOM!...Mt. Vesuvius! Spent the next few minutes cleaning up the volcanic eruption. I hadn't realized Hubbie had made a fresh pot before he left for the clinic, and it was still hot.

Tried again, this time just pouring a cup and adding creamer. Sat down then to enjoy it, and try to set the digital watch I wear in the pool. But it refused to take commands, and finally just died altogether. So I'll be looking for another one, I guess.

Got a second cup of coffee, and while I enjoyed that, the propane truck came and scared the cats with its backup warning signal. They scattered in all directions. I barely heard the signal, but they reacted to it as though it was right in the room with them.

Soon after, Hubbie returned home. Before he came in, though, he went to Mother's house to accompany her to our house. Before I went upstairs to get ready for the day, I helped her get another jigsaw puzzle to work on, since she finished the one she was working on yesterday.

After lunch, Hubbie shopped for groceries, so I could devote my time writing a first draft of the readers' theater article for the newspapers.

I finished the draft around 3:30, and headed back downstairs to begin supper preparations. Mother helped by dicing onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms for Ziplock bag omelets. Once the omelets were nearly cooked, I prepared a recipe of white gravy to have over biscuits.

Supper was tasty, and afterward, Hubbie accompanied Mother back to her house. Then he and I watched a 2004 movie borrowed from the library..."Miracle," starring Kurt Russell. It's the true story of how the 1980 ice hockey team triumphed in the Olympics against the formidable, and seemingly unbeatable, Soviet Union team. We'd seen this movie before, but it was still good a second time.

Thursday, Jan. 17

Slept late, until around 8:15, then did a treadmill session 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.

At my computer later, I found I was having problems with my e-mail service. I was receiving e-mails, but whatever I sent out kept being returned by the mail administrator.

Hubbie finally went to our cable service office to see if something was going on. They didn't know, and they gave him a phone number suggesting I call the cable tech, which I did. The tech walked me through a process to see if there was a cable problem. There wasn't.

So he suggested I call a number to see what might be going on with Outlook Express. At that number I was run through an automated menu that required me to voice my selection rather than punch number keys. I must have more of a southern accent than I thought, because I had to keep repeating myself when the automated "person" couldn't understand me.

Making a choice still didn't get me a live person. Instead, another automated voice announced that due to an overwhelming number of calls to the number, it could take quite a while before a tech could help me. But if I didn't want to wait (and obviously, I was being encouraged not to), I could visit a website that could help me.

I visited the website, where I did some updating to Windows, but where I still didn't get the answers I wanted.

I decided to visit my Yahoo e-mail, and try to send the e-mails I couldn't seem to do through Outlook Express. Here, I found that it was necessary to re-set my password, which I did, but then I couldn't seem to complete the task, because the site wouldn't let me.

Gad! Well, ok, I thought, let's try Gmail. Had to do some updating there, too, before I could try to send an email. But when I did, the dang thing wouldn't send.

Thorougly frustrated now, I decided to call my favorite computer tech. One of the staff members there suggested I try to send her an e-mail, to see if she could receive. Lo and behold, it did arrive.

Ok, then maybe things were back in order. So I sent an e-mail to one of the folks I'd tried yesterday. Nope, it came right back. Shoot!

I called the person. She said someone else had been unable to reach her at that e-mail address, too. So I should try her personal address. I did, and it went.

I then called another person I'd tried without success to reach yesterday . Found out that his address had changed slightly (one additional letter), so when I tried it again, it went.

What was wrong otherwise, I don't know, but the situation seemed to rectify itself, so I didn't have to take the computer to the tech. I'm glad, because I was beginning to think I'd picked up a virus.

Spent a good bit of the afternoon fooling with this, when I'd planned to use my time writing a draft of the readers' theater article. Guess I'll have to do that tomorrow.

Later, Hubbie prepared a cookie sheet full of sweet potatoes for the oven. When the potatoes had cooked for a half hour, I sliced leftover pork roast, over which I poured barbecue sauce and put it in the oven, along with a dish of whole kernel corn.

After supper, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then he and I watched one of the movies we borrowed from the library..."Rough Riders," about Theodore Roosevelt. This 1997 mini-series movie, was first shown on TNT channel. It stars Tom Berenger, Sam Elliott, and Gary Busey. Good movie.

Wednesday, Jan. 16

We were up around 7:30, and after breakfast, I did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises because, of course, the pool wasn't open, due to the unexpected snow yesterday.

In fact, area schools were closed today, and the college down the road did not open either. Some businesses were also closed, because re-freezing last night made roads hazardous today.

Tonight's local newspaper was full of stories and photos of the surpise snow that caught everyone off guard yesterday. It created chaos around the town. It's reported that virtually every intersection in the city was blocked at one time or another, due to wrecks, jackknives, and pileups. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but there were a lot of cars in ditches.

Because of the jammed roads, highway department trucks couldn't navigate to areas that needed sanding, salting, or grading; and because there were so many accidents, the police and sheriff's departments couldn't work the huge number of wrecks. They just advised motorists to exchange insurance information. Frustration caused a fist fight in the middle of one accident scene.

Schools were dismissed around 11:30, but by then the roads were already slick, so bus drivers were instructed to just take their students to the nearest school, so they could stay warm until parents picked them up. Parents were notified at 4:30 to pick their children up. But there were about 38 kids whose parents couldn't come, so school officials drove the school's four-wheel-drive vehicles to deliver the kids to their homes.

I spent my morning after exercising making phone calls...to the other two scrapbook club members, both of whom said they were in no mood for a meeting tomorrow (and neither are we); to the beauty shop to cancel Mother's and my appointment this afternoon (no answer at the shop, but later my hairdresser called to assist in making new appointments); and to the doctor's office to get information on how to access Mother's clinic portal to retrieve information (had to get a new password).

Hubbie also called the doctor's office to cancel his 8:30 a.m. appointment for fasting lab blood work.

After I got the phone calls out of the way, I finally went upstairs and got ready for the day. Mother wisely opted to stay home today, so I heated chicken noodle soup for her lunch, which Hubbie took to her, along with crackers, and cheese.

The temperature had risen by 1 p.m., so the roads were clear, and Hubbie and I could run a few errands...to the library to pick a few movies; to the newspaper office to deliver this week's word search puzzle contest, and where I had hoped to speak with a couple of the reporters about the upcoming readers' theater, but neither was there today; and finally to pick up the truck at the gas station where Hubbie had to leave it yesterday.

I feared that someone might have pilfered stuff out of the back of the truck overnight, but everything appeared untouched, thank goodness.

On the way home, we noticed a small car up to it's axle in water in a ditch...a casualty of yesterday's snow, I'm sure.

Back home, I worked on publicity for the readers' theater, sending an article to various newspapers, including the two local ones.

Later, I heated Dragon Soup, cornbread, and biscuits for our supper, and Hubbie delivered a serving of the meal to Mother.

I was scheduled to attend an art gallery visual arts committee meeting at 5:30, but I decided to call the gallery first to make sure the meeting was still on. It was, but the director was not there, and those who were meeting were going to discuss an upcoming juried art show. I have nothing to contribute to that discussion, so I begged off going to the meeting.

This evening, Hubbie and I watched TV, including our favorite college basketball team, as they played to a real nail-biter win in double overtime. Exciting.

Tuesday, Jan. 15

Up around 7:30, so I could get ready for an appointment with my cardiologist at 10 a.m. I wore clothes suited to a treadmill session. It was really cold and overcast for the drive to the clinic. But I anticipated no wintry precipitation, since weather reports stated snow and sleet would happen in the southern and eastern parts of the state.

I arrived fifteen minutes early for my appointment, and then of course, had to wait thirty minutes before I was called back. I entertained myself in the meantime working a sudoku puzzle, though I had trouble concentrating, since a visit to my cardiologist always unnerves me.

The process starts with a weigh-in. Once I came to, I was escorted to the ultra-sound room. This procedure takes about twenty minutes.

From there, I was taken to a waiting area, where I waited another ten minutes, until a nurse came and fetched me to an exam room, where she placed a port in my arm, and injected me with a dye for the treadmill stress test.

Then I was taken to yet another waiting room to have my blood pressure checked, and for the nurse to gather whatever information she needed from me. Again I waited until the cardiologist made an appearance. She spent just few minutes with me, checking information I brought along regarding the results of my last fasting lab....all normal. She pronounced it comprehensive, and I remarked that no matter what doctor I visited, I was usually put through a battery of tests.

She asked if I ever had sensations of skipped heart beats, or of a flip-flopping heart, and I said not until I got there. She laughed, and decided I was ready to get on with my tests, so I could leave before the weather got too bad.

What?! The weather was getting bad. "Oh, no," just some light snow, she said.

I was escorted to the waiting room again, where I waited endlessly, while nursing staff ran here and there, stopping often in the waiting area to watch the weather channel. Others in the waiting area went up front to look out the windows. They came back saying it was snowing to beat the band. Yikes!

A male nurse came in and announced that his wife was in a town about twenty minutes away. She asked if any of us wanted her to bring us back something from the liquor store, since the roads were bad between here and there. Got a laugh out of us. This was funny, because we live in a dry county. Also, heart patients are discouraged from overindulging in alcoholic beverages.

Another nurse came in and said she lives too far away to drive on dangerous roads, so did anyone have a spare bedroom she could use? She began asking each of us how far away we lived. The others lived in distant places, too, so when I said I live about five miles from the clinic, she declared me the winner.

Of course, she was kidding. She had actually secured a room at one of the motels...the last one available, she said. And it was a smoking room, which didn't please her, but the motel staff said they would spray it good.

The male nurse announced that there were two rooms with exam tables in them, and he would rent them to the highest bidders.

All of this was to help de-stress us about the weather, since we were already stressed enough about our coming tests.

As it became apparent that the weather was getting worse and worse, the nurses announced that any of us who wanted to shave off some of our tests, so we could leave earlier, could do so. I was one who wanted to do this.

So I waited a few more minutes, and then a nurse came to take me back to a room with a machine that takes pictures of the heart from every angle...sort of "slicing" the heart. For this, I sit in a padded chair high off the floor, and place my arms about shoulder high on a padded armrest. This test takes about twenty minutes.

While the test was going on, the nurse came in and removed the port, since I opted not to do the treadmill today. To do that, I would have had to remain at the clinic another hour. As it happened, I was there about that long, anyway.

So after the test was done, I went to the main waiting room, where I saw how much it had snowed, and where folks were gathered at the windows watching cars unable to make it up the hill that leads to the main highway. Also, there was a traffic backup on the highway.

I called Hubbie to see if he could come and pick me up with the truck. We could get the van later. Got his cell phone voice mail. So I called Mother. She said he had already left, because he was worried about me.

Since I was probably going to be waiting awhile, I prevailed upon the receptionist to fetch me some coffee and a snack. She provided a package of peanut butter crackers and the coffee.

Others, who were also waiting and had not had breakfast, were given food and drink. One lady in the waiting room went to her car and brought back a carton of wrapped cakes, which she passed around to those who needed something and didn't get peanut butter crackers. It was sort of like being stranded on a desert island, with everyone gathering what they had to eat and drink.

Hubbie finally called. He had a time trying to get to the cardiologist's office. Someone finally stopped and pulled him up the hill with a chain, and then the guy offered to sell him the concrete blocks that's he'd bought to help him navigate the roads (said he was very close to home and didn't need them anymore). Hubby paid $15 bucks for them, but it was worth it, because he didn't slide around anymore.

He drove the truck to a gas station, parked it, and hiked a mile to the cardiologist's office, because the traffic was so backed up that he couldn't drive there. The van did fine going up that hill at the doctor's office. And at the traffic jam, folks were very kind to let us turn left to come home.

We were so glad to finally get home. The only pleasant thing about it was seeing two deer leap a fence, dash across the road, and leap another fence into a field. They looked so lovely in a background of snow. The deer were nowhere near our car. We saw them as we were stopped at the intersection to the road they crossed.

At home, Mother diced veggies so I could make a pot of Dragon Soup for supper. I ate chicken noodle soup, and crackers and cheese around 2:30, so I wasn't real hungry by suppertime. But I had a bowl of the delicious soup anyway, because it was so warming. Served the soup with a choice of cornbread, or biscuits and honey.

Hubbie accompanied Mother home afterward. I don't know if she'll want to come back over tomorrow or not. We'll see how the weather is. I know I'll need to cancel our haircut appointments.

Turned the TV off, and Hubbie and I read until after 8 p.m., and then we watched TV for the rest of the evening.

I have an appointment to return to the cardiologist's office at 8:30 Monday morning. this means I'll have to miss water aerobics, but oh well. We won't be having aerobics tomorrow, either, due to the weather. Maybe things will be okay Friday. Crazy weather around here, so you never know.

Monday, Jan. 14

Up at 6:30 to get ready to go to water aerobics. After being away from the pool for several weeks, I had trouble launching this morning. Couldn't seem to get organized. So I was out the door a few minutes later than I usually am on aerobics days.

Egad, it was cold outside! I was bundled up very well, but until the car heated, I was still shivery. A deluge rain last Saturday, and freezing temps this morning, created ice on patches of water in low lying fields and in ditches.

There were icy patches here and there on the road, too, with one particular troublesome one on the hilly turn to the street leading to the college. Fortunately, it was not on the right side of the street going up, but later, when I returned home, I had to be very careful navigating it.

Note: While stopped at that spot, waiting for traffic to clear, I almost saw two collisions. One was when an elderly man, with a passenger, failed to check for oncoming cars to his right, and made the turn with inches to spare before a car almost rammed him broadside. I held my breath, as a second vehicle, with a distracted male driver, occupied with his cell phone, also narrowly missed being broadsided.

I feared I'd have a problem finding a parking space this morning, since I was so late arriving, but I had no problem. But br-r-r, the walk to the gym was chilly.

At the gym, I was met just inside the door by the aerobics leader, who said only two ladies had arrived, and they were in the pool. But the pool was pretty cool, at 81 degrees. I had a choice of staying or returning home. I opted to stay in the dressing room for a while, in case other ladies arrived, and we had aerobics.

Presently, two other ladies did arrive, and then we debated for a few minutes whether we wanted to brave the water. We finally decided to go ahead with it. But, oh, the water felt cold. Once I was used to it, though, it was okay.

I was only able to swim in the deep end for about ten minutes before aerobics began. And then the leader shortened the session to about 30 minutes. There were only six of us in attendance.

Funny: When I got back to the shallow end of the pool after my swim, a lady who was jumping around trying to stay warm said, "I haven't even gone into the deep end this morning."

No sooner were the words out of her mouth than she accidently stepped backward from the five foot level into the twelve foot level. I couldn't help laughing as she splashed back to the five foot level. "I can swim," she smiled, "but I panic when my face gets wet."

I apologized for laughing, and assured her I'd grab her if she stepped off that ledge again. I had to wonder, though, why she chose to jump around so close to that ledge if she was afraid of going under.

Back home, once I had warmed up with a couple of cups of coffee and had gotten ready for the day, I did several things, including calling the scrapbook club members to remind them of a Thursday meeting; writing thank you notes to my student and her friend for the gifts they gave me on my birthday, and gathering a couple of gifts to give my student as an exchange Christmas gift (decided on a small jar of chai tea, and a tube of hand cream from a popular intimate apparel store); and e-mailing a note of condolence to a lady at one of the banks, whose mother-in-law died recently.

In the meantime, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she finished her jigsaw puzzle. I located a couple of more for her to work on.

After a chicken soup lunch, Mother started a new puzzle, Hubbie got ready to attend the memorial service for a Master Gardener who died over the weekend, and I reviewed the lesson plan for my student.

Met the student at 2:30, as usual. She was very pleased with her card and gifts. I asked her to deliver the other thank you card, along with a tube of hand cream, to her friend, and she agreed.

Today's lesson included verbs about the five senses, as well as past tenses of those verbs, as well as sentence structure with "be, plus able, plus infinitive." "I am able to hear you very well." "I am not able to see the blackboard."

The lesson also included the past tense of able, "Carla was not able to finish her homework last night," and the future tense of able, "I will be able to help you tomorrow."

We spent quite a bit of time in conversation today, mainly about cancer-stricken Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is in Cuba. Rumors are flying among Venezuelan people as to Chavez's condition, including that he is on his deathbed, or may have already died. No one knows for sure. What is known is that he has not been seen or heard from in a month, and he missed his fourth-term inauguration last Thursday.

The student thinks it's possible the Venezuelan government is beginning to impose communication censorship, because her daughter has not been able to reach her by phone. The reason she thinks this is because the daughter said, via e-mail, that no matter how many times she has tried to call, she has gotten a busy signal. The student's phone has not been occupied, indicating that the calls might be being blocked.

She also pointed to the fact that university students have been engaging in protests against the Venezuelan election. The opposition party does not condone the demonstrations, saying they are counterproductive.

Sunday, Jan. 13

Slept late this morning, until 8 a.m., and skipped my exercises after breakfast, as usual on Sunday. Just went ahead and got dressed, and when Hubbie had accompanied Mother to our house, we prepared a pork roast for the slow cooker.

Spent the rest of the morning doing the usual Sunday things, like a couple of loads of laundry, and programming the DVR for this week's movies and shows.

The roast, with potatoes, carrots, and onions, gravy, and individual cups of applesauce, was really good. Afterward, Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle, while Hubbie and I went to the movie theater for a matinee showing of "Les Miserable."

I was really surprised to learn that the movie was at our theater. When I checked a week or so ago, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was listed on two screen.

"Les Miz" was really wonderful, and I enjoyed it so much. I'm a devoted fan of musical movies. Hubbie is not a real fan of musicals, but I think he liked this one fine. Only about ten people were in the theater, which was fine with me in this flu season. We sat as far away from everybody as possible.

Movie time was at 1:45, and lasted until around 4:30. We didn't get back home until 5 p.m., because after the movie, we ran a couple of errands...to a pharmacy store for personal items on sale, for which we had coupons, and to a grocery/pharmacy to pick up a prescription for mother.

At home, I heated chicken noodle soup for supper, served with crackers and a choice of peanut butter or cheese, and angel food cake with strawberries for dessert.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house afterward, and then he and I settled in to watch TV.