Saturday, May 11

Up at 7:30 to get ready to go on a garden tour at 10 a.m. Skipped my exercises after breakfast, of course, since I knew I'd get a bit of a workout at the garden, which is landscaped on three steep levels.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house before we left, so she could work on her jigsaw puzzle while we were gone.

It was chilly enough this morning to wear a long-sleeved shirt and a denim jacket. I was surprised at how many people came in crop pants and t-shirts, as if it was a hot summer day. They shivered in the shade-cooled garden that features a large variety of Japanese maple trees and other types of trees.

I was quite comfortable, though, and thoroughly enjoyed the tour. I got lots of nice snapshots of this garden that's almost like a park, with bridges, stone steps from level to level, waterfall features, ponds of Japanese koi fish, a large gazebo, and a Japanese tea house, along with varieties of shade tolerant flowering bushes and plants.

We spent about an hour there, and were back home just after 11 a.m. I spent a while in our yard snapping pictures of freshly blooming roses, irises, snowball flowers, and peonies.

At lunchtime, I fixed Mother Ramen Noodle soup, and Hubbie and put leftover pancakes in the oven to heat for Hubbie and me. Since we're out of pancake syrup, we had blueberry jam on them...pretty good.

After lunch, Mother went back to her puzzle, and Hubbie went out in the yard. I spent all afternoon posting photos to my social network page, and then moving photos to an online site, and burning them to CDs, trying to gain memory for my laptop. It's a tedious job.

Later, for supper, Mother helped prepare a dish of Parmesan potatoes for the oven. I melted the butter for them, and washed and halved the potatoes, and then she added Pamesan cheese to the butter, and placed the cut side of the potatoes on top. She also pattied turkey burger.

I put the potatoes in the oven just after 4 p.m., and closer to five, I fried the turkey burgers, and topped them with cheese. We had the burgers on whole wheat buns, with sliced Vidalia onions and lettuce.

Hubbie accompanied Mother home afterward, and then he and I watched TV, including episodes of "Prime Suspect," on DVDs borrowed from the library.    

Friday, May 10

On a day when I didn't have anything special planned, and I could have slept late, I naturally woke up at 6:30 a.m. Didn't get up, though, until Hubbie rose at 8 a.m.

Did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house mid-morning, and she worked on her jigsaw puzzle. Hubbie ran an errand after that, and then spent time in the yard.

Once I was ready for the day, I busied myself around the house until time to fix lunch for Mother. Today, she had Ramen Noodle soup. I wasn't very hungry, so I had a slice of bread with peanut butter, and half an apple. Hubbie had a PB&J sandwich, chips, and fruit.

After lunch, Mother returned to her puzzle, Hubbie want back outside, and I went shopping. Went to a department store first to see if I could use a 25% off coupon to get a suitable top to wear to an arts council event in June.

I lucked out and found an on-sale crocheted three-quarter-length sleeve tunic top, in teal green color, that I can wear with a white shell, and white slacks. Now all I need is a chunky costume jewelry necklace in a contrasting color, like pink or yellow, to make the outfit look fashionably up-to-date.

From there, I went to the book/movie sellers store to look for the newest movie musical, "Les Miserable," on DVD. New ones were pretty expensive, but I found a used one for $6.99, which came with the offer that I could choose another movie for a dollar. I chose "The Life of Pi," since we haven't seen that one yet.

I also bought a paperback magazine-style book on card making. It has a ton of ideas for making birthday cards, and I'm sure it's going to be very useful when we make cards for Caring Hands (and even for ourselves).  For these purchases, I used a gift card that Mother gave me for Christmas. So Merry Christmas to me.

Back home, I relaxed and read the local newspapers until time to prepare supper. Tonight it was breakfast for supper...pancakes, and scrambled egg substitute. Hubbie added turkey sausage to his meal.

I gathered the ingredients for the pancakes, and Mother put it together. We used sour milk from Mother's refrigerator for the batter. Hubbie cooked the pancakes, and I did all the other things...scrambled the eggs, heated the pancake syrup, dinner plates, and coffee, set the table, etc.

Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house after supper, and then he and I went downtown to the art gallery to attend a reception for a new exhibit...a traveling show of young artists, ages kindergarten to twelfth grade. I love children's art. It's always so refreshingly creative and expressive. Makes me smile.

Startling: just after we arrived at the gallery, three people on racing bicycles rode up, and one of them, a woman, promptly fell over on her side. Apparently, she was unable to dislodge her feet from the pedals. She was clad in Spandex and was wearing a helmet, but I bet she's going to have a big old bruise on her hip.

At home, we did the usual...watched TV, mainly one-hour shows I'd recorded on DVR.

************************************************

Learned something strange today: it seems one of the Master Gardeners in Hubbie's group recently experienced an eye problem...a scratched cornea that got worse with time. An opthalmological exam showed that her eye has been contaminated with an ameba. She has been prescribed medication for it that is supposed to take care of the problem with time. I've never heard of a parasite like that invading an eye. In researching it, I learned ameba can hitch a ride on a contact lens. Apparently, this lady does wear contact lenses, which is probably how she scratched her eye.

Thursday, May 9

Up at 7 a.m., so Hubbie could get ready to go to a Master Gardener meeting at 10 a.m. He was ready to go around 9 a.m., so he accompanied Mother to our house, and then ran a couple of errands before he went on to the meeting.

He delivered this week's word search puzzle contest to the newspaper office, and then went to the cable company office to see if the problem with our TV pixilating had something to do with their service, rather than our TV, since only the three main channels from the Capital City were affected.

He was told that, yes, the cable service was having a problem, and they were busy trying to rectify it. I guess they succeeded, because we didn't have the problem today. However, he didn't think to ask to have the work order for Monday cancelled from when he talked to a cable service rep on the phone yesterday.

While Hubbie was gone, I did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises. Once I was ready for the day, I did household chores until lunchtime. In the meantime, Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle.

Hubbie returned from his meeting just after noon. I had already fixed lunch for Mother...the remainder of the macaroni and cheese, and English peas...and I heated leftover mashed potatoes, rice, Swiss steak, and leftover veggies for Hubbie and me.

Afterward, Mother returned to her puzzle, and Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands...to the public library to pick up a couple of movies, and to the WDCS for a few groceries for our weekend, as well as a bunch of non-perishable grocery items, like canned goods and boxed foods, to donate to the "Help Stamp Out Hunger" food drive, sponsored by the Post Office. Mail carriers will pick up the bags of groceries on Saturday. I think this is a great project, and an easy way for folks to contribute.

Back home, I gathered ingredients for making a lasagna, and Mother put it together. Got the lasagna in the oven just after 3:30, and then relaxed until time to finish supper preparations. At 4:30, Mother buttered French bread for the oven, and I fixed individual salads.

The meal was good, and there's enough for a couple of more meals. Afterward, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then he and I watched TV...a few one-hour shows I'd recorded on DVR.

*****************************************************

Hubbie seems to be batting a thousand, lately...last night, when I was getting ready for bed, I went into the office and noticed that he'd left the telephone receiver off the hook. It'd been that way for several hours, I guess.

This morning, after he'd showered, he took his dirty clothes to the laundry room. But I guess he didn't realize that the white cat had followed him, so he shut her in there. It wasn't until quite a while later that Mother heard her meowing to be let out. She wasn't a happy camper.







 

Wednesday, May 8

Slept a little later than I meant to this morning, until 7 a.m. I was scheduled to attend a home medical services meeting at 8 a.m., so I hurried to get ready. Skipped breakfast since I knew there would be something offered at the meeting.

And there was...a choice of chocolate chip or berry scones, wrapped fiber breakfast bars, Greek yogurt (yuk), orange juice, and coffee. I opted for a chocolate chip scone and orange juice, since I can't stand Greek yogurt, and only caffeine coffee was available. When the meeting ended, several of us wrapped scones to bring home. I also took a couple of the breakfast bars in flavors we haven't tried.

The meeting lasted longer than expected...over two hours. A lot of ground was covered. One bit of interesting information was about who or what consumers trust for medical advice. The speaker said that folks 65 and older trust the advice of their doctors; baby boomers favor advice from family; Generation X look to friends; and Generation Y favor social media. I think most of us use all those sources to gather information for making decisions about our health.

I was also interested in information about hospice care, because when our plumber was here, he mentioned that his dad has terminal cancer, but doesn't want to go to a nursing home. He is also hesitant about hospice care, since he isn't ready to accept his prognosis of six months to live.

But as the director of hospice pointed out, if terminal patients allow hospice to work with them, the quality of their lives is enhanced, and in some cases,  even extended, because of monitoring, proper diet, etc. I was provided with written information, which I hoped would help the patient and his family to accept hospice care.

Back home around 10 a.m., Hubbie was ready to run errands. As part of errands, he took the hospice care information to the family of the terminal patient. He said they were interested in the service and would encourage their loved one to access it.

Since I had nothing else scheduled for the morning, Mother and I watched Monday night's episode of "Dancing With the Stars."

Hubbie returned around noon. I heated leftover macaroni and cheese, chicken, and English peas for Mother's lunch, and Hubbie made grilled cheese sandwiches for the two of us. Afterward, Hubbie took the office computer to the repair service in another town about twenty minutes away, and Mother and I attempted to watch Tuesday night's elimination episode of "Dancing With the Stars."

The problem was the show, programmed on the DVR, pixilated to the point that it wouldn't even fast forward. So we watched a video of it on my e-reader tablet.

Later, we called the cable company, but were informed that a tech could not visit until Monday.  We're not willing to accept that, so Hubbie will go by the cable office tomorrow to see if a someone can be scared up sooner than that.

While Hubbie was on his way to take the computer to the shop, he called to say the hot tub repairman was on his way to do something or other to the tub. I had really wanted to run a few errands for myself, but I waited until the repairman left.

Around 3 p.m., I was ready to go, but first I searched for a jigsaw puzzle for Mother to work on. Once I helped her set one up, I headed to town. My first stop was the public library to leave the ones we borrowed last week, and pick up a couple of more "Prime Suspect" DVD's.

From there, I went to the greeting card shop to use a $5 coupon to buy a new jigsaw puzzle to give to Mother for Mother's Day. My last stop was at a gift shop to buy a pound of Jelly Belly jelly beans for Mother.

Back home, I saw that a truck and small trailer were in the yard, so I parked behind our truck. The truck and trailer were from the John Deere place...a guy was here to pick up the lawnmower for repairs. Apparently gumballs knocked the belt off of it.

Always something.

By now, it was time to start supper, so I peeled potatoes and set them to boil, then put leftover Swiss steak, and a dish of green beans in the oven to heat.

Didn't do much else before suppertime. The meal was satisfying, and afterward, I accompanied Mother to her house. Then, Hubbie and I watched TV, as usual.

Tuesday, May 7

At last, we enjoyed a sunny, balmy day, after record-breaking cold weather.

We were up at 7:30, and after breakfast, I did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house earlier than usual, because the plumber arrived to replace the pipes.

Turned out to be quite a job, since there were several huge roots that had to be cut into pieces before they could be pulled out. But he was able to finally successfully replace the pipes. We hope that there will no longer be any problems with Mother's plumbing now.

I didn't accomplish much once I was ready for the day, except snapping pictures of the greeting cards Mother and I made, and then posting them to my social network page..

Mother and I were scheduled for haircut appointment at 11:30., and we arrived at the beauty shop early enough to get in on a conversation between my hairdresser and a woman getting her hair done. The woman related a story about  her grown daughter inadvertently locking the house keys inside the house, and then driving away.  The woman, clad only in her Sponge Bob PJ's  immediately discovered the house was locked, so she went running and screaming after her daughter. Well, the daughter did not stop, and the woman had to eventually break a window to get inside her house.

She also launched into stories about having been married three times...first to a man who was killed when a tractor tipped over, pinning him underneath; then to a man who committed suicide when he shot himself to death; and finally to a man who turned out to be gay. She divorced this one, after which he was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer. She offered too much information about this, stating that the affected area has been sewn up, and he is equipped with a colostomy bag, effectively ending his sex life. This lady is in her mid-50s, and works at the hospital, though I don't know if she's a nurse.

After she left, we were at a loss for words, except to say none of us would probably be so bold as to air our dirty laundry in public like that. We had to admit she was entertaining, though.

Back home, I heated the remainder of the Dragon Soup for Mother's lunch, and fixed scrambled eggs with cheese and diced baked potato left from last night's supper, for Hubbie and me. Had cottage cheese, and slices of French bread with the meal.

Didn't do a lot after that until it was time to go to the medical clinic for a 2:15 appointment. I wanted my doctor to take a look at a place on my arm to make sure it was nothing more than a bug bite. The spot came up about two weeks ago, and it itched, so I thought it might be a bug bite, but when it didn't go away after so long, even after I treated it with Epsom Salts, and antibiotic cream, I wondered if it might be something more serious.

The doctor confirmed that it is likely a bug bite. She didn't see anything cancerous about it. She said to treat it with hydro cortisone cream, and apply a band aid. I thought leaving the wound uncovered would allow it to dry up, but she said it still has some infection in it, and so covering it is the best treatment.

If the place does not go away in another two weeks, she wants to see it again, and decide if  a biopsy is warranted. As it is, she said to biopsy the infected area would risk spreading the infection. I commented that a month seemed like a long time for something to heal, and she said healing in older people takes longer. I could have lived without that comment. I should have asked her how long it takes to heal wounded pride after a comment like that.

I feel a little silly bothering her with nothing more than a bug bite, but she said it's wise to get these things checked out, since skin cancer is on the rise. I guess I was anxious about it, because one of the ladies at water aerobics is being treated for a cancer on her leg.

I took my camera when I went to the clinic, and on the way home, I stopped at a field of red clover to take a few shots. I also snapped pics of other wildflowers in that area. At home, I went into the yard to snap pics of the beautiful azalea shrubs, and other colorful plants. Then I posted the photos to my social network page.

While I was gone to the clinic, Mother made two more sympathy cards Later, Mother and I prepared a supper of baked parsley chicken, rice, Lima beans, and French bread. After supper, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then we watched TV...."Castle," and two episodes of "Mrs. Bradley Mysteries."

Monday, May 6

Up at 6:30 on this rainy and chilly morning to get ready to go to water aerobics. Fleece wear and a jacket felt good for walking to the gym. The pool was quite a bit cooler this morning, too, but pleasant once I was in it for a few minutes.

Seventeen of us attended for this last session until after the college break. We will return on June 3. We had hoped to be able to continue sessions until Friday, but since the baseball team drew a wild card to the invitational games, our lifeguard/coach will be away for the rest of the week.

I would have had to miss Wednesday, anyway, since I'm scheduled to attend an 8 a.m. meeting of the home medical services/Caring Hands Hospice advisory committee. But I would have liked to enjoy the pool on Friday.

Before we left the pool, several of us agreed to contact folks who weren't there today to let them know the pool will be closed for several weeks. I agreed to contact two. And I did that as soon as I got home (I'm prone to forgetting things if I don't do them immediately). I was able to reach one by e-mail, and the other through my social network page.

Back home, I welcomed a couple of cups of coffee to warm up. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and then he ran errands...to the post office; to the pharmacy; to the WDCS for a few groceries, including round steak and baking potatoes for tonight's supper; and finally to the barber shop.

Meanwhile, I got ready for the day. Then I did this and that, including washing a load of clothes, until time to prepare lunch. I heated the remainder of the chicken noodle soup for Mother, and leftover Dragon Soup for Hubbie and me. At noon, Mother and I went ahead and ate. Around 12:30, Hubbie returned and had his lunch.

I was hoping to take my office computer to the tech this afternoon, but he was out on a job, and we were told to call back. We did...a couple of times...but he was not available. So we gave it up for today. Hubbie went out to plant tomato and pepper plants, and Mother and I made greeting cards. We completed six cards...four masculine birthday, and two sympathy.

These are the hardest cards to design. It's easy to do birthday cards for women, but not as simple to make appropriate ones for males. And of course, sympathy cards are difficult by their very nature. But we now have about two dozen cards ready to go to Caring Hands, which I'll deliver when I go to the meeting Wednesday. First, though, I want to photograph them, and I'll do that tomorrow.

Later, for supper, I made Swiss steak...seasoned the beef with pepper, no-sodium seasoning, paprika, and garlic, then browned it and added onions, mushrooms, and bell pepper. Then I added canned diced tomatoes, and a little beef broth. I let the beef simmer for an hour and a half.

While the beef cooked, I washed and baked potatoes, and put a dish of green beans in the oven. About ten minutes before the meal was ready, I heated buttered French bread. Mother helped with this meal by slicing the onions and mushrooms, and buttering and wrapping the bread.

The meal was very satisfying, and afterward, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house. Then he and I watched TV, including an episode of "The Bletchley Circle," and "Mr. Selfridge,"  both from the PBS channel.

Sunday, May 5

May 5th...happy cinco de mayo.

Slept late this morning, until around 8 a.m. Skipped my exercises after breakfast., as usual on Sunday. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30. Then he put color in my hair, in anticipation of a haircut appointment on Tuesday.

Did the usual Sunday routine after that...washed a couple of loads of laundry, programmed the DVR, read the Sunday newspaper, etc.

For lunch, I made a recipe of macaroni and cheese...boiled macaroni in water to which I added diced bell pepper; made a sauce of milk and three cheeses (low-fat American, a couple of slices of provolone, and some Monterey Jack), plus pepper, no-sodium seasoning, and paprika. Poured the sauce over the cooked macaroni, and put the dish in the oven, along with a dish of leftover sweet potatoes, and a dish of English peas. Later, I heated buttered French bread.

The meal was ready right at noon, but we were delayed getting to the table, because a cousin of Hubbie's called just then, and they talked for quite a while. I try to avoid phoning folks at meal times, but maybe others think that's the most likely time to find people at home.

The meal was particularly tasty today, and Mother and Hubbie even commented on it. Mother, of course, is really fond of macaroni and cheese, so she ate two helpings. I was surprised, though, when Hubbie also had a second helping, since this is usually not his favorite dish.

After lunch, we decided to watch movies borrowed from the library. The first one we saw was called "The Kite Runner." This 2007 film is based on a best-selling novel about two young Afghan boys who are inseparable until a terrible incident tears them apart.

One boy flees with his father to America, where he grows up. As an adult, he is compelled to return to his homeland to visit a friend of his father, who is dying. This is a story of redemption. It is mostly subtitled. A very good movie.

Something about the film that was particularly interesting was the annual Kabul kite flying competition, in which teams of two boys skillfully maneuvered  kites to battle with other teams' kites, until they could cut the strings of opponents.

The first time I heard of this type of competition was when my former Literacy Council student told me about how the competitions were held in Venezuela. Competitors affix razor blades to  kite strings, then maneuver the kites close enough to a competitor's kite to cut a string. This takes a great deal of skill. The competitor who cuts the most strings is the winner, of course.

In the case of this movie, the two boys are a team in a kite flying competition, which they win by cutting the strings of fourteen competitor kites, thus winning the contest. But the win leads to a horrible incident.

We followed that movie with a a couple of episodes from the PBS series called "The Mrs. Bradley Mysteries." The stories take place in the high-mannered 1920s. This witty series features glamorous costumes, and all the color of the roaring 20s.

Hubbie accompanied Mother home afterward, and then he and I continued watching TV, including an episode of "Prime Suspect."