Thursday, July 25, 2013

Thursday, July 25

Slept late, until around 8 a.m., though Hubbie got up at 7 a.m. Did stair stepping exercises after breakfast. Skipped the resistance and weights exercises, because I was bit sore after yesterday's workout at the pool. We changed our exercise routine there, and I guess I worked some flabby muscles.

It was a nice day today...warm, but not overly humid. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30. She finished her jigsaw puzzle, while I got ready for the day. Hubbie ran errands during this time.

Spent the rest of the morning after I was dressed trying to download an e-book to my reader from the public library. In the past, it was a one-click operation. But today, I learned that I needed to download a special app through a popular online book seller, because the books the library offers are routed through that seller. After several false starts, I finally got the app downloaded.

Still couldn't access the book, though, and had to puzzle out the fact that I needed to download the library address to the app. I guess that is so that I can choose the books I want from that library site, and then the info is routed to the book seller site.

At last, the book downloaded to my e-reader. I'm not sure why I bothered with all this, since I have a number of books on my reader already, and a plenitude of print books. I guess it was just the novelty of the thing that attracted me.

Also, the book I downloaded is a very easy read...a mystery with a heroine who owns a pastry shop, so pastries come into play in the book, along with the occasional recipe for those treats. I've read two other books by this author. They are fun novels, but not ones I'd want to own.

After a chicken soup lunch, Hubbie and I went to his niece's house to visit with her and another niece, who is visiting here from Sweden. She and her two pre-teen sons, will be in the states until sometime in August. Along with the nieces and their kids, we also visited with Hubbie's two sisters.

Mother opted not to go with us this afternoon. We returned around 4:30, in time for me to prepare supper. Mother helped by slicing tomatoes. I heated baked beans, and served them with macaroni salad, and a side of veggies...tomatoes, cucumbers, and Vidalia onions topped with cottage cheese.

I accompanied Mother home afterward, and then Hubbie and I watched TV, including a mystery movie from the PBS channel.

















 

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Wednesday, July 24

Up at 6 a.m. to get ready for water aerobics. Very pleasant weather for walking to the gym. The water in the pool was a bit cooler than it was Monday, but nice once I got used to it. About a dozen of us attended, and we got a good workout with water noodle dumb bells.

On the way back home, a bird flew under the van. I guess it perished, though I didn't see it after I heard the thud. I hated it. I don't like hitting things with my car.

Then, on the road at the college near our house, a black kitten was flailing...obviously, it had been hit by a car and couldn't get up. It was in the other lane, and traffic was whizzing by. There was no way I could stop and see about it. My heart bled.

Not a good beginning to my day.

Back home, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, and while I got ready for the day, she diced onions and bell peppers for making macaroni salad and baked beans.

Discovered that something was wrong with the water heater while I was in the shower, because the water got no warmer than lukewarm. Last night, Hubbie complained that the faucet in the kitchen released scalding water.

So Hubbie called the plumber, and he was pretty quick in arriving. The first problem he ran into was trying to find the breaker switch that turned off the power to the water heater. The obvious place, he and Hubbie assumed, would be at the breaker box in the laundry room. But after trying every switch with no result, he finally turned them all off at once, shutting down power to the whole house.

That didn't work either, so he and Hubbie went outside to see if there was another breaker box somewhere, and there was. So he was finally able to do what needed to be done for the water heater, which was to replace the elements and the thermostat.

Before the plumber arrived, Mother and I had already made a batch of macaroni salad, and a large container of beans was baking in the oven. As always when I begin recipes, there are missing ingredients. Today, it was bell pepper and canned mixed vegetables for the salad.

I was able to catch Hubbie while he was running an errand and have him bring home a bell pepper, but I didn't realize until he got back that I didn't have the mixed veggies I needed. So, of course, he had to run back to the store for a couple of cans of them.

By the time we got those two dishes fixed, it was lunch time. Mother opted for her usual Ramen Noodle soup. I diced half a leftover baked potato and scrambled it with egg substitute and cheese for Hubbie's and my lunch. A couple of slices of toast and sliced tomato topped with cottage cheese completed the meal.

Did this and that for the afternoon, including reading newspapers, while Mother worked on her jigsaw puzzle.

For supper, Mother helped make a batch of bran muffins, which we had with chicken noodle soup, and cantaloupe for dessert.

I accompanied Mother to her house afterward, and then Hubbie and I watched TV for the evening, including a pretty bad movie..."The Meeksville Ghost." Hubbie seemed to enjoy it, though.









Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Tuesday, July 23

Slept late, until around 8 a.m., but did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30.

He was a bit worried when he tried to get into Mother's house, and it was still locked. He knocked and got no answer. He looked into the window and saw no lights. So he looked for a spare key, but couldn't locate it. Finally, he went to the back door and pounded. This got Mother's attention (she was either in the bathroom or the bedroom), and she went to the front door and unlocked it.

At our house, Mother went to her jigsaw puzzle, while I got ready for the day. Once I was dressed, I did this and that until time for lunch. After lunch, we went to a town about fifteen miles away to buy watermelons and cantaloupes.

We got the melons at our favorite farmer's roadside stand, and then we went to another roadside vendor and bought three boxes of banana peppers, and three boxes of green beans, for the freezer.

Back home, Mother helped bag the banana peppers. Then I washed the green beans, and Mother and Hubbie snapped them, and then later I seasoned them with diced onions and banana peppers, beef and chicken broths, and spices, and put them on to simmer for a while.

Later, for supper, I baked potatoes, and heated leftovers (squash, green beans, and macaroni and cheese), and served these with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, and yellow squash, and a choice of cornbread or biscuits.

A thunderstorm cropped up during supper, though there was no rain with it. But Mother decided to go home directly after she finished eating, in case it did begin raining. We were under a storm watch most of the evening, and thunder startled us a couple of times, but no rain materialized.

Spent the evening watching TV, as usual.



Monday, July 22, 2013

Monday, July 22

Up at 6 a.m. to get ready for water aerobics. Not a bad morning for walking to the gym...warm and overcast, but not terribly hot. Had to use my umbrella to walk back to the van after the session, though, since it started raining just as I left the gym.

About a dozen of us attended today, and the pool was pleasantly warm. The older lady who usually stands beside me did attend this morning. Her leg is still bruised from her fall from her lawn mower, but she no longer has a black eye. I told her that I'm going to provide her with our land line phone number, as well as both of our cell numbers, so she can call us if she ever runs into a problem like that again.

Back home afterward, I relaxed with cups of coffee. In the meantime, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. Before I went upstairs to get ready for the day, I gathered ingredients for Mother to work on making a recipe of pimento cheese. Of course, the first thing I discovered was that I didn't have enough cream cheese. So Hubbie made a quick trip to the closest grocery store to get some.

Once I was dressed, I did this and that until time to get lunch together. After lunch, Mother worked on her jigsaw, and Hubbie and I ran errands...to the post office, and to the WDCS.

Back home, used the broth and chicken from yesterday's lunch to make chicken noodle soup for Mother's supper tonight, since Hubbie and had plans for the evening. Only thing was, I discovered I didn't have any noodles. So off Hubbie went again to the closest grocery store.

As soon as the soup was done, Mother decided to go home, so Hubbie accompanied her. Then he and I changed clothes to go to the college to attend a meet-and-greet event in honor of a new football coach.

We have not been particularly interested in sports at the college, but since Hubbie's nephew-in-law is the new basketball coach there, we thought we should go support the athletic program.

His nephew was there, but his niece and the baby stayed home. There was a small crowd for the event, and as soon as Nephew could, he sneaked away to go home and be his family.

Supper, if you can call it that, was provided following the short speeches...bratwursts on buns, with a side of potato chips. I try to avoid hot dogs, but there was no alternate choice tonight, unless we chose to come home and eat. Since Hubbie seemed interested in hanging around and talking with some of the men, I choked the meal down, though it meant taking a real salt hit.

We were back home around 6:30. Hubbie cut a watermelon, and we had generous slices of that to round out our supper. Relaxed in front of TV after that. Watched an old (1961) Marlon Brando western called "One-Eyed Jacks,"  borrowed from the library.



Sunday, July 21, 2013

Sunday, July 21

Slept late, until around 8 a.m. Skipped my exercises, as usual on Sunday. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30. She diced onions and celery to be added to a pot of chicken. I set the chicken to simmering, and then I found another jigsaw puzzle for her to work on.

I spent the rest of the morning washing a couple of loads of clothes, programming the DVR for this week's movies and shows, and reading the Sunday newspaper.

Besides boiled chicken, we had leftover macaroni and cheese, green beans, and steamed squash for lunch. Afterward, Mother diced onions and banana peppers to be added to the green beans we'd snapped yesterday. I also added cans of chicken broth and beef broth to the beans, as well as spices. Cooked two dutch ovens of them, which we packaged for the freezer when they had cooled.

We spent the afternoon watching the remaining season three episodes of "Wind at My Back." Around 3 p.m., we decided to celebrate National Ice Cream Day with ice cream sundaes...vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and maraschino cherries.

When we had finished watching the series, Mother was ready to go home, so Hubbie accompanied her.

Finished the day blobbed out in front of TV, but I broke for a little while to call a friend from water aerobics.

This lady is the one who stands beside me during aerobics. She's 83 years old, and sort of repetitive, so I've heard her family stories a lot of times, but she's very nice. She's shared house plants with us, and has given me several Sudoku books, and I've given her quarts of grapes from the grape festival, etc.

Well, she hasn't attended sessions in about two weeks, and we all began worrying about her, so I called to see if she's okay. She is, and she plans to come back to the pool tomorrow. But she's been mending from injuries she received when her lawn mower threw her. She banged up her knee pretty good, and got a black eye. After she fell, the lawn mower kept going, and when it stopped, she had to crawl to it to pull herself up. I'm glad she didn't have to lie in her yard until someone discovered her...it could have been hours!