Saturday, Nov. 23

Up around 7:30 this morning, but skipped my exercises so I could get ready to go to an Extension Homemakers Holiday Open House, at 10 a.m. After breakfast, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, and around 9:30, we headed out.

The event took place at the Extension Services Office conference room, where ladies demonstrated making various crafts and holiday treats. At one table, kits for making ribbon angels were available for sale for only a dollar apiece, and we bought three of these to play with during the Thanksgiving holiday.

At another table, participants could make an angel, and Mother decided to try her hand. This angel is constructed of a large pretzel shaped paper clip, ribbon, wood beads, and pipe cleaners. Except for the paper clip (which can be purchased at office supply stores), we have all the supplies for making these.

At one table, a 4-H member was making kids' flubber from Borax and Elmer's glue. This would be a great learning project for kids. I brought home a sample.

At another table, I bought a small wood crate, which is just large enough to hold two pint or half pint jars of jelly. It's just the right thing for jelly gift giving.

Holiday treats were displayed on one table, which also served as refreshments. Here, there was a big bowl of a what was called White Trash Mix, which consists of two kinds of cereal, pretzels, pecans, almond, and walnuts, plus white almond bark. It makes a huge batch, intended for a party, or to bag for gifts. It's additively delicious.

There was also a treat called Cake Batter Truffles, which are not baked, and hamburger cookies, that kids would like to make. These are made from vanilla wafers, mint cookies (or mint patties) vanilla frosting, flaked coconut, and food coloring.

Each person who attended the event got a booklet with all the craft instructions and treat recipes. We'll be trying some of these things over the holidays.

Mother really enjoyed this outing, since it afforded her an opportunity to visit with ladies she hasn't seen in a while. She enjoyed making the angel craft, too.

On the way home, we stopped by a fast food restaurant to pick up containers of chili for lunch. It was just the right thing for a really chilly and windy day.

We relaxed after lunch, until around 1:30, when we went to the college down the road to attend a performance of "The Nutcracker." We arrived too early, as it happened, since our local paper stated that it began at 2 p.m., when it actually was scheduled for 2:30.

We were treated like royalty, though, when we were escorted into the theater early, so that Hubbie and I would not have to stand for a half hour waiting for the doors to open. Once we were seated, a woman went back to the lobby to fetch programs for us.

Some of the dancers were practicing on stage, and soon the director came to where we were seated (in the very back, where there was a wheelchair space), and talked to us, saying how delighted she was that we were there. She's a very nice person. Hubbie and I attended her ballroom dancing lessons a couple of years ago.

Hubbie was not keen on attending the performance, but perked up when a woman that we worked with before we retired (she is retired now, too) stopped by to talk and bring us up-to-date on the lives of others we worked with. Nothing like a gossip gab session to lighten the mood.

By the end of the performance, both Hubbie and Mother were glad they had attended...it was that well done. I knew it would be good, after I saw last year's performance. The dance instructor who directed it used all ages of students, but she had whipped them into shape to perform at near professional level. The littlest performers were adorable and captured the heart of the audience, of course, while the older students and the lead, who is a professional, sufficiently awed us.

Back home, I accompanied Mother to her house. Later, I made a batch of Ramen noodle soup for her, and Hubbie took a serving to her for her supper. Hubbie and I had leftovers...he opted for the last of the roast beef in a sandwich, and I ate a bowl of the gooey-noodle Autumn stew.

While we ate, and afterwards, we watched our favorite college football team, as they played to a disappointing loss in overtime. I'd recorded the game on DVR.

It was a day of entertainment, so we accomplished nothing productive. But we had a good time.

















    

Friday, Nov. 22

Up at 6 a.m. to get ready for water aerobics. A tad chilly this morning, because of a cool wind, so I stepped right along walking to the gym. The water in the pool was pleasantly warm, though, and eighteen of us enjoyed it.

Our regular leader was not there, because she has fallen and injured a foot, according to the substitute leader. It's doubtful that she'll mend from the injury sufficiently to attend on Monday, either. But then if predictions for possible wintry weather on Monday comes to pass, nobody will attend. I've already decided to skip aerobics that morning, since I'll have plenty to do that day to get ready for Thanksgiving.

Back home afterward, I especially welcomed cups of hot coffee to warm me up before I got ready for the day. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and she went to her jigsaw puzzle.

This was a day for doing little nit-picky things that didn't amount to much, but still needed doing. Like e-mailing a recipe to a water aerobics friend, calling the Extension Homemakers agent to tell her who our club is voting for to win the Homemaker of the Year award, bringing our scrapbook club treasury report up-to-date, making copies of recipes, updating the upstairs computer, trying to resolve a problem with Hubbie's social network page, etc.

Later, after lunch, Hubbie ran errands. I wasn't in the mood to get out, so I relaxed and caught up on reading newspapers, and then played on my e-tablet.

For supper, we had the leftover Autumn Stew from last night, served with canned biscuits. It wasn't the most palatable meal, since the noodles were so mushy, but it was still tasty. This seems to have been my week for meal failures. I should be banned from the kitchen.

Tonight, I entertained the idea of going to a performance of "The Nutcracker," at the college down the road, but no one was in the mood. So Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then Hubbie and I watched TV.

Thursday, Nov. 21

Up around 7:30, and did stair stepping, resistance bands, and weights exercises after breakfast. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9:30, and she diced veggies for making Autumn stew later. I delayed going upstairs t get ready for the day until she completed this task.

By the time I was dressed it was close to noon. Hubbie did the honors of making us grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. Afterward, Mother diced apples and cubed pork loin, and I finished the recipe for the stew.

When the stew was simmering on the stove, Mother went to her jigsaw puzzle, and Hubbie and I ran a couple of errands. We went by the local newspaper office to drop off this week's word search puzzle contest, and then we stopped by the greeting card shop. I'd printed an online coupon that entitled me to a free gift with any purchase. Browsed the store for a while, but decided there was nothing I wanted. So we returned home.

Later, I cooked a batch of noodles to go with the stew, and put the stew and noodles in a slow cooker to be taken to the soup/chili event at the college library.

Around 3 p.m., I put a serving of the stew in a bowl for Mother's supper, and then Hubbie accompanied her home.

Hubbie and I changed clothes and headed out to the college around 3:45, so we could arrive to help set up for the event.

Everything was ready by 5 p.m., so Hubbie and I began sampling the chilies and soups. I sampled a mild chili that the cook said was made with fresh veggies from her garden. It was delicious. I also tried a Mediterranean chili that had whole black olives in it. This wasn't my favorite...it was too greasy. Next I tried a cream of chicken soup that was good. Finally, I took a serving of my Autumn stew.

My stew wasn't up to my usual standard, mainly because the noodles broke down, thanks to the slow cooker somehow being accidentally dialed up to a point where it boiled for several minutes before I discovered it. But it was still tasty. It didn't win the soup category, though.

I also donated three dozen sugar cookies, but most did not sell in the bake sale. I'm not sure why. Maybe because folks didn't know how good they are. I think I should have broken some up for sampling.

My rum cake sold for $20 in the silent auction, though. Hubbie bid on it a couple of times, but lost the bid to a lady, who said she loves rum cake, but would never try to make one. There was a friendly bidding war going on for the cake. The wife of the head librarian was one who hoped to win the bid.

I managed to win a couple of bids in the silent auction...on a cookbook, and a meal at the local Italian restaurant. I also bought a pound cake, a package of cheesecake bars, and some brownies at the bake sale.

So, by the time I baked cookies and a rum cake, made stew, won bids on silent auction items, bought bake sale items, paid $6 for the two of us to sample the soups and chilies, and helped clean up afterward, I think I did my part for the fundraiser.

This is the way it always is in small town organizations, though. Members are expected to pay a membership fee, provide food and goods to fundraiser events, and then buy the goods, and pay to eat. It would be simpler and easier to just donate money, but it wouldn't be as much fun.

At the fundraiser was one of the college professors, who is of Indian origin. He asked what was in my stew, and when I told him it contained pork, he politely said he does not eat pork.

I was amused when, at the silent auction, he hesitated to bid against a young college student for a stack of collector comic books. He didn't want to steal the bid from the young man. I assured him that the whole point of the auction was to attempt to bid an item up, so that the library would make more money.

I told him that if the young man wanted the comics badly enough, he'd outbid him. And that's what happened. Bidding wars are part of the fun of silent auctions. But the professor said that if he won the bid, he would give the comics to the young man. It must have something to do with his religious beliefs not to arbitrarily take something that someone else wants.

We were back home around 7:30, and finished the evening watching a couple of one-hour shows on TV.

Wednesday, Nov. 20

Woke up at 4 a.m. following a dream about being chased by dinosaurs, and couldn't go back to sleep. Got up at 6 a.m. to get ready for water aerobics.

Chilly this morning. Hubbie scraped frost off the windshield for me, and warmed the car. Fields were covered in frost, too, which was pretty. Fiery red Bradford pear trees at the college down the road, and in private yards are pretty right now, too.

The pool was cool, but tolerable once I got used to it. About eighteen of us attended aerobics today. Two ladies are out sick...one with a sore throat, and the other because she fell and bruised her lips and a knee.

Interesting: in talking with one of the younger members of the group, she enthused over her robotic vacuum cleaner, and highly recommended I get one. The vacuum cleans floors, using a GPS system to work a room by grids, and then when the battery runs low, it returns to a docking station to recharge itself. I'd love to try one.

Back home, I warmed up with cups of coffee, while Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. I didn't accomplish much for the rest of the morning after I was ready for the day, since it was nearly noon by then.

After lunch, Mother went to her jigsaw puzzle, while I baked a rum cake. The rum smells pretty strong, so Mother isn't interested in being in the kitchen with it.

While the cake baked, I caught up on reading newspapers. Later, I made a glaze for the cake, and then decorated the top with red and green candied cherries. The cake is destined for the silent auction  at the college tomorrow evening, when the Friends of the Library will sponsor a soup/chili event.

Other than baking the cake, I didn't accomplish anything for the afternoon. Supper was leftover beef hash, topped with fried eggs, and served with toast and jelly.

Hubbie accompanied Mother home afterward, and then he and I watched TV, including a 2002 romantic comedy movie called, "Two Weeks Notice," starring Sandra Bullock and Hugh Jackman. A tycoon hires a lawyer, and then expects her to advise him on every minute detail of his life. She gets tired of it and gives two weeks notice. She then agrees to train her sexy replacement, but grows jealous of the new girl.

Tuesday, Nov. 19

Still wide-eyed at 2 a.m. this morning, so I was in no hurry to get up once the sun rose.  Rolled out around 8 a.m.

Did an abbreviated exercise session after breakfast, while Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. When I was done exercising, we watched this week's episode of "Dancing With the Stars." Again, we were surprised by who was eliminated.

After the show, I finally went upstairs to get dressed. In the meantime, Mother went to her jigsaw puzzle, and Hubbie went out to work in the yard.

Back downstairs, I did this and that around the house, and then read today's newspapers, and played on my laptop.

Later, Hubbie and I worked to grind the leftover beef roast to use in making beef hash later. This was not my most successful cooking effort, I don't think, though Hubbie and Mother seemed to find it tasty. I thought it was unappetizing in every way... the finely ground beef looked like dog food, and  was unpalatable in the mouth (like sawdust). I'm not a real fan of beef, anyway, so it didn't even taste that good to me. Maybe I'll like it better tomorrow night, topped with fried eggs.

After supper, Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house, and then we watched TV, as usual, including a 1971 movie called, "Men in the Wilderness," starring Richard Harris and John Huston. In the 1800s, a fur trapper is attacked by a grizzly bear, and then left to die alone by the group of trappers he had been traveling with.

He survives, and swears to exact revenge on the leader of the trappers. The film is said to be loosly based on a true story. An interesting aspect of the film is that the trappers drag a large boat (reminded me of the Ark) across the land, using a flatbed wagon with huge wheels, which is pulled by a team of several mules.

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Funny: this evening, we decided that we three represent The Butcher, The Baker, and the Candlestick Maker. Mother is the butcher (dices veggies); I'm the baker (cook); and Hubbie is the candlestick maker (the provider).

Monday, Nov. 18

Up at 6 a.m. to get ready for water aerobics. Cool morning, but not terribly uncomfortable. The pool, though, was cooler than any of us like. But, eighteen of us braved it anyway.

Today, I learned that one of the ladies...the one who leads us in water noodle or barbell exercises....is a cousin of the Hubbie's barber, who died last week. She said she saw us leaving the funeral home last night and wondered how we knew her cousin. She noted that this was the third of her first cousins to die in the past two weeks, and it gives her pause, of course.

Back home, I enjoyed a couple of cups of coffee, while Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house. He ran errands then, including some shopping for Mother. I think he also did some Christmas shopping, since it seemed he wanted to be sure I didn't suggest I go with him.

By the time I was ready for the day, it was noon. After lunch, Hubbie and I ran a few errands...first we dropped three colorful umbrellas (blue, red, and yellow) and a parasol off at the home of a community theater member. The umbrellas have been hanging in my closet for years, and I was ready to get rid of them.

From there, we went to a Stage department store. I have a $10 coupon for this store, and I hoped to find a shirt for Mother. But no dice. In fact, we searched several departments to see if there was anything either of us wanted, but there was nothing.

We are not favorably impressed with the discount coupon, which states that a customer must spend at least $20, if using a store credit card, or $25 without a credit card, in order to get the discount...especially since most items are priced at $19.99 or $24.99, so that customers must find something else to bring the total over $20 or $25.

Besides this, the store has only four or five racks of petite size clothing (though they have a large section of plus sizes), none of which is suited to a woman Mother's age. I continue browsing this store from time-to-time hoping to find something suitable for one of us, but I rarely find anything.

We are frequently encouraged through local media to shop locally, but that's difficult to do when there are so few stores, and those stores carry little that is suitable for mature women.

While I was at the department store, Hubbie went to the sports store a couple of doors down to look for stadium seats. He found some and bought two. They were a tad expensive, but there's just no way either of us can tolerate sitting one bleachers with no back support while watching basketball games.

Next, we went to a little gift shop, where I hoped to pick up Jelly Belly candy to use as a twelve days of Christmas gift for Mother. When I stopped by there last week, I was told they would have a supply by the end of the week. But they still didn't have them today. The manager took my name and phone number, so she can call me when the candy comes in.

We returned home after that and relaxed until time to prepare supper...leftover beef roast and trimmings.

Later, after supper, we went to the college down the road to attend a concert. The performers are a family of seven.young adults...five boys, and twin girls...who sing and play a variety of instruments in an indie-folk style. They are very talented, and we really enjoyed them.

The concert only lasted a little over an hour, so when we got back home, we watched a couple of one-hour TV shows that I'd recorded on DVR, and then headed to bed.

Note: the moon was glorious again tonight, rising harvest gold as we arrived at the college. This following a beautiful sunny day, with temp in the mid-60s. Even the performers commented on what lovely fall weather we are having, saying that it is quite cold in their home state of Virginia right now.

Sunday, Nov. 17

Slept late this morning, until 8 a.m. Skipped my exercises, as usual on Sundays. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house around 9 a.m., and the three of us worked to get a beef roast started in the slow cooker.

Mother prepared the onions, Hubbie peeled and quartered potatoes, and I did the rest...seasoned the beef with salt-free seasoning, pepper, paprika, garlic powder, Rosemary, oregano, and basil, and browned it, then put it in the slow cooker with the onions, potatoes, and carrots.

Meanwhile, we watched a couple of Hallmark Christmas movies. The roast was ready around 12:30. I made gravy, and we sat down to enjoy the meal by 1 p.m.

Watched another movie after lunch, and then Hubbie accompanied Mother to her house. Then he and I changed clothes to go to the visitation for his barber, who died last Thursday.

Before we went to the funeral home, we stopped by the WDCS to pick up the photo book I created for Mother for Christmas. It looks really nice, and I think she will enjoy it.

At the funeral home, we found that there was a long line slowly moving forward to visit the family and view the body. It's obvious that this man was well respected, and well loved. He was a barber who owned a couple of businesses in town.

He was also an Air Force veteran, and some of his friends from the VFW were there, including a couple behind us, who had obviously decided to toss a couple back before coming to the funeral home. Boozy breath seemed inappropriate at this time and place.

On the way back home, we saw a gorgeous full moon rising. So beautiful.

At home, Hubbie and I decided to have leftover Dragon Soup for supper, and then watch a movie, "The Challenger," a 2013 feature from the Discovery Channel. We vividly remember hearing about this tragedy as we traveled to another state to visit Sis.

It was one of those tragic events of American history that is indelibly imprinted on the minds of those of us who lived in that year. We remember where we were when it happened. Just as we remember where we were when we heard about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, or when the Twin Towers went down at the hands of terrorists.