Thursday, Jan. 16

One of those nights again...this time I couldn't fall asleep until after 2 a.m. So I was bleary-eyed when I woke up at 7:30. Skipped my exercises after breakfast, so I could get dressed and then spruce the house for a scrapbook club meeting this afternoon.

Hubbie was scheduled for a 10 a.m. Master Gardener meeting, but before he left he accompanied Mother to our house, and then went to the WDCS to pick up some snapshots for me to use in making scrapbook pages of the two most recent additions to the family.

When I was satisfied that the house looked okay for company, I began planning scrapbook pages. Selecting the photos I want to use, and then searching for matching background papers. This is usually the most time-consuming part of the project.

One of the babies is a girl, and the other is a boy, and I have lots of pink and blue baby-themed background paper. But in the photos the babies, and family members holding them, are dressed in reds and greens, which made it a challenge to choose background papers that match the clothing, but still say "baby." Finally turned up multi-colored papers that seem to be a good compromise.

It was 11:30 by the time I finished this task, so I prepared lunch. Today, since there wasn't enough of either the chicken noodle soup or the vegetable soup to serve three, I combined the two, and served them with peanut butter and crackers. Mother ate early, but I waited for Hubbie to return, which he did shortly after noon.

The ladies arrived promptly at 1 p.m. We really enjoyed seeing each other after not having met in several months, due to holidays and inclement weather. Even though we'd spent quite a while talking by phone, there was still a lot to talk about today.

We all created several scrapbook pages while we talked. At 2 p.m., I served Italian cream cheese on crackers, along with a choice of drinks.

Obviously, the ladies enjoyed being here, because they stayed until 3:30, even though our meeting time is from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. I had nothing pressing to tend to this afternoon, so I was glad that they lingered.

After they left, Hubbie and I went to the library to pick up a DVD that I had placed on hold. One of the ladies at the library called this morning to alert me that the DVD was available. While we were there, we got a couple of books off the "free" rack. This is a place where people leave books for others to take. Today, I picked up a Mary Higgins Clark short-story book, and a novel by Robert Ludlum (author of "The Bourne Identity," and "The Bourne Supremacy"). This one is called "The Lazarus Vendetta."

Back home, I put leftovers in the oven for supper...meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. Also heated English peas in the microwave, and gravy on the stove top. Served the meal with warm slices of Sis's homemade bread.

Funny: fortunately, I caught myself before I turned the heat on under the pan of leftover gravy, because what I had actually put in the pan was chocolate pudding.

Mother stayed around after that to watch TV with us...one hour programs that I'd recorded on DVR.