Thursday, June 19

Up around 7 a.m., but skipped my exercises after breakfast, so I could get started sprucing the house for company this afternoon. For some reason, I developed a stomach ache mid-morning, but I didn't let it stop me doing what needed to be done.

Around 8:30, a Master Gardener friend of Hubbie's came to help him cut up the hot tub and remove it to a trailer to be carted to the recycling center. The tub would have been 30 years old in November. It quit working altogether last winter.

Now that the tub is out of the sunroom, we will engage someone to re-do the floor...in tile, probably. Then we will get a smaller, two-person hot tub, and furnish that room with appropriate seating to complement the metal table and chairs already out there. This will make another room for family to use when they visit.

Around 9:30, I accompanied Mother to our house, and then I continued getting the house in order. I also put together a fruit bowl to serve later...a mixture of  fresh strawberries, grapes, pineapple, and mango.

Hubbie and his friend finished the hot tub job around 11:30, in time for lunch. Mother had her usual Ramen noodle soup, Hubbie had a steak sandwich and potato salad, and I skipped lunch for a while, since my tummy was still off. An hour later, I ate a slice of toast with butter, and drank a little milk.

The ladies of the scrapbook club arrived just before 1 p.m. We spent a couple of hours scrapbooking. Mother and I did pages featuring Great-Grandson's graduation. Mother is limited in what she feels comfortable in doing anymore, but she was able to apply glue squares to the backs of photos.

One of the ladies brought a bag of greeting cards that someone had given to her for the club's use, and Mother enjoyed cutting designs out of them to be re-purposed in making new cards.

Around 2 p.m., I served the fruit, with whipped topping, in stemmed dessert dishes set on clear plates, with a couple of chocolate mint cookies alongside. The ladies commented on the visual appeal of the dessert. It tasted pretty good, too, and by this time, my tummy was ready to enjoy it.

The ladies were ready to leave around 3 p.m. Later, I heated leftover mashed potatoes and gravy, and served them with English peas, ham, and coleslaw.

Mother was ready to go home shortly afterward, so Hubbie accompanied her. Later, I went over there and put drops in her eyes.

Hubbie and I spent the evening watching more episodes of "The Forsyte Saga."