Saturday, December 7, 2013

Decemer 7, 2013

Busy Day - What Did I Do?
December 7, 2013

Do you ever have one of those days where you are busy all day, but at the end of the day you aren't sure what you accomplished?  That is the kind of day I had today.  I know I did accomplish some things, but not nearly as many as I had hoped.  I did sleep later than usual - until 8:30!  Ron had let our house keeper in and she had cleaned my sewing room before I got up.  That was nice.  She always tries to dust when I am not in there so as to not bother my allergies.

I fixed hash brown potatoes for Ron and me for breakfast and we sat and chatted while we ate.  It was a relaxing start to the day.  I worked on the blog entry for yesterday that I had not finished last night.  Next I sewed a little, worked in the kitchen, and encouraged Ron to clean out a bathroom cabinet.  He did a great job!

My house keeper told me she is going to see her family for at least a week.  She will leave in a week.  I think everyone should be able to visit their family, just not when my family is coming!  Not really.  I am sorry she won't be here the Saturday before all my family arrives for Christmas, but I will manage.  It will be a challenge to meet Ron's mom's needs while the lady is gone, because she works for Ron's mom 4 hours every day.


Next I went to get my hair cut. When my hair dresser is cutting my hair, I have to take off my sound processor to the Cochlear Implant, so I sit there in silence.  It is strange to not converse with the hair dresser.  That is a female tradition.  I have always found it relaxing to have someone work on my hair, but I think a part of it is the soothing voice of the lady who is working to help me look my best.  I miss my conversations with her.  We chat for a minute before she starts and a minute before I leave, but it is not the same.

When I finished, I came home and sewed for a little longer.  The project I was working on was finally finished, but I had hoped to get several done today.  Things were all just taking much longer than necessary.  Mid afternoon I went to the grocery store.  It has been so cold yesterday and today, not as many people are out and about as normal.  The grocery store was not too crowded for a Saturday afternoon.  I got my groceries and as I checked out I asked that question I often ask people I don't know:  What do you do for fun when you aren't here at work?  The man behind the cash register (he was about 32 years old) smiled and said, "I hang out with my kids."  He went on to tell me how they play basketball together and just have fun.  He pointed to a store display with a small basketball hoop on a stand and said he has bought that for his 4 year old who loves to play with the basketball.  I told him the 2 most common answers I get from men when I ask that question are, playing with the kids and fishing.  I told him I was always so happy to hear a man say he loves to spend time with his children.  He was just beaming.  We continued to talk about the advantages for kids to play outside and to develop eye-hand coordination with activities like basketball.  This is the kind of conversation I have missed for several years.  I have just not tried to start conversations with strangers for fear of not being able to hear their answers.  I am so thankful for my Cochlear Implant.  It has not given me perfect hearing, but it has given me back parts of my life that were missing.


This morning Ron started feeling bad with a sore throat.  That has always been his weakness and it normally comes this time of the year.  He will feel terrible and will hibernate until he feels better.  That meant that when I arrived home with the groceries he was not available to help bring them in for me.  He had forgotten to pick up ice a few days ago so I had to go back out and get ice this evening.  So much for my plan to stay in and stay warm all day.  That made three trips out today.


A text showed up on my cell phone when I got back from getting the ice.  It was from my son David to tell me that his church Christmas musical would be on line tonight - live.  I had already missed the first 30 minutes and then the computer kept giving me problems.  I missed a little more.  It was beautifully done and would love to have seen and heard it in person, but not this year.  I started addressing Christmas cards, but didn't get very far.  I will probably do it at the office next week.  My daughter-in-law, Vickey, called and we talked until the battery in her phone died.  I answered a variety of emails, did some laundry, and did a little research on line.  I baked a cake for tomorrow.  Jeff's family is coming over for lunch to celebrate his birthday and their youngest child's birthday which were both while they were recently out of town.


Baking the birthday cake presented a problem that I overlooked.  I used two mixes in a large pan and got out the cake board to put the cake on and then realized I would not be able to turn it out on the board and Ron was sleeping, so this will be a birthday cake in a pan.  Not my usual style, but the rotation in my left wrist is just not good enough, nor is the arm strong enough to handle that task.  I will go frost and decorate it as soon as it is cool enough.  Maybe I should have just set it outside this evening to cool quickly.  

My elbow has hurt a lot today.  There were many times at the grocery store that I would pick something up and go to put in the basket and wince in pain as I did it.  In fact the grocery store clerk and I discussed it and he made the sacker re-sack some of the items so the bags would not be too heavy.  I really appreciated that. 

Before I close, the Christmas ornaments I am sharing tonight are special as usual.  The counted cross stitch ones are made by Ron's mom.  She has made us many and they are all wonderful.  The two gold ornaments are places Bob and Vickey have lived - Albuquerque and Boston.  We visited them in Boston and saw the Old North Church as depicted on the ornament and we hope to visit them in Albuquerque before too much longer.  I had better go frost the birthday cake.  Wish I could send you each a piece.

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