Getting Out and About

Mary kept asking me on Thursday night what we were going to do the next day. That's quite unusual. I didn't understand if that meant she wanted to do something or she's gotten to expect that we'll be doing something--since I moved back I feel like we've been regular "Run-Around-Sues." I'd ask her what she wanted to do or tell her that I hadn't decided yet. She gave me no inication of why she was asking. Who knows. So the next day, Friday, I asked her if she wanted to go over to Mom's to play Dominoes. She said yeah, why not, so I got her to call Mom: "Angela...Anna...[me prompting] Serena! Can we come over tonight? You know, and play cards? [me prompting] I mean, Dominoes?" I just thought that was so cute to hear her ask that way--can we come over? She must be losing it, cause even a year ago she would have never asked that way. Or agreed so easily.

We were a little late getting there cause I wasted an hour trying to fix a stupid Weight Watchers recipe that I should have known wasn't going to work: Spinach Gnocchi. For one thing, I was missing some of the ingrediants and had to improvise, and for another, gnocchi, by their very nature, are made with potatoes, and this recipe did not call for potatoes anywhere. Plus, it was a bad idea because it made 6 servings of 6 points each. Well, definite fiasco, so I threw a frozen pizza in the oven. Also not helpful for my diet. O je. I really must still be sick (have been feeling odd for the last several days--sort of like I'm catching a cold/flu/bug and yet sort of not)--I only ate three pieces. Mary must have really liked it because she ate two pieces--and I had devided it into six pieces, so they were rather large. Through this diet I have figured out that I eat exactly twice as much as she does.

Well, we only got one game of Dominoes in, which Mary won, the stinker! Then we had to watch Jeopardy, which Mom is addicted to. Those game shows always make me so frustrated. I can't help but yell out the answer, which is as often as not wrong. And I get so nervous for the people on there... I'm a wreck by the time it's over. Then we watched Joan of Arcadia, which I'm sure Mary has never half-way comprehended, which is a shame considering how religious she is. Mom always watches but says she never can understand what they're saying, especially Joan. I chalked that up to old age (she's mid-seventies) but discovered (after I had to admit that not even I could understand Joan) that she had the TV sound set on "music," which made it rather muddy. I hope the new setting helps her. I borrowed their TV/VCR set to take with me to Lexington and bought a new set for them, with the intention of getting it back someday when I have my own place (ha, ha). I like to feel like I'm doing something for them. I just wish I had the money to get them a new dishwasher. (I found out last night that Jan sent Mom a check to finish paying off their car. I can't describe the emotions that this arouses in me. I just want to hug Ed so much for doing that, but of course that's not possible anymore. It just makes me want to start crying all over again. And oddly enough makes me feel even more guilty for not living up to Ed's hopes for me.)

Ok, I've got to get going. I promised Mom we'd be over to pick her up by noon. We're going to Baer's (the fabric store in town--downtown, which makes it extra special). I want to make Mary a robe for Xmas. She's so tiny and yet has those Beisler hips and bucket, as Mary says, so she's impossible to fit. Plus, she loves the light-weight velour of the robe she's got now, which I gave to her (Gina gave it to me--man, I loved it--that was a real sacrifice of love) and which is literally getting threadbare.