Feeling pretty good (10 Jan, 2011)

Mom called to tell me about her day. It started with mom discovering that her hot water pipe in the bathroom was partially frozen. She said of COURSE the one night when she forgets to leave her faucet dripping, the temp drops down farther than usual so her pipe froze. But she noticed that the faucets in the kitchen were fine, so she poured boiling water into the bathroom sink and in a little bit her hot water was running again. (Florence MacGuyver!)

Then her neighbor came over to build her a fire and to throw Jana's ball for her. This is Jana's ritual...for some reason, whenever someone is building a fire, that's the signal for Jana to bring out her tennis ball and say, "Woo woo woo, PLAY with me!" Mom said that Jana chased the ball so much that as soon as her neighbor left, she sprawled out for a long dog-nap (different from a cat-nap; no self-respecting dog would take a cat-nap).

Then while mom was having her breakfast, another pal showed up for a nice visit, bringing a plate of cookies. Then another friend called to say that the Rocky Point Quilters miss her and that they want to come over tomorrow after quilting and bring lunch. Mom was SO touched to hear that the quilters miss her!

Mom said that she was actually feeling like she had a bit more energy than she has lately, so she decided to make the trek down to the "underhouse" to bring up a jug of orange juice. She said that those steps were VERRRY long. She took a plastic bag with her and on the way back up the steps she would put the bag down, come up a few steps, rest for a minute, move the bag a few more steps up, move herself a few more steps up, rest, etc. All this while Jana stood at the top of the steps watching every move, until finally both old gals went back into the cabin. Mom says that she thinks that Jana knows that mom's health is not as good as it used to be, because Jana watches her like a hawk and doesn't like to let mom out of her sight. Goood dog!!

Mom said that for some reason Ray has been on her mind a LOT lately. I asked, "Anything specific?" She said no, he just keeps popping into her mind. She said that maybe it's just that it's been about two years since he died, and other friends have told her that the second year after losing a spouse seems to be harder than the first one. But mom didn't seem sad about it, she was just observing that he seems to be on her mind a lot lately.

Mom then informed me that, "I am going to have--pardon the expression--sh** on a shingle for dinner!" She said that she and Ray both used to love it, and apparently Stouffers has a frozen entree that she likes (although I am pretty sure that they named it something else!). She was looking forward to her dinner and was planning to add peas to it so it would be like her mom used to make!