Wednesday Afternoon

I am uncomforably full of sweet stuff. I made gingerbread this morning and experimented a bit with the recipe by putting in a cup of wheat flour in place of one of the cups of white flour. I did this because before I started making it from scratch, we had a very nice mix which called itself whole wheat gingerbread and it had a rather grainy texture we both liked. Well, this wasn’t a great success. It is ok, but I am going back to the recipe. Actually, when I make it next time, I am going to double the ginger. I thought last time that the ginger taste was too light but I said nothing. This time Fred remarked that it needed more ginger… I also made a loaf of bread with the help of the clever bread machine.

Fred got signed off by the visiting nurse this morning since he is able to get out to see a doctor and will do so. Apparently Medicare will only pay for what Nikki explained as “skills.” And, oddly enough, this does not include taking blood! Our visiting nurse, Nikki, was able to take blood from Fred for various tests because she was there to inspect and clean the wound which Medicare does consider a skill. Now when his doctor wants to check his blood because he takes a blood thinner, he will have to go back to giving blood at the health care center as he did before he was ill. Of course, now he is able to get out {although he is not officially allowed to drive for another couple of weeks} he will go back to giving blood for testing purposes every couple of months as he was doing before.

Although we no longer have a visiting nurse, Fred is still able to have a physical therapist come to the house and we just got a phone call saying that Jennifer {a replacement for Jean who is on holiday this week} will be out at 12:30 tomorrow if that is ok with Fred. I like the way these people operate. They call telling you what time they are coming and if that time is not suitable for you, {Fred is NOT a morning person} they have always been willing to change.

I just got a call from the children’s librarian about the “Vermont Reads” program. I am supposed to have a child to tread to/with starting tomorrow but the person at the school who sets it up has not got it done yet. However, Martha said that if I wanted to ride up to school with her tomorrow, she will show me around and where the lunch room is and where the books are. I would have to walk home which will be no problem since I intend to walk both ways once I get set up with a kid. I like that idea and so I will be going out to the school on an exploratory trip tomorrow at 10 am. The advantage of riding up with Martha is that I will be able to see where to park my car if I have to drive up there. I remember from when I was a teacher how annoyed we all used to get when people from outside parked in our parking spots! Of course, I am hoping that I will be able to walk. Whatever time it takes me to walk back tomorrow, I will double for the time walking out to the school since it is all up hill to get to the school from where I live. When I walk downhill into town to the post office it takes ten minutes to get there and twenty minutes to get back home again.

I have finished watching one of my Netflix movies and sent it back this morning. This was “Cracker” Season 2, disk 1. Last night I watched the beginning of the second disk and I will finish that later this evening and send it back tomorrow. I got another one today and haven’t opened it yet. I can’t remember whether it is “Bend it Like Beckham” {on the recommendation of my sister} or the last Cracker. Something to look forward to since television is a vast wasteland…

Until later…