Weekend Reflection # 20

It's been a little rough around our house the past two weeks but things have improved so much since the stomach bug came to visit everyone!

Around the House: Things are finally back to normal since hubs and both girls are feeling better. They have all fully recovered from the nasty stomach bug that they passed around. Thankfully, I did not get sick! Caroline had ballet and piano this week and was well enough to go! I finally got the lightening strike mess cleaned up in the backyard. We can walk out there now and Jeff was even able to mow! It took several hours of raking and picking up to get the debris cleared. Next week I'll be preparing to send Jeff off for five days to bagpipe school. He goes to Valley Crucis, NC every year for this. He loves it and learns alot! Valley Crucis is such a beautiful place and would be a great place to relax, if only he could. Instead, he'll spend a week in classes from early morning to evening, learning new bagpipe tunes and honing his skills. It is very challenging for him and he comes home pretty tired at the end of the week. It's all worth it though because it brings him so much enjoyment. Our neighbors enjoy his playing too!

In the Kitchen: I made Chocolate Lover's Cake again this weekend because we were supposed to have some out of town company. They ended up not coming so now I'm stuck with a large, double layer of chocolate goodness with raspberry preserves in the middle! Yum-O! There's no way I'm going to lose weight! Tonight we'll be trying Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwich. Amberly tried it this week so I'm trusting her recommendation (no pressure Amberly!). I have my Whisper mill pulled out and my wheat berries ready so I hope to make several loaves of bread over the next two weeks. I'll freeze some and I'm also thinking of following Monica's lead and dropping off bread baskets to our neighbors. The girls and I did make up a little basket for our new neighbor that moved in next door. Her name is Sunday and she is a very cheerful lady with a kind heart. She has been here about a month and has already invited the girls over to swim in her pool a few times. We had fun with it and put in small pizza crusts, pizza sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, M&Ms, Hershey bars, and three boxes of muffin mix. We also baked a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread and wrapped it separately. The girls delivered the basket and Sunday was delighted to receive it! She had a houseguest and we put enough in the basket to make lunch for them both. I love doing things like this! It was so much fun!

My version of Marlboro Man's Second Favorite Sandwich: (I used steak seasoning and put them on some tasty flavored rolls that I picked up in the Walmart bakery section).

The basket for my neighbor, Sunday. I've never met anyone with her name!

Hobbies: I finished reading Redeeming Love that Shawna so graciously sent me and now hubs is having me read Animal Farm. I'm looking forward to finishing it tonight so that I can start reading the purchase I made on Saturday! Hubs was sweet enough to take me to BAM and purchased Widow of the South for me! What's even better is that it was on sale and I got the hardback for $6.50! How cool is that! I bought some material to make some tote bags too! I haven't started on them yet and I may wait until Jeff is out of town to start those. I love tote bags and they seem simple enough to make. I may use them as Christmas presents or may give them away. I'm not sure yet. I bought two different patterns that kind of capture my eclectic taste. They are so different and I had to chuckle when I looked at them! One is warm and conservative. The other is wild and wacky. I love them though and I know they'll make cute bags.

The girls continue to do well with their instruments. Caroline is learning alot in her piano class. I think she will do well if she will be patient (hard for her!) and apply herself. She tends to have a short attention span unless it comes to the computer. Logan is doing well with the guitar lessons hubs is giving her. She is currently learning Amazing Grace and seems very excited.

Other Stuff: I finally finished up our church directory on Saturday night. I guess I should say Sunday morning at 2am! It was alot of work but I am thankful for the opportunity to serve in this capacity. Shawna and I have decided to become accountability partners and that has been very helpful this past week. We will email each other once a week with specific prayer requests and then the following week we email to update each other on the progress we made. She emails me her list and I pray for her all week and vice versa. I love doing this. I also love knowing that someone is out there praying for me concerning specific things also. Shawna and I don't know each other IRL and that may be the best part! We have become friends via blogging. The blogging community in general has surprised me. It's amazing how many wonderful, sweet souls I have met. I am also continuing to do my study of The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace. Jenny and Kasi (my non-blogging friend) were supposed to come to the house to do this with me but they both made up excuses, I mean, couldn't work it out to come. I've decided to forgive them for being too busy for me but they don't know what they're missing with all the good desserts I'm cookin' up over here!

I had a great week! I hope you did too! A big THANK YOU to Judi for hosting WR!