Weekend in Review

Our weekend started at 3:00 pm on Thursday. I ran away from work and we headed south to our daughter's home. Our 6 1/2 year old granddaughter was excited as she waited on us to arrive. Her little sister wasn't home yet . . .but when she came through the door, she stopped. She heard the voice from FaceTime, but she wasn't sure. She smiled at me a lot (pops was in the back playing!), but she hid behind her mommy and daddy. . . until I brought out the new Barbie in her box and her new Gingerbread toy from France. She liked me after that! We went into the little downtown part of Wetumpka with full plans to eat at Coach's Corner. It was Thursday night at 5:20 in a small town . . .and there were no parking places at the restaurant. Who knew? We found two parking places near the Coosa Cleaver and walked through the little tiny downtown to the restaurant. The store fronts are decorated for Christmas and everything was adorable!! One of the little boutiques was open and there was a dress in the window that I loved. Laura and I ducked into the store and they only had a small. Nope. Laura bought a cute pair of Grinch earrings to wear on a special day at school. We met everyone else at the restaurant and piled into a big booth. We ordered Laura's birthday dinner and our food and the girls did really well for a Thursday night after a long day. Then they were DONE and ready to go home. So we did just that - we paid and left! Laura and I stopped at her in-law's new house to drop off a key. They gave me a quick tour and then we headed back to Laura's. Scott went back over to his parents to assist in putting together a huge bunk bed/trundle bed complex because other family members were arriving for the long holiday week. I helped Laura with baths and then Mark told bedtime stories to one while Laura rocked the other.

We all crashed shortly after the kids went to bed. They all leave home at 6:30 a.m. for work and school, so we got up at our usual time (early! still dark!) and got dressed and loaded our small suitcase in the car.

It was FOGGY!! These were the only photos I snapped. We were there a very short time, but they filled my love tank. Big sister is holding her Strausbourg Gingerbread girl and little one has her sippy cup! Let me tell you - she is a mess!

I wanted a quick photo, too, so we were trying to get it together.

Mark grabbed a decent one . . .but had my phone on video, so I just did a screen shot and called it a day. My eyes look crazy!!

We were home before 8:30 a.m. which was good, because I had lots of homework. It was a gray and drizzly morning and we thought it was going to really rain . . .but it didn't during the day. Evening did bring showers. Mark had another dumpster delivered to his brother's house (the brother that died in March). Mark has been working on cleaning it out. Mark and our son filled one dumpster last weekend. Mark, our son, and one of our nephews filled another one this weekend. They still need one more dumpster. I think I mentioned that Mark's brother and our sister-in-law were hoarders. They kept everything. I mean everything. The family has taken some furniture or tagged it. Rebecca's sisters have taken some of her clothes and jewelry and some things that belonged to their family. A woman came to measure last week for an appraisal. Since their mom's house still hasn't sold, they are hoping this one will sell quickly. It, too, needs a lot of work but is in a much more moderate price range.

I debated on whether or not to share the photos below. In 2017 and 2018, I lost a lot of weight - between 70 and 80 pounds. I kept it off, but lately it had been creeping up -- 30 pounds worth. The photo on the right was at the beginning of August. As of Saturday morning, the photo on the left is 30 pounds down. I'm going to try to lose a few more.

On Saturday afternoon, Mark and I went to the Outlet Mall that is about 30 minutes away. I went to The Loft and bought a pair of jeans and a pair of blue velvet jeans and a couple of shirts and then I found Mark and we went to J. Crew where he bought four or five quarter zips in various colors and various fabrics. I bought two more shirts. As we were walking out of the store I said to Mark, "we bagged our limit." That phrase harkens back to our younger days when he would go hunting and I would go shopping. He said I always bagged my limit! haha!

I worked and taught Sunday School and Mark went to worship and Sunday School and then we hurried home to cook lunch. Our son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter #1 were coming for lunch after their church service.

Our island seats three comfortably and we can squeeze in a fourth . . .but five seemed to small for our dining room, so we came up with a new plan! Mark and granddaughter sat at the table and Glenn, Lauren, and I sat at the island. It worked!

After we ate, our son was sweet enough to help us flip our mattress. We hate asking for help, but flipping that king mattress just about kills us. I'm just not tall enough.

After we ate and flipped the mattress, her parents left and she and Mark played Barbie for a long time while I cleaned up the kitchen. Then the two of them took the golf cart to the biggest park. I was about 20 minutes behind them so I just drove over. She looks like a teenager. How is that happening so fast?

There is a HUGE field in this park so she wanted to show us her gymnastics moves.

She is doing a back flip over (or whatever it is called).

She asked if we could head back to our house to do crafts. Gran always has crafts. She and Mark headed off in the golf cart and I followed behind.

We made "regular" felt gingerbread ornaments, festive ones, and crazy ones. This was her idea and I went right along!

We also made enough turkeys to put at every place setting on Thanksgiving. I hope they match my sister-in-law, Susie's, table decor!!

We also made a couple of felt reindeer ornaments.

She and Mark left about 5:10 to meet her mom at the gas station (half way). I cleaned up our craft mess and started on some homework. When Mark returned we watched on episode of Better Call Saul and one episode of something else. We were in bed right at 10:00 and we slept until midnight when our Carbon Monoxide alarm started going off -- four fast blasts and then danger Carbon Monoxide danger. I had cooked lunch on our Wolf gas stove and maybe I forgot to turn on the vent. Anyway - we opened all three doors - top porch; door to screen porch; front door. We turned on the stove fan. We turned on a small regular fan. It took about 30 minutes for her to stop shouting at us. Of course, I was sitting outside googling and we should have called the fire department but Mark did not want to do so. He is checking one thing today and I will call All South and get them to send out someone.

I stayed outside a little longer and the stars were magnificent. If you were to zoom in, you can see the pinpoints of light - God's creation is so amazing.

Please don't yell at us about the carbon monoxide. I know what we should have done but I am married to a very stubborn man. Remember we have been through a house fire. I did call 911 for that, but Mark wasn't home :-).

So how was your weekend? Did you do anything exciting?