Weekend in Review

Starting on Thursday night . . .I've done a lot of writing and a lot of studying. I am going to keep telling myself "I can do this"!

On Friday morning, I had a few errands to run. One stop was at Aldi. Their cheese and meat selection for a charcuterie are excellent. Our team, Auburn, played on Friday night rather than Saturday. Our neighbors invited us over to eat and watch.

I made a charcuterie board to take. It was yummy.

She was baking beans in a dish JUST LIKE my mother had. So this "china" was from the Jewel Tea company - Autumn Leaf by Jewel Tea. The Jewel Tea salesman had a route and he was a door-to-door salesman. He sold coffee, tea, household items, and china. My oldest sister had our mother's china. Anyway, seeing baked beans in this dish made my heart happy . . .and sad!

Our friends have a wonderful outdoor space and the weather was pleasant! Auburn won which made it even sweeter!!

I studied more on Saturday. I went to my WW meeting and ran by Walmart. I actually sat in the courtyard in the sunshine for 10 minutes. It was awesome.

Sunday morning's 5:00 a.m. alarm jolted me awake and I hit the ground running. We were having Fifth Sunday Fellowship following our 8:30 traditional service and I needed to get to the church to meet the Hero Doughnut deliver at 7:30 and put the table cloths on the table.

Since it was a holiday weekend, we weren't sure if anyone would come get a doughnut BUT they did! People were laughing and talking and mingling. That is the point! yay!

While I was at work and before Mark left to come to worship, he put a brisket on the smoker. He has perfected it!

On Sunday evening, we had our son and his family, Mark's sister and her husband, and one of their sons and his girlfriend (our first time to meet her), and another friend that we call a bonus son. Mark cooked the brisket and made his mother's homemade custard ice cream. I baked potatoes and made baked beans and Asian slaw. Mark's sister brought a couple of different kinds of cookie bars. It was a fun night. We laughed a lot!

Bob, our brother-in-law, made this table (or could be used as a bench) from old skis that Mark and George used. He used a pair of skis and a slalom ski. The wood is beautiful. He made a base that goes so well with the skis. This piece of furniture will be used at the farm.

I bought some suncatchers for our granddaughter to paint. She did a great job.

On Monday, Mark and I went to Bass Pro Shop. It is such a cool place.

We also went to the outlet mall and hit a couple of stores.

What did you do this weekend?

 

FAB SUNDAY STEALING

 

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

Since it's Labor Day weekend, we're going to keep this simple. We stole this from a blogger named Idzie, who called this the F.A.B. (film, audio, book) meme.

F.A.B.

F. Film: What movie or tv show are you watching? I am not watching, but want to watch the new show on Netflix, The Thursday Murder Club. I've read the book and I'm looking forward to seeing the movie (at some point in the future when I have nothing to do haha!). We are watching The Sinner, Justified-City Primeval, Breaking Bad, Leanne (Leanne Morgan's sitcom). We may skip season two of The Sinner because it involves a child and I am struggling. Each season is about one case and how it is solved.

A. Audio: What are you listening to? Lectures by Dr. Clara Gerhardt and by Dr. Celeste Hill. These women are my two professors this semester and I've been listening to their lectures. One day this week I did listen to a Christian radio station while driving to work - I think it is K-Love, but not entirely sure.

B. Book: What are you reading? For pleasure I'm reading The Oligarch's Daughter by Joseph Finder. For my Parenting Class I'm reading Parent-Child Relations: An Introduction to Parenting by Dr. Clara Gerhardt and Jerry Bigner. For my Professional Perspectives class I'm reading The Art of Work by Jeff Goins (LOVE LOVE this book!) and Pathways to Professionalism in Family Science by Dr. Celeste Hill. I think it is pretty cool that my professors are published authors and that we use their textbooks. Just in case you are wondering, my degree will be in Human Development and Family Science. I had to write and record a one minute elevator speech about Family Science on Friday explaining what it is and what it isn't. It was supposed to be 45-60 seconds. Mine was 75 seconds. I worked hard to make it shorter, but I finally gave up and submitted it. I feel sure that she will deduct some points for the length.

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week.

Hodgepodge

 

I am joining up for the weekly hodgepodge where the questions are asked by Joyce at From This Side of the Pond.

1. When someone finds out what you do or where you're from, what's a question they always ask? 

Hmmm. I have no idea. I am from Alabama and people often have pre-conceived notions about our state due to historical events. Most people here are just like people everywhere. We consider ourselves friendly and welcoming. Regarding my job, I am on staff at a large UMC. Sometimes people want to know things that go on at a church! They might be surprised.

2. Did you participate in 'Greek Life' when you were in college, or have children who did? If so what was your experience like? Taking another tack...have you ever been to Greece? If not, is that a destination on your bucket list? 

My husband was a Beta Theta Pi at Auburn. He said it was like living in the old movie "Animal House." Our daughter was a Zeta at Auburn. I would go work behind the scenes during rush (recruitment) week and I always had a great time. Funny true story - I am a 67 year old college student and I did get an email about attending the Greek meeting on campus. I wonder what they would do if I showed up and signed up to participate!! 

We went to Greece in October 2024 and it was so beautiful!

Our first view of Santorini from the ship

3. Do you like Greek food? If so what's your favorite dish?  

I love Greek food and we have a wonderful Greek community and lots of Greek restaurants here in town. Taziki's started here in Birmingham and I love their Mediterranean salad with chick peas and I always add grilled shrimp. When we were in Greece I had the best gyro I've ever eaten. In June, our nephew married a girl whose parents came to America. She has made several wonderful Greek dishes from spanokopita to baklava.

4. What incredibly common thing have you never done? 

I have never worked in a restaurant or any type of food service establishment. 

5. What is a telltale sign that you're upset? 

I tend to yell (I'm embarrassed to admit that!) and then I shut down and sometimes I cry.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The low temps this week (at night) are unbelievable. This is August in Alabama and it was 59 last night and is going down to 61 tonight. It is awesome!

Weekend Review

Thursday was Mark's birthday so I made an early reservation at Cafe Dupont. After I got off work, we drove through a torrential downpour to get there, but it was just barely raining downtown . . .until later!

Mark started his birthday celebration with "the best Old Fashioned" he has ever consumed. They use demerara sugar in their simple syrup.

Cafe Dupont sources as many food items as possible from local sources. Our server brought

out bread that was obviously made by a talented baker.

She then brought us an amuse bouche. It was half of a tiny heirloom tomato with goat cheese and a piece of lamb bacon on top. Yes - lamb bacon. It was tasty. Of course, there were also two sauces - one under the tomato and one drizzled on the plate. We ordered the cheese plate and I wish I had taken a picture. It was gorgeous -- cubes of many different cheeses with various drizzles of honey or sauce and fresh fruit prepared in different ways. Cafe Dupont serves one of the best 100 fried chicken dinners in the U.S. so Mark ordered fried chicken. I think it is funny for a fancy restaurant to serve fried chicken! I ordered the local vegetables. Both were delicious. Mark had beignets for dessert and sorghum ice cream. 

Mark said the Old Fashioned, the cheese plate, and the sorghum ice cream were the best!! Between courses we also had a palate cleanser. It was a tiny scoop of watermelon and another "summer flavor" (I can't remember!) sherbet.

I had a few things to do on Friday morning, but by 2:30 we were loaded into the car with fishing poles and bathing suits and we were headed to our friend's lake house for a mini vacation.

This is a funny "staged" photo. Our friend's lakehouse is in the town of our rival college team. Mark had told some of our young professionals where we were going and that he holds his breath all the way through town (joke). He put on his respirator mask so I could take his picture for our friends.

We spent the afternoon checking out our friend's new lake home and then watched a gorgeous sunset - first from the dock and then from their upstairs balcony.

Our friend had baked a carrot cake for Mark using Mark's mother's recipe. We first feasted on grilled chicken, grilled okra, and grilled corn on the cob. It was a perfect way to end the day.

We went for a long boat ride on Saturday morning and the morning could not have been more beautiful!!

I spent part of the day reading while seated in a very comfortable chair on that upper deck.

Another couple of friends showed up at lunch on Saturday and we ate grilled pork tenderloin sliders and salad and fresh fruit. We were laughing at the change in lake menus since we are no longer "young in body" only "young in heart." We ate mostly healthy foods throughout the weekend with only a few treats.

Everyone spent the afternoon talking and laughing. Some folks went for another boat ride. Mark was in charge of dinner. He caught fresh bream on Thursday at our farm lake. He fried fish for everyone. I don't normally eat fried food, but his is delicious! We provided tortillas and all of the fixin's for fish tacos. I made a black bean and corn salad/salsa as the side and everyone (but me) had a piece of carrot cake for dessert. Mark and Guy played indoor cornhole two different times and they were whooping and hollering like kids. Mark told me later that he enjoyed those two games more than anything. He said it felt so good to act like a kid for a little while. He played intramural horseshoes while at Auburn University and he said those skills came in very handy! We all watched the Saturday night sun as it set and it was beautiful. I think the sun set before we ate dinner.

After dinner, dessert, and sun (whatever order) our friends who had driven down for the day left to head home. The four of us remaining sat around and chatted for a few minutes and then we were all in bed by 10:00.

Y'all know that I work on Sundays but I had made arrangements to be off on Sunday morning. This was the only Sunday this year (besides the one in May when we were at a wedding out of state) where I didn't have to set the alarm clock for 5:00 a.m. It was glorious. We sat out on the deck for a while and then moved to the table for some breakfast. Mark and I headed home around 11:30 because I did have to be at a work meeting at 4:00.

It was a much needed respite - a time away filled with the fellowship and love of good friends.

 

Sunday Stealing

 

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week we once again turn to husband-and-wife bloggers, Jeff and Charli, who are getting our week started with a meme inspired by one they stole from Jennine.

Morning Meme

1) What do you typically have for breakfast? 

This weekend I was on vacation and on both Saturday and Sunday I had 1/2 of a homemade biscuit and a piece of chicken maple sausage. Today I splurged and had a small slice of bacon, too! Normally, I have cottage cheese and fruit or a couple of slices of turkey between two pieces of bread or three AmyLu chicken sausage links. I've been working on eating more lean protein in the morning.

2) What was your favorite breakfast cereal when you were a kid? 

I am sure it was anything with sugar on it! Grits are a hot breakfast cereal and we ate lots of those and grits are still yummy. Just FYI - we do NOT eat sugar on our grits. If you say you don't like grits, you've never eaten my cheese grits.

3) Orange juice, tomato juice or cranberry juice? 

May I have cranberry juice, please, with a shot of vodka haha! I DETEST tomato juice. I love fresh tomatoes. I like tomato sauce (pizza, spaghetti, lasagna). I HATE tomato juice.

4) What time is your alarm clock set for? 

My alarm rings at 5:02 a.m. on Sunday through Thursday mornings.

5) Do you have any tips for preventing stress and making the morning go more smoothly? Plan ahead. My mornings are more pleasant when I know what I'm taking in my lunch and when I have pre-ironed my clothes and have them hanging in the closet ready to throw on. I like to ride my stationary bike for 30 minutes each morning and then take a shower and wash my hair. I run into the kitchen and eat breakfast and throw my lunch together. I then run back to the bathroom and dry and straighten my hair and throw on a little make-up (I don't wear much make-up!). I usually throw in a load of laundry or empty the dishwasher from the night before in between some of those other "chores." My goal is to be in my car by 8:00. I have to be at work by 8:30. I do a lot of things in the morning because I hate having to walk in the door and start doing more "work."

Thank you for playing! Please come back next week. I look forward to reading everyone's answers!

It's Truly a Hodgepodge

I'm joining up with Joyce and friends for this week's hodgepodge. Thank you to Joyce for the questions each week!!

1. What's worth standing in line for? 

When our kids were younger, we stood in line for new releases of Beanie Babies. When our kids were in college, they stood in line to get into the stadium for football games. As an adult, I will stand in a line to see my granddaughters!! I will stand in line to get on an airplane to travel to fun locations! I've written about patience before -- I prayed for patience and the very next month . . .I found out I was pregnant with twins. God has such a sense of humor! Mark has VERY LITTLE patience. Just last night, our daughter sent the meme below to me and to our son, Glenn, and said, "What in the Mark Elliott is this?' That would definitely be Mark. He HATES standing in line.

2. Tell us about a favorite food related memory. 

I remember being at our grandparent's house and they would cut open a chilled watermelon and give us all a big piece. It was always so sweet and juicy! Another food related memory - it was a "thing" in the Elliott family that they bought a huge amount of Silver Queen Corn every summer. The family then gathered in their kitchen and we cut the corn from the cob and milked the cob and then froze the corn to be used for Sunday lunches throughout the year. We hated doing it at the time but it is actually a very fond memory now.

3. What are some things you find particularly peaceful or calming? 

If I need to calm down, I close my eyes and I imagine I'm at the beach. I think about how the sun feels beating down on my skin. I make myself "listen" for the waves and for the seabird calls. It usually works. I also do the breathing exercise where you breathe in for a certain number of seconds, hold for a certain number of seconds, exhale for a certain number of seconds. Both of those are tried and true for me. Now, if you were asking what things I like to do that are peaceful or calming -- sitting on a beach is one. Also, sitting on a pier on the lake or on a boat out on the lake at sunset -- yes! Depending on "why" I need to calm down, sometimes riding my stationary bike helps me calm down.

4. Is there something you do now that gets you just as excited as it did when you were a child? 

I could not think of an answer . . . and then I remembered . . .NEW SCHOOL SUPPLIES. I love new crayons and new pens and pencils and new notebooks!

5. To what degree are you in touch with friends from grade school? high school? college if you attended college? 

Let's see . . .I have lunch with two friends from church/youth group/high school (they are a year older) once or twice a year. When we are together, time slips away! I'm friends with quite a few people from elementary and high school -- on facebook! We don't socialize with anyone from my childhood or high school days. Most of our "people" now are friends we have together - either friends from church (the majority) or friends from the neighborhood.

6. Insert your own random thought here. I have mentioned that we are going on a river cruise in October from Amsterdam to Basel, Switzerland. We are almost to the point where we can choose our excursions. I'm beginning to get excited. Have any of you cruised on an AMAwaterways cruise? We've been checking out the weather in October and I think it might be cool on our trip -- maybe I need some new clothes! I've been following AMA on social media and yesterday someone asked about souvenirs. There were some great answers and the ones that really interested me were about the things people wished they had purchased and didn't. or the things they had purchased and wished they had purchased more.

A Full (and Fun!) Week in Review

I’m actually backing up to Wednesday because that’s when things really started rolling.

Party in the Lot

Our church hosted its annual Party in the Lot—a giant back-to-school bash. We filled the parking lot (and gym) with blow-ups, ponies, face painting, hair spray painting, a DJ and dance party, popcorn, pop-ice, and even a free hamburger/chicken finger meal. Everything is free, which means we usually draw close to 800 people from our church and the community. It’s one of the highlights of the year, and our Wednesday night ministries always kick off strong afterward.

This year I worked three shifts:

• First shift: Registration tent.

• Second shift: Popcorn booth (we stuffed what felt like a million bags beforehand—I took the picture, so of course I’m not in it).

• Third shift: Supervising a bounce house for the pre-K through first graders. Whew—those little ones have endless energy! No photos!

DJ Sillz kept the dance floor packed, and it wasn’t just kids—moms and grandmoms joined in too.

Thursday

Mark went to the farm, and I headed to work. Afterward I met three friends for dinner at SoHo Taco. Normally six of us meet, but one friend was out of town caring for her dad after surgery. Her husband joined, and since both Mark and our other friend’s spouse were away, we laughed that we’d probably start rumors showing up without them!

After dinner, we walked to the Homewood Theater for the opening show—a musical evening, kind of cabaret style. Mark doesn’t enjoy this type of performance, so it was just as well he stayed at the farm to keep working on his kitchen and bedroom at the farm. (I’m so proud of all he’s done there!)

Friday

Work again (not my usual day to be in the office) —Ministry Fair Sunday falls under my job description, so my co-worker and I decorated tables and prepped as much as possible.

That night, Mark and I went out with our neighbors to The Front Porch. The place was packed—we waited about 30 minutes for a table—but the food and conversation were worth it. Walking back to the car, the sky was absolutely stunning.

Saturday

Finally, a day at home! I think it drives Mark crazy when I want to stay in, but after running nonstop all week, it felt wonderful.

I baked two pans of brown sugar brownies for the ministry fair, made hummingbird food, cleaned house, and even booked a Thursday dinner reservation for Mark’s birthday. (Confession: I don’t love house cleaning!)

Dinner was fresh fish—Halibut for me, Salmon for Mark. Both were from his last Alaska trip, which made the meal even more special.

Sunday

Sunday mornings are always workdays for me. I filled balloons, added final touches to the gym, and helped host throughout the morning.

By Sunday night, I was exhausted. I propped my feet up more than once on Sunday afternoon.

What a whirlwind of a week!
What did you do this weekend?