weekend recap X2

I didn't have time to do a recap last week so I'm going to do a "two weekends" recap.

On the 15th, we drove to a nearby town to see our Granddaughter #1 cheer. She is 5 :-) and is cheering for the community basketball team of 5 and 6 year olds. As we were turning onto the last road my phone rang and it was our son telling us that the game had been cancelled due to the coach having covid. We agreed to meet them at their house and visit for a few minutes. 

First, we got to see the cute cheerleader and she did a cheer in the driveway for us. You can't see the giant "cheer hairbow" in the back of her head. Is that just a southern thing? Extra large hairbows even for softball teams and cheerleaders? 

Granddaughter changed clothes quickly and we got to see her other new trick. She has learned to ride her bike. 

The Barbies are called "brother" and
"sister" and they were along for
the ride.

We left their house and I did a quick return at Talbots. It just so happens that Trader Joe's is in the same parking lot as Talbots so we went there, too. It was packed with people. I saw those chips on an end cap and Mark had to have them. He said they were pretty hot but he ate the whole bag over the course of a couple of days.

After we got home from Trader Joe's, we actually ate lunch and took a nap and then I worked on baking cheese straws. (more about cheese straws later)

The weather was cold and gray so that night, we cooked some of the other things we bought at Trader Joe's. We had butternut squash which was yummy along with green beans. I had bought a bag of cauliflower rice with seasonings and I fixed that and it was really good. The "patty" on top is a shrimp burger, also from Trader Joe's. It was pretty good. I did mix up some cocktail sauce and horseradish and dipped each bite :-).

Sunday was church and Sunday school and Mark stayed with his mom and he fixed lunch for the family. 

Jump ahead to this past weekend. I worked from home so I didn't work "traditional" hours that day. I had an early appointment at the allergy doc for shots and then I took a very quick trip to the local campus of the college where I'm taking an online class to get a student ID. I guess it is official. Actually, I've already turned in a couple of things for a grade so it is definitely official. I got home and did my real work (the one I get paid to do!!). 

Saturday morning found me actually sleeping "late." I slept until 6:50. Mark was at his mom's and the house was quiet. The cat woke me up by patting my face!

My boss was having a meeting at our church and I had ordered boxed lunches from Honey Baked Ham for the participants. Boxed meals meant that people could spread out and eat in their cars or outside, etc. due to covid restrictions. Mark went with me to pick up the meals and they were short staffed at Honeybaked and the boxes weren't ready on time which created a flurry of texts from me to B. Finally, all of the meals were loaded into my car and we made the drop off.

We headed home and ate some of the Male Chavinist Chili that I got from a friend's blog last week. I had put it in the crockpot on Friday. 

literally a photo of my computer
screen!

I think Mark and Harvey (cat) took a nap on the screen porch in the sunshine and I studied.

yes - I'm making note cards of
info - I'm old and I'm back
in college. I also ordered
an actual textbook from
Amazon even though
we have a link for the
online text book.

On Sunday, Mark headed back to his mom's to relieve the sitter while I went to church and taught Sunday School. I headed to his mom's after Sunday School to visit for a little while and to eat lunch with the two of them. Then I headed to a Wedding Tea for the daughter of a friend. I was one of the hostesses and I had been assigned cheese straws. Remember that I baked them last weekend. Cheese straws freeze beautifully so you can make ahead! I had also volunteered to wash the dishes. I try to volunteer to be dishwasher every time I'm a hostess. The Tea was held in the home of another friend and her home is gorgeous.

aren't these vases cool? She got
them at Davis Wholesale Florist.
You can see a tiny bit of the ceiling
of her kitchen - it is reclaimed wood.

cute little bride decoration

The table was so pretty.
We served cheese straws, nuts, petit fours,
sandwiches from Ouslers, fruit kebobs,
coffee, and pink punch.

I wore my cute boots and I thought my feet were going to fall off by the end of the party. Seriously.

It was a beautiful party and it was well attended and she received so many amazing gifts. The way we host Teas is that the bride and her mother and the hostess whose home we are using stand at the door and greet every guest. If the future mother-in-law attends, she stands there, too, and is introduced to everyone. There are a couple of hostesses who handle the gifts. One takes the gift from the guest and runs it upstairs or to a back bedroom where the gifts are opened, logged onto a list "giver's name and gift given" and then displayed on beds or tables. The guests come in and are greeted and chat with bride, etc. Then they move to the food table and fix a little plate, etc. and stand around and talk. There is usually a hostess assigned to pour punch and to keep the trays replenished. After the guests eat and mingle, they go "see" the gifts that are displayed. When the party is over, the gifts are packed back into boxes and bags and the daddy of the bride or the future groom usually show up and help load all of those gifts into the cars to take home. The hostesses in charge of the gifts have a nice list to give to the bride to aid in her thank you note writing. I know that teas and showers are handled differently all over the country but this is pretty standard for here. The hostesses all go together and buy a big gift from the bride's registry - we bought the duvet cover. The hostesses all turn in their receipts to one hostess and she totals up total cost of the party and subtracts what each person spends. Checks are written or money is venmo'd so that every hostess ends up spending the same amout. It works like a finely oiled machine. We bring out the silver and crystal pieces and it is quite lovely! This is the way my mother-in-law hosted teas and the way my peers and I host. My daughter loves to use the pretty things but most of her generation doesn't want the silver, etc. I wonder what a tea will look like by the time our granddaughters are grown women. Where you live do you still host "fancy" parties or only casual ones? Showers are much more casual but still done nicely.