Weekend in Review

My weekend has involved lots of studying. My class started last week and I'm taking Biology 101. Biology has changed A LOT since I took it in high school. Of course, the class is online but the labs are all online, too. The labs are like video games for lack of a better description. This is the beginning of my 5th semester since I started and this may be the first semester where I make a B. The class is a four hour class and it will definitely take me at least four hours each week. We have to watch a video, read a chapter in the textbook, do a full chapter review study guide (which has to be turned in each week), and do the labs. I had four or five short labs this week.

We knew that Mark was going to stay with his mother and brother on Saturday night and again tonight, so we made fun plans for Friday night. My neighbor cut flowers from her garden for us and gave them to me when we arrived.

We went to Casual Pint. I love that there are now a few drinks I can drink when everyone else is drinking beer. We ordered four appetizers and shared those for our dinner. At one point, we were laughing so hard we were crying. The SEC baseball tournament was going on about a mile down the road so we saw lots of baseball fans wearing their college gear.

After dinner, we went to check on the progress of the house. Lu and Dave have been with us every step of the way. They were with us on the night of the fire and continue to support us emotionally.

The room below is the loft upstairs and you can see the new hardwood flooring. It hasn't been sanded nor stained yet.

The room below is the loft pre-fire - I'm taking the photo with my back to the door below. We are replacing the rail with black metal.

A decorator in our neighborhood told us about a furniture store that is about an hour's drive from our house. We drove up on Saturday morning and it was a nice day for a drive. We aren't sure what all we need to buy. We don't know if we need to replace all of that furniture in the loft or not???

We definitely want to get some new and updated art and we like the two below to hang side by side in our dining room BUT we didn't buy any yet.

We also want to get something new for the entry hall. I found the piece below and love it BUT we didn't buy it either. You can't tell in the photo but the top is actually painted a different color than the chest. It is solid mahagony and it is lovely but I just couldn't decide.

The piece below (antique barrister's cabinet) was at the top of our stairs. I wondered what it would look like in the entry hall or even the little antique secretary that is the picture of what the loft used to look like. The entry hall is open to the dining room which has very traditional dark wood furniture in it.

This is what was in the entry hall pre-fire. What do y'all think??

I had to work on Sunday morning but after church, I joined Mark and his family for Sunday lunch. Mark and I were the "providers" this week and I picked up BBQ pork and BBQ chicken from Moe's BBQ and we had baked beans, potato salad, chips, slaw, and pickles. We also had Moe's famous cornbread. It isn't as good as my cornbread but it is great with their BBQ.

Today, I've been cleaning the apartment and as soon as I hit "publish," I'm going to get a quick shower and run a few errands. The weather is delightful - not too warm with sunshine, blue sky, and puffy white clouds. I actually sat in the courtyard for 30 minutes after lunch. The courtyard has been one of my favorite parts of the apartment. We have our own outdoor furniture so it feels like "home."

I don't want you dear readers to think that I'm only thinking about today as a "day off." On this Memorial Day weekend, I've thought a lot about my daddy. He didn't die during WWII but served faithfully. He did die of lung/brain cancer years later. Mark's daddy also fought in WWII . . . and died of cancer years later. If we were in our house, there would be an American flag flying in the breeze. I must admit that I've suffered from FOMO this weekend as I've seen everyone's pictures while they are partying at the lake and the beach. Maybe a quiet weekend was what I needed. I'm telling myself that anyway! What did you do this weekend?