Weekend (plus a puppy!) in Review

No . . . we didn't get a puppy BUT my boss gota new puppy and she is adorable. Her name is Amalie which is French . . . and she is a French pointer. She has brightened up our office.

I just had to snap a photo of these gorgeous flowers. One of our young adults gave us the plant for Christmas and in memory of my sister. These blooms aren't original - - they are a second blooming and they are as big as dinner plates!!

Here is another cute picture of Amalie. I LOVE the spot on her back! She has my office slipper in her mouth and she played with it and played with it and played with it!

On Thursday evening, Mark and I took a BBQ sandwich from Full Moon BBQ, along with some french fries and fried okra to Bill at the nursing home. From the outside, it doesn't look so bad.

It was THE ONLY bed available for Bill in the whole greater Birmingham area. They moved him in last Monday and it was one of the worst week's of his life, along with Mark and their sister, Susie. He was placed in the middle bed between two men with dementia. Bill has Parkinson's and Lymphoma, but still has his mind . . .but is trapped in his bed. They have found him a single room at a nursing home closer to all of us and he is hopefully being moved today. I had worked a long week and Mark fed Bill while I held his drink for him. When we got home, we crashed and watched mindless TV.

Friday was Valentine's Day and Mark headed to the farm. He needed to be away from everyone and everything and he needed to breathe outside air and do some manual labor.

I, on the other hand, stayed home. I met my three close friends for our monthly lunch. One friend brought the rest of us a Valentine. Isn't she beautiful (below)? My friend is beautiful, too!

I told this story yesterday in Sunday School. While we were eating, our server stopped by our table and saw our Valentine bags. She jokingly said, "Where's mine?" She then told us that her mother used to give her something for Valentine's Day, but no longer did. One friend, who asked to remain nameless yesterday when I asked permission to share as I was teaching, left the restaurant and went to Pastry Arts and purchased baby bites for this server. She returned to the restaurant and gave them to the server . . . and the server was speechless. What a perfect Valentine!!

That afternoon at 4:00, I had my last PT session and I graduated. She almost killed me and I'm still sore. She was pushing me on purpose to make sure I am truly better. I have no idea how much I'm going to owe them. I started before Thanksgiving and just graduated. I'm hoping my insurance pays a lot. I got a t-shirt as a graduation gift. 

Friday night, I prepared supper and had everything almost ready when Mark came in from the farm. I made shrimp and grits. I cut Conecuh sausage into tiny cubes and browned those. I removed the Conecuh from the skillet and added a little olive oil/butter and sautéed the shrimp until pink. I then tossed the Conecuh back into the skillet and squeezed a lime (I didn't have a lemon!) over it all. I cooked the grits and added some cheese and butter and served the shrimp over the top. I felt like it was a good Valentine's dinner.

I spent a large portion of Saturday morning preparing Sunday lunch for our family. I have to work on Sunday mornings so I needed everything ready to go in the oven. I also prepped a large salad because we were headed to our neighborhood supper club on Saturday night. I didn't take a single photo! We knew two of the couples, but met two new couples. That is a funny sentence!! The hostess served lasagna and I took a giant gorgeous salad. Someone brought an appetizer and bread and one of the other couples brought dessert. It is so fun seeing the homes of others in our neighborhood.

During the day on Saturday, I also took time to clip some greenery from our courtyard and I made a centerpiece for Sunday lunch.

When we got home from supper club, I set the table and made sure the kitchen was spic and span clean and we hit the sheets. A huge storm came through around 1:00 and woke me up. I never went back to sleep and got up at 4:50. I normally get up at 5:00. Right before I left for work at 6:45, I figured out why I didn't sleep. I had taken Sunday mornings medicine . . .instead of Saturday night. I got to work and decorated my boss's office -- remember he is the Senior Pastor. It was his 50th birthday! (hence the puppy up above). I worked until 9:30 and then ran up to the third floor and taught Sunday School. I think I told y'all that one of the young classes is meeting with us - so couples in their 30's with littles and folks in their 60's and up. We are having so much fun in the month of February. They have asked if they can meet with us every February!! After teaching, I ran back to the Welcome desk and worked until 11:15 and hurried home and heated up lunch. We had 12 for lunch -- youngest is 8, almost 9, and George, Mark's twin brother, is the oldest. Let's see . . .8, almost 9, 27 and 27 and35ish and 38 and 39 and 63 and 63 and 66 and 67 and two at 71 . . .George is older by a few minutes. We sat and talked for a little while after lunch and then everyone left and we crashed and took a nap. Our cable/internet was knocked out during the storm and won't be back until Wednesday!! We played our version of Dominoes and went to bed early!

What did you do this weekend?