Weekend

We had a nice weekend; however, it was cold. The weather has been cold for a few weeks. I wanted a fire on Saturday and Sunday but last weekend I burned all the dry wood up and Sunday, it was too windy for a fire. I was cold. I suffered and finally pulled on a fleece pull-over over my turtleneck. I also drank a lot more than I should have – hot tea that is!

John bundled up and worked on making one set of stairs for the deck. His first set of steps and they turned out perfect. Why he doubts himself is beyond me? He is so talented and precise. Sunday night we were called out to “test” the steps. They are sound and beautiful. Yes, steps can be beautiful especially when they replace a large, black target. Although I am not sure we can get rid of that target because Ruddie has claimed it – he naps on it when John is working outside and Ruddie refuses to go inside to nap. He’s afraid he’ll miss something. Silly dog (and yes, it will be placed along the garbage bins for pickup!)

Elliott went to a friends’ house Saturday for four hours. I went to pick him up and found the boys playing electronic games. Both sitting and playing. Not talking. Completely entertained by the gadget in their hand. And then, I noticed the scraped face and forehead. When I asked what happened Elliott said he fell in a tree but did not feel it. When we got home, I had him wash up. Then I washed his face again, with soap and a little harder than he washed it, before applying Neosporin. He was looking tough. I had to ask if he got hurt anywhere else since these scraps down the right side of his face were caused by falling out of a tree. Boys will be boys – it takes more than a fall to slow them down. They had fun playing in the woods, finding snakes and newts and all. By Monday, Elliott looked like he was beat up. He split his lip after running up the hallway and bumping his face on the back of the couch. His lip was bleeding and already swollen by the time he got to the kitchen. He held an ice cube to it for about 20 minutes and it looked better. We tucked him in and wished him happy dreams! Well, I woke him to find that bottom lip had swollen again. He was not happy. I wrapped another ice cube and he held it to his lip all morning long. He went to school looking rough and tough for sure. It’ll be interesting to see if anyone comments on his face.

Olivia practiced her flute a lot this weekend. It was nice to have her come into the kitchen and play for me. Elliott even listened to her for a minute and gave her a nice compliment. He said, “Your flute playing has increased a lot.” I thought that was nice and my heart melted a little. We even played a few games of Trouble. I love that game. Trouble and Yahtzee.

Saturday I was thankful for small-town customer service. John needed three bags of ready-mix to fill the hole he was setting the 4x4 in for the deck stairs. It was 2:56. I called the local hardware store.

     Yes, we have three bags and we close at 3:00 p.m. Are you leaving now?

     On my way.

     Ok, I’ll stay open for you.

Ten minutes later, Marty was loading the three bags into my car. I offered to make Marty cookies but he said he was on a diet. I might still drop some off. Where can you get service like that?

The guys went fishing on Sunday. Unfortunately they did not catch anything and Elliott fell a lot. Just what I wanted to hear.

Olivia and I snuggled on the couch and watch an episode of The Waltons! That was long overdue and so needed. She doesn’t snuggle much anymore.

Tonight Olivia is making a chocolate soufflé for desert. It’ll be the first soufflé for me so I look forward to helping her with this recipe. I also plan to make a loaf of no-knead wheat bread (Olivia wants to have this bread to make her turkey sandwich with) and a new bread recipe.