~Weekend~

I spent Thursday hand sewing and embellishing a gray corduroy curtain to go in the doorway of my mama's living room. It is turning out looking very cozy and "Mr. Badger"ish. (...if you haven't ever read The Wind in the Willows you will not be aware of the great secure, cozy, Englishy, gladdening feeling that his name is supposed to give you. I'm afraid that that is entirely your own fault. It is a book everyone should read.) I made the curtain about 20 inches longer than the distance from the top of the rod to the floor, as it is supposed to make a gloriously rich puddle on the floor. I shall have to show you a picture of it when I get it finished and hung up where it is supposed to go!

On Friday evening, my man and I drove forty minutes north to my parents' house on the farm for supper and the evening. It was so wonderful. Have I ever mentioned before the cozy, home-y-ness of my mama and papa's house? Well, it something akin to a Mr. Badger house. And the visit was made doubly wonderful by the presence of some dear friends of ours there who I have not had a chance to see in over a year. We made supper, saw the new border collie puppy (oh, my word! The cuteness. I think I want a puppy...), walked around dogs napping/watching us cook supper/chasing tennis balls under our chairs, listened to bluegrass, drank coffee and washed dishes, sang worship songs in harmony, worked on handwork around the dining room table, watched an episode of "Due South", enjoyed a bluegrass jam... We drove home late.

Saturday morning found us with a few inches of snow, so my man cleaned off our driveway. We cut up another pickup-truck-full of pallets to burn in the stove and carried in more logs from our pile behind the garage. In the evening we went to my man's parents' house to celebrate his mom's birthday. We had a really good time! We had [the best] pizza from our local "Casey's pizza", and we visited around the table for several hours talking (and drinking hot chai tea). While we were there a blizzard came up and we got six inches of snow before we left to go home!

Church was canceled on Sunday morning, so we stayed home in the snow. In the evening we took a walk around town in the snow and stopped at my man's parents'. Ana and E were busy making a snow fort in the middle of their front yard. We stayed and helped them for a while. It was so much fun! My man used the snow blower to pile the snow from all around on the top of the fort. A couple of us would be inside shoveling and scraping and another outside to shovel the snow away from the entrance as it got pushed out. It was huge by the time it was done...I've never seen a fort that big. My man and his three siblings and I could all be inside it at the same time with plenty of room to spare...we could have easily fit his parents in there too! Then of course we were all soaking wet, and of course we went inside and had popcorn and Ana and Leah showed us how to make snow ice cream (it was delicious!), and of course we stayed until 10pm! It was a good weekend.