Domestic Adventures

Whenever we go anywhere near the Expo Design Center, we have to eat at the Bear Rock Cafe, so of course we stopped there on Monday after purchasing our cool new lights. The Bear Rock Cafe belongs tucked away in the mountains of a ski retreat with its wooden beams, large stone fireplace, and comfy upholstered chairs. Their menu consists of all sorts of wonderful sandwiches, salads, and soups. Everything I’ve tried there is delicious, but my current favorite is the Sasquash: grilled eggplant and squash, Provolone cheese, red onions, mushrooms, lettuce, tomatoes, sprouts and Vidalia Onion dressing on sunflower seed bread. So delicious! I keep hoping they’ll build one on University Blvd. so I don’t have to wait until we’re in the middle of some home improvement project to enjoy their fare!

Brewier, Tricia, Megan, and Jessica joined us for Sunday lunch this weekend. It had been a while since we’d spent time with them, and we had a nice relaxing afternoon. Lunch was rather summer-in-Tuscany themed and I think everything turned out well. In fact, I had a couple of recipe requests, so here they are: Tuscan Chicken with Beans, and Summer Squash and Tomato Melt - both very easy, healthy, and yummy.

Every six months or so, Trent and I shop around for outdoor lighting fixtures. Despite our dislike of the tiny fixtures original to the house, we always come home empty handed. But today we finally found something we liked enough to buy! The Home Depot Expo Center had a large selection and though it took some convincing on Trent’s part to get me to agree to the larger size light, I’m very happy with our choice. He’s almost always right about these sorts of things.

I bought this cowboy hat for Micah’s western themed birthday party last month, and at the time he wanted nothing to do with it. But Micah recently rediscovered it and spent a good twenty minutes taking it on and off and then parading around the living room. Every once in a while he would plant himself in front of me and proudly declare, “AT!” Then he’s be off again smiling and laughing into the sunset.

I won’t be setting a single plant in the ground for a couple of months yet, but I’m getting started on my garden plans. I found this book called Month-by-Month Gardening in Florida by Tom MacCubbin. Unlike most of the info I’ve found online, it’s specific to Florida where our growing seasons are vastly different than other parts of the country. I also like how easy it is to find the exact information you’re looking for and the month by month organization has helped me get a grasp of how to plan this endeavor. Heirloom tomatoes, here I come!

Each week our Tuesday Bible study group gathers around the dinner table at our house. This week, Emmaline sat between Tim and I, and as is her habit, she was doing more talking than eating. “… and I said, don’t eat that, that’s for your mommy. And baby Jesus is wrapped in a blanket. I think he’s in a barn, and I’m not going to take a nap today…” She goes on and on in her own little world talking to a carrot she’s speared on her fork.
I think Tim captured it rather well when he said, “Wow, it’s like listening to a Salvador Dali painting.”

One of the cool gizmos that came with my MacBook is the tiny built-in camera. Paired with Photo Booth, it makes a fun toy. Emmaline and I spent quite a while playing with it and came up with some interesting pictures as you can see. Hmm, I guess it would be cheating to use this for Photobooth Friday.

My days of computer deprivation are over! My shiny new MacBook arrived this morning, two days earlier than expected. It’s very slim and sleek and Trent is jealous claiming that it’s faster and better than his year old PowerBook. I have yet to explore it much, but so far I like it!

We started out with painting, but soon moved on to jewelry design. Emmaline and I searched through my craft drawers for beads, buttons, and anything sparkly. Put that together with some pipecleaners, and you have the makings of some very fine jewelry. Emmaline wore her necklace and collection of rings all day, and I made bracelet I’m really rather fond of, though the picture didn’t turn out well.

My Mother’s Day flowers (which came early) lasted a good week and a half. As the gerber daisies began to fade, all the lillies bloomed beautifully, filling the spaces left behind.

Emmaline made some even longer-lasting flowers in her Sunday school class. Funny how she always mentions shopping in these kinds of projects.