Keeping Busy!!

Well, yesterday was my anniversary!! It was really wonderful :) I wound up sleeping in because I was up so late the night before worrying about the storm(s) that had come through. It was a rough night for me, and thank goodness, nothing bad weather-wise came of it, though it was touchy for a while! :)

We left for our evening out around 5, after Mom came to pick Abbi up (she also gave us $25 for dinner!! What a sweetie). Abbi spent the night with Nanna (my mom) for the first time!! I was really worried at first that Abbi would give her a hard time, or that we would get that unfortunate call that we would need to cut our evening short, that Abbi was just "too much"... but when Mom called later that evening everything was wonderful and fine! Abbi was laughing so hard that I could hear her all the way through the phone, and it was so contagious that i'm sure everyone in the restaraunt thought I was a bit nutty...

We wound up driving down to Wichita Falls, TX and went to Applebees for supper. Word to the wise: Dont get the fish. It was AWFUL. I should have stuck with what I had been craving: Steak... YUMMMMM... but one look at the menu and the baby had a different idea. "Battered fish sounds delicious mommy... puh-leaaaaaase!!!!" ok... so I need to work on the just-say-no idea... I'm getting there. other than that, the food was wonderful, and the company better. We took pictures of each other in the restaraunt and had the greeter get a picture of us outside... I wanted something special to document our big 5 year anniversary together :)

After that, Kevin took me to the mall down there, and we walked around a bit. I got a new journal (yay!) called "the ME book" with daily undated entries, a page for notes on one side (where I plan to answer questions from "the journal jar" so i can give it to abbi when she gets married!) and on the other side, questions like "what was in the news today, how are you feeling, news with my friends and family" etc... very happy and excited about that LOL. We also got some YUMMY bath and body works soaps - Fresh Cotton, White Tea and Ginger, and Coconut Lime... YUM! :)

Next we went to the movies and saw "A Lot Like Love" - ADORABLE movie. Just loved it. Ashton Kutcher was amazing in this movie (and i'm not a big fan of his since the whole "punked" thing... something about that voice... but in this movie... HUBBA HUBBA). It was really sweet - a nice romantic (and funny) love movie on our anniversary... nice touch hubby!!

Drove home (took a wrong turn! ha!) and got home just in time for another storm (not too bad this time thank goodness) and some romance (wink*wink). A long nights sleep did us both some good and then we took off again today on another busy day!!

Went to pick Abbi up around 1 today, and then went to go see the "Arts for All" festival downtown. It was basically just one street, a block long, with vendors and artists... it was really interesting and I wound up getting so inspired by the work that I came home and started painting again! I have started the first in what I hope will be a series of two or three big pieces, and several smaller ones, that I am going to give to my mom for her birthday this october (it will take me that long to get the motivation to go get the mats and frames LOL). I'm really liking it so far :) YAY!

Then we went to the infamous grocery store... on payday weekend... OY! That was an experience. We try to avoid doing that, but we were running really low, and in my pregnancy-induced-hysteria insisted to Kevin that we couldn't survive another night without bread (which of course we forgot to get). So off we trotted to the commessary. I had dutifully made out a menu for the next 2 weeks, down to the day, and written a corresponding grocery list. Pending Kevin's approval ($$$), we went shopping and got all of our groceries to last until the first. I was highly impressed, and simply must share... MILK was $1.98 a gallon!!!! I was shocked. HAPPY shocked. So we stocked up.

Fast forward to this evening. Kevin went to a BBQ for work, and I declined thanks to the busy past couple days. I decided a quiet evening at home was just what the DR. ordered for me and Abbi.. HA!!!!! isn't it funny how Irony can just come bite you in the butt!?

Well, I decided I would start baking since we forgot to get the bread. I remembered making this delicious onion bread some years ago, and thought it would be a good time to re-try the recipe. Well about then, Mom came over, and we chatted on the back porch while Abbi played in the sprinkler. Then we rolled hair and put on face cream and chatted some more. Nothing like a girl night :) After she left, I decided to finally tackle that bread. It was 9pm.

3 hours later... The dough had been mixed, added, mixed again, added, kneaded, risen, divided, twisted, greased, placed in the pan, and set in the oven. OMG I had somehow forgotten that the steps for creating this masterpiece were anything but easy. If i were to buy this home-made bread in a mom&pop bakery somewhere, they would have to charge $40 just to cover hourly costs and supplies... this better be good bread.

My back is aching, and i'm exhausted, but its been a WONDERFUL weekend so far. Couldn't ask for better... Lots to be thankful for. :)

Signing off!