let's title this honestly: the past few days.

Today was much less sleepy, as I slept in. Dangit.

That totally messes with everything else in the day.

As in, getting food made and into the bellies of the family. As in, cleaning the kitchen.

I believe it was Sunday or Monday night, before bed, when Anna and I were talking about the stuff to come in this week.

I joked that we were going to have 3 days in a row of real socialization.

Haha.

Tuesday: mom's Bible study with Michelle and Tara and all the children. It's so sweet to see them grow with every month. Gosh, do they change!

Wednesday: Anna and I met Nedra, an older woman from church, and her friend Lenea at her house. Nedra and Lenea have been friends since their children were small and they first were neighbors. 30ish years.

We went to a half-price bookstore where tons of books of all sorts were a nice price around $6 (got The Irresistible Revolution and a cupcake book, Anna got a birth book and something else), then to a spice shop which smelled amazing. It was wide open, had good light, the walls were a lovely soft green. Opening the jars to smell different blends? A great past-time. ;)

Okay. Y'all know I'm weird, so let me express my appreciation and interest in the simpleness of the spice shop's john.

They had these cool crates in there. No idea what they held, but I though it would be cool if there were drawers installed in the sides.

I liked the floor. It appeared to be cement, spray-painted with dye.

And the simple white and design of the sink? I want that. I like it.

I warned you, okay? Thanks. :]

Then we stopped in Joann fabrics. Anna started to go nuts in the scrapbooking aisle while I meandered over to her, staring at the different shades of mock linen. Ahhhh, that would be perfect for a room the color of _____....oh that one's lovely. 

Olive Garden was lunch, and this is where it really got interesting. We ordered soup and salad, a nice thing that didn't exactly rip your wallet in half. ;) We had a really nice southern lady as our waitress who kept the refills of salad and our different soups coming as we talked. 

Well, more like they talked. But gosh, I wouldn't have changed it.

They're both in their early-mid 60's. Both married for 42ish years, though Nedra's husband passed away a couple years ago.

Their different personalities were refreshing to witness. When Lenea started in on about visiting Scotland and France, I was entranced, to be honest. We didn't even have to ask questions, my gosh. She just spilled it all, and in a detailed but interesting fashion. 

Scotland was where she visited her pen pal of ?? years. Such a random but cool story.

So we heard a lot of stories of life, living, adventures, etc. Oh yes, and normal stuff too, obviously. Like living with men and your sons. 

It was just interesting to hear different perspectives all these past few days. Mostly, the perspective of moms. Like how nothing ever really gets done because there are all these little interruptions. That was on Tuesday. At that moment, I had a wee bit of a puzzle piece moment and thought of all the mommy-bloggers I know. It's that one thing they enjoy that gets done, several times a week. A sense of accomplishment, maybe. Something that you set out to do...and it got done, no matter how small the post or how many pictures it had.

Just a thought.

I asked her if they had good coffee there, (yes I said those words) and she smiled big and said she personally though they had awesome coffee. So of course I ordered a cup. Because I didn't wake up early enough to brew a pot that morning inbetween helping things get done and getting showered and dressed myself, before leaving at 10:30ish.

Mmmm. So she brought me this cup. And that silver container full of coffee. I got a good 2-3 cups out of it. Anna was sneaking sips of it, especially after we each ordered one of their little desserts. The $2.20 bigger-than-a-shot-glass desserts. So good. I got the chocolate one with the chocolate cookie bottom. Lenea did the same. She said it was a chocolate kind of day. Anna got the one with caramel and cream and yummy stuff like that, and Nedra broke the mold and got the lemon one.

We we chatted about --er, listened, to talk of France and how to visit with efficient use of your money.

The only thing I would have changed was where we were seated.

No natural light at all, really.

Darn. You know how I'm obsessed about having that for taking pictures.

So that's why these pictures --namely, this last one-- suck. Never take for granted those times you have good light... heh heh.

So. Three main things of advice for us young and/or unattached things? 

1. Don't go into marriage thinking you can change the man. You won't. Make sure before the vows that you can live with his faults and quirks for the rest of your life. [don't forget you have your own bloody faults, too.]

2. If you're going to go to college, don't go until you have a trade. A job that will help so you won't be completely buried in debt with no food. hahaha

3. If you're going to run around the town or world, if you're going to travel across the ocean or anything like that, do it before you get married. If you wait and do it all afterward, you might end up hurting your marriage. Because after all, those kind of things (marriage) need attention if you're going to have a good one.

4. Don't have kids unless you're ready to devote your life to raising them for that time. 

If you can't focus on them, care for them, love them and guide them and raise them morally into respectful, responsible human beings, then don't have them. (in the words of Lenea, which i was silently cheering at the blatant sense in this subject she spoke on....having seen people who could use a good long talking-to for their brains to get screwed in right. ahem.)

All in all, you can see it was a fascinating time. 

Older people are so interesting. And they had the gall to ask if we had a good time, if we minded hanging out with a couple of old ladies. Ha! No way. It was fabulous.

Thursday: Woke up. Anna was nannying next door. So I got to have fun kind of whipping the house into shape with the fam....just lovely:) But first, there was this. Before everyone was up for the day:

For the evening and a night in our camper on the way to someplace, friends came down from a couple hours up north. With three small children, it's always a bucket of fun. Especially once they break out of their ice block of shyness.

Because we all know there's actually only about 2% of children who are really truly shy in nature. Anna tried out a new recipe on us --lasagna with pesto, spinach, ricotta cheese, white/bechamel sauce, mushrooms... it was good. So good, that when she proposed the idea of putting chicken in it next time, I flat out protested. No way. It was good, nothing else added, much less of the meat category!

So.

Listen to this song. Download it. Listen to it.

Today: I'm about to go help make something with zucchini, peppers, tomatoes and couscous for dinner.

There. Now you have officially witnessed a smaller version of havoc that can and has been present in our kitchen:) 

The 'after' shot; with coffee and a bit of relaxation, getting ready to blog this... :)

Some watermelon because Lyd was in the mood, hehe.

Okay. This last one is going to go in my library someday.

Add that onto the dang dream list. ;) Heh heh.

But how about this one? I'd have to start saving now. And I'm not sure I could choke this price down. Youch. 3k? Ack! Let it never be so. But it's real leather.......