Friday night, after J & I saw the boys off, we popped up to Dino's for good coffee before hitting the grocery store. Then, we went home for a romantic evening in. I made cheese fondue & we had it out on the porch, by candlelight. I placed the candles on the blue & white Japanese tray that Nyoko gave us. With the stars shining & the crickets singing & the food fabulous, it was a perfect evening.
Saturday morning, we had breakfast at The Original Pancake House. We ran into J's cousin, Heather, who is working there. The owner had sent me an e-mail offering a "back-of-the-house" tour, so we took him up on that after we ate our scrambled eggs & apple pancake. It was very interesting. His pride in his place was very apparent & was nice to see.
In the afternoon, we each had a half hour massage, then went home & hung out until Steph came over to go eat Indian food with us. She'd never had it before & liked it. We enjoyed our chicken tikka masala & saag paneer, too. Then, we took her to Books & Co. She'd never been there before, either. Welcome to our life, Steph! I was able to find the last book I need for my OT class, Marcus Borg's Reading the Bible Again for the First Time. I started reading it that night in bed & it is really good so far. I was especially impressed by his discussion on the exclusivist nature of Christianity. He said that if we are required to accept Jesus as our savior in order to be saved, then that's putting a condition on Grace, which makes it not Grace at all.
Sunday morning, we got up & brewed coffee & made chocolate banana muffins for J's boss & his mom. They arrived right on schedule & we sat on the porch & had coffee & muffins before church. Then, we walked over to church for the service. Unfortunately, Brendan was out of town. But, we had a good guest pastor, Mike Ridgeway, who often fills in for us when Brendan is gone. They came up for coffee hour & met my grands. Then, we headed to The Winds for brunch.
Dave & his mom both really liked The Winds. We had a table by the window, which was nice. Dave's mom is so much like someone's mom from a movie, belongs to a card club & Red Hats & all kinds of stuff like that. She is a Texan now, but is from Boston, which is apparent when she speaks, even after years in Texas. She's fun to talk to, quite interesting. She & I did most of the talking. The food was wonderful! Dave & I had shrimp & grits, J had the veggie torte, & Lisa had biscuits with mushroom gravy. She also had a cinnamon peach scone, while J & I split a piece of chocolate chip cheesecake. We had planned to pick up the tab, but Dave beat us to it & wouldn't be talked out of it. I have the feeling that the only way we can beat him at this game is to cook for him, something really good. After brunch, we walked around town, showing Lisa the shops. Then, they headed home while J & I did some more poking. We each got a lingam & J pointed out a number of things I can get her for Christmas.
We went home & had a nap before heading out for our next social engagement. C.R. & Ron from our couples' group had invited us to a cocktail party, so we drove into Dayton for that. On the sidewalk across from their house, we met a hairless cat. It was really cute & extremely friendly, but badly in need of a bath & an ear cleaning. I know that if it had still been out there when we left, J would have insisted on adopting it. I think it probably has a home, though. I hope so. The party was fun. We got the grand tour of their new house, which is just gorgeous, an older home that's been renovated. Then, we sat outside with April & Becky and Tom & Dan, chit-chatting about food, parenting (Tom & Dan raised Tom's 2 daughters together), and travel. The boys just got back from a trip to the Wisconsin Dells & the girls were recently on an Olivia trip to the Dominican Republic. We sipped margaritas & chocolate Russians & laughed & enjoyed the cool evening air. J & I stopped for dinner at Friday's on the way home.
Yesterday, J actually took the day off! Her boss had told her to & she actually did it. So, we lazed in bed fairly late. Then, I got my review finished & sent it in before we headed out to shop. We wanted to comparison shop for Boot's bed & to find a bike for Pie. We got him one, a black Schwinn. The bed is going to be a little harder. Everything is so high. Boot will probably end up with a captain's bed. The extra storage would be great & it's a good-looking bed. It's more than we should really pay, but he very much wants a new bed & Pie very much wants his bed. So, we'll move Boot's new bed in, give Pie Boot's bed, & Freecycle Pie's bed. We stopped only for lunch at Max & Erma's & Starbucks on the way home.
Once home, I got started on dinner while J showed the just-returned boys Pie's bike. He doesn't like it, thinks it's too small. It sits lower to the ground than standard, so I can see where he wouldn't. We'll take it back & let him pick another. After the babies went to bed, we had breakfast sandwiches...scrambled eggs, prosciutto, & cheese on grilled ciabatta...with cheesy hash browns & kiwi fruit. I got everything ready for class today & we watched CSI in bed. I did some reading for Thursday's class before falling asleep.
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