This was a good weekend.

We went to the farmer’s market on Saturday.  Bought some things that were fresh and yummy and all at good prices.  Got back home just before the downpour began.  Always a good feeling to know that you narrowly missed getting soaked!

I worked Saturday evening.  It was good, but I’m hoping to sign on for some longer shifts.  Working the short ones makes me feel all discombobulated.  Right around the time I’m hitting my stride, it’s time to start getting ready to hand over to the next shift!

Got home to find that Joe was still awake… barely.  Apparently, Chris had undergone quite the ordeal with Joe’s afternoon nap.  I’d been telling Chris for the past few days that Joe’s afternoon naps were turning into something of a battle and I was considering tweaking the timing of them.  Chris really understood what I meant and why this was frustrating to me once he’d experienced an over-tired, not-wanting-to-nap version of Joe!  So, yes – Joe was still awake when I got home.  I simply nursed him and put him to bed.

Got up on Sunday and enjoyed the fact that neither of us had to be at church till 10am.  Normally, one of us has to be there sooner than that for some reason or another.  As it worked out, I was the one who had to go early today (to set up for morning tea) and Chris was able to stay home with Joe, thereby allowing Joe to get a good nap in before the service.  Of course, about 45 minutes before I had to leave, Joe spat up all over me – on my neck, my chest, running down my back, and getting a lot of my hair as well.  I had to go back into the bathroom and rinse my hair out in the sink and blow-dry it for the second time that day.  And there was a distinct smell of baby spit-up lingering about me!  I just sprayed some perfume and that did the trick.

I walked in to set up for morning tea by myself.  It was like a mini-vacation!  The sun was shining, it was warm and beautiful, I had some happy music playing on my iPod, and I felt refreshed and energized.

Got to church and set things up fairly quickly.  Morning tea consists of making a pot of coffee, setting out the mugs, the serviettes (paper napkins), some milk, sugar, spoons, tea bags, and a jug of hot water… all of this is for before the service.  For after the service, we have the same things but also treats of some kind.  This morning, it was cinnamon-sugar mini-donuts and chocolate-caramel slices.  I served along with another regular attendee, chatting with people while filling their mugs.  After about 15 minutes – once everyone has gotten a full cup and something to munch on – we start the clean up process and begin to wash dishes and slowly put away the coffee, tea, and sweets after going around and making sure that everyone has had their fill.

Chris was on take-down responsibilities.  While he took care of that, Joe and I visited and eventually wandered back to the church offices, where I could nurse Joe in a comfortable chair.  We chatted with a new friend and once Chris was done, headed for home.  Joe stayed up till 2pm (rather than his usual nap time of 1pm) and that seemed to do the trick.  He slept straight through till 4:30p and I was able to get a quick cat-nap in on the side.  Chris played his football game in the relative quiet of our inner-city apartment.

Once my nap was over, I came out to the lounge and made up the meal-plan for the week: baked mushroom mac-and-cheese, lentil rice skillet supper, lasagna, chicken soup, crustless pizza, and baked bean chili.  I’ve never tried baked bean chili and it sounds awfully heavy and wintery to me, but Chris loves baked beans and we have a bunch of them in our pantry that I wanted to use.  So, we’ll give it a whirl.

Once Joe was up, I nursed him and then fed him some pureed spinach and carrots.  The boy loves spinach!  He finished it up quick as could be and then we 3 headed to the new supermarket down the street.  It’s so nice to go shopping when Chris is available to help with Joe and carry some of the bags back home.  Otherwise, I have to take Joe in the pram and lug the bags back by myself.  That usually means at least 2 trips up and down the stairs, since I don’t want to over-burden myself while carrying Joe and risk falling or dropping him.

Chris was my pack mule knight in shining armor and carried the bags for me.  We got in and out of the store in less than an hour and all while spending less than $100.  Love it!  I also bought ingredients to make sangria.  Since it’s so warm over here, this seemed like a good time to give it a try.  It’s currently marinating in the fridge as we speak and I’ll finish it up tomorrow evening.  Can’t wait!

Once Joe was in bed for the night (around 7:30p) I got back in the kitchen.  I wanted to make some no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies while I had the time.  I was almost done when I realized that I had no vanilla – only almond essence!  I substituted half the amount of almond essence for the amount called for of vanilla and added in some coconut, and Chris declared that they were better that way than the original method 🙂

Since I was already making a mess, I decided to brown the beef mince (ground beef) and have it all ready to go for later this week.  Afterward, I cleaned up the mess, started the dishwasher, and sat down at my laptop to send some emails and write up this post!

All in all, a good weekend.  Busy, but good.

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So, my lovely readers, how was your weekend?  Share!