Weekending

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday.

Friday evening was chill. I'd like to say it was because I'd worked so hard and needed a night in to crash but the truth was, I'd worked only one day that week so I'd had plenty of chill time at home. Well, Donnie was tired after a long week of work. I made homemade pizza for dinner. Alyssa spent the evening with her guy friend (that sounds better than boyfriend, right??). Donnie and I went on a walk, watched Netflix and waited for Alyssa to arrive home before going to bed. 

I slept in which was great and didn't even run right away like I normally do because I slept in so late (about 7:30- I ran later in the day on the treadmill). Alyssa and I ran a couple of errands while Donnie did some work from home. We went to the $1(.25) store so that I could buy gift bags and wrapping paper for Abby's upcoming birthday. As we were leaving the shopping center, Alyssa informed me that we were .6 miles away from a Dunkin' and asked if we could stop by for Dunkin's version of a PSL. Of course we could! I wouldn't be fallin' correctly if I said no to such a request.

We were driving in the convertible- it was arguably too chilly but we find that we live life on the convertible edge when the season of consistent non top down driving weather approaches. The guy at the Dunkin' drive thru window asked if he could roll with us. At least I thought that's what he said. I kind of laughed (I wasn't quite sure what he'd ask but thought that's what he said. Alyssa said later that's what she thought he said, too) because really what other response was there? I did point out the obvious that since we only had two seats and they were both occupied, the answer was no. 

On the way home, I noticed that gas was cheaper near where we were than in Springboro so we stopped and got gas in the car so Alyssa wouldn't have to worry about getting gas during the school week. While Alyssa gassed up, I went into the store and got a Big Gulp. I would regret it around 1:30 am when I was wide awake but when I got it, I was blissfully unaware of the impact the Gulp would have on me later.

We stopped at a nearby farm market, Lovely's, to buy fried chicken for dinner for Donnie and me. (Alyssa does not like fried chicken.  She doesn't eat it, not because it's unhealthy but because she doesn't like it, bless her little heart). Lovely's has a reputation for having the best fried chicken around. I am not sure if this is true or not as I don't consider myself a fried chicken expert. All I know is we try to limit ourselves to having this chicken to about once a year since it's not the paragon of healthy eating. 

I mentioned in my last post that we live near a pumpkin patch in town. That place sells pumpkins as well as candy and baked goods. We live even closer to Lovely's which is open May through November. It's a dangerous place for me to spend time in as it sells, in addition to the aforementioned highly esteemed fried chicken, a huge variety of candy, homemade fudge, ice cream, homemade pies. (It also sells a huge variety of home grown vegetables and canned goods but those items are not "dangerous" to me, lol).

We did pretty good at Lovely's- got chicken and sides for dinner (again just for Donnie and me. Alyssa had pasta and grilled chicken), three small bags of candy, and some fudge.

Alyssa had a cross country meet that night- not evening 😒. It was a huge meet and many races took place in the evening. But the last two, the girls varsity and boy varsity began after 9:00 pm. Alyssa did pretty well. She PR'd for the season but her team did not do well, unfortunately. I think it was her team's worst placing in any cross country meet since Alyssa's freshman year. The girls have been continually plagued by injuries. Alyssa has not been injured this season or the previous two and for that we are thankful.

Alyssa got home from the meet super late. She had to do her cool down run after the race, talk to the coach, find her car (she actually parked in a neighborhood near where the school where the meet was because she feared the parking lot was full) and then she drove one of her cross country teammates home (the two girls could have taken the school bus to the meet but they would have had to have been gone almost the entire day; her coach gave the girls permission to come to the meet later but they had to get there themselves). We chatted with Alyssa for a while about the meet and then we all went to bed. 

About this time, the Big Gulp came back to haunt me as sleep eluded me. Fortunately, I had a good book to keep me company and the comfiest of blankets ensconcing me as I read on the couch. Truthfully, if not for the bags that I knew would be under my eyes the next day and the crankiness from feeling tired I feared would render me a "less best version of me" the next day, I wouldn't have minded being awake for so long. I fell asleep well after 2:00 am and, as luck, or just typical me, would have it, I woke up at 5:55 am wide eyed and bushy tailed. I dared to hope that a nap would be in my future at some point that day (spoiler alert, it wasn't) as I got out of bed, admitting defeat in my endeavor to fall back to sleep, and put on running clothes to head outside for a run.

Church was great and afterwards, we were talking to two of our couple friends. One of them invited us to their house for the afternoon to eat chili, watch football and hang out together. We couldn't turn down such an offer though a languid afternoon at home had sounded just fine, too, before we got the invitation. We got Alyssa another pumpkin drink from Dunkin' on our way home from church, dropped Alyssa off at home (she had a lot of homework to do and had plans that evening to hang out with her guy friend), picked up some fall treats to take to our friend's house (pretzel bites and beer cheese, sugar cookies and brownies) and then spent the afternoon sort of watching football but mostly talking and eating. It was a great way to end the weekend. (And I didn't feel too cranky either, on Sunday, which was truly a blessing!)

Our friends have three fur babies. One of them loved to try to lick Donnie's forehead! They are so cute. 

Leftovers- killer brownies (the best brownies!) and Laura's Cookies (the best sugar cookies!) Yum, we sure didn't need the candy and fudge that we'd purchased on Saturday...