Weekending- Pickle balls and actual pickles...

Linking up with Holly and Sarah for Hello Monday:

Friday evening, we had the girls and their boyfriends over for dinner. The boyfriends had both been over earlier in the summer for dinner (why does early June seem like a long time ago?? Yet, simultaneously like this summer has flown by??). I had hoped for more dinners together but all four worked jobs this summer that sometimes extended well into the evening past dinnertime. An evening when all four didn't work and were all available was not something that occurred readily. 

Alyssa and I picked up Lovely's fried chicken ("Lovely’s" being a proper noun as the eponymous name of the farm market and a descriptor (what a great last name if you're going to start a food based business!!)) earlier in the day. When Lovely's runs out of fried chicken for the day, they are out. So, we went early enough to ensure we could get enough. 

Lovely's has all sorts of homemade sides that one can purchase but I decided to make potato salad. I made some earlier this summer for the first time and Alyssa loved it. She asked me to make it again before summer ended and I thought this meal would be a good one for it. She also asked me to make a lot hoping for leftovers. I did make a lot and we did have leftovers so mission accomplished! Oh, and it tasted really good! I used this recipe as I did before, but I had to by guess and by golly the measurements of the dressing to make up for the large number of potatoes that I used. We also had corn on the cob and Alyssa made a vegetable dip that we used for baby carrots and fresh garden vegetables.

The mess before the calm/clean!

The girls eyerolled when they saw the centerpiece for the table for our meal on Friday. But I stand by it! The flowers represent summer and growth. The pickleballs are symbolic to mark the summer of pickleball playing by all nimble enough to run. The one golf ball is utilitarian as well as symbolic. It holds the smaller vase upright inside the bigger vase. Golfing was one theme of the summer as well. (And it was one of the girls who left a golf ball in the kitchen that served as this inspo!) The guys were too polite to eyeroll at the unique centerpiece!

I picked up this ice cream to go along with dessert. Finding a good tasting ice cream is not exactly a ground breaking discovery as that is sort of the point of ice cream... but I highly recommend this flavor.

The kids kind of scattered after dinner- I had visions of us all spending the evening together but that didn't comport with real life and it worked out anyway because Donnie and I needed to pick up the new(/used) car that he purchased Friday night after we took it on a test drive.

The car he bought is a Porsche Macan and it is as pretty as can be… We could have spent approximately the same amount on a new Honda Accord or similar type car.  But Donnie likes the Porsche brand quite a bit (our convertible was an older Porsche Boxster that we all really liked) so buying a used one made sense to avoid paying the very high cost of a brand new one yet getting a car that he really likes.

Saturday, I got some things done around the house including making some zucchini bread. Jacob came up from Cincinnati to return my car to me and to take Donnie's old car back to his place. He is buying Donnie's old car from us (at a nice (for him, lol) discount). Donnie, the girls and I made a run to Starbucks Speedway (a gas station) for coffee/soda drinks. Gotta save those Benjamins for upkeep on the new car! (an obvious advantage of buying a brand-new car is that you have more time before you have to worry about spending money on repairs. But if you go into buying a used car anticipating/ being able to afford repairs sooner, it is not that big of a deal.)

Saturday evening, Abby, Donnie and I headed to nearby Waynesville High School to attend an alumni vs. current players soccer match. Abby's boyfriend is an alumni soccer player for his high school. The alumni lost but it was a good match to watch. It was also nice/ weird to be watching a live soccer game in which I wasn't emotionally invested. If we went to one soccer game, we went to hundreds when our kids played!!

Had dinner afterward in ´Boro and called it a night. 

Sunday morning we went to church and straight after that to Sam's Club to get items for us and some pre-made dinners for a good friend who was involved in car accident Friday night. Our friend is OK but in quite a bit of pain and won't feel like cooking for a while. It's a stressful time for the family and we wanted to do something tangible to help them out.

Later in the afternoon, we brought food over to our friend and visited for about an hour. 

Croissants, fresh veggies, and frosted zucchini bread may be the oddest items ever in a container together but needs must!

Not having to worry about a few meals will hopefully ease some of the inconveniences that accompany not feel well at all. 

In the five years since I have driven my car, I have not had a key chain for the fob. That finally changed when I picked up the kitschy-est keychain in Florida:

The display changes when you move the keychain.

I put the keychain on the fob over the weekend. I love it! It is the little things, right?

Speaking of little things, I mentioned in my last post that I attempted to make pickles from cucumbers. The cucumbers had to sit in their brine for at least three days. On Sunday, it had been three days so we opened the two containers of cucumbers/pickles(?) that I attempted and tried them. Success!! The cukes got pickled and all the pickle eaters really like them. Yah!