A Saturday like none other

Linda and I watched some news together this morning before starting our day. Once we were ready, we headed over to church to dress the altar for worship. The flowers had not been delivered so I was not able to put them in the vase but hopefully one of the others on my team did it or we can simply do it when we get there in the morning. From church we headed to Rachel's house for the Pampered Chef party. Justin had googled the directions for me and it was quite simple to find her home. We arrived too early but Rachel's sister-in-law encouraged us to come in to wait.

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The party was very nice with a roomful of Victory ladies, all of whom seemed quite familiar with the products being demonstrated. Since this was a brunch-themed party, the demonstrator prepared an easy recipe of calzone. I was blown away by the prospect of getting ready-made pizza crust dough in a cardboard can, like the kind crescent rolls come in. Shut up! (By the way, I asked Justin if he knew about this pizza dough thing and he did not either!) Linda, who owns nearly every piece or tool in the catalog, assisted the demonstrator, shredding the Swiss cheese. I was so proud!

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In response to my amazement at the pizza dough in a can concept, one of the ladies declared that they were going to make cook out of me yet, that this so-called party was indeed, an intervention!!! Oh, how I laughed about this---so funny! In reflection, I have cooked more in 2009 than I probably have the previous ones, due in part to the monthly dinners, more eating in than out with the depressed economy, and my hosting of movie night for my lady friends.....But really, there is no need for additional tools or implements to make the meals. PC does offer some nice recipe cards for single-dish meals which looked simply marvelous so I bought that collection as well as few items to be used for gift exchanges coming up. For an appetizer, Rachel served some apple and Brie tarts made in pre-formed filo bread tarts. Oh, my goodness, they were "stick to my teeth" delicious!!!! The appetizer cookbook I ordered will be a blessing if I only make these little tarts!

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Before we headed for home, Linda had spotted a SteinMart near Rachel's so we stopped in there to check it out. The Fleming Island store is no longer in business so it was ideal for us to hit it while right there. Linda found a dressy jacket to wear for the holidays and I found a couple items to put in my closet, saving as much money as I spent. While we would have liked to shop a bit longer, Linda had to use the bathroom and, of course, they were out of order. I asked a clerk if there were other restrooms but nope, that was it! So, we went to the registers to check-out. The clerk there encouraged us to go to CVS to use their restrooms and then come back to shop some more. Thank you, no....

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It was a "relief" to get home again and settled in the family room once more to get her feet up. We watched "My Life in Ruins" before heading back out to Victory to meet Justin for church. Saturday evenings is more like a brief devotion and hymn, and then Bible study with The Truth Project, which I studied with this group last spring. Tonight's lesson was the one that was my favorite from the class, Social Order. Wow! Talk about powerful, and moreso because my son was sitting next to me. The value of life, the roles assigned by God at creation (and who are we to try to change them?), how the concept of 'submission' became a negative one by society, and so on. Portions of it really touched my heart, in particular when the segment came on where various people give their definition of "family". The responses flow from extremely pleasing to heart-wrenching, almost tragic, ideas of what our society now considers to be 'family'. Naturally, my eyes overflowed and Justin reached over and snuggled me close to him. I was not sad by myself and that is what I love about my Justin!

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Afterwards, we were pleased to be graced by his presence yet some more as his friends were out of town Friday night through today. He missed out on that particular "fun" because of Carmina Burana on Friday night....oh, well! Earlier I had mentioned to Linda about being hungry for some fries and we ended up going to 5 Guys for a hot dog and fries. We ate outside which was about the same temperature as inside. We enjoyed our nice meal and great conversation before Justin said his good-byes to Linda and we headed home. He will not see her again until she comes back in February because he is not going "home" for ThanksLiving, nor are we going up for CHRISTmas. The time will go by quickly, as did this visit, because tomorrow, she is leaving already! Rats!