Satisfaction!

After the snow on Thursday, we have been basking in the sunshine.  Friday felt like a "patio day" - in Denver it would have meant gathering with the girls after work on a patio for happy hour.  Instead I made guacamole and margaritas, and Tom and I toasted the weekend.  And what a weekend it was!

To preface the satisfaction with the weekend, it is worth mentioning that it has been eight weeks since we have both been home all weekend and had no more obligations than Sunday mass and being there early for me to practice the music.  (That wasn't even a full weekend if you count that we lost an hour with Daylight savings - just kidding.)  For many eight weeks is not such a staggering figure, but they have kids whom they chase to gyms, etc. - not us.  Anyway, it's been a long time, and we certainly made the most of it!

Saturday Tom made french toast for breakfast as I got in an morning walk.  We cruised through the last little bit of texturing that could be done without the scaffolding.  Tom then got the tractor running and set off cleaning the ditches while I pulled out the ladder and brushed the tops of the walls with primer - I'm a sloppy painter, so I like to give myself a nice set of lines to roll paint within - tops, bottoms, corners, etc.  With the scaffolding on the stairs, I moved the ladder around a lot, but got it all finished, as well as a few other brush projects.  At some point Thomas switched gears and borrowed the brush hog to clean up around the property.

It cooled down by late afternoon, so we went out walking the ditch.  I'd never actually been all the way up to the canal - up the full length of the ditch from which we get out water.  We have two neighbors who take water from the ditch before us, so I'd only been up halfway - to a diversion that splits off from our ditch.  Tom surprised me with a treat along the way - wild asparagus!  Though I've heard the joke about "vegetarian" meaning lousy hunter, I made a fine hunter and scouted out several more stalks for our Sunday night dinner.  Then the big score was an elk antler shed along the fence line.  We walked all the way up to the canal, which was so much bigger than I expected and really quite pretty with the deer lingering in the area.  A beautiful walk with my husband - some good finds - a lot of work accomplished!

Sunday, mass was two hours earlier than usual, so we got a jump start on our day, even stopping for breakfast with Mom and Pop after church (a real treat, since it is a rare occasion that our service is early enough to get out and have breakfast still being served anywhere).  Tom took on the scaffolding / texturing project, while I finished brushing along the ceiling edges in the bathroom.  As he finished up the wall above the stairs, I rolled out the kitchen, dining/living area, hall, and bathroom.  I still need to roll the spot that we textured this weekend, but we're already talking about putting up color! 

The weekend was topped off with a fantastic meal.  Though not able to join in the birthday celebration for my sister on Sunday, Thomas whipped up an amazing dish - pasta with gorgonzola sauce topped with shrimp and wild asparagus in a balsamic reduction.  Hmm...my mouth waters just to think of it!

Talk about a satisfying weekend...