Moving slow today. We had the last of Callum's conferences this morning and I seem to have caught his cold overnight. Go me. I think I'll take all of the brilliant advice offered on Friday and crawl back under the covers pretty sharpish. I'm feeling the need for some tea and sympathy. All in all we had a good weekend though. Callum is feeling much better, despite a lingering cough, and I got to kick things off with coffee with a dear friend on a rainy Friday. A surprise giftie from my mom totally made my day! She and I had both bemoaned the difficulties of my present hand mixer. It had so much power that it was actually somewhat terrifying to use! This one is apparently a bit easier to manage. We'll try with another batch of muffins but maybe tomorrow. That led me to give away the old mixer in the gigantic clean-out Neel made us do on Saturday (see #6). That room was originally the back bedroom of our house, so when our master addition was built, right before we moved in, it became something of a pass-through room. You have to go through it to get to our bedroom, which makes it great for a nursery (not necessary) or office (that's the ticket!). Since we walk through that room everyday and since those bookshelves are what we see from our bed, it's kind of important that the room is a little pulled together. It looks much better now.

It was a good cooking weekend. I did a tuna with black bean sauce, roasted asparagus and coconut rice for dinner on Saturday night. We're trying to cook nicer dinners together on Saturdays, but since Callum was still feeling a bit wiped out and he and Neel were in the middle of a Sherlock Holmes marathon, I took over. It's all good. And I'm not always in the mood to do a big brunch, but this Sunday I was, and that was very good. Neel handled dinner Sunday: don't you know? Beer-Butt Chicken! Our fave! My mashed potatoes have been a bit of a fail lately though. This time, I'm blaming the potato.

I think the high point of the weekend for Neel was getting a new drill. His plan for the weekend involved removing part of our back fence, and his current drill wasn't up to the task. And here's the sweet story. Neel comes home from the big box hardware store saying he'd spent more than he'd wanted to (uh, $20 more, but whatevs). He got lots of help, and initially landed on a drill that was under his budget. Then he mournfully turns to the woman who had been helping him and says, "But it's ugly." After she stopped laughing, she had to agree. Ultimately, he bumped up his budget that last little bit and came home with a drill that I swear I saw him hug once or twice out in the yard. I get it. I totally do. When I order this lens in a few weeks, I plan on sleeping with it.

Okay kids. Thanks for bearing with me and being patient. Things are trucking along here. Lurching, actually. I know it hasn't been smooth sailing here at SPL, but I've brought in reinforcements and I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Soon! We'll be back on track. Love you, my ducks. XO