It's been a whirling dervish of activity around here! A few months ago, a postcard arrived in the mail suggesting that we might want a housepainter. Well, actually, yes, we did. And the painter was someone we'd interacted with briefly under very positive circumstances, and his quote was very fair, so we agreed to go ahead. He showed up last week, and has been working away with two-three guys helping every day. He encountered some wood rot and so we called the carpenters who not only addressed the wood rot but also installed the last bits of kitchen trim and one replacement cabinet door, and will be back to try and shore up the stockade fence. And the landscapers came by and dueled with the painters for footspace to do spring clean-up.
Meanwhile, I've spread around ten bags of river pebbles, which I only use in the main flower garden —3/4" stone delivered by the yard is good enough for other areas, and then I spread around 3-4 bags of topsoil, filling in holes the dogs dug, and three bags of bark mulch. And planted a whole flat of pansies into various pots. As usual, my ten-year-old son chose some bright yellow pansies, and those are in a hanging pot. I did have some crushed stone delivered and while it wasn't what I thought it was going to be, it did happen to be something we needed in an effort to keep weeds from growing along the fence line of our back yard. And then ever-so-kindly, our neighbors to the rear installed a tall wooden fence immediately alongside our chain-link fence, so suddenly we both have privacy and our respective dogs don't have to see each other any more! There are three dachshunds over there that are of a typical yappy nature.
All of this is in preparation for a bit of a shin-dig this coming Sunday when the boys are being baptized and we're all being "chrismated" into the Orthodox Church of America, otherwise known as joining it. It's a pretty big deal, so we're making sure the boys realize we consider it as such, by commemorating it fully and completely. There are decorated candles with little hanging medallions engraved with their names and the occasion. There are completely white outfits to put on after they're baptized. We'll each put on a new gold cross (and hopefully the chains to wear them on will arrive in time). There is a commemorative program we designed and printed which will be handed out to one and all with a bookmark tucked inside.
And then we're having an open house all afternoon afterwards. Mary is making pasta salad and fruit salad. I'm making mini pumpkin cupcakes, homemade bread and multi-layer white cake, and maybe an apple cake besides. I've tried the pumpkin cake recipe and it's fantastic. I've been making Amish White Bread and it is fantastic, too. The white cake is a new recipe as well, and that is good. Tonight I made a vegan lasagna and it was very delicious, if a bit wet. It may set up a bit overnight. I read through the recipe comments and erred on the side of moist rather than too dry. So the bread, pumpkin cupcakes, and white cake will all be "fast friendly," meaning they won't use olive oil, eggs, dairy or meat. No cheese in the lasagna!
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