Music always sounds better on Friday.

 Lou Brutus

Despite the plethora of homework awaiting my attention, this weekend was full...in a non-academic way. Mario came home from his latest trip on Friday night. I had dinner waiting and we just hung out and caught up on our DVR.

Kiddo and I have fallen for Arrow. Anyone else watch that show? It has the superhero element for him (and is age appropriate) but the storyline keeps me watching. When Mario gets home, he wants in on the action. I love shows that appeal to the whole house. Jared and I also love Once Upon a Time. If he gets ready for bed by 7:30, we watch a half an episode snuggled in my bed. It's an incentive for him to get ready for bed in a timely manner, and is a fun little way to wind down at the end of a long day.

Saturday was a busy day. We got up early to volunteer at the pancake breakfast fundraiser at Jared's school. It's a charter school, and underfunded by the state, so they rely on fundraisers and parent participation to fill in the gaps. After working and helping with cleanup, we headed to the house of some fellow parents for their annual Christmas tree burning party. We are new friends, so this was our first time over. We had so much fun!

New England has been a hard place to meet people. We have a few folks we are friendly with, but few friends. The parents at Kiddo's school are a pretty tight group, and we are loving being a part of it. Mario and I were just lamenting last night about the fact that we are about a year from moving away, and suddenly meeting all kinds of people. Where have they been the last five years?! It wasn't for lack of trying, I assure you.

It was a really fun, redneck time. It is basically an all day potluck and get-together with a dried out Christmas tree burning finale. The thing lights up in a blaze of glory. There's nothing like alcohol and fire to get guys all excited. Kiddo played and sledded with the other kids and Mario and I got some much-needed adult interaction.

On Friday night, I decided to make an Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana copycat recipe for Mario's homecoming. It was amazing! Only I decided to double it, so we had soup coming out our ears. Mario suggested we bring it to the potluck, so we loaded up the leftovers in the Crock Pot. It was even better than the night before and got eaten up before half the people got there. It is definitely going in the "keep" pile. Recipe to come!

Sunday involved sleeping in, fresh biscuits for breakfast, movie-watching, and an early dinner of Chinese takeout. The perfect kind of Sunday, really.

Monday has brought our responsibilities back into focus. To do lists, homework, business calls, appointments, and the like. As I write this, we are sitting at our local Starbucks, each on our computers, plugging away. Somehow it is so much easier to get back to reality after a weekend of frivolity.

Happy Monday, Friend!


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