Impromptu Date Night

As I started to piece together my office, I kept thinking about how nice it would look if I painted at least two of the walls a deep, warm color - I kept coming back to blue (think Maxwell House coffee can).  I thought it would make the room cozier and more relaxing - just as a pastor's office should be, right?  I mentioned the idea to someone, who mentioned it to someone and I was given the 'okay'!

So last night Bruce and I were at Home Depot picking up paint samples for our master & guest bedrooms (more on that tomorrow) and I decided to pick up a couple of samples for my office. 

A couple.

Perhaps I went overboard?

Two of my favorites - Southern Evening and Royal Breeze.  Thoughts?  It's not going on all four walls and will be contrasted with white.

When I got home this afternoon Bruce asked me if I wanted to ride up to Foxborough with him ... 

... to Bass Pro Shops!

I love meandering this store with Bruce.  It's just one of 'our' things.  This is our first trip to this store - it's a good one!

I love Bass Pro because it's an aquarium / museum / outdoor store / market all in one.

The Bass Pro in Foxborough is actually in the same big complex as the Gillette Stadium - where the Patriots play.  There are a ton of shops and restaurants there - we decided on Olive Garden for dinner.

I ordered Soup, Salad & Breadsticks!

With Minestrone Soup.  Anybody have a good recipe?

Post-dinner we wandered through Off-Broadway Shoes and Christmas Tree Shops.  I was a very responsible shopper tonight!  All in all a fun impromptu date night.

Tomorrow is my day off - I do have some work to do for a memorial service that I am presiding over on Saturday, but I think I'll do it on the couch in front of the Royal Wedding!  Sorry - but I've totally jumped on the bandwagon.  I'm not going to obsess, but I think it will be pretty cool to watch live.

Anybody else watching?

A Thursday Morning List

1. Such horrific news of devastation coming out of the south this morning.  I've been tracking my friends via facebook and twitter, but my heart hurts for those who have lost loved ones.  The UCC is taking donations through Disaster Relief / One Great Hour of Sharing here if you are interested in donating to relief efforts.  Everyone affected continues to be in my prayers.

2. We saw two new birds this morning on our feeder!

I was able to get decent pictures of this one - I think a Yellow Finch?  Brian Cooper - please advise.

3. The basket we received on Easter contained bite-sized Coffee Cakes and Brownies.  I could not stop eating the Coffee Cakes this morning! 

So good.

4. My macbook power cord is making cackling noises.  I posted an "is this normal?" facebook status and apparently it's not.  According to my friend Betsy, this happened to a friend of hers and sparks ended up flying out of it.  Ummm - that's not good.  However - the noise appears to have stopped.  So now I don't know what to think.  Mac users - please advise.

5. I have almost re-found my desk after Hurricane Holy Week came through last week.  Perhaps there is some organizational hope for me after all?

Have a great day!

Bruce's Garden: Planting Onions

Even though these posts are tagged "our garden" this is really Bruce's baby. He is doing all of the hard manual labor and I get to drop a couple of onions in the ground, take pictures and pretend that I'm helping.

See what I mean?

We have such a great spot for a vegetable garden!  Very easy access to our rain barrel and the slider door into the basement.  If we have success with the garden this year, we may expand it next year ...

Speaking of our rain barrel ...

He's proud, can you tell?  We didn't want to spend the money on an actual rain barrel (I think they can run around $100 a piece) so he took a garbage can and hooked it up himself.  It is already full from the few days of rain we've gotten!

We decided to hook up a rain barrel for two reasons.  One - we wanted to be kind to the earth and not waste water.  Re-using rain water is awesome for watering a garden!  Two - we wanted to be good stewards of the utility costs at the parsonage and not make someone else pay for the water for our garden.  Our goal is to never have to use water from the well.

Seriously - how cool is that?

Burgers for dinner - I've been nursing a sinus headache of epic proportions today so I didn't have the energy for anything else!

We went to Home Depot tonight to pick up some paint samples and looked at grills.  I think we've decided to go with gas over charcoal and nothing too fancy.

I cannot wait for real GRILLING!

We are settling in for a night of sports and sweatpants.  Goodnight!