Rarely do I ever call anything perfect, but I cannot refuse given what a wonderful weekend I have just had.
FRIDAY
After sending all the kids home Friday afternoon, I took off for the bank. It was their annual open house. This is the bank at which I worked from the time I was a senior in college until I decided 3 years later to return to school and get my master’s degree.
When I first began working at the bank, I was a roaming teller. That meant I would fill in at whatever branch needed me. I worked at all 13 of the bank branches in our region. I got to know every one in the entire bank family. I always loved our annual Christmas party simply because I got to see everyone at the same time. After a year at the bank, the CEO himself came down to the teller line to ask me if I ever would consider a career in his bank. I was shocked! It was such a difficult decision to leave the bank family I loved so much.
I got to the bank around 3:30 on Friday. I took time to visit every floor of the bank, just to make sure I saw everyone I knew. Even though it has been a little over 8 years since I left the bank, most of the people are still there. It felt like going home again. I miss them all so much.
After leaving the bank, I drove to my friend Susan’s home for dinner. Susan is a substitute teacher in our school. She is phenomenal. Everyone wants her as their substitute. I never fear when she is in my classroom. On top of that, she has become a wonderful friend. Dinner consisted of roasted pork with a cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes with bleu and parmesan cheese (yumm-o), peas, and herb-crusted bread. Dessert was peppermint ice cream with chocolate sauce. (Eat your heart out, Mandi!)
Once dinner was over Susan, Calvin (her husband), and I went to the local university’s Chorale Christmas concert. The concert was beautiful. The music was classical. Most of the music was in Italian, German, Hungarian, etc. Listening to them gave me goosebumps and almost brought me to tears.
Saturday
I chose to be rather lazy on Saturday. Those that are close to me will tell you that is something I never do. However, I wanted to slow down for a bit and just relax. I lounged around the house for several house on Saturday morning and afternoon. Around 2:00, I got out of the house. I did a bit of shopping around town. It was insane out there. It seemed that everyone and their mother was out and about.
I finally decided to go see a movie. I chose Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader in 3-D. I get to the theater and run into a fellow teacher from my school. Her husband and two sons were there, too. One of her sons is a former student of mine, and the other is a student at my school but on another team. The movie was pretty good. I won’t say it was as great as the previous two movies in the series. However, I did enjoy it. I don’t really think the 3-D effect added anything to the movie.
Sunday
I was looking forward to Sunday all weekend long. My friends Mikeal and Mandi were in my part of the state for the weekend. We decided to meet up for brunch in Knoxville. I was super-excited to see them. I had not seen them in soooooo long!
We decided to eat at a restaurant called the Tomato Head. The food was incredible. Mandi ended up getting some form of huevos rancheros. Mikeal got these awesome biscuits with bacon and eggs smothered in gravy. Munchkin 1 ordered a ham-n-cheese omelet that came with cheesy grits and a biscuit. Munchkins 2 and 3 split two gigantic belgian waffles. I ended up with an egg sandwich that was locally produced scrambled eggs, roasted potatoes, Andouille sausage, and locally smoked-cheddar. Mine also came with a variety of fruit (grapes, apple, and orange). The spread of food was insane.
Did I mention the cinnamon roll that was ordered as an appetizer…yes, and appetizer for breakfast! It was flaky, soft, and smothered in icing. We all dug into that huge pastry like starving orphans in a third-world country. It was delicious.
The food was great, but the company was what made my day. I love Mikeal and Mandi so much. They are just wonderful people, and I love to be around them. Of course, they gave me a hard time saying that I really am not Southern. I took it as a compliment. My entire family is southern, redneck, backwoods, etc. I take pride in moving beyond that. So, I am not so Southern. THANK YOU MANDI!
After our meal, we went into this quirky shop in Market Square. All of the items in that shop are just fun. The munchkins picked out Corndog flavored mints. Let’s just say Mandi didn’t go for those. I ended up purchasing some rubber duck soap for my classroom. It had a berry scent, so I could tolerate that. The fact that it was a rubber duck meant I had to get it for the classroom.
After our brief shopping stint, we parted ways so we could each get home safely before the impending snow storm. We only got to spend a few hours together. However, it made my weekend…perhaps my month!
Monday
Yes, I am counting Monday as part of my weekend! We ended up getting the day off because of the snow storm. I measured 4-6 inches of snow in my yard…depending on where you measured it. All the roads were covered this morning. Everything was pristine white! I love that look of cleanliness that can only come with a fresh snow storm. It is beautiful!
Around noon I was finally able to get out of the house for a bit. I ended up at the school cleaning cabinets, bookshelves, recycling papers, etc. I cleaned for 3 hours. BUT IT IS CLEAN!
So the weekend was perfect! I wish more weekends were this wonderful. Now my week will begin tomorrow morning. We are on a 2-hour delay tomorrow then it is benchmark testing for our kids. Oh the fun that will entail!
The best part about this week is that as of Friday I will be on a two-week WINTER BREAK!
Take care, my friends!
