A Good Day

I had a good day today.

And I hope you did as well.

Way back when Janie had her surgery in Cincinnati and I helped with the Madeline and John David while Paige and/or Hank were out of town, Madeline had a composition notebook that she wrote (or, rather I wrote in for her) every day so that they could read about her day or whatever she wanted to talk about when they returned home.

One of the days she had me title "A Very Special Day" and then she went to town with sentences describing a good day. I noted as fast as I could.

(If only you could hear her sweet voice saying these things…)

"A good day always needs some good friends."

"A good day always needs some one to play with you."

"A good day you like people."

"A good day you always love people."

"A good day you always love your family."

"A good day you care about people."

"A good day you go to the store."

"A good day is when you love school."

"A sad day is when your mom is out of town."

"A sad day is when you want your chicken."

Funny and precious.

So, like Madeline wrote about, I had a very special day. A good day.

I started my morning with Janie.

Aka Sleeping Beauty/Orange Mouth.

I told her I got to have lunch with a Disney princess and I didn't even have to go to Orlando! :)

Late afternoon I met up with my friend Whitney (who is going to start blogging… right, Whitney?! :)) at the church's office to get information about the single-parent family we're adopting through Christmas in a Red Bag. What a neat ministry! I hope to share more details about us shopping and delivering to the family later :)

After my time with Whitney, I met up with my friend Robin and we got pedicures :) (Side note: this was a treat for me. Not a usual thing, haha. I asked Troy before I told her yes if it was okay… haha… not that he has some like unhealthy authority over me and I have to ask his permission to do things, but if we're going to "treat" ourselves to anything, we usually consult with the other before :) That's just what we do… at least in this phase of life… to each his own!)

I had texted her earlier in the week to see if we could get together because we hadn't done anything in a while and she asked if I wanted to get a pedi with her later in the week. She has a wedding in B'ham this weekend that is "black tie" i.e. the groom/groomsmen are wearing tails, and her boyfriend is renting a tux. Fancy pants wedding. So she is in preparation. She told me about the dress she got. Sounds gorge. Rob… you better take pics!

We both wanted a Christmasy-festive red. And that's what we got!

After that I had an exchange to do in Saddle Creek… look at the pretty lights! Shopping centers + Christmas lights = the feeling of the Christmas season

(at a red light… traffic was terrible around there. it took me like 30 minutes to get home! lots of busy shoppers!)

And then for dinner, I tried a new shrimp recipe that was really good and super simple!

I'll share…

"Simple Italian Shrimp"

1 1/2 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined

1 stick butter

1 lemon, sliced

1 pkg dry Italian dressing mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter in oven on a lined cookie sheet.

Lay lemon slices on butter.

Lay shrimp on top.

Sprinkle with Italian dressing mix

Bake for 20 minutes, tossing once.

Serve alone or with pasta/rice with drizzled mix on top.

We just ate ours alone with a baked potato and corn.

You see now why it was a good day? Busy, fun, productive, but most of all... good :)