A week's worth of life.

I have a headache, but I realized I haven't posted in a week and a half, so here's what we've been up to...

Baked 5 dozen cookies. Gave away 3 dozen to sick friends.

Made chicken stock from scratch. Made chicken noodle soup for sick friends.

Decluttered a corner of the enclosed porch (aka UberDad's room, aka the so-called third bedroom), so we'd have a place for the chick brooder, which we don't have set up yet. This involved pulling out bags of clothes, boxes of photographs and books, Christmas decorations, etc., and generally making a mess of my dining room. Then putting most of it back, but in neat plastic tubs instead of piled haphazardly.

Stayed home Monday, did almost nothing.

Spent most of Tuesday running errands.

Took the kids to the park on Wednesday.

Finally got out the bread machine our friends passed on to us a year ago. Made one lovely loaf of bread. Rejoiced at the potential for fresh, whole grain daily deliciousness! Bought 5 lbs of bread flour. Started another loaf. Killed the bread machine with overly-stiff dough. Wept bitterly. Sent UberDad to the store for bread.

Moved furniture around to make room to extend the dining room table for our Lenten Shabbat guests. Listened to Baby say, "Yuck!" all day as I swept up crumbs and dust bunnies that had been hiding under the sofas.

Made vegetable stock, vegan minestrone soup, and roasted squash and potato soup. Felt better about the store-bought bread.

Last night we had our first Family Shabbat supper of the Lenten season. On Friday nights during Lent, our small group traditionally gets together for soup, bread, wine, prayers and fellowship. The women begin the prayers while lighting candles. Then the men break bread and pour wine as they pray. Then we eat soup. And drink more wine.

We laughed a lot. We had somber moments. The children were outrageously noisy. It was better than Cats. I imagine. I've never seen it.

I'm sure I would have more meaningful or interesting things to say if my head wasn't still fuzzy from the two glasses of wine I drank.

Really, we are very blessed to have such close friends. To have been in the same small group for nine years. We haven't stayed at the same church that long. We're on our second parish. And now our second parish is on its second denomination. Go figure.

Life is complicated. But it's definitely better with homemade cookies, soup made from scratch, and friends to share them with. (Wine is good, too, in small doses.)