I heart weekends

What a pretty weekend it has been. I visited with some friends after school yesterday then drove by myself to Billings for Pheona's Vintage Market. So much cute stuff, but also a lot of people and I couldn't seem to find my shopping mojo. I did come home with some great ironstone pieces, but I sure wish I would have snagged this really big old picture frame with burlap in it when I first saw it. By the time I went back for it someone else had seen its beauty, too. On my way back to Springfield I stopped at Orscheln Farm and Home to pick up a gift certificate and took a little time to browse their adorable chick selection, which included baby ducks and turkeys, too. Not something I'm in the market for right now, I suppose, but I can see how so many people are launching their own backyard flocks.

This morning Ryan and I joined my friend Amy for the American Heart Association's HeartWalk, which started at Walnut Lawn and National, snaked down Jefferson past Kickapoo and then up to Montclair and back around. I think it was probably 3 miles, and I was amazed at the mobs of people who showed up to do it. Amy has weathered 4 heart surgeries and was in St. Louis yesterday trying to get to bottom of some new problems she's been having. I'm so thankful to have a healthy heart and hope that my friend's shapes up and works the way it's supposed to. She's a supermom to 2 adorable little boys, everyone's favorite guidance counselor at Kickapoo, and an awesome friend to me. We were glad to walk in her honor...Love ya, my friend.

We made a quick stop at the flea market to pay my rent and check my little booth (mostly empty and neglected--I had 2 checks waiting for almost $260!) then met the Rhoads at Maria's for lunch. I've spent the rest of the afternoon puttering around the yard (I just stare and stare at the backyard wondering what to do with it) and repainting my wicker out front. While Ryan and I chased scaredy-cat Booker around trying to give him a decent bath, the tarp I had spread out under my porch swing got caught in the wind and dumped half a can of thick black paint onto the concrete porch. Yikes. I got paint all over me from head to toe in the process of trying to clean it up--much of it still won't come off my hands and legs--and have been online looking for a quick fix. We're thinking of going to see True Grit at the dollar movies tonight, but I'd be just as content to curl up in my messy house and read magazines or something. Macauley went camping with Ryan's parents (got to leave school early yesterday, which was such a thrill for him) so we're enjoying the quiet even though we miss him.