Let's see how much we can do in two days...

I need a weekend to recover from my weekend! We did so many fun things, but by Sunday night I was beat.

Friday evening we had dinner with the family of a new friend of Rebecca’s. Rebecca and Meg got to know each other at VBS over the summer, and have enjoyed being in the same Sunday School class this fall. So when Meg’s mom invited us for pizza Rebecca couldn’t bear for us to say no. And, quite honestly, neither could I; I’ve enjoyed the few moments spent talking with Meg’s mom, Marilyn, in the hall at church.

What a lovely evening! Marilyn and her two girls, Emily and Meg, were perfect hostesses. And by that I mean we ate pizza on paper plates – what a great way to entertain! (I think people get too concerned about using their best wares for guests when the most important thing is to simply have people over.)

The kids played and played and we talked and talked. Marilyn, a second-grade school teacher, has a great sense of humor and an easy way about her. It felt like we’d known each other for years. When we left I honestly felt that I’d made a new friend.

It was time for more friends on Saturday. I’d met Marie as we were waiting for our kids at Teenworks last year and had enjoyed chatting with her. They live about an hour from us and that distance had kept us from getting together. But her family was going to a concert in Lansing Saturday night so they were coming our way; it was a great opportunity for us to finally get together.

They came over around 3 which gave the kids plenty of time to play football and video games. The kids got along well, and so did the parents. The major bummer is they are moving to New York after Christmas. Ugh.

They left for their concert and Sean and I raced upstairs to change our clothes because we were headed to the Wharton Center to see Mamma Mia! Finally! Last summer I was supposed to go to New York with girlfriends to see the show; that just happened to be the day Sean was admitted to the hospital with meningitis. I’ve been dying to see it ever since.

Just to be clear, I am not a fan of musicals. They don’t make sense. In real life, people don’t break into song during a conversation, and I can’t suspend logic long enough to enjoy it on the stage. But Mamma Mia! uses real songs from the group Abba, so when the characters in this musical started singing those songs it sort-of made sense. I mean, who hasn’t twirled through the kitchen singing “Dancing Queen” or won a game and burst into a chorus of “The Winner Takes it All”?!

I am feeling self-conscious all of a sudden.

Anyway, the show was fabulous. The choreography was fantastic and the singing was phenomenal. I could have listened to them sing all night long.

We got home around 11 p.m. and went right to bed because I had to be up at 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning. I’ve started working in the tech department at church which means I either run a camera or direct the cameras during all three services. The first one starts at 8:15, but they want us there at 7 a.m. It’s only once a month and of course it was the same weekend as everything else we had going on.

After church we headed over to Novi (about 80 miles away) to see the new Ikea store. Linda had warned me it was huge but I was not prepared. Nor was I prepared for the sheer number of people shopping. You’d have thought it was the day before Christmas. The place was absolutely packed. Packed. Wall-to-wall people. We live in the country now. We have gotten used to not being in large crowds. It made us all a bit grumpy. But we sat down, had a drink and a heart-to-heart talk that went something like this:

“I have wanted to come to this store for months now. We drove an hour and a half. We parked a mile away and dodged runaway carts and cars on our trek into the store. We are not leaving yet. Have I made myself clear? WE ARE NOT LEAVING UNTIL I HAVE FOUND MY BOOKCASES!”

After I cleared that up things went more smoothly. We found a bookcase for the piano room and a dresser and nightstand for our guest room. And I've gotta tell you, the prices are really good.

We got home around 9 and promptly put everyone to bed.

So tonight Sean is busy putting together furniture and I have just finished cleaning the kitchen from our busy weekend.

Does it make me old to be looking forward to bedtime?