Spring has Sprung in Prattvegas

At the beginning of March, I received the starter for Amish Friendship Bread, a delicious dessert-y bread, from a friend at work. It's a 10-day starter with tons of ingredients and even more calories, but it is goooood. I made it for the first time in early March. Each batch makes 2 loaves, so I decided to keep one for ourselves and give one to some neighbors. While you're preparing the bread, it yields 4 more starters (that you're supposed to give to friends). Z loved the bread so much that I decided to keep all 4 starters and make all the bread to give away to people. So, 10 days later, there I was baking 8 loaves of bread (a total of 6 hours, not including the time I spent driving to the store after round 1 for more cinnamon and flour.) I was able to share bread with lots of people, and it was fun! I only kept 1 starter that night, and I'll bake that tomorrow, just in time to share with Sunday School friends on Sunday.

Last week was my step father's birthday, so Friday night we gathered at a restaurant in Alabaster for dinner. Afterwards we went to my sister's house for presents and dessert. It was very enjoyable - I love my family.

Also last weekend, Z and I put up our privacy fence. Now, we live on the lake and normally love our view (Canadian geese walking around our yard, for an elegant example), but the neighbors whose yard is against our backyard are downright junky. Spare tires, tin-roofed chicken coop, broken toys, etc. Plus, our back porch looks straight into the side of their house, so when we sit on our porch, it looks like we're staring at them. So, we only put a privacy fence on that one border. I know, I know, it could easily be taken as an insult. Believe me, I stewed about this for months. But, I like to think that they appreciate the privacy we gave them, too. So, Saturday morning we borrowed our Sunday School teachers' old truck and went to Lowe's to buy the lumber. While we were checking out, we saw some church friends and their adorable 2-year-old daughter. We invited them to dinner after we were all done working in our respective yards.

Saturday Z started putting up the fence while I painted the wood trim on our storage building and planted flowers. Then our friends came over and we grilled burgers. Their little girl kept us all entertained. She liked "reading" my poetry books, helping me cook french fries, and pretending the tiki torches (for mosquitos) were burning her (she was nowhere near them, but she kept putting her hands over her face and saying, "Ow - it's burning me!')

The next morning we went to church (my first Sunday to sing in the choir) and started in the yard as soon as we ate lunch. We worked on the fence for 7 hours straight, until it was slap-out dark. But we finished it, and it looks great!

Our yard is beginning to look really beautiful. We have jasmine and honeysuckle growing on the arbor, wisteria in the woods, the lawn is greening by the minute, our rose bushes are growing (except the one we had to replace - hey, 1 out of 16's not bad). Our neighbors have gorgeous azaleas that have been blooming for weeks. Our daffodils are wonderful, and although only one tulip is blooming, its bright red bloom is amazing. And did I mention the Canadian geese wandering around the yard all day? Spring is breathtaking, really.