Reading: I am almost done reading Undauted Courage. It is excellent and I would highly recommend it. Also, I have almost finished A Painted House. Also very good and recommended. The story really clips along and I don't even mind all the baseball details (Luke is a huge Cardinals fan). I am plugging along in the Foundations of Customer Service and will take my test next Thursday morning. This isn't a big test like the underwriting exam I took in April (and passed!) so is not a big deal.

I am very much looking forward to reading the new Harry Potter book!! Brian, a guy who rides my bus, is reading and says it is really good. He didn't even want to talk today, which is very unusual for him.

Eating: Check out the Pampered Chef website. You can use recipe search to find recipes by type (desserts, appetizers, etc.), by ingredient (if, for example, you have a huge bunch of zucchini and need some ideas what to use it for), by tool (if you have some Pampered Chef products you have never used and can't remember why you purchased) or by specific recipe name (if you tried something at a Pampered Chef party and want to duplicate it yourself).

Gardening: Some of my mulch in the backyard washed into a pile with the storms the other night so tomorrow I get to push it back where it belongs. All the plants survived, though, and my sunflowers are coming up! How long does it take for them to get tall?

One note about the comments--it make take more than one attempt for your comment to post. If at first it doesn't post, try and try again. Thanks for reading!

Reading: No reading this weekend. Proceed to "Gardening" to find out why.

Eating: Home-made (or "Ho-made" as they say in Door County WI) Pizza. Betty Crocker once again! Crust: disolve 1 pkg yeast in 1 C. warm water. Stir in 2 1/2 C. flour, 2 T. olive oil, 1 t. sugar and 1 t. salt. Also I like to sprinkle in a little Italian Seasoning (I have some from Pampered Chef but I think other companies make it too). Beat vigorously 20 strokes. Let it rest after the beating for 5 minutes. In the meantime, preheat oven and pizza stone (you do have a pizza stone, don't you?) to 425 degrees. Knead dough slightly and roll out onto pizza stone. Sauce: 1 can tomato sauce (the little one, however many ounces that is) mixed with 2 T. Italian Seasoning. Top with your favorite toppings and lots of mozzarella. Bake for 15-20 minutes until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly. Yum!

Gardening: We spent all day Saturday (10am until 9pm) outside working. Eric hauled another load of rocks to the compost/yard waste site. We removed the top layer of sand/clay from along the house, between driveway and steps. We "garden clawed" the compacted soil and removed stray stones. We weeded. We purchased and planted 3 shrubs (2 Ivory Halo Dogwood and 1 Bird's Nest Spruce). We topped it all off with good black dirt. We watered. We purchased and placed 5 bags of cypress mulch. Eric covered the remaining pile of dirt with tarps (it was supposed to rain). We took much needed showers and collapsed into bed.

Sunday, we went to a movie.