Time of Rest

I was exhausted after a jam-packed week of out-of-town guests, dodgeball and work. I went to sleep at 6 pm on Friday night, waking only briefly before going back to bed. I could barely move. I wanted to play in the garden but couldn't muster the energy. I was even too tired to read a gardening magazine. Sad. I woke on Saturday morning refreshed though. I made my coffee before Ken and I went to the farmer's market to pick up our mushroom log. They forgot to bring it, so instead I picked up some plants. We got some french mint (Kentucky Derby is this weekend) , flat-leaf parsley (can never have too much) and catnip for Hughes. Also got some cucumbers (eating and pickling varieties) that I planted next to the sugar snap peas along the fence.

It was a beautiful weekend. Ken worked on the garage foundation all Saturday. I finished the stone retaining wall on the side next to the driveway. I am excited and proud it is finished. 2200 lbs of stones. Ugh. After the wall, I planted my new friends, weeded a lot and then helped Ken dig a trench. Sunday was spent milling around the garden and being lazy. Ken played two softball games and then we had some people over for Sunday dinner. It was a warm, breezy night. We ate outside. I got to use up a lot of the stuff leftover from when B/M/S/D were in town. For example, I made a blueberry champagne cocktail leftover from Burke's champagne taste test and Marsha's blueberry sauce. (Note: blueberries in drinks look super festive and fun). For dinner, I made an italian sausage mac & cheese, a green salad and served the dense chocolate torte leftover from Sara's birthday dinner. I made a rhubarb compote to go with it -- yum.

Ken leaves for a multi-day conference tomorrow. I forsee a lot of sleeping and working in my future. I'm writing two papers at work, which is great but keeping me busy. I am also going to be on dog duty (please don't get sick this time, Kinley) and will be attending the Gallon Challenge tomorrow night (as a spectator). Here are the rules that were sent to me this morning:

The challenge has been given…

Tomorrow night at my place, 6pm, several brave soles will attempt the impossible. The Gallon Challenge.

Rules will be as follows:
*Every contestant will bring(1) Gallon of milk, 1% or higher. No skim.
*Each contestant has one hour to finish their gallon of milk without vomiting.
*Each contestant has to then be able to hold the milk down for an additional hour. Upon discussion tomorrow we may make this amount of time shorter.
*Anyone who vomits is out of the competition.
*The winner will be determined first by who finishes, if more than one person finishes the amount of time taken to drink the gallon will determine the winner.
*The winner will receive a beautifully hand crafted Trophy to place on their mantle.

There’s going to be quite a few spectators so this is also going to be a bit of a BBQ as well, not really sure how hungry anyone will be though. So everyone please bring something to grille and or drink. Also be warned, the percentage of people that actually complete this is said to be very low and the amount of fluids you’ll be drinking will lower your body temp so bring a jacket or a sweater.