4th of July and More

Wow. Been so busy. I'm actually not sure how long it's been since I deleted Facebook but I've been so busy I haven't missed it.

Had a wonderful 4th of July. We had Leo and Piper over plus Piper's mom, whom we adore. We made sliders with pancetta instead of bacon as I like the way pancetta cooks in those perfectly darling little rounds that fit exactly on a slider.

Of course, I had to make a scrumptious dessert so I tried a new recipe for White Chocolate Cheesecake by combining a few different recipes I had found into my own unique concoction. It was delicious but terribly rich, while I enjoyed the little slice I had.... I ended up giving the rest to our neighbor when he brought over some fresh baked bread from the pizza oven in his back yard.

Here is a photo of the cheesecake... We decorated the table that evening with the last of the magnolias from the tree in the yard.

That's fresh whipped cream on top and I made a mixed berry sauce that I laid each slice on:

This last week has been super busy. I made a commitment to get up early each morning and run. P decided to join me so it's been nice to have a buddy. We punctuate the runs by stopping to view the herds of deer along side the road and all the baby bunnies that seem to like to nibble grass at that time of morning. I'm proud to say that we ran each morning except the 4th (I allowed myself a sleep in rest day). On the 4th, we drove the bike course for next month's triathlon. This one is one mile longer but looks a lot more manageable than last year's "hillacious" course (that's a new word coined by Thomas). 

This week, I have house guests headed in towards the end of the week. More family and their four grandchildren. My Aunt has requested a spice cake with caramel frosting for her birthday while she is here so I am working on pulling together a good recipe for that. Alpha and I have a lunch date. P is getting a break between horseback riding and golf lessons. Prepping for a big business trip at the end of the month where I'll get to see gay boyfriend. 

I've had good days and bad. When Piper got here on Thursday I saw she had hacked HER beautiful long blonde hair off, too. I made a silly joke about how she must be trying to copy me because mine looks SO sexy and she said that actually, yes, she had liked mine so much she had cut hers. I got tears in my eyes that she said such a kind thing to me.  

The only other challenge is that for P's bday, she insisted on looking through the scrapbook from when she was born. There are still pics of db in there and while it didn't seem to bother her at the time, for a few days after, she was anxious and burst out into tears because she was afraid he was going to come back and "get" us. She was actually worried he was going to punch her teeth out? Wow. No idea where that came from... Thomas told her if he tried that he would personally bust db's head open and that seemed to help her and I spent that night holding her in my arms and letting her cry and shake. By morning, it seemed to have passed and she has been fine the last few days. She has no idea he got remarried and after significant discussion not only with my shrink but multiple mentors, everyone seems to be in agreement that I am not obligated to tell her. I haven't even told Endora and Merlin, mostly because I don't trust them to keep their mouth shut around her and not to let it slip but also because they will barrage me with questions and comments and if they see what his new wife looks like, Endora will spend the rest of her life making obnoxious comments about it. It's not so much that I care about an obnoxious comment but its done, I learned something important by seeing what he did to her....case closed. Also, the shrink pointed out that db didn't inform me nor his daughter (this birthday also passed without a single card, gift, call, text, email of any kind) then "technically" I don't know and wouldn't know if that friend hadn't mentioned it. Shrink says to take the lesson learned as a gift and move on ...which I am happy to do but if I tell Endora then I will never hear the end of it. So. I think it's best for all concerned that I just pretend I don't know and never did.

I can always re-evaluate the situation at a later date but after she got so upset just seeing his face in the scrapbook, I'm not sure it's a good idea. 

Sigh. Anyway. It's late. I've been in a cleaning and organizing frenzy so have spent the last few hours ironing and reorganizing my linen closet while we watch telly with Thomas. P's asleep and I think it's time to crawl in bed and get some sleep before we get up early to grocery shop and I'm riding the Tri course tomorrow for the first time for practice.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I'll close with a photo I took at the end of the driveway the morning after the 4th when P and I set out for our run. I call it, "The Morning After".

xxx ooo

J