"A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”

We have our home! We closed on the lot Monday morning. Now we always have a place to come back to. What a relief that is.









Monday was also Mark's birthday. He wanted a chocolate, chocolate cake so I tried to make him the chocolatest cake ever!
This cake had chocolate cake mix,chocolate pudding and 2 cups of chocolate chips covered in a chocolate glaze!










We had a little get together down at their house to celebrate.










After the cake a bunch of us went to Logan's Steakhouse for dinner.

Tuesday they started epoxying our driveway. We used the guys from http://www.nobareconcrete.com/index.html
They did an excellent job.
Before and after









Doesn't it look great?

Tuesday I also baked bread for the Welcome Committee. I make this delicious homemade Buttermilk bread and no, I do not use a bread machine!










This bread is so yummy, I've been baking it and giving it to people for years now.
So the idea is that all the new people that come into the Village will get a Welcome packet, a loaf of bread from me and crocheted potholders from Berta. Nice!

Wednesday afternoon we had a wine and cheese tasting up at the clubhouse. We had a fabulous turnout. And the wine and cheeses were excellent. I learned that I like dessert wines. There was one raspberry wine from Michigan that was sublime.










Yvonne and I enjoying ourselves.

I think that more than a few of us went home tipsy!



Thursday I made Ladylocks. These are cream filled pastries.
Phil loves these and when we were in Washington state we couldn't find them anywhere. So I found the recipe and ordered the molds and now he can have them whenever he wants them.











Thursday night Yvonne and I went to the Creatures of the night tour over at Bentsen State Park.
Our guide Carol took us in a van around the park and let us get out while she showed us some of the night time creatures in the park.













It was a fascinating tour.
We saw a screech owl, he blends in perfectly with the bark of the tree. If Carol hadn't shown us where he was I would have never seen him.
We also saw a tiny tree scorpion.









I had no idea we had scorpions down here! The best way to see them is at night using a UV light. The light makes them glow green.
We also saw some Mexican free tail bats.
The only bad happenstance was that Yvonne got bit twice by something. Even though her finger swelled up, she didn't seem to have any other adverse side effects from the bites.

Saturday was Valentine's Day. We had a lovely Valentine breakfast up at the clubhouse. Pancakes with strawberries and whipped cream.









Saturday afternoon we had a Valentine Chocolate Fountain Party.










We had a great turnout for that also.

















I made Chocolate Martinis, most everyone loved them but Phil wasn't impressed it seems!















Books this week: The Sixth Lamentation by William Brodrick
Hour Game By David Baldacci

This is the first book I've read by David Baldacci and I enjoyed it very much.

The Sixth Lamentation is a story about a suspected nazi war criminal who takes sanctuary in the Catholic church and the life of a heroic French resistance fighter who was a victim of the Nazi's.
I have quite a collection of books on the Holocaust and I realize this was a fictional story as opposed to the many non-fiction stories that I have read but this story was disappointing.

Movies this week: Madagascar - Escape 2 Africa
This wasn't nearly as good or as funny as the first one.

Watched 27 Dresses with Katherine Hiegl at chick flick night. Again I do not like chick flicks. This was too syrupy sweet.