Friday’s Fave Five

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Welcome to Friday’s Fave Five, hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story, in which we can share five of our favorite things from the last week. This has been a wonderful exercise in looking for and appreciating the good things God blesses us with. Click on the button to learn more, then go to Susanne’s to read others’ faves and link up your own.

Here are a few favorites from the past week:

1. My birthday was Sunday, but as Sunday is a busy day for us, we spread the “festivities” out over the weekend. My family did a wonderful job making me feel special. 🙂

2. An unexpected gift. In our family, by request we usually try to give some ideas of what we might like for gifts so that we can get something the recipient truly likes and wants rather than fodder for the next yard sale or donation box. But sometimes people like to veer off the list, and that’s fine, too. After HP announced that they weren’t going to make their Touchpads any more, the prices dropped, and my husband got one for me. You may remember a few weeks ago I was pondering what kind of iProduct to get, and this wasn’t even on my radar, but it works nicely! My regular computer is a desktop, so it is nice to be able to take this in the family room when we’re watching TV or when everyone else is using their laptops. I put all the music from the computer on it yesterday (all by myself! Almost…I did have to make one phone call to Jeremy…), so now I can take it from room to room to listen to whatever I want.

3. Four Layer Dessert. Instead of making one 9 x 13 pan of it, I made one 8 x 8 pan with chocolate and another with banana pudding and bananas and strawberries for a dinner we went to Monday night. It was nice to have both options, and now I’ve found a way to make a smaller version. I used to only make this for company or potlucks because the whole pan was too much for just us (and I love this stuff so much, I was afraid I’d eat the whole thing….:oops:)

4. A weekend free of cooking. We went out to dinner for my birthday Saturday night, and then Jim grilled hamburgers Sunday (so good!) And I only had to make dessert Monday, so I had a nice little break.

5. A cake stand from Jason and Mittu…

…that can also be used in several other ways as well.

(BTW, to my family, I liked ALL my gifts, but just wanted to highlight a couple here. 🙂 ) I also got some books (always a fave!), some exercise equipment I had wanted (resistance bands and a stability ball, which I used to think was silly but have really enjoyed using), a gift card to Joanne’s, and a Scrabble Flash game. They do spoil me, don’t they?

Bonus: This stuff:

I keep their Carolina Sweet flavor of barbecue sauce on hand, but I didn’t know they made this! Jim discovered it at the store and used it on the burgers Sunday. Mmm, mmm, good!

Have a great weekend!

21 thoughts on “Friday’s Fave Five”

  2. Sounds (and looks) like a delightful birthday! I’m impressed that you’ve put all that music on your new technology. We recently got an iPhone in replacing our land line with cellular, and I’m not anywhere near that savvy with it yet!

    Happy post-birthday!!

  3. So glad your family gave you a special birthday weekend. I love when birth”days” turn into birth”weeks”. 🙂

    My daughter keeps suggesting we get something like an iPad. I’m thinking about it, but don’t know yet… Glad you are liking your Touchpad.

    I love Four Layer Dessert but also do the 9×13 pan. So glad to see your recipe for the extra fruit. And the suggestion for 8×8. I could eat the whole thing too.

  4. I’ve been waiting for this post to see how your birthday was. You got a lot of great things! Be watching your mail. There is a little something coming from SC. : ) Hope you like it.

    Thanks for sharing the dessert recipe. Our whole family will be together on Sunday, and I bought bananas and strawberries today, so now I know what to make for dessert! That was easy! Maybe you could just post all of your meals each week, and I could save myself a lot of brain power planning meals. I need every brain cell I can manage to keep these days! I may put this recipe in the ladies’ booklet, if that is OK with you. I like the idea of making it into two different flavors. One question – if I do the 8×8 pan does that change the baking time at all for the crust?

    Have a wonderful weekend! Hugs from SC!

  5. You really cashed in! 🙂 And the cake stand was an awesomely perfect gift…so you! Happy you had a very happy day, friend.

  7. Happy Birthday to you. Sounds like you had a great time with your family and they made you feel special. that dessert also sounds really yummy. I’d probably end up eating it all too!

  8. I know you’ll love your Ipad. I love being able to move around with my computer….the only downfall is that I use it more than I would if I had to go sit at a desk…
    I have a similar cake cover which I love to use. My Mother bought it for me for a Birthday several years before her homegoing. I bought one for my Daughter.

    You asked me if I enjoyed reading John Grisham. I do enjoy his books, some more than others. He is a Christian and I consider his books clean in that there is no offensive language. He is a lawyer so most of his books do include some aspects of law which can be informative. My favorite book of his was a little different from his normal ones, The Painted House. It is about a struggling farm family in Mississippi. I think you should definitely read that one. He is a Southerner who writes about the South and many of the places in his stories are familiar.
    Blessings,
    Mama Bear

  9. Belated birthday greetings, Barbara. How nice that you have a weekend pass on cooking. Your 4 layer dessert sounds so delish. I will look on your site to see if you posted a recipe. I like to BBQ, but do you know I have never used a rub. Have a great week.

  10. sounds like the way I like to celebrate…spread it out for a while. Glad you had good celebrations and very thoughtful gifts! Enjoy your weekend…now I have to go eat because you made me hungry…

  12. I love it that your family know you well enough to have all kinds of thoughtful gifts for your special day(s) 🙂 I’d read about the run on HP Touchpads — glad you snagged one at a great price. You’ll have to do a review once you’ve had a chance to play with it some more.

  13. Happy Birthday! Mine is next week but we celebrated this weekend (by going to see The Help with friends!)

    And those HP touchpads are receiving a lot of talk around here – as Jonathan works for HP. I was snickering about that! Glad you like yours. It’s definitely the time to buy!!! ;D

  14. Sounds like a wonderful BD, I love that 6 in 1 dome cake stand, I’ll have to keep that in mind for my BD 🙂 Your recipe looks delicious too, I think I’ve had that before- I would be afraid of eating all that myself as well!

  15. Happy late birthday! I think it’s great that you got a whole weekend out of it. That four layer dessert looks great, and I’ve learned to trust your recipes! Love that cake dome and I especially understand rejoicing over a cook-free weekend.

    Would love to hear more about those books you got… Have a great week ahead!

  17. Happy Birhtday (belated)! Sounds like you had a wonderful celebration.

    Love the cake stand! You sure got ‘spoiled’ – but I’m sure you are worth it!

  19. Happy belated birthday Barbara. It’s been a busy weekend for me ( my daughter threw a birthday party ) so I didn’t get round to commenting yet! Oooh my you HAVE been spoiled, I particularly like the cake stand, it’s so versatile!

  20. Well what a wonderful birthday weekend you had! Love the 6 in 1 cake stand! I’ve been keeping my eye out for one of those.

  21. Happy birthday Barbara. Sharing gift ideas is almost not done in my part of the world (has something to do with culture) but that’s exactly what I think is sensible and makes things easier. I like that. Scrabble Flash sounds like something I would be interested in.

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