Ups and Downs on Saturday

I let Becca sleep in too late today and lost track of time, so we missed out on the farmer’s market and the beach.  I was able to get some things done around the house, so all was not lost.  We also broke in the “new” hand crank ice cream machine.  OMG.  The. Best. Ice. Cream. Ever.

The electric has nothing on this baby.  Hand cranking actually took less time than the electric, delivered twice as much deliciousness, was firmer in texture, and was more fun to make.  Becca and I took turns, and cranked our way to a wonderful new tradition.  Can you tell she loves it?

We headed out to to meet up with Jessica and Cory at their house in Sebastopol that they are moving from.  As usual, I grabbed my favorite coffee cup, that goes everywhere with me.  It was a gift from my parents about 10 years ago, and is a large, squat commuter mug made of stainless steel with a lid.  It goes with me everywhere.  Becca has decorated it over the years with stickers and handmade friendship bracelets.  The handle is worn to my hand, and it traveled from California to Indiana once, and made three or four trips to Southern California with me.  I put it on top of the truck while I moved items between vehicles, and hopped in.  I reached for it as we started to come into the town of Sebastopol, and was surprised it wasn’t there.  Then remembered...  I reached out the window to see if it might, by some miracle, still be there, but the top of the truck was empty.  I cried, because it probably rolled down a hill at my house and is going to be lonely and unused except as a home for crickets or frogs.

We picked up sandwiches along the way for us all and visited with Jessica for a while until Cory came home from work.  Cory loaded up the freezer and a few items for their move into the back of the pickup, and we headed out to Windsor.  After unloading and resting for a little bit (Cory and Jessica are EXHAUSTED, having been working like crazy for months), we both took different routes to my house to see who got there sooner.  I had to stop for gas, but even so, Jessica said that we weren’t far behind them.  We all looked for my coffee cup on the way up, but it was nowhere to be seen.

We showed Cory and Jessica the new additions to the house, and then they unloaded the freezer, moved the old fridge back into its spot, and moved the new to another location in the house pending further relocation.  Now I need to clean out the old fridge and get the “real food” moved in there, reserving the new one for dairy, cheese, and ice making.

We did chores as it got dark, and another toad surprised me, this time by the water spigot near Salsa’s pen.  I imagine the blue eyes are from the flash ‘cause I’ve never heard of a frog with blue eyes before.

We finished off the leftover ice cream while playing cards and went to bed late.  We’ll be helping Corsica get things moved into their new house on Sunday.  Looking forward to it!