It’s rare to hear someone say, “Boy, that weekend went by too slowly!” So, occasionally, it helps me to look back at my family did together, to remind me how much we crammed into our 2-day Sabbath.

1. We celebrated our oldest son’s 12th birthday. For all the potentially high maintenance stuff autism can bring into our lives, we are blessed with one incredibly low maintenance kid when it comes to birthdays. He asked for a homemade cake, take-out pizza, and no bedtime so he could play with his birthday gift, a Nintendo 2 DS, until he fell asleep.

2. When season three of Game of Thrones came out on DVD, we put our name on the list to check it out from the library. At that point we were 66th in line. But our patience paid off and this week was our turn! We brought the DVD home last Wednesday and my husband and I burned through all 10 episodes by Saturday.

3. Our youngest son and I completed the jigsaw puzzle we started a few days ago. Most days, he is as obsessed with electronics as his older brother. Thankfully, puzzles remain on the short list of activities that can tempt him away from the dark side.

4. While Louisville struggles to decide if it’s winter or spring, I fed my desire to dig in the dirt by working on new garden markers, made using acrylic paint on old silverware.

5. I dipped into our recycling bin and dressed up some empty prescription bottles with decorative tape. They’re perfect for holding cash or coins, without announcing, “I’m holding money!” and will help ensure I’ve always got change for the parking meter and emergency cash with me when I’m on the road.

6. A week ago, we scored a huge pile of free wood chips from a tree trimming service that was working in our neighborhood. This weekend, we began transferring them from our driveway to our fence-line garden. Underneath those chips is a layer of cardboard (cereal boxes, mostly) to dissuade weeds and grass, while feeding the soil beneath it as it decomposes. Fingers crossed – in a few years, this will be plant heaven! Until then, it’s another summer of container gardening.

Whew! That was a productive weekend. Almost makes me glad it’s Monday. Almost.