You want to leave when?

Mom and Dad left around 4:45 am this morning. Fifteen minutes before their self-inflicted departure time of 5:00 am. Echo and I got up to say good-bye. Dave said his good-byes the night before. Smart man.
We had a good visit in spite of the weather changing Knoxville into a nasty cold, rainy and cloudy impersonation of its early February days. I was hoping for nice Spring weather to enjoy the deck. Maybe when they come through in May.
Sunday Mom and Dad took us out to celebrate our birthdays (early, yes, but they won't be here for our actual birthdays!). We ate Sunday brunch at Italian Market and Grill. Someone from Dave's office recommended it. She said she eats a plate of the breakfast foods, a plate of the lunch foods and then a plate of dessert and she's done eating for the day. It was good advice. After brunch, we barely had enough energy to make it to the couch and collapse. We spent the afternoon looking at the boxes of slides from the early 80's my parents had brought with them. Dave got his exercise that day by laughing at my childhood. So did I.
Monday and Tuesday Mom and I were on a mission to find fabric to make curtains for the huge window in the living room. Mom volunteered to make them, and I wanted to make sure she went home with the fabric to do so!
We found this striped fabric with colors that match the rug we already have. It will hopefully darken the bright yellow of the walls.
My dad spent his days wrestling with Echo and sanding and staining the dining room table that was tragically disfigured during its stay in our garage when we first moved into the house. Before and after pictures:

It still needs the finish coats on it, but it looks much better than it did. Apparently, it was stained the same color as our floors.
It was a fairly relaxing visit. They enjoyed meeting Echo. Here's Mom trying to pet her, but Echo just wants on the couch. You can sort of see her haircut (Echo's, not Mom's) and the fact that the groomer shaved everything but her tail! The other picture of Echo enjoying her bone I just thought was cute.