‘Tis been a busy, busy couple of weeks.

The week before last, I headed up to a Newport nursing home, which was getting its first residential dog — who was fresh out of prison.

By “prison” I don’t mean the pound. Lilly, a rat terrier mix, came from the Paws in Prison program. For more info on that, go here.

Before Lilly’s arrival, I had fun checking out the welcome-party decor.

And here’s the photo shot by Democrat-Gazette photographer Stephen Thornton.

For more Paws in Prison photos, go to the Democrat-Gazette’s photo gallery here. (Hubs took these!)

LAST Friday, I met my friend Amy and her toddler for dinner at Starving Artist. Then we headed over to the First Pres Craft Bazaar and Bake Sale in Argenta.

Saturday, Tootie, the E-man and I visited the Museum of Discovery.

I hadn’t yet been since the big unveil.

My verdict?

AWESOME!

I had just as much fun as the kids. If you haven’t been yet, go.

And yes, I did try out the bed of nails. My favorite, however, was riding out the tornado. It gave me a better idea as a reporter what it’s like to actually experience one, rather than just covering it.

Sunday was the church potluck at First Pres. Immediately after that, we headed over to Sherwood Forest to decorate for this year’s Girl Scouts Mom & Me event.

It was a lot of fun. The troops performed some truly hilarious skits.

I’ll leave you with this:

The E-man had to attend our most recent Girl Scout meeting due to Hubs’ work schedule.

Here, I present a group of girls working on a thank-you poster:

Then I looked over to see what the E-man was up to.

And then,  of course, there was Thanksgiving.

This year I got smart. We ate Thanksgiving dinner as an evening meal. That gave me all day to relax before starting preparations.

The menu: Roast turkey breast; fried turkey breast; a creamed corn casserole; cornbread stuffing; sweet potato casserole; rolls and pumpkin pie.

Here’s Tootie in her holiday finery: