Party Hardy Said The Lady

I know you've all been on the edge of your seat wondering how the party went. The short answer is it went well. What I saw of it. I spent the majority of my time between the kitchen and the dining room trying to keep everyone in food and drinks. Occasionally, I poked my head into other rooms and chatted briefly with friends or located my daughter to make sure she wasn't causing too much trouble. I worked on the theory that with all of the other parents and family in the house, not to mention her father, she was probably pretty safe. And she was.

The rain, of course, came. And came. And came. In between monsoons, we got about four minutes out in the back yard on the playgrand before we had to drag the kids back inside. Not the end of the world, but it sure would have been nice to have most everyone in one place, the backyard, rather than spread out all over the house.

Oh yeah, and the cookies? Turned out kind of okay. I never actually ate one, but they all got eaten and people spoke highly of them. It might be because they knew of my angst and were just being nice, but I prefer to think they actually did enjoy them. I wish I had a photo for you, but while they may have tasted good, they did not look good. On the other hand, the cupcakes that I made came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. Of course, Neil asked me what they were. So no one else is confused: they are EYEBALLS. (The orange ones are spider webs.)

So as usual, much of my anxiety was unnecessary. A huge thank you to Katie and Chris for helping me out! Hugs don't even cover how much I appreciate your help. And to everyone that came, bringing smiles and gifts, each and every one is cherished. We are very fortunate, indeed. Our friends and family are such amazing people. They are generous and kind and an awful lot of fun.

Grazi. Gracias. Merci. Danke. Thank you.

The One Where I Rant

I should be working on party stuff right now, or cleaning, or figuring out what I need to buy at the grocery store tomorrow but my brain is just fried.

My big project for this afternoon was to make the sugar cookies so I could then fancily ice and decorate them. I have never made rolled cookies before. (According to Neil, recipe that I made tastes doughy and not sugary. Since these are SUGAR cookies, that seems like a major fault. Am quite certain I used correct measurements according to Allrecipes.com recipe, so what. the. hell?) Nor have I ever fancily iced anything. That's not so hard, right? Wrong. Add in that my oven hates me. It takes twice as long to cook everything and then it goes from raw to holy frijoles burnt in about 14 seconds. Plus, my cookie sheets are crap. Note to self: add to list of things to buy tomorrow.















I had planned to bake when Sophie napped, but thanks to a bout of insomnia last night, I really needed to nap when she did. Which meant I had to find ways to keep her out of my hair while I baked. I made my first attempt at homemade playdoh, figuring this would be a nice way to keep her occupied. It wasn't. But the piles of stuff on the dining table, aka Party Prep Command Central, were quite entertaining. Much to my chagrin. Which is how she wound up with the hat I am contemplating wearing for the party. It was good for a smile, at least, distracting me from the mess she had made of the gift bags.















We're kind of, sort of, not really, maybe, a little, working on potty training right now. Our half-assed effort has mainly consisted of putting her on her little potty each night before bath/bed. Twice in the past week, she has peed! Tonight, after washing up, we stripped her down and she ran over to her potty and sat there looking at us with big, round, imabouttodosumpin eyes. And she peed. While Neil and I watched, listened and then clap, clap, clapped and cheered. What an existence that pissing is worthy of applause. Really, though, it made me crazy happy.

Oh yeah, and if anyone has any pull with Mother Nature, can you see about bringing some good weather to the Baltimore area on Saturday? I would really, REALLY like to let the kids play outside during Sophie's birthday party and right now they're calling for thunderstorms. Which obviously is not the best weather for a bunch of toddlers to run around in, especially fully costumed toddlers.

90% chance of rain on Saturday. Not good. Can't we just move Sunday's weather up a day?









There's a boatload more running around in my head, but I'm trying not to be too much of a downer going into the weekend, because who wants a downer on Friday. Not me. Which is why it always seemed wrong to fire people on Friday. Do it on Monday, they're not coming in the next day anyway, and then at least they have a nice weekend under their belt before having their ass handed to them. Also the same reason that I always say when I'm going on a trip that if the plane crashes, please just let it be on the way home, so I got to have my vacation first. How's that for seeing the positive?

So, to sum up:
1: Screwed up oven
3: Successful pees in the potty
4: Hours cooking
5: Curse words in this post (1 Hell, 3 Asses and 1 Piss)
48: Probably unusable cookies
90: Percent likelihood Mother Nature will totally screw me

Have a great weekend!

Monday Musings

- The party this weekend was a success. We had a good crowd and I think everyone had a nice time. I can say with certainty that the kids did, adults are harder to read. My husband had a REALLY good time. So good he fell down the stairs coming out of the garage. Not to worry, he wasn't seriously injured and he only spilled a little bit of his beer.

- We have so much food left over from the party that we will be eating hot dogs, pasta salad, cookies and sheet cake for days. Not to mention all of the leftover beer and soda. I'm mortified. And excited. (giggle)

- I didn't take a single picture at the party. Not one. But here is one I took the day before of Sophie in the absolutely adorable hat that Heather sent her as part of a fabulous giveaway that I won. I'll talk more about that later, though.


















- We had another code brown tonight. Blech. Of course, our tub is draining really slow right now because Sophie put some mardi gras beads down the drain and I haven't gotten our plumber out yet, which means that cleaning out the nasty, disgusting, gag-inducing, poopy bathtub was a major pain in the doofenschmirtz. That was only the second time that's happened, lets hope it's the last.

- My boobehs have FINALLY returned mostly to normal. Which means that it's really over. I'm totally sad.

- I've been so busy this last week that my Google Reader is insanely full. I don't want to miss a single word that my bloggy buddies write, but having 580 posts(!) stacked up makes me a little panicky.

Dirty Feet and Numb Fingers

I'm in the throes of preparation for Neil's graduation party on Saturday. He finally completed his master's degree, so celebration is in order. He actually finished classes last month, but he didn't walk the stage and summer schedules being what they are, this was the soonest we could do it.

It's an afternoon barbecue affair, so it's a kid-friendly event. We've got a kiddie bounce house, kiddie pools, slip and slide and toys galore. But it's also a celebration for the adults so there will be copious quantities of adult beverages, which also helps to tolerate the kids running around like lunatics.

Most of this week has been dedicated to getting a bunch of little projects done. Stuff that we've been living with for a while, but kept putting off doing. Stuff I don't want 50 of our closest friends to see because I know I'd be like, dude, did you see the lattice on their porch? Falling apart. Yep. Traaa-shy.* I spent three hours yesterday power washing and spray painting our patio furniture because I left it uncovered for two winters and it was a little lot worse for the wear. Of course, now the tip of my pointer finger is completely numb because like a doofenschmirtz I didn't get one of those spray paint guns. To avert the gangrene I am sure is imminent, I went out and bought one last night, so I can finish the job today without losing a digit.

Sooo, I should be getting back to my work. I bought a bunch of plants and stuff last night (During a marathon, child-free Lowe's visit. It. was. heaven.) and I need to pot them so people think I have a green (not numb) thumb. Keep your fingers crossed the weather holds out for us.

*Just kidding, I'm not that bad.**

**Yes, I am.***

***No one is ever going to invite me over again, are they?

Part-ay!

And so ends the long holiday weekend. Well, for the rest of the world, for me the vacation just keeps on going. Neil had yesterday off too, so our weekend didn't end until last night. We had a busy weekend, marked by not one but two first birthday parties. I've mentioned before that there was a rash of fertility among our friends roundabout December/January of last year and all those babies are now approaching their first big birthday.

The first party was on Saturday at the home of one of Neil's oldest friends. Their daughter, Mady, is so adorable and precocious. (That's her being held by her daddy, John, over Neil's left shoulder. John is a photographer and he has a collection of photographs that are far superior to mine on his blog.) Despite the fact that I actually spend quite a bit of time with other babies approximately Sophie's age, it is still so interesting for me to see how other children are developing. At no time in my life have I been more aware of the fact that we are all individuals with our own schedules and traits and these start pretty much at birth. Neil was kind enough to wear the baby for a good chunk of the party giving me the rare opportunity to eat without little hands grabbing at my plate. Sara, John's wife and Mady's mommy, could probably start a career as a party planner if she ever gets tired of her current job. Everything was perfect, the food, decorations, everything. She's also thin and beautiful. I should hate her but unfortunately she's actually really nice. Amazing bit from this party: we saw a baby squirrel!! I wasn't even sure such things existed. I've only ever seen the full grown variety. I swear I thought they sprung from some font of squirrels as adults.

Party two took place on Sunday at the shore house (that's what folks out here call houses on the water, but not the beach) of the birthday girl's maternal grandparents. It was actually a double birthday as our friends, Chrissy and Russell, have a three year old as well as a one year old. The sun was shining and there was a perfect cool breeze coming off of the water. You couldn't have asked for a better day. Sophie did a little swimming in a kiddie pool and worked her way from one set of arms to the next. That is one of the great things about being at an event where you know so many people. You don't even worry if you haven't seen your kid for a while because you know the person who has her will take good care of her. Interesting tidbit from this party: Clowns are a mixed blessing. Although all of the kids loved him, the same could not be said for all of the adults. There was a contingent that cowered in the house while the clown was doing his thing. I would make fun of that, but I saw IT as a teenager and frankly clowns scare me, too.

We're still on the fence whether to have a big party for Sophie's first birthday. We're leaning towards just a small get together with family, but I may change my mind in coming weeks. I have joked that it won't be a birthday party at all but a "holy crap, the kid's still alive and we're still married" party. TBD.