Sassy Black Friend

Health and a hectic schedule

Things are going to get kind of quiet around here soon. J and I are both going to need a lot of rest after this party, and then the wedding craziness starts full strength.

The boyfriend is having a tough day – just found out someone in his family is dealing with a dual diagnosis situation. Apparently they’ve been hiding it from everyone else for months, which is terrible. But they’re a great family and will help as much as possible.

So, he’s not really in a party mood, of course. But I sent him off to spend some time alone to decompress. Hopefully he’ll feel better this evening, but Little Sister will certainly understand if he decided to stay upstairs and watch TV. For all the stuff we’ve had going on this year, at least we’re both healthy and coping well.

Put down the candied pecans

SBF asked me to find a way to make candied pecans for the spinach salad I’m making for the party tonight. So, I spend a couple of days trying to get as close as possible to the ones Trader Joe’s sells, because they’re my favorite. But way too expensive for the amounts we wanted.

The good news is I got really close. The bad news is I’ve developed a serious addiction to these things. Is there some kind of 12 step program?

Maybe a nice life-threatening allergy I could develop?

Fold, fold, fold!

If only this were a post about poker. Right now there’s an assembly line of table cloth preparation going on. Why? Because I am dumb. We got these lovely Matouk linens for the party, but I shoved them into the back of the linen closet and forgot that they need to be impeccable. So, the boyfriend and J are going through all of them, ironing out wrinkles and folding them carefully for deployment tomorrow evening.

On the bright side, they are lovely linens and I get to keep them after the party.

Kitchen craziness

Things are especially wild right now in my house. I’m cooking nonstop, while trying to help the boyfriend set things up because the weather turned awful and we have to be prepared to have everyone in the house at all times tomorrow night.

Thank goodness J and her man are on their way over to help, I’m starting to panic a bit. The kitchen looks like there was a tornado in it, and we’re pretty much out of room in the fridge.

I just realized that I haven’t eaten anything (aside from tasting while cooking) since lunch yesterday. Apparently running around like a chicken with your head cut off is an excellent appetite suppressants. Who knew.

Speaking of chicken, I need to make a marinade for some.

Not getting the message

For some unknown reason, my father decided he wanted to take a road trip this fall. He failed completely in getting my mother to go with him, so he’s starting on me now. I explained that working for myself means if I don’t work I don’t get paid. And I already have two trips scheduled for this year. He doesn’t care.

Even though I’ve told him I’m not going, he keeps sending me things as if I am. Like info on the most scenic routes down the east coast, and information about insurance for travel emergency situations. Today I got a list of car games for 4 people to play.

Uh, right now the trip is only 2 people – my father and my gullible cousin G who thinks driving to Florida will be “awesome.”

Televisions are so 90s

I was trying to collect some extra chairs for the party this weekend from the 2 neighbors I like. The guys three doors down from us have 30 folding chairs in their basement for some reason no one can remember. So, I spend a long time today lugging them down the street. Afterwards they showed me their newly converted “media room” complete with reclining chairs and one of those cool projectors. You know, the kind that let’s you display things from a TV, computer, DVD player or whatever on the wall.

It was pretty neat, I must say. The picture from the projector was really clear, and you can move it anywhere you want.

So, of course, I spent time this afternoon when I should have been working reading projector reviews and trying to figure out how quickly I can get one. If anyone would like to give me a gift, take the hint.