Concerts and Cocktails

Hey you,

Glad to hear the chicken was worth the wait. Me? I had a massive bacon cheeseburger at Applebee's at 9:00 last night. This is telling of numerous things: 1) we have kids, so choosing a restaurant that pleases everyone limits our options 2) we live in Podunk, so our options are even more limited to begin with 3) I am too lazy to cook dinner before the concert, even though no one really wants to eat at 5:30 anyway 4) by 9:00 at night, my hunger, rather than my brain, dictates what I order. I could have ordered a salad, sure. But honestly, by that time, I was ready to eat the sugar packets, pink, blue and yellow. As we placed our orders, J and me, - extra large quesadilla burger with artery clogging sauce, please, and I'll have the jumbo sized fatal bacon plus red meat combo - with cheese, please - M says to us,

"Are you guys ever going back to Weight Watchers?"

LOLOLOL!!!!

I ate it all anyway. It's freakin' December.

This morning M had to get up early for Wednesday School - our equivalent of detention that happens on late start days. Sucked for him to have to get up early (that's what you get for being tardy just about every day), but it got me out of bed way before I had planned and now I feel like I have all the time in the world. I made a pot of joe, got him out the door with J, then sat down here, in the peace and quiet of my house, for an hour to read my various blog favorites, catch bits and pieces of the news, dink around a little, getting ready to decorate my house today. What an awesome way to start the morning. Now JJ is up and showered, ready to get his homework done (love the late start - getting home so late last night) and neighbor A will be here in a few minutes to get our routine started. Speaking of can openers, I was absolutely delighted to find that there is plenty of Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch for both kids this morning, which means cereal (A's favorite), instead of something I have to cook for breakfast. Yahoo! The little things...

The concert last night was good, as always. I'm such a sucker for that stuff. While I'm not the mom who is videotaping, snapping pictures, or whispering constantly to my husband about how cute my kid is, I am the one who tears up when "Silent Night" begins and all those little kids (who are suddenly so grown up) try to hit the high notes with all their might. I love all the attempts at suits and ties, the frilly, overdone holiday dresses with maybe the first pair of "high" heels...the slicked down hair, the nervous swaying due to locked knees on the bleachers. JJ told us last night that he was stressed because the whole thing was being videotaped. As a result, he had the sternest, most concentrated look on his face the entire time; he looked like he was mad at the world and about to faint. That, with his little Elvis Costello outfit - skinny jeans, his polo shirt with skulls on it, and his funeral shoes - black patent leather - what a crack up. Such a hip 5th grader. I was proud, indeed. And a little sad, too, as I realized that this was our last elementary school concert...that next year, the Christmas concert will be replaced with a cold, rainy, middle-school football game, where I will tear up for all new reasons.

When we got home, M modeled his McD's uniform for us, which was a good laugh. He is so excited about this job! Almost made me forget about the fact that he can't get to first period on time. Almost. He'll be the death of me, one little, tiny thing at a time :)

Tonight the girls are coming over, while J takes JJ to football and basketball practice, to test-drive my drink for Saturday night. J chose the Carmel Martini from a selection of drinks I gave him. This is funny, because he probably won't drink it. He just thinks it sounds cool, and I'm all about being unique and interesting for The 12 Drinks. I joke that I'm going to serve beer and pretzels one year, but I couldn't. I'm going to bow out on a homemade appetizer, though, only because I had these awesome little Pillsbury puff pastry things at T's last weekend that are perfect! Easy, quick and super yummy. Our house isn't until 10:30, when everyone is more or less crocked, so a fancy offering would be lost on the crowd anyway.

C will be here on Friday; it will be her first time at the party. Another neighbor's daughter and boyfriend will also join us - wow, that makes me feel old! Our kids are already taking over our drinking traditions! I will be grateful for the female help, if you know what I mean. J is a great housecleaner, but when it comes to preparing and presenting the food and drinks, I'd rather he just stay at the last house and let me handle it. But a girl is different. C will know exactly what needs to be done and do it right (i.e. my way). Is that horrible to say? It's true. :-)

Today: decorating. That's been the plan for the past two days, but so far I have made no progress whatsoever. I keep having to be somewhere in the middle of the day, which just throws me off. But today, I have nothing planned - not even a stray errand - until the girls get here at 6:30 for my Cocktail Testing and Tweaking Party. Kim will join us too, which makes me want to call others, but I won't. I need to get away from this making mountains out of molehills; I think I will just have K & S over to try the drink, then I run into Kim and end up inviting her, too, then before I know it, I've called everyone I know, because, well, why not just have a party?? But not tonight - I won't feel pressured to get the house done, or even clean, four days early. It's just a cocktail.

I hope you're having a good day and that the temp is dropping, precipitation is rising and the stars aligning.

Love,
A