Pages

Thursday, November 27, 2008

hostess with the mostest....NOT!

Last Thursday night I was on the phone with my mom and just threw out the idea that she and my daddy come to our house for supper. I figured they already had plans, but I really wanted them to come hang out in “our space” for an evening. Of course the invitation was also extended to my sister and her NEW BOYFRIEND and my brother and his girlfriend (Court).

Well…Mom accepted the invite!

I was so excited! She offered to bring dessert and I asked her to bring Pictionary so we could play after supper. My parents were planning to show up around 6:15-6:30ISH (ish-is common in our household and could mean anywhere from 5 to 30 minutes late), my brother around 7:30, and Court, my sister, and the NEW BF around 8:30 (because Court and the NEW BF had basketball practice).

If anyone has seen our house, they know it is perfect for two people. There is enough room that we don’t kill each other but not too much to clean. Therefore, cramming 8 people into this one house, much less in the same room, is like cramming sardines into a can.

I planned out the meal and Worker Man and I went grocery shopping to get enough food for the 8 people who would be eating.

Friday came and I took my lunch break at 4 so I could get home early. Knowing my dad (the CLEAN FREAK), I Clorox-ed the entire house from top to bottom. I made sure the bathroom was cleaner than it had been since we moved in, the floor was swept, the kitchen counter was spotless, and the house was even DUSTED. Dusting is definitely my least favorite chore which is unfortunate since we have cobwebs EVERYWHERE (we’ll talk about that in a later post).

Then, I started getting everything ready for supper. Since I’m not very good at timing everything so it all comes out warm at the same time, I planned this meal and knew what should go in the oven when so that everything would be pippin’-hot and I would feel uber-wifey.

Well, Mom and Daddy finally show up around 7 (remember, they said 6:30ish so they are still not considered late) and things start out beautifully. They looked at the house to see what we’d changed and mom even brought me a hostess gift (two magazines, People and Family Circle)! Mom also brought her dessert with her to make at our house. No problem!

Except, while fixing the dessert, I ran around grabbing things she needed (i.e. mixer, eggs, butter, mixing bowl, pie dish, etc) and did not stick to my minute-by-minute plan of how to cook everything on time. Then, mom decided that her pie needed to go in the oven because it would take a while to bake. Therefore, the raw chicken sat on the counter for awhile until I demanded that the chicken (also referred to as THE MAIN DISH) be cooked before dessert! So, while the chicken was cooking, the homemade mac and cheese (Worker Man’s favorite), the cream corn (real kind—like Mema used to make), and the green beans (that Mammy canned) were all finished and quickly cooling.

During all this chaos my brother, Court, my sister, and the NEW BF (who I had never met) arrived.

By the way, I forgot to mention what Workman was doing during this time…

My daddy, my sweet sweet daddy, has a few peculiar eating dislikes. Two of the things had an effect on the meal that I was cooking. He does not like BAKED chicken and he doesn’t like garlic. I know…he’s a weirdo.

So, I kept one piece of chicken separate so that Worker Man could just throw it on the grill outside. Sounds harmless, right?

Well, did I mention it was POURING rain?!? So Worker Man runs outside in the rain and throws the chicken on the grill. He’s already frustrated about the situation and then he comes in and I’m pretty sure steam was coming from his ears. The grill ran out of gas (kinda ironic since Worker Man’s family owns an oil and propane company). And here we are with everything getting cold (except the chicken, because it’s still in the oven) and Daddy’s piece is only half cooked.

The easy solution? Run down to the in-laws house (only four-ish houses away) and throw it on their grill. Worker Man calls his parents, who are out Christmas shopping and asks if he can use their grill. They don’t mind, so Worker Man runs down to their house only to find that a squirrel has eaten a hole through the gas line. So, Worker Man carries the half cooked chicken back to the truck and has to DRIVE TO THE OIL COMPANY and get a new tank of gas for the grill. He comes back with the half cooked chicken and the new tank and proceeds to finish cooking the chicken on the grill in the rain.

He comes back inside just in time for us to wake Daddy up (he fell asleep on the couch because he had to wait for so long), get the chicken out of the oven, and say the blessing.

At this point I’m so stressed out and frustrated with all the food getting cold that I don’t even make an effort to present the food in nice bowls or even put it all in one place. Everyone is walking aimlessly around in the kitchen looking for the green beans and then back to the other side of the kitchen to get their chicken.

Did I also mention that we only have four chairs? So, my brother, sister, Court and the NEW BF take their food into the living room and sit on the couch and eat supper.

Then…we all played Pictionary (boys vs. girls). The NEW BF really got to see the true side of my family as we all screamed over top of each other (mostly me, I MIGHT be just a LITTLE too competitive) and had some scrumptious dessert.

Here are pictures from the game:













All in all it was a successful night...


Friday, November 21, 2008

oh the joys of living with a boy.

Yesterday, after work, I went to change into my workout clothes.

I came out with a pair of mismatched, men’s socks on and a sweatshirt with the arm length about four inches too short.

Worker Man’s been doing the laundry recently.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

yay for projects.

I am the kinda project gal that sees a cute craft and wants to try to make it myself.
But...it never turns out quiiiiiteee right.

I get an e-mail from Lowes Hardware weekly called creative ideas. There are a ton of ideas that they offer and one week, I got lucky. I found a project to make a nutcracker out of planters. Here's what it turned out looking like.

I actually did it AND it turned out right!!!


I plan to make some more with mini planters. I'll take pictures of the process and post them. It's super easy!

Friday, November 14, 2008

i make dreams come true.

Worker Man and I took a weekend trip to Grandfather Mountain. It was absolutely perfect. It was a gorgeous day.

We stopped at the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival on our way which was so much fun. We got FMIL a bag of mountain apples (something she loves) and just looked around. There were a RIDICULOUS number of booths there! We also got to eat some nice, greasy, festival food. The potato ring thingys are my favorite.
Then, we headed on to Grandfather Mountain. I haven’t been up there in years and Worker Man had never been. They had a nature area that I didn’t remember. We stopped there first.


Then, we headed up to the top.




On our way how we decided to ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway to get home. While we were riding, we passed a sign that said "Linn Cove Viaduct". We were discussing what it could be and all of the sudden Worker Man started having what seemed like a seziure. Finally, he was able to scream out "It's the thingy!!!"


WHAT THINGY? I had NO clue what he was talking about. I realized we were riding over a bridge but I wasn't sure what was so exciting. When he finally pulled his thoughts together, he was able to explain that he had watched something on discovery channel (yes, he’s dorky like that) about how this viaduct was constructed. Apparently he mentioned something to me after watching the show about wanting to see it one day.


I’m glad I was able to make his dream come true.

I forgot to mention earlier that he was not thrilled to be going to the Brushy Mountain Apple Festival. Although he was a good sport, I didn’t get to see these expressions until after his dream came true:
We took my mom’s cabrio convertible (not really a manly car) so that we could enjoy the beautiful day. He was on a little high after seeing the viaduct and proceeded to stick his head above the windshield. I think he only swallowed a couple of bugs. I figure it was good protein.
Needless to say, the day was successful.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

sleep apnea.

So my mom has this incredible machine.  She got this machine about a year ago for her sleep apnea.  She wears it every night when she sleeps.  It forces her to breath regularly by blowing oxygen into her face.  

My parents have recently been putting down hardwood floors at their house and started in the bedroom.  They had to move their bed into the living room and sleep about 2 feet from the television. 

Homecoming at the high school was one Friday night while they were still sleeping in the living room.  After the football game, my brother and sister and a lot of their friends came home to spend the night.  My parents went to bed (in the living room) and all those teenagers came downstairs multiple times for snacks or drinks, each time seeing my parents laying in the bed. 

Only, my mom wasn't looking normal...she had her nice machine on.

Here's me trying it out.

I couldn't figure out how to get it on.  Keep in mind that it's blowing a ridiculous amount of oxygen in my face.  Like a dummy, I turned it on and then tried to get it on my face.




Thursday, November 6, 2008

s&c.

On Sunday night, my S&C girls got together for a much needed girls night.

MST came into town so it was mandatory that we all get together. We went to eat at The Loop. It was so good to see all of them.

Here are a few pictures from the night:

definitely the best picture. we didn't plan this. we were actually supposed to be smiling.
yea, i know. you're jealous of our skilz.





The guy that was taking the picture said "everyone say LOOP". So I did. Hence, the stork neck. Clearly no one else was as excited as me about saying LOOP. I have great luck with pictures.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

happy birthday brother

my sweet brother turned 19 on sunday.

here's my favorite picture of the birthday celebration:


we left church and went to bon bon's house for his birthday lunch. he decided (rather than taking his clothes inside) he would change outside in the driveway.

here are a few other pictures from the day.

wearing a couple of his birthday presents.

my mom and grandma
the gang.

love you brother.

thank you apple store.

On Friday night, Worker Man and I went to the Apple Store because I was having some trouble with my computer. For some reason I couldn't upload my pictures from my camera to my computer. It was driving me crazy! Especially since I started this blog. I had tried EVERYTHING and couldn't get it to work.

I didn't call to make an appointment so Worker Man and I dropped in. We saw the service desk at the back but before making our way back there, two Apple employees standing at the front asked if they could help us.



I felt like I should give them a fair chance. But all the while I was thinking: if I can't figure this out, I know they won't have a clue. They just work here for the discounts.

Well, they took my camera as I got out my computer. I mentioned there were probably not any pictures on my camera because I had just uploaded them on Worker Man's computer the other night. So, that's how I got the wonderful pictures above. They felt it was in their best interest to take pictures of themselves to upload.

And then...

...they proceeded to fix my computer.