Three-Day Party
This weekend was a three-day party in Novi to celebrate "Number Six" reaching 300 monthly parties (well, "monthly except December," anyhow). Because the commute from my house is on the order of 40 miles but the commute from Mom's is only 16, I crashed in her second bedroom this weekend.
Friday
I finished up my work week around noon, showered, packed up, and headed out to Mom's. Saw a couple of mild snow flurries but traffic was more or less moving at or above posted speeds the entire trip. Got there, unloaded the car, unpacked, took a quick power nap, and headed off to the 6pm party around 5pm. The snow had begun in earnest and between that and it being rush hour I stuck to surface streets to get there. Those were mostly moving along, though some traffic lights took two cycles to get through. All told it took about 40 minutes instead of the 20-25 it should've.
I was the fourth person to arrive (including the host and his houseguest who flew in from Denver) and the fifth was pulling in as I was walking to the front dooraught up, helped with some of the setup, and basically schmoozed as more and more people arrived. I think we had about 16 people total on Friday. I had a hot dog early on, a couple of slices of the homemade pizza later, lots of chips and Chicago Mix popcorn, and a slice of cake later in the evening.
I was running low on energy and things were pretty much wrapping up for the night a bit before 11pm so I headed back to Mom's. The snow had stopped and the major roads were clear so I went via the freeway which added another 1.5 miles to the trip but took closer to 20 minutes. Popped my evening drugs, brushed my teeth, and went immediately to bed.
Saturday
I managed to sleep in - with a couple of bio-breaks - until about 8:30am. Caught up on email and social media before having a banana for breakfast and eavesdropping on Mom's condo board-related calls. (The current foofooraw is about the gatehouse: Should they keep (and repair) it or remove it; if they keep it, do they keep it manned 24x7 or go to 16x7 or 16x5 or wholly automatic, and so on. The problem is exacerbated by there being two associations inside the perimeter: The condos and the houses. The houses' association apparently hasn't been paying their share and yet they insist on keeping the house manned for all 3 shifts.)
Putzed around online and eventually had leftovers for lunch: Lobster ravioli in a tomato sauce with vodka and cream, topped with parmesan and fresh-torn basil (the ravioli was from Costco; the sauce needed more pepper, less tomato, and something to cut the acidity (I suggested a dollop of molasses)), with garlic toast and a small salad (romaine, red onion, tomato, blue cheese, in a blueberry-balsamic vinaigrette dressing). No dessert but it's not like I needed it.
After lunch and closer to my 2:30pm departure time I took a quick shower and dressed and headed out. Despite the additional (heavy and wet) snowfall over the course of the morning the roads were clear enough - the warming temperatures helped a lot. The food tonight was spaghetti in meat sauce, with garlic toast, breadsticks with add-your-own garlic butter, and salad.
Around 10:30pm or ao I'd more or less had enough so I headed back to Mom's via the freeways and got there by 11pm whereupon I went to bed and directly to bed (do not pass Go, do not collect $200).
Sunday
The day's festivities began at 10am so I finished packing up and headed out from Mom's. Declined the turkey sammiches but had some salad and pepperoni along with the chips and dip. Things were slow - it was a laid-back sort of morning - so I headed home around 1:30pm or so. Traffic was uneventful (except for the idiot in the red SUV who decided that lane markers were for other people and who nearly clipped me). Got home, unpacked, set up the laptop, and proceeded to accomplish very little else.
Friday
I finished up my work week around noon, showered, packed up, and headed out to Mom's. Saw a couple of mild snow flurries but traffic was more or less moving at or above posted speeds the entire trip. Got there, unloaded the car, unpacked, took a quick power nap, and headed off to the 6pm party around 5pm. The snow had begun in earnest and between that and it being rush hour I stuck to surface streets to get there. Those were mostly moving along, though some traffic lights took two cycles to get through. All told it took about 40 minutes instead of the 20-25 it should've.
I was the fourth person to arrive (including the host and his houseguest who flew in from Denver) and the fifth was pulling in as I was walking to the front dooraught up, helped with some of the setup, and basically schmoozed as more and more people arrived. I think we had about 16 people total on Friday. I had a hot dog early on, a couple of slices of the homemade pizza later, lots of chips and Chicago Mix popcorn, and a slice of cake later in the evening.
I was running low on energy and things were pretty much wrapping up for the night a bit before 11pm so I headed back to Mom's. The snow had stopped and the major roads were clear so I went via the freeway which added another 1.5 miles to the trip but took closer to 20 minutes. Popped my evening drugs, brushed my teeth, and went immediately to bed.
Saturday
I managed to sleep in - with a couple of bio-breaks - until about 8:30am. Caught up on email and social media before having a banana for breakfast and eavesdropping on Mom's condo board-related calls. (The current foofooraw is about the gatehouse: Should they keep (and repair) it or remove it; if they keep it, do they keep it manned 24x7 or go to 16x7 or 16x5 or wholly automatic, and so on. The problem is exacerbated by there being two associations inside the perimeter: The condos and the houses. The houses' association apparently hasn't been paying their share and yet they insist on keeping the house manned for all 3 shifts.)
Putzed around online and eventually had leftovers for lunch: Lobster ravioli in a tomato sauce with vodka and cream, topped with parmesan and fresh-torn basil (the ravioli was from Costco; the sauce needed more pepper, less tomato, and something to cut the acidity (I suggested a dollop of molasses)), with garlic toast and a small salad (romaine, red onion, tomato, blue cheese, in a blueberry-balsamic vinaigrette dressing). No dessert but it's not like I needed it.
After lunch and closer to my 2:30pm departure time I took a quick shower and dressed and headed out. Despite the additional (heavy and wet) snowfall over the course of the morning the roads were clear enough - the warming temperatures helped a lot. The food tonight was spaghetti in meat sauce, with garlic toast, breadsticks with add-your-own garlic butter, and salad.
Around 10:30pm or ao I'd more or less had enough so I headed back to Mom's via the freeways and got there by 11pm whereupon I went to bed and directly to bed (do not pass Go, do not collect $200).
Sunday
The day's festivities began at 10am so I finished packing up and headed out from Mom's. Declined the turkey sammiches but had some salad and pepperoni along with the chips and dip. Things were slow - it was a laid-back sort of morning - so I headed home around 1:30pm or so. Traffic was uneventful (except for the idiot in the red SUV who decided that lane markers were for other people and who nearly clipped me). Got home, unpacked, set up the laptop, and proceeded to accomplish very little else.