ribfest
I'm not one of these people who can prepare eight dishes and have them come out all piping hot and ready to eat at the same time, nor have I ever aspired to be. So when I invited the spawn and grandspawn to a feed, I knew it would mean spending the day before pre-cooking.
I expected middle daughter, her three spawn, one of which is in common with one grandspawn daddy and his other spawn, a couple-three Zorfriends, and a partridge in a pear tree. I got middle daughter, three grandspawn, grandspawn daddy (aka Matt), stepspawn, and a dachshund named Daisy.
So on Friday I roasted the hell out of two enormous packs of ribs, macaroni and cheese (but didn't bake it yet, because I planned to bake it with the potatoes the next day) and a punkin cake. At some point I started panicking that there wouldn't be enough food, so I started looking around for things I could use to stretch the table, and ended up adding on potato salad (made from ACK PANIC overcooked potatoes) and devilled eggs (ACK PANIC they won't PEEL)...make that zombie eggs, because chunks were missing. At some point I started panicking anew because it struck me that all the food was the same color, and I considered sending T-moth out for salad fixings, but then I realized nobody wants salad when there's actual food, so I decided that if my dogs and furniture can all be brown and white, so could my table, at least this time. Then I started panicking because there were no clean dish towels left, and threw in a load.
That was Friday.
On Saturday the Northern Spawn Posse showed up a little after two, and neither dog even barked when the truck pulled into the driveway...until. Cobie and Kelly went wild over Daisy...wild enough to alarm the poor little thing, but she quickly adjusted and was soon giving Kelly hell all over the yard, much to Kelly's mixed horror and delight. Except for when Cobie chased Daisy into a handy lap. Poor Daisy. It's probably terrifying to live in Cobie's world while resembling a sausage.
On the topic of laps, Cobie was particularly interested in the breastfeeding experience. He really wanted to get an up close look at that procedure. Also diaper changing. He thought that was pretty interesting also. How many grownups does it take to change a diaper? Well with Cobie supervising, two. And a third might come in handy.
Cobie and Grandspawn Jacob tore around the yard practically nonstop for a good 3+ hours, with Kelly and Daisy joining in on a fairly regular basis. I turned the phone off because of the danged ol politicians. One Zorfriend showed up around I dunno, 4:30-ish. Grandspawn Lexie wanted to play Yahtzee, so it's all her fault I forgot to put in the macaroni and the taters until late, and so we ate late, and Matt had to take Lexie and babyzombie Jolene on Tricks and Treats because their mom hadn't had a chance to eat yet. Jolene coulda stayed, but what a shame to waste all that babyzombie cuteness.
Jacob woulda coulda gone, but instead he threw a fit and then passed out on the sofa. He had a Cobie hangover, I guess. Zor got all vampired up and passed out candy. T-moth drank six beers but managed not to pass out until after everyone went home. The dogs lasted until 8:30 before slipping into a coma. I stayed up until 11:30, but only because I was too lazy to get up off the couch and go to bed, and also because I had forgot to watch Medium the night before.
Really, Memorial Day is my favorite holiday, as it is short and the least commercial unless you want to buy a flag. The food is generally cookout food, which is my favorite food anyhow. And it's cemetery-centric. What's not to love about a holiday like that? But Halloween is my second favorite holiday, and could be my favorite if not for the way it seems to be stretching out. I try not to let this alarm me, but hey. I remember when Xmas didn't start until December.
(Which is how it should be.)
Anyhow...when I did go to bed, I forgot to turn the phone back on. Which shouldn't matter. How many important phone calls are actually going to come on Halloween, right? What, I might miss my emergency notification of the impending zombie apocalypse because the apocalypse notification team doesn't have my cell number?
Uh huh.
So Saturday was a pretty good day. I have pictures, but they're on the real camera, so file that under one-a these days.