Abundant life

I have been cleaning and cooking all week for a party for my son, who has graduated from his small Catholic school. (....with the highest average among all the boys, ahem; bragging over.)

There are very few things that make me happier than having a houseful of people. One is para-sailing, and another is kayaking.

We had about 60 people in the end. I know, I'm a little crazy. I did almost all of the cooking myself. But I had a plan, and it pretty much worked. Along the way we had a kitchen sink issue that threatened to derail the whole thing. Scary! Inner cabinet lakes are not good, but we resolved that with a minimum of drama.

That left us free to have relatives and friends and neighbors and waterballoon fights and glow stick bracelets and a wading pool for the littlest kids. The weather complied with a perfect 80 degree summer day.

We had ziti and chicken slathered with Dinosaur Barbecue sauce, all sorts of salads and fruits and snacks... and Miss Patty's yummy layered dessert (with chocolate pudding and cookie crumbs and whipped cream) and Darlene's famous giant chocolate chip cookies, and a chocolate/ Guiness Stout cake I got from my favorite local restaurant. Tell me, why did I make a 3-box mix Funfetti sheet cake? Answer, because I am crazy.

Today my house is clean, I don't have to go to work or to any sort of doctor appointments, and I have plenty of nice food left over. I sat on my screen porch and just enjoyed the quiet sunshine... until my skanky neighbor's five kids came out to scream in the pool. (Seriously. 7 months pregnant and a bikini? and they scream their brains out. I pray they outgrow the house soon. )

Now it is truly "me time"... for the rest of the summer I have plenty of time for all of my art projects in their various forms. I'll share some of the results here. Stay tuned!