It was fine, fine, fine

I've never been so glad for a weekend to be over.

On Saturday Mr. C and I hosted a birthday party for his grandmother who had just flown in from her home in Wisconsin. We didn't so much voluntarily host it as we were volunteered to provide the house for the occasion by my mother in law. Yeah. She called a few weeks ago and told us that she had offered our home for the party.

Okay, no stress. I just have to make sure that all the dog hair is banished and the house doesn't smell like a barn. I suppose this is a good time to get rid of all that clutter. And when was the last time I cleaned the bathrooms? I guess now's a good a time as any. Sure this is a party for Mr. C's family and I don't even really know some of them and I'm doing most of the work to get the house ready, whatever. This is fine. No problem.

It was supposed to be a casual party for 10 and it ended up being a sit down lobster dinner for 12. My 87 year old grandmother in law wanted lobster on her birthday. Who can blame her? Did I mention we don't have room in my house for 12 people to sit down and have lobster? So we decided to have it outside. It will be fine, said my husband the eternal optimist. Fine, fine, fine. If he said fine one more time I was going to hit him with a lobster pot. I wanted a united front of misery and he wanted to be Miss Mary Sunshine. It will be fine, fine, fine...

Yeah, it rained most of the day. The steam was beginning to seep from my ears by about noon.

By 1:30 I was calling my lawyer to draw up the divorce papers.

Thankfully, the weather cleared up in the nick of time. By 4pm when all the guests were arriving the rain had stopped and the sun actually came out for a while.

It was fine, okay, now shut up.

Um, Mom, what am I supposed to do with this thing?

I thought I ordered the chicken?

It was better than fine, actually. We had a wonderful time drinking boat loads of wine and gorging ourselves on crustaceans. We layed newspaper on our tables and got our faces and fingers messy with melted butter. And for dessert? The most heavenly carrot cake you have ever tasted. Chicky Baby was a huge hit, and just a bit clingy due to the amount of strange people in her home, and even the dogs were on their best behavior.

The carnage.

Yes, a good time was had by all. I spent more time helping my mother in law cook the lobsters (Poor little lobsters. They valiantly gave their lives for our dinner. And they were dee-licious.) than actually visiting but it kept me busy so I was happy. My kitchen is still a mess and we've got a bag full of lobster skeletons stinking up our garage, but the butter made my skin so soft and Mr. C's grandmother was thrilled by her birthday celebration. I guess it all worked out in the end.

Next up, Thanksgiving dinner for 10. Bah. That's nothing. It'll be fine.

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