Whirlwind of Activity

We had a high school buddy of Jim’s here for under 18 hours, from yesterday afternoon ’til this morning. Of course he arrived with wife and 2 1/2 year old daughter after several hours on the road.

I don’t know how parents in their late 20’s manage a toddler, much less in their thirties! There’s no way I could keep up with this delightful and loud young thing. When Jim got home from work he made balloons and they took walks and we read books. Our dog Zoe was a big hit.

I managed dinner and a hearty breakfast and they were off, hopefully not to hit the thunderstorms we had today. The lightning and thunder were right here and very loud, and Zoe was frightened. A couple of hours later, blue skies, the pavement is dry and the grass has probably grown an inch!

Last night we had pork chops marinated in cider and grainy mustard. I patted them dry, dusted them with seasoned flour and placed them in a saute pan. I also had corn on the cob in a maitre d’hotel butter (butter, parsley, lemon juice), sauteed cherry tomatoes with olive oil and basil, and rosemary roasted potatoes.

The best thing about that dinner, aside from the company, is that I’ve enough potatoes and veg to re-heat tonight and only had to buy beef flap for Don’s maple rosemary marinade to finish the meal.

Now Jim has to bring our dining table down to normal size, as right now if we moved the light fixture we could play Twister on it. It’s taken over the room. Next time, folks, stay longer. One night is a whirlwind and I now have the guest bed and bath ready for future guests minus hotel sheets. They’re hanging, washed and dried, over the bannister for Jim to help me fold better and put away. Yes, I bought 400 thread count sheets for our two guest beds that actually fit the beds and aren’t torn, washed them today and put them on sans blankets for summer. Got them from Overstock.com, as I’ve always loved their sheets.

In 24 hours I did three dishwasher loads, and seven loads of laundry. You can’t have fun unless you’re willing to clean up the mess.

Jim’s old buddy is a photographer and got some good photos of his family vacation, but I only saw them on the camera. He got to see them on my large monitor while I finished up the dishes. I love having family and old friends stay with us, and entertain new friends for a meal here. There’s so much talent out there in the world to learn about, places I’ve never seen described so I want to see them.

You know I love planning menus and preparing food to delight guests. Please allow me to attend to our dinner a deux as my husband is just a few miles away…. Cheers, Dee