Don’t you just love a party? I could hang out and eat and laugh and act silly just about any ole time. We had friends over for a Labor Day cookout. We did the meat and veggies and everyone brought side dishes and drinks. We are all long-time friends and everyone knows their way around my kitchen.
I couldn’t wait to try out my new baskets for the grill. Got ‘em at Lowe’s. Coolest things. I cut up kabob sized meat and veggies, marinated them over night in a lime barbeque and put them in the well oiled baskets. And then - to the grill! We stirred them twice and what a feast! I poured them out on the table over brown paper on top of butcher paper and put all the side dishes around.
We called the gang to the kitchen and everyone dug in. Mom usually will stay seated and let me serve her food. As I was running around I heard over the buzz of voices…aghummm. I continued to get ice in the cooler, add some forks to the table, ….a little louder…
“Aghummm.”
“Oh, Mom, would you like me to get your plate now?”
“Yes, that would be very nice. Not too many beans though.”
So I break line and fix her a plate. She loves the hubbub of activity and the service during our get-togethers. “Oh my goodness what a lot of food! I don’t think I can eat it all.”
“Do you want something to drink?”
“Water is fine.”
The guys were hanging outside finishing their drinks so I dug in with the ladies and came to the living room to find a seat. My mouth was preparing me, my mind savoring the flavor all the way from the kitchen to the chair….and then…….
“Good heavens, K! You haven’t served your guests and you have just seated your self and started eating. Where are your manners?”
“Mom, they will all serve themselves. That’s what we always do.”
“Well, that is probably what you always do because you have always neglected to serve your guests. You should be embarrassed.”
I think I took my first bite – I don’t know.
Is guilt the bitter herb of patience? ~K
Showing posts with label sandwich generation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sandwich generation. Show all posts
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Sunday, August 29, 2010
It's puzzling
I just threw it away today. The 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle with 999 pieces. I wonder if I had counted them before we started, would I still have started? Well, that is probably pointless mind-wandering because I was the follower and mom was the leader. I didn't start it - she did. My mom loves puzzles - crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, sudoku and other such wastes of good productive time.
It was a rainy Friday evening and we were looking for something to do together. She has a stash of jigsaw puzzles, gifts from children and grandchildren, each one with a story about who gave it, when it was given and how easy or hard it was to assemble. But there was that one box, rather oddly shaped as an oblong octagon. It had a foreboding picture of little vignettes of Bible stories, woven together with water and sky and sand and dessert sand dunes. I know, it sounds weird - it IS weird. It was unopened, standing on end, the seal just waiting to be broken.
"Mom, why have you never done that puzzle?" I so foolishly asked.
“Do you see how many pieces it has?” Mom said with a flirtatious challenge to her voice.
"Shoot we could do that together - no problem." Said I with 5th grade confidence; the only one in the room who had not done a puzzle since 5th grade.
So we cleared the dining room table after supper and by 2:00 a.m. we finally hit the sack – the border complete. Saturday, I learned why I never do puzzles. They are just one more task that MUST be done, no matter what it takes. By noon, still in our jammies, we had another four hours of grueling puzzling under our belts. We were partners – working tirelessly side-by-side, organizing by color and shape, testing, trying and cheering each other’s victories. What a team!
Time stood still, as my husband began to wonder what was for dinner, was I going to do laundry, clean the house, go to the grocery store, get dressed! Thank goodness for frozen pizzas.
My back hurt, my eyes were burning, but I wasn’t going to quit until the task was done. I found out my mom dated my Dad’s best army buddy once – to spite him no less. She was quite popular in high school, didn’t know that either. I finally told her the truth about the clothes I bought on her credit card, she said she already knew.
By 11:00 p.m. we were exhausted and we discovered there was a missing puzzle piece. I am glad I didn’t know that when we started. I would have missed too much – more than just a piece of a puzzle.
Patiently putting the pieces together - K~
It was a rainy Friday evening and we were looking for something to do together. She has a stash of jigsaw puzzles, gifts from children and grandchildren, each one with a story about who gave it, when it was given and how easy or hard it was to assemble. But there was that one box, rather oddly shaped as an oblong octagon. It had a foreboding picture of little vignettes of Bible stories, woven together with water and sky and sand and dessert sand dunes. I know, it sounds weird - it IS weird. It was unopened, standing on end, the seal just waiting to be broken.
"Mom, why have you never done that puzzle?" I so foolishly asked.
“Do you see how many pieces it has?” Mom said with a flirtatious challenge to her voice.
"Shoot we could do that together - no problem." Said I with 5th grade confidence; the only one in the room who had not done a puzzle since 5th grade.
So we cleared the dining room table after supper and by 2:00 a.m. we finally hit the sack – the border complete. Saturday, I learned why I never do puzzles. They are just one more task that MUST be done, no matter what it takes. By noon, still in our jammies, we had another four hours of grueling puzzling under our belts. We were partners – working tirelessly side-by-side, organizing by color and shape, testing, trying and cheering each other’s victories. What a team!
Time stood still, as my husband began to wonder what was for dinner, was I going to do laundry, clean the house, go to the grocery store, get dressed! Thank goodness for frozen pizzas.
My back hurt, my eyes were burning, but I wasn’t going to quit until the task was done. I found out my mom dated my Dad’s best army buddy once – to spite him no less. She was quite popular in high school, didn’t know that either. I finally told her the truth about the clothes I bought on her credit card, she said she already knew.
By 11:00 p.m. we were exhausted and we discovered there was a missing puzzle piece. I am glad I didn’t know that when we started. I would have missed too much – more than just a piece of a puzzle.
Patiently putting the pieces together - K~
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