So, how did the weekend go? Mostly great!

On Saturday morning I finally got to get rid of all the paper recyclables that have been getting stored there. It seems the Melrose school system is having a competition between the elementary schools to see who can recycle the most paper, on a per kid basis. But they messed up the scheduling of it and I’ve been storing all my newspapers, cardboard and wrapping paper in my storeroom since November of 2005! I took two mammoth loads over to the school bright and early and felt greatly relieved to have all that crap out of my store room.

Later, I sent Liz out of the house with some money and told her not to come back until 4pm. I took the kids over to a friend of the family’s house where they got to spend the rest of the afternoon playing with their kids.

I went to the bakery and picked up a whole bunch of the most beautiful desserts I could find. They were really lovely. I also got four bags of ice at the convenience store.

Then I went home and met the maids who spent the next hour and a half cleaning the house. Also, Liz’s new clothes washer arrived. Those guys from sears were really fast! Inside of ten minutes they delivered the new washer, installed it, tested it and removed the old wasaher! wow.

I spent the next couple of hours getting the house ready for Liz’s eighth anual 29th birthday party. I pushed the dining room table against one wall and set up extra chairs and pulled superflous furniture out of the living room. I was really busy setting up.

Liz came back at 4pm. We talked a little about the upcoming party and I sent her off to go have a bath and get dressed. She had a nice time while she was out and I gather she had a very relaxing time in the tub. At 5:30pm Parris and her boyfriend came by to decorate the place. And that really helped a lot. There were balloons and streamers and all kinds of stuff. And it was those decorations that turned the event from just-a-bunch-of-people-sitting-around-drinking to a birthday party!

At six o’clock the caterers showed up. They brought artichoke crustini (that I had them make special for the event) and crudite, and stuffed mushroom caps, and terriyaki chicken and all kinds of stuff. We had some great food. Finally the actors from “Invitation to Murder” showed up and retired to their “green room” — it was just our basement but it gave them some privacy.

After the guests arrived the show got underway around 7pm. We had a really good time and the actors were really a lot of fun. They were very engaging and everyone played along really well. The beer and spiced rum flowed liberally and the food was devoured. For the next two hours we played along and danced and sang “happy birthday” and it was a really great time.

They left around 9pm. Most other people stayed around for a couple of more hours. One couple even decided to stay the night!

Liz had a great time. The kids had a great time.

The only downside was one person was kind of a belligerent drunk and needed some finessing to calm down and refocus. Liz was awesome at that. And incidentally she was hilarious. She made clever jokes easily and carried herself with a lot of charisma and grace. She was in top form. Also we got word that night that Liz’s father went in to the hospital for some heart related problems. Liz was worried about him and I’m afraid it dampened the party somewhat.

The following day was rough, though. I couldn’t go back to sleep after I woke up at 5:30am. I felt sick to my stomach and had a throbbing head ache. When I saw the wreckage that the party had left behind I knew I couldn’t let anyone else see it. There were all kinds of liquor bottles and beer bottles and mixers on the counter. There were spills and food to get cleaned up. So for the next couple of hours I kind of puttered through it. I confess I didn’t clean it up with any kind of haste. Nonetheless, by the time everyone else got up the party was all cleaned up and they could look at the kitchen without being remidned of the previous night.

Sunday we spent recuperating. That’s all. We did nothing interesting becuase we were too wiped out.

Good party.

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