Having my Dad here is a blessing. He keeps my Mom occupied to a degree, although she complains that he sleeps too much. My brothers have both been in to visit, which has also made my Mom happy. Between my usual Saturday housekeeping and grocery runs, my brother and his wife and I went out to the local farmers' market to stock up on fresh local produce and explored a favorite local shop for a couple of hours.
But with guests comes noise and chaos. I sat eleven people down for dinner last night, two of them vegans, one whom can't eat greens because of his Coumadin, one who can't have salt because of heart failure, and one for whom preparation of a raw salad requires an hour of sanitation. Since hubby was working right up until it was time to seat everybody, I was cooking like some kind of ninja. It was one of the rare times when a six burner stove might have been helpfull.
While I was cooking, Curlygirl and Jujubee and Babygirl were trying to convince three hungry toddlers that: 1) Just because Grandma put the baby gate in the kitchen doorway doesn't mean she hates you and doesn't appreciate your efforts to 'help' and 2) Just because there are plates on the table doesn't mean that the food is ready NOW or will be for the eternal forseeable future. To make matters louder, Jujubee jumped the gate to help me in the kitchen (sometimes having someone who is good with a knife is scary, and sometimes it's handy). Together we managed to get Italian sausages with peppers and onions, veggie burgers, gnocchi with fresh-from-the-garden homemade pesto, corn on the cob and sauted kale onto the table all at the same time, hot and fresh. Timing is everything.
No toddlers were harmed in the making of this meal. That gate offers two-way protection.
Jujubee went home, and the rest of us (sans Mom) watched the season premier of Doctor Who. I'm going to miss the old doctor. Like Clara, I'll get over it.
Did I mention I was on call also? Yeah. Add that. Oh, and the chipmunk. He must be deaf since the rest have stayed away since we added the sonic anti-pest devices. Hope he likes his new neighborhood down by the river.
So this morning has been remarkably quiet. Fresh air, fresh coffee, fresh sudoku, fresh blog post. Fresh peanut butter in the Have-a-Heart trap just in case. Got it all covered.
DeeDee
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