Lead up to July 4th

Our 4th of July BBQ is becoming a tradition, much like out New Year's Party.

And it really almost didn't happen this year. I was broken, beaten and spent and in no mood to entertain, but Cindy wanted to go ahead with it and was excited to think about something other than her current job. With Skye in camp, it shouldn't be that hard, right?

Wrong.

I ended up doing a bunch of work for Cindy and some SDSA stuff and spending way too much time looking for the perfect pair of plants for some pots I was moving around, to the tune of looking at nurseries from Redondo Beach to Agoura Hills and many points in between. I can get obsessive at times, I know. I got some good jui jitsu training in as well, but not a lot of prep for the party.

You see for me preparing for one of these events, entails figuring out which projects I can actually finish in time for them not to be in mid-construction phase. As well as what really actually needs to done. I am usually and overachiever and get in way over my head. This year I was determined not to let this happen....by pretending the party wasn't really happening.

Well as the day approached and we realized we were looking at having at least 50 people over and we also started remembering all the people we hadn't invited, it was becoming impossible to ignore.

Picked Skye up from camp mid-day Thursday, so that we could beeline to her friend's birthday party, picking up a gift along the way. And there went Thursday.

Friday was all about shopping and errands. No substantial work got done around the house. Cindy did have the day off but had a job interview that took up the better part of her day.

Blah blah blah

Saturday...

Off to the farmer's market and then...

The house and backyard are trashed. The back looks like a construction site. I end up sweeping and shop vacuuming for a couple hours alone. The grills hadn't been properly cleaned since our last BBQ, so that took forever.

And I had yet to start cooking or even prepping to cook. We are 2 1/2 hours out and I feel like we are 3 days behind, literally.

So I find myself barking out orders to Cindy and Skye (they both slept in 10 o'clock and 11:30 respectively, very atypical for Cindy, she was just exhausted, quite normal for Skye) and running up and down stairs, getting stuff from the garden, jumping in on the cooking and trying to put together a music play list, making sure to include lots of Michael Jackson. FYI that ends up being 4 flights of stairs that I am bounding up and down.

To be continued, as in the actual party.