Post Party Blues

So the day after the party we were definitely on the downward part of the wave. To say it was a slow day would be a bit of an understatement. We really didn't do much. I mean we did swim in the river and both the parents got in their morning run. The water slide got put away and some laundry was laundered. Still it was a slow day. Once again we planned to get some take out and once again we reneged and bought some groceries. We had to get grocs for our camping trip tomorrow and the next day so I got some chicken to cook up this evening as well. Damn chicken breasts with the bone in take for ever on the bbq. They are great when they are done but they sure take their sweet time. They were devoured in short order after they were served up. We plan to take some potato salad camping with us so that was made with extra for this evenings meal. About half of that was eaten as well. Then we cut up the watermelon. We are watermelon people. The small fridge downstairs will partially freeze an orange so you can imagine the almost crystalized form the watermelon was in when it was sliced open. Perfect. Along with the Sol it was a magnificent dessert. As for the next two days we plan to take pictures and will dutifully up load whatever we take when we get home and have a chance. Garage sale this Saturday. Starts at 7:00am. Early birds will be shot.

You're such a Fairy

Classic SNL line. Matthew broderick is dressed as a baby and these guys are mocking him saying he is such a baby and he keeps agreeing and saying things like, " I know, I still suck my thumb and wet my diaper." I believe it is Phil Hartman who comes in dressed in a tutu for the payoff gag. Anyways, we had a fairy party today. We had eight 5-6 year old girls and 2 pre-school boys out in the backyard for a fairy party. The fairy part of the party mostly consisted of the opening fairy hunt (10 min max) and a bunch of up trading and suspicious deal making because I didn't realise that the one in the long purple dress was evil in the movie so almost no one wanted either of the two of them that I had hidden. Strangely the third evil one I had purchased had lost it's head right out of the box and though crazy glue had put her back together I ended up not needing her because of a non-vitation that I had not been privy to. There were also 3 no shows. One was probably our fault but as for the other two I am stumped. Who doesn't want to go to a six year old girls party. Especially when you yourself are also a six year old girl. Anyways, the grand plan to build fairy houses out of naturally sourced parts (twigs, leaves, bark) which seemed so killer for the last four weeks was so obviously not within the first two sentences of trying to sell it to the group. Especially with this bad boy up and running directly across from the lame piles of leaves and twigs. In a wise move I only tried to sell the fairy houses for another 45 seconds before, in a rare flash of inspiration, getting all the girls to put their dolls on top of their names on the poster I had made. I figured this made a bunch of thats mine this is yours never happen. There were some trades I wondered about but in the end everyone left smiling so I guess it was okay. Back to the wicked water slide. Of the something like 16 hours of daylight today there were 4 that were grey and cloudy and not so hot. The four hours started 30 minutes before the party and ended 30 minutes after the last kid went home. It was 39 freakin degrees five days ago, today it didn't crack 27. Just my luck. So between shivering, sliding, jumping on the trampoline (3 at a time, man do we need a net[ed. This is not a plea to a relative to save the author from his own thriftiness.]) and eating snacks and drinking the cool juice boxes we made it through the first 45 minutes. After that we did some water balloon tossing. The boys were picking them up as fast as the wife could make them and just whipping them against the fence. Ah boys. Then we had the cake. Now what you see here is the back side of the cake. In the picture with the kids you see the whole thing post blow out. However, we didn't take a good cake shot. I still can't figure this one out. What was going through my head that I didn't get a whole cake with fairy looking like she is wearing a dress shot. Mind boggling. Anyways, we wowed the six year old crowd and had a good time making it last night. The best part had to be throwing the little chocolate pieces at the dress to get them to stick in the frosting. After cake we cracked the prezies and then parents started arriving. Phew, 2 months of worry, 4 weeks of planning, 3 days of serious prep, and it was all over in 2 hours. Note to self. Start with sidewalk chalk. That could have been a really fun half hour if organized right. Go straight to the water slide when you get to the backyard. Why leave your ace in the bullpen. Have more than one game activity for the mid party slow down. And plan to have at least 40 minutes for present opening and 15 minutes for cake. If I don't seem to be remembering this next year please remind me. It was a lot of fun. Good thing there are still two days until her actual birthday.

Quicky Cue.

Well we had various dinner plans until about half an hour before cooking. Some of them involved various forms of take out. Others involved frozen foods. In the end we made barbecue. Unshucked corn on the cob roasted right on the grill. Potatoes baked to perfection. Pork Chops done in a sweet barbecue sauce. The pasta salad made a fierce comeback this evening. I am uninspired to give any more description than this. I barely have the strength to stay awake. I have to say that with one day to go till the "party" I will be very glad when it is done. I can't believe I am going to these lengths for two hours that most of these kids will probably not remember. Couldn't find face paint anywhere in town today. Did manage to get the second to last packet of water balloons. They were in the sixth store that I tried. There is a 40% chance of rain tomorrow afternoon. It just has to hold off till 3:30. If there is a higher power I will not make any demands. All my luck is being saved up for us to get to and from Japan without any hitches. The rest of the summer can be what it is.

Happy Handles.

Well with the heat still on today we hit the granby river for a change of pace. Nice, but much colder than the kettle. This followed hard on the heals of a morning of gardening. Almost ready for Kiyomi's b-day party in two days. I am trying to green up the lawns. The veggie garden is ready for display, mostly. I have to prune the apple tree both for production and the pruned bits will be used for the fairy houses that are going to be built on Saturday. So yeah things are getting done. Speaking of which I finally changed the faucet in the upstairs bathroom. Moen, buy it for looks, buy it for life. It really does look much nicer don't you think. A really organized person would have had a before and after picture. Well at least some of you gave me the benefit of the doubt. Suckers. This all managed to occur with water still running through the rest of the house. No hot water but toilets and washing were all going. Everyone was happy. Upon finishing I was greeted by this lovely summer dinner.


The pasta salad had a mayonaise and vinegar dressing. Lots of big chunky fresh vegetables, some steamed for ease of munching. The sandwich was a black forest ham, cheese, lettuce and mustard on whole wheat bun. By the time I took this picture I had already finished the first one. Fixing bathrooms is hungry work. Thirsty work too. Of course I finished the second beer minutes after finishing this first one in the frosty mug. Two more days till show time. Wish us luck.

The Pen-Ultimate Dinner

So we tried to play ultimate tonight but we are down to the three die hards. So we just chucked it around for about an hour. To make it to ultimate on time I quickly threw together a pasta and meatballs dinner. Wife had pre made the meat balls the last time she made burgers so that was quick. Used some of our home grown garlic in the sauce. So fresh and juicy. I am really excited to have the rest of it cured and hung. The carrots and daikon spears were once again care o' wifey. They were devoured with the last of the creamy dill dip. My daughter actually used the word starving five times waiting for my pasta and sauce to be ready. Interestingly I had to use the stewed tomatoes. On our last shopping mission they store was right out of diced tomatoes. I food processed the tomatoes before cooking and everything turned out well. The sauce was a little sweet however. I don't know if that has anything to do with the type of tomatoes used or what but it still worked. Got the late night munchies right now but I think a glass of h two o will have to suffice. Its hot and time for bed.

We missed it.

Okay we had three salads tonight, a green salad from the garden with a sour cream and dill dressing, the left over chick pea and chard salad from last night and the wife whipped up a tuna salad which was eaten by some in sandwiches and by yours truly on top of the previously mentioned green salad. I was in charge of the grilled cheese and grill them I did. You will notice none of these dishes feature in this evenings meal. My son had worked his way through dinner and was onto a post meal snack of carrots and sour cream dill dip. He was also naked. Really cute until he decides today isn't a toilet day. Newman! Well I guess that is what elbow grease and febreeze are for. So the picture of dinner was not the only thing we missed this evening.

On the plus side we went to the Canada Day festivities here in town, had a lazy afternoon, and then went swimming by the river. We almost got blown away by a crazy sudden windstorm which managed to blow down a tree by the river but everyone made it back safely. We watched two videos, skipped bath time and now everyone is going to bed. Teeth are brushed, everything else can be dealt with tomorrow. If Dora reads this, "Look at what your missing. We love you and the phone message was meant in jest." Night all.

Of Chard and Chicken.

The last of June saw us getting some birthday preparation shopping done and then we went out to the lake in the afternoon. The weather was brilliant and the water was refreshing. However, the water is starting to get warm and soon we will have to swim in the river instead. Some of our friends were at the beach as well so the kids had other kids to play with and we had some friends to go wading with. Just a great afternoon. It was a toss up whether or not we would go out for dinner on the way home but we persevered and it paid off. I made the chick pea and romaine salad from here although we used swiss chard and lime instead of romaine and lemon. The lime should have been a lemon but the chard being from our garden couldn't have been better. The wife barbecued the chicken. It was marinated in soy sauce, honey, japanese wine, salt, pepper and minced garlic. The rice was leftovers from a lunch and had bits of seaweed mixed in. What you do not see, is iocane powder, no it is actually some fresh salsa. I have taken to blending an avocado into my salsa and I am loving it. We made a spicy and a not spicy version so all enjoyed. As you can tell from the picture the spicy version was spicy. My t-shirt is actually blue.