Recipe for Disaster*

* hyperbole alert

Take a Saturday like the one I had, combine it with an evening of social activities, a little wine, a little beer, and then get only four hours of sleep.

Ouch.

It’s safe to say that going to Dee’s Cafe at anytime isn’t exactly a great idea. But it’s an especially bad idea at 12:30 on the Saturday night (Sunday morning?) before your 3-year-old’s birthday party at the Children’s Museum.

At a certain point in the evening, it was clear we were not going to get eight hours of sleep, and that was fine. But six hours would have been much more refreshing than four.

I blame Dan (and he knows it).

As for my Saturday to-do list: my cousin (in-law) shoveled my drive, I got a lot of cleaning done, the kids’ birthday party was attended, the babysitter was a big hit. (She brought a box o’ fun for the kids, tried to explain the concept of the Magic 8 Ball to Flora, and cooked brinner, including silver-dollar sized pancakes.)

Groceries were not shopped for. I’m not exactly sure how I’m solving that problem yet.

The dinner at the Carlton before the 40th birthday party was, to coin an interwebz phrase: meh. The company was fantastic (my parents, Dr. Bro, two aunts, one uncle, a cousin and his wife), the wine was good, but the food was distinctly underwhelming. Desserts weren’t too bad.

The 40th birthday party before Dee’s Cafe was a lot of fun — it was so great to see everyone. Especially as a number of those people kept telling me how terrific I looked. I mean, how can you not like that? The birthday girl, who also looks terrific (if there is someone in my life with more poise and social grace than Annie, I would like to know who it is), had a fabulous evening, too.

I wanted to go home afterwards, but a few people were (allegedly) going to Dee’s. It turned out to just be Dan, me, and Jen Z and her husband (Dan’s best friend). And we closed the bar. Oy.

But we survived, and Kate declared yesterday “a perfect day”. The party was another great success, with crafts, and good food, and great company. (Also, Kate’s name was spelled correctly on the cake.) Dan and I got to lay down with our eyes closed on the couch for about 30 minutes afterwards while the kids played house.

Listening to our girls play house was by turns hilarious and disturbing. Especially listening to Flora exhort her baby, Kate, to just be quiet and go to sleep. Although the part where she poured a dream about ponies into Kate’s eyes was fantastic.