Like A BEE

Pull out your long johns ... it's 54 degrees in mid June when the temps are usually nothing short of HOT.  It could not happen on a better day.  Fifty plus folks will be barbecuing and hanging out in the back yard for the Bingo Gala of the Year!  

I have to admit this is kind of crazy.  It would be SO much easier to just have this party at the Lodge like normal.  You know, where we don't have to cook anything .... just show up and eat!!

So on Friday morning, I hit the road running.  I was in the garden at 5:00 am, watering, weed pulling and harvesting.  I've got so many mini tomatoes now that I'm taking a big container of them over to the barbecue.   

At 8:00 I was at the party location, setting up chairs and tables.  Whoa ... that was a LOT of work, including getting my ankles smashed when carrying chairs two handed.  I admit, I'm VERY glad it's at THEIR house and not MINE!

Then I was off to the embroidery gal's place out of town to pick up four more sections of veterans quilts.  I just stuck them on the wall for now, and will work on them over the next week or so.  I have two more to go, but I found another business closer to home that may be able to do this for me.  We shall see.

That was followed up by a trip to Safeway.  Okay, this is my LAST trip to Safeway.  Three small bags came to $195.00.  Yup I was as SHOCKED as you!!  The Sure-Jel for my jam was $6.00 a box.  Too bad I didn't look before I purchased that.  Three 18-packs of eggs ... $11.00 each, but I had to have them for the deviled eggs I now have to make.  

But WAIT .... a package of 12 meatballs was $12.00. One small meatball cost $1.00 ... you've got to be KIDDING me!  No I'm not.  Next time I'll look at the prices before putting anything in my basket.

Since I won't be making jam until tomorrow, it all sits on the counter out of the way.  Oh yes ... the sugar was $5.50 per bag. 

That's when I got to work.  I was busy as a bee the rest of the day.  I thought I would just be putting the five pounds of red potatoes in the pot to boil for potato salad.  Nope ... those were the worst bag of potatoes I've ever seen.  I had to cut out bad spots on every single one.  

Then it was on to boiling and peeling 36 eggs for the requested deviled eggs.  Today I'll boil 8 more for the salad.  This is an EXPENSIVE Bingo party that should be FREE for us!!  There's something wrong with this picture!!

I'm glad I forgot the capers that I wanted for my shrimp dinner.  One pound of shrimp ... $13.00.  No doubt the capers would have added $15.00 to the cost.  

I melted butter and threw in some garlic, which turned out to be not enough.  Note to self:  MORE garlic.  Not having any wine other than Barefoot Moscato, I poured in a big glug along with some thyme.  No one will know.  I topped it with parmesan and dinner was served.  Not bad ... not bad at all.  I finished it off with a nice crusty piece of rustic garlic/cheese bread from the store.  I have no idea how much that cost, and I'm not looking ..... but it was YUMMY!

The good news is I have half the shrimp left ... so I can do it all over again.  My splurge of the month!!

It's that time again ... I'm headed out to the garden to admire the tomatoes and check on the weed spray success or failure.  Really, you would think with my black thumb, I could just give it a LOOK and it would die.  That seems to work with zucchini and squash, but with weeds .... not so much!!

That was it ... the longest day of the year yesterday, as Summer Solstice rolls over into shorter days.  

I'll be in the kitchen ..................