Cinco De Mayo At The Lodge

 Yesterday was a long day with more problems than you could shake a stick at.  So while I calm down and gather some composure ...... let's finish up Cinco de Mayo night at the Lodge.  

Thank you for all the wonderful comments about my getup.  Truly, it is NOT a comfortable outfit to wear. The shirt collar digs in like crazy and the bow tie never stays put.  It's perfect in the cold of winter wearing the shirt, a very thick vest AND an even heavier jacket.  On the other hand, I LOVE it with the purse!!!

This kid took up most of the day.  She lays out in the heat on the concrete, then expects brushing for at least 30 minutes to remove all the cat hair that's falling out due to the heat.  She reaches out with her paw and pats you on the head, the shoulder and finally the FACE until you relent and grab the scrubber.  My reward is purring like I've never heard before!!

And so after a long day of playing MAID to the demanding feline creature of the house, I was off to the lodge early to discuss all things financial with the bookkeeper.

I got there in time to see the ladies putting up their centerpieces.  It's an entire family that puts on this shindig for us and cooks all the food.  

The bartender ... the sweetest girl I've EVER met ... comes from Hawaii.  She's a single mom who just had the cutest little boy 10 months ago.  Every time we have a spare minute, I ask her if she has any new pictures.  You know Mom's love showing off those baby pictures ... and he is cute as a button!!

On THIS night she said she needed to do a taste test on the margaritas they were serving.  Okay, I'll bite.  There were three colors ... strawberry, watermelon and mango.  Thank goodness each glass was only half full, AND I asked for a short pour since I don't drink this stuff.  

Apparently I am not a connoisseur of tequila.  This is some special stuff that tastes terrible!!!  I sipped the watermelon.  That would be a NO.  I tried the strawberry, but could not even TASTE strawberry.  I went with the mango, only because she added more syrup for me.  I hauled all three cups upstairs and gave them to the accountant.  I guess I'm a Jose Cuervo kind of girl.  I think this was Tapatio, but don't quote me on that.

Dinner was quite tasty, but this was not my plate.  I was served one small piece of 1/8" thick meat, resembling shoe leather.  It tasted wonderful, but a little hard to chew.  The chicken was delicious, but a tad bit dry.  I made perfect tacos out of mine.  The shrimp salsa stuff was only available on table #9, who always brings extra goodies for their dinner.  

Then it was off to a LONG meeting upstairs.  The raffle took forever to finish up.  In case you didn't know, there is a raffle at every single dinner the lodge has.  It brings in around $1,000 most of the time, but always has items I would never use (like tequila), so I don't buy in.  

That meant the meeting began late because the person in charge didn't really know how to get it started.  It dragged on for some time while 21 people were initiated into the lodge.  That was followed up with the closing that no one had bothered to check out beforehand.  We had to wait while it was pointed out exactly what to read.  Nothing like being prepared!  I'm sure next time will be better.

They wanted pictures, but I rushed out the door at 10:00.  I had an early morning appointment miles away to see why the van didn't pass the smog test.  

Here's an indication of how THAT went.  I hate it when no one knows what they are doing and I'm left to my own devices to figure it out, then tell THEM so they know what's happening for the next guy.  Yup ... that's how it went, but I'll relate that story tomorrow.  I could have used all THREE of those margaritas yesterday!!!