The rain needs to stop! And stay stopped for quite awhile now.
DH's party is next Saturday. And the bar is not finished....I can't stain wood in the rain. And I can't stain wood outside, knowing that about the time I'm done staining, it's going to start raining again. The bottom is finished, but I still need to stain the roof pieces....I'm staining the lumber, two coats, then we put pieces together. I think I'm going to have to break down and stain in the basement. We have a dehumidifier and I can open the windows and run fans while I'm working. I'm afraid it won't dry right away, but it's a chance I'm going to have to take, I think.
It's not that we didn't start early enough....we starting working on this thing around the end of March. But we didn't count on having only 6 good days during the month of April. And May isn't much better. I did get a lot done last week, when it was so nice outside. But that only lasted for four days. And then the rain came back.
While I am managing to stay on top of mowing the yard, weeding is not going well. Nor is clipping around trees and such. I wanted to finish the fence around the pool.....it's simply not going to happen. Not by next weekend.
DH comes home tomorrow and we're going to open the pool on Friday night. And plant the veggie garden...that's not done yet.
We're getting an extra tank of gas for the grill, too, since I'm grilling both the pork shoulders and 14 pounds of chicken pieces. (Actually, the chicken will be done in the oven in the kitchen on Friday, then I'll reheat on the grill after we take the pork off and tent it for shredding.)
The cooking is not an issue. Over the weekend, I baked cookies: flamingoes and palm trees. The flamingoes made me crazy; those slender necks kept breaking off as I tried to get the cookie off the cutter and onto the parchment paper to bake. When the necks didn't break, the feet broke off.
I was not amused. Even with flouring the cutter well, the necks kept breaking. But I got an even dozen flamingoes; the rest of them are palm trees. My sister and I will decorate them next Thursday night. I also got two flats of Tuscan flatbread and 36 breadsticks (there were 38 breadsticks, but the baker ate two of them....they're good!
). The crab and muenster cheesecake is in the freezer with everything else.
I have all the groceries purchased now, except for the fresh produce and the dairy products that I need: cream cheese, other cheeses, sour cream, etc. I ordered two 7-8 pound pork shoulders from the meat market for the pulled pork. I will order the veggie tray and the fruit tray this Saturday morning. Went in town yesterday over lunch to order the birthday cake. Everything will be picked up next Friday for Saturday.
The decorations and the tablecloths are all back in the computer room. Our school's FFA club is making picnic tables as a fundraiser, so we ordered one (we needed one anyway as our old table bit the dust). That is supposed to be here by the end of May. My sister ordered one as well, so when we pick them up, we're bringing both of them to our back yard for the party.
We still need to do a dry run of putting the tent up, just to make sure there are no glitches there.
Both of my neighbors have agreed to loan me refrigerator space on Friday night. They're all coming to the party, too, so they can just bring the food over with them.
I am off work next Wed, Thurs, and Friday. Wednesday is for house cleaning; Thurs and Friday will be for cooking. I have my lists written out and know exactly what I'm doing.
So.....it's the weather. I'm telling myself that everybody is in the same boat, trying to keep up with outdoor tasks and that I shouldn't worry. That it will all work out in the end. And that people in the South are in much worse trouble than a birthday party! But yep, I'm starting to stress!
(And I don't know what I'm going to do with 50 people if it rains next Saturday! Pack them all into the tent anyway, I guess.)
DH's party is next Saturday. And the bar is not finished....I can't stain wood in the rain. And I can't stain wood outside, knowing that about the time I'm done staining, it's going to start raining again. The bottom is finished, but I still need to stain the roof pieces....I'm staining the lumber, two coats, then we put pieces together. I think I'm going to have to break down and stain in the basement. We have a dehumidifier and I can open the windows and run fans while I'm working. I'm afraid it won't dry right away, but it's a chance I'm going to have to take, I think.
It's not that we didn't start early enough....we starting working on this thing around the end of March. But we didn't count on having only 6 good days during the month of April. And May isn't much better. I did get a lot done last week, when it was so nice outside. But that only lasted for four days. And then the rain came back.
While I am managing to stay on top of mowing the yard, weeding is not going well. Nor is clipping around trees and such. I wanted to finish the fence around the pool.....it's simply not going to happen. Not by next weekend.
DH comes home tomorrow and we're going to open the pool on Friday night. And plant the veggie garden...that's not done yet.
We're getting an extra tank of gas for the grill, too, since I'm grilling both the pork shoulders and 14 pounds of chicken pieces. (Actually, the chicken will be done in the oven in the kitchen on Friday, then I'll reheat on the grill after we take the pork off and tent it for shredding.)
The cooking is not an issue. Over the weekend, I baked cookies: flamingoes and palm trees. The flamingoes made me crazy; those slender necks kept breaking off as I tried to get the cookie off the cutter and onto the parchment paper to bake. When the necks didn't break, the feet broke off.
I have all the groceries purchased now, except for the fresh produce and the dairy products that I need: cream cheese, other cheeses, sour cream, etc. I ordered two 7-8 pound pork shoulders from the meat market for the pulled pork. I will order the veggie tray and the fruit tray this Saturday morning. Went in town yesterday over lunch to order the birthday cake. Everything will be picked up next Friday for Saturday.
The decorations and the tablecloths are all back in the computer room. Our school's FFA club is making picnic tables as a fundraiser, so we ordered one (we needed one anyway as our old table bit the dust). That is supposed to be here by the end of May. My sister ordered one as well, so when we pick them up, we're bringing both of them to our back yard for the party.
We still need to do a dry run of putting the tent up, just to make sure there are no glitches there.
Both of my neighbors have agreed to loan me refrigerator space on Friday night. They're all coming to the party, too, so they can just bring the food over with them.
I am off work next Wed, Thurs, and Friday. Wednesday is for house cleaning; Thurs and Friday will be for cooking. I have my lists written out and know exactly what I'm doing.
So.....it's the weather. I'm telling myself that everybody is in the same boat, trying to keep up with outdoor tasks and that I shouldn't worry. That it will all work out in the end. And that people in the South are in much worse trouble than a birthday party! But yep, I'm starting to stress!