First things first–go check out Susan’s raffle over at MV Fiber Farm. She is raffling off her entire yarn stash (that didn’t come from her own sheep and goats) to raise money for her uncle’s wheelchair. He and her aunt both sound like amazing people–a surgeon and a surgical nurse–who’ve done missionary work all over the world, and he recently broke his neck while trimming dead branches off a tree at the church (and remained conscious long enough to tell the EMTs which vertebrae were crushed!). If anybody deserves a good wheelchair, it sounds like this man does–since he so sadly needs one at all. And, um, did I mention that she’s raffling her entire stash of yarn?? Honestly–go check it out. It’s quite a pile of yarn, and well worth the $10 cost of the raffle ticket, and for a good cause, too. (Spread the word too, huh?)

Unlike many of my compatriots, I have not spent today at a picnic, or at the beach, or eating food off the grill. No, I’ve spent a large portion of my day in the kitchen….

• Got up, got dressed
• Went to the kitchen and made breakfast
• Back upstairs to brush my teeth, then
• Back to the kitchen, where I…
• Mixed up Chappy’s cake and got it in the oven
• Put potatoes on to boil to make salad for tomorrow
• Made chicken salad with some of the leftover chicken in the fridge, just because I needed something to do while waiting for the cake to come out of the oven
• Quick email check
• Back to the kitchen for lunch, including a nice, juicy peach that we bought yesterday
• Heard the awful news about the Bunch of Grapes, one of the nicest bookstores
• Head to the mixer to make the cake’s frosting, realize we don’t have any vanilla. Cry of help, followed by Mom running to the store
• Made the frosting and iced the cake (mmmmm)
• Sat down with Chappy for 5 minutes then remembered…
• Upstairs to give Mom a lesson on organizing her photos on the computer
• Lesson cut short by a call from Mom’s friend across the street. Organize the photos without her
• Back to the kitchen to make a cup of tea. Also ate some of the fresh berries we bought yesterday
• Sat down with Chappy and read for a while (finished my book)
• Back to the kitchen to start the meat sauce for tonight’s supper
• Upstairs to do some more stuff on the computer (and to get a new book)
• Back to the kitchen to eat supper.

And, here we are. I still need to mix the potato salad for tomorrow, but mixing it is the easy part–it’s making sure the potatoes are cooked and ready (and pre-seasoned) that’s the hard part. Mom is cooking the chicken tomorrow, and we’re having corn on the cob, so the rest of the meal is certainly easy for me! My friend Cindy is going to join us for dessert (Chappy is thrilled), and it will be nice to have the family all together (Chappy is beyond thrilled). I mean, really, it’s been more than two weeks! (grin)

Honestly, all the family get-togethers since May have been wonderful, but it will be nice to have a break from all the birthday celebrations. There was my brother-in-law’s surprise party, the celebration for my niece and nephew, my sister’s birthday, and then the party for my best friend’s father last week…. It’s kind of nice to know that the next family birthday (mine) is waaaaay off in November. Any other family visits between now and then will just be visits, not parties, and that sounds so much more restful (grin).

Although, of course, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s–because this party is for CHAPPY!

• Tags: General • Permalink:In the Kitchen //