I thought I might elaborate a bit on our party on the 3rd. Thursday was a day of surprises for me...I was expecting it to be busy, but not completely overwhelming. Wednesday night, I had another migraine just thinking about all the things I had to do. Luckily, I really didn't know about all the things that I had to do, or I would have just dropped to the floor in a little purple puddle and done nothing at all. I'm losing my ability to cope lately...but hopefully it's just pregnancy related for now... Anyway, after I relaxed myself to sleep--telling myself over and over again that it really won't be so bad--I just had to make a gigantic potato salad and get everything ready and together for the 4th of July party at the embassy. No big deal. It was playgroup day, but I wasn't planning to send the kids because Pascaline wouldn't be able to go with them since she was helping at the embassy for the party, and I definitely couldn't take them because I had to make potato salad and get a bunch of other things together. So, that did uncomplicate things in my mind. THEN, I sat down at the computer in the morning just to do a quick morning check of email, and realized that playgroup was at MY house!!! Oh boy! And wouldn't you know it, that day everyone turned up! So, since it was at my house, it was my responsibility to have a snack for the kids--we hadn't been grocery shopping for a long time, and I hadn't thought about it ahead of time so I wasn't prepared with some fantastic snack all ready, and I had no money to go out and find something...so I delayed the potato salad and whipped up a couple of loaves of banana bread (thank goodness for super cheap plentiful tropical bananas!!). Ok. So, that was taken care of and in the oven to bake for an hour, and I began to tackle the chopping of 40 million potatoes. Because, really, what is the 4th of July without potato salad?????? :) I finally got the potatoes chopped and threw the 20 eggs in to boil with them just as everyone started to filter in for some fun and games. Unfortunately, since I didn't remember that they were coming, I didn't have the toys out yet. The kids wanted a fort that morning, so I had pulled all the couches to the back half of the living room and threw a giant blanket over the top--they thought that was the absolute coolest thing! And the other kids thought it was super cool, too, so that kept them busy for the whole 10 minutes it took for them to tear it apart! :) But we ended up with 10 little kids there altogether, along with their nannies or moms. Normally, this is something I absolutely revel in. I love to have company. I love to have people over at my house visiting--to chat, to eat, to play... But I must admit I felt super overwhelmed. Now that I look back on it, though, I think it really was a blessing, just because Josh, Claire and Andrew were kept entertained happily playing with lots of friends and I didn't have to worry about them running in and needing my constant attention, so that was a good thing. And I did get to have some time to chat while the potatoes and eggs cooked. After the food was cooked, I sliced up the banana bread, made up some Kool-Aid (yes, I know, I'm super against the colored sugar water, but the kids were begging and I admit, the stress made me give in!) and threw some raisins at the kids and they ate it all up. Meanwhile, I was digging the eggs out and putting them in cold water and fishing out all the potatoes. Then came my most favorite part: Peeling eggs. I don't know about anyone else, but I really hate to peel hardboiled eggs. There must be a better way!!!!! But, I sat for 45 minutes peeling those dumb things! I had just finished peeling the eggs, and was starting to add the rest of the ingredients when the phone rang. I picked it up and heard the voice of our nurse at the health unit, which brought back to my memory that I had a Dr. appointment that morning! I was already 1/2 hour late!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! So, I hung up the phone, and yelled up to Josh asking him to gather up all the swimsuits and towels for everyone, because we needed to go NOW! Luckily, the kids love swimming, so they were all more than helpful at that point. Josh gathered everything up and threw it all into a bag (it's so nice that he's bigger and more responsible and able to help like that...) while I was madly throwing the stuff into the biggest batch of potato salad I've ever made (AND at this point I realized I had forgotten to do the celery--and my potato salad HAS to have celery! especially since I searched it out purposely for the salad...so I had to hurry and wash it off and throw it in bleach water so I could put it in)... Well, 45 minutes later, I walked out of my house with a finally finished potato salad, three kids with all their swimming gear, and my housekeeper. Good grief! Then we sped over to the embassy and flew in to the health unit where the Dr. chiding me for making her wait for over an hour! My appointment, of course, lasted only about 15 minutes, and then we were all free to finally go down to the party place where I was supposed to be helping...but I'm afraid that I really wasn't much help. I was so completely exhausted and starving that I could barely stand!! (I also woke up at 4:30 am that morning...did I mention that??) And the day was REALLY hot--but I didn't really want to go into the overly crowded swimming pool, so I basically just hovered in the one spot where there was shade: by the food! :) I ate my hot dogs and hamburger, potato salad, fruit and cookies and cake.
Devin and the kids swam in the pool for a few hours (almost 4, I think), and then we went home and watched a movie. Wow. I'm tired just thinking about all of that! I paid for it yesterday, though, as I felt very sick and tired all day long, and everyone let me just sit around and do nothing. That was nice. Thank goodness for days off, eh?
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