August 2011
This entry was posted on 8/21/2011 9:48 PM and is filed under Family Fun.
I'm not even sure what year it is.
The irony of trying to keep any kind of a journal is that when things are interesting, you're too busy to write and when you have any time to sit and compose your thoughts, you've got nothing to say.
Right now, my life consists of trying to crank out enough orders to make up for the three weeks I took off. I have bills due and no money with which to pay them. So I really must paint.
Usually this isn't what you'd call a problem; give me orders and I'll do my best to fill them. But the weather is beautiful and I'd love to walk around a lake or down the parkway every day and it takes hours to coordinate such outings these days, since most of them are taken with MJ and the girls. Sometimes Mom and Katie come along and that just makes the logistics that much illogical.
Yeah, I want to play hooky from work. I'm self employed; that's the beauty of it. I can take off all the time I want as long as I don't complain about the lousy pay.
But those bills I mentioned a paragraph ago? They still need to be paid.
And Bill and Jen are getting married on Friday.
Normally, this isn't a big deal either but Bill's the last of my siblings to find the perfect person and his wedding means all the brothers and sisters are coming back to town and that means party, party, golf, golf, party party party.
All of which I'm totally down for but when am I going to crank out those orders?
No, I'm not the most well organized person on Earth, I realize this.
All I really have to do is get up every morning, eat breakfast, not dink around online for hours on end but get my butt upstairs to paint, whip out a hundred bucks worth of needlepoint by lunchtime and then I have the afternoons free to drive Josie around while she shops for something to wear to the wedding.
And walk around the lake and roll on over to wherever dinner is being dished up that night.
But I'm being served up too many fun distractions lately.
Thursday, I got dressed up (clean clothes. Sort of.) and went with my parents and sisters to the Minneapolis Art Institute for a fund raiser in which my sister Katie took part. It was a gorgeous night and a fun event.
There was a carnival involved, a large outdoor bar and a vip tent that served food. Many artists had entered pieces into the show. Most of the work that was for sale, auction or raffle were two dimensional drawings and paintings. There was a lot of jewelry and one or two small sculptures. In addition to the silent auction, you could play the carnival games to win vouchers, which you then entered into raffles for all the art work that wasn't in the silent auction. You simply wrote your name and contact info on the vouchers and tossed them into empty paint cans set in front of the art work. There was a drawing later in the evening but we didn't stay that late. After two hours or so of looking at art and weirdos, we'd had enough. Katie's paint can was full of vouchers so we knew someone would be taking it home. Then we all went to Kwan's together.
Dinner was so good that Mom decided to order two dozen egg rolls for her party on Sunday.
My job was to pick up the egg rolls and get them to the party on time. I can do that. It freaked me out a little to have so much responsibility but I did it.
Friday I went to Mom and Dad's for dinner because JP had gotten into town for the wedding. I haven't seen him since Christmas so that was a lot of fun.
Saturday, Jay and I had to attend the funeral of the father of some very dear, old friends of ours. These are girls from St. Thomas the Apostle I'm talking about. The funeral was lovely and fun the way funerals are when the deceased live a long, successful life and his descendants loved him. We saw a lot of old friends we don't see very often.
Today I picked up the egg rolls on time, then my kids and got everything to Mom's house in time for the party.
Mom wanted to have an open house for all her friends when her kids and grand kids were around (most of them, anyway) so she could show off her dynasty. It was a blast. It's always fun to see so many of our parents friends again.
There's no party scheduled for tomorrow, so I'd better take advantage and get a lot of painting done.
The annual family golf tournament is this week; we always try to have it while all the brothers are in town. This will be the first time in many years in which no member of my wing of the family will be represented; Jay and Zack have to work, Josie decided she's not interested and Ty won't be in town until Thursday. Oh well.
Andy and Vi are having everyone over on Wednesday for an end of the Hubbell Open party.
Thursday there's a barbecue at Mom and Dad's that's serving as the groom's dinner.
Friday is the wedding. Did I mention that I'm doing place cards for the reception? Yes, everyone gets their name in super fancy calligraphy.
Oh, and I've got a bachelorette party on Saturday for my niece who's getting married in Vegas in October.
Life is good but there's just no time to write about any of it.
For instance, right now I'm here, typing away, when I should be watching tv.
Seriously. I've had the movie Love and Basketball (I like Spike Lee) for almost a week. I have to watch it and send it back so I can dive into the fourth season of Gilmore Girls.
And I stayed up til 1:00 last night finishing The Likeness by Tana French. It was okay. I read her other book, In the Woods a while back. I liked The Likeness better.
I really need to take September off so I can get some work done.
