The Edge

So, today was marginally better. For starters, the kiddo's birthday party is over. HALLELUJAH!! I was so ready to be done with that stinking party. Thankfully, she had a great time, which means, overall, it was a great party. I ended up slightly pissed, though, because a LOT of people -- like over half the kids coming -- showed up late. For the first 30 minutes of the party, I really thought we were only going to have 5 kids, as opposed to the 15-20 we were supposed to have. And had paid for, I might add. People finally managed to straggle in. Some made it only in time for the cake, so they didn't get to bounce at all. I felt a little bad about that, but then I told myself it was silly for me to feel bad. After all, it wasn't my fault. I didn't make them late. And they have known for weeks what time the party was. And, some people who had said they would come ended up not showing up. I feel more than a bit grumbly about that. I kinda want to call them and demand they pay me back the money I had to outlay for their kid to come to the party.

"I want my TWO DOLLARS!!!" =D

All in all, though, the party was good. Everyone had plenty of pizza, lots of bouncing fun, and the cake was YUM. Ice cream cake from Maggie Moo's, Bolt-style. Kiddo loved it.

We made one stop-off after the party for lunch -- because hubby and I hadn't had time to eat breakfast and kiddo doesn't eat pizza -- before heading home. After eating lunch, I also managed to take care of a little bit of shopping I've needed to do for a while now. So that was good. Hubby and kiddo went to Best Buy while I was running my errand, and, when I caught up with them, they had decided to purchase Guitar Hero. Oh my. We came home, opened presents, and then they set the game up and played for a while. I'm not so sure about the game, though. It's the band edition, so it has guitar, vocals, and drums. But our drum set doesn't seem to work. We may end up returning it, although kiddo loves the singing part. Too bad they don't make one that has just singing. At least, I've never seen one like that. Not that I've really looked or paid much attention.

While they were fiddling with the game, I decided to have another go-round with the stew I semi-ruined last night. I pulled it out of the fridge and stared it down for a while, resolving that I might still have to toss this crap out ... but I wasn't going down without a fight.

So ...

I cut up more onions (because all of my onions from last night ended up burned into the bottom of my new pot -- *sob*). I got out another pot, added the oil to heat ... added butter, and started over again from the second part of the recipe. I carmelized the new onions. I added in the flour and, instead of red wine and beef stock, I tossed in only beef stock. (Because I ended up with WAY too much wine last night. Yikes!) I tossed in the tomato paste (well, sauce, because that's what I had). Then, I took my icky, cruddy meat from last night and dumped it in there. I let the whole mess cook for about 40 minutes.

Aaaaand ...

It actually ended up tasting pretty darn good! What a relief! The meat softened up really well, and the heavy wine/burned taste evened out in the new sauce. I followed this up with making rice, mixed veggies, and some biscuits to round out the meal.

I'm actually a bit proud of my inner Domestic Diva for pulling that one out of the fire (quite literally!). Now, if only she can help me get my scorched pot clean again. *sigh*

Just because I didn't want to clog the "writer's block" entry with extra blah-blah-blah ...

THE BOOKS CAME!! They arrived today, and they are GORGEOUS!! I really expected them to look a bit ratty around the edges or a bit the worse for wear, but they are absolutely pristine. The seller had mentioned some fraying/rubbing on the edges of the dust covers, but I can't even see that. I am over the moon happy with them.

Aaaaand ...

This has been the longest week in the history of ever. I have no idea why, other than my daughter started back to school this week. It's proving difficult easing back into the routine. She has swimming tomorrow at around 8 AM. Might as well be at 0:dark-thirty as far as I'm concerned. I may skip out on the lesson and let her dad take her. Kinda makes me feel like a terrible mom, but ... meh.

I've been stuck in the midst of birthday party planning hell. I've got the party pretty much ironed out and everything reserved for it. But I had to get the guest list organized, which meant calling around to get email addresses for the evites. You wouldn't think it would be such a difficult task, but it sorta was. It took me a couple of days to get that done, and I'm still missing a couple of them. I had enough that I could send out the evite, though. If I ever hear from the missing couple of people, I'll add them into the guest list for the invitation. If not, then ... I guess I won't. Now, I'm all nervous, hoping people will actually come. I'm weird about stuff like that. I totally worry about that. My hubby says I'm being a doofus, and I guess I am. But I haven't had the best experiences, friendship-wise -- as a kid or as an adult. So, I remain skeptical. We've already had a few affirmative replies, though, so I'm hoping for the best. At the very least, we won't be sitting there all alone for the party, which is a good thing. >.O