Twins Fest!

i got to go to Twins Fest today with Kris, David, my brother Jason and his 6-year-old son Ros. It was pretty fun! Ros got to play in a little game with some other kids his age, and he went to a baseball clinic with people we didn't recognize teaching them stuff. We saw the model for the new ballpark, and got to eat hot dogs and wait in line all day. It was fun.
There was an area where you could audition to sing the National Anthem for a game, so i decided to try it. Kris asked if i'd remember the words, and i was very confident that i would, because in choir, we sang it all the time. So i went up to audition, and i forgot the words! i kept screwing up! Then i had an epiphany too late in coming: i never sang in choir. i was the accompanist and never sang, so while i might know or be familiar with the words, i had never really sung them and thus screwed up in all the pressure of not only remembering the words but also singing them well in front of judges and 30-ish people that were sitting there watching. It reminded me of a similar moment i've had: i was in labor. The nurse told me i was ready to push, and then it struck me: i read dozens of books about pregnancy while i was pregnant, but none about babies. Anyway, i went off the stage, feeling stupid. i sang pretty well, too. i might have had a chance, had i not forgotten the words to one of America's beloved historical songs.

i am in party-planning mode. David's birthday is in about 3 weeks, and i'm really excited! It will be a big weekend, and we're actually having two parties for him, but it's worth it because it's the first one. We won't have anything this elaborate again till he's....graduating from college?
The amount of people we are inviting is what necessitates the two parties. We are having a friends party, with our closest friends and others we know who have kids. The next day, his actual birthday is the family party.

Here's my menus:
Friends party

Homemade hummus
Homemade salsa
Chips and vegetables for dipping
Sloppy joes
This incredible-looking fettucine bake i saw on Food Network
Chocolate cupcakes

Family party

Hummus again
Salsa again
Chips, etc
Two meatloaf variations
A. My hearty beef and rice meatloaf, with worcestershire sauce, cumin, and honey
B. Italian Meatloaf, with ground turkey, sun dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, basil, parmesan cheese
(i make meatloaf in cupcake pans, making them much easier for people to scoop onto their plates. Also, in the Italian meatloaf one, i take a cube of parmesan cheese and stick it in the center of each "meatcake", making kind of a delicious gooey surprise in each.)
Fettucine bake
Cupcakes
Brownies

It sounds like a lot. It really does. But i think it will be ok, because all of these things are able to be prepared in advance. Heck, i could make the meatloaf tomorrow and freeze it until then. i will make both days' cupcakes on the day before the first party, and the hummus and salsa will be a breeze.

The only thing that will be really difficult to get done is finish our house. We have the kitchen cupboards, walls, living room and front entry painted. We have the kitchen almost put back together again. But there is still putting in the floors in the kitchen and front entry, painting the upstairs hall and our bedroom, painting all the trim in the house, and i think we'll blow off painting the downstairs music room and office. It's just too much. But the house is starting to look less....corporate. No more white walls make it so personal. There is still lots of dust all around, the carpet is a mess, and nothing is put away, but we can walk in our living room a bit more comfortably now, and soon things will be quite a bit more livable. It'll just be another day or so of little things like reinstalling the shelves and getting certain industrial vaccuums out of the kitchen, which will be a big change, and the rest of the painting will not take up the whole house.
i'm ready for the construction to be over. It's hard to keep your eyes on the prize sometimes. But it will be worth it, and i'll probably end up being glad we're tackling it all in one big chunk instead of one tiny project at a time. It will be a huge and wonderful change.

Enjoy your weekend, friends.