The fringe benefit of having guests for dinner

LEFTOVERS!

I'm one of those people who always overcooks when we have company. Therefore, I'm having part of the remainders for breakfast (a slice of pork tenderloin and a bowl of fruit salad), and my husband and I will have a repeat of last night's meal for dinner tonight.

The mashed sweet potatoes will need reinforcing. Or maybe replacing. We reallyreallyreally love mashed sweet potatoes.

The fourth "load."

The downside of having guests for dinner when the dishwasher is still broken is … multiple sinks full of dirty dishes. I bet I washed dishes four times yesterday, what with regular daytime meals + food prep for dinner.

But it happens so rarely – having dinner guests – that it's worth the extra effort.

And it's wonderful to cook once/eat two or three times.

The couple who visited are friends of my husband's, but they also have interests and experiences in common with me. They both have worked in the printing industry, which is how I made my living after my first divorce. That typesetting job led me to take graphic design classes, which eventually led me to publishing industry positions at two major companies in Ohio.

And a TON of volunteer work. Which I like doing very much, and which keeps me learning new things. The older I get, the more I realize that remaining teachable is a good thing.

It's nice to have something to teach, too. Another perk of getting old … experience to share and pass on to others.

The PowerPoint (or, more likely, Keynote) presentation falls into both categories. I'll be giving good, solid information in a venue I've not used in the past. But will very likely be using more of in the future, especially if I like it and it turns out well.

The outline is finished. Now it's on to creating the graphics and putting it all together.

Hope your day is as beautiful where you are as mine promises to be!

My energy ran out half a yard too soon

So did West Virginia's, apparently. But I'm not talking about football.

Wow, what a miserable sports weekend this was. WVU plummeted from 4th to 17th in the AP poll after being blown out by Texas Tech. Amazingly we came in 13th in the first BCS rankings. The Yankees made it to the ALCS by the skin of their teeth, but have dropped the first two games and lost their shortstop my baseball boyfriend, Derek Jeter, who fractured an ankle. OUCH!

My NFL boyfriend plays tonight. His old team (the Colts) managed three field goals yesterday in their loss to the Jets. And he's not doing so great in Denver so far.

No, when I say "yard" I'm talking about mowing the "lawn," a term I use loosely to describe the field in which we live. The weather yesterday was lovely – warm, sunny and dry. After I raked three huge bags of leaves for the compost bin I used the string trimmer around the herb and landscape beds. Then I got on the mower and cut about half the grass, thinking I would finish up today.

I mow nearly three acres, and unless I'm in tip-top form – which I haven't been lately – I like to split the job into two sessions. Also, it's been kind of dry, and the dust I was kicking up with the mower was annoying. And made me sneeze and itch and need a Benadryl.

So, of course, it's raining this morning. NO MOWING TODAY! Er, I mean, darn it, no mowing today.

I shall, therefore, turn my attention inward and work on tidying up the house. I'm mailing the costume to my granddaughter today, sans wings, because the wings made it look too "homemade with love," if you know what I mean. I called her daddy and hooray! They have a set of wings already.

The structure of the wings was accomplished by sewing long chenille stems onto each piece. You were supposed to do it with a zigzag stitch, but I thought that was a recipe for disaster so I took the invisible nylon thread and a needle and attempted to handsew it. Not quite a disaster, but certainly not lovely, either. Also … invisible thread is, um invisible. Very difficult for old-lady eyes to work with.

Anyhoo, with the sewing project done I can put the guest room back together and begin getting ready for company this weekend. Should be able to finish mowing in a day or two.

I. Just. Can't. Wait. Heh.