queen of the night

So it's become clear to me that even though I know *how* to plan a party, and am looking forward to having people attend it, I'm not precisely in the mood for housework. This was particularly evident since I watched last night's "Project Runway" this morning rather than doing anything productive; watching television in the middle of the day was one of those bridges I thought I wouldn't cross, but after exactly one week of unemployment, I'm firmly entrenched on the other side of that bridge, watching tv with the gibbering masses rather than focusing on something more useful.

I can't say that I regret it, though; what this season of "Project Runway" has lacked in actual fashion was more than made up for by its sheer drama and ridiculousness. I'm glad that there's only one episode left, since I'm kind of sick of all of them, but it has been a fun train wreck to watch. However, after watching the show, I had to pull myself back to my own train wreck, and so I went to Safeway and bought a ridiculous amount of stuff for this party I'm throwing tomorrow. Perhaps the amount wasn't ridiculous, but the contents were; I'm creating a true midwestern feast, and I'm sure the dude at the register was judging me hardcore when he saw jello, instant onions, tater tots, cream of mushroom soup, frozen lemonade, and a variety of other hellishly overprocessed (by California standards) roll across his barcode scanner.

When I got home, I threw myself into the cooking for awhile, boiling a couple dozen eggs (for deviled eggs and some egg salad for the vegetarians) and making a lemon cake, chocolate chip chewies, and potato/leek soup. The soup is primarily for tomorrow, but I ate it for dinner tonight as well, which was exactly what I wanted after a rather dreary day. I stopped cooking to watch two episodes of "Dinner: Impossible", and by the time I was done eating, watching the show, and cleaning up the kitchen, I felt like throwing in the towel for the night.

So tomorrow I still have to clean the bathroom, straighten up the living room, swiffer, put away yesterday's laundry, and then make maidrites (aka loose meat sandwiches), baked beans, deviled eggs and possibly tater tot casserole (if I don't decide to abandon the casserole, since I'm sure I already have more food than we're possibly going to eat). The truly unfortunate thing is that I had intended to rent some folding chairs since it looks like we're not going to be able to hang out outside due to rain, but I forgot to call ahead for them and I couldn't find anyplace online that would allow pickup tomorrow. Hmm.

But, it will be fun regardless, and I'm trying to make things that then require absolutely no effort for me once everyone is here so that I can just drink a lot of champagne and be merry. So rather than clean my bathroom, I'm going to go to bed now and get a fresh start in the morning; I stayed in bed for quite awhile last night, but I was having endless, vague nightmares for no apparent reason, so I'm hoping that tonight will be better. Goodnight!