Estoy Nueces

Monday is here so fast again. But today I write from a SUPER clean office. Not often I get to say that. We had B! and S&C over for "dinner" last night and I cleaned house Saturday and yesterday a LOT. And in my office I didn't just shuffle things to hidden places, I really really got things better organized. I love it. I hope I can keep it this way while continuing to organize things (because I did stuff a couple of things in a file drawer now that I think about it).

The "party" was lots and lots of fun. B!'s sister came, too, and Mark was home from his Cherokee adventure. I made my first antipasti platter and it was pretty and a big hit. Of course this morning I remember I forgot to put grapes on it as planned, but no one seemed to notice and it was devoured. I probably should have made a second one to have on standby as things ran out.

But we ate all that, including Gulf shrimp that C brought and made cocktail sauce. I had made a "savory cheesecake" for the first time Friday night as an experiment and was going to serve up pieces of it, but then I felt like we didn't need it, so I didn't. We ate at the table (all six of us crowded around the un-lengthened table) and then we took our wine and went out to the porch and talked for a LONG time. Everyone left about 11:30 or so. It was all a big hit. S&C are moving to Silverthorne Colorado this week and I hate to see them go except I never ever see them in Austin so they might as well.

In cleaning the house this weekend I cleaned my pantry and actually threw away old food. There were probably 10 cans that were expired --- some expired in 2010 for f's sake. Geez. I threw those all away. I didn't get the refrigerator and freezer too clean. I still would like to do that and throw some stuff away there, too. I did clean out the freezer enough to get rid of old tortillas and things I'll never use and cost all of 50 cents to replace.

I went to Costco for some of my supplies and there are so many good foods there for a party, I wanted to load up on it all. As it is we have lots of salamis and cheeses to freeze or eat up. Tonight I will do some repackaging and freezing, I expect.

I also worked in the yard this weekend and planted one plant into the ground (the bat faced plant) and cleaned up sticks and things from the tree-trimmer. The yard is still wild looking, but neater and homier. I was very proud of our house and gardens yesterday.

So I need to go get dressed, take my new pills that I got the other day and they do seem to be keeping my blood pressure low now, and get off to work. Lots to be done today because I am off tomorrow. Hooray. B! and I are going to have a fun day.