no wise man ever wished to be younger

The party went well- enough guests to man the oars, not so many that it started taking on water. Fuss was his usual charming self until bed time, then melted down. Before the collapse he 'opened' his gifts & scored some fantastic loot (right now his most favoritist is the light up bath duck from Erin & Mikesy).

The spread was an unqualified success. The guests loved it and I was mostly satisfied, which isn't often the case. Meggsie made hummus that somehow destroyed my blender, cousin Helen brought over a gargantuan bowl of the bulger salad I love (and which I'm looking forward to making a dinner of), Uncle Timmy brought my chicken kebabs to life on the grill and Devra's cake evoked startled admiration from all who partook. The surprise hit were the roasted potatoes with garlic, feta & olives I added at the last minute.
Dirt simple for how delicious they were, the hallmark of all my favorite recipes.

Loyal readers may remember the $5 thrift store typewriter I scored a while back. Turns out messing around with an old typewriter is the only thing a pack of kids loves more than watching Shrek for the 5,000th time. I lobbed a couple of sheets of computer paper into the lion's den and they did the rest, with only occasional troubleshooting from Cousin Helen.

The down side of parenthood reared its head around 9pm.
When the grownup action started to hit its stride I was fading like Rudy Giuliani in the Republican primary.
In a show of defiance I held out until 10pm, propped up in the big armchair and declaiming witty bon mots like "Uhhhhhh......yeah" and "What? Huh?"

But it was a lot of fun and I'm sure I'll be able to juice it for another couple of updates at least. Pix to follow.