Keeping it Simple

I am in the midst of getting ready for a birthday party this evening and I am wondering why is it that the amount of time I have to prepare my home for guests is inversely proportional to the amount of preparation necessary? In other words my house is a wreck and I don't have enough time to clean it before my guests arrive ... Ack!

I am trying to convince the Little Prince that it is indeed nap time so that this Mama Hen can shake a tail feather and get the ol' farmstead in ship shape before the birthday festivities commence this evening, but he is so not cooperating.  We are throwing a three-for-one party tonight ... the Geek's birthday is tomorrow, the Munchkin's is Monday and we never officially celebrated Boy Wonder's big #13 with the extended family ... oops!

I don't know when birthday parties started to require a theme, but I'm doing a little revolting and going "old school" this time. I am bucking the trend and keeping simple this year.  The menu includes an easy fettuccine alfredo, garlic bread and antipasto salad for dinner.  For dessert I've  baked a  birthday cake from mix and used frosting from the can.  As for decorations, well the cake serves double duty and if Grandpa wakes up in time and heads to town, there will even be a few balloons.   I want my chicklets to remember the love and laughter of family that surrounds them on their special day.  I'd also like the chance to enjoy the party myself. Too often I'm racing around like a chicken with her head cut off, I don't even get to visit with any of the guests, but not this year. 

I may do a theme again in the future, but then again maybe not.  We'll see how it goes.  Maybe it's just the funk I've been in lately, but sometimes simple is best don't you think?

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.

Hans Hofmann