Dealing with Murphy's Law

Where did the past two weeks go? The last time I looked it was a week before my DD's 21st birthday celebration and we were busy welcoming interstate visitors and enjoying much merriment and laughter whilst we all caught up with each others family life. I was also in the midst of catering for 70 party guests. I swear I only blinked and now I find it is a whole week after the event. Time certainly does have a habit of getting away!

Whilst I am pretty crafty in the kitchen (please interpret that literally), I am also quite a capable cook, certainly not in the league of Master Chef, but more than competent when I put my mind to it. But never, ever, ever did I think I'd cater for 70 party guests. And I did it all whilst my brand new oven went on the blink. This was most inconvenient timing - right before I started cooking for the party!

In the meantime, the weather was being unkind, with storms and gusty winds predicted for the party. There was a new deck yet to be finished, light fittings still to be installed and window coverings yet to be fitted. Our regular electrician had become so busy that he couldn't get here until after the party to install the lights. Hmph, this was all supposed to be finished weeks ago.... things were not going well!

The oven repair man, kindly dropped everything to come to my rescue though. When he arrived he took a look at the oven (and hotplate which had both shorted out in a power outage) and with a Cheshire cat grin he delivered the news that the parts required to fix them had to be ordered and they would take a week! I could have cried and panic was beginning to set in... and it very nearly did, but somehow, we pieced together a plan and then we hatched it. We would hire a marquee and a floor because we are yet to complete all the gardens around the house courtesy of all the recent rain, and red mud does not go well with my white floor tiles! We also hired a commercial oven and I was back in business. I'd only lost three quarters of a day.... phew!

We also engaged a new electrician who installed all the lights, and then almost all the blinds arrived with the exception of the most important ones - the ones for the guest rooms! Not to worry..... we could do no more about it.

Anyway, the party went off without a hitch, the weather was generally pretty kind to us and the commercial oven gave great service... the food was wonderful, everyone really enjoyed themselves and the rest is now history. Relatives have returned to their respective homes interstate and life has returned to normal.... well, except for the oven, which is still on the blink.

So dinner last night was at a local Lebanese restaurant - spiced lamb on skewers.... yumm! The food was so delicious but the serving was way more than I could eat so I got creative with the left overs - I hope the kitchen staff understood my thank you message.And tonight as I was preparing dinner, the microwave went out on strike too. But that's another story!

Tomorrow it's back to the regular crafting schedule beginning with some of the resin pieces I've been working on lately.

'Til then,
Myléne