A post in which my brunch is a smashing success!

Well my alarm clock went off this morning :) That made me happy. Not that I needed an alarm this morning. I was up early to get ready.

There were a thousand things that I would have done if I'd had the time. I could easily have worked all day yesterday. But they weren't things I had to do. To make up for being late yesterday, Justin & Co showed up early today, catching me in mid-prep. Fortunately I had prioritized well this morning, and my hash brown casseroles were ready and all the crucial things were done. After about 20 minutes of panic, I just relaxed and put folks to work. Soon the happy bustle of friends filled the room. I would have loved to have had everything perfect when they walked in, but it all got done, and we had fun doing it together. So it all worked out. Which is what I need to remind myself when I get crazy(er).

After I had made the first round of coffee, Jeff put the second round in so I could sit down for a minute or two and visit. After a pause and a cigarette, I started cooking. It's hard to screw up pancakes of course, but my hash browns were a big success also. I served lingonberries and powdered sugar with the pancakes, and they all liked them too. So we ate, drank, and then smoked and talked some more. The conversation was lively, and everyone seemed to have a good time - I hope they had as good a time as I did.

This was the farewell voyage for my Blue Willow dishes, which I have decided to pass on to Lisa to make room for BB's Wedgwood I'm going to collect. I didn't know if anyone would want them or not, but both Amanda and Justin now said they would like a set. James couldn't believe I was getting rid of them. They are pretty, but I really only need one set of China. I'm glad the set got such a capital send-off. It was a happy, delicious meal, eaten with much bonhomie. You can't ask for more than that.

After a while, Justin, Amanda, and Drew had to leave, but Jeff and James stayed on - I was really happy about that. I love them both, and don't get to see as much of them as I would like. We talked and visited, and eventually I put a movie in. It was my weekend for B cinema. We watched Sextette, Mae West's last movie, today. It's pretty much a train wreck, but they seemed to enjoy it.

After the movie, we decided to go shopping. I needed to make that run to TJ Maxx, and JnJ wanted to take a ride in the new car. So off we went. They didn't have what I wanted at TJ Maxx, but I did start looking at sheets.

I have a marked penchant for bed linens, as all my friends know. I had been very good last week and taken five sets of sheets to Goodwill. I usually buy irregulars that are on sale, and are apparently potato-shaped or something - they rarely fit the bed properly. Or they pill. Or there is some other problem with them. I had been thinking that I would treat myself to a nice set of first-quality sheets that are actually bed-shaped. I also had Granny's Christmas money... I asked JnJ if they would mind riding over to the mall with me while we were out. Belk's was always Grandma Shumate's store. She just thought if it came from Belk's it had to be good stuff. Accordingly, I marched in to Belk's determined to buy a set of the best sheets they had, cost be damned.

But I got distracted in the shoe department (act surprised). They had Asics on sale for $39.99, so I picked a pair of those up. I have my new spring tennies taken care of. They're really pretty too.

I wanted ice blue, sateen, 100% cotton, at least 250 thread count sheets. After looking around for a bit I found a nice set in icy blue-ish that met all the criteria and were 400tc. They were $110 sheets, on sale for $60. I was like, "OK, these are they." When I got to the register though, they rang up at $40 - there was an additional sale this weekend. So that was a TJ Maxx price on some of Belk's best first quality. When JnJ saw that they decided to buy a set also. When we went back over to look, I found a color I hadn't seen before - a rich, golden, candlelight yellow. I ended up getting them too.

By the time we got home, it was around 6pm. JnJ were ready to go home, and I couldn't blame them. It had been a lovely day, but despite the fact I hated to see the end of it, it was time.

They left. I finished cleaning up the kitchen (James had very kindly helped me do most of the work earlier), washed my new set of icy blue-ish sheets, put them on the bed, and got in it.