I'm starting to stress now

The rain needs to stop! And stay stopped for quite awhile now.

DH's party is next Saturday. And the bar is not finished....I can't stain wood in the rain. And I can't stain wood outside, knowing that about the time I'm done staining, it's going to start raining again. The bottom is finished, but I still need to stain the roof pieces....I'm staining the lumber, two coats, then we put pieces together. I think I'm going to have to break down and stain in the basement. We have a dehumidifier and I can open the windows and run fans while I'm working. I'm afraid it won't dry right away, but it's a chance I'm going to have to take, I think.

It's not that we didn't start early enough....we starting working on this thing around the end of March. But we didn't count on having only 6 good days during the month of April. And May isn't much better. I did get a lot done last week, when it was so nice outside. But that only lasted for four days. And then the rain came back.

While I am managing to stay on top of mowing the yard, weeding is not going well. Nor is clipping around trees and such. I wanted to finish the fence around the pool.....it's simply not going to happen. Not by next weekend.

DH comes home tomorrow and we're going to open the pool on Friday night. And plant the veggie garden...that's not done yet.

We're getting an extra tank of gas for the grill, too, since I'm grilling both the pork shoulders and 14 pounds of chicken pieces. (Actually, the chicken will be done in the oven in the kitchen on Friday, then I'll reheat on the grill after we take the pork off and tent it for shredding.)

The cooking is not an issue. Over the weekend, I baked cookies: flamingoes and palm trees. The flamingoes made me crazy; those slender necks kept breaking off as I tried to get the cookie off the cutter and onto the parchment paper to bake. When the necks didn't break, the feet broke off. I was not amused. Even with flouring the cutter well, the necks kept breaking. But I got an even dozen flamingoes; the rest of them are palm trees. My sister and I will decorate them next Thursday night. I also got two flats of Tuscan flatbread and 36 breadsticks (there were 38 breadsticks, but the baker ate two of them....they're good! ). The crab and muenster cheesecake is in the freezer with everything else.

I have all the groceries purchased now, except for the fresh produce and the dairy products that I need: cream cheese, other cheeses, sour cream, etc. I ordered two 7-8 pound pork shoulders from the meat market for the pulled pork. I will order the veggie tray and the fruit tray this Saturday morning. Went in town yesterday over lunch to order the birthday cake. Everything will be picked up next Friday for Saturday.

The decorations and the tablecloths are all back in the computer room. Our school's FFA club is making picnic tables as a fundraiser, so we ordered one (we needed one anyway as our old table bit the dust). That is supposed to be here by the end of May. My sister ordered one as well, so when we pick them up, we're bringing both of them to our back yard for the party.

We still need to do a dry run of putting the tent up, just to make sure there are no glitches there.

Both of my neighbors have agreed to loan me refrigerator space on Friday night. They're all coming to the party, too, so they can just bring the food over with them.

I am off work next Wed, Thurs, and Friday. Wednesday is for house cleaning; Thurs and Friday will be for cooking. I have my lists written out and know exactly what I'm doing.

So.....it's the weather. I'm telling myself that everybody is in the same boat, trying to keep up with outdoor tasks and that I shouldn't worry. That it will all work out in the end. And that people in the South are in much worse trouble than a birthday party! But yep, I'm starting to stress! (And I don't know what I'm going to do with 50 people if it rains next Saturday! Pack them all into the tent anyway, I guess.)

Thanks guys! I've already talked to people and reminded them about umbrellas, raincoats, etc. Lawn chairs. And we do have the tent as well.

My problem will be trying to grill the pork and chicken in the rain....and I have no place to put the grill out of the rain. I really hate grilling and shredding pork the day before because it just doesn't have the same taste as it would if I was doing it the same day. But, if it comes down to that, well, that's what I'll do, or just do it in the oven. The chicken is no problem as I'll be doing the actual roasting the day before anyway.....the grilling is just to warm it up a bit before serving. Thank god I have two ovens! (And bless my neighbor's heart, she called me last night, after the weather forecast, and offered the use of her oven, too, just in case the weather won't cooperate next weekend. My wonderful MIL offered her oven, too.)

DH called me last night and I was in the basement setting up sawhorses to arrange wood on to stain. He told me not to worry, that we will get everything done. Maybe not all the weeding and such, but the bar will be finished in time and we will deal with things as they come. And he told me not to stain in the basement.

He'll be home tonight and we can try to deal with rain and showers as we go.

So we'll see how it goes! Thank you for your vibes....you guys rock!

That works for me!!! Thank you for the chuckle this morning!

Actually, it is this coming Saturday! May 28th.

It keeps raining and we keep trying to work around the rain. We did a run of putting up the tent this past Sunday....it went well, but the thing is huge. We'll fit two food tables in there as well as both of the picnic tables with room to spare. Plenty of room for chairs and for people to mingle. Because the frame was such a pain to put together, we kept the frame on the ground in the back yard...all we'll have to do on Saturday is raise it back up and put the tent back together. My brother and BIL are coming early to help as it's just too big for Rick and I to do it alone.

Still working on that darn tiki bar. I have everything stained now, finally....finished that up this past Sunday afternoon. The bottom is together and we have the roof poles installed. Working on the roof now. With the way things are going, we'll probably finish it up around 1:00 this Saturday! I'm not happy with the stain; it's far too orange-y for my liking, so later on, we'll probably do another coat with a darker color. Not now though....we're out of time. But overall, I like it. We're doing some things not on the plan....adding tile to the counter and some edging.

Did my last grocery run last night for dairy products and such. My sister is picking up the cake, the veggie platter and the fruit platter early this Saturday morning. I'm going to the butcher today over lunch to pick up the two pork butt roasts.

A friend from a food board that I post on sent me three packages of Beer Batter Bread mix from Tastefully Simple. I love that mix...it's just perfect for chunking up and using chunks as dippers. Our reps around here aren't selling it anymore. My GF from Georgia said she's still selling it and the package came yesterday! Yay! I'll bake two packages for the party and still have one for later on.

Today (Tuesday) is my last day of work in office. Tomorrow I plan to clean house and then Thursday and Friday I will cook and prepare dishes....the chicken needs to marinate Thursday night for Friday's roasting. My sister and I are decorating the cookies Thursday night, too. Hopefully in between tasks, I'll find time to mow the yard one last time....but it needs to stop raining long enough for grass to dry, too.

We were under a tornado watch last night until after 6:00. The skies opened and we ended up with a gully-washer. No mowing.

Our well tank died over the weekend, so the plumber had to come in yesterday morning and replace that. I'm glad it died now and not this coming weekend! That could have been ugly.

Thank you so much for all your vibes and good wishes! I promise you that I will take pictures! You've been reading about this thing now for weeks and I'll post pictures, if that's OK. Thank you!!! You guys rock!