Halfway to Ready

 

Cleaning had me exhausted yesterday! But I did get one important task for my evening of entertainment done: I set up my spring table center-scape. There is a yardage of fabric I have that was for Easter, that I purchased before I had planned Friday's dinner.  I just don't have time to sew it into a tablecloth.  The candles are part of my spring and Christmas decor stash.  The silver ones are for Christmas but I thought would balance out the purple spring ones well.  The purple leaves are from Amvets (a few weeks back).  The clear crystal pillar holder was from Goodwill last week.  The cut crystal is a family heirloom, and the faux mercury glass was from Pier One (probably 15 years ago!).  I will probably set out my good china and sterling.

Both ovens cleaned up nicely -- but it sure was a lot of work! I am not going to let them go so long between cleanings from now on.  I did a thorough scrub myself before running self-clean on each.  You are not supposed to use that feature too much because it can damage the circuit board in the long run.  Or I could be more careful when I cook!

The other heavy lift for the day, was pulling our sofa away from the wall to vacuum in back and under it.  We keep it a foot or so from the wall, propped with crates to keep it from moving.  Frankie has blown out the bolt keeping the two sections together because she uses it as a speedway.  We also toss toys in need of surgery back there, and store stuff when guests are going to arrive.  It had gathered a lot of dust.  I also found six or seven chewables (bones, antlers, bamboo chews, etc.).  Before I set it all back up, I vacuumed the area rug -- front and back.  There was a lot of dust and dog hair!  The couch covers will come off before my ladies arrive and I will do one more vacuuming tomorrow.

As for the menu, I have chicken breasts thawing, which I will marinate in Thousand Island dressing.  That will roast in the oven, along with butternut squash (my frozen Flashfood store), tossed in olive oil and asiago cheese (from Flashfood in Canandaigua).  

Frankie got her groom -- a three-hour process! As for cleaning, I am 2/3 of the way through.  I just need to finish wiping the rest of my cabinets, then oil the butcher block.  I'll mop the floor tomorrow too.  Haven't yet decided what I'll wear.

And... had an oil change done on my car today. $166 -- it uses European Synthetic, so that's why it's so expensive. Ugh! Will only get more so...

It's been a lot of work -- but I think we'll have a fun time!