Day before party-day....

We had such loud thunder last night, plus very bright lightning and heavy rains... so much so that we brought the cats inside, rather than letting them sleep on the screen-porch. They're all afraid of storms, and last night was a big one. I put AngelBoy in the laundry room, and shut the door, even though he doesn't like closed doors. I just can't trust that cat to be in the house all night long, because if he gets scared, he's likely to find a corner instead of finding his litter box. So into the laundry room he went, and he kept "knocking" on the door with his paw for about an hour after I put him in there.

ShadowBaby went right into our bedroom when I let them all in from the porch, and he curled up and just went to sleep. I thought Mickey Kitty would do the same thing, but that just didn't happen. He slept mostly all day yesterday, because of the heavy rains, so by last night he was wide awake, and ready to investigate all the Halloween decorations. Well, I couldn't have that, so I sat myself down on the sofa in the living room and stayed there for about an hour, praying the storm would quit so I could put the cats back out on the screen-porch so I could get some sleep.

That's what I eventually did.... at about 1:30 this morning. And just who is it that said having cats lowers your blood pressure?

This morning was sunny and bright and clear... gorgeous day. I let ShadowBaby and AngelBoy out into the yard when I went to feed the birds. While I was having my breakfast, I noticed that ShadowBaby was sitting on the outside deck with a little sparrow in his mouth. Poor bird was still moving its wings, so I knew he didn't kill the poor thing. I went out there and held ShadowBaby by his front paws and kept telling him to "Drop it!" Our dog Gracie knows what those words mean, but I guess ShadowBaby didn't have a clue.

I finally tickled ShadowBaby on his little nose and he let the bird drop into the grass. As soon as the bird hit the ground, he got up on his feet, spread his wings, and off he flew up towards the bird feeder. A big price to pay for a little birdseed. ShadowBaby watched the bird fly away and then he looked at me and sounded off with about half a dozen meows, as if to say He was mine! And you let him get away!

After that little adventure, my husband went off to work and I set out to clean the house and get everything set up for tomorrow's party. Back to the screen-porch went all the cats, because once I start to get party-ready, they don't come back into the house till after the last guest has said good-night and all the food is put away. Had it not been for yesterday's rain, the cats would've spent all day yesterday in the porch as well.

So there I was, vacuum in hand, trying to get all the carpeting done. And wouldn't you know it... the vacuum starts to make a funny little noise. And then it gets harder and harder to push around the carpeting. Jeez...... Do I try and push that stupid thing around all these rooms, or do I just put the silly thing into the car and go to the vacuum store and have the man fix it? I opted for the second choice, and off I went. Turns out that something had gotten stuck in the roller-brush, or whatever it is that spins, and that stretched out the belts and bent the brush-bar thing. Sixty dollars later, back home I drove to start all over again with the vacuuming.

I picked up young Miss C after school this afternoon, and she helped me do the fun part of the party to-do list. She had offered to help me clean the house, but I never let her to the work part of it, so I made sure that was all done before I went to the high school to get her. She had a blast arranging the tables and chairs, putting all the tablecloths and centerpieces on the tables, arranging the prizes and the "Best Costume" ribbons, and she set up the sideboard with the guessing games (the bag of chocolate pumpkins, the little jar of pumpkin seeds, and the box of chocolate eyes). She set up the cups for the hot apple cider, and arranged all the little sugar cubes decorated with tiny pumpkins, and she did a trial-run of the pumpkin-shaped sandwiches.... the pumpkin cookie cutter worked great on the whole wheat bread, and she spread the pimento-cheese on them as filling, and topped each with some fresh lettuce. I'll have to make the sandwiches tomorrow afternoon, though, so they stay nice and fresh for evening.

After C finished one thing, she'd say "Now what?!" or "What's next?" or "What can I do now?" She loves all these parties so much, and she likes to be part of the preparations as well. Before I knew it, my to-do list was all done, in much less time that it would have taken me to do it myself. The only things left for me to do tomorrow is to make the tortellini and vegetable casserole, put together the pumpkin-shaped sandwiches, make a large salad, and (most important) polish my nails and get into my gypsy costume.

I'm so glad the rain has quit..... it wouldn't have been a good thing for a hard rain to be falling on a party day.... you never know which roads are going to flood, so people would've not been able to get here, or not been able to park on the street.... definitely a good thing that the weather is back to normal again. Sunny and warm, just a little crispness in the air.