271 - OHMYGOD! Company's coming...

I work very hard to be laid back. You see, genetically, I'm predisposed to freaking out about things. I'll elaborate in a bit, but first let me just say: I will never let my parents know that I have steaks in the freezer again. Ever.

It all started out as such a simple plan. Two weeks ago, I got a great deal on steaks, so I bought them.

Dad came over to cut a tree down and install yet another soffit screen. I mentioned that I bought some steaks, and needed to clear out some space in my freezer, would he and mom be interested in grilling the next day? He said, 'I think your mom was planning to grill steaks next weekend for Mother's Day.' Okay. No problem, we can do it another time. Conversation over.

Two hours later I get a call from mom, with THE PANIC in her voice... "Krit (she calls me Krit... which is better than calling me Brenda (my aunt) or J'Kristy (when she somehow gets my name confused with dad's, but manages to correct midstream... don't ask what it does to my psyche when my own mother can't get my name right...)... So "Krit," she says, panicked, "we were gonna grill steaks next weekend!" Yep, that's what dad said. It was settled then and there. "Well... your father made it sound like you needed to know if we were going to cook them tomorrow... So, are we going to use your steaks next week or do we need to get some?" We can use mine. "What kind of steaks are they?" ...sigh... NY Strip and sirloin. "Oooookay... we'll see you tomorrow then... bye-bye."

Two hours later I get a voicemail from mom. THE PANIC is back. "Krit... this is your mother (duh)... did you already buy the steaks or do we need to buy some? You need to let us know so we can go to the grocery store. If you didn't buy them we'll need to. So let us know so we can pick them up if we need to... oooooooookay... bye-bye."

Sigh... If you'll recall, the story started with "I bought some steaks..."?

It wasn't over.

"Krit... your aunt and uncle want to stop by on their way back from Galveston and I don't know what time they're coming so I need to know what you think we should do about the steaks whetherweneedtogetsomemoreorif -- MOM! -- andIdon't knowwhenthey'regonnabehereand -- MOM! STOP TALKING!!!!

Astoundingly... she did. It never happens. I almost lost my train of thought from the shock.

Why don't we grill at my house and that way they can come over here, since they've never seen my house? "Well what should we do about the steaks? I don't even know what time they're coming." Why don't... you find out what time they're coming... and that way we'll know if we need to get more steaks or not? I mean, if they come around 3, it's a moot point. "Oh, okay! Well, we'll see you around one then." Yep. Buh-bye.

Think it ended there?

Do you?

Do you really?

This morning I get another call. "Krit, I's just gonna let you know that we bought four strip steaks, so if you haven't already thawed the sirloin, you can just keep that for another day and we'll all have the same kind of steak." At this point I have thrown up my hands and given in. Whatever she wants to do is fine. Having the same type of steak really isn't that important to me, but it's not worth mentioning because she'll just rationalize why it is. I just said okay, and we said goodbye.

So what did I do wrong? It seemed soooooooooo simple. I just offered to grill them a steak... but I will never make that mis-steak again...

So today I cleaned the house. I stowed things in closets. It's good to have company on the horizon because it gets my ass in gear. It really sucked to be doing all this with a hangover, but it had to be done.

I had a good time last night. Hung out with a couple of my gal pals, met some new people, jumped around like an idiot in one of those inflatable houses for kid's parties, shot some pool, saw a friend's band and danced with a random boy (oddly, we danced to Tool... who knew?). It was the most excitement I've had in a long time! It's like I crammed an entire month of stuff into twelve hours. I am that kind of efficient.