...and back to normal

I've been a little more out of touch recently 'cause, just this past Sunday, we hosted a birthday BBQ for 4 people who were all turning the same age within four weeks of each other. I was included in that count even though my birthday isn't until September.

I've spent the last couple of weeks furiously de-witching the yard so there would be enough clean areas for almost 40 people to park their cars, wander around, sit, eat, drink, and be merry.

...of course the lawnmover had to break the day before the party (the start cord ripped right out) and a  few other little incidents which (fortunately?) meant a few less people showed up than we were expecting. We were planning for 45 ish, though more than 60 were originally invited.

It was a blast. No rain, no heat-wave (like they had been predicting), it was a nice, cool west-coast summer day, partially overcast with sun in the afternoon/evening. We had music going from 11am onward, had a giant fire around 8pm, and just hung out, chatted and had a wonderful time.

I think the best part about it is, we've been invited over to a lot of people's houses this summer and last summer, and were unable to reciprocate due to the witchy-ness of our house/yard. Also, our BBQ was natural gas up until Friday evening... the party was finally a big enough excuse for me to get on the phone and call around to see who could convert it to propane. It's pretty hard to BBQ without a BBQ...

Also, a few family members braved the ferry to spend the day, including my sister and cute nephew, my husband's parents, and two of his cousins, all of whom have never been to this house before.

My husband's brother and his wife also came over the night before and stayed with us, thus helping with the set-up, which was awesome. They're a super fun high-energy couple, so we always enjoy spending time with them.

Now that the party-of-the-summer is over, and the cleaning up is done (yesterday), today I am sequestering myself on the sofa with the (borrowed) laptop so I won't be distracted by email/internet/comics/etc and I'm going to bust my butt getting 'Brake Fluid' edits done.

I want to have it out to readers by the end of the month, and I know there's still a lot to go :)

...but first, I know there is email building up in my inbox that I've been ignoring for over a week... first things first ;)