(540) My Jewelry Party

It was a rather quiet day, I had a few things to do in order to prepare for tonight’s jewelry party. I started out to get my errands done, giving myself enough time to get home to start the preparations for the event. I made a list, had everything in order, oh yes I was totally organized. The caterer was arranged (my wonderful daughter-in-law) . She was an excellent caterer, she catered for my husbands celebration of life and our church ladies prayer group, so I had every confidence in her. I picked my daughter- in- law up at work at approximately 4: 45pm, the party starts at 7: pm, so time is going. Oh oh we don’t have a babysitter for my two grandchildren, that’s OK, I’m sure they will be just fine. We drove home, I had some cleaning to finish up, so I tried to get to it, my grand-daughter had other plans and I spent a lot of time talking with her, getting her toys and trying to explain why she couldn’t watch TV. Whoops not a good idea, she began to cry. I’m getting anxious now, not being able to do what I had on my list, my timing is now off. The telephone rings, an apology from one of my guests, she can’t make it, no problem, I’ll have tea with her tomorrow and tell her all about it. I tried to get off the phone, but you know the type, they want to talk and talk even though they know you are getting ready for a party. Finally I have to say, sorry Jean, I really have to go now. I no sooner hung up, the phone rang again, another apology, I quickly got off the phone. Just then my daughter-in law (Johanna) remembers to call her two friends who wanted to come to the party, they didn’t have the address. I still havn’t started the cleaning I had to finish yet. Her friends have no idea how to get to my house, so I now have to take time out to give them directions. My blood pressure is rising, I can feel it, my head is hot and my heart is beating faster and faster, I have to finish that cleaning. The doorbell rings, oh my gosh it’s the jewelry lady, she arrived a little early, only by a few minutes, I’m really behind. Oh for heavens sake I have to go to the LRT and pick up John and Derek, they’ll be waiting for me. I have to go, the jewelry lady wants to use the kitchen table to display her jewelry, the caterer says no way, I need that table. Earlier we set two round tables in the living room for Delores, she’s not pleased with that due to poor lighting. I promise her I will get her some good lighting when I return. I’m running’ around like a chicken with my head cut off. I ran off to the van, Jumped in, I’m out of breath, thinking to myself-what did I get myself into, I’ll never do this again. Oh heck, I didn’t finish the cleaning, ah forget it, who cares anyway, just me. Trying my best to keep to the speed limit, off I go to pick up the boys. I arrived at the LRT at 6: 45, I told them to meet me there at that time. No Derek and John in sight. I’m now having an anxiety attack, holding my chest and breathing deep breaths. Where are they, this is not like them at all, one train comes, no boys, oh no now I have to wait for another train, that’s going to be another 10 minutes. I’m thinking about the light for the jewelry lady (Delores) . What to do, Oh I know, I’ll call home and ask my daughter (Melody) to go downstairs to her brothers room and borrow his tall lamp, excellent light for that. I made the call, Melody is a little hesitant because brother John doesn’t like anyone in his room, especially when he is not home. At this point, I don’t care, so I say, just get it OK and she agrees to do that. Finally I see the boys, they’re walking quickly to my car, I put on a happy face and greet them. Explaining that they missed the train, I assured them, everything is fine, not to worry about such things, we’ll be in time for the party. Kind of hidden truth, I’m really dying inside with worry about what is going on without me there. We arrive back at the house, the lamp is plugged in, nice bright light, Delores is smiling, my grandson is in his big brothers room, wanting to play with the playstation or the game cube, but big brother Dylan is not home and the rule is, no one plays unless he Ii there. I had to explain that to Ariel and he wasn’t happy, but he settled for TV, thank goodness. I checked the kitchen and Johanna is not happy with the way the stove is heating, she said it’s not heating mama, I assure her that it’s just fine and the bell will ring when it reaches the right temperature. She’s not patient and doesn’t believe me. The next time I go in the kitchen I noticed the heat is up to 470 degrees instead of 350, oh well, I’m sure she knows what she’s doing and I let it go. The food is smelling good, everything looks good, the table is decorated lovely, all is well. Most guests have arrived except Johanna’s friends, they were a little lost, but I spoke to them and they were just around the corner, within seconds they were at the door. My friend Sue and her husband Ray came in the front door. In all the years I’ve lived in this house they never used the front door. I had forgotten about our dog Blaze who was now locked in the back yard, hopefully away from our guests. He is a very friendly black Lab and likes to jump on everyone. I noticed my friend Betty in the living room with one of her Korean students, they looked lovely. Someone mentioned “Is something burning” I assured them no, of course not, as I turned and went into the kitchen and saw the smoke, shortly thereafter the smoke alarm went off. Johanna is sweating and her broken English, tries to assure me everything is fine, she opens the oven and the spring rolls are burning, oh my gosh Johanna, why is the heat so high, I quickly turned it down to 350 like I should have done earlier. Johanna is beside herself and her daughter is running all over the place, of coure that’s my grand- daughter Tahara, but when she’s bad, I refer to her as Johanna’s daughter. LOL. All the guests are running into the kitchen to see if everything is OK, all offering advice, my goodness, what is going on here Ray quietly says to me, “havn’t you ever had a jewelry party before, I look at him and laugh. Derek brought a carrot cake that he made and wants to display it on the table, that’s his only concern beside the fact that he’s also concerned about our cat Tiger, you see he’s allergic to cats, my gosh, what’s next. All of a sudden I heard the back door open, I yelled please don’t let the dog in. Oh dear, it was too late, Blaze came bursting in like a lightening bolt, no stopping him. He headed for the jewelry lady and stood up on his hind legs, she was trying to write up an order and stood her ground while oohhhhing, only a slight fear of the dog as he peered into her face, about 4 inches away from her face. The Korean girl (Stelly) screams, jumps up from the couch, runs to the bathroom and locks herself inside, I grabbed Blaze by the collar and gave him a talking too, he didn’t like that, so he quickly turned his body, hitting me in the back of my legs taking my legs out from under me and down I went, in my beautiful long dress, it felt like I was floating down, Ray tried to get to me, but was too late and everyone else was stunned, jumping up asking me if I was OK. My concern was, how will I get up and where is that crazy dog. My knees won’t work. Ray took my right arm and Claudia tood my left arm and they lifted me up, it was easier than I thought. Spinercize class is working after all. I got up, couldn’t stop laughing, what a fiasco this turned out to be. Everyone after realizing I was OK had a good laugh. Finally the food was ready and we all headed for the kitchen forgetting about the jewelry. The poor jewelry lady was alone in the living room, we told her to come and have something to eat, she did. I announced shortly after, well I must go in the living room and order some jewelry, everyone followed. Delores was happy, what we didn’t know was while all of this was going on. John was in my bedroom on the computer ordering what he wanted from Delores’s website, so she was making sales afterall, a very nice sale I might add. Everything settled down after that, the party was a success, good sales and two bookings for more parties, Delores was happy and gave me a beautiful watch for having good sales and bookings, I couldn’t believe that we actually found time to order jewelry after everything that was going on. Tahara continued to run around looking at the jewelry, hugging Stelly, she just loved Stelly.. All and all it was a good party, lots of fun and lots of laughs. Lets see what happens next year, maybe a little less food. Written: Feb.18/2007