Chaos Ensues

You know how it is. The day of a party---you have a lot to do---cooking, cleaning, finding serving pieces, setting up, last minute grocery store runs, icing down the coolers, hauling chairs, setting up tables, etc. Well, try to do all of that with 14 people in the house! 

It was crazy around here on Saturday as I was trying to get ready for Jordan's "kick-off to college" party. Sandy and Stephanie helped with the food. We ran in to a little snag---refrigerator space---or lack there of. Stephanie picked up the cake. I didn't realize it would be in such a large box.

As a result, I couldn't get everything ready ahead of time. That meant I had to do some of the food right before the party. Never a good plan.

As the family headed out to enjoy some unexpected pool time---the weather men (who are always wrong) predicted rain for the day. Instead, it was sunny, hot and humid---perfect pool weather. I told everyone that I wanted them ready by 4 p.m. so we could do the last minute party preparations and take photos. The party was to start at 6 p.m.

About 3:30, the gang came in to get ready. I had no idea that 14 people would be showering and getting ready all at the same time. Elizabeth came to me and said, "grammy, this is the last towel." I told her that they were just going to have to deal with it. Truly, I must have at least 50 towels in this house. But with cooking all week, I never gave it a second thought. Luckily, Sandy did! She had the foresight to run a load of towels. Little did she know that she saved the day!

I got myself ready. Around 4, I looked around the house and thought, "there's no way to get this place party ready"---it was such a mess.

 Piles like this were all over the house. This one happens to be Morgan's.

 The desk in the kitchen becomes the "catch-all" besides being the charging station for phones, iPods and Kindles.

 This is what happens when people use your bathroom. Can you see the signs of Mindy? The open drawers are the dead give-away. Morgan was showering in here. She called Mindy on her phone. Mindy was in the kitchen. She asked Mindy to find her a razor. That lead to the question: did she have the phone in the shower with her?

 Apparently someone had to do their nails at the last minute. Uh, they couldn't clean up their mess?

Turns out, Elizabeth and I were the only ones ready by 4. She was such a huge help---she cleaned the powder room, emptied trash, hauled stuff around, made the frosting for the brownies and frosted them. I had her running all over the house amidst all the chaos going on around us. Someone came down in a panic that Steph's dress was "broken." Butch to the rescue---a jammed zipper. He fixed it, but it required a trip to the garage. The girls think he can fix anything---and he usually can.

Next, it was Mindy putting the last minute finishing touches on her gift---that she started the weekend before. That also required Butch's help as he did not want her loose with the hot glue gun in his work room. Good thinking. Here's her project:

She spray-painted a cookie sheet orange. She made magnets out of some of my scrapbooking supplies for a cute memo board.

As it turns out, we were ready in plenty of time before the party. When you have that many people---with me orchestrating---it gets done fast!! In hindsight, it was probably the easiest party I've ever done. I kept the food easy too---cheeseburgers and hot dogs, deviled eggs, oven-baked potatoes, baked beans, 9 layer dip, queso, brownies and strawberry cake.

A few pictures---and now I realize that I didn't get a single one of Jackie and Greg! Bummer!

 Nicky, Jordan, Morgan and Stephanie.

 College bound Jordan with her grammy and grandpa.

 And of course, the boyfriend, Eli.

 Morgan and her boyfriend, Will.

 Mitchell, Victoria and my little helper, Elizabeth.

 My beautiful girls, Sandy, Stephanie and Mindy. Although Mindy is taller than her sisters, she does have on heels here. She's not quite that tall!

Sandy and Greg.

I had a "candy bar" set up for the party favors. The color scheme was blue and orange for the University of Tennessee. I couldn't do only the orange, so I added the blue for the Lady Vols.

We had a LOT of candy left over. Jordan is going to take it to school with her so she can share it with her friends.

The party was a huge success. And I got the food exactly right. Just enough leftovers for Sandy and Steph to take home with them. I know how much food it takes for a crowd so maybe Butch and Mindy can stop second-guessing me!

The best part of all? ALL that help with the clean up! With everyone pitching in, we had everything done in a half hour---hauling chairs, trash, recycling, putting the patio back in order, cleaning off the dining room table, emptying coolers, washing dishes and re-arranging the furniture. Whew!

We did have one casualty---the back door got broken. Butch will fix it!

I'm tired.