Weekend recap and a small rant
May. 26th, 2002 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sierciaThis was a good weekend. I got lots more done around the yard, which makes me happy (my half a flower bed is all mulched, and my veggie plot is ready), and a bunch of other things done as well.
We had a bunch of people over for the Monaco Grand Prix, and the rain held off until after we had grilled afterward, so that was ALL good. My aunt and uncle offered me a scotch broom plant last week, and brought it over this morning. I'm not sure it's going to do well in the spot I picked for it, so it may need to get moved in the fall. AND, as an extra special bonus, they brought me "new" furniture! They just remodeled their kitchen, and had a table set (with three chairs) and some portable storage cabinets that they didn't need anymore. We've been wanting to get rid of the table and chairs in our dining room, and now we have! For free!
I made an interesting salad for dinner tonight (from Martha); pita bread, cucumbers, celery, mint, watercress, and feta in an olive oil/white wine vinegar dressing. I thought it was yummy! I'm making Betty Crocker Tandoori chicken for tomorrow night. Mmmmm!
And now
We got invited down to the Cape for a cookout by a pair of friends. They are notoriously late. Infamous, even. So we're in no real hurry to get there on time - which was good, because Miss Widget decided to nap in yesterday. This is all fine. We get there an HOUR late, to find that they have not even gone to the grocery store (having said "Show up around three, we'll fire the grill around 4:30 or so") We get there at 4ish, and they haven't shopped? (I mean, I can see not starting the grill until you have critical mass, but really, there's a reason Wiley and I shopped yesterday for our BBQ today, you know?). Whatever. Off they go to the store, leaving about 5 of us at the house. Which is completely not babyproof. Like, glass works of art (real, gallery, expensive art) on knee high shelves. So we're following the baby around like we're velcro'd to her. And I would have appreciated a warning. I don't expect child-free friends to have baby-proofed houses, but this was above and beyond the norm. Again though, only a minor annoyance. They come back, we grill, we eat, life is good. And then, as we're leaving, he asks us for money... to contribute to the cost of dinner (And they had not entertained cheap - they bought a swordfish steak, and a couple of regular steaks, and there were burgers and salad. BUT...) I was just floored. I mean, you don't invite people to your house for a normal inner, and then ask them to pay for it, do you? I certainly never would. I entertain within my means... If that means burgers and dogs instead of steak, so be it. If that means entertaining smaller groups instead of huge parties, so be it. Theoretically, I can see events where people might chip in (generally something that was planned as a group, where one person or couple agreed to provide the space), but not something like this. It soured the whole evening for me. I'm not totally off base here, am I?
We had a bunch of people over for the Monaco Grand Prix, and the rain held off until after we had grilled afterward, so that was ALL good. My aunt and uncle offered me a scotch broom plant last week, and brought it over this morning. I'm not sure it's going to do well in the spot I picked for it, so it may need to get moved in the fall. AND, as an extra special bonus, they brought me "new" furniture! They just remodeled their kitchen, and had a table set (with three chairs) and some portable storage cabinets that they didn't need anymore. We've been wanting to get rid of the table and chairs in our dining room, and now we have! For free!
I made an interesting salad for dinner tonight (from Martha); pita bread, cucumbers, celery, mint, watercress, and feta in an olive oil/white wine vinegar dressing. I thought it was yummy! I'm making Betty Crocker Tandoori chicken for tomorrow night. Mmmmm!
And now
We got invited down to the Cape for a cookout by a pair of friends. They are notoriously late. Infamous, even. So we're in no real hurry to get there on time - which was good, because Miss Widget decided to nap in yesterday. This is all fine. We get there an HOUR late, to find that they have not even gone to the grocery store (having said "Show up around three, we'll fire the grill around 4:30 or so") We get there at 4ish, and they haven't shopped? (I mean, I can see not starting the grill until you have critical mass, but really, there's a reason Wiley and I shopped yesterday for our BBQ today, you know?). Whatever. Off they go to the store, leaving about 5 of us at the house. Which is completely not babyproof. Like, glass works of art (real, gallery, expensive art) on knee high shelves. So we're following the baby around like we're velcro'd to her. And I would have appreciated a warning. I don't expect child-free friends to have baby-proofed houses, but this was above and beyond the norm. Again though, only a minor annoyance. They come back, we grill, we eat, life is good. And then, as we're leaving, he asks us for money... to contribute to the cost of dinner (And they had not entertained cheap - they bought a swordfish steak, and a couple of regular steaks, and there were burgers and salad. BUT...) I was just floored. I mean, you don't invite people to your house for a normal inner, and then ask them to pay for it, do you? I certainly never would. I entertain within my means... If that means burgers and dogs instead of steak, so be it. If that means entertaining smaller groups instead of huge parties, so be it. Theoretically, I can see events where people might chip in (generally something that was planned as a group, where one person or couple agreed to provide the space), but not something like this. It soured the whole evening for me. I'm not totally off base here, am I?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-26 07:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-27 09:43 am (UTC)And truthfully, we don't go to many events hosted by this particular couple, so perhaps this is the "understood" standard practice for them, but bleah.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-05-29 04:03 pm (UTC)Bleah indeed.