Hectic!

I feel the need to start with this warning: [Warning-this is a ridiculously long post]. There you have now been warned. :)

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So this week has been terribly hectic, thus no posts. My mom is coming into town this weekend for my sister and her husband's sealing (Yeah!!!) and to celebrate Easter. So, naturally, I volunteered to feed everyone after the sealing (and pay for it-literally, and mentally...). I don't regret it at all, but it does make one terribly busy when your expecting anywhere from 20-40 people to show up. It also makes it hard to plan food.

I'm writing this while I am prepping for the feasting tomorrow. And it will be delicious! And fortunately, I will have a sous-chef tomorrow morning. My "little sister" Alyssa (she's not technically my little sister, but I was her baby-sitter since she was 2 years old (I was about 14) till I went away to college, and then sometimes when I was home on break. And our families are really close--we spend a lot of time with them). She is totally fabulous. And almost 16--which freaks me out--never mind that her little brother just turned 12--I'm denying the fact that they are getting older. (And I've stopped acknowledging that I'm getting older too.)

ANYWAY...Lys agreed to be my helper tomorrow morning and I am so grateful!!

Right now I'm prepping food for tomorrow. So fun.

Here is the menu and links to where I got the recipes:

- Knorr's Spinach Dip with Sourdough Bread. (My favorite version!)
- Veggie Platter with Ranch Dip (a packet or Ranch dip mix and a container of sour cream. Mix together. Enjoy. :)
- Deviled Eggs with Bacon and Green Onions
- Funeral Potatoes--this site has AMAZING recipes. Love it!
- Chicken Salad with rolls and lettuce--Make sure you refrigerate it for awhile before eating. The flavors will be much better!!
- Fruit Pizza (A great summer dessert!)
- Texas Sheet Cake! (Again, another website I love. Best Recipes. Like, totally!)

Yeah that's right. I did a meal with all my favorites. Even though it was unofficially for Cait & Nick, but per Cait--it was officially for Easter--so I picked my favs. :)

***
So pretty sure I almost had a panic attack when I went to Winco after work today. It didn't even occur to me that Winco, a popular (and very cheap) grocery store, would be CRAZY busy on the Friday before Easter. Big mistake. Though, if the thought had occurred, I still would have gone because I wanted everything to be as fresh as possible.

Anyway, when I got there, I called my brother to make sure that he was going over to my sister's house for the evening so we could give my mom her birthday/mother's day present. (I was super excited!! See below.) He said that he had made plans to be in Sacramento with his buddy. Not in Lincoln with his sisters and mom. It kinda put me very close to the edge. With a very crowded grocery store, and a seemingly endless grocery list. Not a good combo.

I was on the verge of panic. It wasn't pretty. I don't know why. It was weird. Then Steven said he was joking and I got super confused and it pushed me closer to the edge. Then I ran into one of my clients' wife. Who is super nice, but I was so confused and overwhelmed, that when she said hi and tried to chat with me that I probably spewed gibberish at her. Again, not pretty. That really helped my professional image, I am sure. Anyway, thankfully she saw I was on the phone and let me be.

Then my mom got on the phone and told me to stop freaking out, that I was being a baby--and that Steven was lying and messing with me (what a bother, er, brother). And that I needed to get over to Cait's house--they were all waiting for me. Apparently no one had told me that I was supposed to go over there straight after work. I told her that I would be there as soon as I could.

I finally showed up (two hours later) with Mom's present and made her unwrap it. See pictures below:

She VERY CAREFULLY unwrapped the box. Then I told her that I bought the paper so she could rip it.

So she ripped it.

Then she realized EXACTLY what it was and was even more excited. This is that face! Seriously. :)

This is what we got her--with the matching bench.

It was so hilarious to watch Mom open up the present. She's been wanting a Vanity Desk for years (apparently since she was a little girl) and a few years ago she said something about it to me so I've been searching online for one since then. But then I saw this one at Target (love!) and so Cait and I picked it up for her. Conveniently, she was in town so we didn't have to ship it to her. :)

She said it was exactly what she wanted. And she'll have fun putting it together. She likes that kind of thing.

The only other time we've actually been able to surprise my mom with a present is when we made her a scrapbook of all of our pictures from when we were kids. She kinda freaked out about it. And took it literally everywhere with her. Pretty sure she even took it the grocery store to show it it strangers and to Church--no joke. Hopefully she won't take the vanity everywhere she goes. :)

So after she opened her present and got over the surprise, we made Mom give us all hair cuts. Because that's what moms are for. Right?!


P.S. Mom, if you read this, I loooooove you!