the non-quilting stuff in life ....

... has been keeping me busy.

One of Mr. Pirate's nieces and her new husband recently moved to our town.  We helped them move into their apartment.

Mr. Pirate thought it would be a nice idea to have them over for dinner.  And her Dad (one of Mr. Pirate's brothers).  Then we certainly couldn't leave out her older sister ...and husband ... and 2 year old daughter.

And as long as he was inviting one brother, he really should have his other brother .... and wife ... and the one  daughter still at home.  And the 2 daughters who don't live at home.  As well has that brother's son ... and wife .... and 3 young daughters.

And in a wonderful surprise, our oldest daughter and her fiance would be able to combine a work-related trip to California and the weekend BBQ!   How awesome is that?

When the dust cleared, we had a head count of 19 people ... 15 adults and 4 little squirts.  :-)  We called it the Rodgers Ron-day-voo.  :-)

Here's looking down our driveway, from the street.  And what could that red arrow be pointing to? you ask.

Why, it's the Rodgers Ron-day-voo sign, of course!

Since September weather here is absolutely *gorgeous*, we would have the BBQ outside.  That meant that Casa Rodgers needed a thorough cleaning-up.  That took all the previous week.  Literally.  Not any one big project, but just a WHOLE BUNCH of little things that get deferred, delayed and procrastinated.  When it comes time to actually fix/clean/tidy up ... it's like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.  ::sigh::

But, we persevered ... and everything got done in time!

After some discussion on what we should serve, we decided on pulled pork (served over hamburger buns ... or not), BBQ'd tri-tip steak, chili with chopped onions, sour cream & shredded cheese, Mr. Pirate's Mom's shrimp salad with avocado slices & sliced black olives (Mr. Pirate was exceedingly pleased to have been able to replicate his Mom's recipe.  It was the first time he'd made it on his own and wasn't sure if it would taste right. But the entire family absolutely agreed that it did indeed taste exactly as Mom/Grandma had made it.).  We also had potato salad (brought my one of my sister-in-laws), a tossed green salad with  tomatoes, croutons and a crunchy salad topping (sunflower seeds, etc).  Appetizers were potato chips & French onion dip plus tortilla chips with awesome bean dip & salsa (both made fresh by Mr. Pirate's niece-in-law).

Youngest Dear Daughter made some of the most AWESOME baked onion rings I've ever had ... they didn't last long.  She also made a batch of great cornbread muffins from scratch.

Plus 3 ice chests of beverages ... water, soda, beer, juice.

We had music suitable for *our* generation (!) playing from one of those incredibly small but high storage capacity MP3 players and speakers set up on a sawhorse platform.

So that the little squirts could have a place to hang out, we set up one of our camping tents with a small integrated TV-with-VCR player on a small table inside.  I covered the floor with a blanket and poofy comforter and pillows.  The girls had a grand time watching the videos, coloring in the coloring books I gave them (for the occasion) and pretending the tent was anything other than a tent.  It was a marvelous place they could be in, their parents knew where they were and were safe.

The rest of us hung out at the tables we put on the lawn, under shade canopies.  It really was dreadfully hot but in the shade and with the small breeze that sometimes came up ... and lots of water! .... I think everyone had a great time.  At least I was always aware of a conversational buzz going on.  :-)

And that is what has taken up my time all of last week.  Now it's time to take everything down and put it all away.

The highlight of *this* week is something much more mundane ... but something that I've been waiting to do for *ages* .... clean out the garage!  Mr. Pirate insists that most of the 'junk' is mine.  I know it is not.  I'm going to feel very satisfied as we bring everything out to put in various piles and he will see that the stuff is *his*!   :-)

Which is why I have not attempted to clean out the garage on my own ... I could certainly take everything out and reorganize it but I wouldn't be able to throw anything away that was his, as I have no way of knowing just how valuable or useful (or potentially useful!) any one item could be.  But now, Mr. Pirate has agreed to jointly do the garage cleaning this week.  Oh, hooray, hooray!   (Really.  How pathetic that such a job would have me deliriously happy!)  :-)

I do have a quilty project semi-loaded onto Lizzie ... another client quilt.  I was able to get the backing loaded and one side of the top loaded before I was diverted by the Rodgers Ron-day-voo preparations.   I do need to return to working on that one.

And THAT is why there's been no quilty news for a while.  :-)