Monday, March 19, 2007

The Hostess with the Leastess

Mom is still here. And Friday night, I threw my first impromptu dinner party! It was snowing, so my mother didn't want to go out to eat. And she wanted to see my aunt and uncle. So she invited them to come over for dinner. They picked up some Italian food and brought it over, so I was lucky in not having to cook. But beyond that, it was still a bit of a makeshift affair.
Seating: my small regular dining table with the two outdoor chairs I bought for my terrace, plus the outdoor table pushed up to the couch for one person, with my one dining chair on the other side.
Place settings: I do have 4 matching plates, so that was all good. But I only have 2 dinner forks, so 2 people had to use dessert forks. I had 4 knives. I only had two water glasses, but since two people had wine (and I have two pairs of wine glasses), that worked out. I then had to do some dishes before dessert-- I have 4 dessert plates, but some of the spoons had been used in serving, so there weren't enough to cover dessert and coffee. Speaking of coffee and tea, that was served in 3 mis-matched mugs. I decided to keep drinking wine since I didn't have a fourth mug, but then I remembered that I'd gotten one of those insulated travel mugs for free once, so I dug that out and used it.

Anyway, a good time was had by all, and in the scope of things, it's not really a major disaster if someone has to eat manicotti with a dessert fork, is it? But I still felt a bit under-equipped. I've had my silverware since I moved into my very first apartment about 15 years ago, and I've somehow managed to lose a lot of it over the years. And I once had more glasses but they all broke. So this all leads into the next part of this story, which was that over the weekend, I went shopping with my mother.

We only went to a couple of stores, but my wallet is now about $700 lighter than it was last Friday. Did my mom force me to buy stuff? No. It was almost all stuff I would have bought anyway, just maybe not right away:
The long-desired power drill
Closet organizer components
Two extra pillows (when your mom snores, it's not nice to make her have to use just one.)
Two glasses
A set of silverware
A mattress pad
A meat thermometer
Other miscellaneous small items
About $130 worth of groceries. My mother goes through gallons of Poland Spring water at an alarming rate, and though I'll go back to tap after she leaves, the bottled stuff does taste better.

I went out to buy the groceries on my own, to keep things under control. When I got home, my mother announced "Guess what! I cut all the fringe off your bathroom rug!" This is not as crazy as it sounds-- it's a really old rug, and every time I washed it, more of the fringe got chewed off by the machine, so I'd actually thought of cutting the straggly leftovers off myself. But since the thing my mother had most wanted me to buy during our shopping expedition was a new, matching set of charcoal grey towels and bathroom rug-- a satisfactory example of which could not be found at Bed, Bath and Beyond-- I guess cutting that fringe was the only way my mom could scratch that particular itch. I also suspect that while I'm gone today, she may want to load up the new shelves and poles I installed in one closet, perhaps suggesting some wardrobe edits while she's at it.

Mom may still be with me all this week, depending on when my other aunt and uncle can drive her home. So who knows what other transformations may be wrought in my cozy little condo! It's fine, though. She is enjoying some much-needed rest and peace. And she's not spending the $1,300 she told me she's built up in her savings account! Yay, mom!

8 comments:

Tiredbuthappy said...

Oh, the beauty of anonymous blogging. If this blog weren't anonymous, you might have thought twice about saying she snores! :)

Good luck with the rest of the visit. My mother is threatening to move to my town. I hope I can be as patient as you are.

Anonymous said...

Mothers! After a visit for which I'd scrubbed the entire apartment, only to have my mother decide that the inside of my tea kettle needed cleaning, I realized that there's only so much you can do...

It sounds like you are having a good visit, and I'm sure that she is thrilled to have a chance to mother you.

Anonymous said...

Who needs bottled water? Just get a Brita pitcher. It really does taste better than tap ...

Anonymous said...

I guess you New Yorkers don't entertain much at home. Out here in California, my friends and I do lots of home entertainments, dinner parties and such. I can't imagine not having a decent set of dinnerware and silverware for at least six people.

Anonymous said...

What a great blog. I get so tired of people convinced that they can't save or that someone else is going to take care of them.
I'm a single mom w/a kid and I'm doing great. And I'm teaching my daughter that she can and will be financially responsible.
Everything in life has a "cost." I usually don't mind paying the piper because I know it's generally something that I've chosen to honor w/my own hard work.
--Anonymous D

Single Ma said...

LOL @ hostess with 'leastess'

Sounds like you and momz are having a ball. I'm jealous. :-( After day 2, I would have sent mine packing on the next flight to anywhere but here (lol). I love her to death but that woman drives me nuts!

Madame X said...

TBH-- I've said worse things about my mother's snoring already, in this post!

SingleMa-- my mom usually does drive me nuts, but so far on this trip, she is behaving very well! But notice that I haven't taken any days off work to be able to spend more time with her!

Anonymous said...

I think your collection of housewares sounds quaint and charming. I like it! :)