The Bowling Shindig

Sorry I wasn't on schedule yesterday. The good news is that I got tons of work done on the book while listening to the Trainspotting soundtrack. Should make for some interesting material. Better for an artist to be inspired by trippy music rather than actually tripping. But that's just my opinion.

Anywho, today will either be really fun, or so aggravating that I will crawl into bed tonight thanking God that it's over. We're having Christopher's birthday party at Colonial Bowling Lanes, and we've invited his friends from the neighborhood and family. Overinvited, I should say. I have a bad habit of this.

See, I simply love parties. Children's birthday parties, graduation parties, holiday shabangs, wedding receptions (especially ones with ethinic traditions where I don't know what I'm eating or dancing to)bar mitzvahs, book release parties (fingers crossed!), family reunions, high school reunions, ice cream socials, wingdigs, ho downs, par-tays, and etc., etc. I'm a total party junkie. So when Chris and I throw a party, even though I have a guest list, just about anyone and everyone are invited. If I bump into someone the day before, let's say, a Christmas party the conversation might go like this:

me: What's going on?
other person: Not much. Just standing here in line at Wal-Mart like you are.
me: Do you have plans for tomorrow night?
other person: No.
me: Cool, Chris and I are having a Christmas party. You should totally come.
other person: But I just met you five minutes ago. And who is Chris?
me: Get to know us! Stop by, have some eggnog! Dance to Bing Crosby!
other person (stroking his chin in thought): I do enjoy dancing to Bing Crosby.
another person in line overhearing us: So do I!
me: Then you need to come to my party!
yet another person in line because the lines at Wal-Mart are really long, especially around Christmas: Can I come too?
me: Sure! (grabbing a megaphone out of my purse) Everyone's invited!
all of Wal-Mart: YAY!

I find that this method works better than e-vite. Anyway, we usually have the kids' parties at home so inviting anyone and everyone isn't too big of a deal. The problem with overinviting people to the bowling alley is that I've only reserved two lanes. I called yesterday to see if we could bump up the number and the old guy on the phone said, "No, dawlin'. I don't got a single lane left." Luckily, there are video games and cool stuff like that so if the kids have to take turns bowling it might not be that bad. But actually, I find that these things have a way of working themselves out. Maybe I'm being overly optomistic, but my gut tells me everything will work out fine.

What I'm not optomistic about is getting the kids to clean their rooms and take baths before we have to leave. Thus the fear of falling into bed exhausted after an aggravating day. If I were the kind of person who made my kids tidy up every day it wouldn't be a big deal. But I'm not. I tend to let the mess build and when I finally set the kids to cleaning it, it's immense and overwhelming and (if I may quote the Bible) there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Wish me luck.