party a success.

so adam and i had our first (albeit small) party this weekend in honor of memorial day. it went well. i will describe, but first must provide the approach and landing.

we spent the weekend as we have spent much of the past month-plus: working on the place, but now with adam's eye fixed on the fact that his friends would be seeing the place (so presumably now he cared what it looked like). he pulled up all the nettles in the front yard and raked out the leaves clogging up the ivy out there. i chopped down the shrubbery ("NI!") and planted more stuff in the vegetable patch. i now have spaghetti squash, pumpkin, corn, peas, carrots, tomatoes, and a blackberry bushling. nice, for a couple who don't eat vegetables AT ALL right now. and there are 25 strawberry nubs, or n00bs as we have begun calling them, about to go into the ground. in addition to chopping down the bush i also planted 2 pear trees, one in the back and one in the front.

early yesterday morning i got up and began work chopping down the bush. suddenly i heard a marching band come around the corner and realized there was a parade bearing down on the park across from my house. i went out to the front and sat on the stoop and watched the humble proceedings. look, i just moved to this town-city from NYC, so anything will seem smaller by comparison. there were boy and girl scout troops, cub scouts and brownies, and a group of random onlookers, along with the veterans and the priest. initially i was out there mostly to scowl people away from dropping trash on my plot, but i listened to the speeches and benedictions and i got a tear in my eye for the soldiers being memorialized. it was pretty moving. i hate americans in theoretical mass, but i do love many of us individually and must also admit that i can think of no place better than our land. i am frequently ashamed to be from the same place as george bush, but america does kind of kick ass.

next we had a contractor and a subcontractor come over to look at the back yard to give us an estimate for the masonry work involved in creating the patio. this because i was reading online how-tos about doing it and realized that we're good, we're arrogant, but we're not THAT good and i'm not that arrogant to think we can do it ourselves and not have it turn out looking like crap. and the estimate wasn't bad - not as high as the previous dude i found on craigslist. i have one more guy coming over tonight to estimate as well, and then will decide whom to use. i already took down the project i posted on the contractor bids site.

they left and i finally took a shower. i was pretty gnarly and needed it - i got more sun than i realized while chopping down the bush and it was essential that i get some cooling off. plus i was already well into anger-management problems. i got frustrated trying to unspiral unkink unspool the f**king garden hose and finally took it and smacked the business end of it down on the ground as hard as i could about six times, after which i realized i had broken the spray nozzle. i almost cried when i got a thorn from the damned holly bushes (which i hate) in my hand when putting leaves in a paper bag. so i was feeling a little, uh, crispy.

after my shower i came outside and tried to explain to adam what was going wrong with the garden hose and when he failed to understand what i was talking about i turned on my heel, shot a bird at him over my shoulder, and stalked off. i locked him out of the house* and drove to the grocery store to buy some more last minute things he needed for the cookout. i had become the BADLY BEHAVED GIRL. i came home and he was waiting in the front yard for me, with a small grin on his face.

i have this amazing thing to say for adam: he refuses to let me pick a fight with him. the worse-behaved i am (which i DO try not to do very often), the less he lets a fight erupt. i pulled into the driveway and got out of the car and he came over and gave me a big hug and said the party was going to be fine. when he does things like this it just totally defuses me - and i am not a girl who is quick to defuse. i like to pour good energy time and money after bad to rescue poor decisions and stick by my shite snap judgments. so for me to say adam can defuse me: that's really saying something. it fully makes up for his shortcomings, legion though they may be on occasion.

anyway, the guests arrived, best faces were put forward, and after some booze flowed into the pricklier of them and vicarious relaxation was acquired by me, we all had a pretty nice time. tom and renee brought their wii remotes and we played tennis and boxing and rabid rabbits. it was fun as hell. adam inaugurated the new grill and the meal was fantastic. he cooked steaks and hamburgers and hot dogs. we had cake and watermelon and ice cream. there was lager and hard cider, and softer stuff for yours truly. heather was very complimentary about many aspects of the house, which made me like her better, and everybody got along well.

after all had gone home and we cleaned up everything we agreed that it was a success. i was so glad adam had a good time, and to hear how proud he is of the house and of what we've done with it. it was very gratifying and happy-making.

* P.S. i knew adam could get back in the house, as his car was unlocked and the garage door opener was in there. but it was still pretty goldarned bratty of me.