Gentle Readers

Yesterday was interesting, if not challenging.

It was our first born's 39th birthday and I wanted everything to be just right. That means--clean house, perfect meal (lasagna, garlic bread, salad, key lime pie--perhaps an appetizer) and clean me! Well--the best laid plans..........you know the rest!

I did manage to clean the upholstery on the kitchen chairs--but they don't look like it! I know their clean by the amount of cat hair I scrubbed off of them but no matter the method I used, the stains remain. Since Jeff often comes here in dark suits--to be sure he remained somewhat intact I still covered the chairs with clean towels.

Vacuumed the best I could with a cleaner whose belt is broken--ah, well, at least it has good suction power!

Ran out of time. Had to go to a meeting and then pick up some last minute things from the store. Didn't get home until 3PM. Grabbed something quick to eat before starting on the key lime pie. Now where was that cornstarch!!! A 15 minute search finally netted the ingredient but it took forever to boil the stuff and there were other ingredients either not handy or not thought of! Meanwhile it had to cool--so on to making the merenge. The pie still had not cooled enough to top with the topping even after sitting in the freezer for a few minutes so on to the lasagna.

Luckily I'd purchased some ground beef a day or so before but the recipe called for sausage too so I (against my better judgment) pulled out an old packet of ground sausage to add to the mix. Now I have enough ingredients to make two lasagnas!

While the meat is browning, I decide the pie mixture is finally almost cool enough to top with the merenge. Big mistake! Somehow, the once beautiful topping had begun to separate and would not prettily sit on top of the pie mixture. No fluffy pillows of merengue! More like clumps!

To be continued!