R.S.V.P - A.S.A.P

H*A*P*P*Y  B*I*R*T*H*D*A*Y  K*A*T*I*E 

a.k.a. CSPGrad

And in honor of Katie's birthday, we'll talk parties.

Everyone loves a good party.  Or, at least most people enjoy most parties.  Except, of course, for those pyramid party things.  Most of us go into those with a little bit of trepidation.

You know the parties I'm talking about...  scrap booking gadgets, cooking gadgets, tupperware, makeup, jewelry, purses, and now... tools for women.  Of course the hostesses famous last words are always reassurance that you, "don't need to buy a thing.  Just come and have fun."

I'm calling bluff on that, because I've never been to one of those parties where I haven't purchased something.  The first pyramid party I ever went to was the year Richard and I got married.  It was a Pampered Chef party.  My husband likes to cook and it was right before the holidays.  I went into the experience with great hope and left the experience excited about all the gadgets I bought him, that I was sure he couldn't live without.  It was Christmas and I was sure he would love them all.

As it turns out, my husband is a cooking snob.  He says he's a cooking purist, but I say... call a spade a spade.  He didn't keep a single thing that I bought him.   So my mother had an extra good Christmas that year and we still measure with the same old measuring spoons, use our same warped baking sheets, and decide when something is finished cooking the good old fashioned way... by using our nose instead of a magnetic timer for the refrigerator.

I'm no fan of pyramid parties, regardless of what you're selling.  But last spring, I tried one once again.  I had just moved to our neighborhood and I thought it would be a fun way to meet people - not to mention keep the one friend I managed to find.  So off I went to, of all things, another cooking ware party.  This time I was more discerning, but still I left having purchased more than I knew my husband would use.

The real point is that while I was there, I started thinking...  here we were this group of women loosely related through our mutual friend and neighbor.  We were coming together more for the fellowship than we were because any of us needed more cooking utensils.  But what came from it was a nice break in the week, a few new ideas for easy dinner recipes, and good conversation about topics ranging from kids, to fitness, to shopping bargains.

I want to try something similar.  No I won't be selling anything and you won't either.  The idea is this...

Once a month I will host a Highlowaha party.  The "hostess" (that's one of you) will "invite" six other people to join us for the week.  They can be friends from work, teammates from your bowling league, high school friends you're in touch with, a book club, a scrap booking group, or old college friends.  Anybody you want from anywhere you want.  

The hostess will consult with his/her friends to determine what topic you would like covered for the week.  Then it will be my job to use that topic to throw a week long party.  All you and your guests have to do?... commit to reading the blog each day for the designated week.  There will be a spotlight on you and your friends, good information, giveaways, and fun conversations.  

At the end of the week, the hostess will be presented with a Patchwork Hostess Patch and a treat from me.

What are some examples I can think of based on who I know some of our readers to be?

• Katie, Kelly, or Brian... how about a party with you and your hall director staffs?  The topic can be anything from how to motivate staff to achieving balance.
  
• Julie... how about you and some of your former classmates?  Easy decorating tips for people who move a lot.
  
• Erica, how about your play group?  How about creative ideas for keeping play groups fun or practical fashion tips for stay at home moms.
  
• Heather, Peggy, or Cheryl: Are you and your neighbors gearing up for the holidays?  How about creative and inexpensive gift ideas.  Making the holidays stress free or creative wrapping ideas.
• Lori: Could you and your teacher friends benefit from new and creative ways to start spring semester?
• Does anybody know anyone getting married or having a baby?  Maybe we could have a virtual bridal shower or baby shower.

Half the fun is thinking about who you might like to invite.  The other half is brainstorming a fun, practical, serious, or zany topic you agree would be fun for our community to cover.

So that's as far as I've taken the idea.  Let's spend the rest of today building on my idea with your suggestions of what will make our monthly Highlowaha parties more fun.  Also, let's book our first three parties.  We need adventurous can-do kinds of people to claim November, December, and January.  R.S.V.P - A.S.A.P.

Everyone loves a party.

Announcements: 

• Bingo Winners and Gift Donors: It will take me until mid day today to make sure the hosts of your packages have your mailing addresses.  Thanks for being patient.  
  
• Altoid Table: Thanks, Peggy for inquiring about the never ending saga or our Altoid Tables.  You all just think we'd forgotten about them.  What you don't know is they have been a steady and ongoing project/saga since we started them... quite a while ago (we'll just leave it at that).  We thought we were putting the second set of finishing touches on the tables two nights ago and low and behold, the gorilla glue that held so well we had to chisel the boxes off last time, didn't hold the boxes at all this time.  In fact, they just popped right off.  It seems the glue works better on wood than on tile.  After some inquiry and research, we've determined we are now in the market for Liquid Nails (and a good stiff drink).  It seems Liquid Nails is the only hope of actually securing these tins to the tiled tables.
  
• Decathlon Pics and Recipes:  Hmmmm.... I would like to think I would have had these up the day after events were entered.  But alas... another one of Claudia's weaknesses becomes glaringly obvious.  The tedium of loading pics onto blogger is a task as painful to me as poking myself in the eye with a stick.  Most, if not all the pics, are on my computer and someday I imagine I will be so on top of life (no laundry waiting to be folded, no kids needing to be carted here or there, no toys to be picked up) that I will actually load them on.  Until then, I will dream about all my tasky highlowaha friends and continue to imagine how much I would love to have even an ounce of your discipline.  Hope springs eternal, though, so keep on asking! 
  

Signing off until tomorrow...