Engagement Party

September 15, 2008

Today is Monday. I woke up with a throbbing headache and nauseous stomach this morning. I think that it was just nerves, for the most part. It’ll take me about 3 days to get over the stress of the party.

No, I don’t have a hangover! Joe and I had our engagement party this past weekend (Saturday evening), and now I know why I don’t have parties! The stress of getting the house ready alone, wore me out. I was snapping and yelling throughout the day, scaring poor Jodie. Once the house was clean we went to buy the food. We spent $200 between Wal Mart and Williams (fka Albertson’s). Shrimp, salmon, Chex mix, fresh and canned fruit, canned drinks, and more.

Our plan was to cook out on the back patio—Joe was itching to try out his new grill! He said our theme should be “Burgers and Bugs,” the bugs referring to shrimp. We planned for about 20 people. I invited twice that many but knew a lot wouldn’t be there. Even an engagement party can’t compete with football season and the Oklahoma State Fair! The fair was in town, and plus football season was in full swing. Some people are die-hard Sooners (OU) or Cowboys (OSU) and will NOT miss a game for ANYTHING.

We didn’t get much rain from Ike, as I’d feared we would, the night of the party. It was overcast but not really raining, thankfully. Hurricane Ike was the third major hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic Hurricane Season. The storm had hit Galveston, TX, before daylight the morning of our party, and Oklahoma was expected to get a major downpour from it. That would ruin our back yard plans! I’d warned all our guests in advance that if the storm did hit, the party would be moved inside.

Glad it didn’t. Our house isn’t that big.

We got home from getting the food about 6:00, and I hurried to get the final preparations done. Suddenly people started calling for directions to the house! Then people started showing up….I was frantically arranging tables, food, chairs –getting things prepared. Meanwhile every guest brought a new snack or drink and I would have to rearrange everything I already had set out! I nearly ran out of space to put the snacks as they came in.

I was finally able to relax and mingle. I tried to get around and talk to everyone and be sure everyone was introduced to each other. I’m not a natural hostess and I get nervous around a lot of people. So I continually felt like I wasn’t doing enough. I’m much more comfortable one-on-one, or in groups of not more than 5 or 6. But we had over 20: a few friends from our Outdoor group; some of Joe’s friends from high school; a few close friends from work; a couple others that I stay close to from previous jobs; and their spouses and children.

Hurricane Ike wasn’t the only big news-maker of the weekend. Merrill Lynch sold out to Bank of America, and Lehman Brothers filed Chapter 11. This is just 6 months after the fall of Bear Stearns. This is big. This is serious. The bottom is falling out of the financial markets. When the big guys start falling, it is serious. And the government just bailed out FNMA & FHLMC last week. The Dow is down to 11,110 as of today at lunch. Oil is down to $97 a barrel, I think, below $100 anyway. I wonder how this is going to affect the company I work for. We’re a workers’ compensation insurer but hold a sizeable investment portfolio. Plus I’m pretty heavily involved in accounting for our investment portfolio.