Entertainment - NQR

This weekend, I finally went and spent my farewell gift from my last employer. I requested a barbecue and an outdoor setting (I know, I really don't ask for much!), and they gave me vouchers to a large hardware chain.

Yesterday I wandered around there with my brother and stepfather, who had competed to see who could help me spend the vouchers fastest, and put a table on hold. I went back today with my brother and his fiance, and was overjoyed to find that the barbecue I wanted had been reduced to $150 from $299 from $499, which meant that I could buy more benches to go with the table. Total digression, my barbecue has a rotisserie and a wok burner, and my brother was disappointed that I didn't buy the barbecue with the deep fryer!!! What the...?

Anyway, being me I decided that it was a good opportunity to invite my mum and stepfather for dinner, and my brother and his fiance, and any other family members who were available. My brother and his fiance said that they would come over early and help me to put the barbecue, table and chairs together.

Come 5.30 and I haven't seen them yet, so I think I should start. So I open up the box and find the instructions. So far so good. Then I start getting all of the pieces out (and there were at least 50!). Looking at the first steps, I can't find the screws and wing nuts that I need, so I start going through the box again. Mum and my stepfather arrive, and my stepfather starts going through everything to find the missing screws and nuts. Still nothing. Then the rain starts. Big, fat, splashy raindrops - god knows we need it, but couldn't you have held off for half an hour, or better yet, found a catchment area to rain in? Then my brother and his fiance arrive, and he starts going through the bits and pieces too. I go and turn on the oven, because I think that is the only way that I'll be getting dinner cooked tonight - oven and grill. Heading outside again, I find that they have started all of it again, in the rain, and now they are going through each page of the instructions to see what else is missing. Turns out I'm missing three bags of screws and nuts, and one knob. That will be a fun phone call at 7 tomorrow morning. Then I discover my new gas bottle is empty, so it would have been very difficult to cook with anyway. Eeek.

Meanwhile Mum found my stash of clean laundry, hidden behind the door where no one should have gone, and started folding it. I'm feeling like uber (anyone know how I can do umlauts?) hostess by now, and just want to run and hide.

Instead of running and hiding, we decide to move off in convoy to Mum's house, where they promise that they have a fully functional barbecue, with gas, and tables, chairs and cutlery. Civilised. I did have to run back home though - guess who forgot to turn off the oven? Food turned out good - I like the local supermarkets new effort - lamb drumsticks - they have them in souvlaki, red wine and herbs and other flavours. All the salads and drinks survived the trip, but I got to sit through dinner being teased about my barbecue invitation. I don't think I will live it down for a long time. On the plus side though, I didn't have to do the dishes - Mum has a dishwasher :)

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we are going to try and put the table and chairs together. I cannot wait.