Birthday Dinner at My House

Why did I choose to have my birthday dinner at my house?  I knew I was going to have to do some deep cleaning, cook for six adults and a two year old, figure out a way to handle our two excitable dogs and curious cat, and then after it's all done, clean up.  I chose to do it because I know that most of my family is having some financial troubles and so I didn't want to have to worry about them having the money for dinner or buying my gift(s); which, by the way, I made sure to tell them I didn't even really want anything, which is true.

I decided to do something cheap, easy, and very yummy.  :)  Yup, that's right, spaghetti!  Brandon is going to make it because I feel that he makes the best sauce out of the two of us (he puts green peppers in it just for me, even though he doesn't like it).  We will be using shells instead of spaghetti because it helps to pick up the chunks of green pepper, meat, and black beans (another thing we experimented with and really liked in it).  My mom is going to be bringing a homemade cheesecake, my sister, Tara, is going to be bringing the garlic bread, and my sister, Heather, is going to be bringing the salad.  Like I said, cheap, easy, and very yummy!  :)

It's a good thing that we have an extra dining room table so we will have enough room for everybody to eat in one place.  We only have 4 chairs, though, so we'll have to improvise with using our computer chairs and a folding chair.  It's also lucky that we have eight plates (four "lunch" plates and four "dinner" plates - the lunch plates are what we usually use because the dinner plates are HUGE).  We only have four bowls that came with the set of plates, though.  We have some bigger bowls that Brandon uses when he has cereal because "the other bowls are too small" (actually a fairly decent size for me).  We have tons of cups, so I don't have to worry about that.  It seems like it should all work out.  Just waiting to see who will be the one to get sauce all over themselves.  :-P  I'm betting on Heather, she always seems to spill stuff on herself.  lol

Enough stalling, now.  I should get back to my cleaning list so by Monday evening my house shouldn't look like a total wreak.  I might even have to post pictures of it looking so clean... hmmm.... :-P