dry run for the wedding

sunday is father's day. and it's also the longest day of the year; it being summer solstice and all. jert and i've been wanting to have a cook-out for friends and family, and we figured this will be the most excellent time to do so! jert's three children who live fairly close will be here with their families, his mother is coming, and so is his sister and her husband. i'd also invited a few friends, who may or may not come over. it all depends.

so yesterday, i went to town and bought sixty hamburgers, twenty-four hotdogs, the appropriate buns, several types of mustard {yum, coarse brown and oooooooooh wanna try the southwestern sweet and spicy and then too there is the regular neon for the less adventurous souls}, ketsup, mayo, relish, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, etc. i also bought two cantaloupes; which the walmart lady bagged with the roma tomatoes. niiiiiiiiiiiiiice. i'll make a variety of teas, and sugar-free drink mixes, and a simple salad with cucumbers, carrots, radishes, green bell pepper, etc.

jert asked his eldest to bring her potato salad, and i'm really looking forward to it. i love potato salad and when given a choice between that and macaroni salad, i always opt for the potato salad. i was really disappointed in some that we had gotten from kroger (earlier this week, when neither of us felt like cooking), it didn't have hard boiled eggs nor did it seem to be quite as chunckily full of potatoes. it was more creamy and just seemed sort of bland.

his youngest is making two cakes, a regular larger one and then a smaller sugar-free one. that's pretty much what she plans to do for the wedding, so this will be sorta test trial for her too! with it being as hot as it is, i really appreciate this because i know it can't be fun to have the oven on with this extreme heat.

i'm not sure what, if anything, any one else is bringing. we just told folks that they can bring something if they wanted, like a bag of chips or drinks or something. i'm sure there'll be more than enough. purse strings are sorta tight right now, or else i'd have picked up some more fruits and made a big ole salad with plums, peaches, bananas, grapes, watermelon, etc. but that will have to wait for some other time!

given that we are combining two established households, on our invitations for the wedding, we've asked that in lieu of gifts, for folks to please bring their favorite side dish {as we are providing the meats, hamburgers, hotdogs, and chicken}. on the reply cards, i've a list of suggestions, like potato salad, macaroni salad, fruit trays, veggie trays, and such. so this sunday seems like a smaller version, more casual, of the wedding day's events!

hope every one is staying cool in this heat. our index reads 103 degrees! soooOOOooo glad i'm not working out on the highway, repairing asphalt and spreading tar. i'd be whiiiiiiiiiining even more than i do now!