Friday, June 15

Today is Flag Day, so Hubbie hung both ours and Mother's flags. According to information at USFlag.org, Flag Day "was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day."
Skipped water aerobics this morning, so I could get busy cleaning house and cooking for tomorrow's family gathering for Hubbie's birthday. Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house early, and we stayed in the kitchen for the morning.

We started by making a pineapple upside down cake. Mother put the margarine, brown sugar, pineapple slices, and maraschino cherries on the bottom of the cake pan, and I beat the cake mix batter and poured it in the cake pan. The cake looked beautiful when I turned it out on a cake keeper, but soon it sank a little in the middle. We decided the problem was the margarine, which was an extra light version, and thus mostly water that caused the cake to get soggy.

Baked a second cake, this time a lemon one, after the upside down cake was done. Then we made potato salad. I can't seem to make a small batch of potato salad....there's always enough for an army.

After that, Hubbie and I got busy cleaning house, and we spent the rest of the morning at it. After lunch, Mother relaxed, and Hubbie and I ran errands.

First, we went to a barbecue restaurant to pick up an order for tomorrow. We took along an ice chest to put the barbecue in it. Then we went  to a department store, where Hubbie had a $10 gift certificate. He bought a pair of khaki slacks on sale, and go them for $10. I searched for shoes to go with an outfit I wanted to wear to an event tonight. I had no luck finding any. So I looked for petite jeans for Mother. Luckily, I found two pairs in her size on a sale rack, and at the register, the clerk dug up another $10 certificate to apply to price.

From there, we went to the WDCS to buy last-minute groceries for tomorrow, and order a veggie tray to be picked up in the morning. I'm perfectly capable of producing a veggie tray on my own, but this is such a busy weekend that I decided to take that task off my shoulders.

Then we stopped by a shoe store across the highway from the WDCS. Here, I found two pairs of on-sale flats in colorful floral patterns. One pair is casual canvas, and the other ones are flats with a satiny finish.

Back home, I showered and put on makeup for this evening's art gallery event, but I didn't dress until later. I relaxed then, for a little while, and then fixed Mother a supper of hot dogs and chips. Hubbie accompanied her home afterward, and then he and I got dressed for the evening.

I looked pretty colorful in white crop pants and white sleeveless top, over which I wore a teal crocheted tunic, with an orange chunky necklace, and the floral canvas shoes. The outfit seemed to be right in line with what other women were wearing though, since the event theme was a summer fiesta, and most of the ladies attended in bright  clothes. I didn't intentionally try to fit the theme...it just turned out that way.

We arrived at the event just after 6 p.m. It was held in a church fellowship hall, and it was decorated  with colorful cloth napkins over white table clothes. Each table featured a live succulent potted plant. Colorful rectangular paper doilies were strung from the ceiling.

In one corner of the room, there was a bar, where college students were serving choices of wine, beer brewed in our capital city, and a sangria drink.

Buffet tables were set up at the back of  the room, where there was a choice of Mexican food, or roast pork on slider buns, along with several side dishes, chips, dips, and desserts. The foods were artfully displayed on various levels.

At one table, an art instructor from the college, and a couple of his students, were silk screening the art council logo, in green food dye, onto tortillas. Very interesting.

In another corner of the room, a live band, with singer, entertained. The rest of the room was occupied with long tables holding  silent auction items, included donated art works, and round tables for diners.

We bid on several items. Hubbie concentrated on auto oil change certificates that came with a couple of bag chairs each, while I went for the dinners and movies, or dinner and stage play combinations. He won the bid on four oil changes, and got four bag chairs, and I won only one bid for dinner and a show (at a dinner theater in the Capital City). But I also won the bid on a cute little stuffed dog that came with a $10 gift certificate and a reusable plastic tote.

By 9 p.m., we were ready to come home. The party continued after we left, I think, as the band adjourned to the courtyard, where the younger crowd danced.

We wasted no time heading to bed after we got back home.