Camel's Butt Redux

I love checking out the analytics for our blog. Some (who? who?!) might say, in fact, that I get obsessive about checking to see where our page views are coming from. My recent "Audience" page shows that we got seventeen views from Turkey. Yes, TURKEY! Hello, Turkey! See? It's fascinating!

I also like looking at the "Traffic Sources" data, which tells me what other sites, searches, or posts our views are coming from. Most of our views come through Facebook, because I promote our posts through my FB page. I also use Twitter, but I've only got about a hundred Twitter followers, so that doesn't usually generate much traffic. About two views, actually. Maybe three. It's sad.

But what is this all leading up to, you ask? Well, let me tell you. I just now checked our Traffic Sources and noticed that someone had found our site through their AOL search. Yes. someone still uses AOL's search engine. Hello, reader, whoever you are. You are fantastic.

Why is this reader fantastic? Well, because this is what they searched for:

"Camel's butt"

Just use AOL to search for "Camel's Butt" and you'll find us. No big.

So. That's AMAZING.

And I have nothing else to share. Except that if you'd like to read the original post about--yes--a camel's butt, here it is. And, just for good measure, here's a camel's butt.

I hope this is what they were searching for.

Throwing a Successful Party, Lazy Lady Style

I'm a pretty lazy person. When I have no other obligations (or even if I do), I like to sit on the couch, eat macaroni & cheese, and watch t.v. My favorite non-work outfit is a t-shirt and jeans. And sometimes even that's too much work to organize, so I just stay in my pajamas. In fact, the only reason I've left the house today is to walk Roo. Luckily, she's pretty lazy, too, and this is the position she assumed immediately after our walk.

Yes, that's an absurdly large tennis ball on the floor. It makes Roo feel tiny.

There is another side to my personality, though: a side that likes to entertain people. But that means work, doesn't it? Sometimes it does. But I've discovered a way to have a party (a small one, of six to eight people) with the least amount of work.

Sunday we had a World Cup Final party and invited the Power clan. And as I sat around on Friday night, putting it together in my head, I came up with a few guidelines to have a successful, but low maintenance party.

Make it Easy with the Food

The first thing I did was ensure that the food I chose to have was easy to prepare. Why "easy"? Because, um, I'm lazy. We've already established this.

So I decided to make sandwiches because they don't need to be cooked and they can be personalized by guests. Plus, I love sandwiches. I whipped up some tuna salad (using some gorgeous hydroponically grown parsley that was a product of MCC's horticulture students), and, knowing that the Power siblings like egg salad and are fond of a recipe their maternal grandmother, Grandma Madel, has perfected over the years, I made a batch of that, too.

I boiled the eggs on Saturday afternoon...

And assembled the salad on Sunday (using Grandma Madel's 3:1 olive:egg ratio)

I also needed some dessert type food, but, again, I didn't want to work too hard. So I called on a friend for help:

Thanks, Betty! You're so easy. But so delicious.

And because of the fruit salad I'd put together and the sandwich stuffings, this is what the fridge looked like on Saturday night:

It was all ready to put out on Sunday--laziness is the best!

And all I had to do was stick it on the table Sunday:

SANDWICHES, PLEASE!

Take it Easy with the House Work

You might be asking: why did you do your egg salad in stages? Well, there are two reasons. First, after I'd made the tuna salad on Saturday, I washed the cutting board and didn't want to dirty it and then rewash it again (see above re: laziness). The second reason is that I didn't want to hard-boil eggs just a few hours before having a party. The house would have smelled like...recently cooked hard-boiled eggs. And that's unpleasant.

So I made the eggs the night before, and then after I'd cut them up on Sunday to assemble the salad (leaving a minor league egg smell), I used another trick to make the house smell fresh and clean (and it's is also chemical-free and easy). I used the "Italian Backyard" recipe from the Clean My Space post about natural home deodorizers and by the time everyone showed up, the house smelled like basil and lemons. Not too shabby.

Cooking up nothing but good smells.

Trevor took care of the vacuuming and I moved my piles of papers and books from the visible spaces to the corner of my office. I also didn't do a full-on bathroom scrub before everyone came over (sorry, Power family. Now you know). I figured, wouldn't it be smarter to give things a simple wipe down and then scrub it all after the party? Yes. It was also the lazy alternative to simply wipe down the mirrors and sinks, and, as we've already established, Laura = lazy. Done and done. The house is presentable. And, more importantly, really, ready for World Cup Final watching.

Um, why isn't the rocker facing the television? Let's take care of that ASAP.

Know Your Audience

I'd made the egg and tuna salads because I knew they were a Power family favorite, and I made sure to pick up Gardetto's for Neill (and salt & vinegar chips for me [the benefits of getting quality snacks is that you get to eat the leftovers the day after the party as you lounge about and watch horror movies]). But the adults weren't the only people I had to take care of.

I neglected to make sure that the DVD player upstairs, where Sadie sat down to watch some movies while the grownups watched soccer, was small person-approved:

This won't work for Sadie. She's got to be at least five years old before she gets to watch these with me.

Luckily we caught it in time.

We also needed to keep Roo occupied so that we could keep our eyeballs glued to the t.v. for no less than 90 minutes (and, as it turned out, longer than that). Trevor went to the pet store to pick up some toys to keep her busy.

A woman at the pet store looked at his loot and asked Trevor if he had a new puppy.

And did Roo still try to share her toys with everyone by putting them in her mouth and then jabbing at people's thighs and shins? Yes. Yes, she did.

Know Your Limits

I always have the best intentions when I'm planning a party, especially a party with a theme. And what's a better theme than the WORLD CUP OF FUTBOL?! It doesn't get much better than that. And I could have had banners and pennants and bratwursts and a big asado spread. But, since neither Trevor nor I eat meat, and since, you know, I'm lazy (guys, come on, we've covered this), I thought my big thing would be to decorate the cupcakes like soccer balls.

I saw this tutorial on the fantastic Handmade Charlotte blog for how to bake and decorate a polka dot cake. So why couldn't I use a polygon shape instead of a dot and make little soccer balls? It would be adorable!!!!!!!!!!

But that's ten more exclamation points than I'm used to, and by thirty minutes to pre-game coverage time, I was too...you guessed it...lazy to decorate the cupcakes. So I just tossed on some sprinkles and they were just as tasty.

Yes, they'd be cuter as soccer balls. Get over it.

And that was our successful World Cup party--done à la Lazy Laura and not-at-all lazy Trevor!

After the game we hung out at the beach and enjoyed what had become a beautiful afternoon. And then, once everyone left, I sat on the couch and haven't really moved since then. Except for the aforementioned walks with Roo and a couple of strolls to the kitchen for leftover cupcakes (maybe four of them). I'm only human.

Happy Fourth of July!

It's the Fourth of July, U.S. Independence Day, and Trevor and I are spending most of it inside, watching the World Cup. And U.S.A. is out of the competition. This is sad for us, and for all real Americans.

So, to ensure that we are still properly patriotic today, even in our period of soccer mourning when we are forced today to root for Germany and Brazil, here is a blog to celebrate these United States.

I made this wreath and it's hanging on our front door. Nothing says U.S.A.! better than crafts (FYI: supplies not purchased at Hobby Lobby because they are American failures--nay, embarrassments.)

Last month I went to Springfield for an awards banquet and invited my mom to come along. While we were there we visited the Abraham Lincoln Museum, and there's nothing more patriotic than a man who inspired dissent between political parties, and who wore a big silly hat.

I don't pull off the hat nearly as well as old Abe did. And Mom knows it but is too nice to laugh.

Here's me with the Lincolns. They were really nice.

And in March, Trevor actually met Lincoln! They talked politics, music, and haberdashery.

Can I touch your hat? No? Okay.

 Ice cream cones are also patriotic, especially when they're covered in jimmies.

Yum.

And there you have it. We hope that all of you are also celebrating Independence Day the best way you know how, whether that involves barbecues, ice cream, silly hats, crafts, and even soccer.


(And if you don't care about the World Cup but like laughing, read the Slate article, Who Won the World Cup of Arm-Folding? It's LOL-worthy.)

Happy Fourth!