Labor Day 2011

Yesterday, I meant to get around to blogging about Labor Day but then work got in the way and so I decided to put it off until today. Although I have internet at home, it is not currently up and running due to the fact that I had to move everything out of the spare bedroom which is currently under construction and the spare bedroom is home to my internet; more on the spare bedroom project later.

Labor Day here in Alabama was very wet thanks to Tropical Storm Lee, which I think was downgraded to just plain ole rain by the time it reached us but it still has been raining constantly since Sunday. I’m not complaining though, as we certainly needed the rain and I do enjoy a lazy rainy day.

Monday morning I drove my brother to work as he had stayed the night on Sunday. I woke him up early so he could get a shower and prepare himself a lunch. I toasted him up some waffles from the freezer for his breakfast. When I dropped him off at work, he had left his lunch on the sofa so I forked over some cash so he wouldn’t go hungry for the day. Surprisingly, when I got home, the lunch was still intact – I was afraid it might have been devoured by The Tide, but thankfully it wasn’t.

I spent the rest of the morning straightening up a few things as best I could considering the circumstances, baked a cake for our Labor Day festivities and took a nap. After the napping, I watched about two hours of the Alpe D’Huez stage from this year’s le Tour de France and it was so exciting. Even though I was there, I obviously didn’t see the whole stage and was so surprised as to some of the events that unfolded before the riders reached us at the 3K mark. I am looking forward to watching the remaining two hours.

After watching for two hours, I realized I had not made the coleslaw for the gathering that afternoon and I also still needed to ice the cake I made. So, I forced myself up off the couch and made the coleslaw and attempted to ice the cake. I say attempted because things certainly didn’t go as planned. I am not too good at making layer cakes and honestly don’t even know why I tried this time. Needless to say, the cake turned out to be a giant mess, but it was still good. Apparently baking a cake in the rain can have a weird affect on baked goods. Who knew? Not me, but I learned something new from my mother who gave me this bit of information which was later confirmed by friends at work.

After I attempted to ice the cake, I showered and left to go pick up a cookie cake I had ordered for Jackie’s birthday. She and the kids were supposed to come over to my parents’ house for our Labor Day cookout. On Sunday night she said she might not come and I was thinking she would let me know early in the day if they weren’t going to make it. So, when I left the house at 2:30 to go pick up the cookie I felt good about them showing up since I had not heard from her. Wouldn’t you know it, as soon as I headed towards the mall, I got a text saying she wasn’t coming. So, I picked up the cake, took a photo of it, sent it to her and told her I would blow out the candle and eat her piece. Well, she felt bad and so she showered and got herself and the kids ready and they showed up after all. Cookie cake is a good motivator people, remember that!

We had about 18 people show up to eat and we all ate our fair share of hamburgers and hot dogs, Peanut Butter “Cake” and Cookie Cake. It was a good day. Hope your labor day was also good!