Its MY party..I'll cry if I want...

OK... so let me just vent here , so that i can smile afterwards & PRETEND that I am not irritated.

So I am having a party on Sat. It is a Birthday/Housewarming party.... I am kindda excited although I suffer from performance anxiety...(a whole nother post...)

I want to be like Martha... but I am not... however... I have planned & shopped & am almost ready for my party on Sat. I have the food planned, the drinks...yummy cosmos... I looked all over Sweden & Norway to find martini glasses... OK so you get my point? I know what I am doing...I planned, I am organized... I am almost ready to go....

So my darling hubby comes home tonight... & as we begin to discuss the party, he smiles & lets slip that "the food is all taken care of...."

"Ummm of course it is taken care of, we went shopping in Sweden last weekend & dropped about $500 bucks... on all sorts of yummy AMERICAN favorites, I was there, remember?"

"Just saying it is all taken care of...."

FUCK.... (I don't use this word in my blog often.. but today I feel like saying it OVER & OVER)

Bjørns little smile had my MOTHER IN LAW written ALL OVER IT.....
( Yummm...I don't like seafood..just saying..)
For about 13 years.... my mother in law has always tried to step in & take over...whether she is coming to the event party or not.... my wedding, the kids christenings..Bjørns surprise parties...

She always tries to push NORWEGIAN SANDWICHES ( a standard item at all family gatherings) on me anytime I have guests over.... No offence my Norwegian pals.... but when I entertain, I want to do my own cooking...with things I like..... I don't want my get togethers to look, smell & taste like my mother in laws... am i being BITCHY?...I am a little aren't I?...

Damn it... this time she won... because the friggen food is already ordered...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY... thanks...
Nothing like getting a big plate of sandwiches shoved down my throat .... So unless I feel like setting out enough food for 40 people...guess what goes on the back burner.....

ARRRGHHHHH!


Anyone have any ice breaker game suggestions???

We have several groups of friends..coming..not all of them know each other...so we were thinking an ice breaker (after MIL's norwegian sandiches) would be a good starter? ideas...PLEASE... Thanks
Thanks Eudea-Mamia for the link to my YUMMY sandwiches (Smørbrød)

Comments

Ash said…
Please tell me that the sandwiches are filled with stuff like pickled herring and such? How's that for ignorant American?

(I'm so stinkin laughing! I Googled Norwegian Cuisine out of curiosity, and this is what I got, no bull...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Norway

Hugs my dear. Em
Frizzy said…
I feel your pain. While living in Italy there were times where all I wanted was real American food. Now, I'm back in the US and all I want is Real Italian food. I am sorry things aren't what you had hoped. I'll keep my fingers that they kept your birthday and YOUR wishes in mind while planning the food. All of it!

Scavenger hunts are fun. Ie. find a person who wears your shoe size. Find a person who enjoys the same style music or attended the same concert. Has skinny dipped. Danced in the rain with their spouse. Climbed a mountain. Bungee jumped, benn sky diving or scuba diving....Shares your views on "insert topic here".

You could either list 10 things and have a time limit or have more questions and allow it to go on all evening. Encourage each person to share one new thing they learned about another guest. Whom ever finds the most common threads gets a bottle of wine or another type of American treat.
Lindsey said…
I have not yet had to deal with the mother in law thing yet, but it is appropriately terrifying. Check out my blog, http://disorderedmom.blogspot.com and follow me.
Lindsey said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sarah - Kala said…
Yeah, we did one last night at a gathering of friends. Take a coin (we used pennies) for each guest. They have to introduce themselves and say something "I'm married to so and so and we have x kids and I work here or there etc." and the year on the coin - they say the year and anything they remember about that year they mention it. It was fun!

There's a website called icebreakers.com, too.
Karen said…
I think I saw this episode on "Everybody Loves Raymond" last night. OK, sorry, I know that smart a** comments are not helping here.

So my MIL died a short 6 months after we were married. She knew she was dying so she triend to cram everything she knew about the Rocket Scientist down my throat. She meant well. She knew she would not be there later to explain if things didn't go well, but it came accross more like what a loser I was going to marry or had married, depending on the time.

She tried to plan our wedding and that is when I lost it. I am very passive, so it went like this. I didn't tell her anything till I had to. If there were going to be certain things happening I wouldn't tell her until she had to know to be there. That way, my stuff was my stuff and hers was hers. Now I look back and wish I'd had more time with her so that we could have worked through that issue. I am sure together we could have thrown some amazing parties.

I guess if I had any advice, it would be, in the future be very clear at the conception of a party or get together that is yours, be very clear about what you want and what you expect. That way, she will know and you will know that a line has been crossed if she chooses to do things her way anyway. Then on the flip side, when it is her turn, make sure you ask what she expects and what she wants so she know that it is hers to decide and you support her in it. That is how my mom does things and it has worked out really well.

You may find this advice to be crappy and I won't be offended if you do. There is a blog called http://askflo.blogspot.com/ that may be able to give you much more humorous advice.

Good luck and I'm sorry. (Hugs)
Rebecca Jo said…
dang it... just look forward to laughter at the party - the food is just a small part! Look forward to the SWEETS.. you're having a birthday cake? Right?

And have you ever played "Would you Rather?" - that's a great conversation started in a group of people!!!
Anonymous said…
I want to be like Martha...


Why do you want to go to prison?
ACR said…
Does your MIL (Mother In Law) ready your blog?! :) LOL

Hum... that sucks!! Can you have both foods? What kind of yummy American food did you want?

I used to like my MIL when I lived 3,000+ miles from her... now with the kids I try to be good and when she visits... I drink LOTS of wine!

I am not a party planner, can't really help on ideas. SOunds like some others had some good ones though.

I hope youe party works out okay for you - and remember, it is YOUR day so you are totally allowed to be bitchy, drink, and order others around.

Take pics! :)
Tara Bennett said…
Oye. Thank goodness for a rockin MIL and American food! Good luck!
LuckyMe said…
Awww. No matter what MIL's do, it's always wrong. I love the idea of planning a menu but get totally stressed in the hour before guests arrive. Like the little kid who gets sooo excited about their own birthday that they have a hard time relaxing and enjoying it all.

Tell her you already got everything. She should just come and enjoy. If that's won't fly, shove her food


in the corner and serve what you had planned. Nothing wrong with too much food. Everybody goes home with leftovers and thinks of you again the next day!
Nicole said…
Put the sandwiches in a doggy bag and send them to her house. (Just kidding!)

I can't stand my MIL and stay as far away as possible.

Even when it always ends up being stressful I love planning food for a party and also fixing it and I can't stand seafood so I feel for you.

Still try to enjoy YOUR party.

We have game called SHOOTERS which everybody likes to play ot what about Taboo or pictionary depending if everybody speaks the same language. Jenga when you are a little typsy.
MsTypo said…
I completely and utterly understand! My MIL UNinvited me to thanksgiving dinner one year when my husband was out of town. "We figured you didn't want to come." Lovely woman. I'd put out a combination of her food and your food and explain that you were rocking a theme.
Anonymous said…
Put out both Norwegian and American food - the best of both worlds.. and if people eat those fishy sandwiches, all the more of your favourites left over for YOU!

Ice-breakers: usually alcohol in Norway and Sweden, right? ;-)

I was went to a woman's networking meeting and we got into pairs or small groups and had to interview each other with the questions our hostess had written: it was great fun and a good way to get to know each other. After about 10 mins, she blew a whistle and we had to move onto another person and start interviewing them instead... kind of like speed dating...

We had questions like:
What's your funniest memory? Most embarrassing?

What do you do? What do you like and hate about your work?

If you were Queen, what changes would you bring about?

etc.. etc...
The housewife said…
Happy Birthday beautiful- drink wine, enjoy your friends and forget about where the food comes from!

Skål!
Anonymous said…
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I know that it is weird to be wished a happy birthday from someone who has never met you and who learned that you existed about a month ago, but HA HA! its to late now because I just did! And even if you try to delete this comment, YOU will know that YOU got wished a happy birthday from a complete stranger. Hmmm...thats kinda creppy, huh?
Betsy said…
Happy Birthday! So sorry about the food. I am not thrilled with seafood either, but smiled while eating lots over the last two years of working with the lovely nordic people. It was not too hard since they were all wonderful.

I have an annoying Mediterranean MIL who tried to control my life from 3000+ miles away so I feel your pain. It was not so bad until I gave her her only grandchildren. She reminds me constantly that I will never be as wonderful as she.

I might stick out one American dish since you are an American. :-)

Hope you have fun!
Tara said…
Where do you get American favorites??? TELL ME!!! I will pay those silly tolls and drive myself to Sweden or Norway with an empty car!! So.... your mother-in-law every read this? :)
Kelly said…
Ewwww! and I love seafood!!! Just try to overlook the food and concentrate on all your friends that are coming to celebrate you!!
Kelly said…
Oh, I forgot...what about a rousing game of "I never..." ;) College flashback!
Kelli Nørgaard said…
Here is the game.. "guess an American food item that I would have in place of each of these pieces of poo!"
Julie said…
That totally sucks! You should say the F word all you want. Maybe you should say it DURING the party. That would get some interesting responses. Hope you have some fun anyway.
WheresMyAngels said…
Oh hell, that so would not be happening. I would be so pissed off. I do have to say that if it was my MIL, that would be great as she is a wonderful cook. But ummm, sorry yours isn't. My MIL is a pain in the ass though. Hope she doesn't read this, as she stalks my blog but I don't think she stalks my comments on other blogs.

Can't wait to hear how it went.
yummy sandwiches!

How about the game where you put famous people's names on sticky notes and have each guest place a note on their forehead. Then, each person has to ask the other guests questions so they can guess who they are

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