No Mithril Party

We at Castle Curley have had to dig into our meager savings to pay bills (medical, water bill for leaky toilet, furnace repair, etc.) and buying needed items like a new microwave (when I broke the old one) and a dehumidifier for the basement to slow the rusting of the furnace we purchased in 2006. This coupled with our lower pay thanks to the Wanker Administration means we will not have a big party for our Silver/Mithril Anniversary. Thus, our annual Independence Day Party (IDP) is back on the calendar for Saturday, July 2, 2016, at 3:30 pm-ish until the fireworks are spent and the mosquitos overtake us.


I am having a hard time letting the Mithril Party go (case in point: this blog entry has been in production for about a month), as well as the second honeymoon we wanted to do afterward. When Brian and I married, we couldn’t afford a big honeymoon: a week in the Poconos in a suite with a champagne glass whirlpool and/or a heart-shaped tub. That was my dream from the adverts in Brides and other like magazines to which I subscribed from the age of eighteen to my wedding at twenty-one.


Well, the Poconos now have a lot of the same resorts as one would find in the Wisconsin Dells, and Brian and I decided that a dip in such peculiar tubs is neither necessary nor feasible at our age. When I asked the World’s Greatest Husband what he’d like for a second honeymoon, he mentioned Ireland or Greece. I like both those ideas, but I prefer Ireland because I’d like to look up our ancestors, and aside from a few places, they speak English in Ireland. Hell, I’d love to go on any vacation that doesn’t end in the word “Con”. Unfortunately, this is still out of our budget for both money and leave time (unless I win the lottery). Sigh.

So, back to the events of this summer: Brian and I plan to go out for a very nice steak dinner on our anniversary proper. I looked at the wish list I made for the Mithril Party and highlighted a few items that I wanted to do before and for the IDP. Unfortunately, we can’t afford the abbreviated list, either:

• Have a new family portrait taken, and with Mekhi
• Have wedding videos/photos scanned/converted to digital to display on a digital frame and/or laptop throughout the party
• Bring out wedding flowers, ring bearer’s pillow, etc. to display.
• Packers Shareholders Stock frame for us
• Silver Jordan Almonds
• Anniversary cake

Just the sitting fee for the family portrait would be about $80, plus the cost of the photos themselves. I haven’t priced fees for scanning our wedding photos and videos because it would be a waste of time. If I went through the Packers Pro shop, a frame for our share of stock would be at minimum around $90; even though I know a local place that could make one cheaper, it’s still not in the budget. Jordan almonds represent the bitter and sweet of marriage, and I wanted them at the wedding twenty-five years ago. Again: not in the budget (and the only place I found that sold silver Jordan almonds has discontinued them). I wanted a fancy cake in the style of Charm City Cakes, but at the (tenth) anniversary party of friends, they had cupcakes, and I already purchased some silver anniversary picks to put on some inexpensive yet delicious some cupcakes that I can buy locally. The only item on the abbreviated list that wouldn’t cost any money is to bring out the plastic tote that stores all our wedding paraphernalia for display, and I’d rather not do that considering some of the children who may attend.


In light of my friend Janet’s death earlier this month, and that her 50th birthday would have been the day after our party, I’m thinking of making a German chocolate cake (her favorite) in her memory. Otherwise, I refuse to stress-out regarding this party. Brian and I have been working on the house (more in a later entry), and the past several years have proven that once the invites are out, all I have to worry about is buying a bunch of meat (and their accompaniments) for the grill.


My parents had a lovely (but stress-filled to prep) party for their Silver. Then went on a cruise to Alaska for their Ruby (forty years). I was going to plan a Golden (fifty) Party for them, mainly because (aside from end-of-life-care for our parents) my siblings couldn’t organize a special brownie giveaway at a Grateful Dead concert. However, Mum and I disagreed on the date for the party (I reserved the church reception hall for the weekend of their anniversary proper; she wanted the weekend that Brian and I planned to attend Gen Con), and then they died shortly after their 48th wedding anniversary.


Conversely, when my in-laws celebrated their Golden back in 2004, , I designed the invites, and my MiL and I had a good time together shopping for the party. When they celebrated their Diamond (sixty years), I arranged a simple and successful potluck luncheon with their descendants.


The next hallmark holiday for me is my fiftieth birthday in 2019, and I already told the WGH that I want a special party. However, I’d like a nice celebration for Brian, too (when he turned fifty last year, all he wanted was a few good friends over to play games; we had a blast). I don’t’ want to wait until our Ruby or Golden anniversary for a big party or trip, but current economics is not on our side. I don’t see a change anytime soon, either. Sigh.


I can haz winning lottery tix now plz?


Pog ma thoin!
-Lori


“I hate being poor.” – Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling