Ketchup - Or Catch Up (Have It Your Way)

I have my reasons.

The first reason is that how could we not acknowledge Golda Meir in a post called "Gouda"?  She was great.

Moving on, Gouda is a city in the Netherlands about an hour by train outside of Amsterdam.  It's really a very good place.  (And the cheese is the best in the world for grilled cheese sandwiches.)

Not so "Gouda" is the fact that my Oklahoma cousins came for a visit last Friday.  Oh I like them fine, but on Thursday before their visit, I sprained my low back and became a crippled mess until yesterday when I finally snapped out of it so to speak.

Spraining my low back was no accident.  I was on the telephone with Kelly, my Oklahoma girl cousin, when I was in the bath.  Kelly tends to be a tad long winded so I had to keep adding hot water ever few minutes after the first hour on the telephone with her.  Finally, I figured I would slip silently out of the water and wrap myself in a towel while clutching the phone to my ear so as not to miss a word of the lengthy and important conversation.  I turned a certain way and felt that dreaded "whap" and splashed back into the tub.  I cut the convo short, (hah), and hung up.  Then I spent about 45 minutes wondering how I could climb out of the tub without moving my legs.  (It's difficult but not impossible.)

Since I had temporary insanity at this point, I didn't call Kelly back and un-invite her and her husband Joe.  It was too damn late to change their plans.  Kelly and Joe were on a flight at 7:00 AM the next morning whether I could walk or not.  Since I am a pillar of inner strength, I decided this was a case of mind over matter and that I would see it through being the hostess everyone has come to expect and quit my whining over being paralyzed and in agony.  See I'm big like that.

Still, I did have to wonder when my husband Alex would kick in and step up to the plate with the preparations for our guests.  I soon found the answer was "When Hell Freezes Over."

I generally make every effort to make sure the house is pristine, there are fresh linens in the bath, and well planned meals have been shopped for and ready to be carried out.  Sadly, this was not to be the case this time.  Alex and I do not see eye to eye about such matters.  Planning is not his long suit.

Still, if we were to count the empty wine bottles at the end of the visit, I would have to say a good time was had by most, if not all.  I was on pain medication and muscle relaxants so did not partake in booze.  I did not partake in the general frivolity either for that matter as I was trying to do Lamaze breathing to control my pain.

Funny the more they drank, the more scatterbrained I felt.  I had a hard time following tipsy conversations and I fear my facial expression was much like that in the above photo.

Now, Nicky, my love, you see I work for you and "we work for cheese" and now I feel I am in the with in-crowd again!