What a week it's been around here!  I realized that it was August already and had not done most of what I said I was going to do this summer.  When I say most, I mean pretty much everything.  So I have spent most of last week and most of this week on task #1. Spring cleaning.  Yes, we are more than half way thru the season known as summer, and it is almost time to do my fall winterizing, but I have been spring cleaning. And cleaning. And cleaning.  I have 3 more rooms to do and I am finally done.  Curtains have all been cleaned, walls dusted, furniture moved and vacuumed under, light fixtures cleaned, tops of ceiling fans dusted, blinds cleaned...you get the idea.  Now what is this such a big deal for me? I have horrible dust allergies.  Horrible.  Even with a mask and daily allergy tablets I still have been miserable.  I can really only handle one room a day, then have to leave the house so fresh air can clean out my lungs.  It's terrible and yes I realize I should do it more often since I have such bad allergies, but alas I have not learned my lesson yet. 

Besides the cleaning, I have 32 people coming over for a BBQ on Saturday for my baby's 13th birthday. Yes, it is supposed to rain. 50% chance. So that means 100% it will cause it ALWAYS (and I mean ALWAYS) rains when we have a BBQ.  I put a raindate on the invite, for Sunday, and when some RSVPs came in I was told that they already had plans for Sunday.  So if I move it I will be losing a bunch of guests.  Which is not a bad thing, right?  LOL Except for all the food I will be stuck with!  Plus, there is a 30% chance of rain on Sunday.

Today I started prepping the food.  I was browsing picnic food ideas and I found many references to "themed" picnics;  the food follows a theme.  Well, I thought this was fun, and my son loves hot dogs, so I decided to do a hot dog theme!  Food Network had about 30 different hot dogs listed on their site, so I got creative and picked a bunch that looked fun (and shared toppings so as not to drive myself completely crazy) and off I went.  My hubby thinks I am nuts, but understands that this is my "teacher energy" driving this party.  I am feeling a bit bored, not planning a room, curriculum, lessons, etc that I have to put those planning skills to use elsewhere.  So the party gets it!! 

The bad thing about this theme idea is that I have no idea how many people will choose which dogs, which buns, which toppings, so I have to way over plan everything and how much of everything so I have enough.  Which means I will be left with a LOT of leftovers.

I'll try to take pictures to show you all what the end result is.  I can share right now the guests will have a choice of three dogs (one boiled - Nathans, one grilled - Kirkland 1/4lb, and sausage.  There are three buns too (reg hot dog buns, Portuguese rolls, and torpedo rolls.)  The Kirkland dogs are so big they need the torpedo roll.  For sides, we have a green salad, coleslaw (which is also a topping), cucumber tomato salad, chili (which is also a topping) and a pasta salad.  I made the sides today, except for the chili.  Going to make that in the crock pot tomorrow.  But I prepped the ingredients today; chopped onions and browned the ground beef.  Tomorrow I make everything else; onions & peppers, bacon, other toppings, and cookies to go with dessert.  It is so hard to know how much to make of everything!!  I sliced the onions today, filled an entire gallon-sized ziploc with sliced onions, knowing when it's cooked it'll be 1/4 that.  I just hope it is enough.  Is it okay that when one topping is gone, it's gone?  Or should I have reserves to cook up real quick if they run out? 

Did I ever mention I am not a big fan of having parties?