While July 4th may be independence day for the United States, I didn’t earn my independence back until July 6th this year.  That’s the day the swarm of teenagers that had arrived at my house the prior Friday, finally left my house to infest other unsuspecting folk and consume their edibles.

It all started on Facebook.  My Spfacebook - the place were spam goes to die.  My sister and my children have been bugging me for a while now trying to get me to “get in touch” with people on there. I can’t for the life of me figure out why.  I personally think it’s an evil fad - like those skin tight leopard print pants girls wore in the 80’s.  They both show the entire world what you’ve got…good or bad…and at some point, you realize you really don’t want the entire world seeing your every move.  I know what you’re thinking, how is it any different than my blog.  The only RL friend that knows my home on the net, other than my children and boyfriend, is Moose.  (Feel special Moose?  If you tell, I rip your antlers off!)

Vanessa called me up and said, “I’ve been talking to Uncle Jon on facebook and he’d like to come over at our next family gathering.  Can we get together for July 4th?”  What I didn’t know when Vanessa called me, is that she’d already called my mom and sisters and she was bringing bringing a friend too.  Friday at work, Rebecca called asking if she could bring her boyfriend if they promise to stay in different rooms and Vanessa helps chaperone.  I stupidly said yes bringing my weekend teenage totals up to 6 - 3 girls and 3 boys…including E and his friend that basically lives here.

Knowing the food in my kitchen would only be an appetizer for a pack of teens, I went grocery shopping. $225 later, I thought I had enough to make it through the weekend.  I was wrong.  Lucky for me though, half the kids went to the lake with my sister for one meal one two separate days.

The first night, I cooked two pots of American Spaghetti (a variation of chicken spaghetti).  The second night, I made a huge roast (that included an entire bag of potatoes).  The third night, we grilled out 15 lbs of hamburger meat.  Silly me, I thought they’d leave Monday, I was wrong.  Leftovers and sandwiches that night!  Tuesday, they finally left…when the kitchen had only appliances and dirty dinnerware left.

We had fun, but man was it stressful.  More on the non cooking parts later.