One of THOSE days...

Yesterday was my Daddy's 80th birthday, and we'd planned a nice family supper at a nice restaurant to celebrate. Here's how MY day went.

3:00 a.m.: Wake up. Not feeling well at all. Come out to the den and try to drift back off, to no avail, so I turn on my laptop and download my banking. I'm sure I did it all correctly.

9:00 a.m.: Report to work, and spend the morning fixing the store up in anticipation of what promises to be a huge booksigning later in the afternoon. Still not feeling well, but the old "one foot in front of the other" thing gets me through.

11:30 a.m.: Home for lunch. Eat. Try to Power Nap, but am so bone tired I can't.

12:30 p.m.: Back to work, busy, busy, busy, but at least I am feeling some better.

2:45 p.m.: Back home to change clothes for the party (due to start at 4:00), grab a cuppa. Pull out the iron to press the shirt I had decided to wear, and RUIN it. Well, sorta ruin it. Hopefully not forever. Have to scrounge together an entire other outfit, which isn't easy to do since I am having a bloaty day and none of the usual stuff is workin'. Thank God for elastic.

3:30 p.m.: Back at work, and crowd is beginning to show for the signing. Sister calls to tell me she has been to the restaurant and everything is SET, and she's picked up the cake from the bakery. Goody! We'll be done with the signing at 5:30, and I can come home, freshen up again, pick up Henry and my parents, and get to the restaurant in plenty of time.

4:00 p.m.: Author calls. Hit a major traffic snag, and is running late, but should be at the store IN AN HOUR. Inform crowd. Crowd gets restless.

5:15 p.m.: Author arrives. Clock is ticking. Tick, tick, tick. I'm thinking we are not getting out at 5:30.

6:15 p.m.: Crowd has thinned, so I proceed to do the business end of closing the store for the day while bosses try to scoot the hangers on out.

6:20 p.m.: Leave the bookstore -- fly home -- throw on lipstick, brush hair, grab camera and husband and fly out the door to pick up the parents.

6:40 p.m.: Parents waiting in the driveway. This is good.

6:50 p.m.: Arrive at the restaurant, order three trays of fried crab claws and a Beefeater with Tonic, thinking I will be sliding under the table in about 20 minutes. Daddy orders a Beefeater with Tonic, because it sounds like the thing. Decide to position myself across the table from him, so we can catch each other under the table when we do a nosedive, and maybe fool people that we are actually still sitting in our chairs.

7:00 p.m.: All other siblings arrive, as well as 3 grandchildren and a grandchild-in-law. Drinks all around. Even better -- we'll all Beefeater together and NObody will notice anything.

9:00 p.m.: All the regaling over, and 2 Beefeater and Tonics (with a twist) later, I am actually filling out the tip portion of the credit card receipt. Had a budget, came in under, so the waitresses got the balance.

9:15 p.m.: Dropped the parents off, and say to Henry that I think we should go back to Jubilee real soon, while those waitresses still remember us. They made more in 2 hours than I make 2 days. They will love us.

9:20 p.m.: Walk in the back door, fire up the computer to say HEY to my online buds.

9:30 p.m.: zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz