sj, what's the cannellinni (crap, I have no idea how to spell that) dip you make? It sounds like something I'd really like.

I'm becoming my mother wrt totally freaking out before having guests to dinner.

You had mentioned that calling her was no help, right? I'm guessing this is why. It's perfectly normal for her--she might not even mind.

My mother hated food prep with a passion, but it manifested as anger after the fact. All my negative association with guests to dinner are from the scutwork she'd have us kids do rather than her approach.

Which are significant in their own right, and I haven't had anyone over to dinner in over five years.

I love dinner parties. I love the prep, I love the cooking and shopping and set-up. But then, I was a one-woman catering business for awhile so I'm probably a great big freak.

I love setting up for parties, too. The cooking and arranging and planning things are fun.

Sail, here is the recipe. It is super easy if you have a food processor. I don't usually make the pita chips to go with it. I usually double the recipe and add an extra clove of garlic for a big party. Warning: It is a Giada recipe.

ita, thanks for reminding me of that. It's hard for me to see what is right in front of me sometimes. I used to dread the day before Christmas Eve because my mother would become so snappish, etc. I don't want to do the same thing to my kids someday. I need to remember that not everything has to be perfect.

I can't wait for B's shower next month. All the cooking and such. Although, I've had to alter the salad. No spinach for us! I'll use arugula instead.

I appreciate vw's response, both to me personally and to the Board. I trust that folks who have residual feelings will get the chance to work them out somehow, if not here.

Since I'm so hit and miss, I haven't noticed a negative downtrend in the thread but certainly enjoy the discourse as a whole, most of the time.

InmeNews, I have a request for advice...I've messed something up where my taxes are concerned. All me...totally my bad...and now I am girding my loins (I typed 'lions', ha!) to face the music.

I know the i-s is the 'new' i-s but I wonder about getting an advocate to help me navigate the process.

Has anyone ever done this? Where might I find someone like that?

I've read the 'tax advocate service' stuff but that doesn't really apply and I'm a little leary of the companies who claim to be able to help. I'm ready, I just want to make sure I do it the best way possible!

Any thoughts here, or at my profile addy would be gratefully accepted.

not everything has to be perfect.

The sound you just heard was Aimee's illusions shattering.

I love the preparing the menu and going to buy all of the ingredients, but my timing is still off about getting everything to be done at the same time, and that is where a lot of my nervousness comes in. I need to remember next time that if I use the great big pasta pot to bring the water to a boil way ahead of time, because it took forever last night.

I LOVE dinner parties. I even kind of love the stress of making them perfect.

When I sold Pampered Chef, my training consultant told me to expect to have something go wrong at every party. So, I'd wait for that one thing, then I could relax.

My first party? I cut my hand with one of the knives. I laughed, got a bandaid, and said, "Ok. Now it'll be perfect." I look at dinner parties much the same way. Something's gonna burn. I'll run out plates, and someone will have to use the "birthday" plate. Something will go wrong. But, it'll still be perfect.