Luvs, I had so much fun planning this table. I think I had more fun writing Alexander and Charlotte's story though. LOL! After finishing, I thought of so many more things I wish I had written...isn't that usually how it goes though?? Jeannespines, I feel blessed to have a such wonderful family that tolerates my little obsessions. They just laugh and say "Mom's playing with the dishes again". Punk, not tired of doing the tables...just tired of having to put up stuff when I take it off the table. LOL! Seriously, this many tables hasn't, up until now, been normal for me simply because I didn't have the time and energy. However I am now officially one of the many unemployed people in this country, not by choice though, so I have time to play around with table settings. Although if I want to keep feeding my little dish habit, I'm going to soon need to find a job. Jane, sometimes I wish we could go back to more glamorous days when ladies wore gloves and hats and sparkling jewelry. When I see old photos of ladies dressed like this, they always look so elegant to me. Well, maybe I wouldn't want to do it every day, but once in a while would be fun! Judith, I do adore black and silver together and my daughters had a ball with this one! They helped me pick out the jewelry to use. Although my middle daughter did ask me if I had lost my marbles making up a story to go along with the table. LOL! Mary Ruth, thank you so much! I think we all need a little fantasy now and then. It helps to balance out everything else. Writersblock, thank you for the kind words! I really enjoyed this setting and hated to take it down. Kathleen, I've had problems posting too! Hope this is soon fixed. As for the tiara, it's been with me a long time and is really looking a little sad now. When I was a little girl, I loved the movie Cinderella with Lesley Ann Warren. I just knew one day I was going to be a princess like she was. Yeah, right...LOL! Occasionally my mother would go to the jewelry store and they had the most beautiful tiaras in there. I wanted one so bad and then one day my mother surprised me with this one! It's been alot of years since then and I was really young, but I can still remember how I felt when she put it on me. For that moment in time, I truly was a princess.

The dinner was served tonight, but it was half-hearted on all side - SWMBO and my son are still sick, dear daughter might be sinking, and I have the start of something. Current symptoms are a wincing headache, achy joints, and a draggy feeling. Crap, I have to go on a trip Tuesday. Back to the food - the duck breast turned out tasty, I couldn't get the gastrique-or-whatever-we're-calling-it to look pretty so I left it off for the pics (I didn't process it smooth enough for a squeeze bottle, lesson learned). The veg is pretty charred after re-heating but tasted fine. I'm taking a Tylenol PM and going to bed. Thank you all for helping me with this "meal". Oh, P.S. I've decided it could be fun for those of us who cook with music to mention what we were listening to when we made whatever we're talking about. Tonight: Lana Del Rey, Isaac Hayes. This post was edited by johnliu on Sun, Feb 10, 13 at 21:48

Wow, what a story. I can tell you right now that there is no way I would have gone through what you went through. I woulda simplified the menu completely once I discovered the bad chicken. Realizing that eveyrone would be expecting one thing and getting something else, I'd probalby just issue a rain check for the ditched menu. I think that friends would understand! But then again, I'm not known for being the nicest person around LOL. You are WAY nicer than me, that's obvious!! I congratulate you on going through with as much as you humanly could. Next time, rather than depend on your masculine ability (or inability?) to hear what the wife said the first time have her write it down and tack it on the fridge with a magnet. It's not that I don't have faith in your good intentions, it's just that I know how men are, I'm married to one. And it's not that they don't try, sometimes they do! But sometimes they just can't help it. That was not male bashing, by the way. Just that it's best to be realistic and figure out workarounds instead of hoping for miracles. And I mean that in the nicest possible way, as I know my own shortcomings and have learned to NOT plan for me to overcome them, but instead plan for how to work around them! LOL

Rita, there was lots of melted butter. Linda, Pam, I got over being squeamish years ago. It is a lot cheaper to cook your own than order it in a restaurant. Especially when you want more than one each. And after the first time, the "deed" becomes much easier. Dixiedog, I steam them more than boil. Ann