Yesterday morning, my husband woke up to a grim reality. Not only did he face the possibility of a conservative State government, but he also had to deal with the memory of FatherOfCrankyPants and I singing karaoke the night before. In his mind, it was hard to know which was worse.
“Perhaps the new government will do something about the karaoke problem in this area!” he said, trying to look at the brighter side of things. “The Brumby government had eleven years to fix karaoke but they did nothing. Nothing!”
“Huh! To think that our rendition of ‘I Will Survive’ might have been avoided with a more robust policy making process at a state level,” I replied, shaking my head.
Still, we’d had ourselves a great party. A chance meeting on the street had led to us inviting the CrankyPants family over for an afternoon barbeque. And then, when Mistress M had rung, scratching around for something to do on a wet Saturday afternoon, the party was complete.
I must admit that I’d had a few misgivings about having nine children trapped in our tiny house by the rain, imagining they’d be bouncing off the walls like silly putty. But the stars must have been in alignment for us because the kids quickly broke into splinter groups and discovered the dress-ups, the Wii and the Lego, leaving the adults to eat, drink and make merry for six hours.
And merry we made. Even the Glügg came out – to a far more receptive audience than the night of my 40th, it must be said, but perhaps only because the vodka came out, too. Even Mistress M’s husband ‘The Sculptor’, a naturally temperate person, entered a world of “Yes, please!” once the vodka arrived.
And then I cracked open the karaoke on the Wii. Although, FatherOfCrankyPants was the only taker amongst the adults, I did notice that The Sculptor stood in the doorway in a nonchalant “I can turn and leave at any moment” kind of way but was singing along all the same. Yes, I saw his ‘karaoke potential’ in that moment and swore to bring out the vodka and the karaoke earlier next time to fully convert him to (what my husband calls) my “karaoke ways”.
[An aside: I later found out that The Mild-Mannered Lawyer was at that very moment in the city being forced to play charades with a group of senior insurance managers, wherein she found herself having to mime ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ to her husband’s boss. So it’s fair to say I’m not the only person who knows how to have a great time.]
At eleven, our guests left in a big walking bus (or, rather, “staggering bus”) outside our house and my husband turned to me.
“Now that,” he said. “That was my 40th.”
“What? Even though your birthday’s not until next June?” I asked.
“Well, if I was going to have a fortieth, that’s exactly what it’d be like,” he replied. “Maybe not with the karaoke, though.”
Yeah, right. As if he has any choice about that.
A memorable night is not complete without karaoke and vodka! Great post. Hope you took pictures.
I love that you, like myself, have taken the cougar initiative and married a younger man. I thought I was so smart nabbing myself a (whole year younger) pup, but now as the years progress and his jokes don’t get any better, I can’t help but wonder if it will be my friends with their ‘old men’ who may end up having the last laugh.
I also have a fabulous image in my head of MML miming Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with a bunch of previously mentioned ‘old men’ and it’s making me smile into my morning latte. Thanks NDM 🙂 x
I wish I had the courage to overcome by hubby’s blatant dislike of karaoke and just do it anyway.
You are an inspiration to us all, NDM!
Well, to me, anyway …
The only thing missing in June next year will be the spontaneity… which of course is the crucial ingredient in an electric karaoke sess. x
I have nominated you here:
http://www.babble.com/babble-50/mommy-bloggers/nominate-a-blogger/#
You might want to let people know so they can vote for you.
Karaoke, karaoke? Japan’s revenge for losing the war. I’d report you for encouraging it, but I’m not sure who’d be interested……..
The more karaoke the better!
I wish I lived next door to you …..
*Hand up* another cougar here. Mine is THREE years younger….um ah! 😉
And karaoke at a party, bring it orn.
I wanna live on the other side of you…Mrs woog, you, me. Yeah, that’d be just right! 🙂