How will we survive?

Man oh man, that was an exciting hockey game. It has been two weeks of great sports moments - most of them spent with my family (except for my first-born) and friends from far and wide. The Olympics draw to a close in a few hours and I have learned a few important things:

1. With all the company in the house, I realized that I had forgotten how to properly provision for guests. Every day I ran out of something - eggs, milk, butter. I purchased two-percent milk, only to find that my guests really only like skim milk - we never had enough coffee cream - and when everyone wanted sandwiches, I realized there was no bread. It seems like I needed to go to the grocery store everyday (despite having done a major Costco shop). I am out of practice when it comes to feeding more than two of us!

2. Cupcakes are always a winner. I made a few batches of cupcakes early in February and froze them without frosting. If company was expected - I just whipped out some cupcakes and made some butter icing. I would add on some small Canadian flags and - voila - instant happiness. Cupcake win.......

3. It has been fun having my older meaner sister here throughout the games. She has helped me shop, cook, clean-up more times than you could imagine. She also managed to find ways to use up leftovers (which mostly involved pulling out small containers from the back of the fridge) and could always be found unloading the dishwasher (again and again)....

4. Having the Olympics in our hometown was more fun that I would have ever imagined. Not only did it mean that we had visitors, but the city was more exciting and more exuberant than I would ever have imagined. It didn't hurt that for most of the time the weather was sunny, bright and warm. Nothing says Winter Olympics more than settling in to watch events after a walk on the beach!

5. Everyone in Vancouver will miss the Olympics. It has been a great few weeks, even if we had not won a record number of medals for our country. My only hope is that the crowds streaming into downtown tonight (after the hockey victory) will be sensible and restrained (the boy is down there celebrating).

OK....time to watch the closing ceremonies. Then, back to normal tomorrow (I promise)..........