And the Oscar goes to...

Gary and I hosted an Oscar night party at our home yesterday. As always when we do parties at home, I got a little carried away with the theme and Gary paid the price. My splendid ideas about decorating and cooking for a little party never take into account things such as, "I work for a living and have no time," or "you need to clean up as you cook," or "Gary always likes to spend a relaxing evening watching NASCAR or Discovery Channel while I oooh, aaah and applaud at the Academy Awards on another TV."

Gary spent most of yesterday transforming our entry hall rug into a "red carpet," hanging gold paper stars around the living room and entry, running party-planning errands, planting flowers in the backyard and cleaning up. After a couple of days of non-stop preparations, he finally got to sit down outside on the patio with three guys who weren't really interested in watching the show, but their wives were into it. They smoked cigars and talked about cars.

My friend, Gaye, brought all kinds of Oscar goodies for the party - from Academy posters to framed pictures of her dad when he was married to the actress Bette Davis. Apparently Bette is responsible for naming the famous gold statuette "Oscar," after her bandleader first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson, who later married my mom's dear friend, Anne, and had three children including Gaye. Bette, who had been "Uncle Harmon's" high school sweetheart, thought the statue looked like "Oscar," especially from behind. Her Hollywood star friends agreed and the name stuck. Gaye was our "guest of honor" and shared Oscar stories with our guests.

Gary's creativity and good work was cheered by our friends, as was my cooking and fancy schmancy martinis. But the Oscar show - presented on the gigantic new "Moe-Foe" flat screen TV, was the centerpiece. And it was the best show in years. Can we top such a fabulous event? Not if Gary has anything to say about it!