Saturday night, Friends and Lemon Drops

Because hubby has been getting a little stir-crazy from laying around after the surgery, I thought we would have a few friends over ... Got all 3 crockpots out, made potato soup in one, spicy meatballs in another and the last one was the italian beef. All 3 ended up being spicy, which we don't mind, but I'm sure a few of my friends thought we were trying to kill them off :) One of my g/f that came over was returning my lemon drop set. This is just a glass bowl with 6 (now only 5) tall shooter glasses. The purpose is to keep the vodka chilled in the glasses. My sil had gotten it for me a few years ago for christmas and it's been a hit at the parties every since. Anyways, to my surprise, she had a glass blower friend make her another shot to replace the one I had broken. It's so cool!!! Thicker than the others (which is great cuz the others are thin), and has this cool little squiggly design thats suppose to be a lemon on it...it's really neat. So that one is MINE and during all parties, no one is allowed to use it except me! :) Thanks Fran! So...back to the evening. Fran (who was returning the set) also came with a bottle of Svedka Citron vodka. Hmmmm... the bottle was like $10.99 and it is 70 proof. The smell of it was awesome. Definately lemony. The taste ... wow. I am a huge fan of Absolute Citron and insist on it for lemon drops. But that stuff is expensive! Guess what? I've got a new vodka at almost 1/2 the price. The 3 of us girls drank ALL of the bottle. And the next morning, no one had a hangover (one of the downsides to cheap vodka, nasty hangover!). Kathy was having shots too, until her hubby reminded her that his 16 year old son was coming in at 5:30am Sunday and it was going to be a long day if she continued, which of course, made the rest of us egg her on to ignore him. She's smart though and knows when to stop, which she did shortly thereafter :) It's always good to see friends. Hubby pretty much stayed on the patio most of the night. I think he only had a few drinks (jack with a splash of coke). He was very tired all the following day but now I see it looks like he's fighting a cold (at least I hope thats what it is!). But I know it was good for him to be outside & visiting for a bit ... So what was frugal? Hmmm .... the fact that everything I made for food came from the pantry & freezer (no special trip to store) and the vodka! Wow!! I still can't believe it :) Jan

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