TP on the table

February 26, 2010 | My Jottings

My church has a wonderful group of women who like to get together for dinner once in a while, and sometimes they pick a restaurant and meet there. A couple of times they’ve met at my house, and not long ago we gathered again, and each woman brought something Italian to share, and two rolls of toilet paper.

The food was moan-worthy — Jeri Anne’s homemade Fettuccine Alfredo served over cheese-stuffed tortellini, Carol’s delectable spaghetti and sausage that everyone wanted the recipe for, Betty’s perfect panna cotta for dessert, and more — the table was loaded up with hearty fare that night, plus a few other things.

For starters, the table was adorned with beautiful flowers. My daughter Sara, a gifted floral designer, made a unique centerpiece for us to enjoy. Along with the roses you might be able to see the Scottish heather, the grapes, and the lemon. While our mouths feasted, so did our eyes. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Some of you may remember the last time I put up a post about getting together with women from my church for a Mexican dinner. If you didn’t happen see it, you can click here to read about what a disturbed fun and creative group we are. Because of what transpired on that night, we had a delightful continuation at this Italian night.

Our talented and much-loved friend Darlene was given a little book on toilet paper origami by our other talented and much-loved friend Carol. Darlene taught a mini community education class in my kitchen, on how to fold your toilet paper so that when people come to your house, use the bathroom and reach for the roll, they become completely confused and wonder what in the world they should do, and decide never to return to your house again. Here is Darlene (and I wish I had taken more than one photo to show her with eyes opened) getting us started on Toilet Paper Folding 202. Notice that all the dishes from our delicious Italian meal have been cleared away, and several rolls of toilet paper are now sitting on the table. When was the last time you experienced that in your lifetime?

Here are a some of the gals, on their first tries to make The Braid on their TP rolls. From left to right: Darlene, Kim, Carol, Betty and Jeri Anne.

And here’s a shot of another smaller floral design Sara made – she thought the citrus fruit and lemon leaves lent itself to a Tuscan look, appropriate to our evening.  🙂

Back to the table. L-R, Kim, Carol, Betty, Sara and Jeri displaying The Braid on their own personal rolls of TP.

Sara and Jeri Anne nicely demonstrating how The Braid can be made either thick or thin, depending on the degree of impact you would like to have on your guests.

Here’s our lovely Kim showing her TP effort, which evoked laughs all around when we pictured what her husband Rob (our pastor) would do when he found this in his bathroom at home.

And here is my humble attempt at The Braid, which sits on the cabinet in our downstairs bathroom, with a pink ribbon and a few eucalyptus leaves for good measure. I’m not ready to actually hang it on the wall yet.

For me, it’s still a reminder of that February night when a group of fun and loving women graced my house with good food, deep and honest sharing, and laughter that was like a medicine.

🙂