Bathroom Party

Hubby and I are hosting a "bathroom demolition" party on Saturday night. (We're remodeling our bathroom, and are doing some of the demolition work ourselves to save money.) The guests--a.k.a. temporary, unpaid laborers--include three able-bodied guys and a married couple.

The rule among our friends for manual labor projects: The "help" eats and drinks for free. That means, since this is our project, we provide the booze and food.

Hubby wants to go the route of pizza from the local pizza joint (brought to us by our friendly delivery boy). Fortunately, since I don't eat cheese, I won't be eating this pizza. Instead, I'll make my own at home.

We also need to provide snacks and drinks. This probably means pretzels and peanuts. We have microwave popcorn in case anyone gets a serious case of the munchies.

Alcoholic beverages are also part of the payment we owe our "laborers." This means beer, wine and some type of mixed drink (probably margaritas this time). We keep our liquor cabinet stocked with the basics, so guests can also have rum, whiskey or vodka with the mixer of their choice.

So what does all this mean for my waistline?

• 1 homemade pizza without cheese: I'll keep it small, but the crust is loaded with calories, and I'm using (sugary) jarred sauce.
• Pretzels and peanuts: I love these things, so I'm likely to munch them all night long.
• Wine: It's my alcoholic beverage of choice, though I plan to "stretch" my portions by mixing white wine with seltzer water.

Overall… Saturday is probably going to make a dent in my calorie budget for the week. But I'll try and burn some fat by swinging the hammer a few extra times during the bathroom demolition.