Neighbors and other good things, like grandchildren

My neighbor, Susan, said to me tonight, "You're a good social engineer." I took it as a compliment and felt good about it, because my house was filled with happy people and lively discussion. We had a pot-luck supper--I supplied the entree (gorilla casserole--more about that in a minute) and others brought appetizer, salad, garlic bread, and dessert. Susan and Jay were here from the west side of my house, and Sue and her kids Hunter and Alex from the east side, Jamie and Greg from down the block (Greg keeps my lawn and yard in shape when it doesn't rain so much he can't work), Cathy from next to Sue brought an extravagant Italian cream cake (do NOT talk to me about Weight Watchers points today), and Weldon and Elizabeth were my surrogate children since Jordan and Christian elected not to join us. There was a really happy atmosphere (in spite of some political discussions) and everyone had a great time. I sat there and thought how wonderful it was to have my house filled with happy, interesting people.
But I have an entire 9x13 pan of gorilla casserole left--it has pasta, ground beef, tomato sauce, Italian seasonings, celery, onion, carrot (the last three get sort of lost in the mix), spinach, and Parmesan. Really good, but the recipe is right--you could feed twelve gorillas with it. I sent some home with Susan, and I'll hope JOrdan and Christian will come for dinner one night to help eat it. Then I can freeze single portion servings.
I did get some work done on my friend's manuscript today and am close to the end, finding much more than I expected after a first edit. But the other good thing about the day was Jacob--he slept until 8:15 this morning, but was in a sunny mood. We read and look at Bones for Barnum Brown, a dinosaur book that fascinates him. He sang and danced his way through the morning--with me trying to make my casserole--and kept calling me a "Mingo-head." His mom explained that he'd seen a flamingo at the zoo and there's a plastic one in the neighborhood. They left about 10:30, and I was sorry to see them go but I had lots of other things to do.
I'm really into a mood to get serious about my mysteries, so I'm in working mode.