Last weekend Joe and I and the kids went to a last minute barbecue at my sister and brother in-laws house.

Of course, being the good guest that we are, we did not want to arrive empty handed. My brother in-law was cooking a nice spread of short ribs and hot dogs, he asked that we pick up some potato salad on the way.

Sure…no problem.

While at the store, two kids in a cart, one kid walking by us, touching everything in sight, the following conversation took place between Joe and I.

Joe~ we should buy chicken.

Me~ For what?

Joe~ the barbecue, so we do not arrive empty handed.

Me~ We aren’t, we are bringing potato salad.

Joe~ We should bring chicken.

Me~ Ummm, okay?

Joe~ You do not think we should bring chicken?

Me~ No…no I do not.

Joe~ Why?

Me~ you mean aside from the fact that it is chicken, that is not yet cooked, which means more work for our host…your brother in-law…no, we should not bring chicken. I think we should bring a cake, or something.

Joe~ I am still thinking we should do chicken.

Me~ okay then, chicken it is.

Joe~ Where is the marinade at?

Me~ marinade? For what?

Joe~ the chicken

Me~ Seriously?? Not only do you want to bring them raw chicken, which as I stated a few seconds ago is more work for them, now you want them to marinate it?

Joe~ Is that wrong?

Me~ Wrong…no. Stupid…yes.

Joe~ Where is the marinade?

Me~ “sigh” on the isle with the deli meat.

40.00 later we leave the store w/ chicken and marinade. I already knew this was a dumb idea and already could foresee this very blog post about it.

We get to my sister and brother in-laws house. Brother in-law is already outside cooking. Joe and I unload the kids…and chicken, from the car. We head on in to say our hellos.

Joe goes up to his brother in law, gives him a hug and a little too happily hands him the bag of raw chicken that not only needs to be cooked but apparently marinated.

Joe~ Here you go, we brought chicken.

I am standing behind Joe, not sure if I should quickly sneak inside to find my sister in-law and apologize for the chicken, or stay outside and say my hellos.

Brother in-law~ Chicken? You brought chicken?

Joe~ (he is just so damn proud of the chicken) Yeah, chicken, and lemon marinade, here ya go.

Brother in-law~ Oh, uh, umm, thanks man, go ahead and take it inside and give it to your sister.

Joe heads inside with the blasted chicken. I go up to my brother in-law to give him the obligatory hug.

Brother in-law~ Hey Jen, how ya been doing?

Me~ Good good, I told Joe not to bring chicken, I wanted to bring a cake.

Brother in-law~ yeah, what was that about? I mean I appreciate the thought and all, but, well, I have all the meat covered.

Me~ He thought you would appreciate raw chicken that you would have to marinate and cook more so than a store bought cake we could have for dessert.

And there you go. What NOT to bring to a barbecue.

We ended up leaving the chicken there for them to cook at a later date.

Brother in-law was trying to pawn the chicken off on us as we were leaving.

I told him no way.

But I did manage to leave with my vodka.