Happy New Year!..........

I love the fact that Hubby doesn't want to go out and party on New Year's Eve. Not only is his birthday on New Year's Day, but until he retired, most years he had to WORK on January 1st, so partying the night before was not an option.

Last night I crocheted, we watched football, Hubby went to bed earlier than I did, and we were both sound asleep long before the New Year rang in. It seems to manage to find its way every year without us there to blow horns and welcome it.

I did go meet Warrior Princess for appetizers so we could FINALLY exchange Christmas gifts. I got her a gift basket with wine and goodies from my new favorite online shopping website.  She gave me a gift basket with wine and goodies... that she put together herself. Painted the basket, made the dip, decorated everything beautifully. Sigh. She's so creative, and I am so ... lame. Still, we had to giggle that we know each other so well.

Today Hubby played golf, since the weather was predicted to be in the mid-60's and sunny. Conditions are supposed to deteriorate rapidly in the next few days, however, dipping down into the teens. I was NOT put in the South to withstand temperatures in the teens. That's probably not the last time you will hear me say that before spring. Since Hubby was playing golf (and really, wasn't he entitled to play on his birthday, of all days?), I took a bike ride. It didn't feel as warm as they said it was supposed to be, and it was very windy. The wind is also not my friend when I'm on my bike. I rode 26 miles and made it home in time to bake a sugar-free birthday cake for Hubby. (It was a mix with canned frosting, but still.)

Only one more day of vacation, and there will be lots of college football on television tomorrow. Usually I am very grumpy at this point, lamenting the impending return to school after Christmas break. This year, however, I'm saying, "Bring it on." The only way to get this year over with is to get back to it.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Tradition.......

We (meaning mostly me but also Hubby and me) have never adhered to traditional traditions. We don't believe in the whole collards-and-black-eyed-peas thing for New Year's Day, mainly because neither one of us would eat a collard if our lives depended on it, and our black-eyed peas usually come from a can.

Hubby's birthday is on New Year's Day, and it's also a huge day for college football. USUALLY we have our home team to pull for, instead of watching them humiliate themselves on New Year's Eve to a Conference USA team. And that's all I have to say about that.

Therefore our traditional New Year's Day fare is what we call "football food."

Today it was chips and french onion dip, cheese and pepperoni and crackers, bacon and cream cheese crescent rolls, little smokie weenies in barbecue sauce, and a cheese ball that I made my very own self.

That's a lot of food for two people. When I start preparing the food, I have this phantom image of lots of people dropping in to wish Hubby a happy birthday and milling around, watching football and munching. I don't know WHY I have that image, because it has never happened. (Perhaps because we have never invited anyone specifically? Hmmmm..... Possible......)

Hubby's daughter and granddaughter DO drop by sometime on New Year's Day to wish Hubby a happy birthday, but they have typically just come from their aunt's house, where they have just had a huge (more traditional traditional) New Year's Day meal, so they don't help us eat any of the food. 

I hesitate to invite anybody, because all of my family members live at least an hour away, and I never know how people are going to feel on New Year's Day. I know there were several years when I just wanted to stay in bed and hope no one else could remember any more about what I did on New Year's Eve than I did.

I'm so glad those days are over. My total consumption of anything alcoholic last night was a single shot of "Hot Damn" (cinnamon Schnapps.....good stuff) that Hubby gave me to calm my nerves after the football game. Actually I think he was hoping to take my mind off the game so I wouldn't become suicidal.

We managed to stay up late. I think it was 9:00 when we went upstairs. And I'm pretty sure I fell asleep first, during the Chick-Fil-A Bowl (and it still makes me angry that they changed its name from the Peach Bowl). The New Year managed to bring itself in without us, and the neighbors even toned down the fireworks this year. Must be the economy.

The food isn't wasted, though. I usually put it out around lunch time, and we graze all afternoon, right through the time we would normally have dinner. Today I saved what I thought would still be good tomorrow (that does NOT include the crescents, which I'm guessing won't reheat very well, but Libby liked them), and we'll have snacks while we watch pro football. Unless the weather improves from today, in which case Hubby will play golf and I will try to ride my bike. (I did manage a short 10-mile bike ride yesterday before the UGA game kicked off, so December wasn't a total wash.)

I'm almost finished with my 50 Things list. I'll be sharing that with you in the next few days.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year('s Eve).........

I don't usually make New Year's resolutions, because I think most of the time they just set people up for failure. Besides, I'm already PERFECT the way I am, so why do anything different?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

This year I'm going to make a small New Year's resolution, but I'm sort of hedging my bets.

Here's my resolution: I'm going to be BETTER at housekeeping.

See, that's not very difficult because it won't take much to be better. I don't mean to give the impression that we live in a slovenly mess, but housekeeping isn't high on my list of things to do in my spare time. I keep the laundry done, I never leave dishes overnight, and I try to keep the kitchen swept and mopped in spite of the fact that it's white tile and debris starts showing up even before I have put the mop away. I keep the toilet and sink in the hall bathroom relatively clean (Hubby's bathroom is his own territory, and I leave it to him to clean it. Or not.) because that's the one guests have to use when they are here. The floor in the hall bathroom is absolutely unmanageable. It has 40-year-old tile, and the grout was stained with red mud even before Hubby moved into the house. If I win the lottery tonight, that bathroom is first on my list of things to redo. Oh wait.... I'll probably get a new house.

So there's my New Year's resolution. I'm going to be a better housekeeper. I'm not going to be perfect, you will NEVER be able to eat off my floors, and Better Homes and Gardens will never schedule a photo shoot here. My mother will never visit without pursing her lips and shaking her head. But I'm going to do better. And I won't even mind, because the extra time it will take will be harvested from my NOT having a part-time online teaching job in addition to my regular one. I am so looking forward to coming home and NOT having to jump on the computer immediately to grade assignments. What a relief.

As I look back on 2010, again this year I have chosen a favorite blog from each month. They aren't necessarily the most frequently commented-on blogs, perhaps not the wittiest, certainly not the most fraught with deep meaning, but they're the ones I chose as I reviewed the entire year. If you've already read them once, don't feel obligated to read them again.

January - The Ghost of 615
February - Couples Skinny Dipping (Don't worry - no pictures!)

March - Hypothetically Speaking

April - From the "Is This Really Necessary?" Department

May - I've Created a Texting Monster

June - My BRAG Peeps

July - Happy Endings

August - Some of My Proudest Moments as a Parent

September - Typo? Or Freudian Slip?

October - My Imaginary Friend

November - Musings About Cycling in Mississippi

December - Dear Gym Dogs



Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve....

I'm so glad these aren't the good old days, when I would have been at a party until way after midnight, drinking too much and ringing in the New Year. Witnessing at least one fight between rednecks (or possibly their women) and at least one marital squabble. On one such occasion I drank an entire bottle of peach Schnapps all by myself, and I had to play the piano in church the next morning. I kept getting up during the service to go throw up. I was afraid the last song was going to have to be sung a capella. (Luckily it was a Presbyterian church, and they neither asked me to resign nor held an intervention in which I had to publicly confess my sins.) I am mortified when I look back on that now.

Thankfully, those days existed in a previous wifetime, and I much prefer the more laid-back lifestyle hubby and I have now. It could be the fact that we CANNOT STAY AWAKE until midnight. In our eleven years of marriage we have never been awake to ring in the New Year (hubby says he doesn't think he's EVER stayed up until midnight on New Year's Eve, but I just reminded him of the year before we married and we stayed at the Blue Rose Lounge* and the band counted down the seconds until midnight), and it has so far gone on quite blissfully unaware of our absence. It will be so again tonight. Hubby has to work tomorrow (on his BIRTHDAY, no less), so staying up until midnight is out of the question. We will be awakened briefly by the neighbors and their fireworks (they've already been practicing), but we'll probably abide by our standard 8:30 bedtime.

Waking up on January 1st from a good night's sleep WITHOUT a hangover is the happiest way I can think of to start off the New Year.

However you celebrate it, HAPPY NEW YEAR, y'all!!!!
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*The former Blue Rose Lounge is now a tire store. That should give you some indication of the classiness of the place.

Happy Post-Holidays...

I think I actually prefer this time of the holiday season better than the days leading up to it. Christmas is behind us, there are lots of college football games on television, and I have a whole extra week before I have to go back to school. Yay!

Normally I take the tree down the day after Christmas, but since we were gone this year I still have that chore to do. But it won't be bad, especially since I didn't even put out the rest of the decorations.

We don't do anything special for New Year's Eve, and we're usually in bed by our customary 8:30. Hubby almost always has to work on New Year's Day, even though it's his birthday, for crying out loud, so we don't do the party scene. So far every year has rolled in nicely without us, including the year everyone was scared to death that the world's computers were going to crash, and life as we knew it would come to an end.

I should have lots of "me" time, and I intend to use it enjoying the present that I'm going to go out and buy for myself. Shhhhhhh..........