New Years

Tom and I weren't thrilled with the band choice for the club for the new years party.I had bought a dress I really wanted to wear, but I could save it for a charity auction we like to go to in the spring. One of those fun affairs where you can dress up. We opt to make a couple of phone calls resulting in an impromptu party at our house.

The catalyst was Trevor having his best friend over for a play date. The boy was supposed to be home by one as he had his own out of town guests coming over. I was going golfing New Years eve day with some girl friends.

The women gathered at the club in the morning, with cocktails, and decided to play a horse race, which is a game where each team plays one ball with everyone taking turns. First one person tees off, another hits the fairway and the next team member putts or hits again as needed. The team with the best round wins.

I played awful. I Didn't even get out of the tee box on two of my shots. I lost the team ball in an out of bounds hit on the fairway. I missed the putts, even the close ones. I aimed way right and way left when ever I hit. When I did make great contact, I could have used some direction. After lunch I went home and napped. I just wanted to put that disastrous round behind me. It was so bad that the women started giving our team "Gimmes" on the putts. That means that even though you missed the hole, you were close enough to count it as going in, which women rarely do.

I think I also got distracted during the round as a text came through from our ex tenant asking for another day to finish moving out. I had given permission for her to have until December 31 to move out, even though the court said she was to be out on the 26th. She hadn't shown up in court on the judgement day so the judge automaticaly ruled in our favor. After some heated texts that she had sent me regarding our evicting her, when she received her notice, and realizing she had screwed up and badly, she had "respectfully" asked until the 31st, as none of her friends were able to help her move due to it being the Christmas weekend.

I just couldn't bring myself to be so mean as to evict someone literally on Christmas, so I texted her, she could have until the 31st. I did not respond to the text on the 31st asking for another day, as I felt she should ask the property manager, not me, if she wanted one more day. The distraction did not help my round at all though. The text brought back to me the worry that the house would be stripped or left a mess, or we wouldn't rent it again soon.

One of the best players in the club was on our team. A highly competitive player, she was very forgiving, which I appreciated greatly. She went out and played another round after lunch to put the earlier round behind her. She asked if I wanted to join her, but I was whipped and beaten by the first round and just wanted to go home and lick my wounds, so to speak.

When I arrived home, Trevor's friend was still at our house. I asked why he was still there when he was due home an hour earlier. Trevor said he was spending the night. I called the parents to find out what had happened. Their out of town guests had a child come down with a cold so they couldn't travel. I offered them to come to our house, since their new years plans were now in ruins, thus evolved the impromptu party. I figured they had already bought stuff for their canceled party, why not just bring it to our house.

I called another friend who I knew didn't have much planned. Her family also accepted our invitation. Tom called a friend who waffled at first as he had other guests over. I called the wife and told her to bring everyone. They accepted the invitation also. I told everyone to bring ice and champagne or sparkling cider. They also brought hor d'ouvers. I do love a party where all I do is provide the destination.

One of the couples has a husband who is something of a gourmet cook. He brought a baked brie with Cinnamon apple filling in a pie crust that was Divine. Another friend brought nacho dip. The last couple brought a delicious salad to add to the menu. I heated up a spiral ham and mashed potatoes. No fuss, the boys helped tidy up before everyone arrived.

There was some complaining during the clean up phase, but all was good in the end. We used the every day china and finally put away the china we used at Christmas.

Trevor's friend's father brought a few fire works to light off at midnight. All but one was lit off a good two hours earlier. Tom set the fireworks up on the deck. I could see them explode through the sky light windows above the house. The first one gave me a fright it was so close. I shrieked. The boys all crowded in at the deck door trying to see the fireworks, without getting on their shoes and coats to go outside, and too cold to just stand outside and watch.

Two of the families left before midnight as they didn't want to be on the road with the drinking crowds. The other family opted to stay and spend the night. My girlfriend and I went to get their dog, which had been locked up for the evening and needed to be let out. We just brought the dog over to our house. I figured that way in the morning they wouldn't have to run off. they could hang out and have a leisurely day. I had to swipe eggs and milk from their kitchen to add to my stock as I didn't have enough for the morning. After the trip for the dog we were set for the evening.

I was surprised at how quickly the time flew with good company. I had planned to watch the 9:00 pm show in New York, when midnight struck back east. By the time I realized what time it was I had missed that show while talking to everyone. Midnight flew at us and we never made it to the TV. Everyone did the count down on their cell phones.

Tom and I shared a champagne toast. Tom asked for New Years resolutions from everyone. Tom's was he wanted to be happier again. I said I wanted a job. I think if I had a job that would fulfill Tom's happiness request also. Two birds with one stone.

We slept in late the next day. When I finally got up we sat and held our coffees in the living room for a while talking. I motivated enough to go into the kitchen and start preparing food. I whipped up some waffles and found some ground pork in the drawer to throw into a scrambled egg concoction with onions and cheese. I made up patties to fry of the left over mashed potatoes from the night before. It was a lovely buffet. I left it to the boys to self serve.

Some time in the afternoon, our friends headed home. It was a lovely way to host in the new year. As soon as they left I attacked the Christmas trees. I had the trees un decorated and the garlands off the stairs in less than an hour. I had the boys carry everything down to the basement where they left it all for me to stow away later. The trips downstairs took longer than the defrocking of the trees.

The door knob to the garage broke at some point during the day. It had been on its last legs earlier. I was grateful it survived the party. The children were having a hard time opening the door to get in and out of the dungeon. To be able to open the door after the lock gave out, we had to take the knob off and stuff the hole with a cloth to keep the cold air from coming into the house.

Today's project was to take the broken cadet heater in for repair from Tom's man cave and get a replacement knob installed on the garage door. Two more things ticked off the home improvement list.

Putting on the new knob, the instructions don't tell you the trick to installation is to put in one particular screw before the other. I spent twenty minutes fussing with lining up these long screws trying to align them with the receptacle from the other side. Once I figured out the order of the screws, the door handle went on easily.

The cadet will get fixed tomorrow as I have to turn off the power to the man cave to reinstall the unit. Today Tom is home watching the bowl games. I can't cut the power off.

Today, Monday, I worked in the basement with a girlfriend and her daughter for two hours, after walking the dog with another friend. Tom is giving me a hard time about all our stuff, the books especially. We made up three boxes of discards and sorted through eight boxes of books. My goal was to discard half our books if I could, and unpack the rest. Much of the books are books I bought Trevor when I was trying to encourage him to read. Half my choices turned out to be duds. Other books were books Riley had read but had outgrown. I was able to dispose of a lot of old books we have been carting around through several moves, and before we were married from both Tom and myself. I made up a box of text books that I thought Tom woulod appreciate. I kept a few of my favorites for when I have small children over or I just couldn't let go of them. I was not disappointed in my progress, but there is still much to do.

I have to get that basement under control. I will be needing another couch or sectional for the boys, but not yet. My step mom gave me a gift card to home depot. She had asked me what I wanted and that is what I told her. I am looking forward to trying to decide between drywall and insulation or pine boards for bookshelves. HHmmmm.