Happy New Year, y'all!

Yesterday morning I felt a little stressed, but the day was good. The three of us went to pilates and had a good workout with Amanda, although Amelia said it wasn't challenging enough for her. We went in two vehicles and Ray drove out Lexington Road to get the 5 50 pound bags of pig food that Karen F. said we needed. Amelia and I went home and ate some lunch (leftover soup! and fresh bread). We showered and dressed and rushed off to a 12:30 appointment at the Crowded Closet.

The woman who runs the place is not a very pleasant person--Amelia says most consignment store operators are like that for some reason. She looked through all the things that we brought and took quite a few of them to try to sell--still less than half. Everything in the store was 50% off, so I bought a skirt and a dress. I think she charged me $5 extra, but she took the tags off, so I am not sure. Plus there is a $5 fee to open an account there. The things I get myself into. I still can't bring myself to take the rest of Bertha's really nice clothes to Goodwill. Janna and Ron already took boxes of them there.

Then we went to the liquor store and bought champagne and a few other things. We went to Publix to get milk and some more groceries. It was about 2:30 or so by the time we got home.

Kevin and his mom and sister were coming for dinner, but we didn't know exactly when. I made a double batch of macaroni and cheese and picked up some of the mess. My Dad came for a couple of hours and Amelia and he and I tried to figure out how to play a word game we got for Christmas, a relative of bananagrams called Pairs in Pears. (Ray was asleep) It was not that fun, although I won the second time when I had a better idea what it was about. Meanwhile, I burned the macaroni. I didn't know it was possible. I had used too small a pot, not wanting to take the time to go downstairs to get a bigger one. And I didn't watch it and stir it because I was playing a game! but there was still water in it; I don't know how it could have burned. Most of it was good and I scraped some into a container for the pigs. Amelia scrubbed the pot. Then I made the sauce in an even smaller pan and that didn't work out really well either. However, in the end, we had some pretty tasty mac & cheese; Kevin kept getting himself a little more from the pan.

Ray woke up and went to feed the pigs. Amelia and I put up the chickens; the sun set on 2011. The house got tidied; some boxes went to the basement. We lit the candles on the mantel.

Amelia insisted on making corn bread, which amused me no end. Who eats cornbread with macaroni and cheese? Gloria, that's who. She arrived with a carton of buttermilk and poured it over half a pan of cornbread, broken into chunks. A soup bowl and a cereal bowl were too small--she ate from a serving bowl! Apparently, this is her favorite thing in the world, which she ate growing up poor. She didn't have any macaroni and cheese or green beans.

I also tried out a wedding punch with champagne that was quite tasty, but maybe not perfect. I need to continue on my quest--but first to drink the rest of the punch I made last night, which may take a few days. A bottle of Proseco went down quickly; note to self: buy more Proseco next time.

We played games, first Wits and Wagers with Gloria and then after she left, the five of us played some of our old games: Encore (requiring you to remember songs with certain words in the lyrics: guitar, highway, keep...) and a silly game where you make up headlines with the words you are dealt on cards: Banker Reveals Fake Mob Boss....

The young people left about 10:30 and Ray and I joined some other community members at the Commons. They were playing poker. Suzie, about 70, had never before played, so Ray was drafted to advise her when he walked in. We had champagne and snacks and other beverages. Basil and Sky, Chet and Gere and Dave and Suzie celebrated the New Year with us by teaching each other new versions and lending each other chips when we ran out. At midnight, the party broke up and we walked home. The stars were gorgeous.

It's going to be a good year.