A Dull Rundown Of My Year-End

I didn't do a big Year End post this year. Life has me discombobulated right now, and I am not in the mood to write much, so here is the best I can do and give you a few things that happened from Christmas through New Year's:

We went to Tulsa to have Christmas with my husband's sister and her family. Best gift of the day: the deep fryer that my 16 year old nephew wanted so he could make his own french fries.  

We had french fries in the new fryer that day for lunch, but on our way home that evening, we came to the conclusion that the whole french fry production resembled Tom Sawyer and the whitewashing of the fence, as potatoes were sliced, the fryer assembled, the fries cooked and served, and we are pretty sure Eli did nothing except "supervise." Smart kid, that Eli.

My niece nearly killed us all when she decided to saute some onions and jalapenos for her hamburger (non-traditional Christmas dinner here), and the fumes from the jalapenos had everyone in the house coughing. It was like ripples in a pond; the people in the immediate vicinity of the stove (i.e., the french fry makers and supervisor) started coughing first. My daughter and I, sitting in the far end of the kitchen and facing the other direction, wondered why the others were laughing and coughing. Then the cloud of jalapeno fumes reached us and we joined in. Chemical warfare has nothing on jalapeno fumes. 

The girls in the family got glove/scarf/hat sets. I look like Gomer Pyle in a hat at best, and one that is too small for both my head and my big hair is just about the most unflattering accessory I could possibly wear. Proof:

I discovered I had put my underpants on backwards when I went to the bathroom and found the tag was situated in the front. Who does that past the age of, oh, four?

In my defense, I was wearing Victoria's Secret Cheeky Panties, and they are nearly identical, front and back. I took pictures to prove it, but I worried that they would take this post from PG-13 to R rated.

Oh, what the hell, here is a picture of them, front and back. Or back and front; I OBVIOUSLY can't tell which is which.

My son picked out and received some basketball shoes for Christmas, because he NEEDED them for the pick-up games he plays at the Y with his friends. These are not white boy shoes, and they especially are not GINGER white boy shoes, but he loves them and swears they will make him jump higher and run faster. Or, as he told my husband, they would make him jump higher and run faster than HIM, but he didn't need the shoes for that.

He says the shoes also make him shoot better.

The only cat who can figure out how to get the treats out of the little mouse treat dispenser they got for Christmas is the one who doesn't need to be eating treats. 

That same cat has an affinity for wrapping paper, especially tissue paper. When we came home from Tulsa, the trash bag with the Christmas wrapping paper trash that we left in the living room was turned over and the contents were all over the floor. For four days, that trash bag got turned over and the contents scattered on the floor, and for four days, I picked it all back up once or twice a day and put it back in the bag. 

I know you're wondering why I left a trash bag full of paper in our living room for four days, and the answer to that is because he was having such a good time that I hated to spoil his fun. After the fourth day, however, I decided I had refilled that trash bag enough and his fun was over.

I got a surprise Christmas gift in the mail from my good friend Christine. It has made me laugh and laugh at a time when I really needed to laugh!

We had several adventures when we went to the lake house for a few days, all involving water and none of them good, but those are stories for another day. 

I got all the Christmas decorations put away, with a little help.

Both kids ditched us on New Year's Eve. 

We may or may not have stayed awake until midnight.

Happy New Year!