Happy New Year!

Big plans for the evening? I’m not used to big plans. Our family used to sit around the living room watching slides. We’d generally begin with Dad’s old family photos, his Army service, our parent’s wedding, then each kid and vacation and Christmas. My youngest sister was notorious for saying early on, “wake me when I’m borned” which could have been hours after she fell asleep!

I only went out once for New Year’s Eve when I was about twenty-two. It was a party given by a colleague about 1/2 mile away but not in a neighborhood I’d walk to, so I drove over, had two glasses of champagne and drove home about fifteen minutes after midnight. I found a space behind our apartment but it didn’t give the non-resident next to me much room to maneuver so I parked on the street.

My roommate and I headed out for brunch the next morning and my car was wrecked, the left front wheel sheared off the axle. As it was my only transportation I had to spend $1250 to fix a $1500 car because I owned it outright, the piece of junk, so didn’t carry collision. There are lots of stories about Chicago politics these days but Albany was right up there with the Windy City. They wouldn’t let me see the police report, and this lunatic plowed into one car, which ran them all together, then sideswiped mine, which had the most damage. Lesson learned. I always preferred January 1 brunches instead of having an overpriced meal at a hotel ballroom with a room full of strangers. But that’s me. A casual dinner party for eight, cooked by me, would appeal more.

If Jim and I venture out this evening it’ll be to walk downtown to see a movie. The cars are staying in the garage! I’m making homemade pizza with a partial whole wheat crust (for health, taste and elasticity in rolling out), sauteed peppers, sauteed mushrooms, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese, topped with a grating of Parmesan. I’ll make a more adventurous version another day. That reminds me, I have to share with you the ideas that I made at a pizza party for Jim’s co-workers. It was interesting. Many were Indian and didn’t eat meat, one didn’t even eat cheese! In my book pizza is not pizza without cheese!

But my homemade pizza is very good and contains quality ingredients and love. Jim stayed home to work today and spent much of it fighting fires, work fires that is. He took over my desk and big monitor so I’m sitting in an uncomfortable $20 Ikea stool at the bar with my MacBook. It’s OK, most of the day has been spent doing exciting things like laundry, cleaning the frig et al.

I forgot the black-eyed peas at the grocery store. Oh, well. Do we need to have them tonight for good luck? At any rate, I wish you a very happy, healthy, successful 2009! Now, how many months will it take me to write the correct year on a check? Probably at least six months as I only write a couple of checks each month and do the rest online. You know what they say about old dogs and new tricks. Cheers! Dee