Happy New Year!

Good morning! And Happy New Year!

Well. I know, I know—a deep subject for a shallow mind.

Yesterday was an alright kind of day. Everything went fairly well and in spite of the fact that I was a bit late getting some things done, I did accomplish everything I wanted to.

I didn’t get much done in the morning other than cleaning the living room which turned out to be a good but not necessary activity since no one really spent much time in there. It needed to be done because there was all sorts of general detritus left over from Christmas and that had accumulated since. Seth and Joseph worked on the dining room and a bit in the area between the dining room and stairs. Both still need some work but this afternoon there should be some time to get to that.

I got peppers cut up and ready and wanted to get the pork cut up and marinating before I did child transfers. Then, before we could actually leave for that, the front tire on the driver’s side of the Jetta needed to be aired up. It seems to have a slow leak that is made worse by the cold and I’m thinking how it is parked because it’s right in front of the house so it’s on a hill and that tire gets the brunt of the force because it’s the lowest one.

Seth, Joseph and I got Amena delivered to the Trivett’s and then went to pick Cedric up. It sounds like he didn’t have any fun at all—just watched a bunch of movies. I think he spent about half an hour telling me about two of the movies—one was the first batman and another was something scary that really didn’t scare him but did surprise him enough to yell once. Then we stopped at Price Chopper where I got a thing of soda and some chips. I’m glad I got the tortilla chips because Paul wasn’t able to find any at the Price Chopper he went to on the way home.

Then I was busy in the kitchen doing the fun stuff that need and/or I wanted to do. I got the peppers stuffed and in the oven. I got caramel made (and it turned out better than last time). I made two kinds of dip (and two more once we were done eating). I got the candy with the coconut pecan frosting covered with melted chocolate made.

What else? I dumped about 30 gallons of fuel in the tank for the water heater and furnace. I straightened out the tarp on the wood pile. Joseph watered plants. Seth and Cedric cleared off the table.

The missionaries arrived and I set Elder Jones to proofreading the Spanish emails that Paul had. I think Elizabeth translated at least some of them first and then Mike did more. Then the guy that was working with Paul, who is Puerto Rican, said that they were all wrong. I said it was more likely that his Spanish was just different. Elder Jones did find some mistakes but mostly they were omitted words and a few verb/noun disagreements. Nothing major.

Julia arrived. Her daughter and granddaughter went somewhere for New Year’s Eve and Julia didn’t want to go so she came here. Since she was going to come for our chip/candy fest, I figured she might as well come for supper too. I’m glad she came—we had fun.

After we ate, the missionaries shared a spiritual thought and then had to take off because it was almost 8:00 already and they were supposed to be in as close to 7:00 as possible so they were already late and were going to be fifteen to thirty minutes later.

Anyway, the stuffed peppers turned out pretty good. I like them about once every six months or so and it had been a while since we last had them. And they weren’t typical with hamburger and Italian seasonings (which I don’t mind but I put oregano and basil in everything already—almost). They had pork marinated in a chipotle lime sauce, black beans, diced tomatoes, onions, peppers, and cheese. Not bad. And there are only five left so we won’t be eating them for days on end.

The boys got set up in Paul’s office to watch The Walking Dead. Seth pooped out on that before long and ended up playing Sorry with Paul, Julia, and I. We played two games. During the second one, Amena and Sarah arrived. They were going to play games in the back room but after the second game of Sorry, Julia had to poop out and go home because she was tired and had been up since 5:00 in the morning. Paul went upstairs because Devon called. Then he called Walter because he’d called earlier. I played Clue with Amena and Sarah twice and then they went in the back room and I went upstairs to watch The Walking Dead with Paul and the boys.

Julia taught herself to knit not long ago. She is somewhat like me in that she really learned when she was younger but never did anything with it. Her daughter gave her some yarn for Christmas and she’s making a hat (I think) with a checkerboard pattern. I told her about The Sweater Workshop so she ordered one and is excited to get started on a sweater sampler. We were looking into spinning lessons for Janelle Lawrence but they’re a bit out of our price range. My mother, however, has agreed to give her a lesson when she comes out later this month. And, while my mother is here, we need to go to Webs and I asked Julia if she’d like to go with us. I think my mom will like Janelle and Julia.

Well, yes, I know, another well here. I think I’m going to sign off for now.

Have a splendid day and a wonderful year!