Notes from the Holidays
It's been a busy, busy week! There was the pre-Christmas shopping spree; then Christmas Eve dinner with the family. We'd planned to do Hideaway pizza, but no one bothered to call Hideaway to find out if they'd be open. They weren't. My backup plan was takeout Chinese or Mexican (there were plenty of restaurants open); but brother Mike was hungry for pizza. So, we had frozen pizza. *rolls eyes* I have to say that it was one of the more memorable Christmas Eve dinners in recent memory...
We had a crowd (for us) for Christmas. Kathy and Ed came, as well as elynross, my nephew, Mike and Hideko, Kate, and my parents. Our guests made it much more fun than it might have been otherwise. Kathy has a way of making my Dad laugh, and it turns out he does still have a filter on his temper when company is around. So, it was a good day.
My nephew surprised the heck out of me by giving me and Kate an iPad. Kate is electronically challenged and hates computers, so by default, it will pretty much be my iPad. Mat got a good job earlier this fall, and he said he just wanted to do something really nice for us, but I am still amazed by his generosity. I spent most of yesterday downloading free ebooks from the gutenberg project, and I am still basking in glee from this. The Kindle app works very well on the iPad.
Tuesday, Mike and Hideko came over in the afternoon to shoot guns. It's a redneck Okie thing to do, and I was expecting shotguns and/or 22s (which we both own, actually), but Mike only brought some high-powered pellet guns. So, we shot up some beer cans (of course) and a cardboard box, and generally terrorized the poor birds trying to feed in the backyard.
Wednesday, elynross came to our house with movies, and we had a superhero movie marathon. We watched X-Men 3, Green Lantern, Captain America, and Thor. I had only seen Thor before. I was disappointed in X-Men, really liked Captain America, and thought Green Lantern was okay. Of course, I loved Thor, and I enjoyed it as much the second time as I had the first. It was a very fun day.
Thursday Kate and I drove to Fayetteville, Arkansas. There, we had lunch at a wonderful Italian restaurant with beccalynnlaw and her husband, Peter. We also picked up Kate's Christmas present at the Human Society of the Ozarks. Cherokee is a tiny, black, Pomeranian mix puppy. She's rodent-sized (think guinea pig with long legs), with the voice of Beverly Sills. And my, does she use her voice. I need to get a video of it because she throws her head back like a wolf. It is somewhat less adorable at 3am, but she is very good little puppy, at 7 weeks old.
We had a crowd (for us) for Christmas. Kathy and Ed came, as well as elynross, my nephew, Mike and Hideko, Kate, and my parents. Our guests made it much more fun than it might have been otherwise. Kathy has a way of making my Dad laugh, and it turns out he does still have a filter on his temper when company is around. So, it was a good day.
My nephew surprised the heck out of me by giving me and Kate an iPad. Kate is electronically challenged and hates computers, so by default, it will pretty much be my iPad. Mat got a good job earlier this fall, and he said he just wanted to do something really nice for us, but I am still amazed by his generosity. I spent most of yesterday downloading free ebooks from the gutenberg project, and I am still basking in glee from this. The Kindle app works very well on the iPad.
Tuesday, Mike and Hideko came over in the afternoon to shoot guns. It's a redneck Okie thing to do, and I was expecting shotguns and/or 22s (which we both own, actually), but Mike only brought some high-powered pellet guns. So, we shot up some beer cans (of course) and a cardboard box, and generally terrorized the poor birds trying to feed in the backyard.
Wednesday, elynross came to our house with movies, and we had a superhero movie marathon. We watched X-Men 3, Green Lantern, Captain America, and Thor. I had only seen Thor before. I was disappointed in X-Men, really liked Captain America, and thought Green Lantern was okay. Of course, I loved Thor, and I enjoyed it as much the second time as I had the first. It was a very fun day.
Thursday Kate and I drove to Fayetteville, Arkansas. There, we had lunch at a wonderful Italian restaurant with beccalynnlaw and her husband, Peter. We also picked up Kate's Christmas present at the Human Society of the Ozarks. Cherokee is a tiny, black, Pomeranian mix puppy. She's rodent-sized (think guinea pig with long legs), with the voice of Beverly Sills. And my, does she use her voice. I need to get a video of it because she throws her head back like a wolf. It is somewhat less adorable at 3am, but she is very good little puppy, at 7 weeks old.