By George!

Okay ladies & gents, I realize that I'm dreadfully behind on some of my blog postings but you'll just have to bear with me. Life is crazy busy right now and I feel like I'm chasing my tail most days (it's just a metaphor - I don't really have a tail).

I spent New Year's Eve with my family this year. Normally I'd just go to bed early and wake up to a new year, but this year I decided I'd do something a little different. Plus, I'm working on the whole alcohol tolerance thing since my fabulous friends in Phoenix are apparently more bar-happy than I am and I want to be able to have at least a few drinks without sliding under the table. My plan was to spend the night at my brother's place. It was just going to be us family (brother, sister, me & any significant others who wanted to join us), but my plans were adjusted a little bit as my parents invited me to dinner with them and some of their good friends. Now, I LOVE spending time with this particular group of people. They are so funny when they get together. (I was once asked where I get my mischievousness...I usually say at my dad and grandad's knees. LOL My family is VERY ornery and the antics my dad and his friends got into as teens would probably cause any mother's hair to turn white. However, from my perspective their stories are very entertaining.) Our group consisted of myself, my parents (Randy & Jeri), close friends of my parents (Steve & Cindy - who are also the parents of a long-time friend of 28 years), and another good friend of my dad's (Bill - we call him Wooly Bill in the winter because he lets his beard grow out). We ate The Red Barn restaurant, which was a new experience for me. I had wanted to eat there for quite awhile but never had (or made) the time. Plus, they are only open on the weekends so limited hours/high demand make it a little more difficult to get in. Bill decided that we needed some wine, so he asked the server to recommend a sweet red wine. We ordered the decanter for the whole table and then placed our meal order. I've never been a big wine drinker because it all tastes sour to me. Not this stuff! Okay, the first two swallows were kinda sour but then the sweetness hit. I couldn't even finish one glass and by the end of the meal I was taking two swallows of water for every sip of wine. It was syrupy sweet. When the server came by again, Bill asked her what the name of it was (so we could avoid it next time). She replied "By George!"...so the rest of the meal was filled with "By George this wine sucks!" and "By George this is disgustingly sweet!". My stomach hurt from laughing so much. I've tried retelling the story in person, but unless you know this group of people, you just had to have been there. This is the group of guys that stretched a gigantic rubber band between two chimneys on top of the main street buildings and sling-shotted M80 firecrackers to opposite ends of their small hometown and then watched the local deputy drive furiously back and forth attempting to catch them. He never thought to look up instead. This is also the group of guys that lit their friend's backside on fire while seeing if bean farts really are flammable (apparently they are cuz he was burned pretty bad), rolled a dune buggy over grandma's garden, stuffed my uncle in a dryer (they swear he wanted to go in), and all sorts of things. It was a good evening and as we drove out of the parking lot, my dad rolled down the car window and yelled "Bye George!" to Bill, setting mom and I to giggling again. Of course, all Mom and I could think about was Bill's reaction to how much that crappy wine cost. I get the giggles just thinking about it.

I finished off the evening at my brother's place where I, once again, was taking all of chips while playing Texas Hold'em (be prepared you guys). My brother's girlfriend, Misty, made me a cranberry/malibu rum mixed drink in what looked like a 32-oz cup so I was pretty relaxed all night. I wasn't able to finish it though. There was one moment of uneasiness when my sister's boyfriend, Kyle, brought about 15 high school kids over. I was counting them up going $1500, $3000, $4500 (the fine is $1500 each to serve minors).... They apparently thought that us old farts were boring and left within 15 minutes. Whew! I crashed on the sofa bed and woke up early, exhausted and suffering from allergies. I drove back to my parents' house, had breakfast with them, and then slept most of the day in the recliner. I don't smoke (allergic) and being in a smokey house all night really hit me hard. I always sleep all day afterwards. So much for getting work done on the house!! At least I woke up in time to watch the Hawkeye's fantastic last-possible-second touchdown at the Capital One Bowl, which gave us the bowl victory. Yeah!!!