Happy New Year! 

This post will probably appear odd because I am at work and our browser doesn't support blogger anymore.  I am not an administrator on this machine so I can't download an upgrade.  The controls (like text alignment) are hidden so I am stuck with whatever it feels like allowing me to use at any given time.  Today, we are centering our words. 

Our New Year's celebration doesn't warrant capital letters.  We are not loud, noisy party folks and this year was no different.  In fact, this year was more low key than normal but with all of the stuff going on, it was just fine with me.

I went to work for half the day on Monday.  Pk came over and we had sandwiches at a place called Munchies.  It's nothing fancy but they turn out good sandwiches for a decent price.  Pk had something called The Pub which was full of beef and cheese and seasonings.  I had chicken salad which was tasty but a bit salty for my taste (as I get older, I seem to tolerate salty foods less and less). 

We came home and put on our sweat clothes and spent the rest of the day reading and just sitting next to each other on the couch. 

No one noticed it was midnight until we heard the fireworks from some of our neighbors.  Party animals, I tellya. 

Yesterday, I put some beans in the crockpot, made some potato salad and got a ham ready for the oven.  It's traditional for us to have ham on NY's day.   Kate and Patrick came for dinner and 2013 is off to a good start.

We REALLY enjoyed our holidays.  I think that because we were working so hard right up until the 24th that it made it all that more important for us to just take the time off and relax.  By the time we got up for work this morning, most of the sore muscles had healed and although mentally we were still on vacation, physically, we were ok.

We have a new, empty dumpster sitting in the driveway ready for the rest of our destruction debris.  It was amazing to watch the truck pick up the full one (knowing how much it must have weighed) and carry it off like it was so much fluff.  We have piles of wood and some roofing materials to go into the new one plus the roofing off of the porch in the back.  I don't think we'll have any trouble filling it up and the neighbors will probably be glad to see the stuff off the lawn (although we have tried to be careful and keep things in neat piles, it IS debris after all).  I will be glad to see it all gone.

The Christmas decorations and tree will come down this upcoming weekend.  We've never seen our new room without the tree in the center so I'm curious to see how this will work out.  I have really enjoyed being in the kitchen and having the ability to talk to people sitting in the living room while I cook dinner.  Pk (who has been slightly unsure about this whole one-big-room thing said he was beginning to like it.  The feeling of space is nice.  The sheetrocking of the ceiling will be sometime in January and then we can work on finishing the outside.  We need to replace the siding and cover up the Tyvek wrap and put up some gutters and then work on the back of the house and ...........the list is endless.

I'd also like to have a minimal garden this year.  Elanor started one last year but didn't keep up with it.  I'm not sure where the time for all of this will come from.  I need to have some of that timey wimey magic!

So, I hope the start of 2013 finds you all happy and healthy and living the life you want.  I'm not one for resolutions.  Last year, my goal was to be more tolerant of others and give folks the benefit of the doubt.  I'm going to continue that this year and I also want to make sure I'm really listening to people when they talk to me.  Sometimes I think I tune them out (a hazard of the job, I think) and I want to make sure that I pay attention.

So, what's on your agenda for the upcoming year?  Anything new?