Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The new year

So, first off my little dashboard doohickey tells me this is my 500th post.  I really don't recall writing that many times but it's on the internet and they can't put anything on the internet unless it is true.

Christmas was great.  We hosted friends for Christmas Eve dinner- there was a total of seven dining.  The husband made a freakin' amazing five course meal.  First off was roasted butternut squash soup with a dollop of cinnamon sour cream.  Then a very simple salad of mixed greens, haricot verde and a simple dressing.  Third course was roasted duck stuffed with dried plums (aka prunes) and Granny Smith apples served on a bed of stewed red cabbage with plum sauce.  BTW- for the record red cabbage is not fuckin' red- it is purple!   Then was the garlic-rosemary roasted leg of lamb with garlic mashed potatoes and mom's (in)famous scalloped tomatoes.  The final course was mine and it was pumpkin pie and brown butter apple tart.

Christmas I picked the boys up at their mom's house around 1:30 and brought them home.  We then opened gifts with them and ST and PJ.  Everyone was very happy with their gifts.  The husband had quite a butch Christmas as he got a new Carhart field jacket, a new Northface jacket, the Woodsman's Pal (google it) and a nifty Garmin heart/mileage tracker for his many months of upcoming training for his first ever Half Ironman Triathlon. 

The highlight gift for me was a ping pong table.  I wanted to set it up in the basement but the boys said no as they think the basement is too spooky.  So we will be setting it up on the screened in porch.  the boys are going to learn how to crush everyone at beer pong by the time they get to college.  The husband also said we should probably re-watch Balls of Fury (yes we actually own it on dvd).

The other great gift I received and am excited to use is a whoopie pie pan.  I will be making whoopie pies tomorrow night for Friday night's dessert.

I dropped the boys back at their mom's house around 6 in the evening.  For Christmas dinner the husband and I were pretty beat from working on Christmas Eve dinner so we just had left over roasted butternut squash soup and then it was to bed relatively early.

This past weekend the husband's younger sister came to visit us as she is on her Christmas break.  It was pretty relaxing.  the only highlight is we went and saw Les Miserables.  I had never seen the show and while not a fan of musicals I had read enough reviews about how this one was different as all of the singing was done live during the filming.  I have to say it was a pretty amazing flick.  Even if you are like me and not a fan of musicals it is worth seeing as you really have to have a heart of stone to not be moved by some of the songs and it makes you realize why some people are such huge fans of musicals.  It is also funny as the only other musical I have seen was Sweeney Todd and that too was during Christmas and with the husband and it also had Sash Baron Cohen and Helen Bonham Carter in it. 

Little confession here- after seeing the movie I did some research and found out there will be a Broadway revival of the show in 2014.  I actually would like to see it as I am interested in how such a spectacle can be done on a stage.  I have not told the husband yet.

I was kinda bummed the world did not end on the Winter Solstice.  Clearly the Mayans lost a lot of credibility.  The Solstice was also the official end of my annual AFHP.  I am thinking it might be time to switch it up and start a WFHP instead; from Winter Solstice to Vernal Equinox...just a thought.  Kinda makes more sense to do it in the winter anyhow.

Did anyone else love the face plant the GOP did?  Seriously, this whole fiscal cliff thing has to have them in complete disarray.  The supposed party of fiscal rectitude voted for tax increase and no spending restraint and the plan adds to the deficit.  How can anyone take them seriously at this point when they talk about small government?  One astute co-worker told me on the 31st that when the GOP Congressmen vote for the plan it spells the end of Speaker Boehner's term.  I gotta think he is right at this point.  I imagine Rep. Cantor will be the new Speaker of the Dead House when the new Congress convenes.

A few things about the whole fiscal cliff farce.  If my limited faculties work properly, there are no real cuts.  What Congress talks about when they say cuts is really nothing more than further increases in spending, hence my prior comment about spending restraint.  A cut in spending to me means actually reducing the amount of money spent on something not just freezing it at the current level of spending.  The supposed deal did nothing to avert the cliff, it just pushed it out for two months for the new Congress to deal with then.  It also is a slight bit of prevaricating when anyone says Congress prevented taxes from going up on most people.  The payroll tax goes back to its normal level and the ACA tax kicks in.  Anyone who says a bad deal is better than no deal is a weasel.  If there had been no deal the tax increases would have kicked in and the spending restraint would have kicked in and yes it would suck for most of the country in the short term but in the medium to long term it would have helped a lot.  One newsletter writer I read says Americans will always take the easy way out and we did.

Got back into the training regimen last week.  I really have no choice as two weeks from Friday the husband and I are off to the Dominican Republic with Mr. Clifford and Mr. Surret and a cast of other unsavory types for a week.  Need to look good in the square cut and once we get back I go back to lots of running as I did what I swore I would not do again- I signed up for a half marathon...