Live free or die and other things I've learned recently

My birthday was great!  The boys got me a bunch of B-movie sci-fi/horror dvds.  I did not have the heart to tell them I had seen all of them because for me it was more important that I got a gift from them.  One of them is Sharktopus  which the husband and I had watched when it premiered on the SciFi Channel.  It's only redeeming quality is Kellan Lutz is in it.  The husband out did last year's gift (it was a chainsaw) by getting me a cover for the bed of the truck.  Totally psyched and installed it, took pics and posted them to the tome of mugs.  I got two comments that made me laugh- one from a  friend saying he didn't picture me as a pick-up truck type immediately followed by another friend saying he never pictured me as the type that would name my pick-up truck- I did, Black Betty.

Thanksgiving was great!  Mom and dad arrived the day before and we celebrated dad's birthday.  Thanksgiving day itself went as smooth as silk.  The husband made an amazing meal and we had a total of nine people for dinner.  The highlight for me though was the husband admitting the center piece was really good.  The story behind that was he sent me a text Wednesday afternoon to pick up decorative squash for the table.  Have you ever tried to find decorative squash the night before Thanksgiving?  Yeah well let me tell ya- impossible!  So I improvised, picked up two small acorn squash and a bag of pine cones.  The husband was not happy.  I placed the squash and pine cones quite artfully wit candles and thought it looked quite good.  Everyone agreed with me.

Mom and dad were staying until Sunday so Saturday I went and picked up the boys and brought them over for lunch with their grandparents.  The boys o course started telling their grandparents gift ideas once mom prompted them.  They were not shy either let me say.

The company Christmas Holiday party was last week.  I decided to get a hotel room one block from the office- given my history it was the prudent thing to do.  It was a lot of fun and I was done by 9 and back in my king-sized hotel bed 20 minutes and two pizza slices later.  I think I even flirted shamelessly with my secret bf at the office.  Everyone else stayed out much longer.  I hit it early and hard and was happy with that strategery- besides I was leaving early Friday. 

The husband and I went up to the Granite State to visit MP.  She and her bf SJ have been renting a house up there.  SJ however had to go home to deal with a family health issue so it was just the three of us and the kids.

It was very relaxing even though MP put me to work moving firewood from the woodshed to the house.  The husband took the kids on a hike thru some trails while I did that and they had a blast even though they all came back wet and extremely muddy.

On the drive back Sunday we stopped off to visit the sister-in-law at her college.  It is a beautiful campus and it was great to see her- I cannot believe she is already a junior.

My views on Europe have not changed.  It is real simple- the math just does not work.  Everyone is talking bout how they are going to double the EFSF and leverage it.  Well you know what- if you double zero and then leverage it it is still zero.  Just saying.

I got into a fight discussion with a co-worker.  He is the eternal optimist and tells me I am always too negative.  I counter I am realistic- you can do the math, it will not work.  He finally agreed and said why don't we just do debt forgiveness?  I am all or that but the thing is it will cause a lot banks to fail and banksters to lose their jobs.  That is why the banks have bought and paid for all the politicians in the West. 

This weekend we are putting the lights up outside and the tree up inside.  We also have the boys to help so that will be fun.

This week so far has been eventful for my train rides home.  Monday night there was a fire on the train and last night I found it those signs saying it is a crime to interfere with the train crew operating the train is true.  Apparently a passenger got into an argument or became abusive and harassed one o the conductors.  So the next stop we sat there for 45 minutes waiting for law enforcement to arrive and arrest and remove the passenger.  Due to that I missed my classes at the dojo- sweep the leg!  I am not taking the train home tonight- we are having dinner with TK and other friends in the city at some new hot spot- Whitehall I think.  The husband is driving into JC and we will take the PATH back there and drive home.