Happy New Year!!!

Taken by our neighbor Scott, just after midnight

Happy New Year!!!  I know we look somewhat inebriated in this photo, but it’s more exhaustion than anything else!  I think Kurt had a whopping two beers the entire night, so I know he wasn’t drunk at all.  Not with his size!!

We went out driving around yesterday.  We’d driven up to Warwick one evening just for grins and chuckles, but we’d taken Route 1 instead of the highway.  I’d seen a really neat consignment store selling antiques, so yesterday Kurt said we could check it out.  Man, this place was HUGE!  It had so much stuff in it that I wanted, but I showed incredible restraint and only bought a small measuring cup that was marked in fourths on one side and thirds on the other.  I paid all of $2.50 for it; I’m such a big spender.

We thought of making nachos for New Year’s Eve, and knew we needed more beer.  We got to the package store on base at 4:59pm — and the doors were shut and locked, even though there were still customers inside.  I guess they were closing at 5pm for the holiday.  I was sort of annoyed we couldn’t get in; it wasn’t quite 5 yet.  But I do understand the clerks wanted to get the hell out of Dodge and off to their parties.

Instead we went to the grocery store, where we picked up tortilla chips and a party tray of pepperoni, salami, crackers, and cheese.  We looked for beer too, but couldn’t find any!  We drink so rarely, and usually buy our alcohol at the package store on base, so we had no clue whether a grocery store would even sell beer.  In Washington, you can buy beer and wine at a grocery store, but hard liquor needs to be purchased at a state-run liquor store.  Virginia has the same rules.  But in Arizona, you can buy any alcohol you want while getting your weekly groceries.  They also have drive-through liquor stores, for those too lazy to get out of their car for their supply of vodka.

I guess Rhode Island doesn’t allow any alcohol to be sold in the grocery stores because we could not find the beer aisle.  But there was a tiny liquor store right next to the grocery store, so we didn’t have far to go to get a pack of beer.  They had a pretty crappy selection of beer, though — we could get Miller in all its forms, Bud Light, several varieties of Michelob, and some Sam Adams.   Fortunately our guests are not picky with their beer.  The last time they were over, I offered them some local microbrew beer — and they looked at me weird for having such “fancy” beer!  So we opted for the Michelob Ultra.  None of it was drunk, though.  Our neighbors ended up bringing their own beer!

That’s okay by me, though.  It’s incentive for them to come back!

Our neighbor ended up bringing us dinner.  I was highly impressed by her culinary skills!  She brought this “lasagna,” only instead of being layered, she rolled the filling up in the lasagna noodles.  The filling was made up of Gorgonzola cheese, baby portabella mushrooms, spinach, and ricotta cheese.  I typically don’t go for Gorgonzola cheese, but this was really good!!  I felt like we were eating a gourmet dinner!  Gracie even ate a big piece of it, though our neighbors’ boys wouldn’t touch it.

We ended up playing Taboo for about an hour, which caused a huge amount of hilarity.  Jackie and I are pretty good at giving clues and guessing the words, but Scott and Kurt just don’t have a very big vocabulary.  Kurt would flip over a card and just sort of stare at it for a while, trying to figure out how to convey the word on the card!  And Scott would look at the word he was to give Jackie and just crack up laughing right off the bat.  Jackie and Scott ended up winning, though it was really close.  I couldn’t stop myself from helping the other team, though; I’m just weird like that.

I had the best clue of the night, which caused the four adults to collapse over ourselves in hilarity.   I had to get Kurt to say the word “Confucius.”  So I came up with, “Blank says, ‘Man who walks through airport sideways is going to Bangkok!”  Kurt got “Confucius,” though he could barely say anything because he was laughing so hard!!

We watched the ball drop at midnight.  Poor Dick Clark, though.  I’m not sure ABC should have let him on air, though I’m sure he was pushing to come back to do his job.   I could hardly understand the poor guy.  Such a shame.

My neighbors ended up staying till 2am!  They sent their boys home not long after midnight, though.  We just kept talking and drinking.  I probably had five or six beers, after starting with two rum & cokes at the beginning of the night, but I wasn’t even buzzed.  I drank too slowly, you see.  But that’s fine by me — it also means I do not have even a glimmer of a hangover.

I hope you all had a great time last night, whether it involves games and drinking or going to bed early — and may everyone’s 2008 be all that you hope for!