New Year!

Well, it's a new year and hopefully it'll be a good one.
I'm sitting here trying to figure out what to write, so I thought I'd just start writing and see where it takes me.
The picture at the top here is one of the ones my friend Steve sent me this week.  He took this back in November; it's a full moon over Kabul.  Yep, Kabul, Afghanistan.  He sent out several pictures from his tour so far.  It's amazing how beautiful the place can be, and how dangerous and not just because there is a war going on.
My friend Michelle has spent several months over there off and on since this summer.  One "comforting" fact is that all snakes in Afghanistan are venomous.  Oh, and you'd better check the bath house for snake and insect visitors before using.... just ask the guy who ended up streaking across the compound because he found the snake that was hiding in the shower room after he'd already stripped (and used his clothes to cover/distract the snake so he could escape...).  Yeah, fun, fun fun!

Speaking of Michelle, we had a nice visit with her over New Year's.  She was originally going to come up New Year's Eve and then go home Monday the 2nd.  Originally she wasn't going to have to head overseas anywhere until the middle to end of January.
We all know how schedules can change.
Instead of heading out at the end of the month, she was to get on a plane the evening of the 2nd and head over to Pakistan for a few weeks.  Yep, Pakistan.
So, she came up New Year's Eve and we ran a few errands, had some dinner and watched some movies until midnight.  I should say, Boo, Michelle and I watched "How to Train Your Dragon" and then Michelle and I watched "Princess Bride" until it was midnight.  (I also crocheted an entire scarf to go with my coat through the two movies...)  Gak crashed and crashed hard early because he had a killer sinus headache and the meds he took (plus the very long, hard hours he'd been working and no sleep the night before) knocked him out cold.  Yep, I actually stayed up later than my hubby... and by several hours!
Anyhow, it was a nice relaxing evening at home.  And can I tell you how much I've missed the last few New Year's Eves without Michelle?  For about 5 or 6 years there we would alternate going down to MD or up to PA for New Year's Eve.  It had become a tradition.
Anyhow, Sunday morning (the first) we get moving and go out to breakfast.  After we've gotten back and cleaned up (we just got dressed and went since it was both a Sunday and a holiday, so who knew how crowded the diner would be...) and fiddled with Michelle's computer a bit she asks what Mom's up to.  She said she really wanted to see Mom if possible.
So, I call up Mom and we arrange to meet at Panara Bread near her house in about an hour.  Well, of course we don't get moving right away.  And then when we stop for gas before getting on the highway Michelle locked her keys in the car, but had luckily popped the trunk instead of the gas tank and we were able to get in through the back seat to unlock the door.  We had an enjoyable lunch together and just caught up.  It would have been too much for Dad to go over to the house.  But, of course he said to Mom that he wished we'd gone to pick her up as she was leaving.  So, Michelle headed back down to Virginia to finish with the laundry and the packing and all that jazz and Boo, Gak and I follow Amma back to the house and hang out with Dad for a bit.

Boo was getting a bit tired, so we made a hasty exit.  We went over to the computer store (that we'd been to the day before) to exchange some RAM that Gak bought because he picked up DDR3 instead of the DDR2 that he needed.  (I still need to install it for him, it's the only thing he doesn't like doing on his computer...)

So, that was the start to our year.  Michelle made it safe and sound back to VA.  We had a good afternoon with both Mom and Dad.  Although, the good days with Dad are getting fewer and shorter.  I will treasure the moments that we get.

Other than that, it's the normal stuff around here.  Back to a "normal" work schedule.  Need to get back to a "normal" swim schedule but the beeper call I had Monday night prevented that, and lack of motivation Friday didn't help either.  I'm kinda glad to be back to a normal work schedule, but I enjoyed last week so very much.

I think this is where I'll wrap it up for now.  No, I haven't uploaded any of the photos to Flickr yet.  I'm sorry.  I'm going to go play with yarn now.

Peace to all and may your holidays be good and your friends safe.